rama
Junior Member
Heh
Posts: 54
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Post by rama on Mar 24, 2014 15:14:17 GMT
I think that the words "unfair" and "unjust" might mean something different than what we normally associate with them. Mort's death is unfair and unjust because he's just a kid who was unlucky, but there is more to it than that. Ankou said that his time came early, which might have some significance if we take into account that Mort's "true fate" might have been to have a long and happy life.
The fact that his interaction with Jones broke the schedule might be what is unfair, especially as Jones wasn't doing much more than some kind of hobby experimentation.
As for how Jones seniority affects the outcome, I think this kind of acceptable influence from her might have to do with the fact that she does it very rarely. She's almost completely void of emotion of sentimentality (or so it seems) which suggests that when she does speak up about things like this her words weigh more heavily than if she tried it all the time.
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Post by The Anarch on Mar 24, 2014 15:22:11 GMT
Is Jones' actions a good thing here? Mort doesn't seem to get a choice in whether he goes to the court or goes with the psychopomp. Might as well be sure that a position can be procured for him before offering him the choice to take it. |
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Post by Daedalus on Mar 24, 2014 15:32:38 GMT
And also, it's interesting that Jones me the ROTD appear (by their phrasing) to support the Allies. Huh? Sorry, misread the last speech bubble as coming from the vampire. |
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Post by alpacalypse on Mar 24, 2014 15:42:33 GMT
I'm curious about that clipboard. So far, everything colored that Mort remembers is something that he's deemed significant in some way to the narrative of his death and its circumstances. It could be that he just remembered it because it's how he came to arrive at Gunnerkrigg Court. But why is it purple? I would have expected pressboard, which would have been brown; even the aluminum ones we have today would have been unrealistic for the times. Unless it's made out of some etheric medium? I think a place as vibrantly colored, and which deals with ghosts and psychopomps, can have a little freedom to have purple colored clipboards without being constrained by current design standards. I'm also getting a very YuYu Hakusho feel from this, only without the full coming back to life thing. Although I was expecting Jones to be the one to recommend going to Gunnerkrigg instead of someone else, but I guess she is still helping get him settled there. |
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Post by noone3 on Mar 24, 2014 15:44:46 GMT
Sorry, misread the last speech bubble as coming from the vampire. I think you just accidentally the whole sentence. But don't worry, it happens more frequently than not. |
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Post by legion on Mar 24, 2014 15:50:40 GMT
Ah, it would make sense that the Count worked as an accountant for the RotD before getting that job in educative entertainment.
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Post by sidhekin on Mar 24, 2014 17:40:39 GMT
I was expecting Jones to be the one to recommend going to Gunnerkrigg instead of someone else, but I guess she is still helping get him settled there. If the most immediate thing she knew of the Court, was that "they are assisting with the war effort", this may well be how Jones came to the Court in the first place. When Jones turned up, I was expecting Mort to follow her to Gunnerkrigg Court, but now I get the impression that it'll be the other way around: Jones will be following Mort to Gunnerkrigg Court. |
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Shire
Junior Member
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Post by Shire on Mar 24, 2014 18:40:57 GMT
It's curious that we didn't see the ROTD back in A Ghost Story. I wonder why that is?
(Well... besides Tom not having came up with them back then...)
Maybe they only get involved with inter-departmental squabbles. When it's just psychopomps the ROTD leave them to themselves.
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Post by warrl on Mar 24, 2014 19:25:34 GMT
It's curious that we didn't see the ROTD back in A Ghost Story. I wonder why that is? Jurisdictional disputes between psychopomps are common enough that they have defined and well-known procedures for resolving them - namely, ask the subject. No need for Management to show up. Jurisdictional disputes between a psychopomp and Jones are extremely rare, and are handled by Management as special cases. |
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Post by alpacalypse on Mar 24, 2014 20:02:41 GMT
I was expecting Jones to be the one to recommend going to Gunnerkrigg instead of someone else, but I guess she is still helping get him settled there. If the most immediate thing she knew of the Court, was that "they are assisting with the war effort", this may well be how Jones came to the Court in the first place. When Jones turned up, I was expecting Mort to follow her to Gunnerkrigg Court, but now I get the impression that it'll be the other way around: Jones will be following Mort to Gunnerkrigg Court. I guess we don't really have story to how Jones got to the Court. I went back to The Stone and on this page www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1100 noticed that Jones is working in a Filling Factory, which is a type of munitions factory found in the UK during both WWI and WWII. It doesn't answer how she got to the court, but I suspect that that page is likely from WWII. So where is that page in the timeline to the current story. If it is after the current story then it would mean that Jones doesn't follow right away, but if it were before then Morty might really have been the impetus for her moving to the Court. |
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Mar 24, 2014 20:25:54 GMT
Also: This shows the impact of that tricky subjective ether on the whole material universe thing otherwise "unfair/unjust" shouldn't mean any more in that universe than it does here. So far, it has impacted only a bureaucrat's decision regarding a matter of customs. I don't understand what you're talking about here. You know he becomes a ghost. We have no ether here but many people dying unfair and unjust deaths, yet incredibly few to no demonstrable ghosts. I think that the words "unfair" and "unjust" might mean something different than what we normally associate with them. Mort's death is unfair and unjust because he's just a kid who was unlucky, but there is more to it than that. Ankou said that his time came early, which might have some significance if we take into account that Mort's "true fate" might have been to have a long and happy life. The fact that his interaction with Jones broke the schedule might be what is unfair, especially as Jones wasn't doing much more than some kind of hobby experimentation. Incredibly unlucky might be a part of something relating to Jones-interaction but I can't buy "true fate." That implies an agency (other than the author.) |
