[2658] "Why isn't she here?"

[imaginaryfriend]

Hmm, this could be evidence that Jan's gift with archery is etheric. 

Or possibly one of her dad's rivals just fudged the test so she'd get left to screw Lan over.

[yellowb]

"They promised me!"

Llanwellyn may be the headmaster at GC, but ultimately "they" call the shots. I wonder if we will ever see "them".

[arf]

First evidence the Cult of Court goes deeper than even Llewellyn.

[basser]

I mean if you can't trust a group called The Shadow Men who can you trust really.

[madjack]

Called it.

He's so committed to the Court's vision of whatever they're trying to achieve that he wanted the top slot with the shadow men to fudge the rules on his daughter's behalf so she reaped the benefits of it. Regardless of what Janet thought about anything.

What a selfish bastard.

Edit: With today's page as hindsight, I reckon William knew Janet had got an invite and he hadn't. She might have decided not to show because of that, and ask Kat what the deal was later or something.

[bicarbonat]

Aug 3, 2022 7:22:47 GMT madjack said:

Called it.

He's so committed to the Court's vision of whatever they're trying to achieve that he wanted the top slot with the shadow men to fudge the rules on his daughter's behalf so she reaped the benefits of it. Regardless of what Janet thought about anything.

What a selfish bastard.

Edit: With today's page as hindsight, I reckon William knew Janet had got an invite and he hadn't. She might have decided not to show because of that, and ask Kat what the deal was later or something.

If Janet evades the fuzz to try and be with William, Llanwellyn is going to have a conniption fit (esp if he's gone through all this trouble to pull strings).

William with his sticky-up hair and Janet with her flowing locks remind me a bit of Green Guy and Jeanne – like Parley's romantic denial before she got a reality check, William & Janet's "star-crossed" dynamic seemed mostly teen emotion-filled hype with a dash of well-founded worry. Now that things at the Court have been kicked to hell in high gear, I wonder if they'll be forced to earn the unenviable badge that GG & Jeanne were stuck with.

[madjack]

Aug 3, 2022 7:41:42 GMT bicarbonat said:

William with his sticky-up hair and Janet with her flowing locks remind me a bit of Green Guy and Jeanne – like Parley's romantic denial before she got a reality check, William & Janet's "star-crossed" dynamic seemed mostly teen emotion-filled hype with a dash of well-founded worry. Now that things at the Court have been kicked to hell in high gear, I wonder if they'll be forced to earn the unenviable badge that GG & Jeanne were stuck with.

They'd have to find someone else to to the dirty work this time, since the one who's the best shot with a bow is Janet. 

There's nothing stopping same mechanism being used some other way though, I guess.

[imaginaryfriend]

I think someone linked this before but here it is again: How to pronounce Llanwellyn (and name meaning).

Aug 3, 2022 7:21:05 GMT basser said:

I mean if you can't trust a group called The Shadow Men who can you trust really.

Aata was probably well-liked among the Shadow Men and he'd been their leader for a while so if they're involved in this it might have been because they were sore about their new leader.  

Might be that they had nothing to do with this, though. Could even be that it wasn't even anyone at his level behind it though I think that one or more rivals would be the most likely suspects.

...I mean, how many disgruntled subordinates does it take to intercept one invite or otherwise skunk Janet's ticket to ride? Probably just one and there's probably several people who're ticked off at having to leave behind their relatives...

[blahzor]

Headman in charge not headman

[imaginaryfriend]

Could also be Jan got wise to the real purpose of the meeting and didn't want to be forced to go, and therefore blew it off with no conspiracy involved. If that's the case Will won't be here either.

[gpvos]

Looks like we'll be getting a little bit more insight into the inner workings of the Court in this chapter.

[artemis]

Aug 3, 2022 7:09:29 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

Hmm, this could be evidence that Jan's gift with archery is etheric. 

Or possibly one of her dad's rivals just fudged the test so she'd get left to screw Lan over.

When is Janet’s archery proficiency mentioned? Does anyone remember?

[rafk]

Aug 3, 2022 7:17:21 GMT arf said:

First evidence the Cult of Court goes deeper than even Llewellyn.

Not at all. But first evidence that he is so disposable to the real powers that be (unless Janet is not there of her own accord and the Court merely doesn't care enough to send goons to make her come, which is a lesser level of disposable, but still not what happens when you're actual inner circle).

My question is whether the true masters of the Court are characters we've seen on screen or not, and if they're off-screen will they stay eternally off screen?

