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thegayguard · 4 months ago

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The Old Guard (comics + movie) Comprehensive Timeline

Edit: 16 Feb- reformatted to make it easier to read

I spent way too much time spent researching the comics one night resulting in this, my TOG magnum opus, including every confirmed event up until the beginning of the movie. If there's anything I missed let me know (I did misplace my copy of Force Multiplied but I don't think they did many flashbacks iirc). This is mostly for my own purposes, but absolutely feel free to use it for your own fics/art/meta/etc

Also thank you @yumekuimono for the putting together the photographs on Copley's hyperfixation board, which inspired me to make this.

It's long, so it's all under the cut. Enjoy!

4500s BCE:

Andromache is born in the Western Steppe, later known as Scythia, now known as the Ural region, mostly. Fifteen or so years later her mother(figure) gifts her an axe, naming Andy as her successor instead of her sisters. Five or so years later Andy's mother plans to have her killed out of jealously. Andy doesn't die, though her mother is killed in the conflict. Andy kills her attackers in revenge, then goes back to lead her people as a pseudo-god for an unspecified number of years.

500s BCE:

Quỳnh (Noriko) is born in modern day Vietnam (Noriko in Japan).

330ish BCE:

Lykon is killed for the first time following Alexander The Great to Judea. Andy meets him not long after (comic only canon, the movie doesn't specify when Andy and Lyon meet except to say it's after she meets Quynh).

Note- There's no firmer information on Yitzhak aka Isaac Blue at this time, apart from him being Jewish, a contemporary of Lykon, having been with Andy in the year 1950, and now living in Alaska. There's a wonderful analysis of his likely timeline by @nevermindirah who places him around the time of the Second Temple, somewhere between 500 BCE and 70 CE.

630s CE:

Andy meets Quynh in Alexandria while fighting with Amir ibn al-As. They become inseparable and travel with Lykon and Yitzhak for a time as roaming soldiers (anything about Yitzhak, so far, is comics only canon)

1066:

Yusuf ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn al-Kaysani called al-Tayyib is born in Maghreb, North Africa, to a family of merchants

1069:

Nicolò di Genova is born in Genoa, Italy

1099:

Joe and Nicky meet and kill each other and, according to word of god (aka Greg Rucka), get on to the more pleasurable type of physical relationship very quickly after.

1100-1230:

Andy and Quynh are spotted around the crusades, likely to find Nicky + Joe

1200s:

Noriko (comics only canon) is killed many times fighting rogue samurai around feudal Japan

1550-1600 (Renaissance):

Lykon dies for the last time, Joe saves a young artist from a fire in Genoa, forcing them to avoid Italy for 100 years

1500s (late):

Quynh and Andy attempt to free people from the witch trials and are caught themselves, leading to Quynh's underwater imprisonment

1700s (late):

The Guard are in London for a time. Joe saves a coffee shop owner from the stocks, Andy gets a new axe (that is still very much the same axe, to her).

1770:

Sébastien LeLivre is born in Marseilles, France.

1789-95:

Andy, Nicky, and Joe are at the Paris Commune. Nicky and Joe aren't speaking at the time.

1790s:

Andy meets a former West Indies slave turned British soldier turned highway robber named Achilles. Andy follows him to Australia, starts a life in a small town.

1812:

Booker dies in Russia while following Napoleon. He's hanged for desertion. The Guard meets up with him a few years later. (Note, it's very likely Booker was conscripted in the place of a richer man in exchange for a fee, or as blackmail material, given that married men were exempt from the Grande Armée and even the Imperial Army's levée en masse. My theory is he was caught by a banker or shop owner for his forgeries, and was therefore forced to take the man's place in the army).

1830s:

Booker hangs out with his youngest son Jean-Pierre, likely towards the end of his son's life, at a Parisian restaurant. Andy leaves Achilles for an extended amount of time to go to Jamaica, likely for the Baptist War. She comes back to find him dead, killed by their neighbors. She then razes the entire town in retaliation.

1834:

São Paulo. Joe jumps through a window as a distraction for reasons as yet unknown.

