| “ | Do you know what the Central Finite Curve is? They built a wall around infinity, separated all the infinite universes from all the infinite universes where he's the smartest man in the universe. Every version of us has spent every version of all of our lives in one infinite crib, built around an infinite fucking baby. |
| — Evil Morty, Rickmurai Jack |
The Central Finite Curve, shorthanded to the Curve, is a defined portion of the multiverse, where most, if not all, Ricks present in the series reside.[1]
The Central Finite Curve was designed by the precursors of what would later become the Council of Ricks on The Citadel and Rick C-137 to wall off the infinite number of universes in which Rick is the smartest person alive from the rest of the infinite multiverse.
Known Dimensions within/close to curve[]
- C-137 (Original home dimension of Rick Sanchez)
- Simple Rick's origin dimension - 16 iterations off
- Rick C-137 D&D dimension - Somewhere off the Central Finite Curve
- C-131 (the replacement dimension where Rick and Morty lived after Rick Potion #9 until the episode Solaricks. It is also the dimension from which the current Beth and Summer originated from).
- The Prime Dimension (the original reality of Morty Smith and Rick Prime) is the original setting for the series until Rick Potion # 9. It's also the universe of the original Jerry Beth and Summer .
- C-132 (the home reality of Rick and Morty of the Rick and Morty comics) is the main setting of the comics
History[]
Formation[]
In the wake of losing his wife and daughter to a bombing by Rick Prime, C-137 became consumed with finding his evil doppelgänger and eventually succeeded in creating his first Portal-Gun, allowing him access to the infinite multiverse and all the worlds beyond. For years, C-137 rampaged across the multiverse killing every other Rick he could find but never finding the one he sought. In doing so, he also took the opportunity to expand his intellect along the way by scanning and absorbing vast amounts of knowledge from numerous alien worlds into his brain until he became one of the smartest and most dominant beings in all of existence but not the smartest overall.
Finally, after decades of hunting and killing, C-137 could take no more and signed a peace-treaty with a congregation of his counterparts, part of which involved the construction of a massive, hyper-metropolis space-station called the Citadel of Ricks to serve as a home for all the Ricks and Mortys in the multiverse. Unbeknownst to the Mortys however, C-137 and the fledgling Council of Ricks took things a step further by creating what became known as "The Central Finite Curve". Using an advanced variation of their portal-gun technology, they built a massive machine underneath the Citadel of Ricks designed to lock out travel to or from any universe, within the multiverse, in which Rick himself was not the dominant lifeform or the smartest being alive, for example, universes where Jerry is the smartest being in the universe, or universes where Rick Sanchez doesn't exist (With the exception of universes where life does not exist or it does not develop to levels of intelligence equal to Rick's, these do seem to be included as we see with the Blender Dimension, Buttworld dimension and Greasy Grandma world Dimension). This lockout ensured that all Ricks and Mortys could only travel to universes within the Central Finite Curve, universes where Rick was always guaranteed to be the most dominant and the smartest being alive.
In essence, the Ricks separated out every universe in which Rick wasn't on top of the food chain and isolated themselves and the Mortys within that collection of universes from the rest of the multiverse at large, thereby perpetuating the myth among the Mortys, their families and all the alien races they encountered that Rick was truly top of the food chain (Although the curve seems to erroneously include universes where there is a Rick being the smartest, regardless of the fact that in that universe there are beings with the potential to reach his intellectual level with enough time, such as the Dinosaurs in the Parmesan dimension or Evil Morty in dimension 79⊢⊇V).
As it is assumed Rick C-137 did it to lock up Rick Prime, which he failed. Eventually, relations between C-137 and the rest of the Ricks soured, and he abandoned the Citadel. Having tracked down the reality where Rick Prime originated, C-137 moved in with Prime's daughter, hoping Rick Prime would return one day. Despite C-137 becoming attached to Morty Prime, he kept the existence of the Central Finite Curve a secret.
Breaking[]
Under unknown circumstances, Evil Morty became aware of the Central Finite Curve and sought to break free from it. To that end, he captured Rick C-137 and scanned his brain for the schematics of the Citadel's Dimensional Drive. After being elected President of the Citadel, Evil Morty overcharged the Dimensional Drive and used it to punch a hole in the Central Finite Curve, escaping into the larger multiverse.
Restoration[]
By "JuRicksic Mort" the rift in the curve was fixed up by the dinosaurs, much to Rick's irritation as the rift could've been used as a story arc for the rest of the season.
In "Unmortricken", Rick "basically [fracked]" the Central Finite Curve to flush out Rick Prime. When the shockwaves reached Evil Morty's refuge beyond the Curve, he returned to confront C-137, helping him defeat Rick Prime.
Concept[]
Nominal Explanation[]
A more simple model based on information given in the comic, which has questionable canonicity is that it is a simple categorization of a universe having a Rick and working Eco-system. This contradicts information given in the show as Simple Rick is stated to be 16 iterations off it despite fulfilling both criteria.
Rick Sanchez is later shown explaining to Science Teacher Rick in Issue 2 of the revived comic series that the multiverse is divided in four sections: the smart Ricks, the "dumb" (or normal) Ricks, the animal Ricks and the "Feral Hedonism Rick", which exists beyond all Ricks.
The Circle Explanation[]
Central Finite Curve, in this model, would be a set portion of a circle.
A model often used to explain is that the definition of the Central Finite Curve has no set parameters; it's just wholly random and infinite therefore can be represented as a repeating, immeasurable shape modeled with a circle. The Central Finite Curve would then present a infinite collection of dimensions but with finite variability, similar to how there are infinite real numbers between 1 and 2 But you'll never come across a number like 3. Rick's frequency rank each other in terms of Rickness and number of iterations of himself from an undefined point.