Rewrite - Moon Arc Discussion

[Takafumi]

Ok, folks, let Dr. Naoki explain the moon route and Aurora to you * gets on his high horse *

Stabs the horse and steals it’s wallet

If the Aurora is too dense due to a low amount of surface area of a celestial body, it has the property to create parallel worlds. That’s what the previous routes are - parallel worlds.

Is that blatantly stated? I got a totally different impression from it. The thing that Moon Kagari was working on was was created parallel worlds, and allowed manipulation of the world that Moon takes place in. The Aurora didn’t have a part in it.
There were two types of routes - the one assured route that kept all of the past salvations as a part of history, and the type that had no affect on reality aside from taking up the time it takes for Moon Kagari to play it out and figure out the theory.

Regardless of whether salvation happened or not, the earth’s Aurora kept running out until it wasn’t capable of sustaining life anymore, so it traveled to the moon instead.

I thought it could sustain life briefly for one more run, so it just had to be careful.

Regardless of whether salvation happened or not, the earth’s Aurora kept running out until it wasn’t capable of sustaining life anymore, so it traveled to the moon instead. It might help to think of Aurora as a plant that needs soil to grow. When there’s new soil, Aurora can thrive and multiply.

Aurora never increased though, right? It was at critical levels. One more try no matter what. If it wasn’t capable of sustaining life when it left, it wouldn’t when it returned.

The Aurora “waited” on the moon for the earth’s “soil” to renew just enough for one more attempt (no parallel universes this time).

This doesn’t make any sense to me. Why is it like soil? Why did it go to another place incapable of sustaining life? Why didn’t it just stay at Earth but not do anything?

While the Aurora recovered a little bit on the moon, Moon Kagari was looking for a way for the Aurora to thrive on earth. She figured that Kotarou would be the key element to enabling such a scenario for many reasons and she also needed someone to keep watch while she was working on her theory, so she re-created him from the Aurora.

That she knew to pick Kotarou, and that she knew to create him, feels like too much of an assumption to me. There was a stall before Kagari’s acceptance of his being there.

This is the part that continues to throw me off. It’s as if time doesn’t work in a conventional sense here.

Moon is set at a higher plane of existence, right? It was like an Akashic records thing, I thought. Lower than the peak of existence that Kotarou explores, but higher than the world we observe. Time there would probably work differently.

Or did it perfectly re-create everything on earth the way it was at a certain point in time, like Kotarou’s birth or when he was a certain age?

It’ll have played everything out as the theorem told it to. It’ll have followed the exact path from the start of life of Earth until the end.
Millions of years pass between the end of Moon and the start of Terra.

The world we see in Terra is exactly the same as the world before, which makes things odd. It’s like the world is less concrete and more abstract here, something that can be destroyed and recreated so easily. Like, even assuming that the world retraced all of the steps it took to reach Kotarou’s birth, it’s hard to believe that the world could be exactly the same. We know the geography of the Earth has changed over billions of years, so are we to expect that even that can be completely reset through Aurora shenanigans?

Start from the same place, and do exactly the same things, and you get the same result. All life, all existence, will have been planned.
Even if the geography of the planet was different, how would that matter at all? No one would know, and it wouldn’t be an obstacle.

Furthermore, I am also of the opinion that even this final attempt did not succeed with 100% certainty. It merely opened an option and bumped up the chance from 0%.

I’d say that from the get-go. It was reliant on some scribblings by Kotarou, and put together in a rush. There could have been mistakes. What’s important to note though, is that there are parts where you aren’t allowed to make a different choice. You have no freedom in what happens, you just adhere to the formula.

I interpret the entirety of Rewrite as only “one” multiverse in infinite parallel multiverses, where infinite Terra routes actually do fail.

It’s possible that there is an even higher point to existence that Kagari has not seen.

Particularly the part in Terra where

That’s a weird one. Kotarou actually gets freedom to make a choice, and it is in relation to Kagari. Maybe it’s due to their involvement in setting up this world?

