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mimesereMostly because I am trying to decide how best to format an illustrated version of this. Possibly this will need to involve flow charts or an animation.
Please note, this is a *really rough* timeline because there are whole episodes in there that I ignore 'cause they don't matter right this second in establishing What Happened to get the timeline to "Five Years Gone."
I went with 2007 as a year because the bumper put the "Five Years Gone" in 2012. Specific dates where I have them, the dates around "Homecoming" are iffy, largely because I couldn't see the calendar in the background clearly and I haven't given this the thorough rewatch that I should and it's harder to tell what the subsequent dates are without those.
Timeline A
late september-10/02/07 - 1x01 (discovery of powers, etc)
10/02/07 - 1x02 (Hiro jumps through space and time to NYC). Hiro jumps forward to 11/08/07, sees explosion, returns to 10/02/07 with the issue #14 of the comic, decides to save the world.
10/03/07-10/04/07 - 1x03 (Hiro's been gone from Japan for two days)
10/05/07 - Hiro arrives in LV.
10/12/07 (ish) - Sylar in Midland, Texas. Kills Charlie-the-waitress.
10/13/07 (ish) - Claire tastybrained by Sylar. Sylar gains regenerative power.
10/13/07-11/07/07 - unknown.
11/07/07 - Nathan wins election.
11/08/07 - Issue #14: "Hiro Arrives in New York" is out on newsstands. Isaac's dead body is discovered (tastybrained by Sylar). Hiro tries to kill Sylar, fails due to Sylar's absorption of Claire's powers[1]. Explosion.
sometime in 2012 - Hiro decides to go back and deliver the message "Save the cheerleader, save the world."
Up until the events of "Hiros," timeline B is a reiteration of timeline A. Once the "save the cheerleader, save the world" message is delivered, the timelines split. Timeline A ceases to exist, timeline B becomes primary[2].
Timeline B
04/07 - "Six Months Ago"[3]
late september-10/02/07 - 1x01 (discovery of powers, etc)
10/02/07 - 1x02 (Hiro jumps through space and time to NYC). Hiro jumps forward to 11/08/07, sees explosion, returns to 10/02/07 with the issue #14 of the comic, decides to save the world.
10/03/07-10/04/07 - 1x03 (Hiro's been gone from Japan for two days)
10/05/07 - Hiro arrives in LV. future!Hiro travels to this date in time and delivers the message "Save the cheerleader, save the world."
10/05/07-10/12/07 - Stuff happens. Peter, Hiro, and Ando make their way to Odessa to save Claire.
10/12/07 (ish) - Sylar in Midland, Texas. Kills Charlie. Hiro jumps back in time to some point in 04/07 (start iteration 2 of timeline B or ignore this if it is confusing).
10/13/07 (ish) - Claire saved by Peter, Sylar DOES NOT get to tastybrain Claire and become regenerative. Peter has vision of himself exploding in NYC[4].
10/13/07-11/07/07 - all sorts of stuff (end of 1x11-1x19). Hiro jumps forward in time to 11/08/12. Isaac sends Issue #15 of comic to publisher. Isaac is killed by Sylar. Hiro returns from his trip 5 years into the future.
11/07/07 - Nathan wins election.
11/08/07 - Issue #14: "Hiro Arrives in New York" is out on newsstands. Isaac's dead body is discovered (murdered by Sylar). Explosion.
11/08/07-11/08/12 - It all goes dystopic.
prior to November 8th in 2012 - Hiro decides to go back and deliver the message "Save the cheerleader, save the world."
11/08/12 - Hiro meets future!Hiro and tells him that a) they saved the cheerleader and b) that they haven't killed Sylar. Events of "Five Years Gone." Hiro grabs the "Hiro in the Future" comic and takes it back with him when he returns to the first week of November-ish.
Timeline C
This is possible, but iffy. Because future!Hiro doesn't remember meeting himself (not necessarily an indicator of a timeline split, since he has no memory of Timeline B events anyway) and the established events recounted in "Five Years Gone" may or may not come to pass. We won't know until the finale whether or not Hiro's trip to the future nets any kind of significant change. If it does, then Timeline C kicks in with Hiro's return from 2012. If nothing changes, then we're still in Timeline B.
