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| 2 | %%Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1651694827057819500 |
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| 5 | [[quoteright:350:[[Manga/DragonBallSuper https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zamasplan_9.png]]]] |
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| 8 | ->'''Spock:''' You are assuming that Nero knows how events are predicted to unfold. The contrary: Nero's very presence has altered the flow of history... thereby creating an entire new chain of incidents that cannot be anticipated by either party.\ |
| 9 | '''Uhura:''' An alternate reality?\ |
| 10 | '''Spock:''' Precisely. Whatever our lives might have been, if the time continuum was disrupted, our destinies have changed. |
| 11 | -->-- ''Film/StarTrek2009'' |
| 12 | |
| 13 | The Alternate Timeline at its core is different from the AlternateUniverse in that it's only one universe, only played out multiple ways. Imagine you're writing something on a piece of paper and made a mistake: you can erase it with an eraser and write over it, or you can grab a new piece of paper. The first one is this trope, the second one is AlternateUniverse. The latter presupposes [[TheMultiverse multiverse theory]] (also known as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Many-worlds_interpretation "many worlds interpretation"]]), whereas the former does not (not ''necessarily'', at least). |
| 14 | |
| 15 | This is often caused by TimeTravel and WhatIf scenarios. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | This trope does get a bit confusing on a meta level, when you take an installment and have {{Alternate Continuit|y}}ies in parallel. To explain, consider two works of speculative fiction: one optimistic and depicts a utopian future, the other is pessimistic and depicts a dystopian future. Obviously both can't happen at once, but until the future arrives they're both equally valid, and both take place in the same world -- our world. Basically, the main difference between an Alternate Timeline and an AlternateContinuity is that Alternate Timelines share {{backstory}} and were formed at a point of divergence, with the "new" timeline simply ''overwriting'' the "old timeline" as a result of said divergence. In other words: Alternate Continuities ''do not share the same {{canon}}'', whereas Alternate Timelines ''do''. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | Unlike plain vanilla AlternateContinuity, these kinds of timelines do not necessarily happen due to AdaptationDecay or AdaptationDistillation in moving from medium to medium, but were often chosen deliberately by creators to take a franchise in a new direction while preserving the original material. This can oftentimes be done to achieve CanonDiscontinuity. Didn't like that last installment? It was in an Alternate Timeline and really has no effect on your main franchise. Sometimes, these forked timelines can run simultaneously, each providing a different take on the franchise, its characters, and its events. The Alternate Timeline can also be employed as a kind of "soft" ContinuityReboot, creating a new universe while keeping the original in-{{canon}}. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | If what it diverged from is RealLife, then it's AlternateHistory. In that case, [[GodwinsLawOfTimeTravel the Nazis may inexplicably win the war]]. If this ''doesn't'' happen, particularly in VideoGames with MultipleEndings, it's called "CuttingOffTheBranches". In some stories involving alternate timelines, you can FlashSideways or meet your AlternateSelf. Alternately, if a single diverging event causes the story to switch between two or more different timelines, it's a SplitTimelinesPlot. If one timeline is treated as "truer" or more important than the others, that's a PrimeTimeline. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | Compare with WhatIf and {{Elseworld}}. Supertrope to BadFuture. |
| 24 | ---- |
| 25 | !!Examples: |
| 26 | |
| 27 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 28 | |
| 29 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 30 | * ''Franchise/DragonBall'' has over a dozen of these, with three being discussed in the storyline itself (with fans and official guidebooks speculating on the existence of a fourth variant).[[note]]It's worth noting that unlike most stories, ''Dragon Ball'''s version of time travel doesn't have cause-and-effect. Instead, changes to events create a separate timeline.[[/note]] The three "main" Timelines all spring from the Android Saga of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', listed below in their rough order: |
| 31 | ** Timeline A is the base timeline. A resurrected Frieza and his father King Cold arrive on Earth and are defeated by Goku with his Instant Transmission, but Goku dies of a heart virus sometime after. A year later, two Androids appear and kill off everyone except Gohan, creating a dystopia where they run rampant. Bulma eventually creates a time machine for her teenage son Trunks to use to change history. |
| 32 | ** Timeline B is created when Trunks arrives in the past via the time machine. Trunks defeats Frieza and King Cold before Goku does, then gives him the cure for the heart virus along with a warning about the Androids, allowing them to prepare for their arrival. Trunks returns later to help the Z Warriors defeat the Androids, and eventually recovers their blueprints. This allows him to shut down the Androids both here and back in Timeline 1, meaning they aren't defeated through training and combat (this is the speculative "fourth" timeline mentioned above). |
| 33 | ** [[TimeyWimeyBall Here's where things get confusing.]] After Trunks returns to Timeline A and shuts down the Androids there, he's killed by a creature called Cell just before he uses the time machine to tell his friends the good news. Cell takes the time machine and arrives in the past, two years before Frieza and King Cold do, creating Timeline C (the one depicted in full via the manga and the anime). Cell won't emerge in earnest until soon after the Androids show up, and usurps them as the main threat to defeat by absorbing them and their power. While Trunks trains to try and defeat him, Cell would ultimately be killed by Gohan. Trunks also kills an embryonic Cell before he can become fully grown, which prevents another future from being ruined. After Cell's defeat, Shenron revives everyone who was killed by him. This includes the Androids, who undergo a HeelFaceTurn. |
| 34 | ** Timeline D is created when Trunks, having survived Cell's rampage in Timeline C, arrives back in his future. Rather than shut down the Androids via blueprint knowledge, the training Trunks did to fight Cell in Timeline C meant that he's now powerful enough to defeat the Androids in combat. This has the effect of changing when exactly Trunks decides to go back to the past to tell his friends the good news, and thus when Cell ambushes him. Trunks is able to handily defeat this Cell. |
| 35 | *** In terms of how most of the fandom and the guidebooks list the timelines above, it's a different order. Timeline C is considered to be Timeline 1 as that's the one viewers and readers are most familiar with, while Timeline A is Timeline 2 (the Future Trunks timeline) and Timeline D is Timeline 3. Timeline B is the speculative fourth timeline that isn't directly shown outside of Cell's exposition flashback. |
| 36 | ** ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' makes it even ''more'' confusing with the introduction of Time Rings, which Gods use to time travel without creating alternate timelines. [[spoiler:Goku Black used a Time Ring to travel from Timeline 1 to Timeline 2 (Future Trunks' timeline) and caused havoc there, leading Future Trunks to go back to the Timeline 1 to ask for help. At the end of that storyline, Timeline 2 is destroyed by Timeline 2's Zeno and, thanks to a lot of string-pulling by the other gods, Timeline 5 is created where Goku Black and Zamasu, the one who kicked off these events, never ran havoc in the timeline.]] |
| 37 | ** [[https://web.archive.org/web/20240000000000*/http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Alternate_timeline According to a (now-removed) article on the Dragon Ball Wiki,]] thanks to a lot of other factors, there's a total of ''seven'' timelines, although we only see about four of them. |
| 38 | ** In the spin-off manga, ''Manga/DragonBallThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsYamcha'', there is one in which Yamcha manages to stay on par with the heroes in the early parts of the series and avoid his embarrassing death that befell him in the Saiyan Saga. This causes the timeline to diverge further because of this, such as causing all the Z Fighters that fought Nappa and Vegeta to survive that fight and accompany Krillin, Gohan, and Goku to Namek. It should be noted that this scenario, contrary to the other timelines, isn't canon, and wasn't created by TimeTravel. |
| 39 | * ''Manga/FutureDiary'': |
| 40 | ** The SpinOff ''Paradox'' takes place in one. It actually turns out the be very important to the main timeline in the last chapter, however. |
| 41 | ** Near the end of the main series, it's revealed that [[spoiler:the timeline the series takes place in is actually one of these. In the original timeline, Yuno was the winner of the game and became the new God of Time and Space, but since she couldn't resurrect her world's Yuki, she instead used her powers to go back in time, creating the actual timeline or "second world", killed this timeline's version of herself and took her place in the game, all in order to be with Yuki once again. In the finale, a third timeline is created when Yuno tries to go back in time once again and here all the characters manage to get a happy ending]]. |
| 42 | * ''Anime/HugttoPrettyCure'' only has two timelines, with the major divergence point occurring before the first episode even starts: The main timeline where Hana switches schools after being bullied out of her previous one and decides to change herself for the better, and a BadFuture where Hana stays at the school she was bullied at and ends up dying through undisclosed means in her adult years (which is where the BigBad and his corporation originates from). [[spoiler:Of course, this doesn't begin to cover [[Anime/PrettyCureAllStars the countless other timelines]] that implies to co-exist with the main ''Hugtto'' story...]] |
| 43 | * The ''VideoGame/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAsPortable'' [[VideoGame game]] series splits off from the main ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' continuity at the end of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs''. Here, [[spoiler:Reinforce Eins]] does not perform a HeroicSacrifice, causing HumanoidAbomination {{Evil Twin}}s of Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate to be born from the remnants of the [[spoiler:[[EldritchAbomination Darkness of the Book of Darkness]]]]. |
| 44 | * ''Franchise/{{Negima}}'': |
| 45 | ** By the end of ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'', there's at least three different timelines. The first one is the BadFuture Chao Lingshen comes from, the second one in which [[spoiler:Asuna goes into a sleep for 130 years and finds all her friends are dead when she finally wakes up]], and the third timeline where [[spoiler:Chao and Eva bring Asuna back in time for her to be with her friends this time around]] and at which the epilogue takes place. |
| 46 | ** ''Manga/UQHolder'' takes place in a timeline where [[spoiler:Asuna went to sleep and couldn't be there to defeat the BigBad, resulting in Negi being possessed by the latter. It diverges from any timeline seen in the first series because unlike the second timeline mentioned above, Asuna never gets sent back to the past and stays in the same timeline with Negi after both are freed from the BigBad's control]]. |
| 47 | * The finales of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' and ''The End of Evangelion'' (arguably) diverge at Episode 25. ("Arguably", because in the opinions of some fans, they merely present the same events from different points of views.) ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'', meanwhile, diverges quite considerably from TheOriginalSeries. It's especially notable in the second movie, but it starts a good deal before. |
| 48 | * ''Franchise/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica The anime series]] shows five different timelines [[spoiler:where Homura Akemi failed to save Madoka Kaname, having to watch her either die or become a witch]]. WordOfGod states [[spoiler:Homura has reset the timeline at least 100 times]]. SpinOff manga, like ''Manga/PuellaMagiOrikoMagica'' and ''Manga/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheDifferentStory'', take place in other timelines [[spoiler:that came before the final one seen in the anime]]. [[VideoGame/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaPortable The PSP game]] shows several additional timelines, though at least some aren't canon [[spoiler:due to Homura dying or becoming a witch]]. |
| 49 | [[/folder]] |
| 50 | |
| 51 | [[folder:Audio Drama]] |
| 52 | * ''Republica'', from Creator/BBVProductions, is set in an alternate timeline where UsefulNotes/CharlesII was never restored to the throne after the English Civil War. In the 20th century, England is still a republic (although the last scion of the House of Stuart, who styles himself Charles XIV, is plotting to take back what he considers his). |
| 53 | [[/folder]] |
| 54 | |
| 55 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 56 | * Even ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'' has ventured into this, with their controversial ''Archie Marries Veronica / Archie Marries Betty'' combined mini-series which became a combined regular series. |
| 57 | * Creator/DCComics: |
| 58 | ** One alternate Earth in the [[Franchise/TheDCU DC]] [[TheMultiverse Multiverse]] was formed soon after Jason Todd died. Franchise/{{Batman}}, stricken with grief, abandoned his ThouShaltNotKill policies and virtually eliminated crime worldwide. |
| 59 | ** Then there's Earth-12 and Earth-50. Earth-12 is the Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse universe, currently in the era of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond''. Earth-50's history diverged from the DCAU with the death of the Flash at Lex Luthor's hands, leading the Justice League to become the totalitarian Justice Lords. |
| 60 | ** ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint|DCComics}}'' details an altered DC Universe in which only Barry Allen (ComicBook/TheFlash) seems to be aware of significant differences between the regular timeline and the altered one, including Cyborg's place as the world's quintessential hero, Superman's detention by the government, and a Thomas Wayne version of Batman who spends his days "running Wayne Casinos." |
| 61 | ** DC's ''ComicBook/{{The Kingdom|DCComics}}'' introduced the concept of Hypertime, "the vast, interconnected web of parallel timelines which comprise all reality", at the end of Issue 2. It also acts as a variation of the multiverse (every story, even the ones just in your head, are canonical somewhere). This was also used to explain away some continuity errors and [[CanonImmigrant subtly bringing in elements from other realities]], but was later abandoned and instead the anomalies were the result of [[ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis Superboy punching reality]]. |
| 62 | --->'''Hunter:''' How does 'Hypertime' work? Off the Central Timeline we just left. Events of importance often cause divergent 'tributaries' to branch off the main timestream. ...On occasion, those tributaries return — sometimes feeding back into the Central Timeline, other times overlapping it briefly before charting an entirely new course. |
| 63 | * In the ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' comic strip, the Eighth Doctor comic stories were initially explicitly depicted as taking place in an alternate timeline to most of the Seventh Doctor comic stories (Ace dies in a HeroicSacrifice at a point that is clearly before her character development in the Seventh Doctor stories, and the Seventh Doctor very quickly regenerates into the Eighth, with his first major story arc being his pursuit of the Threshold -- all this was because a [[ExecutiveMeddling new editor]] strongly disliked the Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures which the Seventh Doctor comics had shared a continuity with, and [[ArmedWithCanon wanted to demonstrate that]]). However, the post-2005 stories have occasionally made continuity references to stories from both allegedly separate timelines. |
| 64 | * A number of Creator/MarvelComics' [[TheMultiverse alternate dimensions]] -- typically the ones featured in the ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' comics -- are implied and in some cases outright stated to be offshoots of its main Earth-616 universe. ''ComicBook/DaysOfFuturePast'', ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse'', and ''ComicBook/MarvelComics2'' universe are examples. |
