How does it make any sense for Future Trunks to appear?

[namekiansaiyan]

Trunks needs help urgently and he knows everyone in the current timeline so he asks them for help.

[Speedster]

When Trunks travels back in time he creates an alternate timeline. What the OP wonders (and most failed to understand him) is why Trunks going back in time again would not result to yet another timeline identical to his own up to the point of splitting but instead go to the main timeline? Well that is because once a link between 2 timelines is established you can travel between them. It is a subject of debate though whether once this happens he can travel freely or only travel to a point in time where the time elapsed from his first arrival is equal to the one that passed in his own timeline since his first departure to create that alternate timeline.

For example...
We know Trunks' second journey originated from Age 785. But did he, the first time, leave from age 782 and went to 762 to warn the fighters and then had to wait 3 years because otherwise he would create a yet another timeline? Or can he freely travel to whatever time-point he wants and left from 784 went to 764, then went back to 784 waited 8months for his time-machine to charge and travelled to 767? To me it is the former (which also explains Cell's 24 years line) and now I have more reasons to believe this. Because from all time-points why did Adult Trunks choose this particular one in Super (say age 777)? Wasn't it because 10-12 years had passed in his own timeline too and he had to travel 10-12 years further into the main timeline as otherwise he would create just another alternate timeline similar to his? If he could freely travel to any point in the main timeline why did he not go back to a point closer to the one he left from the last time (i.e. after the Cell games)?

[dbgtFO]

For example...
We know Trunks' second journey originated from Age 785. But did he, the first time, leave from age 782 and went to 762 to warn the fighters and then had to wait 3 years because otherwise he would create a yet another timeline? Or can he freely travel to whatever time-point he wants and left from 784 went to 764, then went back to 784 waited 8months for his time-machine to charge and travelled to 767? To me it is the former (which also explains Cell's 24 years line) and now I have more reasons to believe this. Because from all time-points why did Adult Trunks choose this particular one in Super (say age 777)? Wasn't it because 10-12 years had passed in his own timeline too and he had to travel 10-12 years further into the main timeline as otherwise he would create just another alternate timeline similar to his? If he could freely travel to any point in the main timeline why did he not go back to a point closer to the one he left from the last time (i.e. after the Cell games)?

Agreed. Now we can only wait and see how it's handled in the upcoming episodes, but I have a feeling they won't even question at all, why Trunks specifically came to that Age.
It would also mean, that Trunks should be in his 30's or thereabouts, unless Toriyama is writing it with the "6 months passed between Buu's defeat and BoG Arc" logic in mind.

[Kuririn Fan]

Guys, the WISH for people to forget about Boo was 6 months after final fight and then "some time passed". The timeline stays the same (Age 778, 779)

[dbgtFO]

Guys, the WISH for people to forget about Boo was 6 months after final fight and then "some time passed". The timeline stays the same (Age 778, 779)

I'm referring to the script for the first episode of Super by Toriyama, where he apparently wrote, the story takes place 6 months after the defeat of Buu, evidently forgetting the details or really just writing Super with that timeperiod in mind.

[B]

A significant amount of time in Trunks's future doesn't need to have passed, but I guess it will be weird if he's still putzing around at a Cell-era level; even Gohan slacking off has got to be stronger. And if it's an enemy that Cell-era Trunks has a lot of trouble with, but is still not outright killed and could hold his own, wouldn't everyone in Super(read: the Saiyans and Piccolo) be able to squash that type of enemy? Cell/Dabra-level opponents would(or should) be cake.

I guess they could surprise us and Goku Black has some sort of special power beyond being strong... But I doubt they'd get that ambitious.

[Makai]

If he can travel between timelines, and nothing was changed in his own, I always wondered why he just didn't go into the future of the alternate timeline that he changed.

[dbgtFO]

A significant amount of time in Trunks's future doesn't need to have passed, but I guess it will be weird if he's still putzing around at a Cell-era level; even Gohan slacking off has got to be stronger. And if it's an enemy that Cell-era Trunks has a lot of trouble with, but is still not outright killed and could hold his own, wouldn't everyone in Super(read: the Saiyans and Piccolo) be able to squash that type of enemy? Cell/Dabra-level opponents would(or should) be cake.

I guess they could surprise us and Goku Black has some sort of special power beyond being strong... But I doubt they'd get that ambitious.

Goku-Black could have some henchmen to do his dirty work, who were terrible sure, but still within the level, where Trunks could escape from them or maybe Trunks just used the Taiyo-ken. He'd know from personal experience that move never gets old!