[Kaze]

What’s important to note though, is that there are parts where

Personally, I always thought this was overanalyzed by people, but maybe it’s just me being stubborn in my own interpretation. I really think the whole non-selectable choices except for the one regarding Kagari was more of a VN logistics issue. They wanted to show how many options there were. They also wanted to show that Terra Kotarou is being influenced but not completely. The lack of choices except for Kagari shows both. We adhere to the formula because that’s what the true route is, and VN logistics only allow us to mess up once, which is the most defining moment in whether humanity survives or not. In reality, Terra Kotarou deviated from the formula and ruined it countless times in other instances, but this isn’t allowed by us because they didn’t want to bother with making a bunch of bad ends or related logistics.

[HeliosAlpha]

Is that blatantly stated?

The whole thing about the Aurora moving and comparing Earth to farmland is in Kagaris’ memory entries.

[Takafumi]

Uh… what are they?

[Aspirety]

The Memories feature is very underrated… I personally hope it returns in future titles.

[Naoki_Saten]

Is that blatantly stated?

Let’s just make sure we’re all on the same page when it comes to what we already know.
These are the full entries on earth Kagari and Moon Kagari in the Memory -> Friends section of Rewrite:
(Warning: Kagari (Earth) part contains spoilers, especially the last paragraph)

[Pepe]

Hang on, I need to take a step back for now…

So… Everything that happened in the Common route of Rewrite was Moon Kagari viewing the different possibilities of saving the earth, yeah. But this leads to something weird about the common route, I think

Did all of those possibilities (ergo, the character routes) that she was viewing happen after the earth was reborn for Terra route (and Kotarou made the choice to attack kagari)? If that is the case, then I think it contradicts what it says in the memories:

One more attempt at evolution seemed like it might just be possible

Why does it contradict it? Because the character routes have points where there are more than one attempts at evolution; Shizuru’s route for instance. Destruction happened in that route, but the people there started anew. If it really did happen after the events of Moon route, then they should not have been able to continue, as the aurora would have finished up by then. Even if we assume them to be parallel world lines, I would say that parallel world line to be flawed.

The other option that I can see is that the character routes could have happened before the events of Moon, and before the aurora transferred to the moon. In that case, after the events of Moon, when the aurora transferred back to the earth, it rebuilt the world to become exactly as it was before… And that’s some crazy shit right there.

[sillylittlemelody]

Actually, I don’t think the routes really happened. I think they were just part of the simulation Kagari was using in Moon. Like when the girls were playing with it too. Kagari was just testing some worldlines, and the routes were those tests.

[Pepe]

I think they were just part of the simulation Kagari was using in Moon.

That’s the thing, if they were simulations, then they still had to follow the rules set by the simulation, which should have been exactly the same of the rules of the Aurora for earth. Because what’s the point of making a simulation if it wasn’t accurate?

[Kaze]

Reality vs simulations is something I’ve struggled with and never managed to come up with something that satisfies myself and fits with the rest of my interpretation of Rewrite. Even now, I can’t say my thoughts are very solid and this is one point I can be easily swayed on, as I pretty much just altered my interpretation yet again due to the recent discussion here. First of all keep in mind that Moon route is a place which completely screws with traditional thoughts of time. It’s a plane of existence “above” the flow of time. There is not necessarily a “before” or “after.”

Did all of those possibilities (ergo, the character routes) that she was viewing happen after the earth was reborn for Terra route

Yes, but in a parallel universe.

Shizuru’s route for instance. Destruction happened in that route, but the people there started anew.

This is a good counterpoint. I can only imagine that while people “started anew,” it was a hopeless endeavor doomed to destruction.

If it really did happen after the events of Moon route, then they should not have been able to continue, as the aurora would have finished up by then.

I think you are trying to think in traditional senses of time. It happened after Moon in the parallel universe. But it didn’t happen after Moon in the original universe. I’m sorry, I suck at explaining this, but I admit I’m also not completely clear on what you mean.

The other option that I can see is that the character routes could have happened before the events of Moon, and before the aurora transferred to the moon.

