This is a timeline of events that take place in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. Since the series is not set in a specific year, Guilty Pleasures is year 0, and the timeline counts from there to either direction.
The references of time novel-to-novel (measured in weeks/months) and the references to years within the story begin to contradict each other around the events of Micah. Anita's age also no longer corresponds with the passage of time beginning in Incubus Dreams. See the inconsistencies section below for more information.
Timeline[]
| year | novels and short stories | other notable events | |
|---|---|---|---|
Early years[] | |||
| -26 | Richard is born | ||
| -24 | Anita is born | ||
| -16 - -19 | Manny gives up vaudun [1] | ||
| -16 | Summer | Anita's mother dies[2] | |
| -15 - -16 | Grandmother Blake raises Anita for a year after her mother dies.[3][4] | ||
| -14 | Anita's father marries Judith.[5][6][7][4] | ||
| -10 - -11 | Anita accidentally raises her pet dog
Anita is sent to Grandmother Flores Zerbrowski marries Katie | ||
| -4 | Bert and Manny found Animators, Inc. | ||
| -3 | Addison v. Clark[8]
Gaia's law Anita graduates Anita joins Animators, Inc. Anita meets Ronnie Anita meets Edward Anita helps to destroy a pack of vampires who killed Beverly Chin's family | ||
| -2 | Selling Houses (short) [1] | Anita becomes preternatural expert for R.P.I.T.[9]
Anita meets Jean-Claude Manny retires from vampire hunting after 4 months in hospital | |
| -1 | |||
Year 0[] | |||
| 0 | Jan | ||
| Feb | |||
| Mar | |||
| Apr | Animators, Inc. moves to new offices[10] | ||
| May | |||
| Jun | |||
| Jul | Guilty Pleasures [11][12] | Nikolaos dies; Jean-Claude becomes Master of the City
Anita receives the First and Second Marks. | |
| Aug | The Laughing Corpse[13] | Anita meets (and later kills) vaundun priestess Dominga Salvador
Anita initiates her first human sacrifice (and mass cemetery raising) and becomes a necromancer | |
| Sep | Pioneer program started: vampire counselors provided for the freshly risen
John Burke joins Animators, Inc.[1] | ||
| Oct | Circus of the Damned[14] | Larry joins Animators, Inc.
Anita meets and starts dating Richard Anita receives all 4 Marks from Alejandro (nullifies Jean-Claude's Marks); Anita kills Alejandro
| |
| Nov | |||
| Dec | The Lunatic Cafe[15][16] | Anita finds out Richard is an alpha involved in a war of succession for leadership of the his pack
Anita meets Rafael, Raina and Gabriel for the first time | |
Year 1[] | |||
| 1 | Jan | ||
| Feb | Senator Brewster's daughter is killed by a vampire | ||
| Mar | Bloody Bones[17] | Vampire executioners are officially licensed.[18] | |
| Apr | |||
| May | The Killing Dance[19] | Anita and Jean-Claude meet with Sabin (rotting as a results of abstaining from blood) and his human servant, another necromancer, Dominic who are in a triumvirate with wolf Cassandra
Anita has accepted being Jean-Claude's "declared vampire servant" at the beginning of the book. Anita and Richard form a vampire triumvirate with Jean-Claude, accepting the first three "marks". In addition, Jean-Claude and Richard announce that they are allies within the supernatural community. Taken together, these changes make it impossible for Anita to completely separate her life from Jean-Claude or Richard. Anita kills the werewolf lupa Raina and the wereleopard leader Gabriel in self-defense, resolving some unsettled conflicts from The Lunatic Cafe. Richard becomes the Ulfric of his pack Anita and Jean-Claude become lovers Larry graduates | |
| Jun | |||
| Jul | Burnt Offerings [20] | Anita takes up mantle as Nimir-Ra
The Vampire Council (of Europe) comes to visit - The Traveler and Padma, Master of Beasts Anita meets Asher | |
| Aug | Blue Moon[21] |
| |
| Sep | |||
| Oct | |||
| Nov | |||
| Dec | "The Girl who was Infatuated with Death" | ||
Year 2[] | |||
| 2 | Jan | ||
| Feb | |||
| Mar | |||
| Apr | |||
| May | Obsidian Butterfly[22] |
| |
| Jun | Narcissus in Chains[23] |
| |
| Jul | |||
| Aug | |||
| Sep | Cerulean Sins[24] | Anita becomes a U.S. Marshal
Anita and Asher become lovers Somnolent Marmee Noir "notices" Anita | |
| Oct | Incubus Dreams[25][26] | Anita accepts Nathaniel as the fourth of her concurrent lovers, and she and Richard also agree to renew their relationship.
