[2481] "Just thinking."

[V]

The source of all this Chaos. All the signs point at Loup quite literally in this page.

Also, interesting comparison with #2393: has he not moved for the last ~100 pages? The energy lines in the forest floor and in his skin are new, though.

[saardvark]

it's as though it is taking every ounce of his (Loup's) concentration to keep things this much together... and they're still wildly chaotic. Or maybe its keep things this chaotic, sincee that is how Coyoote's Forest works (even though it doesnt normally LOOK this chaotic)?

[caber]

Jun 16, 2021 7:28:01 GMT saardvark said:

it's as though it is taking every ounce of his (Loup's) concentration to keep things this much together... and they're still wildly chaotic. Or maybe its keep things this chaotic, sincee that is how Coyoote's Forest works (even though it doesnt normally LOOK this chaotic)?

Maybe he's trying to ground himself (possibly literally) to get control over his own chaotic self? Trying to meditate and calm the maelstrom inside him.

[Corvo]

Pff, typical Loup, doing this "thinking" thing! Coyote never did that!

[mitten]

Oh, hi doggy!

[silicondream]

Jun 16, 2021 7:28:01 GMT saardvark said:

it's as though it is taking every ounce of his (Loup's) concentration to keep things this much together... and they're still wildly chaotic. Or maybe its keep things this chaotic, sincee that is how Coyoote's Forest works (even though it doesnt normally LOOK this chaotic)?

I'm...not seeing "chaos" here at all, actually.  Those are a bunch of awfully regular constructs--Platonic in their perfection, as speedwell mentioned a few pages ago.  This is mathematical reasoning given solid form.

Seems to me Loup took the Annies' advice seriously after all.  What should someone with Ysengrin's orderly, "regimented" mind do to understand the chaos that Coyote embodied and controlled?  He should invent chaos theory.

Earlier we saw Loup learning to meditate, and becoming really mindful of his relationship to Coyote, in a way that Ysengrin never managed despite his obsession.  I think he's been using that newfound mental discipline to fast-forward through developments in mathematical and scientific thought that took human cultures centuries to accomplish.  He's groping his way toward understanding the world in terms of systems theory: geology, meteorology, ecology, politics and everything in between.

...which is kind of Tony's lifelong research project, isn't it?  What do you think the Court will do if Loup turns out to be a potential intellectual colleague...or rival?  What will it do if Loup learns how to be his own Omega Device?

[Gemminie]

In the first panel we see Annie in the foreground, followed by James, Parley, and Cvet, with some sort of light clearly coming from whatever they're looking at (and we won't have to wait long to find out what it is). There seems to be a slight Dutch angle in this frame, perhaps emphasis that they're taken somewhat aback by what they're seeing.

And then we see what they're seeing. Well, we see what perhaps James is seeing, because Annie's in the frame, looking at Loup and ... whatever he's doing. There are lightning-like tendrils of energy extending downward into the earth, from which they also come back up into some of the nearby objects; a few of the tendrils also extend out into the air. They look like either lightning, as I already said, or like roots. But the floating objects we've been seeing are even more prominent here. There are rocks and plants on the ground, but also in the air, and a lot of these (I guess they're rocks?) are in simple geometric shapes, like cylinders, spheres, pyramids, and cubes. There are some crystal-like formations extending downward from off frame toward Loup, making it uncertain whether they're floating there or whether there's a larger overhanging rock formation out of the frame that they're growing from. In the background, extending into the dark distance, the ground of the Forest is distorted, rising up to the left and right, seeming to form into a cylinder or at least a half cylinder. Loup's eyes are closed, and it's not clear that he even knows Annie & Co. are here.

Loup is clearly concentrating very intensely on something. If I had to guess, he's trying to force order on the Forest, and we know that that's basically what the Court is trying to do: enact the will of humanity upon Nature. The Forest's very nature seems to be opposed to that, however, which was why Coyote governed the Forest with chaotic branches. Things worked because he let them do what they wanted; he just made it work better the more they did what they wanted. But Ysengrin's influence upon Loup's personality seems to have caused him to come to the problem from the perspective of imposing order. Ysengrin's central tragedy seems to have been that he himself exhibited many of the same characteristics he despised in humans, leading to a self-hatred of sorts, and that seems to have become a part of Loup as well. He could be trying to recreate the Forest from first principles, starting with the simplest and most orderly of forms, while at the same time trying to stay rooted to the existing chaotic Forest, and this may be an extremely difficult thing to reconcile.

[ctso74]

If only Jester was there to ask him, "You pooping?"
Unless the Court has done something to interfere with the Water, I wonder what Coyote will think of all this? According to plan or an amusing surprise?

[saardvark]

Jun 16, 2021 12:09:09 GMT silicondream said:

Jun 16, 2021 7:28:01 GMT saardvark said:

it's as though it is taking every ounce of his (Loup's) concentration to keep things this much together... and they're still wildly chaotic. Or maybe its keep things this chaotic, sincee that is how Coyoote's Forest works (even though it doesnt normally LOOK this chaotic)?

I'm...not seeing "chaos" here at all, actually.  Those are a bunch of awfully regular constructs--Platonic in their perfection, as speedwell mentioned a few pages ago.  This is mathematical reasoning given solid form.

Seems to me Loup took the Annies' advice seriously after all.  What should someone with Ysengrin's orderly, "regimented" mind do to understand the chaos that Coyote embodied and controlled?  He should invent chaos theory.

Earlier we saw Loup learning to meditate, and becoming really mindful of his relationship to Coyote, in a way that Ysengrin never managed despite his obsession.  I think he's been using that newfound mental discipline to fast-forward through developments in mathematical and scientific thought that took human cultures centuries to accomplish.  He's groping his way toward understanding the world in terms of systems theory: geology, meteorology, ecology, politics and everything in between.

...which is kind of Tony's lifelong research project, isn't it?  What do you think the Court will do if Loup turns out to be a potential intellectual colleague...or rival?  What will it do if Loup learns how to be his own Omega Device?

well, there is a sort of chaos all around... background cylindrically warped, trees and rocks floating (gravity optional), but you're right - Loup seems to be trying to bring order to the chaos.  He is finally listening to both Annie and Coyote... Annie suggested he get in better touch with (and learn to respect) his Ys-ness, and Coyote telling him everything he needs to control the Forest he has within him.  He is connected with Coyote's chaos branches (white lines) and maybe imposing some form of Ys-regementation and order on them. But it seems he's doing it with some subtlety, since while things are still chaotic in some ways (warping, floating), in other ways, he has achieved a degree of calm and order (Platonic solids, and they are floating gently, not zooming around violently, smashing into things and each other).  He's learning!  Its not the way Coyote controls the Forest, but it sort of works....

[speedwell]

Thinking alchemically, he's still in "raw materials" mode. He's got form there without function. He's doing little more than shaking a puzzle box to see if he can fit the pieces together by chance. If he's shaking the box gently and systematically rather than violently and destructively, it is at least progress.

[V]

"Boss, the dog won't react to any of our advances, he's just sitting there doing nothing at all!"
...
"Great, now Carver zoned out as well."

[todd]

While it does seem most likely that Annie and Loup will be doing all their talking in the ether, I'd still have liked the Court representatives to make some effort to speak with Loup about his war on the Court. He'd probably ignore them or throw them out, but we do seem overdue for such a conversation.