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Post by yeochild on Apr 6, 2007 12:10:48 GMT
I think that the wood is far more than just a landmark; the Annan waters might be seperating two different worlds. Placing the Court, a fount of technology, right on the edge would be similiar to building a castle filled with stakes, crosses and holy water around the only known portal to Vampire Universe.
But alas, the Court - once a proud citadel of Gunners facing daily attacks from nature spirits and their shadow-minions - has fallen into disrepair after the government realized that no more raids were happening, and that the creatures of Gilette had given up. Gunnerkrigg continues to train technological geniuses, magical freaks and the passed-on Suicide Fairies that aided them before, but more as a halfhearted precaution than anything else.
And now the people of the forest are angry again, while the Court people are undertrained and unprepared for an invasion. Oh dear.
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Post by owl on Apr 6, 2007 15:00:04 GMT
New theory: Surma was Renardine's sister.
Whoever this "cousin" is, they're in a high position in the Court, and Rey's wondering why they haven't gotten back at TVNM for the attack on him (and Annie).
Somehow TVNM framed Rey for Surma's death, and so he went kinda...berserk with greif/rage, but he was still related to this "cousin", so they didn't want to kill him. They kept him in the "no eye" box until he calmed down...enough to realize that they would always be suspicious of him, but he could still help Annie out.
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Post by mrw on Apr 6, 2007 17:20:01 GMT
Whoever this "cousin" is, they're in a high position in the Court, and Rey's wondering why they haven't gotten back at TVNM for the attack on him (and Annie). Hmmm.... which is wilder speculation: 1) Reynardine's cousin == The Very Nice Man == the Green-Eyed Creepy Man, and Reynardine is a renegade from the Forest. 2) Reynardine's cousin is in a high position in the Court. Reynardine is renegade from the Court, but hated by the forest dwellers as well. 3) Reynardine's cousin == The Very Nice Man == the Green-Eyed Creepy Man, and is a double-agent occupying a high position in the Court. Reynardine is a renegade from both places. Edit: The quote was missing pieces from an errant cut-and-paste. |
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Post by Count Casimir on Apr 7, 2007 18:36:37 GMT
Oh gods, if any of these are true, Tom, PLEASE don't change the storyline. I would LOVE to see ANY of those played out. It would be amazingly awesome.
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Post by owl on Apr 9, 2007 15:19:34 GMT
Also, I was too busy posting my theory to take a look at yours, but yeochild, I LOVE this. It's so logical that it barely counts as Wild, yet...if it were true, that would truly be Wild (albeit in another sense of the word). ;D
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Post by yeochild on Apr 11, 2007 20:18:15 GMT
I would like to take this oppourtunity to try, once again, to connect GC with another story with which it has barely a passing resemblance. This time, it's Sacrifice, an obscure computer game which I am addicted to.
The only interesting coincidence here is between chapter 3 of GC and level two of the James campaign in Sacrifice, which can be summarized thusly:
Sacrifice: You go in search of a dragon named Sirocco, who has been tormenting fellow servants of James. She is actually being controlled by a necromancer called The Ragman, but you don't know this. You can just kill Sirocco to win the mission, but if you banish the Ragman instead and let her live, she is freed and joins your side.
GC: Annie encountered a dragon (who is technically a "Rogat Orjak", but whatever) named Sivo, who has been ruining fellow students' (Who were taught, and I know this is a stretch, by JAMES Elgamore) living quarters. He was actually being controlled by a demon called Reynardine, but she didn't know this. She could have just stayed in bed after being knocked out, but instead she accidentally killed Sivo and forced Reynardine to join her side.
There are other minor similarities, such as the fact that both Sacrifice and GC are told by the main character after most of the story is over, but that one coincidence is more or less the entireity of my argument. However, that won't stop me from writing a few facts that WOULD be true if GC followed roughly the same plot as my favourite computer game:
.Reynardine secretly has the power to bring back the recently deceased.
.A comic in the fairly near future will feature Kat and Zimmy collaborating on distracting some Robots so Annie can sneak into their complex again.
.Robot's new body will be flying, most likely a Tictoc (though this theory I'd advocate even if I didn't like Sacrifice).
.Gamma is even worse at running than Annie.
.Zimmy and Basil the minotaur won't get along if they ever meet.
.Kat's parents are NOT to be trusted. They are in league with both Reynardine's family and TVNM.
.Either Reynardine or his cousin is a pyromaniac. They both betrayed the shadow-people and their friends, but at different times and to different people.
.The last page Tom ever draws will involve Annie lying to Elgamore.
.Zimmy used to work for Reynardine's family for a very brief period.
