- "In each loop, Jane alters something to see if it'll change the outcome. The sigil that appeared on your hand, brought you to Alice – that was Jane trying to get the ball rolling, trying to get you all together, working fast, and we all know how well that particular great idea worked out, don't we? So, has anything actually helped? So far, all the loops end in your death."
- ―Henry Fogg
Jane Chatwin in a nexus where all moments in time converge.
Alternate Timelines are different realities, parallel to one another, where different events have taken place and alternate courses of action have been taken. They can be described as realities that diverged from the "true" timeline, due to the effects of Horomancy, time magic or other unnatural temporal phenomena. Currently, there are 40 known timelines on Earth.
Overview[]
 |
Alternate timelines have been created, (a total of 40 timelines) due to the resetting of a time loop set up by Jane Chatwin with the use of a magical pocket watch gifted to her by Ember. Jane uses this pocket watch as a countermeasure against The Beast. Every time the Physical Kids failed to kill The Beast she would reset it and change something in an attempt to alter the outcome. These 39 alternate timelines were created due to Jane altering certain events within them, hence different outcomes. The very same pocket watch is speculated as the reason Jane was able to go back in time and become the Watcherwoman. In the book trilogy, Jane destroys the watch to prevent Quentin Coldwater from undoing their timeline by resetting the loop to save Alice Quinn, after they successfully defeated The Beast, at the cost of Alice Quinn's life. In the show, the watch is never destroyed, but Jane dies. The watch first appeared in episode 1 of the show when Quentin used it against Martin Chatwin's Paralysis Spell — a sort of time magic employed to stop the movement of everyone in the area.
Certain powerful magicians and magical beings can perceive time loops and retain the memories of previous events from alternate timelines. Dean Henry Fogg has been seen to be powerful enough to perceive the time loops and keep his memories but not powerful enough to change them. Jane Chatwin who created the loops and her brother Martin, major deities and Librarians have also been shown to retain memories of previous timelines. It is uncertain how they do this, but it is known that they do.
Jane Chatwin's Time Loops[]
23rd Timeline[]
In the 23rd timeline, Julia performed a test applied by Henry Fogg and was admitted into Brakebills, she was placed in the Knowledge group with her discipline being Meta-Composition.[1]
Julia built a reputation for herself as the best student in Brakebills, while Alice and Quentin were lovers. It is unknown if Eliot and Margo befriended them, however they were also trying to kill The Beast. It is also known that in this timeline, Penny never met Kady and fell in love with Julia.
Eliot and Margo were not part of the group that attacked the Beast. However, they were sent by Fogg to collect the Rhinemann Ultra to defeat him. But while executing a cooperative spell to power up, Eliot botched the spell, killing both himself and Margo. They persisted as ghosts, haunting the Brakebills Library. After this, Alice, Quentin and Julia went to Fillory, in hopes of destroying the Beast. Alice Quinn is the sole survivor from their encounter with The Beast. Alice is notably more unkempt and tired, "broken", with three of her fingers on her right hand notably missing, a price she says was the least she had to pay to learn information about Shades. Alice describes Quentin Coldwater's death as being ripped apart piece by piece. Apart from the physical dismemberment, The Beast also ripped apart Quentin's soul, Shade, and everything else about him. Alice Quinn has been noted to have expressed an obsession towards shades in this timeline, to lay Quentin's soul to rest.
After Alice met Quentin from the 40th timeline in the Tesla Flexion, which Quentin, Julia, and Dean Fogg used to ask this timeline's Alice about shades, she became motivated to restore Quentin back to life, and eventually did, by dealing her soul away to serve an unknown magical creature after her death. However, she could not restore Quentin entirely, she could not restore his Shade. Because of this, Quentin rejects her love and begins a quest to make Fillory his own, and to achieve this goal, kills The Beast and Ember, absorbing Embers power and assuming the mantle of the Beast. Like the 40th timeline, Quentin killing Ember led to the Old Gods shutting down magic everywhere in this timeline, but Quentin is able to retain his magic using one of the Seven Golden Keys. The key not only allows Quentin to keep the magic he stole from Ember, but shows him visions of the future. One of these visions was related to Julia from the 40th timeline, opening a door to restore magic, but letting something even more evil than him through it.
Quentin then goes to Earth looking for his once dead friend, and kills every magician and hedge witch he meets all the while demanding Julia show herself. After the Josh from this timeline remembered Alice mentioning being contacted by the 40th timeline through the Tesla Flexion he and the Marina from this timeline team up to make the Tesla Flexion work and contact the 40th timeline's Julia and Josh. The key in the clock then transported the 40th timeline's Julia and Josh to this timeline where they were promptly drugged and tied up by this timeline's Josh and Marina who planned to offer them to the Beast as leverage to let them live.
The 40th timeline Julia was powerful enough to convince this timeline's Josh and Marina that she could kill the beast using the Rhinemann Ultra. They meet this timeline's Penny who agrees to help them and believes Julia to be his soulmate. The Beast appears and kills this timeline's Josh. When Julia attacks the Beast they realize it's Quentin and seek out this timeline's Alice who acquired the Leo Blade after she time traveled like the 40th timeline Quentin and Julia did to create it. Julia shows that she is powerful enough to wield it and uses her magic to help Penny travel everyone to Whitespire, which this timeline's New Beast Quentin has turned into a giant Fillory and Further museum. Quentin kills Alice and after Julia inserts her shade into him, he regains his humanity and kills himself with the Leo Blade, overwhelmed by the atrocities he committed without his shade. After these events Julia reclaimed her shade and the key, returning to the 40th timeline with Josh taking this timeline's Penny and Marina with them.[2]
36th Timeline[]
To be added
40th Timeline[]
The current timeline, which began at the start of the series. The change made by Jane Chatwin within this timeline was rejecting Julia Wicker from Brakebills, in hopes of casting her out and making her stronger to help defeat The Beast. This resulted in Julia seeking out the Hedge Witches and joining their ranks and eventually joining the Free Trader Beowulf where she became stronger after being assaulted by the deity Reynard the Fox and receiving his essence. Ultimately this timeline fulfilled Jane's plan and resulted in The Beast's death. This was the only successful Alternate Timeline that Jane made.
Other Jane Timelines[]
needs to be updated with current season info
Mosaic Timeline[]
To be added