Windlily:
       I think the reason she couldn't see past the GigaShadow's emergence was because she was at the end of her strength and could no longer 'see'. She does say to Kai that his is basically the last question she will be able to answer, that his is the last she has the strength for, right?

Flare:
       No - I think she means that his is the last question she has the strength for just now (perhaps she's had a hard day….). I think she's immortal (or maybe eternal……), but it can't be an easy life, can it? With everyone from students to Divine Shadows wanting you to answer questions….. I wonder if she charges!!
       Let's think further about this. How d'you feel about getting tangled up in a debate about the nature of Time……..

       The Time Prophet appears three times in Lexx. In I Worship His Shadow we are introduced to the Time Prophet through the recollections of Kai's visit and receipt of the Prophecy.

       The Time Prophet here tells us that the Universe goes through cycles, repeating itself endlessly. She sees the future, not by looking forward, but by looking back into the distant past to previous cycles. This may well be simply mischievousness on the part of the creators, giving us an Oracle whose gift of prophecy is derived from seeing the past rather than the future. However, on examination, some fascinating implications arise, which will be discussed shortly.

       The Time Prophet reveals, apparently to Kai alone, a prophecy in which, even after the fall of New Brunnis, the last of the Brunnen-G will go on to destroy His Shadow when the Divine Predecessors leave the Cluster. Later, this memory is absorbed by His Divine Shadow.

       Interestingly, Thodin, in I Worship His Shadow refers to the prophecy. Obviously, it didn't come from Kai or his Divine Shadow, so how the prophecy gains its currency is unknown.

       The second time the Time Prophet appears is in two sequences in Supernova, both of them "flashbacks" when Stanley stumbles through memory recordings. There are some interesting things that come up here.

       First, the Time Prophet is might be the same person who appears in I Worship His Shadow (I don't have the episode's cast lists to compare.) If it was, then it's highly significant. Even if it wasn't, then the existence of the tradition is still significant. Kai's visit was in the Light Universe, and this encounter takes place in the Dark Zone, thousands and thousands of years before.

       Secondly, it's quite remarkable that the Time Prophet can perceive follow not one, but two ancient lifelines far enough into the future to encounter Stanley and understand his context sufficiently to give him pertinent information.

       The Time Prophet reappears indirectly in Brigadoom in the scene where Kai seeks his peoples fate. The text of the scene is similar to that which we've seen before in I Worship His Shadow a prophecy of doom and triumph, the future told through the past.

       Some interesting hints slip in, though. One is that the Time Prophet is not "of Brunnis", not resident on either Brunnis One or Two. Rather, she exists on an "uncertain moon" (also described as a "tiny planet" - echoes of the Little Prince there) accessible from Brunnis Two. Discussion in Fan circles has expressed confusion over how the moon relates to Brunnis Two and the Brunnen-G shield and what exactly an "uncertain" moon is.

       Recall that the craft that Kai used to reach it appears to have been a representation of a dragon or a sailing ship. The suggestion that access to the Time Prophet was part of the Brunnen-G mystical rather than scientific traditions.

       Another fairly important point is that the Time Prophets were not Brunnen-G themselves, but rather were accessed by the Brunnen-G. They were not an integral part of the Brunnen-G population or culture, from the evidence in Brigadoom, yet they somehow followed the Brunnen-G over thousands of years and two universes.
[I still think my theory that she/they existed in some sort of separate continuum - and possibly also not subject to the action of time - is valid. Flare.]

       My own interpretation is that the players themselves are the answer. The Time Prophet is of the same species or sort of entity as the Players in Brigadoom. Beings outside of normal time or space, but able to manifest in this universe under certain circumstances. The "uncertain" nature of the moon lays in the fact that it is not part of this Light Universe, or for that matter, not part of the Dark Zone. Rather it was accessible from Brunnis and Brunnis Two by special means.

       Both the Time Prophet and the Players may be representative of a wider host of "beings" or "entities" even a culture, which exists outside the conventional boundaries of space and time.

       I would hesitate to call these beings Angels, as they appear to have no moral perspective. At best, they are players at the edges of predestination, and quite likely subject to predestination themselves. Their interference or incursions into the Lexx Universe does not alter futurepast. Arguably, they confirm it, their actions help to keep history on track.

       The Players' pageant persuades Stan to fight Mantrid instead of fleeing, a course that ultimately leads to the Big Crunch. The Time Prophet's words to Stanley keep him and his friends alive. The Prophecy given to Kai is more indirect, but His Shadow's rebellion against it sets the stage for its fulfillment. Conceivably, they are minions of the "Malignant God" discussed later on.

