Line #103 Literature/Timeline


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/michaelcrighton_timeline.jpg]]
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3	''Timeline'' is a 1999 novel by author Creator/MichaelCrichton. It involves quantum physics effectively applied as TimeTravel (though it is more complicated than that), set in UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar.
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5	An old man has been found in the midst of the New Mexico desert, and is soon discovered to have strange deformities and to be an employee of a company named ITC. He is dead within a day of his discovery, and is quickly cremated by request of the company. One of the items found in his possessions is an architectural drawing of a long-destroyed French monastery. Meanwhile, a group of researchers in the Dordogne region of France, exploring a medieval archaeological dig at the ruins of that same monastery, make an astounding discovery. Their financial patron, ITC, contacts them and reveals its greatest secret - tapping quantum technology to effectively travel through time...
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7	A film adaptation was released in 2003 directed by Creator/RichardDonner and starring Creator/PaulWalker, Creator/GerardButler, Creator/FrancesOConnor, Creator/BillyConnolly, Creator/MartonCsokas, Creator/AnnaFriel and Creator/DavidThewlis, among others.
8	----
9	!!Provides examples of the following tropes:
10	[[foldercontrol]]
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12	[[folder: Tropes from the 1999 Novel]]
13	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/6dc8f88e_1725_4054_850f_e6fdcc2b0201.jpeg]]
14	* AffablyEvil: Arnaut de Cervole may be ruthless, but he's impeccably polite, keeps his word, and is far more reasonable than Lord Oliver.
15	* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: In-universe example; historical records paint Lord Oliver as a heroic character and Arnaut de Cervole as the villain, yet the differences are blurred when the characters meet them.
16	* ArmiesAreEvil: This is one of many works that presents a negative view of medieval warfare. One of the team even goes so far as to claim that when castles finally fell after sieges, ''everyone'' inside them was killed, and talks of pregnant women being disemboweled (naturally, some historians believe that this was TruthInTelevision, judging from the chronicles of the time, while others suspect that the chroniclers themselves were exaggerating the atrocities, making the RapePillageAndBurn trope essentially the medieval equivalent to the modern EveryCarIsAPinto trope).[[note]] It was considered acceptable to kill people if cities resisted once their walls were breached, but usually not ''all'' citizens would be killed. In fact, more often than not, it was just the garrison who tried to protect the city that got the brunt of the slaughter. Regardless, cities would be given a chance to surrender once the siege started, which spared them. If the city surrendered after the walls were breached, they would be subject to a milder sacking.[[/note]]
17	%%* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Doniger]].
18	%%* AsYouKnow: This is used frequently, with the exact words, all throughout the book.
19	* AwesomeButImpractical: Due to Doniger's marketing plan, which is using the time travel technology just to create [[spoiler: historically-accurate historical restorations]], instead of, you know, obtaining stock prices from the future. [[spoiler: It turns out this was a lie, and he planned to steal future technology.]]
20	* AxCrazy: Robert de Kere[[spoiler:/Deckard]]. At first sight, a typical bloodthirsty medieval warrior, [[spoiler: yet in fact a traveler gone mad due to transcription errors.]]
21	* [[spoiler: BabiesEverAfter: Chris and Kate eventually fall for each other, and Kate is pregnant with their first child in the epilogue. They also discover that André married Lady Claire and had five sons.]]
22	* BadassNormal: Andre Marek, who can hold his own against battle-experienced knights in a joust due to being a fanatic historical reenactor.
23	%%* BigBad: Lord Oliver.
24	%%* BloodKnight: De Kere.
25	* BlackBox: Even the people who designed and operate it have no idea how several critical parts of the travel technology works.
26	%%* BlackWidow: Lady Claire, in the novel. This aspect is entirely stripped out in the film.
27	%%* BornInTheWrongCentury: André. [[spoiler:He later effectively rectifies the situation by choosing to stay behind.]]
28	* ChekhovsArmoury: Each researcher is introduced to us in certain scenes that make sense later. Also has elements of PlotTailoredToTheParty. {{Justified}}: the reason the protagonists are sent to the past is that they are experts on exactly that time period.
29	%%* CoDragons: De Kere and Sir Guy are this to Lord Oliver.
