The Loop

Overview

Assassin Unknown - Emoticon - Fortnite This page may contain speculation and/or fan interpretations.
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Due to the lack of official information, some info on this page may therefore be partially incorrect.

According to this, I'm stuck in a time loop. everything alive resets after 22 minutes. as does my memory.
Batman

The Loop is a pseudo-time loop of unknown origin that exists across multiple realities. Although it was formally introduced during Season X, it has been active since the very beginning of Fortnite: Battle Royale.

Versions of the Loop also exist in Reality: Unknown, an apparent divergent timeline of Reality Zero, and in Reality: 266. However, the iteration seen in Reality: 266 does not appear to include the alterations implemented by the Imagined Order. Those who are currently trapped within the Loop, or who were once confined by it, are known as "Loopers".

Loopers trapped in The Loop become pseudo-immortals; fighters who will resurrect again and again after death and never age, allowing people to live for eternity, in a similar way to the Specimen Terra according to Luminesca.[1]

Overview

Overview[]

Not much is known about The Loop in general. It existed before the Imagined Order's arrival in Reality Zero and other Realities. However the Imagined Order altered The Loop present within Reality Zero for their own experiments. Outside of any alteration, it seems to offer people inside a way to remain immortal and ressurect after being eliminated. Luminesca compare her own immortality granting flower, the Specimen Terra, to The Loop.[2] While Loopers and non-Loopers existed in separate dimensions and presents a lot of ill effects for Loopers in Reality Zero, this isn't the case in Reality: 266 where they coexist in the same place as non-Loopers and are free from effects such as memory loss.[3][4]

The Storm[]

The Storm - Gameplay - Fortnite
Defy the Storm

Defy the Storm

One of the main forces that maintains the loop is the storm, a sentient entity. If a disturbance were to happens to The Storm, The Loop would start to break down[5] as shown during The Device, when Midas attempted to push back Reality Zero's Storm using the Device which temporarily broke the Loop (this allowed the first meeting between The Looper and Agent Jones) and resulted in The Wall of Water.

Loop Iterations[]

Reality Zero's Loop[]

 getting a Victory Royale

Catwoman getting a Victory Royale

Fighting is a distraction. Best avoided.
— Batman

Reality Zero's Loop is an endless pseudo-time loop of Battle Royale, altered and managed by the Imagined Order. They kidnapped people from countless realities and put them inside. All this in order to study the fighters, their powers, their time spent in The Loop and when/how they discover how to escape. The final goal of the Imagined Order was to find the perfect organizational system, for the perfect civilization. Some Loopers who escaped The Loop were also recruited by the Imagined Order.

Every 22 minutes, The Storm would slowly closes in on the island, resetting the loop when the last person survives (if there is any). This last survivor if located at the exact center of The Storm would escape the loop[6]. Upon entrance of the Loop, inhabitants are rendered mute and their memories start to deteriorate. Despite this, the loop does not reset the environment of the Island, nor does it reset any deeper thoughts of feelings or emotions[7]. Loopers can still communicate via non-verbal means, such as how Batman communicates with Snake Eyes, enabling Batman to escape the loop[8].

Loop Control Room

Loop Control Room

In The Bridge, I.O. Loop Control room is a spherical monitor room with a massive computer named the Loop Control Computer in the middle with multiple panels. The Loop itself is controlled by a computer program named the Loop Control System,[9] when the Loop Control Computer is off, The Loop itself is offline.[10] During The Devourer of Worlds event, Tony Stark describes to The Looper, that he hacked the Loop.[11] However, the Loop had to be monitored constantly[12] or remotely controlled by the Imagined Order.[13]

Loop Effects[]

Once you're here, you're not you. You're like a snapshot of who you were.
Bunker Jonesy
  • Memory Manipulation
    • The Loop deteriorates your memory, especially your sense of identity.[14]
  • Inability to speak
  • Restricting Metahuman Abilities
    • Your special abilities are restricted due to memory loss causing you to lose knowledge of your powers.
    • Your body will be vulnerable to bullets.[18]
  • Creation of Snapshots
    • Escaping the Loop creates a Snapshot, an exact moment of a Looper once trapped inside the loop. A Snapshot is a perfect copy of a looper having the exact same appearance, abilities, memories and personality as their original self. However they tend to evolve differently than them, this is the case of Jones, Geno and Batman's Snapshots.
Outside of the Loop

