352[Fire...]

[edzepp]

Alarm!


If anyone wants to say they called it, then here's your chance.

It really does explain a lot. That was why the boy was so worried about his parents, I'm guessing. "Disfortunate accident" indeed.

[mudmaniac]

So the lizard was a match, it burned down to his fingers and he dropped it on the carpet in pain. Then the fire spread all over the room and set off the fire alarm.

That was just so damn cool. I would not have been able to guess in a million years.

[popo]

So I guess that this is a flashback of sorts for him?

[ceezedby]

mudmaniac said:

Then the fire spread all over the room and set off the fire alarm.

I think the dropped match did a bit more than just set off the fire alarm

This goes a long way towards explaining why the kid doesn't realise he - and the rest of his family - are dead. Smoke inhalation, died in his sleep, and he thinks the worst is his parents giving him hell over the mess and noise.

Go explain this one to him, Annie!

[mudmaniac]

ceezedby said:

mudmaniac said:

Then the fire spread all over the room and set off the fire alarm.

I think the dropped match did a bit more than just set off the fire alarm

Kinda seemed obvious i guess. So i didnt mention it.

[todd]

The revelation on this page surprised me; I'd assumed all this time that the accident that killed the ghost-boy's family was a car crash on the road (it's what I usually think of when I hear of a family dying in an accident). But instead, it seems now that the accident was their house burning down - with the suggestion that the boy caused it by playing with fire.

Everything is now falling into place. The screaming from the creature's mouth is the smoke alarm going off. And the seemingly withered arm that Annie gave the ghost-boy (or revealed) when she touched him was really a burnt arm, caused by damage from the fire.

I like it when a revelation takes you by surprise, and yet fits in perfectly with all the information that came before - only you didn't realize it until then.

[edzepp]

I guess Annie's role in all this was to precipitate this living flashback. Annie touching the boy's arm must have triggered something in the boy's memory or subconscious, causing whatever is happening to manifest itself. It's true then. All she had to do was be there. i'm guessing that this is something the boy has to re-experience in order to grasp his current nature. Or something like that. We'll see how it works out.

[Mezzaphor]

It's interesting that we're seeing Annie's thought process (via thought bubbles) leading up to her realization. Tom doesn't directly show the characters' thoughts very much.

And that fire thing is certainly a surprise. Well played, Tom.

[alya1989262]

todd, you said all I meant to say, only better worded than I could have said it.

[Tenjen]

I think the illusion is reacting to the thoughts of the people...err sentient beings, inside it. Annie realization acted like auto suggestion. Both she and the boy are influencing the illusion. I imagine if she hadnt thought about the alarm she would probably have never seen the fire.

its like two people driving in a giant pinball machine inside a bumber car with a driving wheel which constantly changes its directional orientation and theres no breaks just an accelerator stuck to the bottom of the floor.

[Boksha]

Somehow it wouldn't surprise me if, very soon, this whole thing will start over again.

[cenit]

lucky annie was there...cause it would have taken me a lot of time to figure out the fire thing, althoug maybe the alarm thing helped her.

So, yeah, most likely kid was playing with fire, drop it, started a fire, and failed to inmediatly tell his parents 'cause he was afraid they'll be mad... and then it was too late.

Man, that's so sad

[pulvissolaris]

It just occured to me that the lizard thing could be a salamander. As we all know, there is a lot of alchemy symbolism in this comic, and the salamander represents fire to the alchemists. Only it is normally portrayed in the same colour as a real salamander - yellow and black.

[Mezzaphor]

I bet the kid was showing the lighter to his sister. And when the memory replayed, Annie stepped into the sister's role.

[todd]

pulvissolaris said:

It just occured to me that the lizard thing could be a salamander. As we all know, there is a lot of alchemy symbolism in this comic, and the salamander represents fire to the alchemists. Only it is normally portrayed in the same colour as a real salamander - yellow and black.

That would be a great explanation for why Tom chose a lizard-like creature to represent fire.

[Tenjen]

Or maybe it was annie who did that. He probably still saw it as a match while she was still attuning to the illusion he had set up. So while being unable to see everything for what it actually was [to the boy] she saw the closest relation to it.

anyway lets see.

Giant spreading branches/crust instead of fire, giant screaming mouth instead of alarm, salamander instead of match and biting instead of match fire lick.

[cookiethief]

mezzaphor said:

I bet the kid was showing the lighter to his sister. And when the memory replayed, Annie stepped into the sister's role.

I had a similar thought once I noticed the fire.

I will admit, though, this page caught me completely by surprise, and I hope it's not because I'm unobservant and overlooked any or all of the hints.

[King Mir]

edzepp said:

If anyone wants to say they called it, then here's your chance.

Coyoty was the one who first proposed that the boy had died from fire.

Nobody had suggested that the boy started the fire though.

popo said:

So I guess that this is a flashback of sorts for him?

Now there's a recursive idea.

A flashback within a flashback within a flashback.

It goes like this:
Annie, is telling the story of her time at Gunnerkrigg (the story is told in first person -- see chapter 1). Within that, Annie is recounting what happened at Good hope to Kat. Within that, the boy is reliving his previous death.

[edzepp]

king0mir said:

Coyoty was the one who first proposed that the boy had died from fire.

Nobody had suggested that the boy started the fire though.

Oh yeah, I am aware of that. I think that a fire in general was mentioned somewhere before, though.

[cenit]

mezzaphor said:

I bet the kid was showing the lighter to his sister. And when the memory replayed, Annie stepped into the sister's role.

You know, there's an Anime about a vampire (can't recall the name) in which one of the stories was the tale of two twin sister that burn they're home, parents and one of the twins faces playing with fire... I think one convinced the other to light their birthday cake candles

Almost sure that it is Nightwalker (the anime name)....

[invalidgriffin]

The fire was alluded to ten pages ago.



Upper right corner, behind the speech bubble.

Well played, Mr. Siddell.

_{(I, um, signed up just to mention that. I've been reading the comic and the forums for a while, and I haven't seen anyone else point it out. Sorry if it has..)}

[Tom Siddell]

I was wondering if anyone would notice that. Thanks