| 65 | ** The ''ComicBook/SpiderGirl'' series takes place in the [=MC2=] universe, which diverged from the main continuity after the Clone Saga. In this continuity, ComicBook/SpiderMan's daughter survives and becomes Spider-Girl in the future. The point of divergence may be even further back, as later on it's revealed that Simon Williams (a.k.a. Wonder Man) died in issue 9 and was never resurrected. |
| 66 | ** Marvel tends to mess in and out of clones and alternate timelines, to the point where several characters have a modus operandi off of it. |
| 67 | ** It was an early rule of Marvel Comics that any attempt to change history would just create an alternate timeline, which among other things is how the X-Men have so many [[BadFuture bad futures]] to choose from. Writers have tended to forget this when it's convenient. |
| 68 | ** ''ComicBook/{{Exiles}}'' is all about exploring alternate timelines with a group of original characters (for the most part). One interesting commonality about them is that typically Thor wasn't involved in them. |
| 69 | * ''ComicBook/MightyMorphinPowerRangersBoomStudios'' features two timelines: a SettingUpdate of the original show, and another (revealed much later) where [[spoiler:Tommy kept working for Rita even after her spell was lifted]]. The second one is a few years ahead of the first, and has gone full BadFuture. The comic's story arc is a result of [[spoiler:evil!Tommy]] invading the regular timeline for his own reasons. |
| 70 | * Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik as he appeared in ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' actually came from an alternate timeline where he roboticized himself to defeat Sonic. After wiping out the Freedom Fighters in his home dimension, this Robotnik became the successor of the original Robotnik, who was killed in the 50th issue. He was eventually turned back into an organic being in Issue 118. |
| 71 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'': |
| 72 | ** ''ComicBook/StarTrekEarlyVoyages'': In the story arc "Futures", Mia Colt accidentally activates the tachyon energy suspended in an Algolian keepsake when she scans it with her tricorder. As a result, she is sent 39 years forward in time to 2293 and thereby creates an alternate timeline. After her disappearance, James T. Kirk, newly graduated from Starfleet Academy, was assigned to replace her as Captain Pike's yeoman. However, the two men had a severe personality clash and Kirk resigned from Starfleet after a year. He went into the commercial sector and eventually became the captain of the freighter ''Bounty''. Captain Pike remained in command of the ''Enterprise'' until it was decommissioned and became an exhibit at the UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco Smithsonian Museum of Air, Sea and Space. He then assumed command of the ''Enterprise''-A. In 2293, the Federation has a very fragile peace with the Klingon Empire and it is feared that an instance of border violation may result in war. |
| 73 | ** ''ComicBook/SonsOfStarTrek'' has Q Junior send Jake Sisko, Nog and Alexander Rozenkho to an alternate universe where first contact with the Breen lead to a ten-year war between them and the Federation. The three are on board the USS ''Avery'', captained by Dukat (which ''really'' chaffs Jake) with crew members including Morn (who really is talkative), a ''Commander'' Beckett Mariner (suggesting that [[spoiler:Sito Jaxa never died here]]), Tuvix and a seemingly well-adjusted but a Lieutenant Liam Shaw. |
| 74 | * ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': |
| 75 | ** ''ComicBook/WayOfTheWorld'': After Thomas Price's death, the story shows an alternate future where ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} defeats an alien conqueror and considers to use his time-travelling gadget to save Thomas. |
| 76 | ** ''ComicBook/SupermanAndBatmanGenerations'' had an alternate timeline play itself out in the third series, only for it to be undone and revert to the ending of the first series, with Batman, Superman, and Lana Lang together wondering what had happened. |
| 77 | * ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' has done this multiple times. |
| 78 | ** The ''ComicBook/TransformersClassics'' continuity follows on from the end of ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel'', but ignores the events of [[ComicBook/TransformersGeneration2 G2]] and some (maybe all) of the UK comics. Don't ask where ''Earthforce'' fits in. |
| 79 | ** Titan Magazines had [[ComicBook/TransformersTwilightsLastGleaming a comic]] based off the [[Film/Transformers2007 2007 film]] which diverges from the main timeline when the Decepticons win the Battle of Mission City. |
| 80 | ** In ''ComicBook/TransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'', Brainstorm's time machine is designed specifically to ''avoid'' creating one when he attempts to prevent the Autobot-Decepticon war. It doesn't quite work -- while all the time travelling he and the others do follows YouAlreadyChangedThePast, Perceptor messes with the machine enough for a second timeline to come into being. In it, Megatron was never born and all the war's collateral damage is averted -- at the cost of Cybertron remaining a complete dystopia where your worth is defined by your alt-mode. |
| 81 | * In ''ComicBook/WonderWomanOdyssey'', Themyscira was destroyed when Diana was a young child, leading to the death of Hippolyta and Diana being raised in exile with surviving Amazons. |
| 82 | [[/folder]] |
| 83 | |
| 84 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 85 | * Present in the ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' fic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/25658806/chapters/62291518 Adrien AUgreste: The New World After the Wish]]''. |
| 86 | ** The fic focuses on a new timeline created when Shadow Moth successfully gets the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous and make the wish to undo his wife's coma, [[EquivalentExchange which leads him to be in a coma instead and Emilie to become the Butterfly villain Lycaena]]. As Lycaena, she is a far more dangerous and ruthless villain than Hawk Moth was, forcing Master Fu to select more permanent heroes like Ryoko, Rena Rouge, and Pegasus to join in the fight alongside Ladybug and Chat Noir. In addition, Emilie [[AdaptationalVillainy is shown to be a skilled]] [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]], [[AbusiveParents using emotional manipulation to keep Adrien from going to public school]], getting the staff at Dupont [[AdultsAreUseless to be lenient towards bullies]] so more potential akumas can be made from the victims, having Marinette blacklisted as a designer so she couldn't claim the stolen hat design Chloe submitted, and training Lila as an apprentice who caused Marinette, Alya, and Max to be expelled from their school, leading to the latter three to work in exposing the various forms of corruption in Paris. |
| 87 | ** In the penultimate chapter, [[spoiler:it's revealed that there was a previous timeline before the canon-compliant timeline that Hawk Moth started from]]. The original timeline [[spoiler:involved a British version of the original ''Miraculous Ladybug'' preview, with Felix as Black Cat, Marinette's cousin Bridgette as Ladybug, and Felix's father as the supervillain Papillon, who planned on using the wish to bring back his dead wife. After the final battle resulted in Papillon's defeat and Ladybug's death, Felix desperately stole the Rabbit Miraculous to go back in time [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong so he can save his mother and his girlfriend]]. Just like the wish, his actions also resulted in an EquivalentExchange that brought back Amelie and Bridgette but caused his aunt to enter a coma from abusing the Peacock Miraculous and his father to be killed by Gabriel for the Butterfly Miraculous]]. |
| 88 | * {{Justified|Trope}} in ''Fanfic/BrotherOnBrotherDaughterOnMother'', which takes the approach of explaining the [[TimeyWimeyBall inconsistent behavior]] of ''Franchise/StarTrek'' TimeTravel with the notion that time is like a rope composed of alternate timelines (or more specifically sequences of probabilistically determined events) that are fundamentally similar overall, but which can fray off dramatically different timelines in the event of major temporal incursions. The TimePolice and the Temporal Prime Directive exist to prevent such frays from happening, since they damage time itself. |
| 89 | * An [[WhatCouldHaveBeen unused idea]] for a ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'' MadeForTVMovie chronicled the eponymous characters visiting one, where Calvin (as an adult) became rich by selling the MTM, only for a war to break out as several nations all try to use it to [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong change history in their favor]]. |
| 90 | * In ''Fanfic/CarpeNoctem'', [[spoiler:while going back in time with the help of the Time Turner, Hermione accidentally lets her past self see her future self, which disrupts the space-time continuum and causes an alternate world's Hermione to see the events of the canon ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' timeline in her dreams]]. |
| 91 | * In ''Fanfic/CustodyBattle'', a ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' fanfic, the first One For All user traveled forward in time instead of dying. This created a darker AU since he never passed on One For All. |
| 92 | * ''Fanfic/DownTheKarmicHole'' takes place in one, being set in the same universe as ''Fanfic/TheKarmaOfLies''. The main divergence so far is [[WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug Alix]] encountering her alternate self's future self, Bunnyx, who informs her of the events that lead to ''Karma of Lies'' one week before they happen. |
| 93 | * ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf'' had at least three different alternate timeline stories played out. The first was when Empath was born without his abilities, but instead was lost in the forest for 150-something years before he was discovered and named Wild Smurf. The second was when Smurfette fell in love with and married Papa Smurf, resulting in a child and the new family being exiled from the Smurf Village by the other Smurfs. The third was when Empath was forcibly returned to Psychelia and Smurfette ended up falling in love with and marrying Hefty, having a child through him. |
| 94 | * In ''Fanfic/EqualAndOppositeAttraction'', there is a massive divergence where [[spoiler:[[Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi Negi]] never stops teaching and [[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha Fate]] goes soul-searching]]. This kicks off the plot when Negi leaves Mahora to get his life in order. |
| 95 | * ''Fanfic/FateOfTheClans'': In this, the multiverse exists. A Quantum Time-Lock occurs every 100 years in order to cull the Dead End timelines so the Solar System doesn't die. A person with the Second Magic, Kaleidoscope, can travel to these different realities. |
| 96 | * In ''Fanfic/FearNoEvil'', a ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' fanfic, Izuku is forced to face [[Anime/MyHeroAcademiaWorldHeroesMission Humarise]] early when they kidnap him while he is still in middle school. |
| 97 | * In ''Fanfic/Flashpoint2AdventSolaris'', the [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic Universe]] is brought in not as its own universe but rather an alternate timeline of the ''WesternAnimation/DCAnimatedMovieUniverse''. Barry Allen is just as confused about it. |
| 98 | * In the ''Fanfic/ForeverCaptain'' series, [[Characters/MCUSteveRogers Steve]] is uncertain what effect his return to the midcentury will have on the proceeding of the timeline in this version of the multiverse. |
| 99 | * In ''Fanfic/ForgivenessIsTheAttributeOfTheStrong'', a ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' fanfic, eleven-year-old All for One and his younger brother travel to canon time. This story uses the parallel universe version of time travel, so their older selves are also around (as a vestige in the case of the latter). |
| 100 | * There is a ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' {{fanfic}} called ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4560300/1/ Green Storm Rising]]'' where the Planet Express Crew randomly shifts through two different alternate timelines. |
| 101 | * ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12086351/1/Kanashī-Wütend-Desolato Kanashī, Wütend, Desolato]]'' is basically a WhatIf for ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11886910/1/Gankona-Unnachgiebig-Unità Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità]]'': [[spoiler:instead of supporting [[{{Polyamory}} Germany's, Italy's, and Japan's relationship]], what if most of the countries scorned and tormented them upon finding out? Things ''do not'' [[DrivenToSuicide turn out well]].]] |
| 102 | * ''Fanfic/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTimeDragonRand100'' features the creation of multiple timelines, not unlike [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime the original game]]. [[spoiler:The first timeline is the adult timeline where Link defeated Ganon as the world healed; the second timeline is the child timeline where Link was sent back to his childhood where Ganondorf could be stopped before his plan was put in motion. Other timelines, created by some timey-wimey stuff involving the Hero of Time, are hinted at.]] |
| 103 | * ''Fanfic/MarisStella'': Chapters 27 and 28 detail a timeline in which Riodinidae overpowers the heroes to steal [[WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug the Miraculous]]. Yuu manages to travel back in time to change events, creating the main timeline. |
| 104 | * Chapter 10 of ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/32499718/chapters/84559009#workskin Manifest (Season Four)]]'' shows an alternate timeline of ''Series/{{Manifest}}'' where the events of Flight 828 happen differently, shown [[spoiler:as where main timeline Cal ended up between touching the tailfin and returning right during Grace's death during Season 3]]. The passengers on the plane were different, with Olive, her grandfather Steve, and Saavni's girlfriend Alex on the plane in place of canon passengers like Michaela and Adrian. Flight 828 crashed during its flight with Cal as the only miraculous survivor, where he lived for 5 and a half years before dying of leukemia. The timeline also has other notable differences, such as Olive having leukemia during the disastrous flight and Zeke's younger sister Chloe being alive and as a child therapist [[DeadAlternateCounterpart while Zeke has died years prior]]. It's also revealed that [[spoiler:the Major, who seemingly [[BackFromTheDead came back from her death in Season 2]], is actually from this timeline, sent when experimenting with Dark Lightning]]. |
| 105 | * ''Fanfic/NoSuchLuckNoSuchLove'' is a ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' fanfic that centers around one of these during the events of "No Such Luck", but instead of having the Loud family believe that Lincoln was bad luck, they knew that he lied about it so he could get out of going to his sisters' events. The things that Lincoln suffered through in the actual episode (not allowed to attend activities that he enjoys, having his room completely removed of his furniture and boarded up, and being forced to sleep outside) were really done to punish him for lying, but the problem is that [[PoorCommunicationKills Lincoln doesn't know this due to no one telling him]], so he ends up thinking that his family ''really'' thought he was bad luck. |
| 106 | * The main setting of ''Fanfic/{{Odaliaverse}}'' is an alternate version of [[WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse the Boiling Isles]] that, while initially looking very similar to the original timeline, is soon revealed to have a couple of changes, chief among them being [[spoiler:Phillip Wittebane having been petrified a long time ago, with someone else, implied to be his brother, taking his place as Emperor Belos]]. |
| 107 | * ''Fanfic/PassingDays'' for ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' itself can be considered an Alternate Timeline to canon due to the main protagonist Vy's actions in regards to the game's events and the Servants she summons. Scathach-Skadi herself in this story is an AlternateSelf and SoleSurvivor of her Lostbelt who was summoned in Part 1.5 as an example, and it results in her saving Vy and Mash from Kadoc and Anastasia in the Russian Lostbelt. Day 15 of the story even has Chaldea explore a mini-Lostbelt of an Alternate Timeline of ''Anime/FateExtraLastEncore'' where Dan Blackmore and Robin Hood succeeded in killing Deadface!Hakuno and Nero in their first encounter. |
| 108 | * The ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'' is established as being an Alternate Timeline to [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic the main series]] timeline. While originally tied to the "heart-world", the universe diverged completely and became independent as of [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E14TheLastRoundup "The Last Roundup"]]. |
