So before we start I want to give a shout out to “Shadowfox87” over on Kanzenshuu’s forums for their great deep dive on the timelines. I feel like I have a good understanding of this stuff, but I’ll probably end up referring to his post to jog my memory.
I would suggest giving it a good read up to the part about What If’s and expanded universe stuff. It gets into his headcanon and speculation, which is totally fine, but it becomes a bit unwieldy after that:
viewtopic.php?t=42105
Daizenshuu 7 has a guide to the timelines that we knew of during the Cell saga of Dragonball. Keep in mind the timeline numbers don’t really mean anything, they aren’t chronological, as 3 would be before 2 and 4 before 1. These aren’t in the order we see or learn about them either as 2 is created after 3, so kind of don’t worry about the numbers themselves as anything other than a label.
So we are initially introduced to four timelines… well, three shown or explicitly mentioned on-panel, but with a 4th that we can logically deduce has to exist. The “Daizenshuu #7” guide book page above shows this. “History 4” as it’s labelled above seems unintuitive to a lot of fans, as it’s never shown or mentioned in the story.
They don’t get how Trunks would find the basement laboratory, without Cell mentioning it.
They don’t get why or how Trunks could return to his time with the shut-down remote but without training first. They generally assume there must also be a time travelling Cell in History 4 as well, and it should play out the same, or the timeline doesn’t need to exist at all.
Much later some new guide books were published, “Chozenshuu #4” mentioned the timelines. It omits History 4 this time, so some fans took this to be correcting a mistake or a retcon. But it could simply be a non-exhaustive list, or perhaps there was simply nothing to say about it, because we don’t see it. Definitive proof arrived with two diagrams in Dragonball Super which confirm its existence after all.
It turns out the Kaioshins have “Time Rings”. These allow the wearer to travel to the future and back to the present (if they are first wearing a Green Kaioshin earring, and perhaps require they be promoted to full Kaioshin at least temporarily). But these do not allow you to travel to the past, as this can create a paradox causing a new timeline, and for this reason Time Travel is considered a sin for mortals to do.
Travelling to the future is not a problem, even if you die upon your return to the present, it’s fine. If someone warned the future you that you were going to die when returning to the present, and they stayed in the future instead, that would probably cause a paradox in the past when you didn’t go back to face your fate. This is what causes Trunks' timeline to be different to, and exist independent from Cell’s.
Notice here that there is the one Silver Time ring, used to go from the present to the future and back in your own timeline. I assume the ring stays silver when going to another Parallel World, but perhaps it turns green when outside its native timeline.
The green time rings allow you to travel to alternate Timelines, often referred to as “Parallel Worlds”.
We can see that there are 5 rings, and therefore 5 timelines in total when we first see the box:
So we know the first Alternate timeline was long ago, which I call “U-12 guy’s Timeline” it may have been a group effort but I like to make it clear I’m not saying Universe 12 is it’s own timeline, as we already talked about the fact that Universes are *inside* the timelines, not the other way around.
So the five must be, in order of creation from our perspective must be:
1. Cell’s Timeline - This is technically the “original” timeline. Although it’s not the timeline which the main Dragonball story we know and love took place in.
2. U-12 Guy’s Timeline.
3. The Unseen Timeline - Where the Trunks from Cell's Timeline gave Goku Heart Medicine and warned them of the Artificial Humans, creating a Paradox that split off the Unseen Timelines present from his own past.
4. The (Old) Main Timeline - Created when Cell kills the Trunks from his own timeline (after Trunks returns from the Unseen Timeline) and steals his time machine, travelling back even further than Trunks did. His being in the present is discovered and communicated to the Dragon Team, including Future Trunks, these divergences have caused a big enough paradox to split off this timeline from Cell’s.
5. The Future Trunks Timeline - Created when Trunks, who would have been the same as the one from Cell's timeline initially, returns to his own time, later than he originally did, having used his knowledge of Cell’s existence to train before returning, allowing him to kill Cell and the Artificial Humans, without the remote.
A lot of fans get confused because they assume either:
1. ANY time travel must create an alternate timeline.
2. Just being in the past where you were not before is already a paradox so it must cause a split right?
This isn’t actually true, forward travel and even back is fine, it’s only making a sufficiently large paradox in the past that causes a new timeline to appear. If it worked any differently there would be a different number of Timelines and Time Rings. So we can finally indirectly deduce which timelines actually exist by having confirmation of the number of rings.
