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Post by imaginaryfriend on Apr 3, 2015 9:15:13 GMT
I wish Tom would get on with it. I'm sure this will be compelling once we're no longer waiting for updates but my interest in /outrage at Tony Carver being a dickhead has been exhausted. Just get on with it, whatever it is. There is more than one way to enjoy the comic. For example, if I can find the time over the weekend I plan to draw this. Possibly in silver age comic style. |
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Post by edzepp on Apr 3, 2015 9:18:16 GMT
speedwell I never quite implied so. I'm just venting because ouch, my emotions.
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Post by snipertom on Apr 3, 2015 9:24:40 GMT
Anthony's job, among other things, says a lot about the kind of person he is.
There are some lovely surgeons, but it's a field that also attracts:
- Control freaks
- People with an unhealthy +/- obsessive focus
- Narcissists
- People who have high or abnormal expectations
- People prone to bouts of explosive anger
- People with difficulty with social interaction
- Occasionally sociopaths
Anthony is a control freak. He's got the unhealthy, obsessive focus thing. He's probably narcissistic. He's got abnormal expectations. This seems like a bout of explosive anger even though it's planned. He's got difficulty with social interaction. I doubt he's a sociopath given his tears for Surma.
Doctors often come from families in which education can be seen as the *only* thing, something to be completed at the expense of everything else, regardless of the consequences.
My parents were controlling and emotionally abusive too- this spiel is not-quite-but-almost-exactly what they would have said to me about X/Y/Z. Control always begins with isolation- usually the abuser believes one of a few things, that they'll be cut out of the equation if there's any competition (probably not Anthony), that their idea is what's 'right' for the other person (Anthony/my parents) or that their idea is what will benefit them personally (remains to be seen). Of course in appropriate amounts, some degree of control is exerted by parents over their offspring but adolescence is a phase that is about individuation and about parents gradually letting go of that control while still guiding them. Inconsistency is another theme of parental emotional abuse, and Anthony has gone from emotional neglect to extremely controlling.
The thing is, Anthony can only control so much. He can't control her being the Forest medium or not.
But of course, witness how Anthony rejected the court and the etheric sciences, devoting his life to looking for a non-etheric cure for an entirely etheric condition. He just doesn't believe in Coyote or the power of the Forest. That is his weakness
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Post by aline on Apr 3, 2015 9:25:35 GMT
I'm really getting tired of the "is he a good parent" discussion, to be honest. He's obviously not here because she hasn't behaved. There's something else going on.
What exactly is his game? Only a few chapters ago, when Annie didn't become the Court Medium, I assumed she had just skipped too many detentions and they were unhappy with her behavior. But maybe that wasn't the reason. Remember what Jones said: www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1155 And what Coyote said: www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1156
Both of them thought there was some kind of plot going on here. Jones knew about Annie's misbehavior and clearly did not beleive this was a valid reason to not make her the medium. And Coyote is a trickster and can probably smell a plot a mile away. They're very likely correct to wonder about the hedmaster's motivations. So what could it be the Court really want? - Keeping Annie away from the forest, for some reason? - Taking Renard away from her? Are they afraid she could turn against them? Find something they want to hide? In any case something changed since the end of year 7, when they were eager to have her trained with the other would be mediums.
Anyway... her becoming the Forest Medium was clearly not what the Court was going for. The question is where Anthony stands in the middle of all this. Is he working for them? Do they have a common goal? |
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Post by artezzatrigger on Apr 3, 2015 9:30:28 GMT
Alright, just who the hell do you think you are, Carver?
The sheer arrogance. Does he really think he can waltz in and get away with taking one of Lord Coyote's favourite playthings?
...But no, in all seriousness, this can only end badly.
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arzeik
Junior Member
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Post by arzeik on Apr 3, 2015 9:32:01 GMT
I'm starting to hope Anthony will try to take Renard from Annie, thus making her free him, and in a blow of rage, the teddy wolf/ancient demon/naive fox will possess Mr Carver, leading into that body finally serving for good parenting.
