Let's Discuss: Time Travel 

Time travel is such a Pandora’s box for authors... or it can just be “go with it.” It largely depends on the tone for me. If I’m supposed to take your book super serious, I’ll be thinking it all through. The MCU? Eh whatever. Captain America make hammer go SLAM! So fun is priority.

Thank you merph for always giving the cursed child the attention it deserves 😆😆😆🤣🤣

I always understood Prisoner of Azkabaan to be one time line. I never got the idea that there was a previous timeline before Hermione and Harry went back in time to "change" everything. It was always that way. They had always done the things they did. That's why Dumbledore knew that they had done things, and told them to go back and do them.

When she said cursed child, I was like "hey! It's not even canon. Why are you counting fanfiction?" But then she said skip! KWEEN

The way I've always understood the "closed loop" model is "it's already happened, therefore it's destined to happen." There were only ever 2 instances of Harry and Hermione, we were just viewing the same sequence of events from 2 different perspectives, and whatever Harry and Hermione do or don't do is bound to play into whatever they've already seen. you might have 15 instances of one character all in a room, but eventually that character will have to come back and experience the same conversation 15 times from 15 different perspectives. That's my understanding at least. Take it for what it's worth.

I think the love for Harry Potter 3 was more about the Marauders than time travelling. However it was a closed loop which was nice, compared to the other book we shall not name.

My favorite time travel rules are that you can’t change anything because you’ve already changed it, and so it’s always been that way. If you go back to change something, you’re completing a loop. It’s almost as if you were supposed to change time to begin with even though you technically didn’t change anything.

I love how the Netflix series Dark handles its time Travel. Its such a messy and clean take on the trope.

absolutely stan how you just skipped over the cursed child :D

The way Merphy began the video by saying she'd talk about her experiences with time travel kind of made it sound like she was claiming that she herself is actually a time traveler. That was extremely funny to me.

"cursed child... moving on." XD A Connecticut Yankee in King Author's Court is another rollicking time-travel book!

In Harry Potter and the PoA, it is an infinite loop, which means the time can not be changed, it was already like that in the first place.

The single best execution of complicated time travel is done in the Netflix series Dark. It is so fascinating and so complex, but so well done and explained. It is really bizar and will break your mind

The way King makes the past into an antagonist in 11/22/63 is fantastic

When I was little I looved the Magic Tree House series and that was my first exposure to time travel books. I still hold very good memories :')

Prisoner of Azkaban was my first real approach to the concept of time travel, and for a while I stood upon the idea that Dumbledore was conscient about the real impacts of Sirius reaching to Harry, and his feelings of protection regarding his godfather, so the main reason Hermione had permission to use the time turner was not only she could attend more classes, but that everything would eventually result in the fate of Sirius (as well as Buckbeak), requiring a time travel.

Kindred sounds interesting- def need to add it to TBR

I love the time travel in HP3. I saw it as a single closed loop. My favorite Doctor Who time travel is of course Blink, but I love Doctor Who because they have fun with the rules of time travel. The Doctor always loves being unpredictable.

I love time travel no matter how it is used. Love the wibbly wobbly and fun kind, love the abstract and confusing part but I also like when it's the main plot. One of my favourite time travel stories is the Blackout/All Clear Duology by Connie Willis. Which is also part of a bigger series but I've only read those two (so far). It's very similar to Timeline because it's about historians from the future who find a way to travel to the past in order to study history. So instead of reading books they study history by visiting and observing it in person. I looooooved this premise. In this duology several students go on assignments to different parts of WWII in the UK and they do their thing but when it's time to return to their time, they can't. So they are stuck in WWII and not only have to survive that but also search for a way to get back home and they live in the constant fear that every minute they spend in the past they may accidently alter it. So the focus is not on the time travel but on the different characters, the different aspects of WWII they witness and the tension of the situation. What I liked the most (besides the amazing characters) were the aspects of the war the books focus on. Because it's not the big events everyone learns/knows about but mostly specific details of everyday life and the people that lived then.

I highly recommend the movie "The girl who lept through time", it's a beautiful anime movie about a girl who suddenly finds out that she can relive a day multiple times.

Kindred sounds kind of like Outlander. In Outlander the ability to time travel is genetic and is done by touching special circle stones. Jumps are always about 200 years so a nurse from the 1940’s is sent back to the 1700’s. The books are HUGE but sooooooo good! I bet you would like the Time Traveler’s Wife too.

This is how you lose a time War reminded me of the movie Lake House, a romantic drama where two people communicate through the mailbox 2 years apart while living in the same house. It’s pretty good.

