--- title: What to Know About Star Wars if You've Never Seen it Before description: May the fourth be with you canonical: https://time.com/3845214/star-wars-primer/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-04T15:04:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:04:11.946Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: 5 Things to Know About "Star Wars" if You've Never Seen It Before og:description: May the fourth be with you og:url: https://time.com/3845214/star-wars-primer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3f476ba6cc3d5b81/6987ee2ae53aba59df4dba94/solo-leia.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: solo-leia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 5 Things to Know About "Star Wars" if You've Never Seen It Before twitter:description: May the fourth be with you twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3f476ba6cc3d5b81/6987ee2ae53aba59df4dba94/solo-leia.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 5 Things to Know About _Star Wars_ If You've Never Seen It Before by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley May 4, 2015 3:04 PM CUT  American actors Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher in costume as brother and sister Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia in George Lucas' Star Wars trilogy, 1977. American actors Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher in costume as brother and sister Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia in George Lucas' Star Wars trilogy, 1977.Terry O'Neill—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley May 4, 2015 3:04 PM CUT If you’ve never seen _Star Wars_ before—not even a clip, not even _a few minutes—_you can probably still understand why Monday is Star Wars Day. It is May 4, after all, and like other date-related memes (see: “[It’s Gonna Be May](http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/its-gonna-be-may "undefined"),” “[It’s October Third](http://knowyourmeme.com/videos/74772-mean-girls "undefined")“), Internet nerds can’t help but share “May the Fourth Be With You” all over social media. So even if you’ve never actually heard Harrison Ford as Han Solo utter the words “May the force be with you,” take it from someone who [only recently watched the franchise for the first time](http://time.com/3816628/star-wars-digital-release-first-time-watch/ "undefined"): it’s pretty easy to get familiar. Here are a few quick facts to catch you up on the iconic franchise for Star Wars Day: **1\. The Empire is bad. The Jedi Knights are good.** You may have been confused by “The Empire Strikes Back,” since bad guys aren’t usually in the title. **2\. Ultimate bad-guy Darth Vader is ultimate good-guy Luke Skywalker’s father.** Because all sci-fi franchises are about the struggle between good and evil. **3\. Princess Leia is Luke’s sister, and therefore Vader’s daughter, too.** So it’s a good thing those two crazy kids never get together romantically. **4\. There are lots of animal villains on the planets they visit, but none of them are very scary looking.** Except Jabba the Hutt. He is _terrifying_. **5\. The Empire is defeated, but the struggle continues** **.** The next installment, _Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens_ will see the old gang picking up the light sabers once again. And now you’re ready to see _Episode V_ _II_. Catch it in theaters Dec. 18, 2015. ### See the Concept Art For the Original Star Wars Movie Trilogy  C-3PO and R2-D2 Courtesy of Lucasfilm  The Millenium Falcon Courtesy of Lucasfilm  Darth Vader Courtesy of Lucasfilm  Y-Wings line up against the Death Star Courtesy of Lucasfilm  An X-Wing versus TIE fighters Courtesy of Lucasfilm  Hoth Courtesy of Lucasfilm  Echo Base Courtesy of Lucasfilm  Battle of Hoth Courtesy of Lucasfilm  Battle of Hoth Courtesy of Lucasfilm  Cloud City of Bespin Courtesy of Lucasfilm  Luke versus Darth Vader Courtesy of Lucasfilm  Luke Skywalker versus Darth Vader Courtesy of Lucasfilm  Dagobah Courtesy of Lucasfilm  Jabba's Palace Courtesy of Lucasfilm  Jabba's Palace Courtesy of Lucasfilm  Luke Skywalker versus a rancor Courtesy of Lucasfilm  Jabba's fall Courtesy of Lucasfilm  Endor Courtesy of Lucasfilm  B-Wings Courtesy of Lucasfilm  Luke Skywalker versus Emperor Palpatine Courtesy of Lucasfilm ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3845214/star-wars-primer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3845214/star-wars-primer/"},"headline":"5 Things to Know About Star Wars If You've Never Seen It Before","datePublished":"2015-05-04T15:04:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:04:11.946Z","description":"May the fourth be with you!","url":"https://time.com/3845214/star-wars-primer/","keywords":["movies","Star Wars topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3f476ba6cc3d5b81/6987ee2ae53aba59df4dba94/solo-leia.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3f476ba6cc3d5b81/6987ee2ae53aba59df4dba94/solo-leia.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"solo-leia","caption":"American actors Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher in costume as brother and sister Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia in George Lucas' Star Wars trilogy, 1977.","creditText":"Terry O'Neill—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3845214/star-wars-primer/","name":"5 Things to Know About Star Wars If You've Never Seen It Before"}}]}] ```