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Post by walter on Dec 16, 2009 15:17:12 GMT
One interesting thing is that Jeanne is speaking to him again in this episode. Several possibilities.
#1: Jeane is a creature of fiery passions. It's normal for her to scream that she hates someone and destroy their children, then expect that person to speak to her.
#2: Diego is such a slug that the takes this sort of thing all the time. She's used to an abusive relationship, and takes his forgiveness for granted.
#3: Jeanne was content to leave their bridges burned, but Diego returned at some time, apologizing and begging forgiveness for his slander of "Him".
Basically the dif between Jeanne as psycho, Jeanne as abusive 'husband', and Jeanne as innocent.
My perception of events is basically as stated above. Diego was the key man in the scheme, he abused his position following his rejection by Jeanne to make her the sacrifice. Now he's enjoying the chance to hear her terror.
I think that last line may have tipped his hand. The lady knows her way around a sword, you worm!
That aside, I think the Robots confusion arises from the obvious. Diego programmed them to love Jeanne. Then he stopped loving her himself. The recording casts him in a bad light. They can't stop loving her, so they don't understand how he could. Thus you've got a "Diego always loved Jeanne, just like us" camp, and a "how could he do such a thing" camp. It's worth noting that the Robot's reverence for Diego may be natural, while their love for Jeanne may be programmed. In that case, what's at stake here would be their reverence towards Diego.
I'm also of the opinion that Diego's shrine is just what we thought. I think the flashes of the Robots over the faces of Sir Young and Diego constitute Word of God. We'll see, of course.
Interestingly, at this point, there's no reason for Diego to blame Sir Young for Jeanne's death. Makes me think he has a further plan, begun by his last remark to Jeanne. Maybe he wants her to beg him to be saved, and thinks that her gratitude will make her love him (he doesn't get people, after all). Maybe he plans to have a robot double take her place at the Waters? (Jones?). I'm not sure what further schemes he might have, but his current scheme doesn't seem to lend itself to blaming Sir Young.
Another question is whether it was Diego who blamed Sir Young, or the Robots. If Sir Young is the one who carries out the Court's orders, he could easily get the Robot's blame, while Diego himself feels nothing towards him.
Fascinating stuff.
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Post by Mezzaphor on Dec 16, 2009 15:19:25 GMT
Now, is Diego going to be horrified...or satisfied? I have a feeling he just wants Jeanne to be frightened and unhappy, maybe so he can "white knight" her a bit... Oh, oh, oh. Diego nominated Jeanne to be the sacrifice so that he, at the last minute, could have a sudden crisis of conscience, save Jeanne, and be her hero. Except it didn't work out as he planned, and in spite of his interference, Sir Young saw to it that the sacrifice was performed correctly. Diego, like a true hypocrite, blamed Young for Jeanne's death. |
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Post by Casey on Dec 16, 2009 15:29:23 GMT
Now, is Diego going to be horrified...or satisfied? I have a feeling he just wants Jeanne to be frightened and unhappy, maybe so he can "white knight" her a bit... Oh, oh, oh. Diego nominated Jeanne to be the sacrifice so that he, at the last minute, could have a sudden crisis of conscience, save Jeanne, and be her hero. Except it didn't work out as he planned, and in spite of his interference, Sir Young saw to it that the sacrifice was performed correctly. Diego, like a true hypocrite, blamed Young for Jeanne's death. Exactly this. |
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Post by Sir Culatory on Dec 16, 2009 15:31:07 GMT
Oh Diego. While I think you are way down the wrong path, I had thought you might well have some sort of (admittedly fool hardy) secret plan behind all of this to win Jeanne's heart. But that smile? Poor Jeanne, she would have been better with the forest it seems. What would you do if you knew there was no chance in Hell the one you love would be with you? Love is a peculiar monster, and Diego's actions are just the other side of the same coin. Ah, classic tales of unrequited love, popular with all romantics at heart, where an obsessive individual decides to have the focus of their attentions sacrificed when they are rejected by them... Personally I'm quite certain if I knew there was no chance in hell I would move on. That or retreat to my castle and live out my days, letting my mournful organ music drift out over the moors, creeping the local peasantry out no ends. Or Jeanne snapping after what, from the looks of things, was Diego ignoring how she actually felt for a good long while. From today's strip it doesn't seem she severed all contact with him after their fight. |
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Post by Casey on Dec 16, 2009 15:38:05 GMT
In my opinion Jeanne's reaction from several pages back was due to the sudden realization that the person she thought was her friend, and thought was making toys for her to be nice, was actually trying to buy his way into her pants, and cared nothing for her, what was important to her, and what she loved. I would react in a disgusted, horrified manner as well.
