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Alright back to the more interesting than after a truly terrible chapter. I assume that thing is the Omega Device? I'm really wondering what it's gonna do. Also since it seems so connected to Zimmy I wonder if it'll unleash her weird poo poo into the forest XkyRauh posted:Vial's got some Coyote coloring going on. It always has I think. I can't remember the chapter they get it though, I think it was a gift to Andrew?
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Jun 7, 2021 14:40
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Macaluso posted:It always has I think. I can't remember the chapter they get it though, I think it was a gift to Andrew? Andrew got the goose bone. Parley got the water: https://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1820 And yeah, it always looked like that.
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Jun 7, 2021 14:45
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I'm thinking it's a bunch of oils and dyes. They might have held onto it just so that Annie could only return it on their terms but pulling a fast one on god is kind of their MO. Either way, it going to look how it's supposed to because they aren't so stupid as to do an improper switcheroo.
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Jun 7, 2021 14:45
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it can be the real thing and still be an intentional insult to confiscate and return it from the Forest's ambassador at will. Of course the Forest was insulting the Court by appointing a Court child as their ambassador to begin with but that's how diplomacy works, right? A very adult thing of manners. it's a pretty petty victory though if so. so far the Court is just repeatedly failing to achieve its objectives in these interactions: it has failed to prevent the Forest from intruding at will, it has failed to force the Forest to police its own monsters from intruding at will, it has failed to prevent the Forest from dumping several hundred unhappy refugees on it, and it has failed to stop the Forest sending its hapless ambassador on ever-more-disruptive missions to "retrieve" things it transparently planted in the Court to begin with. The Court is just continuously reacting and then being played for fools Speculation time: Coyote of course does not lie, and he did say that Loup would be 1) more than powerful enough to shape 'this world' when all the gifts are returned, but 2) the lake water will not grant control of the forest. Therefore the lake water must contain the memory of the first gift: the tooth-knife which Annie has kept hidden from both Loup and the Court (it's too bad there's a Court representative here to witness Loup learning of that particular card!). A knife that can cut the earth itself is just the tool for a god to be tricked into hastily cutting a weakness out of itself (in a way that Annie might find strikingly familiar). ronya fucked around with this message at 16:03 on Jun 7, 2021 |
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Jun 7, 2021 15:59
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I have assumed since The Stone that the sword is gonna be able to hurt Jones. I dunno in what circumstances this would happen though, but the sword being able to cut through literally anything as far as we've seen, and Jones saying nothing can damage her besides her self put up red flags for me.
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Jun 7, 2021 16:03
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Macaluso posted:I have assumed since The Stone that the sword is gonna be able to hurt Jones. I dunno in what circumstances this would happen though, but the sword being able to cut through literally anything as far as we've seen, and Jones saying nothing can damage her besides her self put up red flags for me. Jones will just be split into two, smaller Jones
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Jun 7, 2021 16:09
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The water is certainly the memory of the sword; that is why it was important that Annie not tell Ysengrin about it, since otherwise this composite being would be aware of it. It seems possible that the sword could cut a being into its component parts if, say, it happened to be composed of two other beings. Which might explain how Coyote would see Annie again if she returned the water. Coyote has clearly been setting all this up for a long time. Even the story about the goose he told in the first place contains some hints about this; Coyote is dead, but he's only playing, and he's playing every part of the drama himself. As for Coyote saying Loup would have the power to shape the world when he gets the water back, that's pretty trivially true; Loup would have the power to shape the world when all the gifts are returned because he has the power to do that right now. Annie suggests that his problems might be because he hasn't accepted the parts of himself that are Ysengrin, and maybe she's got a point there.
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Jun 7, 2021 22:14
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This seems on the up and up. The court needs to invest in tricorders.
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Jun 9, 2021 08:08
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Gravitas Shortfall posted:Jones will just be split into two, smaller Jones Not to worry though, the problem will just resolve itself after a couple chapters with no effort from anyone, and she'll be right as rain and ready to go in no time at all.
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Jun 9, 2021 11:23
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GlyphGryph posted:Not to worry though, the problem will just resolve itself after a couple chapters with no effort from anyone, and she'll be right as rain and ready to go in no time at all. 
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Jun 9, 2021 15:16
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What if these guys aren't plotting something? What if they're just nerds?
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Jun 9, 2021 21:17
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The readings on that machine are about this thread. It's why they all look so pissed and concerned.
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Jun 9, 2021 21:41
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 This readout says you still don't like Tony! because he's still an awful father*mutter mutter mutter mutter* He has his reasons
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Jun 10, 2021 00:28
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Went back to look at the Loup reactions in 2018, and Oh boy.
