[640] This part you must do on your own

Or, considering the fight was coreographed, the monster could just've been a pre-programmed automaton.

ug. i'm going to have to start reading this once a week. the three panels a week bit is killing me.

fantastic comic though.

I like the electric incense sticks.

Anyone know what that symbol means?

It's now more than mere devotion or even reverence. It has become a full-fledged religion with a mythology (angels and demons), symbols (the "ground" symbol) and rituals (the pilgrimage).

If this is because of a mere portrait, what will happen if Jeanne's spirit itself (aka Ghosty McStabbity) actually makes an appearance to the robots?

I, too, wonder if he'll be able to get past the rolling boulders, the collapsing floor and the undead, axe-wielding guardians!

its gotta make you wonder, just what the rest of the court would think if they found out that the robots now have a religion of sorts, centering around a person on whom all information has been lost/deliberately hidden.

Maybe they fitted the corridor with microwave emitters so that only the worthy shall pass.

I find it fascinating that it now resembles a Shinto shrine. I guess it makes sense that robots would be into animism.

Someone's REALLY building up the level of mysticism in this whole Jeanne thing. A bit too much, really.

As long as we're speculating on the true nature of the connection between Jeanne and the robots, I think this is as good a place as any to link again to my completely wild and slightly tongue-in-cheek Wild Speculation post about the past and future of GC.

Gunnerkrigg Court is so awesome.

"What's inside?"
"Only what you take with you."

On the whole robot worship of Jeanne thing, I've got some questions.

First off, my current working knowledge is that back in the day Diego built the court robots. He programmed them to regret Jeanne's death and worship her. He also programmed them to hate Young, so presumably either Young was Jeanne's actual love interest (or, you know, actually spoke to her, further presumption is that Diego was a love from afar sort of fellow), or let her down in some way, or even killed her.

Premise established my questions/observations are as follows:

#1: Diego worked more like Ann than Kat. His robots are built the way a wizard would build them, not an actual scientist. Kat gets upset because they don't look like they should work, and Ann is able to build Robot without any scientific knowledge. I think Diego was more of a wizard than a technician. He dressed his magic in steel and gears, but it remains etheric.

If this is the case, Diego's "programming" of his robots would have been more like instructions/geasses, and that fits what we are seeing. When reminded of Jeanne they all say the same thing, and feel the same thing, but it doesn't work like C# style programming. They also seem to have more emotions than I'd imagine an actual (technical) robot having.

#2: Why did Diego love Jeanne? It could easily be that she's just pretty and he built her up in his mind without ever speaking to her, but there might be more to it than that. I could easily see her as an acquaintance or friend, perahps the only girl he interacted with? It'd fit. Perhaps she was also robot minded? I'm trying to build towards Kat as modern Jeanne rather than modern Diego, but evidence is thin on the ground.

EDIT: Also, boxbot is TERRIBLE. Does it love Jeanne? I doubt the others would let it in the shrine!

Welcome to the forum, Walter!

I like your theory #1 very much -- though the initial battle seemed scripted in a very mechanical way, the rest of the robotic devotion does seem to have a rather different style.

Which makes me wonder if Diego intended this devotion to pass to his robots after all, or if it was an unintentional side-effect of his meddling with the etheric.