[2342] Ladies, I introduce the Norns

[arf]

They're a modern Goddess famil-y!

If you've read Tom's footnote, you'll realise this moment is what Gunnerkrigg Court has been leading to all this time.

[migrantworker]

The positioning of speech bubbles on the first panel is spot on.

[Gotolei]

Man he's gotten so tired of drawing Eglamore he's just putting the speech bubbles over his face now

[riosh]

I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but it seems Tom may have mixed up the names of the Norns. Urd is most often understood as representing the past (and should be the young one) while Skuld represents the future (the old one). See here.

[merry76]

Aug 10, 2020 7:15:27 GMT Gotolei said:

Man he's gotten so tired of drawing Eglamore he's just putting the speech bubbles over his face now

Hehe, that Meme.

But it has to be there, as the Norns probably do not mirror the image of other asgardians.

[Corvo]

Aug 10, 2020 7:17:42 GMT riosh said:

I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but it seems Tom may have mixed up the names of the Norns. Urd is most often understood as representing the past (and should be the young one) while Skuld represents the future (the old one). See here.

In the past you were young, in the future you'll be old. It works both ways really, depending on how you take it.
My bad for not paying attention. I'll refrase it in a sec.

I was thinking along the lines "if it 'already happened', then she has to be old, while the one who 'ought to be' is the young one", but maybe it's just my sleepless brain messing things up. Most likely it's just a reference for the manga, like it was said below.

[blackmantha]

Aug 10, 2020 7:17:42 GMT riosh said:

I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but it seems Tom may have mixed up the names of the Norns. Urd is most often understood as representing the past (and should be the young one) while Skuld represents the future (the old one). See here.

Might have someone to do with Ah! my Goddess, where Skuld looks significantly younger than her sisters.

[madjack]

The real question is, does she love that comic for herself or because she's currently a reflection of Kat?

Given the page notes, the answer is probably "Yes".

[Eily]

Aug 10, 2020 7:15:27 GMT Gotolei said:

Man he's gotten so tired of drawing Eglamore he's just putting the speech bubbles over his face now

Now I wish we could see the Norns through the point of views of Eglamore, Don, Robot and Rey; since we know that the Norns keep the same clothes regardless of who's looking.

[madjack]

Aug 10, 2020 7:30:34 GMT Eily said:

Aug 10, 2020 7:15:27 GMT Gotolei said:

Man he's gotten so tired of drawing Eglamore he's just putting the speech bubbles over his face now

Now I wish we could see the Norns through the point of views of Eglamore, Don, Robot and Rey; since we know that the Norns keep the same clothes regardless of who's looking.

Hard mode: Bud and Lindsey.

[Corvo]

Aug 10, 2020 7:32:39 GMT madjack said:

Aug 10, 2020 7:30:34 GMT Eily said:

Now I wish we could see the Norns through the point of views of Eglamore, Don, Robot and Rey; since we know that the Norns keep the same clothes regardless of who's looking.

Hard mode: Bud and Lindsey.

Harder mode: Four Coyotes in the same room (It'd be hard for everybody else).

[Gotolei]

Aug 10, 2020 7:40:35 GMT Corvo said:

Aug 10, 2020 7:32:39 GMT madjack said:

Hard mode: Bud and Lindsey.

Harder mode: Four Coyotes in the same room (It'd be hard for everybody else).

?? mode: A robot and/or one of Kat's bio-hybrid robots

[Eily]

I like that the girls get kinda smug about not being surprised, and I love the target of their smugness.
Like Kat, who's nearly explaining to her mom that this is normal stuff when dealing with magic. May I remind you which one of you is the straightforward magic user Kat? And who got you here in the first place and specifically asked for this situation to happen?
And I like even more that the person that Annie is showing off to is her other self. Well done Annie, I'm sure she's going to be very impressed¹.

¹ Knowing Annie this might actually work though.

[flowsthead]

Aug 10, 2020 7:17:42 GMT riosh said:

I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but it seems Tom may have mixed up the names of the Norns. Urd is most often understood as representing the past (and should be the young one) while Skuld represents the future (the old one). See here.

It's just how it is in the manga that it's referencing, but since the Norns are not delineated by age in actual mythology then it doesn't really matter which way you take it. The future and past can be in terms of the Norns themselves which would align with your representation (future is your older self, past is your younger self) or it can represent how we see society (old people = past, young people = future).

[wies]

Love the first panel, clever use of the bubbles!

Also the broche Verandi is wearing looks like the bismuth symbol half covered.

[arkadi]

I just LOVE that Kat is meeting the Norse Fates and the very first thing she does is make an Oh My Goddess! reference   

Never change, Kat.