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Jun 10, 2021 04:10
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wow way to curse 2022
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Jun 10, 2021 04:23
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Surely nothing can go wrong here 
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Jun 11, 2021 08:31
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Everything they do is for the good of the Court*. It's fine! *The "good of the court" may not coincide with what's good for any other group or organization, or even humanity as a whole.
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Jun 11, 2021 14:02
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Wa11y posted:Everything they do is for the good of the Court*. It's fine! * "for the good of the Court" may or may not include what's good for the Court depending on factors unknown to the Court
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Jun 11, 2021 14:54
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Something I've been wondering and similarly articulated over at r/gunnerkriggquote:It's easy to forget how many of the adults just unironically endorse The Court Leadership. One of the theories suggested in the replies is that the Court offers them stuff a la Bread and Circuses.
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Jun 13, 2021 06:57
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I think the answer is simpler - they weren't so obviously sinister 20 years ago.
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Jun 13, 2021 07:01
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i think its a pretty straightforward take on growing up just pre 9/11 where everyone just seemed to admire the upper class and bought into their idea of success and model for society and most dissent that was taken at all seriously was "we need to mainstream harder like this, now"
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Jun 13, 2021 07:11
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Scholtz posted:What if these guys aren't plotting something? What if they're just nerds? that's what it means, to be a nerd
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Jun 13, 2021 07:50
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DontMockMySmock posted:I think the answer is simpler - they weren't so obviously sinister 20 years ago. Honestly though, to the average person, how does the court act particularly "sinister"? From a layman's point of view, things were chugging along like always, then a lot of trips started happening between the forest and court for a couple years, then suddenly there are bigass trees in the court and monsters attacking and everything is hosed. If anything it's the forest that likely seems sinister, and the court noble. Suddenly big trees showed up (obviously the forest's doing) and the brave warriors of the court are trying to protect the people from these hostile invaders. It wouldn't surprise me if this was more or less the view held even by named adult characters we know, except with maybe a bit more "well the court is doing a bunch of secret stuff, but it's probably for our best interests." Watch there be a surprise twist where the court was actually doing good this entire time, and they only appear sinister thanks to seeds of doubt planted by Coyote.
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Jun 13, 2021 08:41
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In storytelling terms, it was probably a mistake for the attack in Evac to be not shown to injure or threaten any characters the reader might care about. Several panels are shown of the eponymous evacuation effort but it makes Loup come off too benign. Early mentions that Ysengrin is prone to bouts of insanity turn out to be entirely true (at Coyote's manipulation - but still true) but the guardrails don't ever come off, which leaves those characters coming off as unreasonable instead of perceptive. Coyote is acknowledged to kill casually, but those are all offscreen mentions we don't care about as people. ronya fucked around with this message at 14:18 on Jun 13, 2021 |
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Jun 13, 2021 09:43
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Honestly, every named character who works for the Court seems to distrust them and be actively keeping some things away from them. We're just not clear why they actually work there, and we still have no idea what the Court actually does or who's in charge, or why they pay Doctor Disaster a salary even though his brand of whimsy seems like it's Not Their Kind Of Thing. I'm starting to think keeping all its cards held up to the chest for so long has hurt the comic's coherence.
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Jun 13, 2021 17:09
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Rand Brittain posted:Honestly, every named character who works for the Court seems to distrust them and be actively keeping some things away from them. We're just not clear why they actually work there, and we still have no idea what the Court actually does or who's in charge, or why they pay Doctor Disaster a salary even though his brand of whimsy seems like it's Not Their Kind Of Thing. Part of me wants to believe there is no actual "Court" entity and it's just layers and layers of people all doing their own thing and keeping just enough secrets that everyone else believes there's a larger entity out there, when in reality there's been no actual leadership for a long time and it's just endless shells of bureaucracy. The school runs on its own from tuition and every other department funds itself in some way. Don't ask where the food comes from; there's a department that prefers that you don't look at the mystery meat too closely.
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Jun 13, 2021 17:27
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It does seem weird that the closest we've seen to someone in charge is Aata, who seems more like he's in charge of the Shadow Men on the ground, but probably not where the buck stops.
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Jun 13, 2021 17:31
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the impression i've had of the court since the wheels of the comic really began to turn has always been that it is a physical manifestation of a hobbesian leviathan kickstarted and/or maintained by the ether (through whatever power the "seed bismuth" represents)
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Jun 13, 2021 17:45
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Hodgepodge posted:It does seem weird that the closest we've seen to someone in charge is Aata, who seems more like he's in charge of the Shadow Men on the ground, but probably not where the buck stops. the headmaster?
