Could Rey be Annie's long lost Father?

[thorn]

So, I'm not saying that I definitely think this, but I can't help but wonder if it were true what it could mean...

What if REY is Annie's father?

Just think about it first BEFORE freaking out.

It could make sense considering the implications regarding Rey and Surma. Rey has never come onto Annie before but is always protective. His questions would be seen in a whole new context. Plus, it could make sense why her father has yet to make what she might consider an actual appearance...he's already here!!! Might also explain why the adults really let her keep Rey.

My first thought if this was true would be that Annie's father in the picture could just be a form that he took for an extended period of time.

Just a thought, not totally convinced yet but thought maybe some of you might have input.

(PS - If this has already come up, my apologies...didn't see any thread like this.)

[popo]

I think that this has been brought up in wild speculation.
also I doubt Annie's dad would do this

[Vadigor]

There are a few arguments in favor of the idea, but the overal story seems to be against it. Not only did the dragon he previously inhabited die (except if that was some clever plot which I doubt), there's also the strip popo linked to and some other minor elements that pop into the strip once in a while.

[thorn]

Excellent point. If Rey was her dad, this would be a very different strip.

[walkingdust]

I think the idea that Reynardine is her father was brought by fans that don't like how the other possibilities make them feel creepy.

Which is surprising. You would think people that enjoy fantasy would have noticed that powerful and long lived inhuman creature being romantically interested on a human girl is more common than dragons.

I in turn find that idea of him as the father, when we look at Reynardine's overall behavior towards Annie from the very start, creepy.

I'm taking a wild guess and list what I believe could be the four motivations for Rey's sudden interest in Annie's wellbeing and happiness:
-He is being genuinely friendly just because he can (Doubtful).
-He is romantically interested on Annie (Possible).
-He has a secret connection to Annie as a medium the same way he had a connection to Surma (Likely).
-He wants to manipulate her for his freedom and to accomplish something that has to do with why he is on the court (Also likely).

[Riess]

Seriously though, no, I don't believe so.

[agasa]

Jun 6, 2008 18:16:43 GMT walkingdust said:

-He is being genuinely friendly just because he can (Doubtful).
-He is romantically interested on Annie (Possible).
-He wants to manipulate her for his freedom and to accomplish something that has to do with why he is on the court (Also likely).

I'll definitely place my bets on these three. The first, well...because i love his character and i'm optimist by nature. The second, because honestly: human girls are hot! I mean, dragonesses are also ok but all that scales hurt ;D Also, the unusual pairing will be creepily cute. The third well, 'cause the second time he met her he tried to possess her and kill her in the process...albeit, if my good faith in people speaks alone and unrestrained, i can say that he was probably not acting evil, but just desperate. Imagine yourself locked in a cellar with chains at your feet 24/7 for god knows how many years and being presented a cheap way to escape! would you not take it right away? (he did, after all. with good results.)

[walkingdust]

That comment about dragons derails all attention from the point you were trying to make, agasa.

[starburst98]

haha

[Count Casimir]

Pretty sure this has either been suggested and nixed, or belongs in the Wild Spec thread.

EDIT: or both.

[nikita]

I guess the father..
would not ask stuff like "So this must be her daughter?"
will not try and steal his daughter's body
cannot both work as a surgeon in a hospital and be imprisoned as a dragon elsewhere at the same time.

[Chrome]

I think at this point Rey is just changing from the general jerk he was in the beginning into more of a concerned friend and protector. Like...he sees what people like Kat and Jones sees in her, and now sees value in staying put. So he uses the excuse that he broke their laws when talking to Coyote, and says "I couldn't leave even if I wanted to."

It's not like a gruff hardass like Rey would be one to admit that a) he's gone soft, and b) he values Annie's company and "ownership" in some way we haven't fully understood and c) his sense of honor seems to have improved massively as well. Anyone with Rey's temperament would of course shield their real reasons like that behind some nice harmless and somewhat truthful-sounding white lies. He didn't fully fool Coyote--"I think someone isn't being honest!"--but I think he probably satisfied himself with those reasons while dealing with the real ones.

So why not? Why wouldn't he come to value and thus protect Annie? He doesn't have to be her father to respect and like her in some way.

[ztad]

Jun 11, 2008 4:29:33 GMT Chrome said:

So he uses the excuse that he broke their laws when talking to Coyote, and says "I couldn't leave even if I wanted to."

Technically, he really can't leave, not without Annie's permission.


regarding the topic: as many people have said before, Anthony Carver cannot be in two places at once (Good Hope Hospital AND the body of Sivo in the depths of Gunnerkrigg Court).

Creepiness aside, it's just not likely. I vote "not her father."

[monkeybucks]

Erm, I sincerely doubt it considering Rey has
- Asked to see annie and kat kiss
- Tried to "excite" annie with his rock hard abs
- Annie said she wouldn't see her father again for another two years - it hasn't been two years yet.

