Parallel universe or alternative reality is a self-contained separate reality coexisting with our own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a multiverse, although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that comprise physical reality. The multiverse (or meta-universe) is the hypothetical set of multiple possible Universes (including our universe that together comprise all of Reality. Reality, in everyday usage means "the state of things as they actually exist" While the terms "parallel universe" and "alternative reality" are generally synonymous and can be used interchangeably in most cases, there is sometimes an additional connotation implied with the term "alternative reality" that implies that the reality is a variant of our own. The term "parallel universe" is more general, without any connotations implying a relationship (or lack thereof) with our own universe. A universe where the very laws of nature are different (for example, it has no relativistic limitations and the speed of light can be exceeded) would in general count as a parallel universe but not an alternative reality.

Introduction

Fantasy has long borrowed the idea of "another world" from myth, legend and religion. The word mythology (from the Greek grc μυθολογία mythología, meaning "a story-telling a legendary lore" A legend ( Latin, legenda, "things to be read" is a Narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos Heaven, Hell, Olympus, Valhalla are all “alternative universes” different from the familiar material realm. Heaven may refer to the physical heavens the sky or the seemingly endless expanse of the Universe beyond Hell, according to many Religious beliefs, is a location in the Afterlife, which may be described as a place of suffering See also Death in Norse paganism In Norse mythology, Valhalla (from Old Norse Valhöll "hall of the slain" is a majestic enormous Modern fantasy often presents the concept as a series of planes of existence where the laws of nature differ, allowing magical phenomena of some sort on some planes. Fantasy is a Genre that uses magic and other Supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting Magic, sometimes known as sorcery, is a Conceptual system that asserts human ability to control the natural world (including events objects people and This concept was also found in ancient Hindu mythology, in texts such as the Puranas, which expressed an infinite number of universes, each with its own gods. Hindu mythology is the large body of Mythology related to Hinduism, notably as contained in Sanskrit literature, such as the Sanskrit epics and For other meanings see Purana (disambiguation. The Puranas ( Sanskrit: sa पुराण purāṇa, "of ancient times" ^[1] In other cases, in both fantasy and science fiction, a parallel universe is a single other material reality, and its co-existence with ours is a rationale to bring a protagonist from the author's reality into the fantasy's reality, such as in The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis or even the beyond-the-reflection travel in the two main works of Lewis Carroll. Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (ˈdɒdsən (27 January 1832 &ndash 14 January 1898 better known by the Pen name Lewis Carroll (/ˈkærəl/ was an English Or this single other reality can invade our own, as when Margaret Cavendish's English heroine sends submarines and "birdmen" armed with "fire stones" back through the portal from the Blazing World to Earth and wreaks havoc on England's enemies. See Margaret Cavendish (1661-1717 for the later Duchess of Newcastle of this name In dark fantasy or horror the parallel world is often a hiding place for unpleasant things, and often the protagonist is forced to confront effects of this other world leaking into his own, as in most of the work of H. P. Lovecraft and the Doom computer game series. Dark fantasy is a subgenre that combines elements of fantasy including marvelous abilities with those of horror Horror fiction is broadly Fiction in any medium intended to scare unsettle or horrify the audience Howard Phillips Lovecraft ( August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of horror, fantasy Doom (officially cased DOOM) is a 1993 Computer game by Id Software that is a landmark title in the First-person shooter In such stories, the nature of this other reality is often left mysterious, known only by its effect on our own world. Their is no proof that different dimensions do exist but their is a very good chance that they do exist however travel to different dimensions is hard but might be possible

Often the alternative worlds theme in science fiction is framed by postulating that every historical event spawns a new universe for every possible outcome, resulting in a number of alternate histories. Alternate history or alternative history is a subgenre of Speculative fiction (or Science fiction) and Historical fiction This literary interpretation is sometimes rooted in the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics formulated by the physicist Hugh Everett in 1957, an alternative to the Copenhagen interpretation originally formulated by Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg around 1927. The many-worlds interpretation or MWI (also known as relative state formulation, theory of the universal wavefunction, parallel universes, Quantum mechanics is the study of mechanical systems whose dimensions are close to the Atomic scale such as Molecules Atoms Electrons Hugh Everett III ( November 11, 1930 – July 19, 1982) was an American physicist who first proposed the Many-worlds interpretation The Copenhagen interpretation is an interpretation of Quantum mechanics. Niels Henrik David Bohr (nels ˈb̥oɐ̯ˀ in Danish 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962 was a Danish Physicist who made fundamental contributions to understanding Werner Heisenberg (5 December 1901 in Würzburg &ndash1 February 1976 in Munich) was a German theoretical physicist best known for enunciating the (See: multiverse. The multiverse (or meta-universe) is the hypothetical set of multiple possible Universes (including our universe that together comprise all of Reality. ) This kind of alternative universe is often the backdrop of stories involving time travel and is often used to rationalize the logical paradoxes that arise when an author allows characters to travel backward in time. This article details time travel itself For other uses see Time Traveler. A paradox is a true statement or group of statements that leads to a Contradiction or a situation which defies intuition; or inversely (See: grandfather paradox. This article refers to the Time travel paradox In novels based on the television series Doctor Who, "Grandfather Paradox" is the semi-mythical )

The concept also arises outside the framework of quantum mechanics, as is found in Jorge Luis Borges short story El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan ("The Garden of Forking Paths"), published in 1941 before the many-worlds interpretation had been invented. "The Garden of Forking Paths" (original Spanish title "El Jardín de senderos que se bifurcan") is a 1941 Short story In the story, a Sinologist discovers a manuscript by a Chinese writer where the same tale is recounted in several ways, often contradictory, and then explains to his visitor (the writer's grandson) that his relative conceived time as a "garden of forking paths", where things happen in parallel in infinitely branching ways. Sinology in general use is the study of China and things related to China but especially in the American academic context refers more strictly to the study of classical language One of the first SF examples is John Wyndham's Random Quest about a man who, on awaking after a laboratory accident, finds himself in a parallel universe where WWII never happened with consequences for his professional and personal life, giving him information he can use on return to his own universe. John Wyndham was the main Pen name used by the often post-apocalyptic British Science fiction writer John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris Random Quest is a Science fiction Short story by John Wyndham. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including

While this is a common treatment in SF, it is by no means the only presentation of the idea, even in hard science fiction. Hard science fiction is a category of Science fiction characterized by an emphasis on scientific or technical detail or on scientific accuracy or on both Sometimes the parallel universe bears no historical relationship to any other world; as in the novel Raft by Stephen Baxter, which posits a reality where the gravitational constant is much larger than in our universe. Raft is a 1991 Science fiction book by author Stephen Baxter. Stephen Baxter (born 13 November 1957 is a British Hard science fiction Author. The gravitational constant, denoted G, is a Physical constant involved in the calculation of the gravitational attraction between objects with mass (Note, however, that Baxter explains later in Vacuum Diagrams that the protagonists in Raft are descended from people who came from the Xeelee Sequence universe. Vacuum Diagrams is a collection of Science fiction short stories written by Stephen Baxter The Xeelee Sequence is a series of novels and short stories by British Science fiction author Stephen Baxter. )

One motif is that the time flow in a parallel universe may be very different, so that a character returning to one might find the time passed very differently for those he left behind. This is found in folklore: King Herla visited Fairy and returned three centuries later; although only some of his men crumbled to dust on dismounting, Herla and his men who did not dismount were trapped on horseback, this being one folkloric account of the origin of the Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt was a folk myth prevalent in former times across Northern Western and Central Europe ^[2] C. S. Lewis made use of this in the Chronicles of Narnia; indeed, a character points out to two skeptics that there is no need for the time between the worlds to match up, but it would be very odd for the girl who claims to have visited a parallel universe to have dreamed up such a different time flow. Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963 ^[3]

The division between science fiction and fantasy becomes fuzzier than usual when dealing with stories that explicitly leave the universe we are familiar with, especially when our familiar universe is portrayed as a subset of a multiverse. Picking a genre becomes less a matter of setting, and more a matter of theme and emphasis; the parts of the story the author wishes to explain and how they are explained. Narnia is clearly a fantasy, and the TV series Sliders is clearly science fiction, but works like the World of Tiers series tend to occupy a much broader middle ground. Sliders is an American Science fiction television series that ran for five seasons from 1995 to 2000. The World of Tiers novels are a series of connected Science fiction / Fantasy Novels by Philip José Farmer.

