June 30th, 2020
30 Jun 2020 · page 1000 of 1306
Three letters is more than none!
Cast: Arpana Sherpa, Jack O'Malley
Comments (116)
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Witches use different senses confirmed! Only question left there is whether it's individual or tied to the anchor. Also, can I just say that I love how O'Malley had the sense to set aside and label the horrible objects of doom? SO MANY horror stories could have been averted if more people did that sort of thing in fiction... and real life.
For some people that's the equivalent of a big red button with a sign saying 'Do Not Press' underneath it.
"Do Not Do This Cool Thing"
"Anchors of Reality HATE This One Strange Trick!"
Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying 'End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH', the paint wouldn't even have time to dry.
-- Sir Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time
Of course, as Sir Pratchett would be the first to point out, witches know better.
Monks. Time monks.
I was gonna quote that.
I confess, the most assured way, still, of encouraging me to do something is to tell me not to.
"You find the eldritch tome of world ending doom, what do you do?"
"I..I...I read the book!"
"Don't push that button! Jeezus Fred!
Don't push that button! Use your head!
You don't know what it's hooked to,
you don't know what it does.
You start that foolin' round
and we'll be worse off than we was!
- "Don't Push that button" by Duane Elms
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Have you seen this one: [Koko's World Control](https://youtu.be/pX9O4xDW0Kc "https://youtu.be/pX9O4xDW0Kc")
You'd think so, wouldn't you? But warnings of eldritch horror are how most such fiction begins. And in real life, that generally leads to people saying: "Hey guys, watch this!"
Yeah... the trick to get around that problem is to explain why it's bad, so people realize it's dumb and choose not to do it (usually). But I'm cutting O'Malley some slack since, as he pointed out, it would have been difficult for him to write more details.
*"Hey Howie, hold my beer!"* – Crawford Tillinghast (deceased)
This place is not a place of honor... no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here... nothing valued is here.
What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us. This message is a warning about danger.
If you hate fun, stay away.
An anthropologist once did an analysis of how long that message would help. They came up with an estimate of less than 1000 years, which really isn't long enough.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-time_nuclear_waste_warning_messages "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-time_nuclear_waste_warning_messages")
But it does make for a great wrestler name!
[http://www.qwantz.com/index...](http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=3576 "http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=3576")
It's interesting how even the other witches think Mal's spirit-sight is an uncomfortable ability to have. (Nyree: "See 'em? Nah, sounds awful!" Arpana: "It's sight for you, is it? Poor child.")
To be fair, sight is the sense that humans tend to use most constantly and for navigating their surroundings. It's for most of us our most precise and prevalent sense.
Which tbh makes me feel like sight would be most convenient, so I must be missing something.
Best for seeing spirits. Miserable for seeing everything else.
Most convenient to access, I suppose. But if it constantly comes up when you don't want to see it, I could see an issue.
Think of it a bit like this: when you see a person, you get some general info just from seeing them. color and length of their hair, general gauge on height, body shape, maybe a general idea of their age, etc.
But now imagine you got a sort of readout of a lot of terribly SPECIFIC information. Height down to the centimeter, weight to the kilogram, exact length of their hair, blood type, age down to the hour, etc. All of which comes up unbidden and automatically. It might be useful but plenty of times it's info you'd be just as happy not to know.
...and it just now occurred to me a much simpler analogy might be just being able to see through people's clothes and not being able to turn it off. It might be useful in some situations, but most of the time? It may be stuff you emphatically do not want to see.
Okay now imagine how awful that would be for your hearing or sense of smell.
I have heard that people with perfect pitch often cannot enjoy anything less than perfect performances.
Also not all tuning methods produce an exact tuning, but close enough for it to work. Unless you now hear how the whole orchestra is ever so slightly off tune...
But I don't know that the other senses are in much better shape on that front. Mal can get a smidge of relief by closing his eyes. Much harder to shut off your hearing or smell. At least without uncomfortable tools like earplugs or clothespins on the nose.
Tsapki described it wonderfully. But I'd imagine it's like this. All the other witches know that whatever "sense" their power manifests in also causes a downside. It's not too much of a stretch for both witches to think that sight has the worst downside.
Makes me wonder what facet of sense they trade for their Sight. If Mal trades color vision for spirit vision... Does Arpana not hear pitch except from the spirits?
Nyree's sense of smell is good enough to cook with.
BAd...!
I love how he is still O"Malley, even after accepting the supernatural. "Those haunted objects, the ones that almost destroyed my town? Yea, going to leave them over there in a corner...label them 'bad'"
It seems to me that they might be safest there, and not "in" the world, where they'd just get used to release their spirits. If nothing else, fewer people go here.
