A rough-and-ready LAST KINGDOM chronology

With the fourth season of The Last Kingdom recently released on Netflix, I thought it might be interesting to create a chronology of events in both the TV series and the books the series is based on.

Both the Last Kingom novels (by Bernard Cornwell) and the TV series are set in the late 9th and early 10th centuries, when the island of Britain is contested between seven feuding Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria, Essex, East Anglia, Kent and Sussex) and the invading Danes. The Danes had originally come as raiders from across the North Sea, but by the time of the series they have established colonies throughout eastern Britain, using them as springboards to further invasions. The British kingdoms are fighting back piecemeal, but are vulnerable to being attacked and destroyed in isolation.

The one man who may be able to stem the tide is the newly-crowned King of Wessex, Alfred. Alfred has a vision of the seven kingdoms united as one, under one ruler and the One True God. He has a name for this vision, "England," but needs warriors to bring it to fruition. It seems that God is smiling on Alfred when he delivers to him a ferocious soldier and canny warleader named Uhtred, a Saxon child raised by the Danes and familiar with both cultures and their ways of war. But, whilst Uhtred fights for Alfred in return for a home and silver, he does not share his vision or his God, and the tensions between them unfold even as the wars to determine the fate of England rage.

Chronology

• 858 AD: Uhtred is born in Bebbanburg, Northumbria.
• 867: Battle of Eoferwic. Defeat of the Northumbrians. Uhtred is captured by Ragnar of the Danes. Uhtred is 9.
• 871: Alfred becomes King of Wessex after the death of his brother. Uhtred is 13.
• 874-876: Death of Ragnar. Uhtred and his adopted sister Brida escape to Wessex. Book 1 and the first half of Season 1 take place. Uhtred is 16-18.
• 878: The Battle of Ethandun. Book 2 and the second half of Season 1 take place. Uhtred is 20.
• 881: Book 3 and the first half of Season 2 take place. Uhtred is 23.
• 886: Lundune is recaptured. Book 4 and the second half of Season 2 take place. Uhtred is 28.
• 892-893: Book 5 and the first half of Season 3 take place. Uhtred is 34-35.
• 899: Alfred dies. Aethelwold's bid for power begins. Book 6 and the second half of Season 3 begin. Uhtred is 41.
• 902: Aethelwold is defeated. Edward crowned. Book 6 and the second half of Season 3 conclude. Uhtred is 44.
• 910: The Battle of Tettenhall. Book 7 and the first half of Season 4 take place. Uhtred is 52.
• 911: Aethelred dies, succession crisis in Mercia. Book 8 and the second half of Season 4 take place. Uhtred is 53.
• 917: Book 9 takes place. Uhtred is 59
• 918: Book 10 takes place. Uhtred is 60.
• 923-924: Book 11 takes place. Uhtred is 65-66.
• 924: Book 12 takes place. Uhtred is 66.
• 937: Battle of Brunanburh. It is assumed that Book 13 (the final book) takes place at this time. Uhtred is 79.

If you're thinking that Uhtred is looking good for a 53-year-old in the latest season of The Last Kingdom, you're not wrong! It'll be interesting to see if future seasons age him up more noticeably.

The Saxon Stories (aka The Last Kingdom)

1. The Last Kingdom (2004)
2. The Pale Horsemen (2005)
3. The Lords of the North (2006)
4. Sword Song (2007)
5. The Burning Land (2009)
6. Death of Kings (2011)
7. The Pagan Lord (2013)
8. The Empty Throne (2014)
9. Warriors of the Storm (2015)
10. The Flame Bearer (2016)
11. War of the Wolf (2018)
12. Sword of Kings (2019)
13. War Lord (2020)

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe Timeline (updated)

Following the release of Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home, I thought it might be interesting to run down a timeline of major events in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films and the relevant backstory.

This is an update of an article published in April 2019.

Nick Fury of SHIELD, who plays a decisive role in assembling the Avengers.

Some notes on this timeline: the canonicity of the spin-off comic books, books and TV shows is open to question (particularly the films' resistance to incorporate the large-scale events of Agents of SHIELD or the Netflix series), so I've restricted things to the movies themselves and their direct publicity materials.

It's also well-known that the team at Disney have themselves retconned the timeline several times, resulting in some on-screen dating evidence that is flat-out wrong and has to be ignored (such as the "Eight years later," title card in Spider-Man: Homecoming). At other times writers seem to have assumed that movies have taken place in the year they were released and then ignored information to the contrary, creating more problems.

The Timeline at the MCU Wiki was useful in assembling the list, although their tendency to use weighted averages to try to pinpoint precise dates feels somewhat inaccurate. I have followed their reasoning in some matters (particularly the convincing arguments for putting Iron Mann in 2009 versus 2008) but have deviated from it where it feels necessary.

For the most part, the precise dating of each film and event is much less important than the order the events take place in.

NOTE: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ALL MARVEL MOVIES INCLUDING ENDGAME FOLLOW.

The Infinity Stones.

MORE AFTER THE JUMP

The Marvel Cinematic Universe Timeline

Before the release of Avengers: Endgame tomorrow, I thought it might be interesting to run down a timeline of major events in the previous twenty-one films and the relevant backstory.