.Winsbury will attempt to get to know Annie better and apologise for being such a jerk. However, he will do this by giving her a gift (a pet that she doesn't want locked up and frees, maybe?) which she will find morally repulsive, and they will be on worse terms than ever.
.One of the most powerful people in Gilette Wood arrived there not long before Annie arrived at the Court.
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Post by mrw on Apr 12, 2007 21:40:04 GMT
Yeochild, I feel like I just read a Brain Bogglers question! Anyway. neat speculations. What is this Sacrifice game? It sounds interesting. Different subject: Does GC have a headmaster? Yup, it does. Veeeeery Eeeeenteresting..... Good? Evil? Human? Robot? Neither? Reynardine's cousin? Annie's father? G-man? Oh, the possibilities! (Insert suspenseful music here) |
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Post by yeochild on Apr 13, 2007 11:55:48 GMT
Actually, I have other reasons to believe that the Donlans are hiding something. None of them are substantial, but still . . .
.Anja Donlan almost never uses contractions or shortens names. She even asks Annie about "Katerina", instead of using "Kat". This could be mere over-formality and/or that she speaks english as a second language . . . OR it could be that she's actually a robot/has a robot clone she uses for teaching while she conducts evil experiments (Well this is GC, and this is Wild Speculation . . .)
.Have you noticed how at-ease they seem when talking about the suffering of someone who isn't who they're talking to? When talking about poor Sivo to Annie, there were no tears, no stony faces, no "He was such a good Rogat Orjak . . ." Just creepy smiles (though that could have been the act). They remember to act sad and understanding when it's the person they're talking to who's being made unhappy, though.
.In a dark and mysterious world such as Gunnerkrigg Court, it is almost inconcievable that there will not be a traitor. Annie is the main character, Reynardine can't betray anyone because no-one trusts him, Elgamore seems noble enough (albeit with a different agenda to our unbending protagonist), Zimmy owes Annie too big a favour and seems too fair-minded to betray her, Gamma tends to follow Zimmy's lead, Winsbury seems to have been won over by Annie's moon-action, and everyone else is just too cute/fun/innocent to be the bad guy in disguise. Everyone, that is, except the enigmatic Donlans . . .
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Post by yeochild on Apr 14, 2007 20:44:25 GMT
Oh, and also:
.They let Kat go looking for Annie, and Mr. Donlan actively helped her build the flying machine. Thus, they either knew our protagonist had not perished, or they didn't mind their darling daughter seeing the splattered corpse of her former friend. (Note: apparently, I'm absolutely addicted to annoying alliteration)
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Post by mrw on Apr 14, 2007 21:22:20 GMT
Actually, I have other reasons to believe that the Donlans are hiding something. None of them are substantial, but still . . . .Anja Donlan almost never uses contractions or shortens names. She even asks Annie about "Katerina", instead of using "Kat". This could be mere over-formality and/or that she speaks english as a second language . . . OR it could be that she's actually a robot/has a robot clone she uses for teaching while she conducts evil experiments (Well this is GC, and this is Wild Speculation . . .) Sometimes parents just prefer to refer to their children by their full given names, which after all, the parents chose because of their obvious awesomeness. Often a great source of annoyance to said children.  I interpreted it as more of the general "slightly smug condescendence-towards-the-children" attitude that seems to be the hallmark of parents everywhere, mixed with "don't show our emotions to the children, it may scare them / worry them unecessarily" sort of thinking. Also, the Donlans may have accepted Sivo as essentially dead some time ago. One of the things I really like about GC is that it doesn't have that overbearing "trust no-one" feel that is so prevalent on TV and mainstream comics. In GC so far, people may have their own agendas, but I don't yet see that boorish screw-everyone-but-me attitude that characterizes the vast majority of antagonists. Of course, things could still go that way, but I sure hope they don't. Yeah, I really hope it was the former!  Edit: Apostrophes, why must you torment me so? Disclaimer: The responding opinions expressed herein may in fact be the ravings of a deranged lunatic. Read at your own risk. Whups, too late... ^-^ |
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Post by todd on Apr 14, 2007 23:04:31 GMT
Speaking of which, I wonder if the fact that her parents (who are also teachers at Gunnerkrigg) were helping her build the flying machine has something to do with Kat's (so far as we know) not getting detention for leaving the school grounds. (At least, Annie seems to have been the only one getting detention that week, judging from what we saw of the detention room. I'm still a little surprised that Winsbury wasn't there as well - maybe he's better at covering his tracks than we've assumed!)
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Post by yeochild on Apr 16, 2007 8:16:09 GMT
I would now like to speculate about Sullivan's John, who I feel certain (for no real reason) will become a far more important character in the future.
What we already know about him:
.He is referred to as "John".
