He missed out on having one eye, having one horn, and flying. Now he’s missed out on eating people! Guy’s having a hell of a time making his cosplay work.
I think the fact that Frigg’s player claimed she was overpowered tips HR’s had before the last panel. I mean, we saw the interview panels — Frigg’s player doesn’t strike me as the “game balance over awesome” type.
That’s known to us readers, but as Frigg is in-universe she does not know what the player said.
That said, they all reflect (part of) the character of their player/Sepia-selves, so it might be that the ghost’s statements give an “off” gut-feeling and are thus not believed.
Plato likens our perception of “reality” to shadows on a cave wall, which are perceived as the true world:
Except from Spark Notes; http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/republic/section7.rhtml
Socrates describes a dark scene. A group of people have lived in a deep cave since birth, never seeing the light of day. These people are bound so that they cannot look to either side or behind them, but only straight ahead. Behind them is a fire, and behind the fire is a partial wall. On top of the wall are various statues, which are manipulated by another group of people, lying out of sight behind the partial wall. Because of the fire, the statues cast shadows across the wall that the prisoners are facing. The prisoners watch the stories that these shadows play out, and because these shadows are all they ever get to see, they believe them to be the most real things in the world. When they talk to one another about “men,” “women,” “trees,” or “horses,” they are referring to these shadows. These prisoners represent the lowest stage on the line—imagination.
A prisoner is freed from his bonds, and is forced to look at the fire and at the statues themselves. After an initial period of pain and confusion because of direct exposure of his eyes to the light of the fire, the prisoner realizes that what he sees now are things more real than the shadows he has always taken to be reality. He grasps how the fire and the statues together cause the shadows, which are copies of these more real things. He accepts the statues and fire as the most real things in the world. This stage in the cave represents belief. He has made contact with real things—the statues—but he is not aware that there are things of greater reality—a world beyond his cave.
Next, this prisoner is dragged out of the cave into the world above. At first, he is so dazzled by the light up there that he can only look at shadows, then at reflections, then finally at the real objects—real trees, flowers, houses and so on. He sees that these are even more real than the statues were, and that those were only copies of these. He has now reached the cognitive stage of thought. He has caught his first glimpse of the most real things, the Forms.
When the prisoner’s eyes have fully adjusted to the brightness, he lifts his sight toward the heavens and looks at the sun. He understands that the sun is the cause of everything he sees around him—the light, his capacity for sight, the existence of flowers, trees, and other objects. The sun represents the Form of the Good, and the former prisoner has reached the stage of understanding.
No…I think that, because of the 5’s power to re-write the game, granted when they created their characters, HR can’t claim total dominion over the aspects they created, without their permission. I’m betting that includes things like Tectonus, because they’ve interacted with Him and changed the plot around Him.
Interesting.
This opens up two possibilities:
1. They’re phantasms of some sort, a simple trick by HR. <a href="http://guildedage.net/comic/chapter-49-page-24-25/"Syr'Nj said HR’s mustache didn’t quite look right, after all, and I assume the same would hold true for the rest of the “real” people.
2. They’re the real deal, somehow disconnected from the characters. Xan <a href="http://guildedage.net/comic/chapter-49-page-6/"noted earlier that Carol was wrong about the brain scans, and <a href="http://guildedage.net/comic/chapter-49-page-8/"further suggested that the gamers might not have any. This of course opens the question of just who is controlling their characters; perhaps similarly to the other characters, who do stuff when the players log off? (no reference, sorry)
I think they are phantasms created by HR, but this isn’t a *simple* trick by HR; the phantasms are closely modelled on the originals. The Five should recognize them, but they don’t. This is a half-truth, and they’re rejecting both the lie and the truth.
This all began when the Five entered the tanks; HR’s megalomaniac scheme began when things began changing and he saw an opportunity. I think where this is leading is that it’s the Five’s rejection of reality at the root of everything that’s happened.