Uses in science fiction

While technically incorrect, and looked down upon by hard science-fiction fans and authors, the idea of another “dimension” has become synonymous with the term “parallel universe”. In mathematics the dimension of a Space is roughly defined as the minimum number of Coordinates needed to specify every point within it The usage is particularly common in movies, television and comic books and much less so in modern prose science fiction. A comic book (often shortened to simply comic and sometimes called a comic paper or comic magazine) is a Magazine or Book of narrative

In written science fiction, “new dimensions” more commonly — and more accurately — refer to additional coordinate axes, beyond the three spatial axes with which we are familiar. In Mathematics and its applications a coordinate system is a system for assigning an n - Tuple of Numbers or scalars to each point By proposing travel along these extra axes, which are not normally perceptible, the traveler can reach worlds that are otherwise unreachable and invisible.

In 1884, Edwin A. Abbott wrote the seminal novel exploring this concept called Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. Edwin Abbott Abbott ( December 20, 1838 &ndash October 12, 1926) English Schoolmaster and theologian, For other uses see Flatland (disambiguation Flatland A Romance of Many Dimensions is an 1884 Science fiction It describes a world of two dimensions inhabited by living squares, triangles, and circles, called Flatland, as well as Pointland (0 dimensions), Lineland (1 dimension), and Spaceland (three dimensions) and finally posits the possibilities of even greater dimensions. Isaac Asimov, in his foreword to the Signet Classics 1984 edition, described Flatland as "The best introduction one can find into the manner of perceiving dimensions. For other uses see Flatland (disambiguation Flatland A Romance of Many Dimensions is an 1884 Science fiction "

In 1895, The Time Machine by H. G. Wells used time as an additional “dimension” in this sense, taking the four-dimensional model of classical physics and interpreting time as a space like dimension in which humans could travel with the right equipment. The Time Machine is a novella by H G Wells, first published in 1895 and later directly adapted into at least two Feature films of the same name as Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 &ndash 13 August 1946 He was an outspoken socialist and a pacifist, his later works becoming increasingly political In Physics and Mathematics, a sequence of n numbers can be understood as a location in an n -dimensional space

There are many examples where authors have explicitly created additional spatial dimensions for their characters to travel in, to reach parallel universes. Douglas Adams, in the last book of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, Mostly Harmless, uses the idea of probability as an extra axis in addition to the classical four dimensions of space and time. Douglas Noël Adams (11 March 1952 &ndash 11 May 2001 was an English author comic Radio dramatist The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series Mostly Harmless is a Novel by Douglas Adams and the fifth book of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series Probability is the likelihood or chance that something is the case or will happen In Mathematics and its applications a coordinate system is a system for assigning an n - Tuple of Numbers or scalars to each point Though, according to the novel, they're not really parallel universes at all but only a model to capture the continuity of space, time and probability. Robert A. Heinlein, in The Number of the Beast, postulated a six-dimensional universe. Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7 1907 – May 8 1988 was an American Novelist and Science fiction Writer. The Number of the Beast is a Science fiction Novel by Robert A In addition to the three spatial dimensions, he invoked symmetry to add two new temporal dimensions, so there would be two sets of three. Symmetry generally conveys two primary meanings The first is an imprecise sense of harmonious or aesthetically-pleasing proportionality and balance such that it reflects beauty or Like the fourth dimension of H. G. Wells’ "Time Traveller", these extra dimensions can be traveled by persons using the right equipment. The Time Traveller is the fictional Protagonist in H G Wells 's The Time Machine, a novel published in 1895.

Hyperspace

Main article: Hyperspace (science fiction)

Perhaps the most common use of the concept of a parallel universe in science fiction is the concept of hyperspace. Hyperspace is a fictional Plot device sometimes used in Science fiction. Used in science fiction, the concept of “hyperspace” often refers to a parallel universe that can be used as a faster-than-light shortcut for interstellar travel. Interstellar space travel is unmanned or manned Travel between Stars The concept of interstellar travel in Starships is a staple in Science fiction Rationales for this form of hyperspace vary from work to work, but the two common elements are:

1. at least some (if not all) locations in the hyperspace universe map to locations in our universe, providing the "entry" and "exit" points for travelers.
2. the travel time between two points in the hyperspace universe is much shorter than the time to travel to the analogous points in our universe. This can be because of a different speed of light, different speed at which time passes, or the analogous points in the hyperspace universe are just much closer to each other.

Sometimes "hyperspace" is used to refer to the concept of additional coordinate axes. In this model, the universe is thought to be "crumpled" in some higher spatial dimension and that traveling in this higher spatial dimension, a ship can move vast distances in the common spatial dimensions. An analogy is to crumple a newspaper into a ball and stick a needle straight through, the needle will make widely spaced holes in the two-dimensional surface of the paper. While this idea invokes a "new dimension", it is not an example of a parallel universe. It is a more scientifically plausible use of hyperspace. (See wormhole. In Physics, a wormhole is a hypothetical topological feature of Spacetime that is fundamentally a 'shortcut' through Space and Time )

While use of hyperspace is common, it is mostly used as a plot device and thus of secondary importance. A plot device is an element introduced into a story solely to advance or resolve the plot of the story While a parallel universe may be invoked by the concept, the nature of the universe is not often explored. So, while stories involving hyperspace might be the most common use of the parallel universe concept in fiction, it is not the most common source of fiction about parallel universes.

Time travel and alternate history

Main articles: Time travel and Alternate history

The most common use of parallel universes in science fiction, when the concept is central to the story, is as a backdrop and/or consequence of time travel. This article details time travel itself For other uses see Time Traveler. Alternate history or alternative history is a subgenre of Speculative fiction (or Science fiction) and Historical fiction This article details time travel itself For other uses see Time Traveler. A seminal example of this idea is in Fritz Leiber’s novel, The Big Time where there’s a war across time between two alternate futures each side manipulating history to create a timeline that results into their own world. This article refers to the science fiction writer For the actor see Fritz Leiber Sr The Big Time ( 1957) is a short Science fiction novel (or arguably novellette by Fritz Leiber. In Science fiction stories involving Time travel, an alternate future or alternative future is a possible Future which never comes to pass typically Time-travelers in fiction often accidentally or deliberately create alternate histories, such as in The Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove where the Confederate Army is given the technology to produce AK-47 rifles and ends up winning the American Civil War. Alternate history or alternative history is a subgenre of Speculative fiction (or Science fiction) and Historical fiction The Guns of the South (1992 ISBN 0-345-37675-7 is a novel by writer Harry Turtledove. Harry Norman Turtledove (born June 14 1949) is an American historian and novelist who has written Historical fiction, Fantasy, and The War Department was established by the Confederate Congress in an act on February 21, 1861. The AK-47 (contraction of Russian Автомат Калашникова образца 1947 года; Avtomat Kalashnikova obraztsa 1947 goda; "Kalashnikov's Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South (However, Ward Moore reversed this staple of alternate history fiction in his Bring the Jubilee (1953), where an alternative world where the Confederate States of America won the Battle of Gettysburg and the American Civil War is destroyed after an historian and time traveller from the defeated United States of that world travels back to the scene of the battle and inadvertently changes the result so that the North wins that battle. Ward Moore (b August 10 1903, Madison New Jersey - d January 28 1978) was the working name of American author Joseph Ward Bring the Jubilee, by Ward The Confederate States of America (also called the Confederacy, the Confederate States, and CSA) formed as the government set up from 1861 Background and movement to battle See also [[Gettysburg Campaign]] [[Gettysburg Battlefield]] [[Gettysburg Confederate order of battle]] [[Confederate order of battle]] Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South ) The alternate history novel 1632 by Eric Flint explicitly states, albeit briefly in a prologue, that the time travelers in the novel (an entire town from West Virginia) have created a new and separate universe when they're transported into the midst of the Thirty Years War in 17th century Germany. Eric Flint (born 1947 is an American Alternate history and Fantasy author, editor, and e-publisher. West Virginia ( is a state in the Appalachian Upland South, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, bordered by For the Mauritanian Thirty Years' War see Char Bouba war. For the band see The 30 Years War. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. (This sort of thing is known as an ISOT among alternate history fans, after S.M. Stirling's Island in the Sea of Time: an ISOT is when territory or a large group of people is transported back in time to another historical period or place. Stephen Michael Stirling is a French -born Canadian - American Science fiction and Fantasy author Island in the Sea of Time is the first out of the three novels of the Nantucket series by S [1])

