The Original Timeline.

This is the very first timeline. Charlie receives a Japanese phrase book on her birthday FROM SOMEBODY ELSE, not Hiro. Charlie gets her picture taken. She is alone in the picture. A few weeks before meeting Hiro, she gains power of incredible memory and starts learning Japanese from the Japanese birthday book.

Then she meets Hiro and Ando in the diner. Let's call these people Hiro-1, Ando-1 and Charlie-1. Hiro-1 and Ando-1 are not recognized by anybody, not even Charlie-1, because it's the FIRST TIME they see each other. Hiro-1 is not in the picture on the wall because he was never in Charlie-1's past at this point. Charlie-1 knows a little Japanese and recognizes the characters on Hiro-1's jacket. She says to Hiro-1 she was given a Japanese phrase book on her birthday.

Then, Charlie-1 is murdered. Hiro-1 decides to go back in time and tries to save her, but he ends up 6 months too early. Ando-1 is left waiting at the diner. This is the sequence of events that is shown to the viewers.

Note, the older waitress in the diner is nowhere to be found. She probably starts work later in the day, or she was called in when Charlie-1 was killed. Whatever it is, she does not see Hiro-1 on this day.

Finally, this is the LAST TIME we see Ando-1. The next Ando we see will be Ando-2 in the altered timeline.

The Altered Timeline.

This timeline has the same history as the Original Timeline up to the point 6 months ago when Hiro-1 travels back in time.

This timeline also has Hiro, Ando and Charlie. Let's call them Hiro-2, Ando-2 and Charlie-2.

In this timeline, Charlie-2 still receives a Japanese book from someone not Hiro, and still on her birthday. Nothing has happened to change that event. Timeline has not yet been altered.

Then Hiro-1 teleports to this timeline. The very moment Hiro-1 pops up, he alters it. Since he was not here 6 months ago, the original timeline from this point forward is no more. It has been erased, like a video being rewound and re-recorded with new images on top of the original recording. But we (Hiro-1) have seen the "original recordin" and we (Hiro-1) have memories of it.

Then Hiro-1 meets Charlie-2 on her birthday, tells her he's there to save her, gets a picture taken with her, and realizes he's traveled 6 months too far. He decides to stay on for fear of teleporting to the wrong time ("Lunch for T-Rex!"). Hiro-1 later gives Charlie-2 another Japanese book (because he got the idea from the Charlie-1 in the Original Timeline). How do we know that it's "later"? On the day Hiro-1 gives her the book, he's already working at the diner, therefore it's a different day. This Japanese book is the 2nd book she has received ON THIS TIMELINE.

In a "Great Scott!" moment, Hiro-1 in Odessa calls Hiro-2 in Japan. This is possible because they both exist in this altered timeline. The difference is that Hiro-1 retains memories of the Original Timeline while Hiro-2 does not.

Fast forward a few months to just a few weeks before Charlie-2 is murdered, Hiro-1 is falling in love with Charlie-2. At the moment they try to kiss, he teleports to Japan at he exact moment in time IN THIS SAME ALTERED TIMELINE, no time was lost or gained.

(Note that Hiro can bend space and time, he can teleport to a different space within the same timeframe as evidence by the women's restroom scene, or to a different time in the same space - or freeze time - or do both).

Charlie-2 must have been left wondering what happened to Hiro-1 after they tried to kiss and he "popped out of her life" (as the older waitress said to Ando-2). But life goes on for Charlie-2 on this timeline. Read on.

Meanwhile, Hiro-2 goes through all the events that Hiro-1 went through in the Original Timeline, i.e. convincing Ando-2 of his powers, going to the States with Ando-2, renting a car, cheating at poker, etc. Nothing has happened to Hiro-2 and Ando-2 to alter these events, therefore they occur in the same manner as they did originally.

This next sequence of events we were not allowed to see. Hiro-2 and Ando-2 eventually meets Charlie-2 at the diner. Charlie-2 has memories of Hiro-1 and recognizes Hiro-2, who of course does not recognize Charlie-2. She probably asks him, where he's been and of course, Hiro-2 does not know what she's talking about. We do not know what actually transpired because we are not shown these events by the writers, i.e. we were shown the Original Timeline version of these events.

Hiro-1 is not here to save Charlie-2, while Hiro-2 is here but has no idea she will be killed. Therefore she is murdered. Hiro-2, just like Hiro-1 decides to go back in time to try and to save her.

