It is noted as being one of the purest places in the galaxy, incredibly strong in the living force, and being chosen by Jedi Yoda as the planet to go into exile on to mask his presence and avoid discovery by the Galactic Empire.

[1] The similarly mono-thematic "swampy, fog-shrouded planet of Mimban" appearing in the novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye, published between the films Star Wars: A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, "might have inspired the production design for Dagobah".

Moss-covered rocks are used for training in telekinesis, the undergrowth makes treks through the jungles more challenging, and vines hanging from tall trees are used as means to get across small bodies of water and other obstacles.

A cloudy and swampy world of dense foliage, countless living things of all sizes, including reptiles, amphibians, and swarming insects, fill its environs with a hum of constant noise.

[12] This primordial and isolated place of power, which seems hostile to civilization - the technological R2-D2 "is spat out unceremoniously" - is "a sanctuary of nature" and "creates a space, which like no other, influences the conception and development of the hero".

"[12] Miles Booy saw Dagobah as a "richly constructed [...] semiotic environment" which "does not point towards prior films but to widely circulated discourses concerning human consciousness".

Its jungle and "dark swamp infested by reptiles" may be considered an image of the subconscious, with Yoda fulfilling the role of the analyst who "raises to the surface" what has been submerged.

[3] Dan Catalano commented that Dagobah as "an eerie location filled with strange wildlife and shrouded in as much mystery as fog", removed from the technology-filled galaxy, is a fitting device to underline Yoda's status as a "Wise Man archetype" in the tradition of Merlin, who likewise can be found in places of "wild nature" in Arthurian myths.