Inner Peace (Through Superior Firepower) – Episode 061

[Aquillion]

Well this was a surprising development. The arkenshoes huh... it somewhat makes you wonder where they GO after this. I mean, Wanda must of known where they were yet Stanley didn't decide to try and take them? Seems somewhat odd.

One option, of course (given their powers in the original story) is that Judy uses them to go home, removing them from Erfworld. Of course, this causes obvious and serious problems for Wanda's desire to unite the Arkentools.

Another option is that they're just Foolamancy.

Do we think Orwell's gonna get croaked, and Faq's going to use Wanda as the new lookamancer? This might be where Jillian learned that Wanda hates it. (re: Book 1, pg 36)

Unlikely. Faq's setup would require a pretty talented Lookamancer, and I seriously doubt Wanda would be able to do it as reliably as required outside her discipline.

(Remember, Orwell is loyal to Judy, not to Dame Branch. And as I recall, turned casters have infamously low loyalty anyway, so he could simply decide to switch back.)

[Aquillion]

My guess.... Judy uses the Arkenshoes to return to Stupidworld. At some point, someone uses the scroll on Parson to return him to Stupidworld. Parson needs to get back, but how... Find, attune to, and use Judy Gale's shoes to get back to Erfworld.

How's this for a far-out theory. Wanda is Fated to reunite all four Arkentools with attuned users. She's got a tool, the Tool has a tool. Charlie has a Tool. If the Arkenshoes are stuck in Stupidworld, she has to send someone to Stupidworld to get it... someone who will use them to get back. Maybe Wanda will use the scroll on Parson! (Also, it makes me want to go back and read the conversation between Wanda and Jillian about summoning Parson...

Did Wanda want the spell to bring back Judy Gale? Was she commisserating with Jillian that she failed to that? I can't wait to see this all play out.

Parson could use the scroll on himself if the fire at Jetstone gets out of hand. This would mean that Jack would die, but honestly, Jack has been tripping death flags left and right (for anyone who somehow missed it). It's a bit suspicious how things have been arranged so there's nobody important at Jetstone except Parson and Jack, and Parson has a way out.

However, it's hard to imagine Parson attuning to the shoes. Would he wear them for the rest of the story?

It also occurs to me that anyone with the spell could summon Parson back. And it's Charlie who has done most of the effort to arrange this situation -- giving Parson the spell so he can escape, then trapping him in a situation designed to threaten him slowly but not so slowly that he can't use the scroll. Perhaps Charlie intends for Parson to escape with the scroll so he can summon him himself?

[Noigel]

What a bombshell. Couple of thoughts about the update and conversation here.

- If these Arkenshoes are faked then it would sort of explain why they didn't tell Parson about it... these are not an actual sighting, just a trick played.

- It's a pair of shoes... who's to say each shoe doesn't do something different but together they complement each other. Dun dun duh.

- Judy up, lucid, walking and talking, Wanda being insolent, and the inanimate beings brought back to life... this looks like someone is REALLY trying to piss Olive off.

- Is Stanley attuned to the Arkenhammer? Sure he uses it... but do we know for sure? Seems like he only misuses it really well. Sort of like Ansom used the Arkenpliers except he had no creativity...

- I see Parson as a Breaker. He's in Erfworld to defy it, to bend it past the breaking point. The Arkentools are the ultimate designs of Erfworld. For him to use them would be to conform to Erfworld... that's not Parson. In the end I think he'll want to destroy them and this will bring him at odds with Wanda and her Fate.

[Aquillion]

- Is Stanley attuned to the Arkenhammer? Sure he uses it... but do we know for sure? Seems like he only misuses it really well. Sort of like Ansom used the Arkenpliers except he had no creativity...

Stanley indicated that you can tell if someone is attuned simply by looking at them; the arkentool effectively becomes part of them as a unit. And he's done a lot with it -- flying, electricity, taming Dwagons, transforming walnuts, rocking out -- whereas all Ansom was able to do with the Arkenpliers was use it as a blunt object.

[Nueamin]

Well to be fair I would never have guessed an arkentool would be footwear, however if a Titan did wear shoes I would have pictured blue suede personally. Only the hammer and maybe the pliers seem functional in building a world but I suppose their forms are just superfluous and the magical properties are the only important aspect. It does seem to me though that even the "attuned" don't seem to produce anything helpful to world building so that means to me that...

Titans are able to utilize the abilities far better than even an attuned user can which means that...

a The Arkentools amplify the powers of the individual, putting the powers of creation beyond anyone of Erfworld, but leaving open the possibility that Parson a creator of worlds the possiblity of being/becoming a Titan or Titanlike.

Or b that the Arkentools have a very large pool of undiscovered powers possibly requiring the use of multiple maybe all Arkentools to truly create worlds.

[jkosta]

Wait, there's a wiki now? I didn't know that... So, what you are saying is that Arkentools are sort of magic lamps, something like Hogyoku from Bleach? So, did Ansom want to one hit kill uncroaked, or was that just a fluke of the pliers?

