Recursion: book plot and timelines explained
Blake Crouch
★★★★★ 4/5
Spoiler Warning: this explainer intended for folks who've read the book
Recursion by Blake Crouch is quite the mind-bender. You can find my review of the book here. While Mr. Crouch never really satisfactorily explains why and how The Chair does what it does, through the course of the book he describes the rules governing the use of the Chair and the consequences of its use.
A single reading of the book likely prompts several questions—and I have seen several indicating an incomplete understanding of the construct and plot of the book. To help readers better understand the book and answer some of the more common questions, I’ve put together:
- A list of the rules of memory travel with the chair (as best understood and inferred from my reading)
- A chart of all the major timelines in the book
- FAQ
- My open questions
The construct of the book is mostly consistent. I say mostly since I do have some open questions: pertaining to Slade’s use of the chair to send people back, which I list at the end.
(If you’re looking for an explainer for Blake Crouch’s other book Dark Matter, go to this post)
The Rules of the Chair
These are the rules as best understood and inferred from my reading:
- Only one person is allowed to use the chair at a time
- The person using the chair i.e the memory traveler dies in the chair as part of using it. At the moment of death, the memory traveler is transported back to their chosen memory/date mapped by the device
- After chair use, in the newly created timeline :
- The memory traveler retains all memories they had up to and including dying in the chair.
- Everyone else’s memories go back to as they were on the chosen memory date i.e. they don’t remember the future life they’ve lived before
- Hence the the memory traveler can predict/anticipate events that will unfold—nobody else can
- Once we reach the date the memory traveler died in the chair i.e. the Timeline Anniversary, everyone else recollects the events of the previous timeline that have been altered in the new timeline due to the actions of the memory traveler
- The memory of these events from the old timeline i.e. False/Dead Memories, have a distinctive feel (grey/colorless) compared to the current real memories—for everyone
Additional Rule/Nuance for timeline anniversaries: Memory hop when made to a date prior to the last use(s) of the chair: all old timeline anniversaries are overridden—the false memories of those timelines only hit people on reaching the date of most recent chair use.
All the timelines in a single chart: click to enlarge and enable fullscreen
Notes to help read the chart:
- The chart only includes the major and clearly known timelines. It excludes, for example, several of the memory travels during testing (e.g. Reed) and those during the DARPA controlled use for averting tragedies.
- Time axis not to scale to accommodate the range of dates and events.
- Read the sequence of events from left to right. Blue lines with arrows indicate timeline shifts. Character using the chair listed in blue.
Story Notes:
- The books starts with Barry on the Joe B timeline and Helena on the Oil Rig Timeline
- Helena and Barry first meet on the Barry/Meghan 2nd chance timeline
- At the end, Barry jumps to the brunch in The First Chair Timeline—not the brunch in the Joe B timeline described in Book 1
FAQ:
These are the questions I have seen most frequently online (Goodreads and top search results for reviews of the book). Click on them to read my explanation/answers.
The books starts with Barry on the Joe B timeline and Helena on the Oil Rig Timeline: refer to the timeline chart
A: Yes, in a simple interpretation of events, it is against the rules. People should have real memories of the building when it was constructed. An explanation for why people feel the building has materialized is the sudden emergence of the false memory of it not existing at all combined with the true memory of knowing it was built. Yes, that memory of it not existing should have a distinct/grey feel, but the public does not know enough to process the cognitive dissonance created. And hence the feeling of surprise at the building ‘appearing’. That’s the interpretation I’m willing to buy 🙂
A: Because of Slade’s cunning. Not only did he wipe out Helena’s memory of this discovery that she made with Reed as the subject, but to ensure she never tries it, Slade kills Reed in an orchestrated demonstration to convince Helena that trying to map to a false memory results in death. This presumably and very effectively pre-empts any attempts on her part trying this out.
A: Helena as the inventor of the chair, needs time to figure out a solution. Going back a month or two is insufficient and expensive (dying the in the chair is not pleasant!). If she only went back a few years, then false memories will begin to arise on timeline anniversaries. Please see Additional Rule/Nuance above in the rules section.