Oh definitely safer here. It's the sign that crack's me up. It's the minimalist communication with them that is so him. :)
interesting point - she hears magic, so she could manipulate spirits through sounds. O'Malley can see them - which doesn't allow a lot of ways to manipulate or express magic per se. (Laser?) But then he can speak/hear spirits...or his he seeing their speech bubbles? heh more questions and answers...
On the other hand, he was able to physically grab Wolfe's outflow of Serenity to aim it at Wrath. I imagine that's harder to do to something you can hear or smell but can't pinpoint with vision.
Really, sight is probably most useful for someone as unsubtle as Mal.
(Yes, a blind person would be able to learn to use such senses to more precisely pinpoint things than those of us used to relying on sight, but Arpana and Nyaree (so nice to finally have names for both of them!) are sighted and as such I imagine they aren't as generally practiced at using non-sight senses to locate things as a blind person.)
He was able to rip out the spirits of the Team B also, and put them back into their bodies.
And "stealing souls" is something they say all witches can do.
I could see how the consensus might be among witches that sight-witchery is both the most versatile AND the most debilitating type. Arpana seems to be able to hear just fine and Nyaree didn't appear to have any trouble cooking things. There are days when it feels like O'Malley doesn't want to open his eyes.
When he first discovers that malforms speak to him he asks' Wolfe if he 'heard that' as well: [https://www.widdershinscomi...](https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/may-16th-2012 "https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/may-16th-2012")
So Mal can hear the noises they make like we hear the noises other creatures make. Arpana's hearing (and Nyree's taste/smell) might be a bit more subtle in a way that would be difficult to truly imagine. Perhaps more like how you're able to 'hear' the presence of trees nearby when the wind is blowing through their leaves.
Mal can hear the noises malforms make. Other spirits? Don't think so. Don't think he'd be surprised at hearing the malforms if so.
… so, can Arpana and Nyree see malforms?
My guess is that a person's spirit is something that by its nature can only be perceived by witchy senses.
Whereas a malform, being simply a summoned spirit that didn't quite cross all the way, follows largely the same rules as fully summoned spirits in that it interacts with the physical world and all the senses; and the only difference a witch makes is that they can perceive it when it's still halfway between worlds, as that's a witch's specialty.
(Note, for example, that Mal can see Sidney's magpie when it's half-summoned, while everyone can when it's fully summoned, but in both states it can still physically steal.)
No need to wince, O'Malley. Sign worked, didn't it?
At least he's cleared up all his dog ends.
Mountain Witch is sound to City's sight and Island's smell confirmed.
Now, assuming the Fourth Anchor theory is correct, what sense does that leave the Fourth Witch using? Are they tactile? Gustatory? Seems a severe disadvantage since those senses aren't remote (is you need to make physical contact before those senses come into play). Do they feel them empathically rather than perceive them as though they were physical phenomena? Some other means I can't think of?
Tactile could be all kinds of tingles, tickles, fuzzies, pressures, chills and pains. A spidey sense of sorts, but with the full range of emotions.
Suddenly imagining someone with a cloyingly sweet personality as feeling sticky, like syrup or melted candy.
I got to imagine a very unpleasant person might feel like your whole body is getting rubbed with sandpaper.
-- running the list of the other senses we humans have --
Sensing gravity? Knowing the position of all our body parts?
(word for the day: the latter is called proprioception)
OK, not better.
Tactile would be my default guess, but how does it look like in practice, I have no idea.
Ooh... actually, tactile would be interesting. Can't touch a person without sensing their aura, so you'd have to have as little bare skin as possible in case of accidental brushing against.... unless you wanted to sense everyone, hah!
It'd be simultaneously the easiest and the hardest one to deal with...
So they're the guy from unbreakable then.
Yup, and The Dead Zone and a bunch of other things, hah. It's a fun idea to play with, as long as it doesn't fall into cliches. :D
Temperature would be kind of a low fidelity option.
And I guess pain actually allows a lot of variety but oof that would be a real bad sense to have for everyone nearby.
And pain receptors can be a bit slow to react.
Proprioception sounds good.
"He's sad. I know that because my legs just disappeared."
I just posited a similar idea above before I scrolled down this far. I envisioned it more like new body parts popping up elsewhere within a radius. If fear is feet ('cause you wanna run away) and anger is the middle finger, and you feel two little feet and six giant middle fingers run by from left to right approximately ten meters that way, then you should probably go save those two scared kids being chased by that angry mob of adults!
And then you try to go over there and trip and fall flat on your face because there's body parts everywhere and only half of them are yours.
SPIDEY-SENSE.
Maybe the last witch is a shark (bioelectrical field sense)
Could be something that's a sense but not one of the traditional "five" sense, like proprioception or the sense of time... :D Or a mix of all the other witches' senses~?
[[edit]] Hah, Athaic beat me to it. XD
Proprioception and the like are harder to imagine because they don't really relate to perceiving things external to the self. Not impossible, but difficult to imagine.