| 109 | * ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11897087/1/The-Powerpuff-Girls-meet-Freddy-Krueger The Powerpuff Girls meet Freddy Krueger]]'': Franchise/ThePowerpuffGirls' confrontation with [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger]] ends with the former three deciding to change the timeline out of [[SympathyForTheDevil sympathy]] for him. This results in Freddy being raised by a more loving family, becoming a horror enthusiast and a stunt double for Creator/ChristopherLee instead of the SerialKiller he was in canon. |
| 110 | * In ''Fanfic/TheSagesDisciple'', [[spoiler:this appears to be the case for events of [[Franchise/{{Nasuverse}} the mundane world]], as it appears the presence of the supernatural has affected the timeline. Russia remained an absolute monarchy due to Tsar Alexander III surviving to influence the events leading up to World War I, the Yggdmillennia family prevented the outbreak of the Second Balkan War, the Titanic managed to reach New York City before sinking due to the intervention of an unnamed magus, Operation Valkyrie succeeded in 1944, etc. During the sequel ''The Puppeteer's Bodyguard'', Crow spends much of his free time researching other such changes and trying to figure out why it's so different from the world he knew]]. |
| 111 | * ''Fanfic/SpiritLines'' takes place in an altered timeline of Parts 1 to 6 of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' after [[spoiler:Pucci used Made in Heaven to reset the universe in ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]]'']]. While the events of ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]]'' and ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]]'' remained the same, many events afterwards are changed due to [[spoiler:[[PlotTriggeringDeath the death of Joseph Joestar]]]]. Namely, this story's version of ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]'' has Katarou (this timeline's Jotaro) implicitly get sick from Dio's influence, [[SwappedRoles leading to Holly]] -- who requests to go by [[MythologyGag Seiko]] -- joining Joseph and Avdol on their quest to Egypt. Katarou and his daughter Irene, this timeline's Jolyne, are normal humans without [[FightingSpirit Stands]]. |
| 112 | * A defining plot point in ''Fanfic/SplitSecondMyLittlePony'', which diverges at the moment of the first sonic rainboom, in which Twilight became a WhiteMage and Sparkle became a BlackMage. |
| 113 | * In ''Fanfic/StarWarsLightInDarkTime'', the series' real plot begins when Doc and Marty inadvertently get Luke and his friends to create an alternate timeline where Anakin never became Darth Vader, but Order-66 still happened. The result is an evil version of Luke, a more competent Empire, and a potentially worse galaxy. |
| 114 | * ''Fanfic/ToHellAndBackArrowverse'': Like in canon, except not. Canon's nail was the death of [[ComicBook/TheFlash Nora Allen]]. Here, while Nora's death has had a major ripple effect on the timeline, it is not the only one. It's noted that there have been several changes to the timeline prior to Nora's death, heavily implied to be caused by another time traveler that Eobard was unaware of until recently. Of these changes and others: |
| 115 | ** [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kara]], and by extension, Astra and co., were not due to arrive on Earth for another five years. [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Kal-El]] is the right age, but he's being raised by Kara and his original adoptive parents, the Kents, were killed in a fire before they could ever meet. To say nothing of the different landing place. This is also implied to be the reason why her supporting cast, and the location of National City, are not a part of the story -- most of them are kids/teenagers living in different parts of the country. |
| 116 | ** Bruce Wayne's parents were never killed, so he is a well-adjusted individual who never becomes Franchise/{{Batman}}. This presumably has a ripple effect that prevents the rise of most of his RoguesGallery. |
| 117 | ** Princess Diana never leaves Themyscira, so there's no Franchise/WonderWoman either. |
| 118 | ** Felicity Smoak is incarcerated for the creation of her hacktivist supervirus, rather than moving to Starling City and eventually becoming infatuated with [[ComicBook/GreenArrow Oliver]]. |
| 119 | [[/folder]] |
| 120 | |
| 121 | [[folder:Film — Live-Action]] |
| 122 | * ''Film/{{APEX}}'' starts off in a normal version of 2073, when a time-travelling experiment goes wrong sending an A.P.E.X drone to a century ago, in 1973. The hero, Nicholas Sinclair, travels to 1973 to shut down the drone, but then returns to an alternate version of 2073 where the A.P.E.X. drones tutned against humanity, and mankind are on the losing end of a RobotWar. Sinclair even meets alternate versions of his wife and commanding officer, and they ''didn't recognize him at all''. |
| 123 | * ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'': |
| 124 | ** About half of the plot of ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'' is based around this. 2015!Biff Tannen steals the [=DeLorean=] time machine, goes back to 1955, and gives his younger self a sports almanac that allows him to win every bet and become fantastically rich. By 1985, his greed and corruption have turned Hill Valley into a WretchedHive. Marty and Doc find out about this when they try to return home, then figure out the point of divergence and spend the rest of the movie trying to steal the almanac away from 1955!Biff so they can destroy it. |
| 125 | ** [[ComicBook/BackToTheFuture The IDW comic book]] did a mini-series titled ''Biff to the Future'', co-authored by series co-creator Bob Gale, that explored the alternate timeline in greater depth and detailed events that were just minor [[FreezeFrameBonus background elements]] in the movie. Among other things, Biff became good buddies with UsefulNotes/RichardNixon, helping the latter avoid Watergate and stay in office for five terms, which also lead to the Vietnam War continuing into the [=1980s=]. |
| 126 | * In the ''Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse'', Batman witnesses a horrific BadFuture in a dream in ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', with the forces of Apokolips dominating the Earth and Superman having turned to their side. All of this likely happened because Lois Lane died and the Justice League didn't gather. The Flash travels back in time and tries to warn Bruce Wayne, who doesn't fully understand it until Superman's death at the end of the film. By the time of ''Justice League'', Bruce and Diana/Wonder Woman do their best to gather the eponymous SuperTeam to repel the incoming AlienInvasion by the Apokoliptian war chief Steppenwolf and spare the Earth the aforementioned BadFuture. While [[Film/JusticeLeague2017 the 2017 theatrical film]] does not delve into it, it becomes more of a key plot point in ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'', where it becomes more clear what happened: [[spoiler:Darkseid killed Aquaman and Wonder Woman, corrupted Superman, and Batman, Flash, Cyborg, Mera, and Deathstroke are forced to pull an EnemyMine with ComicBook/TheJoker to stand a greater chance against their fallen comrade (though Batman had promised Harley to kill the clown when the alliance is over).]] |
| 127 | * Done to the extreme in ''Film/DejaVu2006'', which necessitates [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Deja_Vu_Timeline.png four alternate timelines]] to explain the events of the movie. |
| 128 | * The ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' series has done this several times to the point where each of the movies from ''Film/Godzilla2000'' and onward (with the exception of the two with Mechagodzilla) are their own continuity branching off from [[Film/Godzilla1954 the original]]. |
| 129 | * ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'': |
| 130 | ** ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' deals with something like this. [[spoiler:In order to find and retrieve the Infinity Stones and restore those erased by Thanos, the Avengers do a bit of time travelling, intending on "borrowing" the items before putting them right back. However, things don't go so well. In 2012, during [[Film/Avengers2012 the Battle of New York]], Hulk accidentally knocks out present-day Tony, allowing the Loki of that era to temporarily escape with the Tesseract (and lead into [[Series/Loki2021 his own show]] in the process). Later, the Thanos of [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014 2014]] catches present-day Nebula and learns of what happens in the future, leading him to travel to 2023 in order to take care of everything there, taking all of his forces (including his own Nebula and Gamora) with him. This implies there's at least two of these -- one where Loki escaped capture and one where Thanos never arrived on Earth at all, but the Guardians never got Gamora on their side. Additionally, the directors have confirmed that Steve going back in time to live a life with Peggy also created another alternate timeline... [[FlipFlopOfGod a statement which is contradicted by the writers]], who have instead suggested that [[AmbiguousSituation Steve was actually a part of the original timeline all along]] [[CanonCharacterAllAlong as Peggy's mystery husband]]. According to the Ancient One, the Infinity Stones create what is perceived as time, and that removing one creates a branched alternate reality. This can be interpreted to mean that ''any'' changes caused by Time Travel result in alternate realities, or that this only applies if an Infinity Stone is directly involved.]] |
| 131 | ** In ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'', Peter [[NiceJobBreakingItHero tampering with Dr. Strange's magic]] leads to villains from the [[Film/SpiderManTrilogy Raimi]] and [[Film/TheAmazingSpiderManSeries Webb]] universes being brought into the MCU from timelines parallel to the original ones where they were defeated by their respective Spider-Men, shortly before it happened. |
| 132 | * It's almost certain that there are two continuities in the original ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes'' franchise. The first is the continuity that led to the society of [[Film/PlanetOfTheApes1968 the original film]], possibly as described by Cornelius to the committee in ''Film/EscapeFromThePlanetOfTheApes''. The second is the altered continuity that the birth of their son, Caesar, sparked. It appears that the ape revolution was greatly sped up with his arrival. However, fans are split as to whether the continuities ultimately re-merge when history reaches the point where the original film was set, and humans will again end up mute wild animals and the world destroyed by the Alpha-Omega bomb or whether history was changed for good by the end of ''Film/BattleForThePlanetOfTheApes'' and Caesar forged a new future. The editing of ''Battle'' didn't help things, the theatrical release had a hopeful tone, but the unedited version on most DVD releases clearly sets up the beginnings of the mutant society of ''Film/BeneathThePlanetOfTheApes''. [[Series/PlanetOfTheApes The TV series]] likely exists in one of these continuities somewhere, while [[WesternAnimation/ReturnToThePlanetOfTheApes the animated series]] and [[Film/PlanetOfTheApes2001 the 2001 remake]] don't, and and ''Rise'' may or may not. ''Film/RiseOfThePlanetOfTheApes'' is a ContinuityReboot, but there have been statements by the creators contradicting that and painting it as a prequel as well. |
| 133 | * In ''Film/SlidingDoors'', the movie shows two alternate timelines. The story starts off with Helen Quilley getting fired, while her boyfriend is cheating on her. She goes home, and either just catches [[UsefulNotes/TheLondonUnderground the tube]] in time, finding her boyfriend in bed with another woman, or misses the tube, causing some other events to happen which means she arrives home after the other woman has left. The movie then alternates between the two story lines. |
| 134 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'': |
| 135 | ** Explained in-story in ''Film/StarTrek2009''. The two main timelines [[PointOfDivergence diverge]] at the attack on the USS ''Kelvin''. In the PrimeTimeline, Kirk is born on Earth in March of 2233 and the timeline proceeds how you remember it. In the new timeline, Kirk is born in space in January during [[BigBad Nero]]'s attack on the ''Kelvin'', his father is killed pulling a HeroicSacrifice, and [[spoiler: Vulcan is eventually destroyed]] -- so there is no point asking [[spoiler:Spock-Prime]] what's going to happen next, since now he has no idea either. |
| 136 | ** Although his knowledge of things that predated the ''Kelvin'' attack but became important later or that originated elsewhere wouldn't have necessarily been affected. Things like the Guardian of Forever, the "green space hand", Doomsday Machine, giant space amoeba, [[Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture V'Ger]], [[spoiler: Khan's sleeper ship]] (which is realized in ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'', where it is discovered several years earlier than the original timeline), the [[Film/StarTrekGenerations Nexus]], the existence of the Borg and the Dominion, subspace damage caused by warp drives, [[Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome the need for whales]], and so on. Also included is the entirety of ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise''. |
| 137 | ** The IDW comic series reveals that Q knows about this timeline and decides to go mess with it to teach Kirk a lesson, despite Picard begging him not to. |
| 138 | ** In 2016, shortly before the release of ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'', this timeline got officially dubbed the "Kelvin Timeline", referring to the USS ''Kelvin'' attack as the diverging point. |
| 139 | * In ''Film/{{Triangle}}'', Jess gets stuck in a GroundhogDayLoop of her co-passengers getting killed by a masked killer. The first Jess tries to break the chain by meeting the Jess from the next loop. This creates a new timeline where the other passengers died differently by getting killed by a different masked killer. [[spoiler: Subverted in that the two timelines play off at the same time and each influence each other. For example the new timeline eventually causes the second Jess to have her own story, which we don't see, where she eventually killed some of the passengers as the second masked killer which eventually made the first Jess turn into the first masked killer]]. However, it is highly, highly implied that Jess is not going through any real kind of "time travel", but that she [[spoiler: died IRL in the car accident we see at the end, and everything we're witnessing is her in some kind of purgatory/hell due to her guilt/grief over the way she treated her special needs child while alive]], ultimately averting the trope. |
| 140 | * ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'': |
| 141 | ** The series entered this territory after ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast''. All films set after that point take place in an alternate version of Earth in which the existence of mutants became public knowledge in 1973, nearly three decades earlier than in the original timeline, meaning there are quite a few differences. |
| 142 | ** ''Film/{{Logan}}'' is said to be its own timeline even to the one post-''Days of Future Past''. |
| 143 | [[/folder]] |
| 144 | |
| 145 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 146 | * Creator/EricFlint's ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'': One of the many things that the main characters bemoan is that so many great artists and musicians born ''after'' the arrival of Grantville in the past will now never be born because the timeline has diverged way too far for probability to allow it. This fact causes several artists and musicians native to the time to investigate what ''would'' have been created by those now-erased artists and create it themselves. |
| 147 | * Creator/AdamRBrown's ''Literature/{{Alterien}}'' features a story at a later point in the series in which Oberon and his rival, Theseus, end up in an alternate reality. In this alternate universe, many of the events of Oberon and Theseus' lives occurred similar to the way they did before, but set a century earlier and with new people in place of some of the people they remember. |
| 148 | * The ''Literature/BlackTrillium'' novel was co-written by three authors, who each went on to write a {{sequel}} (or two), effectively spawning three mostly incompatible timelines from a single root. |
| 149 | * Creator/GaryPaulsen's ''Literature/BriansSaga'': The first book, ''Hatchet'', ends with [[spoiler:Brian being rescued]]. However, in the third book, ''Brian's Winter'', [[spoiler:it takes place in an alternate series of events where Brian has to survive through the winter]]. Of course, marketing spoiled this [[LateArrivalSpoiler on the back of the book]]. |
