Real-world parallels

[ednark]

Does anyone else see a parallel to the restarting of the volcano's dormant "heart" and uncroaking of dead troops with the real-world scenario of restarting a heart in Parson and the re-animation of tissue he needs to use to survive after a heart attack or stroke?

I'm know this line of thought was introduced in-comic before but I don't see it talked about much on the forums. I don't blame anyone though, the in-game plot is interesting enough without needing to add anything meta to what's going on.

[Erk]

it's a classic epileptic twee. If that twee is correct, your uncroaking theory makes a lot of sense. I kinda hope that twee isn't correct, though.

[The Dark Fiddler]

I, personally, would prefer if it were are real, not coma, no heart attack, nothing, just for simplicity, and with the fact that if its real then we can see more people going there in sequels or prequels and such. However, your observation is pretty good.

[Hobgobwin]

Yeah, I personally think it would cheapen the story if it turns out that Parson's just hallucinating.

[privatepepper]

"...and then Stanley popped a date-a-mancer, and Parson fell in love with her. And together they ended the war, and lived happily ever after. And then Parson wakes up, and goes back to working at Kinkos, because it as ALL A BOOPING DREAM. Ha ha, we trolled you good!"

[Mal]

Bah, No such thing will happen. Parson is really in the world... I mean hell, Rob even instituted a protocol for fanon...

[konmanrocks]

"...and then Stanley popped a date-a-mancer, and Parson fell in love with her. And together they ended the war, and lived happily ever after. And then Parson wakes up, and goes back to working at Kinkos, because it as ALL A BOOPING DREAM. Ha ha, we trolled you good!"

i would not be suprised if all of this ended with him waking up like it was a bad nightmare. and than looking down and seeing he still has all his stuff with him

[Mikalyaran]

i would not be suprised if all of this ended with him waking up like it was a bad nightmare. and than looking down and seeing he still has all his stuff with him

If that happened I would be pretty pissed. Dallas pulled that a long time. It wasn't ok then and it's not ok now.

[Akilika]

i would not be suprised if all of this ended with him waking up like it was a bad nightmare. and than looking down and seeing he still has all his stuff with him

If that happened I would be pretty pissed. Dallas pulled that a long time. It wasn't ok then and it's not ok now.

Depends on how you do it. I felt Yu+Me: Dream worked certain perceived-cliches pretty well, and looking back on it I can see it as the only way Labyrinth COULD have ended.

YMMV, but I think a lot depends on the writing.

[Mikalyaran]

and looking back on it I can see it as the only way Labyrinth COULD have ended.

Like the movie Labyrinth? With David Bowie? Cause I perceive that as her having dreamed something real. It made questionable the border between dreams and waking life. Fantasy and reality. If they did the same thing here I could dig it. But I didn't see anyone as having suggested that.

[Darkside007]

Keep in mind that we did see Parsom plotted away and we did get the reactions of his friends. There was no downtime were he could've passed out. (And for the record, doing it offscreen is *really* lame) So unless the last panels of 'real-world' time are a fabrication (not fair) there's no reason for us to assume he's dreaming.

[Lothmar]

I think it would be interesting if the game board set itself up like 'Jumanji' or something and ran stanley/parsons side automatically while everyone at the board was simply playing their particular 'side'. I think that would be hilarious if someone at the table was 'sofa king' and just got frustrated by the failed tunnel mission and said that line.

"The sofa king is sofa king finished here!" XD

~edit~ I of course mean that in the sense of 'the game pieces move without player aid' (and only for stanleys side) not the 'oh $%$#@ all this %$*@ is coming out of the gameboard at us!' sense. And definetly not the 'sucked into the actual game' sense, though that did happen to parson. Erf world- a subsidiary of Jumanji products. XD

[Darkside007]

I think it would be interesting if the game board set itself up like 'Jumanji' or something and ran stanley/parsons side automatically while everyone at the board was simply playing their particular 'side'. I think that would be hilarious if someone at the table was 'sofa king' and just got frustrated by the failed tunnel mission and said that line.

