The Original 1897 Timeline

[Joeytrom]

1897 was probably a much simpler story in the original timeline.  Quentin kills Jenny, Magda finds out and places the curse on him.  Quentin becomes a werewolf and he killed Beth.  Judith and Edward discover his secret and kill him in his room with a silver bullet.  He dies on the chair and they seal up the room and state he went to Paris to live to the public.

I think that originally, the characters killed off due to Barnabas' meddling with history were also killed in the original timeline at the same time, through other circumstances.  Laura still could have driven Dirk insane and he killed Rachael, Carl, and Pansy and was in turn shot to death by Edward as he tried to kill Judith.

[Luciaphile]

On the other hand, had Barnabas not appeared, Quentin might have stayed dead, because Angelique would not have appeared and felt it necessary to turn him into a zombie. This would have eliminated the whole Chris problem as well as the haunting of Collinwood. Rachel would probably have been fired (which given her job performance so far, would have been everything she deserved).

Soooo a more subversive interpretation is the reason all this mess happened in the first place is because Barnabas did come to 1897 and that maybe they've all been in some horrific time loop ala Star Trek forever . . .

Luciaphil

[Gerard]

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Here's my take.  Quentin kills Jenny, angry Magda curses him, blah-blah-blah.  Beth does all she can to help Quentin (being the only one to know that he's a wolf, in more ways than one), and it starts working on her mind.  She hopes Quentin will still want to be with her, but he won't, seeing as he considers that he has no future.  Beth is upset, and in her now-whacko state of mind thinks that Quentin has it for another woman.  She plans on committing suicide.  That's when Jamison finds out how upset she is and she tells him that Quentin wants another woman, not her.  Jamison confronts Quentin, but Quentin can't tell him the truth, so Jamison states that he hates him forever (which will cause Quentin's ghost to search for "Jamison", longing for his forgiveness).  Beth, now totally snapped, first shoots Quentin with a silver bullet in his room and then does herself in.  To avoid a scandal over what they think was a lover's spat, Judith and Edward have the room sealed up and make the excuse that Quentin went away to Europe.  

Now, what about Lara?  Well, she does return to get Jamison and Nora, but Quentin, with his knowledge of the occult, managed to stop her before she went up in flames (he gets Evan to give him a hand).  Since Barnabas had not traveled back in time, all the other peripheral stuff regarding this subplot didn't happen.

How's about Rachel?  She is forced to go back to Trask's lovely academy, but when all that business with Judith came to a head (when she threatens him with exposure, he commits suicide), she and Tim Shaw go off to start a new life.

Judith has the west wing completely closed off to make sure Quentin's room is never discovered.  She dies in 1912, Edward in 1914.  Jamison marries the following year (Nora never marries and remains living at Collinwood until she passes away during the 1930's).  In 1917, Elizabeth is born.

Carl moves to New York City where he puts his fascination with dance-hall girls (Pansy Faye left him just as quickly as she entered his life) into a fascination with vaudeville and invests what little money he receives from his sister in the stage and later in film.  However, during the Depression, his investments crash.  The stress proves too much, and he dies in an alcohol-related car crash in Los Angeles (where he had relocated).  Sadly, he had never married, love always alluding him.

The End.

Gerard

[Josette]

Good scenario, Gerard - it seems to account for everything!!

That simple version of the original 1897 won't work, because . . . SPOILER

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Julia in the present manages to get the ghost of Beth to tell her what happened originally, and then that part plays out in the 1897 we are watching.  So, that part (and it involves Angelique) had to have occurred the first time.

[Cassandra]

Julia in the present manages to get the ghost of Beth to tell her what happened originally, and then that part plays out in the 1897 we are watching.  So, that part (and it involves Angelique) had to have occurred the first time.

SPOILER...SPOILER....SPOILER......SPOILER...SPOILER..

I had forgotten all about this scene Josette and now Im wondering more than ever just what the reason was for Angelique to be there.   Since we already know from this storyline that Quentin & Evan had summoned Angelique our of hades to help them deal with Barnabas,  Im wondering if perhaps the first time around it was Laura that they summoned Angelique for help with?  Laura was a constant threat to Quentin and the children so it would make sense that Quentin would need some extra "supernatural" help in dealing with her.   Otherwise, it's hard to imagine Angelique "popping" in on her own without Barnabas being there.

[Gerard]

Good scenario, Gerard - it seems to account for everything!!