Anita inadvertently marked Nathaniel as her animal servant, forming a triumvirate between Anita, Nathaniel, and Damian. | |
| Nov | Micah[27] |
| |
| Dec | The Harlequin[29] |
| |
Year 3[] | |||
| 3 | June | Blood Noir [30] |
|
| August | Skin Trade [31] |
| |
| late summer | Flirt [1] | ||
Year 4[] | |||
| 4 | July | Bullet[32] |
|
| Aug | Hit List[33][34] |
| |
Year 5[] | |||
| 5 | May | Kiss the Dead [35] |
|
| Aug | "Dancing" | Micah and Nathaniel go to a cookout with Anita and her cop firends | |
| Nov / Dec | Affliction [36] |
| |
| 5 / 6 | Jason [1] |
| |
Year 6[] | |||
| 6 | May | Dead Ice [37] |
|
| July | Crimson Death [39] |
| |
| Serpentine[1][40] |
| ||
| Sucker Punch[1][41] |
| ||
| 6 / 7 | Rafael [1] |
| |
Other[] | |||
| Pre-series (probably non-canon) | Those Who Seek Forgiveness (short)[1] | ||
| 5 / 6 (probably non-canon) | "Shutdown" [1][42] | Richard asks Anita and Micah to talk to his fiancé about their relationship. Note: Possibly set in some unspecified time after Affliction. | |
| 2016 | Nov | A Girl, a Goat, and a Zombie (eShort) [42] | |
Inconsistencies[]
Time between Obsidian Butterfly and The Harlequin[]
There is a notable inconsistency in the time reference between Obsidian Butterfly and The Harlequin. When referencing time novel-to-novel, it's just seven months between the events of the two novels. But in The Harlequin, the events of Obsidian Butterfly are stated to be a year and a half earlier.
Time references novel-to-novel showing only a seven month difference:
- Obsidian Butterfly takes place in May.[22]
- Narcissus in Chains takes place within a month of Obsidian Butterfly, as stated in Narcissus in Chains chapter 10: "You almost died in New Mexico less than a month ago."
- Cerulean Sins takes place a few months after Narcissus in Chains, as stated in Cerulean Sins chapter 11: "I'd done my best to forget what happened when Belle Morte caused the ardeur to rise months ago. Thanks to her, I’d participated in the closest thing I hoped to ever get to an orgy." Narcissus in Chains takes place in June, and Cerulean Sins takes place in September, so the events of these novels are three months apart. Obsidian Butterfly happened four months prior.
- Incubus Dreams is just a month after Cerulean Sins. In Cerulean Sins, Tammy is three months pregnant,[43] and Incubus Dreams opens with her being four months pregnant. Cerulean Sins takes place in September, and Incubus Dreams takes place in October, so the events of these novels are one month apart. Obsidian Butterfly happened five months prior.
- Micah takes place the following month. Tammy is five months pregnant,[44] and it's November. Obsidian Butterfly happened six months prior.
- Danse Macabre also takes place in November, referencing several recent sexual encounters in Incubus Dreams that might attribute to Anita's possible pregnancy. Obsidian Butterfly happened six months prior.
- The Harlequin takes place in December, and references several events in Danse Macabre as being one month before. The Harlequin, chapter 10: "I had a serious pregnancy scare last month." Obsidian Butterfly happened seven months prior.
By these references, it's just seven months between Obsidian Butterfly and The Harlequin.
But then Obsidian Butterfly is stated to be 1.5 years earlier:
- Micah, chapter 02: "You worked a serial killer case in New Mexico about two years ago."