30	* TheCorruption: The technology that powers the not-quite Time Travel involves scanning the entire human entity [[AndIMustScream including the consciousness residing in it]] down to the subatomic level and then transmitting the results through the [[ShownTheirWork actually-what-they-call-it "quantum foam"]], the uneven surface structure of spacetime. When it arrives at the intended destination it is reconstructed [[spoiler: somehow, nobody knows how, they theorize it might be another machine in a different universe that nobody in this reality has invented yet.]] Every step in that process can introduce [[DisasterDominoes tiny transcription errors]]. Most transcription errors result in a row of atoms just a bit out of line, but the worse the errors get the more pronounced the effects get. Particularly bad errors can cause [[BodyHorror physical mutations, duplications, or fatal internal bleeding]], but even tiny, microscopic errors can have massive effects on brain tissue. And no matter how well shielded from cosmic rays ([[TruthInTelevision the main source of transcription errors]], see the other wiki about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_degradation Data degradation]]) at least some transcription errors will happen. And, [[LogicalWeakness of course]], any return trip from, say, the past is not going to be shielded during the transcription process. Every trip causes some damage, and everyone who uses the technology enough either suffers the physical symptoms, possibly fatally, or goes mad.
31	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Robert Doniger. When a man dies because of transcription errors accumulated through use of his technology, he has the death covered up; he sends the students back in time without ever warning them about [[spoiler: de Kere,]] he's verbally abusive to his employees, and he acts like a {{Jerkass}} right up until [[spoiler: he himself is sent backwards in time to the advent of the Black Death in Europe.]]
32	* CreatorThumbprint: The stated plan for how to most effectively use TimeTravel is... [[Literature/JurassicPark to make more historically accurate theme parks]]. Like ''Jurassic Park'' (and, to an extent, ''Film/WestWorld'') the novel is often about [[RealityIsUnrealistic the gulf between what is imagined to be realistic and that which is really true]].
33	* CunningLinguist: De Kere is dismissed as being their rival time traveler despite being everyone's first guess because he speaks the language far too well for the short time he'd have been there. It turns out he just learns languages quickly.
34	* CutLexLuthorACheck: A lot of the technologies that had to be developed to make this time travel system work, like quantum computers that ran millions of calculations in parallel and down-to-the-atom body scanners, would have probably made more money than the actual plan ever could if they had just sold those. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that Doniger didn't ''care'' about the money (he's already a billionaire), but rather the applications of the technology.
35	%%* DisguisedInDrag: [[spoiler:Kate]] and [[spoiler:no one else]] because guards were looking for three foreigners; two males and one female. Guess what they did to fool them. Lady Claire also cross-dresses around the countryside.
36	%%* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler:This happens to Sir Guy while chasing after Kate]].
37	* DungAges: {{Subverted}} and mocked. The protagonist walks around, expecting horribly disgusting conditions, but is surprised to learn everyone is reasonably well kept. In the afterward, Crichton notes this was mostly an invention of the Renaissance, during which many scholars romanticized the Classical period above their own era. Personal hygiene declined significantly only once the Black Plague became epidemic (which started around the time the book is set), when the public baths that were common in most Medieval towns and cities became disease vectors. This made frequent bathing a hazard, and it was denounced as sinful. Because of this, the post-Black Death cultural attitude towards bathing went too far in the other direction, with monarchs like Isabella I of Spain boasting of only bathing a few times in their ''entire lives''. A servant insists that Chris is not clean enough after he washes himself, to his surprise, and scrubs him quite thoroughly.
38	%%* EvilGenius: Doniger is this, in a Bill Gates vein.
39	%%* EvilVsEvil: Arnaut and Lord Oliver are both pretty bad, though Arnaut is ALighterShadeOfBlack.
40	* ForTheEvulz: Robert de Kere, who kills people out of simple enjoyment [[spoiler: (although it's eventually revealed that brain damage accumulated over several trips to the past probably caused, or at least worsened, his issues.)]]
41	* GrandfatherParadox: When one of the travelers asks this exact question, Doniger explains that one person couldn't make the Mets beat the Yankees: i.e. a single person can't significantly change the course of history. But when the questioner presses the point, we get a HandWave (it's treated as this in-universe as well; it's implied that Doniger ''himself'' doesn't understand his own technology, and the scientist asking the question is appropriately put-off by this.)
42	* HappilyEverAfter: [[spoiler:Chris and Kate eventually marry, and Kate is seven months pregnant in the epilogue. Likewise, André stays in the past, marries Lady Claire, and lives a successful life as a nobleman until his death at 54.]]
