November 12th, 2019
12 Nov 2019 · page 942 of 1306
Aotearoa is known as New Zealand sometimes. But not in Widdershins.
Cast: Heinrich Wolfe, Sidney Malik
Comments (60)
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Anyone else want to give Sidney a great big hug right now?
Everyone does
And a fresh beer. That one's gone flat.
Now we know for sure that there are at least two pubs in Widdershins! ;) And what a name it has!
Also I remember this colour of seats: [https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/january-30th-2013](https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/january-30th-2013 "https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/january-30th-2013") !
I adore pub names.
Different door window, though. But doors can get broken, so perhaps it got replaced.
Sid, buddy, if that is ale you're (not) drinking, I don't think you're meant to stick your finger in it to stir it...
It's probably ale. Sid on coffee--especially 18th century non-diluted swill--would be a sight, though.
Now that's a scary thought.
I'd guess (and I think the author told us) that Sid is a nondrinker/lightweight. So looking at it and stiring it with his finger sounds about right.
Wait, heard what?
Wolfe, don't hold out on us man! Other than just that "he left" what's there been to hear about Mal!?
I read that as "you've heard nothing about Harry?", i.e. Wolfe asking a distracting question to avoid talking about his own fears about Mal's disappearance.
Sid in the reflection is also how this page makes me feel
So they'll need to find Mal so that he can help them get to Harry?
Ms Barber may want to be found, but will her pride stand being rescued?
Anyway, what's the problem? There's a direct doorway from Widdershins to The Mysterious Island. All Mr Malik needs is a competent Witch to open it for him and the problem is solved. And if the knitting lady from Sagarmatha isn't available, then he can always find Mr O'Malley and ask if he can help.
> what's the problem?
Lacking a competent Witch? I mean... Mal is absent now, it's what I mean, you see. :)
Seriously though, I suspect a witch can open only "their own" door. If so, Harry has to find the Island Witch, make them open their door and someone has to make Mal open his door.
Agreed. Mal specifically says here that he can only open his own door: [https://widdershinscomic.co...](https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/june-12th-2018 "https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/june-12th-2018")
Ok but she could open another door, right? So get Mal to open his door and take a Barber with him, then get another Barber to open the other door and shout real loud for Harry to get the hell back in here. Or at the very least send them through to be with Harry so she's not there alone.
Harry didn’t open the door herself last time; it just came open on its own when she used the two minutes’ respite to freeze Lux. [https://widdershinscomic.co...](https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/june-5th-2018 "https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/june-5th-2018")
And it seems like "yellow notes" opened the yellow door, and "red notes" - the red one. :)
Maybe, the music of the box contained other witches' command to their doors: "Open!"
Oh you're right I missed that.
This is Jack O'Malley we're talking about. I expect him to hammer on the door and shout loudly until someone lets him in.
:) That moment (with him banging at the door and yelling "Harry!") proves his words indirectly, though. I mean, when he really wished to return the spirits "home", his powers worked to do so. But his strong wish to open "not his own" door didn't work, so I suppose he really isn't able to do it.
What's wrong with a boat? I kinda assumed that Harry would be coming home oversea.
It's just that long-distance travel is so time-consuming. We need Harry back sooner than that!
Reread this page, sounds like there's a barrier around the island preventing anything from getting to it. That's the problem with a boat.
If a witch can only open their own door, then I'm wondering how the heck the "two minutes' respite" was able to open ALL the doors?
a very good question.
Mal's door wasn't open then (as well as the "invisible" fourth door). I think two other witches put their commands over their doors into the musical box. Somehow. Maybe it was a side effect of "respite function", even.
Given that she's out of tobacco, I think she might consent to a rescue. Or at least some assistance.
Just so long as it doesn't come from Ms Cunningham.
An easily resolved concern.
Step 1 - go near the approximate location of Harris and find some big predator (tiger, alligator, bandit, deadly sin...)
Step 2 (optional) - kick the predator somewhere painful.
Step 3 - yell for help
Et voilà. Ms Harris will be the one doing the rescuing.
Be sure you are at the right place before starting. It's very embarrassing when the people you count on to rescue you don't show up.
I wonder why those expeditions didn't return if "everything just bounces off of the island"...
Ms Barber's notes mention violent explosions...
