Moedred said:
As far as I understand the timeline, Ryan was president for 5 years (elected by write-in after all primary candidates killed in Capitol, then served one term), followed by Kealty for one term, beaten by Ryan.
Mm. But the dates given still don't add up. We do know that Ryan was President in 2000, since the
Rainbow Six takes place during the Sydney Olympics. Because it's an election year and he stays in the office after that, the Capitol incident described in
Debt of Honor and
Executive Orders took place in 1998 or 1999.
This means Ryan left office following the 2004 election. However, in
Dead or Alive, the date is given as 2010 - and yet Kealty is described to be in the middle of his first term, with Ryan planning to challenge him.
Now, Jack Jr. is around 10 years old when Ryan becomes president - however, in
Teeth of the Tiger, which takes place in the late 2000s, he is in his late 20s. Now, it's noted somewhere that Ryan actually became president in 1996, which would make Junior's aging somewhat more plausible. But that'd mean Ryan served two terms already, and wouldn't be able to challenge Kealty in 2012 election. And of course, Kealty couldn't run either if he really became president after the 2004 election.
So yeah, it's just one big muck-up right there. No matter which way you look at it, the thing just doesn't make any kind of sense. There must have been a retcon somewhere - another thing that hints at it is the mention of 9/11 and the Afghanistan and Iraq wars in later books - all events that shouldn't by all intents and purposes have happened in the Ryanverse. What reason would Ryan have to go to Iraq for example, when Saddam was assassinated during the late 90s in
Executive Orders? Also, 9/11 is described to have happened exactly as in real world and come us a complete surprise, a new form of act of terror no one could foresee, despite a jetliner pulling a kamikaze to the Capitol in
Debt of Honor.
The only explanation to all this is that the novels published during the 2000s and forth have started a new, slightly reworked continuity. Too add to the confusion, this however didn't really stop Clancy (or his cohorts) to refer to certain events of the old, exactly as they happened back there. And even if you forget the old continuity, full-grown, adult Jack Jr. refers to being "a kid" in the White House in
Dead or Alive, despite said events having happened no more than 8 to 10 years ago if the electoral terms are anything to go by. Possibly less.
