closed time loop
Repeating causal cycle
A closed time loop is a theoretical concept in physics and a common device in science fiction where a sequence of events circles back on itself, with the end causing the beginning.
In such a loop, cause and effect become circular rather than linear—a character might travel back in time and set in motion the very events that led to their traveling back.
Unlike open-ended time travel, a closed loop is self-contained and paradox-free because everything that happens was always going to happen.
The movie's twist revealed the hero had been trapped in a closed time loop all along.
Doctrine of causal necessity
- free willAutonomous choice capacity
- fatePredetermined course of events
- destinyPredetermined course of events
- inevitabilityQuality of being unavoidable
predestination · immutability · choice · agency · fatalism · Nietzsche · Ouroboros · Möbius
Start without external resources
- grandfather paradoxTime travel logical contradiction
- predestinationDivinely predetermined fate
- self-fulfillingMaking itself happen
- ontologicalConcerning existence's nature
retroactive · consistency · fixed point · self-consistent · impossibility · chicken-and-egg · self-creating
Marmot weather prediction tradition
- 12 MonkeysSci-fi plague thriller
- LooperTime-travel assassination thriller
- DarkGerman Netflix thriller
- PredestinationGod's eternal decree beforehand
Terminator · Tenet · Triangle · Edge of Tomorrow · Source Code · Interstellar · Palm Springs · Donnie Darko
Relating to chronology
- iterationRepeated procedural pass
- resetRestore to original state
- cycleRepeating sequence of events
- repetitionAct of redoing
recurrence · trigger event · memory retention · awareness · variation · convergence · divergence · timeline
determinism
Doctrine of causal necessity
- free willAutonomous choice capacity
- fatePredetermined course of events
- destinyPredetermined course of events
inevitability · predestination · immutability · choice · agency · fatalism · Nietzsche · Ouroboros · Möbius · karma
bootstrap
Start without external resources
- grandfather paradoxTime travel logical contradiction
- predestinationDivinely predetermined fate
- self-fulfillingMaking itself happen
ontological · retroactive · consistency · fixed point · self-consistent · impossibility · chicken-and-egg · self-creating
Groundhog Day
Marmot weather prediction tradition
- 12 MonkeysSci-fi plague thriller
- LooperTime-travel assassination thriller
- DarkGerman Netflix thriller
Predestination · Terminator · Tenet · Triangle · Edge of Tomorrow · Source Code · Interstellar · Palm Springs · Donnie Darko · Majora's Mask
temporal
Relating to chronology
repetition · recurrence · trigger event · memory retention · awareness · variation · convergence · divergence · timeline · anchor point
closed time loopbranching timeline
Parallel diverging event sequences
divergent timeline · alternate timeline · multiverse · parallel universe · parallel universes
close, closed, closely, closeness, closer, closest, closing, closure, enclose