Got a question?
Lately, this comic has probably had more scene changes, flashbacks, references to past events, and shifts in point of view than usual. I suspect this is why some readers are having trouble keeping up (at least, that’s the impression I’m getting).
So I figured, what better time to hold the very first Twilight Lady Q & A?
Feel free to ask any question. (Doesn’t have to be related to story or continuity.)
And don’t feel limited to questions either… jump in anytime with an answer or comment if you have one.
I’ve got one. Back around February or so we saw possessed Rona go into an apartment and call for a Dr. Dreyfuss, who then flung her to the floor and pulled a gun on her (him). The next time we see her she tries to kill some guy and is snatched by Andrew and Perse. Part of her story seems to be missing. Is Dreyfuss one of the guys from “Disappeared”? I think I’ve heard the name before.
Honestly I just can’t follow what’s been happening for the past month or so (really since the “dinner” with Behalem. Maybe it’s because I read this comic every time it comes out instead of letting a month pile up then reading it, but it just seems like a collection of unrelated scenes.
I’ve always had a bit of an issue with this, but in the past any confusion has mostly added to the effect and mystery.
So I guess my question is something to the tune of “what the hell happened since the Lady defeated the troll?”
“Is Dreyfuss one of the guys from “Disappeared”?”
This falls under the “yet to be revealed” category. What I can say is that it seems more likely (at least to me) that your guess as to who Dr. Dreyfuss is was based on the dialogue in that scene, rather than having heard the name (which had not appeared prior).
“what the hell happened since the Lady defeated the troll?”
Anyone wish to try their hand at a succinct summary of the last chapter (minus flashbacks)? You guys usually do it better than me…
Alex, what you said did give me food for thought. Particularly about reading one update at a time versus an entire month’s worth in one go. No doubt there are benefits to doing the latter, however… my goal has always been to make this comic work in both strip format and as a collected work (should that day arise).
The last chapter probably works better and makes more sense (both thematically and plotwise) when read in a single sitting. It wasn’t intended to be that way, though, and is definitely something I’ll give consideration to when planning future storylines.
I have to agree with Alex up there. The story is great, and the suspense will be missed, but starting this month I’ll try and read it all in a single sitting every month. I’m sure it’ll work much better for me too…
I have to agree with Alex and Anon. I love the darkness and mood of Twilight Lady but it’s a bit hard to follow sometimes. Esp the part they notice too. I just can’t remember who’s who.
Which is why I created this thread. Think of it as a resource, which you can use (should you wish) to help make sense of it all.
wow, great thread:) I love the weekly update method because I prefer trying to put the pieces together myself.
one of the challenges that I have is trying to match ‘realtime’ with ‘astraltime’. but I enjoy this challenge, so don’t need any clarity on the matter.
I would like to help Alex and summarize the plots since that dinner, but don’t have the time:( maybe if various people pitch in and do a character summary e.g. what have these people done since the dinner:
1. Astral Rona
2. physical rona
3. Jen (there was a flashback to her distant past)
4. The Lady (the flashback, and nothing else)
5. Rona’s Astral Friends (they just went off in their ship…and I’m sure they’ll look for physical Rona asap)
6. etc
I think what’s got a lot of people lost right now is there are six different story threads being spun simultaneously which are being presented at roughly three day intervals. This is in addition to being pretty complex and fantastic material, the rules of which are not even close to fully explained.
Also it’s the beginning of a mystery story, so by nature it has a lot of unknowns that leave the reader wondering, “What the heck is going on?” (To put it mildly.) Fortunately, it appears some of the threads are starting to converge, with perhaps events occurring to reveal clues to help clarify the situation … although that’s clearly speculation. 😉
Alright, I’m going to give it a shot. I’m pretty good at analysis and plotting, and this is way too good a story to be missed by utter confusion. It’s also a good writing exercise. 😀 Just hope I can do it without wringing out too much of the nice flavor.
I’m not going to try to explain all the characters except incidentally. I’ll leave that in the hands of expert linkmasters like Albert. 🙂
As I started to write, I quickly realized in order for a thoroughly confused person to make sense of where the plot is going, they’d first need a synopsis of where it’s coming from. So, …
Situation at the Beginning of “Angel of Death … Nemesis of Decay” —
Rona (in astral form) and her astral friends have just escaped from Belahm the Troll Huntress, due to the big bitch’s rather thorough demise provided by the Twilight Lady. They already know Patrice’s spirit isn’t there, that Whisper (Helen) and Persephone have already been taken to safety, and think Harry (Houdini)’s spirit was killed. Strangely, they could not locate Benjamin, but did find some thing that managed to croak out something about an “ultimate escape.” The Lady has just faded away from Subrealm (astral plane), so the Lady is now dormant and Jen has awaken.