Yes, that’s right. See the timeline chart. Barry’s recollection that kicks off the book has to be the Joe B timeline. He returns to the First Chair timeline when most of the world has not yet encountered FMS. (Thanks to astute reader Chris who pointed out an error in the comments that led me to revise the chart)
A: See: Additional Rule for timeline anniversaries . She had to go back to a real memory that she recalled strongly enough before the earliest use of the chair. She had no way of knowing how far back Slade had himself gone to (re) invent the chair. It likely didn’t have to be all the way back to 1986 but it was 1. a safe point far enough back to override other timeline anniversaries 2. a strong memory needed to enable the memory transfer 3. gave her time with her parents that she craved and 4. gave her a greater amount of time to figure out a solution to the problem of preventing dead memories from returning on timeline anniversaries.
A: Because regardless of her existence, the false memories of all the previous timelines would hit the world on Apr 16, 2019. Everyone will recollect the existence of the Chair and how to make it, ensuring all hell would break loose as before.
A: This event occurs on the evening of Nov 5th. Referring to the timelines chart, the closest chair use is the very first chair use on Nov 5th by Slade after he murders Helena. During that nosebleed Barry has false memories of never having met Ann Voss Peters and seeing her fall. This ties with that timeline since it would have been one where Frannie jumps and Ann has a son Sam with Joe Behrman.
A: I’m guessing it never occurred to Helena that the memories of their time on the rig would be sufficient for Slade to make the chair himself. Also instinctively, when trying to escape, she wanted to go back to the nearest point where she could fork a life without encountering Slade.
A: If Barry went past previous momentous chair usage times, false memories of those would hit on those timeline anniversaries. To prevent all those memories from re-surfacing, he could go back a few days or go all the way back before before any previous chair use (which is what Helena does each time)
A: Because, love story :). They need the time after Barry recollects all their past lives and before the apocalypse to truly understand, remember and appreciate all they’ve been through.
Open Questions:
My questions, which I have not seen posed elsewhere and which don’t seem to have satisfactory answers, center around Marcus Slade’s use of the chair after he re-invents it from the memory of the work done with Helena on the rig:
Q: Based on the events in the book, sometime in Oct 2018, Barry sends Joe Behrman back to July 11, 2003 (see chart). This wipes out his own memory of the invention of the chair until Oct 2018 when he gets it back. He would then presumably have to invent the chair again and set up his hotel in under a month for Barry to use it on Nov 6th. Also what does this mean for Slade’s efforts at getting Helena to build the chair by wooing her from Stanford? Helena will presumably not remember what happened on the Oil Rig till 2018 (per additional rules for timeline anniversaries).
Q: What sequence of Chair use makes it possible for Vince to await Barry on the day he saves Meghan in the timeline where Barry is sent back by Slade?
There are potential convoluted scenario answers to these questions OR one can just assume that Slade figured out ways to use the chair with different consequences from Helena’s first chair.
If you have an explanation, please share in the comments. Or maybe you have other questions which I might be able to answer. Just ask!
If you liked this explainer, you might also want to check out the one for Dark Matter here.
49 thoughts on “Recursion: book plot and timelines explained”
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I really like that chart!
Nice attempt at an answer to the Big Bend, but on page 148 of my edition, it’s clear that the building appears out of nowhere, to the extent that the news even wants to show it instantly. It’s not about the sudden emergence of false memories.
“The image changes to a live shot that overlooks the southern border of Central Park. There’s a building on West Fifty-Ninth Street that wasn’t there a moment ago.”
In the following passage, people get out of their cars to look at the building, etc., “faces lifted skyward, (…) to take photos and videos of the new addition to the Manhattan skyline. Meghan says, ‘That wasn’t there a moment ago. Right?”
If you would follow the book’s mechanics, what should have happened is that all these people in this timeline would have already been acquainted with the building, as they would have seen it built, etc., and then they would get hit with false memories of the building not existing, but that’s not what happens on page 148-149. They should be surprised about the new memories, not about the building itself. There’s no trace of cognitive dissonance in the pages, not at all.
Your interpretation is too creative – it doesn’t correspond with what is written black on white.
Sadly, I can’t help you with those open questions: it has been too long ago since I’ve read the book, and it would need a reread to answer them. Also on most of the other questions you answer I can’t really offer an opinion, the book is already very murky in my mind, but I do think your answer to the suicide question is very right though.