       The most significant aspect of the Time Prophet is the conception of futurepast. Essentially, prophecy as expressed to the Brunnen-G, by the time prophet is not seeing into the future, but rather, seeing into the past. This allows the 'future' to be foretold because the past is repetitive. The Prophet sees the 'future' by seeing these events repeated endlessly in the past. It has happened endlessly before, and by implication, it will happen again and again.

       Essentially, the universe is an oscillating continuum, which experiences a big bang, a period of expansion and growth, and eventually a period of collapse and crunch, which leads to the next big bang. Time is ultimately circular, continually returning to a cosmological starting point.

       What does this have to say for the concept of free will? Nothing good, I'm afraid. The concept of futurepast suggests that ultimately, free will is an illusory concept, everything is predestined. The outcome of every decision, of every choice, the very decisions and choices themselves, have already been determined.

       Humanity and life itself are inherently deterministic from this viewpoint, and even our consciousness is a mechanical illusion. Essentially, we are simply robots, re-enacting the same actions, decisions and thoughts at the same points in each cycle. Our actions and reactions are essentially predestined, arriving mechanically from the operation of our environment. We only believe we have free will, we only believe or misbelieve that we are conscious beings, consciousness is actually an illusion arising from the mechanistic universe. Even the flip of a coin, will always give the same result.

       Given that the Lexx has moved between two universes, and its crew members have interacted on at least three occasions with beings outside either continuum, this suggests that the overall supercosmos, or multiverse, is itself deterministic.

       The Dark Zone appears to be as deterministic as the Light Universe. In both Universes, the Time-Prophet appears to give predictions of futurepast. This is pretty much a dead giveaway.

       The journies of the Lexx from the Light Universe to the Dark Zone move the concept further. Both Universes are deterministic, and more than that, they are jointly deterministic or part of a greater determinism. If they were truly independent determinisms, the movement of the Lexx from one continuum to another would count as a truly random element, a new element upsetting the predestined patterns of cause and effect.

       That it does not, suggests that both Universes are part of some greater 'Swiss watch.'

       Or this suggests that on some fundamental level, predestination overpowers cause and effect. Essentially, cause and effect are illusions, no matter how you stack the deck or change the cards, the outcome is always the same.

       The consequence of this world view is amazingly bleak. It literally means that nothing we do means everything. We aren't making decisions, we are merely acting out our roles. For all our delusions of free will, we are robots, doomed to take the same actions again and again. Literally everything we believe in is on some fundamental level, totally meaningless.

       The concept of an oscillating universe appears in both science and science fiction. In physics theory, it has been argued that the Big Bang will eventually collapse into the Big Crunch. Further speculation suggested an indefinitely oscillating universe, continually blowing up and collapsing. Although not necessarily expressing the identical features or laws each time. The nature of time given here is reminiscent of some of the speculations of Steven Hawking. (Check out A Brief History of Time.)

       Interestingly, so far as I understand the most current theories, the concept of the oscillating universe, or a big crunch, doesn't seem to match up with the data as we understand it. The current conception is that the Universe will simply continue to expand endlessly, aging to eventual heat death in another forty billion years or so.

       In terms of mystical or religious tradition, the concept of predestination is a feature of some Christian traditions, notably the Calvinists who are firm believers, and the Jehovah's Witnesses who have the number of the select all worked out. Predestination also figures in the Christian book of the revelation, which gorily paints the end of the world.

       Predestination is of course, quite incompatible with the concept of free will, and this basic contradiction in the philosophies of Christian sects has never adequately been resolved. It used to be quite controversial, even violently so during the reformation. Nowadays, the conflict has largely been resolved by ignoring it.

       Christian sects, however, have never embraced a cyclical universe, but rather a continuous one. Concepts of cyclical universes occur in Hindu cosmology and Mayan cosmology, although I'm unaware any religious worldview that ever embraced cosmological cyclical predestination.

       As I understand it, Hindu Buddhism came closest with their concept of existence being a cyclical wheel in which all beings were trapped, until Buddhism allowed enlightened beings to transcend themselves and escape the wheel of Karma.
[I think the concept of the kalpa comes closer. Flare]

       I'll note that my Hindu/Buddhist religious studies are quite rusty by now. I'd be quite interested if anyone wishes to discuss eastern religions and their similarities or differences from the worldview found in the Lexx.

       How prevalent is this worldview to the Lexx? There are some fascinating hints.

