In most cases, aspiring adventurers in the breathtaking fantasies of time and space invariably want to become famous, pursuing new worlds, or changing the course of history as we know it. You also, imagine yourself in a much active capacity, where you are commanding forces, building relations, or looking for new technologies that can transform the status quo. But instead of becoming a fierce and valiant character, you are that pathetic, miserable and disreputable NPC who is only relevant in someone else’s story. In this instance, time and space travel becomes a travel where one equally travels but becomes nothing but a passive entity at the mercy of the forces of time and chance. That is the point where lies the humour of time and space travel being an unlucky NPC.
The Idealistic Charm of Time Travel
There are many things that make time travel fascinating and one of them is the excitement of what it may offer in terms of reality. Every jump could be a place that is yet to be seen by the eye of the present day. You can visualise yourself walking in the overcrowded streets of people in ancient cities, peering into devices of unnatural abilities in regard to this era, or standing next to the very persons who created history. Then, there’s this dizzying feeling that, any second now, you can walk into this world properly and become its core – such a hero, who knows everything.
History is, however, far less attractive than that. Whenever time travels, it is bound to be a high risk. Daring to be the saving grace, time has its own ways of disappointing one. One minute, you are getting ready to fight alongside iconic figures such as Julius Caesar or Queen Elizabeth I. The next minute you’re a nameless, faceless private in some obscure war who nobody knows.
Fate of the Invisible NPC
To achieve the status of an NPC within the framework of time and space is similar to acting in the most gigantic of all plays conceived—only you happen to have blanked out on all your lines and no one can see you. In video games, NPCs are designed to enhance the player’s quest. They give tips, assign missions, or provide some oral background, but it is never them who have the world on their shoulders.
You one day find yourself dreaming to witness and be a part of the great inventions, great adventures, and great monarchs of the past… only to face the disheartening reality of being a humble post office clerk, serving the very people that you wished to meet. Your role? A perfect non-interacting observer who waits for events to transpire, while all the action is happening in front, thanks to the protagonists of the very timeline that you exist in.
A Vicious Cycle of Misadventure
Becoming a miserable NPC is one thing, but being an unplayable character who is always unlucky goes way beyond frustrations. You are on the sidelines, and in addition, you are in the crossroads of curses. Nothing ever goes right for you. Every single time you transverse a gateway to another era or even the multiverse, misfortune is waiting for you. This, however, is very uncharacteristic of you for even the most adventurously positive settings, you always get into trouble that the odds for your escape are not favourable.
Dare I suggest more? Perhaps if you don’t want to be too cliché, you would want to travel back to the Renaissance to meet the famous artist and inventor, Leonardo Da Vinci. How naive, instead, are you given a rank as a mere assistant and told to do menial chores- cleaning paint brushes- as the artist creates his magnum opus. You fantasise about exciting new missions where you will go all the way out into outer space, but no, come be the technician tasked with fixing the broken life-support unit in the middle of a mission.
Now picture yourself catapulted to the bustling city of London in the 19th century, where you are hoping to meet some inventors, explorers, and even kings. Instead, you find yourself cramped in a small office as a postal clerk, sorting correspondence from these very people you so longed to see. What do you do? You bear witness to how the events you read about unfold, and keep yourself at a distance, different from the true main characters of the timeline.
The Never-Ending Loop of Misery
Then there are partially interactive characters where U0-4 takes the prize in aggravation. Not only do you get a cut from the action, but you are also trapped in an exceptionally vicious cycle. Each time you return to a previous era or dimension through a portal, what seems like trouble comes along too. This curse is unmerciful — you might have the perfect scene available to you but still will end up somewhere where in all hopes is loss.
Perhaps you find yourself in Florence during the Renaissance yearning to work alongside a young Leonardo but instead are relegated to the role of a menial paint brush cleaning assistant. They have visions of exploring the universe but instead, are assigned to fix the damn life support system just as the alarm on the ship goes off indicating a failure.
There are, however, unavoidable instances when you are caught in a situation, as a protagonist witnessing events but not participating and the events do not develop in your favour. This exists, and maybe this explains the beauty of it. It can be easily mistaken for an unreasonable fight imposed by fate or a hostile universe, but in fact even a rank and file character plays some purposes in the greater design of things. Thus there would be no conquest for the heroes without the conquering ground. It is the supporting roles that provide life to the story. Unfortunately, yet positively, every role serves a purpose within the themes of the cosmos. You could be the soldier who carries the last of the supplies to a besieged fortress, or you could be the unsung hero who fixes a wire to prevent a colony from being lost.
Your contribution may never warrant a Wikipedia entry and it may not change the course dominant history chooses to record, but it is significant. Infact, it is the simplest of roles who tend to build the biggest worlds and let people be the stars more often than not with no awareness of the stars they make.
Life and its Purpose: activity and Inactivity
If you thought being stuck in an unfortunate predicament would allow you to face the unfathomable universe with dignity, you would have been mistaken. A great aspirant embarks on a grand adventure, only to find the universe placing incessant obstacles that inevitably lead to his downfall. It deposits one in circumstances that one cannot influence and sits as a defenceless passenger of the coordinates one wishes to occupy and the time one wishes to master.
And yet, within that bizarre space, exists an attraction. One might view being an unfortunate NPC as an unadventurous fate, but it is actually more than that. It is the history of convergence and disintegration of dynasties. The folds of history are seen at play, most times from the grass root level. And while the saviours are crowned with triumph, the messiness of life, the harsh realities are seen, experienced and internalised.
Makes Sense to Tap into the NPC Drift
Overall, you can embrace the unforeseen within the odyssey of an unfortunate NPC. Those heroic visions of conquering time travel may never quite come to fruition, but there’s still a role that you can play. In the scheme of things, no one is that inconsequential. You exist in a story, which is way beyond your understanding, and though you may be insignificant in the present, your contribution, however faint, echoes beyond and across, the present.
For, if while journeying through the centuries one turns out to be an unfortunate NPC, let it be. Take the unreason of the universe lightly, In the midst of still being part of an endless narrative that is the universe. Who cares if one is not the protagonist in this epic tale? It is not such a reactionary position of utter futility.