| 150 | * Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheDarkTower'': In ''Literature/TheWasteLands'', alternate timelines created in the previous book, ''Literature/TheDrawingOfTheThree'', are explored. The alternate timeline, [[spoiler:one where Roland travelled with Jake, versus one where he was alone]], slowly drive both Jake and Roland insane as their minds simultaneously believe both two different versions of events to be true. |
| 151 | * Creator/ScottCiencin's ''Literature/{{Dinoverse}}'' has a vast number of alternate universes, but it's implied that the peaceful utopian Dinoverse, which has a present-day society of, well, dinosaurs, is the result of characters in the Mesozoic era rescuing an [[AmplifiedAnimalAptitude unusually smart Deinonychus]] from certain doom. There's still the heroes' reality with human civilization, and there are human and dinosaur versions of several characters. |
| 152 | * The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels refer to this as the Trousers of Time, with a person theoretically going down one leg when they could have gone down the other. It's mostly hypothetical, except for in two instances. |
| 153 | ** In ''Literature/LordsAndLadies'', Granny finds herself wondering if she's going mad when she starts subconsciously setting up her house as if two people are living there. After learning of the Trousers of Time from her ex-boyfriend Mustrum Ridcully, she realizes that her mind has been mingling with an alternate version of herself where she married him instead of remaining single. |
| 154 | ** In ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'', Sam Vimes leads the Watch to rescue a captured member, and then somehow accidentally collects his Disorganizer (which has started adding future events to his schedule) from the leg where he didn't. This results in him learning what could have been had he not gone - his departure caused the Ankh-Morpork fleet to attack Klatch ahead of schedule, which disrupted Klatch's invasion plans, buying time for Vetinari to come up with a political solution; in the other, Klatch attacked first, and the Watch was slaughtered in the city's defense. |
| 155 | * ''Literature/TheEmpiriumTrilogy'': When Eliana returns after a failed trip into the past, she learns that her brief interaction with her birth mother altered the pasts of various characters and events, and not for the better. Characters that were alive are now dead or missing and the deadline for the current mission was moved forward by a few days. |
| 156 | * Later ''Literature/JoelSuzuki'' books reveal the existence of alternate timelines. When a person travels to one, they displace the version of themself that was already there, resulting in a person who combines traits and memories of both, and retconning the history of the new timeline to reflect that. [[spoiler:In ''Dance of the Darkeye'', Joel and Felicity travel to different timelines to use different versions of the Songshell to infuse Joel with huge amounts of power so he can defeat Marshall. But it turns out that excessive timeline-hopping can weaken the boundaries between timelines, and their actions cause all the timelines to eventually collapse into one.]] |
| 157 | * Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/LivingSpace'': Alec Mishnoff is able to figure out that the German-speaking builders are from an alternate Earth timeline where UsefulNotes/NaziGermany won [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII a tribal conflict]]. Still the same year, ignoring differences of [[AlternativeCalendar Nach Hitler versus Anno Domini]]. |
| 158 | * Creator/IsaacAsimov and Creator/JanetAsimov's ''Literature/NorbyAndTheQueensNecklace'': The characters call these time-tracks, having created a "false" one when Albany took the diamond necklace that was the focus of UsefulNotes/MarieAntoinette's scandal before it reached Comtesse de la Motte, [[HistoricalInJoke preventing the scandal from occurring in the first place]]. Without that scandal, UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution was a peaceful change in government, creating a constitutional monarchy. In order to [[GetBackToTheFuture return to their own time]], the characters have to first return the necklace to the jewelers it was taken from. |
| 159 | * In Creator/OrsonScottCard's ''Literature/PastwatchTheRedemptionOfChristopherColumbus'', the historians of the titular organization try to figure out if it's possible to change the past to avert TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, only to discover that it has already been done once. It's heavily implied that our timeline is the alternate to what was supposed to have happened originally. In the original timeline, Columbus never sailed West, instead leading a new, disastrous, Crusade to retake the Holy Land. Without European interference, the Aztec Empire fell under the onslaught of Tlaxcala, a rival nation (in our history, they allied with the Spaniards to destroy the Aztecs). Unlike the Aztecs, the Tlaxcalans were not averse to innovation and were even more bloodthirsty. They forged an even greater empire, by the time the Americas are finally visited by Europeans in the 18th century. The captured Portuguese sailors were forced to give up the secrets of gunpowder and shipbuilding, after which the the Tlaxcalans built a massive armada and sailed East. They fell upon a devastated Europe, crushing all enemies and sacrificing thousands to their god of war. However, that original timeline was also doomed to result in the end of human civilization, so scientists from that timeline sent back a holographic message to Columbus, pretending to be God telling him to sail West, resulting in our timeline. Realizing that both versions of history are dead ends, the Pastwatch historians send three people into the past around the time of Columbus's arrival to the New World. One sacrifices himself to trap the Europeans in the Caribbean, another convinces Columbus to work on unifying the island tribes, and the third starts forming a more benevolent empire on the mainland. Many decades later, Columbus returns to Europe at the head of a massive well-armed fleet of trade ships as both an example of GunboatDiplomacy and an offer for the Old World to trade fairly with the New World with neither culture dominating the other. Supposedly, this results in a much better timeline. |
| 160 | * ''Literature/{{Relativity}}'': The entire series apparently takes place in an "alternate timeline." In the short story "Tempest" (which takes place in the distant past, relative to the main narrative), Phanthro alters history, and uses a memory-projector to show a version of history where Matt's son dies in his forties. Since his son dies as a child in the "current" history, the memories Phanthro has must be from an "earlier" version. |
| 161 | * Creator/GinnHale's ''Literature/TheRifter'': [[spoiler:Kahlil, after a lonely youth training in Rathal’pesha, spent years in Nayeshi waiting to bring the Rifter (John) to Basawar; then his key to the gates fell into John’s hands and John crossed through. He landed at an earlier point in time and met Ravishan the trainee-Kahlil; together the two of them changed history radically. Now the future where Ravishan becomes Kahlil will never happen, but his future self is still over in Nayeshi, not knowing that events he remembers have been wiped out of existence. Kahlil crosses to Bashawar and arrives thirty years after John’s arrival. He [[NeverTheSelvesShallMeet doesn’t meet himself]] because by this time Ravishan is dead. However, he does pick up Ravishan’s memories; the two timelines coexist confusingly in his mind. Among other things, the Payshmura church that Kahlil remembers serving all those years doesn't exist here, it was destroyed soon after John's arrival.]] |
| 162 | * ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' takes place on Earth Bet, which diverged from our timeline in 1982 with the appearance of Scion, the first {{superhero}}. [[AnotherDimension Other worlds]] exist with their own divergent timelines -- Earth Aleph being one. |
| 163 | [[/folder]] |
| 164 | |
| 165 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 166 | * ''Series/TheFortyFourHundred'': In the two-part story "Gone", the woman from the future (who posed as Maia's sister Sarah Rutledge) and her accomplices kidnap five 4400 children -- Maia, Lindsey Hammond, Tyler Downing and Duncan and Olivia Germaine -- and transport them further back in time in order to create an alternate timeline. Their reason for doing so is that the 4400 have failed to change history and prevent the catastrophe of which the messenger in Kyle's body warned Tom in "White Light". Maia is sent to 1832 and eventually dies of smallpox while on the Oregon Trail in October 1847. Tyler is sent to 1893 and invents synthetic petroleum in 1915. Lindsey is sent to 1918, gets adopted by Robert Goddard and invents the composite materials used in the construction of the [[ColonizedSolarSystem first lunar colonies]]. |
| 167 | * ''Series/{{Community}}'': |
| 168 | ** "Remedial Chaos Theory" explores six alternate timelines, each different depending on which number Jeff rolls on the Yahtzee die. We then see the main timeline, which is [[spoiler:where Abed catches the die instead of letting it roll]]. |
| 169 | *** The series flashes over to the "Darkest Timeline" every now and then to see how things are going (or at least ''Abed'' does in his own mind). |
| 170 | ** The episode with the two model U.N.s also used this explanation (at Abed's insistence) to explain the presence of two Earth's each with their own U.N.. Ultimately, it's integral to how the study group wins the competition. |
| 171 | * ''Series/{{Dallas}}'': When the show retconned a whole season that had been unpopular with fans as AllJustADream, the producers of the SpinOff ''Series/KnotsLanding'' didn't want to retcon plots that had been influenced by events in that season, causing the show to split off as an Alternate Timeline. |
| 172 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 173 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E11TurnLeft "Turn Left"]] shows what would happened if Donna had turned right instead of left at a fork of the road to take a different job offer some time before meeting the Doctor. She never would've gotten involved in the Racnoss plot and not been there to keep the Doctor from going too far and dying under the Thames. Then it goes FromBadToWorse, as the Doctor's absence causes every single crisis he prevented to take place, sometimes even worse (e.g. the Adipose end up killing millions in the US, while the starliner ''Titanic'' ends up wiping out London). At the end of the episode, Donna is convinced by Rose to put events back on the right track. |
| 174 | ** The events of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang "The Big Bang"]] end up triggering a Total Event Collapse, where ''all of reality'' aside from the Earth, Moon, and everyone on it [[CosmicRetcon are erased from existence across every point in time]]. Species that were at the heart of the collapse but not from Earth were preserved as statues; small impressions on the universe. Stars no longer exist, including the sun, but the TARDIS manages to keep the Earth warm by containing its explosion in a GroundhogDayLoop across all of time as well. This allows humanity to develop, though they see stars as just a myth. [[FantasticReligiousWeirdness Aside from Richard Dawkins, who runs a "star cult".]] |
| 175 | * ''Series/{{Eureka}}'': |
| 176 | ** Lampshaded when Henry explains to Sheriff Carter ''exactly'' why they can't accurately predict the future after [[spoiler: hitting the ResetButton on the past five years to undo Henry meddling to keep his wife from dying in the past]], since the differing actions alone will cause a RippleEffect to make the timelines gradually diverge. And then something different happens. |
| 177 | ** It should be noted that ''Eureka'' has gotten ''two'' Alternate Timeline treatments. The first one (mentioned above) only lasted an episode before being reverted; the second one, however, became the permanent timeline for the show. |
| 178 | * ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': A few later episodes see John Crichton exploring a few of these, particularly as interdimensional wormholes and the associated wibblie-wobblies become more important to the plot. |
| 179 | * ''Series/TheFlash2014'': |
| 180 | ** It's eventually revealed that the entirety of the show takes place in an alternate timeline created by [[spoiler:the Reverse-Flash]] going back in time to kill Barry as a child. When Barry saves his past self, the villain kills Barry's mother in a fit of rage. Barry's father is arrested for the murder, and Barry ends up being raised by Detective Joe West. The villain further messes with the timeline after discovering that he is stuck there and does everything possible to try to return to his own time, including [[spoiler:re-creating the Flash]]. By extension, this also means that ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' also takes place in an alternate timeline. |
| 181 | ** Season 3 begins right on the heels of [[spoiler:Barry going back in time to prevent his mother's murder]]. The result is the series' answer to Flashpoint: Barry lives a normal life with his parents, with Wally West as the Flash and The Rival serving as his speedster nemesis. However, Barry's old adopted father is now a washed-up drunk, his old tech support are now a children's eye doctor and self-centred billionaire, and the more he uses his speed, the more he forgets his old life. In the end, after getting one of the above mortally wounded, he goes back again to make a CloseEnoughTimeline. Now, the only differences are that Cisco resents him for not going back to prevent his brother's death at the hands of a drunk driver (which only gets worse when Barry admits what he did, then pushed aside, then exacerbated during the ''Invasion'' crossover until it's finally settled), Joe West and Iris haven't talked for the past year, he causes Caitlin [[spoiler:to develop the Killer Frost persona]], and he's had a co-worker for the past year who hates his guts. He almost goes back to reset this timeline too, before [[spoiler:Jay Garrick]] yanks him out for a lecturing, telling him that no matter how many times he tries to fix things, he'll always keep making more changes. |
| 182 | *** In the same season, it's revealed that the villain Savitar hails from one, where he slays Iris West, Barry defeats him, and then slips into a funk over the loss of Iris until his past self arrives and snaps him out of it. Then it's revealed to be a [[spoiler:StableTimeLoop that occurred because Savitar is really Barry -- or rather a Speed Force duplicate of Barry, who wants to ensure his existence remains. When H.R. Wells takes Iris's place, Savitar fades, altering the timeline.]] |
| 183 | %%* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' did an episode that was in fact inspired by the movie ''Film/SlidingDoors''. |
| 184 | * ''Series/{{Fringe}}'': The fourth season takes place in an Alternate Timeline, one in which Peter Bishop was never saved by the Observer as a boy. The first four episodes explore [[ButterflyOfDoom all the changes to the continuity, big and small, that resulted from Peter not being around]]. Then the Peter from the original timeline returns. This is all in a series that spent three years knee-deep in the complexities of an AlternateUniverse. |
| 185 | ** It's also worth noting that, according to the time-sensitive Observers, the first three seasons ''already'' took place in an Alternate Timeline that was thrown off-course from what was ''supposed'' to happen by the actions of an Observer. The Alternate Timeline of Season 4 is probably a lot closer to how the original timeline was supposed to run. |
| 186 | * ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'': Since the overall plot of the series is that [[spoiler:BigBad Shiro Kanzaki is looping time over and over in an attempt to [[TragicVillain save the life of his sister Yui]]]], the movie ''Episode Final'' and the TV special ''13 Riders'' are the events of different timelines rather than simply being [[AlternateContinuity Alternate Continuities]] like most ''Kamen Rider'' [[NonSerialMovie Non-Serial Movies]]. |
| 187 | * ''Series/Loki2021'' elaborates on the concept of time travel introduced in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' and explains that ''any'' change to the timeline results in a branched separate timeline. The Time Variance Authority claims that an uncontrolled branching of timelines would be catastrophic and upholds their goal of maintaining the Sacred Timeline, one where every event happens according to how it's intended to happen, and pruning the unintended branched timelines. |
| 188 | * ''Series/TheMagicians2016'': There are forty alternate timelines because of the time loops created by [[spoiler:Jane Chatwin, in order to defeat the Beast]]. The timelines seem to be largely the same until the main group gets into Brakebills, at which point they diverge. Timeline 23 features in a couple episodes, once in Season 2 and again in Season 3. In that timeline, [[spoiler:Julia got into Brakebills, she and Penny are in love, and Quentin is the Beast (after killing Martin Chatwin), among other changes. They bring Marina 23 and Penny 23 back with them after stopping Quentin. We also see a different timeline's version of Dean Fogg, who has had a FaceHeelTurn in response to everything going to shit in his timeline]]. |
