[Time Paradox]Ash in Necronomicon in Evil Dead 2?

patmur2010

patmur2010

Primitive Screwhead
Joined
Jun 29, 2015
Just watched Evil Dead 2 on my bluray 25th anniversary addition and noticed something odd in the loose pages of the Necronomicon...Ash.  Well, this seems to be a time paradox since ash hasn't gone back in time yet.  I didn't see this discussed anywhere online but what do you think? I am going to track down the frame from the move to confirm this.

(update) Confirmed, see attachment.

:huh:

patmur2010

edit: I added a hyperlink below because I don't think the photos were attaching.

Screenshot
 
Hi, and welcome to the board!

That's actually intentional, and part and parcel of the movie-long joke about Ash (and Annie) not knowing he's the Promised One ("He didn't do a very good job!" etc).   The Wiseman in AOD knows Ash is the Hero from the Sky on sight because of that drawing in the book, and the prophets even knowing of Ash's existence tacks into the movie's tendency to play with time travel and prophecy.  It's not explained how the Ancient Ones knew what Ash looked like, but I chalk it up to the loose mysticism of the narrative!  :cool:

Fun fact: the reason why Ash's pants are white in the artwork is because Bruce showed up to take reference photos for Tom Sullivan in the wrong clothes:

ed2_photo_039.jpg

(Thanks to EvilDeadChainsaws for the pic!)
 
To expand even more on the topic, everything that happens in AOD has technically already happened when The Evil Dead starts.  It happened even before Ash was technically born in canon.   Time Paradox fever, everyone!
 
To expand even further, in AoD Sheila becomes pregnant and has a son from Ash, and that son's great, great, great, great, great (many greats later) great, great, greeeeaat grandson is Ash's father  :P
 
Is that game canon or is it canon in some comics continuity crevice I haven't gotten to yet?  I know in Poker Night 2 Continuity Brock Samson is Ash and Sheila's great-great-great etc. grandson, but I don't think that touches official canon because Bruce, Sam and Rob weren't consulted on the project.
 
Nah, it isn't canon anywhere. I was just having some fun.

Still, it's interesting to think about where they could take such an idea.
 
:D  I was wondering if that was a joke. Shows how sprawling the expanded and side canons are, those could definitely be a part of it (And you're right, it'd make a fun side story)!
 
Here's an alternate theory, instead of assuming there's a time paradox:​

Timeline 1, 1981: At the end of Evil Dead 1, Ash burns the book and in a last ditch effort to save itself, the "Evil" rushes at Ash as it's dying and hurls him back in time. He defeats it again and time progresses to...

Timeline 2, 1987: This time, Ash is already established as the hero who defeats the book because of Ash being hurled back in time in Evil Dead 1. The events of Evil Dead 2 take place, with Ash, the chosen one, ending up repeating the most crucial events in the first timeline, albeit differently. This time Ash is the one attempting to send the book back in time, but he sends himself along with it. Eventually, Ash finds his way back to modern times and lives as a recluse until the events of Ash vs. Evil Dead.

Timeline 3: The Army of Darkness timeline branches off of Timeline 2, meaning MOST of Evil Dead 2 happened (with a different Linda), but there is less emphasis on other people from Evil Dead 2 (Annie Knowby not mentioned at all). Ash eventually gets sucked into the portal and comes out at a different medieval castle than the one at the end of Evil Dead 2, the castle of Lord Arthur. The events of Army of Darkness take place and Ash eventually returns to his own time. This Timeline lends its canon to the Dynamite comics. Indeed, characters like Annie Knowby generally aren't referenced in any meaningful way in other comics and games bearing the "Army of Darkness" name, while games like Evil Dead: Fistful of Boomstick and Evil Dead: Regeneration do reference these other characters by name. I'm certain this has more to do with copyright than anything else, but that's all the more proof that these characters are not considered "Canon" in the Army of Darkness continuity.

Ash vs. Evil Dead contains references to all three of these timelines, though, and I think we can probably assume that (with the exception of non-canon video games and comics) the continuities have all been merged, due to Bruce referencing spending the night with "some friends" at a cabin, and not just his girlfriend (meaning the events of Evil Dead 1 are canon now), and due to Bruce not having his hand OR any prosthetic (Evil Dead 2) and of course, his use of the word "Boomstick" (Army of Darkness).

So the timelines have converged for the new show! Anyway, that's my time paradox explanation. It's probably completely BS, but I think it's unique and explains everything better than any other theory I've come across without reaching too much.
 
The idea that Ash got.thrown back at the end of tED rather than getting killed or possessed, then took part in ED2 with just Linda at the start is an interesting theory I've never come across before.

I don't agree with it, as I don't think the Force / KandarIan demons* have that kind of power. And I guess in this scenario Ash's memory got reset too, but allowing a residue of his original experiences to make him more of a fighter this time?

Too complicated, I think. But an interesting idea.
 
I don't think the Force / KandarIan demons* have that kind of power.
Click to expand...

Isn't Evil Dead 2 proof that the Kandarian demons DO have the power to travel in time? Doesn't the passage they read evoke the demonic powers to send themselves back? The passages are certainly very related to the demons because the first one spoken in Evil Dead 2 at the end causes them to manifest physically against their will. This is evocation magic rather than invocation. The very next spell forces them to open a portal and go back in time. If the magic DOESN'T come from the Demons or the evil book itself, then where does it come from? It seems that the demons are forced to do these things against their will. For an example of this theory of magic in the real world, read The Lesser Key of Solomon, on which much of the idea behind the Necronomicon is based.

I think there is no question that the book/demons HAVE the power to send Ash back in time. Normally the spell wouldn't have sent them back in time either. It only worked because of the physical manifestation spell that was done first. In Evil Dead 1, by sending Ash (and maybe itself) back in time the Evil Force gave itself another chance to survive, or at the very least some semblance of vengeance, forcing him to die alone, out of his time, in obscurity (or so it thought).

BY THE WAY EVERYONE: The theory he's referring to was the last post on the previous page. Please read it as I think I might be onto something!
 
It's an interesting theory; the new series is supposed to knit everything together into a single timeline but I'm perfectly okay with it making no linear sense at this point.  Leave me my favorite corner of continuity and I won't complain (much).

Annie is, by the way, mentioned and is a boss character in Deadite form in Hail to the King, it's worth noting - that and .

SPOILERS

Ash vs ED Ash has a wooden prosthetic going on, and doesn't have his gauntlet because of Right Issues Stuff.  Sam and Bruce strongly hinted during the ComicCon panel that he's going to build a new one that'll avoid likeness issues.
 
Hail to the King is an Evil Dead game, not an Army of Darkness game. Annie Knowby is also referenced in Evil Dead: Regeneration. She is also the main character of the currently ongoing official sequel comic to Evil Dead 2 called "Beyond Dead by Dawn".

I get that there are rights issues but to me that strengthens the case of there being multiple continuities.
 
I'm aware of Annie being in the comic, yep.
 
Sorry, I thought you misunderstood something I said. When you pointed out that Annie was a boss in Evil Dead: Hail to the King, I thought that meant you didn't get that I was saying Annie only appears in Evil Dead properties, NOT Army of Darkness.
 
It's all good!
 
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