Jaggy: This will not hold me long; prepare to continue the rampage; ha ha!
Aspected Chaos: *displays sick new epic feat*
Jaggy: Deception Fail – BIG TWISTY EXPOSITION TIME / YOU COULDNT HANDLE THE TRUTH BEFORE.
Yup. Jags isn’t necessarily lying: what he says lines up with what Zoss said two chapters ago. He may be unaware that Zoss is trying to break the cycle (or rather, betting on *Allison* breaking the cycle); or Zoss might simply be lying.
Metatron, scribe of God, that was closest to YISUN and most learned of Their paradoxical nature and, more bluntly, cutting sense of humor and comic timing.
Lets review our liturgy, friends. When Aesma was just slightly too insistent on seeking the True Name of God, how did YISUN respond? Imprisonment, destruction, exile? Nope. YISUN, ever the teacher, showed her the answer. That this lesson had a side effect of boiling the eyes from her skull as she beheld the full shape of reality should perhaps not be overlooked.
Roll on down the Kalpa. God is gone. Throne is in decay, and then Zoss, some pissant wannabe dimension lord kicks down the door and starts slaying the Prime Angels, and has the audacity to demand the multitudal names of YISUN from Metatron.
So what does Metatron do to punish this hubris and grotesque over-reach? They do as YISUN has done before. Answer the question, in the way that will cause the most educational damage to the supplicant. Zoss obtains incredible power and builds the walls of an eternal inescapable self-sustaining prison of false enlightenment around his own self.
Amount of rope given, the percise amount needed to facilitate hanging.
A healthy appreciation for the absurdity of existence is one of those things of which YISUN really did try to demonstrate the necessity; it’s the through-line of like half their damn psalms.
That said: Metatron’s play of “Oh so you think you wanna be the new God, tiny dude? Cool cool cool, lets see how you dig being in the center of an endless reality of which you are simultaneous lord and ultimate doomed helpless observer, because paradox, son! Welcome the Being YISUN” does have a certain ‘make them smoke the whole pack of cigarettes’ wholesome charm to it.
Shame about the countless trillions of souls caught in the gears of this object lesson, but it does otherwise have a certain respectability
I don’t keen on Zoss as the Big Bad, if my read has merit that would still fall on Metatron. Cause setting up a dude to rule an ironic multiversal hell of all possibility time and space as petty revenge / spite / malicious-compliance-based education is still much shady, if only for the amount of collateral damage to literally everyone for all time.
Zoss snatched the golden saucer and has ended up as a somewhat mean-spirited parody of pre-Division YISUN. Master of All Reality, Apparent Lord of Time, but trapped all the same by the scope of his own power. The Tower Built and Never Taken Apart.
Power is the trap, just as thoroughly as Omniscience was YISUN’s cage. The Successor is the 3rd Option. Instead of the sterile circle or the naval-gazing myopic hell of absolute Royalty; Division.
…The observable fact that our Successor most achieves Division (metaphysical) through Fusion (literal) is just Paradox.
I’m curious about what it means for the wheel to be reset? Does that mean it goes pack all the way to the beginning with Yisun splitting, and everything play out exactly the same? is there a moment that things get reset to, that isn’t the beginning of the universe? how would anyone find out about previous cycles if the universe is reset?
When one is part of the wheel, and those parts are used to make a new wheel, those remain. It is when you are not the true Craftsman, and seek to improve on the previous Craftsman’s work.
Those who merely live on the wheel are cast into the All to become the Something.
I think Juggernaut Star was punished severely for that. She acted impetuously. The plan was always to purge the old king anyway, so why not do it the very instant the Key was transferred?
Juggernaut missed the timing by thiiiis much, and returned with an empty-headed Zaid.
And set in motion a very interesting new take on the endless cycle.
Micheal even said Juggernaut Star broke Metatron’s prophecy, leading to Jagg capturing Zaid. Indeed, that very panel shows Jagganoth staring them down.
Perhaps Jagganoth did not capture the heir from Juggernaut, as we have been told, but was given Zaid willingly? Maybe Juggernaut also gave him this very intel, in a successful attempt to awaken the Red God to his role in Metatron’s monomyth?
Jagganoth reminds me a lot of Colonel Kurtz. A warrior-poet undertaking his plots and plans based upon sheer conviction because he can’t trust anything outside of his own mind any more.
Needless to say, I’ll be reading his lines in Marlon Brando’s voice from now on.
“We train young men to drop fire on people, but they won’t allow me to wipe out existence and end all suffering forever because that would be obscene.”
I’ve always thought that Zoss is Zaid trapped in a time loop, and that reality and time in this story are literally cyclical. It would explain all those stories of the gods hanging out with YISUN when that’s impossible. It’d also explain the prophecy of the ice cube demiurge made about Zaid; it’s not a prophecy, it’s a memory.
My theory is that Alison is Zoss’s latest attempt to break the loop. I also think the emo fire wheel angel is a past iteration of Alison somehow.
