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Post by saicolo on Oct 19, 2012 15:30:56 GMT
So this is dragging on for no apparent reason again. I think we get that Jones is old now - can we move on to answering what she is or, not answering it if this is a big tease, and get on with the story please?
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ding
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Post by ding on Oct 19, 2012 15:44:38 GMT
Jones is turning out to be a kind of Enoch Root character, a vaguely mechanical literary device that ties together eras.
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alexh
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Post by alexh on Oct 19, 2012 15:54:58 GMT
I don't know if travel by boat is such a good idea for her. If she had fallen overboard...
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Post by Per on Oct 19, 2012 15:57:30 GMT
get on with the story please Look beyond the story tree and you may find a story forest.
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Post by smjjames on Oct 19, 2012 16:19:48 GMT
get on with the story please Look beyond the story tree and you may find a story forest. I was going to ask whether saicolo had ever gone through the archives, but decided not to be potentially rude when I don't mean to. I don't know if travel by boat is such a good idea for her. If she had fallen overboard... We don't even know if breathing is actually neccesary for her, given that she might not need food (but can eat for appearances sake, obviously), we don't even know. She is apparently willing to take the risk as she has probably travelled over the atlantic multiple times over the centuries. What I WOULD be curious about is flying on an airplane because her weight will definetly be noticeable, especially with fuel.
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Post by smjjames on Oct 19, 2012 16:36:13 GMT
Anyways, anybody want to speculate about the next strip which will be in the 15th century? The 1400's is right in the flowering of the Renaissance (I wonder if Tom is aiming for the Renaissance on purpose or not) and there are ALL KINDS of people, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, just to name two out of many.
Maybe we will see her chatting with a young Leonardo Da Vinci. While Italy would be the place to be for any immortals observing the Renaissance, it spread throughout Europe, so she could possibly be anywhere.
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Post by shirozaki on Oct 19, 2012 17:10:31 GMT
While I know they were sparse in England, these flash backs do make me wonder whether Jones was around during the height of the witch-hunts, since she would have been a rather easy target.
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Post by seaofalchemy on Oct 19, 2012 19:16:00 GMT
Hi new here. I'm loving all the theories and information you guys are coming up with! Does anyone have any idea on how this all links to the chapter title - "The Stone." Could be figurative: like a ripple effect caused by throwing a stone into still water- the stone being Jones/Emma/Elizabeth. But also might be something else. Anyone? Hello nessa. Good question and idea; check out this person's theory. In my opinion, his theory explains it very well. However, other theories are possible too. His is just rather interesting and ties the chapter title together with Jones's story. So this is dragging on for no apparent reason again. I think we get that Jones is old now - can we move on to answering what she is or, not answering it if this is a big tease, and get on with the story please? There is always a purpose for every page Tom creates. It may seem like filler, but it's not, and he wants us to feel eager for the story get to the point already. Isn't that what every good writer does? But keep in mind that all these flashbacks have intention and substance, otherwise, why would he (or anyone for that matter) waste his time drawing them up? We may learn how Jones encounters Coyote or how she becomes this immortal being in the first place.
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Post by Lightice on Oct 19, 2012 19:49:20 GMT
While I know they were sparse in England, these flash backs do make me wonder whether Jones was around during the height of the witch-hunts, since she would have been a rather easy target. Easy target who would have just stood at the ashes of the bonfire, looking passively at the embarrased crowd.
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8day
New Member
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Post by 8day on Oct 19, 2012 21:11:24 GMT
My prediction: this chapter will end with the Big Bang.
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Post by Per on Oct 19, 2012 21:37:11 GMT
The chapter ends with the Big Bang, but Jones is standing in the way so it fizzles and the universe doesn't start expanding. Jones (unhurt) looks around to see if anyone noticed. Cut back to the present where Jones stares silently at Antimony. Then end chapter.
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tpman
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Post by tpman on Oct 19, 2012 22:14:08 GMT
My big question is whether Jones was ever a normal human (perhaps until she met Coyote) or whether she was always a whatever-she-is. I'm leaning towards the latter since I don't think she's met Coyote yet by this strip and she still seems to have that preternaturally cool demeanor. Also I don't think the length of her hair has changed at any time over the last half century so that could be clue.
