Editing Time loop (section)

{{short description|Plot device in fiction}}
{{about|the fictional plot device|the philosophical and physical concept|Causal loop}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
The '''time loop''' or '''temporal loop''' is a [[plot device]] in [[fiction]] whereby [[Character (arts)|characters]] re-experience a span of time which is repeated, sometimes more than once, with some hope of breaking out of the cycle of repetition.<ref name="sfencyclopedia">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Langford |first=David |editor1-last=Clute |editor1-first=John |editor2-first=David |editor2-last=Langford |editor3-last=Nicholls |editor3-first=Peter |editor4-last=Sleight |editor4-first=Graham |title=Themes: Time Loop |url=http://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/time_loop |encyclopedia=[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]] |location=London |publisher=Gollancz |date=13 June 2017 |access-date=18 July 2019}}</ref> Time loops are constantly resetting; when a certain condition is met, such as a death of a character or a certain point in time, the loop starts again, possibly with one or more characters retaining the memories from the previous loop.<ref name="TTIPM">{{cite book |last1=García-Catalán |first1=Shaila |last2=Navarro-Remesal |first2=Victor |year=2015 |chapter=Try Again: The Time Loop as a Problem-Solving Process in ''Save the Date'' and ''Source Code'' |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kc57BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA206 |editor1=Matthew Jones |editor2=Joan Ormrod |title=Time Travel in Popular Media: Essays on Film, Television, Literature and Video Games |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kc57BwAAQBAJ |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers |pages=207 |isbn=9781476620084 |oclc=908600039}}</ref>

A time loop is also sometimes used to describe a scenario involving time travel where events form a circular chain of causality. In this context, actions in the past lead to future events, which then trigger the original journey back in time, creating a self-contained loop without a clear starting point. This concept challenges the conventional linear view of time and is often explored in science fiction and theories of temporal physics, such as those involving closed timelike curves.<ref name="sfencyclopedia" />