Timeline

For the album of the same name see Timeline (album).

The timeline of the Ayreon universe spans many billions of years.

Pre-big bangEdit

• The primoridal condition before the creation of the known universe, where all matter, energy and time exist as one. (Chaos)

Billions of years agoEdit

14 billion BCEdit

• The Big Bang. The first soul, the Universal Migrator is born. It subsequently divides into inumerable individual entities that roam the universe, breathing life among planetary systems. (Dawn of a Million Souls)

8 billion BCEdit

• tba (Flight of the Migrator)
• The computer mainframe known as The Frame engineers the extinction of the humans living on the planet Alpha. The survivors flee on the massive spaceship Starblade to planet Y and, using the substance known as Liquid Eternity (colloquially known as The Source) modify themselves to become the Forever race. (The Source)

6 billion BCEdit

• 

The Age of Shadows begins on the planet Y. The Forever race's dependence on technology finally renders them slaves to their machines. After this transition, they are granted immortality through science but in the process forget the essence of their being, losing even the ability to feel emotion. (Age of Shadows)

5 billion BCEdit

• In the Andromeda Galaxy, a migrator passes Y without effect noticing it is already inhabited by the Forever. (Out of the White Hole). The Forever seed a passing comet with their own DNA and divert it to follow in the trail of the migrator in an effort to revitalise their race. (Newborn Race, Ride the Comet).

4 billion BCEdit

• The Migrator reaches Earth and breathes life onto the planet. (To the Solar System).

Millions of years agoEdit

65 million BCEdit

• The fifth extinction is caused when the Forever's comet collides with Earth. The cataclysm wipes out the dinosaurs which the Forever determine to be a "lower form of intelligence". The seed the Forever planted on Earth now waits dormant for the right conditions to flourish. (The Fifth Extinction)

Thousands of years agoEdit

50,000 BCEdit

• The first humans stand erect. (The First Man on Earth)
• The dormant Forever DNA blends with the Human gene pool resulting in accelerated mental and cultural development. (Waking Dreams).

6th centuryEdit

584Edit

• Ayreon receives visions from the year 2084 sent back in time in an effort to change humanity's future. Blind all his life and suddenly able to see nothing but horror, Ayreon sets out on his quest to King Arthur's court to sing the visions to the most powerful man on Earth. (The Final Experiment: "Prologue" et. all).
• Merlin overcome by jealousy of the true prophet's powers, deems him evil and untrustworthy and kills him using his magic. (The Final Experiment: "Merlin's Will" and "Ayreon's Fate")
• Ayreon, though physically dead, his spirit is now set free to roam the universe and find his new home. (Carried by the Wind)

8th centuryEdit

• A Mayan girl observes the Jaguar Temple in Tikal in Central America. (Temple of the Cat)

16th centuryEdit

• Queen Elizabeth I of England gives a speech to her troops at Tilbury in preparation for an attack by the Spanish. The English fleet subsequently wins under the command of Sir Francis Drake. The speech is witnessed through the eyes of the queen by the Colonist. (Dragon on the Sea).

20th centuryEdit

1900Edit

• The Forever accelerate Human development further, bringing about innovations in science and medicine. (Unnatural Selection).

1969Edit

• Mr. Lucassen, a pre-incarnation of the Colonist, watches the first Moon landing. (One Small Step)

1990Edit

1995Edit

In accordance with the prophecy of Merlin is Ayreon's song (his prophecy of human extinction) is sung again. People could hear about the coming extinction through Arjen Anthony Lucassen's album The Final Experiment.

1998Edit

21st centuryEdit

2007Edit

• Mr. L undergoes psychiatric treatment for his visions of Humanity's decline. (Timeline poster, The Truth is in Here)

2012Edit

• The most likely start date (in some capacity) for the War of 2084.^[1]

2082Edit

• The Colonist is born on Mars. (Timeline poster, My House on Mars, Back on Planet Earth)

2084Edit

• As the War of 2084 reaches its climax, scientists, in one last desperate attempt to save mankind, commence the final experiment, sending visions of Humanity's future back in time to be picked up by Humans of the past. Unfortunately the experiment is a failure, managing to change online a single line of history. The war reaches its conclusion, destroying virtually all life on Earth. (Prologue, E=mc 2, 2084).

2085Edit

• The sixth extinction. All remaining humans on Earth are killed in the radioactive wasteland. (The Sixth Extinction)

22nd centuryEdit

2112Edit

• The Colonist uses the Dream Sequencer located on Mars to preincarnate into his previous selves and becomes the new Universal Migrator.

Distant futureEdit

• The new migrator soul carries the essence of Humanity back to the Forever home world and breathes life into it once again. The destruction of mankind was not in vain, and they live on in the new Forever. (The Memory Remains)