Chrono Trigger is my personal favorite time travel story.

The stepping on a butterfly and ruining the world is from "A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury. A few other classic time travel books I liked are: _The Time Machine_ by H.G. Wells _The End of Eternity_ by Isaac Asimov _Lest Darkness Fall_ by L. Sprague de Camp _The Time-Traveler's Wife_ by Audrey Niffenegger _The Anubis Gates_ by Tim Powers _Doomsday Book_ by Connie Willis (part of a series) _The Stars My Destination_ by Alfred Bester _Behold the Man_ by Michael Moorcock _The Light Brigade_ by Katherine Hurley.

Prisoner of Azkaban is the best form of Time Travel. There was no "first" time or loop, it's only one timeline and the characters simply travelled to a different point on it; nothing can be changed because it already happened.

When you said you thought you didn't like time travel at first, you made me realize why a lot of readers, especially on the web platforms, don't even care to spare a second look. I started writing a time travel fantasy with portal magic last year and it is my favorite but all my other works on these platforms get more attention... I felt discouraged and stopped writing before the climax scene. It made me feel so much better after hearing this. :)

Time travel when done well can be so interesting and fun, but it's very easy to do wrong as well which is why I'm always hesitant with stories involving time travel, even though I really like the concept

I recommend watching netflix's Dark (2017). it's all about time travel and actually it's one of the best serieses that i've ever watched in my life.

Watch Steins Gate. Best time travel story ever, in my opinion

Doctor Who is my favourite show of all-time so I'm always looking out for good time travel stories. Very interested in reading Timeline.

“You step on a butterfly, you ruin the world “ I can’t 😂😂 Merphy is too funny

These past few months, I have been really obsessed with time travel stories. Also trying to make some time to dive into a good time travel series. Really enjoyed this video. The time stamps are here for you to enjoy too. with a bit of my commentary. couldn't resist. 0:00 intro 1:07 Book of the Month (Sponsor) Start of Discussion 2:38 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 3:44 this is where her brain goes nuts. This is how I felt when I really thought about the story. 5:07 Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, ( why is it even here) 5:17 Doctor Who 6:36 11/23/63 8:21 This is How You Lose the Time War (very wibbly wobbly) 9:12 Timeline 10:04 Kindred. (she really is obsessed with it. ) 12:38 What we have learned. 16:15 Do you like time travel in your entertainment? 17:12 outro. Let's get messier with Merphy Napier. 💚💚

Merphy!!!! You NEED to see or read “Your Name”. It’s a short manga and there’s a movie. It’s absolutely beautiful and is kind of related to your video (I won’t say too much because it’s spoilers). It’s GREAT! ❤️ By the way, I LOVE time travel when it’s done correct (with as few plot holes as possible, because it seems to be a hard thing to accomplish). Some examples are: Dark (it’s a time travel MESS, but it’s amazing), Interstellar, and the one I just recommended, Your Name :)

The Stephen King book sounds exactly like an old episode of Twilight Zone where a guy keeps trying to go back in time to prevent tragic world events but he never succeeds because you can’t change the past. Rod Serling is the master of story telling!

As soon as I hear time travel, I’m in. I love hard hard time travel, I’m obsessed with how it could theoretically work. The end of Harry Potter 3 is my favorite part of the entire series because of the time travel aspect

I am a fan of time travel as long as it has consequences, and if it is explained why it can’t be used to just righten everything. And I definitely hate the way it was handled in the Cursed Child.

"The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August" is one to check out. Its less of a sci-fi, and more of a Groundhog's Day type time travel.

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis! She has several time travel books but this one lays the foundation for the rest. So so good!

I usually do not like time travel in books BUT the best time travel I've ever seen in fantasy is the Licanius Trilogy. You don't even know it's time travel for a while if you didn't go in knowing. it's very well handled.

I really get a kick out of the Chronicles of St Mary’s series by Jodi Taylor where historians examine “history in contemporary time.” (It’s really time travel). I find the humor very fun to read. Mostly the time travel is just a tool to allow adventures, the time line can be changed but nearly everyone tries to not do that.

Check out "The Man Who Folded Himself" by David Gerrold. Time travel is very much a part of what is happening but I love the way it works.

There’s a series I like a lot (re:zero) where the main character can return from death. Basically, every time he is killed, he comes back to life in a different timeline before he’s killed. The cool part of it, the author can and kills every character you like many times. Every time the main character dies, you can feel his pain. Amazing series!

I like it when it makes senses and isn't something that is easy.