(Sidenote: My friends have asked me, that maybe Charlie-2 died of her aneurism or a stroke brought upon by the emotional stress of seeing Hiro again, a Hiro that does not recognize her. If this happened, then Hiro-2 would not have any reason to go back in time to save her. The only reason Hiro-1 traveled back was because of the manner she was killed. If Hiro-2 does not go back in time, this restores the Original Timeline where Charlie's birthday had no Hiro in it. Time snaps back to the Original Timeline, where Charlie is killed and we see Hiro go back in time, creating this altered timeline that causes Charlie's stroke which restores the Original Timeline. It repeats all over again...forever. This creates an infinity time loop. This is why Charlie-2 does not die of a stroke. This is the same reason Charlie-2 cannot be saved by Hiro-1. She must be killed by Sylar for Hiro-2 to go back in time.)

We then watch Ando-2 noticing a picture of Hiro-1 and Charlie-2 together, but he does not know that this is Hiro-1, not the same Hiro-2 that came with him from Japan. She asks the older waitress where Hiro is now and she replies "he popped out of her life weeks ago". She could not have seen Hiro-2 earlier in the diner, or she would have had a different comment. This is consistent with the Original Timeline where she had no reason to be at the diner earlier in the day. This scene we got to see on TV.

Note that Hiro-1 is still also in this altered timeline but in a different place. He is in Japan at the point that Hiro-2 and Ando-2 is in the States (note comment from his co-worker). We saw that Hiro-1 tries to teleport ("I have to get back to Charlie! I have to save her!") but for some reason he cannot, and he remains where he is. So Hiro-1 flies back to the States, and takes the bus to Odessa.

Charlie-2 is then murdered. Hiro-2 travels back in time, and teleports to the past creating a 3rd altered timeline, where he meets Charlie-3. We then see Hiro-1 walk into the diner and tell Ando-2 that "he cannot save her". And this altered timeline continues as we know it.

Subsequent Altered Timelines:

Hiro-2 will meet with Charlie-3. He will co-exist with Hiro-3 and Ando-3, and the same cycle continues forever, until someone or something breaks the cycle. It is not a time loop, but these are altered timelines being created continuously everytime Hiro jumps time.

Conclusion

What we saw are two timelines. One timeline with Ando-1 and another with Ando-2, the common denominator was Hiro-1. They were seamlessly put together, like two different video tapes spliced into one and shown as one complete video.

This is the best explanation/theory that I have seen, thanks!

C'est vraiment dur ! Je pas ce qui pensent cela
mais ils sont confus tous les m?mes que vous ne croyez pas ?
Mais il est bon, vos prises de th?orie droites !

I like what you have tried to do, and how you structured it. Very tourough. Unfortunately, I find everything from the sentence to be drug-induced hallucination, or something close enough. That theory is so complex that you need some serious info to back it up, and as far as I see it, you don't have it.

--DA

If you are familiar with the time travel theory of all events having actual causes and that people in these timelines have the free will to make decisions that may or may not change things around them, then you would understand that Hiro-2 in the altered timeline while in Japan will go through the same events that Hiro-1 in the original timeline went through UP UNTIL MEETING with Charlie-2. Nothing, absolutely nothing, has occurred in these earlier events to make them different from each other.

Another way of explaining this: Hiro-1 and Hiro-2 will meet their own timeline's version of Charlie FOR THE FIRST TIME. That's a given. The only difference is that Charlie-2 will have memories of Hiro-1. In both cases, up until that very point in time, Hiro-1 and Hiro-2 have the same memories, i.e. they share the same "history" traveling with their own timeline's version of Ando's.

And if you're looking for proof under the context of my theory, there are two I can give:
(1) the altered picture
(2) the older waitress's comment about Hiro, i.e. "he popped out of her life weeks ago".

These two things indicate that the timeline has been altered. Consequently, that means that in the altered timeline, both Hiro-2 and Ando-2 eventually ended up at the diner, just like Hiro-1 and Ando-1. The only way they could have done that is if they followed the same events that Hiro-1 and Ando-1 went through.

The diner is the originating point where we get an altered timeline that erased the original. Events leading up to the diner (as far as Hiro and Ando leaving Japan) are the same in the both original and altered timelines.

