Tom Sewell

Can be. Adrian can change his appearance. In fact, he seems to have some morphing ability like Grace. Without his elf ears, he can't taste magic. This is like Grace losing special senses when she morphs away her antennae. Check out my comments for Monday's comic for my "Adrian as horndog" theory. I think it's still the simplest explanation and the most consistent with today's comic. The last person we know Pandora was with was Susan when she snatched up Tiny Jerry. Susan looks like Adrian's natural form--in at least one early strip, she was said to have Vulcan-like ears. "Of course they're his." But what about the Woman With Susan's Face? Say, has anyone considered the possibility that Adrian can also be Adrienne?

Ever since Grace noticed that her illusion disguise looked like Susan back in Death Sentence, I've thought that if Adrian did father any children he might have thought it best to have someone else raise them in order to keep their Immortal ancestry secret. Also since Adrian told Grace in Death Sentence that he was the reason there was no chance of reconciliation between Tedd's parents I've thought that Noriko might have had a child with Adrian, because she'd fallen in love with him, or because she wanted to have a child with enough talent to carry on her family tradition, or for both reasons. So maybe Tedd actually has a half-sibling in common with Susan and Diane. And thanks to not-Tengu, it is canon that Tedd's mom has at least one other child. Aside from the possibility that Dan may decide this particular other shoe on us sometime, if Adrian did have children he felt he couldn't raise himself, it would go a long way toward explaining how important Noah is to him, and how important Tedd was before Edward broke with Adrian. Since Adrian knew both Noriko and Edward when they were teenagers (and maybe before then), extra guilt points for breaking with them. A further extension to my Amazing Crackpot Plot Theory™ is that Adrian is actually behind the blacked-out face of Susan's dad (here, here, and here). Why not? It's canon that Adrian can change his appearance. And it also has congruence with his blacked-out face in the flashback scene with Noriko when Tedd was an infant. For this to be true, Adrian has to be a horn-dog, a cheating cheater who cheated (where did I hear that phrase before?). It doesn't seem to fit what we've seen so far. But it does explain why Adrian seems to have been totally absent from Susan's life since the divorce. As much as Susan's mom hates her ex-husband, she didn't want Susan to hate him, so Susan's mom shouldn't have denied him visitation. (I wish Dan would get around to giving first names to the parents in this series besides Edward) Anyway, if Adrian actually raised Susan for awhile, he would miss her terribly, feel terribly guilty, and if Diane is also his daughter, he would be having constant reminders to renew his guilt. Now that fits. However, there's still the other woman with Susan's face. If Susan's memories are correct, that woman would likely be her real mother and Adrian would have been...ugh. Thanks, Dan. Well, maybe Adrian has a sister and Susan really is Adrian's niece.

Exactly. Grace is disguised to look like Adrian's "niece", or what Adrian believes his "niece" should look like. Which happens to be exactly what Susan looks like. But wait, there's more. Susan may have no idea that she looks like the true form of Adrian Raven, but Adrian would see the resemblance. And moreover, Adrian must have seen the resemblance between himself and Diane. This could help explain why he "bought" Diane's "dumb-valley-girl" act back on Grace's first day of school.

Anybody else wonder why Pandora was in Susan's room, but didn't say anything to her? If Grace can see a resemblance between Adrian's true form and Susan, surely Pandora can. Also, Susan is Sarah's BFF. Possibly relevant to the title of this chapter?

Yes there is, in Hammerchlorians Jerry mentions that there's half-Immortal that they can ask for help if needed and Grace, who's standing right next to Sarah, says "You mean Mr Raven? He's my History teacher." and then goes on to describe how they all already knew about him. I missed that one, which gave me a real kick-myself moment, since Hammerchlorians is one of my favorite story arcs. But there's no evidence Sarah has ever actually met Adrian Raven. Even if Sarah had actually seen Adrian with his mother, she has no reason to connect the adult Pandora with the child "Box" unless sometime "off-screen" someone has told her that Immortals are shapechangers (although she might well have heard by now that Helen and Demetrius appeared both as normal-sized elves and as diminutive fairies--but even then, she might assume they were using fairy spells like Nanase and Susan.)

There's nothing in canon that proves Sarah knows anything about Adrian, even that he's Grace and Ellen's History teacher. Now Sarah is quite close to Grace now, but Grace seems pretty good at keeping secrets when she wants to. There's no indication that Grace has told Sarah that Sam is really physically female, a lesser secret than Adrian Raven being a half-immortal wizard, and Grace can't have told Sarah that Adrian is Pandora's son since Adrian has never told Grace more than that one of his parents was an Immortal.

