Star Wars finally explains The Empire Strikes Back's timeline of events. While The Empire Strikes Back is widely considered one of the best Star Wars movies, viewers still have some questions about it. One of the more puzzling queries is how much time passes in-universe during the film's runtime. With The Empire Strikes Back frequently cutting between two parallel storylines that are paced fairly quickly, it's difficult to get a read on things such as how long Luke was on Dagobah and how long Han and Leia were on the run from the Empire.
Especially since Jedi younglings started their training at a very young age, some found it odd Luke seemingly spent such little time with Yoda, yet still claimed to have learned so much. Admittedly, Luke hardly had a typical apprenticeship under Yoda - and he willingly cut his training short to fly to Cloud City, but it still appeared as if he was rushed through things. But as it turns out, Luke was on Dagobah for a little longer than viewers might have thought as there's now clarity with regard to The Empire Strikes Back's timeline.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, the canon novel From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back was published. The book retells the movie's events from the perspective of different characters. One chapter, set as Luke is about to leave Dagobah, is told from Obi-Wan's point of view. In it, the old Jedi scoffs at Luke's proclamation he's learned so much:
"But I've learned so much since then!" Luke protests, and I resist the urge to snort. As though carrying Yoda on your shoulders and eating his terrible cooking for a few weeks makes you a Jedi.
Again, with The Empire Strikes Back's cross-cutting, some could make the argument Luke spent just days or even hours on Dagobah. This From a Certain Point of View passage provides needed context by revealing Luke was on the swamp world for about a month. An interesting takeaway is there was more to his training than what was seen in the film. Obi-Wan notes to himself that he had to "facilitate a group therapy session" between Luke and Yoda on multiple occasions, meaning there were other incidents similar to Luke and Yoda's disagreeing over Luke leaving. It will be fascinating to see if the Lucasfilm story group opts to depict any of these in other canon materials. They probably wouldn't be seen onscreen, but they could make entertaining content for a comic book or even another short story anthology.
The revelation of The Empire Strikes Back's timeline in From a Certain Point of View is a great illustration of how the books can complement the movies, helping viewers gain a new appreciation for films they know very well. Similar to other details like Yoda recognizing R2-D2 or specifically when Emperor Palpatine learned Luke is Darth Vader's son, they only add to what's already onscreen. Luke's Jedi training was never a movie-breaking plot hole, but it's still nice to have a better idea of how long he spent with Yoda. He may have still gotten a crash course in the Jedi arts, but at least it was longer than a couple of hours.