Meanwhile in Senserealm (the material world), Jason the lunatic gang leader (and apparent chief minion of Eleanor the enemy? angel?) has possession of Rona’s body. Eleanor has secured his cooperation by promising him “sweet sweet revenge” on the Twilight Lady. Presumably posing as Rona, he’s also met with a mysterious Dr. Dreyfus and promised to “make amends” for messing up the doc’s “routine capture” by helping the doc “help a ghost reunite with its host.”
Jason also took Patrice, and told him that the Lady has tricked them all and that Helen is lost beyond retrieval. McVlad and Persephone know that Rona and Patrice’s bodies have been taken and are searching hard for them.
Zorro (Father MacKenzie) has had a sudden visit from his old mentor ex-Father Nader after having not heard from him for several years. Nader wants to visit Jen too, although Zorro thinks that might be very problematic. Nader believes the Twilight Lady is a demon and that Jen should know and confront the problem, while Zorro’s no longer sure what to do or what to believe.
Zorro, having been convinced that waking Jen while the Lady is busy would be bad, and Nader are waiting for Jen to wake up so they can talk to her and figure out what to do.
—–
Ugh need to stop for the night. Probably just as well .. will give people time to read and digest. And don’t worry; with that background, I think I can summarize the chapter pretty succinctly.
Nice work. See, folks? It’s not that incomprehensible. 😉
10 years ago in Cass Corridor
Wherein the Twilight Lady manifests, presumably for the first time.
Jen, then pre-adolescent, and a teenage Zorro have a violent encounter with Jason’s gang of nasty teenage punks. As Jen gets in distress her eyes glow red-violet, and suddenly she can best those three virulent thugs nearly twice her size with ease. Improvising like a kung fu master, she opens a major vein in Jason’s wrist with a swipe of the corner of Father Nader’s harmonica, then trips up another that was charging towards them with an expert kick, sliding Zorro’s bible right into the punk’s foot to knock him askew.
Zorro stops her with an urgent shout before she chokes the idiot to death. The eye shine disappears, and Jen comes to like she was blacked out. They leg it, Zorro leading the bewildered Jen off in tow.
Meanwhile Jason’s gang regroups, glad no one witnessed their ignominious defeat. Jason’s copious bleeding has mysteriously stopped. They return to the main street, where Eleanor is waiting (mostly off panel).
Other important points:
* Father Nader entrusted young Jen with a treasured possession, his harmonica.
* The Lady manifested in Jen’s body when she was awake, taking control for several moments.
* Jason and his bud’s have already made their pact, and Jason had recently gained some supernatural abilities.
—–
Hmm, looks like I can cover about one major scene per night. Maybe more over the weekend, we’ll see. This is not easy material to summarize. At any rate, I should catch up to where thing’s become relatively straight-forward within the next handful of days. I’m not on an ego trip here, so if someone else wants to pitch in, fill in gaps, comment, or whatever, feel free. 🙂
In the last update, we see Rona being kidnapped. In the next update, we see Rona talking to someone on the astral plane. What happened? Was that the end of a flashback? Ya gotta indicate somehow when a flashback ends.
No, it wasn’t a flashback. Rona’s astral self was in the astral plane while you saw her physical body (currently possessed by no-goodniks) being kidnapped.
If Jason already knew Eleanor then why didn’t he recognize her when she rescued him and his friends from Stag and Billy’s place back in ’06? Also when she returned to senserealm with the boy’s heads in a bag it looked like Billy was shadowing her, but we haven’t seen him since.
Not sure, Spookytooth. Perhaps she’s changed her appearance? Or maybe I misinterpreted. I’ll take a look back soon and see what I can see.
“One Year Later,” so nine years prior to the story’s present
Wherein Dr. Eden and Father Nader argue over the nature of Jen’s predicament and later the justification and morality of suppressing Jen’s memory of it. In between, Dr. Eden has a disturbing encounter with the Lady.