1853:

Joe and Nicky spotted on the ground of the Crimean War

1863:

Nicky goes undercover of sorts in the American Civil War as a Confederate soldier in Pennsylvania. Joe is helping the slaves Nicky frees along with the Quakers in York. The Guard appear at the Battle of Gettysburg

1870, September:

Booker and Andy meet in San Francisco after Booker unknowingly saves Merrick's great grandfather in a frontier town because of an inexplicable feeling he should stay to help

1887:

Nicky and Joe save a young person in Zanzibar, presumably the victim of a hate crime

1904:

The Guard prevent a coup in Haiti

1914-18:

The Guard fight in The Great War. Joe saves a little girl who becomes the youngest Nobel Laureate in Medicine. Andy fights in the Gallipoli campaign and in France

1916:

Andy saves a refugee family in Montenegro, one of whom goes on to develop early diabetes detection.

1917:

Andy takes part in a battle in Passchedaele, Belgium, and adopts an orphaned boy, Zeus

1932, November:

Joe and Nicky go to a bar in Berlin, run into the person they saved in Zanzibar, and punch a Nazi.

1944:

Andy is involved in the French Resistance in WWII

1945, August:

The Guard prevent a third atomic bomb

1950:

Andy and Yitzhak eat a meal made for them by Zeus somewhere not in the US

1956-59:

Joe, Nicky, and Booker are spotted helping the Cuban Revolution

1968:

Nicky and Andy appear at MLK speeches separately. Joe and Nicky rescue a man from a cave (poss. Onyx Cave, AZ in Oct. or Gory Hole, IN in Nov. -US cave incidents are very well recorded)

1969, July:

The Guard take down a pedophilic serial killer in Minnesota (possibly based on Stanley Rice). Nicky and Booker stay to track down everyone who knowingly let the killer go free. Joe and Andy head on to San Francisco to watch the moon landing at a bar.

1975, April:

Andy helps in Operation Babylift in Vietnam

late 1970's:

Andy lands in Cleveland, not knowing where she is after a job. Coincidentally, she cleans herself up in a restaurant owned by Zeus, who she hadn't seen in decades.

1978:

Booker gets captured by a cult of murder- and sex-obsessed nuns in NYC. Three months later Andy rescues a reluctant Booker from the nuns' compound in Guyana

1989:

Andy helps people escape East Germany

1992:

Booker serves as a combat medic in Sarajevo. Nicky attends university under the name N Smith (likely a graduate school given the wording of the ID. My guess, either for medicine or computer science, both of which were rapidly evolving at the time)

1994:

Nile Freeman born, South Side of Chicago, IL

2000s:

The Guard rescue children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They are also linked to the US 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan.

2005:

Nile's dad killed in action on the ground as a Marine

2012:

The Guard take a CIA assignment in Surabaya, Indonesia, with Copley and Booker as the point persons

2013:

Andy goes by the alias Alexandra Black in the Czech Republic

2014:

Joe goes by the alias Joseph Jones in Germany. The Guard is seen in Syria near an USAF F-22 bombing site.

2019:

Andy takes a break to travel. Joe and Nicky travel to Eastern Turkey. Booker is contacted by Copley on behalf of Merrick Industries.

2020:

Nile dies for the first time in Afghanistan at the hands of an enemy insurgent. Official record has her killed in action. The events of the movie (aka comics Opening Fire 1-5). Booker returns to Paris in his exile, where he is contacted by Quynh.