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tpman
Full Member
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Post by tpman on Oct 19, 2012 22:18:12 GMT
Prediction (and it's pretty out there): The last nonbonus strip in this arc is Jones removing her hand from Antimony's forehead or something and asking her "do you understand now?". The last few weeks' worth of strips were visions being shown to Antimony. She says she understands but nothing is revealed to the reader. The bonus page is just a giant word art of "Mystery Solved!"
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Post by seaofalchemy on Oct 19, 2012 22:41:37 GMT
My prediction: this chapter will end with the Big Bang. The chapter ends with the Big Bang, but Jones is standing in the way so it fizzles and the universe doesn't start expanding. Jones (unhurt) looks around to see if anyone noticed. Cut back to the present where Jones stares silently at Antimony. Then end chapter. Hahaha. Very nice. The thing is, during the Big Bang, she still needs to have a "man" to have an affair with because, well, that's her thing. SO! She has an affair with God. The end of the chapter will show God and Jones arm-wrestling. When God realizes that Jones is winning because of her amazing strenth, God farts. This makes Jones pause for a second in confusion, and God takes the opportunity to slam Jones's hand down. God shouts that he is victorious! But then he claims he still feels gassy and asks Jones for a lighter. Jones happens to have a lighter with her (because some other man gave it to her and she happens to have it) and she hands God her lighter. He lights up the lighter, farts toward the lighter, and then a burst of gasses, molecules, planets, and flame shoot out of God's buttocks: The Big Bang. Hehehe, sorry. Family Guy reference. xD
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Post by descoladavirus on Oct 20, 2012 0:31:46 GMT
Though the thought of dimwitted and spoiled aristocrats starving entertains me, I must find fault with your account. It is far too focused on those at the top of the scheme. My ancestors were imported to America around this time. For your entertainment, here is their history in brief. According to family tradition they were cattle-thieves and brigands who were forcibly transported here, and additionally 2/3 of them were the rightful heirs to the throne of Scotland. They did much of the actual work and fought the indians and the french and whoever else needed fighting. Sadly they chose the losing side in the revolution and were (again) imprisoned, this time on a small island near New York. They broke jail and swam to shore, and were fleeing to Canada when they noticed that nobody cared enough to chase them. So, they settled down midway and intermarried with religious fanatics. They mysteriously and quickly accumulated a large herd of cows. Soon indians and the French needed fighting again, so they found moderate success, bought some decent land, and became dairy farmers for the next few centuries. They only left their homesteads for wars (for money not ideology). I grew up hearing stories of Fort 4 and Robert Rogers was spoken as highly of as our revered ancestor Robert the Bruce. When the civil war happened we were smarter this time, having some people fighting on both sides to make sure we were on the winning team whatever happened. Supposedly that made for fun family reunions afterward, though. True, the recorded perspective is usually the bourgeois one, however there were a lot more upper class men looking for adventure on the first trip, enough to endanger food production when enough of them considered farm-work to be beneath them. More a Roanoke phenominon, obviously, by the time Jamestown was setting down some of those rich people had sent word back about how bloody hard it was. "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn is a great one if you get a chance. You are very lucky that you can trace your family that completely. All I can get is the German/British side from my mother, my dad's side are pretty much all dead, including the latest iteration, so they can't point me in the right direction, but I managed to get some genealogies on the maternal side. Nothing very exciting unfortunately. The highlight is probably the great-great uncle who was in the Sturmabteilung and got murdered during the Night of Long Knives. All the rest take too long to tell and don't have great tales of badassery that are characteristic of the Scots. Heck, even that one doesn't exactley inspire me. Damn it von Hagele, why couldn't you have picked the Schutzstaffel? Then at least you could have lived a little longer. Jones is an indentured servant? wha? Also, as the article Tom linked to says "modern conceptions of slavery didn't begin in Virginia until 1660. I don't think that article is accurate then. The first slaves arrived in Jamestown in 1619, and it was enshrined in law in 1640 (probably earlier, but primary sources are scant after that many centuries). As for Jones being an indentured servant, she wasn't tagging along with a man in this scene, and a spinster who is wearing that outfit did not come over without a good deal of cash or a promise of indentured servitude, which was frankly little better than slavery except that you eventually got out of it, a decade or so down the road. If you're going to post with some righteous indignation, I'd rather you not say "any source contradicting what I say is incorrect"
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krael
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Post by krael on Oct 20, 2012 1:47:12 GMT
Prediction (and it's pretty out there): The last nonbonus strip in this arc is Jones removing her hand from Antimony's forehead or something and asking her "do you understand now?". The last few weeks' worth of strips were visions being shown to Antimony. She says she understands but nothing is revealed to the reader. The bonus page is just a giant word art of "Mystery Solved!" deal with it!
