[493]Chomp!

This sounds like a "Circle of Life" kinda thing. Remember the faries people? So that would mean when the faeries get bored of Human life, they can just come back to the forest or something. possibly be reborn as a forest creature.

Oh I'm going to go one step further on that Kuraru.

What if Surma didn't die, but rather, went to the Wood?

Well, think about it--that'd definitely cure her ailment. She would have had to sacrifice a few things, including being with Annie. But ya know, it would give a reason to send Annie to the Court for further schooling....

On another note, to go with your speculation, there's mention at the end of Annie's first year that she didn't hear from her father for more than two years. I just got a possible idea of how that happens--he just emerges from the Wood as an animal and asks to speak with her. That'll be interesting.

Ohwait. This could set up why Anthony even disappeared in the first place if Surma became a creature of the Wood...he disappeared into the Wood as well to be with her?

Coyote expressed his sadness about Surma's passing, so I doubt it's that.

The power station controls the process that makes the Annan waters impassable. I totally called it first

(even though the river has probably been like that for ages and the power station is obviously fairly modern but whatever)

I like how Aly's story, which seemed like a disconnected side-story at first, now turns out to be important to the Gunnerverse mythos. That's some good storytelling right there.

I don't think Surma and/or Annie's dad became forest creatures. Surma in particular strikes me as the sort of person who'd tell Annie if she was going to do that.

Maybe this is why Coyote invited Annie here? For some unknown reason, he might want her to "shun her humanity" and become a part of whatever is going on in the Wood.

Dangit, thanks for the points. I kept forgetting about the sadness bit. Even Reynardine would've known, given his connections...

Ohwell. Fun theory though.

There is some sort of contradiction in Coyote's words: he says he made the divide between GC and GW, making it sound as if it was not the Court's will, but then it becomes clear that the people from the Court made the division more permanent by 'doing something to the water'. In addition, the bridge could only be made on the Court's terms, assumably insisting on a construction that would make it impossible for the Glass eyed Men to cross on their own.

So I think that the division was much more an idea from the Court than Coyote tells Annie.

Old questions that have become more important in my opinion:

- how did Shadow 2 end up in GC?
- How did the White Lady cross the Annan waters?

Looking over my speculation above that Coyote might be planning to offer Annie a new body in Gillitie Wood so that she won't be in Gunnerkrigg anchoring Reynardine there:

It occurred to me after I posted that that there is one possible hole in Coyote's plan (though I don't think it's one he'd be aware of). If Annie did get a new body and become an animal, she'd probably do what Alistair did: give all her worldly possessions away to Kat before she left. That would include Reynardine, who would now be linked to Kat and still unable to leave the Court without her permission. (Annie would be far more likely to give the wolf doll to Kat than to Eglamore or the other grown-ups at the Court.)

I don't hold that against Coyote, since I don't think he knows about Annie owning Reynardine's current body. There's no reason why he should have found out that Reynardine's now in a plush toy, since he (Reynardine) showed up at the Court in Chapter Fourteen in his white wolf-form throughout.