in the loonaverse, every ot11/12 is a different timeline. also there's two yeojins.

a very long theory thread
ok so basically i theorize that every loona comeback is a different world or timeline that shows a different conclusion or way that things play out. the timeline splits during or after favorite, once the groups are all beginning to meet and form loona.
first, the split- there are two separate branches of timelines and a convergence. i believe the split was caused by gowon's tampering with the loonaverse. her actions, while miniscule, caused a butterfly effect that resulted in the split.
it's hard to tell if what we're seeing is different timelines or worlds. on one hand, i don't think that gowon's butterfly effect could have caused new worlds to create, so they would just be alternate realities where the effects were different- but on the other hand,
the timelines/worlds converge and thus it's acknowledged that they existed at the same time in the loonaverse. i've kind of gotten stumped by this, so i guess i'll leave that up to interpretation
the main difference throughout the timelines, and what made me think of this theory to begin with, is that the state of loona's meeting of each other is at a different point in every mv. you could argue that it's just progression, but it ends up going backwards
also, for clarity, my theory doesn't have anything to do with the loonaverse's rewinding. obviously it happened, but i think that it happened in just one timeline (which we'll get to obviously), but it didn't cause another split or anything
last thing to preface- when i talk about lore in mv and when girls (mostly yeojin) are alone/with others, i am referring strictly to non-performance shots. i do not see ot11/12 dance shots as canon and only take into account the cinematic scenes. lets begin
BRANCH 1: COINCIDENCE
first off, favorite & hi high- favorite is not a lore mv so it's hard to discern what went on. i personally think it is canon in the loonaverse. thus, favorite the first of five timelines; one in which they are all together safely.
hi high rewinds time and shows us loona meeting each other, *including yeojin*. as favorite had no lore in the mv, its hard to tell if favorite canonically came after hi high and is thus the same timeline or if it's a different one.
for the sake of simplicity, we'll assume they're separate (this is later solidified); thus hi high is the 2nd timeline after the split. so far, we have two timelines/worlds, in both of which we see loona as a united group with no girls missing. this is the first branch.
butterfly is the amalgam of the first branch. butterfly's plot is the first instance of proof for this theory; favorite, which is not mentioned by name other than "coincidence", and ++, also referred to as "coincidence", form to create butterfly's universe- known as "fate".
since both coincidence timelines had ot12 being together, there's not much to say about butterfly. it's really just like another favorite- ot12 & miscellaneous lore unrelated to the timeline theory.
BRANCH 2: DESTINY
i believe that gowon's butterfly effect, in this branch, created two timelines; so what and an unnamed timeline that isn't represented through an ot12 comeback but rather referenced in 1/3's music videos. this branch is a lot more confusing, so bear with me.
first, the unnamed timeline, which for easy reference i'll call adrift; this is where we begin to see yeojin as lost (thus the name). we've known that yeojin is lost, but in this timeline, she never reunites with the rest of 1/3 and thus does not make it to ot12.
in the other timeline, so what, yeojin is lost up until the events of ot12, where she is, through some means, reunited with the rest of loona. i believe this is a result of oec's interdemensional travel (choerry) and attempts to seek out the other girls (jinsoul).
my thought is that odd eye circle, who are (aside from 2jin) the most powerful in the loonaverse, was somehow able to influence this world from the coincidence branch. this yeojin is not the same. i believe the original yeojin is still lost, and another took her place.
we know that choerry is able to mirror both worlds and people as well as travel throughout them. i believe that choerry willingly created another yeojin, who we'll refer to as yeori (yeojin+choerry). whether yeori knows she's a mirror i can't say, but i don't think the rest know.
i know this is extremely hard to follow, so i tried to make a diagram.
in the so what mv, we see yeojin both alone and with others. i believe that the yeojin that alone is the /real/ yeojin, and that the yeojin that is with the other girls is yeori.
while it's not really important, it's fun to talk about, so i'll go over it; yeojin's teaser for # showed her as being blurred. this can be interpreted in two ways- it represents yeojin still being lost, or it could represent yeori fading or being disconnected from the rest.
im reaching the thread-at-once limit, so this will serve as a break. i still have to write it, so if you're reading this as i post it, take a breather cuz u deserve it after that. in the second wave of replies i will summarize what we have so far and continue the rest!
AND WE'RE BACK! so let's summarize what we have so far in the destiny branch

- adrift world, where yeojin is lost and was never united with ot12. they could possibly still be looking for her and to this day have not reached the point of hi high.
secondly...

- so what world, where yeojin is still lost. a mirror of her, created by a choerry from the coincidence branch, was inserted into the world and was united with the others, thus allowing ot12 events to happen- while yeori is with loona, yeojin is still lost.
i didn't want to mention it until after explaining for lack of confusion, but so what's world is also referred to as fate. this is a different fate world than the coincidence branch's fate, butterfly.
CONVERGENCE: THE MOONLIGHT FESTIVAL
in case you didn't read the lore for why not, the moonlight festival is a gathering of all of loona, celebrating the rising of a new moon. i believe this midnight festival happens in every timeline, however for different purposes.
the moonlight festival in the coincidence branch is what's described in the why not description- a festival celebrating the rising of a new moon. the moonlight festival in the destiny branch, however, celebrates the rising of the moon from the perspective of the moon.
at some point before the moonlight festival, both branches merged into one, creating the "new moon" world. this world is honestly incredibly confusing (to them too, im sure). we see so many different aspects of the different timelines being indulged in.
i believe this is represented through kim lip's scenes with the three moons. we see three of them; one for the coincidence branch, and two for the destiny branch (so what and adrift). kim lip has arguably the most power out of oec so it makes sense that she would be able to
see and understand the timeline convergence. at first, she's scared, but she comes to terms with it after a bit. also, i don't think that she's physically /seeing/ it like how we do in the mv, but rather it's just a symbol for what's happening and what she understands.
at this point, we have coincidence loona celebrating the coming of the new moon, and destiny loona, who /are/ the new moon, celebrating their own arrival. the biggest symbol of this is the shot of loona celebrating on the moon.
in the moon circle scene, we see a loona, who i presume to be destiny-loona, performing their midnight festival. every scene of destiny-loona is reversed, however i don't think this has any significance other than to show that they're separate from coincidence-loona.
it's very easy to deduce that the loona on the moon is different than that of the earth. there are multiple scenes where, at presumably the same time, earth-loona (coincidence) is viewing the moon. one of these girls is coincidence-yeojin; still lost and alone.
the final kicker of why not's music video is at the end, when the butterfly flies in front of hyunjin. hyunjin doesn't see it, but this is a symbol of the loonaverse coming full circle- gowon's butterfly effect has reached its climax.
at this point, two timelines, containing three worlds, are colliding. this means that there are three loonas- two of the yeojins are still lost, and a 37th girl, yeori, is present. how the girls meet, if they ever do, and what happens beyond this, is currently a mystery.
as we're reaching the end, please note that this theory doesn't explain things like choerry's presence in other groups and other in-universe theories like that. this is an overlying theory; events like choerry's, jinsoul & vivi's, olivia's murder, etc happen in all worlds.
to send off this thread, here's a diagram of everything. i hope everything made at least a /little/ bit of sense. thank you so so much for reading this far. please retweet the original tweet and support loona as much as you can!
im realizing after writing this that i didn't adequately describe the adrift world's place in this theory. in adrift, ot12 have yet to unite with each other and yeojin. they did not have a midnight festival, however they were still merged in the convergence.
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