Gillitie Wood

[UbiquitousDragon]

We don't know much about Gillitie Wood, other than it's where Shadow2 comes from (and the other less-than-friendly) Shadow. It's also where Robot got his new arm.

Page 5 shows the wood in relation to the Court, I found it interesting that Annie says "unfortunately, the bridge is lined with powerful lights that eliminate any shadow". To me, this seems to be a defensive system to prevent Shadows from coming across from Gillitie Wood as on page 119 the second Shadow melts away. The lights also show when anything is crossing the bridge--hence Kat spotted the light shining off Robot.

Gillitie wood is, also, probably where "the very nice man" (quote Robot, 117) comes from. A couple of things about this, the man can't be very nice as Robot pushes Annie off the bridge, and also Robot goes for Reynardine (though, I guess that's debateable whether that's a good or a bad thing). Either way Robot isn't the same as he was before he left Gunnerkrigg Court, most obviously in his new arm and loss of wings (which I only just noticed, blind as I am). The other thing is that it's "the nice man", rather than "a nice man", that makes me think he's important--Robot certainly does.

The only other thing which comes to mind right now is that "Gillitie" sounds a bit like a pun on "guilty", but I don't know if that's important. The wood certainly doesn't look very welcoming to anyone but Shadows, 14.

[mrw]

Just the positioning of the Court relative to the Wood is interesting. That bridge seems to go nowhere except right into the Wood. Why have it at all? Are the Court and the Wood some sort of diametrical opposites?

[owl]

And is that the only way out of and into the school? It can't be, or all the studenst would have come from the Wood. But we've seen no other entrance, and why would Annie choose that way to use as an escape for Shadow2 if she knew of an easier way?

[Koz]

Well, we see on 149 that the Court is, or is surrounded by, a huge industrial city. Maybe the city where Zimmy is from? And maybe the way to the school for most other children not from this area.

As to why there's a bridge leading directly to the spooky dangerous woods, why the school's not just isolated on a cliffside at the edge of this city, I hope Tom will someday tell...

[Uglyhead]

We know that shadows and probably fairies live in the wood, and they seem fairly friendly, for the most part, maybe. The brightly-lit bridge over running water would be a good deterrent to various supernatural creatures, while still allowing ordinary people to pass.

Presumably, the very nice man lurks somewhere in the woods or beyond them, possibly knew Reynardine at some point in the past(a former colleague or master, perhaps), and wants to speak with him enough to send agents(Robot and that other shadow with the extra ears/horns) to attempt to recover him.

I'm guessing Robot's tree-arm is something special from the woods, too. The faculty probably decided to keep it for further study.

Edit; Koz, the huge industrial city apparently -is- Gunnerkrigg Court, or, er, the rest of it, but Zimmy's from Birmingham.

[mrw]

owl said:

we've seen no other entrance, and why would Annie choose that way to use as an escape for Shadow2 if she knew of an easier way?

In #4 and #5, Shadow2 indicated that Gillitie Wood was where he wanted to go. Even if Annie had come in through a different entrance, it doesn't seem like there is another one anywhere nearby.

Edit: Just noticed something else - in #13, Shadow2 seems distinctly afraid of the TicToc, like he thinks his escape is about to be discovered.

[owl]

Okay, so that raises the question of why Shadow2 wanted to go to Gillitie Wood. He seems to be genuinely sorry to have brought corrupted-Robot back to the Court, so I doubt he went there to get corrupted or anything. He probably went to be with others of his kind, not knowing how creepy they were.

[Koz]

I want to know how Gillitie Wood and the artificial habitat room are related. Is that a containment unit for anything that comes from the woods? Is it ever nighttime in there, is it ever daytime in gloomy Gillitie? Would Shadow 2 just vaporize in there?

And oh yeah, Birmingham, doh.

[todd]

On a side-note, since the suicide fairies live in Gillitie Wood, I've wondered this about them:

If they do succeed in getting someone to kill them and get reincarnated thereby as humans, do they immediately become 11-12 year-olds (the minimum age needed to enroll in Gunnerkrigg Court) or babies first and have to become old enough at a natural pace to enter the school? (If the latter, then I doubt that we'll ever meet the suicide fairies in human form, unless the webcomic has Annie get a teaching job at Gunnerkrigg when she grows up and gets stuck with the suicide fairies as students in one of the classes that she teaches - which last part, admittedly, wouldn't surprise me at all.)

[mrw]

owl said:

Okay, so that raises the question of why Shadow2 wanted to go to Gillitie Wood. He seems to be genuinely sorry to have brought corrupted-Robot back to the Court, so I doubt he went there to get corrupted or anything. He probably went to be with others of his kind, not knowing how creepy they were.

It wasn't Shadow2 that brought the corrupted Robot back; it was another one with 4 horns instead of Shadow2's two horns (#118). Even Annie didn't notice the difference. That Shadow got vaporized by the lights. (#119)

When Shadow2's compatriots greeted him (#14), they all had 2 horns just like him. (Tom commented the other shadows there were his family.)

Maybe there are Shadow clans, with different numbers of horns? Could be that some clans are beneficial, and some are not. I wager that Shadow2's clan would welcome Annie, unless Shadow2 was kicked out of his clan for befriending a human.

[Count Casimir]

uglyhead said:

I'm guessing Robot's tree-arm is something special from the woods, too. The faculty probably decided to keep it for further study.

Since neither the cherry tree nor any other was in site, I got the impression that it was a completely different room. The place is certainly big enough for multiple "habitats."

[Aspen d'Grey]

Mm, I get the feeling that the Nice Old Man is not something we want to come into the Court... I suppose that Reynardine either knows, knew, or suspected that this creature was not to be trusted, and that's why he tried to stop Annie and is helping her as much as he is in the current chapter. Volunteering the knowledge of his wolf-form is not something I see him doing just because Annie is rubbish at running.

[La Poire]

I don't think Reynardine was afraidd of possessed Robot because he thought he was evil/untrustworthy/whatever, but he probably knew, or guessed, that it was after him. Why he tried to drag Annie away rather than just run probably has to do with the techincalities of ownership, my guess is that if someone or something, like whatever possessed Robot, would killl Annie – Reynardine's owner – then the ownership would be transferred to the killer. Alternatively, he could have been afraid of being separated from Annie and thus never have the possibility of being given new instructions; he probably wouldn't like being mute forever.

[mrw]

lapoire said:

I don't think Reynardine was afraidd of possessed Robot because he thought he was evil/untrustworthy/whatever, but he probably knew, or guessed, that it was after him. Why he tried to drag Annie away rather than just run probably has to do with the techincalities of ownership, my guess is that if someone or something, like whatever possessed Robot, would killl Annie – Reynardine's owner – then the ownership would be transferred to the killer. Alternatively, he could have been afraid of being separated from Annie and thus never have the possibility of being given new instructions; he probably wouldn't like being mute forever.

That is some really good reasoning. It makes the whole event even more chilling to see it from Reynardine's point of view in the way you have explained it.