#echovn timeline

[blindseer0]

Echo General Timeline

(Another repost from Twitter from back in February)

I was watching Keith Ballard's Echo playthrough, and at one point they wonder what the ages of the characters are. People responded with a bunch of contradictory answers, so I decided to find out myself. A few disclaimers:

Echo was made over 7+ years with multiple writers. We don’t know how much of the timeline was planned out, what ambiguity is because it’s a horror mystery, and what are errors. Chase also canonly has a shitty memory for dates and ages (he’s just like me, fr).

I’m definitely putting more thought into this than anyone should, and probably more thought than the writers did (or should be expected to). This is largely for fun (and because my brain is “Just Like that” ™) and should not be taken too seriously.

I’ll try to address contradictions, but I hope to go deeper in another thread. I will cover my guesses there as well. If I can’t back it up with a screenshot, it’s not here. If anyone has screenshots of the writers confirming or denying these ages, let me know. Now onto the show:

When Do The Games Take Place?

Echo takes place in 2015, in mid to late March.

Route 65 takes place on November 1, 2008. (This was a Saturday in real life and I was recovering from a Halloween costume wedding at a strip club the night before.)

Chase

Echo: 21

Route 65: 15

Comments: Chase, being the MC, is pretty straightforward. His age is stated in both games, though we never get a birthdate. He’s in the same grade level as Carl, graduated High School in May 2012 and started college in Fall of 2012.

Carl Echo: 20

Route 65: 14

Born: April 1994

Comments: Carl is my favorite because his birthday is a plot point. His 8th birthday party was on April 19th, 2002. That was a Friday (yes, I checked), so it’s possible that was the actual day and not just the party.

TJ

Echo: 19

Route 65: 13

Comments: TJ is also pretty easy, since they state his age in the prologue and Route 65. Chase forgets his age during Leo’s route, but there are enough other scenes (not pictured) that confirm he’d be 19 at this point in the year.

Flynn

Echo: 25

Route 65: 18

Comments: Flynn is established multiple times as the oldest of the group, and his age is stated pretty clearly during his route. Plenty to say about the character (and I will), but not much about his age.

Jenna

Echo: 21-22 (The wiki is wrong and I will fight it)

Route 65: ???

Comments: This is where it gets tricky. Jenna’s age is never stated in either game. However, we get her age during the “Runaway” side story. We also know she’s at least one grade level above Chase and Carl, since she’s graduating college in 2015. Since she was 17 in May 2010, the oldest she can be in March 2015 is 22 (17+5). If her birthday was right before she ran away it’s possible she’s 21, but we know no one has a birthday in March or April, so it’s more likely that she ran away right before she turned 18.

Leo

Echo: Fuck if I Know

Route 65: *Deep Beleaguered Sigh*

Comments: You’d think for someone whose age is a plot point this would be easy, but nope. Leo’s exact age is never actually said during either game. We get clues, which I’ll cover, but nothing as specific as everyone else. The most exact thing we get is a throwaway line in Flynn’s Route that his birthday is probably in February. He’s likely two grades above Chase, since we know he played Football during the 2009 season (which ends in November/December), which would mean he graduated in May 2010.

We do get his age in relation to other people. He’s roughly one year younger than Flynn, and three years older than Micha. Flynn is 25, and Micha is “nearly 21 now!” (which is the type of thing a 19-year-old would say). If we assume Micha is telling the truth and is 20, Leo is 23-24.

If Micha is 20 going on 21 in March 2015, then he was probably 14 in November 2008. If Leo’s birthday is really in February, then he’d have been 17 in Route 65, and 24 in Echo, which are solid answers, but technically guesses because they rely on so much shaky information.

There you go, (mostly) solid ages for all the main characters in Echo. If you have any screenshots from the games or the creators that prove or disprove this thread, please send them my way. Let me know what you think, and if there is anything else you’d want to see.

I’m hoping to do more threads covering the contradictions, when Sydney actually died (and his age), speculation about birthdates, and when Chase was conceived, because I’m a monster.

[blindseer0]

Echo: November 1st

Happy Day of the Dead everyone. It’s the 16th* anniversary of Chase and Leo hooking up (in universe), so I felt like I’d do a long, rambling post about that day. For fun. Hopefully you find something to enjoy here.

First thing of note is that, in “Route 65”, November 1st, 2008, was a Friday. In our world it was a Saturday. Not super important, but as someone who pretty vividly remembers that day, it stands out.