The concept of "sidewise" time travel, a term taken from Murray Leinster's "Sidewise in Time," is often used to allow characters to pass through many different alternate histories, all descendant from some common branch point. "Sidewise in Time" is a Science fiction Short story by Murray Leinster that was first published in the June 1934 issue of Astounding Often worlds that are similar to each other are considered closer to each other in terms of this sidewise travel. For example, a universe where World War II ended differently would be “closer” to us than one where Imperial China colonized the New World in the 15th century. H. Beam Piper used this concept, naming it "paratime" and writing a series of stories involving the Paratime Police who regulated travel between these alternative realities as well as the technology to do so. Henry Beam Piper ( March 23, 1904 – c November 6, 1964) was an American Science fiction author Keith Laumer used the same concept of "sideways" time travel in his 1962 novel Worlds of the Imperium. John Keith Laumer (June 9 1925–January More recently, Frederik Pohl used the idea in his novel The Coming of the Quantum Cats which is explicitly based on upon a human-scale reading of the "many worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics, postulating that every historical event spawns a new universe for every possible outcome. Frederik George Pohl Jr (born November 26, 1919) is a American Science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career The Coming of the Quantum Cats is a 1986 Science fiction Novel by American writer Frederik Pohl. The many-worlds interpretation or MWI (also known as relative state formulation, theory of the universal wavefunction, parallel universes,

Uses in fantasy

Stranger in a strange land

Oz and its surroundings -- still said to be on this planet

Fantasy authors often want to bring characters from the author's (and the reader's) reality into their created world. Oz is a fairy Before the mid-20th century, this was most often done by hiding fantastic worlds within hidden parts of the author's own universe. Peasants who seldom if ever traveled far from their villages could not conclusively say that it was impossible that an ogre or other fantastical beings could live an hour away, but increasing geographical knowledge meant that such locations had to be farther and farther off. An ogre (feminine ogress) is a large cruel and hideous Humanoid Monster, featured in mythology folklore and fiction ^[4] Characters in the author's world could board a ship and find themselves on a fantastic island, as Jonathan Swift does in Gulliver's Travels or in the 1949 novel Silverlock by John Myers Myers, or be sucked up into a tornado and land in Oz. Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 Gulliver's Travels (1726 amended 1735 officially Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World in Four Parts Silverlock is a novel by John Myers Myers published in 1949 It recounts the adventures of A John Myer Myers ( January 11, 1906 - October 30, 1988 was an American author best known for his Fantasy novel Silverlock. A tornado is a violent rotating column of air which is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a Cumulonimbus cloud or in rare cases the base of a Cumulus Oz is a fairy These "lost world" stories can be seen as geographic equivalents of a "parallel universe", as the worlds portrayed are separate from our own, and hidden to everyone except those who take the difficult journey there. The Lost World Literary genre is a Fantasy or Science fiction genre that involves the discovery of a new world out of time place or both The geographic "lost world" can blur into a more explicit "parallel universe" when the fantasy realm overlaps a section of the "real" world, but is much larger inside than out, as in Robert Holdstock's novel Mythago Wood. Robert Paul Holdstock (born August 2, 1948) is an English Novelist and author best known for his works of Fantasy literature, predominantly in Mythago Wood is a Fantasy Novel written by the award winning author Robert Holdstock.

After the mid-20th century, perhaps influenced by ideas from science fiction, perhaps because exploration had made many places on the map too clear to write "Here there be dragons", many fantasy worlds became completely separate from the author's world. Here Be Dragons is a Historical novel by Sharon Penman, first published in 1985. ^[5] A common trope is a portal or artifact that connects worlds together, prototypical examples being the wardrobe in C. S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, or the sigil in James Branch Cabell's The Cream of the Jest. A literary trope (from Greek τρόπος - tropos "turn" related to the root of τρέπω - trepō "to turn to direct A portal in fiction is a Magical or technological doorway that connects two distant locations In Role-playing games and fantasy literature an artifact is a magical object with great power Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963 The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is a fantasy novel for children by C James Branch Cabell ( April 14, 1879 - May 5, 1958) was an American Author of Fantasy fiction and Belles In Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away, Chihiro Ogino and her parents walk through a long tunnel into the spirit world. is a is a 2001 film by the Japanese Anime studio Studio Ghibli, written and directed by famed animator Hayao Miyazaki. is a 2001 film by the Japanese Anime studio Studio Ghibli, written and directed by famed animator Hayao Miyazaki. The main difference between this type of story and the "lost world" above, is that the fantasy realm can only be reached by certain people, or at certain times, or after following certain rituals, or with the proper artifact.

In some cases, physical travel is not even possible, and the character in our reality travels in a dream or some other altered state of consciousness. An altered state of consciousness, (ASC also named altered state of mind is any condition which is significantly different from a normal waking Beta wave state Examples include the Dream Cycle stories by H. P. Lovecraft or the Thomas Covenant stories of Stephen R. Donaldson. The Dream Cycle is one of the three major categories of the fictional works of H Howard Phillips Lovecraft ( August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of horror, fantasy The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever is a trilogy of Fantasy novels by Stephen R Stephen Reeder Donaldson (born May 13, 1947 in Cleveland Ohio) is an American fantasy, Science fiction and mystery Often, stories of this type have as a major theme the nature of reality itself, questioning if the dream-world can have the same "reality" as the waking world. Science fiction often employs this theme (usually without the dream-world being "another" universe) in the ideas of cyberspace and virtual reality. Cyberspace &mdash from the Greek el Κυβερνήτης (el kybernētēs steersman governor pilot or rudder &mdash is the global domain of electro-magnetics accessed Virtual reality ( VR) is a technology which allows a user to interact with a Computer-simulated environment be it a real or imagined one

Between the worlds

Through the Looking Glass -- and the parallel universe Alice found there

Most stories in this mold simply transport a character from the real world into the fantasy world where the bulk of the action takes place. Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There ( 1871) is a work of Children's literature by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson Alice is a Fictional character in the books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its Sequel Through the Looking-Glass, A fantasy world is a type of Imaginary world, part of a Fictional universe used in Fantasy novels and games Whatever gate is used (such as the tollbooth in The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, or the mirror in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass) is left behind for the duration of the story, until the end, and then only if the protagonists will return. The Phantom Tollbooth ( 1961) is a children's novel and a modern Fairy tale featuring Wordplay and adventure written by Norton Juster Norton Juster (born June 2, 1929) is an American Architect and Author. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (ˈdɒdsən (27 January 1832 &ndash 14 January 1898 better known by the Pen name Lewis Carroll (/ˈkærəl/ was an English Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There ( 1871) is a work of Children's literature by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson

However, in a few cases the interaction between the worlds is an important element, so that the focus is not on one world or the other, but on both, and their interaction. After Rick Cook introduced a computer programmer into a high fantasy world, his wizardry series steadily acquired more interactions between this world and ours. Rick Cook (born 1944 is a light fantasy author from the United States, best known for his Wizardry series of books High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of Fantasy fiction that is set in invented or parallel worlds. Rick Cook (born 1944 is a light fantasy author from the United States, best known for his Wizardry series of books In Aaron Allston's Doc Sidhe our "grim world" is paralleled by a "fair world" where the elves live and history echoes ours. Aaron Allston (born 1960 in Corsicana Texas) is an American Novelist of many Science fiction books notably Star Wars Aaron Allston (born 1960 in Corsicana Texas) is an American Novelist of many Science fiction books notably Star Wars A major portion of the plot deals with preventing a change in interactions between the worlds. Margaret Ball, in No Earthly Sunne, depicts the interaction of our world with Faerie, and the efforts of the Queen of Faerie to deal with the slow drifting apart of Earth and Faerie. Margaret Ball is a Science fiction and Fantasy author who lives in Austin Texas. Poul Anderson depicts Hell as a parallel universe in Operation Chaos, and the need to transfer equivalent amounts of mass between the worlds explains why a changeling is left for a kidnapped child. Poul William Anderson ( November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American Science fiction author who wrote during a Golden Operation Chaos is a 1971 Science fiction / Fantasy Fixup Novel by Poul Anderson. A Changeling is a being in West European Folklore and Folk religion, typically described as the offspring of a Fairy, Troll Interactions between magical and scientific universes, and the protagonists' attempts to restore and maintain the balance between them, are major plot points in Piers Anthony's Apprentice Adept series; he depicts two worlds, the "SF" planet Proton and the fantasy-based Phaze, such that every person born in either world has a physical duplicate on the other world. Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob (born August 6, 1934 in Oxford England) is an English American writer in the Science fiction The Apprentice Adept Series is a seven-book Fantasy and Science fiction series by Piers Anthony. Only when one duplicate has died can the other cross between the worlds. Several of his Xanth novels also revolve around interactions between the magical realm of Xanth and "Mundania". Xanth is a Fantasy world created by author Piers Anthony for a series of novels This page is about science fiction insider terminology See Journal of Mundane Behavior for the scholarly journal

Multiple worlds, rather than a pair, increase the importance of the relationships. In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, there are only our world and Narnia, but in other of C. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is a fantasy novel for children by C S. Lewis's works, there are hints of other worlds, and in The Magician's Nephew, the Wood between the Worlds shows many possibilities, and the plot is governed by transportation between worlds, and the effort to right problems stemming from them. The Magician's Nephew is a fantasy novel for children written by C The Wood between the Worlds is a Linking room location in The Magician's Nephew, part of The Chronicles of Narnia series by C In Andre Norton's Witch World, begun with a man from Earth being transported to this world, gates frequently lead to other worlds — or come from them. Andre Alice Norton ( February 17, 1912 &ndash March 17, 2005) was an American Science fiction and Fantasy author The Witch World by Andre Norton is a long series of fantasies laid in a parallel universe where magic works and at the beginning at least is the exclusive property While an abundance of illusions, disguises, and magic that repels attention make certain parts of Witch World look like parallel worlds, some are clearly parallel in that time runs differently in them, and such gates pose a repeated problem in Witch World.

Linking rooms of various types (not all actual rooms) can hook together any number of worlds. A linking room is a concept in multiverse and Metafiction stories The characters may chose only one, but the choice is all important in determining the worlds.

Fantasy multiverses

The idea of a multiverse is as fertile a subject for fantasy as it is for science fiction, allowing for epic settings and godlike protagonists. The multiverse (or meta-universe) is the hypothetical set of multiple possible Universes (including our universe that together comprise all of Reality. Among the most epic and far-ranging fantasy "multiverses" is that of Michael Moorcock. Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939, in London) is an English writer primarily of Science fiction and fantasy who has also Like many authors after him, Moorcock was inspired by the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, saying:

It was an idea in the air, as most of these are, and I would have come across a reference to it in New Scientist (one of my best friends was then editor) . The many-worlds interpretation or MWI (also known as relative state formulation, theory of the universal wavefunction, parallel universes, Quantum mechanics is the study of mechanical systems whose dimensions are close to the Atomic scale such as Molecules Atoms Electrons . . [or] physicist friends would have been talking about it. . . . Sometimes what happens is that you are imagining these things in the context of fiction while the physicists and mathematicians are imagining them in terms of science. I suspect it is the romantic imagination working, as it often does, perfectly efficiently in both the arts and the sciences.

Unlike many science-fiction interpretations, Moorcock's Eternal Champion stories go far beyond alternate history to include mythic and sword and sorcery settings as well as some worlds more similar to our own. For the video game see Eternal Champions The Eternal Champion is a fictional creation of the author Michael Moorcock and is a recurrent feature in Alternate history or alternative history is a subgenre of Speculative fiction (or Science fiction) and Historical fiction The word mythology (from the Greek grc μυθολογία mythología, meaning "a story-telling a legendary lore" Sword and sorcery ( S&S) is a fantasy subgenre generally characterized by swashbuckling heroes engaged in exciting and violent conflicts However, the Eternal Champion himself is incarnate in all of them.

Roger Zelazny used a mythic cosmology in his Chronicles of Amber series. Roger Joseph Zelazny ( May 13, 1937 – June 14, 1995) was an American writer of Fantasy and Science fiction Cosmology (from Greek grc κοσμολογία - grc κόσμος kosmos, "universe" and grc -λογία -logia) is study The Chronicles of Amber is a popular Fantasy series by Roger Zelazny. His protagonist is a member of the royal family of Amber, whose members represent a godlike pantheon ruling over a prototypical universe that represents Order. A pantheon (from Greek Πάνθειον - pantheion, literally "a temple of all gods " neut All other universes are increasingly distorted "shadows" of it, ending finally at the other extreme, Chaos, which is the complete negation of the prototype. Travel between these "shadow" universes is only possible by beings descended from the blood of this pantheon. Those "of the blood" can walk through Shadow, imagining any possible reality and then walk to it, making their environment more similar to their desire as they go. It is argued between the characters whether these "shadows" even exist before they're imagined by a member of the royal family of Amber, or if the "shadows'" existence can be seen as an act of godlike creation.

In the World of Tiers novels by Philip José Farmer, the idea of godlike protagonists is even more explicit. The World of Tiers novels are a series of connected Science fiction / Fantasy Novels by Philip José Farmer. Philip José Farmer (born January 26 1918) is an American Author, principally known for his Science fiction and fantasy The background of the stories is a multiverse where godlike beings have created a number of pocket universes that represent their own desires. Pocket universes are a type of very small parallel universe sometimes found in Science fiction and Fantasy. Our own world is part of this series, but interestingly our own universe is revealed to be much smaller than it appears, ending at the edge of the solar system. The Solar System consists of the Sun and those celestial objects bound to it by Gravity.

There are multiverses also in Warcraft universe, in The Chronicles of Narnia and in Diana Wynne Jones's Chrestomanci, Howl's Moving Castle and Deep Secret books and in her standalone book A Sudden Wild Magic. The Warcraft universe is a Fictional universe in which a series of games and books published by Blizzard Entertainment are set Diana Wynne Jones (born London 16 August 1934 is a British writer principally of Fantasy novels for children and adults as well as a small Chrestomanci (ˈkrɛstəmænsɪ is the title of a position held by at least two major characters in a series of fantasy novels by Diana Wynne Jones. Howl's Moving Castle is a young adult fantasy novel by British author Diana Wynne Jones, first published in 1986 Deep Secret is a 1997 novel by Diana Wynne Jones. It is the first in the Magid series

