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hollylolly posted:I think the explanation for Earth Aleph is that some dead shards from the companion went to another dimension by accident? Now that I'm thinking about it I'm not sure that is a great explanation, and it hasn't been spelled out. I need Cauldron to do the Detective Explains It All scene, I'm sure they know. I thought Scion's interlude explicitly spelled out that he sent some shards to other Earths but decided that Earth Bet was the one that should get most of them.
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Aug 17, 2013 18:43
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thespaceinvader posted:What's bugging me about this one: didn't Eidolon specifically say that he was a hole in Contessa's powers, and therefore, she had to specifically create scenarios including an analogue of him in order to work on him? Has Scion actually shown that kind of insight into people like, EVER? I'm not convinced Eidolon's done for here. I figured that Contessa's hole is just one of the nerfs that Scion put in her shard so that it couldn't be too good. Or Scion's counterpart, maybe. Anyhow if that's the case, then he would be able to use her power without the nerf. It sucks if Eidolon is dead though. He just figured out all of his power!
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Aug 27, 2013 18:34
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NecroMonster posted:I've always wanted to know if Grue named himself or if he got his name the way Taylor got hers. I'm starting to think that he may have named himself, because his sisters name is also a drat nerdy reference. Imp isn't just a reference to her being a pain the rear end? I was feeling all smug about you plebeians not knowing about grues but I guess now I'm a plebeian too. 
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Sep 23, 2013 05:58
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I kind of get it but I need someone to walk me through it. Oliver was important because he drank half a potion, right? Did he drink the other half of Noelle's thing? I forget. Anyhow, he drank the "balance" half, and that makes him like the entity because...I can't quite put it together. Because his appearance and identity changes on some variable that I can't decipher? That made him seem like the partner entity to Scion? edit: From the comments: "Did Taylor just bully Scion to death…?" Holy poo poo, I think she did. That's pretty amazing.
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Oct 26, 2013 05:35
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Fellwenner posted:Hey, you. You deserve a medal or something for linking Worm without comment in the Dresden thread. If you had mentioned it was a million loving words I would never have read it. Good job, you.
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Oct 26, 2013 05:43
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Dietrich posted:I would really prefer it if she were dead. It makes her whole story of sacrifice for the greater good that much more powerful. And I'm tired of every single media I consume being set up for sequels. Well, wild bow has already stated there will be a sequel, though I think it's just set in the wormverse and not Taylor's pov. I don't think that's been expressly stated, but I think we all assumed she was going to die so wouldn't be the star. I hope the interlude for this arc is Taylor (as opposed to the shard who has been narrating). I think this was the appropriate ending but I feel like I missed out on Taylor digesting everything she's done. I wonder if there's enough left of her to narrate but from the revelation that it's the shard that's been losing language and facial recognition, and the fact that real-Taylor was kind of able to say goodbye to her friends in her own private kind of way, I wonder if she is still there and is just unable to control herself. I don't know.I think Contessa really did kill her and the question she asked her power was not "is taylor savable" but "how does humanity best rebuild from here." And maybe Taylor could have been rehabilitated, but it would have put a strain on the remnants of humanity. But I also think that Simurgh's secret weapon IS for Taylor...Contessa shot to kill but Simurgh hosed up her predictor power by being the Simurgh. Contessa goes off and does something else and Simurgh scoops up Taylor, who is dead or near dead, and the sequel makes reference to Simurgh having Khepri hibernating in stasis and everyone's terrified of when she will wake up and wreak havoc again. Taylor becomes an end boss on the level of Echidna for the sequel's main character and we witness the most heart wrenching battle ever as we hope against hope that the main character can somehow learn that not-shard-Taylor is still in there and alive and reachable...but the new main character does not know her or the details of her story so just kills her and as she is dying she apologizes or somehow otherwise shows real Taylor is in control and it's just soul-crushing. I am a big softie and would actually be delighted if the next chapter were Tattletale inexplicably reviving Taylor to go live happily with her dad and Grue but somehow I think something like the former is more likely.