On the other hand, Diego's "love" for Jeanne is nothing but selfish obsession. I mean this guy sees everything natural as something to be sneered at, and everything artificial and mechanical as the pillar of greatness... why should his approach to relationships be any different? He probably wonders why Jeanne must be saddled with such childish things as "opinions" and "conscience" and probably wishes she would act more servile, like his robots.
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Post by Sir Culatory on Dec 16, 2009 15:41:42 GMT
One interesting thing is that Jeanne is speaking to him again in this episode. Several possibilities. #1: Jeane is a creature of fiery passions. It's normal for her to scream that she hates someone and destroy their children, then expect that person to speak to her. #2: Diego is such a slug that the takes this sort of thing all the time. She's used to an abusive relationship, and takes his forgiveness for granted. #3: Jeanne was content to leave their bridges burned, but Diego returned at some time, apologizing and begging forgiveness for his slander of "Him". Well, we don't know all the finer details, what has happened in between, but maybe Jeanne apologized? Maybe they both did (but Diego secretly still harbored animosity)... And I'm not sure the one off outburst where she destroyed the other little robots is enough to base their entire history on - after all, it had been going on for a while, there were a lot of little bots which she hadn't destroyed up till that point. I don't think there is any evidence Jeanne makes a habit of telling Diego she hates him, but on that occasion she snapped (and fair enough, people do that sometimes). Sometimes people can work past such an outburst, sometimes they can't, from this page it seems to me Jeanne might have thought what happened was, ironically enough, water under the bridge, and that she could turn to Diego for help. True, true. Indeed, it has been a great chapter. |
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Post by dragonsong12 on Dec 16, 2009 15:45:32 GMT
What would you do if you knew there was no chance in Hell the one you love would be with you? Love is a peculiar monster, and Diego's actions are just the other side of the same coin. That doesn't make it okay. |
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Post by the bandit on Dec 16, 2009 16:07:36 GMT
Jeanne is very distressed on this page. She's glancing nervously over her shoulder and putting her face in her hands. She came to beg for Diego's help. Diego is probably her one connection to the inner workings of the court. Diego recorded all this for a reason. I just want to know why. This sparks my curiosity, too. He's turning the Cambot off and on during these key exchanges. The "white knight" and "robots did nothing" theories are least contradictory in my mind. I would favor the latter if I had a better way to reconcile the robots' disdain for the Dragon Slayers with it, as well as the purpose of this recording. |
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Post by trav3ler on Dec 16, 2009 17:04:46 GMT
I'm still very much unconvinced that Jeanne is a "sacrifice" in the traditional sense. I still think she's being used as bait. I'm sticking by my "this scheme is to assassinate Jeanne's lover" theory. Regardless of how much Jeanne scorned Diego's love earlier, I have enough faith in the man still to believe that he doesn't really want Jeanne dead. He wants her to see her lover killed, wants her to be consumed by grief... and wants to be there for her, presenting himself as an alternative.
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Post by Per on Dec 16, 2009 17:17:03 GMT
I did not conspire to have her turned into a eternal ghost to guard my moat. I've had three objects of unrequited admiration turned into eternal ghosts to guard my moat and I would hesitate to do it to a fourth, because seriously who's going to storm my moat anyway at this point. Diego nominated Jeanne to be the sacrifice so that he, at the last minute, could have a sudden crisis of conscience, save Jeanne, and be her hero. That's what his smile made me think at first. Less a "haha, you're going down" smile than a "haha, if you only knew my cunning plan" smile. But it's so hard to tell. Indeed, it has been a great chapter. True, there has been fodder for much of speculations. |
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Post by the bandit on Dec 16, 2009 17:25:50 GMT
Gah! Per! That is no measure of the greatness of a chapter!