Watch DARK series on Netflix, I loved the way time travel is shown in it.

Literally anyone: mentions time travel Me: *12 MONKEYS*

The Umbrella Academy's concepts for time travel are... Pretty brilliant. I definitely recommend the show, and I'm sure the comic is great too

The first Fifteen lives of Harry August- soft time travel Seven and a half deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle- hard time travel You might like both of them?

TIMEY WIMEY WIBBLY WOBBLY STUFF!!! ⏱️⏱️⏱️

I love hard time travel: experiencing the authors idea of how it would work, toying with paradoxes and seeing the psychological impacts it has on the time traveler. I also like novels like Kindred and Doomsday Book were it's mostly historical fiction but realistically places a modern person into these settings, because it often creates powerful stories. However, it can be pretty disappointing if something is sold to me as time travel and then they just go places have some whacky adventures instead of using the potential of time travel.

I am a little obsessed with time travel in books and movies. Many people think I hate time travel stories because I always end up picking apart what did not work or was not consistent within the bounds of the story's "rules", but I really do like the idea and keep looking for stories that use it well. One of my favorites in the last few years was 'The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August'. It is definitely not your standard kind of time travel and I really enjoyed it for being new to me in the time travel "genre". It also managed to get me looking to read anything else by that author.

When I was a kid, I watched Back to the future about a million times. Until the tape got stocked in the VHS player. Then I freaked out. Haven't been into time travel ever since.

Time travel is one of my favorite tropes when the character goes back to a real historical moment in time, like in 11/22/63 or The Doomsday Book. I think it has a lot more to do with my love of history than the concept of time travel itself.

I am here for any type of time travel!! It is the one trope that I am trash for.

I read Kindred in a college literature class. Great book.

I saw the TARDIS in the thumbnail so I had to come check this out. It's a shame the last couple of seasons of Doctor Who have been a little rough. 😕

Predestination. An amazing time travel movie for hard time travel fans

Merphy you need to give Capaldi a second chance! The 12th Doctor and Clara have the deepest and most complex relationship that I've ever seen on Dr who imo. Their love for each other is as precious as it is toxic. It is so toxic and I love it so much because it felt so real and actually suited what a relationship with someone like the Doctor and living that kind of lifestyle would be like

You might be interested by the Oxford Time Travel series by Connie Willis. In this series, time travel is used as a tool by historians to better study history. Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog are really really good.

I've loved time travel books ever since I read Outlander. My favorite aspect is seeing how a character's modern sensibilities clash with social norms of the past. I really need to pick up Kindred! I've had it on my TBR forever, and it sounds amazing.

I recommend The Time Traveler's Wife. You are going to cry but very good.

Harry Potter original cannon is that time travel is a closed loop. You can only change something because you changed something. So you can't go back in time and kill Voldemort (everyone's biggest gripe) because he isn't dead. If you go back and kill him, he never comes to power, so you don't know he needs to die, so you don't go back and kill him, so he DOES rise to power, so you want to kill him... It goes on forever. Which is also the reason Hermione wasn't able to go back in time and take the Cheering Charms lesson. She'd already missed it and it was acknowledged so time couldn't be rewritten. Which is why time travel is so regulated. Because you really need to understand the way it works to avoid causing a "self correction" of the time line. "Horrible things happen to Wizards who meddle with time, Harry." Basically the universe will not LET you alter a fixed event and will harm/kill you if you try. Then comes The Cursed Abomination. This changes time travel from a closed loop to an open loop within a single universe. (Total violation of the Time Paradox causing an abundance of plot holes.) The reason the whole thing is just a jumbly mess that contradicts the original books and needs to be erased from the Potterverse.

I've always saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as more of a time-loop kind of time travel, they don't go back into time to change things, they go back into time to make sure what already happened actually does happen. There doesn't have to be a beginning or an end to the time loop because they happen at the same time. Look at it this way, there are two Harrys and Harmonies, the ones from the present experience it as it happens, the ones from the future, perhaps they never came from the future at all, but instead they have memories of things that were about to come to pass, giving the illusion that those "memories" were from the past.

Just watched Girl Who Leapt Through Time and then Merphy uploads this.... I feel like time travel is following me around today...

One of the best examples for time traveling in my opinion is All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai. The science and mechanics are explained a lot, BUT in a very entertaining way that makes it soft and hard at the same time if that makes sense? Like the rules are scientifically established but the protagonist doesn't dwell on them because he is not a scientist. Plus I found the premise really interesting because here our timeline is the worse one and the protagonist comes from a sort of utopian society. Anyway, I think if you enjoy time travel this one is worth checking out.

