1190: Time

Time

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Title text: The end.

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The comic image is a link to geekwagon.net/projects/xkcd1190.

Explanation

I wrote the whole story before I drew the first frame, and had almost a thousand panels already drawn before I posted the first one. But as the story progressed, the later panels took longer to draw than I expected, and Time began—ironically—eating more and more of my time. Frames that went up every hour were sometimes taking more than an hour to make, and I spent the final months doing practically nothing but drawing.

—Randall Munroe, Source

Beginning with a single frame published at midnight on March 25, 2013, the image was updated every 30 minutes until March 30, 2013, and then every hour for 118 days (123 days in total), ending on July 26 with a total of 3,102 unique images. Each image represented a single frame in a larger story, set in the far future, at a time when the Strait of Gibraltar has long been blocked and the Mediterranean Sea has largely dried up leaving smaller, hypersaline seas behind. Megan and Cueball, living on the shores of one of these seas and unaware of its natural history, notice one day while building a huge sand castle on the beach that the sea level is starting to rise. They start a journey of exploration trying to find out why. Eventually they discover that the Straits of Gibraltar have once again been breached, and that the Mediterranean Basin is being flooded. They run back to their home, assemble the people of their village, and board a makeshift raft. At the end they reach land with their rafts, searching for a new home.

On frame 2925 the title text changed from "Wait for it." to "...", and one frame later to just "RUN.". At approximately 2944, when Megan announces that it is too late to escape overland, the title text changed back to "...". On frame 3094, the words THE END appear in the middle of the screen and the title text changed to "The end.". The image now links to the scrollable collection of frames at geekwagon.net/projects/xkcd1190/. The comic on xkcd.com today currently loops through the last five frames of the comic.

Format

This comic is a series of images which play as a rough animation. The pictures were updated over the course of time. The comic ran for 2973 hours (over 124 days) and consists of 3101 image frames. For the first 120 hours, a new frame replaced the previous frame every 30 minutes, at :00 and :30 of each hour; the remaining frames have since been revealed every hour. The update was done server-side, with the server redirecting the image link (time.png) to a different image every hour. The source images have very long random hash names, which made it virtually impossible to access future frames. There is no way to view past frames on the official xkcd website, and only the current frame is posted there at any given time. Given the unique nature of this comic, the full image archives can be browsed through several websites that have been dedicated to tracking it (see below).

Readers typically have divided the comic into four scenes (see below). For example, at 850 hours (36 days 10 hours) the first "scene" of the comic ended at frame 971 with a fade to white, ushering in a second scene from frame 972. Some of the last few frames of scene 1 are nearly white, but faint images can be seen in the normalized pictures available below (Day 36, Monday, April 29, 2013, normalized).

Reception

• The comic was awarded the 2014 Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story.
• The comic garnered "obsessive" attention from viewers on xkcd's forum, with a discussion thread exceeding 2,500 pages and 100,000 posts.
• "Time" had developed a fanatical following that pored over every update pixel by pixel and gathered online to trade theories, decipher clues, and even write songs.
• The comic has its very own wiki with over a thousand pages on that one strip.
• The comic has its own article on Wikipedia.
• The Verge’s Jeff Blagdon called the journey "epic".
• Wired’s Laura Hudson also suitably referred the comic strip as "epic".
• The story was also reported by Washington Post’s Andrea Peterson.
• Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing saying it was "coming along nicely" during publishing with an "astounding backstory" upon its conclusion.

Extra Time pages

Since this comic is so complicated, extra pages have been created to include much more information than is wished for on this main page. These pages are listed here for convenience, but they are also linked in the relevant sections below:

• 1190: Time/Transcript - The full transcript of the entire comic can be found here. It is linked from the Transcript section.
• 1190: Time/Translator - All the blurry text from the translator, both with the original image and enhanced contrast.
• 1190: Time/Frame by Frame Breakdown - List of all the frames of the comic, in the order that they were revealed.
• 1190: Time/Pictures - Timelines of the walks along the river and on to the mountains, combining the scenery, action, and dialogues into a smooth timeline.

