The Great Deluge

*The ancients - they did something terrible, didn't they? To cause all this water. Hundreds - Hundreds of years ago!*
- Old Gregor

The **Great Deluge**, also called **The Great Flooding** and **The Warming Age**, was the events by which the planet Earth came to be almost entirely covered by ocean in the Waterworld film and wider franchise.

## Description

The film is set in approximately 2500 A.D., a few centuries after the polar ice caps have melted due to rising temperatures, and rising sea levels have flooded almost all land.

It is strongly implied that this was due to anthropogenic global warming, although there are other causes also, especially given that there is not nearly enough water frozen at the poles to raise the sea level that high.

Alternate explanations and/or contributing factors are hinted at throughout the franchise; for example it is also mentioned that there has been a reversal in the geomagnetic poles, and for some unknown reason, the moon appears to be much closer to the planet. Also, in the Waterworld comics it is explained that the planet was bombarded by water ice asteroids, increasing the amount of water on Earth.

The introductions to the video games suggest that the flooding was a relatively rapid event. The instruction manual for *Waterworld: The Quest for Dryland* gives some much deeper insights in the form of future newspaper cuttings, which indicate that the flooding only took around a century, with conflicts between the deprived atolls and the wealthy, last remaining land-based settlements.

## Gallery

### Film

North America flooding in the opening titles of the filmA *National Geographic* magazine from the time of the Great Deluge showing a rising sea on a tropical island titled "Paradise Lost"A *National Geographic* magazine from the time of the Great Deluge showing flooded buildings entitled "Wither Goes Man"Deacon and the smokers reading the *National Geographic* "Wither Goes Man"The Mariner and Helen exploring the submerged ruins of Denver
### Film script

Description of the Great Deluge in an early film script by Peter Rader, in which is it referred to as the "Warming Age"
### Comics

The Great Deluge and water ice asteroid bombardment as depicted in the Waterworld comics
### Novel

Page 184 of the novel hints at pollution and global warming as the reason of the Great Deluge
### Trading cards

Description of the Great Deluge in the trading cards
### Video games

Description of the Great Deluge in the video games (Genesis)Titles of the SNES video gameDescription of the Great Deluge in the instruction manual for *Waterworld: The Quest for Dryland*Newspaper clipping from the year 2044 (*Waterworld: The Quest for Dryland*)Newspaper clippings from 2157, 2040 and 2200 detailing the timeline of the Great Deluge (*Waterworld: The Quest for Dryland*)

## Scientific Inaccuracy and potential explanations

The writer of the film, Peter Rader, along with its director Kevin Reynolds, have both acknowledged that a world completely covered by ocean would actually be impossible. Reynolds describes it as simple post-apocalyptic fantasy, whilst Rader described it as an 'eco-fable'.

### Inaccuracies

Although the Earth has been completely covered in water in the distant past around three billion years ago, this would not actually be possible to occur again in either the present or the future due to there not being enough water to do so.

There are five million cubic miles of ice on the planet. Whilst it could certainly all melt if the climate warmed enough, according to *National Geographic* this would likely take thousands of years to melt, not centuries.

* *Of course, the cataclysm which over took the planet could have been a result of more factors than just global warming and the poles melting. In fact, this would seem to to the case. The original film script by Peter Rader describes it as being the result of "The Last Great War", whereas the comics clearly show a bombardment of ice asteroids hitting the Earth.*

It would also take longer than a few centuries for all the mutations seen in the film to emerge/evolve.

* *The 2500 A.D. figure is an approximation, and it could me much later than this date. Even if that is the case, genetic engineering is introduced as an explanation in the comics.*

If all the ice on Earth melted, it would certainly cause an ecological and humanitarian disaster - every part of low-lying land, every current island nation, not least every coastal city, would be lost to the sea. Billions would either die or be displaced. It would however not be the disaster as depicted in the Waterworld franchise - there simply would still be not enough water to cover anywhere near all the land on Earth. We know this because at times in Earth's history, it has been much warmer and ice free, but never has all land been submerged.

If all the ice on Earth melted, the oceans would rise by approximately 70 meters (230 feet). In order to cover all the land on Earth, the sea level would need to rise to the height of Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth, which is 8,849 meters (or 29,029 feet), far short of what would be needed.

* *See speculation section below.*

This would mean that Waterworld somehow has three times the amount of water from before the great deluge. If enough freshwater entered the oceans to make it rise this high, the ocean would be diluted enough to be no longer classed as saltwater, and would be suitable to drink. Also any creatures adapted to live in saltwater - most of the fish in the ocean - would die.

* *Atollers would still need to filter the seawater to remove detritus even if the salt was massively diluted. Also there could be radiation in the water - think of all the submerged nuclear power plants. With regards to the fish, it does appear as though there are a lot fewer in number, with possibly only the larger/mutated creatures left.*

### Speculation

Some fans, such as the Waterworld Lore Podcast, have proposed the cataclysm occurring through asteroid impacts increasing the amount of water on Earth. This theory is supported by the prologue in the Waterworld comic books, which reveal the planet suffered heavy ice asteroid bombardment leading up to and during the flooding.

Another theory mentioned on fan sites is that some form of technology was invented (possibly by The Foundation) pre-cataclysm to produce more water, perhaps to relieve a drought in an area with only polluted/contaminated water, but this technology vastly overperformed, went beyond the control of it's handlers, or was subject to a malicious action.

Yet others have suggested the more scientifically accurate explanation that there is still a lot of "dryland" left on Waterworld, albeit is all irradiated from nuclear fallout and incapable of sustaining life (that is, all except for the tip of Mount Everest seen at the end of the film). However, this theory is not completely compatible with what is seen in the films and comics. This theory is concurrent with the video games, however, as the rooftops of tall submerged buildings can sometimes be seen jutting just above the waterline, offering an obstacle to the Mariner's trimaran.

## References

1. ↑ The date of 2500 A.D. is not stated in the film, but is quoted in the "making of" documentary available on the DVD. It also mentioned in the production book production designer Dennis Gassner. The figure of 2500 A.D. was also mentioned on a Japanese promotion poster for the film.
2. ↑ Maelstrom: The Odyssey of Waterworld
3. ↑ https://astronomy.com/news/2020/03/ancient-earth-may-have-been-a-water-world-without-any-dry-land
4. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/mar/02/earth-may-have-been-a-water-world-3bn-years-ago-scientists-find
5. ↑ https://earthsky.org/earth/ancient-earth-water-world-global-ocean-harvard/
6. ↑ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2013/09/rising-seas-ice-melt-new-shoreline-maps/
7. ↑ https://www.amnh.org/explore/ology/earth/ask-a-scientist-about-our-environment/will-the-world-ever-be-all-under-water
8. ↑ https://www.iheart.com/podcast/256-waterworld-lore-podcast-43055568/