Outside of the Loop[]

Outside of The Loop, or the Extra Loop, is the location a Looper ends up after escaping The Loop. All usual effects of The Loop are gone, but the escaped Looper is still trapped on the Island and unable to remember the reality they come from. This place was notably featured in Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point, as well as during Chapter 3.[19]

Extra-Loop Effects[]

  • No Language Barrier
    • Everyone will speak the same language and can understand each other.[20]
  • Memory Manipulation
    • The Extra Loop let you recover the memories of every loop you lived, but not those from before one's arrival on the Island.[20]
Weaknesses

Weaknesses[]

To prevent Reality Zero's Loop's abilities from affecting certain individuals, materials that can be used to shape new reality like The Zero Point are required to make loop shield devices. A sealed environment suit can also stop the Loop effects.

Sealed Environment[]

The Scientist (Old Featured) - Outfit - Fortnite

A sealed environment keeps The Loop's effects away,[21] but doesn't allow the user to escape The Loop, as they still need to escape The Loop through the Eye of The Storm. If the suit gets damaged, all of its effects wear off and The Loop resets the memory. Known users of this method are the members of The Seven, IO Guards and Lex Luthor.

I.O. Technology[]

Deathstroke's IO Device - Zero Point - Fortnite

The Imagined Order developed many forms of technology that allows them to enter The Loop with no memory loss. The most known one is a Portal Device, which was commonly carried by Agent Jones. If a Portal Device gets destroyed or overloaded, the user gets stuck in The Loop. A small device was also given to Deathstroke which created a small force shield around him with the same signature as The Storm, allowing him to bypass The Loop.

World Forge Visor[]

The Batman Who Laughs - Outfit - Fortnite
The Batman Who Laughs' visor made from World Forge, a type of material similar to the Zero Point. It keeps his memory and speech intact.

Reality: 266's Loop[]

Dark Voyager destroying the Battle Bus

Dark Voyager destroying the Battle Bus

Mission Log. This Reality feels familiar is so many ways. Yet something's not quite right. The Loop seems stable, at least for now. But the storm has changed. Almost like someone's been tampering with it. Maybe it's because the Zero Point's been fragmented. Who knows what kind of instabilities that might have introduced.
— The Order
Unlike the version from Reality Zero, Reality: 266's Loop does not present any particular negative effects for Loopers. This iteration of The Loop appears to be identical/equivalent in every way to the Extra-Loop present in Reality Zero. People are free and live a civilized life, without resets every 22 minutes or loss of memories / ability to speak.[22] However, The Storm is indeed present. Although the natural effects of this Storm are unknown in this reality, The Dark Voyager altered it as noted by The Order, resulting in the alterations of the Storm Circles, now taking various other forms. Loopers in this version of The Loop are no longer separated and instead roam around non-Loopers.[23][24]

Timeline

Timeline[]

Before Chapter 1[]

According to Bunker Jonesy, The Imagined Order started various experiments with The Zero Point, One of the experiments was to send Agent Jones into the Zero Point to see what will happens.

Season 4[]

In Season 4, The Visitor, a member of the mysterious Seven makes his way onto the Island via a meteor crash, and nearing the end of the season attempts to escape it using a rocket, in the Blast Off event. However, during this attempt, the rocket creates several rifts in the sky, causing a sideways rift between reality, a Sideways Rift. One of the results of this is a person from the real world, named Drift, being inducted into the loop.