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Jun 13, 2021 17:48
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Niavmai posted:the headmaster? i think its pointed out that putting the guy in charge of kids in charge of meeting coyote and ys is an obvious insult
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Jun 13, 2021 17:54
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Hodgepodge posted:i think its pointed out that putting the guy in charge of kids in charge of meeting coyote and ys is an obvious insult uhhh no he's definitely the leader of the court.
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Jun 13, 2021 18:05
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Niavmai posted:uhhh no he's definitely the leader of the court. really? that would imply the school is like a super high priority for the court, which is interesting. e: the wiki speculates that he is, which is weird because Tom has outright said he isn't. i know its hard to talk about, but there's no shame in having harry potter brain. at least 40% of all millenials are estimated to vastly overestimate the importance of school principles due to this pervasive condition. Hodgepodge fucked around with this message at 18:21 on Jun 13, 2021 |
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Jun 13, 2021 18:12
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Hodgepodge posted:really? that would imply the school is like a super high priority for the court, which is interesting. he made the call of who became the new court medium directly against jones' recommendation without telling her, and we've not been shown any instance of him speaking to another authority, i think it's a pretty safe bet.
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Jun 13, 2021 18:19
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Niavmai posted:he made the call of who became the new court medium directly against jones' recommendation without telling her, and we've not been shown any instance of him speaking to another authority, i think it's a pretty safe bet. my edit probably should have been a new post. but here we are, in this situation we find ourselves,
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Jun 13, 2021 18:21
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Hodgepodge posted:my edit probably should have been a new post. but here we are, in this situation we find ourselves, i'll be totally honest, all these interviews and out-of-comic revelations are really starting to annoy me. extremely bad authorial etiquette from tom.
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Jun 13, 2021 18:23
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I assume being interim Medium was just one of Llanwellyn's duties after Surma died. As headmaster he was responsible for all the replacement candidates, after all.Niavmai posted:i'll be totally honest, all these interviews and out-of-comic revelations are really starting to annoy me. extremely bad authorial etiquette from tom. This sort of thing is standard for webcomic authors, who have so much contact with their audience. People are always going to be asking questions about whatever lore minutiae is on their minds, and it's easy to rattle off a casual answer. Putting huge lore dumps in the actual plots to spell these things out to the entire audience would be terrible for pacing, especially for a comic that's a slow burn to begin with. Tenebrais fucked around with this message at 18:30 on Jun 13, 2021 |
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Jun 13, 2021 18:27
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Niavmai posted:i'll be totally honest, all these interviews and out-of-comic revelations are really starting to annoy me. extremely bad authorial etiquette from tom. i mean, it ultimately follows from the overwhelming theme of official court-forest interactions, which is that the court does not consider the forest significant or particularily worthy of attention. the headmaster himself pays no attention in meetings, endangers smitty and parlays lives by putting them in front of ysengrin as an official greeting, etc.
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Jun 13, 2021 18:27
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Hodgepodge posted:i mean, it ultimately follows from the overwhelming theme of official court-forest interactions, which is that the court does not consider the forest significant or particularily worthy of attention. the headmaster himself pays no attention in meetings, endangers smitty and parlays lives by putting them in front of ysengrin as an official greeting, etc. i don't really care if it makes sense or not, i'm mad that people know more about the comic than i do because they read an interview, or completely unrelated text. things that haven't been revealed or explained in any way in the actual text of the comic. just poor form. disappointing. e: the page you linked is loving huge. i'm actually pretty mad about it.
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Jun 13, 2021 18:29
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Niavmai posted:i don't really care if it makes sense or not, i'm mad that people know more about the comic than i do because they read an interview, or completely unrelated text. things that haven't been revealed or explained in any way in the actual text of the comic. just poor form. disappointing. that's actually only the portion that deals with adults in the court  its not like a secret trove of secrets, though, tom just used to do a q&a sometimes (was just skimming and found an example: he didn't even reveal the headmaster's name because he was waiting to reveal it in the comic)
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Jun 13, 2021 18:34
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Hodgepodge posted:that's actually only the portion that deals with adults in the court holy poo poo.  Hodgepodge posted:(was just skimming and found an example: he didn't even reveal the headmaster's name because he was waiting to reveal it in the comic) ya ok but he'll let us know there's a higher authority than the highest one we've been introduced to. but we didn't get to know his name till later!!! 
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Jun 13, 2021 18:38
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