I'm hoping we can go on to the equivalent of the complete body switches so beloved of Sailorsun.org. I wonder if Ellen could do this with Brownie and Elliot. After all, we've only seen Ellen as a talking cat, and we've never seen Elliot chasing mice even once.

Maybe what Pandora started to tell Pandora before the interplanetary "WHAT!?" panel ended that part of the story applies in some special way to Sarah. Maybe about a relationship between Sarah and herself Pandora did not suspect was possible before? That might explain the strange way she's looking at Sarah now.

I just posted a brainstorm about Ashley in the Moar thread which inspired me to start a thread about All Things Ashley (which would have made a better title, but too late now. My brainstorm was that the magnifiying glass mark at the end of the first part of Squirrel Prophet just might be Ashley's. Which leads to the larger question: Does Ashley have any magic talent(s)? Which leads on ultimately to the question of questions: Why Ashley? Some of my thoughts follow. You may want some coffee or other caffeinated beverage to stay awake. Ashley Is Lois Lane to Sarah's Lana Lang Since Elliot himself isn't really up on the whole Superman mythos, I'll explain that Lana Lang is Superboy's first girlfriend, the one he leaves behind in Smallville when he graduates, goes to Metropolis, and becomes Superman. If you don't know who Lois Lane is, shame on you. I wouldn't put my money on this one, yet. Ashley Is the Transitional Girl That is, the girl you date right after a breakup, before you move on to your next serious relationship. In the real world, this would be very plausible. In the Moperverse, maybe less so. The Shive has stated He had wanted to introduce Ashley for a long time before she actually showed up. That's a lot of work for a throwaway character. And Elliot being Elliot, he'll feel obligated to stick with her until he's absolutely sure it's better for everyone to break up. Plus, that's kind of repeating the same thing that happened with Sarah just before Ashley. Now while repeats like that are all too common in realworld, I for one would be disappointed if it happened here, and I might not be alone. Ashley Is Doomed One way to remove Ashley is to kill her off. This seems pretty harsh for EGS, but real death has been an occasional visitor to the Mopervers: Damien, Noah's parents, and, most recently, Adrian's dad. This is a trope that gets used quite a lot in the superhero genre and notoriously in long-running series, usually when an actor quits or an actor. It is also a feature of coming-of-age stories, and what is EGS but a teenage soap opera with weird stuff thrown in? Once again, I wouldn't put my money on it. The Shive was broken up by Daddy Raven's death. Despite the opportunities for some awesome reactions by the rest of the gang to Ashley's death, I don't think it will really happen. Well, I hope not. Ashley Is Tedd's Sister Now this one is edging into ASB territory (ASB=Alien Space Bats). But Ashley, like Tedd, is Asian or part-Asian; we haven't seen her parents; and she just might have exhibited some Tedd-like insights. Also she's obsessed with transformations, tends to go on and on about things once she gets rolling, gets into her zone and blocks out everthing else (Ashley at the bookstore; Tedd doing almost anything in the basement.) Of course, this would seem to mean that Ashley and Tedd are twins. Or does it? We don't know exactly how old Ashley is, and we don't know when Tedd's mom took off. The only time in the entire canon so far that we have seen Tedd and his mom together was when Tedd was such a small baby he probably couldn't stand up yet. Ashley could be only a year younger than Tedd, so it would be plausible they could both be seniors in the same high school. As for why they wouldn't have noticed each other, we do know that Ashley is from California. When did she move to Moperville? Ashley's first appearance in story-time comes after Family Ties, so it's the new year and the spring semester. Ashley could have been at Moperville North for only a few days before she hooked up with Elliot. Another point: Ashley seems surprised that it's going to be very cold somewhere near Chicago in January. Kind of like she still hasn't shaken California out of her head yet, no? Of course, Ashley isn't one of the three sisters on the title page of Sister III. And Tedd's mom is in Europe, right? Right? Not perchance in Moperville working up to finally seeing her son again face-to-face? Ashley Is From Another Universe Nothing at all to support this yet, but Ashley could indeed have come from California--just not the same California as the one in Elliot's universe. Ashley could be completely unaware of this. Her parents could be unaware of this; maybe they made a wrong turn Albuquerque. Ashley Is Another Catspaw Someone posited that Ashley is really Pandora on this forum. I'm not sure how serious they were. Anyway, while Pandora could make herself look and sound like Ashley (and Voltaire could at least mimic her voice), we've gotten a lot of Ashley's thoughts from the very first. Ashley is a real person in her own right. Which is not to say she's not being used by someone else. Maybe more than one someone. What could be a motivation for a manipulator like Pandora or Voltaire to bring Ashley together with Elliot? Pandora might have maneuvered them together for her own amusement, or for deeper reasons. Pandora says in Squirrel Prophet that Tedd is her great godson. Maybe Pandora is afraid Grace will fall for Elliot too and thus hurt Tedd, so Pandora makes sure Elliot gets another girlfriend right after the breakup with Sarah. But who knows with Pandora? Voltaire might have put them together to set up the incident happened at the mall. If he tried to keep Ashley from intervening once the griffin appeared, it would make him somewhat less evil. Or maybe he was just adding some more spice to his game. I rather think Voltaire is as crazy or crazier than Pandora. That "better world" Voltaire spoke of to The Detective may just mean better for Voltaire. The Government might have arranged to put Ashley in Moperville as part of a secret policy of concentrating people with detected superpowers, even dormant ones, where they can be more easily monitored. ---- Okay, enough to get this started. Let's have some more musings about Ashley. There are still many unanswered questions, such as why the heck won't her parents tell her where in Asia they come from? I mean, they would really know, wouldn't they? They wouldn't be anything like North Korean sleeper agents, would they?

