Post by tibert on Mar 16, 2024 11:14:59 GMT
Also, for the record I frigging love Skywatcher's original design. I want to get a robotic mantis tattoo with sunglasses, and Skywatcher's OG body is definitely part of that inspiration.
(I hope Tom Siddell will draw us a Who's Who of robots/NP at one point. Where are the laser cows!)
On top of being perception-oriented, Skywatcher is the one to go find the robot king, which no other shrine visitors did before her (assuming now it's "she" for the sake of the theory), which proves she is more knowledgeable or/and able to take initiative. She could also be both blunt to Robot ("I would say you are crazy") and familiar (standing on his shoulder at the end on "Sky Watcher and the Angel").
Perception and initiative explain that she leads the way and notices things until the group reaches the bridge.
Now, as the metric "Angel" is still only 1 and she is frustrated over "Ghost led into the Ether":0, she wants Devil:1 as a consolation prize.
Her reactions are otherwise often similar to the NP around her, because she is one.
As for Annie and Renard saying MNP looks a little like Zimmy... well, they are like many GC readers: Too much Zimmingham makes you see Zimmies everywhere. (or even without that: Kat first meeting Jenny)
We still need to explain:
- her excited tiptoeing around the NP camp (She has been recently awakened and is still enjoying the show? Also doesn't her stance feel a little praying-mantis-like?)
- knowing where Robot is (Was she near him when the distortion began, hanging around Courtyard/Warehouse113?)
- why Tom chose to draw the MNP first in pseudo-Zimmingham (She somehow drifted form Courtyard/Warehouse113 to pseudo-Zimmingham? Then how does she know about the distortion if she wasn't there for Annie's explanations? The seraphs gave her a quick explanation?)
- not telling who she is. She has shown shyness before, under Kat's magnifying glass, but it was to the Angel, and she's way too secretive now. (She misses her wings and wants to forget who she was? On a secret mission for the former Robot King? What sort of silly theory did I just cook up?)
- lashing onto Shadow (Robot told her to not let Shadow bring others to witness his shame? And then she changed her mind when Annie said "friend", realising that Robot needs help more than privacy?)
As much as I like Skywatcher, I also think that after such a build-up, if MNP is bound to be revealed as only being Skywatcher, we'll need some additional revelation along it so it doesn't feel underwhelming to some (many?) readers.
***
I myself have a pet theory. The name (names) has already been written by other guessers, but not the specifics (then again, I didn't read all the posts!). I don't feel like just throwing another (buggingly flawed) guess (Let's just say that, if in the next page, Robot not only doesn't recognize MNP as NP but also mistakes her for someone else...). I'd still like to share some thoughts it led me too:
- The attack on the bridge, distortion version. Readers have commented that, in the distortion, there is no shadow man piloting Robot, which leads to wonder who among the witnesses might be unaware of the shadow man's presence in the original incident.
Had a shadow man been visible in the distortion version, it would have explained why MNP lashed onto Shadow, bwiping away as long as Annie tagged along, because "Apparently, shadow men controlling bipeds are out to get Antimony Carver. Oh, this one is a "friend"? Nevermind then."
I really think the sequence "Bwips away Shadow away with no warning/doggedly continues as long as Annie is with them/drops the matter with one word from Annie" is key to understand the MNP's mystery. I think it's key because it's the most out of the blue thing MNP has done. My guess is she's is someone who adequates "shadow man"="Annie's agressor" but is conscious of her ignorance of the present situation. [EDIT: As Isildur said in the Zoob Guess Who! Poll]
- my theory led me to not systematically assume prior knowledge from MNP when explaining her ability to bwip or understanding why Robot changed. It might be someone real smart, who keeps her smarts with her in unfamiliar situations, and makes correct deductions.
- MNP being frustrated about not seeing Kat taking Sam. We assumed her Lana-like face was about missing the event but, looking at the sequence "surprised she didn't see/looking around/ Lana face", I wonder if she may actually be irked by the NP's religious reactions.
- The distortion allows semi-metaphorical travel, like the ocean. Could it allow entry from the outside to someone who couldn't have entered the Court otherwise?
***
Kat: "Huh? You guys wanted new bodies too? Then why didn't you just come to me and... Oh,right!"
***
This is the fifth chapter taking place in the same 24 hours period? It's a record!
Anything can be possible, specially at this point.