I don’t think they happened before Moon; in fact, I have never really considered much of what specifics happened before Moon.

In that case, after the events of Moon, when the aurora transferred back to the earth, it rebuilt the world to become exactly as it was before… And that’s some crazy shit right there.

As I mention above, Moon route is warping time so that no matter how long Moon route took, the “time” of the Earth did not change. What is happening is the parallel universes (or simulations?) that Moon route and Kagari are creating uses the current state of the Earth as the starting point. So once the true route is found, the start point corresponds correctly.

The weirdest thing I see in my idea is if they really did happen and aren’t just simulations, then Terra also already happened in a parallel universe and Terra is just a “repeat” of what Kagari found which seems to make Terra pointless. Yes and no. It’s basically the idea of just because I’m happy in some parallel universe, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try to be happy in mine too. Moon route creates Terra’s good ending and then seeks to replicate it in its original universe. How does that sound? (Actually I think that sounds wrong. I don’t know how I can claim this and explain how Moon came about if there’s an “original” universe) I’m probably going to change my mind again with any counterpoint orz

[Pepe]

I think you are trying to think in traditional senses of time. It happened after Moon in the parallel universe. But it didn’t happen after Moon in the original universe. I’m sorry, I suck at explaining this, but I admit I’m also not completely clear on what you mean.

I both am and am not on this point; I accept that it is a parallel universe, and it does not literally happen after moon. However, I also imply that in this parallel universe, time flows regularly, and the condition of the aurora only having one more attempt at evolution exists.

As I mention above, Moon route is warping time so that no matter how long Moon route took, the “time” of the Earth did not change. What is happening is the parallel universes (or simulations?) that Moon route and Kagari are creating uses the current state of the Earth as the starting point. So once the true route is found, the start point corresponds correctly.

I think I may be running on a faulty assumption with my second suggestion; I guess I assumed that the Aurora left the earth during the events of Moon, and that earth was “dead” in a sense during those events. I guess I misunderstood:

By that point in time, the Earth was on the verge of drying up, so some of the aurora flowed to the Moon

So I guess I can assume that Earth was actually still alive during the events of Moon and Kagari was trying to find the answer during that time. Although that time may have only seemed like a split second back on earth, yeah

[Kaze]

I both am and am not on this point; I accept that it is a parallel universe, and it does not literally happen after moon. However, I also imply that in this parallel universe, time flows regularly, and the condition of the aurora only having one more attempt at evolution exists.

Okay, yeah, I understand your point, and it is a good question. I admit I’ve never thought of this problem before because I just assumed that it is a different phenomenon than the what Aurora does and as such doesn’t count as an attempt. If so, maybe this conflict is more an issue of lack of vocabulary/explanation in the translations to efficiently differentiate similar but fundamentally different events. If not, I’m a little lost.

[Naoki_Saten]

such confusing
much Rewrite
very theories
wow

What should I do? Obviously, I should just press on with my own theory and increase the amount of confusion here xD

This is the rough timeline of my theory:

common route (parallel universes already exist on earth) -> pre-moon routes + parallel universe events not shown in game -> death of earth in ALL parallel universes + Aurora remnants travel to the moon -> Aurora settles on moon ‘soil’ and multiplies a bit -> ‘garden’ is formed -> moon route + earth ‘soil’ recovers slowly -> end of moon route (Aurora travels back to earth, moon Kagari reverts into a flower) + moon ‘soil’ is exhausted + earth ‘soil’ recovered enough for one more try -> Terra

What’s the ‘main problem’ in the plot of Rewrite? It’s the fact that the amount of Aurora on earth keeps decreasing due to human behavior. The earth usually solves that problem by means of ‘salvation’, followed by ‘re-evolution’. Only this time around, it would be no use, because there is not enough Aurora for a re-evolution. And the only ones even remotely aware of the problem, Gaia and Guardian, are too busy killing each-other off instead of working on a solution.