#tog #the old guard #tog meta #the old guard meta #tog timeline #the old guard timeline

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nevermindirah · 2 days ago

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#OK REAL #miss freeman teach me your ways #sorry the way she looks at copley kills me everytime #she literally went 🤨😐😑 at him what a queen @upinyourcortex EXACTLY

Nile Freeman, DILF Whisperer

#gotta re-reblog from the person who reblogged this post from me #i gotta #the commentary is too important not to #nile freeman #tog #ps petition for op to make a gif of just that look nile gives copley #for um #reasons #pretty please? >:)

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as-is-yours · 10 months ago

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happy 2024 summer olympics!

some tog watching the olympics hcs for the soul because i love the olympics and i decided they do too:

andy competed in the ORIGINAL greek olympics. yes she did

with the guard being as competitive as they are, the olympics are a BIG deal in the safe house - it’s like the football world cup but all day every day for three weeks straight

it’s obviously too dangerous for the guard to attend the olympics these days with all of the cameras and media, so they hunker down in a safehouse and watch as much as they can on TV

they used to go most years though, nicky even told nile that he considered competing in olympic shooting back in the mid 1900s but it was too high profile to risk it

quynh was in the ocean when they brought back the olympic games as we know them today. her first olympics year back with the guard she asks andy why everyone is clothed and where the victors wreaths are

nile LOVES the olympics so she fits right into the dynamic when the first olympics of her time with the guard roll around

she was a little nervous about coming on too strong that first year, but when she saw how hard they roast each other and how much they goaded her into being just as competitive and aggressive as they were, she settled in easily

they would later regret unlocking that part of her once they realize how painful watching the olympics with an american is

nile keeps a scoreboard on the wall next to the TV where she updates the medal counts daily and reminds everyone who’s winning (the usa)

joe, quynh, and booker prefer the summer olympics while nile and andy prefer the winter olympics. nicky is just happy to make some money off of booker when france loses, no matter the season

“andy im getting us a peacock account to watch the olympics, they’re starting next week” “peacock account? what the hell is peacock? like the bird??”

there’s ALWAYS a bet going on. for the full duration of the olympic games there is never not a bet going on

nile will be doing joe’s dishes for a month after kaylia nemour beat suni lee in the uneven bars final

booker owes nicky €300 after italy advanced out of the first round of the women’s doubles tennis tournament (france did not) and another €1000 for italy winning the gold medal

andy stays out of the betting for the most part, or just picks the best athlete rather than one representing her home nation

“andy, that’s cheating—” “the scythians were nomadic. i don’t even remember where i was born so i’ll pick whichever athlete i damn well please, and you—” “okay, fine! we get it!”

andy found quynh wandering in a desert, quynh doesn’t really remember where she’s from either so she picks her favorite athletes based on vibe and which countries were her favorites to travel around with andy

there aren’t nearly as many north african athletes as there are italian, french, and american so joe starts adopting the athletes with the most heartwarming comeback/underdog stories as his faves

i feel like nile LOVES usa gymnastics having been a teen watching gabby douglas and simone biles!

that girl was SAT for every gymnastics event cheering on team usa like it was her job

andy has broken her neck attempting to pull off the stunts she sees in olympic snowboarding, gymnastics, skateboarding, figure skating, etc…. but sometimes she nails them. and it’s sick as fuck

nile is from the midwest i know she’s an ice hockey enjoyer. she pregames the winter olympics by making the guard watch miracle (2004) (nicky cries)

booker makes a drinking game for watching the games. he prints out the rules and pins them up next to nile’s medal count. take a sip when an announcer starts yelling, a shot when a random celebrity is shown on the broadcast, and finish your drink when a medalist cries

whenever great britan places below one of the guard’s countries, copley receives a very vulgar and unsportsmanlike text from them

no, quynh does not watch swimming events. thank you for asking

the couch is NOT a safe space. anything goes during the olympics. anyone who gets too mean (or whose athlete loses) can and will be pushed off the couch and exiled to the armchair

i will surely update this as the olympics continue and my friends and i get up to more hijinks. stay tuned and enjoy the greatest sporting event ever conceived

#the old guard #nicolo di genova #yusuf al kaysani #andromache the scythian #sebastian le livre #nile freeman #the olympics #2024 paris olympics

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stark-park · 11 months ago

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Iconic

remember when copley saw an image of a random french soldier chugging an entire bottle of wine and just wrote "booker?" on it

