Timeline

The following article is a timeline of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

The general timeline begins approximately three years prior to the beginning of "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody" (that point is referred to as year -3). The series itself starts in April of year 0. Timeline information is derived from the light novels and The Observation of Haruhi Suzumiya, the latter includes a timeline of the first year in high school.

Only one specific date is given in the light novels: 1702 (15th year of the Genroku Emperor), Yauemon Tsuruya, the patriarch of the Tsuruya clan, discovered a mysterious titanium alloy device. He hid it on a hill under a gourd-shaped rock, which the SOS Brigade discovered during The Intrigues.

=Timeline By Year=

Distant Past

 * Approximately 280 million BC: A form of data organism, an evolutionary offshoot of the Data Overmind, went extinct. One member went dormant on Earth. (Mystérique Sign)
 * 1702 (15th year of the Genroku Emperor): Yauemon Tsuruya, the patriarch of the Tsuruya clan, discovered a mysterious titanium alloy device. He hid it on a hill under a gourd-shaped rock, which the SOS Brigade discovered in year 1. (The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya)
 * 1905,, (Meiji (明治時代 (Meiji-jidai)) 38): Kyon (probably) has a dream taking place in this time period.

Year -6

 * Tsuruya and T meet and become friends. (Tsuruya's Challenge)

Year -3

 * Before March: Haruhi Suzumiya's father takes her to a baseball game. She realizes how insignificant humans are. (The Melancholy novel, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 5)
 * April: Haruhi becomes a student at East Junior High.
 * Haruhi's powers emerge.
 * As a result of these incidents, the Data Overmind created a series of humanoid interfaces. (The Melancholy novel, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 3)
 * A series of humans are transformed into espers. One group of ten people forms the 'Agency'. These espers become aware of Haruhi's reality-altering abilities. (The Melancholy novel, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 5)
 * Another group of espers, including Kyouko Tachibana, form another faction. They believe their powers originated from Sasaki, a student at another school, but that her powers somehow transferred to Haruhi. They intend to "fix" this phenomenon. This puts them into conflict with the 'Agency'. (The Dissociation of Haruhi Suzumiya)

Year -1

 * September, Rainy Day

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

 * The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
 * April, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 1: At the start of school, Haruhi Suzumiya introduces herself to her classmates, only wanting to deal with aliens, time travelers, sliders, and espers. Kyon asked her if she was serious, resulting in his first meeting. (Her first meeting was on Tanabata in year -3, but she didn't clearly see him.)The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 1.png
 * May, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 1: Kyon noticed Haruhi's unusual behavior, such as changing hairstyles based on the days of the week. He eventually starts a friendship with her. Due to a conversation with Kyon, Haruhi decides to form a new club, the SOS Brigade. She forcibly recruits Yuki Nagato, taking control of her Literature Club room, and introduces Kyon to her. She later forces Mikuru Asahina into the club as well.
 * The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 2: Haruhi uses Asahina to blackmail a computer from the Computer Research Society.The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 2.png
 * The next day, Nagato gives Kyon a book to read. Haruhi forces Asahina to dress up as a bunny girl to draw attention to the Brigade.
 * The next day, Nagato told Kyon to read the book again. He found a note telling him to meet her. She took him to her place and told him she was an alien.
 * The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 3: Kyon doesn't believe Nagato and flees her apartment.The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 3.png
 * Haruhi recruits new transfer student Itsuki Koizumi into the Brigade.
 * The following Sunday, the Brigade searches for aliens, time travelers, and espers. Asahina informs Kyon that she is a time traveler.
 * While Kyon takes Nagato to the library, his old classmate Nakagawa sees them. An untrained esper, Nakagawa perceives the Data Overmind connection to Nagato as "love". He won't approach her until December. (Love at First Sight)
 * Koizumi informs Kyon that he is an esper.
 * The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 4: Ryoko Asakura lures Kyon into a trap and tries to kill him, in order to trigger a reaction from Haruhi. Nagato rescues him and eliminates Asakura.
 * Kyon meets Mikuru Asahina (Big) in the classroom. She shows him her star-shaped birthmark, but he doesn't recall seeing that before. She gives a cryptic warning and a hint: "Snow White". After Asahina leaves, Nagato also gives him a warning.
 * The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 5: Haruhi tries to research Asakura's disappearance. She then confides some of her feelings to Kyon.
 * Koizumi shows Kyon closed space and explains Haruhi's and his own powers to him.
 * The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 6: Haruhi gets annoyed at Kyon and Asahina's playing. That night her powers draw her and Kyon into closed space. Koizumi enters with difficulty and tells Kyon that Haruhi's depression can destroy the world. Nagato gives Kyon another hint through the computer: "Sleeping Beauty". Kyon kisses Haruhi. The two return to the real world. Haruhi believes it's a dream.
 * The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 6, The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya prologue: Kyon meets Haruhi alone at the cafe, and tells her the true identities of the other club members. Haruhi doesn't believe him.

