Fantasy Invention, with the Ability for the Most Positive Impact

Srinidhi Polkampally, Opinions Editor

I am enchanted by elements of fantasy and fiction. With books such as the Harry Potter and the Percy Jackson series that defined much of my younger childhood, I have come to adore fantasy stories that pushed me past my wildest imagination. Movies such as Star Wars and Avatar also aided in my drive to constantly adore anything past the normality and the regularity of Earth. As I read thought about these stories, I began to wonder about the effects of some odd, mystical, out of this world fantasy inventions. Would any of them have positive impacts on this world? Although many inventions come to mind, I would choose the time turner from the Harry Potter series to have the most benefit. The time turner is first seen in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, when Hermione and Harry save Sirius Black. With the potential to turn back time and fix careless errors, the time turner could be of enormous importance. Leaders of the world can use time turners in a systematic and organized manner, to mend, or even prevent events in the past (note: only leaders without an impulsive angry temperament to tweet their rants and tantrums every hour).

The one catch with time turners is that when one travels to their past, they cannot be seen by their past selves. Imagine if Neville Chamberlain, when he was alive, had the opportunity to use the time turner and wanted to mend his mistake in signing the appeasement deal with Hitler. Say Chamberlain decided to stop his past self from signing the Munich Pact and used the time turner to barge into his meeting with Hitler. What would have been the effect? The past Chamberlain, along with Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and anyone else in the meeting would have been shocked past their minds and slowly begun to lose their sanity. Although that probably would have had a better impact than the Munich appeasement did, it is not the desired effect. Playing with time is dangerous. Therefore, events of the execution must be deliberately and carefully planned. Suppose, Chamberlain could have a meeting with the other leaders in the Allies and maybe plan a way that could prevent Hitler’s victory in the German elections or even to the moment in World War I, when Hitler was held at gunpoint and the soldier showed him mercy. If Hitler was killed that day, maybe World War II would not have occurred, or at least to the extent that it did. For this reason, keeping both the advantages and limitations in mind, I truly do believe that time turners could have the most positive impact in the world out of the other fantasy inventions.