Discussion for comic for 2025-05-09 (Friday) ✣ .
Working on your Doctorate in Mad Science? Consider making Girl Genius your dissertation topic.
The three names Kjarl mentions, possibly names or at least nicknames of the three Dreen, are ZULFAR, TAZA, and NELTH, written in the Ancient Astronaut Alien font [1], which has previously been used for the Dreen's whispering. Mskala (talk) 11:58, 9 May 2025 (UTC)
Now we begin to see exactly what a Vozzler is. At this point it appears a Vozzler can see many if not all possible outcomes for an event but cannot predict the exact final outcome. He sees probable outcomes based on actions or things leading up to an outcome based on the likely hood of contributing factors. While a Vozzler cannot cause a particular outcome he can "see" the result of contributing occurrences and actions and choose the actions that give the best chance of achieving the desired outcome. Sort of like a bookie predicts score and other milestones in a sporting match. Dperra.sr (talk) 13:25, 9 May 2025 (UTC)
- It seems to me that a Vozzler is not merely a scribe of events, but in some way acts to stage them--a stage manager, of sorts. I'm getting the impression he is trying to actively pull events toward a "desirable outcome." My guess is he is not able to actually control these, but rather can ... aggressively nudge them, maybe? After all, he does indicate he's having to concentrate. Dmbreakey (talk) 14:10, 9 May 2025 (UTC)
- Yeah, and I think the topological similarity to knitting from the aside with Dimo way back when is about intertwining the stories together, but it's also mentioned as possibly deadly in that if it's done wrong, entire realities come to an end. Admittedly the comment in the last panel doesn't give warm fuzzies about Kjarl's prioritizing the continuation of Europa as a world, but as with his intervention with the fish suit in the great cetacean, he does seem to have some willingness to prioritize future pathways. (Come to think of it, if it's going to be Agatha's problem to keep reality continuing in this plane, it may very well be that she's going to need the help of the great cetaceans, and that going unarmed with her fish suit to meet with the Deepspeaker made that possible.)
- To drop to a Doylian explanation, lots of folks have previously noted that a Vozzler is also a storyteller and a dramatist (in addition to being a knitter of existence, of sourts), but also that Kjarl seems to be a bit of an extra avatar for the Foglios in the story. One of the things we all love about this story is how many times we get a big reveal and it turns out that it was something that's been getting woven into the story for a decade the whole time. I think there's a bit of a statement here about how the Foglios see what they do in creating the story. If the threads aren't woven together properly, then the "reality" of the GG world falls apart. If they aren't woven together with sufficient drama, they lose readership and it *also* puts the story at risk of falling apart. MTBinDurham (talk) 17:32, 9 May 2025 (UTC)