How Reese Wiped Out John Connor
In the first Terminator film we see that on the night Sarah Connor was first attacked by a Terminator that she was supposed to go on a date with a guy called Stan Morski. He calls to let her down and Sarah ends up going to the club Tech Noir where Reese and the T-800 catch up to her.
Let’s assume for a moment that in the original version of history before any Terminators came back in time to kill her, Sarah Connor continues her relationship with Stan. Or if not Stan, she has another relationship with someone else, but for the purpose of this theory let’s stick with Stan. We can assume that Sarah must have become pregnant by Stan and had a son who she would call John.
This child would then grow up to become a resistance fighter who would then have sent Reese back in time to protect her.
But let’s be clear, this would not be the same John Connor we see in Terminator 2, as that John Connor is the son of Kyle Reese.
Whoever this original John Connor was, he was wiped out of ever existing by sending Kyle Reese back in time. This is because Reese impregnated Sarah and prevented Sarah from having a child with Stan or whoever the original father must have been!
Kyle Reese effectively killed John Connor before he was born!
Problems
OK, so I’m sure many of you reading will now cry foul and point out that even if there are paradox problems, Reese still has to be John’s father. The reason you may think this is that because if Reese had prevented the birth of John being Stan Morski’s son (who for clarity we will now refer to as John Morski) then John Morski wouldn’t have existed to be able to send Kyle back in time in the first place. And if John Morski didn’t send Reese back in time, then Reese wouldn’t be able to sleep with Sarah and prevent John Morski’s birth.
It’s the classic and confusing paradox where you cannot prevent your own birth as you’d no longer exist to endanger your own birth. It’s a loop that never ends.
But this is where I provide something of a solution to this predicament.
So, let’s assume there was an original version of time that must have happened where John Connor lead a resistance against Skynet. This must have happened to motivate Skynet to send an assassin through time in the first place. I think everyone can agree on that.
I think people can also agree that if in the original version of time John must have been able to be born before the creation of Skynet. But if he was born before Skynet came into existence it would be impossible for his father to be Kyle Reese as Reese himself was not born yet and therefore could not father John.
So how do we get around the paradox?
Let’s assume that John originally existed as the son of Sarah and Stan Morski, and in the future during the war against the machines John Morski learns that Skynet is sending a Terminator back in time to kill his mother to prevent his own birth. Other than the fact that I am referring to John Connor as John Morski these are the events of the first film as we saw it.
So, let’s say that just as we saw in the first film Kyle Reese arrives in the past to protect Sarah and ensure that she doesn’t die and that John Morski could be born and go on to become the leader of the resistance who will one day send Reese back in time.
Whilst with Sarah as we see that Kyle tells Sarah that he is from the future and that he was sent there by her son John to protect her. This is very important. Whilst on his mission to protect the future existence of John Morski, Kyle tells Sarah the story of who is he and why he is there.
And then Reese then sleeps with Sarah.
This creates a new baby boy who cannot be the same child that would have sent Kyle back in time.
Wouldn’t this prevent the now non existent John Morski from sending Reese back in time in the first place?
No!
Before Reese slept with Sarah and prevented John Morski from being created Reese told Sarah the story which she would then tell her child who is now the child of Reese.
This story is that this male child…who she names John…is the leader of the resistance and will one day send a soldier called Kyle Reese back in time to the exact date Reese arrived back in time.
By giving this story to Sarah before changing time Sarah goes into territory which could be described as self fulfilling prophecy. She calls her son John and tells him his whole life that he has to lead the resistance and one day send Reese back in time…so he does!
It doesn’t matter whether this is the same child who originally was the child of Stan Morski or if this child is now fathered by Kyle Reese. The important thing is that the child is told what their destiny is and then they carry it out. Which if this theory is to be believed is what we see happen during the course of The Terminator and Terminator 2 Judgement Day.
John Connor does send his father Kyle Reese back in time to protect his mother and in effect causes his own creation.
But it’s not the original John Connor. That John Connor, who for the sake of clarity we have been referring to as John Morski was wiped from existence. And the person who wiped them from existence wasn’t a T-800. It wasn’t Skynet. It was Kyle Reese! Kyle Reese is the person who killed off John Connor.
Now we’ve covered the bulk of the issue, I’m sure you have questions, which hopefully we’ll have covered on the next page!
