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In Fringe, all known Observers (except the ones seen in the odd season 4 episode 19, Letters Of Transit) are named after months (November, August, December).

Is there a reason for that? Is there a relation to their month-name and their function/hierarchy? Are there 12 of them?

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  • S5E11 does confirm that there were 12 of them, but doesn't explain anything else about the team. – user1030 Jan 15 '13 at 12:34
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    @JoeWreschnig the exact quote is "His name was September. He was part of the original twelve science team that traveled back in time to observe primitive humanity.". Since they were twelve, they had the choice to pick names of Months, names of Apostles or names of eggs in the egg carton. – DavRob60 Jan 15 '13 at 13:09
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The original observers were time travelers and there were only 12 of them for reasons not explained in the show. When picking codenames for them on their mission, assuming the Gregorian Calendar is still the standard 600 years from now, the months are 12 proper nouns that relate to time. It is not a very imaginative or clever jump and humanity at that time doesn't seem very imaginative or clever.

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There is no way, in my opinion, to know the answer to that question. I think it may be some form of nod to the aspect of time, and the fact that they attempt to alter and control the timeline of the two universes. However, there's not going to be a definite answer on that until it is revealed in the show, or the purpose of the Observers as a whole is revealed in more detail than it has been.

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  • @MichaelEdenfield The ones we know were the ones that earned the name "Observers", so I'd say most likely they were historians. – Izkata May 11 '12 at 23:43
  • @MichaelEdenfield Yes, Broyles mentioned in one of the first few episodes "we call them the Observers", that's what I meant by "earned". – Izkata May 13 '12 at 4:08

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