... would this be exactly around the same time-frame when he first encountered Charlie at the Burnt Toast Diner in Season 1?

If not, how many months prior to his original first meeting with her, did he travel back then? So did Hiro time-jump to exactly during Season 1's "Six Months Ago" episode or...?

<Confused with all the time travelling>

It's been about a year in the Heroes timeline since the first ep. And then six months farther back from there to the events in Six Months Ago (when he first tried to save her). So Hiro is approximately 18 months farther back than that. Roughly Sept/Oct 2004.

Exactly what Astroman said, unless the writers have had a colossal screw-up and forgotten their own timeline. I hope that's not the case.

If not then we'd be seeing characters 2 years before they even got their powers, which might not be all that interesting.

Yeah... He went too far in the past... Probably Charlie hadn't manifested her ability yet, since when Hiro and Charlie met she said that recently she was being able to remember everything. I don't think "recently" means "since two years ago"

So it's either:

1) the writers getting it wrong

or

2) something else was going on 2 years before people got their abilities.

In the case of option 2, maybe as well as the Hiro/Charlie stuff we'll see the history of the Carnival.

I don't see how he's gonna save her as far back as he went?

What's he gonna do? Tell her not to go to work on a certain day two years from now?

And he can't exactly stop Sylar because he's not even Sylar yet.

Right! The carnies seem to have had their abilities for more than 2 years... This could be a good chance to see Joseph!

The more I think about this, the more confused I get.

I'm calling a retcon.

Samuel tells Sylar he's been hearing "stories about Sylar for years". Sylar only came into existence eleven months ago by the show's own timeline.

They've simply gone and equalled show=real world.

Poor Janice. What a pregnancy.

Yeah, I would assume a writer screw up. It *almost* makes sense... Claire in college now (3rd school she's tried), baby parkman gettin big quick, Sylar for years, whatever else..

But in lots of places such as Heroes Official Magazine, they've done whole things about the timeline and how it goes. Why would they publish something like that and then retcon the timeline?

Also, maybe it's a case of Hiro saves Charlie and then we get some jumps forward to see what would be different.

The exact words Samuel said were: For years I've heard rumors, stories... "Sylar, the most powerful of all". Sylar killed his first victim (Brian Davis - Telekinesis) on April 2006. By July 2006 Sylar was already someone very powerful, and Audrey Hanson is asigned to the Sylar case. In 2008, according to the Graphic Novel "Hana and Drucker's Plot Discovered", Elle was still alive, so we could say that she was killed during 2008. Then, the actual timeline in Heroes is in the begining of 2009 or in the ending of 2008. Since Sylar was already powerful in 2006, it is ok if Samuel says that he has heard stories of Sylar for years. (Two years still count as "years", right?)

But if I'm wrong, then it could be that Samuel talked to a precog in 2006 or before, and that precog told him stories about Sylar. So it is also ok if he says he's heard stories of Sylar for years.

Yeah I just figured it was a precog, because otherwise that wasn't quite right.


..


the writers have made a little mess here, haven't they?

Indeed!

They should care a little more about the timeline... However, I think that if we tried to make a string web of the events that happen in the Heroes Universe, it wouldn't be so messy

Well, Season I took place in October to November of 2006, meaning that "Six Months Ago" was set around April of 2006- this, then, being the time of Sylar's first murder and acquisition of a power, along with Hiro's earliest (temporally speaking) meeting with Charlie. There were (obviously) six months from then until the events of Season I, a little over a month for Season I to play out, four months from Season I to Season II, a fairly indefinite period encompassing Season II and Villains, but presumably not more than a couple months in total, about a month between Villains and Fugitives, a few weeks for Fugitives to play out, and then six weeks between Fugitives and Redemption. All told, it appears the entire series has taken place in at most a little over two years if one starts with Six Months Ago or a year-and-a-half starting with Genesis.

