Dude, where's your hand?

[zimmyzims]

Now we know why cool daddy Tony toms hid his hand, but what happened to it? How did he lose it? Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen. Below, I will explain each option more in detail.

1. Zimmy hammered it in pieces. So, this option is that Zimmy hit him so hard that her hit directly physically broke his hand. End of.

2. Lost in transplantation: the interruption of etheric operation cut the hand off. So, this theory is like the first one in that it was broken when Zimmy hit him, but differs in that Zimmy did not directly break his hand, but her intervention caused the etheric connection between Anthony and Antimony to be cut when his hand was still reaching into Annie's fire spirit. This has to do with the theory that the "bone lasers" were actually Tony's phalanges and now they're lost in ether rather than in the floor of wherever he was operating from.

3. Torn off during a charitable mission. This is a theory according to which he had already lost it before Divine, and in particular in a duty with Doctors without Borders or other such organisation where he has been working in some conflict zone, where the chances to lose a limb or a life are in abundance.

4. Ysengrin ate it. Or it was lost in any other such incident in a conflict with the Forest. Another theory according to which he had already lost it before Divine.

5. Voluntary transformation: "I'm going to be a frikkin' bad-ass cyborg". Enough said. Edit: to this category goes any theory according to which he has voluntarily cut his hand off, e.g. if that was needed for him to perform the etheric operation to Annie.

6.I've got my own stupid theory, thanks for askin'. This is the "other" option. And oh, don't be offended by the wording, the 'own stupid theories' are usually the best theories, but please, explicate your particular theory in this thread.

Okay, let the polling begin!

[The Anarch]

I figure the two most likely are that he either lost it when the Divine surgery went awry, or he had already removed it before then specifically so he could do said surgery.

But I voted cyborg, of course.

[zimmyzims]

Mar 25, 2015 21:52:18 GMT The Anarch said:

I figure the two most likely are that he either lost it when the Divine surgery went awry, or he had already removed it before then specifically so he could do said surgery.

But I voted cyborg, of course.

Hmm... "remove it in order to be able to execute the surgery", interesting. This is either a completely new theory or maybe a variant of the cyborg-theory? Because it comes from you, I would like to count it as a cyborg-theory, at least it is voluntary.

[CoyoteReborn]

You know how dear Yssy-ys is. So unpredictable. Such a shame.

And he didn't even share. Bah!

[The Anarch]

Mar 25, 2015 21:56:53 GMT zimmyzims said:

Hmm... "remove it in order to be able to execute the surgery", interesting. This is either a completely new theory or maybe a variant of the cyborg-theory?

I don't know/remember if anybody has stated it outright yet, it certainly doesn't seem to be one of the leading theories at least, but I am basing it on a few posts I've read that made me realize it was a distinct possibility. It could be that the reason his fingers appeared as bones in Zimmy's vision/Annie's dreamscape wasn't simple visual metaphor.

Because it comes from you, I would like to count it as a cyborg-theory, at least it is voluntary.

I don't see any problem with that. He's workin' on become a frikkin' badass ETHERborg!

[nero]

I'm not sure what happened etherically but I imagine that in the real world his hand was burned.

[Jelly Jellybean]

If you like the classics, he lost his hand to a great white whale.

If you prefer something more contemporary, he lost his hand to a great white shark.

[keef]

Mar 25, 2015 21:52:18 GMT The Anarch said:

or he had already removed it before then specifically so he could do said surgery.

Ah. Maybe the reason we see bones is simply because he already cut of the flesh himself... Whatdoyemean MAD science..

[zirka]

FINALLY Kat is starting to get angry. It's amazing that none of the kids stood up for Annie throughout all of this (including Annie herself). Tony must be quite a good teacher actually, to manipulate the class atmosphere so well on his first day. (I am in training to be a teacher now and it requires a lot more subtle manipulation of children's behavior that I expected)

[KMar]

Well, in other threads I've been supporter of the 'lost in surgery' theory, but for the purposes of this thread, let me put forth an alternative theory:

How did he lose it?

SPOILER: Click to show

He hasn't lost it.

He's perfectly aware of its whereabouts.

It's in a jar.



Reattaching it will be the final class project.

