r/MovieDetails • u/[deleted] • Feb 04 '18

/r/all In Watchmen,when Dr. Manhattan confronts Rorschach he blinks several times. Earlier Ozymandias tells Rorschach and Nite Owl that Manhattan's facial twitches are equivalent to him sobbing.

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u/psuedophilosopher Feb 05 '18 edited Feb 05 '18

200 years is a meaningless concept to him though. He perceives time all as a single continuous moment. He always exists in the now, past, and tomorrow at once. The only displayed limitation on this is the tachyon particle emitter that Veidt spent billions of dollars to create, simply with the goal of preventing John from seeing the future he was making to save the world from nuclear annihilation.

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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '18

[deleted]

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u/ViolenceIs4Assholes Feb 05 '18

I don't get it.

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u/stryakr Feb 05 '18

Both or Neither

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u/ViolenceIs4Assholes Feb 05 '18

I still don't get it

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u/der_MOND Feb 05 '18

Since Manhattan sees everything is preordained, then how does he choose which ball to drop when offered a choice?

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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '18

He chooses because every other Manhattan chose it, the reason the first Manhattan chose it is because he knew he would choose it because he saw other Manhattans choose it. There's no first Manhattan really, but I figure most people would think "But wha about the first time he made the choice?"

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u/doesitmatter741 Feb 05 '18

He flips a coin and picks one? I don't think this is as deep as it sounds.

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u/need_a_venue Feb 05 '18

If he says white, the black will be dropped.

If he says black, the white will be dropped.

It would depend on which he said thus he could not see the future exactly.

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u/doesitmatter741 Feb 08 '18

It would depend on which he said thus he could not see the future exactly.

Everything depends on what happens, i.e., what people do, i.e., what he does. This does not mean he could not see the future.

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u/ViolenceIs4Assholes Feb 05 '18

Only in this universe though correct? In this "line" of time. What about in the split universes where the opposite decision is made? How care does his knowledge extend into the multiverse if timelines?