Dr. Eden reads something Jen wrote when she was three, which shows language ability and mental traits practically unheard of in a three-year-old girl. Father Nader wants to stop the doctor’s “bold new treatment” on Jen, and tries to convince Eden that Jen might be possessed by a demon, rather than suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder (i.e. multiple personality). Unfortunately Dr. Eden doesn’t believe in the supernatural at all. She points out that Jen’s episodes have gotten increasingly violent, and all but mocks his opinion until he implies one of her primary motivations is greed. She then openly insults him and angrily tells him to get out.
Dr. Eden goes to meet Jen, and finds the lights disabled and the dark Lady emergent. Eden tries to command Jen back, only to have her glasses snatched away, leaving her nearly blind (poor night vision?). They debate, the psychiatrist giving rather credible reasons why separation would be good for them both. The Lady complains Jen has grown too strong and independent, troublesome and insubordinate. She suggests it might be time to end her torment, clearly threatening to stab herself in the neck with a pen.
The doctor calls Jen to come out and save herself, and lunges forward to grab the pen (an unusually impulsive reaction for her I think). She trips on a corner of the couch and lands headlong on the coffee table right at Jen’s knees. The Lady informs Dr. Eden her greatest ire is for those who try to imprison her, and asks if she desires oblivion (le yikes!).
Suddenly, a strong sea chantey — Father Nader sits in the window singing. Jen joins in, then continues while he accompanies her on his harmonica. Soon Jen is herself again. Nader tries to convince Jen to keep working on it, but she is so done with that (understandable, really).
Afterward, Eden and Nader debate while Jen eavesdrops at the door. Nader realizes stopping the “treatment” is a lost cause, and proposes in disgust to leave. She invites him to observe to support Jen, but he wants no part of it. As far as he’s concerned, they’re destroying a part of someone who’s practically a daughter to him (not to mention trashing years of their hard and careful work). From Jen’s last expression, I think she realized she’s about to lose Father Nader, too.
Additional points:
* Dr. Eden is almost certainly Rona’s mother; she mentions a young daughter who believes in the supernatural, and they share a lot of traits: courage, charisma, confidence, caring. This might explain some or all of the Lady’s interest in Rona.
* Father Nader’s attempts to derail Jen’s impending treatment seemed largely desperation. He probably feels that he’s failed her and the faith terribly. He could not expect any neurology treatment to quell a demon possession for long.
* Father Nader said Dr. Eden’s treatment was dangerous, which is true for multiple reasons.
Side Note:
I really wonder what Dr. Eden was thinking, and what the true nature of that “bold treatment” was. If Zorro correctly named it “hypnotherapy,” then it probably induces a deeply hypnogogic state capable of permanent large scale memory and personality alterations. In other words, has effects similar to “brain washing” or deep programming. Since the goal of DID therapy is to gain as much awareness and integration of all memories and functional personality traits as possible, such wholesale suppression is counter-indicated, unless it can be clinically proven to stem from brain abnormalities. So, there’s my “What the heck?”
“If Jason already knew Eleanor then why didn’t he recognize her when she rescued him and his friends from Stag and Billy’s place back in ‘06?”
Here’s the scene in question:
http://www.twilightlady.com/2010/04/20/nemesis-of-decay-pg-6b/
There’s nothing there to indicate Jason already knew Eleanor.
“Also when she returned to senserealm with the boy’s heads in a bag it looked like Billy was shadowing her, but we haven’t seen him since.”
Actually, we have:
http://www.twilightlady.com/2008/10/20/the-orbs-of-rwahle-pg-19b/
It is, however, yet to be revealed how/why he went from shadow to assistant.
Well there he is, helping Eleanor barter with Belham. She called him Lyons. I totally didn’t recognize him. On an unrelated note, when Jason was about to make Jen lick his shoe there was a closeup of the shoe showing a message written on it. That page is missing now. Was it a gag panel like the “Dr. Manhattan” panel near Key/Oblivion p42, (which is also missing). If it’s a joke, I don’t get it.
Yeah, it was an April Fool’s gag. The message said, “Albert Knows”. (Albert is a frequent commenter on this site who, quite often, appears to possess the ability to read my mind.)
Me
“They return to the main street, where Eleanor is waiting (mostly off panel).”
Spookytooth
“If Jason already knew Eleanor then why didn’t he recognize her when she rescued him and his friends from Stag and Billy’s place back in ‘06?”