[TheDevilsCorpse]

Trunks going to the Super Era in the main timeline could simply be because Goku Black is soooooo much stronger than anything he could have imagined, that he thought traveling back to the Cell Era wouldn't be much help to him. That since the main timeline only saw Goku die, it's likely that his friends could have continued to get even stronger over the years (it's possible his trip after defeating his Cell was to a point where Vegeta had resumed his training).

[KingKaash]

Timeline mess aside though it is interesting, I also find it weird to bring Future Trunks back at a time like this. I really thought we would get to see Goku and Vegeta explore the other universes. Now we are dealing with multiple universes and multiple timelines. That's a lot to deal with. I also don't like how Future Trunks will get more character development while present Trunks and Goten are casted aside. I guess Future Trunks must be one of Toriyama's favorites if he wants to bring him back.

All Future Trunks needs to do is find the Beerus of his timeline and get him to kill Black Goku. There's no need for the Gods and Omni-King from our timeline to get involved with killing "Black Goku" of another timeline.

[Makai]

Timeline mess aside though it is interesting, I also find it weird to bring Future Trunks back at a time like this. I really thought we would get to see Goku and Vegeta explore the other universes. Now we are dealing with multiple universes and multiple timelines. That's a lot to deal with. I also don't like how Future Trunks will get more character development while present Trunks and Goten are casted aside. I guess Future Trunks must be one of Toriyama's favorites if he wants to bring him back.

All Future Trunks needs to do is find the Beerus of his timeline and get him to kill Black Goku. There's no need for the Gods and Omni-King from our timeline to get involved with killing "Black Goku" of another timeline.

Yeah, I doubt he would even be able to find Beerus in his timeline, or even know he exists. Second, you really think he would just so easily agree to help, and not destroy Trunks for disturbing him? At least Beerus in the main timeline is cool with the Z-Fighters so they'll have a chance getting help from him. And Goku Black might be pretty strong if the Gods and even Omni King have to be dragged in, so who knows.

Also, didn't Toriyama say something about combining this story with a new universe? If so, I think we will see them travel to another universe, especially if it involves the Omni King.

[Basaku]

I guess it's a matter of taste whether Back to the Future has "better" time travel rules or not

Not really just that but also how much harder the 'other way' is (as in Back to the Future). It inevitably leads into grandfather paradox issues which the biggest brains on the planet can't wrap their heads around. While I don't think Toriyama spent too much time thinking about it while coming up with Android/Cell arc, he must have at some point dealt with the problem of how to approach time travel rules in his arc and he surely considered and realized the implications on the plot of allowing true alteration of the past. The DB way is simply much easier and less of a logical minefield of plot headache. Star Trek reboot series used the same split-timelines trick and it worked very well for them just as well.

So I doubt the rules will change, grandfather paradox is the pandora's box of plotholes 99% of the fiction should never risk opening, it will just end up in logical mess

[nato25]

If you just see them as alternate worlds as opposed to alternate timelines its a lot easier to deal with.

We've got

- normal world we all know and love.
- future trunks world. Androids destroyed everything. Goku dies from heart virus. Future Gohan is dead. This is the Trunks that came back to normal world. When he leaves he simply returns to future trunks world.
- cell world. This is where Cell killed Trunks and stole his time machine. Theres basically no heroes left in this world. The cell we all know from normal world is actually from this cell world. The normal world cell was destroyed when it was a little baby in the chamber thingy.

As Trunks said doing anything in normal world will not effect at all future trunks world or cell world so I think this is the best way to look at it.

[ultimateemail5000]

I want to know how Future Trunks knows to come back 10 or 15 years after the events of Cell. He doesn't know Goku came back, he doesn't know how powerful everyone is. But I'm sure all of this will explained somehow.

[KingKaash]

Timeline mess aside though it is interesting, I also find it weird to bring Future Trunks back at a time like this. I really thought we would get to see Goku and Vegeta explore the other universes. Now we are dealing with multiple universes and multiple timelines. That's a lot to deal with. I also don't like how Future Trunks will get more character development while present Trunks and Goten are casted aside. I guess Future Trunks must be one of Toriyama's favorites if he wants to bring him back.

All Future Trunks needs to do is find the Beerus of his timeline and get him to kill Black Goku. There's no need for the Gods and Omni-King from our timeline to get involved with killing "Black Goku" of another timeline.

Yeah, I doubt he would even be able to find Beerus in his timeline, or even know he exists. Second, you really think he would just so easily agree to help, and not destroy Trunks for disturbing him? At least Beerus in the main timeline is cool with the Z-Fighters so they'll have a chance getting help from him. And Goku Black might be pretty strong if the Gods and even Omni King have to be dragged in, so who knows.

