A Comparative Study of The Endless Myth and Everything Everywhere All at Once — Mythic Infinity vs. Multiversal Infinity
The novel The Endless Myth and Everything Everywhere All at Once may at first appear to belong to entirely different genres.
The former is a philosophical narrative built upon mythic structure; the latter is a chaotic, genre-blending science-fiction adventure set across a multiverse.
Yet both works revolve around two shared themes: infinity and the meaning of existence.
This article compares their world structures, protagonists, treatment of infinity, and visions of salvation.
World Structure: A Closed Myth vs. An Ever-Branching Multiverse
In The Endless Myth, the world is stabilised by myth and faith. Reality exists because it is narrated and believed. If meaning collapses, existence itself begins to fracture. Infinity is internal — the endless continuation of myth.
In contrast, Everything Everywhere All at Once presents a universe that constantly splits into parallel realities. Every choice generates new worlds. Possibility multiplies without limit.
The Endless Myth: infinity through cyclical meaning
Everything Everywhere All at Once: infinity through branching choice
The Protagonist’s Position: Symbol vs. Ordinary Individual
In The Endless Myth, the protagonist Messiah occupies the structural centre of the narrative. He is less a free individual than a symbolic role. Meaning is imposed upon him; freedom is secondary to the myth he sustains.
By contrast, Evelyn Wang is an ordinary middle-aged woman. She is not chosen by divine structure but thrown into infinite possibilities. Her struggle is not to uphold a cosmic order, but to decide which version of herself to embrace.
Messiah is bound by structure.
Evelyn is torn apart by possibility.
This contrast defines the emotional core of both works.
Two Types of Infinity: Qualitative vs. Quantitative
The infinity in The Endless Myth is qualitative.
As long as myth continues to be told and believed, the world endures. Infinity lies in the persistence of meaning.
The infinity in Everything Everywhere All at Once is quantitative.
The number of universes, lives, and outcomes expands endlessly. Infinity lies in accumulation.
Though both depict the infinite, one is inward and structural, the other outward and proliferating.
Despair and Salvation
In The Endless Myth, despair emerges when myth begins to erode. The apocalypse is philosophical — the collapse of meaning itself. Salvation lies in retelling and preserving the mythic structure.
In Everything Everywhere All at Once, despair arises from nihilism. When every possibility exists, nothing appears to matter. The void embodied by Jobu Tupaki reflects this overwhelming equivalence of worlds.
Yet the film’s salvation does not come from transcendent power or cosmic design. It comes from a simple, human choice: kindness, connection, love in the present moment.
Scale and Emotional Aftermath
The Endless Myth leaves readers with a contemplative weight. Its tone is structural and philosophical.
Everything Everywhere All at Once overwhelms the viewer with absurdity, humour, and emotional intensity, before returning to intimate human tenderness.
Both works confront infinity — but they resolve it differently:
One insists that meaning sustains the world.
The other suggests that choice gives life its meaning.
Conclusion: What Do We Preserve Within Infinity?
While The Endless Myth and Everything Everywhere All at Once take radically different narrative approaches, both ask the same essential question:
What do we hold onto in an infinite universe?
One answers: myth and meaning.
The other answers: love and choice.
In comparing these works, we see that infinity itself is not the true subject. Rather, it is the human response to infinity that defines the story.