Plot

Scene 1: The castle and the Sea

Megan and Cueball are alone on a sandy beach near the sea. They begin to build a sand castle on the beach. The two continue to expand the castle back from the seashore as the scene zooms out. Briefly they have fun launching small objects at the castle with a trebuchet before continuing the build.

Both Cueball and Megan each leave the scene for extended periods at times but always return to continue building. They add what appears to be scaffolding and ladders to expand the castle skyward. All the while, Cueball and Megan wax philosophically about the nature of the sea, the feeding river, the rising tides, and what else lies in the world. In the end, the two decide to go off and explore the world as the sea begins to erode the castle and the scene fades to white.

One other character appears during the fade; A girl with a beret, similar to Beret Guy, briefly appears to view the castle before leaving. She returns in the last two frames before the fade-to-white completes, dragging something.

Scene 2: Exploring an unknown world

Scene 2 - Part 1: Walking on flatlands and then reaching the base of the hill

Cueball and Megan are walking with bags across a relatively level surface. The terrain looks like frame 1, albeit from a wider angle, showing they are walking along the coast. The scene shifts multiple times between views of them to the left of the sea, and 90° rotated views of them walking overland. Sometimes these shifts in angle are marked by corresponding shifts between front and profile views of their bodies.

Megan indicates she has never been so far "this way". They reach a river they haven't seen before. Cueball slips in and loses his bottle. He contemplates swimming out to get it, but Megan says it is too dangerous. Later when Megan gets too close to the edge, Cueball senses danger and pulls her back.

After a small talk both agree to find a ford. After walking for a while, Megan realizes that the river was wider than they realized. The branch of the river they were walking along joins up with another branch and the opposite bank eventually comes into view.

They stop for a break and Cueball dozes off and mumbles in his sleep. They discuss this river and the differences between it and theirs before continuing upriver.

Scene 2 - Part 2: Fun on dunes, some Berries, a frog, and the baobab trees

The terrain begins to slope noticeably uphill. They wonder if others have noticed the rise of the sea and find tents left by other people. They walk deeper into the dunes, having fun by jumping and sliding. Megan falls after jumping too high.

A bird appears in the sky. They watch it until it's gone, then begin walking again. Some vegetation appears, grass and then small trees. They stop and nap beneath a larger tree, seeming to have never seen one like it before.

After a rest Cueball goes off to explore. He picks some berries and examines a campfire pit, then walks back to Megan and shares his findings. They wonder why the prior owners of the tent have left.

They stop at the river to drink, then climb a ridge, and are awestruck by two tall trees. As they walk through the trees, the first large tree has markings on the trunk and the fourth large tree has a strangely bent top. They comment on these features before they continue on past three more huge trees and a regular-sized one.

Scene 2 - Part 3: A vineyard, a snake is on their way, and a bird is protecting its baby

They enter a vineyard and eat some grapes.

The two travel on. Cueball encounters a snake (possibly a stick?) while climbing a small cliff and falls back. They find another section of the cliff and continue. After that they reach a tree with a nest in it with a young baby bird crying for its food. The bird's mother feeds it, then Cueball takes a short nap while Megan investigates a small river.

Scene 2 - Part 4: Walking uphill, a large cliff, and some mysterious animals

The pair continue to climb the mountain, commenting here and there on the possibility of turning back, but Megan wants to see what's at the top. Eventually, they stumble upon a small shelter and a few other signs of inhabitants. They investigate the surrounding area.

Scene 2 - Part 5: The cougar attack

A cougar attacks Cueball, but most of the hit is absorbed by his backpack (Cueball is still forced to the ground) and Megan gets in the way with a large stick. The cougar runs away, although it still allowed the cougar to claw her leg.

Scene 2 - Part 6: Starting to walk to the top of the mountain, the sun sets down

Megan and Cueball realize that, considering how far away they are from home, it would be best to press on towards the people in the Mountains in hopes they can help than risk returning home. Cueball and Megan then take turns sleeping as night arrives. Cueball takes the first watch. While Megan sleeps, a meteor appears in the sky. Then Megan takes the next watch. When Cueball wakes up, they start their journey again up the mountain, which is slower due to Megan's injuries as Cueball has to help her over some of the steeper climbs.