Hope that clears up your dilemma. But like I said in other posts, these are theories about what type of time travel concept the writers are using. I am leaning towards my theory.

What about Charlie? What you don't realize is everything has changed.

There is a problem with this theory, after the first time around it becomes just like any other theory that is posted out there right now. and the same problems still exist, such as...

Why doesn't Charlie2 remember Hiro1 and if she did why didn't she let it show... if she did and we didn't see it then Ando1 which was replaced by Ando2 would not have asked about the picture, because he would have already known from the memories he had of Charlie2.

If you can solve this problem then its a good thread but then again you just solved it for every other theory out there so it just becomes one of many again.

Okay, I'll admit that the numbering here confuses me a little (I'm not entirely sure you have the right numbered people meeting, but it makes my brain hurt to sit here and thing about it too much ).

Still, I don't believe there is an issue. Remember, up until Hiro jumps back, we are seeing the original timeline, where neither Hiro and Charlie had met the other.

In the new timeline that we're witnessing after Hiro jumps back, Charlie would have recognised him when he and Ando walked into the diner. The meeting would have gone differently - although how much Charlie would/wouldn't have said we can't say for sure. Still, we are never shown this meeting - at the point in time when it happened, we were watching the original timeline.

more or less it all comes down to this. Personally I believe that since the past changed according to this theory, this meeting would have changed as well causing Hiro not to go back (either because the initial meeting would not be the same causing a different natural attraction or because he knows that it won't help).

The other alternative is that the past hasn't changed and Charlie acted like they didn't meet because she realizes what was going on. As you said we can't say for sure how much Charlie would/wouldn't have said.

As for the whole "loop problem" i don't see it as an issue... it just depends on what you believe, personally I don't think everything has to have a starting point. If you say they do then I challenge you to count from the greatest negative number to zero. Even though it's impossible, zero still exists. Therefore, it is not every case that you need a starting point to arrive somewhere.

This is my last post here so have fun

Exactly, the diner and ONLY the diner events has changed. The moment Hiro-1 jumped back, the past in the diner has changed, because he wasn't there originally.
Charlie2 has to remember Hiro1, but we weren't allowed to see these altered events. In a bit of trickery, the writers showed us the original timeline.
No no, Ando2's memories are limited to what happened to the diner in that day. He would have seen Charlie2 recognizing Hiro2 (who did not recognize her back).

His reactions to seeing the Hiro1-Charlie2 picture make sense under my theory. If you view the episode again, Ando2 was surprised and glad to see the picture, because the picture was proof to him that Hiro1 made it to the past. But he was just as confused because he was told that Hiro1 would only go back 1 day. Yet there he was in a birthday party with Charlie. His exact words to the older waitress were: "When was this picture taken?", "Do you know him?", and "Where is he NOW?!". Hypothetically speaking, wouldn't you ask the same thing of your friend if this happened to you?

In the altered timeline, Hiro2 did go back. The reason Hiro1 went back is because he thought he could save Charlie1 from Sylar. In the altered timeline that replaced the original, the only events that would have changed was the meeting with Hiro2 and Charlie2. Both would NOT have known that Charlie2 would die at Sylar's hand. Only Hiro1 has memories of that event, but at that moment, he is in Japan on the way to the States. Therefore Charlie2 dies (again) at Sylars, the events repeating exactly as the original timeline, because no event that has changed has caused this murder to be altered.
We know that Charlie1 and ALL the other diner people DID NOT recognize Hiro1 and Ando1. It is my theory that we were shown the original timeline of those events.

The past changed. Look no further than the picture as proof. The timeline was altered, replacing the original.

Apples and oranges. You talk about abstract numbers. We are talking about physical causality, i.e. events having causes.
Don't run. Nobody loses or wins these arguments about "theories". Last I looked, nobody has actually time-travelled before LOL. What I see being actually debated here is what kind of time travel concept the writers of Heroes are using. I am applying to the episodes what I believe they are using, and looking for evidence as such.

My theory is based on a single ALTERABLE timeline. Jumping to the past erases the future of the original timeline and ALWAYS creates a new timeline. If the knowledge from the future is used to change events in the past, then the timeline is altered. Otherwise, the past is retained.

The difference in my theory is that I am proposing that the writers have shown us the viewers two distinct timelines around the diner events, seamlessly joined to look like one continuous timeline.