       Clearly, through Kai, His Shadow is aware of the concept of futurepast and doubtless understands what it implies. Remember most of the Divine Predecessors seemed to have some degree of belief in the Prophecy.

       The new His Shadow, however, explicitly rejects the concept of cyclical time, and discusses this with his generals. He tells the predecessors that his traces of humanity make him a more complex being, and seems to lead him to rebel against fate.

       This suggests that cyclical predestination was well known to the Insects, or at least His Shadow, and was philosophically acceptable to or comfortable for them. It is the human taint that leads to the rebellion against predestination.

       The conversation with the doomed general is fascinating. The General, upon being told of predestination, advises that he has no knowledge of any such doctrine. Clearly, it is not a doctrine which forms a part of the Divine Order's official theology. What we may be looking at is a "cat and mouse game." The General may not actually know of the theory, he may be innocently ignorant. Or he may be deliberately ignorant, or even lying. It is probably not wise to admit to knowledge of heretical doctrines to the Divine embodiment.

       There are actually two conversations going on in this simple exchange, with neither being genuinely aware of the other. One in which His Divine Shadow blithely uses the general as a sounding board for his internal monologue and soul searching and the other in which the general attempts to navigate a religious examination for heresy.

       Finally, we have Thodin who in his brief comments drops a couple of interesting notions. He refers to the Prophecy, which suggests that someone else may have communed with the Time Prophet, or a similar Prophet, either before or after Kai. (Given the intimate relationship between the Brunnen-G and the Time Prophet, it may well be that the Prophecy was given out long before His Shadow even appeared, and like Nostradamus, was floating around until later events gave it alleged context).

       Thodin also refers to "the Great Equation." as some sort of governing or mystical principle for life. This invites speculation. Is Thodin's society animated by a mathematical religious view? Has God or Religion been replaced by an elevation of math to mysticism? Or does this suggest, on an admittedly very slim basis, that the concept of cyclic predestination, of an oscillating universe devoid of randomness or free will, is a part of Thodin's theology? If this is so, then the question asked of the general was truly dangerous.

       However, there may be an alternative position to predestination. One may argue for the existence of randomness in the Lexx Universe. However, the consequences of randomness appear to be meaningless. The position of an electron may be indeterminate, subatomic particles may spin to the left or right, molecules may collide randomly, but it has no overall effect. Essentially, whether a particular toss of the coin turns up heads or tails, has no measurable long-term effect.

       This appears to fly in the face of chaos theory as I understand it, which suggests that micro-random effects may cascade into substantial macro effects: e.g the beating of a butterfly's wing resulting in a hurricane halfway across the world.

       In the Lexx Universes, it seems that whether the butterfly beats its wings or not, the hurricane still happens. It appears that certain events on a macro scale are ultimately deterministic. Hence, no matter what choices Stan or Kai may make, it all turns out the same in the end. Ben Franklin is wrong: the want of a nail doesn't make a damned bit of difference to the battle.

       This suggests that if Kai hadn't been the last of the Brunnen-G, one of his fellows would have taken his place. Or that if it hadn't been Stanley Tweedle, some other heretic would have wound up with the Lexx.

       The argument for anything like Free Will in the Lexx Universes is perhaps based more in conviction than logic. We instinctively want to believe that we have real choices, that we make meaningful choices.
[It's a human propensity to do so. Ultimately, of course, it doesn't make a blind bit of difference. Flare]

       In fact, the only way that random events and predestined events could exist side by side, was if there was some countervailing force, a motivation or intelligence to ensure that, no matter what else happens, Mantrid or some equivalent eventually dismantles the Universe and eventually moves enough mass into the center to start the big crunch. A motivating force sufficient to ensure the fulfillment of the prophecies to validate the Time-Prophets futurepast...

       Essentially, something very much like God, enters the Lexx Universes through the back door. But this god's whole point of existence is to negate the effects of free will, of random action. This god is a god of malignant, mindless automatism, quite the opposite of our current concepts of god. Indeed, it's an anti-god. The deity is actually Satan, and the Divine Shadow rather than Christ is his true reflection.

       Logically, however, pre-destination for some events but not others makes no sense. Random events would tend to undermine the predestined ones. The introduction of new factors would tend to alter the outcome of the equation. The pre-destination of one event suggests, logically, that all events are pre-destined.

       We're literally back to the Malignant God.

© 1999 Darrow

The word angel means, basically, 'a messenger' and, stripped of the religio-philosophical baggage it has acquired over the millennia, is therefore appropriate. Flare. back

Thinking dualistically, anyway... Flare.back