Scene 2 - Part 7: After the night the final attempt to reach the top of the mountain

After they reach a plateau there is a tower. Megan climbs up and sees other people. Cueball is curious and climbs the tower too. On top of that tower Megan remarks her wound doesn't hurt much when walking but it does when she climbs.

Scene 3: Finding an unknown tribe

Scene 3 - Part 1: Finding other people

Then, they continue their travel at the plateau. They run into three people, all of whom look like Knit Cap, who speak a language that they are unable to understand. Despite the language barrier, Megan shows her wounded leg and the strangers proceed to take a closer look at her. The strangers then help her to sit down on a stone. After the stranger with the medical equipment is back they do some kind of first aid. Megan expresses her thanks, and the strangers indicate via drawings in the sand that they should follow.

Scene 3 - Part 2: Walking to the long haired woman

After walking uphill again they approach another tower. A device is mounted to the top and more smaller devices are around. They drink some water there and Cueball learns his first word in this new language: "water" or "drink". To aid communication, they start to draw pictures on the ground. Cueball shows their travel from the sea to the current location, and the stranger adds the rising sea level, indicating that he knows about this happening. The stranger shows a castle some more uphill and a long haired woman behind it. Cueball hopes they can speak to her, and the stranger explains with a drawing that it's less than a day away. The strangers collect their devices and store them somewhere. Then they start the travel to the castle. When they rest, Megan and Cueball taste some food offered by the strangers; they like it. A large flag appears and they encounter a small city. A big castle, still under construction, is visible in front of them. Megan states that she never thought she would ever see a real castle, and Cueball states that he didn't think that there were real castles. On their way to the castle they meet another stranger, exchanging some greetings. Then they enter the castle.

Scene 3 - Part 3: Inside the castle

The five people walk down a stairway and enter a large hall. Large windows showing a dazzling light are high above them. They approach a long-haired woman at a desk who greets them. After Cueball asks, it appears she can "somewhat" understand him and Megan. The woman asks where they came from and asks about their home; she asks if they brought anyone else. Megan and Cueball say they're trying to find out why the sea is changing. The woman explains that there is another sea which was once connected to theirs, but has since been cut off. She says that the water is now flowing back into their sea, and that the level will continue to rise. She shows Megan and Cueball a map of the area, including the castle, their sea, and the bigger sea which is joining it. The woman then shows the predicted new shoreline, which closely resembles that of the Mediterranean Sea. Megan assumes that the level rise is slow and will last for some years. The woman disagrees, and explains that the water level will rise over the course of a few days. Faced with knowledge of the imminent destruction of their village, Megan and Cueball bolt from the room and begin to run.

Scene 4: Recovering the people at their home

Scene 4 - Part 1: Megan and Cueball running home

They leave the castle and run back the same way as they came. They encounter some people on their way out. By this time the title text has changed from 'Wait for it' to '...' to 'RUN.' They pass some more people they met before and when they are alone, Megan reveals that she has stolen the maps from the long-haired woman. Megan hopes she can give them back sometime. Cueball is happy and they continue their journey by using the maps. They reach their village, where they find that the people are aware of the rising sea levels, and that some of them have already gone up into the now-abandoned hills to see what items were left behind. Megan and Cueball tell them that the sea will continue to rise, and they make preparations to evacuate uphill.

Scene 4 - Part 2: The tribe gets ready to move on their raft

It turns out that Beret Girl from before has turned Megan and Cueball's sandcastle into a boat. Megan has the idea to ride it on the rising waters, but they need to hurry to prepare it.

Scene 4 - Part 3: The tribe on their raft

The raft is hastily made seaworthy and the tribe goes off in pursuit of the rest. They find the others floating on a makeshift canoe from a piece of floating debris. A rope is thrown and the two boats try to pull each other closer. At one point the boats bump into each other and everyone falls over. A new day arises and as Cueball and Megan rebuild their sandcastle on top of the raft, the raft runs aground. The tribe rushes off to explore the new land, and the raft is left behind at the end of the story at the mercy of the wind and waves.

