Star Trek Discovery speculation (SPOILER ALERT!)

Yesterday, before falling asleep I realised some things related to events in the second season of Discovery. Especially the events from the latest episode have lead me to develop this theory as to where Discovery is heading - and perhaps even what the prime timeline of all Trek actually is.
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If you haven't seen season two of Discovery or some episodes in that season yet, be warned: this thread may contain spoilers.

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So, first of all, some observations and reiterations of important facts, especially those concerning three or four people:

- Michael's mother has tried to save the galaxy numerous times.
- She did so by appearing as the Red Angel, guiding both Michael and Spock and eventually USS Discovery.


- Michael herself is thought to be responsible for creating the signals.

- Both Michael and Pike have accepted their fate by taking the time crystals.


What I make of this is that by actually taking the crystals, Pike and Michael have already failed in saving all sentient life. This timeline is doomed until a next effort can be made to set things right.

Why? Because it was Michael (or at least this is assumed) who created the signals: so it was she who brought the crew to Terralysium, to Kaminar and, most importantly, to Boreth. If this is true, then it is Michael who sealed Pike's fate by 'forcing' him to take the crystal, and it was also Michael who apparently caused the deaths of most of Discovery's crew as this event was shown to her (and at least part of those same events to Reno) when she moved that same crystal.

If Discovery's crew is killed and Michael is caught by Control (or if Discovery ends up in the far future as we've already seen in one of the shorts, with most of the crew gone / 'missing' and Michael somehow escaping) then this would explain why there is a Michael somewhere far in the future sending signals to make this all happen again.

It could be either a 'Control-led' Michael wanting to ensure that things play out as they did - or it could be the human version of Michael who knows that her mother/Discovery's crew did not succeed in destroying the Sphere's data. If the latter is true, then she could actually be guiding Discovery such that while they won't succeed in their mission, they can at least ensure that Michael herself ends up in the far future so that she can keep sending these signals and start the whole thing again somehow.


Regardless of which of the two is true, it appears that some kind of temporal loop is maintained because failure (or from the perspective of 'Control-led Michael', success) is indeed inevitable.


Before moving on to the implications, let me explain why I think this theory makes sense:

- First of all, it explains how we ended up already being in a temporal loop (as this seems to be given, considering how Michael's mother has failed often already).
- Second, it explains the dynamics between Michael and her mother. Michael's mother knows nothing (or claims to know nothing) about the signals. If Michael indeed only started sending these signals after ending up at some point in the far-far future, so after her mother has failed and gets sucked back to somewhere in the far-future (as we saw happening in a previous episode) then Michael knows that her mother's plan has failed, and that all she can do is trying to keep the loop running. But she would only come to this conclusion after all else has fails, so after having any possibility of informing her mother. Basically, she is trying to complete her mother's work - or rather, endlessly providing another opportunity to her to complete it, or to let her mother try and get Discovery to complete it. Or, as explained above, it could be a Control-version of her working against her mother. Either way, it explains why her mother knows nothing about the signals.

As far as I can see it, there are two (minor) problems with this theory.

First, how does Michael/Control-led Michael restart the loop? This is a major thing that needs explanation, but I'm sure there is some way to fill it up. Second, the presence of Spock on the Discovery would be problematic as we know he should be on the Enterprise for many years after these events. Perhaps he simply leaves Discovery before it gets sucked to the future though, that's still something that could happen in the next episode in many ways - all that is required of him to uphold the theory is that he is not on board Discovery.



Now, to move on to the implications, which are perhaps the most fascinating - as in truly fascinating, not just eyebrow-lifting-fascinating.

What this theory would imply, is that the entire Trek universe and all canon - including all other series and events therein - are part of one big loop. Of course, events such as those in TNG or DS9 are, in principle, largely independent of what happened in Discovery. But they are endlessly repeated because of Michael getting sucked to the future, her sending the signals so that that happens, and all life eventually being destroyed and the whole process starting again somehow (the one big unknown as explained just above).

A further implication is then that, if somehow the loop were broken and we don't end up with an universe where all life is destroyed and either Michael or Control-led Michael is restarting the whole thing to either prevent that outcome or to have it happen, all canon can basically be rewritten. Or at least, all canon after Michael and Spock seeing the red angel for the first time. Enterprise (the series, that is) and events such as First Contact would likely be unaffected if no changes to the 23xx-years part of those events are made.

The possibilities are endless, but an interesting one especially relevant to the things described here, could be that Pike will eventually somehow not take the crystal so as to ensure that Michael cannot take it later on (the event that will cause her, perhaps unknowningly, to accept the deaths of the crew and, likely, her being captured or having to escape from Leland/Control). This could then mean that Pike gets a completely different life story.