Ansom believed that (1) the Arkentools are holy weapons and (2) the Uncroaked are unholy creatures. I don't really agree with the "Arkentools are just amplifiers of user belief" theory, but Ansom's usage of them isn't a contradiction of it.

[wrecan]

However, it's hard to imagine Parson attuning to the shoes. Would he wear them for the rest of the story?

1) I have a feeling that his return would herald the final arc of the ErfWorld story.
2) As a possible signamancer, he may be able to change the shoes from ruby slippers to red Adidas.

Perhaps Charlie intends for Parson to escape with the scroll so he can summon him himself?

That works too.

[multilis]

The arkenhammer is clearly datomancy because "love is a battlefield", and so many lust for stanley. When sexy Stanley doesn't recipricate they are of course jealous and bitter, eg Jill's "if I can't have him, no one can."

Transforming bird into walnut is linked to "birds and the bees", if you don't understand this, ask your parents please.

The shoes are obviously warmongering croakomancy, shockomancy combo, they are driving their side to attack everyone, and corrupted a once innocent peace loving hippie into a cruel warmonger.

Now where is that wiki? I need to update it with my theories. We obviously have all the facts to prove I am right so I need to update it before others are mislead!

[tgriff02]

This update? In a word? Delicious.

I don't think that we have any evidence to support the golems coming back to life. Judy likes them, Olive hates them, they are combat capable units, they are present. That is all that we really know, but it's enougho f a reason to bring 'em.

I also think that Judy is definitly acting especially lucid at the moment, and that is probably a result of the shoes. Nothing to state it for certain, but I think that it's a fair assumption for now

As far as what happens to the shoes, where was it ever definitively stated that Judy is a Stupidworlder. I know that there has been a lot of speculation, and that is the majority pet theory of the fanbase, but do we have WoG or a in-story statement of fact? If she is then the shoes could send her home, and then teleport themselves to somer andom location on Erf, kind of like the Dragon Balls do after granting their wish. If she's no, then maybe she just make a grand exit with them and lives out the rest of her turns in obscurity.

[drachefly]

Whaaaaa...

...

Huh.

[0beron]

So...theory which I don't think has been said yet, and all credit goes to my roomie who isn't cool enough get on here and post it himself. (He was reading that over my shoulder and started off saying Thank You, and then changes to you son of a banhammer.)

Judy effs Olive up, and then uses the shoes to go back to Stupidworld just like Dorthy, which explains why no mention of them has been made in the present day. Whether her leaving causes Retconjuration, or Wanda simply knows they are gone so she doesn't mention them, this could explain it.

[effataigus]

Now where is that wiki? I need to update it with my theories. We obviously have all the facts to prove I am right so I need to update it before others are mislead!

SIRRAH, I will fight... NAY... FIGHT your debased theories TOOTH AND NAIL. No sane human can conclude anything other than that JILLIAN is the ONE TRUE TITAN and that her DEVOUT and ENTIRELY NON-PLATONIC WOMAN-VERSION OF BROMANCE for MAGGIE (as played IRL by Asha) gave RISE to all of Erfworld out of the fabric of TERRYCLOTH. To those confused as to whether I or my wiki nemesis mutilis has more RIGHTNESS in this matter, consider how many more EXTRANEOUS capital letters I use in lieu of CITATIONS. I will accept your apology, mutilis. IF YOU CAN EVEN BE FORGIVEN. It remains to be seen.

More seriously, kudos to you Wikipedians that fight the good fight. I sympathize with Kriestor's sentiment that wiki's are no place for speculation unless it is labeled as such. I'd like to think that polite discourse could resolve the differences of opinion, but, in lieu of that, a surging screaming mess of histrionics seems to get the job done too... at least in a time averaged sense.

That said, this forum is no wiki. We really should be speculating up a storm right now. We've been given a new ball to play with, so now is the time to see who can throw it the farthest in the greatest tradition of forum speculation. Personally I'm stumped as to the implications of the arkenshoes. My best guess of the powers is the same as other people's guesses... imbuing life into that which formerly only had motion and matter (e.g. living dollamancy golems). However, giving life to the lifeless is strikingly like the pliers' power (as wielded by Wanda)... which is only striking because the other two tools seem to have very little to do with one another. This really does beg the question of whether the tool or the user determines the powers conferred. Yes the pliers seem linked to undead, but to be fair, Ansom seems like the kind of guy who would really want to be able to smite undead.

Also, we haven't had any confirmation that Barton/Maxwell were using the shoes when they made the golems.