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Oct 29, 2013 18:52
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Blasphemeral posted:Wait, what? Where is this coming from? Did you scrape through all the horrible crap in the comments section and find this tidbit, or is this your own personal WAG on what's going on? Sorry, that was just my take, I shouldn't have stated it so unequivocally. Like I said I am terribly soft and would in fact be overjoyed if Worm managed to have a happy ending. Therefore the last few chapters being a narration by the shard, who is simply losing connection to realTaylor through Panacea's changes, is much preferable to me to Panacea's changes causing the shard to overwrite her brain. I think it is plausible that my theory is correct but I probably shouldn't have said it like it was word of god. If the chapters since "everything went wrong" are shard-narrated though, I think I am correct. quote:[Edit] Addendum: That's not quite how I feel. I think the shard, when it molded with Taylor's brain, just kind of became part of her. Then Panacea basically released it from its bond with Taylor (but this is where our reads differ I think. Sounds like you think that Panacea was able to release it by destroying Taylor. I think (hope) that it's more like releasing a grip on something). I think once that happened the shard had to create its own identity to be able to act. That's why it kept thinking about finding a conflict. It was making its own anchors on reality. I really do think my 'revelation' is correct, because otherwise the autopilot is the shard, and why would the shard give any craps about saying goodbye or letting people go? I don't think the shards were ever their own identities until Panacea separated this one in particular. What's a WAG, by the way? Edit: I forgot to add that I extra think I am right and Taylor still existed in there, mostly intact because the narrator let the autopilot talk to Contessa. And it wasn't just Contessa's power letting the shard communicate because Contessa even noted that Taylor was more lucid than before. To me that means that the shard was allowing Taylor to talk to Contessa; before, all that stuttering was the shard trying to use words like it was used to doing while fused with Taylor. The shard is definitely only recently self-aware because it thinks of Taylor's memories as its own (like when she mourns her reading ability) but as it became more and more independent, it couldn't access those memories anymore. It couldn't access her powers of speech and comprehension either. But I think Taylor still has them because she could talk to Contessa. Even if I'm right I still think this ends tragically. I just hope that Taylor gets to have one last chapter where she looks at everything she's done, truly owns her status as monster, and says goodbye to the Undersiders. Even if it's just silently in her own head as she talks to Contessa and is then killed. Hawkperson fucked around with this message at 00:39 on Oct 30, 2013 |
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Oct 30, 2013 00:27
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Skippy McPants posted:And all she got for it was some snide commentary and a bullet in the brain. The more I think about it, the more I think/hope that the next chapter, the interlude to this arc, is from Taylor's perspective as she's witnessing her shard save the day. IF Contessa just killed her, then it seems like the only way to really get closure on her story. And it seems kind of poetic, since (in my opinion) this entire arc has been narrated by the shard and not Taylor. I am rereading all of Speck and it really does read to me that shard and Taylor are slowly separating. The narrator is constantly mentioning that emotions seem distant, and Panacea specifically mentions that the shard is cut off from Taylor's emotions now. Anyhow, if that is the case, getting to re-see the events of Speck with Taylor's reactions would go a long way towards making a satisfying ending. I am starting to believe that Contessa did kill her, though. And if it's not Taylor narrating the last interlude, I freaking hope it is Tattletale. She's the only person who might have an inkling of what exactly Taylor went through and how she would have reacted.
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Oct 31, 2013 00:35
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I am really surprised Wildbow posted Pact 3 today, but I guess he doesn't want to ruin his perfect streak. Not complaining. Pact 2 was legit scary though and I can't stop myself from reading the stories when they are posted, so late at night. This new chapter was not so scary and I'm a sucker for world-building so it made me most excited. I think it might be worth reading scary things. 
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Dec 24, 2013 10:38
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I feel like wildbow should get the benefit of the doubt. If I saw the first four chapters of Worm and that was all I probably would've poo poo on that too. The fifth update is where Taylor starts fighting Lung. I definitely did not care at all about the story then. To be honest I only kept reading because I somehow thought it was a short story and I was almost done.
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Jan 1, 2014 07:17
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Tollymain posted:How long did it take you to catch on An embarrassingly long time, like 3-5 arcs. At that point I finally looked at the table of contents and went "oh...poo poo."
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Jan 1, 2014 14:19
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Tollymain posted:What point did you catch up at? I caught up about a month after Eidolon died, I think. In September or so. I don't remember exactly where it was in the story, but somewhere around the oil rig fight with Scion.
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Jan 1, 2014 23:42
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It was foreshadowed a little bit when Blake and Rose were discussing how to make his house safe. "Like repels like."
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Mar 12, 2014 18:12
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I am super worried about Blake because he promised the police chief he would be back first thing tomorrow. Well what if that's not the first thing he does tomorrow? What if his other problems prevent him from getting to the station at all? I feel like I'm missing something since he promised it so easily.
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Apr 18, 2014 02:04
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Hugoon Chavez posted:Also, does anyone else feel unimpressed by the allie's reveal? oh turns out they were just random goblins, nothing interesting whatsoever! feels like he could've done something much cooler... Not sure I really believe this, but it could have been a feint. As people discussed earlier, since Fell remembers the goblins it may be that the goblins didn't have enough of a connection to Fell to be forgotten. But there could have been a stronger ally that did interact with Fell enough to be erased. Blake is so sure that he lost exactly 3 allies, but how the gently caress does he know. Also since the demon can eat objects, I kind of wonder if Blake already had an implement and it got eaten.
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Apr 28, 2014 16:13
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What was Maggie's oath again exactly?
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May 15, 2014 19:41
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NecroMonster posted:Also the "lawyers" really don't want Blake getting out but individual lawyers may be able to subvert their orders to an extent, of course Ms. Lewis may have also completely accidentally passed on good advice to Blake thanks to "karma" and reality having Blake's back (it really wants Rose dealt with) in a horribly tortured and round about way. Yeah, based on Ms. Lewis's conversation I feel like she did her best to subvert her own orders and help Blake out. She gave Blake a LOT of information he didn't have, like that Mags remembers him and that he can lie. She just can't blatantly do stuff like help him escape personally or she'll have to "bill" him for her time, as she said.