Every time protagonist fuses, there’s a new name. Kill Six Billion Demons might be the name of some other fusion, with some additional folks in it, that may also use he/him pronouns. And I only just thought of that.
Given the nature of the reality described here, if Alison is to become YISUN, then she will fuse with all of reality will she not? Six billion demons may only be the start of her fusions.
I find this webcomic truly beautiful in the questions that it raises. I also find that I actually care about the conclusion of it, and what happens to the people involved…
Crackpot theory – Zoss dies on Earth at the beginning of each cycle, and he has iterated the time loop once for each person on Earth that day, population approx 6,000,000,000. Time loops are concurrent and unending, so everyone on Earth is stuck forever in a cycle of rebirth, and all are ruinously corroded by it. Only Alison breaks the wheel.
Also something, something, I am a consummate liar, a fiction author, and worse, fanfic.
42 Fragments the Universe Beyond All Reintegration
Last page, I was unimpressed with AC lifting the island. I’m still not so impressed with the _act_ — about time Allison did something at this level — but the _view_ of it in panel 1 is highly impressive, more so each time I look at it. And that’s good art.
Jaggy: This will not hold me long; prepare to continue the rampage; ha ha!
Aspected Chaos: *displays sick new epic feat*
Jaggy: Deception Fail – BIG TWISTY EXPOSITION TIME / YOU COULDNT HANDLE THE TRUTH BEFORE.
Calling thorns for the next page
I’ve been here since the fight in Hell 6 and I will admit that I’m a little lost on the plot; but then, all explanations are lies.
And yet, all explanations are true. They are not the Truth, though.
They are the snippets of Truth seen by the Self filtered through the I. The Me gives voice to the parts perceived of the whole unseen.
*Hell 71*
I’m sure i’ve seen that trick before somewhere…
Allison: “Cool story, bro…”
I don’t really like the way this comic has been going so far. I think I will start reading from the beginning again and try for a different ending.
*Flips coin*
Heads
*Flips coin*
Heads
*Flips coin*
Heads
*Flips coin*
Heads
Everyone seems to be so sure that Jagganoth is shitting us. But is it so? Look ye back at KOS 10-141, where Zoss himself declares:
“I have built a PRISON. Not only for MYSELF, but for the VERY WORLD”.
And note ye well that he proclames it while standing on the Wheel with Metatron in the background.
Both Kings may be liars, but their lies do correspond.
Yup. Jags isn’t necessarily lying: what he says lines up with what Zoss said two chapters ago. He may be unaware that Zoss is trying to break the cycle (or rather, betting on *Allison* breaking the cycle); or Zoss might simply be lying.
…ohh…
Oh! Oh that is just Mean, Metatron!
Metatron, scribe of God, that was closest to YISUN and most learned of Their paradoxical nature and, more bluntly, cutting sense of humor and comic timing.
Lets review our liturgy, friends. When Aesma was just slightly too insistent on seeking the True Name of God, how did YISUN respond? Imprisonment, destruction, exile? Nope. YISUN, ever the teacher, showed her the answer. That this lesson had a side effect of boiling the eyes from her skull as she beheld the full shape of reality should perhaps not be overlooked.
Roll on down the Kalpa. God is gone. Throne is in decay, and then Zoss, some pissant wannabe dimension lord kicks down the door and starts slaying the Prime Angels, and has the audacity to demand the multitudal names of YISUN from Metatron.
So what does Metatron do to punish this hubris and grotesque over-reach? They do as YISUN has done before. Answer the question, in the way that will cause the most educational damage to the supplicant. Zoss obtains incredible power and builds the walls of an eternal inescapable self-sustaining prison of false enlightenment around his own self.
Amount of rope given, the percise amount needed to facilitate hanging.
Metatron has a terrible sense of humour: what a fundamental flaw!
A healthy appreciation for the absurdity of existence is one of those things of which YISUN really did try to demonstrate the necessity; it’s the through-line of like half their damn psalms.
That said: Metatron’s play of “Oh so you think you wanna be the new God, tiny dude? Cool cool cool, lets see how you dig being in the center of an endless reality of which you are simultaneous lord and ultimate doomed helpless observer, because paradox, son! Welcome the Being YISUN” does have a certain ‘make them smoke the whole pack of cigarettes’ wholesome charm to it.
Shame about the countless trillions of souls caught in the gears of this object lesson, but it does otherwise have a certain respectability
Marius the Sideways Mind is observant
I love this interpretation and I especially love the phrase “Roll on down the Kalpa.”
Love this interpretation. But if Zoss is actually the Big Bad, where does that leave his successor?
I don’t keen on Zoss as the Big Bad, if my read has merit that would still fall on Metatron. Cause setting up a dude to rule an ironic multiversal hell of all possibility time and space as petty revenge / spite / malicious-compliance-based education is still much shady, if only for the amount of collateral damage to literally everyone for all time.
Zoss snatched the golden saucer and has ended up as a somewhat mean-spirited parody of pre-Division YISUN. Master of All Reality, Apparent Lord of Time, but trapped all the same by the scope of his own power. The Tower Built and Never Taken Apart.
