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Altair is the primary antagonist of the meta-fictional anime "Re:Creators" and she is notorious for having multiple abilities due to her being a unique creation and having an independent existence. This post will try to explain her being an Acausal from various statements as well as the two different perspectives of In-Verse and Metafictional. So without further ado, let's get to the point :-
From The In-Verse Perspective
In "Re:Creators", the stories/story worlds are parallel universes which run alongside the "real" universe but they have their different laws while the "real" universe is normal like ours. The term "Creations" in the verse refer to the created characters, stories,etc whereas the term "Creators" refers to the authors, writers, illustrators,etc. There exists a countless number of universes in the universe due to the existence of various stories from books, movies, animes, games,etc. Once Created, these Story worlds are separated from the Laws of Cause and Effect of the Universe and exist alongside the real main universe as a separate space-time Continuum. As Meteora explains in episode 2:
https://imgur.com/a/hE5Po
As shown above, these Universes become separated from the laws of Cause and Effect of the main Universe and themselves exist as a Space-Time having their own Cause and Effect. More Proof that the Worlds are Independent Universes from episode 5:
https://imgur.com/a/YJvxj
The Verse is a Multiverse with multiple timelines for the story worlds as well as possibly having higher dimensions and higher dimensional beings due to the existence of Lovecraft's Mythos as a story in the Verse and Magane Summoning The Hound of Tindalos, a higher dimensional being from the said story:
https://imgur.com/a/wLI0C
Now, Altair is a Creation who is Unique and is born without any Universe or Story and Exists as an Independent Existence. As stated numerous times in the series especially in episode 13, 14, and prominently in episode 20:-
https://imgur.com/a/JxWoD
As shown above, Altair was stated to not having a Background Story or a Universe (as stories in the verse = a universe) and being an Independent Existence. Now here's the Thing, Altair was born without any Story or Universe and as shown above, when a story is created they are separated from the Laws of Cause and Effect of the real world. As such, it would apply to Altair too and separate her from the Laws of Causality of the main Universe and since she doesn't have any Universe/belong to any Universe, it would make her as a singularity of Cause and Effect and therefore she would exist as an Acausal being. Further proof comes from the fact that she came into existence out of nowhere without any Universe to guide her existence or story and as such, she has no past, present or future.
From The Metafictional Perspective
The Verse is a metafictional verse where the main real world is considered to be exactly like our Universe with similar laws and rationality and the story worlds are considered fictional where impossible feats like humans flying, manipulating causality, magic,etc happen. As Meteora describes it better in episode 4:-
https://imgur.com/a/Ve2mp
Altair has been described numerous times to not have a background story and being an independent existence (scroll above for the pics). However, she was additionally stated by Meteora to have Transcended the yoke of her world aka her story even though no other creations are supposed to identify the existence of the yoke (The term "Yoke" here can be interpreted as "Laws") as stated in episode 2:-
https://imgur.com/a/YJvxj
As stated by Meteora, Altair Transcended the Yoke of her story and was able to come to the land of the gods aka the real Universe. Now, what does all of these exactly this mean? Applying the context, the entire thing means that Altair is unbound by the laws of 'Narrative Causality' which determines how the story or plot should progress as everything is predestined. This is precisely the main reason why any of the characters in the verse were unable to Transcend the Yoke of their respective worlds and come to the main Universe as they were already had their stories written and as such they were bound by the narrative causality of their respective universes. They all were unaware of the fact that they were fictional characters whereas Altair didn't have any background story and hence she was not bound by Narrative Causality and could come to the main Universe. Furthermore, this is also one of her biggest attributes that due to being Unbound by the Laws of Narrative Causality, she isn't predestined or governed on how her plot/story should progress thereby making her an independent existence and due to this fact, she was able to gain powers from the fanfictions her fans create about her. This also supports the 'In-Verse perspective' where she was shown to be a singularity of Cause and Effect as she didn't have/belong to any Universe.
Moreover, Altair was written to be in the crossover story of the all the characters leading to Elimination Chamber Festival inside the Birdcage and she was scripted to lose against the heroes. Not only was she unaffected by the script but she also changed the script itself making it so that she will be undefeated.
https://imgur.com/a/avo5z
So To Summarize:-
-Explained How Story Worlds are Parallel Universes running alongside the Main Universe
-Explained how the Parallel Universes are separate Space-time Continuums separated from the laws of Causality of the Main Universe once they are created.
