One of the most comprehensive Star Wars timeline projects is coming to end, its editor and creator Nathan Butler recently announced. Star Wars Timeline Gold has been one of the best places to deep dive into the entire Star Wars saga, chronicling both the Expanded Universe/Legends timeline and the post-2014 Lucasfilm Story Group timeline.
Beyond the timeline project, Butler contributed to the Expanded Universe in a number of ways, including as the author of the Star Wars Tales story Equals & Opposites, as a resource for the Essential Atlas, and as the writer of a 2006 Databank file on StarWars.com (take a look kids, this is what the website looked like in the old days!).
His most imperishable contribution to the fandom is his timeline project. For those who were around in the pre-social media, pre-Wookiepedia Star Wars fandom, Butler's timeline was a golden treasury of Star Wars information. It celebrated its 20th anniversary last year and has seen many, many revisions and updates. Sadly, the 2018 update will be its final revision.
On his YouTube channel, Butler explained his reasons for wanting to stop. Some were positive, some were negative. The negative centered on the growing toxicity in the broader Star Wars fandom and the frustration felt over the effort put into attempting to map out Star Wars chronology in an era in which the Story Group, in the view of many, appears less interested in chronology and continuity then the fans consuming the material.
You can view his announcement in the video below. While you're there, check out the rest of his YouTube channel and his latest book, which provides comprehensive information about the wonderful world of Star Wars home video. Highly recommended.
We will miss the continued updates and revisions, especially since the Legends storyline is continuing to unearth lost stories and the Old Republic is continuing to produce occasional short stories, all of which deserve their proper chronological treatment. There are other Star Wars timelines, including those by our friends at Starwarstimeline.net and Starwarstimeline.com, but Star Wars Timeline Gold is one of those institutions in the fandom that can't be replaced.
YouTube - Nathan Butler - "The End of the Star Wars Timeline Gold: Three Reasons and a Lot of Saltiness"