Summer

 * June, The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya

Tanabata 0

 * July 7, Tanabata, Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody
 * Haruhi holds a celebration after school with the SOS Brigade. Nagato gives Kyon a bookmark with strange symbols on it, and Asahina takes Kyon time traveling with her three years in the past.
 * Approximately 9 PM: Kyon and Asahina awaken from being frozen three years in time in Nagato's guest room.

Late Summer

 * July, Mystérique Sign
 * July, 
 * July, Lone Island Syndrome
 * August, A Perspective of Life from Shamisen
 * August, Endless Eight

Cultural Festival and Aftermath

 * Early November (the Cultural Festival is traditionally held on the weekend nearest November 3rd, Culture Day): The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya
 * The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00
 * Live Alive
 * Sound Around (first part)
 * November, 
 * November, The Day of Sagittarius
 * November, 
 * November/December, Someday in the Rain
 * December, Sound Around (last part)
 * November/December, Someday in the Rain
 * December, Sound Around (last part)

The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya

 * December 16-17: The events of these dates occurred on December 17th in the novel but over the two days in the movie.
 * December 18: Early in the morning, Nagato takes control of Haruhi Suzumiya's reality-altering abilities and remakes the world, changing everything that had occurred in the previous year. She transforms herself into a human, Ryoko Asakura into a "protector" and creates the Emergency Escape Program.
 * Kyon's memories are unaffected. The consequences of the program include moving Haruhi and Itsuki Koizumi to Kouyouen, which is transformed from a girl's school to a co-ed school.
 * Kuyou Suou is unaffected by these changes. (The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya)

{|
 * - valign="top"
 * {{PlotBox|text=

Reality X
In this reality, the world is changed. It would eventually be "overwritten", according to Itsuki Koizumi's explanation in The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya.


 * Kyon discovers that reality has altered. Taniguchi doesn't have a date, and didn't attend school due to illness. Instead of Haruhi sitting behind him in class, it's Ryoko Asakura. Koizumi's class has vanished (resulting in a smaller school), and Asahina and Tsuruya don't remember him. After school he goes to the Literary Club and finds Nagato there alone. However, she appears to be a normal human. She gives him a registration form for the club.

December 19th

 * Kyon returns to the Literary Club room and finds the Hyperion book which Nagato had loaned him. It contains information about an "Emergency Escape Program" that can be activated in two days time if the "key" is activated.
 * Nagato invites Kyon to her apartment. She recalls a (false) memory of meeting Kyon at the library, where he got her a library card. Asakura comes by for a visit. Kyon is frightened by Nagato grabs his sleeve and convinces him to stay.

December 20th
}}
 * When Kyon asks about Haruhi, Taniguchi recalls her, saying she was attending Kouyouen Academy.
 * Kyon rushes out of school early and finds Haruhi and Koizumi at Kouyouen. (In the regular reality, it was a girl's school, but now it was co-ed.) They don't recognize him. Kyon tells Haruhi he is "John Smith" from her past. Haruhi does remember this.
 * Kyon tells Haruhi and Koizumi about the other world. Haruhi is interested in visiting the Literary Club room, sneaking herself and Koizumi into the school. Haruhi grabs Asahina and drags her to the Literary Club room. Nagato is present.
 * The presence of all SOS Brigade members activates the key to the Emergency Escape Program. Kyon is given the choice of restoring reality in order. He apologizes to Nagato, returning her registration form, and activates the program.
 * Kyon finds himself three years in the past.
 * {{PlotBox|text=

