When last we met, I mentioned that I have opinions about time travel. I nearly forgot to come back to the subject, but thankfully one of my devoted readers time traveled from the future to remind me to write this. I won't reveal which of you it was. I don't want to spoil the surprise. Just remember that when you gain access to this technology you need to return to yesterday and remind me to write this post. You can imagine my disappointment when this time traveler told me that when time travel is invented the Cubs still have not won their next World Series.
There are two theories regarding the rules to time travel. In one time is constant and can't be changed. It is impossible to go back in time to save the lives of Abe Lincoln and JFK or to kill Hitler before he comes to power or to kill George Lucas between Last Crusade and Greedo shooting first. That is not to say that travel to the past can not happen, but any travel to the past has already happened. The best fictional examples of this are Prisoner of Azkaban and Twelve Monkeys. Dumbledore sends Harry and Hermione back in time to save Buckbeak because Buckbeak had already been saved by the future Harry and Hermione. Then the Future Harry produces the patronus that he has already seen himself make. In Twelve Monkeys Bruce Willis travels back in time not to save humanity from the virus but in an attempt to find a cure for the people in his time. This kind of time travel is less common but makes a better story. I have had one of these stories stuck in my head for years. Maybe some day I will actually write it.
The other option is the multiverse. There are a millions of universes more or less similar to ours. In one the CIA did not kill Kennedy, in another the Valkyrie plot suceeded in killing Hitler, in another those terrorists in Boston were thrown into the harbor along with the tea, and in one Obama is the first half white president instead of the first half black. There could even be one where reptiles instead of primates evolved into the dominate species on the planet. If this is the case, a time traveler could go back in time and change things to create a different future and a new timeline. Back to the Future is the classic example of this kind of time travel. I am not sure how well I explained the multiverse. You should go watch the tv show Sliders for a better explanation. Unfortunately most if not all comic book time travel falls into this category. Some of them are really horrible, but Age of Apocalypse and The Cross Time Caper are two of my favorite comics of all time.
I liked the Time Travel style incorporated into the Dragonlance Legends Trilogy. They use a method similar to your first suggestion, but instead of things happening exactly as they always had, changes are accommodated to maintain the original storyline. Thus, when Raistlin kills Fistandandilus, he becomes Fistandandilus and time carries on like a river. You throw in a pebble, and the river's surface may ripple, but the pebble is taken up into the river's course and carried along the predetermined path.
ReplyDeleteIf I were writing a time-travel story, I'd make it possible to travel into the past (in accordance with the rules in your first paradigm), but travel to the future would be impossible.
I've been thinking about time travel some while reading/listening to stuff on the metaphysics of Thomas Aquinas. Who knew that medieval philosophers had such helpful insights into science fiction!