-Explained how Altair is a singularity of Cause and Effect due to not having or belonging to any Universe
-Gave a quick description of the verse setting from a Metafictional POV
-Explained how Altair is unbound by Narrative Causality
-Explained how it is the primary reason why she is able to able to absorb the powers from her fanfictions
-Explained why it is the main reason for making her different than the other characters in the series
-Explained why she remained unaffected by the Script Writing of all the Crossovers leading to the Elimination Chamber and she even reversed the situation to favor her
-Linked Metafictional Perspective with In-Verse Perspective.
Now, Here's a list of some questions that can be asked regarding this topic:
Q1. "What if someone goes back in time and kills setsuna before she created Altair, then Altair will cease to exist too"
Ans: Not at all. When a creator creates a story, it gets separated from the laws of Cause and Effect and exists as a separate universe as explained by Meteora in episode 2. So even if you go back in time and kill the creator before he or she created the story, the story world will still continue to exist as it is not affected by the laws of Causality of the main Universe and they themselves will have their own laws of Cause and Effect applicable to the characters in the universe.
Q2. "But what you described is in relation to a Story World/Parallel Universe. How is that applicable to a creation or in particular, a character like Altair??"
Ans: About that, Altair was born without any story which means she wasn't born in any universe as the story worlds are = Parallel Universes. She was made for a music video called "World Etude" which was her only Canon appearance by Setsuna before she committed suicide and even then the music video had no story or plot whatsoever and only a few pics/arts of Altair were featured in it. Because of all this, she gained acceptance from the viewers/audience and her character was brought into existence but she didn't get any universe as she had no background story and neither did she get one due to setsuna's untimely death which caused her to be born without any universe and essentially exist as a singularity of Cause & Effect.
Q3. "The 'Transcending the Laws' statement was a hypothesis of Meteora and as such cannot be based upon to prove Altair's Acausality"
Ans: Not Really. Meteora was describing how it is possible for a fictional character to come out of their own world on their own by Transcending the Laws of Narrative Causality which is the same Concept that bounds all the other creations and stories and makes them flow. Meteora stated that they cannot even recognize the existence of such a concept as they think that their worlds are real but don't know that they are being manipulated by the Creators of their stories.
Q4. "But how does that prove that Altair is Acausal?"
Ans: Altair was born a plot point that has no story to it which describes anything related to her background or past, present, future and as such, she was born without any Universe nor does she belong to any. To put it simply she isn't bound by Narrative Causality which caused her to exist as an independent existence. It only has description about her character design and her Holopsicon but she no story to describe her background or her past, present and future. She is very well aware of the fact that she is a creation and since she isn't bound by the Laws of Narrative Causality, she cannot be plot manipulated by the Creators to their desires as shown in episode 14.
Q5. "But If she cannot be plot manipulated by the Creators, then how is she able to gain a vast Array of Powers and Abilities from her Fanfictions???"
Ans: Here's the Thing, She was Born without any background story, but her Holopsicon has been written by Setsuna herself and she described it to have Infinite Abilities as shown here in episode 21:-
https://imgur.com/a/lqtb2
So when any writer creates a story about her and includes a new ability of her in that story, she automatically gains it due to the Holopsicon written to already have Infinite abilities. Moreover, there's also the fact that Altair was written and featured in countless Fanfictions, Fanvideos and Fanarts by the different writers and artists and yet she didn't gain any of the Personality, Character design, Weaknesses,etc from any of those creations
Q6. "But what about the audience acceptance? Isn't that plot manipulation too since the emotions and acceptance of the audience are what's bring the creations into existence, shaping the creations and giving the characters their powers and what not??"
Ans: The acceptance from the audience is more like Reality Warping rather than Plot Manipulation since they aren't writing the story or making the creations but rather they are acknowledging the Creations and putting their beliefs and emotions in them which turns it into reality. Case in point, back in episode 4 when Matsubara and Marine tried to Upgrade Selesia, it didn't work but in episode 10 the acceptance from the audience turned the same plot into reality and Selesia temporarily got the same upgrade to fight Aliceteria. It was also in episode 21 where the Audience believed in Altair's power to Create Worlds out of Nothing and writing the story of Setsuna which turned into reality and gave Altair the powers to do all the above.