As the game begins, multiple parallel universes already exist. Parallel universes are formed when the density of aurora reaches a certain point. Also, the pre-moon routes took place on earth. Which means: There must have been a time when the the amount of Aurora on earth was really high, so parallel universes were formed. It would make no sense for parallel universes to be created at any time after the pre-moon routes, because an amount of Aurora capable of creating parallel universes would already solve the main problem of Aurora shortage.

As I mentioned before, all parallel universes ultimately ended the same way:
Either all creatures are eradicated via salvation and there’s nobody home to produce new aurora, thus it runs out and the planet dies.
Or salvation doesn’t happen, allowing humans to keep wasting aurora at a fast pace, thus it runs out and the planet dies.
We can assume that neither the survivors of Shizuru’s route, nor those of Akane’s route could manage to save the earth in the end.
In the end, all life ceased to be, and then the earth became a poisonous hell, hostile to all life, as predicted in Lucia’s route. Only Lucia would have been capable of surviving in that environment. Aurora can’t thrive here.

The remaining aurora traveled to the moon and took root there. It multiplied a bit and the garden was formed. Moon Kagari is now working on a solution with two things in mind:

1. Eventually, the ‘soil’ of the moon will dry up and it won’t be able to sustain the Aurora
2. Eventually, the ‘soil’ of the earth will recover enough for one last attempt at evolution
   Therefore, Kagari is trying to find way to make this last evolution succeed. She needs a future where the creatures inhabiting the earth would not go extinct eventually.

Moon Kotarou comes into being when different aurora parts of his alternate universe versions come together. I am implying that all versioins of Kotarou were real. The aurora remnants of those different versions of Kotarou came together, forming the ultimate Kotarou, Moon Kotarou. He has the memories and skills of all his past versions. He looks older than most of them, because Akane route Kotarou is also in the mix.
Those aurora remnants, containing ‘memories’ of Kotarou’s body and mind, must’ve come from somewhere. Somewhere real. If the pre-moon routes weren’t parallel universes, but were instead, as others theorized, just simulations in moon Kagari’s theory, there would be no point in mentioning aurora’s property of forming parallel universes in cases of high density. Therefore, I can’t accept theories that assume that all the pre-moon routes ‘didn’t really happen’.

By incorporating moon Kotarou’s little note in her theory, moon Kagari manages to find a way for life to continue thriving before running out of time. All the aurora, except for moon Kagari, is sent back to earth where life is formed once again, following moon Kagari’s theory.

When the time of Kotarou’s childhood is reached, Terra route begins. There are no parallel universes this time, since there’s not enough aurora to create those.

[Pepe]

That seems to coincide with my second idea, which was

The other option that I can see is that the character routes could have happened before the events of Moon, and before the aurora transferred to the moon. In that case, after the events of Moon, when the aurora transferred back to the earth, it rebuilt the world to become exactly as it was before… And that’s some crazy shit right there.

Which means… The world ended, everything went to the moon, and the Earth had its last chance of salvation all while having its entire history occur in the exact way such that Kotarou and Gaia and Guardian could exist (as they did in the world before it ended).

Like I said, that’s some crazy shit right there. I don’t deny the possibility, but it’s damn crazy

[Aspirety]

Everyone PLEASE LISTEN TO NAOKI. He’s got this shit, and it’s based on pretty hard evidence from the game.

Enough bullshit that ‘uhh the routes were only simulations’ NO that’s not it at all, the description of aurora clearly states that the Earth split into parallel universes. I too refuse to accept any theory that ignores this fact.

“So what’s the blueprint then?”

Allow me to offer my interpretation. What we see when Kagari is working with the blueprint is exactly that, working. She’s not just looking at it, she’s manipulating the different branches to try and create new branches where a future for the Earth is possible. It’s because the natural progression of the multiple universes didn’t pan out that direct intervention is necessary. This gets a bit into causality, so if you’re already lost, I’ll try to dumb it down a bit.

