SID Timeline

[rheasilvia]

From what I can tell, Guardian approaches time the same way epic poetry does - that is, it almost always seems to be measured in numbers more notable for dramatic value than likelihood (ten thousand years! a thousand years! ten years! NOW!).

Even so, I've put together a timeline of the Special Investigation Department's history. Please be aware that it contains spoilers for the entire series.



BGS – Before Guardian Series
ABS – After Beginning of Series
? – date uncertain; estimated based on corroborating evidence


SID Timeline


10,000-9,920 BGS*
- Ma Gui becomes first Guardian of Haixing in spirit (ep 38) through peace treaty ratified by Ma Gui, Fu You and Nameless Dixingian Second-in-Command (ep 35)
* Note: Ma Gui is Zhang Shi's teacher, so 9,920 BGS (or later) is probably more accurate, given human lifespans.

9,900 BGS
- Zhang Shi born; remains on Haixing as only Dixingian after others leave (ep 38)

? 40-30 BGS*
- Hallows are lost; more and more Dixingians escape to Haixing because of resulting lack of ressources (ep 35)
- Haixing’s Supervisory Department allows Dixing’s rulers to send people to Haixing to find out what’s happening (ep 35)
- Black-Cloaked Envoy is found in Haixing by Dixingian envoy Dingdun (ep 35)**
* Note: In ep 36, Zhang Shi says the Hallows were lost 10 years ago, but this doesn’t match up with the rest of the timeline. Also, in ep 2 Shen Wei says the Hallows were scattered 10,000 years ago, which doesn't match the rest of the timeline unless "scattered" is not synonymous with "lost" here.
** Note: The Black-Cloaked Envoy is awake to send an expedition to Haixing around 30 BGS or earlier (ep 5).

? 40-30 BGS
- Black-Cloaked Envoy expresses wish to go to Haixing; Justiciar asks Haixing contacts for cover identity (ep 35)

20 BGS
- Rumors of new department being planned to deal with Dixingians reach cops Zhao Xinci and Gao Jingfeng (ep 31)
- Zhao Xinci possessed by Zhang Shi; begins to rise rapidly through the ranks (ep 31)

? 19-18 BGS
- SID established at 4 Guangming Road under authority of Department of Supervision; purpose: arrest criminal Dixingians in Haixing (ep 13)
- Zhao Xinci becomes first chief of the SID (ep 31)

10 BGS
- Homeless man (?) Li Hongchun hits Da Qing with a stick (ep 27)

? 10-9 BGS
- Da Qing joins SID under Chief Zhao Xinci (ep 27)

? 9-8 BGS
- Li Hongchun joins SID as custodian (ep 27)

? 8-5 BGS
- Zhao Xinci promoted out of SID, new position unknown (ep 16)*
- Unknown Chief becomes second chief of the SID (ep 16)*
* Note: Zhao Yunlan is termed the „third-generation Chief of the SID“ in ep 16.

3 BGS
- Zhao Yunlan becomes third chief of the SID (ep 34)

3 BGS
- Lin Jing joins SID as Professor Ouyang’s spy (ep 30)

3 BGS
- Chu Shuzhi transferred to SID by Black-Cloaked Envoy (eps 18 / 32)

? 3-2 BGS
- Wang Zheng found by Zhao Yunlan and Da Qing; joins SID

? 3-2 BGS
- Zhu Hong joins SID

? 2-0 months BGS
- Zhao Xinci promoted again to Head of the Xingdu Bureau (ep 14)*
* Note: This presumably takes place no more than a few weeks before ep 14, since at that point Zhao Yunlan has not yet been informed of a personnel change that concerns an important superior.

? 2-0 months BGS
- Dixingians „suddenly“ appear on Haixing with increased frequency (Da Qing in ep 1 / Shen Wei in ep 2)


0 (Guardian Series Begins)


0 ABS
- Guo Changcheng assigned to SID by Zhang Shi posing as Zhao Xinci (ep 16)

0 ABS
- Black-Cloaked Envoy meets Chief Zhao Yunlan and contacts Ex-Chief Zhao Xinci for information on him (eps 1 / 27)

?? ABS
- Sang Zan joins SID as librarian (ep 11)

?? ABS
- Professor Shen Wei becomes official consultant of the SID (ep 14)

?? ABS
- Zhang Shi becomes de facto chief of the SID (ep 40)

+1 / ?? ABS
- SID is considerably expanded and highly respected
- Guo Ying is Minister
- Zhao Xinci is Director of the Xingdu Bureau*
- Li Qian is Science Institute Director
* Note: Zhao Xinci has been promoted again, so Director of the Xingdu Bureau is a higher position than Head of the Xingdu Bureau.



If you have any additions or I got something wrong, please let me know! I'd be very grateful for input on how much time passes between the SID-relevant events of the series itself, for one thing.

Alternately, tell me about your SID feels! :-)

Comments

[china_shop]

Ooh, this is awesome! \o/

Some data points:

In ep 2 (37:21), Shen Wei says, "After the war 10,000 years ago, the Holy Tools were scattered."

In the first ep with Butler Wu (ep 4?), there's a reference to Shen Wei sending a team of Dixingren to Haixing in search of the Hallows.

