The Star Wars saga has become a sprawling epic, spanning numerous planets, alien races, and massive cosmic battles. In fact, there’s so much stuff happening that sometimes it’s hard to keep it all straight. And that’s why we’re here to explain the entire Star Wars story. The Star Wars story begins during a period of relative peace in the galaxy. A thousand years before the events of the Skywalker Saga, the Jedi Order defeated the Sith Order, seemingly for good. While the Jedi became the keepers of peace in the Galactic Republic, the surviving Sith secretly began plotting to overthrow them. It was near the end of this millennium of peace that Darth Sidious, a Sith Lord who was secretly Senator Sheev Palpatine of Naboo, set in motion his plan to eradicate the Jedi and seize control of the Republic’s government. As part of his plan for galactic domination, Sidious acted as a secret advisor to the Trade Federation, ordering them to blockade and ultimately invade Naboo. Once the Trade Federation arrived on the planet, Sidious slipped back into his Senator Palpatine disguise and advised Naboo’s queen, Padme Amidala, that the current chancellor of the Republic wasn’t acting in their best interests. Working with his his Sith apprentice, Darth Maul, Sidious was able to manipulate and manufacture tensions in the Republic from both sides. Meanwhile, on a mission to protect Amidala, two Jedi Knights, Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, happened upon a young Anakin Skywalker while repairing their ship on Tatooine. Qui-Gon discovered potentially unprecedented levels of Force sensitivity in the boy. After taking Anakin with them, Qui-Gon urged the Jedi Council to train Anakin, but the Jedi were reluctant. After Qui-Gon’s death at the hands of Darth Maul, the Council accepted Anakin as Obi-Wan’s new apprentice. Palpatine was elected chancellor at Amidala’s urging, granting him a place of unprecedented power to further his plans. Following the events of The Phantom Menace, tensions within the Republic continued to rise under Palpatine’s leadership. Anakin Skywalker grew into a young Jedi Knight of considerable Force talents. And finally, Darth Sidious took on a new apprentice, former Jedi Count Dooku, who adopted the Sith name «Darth Tyranus.»