Okay, that may be a bit too screwed up. But...
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Apr 3, 2015 9:35:38 GMT
Anthony's job, among other things, says a lot about the kind of person he is. There are some lovely surgeons, but it's a field that also attracts: - Control freaks - People with an unhealthy +/- obsessive focus - Narcissists - People who have high or abnormal expectations - People prone to bouts of explosive anger - People with difficulty with social interaction - Occasionally sociopaths Anthony is a control freak. He's got the unhealthy, obsessive focus thing. He's probably narcissistic. He's got abnormal expectations. This seems like a bout of explosive anger even though it's planned. He's got difficulty with social interaction. I doubt he's a sociopath given his tears for Surma. Doctors often come from families in which education can be seen as the *only* thing, something to be completed at the expense of everything else, regardless of the consequences. My parents were controlling and emotionally abusive too- this spiel is not-quite-but-almost-exactly what they would have said to me about X/Y/Z. Control always begins with isolation- usually the abuser believes one of a few things, that they'll be cut out of the equation if there's any competition (probably not Anthony), that their idea is what's 'right' for the other person (Anthony/my parents) or that their idea is what will benefit them personally (remains to be seen). Of course in appropriate amounts, some degree of control is exerted by parents over their offspring but adolescence is a phase that is about individuation and about parents gradually letting go of that control while still guiding them. Inconsistency is another theme of parental emotional abuse, and Anthony has gone from emotional neglect to extremely controlling. The thing is, Anthony can only control so much. He can't control her being the Forest medium or not. But of course, witness how Anthony rejected the court and the etheric sciences, devoting his life to looking for a non-etheric cure for an entirely etheric condition. He just doesn't believe in Coyote or the power of the Forest. That is his weakness Your analysis is consistent with what is in the comic about the smallest thing with him carrying great weight and the incredible inconsistency between his parenting presence and absence. Though I agree with your overall conclusion I question if he disbelieves in etheric things or if he has no patience with them, possibly because of the control issue. |
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Post by snipertom on Apr 3, 2015 9:53:39 GMT
Anthony's job, among other things, says a lot about the kind of person he is. There are some lovely surgeons, but it's a field that also attracts: - Control freaks - People with an unhealthy +/- obsessive focus - Narcissists - People who have high or abnormal expectations - People prone to bouts of explosive anger - People with difficulty with social interaction - Occasionally sociopaths Anthony is a control freak. He's got the unhealthy, obsessive focus thing. He's probably narcissistic. He's got abnormal expectations. This seems like a bout of explosive anger even though it's planned. He's got difficulty with social interaction. I doubt he's a sociopath given his tears for Surma. Doctors often come from families in which education can be seen as the *only* thing, something to be completed at the expense of everything else, regardless of the consequences. My parents were controlling and emotionally abusive too- this spiel is not-quite-but-almost-exactly what they would have said to me about X/Y/Z. Control always begins with isolation- usually the abuser believes one of a few things, that they'll be cut out of the equation if there's any competition (probably not Anthony), that their idea is what's 'right' for the other person (Anthony/my parents) or that their idea is what will benefit them personally (remains to be seen). Of course in appropriate amounts, some degree of control is exerted by parents over their offspring but adolescence is a phase that is about individuation and about parents gradually letting go of that control while still guiding them. Inconsistency is another theme of parental emotional abuse, and Anthony has gone from emotional neglect to extremely controlling. The thing is, Anthony can only control so much. He can't control her being the Forest medium or not. But of course, witness how Anthony rejected the court and the etheric sciences, devoting his life to looking for a non-etheric cure for an entirely etheric condition. He just doesn't believe in Coyote or the power of the Forest. That is his weakness Your analysis is consistent with what is in the comic about the smallest thing with him carrying great weight and the incredible inconsistency between his parenting presence and absence. Though I agree with your overall conclusion I question if he disbelieves in etheric things or if he has no patience with them, possibly because of the control issue. I think he dismisses/has no patience with/downplays them |
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Post by speedwell on Apr 3, 2015 10:00:12 GMT
Your analysis is consistent with what is in the comic about the smallest thing with him carrying great weight and the incredible inconsistency between his parenting presence and absence. Though I agree with your overall conclusion I question if he disbelieves in etheric things or if he has no patience with them, possibly because of the control issue. I think he dismisses/has no patience with/downplays them To me, we know enough about him and his reality-avoidance issues (since in context the Ether is positively a real and usable thing) that none of us should have been shocked in the slightest by how he reacted upon finding out his daughter was mixed up in everything he hated most. That we were shocked, and profoundly so, says more about our identification with Antimony (and possibly our hopes that Anthony learned something) than about our ability to read plain characterization. |
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Kriselia
Junior Member
But she smells wonderful!
