Eternal Recurrence: Difference between revisions

The idea goes back to Hindu and Buddhist traditions. In Hinduism, there is the Maha Yuga concept where the universe is destroyed and recreated by Brahma every 4.32 million years. Buddhism has a similar notion of Kalachakra ("wheel of time"). Some New Age interpretations of ancient Mayan religion suggest that the world is due for a [[Continuity Reboot]] at 11:11am GMT on December 22, 2012, although the Maya themselves don't believe this. This is also known as "[[wikipedia:Eternal return|eternal return]]". Many such systems divide these periods of existence into 'Ages'. The Yuga system, for example, shows the world evolve and devolve within each cycle (see [[Gotterdammerung]]). Of course, a more [[Theme Park Version]]-esque view on these traditions boils down to "[[History Repeats]]."

 

 

This may cause a [[Medieval Stasis]].

 

{{examples}}

* Happens in ''[[Gall Force]]'', multiple times, often in silly ways.

* Given the story structure for ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'', one would think this is happening. Actually, {{spoiler|that's absolutely right. Though it equally falls into [[Groundhog Day Loop]] zone}}.

* Happens as an result of [[Canon Welding]] between [[Devilman]], [[Violence Jack]] and [[Devilman Lady]] - {{spoiler|world constantly resets itself and in every new version of it Akira Fudou and Satan reincarnate to fight each other}}.

** In ''AMON'' {{spoiler|the world is on an extendeed version of [[Groundhog Day Loop]], spanning millions of years from Satan's betrayal to Akira's death, so everything that happened once will happen all over again and again.}}

 

== Comic Books ==

** It might not have even been Yahweh's creation, considering that the comic gives us two new fully fledged Creators. Some interpret this as the Creation where Yahweh originally came from.

* In [[Grant Morrison]]'s ''[[Seven Soldiers]]'' meta-project, the Sheeda ({{spoiler|the species that inherit the Earth in the far-fetched future when the sun has become a red giant}}) travel through time in their Castle Revolving to plunder humanity's technology whenever we reach a sufficiently advanced point of development - first they raided a [[Jack Kirby|Kirby-esque]] society of Neanderthal super-scientists, then a utopian, world-wide Kingdom of Camelot as ruled by the original progenitor of the Arthur myth, and then finally our world shortly after the turn of the millennium - that's where the eponymous heroes come in.

 

== Fan Works ==

* [[The Decemberists]]' ''The Hazards of Love'' fanfiction ''[http://archiveofourown.org/works/37994?view_adult=true The Certainties]'' treats the events of the album as an Eternal Recurrence, a chain of events that Margarets and Williams are forever doomed to repeat, until {{spoiler|finally one set breaks the cycle.}}

 

* [[The Reveal]] at the end of ''[[The Matrix]] Reloaded'' is that Neo isn't the second "One", he's the ''sixth''. Not only that, but the program in charge of the Matrix allows him and the other rebels to exist, since giving the Matrix's inhabitants an unconscious choice of realities is what keeps the system going. Each "One" is meant to find the Architect shortly before the Machines invade Zion, at which point he will be allowed to select survivors to repopulate the rebels and begin the process all over again. Neo's love for Trinity, a connection his predecessors didn't have, makes him say [[Screw Destiny]].

* Guy Maddin's ''Brand Upon the Brain!'' features the odd quote, "Everything that happens will happen again. Twice."

* In ''[[The Fifth Element]]'', the evil planet reappears every 5,000 years.

 

== Literature ==

* The world of ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' series has a cyclic system of time. The seven spokes of the Wheel represent the seven eras, and the turning of the Wheel is the course of history repeating over and over again. [[Satan|The Dark One]]'s foremost human minion, Ishamael, was a philospher who thought too deep into how meaningless human life is in the grand scheme of things, and wants to help his master undo creation because of it.

* Something like this happens at the end of the [[Robert Heinlein]] short story "[[wikipedia:The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag|The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag]]", when the universe is remade to get rid of the Sons of the Bird.

* One of the many computer generated worlds in ''[[Otherland]]'' is based on ''[[Alice in Wonderland|Through the Looking Glass]]''. Every time one king or the other dies, the world is reset to how it was at the beginning of the game.

* In [[David Eddings]]' ''[[Belgariad]]'' and the sequels and prequels, this is used to explain why the same situation tends to reoccur over and over again. This was used partially as a wry acknowledgement of, and excuse for, [[David Eddings]]' lack of creativity, as he himself admits that he basically wrote it as an attempt to make the most generic fantasy plot of all good.