Blake JK Chen
“There’s nothing there to indicate Jason already knew Eleanor.”
Although I didn’t really say they met either, I can see I strongly implied it. I’ve been trying to not state things that aren’t truly in evidence, especially since these are supposed to be “summaries.” In this case, it seems I was a bit too flip. Probably it would have been better put, “They return to the main street, while Eleanor, unnoticed, notes them from across the street …”
Hmm, perhaps I need to take a little more time with these.
And that was a really good observation, Spooky. Since they didn’t know her years later, either they didn’t meet her at that time, or she looked enough different that they didn’t recognize her. And that implies Jason probably didn’t get his supernatural resilience from her either, or at least not knowingly. Very interesting.
“In this case, it seems I was a bit too flip.”
Nah, I thought what you wrote was fine. Better not to overthink these things.
Anyway, it gave me an excuse to put up some links to past pages. Anything that gets people to look through the archives and increase the pageviews on this site is okay in my book!
When are we going to see Eleanor again? Her attitude and chessmaster-ish way of conducting her business is interesting to watch, which is the only reason I don’t mentally drop a fire bomb on her whenever she shows up.
You don’t actually have to see Eleanor, do you… her handiwork is all over the current tale. And I’m assuming you caught her appearance about 7 updates (3.5 pages) ago?
http://www.twilightlady.com/2010/06/24/nemesis-of-decay-pg-18a/
Cass Corridor – Now
Where Zorro and Jen compare notes on Rona, and are interrupted by an old friend …
Zorro comes (back?) to Jen’s apartment to find her door standing wide open. Alarmed, he rushes up, only to startle Jen as she started to close the door. Jen drops her mug of coffee. He apologizes.
Zorro asks if she is there alone (probably wondering about Nader). She says, yup not seen Rona for two days. While he cleans up the mug, Zorro tells her he saw Rona yesterday morning at the Catacomb; she’s in a situation, but made him promise to not get involved. He’s clearly worried. Jen offers to stop by the spooky bar after work to save him from having to go there.
Zorro asks about the mug, which is Father Nader’s (looking for an opening no doubt). Jen says he can apologize to Nader if he ever hears from the ex-priest again. Zorro starts to say that’s why he’s here, while singing ensues outside. Jen listens intensely to the singing as Z tells her Nader is here (in town) and delivers his gentle well-prepared speech on how it’s sudden and up to her … while Jen totally ignores him then runs out the door. xD
Yes, it’s Nader, returned from the blue. While Jen looks on incredulously, he asks, “How are ya, Pooka?”
They go to a diner and Jen and Nader discuss the song over coffee. She asks what he’s doing back; he says visiting ol’ haunts and pals. But then Jen has to jet to her job (child care at Mercy). Nader says he’ll be at the church, and promises to stick around long enough for them to really talk. She leaves, promising Zee again to drop by the Catacomb afterward and tell him where Miss Eden is.
After she leaves, Nader asks, “Catacomb? Miss Eden?”
Additional points:
* Jen specifically mentions (during the mug convo) that Nader was excommunicated.
* Above point makes Nader being at the church … interesting.
* Nader probably knows about the bar and Rona’s situation now, but how much was left unsaid. 😉
There are other strange events and details that seem to be precursors to the upcoming story;
1. Who is Dr Dreyfus and what was he talking about?
2. Who was the leprechaun that shot Perse? he was singing Jen’s song and I think it was his hat in the room where Rona woke up.
3. Who was outside Theo’s place when Rona tried to kill him? It looked like Patrice but he sure didn’t talk like him.
4. Who told McVlad that Rona was with T’lith in Rhawle? When he said he had his sources you saw pair of legs in the foreground and they didn’t look like Eleanor’s, even though she was lurking outside the Catacombs on the previous page. Could another white-winger, (Seriph?), be screwing around in senserealm?
5. I wonder if Jason and his crew attacking Rona and Jen in the original Cass Corridor was just a random mugging?
6. I seem to remember, about 5 yrs. ago Zorro and a doctor telling Jen that the Twilight Lady and Rona weren’t real.
7. Just what DID Belham mean by “others watching”?
We’ll probably have to wait and see for the answers to any of these.
True… except I can tell you:
3 was most definitely not Patrice.
1 and 4 are totally guessable.