So let’s not forget that, based on Barry’s experiences in book 5, when a major reality shift occurs the dead memory is realized first, and then the “real” memory trails it. Thus it would make sense for the Big Bend to just appear – people hadn’t caught up to the real memories yet.
Okay, thanks for that. So Crouch did try to put a mechanism in to justify it. But it’s still not logical given all the other mechanics.
I don’t know if I agree, as I recall the passages of the “real” memories came in to Barry re: the Big Bend the same way as they did in each timeline anniversary in book 5.
Yes, sure, but what I wanted to say is that the mechanics of book 5 are off too.
Thanks. The chart took a lot of time to make but helped me understand the book and my own questions about it much better.
Yes, I agree the Big Bend description in the book is confusing and misleading and my explanation is somewhat extreme rationalization. But for me, by itself, it does not break the entire construct of the book. The other questions…that’s different now 🙂
I love that chart. And yes, I’ve approved your pingback so that you can feature the link on my site:).
Thank you. Much appreciated.
🙂
Great job on that chart!
I stumbled upon this page looking for an answer to the Vince question, which I haven’t seen it being asked as much as it should, but I guess we’ll never know.
Thanks Moustafa. Yeah, that one is a head scratcher.
Hi, thank you for the chart. My question is regarding what you are describing in your chart as “The Original Timeline.” Isn’t that timeline actually the first altered timeline? The true original timeline would be the one where Jon Jordan accidentally dies in the tank and gets sent back to a car accident 15 years in the past (where this time he dies). The timeline that flows from that event is what you (and the author) are describing as the original timeline, even though it’s not. And this first altered timeline would also contain people who have symptoms of FMS–obviously all the people working in the lab with Jon Jordan, but also all the people Jon Jordan knew and had relationships with in the actual original timeline from the time of the accident until 11/2/2018 when he dies in the tank and their false memories should present.
Of course, this would have little impact on the outcome of the story since the false memories from that original timeline would already have presented to the relevant people by the time Barry goes back to what he thinks is the original timeline. So no dire repercussions should result from Barry’s intervention with regard to false memories presenting. But everybody in the lab that day, including Helena, would have the false memories of Jon Jordan and Helena at least could conceivably discern their true source eventually.
Thank you Chris. You’re absolutely right there. Nice to meet someone who has given this book and it’s events serious thought 🙂
Having spent a lot of time on the chart, I now have to decide if I want to make the correction which you correctly point out.
After acknowledging the error, I had to go change the chart. Updated now. Thanks again for pointing it out, Chris. I’ve also credited you in the one of the FAQs. LMK if you want your name to link to your website.
This is a good point. I’m also not sure if it’s necessarily an oversight on the authors part, because Barry traveling to the “first altered timeline” would have allowed him a very clear anchor point to convince Helena of his story, with her having experienced the phenomenon once in a way that, frankly, won’t make her invention likely to get out. At least that’s who I square that circle.
In response ro your first open ques, maybe when slade got his memories of all other timelines on oct 2018, he also remembered that he can travel todead memories, so may be he used the chair to travel to a dead memory.
But I’d need a reread to confirm that 100%, and that’s not going to happen.
Hi there! I have a pretty basic question but I’m re reading this on my kindle right now and don’t want to flip back to figure out the answer lol. How does Slade know that they went back in time in the original jump back (when the test subject coincidentally had a heart attack) but Helena doesn’t? Is it just a theory until he kills Helena then it’s proven to be true? Thanks!
Hi Jack, during that original jump, everyone in the lab had headaches and nosebleeds but “no one understood what had happened”. Slade was the only one who didn’t let it go and tried to locate the test subject, Jon Jordan. He discovers that Jon dies in the same car accident memory they were trying to reactivate. As Slade says “I think I was the first one to realize that had happened…”
According to Slade, he has traveled many times (and presumably in dead memories), so many in fact, he cannot travel anymore. So there must be times not documented where Slade went back, changed nothing significant, but picked up knowledge. People must have been having a lot of headaches and nose bleeds. Question: What caused the headache/nosebleed for Barry in the diner after seeing Joe.
