Luke Smith speculated that the Ancient Lights originated from before the universe. Martin Trueman said that the Lights had existed for at least thirteen billion years and, seemingly confirming Luke's theory, that they had survived the Big Bang. The Ancient Lights' powers derived from the Zodiac and from birth dates, of no significance in N-Space, though fundamental to the workings of the Lights. Their powers operated in such a way that Mr Smith could not detect them, as if they did not exist at all. According to Trueman, the purpose of the Ancient Lights was control.