Into Silence - Chapters 3 & 4

[NightMareMage]

From the comments, page 151, Bill Haverberg gets a called-it award, almost (they didn't think of alternate communication forms):

Honestly, you can kinda logic out who is going to die. When I started reading I knew someone was going to die and at some point later in the story it was obvious to me. Though doing so this early is a bit impressive.

Side note! I think some people thought that Minna had said that no one would die, when she never said that, but that myth probably came later.

And I am caught up! Woo! I have more thoughts but I will post them later.

There are also photos of a troll (or giant) in the report(?) partially visible from under the train designs on page 156. Interestingly familiar hand / claw btw!

I love the succession of the landscape panels here. On p 153 there is just the derelict building in the woods. Then on 155 there is blood on the saws (the first kronk), several wrecked houses and remains of a car. And oh yes, some sleepers inside the house. And finally on 157 the train is crossing a city (or town, probably), the moon is becoming overcast and the local residents are making inviting gestures in the windows. This series moves the train and the story deeper into darkness and the Silence, and also reminds the reader that Cities are Bad.

Oh, god I love the environmental storytelling here! And I had missed some of it!

So, trying to catch up with the reread here! And what a great point to do so!

*Points to everthign I cut off* This!

[JoB]

I liked the argument about whether Lalli would have a knife on him at all times, or not. (I don't actually know if he does, outside the dream world. I am guessing yes, though?)

He had a knife at hand and a sheath on his belt when he returned from scouting and proceeded to do the Kallohonka for Cthulhund. The others were preparing a meal, so they should have noticed if Lalli were to have taken one for the purpose, too. I'd say it's a safe bet that Lalli wouldn't scout out beyond the underside of his bed without a puukko.

The troll's death seems  a bit of a deus ex machina, though. I mean, it might make sense for the train to have tunnels for this purpose, but its death seems to surprise the guards, so I guess not.

IIRC it has been said that the Y90 train lines largely (but not 100%) run where Y0 tracks have been, so there shouldn't be tunnels everywhere all of a sudden. Apart from that, unless they're retracting, I'd wonder how the trainsaws would mix with grossling-brushoff-tunnels. Possibly that tunnel only served the purpose this time because that giant was so, well, gigantic.

[Jitter]

It wouldn’t have to be a tunnel even, just a bridge for a major road, assuming the giant is gigantic enough. The tunnels and bridges of our time have room for the electricity lines above the train, so the saws should fit into that space.

[Róisín]

I think Lalli always has a knife. It does seem to be a common thing among Finns, even in our world.

[NightMareMage]

142-152-
I think SSSS was planned to be made into a book from early on, so I can forgive this, but it does bother me when the pages are wider than the web page. [You can pull up the image on a new window if you want to.]

Who Tuuri is talking to on the page 143 is not well communicated. I am not sure if she is talking to Taru then to Torbjörn or if she is just talking to Torbjörn. The first panel on the next page is a little confusing as well but that panel I found readable.

It seems that Lalli has powers of psychometry. If he does then I think we can assume Finnish mages do. But psychometry is far removed from the powers we see them have on the mage info page or from what we see later. On the other hand, we could just be seeing Taru’s story and Lalli could just be concerned over the marks but I think that makes less sense in the context of the scene.

I don’t mind that Tuuri has character flaws (like her disregard for Lalli as like a person and her being manipulative) but I think these problems mostly go unacknowledged on both a text and subtextual level.

If I recall correctly, early on in the comic Minna was teasing whether or not magic was real. When I first read I already knew the comic had magic and I found it the early ambiguity odd. On reread, I think it works as it keeps magic in the background for a bit, so we can learn other things without being overwhelmed with even more information. It's a still a bit weird but I think it works out.

[Róisín]

Don’t most mages anywhere have at least some psychometry? Not to mention a lot of non-mage people?

[tehta]

We already had a discussion about 'Lalli's vision' here somewhere, and someone (JoB?) pointed out that those marks had to be a different attack (even the train looked different, during that disaster, and the attacking monster clearly did more than scratch it). So that makes a vision much less likely.

So I think the story and the scratchmarks are two different pieces of evidence for the upcoming danger.

[Jitter]

Minna says in the comments that it can be either, but those markings cannot be from the original attack (that was me). The whole train is different, and while I suppose they could have made extremely extensive changes in the train, as in it theoretically still being the ”same train”, modifications include a complete overhaul of the structure of the carriage. Not to mention the fact that the walls appear to be made of entirely different material (sheet metal vs heavy plate). So, the section that was scratched, would have been completely rebuilt. Using the same meta would include reworkimg it to the smelter, or at least almost so. Hence any marks would have been gone after the reworking.

Now, I’m not 100 % sure it is actually the Dalahästen Lalli is inspecting, but since all the other trains are under covers it very much looks like it is. Also it seems unlikely they would save than one train, as several redesigns have taken place between the accident and this date (admittedly we don’t know if all or even any of the designs were ever built).

And finallly, the KRRONNKKS during the journey clearly indicate that there likely are marks to the train every now and then even when there isn’t a breach.

Btw the decisive action all train guards are taking clearly indicates they are not blindly trusting the train’s structural defenses (any more) and while breachs probably are rare, they are by no means unheard of.

[dmeck7755]

Btw the decisive action all train guards are taking clearly indicates they are not blindly trusting the train’s structural defenses (any more) and while breachs probably are rare, they are by no means unheard of.

I would think that the train conductors(guards) are all military or ex-military.  Plus immune..

[Jitter]

Oh, definitely. The entire train line is military. But, they also seem to have a procedure for a breach situation, as there is zero chaotic milling about.

[dmeck7755]

Oh, definitely. The entire train line is military. But, they also seem to have a procedure for a breach situation, as there is zero chaotic milling about.

Makes one wonder how Rare these things happen

[NightMareMage]

153-161
These pages had some great building of tension!

162-170
And our first look at a real troll! A bit dampened by page 158 but still. Nevertheless, it’s great to see!


For a tangent, do you think Agneta would be shipped with Sigrun if there were more female characters of note?

[tehta]

Agneta IS shipped with Sigrun! Well, a little. There's a handful of fics on AO3. And yes, she's a pretty cool character, both in design and behavior. Maybe I'll try to write about her for the 'work' prompt.

[dmeck7755]

Agneta IS shipped with Sigrun! Well, a little. There's a handful of fics on AO3. And yes, she's a pretty cool character, both in design and behavior. Maybe I'll try to write about her for the 'work' prompt.

OOOO!! That sounds really cool!!

[NightMareMage]

171-178
And that’s the end of chapter 3!

The pages here are mostly just winding down after our first real horror scene. Some of the characters are scared and confused but it’s not lingered on and the audience knows that the danger has passed, and there's bits of humor, then we get four whole pages without any text as we transition to morning and safety.

I think the ending of this chapter really assures the reader that the characters are fine now but we have also gotten a look at the danger of this world and we know there is more to come.

And of course, a peck at Sigrun and Mikkel!