Though there has been a correlation within this one.
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Post by Casey on Dec 16, 2009 17:30:23 GMT
I'm still very much unconvinced that Jeanne is a "sacrifice" in the traditional sense. I still think she's being used as bait. I'm sticking by my "this scheme is to assassinate Jeanne's lover" theory. Regardless of how much Jeanne scorned Diego's love earlier, I have enough faith in the man still to believe that he doesn't really want Jeanne dead. He wants her to see her lover killed, wants her to be consumed by grief... and wants to be there for her, presenting himself as an alternative. Okay, how about this as a theory then? The plot is to assassinate Ysengrin, who is in love with Jeanne and Jeanne in love with him. (Why else would Ysengrin have been down in the ravine after Annie was, but to visit the ghost of his dead lover? Notice she didn't attack him?) So the plot is to use Jeanne to lure Ysengrin from the forest and kill him. In the process his ear gets torn off but the arrow misses him and hits Jeanne instead, separating her ethereal self from her physical self (as was the intention against Ysengrin). Sir Young gives the order to fire even though Jeanne is standing in front of Ysengrin, so Diego blames him for killing her when the original plan was to kill Ysengrin and let Jeanne watch it happen. Jeanne becomes a disembodied spirit, Ysengrin decides to hate and kill all humans for what they did to his love. Steadman, the Artilleryman, Sir Young, and most of the Court's upper echelons are killed in Ysengrin's rampage. The dissenting man becomes the new leader, assuming that something just went wrong with the plan when he finds them all dead. Cambot (or Diego himself, possibly) escapes and constructs the shrine, but all other knowledge of the plan, and Jeanne's role in it, is lost forever. Truly this belongs in Wild Speculation, but these days, *shrug* |
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emrie
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Post by emrie on Dec 16, 2009 17:36:42 GMT
My theory de jour:
First, Jeanne doesn't seem to think that she's being sent down to the Annan Waters to be killed. This might be a fear at the back of her mind, but it isn't a certainty. Whatever the eventual plan is, she's been fed some cock and bull story. She doesn't trust it. She doesn't know what is going to happen, but she guesses it's not going to be good, and Diego's response confirms that.
As for what the court is planning, I think most likely, they're trying to lure Jeanne's lover back, then Steadman will shoot him with the arrow. The fellow who objected to the plan and left is significant. Obviously, Young and the others already knew about the objector's concerns. If they thought the objector would send word to Jeanne's lover, that Jeanne was in danger, that would tidily bring the lover to the Annan Waters into Steadman's sights.
Diego would then get his revenge by having Jeanne's lover shot dead in front of her, and having her know she was an instrument of his death.
However, when something in the plot goes wrong, Young might order Steadman to shoot down Jeanne. Or if we make it super tricky, that was Young's plan all along, and all the other maneuvering was to trick Diego into complying.
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neal
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Post by neal on Dec 16, 2009 18:07:12 GMT
I figure the Court is sealing the Annan Waters against ethereal beings. Shadow 2 couldn't cross, and Jeanne wasn't supposed to be able to cross. So, if Jeanne's ghost down there is blocking the waters as a crossing point, what is going to happen when Annie inevitably gets her little medium butt back down there and leads Jeanne to the afterlife? Of course, nothing in this comic goes as predicted, so it isn't inevitably hardly. But still, curious.
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Post by Aurelia Verity on Dec 16, 2009 18:25:26 GMT
The problem with this flashback is that it’s a selected narrative, that is, we are only shown what Diego wants us to see. There could be so much we are missing or he is making us miss. I still don’t understand why he is recording this. A high tech form of a diary perhaps? It certainly does not excuse him or exonerate him. If anything it’s incriminating him with each moment.
Furthermore the question that really bugs me is who or what has so much influence over Jeanne? If she wanted to stay in the forest with someone why didn’t she? It’s the same question with this panel. Why does she feel that she has no choice but to go? Why can’t she just say “no, I don’t want to, find someone else.” Is someone in the court so powerful that they can force people to do something they don’t want to do? Who runs the court? Is there a council or someone at the top who makes all the decisions and who goes undisputed?
