Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2015 10:41 am Posts: 57
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HarveyMidnight wrote: Isn't that the whole 'folklore' of the Grower Oh, definitely. While I usually don't like time-travel stories, I really love this particular case. What little Cyan gave us doesn't reveal a lot, but if you don't mind extrapolating a bit it makes sense IMHO.
From a purely (in-lore) technical point of view, Linking through time isn't out of the question. It's unheard of, but Catherine, Yeesha and the Bahro proved there is much the D'ni never discovered. Then it all a matter of how you think time travel would work if it were possible, which is generally where fictions can be really unsatisfying.
- If you believe time is a single straight line, then saving Kadish like Yeesha did would cause a few paradoxes like Tweek said and wouldn't be satisfying.
- If on the other hand, you believe multiple timelines can co-exist and branch into each other, then this plot is possible.
Both ways to handle time travel are incompatible, but both make sense in their own way depending on how the story is written. In Uru's case, the second idea (multiple timelines) seems to be the preferred one. Not only that, but it also ties in nicely with how Books are said to Link to various leaves on the Great Tree of Possibilities, and how Ages and people might (or might not) get "reset" when making drastic changes to a Descriptive book, as mentioned in the BoA. For all we know, cloning someone is possible by abusing how the GToP works. Obviously this is something that Cyan never fully worked on and is not "canon" (did I mention I hate this word ?) but it fills in nicely with the gaps left in the story. On a side note, where most fictions fail time travel is when they mix the two behaviors inconsistently. This results in nonsensical plots and paradoxes. IMHO this is the case in Dr Who, but then it seems they justified it with "timey winey", which is just a way to say "hey, it's magic, just enjoy the show and stop taking it too seriously". Which is definitely a way of thinking I can get behind 
From a story point of view though, it's a nice twist. Yeesha has always been craving for power, and at last she can finally do something the D'ni could never dream of - time travel ! With it she could solve all her family's problems, revive her brothers and she could prevent the Fall ! But she completely botches it: out of arrogance, she releases Kadish, who in turn kills Calam. Cold return to reality: power isn't good without wisdom. After that, we can guess she realized her obsession for power made her unable to take good decisions and estranged her from her family, so she decided to never use her grower power anymore. It would also explain her behavior in Myst V: she was once again tempted by power with the Tablet, failed to use it and hates herself for being tempted again. It's bittersweet, which is why I like it so much.
But hey, in the end it's all just a story about Books magically linking you to other places. It's not like regular logic can always be applied everywhere 
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