You've seen the posters. Maybe you've even bought one for your office or your kid's bedroom. It looks exactly like the chemistry chart that haunted your high school nightmares, but instead of Hydrogen and Helium, you've got Skywalker and Snoke. Honestly, the star wars periodic table is one of those fan creations that shouldn't work as well as it does. It's a weirdly perfect collision of scientific organization and space-opera chaos.
People love lists. We love sorting things. There's something inherently satisfying about taking a sprawling, forty-plus-year franchise and forcing it into neat little boxes. But if you actually look at these tables—and there are dozens of versions floating around the internet—you realize they aren't just art. They are a snapshot of how we understand the lore. Some focus on the "elements" of the universe like Kyber crystals and Mandalorian iron. Others, the more popular ones, treat characters as the building blocks of the narrative.
But here's the thing: most people get it wrong. They think it's just a random grid. It's not. Or at least, the good ones aren't.
What Actually Goes Into a Star Wars Periodic Table?
A real chemist would probably have a stroke looking at some of these designs. In a standard periodic table, the placement of an element tells you its atomic weight and how it reacts with others. In the fan-made star wars periodic table, the logic usually shifts toward "factions" or "eras." You’ll typically see the Jedi taking up the space where the Alkali Metals usually sit. They’re reactive. They’re foundational.
Then you have the Sith. They usually occupy the far right, like Noble Gases, though they are anything but inert. They are the heavy hitters. If you look at the version famously designed by the team at Mental Floss or various artists on DeviantArt, you’ll see they group characters by their "atomic" role in the story.
- The Rebels/Resistance: Usually the first few rows. The building blocks of the "good" side.
- The Empire/First Order: The heavy, often unstable elements at the bottom.
- Bounty Hunters and Scoundrels: These are the transition metals. They move between groups. They don't really fit anywhere, which is exactly why we love them.
It's basically a shorthand for understanding power dynamics. When you see Han Solo (Hs) and Chewbacca (Ch) next to each other, it’s not just because they’re buddies. It’s because, in the chemistry of the original trilogy, they are a compound. You can't really have one without the functional properties of the other.
The Kyber Problem: Real Elements vs. Characters
There's a massive debate in the fandom about what a "true" periodic table of this universe should look like. Should it be the characters? Or should it be the actual materials found in the galaxy?
If we’re being pedantic—and let's be real, Star Wars fans are the kings of pedantry—a scientifically accurate version would feature things like Beskar, Carbonite, and Coaxium.
Beskar is the big one. It's essentially the most sought-after element in the current Disney+ era. If you were building a table based on the Mandalorian series, Beskar would be your Gold or Platinum. It’s rare. It’s indestructible. It defines the culture of the people who use it. Then you have Kyber crystals. These aren't just "rocks." They are living, breathing lattices that connect to the Force. In a material-based star wars periodic table, Kyber would be the Hydrogen—the element that powers everything else.
Most creators, however, realize that a chart full of fictional minerals like Duranium and Promethium (yes, that’s a real thing in Legends) doesn't sell as well as a chart with Yoda’s face on it.
✨ Don't miss: Boyd Fowler Actor: Why You Recognize the Guy From Dexter Season 5
Why the Character Grid Always Wins
It comes down to recognizability. You can tell a story with characters. You can't easily explain the political downfall of the Republic using a chart of starship fuel.
When an artist puts Luke Skywalker in the "1" spot, they are making a claim. They’re saying he is the lightest, most essential element. He is the starting point. When they put Palpatine at the bottom, they’re suggesting he’s a heavy, radioactive isotope that eventually decays and destroys everything around him. It’s clever. It’s a way of teaching the "science" of storytelling through the lens of actual science.
Complexity and the Legend vs. Canon Divide
One of the biggest hurdles for anyone trying to design a star wars periodic table today is the Great Canon Purge of 2014. Before Disney bought Lucasfilm, the "Expanded Universe" (now Legends) was a mess of thousands of characters. Trying to fit them into 118 slots was impossible.
Now, even with the "restricted" canon, we have a massive influx of characters from The High Republic, Andor, and The Bad Batch.
I’ve seen some fans try to create "Extended" tables. These are monstrosities. They have 200 or 300 entries. They break the periodic format entirely. But that’s the beauty of it. The Star Wars universe is too big for a single chart. It’s expanding faster than we can categorize it.
Does it actually help you learn chemistry?
Kinda. But not really.
If you’re a teacher trying to get a middle-schooler to memorize the layout of the real table, using a Star Wars version is a great "gateway drug." It teaches the concept of groups and periods. It shows that things in the same column share traits. If all the Droids are in Column 18, the student learns that Column 18 represents a specific family.
But don't try to use the atomic weights. They're usually just the character's first appearance year or some random trivia number. If you tell your chemistry professor that Darth Vader has an atomic mass of 19.77, you’re going to fail.
Where to Find the Best Versions
If you're looking to actually get one of these for your wall, you have to be careful. There are a lot of low-quality rips out there.
- The "Classic" Fan-Art Versions: Sites like Etsy and Redbubble are crawling with these. Look for ones that use the actual chemical symbol shorthand. It’s much cooler when "R2" stands for R2-D2 but is placed where a real element would be.
- The "Material" Charts: These are rarer. You usually find them in "Visual Dictionary" books published by DK. They don't always follow the periodic layout, but they give the best factual info on things like Tibanna gas or Cortosis.
- Interactive Digital Versions: Some fans have built clickable tables where hovering over "Vd" (Vader) brings up a full bio and a list of his "chemical reactions" with other characters.
The Actionable Side of the Galaxy
If you’re a collector or a creator looking to dive into this niche, don’t just settle for the first JPEG you find on Google Images.
First, decide what you actually value: the science or the characters. If you're a lore nerd, hunt for the material-based charts. They offer a much deeper look into how the Star Wars galaxy actually functions on a physical level. If you're looking for a gift, the character-based ones are the way to go because they trigger that immediate emotional connection.
For the DIY crowd, making your own star wars periodic table is actually a top-tier way to master the lore.
Start by listing your top 118 characters. Try to group them by their "reactivity." Who are the catalysts? Who are the stable ones who never change? By the time you finish, you’ll realize you’ve done a deep-dive character analysis without even trying. It’s a project that forces you to look at the franchise as a cohesive system rather than just a series of movies.
Get a high-resolution print if you’re buying. Many of the online versions are low-res and look blurry when printed larger than a standard sheet of paper. Look for vector files (SVG or PDF) if you have the option. This ensures the text stays sharp, which is crucial when you’re trying to read tiny "atomic" notes about Wookies.
Check the date of the creation too. A table made in 2012 is going to be missing Rey, Finn, and Grogu. If you want the complete picture, you need something updated post-2023 to ensure the "Mandoverse" is represented. This is a living document, much like the actual periodic table is when scientists discover new superheavy elements in a lab. The galaxy is always growing.
Practical Next Steps
- Verify the Source: Before buying a poster, check if the creator updated the "atomic numbers" to match the years of first appearance. It adds a layer of depth that cheap knock-offs miss.
- Choose Your Focus: Decide if you want a "Canon-only" table or one that includes "Legends." Mixing them can get messy if you’re a stickler for the timeline.
- DIY Your Own: Use a blank periodic table template and try to fit the characters from a single show, like The Clone Wars, into the grid. It’s a great way to see how character arcs mirror chemical properties.