Good Q Michelle. The event you refer to occurred in the evening of Nov 5th. Referring to my chart (it’s been a while since I read the book and so don’t remember everything clearly) the closest chair use is the very first chair use on Nov 5th by Slade after he murders Helena. During that nosebleed Barry has false memories of never having met Ann Voss Peters and seeing her fall. This ties in with that timeline since it would have had Frannie jump and Ann having Sam with Joe Behrman.
Hi Michelle, I’ve replied and also added this Q to the FAQ crediting you as the question source.
From my understanding – people only experience the nosebleeds/headaches at the anniversary timeline moment if they were affected by the altered timeline – if there are no “old” memories to be loaded into their consciousness at the anniversary, then they don’t experience the anniversary effect. That being said – only people affected by any of Slades many timelines would experience the anniversary effect – and, if they were mild changes to their life, then many of those may go somewhat unnoticed.
Thanks Rye. That’s my understanding too. Do you mention this with respect to any particular question or event?
Mainly just responding on the first part of Michelle’s question – about Slade having gone back so many times and triggering multiple nose bleeds/headaches for everyone.
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The timeline chart is so helpful. However, I have trouble understanding how Helena going back to her 16 year old self wasn’t the original timeline? And how Barry going to his brunch with Julia was an original one? Also, how did Slade figure it out?
Any use of the chair starts a new timeline where only the traveler retains all memories while everyone else undergoes a ‘reset’ (see rules 2,3). So each time Helena goes back to her 16 yr old self, she is initiating a new timeline. Just as all of the other travelers and timelines. In the final timeline(s) where Helena goes back to her 16 yr self, Barry never meets Julia and they never have a child. Barry meets Helena early in those timelines and they marry. But on the timeline anniversary, Barry has all the false memories surface including his life with Julia and the brunch. Mapping to that false memory releases the world from false memories hitting them on the timeline anniversary. Slade had figured this out during experiments with Reed. See Q3 in the FAQ. Hope this helps.
To comment on your second open question, Arvind, about Vince somehow being a part of Barry’s timeline, that was the original question that I had that sent me on an internet search that led me here 🙂 Here are the possibilities that I’ve come up with:
1. Vince used the chair sometime when Barry was unconscious in Hotel Memory, before Barry used the chair to go back.
– This doesn’t work due to the fact that Vince would end up on Barry’s original timeline when Meghan is killed since Barry hadn’t gone back yet.
2.Vince used the chair shortly after Barry used the chair (but on Barry’s new timeline).
– Right after Barry uses the chair, everyone immediately jumps to the same moment but on the new timeline that Barry created – this is possible as there would be some time between the anniversary of when Barry used the chair and when he and Helena break into the lab and kill Slade. I think this is the only scenario that works. However, it requires the assumption that if someone (let’s call them person2) uses the chair after someone else (person1) uses it and goes back before person1 and then person2 has zero effect on person1 before the time that person1 returns, the timeline of person2 going back will be the same timeline as the new timeline of person1.
Most of the other times we saw people going back before previous points when others had gone back, the new person going back altered events to a point where the point in time that the others had gone back to doesn’t exist anymore. For example, when Helena goes back multiple times to 1986 and meets Barry shortly afterwards – the Barry on that timeline never even encounters the memory of losing Meghan – thus that never happens. If the new person doesn’t affect those memories that others went back to though, do the events unfold as they had on the timeline that the person went back to or on the original timeline? Aren’t the events from the most recent timeline the “real” events for the person going back? Or does it always follow the original timeline by default – and only uses a newer timeline if the person doesn’t go back before some previous person goes back? The only thing that goes against the first possibility is Slade going back to 1992 and Helena’s subsequent timelines going back to 1986 – where Slade ends up dying of a drug overdose in 2018. Perhaps, the default is the latter (following the original timeline by default) – and Slade had found a way to use the chair in the former capacity (following the events of the most recent timeline that the person used the chair in). Or Slade really did live out his life after 1992 as if he had gone back like he did originally and still ended up dying of a drug overdose at the end of 2018 – however, he didn’t seem to recognize Helena when they capture him – nor did he seem to have any riches or success that he would have had he had his future knowledge – which seems to rule out this option. The other option that would support the first hypothesis is that Helena might have altered events that affected Slade’s life before 1992 – causing whatever memory he goes back to at that time not to exist – this still seems like a stretch though. The most plausible answer, is that events unfold as they do in the original timeline by default and Slade had figured out a way to use the chair in a way that allows events to unfold as they did in the most recent timeline.
