Creative Speculation.

I dunno what to call this, but I’m putting it out there - probably the most outlandish theory out there, but I think it would be cool.

Morty is Rick’s father.

Poor attempt at explaining this coming up:

Time travel

So firstly, Rick doesn’t respect time travel. He’s said it a number of times, and yet he’s got that “time travel stuff” box in his garage. Logically, it means he attempted it, or he’s done it, and something went wrong.

The Central Finite Curve.

According to Evil Morty: “Do you know what the Central Finite Curve is? They build a wall around infinity. They separated all the infinite universes from all the infinite universes where he's the smartest man in the universe.”

As we know, Morty destroyed it when he escaped it.

Evil Morty

As we know, there are all sorts of Ricks and Mortys. We’ve seen a Doofus Rick, Tall “Morty”, and a variety of others.

What we didn’t see is a Smart Morty (other than Evil Morty) - who we know stole the memories from Ricks and killed them - which makes me believe that, at the very least, “Evil” Morty has Rick-level intelligence through stolen memory. He has the knowledge to do everything that Rick has done.

He knows the secret of the Time Travel Stuff box, too.

Morty isn’t a dumbass.

S1 EP 1 (Pilot) - “Morty's a gifted child. He has a special mind. That's why he's my little helper. He's like me. He's gonna be doing great science stuff later in his life.”

S1EP 10 - “A Cocky Morty Can Lead to Some Big Problems. When Rick said that, he said to Morty, "I'll explain when you're older."

And he nods to Morty’s intelligence several times throughout the series.

Okay, I think that’s enough groundwork. So here are my thoughts.

Okay, so, for the purpose of this explanation - I will be referring to our Rick and Morty (the main ones) and Rick C-137 and Morty C-137, and the original Rick C-137 as Rick Prime.

We know Rick Prime killed Rick C-137’s Beth and Diane. Rick C-137 went on a murder spree, built the Citadel, and then settled into the C-137 universe, hoping to find and kill Rick Prime.

Throughout their misadventures, we see a lot of nods to time travel and control of time, etc. In the episode Rattlestar Ricklactica, Rick invents snake time travel to fix the issue.

Given the presence of the Time Travel Stuff box in Rick’s garage since episode 1, it is safe to assume Rick has already done or experimented with time travel, meaning Evil Morty has said information.

Rick C-137 seems to be the only Rick whose Beth and Diane were murdered - every other Rick just abandoned them in the pursuit of science - needless to say, she’s got daddy issues.

In the episode Auto Erotic Assimilation, When Rick organises a stadium filled with redheads and an audience of every person who remotely resembles his father, we get a glimpse into his psyche. It’s clear he has some unresolved daddy issues, too.

We all know the cycle - the abused becomes the abuser. Given that, we can assume that Beth and Rick share similar daddy issues—particularly abandonment and a toxic relationship that doesn’t reward emotion or vulnerability.

Dr. Wong: “…I think it's possible that you and your father have a very specific dynamic. I don't think it's one that rewards emotion or vulnerability. I think it may punish them. I think it's possible that dynamic eroded your marriage and is infecting your kids with a tendency to misdirect their feelings.”

Fast forward to the final episode of Season 5, Evil Morty destroys the central finite curve, unlocking the true multiverse and escaping into a life without Rick, but he has all of Rick’s knowledge and experiences.

Okay, so here’s the plot then:

I believe that in that reality, Evil Morty goes out in search of some kind of normal life. Perhaps he heals from the trauma of his previous life - maybe even makes peace with his past relationship with Rick - and even grows to love, understand and sympathise with Rick.

Drawing on his knowledge of the universe from his experiences, Morty builds a successful career in science as an inventor, like his grandfather, inventing things well beyond what people may have thought capable.

Somewhere there, he invents time travel for some reason or another - perhaps to go stop Rick from ever building the central finite curve - or to free more Morty’s from their Ricks - who knows… either way, he does this and gets trapped in the past.

After unsuccessfully fighting to find his way back to the present, he gives up, settles down with a cute blond, starts a family, and has a son named after his grandfather.

As the years go by, he sees his son has a particular affinity toward science and slowly realises this kid may be Rick - and he distances himself from the kid. Torn between love for his son and the possibility that his son may be his grandfather - they develop a toxic relationship that doesn’t reward emotion or vulnerability.

In his adulthood, he’s become completely estranged from his father - other than sharing a knack for science. One day, Rick discovers his father’s time travel theories, fucks around, and finds out that his father was indeed a time traveller from the future.

Messing around with that, Rick ends up going back to the future, where he discovers his father is his grandson - and it completely destroys any notions he had of family being important.

In disbelief, Rick goes out and develops inter-dimensional travel to see if this is the case. With every version of himself finding out this is the truth, he empowers every Rick with inter-dimensional travel to live a life without consequences because nothing matters.

Eventually, Rick makes some enemies, makes some friends, etc. Eventually, he realises the only way he can perhaps prevent his grandson from being his father is to adopt him as a side-kick going on adventures with him to keep him in check.

Unfortunately, this is the very thing that eventually leads to Evil Morty, and the cycle repeats itself.

Realising this, and after a couple of brushes with the time cops - Rick decides to shelve time travel altogether and focus on living a life where he’s a self-proclaimed god.

End

Added details:

• It cannot be a coincidence that Rick and Morty resemble Dr. Emmett Brown and Marty McFly.
• In the episode Rickternal Friendshine of the Spotless Mort, there are 2 photos of Rick's parents. 1 is where he’s got the weird blue/grey hair that Rick does, and another is where he’s got the brown hair. - I think the brown hair is Morty before realising he’s raising Rick, and the blue/grey hair is him as an older adult.

Special considerations:

• Only a Morty who has left the central finite curve can be a Rick’s father.
• In this case, I think the link would be Evil Morty, Rick Prime's father.
• Morty C-137 is Rick Prime's biological grandson.
• Rick C-137 (and any Rick without a Beth and Diane) are the only Rick not trapped in this time paradox because his Beth and Diane were murdered - so he never had a Morty.

Maybe I'm grasping at straws, but I think it's both possible and a really dope way to end the show - so this better be like a season 12 final reveal type thing or maybe even a movie or one of those hour-long episode things to wrap up the show.

What do you think? Could I be on to something here?