Eternal Return

A chapter from The Matrix Illuminated

Thomas and Tiffany shake hands

The concept of eternal return or eternal recurrence first became a subject of fascination for me after playing a series of videogames called Xenosaga.

In this three-part space opera role-playing game, events unfold that are later revealed to have happened before multiple times, continuing eternally into the past.

The names of each of the games in the series is taken from the titles of books by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who is most commonly known for saying “God is dead”. The objective of the last game in the series is to stop this cycle of endless recurrence, to break free from a predetermined struggle, and achieve true freedom for humanity to decide its own future.

Other popular science fiction media that borrows the concept of eternal return to enrich its narrative is the TV series remake of Battlestar Galactica and Bioware’s RPG trilogy Mass Effect. It’s notable that all of these fictional universes – the Matrix included – feature artificial intelligence and robotic lifeforms, and centre the conflict around endlessly repeating cycles of life and death.