How do you measure a year in a life … or, rather, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far? For years, the main films of “Star Wars” have avoided any official calendar in the universe, simply referencing when the events took place compared to each other. 10 years ago between “Episode I – The Phantom threat” and “Episode II – Attack of the Clones”, for example, and 19 between “Episode III – Revenge of the Sith” and “Episode IV – A New Hope”. In the background, however – source books, widening universes stories, video games, etc. – Fans could find a much more formal chronology.
Over the years, in particular since Disney has acquired the franchise, this calendar system has worked more and more in the main “Star Wars” projects. “Andor”, for example, throws the year on the screen several times while the story goes to the original trilogy: “5 BBY”, “4 BBY”, and so on. For those who are not aware, “BBY” represents “before the Battle of Yavin”. His counterpart, “Aby”, means “after the Battle of Yavin”. As indicated, these stand -over for a ECB / CE or BC / AD calendar use the events of “A New Hope” – in particular, the destruction of the first death star – like the central point around which all other galactic events are composed.
For a long time, this calendar was only intended as a reference point for us in the real world, rather than a real system of meetings in the universe. Again, it changed in the Disney era. Indeed, there are a number of other calendars in the “Star Wars” tradition, but none has proven itself among fans in the same way as the BBY / Aby system.
Before and after the Battle of Yavin
Bby and Aby were presented for the first time in West End Games Games “Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game” in the mid -1990s. It was a time when the enlarged universe, or Star Wars Legends, because it was nicknamed by Disney and Lucasfilm, began to develop in a spectacular way (without puns). Between the “Thrawn” or “Heir to the Empire” trilogy by Timothy Zahn, the “Tales of the Jedi” (which explored the ancient origins of the Jedi and Sith), and other similar stories, the universe which was only defined in the original Trilogy of George Lucas began to become a whole more detailed.
When you write source books and reference documents for a table role -playing game, it is useful to have a concrete calendar in mind. As Lucas had kept his own “Star Wars” chronology rather vague, the EU creations of the time filled the gaps. This, in turn, led the BBY / Aby meeting system to catch up with fans and has become a kind of standard, although there has always been a certain confusion given the fractured nature of the EU.
Using “A New Hope” as a centerpiece of the calendar seemed simply to have meaning, although it also meant that there are many more “BBY” than “Aby” in the current cannon. Disney has moved to less than 50 years beyond the destruction of the first death star in its current chronology of “Star Wars”, and although certain stories from the EU / Legends have jumped several additional generations, this continuity has still not been as far in the future as in the past. The era of the old Republic and the times before constituting a large part of the calendar of the canons before and post-disney, dating back to thousands of years.
Star Wars has many other calendars, but they are rarely used
As I have already said, the BBY / Aby calendar was originally designed as a reference point for fans, not in the characters in the universe. In fact, there are various other calendars referenced by characters from the current barrel, including the imperial calendar, which uses the training of the Empire as a central spoken, and the Coruscant calculation calendar, which is referenced in “Andor”. In addition, Disney divided the chronology into distinct eras, such as the High Republic, the old Republic, the reign of the Empire, etc.
In such a large galaxy, it is natural that there are many different ways to measure a day, a year or simply the cosmic duration. That said, the BBY / Aby convention has also entered the “Star Wars” universe more recently.
The Book of 2024 “The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire” by the real world of real world Chris Kempshall is presented as a history book in the universe attributed to the fictitious author Beaumont Kin. In this book, the character of Kin, a historian who served with the resistance in the war against the first order, pleads for the adoption of the Bby / Aby calendar, while the destruction of the first star of death, in his eyes, clearly divides the history of the greatest galaxy into two distinct epochs. The book itself recognizes that this decision can be controversial, making fun of some of the deactivations of the franchise and the fandom concerning official calendar systems.
