History WMG / GroundhogDay

[[WMG: Phil is trapped in the world's most elaborate ChooseYourOwnAdventure plot ever.]]

Because every WMG page needs a crossover with WH40k.

In the GD universe, Santa, the Easter Bunny and other anthropomorphic personifications of holidays exist, and can converse with each other. One of these is of course, The Groundhog. Now The Groundhog, was just a rodent elevated to the status of immortal, albeit a minor one, due to collective belief, so it kind of got to his head and he was a bit overly egotistical. The Groundhog aspired to be like Santa Claus, and loved hearing stories from him about the many times there was someone who disrespected the holiday in one way or another and Santa or his comrades would whip out some Christmas magic on them and teach them a lesson, making them learn the “True Spirit” or whatever. Scrooge, George Bailey , Kevin Mcallister, Jack Campbell, Chris Van Allsburg and probably many other protagonists in typical Hallmark Christmas specials, all having a magic moment that converted them into true Xmas acolytes. The Groundhog yearned for at least one moment when his holiday would be glorified in this manner. Enter Phil Conners. He dislikes Punxsutawney, the closest thing to the North Pole or Halloweentown to The Groundhog, and can’t wait to leave. He was grumpily dismissive about the whole idea of Groundhog Day. There’s also the fact that this was going to be, he hopes, the last time he would ever do this yearly Gobblers Knob ritual. Phil Conners is the Scrooge of Groundhog Day. And so the overzealous Groundhog saw his moment:

Maybe he decided to try walking to Pittsburgh after all, maybe it was the hit on his head with the shovel, maybe shock from the cold shower, maybe something else, in any case, Phil died on the first day. He had the to go trough Pugatory ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purgatory Purgatory, according to Catholic Church doctrine, is an intermediate state after physical death in which those destined for heaven "undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven".]]) in the form of repeating his last day on earth, until he fianlly entered heaven (The Next Day).

[[WMG: [[VisualNovel/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi Witches]] are behind the GroundhogDayLoop]]

* Or maybe Phil didn't commit rape and wanton murder because, you know, he had enough of a conscious to not do so? Even if history repeats, I don't think all but a sociopath would be able to do what you're describing.

* That's reading quite a bit into it, inasmuch as all of those are things one can do to oneself -- and in fact we see one of them.

While daydreaming about all the cray things Phil could do with his powers is always an interesting thought experiment, he may have found himself unable to do things which would possibly haunt him forever - shooting up the town square, rape, cold-blooded murder, killing Rita herself - if the PowersThatBe were intending for him to end up with Rita in the end they kept him from doing anything that would interfere with that end product of the loop.

*** [[BagOfSpilling Don't]] [[MoneyForNothing forget]][[MajorasMask ...]]

* That's ridiculous. [[MajorasMask Who would go to so much effort for a game?]]

** I think a loop like that would eventually drive anyone to become a psychopath, at least for a while. Sociopaths aren't just people who kill for no reason, they're people who can't comprehend that other people have a sense of self. They're completely unable to empathize. From his perspective, eventually, these people would stop seeming like people. He knows exactly what they do, what they think, who they are. They'd seem like an NPC in a video game. Mindless drones going about their set path with no deviation, always spouting the phrase and doing the same things. Phil even says at one point he's a God. I think almost anyone would eventually, after an incalculable number of years would go mad from frustration and literally do everything they can think of to break up the monotony including murder, rape and arson. Morals only hold true so long as we believe other people exist and matter. When you're the only one who can change, do something different, have an apparent sense of free will, other people simply wouldn't seem real.

In the time loop, when a day ends, the day does not disappear into nothingness. It becomes an alternate universe in which Phil exits the time loop through that day. Like the ending of the movie, when Phil exited the time loop through the day in which he is nice to everyone and lives with the consequences and results of that day, each day in the time loop has its own alternate universe in which Phil lives the results and consequences of that day. This means that there is an alternate universe where Phil promised to marry a woman he did not know, several alternate universes in which Phil has a bad relationship with Rita, several alternate universes in which Phil is dead because of suicide, and so on. None of the Phils know this though, and each Phil except for the first and true Phil has exited the time loop, and only the first and true Phil retains the knowledge he has gained from each day. Furthermore...

In another part of Punxsutawney, a Japanese transport college student by the name of [[{{Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni}} Furude Rika]] ends up getting involved in some crazy shenanigans similar to an incident in her "childhood". The ending of the time loop had nothing to do with Phil Connors learning not to be a douchebag, but because she was able to prevent her own murder after several altenate time lines and countless Groundhog Days.

** Because Phil Connors is an [[Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya Integrated Data Interface]], sent to earth to investigate the phenomenon that humans believe allows groundhogs to predict the future on a certain day of the year.

* Or maybe Phil didn't commit rape and wanton murder because, you know, he had enough of a conscious to not do so? Even if history repeats, I don't think all but a sociopath would be able to do what you're describing

** Yeah, why bother learning to race chocobos when you need to kill Sephiroth? (FinalFantasy)