And regarding that grin… is it really a grin? I honestly can’t tell if he’s smiling or if that is how his mouth normally is. I guess only Tom could confirm this one.
If he is grinning evilly then I think it’s because of what Jeanne is saying: “I don’t want to go to the Annan Waters, I don’t know what will happen there”, she’s scared and vulnerable, begging him to help. It’s completely the opposite of how she was when we saw her last. Diego’s grin could be interpreted as “where is your bravery now?”
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Post by hal9000 on Dec 16, 2009 18:28:48 GMT
In my opinion Jeanne's reaction from several pages back was due to the sudden realization that the person she thought was her friend, and thought was making toys for her to be nice, was actually trying to buy his way into her pants, and cared nothing for her, what was important to her, and what she loved. I would react in a disgusted, horrified manner as well. On the other hand, Diego's "love" for Jeanne is nothing but selfish obsession. I mean this guy sees everything natural as something to be sneered at, and everything artificial and mechanical as the pillar of greatness... why should his approach to relationships be any different? He probably wonders why Jeanne must be saddled with such childish things as "opinions" and "conscience" and probably wishes she would act more servile, like his robots. It seems like you're making a lot of assumptions here. While it certainly seems like Jeanne is the least bad of the lot here (which is not a hard thing, given that the rest of them seem to be in the business of committing ritual murder either for the purpose of gaining a strategic military/defensive/offensive advantage or simply out of spite), she still reacted pretty poorly to Diego's declaration. I mean, smashing a socially-inept guy's lovingly hand-crafted work in front of him and calling him a horrible little troll isn't the nicest way to reject him, to say the least. While her outburst was probably an understandable response to a long history of unwanted romantic advances, given outside context (like her ghost's tendency to stab people in the face with no provocation), it seems to show that she was likely a rather violent person herself. Of course, that in no way justifies what likely happened to her, and indeed even if the whole thing is colored in shades of gray, the plotters tend towards pitch black (see: Diego's obvious schadenfreude in panel 3). I wonder if any of these events are in the Court's public records, given how poorly they reflect on its founders. |
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Dec 16, 2009 18:31:40 GMT
My theory de jour: First, Jeanne doesn't seem to think that she's being sent down to the Annan Waters to be killed. This might be a fear at the back of her mind, but it isn't a certainty. Whatever the eventual plan is, she's been fed some cock and bull story. She doesn't trust it. She doesn't know what is going to happen, but she guesses it's not going to be good, and Diego's response confirms that. As for what the court is planning, I think most likely, they're trying to lure Jeanne's lover back, then Steadman will shoot him with the arrow. The fellow who objected to the plan and left is significant. Obviously, Young and the others already knew about the objector's concerns. If they thought the objector would send word to Jeanne's lover, that Jeanne was in danger, that would tidily bring the lover to the Annan Waters into Steadman's sights. Diego would then get his revenge by having Jeanne's lover shot dead in front of her, and having her know she was an instrument of his death. However, when something in the plot goes wrong, Young might order Steadman to shoot down Jeanne. Or if we make it super tricky, that was Young's plan all along, and all the other maneuvering was to trick Diego into complying. I have been thinking something similar. Maybe the arrow is just a very loud noise-maker designed to let Steadman signal Jeanne's lover (apologies to whoever observed that first, I forget where you posted it and so can't credit you). The lover appears at the right spot by the Annan Waters at the right time. He sees Jeanne on the far shore and because of whatever ruse the Court concocts he desperately tries to swim across. The Court cranks the mojo as he drowns just like in the lyrics and the Waters get cursed. This way the Annan Waters are impassible from both sides, the Court gets rid of a "traitor" and Diego gets rid of