In the Star Wars timeline, when does SW:TOR take place?

The old republic era in general goes from 25,053 BBY to 1000 BBY.

But when exactly does the game take place in relation to Episode 1 of the Star Wars Movie Saga? Are any of the movie characters born yet? Is any of that known?

I normally listen to cutscenes and read quest text, but I don't recall any information about that and there seem to be no sort of books in the game that explain any background story / lore of the game.

4

3 Answers

It is set around 300 years after the events of KOTOR (placed at 3956 BBY), which puts it around 3600 years before the events of the original trilogy. 3653 BBY is the most common date, however the storyline of the game expands both before and after that.

There are books that explain the back story of the game, as well as games. However, obviously these sources don't place themselves in time in relation to events that haven't happened yet.

The assumed oldest character from the movies, I think, is Yoda. He is around 2700 years away from being born at this point in the timeline.

4

Don't know if this will further the answer of TZHX or not but I found the historical stuff posted (by the devs) at this link Galactic-History -- SWTOR Holonet helps. Companion books are great as well if you're an avid reader as I am.

General consenus from communities I've participated in has placed it to between 3500 and 4000 BBY

Looking into the Galactic Timeline on Wookieepedia it states that Revan was born around the year of 3990 BBY (Before Battle of Yavin), which we know has already occurred at least two full centuries before SWTOR. We are also told that in the years before 1032 BBY the Battle and Reclamation of Coruscant occur, which we are once again told within the SWTOR Gameplay that this event has already occurred at least a few decades ago.

So that gives us from the year let's say 3600 BBY to sometime before the year 1032 BBY when we know that the Old Republic finally collapse while the Sith were driven into hiding and Darth Bane created The Rule of Two.

I hoped that helped answer your question, it gave me a reason to finally do the research necessary to actually answer the question and not just ask.