River's timeline is making my brain hurt
Please help me figure this out !
Spoilers up to 6x07.
EDIT for abbreviations : SitL/FotD = Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead; ToA/FaS = Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone; TPO/TBB = the Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang; TIA/DotM = The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon; AGMGTW = A Good Man Goes To War
Okay, what we know :
She's born as Melody on Demon's Run, in the 52nd century (we know it's after the 5145 Maldovarian scene in TPO because Dorium the blue guy was alive at this time and he dies in AGMGTW)
She's kidnapped by Madame Kovarian, somehow ends up with the Silence (assuming she's the Little Girl here), who put her in the space suit. She gets shot by Amy, brought back to the orphanage by the Silence, and gets out out of the space suit while they're not looking. We see her 6 months after, regenerating.
We don't know yet if the Doctor's going to find her before she becomes River, if she kills him, and when her baby pic with Amy was taken. There are also several pics of her in her room, obviously not in the spacesuit. If the Silence already had her then, why did they put her in the suit? If she grew up with her parents, when did she get kidnapped (again)?
River as an adult :
We know that River breaks out of Stormcage during TPO, gets her hands on a Vortex Manipulator, and has the whole Pandorica adventure. We can assume that the River at the Ponds' wedding is the same timeline wise, because she doesn't have the Manipulator (the Doctor gives it back to her). With the universal reboot, she probably found herself at the same time she was before the crack sealed (2010).
Some time after that, there's the crash of the Byzantium (she teases the Doctor about the Pandorica), where Amy meets her for the first time. She might have earned her pardon at this moment.
In SitL/FotD, well, she meets Ten, who has never seen her before, and she sacrifices herself so he could live.
Where I'm having problems is how to fit TIA/DotM and AGMGTW in there :
If we go by default "backward timeline" mode, then she lives through Demons Run before she goes to America. However, if I'm not mistaken, she was wearing the same outfit in the reveal scene as in DotM (a dress she got in the TARDIS, I'd assume). So what comes first ? As for the River Rory tries to recruit, I suppose she already lived the scene where she reveals she's Melody, since she knows how this will play out. On the other hand, one could wonder how River at the end of AGMGTW knew how the battle went (presumably a future Doctor told her). So the River at the begining of the episode could be a bit younger that the one at the end, and she already knows what she'll have to do/say.
I have another problem : I know that S6 River is probably younger that TPO/TBB River, but in that case, where did she get a Vortex Manipulator ? (she has one on Demons Run. If it's the same all along, then Demons Run should be after TPO, since she buys it at that time. If not and she just lost the one she had in AGMGTW, it's logical she had to find another... But then again, Dorium is alive in TPO and not at the end of Demons Run.)
One last nitpick : all the instances where she's in Stormcage take place in the 52nd century (5145 in TPO)
However I thought that ToA/FaS was in the 51st, as well as her death in the Library. The latter is ok, she's free and probably able to travel in time, but she's just on probation from prison at the crash of the Byzantium. Is it a continuity error and the crash really happened in the 52nd century, or is there more timey-wimeyness going on there ?
(Oh god, I hope I'm making sense)
So yeah TL;DR, what comes first ? Is her timeline truly backwards or just all over the place (in S6 at least) ?
Spoilers up to 6x07.
EDIT for abbreviations : SitL/FotD = Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead; ToA/FaS = Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone; TPO/TBB = the Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang; TIA/DotM = The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon; AGMGTW = A Good Man Goes To War
Okay, what we know :
She's born as Melody on Demon's Run, in the 52nd century (we know it's after the 5145 Maldovarian scene in TPO because Dorium the blue guy was alive at this time and he dies in AGMGTW)
She's kidnapped by Madame Kovarian, somehow ends up with the Silence (assuming she's the Little Girl here), who put her in the space suit. She gets shot by Amy, brought back to the orphanage by the Silence, and gets out out of the space suit while they're not looking. We see her 6 months after, regenerating.
We don't know yet if the Doctor's going to find her before she becomes River, if she kills him, and when her baby pic with Amy was taken. There are also several pics of her in her room, obviously not in the spacesuit. If the Silence already had her then, why did they put her in the suit? If she grew up with her parents, when did she get kidnapped (again)?
River as an adult :
We know that River breaks out of Stormcage during TPO, gets her hands on a Vortex Manipulator, and has the whole Pandorica adventure. We can assume that the River at the Ponds' wedding is the same timeline wise, because she doesn't have the Manipulator (the Doctor gives it back to her). With the universal reboot, she probably found herself at the same time she was before the crack sealed (2010).
Some time after that, there's the crash of the Byzantium (she teases the Doctor about the Pandorica), where Amy meets her for the first time. She might have earned her pardon at this moment.
In SitL/FotD, well, she meets Ten, who has never seen her before, and she sacrifices herself so he could live.
Where I'm having problems is how to fit TIA/DotM and AGMGTW in there :
If we go by default "backward timeline" mode, then she lives through Demons Run before she goes to America. However, if I'm not mistaken, she was wearing the same outfit in the reveal scene as in DotM (a dress she got in the TARDIS, I'd assume). So what comes first ? As for the River Rory tries to recruit, I suppose she already lived the scene where she reveals she's Melody, since she knows how this will play out. On the other hand, one could wonder how River at the end of AGMGTW knew how the battle went (presumably a future Doctor told her). So the River at the begining of the episode could be a bit younger that the one at the end, and she already knows what she'll have to do/say.
I have another problem : I know that S6 River is probably younger that TPO/TBB River, but in that case, where did she get a Vortex Manipulator ? (she has one on Demons Run. If it's the same all along, then Demons Run should be after TPO, since she buys it at that time. If not and she just lost the one she had in AGMGTW, it's logical she had to find another... But then again, Dorium is alive in TPO and not at the end of Demons Run.)
One last nitpick : all the instances where she's in Stormcage take place in the 52nd century (5145 in TPO)
However I thought that ToA/FaS was in the 51st, as well as her death in the Library. The latter is ok, she's free and probably able to travel in time, but she's just on probation from prison at the crash of the Byzantium. Is it a continuity error and the crash really happened in the 52nd century, or is there more timey-wimeyness going on there ?
(Oh god, I hope I'm making sense)
So yeah TL;DR, what comes first ? Is her timeline truly backwards or just all over the place (in S6 at least) ?