Prequel trilogy too soon?

[Admiral Johnason]

Did Lucas ever explain how the aging of the characters is going to work? Ben looked 70 in the OT, but, counting for his possible amount of training, he will only be about 50 in the current time line. Also, the force and jedi seem to be an ancient myth by the time of the OT, but we the Jedi Purge will only have happend 18-15 years before ANH. I know palpie was good, but I seems like such a powerful agency couldn't be forgotten in one generation by most of the galaxy.

[Joe]

Did Lucas ever explain how the aging of the characters is going to work? Ben looked 70 in the OT, but, counting for his possible amount of training, he will only be about 50 in the current time line.

Not really. He should be in his mid-50s. He was slower to become a Jedi Knight than most padawans; he was in his mid-20s during TPM. And living the kind of harsh, secluded desert lifestyle that Obi-Wan lived certainly isn't going to make you look any younger.

Also, the force and jedi seem to be an ancient myth by the time of the OT, but we the Jedi Purge will only have happend 18-15 years before ANH.

Not really. Keep in mind that the Empire probably made a very active effort to suppress knowledge of the Jedi and the Force as much as possible as part of the purge.

Also remember that there were only around 10,000 Jedi for quintrillions of people in the galaxy. The odds of going your life without ever meeting a Jedi would have been astronomically high, so most people wouldn't have missed them.

[Ghost Rider]

Did Lucas ever explain how the aging of the characters is going to work? Ben looked 70 in the OT, but, counting for his possible amount of training, he will only be about 50 in the current time line.

Living in a desert tends to makes you look a lot older then you would normally be.

Also, the force and jedi seem to be an ancient myth by the time of the OT, but we the Jedi Purge will only have happend 18-15 years before ANH. I know palpie was good, but I seems like such a powerful agency couldn't be forgotten in one generation by most of the galaxy.

Given his policy of basically sending Stormtroopers or Vader when any utterence of the word Jedi or Force...you quickly tend to regard them as legend or myth or better still some wacky dream.

The way to New Order enforced rules, the Stormtrooper is reality, the Jedi a myth...and when you see them raze say your farm...you quickly follow that motto.

[Stormbringer]

Also, the force and jedi seem to be an ancient myth by the time of the OT, but we the Jedi Purge will only have happend 18-15 years before ANH. I know palpie was good, but I seems like such a powerful agency couldn't be forgotten in one generation by most of the galaxy.

With as few Jedi in the galaxy an entire system is unlikely to see a Jedi or force sensitive of any sort within the life time of most inhabitants. Their sheer rarity and secluded lifestyle are going to give most of the galactic inhabitants a half rumor/half mythical veiw of the Jedi to begin with. That kind of thing happens with secret societies today and has in the past. Expand that to galactic scale and it become easy to understand.

Add in the social collapse of the Old Republic rendering most worlds beyond the scope of the Order and you further reduce their profile. It'd be second hand rumor and myths on planets like Tattooine before the Purge ever occurs.

Add two decades, give or take, of propanganda and enforced silence and the mythic aura in inevitable.

It's also worth noting that from what we see in the EU the Core Worlds remember the Jedi more, and more accurately, than do Rim World yokels like Luke.

[YT300000]

Living in a desert tends to makes you look a lot older then you would normally be.

And having a generation to brood about how you failed with your apprentice, and how he wiped out all the Jedi, and all the death that happened since then, and the Empire, and more would make you seem older still (more wrinkles, whiter hair).

[Isolder74]

Living in a desert tends to makes you look a lot older then you would normally be.

And having a generation to brood about how you failed with your apprentice, and how he wiped out all the Jedi, and all the death that happened since then, and the Empire, and more would make you seem older still (more wrinkles, whiter hair).

I understand that Obi Wan could hear the death cries of the other Jedi and Vader killed them one by one.

[Chardok]

Living in a desert tends to makes you look a lot older then you would normally be.

And having a generation to brood about how you failed with your apprentice, and how he wiped out all the Jedi, and all the death that happened since then, and the Empire, and more would make you seem older still (more wrinkles, whiter hair).

I understand that Obi Wan could hear the death cries of the other Jedi and Vader killed them one by one.

So he went into hiding at what point? When he realized he was the only one left? Or during the purge he didn't fight back...seems cowardly to me...or perhaps he knew he was to be lukes mentor and thus delayed becoming one with the force...

[Isolder74]

So he went into hiding at what point? When he realized he was the only one left? Or during the purge he didn't fight back...seems cowardly to me...or perhaps he knew he was to be lukes mentor and thus delayed becoming one with the force...