his rival. Or possibly Jeanne's breaking heart as she watches her love drown is the needed ingredient for the sorcery. Jeanne may have etheric powers of some sort the Court plans to harness against her will. Either way, instead of going back to the Court and pining away with her grief (and perhaps falling into the arms of Diego eventually, as Diego thinks possible) Jeanne goes mad Shakespearian-style! She drops to her death in the gorge, drowns trying to swim to her lover, falls on her or Young's sword, or what-have-you. Whatever way she dies Diego stands around doing nothing while it happens because of her dramatic indictment of him/them and blames Young for everything, and later builds the tomb as a memorial to his grief. "She died and we did nothing" is the mantra Diego repeats to himself for the rest of his life as he works on his creations, and it burns into their love-for-Jeanne enabled CPUs. Or something like that. |
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Post by Casey on Dec 16, 2009 18:39:02 GMT
In my opinion Jeanne's reaction from several pages back was due to the sudden realization that the person she thought was her friend, and thought was making toys for her to be nice, was actually trying to buy his way into her pants, and cared nothing for her, what was important to her, and what she loved. I would react in a disgusted, horrified manner as well. On the other hand, Diego's "love" for Jeanne is nothing but selfish obsession. I mean this guy sees everything natural as something to be sneered at, and everything artificial and mechanical as the pillar of greatness... why should his approach to relationships be any different? He probably wonders why Jeanne must be saddled with such childish things as "opinions" and "conscience" and probably wishes she would act more servile, like his robots. It seems like you're making a lot of assumptions here. While it certainly seems like Jeanne is the least bad of the lot here (which is not a hard thing, given that the rest of them seem to be in the business of committing ritual murder either for the purpose of gaining a strategic military/defensive/offensive advantage or simply out of spite), she still reacted pretty poorly to Diego's declaration. I mean, smashing a socially-inept guy's lovingly hand-crafted work in front of him and calling him a horrible little troll isn't the nicest way to reject him, to say the least. While her outburst was probably an understandable response to a long history of unwanted romantic advances, given outside context (like her ghost's tendency to stab people in the face with no provocation), it seems to show that she was likely a rather violent person herself. Of course, that in no way justifies what likely happened to her, and indeed even if the whole thing is colored in shades of gray, the plotters tend towards pitch black (see: Diego's obvious schadenfreude in panel 3). I wonder if any of these events are in the Court's public records, given how poorly they reflect on its founders. I like how you started off by saying that I was making a lot of assumptions, and then proceeded to follow that with a long list of even more outlandish and unfounded assumptions. |
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Post by warrl on Dec 16, 2009 19:21:40 GMT
You know, quite a lot of people routinely deal professionally with other people that they have a strong personal dislike for.
Maybe that's how Jeanne feels about Diego.
And when he keeps trying to push a personal (not professional) relationship on her, in a fashion that makes it plain he has no respect for her tastes and preferences, she eventually pours her personal feelings all over him.
(Note she broke his robots in HER quarters, not his.)
Whether the level of venom is justified or not, depends on just how much of a history there was of him trying to bulldoze his way into her space. Judging by the number of little robots on the shelf, apparently there was a fair amount.
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Post by Mishmash on Dec 16, 2009 19:27:28 GMT
I have been beaten to the punch in my idea that Diego didn't actually wish to have Jeanne sacrificed, but intended to save her at the last moment to win her love. That is exactly the sort of crazy scheming someone who has been rejected by the object of their desires would do - although not many would actually go through with it.
Either that or Diego is a dangerous maniac and that smile really is him happy to think she'll be dead soon...
