Ontological Inertia: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Ontological Inertia acts as a buffer against changes to the cosmic status quo: You cannot (well, not completely) undo something that already exists.

Simon Hawke's ''[[Time Wars]]'' has a similar Law of Historical Inertia, and any change you make will be like a stone dropped in the river of time: History will simply flow round it and, for the most part, end up exactly where it was before (so if you wanted to actually change it, you'd essentially need a ''really big'' "stone" to divert the river, the consequences of which could be disaster).

 

 

{{examples}}

** It's implied that the Einstein that did the erasing will not see any changes. All he has done is create a divergent timeline which exists simultaneously with ours. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to go back to his lab in 1946.

* [[Ontological Inertia]] is such a strong force in the ''[[Legacy of Kain]]'' series that the titular vampire spends most of his immortal life looking for a way to [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong|thwart it]] at a [[Take a Third Option|key point]] in his past. This is the origin of Kain's memorable "edge of the coin" speech: