Gunnerkrigg Court 7: Psychopomp and Circumstance

[eee]

Ysengrin hasn't caught fire yet. Coyote isn't surrounded by a nimbus of flames that prevents Ysengrin from touching him. Either this is moving so fast Annie hasn't had a chance to react, or this isn't really happening...

[Vinyadan]

While Annie might try to do something, I think she'd be fully out of her league. I doubt that she'd attempt to brute force her way into this.

[The_Snark]

I hope that coyote anticipated this, and if he didn't then you are correct that it doesn't reflect well on him as a trickster.

My first thought was that he was anticipating more or less exactly this, that he's not actually in serious danger but just playing along, and that when Ysengrin comes back to his right mind it's going to devastate him, because he takes pride in being loyal to something greater than himself (Coyote) and this will suggest that he was only ever loyal out of fear/envy.

I'm not at all confident of this, Gunnerkrigg is hard to predict, but it feels possible.

[Zejety]

he takes pride in being loyal to something greater than himself (Coyote) and this will suggest that he was only ever loyal out of fear/envy.

On the other hand, if he has Coyote's strength now, maybe he doesn't perceive him as greater than himself anymore?

[BannedInSchool]

All going according to plan. Really, I'm intrigued what the plan is, not the slightest bit concerned.

(Heh, I'm reminded of the proposal that changing just a few little things in The Avengers makes it all Loki's plan, but I never watched the movie with that in mind. "Hmm, how to get someone to solve my problem for me. But I can't just ask because I'm Loki and they'd think I was up to something...")

[Haruspex_Pariah]

It's hard to believe that Coyote could just be...eaten, without putting up anything resembling a fight. I mean this is a being capable of playing sleight of hand with the moon. Could the "flaw" of Coyote's strength be to drive Ysengrin berserk? And that Coyote didn't see it coming?

I guess we're waiting for Friday then.

[Morty]

I maintain that Coyote deserves that, and then some, for what he's done to Ysengrin alone. The problem is what Ysengrin is liable to do once he's finished with Coyote.

[Potato_Priest]

Is that a brown hand coming out of coyote? Is he just acting dead until he gets it around ysengrim's neck?

[Vinyadan]

Is that a brown hand coming out of coyote? Is he just acting dead until he gets it around ysengrim's neck?

I think that that's his ribcage.

Maybe Ysengrim is checking out whether he really has Coyote's strength?

[Potato_Priest]

I think that that's his ribcage.

Perhaps. It looks kinda wierd for a ribcage to me, but coyote's a wierd animal. The real question is...

Is it a prehensile ribcage?

[Vinyadan]

Maybe he's poisonous. That would be a heck of a trick.

[Ellen]

Coyote has been eating Ysen's memories for possibly centuries to make him prone to berserker rages. If this wasn't what he expected Ysen to do as soon as he got the power, I'd be really disappointed.

But, I have no idea what the advantage to being torn apart by a mad wolf-god is.

[BannedInSchool]

But, I have no idea what the advantage to being torn apart by a mad wolf-god is.

You really startle people when you reappear later with a "Boo!".

[Lizard Lord]

Something screwy is definitely going on. Last panel Ysen had his teeth around Coyote's neck. Now Coyote's neck is untouched and Ysen is ripping into his torso.

[eee]

Uh-oh.

Was that what Ysengrin was after all the time, or is he about to get an unexpected deluge of memories?

[137beth]

I wonder if Ys will potentially find memories Coyote took from Annie or Surma, too, and give them back.

[geoduck]

I wonder if Ys will potentially find memories Coyote took from Annie or Surma, too, and give them back.

Eh.. that would be kind of an asspull on Tom's part at this point.

[Ellen]

What will the effect of getting back all the memories be? Besides really, really bad?

I don't see how it's going to work, but this is beginning to make a kind of sense as far as Coyote's plot goes. He's been stealing his memories for possibly centuries. Getting them back in a rush when he thinks he's killed Coyote is going to do . . . something.

[137beth]

Eh.. that would be kind of an asspull on Tom's part at this point.

Really? We know Coyote messed with Ys' memories on many occasions. We also know that he can look into Annie's dreams. And we know that Annie has spent a lot of time in the forest. I don't think it would be all that surprising to find out that he also took memories from someone else in the main cast, like Annie or maybe Surma. Frankly, I think it would be a much bigger stretch to say that for all his meddling with Ysendgrin's mind, Coyote never took memories from anyone else, ever (not that you necessarily said that, though).

[Vinyadan]

BTW, Coyote can stop time. So I am not sure that he can be put in danger this way without his own active collaboration.

[eee]

Really, Smithy? What makes you think that?

The memories apparently involve Jeanne, too. I wonder if this will tell Ysengrin that she's no longer blocking the way?

[guttering flame]

The way Coyote Parts are streaming into Ysngrin's head I fear Coyote is about to burst out of him good as new.

[Giggling Ghast]

I suspect he’ll be “fine,” though now he’ll possess the memory of every moment that ever enraged him in the past that Coyote took from him. That will make him even more dangerous.

This all seems to be setting up a “Ysengrin attacks the Court” story arc. If he absorbed Coyote’s knowledge as well, he’ll know the Annan Waters are safe to cross with his army. Coyote and Jeanne were the only things holding him back.

[Ellen]

The Plan: Run.

OK, good plan under the current circumstances. Get as far away from Ysen as possible. Go for it.

The Problem: Where can you go to get away from this?

[Giggling Ghast]

Aside from Eglamore, the Court must have some defences.

[NEO|Phyte]

Aside from Eglamore, the Court must have some defences.

They had Jeanne. Had.

[Vinyadan]

They have Jonesy.

[guttering flame]

They have ether-science.

[eee]

They had Jeanne. Had.

But they didn't know that. They may have known there was something down there that was extremely dangerous, but Sir Young and the rest of the Court suppressed all knowledge of what they'd done. So the Court didn't know they had a crazed, involuntary defender.

So logically they would have built defenses on the premise that the Forest might attack at any time...

They have Jonesy.

Would she take the Court's side?

[SZbNAhL]

But they didn't know that. They may have known there was something down there that was extremely dangerous, but Sir Young and the rest of the Court suppressed all knowledge of what they'd done. So the Court didn't know they had a crazed, involuntary defender.

I thought they just suppressed all knowledge of how she was created (with, y'know, murder and soul-binding), not the knowledge that she existed. I mean, how would you even hide a homicidal ghost quite literally on the doorstep of a group of people almost defined by their inquisitiveness? The first time someone pops down to the Anan for a water sample and gets sliced in two, people are going to notice.