.He likes to avoid trouble when he possibly can, like in "cupid undone", where he just lets Winsbury and Janet continue "fighting".
.He apparently has a musical instrument, since he was drawn with one in one of Tom's wallpapers.
.He got into a space battle in the Enigmaron simulation.
What I will assume about him from the song that I think Tom got the name from:
.He's fairly good at working with metal. I bet he'll really shine in metalwork classes.
.He isn't British.
.He has/will have some connection to Elgamore and possibly Kat.
.He isn't going to be very lucky.
.He is liable to go into situations without being fully prepared, but never completely unprepared.
.He's in love with "the tinker's daughter"; the daughter of a metalsmith. Or maybe, in this modern time, the daughter of someone who builds robots and stuff . . .
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Post by fjodor on Apr 16, 2007 8:18:33 GMT
"He's in love with "the tinker's daughter"; the daughter of a metalsmith. Or maybe, in this modern time, the daughter of someone who builds robots and stuff . . . "
I Like that speculation!
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Post by yeochild on Apr 16, 2007 8:24:04 GMT
Oh, and also, he's going to go on a diet. (In the song " . . . 'till your belly will soon get slack . . ." or something like that.)
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Post by owl on Apr 17, 2007 0:44:43 GMT
Ahh... *relaxes in a hot tub of speculations* I love you guys, and I feel like I haven't been here NEARLY enough lately.
Speculation about this new kid? None, yet? I'm disappointed!
A) He's going to outshine Eglamore (at least for a while) in Kat's affections
B) He's a musician (c'mon, look at his hair!)
C) He has something to do with Rey's cousin (is either sent by him, or carried another Shadow from the wood, or is a thief come to bring Rey back, or at least knows somethign aout the situation)
D) Annie will dislike him (as much as she dislikes anyone), and this will lead to Annie and Kat's first fight.
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Post by todd on Apr 17, 2007 1:47:49 GMT
The A option about the new kid strikes me as quite plausible (and not at all wild).
I had the idea that he might lead to "Annie and Kat's first fight", though in a different (and so predictable that I don't consider it likely for the webcomic) manner. My notion was that Kat is too shy and self-conscious to talk to him and so begs Annie to talk to him for her. The trouble is, the new boy likes Annie, and Kat gets upset about that. (Though Annie doesn't return the new boy's feelings, doesn't even pick up on what's going on at first, and is astonished when she realizes what's going on - then has to explain to Kat about the misunderstanding before things *really* get out of hand.)
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Post by owl on Apr 17, 2007 3:02:36 GMT
That could work, too. I just have this mental pc of Kat getting really mad, yelling at Annie and storming out, and then we have just a panel of Annie's blank expressio and then..
"What?"
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Post by yeochild on Apr 17, 2007 6:49:21 GMT
If he is a musician, then that makes two of them at the very least. I wonder if he and Sullivan's John will start a band together? I can see it all now: the aforementioned boys on string instruments and vocals, giving it everything they've got; Kat on saxaphone, staring at this new kid as she does so (but, of course, he's too deep in the music to notice); and Annie on piano, with a "I really should be studying, but I promised Kat I would, so oh well" expression on her face.
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Post by Boksha on Apr 18, 2007 12:20:04 GMT
.Anja Donlan almost never uses contractions or shortens names. She even asks Annie about "Katerina", instead of using "Kat". This could be mere over-formality and/or that she speaks english as a second language . . . OR it could be that she's actually a robot/has a robot clone she uses for teaching while she conducts evil experiments (Well this is GC, and this is Wild Speculation . . .) Her speech seems quite normal. She does have that onyx black eyes thing going though. (cameras instead of eyes? I recall at one point reading a book where the main character thought a house maid had "particularly deep eyes" and later found out she was, in fact, a robot. I'd love to read that book again sometime but I forgot the title  ) If she's a robot, I'd say Kat's dad built her and upgraded her body every now and then to age her. Using magic (or something like that) and sensing something wrong about a possessed toy (both happen in the New and Old storyline) aren't really robot stuff though. Plus that'd create the problem of where Kat comes from. |
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Post by yeochild on Apr 19, 2007 17:03:55 GMT
Idea! Rey said "Why do you think there is such a divide between the Court and that damned place!?" with the Annan Waters in the background. Hence, logically, the Court is OLDER than the divide, if its existence was part of the reason for it. The question is, HOW? I'm guessing either earthquake machines, magic, or some kind of time-twisty-thing that let the water do a couple million years of erosion in a few hours.
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Post by Boksha on Apr 19, 2007 19:37:21 GMT
That is, assuming it was humans that made the gully.