| 189 | * ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'': "Bowling" played with this, the divergence being which parent took the kids bowling instead of staying at home. The conclusion? |
| 190 | -->'''Lois''' / '''Hal''': Next time, you take 'em. |
| 191 | * ''Series/Maniac2018'' entirely takes place in a CassetteFuturism world where computing technology never advanced past about the late 1980s (WordOfGod is that [[http://www.vulture.com/2018/09/maniac-cary-fukunaga-patrick-somerville-interview.html "something happened in the '90s"]]). However in certain areas technology is more advanced, such as in {{Cyberspace}} and ArtificialIntelligence. Society also is more dystopian than ours. {{Blackmail}} apparently is common enough that there's a chain of stores called "Doxx Stop" that will give you enough information to blackmail someone. There's also the "Ad Buddy", who will pay for your goods in exchange for reading ads to you. |
| 192 | * ''Series/{{Misfits}}'': Happens several times. |
| 193 | ** The first instance is when Curtis first discovers his MentalTimeTravel powers. When the storm turns the probation worker crazy and he attacks Kelly, the rest of the gang doesn't believe her until he comes in the door and kills her in front of them. Curtis travels back to right before he comes in and warns the gang. |
| 194 | ** In another episode, he decides to try to use his power to stop himself and his ex-girlfriend from getting caught with cocaine in the first place. He manages to do so but this event causes the deaths of all of the other Misfits except Nathan ([[spoiler:probably because of his immortality]]) because he isn't there to see the potential future. He ends up creating a CloseEnoughTimeline in which he does end up on community service but his girlfriend doesn't get arrested. |
| 195 | ** In a Season 3 episode, an old man [[spoiler:buys Curtis' power from Seth]] in order to go back in time and [[HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct kill Hitler]]. He fails, but he leaves behind his 2011 cell phone which leads to a future where Nazi Germany was able to use that technology to win the war and take over the UK. |
| 196 | ** In the SeriesFinale, Jess is taken forward a year by some guy she meets in a bar, to a future in which she has a baby with this man. |
| 197 | * The pilot of 2021 drama ''Series/OrdinaryJoe'' has the title character given three paths to choose from when deciding how to celebrate after college graduation. In one, he celebrates with his family and follows in his father's footsteps to eventually become a hard-working single cop. In another, he celebrates with his girlfriend and they eventually get married, with him becoming a nurse, and raise a special needs child. In the third, he impulsively goes to celebrate with a girl he just met at their graduation, eventually marries her and ends up becoming a rock star. From then on, scenes in Cop Joe's timeline are tinted blue, scenes in Nurse Joe's timeline are tinted green, and scenes in Music Joe's timeline are tinted red. |
| 198 | ** The series explores the same events differing in each timeline, usually because of Joe's different life. For example, Cop Joe manages to stop a shooter from firing a gun at a congressman. In the other realities, Nurse Joe has to tend to that wounded congressman while Music Joe's concert forced that congressman to move his rally to avoid the shooting altogether. |
| 199 | ** The series does have some InSpiteOfANail touches as in each timeline, Joe has the same best friend. More dramatically, it appears that Nurse Joe is the only one with a child, Chris, having married college girlfriend Jenny. But at their college reunion, Music Joe is stunned when Jenny reveals she was pregnant on Graduation Day and gave the child up for adoption. Meanwhile, Cop Joe meets Jenny with her son (the same boy, but named Lucas in this world) with no idea he's the father. |
| 200 | * ''Series/TheOrville'': In the penultimate episode of Season 2, Kelly's past self from seven years earlier, the morning after her first date with Ed, is transported to the present. When she returns, she decides not to go on a second date. As a result, Ed's career never goes off track and he and Kelly never join The Orville. This has the ripple effect of Claire Finn never joining either -- she goes where she needed, and felt that she was needed on a vessel helmed by a washed up first time captain being given a second chance. This means that Isaac never bonded with her sons and therefore never betrayed the Kaylon, resulting in a finale in which they've all but taken over the galaxy. |
| 201 | * ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': |
| 202 | ** In "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S2E1AStitchInTime A Stitch in Time]]", numerous alternate timelines are created due to time travel. |
| 203 | ** In "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S6E21FinalAppealPartOne Final]] [[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S6E22FinalAppealPartTwo Appeal]]", the sequel to "A Stitch in Time", Ezekiel tells the US Supreme Court justices that time travel has taught him that the future is malleable and, as a result, it is more accurate to talk about futures plural as he has witnessed several different timelines. He cites the example of an alien race launching a devastating retaliatory attack on Earth in the 24th Century in one of these timelines (as seen in "Relativity Theory") as evidence that technology is inherently evil and destructive to humanity. The events of other episodes presumably take place in different alternate timelines. |
| 204 | * ''Series/PaperGirls'': The 2019 that the girls visit is implied to be one: The girls have adult selves, which would be impossible if there was no version of them in the past to grow up. Also, Adult!Dylan mentions that Mac died of brain cancer when she was 16, as opposed to remembering her mysteriously disappearing when she was 12. |
| 205 | * ''Series/{{Psych}}'': "Right Turn or Left for Dead" features an alternate timeline that diverges with [[spoiler: Shawn giving Juliet Chief Vick's shawl instead of his jacket, thus preventing their break-up in the previous episode.]] Shawn ends up working the same case in both timelines, but the differences bring clues to light at different times. Near the end of the episode, [[spoiler: the alternate timeline is revealed to be AllJustADream of Shawn's]]. |
| 206 | * ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'': "My Butterfly", where the cast explored what different events resulted from a butterfly landing on an attractive woman's chest or alternatively, an unattractive man's chest. [[spoiler:Ultimately subverted in that the patient ends up dying in both timelines.]] |
| 207 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'' has had many ''many'' episodes featuring alternate timelines. For more information, [[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Alternate_timeline click here]]. |
| 208 | * ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'': |
| 209 | ** The show branches off from the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' movie continuity after ''[[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay T2: Judgment Day]]'' -- Sarah and John Connor leap through time from 1999 to 2007, skipping [[spoiler:Sarah's death from cancer in 2002]] and the date at which Judgement Day ''would'' have happened if ''[[Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines Rise of the Machines]]'' were {{canon}}. ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'', on the other hand, carries on from the ''Rise of the Machines'' continuity. Then, ''Film/TerminatorGenisys'' branches off to form its own continuity, while ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'' only follows past ''Judgement Day''. For a series with that much TimeTravel, it's a wonder it didn't develop [[AlternateContinuity alternate continuities]] sooner. |
| 210 | ** Two members of the future human resistance who were sent back to the past at different times (and were a couple in the future) in ''The Sarah Connor Chronicles'' find out that their versions of the future don't exactly match when comparing notes, implying that they come from different timelines. |
| 211 | ** The show ends on a CliffHanger and yet another timeline caused by John Connor traveling forward to the BadFuture, which still happens but now he wasn't there to lead the resistance, and it may be even worse because of that. |
| 212 | * ''Series/{{Timecop}}'': Naturally, some episodes have this happen. In one episode, a criminal messes up Jack's personal history, causing their roles to reverse (i.e. the criminal is now a timecop, while Jack is a known felon). In another, a neo-Nazi travels back in time to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and helps them win. He's smart enough to dress a local as himself and set up events to look like he is accidentally killed by the Nazis. Satisfied, Jack returns home only to find a different timeline. It's not explored, since he immediately jumps back to fix it. |
| 213 | * ''Series/{{Timeless}}'': |
| 214 | ** A major plot point of the pilot episode, where despite attempts to keep from altering history, the ''Hindenburg'' explodes a day later, destroyed by a group of "renegade terrorists" (the main characters), with only two victims. [[spoiler:After they get back, Lucy finds her mother, who was comatose before, perfectly fine, she's engaged, and her sister never existed.]] |
| 215 | ** Most episodes end up with an alternate timeline. The heroes fix the major damage to the timeline but can't restore it 100% the way it was so the present changes in some ways and only the time travellers remember the original timeline. They have to settle for CloseEnoughTimeline. |
| 216 | * ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1985S1E20 Profile in Silver]]", a time traveling historian from 2172 named Professor Joseph Fitzgerald [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong prevents]] the [[WhoShotJFK assassination]] of his FamousAncestor UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy on November 22, 1963. The resulting change to the timeline leads to the creation of significant time distortions and a temporal rift of unprecedented proportions. Tornadoes appear without warning in Texas as part of the initial attempt to counterbalance the temporal damage. The assassination of UsefulNotes/NikitaKhrushchev results in the new Soviet premier sending in troops to capture West Berlin in an attempt to force the Western powers out of the rest of West Germany. Fitzgerald's wrist computer determines that there is a 77% probability that a [[WorldWarIII nuclear war]] will break out between the United States and the Soviet Union, resulting in the [[PollutedWasteland total annihilation of the biosphere]]. At 12%, the best case scenario is that Western Europe will surrender within six years. Military costs will cause the Soviet economy to collapse, leading the USSR to blackmail the West for food. The subsequent agro-bacterial war will completely destroy the biosphere within a century. The remaining 11% accounts for all other probabilities in which the biosphere is destroyed. From this, Fitzgerald learns that Kennedy's death is a NecessaryFail and that history must be restored to its proper course if humanity is to survive. |
| 217 | [[/folder]] |
| 218 | |
| 219 | [[folder:Multiple Media]] |
| 220 | * ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'' had at least four different parallel timelines. For instance, in ''Dark Mirror'', Takua was killed by a Toa of Iron, and in ''The Kingdom'' universe, as well as the universe briefly seen at the end of ''Brothers in Arms'', he never became a Toa at all. He is a Toa in the main universe. |
| 221 | * Different portions of the ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'' in different media may or may not take place in different timelines -- there are various claims in-universe about this, some of them mutually contradictory. Some people will try to place them in the same continuity. However, in the MilestoneCelebration of ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'' for the 40th anniversary "Zagreus", the Doctor claims the events in other continuities happen in other universes, which is the line TV Tropes has taken. |
| 222 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'': |
| 223 | ** The franchise had been indulging in a "Myriad Universes" series of books and comics which explores countless other realities throughout every ''Star Trek'' series, based on various differences in their timelines. Some vary hugely from the original, while others vary in [[InSpiteOfANail slightly simpler ways]]. There's also the original MirrorUniverse. |
| 224 | *** One is the ''Last Generation'' comic. Set in a universe ruled by the Klingon empire after a plot change during ''The Undiscovered Country'' (i.e., Kirk wasn't fast enough to save the president]], [[spoiler:and it's all Captain Braxton's fault]]). In this Dystopian version of the Trekverse, Sulu captains the last remaining Star Fleet vessel as a MysteriousProtector, Tasha lives, Jean-Luc Picard [[LaResistance leads a Resistance movement]], [[CreatorsPet Wesley]] took [[TookALevelInBadass a few levels in badass]] (well, physical prowess, anyway) and Data is the [[MacGuffin key to changing history.]] Either that or he's the [[SaveThisPersonSaveTheWorld key to the most destructive computer weapons system ever created.]] |
| 225 | ** The series ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' revealed that galactic history turned out very differently in the years after the movie ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' was released. It was decided that a ContinuityReboot needed to be done for the post-''Nemesis'' years but executives were anxious to avoid making the same mistakes made by Disney when they rebooted ''Franchise/StarWars'' canon and placed everything not seen on screen in to the ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' continuity. They decided that all the ''Literature/StarTrekNovelVerse'' works written after ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'' took place in an alternate timeline created by the Borg when they fired a temporal beam at the ''Enterprise'' causing the timelines to branch off. |
| 226 | [[/folder]] |
| 227 | |
| 228 | [[folder:Role-Playing Games]] |
| 229 | * In ''Roleplay/AlphaTeamMissionDeepFreezeRPG'', Future Frozeen created an alternate timeline by going back and time and changing the past, with the point of divergence being Mission Deep Freeze when he rescued the rest of Alpha Team from the assassin robot that killed them in the original timeline. |
| 230 | * In ''Roleplay/DinoAttackRPG'', the Future Villains created an alternate timeline by going back in time and changing the past, with the point of divergence being the early Dino Attack when they joined forces with their past selves. |
| 231 | [[/folder]] |
| 232 | |
| 233 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 234 | * ''Theatre/HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild'' has two different Alternate Timelines, both created by the protagonists' use of TimeTravel to attempt to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong. |
| 235 | ** In the first, they inadvertently change Hermione and Ron's relationship so that the two never marry, causing the erasure of Albus's cousins and drastically altering the personalities of both Hermione and Ron. |
| 236 | ** In the second, they technically accomplish their goal by preventing Cedric Diggory's death. Instead, Diggory's humiliation leads to him joining the Death Eaters and killing Neville Longbottom, which ensures Voldemort's survival. |
| 237 | ** The surprise antagonist of the story then attempts to create yet a third Alternate Timeline while the protagonists are attempting to undo their own changes. The protagonists stop her and eventually wind up with a CloseEnoughTimeline. |
| 238 | * ''Theatre/IfThen'' follows the main character Elizabeth down two separate timelines, depending on which friend and which activity she chooses to go with at the start of the play. Amusingly, the play is then filled to the brim with more choices, much weightier than the one made at the start, that would seem to be fodder for creating yet more timelines, but these are not explored, despite hints that more such timelines do exist. |
| 239 | * The Music/{{Madness|Band}} Musical; ''Theatre/OurHouse'', has the Lead Character breaking in to a development site, so he can get a view of his Neighbourhood, but then the Police arrive. It then shows two time lines, one where he turns himself in, another where he runs, showing the consequence of both choices, while his [[PosthumousNarration father's ghost]] watches and makes commentary on his choices. [[spoiler: Then at the end it [[SnapBack Snaps Back]] to the beginning and shows a third time line, where he doesn’t break in to the development site in the first place]]. |
