Universe — outerwilds

This article contains spoilers! Outer Wilds and Echoes of the Eye should be played with minimal spoilers, knowing too much will hinder the experience! Please play the game before reading any of this!

The Universe is everything that exists. The Universe contains Galaxies, Stars, Planets, and Life. After the end of Outer Wilds, the Universe no longer exists and has been replaced by a new one.

Species

Known Species

Hearthian
Nomai
The Stranger's inhabitants (biologically extinct, fully extinct at the end of a loop where the Prisoner is freed)
Anglerfish
Jellyfish
Crickets / Chirping insects (heard at night)
Firefly like creatures
Fish
Bird sized double winged dragonflies (Strangers inhabitants moon)
Four eyed rabbit dogs (Strangers inhabitants moon)
Ember twin fossil species (extinct)
Dark Bramble microbes
Unknown subterranean species (Mentioned in geyser where the Nomai see ancient Hearthians)

Objects

Known Galaxies

Gloaming Galaxy^[1]
Unnamed Galaxy that contains the Solar System
At least 15 Unnamed Galaxies^[2]

Known Nebulas

Unnamed Nebula^[3]

Known Star Systems

The Solar System^[4]^[5]
Bright Spark Triple Suns^[1]
Blackrock System^[1]
The Stranger's Inhabitant's Unnamed K-Type Subgiant Star System^[4]^[6]^[7]
Unnamed Blue Supergiant^[8] and G-Type Main Sequence Binary System^[5]^[4]
Unnamed Red Dwarf System^[4]^[9]
Unnamed Blue Supergiant System^[4]^[8]
Unnamed G-Type Subgiant Star System^[4]^[10]^[7]

Known Planets and Moons

Hourglass Twins
Timber Hearth
- Attlerock
Brittle Hollow
- Hollow's Lantern
Giant's Deep
Dark Bramble
Eye of the Universe
- Quantum Moon^[11]
Unnamed Ringed Gas Giant^[12]^[13]
- The Stranger's Inhabitant's Home Moon^[12]^[13]

Events

The Big Bang	A concious observer enters the Eye of the Universe.^[14] The Big Bang is set off and the previous universe is destroyed. The Universe begins to expand.^[15]
Billions of years after The Big Bang	The Universe begins to cool down Conditions are set into the right place for life to evolve.
Less than 1 million years before the events of Outer Wilds	The Universe begins to die. The Eye of the Universe begins to send out its signal. The Stranger's inhabitants receive the signal from the Eye. The Inhabitants tear apart their Homeworld to build The Stranger. The Inhabitants discover that the Eye will destroy The Universe, and build the 'Eye Signal Blocker to make sure no one ever finds it. The Inhabitants create The Simulation* and hide away forever.* The Prisoner releases the Eye's signal back into The Universe for a short time, before getting locked away in The Sealed Vault in The Subterranean Lake. The 5th Planet in the Solar System turns into Dark Bramble.
Roughly 281,042 Years before the events of Outer Wilds	Escall's Nomai Clan receive the Eye's signal, The Vessel gets ensnared within Dark Bramble during their warp. The Eye's signal fades out forever. The surviving Nomai escape into the Solar System through Escape Pods. The Nomai in Escape Pod 3 die in Dark Bramble. The Nomai form a society within the Solar System, and start their search for the Eye. The Eye Signal Locator is built on the Attlerock. The Quantum Moon Locator is built on Ember Twin. The Southern Observatory is built. All attempts in the search for the Eye fail, The Nomai decide to send out a Probe. The Ash Twin Project and Sun Station are built under heavy debate. Solanum heads to the Quantum Moon. The Sun Station fails to make the Sun go supernova, leaving the Ash Twin Project without a power source. The Nomai are killed by the Interloper explosion.
Before the events of Outer Wilds	The Ghost Matter in the system recedes, making it habitable. The Hearthians evolve as the dominant species. The Space Program is founded by Feldspar, Gossan, Slate and Hornfels. Feldspar lands on the Attlerock. Chert is trained and sent into space. The Protagonist and Hal are born. Gabbro is trained and sent into space. The Translator Tool begins being worked on. Riebeck is trained and sent into space. The Protagonist begins training. Gossan loses one of their eyes. The Protagonist prepares for their launch day. The Protagonist is sent into space. The Sun goes Supernova along with most of the remaining stars in the sky. The Ash Twin Project finally gets a power source and begins firing the probe. The Probe is fired 9,318,054 times before finding the Eye of the Universe.
Outer Wilds	The Nomai Statues pair to Gabbro and The Protagonist when the Eye is found, trapping them in an endless time loop. *The Events of Outer Wilds* take place. The Protagonist heads to the Eye of the Universe. The Protagonist enters the Eye of the Universe*. The Big Bang* is set off and The Next Universe is born. The cycle continues.

Gallery

Art from the Prisoner's House that prophecises the rebirth of the universe.
Star Constellations in the Universe
Star Systems and a Nebula neighboring the Outer Wilds.
Ditto but a little farther out.
An image Hornfels took at the Observatory of the galaxies in the Universe.

Trivia

The Outer Wilds Universe is based on the Cyclic Model of our own Universe.
The lower left star system changed sometime between 2021 and 2022. It used to just be an exact copy of The Stranger's Inhabitant's star system.^[16]
The Solar System's star spectral class is most likely G8V^[5]
The Stranger's Inhabitant's star spectral class is most likely K8IV^[6]^[7]
Blackrock has at least more than one sun according to Canna^[1]

References

[:0-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 The Vessel#Texts and recordings

[2] File:Galaxies.png

[:D-3] File:Slide_5_Story_03_13.png

[:3-4] 4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 ^4.3 ^4.4 ^4.5 File:Slide_5_Story_03_12.png

[GMain-5] 5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 https://www.wikiwand.com/en/G-type_main-sequence_star

[KType-6] 6.0 ^6.1 https://www.wikiwand.com/en/K-type_star

[Subgiant-7] 7.0 ^7.1 ^7.2 https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Subgiant_star

[BSG-8] 8.0 ^8.1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_supergiant

[RedDwarf-9] ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_dwarf

[GType-10] ttps://www.wikiwand.com/en/G-type_star

[11] Quantum Moon

[:1-12] 12.0 ^12.1 Slide Reels#River Lowlands

[:2-13] 13.0 ^13.1 Simulation

[14] Endings#Eye of the Universe Ending

[15] Timber Hearth#Texts and recordings

[16] File:BottomLeftStarSystemBeforeAndAfter.png

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