Wild Speculation

[Elaienar]

Sept 6, 2010 9:41:02 GMT tyler said:

Stable time loops!

Yep! I love those things.

Wild speculation #37,915:

The last time Coyote saw Surma was during a meeting on the bridge after Reynardine was captured by the Court. Eglamore was away on one of his trips, so Surma brought Anthony with her to the meeting. In the course of the negotiation Ysengrin lost his temper and knocked Surma over the edge, just as Eglamore was returning. The Tic-Tocs saved Surma, but she fell into the river or tried to cross it, and whatever the Court had done to it resulted in Surma's illness as well as weakening or destroying her extra-normal abilities. Since the Court wasn't interested in the etheric sciences and the forest wasn't likely to help, Anthony took Surma to Good Hope to find or develop a cure for her condition.

[Casey]

Nice theory, though it's been well established by now that the "thing" that the Court did to the river was to pin Jeanne there.

[Elaienar]

Ah, but that's where the wild speculation comes in. Since Tom has said that what's keeping them from crossing is "mainly" Jeanne, that leaves a tiny chance that there's something else going on, too. So I can wildly speculate that the arrow actually did something to the river as well as turning Jeanne into a sort of angry etheric gatekeeper. Or that it was what the arrow did to the river that turned Jeanne into what she is. Or ... I'll stop now.

[Casey]

I never saw the "mainly" so that was my mistake, please carry on!

[Elaienar]

Allrighty then.

The humans who came to Gillitie Wood were fleeing from the "divine being", who created the Tic-Tocs to spy on them. The Divine Being used spies to orchestrate the split into the Wood and the Court in an attempt to weaken the human faction enough that he could get to them and has been biding his time ever since, waiting for the two factions to become so completely divided that he can continue with whatever it was he was doing that caused the humans to flee. Anthony Carver is a spy for the Divine Being; his regular disappearances occur when he has to report his discoveries in person.

[Mezzaphor]

Sept 6, 2010 22:09:51 GMT Elaienar said:

Allrighty then.

The humans who came to Gillitie Wood were fleeing from the "divine being", who created the Tic-Tocs to spy on them.

Hmmm... In this flashback, there's a blindfolded sun overhead as the future first generation of the Court enters Gillitie Wood. Escaping the sight of a god?

[Elaienar]

...I can't believe I didn't remember that! I've noticed it before, but I just plumb forgot. Thanks for pointing it out. Erm ... the only sun gods I can think of at the moment are Ra and Apollo, and neither of them strike me as being mechanically inclined. Any ideas?

[imaginaryfriend]

I hesitate to mention this because the blindfolded sun might mean any of several applicable things but it could represent a solar eclipse. If so the clothing the Court founders were wearing may suggest a date of May 3, 1715. Notice any familiar place names in that animation?

On the other hand, the blindfolded sun might also be a symbol of exile, or of self-limited views and/or a denial of truth (perhaps about the founders, perhaps someway relating to the Forest's real nature being concealed from normal humans without), or possibly something else entirely.

[Elaienar]

Well now that's interesting.

...And I'm sure this is entirely a coincidence, but I wiki'd 1715 and found this picture. It made me think of Gunnerkrigg, since it's almost half town and half forest. It's a town called Karlsruhe, which grew up around the palace near the center after it was built in 1715.

Also, perhaps tying in with the forest's being hidden from humans normally, there's kind of a ... splash or something going on where the line of humans enter the trees in panel two of 584. Some kind of etheric invisibility field? (Or since the forest is visible, maybe a SEP field.)

Also, there's a fence in the left side of the same panel, almost directly underneath the sun. This probably has some deep significance that's been discussed to death elsewhere. (I feel a burning desire to read every single post in this entire forum.)

[penguinfactory]

I'm surprised no one is speculating away about the new Jeanne print. Do we know who the big bald guy in the background is?

Also, perhaps tying in with the forest's being hidden from humans normally, there's kind of a ... splash or something going on where the line of humans enter the trees in panel two of 584. Some kind of etheric invisibility field? (Or since the forest is visible, maybe a SEP field.)

It looks like the bursting effect that appears when Annie destroys the Nobodies in Zimmieham, although I doubt the two are related.