Sense of time would be fun, though, hah. Assuming the witch's magic is tied to the sense it affects, their magic would be different with each season. They could know how old or new something is at first glance (at least when compared to themselves). They could possibly manipulate time itself (especially considering that Arpana was able to do so for a limited stretch, and her ability manifests with sound and not time). That could also be why the door isn't there and the anchor is so difficult to find, because it only exists when you're in the same time as it.
...actually. Wait. We know someone's messing with time travel already............. I started this line of thought as a crackpot theory but there may actually be something behind it??!?
I'm just going to imagine someone going around licking people. It amuses me.
"I'd love to own a bridge, but this'n leaves a bad taste in my mouth... let's not."
It's not necessarily one of each – both Nyree and Arpana expressed surprise (as well as sympathy) when they learn that "City Witch" perceives spirits by sight.
… on the other hand, their unawareness might well be a result of the Widdershins anchor being without a witch for so long …
So, I guess we just don't know. :p
The surprise still makes sense if Mal could've been either tactile or sighted, with the Fourth Witch being the other (unbeknownst to the three known Witches).
Though if it was one of each sense at any given moment, the I'd think changing would be pretty rare, since it's basically only possible if two or more Witches die at once.
Ah, but what if it's more like which body part the brain chooses to imagine the report is coming from? Being imaginary, perhaps closing one's eyes or covering one's ears doesn't stop perception from happening. Consider all the diversity of things skin/sensation can communicate, so instead of Seeing, but not exactly, it'd be a Feeling, but not exactly. It'd be tactile, but the witch wouldn't have to touch it to perceive it, _it_ touches the *witch*. "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes."
Tactile witch could feel the air around someone or something.
As a later thought: probably not gustatory, since Island Witch's sense manifests as taste and smell. :D [https://www.widdershinscomi...](https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/january-28th-2020 "https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/january-28th-2020")
I refuse to acknowledge taste as an option, no spirit deserves that kind of licking.
Tactile. Nyree is smell AND taste.
Proprioception. That's the spacial awareness of where your body is in relation to itself. I'm not totally clear on how exactly that'd manifest all the supernatural stuff the others get (especially the emotional aspect) but at the very least you'd get direction out of it. Perhaps different emotions "feel like" different parts of the body, like maybe fear feels like feet ('cause you wanna run away) so someone scared feels like a third foot over there.
Hope no one's suggesting that Harry's pipe is bad.
She did so herself, refusing to use that pipe after Greed messed with it.
As a chemist, I would say that finding in the back of a room whose access is strictly limited to myself and a few fellow chemists, a bunch of unknown containers with a big "bad" sign in front of them would indeed be all the info I need to know I should stay well away from them.
Seriously. In a fantasy setting, it almost goes double. ("Almost," because I've heard some of the chemistry nightmare stories.) I kind of want to steal this for a game.
Indeed, I remember in college when the chemistry building had to be shut down for a day or two because of some unnamed thing which had happened inside. Only difference in a fantasy setting is that the unnamed thing is more likely to have language or motivations.
or tentacles.
why not both
If the chemistry building was closed in the 1980's or late 1970's, it might have been because of the search for [picric acid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picric_acid "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picric_acid"). The chemical is related to TNT and if not properly stored, it becomes very sensitive to shock. After a few college labs blew up, they started a big effort to remove all picric acid from high school and college laboratories. [ It had been used in the production of a number of compounds.](https://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/pdfs/cci/safety/picric.pdf "https://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/pdfs/cci/safety/picric.pdf") Purdue University has a web page [describing a demonstration and some videos](http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/demos/main_pages/5.7.html "http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/demos/main_pages/5.7.html"), but I wouldn't really want to try this, unless I was in concrete blockhouse some distance away.
I just viewed the video using the software package VLC. He never should have brought a bottle of picric acid that size anywhere near where the explosion was going to be. He should have just put the small amount on a plastic slide and carried the slide to the demonstration site. That bottle looked like it was nearly the equivalent of a stick of TNT.
I remember a video of an attempt to replicate an explosion that occurred in an aluminum foundry. Although there was a concrete wall surrounding the experiment and the observers were in a trench, the explosion was a lot bigger than expected and the concrete wall was completely destroyed. After the explosion, they now knew what to tell the people in the foundries not to do.
The chemistry building closure I remember was around 2009. (googles) Ah yep, 2009! [https://nbc25news.com/news/...](https://nbc25news.com/news/local/cmu-building-evacuated-after-chemical-spill "https://nbc25news.com/news/local/cmu-building-evacuated-after-chemical-spill") Turns out the cause was different than the rumors said :) The rumors were about some sort of storage tank incident.
The music box is there, too. He could return it to Arpana as it's not "BAd".
The BAd Pile is where all the bad spirits go when they've been bad. Makes sense, really.