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Post by warrl on Oct 20, 2012 4:44:15 GMT
Yeah, but I take it that Tom is saying that the time between this and the Langdon estate she spends more or less in the wilderness and has something to do with Coyote. She would have had to come out of the wilderness several years before taking up with the Langdons, in order to have "excellent references". Such high-class people would NOT have hired someone known to them to have come out of the wilderness, no matter her credentials. She does not appear old, to have a stack of work references. So she likely had to have some family references as well. Which means that when she returned from the wilderness she got "adopted" into some other family. I'd say she was back "in civilization" for probably at least 10-15 years prior to the Langdon job.
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alexh
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Post by alexh on Oct 20, 2012 6:51:14 GMT
Hah, her resume could have been like... -help God/s out with the Big Bang -dinosaur herding -cave painting -babysitting999
and then pretty much everything else, given all the time she has.
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Post by shirozaki on Oct 20, 2012 17:43:02 GMT
While I know they were sparse in England, these flash backs do make me wonder whether Jones was around during the height of the witch-hunts, since she would have been a rather easy target. Easy target who would have just stood at the ashes of the bonfire, looking passively at the embarrased crowd. That's putting the cart before the horse, with some of the trials being relatively thorough. I'm not saying she would get herself burned or in another way murdered (I'm sure she would be able to slip out one way or another), but that entire "not aging" thing is a relatively foolproof way of getting yourself accused of witchcraft in 16th century Europe and we HAVE seen that she has been exposed and accused on at least one occasion (referring to the page with the policemen).
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Post by OrzBrain on Oct 20, 2012 21:05:18 GMT
Easy target who would have just stood at the ashes of the bonfire, looking passively at the embarrased crowd. That's putting the cart before the horse, with some of the trials being relatively thorough. I'm not saying she would get herself burned or in another way murdered (I'm sure she would be able to slip out one way or another), but that entire "not aging" thing is a relatively foolproof way of getting yourself accused of witchcraft in 16th century Europe and we HAVE seen that she has been exposed and accused on at least one occasion (referring to the page with the policemen). We saw her sparring, so she's not exactly a complete pacifist. I wonder what it would take to set her off on a mob? Perhaps if they were hauling some other "witches" out to be burnt along with her?
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Post by smjjames on Oct 20, 2012 21:35:25 GMT
That's putting the cart before the horse, with some of the trials being relatively thorough. I'm not saying she would get herself burned or in another way murdered (I'm sure she would be able to slip out one way or another), but that entire "not aging" thing is a relatively foolproof way of getting yourself accused of witchcraft in 16th century Europe and we HAVE seen that she has been exposed and accused on at least one occasion (referring to the page with the policemen). We saw her sparring, so she's not exactly a complete pacifist. I wonder what it would take to set her off on a mob? Perhaps if they were hauling some other "witches" out to be burnt along with her? Given how people reacted to strange things back then, she might have to leave no witnesses. She could use some method or other to make it seem like she ages, but we don't see any signs of her doing that (unless each strip is at a point where she only has minor alterations to appearance such as hairstyle) and all it takes is a chance discovery or someone taking a close look or someone recognizing her from years ago and seeing she hasn't aged. I know there's Langdon, but he probably learned her secret long ago. Probably the only solution would be to be in one place for some decades, go into hiding or go a long distance away for a while (which can partially explain why she went to one of the first European settlements in the Americas at the first opportunity). However, what if some kind of legend or myth arises from people connecting the dots so to speak? I'd be interested in how Tom solves this problem, especially since it would become more of a problem once people started living longer.
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Post by GK Sierra on Oct 21, 2012 1:46:56 GMT
If you're going to post with some righteous indignation, I'd rather you not say "any source contradicting what I say is incorrect" Don't worry, I love you too. ;D (I'm not sure of what righteous indignation you're talking about)That's putting the cart before the horse, with some of the trials being relatively thorough. I'm not saying she would get herself burned or in another way murdered (I'm sure she would be able to slip out one way or another), but that entire "not aging" thing is a relatively foolproof way of getting yourself accused of witchcraft in 16th century Europe and we HAVE seen that she has been exposed and accused on at least one occasion (referring to the page with the policemen). We saw her sparring, so she's not exactly a complete pacifist. I wonder what it would take to set her off on a mob? Perhaps if they were hauling some other "witches" out to be burnt along with her? Something tells me they would need a blast furnace to burn Jones at the stake.
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Post by seaofalchemy on Oct 21, 2012 2:05:41 GMT
Something tells me they would need a blast furnace to burn Jones at the stake. Jones: "If I survived the asteroid and super-volcano that killed the dinosaurs, I can definitely survive this."
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Post by Per on Oct 21, 2012 13:06:14 GMT
Then she screams like a little girl when they bring... the cushions!
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Post by niccodemure on Oct 21, 2012 14:11:24 GMT
I vote for Pandora Her face always has the look of sorrow.
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Post by smjjames on Oct 21, 2012 15:46:37 GMT
I vote for Pandora Her face always has the look of sorrow. Being immortal and seeing everybody that you know die, could do the same thing. Also, she doesn't look like she always has the look of sorrow.
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Post by seaofalchemy on Oct 21, 2012 19:22:16 GMT
I vote for Pandora Her face always has the look of sorrow. Being immortal and seeing everybody that you know die, could do the same thing. Also, she doesn't look like she always has the look of sorrow. Agreed. She doesn't look saddened. More like indifferent and stoic. It's not exactly boredom and not exactly a serious face. Just a really really good poker face. Jones would win at poker.
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Post by Georgie L on Oct 21, 2012 22:10:26 GMT
Prediction (and it's pretty out there): The last nonbonus strip in this arc is Jones removing her hand from Antimony's forehead or something and asking her "do you understand now?". The last few weeks' worth of strips were visions being shown to Antimony. She says she understands but nothing is revealed to the reader. The bonus page is just a giant word art of "Mystery Solved!" Apart from the bonus page, that actually sounds a cool & plausible thing.
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Post by rafk on Oct 22, 2012 5:08:26 GMT
I have no idea why people are so obsessed with there being an actual historical Langdon to connect this storyline to.
Anyway, it seems to me that the odds are very, very good that Jones met Coyote in this trip (although assuming we are only going backwards, not forwards in time, we aren't going to see that meeting) and that "Wandering Eye" was the name given to her by a native tribe before that meeting. Hence it has no bearing on what Jones is, except insofar as the native tribe must have had a reason for bestowing the name (it would be hilarious if the reason is that Jones told them she ran away from the White Man's settlements because she had an affair, but I doubt that's the case; more like that she told them she roams the world observing stuff).
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Post by rafk on Oct 22, 2012 5:11:18 GMT
Prediction (and it's pretty out there): The last nonbonus strip in this arc is Jones removing her hand from Antimony's forehead or something and asking her "do you understand now?". The last few weeks' worth of strips were visions being shown to Antimony. She says she understands but nothing is revealed to the reader. The bonus page is just a giant word art of "Mystery Solved!" Apart from the bonus page, that actually sounds a cool & plausible thing. The bonus page is the most plausible part. Tom taunts us every time he no-reveals something!
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