In-universe

The term "in-universe" refers to information presented in the context of the Star Wars universe itself, as opposed to "out-of-universe," information presented in the context of the real world. For instance, the in-universe reason that Han Solo has a scar on his chin is that it was the result of a fight with a knife-wielding thug on Dellalt, while the out-of-universe reason he has it is that the actor who portrayed him, Harrison Ford, has a scar on his chin from a car accident.

"In-universe" also refers to works presented as if they were written by authors within the Star Wars universe. In-universe works are often general-readership source material like The Essential Guide to Alien Species or roleplaying game books like The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook and Platt's Smugglers Guide. To maintain the conceit that they come from within the Star Wars universe, such works omit mention of Star Wars as films or as a media franchise, maintain ignorance of information from later in the timeline than the books are allegedly written, and often posit a fictional "author" to be the in-universe creator of the work in question.

Text and facts from the “In-universe” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.