"The sofa king is sofa king finished here!" XD

~edit~ I of course mean that in the sense of 'the game pieces move without player aid' (and only for stanleys side) not the 'oh $%$#@ all this %$*@ is coming out of the gameboard at us!' sense. And definetly not the 'sucked into the actual game' sense, though that did happen to parson. Erf world- a subsidiary of Jumanji products. XD

That would be awesome.

I half-suspect you nailed it.


Except for Ansom not having vision, and the game cheating otherwise.

[Mal]

I think it would be interesting if the game board set itself up like 'Jumanji' or something and ran stanley/parsons side automatically while everyone at the board was simply playing their particular 'side'. I think that would be hilarious if someone at the table was 'sofa king' and just got frustrated by the failed tunnel mission and said that line.

"The sofa king is sofa king finished here!" XD

~edit~ I of course mean that in the sense of 'the game pieces move without player aid' (and only for stanleys side) not the 'oh $%$#@ all this %$*@ is coming out of the gameboard at us!' sense. And definetly not the 'sucked into the actual game' sense, though that did happen to parson. Erf world- a subsidiary of Jumanji products. XD

The issue with this theory is that wasn't to play the side of Gobwin Knob in the game, the players were. He said it himself. Not to mention, there is still 2 more books to go, making most of these theories dead fast, lol.

[Lothmar]

Curses Spock! Your knowledge is undeniable. XD

~edit~ Though in truth I think they left it open ended for interpretation. He never really declared who was playing whom. And parson said it himself that he 'prefered' playing the bad guys.

And I quote-
You are about to command 'armies' in a desperate final struggle for survival...
Between all that is noble and decent...
and all that is vile and unholy, not to mention unspeakable.
------

This itself implies that the players are playing the coalition.
However from his own mouth, he had set it up so that the game was 'unwinable' within the rules and it seemed like that more for the side of gobwin knob. Well, I guess we'll never know.

[Weimann]

The way I see it, there's really no choice for Erfworld but to be real. I mean, look at the strip where Parson is summoned. He vanishes from Earth in a flashing blue surge of magic. While that COULD have been his last perception of reality before his heart attack induced unconciousness, we are shown, in several panels, the players of his strategy game sitting around, with no unconscious Parson in sight, and then call dibs on his dice!

I think the implications are obvious. Parson is actually summoned to Erfworld. We know it, but he can't be sure.

[decius]

... looking back on it I can see it as the only way Labyrinth COULD have ended.

??? Labyrinth didn't end with "It was all a dream". It ended with "Was this all in your imagination, or was it real? Is there a difference?"

Also, any "Parson wakes up" ending needs to explain his disappearance scene, which involved other 'real' people.

Did they end up playing the game? Is the RCC player annoyed that his army was obliterated on the brink of victory?

[konmanrocks]

??? Labyrinth didn't end with "It was all a dream". It ended with "Was this all in your imagination, or was it real? Is there a difference?"

Also, any "Parson wakes up" ending needs to explain his disappearance scene, which involved other 'real' people.

Did they end up playing the game? Is the RCC player annoyed that his army was obliterated on the brink of victory?

now wouldnt that be funny, they start playing the game, and whoever is playing GW mirrors the same actions that take place in the game

[Mikalyaran]

That might be pretty close to what is happening. Maybe the friends realize something really wild has happened and figure "Maybe he got pulled into this game her created" and start playing it hoping they can get him out somehow. This also brings up an interesting question of time distortion. They may have just been playing a few hours while Parson ahs been away for much longer. Really though the whole thing here I feel sure of is they are freaking out. Something like your friend actually getting plotted away take a bit to set in but once it has im sure a serious freak out ensued.

[Sethram]

While definitely a very interesting take on it, I'd hate it if that were the case. Erfworld would be just one big "It was all a dream" ending, one of the most annoying literary sucker punches out there. It'd also cheapen the deaths of Bogroll, Misty, etc...