[2438] "I can explain."

[migrantworker]

...says Renard. At least one Annie understands.

[foxurus]

well at least she's pleased.

[hnau]

From a psychological standpoint, it all makes sense.

My theory is that, in this comic, usually internal - i.e. psychological - phenomena are happening externally.

Annie has shown signs of dissociation: When her father came back, she dissociated from her fire elemental. When Y died, she dissociated from Court Annie.

Something like this is known to happen due to severe childhood trauma. It's called dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personalities. Traumatic events usually lead to some degree of dissociation.

Then, the brain works on re-integration. The different parts start to communicate and to cooperate. Then, suddenly, the brain rewires and there is only one combined personality.

A dramatic account of this can be found in:

The Flock: The Autobiography of a Multiple Personality by Joan Frances Casey.

[basser]

Kat's gonna be all "wtf how" and Annie's gonna do her airy "LAUGHING ON LINE idk spirit stuff", and then Kat goes "you know what screw this, screw magic, I have a basement full of Westworld hosts, I'm waging war on the ether". Tony, despite there having been no indication he was anywhere nearby, suddenly pops his head round the corner with an excited "did someone say war on the ether?" Annie and Renard of course protest but quickly find their magic to be no match for Dolores Boxbot in a blue dress.

[kefka]

Mar 8, 2021 9:09:54 GMT hnau said:

From a psychological standpoint, it all makes sense.

My theory is that, in this comic, usually internal - i.e. psychological - phenomena are happening externally.

Annie has shown signs of dissociation: When her father came back, she dissociated from her fire elemental. When Y died, she dissociated from Court Annie.

Something like this is known to happen due to severe childhood trauma. It's called dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personalities. Traumatic events usually lead to some degree of dissociation.

Then, the brain works on re-integration. The different parts start to communicate and to cooperate. Then, suddenly, the brain rewires and there is only one combined personality.

A dramatic account of this can be found in:

The Flock: The Autobiography of a Multiple Personality by Joan Frances Casey.

Yeah, this is what I thought too. We've had metaphors happen literally in the comic before, like the Alistair stuff.

[wies]

Mar 8, 2021 9:09:54 GMT hnau said:

From a psychological standpoint, it all makes sense.

My theory is that, in this comic, usually internal - i.e. psychological - phenomena are happening externally.

Annie has shown signs of dissociation: When her father came back, she dissociated from her fire elemental. When Y died, she dissociated from Court Annie.

Something like this is known to happen due to severe childhood trauma. It's called dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personalities. Traumatic events usually lead to some degree of dissociation.

Then, the brain works on re-integration. The different parts start to communicate and to cooperate. Then, suddenly, the brain rewires and there is only one combined personality.

A dramatic account of this can be found in:

The Flock: The Autobiography of a Multiple Personality by Joan Frances Casey.

Yeah, I am willing to see it as metaphor. My criticism is that in this way Annie's brain didn't really rewire, but got rewired by Zimmy. And I don't know how to interpret that as metaphor. Can that also happen with DID? (This is a sincere question.)

[gpvos]

The ether contains, amongst others, all human fantasies and stories, including stories where multiple persons merge into one (e.g., Dragonball Z, apparently). Zimmy can make things that happen in the ether happen in real life (at least, still within the comic). I'm mostly surprised at the level of control that Zimmy can apparently have when she really wants to.

[blahzor]

UncAnnie: i understand..i doubled my INT score probably maybe

[gpvos]

I do hope she can do a double-intensity fire beam now.

[madjack]

Mar 8, 2021 10:28:39 GMT gpvos said:

I do hope she can do a double-intensity fire beam now.

Need double strength wards for her now.

[guntherkrieg]

Mar 8, 2021 9:09:54 GMT hnau said:

From a psychological standpoint, it all makes sense.

My theory is that, in this comic, usually internal - i.e. psychological - phenomena are happening externally.

Annie has shown signs of dissociation: When her father came back, she dissociated from her fire elemental. When Y died, she dissociated from Court Annie.

Something like this is known to happen due to severe childhood trauma. It's called dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personalities. Traumatic events usually lead to some degree of dissociation.

Then, the brain works on re-integration. The different parts start to communicate and to cooperate. Then, suddenly, the brain rewires and there is only one combined personality.