#so true bestie #james copley #tog #the old guard #booker #sebastien le livre

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flow2024 · 5 months ago

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heavily drawing from the collective spiral you can find in the replies section of this post or the ensuing bingo card but Here Is My Pitch For Tog 2 But It's A Sitcom:

the central running plot line that involves a bunch of evil immortals, all of whom are andy's exes. every time a new one is introduced we cut to a flashback sequence of their dramatic breakup including a sequence of comedic obstacles meaning that joe and nicky don't meet the ex in question. villain of the week style

nile's attempts to work out where they were at various points in history, continually accompanied by a flashback of them doing something entirely normal while the Historical Event in question happens in the background. none of them notice the event.

all of nile's (and andy's) solo action sequences are shot like mission: impossible a la many happy returns

Nile Discovers The Limits Of Immortality through recurrent looney toones shenanigans leading to increasingly ridiculous deaths

joe keeps taking credit for increasingly famous artworks. including the Mona Lisa. he keeps pointing out where he has supposedly signed his name. it is not clear enough to tell but just enough to be plausible

The Gang Goes To The Beach (beach episode.)

nicky occasionally looks directly at the camera. he seems to be the only person aware where the fourth wall is. this is not commented on

copley is not a part of the main show but his conspiracy board is a frequent backdrop and keeps getting bigger until it covers the entire safehouse

this all happens in the us because that is sitcom land so every episode nile almost runs into someone she used to know (increasingly ridiculous connections) and has to either a) hide somewhere stupid or b) do a ridiculous disguise. this bit is done through a random establishing shot of the person walking past, followed by nile revealing wherever she was. at one point she drops out of a tree. nicky is there too he's reading a book

quynh is largely teased as an ominous presence throughout. she does have short scenes that are just Discovering Modern Technology. at the movie theatre buying popcorn. in the pc store. at an arcade. she walks out with many stuffed toys. she only runs into the rest of the group during the beach episode

booker is exiled still so doesn't appear in the main show. HOWEVER the credits roll over short vignette of him doing something stupid but harmless. see my #booker's exile hobbies tag for further examples.

#neon has thoughts

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2-old-to-guard · 3 months ago

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Andromache, Andy, the Scythian

Hello everybody and welcome to the final installments of my ToG character analysis! I cannot thank you all for your support, I am so truly touched!! We shall be tackling the one and the only Andromache of Scythia. Like with Nile, I have so many thoughts that I can't compile into a single post. But unlike Nile, this was be three parts because Andy is in almost every scene of this movie and there is simply too much to talk about. Anyway, let us begin!!!

First Impression:

The first key moment for Andy is her speach that begins the cold open:

I’ve been here before... over and over again, and each time the same question. Is this it? Will this time be the one? And each time the same answer. And I’m just so tired of it.

This is, of course, a direct quote from the opening monolouge of the original comic series.

This serves as this anithesis to The Old Guard's immortality. Wth how vague their existance is, they have to seek meaning on their own which yields unsatisfactory results. It also hints towards Andy's struggle to find the will to keep going which carries the whole film.

The first time we see Andy is when she is on her own. She is looking behind herself, clearly making sure she isn't followed, and is walking quite fast. From the very first time we see her, she is clearly guarded and has a purpose to her movements. The audience is forced to consider what that purpose is and how her relationship with that purpose will change throughout the movie.

A little bit later, we see Andy almost get her photo taken by a group of torrists.

This only happned because she was distracted by a heartbreaking news article. This situation foreshadows her losing her purpose and no longer believeing humanity is worth fighting for. It also shows that this cynicsm is making her sloppy and might lead to her making mistakes that could put her at risk. Even from this early on, the movie is showing that she isn't actually invincible.

Relationships:

Andy, from the get-go, matches people's energy very effectivley. You can find my analysis of her relationships with the other men from their P.O.V in my previous posts. Joe. Nicky. Booker.

With Booker, she is more calm and reserved. They don't engage in physical contact and instead, she gives him a gift. She hugs Nicky but it's very relaxed and intimate (that head grab warms my heart everytime I see it!!!). Joe, on the other hand, is boisterous and unashamed in his affection which Andy mirrors with a delighted laugh. She matches each of their energies rather than forcing her affection on to them.