[imaginaryfriend]

Aug 3, 2022 9:29:23 GMT artemis said:

Aug 3, 2022 7:09:29 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

Hmm, this could be evidence that Jan's gift with archery is etheric. 

Or possibly one of her dad's rivals just fudged the test so she'd get left to screw Lan over.

When is Janet’s archery proficiency mentioned? Does anyone remember?

Demonstrated here, asked about on formspring and Q2T if it was an etheric ability or just a talent with (if memory serves) no definitive answer given.

[madjack]

In the fifth panel here we see a boat on the water, and from a distance it looks similar to the one that pulled up to the pier in today's page.

The action seems to have started near the pier, and given this is being told parallel to Annie and Rey's encounter with Loup, will relocate to the beach later on.

Also the figure at the front of that last panel may well be Janet.

Edit: Captain obvious, but from the urgency Llanwellyn showed, does he expect something to happen now instead of just getting people clued in and ready? The crowd moving to the beach and I think there being less of them there suggests this might be the case.

[lisanela]

Jan 14, 2022 21:23:10 GMT lisanela said:

I wonder how many people in the court actually know everything about the plan. Shell seems to know very little (cause right now her plan is not making much sense), Juliette doesn't know, Jones is just an observer, Tony, Donnie, and Eglamore honestly don't seem to know much either (or be people who would fully agree with whatever is going on).. we've seen so little of the higher-ups - we don't even know what Llanwellyn does really, or what's his rank. I guess Omega knows everything?

Of course keeping some information secret is how most organizations and countries work, but it'd be a bit weird if my government suddenly announced we'd all be going to Jupiter for some reason, except people who can whistle.  

Well I guess that partly answers my question about Llanwellyn's rank..

[fia]

Why does this event feel a little too much like the Second Coming? The righteous will ascend, the wicked left behind...

A true believer would be convinced of course their loved ones would join them, but the reality would probably be quite a bit colder.

[pyradonis]

Aug 3, 2022 7:45:10 GMT madjack said:

Aug 3, 2022 7:41:42 GMT bicarbonat said:

William with his sticky-up hair and Janet with her flowing locks remind me a bit of Green Guy and Jeanne – like Parley's romantic denial before she got a reality check, William & Janet's "star-crossed" dynamic seemed mostly teen emotion-filled hype with a dash of well-founded worry. Now that things at the Court have been kicked to hell in high gear, I wonder if they'll be forced to earn the unenviable badge that GG & Jeanne were stuck with.

They'd have to find someone else to to the dirty work this time, since the one who's the best shot with a bow is Janet. 

There's nothing stopping same mechanism being used some other way though, I guess.

The Founders seemed very clear about wanting to strike everything that had happened from their records. I don't think anyone besides Diego could have hidden any useful information for how to repeat it, and he didn't exactly seem to be in the mood to in his final days.

Also, while Diego was probably lying when he said the plan would work with no one except Jeanne, an important part relied on Jeanne's incredible fighting skill. Unless Janet's ghost would have an ethereal bow with an unlimited number of arrows it might make more sense to sacrifice Parley?

[Per]

Aug 3, 2022 7:41:42 GMT bicarbonat said:

I wonder if they'll be forced to earn the unenviable badge that GG & Jeanne were stuck with.

Aug 3, 2022 11:05:31 GMT fia said:

A true believer would be convinced of course their loved ones would join them

My experience with stronger-than-average believers is that some of them have firm expectations of how family and friends are going to be sorted to different places, and may think it regrettable to some degree, but ultimately recognize it as a feature of their world view, not a bug.

[ctso74]

Aug 3, 2022 7:21:05 GMT basser said:

I mean if you can't trust a group called The Shadow Men who can you trust really.

But... they had cookies... They were delicious.

I do wonder if it was Janet's choice, a decision by higher-ups, or a paperwork issue due to bureaucracy. If the later, talk about Llanwellyn being hoisted with his own petard.

[Angry Individual]

To be perfectly honest if the Court invited me to a cruise, and I was a part of the last one, I wouldn't show up either.

[Gemminie]

Through the crowd Kat sees a distant figure calling for Janet, only to find that it is her father, Llanwellyn, wearing a tuxedo with a Shadow Men insignia. He claims that "they" promised him that she would be here. It would seem that she isn't. His outburst appears to be causing some commotion in the crowd; some are trying to restrain him, while others are merely remarking on this.

Now, we saw Janet briefly in the previous chapter, but it was never confirmed whether she had or hadn't received an invitation to the meeting. And even if she got one, that doesn't necessarily mean she went to it.

