Panel 2 and 4 have the best drawn version of byron imo. Also, recurring symbols about crazy cults always = foreshadowing. unless the fortune teller only accepts payment in knick knacks.
You know, it’s not so much that this stuff never makes sense until after it happens; it’s that a local magic-capable economy still supports fortune-tellers who can’t give you a straight answer. Where are the researchers seeking to make divination more reliable and less ambiguous? Don’t tell me that they couldn’t get funding, either: the payoff from that particular R&D project would be spectacular.
Two possibilities; one, it could be actually impossible to discern anything solid about the future, and masking fortunes in rhymes and whatnot either is a side effect of piercing the mysteries of time or a proven way to increase the amount your clients are willing to give as thanks.
Two, you either join the rest of the fortune tellers in their vagueness, or… unfortunate things might happen. Fortune huts have such shoddy workmanship these days, prone to collapse or catching fire. You know how it is.
Got a nice yurt there. Be a shame if something happened to it.
Yarrow stalks are a lot more flammable than people think. Just sayin’.
OOPS! I hope that crystal ball wasn’t valuable.
According to the observer effect, it is impossible to measure certain phenomenon without changing it. By making a concrete statement about the future, you force a probability to contract into a point, and you cease to predict the future. You’re now directly affecting it. By telling her what she’s going to invent, he in practice invents it. By telling someone how they’re going to die, you change their death. A vague fortune is, rather than observing the phenomenon, giving it a sorta sideline glance out the corner of the eye.
The “Straight answer” guys charge by the hour, and there are always at least three of em all disagreeing. They all know the truth, that the money is in the drama
People tend to avoid the straight answer guys because 1) being told “you are going to amount to nothing” is never what people want to hear, and 2) riddles allow more room for wiggling out of unpleasant prophecies. It’s safer, all round, to go to the riddle guys.
I just noticed how many stains and weird little color corruptions there are on previous pages, and only now I realized that’s this art technique that made me fall in love with the comic.
i dig it too, the texture overlay really brings a lot of life into flat colour- but that eye needed some special attention…some kind of opacity mask or something.
These prophecies are pretty straight forward. If yall mean “hes not saying exactly how they will do it” I’d like to point you to every prophecy in Greek mythology. The Prophecy effects the outcome. If that King didn’t find out his son would kill him, he wouldn’t have gotten rid of his son, and his son wouldn’t have killed him. The prophecy included his reaction to the prophecy. The only thing this prophecy is doing is telling them they will succeed and blah blah. It will give both a reason to stay on their path. That is its purpose.
Further, I’d like to point out that in Book 3 Harry Potter almost let himself die because he thought something in the future would happen. I’ve seen a few more cases of someone almost screwing up the future because they thought the prophecy was suppose to play out a certian way. Syr’nj will bring about peace between humans and wood elves in the future, that is a (seeming) fact. Now if she will do it through diplomacy, breeding half elves, or destroying everyone who doesnt agree with her…is up to her and the rest of the world.
Sure skipping to the end of a book you find out “who did it” but you still know jack squat about the actual story
1.find a cool texture. (GA seems to use a really varied range- from stone to paper and everything inbetween…)
2.set above your other layers.
3.set layer blend to…darken. multiply. something like that. play with the opacity a little.
Cultists always make the mistake of tattooing incriminating symbolism on their wrists and such and leaving cultist paraphernalia in plain sight. If only they sold their souls for common sense instead of demonic powers.
Discussion (55) ¬
OH SHIT!
Hey, CBS changed their logo, too! Just like the Gap!
Oooohh! Looks like SOMEONE didn’t get it the last time they were clobbered!
Panel 2 and 4 have the best drawn version of byron imo. Also, recurring symbols about crazy cults always = foreshadowing. unless the fortune teller only accepts payment in knick knacks.
You know, it’s not so much that this stuff never makes sense until after it happens; it’s that a local magic-capable economy still supports fortune-tellers who can’t give you a straight answer. Where are the researchers seeking to make divination more reliable and less ambiguous? Don’t tell me that they couldn’t get funding, either: the payoff from that particular R&D project would be spectacular.
Two possibilities; one, it could be actually impossible to discern anything solid about the future, and masking fortunes in rhymes and whatnot either is a side effect of piercing the mysteries of time or a proven way to increase the amount your clients are willing to give as thanks.
Two, you either join the rest of the fortune tellers in their vagueness, or… unfortunate things might happen. Fortune huts have such shoddy workmanship these days, prone to collapse or catching fire. You know how it is.
Got a nice yurt there. Be a shame if something happened to it.