Like many of the characters in the movie, Andy struggles with two core parts of her identity. The first is her hopeful and powerful warrior persona. Which you can see during the bet. During that interaction, Andy is shameless in demonstrating her skill (even when it was just a taste test) and she delights in the antics of Nicky and Booker. She is also honest with Joe, and shows true adoration for Joe and Nicky.

Her second persona is the cynical jaded solider who doesn't believe the world can change. This side is brought out after Booker reminds them about the job. At this point in the movie, her hope outweighs her cynicism and she accepts the job. Funnily enough, she asks Booker for his opinion on the job and seems to accept after his agreement. Booker being the most jaded and still taking the risk could hint towards his true intentions.

Andy and Copley:

From Andy's first meeting with Copley she is on edge.

She interrogates him about his position and motives but she is swayed by the story of his wife. Later on, when Copley shows her the photos of the 'Girls', she is clearly won over immedietly and looks truly pained. I wonder if Booker chose the story they went with because he knew her caring nature would win over her cynicism.

Sudan:

After rewatching the movie (too many time I have a problem), I noticed all the little moments of Andy leading the group.

Even with her crisis of faith, she is still a capable leader who leads her group.

When they are ambushed, Andy responds rather blasely. This is firstly designed to be a fun one-liner for the trailer and also to hook the audience in after the immortality angle is revealed. Secondly, it shows just how experienced she is as she is annoyed rather than angry at this ambush. She has several moments where humans attacking her results in her annoyance rather than offence.

However, after the fight she is panicked and frantically looks around for the other immortals. This follows a common trend in this family where they act blase when it is their life threatened but become panicked when it is someone they care about. It also is the second hint (Aside from Joe and Nicky) to show that something isn't right with their immortality.

When Nicky asks about the girls, Andy once again searches for them. Not only does she not immedietly assume she was betrayed, it is also her hopeful side looking for the people she murdered to save. Then, when she cottons on to what is really going on, she becomes hardened and jaded.

Unlike what you'd assume from the jaded character, Andy isn't angry in a normal sense. When they are burying their clothes, she is numb and staring off into nothing as if she's already made up her mind about quitting. And when she asks Nicky, she is almost begging him for the answer. I love this acting choice by Charlize because even though she is approx 6,000 years old, Andy still has the childish side to her that demands a meaning for life.

The Dream:

On the train, Andy is surveying the other immortals before she falls asleep. This is one of the many subtle moments throughout the movie the actors and director uses to show how close the immortals are. There is such a focus on love in all it's forms and that's what makes this movie so good.

Out of all of the immortals, Andy figures out the most from their dreams, highlighting her experience in locating other immortals.

In Nile's dream, there is a focus on Andy as she is giving multiple flashes highlight her face. This might be so Nile recognises Andy when they meet for the first time.

Like Joe and Nicky, Andy's face is shown in blue rather than just in orange which could be done to reference her connection with Quynh.

When Nicky is going on his monolouge about discovering their immortality for the first time. There is a prolonged shot of Andy looking pensive and gradually becomming angrier.

Like during her monolouge, we are giving a glimpse into Andy's life. By having her be the focus during this speech immedietly shows the audience that she might not 'remember what it was like' to be born again. This is further explored later on. This scene also works to build on Nicky and Andy's relationship. As discussed in his post, Nicky works as the angel on Andy's shoulder trying to help her stay motivated to fight. He uses the emotions Nile might be feeling as a way to influence her. This works so Andy is clearly a very caring person who does want to help her.

Meeting Nile:

Cute little callback to Nicky's baklava!! Could also be a metaphor for her accepting Nicky's ideals of helping people but I could be pulling at straws.

This is another example of Andy taking the immortality for granted. Sure she has reasonable beleif to assume Nile will wake up again but it is still a rather brutal way of stopping her from running. She is so used to people getting back up again it doesn't even cross her mind that Nile won't. It's also remeniscent of the way Booker incapacitates her at Copley's house. Its a reminder to Andy of the way she took immortality for granted.