[todd]

And 1715 was also the year of the first Jacobite uprising (under James Stuart, James II's son and the father of Charles Stuart, better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie), which would supply the war that the humans were supposedly fleeing from.

[Mezzaphor]

Sept 7, 2010 9:52:00 GMT penguinfactory said:

I'm surprised no one is speculating away about the new Jeanne print. Do we know who the big bald guy in the background is?

I assumed the bald guy was Sir Young.

[penguinfactory]

Sept 7, 2010 11:35:29 GMT Mezzaphor said:

I assumed the bald guy was Sir Young.

For some reason I thought Young had hair. Yeah, it's obviously him.

[imaginaryfriend]

Sept 7, 2010 10:44:30 GMT todd said:

And 1715 was also the year of the first Jacobite uprising (under James Stuart, James II's son and the father of Charles Stuart, better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie), which would supply the war that the humans were supposedly fleeing from.

That's part of why I chose 1715 from a short list of solar eclipses visible from the UK. Also about a generation or so before the Insurrection of 1715 was the Restoration- the fall of the republic and the return to monarchy. That was when the Clarendon Code became law. Also of note in 1711 was the Occasional Conformity act.

Not only were there laws limiting the freedom and prospects of different people (and reason to expect more of the same along with more war and political turmoil) but during this time there also were popular riots targeting "non-confomists" which I expect would include any etherically-gifted or magic-practicing people. Here is a record regarding unrest in Birmingham (Wiki and the Birmingham historical website don't do the unrest justice) which would continue for another generation or two. I think it is safe to say that were there to be an exodus like the one briefly depicted in Ch. 23 the beginning of the 18th century would be ideal.

Therefore it is very tempting to assign the founding of Gunnerkigg Court to the summer of 1715 but I feel I should caution people again that this wildspec is a house of cards. The theory is built on one single attractive but untestable assumption that the blindfolded sun in that single panel represents a solar eclipse, which if true may lead one to jump to other very attractive but equally untestable assumptions. Moreover the history of the GC universe may differ greatly from real life so this is the very definition of an intellectually dangerous theory.

[Alexandragon]

Jones is Coyote's spy. ;D

[Elaienar]

Okay ... so how 'bout that fence then (if it is a fence)? My first thought was something like "Oh random fence what?" but fences aren't really random. Generally speaking a person has one of two reasons to put a fence up:

1. To keep something out
2. To keep something in

which could lead to some wild speculation as to why someone would want to keep something out of/in the forest:

1. The people who own the land around the forest know there's something weird going on and want to make sure that their property is protected from said foresty weirdness by a physical boundary
2. The forest has an owner who bought or inherited the land it's on

...Maybe I'm overthinking things?

[todd]

Sept 7, 2010 20:05:27 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

Moreover the history of the GC universe may differ greatly from real life so this is the very definition of an intellectually dangerous theory.

True, though (as I've said before) not too much, since a lot of things are recognizably the same: the myths and legends, pop culture, etc. - unless Tom's engaging in "translation conventions" so that, for example, when Kat left her action figures of Batman, Fox Mulder, and Hellboy for Reynardine to play with, they were really action figures of other people in franchises existing in the GC Universe rather than the real world, but drawn as Batman, Mulder, and Hellboy to keep things simple. (Which is itself probably a big wild speculation.)

[imaginaryfriend]

This bit about the Queen who knighted Eggers being fictional tells us that the succession is different in the GC universe, and that means history is different. The question is at what points has it been changed and how noticeable that would be in the present day. Sure, large parts of history and culture have probably been borrowed with no changes but without knowing the changes we're just guessing if a particular bit of history applies to the GC universe or not.

Sept 7, 2010 21:01:49 GMT Elaienar said:

Okay ... so how 'bout that fence then (if it is a fence)?

It looks like a standard farm-type. The horizontal shaded areas on the ground make me think of tilled farmland, so I suppose the answer is that the fence is to keep domesticated animals out of crops. The next question is, are we seeing people disappearing into the woods from farm country or entering into a part of the Forest where there are already farms established? No faces makes it hard to say which way they're going.

[Count Casimir]

Is Jones a dryad?


Also hi guys, long time no see.

EDIT: Never mind, makes less sense than I thought.

EDIT AGAIN: Never mind again, there was already a dryad. Man, I need to do another archive binge.

