Time travel / Legends Time travel referred to travel from one point in time to another , analogous to travel from point to point in realspace or hyperspace . It does not generally refer to a body ' s natural experience of the flow of time along with the rest of the universe ; rather , it refers to travel to the past against the natural flow of time , or travel to the future at a rate faster than that of the rest of the universe . While time travel was an exceedingly rare phenomenon , a few cases were partially documented . No record of deliberate , physical time travel is known — all known cases involved unusual hyperdrive malfunctions , the effects of the Force , or similar exotic events . Description . The term time travel describes the concept of moving between different points in time , either traveling from the present to the future without experiencing the intervening period , or shifting backward in time to the past . Time travel was a rare phenomenon , but it was achieved on several occasions , mostly by accident . The known incidents mostly involved people or objects traveling to the future , however , several occurrences of time travel to the past were also documented . Methods of time traveling . Though most variations of time travel were discovered accidentally , at least one method of traveling to the future at a seemingly faster rate was widely known in the galaxy . — though not strictly defined as time traveling , as there was no actual " skipping " over any period in time — was a phenomena that caused time to flow differently for two observers due to them being in relative motion to each other . This way , a period of time that lasted several hours from one person ' s point of view could take days and even years from the other person ' s perspective . Because of the high velocity of hyperspace travel , time dilation was a common side - effect of it , and the ship traveling in hyperspace would normally move forward in time faster than the rest of the galaxy . To counteract this effect , relativistic shield ing was installed aboard hyperspace - capable starships , which aligned the hyperspace - traveling object ' s time perception with that of the outside world . The shielding , however , was not perfect and could malfunction in some rare cases , leaving the person inside the starship open to the effects of time dilation . As an extension of the above effect of hyperspace , a malfunctioning hyperdrive could open an unstable hyperspace tunnel leading to another time frame , and even to a different part of the galaxy . In addition to hyperspace travel , time dilation could be achieved by entering a large mass of black holes with high gravitational fields , such as the ones that formed the Tyus Cluster . Provided that the traveler survived the dangerous trip , he could virtually emerge from the anomaly at any future time period , as time moved very fast at the center of the mass , to the point that it appeared not to exist at all . There were also several items that allowed time travel . The Darkstaff was a powerful and seemingly sentient Sith artifact , which power could be possessed by a Force - sensitive to create a Force storm leading to another time period . Another artifact , the Orb of Passage , was implied to control the flow of time ; it was discovered on the planet Benja - Rihn and kept by the Jedi Order . Finally , it was rumored that the Jerni civilization used the so - called Eternity Crystal to reset the timeline in case of a major crisis . Some species , such as the Bedlam Spirits , also had the power to manipulate time , and even claimed that they had " invented " it . Two distinct usages of the Force to travel in time were also known . The first was the simple will of the Force , as it could bind two individuals together , allowing them to relive the past in their last moments , though retaining all their memories of the future events . The other was a rare Force power used by the Aing - Tii monks called flow - walking . It allowed one to see the past and the future , though they could not change anything there , except for leaving an imprint of themselves in the Force . History . Confirmed cases . The flight of the " Harbinger " . In 5000 BBY , during the Great Hyperspace War , Jedi Master Relin Druur and his Padawan Drev Hassin tracked the Sith dreadnaught " Harbinger " , captained by Druur ' s Jedi apprentice – turned – Sith Lord Saes Rrogon , to the Phaegon system . Druur infiltrated the " Harbinger " and sabotaged the ship ' s hyperdrive . Druur then dueled Rrogon and fled the " Harbinger " aboard an escape pod . The " Harbinger " fled into hyperspace using its damaged hyperdrive , causing both the " Harbinger " and Druur ' s escape pod to travel through time to the year 41 . 5 ABY . Darth Rivan and the Darkstaff . During the New Sith Wars , the Sith Lord Darth Rivan had strange dreams about being called by the artifact known only as the Darkstaff and tracked it down to Almas in the Cularin system . According to Rivan ' s dreams , the Darkstaff had already caused some ancient tragedy in the Cularin system , and had been hidden away to prevent any further catastrophe . Rivan believed that the destruction of the planet Oblis , which created the Cularin system asteroid belt and a nexus of dark side power , was the aftermath of this event . Rivan believed that the Darkstaff drew him there , hoping to use him as a way to leave the system . Having consolidated an army of darksider s , Rivan settled on Almas , erecting a fortress there , where he began learning the mysteries of the dark side of the Force . Further investigation led Rivan to believe that the Darkstaff was