Good times, y'all. I heart time travel! I am working on the illustrated version of all this, complete with actual dates and stuff, but that needs me to have more time than I currently do so I can watch the series through again.
[1] Sylar may not have regenerative powers, but he has faster-than-normal healing and/or control over his body sufficient to heal quickly from injuries that Peter survived through absorption of Claire's powers which would otherwise have killed him and which ability also contributes to Sylar's ability to physically fake his own death.
[2] When future!Hiro returns to 2012, he cannot return to timeline A's 2012 because it has ceased to exist. My assumption is that because he's in 2007 when the split occurs, he is the sole retainer of memory for Timeline A and is exempt from the changes he brought about to create Timeline B. This would be why future!Hiro doesn't know that Claire is alive until Hiro tells him. 5YG!Peter clearly never tells future!Hiro that a) Claire is alive, b) Peter's the exploding man, c) that Sylar does not die in the explosion, and d) that Nathan lies about the person who caused the explosion. Why Peter doesn't tell him IS A GODDAMN MYSTERY OF STUPIDITY, but is possibly related to Peter's guilt at blowing up NYC and/or his desire to protect his family (Claire, Nathan) and/or some other mysterious reason like being dumber than Mohinder sometimes. If future!Hiro is right and Sylar is the exploding man in timeline A, then at least one major change is the shift from Sylar-as-exploding-man to Peter-as-exploding-man. If future!Hiro is *wrong* in his initial assumption -- that Sylar is the exploding man rather than Ted or Peter -- then he's working with incredibly bad information and the succesful saving of the cheerleader does not have a damn thing to do with saving the world. Further, if Sylar tastybrains Claire in Timeline A, there's nothing to say that he doesn't survive the explosion the way we know Peter does in Timeline B.
Yes, footnote 2 is INCREDIBLY LONG. The main difference between Timeline A and Timeline B is that future!Hiro delivers the message "save the cheerleader, save the world." We know it doesn't happen in Timeline A because future!Hiro doesn't remember it happening. Nor does future!Hiro remember meeting himself. So neither of those events -- unless he's been worked on by the Haitian -- occurs in Timeline A. Obviously they *do* occur in Timeline B and, equally obviously, our!Hiro knows that Claire is alive which future!Hiro does not. So, while the major events, motives, and people in both timelines are incredibly (outwardly) similar, they are two distinct and separate timelines split from the moment that future!Hiro meets Peter in the subway.
[3] Technically, I should branch off into Timeline C after the first iteration of Timeline B because Hiro jumps back to save Charlie and is in the picture when he wasn't before, but as he does not affect the timeline significantly -- he does not stop Sylar from killing Charlie, which we know because *Ando* remembers that she's killed and he is still present in the timeline when the change occurs. If Hiro had changed the timeline so that Charlie died of an aneurysm or tumor or whatever it is that she said was going to kill her instead of being tastybrained by Sylar, Ando wouldn't remember. So mostly I'm just going to ignore it. Just keep in mind that Timeline B runs through once until around 10/12/07, Hiro jumps back in time to 04/07 *and doesn't change the timeline*.
[4] Isaac and Simone are both present in Peter's vision of himself blowing up in NYC. Isaac is dead in both timelines, but not necessarily Simone. But by the events of 11/08/07 in timeline B, both Isaac and Simone are very very dead. Also, on the table in 1x02 is a page of one of the 9th Wonders comics: panel details include Hiro calling Japan, being told that it's 11/08/07, and Hiro seeing the explosion. In timeline B, I don't think this page is on the writing desk. Another changed detail, possibly indicating that Isaac *did not predict his own death in Timeline A*, is that his loft in 1x02 is filled with paintings of the helix symbol rather than the paintings predicting his death like those in 1x19. The gun he gets from Mr. Bennet is present in both timelines, strongly suggesting that Isaac and Mr. Bennet meet in both timelines. The comic Isaac shows the courier is "Hiro in the Future" and is the comic which future!Hiro has, and which future!Mohinder takes and follows when he takes out the Haitian.
