Book 2 – Page 66

[atalex]

Well, she's certainly being pushy, and I kinda winced at the "Duty- capital D" line.

Yeah, I think Marie seriously misreads Parson if she thinks reminding him that he's enslaved by the very nature of Erfworld as long as he stays here is the best way to manipulate him into staying. Not to mention being flipping at the idea of him killing lots of people.

[the_tick_rules]

Parson just can't catch a break this trip.

[msb]

Good update!

My bet is on a classic misscummunication. Maggie should have written "ESCORT" instead of "PROTECT" in the g-string message.

We know from the book version of Book 1 that Maggie and the Great Minds do not see precisely eye-to-eye on Parson.

There is a scene towards the end where we see the Great Minds wanting to take Parson captive and interrogate him. Maggie warns them that this would cause a civil war in the Magic Kingdom, but the Great Minds seem to think it is important enough to be worth it anyway.

Maggie, on the other hand, wants to give Parson free reign to think and act how he does, and convinces the Great Minds that their goals (which include dealing with "the Charlie problem") are better served by them leaving Parson be.

I think Maggie probably just wanted the Great Minds to escort Parson, but they themselves are uncomfortable with letting him go again and so are taking him captive.

So I'm guessing on disagreement more than miscommunication. But we'll see!

[EricH]

There was much speculation that Jojo would get his comeuppance when he exited the tunnel into the waiting arms of the GMTTA; now it looks like Jojo is going to get off scot-free....

[Saladman]

Ninja'd! But I'll post anyway, as a vote for msb's thinking:

In the bonus panel in the printed Book 1, the Thinkamancers were not happy that Parson could enter the MK, and feared a possible invasion. They suspected a mis-cast on Parson's summoning and wanted to capture and interrogate Parson to find out if he was a danger to them and the MK. The only thing that's changed since then for them is that Maggie swore Parson was the one they wanted and needed to have his mind left free to counter Charlie. But now Parson's back, stacked with a caster of his side, reminding them of their fears. Parson going with them to their private Temple for a chat isn't necessarily in his best interest. I don't see them briefing Parson on Charlie until after they're very sure of him. Granted, Thinkamancers have the means to be sure of him, but it's not something Parson's necessarily going to like.

[Ston]

Seriously? None of you recognizes the Honorable Clarence Thomas? That's just sad...

edit:
My bad, it would seem some of you do.

[atteSmythe]

Yeah, Marie's being waaaay too heavy-handed here. I think she's going to have to quickly come to terms with the idea that if Parson's going to be her tool, he's not going to be her puppet.

Could be an interesting turn of events...If Parson does decide to engage, and if Janis were to neutralize as many Thinkamancers as she can, it strikes me that Wanda's escape plan is to leave Spacerock through the MK. If the battle at Spacerock were to somehow take a turn for the worst, they'd walk out of the portal and straight into an engagement with their Chief Warlord.

Or, better than that, he's Chief Warlord. I suppose if he knows that they're waiting for him, he can order them through at any time. Nice.

[karln]

8. I can't place the man in the suit but i have a nagging feeling he's a cartoon character and one that would not be normally be cast as an intellectual.

I don't know why it would be him, but it looks to me very much like Peter Dickinson as he appeared in the movie 'Flight of Dragons': http://www.planete-jeunesse.com/images/0197/VolDesDragons07.jpg

Earlier in the movie he appeared in a brown suit that I think looked somewhat like the one in the comic, but annoyingly I can't find any images online of him in that outfit.

FWIW the character was a scientist from the 1980s with in interest in fairy tales, and in the movie he worked out scientific explanations for the dragons' powers of flight and fire-breathing.

[coyotenose]

For the Judge, I was thinking Clarence Thomas as well, although I'm not sure how he classifies as a Thinkamancer...

One could argue that Thomas isn't much of a thinker, and thus it's an ironic choice, but that seems a little partisany. Perhaps instead:

1. Thomas is well-known for being a dissenter in the Supreme Court. That seems a little weak though.
2. The SCOTUS is the highest decision-making body. A Supreme Court judge would be a natural for a group that essentially controls all other Thinkamancers. They're also supposed to skilled at interpreting the law and the information that they're given, which sounds like a good quality in a Thinkamancer.

