Theory:Timeline - River Song
If this thread's title doesn't specify it's spoilery, don't bring any up.
This page lists appearances of River Song, aka Melody Pond in the order in which she experienced them. This timeline is based upon observations of the Doctor Who universe and the events that occur in each of these stories, as well as the narrative feature of CON: When Time Froze, River Song: Her Story, which states her entire history up to the airdate of that Doctor Who Confidential episode. We have attempted to build a concise timeline from these observations.
Limiting factors
to be added
Series basics
River Song has only appeared in a handful of Doctor Who media, mostly from series 5 and 6 of the television series, but she is noteworthy for having met the Tenth and Eleventh Doctor, as well as her parents, Amy Pond and Rory Williams in an anachronic order. As a result, the audience also sees her in an order different from how she experiences things. There are also several stories where as many as three Rivers at different points in her timestream, appear.
For the sake of clarity, her first incarnation will be referred to as "little girl" or "baby" to differentiate from her third, which dominates her appearances in the Doctor Who universe.
Timeline
- As a baby.
- Set decades after Day of the Moon, but resolves the final scene of that story. River enrolls at Luna University.
- The Wedding of River Song directly follows Closing Time. Her scenes from The Wedding of River Song at 2011 Lake Silencio take place near her future self. The Impossible Astronaut overlaps these events. River is imprisoned at Stormcage following The Wedding of River Song.
- In First Night and Last Night we see multiple River Songs from different points in her time stream. One River is from early in her timeline, on the first night of her imprisonment in Stormcage. The second River has been in Stormcage for not less than 5 years and not more then 6. The second River comments on the dress that the Doctor brings for the first River and asks him "does anyone agree to wear that dress?" River goes on to wear the dress in question first during the events of Day of the Moon and later for her date with the Doctor in Darillium. This places the events of The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon as more than five years into her prison sentence.
- In A Good Man Goes to War we see River speak to Rory at Stormcage, and we later see River show up at the end of the Battle of Demon's Run. The River who speaks to Rory at Stormcage is likely an older River then the River at Demon's Run, as she knows when she appears and is able to reference Demon's Run in her diary.
- The Impossible Astronaut features the older River who sees her past self at the lakeside in 2011. The Wedding of River Song overlaps with these events.
- Part two of The Impossible Astronaut.
- River is not yet a professor. She refers to the events of The Pandorica Opens to the Eleventh Doctor, who hasn't yet witnessed them.
- TV: The Wedding of River Song (final scene)
- Immediately follows the events of Flesh and Stone.
- River has been pardoned from Stormcage and is now a professor. The events of The Angel's Kiss: A Melody Malone Mystery lead up to and occur in The Angels Take Manhattan.
- In Last Night we see multiple River Songs and multiple Eleventh Doctors from different points in their respective time streams. One of the Doctors is taking River to the Singing Towers of Darillium, which is the last time River sees the Doctor before Silence in the Library.
- River dies in the Library, but has her data ghost uploaded to the computer.
- The River in this episode is the River stored in the Library's computer. This is the first appearance of River in her timeline after her death.
Unplaced
- These events are set, in any case, between First Night and The Angels Take Manhattan.