As for 6, I believe this is the sequence you’re thinking of:
http://www.twilightlady.com/2008/05/02/the-realm-in-the-middle-pg-29-30/
At Theo’s House (whoever the heck he is … )
Have you heard the saying? “When a woman dresses to kill, she usually has a victim in mind.” 😉
A mysterious blond man spies on the silhouette of a couple kissing through a translucent blind. He talks on a cell phone, saying he’s sure it’s her and that he hasn’t been seen. He confirms they have the address, saying, “consider this a timely reminder of my undying loyalty.”
Inside is the Rona ship piloted by Jason, wearing a very sexy dress and coming on strong to Theo, a bleach blond music store owner who may not be a bad guy, but is clearly shallow and full of himself. He thinks he’s about to get lucky and has already stripped for the occasion. What he gets is psycho-babe wielding a 15″ long chef’s slicing knife. Jason is mad Theo didn’t support his band like he promised, and is taking some totally out of proportion revenge.
As Jason starts to lunge forward, Persephone grabs her from behind. As Theo starts to run screaming like a little girl, McVlad grabs him. Perse knocks out Jason, whispering, “Sorry, Rona.” Theo won’t shut it, so McVlad knocks him out, too.
Additional Points:
* Looks like McVlad has a network of contacts or undying fans. 😉 Perhaps someone he gave immortality? But otherwise, ID unknown.
* The sentence at the end of the 2nd paragraph could have ended at “mad.” xD
* Jason probably thinks he can commit the perfect murder, since any eye-witnesses/cameras will finger Rona. Most likely it hasn’t occurred to him in his worst nightmares he easily could be stuck with that body.
At the Catacomb
Where Jen discovers things are not even close to well …
Jen knocks on the ornate closed doors of the Catacomb. “They were s’posed to open three hours ago,” someone gripes from the side. It’s Eleanor in street-person mode, hunkered like she’s been there a while. Jen asks if she saw anyone go in. “Check out back,” she suggests. “A van went into the alley three minutes ago.”
Jen stands tiptoe to see over the fence in back, just in time to watch Perse and McVlad carry Rona in the back door, bound, gagged, and blindfolded. Jen’s eyes say ZOMG.
She kneels out of sight and calls Zorro on her cell. He says he’ll be there in 15 minutes, and don’t do anything rash. He’s in his priest robes and probably in a church. Nader is visible in the background behind him.
Additional Points:
* Interesting move for Eleanor. Perhaps she anticipated McVlad would quickly capture Jason/Rona. Is she creating a big misunderstanding or big mess, trying to gather the “opposing players” for some sort of coup, or dumping Jason because he’s too much of a loose cannon to be useful?
* Jen, Zorro, and Nader have no idea Rona is currently “out” and Jason-inconvenienced.
* Hmm, perhaps Father McKenzie’s (Zorro’s) church is the one Nader meant. Probably so.
It never occurred to me that the blond guy with the cellphone was calling McVlad, it would explain how he and Perse found Rona.
After young Jen cut young Jason one of Jason’s buds said they should go to “that sound guy Theo” ’cause he knows first aid, I assume that’s the same Theo that Rona tried to dissect. Sounds like he and Jason had a falling out.
Though Eleanor didn’t directly contact Jason when he was younger, she might have been manipulating him without his knowing it, she seems to do that a lot.
McVlad… LOL
It’s MC Vlad, guys. This ain’t Highlander.
Ooops, silly me. Must have read it that way the first time cause I was tired, and never mentally corrected myself. The really funny thing is it even occurred to me a few times that it was a rather odd name even for here, but I was so focused on writing I never went back to the first strips and double checked. hehehehehe xD
‘kay folks, please substitute “Vlad” for “McVlad” throughout. Thanks.
Leonard and Harry’s Safe-house (Subrealm)
And Now, the Rest of the Denouement … A follow-up to Imprisoned Lightning
Astral Rona watches Benjamin and his hobbit-like parents in their seeing orb as they smile and thank them profusely. The crystal is their gift for rescuing Ben from Belahm’s sap slave menagerie.
Harry is there, too, back at his piano, now in the body of one of Belahm’s former tentacled minions. His “ultimate escape” was an emergency “mind leap” into the bizarre thing. He’s adjusting to it fairly quickly it seems, although he says it’s very difficult and it still takes considerable effort for him to speak clearly.
Rona thinks he should have the orb, since he’s the one that sneaked Ben out. He demurs, pointing out he probably wouldn’t have succeeded without her entourage’s large distraction.