Yarrow stalks are a lot more flammable than people think. Just sayin’.
OOPS! I hope that crystal ball wasn’t valuable.
these answers are pretty straight.
Where are the researchers? at a guess, somewhere very well hidden.
According to the observer effect, it is impossible to measure certain phenomenon without changing it. By making a concrete statement about the future, you force a probability to contract into a point, and you cease to predict the future. You’re now directly affecting it. By telling her what she’s going to invent, he in practice invents it. By telling someone how they’re going to die, you change their death. A vague fortune is, rather than observing the phenomenon, giving it a sorta sideline glance out the corner of the eye.
The “Straight answer” guys charge by the hour, and there are always at least three of em all disagreeing. They all know the truth, that the money is in the drama
“One of us tells the truth, one of us lies and one of us is stoned off his face.”
“One of us tells the truth, one of us tells lies, and one of us shoots people who ask tricky questions.”
Gary Larson?
10 – 1 odds, he’s talking about half elves and the ensuing genocidal wars
Wow. I guess that must have been quite the disarming revelation, Byron.
People tend to avoid the straight answer guys because 1) being told “you are going to amount to nothing” is never what people want to hear, and 2) riddles allow more room for wiggling out of unpleasant prophecies. It’s safer, all round, to go to the riddle guys.
Ummm I don’t get it … why is Byron staring at that symbol and where is it from? Did it have to do anything with the sisterhood?
And will it really not blink first? ;)
Look here: http://guildedage.net/webcomic/chapter-7/chapter-7-page-3/
It’s come up before :)
It’s really a red herring. The symbol means nothing, it’s the wall behind it that strikes Byron as sinister.
WHY ARE PROPHECIES NEVER IN FREE VERSE?
Beat prophets.
Elite Beat Prophets?
Elite Meat Beat (Manifesto) Prophets?
I’d buy it.
Prophets. Goooooooooooooooo!
Sing along if you know the words.
Bum, bum, BUM!
It’s murderin’ time!
nrrrgh. the coffeestain texture over the eye in the last panel bugs me. it just jumps out that it’s only on one eye.
I just noticed how many stains and weird little color corruptions there are on previous pages, and only now I realized that’s this art technique that made me fall in love with the comic.
i dig it too, the texture overlay really brings a lot of life into flat colour- but that eye needed some special attention…some kind of opacity mask or something.
I don’t recognize the symbol! Craaaap!
it’s the brotherhood of the countless limbs…go back to the start of the chapter.
Don’t recognize the symbol on the wall? Check Gravedust’s notes at the beginning of the chapter.
Finally! An excuse to kill him!
If down this road
You drive too fast
Your mad career
It will not last
Burma Shave
I’m with Merus on this one.
These prophecies are pretty straight forward. If yall mean “hes not saying exactly how they will do it” I’d like to point you to every prophecy in Greek mythology. The Prophecy effects the outcome. If that King didn’t find out his son would kill him, he wouldn’t have gotten rid of his son, and his son wouldn’t have killed him. The prophecy included his reaction to the prophecy. The only thing this prophecy is doing is telling them they will succeed and blah blah. It will give both a reason to stay on their path. That is its purpose.
Further, I’d like to point out that in Book 3 Harry Potter almost let himself die because he thought something in the future would happen. I’ve seen a few more cases of someone almost screwing up the future because they thought the prophecy was suppose to play out a certian way. Syr’nj will bring about peace between humans and wood elves in the future, that is a (seeming) fact. Now if she will do it through diplomacy, breeding half elves, or destroying everyone who doesnt agree with her…is up to her and the rest of the world.
Sure skipping to the end of a book you find out “who did it” but you still know jack squat about the actual story
“Lord Zetta is stupid. His foolishness has doomed the Netherworld to extinction.”
Oh noes! Stay good, Byron! STAY GOOD!
“BYRON SMASH!!!”
Aaaand cue the berserkering.
Also, though I noticed the odd texture/shading over Byron’s eye in the last panel, I thought it was just the rage building :)
Think thats just the water color effect that the comic has always sported.
I really want to know how to apply this effect.
for potatoshop.
1.find a cool texture. (GA seems to use a really varied range- from stone to paper and everything inbetween…)
2.set above your other layers.
3.set layer blend to…darken. multiply. something like that. play with the opacity a little.
Cultists always make the mistake of tattooing incriminating symbolism on their wrists and such and leaving cultist paraphernalia in plain sight. If only they sold their souls for common sense instead of demonic powers.
Wait, so Byron never gets his other axe back?
Rereading this, I realized he changes his rhyme scheme from AABA to AABB.
What a hack.