Two Streams
Meta
and
spoilers
through
The Girl Who Waited.
Two-Three Streams
There are several streams overlapping each other, and it's not apparently clear what's exactly happening. I think I understand it now, so I'll give it a go:
Stream One: This is Amy One. Amy waits 36 years for the Doctor and Rory to arrive, and they never showed up when she was young. This is the stream we're watching all the way up until Rory presents Amy with a connection to her younger self via the Magnifying Glass. The Magnifying Glass acts like a mirror, and mirrors are used to split laser beams into two, for, like, making holograms.
Stream Two: Amy Two occupies the stream which is internally self-consistent. Having received information from the future that she lived here thirt-six years, she chooses to act in accordance with Fate -- she is to wait. This is Older Amy.
Stream Three: Amy Three now occupies the stream where the other choice is made, to violate fate by doing what's best for Rory, not what's internally consistent. This is Young Amy.
It's like the magnifying glass acted as a beam-splitter. Amy has literally been split in two, revealing two facets of her character at odds. It's a metaphor for her internal conflict, as well as the conflict she has about baby Melody.
Amy 2 must resolve the Amy 3's new decision in order to stay self-consistent. Her idea is to bring both streams into the TARDIS. However, the TARDIS won't accommodate both streams. Together they form a contradictory paradox. Amy can't have made both choices at the same time, only one side or the other can be let back out into the Universe.
The self-sacrificing Amy is Amy 3... she will sacrifice her self-consistency for the sake of Rory. Amy 2, because she's self-consistent, ends up sacrificing herself for the sake of Rory.
* * * * *
Older Amy's memory of refusing help is an altered memory, a rewritten memory, overwriting the memory of never having received help at all. It's a logically necessary memory for her to even exist, driven as much by reason as by her fear of death. If there isn't a part of Amy that would preserve her future self, her future self would have winked out of existence right there and then, I think.
Older Amy is thinking as a time-traveler, understanding the consequences of creating a paradox -- she knows that going down the road of rewriting time can unravel the Universe. She owns the motivation to avoid paradox as well as to continue being. And remember, this is "serious Amy," who hasn't laughed, keeps a strict schedule, and calls it like she sees it... because that's what it takes to survive. Amy has a grim side to her.
She remembers when she refused to assist in her own escape because that's what *must* have happened for her to still be there thirty-six years later, given the initial failure of the Doctor to get there "on time." And there is a part of Amy who appreciates the sort of person she must ultimately be to survive on her own for thirty-six years, who appreciates this future version of herself... who accepts both herself and Fate.
If you escape, then I was never trapped here. The last thirty-six years of my life
rewrites and I cease to exist. That's why old me refused to help then, that's why
I'm refusing to help now, and that's why you will refuse to help when it's your turn,
and nothing you can say will change that.
And then there's the part of Amy that doesn't accept fate, because her love for Rory is stronger than her fear of death or paradox. So she rewrites herself again -- younger Amy rewrites older Amy, getting her to realize that Rory is more important than causality. I think it's here that I found some clarity regarding Older Amy's motivation, the importance she placed on paradox aversion.
You're asking me to defy Destiny, Causality,
the Nexus of Time itself, for a Boy?
In a sense, Amy's two selves are a reflection of the Doctor. The part of her that would refuse to alter time and space to avoid her own suffering, out of respect for the fabric of the Universe, that's the same side of the Doctor that closes the door. The part of her that would sacrifice herself and damn the consequences to time and space is the same side of the Doctor that shows up in tails to dance for River Song.
This goes back to what goldenmoonrose said about the duality of Angel and Beast. Older Amy is the Beast, the part of Amy that fights monsters, understands time and causality and sonics, and who is very good at surviving. Younger Amy is the Angel, who self-sacrifices out of Love, and who can *tame* the Beast within, who realizes she doesn't have to "torture the pilot," as she put it back in The Beast Below.
and
spoilers
through
The Girl Who Waited.
Two-Three Streams
There are several streams overlapping each other, and it's not apparently clear what's exactly happening. I think I understand it now, so I'll give it a go:
Stream One: This is Amy One. Amy waits 36 years for the Doctor and Rory to arrive, and they never showed up when she was young. This is the stream we're watching all the way up until Rory presents Amy with a connection to her younger self via the Magnifying Glass. The Magnifying Glass acts like a mirror, and mirrors are used to split laser beams into two, for, like, making holograms.
Stream Two: Amy Two occupies the stream which is internally self-consistent. Having received information from the future that she lived here thirt-six years, she chooses to act in accordance with Fate -- she is to wait. This is Older Amy.
Stream Three: Amy Three now occupies the stream where the other choice is made, to violate fate by doing what's best for Rory, not what's internally consistent. This is Young Amy.
It's like the magnifying glass acted as a beam-splitter. Amy has literally been split in two, revealing two facets of her character at odds. It's a metaphor for her internal conflict, as well as the conflict she has about baby Melody.
Amy 2 must resolve the Amy 3's new decision in order to stay self-consistent. Her idea is to bring both streams into the TARDIS. However, the TARDIS won't accommodate both streams. Together they form a contradictory paradox. Amy can't have made both choices at the same time, only one side or the other can be let back out into the Universe.
The self-sacrificing Amy is Amy 3... she will sacrifice her self-consistency for the sake of Rory. Amy 2, because she's self-consistent, ends up sacrificing herself for the sake of Rory.
* * * * *
Older Amy's memory of refusing help is an altered memory, a rewritten memory, overwriting the memory of never having received help at all. It's a logically necessary memory for her to even exist, driven as much by reason as by her fear of death. If there isn't a part of Amy that would preserve her future self, her future self would have winked out of existence right there and then, I think.
Older Amy is thinking as a time-traveler, understanding the consequences of creating a paradox -- she knows that going down the road of rewriting time can unravel the Universe. She owns the motivation to avoid paradox as well as to continue being. And remember, this is "serious Amy," who hasn't laughed, keeps a strict schedule, and calls it like she sees it... because that's what it takes to survive. Amy has a grim side to her.
She remembers when she refused to assist in her own escape because that's what *must* have happened for her to still be there thirty-six years later, given the initial failure of the Doctor to get there "on time." And there is a part of Amy who appreciates the sort of person she must ultimately be to survive on her own for thirty-six years, who appreciates this future version of herself... who accepts both herself and Fate.
If you escape, then I was never trapped here. The last thirty-six years of my life
rewrites and I cease to exist. That's why old me refused to help then, that's why
I'm refusing to help now, and that's why you will refuse to help when it's your turn,
and nothing you can say will change that.
And then there's the part of Amy that doesn't accept fate, because her love for Rory is stronger than her fear of death or paradox. So she rewrites herself again -- younger Amy rewrites older Amy, getting her to realize that Rory is more important than causality. I think it's here that I found some clarity regarding Older Amy's motivation, the importance she placed on paradox aversion.
You're asking me to defy Destiny, Causality,
the Nexus of Time itself, for a Boy?
In a sense, Amy's two selves are a reflection of the Doctor. The part of her that would refuse to alter time and space to avoid her own suffering, out of respect for the fabric of the Universe, that's the same side of the Doctor that closes the door. The part of her that would sacrifice herself and damn the consequences to time and space is the same side of the Doctor that shows up in tails to dance for River Song.
This goes back to what goldenmoonrose said about the duality of Angel and Beast. Older Amy is the Beast, the part of Amy that fights monsters, understands time and causality and sonics, and who is very good at surviving. Younger Amy is the Angel, who self-sacrifices out of Love, and who can *tame* the Beast within, who realizes she doesn't have to "torture the pilot," as she put it back in The Beast Below.