| 240 | [[/folder]] |
| 241 | |
| 242 | [[folder:Tabletop RPG]] |
| 243 | * ''TabletopGame/Twilight2000'' invented an alternate setup for WorldWarIII after the end of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar which had Germany start the war instead of the Soviet Union. This one is a bit of FanonDiscontinuity. |
| 244 | [[/folder]] |
| 245 | |
| 246 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 247 | * ''VideoGame/TheBabylonProject'' campaign "The Earth-Brakiri War" is set in an alternate 2260 where Series/BabylonFive had been destroyed and Earth had alienated itself from the other races due to a failure of diplomacy. |
| 248 | * ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' initially seems to revolve around DualWorldGameplay where the key difference between Home World and Another World comes down to whether Serge survived his childhood, but as the plot unfolds it turns out that a lot of what is going on is being influenced by the potential timelines created over the course of ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''. One faction is from the good future resulting from that game, a high-tech civilization trying to prevent any {{Temporal Paradox}}es that might threaten its future existence, while a rival faction hails from a timeline in which humanity never rose to dominate the planet, and wants to cleanse the world of us filthy usurpers. And then there's a TimeCrash where ''Chrono Trigger'''s BadFuture is trying to reassert itself, with dire consequences for everyone. |
| 249 | * ''VideoGame/DarkCloud'' and [[VideoGame/DarkChronicle its sequel]]. [[spoiler:The first game created a different timeline entirely by stopping the Dark Genie from ever coming to existence. The second game was mostly about this, you had to restore Origin Points (events in past which influenced the future), it even creates new innovations in the future such as Aeroharmonic technology and Paznos' Colossus Mode which never existed before.]] |
| 250 | * ''VideoGame/DisgaeaRPG'' has an alternate timeline where a staggering number of canon characters have rapidly diverging history from [[Franchise/{{Disgaea}} canon]], due to multiple changes in history. Hailing from this timeline is the "Xeno" organization, which is chasing down a refugee from their timeline. |
| 251 | * ''VideoGame/DragonBallXenoverse'' takes place in an alternate timeline from the main ''Franchise/DragonBall'' series, created as a result of [[BigBad Towa and Mira]] [[MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight interfering with time and changing the outcomes of key battles]] (allowing Raditz to evade an otherwise fatal attack from Piccolo, just to name one example). It is up to the player and an alternate future version of Trunks to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong and correct the changes being made in history. |
| 252 | * ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'', once the player has begun reading the eponymous Tome, details the Roman Centurian [[BigBad Pious Augustus]] claiming the artifact of an EldritchAbomination, one of three choices. It turns out that he technically selected ''all'' of them across three different timelines, as the player learns by way of NewGamePlus: [[spoiler:Pious serving each of the three different Ancients was necessary for [[GreaterScopeParagon Mantorok]] to take care of them individually, and then [[MergedReality merge the timelines together]] such that all three are utterly defeated, leaving him the sole victor.]] |
| 253 | * ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'': |
| 254 | ** Contrary to its title, the remake trilogy of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' [[spoiler:takes place in an alternate universe that is independent of the original one]]. Throughout ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake Remake]]'', the characters frequently cross paths with interdimensional beings called "[[TimePolice whispers]]" (or "[[TimePolice arbiters of fate]]"), whose role in the plot is to ensure that a specific chain of events (i.e. ''the plot of the original game'') unfolds as preordained by Destiny itself. Any attempts made by the characters to change history (e.g. [[spoiler:Sephiroth trying to kill Barret in the Shinra tower]]) are immediately thwarted (or corrected soon afterwards) by the whispers. This comes to a head in the final chapter, wherein [[spoiler:the party chooses to fight and defeat the whispers so as to free themselves from the bounds of Destiny, thus creating an AlternateTimeline wherein Biggs is still alive and recovering in an orphanage, Aerith is possibly aware of Zack's connection to Cloud, and Zack himself appears to be alive after defeating the horde of Shinra infantry sent to stop him and Cloud near the city entrance]]. ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRebirth Rebirth]]'' clarifies that [[spoiler:the main timeline of the remake trilogy (which slightly deviates from the original), and the one where plot has gone crazy and jumped OffTheRails (Biggs and Zack surviving) are separate from each other]]. |
| 255 | ** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'' the protagonists have the ability to navigate to various points in the their world's timeline. In some cases their interactions create alternate realities that they can travel between freely. For example, "Academia 400 AF" and "Academia 4XX AF" are alternate timeline versions of the same location in the same time period. |
| 256 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyBraveExvius'': Dark Rain comes from an alternate timeline where [[spoiler:Rain, as Hyoh, succeeds in becoming the Alpha Star, and he ends up being corrupted by Emperor Vlad]]. |
| 257 | * ''VideoGame/FireEmblemWarriorsThreeHopes'' takes place in an alternate timeline from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' where a mercenary named Shez is saved from death at Byleth's hands by a mysterious being known as Arval and rescues the three main lords from the bandit attack before Byleth can. This causes a ripple effect that ends up quickly and ''vastly'' changing the geopolitical situation in 1180 Fodlan from what it was in ''Houses''. Notably, [[spoiler: Edelgard is able to rescue Monica from Kronya, those who slither in the dark are excised from Garreg Mach and the Empire before the war even starts, and Dimitri executes his treasonous uncle and ousts Cornelia from the Kingdom before she can launch her coup]]. |
| 258 | * ''VideoGame/ForHonor'' takes place following a massive cataclysm around 1000-1100 A.D. that reshaped the Earth (among other things, the Japanese Archipelago sunk beneath the ocean) and enforced MedievalStasis among the survivors (the game actually takes place around TheNewTens, but due to said cataclysm, technology is still at the level of the Middle Ages). |
| 259 | * ''VideoGame/GhostTrick: Phantom Detective'' has an in-game instance: the first timeline is a BadFuture where [[spoiler:everybody dies, Missile is unable to save them due to lacking the needed ghost tricks, and Sissel refuses to help Missile due to only being concerned about his own quest for identity. At the end, Missile uses Yomiel's no-longer-immortal body to travel back in time 10 years to the Tesmik Park incident and [[TheSlowPath wait out those ten years until that night returns]]]]. Then starts the second timeline, [[spoiler:which is the Bad Future again, but diverging when Sissel awakens and Missile from the first timeline guides him under the guise of Ray, making Sissel think he's a blond-haired man in red instead and claiming that he'll cease to exist once morning comes, so that he'll naturally save Lynne and everyone else that could be a lead in his quest for identity due to said man's interactions with them]]. The third timeline begins [[spoiler:after Sissel, Missile from the second timeline, Yomiel, and Detective Jowd go back 10 years again like the original Missile did and SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong by saving Yomiel's life and thus preventing his StartOfDarkness]], undoing the first two timelines [[spoiler:and [[RetGone the first Missile's existence]]]] in the process. |
| 260 | * The main premise of the ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' mod series "Timeline." Rogue Black Mesa scientists have discovered how to use the dimensional portals to permit time travel, and have been messing with and creating new timelines. Eventually [[GodwinsLawOfTimeTravel this technology falls into the hands]] of ThoseWackyNazis. |
| 261 | * ''VideoGame/TheHalloweenHack'' takes place after ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994''. This time, the Chosen Four didn't return since they were sent to a timeline created when Giygas was killed in the past. Dr. Andonuts went mad with grief and became a SerialKiller because he thought he killed them. |
| 262 | * ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'': |
| 263 | ** The Platform/GameBoyAdvance duology of ''The King of Fighters EX'' and ''[=EX2=]'' charts a rather significant divergence from the mainline series. ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters99'' establishes that Kyo Kusanagi was abducted by [[NebulousEvilOrganisation the NESTS cartel]] after the conclusion of ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters97 '97]]'', with his DNA used to engineer a CloneArmy and various other weapons as part of the organization's multiple nefarious plots. Here, he's instead found by [[OriginalGeneration newcomer]] Moe Habana and the KOF tournament's [[NotJustATournament latest mysterious sponsors]] turn out to be [[VideoGame/FatalFury Geese Howard]], still interested in the Orochi Power ([[ContinuityNod as per]] ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters96 '96]]''), and then [[TheRemnant remnants of]] [[ReligionOfEvil the Orochi clan]] that was seemingly dealt with throughout the Orochi Saga. The ''EX'' games effectively replace ''[='99=]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2000 2000]]'' in this timeline, and while characters sport their NESTS Chronicles attire and appear to be going through some of the same plot beats from that stretch of time (like [[VideoGame/PsychoSoldier Kensou]] [[BroughtDownToNormal mysteriously losing his psychic powers]]), only a single character from that StoryArc (Bao) canonically appears in the ''EX'' games, with all others relegated to non-canon [[AssistCharacter Striker]] cameos. |
| 264 | ** The ''[[VideoGame/KOFMaximumImpact Maximum Impact]]'' subseries is a nebulous example. While it appears to be a standalone AlternateContinuity wherein prominent characters from the first two arcs interact with a slew of fresh faces, the animated series ''Another Day'' [[ContinuityDrift incorporated elements]] of the then-current Tales of Ash saga ([[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2003 Ash himself]], [[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXI Iori's loss of his cursed flames]]) despite being set after the events of the first ''Maximum Impact''. ''[[VideoGame/KOFMaximumImpactRegulationA Regulation "A"]]'' (the UpdatedRerelease of ''[[VideoGame/KOFMaximumImpact2 Maximum Impact 2]]'') would then make Ash a playable character as well as introduce a CanonForeigner (Xiao Lon) who -- unlike the other ''MI''-exclusive fighters -- was designed specifically to provide ties to the main installments (being the younger half-sister of Duo Lon, a major supporting character introduced in ''2003''). Unlike the mainline and ''EX'' entries (but similar to the original ''Fatal Fury'' continuity), [[SchrodingersCast Geese is dead]], appearing in-series as his "Nightmare Geese" incarnation. (There's also the matter of his son [[VideoGame/GarouMarkOfTheWolves Rock]] appearing as a teenager, due to the series operating on ComicBookTime and Rock already appearing as a child in one of Terry's ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2001 KOF 2001]]'' win poses, but the main games would eventually follow suit starting with ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXIV XIV]]''.) |
| 265 | * ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': After years of fan speculation, the devs gave ApprovalOfGod to the theory that the series takes place in a split timeline caused by the use of TimeTravel in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime''. As it stands, the only games that take place before the split are ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Skyward Sword]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap The Minish Cap]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwords Four Swords]]''. On top of that, the fan theory was that the game split the series into two different timelines, but the creators' explanation in ''Literature/HyruleHistoria'' established ''three'' timelines: |
| 266 | ** The first timeline focuses on the Adult part of ''Ocarina of Time'', which doesn't cease to exist after Link is sent back in time. [[BigBad Ganon]] rises again, causing Hyrule to be flooded since Link is gone from the timeline. ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass Phantom Hourglass]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks Spirit Tracks]]'' follow this timeline. |
| 267 | ** The second timeline, which starts in the Child part of the game, is created after Zelda sends Link back into the past after defeating Ganon in the Adult timeline. Link successfully convinces the king that Ganondorf is after the Triforce, preventing Ganon from taking over Hyrule in the first place and causing him to be banished to the Twilight Realm. ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwordsAdventures Four Swords Adventures]]'' take place in this timeline. |
| 268 | ** In the third timeline, Link is killed in battle by Ganon, causing the Imprisoning War. ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast A Link to the Past]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening Link's Awakening]]'', the ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle Games]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds A Link Between Worlds]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTriForceHeroes Tri-Force Heroes]]'', the original ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI Zelda]]'' and ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' are all set in this timeline. |
| 269 | ** The main plot of ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'' involves a CrisisCrossover across different time periods thanks to the actions of [[BigBad Cia]]. The game appears to take place in the Child Timeline, with the three main eras forming a consistent line down (''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Skyward Sword]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]''), and the DownloadableContent characters consisting of Midna in her Twili form, as well as Young Link and Tingle as seen in [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]]. The ''Legends'' UpdatedReRelease includes a PlayableEpilogue that heavily involves the setting and characters of ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]'', which is all but stated to be a different dimension, on top of adding content based on ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass Phantom Hourglass]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks Spirit Tracks]]''. Even before that, the ''Ocarina of Time'' levels appear to take place after the Adult portion of that game, with Princess Ruto having been aged up and several implications that the game's events had already happened. Finally, said DLC adds warriors from the Fallen Hero Timeline, such as [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening Marin]], [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds Ravio and Yuga]], as well as their corresponding Adventure Maps. |
| 270 | ** For a long time there was no official word on which of these timelines ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'' takes place in, with clues for each one. Some say that it's the result of all three timelines somehow merging back into one. Others say that it takes place so far in the future that [[InSpiteOfANail it no longer matters which timeline it is]]. The developers eventually gave a ShrugOfGod, saying that they prefer for players to decide how they want to interpret it. Its sequel ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom Tears of the Kingdom]]'' makes things even more complicated, as it has elements that seem to contradict things that took place even ''before'' the split. |
| 271 | ** ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriorsAgeOfCalamity'' creates yet ''another'' alternate timeline. [[spoiler:As opposed to being a straight retelling of the Great Calamity as advertised, ''Age of Calamity'' takes place in a timeline splintered from the events of ''Breath of the Wild'' by a time-travelling Guardian, whose efforts to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong result in the Champions and the King of Hyrule being saved from their untimely deaths and Calamity Ganon being defeated.]] |
