What Does Mr. Carver Do? Theory re: His Absence

[calpal]

With the recent arrival of Mr. Carver into the Gunnerkrigg story, presumably everyone - myself included - have collectively hyperventilated so hard that we could move a wind turbine and power a dozen houses or so for a few hours.  What very little we do know about Tony Carver is that he was a part of the Group of 6 before becoming romantically involved with Surma and fathering Annie.  After Surma died from Annie's growth and the nature of the fire elementals, Tony left, never to make an appearance outside of flashbacks until the end of Chapter 36, leading into Microsat 5 where we learn more and more about him.

But the more I think about it, there are some things about Tony being a surgeon that don't add up.  Why disappear with virtually no contact and no means of communicating with you in a profession where being able to reach you could well save lives?  To add to that, why is he so bad at expressing emotions in a profession where you should be able to sympathize with the people you're operating on, or if you ever had to give bad news to their relatives?  Why separate yourself from a daughter that consciously knows you for years and years, only to suddenly and very abruptly enter her life with no warning ahead of time... as her teacher?  Why grieve for a dying lover but never so much as even grin around your own child?  But most importantly, this:

What does a surgeon need payloads dropped from a satellite that only HE knows its exact location ever?

And it got me thinking, maybe he isn't really a surgeon.  Maybe he's in a different line of work that would more conveniently answer all of these questions (providing Tom hasn't already plotted something else):

Maybe he's a contract assassin / secret agent.

It adds up perfectly:

 - You would hide yourself away from all potential contact with the real world if it meant going deep undercover or while on an assassination mission;
 - He is bad at expressing emotion because, as Mr. Donlan notes, 'the smallest thing can carry the greatest weight', which for expressions could mean giving your identity / intentions away;
 - In that line of work, he would ensure that Annie never gets dangerously close to him and that, if he were to pass on, she has everything already provided for him;
 - It would explain why he has martial arts experience (again, other than maybe personal hobby, why does a surgeon study martial arts, where breaking your own bones is a very real possibility and could end your surgical career faster than one bad cut with a scalpel?!); and
 - It would perfectly explain his need for a satellite - which only HE knows about - to drop payloads anywhere he wants;
 - Having the skills of a surgeon would greatly benefit him

Does he work for the Court (as something other than a teacher now)?  Potentially; we have no idea where he was, what he was doing, or for whom he was working for.  'But CalPal' you're shouting through your screens, 'there's two problems with your theory!  First, why is he back at Gunnerkrigg Court?!  And second, why is he breaking his cover to teach classes in which his DAUGHTER is attending?!'

Well, there's a few ideas to answer both:

First, he's ended his career and wants to try and reconnect with his daughter.  Yeah, that's about as laughable as Jack's haircut.

Second, he's working on an unrelated assignment with the Court, which allows him to conveniently spend time with his daughter in a non-threatening environment.

Or maybe... he has an assignment that is related to the Court in some way.  Perhaps he needs to find documents some rogue element is hiding within the Court?  Maybe there's a rascal about who needs to be taken care of?

I wonder whatever it could be that brings Carver back...

[thesaddestface]

My pet theory has always been that Anthony left in search of a way to 'cure' Annie by destroying the etheric part of her, making her human, but since Annie might not want that it would become a point of contention between them should he return.

[vakri]

What we know:
-it has something to do with outer space
-it has soething to do with cutting things
-Anthony is determined to find out why, so he is a researching scientist type of person
What may be involved:
-apples
-tree
-saving Annies life
Who we completely forgot about?

BRINNIE

(and relax, I don't claim that as soon as Surma died he found substitute).

If you look into Norse mythology, you will find out that there are apples (guarded by godess Idun) that give you immortality. And (i'm not sure about it, unfortunately) these apples may be growing on Yggdrasil, the tree of life- that represents the whole universe. Earth (called Midgard) is just one of the worlds of this tree.
That explains outer space travels- in this theory, he is in another world, most likely Asgard- world of gods. And it makes his purpose clear- he is experimenting on said apples, or maybe on Yggdrasil itself.
And there may be a second objective of his research- all worlds are a part of Yggdrasil, and so is world of death. He might be looking for Surma.

So why did he go back? There may be two reasons:
-he has done his work out there and he needs to finnish it in the Court
-he faied to discover anything, so he simply came back. Just like that. Because it's Tony.

And why did he came to class? Because he wanted to see Annie. We may see it (just like Eglamore) as cold and rude, but for Tony it's a happy reunion with his beloved doughter.

[todd]

Mar 15, 2015 11:02:08 GMT vakri said:

If you look into Norse mythology, you will find out that there are apples (guarded by godess Idun) that give you immortality. And (i'm not sure about it, unfortunately) these apples may be growing on Yggdrasil, the tree of life- that represents the whole universe..

Actually, Yggdrasill was an ash tree, not an apple tree. And the Norse myths never even say anything about Idun having an apple tree; she carries her apples around in a magic basket - which means that when the storm giant Thiassi abducts her (with some assistance from Loki), he takes all the apples with her (since she was carrying her basket) and there were none left on the tree for the gods.

[zimmyzims]

Mar 13, 2015 23:48:27 GMT calpal said:

With the recent arrival of Mr. Carver into the Gunnerkrigg story, presumably everyone - myself included - have collectively hyperventilated so hard that we could move a wind turbine and power a dozen houses or so for a few hours.  What very little we do know about Tony Carver is that he was a part of the Group of 6 before becoming romantically involved with Surma and fathering Annie.  After Surma died from Annie's growth and the nature of the fire elementals, Tony left, never to make an appearance outside of flashbacks until the end of Chapter 36, leading into Microsat 5 where we learn more and more about him.

But the more I think about it, there are some things about Tony being a surgeon that don't add up.  Why disappear with virtually no contact and no means of communicating with you in a profession where being able to reach you could well save lives?  To add to that, why is he so bad at expressing emotions in a profession where you should be able to sympathize with the people you're operating on, or if you ever had to give bad news to their relatives?  Why separate yourself from a daughter that consciously knows you for years and years, only to suddenly and very abruptly enter her life with no warning ahead of time... as her teacher?  Why grieve for a dying lover but never so much as even grin around your own child?  But most importantly, this:

What does a surgeon need payloads dropped from a satellite that only HE knows its exact location ever?

And it got me thinking, maybe he isn't really a surgeon.  Maybe he's in a different line of work that would more conveniently answer all of these questions (providing Tom hasn't already plotted something else):

Maybe he's a contract assassin / secret agent.

It adds up perfectly:

 - You would hide yourself away from all potential contact with the real world if it meant going deep undercover or while on an assassination mission;
 - He is bad at expressing emotion because, as Mr. Donlan notes, 'the smallest thing can carry the greatest weight', which for expressions could mean giving your identity / intentions away;
 - In that line of work, he would ensure that Annie never gets dangerously close to him and that, if he were to pass on, she has everything already provided for him;
 - It would explain why he has martial arts experience (again, other than maybe personal hobby, why does a surgeon study martial arts, where breaking your own bones is a very real possibility and could end your surgical career faster than one bad cut with a scalpel?!); and
 - It would perfectly explain his need for a satellite - which only HE knows about - to drop payloads anywhere he wants;
 - Having the skills of a surgeon would greatly benefit him

Does he work for the Court (as something other than a teacher now)?  Potentially; we have no idea where he was, what he was doing, or for whom he was working for.  'But CalPal' you're shouting through your screens, 'there's two problems with your theory!  First, why is he back at Gunnerkrigg Court?!  And second, why is he breaking his cover to teach classes in which his DAUGHTER is attending?!'

Well, there's a few ideas to answer both:

First, he's ended his career and wants to try and reconnect with his daughter.  Yeah, that's about as laughable as Jack's haircut.

Second, he's working on an unrelated assignment with the Court, which allows him to conveniently spend time with his daughter in a non-threatening environment.

Or maybe... he has an assignment that is related to the Court in some way.  Perhaps he needs to find documents some rogue element is hiding within the Court?  Maybe there's a rascal about who needs to be taken care of?

I wonder whatever it could be that brings Carver back...

I've been bringing up the possibility that he's on a mission of his own or of courts on several occasions here. One thing that we do know about him but people do not seem to notice - I've brought this up before - is that he has clearly played some and probably a big role in the Court's battle against Forest, because when Ysengrin was first introduced he reacted with a particular anger to the thought that Anthony Carver had been the person who had "planted devices" to the forest territory.

While I do not at all think that his characteristics are contradictory with him being a surgeon, it seems obvious that there is at least more than that to him because of the satellite and his past role in the Court, and I've been long toying with the theory that his and Surma's union actually had something to do with something the Court wanted to be done - maybe Annie, but it is maybe a bit far fetched to suggest the Court is engaged with eugenics project. The different story line's - that Anthony is on a Court mission, that he has a mission of his own, that he is a surgeon and that he has personal plans to save Annie one way or another - are not mutually exclusive. He may be on the Court's duty, while also having a project of his own that the Court is unaware of, and that project may have something, or a lot, to do with Annie.

[Garbage]

I feel that whatever Tony was up too, the court wasn't in on it, not even those higher up, after all he contacted Jones of all people in order to get a call to Annie, and while we know he wanted Annie to receive the call he could have gone through Donny just as easily judging from how he handled the whole situation, Donny would have understood the seemingly pointless over complication of getting a message meant for him through Annie first. He went through Jones as she was the only surefire way to avoid any contact with people more "official" to the court, as we know she is more independent and unbiased. He spent a long time not just skimming out of Annie's life, but of the court as a whole, which makes his return to it all the more surprising!

[zimmyzims]

Mar 15, 2015 18:30:34 GMT Garbage said:

I feel that whatever Tony was up too, the court wasn't in on it, not even those higher up, after all he contacted Jones of all people in order to get a call to Annie, and while we know he wanted Annie to receive the call he could have gone through Donny just as easily judging from how he handled the whole situation, Donny would have understood the seemingly pointless over complication of getting a message meant for him through Annie first. He went through Jones as she was the only surefire way to avoid any contact with people more "official" to the court, as we know she is more independent and unbiased. He spent a long time not just skimming out of Annie's life, but of the court as a whole, which makes his return to it all the more surprising!

True, but still, as I pointed out, that his particular manoeuvre's were his own and unacknowledged by the Court doesn't exclude the possibility that he is also away in Court's assignment.

[Garbage]

Mar 15, 2015 18:47:41 GMT zimmyzims said:

Mar 15, 2015 18:30:34 GMT Garbage said:

True, but still, as I pointed out, that his particular manoeuvre's were his own and unacknowledged by the Court doesn't exclude the possibility that he is also away in Court's assignment.

Ah, fair enough, but what could they have had him doing? What could be so important in the rest of the world to a place founded on the basis of escaping humanity? The only ties to the outside we've had from the court so far is that a few students come from there, unless Tony was scoping for new students in place of Jones, which would have implied the court would have idea's of where he is since I imagine the court gives those retrieving new students some kind of "shopping list" [eheh], Or he was possibly linked to the ether experiments [investigating their effects outside?], I think he might have been going full-solo. A few theories I've seen bouncing around involve him simply secluding himself out of overwhelming depression at the loss of surma [If the smallest thing means a lot to Tony, imagine what one of the worst possible things could have done to him!], though i also buy into whats been said about private research focusing on Annie and her own death at the result of a child should that happen, which according to Coyote is a "When", not an "if"!

[warrl]

Mar 15, 2015 18:30:34 GMT Garbage said:

I feel that whatever Tony was up too, the court wasn't in on it, not even those higher up, after all he contacted Jones of all people in order to get a call to Annie, and while we know he wanted Annie to receive the call he could have gone through Donny just as easily judging from how he handled the whole situation, Donny would have understood the seemingly pointless over complication of getting a message meant for him through Annie first. He went through Jones as she was the only surefire way to avoid any contact with people more "official" to the court, as we know she is more independent and unbiased. He spent a long time not just skimming out of Annie's life, but of the court as a whole, which makes his return to it all the more surprising!

Also consider that he called Jones to talk to Annie so that she would pass a message to Mr. Donlan.

That implies some knowledge of the relationship between Annie and the Donlans. If Kat were "a girl in my class" and Mr. Donlan were "a teacher", the message wouldn't have gotten where Anthony needed it to go.

For that matter, Anthony and Surma supposedly cut off communication with the Court (or at least with the Donlans) well before Annie was born - therefore well before Kat was born. Anthony should not even be aware of Kat's existence, and without that, Antimony would be even less likely to have a connection with the Donlans.

Unless... he's been in quite a bit more contact than Annie and the Donlans have been led to believe. But then, why not go through those contacts to get the stuff he needed, rather than rely on a barely-pubescent girl to remember a long nonsense message word-for-word?

[Daedalus]

Mar 15, 2015 12:39:17 GMT todd said:

Mar 15, 2015 11:02:08 GMT vakri said:

If you look into Norse mythology, you will find out that there are apples (guarded by godess Idun) that give you immortality. And (i'm not sure about it, unfortunately) these apples may be growing on Yggdrasil, the tree of life- that represents the whole universe..

Actually, Yggdrasill was an ash tree, not an apple tree. And the Norse myths never even say anything about Idun having an apple tree; she carries her apples around in a magic basket - which means that when the storm giant Thiassi abducts her (with some assistance from Loki), he takes all the apples with her (since she was carrying her basket) and there were none left on the tree for the gods.

God damn I am always surprised by the erudition of forum members here.

Mar 15, 2015 23:06:22 GMT warrl said:

That implies some knowledge of the relationship between Annie and the Donlans. If Kat were "a girl in my class" and Mr. Donlan were "a teacher", the message wouldn't have gotten where Anthony needed it to go.

Not necessarily; he left Annie in their care, so it's reasonable to assume that they'd still be able to get in contact easily. It seems that, however, he *did* know that Annie was with Jones (or at least knew Jones pretty well) since he called her phone, so it's likely he's monitoring the situation somehow.

Mar 15, 2015 18:30:34 GMT Garbage said:

I feel that whatever Tony was up too, the court wasn't in on it, not even those higher up, after all he contacted Jones of all people in order to get a call to Annie, and while we know he wanted Annie to receive the call he could have gone through Donny just as easily judging from how he handled the whole situation, Donny would have understood the seemingly pointless over complication of getting a message meant for him through Annie first.

I partially disagree. There must be easier ways to contact Mr. Donlan - but as the latter said, it's likely that he wanted to talk to his daughter. But the Court knows Anthony contacted Donnie, since Jones (we assume) would have reported it. The use of a 1-time pad suggests that Anthony plans to keep the content of the message secret, not the sending of the message itself. And whatever he's doing, it's not official to some degree since Donny had to steal scalpels rather than request them, but Donnie knows enough (or trusts Tony enough) to follow his instructions. Is he in on the plan?

Also, that is a looooooong sentence that you wrote there.

[Chancellor]

Anthony Carver: professional tosser.

[feraldog]

Mar 15, 2015 23:06:22 GMT warrl said:

But then, why not go through those contacts to get the stuff he needed, rather than rely on a barely-pubescent girl to remember a long nonsense message word-for-word?

Maybe he had been training her to remember things like that.

[calpal]

Mar 16, 2015 7:07:04 GMT Chancellor said:

Anthony Carver: professional tosser.

End of thread right here, people.  Mr. Carver is actually just a tosser, move along

[zimmyzims]

Mar 16, 2015 14:01:47 GMT calpal said:

Mar 16, 2015 7:07:04 GMT Chancellor said:

Anthony Carver: professional tosser.

End of thread right here, people.  Mr. Carver is actually just a tosser, move along

The weight of evidence of his absence being due to him being accomplishing his duties of superdickery is indeed getting overwhelming.

But I refuse to stop believing. I'm not sure this is the right hill to die on, but I have no religion yet, so this may as well be it.

[TBeholder]

Mar 13, 2015 23:48:27 GMT calpal said:

Maybe he's in a different line of work that would more conveniently answer all of these questions (providing Tom hasn't already plotted something else):


Maybe he's a contract assassin / secret agent.

It adds up perfectly:

 - You would hide yourself away from all potential contact with the real world if it meant going deep undercover or while on an assassination mission;
 - He is bad at expressing emotion because, as Mr. Donlan notes, 'the smallest thing can carry the greatest weight', which for expressions could mean giving your identity / intentions away;
 - In that line of work, he would ensure that Annie never gets dangerously close to him and that, if he were to pass on

Congratulations, you found perhaps the only area in which Anthony obviously would perform worse than as a parent. I can think of only one English metaphor for this: "disqualified by a landslide".
See, it's "hiding yourself away" part. To move without being noticed, one got to blend in like something that was included with furniture, put on a fridge, and no one bothered to move it for the next five years, as opposed to trenchcoat-and-fedora. Now, good old Tony got a stony look, but at least he can dress like a human being from Earth... the problem is, sometimes a human being have to open the mouth and say something - and should he opens his mouth, an ominous trenchcoat will immediately fly out, loudly flapping its sleeves. Even if he will respond to someone asking time.
The current page just finishes the idea off - boom, and a whole room of strangers looks at him like he got not just a pigeon, but the whole goose sitting on his head and gabbling opinions.

Mar 15, 2015 11:02:08 GMT vakri said:

What we know:
-it has something to do with outer space

By the way. Did you ever notice how young Anthony resembled the traditional image of the Little Grey Alien?

[KMar]

Mar 16, 2015 15:52:16 GMT TBeholder said:

Mar 15, 2015 11:02:08 GMT vakri said:

What we know:
-it has something to do with outer space

By the way. Did you ever notice how young Anthony resembled the traditional image of the Little Grey Alien?

You got it backwards, the popular image of a Grey resembles Tony. Kidnapping shepherds for the advancement of science has been tradition since times bygone in the medical family Carver.

[speedwell]

If Anthony's hand is unusable, it is probably the reason he came back to teach. After all, a newly one-handed surgeon is of what use, exactly?

[vakri]

To continue my "he was in Asgard" theory- there is a myth about norse god Tyr, that when gods tried to capture a great wolf Fenrir, beast said that it will let gods tie it if any of them put their hand in it's mouth. Tyr agreed, and, of course, Fenrir bit it off.
So perhaps gods offered Tony help in his research, but on one codition- he will help them capture Fenrir, playing Tyr's part.

[freeman]

Mar 16, 2015 15:52:16 GMT TBeholder said:

Congratulations, you found perhaps the only area in which Anthony obviously would perform worse than as a parent. I can think of only one English metaphor for this: "disqualified by a landslide".
See, it's "hiding yourself away" part. To move without being noticed, one got to blend in like something that was included with furniture, put on a fridge, and no one bothered to move it for the next five years, as opposed to trenchcoat-and-fedora. Now, good old Tony got a stony look, but at least he can dress like a human being from Earth... the problem is, sometimes a human being have to open the mouth and say something - and should he opens his mouth, an ominous trenchcoat will immediately fly out, loudly flapping its sleeves. Even if he will respond to someone asking time.
The current page just finishes the idea off - boom, and a whole room of strangers looks at him like he got not just a pigeon, but the whole goose sitting on his head and gabbling opinions.

Well, Anthony could be a serious version of the "bumbling distraction to draw attention into while the other professionals finish the job" -trope that the agent comedies seem to love.

[slag]

Sorry, if someone told this earlier. But I want to share with my opinion. It`s about what Anthony did and what he is doing now.

At first, what exactly we know about Anthony?
1) He is doctor and the main he is surgeon (!).
2) He thinks with monosemantic-unique answers and categories. Like “Cut a malignant tumor” or “you need in-patient treatment”.

So what, I think, he sees in Antimony? He sees two diseases:
1) Fleck of Fire Elemental (further FE).
2) Cheating in many subjects – bad studding in this aspects.

And like a doctor he wants to cure poor girl. Why Antimony? Because he is her farther – he can`t quietly watch at her diseases. They will destroy all her future, in his opinion. So, his choice of treatment:
1) The FE like tumor or parasite. Like a surgeon he decided to cut it off. At chapter 37 he received all he need for surgery. And, maybe, start preparing patient. Scalpel is metaphor in some sense but for him it’s actually the main device. In chapter 38 we seen the part of process surgery, but Zimmy intervened in process. Maybe its look like bomb clearance and someone pushed sapper. Bomb exploded and suffered arm. (by the way I think he choose wrong device and Anny cut it with Coyote`s tooth)
2) Cheating and bad knowledge is complex disease. So it needs combined treatment. He as a doctor he had appointed:
Long hospital treatment. Like every hospital treatment you need to reject from many aspects of your common life for a while. (live in hospital ward – new room Anny and her cloth in it. Make only what doctor says)
Diet and no worries. (so you can`t talk to all people, especially with those who hinder treatment)
Procedures under supervision of a physician (Anthony by himself checking her homework and gives his own tasks)

Many people told that Anthony abuser. But all doctors are abusers for patients, they suggesting treatment and mostly from patient they need only confirm. When we talking about treatment of a child they needs confirm from his parents. So Anthony-doctor received confirm from Anthony-father by the way and Antimony too.
Some people always can say that doctor acted unethically or chose wrong treatment. The objectivity of the charges can be understood in a while. And sometimes doctor or charger don`t see each other picture.

P.S. I bag a pardon for my English. It`s not my native language. So, some of my word constructions and sentences may seem awful.

[speedwell]

Mar 26, 2015 4:54:43 GMT vakri said:

To continue my "he was in Asgard" theory- there is a myth about norse god Tyr, that when gods tried to capture a great wolf Fenrir, beast said that it will let gods tie it if any of them put their hand in it's mouth. Tyr agreed, and, of course, Fenrir bit it off.
So perhaps gods offered Tony help in his research, but on one codition- he will help them capture Fenrir, playing Tyr's part.

I think the parallel is more with Mucius Scaevola here.

Georges Dumézil found that many mythologies opposed a one-eyed and a one-handed god or hero, casting the one-eyed figure as the one who had to (imperfectly) tame their savage, wild, emotional aspect, and the one-handed figure as the calm, just, cold figure who ignored the limitations of the body and mind. It is tempting to oppose Anthony, the one-handed "hero", and our friend the Forest demigod with one... ear.

[zbeeblebrox]

Mar 13, 2015 23:48:27 GMT calpal said:

And it got me thinking, maybe he isn't really a surgeon.  Maybe he's in a different line of work that would more conveniently answer all of these questions (providing Tom hasn't already plotted something else):

Maybe he's a contract assassin / secret agent.

It adds up perfectly:

 - You would hide yourself away from all potential contact with the real world if it meant going deep undercover or while on an assassination mission;
 - He is bad at expressing emotion because, as Mr. Donlan notes, 'the smallest thing can carry the greatest weight', which for expressions could mean giving your identity / intentions away;
 - In that line of work, he would ensure that Annie never gets dangerously close to him and that, if he were to pass on, she has everything already provided for him;
 - It would explain why he has martial arts experience (again, other than maybe personal hobby, why does a surgeon study martial arts, where breaking your own bones is a very real possibility and could end your surgical career faster than one bad cut with a scalpel?!); and
 - It would perfectly explain his need for a satellite - which only HE knows about - to drop payloads anywhere he wants;
 - Having the skills of a surgeon would greatly benefit him

Haha yes.  This is probably the suspicion everyone has secretly had about Anthony since Microstat.  I still can't throw it away, as there may be legitimate merit to it still.  But mainly "secret assassin" not "secret agent" - I could never imagine Tony James-Bonding it up.  He can't even "casual dinner" it up!  But you don't need to be suave to assassinate rogue gods, do you? ;D

OH, and don't forget to include Tony reminding Donald that there are things about their job they can't talk about in public.

As far as I'm concerned, whatever he's doing it's related to the Court.  Either he's directly working for them, or directly working against them.  I just can't believe that his goals are tangential.  That kind of thinking is fine for a surface reading of current events, but it just doesn't add up in the long run.

[Trillium]

Wherever Anthony has been, he's back. Currently he is a Biology teacher and a major failure as a dad.

[freeman]

I'm not sure if this remark has been thrown into the air before, but given current state of things, wouldn't it made Antimony pretty much immune to whatever her dad could try? As in, the fire is physically outside her body.