Posts: 87
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Post by Kriselia on Apr 3, 2015 10:01:00 GMT
Also possibly significant, if speculative: - Is the human figure standing in the redness of the background on the left Anthony?
- Does the redness of that background area itself indicate something on fire?
I just had to log in to comment on this, because your analysis was excellent but made me notice a thing. I'm still on the side of thinking the figure on red is Robot doing his usual prophet stuff, but look at the grass behind Ysengrin. There's the shadow of a man there! I never noticed it before but I'm inclined to think that might be a subtle way to insert Anthony in the treatise, and he's just a vague shadowy presence in the background of Annie's side of the treatise. Also, on another note I was still holding out hope for Anthony not being a complete ass but this is the page that made me say screw it and screw him, I'm done with that. |
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Post by noone3 on Apr 3, 2015 10:27:14 GMT
 By the way. Great Umbridge gambit there, Tom. |
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Post by zimmyzims on Apr 3, 2015 10:28:34 GMT
Hmm. I keep flipping back and forth between whether this is real or a (bad) dream. We're pretty much seeing all of Annie's worst fears realized here: dad comes back and basically (in her eyes) rejects her, the cheating catches up with her, she is separated from her friends, has to live alone and is forbidden from entering the forest. There's really not much left besides Reynard, and I imagine that is next. Still, it would be plain wrong for a nightmare that her friends are supporting her. |
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Post by Jelly Jellybean on Apr 3, 2015 10:31:37 GMT
I'm starting to hope Anthony will try to take Renard from Annie, thus making her free him, and in a blow of rage, the teddy wolf/ancient demon/naive fox will possess Mr Carver, leading into that body finally serving for good parenting. Okay, that may be a bit too screwed up. But... The Court knows that Reynardine is bound by Annie's ownership of the wolf plushie and probably told Anthony. Anthony could simply tell tell Annie to give him ownership of the wolf plushie, similar to how Hettie was transferred to Adam by what she left in her diary. But maybe that will be the moment that Annie finally realizes that she has to stop making excuses for her father and she frees Reynardine instead of giving him to Anthony. Hijinks ensue... EDIT: Oh my... Maybe this is how Rey can fully assumes the role of Annie's father! Possess Anthony (in private) and become the suddenly repentant father. |
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Post by wanderer on Apr 3, 2015 10:36:40 GMT
...Who exactly does this guy think he is? I cannot believe he has the authority to make that kind of unilateral decision.
