Lit How many years did the Empire exist before Palps' first death?

Officially, 23/24 years.

But both canon and legends sources imply a longer timeframe.

Before the Prequels came out the EU writers operated on the assumption the Clone Wars was 15 years earlier than it turned out to be, and that the Empire was in existence before the Clone Wars started.

But even with the PT changing that timeframe, it's not cut and dry that the Empire rose in 19 BBY.

During the RotS novelization version of his speech to the senate declaring the New Order, Palpatine says "we have become an Empire in fact, now let us declare that in name" (paraphrase) Taken with the earlier EU material that gave a older date for founding of the New Order one could say it that he's arguing that it's been the Empire at least since he was given emergency powers, if not when he first ascended to Supreme Chancellor. But that's Legends.

At first glance Canon does seem much more cut and dry, except that the RotS novelization exists in a pseudo-canon space.
But much more concretely in Star Wars: A New Legacy, in the story "The Grand Imperial Jubilee", the Empire is celebrating "The Third Decennial Decennial Jubilee", which is specifically the "thirtieth anniversary celebration of Emperor Palpatine's ascendence to the office of Supreme Chancellor."

So the beginning of Imperial power seems to be marked from Palpatine's election as Supreme Chancellor, not the declaration of the New Order. Empire Day then becomes a celebration of the end of the Clone Wars and the defeat of the Jedi (at least for the first few anyway)

Putting the existence of the Empire at 36/37 years before Palps dies.

What do folks think?

 

Not really what you were asking (which I don't think can have a single cut-and-dried answer), but I've always viewed Legends Palpatine as having "died" at least once prior to Endor.

 

In canon, if we're talking about the formation of the Empire as an institution, that is nailed down to 19 BBY without ambiguity. The existence of the "Third Decennial Jubilee" is probably not intended to suggest otherwise, although it is certainly reasonable to assume that some in the galaxy would see the rise of Palpatine as the "beginning of the Empire" in a metaphoric or philosophical sense.

In the Rebels episode "Empire Day" we are told it commemorates the day Palpatine both ended the Clone Wars and founded the Empire.

 

There is also this weird passage from Aftermath:

I imagine some cute bureaucrats secluded by Palpatine on a distant planet during the Clone Wars preparing all the paperwork for the upcoming Empire.

 

For me, the Empire and Luke and Leia all have the same birthday.

So...whatever age Luke/Leia are, that is how old the Empire is / would be if it was still around, etc.

Conceivably, there may be a day or two between...I've never read the ROTS novelization to determine how much time passed. But from the film, it just feels like it all happens in a day. But even if it's a few days apart, the year is locked in, as is the annual celebration window.

Used to think about that with the Remnant claiming to some legitimate lineage to the Empire...they celebrate Empire day on their greatest foe's birthday.

Delicious.

 

Revisionist history does only get one so far, after all. One could fiddle around with the dates for 'founding of the Republic' probably a bit easier than those for the Empire, at this stage.

Dark Force Rising did have a 'pre Empire date' calendar, though, in C'baoth's backstory and records. Unsurprisingly, it was pretty inconsistent with later date parametres, though.

 

I know the Empire was founded on 19:5:23 BBY (assuming the GrS yearly calendar is the same as the GSC, with only it's year 0 being different.) But rhetorically, and revisionist-ly it makes sense for the Empire to grasp for the earliest date possible to celebrate its ascension to galactic dominance. Even if that can only be done by celebrating the ascension of Palpatine. After all Imperial Propaganda would declare Palpatine "is the Empire".

It's not about a hard date for the New Order but perception, so they celebrate the Imperial Jubilee on the 30th anniversary of Palps' rise to power.
And Palpatine's own perception seems to be, at least publicly, that the Empire existed de facto prior to it's declaration.

And one potential meta reason for that is the pre-PT EU having n earlier date for the founding.

 

I don't think there's days in between: Anakin killed the Jedi during the night, and the Empire was declared on day (since Obi-Wan and Yoda are fighting clones at the same time), by night Yoda and Sidious fought so Luke and Leia were probably born late in the night of Empire Day, since when Vader gets his surgery it's still night in the senate district of Coruscant.

So yeah the Imperial Remnant were unknowingly celebrating Luke's birthday and Jacen and Jaina were giving Leia a present for Empire Day in YJK .

 

I wonder if Obi-wan shared their actual birthdays with Owen/Beru/Bail...or if the foster parents just picked a day.

I mean...be kinda weird if Luke and Leia found out shortly after ANH they have the same birthdate exactly. It might have raised a suspicion earlier.

My guess is that tidbit is something Obi-wan was not concerned about.

 

I recall watching a Rebels Recon where they say that Luke and Leia were born two days after the first Empire Day.



I think I found it

 

Beru and Owen likely gave Luke the day when he was given to them in Tatooine, according to Incognito it took Kenobi a while to get to them so it would still be a few days apart from his actual birthday.

Bail likely made up a completely different birthdate to avoid suspicion considering that the timing of his adoption of Leia is already quite suspicious.

I find Pablo's logic faulty (it's around the 4 minute mark).

Pablo is just going off from memory and what "feels" right, originally i also felt like they were like a day or two apart, but after checking the scenes in the movie it is clear that they are born in the night after, considering Anakin was already on Mustafar when the Empire was declared, i doubt Anakin stayed on Mustafar for 2 days considering he contacted Sidious after he finished murdering the Separatist Council and it's there that he sees Padme's ship arriving:



We even see how the sun is setting on the senate district at the time, the emergency session is called when Bail arrives on Coruscant and it looks quite sunny, so the timeframe is really clear, it's all in the same day.

He cites Padme's state as a reason why it wouldn't be the same day, implying that if the kids were born that day she wouldn't be able to attend, but in reality her presence shouldn't be an indicator, because her labor wasn't natural, it was an operation so Luke and Leia were born prematurely, so Padme wasn't quite there yet in her pregnancy as to not being able to attend a senate meeting, i bet she was like 7 months pregnant give or take.

Maybe a reasoning to say Luke and Leia are born after Empire Day is if we say the operation took just as long as Vader's (about 8 hours i think was the established timeframe) but i doubt it because a c-section in real life takes like an hour at most, i doubt that with the technology of the Republic it would take longer than here on poor old Earth, also considering how Padme was already dying before the operation started if it took that long i doubt she would have survived, and even then that doesn't add up to 2 days later like Hidalgo says.

So my estimate is that Luke and Leia were born in the equivalent of like 10 PM the same day the Empire was founded.

Am i overanalyzing? hell yeah i am but i'm having fun doing it.

Also i doubt that video counts as an actual retcon.