Book 2 – Text Updates 010

[balder]

New One is up.

[madmaw]

I was wondering what kind of a text update could be elegantly wedged between the previous comic panel and the next one (which I assume is going to be a doozy). Didn't think it was possible to do well, but I was wrong. Kudos.

[kreszantas]

Interesting past / present view of the relationship from FAQ till now is almost essentially unchanged. Jack has been the third wheel all along and many readers may have missed it. Some have included it to be Jack and Jillian, but to also include Wanda into it is an interesting twist. Well charactured.

[Nows7]

"That would be extraordinary," said Jack. "To know someone else's position, without being certain of my own."

Very Quantum. Very Deep, or not.

Other minds construct, telling themselves stories about what they see, rather than seeing.

Very true. There are alot of cons are done this way, as well as about all stage magic. Let people see A, and they will think they keep on Seeing A, long after A has dropped down the hidden door and snuck behind the curtan.

Also shows that Jack's been keeping his feelings for Jillian seceret

Megalogwiffs continue to look more and more like whales. Giant Flying Marshmellow Whales. I like this.

[SuperDuperHai2U]

As some point you have to draw a line.

This is one messed up world. No wonder we have stds in ours, there is certainly a necessity for it. They all need to go take some therapies.

[Nebulious]

For a long time, people have wondered why Banhammer would have someone like Wanda. I think this comic provides some strong hints that The King of Faq was interested in a strong circle of philosophers from all magic circles. I think for Banhammer, Wanda was simply the Naughtymancer, rather than just the Croakamancer. Being talented in many disciplines probably helped on her resume, I'm sure.

[Zeku]

I feel like I'm missing what is being said.

"(Wanda)If love were like loyalty it would be subject to control. (Jack) There would be defenses."

Is she merely describing what she thinks love is? What is she describing it as? Not natural thinkamancy? Wanda and Jack don't seem to be disagreeing here, I guess that's the confusing part. And then the bit about hippymancy, is this just a reference to drug-addled physical love, and the accompanying motivations?

[DunkelMentat]

Fucking in-cred-ib-le. I have composed four sentences to follow that first fragment and have deleted them all - I have nothing further except to say "thanks" to Rob Balder. Thanks Rob.

[Undead Prince]

So now we know the origin of Wanda's Decrypted crest. Badly broken and badly reassembled, huh... Interesting how she views herself as a corpse now. A reference to her powers, the state of her mind, her role in Erfworld, and the despair for the past, all rolled into one neat little symbol.

For a long time, people have wondered why Banhammer would have someone like Wanda. I think this comic provides some strong hints that The King of Faq was interested in a strong circle of philosophers from all magic circles. I think for Banhammer, Wanda was simply the Naughtymancer, rather than just the Croakamancer. Being talented in many disciplines probably helped on her resume, I'm sure.

Perhaps it was this circle, and not merely Faq's predictamancer, that discovered the Fate magic prophecy which Wanda has been following ever since. The "philosopher king" with his school of followers does sound like someone who would want to probe deeper than the surface effects of magic, and Wanda's prophecy appears more a unique event related to the future of the entire Erfworld rather than an ordinary predictamancy spell.

[Sinrus]

I feel like I'm missing what is being said.

"(Wanda)If love were like loyalty it would be subject to control. (Jack) There would be defenses."

Is she merely describing what she thinks love is? What is she describing it as? Not natural thinkamancy? Wanda and Jack don't seem to be disagreeing here, I guess that's the confusing part. And then the bit about hippymancy, is this just a reference to drug-addled physical love, and the accompanying motivations?

Not at all. I doubt that there are any drugs in erfworld. Wanda wanted a way from Jack to make Jillian love her.

So now we know the origin of Wanda's Decrypted crest. Badly broken and badly reassembled, huh... Interesting how she views herself as a corpse now. A reference to her powers, the state of her mind, her role in Erfworld, and the despair for the past, all rolled into one neat little symbol.

I don't think she views herself as a corpse. I think Jack is referencing the time she became unresponsive when Jillian broke her spell.

[Fantabulastic]

I feel like I'm missing what is being said.

"(Wanda)If love were like loyalty it would be subject to control. (Jack) There would be defenses."

Wanda is saying that love is not like loyalty and using the fact that one/she cannot control it as she has learned to do loyalty to prove her point.

Jack is saying that just because she cannot control it doesn't mean it isn't like loyalty, it might be that it can be controlled but only if you get past the defenses ie his own private love for Jillian is the way he keeps himself from getting hurt. Wanda can't use it against him because she does not know it exists. His defense in regards to love, like his magic, draws its power from deceit.