Honestly, with the knowledge they have, I’d be tempted.
The problem is that HR is strongly associated with a terrible, corrupting force – *in the game*.
Whether the game universe is real or not (I think it is), the information suggests that they’re in a mere simulation.
This is like the choice in Total Recall. They’re possibly condemning themselves to lives as vegetables, just because they’re demonstrably-unreliable minds identify their “savior” as a villain.
Of course here, we the audience know they’re making the better choice… Or is it?
So what is HR trying to accomplish? In the sepia world, he said he’s trying to bring them back, and here it seems like that is somewhat genuine. Is he a crazy sociopath wannabe god, does he have some sanity left (and is really trying to save the 5) or is he being absorbed by the game the same way our 5 have? They genuinely don’t seem to remember (or believe) in their original selves.
One must wonder… Is the sepia world still really “real” anymore (at least to our characters who have left it)? I can’t believe it’s taken me this long, but I see a strong Wizard of Oz connection here, too—both with the book and the movie.
“So what is HR trying to accomplish?”
Sounds like a little bit of columns a, b, c, d and e.
Madmen are always earnest and genuine in their endeavors. Sometimes even charismatic too.
Except… Only Carol seems to find him at all compelling here. Whatta creep.
This just shows how sad the Five’s situation is, really. They’re so lost in character that they don’t remember who they really are. Not even being confronted with their real selves is enough to jog their memories. At this rate, they’ll never be rescued.
There’s still a chance, however. A chance the Five could finally be rescued. That they could return to the real world. That they could finally remember who they really are. That we the readers could finally learn their real names. I sincerely hope that’s the way this all turns out. It’s either that or they remain stuck in virtual reality, living a lie.
A recurring theme of this comic is to question if any of these worlds are more real than the other. It’s been established that Arkerra is physically real, not just a simulation in Hurricane Software’s computers. It’s also been established (if we take Weo’s words for truth) that this Arkerra is a magically modified copy of the original Arkerra, altered to accomodate for the presence of The Five, with all their backstories and whatnot.
Regardless of which reality is the realest, I think it’s safe to say that The Five’s bodies in Sepia World are as real as everything else in Sepia World, and their bodies in Arkerra as real as everything else in Arkerra.
The only unknown is their minds.
Are The Five controlling their Arkerran bodies from Sepia World? Would they still be able to do so even if they regained consciousness? Or have they become separate entities, able to exist and act independently of one another? Or have their minds been wholly transplanted to Arkerra, so that Sepia World no longer has any influence on them?
I would prefer that there won’t have to be a choice about which of their incarnations get to live, and I can’t say that the Arkerran ones deserve it more, but I do think that calling their experiences in Arkerra a virtual reality is selling the comic short.
I think Gravedust’s analysis is cogent, whether or not the purple images are the actual Five or just phantasms conjured by HR. He wants something he cannot get just from his power. Personally I feel that Gravy and Byron and Best and Frigg and Syr’nj are far more real that their Sepia World counterparts.
Hence, if HR (Puff’n’Stuff?) wants to instantiate Arkterra in his image, he needs their cooperation. The contrary is not true. They have already come most of the way to accomplishing that on their own and it might be that if they can beat him their Sepia World avatars will transmogrify and become the basis of Arkterra reality.
I think the Sepia Counterparts and the Arkterra folks are in fact ultimately the same beings without the Real world “Skin” we all wear. Essentially what they would be with more power or confidence. I mean for crap’s sake Frigg and her Sepia Counterpart ultimately behave the Exact same way it’s just Frigg’s took the Dial and snapped it off…. and possibly ate it.
We’re all a degree different when we get on the Internet but that’s usually because we have a wall of Anonymity to hide and give us a boost.
Also there’s the fact that HR knew the Sepia Folks for all of Five Minutes before they were Jar’d and yet for that Brief flashback they were good-naturedly bickering with each other the whole way. their statements are way too uniform to sit right with me.