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Post by eightyfour on Apr 3, 2015 10:47:27 GMT
this is a test for Annie/Kat/robots to see how they act and/or lor them out. I was thinking that, too. Something along the lines of what Jones did here. My guess would be he's trying to find out just how much Fire Elemental there is in Annie. Anthony is just laying on too thick for this to be real. He's basically taking away everything Annie cares about (yes, as others have said, Rey will be next on his list). The only reason other than some kind of test I can see for all this is that he really just is a massive abusive jerk who actively hates his own daughter, and that I just don't buy. It simply doesn't fit to the image of him I've been building in my head over the years. But then, that wouldn't be the first brilliant storytelling trick Tom has pulled. |
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Post by speedwell on Apr 3, 2015 10:59:21 GMT
this is a test for Annie/Kat/robots to see how they act and/or lor them out. I was thinking that, too. Something along the lines of what Jones did here. My guess would be he's trying to find out just how much Fire Elemental there is in Annie. Anthony is just laying on too thick for this to be real. He's basically taking away everything Annie cares about (yes, as others have said, Rey will be next on his list). The only reason other than some kind of test I can see for all this is that he really just is a massive abusive jerk who actively hates his own daughter, and that I just don't buy. It simply doesn't fit to the image of him I've been building in my head over the years. But then, that wouldn't be the first brilliant storytelling trick Tom has pulled. Fear. He hates (we've seen) that which he fears. He'd even deliberately scuttle a relationship with a girl he likes just because of fear. His worst fears came true in that he was powerless to stop his wife's death. He wasn't comforting Surma in the flashback in the hospital, she was comforting him. His fear of the ether, of mysticism, of nature, of emotions, of the Forest, of anything not nailed down and codified and controlled, is presented to him live and in color in the form of his own daughter. He ran away for two years and cravenly avoided contact because of his fear. People hate that which they fear. Abuse is a method of control. Yes, he hates her. Yes, he is abusive. |
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Post by Lightice on Apr 3, 2015 11:10:06 GMT
I think that while Anthony can domineer Annie over her schoolwork as he pleases, I don't think that she'll be as willing to comply to any restrictions concerning the Forest. She may continue her duties as the Forest Medium in secret from her father, or just plain confront him, or appeal to Coyote's authority. The matters of the Forest are too great for Anthony or even the Court itself to overturn one-sidedly.
Also, I'm pretty sure that Kat's not going to stay idle, either. I can see her trying to get Anthony's decisions overturned through her parents, Mr. Eglamore and even Jones. I think that Anthony's going to have to settle for a compromise, sooner or later.
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Apr 3, 2015 11:11:43 GMT
...Who exactly does this guy think he is? I cannot believe he has the authority to make that kind of unilateral decision. Being her father is all the rationale Anthony believes he needs, but he is also a teacher and a member of the Court for added punch. Antimony works for a god? Bah. Father is god in the eyes of a child, to paraphrase. |
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Post by psibakaonna on Apr 3, 2015 11:13:26 GMT
Yep, I think it's the former too. Or this is all a dream, it feels unreal. More unreal than bio-robot whale-ship abominations. Occams Razor says no, folks. It says no to all these scenarios that require all kinds of assumptions (or just creating stuff out of whole cloth) that people are desperately making up to try and show that the simplest explanation requiring the least assumptions and based on the most evidence is not the case. And that explanation is: Anthony is a guy who had mental health problems from the get go, since has been even more severely screwed up both mentally and physically, was cold bordering on abusive to Antimony her entire life, and now has jumped well over that border to take out all his anger and pain on her. Yes, sure, this is a story and the author can do what he wants, but even most stories - and definitely this story, being well written - have a logic that they generally follow; that's why, as an example, no matter how nice it would be and all happy jesting over in the other thread aside, Mort is probably not showing up to save the day. Observe: The idea that once everyone was gone he was going to give her a secret message? There was no reason