Another possibility is that forest creatures made it to keep Gunnerkrigg Court from getting closer. (growing, yes; the place is enormous, as we've seen before) Possibly using the incredible growing power of trees? We've already seen the guy in the forest has the ability to cause a seed to grow into a functional limb.
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Post by yeochild on Apr 19, 2007 19:49:37 GMT
I never claimed that the Court-people definitively made it. I was just listing the many methods which could have been used. However, I like the idea of using trees to make the ravine.
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Post by yeochild on Apr 20, 2007 6:46:10 GMT
I would like to baselessly speculate that at some point, Annie gets worried about something and Reynardine reacts in this wise:
"The indignity! Antimony actually suggested that this (thing), this upstart, could be more trouble than Reynardine the Great! I mean, she has an evil possessed doll in her bedroom, and she's more concerned about (thing)!? I will DESTROY (thing), and then we will see what is scarier!!"
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Post by todd on Apr 25, 2007 12:41:35 GMT
Here's my wild speculation for Chapter 13:
On the title page, note that Kat seems almost transparent in places (where you can see the background behind her through her hair and sweater). What if Aly is some sort of vampire-like being? Not a literal vampire of the "fangs and coffin" variety, but something that feeds off of the life-essence of others? And what if he's getting close to Kat so that he can drain her, and Kat's semi-transparency on the title page is going to stem from his actions?
In which case (though I admit that it sounds corny), we could have a case where Annie discovers what Aly really is and what he's up to and tries to warn Kat, but Kat believes that Annie's making it up because she's upset that Kat's spending all her time with Aly now and refuses to believe her, until it's almost too late and Aly's true colors are revealed?
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Post by yeochild on Apr 25, 2007 19:31:25 GMT
I would like to speculate that Annie is telling this entire story to some shadow-creatures (glass-eyed men), most likely in Gillitie Wood. My reason for thinking this is that they apparently "understand words, but not how to make the sounds": I feel that anything that could have spoken would have interrupted her narrative at least once with questions or something, and that Annie wouldn't exactly talk to something that couldn't understand her.
Now, why would she be adressing them? I'm guessing that this would be after Reynardine's "fool cousin" retaliates; the teachers are preparing for war, but Annie the peacemaker (probably accompanied by Kat and/or Reynardine) tries diplomacy with the Shadow-creatures before committing herself to such a conflict.
Also, I think it would be nice if the people of the Wood referred to Gunnerkrigg students as "Gunnerlings". But that's just me.
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Post by owl on May 1, 2007 20:23:21 GMT
Hee, Gunnerlings. And yes, I can totally see that! Telling the story to a crowd of Shadows. And when she finishes, the crowd parts and out steps the Very Nice Man....
And then that's the end.
Man, I hope I'm wrong. We'd all hate Tom forever. Actually, we'd still love him for making such a wonderful, incredible comic for us...but at the same time our love would be mixed with hate at his torture of us, his adoring fans.
'Nother speculation:
Aly's a dream-smith. He makes people dream what they want, but wants nothing himself. He knows what Kat likes because he makes her dreams. He's building the house from Nightmare on Elm Street because it's one of his favorite movies because it makes him think of himself. Thus, he is neither ally nor antagonist, simpy a visitor as he seems - except he himself is not as he seems.
He's come to the Court because it's one of the places that Creatures such as himself can be safe.
And yes, I DID just make the term Dream-Smith up. But there are creatures throughout mythology that do such things.
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Post by boredomman on May 1, 2007 21:10:30 GMT
He didn't. Remember that the rest of him was made into a box of paperclips?
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Post by todd on May 2, 2007 22:20:54 GMT
Here's a wild and improbable speculation about Alistair:
He is indeed mutating underneath his clothes (as people here have suggested) - but what he may or may not know (but the mysterious "they" who sent him to the school *do* know) is that on Friday, his mutation will become contagious and infect his class (and everyone else in Gunnerkrigg), turning them all into the same kind of creature that he is becoming. When Aly realizes that that would include Kat, he urges her to flee Gunnerkrigg before it's too late, but she refuses, saying that she won't abandon her parents and Annie to such a fate. Rather than mutate Kat, Aly prevents himself from releasing the infection - but to do so, he has to make the ultimate sacrifice. Close with Kat mourning by his grave and Annie (who understands what it's like to lose someone whom you love) trying to help her out.
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Post by Yin on May 3, 2007 13:15:04 GMT
...That could actually work.
Also, if it does happen I shall burst into tears, because Aly's actually fun.
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Post by todd on May 3, 2007 22:53:52 GMT
Here's another improbable theory about Alistair:
He's really Annie's twin brother, who was taken away from the hospital at birth. Surma was duped into believing that she only gave birth to Annie, and so never told Annie about him. (I wonder how such a revelation would impact Kat!)
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