She decides to leave the crystal ball there, so the Lady can see Ben is back with his soul family. She wonders if he can regrow his limbs. Harry says eventually, but he’ll probably just return to his race’s form.
Whisper comes in to ask Rona if she’s leaving. Since she is, Whisper asks her to give Patrice a message, tell him she loves and misses him … Rona says you can tell him yourself when we come back.
Whispers claims that’s a bad idea; he should accept that she’s dead and move on with his life. Rona asks, “If you love him, why let death part you? Anyway it’s none of my business. If you want to break up with him, you don’t need me to tell him,” she says as she fades away.
Once Rona, and Whisper’s surprise, is gone Harry inquires, “Shall we proceed, my dear?”
Additional points:
* Rona’s likely uncertain she can take an astral object like that orb into Senserealm. And Harry’s place is the only secure astral location she knows.
* Nothing was said about Wulfgar et.al. but probably they finally followed their original excursion plan to return home.
* And oh my … can Rona return to her preoccupied body? This should be … fascinating.
* Helen (Whisper) sounds like she’s trying to gently give Patrice a final farewell. She doesn’t want him to risk any more astral trips, since the first one went so well. 😉 And, are she and Harry planning something particularly dangerous? Or is he going to guide her to some of her fellow Nemsiiki? … or both?
And that brings us past the last point where someone claimed they were lost or confused (on July 1st). Since I was trying to preserve the flavor (and rather having fun :P), it came out more like a digest than a summary or even synopsis. So, now I’ll ask:
1. Did the situation brief and scene digests help clear up the labyrinth of story threads?
2. Would anyone like to see a true plot point summary? That is, just the high points stated pretty factually. Or, the short short short version. 😉
3. Do you want me to continue into the next scene? Otherwise, based on the lack of current “wth?” comments, I’ll presume I’m done here and ride off to the next town. he he he he he he he
“Who was that masked man?”
“Dunno, partnah. But lookin’ at this here bullet, I reckon he fights lotsa werewolves.”
[cue Finale of William Tell Overture] ~.o
My question has nothing to do with story line. Rather it’s something I have been wondering about since I started reading this strip. What is your graphics technique? Some of the drawings look like they were done from photographs. In fact that was my first impression. If you’re using airbrush this must be extremely time consuming, given the level of detail.
As I was looking for other things in the archives I found the page that gave me the impression that Eleanor was somehow involved with Jason’s gang from the time of their pact. Check out panels 6 and 7:
http://www.twilightlady.com/2008/04/14/the-secret-of-cass-corridor-pg-84-86/
Although that only proves she witnessed it (and was probably present), it seems likely from what we’ve seen of her M.O. that she also had a large hand in it. Again, clearly Jason and company didn’t recognize her, so she either looked different, wasn’t seen, or they weren’t allowed to remember.
“What is your graphics technique? Some of the drawings look like they were done from photographs”
It’s a hodgepodge of techniques. Mostly CG, some photo-manipulation, and occasionally (usually as a last resort) I find myself actually having to draw or paint something (shudder). But I do my best to avoid having to do any real work, more out of practicality (ie. keeping this comic on schedule) than laziness.
Hmm … it would appear I’ve cleared up everyone’s confusion … Well, either that, or I’ve scared them off. 😛
So, what do you think, Blake? Is that good enough?
Certainly gets my thumbs up.
That’s really cool, Barigato. Thanks.
Is it possible to add a ‘latest’ button by the first/previous/next buttons at the bottom of the comic? That would be super convenient. 😀
I’ve tried before, but couldn’t figure out the right code. Anyone familiar enough with wordpress/comicpress to offer an insight?
Agreed that a latest icon next to the other nav links would be very convenient … but the LATEST toolbar button (near the top underneath the title banner) seems to work well enough.
I have another question 😀 Was the Lady’s color change just a part of art evolution or was it significant to the plot?
Thus far, I would say any changes to the Lady’s appearance is significant more to character than plot.
Interesting.
Spookytooth wrote:
July 11th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
“There are other strange events and details that seem to be precursors to the upcoming story;
1. Who is Dr Dreyfus and what was he talking about?
2. Who was the leprechaun that shot Perse? he was singing Jen’s song and I think it was his hat in the room where Rona woke up.
