Inner Peace (Through Superior Firepower) – Episode 054

[balder]

New One is up.

[ShieldOfAthena]

Parson totally called Wanda's experience with combat.

[Cantripmancer]

Mmmm, well this is just CHOCK full'o'fun, isn't it? Let's see what connections we can make:

Maxwell the Thinkamancer...Maxwell Smart?
Barton the Dollamancer...Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross?
Maya Calendar the Predictamancer
Komatsu the Dirtamancer...Komatsu Global construction company.

What was Marie's prediction about FAQ being conquered? EDIT: Ah, yes..

Marie’s voice was rough, her expression thoroughly spooked. “I would like to amend my Prediction, Your Highness,” she said to the King. “Haffaton will be the agent of your destroction, and of the fall of Faq as well. I think soon.”

As for the actual plot, if Jillian were to turn, wouldn't she be just as duty-bound (or at least somewhat duty-bound) to Judy as Olive is? So why's Olive trying to get Jillian to turn? Seems more likely (given what we know) that Judy will die via other means (overdose?) and Jillian will kill heir-designate Olive. And Jillian revealing Delphi's note to Wanda will be the first domino. Much like LisaB, it feels like we're on the brink of some real action!...

EDIT: And in the spirit of Get Smart: "Missed first post by that much!"

[sheepfly]

Does it surprise anyone else that Haffaton has a history of losing valuable individuals? It seems strange that they would be taking chances when at the same time they seem to have their neighbors at their mercy.

Like Cantripmancer, I'm not sure I understand Olive's thinking with regard to turning Jillian. How would turning Jillian enable her to croak Judy? Would it not, in fact, make it much more difficult, and hence unfavorable to Olive's chances of becoming ruler supreme rather than mere puppeteer? Maybe she isn't clever enough to realize that she's just screwing herself with her plotting... but setting up indirect regicide seems like the mistake of someone impatient and possibly fateless beyond her role in Wanda's story.

And I might be wrong about this, but I recall previous mention in the comic of prejudice against casters becoming rulers. That prejudice is a bit more understandable given the abuses we've seen here in Book 0 and in Book 2, with heroine and suggestion spells messing with rulers' heads. Should we suspect that Olive earned heir status by threatening to cut off the heroine supply rather than proving herself worthy of leadership? (I will.)

[onlyme]

As for the actual plot, if Jillian were to turn, wouldn't she be just as duty-bound (or at least somewhat duty-bound) to Judy as Olive is? So why's Olive trying to get Jillian to turn? Seems more likely (given what we know) that Judy will die via other means (overdose?) and Jillian will kill heir-designate Olive.

Having turned and being bound by duty did not stop Wanda from turning again and killing Banhammer in the future, so Olive could speculate that the newly turned Jillian would have low enough duty to fullfill her fate even turned.

But then one could also say that she is doing quite a bad job at turning her (first letting Wanda try, chosing the very slow way with flowers and no guarding) and perhaps is doing what she is doing to make her turn because she is bound by duty to do so.

And perhaps that is exactly why Wanda wants Jillian to turn so deperately. Because that makes it less likely she will kill Dorothy and more likely she will kill Olive later.

[Whispri]

An appalling display of Mortism. Ooh, I like that by Gillian's own logic there's no reason to have sympathy for her under any circumstances ever. And it's not like anything's gone wrong for Faq that wasn't entirely her fault. She's deeply stupid, never learns and is (or was) in charge of an army.

Interesting that it's the Dollamancer whose information Wanda considers valuable.

Now the big question here is why did Wanda need to be forcibly turned? Her posion pill oath thingy...

For all the 'Maxwell held the Side together' stuff, I can't help but feel Haffaton would fall apart without Wanda.

[Mogster2]

I' m wondering how Haffaton's casters were "lost". Croaked in battle? Forcibly turned? Disbanded, either intentionally or due to a lack of upkeep?

[hajo]

We have seen Slately transfer rulership.
That means, they could arrange to kill Olive, just after Judy makes her Queen

[onlyme]

We have seen Slately transfer rulership.

No, we have only seen him appoint someone as heir and give the crown (as item) to the heir before proceeding to a suicide mission (in which he still is the ruler, otherwise persuing the throne (as room) would not make much sense.

[Zeku]

I think you're overthinking the 'you must turn' line.

Wanda is just assuming that Jillian is in the same boat as her, because she is. Both of their home cities don't exist anymore, and they need a side to live in, or rule.

