Despite being made into movies more than 20 years before the prequel trilogy, the events of the original trilogy begin 19 years after the final events of the prequel trilogy. The three films in the original trilogy are Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope, Star Wars Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back, Y Star Wars Episode 6: Return of the Jedi.
The first film in the trilogy begins when Darth Vader has almost completed his massive space station, known as the Death Star. The Death Star has been constructed to allow Vader and Emperor Palpatine (Darth Sidious) to crush the growing rebellion against their evil empire.
Vader catches one of the leaders of the rebellion, Princess Leia, who has stolen the plans for the Death Star. Fortunately, these plans are stored in the droid R2-D2 who, together with his partner C-3PO, manages to escape to the planet Tatooine. Here, the droids are found by Luke Skywalker. While Luke is trying to clean up R2-D2, he triggers a message that Leia has left him with Obi Wan Kenobi, who lives on Tatooine.
Luke and the droids search for Obi Wan Kenobi. Obi Wan tells Luke about his father’s greatness (initially he tells Luke that his father died in a battle with Darth Vader) and begins to teach him about the force. Obi Wan and Luke hire Han Solo and his partner Chewbacca the Wookiee to join the rebels in their fight against Vader.
On the Death Star, Obi Wan gets into a fight with Vader where he allows himself to be killed and forcibly absorbed, where he is able to lead Luke in later moments. Luke and Hans rescue Leia and manage to escape with plans that allow them to destroy the first Death Star.
In the second movie, Vader is still trying to hunt down the rebels. Luke travels to visit Yoda to train and become a Jedi. He leaves in the middle of his training after having a vision that Vader has captured and is going to hurt his friends. In a confrontation in Cloud City with Vader, Vader reveals to Luke that he is his father. Luke escapes and returns to Yoda.
Luke learns that he must face his father to complete his Jedi training. He also learns that Princess Leia is his twin sister. In the film’s final showdown, Luke once again confronts Vader with the Emperor in the room. The Emperor tries to convince Luke to join the Dark Side; However, Luke convinces his father that he still has something good in him. Vader kills the Emperor and the battle ends. The second Death Star is destroyed bringing freedom to the Galaxy.
For at least a while …