Also, didn't Toriyama say something about combining this story with a new universe? If so, I think we will see them travel to another universe, especially if it involves the Omni King.

Asking the Z-Fighers of another timeline is ok. But asking the God of Destruction from another timeline is absurd. I love DBZ but it's just a bit weird that the Gods of another timeline should get involved if there is such a large threat while the Gods of the timeline in trouble do nothing.

That's the other pickle. Because Toriyama has turned Vegeta and Goku into Gods, almost all opponents now have to be on a god-like level or have some mystical power like Time-Skip. So Black Goku is going to insanely strong which should warrant a beep on Future Whis's scepter shouldn't it? I mean Frieza did.

[Araki]

Asking the Z-Fighers of another timeline is ok. But asking the God of Destruction from another timeline is absurd. I love DBZ but it's just a bit weird that the Gods of another timeline should get involved if there is such a large threat while the Gods of the timeline in trouble do nothing.

But why would, say, the Beerus from Trunks' timeline care if someone is beating up Trunks on his Earth? That wouldn't make sense. The only reason Beerus even went to Earth in the first place was Goku, so in Trunks' timeline he likely isn't even aware it exists (like Champa in U6).

Besides, the only Gods we know are strong enough to stop a big threat like that by themselves would be the Gods of Destruction, and they have no reason to stop...destruction, unless it's bad for them somehow. The Beerus we know never stopped Freeza.

[Basaku]

Maybe it's only mortal realm that get the timeline-split, leaving Gods/heaven etc in singular timeline?

If you just see them as alternate worlds as opposed to alternate timelines its a lot easier to deal with.

We've got

- normal world we all know and love.
- future trunks world. Androids destroyed everything. Goku dies from heart virus. Future Gohan is dead. This is the Trunks that came back to normal world. When he leaves he simply returns to future trunks world.
- cell world. This is where Cell killed Trunks and stole his time machine. Theres basically no heroes left in this world. The cell we all know from normal world is actually from this cell world. The normal world cell was destroyed when it was a little baby in the chamber thingy.

As Trunks said doing anything in normal world will not effect at all future trunks world or cell world so I think this is the best way to look at it.

There's also 2nd normal world where Cell from future didn't appear. Cell saga needs 2 Future Trunks to exist, one of them getting killed by Cell. Therefore it cannot happen unless there are at least 4 timelines

[TheDevilsCorpse]

Maybe it's only mortal realm that get the timeline-split, leaving Gods/heaven etc in singular timeline?

I don't think that makes much sense, but it wouldn't stop the Beerus issue anyway. His temple is in the "mortal" universe.

[KingKaash]

Asking the Z-Fighers of another timeline is ok. But asking the God of Destruction from another timeline is absurd. I love DBZ but it's just a bit weird that the Gods of another timeline should get involved if there is such a large threat while the Gods of the timeline in trouble do nothing.

But why would, say, the Beerus from Trunks' timeline care if someone is beating up Trunks on his Earth? That wouldn't make sense. The only reason Beerus even went to Earth in the first place was Goku, so in Trunks' timeline he likely isn't even aware it exists (like Champa in U6).

Besides, the only Gods we know are strong enough to stop a big threat like that by themselves would be the Gods of Destruction, and they have no reason to stop...destruction, unless it's bad for them somehow. The Beerus we know never stopped Freeza.

I totally get what you're saying. But using that same logic, if Future Beerus doesn't care that someone powerful is causing destruction in his own timeline, why should present Beerus of a totally different timeline care at all? Our Beerus didn't even stop Golden Frieza from killing Goku. So why should he be so concerned if Future Trunks and present Goku and Vegeta are going to fight a powerful guy in another timeline? Of course Beerus wants to see Whis's students grow but he shouldn't have to get involved and also not the Omni-King.

I'm just speculating here and I'm sure it will all be answered

[Basaku]

Maybe it's only mortal realm that get the timeline-split, leaving Gods/heaven etc in singular timeline?

I don't think that makes much sense, but it wouldn't stop the Beerus issue anyway. His temple is in the "mortal" universe.

Hardly a stretch to make up an excuse that timeline-splits don't apply to him and his planet, regardless of what anyone does. There's even the aspect of Whis having at least some time-maniplation capabilities. I don't think it was stated or ruled one way or another yet so I think it is a possibility, quite strong one. It would also accent the difference and separation between mortals and Gods which may be getting a bit too thin thanks to Buu saga and Super