Reality X*
This reality "overwrites" the previous reality, according to Itsuki Koizumi's explanation in The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya.
 * Kyon and Asahina (called Kyon 1 and Asahina 1 [Big]) return to December 18th and witness Nagato taking Haruhi's abilities and altering reality.
 * Kyon 1 points his "gun" at this Nagato (Nagato 1) and ponders whether he should change Nagato back, before deciding to do so.
 * By this point, versions of Kyon, Nagato and Asahina (Small) (called Kyon 2, Nagato 2, and Asahina 2 [Small]) arrive from January 2nd of the next year and stealthily observe the events.
 * Kyon 1 hesitates before pulling the trigger and is tackled by Asakura, who stabs him mortally with her knife.
 * Nagato 2 stops Asakura's attack and disintegrates her.
 * Asahina 2 (Small) rushes to the fallen Kyon 1. Asahina 1 (Big) is there, but Asahina 2 (Small) is too panicked to notice her. Asahina 1 (Big) puts Asahina 2 (Small) to sleep to ensure she isn't seen by her younger self.
 * Meanwhile Kyon 2 leaves a message to his previous self. Kyon 1 then falls unconscious.
 * Nagato 2 used nanites to restore Nagato 1 to her usual form. When Nagato 1 asked Nagato 2 to synchronize, Nagato 2 refused, saying she didn't want to.
 * Nagato 2 begins repairing the world's damage and to cover up their actions. She heals Kyon 1.
 * Nagato's altered reality created a meeting between Haruhi and the rest of the SOS Brigade at the school. A few hours later, Kyon falls down the stairs and loses consciousness. He is taken to a hospital affiliated with the 'Agency'.
 * Asahina 1 (Big) takes Kyon 2 and Asahina 2 (Small) back to their proper timeline.
 * Kyon 1 remained in a coma until December 21st, with the SOS Brigade members taking turns to check on him.

December 21st
}}
 * Kyon 1 wakes up. Koizumi tells him what happened, but his memories seem to be altered.
 * Kyon 1 and Nagato have a private meeting. She tells him the Data Overmind will erase her to prevent something like this from happening again.
 * Kyon 1 refuses to allow her to disappear. He says he would tell Haruhi he is "John Smith" and therefore create serious problems for the Data Overmind if they erased her, even leading an expedition to rescue Nagato if need be. He tells Nagato to deliver the message to the Data Overmind. She thanks him.
 * Kyon 1 realizes he will need to return to December 18th because he was visited by another version of himself then. He decides not to do so immediately however.
 * }

Disappearance Aftermath

 * December 24, 
 * Love at First Sight
 * December 30, Snow Mountain Syndrome
 * December 31, Where Did the Cat Go?

Year 1

 * January 1, : The SOS Brigade spent time at Tsuruya's villa, when Haruhi flew a kite with the SOS Brigade logo on it, leading the Brigade to find an extinct wolf family and an old shrine.
 * January 2
 * Haruhi arranges for kimonos for the girls. (Random Numbers)
 * The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya (prologue)/
 * Kyon asks Asahina to travel back in time to the previous December 18th with him and Nagato. Asahina's future orders told her to follow Kyon's instructions. Furthermore, the request was anticipated.


 * January 3, Random Numbers
 * January, The Melancholy of Mikuru Asahina

The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya

 * February 3rd: The SOS Brigade celebrates Setsubun by throwing beans.
 * Monday, February 7th - Tuesday, February 15th, The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya
 * March 3rd: The SOS Brigade held a Hinamatsuri festival.
 * March 14th, White Day. Kyon and Koizumi gave chocolate to the SOS Brigade girls. (The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya)

March

 * March, Editor in Chief★Straight Ahead!
 * March, 
 * March, Wandering Shadow

The Dissociation and The Surprise

 * April, The Dissociation of Haruhi Suzumiya
 * Last day of vacation: Kyon arrived at the train station early for an SOS Brigade meeting. He ran into his old friend Sasaki there. The rest of the Brigade arrived as they talked, and Sasaki, a charming woman, introduced herself as Kyon's old friend before departing. Haruhi became irate and began creating closed space.
 * Thursday, first week of school: Various North High clubs, including the Brigade, attempted to recruit new members.
 * Friday: Haruhi plans on test questions for new Brigade members and announces a "Search For Mysterious Events" for the next day.
 * Saturday: Kyon arrived early again, and met Sasaki, along with Kyoko Tachibana and Kuyou Suou. Tachibana was one of Asahina's kidnappers from The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya. The rest of the Brigade arrived, during which Koizumi and Nagato stared at their opposites (Tachibana and Suou). Later that night, as Kyon was taking a bath, he received a phone call...
 * April, The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya (First Part)