Please note, this is a *really rough* timeline because there are whole episodes in there that I ignore 'cause they don't matter right this second in establishing What Happened to get the timeline to "Five Years Gone."
I went with 2007 as a year because the bumper put the "Five Years Gone" in 2012. Specific dates where I have them, the dates around "Homecoming" are iffy, largely because I couldn't see the calendar in the background clearly and I haven't given this the thorough rewatch that I should and it's harder to tell what the subsequent dates are without those.
Timeline A
late september-10/02/07 - 1x01 (discovery of powers, etc)
10/02/07 - 1x02 (Hiro jumps through space and time to NYC). Hiro jumps forward to 11/08/07, sees explosion, returns to 10/02/07 with the issue #14 of the comic, decides to save the world.
10/03/07-10/04/07 - 1x03 (Hiro's been gone from Japan for two days)
10/05/07 - Hiro arrives in LV.
10/12/07 (ish) - Sylar in Midland, Texas. Kills Charlie-the-waitress.
10/13/07 (ish) - Claire tastybrained by Sylar. Sylar gains regenerative power.
10/13/07-11/07/07 - unknown.
11/07/07 - Nathan wins election.
11/08/07 - Issue #14: "Hiro Arrives in New York" is out on newsstands. Isaac's dead body is discovered (tastybrained by Sylar). Hiro tries to kill Sylar, fails due to Sylar's absorption of Claire's powers[1]. Explosion.
sometime in 2012 - Hiro decides to go back and deliver the message "Save the cheerleader, save the world."
Up until the events of "Hiros," timeline B is a reiteration of timeline A. Once the "save the cheerleader, save the world" message is delivered, the timelines split. Timeline A ceases to exist, timeline B becomes primary[2].
Timeline B
04/07 - "Six Months Ago"[3]
late september-10/02/07 - 1x01 (discovery of powers, etc)
10/02/07 - 1x02 (Hiro jumps through space and time to NYC). Hiro jumps forward to 11/08/07, sees explosion, returns to 10/02/07 with the issue #14 of the comic, decides to save the world.
10/03/07-10/04/07 - 1x03 (Hiro's been gone from Japan for two days)
10/05/07 - Hiro arrives in LV. future!Hiro travels to this date in time and delivers the message "Save the cheerleader, save the world."
10/05/07-10/12/07 - Stuff happens. Peter, Hiro, and Ando make their way to Odessa to save Claire.
10/12/07 (ish) - Sylar in Midland, Texas. Kills Charlie. Hiro jumps back in time to some point in 04/07 (start iteration 2 of timeline B or ignore this if it is confusing).
10/13/07 (ish) - Claire saved by Peter, Sylar DOES NOT get to tastybrain Claire and become regenerative. Peter has vision of himself exploding in NYC[4].
10/13/07-11/07/07 - all sorts of stuff (end of 1x11-1x19). Hiro jumps forward in time to 11/08/12. Isaac sends Issue #15 of comic to publisher. Isaac is killed by Sylar. Hiro returns from his trip 5 years into the future.
11/07/07 - Nathan wins election.
11/08/07 - Issue #14: "Hiro Arrives in New York" is out on newsstands. Isaac's dead body is discovered (murdered by Sylar). Explosion.
11/08/07-11/08/12 - It all goes dystopic.
prior to November 8th in 2012 - Hiro decides to go back and deliver the message "Save the cheerleader, save the world."
11/08/12 - Hiro meets future!Hiro and tells him that a) they saved the cheerleader and b) that they haven't killed Sylar. Events of "Five Years Gone." Hiro grabs the "Hiro in the Future" comic and takes it back with him when he returns to the first week of November-ish.
Timeline C
This is possible, but iffy. Because future!Hiro doesn't remember meeting himself (not necessarily an indicator of a timeline split, since he has no memory of Timeline B events anyway) and the established events recounted in "Five Years Gone" may or may not come to pass. We won't know until the finale whether or not Hiro's trip to the future nets any kind of significant change. If it does, then Timeline C kicks in with Hiro's return from 2012. If nothing changes, then we're still in Timeline B.
