Why the 1910 World Expo is Important to the Timeline (Updated Theory)

[WinterWondering]

I wrote a theory on this a while back, but I now have more evidence and more of an opinion on this information's meaning. I'll be reusing some paragraphs from my old theory since I think that I explained it well and I'd rather not rewrite it.

So, for those of you who aren't lore nerds, what is an exposition universelle? Also known as a world's fair, there have been many expositions over the years, starting in the 1800s. They are opportunities for people from around the world to share advancements and achievements. It was first mentioned in DST, to my knowledge, at least, in Winona's animated short, Next of Kin, on her conspiracy board. Here's a zoomed in screenshot of it.

To me, that reads 1910. I could also potentially see it being 1918, but there was no world expo in 1918, so I think it's 1910. The general consensus for a while has been that the expo this refers to takes place in 1889, since that was an important expo at which the Eiffel Tower was made, but I don't think this to be the case.

Looking into the 1910 world expo, it took place in Brussels, Belgium, and there was one, very important event that happened:

A fire.

Hm... that reminds me of something... something that people have previously theorized to take place at a world expo...

This was an important detail tying Firewood to the 1910 world expo that I missed back in March, when I first brought up the 1910 expo; the video literally burns. In addition, let's look at Robert in the short:

Looking at the structures in the background, I've found a few structures in Brussels that look similar, such as a Ferris wheel, although that might not mean anything. What matters is that this definitely looks like a world expo to me, and the fire at the end matches this.

I got the idea of this being an expo from this Reddit post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/dontstarve/comments/15bmh34/holy_moly_finally_a_glimpse_of_spoiler_character/

This Redditor, however, suggested that this was the 1889 expo, something that I, as established, disagree with.

I think that this is potentially the beginnings of Wagstaff's connection to the Constant, maybe even where he meets human WX, getting him kickstarted on his experiments. Due to his hair color, however, I think that this takes place before Projector. Giving him gray streaks of hair feels too intentional. That would put Projector after 1906, thus making the recording we see at least four years old, probably much older.

I know there are people who think that Robert is a time-traveler, but I think that, if there is an alternative explanation, we should use that and not time travel. If we use his hair color (I know he could have dyed it, but it feels too intentional to me to be irrelevant) as a gauge for the passage of time, here is our most likely order of events:

 

-1910: Wagstaff goes to the Brussels world expo and somehow is exposed to the Constant.

-191X: Wagstaff helps create WX, whom he sends to the Constant

-1919: The Voxola fire (this is potentially connected to the portal from WX's short, although, since the labs don't match up, I'm less sold on this theory than I have been in the past, so I don't think so)

-19XX: Wagstaff finds an old recording of Maxwell and Charlie's final act, which he uses to project himself into the Constant.

-19XX: Wagstaff gives a spider to Webber's father.

 

I placed Disconnected before Next of Kin due to WX's schematics being on Winona's conspiracy board, but I put Next of Kin before Projector because I feel that that makes the most sense.

I personally think that, after the Voxola fire, Robert enters the Constant and finds a way out. He seems to be able to take things out (like the spider, for example), and I think that this makes the most sense timeline-wise.

 

TL;DR: The 1910 world expo is important, and it can help us piece together a timeline of events.

This is just my personal opinion and perspective, and I'd love to hear yours! Thanks for reading! :]

[NPCMaxwell]

I didn't see that 1910/other number in this part of the conspirency board BEFORE you posted this better readable one here (but probably that was only because I struggle with seeing small details properly or else I may have noticed that before) In that case my old idea of which exposition it was is of course discarded, since I doubt Winona couldn't differenciate between the different expositions.

But I still wonder, what about the earthquake that is happening during projector? (i don't have a timeline of how many earthquakes happened at which times in American places, but maybe you can find a way to add it to your theory, I am curious in how far this goes, and this here seems to be one of the few theories I like to read about)

[WinterWondering]

8 hours ago, NPCMaxwell said:

I didn't see that 1910/other number in this part of the conspirency board BEFORE you posted this better readable one here (but probably that was only because I struggle with seeing small details properly or else I may have noticed that before) In that case my old idea of which exposition it was is of course discarded, since I doubt Winona couldn't differenciate between the different expositions.

But I still wonder, what about the earthquake that is happening during projector? (i don't have a timeline of how many earthquakes happened at which times in American places, but maybe you can find a way to add it to your theory, I am curious in how far this goes, and this here seems to be one of the few theories I like to read about)

I personally think that the person playing the recording of Maxwell's final act caused an earthquake similar to the one from 1906, although on a much, much smaller scale.

I don't think that it's the actual San Francisco earthquake because that earthquake destroyed 25,000 buildings and killed 3,000 people, while this seems to be only one building and only a few people in any danger at all (as far as we know, only one man dies).

That's just my opinion, though! I think that it makes more sense timeline-wise. :]