Free will is a subject I have examined for years and I have found that most people have no idea what free will actually is and how it works. The common idea is that free will is not possible in a deterministic universe. In fact, free will is always possible regardless of determinism or not. So, what is free will? Free will is the ability to freely choose from at least two alternatives without any coercion from an outside force on the agent in the making of the choice. As long as an agent isn't forced into a choice, even if that choice is predetermined by a higher power, the agent has expressed free will.
You can verify this hypothesis by looking at the result of the choice. If determinism forced a choice, that is the agent was in fact coerced into making a choice by the fact that determinism exists, then it would be evident in the result. The Time Lizards exist outside of time since they are the ones controlling the timeline (if they actually exist). They would know that Joe would go left at an intersection because they can see the whole timeline, and see the result of every choice. Joe reaches the intersection and goes left. Can we determine that he was coerced into doing so by looking at the result? The answer is no. We see the result, but not the mechanism of the choice that determined the result. That is the problem. Determinism says he will go left, but it doesn't give us any clue on how that choice was made. The Sacred Timeline is deterministic if it is a fixed timeline (and that really is the question that needs an answer). Fixed timelines cannot be changed, no matter how you may try to change the timeline. A fixed timeline is deterministic because the result of every choice has already been made throughout the whole timeline. That is the definition of a fixed timeline. Everything that can happen has already happened and cannot be changed. However, that says nothing about the mechanism of the choices and therefore cannot speak to how those choices were made and whether an agent was free in making those choices. As long as there is freedom of choice, even if the result of every choice is predetermined, then free will has been expressed. To most people, this seems like a contradiction, however, it is the nature of choice. How far does choice extend? Does choice end at the act of choosing or does it extend to the results of the choice? That is the key point to understand. As I have already shown, choice does not extend to the result of the choice of the agent. Choice, and therefore free will, only extends to the act of choosing and no farther. When Joe reaches the intersection, he can go left or right. We already know he goes left since that is predetermined. However, when we examine the actual choice we see that Joe is not under any coercion to choose left over right, he simply chooses left and his free will has been expressed. Even in a fully deterministic universe, as long as the agents are not forced into making choices, they have free will. Even in the Sacred Timeline, there is free will. The Time Lizards know this which is why they have pushed this Big Brother agenda so hard. The Sacred Timeline is by nature, unstable, otherwise, there wouldn't be a TVA in the first place. The Sacred Timeline itself cannot be changed as it fixed (supposedly), but this instability creates the many timelines that naturally branch from the Scared Timeline. This instability is inherent in the Sacred Timeline because the Time Lizards cannot actually control free will in the timeline.The multiverse is the natural state of the universe because of free will, and they are trying to impose an artificial restraint on the universe that the universe itself is trying to break free from. It isn't just the variants that want to be free of the Time Lizards' manipulation; the universe itself is trying to get back to its natural state. Like Thanos, the multiverse is inevitable.