| 272 | * ''VideoGame/LoveOfMagic'': Book 3 is set in an alternate timeline called 'R2' where Owyn died at the lake because he never made Molly a Chosen. The Emily of R2 crossed over to bring "The Sword of Mankind" back with her. |
| 273 | * ''VideoGame/LuminousAvengerIX'' is set in an alternate history from the main ''VideoGame/AzureStrikerGunvoltSeries''. Specifically, it's a BadFuture that occurs [[spoiler:a century after the bad ending of ''VideoGame/AzureStrikerGunvolt'' where Gunvolt was not revived by Joule, thus allowing Asimov to take over Sumeragi and dominate the world]]. This leaves [[TheRival Copen]], who had to [[FullConversionCyborg reconfigure himself into a cyborg]] to give himself a fighting chance, as the only hero left to deal with the threat. |
| 274 | * ''Franchise/MegaMan'': |
| 275 | ** The ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'' metaseries has one, expanded on in ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork''. A PointOfDivergence occurred when both Doctors Light and Wily presented their research to the government: network and robotics, respectively. In the world where Light's network research won out, the ''Battle Network'' and ''VideoGame/MegaManStarForce'' games take place. However, when Wily's robotics were chosen instead, it led to the "Classic" series and its various SequelSeries in ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX X]]'', ''[[VideoGame/MegaManZero Zero]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/MegaManZX ZX]]'' (with ''[[VideoGame/MegaManLegends Legends]]'' occurring [[DistantSequel far off in the future]] of this timeline). |
| 276 | ** The Platform/GameBoy ''Mega Man'' games (''Rockman World'' [[MarketBasedTitle in Japan]]) have an alternate case too, starting with ''VideoGame/MegaManII'': In one specific future, Dr. Wily gave up his machinations and truly reformed, leading to a world where not only were robots and humans living in harmony, but there was no longer a need for Mega Man, who had become peaceful and disarmed. The "present" Dr. Wily happened across a time machine, however, and kidnapped Mega Man from that timeline, reprogramming him, naming him Quint, and giving him a jackhammer as his weapon for some reason. Following the events, it can probably safely be said that timeline no longer exists, though whether it's canon at all is another matter. |
| 277 | * Surprisingly, this is present in the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series: ''VideoGame/MetalGearGhostBabel'' takes place in an alternate timeline where neither the events of [[VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake the second game]] nor the events of the ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Solid]]'' series have taken place. |
| 278 | * ''Franchise/MortalKombat'': |
| 279 | ** The original timeline shows Raiden and Shao Kahn as the final two kombatants in [[VideoGame/MortalKombatArmageddon the Battle of Armageddon]], with [[TheBadGuyWins Kahn defeating Raiden]]. Knowing that he is about to be killed, Raiden sends a message to [[VideoGame/MortalKombat1992 his past self]] [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong to hopefully change the future]], setting up the events of ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9''. The current timeline, while still near-identical to the original, [[spoiler:finally [[KilledOffForReal kills Shao Kahn for good]]. Unfortunately, the new decisions made and results [[PyrrhicVictory cost the lives of a lot of kombatants]], [[VideoGame/MortalKombatX made both Earthrealm and Outworld more vulnerable for attack]], and later on [[TheCorruption placed Raiden in a much darker state after Shinnok's defeat]]]]. |
| 280 | ** ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'' at first explores [[spoiler:Dark Raiden's campaign against the Netherrealm]] that was set up by TheStinger of ''X'', only for GreaterScopeVillain [[TimeMaster Kronika]] to enact a TimeCrash as part of her plan to [[CosmicRetcon restart the flow of history anew]], bringing together the present-day cast with various heroes and villains from the ''VideoGame/MortalKombatII'' era (who were apparently in the middle of Kung Lao's chapter from ''[=MK9=]''; Raiden also notes that he had been receiving visions of future events for the past few months, indicating things were playing out in that timeline more or less the same as in the 2011 game). [[spoiler:Later on, Raiden experiences a vision of multiple other timelines, [[WhamShot all of which involve him coming to blows with Liu Kang]]. Kronika then reveals to Raiden that she engineered these outcomes to prevent the two from teaming up against her, all but saying she's pressed the ResetButton countless times prior to ''[=MK11=]'' proper.]] |
| 281 | ** ''VideoGame/MortalKombat1'' takes place in a whole new timeline created following the events of ''[=MK11=]: Aftermath'', which ended with [[spoiler:Liu Kang, having become a god, taking the reins of the Sands of Time and creating a new history with the hope of allowing peace to flourish]]. The trailers for the game suggest a number of alterations to the dynamics between characters that used to be bitter rivals, such as Scorpion and Sub-Zero (and the Shirai Ryu and Lin Kuei clans, by extension) being allies, and Kitana and Mileena being supportive sisters. Despite this, [[InSpiteOfANail many events in the New Era echo that of past histories]], even if the context behind them is different this time around. For example, Sub-Zero and Scorpion's alliance is because the New Era Scorpion is not [[Characters/MortalKombatHanzoHasashi Hanzo Hasashi]], but ''[[Characters/MortalKombatKuaiLiang Kuai Liang]]'' (the younger Sub-Zero in previous games), and when [[spoiler:[[FaceHeelTurn Bi-Han betrays Earthrealm and allies the Lin Kuei with Shang Tsung]], the Shirai Ryu is formed by Scorpion and Smoke in order to uphold the original principles of their clan]]. |
| 282 | * While alternate timelines have been explored throughout the ''Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}'', the concept really took off in the second chapter of ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', which focuses on the heroes trying to restore Proper Human History after an alien creature arrives and overwrites history with seven alternatives, each known as a Lostbelt. They're ranked according to their Difference Depth, which defines how much they diverge from the proper history and, in turn, how dangerous they are for humans to survive in. Each timeline is guarded by a Crypter, the custodian of the new world. |
| 283 | ** On the weakest end is Lostbelt #3, the Sublime Immortal Nation. Here, Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang achieved immortality and then conquered the whole world, ushering in a Golden Age where everyone can live in peace. This might sound good if one ignores how Shi Huang [[IgnoranceIsBliss enforces mandatory restriction on knowledge, arts, and progress without his approval]] outside of his inner circle on pain of [[MeteorSummoningAttack dropping a meteor on your village]], except that one of the PowersThatBe judges timelines based upon whether humans have any chance for progression. With there being no need to progress in S.I.N., the timeline was wiped away to ensure mankind could keep striving forward. Its Crypter is Akuta Hinako. |
| 284 | ** On the opposite end of the spectrum is Lostbelt #6, Avalon le Fey, with Difference Depth EX. Here, the nail is that Morgan le Fey was selected to be ruler of Camelot, which apparently lead to fairies taking over the world. [[spoiler:It turns out that the actual nail was that the six fairies who would have forged Excalibur didn't do so out of laziness, meaning that when [[VideoGame/FateExtellaLink Sefar]] invaded, [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt it succeeded in wiping out everything on Earth]]. As fairies ended up being the ones who got out of this the best, [[HumansAreNotTheDominantSpecies they became the dominant species instead of humans]]. This is the reason that the Difference Depth is so high -- ''history as we know it did not occur at all during this timeline''. The divergence is so great that Avalon le Fey is no longer a lostbelt, but a lost''world'', equal to Proper Human History]]. |
| 285 | ** Only slightly below Lostbelt #6 is Lostbelt #7, Nahui Mictlan. The nail here has ''something'' to do with the asteroid that destroyed the dinosaurs. [[spoiler:As it turns out, it's that the asteroid arrived early and allowed humans to appear earlier in this timeline than they do in Proper Human History. The problem is that this meant there were humans around when [[Literature/AngelNotes ORT]], [[UltimateLifeForm the Ultimate One of the Oort Cloud]], showed up. In both timelines, ORT is called Gaia to destroy mankind when it appears they will outlive her, but in PHH, it shows up too early and thus goes into hibernation. Here, mankind was around when ORT landed, so ORT wasted no time in trying to obliterate us. It was only stopped when all of mankind sacrificed itself to empower the current king, Kamazotz, with immortality so that he could defeat ORT, and it still took ''a million years of non-stop fighting to do so'', and ORT ''still'' isn't dead. Ironically, despite the massive changes in history, Nahui Mictlan isn't a Lostworld because its dominant species are too lazy and fulfilled to do anything, so they have completely stagnated]]. |
| 286 | * ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': |
| 287 | ** Subtly implied by the OneGameForThePriceOfTwo nature of the franchise, with each version having differences in the Pokémon you can catch. Since [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Gen III]], these divergences expanded to include which evil team you fight or the legendary Pokémon that is the focal point of the story. [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Gen V]] took it a step further and had the Unova region be more old-fashioned in ''White'' and more modern in ''Black''.[[note]]Opelucid City in particular has an NPC who explicitly references "another Opelucid."[[/note]] |
| 288 | ** Alternate timelines would become an explicit part of the series' narrative in Gen VI and Gen VII. The former's ''[[VideoGameRemake Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire]]'' has new character Zinnia establish that [[spoiler:AZ's Ultimate Weapon from ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'']] was never created in the universe of prior generations, splitting the overarching timeline into one with Mega Evolution and one without. Gen VII's ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' would expand on this further, with the player meeting [[spoiler:(former) Frontier Brain Anabel and Looker, [[TrappedInAnotherWorld who both hail from the original non-Mega timeline]]]], as part of the post-game, in addition to giving the player the ability to use wormholes to travel to the parallel timeline of the other version after capturing their game's version legendary. ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'' would then establish the ''infinite multiverse'' by having its post-game revolve around Team Rainbow Rocket, a LegionOfDoom of every previous antagonist in the series, with said villains hailing from alternate worlds where [[TheBadGuyWins the Big Bads won]] due to their respective player characters not even existing. [[note]][[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIvbvl1nxhc These]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORnRV9gGxo0 videos]] cover the current timeline for the main games up to ''Sun and Moon''.[[/note]] |
| 289 | * ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'': |
| 290 | ** The news broadcasts in ''VideoGame/DevilSummoner'' establish this series (as well as ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIf'' and ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'', by extension) as an alternate timeline from ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI'' and onward. The divergence here is twofold; [[ArcVillain Gotou]] is arrested before he can even attempt his military coup d'etat, and Ambassador Thorman dies of a heart attack well before he [[spoiler:reveals himself as Thor and orders a nuclear strike on Tokyo]]. |
| 291 | ** It might not end there either. ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiNINE'', while explicitly set thirty years after [[spoiler:Thorman's nuclear strike]] and mostly consistent with the events of ''Shin Megami Tensei'', implies the game may take place in a timeline where certain aspects of ''SMT I'', such as the protagonist and the Cathedral/Basilica, didn't exist, which therefore means [[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII Tokyo Millennium]] might not have been built as a result. ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiImagine'' depicts another possible extension of the original, a course of history where the protagonist was present yet doesn't seem to match what's shown in ''II''. ''VideoGame/GitenMegamiTensei'' also refers to a Great Cataclysm -- the terminology used in ''SMT II'' and [[AllThereInTheManual its associated materials]] for the first game's calamity -- in [[YearX the year 199X]] that was caused by [[spoiler:nuclear fallout]], suggesting it's yet another branch. The first two ''VideoGame/MajinTensei'' games [[AmbiguousSituation may or may not be connected]] as well. ''Majin Tensei'' mentions a period of extreme international hostility in the 90s, only [[spoiler:nuclear weapons]] weren't used... [[InSpiteOfANail and Tokyo ends up falling into disarray anyway]]. Meanwhile, ''[[VideoGame/MajinTenseiIISpiralNemesis Spiral Nemesis]]'' results from a demon infestation and the Japanese government being overthrown in a coup, both in the year 1996. Gotou wasn't involved, but the game is packed with enough {{Mythology Gag}}s to ''SMT I'' that one might wonder otherwise. |
| 292 | ** ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'': |
| 293 | *** You see two of these in-game: Blasted Tokyo and Infernal Tokyo. Both are horrible {{Death World}}s; it's just that they embody what would have ultimately happened if certain events in the past had swayed the balance in favor of one faction or the other. |
| 294 | *** The events of ''SMT IV'' as a whole appear to be linked to ''SMT I''. Though some backstory details differ ([[{{Revision}} or could have been unseen previously]]), exposition given by recurring NPC Stephen in DLC content refers to the Great Cataclysm by name, once again making mention of [[spoiler:demons establishing contact with the human world]], [[spoiler:an ICBM strike]], and [[spoiler:the resulting nuclear holocaust]]. However, perhaps the biggest divergence is that this all happened in 2013, not 199X. Further confusing matters is how Stephen is even around to tell [[PlayerCharacter Flynn]] this in the first place, as [[spoiler:the events of the ''[[VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVsTheSoullessArmy Raidou]] [[VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVsKingAbaddon Kuzunoha]]'' duology suggest that the timeline stemming from ''SMT I'' [[CosmicRetcon was effectively wiped out]], which would be explained by [[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse the sequel]]: Stephen has [[{{Transhuman}} transcended humanity]] and can freely traverse TheMultiverse as a result]]. |
| 295 | ** The spin-off ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse'' is itself set in an alternate timeline to the original game's Neutral route. Specifically, this is the result of [[PlayerCharacter Nanashi]] coming back from the dead with the help of the god Dagda, which, long story short, leads to the unsealing of the Divine Powers and some other drastic things happening to and around Tokyo. It's implied that if Nanashi refuses to be revived (which can actually be done at the start of the game for a NonStandardGameOver), ''IV''[='=]s Neutral ending continues on as usual. Additionally, the DLC quest "Messiahs in the Diamond Realm" sees [[spoiler:the aforementioned Stephen unite Nanashi with [[AlternateSelf alternate versions]] of [[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI the Hero]], [[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII Aleph]], [[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne the Demi-fiend]], and [[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV Flynn]], all of whom were killed at some point during their respective quests and removed from the cycle of reincarnation due to being deemed threats by [[Characters/ShinMegamiTenseiYHVH YHVH]].]] |
| 296 | ** The existence of one of these and the desire of certain [[EldritchAbomination odd]] [[OmnicidalManiac factions]] to bring it back fuels the plot of ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}: Eternal Punishment''. |
| 297 | * ''VideoGame/SmallTownMurders'': In Case 6, Nora wishes the case never happened. The Monkey Paw grants the wish and [[spoiler:makes the cause of death of Tyler Barnes the same for his three brothers]]. |