Maybe a ninegu?

The nobility spoke French, but they were a tiny, tiny minority. The thing is, they stopped speaking French after the end of the Hundred Years war. Hank the fourth was the first native-English speaker to reign since the Norman Conquest--that's 419 years of kings who either spoke no English at all or learned it as a second language. Now if England had conquered France and the same dynasty went on reigning, the focus of government and culture would have shifted to France the longer that went on. England would basically become to France as Scotland became to England after James VI of Scotland became James I of England as well. Anyone English who wanted to get ahead would learn French. I don't agree with all of Pratt's insights. Given that Henry VI of England (who would have become Henry II of France instead of the Henry II who was Louis IV's grandad) turned out to be a long-lived flake, the prospects of a lasting Plantagenet dynasty in France don't seem too likely. But it is a phenomenon that's been seen elsewhere, most notably in China which has been absorbing its "conquerers" for three or four millenia so far. At that time there were something like ten Frenchmen for every Englishman. The English had to play a long catch-up game, but now the English in England outnumber the French in France.

If they believed they'd broken the rules, that would have been enough. And that's what's wrong with the Immortal rules: They punish nice Immortals like H&D, and let loose cannons like Voltaire do all sorts of rolling around the deck.

There's a very old, very classic history by Fletcher Pratt called The Battles That Changed History and if you live in Canada you can read it for free online. Or I guess if you are a student or faculty member of the University of Pennsylvania. Some libraries may still have it; I read my first copy from a library when I was in high school Anyway, Pratt rates the most decisive battle of the Hundred Years War not as one of the spectacular victories of the English (Cressy, Poitoirs and Agincourt) but the seige of Orleans. That chapter is called Joan of Arc and the Non-Conquest of France. And Pratt rates it as decisive for a reason which you probably won't guess: If England had actually permanently conquered France, it would have been absorbed by France and French culture, and we would all be French now. Talk about a close call.

My guess is that we'll switch to another scene on Monday, leaving us in suspense as to just what Elliot has in mind for awhile. And perhaps giving Dan time to figure out exactly what Elliot has in mind, because the most basic factoid about Immortals in this comic is that they can't be seen. Elliot has seen exactly three, plus maybe Box/Pandora/Chaos/Creepy Floating Girl on TV when Carol was interviewing Rhoda at the end of Sister II. Unless they're diverted by more vampires (a real possibility) Helen and Demetrius have been watching Elliot for a long time, but Elliot doesn't have a clue that they're doing that. Of course we don't have a clue why they're doing that. They don't have a clue. I think the most plausible reason why they remember so little is that their meddling with Susan and Nanase triggered a forced reset. Probably because of how upset Susan was because they do remember her from before, even if they don't know why. Nanase didn't seem to be upset at all about getting awakened--although she would have been concerned for Susan afterwards and she felt she had to hide her magic from her mother. Obviously Nanase is upset with them now. Anyway, they could just pop in Monday, but I think if they were going to do any popping soon, they would have done it in this episode, perhaps as a voice from an unseen source in the final panel. It's more Dan-Friday-ish.