"All boats sent there vanish, all magical means fail, often explosively." I'd suppose that explosions referred "magical means", not boats.
Well, blowing up a boat is a pretty good way of making it vanish.
Er... so I've been told.
Pray. It will in fact help, though the end result is not guaranteed.
Not gonna lie, Aotearoa sounds a lot cooler as a name than New Zealand does.
In the real world, that’s actually the Māori name for North Island. In recent decades, it’s been used in national documents and organizations in addition to the English “New Zealand”.
Not really used that way any more yeah. I had no idea haha.
Aotearoa is Te Reo Maori for "The land of the long white cloud". It is the other name for New Zealand and often used by people here, not just the Maori. Its much more poetic and unique.
That's the cloudiest beer I've ever seen. They should stick to The Hunter's Folly.
Wait what's this about magic not working over water? Izzy and Henry were able to fly Victor's boat across the water, weren't they? [Edit: Or rather they would have if Ira hadn't shot it down.]
But Acedia did say she couldn't "teleport" them across the water: [https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/october-20th-2015](https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/october-20th-2015 "https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/october-20th-2015")
I think the difference is that the space the magic circles on the boat worked in was free of water. I mean, it isn't "magic can't work in the space above water", but rather "magic can't work if its path crosses the water". If it makes any sense. :/
Or possibly that you can't have a magical effect that spans water as it's cast? The actual casting of the Flight spell on the boat happened on land. And an already-imbued object clearly maintains potency while moving over water (Sid's Magpie helping them escape in the Greed story, the the Liar's Heart not fizzling out during the boat ride, etc.) It's just that, without being bound to a physical object, spirits can't do their thing over water, so an instantaneous effect like a teleport or a scry doesn't work.
At least that's how I figure it works based on the evidence available.
Ah, interesting idea! This makes a bit more sense to me.
But couldn't the teleportation just take a path above the water? (Maybe I'm thinking of this too physically -- Bastion translocating along Khert lines in Unsounded comes to mind -- and Widdershins teleportation works differently).
Although this brings to mind the hilarious image of using [skip propagation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skywave "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skywave") to teleport around the curvature of the earth like shortwave radio. Do you think magic reflects off the ionosphere? :P
"...and the very next thing ye know, me bhoy, ye're landed in Van Dieman's Land..."
Maybe Harry has a black velvet band for Sid to follow?
That's it!
Sid, go start picking pockets. They'll send you directly when they catch you!
He's been doing that for years.
That was how he met Harry, after all.
Yay for all of us down here in Aotearoa! Will be interesting to see the alternative universe version.
First name drop for Harry's whereabouts (though we all deduced it years ago). I'm sure she'll be fine, as long as she doesn't get et by the Taniwha or stray too far from the magic rata-tree door.
Or bump into Te Ruapraha and his merry men - though, it would be amusing to see her reaction to a rendition of his famous Ka Mate.
Harriet has probably set fire to the entire forest for the sake of getting other maritime travelers to check it out by now. Or just out of spite. Or nicotine withdrawal.
"one of these plants must be a psychostimulant"? I can see it
Of course that would be Heinrich's bar! I wonder if he ever plays there? And, you'd think between the extended Barber family they could finance a trip to rescue Harry? I know, what kind of a story would that make? (kidding! I'm loving this arc!)
Ahhh! I feel for Sidney here! The poor boi! Also, nice deflection Wolfe, I see what you did there.
So I was doing a bit of rereading and it occurs to me that Harry is probably kicking herself a bit that she didn't let Sindy pack all that stuff way back in the comic for may-13th-2016. Since she did end up doing quite a bit of camping. XD
Also my heart hurts so much for Sidnly right now. He's trying so hard, both is just taking care of Gren and Harry's work and also trying to help her. I bet he's trying super hard to notw orry about her like he basically promised and rather suspect he's nopt doing to well on that front. (nor can I blame him)
And thirdly, the fact they know it must be the Island anchor implys that they sent word in some way to the Mountain one to see if she was there... instresting. Wonder if the Mountain witch was of any help--or will be.
Can confirm that Aotearoa is an excellent place to be stuck. That being said, it confirms that the creature shown at the beginning of the chapter was magical in some way, because there aren't any natural predators in New Zealand. Unless the Widdershins version is different, which would be cool.
It's a Taniwha, obviously. 😋