Einstein's Dreams is a book that revolves around the theory of relativity and the different ways that time can act. From standing still, to endlessly repeating, through reversing, and even creating three separate timelines, the concept of time is quite the confusing topic. When life gets confusing, I relate it back to something I understand in hopes of translating it into a more basic language that can be grasped and coddled by my feeble mind. When reading Einstein's Dreams, my mind almost immediately jumped back to World of Warcraft, the massive online video game that has held the attention of over 12 million players for over 6 years now (which in Massive Multiplayer Online games is an eternity).
In my travels in Azeroth, I have slayed demons, freed nations, and the fought back the undead as my level 85 Worgen warrior, Wavves. Along the way I have encountered elves, dwarves, and orcs, some friendlier than others. However, the group that reminds me the most of Einstein's Dreams is a brood of dragons: The Bronze Dragonflight. As a probable non-WoWer, you are very confused right now. Please allow me to give a brief history of the bronze dragons...
According to the WoW Wiki (wowwiki.com):
"Bronze dragons are very cunning, much like blues, and value wisdom and patience over all else. Nozdormu, their patron Aspect of Time, is patience incarnate. Bronze dragons exist to keep the time stream inviolate and the order of events progressing as the fates intended. Bronze dragons are very sensitive to the flow and ebb of the time stream, especially Nozdormu and his prime consort Soridormi. From within their home, The Caverns of Time, located underneath the vast sands of the Tanaris desert, the wardens of time can often be found disguising themselves in mortal guises and entering the time-streams, which they constantly attempt to maintain and repair."Now you may ask how this connects to Einstein's Dreams. Well, in a world full of magic and demons wishing to destroy the world, someone has to make sure that Einstein's theory holds up! In the game, players are tasked with entering the Caverns of Time and making sure that events in WoW's history occur exactly as they did. The Infinite Dragonflight constantly tries to disrupt time, sometimes for good, sometimes for bad. The Bronze Dragonflight uses different forms of time to accomplish their defense of history. For instance, in one encounter players are tasked with defending an heirloom alongside a future version of themselves. Later in the questline, they must revisit that same mission, but this time they control the future version of themselves alongside their character as they completed the quest earlier. Sound confusing? It is, but as Einstein's Dreams says: "Time is in 3 dimensions all occuring at once." The past, present, and future all meet together and evidence the theory discussed in the book.
Five minutes ago (or however fast you read), you probably thought I would never connect Humanities to World of Warcraft. Not only are you a naysayer, but now you are an enriched naysayer. Thanks to Einstein's Dreams and the Bronze Dragonflight, we have made a CONNECTION!!!!!
