Time travel is a tricky business that can turn reality on its head or leave all life on Earth in a new worst-case scenario. However, a lot of sci-fi stories take place in a world where it doesn’t matter what anyone does at any time. In these predestined timelines, the ending is already decided.
Themultiverse concept has taken offin the past few years. Between Marvel’s ongoing antics across multiple universes and indie takes on the concept, the idea of multiple converging timelines has become very popular. The idea of a single timeline with hard rules is not as common, but much more simple.
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A predestined universe is one in which all events are set in stone and the path will always reach the same end.The grand prophecy hasalready written out every event that will occur, and nothing anyone does can stop it. The heroes might travel back in time to solve whatever apocalypse they’re up against, only to discover that the end will come regardless of the changes made. Sometimes the heroes can change everything except for the one thing they went back in time to fix. This is, in many ways, a horrific concept that erases the idea of free will. Even when mankind can change anything and everything without the linear flow of time as a barrier, their choices still don’t matter. This is typically cynical, butsometimes the predestined timeline sees happy days ahead. In these cases, all hope is lost for a while, but things will come around eventually.
In the days long before sci-fi, this idea was explored through prophecy.Ancient myth seemed to havea tablet or scroll that could accurately predict the beginning, middle, and end of every known series of events. These prophecies almost always came true, though there’d often be some fun wordplay in the mix to keep things interesting. Many ancient religions depicted a predeterminate universe with little to no room for change. The concept of a predestined timeline is essentially inextricable from fate. It’s the same basic idea, without the cosmic deities or key figures in the sky governing it. Whengods laid out a prophecy, heroes might struggle to defy it or fall prey to its unfortunate circumstances. When a sci-fi author depicts a predetermined universe, they start from the ending and establish some very strict rules.
The galaxy far, far away from theStar Warsfranchise follows a predetermined timeline. The events of the original trilogy and the prequels are heavily governed by an ongoing “chosen one” prophecy that uses much of the language of ancient myth. As the prequels follow the life story of Anakin Skywalker, the surrounding Jedi Order decides that he must be the fated chosen one. As Obi-Wan yells at him in their final confrontation, he was supposed to wipe out the evil Sith, but he ends up joining them. Once his son Luke comes of age and begins demonstrating potential, the surviving elders are happy to move that chosen one title to him.Arguably, when Anakin tosseshis boss down a hole and dies somewhat redeemed, he does fulfill aspects of the prophecy that sent him on this quest to begin with. The Force seems to have a plan, and it’ll do whatever it must to get the right outcome.
Easily the worst example of a predetermined timeline comes in theTerminatorfranchise. The first film follows a hero traveling back in time to save the woman who will later give birth to humanity’s savior. It’s a dueling battle of time travel. The robots send back an assassin, so the humans send a hero, so the robots send another assassin, and so on. At theend ofT2: Judgment Day, the fated savior and his mom make a change that seemingly erases the bad future in a single choice. Multiple characters, speaking directly to the audience, that “there is no fate but what we make for ourselves.” This is proven to be false, as the series has demonstrated repeatedly that every aspect of Judgment Day is inevitable. Not only is the robot uprising and subsequent genocide guaranteed,but The Sarah Connor Chroniclesseriesalsodemonstrates that an identical resistance will still emerge without its supposed savior. Despite the uplifting words, it turns out that there is fate, no matter what we make for ourselves.
Whether reality is predetermined is a topic of debate for philosophers throughout time. All human free will can be argued away by a deterministic viewpoint. Whether things are set in stone or not, some storiesoperate in a universein which no deviation from the timeline can ever occur. Predetermined time, fate, or destiny are very common in fiction, but they’re also common beliefs among real people. It’s a scary concept, but, if it’s all guaranteed to happen anyway, we might as well attempt to enjoy it.