3. Who was outside Theo’s place when Rona tried to kill him? It looked like Patrice but he sure didn’t talk like him.
4. Who told McVlad that Rona was with T’lith in Rhawle? When he said he had his sources you saw pair of legs in the foreground and they didn’t look like Eleanor’s, even though she was lurking outside the Catacombs on the previous page. Could another white-winger, (Seriph?), be screwing around in senserealm?
5. I wonder if Jason and his crew attacking Rona and Jen in the original Cass Corridor was just a random mugging?
6. I seem to remember, about 5 yrs. ago Zorro and a doctor telling Jen that the Twilight Lady and Rona weren’t real.
7. Just what DID Belham mean by ‘others watching’?”
Blake JK Chen wrote:
July 11th, 2010 at 10:48 pm
“True, except I can tell you:
3 was most definitely not Patrice.
1 and 4 are totally guessable.
As for 6, I believe this is the sequence you’re thinking of:
http://www.twilightlady.com/2008/05/02/the-realm-in-the-middle-pg-29-30/”
Well…
1. No idea. NOT guessable to me, anyway.
2. You find out later that the leprechaun was Jason (and crew) in disguise, most likely sent by Eleanor to spy on the Lady and her associates. (Especially Rona.)
3. No idea. (Probably something we, the audience, aren’t privy too yet. Or, it might be irrelevant.)
4. That’s EASY! The legs and shoes gives it away. It was Maggie, the dead girl Zorro kept trying to chase down to chat with. Maggie was a disciple of The Lady and she generally tries to help out MC and The Lady however she can (without getting caught by Eleanor).
5. Jason & crew admitted they “came a long way” to see Jen. And they were waiting for Jen to pass by after her show. They planned on “having some fun” with her. Rona just happened to be an extra problem/piece of meat. On a metaphysical scale, though, it might have to do with Fate or Karma or whatever. As seen in a flashback, Jason & crew had dealings with Zorro, Jen, The Lady, and Eleanor from when they were quite young – like history repeating itself.
BTW: I think The Lady killing the three would-be rapists/murderers has several implications. First, knowing that Jen and the Lady are practically one and the same, I don’t see how any sensible person could blame The Lady for doing something. Even if it wasn’t her primary motivation, The Lady was basically defending her own property/personality or whatever. Technically, it boils down to self-defense. Despite a possibility that The Lady might have been able to simply scare them away, I think Eleanor’s claim of her having “no right” to kill them is a bit rediculous.
Secondly, Jason & crew tracking down Jen IN PARTICULAR may hint at a subconsious desire to ‘court with death’, so to speak. (Our subconscious may be aware of a LOT of stuff our conscious minds are unaware of.) It’s probably just like The Lady said, they held a subconsious desire to die (i.e., -f word- with Jen/Lady Death – literally and figuratively) and she granted their subconscious wish. I’m suggesting their subconsious minds may have motivated their conscious minds to cross paths with The Lady so they could “find release.”
6. It’s like Blake JK Chen pointed out. Those events (such as a doctor telling Jen that Rona doesn’t exist) never happened. It was Rona having something akin to an acid trip due to those shadow creatures messing with her mind. As Takami explained, she was having fantasies that seemed real. From this, it seems Rona may hold subconscious desires to bed with not only Zorro, but Jen and Persephone as well…??
7. Who’s watching? “The Watchers”, of course. (Seriously, that’s what they’re called.) Also, angels are watching, as Eleanor clearly shows the ability to know almost everything. And I’m assuming Eleanor isn’t the only angel in Senseworld or Subrealm. It’s like The Lady said, you must assume that you are being watched. Fortunately, The Lady also has allies who keep an eye out for trouble (like Maggie).
BTW: I think it would be interesting to learn more about The Watchers, like where they hang out and who they answer to (if anyone).
Spookytooth wrote:
July 11th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
“3. Who was outside Theo’s place when Rona tried to kill him? It looked like Patrice but he sure didn’t talk like him.”
Blake JK Chen wrote:
July 11th, 2010 at 10:48 pm
“3 was most definitely not Patrice.”
You’re talking about this page?:
http://www.twilightlady.com/2010/06/10/nemesis-of-decay-pg-15a/
Actually… I now think it was Patrice. I think Patrice got tricked into helping Elanor. But then, whoever he is, it sounds like he’s tipping off MC and Persephone about where to find Rona. Of course, that could make sense if Patrice is working for Elanor and wants to SET UP MC and Persephone for a scheme…