A dramatic account of this can be found in:

The Flock: The Autobiography of a Multiple Personality by Joan Frances Casey.

Externalised mental phenomena is a brilliant way of putting it. Good work. 

[guntherkrieg]

So... what is Zimmy in this context? The main characters have been operating at the level of cosmic power for a while now, or at least consulting with it (see: The Norns, time control, and Brinnie). Zimmy, to me, seems to be a personification of the Court's desire. She's a human with the ability the manipulate the ether on a huge scale. Unfortunately, no one ever gave her the user manual. She's like an anthropomorphic Chernobyl. Is she the abreacted result of the Omega Device?

[machiavelli33]

If there's any room for this to go beyond metaphor, then this whole sequences of events confirms that Zimmy truly is terrifyingly powerful.

...it DOESN'T have to go beyond metaphor - it really functions beautifully on that level alone, and I don't want to sully that by getting locked up in "technical details" like Zimmy's implied power level or whatever - the story says something powerful beyond "Zimmy stronk".

At the same time, so many entities both real and ethereal have recognized the existence of the "shifted" Annies that it has to be recognized what it is that Zimmy has accomplished here, more or less on a whim. She took a fact of reality - a broken fact, but a fact nonetheless - and changed it. Ether, ownership contracts, personhood and all. If all the dimensional bureaucrats in this universe are to be believed, this is NO SMALL FEAT.

Between the angel of machines Kat and now with a greater understanding of Zimmy, I'm coming closer to believing that Gunnerkrigg Court is a walking ground for gods... gods-in-the-making. Whether and to what extent anyone nearby is aware of this is going to be something for us to find out, I think.

[ohthatone]

Annie: "I understand."
END DISCUSSION

[fia]

Well I for one am glad Annie is okay. And I am glad she'll be a little less of a witch to herself from now on.

[blahzor]

well at least she got the mature Annie who knew to glop the fake mom image the previous singularity Annie wouldn't have done that unless she masked her fire elemental self away first

[blackouthart]

Renard: I can explain.
Annie: No. I understand.
The rest of the forums: COOL BEANS

[speedwell]

There is a reason why Gamma and Zimmy are together. Nobody asks this. We just found out that Zimmy finding Gamma in the toy shop wasn't a case of "Sleeping Beauty in the toy pile"; that was an illusion. We have been in the habit of assuming that Gamma just showed up in Zimmingham (or Zimmingham parted around her) and was able to glop things away and that it was natural that she become Zimmy's companion and defender (to her own cost in sleep). But what if Gamma is the dreamer, in a sort of constant low-grade narcoleptic way, and Zimmy the waking dream?

Why did I ask that. I meant to ask whether Gamma and Zimmy were alternate-universe selves.

[csj]

Mar 8, 2021 13:03:20 GMT blackouthart said:

Renard: I can explain.
Annie: No. I understand.
The rest of the forums: COOL BEANS

[gpvos]

Mar 8, 2021 12:16:16 GMT ohthatone said:

Annie: "I understand."
END DISCUSSION

[atteSmythe]

Mar 8, 2021 11:33:54 GMT guntherkrieg said:

So... what is Zimmy in this context?

A shrink, I guess!

(yeah, that’s not the context you mean, but I chuckled)

[atteSmythe]

Maybe now we can learn more about that Steadman fellow.

[linchie]

This has to be the most dissatisfying plot end in the entire comic... like, when we were shown the gang entering zimmyverse I was SO excited for some kind of mindblowing etheric shenanigans. When Annies encountered fake Surma I was all for the insights into their thoughts on their past and emotional attachments. Gamma interacting with Rey was intriguing and I was hoping at least to see her and Zimmy working together to fix whatever situation Annies and elves were in, OR to see Zimmy reflecting on why she acts like this and learning a lesson but... instead we got THIS.

Way too easy. Thanks Tom I get Zimmy is an almighty phenomenon but here it looks like the most boring deus ex machina ever

[ctso74]

When this all started, a lot of us brought up the Buffy episode "The Replacement", in which Xander is separated into two different versions of himself. Willow combined the two by saying "Let the spell be ended". So, pretty anticlimactic, but seems legit.