Ep 22, Li Qian starts working at the institute lab.

[rheasilvia]

I wanted to straighten out some things for my own reference - time is confusing and tangled in Dixing. Or Haixing. Or the entire planet, clearly. ;-)

Yeah, the Hallows were scattered and lost lots of different times, to listen to people. ;-) I am tentatively interpreting "scattered" and "lost" as different things, because: It is only when the Guardian Lantern is extinguished and the Hallows are "lost" (as said in ep 35) that Dixing's ressources dwindle. The resulting increased escape of Dixingians then becomes a problem, and so on...

If the Dixingians had been without the Hallows all along, why the change in status just before the Black-Cloaked Envoy is found...? And why did nobody look for them before Shen Wei sends off the search team?

Alternately, maybe the Hallows were scattered AND lost 10k years ago, but the Guardian Lantern was only extinguished 30 (or so) years ago. But that is even further removed from the various statements in the series.

Time is malleable around the Hallows. There is no other explanation.

In the first ep with Butler Wu (ep 4?), there's a reference to Shen Wei sending a team of Dixingren to Haixing in search of the Hallows.

Yep, but this timeline is just for the SID itself. Some of the rest - most certainly including this failed expedition - may appear in future posts. ;-)

(I debated putting Li Qian on there at all, since the lab is only peripherally connected to the SID, but hey. She is cool. So. ;-) )

[china_shop]

Yep, but this timeline is just for the SID itself.

Oh, right. Reading comprehension fail, sorry! /o\

Time is malleable around the Hallows. There is no other explanation.

Hee! <3

[extrapenguin]

Yup, Shen wei sent a team upstairs to search for things - and he says it was 20 years go, so 20 BGS, not 40-30.

Also, I think there was something in eps 19-20 about Zhu Jiu having been a PITA for 6 months.

[rheasilvia]

Shen Wei does say 20 years, but the information surrounding Butler Wu's son contradicts this, as likealeafonthewind has reminded me. I plan to watch ep 5 again to see if there might be a different interpretation, but: that young water-bending man is definitely not just 19 years old. If Wu really *had* come to Haixing a mere 20 years ago, 19 would be the oldest possible age.

Also the son evidently also mentions 20 years, which I had forgotten entirely. I will quote likealeafonthewind: "In episode 5 with Butler Wu and his son, we're told that it's been 20 years since they've seen each other and his son was maybe around 8 when he was first abandoned and left for dead by Huang Chaoyang. I would guess that a few years passed between Butler Wu surviving whatever killed the rest of his expedition and him having a son, so it's probably been over 30 years since Black Cloaked Envoy's woken up."

So, yeah, contradictory information here, but there does seem to be more evidence on the side of the 30 (or more) years.

[extrapenguin]

IIRC this is also the episode where we hear that a dead man's wife was pregnant when he died, and then later the daughter (mirror girl) says her dad always talked about something with her, so combined with that, I'm pretty sure that time in Dixing functions differently to anything outside the minds of quantum physicists addicted to thought experiments. (Time is an entanglement phenomenon maybe, so perhaps quantum physics works differently in Dixing, so time zigzags???)

[rheasilvia]

Your icon is very fitting! ;-) (I still need to learn some icon skills to complete my own AAAARGH icon for Guardian...)

Time is an entanglement phenomenon maybe, so perhaps quantum physics works differently in Dixing, so time zigzags???

I think this is a very plausible theory, given the evidence!! Or alternately, time is simply malleable around the Hallows - for which we do have canon evidence. ;-)

OTOH, this (which I also didn't remember! must watch again!!) does not seem like an issue for me:
we hear that a dead man's wife was pregnant when he died, and then later the daughter (mirror girl) says her dad always talked about something with her

Her mother probably remarried/found a new partner, and mirror girl means the man who raised her when she talks about her dad.

[extrapenguin]

Ha, this one is by china_shop! A very fitting one on occasion.

Nope, the remark is supposed to be about the dad who lead the expedition, as it's Shen Wei's clue about the location of the Awl. Why would the stepdad know about the Awl's location?

[rheasilvia]

Oh, right! Okay, then it must be, uhm... oh right, it's the dad's power. Obviously!! ;-)

[trobadora]

Did I make this up completely in my head, or was that guy actually Ding Dun? In which case he survived, was arrested, and then escaped from prison in the present day?

Damn, I seriously need to find the time for a proper rewatch! (I know I keep saying that ...)

[extrapenguin]

IIRC, the head of the Hallows expedition Wu Tian'en is talking about never appears due to a tragic case of deadness, but there was another Hallows expedition prior to that which found 0 Hallows and 1 Black-Cloaked Envoy, which Ding Dun was apparently the head of. You might be thinking of that one?

[trobadora]

No, I remember both expeditions, I thought there was an implication that the guy who captained the second one was also Ding Dun. I can't remember now where I got that impression, though!

[rheasilvia]

Oh, right, thank you for the reminder about the 6 months! It was in ep 19 - I will try to fit that in...

(I just googled PITA, BTW, because I didn't know that abbreviation, and now I just really want a stuffed pita. *g*)