at all to think so and now they are alone...well, that was bupkis; indeed he's getting even worse. And I say the same to the speculations that he really does care about her/is worried about her ending up like Surma/is really a secret agent who is protecting her from his nefarious enemies, and all similar proposals based on absolutely no evidence at all from his history or current behaviour. As for the posters who propose that all the humiliation, verbal and mental jerking around, isolation, threats, and every kind of abuse short of actually beating/starving/molesting...really is just normal and reasonable parental behaviour based on Antimony's having cheated, poo on you all. Poo, I say! and other bodily substances. That aside, a point of curiousity: How does this guy talk when he never moves his lips? He must sound rather odd! He could still be trying to save her but not from the Court or the Forest or some other organisation that hasn't been introduced or hinted at in the comic. There is a very real threat to Annie's life that has been presented to us in the comic and we've been given enough insight into Tony's personality to know what happens when Tony's presented with a riddle that he can't solve. I'm still subscribing to the theory that he's still at least partially motivated by the desire to cure Annie. Afterall, if she's completely isolated with no contact what so ever to the outside world with only her education to occupy her attention then she has no chance of finding a nice boy and dying prematurely due to a fire elemental death baby and he will have successfully have stopped the thing that killed his wife from killing again. Tony is great hero and a total smarty pants for overcoming the thing bested all his efforts to save his wife. It's preventative medicine and in no way a giant over reaction to being unable to "cure" fire elementisim. That doesn't justify his actions, however, and he is in need of some serious help if I'm right. The man's in the middle of a mental break if he truly thinks that doing all this without Annie's consent is in fact helping. |
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Post by AnUpliftedCuttlefish on Apr 3, 2015 11:15:36 GMT
"This is an inconvenience for everyone" - dear gods man, do you have no emotions?! But also - who exactly is it an inconvenience for? It's terrible for Antimony, as it would be for any kid in the situation. But who else? Her friends? Based on his behavior so far I doubt he's thinking "this'll be hard on Kat". Coyote? Same. The Court? Anthony seems to be doing all the work... the only person I can really think fits is... Anthony. And Anthony seems very confident in his ability to force the forest medium not to be the forest medium, with no repercussions from the forest. Forget "where does he get all those wonderful toys", where does he get all this wonderful authority? This one was really strange for me. It almost seems like he's trying to protect her (Surma was once the medium.) That or he's just a dick. I think it's the former. "Isolate" is more the word that I'm thinking of. And Surma didn't die because she was a medium, she died because she was part fire elemental and had a baby. It wouldn't have mattered if she had been a medium or not. Also - he can be both a dick, and trying to protect her. He can be well intentioned, and still wrong. Or right, but wrong intentioned. Little is black & white, after all. Perhaps Anthony learned his lesson from when he tried to do whatever it was he was doing to Antimony, before. Her friends came to her rescue. Now, he's found (thanks to Antimony's own actions) the perfect excuse to cut her off from them, and potentially try something new. Hmm. I keep flipping back and forth between whether this is real or a (bad) dream. We're pretty much seeing all of Annie's worst fears realized here: dad comes back and basically (in her eyes) rejects her, the cheating catches up with her, she is separated from her friends, has to live alone and is forbidden from entering the forest. There's really not much left besides Reynard, and I imagine that is next. Same, which is just evidence of how good Tom's writing is - I can't remember ever being so uncertain if something was reality or not. The cheating is a big part of her subconscious - we saw that when Zimmy got to see into her mind. It could be the basis of a pretty intense dream. |
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Post by speedwell on Apr 3, 2015 11:29:59 GMT
My personal opinion... which is not to be taken as a criticism of anyone else's well-founded analysis... is that at this point, if we think this is a dream, we might as well call the whole comic a brains-in-vats experiment. Every time we see dream sequences, they are pretty plainly unreal. There's nothing actually bizarre about this; it's only distasteful and we disassociate from it.