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Post by sostorm on Dec 16, 2009 19:34:22 GMT
Well, I'm not gonna speculate but I just want to point out two things I noticed. 1. Her necklace has buttons on it (or something of the likes). Has this been noted before, what can it mean? I hardly think they're drawn there by accident. Have we seen any close-ups of say Surma, is this something that all of the medium-necklaces have? 2. She does not seem to wear the necklace when she is a ghost. Could it be that her medium powers where somehow sacrificed in order to make the Waters impassable? www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=434 |
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Post by hal9000 on Dec 16, 2009 19:39:37 GMT
It seems like you're making a lot of assumptions here. While it certainly seems like Jeanne is the least bad of the lot here (which is not a hard thing, given that the rest of them seem to be in the business of committing ritual murder either for the purpose of gaining a strategic military/defensive/offensive advantage or simply out of spite), she still reacted pretty poorly to Diego's declaration. I mean, smashing a socially-inept guy's lovingly hand-crafted work in front of him and calling him a horrible little troll isn't the nicest way to reject him, to say the least. While her outburst was probably an understandable response to a long history of unwanted romantic advances, given outside context (like her ghost's tendency to stab people in the face with no provocation), it seems to show that she was likely a rather violent person herself. Of course, that in no way justifies what likely happened to her, and indeed even if the whole thing is colored in shades of gray, the plotters tend towards pitch black (see: Diego's obvious schadenfreude in panel 3). I wonder if any of these events are in the Court's public records, given how poorly they reflect on its founders. I like how you started off by saying that I was making a lot of assumptions, and then proceeded to follow that with a long list of even more outlandish and unfounded assumptions. Okay, to list the assumptions I think I've made there: 1. That Jeanne is the least bad of the court founders that we have seen thus far. I base this on the events of the last few strips and how relatively awful the rest of them are acting. 2. That the plotters do intend to 'sacrifice' Jeanne and that the sacrifice will result in her death. I concede that this is speculative and could be way off. 3. That the reason the majority of the plotters want the sacrifice is to render the Annan waters impassible and thus cut-off the Court from the Forest. Again, I concede that this is speculative. 3a. That making the Annan waters impassible would provide some advantage to the Court. Speculative as is #3. 4. That Diego's reason in particular for wanting the 'sacrifice' is spite or anger over his treatment by Jeanne. This follows from his behavior in the current strip and how he was treated by Jeanne in the last few. 5. That Jeanne's violent response in this particular case was motivated at least in part by some frustration with a history of unwanted advances from Diego. I think this follows from the large number of 'gifts' he seemed to have given her, which I believe he could not have reasonably given her all at once, and her weary response to them. 6. That the two discrete events from the comic involving violent action from Jeanne (in both Corporeal and Non-Corporeal forms) are suggestive of a history of violent behavior. This is admittedly a bit of a leap, but it does seem to cast doubt on any claim that Jeanne is a paragon of virtue. 7. That Diego's expression in panel 3 is one of schadenfreude. I argue that he is at least taking pleasure from Jeanne's obvious discomfort, and therefore that he is satisfying the strict definition of schadenfreude, which is to my knowledge 'taking pleasure from another's misfortune'. Would you agree that these are the only assumptions I've made? Furthermore, if so, which are outlandish and why? If not, what have I missed? |
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Post by Casey on Dec 16, 2009 19:55:56 GMT
It's never in anyone's interest to go tit-for-tat in these threads. You seem to agree that you made assumptions, so my aim in pointing out the irony of you calling out someone else's post for making assumptions seems to be satisfied, and there's no reason to further disrupt the discussion.
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Post by hal9000 on Dec 16, 2009 20:08:01 GMT
It's never in anyone's interest to go tit-for-tat in these threads. You seem to agree that you made assumptions, so my aim in pointing out the irony of you calling out someone else's post for making assumptions seems to be satisfied, and there's no reason to further disrupt the discussion. To be honest, I was aware of the irony when I posted it. |
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Post by Mylian on Dec 16, 2009 20:12:23 GMT
There has never been an image that made me want to brutally murder a fictional character more than panel three of this page. Ever.
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Post by strainofthought on Dec 16, 2009 20:36:52 GMT
