[1102] Will you take my name?

When this might happens? I guess early 20th century. Perhaps during WW1.

I wonder if she'll be Jimmy Jims, when the time comes.

(WWI would be about a century ago, not just several decades.)

Could she be Coyotte's daughter? She looks quite immortal to me.
Actually, she looks like the perfect all-caring woman. Despite the absense of any expression on her face. She just shows her care in action.

Eeermm...

The concept of aerial bombardment wasn't unheard of during WW1, I think?

EDIT: Fix'd image link finally, I hope.

Something nasty happening to your link there: this ought to work better even if it doesn't embed.

Yep that's my guess as well.

Dialog interpretation and speculation, abridged version...

Ed Jones: Fair Emma, I loves you, will you marry me?
Emma: Sorry. I just like you as a friend.
Ed Jones: (dying) How 'bout now? Will you do me the honor of taking my name?
Emma: All right, since I won't actually have to live with you or do anything. I'll do it literally and it'll be like a memorial to you. And I could use a new alias anyway, this one's wearing thin.
Ed Jones: Urk, death.

Well, at least someone thought she wasn't indestructable.

As for taking his name - it does sound a little like marriage - to which Jones took it literally. That's so like her (I think).

Well yes, I think this is most likely happening during the Blitz. Yet I wouldn't say "no fighting in British airspace at all" and a Zeppelin bomb hitting a filling factory wouldn't be totally impossible, this being a comic and a work of fiction. Just unnecessary nitpicking, I guess.

Not sure if it'd make any difference plotwise were it WW2 or WW1, though.

EDIT:

Jones seems to have been working for the Court after the war. What kind of connection Edward Jones had with the court, pre-war?

That's what I'm wondering. Does she mean "forever" or "until it's time to take a new name." because she APPEARS to be immortal and could theoretically take his name forever.

Coyote asked Jones if "this was the name you were using now" or something, so that means that Jones and Coyote haven't spoken since at LEAST before WWII, when she took the name Jones. It also implies that she's had more names before, so this is probably a thing she does.

Also, she's been in the UK for an awful long time. She doesn't wander much for a wandering eye.

The fact that she was working in a filling factory got me thinking, because filling factories were worked by women nearly exclusively. Is the fact that Jones is a woman significant to the story? I mean, every detail is supposed to be important. But the story wouldn't be incredibly different if Annie was a boy. However, Jones is a 'rock' of sorts, and has lots of strength, durability, and is nearly emotionless. I'm not saying that women can't BE these things, but they are typically associated with the male gender. (something in the back of my head is saying "Jones is a boy's name" but i'm pretty sure it's only a surname) So it stands to reason that this intentional juxtaposition MAY be to bring focus to her femininity. Over the course of the comic, she's been shown to be... something to Egglamore. I'm not sure if it's a more maternal role or a romantic one or perhaps even intentionally ambiguous, but the point is that it's highlighting her role as the "mother" or "lover," which are two of the more common relationship roles that a woman can fill with a man. I also feel like there's been a LITTLE bit of focus on her fashion in this arc. She's never wearing unisex clothing, and in this particular arc it's been like watching a time machine of women's clothing through the past few decades. Now obviously she has to be wearing SOMETHING, but I suppose I've felt like she's been very... woman-y? it's hard to explain, but it's like "this is exactly the average thing that the average woman was wearing at the time for a business-formal engagement." Like I said, this point is harder to word and it's not really a big deal anyway so whatever. And then the fact that she was working in a filling factory. THAT'S a detail that can only work if she's a woman. If she was a man, then she wouldn't be working there. And Tom could have easily had her doing something else at the time, rather than a filling factory. or even used a different time period. But the fact that he chose a filling factory sort of highlights the fact that she's a female again. ALSO, she takes other people's names. Which, traditionally, only happens when you marry someone, and it happens to the wife rather than the husband. (traditionally.)
Now I suppose the big question at the end of this is "so what?" I don't really have an answer for that yet, I'm just counting on it possibly becoming a relevant theme later. The only way I can see it mattering is if Jones is to become a foil to someone else's character, either by another woman or someone who has a similar character but is a male. Jones is ALREADY basically the "Anti-Surma," being that 1) Surma hates her, 2) she's calm and stoic while surma was apparently firey and wild, 3) they were the two women the Egglamore was stuck between, 4) Jones didn't appear to be too fond of Annie the first time they met. Now, this is interesting for two reasons: First of all, Annie/Surma's spirit is apparently only passed down from Mother to Daughter, mirroring Jones' feminine motif (I think it said that somewhere. If not then whoops my bad, but the point still stands a little bit, because Surma, Annie, and the original fire elemental are the only family members we've seen in any capacity, and they were all depicted as female). Second of all, Annie's spirit and Jones' body have both been around for a very long time, and share the same theme of rebirth/reincarnation. (Annie's spirit passes on from mother to daughter, and Jones takes on people's names over time). They're also both associated with two of the classical four elements, and possibly have opposing temperaments (If I can remember my temperaments correctly). That opens up a lot of interesting foils, especially since Annie has the same emotionless facade as Jones, which she apparently gets from her father. Which is ALSO interesting, because it fits in with the possible duality theme very nicely.

Sorry for the wall of text!

I can't believe it took me this long to realize this possibility:
Annie is the fire elemental and Jones the earth elemental.

I wonder if we already met water/air elementals...

oh yes nice symbol. The treasties are great for this kind of thing.

but yeah the comic is LITTERED with duality themes. The biggest and most prevalent one obviously being The Court and The Forest. All the other duality themes usually connect to that one in some way or another.

I have a theory about that written out here, though some of it has been disproved, if we assume that an Earth Elemental hybrid would have the same lifespan as a Fire Elemental hybrid.
I'm thinking though that she's PROBABLY a little more unique than just an Earth Elemental. Some form of Minor-Earth Deity.

I've been thinking for a long time that what if she was literally a Wandering Eye, like Coyote's eye or something (which isn't true for a few reasons). But something similar. His bones are rocks and his eyes are the sun and moon.

Wandering Eye was probably created from the Ether in the same manner as coyote, though! through myth and such

Hey, it's still a better death scene than the Wicker Man remake.

Surely being an ageless, timeless whatever-she-is would cause someone to be like that anyway?

EDIT:

Still a better love story than Twilight?