- The Harlequin, chapter 10: "Oh, so not two years since I saw him (Peter) but more like a year and a half."
Although the time between The Harlequin and Obsidian Butterfly is notably inconsistent, the time between The Harlequin and Narcissus in Chains, which takes place the month after Obsidian Butterfly, is more accurately represented in The Harlequin. Nathaniel and Anita both say it's been seven months since the events of Narcissus in Chains (June) when the they and Micah started living together,[45][46] although it's been closer to six months.
This inconsistency with Obsidian Butterfly taking place much earlier in the timeline is brought up again in Affliction. The events of Narcissus in Chains (when Nathaniel, Micah, and Anita started living together) are referred to as happening three years earlier, while the events of Obsidian Butterfly (regarding Van Cleef and his men) are referred to happening four years earlier, although the events should have been only a month apart and should have both happened about three and a half years earlier.
Anita's age[]
Anita's age becomes inconsistent after the first ten novels.
The first ten novels are consistent regarding Anita's age, and her aging corresponds with the passage of time. In the first four novels, which take place between July and December, Anita is stated to be 24 years old.[47][48][49][50] In the tenth novel Narcissus in Chains, which takes place two years later in June, Anita is stated to be 26 years old,[51] which is consistent. This places her birthday prior to June, which is confirmed in Narcissus in Chains when she states that she had "turned twenty-six early in the year."[51]
In Incubus Dreams, which takes place in October four months after Narcissus in Chains and two years after the start of the series, Anita indicates that she's about 27 years old.[52] In Danse Macabre, which takes place a month later in November, she is stated to be 27.[53] But based on her stated age in the first four novels, she should be 26 during this time. Additionally, in Narcissus in Chains, Anita states that she had "turned twenty-six early in the year,"[51] placing her birthday for the year before June; so she could not have aged up from 26 to 27 between Narcissus in Chains (June) and Incubus Dreams (October) or Danse Macabre (November), since she'd already had her birthday that year.
In Hit List, which takes place less than two years after Danse Macabre, Anita is stated to be 30 years old.[54] But even if she were 27 in Danse Macabre, she wouldn't be older than 29 at this time. Based on her age in the first ten novels, she should be 28 at this time.
In Kiss the Dead, which takes place in the year following Hit List, Anita is stated to still be 30 years old.[55] Based on her age in the first ten novels, she shouldn't be older than 29 at this time; she should probably be 28 based on her birthday being "early in the year" as stated in Narcissus in Chains. In Affliction, which takes place five or more months later, Anita is stated to be 30 years old,[56] but based on her age in the first ten novels, she should be 29.
Anita is stated to be 30 years old in four novels: Hit List, which takes place in August; Kiss the Dead, which takes place the following year in May; Affliction, which takes place at least five months after Kiss the Dead, so October or later; and Jason,[57] which takes place within a few months of Affliction. This is more than a year of her being 30 years old, so even if Anita is 30 (and not 28) in Hit List, she should have aged up by one of the later novels. This is possibly an attempt to correct some of the previous inconsistencies with her age, since it brings her age closer to what it should be.
In Dead Ice, there is a discrepancy with Anita's age; in two chapters, she is stated to be 30 years old,[58] and in four chapters, she is stated to be 31 years old.[59] Based on her age in the first ten novels, she should be 30.
In Serpentine, Anita says that she's "over thirty."[60] Based on her age in the first ten novels, she should be 30.
In Sucker Punch, Anita says twice that she's thirty two.[61][62] This doesn't really fit with Marshal Newman having been a marshal for barely two years[63] (since shortly before Hit List[64]) or Affliction having occurred last year[65], but would fit if Dead Ice had been last year and the chapters where Anita is said to be 31 happened to be correct. The book doesn't mention anything concrete about seasons, but the focus on how dark it is at night could indicate that the events occur during a fall. That would fit better with the Affliction than Dead Ice version.