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Post by AnUpliftedCuttlefish on Apr 3, 2015 11:42:57 GMT
I think that while Anthony can domineer Annie over her schoolwork as he pleases, I don't think that she'll be as willing to comply to any restrictions concerning the Forest. She may continue her duties as the Forest Medium in secret from her father, or just plain confront him, or appeal to Coyote's authority. The matters of the Forest are too great for Anthony or even the Court itself to overturn one-sidedly. Also, I'm pretty sure that Kat's not going to stay idle, either. I can see her trying to get Anthony's decisions overturned through her parents, Mr. Eglamore and even Jones. I think that Anthony's going to have to settle for a compromise, sooner or later. Perhaps that's why Anthony is back, and the Court is giving him such leeway - we know he seemed to be working on something that affects Forest/Etheric beings, and we know there's been a lot of bad blood between The Court and The Forest, and we've seen there are processes where Forest beings can be made human (or human enough for the court)... maybe some faction there thinks they're not going to have to worry about Coyote or The Forest much longer. And I do want to see the cavalry assembled. this is a test for Annie/Kat/robots to see how they act and/or lor them out. I was thinking that, too. Something along the lines of what Jones did here. My guess would be he's trying to find out just how much Fire Elemental there is in Annie. Anthony is just laying on too thick for this to be real. He's basically taking away everything Annie cares about (yes, as others have said, Rey will be next on his list). The only reason other than some kind of test I can see for all this is that he really just is a massive abusive jerk who actively hates his own daughter, and that I just don't buy. It simply doesn't fit to the image of him I've been building in my head over the years. But then, that wouldn't be the first brilliant storytelling trick Tom has pulled. That is a possibility. And if that's the case it still wont excuse such a heartless experiment, but it'd at least explain it. Still, one would wonder how much new information - or what kind of information full stop - he could possibly get out of doing this. He lived with a half fire elemental for quite some time, and then there was whatever he did to Antimony that put her in a coma. The "make her angry enough to get all firey" strategy seems very imprecise, for a scientist. Doubly so since he could have gotten all that information by just asking her questions. But maybe he's planning something that requires her to go all elemental while he is present... some sort of binding, or extraction. My personal opinion... which is not to be taken as a criticism of anyone else's well-founded analysis... is that at this point, if we think this is a dream, we might as well call the whole comic a brains-in-vats experiment. Every time we see dream sequences, they are pretty plainly unreal. There's nothing actually bizarre about this; it's only distasteful and we disassociate from it. A good point. That this is real is where I landed, but that is probably a part of my lingering doubt that it might be a dream. That, and Anthony seems much more nightmarish then I was imagining. |
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Post by kalechibki on Apr 3, 2015 12:48:41 GMT
I wish Tom would get on with it. I'm sure this will be compelling once we're no longer waiting for updates but my interest in /outrage at Tony Carver being a dickhead has been exhausted. Just get on with it, whatever it is. This was absolutely my first reaction. I'm done with this - not because it's couldn't true, but because eventually, too many major changes in such quick succession just becomes old and boring. I'm also going to question how much "pre-planning" happened here. The Donlans are not only good teachers and good people - they are well connected COURT people. If there had been major changes coming for Annie like this, and this was well planned out, they would have heard. Both of them - and maybe especially Donny. I cannot imagine the Donlan's sitting this one out and not stopping Anthony from abusing his daughter further. |
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Post by todd on Apr 3, 2015 12:54:14 GMT
Relax. Annie is the protagonist of this comic. Things will complicate I'm sure, but she won't end her life doing extra homework and being on time for dinner. Nor are all the characters we've met so far suddenly going to disappear. That would make for a pretty boring story.
It's something Annie has to overcome.
