Star Wars is an epic space-opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas. The original film (Star Wars), retroactively subtitled Episode IV: A New Hope (1977), was followed by the sequels Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983), forming the original Star Wars trilogy. George Lucas later returned to the series to direct a prequel trilogy, consisting of Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999), Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002), and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
The Star Wars franchise depicts the adventures of characters "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away", in which humans and many species of aliens co-exist with robots. A mystical power known as the Force is described in the original film as "an energy field created by all living things... [that] binds the galaxy together" The Force is wielded by two major knightly orders at conflict with each other: the Jedi, peacekeepers of the Galactic Republic, and the Sith, who use the dark side by manipulating fear and aggression.