Fictional universe as alternative universe

Main article: Fictional universe

There are many examples of the meta-fictional idea of having the author's created universe (or any author's universe) rise to the same level of "reality" as the universe we're familiar with. A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with unique background elements such as an imaginary history or geography and possibly fantasy or science Metafiction is a literary term for a type of Fiction that systematically and self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction including the relationship between fiction and The theme is present in works as diverse as Myers' Silverlock and Heinlein’s Number of the Beast. Fletcher Pratt and L. Sprague de Camp took the character Harold Shea in the Incompleat Enchanter series through the worlds of Norse myth, Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene, Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, and the Kalevala^[6]— without ever quite settling whether writers created these parallel worlds by writing these works, or received impressions from the worlds and wrote them down. Murray Fletcher Pratt (1897–1956 was a Science fiction and Fantasy Writer; he was also well-known as a writer on Naval history and on the Lyon Sprague de Camp, ( November 27 1907 – November 6 2000) was an American science fiction and fantasy author The "Harold Shea" Stories is a name given to a series of five Science fantasy stories by the collaborative team of L Edmund Spenser (c 1552 &ndash 13 January, 1599) was an important English Poet and Poet Laureate best known for The The Faerie Queene is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser, published first in three books in 1590 and later in six books in 1596 Orlando Furioso ("The Frenzy of Orlando" more literally "Mad Orlando" in Italian furioso is seldom capitalized is an Italian The Kalevala is a book and epic poem which the Finn Elias Lönnrot compiled from Finnish and Karelian Folklore in the nineteenth In an interlude set in "Xanadu", a character claims that the universe is dangerous because the poem went unfinished, but whether this was his misapprehension or not is not established. " Kubla Khan or a Vision in a Dream A Fragment " is a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which takes its title from the Mongol and Chinese

Some fictional approaches definitively establish the independence of the parallel world, sometimes by having the world differ from the book's account; other approaches have works of fiction create and affect the parallel world: L. Sprague de Camp's Solomon's Stone, taking place on an astral plane, is populated by the daydreams of mundane people, and in Rebecca Lickiss's Eccentric Circles, an elf is grateful to Tolkien for transforming elves from dainty little creatures. Lyon Sprague de Camp, ( November 27 1907 – November 6 2000) was an American science fiction and fantasy author Solomon's Stone is a Fantasy novel written by L Sprague de Camp. These stories often place the author, or authors in general, in the same position as Zelazny's characters in Amber. Questioning, in a literal fashion, if writing is an act of creating a new world, or an act of discovery of a pre-existing world.

Occasionally, this approach becomes self-referential, treating the literary universe of the work itself as explicitly parallel to the universe where the work was created. Stephen King's seven-volume Dark Tower series hinges upon the existence of multiple parallel worlds, many of which are King's own literary creations. Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American Author, Screenwriter, Musician, Columnist, The Dark Tower is a series of seven books written by American author Stephen King between 1970 and 2004 Ultimately the characters become aware that they are only "real" in King's literary universe, and even travel to a world — twice — in which (again, within the novel) they meet Stephen King and alter events in the real Stephen King's world outside of the books.

Elfland

Elfland, or Faerie, the otherworldly home not only of elves and fairies but goblins, trolls, and other folkloric creatures, has an ambiguous appearance in folklore. Alfheim redirects here For other uses see Alfheim (disambiguation Álfheimr or Alfheim ( Elf-home) is the abode of the An elf is a creature of Norse mythology. The elves were originally imagined as a race of minor nature and fertility gods, who are often pictured as youthful-seeming A fairy (also fay, fey, fae, faerie; collectively wee folk, good folk, people of peace, fair A goblin is an evil crabby or Mischievous Creature of Folklore, often described as a grotesquely disfigured or Gnome -like phantom A troll is a fearsome member of a race of creatures from Norse mythology.

On one hand, the land often appears to be continuous to ordinary land. Thomas the Rhymer might, on being taken by the Queen of Faerie, be taken on a road like one leading to Heaven or Hell:

Forest troll. Not to be confused with Thomas Rymer, a 17th century English historian (Theodor Kittelsen, 1906)

However, others have found fairies and elves with greater ease. Sir Orfeo discovered the king who had kidnapped his wife by wandering in wilderness. Sir Orfeo is an anonymous Middle English narrative poem. It retells the story of Orpheus as a king rescuing his wife from the Others have found them in elf hills near the homes, which digging could violate. They have been found in fairy circles, dancing in apparently ordinary woods, or riding through ordinary lands.

This is not exclusive to English or French folklore. In Norse mythology, Elfland (Alfheim) was also the name of what today is the Swedish province of Bohuslän. Norse mythology comprises the indigenous pre-Christian religion, beliefs and Legends of the Scandinavian peoples including those who settled on Iceland Alfheim redirects here For other uses see Alfheim (disambiguation Álfheimr or Alfheim ( Elf-home) is the abode of the is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative Provinces of Sweden ( landskap in Swedish situated on the west coast of the country In the sagas, it said that the people of this petty kingdom were more beautiful than other people, as they were related to the elves, showing that not only the territory was associated with elves, but also the race of its people. An elf is a creature of Norse mythology. The elves were originally imagined as a race of minor nature and fertility gods, who are often pictured as youthful-seeming

While sometimes folklore seems to show fairy intrusion into human lands — "Tam Lin" does not show any otherworldly aspects about the land in which the confrontation takes place — at other times the otherworldly aspects are clear. Tamas " Tam " Lin (also called Tamlane, Tamlin, Tam Lien, Tam-a-Line, Tam Lane, or True Thomas Most frequently, time can flow differently for those trapped by the fairy dance than in the lands they come from; although, in an additional complication, it may only be an appearance, as many returning from Faerie, such as Oisín, have found that time "catches up" with them as soon as they have contact with ordinary lands. Oisín ( Old Irish, pronounced /ˈɔʃiːnʲ/ or roughly "ush-een" often anglicized to Ossian) son of Fionn mac Cumhail and of Sadb (daughter

Fantasy writers have taken up the ambiguity. Some writers depict the land of the elves as a full-blown parallel universe, with portals the only entry — as in Josepha Sherman's Prince of the Sidhe series or Esther Friesner's Elf Defense — and others have depicted it as the next land over, possibly difficult to reach for magical reasons — Robin McKinley's "The Stolen Princess" in The Door in the Hedge, Hope Mirrlees's Lud-in-the-Mist, or Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter. Josepha Sherman is an American author In 1990 she won the Compton Crook Award for the novel The Shining Falcon. Josepha Sherman is an American author In 1990 she won the Compton Crook Award for the novel The Shining Falcon. Esther Friesner ( July 16, 1951 –) is an American Science fiction and Fantasy author best known for her humorous pieces Robin McKinley (born November 16, 1952 as Jennifer Carolyn Robin Turrell McKinley) is a Fantasy Author especially known for her The Door in the Hedge is a collection of Fairy tales by Robin McKinley. Helen Hope Mirrlees (1887 &ndash 1978 was a British translator poet and novelist Lud-in-the-Mist (1926 is the third novel by Hope Mirrlees, and the only one still in print as of 2005 Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett 18th Baron of Dunsany ( 24 July 1878 &ndash 25 October 1957) was an Anglo-Irish writer and The King of Elfland's Daughter is a 1924 Fantasy novel written by Lord Dunsany. In some cases, the boundary between Elfland and more ordinary lands is not fixed. Not only the inhabitants but Faerie itself can pour into more mundane regions.

Other media

Television

The idea of parallel universes have received treatment in a number of television series, usually as a single story or episode in a more general science fiction or fantasy storyline. Fantasy is a Genre that uses magic and other Supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting

The most widely known and imitated example is the original Star Trek episode entitled Mirror, Mirror. Star Trek is a Science fiction Television series created by Gene Roddenberry that aired from September 8, 1966 through " Mirror Mirror " is an episode of Star Trek The Original Series. The episode introduced an alternative version of the Star Trek universe where the main characters were barbaric and cruel to the point of being evil. The Mirror Universe (MU is a Fictional parallel universe in which the plots of several Star Trek television episodes take place The way Star Trek executed the concept was deeply influential on subsequent treatments. Enough so, that when the parallel universe concept is parodied, it is often this Star Trek episode that's being referenced. A parody (ˈpɛɹədiː US, [ˈpaɹədiː] UK) in contemporary usage is a work created to mock comment on or poke fun at an original work its subject Two recent examples are from South Park in the episode Spookyfish where the "evil" universe double of Cartman sports a beard, like the alternative version of Mr. Spock in the Mirror, Mirror episode. South Park is an animated American television comedy series created and written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for Comedy Central " Spookyfish " is the 28th episode of Comedy Central 's animated series South Park. Eric Theodore Cartman,commonly referred to by his Family name, Cartman, is one of the four main Fictional characters in the animated series Spock (sometimes referred to as Mr Spock) is a main character in the original Star Trek TV series In addition, while the "good" universe's Cartman is the most obnoxious character, the "evil" one is pleasant and agreeable. Another animated series, Futurama, had an episode where the cast travels between "Universe A" and "Universe 1" via boxes containing each universe, and one of the major jokes is an extended argument between the two sets of characters over which set were the "evil" ones. Futurama is an Emmy Award -winning animated American sitcom created by Matt Groening, and developed by Groening and “The Farnsworth Parabox” is the fifteenth episode of the fourth production season of Futurama.