[avurai]

This isn’t speculation as much as a little made up story that I’m in a crazy enough mood to share here.

I remember last year, I watched this scene. I saw it again recently and a memory came back into my mind.

I gunnerkrigg'd the crap out of it.

Here was the idea.

Rey was 2 years old and couldn't talk yet because he was so young. The old lady took care of him since he was just a baby. A neighbor-hunter threatens to shoot Renard after he gets in trouble for playing with his dog.

Basically it's the beginning of the movie normally, but they can't communicate in human language.

So Renard is then left in the forest with no knowledge of how to survive in the wild. He waits 4 days for someone to feed him, only by watching everyone around does he realize he has to kill things in order to eat a fresh meal. He doesn't know that other animals will prey on him and assumes they're all friendly, eventually a coyote tries to kill him and eat him for lunch and he just barely makes it out alive. He's left out in the cold and then the snow, only knowing to go under a tree for shelter. There aren't any foxes in the area he's in, so he's alone. He doesn't know why she left him out there. He wants to know what he did wrong, why she now hated him. He's been confused and sad about this and this event changes who he is for the rest of his life.

He's afraid to trust anyone again and won't let nearly anyone into his emotional-wall for fear they'll turn his back on him later or he'll eventually lose them, and he'll feel broken again. He has to learn how to survive in the wild and learns many strategies and creative ways to get things done. Since he was small and other animals, predators, were much bigger than he was, he had to use wit, strategy, tact, and quick-thinking to get out of danger. He learns ways to get out of sticky situations and how to trick other people to get what he needs, at least what he believes he needs. It effects how he sees the world, seeing it as cruel as it is, but managing to laugh at the superior ones who he manages to evade and trick. It feels like he's managed to fool the strong people who once preyed on him and he gets a deep sense of pleasure watching them fail. It makes him feel like he can accomplish anything... And due to the traumatic experiences he had when he was left in the woods and was preyed on, tricking them and having that sense that he can do that to them makes him feel safe. He feels the need to whenever he can just so he can prove to himself that he's safe, yet is putting himself in danger in the process.

... Rey still doesn't know why she did it. He probably won't ever find out.

[q3]

Annie's (and Surma's) make-up serves to dampen (significantly, but not completely) their inherent attractiveness to etheric beings. During times when she did not have it on, she has been pursued very great lengths by very powerful beings. It also seems as though Red sees Annie very differently with and without make-up (granted, you could interpret her statement to have a more mundane meaning). It's not an earth-shattering theory, I know, but I like it.

[Mezzaphor]

There may be some symbolic support for this. See the first two paragraphs of wikipedia's article on kohl.

[katawa]

Wild Speculation: Rocks fall, everyone dies D:

[jayne]

*rolls 20 on a D20*
Um... Annies father shows up, he's built perfect android bodies for Annie's mom, Jeanne, Greenguy and Mort. The psychopomps feel bad about not escorting Annies mom so they go back through the ether and retrieve all these folks. Everyone lives happily ever after and Kat gets rich by becoming the first android doctor.

"Dice fall, everyone rocks."

[q3]

Has it been speculated that the Tic-tocs are servants of Odin? Well it has been now!

[Mezzaphor]

Holy crap, that makes a lot of sense. After all the TicTocs are someone's eyes, and the Robots think they were divinely created.

[blinkerstoned]

Boxbot is the true mastermind!He will take over soon with terrible army! ;D

[blahzor]

The arrow was meant for Jeanne but Steadman choose to hit "elf boy" (cause i'm too lazy to find his real name from a past chapter)

[blinkerstoned]

Sept 24, 2010 15:18:48 GMT blahzor said:

The arrow was meant for Jeanne but Steadman choose to hit "elf boy" (cause i'm too lazy to find his real name from a past chapter)

His name hasn't been revealed.

[blahzor]

Sept 24, 2010 16:13:34 GMT blinkerstoned said:

Sept 24, 2010 15:18:48 GMT blahzor said:

The arrow was meant for Jeanne but Steadman choose to hit "elf boy" (cause i'm too lazy to find his real name from a past chapter)

His name hasn't been revealed.

it hasn't been confirmed you mean but there's a high chance it's the guy i'm thinking of but still not bother to find