[HPforGrownups] time turner question - PoA, dragging in Ron=DD by his freckled ears

[Helen R. Granberry]

No: HPFGUIDX 88609

As long as you keep firmly in mind that things happen only
once and that events that has happened stays happened (i.e.
that you can't change the past) then there is no problem.

There's an entry on this problem in the Pottverse FAQ at
Hogwarts Library:

<http://www.hogwarts-library.net/reference/potterverse_faq.html#time_tra
vel>

(Yes, I did write that myself - it doesn't prevent me
from thinking that it is actually a good analysis ;-)

/Troels



Helen:

Ok... Julie made reference to your essay, and I am glad I found it so
quickly. I always had the same view you put forth on Time travel in the
HP universe. It was pretty clear to me that nothing was changed in PoA,
and that things always happen the same way. Now, I am a Ron=DD fan, and
the fact that Ron couldn't change anything did indeed answer a lot of
questions people had with regards to why he didn't save the Potters, let
Sirius go to Azkaban, kill Tom Riddle as a baby (as Tom Riddle tried to
do with Harry),  etc. He simply couldn't, even if he had tried, that was
the way it happened.

The one thing, however, that didn't work for ME with this model of time
travel was the fact that it seemed to negate a very important theme in
the books -- free will and the matter of choice. Of course, the way you
explain it -- what happens in the past is a product of choices already
made/will be made -- it now makes sense to me. Kinda. Sorta. But I don't
buy time travel as a real possibility outside of fantasy/science fiction
anyway. AND... I am not so sure JKR will be completely consistent. I
hope she will, but I can't shake the feeling that when time travel shows
up again (and... I believe it will, even if Dumbledore isn't a future
Ron) that she may make mistakes or revise the model she is using. I like
the PoA model as you explain it -- I came to the same conclusion myself
as obviously, nothing actually changes, though I didn't have the
background in physics to really understand it and explain it as well as
you do. However, JKR is not a physicist, and time travel is always
messy. Your explanation is, however, the most consistent and logical I
have seen. 

Now, when Ixchelmala and I were working on the Evil Chess Theory of Doom
which incorporated the idea of Dumbledore being a future Ron
(http://www.knight2king.net), we had to think really hard again about
time travel. Like I said, I always liked the 'immutable time loop' model
because that is what we saw in PoA. Not only that, it is neat, tidy and
completely consistent. However... I couldn't shake the fact that it
negated the theme of choice. In looking at events in GoF, it looked as
though Ron/DD might have actually changed something there, and that also
explained some inconsistencies, especially with respect to OotP (though
the consistencies in OotP can be explained with one simple thing --
Harry never tells Ron about the Prophecy). But... now I don't know. I
don't know if JKR will be consistent. I like how you have worked in free
will into the idea of not being able to change the past (the past is set
because of the choices you do make). It's logical. It works... I need to
do some more thinking.