One of the earliest television plots to feature parallel time was a 1970 storyline on soap opera Dark Shadows. Dark Shadows is a Gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network from June 27, 1966 to Vampire Barnabas Collins found a room in Collinwood which served as a portal to parallel time, and he entered the room in order to escape from his current problems. A year later, the show again traveled to parallel time, the setting this time being 1841.

Sometimes a television series will use parallel universes as an on-going subplot. This happened as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Enterprise elaborated on the premise of the original series' "Mirror" universe and developed multi-episode story arcs based on the premise. Star Trek Enterprise (simply titled Enterprise prior to season three is a Science fiction Television program created by Brannon Other examples are the science fiction series Stargate SG-1, the fantasy/horror series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural and the romance/fantasy Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Fictional narratives (and works of art exist beyond their completion e The term supernatural or supranatural ( Latin: super, supra "above" + natura "nature" pertains to entities events Lois & Clark The New Adventures of Superman (often called Lois & Clark or The New Adventures Of Superman) is a Live-action American Following the precedent set by Star Trek these story arcs show alternative universes that have turned out "worse" than the "original" universe; in Stargate SG-1 the first encountered parallel reality featured Earth being overwhelmed by an unstoppable Goa'uld onslaught, in Buffy, the vampires had overrun Sunnydale and Buffy and Angel were both killed trying to prevent them from massacring the human populace, while in Lois & Clark an alternative universe is visited, repeatedly, that contains a Clark Kent whose parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent died when he was ten years of age, and whose Lois Lane is apparently dead. Sunnydale California, is the fictional setting for the US television drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Clark Joseph Kent (middle name is also Jerome according to some versions is a Fictional character created by Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel. Martha Clark Kent and Jonathan Kent, also known as Ma and Pa Kent, are Fictional characters published by DC Comics. Lois Lane-Kent is the primary love interest in the DC Comics ’ Superman stories Clark eventually becomes Superman, with help from the 'original' Lois Lane, but he is immediately revealed as Clark Kent and so has no life of his own.

In addition to following Star Trek's lead, showing the "evil" variants of the main storyline gives the writers an opportunity to show what is at stake by portraying the worst that could happen and the consequences if the protagonists fail. The latter could also be seen as the point of the alternative reality portrayed in the movie It's a Wonderful Life (see below). It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story " The Greatest

There have been relatively few series where parallel universes were central to the series itself. Two examples are the short-lived 1980s series Otherworld which transported a family from our world to an alternative Earth; and Sliders, where the characters travel across a series of "alternative" Earths, trying to get back to their home universe. Otherworld was a short-lived Science fiction TV series that aired for only eight episodes in 1985 on CBS. Sliders is an American Science fiction television series that ran for five seasons from 1995 to 2000. In 1986, Disney planned to make an animated children's show about interdimensional travel called Fluppy Dogs, but only the pilot episode was ever produced. The bouncing ball animation (below consists of these 6 frames Disney's Fluppy Dogs was a one-hour Animated Television special which aired on November 27, 1986, and was intended to be a pilot

The third season of the anime Yu-Gi-Oh! GX features multiple dimensions and the main villain plots to bring all of them together and rule them all. is an Anime Spin-off, and Sequel of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise

The anime Dragon Ball (specifically Dragon Ball Z) involves a storyline about time travel to "save the future". However, time travel doesn't allow one to alter future events but rather creates a "branch" universe where the changes occur, while the original time line still exists. In other words the person (Trunks) going back in time is not trying to save his own future but simply wants to allow at least one reality to be saved.

Where In Time Is Carmen Sandiego featured a segment with a parallel universe in season 2. Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? is the title of three Edutainment Computer games in the Carmen Sandiego series that teach

Parallel universes are also mentioned in the new series of Doctor Who in Series 2, particularly the episodes The Age of Steel and Rise of the Cybermen, where the TARDIS falls through the time vortex into a parallel universe, which is described by the Doctor as "the same, only a little bit different". Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. " The Age of Steel " is an episode of the British Science fiction television series Doctor Who. " Rise of the Cybermen " is an episode in the British Science fiction television series Doctor Who. The TARDIS ( T ime A nd R elative D imension(s I n S pace is a time machine and Spacecraft in the The Doctor said that Time Lords had control of parallel universes, and that you could "pop over and be back in time for tea!", but after they were killed in the Time War the "walls of reality closed". The Time Lords are a fictional race and civilization in the British Science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' It is also mentioned in Army of Ghosts and Doomsday, where Rose Tyler falls into the parallel universe previously visited in The Age of Steel and Rise of the Cybermen, after the "walls close". " Army of Ghosts " is the twelfth and penultimate episode in the second series of the British Science fiction television series Doctor Rose Marion Tyler is a fictional character played by Billie Piper in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who " The Age of Steel " is an episode of the British Science fiction television series Doctor Who. " Rise of the Cybermen " is an episode in the British Science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is also mentioned when the Doctor is speaking to Captain Jack Harkness about Rose Tyler in the episode Utopia, during Series 3. Captain Jack Harkness Rose Marion Tyler is a fictional character played by Billie Piper in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who Utopia is a name for an ideal community taken from the title of a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional Island in the

In the Red Dwarf episode Parallel Universe The crew of Red Dwarf travel to a parallel universe where they have female opposites, except Cat, whose opposite is a dog.

Movies

The most famous treatment of the alternative universe concept in film could be considered the The Wizard of Oz, which portrays a parallel world, famously separating the magical realm of the Land of Oz from the mundane world by filming it in Technicolor while filming the scenes set in Kansas in sepia. The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical - Fantasy film mainly directed by Victor Fleming and based on the 1900 children’s Oz is a fairy Technicolor is the trademark for a series of color film processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation Kansas ( is a Midwestern state in the central region of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the American " Sepia tone refers to the coloring of a black and white photographic print or motion picture film that has been toned with a sepia toner to simulate the faded brownish color of

A later example is the Frank Capra movie, It's a Wonderful Life where the main character George Bailey is shown by a guardian angel the city of Pottersville, which was George Bailey's hometown of Bedford Falls as it would have been if he had never existed. Frank Russell Capra ( May 18, 1897 &ndash September 3, 1991) was an Academy Award winning Italian-American Film It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story " The Greatest George Bailey is a fictional character in Frank Capra 's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life. A guardian angel is an Angel who protects and guides a particular person Pottersville is the creation of the Guardian angel Clarence Odbody and other angels in Heaven to show Another notable depiction of a parallel universe in movies is the second film in the Back to the Future trilogy (1985, 1989) by Robert Zemeckis, starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, showing an accidentally created alternative present and future. Back to the Future is a 1985 science fiction Comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis and produced by Steven Spielberg. A trilogy is a set of three works of art usually Literature, Film, or Video games, that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or three Robert Lee "Bob" Zemeckis (born May 14, 1952) is an Academy Award - and Golden Globe -winning American Film director, Michael J Fox (born Michael Andrew Fox; June 9 1961 is a Canadian / American Christopher Allen Lloyd (born October 22, 1938) is a three-time Emmy Award -winning American Actor. In discussion of Counterfactual history, a divergence point (DP also referred to as a departure point or point of divergence ( POD) is a historical In Science fiction stories involving Time travel, an alternate future or alternative future is a possible Future which never comes to pass typically Like It's a Wonderful Life, The Big Time, and many other time travel stories using this conceit, it is clear that these alternative presents/futures are mutually exclusive with the protagonists' own — so, strictly speaking, the universes aren't parallel in that they cannot co-exist, rather they oscillate between one or the other.