And I would have taken over the world and become a god, too, if it wasn’t for you damn meddling kids!
That I put in here in the first place… and kind of made into the pains in the ass you would become… and its not like anyone ever takes this kind of offer, so it was lame to make it in the first place.
Can we have a time out? I need to reassess my plan.
Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child that you have stolen, for my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom as great — You have no power over me.
I heard of sunglasses that go pitch black if something unpleasant is about to happen. Sunglasses that start to blaze like small suns …..it *could* mean something nice is going to happen….
It’s one winged CEO time!
And I bet this isn’t even his final tax form!
Just like taxes, his death now seems certain.
He needs to find a way to block them. Or they, him. Doesn’t matter, in the end.
Quick, Frigg, Omni-glowyshit!
I think what we actually need is some Glowy-Angry-Mystical-Musical-Shit that can DO SCIENCE TO IT!
He missed out on having one eye, having one horn, and flying. Now he’s missed out on eating people! Guy’s having a hell of a time making his cosplay work.
Yeah, and now he’s pissed. See the vein poppage on his left forehead in the last frame?
I didn’t notice until I read your comment. I was distracted and creeped out by the melting, smiling faces.
Eye actually didn’t notice neither vein nor melting faces. Eye was too distracted by the scary shiny glasses.
HR ANGRY, HR SMASH!
Sure looks strange to me
I would not say such things if I were you!
As you wish.
So this one time, in banned camp, my character created this human…
I think the fact that Frigg’s player claimed she was overpowered tips HR’s had before the last panel. I mean, we saw the interview panels — Frigg’s player doesn’t strike me as the “game balance over awesome” type.
That’s known to us readers, but as Frigg is in-universe she does not know what the player said.
That said, they all reflect (part of) the character of their player/Sepia-selves, so it might be that the ghost’s statements give an “off” gut-feeling and are thus not believed.
In Plato’s Cave, the shadows are coming alive and freeing themselves.
That’s one helluvan acid trip if y’ask me.
Plato likens our perception of “reality” to shadows on a cave wall, which are perceived as the true world:
Except from Spark Notes; http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/republic/section7.rhtml
Socrates describes a dark scene. A group of people have lived in a deep cave since birth, never seeing the light of day. These people are bound so that they cannot look to either side or behind them, but only straight ahead. Behind them is a fire, and behind the fire is a partial wall. On top of the wall are various statues, which are manipulated by another group of people, lying out of sight behind the partial wall. Because of the fire, the statues cast shadows across the wall that the prisoners are facing. The prisoners watch the stories that these shadows play out, and because these shadows are all they ever get to see, they believe them to be the most real things in the world. When they talk to one another about “men,” “women,” “trees,” or “horses,” they are referring to these shadows. These prisoners represent the lowest stage on the line—imagination.
A prisoner is freed from his bonds, and is forced to look at the fire and at the statues themselves. After an initial period of pain and confusion because of direct exposure of his eyes to the light of the fire, the prisoner realizes that what he sees now are things more real than the shadows he has always taken to be reality. He grasps how the fire and the statues together cause the shadows, which are copies of these more real things. He accepts the statues and fire as the most real things in the world. This stage in the cave represents belief. He has made contact with real things—the statues—but he is not aware that there are things of greater reality—a world beyond his cave.
Next, this prisoner is dragged out of the cave into the world above. At first, he is so dazzled by the light up there that he can only look at shadows, then at reflections, then finally at the real objects—real trees, flowers, houses and so on. He sees that these are even more real than the statues were, and that those were only copies of these. He has now reached the cognitive stage of thought. He has caught his first glimpse of the most real things, the Forms.
When the prisoner’s eyes have fully adjusted to the brightness, he lifts his sight toward the heavens and looks at the sun. He understands that the sun is the cause of everything he sees around him—the light, his capacity for sight, the existence of flowers, trees, and other objects. The sun represents the Form of the Good, and the former prisoner has reached the stage of understanding.