My favourite time travel story is Homestuck. You probably wouldn't like it because time travel is like... EVERYTHING in Homestuck. Everything happens the way it was always meant to, you can't fight fate, and if you try, it's because you were fated to. Anything that doesn't follow the intended timeline is erased and every little detail of the story seems to be involved in some way with time travel. I love it because it's a beautiful mess of so many layers of nonsense that all fit and eventually make sense, nearly every tiny little detail comes back in some way even if it's just for a gag, the more you think about it the more you discover, but from what you've said here, that same thing I love so much about it is probably why you wouldn't like it at all.

I don't about time travel books but DARK really used the time travel concept very efficiently and made an outstanding show out of it !

Time travel is a trope that I love, no matter if it’s good or bad, it just needs to be present in the story for me to read or watch

I think I agree. I haven't read very many time travel stories but I like the idea of using time travel to get somewhere. I also like the idea that time travel might not change history but could ease events into being. Maybe future people could reassure past people that some things will be alright.

This is so funny because I remember so many times I've asked for time-travel recommendations from you on your Instagram recommendation requests! I think I love some mystery or soft-magic to the Time Travel, but more than anything, I love experiencing history through a character's modern lens. 😊

It's not a book, but the German-language Netflix series DARK is my favorite piece of time-travel fiction. It is definitely of the more "hard" time-travel, but it is well thought out and an impressive, intricate web. I highly recommend it.

I like hard time travel. But it has to be interesting, explicable, and functional. It can be very hard to find time travel I enjoy.

In one of my favoutite books (I think it's called Mrs. Perigrines home for children or something simillar in English), time traveling is used to make the protagonist travel to a place, where one day during WW2 is repeated over and over again, only that some special people aren't affected by it, and he is among them. He than has to decide if he wants to stay with his family, or help the others in their mysterious world. It's realy hard to explain the book without spoilering too much, but it's good!

I really like time travel however comes because I interpret it different ways and I love that take. My favourite trilogy (Ruby Red, Sapphire Blue and Emerald Green written by Kerstin Gier) has time travel and it's simply amazing and really well developed.

The Time Traveller's Wife. It's lovely (and had me bawling). I know you don't love romance Merphy but... it's so brilliant.

It's awesome when done well, but as you expressed, it's really hard to make it work. There are so many automatic paradoxes that can occur, but when you find a writer who has obviously thought their way through all the obvious traps, it can be absolutely wonderful. And I completely agree that approaching it with a looser tone as a means of conveying confusion and tension is much more effective than making it the end-all-be-all of the story, because at least for me, that just adds anxiety and confusion for the reader, rather than the characters.

I know you're not a show person, but I still think you should watch Dark on Netflix! It's 3 seasons wrapped up neatly, so very easy to commit to. It's amazing in my opinion but I would love to hear your thoughts on it.

The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold. Classic time travel novel.

Kindred is amazing!!! Glad you added it to this discussion, I haven’t read anything else like it.

No one will see this, but I’m obligated to say- between this video and Brandon Sanderson lectures, I’ve been inspired to write a time heist (or at least plan one out for later) and it’s a beautiful thing

I’m the opposite. I love when the time travel is the main plot and find it disappointing when it’s just a tool. I love the time travel concept used in HP3. Closed time loop I would call it.

Bill and Ted had the best. As long as they told themselves they had to remember to ‘leave keys here or add distraction there’ then all the sudden it would appear and you knew that later on they actually remembered to do those things, because they already happened.

*The Illuminae Files* has an interesting time travel plot. The audiobook is AMAZING (full cast! amazing sound design!) but get the physical book as well, as it's multimedia.

I am a huge fan of Time Travel. If you read "The Man Who Folded Himself", it will blow your brain away. I literally felt like I was on some sort of weird drug high after reading it. My favorite time travel trope is the single person who keeps repeating the same day over and over, like Groundhog Day. There are a lot of these now. One of the best is Edge of Tomorrow. Other good ones are Endless, Synchronic, Resolution, Donnie Darko, Naked is funny, Happy Death Day and Happy Dearh Day 2 U are tongue in cheek funny. Source Code is also a good time travel movie. As for books, I love Time After Time, and especially like the whole Time Scout Series by Robert Asprin and Linda Evans with my favorite in that series being Wagers Of Sin. I found myself cheering out loud for the hero in that book!