not intentionally created , but was rather the byproduct of another experiment . Measuring a meter in length and four centimeters in diameter , the Darkstaff seemed to consume any light around it . It also consumed any Force energy in the vicinity , literally feeding on the Force . The Darkstaff wanted to be discovered by Rivan so that he could use it as a weapon against his enemies , so it invaded his dreams . Its release would allow the Darkstaff to gain power , both for itself and over Rivan , until it eventually consumed Rivan himself . Rivan initially refused to go in search of the artifact , fearing that its release would cause great damage to the galaxy . However , when the Jedi assaulted Almas , he obtained the Darkstaff and it created a Force storm that swept him through time and space to the planet Ruusan , during the battles between the Jedi Army of Light and the Sith Brotherhood of Darkness several centuries later . There , with his Force power drained by the Darkstaff , he was easily slain by a Force - sensitive warrior . Centuries later , Darth Rivan ' s writings were discovered by the Jedi Knights who built the Almas Academy . Word of the Darkstaff reached the ears of the smuggler Len Markus , who set out to search for it . Markus was observed removing something from the Cularin system ' s asteroid belt , an event which preceded the appearance of strange creatures hiding among the asteroids . Shortly after the Invasion of Naboo , the Cularin system disappeared for several years , before reappearing just as suddenly during the Clone Wars , with its inhabitants not experiencing the passage of time . It was believed that Markus found the Darkstaff , and that its release from captivity was the cause of the entire Cularin system ' s shift in time . Bosbit Matarcher , the 225 - year - old man . In 212 BBY , the Human male Bosbit Matarcher engaged the hyperdrive on his newly purchased Delemedian starhopper , intending to take a short trip from his homeworld of Delemede . Due to faulty relativistic shield ing , what he experienced as a two - hour trip took 190 years from the perspective of the rest of the galaxy . His experiences brought him brief notoriety when he arrived in 22 BBY , resulting in a HoloNet News interview . Matarcher took the experience in stride , as his run - down homeworld had become prosperous in the meantime . However , he decided to let someone else fly him home . Matarcher ' s trip was not strictly defined as time " travel " to the future , however , as he did not " skip over " any period of time . Instead , time merely passed in a distorted manner for him due to the well - known effects of . Kinnin Vo - Shay ' s escape from the Tyus Cluster . Renowned gambler Kinnin Vo - Shay ' s experiences were similar to those of Bosbit Matarcher . Circa 50 BBY , Vo - Shay ' s ship , the " Ashanda Ray " , was caught in the Tyus Cluster , a mass of black holes . Vo - Shay would have died , crushed in a black hole with his ship like many travelers before him . However , one of the Tyus Cluster ' s previous victims was the Jedi Master Aryzah , who had managed to survive the destruction of her body as a Force ghost . She made contact with the slightly Force - sensitive Vo - Shay , and helped him fly the " Ashanda Ray " out of the cluster . However , the high gravitational fields of the region had caused significant time dilation . In Vo - Shay ' s words , " " at the center of that mass of ugly black holes , time was nonexistent . " " When Vo - Shay and Aryzah escaped the cluster , he found that some fifty years had passed for the rest of the Galaxy since Vo - Shay ' s disappearance . The secret of Tet - Ami . In the last decades of the Galactic Republic , the Temple of Tet - Ami on Benja - Rihn was the subject of much speculation . Built some four thousand years earlier , the temple commemorated a great hero called Tet - Ami , the Time Guardian , who saved the armies of the capital city Carthas from a plague of insect - like beasts in an epic battle . The temple contained a statue of Tet - Ami , holding an artifact called the " Orb of Passage " which was said to control the flow of time . Sometime after the temple ' s construction , the orb was secretly taken by the Jedi Order , and the temple was lost . Just as the rediscovered temple was about to be excavated by an archaeological dig , the Jedi High Council sent Mace Windu to secretly enter the temple . His mission was to place the orb into the outstretched hand of the statue of Tet - Ami before the archaeologists arrived . Windu had no trouble entering the cave without being seen , and easily fought off a few ancient battle droids who guarded the temple ' s inner sanctum . He was surprised , however , to find that Tet - Ami ' s statue resembled him . Even more surprising was what happened when Windu placed the orb in the statue ' s hand . Windu was sent backwards in time , appearing on a battlefield just as the Carthasian armies were about to be attacked . Windu joined the fight , and turned the tide of battle . After spending four days in the past , he returned to his own time period , arriving just as the archaeologists entered the temple . When he returned to Coruscant , Yoda revealed to Windu that the Jedi Council had long known the secrets of Tet - Ami , and were simply waiting for the orb ' s energies to recharge , and for a Jedi Knight named Mace Windu to join the order , take the Orb of Passage back to Carthas , and win the battle . Thus , the time paradox was neatly resolved . The Sooma / Alzar incident . While working as diplomatic couriers around 15 BBY , the droids R2 - D2 and C - 3PO were assigned to escort the child