Thank you. I actually did know that. Excellently explained though.
Still, one helluva trip. 😉
So he wants to break back into sepia world, but he wants a bunch of avatars, not just one?
No…I think that, because of the 5’s power to re-write the game, granted when they created their characters, HR can’t claim total dominion over the aspects they created, without their permission. I’m betting that includes things like Tectonus, because they’ve interacted with Him and changed the plot around Him.
I love how the 5 never did buy that they are facing “God”, no matter what tricks HR shows.
“Excuse me … what does God need with a starship?” – Cap’n Kirk
What does a you need with a tube and what do i need with a phone?
“Dafuq?”
Interesting.
This opens up two possibilities:
1. They’re phantasms of some sort, a simple trick by HR. <a href="http://guildedage.net/comic/chapter-49-page-24-25/"Syr'Nj said HR’s mustache didn’t quite look right, after all, and I assume the same would hold true for the rest of the “real” people.
2. They’re the real deal, somehow disconnected from the characters. Xan <a href="http://guildedage.net/comic/chapter-49-page-6/"noted earlier that Carol was wrong about the brain scans, and <a href="http://guildedage.net/comic/chapter-49-page-8/"further suggested that the gamers might not have any. This of course opens the question of just who is controlling their characters; perhaps similarly to the other characters, who do stuff when the players log off? (no reference, sorry)
Aargh, bad formatting :/
My guess is that their spirits split or were copied into the Arkerran avatars, and HR has since absorbed the originals.
I think they are phantasms created by HR, but this isn’t a *simple* trick by HR; the phantasms are closely modelled on the originals. The Five should recognize them, but they don’t. This is a half-truth, and they’re rejecting both the lie and the truth.
This all began when the Five entered the tanks; HR’s megalomaniac scheme began when things began changing and he saw an opportunity. I think where this is leading is that it’s the Five’s rejection of reality at the root of everything that’s happened.
Honestly, with the knowledge they have, I’d be tempted.
The problem is that HR is strongly associated with a terrible, corrupting force – *in the game*.
Whether the game universe is real or not (I think it is), the information suggests that they’re in a mere simulation.
This is like the choice in Total Recall. They’re possibly condemning themselves to lives as vegetables, just because they’re demonstrably-unreliable minds identify their “savior” as a villain.
Of course here, we the audience know they’re making the better choice… Or is it?
So what is HR trying to accomplish? In the sepia world, he said he’s trying to bring them back, and here it seems like that is somewhat genuine. Is he a crazy sociopath wannabe god, does he have some sanity left (and is really trying to save the 5) or is he being absorbed by the game the same way our 5 have? They genuinely don’t seem to remember (or believe) in their original selves.
One must wonder… Is the sepia world still really “real” anymore (at least to our characters who have left it)? I can’t believe it’s taken me this long, but I see a strong Wizard of Oz connection here, too—both with the book and the movie.
“So what is HR trying to accomplish?”
Sounds like a little bit of columns a, b, c, d and e.
Madmen are always earnest and genuine in their endeavors. Sometimes even charismatic too.
Except… Only Carol seems to find him at all compelling here. Whatta creep.
Try reading from here Chapter 38 Page 2 through Page 4.
If I’m reading it right, he’s convinced that he’ll be a god, like a real god that can change the real world as well as his game world.
And don’t forget, he was messing with magic in Sepia World. Blood magic. With real results. Arkerra runs on a combination of silicon and hemoglobin.
Yes. My observation does not exclude yours. 😉
Aaaannnnd…. He’s still a creep.
I love dafuq as a word.
Also, I hate to admit, but I have no idea where this comic is going with this. Like, am I dumb? What is happening?
Is this real life?
HR is weaving a fantasy.
Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality.
I disagree. He’s trying to open their eyes.
Well, they’re already looking up to the skies…
Does that mean that he’s a poor boy who needs no sympathy?