Power is the trap, just as thoroughly as Omniscience was YISUN’s cage. The Successor is the 3rd Option. Instead of the sterile circle or the naval-gazing myopic hell of absolute Royalty; Division.
…The observable fact that our Successor most achieves Division (metaphysical) through Fusion (literal) is just Paradox.
this page is sex
That would explain why he can pop into and out of the world at will, I guess.
I’m curious about what it means for the wheel to be reset? Does that mean it goes pack all the way to the beginning with Yisun splitting, and everything play out exactly the same? is there a moment that things get reset to, that isn’t the beginning of the universe? how would anyone find out about previous cycles if the universe is reset?
When one is part of the wheel, and those parts are used to make a new wheel, those remain. It is when you are not the true Craftsman, and seek to improve on the previous Craftsman’s work.
Those who merely live on the wheel are cast into the All to become the Something.
Less pretentiously, one reset is a soft reset, the other reset is a hard reset.
Imagine you’re playing a video game. A soft reset would be loading an earlier save file. A hard reset is hacking/rewriting the entire codebase.
And rewriting the story.
And changing most of the characters.
And taking out the ones you didn’t change.
Jagganoth the wordsmith, flexing his bard skills. And all this time I thought he was singularly focused on destruction.
Only Bill Murray can break us out of this metaphysical Groundhog Day! Does that make Allison a cosmic Andie MacDowell?
I like this interpretation. Excellent
Let us not forget that God is a known liar, and Metatron is the only being to remember the gods.
Ok I see a big problem with what Jagganoth is saying here.
Why did Mettatron send thorn angels to kill Zoss when he was trying to give away the key? That’s not something you do to a pawn.
I think Mettatron lied to Jagganoth about Zoss.
I think Juggernaut Star was punished severely for that. She acted impetuously. The plan was always to purge the old king anyway, so why not do it the very instant the Key was transferred?
Juggernaut missed the timing by thiiiis much, and returned with an empty-headed Zaid.
And set in motion a very interesting new take on the endless cycle.
Micheal even said Juggernaut Star broke Metatron’s prophecy, leading to Jagg capturing Zaid. Indeed, that very panel shows Jagganoth staring them down.
Perhaps Jagganoth did not capture the heir from Juggernaut, as we have been told, but was given Zaid willingly? Maybe Juggernaut also gave him this very intel, in a successful attempt to awaken the Red God to his role in Metatron’s monomyth?
Jagganoth reminds me a lot of Colonel Kurtz. A warrior-poet undertaking his plots and plans based upon sheer conviction because he can’t trust anything outside of his own mind any more.
Needless to say, I’ll be reading his lines in Marlon Brando’s voice from now on.
The horror…
Yeah that’s him in a nutshell
Jagganoth: “You’re not demiurges. You’re errand boys, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill.”
“We train young men to drop fire on people, but they won’t allow me to wipe out existence and end all suffering forever because that would be obscene.”
I suppose the existence of suffering (or maybe the suffering of existence) really is Jagganoth’s Vietnam.
I’ve always thought that Zoss is Zaid trapped in a time loop, and that reality and time in this story are literally cyclical. It would explain all those stories of the gods hanging out with YISUN when that’s impossible. It’d also explain the prophecy of the ice cube demiurge made about Zaid; it’s not a prophecy, it’s a memory.
My theory is that Alison is Zoss’s latest attempt to break the loop. I also think the emo fire wheel angel is a past iteration of Alison somehow.
Every time protagonist fuses, there’s a new name. Kill Six Billion Demons might be the name of some other fusion, with some additional folks in it, that may also use he/him pronouns. And I only just thought of that.
Given the nature of the reality described here, if Alison is to become YISUN, then she will fuse with all of reality will she not? Six billion demons may only be the start of her fusions.
I find this webcomic truly beautiful in the questions that it raises. I also find that I actually care about the conclusion of it, and what happens to the people involved…
> Kill Six Billion Demons might be the name of some other fusion, with some additional folks in it, that may also use he/him pronouns.
He/him pronouns? Oh, you mean like Zoss uses?
Release the #ShlongCut!
Your hashtag has now put the question in my mind… is Jagganoth circumsized?
Crackpot theory – Zoss dies on Earth at the beginning of each cycle, and he has iterated the time loop once for each person on Earth that day, population approx 6,000,000,000. Time loops are concurrent and unending, so everyone on Earth is stuck forever in a cycle of rebirth, and all are ruinously corroded by it. Only Alison breaks the wheel.
Also something, something, I am a consummate liar, a fiction author, and worse, fanfic.
Last page, I was unimpressed with AC lifting the island. I’m still not so impressed with the _act_ — about time Allison did something at this level — but the _view_ of it in panel 1 is highly impressive, more so each time I look at it. And that’s good art.
Jaggs about to get the Kars treatment
Novi Grad 2.0.
I don’t see the other demiurges on the island, did she leave them behind?
The previous page shows that they are all castaways on Allison’s Island, go back and take a look.