From The In-Verse Perspective
In "Re:Creators", the stories/story worlds are parallel universes which run alongside the "real" universe but they have their different laws while the "real" universe is normal like ours. The term "Creations" in the verse refer to the created characters, stories,etc whereas the term "Creators" refers to the authors, writers, illustrators,etc. There exists a countless number of universes in the universe due to the existence of various stories from books, movies, animes, games,etc. Once Created, these Story worlds are separated from the Laws of Cause and Effect of the Universe and exist alongside the real main universe as a separate space-time Continuum. As Meteora explains in episode 2:
https://imgur.com/a/hE5Po
As shown above, these Universes become separated from the laws of Cause and Effect of the main Universe and themselves exist as a Space-Time having their own Cause and Effect. More Proof that the Worlds are Independent Universes from episode 5:
https://imgur.com/a/YJvxj
The Verse is a Multiverse with multiple timelines for the story worlds as well as possibly having higher dimensions and higher dimensional beings due to the existence of Lovecraft's Mythos as a story in the Verse and Magane Summoning The Hound of Tindalos, a higher dimensional being from the said story:
https://imgur.com/a/wLI0C
Now, Altair is a Creation who is Unique and is born without any Universe or Story and Exists as an Independent Existence. As stated numerous times in the series especially in episode 13, 14, and prominently in episode 20:-
https://imgur.com/a/JxWoD
As shown above, Altair was stated to not having a Background Story or a Universe (as stories in the verse = a universe) and being an Independent Existence. Now here's the Thing, Altair was born without any Story or Universe and as shown above, when a story is created they are separated from the Laws of Cause and Effect of the real world. As such, it would apply to Altair too and separate her from the Laws of Causality of the main Universe and since she doesn't have any Universe/belong to any Universe, it would make her as a singularity of Cause and Effect and therefore she would exist as an Acausal being. Further proof comes from the fact that she came into existence out of nowhere without any Universe to guide her existence or story and as such, she has no past, present or future.
From The Metafictional Perspective
The Verse is a metafictional verse where the main real world is considered to be exactly like our Universe with similar laws and rationality and the story worlds are considered fictional where impossible feats like humans flying, manipulating causality, magic,etc happen. As Meteora describes it better in episode 4:-
https://imgur.com/a/Ve2mp
Altair has been described numerous times to not have a background story and being an independent existence (scroll above for the pics). However, she was additionally stated by Meteora to have Transcended the yoke of her world aka her story even though no other creations are supposed to identify the existence of the yoke (The term "Yoke" here can be interpreted as "Laws") as stated in episode 2:-
https://imgur.com/a/YJvxj
As stated by Meteora, Altair Transcended the Yoke of her story and was able to come to the land of the gods aka the real Universe. Now, what does all of these exactly this mean? Applying the context, the entire thing means that Altair is unbound by the laws of 'Narrative Causality' which determines how the story or plot should progress as everything is predestined. This is precisely the main reason why any of the characters in the verse were unable to Transcend the Yoke of their respective worlds and come to the main Universe as they were already had their stories written and as such they were bound by the narrative causality of their respective universes. They all were unaware of the fact that they were fictional characters whereas Altair didn't have any background story and hence she was not bound by Narrative Causality and could come to the main Universe. Furthermore, this is also one of her biggest attributes that due to being Unbound by the Laws of Narrative Causality, she isn't predestined or governed on how her plot/story should progress thereby making her an independent existence and due to this fact, she was able to gain powers from the fanfictions her fans create about her. This also supports the 'In-Verse perspective' where she was shown to be a singularity of Cause and Effect as she didn't have/belong to any Universe.
Moreover, Altair was written to be in the crossover story of the all the characters leading to Elimination Chamber Festival inside the Birdcage and she was scripted to lose against the heroes. Not only was she unaffected by the script but she also changed the script itself making it so that she will be undefeated.
https://imgur.com/a/avo5z
So To Summarize:-
-Explained How Story Worlds are Parallel Universes running alongside the Main Universe
-Explained how the Parallel Universes are separate Space-time Continuums separated from the laws of Causality of the Main Universe once they are created.
