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Non-Linear Character: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|Allow me to tell you a story. It took place 360,000 years....no; 14,000 years ago. But what is time anyways? For me, it seems like yesterday. For you, it might be tomorrow.
|[[Satan|Lucifel]], ''[[El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron]]''}}
Most people live within a time stream, where time flows in one direction and effects follow causes. However, there are some characters in fiction that are slightly removed from the time stream and are able to see the past, present, and future all at the same time. These characters tend to exude a mysterious, all-knowing air about them, as they generally know who you are, why you are talking to them, and what will happen if you do what you are planning. They aren't necessarily [[The Omniscient]] as you may [[Screw Destiny|create your own destiny]], but they may often act much like him.
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A simple way of showing this is [[Anachronic Order|Non-Linear Storytelling]], although that has [[True Art Is Incomprehensible|more general]] [[Mind Screw|applications]]; particularly in a [[Thriller]], [[Mystery]] or [[Lit Fic]] where the author doesn't want the audience to put the pieces together before the end.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[
* ''[[Watchmen]]'': Dr. Manhattan
* The Spectre in the DC Comics series ''[[Kingdom Come]]''.
* Gertrude's parents in ''[[Runaways (comics)|Runaways]]''.
* Goblin demons in ''[[The Grievous Journey Of Ichabod Azrael]]'' perceive time like this, in contrast to human souls. This is how one of them knows the plane isn't supposed to be there, and there's something unusual about Ichabod as well.
* Destiny and Death in ''[[The Sandman]]''.
== [[Fan
* In the novel-length ''[[Ice Age]]'' fanfic ''[[Lost in Time Series]]'', the first story of the saga, [[spoiler: ''Origins'' portrays the life of a supporting character, Hudson the dire wolf to be one as events unfold and Hudson shows the reality of who he really is - a character travelling backwards in time and one who has been to a good future that the herd created, although the way to paving forward that future was through many [[Heroic Sacrifice]]s on the part of the first timeline's herd, on when they go back in time to ensure the safety of ''another'' herd, the second herd becomes Non-Linear Characters themselves, resembling [[Doctor Who|Amy and Rory and River]] in that their memories belong to another timeline and not the one they found themselves in now.
* This is strongly implied to be fundamental to the nature of the gods in the [[Multiverse]] in which ''[[Drunkard's Walk]]'' is set. Gods in their true forms are twelve-dimensional creatures who can insert three-dimensional avatars into a given world; by definition some part of them (and their perception) exists ''outside'' of that universe's flow of time.
== [[Literature]] ==
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