ST So... eh... how long EXACTLY has time passed since ROTJ?

The reason I ask this question is because I've heard 3 different answers. Originally they had said "30 years", and lately in recent interviews Abrams and co. have quoted 40, and I'm reading the Rollingstone article of TFA where Kennedy quotes 35 years. Do you think we'll find out in the movie/opening crawl how much time has passed by? Or are we to assume that it's somewhere between 30 and 40 years?

 

I thought I saw it mentioned that the same amount of time has passed in the Star Wars universe as it has in reality since ROTJ.

 

Makes sense...

 

I hope they say it in the crawl..

 

Yeah it would be nice. It's possible even though it hasn't happened before. Or even a quick mention by Han or something when he's supposedly telling Rey and Finn the "stories" would suffice!

Oh really? That's one I've never seen! Which would be 32 years, adding a third option, lol.

 

I'm pretty sure the 40 years quote was "about 40 years" since ANH, not since ROTJ. Other than that, the number I've seen the most is 30 years or "about 30 years" since ROTJ (I know, it may not have been 10 years between ANH and ROTJ, but it is what it is). So I go with "about 30" when I'm telling people about this movie. Plus, the descriptions for the Battle of Jakku say it happened almost exactly one year after the Battle of Endor, and also that TFA is set 29 years after the Battle of Jakku... so, 30 in that case too.

 

I don't think "exactly" really applies to the timelines in Star Wars. Long enough for Luke to go gray and grow a beard is enough of a passage of time for me.

 

ROTJ 1983

TFA 2015


2015 - 1983 = 32

32 years

Im proud to say I graduated 2nd grade

 

The thing is, if Luke's meant to be 23 or so in ROTJ yet in TFA he's in his 60's, 40 years makes more sense.

 

Perhaps, but i always thought (and I don't remember where I received this information because I just always knew it as a child) that it was established as I - II: 10 years II - III: 3 years III - IV: 19 years IV - V: 3 years V - VI: 1 year. So for this reason I was wondering if there was an exact time as well (if the above information is canon and exact or if as you say it's not meant to be dealt with in "exact" lengths of time) I'm probably just looking too much into it anyway. I guess it's just nice to know.

Ahhhh that makes sense, cheers!

 

Approximately 30 years have passed since ROTJ. that's what I was led to believe.

 

Its 30 years exactly. The new Jakku battlefront trailers say 29 years before TFA and since the battle of Jakku took place a year after ROTJ it has been exactly 30 years.

 

However, they stated around the time that trailer debuted that it was the same amount of time as in the real world, so 32 years.

But Artoo-Dion makes a valid point about Luke, since he & Leia are meant to be about 23 in ROTJ... 32 years puts 'em at 55, which is a few years younger than Fisher and almost a decade younger than Hamill. I know actors play different ages all the time, and often are paired with parents/children who are only, like, 12 years apart from them (like Ford & Connery in Last Crusade).

 

True but then again everything goes through the story group and most sources say that it has been 30 years I just feel that those comments were made quickly to the media unlike the stuff that is put out as canon which is made sure to be right.

 

For all we know, it was written with a non-specific passage of time in mind, and the Story Group then retrofitted the 30 year gap for the purposes of tie-in material.

 

Mmm, I was looking at the TV Tropes page for Force Awakens just now, and it says 32 years. Even if that's wrong, is there really that much difference between having it take place 40 years after ROTJ as opposed to 30 years?

 

Luke cares.

 

That's my take, too, TBH. The three-year/one-year gaps in the OT are similarly the product of the old EU group, IMHO.

 

To be fair Pablo Hidalgo probably cares too. It's be him that has to fix any timeline errors arising from any confusion.