Universe 10’s Zamasu watches Godtube, his growing distaste for mortals kicks into high gear when he sees Son Goku using large amounts of Godly Ki, and crucially he also learns about the Dragonballs from the same video. This wouldn’t happen in Cell’s, Trunks’, U12 Guy’s and the Unseen Timeline.
He goes to Zuno to learn everything about the Dragonballs, kills Gowasu, wishes on the super Dragonballs to steal Goku’s body. Possibly kills Goku and his family and flees to Trunks Timeline where he recruits the Zamasu native to this timeline (who still hates mortals but never had the final push of seeing the Godtube leaks) there is no Beerus here, so his mission is easier to start.
Trunks escapes to the past, warning everyone of Zamasu, Beerus is able erase the present Zamasu. Goku and Vegeta head back with Trunks to fight in the future. This all creates a paradox and splits off another timeline:
6. The (New) Main Timeline - Created when Beerus kills Zamasu, thanks to the warning of Future Trunks.
We get proof that a big paradox is needed to create a new timeline, and not just any time travel to the past, as a Time Ring only appears in the future when Present Zamasu is killed.
Eventually the situation gets well out of hand, Black and Zamas eventually fuse, and explain they not only have the time rings, but they also have U12 Guy’s time machine. Expressing the desire to hunt down all mortals in all timelines, they point out that they can even chase Goku and Vegeta down using their time machine if needed (More on this later).
Eventually Zeno is called in and Erases the entire timeline, destroying the time ring too.
The time machine is still able to go back to the empty void left where the erased timeline was, and pick up Zeno, bringing him back to the present to live with his counterpart there.
Trunks decides not to stay in the present after all and time travels again, with the intention of waking Beerus up to deal with Zamasu, and helping fight Dabra without Shin dying. Creating a new timeline I call the “Double Trunks” Timeline
To reiterate, through the original Dragonball manga we see 3, but learn about 4 timelines, with Super we learn there were actually 5. at the end of the Zamasu arc we have 6 timelines. 2 more were made from the original 5 but 1 was erased, leaving a total of 6:
1. Future Cell’s Timeline - This is technically the “original” timeline. Although it’s not the timeline which the main dragonball story we know and love took place in.
2. U-12 Guy’s Timeline.
3. The Unseen Timeline - Where the Trunks from Cell's Timeline gave Goku Heart Medicine and warned them of the Artificial Humans, creating a Paradox that split off the Unseen Timelines present from his own past.
4. The (Old) Main Timeline - Created when Cell kills the Trunks from his own timeline (after Trunks returns from the Unseen Timeline) and steals his time machine, travelling back even further than Trunks did. His being in the present is discovered and communicated to the Dragon Team, including Future Trunks, these divergences cause a big enough paradox to split off this timeline from Cell’s.
5. The Future Trunks Timeline - Created when Trunks, who would have been the same as the one from Cell's timeline initially, returns to his own time, later than he originally did, having used his knowledge of Cell’s existence to train before returning, allowing him to kill Cell and the Artificial Humans, without the remote.
6. The (New) Main Timeline - Created when Beerus kills Zamasu, thanks to the warning of Future Trunks.
7. The Double Trunks Timeline - Created when Future Trunks travels back to create a new home and save Shin, Beerus and everyone else from Zamasu.
There was some confusion among fans around a lot of things relating to the timelines.
The Unseen Timeline having a Cell Games without Trunks, is possible only if it’s their own native Cell years down the line, as there is no time travelling Cell here. The problem is the image puts the Cell games date as the same year as the main timeline, so this has to be a mistake. But we do know the timeline has to exist because of both logical deduction, and the ring box in Super.
This may even help explain why it wasn’t in the Chozenshu, they realised there was a mistake but didn’t want to correct anyone or spend any time on it. We will probably never know.
There’s one involving Cell, Trunks defeats the androids with the remote in Cell’s timeline, but then is about to set out to use the time machine again. Piccolo speculates he was coming back to tell them that he beat the androids.
The weird thing here is that Cell arrived here before Trunks, which is what ends up splitting off a new timeline in the first place. This allows him access to a timeline which not only has living “artificial humans”, but also allows him time to hatch, gestate and go after them before they can be potentially destroyed by anyone. Why would Trunks go back further in time? Even without knowing about the basement he had to have already got the blueprints to return to the future anyway.
Things could have gone badly in the future, and one of his stated goals was to at least “make a better future”, if they couldn’t alter their own, so it could be that things in the “Unseen timeline” went badly, but I don’t see them losing that badly when they already have a remote or their own copy of the blueprints that Trunks took back. At least one saiyan, or pair of saiyans would be finishing up in the time chamber and they have a working remote on the way to Kame house around the time any killing starts.
