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* Minor Spoilers *

During X-Men: Days of Future Past it is explained that the actions Wolverine takes in the past will not come into effect until he wakes up. So when he wakes up in the present the changes he made in the past will come into effect. However it means that he still has to "re-live" that period of time between the past and present so which Wolverine was left to live out that period of time?

A few things to consider:

  • When he wakes up at the end of the movie he remembers what he did in the past but has no memory of his new timeline.
  • If waking up in the present caused his younger mind to take back control of his body would he have any memory of the past few days where the older mind had been in control?
  • If his younger mind had taken back control once present Wolverine woke up when time caught up to the present wouldn't the younger mind be killed off?
  • Lastly if the present mind lived out the difference in time and had the knowledge he had gained through the years what effect would that have on the outcome of future?

I know this is a little bit of an open ended question but I'm just curious of what everyone else thought.

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I think the movie answers all this pretty well, but let's look at your questions step by step:

When he wakes up at the end of the movie he remembers what he did in the past but has no memory of his new timeline.

This is true and is because it is his old-timeline version who awakes at exactly the time when he would awake from Kitty's control in the old timeline, just in the new timeline now. He remembers everything he did in the old timeline and in his past body and basically feels like the movie events from '73 were just a minute ago, as evident from his dialogue with Charles at the end

Charles: What is the last thing you remember.

Logan: I'm drowning.

But on the other hand he doesn't seem to have any knowledge of the events of the new timeline after his past self took control, since he asks Charles for a "history lesson" for everything after 1973, to which Charles just says: "Welcome back", realizing that the Logan he met 50 years ago has finally returned.

If waking up in the present caused his younger mind to take back control of his body would he have any memory of the past few days where the older mind had been in control?

I don't think so. The past self is more-or-less unconcious while his body is "posessed" by future Logan and he doesn't remember anything from that time when future Logan leaves again. This is evident from the scene during Mystique's assassination attempt on Trask. When Wolverine sees Stryker and remembers his traumatic experiences with him, he gets very "uneasy" and causes some trouble in Kitty's tries to keep the connection between future and past. Thus for a short period of time the past Logan is actually taking control of his body again (and the future self seems to be in some kind of limbo between the times/bodies) and doesn't have any knowledge where he is and how he got there (and needs to be convinced by Charles that he was on a bad acid-trip).

So when past Logan continues control after the events of the movie in '73 he doesn't know anything about his experiences with Charles, Erik and all the others (and it is unclear how he ended up with the X-Men, given that he was recovered from the Potomac by Mystique and would need to have been recruited somehow by Charles, similar to X-Men 1).

If his younger mind had taken back control once present Wolverine woke up when time caught up to the present wouldn't the younger mind be killed off?

From the above it seems so indeed. In fact there can only be one conciousness existing in Logan's body and it's clear that it is the old timeline-Logan who awakes in X-manor.

Lastly if the present mind lived out the difference in time and had the knowledge he had gained through the years what effect would that have on the outcome of future?

Hard to say, but since the present mind (if you mean the old-timeline Logan with this) is not living through the time difference in the new timeline, as explained above, this is entirely speculative to say. But he could certainly have used that knowledge in some way or another, sure, but nobody knows the outcome of this, maybe an even different future to the one we saw, but who knows.

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    I'm more or less on the same boat as you. My biggest question is how Logan would handle waking up with metal rods through him with no memory of getting there. Especially younger Wolverine who is likely to punch you in the face for talking too much. I feel like even Professor X would have a hard time convincing him of the recent events.
    – Smeghead Sev
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 21:02
  • @SmegheadSev Well, that is hard to say, since we don't see those events. But I guess we're supposed to believe the answer to be "somehow". Yet the movie makes it clear that past Logan doesn't know what's going on, I think. In fact there are many questions about the new timeline the movie lets open, like what happened to Mystique, is she not affiliated to Erik anymore and goes her own way? Will Wolverine still end up with Adamantium now that he might not even have ended up with Stryker. Questions the movie doesn't answer unfortunately, though.
    – Napoleon Wilson
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 21:05
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    @SmegheadSev, although your doubts are justified, the scene in which he is dredged from the river shows the rods falling out of him and onto the deck, so to be incredibly pedantic (:P) he doesn't wake up with the rods still in him. This doesn't have any plot outcome, I just thought I'd clarify in-case you missed this bit..
    – John Smith Optional
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 23:57

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