-Explained how Altair is a singularity of Cause and Effect due to not having or belonging to any Universe
-Gave a quick description of the verse setting from a Metafictional POV
-Explained how Altair is unbound by Narrative Causality
-Explained how it is the primary reason why she is able to able to absorb the powers from her fanfictions
-Explained why it is the main reason for making her different than the other characters in the series
-Explained why she remained unaffected by the Script Writing of all the Crossovers leading to the Elimination Chamber and she even reversed the situation to favor her
-Linked Metafictional Perspective with In-Verse Perspective.
Now, Here's a list of some questions that can be asked regarding this topic:
Q1. "What if someone goes back in time and kills setsuna before she created Altair, then Altair will cease to exist too"
Ans: Not at all. When a creator creates a story, it gets separated from the laws of Cause and Effect and exists as a separate universe as explained by Meteora in episode 2. So even if you go back in time and kill the creator before he or she created the story, the story world will still continue to exist as it is not affected by the laws of Causality of the main Universe and they themselves will have their own laws of Cause and Effect applicable to the characters in the universe.
Q2. "But what you described is in relation to a Story World/Parallel Universe. How is that applicable to a creation or in particular, a character like Altair??"
Ans: About that, Altair was born without any story which means she wasn't born in any universe as the story worlds are = Parallel Universes. She was made for a music video called "World Etude" which was her only Canon appearance by Setsuna before she committed suicide and even then the music video had no story or plot whatsoever and only a few pics/arts of Altair were featured in it. Because of all this, she gained acceptance from the viewers/audience and her character was brought into existence but she didn't get any universe as she had no background story and neither did she get one due to setsuna's untimely death which caused her to be born without any universe and essentially exist as a singularity of Cause & Effect.
Q3. "The 'Transcending the Laws' statement was a hypothesis of Meteora and as such cannot be based upon to prove Altair's Acausality"
Ans: Not Really. Meteora was describing how it is possible for a fictional character to come out of their own world on their own by Transcending the Laws of Narrative Causality which is the same Concept that bounds all the other creations and stories and makes them flow. Meteora stated that they cannot even recognize the existence of such a concept as they think that their worlds are real but don't know that they are being manipulated by the Creators of their stories.
Q4. "But how does that prove that Altair is Acausal?"
Ans: Altair was born a plot point that has no story to it which describes anything related to her background or past, present, future and as such, she was born without any Universe nor does she belong to any. To put it simply she isn't bound by Narrative Causality which caused her to exist as an independent existence. It only has description about her character design and her Holopsicon but she no story to describe her background or her past, present and future. She is very well aware of the fact that she is a creation and since she isn't bound by the Laws of Narrative Causality, she cannot be plot manipulated by the Creators to their desires as shown in episode 14.
Q5. "But If she cannot be plot manipulated by the Creators, then how is she able to gain a vast Array of Powers and Abilities from her Fanfictions???"
Ans: Here's the Thing, She was Born without any background story, but her Holopsicon has been written by Setsuna herself and she described it to have Infinite Abilities as shown here in episode 21:-
https://imgur.com/a/lqtb2
So when any writer creates a story about her and includes a new ability of her in that story, she automatically gains it due to the Holopsicon written to already have Infinite abilities. Moreover, there's also the fact that Altair was written and featured in countless Fanfictions, Fanvideos and Fanarts by the different writers and artists and yet she didn't gain any of the Personality, Character design, Weaknesses,etc from any of those creations
Q6. "But what about the audience acceptance? Isn't that plot manipulation too since the emotions and acceptance of the audience are what's bring the creations into existence, shaping the creations and giving the characters their powers and what not??"
Ans: The acceptance from the audience is more like Reality Warping rather than Plot Manipulation since they aren't writing the story or making the creations but rather they are acknowledging the Creations and putting their beliefs and emotions in them which turns it into reality. Case in point, back in episode 4 when Matsubara and Marine tried to Upgrade Selesia, it didn't work but in episode 10 the acceptance from the audience turned the same plot into reality and Selesia temporarily got the same upgrade to fight Aliceteria. It was also in episode 21 where the Audience believed in Altair's power to Create Worlds out of Nothing and writing the story of Setsuna which turned into reality and gave Altair the powers to do all the above.