Another common use of the theme is as a prison for villains or demons. The idea is used in the first two Superman movies starring Christopher Reeve where Kryptonian villains were sentenced to the Phantom Zone from where they eventually escaped. Superman (also known as Superman The Movie) is a 1978 Superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the Christopher D'Olier Reeve ( September 25, 1952 – October 10, 2004) was an American Actor, director, Krypton is a Fictional planet in the DC Comics universe. No longer in existence it is the native world of the super-heroes Superman and in The Phantom Zone is a Fictional Prison Dimension featured in the Superman Comic books and related media An almost exactly parallel use of the idea is presented in the campy cult film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, where the "8th dimension" is essentially a "phantom zone" used to imprison the villainous Red Lectroids. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension! (often shortened to Buckaroo Banzai) is an American Science fiction film Uses in horror films include the 1986 film From Beyond (based on the H. P. Lovecraft story of the same name) where a scientific experiment induces the experimenters to perceive aliens from a parallel universe, with bad results. Horror films are Movies that strive to elicit Fear, Horror and terror responses from viewers From Beyond is a horror film directed by Stuart Gordon and released in 1986 Howard Phillips Lovecraft ( August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of horror, fantasy " From Beyond " is a Short story by Science fiction and Horror fiction writer H See also List of extraterrestrials in fiction In Popular cultures Life forms -especially intelligent life forms that are of extraterrestrial The 1987 John Carpenter film Prince of Darkness is based on the premise that the Christian Satan is actually an alien being that is the son of something even more evil and powerful, trapped in another universe. John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American Film director, Screenwriter, producer, film score Prince of Darkness (also known as John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness) is a 1987 American Horror film directed A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth Satan, ( Standard Hebrew Satan'el, English accuser) is a term that originates from the Abrahamic faiths, being traditionally The protagonists accidentally free "Satan", who then attempts to release his "father. "

Some films present parallel realities that are actually different contrasting versions of the narrative itself. Commonly this motif is presented as different points of view revolving around a central (but sometimes unknowable) "truth", the seminal example being Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon. is a 1950 Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with Cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. Conversely, often in film noir and crime dramas, the alternative narrative is a fiction created by a central character, intentionally — as in The Usual Suspects — or unintentionally — as in Angel Heart. Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize moral ambiguity and sexual motivation A crime film, in the most general sense is a Film that involves various aspects Crime and the Criminal justice system The Usual Suspects is a 1995 American Neo-noir Film written by Christopher McQuarrie and directed by Bryan Singer. Angel Heart is a 1987 Film written and directed by Alan Parker, and starring Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro and Lisa Less often, the alternative narratives are given equal weight in the story, making them truly alternative universes, such as in the German film Run Lola Run, the short-lived British West End musical Our House and the British film Sliding Doors. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Run Lola Run (original German title Lola rennt, translates as Lola Runs) is a 1998 Film by German West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London 's "Theatreland" See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands Sliding Doors is a 1998 Film written and directed by former actor Peter Howitt.

Recent films that have more explicitly explored parallel universes are: the 2001 cult movie Donnie Darko, which deals with what it terms a "tangent universe" that erupts from our own universe; Super Mario Bros. (1993) has the eponymous heroes cross over into a parallel universe ruled by humanoids who evolved from dinosaurs; The One (2001) starring Jet Li, in which there is a complex system of realities in which Jet Li's character is a police officer in one universe and a serial killer in another, who travels to other universes to destroy versions of himself, so that he can become 'the one'; and FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions (2004), the main character runs away from a totalitarian nightmare, and he enters into a cyber-afterlife alternative reality. A cult film is a Film that has acquired a highly devoted but relatively small group of fans. Donnie Darko is a 2001 cult classic Psychological thriller Film written and directed by Richard Kelly, and starring Super Mario Bros is a 1993 adventure - family comedy based loosely on the popular video game of the same name. The One is a 2001 Action film, directed by James Wong and starring Jet Li, Jason Statham and Carla Gugino Li Lianjie (born April 26 1963 better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese martial artist (Kung fu Actor, Wushu champion FAQ Frequently Asked Questions is a feature-length Dystopia movie written and directed by Carlos Atanes and released in 2004

Comic books

Parallel universes in modern comics have become particularly rich and complex, in large part due to the continual problem of continuity faced by the major two publishers, Marvel Comics and DC Comics. In Fiction, continuity (also called time-scheme) is consistency of the characteristics of persons plot, objects places and events seen by the reader or Marvel Comics is an American comic book company owned by Marvel Publishing Inc DC Comics is an American comic book and related media company The two publishers have used the multiverse concept to fix problems arising from integrating characters from other publishers into their own canon, and from having major serial protagonists having continuous histories lasting, as in the case of Superman, over 60 years. The multiverse (or meta-universe) is the hypothetical set of multiple possible Universes (including our universe that together comprise all of Reality. The term " serial " refers to the intrinsic property of a series &mdash namely its order. Superman is a fictional Comic book Superhero widely considered to be one of the most recognized of such characters and an American Cultural icon Additionally, both publishers have used new alternative universes to re-imagine their own characters. (See Multiverse (DC Comics) and Multiverse (Marvel Comics))

Because of this, comic books in general are one of the few entertainment mediums where the concept of parallel universes are a major and ongoing theme. The DC Multiverse is a Fictional continuity construct that exists in stories published by Comic book company DC Comics. Within Marvel Comics, most tales take place within the fictional Marvel Universe, which in turn is part of a larger multiverse. DC in particular periodically revisits the idea in major crossover storylines, such as Crisis on Infinite Earths and Infinite Crisis, where Marvel has a series called What If... that's devoted to exploring alternative realities, which sometime impact the "main" universe's continuity. A fictional crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete Fictional characters, settings or universes into the context of a single Crisis on Infinite Earths is a twelve-issue American comic book Limited series (identified as a "12-part maxi-series" and crossover Infinite Crisis is a seven-issue Limited series of Comic books written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez, George What If, sometimes rendered as What If?, is the title of several Comic book series published by Marvel Comics, exploring "the

Recently DC Comics series 52 heralded the return of the Multiverse. 52 was a mega-crossover event tied to Infinite Crisis which was the sequel to the 1980s Crisis on Infinite Earths. The aim was to yet again address many of the problems and confusions brought on by the Multiverse in the DCU. Now 52 Earths exist and including some Elseworld tales such as Kingdom Come, DC's imprint Wildstorm Comics and an Earth devoted to the Charlton Comics heroes of DC. In the Publishing Industry, an imprint can refer to two different things It can mean a Brand name under which a work is published WildStorm Productions, or simply WildStorm, (sometimes rendered Wildstorm) is a publishing Imprint and studio of American Comic book Charlton Comics was an American Comic book publishing company that existed from 1946 to 1986 having begun under a different name in 1944 Countdown and Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer and the upcoming Tales of the Multiverse stories expand upon this new Multiverse. Countdown to Final Crisis, known as Countdown for its first 25 issues is a Comic book Limited series published by DC Comics The Atom is a Fictional character, a DC Comics superhero introduced during the Silver Age of comic books in Showcase

