Who Is the Secret Narrator of Star Wars?

1977’sStar Wars: Episode IV - A New Hopebroke new ground in more ways than one, dazzling fans with these stories set “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.” The opening crawl from this original classic became a hallmark of the franchise, with the scrolling text setting up the adventure that would follow on the big screen. As it turns out, though, the opening crawl text from all theStar Wars moviesactually comes from a narrator, who until now, was anonymous.

In 2014,Chris Taylorpublished a book dubbedHow Star Wars Conquered the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of a Multibillion Dollar Franchise, where the journalist delves through the history of this multi-billion dollar franchise. The author reveals in his book that, on the set ofStar Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, franchise creatorGeorge Lucasrevealed what he called his “ultimate framing device” to animation directorRob Coleman, after he arrived for his first day of work. Here’s an excerpt from the book, available onAmazon, which reveals who theStar Warsnarrator really is.

“The entire story of Star Wars is actually being recounted to the keeper of theJournal of the Whills-remember that?-a hundred years after the events ofReturn of the Jediby none other than R2-D2.”

The Journal of the Whills was originally conceived as a plot device that would have connected theStar Wars galaxyto the “real world,” although that idea was ultimately scrapped. InStar Warslore, The Journal of the Whills was a record of all the events that transpired in the galaxy, which was recorded by a secret organization known as the Ancient Order of the Whills. The Journal was first mentioned in the novelization ofA New Hope, and the novelization ofStar Wars: The Force Awakensactually opens with the following quote from the Journal.

“First comes the day Then comes the night. After the darkness Shines through the light. The difference, they say, Is only made right By the resolving of gray Through refined Jedi sight. ― Journal of the Whills, 7:477[src]”

It’s not terribly surprising that R2-D2 is the narrator, since this beloved droid is one of the few characters who is in all seven movies. The book points out that Artoo is also “fully formed” inStar Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, unlike C-3PO, and R2 doesn’t have his memory erased like C-3PO did at the end ofStar Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. What isn’t known is if this narrator tradition will carry over into the new movies.

While R2-D2 certainly is present inStar Wars: The Force Awakens, he is largely inactive for most of the movie, until the very end when he springs to life after being presented with the rest of the map to Luke Skywalker’s whereabouts from BB-8. Since R2 wasn’t exactly around to see all of the events transpire inStar Wars: The Force Awakens, perhaps BB-8 could serve as the new “narrator” for this trilogy. It’s also worth noting thatStar Wars: The Force Awakensis set 32 years afterReturn of the Jedi, which means there is 68 years in between that movie and R2-D2’s recounting of the whole saga to the Journal keeper. We don’t know if there are any plans for this new trilogy to catch up with R2-D2’s narration, but we’ll have to wait and see.