Ansom and the Arkentools

[Divine Hammer]

Hey, I just had a sort of intuitive thought about why Ansom can't light up his pliers.

On the one hand, we have Stanley--petty, foolish, and megalomaniacal. Yet the Arkenhammer chose him (as documented in the Cast page).

On the other hand, we have Ansom. Personable, introspective, and humble (also documented in the Cast page). He holds the Arkenpliers, and they treat him like a cheerleader getting asked out by the president of the chess club.

The difference? Ego.

For all of Stanley's faults, he has no doubts about his place and his destiny. He rules (and probably came to power) by force of will. Question him, and you will be treated to a show of power with a strong implied (okay, overt) threat. He uses the Arkenhammer to crack nuts open, for crying out loud.

But Ansom? He's not holding anything together by force of will. Jillian openly questions or disobeys orders, and she doesn't think twice about turning her back on him and ignoring whatever invitations he may extend. As I read it, the Alliance is held together by mutual fear and loathing of Stanley more than belief in Ansom. Ansom, in fact, seems to have precious little belief in himself.

It would appear that the Arkentools aren't impressed with "nice". They're impressed with force of will. If Ansom doesn't find some fire in his soul, Stanley may be right: all he's doing is delivering the Arkenpliers.

[BRC]

Intresting, also, the Titans all looked like Elvis, who like all celebrities of his popularity, were a little egotistical. And as Titans they obviously had a very strong will. And if the arkentools are tools of the titans, then it means that they would work for people with titanlike qualities, namely, Ego and Willpower. So Stanely, who is not hte best of people morally but has a strong willpower and Miko-levels of ego waves his around like a flyswatter. Meanwhile Ansom who is a nice person and from what weve seen, set up to be slightly higher up on the moral scale, merely has a good weapon with the Arkenpliers .

[Nathander]

For all of Stanley's faults, he has no doubts about his place and his destiny. He rules (and probably came to power) by force of will.

While force of will comes into play, we also know that, according to Ansom, he personally killed his lord and took his place. Which, I think, was one of the reasons Ansom and the other tribes were so willing to go to war with him, as well as the threat of his intended expansion into their realms.

But, on a whole, I agree wholeheartedly with your thoughts on this matter. In all honesty, I'm wondering if Stanley's belief that the other Arkentools will be "brought" to him is wrong; destiny and possible magic on the tools may, in fact, put into motions that may bring them to the most likely candidate to wield them, that possibly being Stanley in this case.

Spoiler

Show

Of course, this doesn't consider the variable known as Parson that has been brought in. While Parson initially had horrendously low self-respect and will, the fact that he may begin to attain major victories in what appears to be a genuine war may help to boost his ego and will substantially. Which makes me wonder what would happen if Parson did end up being able to use an Arkentool, or if one became attuned to him. After all, we don't necessarily know if only someone from the plane of existence Erfworld is on can wield an Arkentool or not.

[Scientivore]

I agree. Everyone else in Erfworld has some different failure of self-will. Stanley's only lack in that respect is his failure to transcend his own selfish interests, his petty whims, and fully participate in the actualization of something greater than himself (the final step of full self-actualization). He's already in the perfect position for it though -- he just needs to actually care about GK and bam! he's there -- while everyone else (Parson most definitely included) still needs to work on their self-determination.

[Gez]

While force of will comes into play, we also know that, according to Ansom, he personally killed his lord and took his place.

Well, kinda.

Vinnie being the voice of reason on Ansom's side, I think one should keep his "well, kinda" in mind before saying Stanley personally killed his predecessor. I'm expecting an Obiwanesque "certain point of view" on this story.

[Divine Hammer]

Well, kinda.

Vinnie being the voice of reason on Ansom's side, I think one should keep his "well, kinda" in mind before saying Stanley personally killed his predecessor. I'm expecting an Obiwanesque "certain point of view" on this story.

That's a good cautionary reminder, Gez. In any event, we're left with certainty that Stanley bucked the normal order of things to seize power.

And Ansom takes Vinnie's accusation with introspection instead of bluster. It just occurred to me that Ansom's humility is listed as a weakness on the Cast page. There aren't many circumstances under which humility is considered a weakness. Military command is certainly one of them.

And if the turn-ons for the Arkentools don't include long walks on the beach and men who aren't afraid to cry, it's going to get worse for Ansom before it gets better. On the other hand, if Ansom can straighten out his motivations and find a reason to fully apply his will (clearly he's ambivalent about why he's taking Stanley on), maybe he can light up the pliers and start going to work.

I'm hoping for a panel in the future when Stanley realizes that the pliers have become attuned to Ansom. It'd be even better than the Wanda distraction expression.

[SteveMB]

And Ansom takes Vinnie's accusation with introspection instead of bluster. It just occurred to me that Ansom's humility is listed as a weakness on the Cast page.

I'm pretty sure that means that he has relatively little humility (just as Stanley has relatively little understanding of "strategy", Jillian shows little "subtlety", Sizemore projects little "assertiveness", etc).

[Dolohov]

I think you might be over-generalizing. Certainly, Stanley is going to be well-attuned to a hammer, which is not a subtle tool. If you've got a problem, you whack it. Not fixed? Whack it some more. Pliers have a bit more subtlety; you use them by grasping something and twisting it loose -- that sounds more like Wanda's style of behind-the-scenes manipulation than Stanley or Ansom.

[kreszantas]

I would have to agree with Dolohov, the pliers are not actually a weapon like the hammer per say, it is unattuned to anyone right now but Ansom has the attitude even Vinny admits it.

I doubt force of will enters into much of it at all, they are magical artifacts governed by the magic realms and need to have one the Fate Magics, read the fate column on Klog 2. Wanda would be a fit with having Croakamancy as a speciality, and I find that Stanley is attuned to the hammer due to Deletionism which is a combination of numbers and naughtymancy with him all caught up about numbers of losses he has suffered.

[Divine Hammer]

I'm pretty sure that means that he has relatively little humility (just as Stanley has relatively little understanding of "strategy", Jillian shows little "subtlety", Sizemore projects little "assertiveness", etc).

I dunno. For a guy without any humility, Ansom looks pretty soft, especially for a military commander. He seems too much like a rule-by-committee kind of "leader", unless there's something going on I haven't seen yet.