How could Louise tell this to the Chinese General?

How could Louise tell this to the Chinese General? - Cooked Food on White Ceramic Plate

How could Louise be able to tell the Chinese General his wife's last words on the phone in the present while he told her that in the future?



Best Answer

(Unmasked spoilers, for those who care)

This is a fairly pivotal plot point in the movie - learning the Heptapod language somehow gives you the ability to see the future - in the form of memories that haven't happened yet. It "changes the way you experience time."

The basis for how the language works is not clearly explained. Louise says something about how "learning a new language affects the way you think." This is true from a certain point of view - as a simple example, in English you "make a decision" but in French you "take a decision." People who speak French might think of decisions as possessions, while people who speak English think of them as actions. The Heptapod language is obviously an exaggerated case - changing the way you think to the point that you can experience time in a non-linear fashion.

So, as Louise was learning the Heptapod language by communicating with them, she was slowly beginning to have memories of the future. It started in her dreams - mainly of her yet unborn daughter - but at the climax of the movie, she "remembered" the conversation she had (will have) with the general in the future while she was on the phone with him in the present, thus allowing her to convince him to stand down his attack.




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What did Louise say to General Shang in Chinese?

The director opted to revel in the mystery. The writer wasn't as keen on keeping it a secret, and was happy to divulge. As he told the audience at Fantastic Fest, the line translates to: "In war there are no winners, only widows." "I worked so hard on the dialogue in Mandarin for Denis," Heisserer wrote on Reddit.

What did Louise tell the Chinese general?

Louise then persuades Shang to call off his attack in the \u201cpresent\u201d by telling him what his wife's dying words were and thus proving to him that the aliens' language has taught her how to time-travel.

What did Louise say to General Shang Reddit?

When Louise was trying to stop the attack on the spacecraft, she called General Shang's personal phone number to tell him his wife's dying words, which she "remembered" from the future. This seems like a Bootstrap Paradox, although there really isn't time travel involved.



Ending of Arrival Explained (General Shang Paradox)




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Images: ROMAN ODINTSOV, Eric, Miguel Á. Padriñán, NEOSiAM 2021