The Wheel of Time actually a time loop?

[HighLordXanthus]

I was just reading through some posts, one being about ishy and rand having battled again and again through a thousand thousand turnings of the wheel.

 

What if randland was once as earth is, a linear time line vs. a circular time line. Then at some time at the height of civilization, possibly only technically advanced, no OP, through study into physics they opened a worm hole into some other dimension letting in chaos, forces never intended in this world. Possibly matter and anti-matter colliding. Now most modern physics say that the two together would cause annihilation as the very fabric of the universe was ripped to shreds.

 

But instead of this, it causes a tear in space time that creates the time loop, the ages scrolling over and over through millennia, eons. This matter and anti-matter could also answer for the occurrence of the OP and the TP, aka the light and the shadow, the creator and the dark one.

 

If this is the case, could it be possible to close the time loop? Could that be what the dark one is trying to do? Break this chain in time? Thus could those in service to the light do the same, ending the endless battle? It would seem so, a time loop existing until the imbalance that created it is fixed.

 

If that is the case, I doubt that Rand could break the loop. Rand must some how seal the breach into the prison of the Dark One, the dimensional portal, but that will just cause the loop the begin again, wheeling slowly back to the Age of Legends where supposedly the original opening was created. Lewis Therin would then have to be the one to truly close it, instead of metaphorically damming the river, cutting it off at the source.

 

Anyway, this is all just conjecture, but I thought it was intriguing enough to share with you all. Please, let me know what you think and possibly those better knowledge of physics help flesh it out or debunk it.

[Jellybelly]

As mentioned in another topic, I might be slightly inebriated right now, so bear with me.

 

RJ has set his tale in our world. He has said countless times that he sees them as the sources of our legends and myths, and us as the sources of theirs. However, I feel that in his fictional universe, he has applied his own rules to our "time", so to speak. In these books, we are a part of his universe, but follow his rules. In the universe of the Wheel of Time, Time has always been circular. So, although you could compare this world to a time loop, the description is not really accurate, as he has stated that the same things do not happen time after time, and there is choice for human kind.

 

Randland was once as earth is, but in the WoT universe, Time was never linear. That is how I read it, at least.

[Inara]

exactly

[HighLordXanthus]

I did not mean a time loop in the strictest sense, because then the exact things would happen time and time again. But more like a river feeding back on its own course. One path of the river different fish may swim, different birds come to swim in it, the banks may change shape, the depth may run deep or shallow, but it is the same river. Same with the wheel of time. All the little things may change every turning of the wheel, but the broad direction of it's turning is the same.

[Inara]

well, yes

hence the wheel analogy

[Luckers]

Most religions and philosophies that suggest cyclical time often bend towards the idea of... i dunno... spirals... like, the same set of events keep occuring, but the pressense of the last turning changes and influences the cycle, widening it and thereby creating this outward curling spiral. In hinduism (i think) its called Kalpas.

 

Anyway, i think based on things said thats pretty much what RJ's wheel is... the great events stay the same from turning to turning, but the small details, they alter and grow, and thereby change does occur.

[Trib4l]

I was thinking, "most 'wheels' are circles".

[rd2000]

Bear with me here, I know the big bang theory is just a theory but:

 

Look at current beliefs in astronomy, all we know is that the universe started from a singularity. Currently, most evidence points to an ever expanding universe, one that will expand forever. However, the other side of that coin is that our universe will stop expanding, start retracting, and eventually collapse back into a singularity and another big bang ensues. Until evidence started showing up that there is not enough mass to cause gravity to stop expansion, the belief was that the universe would reverse eventually and another big bang would occur. Kind of like your time loop huh? So, until a few years ago, many of the most brilliant minds in astronomy DID believe something very similar to what RJ's world is.

[Luckers]

I was thinking, "most 'wheels' are circles".

 

On the other hand most symbolic representations of the universe are basic... unless you suggest that the pattern is actually a pattern... maybe of silk?