One interesting thing is that Jeanne is speaking to him again in this episode. Several possibilities. #1: Jeane is a creature of fiery passions. It's normal for her to scream that she hates someone and destroy their children, then expect that person to speak to her. #2: Diego is such a slug that the takes this sort of thing all the time. She's used to an abusive relationship, and takes his forgiveness for granted. #3: Jeanne was content to leave their bridges burned, but Diego returned at some time, apologizing and begging forgiveness for his slander of "Him". Basically the dif between Jeanne as psycho, Jeanne as abusive 'husband', and Jeanne as innocent. My perception of events is basically as stated above. Diego was the key man in the scheme, he abused his position following his rejection by Jeanne to make her the sacrifice. Now he's enjoying the chance to hear her terror. I have been having very similar thoughts to these; Jeanne losing her temper and destroying Diego's gifts was regrettable, but she was obviously under extreme stress. I was willing to forgive that. But appearing to turn to him as a confidant when she is in need, after that event, as if nothing has happened? That is much less forgivable. I have known people who act like that. It's ironic that seeing Jeanne openly frightened and desperate makes me see her as more of a perpetrator than calling names and breaking things, but Jeanne's manner in this comic is the manner of a woman who has, in fact, been sending very mixed signals. The incompleteness of the record is, as usual, very frustrating. Many people posted that Jeanne's apparent indifference to Diego at the beginning of this flashback indicated that she had not given mixed signals, and I too interpreted it that way at the time. I've given it another look, and I am surprised by the things I missed. Yes, Jeanne calls Diego's latest creation "merveilleux" without energy. But he does not appear to take this as a criticism of his gift, and instead asks about how she is feeling, and she readily confides in him. The exchange has the air of something which has happened many times before. Then Diego reiterates that he loves Jeanne. I saw several posts at the time concurring that the declaration appeared to have been made repeatedly on previous occasions. What I missed though was that Jeanne still accepts the gift, and there is an entire bookshelf of such still-accepted gifts prominently displayed in Jeanne's room. How long do you think it takes him to make each of those? Let's be generous and say that he is such a genius that he can turn one out every week. There is still six months' worth of such gifts on that shelf, and Jeanne has accepted every one. How many times have they had this exchange? How many of them happened before Jeanne became depressed and her courtesy became lackluster? Imagine this, over and over: Diego: "Here Jeanne, I have made this automaton for you." Jeanne: "Je vous remercie, Diego! C'est merveilleux!" Diego: "Jeanne, I... I love you." Jeanne "Um... I shall put this jolie petit homme here on my shelf where I can see him." You should not repeatedly accept gifts from people whose affections you do not return. I am inclined to think now that Jeanne's tantrum was a betrayal of the worst kind. Reynard was wrong; Diego did not love Jeanne from afar but instead spent a long time aggressively pursuing her in his own awkward, inept way. Jeanne allowed Diego to believe that he was gradually getting somewhere with her, and then suddenly he found out in a terrible way that all his efforts had been wasted. Diego is a man broken by futility. That creepy smile he has got in panel three of page 657? That is the smile of a man who has finally succeeded in affecting a woman to the degree that she affects him. Of course, if he gets her trapped in a state of unliving ethereal torment for all eternity, he will have affected her considerably more than she affected him. Proportion, Diego. Proportion. |
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Post by Casey on Dec 16, 2009 20:48:36 GMT
There's more for me to say, but for the moment, I'll just point out that Diego says on the next page "Didn't you hear what I said?" which to me implies that that was the first time he professed his love for her.
Understanding that that was the first time he revealed his ploy is key in understanding Jeanne's sudden revulsion, as she only then understood that what she thought was friendship was in fact him trying to buy her affections and "make her forget" about the one she really loves.
That she later still looks to him as a friend only proves that she did think of him as a friend. And understanding that she thought of him as a friend again underlines her distress when she learns that his friendship was a ruse to get in her pants. But she still wants and needs a friend.
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Post by gaia on Dec 16, 2009 21:00:08 GMT
Little toys are more the sort of thing you give a niece or daughter than a romantic gift, really. I don't think Diego told Jeanne his intentions were less than platonic until the robot-smashing incident.
From the vicious little grin? I'd say to make a permanent record of his revenge that he can watch over and over while eating anachronistic popcorn. The endpoint is weird, though - why stop it just as she realises she's been betrayed and not capture the subsequent anguish?
Unless Jeanne's version of 'anguish' is going after Diego with her giant sword, because I can see why he wouldn't want a home movie of that.
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noako
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Post by noako on Dec 16, 2009 21:00:11 GMT
Everyone are wondering why Diego keeps recording all this, is it so sure that the robot isn't recording on it's own? Diego might just keep it around because it's his best work so far or something.
I don't know, makes sense as much as Diego filming how he is being evil.
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Post by Casey on Dec 16, 2009 21:09:05 GMT
Everyone are wondering why Diego keeps recording all this, is it so sure that the robot isn't recording on it's own? Diego might just keep it around because it's his best work so far or something. I don't know, makes sense as much as Diego filming how he is being evil. Thanks noako, I've been meaning to post the same for a while now. I think we're just seeing what remains of Cambot's memories. I'm not even entirely sure that he was designed as a "cambot" per se... maybe... or maybe he just happens to be the only robot left with memories intact because he is the only original revision robot remaining that still has its eCPU (unlike S1 and his friends in the basement). |
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