[Decorus]

You mean Clarence Thomas the guy who is facing disbarment over ethics violations?

I think JoJo is working for a group of casters who want to break fate and bring free will to ErfWorld.
Marie on the other hand isn't a failure she predicted the end of her side and the ruler's reaction was to pop a heir and that was pretty much the extent of his plans to deal with the situation.
Stanley has revealed he should have lost except he got really lucky on his dragon finding on his way to Faq....

[Aquillion]

Marie doesn't seem to recognise sarcasm. I get the impression she thinks she's smarter than she is.

I don't think she was failing to recognize it so much as she was deliberately ignoring it.

[Ambug666]

If he were wearing glasses, I would have put money on Thurgood Marshall instead of Clarence Thomas.

[Aquillion]

So this is the part where I point out that my tinfoil hat (Marie being creepy as all getup) just got ramped up to 11. How does she know about how he didn't fit in back in stupidworld? And the casual "you're late to work" - she is trying to motivate him to get moving, but how did she know that?

Plus, she's laying it on more than Jojo did. Maybe she's a good guy (good girl, for anyone whose sense of PC outweighs their aversion of awkward wording), but she acts like a creepy puppeteer.

Wasn't she one of the ones who made the spell that summoned him? She'd know that it would only summon someone willing, which means that, yeah, it's not hard to guess that he didn't fit in back at home.

[Shuuwki]

You know, Lord Stanley using the Arkenhammer and recruiting a mass of dragons at exactly that juncture, man.

That's so lucky it could be Fate, or something.

[atalex]

Seriously? None of you recognizes the Honorable Clarence Thomas? That's just sad...

edit:
My bad, it would seem some of you do.

My previous post appears to have been eaten by the Internet, but personally, I would rather choose to believe that it's actually Thurgood Marshall than imagine Clarence Thomas among the "Great Minds." If that is supposed to be Thomas, then I will henceforth assume that the Great Minds are the real bad guys.

[atalex]

You mean Clarence Thomas the guy who is facing disbarment over ethics violations?

To my knowledge, Thomas is not facing disbarment or any other penalty. A quirk of the law places the Supreme Court above the judicial body that monitors and punishes ethical transgressions by judges, and the only way to remove a Justice is through impeachment. Given the current make up of the U.S. Senate, I feel confident in saying that if Clarence Thomas (the most conservative member of the Court) were convicted of murdering orphans in a coke-fueled spree killing, the Republicans would filibuster any attempt to impeach him in favor of letting him rule on opinions from the comfort of his prison cell.

[Hanyo]

Marie on the other hand isn't a failure she predicted the end of her side and the ruler's reaction was to pop a heir and that was pretty much the extent of his plans to deal with the situation.

Which brings us right back to the nature of Predictamancy. I postulate that predictions in Erfworld will always come true, and are more akin to prophecy. Therefore, if Marie predicted that her side would end, then that was that. Any effort to prevent it would be utterly futile -- at some point in the future, FAQ *would* end. From that point, the only thing that the king of FAQ *could* do was pop an heir so that his side had a chance of living again. I can't find the update which explains the reasoning behind Jillian's creation, however, so it would be nice if someone could post the link.

Until I have any evidence that a prediction can be proven false, I will treat all predictions by known Predictamancers as cannon foreshadowing.

[DoctorJest]

Pam Andersons character from Bay Watch (lol)

Fairly obvious really. She switches off most of the brain (especially in males) so counts as a thinkamancer.

Sounds more like Shockamancy to me.

[walpurgisborn]

Could that be Supreme's Court judge Clarence Thomas?

http://www.google.co.ve/search?q=claren ... 20&bih=993

Thinking instead that it might be Thurgood Marshall

[Zeku]

Maggie's getting interesting.

Think about it. A truly awesome thinkamancer could manipulate anyone at all, even other skilled thinkamancers. And their first and best strategy would be to hide their strength. Think "Emperor Palpatine" here.

Who is occasionally doing crazy things, but appearing relatively innocent? Who is chief manipulator at what is now the most powerful nation in Erf? Who is aware of Charlie's power, but is strangely not involved in any of the high-level thinkamancer plots?