Nick Fury of SHIELD, who plays a decisive role in assembling the Avengers.

Some notes on this timeline: the canonicity of the spin-off comic books, books and TV shows is open to question (particularly the films' resistance to incorporate the large-scale events of Agents of SHIELD or the Netflix series), so I've restricted things to the movies themselves and their direct publicity materials.

It's also well-known that the team at Disney have themselves retconned the timeline several times, resulting in some on-screen dating evidence that is flat-out wrong and has to be ignored (such as the "Eight years later," title card in Spider-Man: Homecoming). At other times writers seem to have assumed that movies have taken place in the year they were released and then ignored information to the contrary, creating more problems.

The Timeline at the MCU Wiki was useful in assembling the list, although their tendency to use weighted averages to try to pinpoint precise dates feels somewhat inaccurate. I have followed their reasoning in some matters (particularly the convincing arguments for putting Iron Mann in 2009 versus 2008) but have deviated from it where it feels necessary.

For the most part, the precise dating of each film and event is much less important than the order the events take place in.

NOTE: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ALL MARVEL MOVIES PRIOR TO ENDGAME FOLLOW.

The Infinity Stones.

MORE AFTER THE JUMP

The Witcher Chronology

With The Witcher now headed to the small screen, it might be useful to put together a brief timeline of events in that setting. The following timeline draws on the short stories, books and video games.

The Witcher TV series is expected to draw on and adapt the short stories and novels, but will not cover the events of the video games (or at least it is not expected to do so at this time).

The Witcher Franchise Familiariser may also be of use here.

                                     A spectacular fan map of the entire explored Continent from DwarfChieftain on DeviantArt.

c. 2700 BR (Before the Resurrection)
Dwarves arrive on the Continent.

c. 2230 BR
Aen Seidhe elves arrive on the Continent in their white ships.


c. 230 BR: The Conjunction of the Spheres
Humans arrive on the Continent via portals from another world. Apparently the human homeworld was dying or had been destroyed before they were able to find a way of shifting to another world or universe. Shortly after their arrival, humans start conquering lands inhabited by the elves and dwarves.

1: The Resurrection
An unknown and mysterious event (only referenced in Season of Storms).

c. 760
The Nordlings arrive in the north of the Continent and begin carving out the Northern Kingdoms.

c. 830
Creation of the Conclave of Mages.

840
Regis, later a key ally of Geralt of Rivia, is born.

c. 950
The first witchers (drug-enhanced monster-hunters) are created by Alzur and Cosimo Malaspina.

1112
By this year, the witcher Vesemir is noted as being active in the world at large.

c. 1140
The mage Cregennan takes the elf Lara Dorren as his lover and they have a daughter, Riannon. Cregennan is murdered for this act and Lara dies in childbirth. Racial tensions between humans and elves rise abruptly. Riannon is adopted by the Queen of Redania.

c. 1150
The Falka Rebellion.

1173
Birth of Yennefer of Vengerberg.

1235
Queen Calanthe of Cintra marries Roegner of Ebbing.

NOTE: Events past this point are likely to be adapted in the TV series and may constitute spoilers for the series.

Reading order of the Culture novels (updated)

Back in 2009 I published a reading order to the Culture novels of Iain M. Banks. Sadly, Iain is no longer with us, meaning that the Culture series is effectively complete, so now a final order can be given.

As always, it's worth remembering the following:

It Doesn't Really Matter
The Culture novels are all stand-alone stories separated from one another by decades and centuries of time and thousands of light-years of space, so you can pretty much read them in whatever order you wish.



Publication Order
That said, publication order probably makes the most sense, due to the (very) minor and occasional reference in one book to the events of another. This is the order the books were published in:

1. Consider Phlebas (1987)
2. The Player of Games (1988)
3. Use of Weapons (1990)
4. The State of the Art (1991)
5. Excession (1996)
6. Inversions (1998)
7. Look to Windward (2000)
8. Matter (2008)
9. Surface Detail (2010)
10. The Hydrogen Sonata (2012)

Chronological Order
I don't recommend the chronological order, since I don't think Banks was paying enormous attention to this when writing the books. For example, Excession (which is set 400 years after Consider Phlebas) has a clear reference to the events of The Player of Games, but the latter novel is set well over 700 years after Consider Phlebas, which is a clear discrepancy. Still, for the curious, the order the books apparently takes place in is as follows:

1. Consider Phlebas (1331 AD)
2. Excession (c. 1867)
3. Matter (c. 1890)
4. The State of the Art (1977)
5. The Player of Games (c. 2085)
6. Use of Weapons (2092)
7. Look to Windward (c. 2170)
8. The Hydrogen Sonata (c. 2375)
9. Surface Detail (c. 2767)

Note that The State of the Art refers to the titular novella of the collection, not the other two Culture stories in the book. I could be wrong (not having read them yet), but I believe the other two stories and Inversions lack any information that can be used to reliably date them at all.