Prince Plooz from the planet Sooma to his home world of Alzar . Along the way , their ship was attacked by the forces of General Sludd , a renegade from Alzar who was plotting to kill the prince in order to start a war which would allow him to conquer both planets . In an effort to escape , R2 - D2 engaged the hyperdrive even though Prince Plooz , in an effort to help , had damaged the antimatter power systems . The droids and the prince jumped to hyperspace just as Sludd ' s electron torpedo es detonated . Whether because of the damage to the hyperdrive power systems , the explosion of the nearby electron torpedoes , or both , their ship came out of hyperspace in a starless void . Their only apparent exit was a rift which took them to the Endor system — but when they went through the rift , they discovered that they had not only traveled to another system , but to another time . Plooz , believing himself to be in his home system , ran away from his caretakers in an escape pod which took him to the forest moon of Endor . After some adventures on Endor , where R2 - D2 and C - 3PO met the Ewoks of Bright Tree Village and rescued the royal toddler from a group of Duloks led by King Gorneesh , the droids and the prince returned to their ship and went back through the time rift . They arrived only minutes after they left , escaped Sludd ' s forces , and brought the prince back to Alzar safely . While C - 3PO and R2 - D2 ' s readings on arrival in the Endor system implied that they had traveled anywhere from ten to one hundred years into the future , the Ewoks and Duloks they met on Endor included such figures as Wicket W . Warrick and Chief Chirpa who participated in the Battle of Endor . When C - 3PO returned to Endor in 4 ABY , he did not seem to recognize any of the Ewoks he had met previously , though memories of the golden droid ' s previous , seemingly supernatural appearance affected the Ewoks ' worshipful attitude towards him . The Bedlam Spirits and Princess Leia . At another time during the Galactic Civil War , Princess Leia Organa , fleeing from the Empire , crashed on an unknown planet . There , she discovered what seemed to be the remains of stormtroopers who had been dead for many thousands of years . Before she could investigate further , however , she was chased by three stormtroopers and discovered a group of " spirits " — Tilotny , Horliss - Horliss , Splendid Ap , and Cold Danda Sine — who had immense powers , capable of shaping space and time . While the spirits were in the middle of a conversation , they noticed Leia and the stormtroopers who had been chasing her . The spirits decided to " play " with the four Humans , and managed to kill all of them in the process . Once they were finished , though , Splendid Ap was tasked with returning the four beings to normal . Ap resurrected the three stormtroopers , but not having a concept of time , also transported them back 8 , 000 years in the past ; these were the stormtroopers whose remains Leia had encountered when she crashed . Leia , however , escaped the stormtroopers ' fate and was restored just as she had been previously in the correct time . Lak Sivrak ' s experience . In 0 BBY , Lak Sivrak , a Shistavanen scout who had left the Imperial Survey Corps , met the Lamproid Dice Ibegon in Chalmun ' s Spaceport Cantina in Mos Eisley . Coincidentally , they met on the same day Luke Skywalker and Obi - Wan Kenobi contacted Han Solo and Chewbacca to arrange passage to Alderaan on the " Millennium Falcon " . Ibegon recruited Sivrak into the Rebel Alliance , and the two fell in love . The couple was parted when Ibegon died in Sivrak ' s arms during the Battle of Hoth . Sivrak continued to fight with the Alliance , until he too was killed during the Battle of Endor . In his last moments , Sivrak remembered pivotal moments of his life , including his lover ' s death and the day he and Ibegon saw Skywalker and Kenobi enter Chalmun ' s Cantina . He was guided in these reminiscences by Ibegon ' s spirit , which took him to earlier points in his life through the Force . During these travels , Sivrak retained his memories and thus could predict what would happen next . Though he mostly experienced events during which he was present , one trip took Sivrak to Chalmun ' s Cantina in the aftermath of Jabba the Hutt ' s death and the subsequent rebellion against the Empire which occurred after Sivrak ' s death . Eventually , Sivrak ' s travels ended when he realized that the Force had binded him and Ibegon together , letting them experience these events one more time . Reunited in spirit , the lovers observed the celebrations of the Empire ' s defeat on the moon of Endor . Flow - walking . Jacen Solo learned a Force power called " flow - walking " from the Aing - Tii . This ability allowed him to not only view the past and future , but also leave an imprint of himself there . He used this power in 35 ABY to witness the crash of the " Tachyon Flier " in 27 ABY , and leave an imprint of himself for his mother , Leia Organa Solo , to follow . In 40 ABY , Jacen flow - walked two more times , this time to the Jedi Temple to observe the fall of his grandfather , Anakin Skywalker . Ben Skywalker used flow - walking to witness Jacen while he learned the ability from the Aing - Tii . Alleged cases . Luke Skywalker ' s first meeting with his father . In 9 BBY , young Luke Skywalker ran away from home after an argument with his uncle and guardian Owen Lars . The disagreement stemmed from Lars ' refusal to give his nephew any more information about Luke ' s father , Anakin Skywalker ( by then known as Darth Vader . ) As Luke wandered into the Tatooine desert , he