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In Looper, why do they do this to Seth?


In Looper, it is established that permanent physical harm to a young looper will instantaneously affect the old version of the same looper. For example, a looper can send a message to his older self by permanently carving it in his arm.


I assume Abe and his gang know about this. Why is it, then, that in Seth's case:




when the killers capture young Seth, they torture and mutilate him in order to force old Seth to come to them, then end shooting him up? Wouldn't simply killing young Seth get rid of both Seths? Is the torture simply sadism?



We know the above will happen, since something similar happens later in the movie. And if Joe, who is definitely not the sharpest tool in the shed, can figure it out, surely Abe must also know it?



Answer



Abe says to Joe when he's convincing him to give up young Seth that they won't kill young Seth because it would affect the future too much by not having old Seth around. Since Abe's employers are in the future, I'm guessing they want him to minimize things like that.


Presumably, carving people up is one of the things time travel in Looper allows without too much fuss. Maybe it's self-correcting for minor things like a person not having any arms or legs(!!), or maybe they don't care what young Seth would go on to do as long as old Seth was around when they sent him back in time.


Edit: I just checked and their exact words were:



Joe: You gonna kill him?


Abe: Not if we can help it. It'd be too cataclysmic a change for the future. What we'll do is dangerous in that regards, well not as dangerous as killing him, on top of which a man from the future runs free long enough this time travel shit just fries your brain like an egg. Why the fuck French?




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