Just How Big Is The Star Wars Galaxy?

7. Age And Origins

Since Star Wars takes place in our universe (as the opening of every film reminds audiences with "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...") this galaxy began to form after the Big Bang. As such, that means it's approximately 13 billion years old.

Just like ours, the Star Wars galaxy began its life when gravity pulled dust clouds together to form stars and planets, taking billions of years to do so. There is one major difference that defines Star Wars, though, with that being the Force. Although unknown as to how it came to be, the Force, as Obi-Wan Kenobi explains, is "an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together."

So, the Force holds the Star Wars cosmos together, and interacts with all life in the galaxy through Midi-chlorians, which are omnipresent micro-organisms found within all life. Eventually, the Force would be discovered over 30,000 years before the events of A New Hope, on the planet Tython by the Ashla and Bogan, who would learn to manipulate the Force for the light and dark side. Over the centuries, these groups would evolve into the Jedi, who serve the light side of the Force, and the Sith, who channel the dark side for personal gain.