That simple version of the original 1897 won't work, because . . . SPOILER

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L

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R

Julia in the present manages to get the ghost of Beth to tell her what happened originally, and then that part plays out in the 1897 we are watching.  So, that part (and it involves Angelique) had to have occurred the first time.

Yup, Josette, that was the monkey-wrench in the unchanged scenario (Quentin is offed by Beth because in her already falling-apart mind made worse via jealousy because Quentin has to marry Angie instead of her), so I just made it where Beth only THINKS there's another woman in her paranoid state of mind, having gone over the edge.  Twas the only way I could make that piece of the puzzle fit.

It harkens to the earlier discussion of Grandmamamama and the secret.  When she saw Barnabas, she went over the edge and cashed it in before she could blab to Edward.  However, in the unchanged history, Barnabas wasn't there, so why didn't she tell Edward?  So we all came up with a whole buncha scenarios as to why not.    At least this stuff is keeping us off the streets.

Gerard

[Joeytrom]

When Beth's ghost is relating the events to Julia and we see Angelique as the other woman, history had already changed by that point.  So, this is not the original sceanrio Beth is telling Julia.

[Cassandra]

Gerard Wrote;

However, in the unchanged history, Barnabas wasn't there, so why didn't she tell Edward?  So we all came up with a whole buncha scenarios as to why not.    At least this stuff is keeping us off the streets.

She could have easily told Edward the secret in the unchanged history story.  Since Barnabas was chained in the coffin during this time, there was no reason to assume that Edward wasn't told.  Somewhere along the way someone probably died or was killed before they could pass the secret on to Liz or Roger.

When Beth's ghost is relating the events to Julia and we see Angelique as the other woman, history had already changed by that point.  So, this is not the original sceanrio Beth is telling Julia.

Thanks Joeytrom,  at least the part about Angelique being there makes a little more sense to me now.  Usually, she only shows up when Barnabas is on the scene. ;-)

[Dr. Eric Lang]

Soooo a more subversive interpretation is the reason all this mess happened in the first place is because Barnabas did come to 1897 and that maybe they've all been in some horrific time loop ala Star Trek forever . . .

Strangely, this makes the most sense to me. After all, if Barnabas is released from his coffin by Sandor in 1897, and does not get chained up in it again at the end of 1897, there would be no body there for Willie to find in 1967. Also, once Barnabas is released from his coffin in 1897, he retains his memories of 1967-68. This suggests he goes from 1796 to 1967, then from 1968/9 to 1897. Barnabas is simply jumping around in time rather than experiencing it in the traditional fashion the rest of us do. Thus, Barnabas was part of the events in 1897 all along, and what we're seeing now is the "original" 1897 time line.

After which, Barnabas is returned to 1969 by the Leviathians. Everyone in present day still knows him - despite that he was released from his coffin in 1897 and never returned to it, leaving no Barnabas for Willie to find in 1967. He really doesn't change history at all.

[Dr. Eric Lang]

Julia in the present manages to get the ghost of Beth to tell her what happened originally, and then that part plays out in the 1897 we are watching.  So, that part (and it involves Angelique) had to have occurred the first time.

Beth may have gone to her grave believing events had played out a certain way when in fact they did not. The story Beth tells to Julia in present day may be what Beth has eventually come to believe happened regardless of whether or not it actually did.

[Joeytrom]

Barnabas would have had to be rechained in his coffin inn 1897 for the family to remember him in the present.

It must have taken place off camera...when his body disappears in the present, I believe his soul and body of the present were reunited as were his body and soul of 1897 were reunited and rechained in the coffin.  His 1969 body now in 1897 must have been severely weakened being comatose for 5 months and Angelique and Julia went about to help remedy the situation.

[Cassandra Blair]

Also, once Barnabas is released from his coffin in 1897, he retains his memories of 1967-68. This suggests he goes from 1796 to 1967, then from 1968/9 to 1897. Barnabas is simply jumping around in time rather than experiencing it in the traditional fashion the rest of us do. Thus, Barnabas was part of the events in 1897 all along, and what we're seeing now is the "original" 1897 time line.

Interesting theory Dr. Lang, and I pretty much buy it, but am confused about one aspect.  Wouldn't the 1897 timeline we see on the show be a parallel version of 1897?  I mean, if Barnabas was chained in his coffin in 1796, not released until 1967, then later travels back in time to 1897, wouldn't there have been an 'original' 1897 during which Barney was never released from the coffin and Quentin died?