View all the frames of the comic

• Faster, navigable versions of the comic are available at these links:
  • A scrollable version is at geekwagon.net/projects/xkcd1190/ (with code on GitHub), this is now being linked to from the comic's site.
  • xkcd.aubronwood.com (Now defunct, archive)
  • richardwestenra.com/xkcds-time-animated-time-lapse/.
  • xkcd.mscha.org
• There is also a wiki dedicated to this particular comic and the related forum thread, at xkcd-time.wikia.com/.
• A physics simulation of the trebuchet written in JavaScript/HTML5 is available at thred.github.io/xkcd-time-catapult/. The code is hosted on GitHub, too.
• There is an Android app which notifies users when a new image is posted and lets them view the image from within the app, available on Google Play (now defunct, archive).
• The code for the app is hosted on GitHub and encourages contribution of new features or enhancements.
• An hourly updated graph of the rising water level is available at [1] (now defunct, archive)
• There is a map (now defunct, archive) with guesses on the locations that Megan and Cueball visit.
• Another map of estimated travel paths with terrain data is here: TimeTerrainMap.png.
• Additional composite scenes are located here: 1190: Time/Pictures. Some of the images are very large and may be slow to load.
• Investigations on the blurry speech by the woman in the big castle at scene 3 part 3 are here: 1190: Time/Translator. Please help to enhance the pictures there for better readings.
• On July 29, 2013 Randall did a post at his blag about this comic.

Time's forum thread

The xkcd forum thread on Time grew terrifyingly fast, developing a subculture with its own vocabulary, songs, inside jokes, and even a religion or two. [..] To the intrepid, clever, sometimes crazy readers who followed it the whole way through, watching every pixel change and catching every detail: Thank you. This was for you. It’s been quite a journey; I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did!

—Randall Munroe, Source

In September 2019, the xkcd fora (administered separately from this wiki of the comic site) were made inactive, due to ultimately unresolvable website security issues, rendering all direct links defunct. There has still been no successful move to reinstate the site even after several years and so (unless there are archived copies accessible) it can be assumed that neither fora.xkcd.com nor forums.xkcd.com links will render anything useful. However, there is an archived mirror of the "One True Thread" about Time from the xkcd forum, complete through mid 2019 when the forum system went down.

In the xkcd fora, this comic was given a thread like any other comic. The Time thread expanded over the months of the comic's running to include 1254 pages, or just over 50,000 posts, and continued thereafter at a considerable pace. As of August 23, 2018, it had over 106,000 posts and an enormous 38,000,000 views, which easily tops every other thread, while still being quite active. More than 1/3 of all posts within the Individual XKCD Comic Threads subforum were in the 1190: "Time" thread. Compared to the thread for Click and Drag, it had over 50 times as many views and 150 times as many posts, while the typical comic thread had 30 to 200 posts. Its activity as a percentage of the entire fora can be seen in this graph.

The many frequent posters of the thread developed a culture surrounding Time, creating their own mannerisms, vocabulary, and jokes on top of extracting every detail from the comic and recording every frame.

Transcript

[This transcript only covers the first frames. A full transcript of the entire comic can be found at this page.]

+00:00 [Megan and Cueball sitting on a beach near a ocean.]

+01:00 [Megan looks back.]

+02:00 [Cueball looks back.]

+03:00 [Megan looks up.]

+04:00 [Megan reclines. Cueball looks at her.]

+06:00 [Cueball gets up and inspects the water.]

+07:30 [Cueball "puts a toe in the water".]

+09:00 [Cueball returns to sit next to the still reclining Megan.]

+09:30 [Megan sits up.]

+12:00 [Megan and Cueball start to build a sandcastle.]

+25:30

Cueball: Later

Megan: Bye

[Cueball leaves, Megan continues to build the sandcastle.]

[For the full transcript of the entire comic, see 1190: Time/Transcript.]

Discussion

This discussion was removed due to its extreme length; go to Talk:1190: Time to view it.