[fractal]

Jack's point about Wanda being broken even worse than he was is telling, I think. Wanda really didn't think that there was any way that Jillian could break her spell and turn on her. In her own warped way, she loved and trusted Jillian, and it shattered her when Jillian did not behave appropriately. If Jillian rejects her again, who knows what could happen (assuming that Wanda isn't just waiting for her chance to get revenge now).

[Undead Prince]

So now we know the origin of Wanda's Decrypted crest. Badly broken and badly reassembled, huh... Interesting how she views herself as a corpse now. A reference to her powers, the state of her mind, her role in Erfworld, and the despair for the past, all rolled into one neat little symbol.

I don't think she views herself as a corpse. I think Jack is referencing the time she became unresponsive when Jillian broke her spell.

"Wanda's Decrypted crest" = skullflower. In this origin picture, Wanda is depicted as wearing a similar flower to the one pictured on her crest, and in a similar fashion. The only difference being, instead of Wanda's head, there's a skull. Ergo, Wanda is viewed as a corpse - either by herself, if she chose the crest, or by whatever forces at work which determine faction regalia. In both cases, the symbolism is hard to miss, and refers, IMHO, to both Wanda's inner self, and to her role in the world. The flower is a sign of her desperate attachment to the past (i.e. Gillian, but maybe more than that), while the skull is her harsh reality as being broken and reassembled by the powers of Fate, just like she does with her Decrypted.

Continuing this line of thought for a moment, up till Gillian's betrayal Wanda seemed rather content with her lot, even despite GK's dismal predicament. She believed herself an instrument of Fate, but she also believed in love, maybe even as something greater than magic itself (as we can glean from this latest update). However, with Gillian turning over to Ansom, Wanda's view of the world is "shattered". She is confronted with proof that the path chosen for her by Fate magic does not include love and is not affected by love. Moreover, it’s not improbable that Fate magic actually turned Gillian away from Wanda in order to make the latter follow the prophecy at the exclusion of all else. As a result, Wanda may only live to embody the prophecy; her power as wielder of the Arkenpliers is just a façade for the works of Fate, and she is merely a tool herself, forever denied the thing she craves, Jillian’s affection.

Wanda may be entertaining some foolish hopes even now, prefering to live in a dream, but it seems to me in one of the next color updates she’ll get a more radical wake-up call than her last one - Jillian is going to backstab Wanda, and do it hard.

[hanglekuk]

The fall of FAQ and death of King Saline. I guess we will know more by the end of the book. So far we are only offered scraps on those events. Hopefully there are gonna many "WTF?" moments when the truth is revealed.

[Sinrus]

I can only imagine what her reaction will be.

And thanks for the skullflower stuff. I completely missed that little detail.

[SkarmoryThePG]

The fall of FAQ and death of King Saline. I guess we will know more by the end of the book. So far we are only offered scraps on those events. Hopefully there are gonna many "WTF?" moments when the truth is revealed.

Not possible. Jillian was far away at the time.

[HandofShadows]

What is it with people from Faq? They all seem to end up Broken Birds ( http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BrokenBird ) in one way or the other. Whatever broke Wanda I think happened before the fall of Faq. The first time we get a flashback of Wanda in Faq she has the skull pin in her hair (back in book 1. Of course that could be the way they made sure to make Wanda indentifiable).
As for the relationship between Wanda and Jillian if Wanda wanted revenge she could have easily killed Jillian with the air defences in book 1, but deliberatly did not even though loyalty would have demanded her to (Jillian was going after Stanley). From the last text update with Jillian we can clearly see a part of her wanting to be with Wanda. But unless this is going to be a short book I don't think the situation between Jillian and Wanda will be streightened out at Jetstone.

[Welf von Ehrwald]

Seems like Wanda always was a cynic. Everything is just a kind of mancy, and there is nothing more to it. I guess it's part of being a croakamancer; people are just moving corpses that are subject to a number of mancies. Thinkamancy makes them loyal and gives them duty, so they do what their ruler wants. Their memories and skills are set by the titans, so they can do their jobs and fulfil their fate. Making uncroaked and decrypted seems not so different from that point of view.

Also I understand now what jack is missing from the link; Misty made him see so much more, Maggie helped him think better. A foolamancer seems to be always at 100% brain capacity to observe everything around him, without a rest.

[build6]

hrm... so it's starting to look to me like "how it all began" was with a love triangle between Jack, Wanda and Jillian?

[Wisp Wings]

It just struck me. Wanda is the advizer of EVIL (less appearence as an old male (with a goaty)).