New Visual Guide To Detail Key Moments From The Galaxy Far, Far Away

From The Time Before The High Republic To The Fall Of The First Order

By Culture SlatePublished 2 years ago • 4 min read

We all know Star Wars is a magical and exciting universe. We have archetypal battles of good versus evil, princesses, villains in black, spaceships, laser battles, swords (lightsabers) and sorcery (well, the Force), and tales of loyalty and betrayal and conquest and sacrifice and hope. We keep going back to it because of that magic and romanticism, even though, at times, Star Wars itself might not have been as good to us as we would have liked. But we are abuzz with excitement and anticipation whenever we hear about anything new that is related to Star Wars. Conventions are filled with people who scream rapturously when teasers are shown on screen. It is an enduring mythology that has become a playground for so many.

Star Wars has extended across various mediums, too, and will continue to do so. From its cinematic birthplace, it has branched into books, board games, comics, computer games, console games, mobile games, animated series, more movies, and now live-action series. Whatever medium comes next, Star Wars will be there. All these stories shoot up like fireworks and explode in a blazing conflagration to entreat and mesmerize us.

Of course, there have been some issues on how those stories fit together nowadays. After George Lucas made the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy, all third-party materials were considered canon. They factored into the Star Wars universe. When Disney acquired Lucasfilm and took over the franchise, they de-canonized all that third-party materials so they could be free to take any direction they wanted. They were reclassified as “Legends.”

Now, a new book, Star Wars: Timelines, is going to attempt to put those key moments in Star Wars in order, ranging from before the time of the High Republic to the end of Disney’s sequel trilogy. As a testament to the commitment to history’s veracity, Timelines boasts a pantheon of writers brimming with Star Wars pedigree like Kristin Baver (Associate Editor of StarWars.com), Jason Fry (an author of more than fifty Star Wars books and short stories), Cole Horton (co-author of a dozen Star Wars books), Amy Richau (a pop culture writer who also wrote the book Star Wars I Love You. I Know: Lessons in Love and Friendship), and Clayton Sandell (co-producer of "The Force of Sound").

Baver shared her thoughts about this upcoming work:

“I first gained a real appreciation for the way events across all kinds of Star Wars storytelling intertwine when I was writing Skywalker: A Family at War in 2020. But that was just scratching the surface compared to this project.”

Scratching the surface is right.

The official release from StarWars.com has this to say about the project:

“… and uncover multiple branching timelines that break down important battles with this invaluable tool for fans who love to be immersed in the events of the galaxy while gaining a better understanding of how various moments interconnect and collide.”

The multiverse has become popular conceptually, especially as a means of compartmentalizing material. J. J. Abrams did it while rebooting Star Trek. DC has used it as a “Get Out of Jail” free card to reboot properties that failed to meet audience expectations. Marvel uses it as a playground. It will be curious to see just what they mean by “interconnect and collide”. Is this suggesting that there will be sliding doors moments where characters went left in one timeline, and right in the other? Is that also what they mean by “branching?” Is this to accommodate Legends (and possibly more)? Are we going to see offshoots from the main timeline? If so, how many? And will these sit as pockets or additional arenas that Star Wars can explore? Are we, in fact, seeing a precursor to how Disney plans to handle the Star Wars universe moving forward?

“The painstaking process for researching and writing Star Wars: Timelines has been unlike any other book I've written,” Horton said. “With so many stories told over the decades and through many mediums, these timelines are an ideal way to illustrate the connected, epic nature of Star Wars storytelling.”

A chronology detailing Star Wars history is well overdue, and it will be fascinating to see how this one provides clarity (and hopefully transparency) about that galaxy far, far away. Star Wars: Timelines will be released in November of this year and is currently available for pre-order.

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