Anyway, it has been at most slightly over two years since Gabriel Gray acquired his first non-base power and started calling himself "Sylar." Presumably it should then have required at least a couple months before he could gain a widespread reputation as the "most powerful of them all," As Samuel puts it, so it would seem they're sort of stretching things with the remark that he's been hearing about Sylar for "years." In conjunction with Hiro teleporting back "three years" to the Burnt Toast Diner (one would probably be inclined to assume that this is supposed to be to near the time of the original relevant events, though it could be otherwise), this does make me fear that the writers have completely dropped the in-universe continuity and begun simply working from the idea that "Heroes" time is equivalent to "real world" time (since the "Charlie/Hiro" events were broadcast three years ago in real time, as were the early exploits of Sylar), which would be a severe and annoying retcon.

We'll know next week - but I'm willing to bet Hiro arrives at the Burnt Toast Diner in October, 2006.

I thought Villains started immediately after the episode Powerless ended, or maybe with a lapse of a day or two.

I am pretty confident that Samuel didn't mean many years, but maybe 2 or 3. The Family seems pretty up on everything special related, and we also have to consider that at the time Sylar was starting out they could have had some involvement with HRG/The company. So maybe they found out about Sylar pretty early on. It would seem pretty vital to them to know about the special people serial killer, right?


On Hiro..maybe he isn't trying to save her from just Sylar, but from the tumor. Maybe Charlie found out about it too late or something. Or perhaps it has everything to do with her power. Huurrrmmm..






Yeah!

Either way, we'll see in a couple of weeks.

I don't think we should consider the timeline as a set of dates anymore. 'cause, like you said, things might get confused, with all the time-travel we had and how the show's timeline is not the same as our timeline, etc.

I think we should look at it it terms of events. Like, in this case ''between Charlie's last birthday but before her kill'', or ''x months before Charlie got killed'', or even ''x years before Charlie got killed'' (who knows which one by now! ).

I think it will be simplier for everyone to not complicate ourselves with dates and just consider the line of events.

You ma'am are in the wrong forums!

LoL just kidding. But seriously if they are going to tell us in weeks and months how long between seasons then publish a timeline then they better stick to it. Or else little fanboys and fangirls will /cry!

''mister'', please! I know my nickname is misleading, but last time I checked, I was a guy! I might have to check again to be sure, thought... Yep, I'm a guy! lol

Anyway, I know people will probably complain if they make mistakes in the dates and all but, honestly, I don't think it should matter as much. What would matter is that they stick to a linear chain of events! Like, for exemple, if Sylar has the healing power in this past that Hiro is visiting, then yeah, there is strong room to complaint because they don't respect the chain of event. But if it's just dates, it's no big deal, especcially when there is bunch of travelling in the past and the future in this show! But I get that those that really look closely into dates and details like that, they will have lots of ''fun'' with this (sarcasm)!

Really? So 3 seasons (and "Six Months Ago") all took place in only 11 months??

Actually, as for what I think, the four first volumes took place between Spring 2006 and Winter 2008, 18 months more or less. And if you include what they showed on "Six Months Ago", then, we have 24 months. However, they showed events that happened in 1961, for example...

The thing is, that since Sylar's been "the most powerfull of all", it's been only 18 months in the series

Great. Looks like the writers have indeed screwed up with their timeline consistency. Take a look at the following Spoiler pics. Sylar is wearing his trademark cap and coat when "head-hunting"...

http://heroesspoilers-odi.blogspot.com/200...e-in-texas.html

Spoiler alert. Be warned.

I'd probably have to rewatch the episodes, but from what I remember, Sylar was wearing those when he went there, as the actor wasn't introduced yet...

I'll come back to you about this!

EDIT: Ok, so I was watching ''Seven Minutes to Midnight'', in which we see Charlie (damn she was cute! lol), and we also see Sylar and he wears the coat and the cap! Just like on those pictures. So there is no mistake there.

HOWEVER, I see in your pictures that he is wearing a watch. In ''Seven Minutes to Midnight'', at 14:31, we have a look at his wrist and he is not wearing any... So, yeah, plot-hole I guess! LOL

EDIT#2: Now that I think about it, isn't there a scene afterward where we see him wearing a broken watch? That's kinda why the episode was called ''Seven Minutes to Midnight''? I guess I just found a season 1 bloopers! LOL