Seriously, I do not get this wild spec. at all, and so many people seem to think it's quite possible. If Rey was annies father, this comic would turn from family orientated fantasy to adult fantasy with strong incestuous undertones. In other words: whut.

Edit: In fact I don't actually get if half the people who thought this were meaning it literally or figuratively - he was her actual biological father/her father in disguise, or if their relationship had just shifted to one which resembles a father/daughter relationship. Although I don't really believe in either, so it doesn't matter.

[walkingdust]

I'm certain some have posted support for this theory as a joke. I have seen it occur in other places where the comic was discussed.

And I can't blame some readers for attempting to make Reynardine's relationship with Annie as innocent as possible. You got a somewhat-lecherous anthropomorphic canine thing hanging around a school girl.

Even if it isn't the creator's intention to have Rey interested in Annie THAT way the ambiguous motivations of the character and his unknown past leave open implications at this time that some people may be uncomfortable with.

Well... Too bad for them. The fact Reynardine is disconcerting and unsafe is part of the fun.

[King Mir]

Lechers aren't normally personally concerned with the people they lust. Further, Rey's concerns are like those of an adult; you wouldn't expect the kid shadow 2 to be voicing such questions. The classic relationship that fits the template of an person that asks such questions is father-daughter. (Other classic relationships between an adult male and a little girl include uncle-niece and grandfather-grandchild) As somebody said in the comments "those are father questions".

Of course I'm not saying that Rey is actually her father. And I have said before that Annie is taming Rey. But you can't just dismiss that Rey is somewhat paternal, particularly on page 414.

[todd]

I suspect that the people who want to believe that Reynardine is Annie's father and are told that Anthony was still at Good Hope during the time that Reynardine was imprisoned in Sivo's body will simply claim that that means that Anthony isn't Annie's biological father.

[walkingdust]

Jun 12, 2008 10:30:17 GMT King Mir said:

But you can't just dismiss that Rey is somewhat paternal, particularly on page 414.

At this point I'm merely dismissing that which can not be. Like how Reynardine can't be Annie's father, the man from the hospital.
I wouldn't, at the moment, agree or disagree that he is sounding paternal. I say his position at this point continues to be very ambiguous.

He sounds concerned for her, saying more about it would be open for interpretation. Which, with the limited information available, is guesswork.

Would you say these questions would sound paternal if they came from Moort's mouth?

[King Mir]

Jun 12, 2008 20:42:25 GMT walkingdust said:

Would you say these questions would sound paternal if they came from Moort's mouth?

Mort also acts like a kid. Those aren't questions a fellow kid would ask.

Rey and Annies relationships are undoubtedly complex. But even Kat instantly recognizes Rey's queries as father like.

[walkingdust]

Jun 13, 2008 5:48:08 GMT King Mir said:

Mort also acts like a kid. Those aren't questions a fellow kid would ask.

Rey and Annies relationships are undoubtedly complex. But even Kat instantly recognizes Rey's queries as father like.

I have to disagree with the idea that the question couldn't be made by a friend, such as Moort, in a non-paternal way.
Perhaps they are not questions a regular kid would ask, but the standards for what a "regular kid" is are rather bizarre in the Gunnerkrigg Court.

As to Kat's comment it is my humble opinion that this particular comment was Tom benignly poking a hole on the 'Reynardine is Annie's father' balloon.

[Mezzaphor]

Tom maintains a ~30-page strip buffer, so every page gets finished and uploaded three months before it actually goes up on the site. So if Kat's comment was a response to anything, it was a response to what Tom (correctly) guessed the fans would say.

But regardless of that line's potential meta-textual origin, the comic isn't in the habit of breaking the fourth wall, so the line still means something in-story. Namely, it tells us that Kat interpreted Rey's questions (and/or the way he asked them) as fatherly in tone.

[walkingdust]

Well, my mistake. I apologize for my confusion.

I still maintain the idea that these question, while they demonstrate concern, are not uniquely paternal even if Kat first interpreted them that way. Nor can they be refuted as non paternal.

Reynardine's situation is too mysterious and ambiguous for me to slap any label onto them with any certainty I would be comfortable with.

And that's the fun of it, ain't it?

[King Mir]

Where you're tempted to leave the relationship label-less, I'm tempted to assign every label label that fits, and assume that it's some mix of them. I suppose the result is close to the same.

I don't see Rey's instant disapproval of being recognized as a father figure to Annie as evidence that he wasn't being fatherly. I personally think its because he does have some feelings (as in lust or romance) for Annie, and being a father figure would be at odds with that.

[Tierra Y Libertad]

I doubt it. From what we know of Mr. Carver, he is a very techno-oriented guy and would not be interested in dealing with demons. I also feel that his marriage to Surma and Antimony may represent a bridge between the etheric and concrete. Surma may have been a mediator, but her ability to see psychopomps and ease in dealing with the supernatural makes me think that she is not completely human or is in some way representative of the Forest. Although Antimony easily empathises with non-humans, her cold, terse nature is how I imagine her father to also be.