 * April, The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya (Final Part)
 * Friday:
 * The two Kyons fuse into one, gaining the memories of both timelines. Kuyou, Koizumi, and the older Asahina all show up. Haruhi's closed space begins to invade Sasaki's.
 * Fujiwara reveals his motives: to save his timeline's version of Asahina, who is his sister. He commands Kuyou to kill Haruhi.
 * Kuyou summons an unconscious Haruhi and drops her from a height. Kyon leaps out the window to catch her. Both of them are caught by a Celestial. Kyon is transported into the future.
 * Kyon returns from the future at 8 pm and goes to bed.
 * Sunday: Kyon talks about the week's events with Koizumi and Nagato.
 * Monday: During club, Haruhi reveals that Yasumi is reportedly a middle-schooler and so cannot join the Brigade. Kyon goes to shop for Haruhi's present, meeting and talking with Sasaki along the way.
 * Tuesday: Kyon talks to Tsuruya, Taniguchi, and Kunikida on the way to school. At club time, Haruhi starts planning the Brigade's next venue.

The Intuition of Haruhi Suzumiya

 * May 31st: Seven Wonders Overtime
 * June: Tsuruya's Challenge

Near Future

 * Kyon briefly meets an older version of Haruhi Suzumiya at college. (The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya)
 * Haruhi and the Bespectacled Boy, aka Hakase, play a role in developing time travel. (The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00, Editor-In-Chief★Straight Ahead!)

Distant Future
Mikuru Asahina and Fujiwara have differing futures and originated here. (The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya)

=Time Loops= The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya features a number of stable time loops.

The future appears to be malleable, according to Mikuru Asahina, whose job is to protect the future she came from. Another time traveler faction, represented by Fujiwara, is irritated that they cannot change the future, although he has made attempts to do so.

Major Time Loops
One time loop extends from year -3, three years before the start of the series, to The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. Four years ago (year 0), a frustrated Haruhi Suzumiya created a timequake, supposedly resulting in the creation of espers and drawing the attention of the Data Overmind. The timequake prevented time travelers from traveling before this point as well. This event seems to have sundered the timelines of Fujiwara and Mikuru Asahina; the former considers the latter his sister, but the latter says she has no brother.

On Tanabata of year 3, Mikuru Asahina took Kyon with her to three years prior (year 0). Kyon met with adult Mikuru, who gave him an assignment: help young Haruhi. She also disabled young Mikuru's TPDD. Kyon did as instructed, introducing himself to Haruhi as "John Smith". She noticed his North High uniform, and Kyon indirectly convinced her to go to that school. After leaving her, Kyon and Mikuru found themselves stuck in the past. Kyon took young Mikuru to see Yuki Nagato, who "froze" them in time three years until the "present day".

On the morning of December 18th, Yuki Nagato "stole" Haruhi's powers and rewrote the history of the world for the previous year and altering everyone's memories&mdash;even hers&mdash;but not Kyon's. (She also turned herself into a human.) This act created a timequake more powerful than the one generated by Haruhi. Nagato left behind an Emergency Escape Program if Kyon wished to revert the changes. Kyon eventually did, three days later. The program sent him back to the original Tanabata. He met adult Mikuru, who apparently had not yet left that time period. She told him to give another message to young Haruhi, and then they met at Nagato's apartment again. There Nagato revealed the culprit of the time manipulations was her future self. She gave Kyon a device to convert this Nagato back into a humanoid interface, then had Mikuru take him back. She could not go herself, as she had to oversee the "frozen" Kyon and Mikuru.