43	* HardOnSoftScience: InvertedTrope. The bleeding edge quantum science that makes the time travel possible is put to the use of a cruel technocrat, consumes those who create and operate it, [[spoiler: its creators don't even know how it works]], and generally it's a disaster for anyone who touches it. The archeologists, [[Literature/JurassicPark who did so well in a prior Crichton outing]], barely escape with their lives. It's [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman the linguist]] who makes it out best of the lot.
44	* HateSink: Robert Doniger. He's a smug douchebag who is more than willing to let the team die if it meant exploiting the quantum technology for his own financial gain. [[LaserGuidedKarma He ends up being sent back in time to 1348, where he ends up dying from the Black Plague.]]
45	* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: In-universe, English leader Lord Oliver is regarded by modern historians as "almost a saint," while French leader Arnaut is remembered as TheCaligula. In truth the two's personalities are somewhat reversed: Oliver is a massive, gluttonous, sadistic {{jerkass}} and Arnaut, while being indeed as ugly as history remembers him and capable of great cruelty, is a far more ReasonableAuthorityFigure.
46	* KillItWithFire: [[spoiler:Chris kills Robert de Kere this way during the final battle by spitting on quicklime covering de Kere's body.]]
47	* LawOfConservationOfDetail: {{Averted}}, as several pages are devoted to explaining the concepts of quantum mechanics and parallel universes even though they really are not central to the plot. It ''is'' Creator/MichaelCrichton, after all.
48	* LikeADuckTakesToWater: Two of the modern characters end up living with ease and comfort in Late Medieval France. The first is a Marine with an uncanny knack for languages. The second is a history grad student with a passion for all things from his period of study; language, clothes, culture, sports, war... The first insinuates himself into a French court. The second lives his natural span, happily married to a French noblewoman.
49	* LongHairIsFeminine: Female time travelers with short hair must use wigs because people in the 1300s strongly held this view. The only women with short hair had it due to a disgrace, or punishment for heresy. Passing as a man by cutting your hair short was also punishable by death at the time.
50	* MedievalMorons: {{Averted}}. In this book, the time travelers are often outwitted and outmatched by the natives. A consistent theme is that while the time travelers possess modern knowledge, they do not have the skills or resources to survive in the more primitive environment. Of particular note is that Crichton specifically details the natives' sanitation practices. Lack of awareness of bacteria did not prevent them from attending to hygiene, averting the stereotype of "living in filth". On the other hand there are some pretty disgusting things, such as the tannery, that were TruthInTelevision.
51	* MenAreTheExpendableGender: Averted, the first character to be killed is female, and also an [[BlackDudeDiesFirst ethnic minority]].
52	* ParrotExposition: While [[{{Jerkass}} Robert Doniger]] is having his one-on-one rants with ITC's vice president Diane Kramer, Diane often repeats small snippets of Doniger's speech back to him. Diane does this because she knows Doniger is really only talking to himself, and Doniger hearing his own words helps him to sort out his thoughts whenever he and his company are facing problems.
53	* QuantumMechanicsCanDoAnything: The book uses liberal Quantum Technobabble to explain its "[[InsistentTerminology Not-really-Time-Travel]] TimeTravel". The technology started as an attempt to build a teleporter after a company built the first Quantum Computer, which was capable of storing the position and state (thus breaking the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle) of every atom in an object. Instead of teleporting though the machine sends objects to [[AlternateUniverse Alternate Universes]]. Things started getting really Quantum Mechanicy when it's revealed that they have no idea how to turn that data back into a real object. So every time the machine is used the person or object sent must therefore arrive from yet another different universe than the one it was originally sent from, where they have the ability to turn data back into reality.
54	* RealityIsUnrealistic: A problem that ITC encounters when it tries to market the time travel technology. Who wants to witness the Gettysburg Address when all you're getting is watching an ugly man with an incredibly high-pitched voice speak quickly to a group of morose people in the rain? Who wants to see UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington seasick and huddling with his men from a stormy, cold night during the famous crossing of the Delaware River?
55	%%* RelocatingTheExplosion: In a bad way, the grenade, which kicks off the entire plot.
56	%%* SanitySlippage: What happens to people who use the time machine too much and accumulate errors.
57	* SleepLearning: How ITC prepares its travelers to speak the proper dialects and such. It doesn't work too well, as in real life. Apart from picking up a few words and phrases while they're there, only André and the Professor can really communicate properly since they already knew the basics. Chris manages to scrape by with a bit of Latin.
58	%%* ShownTheirWork: In typical Crichtonian fashion.