Assuming the above is possible in some way or another, going back to the original question, if Vince used the chair shortly after Barry (which would be on Barry’s new timeline – the one in which Meghan was not killed by a hit and run) and then went back 3 years before Barry did, but didn’t do anything to affect Barry’s life from 2004-2007 (which is likely) and had instructions to go to Barry’s house at the precise moment when Barry goes back to tell Barry the rules then his and Barry’s new timelines somewhat merge. Which actually makes sense, since Vince would have gone back in time during Barry’s new timeline, so the “Barry saving Meghan” timeline is the current timeline at the time Vince goes back.
This would also explain your first open question – as long as Joe’s new timeline from 2003-2018 had zero effect on Slade’s timeline (again, likely) – up to when he builds the memory chair and opens Hotel Memory – then Slade’s timeline unfolds through that time period as it happened before Joe used the chair to go back, since when Joe used the chair the current timeline was the one in which Slade is abandoned by Helena but then later is able to reconstruct the chair and open Hotel Memory. Thus, Slade builds the chair just as he did in the timeline that Joe went back from.
If Vince used chair shortly after Barry, this means Barry lived a timeline in which he saves his daughter Meghan but had not met Vince. What happens to this memory (and timeline) of Barry’s (saving Meghan but not meeting Vince)?
When more than one person go back in time and meet each other (while knowing that they have come back in time), Who is going to get a nosebleed, who is going to get false memories or if anyone even going to get any nosebleed and false memories is pretty unclear.
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In book 5, How can we be sure that Barry, not remembering Ann jumping off building while at brunch with Julia, is the original timeline? In other words, how can we be sure that Barry goes to a timeline which is before (or from Arvind’s amazing chart here, to the left side of) Slade inventing his own chair? It is highly possible that Slade has sent not just Joe Behrman in the past but also many other people before him. Those other people might have changed their past in such a way that it did not affected Barry at all. Only Joe changing his past affected Barry. Now imagine a scenario; Slade has sent Tom back in the past before Joe Behrman. Tom changes his past very slightly which doesn’t affect Barry at all. Then, on 4th Nov 2018, Barry goes to brunch with Julia not having any memory of Ann jumping from the building. So, this way, when Barry tries to go back to a dead memory, he can end up in any such timelines as he cannot distinguish between any of them (multiple timelines because considering Slade had sent more than one person before Joe Behrman).
I think, on individual level, everyone’s perception or memory of absolute ‘original’ timeline has lost except Slade’s. Only he can return to absolute ‘original’ timeline as only his action had set all this in motion. He is the one who destroyed everyone’s common perception of absolute ‘original’ timeline.
That is a fair point. I have a disclaimer in the notes below the chart that calls out that it maps only the major and clearly known timelines. There have to be others from Slade’s uses that are implied in the book. That said, this doesn’t detract from the overall story in that ‘mostly everyone’ gets back the original timelines. Definitely Barry does, since as you say these timelines are indistinguishable for Barry.
When dead memories are indistinguishable, Barry (or for that matter, anyone) going to past has higher probability of going to recent timeline than of going to less recent timeline, because recent dead memories are less dead as compared to older dead memories. In other words, there is high probability that Barry, while trying to go to the ‘original’ timeline, can end up going to such a memory where Slade has already invented the chair and he is already running the secret hotel. We could even say that it would be impossible to go to older dead memory’s timeline when the dead memory from the recent timeline overwrites identical older dead memory.
Writer has conveniently chosen the least probable (which may even be impossible) path.
I remember Barry noticing that the “older” a timeline, the darker its shades of grey were. He thus went back to the darkest (first) timeline.
Came here from Goodreads- I don’t even want to comment on the complexities of Recursion, just here to say I am SO IMPRESSED by the amazing, in-depth breakdown you’ve provided for the book! You are very talented and I look forward to checking out the rest of your blog.
Thank you—you’re very kind.
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Hi, Arvind. Thank you so much for putting all this information together and specially for creating the chart. I finished the book yesterday and literally the first thing I did after that was to search for a chart like this. Also the FAQ you build helps shinning light on some passages that weren’t clear to me at first.
