Trying to put the whole Alternate Timeline confusion to rest

[xm0c]

*aka Chronologically Confused About The Dragon Ball Timeline*

Note: I will be referring to all those hailing from Future Trunks' timeline with a ₂, including him, and all those from Cell's timeline with a ₃. These are just titles, not referring to what is the original timeline.

The Future Trunks arc of Super really did not answer a lot of questions regarding the timelines of the series. If anything, it only raised further questions, with the introduction of the Time Rings. They are said to represent all the timelines in the Dragon Ball series, yet the series seemed to ignore most of the previous timelines, like Cell's. Not only that, it raised more questions regarding time travel than it did answer, so much so that, even months after the arc ended, we're still confused about just how many timelines there are. Today, I am going to try and put the confusion to rest. I will try to explain all the timelines seen in the series, who they were formed, where they differ, etc...

First, I should get one of the most confusing facts about the whole time travel fiasco: Time Machines and Time Rings. Time Machines are the only things we've seen that have caused the alternate timelines. However, when you go back in time, so long as you are going to the same point in time (in relation to your time), you will not create any new timelines. For example, Trunks₂ always travels to the same timeline (the main series timeline) because of the differences in time between the timelines. Essentially, one year in the main timeline does not necessarily equal year in Trunks' timeline, as shown in the Dragon Ball Super manga. We've, canonically, seen two time machines that have undergone time travel: the one belonging to the Future Trunks we all know about (that was eventually destroyed by Goku Black) and the one used by Cell after he killed Trunks₃. There is another time machine, however, that once belonged to a mortal in Universe 12, though we've never seen it. Going forward, I'm going to assume these three time machines are the only ones that have been used throughout the multiverse.

Time Rings allow the Supreme Kais of each universe the ability to travel forward in time. The silver timeline allows them to go to their timeline's future, with no dangers of creating split timelines and the like. We saw this happen with Gowasu and Zamasu. In order to go to a different timeline, you would have to use a green Time Ring. Essentially, this means that, a silver Time Ring in one timeline would be a green Time Ring in all other timelines. In the manga, Goku Black uses a green time ring to travel from his timeline to Trunks'₂. While I'm not sure if it was ever explained in the anime what he used, I'm going to assume it was a green time ring.

Now, on to the meat of things, and where the primary source of confusion stems from: just how many timelines are there? And, how were they formed? Let's get started.

Now, as shown in Daizenshuu 7, before the time of Dragon Ball Super, there were 4 timelines. However, in the much more recent Chouzenshuu 3, there were 3 timelines. I'll be going with the 4 timelines theory, as it more closely aligns with the established way time travel works in the series, and the amount of timelines is close to the amount of Time Rings shown in Super.

Another, more minor source of confusion is how Trunks'₂ timeline and Cell's₃ timeline could exist. It is never made clear which is the real timeline, though most assume its Cell's₃. The general consensus is that: Trunks₃ goes back in time (already creating a timeline), finds a way to defeat the Androids, goes back to his time, and kills them. Because this Trunks never went thru the training our Future Trunks went through, he is killed by Cell₃, who then goes back in time to the main series (another new timeline). That's all fine and good, but what about our Future Trunks/Trunks₂? Where and when did he show up? If his was the original timeline, then how did Cell₃ show up? So, which timeline was the original? Easy: neither.

Remember the Universe 12 time traveler? Let's assume that the Universe 12 mortal built his time machine, and went back 100 years into the past. No matter what, any change that would happen in Universe 12 would have no affect on Universe 7, and we know that time travel has no effect on universes. And since we know this was the only other usage of a time machine, and that it was much earlier than the time travel Future Trunks used. So, we've already got two timelines, with the events in Universe 7 being identical between them. Daizenshuu calls these Timeline 2 and Timeline 3, so that is what I'll be using.

So, with two timelines mean we have two Trunks's going back in time. In both these timelines, Goku dies of a heart virus, the Androids appear and kill all the warriors except Trunks, who then goes back in time. With two Trunks's going back in time, they each create a new timeline. We now have 4 timelines, the same amount shown in Daizenshuu. These are where the timelines begin to differ. Trunks₃ goes to Timeline 4, while Trunks₂ (the one we are most familiar with) goes to Timeline 1. We know the story from here: Trunks₃ goes back to his timeline, kills his androids, then gets killed by Cell₃, the one we know about. Cell₃ then goes to Timeline 1, because he went further back in time then Trunks₂ went. As for why Trunks₃ was not going to the time he was more familiar with, I'm going to assume he was not yet finished entering the year he was going to before he was killed.