(Well, the day before. My friend had invited me to her Aunt’s Halloween Costume wedding, which turned out to be at a strip club. There were poles but no dancers, unless you count the guests who were dressed as Sexy Devil in a speedo, sexy police women, and two sexy Borats in swimwear.)

Anyways, back to Echo. TJ was 13, Carl was 14 (though they imply 15 a few times), Chase was 15, and Flynn was 18. We don’t know the exact ages of any of the other characters, though we can guess. It’s implied Flynn is still in school, which probably means he’s in 12th grade, Leo in 11th, Jenna in 10th, Chase/Carl in 9th, and TJ in 8th.

Interestingly, TJ talks about how he talked to Flynn and Leo at lunch, which means either the schools are really close together and have open campuses, or they go to a combined Middle/High school (I assume this wasn’t intended).

Micha is implied to be in a grade below Chase, meaning he would have been an 8th grader. Jenna says in her route that he and Leo have a 3-year age gap. Micha also says in that route that he’s “almost 21”. Which means he’s either 13 or 14.

In Flynn’s route its mentioned that Leo is a year younger than Flynn and his birthday is in February. What that means is he’s either 16 or 17 (you can decide which age gap is worse/you prefer).

Usually the bus also carries (at least) Heather, Jenna, Jeremy, Clint, and TJ (no mention of Micha or Clint’s sister). We know Leo drives, and we can assume Flynn does as well. (It’s possible Micha hitches a ride with Leo, but no proof.)

Jenna didn’t go to school and TJ got a ride home from his mother. Jeremy was at school, but we don’t know how he got home. We don’t know if Clint or Heather went to school that day, though we do see Heather at the party.

November 1st is also Chase’s parents’ anniversary. That’s why they were home to catch him with his pants (literally) down. He says his mom is usually gone by five and his father by six, implying they caught him after six.

He says it takes about 45 minutes to get from Echo to Payton, so since school in the USA usually starts between 7:30 am and 8 am, we can assume they caught him around 6:30 am. (Now for the return timeline). School usually ends between 3 pm and 3:30 pm (though it obviously varies). 45 minutes back (plus time for the students to get on the bus in the first place) means the earliest they’d be getting off the bus is 4 pm.

We see the sun start to set while they’re driving back and while they’re walking to Carl’s house. Carl’s house is on top of a hill, so they walk up to it, walk back down, and then go to Jenna’s house. By the time they get there, Jeremy is back and lying on the couch in his underwear.

It’s hard to tell when the sun has fully set in game, but by the time they’re on their way to the factory, its officially night.  Sundown on that day was between 5:30 and 6 (depending on state). That means another hour and a half had to pass.

If we assume at least 20 minutes per mile (and arguably more for casual pace, uphill, and probably no sidewalks), then that adds at least another hour (plus talking to Jenna), which would get them right to when the sun is set.

(Chase and Carl aren’t mentioned to have their school stuff on them during the party, so we can assume they dropped them off at Carl’s before heading back down.)

Then the Parsons factory is three-ish miles away. Again, we can assume an hour to an hour and a half walk, putting their arrival between 7-8 (including hesitating at the entrance). They go in, things go bad, and Chase gets punched.

He wanders around in a haze for a bit before finding Leo and Micha in a van by the road (not that he remembers). Leo brings him back to the factory, finds TJ being dragged around, and kicks the shit out of some people.

By the time Chase wakes up, the blood on Leo’s hands is dry and TJ’s mother is on her way to pick him up. Carl has also run far enough away to regain cell service. We have absolutely no idea how long any of this actually takes.

While Leo and Chase are coming back from the factory, the sun is starting to rise, which means its probably around 6/6:30 (sunrise was 7 am ish that day, depending on state). This leaves like 6 hours unaccounted for.

(Again, I am putting more thought into this than the creators probably did, and definitely more than they should be expected to). The point being, Leo and Chase’s Anniversary was officially November 2nd (which means this post is still on time).

(In a previous route, I think Leo’s, its mentioned that their first kiss was actually in summer, which this story definitely isn’t. Not an issue, just something I think is interesting.)

Chase mentions on the way back that he’s been up for almost 24 hours, and that’s before they get to the train tracks. So in conclusion Route 65 (probably) takes place from roughly 4 pm to 7:30 am.

Thank you for joining me for this long, rambling journey. Hope everyone had a better Day of the Dead than our favorite unlucky friend group.