Mar 8, 2021 13:13:51 GMT speedwell said:

There is a reason why Gamma and Zimmy are together. Nobody asks this. We just found out that Zimmy finding Gamma in the toy shop wasn't a case of "Sleeping Beauty in the toy pile"; that was an illusion. We have been in the habit of assuming that Gamma just showed up in Zimmingham (or Zimmingham parted around her) and was able to glop things away and that it was natural that she become Zimmy's companion and defender (to her own cost in sleep). But what if Gamma is the dreamer, in a sort of constant low-grade narcoleptic way, and Zimmy the waking dream?

Why did I ask that. I meant to ask whether Gamma and Zimmy were alternate-universe selves.

I totally see it. I've been nursing the theory, that Gamma created Zimmy, for a long time. The recent "Zimmy did something terrible once", seems like Gamma was forced into doing something terrible, and had an etheric disassociation episode. Or maybe it's more of a "which came first: chicken or chicken egg". Probably all wrong, but can't get it out of my head.

[blahzor]

seeing as Zimmy is technically someone who can be multiple people constantly by taking over the idea of people in the zimmyverse being a whole person is a good solution

[TBeholder]

Well, someone understands for a change.

Mar 8, 2021 12:37:26 GMT fia said:

And I am glad she'll be a little less of a witch to herself from now on.

I'm not sure — old habits, etc.

Mar 8, 2021 13:13:51 GMT speedwell said:

But what if Gamma is the dreamer, in a sort of constant low-grade narcoleptic way, and Zimmy the waking dream?

Why did I ask that. I meant to ask whether Gamma and Zimmy were alternate-universe selves.

Now you are thinking with Valknuts?

[nightwind]

There can be only one.

[autumnrook]

Mar 8, 2021 9:09:54 GMT hnau said:

From a psychological standpoint, it all makes sense.

My theory is that, in this comic, usually internal - i.e. psychological - phenomena are happening externally.

Annie has shown signs of dissociation: When her father came back, she dissociated from her fire elemental. When Y died, she dissociated from Court Annie.

Something like this is known to happen due to severe childhood trauma. It's called dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personalities. Traumatic events usually lead to some degree of dissociation.

Then, the brain works on re-integration. The different parts start to communicate and to cooperate. Then, suddenly, the brain rewires and there is only one combined personality.

A dramatic account of this can be found in:

The Flock: The Autobiography of a Multiple Personality by Joan Frances Casey.

After I read your post, I went back and re-read the entire chapter. I think you've nailed it, and I get the feeling that Zimmy did for Annie what she wishes she could do for herself. It's often so much easier to help someone else than it is to help yourself. 

[alevice]

I am really hoping this development hasnt fully finished yet. Feels like a hacked resolution to all the implications of wo annies in the same dimension implied and the impact it would cause any possible solution. Then everything gets sidestepped for a wizard fixed it and nothing wrong ever happened. This and the ornithonic resolution has left me a bit sour.

[pyradonis]

Wow. I do not think I have ever disliked a chapter so much when it ended.

Mar 8, 2021 15:14:36 GMT linchie said:

This has to be the most dissatisfying plot end in the entire comic... like, when we were shown the gang entering zimmyverse I was SO excited for some kind of mindblowing etheric shenanigans. When Annies encountered fake Surma I was all for the insights into their thoughts on their past and emotional attachments. Gamma interacting with Rey was intriguing and I was hoping at least to see her and Zimmy working together to fix whatever situation Annies and elves were in, OR to see Zimmy reflecting on why she acts like this and learning a lesson but... instead we got THIS.

Way too easy. Thanks Tom I get Zimmy is an almighty phenomenon but here it looks like the most boring deus ex machina ever

This.

Mar 8, 2021 15:15:29 GMT ctso74 said:

When this all started, a lot of us brought up the Buffy episode "The Replacement", in which Xander is separated into two different versions of himself. Willow combined the two by saying "Let the spell be ended". So, pretty anticlimactic, but seems legit.

Except that the comic went to lengths explaining that this is not what happened. Annie was not separated, one of the Annies was bumped over from an additional timeline. So, no, not legit.

Mar 8, 2021 14:35:58 GMT atteSmythe said:

Maybe now we can learn more about that Steadman fellow.

That would help in reconciling with the comic now...