Note on the Dates Above

The appendix to Consider Phlebas gives the date for the beginning of the Idiran War as 1327 AD and the book takes place four years later. The war ends in 1375. Excession takes place 500 years after the war ends. Matter takes place over twenty years after the Sleeper Service vanishes (which happens at the end of Excession). The State of the Art features a Contact group surveying Earth in 1977. One of the same characters turns up in Use of Weapons 115 years after the mission to Earth. One of the ships in The Player of Games is 716 years old and was built at the end of the Idiran War (so near the end it never engaged in combat with the enemy). Look to Windward takes place 803 years after the Twin Novae Battle, one of the final space battles of the Idiran War. The Hydrogen Sonata takes place 1,000 years after the end of the Idiran War in Consider Phlebas. Surface Detail takes place 600 years after the events of Look to Windward but about 1,500 years after the end of the Idiran War; this may be a simple rounding error.

According to Consider Phlebas' appendix, the Culture contacts Earth some time around 2100 AD. Earth joins the Culture but never really amounts to much as a member.

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Timeline and Map of Joe Abercrombie's FIRST LAW world

Joe Abercrombie and his publishers have unveiled the complete world map (well, the explored bit, anyway) for his First Law novels, and a timeline of when the works take place.

The map shows all the lands that lie within the Circle of the World. Midderland, the island in the centre, is the heart of the Union and the location of Adua, the capital city. Styria, the setting for Best Served Cold, is the island or subcontinent to the east. The North lies to the, er, north with the Orsrung Valley (the setting for The Heroes) located in the mountains and hills south of Carleon. The Far Country, the setting for Red Country, is located to the west of Midderland. Dagoska and the Gurkhal Empire are to the south.

The timeline of stories and books is as follows, with novels in bold and short stories in italics. These short stories can all be found in the new First Law collection Sharp Ends, which was published this week.

566 (spring): A Beautiful Bastard
570 (summer): Made a Monster
573 (autumn): Small Kindnesses
574 (autumn): The Fool Jobs
575 (summer): Skipping Town 
575 (spring-autumn): The Blade Itself
575-576 (autumn-spring): Before They Are Hanged
576 (spring): Hell
576 (summer): Two's Company
576-577 (summer to winter): Last Argument of Kings
579-80: Best Served Cold
580: Wrong Place, Wrong Time
584 (summer): Some Desperado 
584 (autumn): Yesterday, Near a Village Called Barden 
584: The Heroes
587 (autumn): Three's a Crowd
590 (summer): Freedom!
590: Red Country
592 (spring): Tough Times All Over
605: New Trilogy Book 1 (due in 2017 or 2018)

The new trilogy, which Joe is writing now, will begin 28 years after the events of Last Argument of Kings (although this may change).

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA viewing guide

I'm currently rewatching the revamped Battlestar Galactica for the first time in many years. I'm thinking about doing a detailed recap/rewatch for the series later on, if time allows. It's a show whose virtues have certainly become greater over the years but whose flaws have also more notable. Certainly it's a show that's still worth watching, if only to join in on the never-ending debate about the controversial ending.

One of the odder things about the show is that it consists not just of regular episodes and seasons, but also TV movies, online webisodes and spin-offs. The mass of material, and the lack of one easily-available "complete franchise" box set and variable streaming availability has made following the series and watching it more complicated than it really should be. This guide should - hopefully - make the situation clearer:

Production Order

The show's production order is probably the best viewing order as well, since this is the order the series originally aired in and is what most people viewed the series in. This also best protects later spoilers and crucial plot revelations.

Battlestar Galactica

The Mini-Series (2003)
When BSG was rebooted in 2003, it first returned as a pilot mini-series consisting of two 90-minute episodes. This was initially released by itself on DVD. Later on, it was incorporated into the US Season 1 DVD box set but not in the UK Season 1 DVD box set. For UK DVD watchers, the mini-series still has to be purchased separately. The mini-series is included in the Complete Series Blu-Ray set.

Season 1 (2004-05)

• 101: 33
• 102: Water
• 103: Bastille Day
• 104: Act of Contrition
• 105: You Can't Go Home Again
• 106: Litmus
• 107: Six Degrees of Separation 
• 108: Flesh and Bone
• 109: Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down
• 110: The Hand of God
• 111: Colonial Day
• 112: Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I
• 113: Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II

Season 2 (2005-06)

• 201: Scattered
• 202: Valley of Darkness
• 203: Fragged
• 204: Resistance
• 205: The Farm
• 206: Home, Part I
• 207: Home, Part II
• 208: Final Cut
• 209: Flight of the Phoenix
• 210: Pegasus
• 211: Resurrection Ship, Part I
• 212: Resurrection Ship, Part II
• 213: Epiphanies
• 214: Black Market
• 215: Scar
• 216: Sacrifice
• 217: The Captain's Hand
• 218: Downloaded
• 219: Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I
• 220: Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II 

Webisodes: The Resistance (2006)
Between Seasons 2 and 3, NBC requested that the BSG team produce ten short "webisodes" to advertise the return of the show. The producers agreed and filmed ten short segments which, when combined, form a 24-minute "prelude" to the third season. However, a legal dispute over pay for the webisodes (which also affected studio-mate series The Office) caused delays in production. As a result, The Resistance was issued only in standard definition (even on the Blu-Ray release) and with a minimum of post-production. However, they do set up the state of play at the start of the third season. They can be found on the American Season 3 DVD release, but not on the UK DVD release. They are included in the Complete Series Blu-Ray set in all territories, however (under the special features for Disc 2 of Season 3).