If Jillian does her Dorothy-chopping without first expressing some loyalty to Dame Branch, she'll become expendable, and dangerous to keep around.

[Nakedkali]

This episode doesn't make any sense to me. Jillian is still hallucinating?

I think the casters were lost from heroine overdose. Not sure why this doesn't kill Judy, though.

Maxwells laws of magnetism = holding the Side together

[0beron]

HA! I knew it, Olive IS the heir

[TheMutant]

Heh, the first Komatsu I thought of was a character from a popular shonen manga, who's a chef. X) I was kinda like 'waaaait, that doesn't really fit 'Dirtamancer'...'

Also, the plot thickens! So many Predictions, and us with the end of the world nigh at hand here in RL. ;P At least it has the decency to let me get one last birthday, the day before.

[Ambug666]

Maxwell helped build the glass coffin, eh? So did he use a silver hammer? Bang Bang!

[Deuce]

This episode doesn't make any sense to me. Jillian is still hallucinating?

I think the casters were lost from heroine overdose. Not sure why this doesn't kill Judy, though.

Maxwells laws of magnetism = holding the Side together

I wonder if he has a demon?

[Shai_hulud]

“Fate is fate,” said Wanda, and although they were alone in the vast field of flowers, she lowered her voice conspiratorially. “But there may be an alternative path. Tell me what you know about Delphie, and I will tell you what I learned from Barton.”

If Wanda isn't tricking her (or else Barton is the one who told her), I assume this is a typo and that she means Maya.
Also;

“-involved in its construction. But I don’t remember enough from the link-up.”

So what do we learn from this? Wanda helped make the glass "coffin" in a tricaster link with Tina Turner. We know that tricaster links being broken can kill the units in the link up. And of course, Wanda can't die. Did fate cause the link up break to kill Maxwell for Wanda's sake?

[WaterMonkey314]

Easy allusion, but it should be noted - Maxwell as a major brand of cheap coffee.

[Flowers&DeathSkulls]

“-involved in its construction. But I don’t remember enough from the link-up.”

So what do we learn from this? Wanda helped make the glass "coffin" in a tricaster link with Tina Turner. We know that tricaster links being broken can kill the units in the link up. And of course, Wanda can't die. Did fate cause the link up break to kill Maxwell for Wanda's sake?

Not necessarily. She could have been in a duo-caster link with Tina Turner. Just like Misty and Sizemore linking up with no bad side effects, Wanda could have linked with Tina and been perfectly fine. It's the tri-caster link that is so dangerous. And remember, Misty and Sizemore could not remember how to do anything from the link-up, so it fits. Could be a tri-caster, though.

On the turning front... Jillian turns - to Wanda. She could also turn to Judy. Technically, Jillian would still be a Haffaton unit, but not loyal to Olive Branch. But Olive would think that Jillian was loyal to her because of the heroine buds, therefore would not suspect any duplicity. This may have been part of the reason that Wanda was trying to turn Jillian with the box - she would have been loyal to her Mistress, not Olive.

Ouch, Olive is so very very dead. Options on that front:

Judy commits suicide. Not fun, but she would probably prefer it to her current life.

Judy dies from heroine overdose. I think the only thing holding her together right now is just that Olive is heir designate, and Olive the Ruler would be even worse than Olive the Puppetmaster. Then, Jillian is free to kill Olive - and hopefully destroy the heroine buds. Man, I hope that everyone is released from their hold when Olive Branch dies.

Judy steps down and flies away. We have never actually seen a ruler step down, but this does not mean it isn't possible. As Judy said, she just wanted to fly away (using the witch's broomstick, which is fascinating - implications galore!). She doesn't want to be the ruler of Haffaton anyway. And if Jillian kills the new ruler of Haffaton (Olive), then Judy no longer has to worry about the anklet. I think this is the most likely.

[(name here)]

Interesting. Wanda says taking Faq was easy, and was confused when Jillian mentioned casters. I wonder if Jack pulled off some massive and elaborate foolamancy to send Haffaton to attack the wrong Side entirely. Certainly Faq could have made a fight of it with their casters despite the anemic defense forces. Plus, Banhammer was planning to stay behind but he's still alive.

[badninja]

So Jillian is or was fated to do something so does this mean she is a little part of the whole story or a greater part of the story yet to come? I like how it is explained why Wanda has so much knowledge about other caster disciples.