Season X[]

After the events of The Final Showdown event, the Zero Point is left exposed, and creates another bridge between realities. This time however, it brings another member of The Seven, named The Scientist. Initially arriving outside The Loop, The Scientist escaped from the meteor and began building Rift Beacons, in order to open several rifts in the sky in order to bring the otger members of The Seven for their plan: to contain The Zero Point. AFter all the rifts were opened, The Scientist began working on another rocket, but realize that to trigger his device, he needed to be inside The Loop. The Scientist decided to record tapes, in order for him to remember what he has to do once inside The Loop if he ever loses his memory. These tapes detail some of the effects of the Loop for the first time explicitly. The Scientist succeeds, and launches a rocket alongside several unknown members of the Seven, and along with them collide The Meteor with the zero point in order to contain it's explosion. While initially a success, interference from people outside The Loop that was not calculated caused the Zero Point to become a black hole.

Chapter 2: Season 1[]

After the result of the End event, Athena was converted into two new Island, Apollo and Artemis. As The Bridge was intact, the Imagined Order could restart The Loop once again, however they contracted E.G.O. to map the new Island.

Chapter 2: Season 2[]

The Device Activated - The Device - Fortnite

In this season, Midas first appears on the island and begins to build a device which harnesses the power of the Zero Point to push back the storm. This is unsuccessful, and instead a Wall of Water is created, flooding the entire island. The Storm being connected to the Loop was first revealed here, and this one was temporarily broken. As a result of this, The player is continuously transported to a mysterious office, and a familiar face interacts with the player, showing surprise that they can understand him as they came from outside the loop. John Jones is the man present, and he is the first person aside from the Scientist to be audible.

Chapter 2: Season 3[]

Nexus War: Thor

In Chapter 2: Season 3, Thor is transported to the island to warn the inhabitants of Galactus' arrival, but begins to lose his memories and voice. However, after briefly remembering why he was here, he quickly brings other Marvel characters to island, and in particular, Tony Stark.

Chapter 2: Season 4[]

After arriving on the island, all the Marvel heroes and villains began to lose their memories. Later, they all escaped the loop, under unknown circumstances, with Iron Man seemingly being one of the firsts. Throughout the season, he constructs a Stark Industries lab and works on a plan to stop Galactus from absorbing the Zero Point. During the The Devourer of Worlds event, with the players help, Tony Stark manages to send Galactus far away from the Island, but the Zero Point was left exposed. During the event, Tony Stark mentions having 'hacked' the loop and made a few million clones of Battle Buses, aiding to his ability to communicate with the player, as with other members of Thor's crew.

Chapter 2: Season 5[]

John Jones is tasked by Doctor Slone to stabilize The Zero Point, reseal The Bridge, and make sure nobody escapes The Loop. Despite this he goes back into the Loop to recruit various hunters from different Realities to help him make sure nobody escapes. Bunker Jonesy reveal to The Looper tehre is a way to get out of The Loop during a conversation they had. During several quests, he gave them clue related to The Storm.

Chapter 2: Season 6[]

Zero Point Trapping scene 1 - Fortnite

In the Zero Crisis Finale, Agent Jones disregards Doctor Slone's orders to escape and to not collaborate with The Seven to reseal the now vulnerable Zero Point. With the help of The Foundation, he is able to reseal the Zero Point (if only temporarily), but as a consequence is now inside of The Loop himself. During Spire Quests, The Looper learns that, like all the other Jonesy snapshots, Bunker Jonesy ended up losing his memory, but it was by being locked up in the Bunker for "decades, if not centuries" that he finally regained his memory and that he understood that once in the loop, we are only a snapshot of the person that we are and therefore that he is not "the real" Jonesy.

Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point[]

Batman entered the loop through a huge rift in the sky. He figures out how the loop works by creating a shack and filling it with items from the each loop, and they always stay there meaning with the loop, locations with changes don't get looped and destroyed or back to how it was. He also finds out how to escape the loop, he later escapes and find out there's an extra layer of the Loop.

At the end of Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point Issue 2, Catwoman escaped from the Loop thanks to the help of Batman, it would apparently require being in the center of the Storm and killing the last survivor by himself (the last survivor must not die of the Storm).

In Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point Issue 3, Batman successfully escapes the Loop and enters the Extra-Loop with the help of Snake Eyes but is confronted by Deathstroke who is holding Catwoman hostage.

In Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point Issue 6, Batman and Catwoman successfully escapes the island and regain all of their memories.