I would like to propose some answers to your open questions. I think both questions can be explained if you consider that it is possible to have more than one time-traveler in any given timeline. To explain that hypothesis I will use an hypothetical scenario (not using the actual dates of the novel):
* Lets start in Timeline A and assume that Slade uses the chair to travel from 2018 to 2000. This creates a new timeline (Tiimeline B). Before 2000, timelines A and B are identical. Between 2000 and 2018 they differ based on the actions of Slade and in 2018 they merge back together.
* So the knowledge of the future in timeline B is the following: before 2000, no one knows about the future; between 2000 and 2018 only Slade knows about the “future” (as he retains the memories from timeline A); after 2018 everyone gains the memories from timeline A.
* Now lets assume that in timeline B, Barry uses the chair to travel from 2015 to 2005. This creates a new timeline (Timeline C). The creation of this timeline works exactly as before: i.e. before 2005, timelines B and C are identical; between 2005 and 2015, timelines B and C differ based on Barry’s actions; after 2015 timelines B and C merge back together.
* Since timelines B and C are identical up to 2005, the Slade that Barry meets in 2005 is also a time-traveler, i.e. he is the Slade that came back to 2000.
* Therefore the knowledge of the future in timeline C is the following: Before 2000 no one knows about the future. Between 2000 and 2005 only Slade knows about the future (he has all the memories until 2018); Between 2005 and 2015 both Slade and Barry have knowledge of the future (Barry’s knowledge only extends until 2015). In 2015 everyone gains back their memories from timeline B. In 2018 everyone gains back their memories from timeline A.
* In this way we have 2 time-travelers in timeline C (at least between 2005 and 2015).
This only happens because the Barry from timeline B traveled back to a point after the date that Slade traveled back to. If instead Barry had traveled to 1995, timelines B and C would fork in 1995, which means the Slade he would meet would not have the memories from timeline A. In this situation Slade would only gain his memories from the timeline A in 2018, when all three timelines would merge together.
Now answering the Open Questions:
So when Slade sends Joe B back from 2018 to 2003 this creates a new timeline, but the Slade from the new timeline already knows about the chair. As I said, the timelines “F**U Slade” and “Joe B” timelines are identical up to 2003. In 2003 of “F**U Slade”, Slade already knew about the chair (he is the same Slade that traveled back to 1992). So the Slade from the “Joe B” timeline also has this knowledge. In 2018 he regains the memories from the “F**U Slade” timeline, but the knowledge from the chair that he brought from the original timeline was already with him.
This also explains the Vince situations. This is the sequence of events:
1) Slade “interviews” Barry and maps his last memory with Megan from 2007.
2) Then he knocks Barry unconscious and sends Vince back to 2004 with the mission of meeting Barry in the night of Megan’s accident. This creates a new timeline (“Vince Timeline”).
3) Assuming Vince didn’t change much, we can say the “Joe B” timeline and the “Vince” timeline are fairly similar, at least in what concerns Barry and Slade. This means that in this new “Vince” timeline, Barry discovers Slade’s hotel, get’s captured by Slade and gets sent back to 2007, which creates the “Barry/Meghan 2nd chance” timeline.
4) Since the “Barry/Meghan 2nd chance” timeline is created as a fork of the “Vince” timeline (not the “Joe B” timeline), it means both timelines are identical up to 2007. Which means the Vince from 2007 was already a time-traveler.
5) So between 2007 and 2018 in the “Barry/Meghan 2nd chance” timeline both Vince and Barry are time-travelers (not to mention Slade).
This is how Vince was able to deliver the message. Using this logic, we could assume multiple time-travelers in each of the timelines (depending on how many people Slade sent back and to which dates they traveled). In fact, it could be a nice exercise to count how many time-travelers we have in each timeline (from the mentioned characters).
If you disagree with my theory, please let me know. It would be nice to hear a different perspective on it.
This is either a brilliant or really stupid question: why do all memories of changed timelines only strike at the latest alteration? If the bureau of preventing awful shit stopped terrorists for months, then went before all that and did some drastic thing, why would the memories of all the dead terrorists be erased until the drastic thing started?
That is, erased until the memory traveler died to initiate the drastic thing.
