Star Wars stories span thousands of years, but the saga is easier to follow when its history is organized into broad periods. StarWars.com’s official timeline uses eras to give context to changes in the Jedi Order, the Republic, the Empire, and the generations of characters who inherit unfinished conflicts.
The eras are not the same as release order, viewing order, or a complete list of every date. They are a map. A novel, series, game, or card set can move between several points on that map, and Legends material may use a different continuity from current canon. The framework still provides a useful starting point for reading a character’s biography or understanding why a particular story feels politically different from another.
Dawn of the Jedi
Before the familiar Republic
This era covers the emergence of the Jedi, the early development of the Republic, and the ancient schism that leads to the Sith. It is the deep foundation of the mythology: institutions are still forming, the galaxy is still being connected, and the Force is being understood through cultures that do not yet share a single order.
The Old Republic
Jedi and Sith at war
The Old Republic is associated with long-running conflicts between Jedi and Sith, large-scale political struggles, and the stories of the Knights of the Old Republic. Darth Revan and Darth Malak are especially important to Legends and gaming fans because their war placed questions of identity and loyalty at the center of a galactic conflict.
The High Republic
The Jedi at their height
The High Republic is set roughly 150 to 300 years before the birth of Anakin Skywalker. Official publishing describes a period of Republic prosperity, expansion into the Outer Rim, and a Jedi Order operating near the height of its confidence. The Great Disaster, Starlight Beacon, and the Nihil give the era a central tension: progress creates new connections, but it also exposes more worlds to threats the Republic does not understand.
Fall of the Jedi
The Republic becomes a battlefield
The Clone Wars place the Jedi in the role of generals while the Senate grants the executive branch more power. Anakin Skywalker’s relationship with Padmé Amidala, his fear of loss, and Palpatine’s manipulation converge with the war. Order 66 then turns the Republic’s clone army against the Jedi and allows the Republic to be replaced by the Empire.
Reign of the Empire
Survival under imperial rule
The Empire uses occupation, surveillance, forced labor, propaganda, and military punishment to make resistance costly. The Jedi survivors hide. Small acts of defiance become networks, and those networks gradually become a rebellion. Andor is especially useful in this era because it shows how ordinary people experience the Empire before the rebellion becomes a recognizable military force.
Age of Rebellion
Hope becomes organized
The Rebellion moves from scattered cells to an alliance capable of challenging the Empire. The theft of the Death Star plans, the battles at Yavin and Hoth, and the events at Endor show how intelligence, sacrifice, leadership, and chance work together. Luke Skywalker’s story is central, but the victory depends on a much larger community.
The New Republic
Winning a war is not rebuilding a galaxy
After the Empire’s defeat, the New Republic must rebuild government while imperial remnants remain active. The era is politically fragile. Old systems do not disappear simply because a capital changes hands, and new leaders must decide how much military power, central authority, and compromise a democracy can sustain.
Rise of the First Order
The old empire returns in a new form
The First Order grows in secret from the legacy of the Empire and eventually strikes at the New Republic. The Resistance becomes the smaller force again, and a new generation inherits a conflict that earlier heroes believed they had ended. This era asks whether institutions can recognize a threat before it becomes an army.
New Jedi Order
What comes after the Skywalker saga
The New Jedi Order is the future-facing era in the official framework. It is not a simple return to the old Jedi model. Any new order must decide what it learned from the Clone Wars, the Empire, the First Order, and the personal failures of the Skywalker family.
How to use the timeline while collecting
Era context helps explain why a card’s subject matters. Ahsoka can connect Clone Wars, Rebellion, and New Republic sets. Bo-Katan can connect the Clone Wars, the Empire’s occupation of Mandalore, and the New Republic. Cassian belongs to the Empire and Rebellion transition. Darth Revan belongs to the Old Republic and the Legends gaming tradition. When you build a character collection, the timeline keeps those appearances from becoming a random pile of names.