59	* ThrownOutTheAirlock: Adapted, effectively, on [[spoiler:Doniger]]. In the book, he is tossed into the time machine and sent back a year after the rest, when the Black Death arrives in Europe.
60	* TimeIsDangerous: Travel is accomplished by copying the information required to rebuild a perfect copy (at the atomic level) of the traveler and beaming this information into the past. Errors in copying are possible (in fact, inevitable if the machine isn't properly shielded) leading to CloneDegeneration.
61	* TimeTravellersAreSpies: [[spoiler:Subverted. De Kere is a time traveler himself, and he tricks Lord Oliver into believing the other time travelers are spies in order to take their return markers for himself.]]
62	* TooDumbToLive: The book version of Chris is pretty stupid, mostly not listening to André regarding anything for the first half. After which they're separated and he becomes marginally more intelligent.
63	* TrappedInThePast: It happens to several characters, for varying levels of "trapped." [[spoiler:Deckard]] has insinuated himself into the court of one of the warring nobles after being left behind, becoming [[spoiler:de Kere]]. [[spoiler:Marek]] ultimately chooses to stay behind voluntarily. Finally, [[spoiler: Doniger]] receives this treatment as a sort of temporal ThrownOutTheAirlock, being sent back to the midst of the Black Death pandemic.[[note]]In his case, it's stated he keeps a return marker on him at all times in his shoe, but it's stuck in too far for him to remove it with his own hands. It's only when Doniger looks for tools in the town to do so that he realizes when he's been sent, and that it's too late for him to do anything.[[/note]]
64	* UniversalTranslator: The travelers use a hearing aid-like device so that they can understand Old English and French. It doesn't translate ''their'' speech, though-and they quickly begin picking up words by themselves.
65	* UnreliableExpositor: The explanation for how time travel works (it's an alternate universe functionally identical to that time, not earlier in the same timeline) turns out to be simply wrong. [[spoiler:It is, in fact, time travel-just... odd.]] Justified in that the expositors in question, when pressed on several issues, admit that they ''don't really understand'' how the technology works... just that it does. [[TruthInTelevision This is not uncommon in quantum mechanics]]. One theory they seriously consider is that they're piggybacking on an ''alternate version'' of their project that ''does'' know how the technology works.
66	* UsedToBeASweetKid: By all accounts Robert Deckard/Roderick de Kere was a NiceGuy, but too many errors turned him into an AxCrazy BloodKnight.
67	%%* VillainsBlendInBetter: Nobody suspects Roderick de Kere's true nature for a variety of reasons in-universe but, ultimately, [[{{Reconstruction}} it's this trope]].
68	[[/folder]]
69
70	[[folder: Tropes from the 2003 Film]]
71	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/87749a5b_c861_44c1_8e88_4dde18ac7fd9.jpeg]]
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73	* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the film, he's portrayed by the suave Creator/MichaelSheen. In the book, however...
74	--> ''Lord Oliver de Vannes was about thirty, with small eyes set in a fleshy, dissolute face. His mouth was permanently turned down in a sneer; he tended to keep his lips tight, since he was missing several teeth.''
75	* AdaptationDistillation: The film cleaned up quite a few inconsistencies in the book, tightened the storyline considerably, and gave Andre Marek and Lady Claire's romance some much-needed depth, but at the expense of removing much of the fascinating exposition about time travel and [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderizing]] the characters into stock stereotypes of their books selves. General audiences and critics alike panned the film, with many saying that at best it was SoOkayItsAverage.
76	* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: There are no universal translators. The Medieval characters just speak modern English and French and the contemporary characters understand them just fine.
77	** Somewhat justified because in the novel, the Medieval people COULD understand the time travelers to some extent, though they had difficulty understanding many of the modern grammatical rules they used (such as contractions). However, Middle English and Middle French were still pretty different, such that modern people wouldn't understand much of them. See Literature/TheCanterburyTales for an example of Middle English from the period in the book.
78	** The film does not explain how ITC intended to profit off of time travel, leaving it a mystery. As they change it to being a wormhole locked on the region of Dordogne France in 1357, with them only going there, it can't be the idea of their viewing many great historical moments as in the book.
79	* AdaptationNameChange: Robert Deckard AKA de Kere's name in this film is changed to William Decker AKA De Kere.
80	* AdaptationalHeroism: Arnaud is changed from a cruel, ruthless warlord (who at best was ALighterShadeOfGrey compared to Lord Oliver) into a noble warrior who fights for justice.