You really need Piccolo and Goku to both die, before picking a new Kami, or even contacting the Namekians. It’s a bit of a stretch to think things go *that* badly from where our knowledge of the timeline drops off.
While it is their secondary goal to make a nice timeline, even if they can’t save their own, going back even further to another timeline wouldn’t help save the Unseen one and might create even more when the second Trunks comes back at the normal time and then goes back to another future. It gets messier than I think Trunks (or the author) would want.
Future Trunks does later prepare to go back to tell his friends of his victory and his better future, but he doesn’t need to go back to an even earlier time.
He might not go back at all and was just baiting out future Cell. I feel like these are supposed to be the same trip, most agree the date being pre-set is seemingly a plot hole.
Some postulate Cell changed the date and lied about it, but Cell has no reason to lie here, being honest about everything else.
There’s another supposed plot hole on the very same page, where he talks about having Cells from Freeza and his father, it shows Freeza being cut in half, and Cold being blasted through the chest. Which wouldn’t have happened in the main timeline only Cells.
One explanation is that It could be a Kienzan like attack from Goku, or Toriyama reusing art, but Cell mentions Trunks as well here so it confuses a lot of people. There was a lot of editorial meddling, maybe the plans or time travel rules changed mid story, we will never know. I think the best and most likely explanation is that we are seeing Piccolo’s memories not Cells, as he is reacting to what Cell is saying. Cell also could simply be talking about turning down the cells of his timelines Trunks at a later date, it doesn’t have to be during Freezas trip to Earth. If we go with that interpretation there is no plot hole.
Another thing people say is that there’s no need for the remote, and that Trunks could have trained in both timelines, just being jumped by Cell “the first time”. I don’t buy this. If he absorbed him he would have commented on the massive power. If he didn’t, I don’t see the post ROSAT Trunks not being able to take him out, even wounded in a surprise attack. It’s possible he’s able to jump a trained base Trunks and not absorb him, but I personally don’t see it. He’s arrogant and has a saiyan lust for battle. He doesn’t think Trunks was strong enough to beat the androids so I don’t think he’d know he needs to resort to a surprise attack. He could be playing it safe, but this is the same Cell who spilled his life story to Piccolo after only a little prodding.
Cell even knows how strong Trunks was before, knowing that he could never defeat 17 & 18, so I think his growth would be somewhat noticeable.
The other thing is thinking Trunks might have been mistakenly thinking he could go back and change that past, even though he couldn’t change his own. He already knew that travelling to the past split the timeline and didn’t affect his future. He does suggest going back again but Gohan instantly makes him realise it makes no sense. It’s right after this the timelines diverge so Trunks would have still realised this wouldn’t work. If he went home to the future with the remote first he’d also run the idea by Bulma who could correct him.
At the end of the day I like to think the weaker Trunks nudged the dial when he was startled sensing Cell, perhaps when climbing out to face him, or he hadn’t finished turning a dial all the way up, maybe it got knocked when being cleaned and he didn’t have time to put it back before Cell showed up. Maybe Cell knocked it when trying to fit in the first time, maybe Trunks did it on purpose so Cell wouldn’t go to the Unseen timeline, ostensibly saving that one from Future Cell. It’d make more sense if Cell just added the needed time to gestate and not risk the Artificial Humans being gone. People claim there are many plot holes but this is the only debatable one, and even then you can headcanon your way out of it easily.
Shout out to Laughingstock Media, who, while I don’t agree with all his takes (he’s a “DB Super” Hater), he does make good quality content and did a pretty decent video on supposed plot holes in the Cell Arc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_Ejqgi1ZlU
One thing I want to clear up is this weird confusion over the term “The World” Japan, or at least AT and Toyo don’t seem to use the word “Existence”, or “Multiverse” much. They use the term “The World” but they don’t mean planet earth, they mean the multiverse in context. An example is here:
Notice how Whis is using an order of operations increasing in size; People, Planets, Galaxies, Universes, even the “World” (The entire timeline and all the universes in it) some fans got confused and thought Zeno only wiped out the Future Universe 7.
Another interesting thing to note is that throughout the Future arc in Super, Bulma says that the Time machines' link to Trunks' future is weakening, they can only make a couple more trips.
Pilaf later improves the machine, and says it can go to all kinds of futures. So it’s unclear if he just fixes the problem or it can now travel to any existing timeline without a pre established link.
Maybe the U12 guy’s machine works the same way, so Black and Zamasu’s threat to use it to chase the others down is not an empty one.