* In [[Isaac Asimov]]'s short story ''Nightfall'', a well-known cult claims that all civilization is destroyed every 2049 years when the Stars come out and cover the planet (which never experiences true darkness) in fire. At the beginning of the story, an archaeologist discovers this has indeed happened several times already. {{spoiler|Turns out, every 2049 years all 6 of its suns experience solar eclipse, and the planet is covered in fires from all the people going crazy and looking for a new source of light.}}

* A major theme of ''[[A Canticle for Leibowitz]]''. The novel chronicles humanity's recovery from a nuclear apocalypse {{spoiler|and ends with a second nuclear apocalypse which, it's pretty strongly implied, will kill everyone on Earth. The church has sent out colonists to other worlds, though, so it's possible that humanity may survive}}.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** But that was revealed to be just a tiny fraction of the actual recurrence: {{spoiler|the island itself, or perhaps the protector, summons people to the island. Always have and always will}}.

* The classic series and expanded universe of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' imply that the Guardians and/ or the Eternals are the last survivors of the Universe before the Whoniverse. The new series also has the Beast from "The Impossible Planet", who is said to come from before time and matter itself.

 

== [[Music]] ==

* Eternal Recurrence is a very common element of [[Sound Horizon]] albums, starting with their very first (Chronicle).

 

== Religion ==

* [[The Bible]]. (Ecclesiastes 1:9-14 NIV)

{{quote|What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. {10} Is there anything of which one can say, "Look! This is something new"? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. {11} There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow. {12} I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. {13} I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! {14} I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.}}

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* In ''[[Shadowrun]]'' and [[Earthdawn]], magic flows and ebbs. At its peak, the nature of reality becomes thin enough for the Horrors to come through, and they do. The indigenous population of Earth must then hide, if they do not want to be eaten.

 

* In ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]'', {{spoiler|Chip is in fact Light Gaia, and his job is to recreate the world after Dark Gaia has finished destroying it}}.

* The whole point of ''[[Xenosaga]]'' games.

** At least one [[Fan Wank|fanwork]] were written to discuss this trope. Basically, {{spoiler|Gensokyo is not a stable realm, being severed from reality by the Yakumo boundary. Gensokyo is constantly "wounded", and it tries to kill itself (i.e. by summoning Shinki, in ''5''; or by inciting Yuuka's rampage in ''9'') to return to the rest of reality and make it whole again. The real purpose of Shrine Maiden of Hakurei is to be sacrificed to cleanse this wound... by making [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to take down the aforementioned destroyers.}} Poor Reimu.

* The Fae in ''[[Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning]]'' do not truly die like mortals. They are fated to repeat their lives endlessly in the "Great Cycle". The appearance of the Tuatha Deohn, Winter Fae who have managed to break their own Cycle thanks to the power of their new god Tirnoch, is taken as a sign by other Fae that the Cycle is ending.

 

* [http://www.pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF111-Reset.jpg This] is likely the single best illustration of this concept you'll ever find.

* ''[[Unicorn Jelly]]'': both {{spoiler|a select few of the human race fleeing the destructive "Stormfall" to colonize a new world and guide it towards being able to construct more arks when the stormfall catches up to them}} and {{spoiler|the discovery of a weapon that creates such a "stormfall", which destroys everything in the universe only for life to eventually return when the "hyperspace raindrops" phenomenon transports species from another cosmos once again}}—though the latter isn't apparent until the [[Distant Finale|final arc]] of the strip.

* [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2138 This strip] from [[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]] combines it with [[Lensman Arms Race]].

* Universes in ''[[Homestuck]]'' are eventually destroyed {{spoiler|due to Lord English, but universes are also created constantly due to Skaia. This process of Sburb has no known beginning or end, though the sessions shown in the comic are instrumental to certain conditions perpetuating it. It is implied all universes and reality itself is merely the shape of another, higher being / force known only as Paradox Space, implicitly responsible for the settings [[You Can't Fight Fate|immutable fate]].}}

 

== Western Animation ==

* In ''[[Futurama]]'', when Bender, Fry, and Farnsworth travel to the end of the universe in a forwards-only time machine, they witness a new Big Bang, allowing them to return to the year 3010.

** Then they go too far and have to "bring her around again" and witness ''another'' Big Bang. But this time the new universe is about ten feet lower than their old one.

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]

[[Category:Apocalyptic Index]]