At the end of Dragon Ball Z, we had the following timelines, created by a universe 12 mortal, and the Trunks's:
Timeline 1: The main series timeline, Gohan₁ kills Cell₃, Goku₁ kills Buu₁.
Timeline 2: Future Trunks' timeline. This Trunks₂ kills both Androids₂, and Cell₂.
Timeline 3: Cell's timeline. Cell₃ kills the Trunks of this time (Trunks₃), then goes to Timeline 1.
Timeline 4: The timeline Trunks₃ went to. It is said that a Cell Games occurred in this timeline, though that's impossible because all three Cells are accounted for. Unless the Cell of this timeline awoke much earlier than the others. For now, I'm going to assume that's a typo that's been retconed.

With Dragon Ball Super, we're shown Time Rings, each one representing a timeline, with a silver one for the timeline that it is currently in, and initially four green ones that represent alternate timelines. So, in total, before even a new timeline is created, there are five timelines. This, is where I admit I am totally lost. I can't figure out where this fifth timeline comes from. Although, Gowasu₁ states, in both the manga and the anime, that a new Time Ring appeared recently. Yet, we have not seen any instances of time travel, except for Trunks₂ going to Timeline 1, which would not create another timeline! So, I'm going to say this is an unknown timeline, caused be an unknown person going through time. If anyone has any idea, please feel free to post.

The next timeline/green Time Ring created is when Beerus₁ kills Zamasu₁. Without Trunks₂ going back in time, the original future of Timeline 1 would have had Zamasu₁ wishing to switch bodies with Goku₁, becomes Goku Black, and then goes to Timeline 2. However, with the combination of Trunks₂' influence, and the act of one god killing another god, a new Time Ring is created, where Zamasu₆ becomes Goku Black.

Additionally, while it is never shown, we can assume a new green Time Ring is created for when Whis warns an alternate Beerus(Beerus₇) to stop Zamasu₇ from executing his Zero Mortal Plan. Or, alternatively in the manga, it is created when Trunks₂ and Mai₂ stop Shin₇'s death, thus saving Beerus₇ who can then deal with Zamasu₇. Either way, we're left with a new timeline with two Trunks's and two Mais.

So, as of now, we have 7 timelines:
Timeline 1/silver Time Ring: Main series. Beerus₁ kills Zamasu₁, and currently we're at the Tournament of Power.
Timeline 2/green Time Ring: Goku Black₆ comes to this timeline to team up with Zamasu₂. This timeline is eventually erased by Zeno₂. In the manga, the Time Ring for this timeline is destroyed, while in the anime, it is still around.
Timeline 3/green Time Ring: Cell.
Timeline 4/green Time Ring: Unseen Timeline.
Timeline 5/green Time Ring: ???. The wiki hypothesizes that the Trunks of this timeline went to Timeline 3 to kill Frieza₃ and King Cold₃, because Cell says that Dr. Gero would have collected cells from Trunks had there not been enough Saiyan cells, though that's impossible, because then how did this timeline come to exist? And why wouldn't Timeline 3 resemble Timeline 1, if it had similar events involving a Future Trunks. For now, I'm going to assume that, when Cell mentions gathering DNA from other fighters, they would have gathered DNA from Trunks₃ while he was a baby, because, while he was not a fighter, he was still a Saiyan with strong potential, meaning that had Cell not collected enough Saiyan DNA, they would have taken some from baby Trunks₃.
Timeline 6/recently created green Time Ring: Zamasu₆ kills Gowasu₆, switches bodies with Goku₆ after learning of him via GodTube (as shown in the manga, since he would have had no knowledge of Goku had Trunks₂ not gone back in time to Timeline 1), then becomes Goku Black.
Timeline 7/unseen green Time Ring: Beerus₇ is alive to stop Zamasu₇. Current home of Trunks₂ and Mai₂.

Hope this answers some questions regarding Dragon Ball's f'ed up time travel and timelines.

[shadowfox87]

I actually drew it in photoshop:
https://serenade87.deviantart.com/art/D ... -723741541

Let me know what you think. Also just made a post on it: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=40823

[TobyS]

So you've combined one of the trunks ones with the U12 one? Can that work and is there any evidence for this?

[shadowfox87]

So you've combined one of the trunks ones with the U12 one? Can that work and is there any evidence for this?

The timeline that was created by the mysterious mortal from Universe 12 is another "unseen" timeline. We don't actually know what goes on here. We can hypothesize though that the changes that occurred in this timeline were in Universe 12 not 7. Hence, what happened in Trunks' future does not change. It should be very similar to the original timeline (Timeline 3), if not completely identical.