81	* AdaptationalNationality: Andre Marek who is Dutch in the novel is changed to being a Scot on account of being played by Scottish actor Creator/GerardButler.
82	* AdaptationalVillainy: To make Doniger's demise more appropriate, he actually sabotaged and tried to cover his lacking safety protocols. Plus he accidentally murders someone.
83	* ArrowsOnFire: Used in the siege scene. But that's old hat, what about [[SubvertedTrope arrows not on fire?]]
84	-->"Night arrows! A little surprise for the French."
85	* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The film has the English treat a Frenchman as suspicious just for being French, and kill him as a spy. At the time however, most of the English nobles were themselves Norman-French, spoke French, and had French allies. The French and English did not wear red or blue uniforms at the time either. In that era there were no standard uniforms at all. If any, each lord's men wore his colors/emblem, not a national one.
86	* AscendedFanboy: [[spoiler:Marek, a major fan of the past, is this when he chooses to stay behind in 1357 becoming the mysterious soldier with the missing ear buried next to Lady Claire]].
87	* TheBigDamnKiss: In the film, Andre Marek and Lady Claire, when Marek [[spoiler:[[IChooseToStay chooses to stay in the past]]]] at the Battle of Laroque.
88	* BigNo: Marek lets one out when [[spoiler:De Kere stabs Frank Gordon to death]].
89	* BlackAndWhiteMorality: The historical conflict in the movies is presented as evil English forces versus noble French forces, as opposed to the conflict of two ruthless and ultimately selfish sides in the novel.
90	* CardboardPrison: Instead of putting them in a dungeon, which would be far harder to get out of, Lord Oliver's men instead put the group in the top room of a thatched house. This means they can just push through a hole in the roof to escape. Similarly Claire and Marek escape by breaking through a thin wall.
91	* CompositeCharacter: Steve Kramer combines the roles of the book's Diane Kramer and John Gordon, who are both high-ranking corporate officers in ITC who later [[spoiler:turn on Doniger]]. William De Kere's role also includes elements from another of Oliver's lieutenants in the book, Guy de Malegant.
92	* DeadGuyJunior: [[spoiler:One of Marek and Claire's three children is named after the slain François in his honor]].
93	* DecompositeCharacter: The book's Andre Marek was split into ''three'' characters in the film: the movie's own Andre Marek, Frank Gordon, and Francois Dontelle. Movie Marek keeps the BornInTheWrongCentury aspect of the book's character, Frank Gordon gets his role of the team's "muscle" (as well as the surname of another book character), and Francois his role as period translator (which, given the movie's use of Modern English and French instead means that his character [[SacrificialLamb doesn't stick around long]]).
94	* DeliberateValuesDissonance:
95	** Despite its poor reception, the film has one of the most accurate depictions of medieval values in modern fiction.
96	** It's rather well summed up in the scene where the main party is escaping and the Scotsman standing a few feet from the guard, with an arrow pointed at his chest says something to the effect of "Stay quiet if you value your life." The guard picks up his sword and yells "Traitors!", running at him. Before promptly being shot in the chest.
97	** Lord de Vannes's casual murder of [[spoiler: François]] after forcing him to say "I am a spy" is seen as nothing more than a mild diversion for the English. After all, they're at war with the French, so anything is allowed, right?
98	* DesperatePleaForHome: Sir William De Kere is eventually revealed to be William Decker, a former ITC employee stranded in the past and unable to return to the present due to transcription errors - an experience that's left him understandably bitter. As such, after [[spoiler: being fatally wounded in a swordfight with Marek]] in the climax, he is left deliriously begging to be taken home [[spoiler: before he finally expires.]]
99	* EternalEnglish: In contrast to the book, the film has this, with medieval French and English soldiers speaking the early 21st century version of their languages perfectly so that the English troops have no problems communicating with the modern-day heroes. This was handwaved by TranslatorMicrobes in the book, which made a specific plot point of the fact that the medieval people spoke contemporary dialects of those languages (as well as Occitan and Latin), and having the time travelers struggle to be understood by them (because they naturally lacked the hidden earpiece translators the time travelers wore).
100	* FanOfThePast: Most of the main characters are historians of the medieval era. One of them is a lifelong enthusiast who's trained himself in period-era blacksmithing and swordplay. Early on in the film, he describes the life of a knight and concludes with the mildly [[invoked]]{{narm}}y "The past is ''where it's at!"''
101	* FromNobodyToNightmare: William Decker goes from ITC employee #273 to Sir William De Kere, medieval badass and aid to Lord Oliver bent on revenge on the company that left him behind.