I mentioned before that I think, for those reasons, that this situation can't last more than one chapter (two, maybe, if it's a two-parter like "Spring-Heeled") - unless Tom's planning to have Annie replaced by a new protagonist, or promote an existing character (say, the boy who used to be a rabbit) to that role (which isn't impossible, but which would be awkward). (And Annie simply disobeying orders won't be enough; I suspect that Anthony's means of watching over her will be a lot more efficient than the Court's security measures.) I hope that Anthony's considered the political and diplomatic ramifications of forbidding Annie to go to the forest. She was appointed to the role of forest medium by Coyote, not the Court, so unless Coyote agrees to revoke Annie's appointment (and knowing him, I doubt he'd be cooperative), negotiations between Court and Wood will become all but impossible. Actually, Anthony strikes me as too intelligent to have overlooked that consequence. Perhaps he thinks that the idea of negotiating with animals as if they're equals is absurd (it does seem a likely approach not only from what we've seen of him and his outlook, but from what Jones said about the Court back in Chapter Seventeen). Someone could always argue that the Court's defenses (Jeanne guarding the river, though the Court doesn't know about that , and the bridge with its lighting) could be enough to keep the forest-folk out in case relations seriously break down - or there's always the possibility of de-forestation (assuming that the Court can develop some etheric or anti-etheric device to handle Coyote). |
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Post by AnUpliftedCuttlefish on Apr 3, 2015 13:06:11 GMT
Thinking on it - the fact Antimony is now out of Biology also means she's not going to be seeing Anthony there. That may/may not be a bad thing, but it does mean he's decided to reject a chance to see her on a regular basis. I wonder how available he's going to be, outside of classes, now he's back in her life? Ok, I'm gonna call BS on Anthony for this. Not even the court as a whole has the authority to revoke the Forest Medium status, from what I recall. Well, it wouldn't be The Court revoking it, technically. Even if they're behind it. If Antimony follows Anthony's orders then it'll be Antimony deciding not to be the medium, not to go to the forest. I don't think the Court approved of Annie being Coyote's Medium as much as tolerated it. They've probably been looking for an excuse. And not to put too fine a point on it, but Annie is a minor child who has been misbehaving. Anthony is her Father. He has grounded her, indefinitely. And yeah, that does sort of inconvenience everyone. Huh. === Also, I very seriously doubt this is a matter of Anthony "controlling" the Court. First of all, he's controlling his child, not the Court. And second, the Court has likely been looking for an excuse to do most of this. They might have suggested it to him. === As for Rey? I think he's concerned for Annie as well. He might voluntarily withdraw from her. Or remain as a guard--I do not say guardian--against the agents of the Forest. Her till recently absent father, enacting a rather over the top punishment that doesn't seem like it'd be the best thing for her at all. Unless controlling really is the end goal, as opposed to Antimony's wellbeing. Though it still seems kind of dangerous, as why would Anthony blocking her, instead of the court, be sufficient to appease Coyote? Or make GC more willing to risk an incident? The Court tried this once, and he pretty much sideruled them (as opposed to overruling them). And they weren't willing to dispute it. They're gambling a lot on a trickster god deferring to parental authority (a parental authority who happens to work for The Court). Or maybe they're gambling on Anthony's control over Antimony - Coyote can't force her to be the medium (unlike Anthony, who apparently will try and force her not to be).. And I don't know how much of this The Court has been looking for an excuse to do. Other than the medium thing we now have - holding her back a year, shipping her off to a cell spare room by herself, severely limiting her time with her best friend (who happens to be the child of two teachers) and peer group, removing her from the two classes she actually does well in.... If they knew about the cheating they already had an excuse to do things like that, if they'd wanted to. Course if that is the case then I think Rey needs to be on guard against The Court, as much as the forest (if not more so). |
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Post by atteSmythe on Apr 3, 2015 13:20:59 GMT
In the triangle at the top, pointed upward (this mystically indicates "good" or "beneficial" energy, or something originating from "above"), we see zeta at the peak and gamma, curiously, in the sympathetic and warm Forest side. On the Court side, we see iota; I don't think this refers to a character so much as it is actually just the English word I, or Ego, corresponding to selfishness. (I'm still thinking about the bottom triangle, but its orientation typically indicates "base" or "dark" energy, or energy from "below".) I think Iota is likely J for Jack, making the triangle their love triangle. Seems a little straightforward for these treatises, but it fits. |
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Post by calpal on Apr 3, 2015 13:26:33 GMT
I've been thinking about this now, and I'm wondering... what if Anthony isolating Antimony isn't actually for her own sake?
Surely by now, the Court has been aware of her misdemeanor for years and done nothing prior, except to remove her from medium studies and, well, that failed spectacularly. I bet they would have continued to not care at all about her, except when she became the Forest Medium and presented them with an interesting opportunity: not only could the Court control who goes across the Annan river on their terms, but they could also keep the Forest Medium on their side and use that to their own advantage. And while Annie may not be so receptive to the Court telling her what she can or can't do... she seems more than willing to listen to what her father says and accepts that.
