Question About the Alternate Timelines

[roseofpain]

In the Android/Cell arc, the timeline that Future Trunks came from is Timeline 1, and the timeline where Goku doesn't die and recovers from the heart virus, which is where the main series takes place, is Timeline 2. But what I don't get is if Cell came from Timeline 3, what events led it to branch off that way? And if Trunks were to use the time machine before being killed by Cell in Timeline 3, how would it lead to a fourth timeline?

[kyppk]

The basic and somewhat incorrect version is this:

Cells timeline is the Original timeline(You call this Timeline 3 but I'll refer to it as O!): O!Future Trunks goes into the past saves Unknown timeline U!Goku (explained later) and returns To his future. He defeats O!17 and O!18, but isn't aware of Cell or strong enough to defeat him. Cell kills O!Future Trunks before he can do the second trip and heads to the main timeline using the stolen time machine.

Future Trunk's timeline is the future timeline we're all familiar with(You call this timeline 1): No Trunks saves his Goku. Future Trunks heads to the past to save Goku, heads to the past a second time, trains in the past, and returns to the future with knowledge of Cell. He defeats F!17, F!18, and F!Cell.

There's the Main timeline(You call this timeline 2): no explanation necessary.

Then there's the Unknown timeline(U!) mentioned above: O!Future Trunks saves U!Goku, O!Future Trunks never comes back the second time since he dies, U!Cell exists and there's probably a Cell Games without any Trunks.

There's some weird timey-wimey junk I left out that makes some amount of sense if you spend way to long thinking about the timelines, but the simplified, incorrect version should help answer your questions.

[Grimlock]

In the Android/Cell arc, the timeline that Future Trunks came from is Timeline 1, and the timeline where Goku doesn't die and recovers from the heart virus, which is where the main series takes place, is Timeline 2. But what I don't get is if Cell came from Timeline 3, what events led it to branch off that way?

I came to understand things a bit more easier when I started calling "Cell's timeline" as the "original one". "Trunks timeline" as the "second one". "Main timeline" as the "third one". The timeline original Trunks goes to as the "unseen/fourth timeline".

Anyway, I don't think anything happened in the original timeline, for being the original, everything that happened there was supposed to happen. It's the other timelines that were changed. I don't know if we have information on what caused the second timeline to change (i.e., what prevented a Trunks to save the Goku from this timeline, and what made this Trunks knows about Cell that maybe the original Trunks didn't).
I presume it was Cell who changed the "main/third timeline", as he arrives in the present before Trunks does. I assume it's because no Cell appears in the second timeline the reason it branched off from the original timeline.

Either way, there are problems we can't solve in any possible way. In Trunks' first trip, he is supposed to come from twenty years in the future and in all of his subsequent trips he should come from seventeen years (as three years passes in the present while eight months passes in the future). So it is like:

• First trip - AGE 784 to AGE 764.
• Second trip - AGE 785 to AGE 767.
• Third trip - AGE 788 to ???

However, AGE 785 - 17 = AGE 768. This one might seem harmless, a minor mistake we can probably solve easily. But you'll soon realize that, as we go on, the "seventeen-year trip" won't make any sense. I'm bringing this up because things get a hell of a crazy when we reach original Cell.

Cell kills Trunks in AGE 788 and goes to the "main timeline". How? AGE 788 - 17 = AGE 771 (that's four years after Cell saga ended, and three years before Majin Buu saga starts). In the series, Cell made a twenty-five-year trip (he went from AGE 788 to AGE 763). So you see, don't try to understand everything, it's impossible and there are problems that the series, guidebooks and whatever never bothered to clarify.

And if Trunks were to use the time machine before being killed by Cell in timeline 3, how would it lead to a fourth timeline?

Cell kills O!Future Trunks before he can do the second trip and heads to the main timeline using the stolen time machine.