Thinking about it more — I guess the inhabitants of the time between the original timeline, all through the original preventing awful shit bureau timeline, and the moment of the first memory travel to make a major break with the bureau’s rules, were crushed out of existence right away when that first memory travel was initiated, as Helena’s youthful selves were — but shouldn’t all the civilians in that timeline, as the bureau presumably went along and did all their prevention of awful shit, have been noticing all that prevention going on again?
BTW I can’t seem to save my identity in your comment interface, despite checking the box.
I think I have an answer about the Big Bend.
We know from Barry’s multiple experience in the timeline that Helena didn’t go and meet him at that bar in Portland that the memories of the new timeline take a few minutes to come in. During those few minutes the memories of the dead timeline are still live and there is a sense of disorientation as the new memories (including the new dead memories) come in and kill the memories of the dead timeline. This is why it takes a couple of minutes for people to start killing themselves in that timeline.
So, imagine you are in New York and, in the time between one footstep and another, a massive building appears. This is the new timeline. but for a couple of minutes, your memory of the dead timeline is still alive, so during that few minutes you have this sense the building has just appeared out of nowhere. This would be a disorienting experience. You might get sick from the cognitive dissonance, you might even lose control of your bowls or bladder. This sence of disorientation is part of the new timeline. This memory of the building appearing suddenly was formed on the new timeline and likely associated with a strong physical sensation, making it a particularly strong and vivid memory. As the memories of the new timeline come in–eating in the restaurant, visiting the observation deck, maybe even protesting it’s construction (it sounds like a terrible idea to me)– they overwrite the dead memory of it not being there, but they don’t overwrite the sense your had of it appearing out of nowhere on the new timeline.
Add to that the fact that people all over the planet will have dead memories of there not being a 2000′ twin tower with an inverted U shaped sky bridge at the top because they’ve visited/lived in New York in the dead timeline, and you have a world-wide phenomenon.
Slade told the people he sent back to live their lives and not do anything big because he knew that the larger the change to the timeline, the more people would be affected by dead memories of the previous timeline.
I’m surprised there’s no discussion of the ending. Maybe I am wrong, but I think Slade jumped after Barry shot him. Which would not have happened had Barry shot him in the head.
It ends with an em-dash, which could mean the author left open what Barry said to Helena. But why would the author bother to leave that a mystery?
Elsewhere the em-dash ending in the book signifies an end to a timeline. And remember, Slade seemed to have figured out how to jump without the chair.
Of course this was the original timeline so Slade presumably would not know how to jump. But who knows if everything and everyone got 100% re-set other than Barry. Maybe in those minutes before brain death Slade had a rush of dead memories and jumped. That’s what I think anyway.
Q: The memory coming back to the world right as the apocalypse happened caused needless suffering and problems. They could have circumvented many of the issues (maybe solved everything?) by just jumping back before people’s memories returned. Barry (or whoever didn’t travel) wouldn’t have remembered that last life, but neither would anyone else, thus no one else would have known about the time travel device.
My answer: Jumping just before timeline anniversary would change nothing. Based on book 5, “Antartica” Barry jumped back one month for about ten times to stay with Helena a little longer. These jumps happen before April 16 2019; before having the memories of all timeline. In the end, when April 16, 2019 arrives with the real Barry POV + hearing the recording, all dead memories return. Jumping back before timeline anniversary solves nothing.
My take on the ending: Fuck that glorious, smug, beautifully pretentious em dash. The whole scene is a save point. I imagine Barry, just about to say something, words forming on his lips, when—
Something happened. Somehow, Palpatine returned.
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There’s one thing that bugs me the most. The flase memories. Starting with how did Barry get back to the original timeline? His meeting Julia at the cafe was after Ann juped off the building exhibiting symptoms of false memories. How is Ann in the original timeline? It has to be the writer jumping timelines. But if Slade used the chair for the first time after killing Helena in 2018 to go back to 92 and get rich, on that date in 2018 he first used the chair there should have been countless reports of FMS. Plus Slade mentions he has lived many lives. They would all trigger million and millions of false memories in people. You all remember the butterly effect. Seems like those are localized to major events in this book. But Slate creating an empire and winning multiple sate lotteries would’ve affect millions of people. Not to mention what his unexplained “test” cases would’ve caused.