Unrelated question... did we ever figure out who was in charge of Haffaton before Judy? Did they seize the side from Charlie? Has anyone speculated much that Charlie and Maxwell are the same person? All we know is that Olive "eliminated" him by denying him the way back when he was exploring thinkamancy through hippymancy. Maybe he transcended his mortal remains and is just out in the ether now? That would explain a lot. The big flaw in this being that Charlie (or someone similar) was in charge of Efbaum before Judy gave him the boot, and, if it was him, that he was clearly still working with Olive when his "accident" happened... well, that and the idea is crazybeans.

[effataigus]

Whaaaaa...
...
Huh.

Also this...

[splexis]

Now would be a good time to direct attention to Hamstard's comment in Parson's first Klog entry: http://www.erfworld.com/book-1-archive/?px=%2F037a.jpg

[Sieggy]

I think we've got it all wrong - there were Arkentools, and Arkenclothes. All in favor of Wanda eventually attuning to the Arkenpanties raise your . . er . . . members.

[Zeku]

Anyway, this Speculation about Tools having Primary associations to schools is clearly and obviously false without a lot more supportable statements in the comic

I'm going to take into account that you have some interest in the wiki (I couldn't care less) and that you've interacted with energetic people, concerning the wiki. I'm also going to take into account that your statement is probably not meant to be 100% true, but is just normal communication.

With that established, this sentence is false.

The hammer may be a smorgasborg of magic schools and unrelated effects, but the dish and the pliers have functions that are closely tied to one specific magic school. They have demonstrated no abilities (except creating, taming, or production-enabling of specific units) unrelated to that particular school. For example: decrypting might be completely unrelated to decroaking, but they are similar enough that we can't reasonably argue that they aren't the same type of thing. Seeing that this cannot be disputed, all "tool-school" discussions are on topic and logically valid. They may be boring, but they cannot be discredited with any information we have.

[Arky]

Wanda did everything she could to get an Arkentool of her own, attempting to ensnare Stanley and then Ansom. Whether or not the Arkenshoes here are fake, obviously Haffaton knows about them... but there's no way Wanda knows the location of them at the end of this story. Unless, I suppose, she does try them on and finds that she doesn't attune to them.

Also, this strip made me feel like someone should be saying "boom, headshot" to Olive real soon now.

[Arky]

I'm quite certain that Orwell doesn't survive whatever's about to happen. In Book 1, when Jill tells Ansom and, later, Caesar, about how Faq was able to survive for so long, she says they used a combination of foolamancy and predictamancy, with no mention of lookamancy.

The only characters guaranteed to survive Book 0 are Jack, Marie and Wanda (of the casters), Jillian, and King Banhammer.

Yeah, Orwell's probably toast. I suspect Olive will throw him under the oncoming bus and Judy will disband him.

I think Judy will die of hero-bud withdrawal, too (way to go taking her bud away, Jillian, I shall predict in advance) but not before disbanding Olive. Thus will Haffaton fall and fade away.

[Chevalier]

Love this update!

My guesses:
1) Arkenshoes also contribute to Judy's skill at offing casters. Maybe they make her immune to spells? If this is true, wearing them, she cannot be foiled by Olive's hippiemancy or by bud use (remember we've seen even Maggie manipulate Stanley). The shoes break the effect of the bud for as long as they're worn.

2) Wanda's out-of-school spell may have been findamancy (locate slippers) or healing (restore Judy's sanity, in which case they don't break the bud effect, or these aren't the actual arkenshoes).

3) Arkenshoes look different depending on who wears them. Titans=blue suede shoes (thanks for whoever said that first). Judy=ruby slippers. If Parson wore them, Converse all stars, or maybe white Adidas with no laces a la Run DMC.

4) Judy will spill the beans on what Olive has been doing all this time; tin man and scarecrow will restrain Olive during the exposition. At the end, she clicks her heels three times and disappears, but not the shoes - Dorothy didn't take them back to Kansas. In the books, they are also physically lost in Oz. I'm picturing Judy vanishing, leaving the shoes behind - but then the shoes slowly fading away.

5) Wanda turns, if she has not done so already.

6) Olive is then ruler of Haffaton, at which point Jillian goes choppy-choppy with the giant sword.

7) Orwell croaks due to decapitation strike with no heir.

8) Lack of lookamancer eventually enables Stanley to arrive unannounced (with help from Wanda, of course). Or maybe Orwell re-turns in time, and it's just Wanda's manipulation of events that fools the trio.

9) Among the controls behind the curtain are those for the fireball machine - maybe someone gets toasted? Or we'll see something left behind by the Wizard which will further confirm his identity?

10) If Judy goes home, so will Parson - though he will come back, and possibly not alone. The question then becomes who summons him next time (Jetstone? Charlie? GK again?), and whether anyone else attempts the spell (arms race).

[name lips]

Yeah, Orwell's probably toast. I suspect Olive will throw him under the oncoming bus and Judy will disband him.

Orwell is a Haffaton unit, therefore he obeys Judy, not Olive, should their orders conflict.

They are still under the effects of the Chillaxe, so nobody can attack or fight until the turn starts, but Judy can still disband Olive at any moment if she wants to.