I think the most clever film which shows how far people can go with time travel is 'Primer'. On first impression this film subverted me into believing it has one fixed timeline, but instead heroes of the story 'broke the symmetry' and irreparably damaged reality but more important their friendship. If one includes the 'groundhog day' trope into time travel stuff I name 'Mother of Learning'. This book blown away my mind.

You might like the Oxford Time Travel series by Connie Willis. It treats time travel as an academic pursuit.

My favourite time travel story is Time and Time Again by Ben Elton. It does an interesting thing with the mechanics of the time travel in that it's a one-way trip back to the past, because once you go back everything after the point you travelled to is basically erased from existence. The main character is trying to prevent the first world war, so a lot of good alternate history stuff for people who are into that. It also has one of the most well delivered twists I've read in a book because the reader is able to work it out before the characters based off an offhand comment. So it's a definite recommend.

Jodi Taylor's Chronicles of St Mary's is a good series, also the Time Police spinoff

My favourite execution of time travelling trope is definitely “life is strange”

1:05 TOP LEFT. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabaan mysteriously disappears! It seems some time turners have survived till this day!

One of my favorite time travel schticks was a Star Trek novel trilogy War of the Prophets. One group was thrown 30 years in the future, but didnt want to learn anything about their future, another group was thrown 30 years in the past and had to avoid changing the past. The pople 30 years in the past had to leave a message that would be found by the other group 60 years in their future. Then POW the generator changes polarity: The group is pulled from 30 years in the future of the explosion and thrown 20 years before the explosion, and the group in the past was then thrown 20 years in the future. Then they were 10 years apart, then 5 years, then 4, then 3....then they realized that when they appear in the same time the universe will collapse. Its EXTREMELY timey wimey but actually works out perfectly in the end.

I love time travel stories. H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine is one of my favorite books. Another I really enjoyed was the science fiction novel Millennium by John Varley - time travelers from a future with high mutation rates, in order to collect humans with good genetic material, travel back to doomed airplanes - in flight - to rescue passengers before the planes crash. Since the passengers would vanish anyway, the timeline won’t be disrupted - unless something goes wrong.

I loved 11/22/63! But yes there was a tedious part towards the middle of the book. I am always attracted to time travel, but it can be done well or it goes disastrously.

Check out Connie Willis’ ‘Black Out’ and ‘All Clear’ Character work, complexity and stakes of the highest order!

I tend to prefer time travel stories that actually deal with the paradoxes in a logical way over the wibbly-wobbly approach, but the mechanics of time travel are very hard to get right. Figuring out how everything fits together in a good time travel story gives me the same feelings of satisfaction as a mystery story. My favorite portrayal of time travel is in the Zero Escape series, it manages to create an intricate nonlinear timeline that's still logically consistent and not that hard to follow. The series actually spends a lot of time philosophizing about things like paradoxes. The story is very much about the rules of time travel and even some ethical dilemmas raised by it. in case you're not too sensitive to spoilers: characters in this series can switch places with themselves at a different point in time so their conciousness is now inhabiting their body in the past and vice versa.

I like time travel as a way to move someone to a place and time where he could not have been if not for time travel. In my experience It is hard to make time travel believable . So the more author leans in to it, the more trouble he usually is in to in regards to how logical it is. My favorite exception to this was in a movie "Edge of tomorrow" and a novel on which that movie was based. Novel had a completely different ending. Which IMHO was better and really made time travel shine as a storytelling device in a way that I have never seen. Truly recommend the novel, manga, movie or all of them :)

The netflix series "Dark" plays with the Paradox that is used in Harry Potter. And it now makes so much more sense than every time travel I ever saw!

I am a schmuck for time travel. I love this trope with passion.

Really a sucker for time travel. I can't really write it yet in my stories but I read it so much. I enjoy reading it and seeing it on screen.

I like time travel when it is used as a loop. Like the fact that you traveled means that every version of you will from now on. As long as it is explained a bit then I can be fine to fill in some blank spaces with most stories. The 2 ways I’ve liked the loop used is when they choose to go back and that means they always will go back and when we see it the first time it shows the little interactions that only make sense the 2nd time through( Harry Potter), or one I like more is when they choose to go back because everything went wrong and they had to fix it then the protagonist gets a visit from their other self or somehow finds out what they need to go back and do to keep everything right. I love time travel in stories as long as it doesn’t make plot holes or is only used to fill plot holes, but I can devil’s advocate for almost any bad use age tbh

My favorite time travel story is Magic tree house Or a little know tv show called Voyagers Very simply they travel through time to help history go the way we know it They have to fix small changes and get history back on track