Season 3 (2006-07)

• 301: Occupation
• 302: Precipice
• 303: Exodus, Part I
• 304: Exodus, Part II
• 305: Collaborators
• 306: Torn
• 307: A Measure of Salvation
• 308: Hero
• 309: Unfinished Business
• 310: The Passage
• 311: The Eye of Jupiter
• 312: Rapture
• 313: Taking a Break From Your Worries
• 314: The Woman King
• 315: A Day in the Life
• 316: Dirty Hands
• 317: Maelstrom
• 318: The Son Also Rises
• 319: Crossroads, Part I
• 320: Crossroads, Part II

TV Movie: Razor (2007)
Produced as a straight-to-DVD special between the third and fourth seasons, Razor was a 90-minute TV movie set towards the end of the second season and expanded on the backstory of the battlestar Pegasus. A series of webisodes set during the First Cylon War preceded Razor, but these have been integrated into the episode itself on the home media releases.

Season 4, Part 1 (2008)

• 401: He That Believeth in Me
• 402: Six of One
• 403: The Ties That Bind
• 404: Escape Velocity
• 405: The Road Less Travelled
• 406: Faith
• 407: Guess What's Coming to Dinner?
• 408: Sine Qua Non
• 409: The Hub
• 410: Revelations

The fourth season of Battlestar Galactica was announced as being the last. However, SyFy delayed transmission of the season by several months due to problems caused by the 2007-08 Writer's Guild of America Strike. They then split the final season in half, airing the two halves a year apart. Although this gave more time for post-production, it caused great irritation in the fanbase.

Webisodes: The Face of the Enemy (2008-09)

These webisodes were produced between the two halves of Season 4. However, due to some slight confusion, they are set between Sometimes a Great Notion and A Disquiet Follows My Soul rather that directly between the two halves of the season. This is because Season 4, Part 2 was originally supposed to end with Sometimes rather than Revelations, but it was decided that Revelations made for a more shocking cliffhanger. Fortunately, the webisodes do not contain any major spoilers for Sometimes. They are not included on either the US or UK DVD sets, but can be found on the Complete Series Blu-Ray set.

Season 4, Part 2 (2009)

• 411: Sometimes a Great Notion
• 412: A Disquiet Follows My Soul
• 413: The Oath
• 414: Blood on the Scales
• 415: No Exit
• 416: Deadlock
• 417: Someone to Watch Over Me
• 418: Islanded in a Stream of Stars
• 419: Daybreak, Part I
• 420: Daybreak, Part II
• 421: Daybreak, Part III

Season 4 was never released as one whole. Instead, the first half was listed as "Season 4" and the second half as "The Final Season" on DVD releases.

TV Movie: The Plan (2010)
The Plan was produced as an attempt to address fan concerns that the Cylons had never actually had "a plan" (as described in the opening to every episode of the first three seasons), and effectively presented everything that happened in the first two seasons from the Cylon POV. However, fan response to the TV movie was muted, especially coming after the conclusion of the series as a whole. The Plan is not part of the Complete Series Blu-Ray set and has to be purchased separately.

 

Caprica

Season 1 (2010)

• 101: Pilot, Part I
• 102: Pilot, Part II
• 103: Rebirth
• 104: Reins of a Waterfall
• 105: Gravedancing
• 106: There is Another Sky
• 107: Know They Enemy
• 108: The Imperfections of Memory
• 109: Ghosts in the Machine
• 110: End of Line
• 111: Unvanquished
• 112: Retribution
• 113: Things We Lock Away
• 114: False Labour
• 115: Blowback
• 116: The Dirteaters
• 117: The Heavens Will Rise
• 118: Here Be Dragons
• 119: Apotheosis

Caprica is a prequel series to BSG, taking place fifty-eight years years prior to the mini-series. It depicts the creation of the Cylons and the sequence of events that led to the First Cylon War. Although cancelled prematurely, an extended coda in the final episode does indicate how the story would have resolved and the war would have started.

Caprica is readily available on DVD, but has not been released properly on Blu-Ray in the UK or USA. Oddly, complete series box sets on Blu-Ray are available from France, Germany and Sweden.


Blood and Chrome (2012)

Blood and Chrome was a proposed second prequel series, taking place sixteen years after the events of Caprica and forty-two before the events of the mini-series. The planned series would have covered the final two years of the First Cylon War. However, the series was never made leaving the pilot as a stand-alone TV movie.

Chronological Order

Watching BSG in chronological order will likely be fairly confusing. BSG is reliant on backstory revelations delivered at key points in the narrative and watching later series and TV movies can result in significant spoilers. Therefore, this is only really recommended as a rewatch experiment.

This is the (rough) show timeline, sans spoilers.

c. 4000 BF (Before the Fall): The Thirteenth Tribe leaves Kobol to colonise Earth. The semi-canon comic book BSG: The Final Five begins.

c. 3600 BF: The Book of Pythia is written.