102	* GenderFlip: Minor character Jimmy Gomez, one of ITC's security experts, is Sandra Gomez in the book. Steve Kramer is also this to the book's Diane Kramer, combined with CompositeCharacter (see above).
103	* GivingRadioToTheRomans: A variation as Professor Johnston gives GreekFire to the British even though it was invented centuries before Medieval France.
104	* HollywoodTactics: The "using arrows on fire at night" tactic is done. Subverted, though: the point of the fire arrows was so that the attackers wouldn't be prepared for the "night arrows," which were simply unlit arrows.
105	* IChooseToStay: [[spoiler:Marek chooses to stay behind in 1357 after he realizes he's the unnamed man buried with Claire in the present. He spent the remainder of his life married to Claire with whom he had three children]].
106	* MedievalMorons: {{Discussed}} when the group is trying to escape and Chris claims their modern knowledge is enough that they can surely outthink medieval people. It's quickly {{subverted}} however, since those people are no dumber than them and (being from the era) have a lot of ''advantages'' regarding knowledge. They only barely manage to escape.
107	* MortonsFork: Lord Oliver orders François [[spoiler: to translate "I am a spy" from French into English to prove that he is an interpreter and not a spy. If he refuses or translates it wrongly, he'll be declared a spy and killed. If he complies... it will be considered a confession and he will be killed as well. Which he is.]]
108	* NoodleIncident: Decker says the last time he'd seen Gordon, he had three arrows in him as the former escaped by time travel, leaving him behind.
109	* RelatedInTheAdaptation: Chris is turned into Professor Johnston's son, whereas in the book the latter is only a father ''figure'' for him. Claire becomes Arnaud's sister.
110	* SeparatedByACommonLanguage: Marek tries to ask Claire if she's "with anyone", or "seeing anyone", but both times she takes him literally, and doesn't get it, as these aren't English expressions in the period.
111	* SparedByTheAdaptation: Sort of. [[spoiler: Doniger is still sent back at the end, but instead of a slow agonizing death by the Black Plague, he's decapitated almost immediately by a knight who was charging down the main group as they made their escape to the present]].
112	* StableTimeLoop:
113	** Kate makes Chris leave his father's glasses behind in the past so that they'll be discovered by them in the future and travel back to 1357 to rescue his father in the first place.
114	** [[spoiler: Marek is the mysterious man with the missing right ear he found buried next to Lady Claire]].
115	* ThrownOutTheAirlock: [[spoiler:Doniger]] is thrown into the final battle using the time machine, where a knight instantly decapitates him.
116	* TooDumbToLive: Taking François back with them. Did no one understand that taking a ''Frenchman'' back in time to a period where the English and French were at ''war'' would be an incredibly bad idea? [[spoiler:Sure enough, shortly after arriving, he is forced to translate the phrase "''Je suis un espion''" into English ("''I am a spy''") and gets run through.]]
117	** François himself as well. [[spoiler: He translates the phrase as "I am a spy". Not, say, "You've asked me to translate 'I am a spy' M'lord." or "The phrase you said means you are referring to yourself as a spy, M'lord." or basically any other phrase that would work as a verbal loophole rather than a confession. Not that it would likely have helped him...]]
118	* TragicVillain: Decker was abandoned in the past by Gordon, with too many transcription errors to ever safely return. It's no wonder he became a ruthless knight to survive, or kills Gordon after seeing him. Gordon's plea about having a family enrages Decker, since ''he'' had a family too. His last words are "Take me home".
119	* TrappedInThePast: Several characters:
120	** The impetus for the group going back in the first place is the professor not having returned.
121	** Decker was previously left behind by Gordon, and has been forced to insinuate himself into Lord Oliver's graces.
122	** [[spoiler:Marek]] voluntarily stays behind when the rest of the group returns to the present.
123	** Doniger effectively trades places with the group when they return, and explicitly states that he has no way of getting back. [[spoiler:He's killed almost instantly.]]
124	* TheWorldsExpertOnGettingKilled: Gordon is ITC's head of security, a veteran, and the most experienced time traveler in the group. Decker kills him.
125	* YeGoodeOldeDays: Marek has this view of life in the medieval era, saying people's lives had honor and purpose. The actual period shown is pretty brutal though, with little of honor. [[spoiler:Nonetheless, he chooses to stay in the end]].
126	[[/folder]]

Context Literature / Timeline