It may be something answered in Episode III
The answer may be that Yoda ordered him to keep an eye on Skywalker. Yoda knew way too much for him not to be in contact with someone else in the universe.

[Shinova]

Or maybe Obi-wan knew he couldn't win against Vader, so instead thought his best chance would be to train Luke instead.

[PainRack]

Did Lucas ever explain how the aging of the characters is going to work? Ben looked 70 in the OT, but, counting for his possible amount of training, he will only be about 50 in the current time line. Also, the force and jedi seem to be an ancient myth by the time of the OT, but we the Jedi Purge will only have happend 18-15 years before ANH. I know palpie was good, but I seems like such a powerful agency couldn't be forgotten in one generation by most of the galaxy.

Not if the Jedi were already hated, and their powers and beliefs mocked at. We have begun to see a smattering of such incidents in both the canon ( the muppet in AOTC muttering at Anakin reckless driving) and EU (jedi baby abductors)

Remember, it took Mao Zedong only a decade to crush the Christian faith in China, as well as overturn a lot of the cultural ethos of ancient China.

[Darth Servo]

Did Lucas ever explain how the aging of the characters is going to work? Ben looked 70 in the OT, but, counting for his possible amount of training, he will only be about 50 in the current time line.

TPM occurs 40 years before ANH. Obi-wan is about 20 or maybe a little more in Ep 1. That puts him around 60 for ANH.

Also, the force and jedi seem to be an ancient myth by the time of the OT, but we the Jedi Purge will only have happend 18-15 years before ANH. I know palpie was good, but I seems like such a powerful agency couldn't be forgotten in one generation by most of the galaxy.

Other than han Solo, who among the good guys thinks this? The rebels (Dodonna and Ackbar in particular) obviously still have a strong belief in the force.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Did Lucas ever explain how the aging of the characters is going to work? Ben looked 70 in the OT, but, counting for his possible amount of training, he will only be about 50 in the current time line.

TPM occurs 40 years before ANH. Obi-wan is about 20 or maybe a little more in Ep 1. That puts him around 60 for ANH.

And Alec Guinness was 62 years old in 1976 when Star Wars was filmed, so there is no conflict whatsoever.

[Stormbringer]

Also, the force and jedi seem to be an ancient myth by the time of the OT, but we the Jedi Purge will only have happend 18-15 years before ANH. I know palpie was good, but I seems like such a powerful agency couldn't be forgotten in one generation by most of the galaxy.

Other than han Solo, who among the good guys thinks this? The rebels (Dodonna and Ackbar in particular) obviously still have a strong belief in the force.

The Alliance was trying to wrap itself up in the mantle of the Old Republic. And that meant Jedi and the Force as part of an unofficial religion.

Besides, some like Dodonna were old enough to have been citizens of the Old Republic.

[Lord Pounder]

I kinda got the impression that the Empire was no more than 5-10 years old. In the EU we have talk of Han Solo serving in the Fleet, but getting kicked out "which was a good thing considering the emperors desire for personal control over the Fleet" also Zahns trilogy says that Han was a school boy and the Republic was still in existance. I got both of these from Solo's conversation with Commander Bel Iblis in part 2 of the HTTE Trilogy.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Wasn't Han around 30 years old in ANH?

If so, he would have been about 10 when the Empire came to power, so there's no problem there, either...

[YT300000]

TPM occurs 40 years before ANH. Obi-wan is about 20 or maybe a little more in Ep 1.

TPM was 32 years before ANH. According to official sources, Obi-Wan was 25 in TPM. 25+32= 57, so it works out.

[The Dark]

TPM occurs 40 years before ANH. Obi-wan is about 20 or maybe a little more in Ep 1.

TPM was 32 years before ANH. According to official sources, Obi-Wan was 25 in TPM. 25+32= 57, so it works out.

Kenobi's older than the official sources say, if we use the novels. Dr. Saxton did the calculations using the novelization of TPM and the novel The Rising Force. According to the TPM novel, Kenobi and Jinn had been partnered for at least twenty years, while TRF has a 13-year-old Kenobi who has not yet met Qui-Gon Jinn, making Obi-Wan at least 33 in TPM, and thus 65 in ANH.

A timeline given at STAR WARS Celebration in Denver claims Kenobi was 60 at the time of ANH. The STAR WARS Encyclopedia agress with that timeline.

So, we have three possible ages: the "official sources" say 25/57 for age. The novels would make out 33/65, and the encyclopedia would claim 28/60. Any are possible, IMO.