Kat, however, is watching what's really important. Out at the end of the jetty there appears to be a large dumpster-sized container as well as a group of people waiting. A powered boat arrives and moves up to the pier. We see only the feet of the people waiting for it.

So ... if this isn't an ocean, it's sure awfully ocean-like, since boats can obviously travel on it. Also, Llewellyn seems very upset. Why? What exactly happens if Janet's not here? Is this a one-way trip? I do notice that there is no pier/jetty in the aftermath of whatever's going to happen here. What we might have seen at the end of last chapter is those who refused to go, staring out in stunned silence at what just happened, which was the complete disappearance of everyone and everything else, including the pier and the boat. So perhaps Llewellyn's upset because he's about to be separated from his daughter, potentially forever. Now, "they" promised she'd be there, but what happened? Did they not send her an invitation, or did she receive one and choose not to go? She may not have known what was at stake, mostly because the Court is so secretive that they didn't make it clear. On the other hand, if they promised to invite her and then didn't, betraying Llanwellyn, that's pretty serious; he's a highly-placed and loyal Court officer. For that to happen it must have been of vital importance. But which thing happened? Currently there's no way to know.

[Sky Schemer]

I am just here to say that Janet and William continue to be my favorite side characters. Just bringing up one of their names is enough to brighten a chapter.

[manabi]

Aug 3, 2022 8:07:17 GMT blahzor said:

Headman in charge not headman

Clearly it's Top Men in charge.

Aug 3, 2022 12:23:20 GMT Per said:

My experience with stronger-than-average believers is that some of them have firm expectations of how family and friends are going to be sorted to different places, and may think it regrettable to some degree, but ultimately recognize it as a feature of their world view, not a bug.

You phrased that perfectly, "expectations," but not "thoughts."  True believers don't think, they believe.  To them things will be the way they believe them to be and they aren't interested in hearing anything to the contrary. If you try, they'll get angry and possibly physically violent to make you stop. It's a big part of why cults are so hard to escape.

[Gemini Jim]

Obviously, those four shadowy people on the dock want first dibs for the good seats on the Isn't An Ocean boat.

(They had moved up ahead of the rest of the people on the previous page, too.)



Alternatively, they want to be the first to greet the Very Important People who might be getting off the boat. However, all events would seem to suggest the former, rather than the latter.

[warrl]

What Janet did at the archery contest is an extremely difficult shot. The world's best non-etheric archer would not be as confident of success as she was. And if she were just trying to throw the contest, and didn't intend to hit William's arrow, she could have been vastly less obvious than a miss like that would have been.

The only way I can see her NOT having an etheric talent that helps with her archery is if that shot was prearranged with someone else (William?) who DOES have a suitable talent. And we've seen no suggestion of that.

If Janet has an etheric talent, then based on what else we've seen she shouldn't have gotten an invitation to this meeting. Perhaps someone told her dad that she would get one, just to get him to shut up and let them do their job properly. May even have prepared one, so he could see it, with no intent to deliver it.

(Although I do wonder why William didn't get an invite. I don't recall any hints of him having an etheric talent. But then, that could be Dad protecting his little girl from boys.)

[Igniz]

1. Either Janet is absent because she personally refused to attend, being that William didn't get an invitation, or 
2. In spite of what was told to her fther, she wasn't invited in the first place, which would confirm that her archery abilities are in fact etheric in nature.

Another issue that has been brought into the spotlight (yet again) is who are "they", the real true top great bosses, the head men, the top dogs, the big cheeses, the head honchos of the Court, being completely head and shoulders above the Shadow Men and their [current] leader.

[Gemini Jim]

I hope the next page shows a clear shot of the boat. From what we've seen, the hull fits somewhat under the dock/ quay, although it might be low tide. It's big enough to have a radar tower on top, but it doesn't seem that large.

It only really matters if it's too small to hold all of those people comfortably. Welcome to Gunnerkrigg Dunkirk, folks.

So I'd guess probably about the size of a cabin cruiser or fishing boat; perhaps a small yacht, but not a larger class than that.


I suddenly remember that the Court owns (owned?) a cruise ship, and maybe this is a shuttle for that.

EDIT: Or maybe one of these.

[guntherkrieg]

This is why I log in every Monday, Wednesday, Friday: thrilling boat docking action.

[jda]

The people go into the boat, then sink in the middle of the ocean due to accident/etheric zap/Loups shenanigan:

"This... isn't an ocean, but an aquatic tomb!"