Time travel can be a tricky thing. For example, you could hope to change the future by altering the past, but then come to realize that going back actually contributed to creating the future you later come to know. (Is anyone's head spinning yet?) During Thursday night's Legends of Tomorrow episode "Blood Ties," Rip Hunter was unfortunately faced with that realization after facing yet another run-in with Vandal Savage. Come to find out, this isn't the first time the time master has tried to take Savage down. They battled each other over 4,000 years ago in Egypt, so when they met again in 1975, Savage recognized him and became curious as to why this man wants him dead. So, in a way, it seems as though Rip Hunter is actually responsible for his family's death, though, unintentionally, of course.
You see, if Hunter hadn't gone back in time to take revenge on Savage for killing his wife and son, then he never would've given Savage the knowledge and incentive he needed to do it. Before this, Hunter wasn't on Savage's radar, but now that he's tried to kill him (though we know only Kendra can make that permanent), he's going to want to pay back Hunter in some way. So he's going to make it his personal mission to track down and kill his family in the future. Before stabbing him, Hunter even said the names of his wife and child out loud, thereby making Savage's job all that easier.
Obviously, Hunter's intentions have been noble, but as a time master he should've realized that this could happen. It's like when that woman in The Matrix told Neo not to worry about breaking her vase, and upon hearing her say that, he looked around for a vase and that's when he ended up breaking it. Would he still have broken it if she hadn't said anything? That's hard to say, but probably not. It's the same sort of thing with what Rip Hunter's done. By trying to fix things, he's actually now become the cause, which means it's more important than ever that they find Savage again (who's apparently been spotted in 1986) and stop him before Hunter loses all hope of ever getting his family back.
Image: Cate Cameron/The CW