became lost in a sudden sandstorm . Soon after seeing a vision of a tall dark figure , he met a boy around his age calling himself " Annie . " Though Luke did not realize it , he was speaking to his father as he was in another time . The two boys realized they had much in common : both were natural pilots , both wanted to leave Tatooine someday , both could sense events before they happened , and neither one knew their father . Discovering the body of a Tusken Raider buried in the sand , the boys took a gaffi stick from the corpse and sought shelter in a nearby cave . A pack of womp rats drove them back out into the storm , where they stumbled upon an R5 - series astromech droid . Annie rigged up the astromech ' s motivator to explode , sending up a flare . Instead of attracting rescue , the flare attracted a krayt dragon , which attacked the two boys . Losing sight of Annie , Luke threw the gaffi stick into the throat of the dragon , killing it . Luke fell unconscious , and was later found by his uncle and a rescue party . While there was no sign of the krayt dragon or Annie , Luke was convinced that his experiences were more than just a dream . The Eternity Crystal hoax . During the Galactic Civil War , Luke Skywalker came across an abandoned spacecraft of unknown origins while on a reconnaissance mission for the Rebel Alliance . A set of image tape s recovered from the derelict , once decoded , showed that the ship was an artifact of the extinct Jerni civilization . These tapes also talked about an artifact called the " Eternity Crystal " , used by the long - lost Jerni civilization to control the flow of time . According to the tapes , this power was used to prevent conflicts and crises within their society by reversing their history and starting again on a different path . The tape also gave the location of the crystal , in a vault near Adony Station on the planet Jerne . The Rebel leadership quickly realized that such power could be used to their advantage in the war — for that matter , it could be used to prevent the rise of the Galactic Empire and stop the war from even starting . Luke , together with his droid R2 - D2 and Princess Leia Organa , was sent on a mission to Jerne to investigate . As it turned out , the " Jerni " ship and the image tapes on board were fakes created by Imperial technicians under the orders of Darth Vader . The story of the Eternity Crystal was only the bait for a trap intended for Princess Leia , who Vader knew would want to change history to bring back her beloved Alderaan . As soon as they arrived on Jerne , the three Rebels were immediately met with opposition from the waiting Imperial garrison . They were forced to ask a group of local guerrillas and bandits led by Meeka Reen for assistance , but Reen betrayed them in an attempt to take the crystal for herself . Luckily for Skywalker and Organa , this meant Reen and her henchmen were killed by the Empire ' s traps , while the Rebels escaped Jerne unharmed by stealing Lord Vader ' s TIE / sh VIP shuttle . Sam Heggs ' s account . In 3 ABY , a spacer and hunter named Sam Heggs was traveling through Mos Eisley , where he told an odd story to a bounty hunter named Jeet Travis . Heggs claimed that while on Nimba Five hunting bemis , he came across a nest of grumph eggs . Soon afterward , though it was the middle of Nimba Five ' s long winter , he found a lush jungle nearby . In the jungle , he came across a young man being chased by a grumph . Heggs was unable to affect anything in the jungle in order to help the young man , though he was able to communicate with him . However , he somehow discovered that he was viewing an incident in the past , but that changes he made in the present would go backwards in time . Apparently , the grumph was experiencing time in reverse , so destroying an egg in the present would cause it not to exist in the past . Heggs began destroying the grumph eggs , eventually destroying the egg which erased the grumph which menaced the young man . Heggs determined that the young man was himself in an earlier time period , since he recognized his initials on the young man ' s backpack . Other than Heggs ' s story and the sack of grumph eggs he brought with him to Mos Eisley , no evidence of this incident exists . It may only have been a nonsensical story which Heggs used to separate Travis from his bottle of Vaschean rye . Behind the scenes . Although time travel is central in many works of , it generally plays a minor role in " Star Wars " works . However , time travel does have rare appearances in the Expanded Universe . Time travel was also a plot device used in " Alien Exodus " , a canceled and thus non - canonical novel . In " Alien Exodus " , the humans of the " Star Wars " galaxy are revealed to be the descendants of a group of refugees from Earth whose ship accidentally traveled through a wormhole . This wormhole took them not just to another galaxy , but to another time , billions of years in the past : in other words , they found themselves " a long time ago , in a galaxy far , far away . " Another non - canon story which links the " Star Wars " universe with Earth is " Into the Great Unknown " part of " Star Wars Tales 19 " . In this story , a hyperspace accident leads Han Solo and Chewbacca to crash the " Millennium Falcon " on an unknown planet which is obviously Earth . 126 years later , the wreckage and Han Solo ' s body are discovered by Indiana Jones . Depending on how long ago " a long time ago " is assumed to be , the " Falcon " trip in this story may also have involved time travel . In any case , since Han Solo dies in the story , " Into the Great Unknown " is non - canon .