Shakespeare wrote one play about Rich the Deuce and two about the fourth Harry. Rich and Harry were grandsons of Edward III, the king who started the Hundred Years War.

A reset isn't what Pandora had in mind, I think. But it was hard for her to remember the previous magic reset. That was unfortunate. It's pretty clear that the last magic reset was done to deprive something like an army of Damiens of their terrible power. Which leads me to think that maybe Noah's father and his "friends" knew something about that fire-throwing horde and were trying to re-create them to be used as super-soldiers. Anyway, if Pandora had remembered that magic could change and that a lot of magic use might have something to do with the change, she might not have dammed up Moperville and marked so many Mopervillains. Mopervillians? Well, "villain" is actually an old French word for a peasant. King Richard II is supposed to have said to his revolting peasants "Villains ye are, and villians ye shall remain!" after going back on his promises to reform the laws and taxes that oppressed them. He got away with it, but double-crossing became an habit with Rich #2, and he made one too many of them by trying to un-Duke his cousin Henry of Bolingbroke. Unlike Dick #1, Rich #2 wasn't a warrior but his cuz was. Pretty soon Cousin Harry was King Henry IV and Rich #2 was dead.

Factoring out the so-far hypothetical clone-beam, what I originally envisioned was Magus sort of riding Ellen's beam to possess Elliot's body. Then the Dewitchery Diamond should split off the possession as a "curse." However, this could result in another female version of Elliot with Magus' memories in addition to Elliot's. Or maybe the Dewitchery Diamond would separate the "curses" from each other and we'd get three Elliots: Elliot (the Original Series); Ellen Part Deux (Just Elliot's memories in a female body and beam magic, again); and Magus (body by Elliot.) So that would mean either one nose beep or two more lotteries fixed, plus maybe a bigger Dunkel home because they all can't fit in Ellen-Ellen and Elliot-Elliot's room. And as for Ellen's FV5 zappings wearing off, keep Vladia in mind.

Seems to work pretty good for Vladia.

Magus believes that if he can be right there when Ellen zaps Elliot, he'll get a new body. Someone has to have told him this, probably Pandora. But maybe not a new male body. Pandora did tell Magus that the Dewitchery Diamond was necessary for his revival. That might suggest that in his new female body he has to touch the DD to hive off a male version. Of course, that would leave him with a new sister, wouldn't it? One more nose beep...

Well, if Magus is the Elliot of his universe (a theory I have subscribed to and may have even originated), yes, Terra is a good candidate for a Tedd. Too bad we don't know if she has purple hair. But... I just noticed. The pre-cursed version of Magus has hair that does not look like it could be brown. Or red. Or any colors except white or blond. Maybe Magic did an Ellen on him for dramatic effect?

Has anyone thought that Magus might be from Lord Tedd's universe? From what little we've seen, Lord Tedd seems to live in a sort of dungeon/mother-of-all-bunkers/James-Bond-villain-secret-underground-base. Or maybe Gru's basement. Anyway, if they are from the same universe, Magus may not know about Lord Tedd or just doesn't recognize Tedd as the Moperverse's version of his home universe's Final Boss.

I'm wondering if Dan meant "All of Ellen's spells are canon even if the scenes aren't." If so, I suspect, just as I suspected Marker/Escape From the Mall, that there's a reason Dan decided to do this now, that reason being he wants to establish things to use in the main story. How about a spell that allows Ellen to clone a duplicate? That is, an independent copy of her target? Using it on herself, Ellen could get something like Nanase's Fox. Using it on someone else, she would duplicate that person. And maybe if it was a male person, Ellen would duplicate the Dewitchery Diamond's feat of creating an independent female version of that person--perhaps a permanent version, like Ellen herself. And that could lead to Sister IV: Quest for Nose Beeps.

Do any of you realize that if you change one letter in "DGB" it becomes "KGB"? Yes, now we have the truth! This must be the new guise of the organization which brought one of the most terrifying monsters to our world... ...The San Diego Chicken!

What is Tedd's ultimate dream? Making magic available to everyone. It's not even something he needs to think about, it's natural to him. Maybe that's the prospective second purpose he cannot find out without losing eligibility: Determining how magic will change. And it might not change just for humans; it might also change magic for aberrations, fairies, griffins, uryuom...certain part-alien part-squirrel girls...

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