[imaginaryfriend]

Comparing the height of the Norns with the previous page is interesting.

[theonethatgotaway]

Aug 10, 2020 7:08:50 GMT arf said:

They're a modern Goddess famil-y!

If you've read Tom's footnote, you'll realise this moment is what Gunnerkrigg Court has been leading to all this time.

Yup, reading that, my first thought was also: "Man, you really didn't have to start a webcomic 15 years ago, just to tell us you liked some other dude's drawings." Might also just be the heatwave talking through my fried brainpan.

[AluK]

Kat's impeccable knowledge of pop culture will save the day once again.

[verrenox]

The first panel is one of the things I love that this comic has been able to pull off: there is a ton of weight on which character's perspective we are currently looking through. Like Kat in the ROTD and now blocking the faces when we arent viewing the norns from a certain characters eyes.

[todd]

I wrote a retelling of the Norse myths a while ago (a rather eccentric one, told from the point of view of one of the bit characters in the myths who'd somehow grabbed my fancy, Ratatosk the squirrel), which also made Urd the old-looking Norn and Skuld the youngest-looking (around twelve). So Tom's take on which Norn was which worked for me.

[ctso74]

Skuld was more of a Record of Lodoss War fan.

[Kuraimizu]

Yes, he made the Ah, My Goddess reference.
of course Kat the anime fan would have read it.

Fun fact,
Everyone that has watched that anime with me is now married.
Oddly enough, I'm still single.

hmm, odd why would he have Urd the Norn of the past looking like the older version of the mortal
and why would Skuld the Norn of the future look like the younger version instead?
that's confusing, especially as they are acting as mirrors to the mortals.

If they were showing their true forms having Urd as the oldest, and Skuld as the youngest is perfectly normal
but when they are mirroring those that visit them, it's kind of confusing.

[blahzor]

why are they faded or muted colors?

[guntherkrieg]

Good thing none of them have darker than Caucasian skin, but I guess that's not a worry for this super white bread cast.

[csj]

oh no
kat is a weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeb
**unfriend, unsubscribe**

_{at least it's not a Megami Tensei reference}

[speedwell]

Aug 10, 2020 14:49:18 GMT guntherkrieg said:

Good thing none of them have darker than Caucasian skin, but I guess that's not a worry for this super white bread cast.

It wouldn't matter even if they had all had dark skin, I'm sure. 

Have a nice re-read of the comic, please. Even if you're just referring to the people on the current page, Anja is Roma.

[frogspawned]

Aug 10, 2020 14:49:18 GMT guntherkrieg said:

Good thing none of them have darker than Caucasian skin, but I guess that's not a worry for this super white bread cast.

It's alright - Annie will be portrayed as a lump of coal in the Netflix series.

[pyradonis]

Aug 10, 2020 15:25:55 GMT speedwell said:

Aug 10, 2020 14:49:18 GMT guntherkrieg said:

Good thing none of them have darker than Caucasian skin, but I guess that's not a worry for this super white bread cast.

It wouldn't matter even if they had all had dark skin, I'm sure. 

Have a nice re-read of the comic, please. Even if you're just referring to the people on the current page, Anja is Roma.

Is this even stated in the comic, though? I think Tom only said this when he was asked. From the comic I only remember that one time where Rey in his first dollified appeareance called Kat Annie's "gypsy friend".

Aug 10, 2020 7:32:39 GMT madjack said:

Aug 10, 2020 7:30:34 GMT Eily said:

Now I wish we could see the Norns through the point of views of Eglamore, Don, Robot and Rey; since we know that the Norns keep the same clothes regardless of who's looking.

Hard mode: Bud and Lindsey.

Boxbot.

[guntherkrieg]

Aug 10, 2020 15:25:55 GMT speedwell said:

Aug 10, 2020 14:49:18 GMT guntherkrieg said:

Good thing none of them have darker than Caucasian skin, but I guess that's not a worry for this super white bread cast.

It wouldn't matter even if they had all had dark skin, I'm sure. 

Have a nice re-read of the comic, please. Even if you're just referring to the people on the current page, Anja is Roma.

I've read through the comic a few times and it's a simple fact that Gunnerkrigg skews very heavily towards the Caucasian. You can look at the main cast. Or you can zoom out a bit further and, oh look, there's Margo and Juliette. That's it.

Not to mention the first sentient being on Earth being a blonde, white woman.

Would it matter for this particular page? Well, given it's construction, then yes. What would happen with the perception of the Norns? Would Tom make them mixed race? That could be seen as problematic for a few reasons. But luckily Tom has a predominantly mayonnaise-coloured cast and thus it's not an issue... phew!