2000 BF (1,942 years before the events of Caprica): The remaining Twelve Tribes depart Kobol to colonise the Twelve Colonies.

58 BF: Caprica takes place. The epilogue to Season 1 takes place several years later.

52 BF: The First Cylon War begins.

51 BF: The semi-canon video game Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock takes place.

42 BF: Blood & Chrome takes place.

40 BF: The First Cylon War ends. The flashbacks in BSG: Razor take place.

30-20 BF: The flashbacks in BSG: Occupation (episode 201) take place. The semi-canon comic book BSG: The Final Five ends.

c. 6 BF: The flashbacks in BSG: Hero (episode 308) take place. Dialogue in this episode suggest it is more like 1-2 BF, but this was a continuity error.

0: The Fall of the Twelve Colonies. BSG: The Plan begins. BSG: The Mini-Series takes place.

0-1 AF (After the Fall): BSG: Seasons 1-2 and the remainder of The Plan and Razor take place.

2-4 AF: BSG: Seasons 3-4 take place.

The chronological viewing order of the franchise is therefore as follows. I do not recommend you watch the show in this order for a first watch:

1. Caprica
2. Blood & Chrome
3. BSG: The Mini-Series
4. BSG: Seasons 1-2
5. BSG: Razor takes place between Season 2, Episodes 17 and 18.
6. BSG: The Plan takes place betwen the mini-series and Season 2, Episode 20.
7. BSG: The Resistance webisodes
8. BSG: Seasons 3-4 (Part 1)
9. BSG: The Face of the Enemy webisodes
10. BSG: Season 4 (Part 2)

One further thing to consider (alluded to above) is Battlestar Galactica: The Final Five. This is a four-issue comic book written by show scriptwriter Seamus Kevin Fahey. Most of the BSG comics are non-canon, but The Final Five is interesting because it was directly based on the ideas and concepts developed by Ronald D. Moore and the rest of the production team whilst they were planning the final few episodes of the series (particularly the backstory-heavy episode No Exit). This comic book begins over 4,000 years before the rest of the series and tells the story of Kobol, the Thirteenth Tribe, the colonisation of Earth, what happened there and the later activities of the Final Five. Although I would hesitate to take the comic book as canonical, it certainly gives us our best look at what was going on in the deep backstory of the series, as the writers and producers were conceiving it.

In 2017 the video game Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock was released. This was an approved product worked on by some of the team at SyFy who worked on the show, although Ronald D. Moore was not involved. The video game tells the story of the first year or so of the First Cylon War.

A History of Epic Fantasy: Appendix A - Timeline of Notable Books

With work proceeding on the book version of A History of Epic Fantasy, I thought I'd share a tidbit with you here.

This is the first appendix, a timeline of notable, influential or discussed works in the history of epic fantasy or other subgenres which have had a reasonable degree or profile or impact on what came after. The list is, of course, highly subjective but I think this covers both the expected, major works and a number of lower-profile, interesting books. The list is not based on quality, which is why you may find a few lesser-regarded books on here which were, nevertheless, massive sellers. These are also the books that (mostly) will be discussed in the main body of the text.

With a couple of exceptions, only the first volume of a series is listed because otherwise the list would be fifty times longer than it is right now.

Timeline of Key Books:

c. 760-710 BC: The Iliad and The Odyssey, Homer

19 BC:            The Aeneid, Virgil

8 AD: The Metamorphoses, Ovid

1485:   Morte d'Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory

1725:   Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift

1854:   The Rose and the Ring, William Makepeace Thackeray

1858:   Phantastes, George MacDonald

1862:   Goblin Market and Other Poems, Christina Rossetti
1896:   The Well at the World's End, William Morris

1900:   The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Frank L. Baum

1922:   The Worm Ouroboros, E.R. Eddison

1924:   The King of Elfland's Daughter, Lord Dunsany

1926:   Lud-in-the-Mist, Hope Mirlees
1927:   Kull the Conqueror (short story series), Robert E. Howard

1932:   Conan the Barbarian (short story and novel series), Robert E. Howard

1934:   Jiriel of Joiry (short story series) by C.L. Moore
1937:   The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, J.R.R. Tolkien

1938:   The Sword in the Stone (The Once and Future King), T.H. White

1939:   Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser (short story and novel series), Fritz Leiber

1946:   Titus Groan (Gormenghast Trilogy), Mervyn Peake

1949:   The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia), C.S. Lewis

1950:   The Dying Earth (Dying Earth), Jack Vance

1954:   The Broken Sword, Poul Anderson

1954-55: The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien

1961:   The Dreaming City (Elric), Michael Moorcock

1962:   The Letter for the King, Tonke Dragt
1963:   Witch World (Witch World), Andre Norton
1964:   The Book of Three (Chronicles of Prydain), Lloyd Alexander

1965:   Elidor, Alan Garner

1968:   A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea), Ursula K. Le Guin

            Dragonflight (Dragonriders of Pern), Anne McCaffrey
            The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle

1970:   Nine Princes in Amber (Chronicles of Amber), Roger Zelazny

            Deryni Rising (Deryni), Katherine Kurtz
            The Crystal Cave, Mary Stewart