As mentioned above, Cell is only completed and kills Trunks in AGE 788. Trunks second trip happens in AGE 785. I don't know where this idea that Cell kills Trunks before his second trip comes from. What am I missing?

[kyppk]

Trunks second trip happens in AGE 785. I don't know where this idea that Cell kills Trunks before his second trip comes from. What am I missing?

Our Future Trunks' second trip occurs in 785, and O!Future Trunks is killed right before he can make his second trip in 788. While the reason for both the trips is different the outcome would likely have been the same, Trunks learning about the existence of Cell and likely training before returning. I used the bold text to show the main difference between the split timelines; one Trunks is able to do it and survives, while the other is not

I also assumed that me mentioning O!Future Trunks defeating the androids before mentioning the second trip would help differentiate the two, but I probably could have been more thorough and detailed with that to prevent confusion.

[Grimlock]

That raises some questions:

1 - Why would original Trunks take four years to make the second trip instead of eight months?

2 - How did original Trunks defeat the androids if he didn't make the second trip when he was supposed to?

I can see using the "the original and the future timelines split at X point" excuse to explain why original Trunks didn't find Cell's time machine in whatever timeline he went to, but there's a limit as to how far we can take this excuse.

Just as we know that no matter the timeline, Cell will always be completed in AGE 788, some other events should play out exactly the same regardless of the timeline. I don't see any reason original Trunks wouldn't make the second trip in AGE 785. I also don't see why one Trunks would have to wait eight months and another one would have to wait four years to make the second trip.


Side note: regarding Cell, he himself says that "he wouldn't be completed for another twenty four years" during his battle with Piccolo. Although his math is wrong (AGE 767 + 24 = AGE 791), we can see that the intention here is that Cell would be completed in AGE 788 in the present timeline as well.

[kyppk]

1 - Why would original Trunks take four years to make the second trip instead of eight months?

This is a mistake on my part, my interpretation of the events was one successful trip where he saves Goku and gets the emergency shutoff blueprints(784), destroys the androids sometime in 785, and death before shortly before the second trip(788).

However, according to the wikia, what actually happens is: first trip saves Goku(784), second trip he returns with the emergency shutoff rather than the power boost(785), and then he is killed before his third trip(788).

2 - How did original Trunks defeat the androids if he didn't make the second trip when he was supposed to?

A blueprint of the emergency shutoff device like the one Krillin destroys in the main timeliine

Spoiler:

Above is the illustration of the timelines from Daizenshuu 7



Now, why did O!Trunks wait so long between his second/third trip, who knows, as it's never really explained.

Kinda like Cell stating that the coordinates were already preset to 763, implying O!Trunks was going to 763. We can theorize and say Cell must have done something when becoming an egg that affected the time machine to cause it to go back further than Trunks' original trip, but it never officially explained.

[Grimlock]

This is a mistake on my part, my interpretation of the events was one successful trip where he saves Goku and gets the emergency shutoff blueprints(784), destroys the androids sometime in 785, and death before shortly before the second trip(788).

Then I have more questions:

3 - When exactly did Trunks get the "emergency shutoff blueprints"? Because once he arrives in the past for the first trip, he deals with Freeza, proceeds to wait and talk to Goku and then immediately leaves. There's no window for him to search, find or take anything if it isn't straight from Goku and his friends. Also, weren't those stuff in Gero's laboratory that the characters only discovered where it was by following him?

4 - If Trunks got the "emergency shutoff blueprints", why would he wait until AGE 785 to deactivate them? As soon as he arrived in his timeline, he could have done that, it would still be AGE 784 (this one you don't need to answer, but it still is an odd thing...).

A blueprint of the emergency shutoff device like the one Krillin destroys in the main timeliine

Spoiler:

Above is the illustration of the timelines from Daizenshuu 7

Oh, so the whole "Trunks defeats the androids with the remote control" is an official explanation? Thought it was people's assumption. If I ever saw that, I had completely forgotten about it. I'll try to keep that in mind!