Chapter 2: Season 7[]

The Bridge Loop Control room was revealed in Impostors mode. A spherical room with large computers. It utilizes Cube monolith panels which are used to control the Loop.

Chapter 2: Season 8[]

A certain cosmic metal from World Forge made The Batman Who Laughs immune to the Loop's memory resets, so he enters it and goes on killing spree.

Chapter 3: Season 1[]

Reality Zero was flipped and Apollo was replaced by Artemis, an island inhabited by the Seven and the Loopers that they freed from the Loop. With the partial destruction of The Bridge the conditions of the Loop are unknown.

Chapter 3: Season 3[]

After the defeat of the Imagined Order and the destruction of The Bridge, the Loop is no longer under the I.O.'s heavy protection and control, meaning that the Loopers are now free. The Seven look for a way to bring everyone home while researching the Reality Tree, but things don't go as planned due to a new and mysterious threat. At this period, the Loop's status is unknown.

Chapter 3: Season 4[]

Fracture[]

As The Herald destroyed Reality Zero, and therefore The Loop along with it.

Chapter 4[]

After the annihilation of Apollo and Artemis, and the creation of Asteria as the new Reality Zero, all the people who have been brought into Asteria now simply live on the Island without being trapped inside The Loop. As the Zero Point is later revealed to be petrified and unusable, that The Loop System is absent as the Imagined Order was no longer here to recreate it and manage the Loop and that Paradigm recovered the Loop Breaker project files for her plan, it's suggested that The Loop wasn't recreated in the new Reality Zero.

Chapter 5[]

As Jones created Helios and plenty of realities by generating a new Big Bang in the past, Asteria's inhabitants fled their dying reality and ended in a completely new reality. Just like the previous chapter, the inhabitants aren't trapped in The Loop and simply live their lives and can be killed.[25]

Chapter Seven: Season 1[]

The Order confirmed the existence of The Loop within Reality: 266. However, it was widely shown it was completely different from Reality Zero's version, as the Imagined Order didn't temper with its effects, leaving Loopers completely free and not forcing them to fight. However, The Order also noted that The Storm has "changed", which she suspects is either due to the shattering of the Zero Point or someone tempering with it.

Gallery

Gallery[]

Trivia

Trivia[]

  • Zero War writer Christos Gage answered a question on Twitter about why The Storm was still present (in-game) after the defeat of the Imagined Order: "That seems to suggest that The Loop is not something created or maintained by the Imagined Order, but rather something inherent to the Island, don't you think? (Though the Order seems to like dropping people onto it)" — suggesting the Imagined Order never created The Loop.
    • Reality: 266's version of The Loop confirms that the Imagined Order never created The Loop, but its notable differences suggest they heavily altered the original function of The Loop.
    • This statement was reinforced during Chapter 2: Season 8, which revealed that The Storm was tied to The Last Reality, helping to give birth to new cubes,[26] during the Birth of Corruption Cubes mini-events.
  • Reality Zero's Loop was heavily altered by the Imagined Order, in the following ways:
    • Impostors mode revealed Reality Zero's Loop was controlled by a computer within The Bridge.[9][10] It also revealed that the Imagined Order could put The Loop "offline".[27]
  • During The Devourer of Worlds, Iron Man revealed he was able to hack Reality Zero's Loop itself:[31]
  • In Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point Issue 1, Batman deduced from The Storm's movements that it was remotely controlled by someone with access to an immense amount of energy:[32]. The Device Event confirms this, as when Midas managed to break the shield that allowed control of The Storm, it became unstable and revealed its sentient nature.
    • To this day, it is still unclear whether it was controlled by the Imagined Order or something else.
  • In Batman/Fortnite: Foundation, The Foundation confirmed that The Seven seek to destroy The Loop.[33]
  • From Chapter 4 until Chapter 7 Season 1, The Loop itself was never mentioned.
    • However, during Chapter 5, all people who arrived on Reality: UN-88 were still called Loopers, whereas newcomers such as gods, Wasteland Warriors, and native inhabitants of Helios were never referred to as such.
  • During the Chapter 7: Season 1 trailer, a strange message likely coming from The Last Reality revealed they had created a "simulation" with a total time run across all iterations being 1.06 * 10^11 years. That simulation was used for a "training and learning phase".
    • It is theorized/suggested that this simulation was actually all iterations of The Loop, in all Realities featuring one.
References