Marvel has also had many large crossover events which depicted an alternative universe, many springing from events in the X-Men books, such as Days of Future Past, the seminal Age Of Apocalypse, and 2006's House Of M. The X-Men is a team of fictional Superhero characters in Comic books published by Marvel Comics. " Days of Future Past " is a popular storyline in the Marvel Comics Comic book The Uncanny X-Men issues #141 and #142 published in The "Age of Apocalypse" is a popular X-Men Story arc. House of M is an eight-issue Comic book Limited series and crossover storyline published by Marvel Comics in 2005. In addition the Squadron Supreme is a DC inspired Marvel Universe that has been used several times, often crossing over into the mainstream Universe in the Avengers comic. The Squadron Supreme is a team of Fictional characters and superheroes that appear in Comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Avengers is a team of fictional Superhero characters in Comic books published by Marvel Comics. Exiles is an offshoot of the X-Men franchsie that allows characters to hop from one alternative reality to another, leaving the original, main Marvel Universe intact. This article is about the Marvel Comics series for other uses in comics see Exiles (comics The Exiles are a group of Fictional characters The X-Men is a team of fictional Superhero characters in Comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Marvel Universe is the fictional Shared universe where most of the comic stories published by Marvel Comics take place The Marvel UK line has long had multiverse stories including the Jaspers' Warp storyline of Captain Britain's first series (it was here that the designation Earth-616 was first applied to the mainstream Marvel Universe). Marvel UK was an Imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US produced stories for the British weekly comic market though Jaspers' Warp, also known as Crooked World, was a Marvel UK storyline featuring primarily the character Captain Britain. Captain Britain ( Brian Braddock) briefly known as Britannic is a Fictional character, a Superhero appearing in the comic books published by In the fictional Marvel Comics multiverse, Earth-616 or Earth 616 is the name used to identify the primary continuity in which most Marvel Comics The Marvel Universe is the fictional Shared universe where most of the comic stories published by Marvel Comics take place

Marvel Comics, as of 2000, launched their most popular parallel universe, the Ultimate Universe. It is a smaller subline to the mainstream titles and features Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate Fantastic Four and the Ultimates (their "Avengers"). Ultimate Spider-Man is a Superhero Comic book series published by Marvel Comics. Ultimate X-Men is a Superhero Comic book series published by Marvel Comics. Ultimate Fantastic Four is a Superhero Comic book series published by Marvel Comics. The Ultimates are a fictional group of Superheroes that appear in Comic books published by Marvel Comics. The line in many ways both inspired and was inspired by aspects of the new movie franchises in addition to creating younger versions of the modern heroes.

Games

The Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game has a thoroughly developed system of planes of existence. Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a Fantasy Role-playing game (RPG originally designed by A role-playing game ( RPG; often roleplaying game) is a Game in which the participants assume the roles of Fictional characters. In the standard cosmology of the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying game, the planes of existence are alternate dimensions. A popular campaign setting for the game, Planescape, centers around travelling between these planes. A campaign setting is usually a Fictional world which serves as a setting for a Role-playing game or Wargame campaign Planescape is a Campaign setting Ravenloft, a gothic horror setting for Dungeons & Dragons, is based entirely in a single demiplane. Ravenloft is a Campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying game. Gothic fiction (sometimes referred to as Gothic horror) is a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. In the standard cosmology of the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying game, the planes of existence are alternate dimensions.

GURPS Infinite Worlds, a supplement for the Fourth Edition of the GURPS role-playing game, expands upon the campaign setting of conflict between the Infinity Patrol, which is the time-travel agency on "our" Earth, referred to as Homeline, and Centrum across a multiplicity of alternate history Earths. GURPS Infinite Worlds is a supplement for the Fourth Edition of the GURPS Role-playing game, published by Steve Jackson Games in The Generic Universal RolePlaying System, commonly known as GURPS, is a Role-playing game system designed to adapt to any imaginary gaming A role-playing game ( RPG; often roleplaying game) is a Game in which the participants assume the roles of Fictional characters. Alternate history or alternative history is a subgenre of Speculative fiction (or Science fiction) and Historical fiction It won the 2005 Origins Award as Best Game Supplement. The following are the winners of the 32nd annual Origins Award, held in 2006 Hall of Fame inductees Aaron Allston Jolly R The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry ^[7]

In the Magic: The Gathering, every plane is part of a multiverse. This article is somewhat over-complete Please do not add significant new content without first discussing it on the talk page What effects one plane, may ultimately affect others.

In the computer game Myst a people known as D'ni colonized Earth from another universe, and kept traveling to other universes (known as Ages) through Linking Books. A personal computer Game (also known as a computer game or simply PC game) is a Video game played on a Personal computer, rather Myst is a graphic adventure Video game designed and directed by the brothers Robyn and Rand Miller. According to their cosmology, each universe is a leaf of the Terokh Jeruth, the Tree of Possibilities. Myst also includes the use of Trap Books as empty universes for storing criminals, although they were later retconned to be complete universes of their own, called Prison Ages. Retroactive continuity is the deliberate changing of previously established facts in a work of serial fiction

The Kingdom Hearts series makes frequent use of multiple worlds, implementing Disney properties used as source material as their own world the protagonists can travel to over the course of the game (such as Halloween Town from The Nightmare Before Christmas or Port Royal from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl). is a series of Action role-playing games developed and published by Square Enix (formerly Square) The Nightmare Before Christmas (also known as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas) is a 1993 stop-motion Fantasy Port Royal, Jamaica was the centre of Shipping Commerce in the Islands of the Greater Antilles which make up the northeastern For the video game see Pirates of the Caribbean The Curse of the Black Pearl (video game Pirates of the Caribbean The Curse of the Black

In the computer game Red Alert 1, Albert Einstein uses his time machine to go back into past and kill Adolf Hitler in an attempt to prevent World War II. Command & Conquer Red Alert is a Real-time strategy Computer game of the Command & Conquer franchise, produced by Westwood Studios The game takes place in parallel universe where Hitler was eliminated in 1924, and Soviet Union invades Europe in 1940s.

In the computer game Red Alert 2, or more specifically, its expansion, Yuri's Revenge, the player must utilise a time machine and travel back in time, to a parallel universe. Command & Conquer Yuri's Revenge is an Expansion pack to Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 developed by Westwood Studios.

The Silent Hill horror video game series incorporates a concept of parallel worlds that are related to main character's emotions, memories, fears and other projections of his or her subconsciousness. is a Survival horror Video game franchise developed and published by Konami.

The massively multiplayer online game Ultima Online used the parallel universe concept to rationalize the existence of multiple instances of the game world (called "shards"), so that players could be partitioned onto multiple servers for capacity reasons. Ultima Online ( UO) is a graphical Massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG released on September 25 1997 As of

The massively multiplayer online game City of Heroes makes extensive use of the parallel universe concept as part of the setting and storyline. City of Heroes (CoH is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on the Superhero Comic book Genre, developed by

The massively multiplayer online game Underlight takes place in a parallel universe accessed most commonly by its residents through dreaming. Underlight is a Fantasy Massively multiplayer online Role-playing game ( MMORPG) that was released in 1998 by Lyra

In Bungie's first person shooter Marathon Infinity, the player frequently travels between parallel universes. Bungie is an American Video game developer founded in May 1991 under the name Marathon Infinity is the third and final game in the Marathon Trilogy of Science fiction First-person shooter Computer games

Imperator Online is an Alternate Earth MMORPG by Mythic Entertainment, the makers of DAOC, one set in a future world where Ancient Rome never fell. Imperator Online was an Alternate Earth MMORPG being developed by Mythic Entertainment, the makers of Dark Age of Camelot, one set in a future A massively multiplayer online role-playing game ( MMORPG) is a genre of Computer role-playing games (CRPGs in which a large number of players interact with Dark Age of Camelot is a 3D Medieval Fantasy MMORPG that revolves around the war between three realms at the end of

See also

• List of fiction employing parallel universes
• Alternative universe (fan fiction)
• Imaginary world
• Pantheistic solipsism

References

Further reading

• Clifford A. Pickover (August, 2005). Clifford A Pickover is an American author editor and columnist in the fields of Science, Mathematics, and Science fiction, and is employed at the Sex, Drugs, Einstein, and Elves: Sushi, Psychedelics, Parallel Universes, and the Quest for Transcendence (Discusses parallel universes in a variety of settings, from physics to psychedelic visions to Proust parallel worlds to Bonnet syndrome). Smart Publications. ISBN 1-890572-17-9.  

• Michio Kaku (2004). Dr Michio Kaku (b January 24, 1947) is an American theoretical physicist specializing in String field theory, and a Futurist Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos. Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-50986-3.  

External links

• Max Tegmark's Parallel Universes paper (pdf)