Director James Gunn broke a million hearts today when he confirmed that, yes, Groot dies at the end of the first Guardians of the Galaxy. Baby Groot is his son, not his resurrected form.
As Gunn goes on to note, this is far from the first time he’s confirmed that, yes, Groot is dead. Indeed, he’s been having different versions of this conversation basically since the first Guardians came out.
Back in the day, he used to be cagier about the answer. In November 2014, a few months after Guardians hit theaters, he answered a question about whether or not Groot was invincible with another question: “Is Baby Groot, Groot? Or is Baby Groot actully Groot’s progeny?”
First Groot is dead. Baby Groot is his son.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) February 27, 2018
A few months later, he said Groot “might be dead.” A few months after that, when a fan asked on Facebook whether Baby Groot was Groot’s son, Gunn replied that it was “complicated,” and added that Baby Groot does not retain the original Groot’s memories.
By last year, though, Gunn was being very clear about his answer. “Baby Groot is not Groot,” he stressed in a March 2017 interview with SFX (via GamesRadar). “He’s a different character and he does not have that character’s memories.”
Now we’re veering toward Black Mirror territory. Because, like … is it? Does Baby Groot really count as a separate entity if he’s literally just a growing piece of the original Groot? Would they still be considered different Groots if both of them were still alive? I don’t know, is Digital Nanette the same person as Real World Nanette in “U.S.S. Callister”? Is a consciousness what makes a person?
Is it possible to get a new Groot without killing the old one, or is that seriously the only way to bring new Groots into the world? Does that mean all the other Groot splinters left over from the original could have been sentient beings,too? What does it even mean to be sentient in a reality where Ultrons and Visions exist? Why am I getting so worked up over the personhood of a CG tree alien?
Source: Mashable.