How much in universe time do RotS and TESB cover?

I’m really not sure about RotS. I always figured it would be a month, maybe more because Padme gives birth in the final scene and in the first scene she basically tells Anakin she just found out she’s pregnant.

TESB I’d say a couple of months, but that wouldn’t really make complete sense. But if it was only a few days it would make even less sense.

What do you guys think?

oojason said:

I’m thinking you could have asked this question in either of…

the ‘General Star Wars Random Thoughts’ thread

or

the ‘General Star Wars Questions’ thread

😉

You’re half right. :p

TESB taking place over months makes some sense if you assume the Falcon has reserve foodstuffs to sustain the crew for long journeys. That way Luke has ample time to do his elementary Jedi Knight training with Yoda on Dagobah.

When ROTJ gets involved is the point the timeline starts to confuse me. Luke’s maturity and advanced skills would indicate a significant duration of time has elapsed since Cloud City, perhaps three to five years. Yet they rescue Han on Tatooine which was mentioned as their immediate point of rendezvous at the end of TESB. The Wiki indicates that a year separates TESB and ROTJ. That seems like an attempt to split the difference.

As for how long the events of ROTJ last, I would say it starts with two days for all the Jabba stuff. Then add another day for Luke to return to Dagobah and for Han and Leia to rendezvous with the fleet. Then another day to land on Endor and gain the trust of the Ewoks, the night of which Luke reveals his relation to Leia and surrenders himself to the Imperials. Then the next day is Final Battle Day, when the bunker attack, fleet battle, and throne room fight all happen at once. That is a total of five subjective Earth days elapsed.

oojason said:

I’m thinking you could have asked this question in either of…

the ‘General Star Wars Random Thoughts’ thread

or

the ‘General Star Wars Questions’ thread

😉

Ok, I will.

Thanks!!

AveKender said:

TESB taking place over months makes some sense if you assume the Falcon has reserve foodstuffs to sustain the crew for long journeys. That way Luke has ample time to do his elementary Jedi Knight training with Yoda on Dagobah.

That would mean the captain and princess have been wearing the same clothes for months. Even if the clothing does get cleaned, wouldn’t Solo have changed into a different set of clothes instead of wearing the same outfit?

I always figured there’s some kind of Force time dilation going on on Dagobah that allowed Luke to experience more time there than Han and Leia did in the Falcon. They later used that idea explicitly on TCW, and I think the implication in TLJ is that Ahch-To is the same way. I think the idea that time works differently in certain Force-strong places is almost certainly a retcon they cooked up to make sense out of ESB after the fact rather than something they were thinking about while making the movie, but it works for me as an explanation.

While time dilation is a real thing I don’t think it happens here, plus it doesn’t really fit with SW. In Empire I assumed the journey took much longer since the Falcon had to travel slowly, then Luke jumped into light speed and arrived a lot faster at Bespin. It also means Leia and Han had more time to grow on each other. At a guess… a month. Unless we believe that each piece of training is one day.

In TLJ I’m sure that 3 tests = 3 days = same 72 hours of fuel that the Resistance flagship had. I can’t be certain.

ROTS… 9 weeks? Who really cares.

When I say time dilation, I don’t mean relativity. There’s some stuff in the Clone Wars and in Legends that suggests the Force can make time pretty elastic in certain significant locations. That’s always been good enough for me to buy that Luke’s on Dagobah longer than Han and Leia are on the run. Whatever works for you, though.

You know now that I think of it, the time dilation thing is cooler and makes more sense than Han storing months worth of Pop-Tarts in the trunk of the Falcon. :p

AveKender said:

You know now that I think of it, the time dilation thing is cooler and makes more sense than Han storing months worth of Pop-Tarts in the trunk of the Falcon. :p

Speak for yourself

Mocata said:

While time dilation is a real thing I don’t think it happens here, plus it doesn’t really fit with SW. In Empire I assumed the journey took much longer since the Falcon had to travel slowly, then Luke jumped into light speed and arrived a lot faster at Bespin. It also means Leia and Han had more time to grow on each other. At a guess… a month. Unless we believe that each piece of training is one day.

In TLJ I’m sure that 3 tests = 3 days = same 72 hours of fuel that the Resistance flagship had. I can’t be certain.

ROTS… 9 weeks? Who really cares.

I thought the cruiser had 18h of fuel left.

Collipso said:

Mocata said:

While time dilation is a real thing I don’t think it happens here, plus it doesn’t really fit with SW. In Empire I assumed the journey took much longer since the Falcon had to travel slowly, then Luke jumped into light speed and arrived a lot faster at Bespin. It also means Leia and Han had more time to grow on each other. At a guess… a month. Unless we believe that each piece of training is one day.

In TLJ I’m sure that 3 tests = 3 days = same 72 hours of fuel that the Resistance flagship had. I can’t be certain.

ROTS… 9 weeks? Who really cares.

I thought the cruiser had 18h of fuel left.

They only say that around an hour into the movie.

Right, I tried to find the exact time but it wasn’t clear on the other discussion I came across. Anyway, so there’s obviously a couple of night and day changes on the island… unless some of that is actually in the past before the FO regrouped and arrived to destroy the base. Maybe I’m overthinking it.

I think there was an old thread about this.

It’s an interesting question. You can kinda stretch out these films a lot if you want. But if you follow what happens in the films strictly, all of them happen over the course of only a few days, ROTS included.