References[]

  1. Perfected Nature Quest Pack
  2. Perfected Nature Quests
  3. Chapter 7: Season 1 Story Quests/Chapter 7: Season 1 Weekly Highlights Quests
  4. | Undesirable DNA Detected: Looped Combatant
  5. The Device (event)
  6. Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point Issue 2
  7. "While a realize it's impossible to wipe out a subject's emotional memories as decisively as their conscious memory, perhaps your department can adjust the settings ?"-An agent of Loop Observation department to PsyOps department
  8. Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point Issue 3
  9. 9.0 9.1 Impostors mode Task: Loop Control System Reset, Restart the Loop Control Computer
  10. 10.0 10.1 Impostors mode Task: Loop Offline, restart the Loop System
  11. "I hacked your time loop thingy" -Tony Stark during The Devourer of Worlds
  12. Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point Issue 3 reveal the existence of Loop Observation department whose mission was to observe what was happening in The Loop and report to other departments
  13. Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point Issue 3 reveal the existence of PsyOps department, whose mission was to erase the memories of the Loopers
  14. Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point In the Loop, Batman slowly loses his ability to identify himself and his memories, eventually relying on pure emotions to side with Catwoman.
  15. [[Bunker Jonesy#Character
  16. Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point Issue 6
  17. During conversations with characters, such as Bunker Jonesy during Chapter 2: Season 5, The Looper is shown to be able to talk.
  18. Lexa#Quest Dialogue Dialogue from Lexa ponders the question as to why everyone is so vulnerable to bullets. Characters such as Superman are canonically immune, but can be eliminated within the loop.
  19. |Chapter 3 Blogpost reveal that Artemis (Extra Loop) was the home of The Seven and of all the Loopers they freed, with all Characters being stated as former Loopers
  20. 20.0 20.1 Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point
  21. Batman/Fortnite: Foundation
  22. Fortnite Battle Royale Chapter Seven: Pacific Break | Cinematic Trailer]
  23. Chapter 7: Season 1 Story Quests/Chapter 7: Season 1 Weekly Highlights Quests
  24. | Undesirable DNA Detected: Looped Combatant
  25. Chapter 5: Season 2 Story Quests
  26. Birth of Corruption Cubes event
  27. Impostors mode task at Loop Control System: Loop offline
  28. The Bridge's Factory
  29. "INTEROFFICE MEMO
    FROM: Loop Observation
    TO: PsyOps
    SUBJECT: I'm worried about the Batman
    [...] while I realize it's impossible to wipe a subject's emotional memory as decisively as their conscious memory, perhaps your departments can adjust the settings ?" -Unknown Loop observation division Agent to PsyOps division.
  30. "INTEROFFICE MEMO
    FROM: Loop Observation
    TO: Aqcuisition
    SUBJECT: Thanks you!
    Just writting to express my appreciation for moving so fast [...] I can admit I harbored some doubts it would work. Asset: Batman has knocked down everyone and everything we've thrown at him."
  31. "Okay, so I took the liberty of tinkering with your reality a bit. It's really no big deal, you can thank me later. I hacked your time loop thingy, made a few billion Battle Bus clones, and then turned them all into very powerful bombs." -Tony Stark during The Devourer of Worlds
  32. "Odd. The Storm is still raging, but it seems to have stopped moving. Nothing natural behaves that way. The only thing worse than the thought that it's externally controlled...is the level of power it would take to do that
  33. "I lead a group, The Seven. Our goal is to stop the Order, liberate the Zero Point and destroy The Loop. Do you know what that is ?" -The Foundation to Batman in Batman/Fortnite: Foundation
  34. "Ask Jones about the Loop Breaker project. He thinks it's confidential. It's not." -The Paradigm during Paradise Quests