When he arrived back on the dawn of December 18th, Kyon had been told by the previous version of Nagato that he had to wait for Nagato to convert the world before curing Nagato. Kyon was interrupted by Ryoko Asakura, who nearly killed him with her knife. As Kyon fell, he was rescued by another Nagato... and himself. The "future" Kyon gave him a message. "Present" Kyon's injuries were later explained as him falling down the stairs. Kyon lost consciousness for three days. His memories of December 18th to 21st were significantly different from those of Haruhi, young Mikuru and Itsuki Koizumi.

On January 2nd of the following year, Kyon took Mikuru to Nagato's apartment. The three traveled to the previous December to save Kyon's life and put the world right. Nagato herself converted her previous self from a human to an interface.

According to Koizumi, the world changed significantly on December 18th, calling that point in time "X", and the time after the world was fixed "X*". Because Kyon did not stop Nagato from changing the world, only "resetting" it, "X" still exists, and has simply been "covered up".

Timeline Branch
The events of The Dissociation and The Surprise involve a timeline branching, called α and β, revolving around Haruhi "splitting" reality, apparently as a result of her becoming worried about Nagato's illness starting Saturday. In both realities, a younger version of Haruhi called Yasumi Watahashi was created.

That same day, Kyon got a phone call. In the timeline was from Yasumi, although Kyon had never met her and so didn't realize who she was, whereas in the Beta timeline, he got a call from his old friend Sasaki.

In the end the two timelines were merged, leaving some confusion among people who had combined their alternates.

Itsuki Koizumi theorized that Mikuru Asahina and Fujiwara "split" realities in the future.



Koizumi and Kyon definitely combined as the timelines converged, but Koizumi could not be sure about other people. He believed the current Haruhi was the version, but she demonstrated memories from both timelines. For instance, she recalled Yasumi joining the Brigade, but also Nagato's illness (Beta). The orchid that Yasumi had obtained, only brought in the timeline, was still there.

Koizumi believed that only the Brigade, Taniguchi, Kunikida, Sasaki and Tachibana noticed the timeline split (suggesting they had all combined their selves/memories).

Minor Time Loops
When Kyon first met adult Mikuru, she told him about the mole on her breast, saying Kyon had told her about it. Kyon, however, had yet to notice this and hadn't told her this from his perspective. Afterward he investigated photos of Mikuru, and noticed the mole. Only then did he tell her, which is how adult Mikuru became aware of it. This enabled Kyon to detect the false Mikuru in Snow Mountain Syndrome.

The world was caught in over 15,000 two-week-long stable time loops due to Haruhi's subconscious over the August vacation in Endless Eight. The SOS Brigade (except Haruhi) would notice the loops many times, and Nagato was completely aware of them, but would take no action against it. In addition, Mikuru could not use time travel. Kyon eventually resolved the loop.

In The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya, Nagato had to repeatedly inject Asahina with nanites to keep her from making unintentional reality-altered attack. In The Disappearance, Nagato needed to do this to Adult Asahina again three years in the past (from Kyon's perspective). When Asahina mentioned how she was sorry she'd made Nagato do that "in the past" (during The Sigh), Nagato replied that for her, this was the first time she would do so.

In The Melancholy of Mikuru Asahina, a rival time traveler tried to kill a child. Mikuru (small) arranged for Kyon to rescue him from murder and later Mikuru (big) arranged for Kyon to inspire his vision of time travel. Mikuru (big) revealed that in the future, Haruhi would invent some of the theory behind time travel, and so would the boy. If it wasn't for Mikuru's faction's interference, the boy would not have grow up to develop his own contribution to time travel.

A coalition of opponents led by Fujiwara, a rival time traveler, and Kyouko Tachibana, a rival esper, conspired to kidnap Mikuru Asahina in February of year 1 (The Intrigues). Mikuru avoided this problem by jumping back in time eight days, creating two of her for that time period. Kyon and Nagato were assigned to assist "Michuru", as this version was called, from meeting her other self. Fujiwara attempted to prevent "Michuru" from taking a piece of time travel technology, but then let them have it. Later the enemies kidnapped "Michuru" but this was foiled by the 'Agency'. The enemies vanished in front of Kyon, complaining that the future could not be changed.

At the same time, Kyon was instructed by Future Mikuru to find the Bespectacled Boy and throw a turtle into the cold water in front of him. The vision of the ripples would eventually lead the boy to invent the TPDD in the future. As apparently the boy would not have made his invention without Kyon's inspiration, this creates a time loop.