When Nile stabs her, like with the ambush, Andy is more annoyed than angry. Showing that immortality is making her weary rather than just angry.

This scene is Andy combining her two personalities (caring and jaded) to do good. She is hard and commanding when she talks to Nile but she uses her ability to read people to use terminology Nile would recognise to convince her to follow her. This isn't my take, I borrowed it from NewRockstars.

The Plane Scene:

Whilst the fight on the plane is Andy's main test for Nile, this quick interaction could also count. Andy is testing Nile's resolve and ability to stand up for herself and Nile passes (judging by Andy's smile). It is also an example of what Andy might have been like before. Charlize handles this really well as she gives subtle moments where Andy has more fire in her eyes than before, specifically when she is talking/interacting with Nile. I explore this a little here.

Once again, Andy is being dismissive of their immortality and not considering the idea that they could die. Which in the long run could've been deadly as we don't know when Andy lost her immortality (although I have a theory on that).

When Nile asks about their immortality you can see this moment where Andy smirks at nothing. From the moment she saw Nile, she has been confused and angry about why Nile is here. Even though she claimed to have answers, she unfortunatley has the same questions Nile is asking. I talked about this is Nile's post but the two women work as a paralell for each other. Nile is almost like the younger version of Andy asking her about what she has done with her life.

They have obvious differences though. Nile is christian whilst Andy is very atheist.

Upon first viewing, you think Andy is just being cynical and snarky. But when you rewatch you realise that she is probally distrusting of Christianity due to what happened to Quynh. 'If God is this all-loving being, why did he let Quynh be taking from me in his home?'

But despite this slight disagreement, Andy shows respect for Nile even before they knew each other's names. As she listens to Nile's explanation for what is happening she seems genuinely impressed by Nile's though process (note the subtle dip in her mouth during this shot). But she still shuts Nile's theories down by bringing up her first death.

"And I was the one who cut your throat, right?"

Like many of the immortals, she is frank about what their new life is going to be like.

The Plane Fight:

I don't know if this was intentional but when Andy wakes up chained, she pulls on the restraints twice before looking up to see what is going on.

It is almost like her first instinct when in trouble is to resort to violence/brute stregnth. I like this character decision because you don't usually see that in a female character. As a fighter, it makes total sense that Andy has full reliance on her stregnth. But she is still a smart character and procedes to use her brains to free herself.

She know what Nile thinks about her and uses it to her advantage.

From what Nile knows, from Andy shooting her in the head, Andy would fully kill someone without question. Andy also knows that an American probally doesn't know how to speak Russian and so warns the pilot in that language. This is also a reference to Andy's origins as the Scythians were a normadic tribe from the Ukranian/Russian area. After this 'supposedley' violent murder, she becomes seemingly worried at the idea that the plane would crash. She knows that Nile doesn't believe in immortality and so she plays on her fear of death to get herself free.

This moment also subverts the audiences expectations. We have been set up to expect death in all of the immortals experiences. So when Andy 'shoot's the pilot, like Nile, we fully believe that she has killed him. But then, when the pilot is revealed to be alive, we are just as surprised as Nile. This also sets us up to look at Andy's character a little more carefully.

This scene, as discussed by Charlize and Kiki in this video. The fight scene in this set is Andy testing Nile and seeing what she is capable of. It works well with the setting as by definition, the two women are going back and forth testing their limits. You can also see Andy becomming more and more excited by having the chance to dual with someone new.

You can imagine Andy being this excited and full of fight as recently as ten years previous and that she could become that person again.

But by the end of it, she is returned to her state of jaded cynicism when the fight finishes.

When Nile is reconning with her new life, Andy balances on the edge of honest and empathetic. She compliments Nile's skill and then asks for her name, showing that Andy respects her. This also works as the foundation for their relationship going forward as the two women have a respect for each other. Their dynamic this whole movie is really refreshing as you don't usually see it with women.

Part 2

#the old guard #the old guard 2 #andromache the scythian #charlize theron #netflix #2 old 2 guard

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