What The Portal Colors Really Mean On Rick And Morty
The fifth season of "Rick and Morty" has ended, and while some long-held theories have finally been confirmed, we have tons of new questions to replace the old ones.
This last season featured a bizarre crossover, an anime short that left fans divided, and some problematic plot lines – including the infamous incest baby (and yes, it's as strange as it sounds). But all things considered, the two-part finale ended in typical "Rick and Morty" fashion — with fans wanting more.
Among the many turns in the fifth season was a thorough examination of a what we thought was just a throwaway concept from way back: the Central Finite Curve. Time travel is, of course, a main component of the show, and the Central Finite Curve is essentially what holds Rick's handcrafted multiverse together.
As we were untangling this concept in the Season 5 finale, some fans noted that different portals used for traveling through time and space appear in different colors, depending on what kind of travel is getting done. It's a keen observation, and one that's likely to be important going forward, so let's take a look at the different portals and what they mean.
The portals could be symbolic
Since Season 1, there have been a few different colored portals on display: blue, green, and yellow ones, to be precise. But just what does each color mean? Are the colors significant? "Rick and Morty" fans tend to be a detail-oriented bunch, so some have taken to Reddit to share their theories.
On a post-finale Reddit thread, a user asked why the portal was suddenly a gold color at the end of the season, to which another user guessed: "It's a symbol of Morty finally breaking free from the finite universe. Morty [represents] yellow and rick blue (shirt color) which = green. Since evil morty broke free from the finite curve, [it means] the blue gets taken out, which = Yellow."
The color theory is an interesting take in itself, as colors are often used in media as symbols to represent important events, moods, or themes. But there's yet another theory that more fans seem to agree fits the pattern of evidence revealed thus far.
The portals are destination markers
On the same Reddit thread discussing "Rick and Morty" Season 5's ending, a user named u/freddy0820 brought up a colorful character from Season 2: Fart, the telepathic gaseous entity. They noted that Fart had five colors inside his gaseous cloud, and three of them have already been represented in Rick's portal tech — blue, green, and yellow. The fan here went on to hypothesize that perhaps we'll see the two other colors somewhere down the line, as well.
Another user named u/giovannikke22 responded with their own theory. According to their observations, they guessed, "Maybe the color indicates the type of portal. Blue for teleportation within a certain universe, green for teleportation between different universes, and yellow for something else."
Jumping off of that theory, it seems like the most likely explanation is that blue portals are used to travel within the same universe, green portals are used for travel between dimensions within the Central Finite Curve, and the ominous yellow portals are used to travel in the true multiverse. Hopefully in the next season we'll have more answers to these pressing questions.