Good times, y'all. I heart time travel! I am working on the illustrated version of all this, complete with actual dates and stuff, but that needs me to have more time than I currently do so I can watch the series through again.
[1] Sylar may not have regenerative powers, but he has faster-than-normal healing and/or control over his body sufficient to heal quickly from injuries that Peter survived through absorption of Claire's powers which would otherwise have killed him and which ability also contributes to Sylar's ability to physically fake his own death.
[2] When future!Hiro returns to 2012, he cannot return to timeline A's 2012 because it has ceased to exist. My assumption is that because he's in 2007 when the split occurs, he is the sole retainer of memory for Timeline A and is exempt from the changes he brought about to create Timeline B. This would be why future!Hiro doesn't know that Claire is alive until Hiro tells him. 5YG!Peter clearly never tells future!Hiro that a) Claire is alive, b) Peter's the exploding man, c) that Sylar does not die in the explosion, and d) that Nathan lies about the person who caused the explosion. Why Peter doesn't tell him IS A GODDAMN MYSTERY OF STUPIDITY, but is possibly related to Peter's guilt at blowing up NYC and/or his desire to protect his family (Claire, Nathan) and/or some other mysterious reason like being dumber than Mohinder sometimes. If future!Hiro is right and Sylar is the exploding man in timeline A, then at least one major change is the shift from Sylar-as-exploding-man to Peter-as-exploding-man. If future!Hiro is *wrong* in his initial assumption -- that Sylar is the exploding man rather than Ted or Peter -- then he's working with incredibly bad information and the succesful saving of the cheerleader does not have a damn thing to do with saving the world. Further, if Sylar tastybrains Claire in Timeline A, there's nothing to say that he doesn't survive the explosion the way we know Peter does in Timeline B.
Yes, footnote 2 is INCREDIBLY LONG. The main difference between Timeline A and Timeline B is that future!Hiro delivers the message "save the cheerleader, save the world." We know it doesn't happen in Timeline A because future!Hiro doesn't remember it happening. Nor does future!Hiro remember meeting himself. So neither of those events -- unless he's been worked on by the Haitian -- occurs in Timeline A. Obviously they *do* occur in Timeline B and, equally obviously, our!Hiro knows that Claire is alive which future!Hiro does not. So, while the major events, motives, and people in both timelines are incredibly (outwardly) similar, they are two distinct and separate timelines split from the moment that future!Hiro meets Peter in the subway.
[3] Technically, I should branch off into Timeline C after the first iteration of Timeline B because Hiro jumps back to save Charlie and is in the picture when he wasn't before, but as he does not affect the timeline significantly -- he does not stop Sylar from killing Charlie, which we know because *Ando* remembers that she's killed and he is still present in the timeline when the change occurs. If Hiro had changed the timeline so that Charlie died of an aneurysm or tumor or whatever it is that she said was going to kill her instead of being tastybrained by Sylar, Ando wouldn't remember. So mostly I'm just going to ignore it. Just keep in mind that Timeline B runs through once until around 10/12/07, Hiro jumps back in time to 04/07 *and doesn't change the timeline*.
[4] Isaac and Simone are both present in Peter's vision of himself blowing up in NYC. Isaac is dead in both timelines, but not necessarily Simone. But by the events of 11/08/07 in timeline B, both Isaac and Simone are very very dead. Also, on the table in 1x02 is a page of one of the 9th Wonders comics: panel details include Hiro calling Japan, being told that it's 11/08/07, and Hiro seeing the explosion. In timeline B, I don't think this page is on the writing desk. Another changed detail, possibly indicating that Isaac *did not predict his own death in Timeline A*, is that his loft in 1x02 is filled with paintings of the helix symbol rather than the paintings predicting his death like those in 1x19. The gun he gets from Mr. Bennet is present in both timelines, strongly suggesting that Isaac and Mr. Bennet meet in both timelines. The comic Isaac shows the courier is "Hiro in the Future" and is the comic which future!Hiro has, and which future!Mohinder takes and follows when he takes out the Haitian.