1974:   The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, Patricia A. McKillip

            Dungeons and Dragons (roleplaying game), Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson

1976:   The Riddle-Master of Hed (Riddle-Master), Patricia A. McKillip

1977:   The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien

            Lord Foul's Bane (Chronicles of Thomas Covenant), Stephen Donaldson

            The Sword of Shannara (Shannara), Terry Brooks

            A Spell for Chameleon (Xanth), Piers Anthony

1978:   The Stand, Stephen King
1979:   The Neverending Story, Michael Ende

1980:   The Shadow of the Torturer (Book of the New Sun), Gene Wolfe
1982:   Magician (Riftwar Saga), Raymond E. Feist

            Pawn of Prophecy (The Belgariad), David Eddings

            The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower), Stephen King

            Suldrun's Garden (Lyonesse), Jack Vance

            Daggerspell (Deverry), Katharine Kerr

1983:   The Colour of Magic (Discworld), Terry Pratchett

            The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley

            Harpy's Flight, Megan Lindholm (Robin Hobb)

            Cloud Warrior (Amtrak Wars), Patrick Tilley

1984:   Legend (Drenai), David Gemmell

            The Black Company (Black Company), Glen Cook

            Dragons of Autumn Twilight (Dragonlance),Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman

            Stormwarden (Cycle of Fire), Janny Wurts

1986:   The Wizards and the Warriors (Chronicles of an Age of Darkness), Hugh Cook

            The Anvil of Ice (Winter of the World), Michael Scott Rohan

1987:   Arrows of the Queen (Valdemar), Mercedes Lackey

            The Eyes of the Dragon, Stephen King

            Wolf in Shadow (Sipstrassi), David Gemmell

            Godslayer (Renshai), Mickey Zucker Reichert

1988:   The Dragonbone Chair (Memory, Sorrow & Thorn), Tad Williams

            Dragon Prince (Dragon Prince), Melanie Rawn

            The Crystal Shard (Icewind Dale), R.A. Salvatore

            The Labyrinth Gate, Alis A. Ramussen (Kate Elliott)

            Sheepfarmer's Daughter (Deed of Paksenarrion), Elizabeth Moon

1989:   Shadowrun (roleplaying game), Jordan Weisman

            Guards! Guards! (Discworld), Terry Pratchett
            Sandman (comic series), Neil Gaiman

1990:   The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time), Robert Jordan

            Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay

            Homeland (Dark Elf), R.A. Salvatore
            Good Omens, Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

1992:   Earthdawn (roleplaying game), Jordan Weisman

1993:   Small Gods (Discworld), Terry Pratchett

            Curse of the Mistwraith (Wars of Light & Shadow), Janny Wurts

            The Last Wish (The Witcher), Andrzej Sapkowski

1994:   The Ruins of Ambrai (Exiles), Melanie Rawn

            Wizards' First Rule (Sword of Truth), Terry Goodkind

1995:   Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer), Robin Hobb

            Hawkwood's Voyage (Monarchies of God), Paul Kearney

            The Lions of Al-Rassan, Guy Gavriel Kay

            The Baker's Boy (Book of Words), JV Jones
            Northern Lights (His Dark Materials), Phillip Pullman

1996:   A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire), George R.R. Martin

            The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, Diana Wynne Jones

            The Roof of Voyaging (Navigator Kings), Garry Kilworth

1997:   Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter), J.K. Rowling

            Dark Lord of Derkholm, Diana Wynne Jones

            King's Dragon (Crown of Stars), Kate Elliott

1998:   Colours in the Steel (Fencer), K.J. Parker

            Heroes Die (Acts of Caine), Matt Woodring Stover

            Ship of Magic (Liveship Traders), Robin Hobb

1999:   Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen), Steven Erikson

            A Cavern of Black Ice (Sword of Shadows), J.V. Jones

2000:   Ash: A Secret History, Mary Gentle

            Perdido Street Station, China Miéville

2001:   Kushiel's Dart (Kushiel), Jacqueline Carey

            Cities of Saints and Madmen, Jeff VanderMeer

            The Magician's Guild (Black Magician), Trudi Canavan

            Across the Nightingale Floor (Otori), Lian Hearn

            The Curse of Chalion (War of the Five Gods), Lois McMaster Bujold
            American Gods, Neil Gaiman

2002:   The Scar, China Miéville

            Eragon (Inheritance), Christopher Paolini

2003:   The Etched City, K.J. Bishop

            The Weavers of Saramyr (Braided Path), Chris Wooding

            The Briar King (Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone), Greg Keyes

2004:   The Darkness That Comes Before (Prince of Nothing), R. Scott Bakker

            Night of Knives (Malazan Empire), Ian Cameron Esslemont

            The Year of Our War (Castle), Steph Swainston

            Banewreaker (Sundering), Jacqueline Carey

2005:   Elantris, Brandon Sanderson

2006:   The Blade Itself (First Law), Joe Abercrombie

            The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard), Scott Lynch

            His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire), Naomi Novik

            Scar Night (Deepgate Codex), Alan Campbell

            A Shadow in Summer (Long Price), Daniel Abraham

            The Final Empire (Mistborn), Brandon Sanderson

2007:   The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicle), Patrick Rothfuss