[zimmyzims]

Mar 25, 2015 22:02:18 GMT CoyoteReborn said:

You know how dear Yssy-ys is. So unpredictable. Such a shame.

And he didn't even share. Bah!

I knew you couldn't resist that theory.

[zimmyzims]

Mar 25, 2015 22:06:54 GMT The Anarch said:

Mar 25, 2015 21:56:53 GMT zimmyzims said:

Hmm... "remove it in order to be able to execute the surgery", interesting. This is either a completely new theory or maybe a variant of the cyborg-theory?

I don't know/remember if anybody has stated it outright yet, it certainly doesn't seem to be one of the leading theories at least, but I am basing it on a few posts I've read that made me realize it was a distinct possibility. It could be that the reason his fingers appeared as bones in Zimmy's vision/Annie's dreamscape wasn't simple visual metaphor.

I like this theory, it certainly has some evidence to support it.

Mar 25, 2015 22:06:54 GMT The Anarch said:

Because it comes from you, I would like to count it as a cyborg-theory, at least it is voluntary.

I don't see any problem with that. He's workin' on become a frikkin' badass ETHERborg!

I edited the OP to add extend the option 5 to cover these theories. Now it's there for everybody to vote.

[linchie]

I wonder why he needed surgical tools sent with Microsat 5, if it was "etheric surgery". So maybe he really used it to cut flesh off his own hand and turn it into that bone-laser thing? Ewww.

[biggerj]

Someone mentioned in the comic's comments that he might have cut it off using the scalpel and other medcal supplies sent to him in the chapter Microsat 5. I went back to that chapter, and... I might have found out why.

[virtue1992]

I've been reading for a long time but finally decided to sign up also.

I've been thinking a lot about the loss of a hand in this story. Has no one wondered if this might be the reason tony lost his hand??

www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=824
www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=827

Perhaps Tony had an agreement with Coyote and he broke it, which cost him his hand. Maybe to stay away from the Court and stay away from Annie? And perhaps that's the reason he finally returned now and why he needed those medical supplies.

Does anything in that theory not fit?

[zimmyzims]

Mar 26, 2015 9:09:15 GMT biggerj said:

Someone mentioned in the comic's comments that he might have cut it off using the scalpel and other medcal supplies sent to him in the chapter Microsat 5. I went back to that chapter, and... I might have found out why.

hmmm..... and why is it? That page does not give any obvious answer to it.

[zimmyzims]

Mar 26, 2015 13:39:41 GMT virtue1992 said:

I've been reading for a long time but finally decided to sign up also.

I've been thinking a lot about the loss of a hand in this story. Has no one wondered if this might be the reason tony lost his hand??

www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=824
www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=827

Perhaps Tony had an agreement with Coyote and he broke it, which cost him his hand. Maybe to stay away from the Court and stay away from Annie? And perhaps that's the reason he finally returned now and why he needed those medical supplies.

Does anything in that theory not fit?

Creative thinking! I like this. Can't see any obvious reason why this couldn't be true, although I can see quite good reasons why this would at the moment seem a little bit unlikely - but that's mostly just that the pact between Coyote and Anthony does not seem like the likeliest thing to have happened.

Maybe, if his promise was indeed to stay away from the Court and Annie, he lost his hand because he decided to break that promise and returned to Annie, and not the other way around (which is what I read you suggesting: that he lost his hand, and thus returned to Annie).

[keef]

Mar 25, 2015 21:52:18 GMT The Anarch said:

He had already removed it before then specifically so he could do said surgery.

Trouble with this scenario, or removing the flesh as I suggested earlier, is that it would have been more logical to prepare his left hand. If you are right-handed an artificial left-hand (or boneyhandheldtogetherwithmagicinsteadofmuscle) makes more sense. So "this hand was prepared earlier" is a bit unlikely.

[The Anarch]

Mar 26, 2015 15:47:48 GMT keef said:

Mar 25, 2015 21:52:18 GMT The Anarch said:

He had already removed it before then specifically so he could do said surgery.

Trouble with this scenario, or removing the flesh as I suggested earlier, is that it would have been more logical to prepare his left hand. If you are right-handed an artificial left-hand (or boneyhandheldtogetherwithmagicinsteadofmuscle) makes more sense. So "this hand was prepared earlier" is a bit unlikely.

