Previous
Stable Era
Whenever Trisolaris is not in a Stable Era, it is plunged into another Chaotic Era. Some Chaotic Eras are incredibly cold, because none of the three suns is close enough to Trisolaris to provide any warmth; some are incredibly hot, as two or more suns enter the Trisolaran orbit. During Chaotic Eras, the population of Trisolaris dehydrates, and the planet turns into a frozen wasteland or a scorched desert. As Follower (a character in the Three-Body game) puts it, living in a Chaotic Era is like “walking through hell.”
Chaotic Era Quotes in The Three-Body Problem
The The Three-Body Problem quotes below are all either spoken by Chaotic Era or refer to Chaotic Era. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 7
Quotes
King Wen now pointed at Wang, his eyes sparkling. “Now you know the goal of this game: to use our intellect and understanding to analyze all phenomena until we can know the pattern of the sun's movement. The survival of civilization depends on it.”
“Based on my observations, there is no pattern to the sun’s movement at all.”
“That's because you do not understand the fundamental nature of the world.”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11
Quotes
“The Stable Era will continue. The universe is a machine. I created this machine. The Stable Era will continue. The universe…”
Wang turned his head. The voice belonged to Mozi, who was already on fire. His body was encased within a column of tall, orange flame, and his skin crinkled and turned into charcoal. But his two eyes still shone with a light that was distinct from the fire consuming him. His two hands, already burning pieces of charcoal, held up the cloud of swirling ashes that had once been his calendar.
Get the entire The Three-Body Problem LitChart as a printable PDF.
Chaotic Era Term Timeline in The Three-Body Problem
The timeline below shows where the term Chaotic Era appears in The Three-Body Problem. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7. Three Body: King Wen of Zhou and the Long Night
...by this idea, as he reminds Wang that they are “in the midst of a Chaotic Era .” Follower complains of being unbearably cold, and Wang assures him that he will get...
(full context)
...shade behind a rock to avoid being burned alive. Follower declares that living in a Chaotic Era is like “walking through hell,” and King Wen decides that the only option is to...
(full context)
As Wen predicted, a Stable Era has begun. Wen explains that during a Chaotic Era , all of humanity is dehydrated; during a Stable Era, they rehydrate and return to...
(full context)
...thick walls of King Zhou’s palace, explaining that these walls allow him to survive the Chaotic Eras , when all of the other citizens are dehydrated.
(full context)
...claimed, society could tame the sun and make it appear at regular intervals. However, the Chaotic Eras returned—and to punish Fu Xi for being wrong, Zhou orders him to jump into the...
(full context)
Chapter 8. Ye Wenjie
Though Wang logs off, he cannot stop thinking about the Chaotic Era . He reflects on a day in school, when he learned about information theory. To...
(full context)
Chapter 11. Three Body: Mozi and the Fiery Flames
...as Mozi. Mozi explains that no civilization has been able to survive the onslaught of Chaotic Eras , but that Civilization Number 139 progressed all the way through to the Steam Age....
(full context)
Chapter 15. Three Body: Copernicus, Universal Football, and Tri-Solar Day
...close, its gravitational pull disrupts the game planet’s steady orbit and sends it into a Chaotic Era . In other words, Wang says, “this is a football game at the scale of...
(full context)
Chapter 19. Three Body: Einstein, the Pendulum Monument, and the Great Rip
...evolved to such an advanced state that it should be able to protect itself against Chaotic Eras ; after all, this version of Trisolaris has computers and knowledge of the atomic bomb....
(full context)
Chapter 32. Trisolaris: The Listener
...were lonely; though the listening booths kept them safe from many of the dangers of Chaotic Eras , the listeners could not leave during Stable Eras, either, so they were denied the...
(full context)
One night, during a Chaotic Era , the listener at Post 1379 was contemplating the incredible loneliness of the universe. All...
(full context)
...society viewed most emotions as a form of weakness. All of the many civilizations and Chaotic Eras had taught the Trisolarans that only “calmness and numbness” were useful in the fight for...
(full context)
Chapter 33. Trisolaris: Sophon
...meeting of the Trisolaran government at the Pendulum monument. Through the freezing cold of a Chaotic Era , the princeps shut off the pendulum; since the pendulum had been designed to hypnotize...
(full context)
