Timeline

Robert Doniger is a conniving, hot-tempered physicist and entrepreneur. He is the CEO of ITC, the company that has developed advanced time-travel technology. He is 38 years old and is emotionally immature. He has “a potbelly and gray hair” (23) and prefers to dress casually. These details make him a stereotype of the brilliant but troubled evil genius that often appears in cautionary tales about the problematic effects of scientific inventions.

As the antagonist, Doniger demonstrates a persistent disregard for human life. He is willing to do whatever it takes to protect the secret of his technology and ensure that he can capitalize on its use. For instance, when he learns of Traub’s death, he is more concerned about whether the incident will result in a public relations nightmare than about the loss of his employee. He is also tempted to send Stern back in time in order to ensure that he cannot reveal ITC’s work to the world. He lies repeatedly to the researchers to downplay the risk of the technology and to obscure the true goal of his work—to sell time-travel experiences to tourists.

The protagonist André Marek is a strong, handsome 29-year-old assistant professor of history at Yale. He is also Professor Johnston’s second-in-command on the Dordogne archaeological dig. Marek is originally from the Netherlands. He is passionate about “experimental” history and does not limit himself studying medieval life. Instead, he seeks to recreate it. His depth of knowledge about medieval languages, including Early English and Middle French, and his skill with medieval activities such as jousting and swordplay, make him an invaluable resource during the team’s mission to rescue the professor in 1357.

Marek embodies far more than the material aspects of medieval life, for he is also passionate about the ideals of chivalry that were common during that time frame. He seeks to act in accordance with these ideals even though he realizes that the medieval period “was an incredibly violent world” (174). Ultimately, Marek decides to stay in the medieval period. He marries Lady Claire and later dies in medieval England in 1382 at the age of 54.

Katherine Erickson, known as Kate, is a young history graduate student from Colorado. She has a background in architecture and is an experienced climber, a skill that proves useful both on the archaeological dig and in the 14th century. On the dig, she is often climbs up to explore high places more closely and to document the architecture of the sites. During the graduate students’ adventure in 1357, she clambers up walls, jumps out windows, and runs over roof beams. She has also taken archery lessons from Marek, and she uses these skills to stop soldiers from trying to kill her and her team.

Kate is very courageous and strong. She does not hesitate to continue with the mission, even in the face of significant adversity. She is also quick-thinking. When cornered in the mill by Sir Robert, for example, she remembers that flour dust is highly flammable and uses a fire starter to cause an explosion and escape. While Kate generally spurns the advances of the men on the dig, she grows to appreciate Christopher Hughes over the course of their adventures. In the Epilogue, she is pregnant with Chris’s child.

Chris Hughes is a 24-year-old graduate student in history at Yale. He is a specialist in the history of science and is writing his “doctoral dissertation on the technology of medieval mills” (49). He is charged with studying the fortified mill of Sainte-Mère. Chris is particularly close with Professor Johnston, who took him in after his parents died in a car accident while he was an undergraduate. Chris has a history of disastrous romantic relationships that impede his studies.

At the beginning of Timeline, Chris is fussy, cautious, and prone to “stomach trouble” (50). Over the course of his adventures in 1357, however, he learns strength and bravery and comes to Kate’s rescue multiple times. When he is badly injured, he does not complain about it and instead continues on stoically. Chris quickly learns a deeper appreciation for the medieval world, where experienced are more heightened and visceral than any university study of the topic. He is frequently struck by the differences between academic discourse and the brutal realities of medieval life. Chris is a hopeless romantic who chases after the posh Sophie Rhys-Hampton in 1999, even though she is leading him on. He later makes a pass at Kate, who initially turns him down. However, after their adventure, they decide to have a child together.

David Stern is a graduate student and the project technologist on the Dordogne archeological dig. He is “thin and bespectacled” (61) and is far more cautious than the other students. He has a deep knowledge of physics, and he presses the ITC staff about the safety of the new technology. He is suspicious of their reassurances of its lack of risk. Stern ultimately decides not to travel to 1357 with the others, not because of his doubts about the technology, but because of the inherent dangers of the medieval period. As he notes, “there was civil war in France after Poitiers. Free companies of soldiers pillaging the countryside. Bandits, cutthroats, lawlessness everywhere” (174).

Stern remains at the ITC headquarters in Black Rock while the other graduate students search for the professor. With his technical know-how, he uses a modified prototype time-travel machine to send them a message and confirm that they are still alive. He also comes up with a plan to fix the recent damage to the technology and facilitate the team’s return to 1999.

John Gordon is the senior vice president of ITC. Before working for the company, he was a project manager in the Air Force and still has a “military bearing (22). He has worked with Robert Doniger for 12 years. His job is to ensure that Doniger’s wild entrepreneurial visions become reality. Gordon is smart and curious; during his time with Doniger, he has learned much about the science underpinning his technologies. In the beginning of Timeline, Gordon is extremely loyal to Doniger, even collaborating with Diane Kramer to cover up Traub’s cause of death and hide key information from the researchers. However, Gordon eventually betrays Doniger because of the CEO’s reckless, extreme actions. He sends Doniger to a near-certain death during a time of plague.

Diane Kramer is the lawyer for ITC and has a closer relationship with Doniger than with Gordon. She once had a romantic relationship with Doniger and has worked with him for a decade. She is initially fiercely loyal to Doniger, but like Gordon, she grows to doubt his judgment. Eventually, when he tells her to let Stern go to 1357 to a near-certain death, she threatens to quit. It is implied that she facilitates Gordon’s plot to get rid of Doniger at the end of the book.

Sir Oliver de Vannes is an English knight born in France who controls Castelgard and La Roque in 1357. He is “an unpleasant character, with a famously bad temper” (169). His nickname is the “Butcher of Crécy.” He is around 30 years old, and has a sneering demeanor and luxurious attire. When Kate first sees him in the great hall, she watches him interact with sex workers, gorge himself, and attack his dog with a knife, and she reflects that he resembles a “warlord” (238). He is extremely paranoid, and his paranoia increases when he begins to lose the battle to Arnaut de Cervole.

Sir Oliver’s knights are Sir Robert de Kere and Sir Guy de Malegant. Collectively, they are the primary antagonists in Timeline. Sir Robert de Kere is actually Robert Decker, an ITC employee whose transcription errors caused him to experience erratic and violent behavior. Unbeknownst to the team, he has been stranded in the 14th century for some time. When he learns of the team’s arrival, he decides to hunt down the graduate students because he assumes they are working for the company that caused him so much damage. Sir Guy de Malegant hopes to wed Sir Oliver’s ward, Lady Sophie. He wears all black and is aggressive and violent.