Mushoko Tensei Turning Points: What Are They?

 If you guys are relatively new or anime-only fans of Mushoko Tensei, I bet you have heard several times about Olddeus, alternative timelines, time loops, and much more. This is confusing for a series where the MC doesn’t experience any of this! Mostly, the ‘Turning Points’…what really are they? We see them in episode and chapter titles, but honestly, what are they?


So, let’s start from the beginning. Turning Points. These are events in the life of Rudeus that, if missed, would have led to a completely different life for him. These alternate timelines are pretty interesting by themselves, and usually, a small event snowballs into these timelines.

So, let’s discuss all the Turning Points and what alternative outcome that would have occurred if they were missed!

Turning Point 1

This happens on Rudeus’ 10th birthday with the Mana Calamity. This was a pretty big event by itself. As per the chapter ‘Prologue Zero’, (which will be too much of a spoiler to explain here) it seems the calamity was inevitable. It was to happen as long as Rudeus would exist.



But in case this wouldn’t have happened, the entire story would never be set in motion. Rudeus would have probably married Eris and with Philip’s help headed the Boreas Household. His family at Buena would be safe, and things would have turned out more or less as he envisioned. Also, Nanahoshi wouldn’t be here.

Interestingly, Hitogami would’ve never recognized his existence and no ill would’ve befallen him.



Turning Point 2



His meeting with Orsted and near-death experience is the next Turning Point. This was an essential event in Rudeus’ life. If he hadn’t met Orsted or Nanahoshi, Rudeus would’ve married Eris and eloped. This was of course what was to happen if Eris didn’t leave him; which was because she felt she was a burden to his life following her powerlessness against Orsted.




While still a strong swordsman, she would’ve been much nearer to the ‘Red Lion’ title rather than to the title ‘Mad Dog’.

Also, this would’ve prevented the entire ED arc, so Rudeus wouldn’t have met with Sylphy or anyone else back at the academy. Hell, he wouldn’t have even come to Ranoa, or known about teleportation circles either!



Turning Point 3 (Heavy Manga And LN Spoilers)

One of the most recent events in anime, was when he received a plea for help from Paul from Begaritto Continent. We do know that he disobeyed Hitogami’s advice here, but what if he hadn’t?



Then he wouldn’t have married Roxy or Eris, but Linia and Purusena in their places later in life. This would’ve obviously changed a lot; but most importantly, Paul would be alive! Paul’s party would’ve successfully rescued Zenith and be alive as well…but sadly without Rudeus, Roxy would’ve died, thus the hero of the sequel won’t be born!




Turning Point 4

The most important event in MT, the basement door arc. The entire thing is LN spoilers, and the diary chapters do detail what would’ve happened if he fell for the trap, but to explain shortly, if Rudeus had opened the basement door and let the poisonous rat in, with time, Roxy and Sylphy and also Eris would’ve died, along with Cliff, Zanoba, Aisha, Ariel, Luke and many more. Essentially Rudeus would be completely destroyed, and in revenge, he would become a fearsome mage who would be an enemy to both the Asura Empire and the Milis Church. Also, in this timeline, he would be a horrible person as Olddeus (Rudeus’ fandom-given nickname in this timeline) was. This is also known amongst the fandom as the ‘dark timeline’.



Turning Point 5

This was essentially the end of LN where Rudeus defeated the Fighting God and Orsted defeated the North God. While this chapter is more of a conclusion to his story rather than a beginning to something else, one could say the ‘in cannon’ life of Rudeus Greyrat would be different without this Turning Point.



Turning Point 0

Although no such title is mentioned within the LN/WN, by Orsted’s other time loops; that is the alternate history he experienced, we know of 100 timelines where Rudeus didn’t exist.



The most important changes will be: -

‘Rudeus’ would be a stillborn. Paul would have both Aisha and Norn regardless, although their relationship wasn’t known.

Sylphy would’ve been Roxy’s student directly without Rudeus in the middle. So, they would’ve met regardless just in different circumstances.

Eris would marry Luke Greyrat and be called the ‘Red Lion’ of Sword God Style, but she won’t be nearly as strong as she is now. Also, she would’ve followed Ariel in her war of succession instead of Sylphy.

Ariel would’ve had a 50% chance to take over Asura in this case.

And of course, we wouldn’t have a masterpiece of an Isekai!



Were they preventable?

Turning Point 0 is truly a play of fate. Prologue Zero explains that Rudeus’ birth and the entire MT timeline were a completely random event, which happened amongst countless other timelines for apparently no reason!

Turning Point 1 wasn’t preventable as far as I know, its relation is directly to Rudeus’ birth itself. This happened cause Rudeus was born.

Turning Point 2 wasn’t much preventable either. Hitogami’s future-seeing ability won’t act on Orsted, so fate was pretty strong here.

Turning Point 3 was probably the most preventable, but still, Hitogami mentions that Rudeus and Roxy have a strong fate, so the chances of it happening were much higher.

Turning Point 4, finally, would be the greatest planned butterfly effect in MT with the dark timeline being the absolute nightmare, but the fact that it DID HAPPEN and still Olddeus prevented Rudeus from repeating this via time slip makes the question a bit tricky to answer!



Thanks For Reading!!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

LIGHT COULD HAVE LIVED LONGER! (SHINIGAMI EYES THEORY DEBUNKED!!)

Image
  Light Yagami is one of the most popular serial killers in not only all anime but also of all crime genres. From the chips scene to the rooftop scene, he had made ‘Death Note’ not only an anime but a classic beyond any genre. Such well lived was his life, and ‘glorious’ was his death! (Lemme live my anime dream :) ) But in the years of the series’ release, and even thereafter (still 17 yrs later!!), his death remains a matter of discussion, umm…sorry, heated debates. Could he have lived longer if he played his ‘game’ right? What else could he have achieved? Was the world better with or without him? An important argument is always considered in regard to the first question. Ryuk killed Light by writing his name in the Death Note after he lost the ‘game’ to Near and was heavily wounded though barely escaped. He had no future ahead, thus Ryuk showing mercy. But if he had taken the Shinigami eyes, he could have killed them himself! So such ‘games’ were never a necessity! Ofc, th...
Read more

Did Ryuk ACTUALLY HELPED Light?

Image
  Ok, so from episode 1, Ryuk makes it clear that he doesn’t want to get involved in Light’s plans, is a ‘God’ in the sense of being ‘detached’- watching, sometimes enjoying and sometimes bored, as if an average audience of the anime itself, us! Except this is not the case, for Ryuk is in the anime and is the cause of the anime itself, having started it to overcome his boredom. Of course, he won’t help Light or reveal anything to him, and this ‘detachment’ forces Light to use his brain to find answers- a plot device making the anime more interesting and driving it forward. Also, Ryuk avoids the fate of both Rem and Gelus, who embody the fallen Gods who broke the iron rule of detachment. Bottom of Form But it is essentially foolish to think that, that Ryuk didn’t help Light at all. Avoiding this rule itself, Ryuk helped Light 3 times in the anime:- 1.   Spotting the spies (Episode 3): Ryuk spots Raye Penber and reveals it to Light. Of course, he made Light an...
Read more