            The Cardinal's Blades (Cardinal's Blades), Pierre Pevel

            Spirit Gate (Crossroads), Kate Elliott

            The Summoner (Necromancer), Gail Z. Martin

2008:   The Steel Remains (Land Fit For Heroes), Richard Morgan

            The Ten Thousand (Macht), Paul Kearney

            The Crown Conspiracy (Ririya Revelations), Michael J. Sullivan

            The Painted Man (Demon), Peter V. Brett

2009:   Pathfinder (roleplaying game), Paizo Publishing

            Nights of Villjamur (Legends of the Red Sun), Mark Charan Newton

            Retribution Falls (Tales of the Ketty Jay), Chris Wooding

2010:   God's War (Bel Dame Apocrypha), Kameron Hurley

            Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay

            The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (Inheritance), N.K. Jemisin
            The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archive), Brandon Sanderson

2011:   Prince of Thorns (Broken Empire), Mark Lawrence

            The Dragon's Path (Dagger and the Coin), Daniel Abraham

            Tome of the Undergates (Aeons' Gate), Sam Sykes

2012:   The Killing Moon (Dreamblood), N.K. Jemisin

            Range of Ghosts (Eternal Sky), Elizabeth Bear

            Blood Song (Raven's Shadow), Anthony Ryan

            The Heir of Night (Wall of Night), Helen Lowe

2013:   Malice (Faithful and the Fallen), John Gwynne

            The Grim Company (Grim Company), Luke Scull

2014:   The Mirror Empire (Worldbreaker), Kameron Hurley

            Prince of Fools (Red Queen's War), Mark Lawrence

            The Emperor's Blades (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne), Brian Staveley

            Promise of Blood (Powder Mage), Brian McClellan

2015:   The Fifth Season (Broken Earth), N.K. Jemisin

            The City Stained Red (Bring Down Heaven), Sam Sykes

Filling the blanks: tying PROMETHEUS to ALIEN

Ridley Scott's new movie Prometheus has won a fair amount of critical acclaim (though a more mixed general reception) and an impressive opening week's worth of money, but it's also left a lot of people pondering over the precise relationship between the movie and Alien, to which it acts as a sort-of prequel. Through careful research (i.e. googling interviews) the following clarifications can be made:

NOTE: MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR PROMETHEUS, ALIEN AND ALIENS.

An Engineer ship crash-landing on the surface of LV-223 in 2093.

Time and Date
Prometheus opens in 2089 with the discovery of a cave painting in Scotland which points the way to the Engineer base. The ship arrives at this location in the final week of 2093, with the final moments of the film taking place on New Year's Day, 2094.

No date is given in Alien for the action, save that it happens in the 22nd Century (due to the presence of a crew uniform patch that says, 'Flag of the United Americas 2104 to present'). In Aliens Carter Burke orders the colonists to investigate the crashed Engineer ship on 12 June '79. Assuming Aliens happens in 2179, then Alien takes place 57 years earlier, in 2122 (and this was later confirmed in featurettes in the Alien Legacy boxed set). From a computer display at the start of Alien, the movie starts on 3 June.

Thus, Prometheus concludes 28 years, 5 months and 2 days before the start of Alien.

The planet LV-426 orbits, along with several of its moons, in 2122.

Location
The planetary body that Prometheus flies to is called LV-223. The planetoid that the Nostromo crew land on in Alien (and is later colonised by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation prior to the events of Aliens) is called LV-426, informally known as 'Acheron'. The different designations seemingly confirm that these are different planetoids.

Both planetoids are depicted as moons circling larger gas giants. LV-426 is one of at least four moons orbiting a red-hued gas giant. LV-223 is one of two moons orbiting a blue-coloured gas giant. Given that we physically see four moons in Alien (three moons and the gas giant are seen in LV-426's sky) and a comprehensive 3D starmap in Prometheus only shows two, the conclusion is that these are different gas giants (otherwise the gas giant changes colour and acquires two additional moons in thirty years, which seems implausible).

In Alien, LV-426 is identified as being located in the Zeta II Reticuli star system. Zeta Reticuli is a real star system located 39.16 light-years from Earth in the constellation Reticulum, consisting of two stars in a binary orbit. However, the two stars are extremely far apart (dozens of times the distance between the Sun and Pluto), meaning that each star could hold an extensive solar system of its own without gravitationally interfering with the other.

LV-223, along with its mother planet and another moon, as shown on the Prometheus's scanners in 2093.

In Prometheus, the destination star system is not identified. A distance of 327,000,000,000,000 km is given, which translates as 34.56 light-years. Given that Zeta Reticuli's distance has been estimated with a strong degree of accuracy (the error margin is only 0.1 light-years), this would seem to confirm that LV-422 is not only a different planetoid to the one in Alien and Aliens, but is located in a totally different star system altogether. Some fans have postulated that LV-422 is located at Gliese 86, a star just under 35 light-years away in the constellation of Eridanus. This is especially popular as an extrasolar gas giant was discovered circling Gliese 86 in 2000. Gliese 86 and Zeta Reticuli are located in the same general neighbourhood, only being separated from one another by 10 light-years.