The final thing I want to address is something that pertains to Future Cell’s Timeline, Future Trunks Timeline, and by extension the Double Trunks Timeline.
This is the issue of “Why didn’t the future Dragon Team do anything to help Trunks from the afterlife?”. I pretty much covered this in Part 1 when talking about the afterlife, but basically Goku would not get a body in the afterlife without his Cell games sacrifice, or without the intervention of a deity, as he died of natural causes with no chance of resurrection or a threat to prepare for, no deity would have a reason to give him a body. Without a body this means he goes to heaven but can’t train or fight there. It’s possible Goku gets bored and opts for reincarnation early. I like to think he would stick around to see what happened to his loved ones, and see them again before he ceases to exist but we will probably never know.
Kaiosama isn’t dead, so not with Goku in the afterlife he might not even know his favourite student died! We see in the Cell arc that Kaiosama has not checked in for some time, possibly not since the original planet Namek exploded, he doesn’t even know where Goku learned teleportation with the Yardats!
So when Tenshinhan, Chaozu, Yamcha, Vegeta and Piccolo (along with Kami) all perish, this is the first chance they get to potentially update Kaio.
But things are a little different then they were in the Saiyan saga. Kami can repair their bodies even when he is also dead, but they don’t have a trip to Namek planned, or a ship capable anymore.
There isn’t an extraterrestrial invasion to prepare for. Gero and the Androids are of earth.
It’s debated by the fandom but I don’t think the androids are a universal threat.
They are never stated to have universe conquering ambitions in the story or in guide books. There’s no sign they can survive the vacuum of space. They were programmed to kill Goku/take over the world but how they would react to aliens is unknown. They do have extended lifespans but we don’t have confirmation they live as long as Freeza or Piccolo type aliens, so on a cosmic scale their reign wouldn’t last.
There's also no guarantee they achieve their mission, they don't have scouters.
It's tragic for the characters we've grown to like but on a cosmic scale this is just earthlings killing earthlings.
Emna might not authorise them to keep their bodies and go to Kaio’s, Kaio might not authorise them to communicate with the Namekians through him.
They could possibly ask Baba for a one day pass, but it’s also probable she is dead, it’s unclear when Gero started spying on Goku, but he goes again to Babas after the 22nd Budokai and the Piccolo arc. The anime implies he starts watching him during the 22nd.
So either Baba was killed before she could bring them back, or they trained at Kaios but she was killed before they finished.
Vegeta wouldn't be given a body. Piccolo got one in the saiyan arc, but there are two things to consider here.
Vegeta is more evil than Piccolo Jr was.
Piccolo coming back was always a forgone conclusion if Kami was coming back also.
With this in mind I don't see Vegeta at this point getting a body. Boo was a threat to all existence but this certainly doesn't apply here. I also doubt that he would train with the others, or accept tutoring from Kaio.
So I see
They aren't allowed to keep bodies and train.
They are allowed to keep their bodies but baba dies very quickly, or before they can finish their training. They aren't allowed to speak to the Nameks.
Fans say “every character has to have been acting stupid or there have to be so many things going wrong for it to play out like it did” but I think it’s time we admitted the opposite. There’s actually more scenarios where they can’t help than there are when they can. I made a flow chart below to illustrate this.
For sake of argument, even if there were, say five possible scenarios, and only in one of them could the Dragon Team not help Gohan, why would you not simply assume “well given they didn’t help him, it must be that scenario that happened” why assume something is a plot hole just because you think it’s “unlikely”. Something is only a plot hole if there is no explanation, or a contradictory one.
I personally blame the anime, where everyone, even villains, seem to keep their bodies by default. If Freeza can keep a body, why not Piccolo? Or Vegeta? But reading the manga panels I showed before we can see this isn’t the norm.
We also see things like Vegeta being a super saiyan in the future, which is never confirmed in the manga, and filler humans achieving power they never did in the manga. By the time of Super the main cast are in tight with the god hierarchy, but this isn’t really true as of the Cell saga.
Marvel comics used to have letters pages, fans would complain about supposed plot holes, other fans would write in possible explanations for the seeming plot-holes, and Marvel, as thanks, would send those fans a “No-Prize” (a branded empty envelope). This is the kind of attitude you should have about a franchise you like, not picking holes in it because you don’t like something.
So this was an explanation and a brief intro to the timelines we have. We know what happens in the New Main Timeline, we know nothing about U-12 Guy’s Timeline, except that there’s no force as strong as the Dragon Team there. So what’s really interesting to me is what happens in the future of Future Cell’s Timeline, The Unseen Timeline and the Double Trunks Timeline.
