Despite Rick C137’s claims of indifference, he’s shown more than once that he cares about Morty. But he never seemed to think twice about abandoning his daughter and granddaughter on a world generally assumed to be his original Earth.
The Morty Exception
Rick tries to tell Morty that he cares no more for his grandson than he does for any alternate version of his family, yet in the episode A Rickle in Time, which split the characters Rick, Morty and Summer into parallel universes because of quantum uncertainty, one of these split Ricks chose to save Morty with the (presumed) cost of his own life. Since there was no further split (caused by uncertainty in this episode), that can only mean there was not a doubt in Rick’s mind that he was willing to die to save Morty.
Because he never even bothered to save the Beth and Summer of the world he ruined with his potion run afoul, that can only mean one of two things: Morty means more to him than his own daughter or Morty is the only surviving member of his original family.
Supporting the Theory
The episode The Rickshank Redemption gives us a brief little moment that seems to support this theory on analysis. After Morty brought Summer to the world he and Rick previously fled, a strike team of alternate Ricks from The Citadel of Ricks invade. They froze Beth, Summer (of Cronenberg World) and Jerry. They were about to freeze Morty, but he stopped them when he said he was Morty C147. The Ricks looked at each other, then demanded to know where Rick was.
This moment indicates that they did not know the Morty they were about to shoot was Morty C137, something they probably at least would have guessed if they were on World C137.
The first appearance of The Citadel of Ricks also occurred after Rick and Morty fled Cronenberg World in Rick Potion #9. This episode also shows how Rick’s willingness to leave his previous world and set up shop on a new one, replacing a deceased Rick and Morty, which he may have done after losing his original Beth and Summer.
If this theory is true, Morty may or may not know. Though he showed much more reluctance in leaving Beth and Summer on Cronenberg World, the fact that he was willing to leave them at all could support the theory that his memory of this was wiped, as shown in the episode Morty’s Mind Blowers.
Morty has also shown a willingness to attach himself to alternate versions of his family, as seen in his protectiveness of the alternate Summer in The Rickshank Redemption.
So How Did They Die?
Who knows? There are several reasons to believe Rick’s fake flashback in The Rickshank Redemption was completely made up. If Morty C137 really is Rick’s Morty, Beth would have been too young to have him when she (likely) died in that scene.
But as shown in Morty’s Mind Blowers, Rick and Morty have hundreds of adventures not shown in the series or the comics. This leaves an infinite (literally, since it’s the multiverse) ways that Beth and Summer could have died while Rick and Morty saved their own hides.
For more *urp* nerd blogs, yadda yadda yadda. Come on, Morty! There are better blogs out there, this one sucks. For God’s sake, this loser wrote this on New Year’s Eve, Morty! Come on, I’ll show you a blog run by a megalomaniacal sentient cat.
The Southern Nerd 