.Some people never change, in the true sense of the word. Lysander has stopped aging as a result of events that have inextricably tied him to a specific occurrence in his past. But what if he could go back and change those events? Will he manage to let go of his mistakes or will he irreversibly drown in his regrets?
A Timeless Story contains examples of:
- The Ageless: Lysander, who has been living for hundreds of years as the result of a mistake he once made.
- Ambiguously Bi: Lysander was in love with his friend Alys in the past, but in the present, he has plenty of
Ho Yay with Dellbert. - Cannot Spit It Out: A tragic case. Lysander was about to confess his feelings for Alys in the past, until she interupted him to say she was going to have an Arranged Marriage with a rich man named Glenn in order to have enough money to pay for her mother's operation. Heartbroken, Lysander decided not to see her again.
- Celibate Hero: Throughout the game, we don't see or hear of Lys showing anyone with romantic/sexual attraction. Turns out, he was in love with Alys. But after their friendship ended (because of him), Alys marrying Glenn, and her murder, he didn't want to be with anyone else. The Good Ending implies he's moving on with Dell.
- Chekhov's Gun: Alys's hairpin. Finding it is necessary for achieving the Good Ending.
- Despair Event Horizon: Lysander crossed it briefly when Alys died, before Dell pulled him back. After Dell dies (because of him) he outright says he wants to die.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Dell always bristles at Lysander's attempts to comfort him, believing that he can't possibly mean any of it.
- Failure Knight: Lysander and his devotion to protecting Dellbert is spawned from his failure to protect Alys.
- Fiery Redhead: The impulsive Dellbert.
- Her Heart Will Go On: Rare male example. Lysander still misses Alys and in the Good Ending he is shown visiting her grave, but he is starting to get over it.
- Immortality Bisexuality: For Lysander. The immortality is there, and the bisexuality is heavily implied.
- I Just Want to Be Free: What Dellbert most desires is the freedom to do what he pleases without others forcing their will or control on to him. That's why he escaped from his parents's house and attempts to leave Lysander after the latter went into Papa Wolf mode on him.
- Look Both Ways: How Dellbert died after trying to escape from an Yandere Ax-Crazy Papa Wolf Lysander. In the Good Ending, he's revived and his death is prevented.
- The Lost Lenore: Lysander is incapable of moving on from Alys emotionally. Even when he starts over with Dell, he can only see him as Alys's identical grandson. The Good Ending shows that Lysander is moving on and can finally love Dell for who he is.
- Love Makes You Crazy: As poor Dell finds out the hard way, Lysander can come off as more than a little unhinged and crazy overprotective; his desperation to atone for Alys's death leads him to almost confine Dell. And his fear of losing him and inability to see him suffer was so extreme that he killed him.
- My Greatest Failure: What Lysander considers Alys's death to be. At first players are led to believe it's because Lys is The Ageless and outlived her, when in actually she was killed by Glenn and Lysander could have prevented it if only he would have read her letters.
- My Greatest Second Chance: Dell is this in a nutshell. Lys wants to protect him no matter what as a sort of redemption from failing to prevent Alys's death.
- Multiple Endings:
- Bad Ending: If Lysander doesn't destroy all the clocks, he's confronted by the spirits of Alys and Dell. Alys blames him for her death, since it could have been prevented if Lysander would have opened her letters. Dell calls him selfish, insisting that he just sees him as a Replacement Goldfish to Alys. Both decide to make him pay for his crimes and Lysander smiles as Alys and Dell stab him to death.
- Normal Ending: If Lysander destroys all the clocks but doesn't retrieve Alys's hairpin, he wakes up at his bed. He dismisses the whole adventure in the realm as a nightmare and decides to continue living his immortal life, but carrying the guilt of causing Alys and Dell's deaths.
- Good Ending: If Lysander destroys all the clocks and retrieves Alys's hairclip, he rewinds the Great Clock. He's sent to the time Dell is about to be run by a car, and pulls him on time. Lysander apologizes to him and confesses about his guilt for being unable to save Alys in the past. Dell understands and continues to live with him. The final scene features Lysander visiting Alys's grave and finally accepting his immortality.
- Parental Substitute: Lysander raises Dellbert after the latter runs away from home.
- Poor Communication Kills: If Lysander had opened Alys's letters in the past instead of storing them, he would have realized that Glenn was an abusive husband who only married Alys to give his sterile girlfriend a son. And let's not get into the part when Alys is not useful to Glenn anymore....
- Redemption Quest: The ultimate meaning of the plot for Lysander.
- Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Alys and her grandson Dellbert.
- Shipper on Deck: Apparently in the Bad Ending, Alys ships Lysander x Dell....
- Til Murder Do Us Part: It turns out that Alys' husband, Glenn, only married her because his own true love Eris was infertile, and murdered Alys once she bore him a child, since his true beloved had always been Eris. Worst of all is that Lysander could have had prevented it, as Alys sent him multiple letters warning of the changes in Glenn's mood, and asking him to get her out. However, because of his own unrequited love for her, he found it too painful to open the letters until it was too late.
- Unlucky Childhood Friend: Lysander for Alys. The sad part is that it was mutual love between them all along, but everything went wrong because of Poor Communication Kills.
- Averted in the prequel game A Figment of Discord, which includes an ending in which Lysander saves Alys from Glenn. Also, Dellbert is reborn as Lysander's son in that ending. But then, it's a Foregone Conclusion that Alys is murdered by Glenn and Eris in the canon ending.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: For Lysander, immortality means being unable to escape the torment of his guilt. This goes to the point he smiles when he is finally stabbed to death in the bad ending. He moves on in the Good ending, though, and is able to atone for his other failure.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Turns out Glenn only married Alys to have a heir, since his girlfriend Eris is sterile. When Alys's son was born, Glenn had no use for her anymore. Alys's son is raised by Glenn and Eris, but he soon realizes he's not related to Eris at all.Glenn: My darling Eris, we don't need to hide any longer. I had the male heir I was longing for, the child you couldn't have given me. So the usefulness of my wife has come to an end. It will be easy enough to make it look like suicide, recently she does nothing more than mope around and write letters to one childhood friend of hers....
