Glossary

Frank's countdown: the exact lifespan of the Tangent Universe, announced to Donnie on the night of October 2 and ending in the early hours of October 30, 1988.

The metal object that marks the start of a Tangent Universe and must be returned to the Primary Universe to end it. In Donnie Darko, the jet engine.

What a Tangent Universe becomes if it is not resolved: it collapses on itself and destroys the Primary Universe with it. Visualised in the film as the storm vortex over Middlesex.

The phrase Ms Pomeroy calls the most beautiful in the English language - and the door Donnie enters to find Gretchen at Grandma Death’s house on the final night.

The residue of the Tangent Universe. When the Manipulated wake in the Primary Universe, some remember the 28 days as a dream.

A situation engineered by the Manipulated Dead that leaves the Living Receiver no choice but to return the Artifact. In the film: the death of Gretchen.

Jim Cunningham's self-help doctrine, taught by Kitty Farmer: every human action sits on a lifeline between Fear and Love.

Time, treated by Sparrow as a physical construct that is normally stable but can be corrupted, producing a Tangent Universe.

The medium, made of water, through which the Manipulated Dead contact and manipulate the Living Receiver.

The abilities granted to the Living Receiver: increased strength, telekinesis, mind control and the power to conjure fire and water.

The path each person is predestined to travel, as Donnie describes it to Professor Monnitoff: if God controls time, every living thing moves along a set channel.

The translucent, water-like tendrils Donnie sees extending from people's chests, showing the path each person is about to take. The name is Donnie's own: he tells Dr Thurman they are "like liquid" and come out of the chest "like spears".

The person chosen to return the Artifact to the Primary Universe. Donnie Darko is the Living Receiver of the film.

People who die inside the Tangent Universe. They gain the power to move through time and contact the Living Receiver through water. Frank and Gretchen are the Manipulated Dead of the film.

The living people around the Receiver whose behaviour, without their knowledge, steers him toward returning the Artifact.

The second element of time travel. Artifacts are always made of metal - in the film, the jet engine.

The fictional Virginia town where the film is set. Filmed mostly in and around Long Beach, California.

The fate of everyone in the Tangent Universe if it collapses: erasure along with the universe itself.

The universe we ordinarily live in. In Donnie Darko it is the timeline in which the jet engine falls on October 2, 1988 and kills Donnie in his bed.

Samantha Darko's dance troupe, coached by Kitty Farmer. Their trip to Star Search in Los Angeles puts Rose and Samantha on the plane whose engine becomes the Artifact.

An unstable copy of reality that branches off the Primary Universe when the Fourth Dimension is corrupted. It survives for a few weeks and then collapses into a black hole unless the Artifact is returned.

The point at which a Tangent Universe touches the Primary Universe. In the film it is directly above the Darko house.

The 1954 Graham Greene short story Ms Pomeroy teaches, in which boys demolish a house and flood it. Donnie floods the school days later; Pomeroy is fired for teaching it.

Everyone around the Living Receiver inside a Tangent Universe. They are either Manipulated Living or, if they die there, Manipulated Dead.

A gateway between universes, made of water, that opens at the Tangent Vortex. The Artifact is sent back through it.

Movement through the Fourth Dimension. In Sparrow's book it is possible only inside a Tangent Universe, and only for the Manipulated Dead and, at the end, the Artifact.

One of the two elements of time travel. Water is the barrier between universes: Time Portals and the Fourth Dimensional Construct are made of it.