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Post by philman on Mar 24, 2014 20:57:29 GMT
If the most immediate thing she knew of the Court, was that "they are assisting with the war effort", this may well be how Jones came to the Court in the first place. When Jones turned up, I was expecting Mort to follow her to Gunnerkrigg Court, but now I get the impression that it'll be the other way around: Jones will be following Mort to Gunnerkrigg Court. I guess we don't really have story to how Jones got to the Court. I went back to The Stone and on this page www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1100 noticed that Jones is working in a Filling Factory, which is a type of munitions factory found in the UK during both WWI and WWII. It doesn't answer how she got to the court, but I suspect that that page is likely from WWII. So where is that page in the timeline to the current story. If it is after the current story then it would mean that Jones doesn't follow right away, but if it were before then Morty might really have been the impetus for her moving to the Court. It was said in the thread for one of the pages over the last week or so, I forget which, sorry, Apparently the some forumites managed to trace the filling factory back to an explosion at a filling factory in 1924 where quite a lot of female workers died, along with their foreman, a one Mr Edward Jones... So that would take place 15-20 years before Jones meeting Mort, |
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Post by Per on Mar 24, 2014 20:58:07 GMT
It doesn't answer how she got to the court, but I suspect that that page is likely from WWII. |
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Post by alpacalypse on Mar 24, 2014 22:05:41 GMT
It was said in the thread for one of the pages over the last week or so, I forget which, sorry, Apparently the some forumites managed to trace the filling factory back to an explosion at a filling factory in 1924 where quite a lot of female workers died, along with their foreman, a one Mr Edward Jones... So that would take place 15-20 years before Jones meeting Mort, That was long before my time, and Per found it. I was kinda hoping that it would be related to this storyline, but it makes sense that Tom would base it off a real event. |
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Post by GK Sierra on Mar 24, 2014 23:00:43 GMT
 I'm glad Mort is taking this whole thing in stride. He's a very sure-footed kid. |
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Post by freeformline on Mar 24, 2014 23:11:17 GMT
Well, this is an answer to a question that I've long been wondering, that does the Court actively involve itself with outside affairs. Now I wonder if the war effort was a unique incident, or if they still have commercial of political interests in the outside world. I am inclined to think that such involvements are very rare, due to Tom's comment on the page: "Their assistance was partly granted on the condition that no record was kept of their participation." They probably got involved because the threat to Britain was great enough to seriously threaten the Court as well. |
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Omnium
Junior Member
Posts: 58
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Post by Omnium on Mar 25, 2014 0:11:04 GMT
It's curious that we didn't see the ROTD back in A Ghost Story. I wonder why that is? (Well... besides Tom not having came up with them back then...)Maybe they only get involved with inter-departmental squabbles. When it's just psychopomps the ROTD leave them to themselves. I'm not so sure that he hadn't come up with them back then, maybe not the full details but the idea of there being a bureaucracy of the afterlife which got involved with Jones and Mort(y)'s death. Tom seems to plan things really far in advance, after all it helps to know as many of the answers to the mysteries of the comic before you drop hints about them. As an example, Jones was introduced in chapter 14, 26 chapters before we found out her backstory. Either Tom had done research for her name before her introduction, or it's an amazing coincidence that there was a factory foreman named Jones. Personally, I don't believe in coincidences. |
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Post by Freedomfiend on Mar 25, 2014 0:21:31 GMT
So, we just see ROTD as if Kat is seeing it? Whose eyes are we seeing through? I believe we're seeing this from our point of view, as external observers. Kind of like Jones. And we've been here since the beginning. Like Jones. And we have some ability to affect the events of the comic, while there's nothing the comic can do to affect us. Just like Jones. Basically, Jones is the reader given form in the comic. ...I just got lost in my own crazy theory. Where am I? |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2014 2:03:10 GMT
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Post by ctso74 on Mar 25, 2014 2:34:27 GMT
I'm curious about that clipboard. So far, everything colored that Mort remembers is something that he's deemed significant in some way to the narrative of his death and its circumstances. I like that idea. His friends were also previously in color. Maybe, his "assisting with the war effort" will lead him back to them. Perhaps, children aren't so much safer in the country. Though, I think "Sometimes a purple clipboard is just a purple clipboard" may apply. One of Freud's lesser known quotations... I think he lost a bet with Jung, or something. |
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Post by eyemyself on Mar 25, 2014 14:29:50 GMT
I think that the words "unfair" and "unjust" might mean something different than what we normally associate with them. Mort's death is unfair and unjust because he's just a kid who was unlucky, but there is more to it than that. Ankou said that his time came early, which might have some significance if we take into account that Mort's "true fate" might have been to have a long and happy life. The fact that his interaction with Jones broke the schedule might be what is unfair, especially as Jones wasn't doing much more than some kind of hobby experimentation. As for how Jones seniority affects the outcome, I think this kind of acceptable influence from her might have to do with the fact that she does it very rarely. She's almost completely void of emotion of sentimentality (or so it seems) which suggests that when she does speak up about things like this her words weigh more heavily than if she tried it all the time. This was also my thinking on both points. |
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Post by Ophel on Mar 25, 2014 15:00:29 GMT
I just had a sort of realisation. Since Mort has abilities of projection, I think all of this is Mort projecting his becoming a ghost. We really don't know the extent of his abilities, but he did once create an entire circus hall/room with various terrifying circus character mannequins devoid of eyes. He could just as well project the entire situation where Mort became a ghost. This can also explain in-universe why we don't get to see Mort's passing, because he won't be conscious about it! Which could reason how the chapter icon of Annie being surrounded by rubble and smoke comes about!
