• Announcements

    • Robin

      Welcome!   03/05/2016

      Welcome, everyone, to the new 910CMX Community Forums. I'm still working on getting them running, so things may change.  If you're a 910 Comic creator and need your forum recreated, let me know and I'll get on it right away.  I'll do my best to make this new place as fun as the last one!
The Old Hack

Comic for Wednesday 9, February 2022

Recommended Posts

Ah, Lumos, the wand-lighting spell. Low in energy requirement and relatively harmless if anything goes wrong. Perfect for a first attempt, but hopefully Ashley will be ready to move on to the next spell before she gets too bored.

And yes, Ashley should probably be thinking less along the lines of “Merlin and Gandalf” and more along the lines of “first-year Hogwarts student”.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

"The Toothpick in the Pebble?"

Lumos would be a pretty useful spell, especially if you could get more than the little flashbulb pop that Ashley seems to be managing. A little flashlight is part of my EDC. It would be nice to have one less thing to haul around.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Amiable Dorsai said:

"The Toothpick in the Pebble?"

Lumos would be a pretty useful spell, especially if you could get more than the little flashbulb pop that Ashley seems to be managing. A little flashlight is part of my EDC. It would be nice to have one less thing to haul around.

Cell phone? Beam does not go far, but it's good for when you drop a small item in a dark corner.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I like Tedd in panels 3 & 4. "What? I don't want to make a talking wand like you." "(Kind of the opposite, now that you've demonstrated the downside of a speaking appliance.") ... "O-of course! The majesty of Kevin is beyond you!"  <eye roll> "Right" "(Whatever it takes for you to get out of someone's pocket in the morning.)"

Anyway, swords in stones are not a great basis for selecting your next monarch.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
55 minutes ago, Darth Fluffy said:

Anyway, swords in stones are not a great basis for selecting your next monarch.

However, they are a great way to give a hero* a nice power boost.

* The sort that tends to be named "Link", for example.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I suspect she was rather referring to the movie, which has a major wizard duel in it.  Plus changing to various animal forms.  She did say it was one of her favorite movies.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The early assumption would have Tedd as Ashley's teacher and Kevin as a teaching tool

Unfortunately, Kevin sees himself as the teacher and Tedd as a teaching assistant

University politics can be far more vicious than what is encountered in any governmental institution

 

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
13 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

University politics can be far more vicious than what is encountered in any governmental institution

And now you have a government run teaching "institution".  Politics could get nasty.  But I expect The Dan to avoid that sort of thing, because it's not funny most of the time.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
7 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:

Anyway, swords in stones are not a great basis for selecting your next monarch.

I believe the original quote goes "Fishy ladies in ponds handing out swords to random passersbys is not a rational basis for creating a government."

<is briefly tempted to ask this to go to the political thread instead just to brighten the place up a little>

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I just looked up the script, and the quote was:

Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.”

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Just now, ijuin said:

I just looked up the script, and the quote was:

Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.”

Help, help, I am being oppressed! :icon_cry:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It is the same sword, different circumstances, so I reworded it. I did not recall the exact quote, but I did look it up. The Internet, t'is a silly place.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The sword in the stone wasn't Excalibur, at least in most written version of the Arthurian stories.  And it was the one the made Arthur king.  So, the whole strange women thing is wrong from the jump.  Malory doesn't name the sword in the stone and Excalibur is later given to Arthur after he was king.  And if you are talking King Arthur, Malory is you go to source.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, mlooney said:

And if you are talking King Arthur, Malory is you go to source.

Depends if you are discussing Arthur of classical legend, literature, cinema, or the folklore of the middle ages, renaissance, or English Romanticism

Unless the subject is the sorta historical Riothamus, playing mix & match with elements of Arthurian legend is not usually a problem

Besides, Malory completely ignored the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.  So how accurate can he really be?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Unless the subject is the sorta historical Riothamus, playing mix & match with elements of Arthurian legend is not usually a problem

My understanding is that unless one is discussing a specific version of Arthurian legend, playing mix & match (and if presenting your own version, adding in cool things no one ever thought of before) is standard procedure.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Depends if you are discussing Arthur of classical legend, literature, cinema, or the folklore of the middle ages, renaissance, or English Romanticism

Very few of which have "The Sword in the Stone" and "The Sword of the Lake" being the same thing.  It's a modern (Well, late 1800's) invention that they were the same.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

There’s also the matter that one of the many supposed etymologies for the name “Excalibur” is “ex calce liber”, Latin for “Liberated From The Stone”.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

And then we have parody versions...

(I wrote an opening for one. Artie was a pre-teen or barely-teen orphan and food-thief who, while running from the shire-reeve, hoped to get lost in a crowd - and suddenly had to try to jump over that rock and sword. Just barely failed. Landed on her back with the sword in her hand... and I stopped there.)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, ijuin said:

There’s also the matter that one of the many supposed etymologies for the name “Excalibur” is “ex calce liber”, Latin for “Liberated From The Stone”.

Google give that as "Free from lime", which really isn't the same.  Stone is lapis.  Liberated from the stone, at least according to Google is Liberatus de Lapide.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
5 hours ago, mlooney said:

Google give that as "Free from lime", which really isn't the same.  Stone is lapis.  Liberated from the stone, at least according to Google is Liberatus de Lapide.

Yeah, it’s a force-fit, which is why it is just one of many fringe theories instead of being accepted as mainstream.

BTW: “calce” is from “calx”, the same root word from which we get “calculus” and “calculate”, because of the stones used in a Roman abacus.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
17 hours ago, mlooney said:

Very few of which have "The Sword in the Stone" and "The Sword of the Lake" being the same thing.  It's a modern (Well, late 1800's) invention that they were the same.

 

What a coincidence! We are having this discussion in that same era.

 

22 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Besides, Malory completely ignored the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.  So how accurate can he really be?

When dealing with hand grenades, requirement for accuracy loosens up a bit. As the saying goes, "Almost don't count, except for horse shoes and hand grenades."

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
19 hours ago, mlooney said:

Very few of which have "The Sword in the Stone" and "The Sword of the Lake" being the same thing.  It's a modern (Well, late 1800's) invention that they were the same.

So I'm by no means an expert, but I've been doing a little bit research into Arthurian myth, and I was under the impression that originally "The Sword in the Stone" and "The Sword of the Lake" were explanations given by different stories for where Arthur got his special sword from.

I don't have time to look up more reliable sources, but according to the Wikipedia article for Excalibur, the first tale to mention "the Sword in the Stone" was Robert de Boron's poem "Merlin" c. 1200. This sword was explicitly identified as Excalibur in the prose "Merlin", but later (still in the 13th century) the Post-Vulgate Cycle tells that Arthur broke the Sword in the Stone in battle and then later got Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake. Mallory followed the lead of the Post-Vulgate Cycle, but apparently named both of Arthur's swords Excalibur!

So in conclusion: The Sword in the Stone and The Sword in the Lake are not the same sword in any single early source, but they are  both Excalibur.

19 hours ago, ijuin said:

There’s also the matter that one of the many supposed etymologies for the name “Excalibur” is “ex calce liber”, Latin for “Liberated From The Stone”.

The etymology given on Wikipedia is "Caledfwlch" (Welsh "hard" + "breach/cleft") > "Caliburnus" (Latin, coined by Geoffrey of Monmouth) > "Escalibor" (Old French) > "Excalibur".

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
6 minutes ago, ChronosCat said:

So in conclusion: The Sword in the Stone and The Sword in the Lake are not the same sword in any single early source, but they are  both Excalibur.

I can live with this.  Sorta.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now