In Rafael, Anita says that both she and Micah are over thirty.[66]
| Novel | Year | Month | Anita's stated age | Accurate age |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guilty Pleasures | Year 0 | Jul | 24[47] | - |
| The Laughing Corpse | Year 0 | Aug | 24[48] | - |
| Circus of the Damned | Year 0 | Oct | 24[49] | - |
| The Lunatic Cafe | Year 0 | Dec | 24[50] | - |
| Narcissus in Chains | Year 2 | Jun | 26[51] | - |
| Incubus Dreams | Year 2 | Oct | 27[52] | 26 |
| Danse Macabre | Year 2 | Nov | 27[53] | 26 |
| Hit List | Year 4 | Aug | 30[54] | 28 |
| Kiss the Dead | Year 5 | May | 30[55] | 29 |
| Affliction | Year 5 | Nov/Dec | 30[56] | 29 |
| Jason | Year 6 | 30[57] | 29 or 30 | |
| Dead Ice | Year 6 | May | 30[58] / 31[59] | 30 |
| Serpentine | Year 6 | 30+[60] | 30 | |
| Sucker Punch | Year 6 | 32[60] | 30 | |
| Rafael | Year 7 | 30+[66] | 30 or 31 |
The years after Anita's mother died[]
In Circus of the Damned Anita was eight when her mother died, and her dad and Judith married when Anita was ten.[5] The Killing Dance again mentions the marriage was two years after Anita's mother died.[6], as does Obsidian Butterfly[7] In Blood Noir Anita claims Grandmother Blake took care of her for two years, until her dad met Judith, which would mean they got married pretty fast after meeting.[67] However, in Flirt Anita claims she was only raised by Grandmother Blake for about a year.[3] It seems likely that this is meant to correct Blood Noir's claim in order to give Anita's dad and Judith a bit longer courting period. Fast marriages do happen, but it's not an unreasonable idea that a widow and a widower[68] who both have a pre-teen daughter of their own might take things a bit more slowly.
Addison v. Clark[]
There is some inconsistency on when Addison v. Clark happened, in either year -2 or -3. This inconsistency begins in Burnt Offerings.
Guilty Pleasures, Bloody Bones, and The Killing Dance place the court case in year -2.[69][70][71] Burnt Offerings and Cerulean Sins place the court case in year -3.[72][73] Notably, Guilty Pleasures and Burnt Offerings both take place in July, one year apart; in Guilty Pleasures, Anita claims the court case happened two years prior,[69] while in Burnt Offerings, she claims the court case happened four years prior.[72]
In Dead Ice, Anita claims to have been in her senior year in college at the time of Addison v. Clark,[74] and she graduated at about age 21.[75] Anita is 24 in Guilty Pleasures (July year 0),[47] and her birthday is stated to be "early in the year" in Narcissus in Chains. If Anita graduated in May as Larry does, then she graduated in year -3 at the age of 21. Her senior year in college would be from year -4 to -3, indicating that Addison v. Clark took place in year -3.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Exact time uncertain.
- ↑ Wounded: "My mother would die the summer after that snow day. I'd been eight."
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Flirt, chapter 02: "My Grandmother Blake took care of me while my father worked for about a year. I'd just lost my mom [...]"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 See also the inconsistencies section regarding the years after Anita's mother died.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Circus of the Damned, chapter 09: "I was eight when my mother died. My father remarried when I was ten."
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Killing Dance, chapter 22: "Maybe, but two years after she died, Dad remarried. He married Judith [...]"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Obsidian Butterfly, chapter 12: I'd never really forgiven my father for marrying her only two years after my mother's death.
- ↑ Either year -2 or -3. See the inconsistencies section regarding Addison v. Clark.
- ↑ This happens sometime after Saint Patrick's Day, as in Bloody Bones Anita says she's been working with R.P.I.T. for almost three years, and a few weeks before The First Death.
- ↑ Guilty Pleasures, chapter 17: "Animators Inc. had new offices. We'd been here only three months." Guilty Pleasures takes place in July, so the move is in April.
- ↑ Guilty Pleasures, chapter 34: "It seemed to glow in the hot July sunshine."
- ↑ Guilty Pleasures, chapter 35: "I had decided to sweat in the July heat so I could carry arsenal."
- ↑ The Laughing Corpse, chapter 01: "The house gleamed in the hot August sunshine."
- ↑ Circus of the Damned, chapter 02: "It was October and the grass was still green."
