

At the start of episode 12 of _Steins;Gate_ , Okarin and Mayuri have time
traveled 70 million years into the past. They are in an arid desert
environment which appears to be the inside of an hourglass. Mayuri says that
you could say that they are just one of many versions of themselves, but you
could also say that they were the originals. Shortly before dissolving into
sand, she says that their wills will carry on to the versions of themselves in
Akihabara 70 million years in the future.

In the future, Okarin snaps out of a daze, like he does when he time leaps.
Does that imply that Okarin remembers the incident? Was the incident symbolic?
If this was one of Okarin's attempts to save Mayuri, why didn't it happen in
the alpha/beta/gate timelines?


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symbolism steins-gate
What is happening at the start of episode 12 of Steins;Gate?


_Steins;Gate_ sort of uses the many-worlds time travel theory referenced by
[John Titor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Titor#Time_machine). There are
many discrete worldlines, like parallel universes. When Okarin leaps to the
past, he is moving from one worldline to another; his actions do not affect
the future in the worldline he leaped from, only the future of the one he is
currently in. The worldlines exist independently. Kurisu talks about this
briefly in episode 22, shortly before Okarin time leaps.

This is why Okarin and Suzuha can use the

> time machine to travel to the past twice and not run into other time
> traveling versions of themselves; both times they traveled to the past they
> landed in a different worldline.

When we see the scene from 70 million years ago, we are seeing a version of
Okarin and Mayuri who have traveled to the show's current worldline from a
separate worldline we didn't see.

They would have had to travel using

> Suzuha's time machine. SERN's experiments and Okarin's nightmarish memory
> showed that sending physical objects through time turns them into gel. The
> time machine appears to offer protection against this.  
>  
>  It is unclear why they traveled so far back into the past; perhaps the time
> machine malfunctioned.  
>  
>  Mayuri had to explain to Okarin that they were 70 million years in the
> past. Suzuha also lost her memory when using the damaged time machine. It is
> unclear why Mayuri retained her memory. Perhaps her reading ability is quite
> strong; she displayed knowledge of alternate worldlines on multiple
> occasions.


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[James wrote](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/4478/2516),

> _Steins;Gate_ sort of uses the many-worlds time travel theory referenced by
> John Titor. There are many discrete worldlines, like parallel universes.
> When Okarin leaps to the past, he is moving from one worldline to another;
> his actions do not affect the future in the worldline he leaped from, only
> the future of the one he is currently in. The worldlines exist
> independently. Kurisu talks about this briefly in episode 22, shortly before
> Okarin time leaps.

but this is actually completely wrong.

It is explained in the VN thoroughly that only one world line exists at one
time - which would always be the one Okabe is at. The other world lines are
just possibilities that could exist, but they don't really. In the VN, Kurisu
argues with Okabe, saying that if this was the case, then Okabe was literally
a God. But frighteningly so, this is exactly the case. Okabe's actions
reconstruct the one and only world every time. When Kurisu says that infinite
world lines exist independently, she says it to make it easier for Okabe to

> sacrifice her.


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The incident happened in the beta world line.

In 2011, just before the Third World War happens, Suzuha and Mayuri leapt into
the past to August 21st 2010, to deliver the slap you see in Episode 23. They
then tried to return to the future, but with the lack of fuel (the time
machine only had the fuel to travel 336 days), the time machine malfunctioned
and they ended up 70 million years in the past. This is the Mayuri you saw.

In 2025, after Okabe sent the Nostalgia Drive Mail (ND-Mail) to Episode 23's
Okabe, he went after Mayuri and Suzuha in a time machine that was equipped to
find other time machines by tracking the disruption in space-time continuum
caused by Kerr Black Holes. He eventually ended up 70 million years in the
past and is assumed to have found Mayuri. This is the Okabe you saw.

Whether the Okabe in the future remembers the event or not is uncertain
though. None of the material confirmed nor denied it. But it is definitely not
symbolic as it has happened.


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