Temporal Mutability: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

[[Time Travel]] is one of the richest concepts in [[Speculative Fiction]]; altering the past is easily one of the richest Time Travel plots.

As an aside, it's interesting that no one ever seems to be nearly as concerned about time travelers altering the present or the future. No one says "But what if saving that guy somehow causes [[World War Three]] — because it didn't 'really' happen or it's not the 'correct' outcome, and [[Fantastic Aesop|humans are not supposed to change history?]]"

 

 

{{examples}}

== Type 1: [[You Already Changed the Past]] ==

 

* The first ''[[Terminator]]'' movie fell squarely into this category. Later movies retconned it into... [[Timey-Wimey Ball|something a lot less straightforward]].

 

** It's even more complicated than that—the first of the two times the former method (a ''Sario Rip'') appears, {{spoiler|it's short-circuited when Jake dies, his consciousness merges with the other version of himself, and he proceeds to prevent the whole thing from happening -- also, he was apparently the only one really there because of that}}. And apparently there was a risk of both versions of themselves being annihilated when they caught back up to the point when the explosion happened, even though after that, the first iteration of them would be ''gone'', back into the past. As for the Time Matrix, ''it'' turned out to be [[Reality Warper|even more powerful than it seemed]].

* In ''[[Dragonriders of Pern]]'', turns out their crisis (Thread's back after 400 years, and they only have one Weyr, with nowhere near enough dragons to protect the whole continent) was caused by Lessa's trip back in time to bring the other five Weyrs forward to solve that crisis.

* [[Harry Harrison]]'s ''The Technicolor Time Machine'' has that, although this is not shown until the very end of the book, when the protagonist (a film director who wanted to make a cheap movie about Vikings using a time machine) realizes that the only reason the Vikings settled Vinland (and were the first Europeans to reach the New World) is because of the movie. Their Viking friend Ottar reveals that he is, in fact, Thorfinn Karlsefni, whom history recorded as the leader of the expedition. Furthermore, the director's name is Barney Hendrickson, which is eerily similar to the [[Real Life]] historical figure Bjarni Herjólfsson, who was key in ensuring Karlsefni's success.

 

* ''[[Andromeda]]'' features this twice, only to turn into a [[Timey-Wimey Ball]] whenever a [[Applied Phlebotinum|tesseract]] is nearby.

** The first time happens when the ship accidentally ends up in the past, about a year after [[The Captain|Hunt]] got trapped in the black hole. Hunt even asks [[Spaceship Girl|Rommie]] if she believes in fate. Rommie does, but Hunt doesn't, claiming "a man makes his own fate". They arrive just before the final battle of the [[Nietzsche Wannabe|Nietzschean]] Rebellion, where the Nietzschean fleet obliterates the remains of the High Guard (although that turns into a [[Pyrrhic Victory]] for them). Knowing one ship won't make a difference in the battle, Hunt prepares to travel back to the future. Then 3 times as many Nietzschean ships appear as recorded by history. Realizing the Nietzscheans still need to have a [[Pyrrhic Victory]] for the gallaxies to plunge into chaos, Hunt uses a device that wipes out the "extra" 2/3 of the fleet and leaves. [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Tyr]] later reveals that he knew about this all along from old stories but didn't feel like sharing.

* [[Time Scout]] presents Enforced Immutability that approaches Rubber Band. You can change anything so long as it doesn't matter in any way. If it does matter, you can't change it. Something will happen. Usually to you. Things that ''can'' be changed are enforced by uptime laws. And taxed accordingly.

 

* ''[[Star Trek]]'' had a Temporal Prime Directive. However, this is poorly enforced; the rules of the universe amount to Type 4.

* ''[[Lost]]'' seems to be following this rule, in fact continually referring to "the rules" and expounding that history cannot be changed. Desmond's stories drift slightly into [[Rubber Band History]], in that he can prevent individual instances of Charlie's death, but it will still happen as soon as he fails to intervene.

* ''[[Continuum]]'' is like this. Theoretically, you can change the past, but when the lives of the countless sentients of the post-Aquarian future depend on the past not being changed, it's going to stay unchanged.

 

** That being said, [[Stable Time Loop]]s happen all the time. They can even extend to [[Alternate Universe]]s.

 

* ''[[The Clown Service]]'' by Guy Adams uses a version of this. Changing the past is possible but highly perilous. The characters only dare to do it to {{spoiler|avert a [[Zombie Apocalypse]].}}

 

* ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'': Time works this way when the Enterprise encounters the Guardian Of Forever.

* [[wikipedia:The End of Eternity|The End Of Eternity]]: {{spoiler|Eternity is initially set up as [[Rubber Band History]], but is revealed to be a Temporal Balancing Act at the end.}}

*** This is driven home via a recurring subplot where Booster keeps trying to go back and save Barbara Gordon from being crippled. Every time he tries, no matter how [[Crazy Prepared]] he is, he fails, because the event is solidified time.

 

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'', being the ''[[Trope Namer]]'', flirts with both this and Enforced Immutability (see above).

* ''[[Andromeda]]'' turns into this from [[You Have Already Changed The Past]] after the introduction of tesseracts. Trance somehow manages to swap places with her future self. Then they add the Route of Ages and multiple realities.

 

----