- ↑ The Lunatic Cafe, chapter 01: "December was our slowest season for raising Zombies."
- ↑ The Lunatic Cafe, chapter 02: "It was a short but lonely walk on a December night."
- ↑ Bloody Bones, chapter 01: "It was St. Patrick's day..." St. Patrick's day is March 17th.
- ↑ Blue Moon, chapter 05: "In March, vampire executioners had been officially licensed."
- ↑ The Killing Dance, chapter 10: "It was May in St. Louis."
- ↑ Burnt Offerings, chapter 30: "The July sun beat down my back through the black coat."
- ↑ Blue Moon, chapter 01: "It was August, and the second full moon was only five days away."
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Obsidian Butterfly, chapter 01: "It was May, but it felt like April."
- ↑ Narcissus in Chains, chapter 01: "June had come in like its usual hot, sweaty self..."
- ↑ Cerulean Sins, chapter 01: "It was early September, a busy time of year for raising the dead."
- ↑ Incubus Dreams, chapter 01: "It was an October wedding." Note that although the wedding is Halloween-themed, it does not take place on October 31st, but is earlier in the month.
- ↑ Incubus Dreams, chapter 71: "It was mild for October, and lycanthropes tend to run warm."
- ↑ Micah, chapter 09: "I shivered, but it wasn't from the early November cold."
- ↑ Danse Macabre, chapter 1: "It was the middle of November."
- ↑ The Harlequin, chapter 41: "It was December, but it wasn't that kind of cold."
- ↑ Blood Noir, chapter 01: "The color not of spring, but of summer skies, before the heat has gotten too hot, but you know it's not May anymore." Not May but early summer, so June is most likely.
- ↑ Skin Trade, chapter 04: "Two months ago, some very bad men had captured the both of us." Those events are from Blood Noir, which is estimated to be set in June, placing Skin Trade in August.
- ↑ Hit List takes place in August and is a month after the events of Bullet, placing the events of Bullet in July.
- ↑ Hit List, chapter 01: "It was fifty freaking degrees here. Whoever heard of fifty being the regular temperature in August?"
- ↑ Hit List, chapter 03, regarding Anita killing Haven in Bullet: "It's only been a month since you had to make the hardest kill of your life, Anita."
- ↑ Kiss the Dead, chapter 15: "I took a deep breath of the fresh late-spring air, and let it out slow." It's late spring, and spring ends in June, but it isn't June yet, per chapter 46: "I've lived with Nathaniel for three years, four in June."
- ↑ Affliction is at least five months after Kiss the Dead (May), see Affliction (novel)#Timeline.
- ↑ Dead Ice, chapter 61: "Crime-fighting was hard to schedule, but I didn't mind as I drove home from the airport in the soft spring dark, or was that early-summer dark? May was one of those months that could be either in St. Louis, late-summer cool or almost midsummer hot."
- ↑ Wounded: "He'd already started tanning again from running outside, even though it was only May."
- ↑ Crimson Death, chapter 38: "It felt like autumn although I knew it was still July here, just like home." and "I'd have liked to ask someone if it was always like this in July..."
- ↑ Serpentine, chapter 11, it's been a "few months" since Crimson Death.
- ↑ Sucker Punch, chapter 21, Affliction was last year.
- ↑ 42.0 42.1 A temporary short story, may not be considered official canon.
- ↑ Cerulean Sins chapter 21.
- ↑ Micah, chapter 01.
- ↑ The Harlequin, chapter 05: Nathaniel on his relationship with Anita: "Honestly, I didn’t think we’d still be together this long. Seven months is the longest relationship I’ve ever had." Seven months since the events of Narcissus in Chains (June), although it's actually about six months.
- ↑ The Harlequin, chapter 41: "Micah’s been living with me for seven months." Seven months since the events of Narcissus in Chains, although it's actually about six months.
- ↑ 47.0 47.1 47.2 Guilty Pleasures, chapter 16: "She's worried that I will be an old maid at the ripe age of twenty-four."
- ↑ 48.0 48.1 The Laughing Corpse, chapter 09: "It offended some deep part of Rosita that I was twenty-four and had no prospects of marriage."
- ↑ 49.0 49.1 Circus of the Damned, chapter 33: "How old are you?" ... "Twenty-four."
- ↑ 50.0 50.1 The Lunatic Cafe, chapter 03: "I was twenty-four years old and the pain of that first loss was still raw."
- ↑ 51.0 51.1 51.2 51.3 Narcissus in Chains, chapter 01: "I'd turned twenty-six early in the year, and, frankly, at the rate I was going, I probably wouldn't have to worry about hitting thirty."
- ↑ 52.0 52.1 Incubus Dreams, chapter 01: "I've only got three years to go until the big 3-0; so far panic has not set in."
- ↑ 53.0 53.1 Danse Macabre, chapter 02: Nathaniel says, "I'm twenty, and you're twenty-seven."
- ↑ 54.0 54.1 Hit List, chapter 04.
- ↑ 55.0 55.1 Kiss the Dead, chapter 24.
- ↑ 56.0 56.1 Affliction, chapter 24.
- ↑ 57.0 57.1 Jason: "I was only five or six years older than he was -- depending on the time of year, our birthdays seemed to make us gain or lose a year on each other. At twenty-five and thirty it wasn't a big age difference; at nineteen and twenty-five it had seemed like more."
- ↑ 58.0 58.1 Dead Ice, chapter 04 and chapter 09.
- ↑ 59.0 59.1 Dead Ice, chapter 06, chapter 08, chapter 17, and chapter 41.
- ↑ 60.0 60.1 60.2 Serpentine, chapter 42: "He (Nathaniel) wasn't twenty-five yet, but I was over thirty."
- ↑ Sucker Punch, chapter 15: "I'm thirty-two."
- ↑ Sucker Punch, chapter 32:
- "Okay, I give—how old is she (Hazel)?"
- "Just turned thirty."
- I blinked at him. "I'm older than she is. I wouldn't have called that."
- "Me either," Kaitlin said. "I thought you were my age."
- "How old are you?"
- "Twenty-five."
- ↑ Sucker Punch, chapter 31: "You've been doing this barely two years."
- ↑ Hit List, chapter 08: The bad news was that the powers that be gave Karlton's vacated warrant to another new marshal who had about as much experience. Ironically, his last name was even Newman.
- ↑ Sucker Punch, chapter 21: Last year I’d raised a zombie army to combat one raised by an ancient evil vampire.
- ↑ 66.0 66.1 Rafael: Micah on the other hand still treaded that androgynous line, and he sort of hated it. We were both over thirty, so there wasn’t going to be a growth spurt for him or me.
- ↑ Blood Noir, chapter 24: "Yeah, but Grandma Blake, who raised me for the two years before my father found Judith, well, that's a different problem."
- ↑ Serpentine,chapter 28: She (Donna) was the only person I knew who kept a picture of her first husband when she was with someone else, but maybe that was because she'd been widowed. No, that couldn't be it, because my father didn't keep any pictures of my mother out, and my stepmother, Judith, didn't keep any of her first husband out either, and they were a widow and a widower.
- ↑ 69.0 69.1 Guilty Pleasures (July year 0), chapter 01: "It had only been two years since Addison v. Clark." Places the court case in year -2.
- ↑ Bloody Bones (March year 1), chapter 08: "It had only been three years since Addison v. Clark made vampires legally alive." Places the court case in year -2.
- ↑ The Killing Dance (May year 1), chapter 02: "Three years of legalized vampirism and Vlad syndrome was the highest rising birth defect in the country." Places the court case in year -2.
- ↑ 72.0 72.1 Burnt Offerings (July year 1), chapter 42: "But that (before Addison v. Clark) was four years ago, and the world had changed." Places the court case in year -3.
- ↑ Cerulean Sins (September year 2), chapter 04: "It had only been five years since Addison V. Clark had made vamps “alive” again, at least to the law." Places the court case in year -3.
- ↑ Dead Ice, chapter 04: "It was my senior year of college when it (the law) changed. I guess I hadn’t thought what I’d missed."
- ↑ Circus of the Damned, chapter 32. Anita started working for Bert at 21 when she had "just graduated college."