(Didn't read through entire posts so may be a repost)
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Post by crater on Mar 25, 2014 17:02:36 GMT
I'm glad Mort is taking this whole thing in stride. He's a very sure-footed kid. your picute of young Mort enjoying a cigarette has influenced 5 children to try tobacco. lawsuit incomming |
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Post by GK Sierra on Mar 25, 2014 19:10:15 GMT
I'm glad Mort is taking this whole thing in stride. He's a very sure-footed kid. your picute of young Mort enjoying a cigarette has influenced 5 children to try tobacco. lawsuit incomming Suing me would be a terrible idea. They wouldn't even make enough to cover their legal expenses.
Remember kids, Marlboros are poison. Disgusting fiberglass filters stuffed with floor scrapings and stems. I don't care how many your dad smoked in Vietnam, it's Camels or nothing.
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Post by csj on Mar 26, 2014 12:08:58 GMT
With so many 'unfair' and 'unjust' deaths, if those are actually valid terms for RoTD to intervene, they must be having a field day.
Far more curious about the idea of GC being involved in WW2, tho. An etheric war with Nazi Germany would surely be... horrific. Could be a tie-in for Ysegrin's army, actually.
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QuotePilgrim
Full Member
Behind my door, there are twelve other doors.
Posts: 142
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Post by QuotePilgrim on Mar 26, 2014 14:24:04 GMT
It's curious that we didn't see the ROTD back in A Ghost Story. I wonder why that is? (Well... besides Tom not having came up with them back then...)Maybe they only get involved with inter-departmental squabbles. When it's just psychopomps the ROTD leave them to themselves. I'm not so sure that he hadn't come up with them back then, maybe not the full details but the idea of there being a bureaucracy of the afterlife which got involved with Jones and Mort(y)'s death. Tom seems to plan things really far in advance, after all it helps to know as many of the answers to the mysteries of the comic before you drop hints about them. As an example, Jones was introduced in chapter 14, 26 chapters before we found out her backstory. Either Tom had done research for her name before her introduction, or it's an amazing coincidence that there was a factory foreman named Jones. Personally, I don't believe in coincidences. I don’t know. To me it seems very likely he didn’t come up with the ROTD back then. Yeah, Tom might plan a lot of things in advance, but it doesn’t mean he plans everything in advance. Your Jones example: assuming it wasn’t planned, it still needs not to be a coincidence. Tom could have chosen the name at random, and then, when it came to tell Jones’s back story, look for someone who had the same name – as long as he didn’t choose a ridiculously uncommon name, there would always be someone in the history of humanity who had that name. I don’t really think that’s the case, though, but it’s a possibility. (However I think it would just have been a very minor coincidence if it happened purely by chance.) Trust me, making something look like it was planned when it wasn’t is a lot easier than you might think. There are a lot of tricks to do this, and dropping a hint without thinking in advance what they mean is one of the easiest ones – it’s kind of using foreshadowing backwards. As far as we know, Tom might just be using tricks like this all the time. Again, I don’t really think that’s the case, but it is possible. |
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chaosvii
Junior Member
I absolutely did not expect this!
Posts: 84
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Post by chaosvii on Mar 29, 2014 5:24:08 GMT
Trust me, making something look like it was planned when it wasn’t is a lot easier than you might think. There are a lot of tricks to do this, and dropping a hint without thinking in advance what they mean is one of the easiest ones – it’s kind of using foreshadowing backwards. As a DM, I know what you are getting at here. Sometimes the most impressive looking narrative threads are the ones formed by backwards foreshadowing. |
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