So we’re assuming that the multiverse property of the aurora is based on things that could’ve happened. But what about things that could not have happened, but maybe could have if just one little thing was different? Like imagine you’re a god looking down at your world, and by putting one little idea in someone’s head that didn’t exist there previously, you could completely create an entirely new set of possibilities that didn’t exist originally. That’s exactly what’s happening here. Kagari is manipulating tiny variables to see what kind of new possibilities might exist if things were only slightly different. In this case, she planted an idea in Kotarou’s head, some kind of emotion that made him want to protect Kagari. It was something which never existed in the original world, and no natural causality would ever cause that emotion to exist in him. It had to come from somewhere higher, by introducing something into the world that never existed before.

So to go back to the blueprint… It’s not about reading the various worlds that happened before. The “simulations” are the result of Kagari’s manipulations, trying to simulate a possibility where humanity and aurora lives on. One her simulations lead to a successful result, she puts it into action, sending the aurora back to create one final world.

As for the whole world being reborn thing… I think it’s easier to wrap your head around if you think of it like just another alternate reality. You’re not physically reconstructing the world, you’re just adding one more layer to the multitude of alternate realities that are already there. She could only do one, so she used Kotarou’s message.

Hope things are becoming clearer now.

[Pepe]

So to go back to the blueprint… It’s not about reading the various worlds that happened before. The “simulations” are the result of Kagari’s manipulations, trying to simulate a possibility where humanity and aurora lives on. One her simulations lead to a successful result, she puts it into action, sending the aurora back to create one final world.

So… the character routes specifically were also results of Moon Kagari’s manipulations? And those occur in the parallel universes? But how can the parallel universes exist while the Aurora had already “dried out”, so to speak, and was struggling to exist on the moon?

Unless the parallel worlds existed from the aurora on the moon? And they transferred to earth after the Aurora returned for Terra route?

[Naoki_Saten]

The timeline, @Pepe Pepe. It’s all in the timeline.

common route (parallel universes already exist on earth) -> pre-moon routes + parallel universe events not shown in game -> death of earth in ALL parallel universes + Aurora remnants travel to the moon -> Aurora settles on moon ‘soil’ and multiplies a bit -> ‘garden’ is formed -> moon route + earth ‘soil’ recovers slowly -> end of moon route (Aurora travels back to earth, moon Kagari reverts into a flower) + moon ‘soil’ is exhausted + earth ‘soil’ recovered enough for one more try -> Terra

There would be little point in parallel universes existing on moon, and the pre-moon routes clearly didn’t look like they took place anywhere but the earth.

[Pepe]

There would be little point in parallel universes existing on moon, and the pre-moon routes clearly didn’t look like they took place anywhere but the earth.

I guess all my wondering boils down to one question: How can the parallel worlds remain “existent” without having to be rebuilt from scratch after the aurora powering them runs dry? It makes sense, at least to me, that if the aurora in any of the parallel worlds runs dry, then that world goes kaput.

So if all the parallel worlds are gone by the end of moon route, where does Terra route carry on from? Not just the beginning of Terra route, but the world where Terra is taking place. Where does that world get its “history” from?

[Gnashes]

This is more or less how I interpreted Moon in my first go.

I actually enjoyed the circular causality of Kotarou indirectly causing Kagari to alter Kotarou.

(Terra)

This is also solidified in my mind through Kotarou finding that “piece” during the final scenes of Terra… Where he more or less examined it and was all “WTF is this? And why does it feel so important?”

[Naoki_Saten]

So if all the parallel worlds are gone by the end of moon route, where does Terra route carry on from? Not just the beginning of Terra route, but the world where Terra is taking place. Where does that world get its “history” from?

“If a celestial body has too little surface area and its aurora is too dense, then it ends up creating multiple overlapping worlds.”
It’s not like the entire universe is completely replicated if there’s a high concentration of Aurora somewhere. The parallel worlds only occur directly on earth, where the concentratioin occurs. Just imagine that multiple “earths” exist on alternative planes in the exact same spot. So whenever the earth died in a parallel universe, some aurora traveled to the moon (the same moon. Many earths, one moon), leaving its own universe. That way, Aurora from many parallel universes (I’m saying ‘parallel universes’, but it really is just the earth) gathered on the moon.