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Chapter 119: The Concept of Timeline Closure
🕑 Added 2025-05-15 13:42:23 +0000 UTCBecause as long as Hela is still alive, there are only two options: either accept Hela’s rule over Asgard, even turning the entire realm into a kingdom of the dead, or destroy Asgard.
There are no other choices.
What else can be done but destroy Asgard—the people, not just the place?
As long as the people remain, even if they rule over a small fishing village, it is still Asgard.
“The established future—if the future is unchangeable, then what is the present?” Nick Fury looked at the description in Rowan’s diary, suddenly a bit puzzled.
He felt stunned because many things Rowan had changed were already widely known.
For example, Tony Stark was never kidnapped in Afghanistan; for example, the Iron King was defeated by Rowan; and for example, the Destroyer armor was not destroyed by Thor but by Rowan.
One by one, weren’t these changes?
So why did Rowan still feel that the established future could not be changed?
“Could it be that the so-called established future is different from what we understand?”
Natasha Romanoff, the Widow, suddenly spoke up. “Maybe our understanding of changing the future is different from Rowan’s. History and timelines may not be exactly the same everywhere, but at certain points, they are exactly the same—and cannot be changed.”
“How?” Nick Fury asked.
Natasha explained, “If we regard timelines as individual threads, these threads may differ completely. But if you tie these threads together with other threads, nodes will form every so often, and these nodes bind different threads together.”
Hearing Natasha’s vivid description of the timeline, everyone’s eyes brightened. Yes, this was a fascinating and very intuitive idea.
No matter how much you deviate from one node to another, when you reach that node, you come back together—and there is only one ending.
“This might be the difference between our understanding of the timeline and Rowan’s.
It’s not about doing the same things or having the exact same history, but about certain things, as nodes, such as Tony Stark.
Although he didn’t go to Afghanistan and wasn’t kidnapped, he still became Iron Man.
For the timeline, is it more important that Tony Stark went to Afghanistan and was kidnapped, or that he became Iron Man?”
Natasha analyzed further: “So is there a possibility that Rowan’s standard is simply to ensure big events remain unchanged, while everything else can be ignored?
As long as Tony Stark becomes Iron Man, it doesn’t matter if he was kidnapped or not. Once this happens, the worldline closes, and everything is fine!”
“Didn’t we always analyze before—what is Rowan afraid of? What is he thinking? He’s obviously afraid of going out of line, afraid of deviation, but he also managed Tony Stark’s and Thor’s affairs carefully.”
Natasha continued, “So what is Rowan’s standard for deviation? Think carefully—is it possible these big events are the only things that matter, and as long as they happen, he can ignore how it happened and what follows, letting the timeline close?”
“That’s a whole new idea!” Nick Fury said.
“When you say that, I suddenly think of whether this person is like a defender of history. For example, someone who travels through history, patrolling and picking out people who influence history.
“For instance, if we were that person or organization and found some people in Germany wanting to go back and change history so the mustache wins, would we accept it? Certainly not! We’d try to kill them!”
“Yes, that explains why Rowan is so afraid of deviation but doesn’t completely pull back. As long as events like Tony becoming Iron Man remain unchanged, he won’t be discovered. History doesn’t change much—at best, it just fluctuates a little between nodes.”
Phil Coulson chimed in, analyzing this perspective. “From this angle, many things can be explained.”
“But in the same way, it also proves that the person or organization is very powerful. Even Rowan’s current strength doesn’t dare change the future to attract their attention!” Nick Fury said.
“Isn’t that right? We can’t even imagine what kind of ability such an organization has to travel through history!” Agent Hill added.
Being able to move back and forth through history requires immense power—no wonder Rowan is so afraid.
Facing such an existence, they all felt quite desperate. The so-called established future cannot be modified at any point.
No matter how much you struggle, it’s useless.
“How does it feel? This organization is actually the screenwriter outside the fourth wall!”
Hawkeye Barton couldn’t help but complain. “No matter how far the story goes astray after the beginning, no matter how messed up the script is, all the things to be achieved in the end must be achieved—and none of them can escape!”
“But if that’s the case, how do you explain Thor being shot by Barton?” Natasha asked.
Everyone immediately reacted. That’s right—if historical nodes cannot be changed, meaning some major destined events must happen, then the content Rowan shared in the diary before must be wrong.
This contradicts the guess.
If changes are impossible and someone prevents them, then the video where Hawkeye Barton shoots Thor to death is obviously wrong.
“Isn’t there still the concept of an abandoned timeline?” Nick Fury said softly.
He suddenly recalled the so-called abandoned timeline mentioned in Rowan’s diary.
At the time, he was very curious: how can a timeline be abandoned or not? If timelines can be discarded, who is responsible for discarding them?
Who decides which timeline can be preserved and which cannot?
Which timeline is good and which is bad?
