I have a theory on why rick was gone so long and why his memories in S1 ep10 are different from what we currently know about rick’s past.
In S2 ep10 we see bird person talk about ricks involvement in some kind of revolution. We are not told specifics, but we do know that it made rick a lot of enemies including the galactic government.
When I first saw S2 ep10 my first thought on the matter was that maybe rick has been gone for the past 20 years because of this “war” with the galactic government and all the other enemies he has made over the years. That could have resulted in him staying away for numerous reasons: maybe he was jailed at some point, maybe he had to go into hiding, hell maybe he really just wanted to protect his family.
However, after further consideration and watching too many theory videos, I’m thinking that, yes he did get into the war with the galactic government and all that other fun stuff, BUT he lost his family in the process. In S1 ep10 we are shown an image of rick holding a baby morty as well as in a photo in S2 ep5. This makes me think that things got out of hand somehow and rick’s original morty was killed, if not his whole family.
Rick, unable to deal with this, eventually has to find a new dimension where his family is still alive, and their rick has died. This would explain why he is so relaxed when he is burying his own corpse in S1 ep6.
I have no idea if any of this is accurate, just thought i would throw in my idea. I would love to hear what anyone else thinks on it.