This splendid theorising has been torpedoed by Ridley Scott saying straight-out that Prometheus takes place in the Zeta Reticuli II star system as well, however.

Thus, the two planetoids in Prometheus and Alien - LV-223 and LV-426 - are different planetoids but they are located in the same star system. Based on the evidence above, I'd still suggest they are orbiting different gas giants.

The USS Sulaco approaching LV-426 in 2179.

Engineer bases and ships
According to Prometheus, the Engineers built an extensive military installation on LV-223 more than two thousand years ago. This installation consists of approximately five large domed buildings, each huge in size. At least two of the buildings had large, horseshoe-shaped spacecraft located adjacent to them. The installation appeared to be a base for the creation of a biological weapon of mass destruction, apparently for use against Earth. This facility was overrun and its population almost completely wiped out by unknown forces (but likely a bioweapon they lost control of) approximately 2,000 years before the events of Alien.

In Alien and Aliens, an Engineer starship of similar design to those seen in Prometheus is found on the surface of LV-426. Initial assumptions were that it had crashed, but more recent interviews (at the 18-minute mark) have suggested it landed or was parked deliberately there. According to Ridley Scott, this ship originated at the LV-223 facility and was on its way somewhere else (presumably not Earth) with its cargo of facehuggers when its cargo got out of control. The pilot landed on LV-426 and was killed, within a couple of hundred years of the destruction of the LV-223 facility (so between 1,800 and 2,200 years before the events of Alien). The fact that the facehugger eggs could survive and remain viable for that time period is impressive.

A mural in the Engineer base on LV-223, suggesting that the xenomorphs were extant more than 2,000 years ago.

The bioweapons and the xenomorph
On LV-223 a black liquid stored in vase-like containers serves as a destructive bioweapon. It can animate corpses, turning them into monstrous killers, and transform little worms into large, snake-like monsters. Rather more bizarrely, it can convert human sperm into a parasite-like creature that, when given a female human body to gestate in, transforms into a squid-like creature which can grow to colossal (some might indeed say, totally fricking preposterous) size and then impregnate another type of creature into another host, a creature which more closely resembles the traditional xenomorphs.

On LV-426, the cargo of the crashed Engineer ship consisted of eggs which, when hatched, produced parasitic 'facehuggers'. These creatures would attach themselves to a human or animal host and place an embryo in their chest. After a period of gestation (typically several hours, or several days for a queen creature capable of laying further eggs en masse) this 'chestburster' erupts through the host's ribcage and grows to large size within a matter of hours. This creature is the traditional xenomorph. Unlike the black goo things on LV-223, the xenomorph's life cycle appears fairly stable and predictable.

Note that, based on both the information provided by Scott in interviews and the mural in the LV-223 facility depicting the traditional xenomorph, the traditional xeno appears to have already been in existence for some time when the base on LV-223 was wiped out. This would then seem to contradict the popular (and perhaps obvious) theory that the black goo stuff in Prometheus is some type of prototype that would lead to the familiar xeno in future films (though the appearance of a proto-xeno in the final seconds of Prometheus would seem to suggest that this was the direction things were heading in).

Based on all of this I would argue that the standard xenomorph was already in existence and the Prometheus bioweapon was an attempt to replicate it. Given the inefficency of the Prometheus creatures, with a confusing and bizarre life-cycle, it can be concluded that the Prometheus bioweapon was a miserable failure. Perhaps all of their 'normal' xenomorph eggs had been put on the LV-426 ship and they were forced to develop a secondary weapon when their main one was put beyond their reach (which seems extremely unlikely, but there doesn't seem to be too many other conclusions that can be reached)?


Conclusion (speculation)
The Engineers are an intelligent alien race who may have had a hand in the appearance of life on Earth. If not, they certainly visited our stone age ancestors around 35,000 years ago. 2,000 years ago a group of Engineers, possibly military in origin, established a base on LV-223, a moon in the Zeta II Reticuli system, 39 light-years from Earth. They created a bioweapon, apparently taking inspiration from an already-existing alien lifeform known as the xenomorph. They apparently decided to wipe out life on Earth for reasons unknown (possibly ranging from fear that their creations were getting out of control to one of their emissaries being nailed to a cross - this latter idea is extremely idiotic, so hopefully that's not the direction they are going in).

A ship took of from the LV-223 base carrying a cargo hold full of xenomorph eggs. The pilot ended up getting infected. He made an emergency landing on LV-426, a moon circling a neighbouring gas giant in the same system, but was killed. He activated a warning beacon telling his fellows to stay away. They respected that and did not go after him. Instead, they decided to use their own bioweapon (perhaps thinking they could control it better than the xenos themselves, or perhaps they had put all of their xeno eggs on the ship and lost them in the crash) against Earth, but it got out of control and wiped out most of the facility. The last surviving Engineer managed to seal himself in stasis in a ship away from the threat of the bioweapon but ended up oversleeping by 2,000 years, until he was awoken by the crew of the Prometheus and was then infected by the bioweapon and killed.

There are still plot holes you can drive a power loader through in this scenario, but this does seem to be a fairly likely chain of events given the information we have so far.