Erfworld 119, page 107

[The Old Hack]

To be fair, what we know of him is from Jillian's account, the objectivity of which may be questionable.

This is true.

I absolutely agree 100%, Occam's Razor (a.k.a. the Rule of Parsimony) is often applied much too early and much too liberally.

However, in an artificial construct (such as any work of fiction), I feel that Occam's Razor has double weight, as we humans like our constructions to be neat and tidy, with as few loose ends as possible.

The fact that we are near the end of a section also adds additional weight, as it becomes less and less likely that a currently unfounded hypothesis will suddenly start to have evidence introduced on it's behalf.

Agreed and agreed. Of course, the section may end with the issue unresolved, in which case the hypothesis should at least be allowed to linger if not to carry especial weight.

Overall, this is why I used the word 'compels' as opposed to 'forces' or the phrase 'means we must'.

Ah, that's where I misunderstood you. I tend to treat 'compel' and 'force' as synonymous; with that clarified, I agree without reservation.

Some people say I think to much. I am inclined to concur...

Surely better than not to think at all.