Well, easy come, easy go, he’s not going to let them go.
This just shows how sad the Five’s situation is, really. They’re so lost in character that they don’t remember who they really are. Not even being confronted with their real selves is enough to jog their memories. At this rate, they’ll never be rescued.
There’s still a chance, however. A chance the Five could finally be rescued. That they could return to the real world. That they could finally remember who they really are. That we the readers could finally learn their real names. I sincerely hope that’s the way this all turns out. It’s either that or they remain stuck in virtual reality, living a lie.
Kahn and Campbell, please don’t let us down.
A recurring theme of this comic is to question if any of these worlds are more real than the other. It’s been established that Arkerra is physically real, not just a simulation in Hurricane Software’s computers. It’s also been established (if we take Weo’s words for truth) that this Arkerra is a magically modified copy of the original Arkerra, altered to accomodate for the presence of The Five, with all their backstories and whatnot.
Regardless of which reality is the realest, I think it’s safe to say that The Five’s bodies in Sepia World are as real as everything else in Sepia World, and their bodies in Arkerra as real as everything else in Arkerra.
The only unknown is their minds.
Are The Five controlling their Arkerran bodies from Sepia World? Would they still be able to do so even if they regained consciousness? Or have they become separate entities, able to exist and act independently of one another? Or have their minds been wholly transplanted to Arkerra, so that Sepia World no longer has any influence on them?
I would prefer that there won’t have to be a choice about which of their incarnations get to live, and I can’t say that the Arkerran ones deserve it more, but I do think that calling their experiences in Arkerra a virtual reality is selling the comic short.
On the Alt-text: Ash Williams actually DID take the BBEG up on their offer at the end of the first season of his show. It was pretty fun.
I’m sure many gamers take this offer at least once…after they turn it down and win the game properly, just to see what happens.
Like going back and saving the Bay instead?
Is HR going to turn into an owl now?
Hah! You read “Girls Next Door”, too, Wyvern?
I think he’s talking about labyrinth
Yeah, I was going to say, “and the girl said to the Goblin Kijg, ‘you have no power over me.'”
Basically a different version of the magic was in you all along.
I think Gravedust’s analysis is cogent, whether or not the purple images are the actual Five or just phantasms conjured by HR. He wants something he cannot get just from his power. Personally I feel that Gravy and Byron and Best and Frigg and Syr’nj are far more real that their Sepia World counterparts.
Hence, if HR (Puff’n’Stuff?) wants to instantiate Arkterra in his image, he needs their cooperation. The contrary is not true. They have already come most of the way to accomplishing that on their own and it might be that if they can beat him their Sepia World avatars will transmogrify and become the basis of Arkterra reality.
“What will I do with this world?”
I think the Sepia Counterparts and the Arkterra folks are in fact ultimately the same beings without the Real world “Skin” we all wear. Essentially what they would be with more power or confidence. I mean for crap’s sake Frigg and her Sepia Counterpart ultimately behave the Exact same way it’s just Frigg’s took the Dial and snapped it off…. and possibly ate it.
We’re all a degree different when we get on the Internet but that’s usually because we have a wall of Anonymity to hide and give us a boost.
Also there’s the fact that HR knew the Sepia Folks for all of Five Minutes before they were Jar’d and yet for that Brief flashback they were good-naturedly bickering with each other the whole way. their statements are way too uniform to sit right with me.
And I would have taken over the world and become a god, too, if it wasn’t for you damn meddling kids!
That I put in here in the first place… and kind of made into the pains in the ass you would become… and its not like anyone ever takes this kind of offer, so it was lame to make it in the first place.
Can we have a time out? I need to reassess my plan.
Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child that you have stolen, for my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom as great — You have no power over me.
I heard of sunglasses that go pitch black if something unpleasant is about to happen. Sunglasses that start to blaze like small suns …..it *could* mean something nice is going to happen….