Explanation of the Multiverse

What exactly is the multiverse in DBM canon ? Many fictions use different systems, so here, let’s be as clear as possible.

All what is described here is true, and true only for DBMultiverse.

DB Super is not doing the same thing. Their 12 universes are different from what I describe here.

Disclaimer : no real science is involved in this process.

So, in DBM, the entire reality is called “The Multiverse”.

The Multiverse contains an infinite (∞) number of Universes.

A Universe contains the world of the living (space, planets, stars, etc), the world of demons, the world of the deads... and small sub-dimensions (like the Room of Spirit and Time). And have a timeline, beginning from a creation, that we will call Big-Bang, to... its end or an eternal future.

The world of demons (魔界, Makai) and of the dead (Overworld, あの世, Anoyo) can be seen as “dimensions” in the Universe.

A dimension is just “another place” in the same Universe.

You can’t go back in time in your universe.

All Universes have the same beginning. The same laws of physics. The same law of time. The same quantity of energy, of particles.

Except for universe 2 that doesn’t make sense. It won’t, ever. Don’t ask.

The Kaiô Shins are just a special lifeform, although a powerful and long-living one, they aren’t to be compared with the eternal God(s) of our religions. The process of life and death, that make beings go from a dimension (living) to another (dead) is a process that is created with the apparition of life. Universes without life have no Kaiô Shins and no Overworld.

Same cause, same consequences.

Thus, all universes have the same events happening in all of them.

But, sometimes, a very little change happens in a universe. Then, it begins to differ from others. Actually this change happens in many universes, so a whole set of universe changes. Then a sub-set of them will change again, etc.

Look at the graph. For each graph, don’t continue to read before you fully understood the current graph! ☺

We showed you only universes that are different here, but remember, there is an infinite set of universes. Even if we consider only the changes up there, we may as well do this:

Here is an example with many DBM Universes:

In DBM tournament, all the participants are coming from a universe that have only ONE change with U18 (=DBZ). There could have been more, but for the fun of the experiment, we decided to do that.

Here are the same universes as seen from U18 point of view:

Here is all the logic in DBM tournament Universes!

I hope it’s clear for you now.

Oh wait... there is more.

Please take a deep breath...

Time travel.

Our DBM rule is that time travel is only possible from one Universe to another.

That’s why Trunks didn’t change his past, he changed an alternative timeline (that was originally identical to his).

When going to the past, Trunks goes to a universe identical to his own (there are always universes with the same set of changes as yours, because there are infinite). And by doing this trip, he creates a change. From there, the universes can diverge.

Is that clear? Because it’s going to get more complicated.

When Trunks travels from “future” to “past”, he can do it several times as long as he never goes before his previous trip. This to avoid paradoxes. This is a very important rule.

DB Super avoids this by saying he can ONLY travel exactly the same time (20 years) each time. It’s a very good idea because it also prevents paradox. But it’s incompatible with the dates of DBM and DB Dictionary, so we won’t use it.

If a travel goes further in time, another set of (originally identical) universes is used.

And... And Cell did that. This doubled the number of universes to consider.

Note that this explanation is totally compatible with DBZ and DB manga, and even DBS.

Each time there is a change, it touches all the universes involved. It’s again possible because we have an infinite set of each previous changes. This last figure is a mess, sorry. But the whole thing is. Actually if you don’t want to look at it, just don’t. We understand.

I didn’t show the 3 trips of Trunks in this, because I think there was enough arrows already, right?

Okay, I see you’re disappointed. Here are the trips, but only in DBZ. The tons of universes of DBM won’t fit.

Trunks does 3 trips, each time going back and forth from his future to “our” present. Each time he needs to “recharge” the time machine and it’s taking long.

1. Trip 1, from 784 to 764, twenty years in the past, to warn Gokû.
2. Trip 2, from 785 to 767, to help the team, and to find out a way to kill the cyborgs.
3. Trip 3, from 788 to 767+ (date unknown), to tell the team it’s now ok on his side.