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Aug 2, 2014 19:54
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Something I just thought of, I'm betting now that the whole reason the firm wanted Blake to read Black Lamb's Blood was specifically so that he would try to be a "good" diabolist and get himself killed off that much faster.
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Aug 3, 2014 21:07
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I think it really comes down to how smooth your prose is and how used to your prose the readers are. We're all used to Wildbow by now and he also tends to write very smoothly, so big updates are fine. I think it was very smart of him to start Worm with smaller updates though because it allowed readers to ease in to the way he writes.
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Aug 4, 2014 20:57
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Yeah, drat there was a stretch where I was kind of "eh" on Pact, but now I am for sure hooked.
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Aug 7, 2014 07:32
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I suspect that part of his creation was absolute loyalty to his family or at least Rose. Otherwise he would be way too unpredictable.
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Aug 22, 2014 06:19
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My current wild-rear end guess is that both Rose AND Blake existed, that they were twins or something, and that Blake died and became a revenant (there were some interesting reflections Blake had about revenants in an earlier chapter that seemed like foreshadowing). Grandma Rose took the revenant and reformed it using the barber into what Blake is now.
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Sep 16, 2014 18:21
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Remora posted:Hey, quick Pact question - how long does it take to get good? I tried reading the first few chapters awhile ago and now I'm gonna give it another go, but I'd like to know how long of a slog I'm in for. Sorry I guess? Worm started pretty slow as well, in my opinion. I never would have finished it if I hadn't originally thought it was novella-length, rather than 50-loving-novellas length. There's definitely quality stuff happening almost all the time in Pact, and you might end up enjoying it more than we did since when you hit a mediocre chapter you can immediately move on, whereas we all had to wait and reflect and think "boo I hope the next chapter is better than that one."
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Sep 21, 2014 21:00
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That reminds me...my new wild-rear end guess is that if Rose is really Rose Sr somehow, then Blake is her familiar. We don't really know anything about Rose Sr's familiar, maybe it was literally a "little warrior" and that's the part of Blake that is so goddamn gung-ho. That would also explain Blake's intense devotion to Rose, as we saw with the Behaim familiars they are totally unable to go against their masters in all but the most roundabout ways. So my complete theory is Blake and Rose Jr both existed as grandchildren, and that Rose Sr and her familiar did some kind of hosed up bullshit to become them, and Blake doesn't remember because reasons. It's a very well-supported thought.
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Sep 24, 2014 19:38
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TOOT BOOT posted:Rose Sr's familiar was her cat. It died at the same time she did. Yeah, but 1) all we know is it was a cat and 2) if Rose Sr can be Rose Jr, familiar shenanigans can happen too.
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Sep 25, 2014 00:57
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It was actually Bonds 1.7, linked above when we were discussing the barber. It seems like Blake's dislike of it is basically what he said, that he doesn't want to go with things the way they've always been. I can't remember anything else that would be unappetizing about it.
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Sep 30, 2014 06:47
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Grundulum posted:Wildbow has a lot of explaining to do in the next arc. I didn't catch the significance of what Corvidae held at the end -- Barbatorem?. Also, looks like whoever said Blake was real and Rose was the clone was right all along? I'm glad if it's true, because the fake-Blake thing really rubbed me the wrong way. Dunno about the rest but my reading of Corvidae's poo poo was he stole Conquest's mirror so basically Rose will be forever influenced by him. I believe her plan was supposed to be "draw from Conquest until he gets too much influence on her and then undo the binding so he can't influence her anymore" but now it's going to fall apart into "draw from Conquest until he gets too much influence on her...whoops." edit: I eagerly await my "Rose and Blake were both real people but were both Crone Mara'd into being Rose Sr. and Rose Sr.'s familiar, respectively" theory to be proven completely true so I can then make more ridiculous guesses with some minor amount of credibility. Hawkperson fucked around with this message at 06:19 on Oct 7, 2014 |
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Oct 7, 2014 06:16
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Pierson posted:This also stuck out for me more than anything: That read to me as just a bit of poking fun. The comments section for the last few Worm entries were full of arguments over what really happened and I'm pretty sure I read that sentiment verbatim several times. Wildbow says later in the same thread that the Worm ending is whatever it needed to be for you. My instinct is that he posted this whole explanation as a joke because he knew it would make people double-take.
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Jul 26, 2015 21:34
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Yes, there was just an update on the 23rd, but yeah dude has like the worst loving luck apparently. I'm pretty sure if I wrote a web serial I'd also be waylaid constantly, but I guess it's a credit to him that I'm like "gently caress where is my Friday update?!" I also marathoned the story in the last month and I might (gulp) like it more than I liked Worm. It's apples and oranges really, but it's fuckin' smart and fun and plays with its genre really well. Worm is huge and well-realized, but the constant widening of its scope made it kind of...unreliable? It slowly grew from an interesting genre story (like Gods are Bastards) and became something different. TGaB widens its scope too but always seems to stay grounded in its initial thesis of "what would the world of D&D be like...in the future"
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Dec 27, 2016 06:03
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