Regarding "time travel" in Time Trap

Ask Ask Greg
1

Good morning/evening. As of late, time travel has become a bit of a hot subject, especially with Ninjago (the latest season has been focused around it, which has worked out about as well as one might expect) and I’ve noticed the topics around here regarding it.

In Time Trap, Krakua manages to send a message seemingly back through time to inform Vakama of his task of sending the Toa Inika off on their quest. As time travel isn’t allowed/possible in the MU, I was curious if you could shed some light on this mechanic and if this does or does not count as a form of time travel, albeit only if in a message.

I understand that in the end, Nokama actually ended up sending the Inika off, so there weren’t any paradoxes or anything, just curious on the thought process behind it. Thank you!

8 Likes
2

I don’t consider that to be time travel. If, for example, you send a message out into space, it might take centuries or longer to reach another planet. The message isn’t time traveling, it’s just the nature of the distances involved. So we have to consider how Krakua sent that message – was he speaking “live” to Vakama from the future, or was the message somehow recorded in the ether and triggered? If it was live, how did that work? Is Krakua alive in the future, or did he perish and some part of his AI survived to provide that message? It’s a good subject for debate.

14 Likes
3

That’s an interesting thought. I didn’t consider it time travel either until a discussion I had with another cast member. His claim was roughly that since it was a message from the future, it had to have been sent “back” and in doing so, affect the past through interaction, seeing as Krakua spoke to Vakama.

Granted, in the end, it didn’t change anything due to Vakama not sending the Inika on their way. So is there room for the possibility that it was merely part of the illusion? Possibly a side effect of Vakama’s “visions?”

4 Likes
4

I’ve always wondered if this was a possibility, because, as it is now, Krakua speaking directly to Vakama through the “kratana” doesn’t really make sense; every other time that the “kratana” were used, they could only let someone view the past and/or future, not interact with it.

Of course, if the message was just a recording, that would have to mean that Krakua was talking at nothing and somehow knew when Vakama would “reply” in the past. Perhaps Krakua heard of the message from Vakama himself at some point in the future and is simply repeating what Vakama tells him, thereby “recording it in the ether” with a “kratana”. The possibility of the message being sent through a deceased Krakua’s AI is also an interesting thought, though it still has the same potential plot holes as above where a “kratana” isn’t supposed to let you interact through time.

The other possibility I can think of is that (like Eljay theorized above), through some special combination of the “kratana”, Krakua’s mask power, and (most importantly) Vakama’s unique visions, they actually were able to interact through time, though that almost-certainly counts as some weak form of time travel.

EDIT: Reading the original text again (provided below), Krakua actually does seem to imply that Vakama’s visions are related to what’s happening:

The strange Toa shook his head. “No, Vakama, you are seeing as only you can see. Remember? You were gifted, even as a Matoran, with the power to see fragments of the future. I am one of those fragments, a Toa who will never come to be unless you succeed in your task.”

Full Excerpt

It was a Toa, that much was certain, but not one Vakama had ever seen before. His armor looked sleeker and more streamlined than that of a Toa Metru, almost like the carvings of ancient heroes Vakama had seen in the Archives. Yet somehow he sensed this Toa was not some figure from the past.

“I am Toa Krakua,” the figure stated. “I greet you, brother, in the name of all the Toa who have gone before and all of those who have yet to be.”

“What… what’s going on here?” Vakama asked. “I’ve never heard of any Toa Krakua. Am I dreaming?”

The strange Toa shook his head. “No, Vakama, you are seeing as only you can see. Remember? You were gifted, even as a Matoran, with the power to see fragments of the future. I am one of those fragments, a Toa who will never come to be unless you succeed in your task.”

“What task? What am I supposed to do?”

The Toa raised his sword. The tool began to vibrate and hum, and then sonic waves shattered a solid stone wall. “Find the truth, no matter what barrier blocks your way. Deception can strike you down, as surely as any blow from an enemy. You are a Toa without armor in a chamber of swords, Vakama, and only the truth can protect you.”

Krakua paused, and then said, “You do not believe me.”

Vakama was startled. He had doubts, certainly, about what he was seeing, but he felt that nothing in his expression would have betrayed them.

“And nothing did,” said Toa Krakua. “I wear Kanohi Suletu, the Mask of Telepathy. Your thoughts are open to me.”

“What truth am I supposed to find?” Vakama asked. “Why won’t you speak plainly?”

Toa Krakua smiled. “The future can only share so much with the past, Vakama. That is a law even a Toa does not have the power to change.”

“Isn’t there anything you can tell me?”

“Two things will I share with you – I said before that if you fail, I will never exist. You must be prepared to fail, brother. If necessary, you must be willing to destroy the future and all that is now to stop evil from spreading.”

“And the second?”

“Six heroes will one day be called upon to make a perilous journey into the darkest place you can imagine. They will brave the lightning… they will walk through the fire… they will stare into the eyes of evil, and if they waver even once, they will die. And you, Vakama, will bear the most terrible burden of all.”

Vakama could see where this was going. “I will have to lead them.”

Toa Krakua shook his head. “No, nothing as easy as that. You will have to send them on this quest, knowing they may never return… and knowing you can do nothing for them but wait and hope.”

The mysterious figure opened his mouth as if to say more. Then a wave of shadow passed over him and he was gone, carried away by the darkness

Honestly, the whole thing sounds really similar to Vakama’s earlier visions of the Great Disks, or of Lhikan warning Vakama to listen to his visions, but it’s not exactly the same: the vision with Krakua was triggered and and ended by the “kratana”. Additionally, the rest of the story is written as if Krakua’s part of the vision will actually happen one day, while the other visions seem to be more vague, conceptual warnings.

Perhaps the “kratana” allowed Vakama to see a specific part of the future, rather than just vague premonitions?

5 Likes
5

Onewa compares his experience with the Kratana to Vakama’s visions, even expressing pity for Vakama that he regularly has these experiences. I think that the Kratana might have enhanced Vakama’s innate gift of visions to something more than what he was capable of, and something more than what anyone without his gift would be capable of even with a Kratana.

3 Likes