| 298 | * ''VideoGame/SonicForces'' and [[WordOfGod official word]] established that the Classic Era visited in ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' has become a alternate/split timeline in which ''VideoGame/SonicMania'' takes place, possibly as a result of the time travel that took place in ''Generations''. The new timeline has seemingly the same history as the main timeline up to ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'', and is treated as an [[AlternateUniverse alternate dimension]], with travel between the two being made possible by the combination of the powers of the Phantom Ruby and the Chaos Emeralds. |
| 299 | * ''VideoGame/SoulcaliburVI'', despite bearing the name of a sequel, is a ContinuityReboot of [[VideoGame/SoulSeries the franchise]] that was done to get away from the 17-year TimeSkip of ''VideoGame/SoulcaliburV'' that many fans hated. While it appears to be a faithful retelling of the events of ''Soulcalibur'', there are [[NotHisSled a few small changes]] that are admittedly hard to notice. However, two major instances confirm that not only is this a reboot, but the fact that this is a different timeline from the original is very important. |
| 300 | ** [[spoiler:The first is that Zasalamel receives a vision from the future, likely from the original timeline, that convinces him to change his plans to be a DeathSeeker before he ever begins the plot seen in ''Soulcalibur III''.]] |
| 301 | ** [[spoiler:The second is that Cassandra [[MyFutureSelfAndMe meets her original timelime counterpart]] in [[EldritchLocation Astral Chaos]], who warns Cassandra of the BadFuture that awaits while giving the information of how to [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong stop it from happening]]. These set the precedent for a ''massive'' shift in the status quo later.]] |
| 302 | * ''VideoGame/StarcraftII'''s co-op modes are set in an (non-canon) alternate timeline where the fallen Xel'Naga, [[BigBad Amon]], successfully awakens and unleashes his hybrid army to wipe out all life in the universe, and the Terran, Zerg, and Protoss armies [[EnemyMine unite to stand against him]]. It also invokes a EveryoneLives as more co-op commanders were added, so you have someone like [[spoiler:Tychus and Mengsk]] alive for whatever reason. |
| 303 | * ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' allows players to forge their own history, but prior to the game's start there are three possible outcomes for the human race. In the main one the [[UnitedNationsIsASuperpower United Nations of Earth]] discovered FTL travel in the year 2200 and began colonizing the stars, with a LostColony ship potentially splintering off to form their EvilCounterpart the Commonwealth of Man. Then there's the [[TheComputerIsYourFriend Earth Custodianship]], where humanity surrendered our free will to robots that [[TheHedonist waited on us hand and foot]] while conquering the stars on our behalf. When playing as an alien empire, there's a 50% chance that humanity's development was delayed and we're fighting UsefulNotes/WorldWarII in the 23rd century, [[OutsideContextProblem making us ripe for invasion]]. |
| 304 | * In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsReversal'', the OriginalGeneration characters come from a BadFuture where the events of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack'' and ''Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico: The Prince of Darkness'' play out. After accidentally [[TimeTravel traveling back in time]], they unintentionally SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong by keeping the events of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWingEndlessWaltz'' from going bad, which makes everything better for everyone invovled. |
| 305 | * In ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny2'', there are [[spoiler:three]] of them. Nanaly hails from a BadFuture, Kyle and Loni hail from the original timeline, Judas was [[spoiler:resurrected from a point 18 years in the past]] and Harold is from the origin point of two of them, 2000 years in the past. |
| 306 | * ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'' is set in a timeline where at some point in 1942, the Nazis got hold of a cache of hyper-advanced technology and consequently reversed-engineered it and used it to {{curb stomp|Battle}} the Allies into submission and TakeOverTheWorld. This becomes extremely ironic considering that [[spoiler:the technology was developed by a sect of Jewish scientists who all took a binding vow to God that they would never apply their technology to real life and just use it to help scientists make even more advanced technology with the sole intent to understand the universe better. This means that the Nazis owe their completely ill-begotten victory to a philosophy that they (wrongly) label as inferior]]. |
| 307 | * The plot for ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''[='s=] fifth expansion, ''Warlords of Draenor'', is kicked off by Garrosh going back in time 35 years to Draenor (the world the orcs come from) and [[GivingRadioToTheRomans introducing Azeroth's modern vaguely steampunk technology to the hunter-gatherer orcs]]. Subverted in that there are already differences before he gets there, like Ner'zhul's wife still being alive when she died in our timeline, and Garrosh himself not existing in this timeline -- Grom's wife died before Garrosh was born here. Kairoz (the bronze dragon who helped Garrosh get there) even tells him that it is not his Draenor, just one that is similar enough for their purposes. Garrosh's arrival did still change things more though. |
| 308 | [[/folder]] |
| 309 | |
| 310 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 311 | * The premise behind ''VisualNovel/AreaX'', which deals with TimeTravelRomance without ''actual'' time travel, as the protagonist is hopping to Alternate Timelines rather than the strict past. [[spoiler:They were created when, back in the Middle Ages, Livan tried to rewrite the world to save her life, thus splitting time into multiple streams.]] |
| 312 | * This becomes important in later stories in the ''VisualNovel/{{Demonbane}}'' franchise: ''all'' of the first game's endings are canon and did happen in one timeline or another. One of the prequel novels also involves Nyarlathotep erasing a timeline from existence when things in it go catastrophically wrong for everyone (including itself). Finally, at the climax of the second game, [[spoiler:Demonbane summons alternate versions of itself from an infinite number of alternate timelines to deal the finishing blow against the Clockwork Phantom... some of these variations are only slightly different, some are ''radically'' different.]] |
| 313 | * This forms a core plotpoint in ''VisualNovel/DiesIrae'' where each of the novels story paths are technically canon due to an EternalRecurrence created by Mercurius' law. The [[DejaVu foreknowledge]] that Shirou and the main BigBad Reinhard constantly experiences is in fact the result of echoes from prior and alternate timelines. |
| 314 | * ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'' is built on this trope. Each timeline in the game is represented by a number called the "divergence number", where each 1% difference in divergence number represents a drastic change in the fate of the future. Characters can move timelines by altering the past. The events of the game kick off when the protagonist accidentally jumps from the Beta timeline(s) to the [[BadFuture Alpha timeline(s)]], and most of the game involve getting out and back to the original timeline. [[spoiler:In the end, it's revealed that the future of the Beta timeline(s) is just as bad as the Alpha timeline(s), so the protagonist must find a third, "golden" timeline that avoids both of these {{Bad Future}}s -- Steins Gate.]] Additionally, John Titor (see the Web Original folder below) is an actual member of the supporting cast, [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy portrayed as a legitimate time traveler]]. |
| 315 | * In ''VisualNovel/ZeroEscape'', this is pretty much the basis for how [[spoiler:Junpei in the first game, and Sigma and Phi in the second, are able to know information they shouldn't. The games work on the multiple world theory, in which every single difference in action, human or otherwise, creates another branching universe]]. The plot of the first [[VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors two]] [[VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward games]] weaponizes this, especially the latter, in which the Ambidex Game was played [[spoiler:to send Sigma and Phi's consciousnesses back through time, to create an alternate history where the world wasn't torn apart by a viral infection]]. |
| 316 | [[/folder]] |
| 317 | |
| 318 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 319 | * In ''Webcomic/AllNightLaundry'', there's at least thirteen different timelines. We only see one though. |
| 320 | * The Wraith in ''Webcomic/CharbyTheVampirate'' is [[spoiler:Zeno]] from an alternate timeline. Several of the other cabinmates fates in this alternate timeline have been briefly explained and illustrated on the artist's tumblr. |
| 321 | * ''Webcomic/Earth2068'': Whenever the [=STORMaDO=] is used for time travel into the past, it creates a branching timeline. |
| 322 | * In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', creating an alternate timeline that contradicts information known [[MindScrew in any future time that is also technically the present]] (effectively, defying a predetermined future event) turns your timeline into a doomed offshoot of the "alpha" timeline, the one that's supposed to happen. Luckily, only the people from the alternate timelines are doomed; the "alpha" characters will be okay. At least, until John [[spoiler:gains the power to redefine which timeline becomes the Alpha timeline at the cost of all his other selves]]. |
| 323 | * With a twist when it comes to ''Webcomic/TwoEvilScientists'': Two super villains from alternate timelines are competing to make their timelines a reality, as well as Quint and the Time Skimmer. |
| 324 | [[/folder]] |
| 325 | |
| 326 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 327 | * ''WebVideo/TheFinalMinutes'' gives us ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asvaYp2u4SI Trumpocalypse]]'', an alternate timeline scenario which takes place in a BadFuture where then-president Donald Trump reacts badly to being declared insane and subsequently impeached, culminating in all-out ''nuclear war''. |
| 328 | * John Titor, a person claiming to be a time traveler from 2036 on several message boards, had many predictions for the future. These included [[DividedStatesOfAmerica a second American civil war]] in 2004, followed by a swift WorldWarIII in 2015, where a nuclear exchange between Russia, America, the European Union, and China killed 3 billion people. Obviously, none of this happened, but Titor also stated that the many-worlds theory of quantum mechanics had been proven to be true and our world might not go down the exact same path as the one he came from. |
| 329 | * Dumbledore's OpeningNarration implies that aside from [[Franchise/HarryPotter the canon series]], there are countless other alternate timelines where Harry became something other than "The Boy Who Lived." ''WebVideo/WelcomeBackPotter'' just happens to be one of those "What if?" scenarios. |
| 330 | * In WebVideo/TheDebbieAndCarrieShow, there are many examples. |
| 331 | ** 1. In the original timeline, Sandy Smith came down with multiple sclerosis and died by suicide because she thought she was a burden to her daughter Debbie. But Debbie was so traumatized by this that when time travel was invented in the 2050s, she used this to change her own history by giving her mother a vaccine in the year 2021 so she would remain able-bodied and thus live much longer. |
| 332 | ** 2. Sandy Smith not only lived to a ripe old age, she became mayor of her Town and lives there became so much better through her ethical leadership. |
| 333 | ** 3. Ted Wilson originally lived to the year 2060 and then as a old man attempted to use a time machine to murder Carrie Sims in the year 2020, but this was stopped by both his own grandson Tony Wilson and Debbie and Carrie's son Richard Sims. Richard instead was killed in the past, spawning a new timeline in which Debbie and Carrie became superheros by the year 2030 and sought to avenge Richard's death. They were assisted by the 2060 version of Debbie. |
| 334 | ** 4. Superhero Carrie tracked down Ted Wilson in the year 2005 and killed him, but not before he murdered Lucy Sims, one of Carrie's mothers (this was an accident, Ted was trying to kill Jessica, Carrie's other mother). |
| 335 | ** 5. Superheros Debbie and Carrie, guided by the 2060 version of Debbie, finally sabotaged Ted Wilson's time machine and it killed him in an explosion before he could make any time trips, undoing the events of timelines 3 and 4. |
| 336 | ** 6. Debbie of the year 2061 then traveled back in time again to warn her mother of Ted Wilson having murdered his wife Rebekah, the mother of their daughter Janet and then blinding Janet. However, Debbie told Sandy about these events AFTER they had happened; she wanted Ted to be sent to prison for those crimes before he could force Janet to bear his grandson Tony and thus she erased Tony from the timeline completely. Ted Wilson then died in the year 2036 at the Battle of Austin. |
| 337 | ** 7. Richard Sims and his wife Diana Hudson sought to undo a timeline in which Suzanne, Diana's aunt, had died of a variant of Covid-19. They were successful in giving Suzanne a vaccine for the virus when she was a teen. |
| 338 | ** 8. Debbie and Carrie traveled back from the year 2061 to the year 2029 to stop a homophobic terrorist from murdering a gay couple, Michael Jefferson and Charles Mc Kinsey, who were Richard Sims' fathers. This was successful, but also changed events affecting not only Debbie and Carrie themselves, but others like the Belmont triplets, who were never adopted by Debbie and Carrie. |
| 339 | ** 9. Debbie, Carrie, and James, Debbie's brother, went back to the 19th Century to visit the time when the Town was first founded. When they returned to the year 2063, they found that Ted Wilson was not only still alive, but was mayor of their Town and living in James' mansion! To undo this, they went to the year 2020 to entice Carrie and her mothers, Jessica and Lucy, to move to Texas to start the chain reaction of events that would bring down Ted Wilson to begin with. |
| 340 | [[/folder]] |
| 341 | |
| 342 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 343 | * The ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episodes "Finn the Human" and "Jake the Dog" deal with this. Finn makes a wish that [[EldritchAbomination the Lich]] never existed. We then see an alternate world where Marceline never became a vampire, Simon stopped the nuke which irradiated the world, and Finn is living with his poverty stricken family and normal-bulldog Jake. Eventually [[spoiler: Finn ends up donning the Ice King's crown, causing the nuke to blow up and has a different Lich be born out of Jake]]. |
| 344 | * ''Franchise/Ben10'': |
| 345 | ** Ben's RidiculouslySuccessfulFutureSelf Ben 10,000 is eventually revealed to be from a parallel timeline to Ben's own, as evidenced by Kevin still being a villain despite having a HeelFaceTurn in the prime continuity (although this plot point suffered from a severe case of DependingOnTheWriter). |
| 346 | ** Ben has met other alternate versions as well, like a Gwen who ended up with the Omnitrix instead of Ben, and a Ben who never got the Omnitrix at all and had a normal, dull summer vacation. |
| 347 | * The end of ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' has the Gang force history to reset itself in a much more pleasant direction after Scooby kills the Nibiru Entity. [[MissionControl Harlan Ellison]] tells them that this isn't the first time that they've had their timeline rebooted either. |
| 348 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' Episode "Go God Go!", Cartman uses a phone that can call homes in other time periods, even the commercial for it states that it is only for prank phone calls. |
| 349 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' episode "Shredderville", the Turtles thought they have somehow stepped into an alternate timeline/world/reality where the Turtles never existed, in which Shredder has taken over the world, Rocksteady and Bebop are still humans, April O'Neil and Irma are their servants, and humans and mutants are mutual enemies because of Krang and his Dimension X allies. Oh, and on top of all this, everything in that world is falling apart. Fortunately, the whole thing turns out to be AllJustADream. |
| 350 | * ''[[WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021 What If...?]]'' gives glimpses at multiple alternate timelines/universes of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse's [[TheMultiverse Multiverse]]. |
| 351 | * ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries'' deals with these thanks to Bishop and Cable. Long story short, Bishop's attempt to stop his BadFuture leads him to keep hopping back and forth through time to stop other events and sometimes Cable gets dragged along because some of these plots also involve his ArchEnemy Apocalypse. |
| 352 | [[/folder]] |
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