If you are right-handed and are about to perform some very important etheric surgery in which the life of a child may hang in the balance - let alone your own child - and is the culmination of years of work and research . . . would you really give over the responsibility to your off-hand? The post-surgery complications are not necessarily the ones that would be most important to Tony.

[freeman]

Hey zimmyzimms, can you still add the new contestant, "Coyote's bind", to the poll?

Mar 26, 2015 9:09:15 GMT biggerj said:

Someone mentioned in the comic's comments that he might have cut it off using the scalpel and other medcal supplies sent to him in the chapter Microsat 5. I went back to that chapter, and... I might have found out why.

I don't see much why in this, but at least it proves that Anthony used to be right-handed.

Mar 26, 2015 15:08:46 GMT zimmyzims said:

Mar 26, 2015 13:39:41 GMT virtue1992 said:

I've been reading for a long time but finally decided to sign up also.

I've been thinking a lot about the loss of a hand in this story. Has no one wondered if this might be the reason tony lost his hand??

www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=824
www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=827

Perhaps Tony had an agreement with Coyote and he broke it, which cost him his hand. Maybe to stay away from the Court and stay away from Annie? And perhaps that's the reason he finally returned now and why he needed those medical supplies.

Does anything in that theory not fit?

Creative thinking! I like this. Can't see any obvious reason why this couldn't be true, although I can see quite good reasons why this would at the moment seem a little bit unlikely - but that's mostly just that the pact between Coyote and Anthony does not seem like the likeliest thing to have happened.

Maybe, if his promise was indeed to stay away from the Court and Annie, he lost his hand because he decided to break that promise and returned to Annie, and not the other way around (which is what I read you suggesting: that he lost his hand, and thus returned to Annie).

The implications of Anthony-Coyote pact would be rather rough, for one thing the game Coyote is playing with Annie gets many times more complex, more sinister too. I'm not saying it would be unlikely, Coyote is a "chaotic neutral"; he'd do it just for the thrills alone.

So what would be the rules of the bind? "You get your wife back when X, unless you Y?" I can't imagine anything.

[csj]

It being a complication of the bone needle situation isn't out of the question, but zimmy didn't punch tony's arm off. As far as I can tell, she did make contact with his face though.

Worth also noting that his right arm is completely unseeen in that panel... almost

[zimmyzims]

Mar 26, 2015 17:42:13 GMT freeman said:

Hey zimmyzimms, can you still add the new contestant, "Coyote's bind", to the poll?
...
The implications of Anthony-Coyote pact would be rather rough, for one thing the game Coyote is playing with Annie gets many times more complex, more sinister too. I'm not saying it would be unlikely, Coyote is a "chaotic neutral"; he'd do it just for the thrills alone.

So what would be the rules of the bind? "You get your wife back when X, unless you Y?" I can't imagine anything.

I don't think the "wife back" -clause could have existed, since he didn't get her. This raises a lot of difficult and unlikely answerable questions about what would the pact have been, but yes, I too was immediately excited about the complications this would bring to Coyote-Annie -relation. Obviously there would have been much more than thrills for Coyote in it: clear strategic advances. Getting one of the most naturally anti-Forest players off the field, and a clearly better chance of getting Annie lured out of the Court and on his side, which has so far worked fantastically. Had he ever got Coyote this well on his side had Anthony always been there? I doubt, I doubt very much.

Concerning adding this theory to the poll, unfortunately that cannot be done. This is a difficult one to put to the current poll, because it could somehow go to the "Ys ate it" category, but I meant with that real combat like situation, which a result of breaking a pact perhaps is not. Thus, let's do so that the people supporting this theory vote "other" (i.e. "I've got my own stupid theory") and specify that they support this particular theory.

This was inevitably going to happen: we just about always find new theories afterwards that receive some support and are difficult to fit in in the original poll. That's why there is the 'other' option.

[Gulby]

Woh, I didn't have any theory about that before reading the poll's answers, but now, I've chose my team ! Ys' ate it !!!

[biggerj]

Oh, whoops. I was just skimming and didn't realize that those were nail mark, not a bite mark. Back to the old string-covered theory board!