It occurs to me that Mal has put all the badly behaved spirits into the quiet corner* where they can think about what they have done.
*it looks like a round room, but they are in a corner if you tilt your head sideways okay?
Considering what Lust said about the difference between humans and spirits, I don't think giving the spirits time to think would change them at all. They don't have the variety of motives and attitudes to weigh against each other and switch between.
I was not entirely serious on this one ;)
Ooh Arpana has got to meet Wolfe. Double amazing music, probably in harmony!
Actually, hmmm. Jack can see normal stuff but it's dull and colorless. I wonder if Arpana's normal hearing is limited too? If so, then yeah, definitely should meet Wolfe.
Hearing about how he smells from Nyree would also be funny.
I'm guessing that Nyree would get hot chocolate and spring flowers from Wolfe: warm and loving + gentle and sweet. Or possibly something more complicated- the olfactory equivalent of the swirling colors Mal sees. I have no idea what that might be, though.
Arpona probably can't enjoy ordinary music. The "music" of Wolfe being a wonderful person would replace his violin-playing, rather than adding to it.
wish he had used "NFG"
If O'Malley's witchery is tied to sight, and he's color blind, does that suggest that Arpana is normally tone deaf?
GreedEnvy stealing the sight also gave him colour vision, so it appears as if his lack of colour vision is a side-effect of spirit vision – and it makes sense to ask if the other spirit senses might be similarly affected.
For hearing, tone is a good analogue to colour.
Now, what is a good analogue for smell and taste? ;)
MOUTHFEEL. ...is a pretty good third option. Personally, between it, smell, and taste, it's the one I'd be most loath to give up.
When Mal is unexpectedly asked for his name, he tends to introduce himself with a pause in the middle. (To Wolfe: “O’Malley. Jack.” To the huge blubbery tragic malform from No Rest for the Wicked: “Er.. O’Malley. Jack O’Malley.”)
I think this is the first time it’s been “Jack. O’Malley.” Maybe Harry calling him Jack in a friendly way has helped with the bad associations he probably has with that name from his orphanage days.
I find myself loving Mal more with each week. How is that even possible? And here's hoping he finds another mom-mentor with Arpana. She is clearly Most Amazing.
That's adorable
He's trying his best.
Wonder how she perceives the Hippo of Happines who is totally not O'Malley's familar.
I'm also wondering where the Purple Hippo is now. It presumably came back on the train with him; maybe it wandered off while he was making his way to the Anchor.
So Jack's way of sensing spirits is considered a bit unsightly by the other witches, eh?
Also I know Nyree said her perception was by smell & taste (kind of), but imagine if she had been smell only and the fourth witch was taste, which could have led to the cosmic pun of their mixed up senses putting them in touch with magic and spirits XD
AAAA This whole page is so warm and wholesome I love it.
Just, Arpana is a comforting and comfortable grandma witch ready to reach out to O'Malley, share knowledge and offer a helping hand where necessary!
And O'Malley learning his letters! And putting them to good use!! And she approves!!!! Just AAAAAHHH SO ADORABLE <333
Poor baby, he's trying. XD
Well, it brings across the message, doesn't it?
mal is me
i didnt know where to put it so i shoved it in a corner with a label
So, about this "fourth anchor" business?
There are five senses. Classically speaking, anyway.
No-one mention this 'witches' abilities are tied to different senses' business to Eliza, okay?
Widdershins only has so many globes.
Oh man, can you imagine what a trip it'd be if you detected spirits through your sense of proprioception?
Oh yes! I hadn't thought of that - body horror or body awesome:
"Okay, so my little finger and half my shoulder feels like it's melting into a loop, so…"
Vs
"Right, when I get near them, I feel wings and a halo/extra fingers/vestigial tentacles around my hips…"
Actually, it looks they both might lean to (perceptual) body horror if I were writing 😏.
Awesome concept - nice one!
Nyree said her spirit sense is like smell and taste. And Mal can both see and hear spirits.
So they are not scones like folks supposed they were previously. What are the crunchy rectangular things?
So this is a random theory, but what if it turns out theres five anchors to go with five senses?
I was tragically stung by a bee on my head(!) the other day and it had bizarre ripple effects on the rest of my body- anyway that's to say that I haven't been very productive the past couple days and decided to reread all of Widdershins and it was so nice! Thank you for making this, Kate <3
oh my! hope you're feeling better, and glad the comic helped pass the time!
Have you noticed that, for the 3 anchors we know of: one is low & underground, one is high on a mountain, and one is at sea level? Not sure what that would portend for the 4th anchor.
Maybe even lower, such as at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
Eliza and the rest of the Fourth Anchor Society were discussing this before she decided to go for the direct route: [https://www.widdershinscomi...](https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/november-30th-2018 "https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/november-30th-2018")
Constantly hearing spirits doesn't seem that relaxing either!