But more importantly, I think this goes towards someone else entirely: Katerina. The Court must surely be aware of Kat's connection to the robots by now, especially after the cruise ship incident. They probably want her to continue her work post haste and, most importantly, without any distractions to impede her work. There are, currently, three major distractions: Annie, Paz and school work. If they could remove Annie's impact on Kat, that might improve her willingness to focus on her robotics; even Kat has admitted that seeing people less - in the last two chapters, Paz - would help her focus on her robotics work.
So maybe this is a two-for-one deal for the Court: remove the Forest Medium from the Forest, and allow Kat to continue her work uninterrupted. And we know from Microsat 5 that Anthony is willing to go through her daughter to achieve his objectives, and now that he works for the Court...
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Post by speedwell on Apr 3, 2015 13:28:54 GMT
In the triangle at the top, pointed upward (this mystically indicates "good" or "beneficial" energy, or something originating from "above"), we see zeta at the peak and gamma, curiously, in the sympathetic and warm Forest side. On the Court side, we see iota; I don't think this refers to a character so much as it is actually just the English word I, or Ego, corresponding to selfishness. (I'm still thinking about the bottom triangle, but its orientation typically indicates "base" or "dark" energy, or energy from "below".) I think Iota is likely J for Jack, making the triangle their love triangle. Seems a little straightforward for these treatises, but it fits. That has just the right feeling about it. I'm convinced you have an excellent insight there. Also, the Taurus symbol is also the symbol for Bismuth; I am sure someone has pointed this out at some point in the past. Has anyone pointed out the Earth-elemental correspondence between Jones, who we might as well come right out and say is a personification of Gaia, and the Taurus symbol? I am not convinced yet that the symbol only represents the Seed Bismuth. |
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Post by youwiththeface on Apr 3, 2015 13:48:13 GMT
I wish Tom would get on with it. I'm sure this will be compelling once we're no longer waiting for updates but my interest in /outrage at Tony Carver being a dickhead has been exhausted. Just get on with it, whatever it is. This was absolutely my first reaction. I'm done with this - not because it's couldn't true, but because eventually, too many major changes in such quick succession just becomes old and boring. I'm also going to question how much "pre-planning" happened here. The Donlans are not only good teachers and good people - they are well connected COURT people. If there had been major changes coming for Annie like this, and this was well planned out, they would have heard. Both of them - and maybe especially Donny. I cannot imagine the Donlan's sitting this one out and not stopping Anthony from abusing his daughter further. I'd be willing to bet money the Donlans (Hell, probably most of the teachers working there.) know barely half of the shit the Court gets up to. Jones is probably in tightest with the headmaster and I'm betting there's shit she doesn't know. (I mentioned before that she didn't seem aware of the fact that Annie wouldn't be the new Court medium, for instance.) Most of the folks at Nerv didn't know about Seele. I would not be at all surprised if the Court had starting putting plans in place to keep Annie out of the forest years ago. In fact I'm about convinced that this was the whole reason they didn't bother her about her cheating; they wanted to let it keep going until they'd have the excuse to pull something like this. |
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Post by ih8pkmn on Apr 3, 2015 13:55:39 GMT
This is honestly starting to get a little old. The makeup thing was at least somewhat reasonable, as was having her stay after class to talk about cheating... but I highly doubt a simple biology teacher would have the authority to send her back a year, and say that she can no longer be the forest medium, unless he's secretly the headmaster of the Court.
It's sort of reminding me of what some people were saying with "The Stone" (i.e. "We get it, she's old"): We get it, he's a dickhead. Even Umbridge from Harry Potter had a break from her awfulness; when Harry first met her, he got kicked out of class. Here, it's just non-stop awfulness to the point where it's getting unbelievable.
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