September 23rd, 2016
23 Sept 2016 · page 638 of 1306
Hrm.
Cast: Harriet Barber, Jack O'Malley
Comments (84)
Events
ThoughtBubble
14 Nov 2026 – 15 Nov 2026
Harrogate Convention Centre
Manchester Megacon
31 Jul 2027 – 1 Aug 2027
Manchester Central
A place where you don't know the rules. As a matter of fact, where you don't know anything about your surroundings. Frightening, isn't it?.
It even has [many doors in multiple styles](http://www.missingmondaycomic.com/comic/chapter-05-page-01 "http://www.missingmondaycomic.com/comic/chapter-05-page-01"). Yes, definitely ominous....
Nope! You see, there's a witch there who is CLEARLY reacting to whatever changes in the environment we're making. Obviously now is the time for a combination of carefully calibrated testing, and PC wheedling of the GM for clues because she's not gonna kill somebody else's character for stuff that I'm doing because that wouldn't be fair*. Mind you, this is all assuming that I'm not playing the witch. If I am, yeah, it's freaking terrifying. :)
*There are two kinds of fair: regular-person fair, and GM fair. GMs rarely concern themselves with the former, but are reluctant to break the unspoken rules regulating the latter.
I know this one- it's a little cake with "Eat Me" written on it, and there should be a tiny door somewhere, heh.
These folks are certainly down the rabbit hole. I wonder if they're going to meet any excessively tall women:
When you go chasing rabbits
And you think you're going to fall
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall
Wheeen logic, and proportions, haaave falleeenn sloooppy deeeead....
Feed your head...
And then the Yellow-Eyed Demon Azazel offs someone who's word is such that it Literally Compels you to do what is asked.
so is the faint outline one the one that's at the bottom of a body of water?
...if they get flooded the moment they open it, I'm gonna laugh so hard
(ok, maybe not)
If you drown in a room that's actually inside your head, do you die?
Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "die a little inside"
So, door 2 is the one from the place Voss was at. Door 3 seems to be somewhere in Asia
...I definitly want to know what the 4th door is for. Is it meant for the creation of a 4th anchor ? (but where, what part of the world would it teleport them ?) or a link to... a different plane, again ?
The fourth anchor is at the bottom of the sea. Somehow I don't think that would be a good place to be.
But who knows, maybe witches are happy there...
Can't see either of these two being very happy in a place where they can't smoke.
What fourth anchor? :) There are only three, everyone knows that!
What, do you really trust Kate not to create one just to spite us?
Oh. Wait. Never mind.
You need to read Ms Harriet's notes in the back of the print version of 'Vanishing Act'. But as you've got to pay for those I'm not going to post spoilers here!
Nah, might as well share that one page, I guess, it is especially pertient after all-
Honestly, Ms Ashwin, you're never going to get rich if you go around doing things like this! You should at least have made them buy the PDF! :-)
Interesting that Ms Holt was drawing Everest in 1783, 9 years before she met Lord Barber.
I changed the timeline since people were correct in that I did my maths wrong- they met in 1782.
Hmm. It looks like Sid caught evidence of at least 4 of the deadlies in that partial photo. It's a pity (for them) that they didn't have a way to use it to figure out what was going on. Of course, we benefited from that failure because success with that would have shortened the story which wouldn't do at all.
So does that alleged anchor have a witch? Perhaps a dolphin?
If magic is ordered and balanced, then I would expect four anchors -- equidistant like points of a tetrahedron.
Either that, or there are any number of anchors found randomly throughout the spiritual space.
That "spiritual space" has some correlation with the surface of the planet earth is quite interesting, as well. Perhaps that is due to the presence of human beings, the only rational creatures that are also material (thus we uniquely inhabit both the physical and spiritual realms -- according to basic Christian anthropology). The Anchors seem to be related to humankind in some mysterious way.
What I find interesting is that the anchor doors are clustered together in that room instead of being distributed equally, which tells me at least one of the following:
1) the spiritual space isn't necessarily representative of physical-world distance/distribution,
2) there's a ton more anchors that either haven't manifested yet, have been destroyed, and/or have gone dormant,
3) there's room for doors to anchors in other dimensions(??),
4) there are only three/four anchors, but they're bound temporally to the people in them (i.e., they can only see the doors for their time, but the anchor both has and doesn't have doors for every anchor's witch ever),
5) some combination of the above options? And/or others I haven't thought about, heh...
Well I definitely knew there were only three before, but now I'm not so sure...
My first thought was that since 2/3 of earth is covered in water, it'd make sense.
If this room stands between worlds (http://www.widdershinscomic... "http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/september-9th-2016/)"), then the 4th door should lead to the spirit world.
It is interesting that the four doors only cover one quadrant. Almost as though there should be a total of twelve doors.
It's possible the previous witches catalysed/created at least one door too.
The anchor Voss went to was in Asia (Tibet, I think it was Mount Everest specifically but I'm not sure about that). With only three known in the world I doubt that there are two on the same continent.
Fascinating.
I really like the colouring of the walls(?) in this place.
Interesting. We already knew Mal was effected by proximity to the anchor. The link between the witch and his/her anchor/door appears to be very physical.
And natural. He doesn't even wonder about how Harry can touch him from this far.
They'd better be careful. One of the doors might lead to an anchor on another planet. (Is Venus habitable in this universe?)
Is his door plain and blue because that's how he likes it, or because he didn't take the time to decorate it yet ? (might be both I suppose)
I'm so glad someone else was thinking that!
Wait, then if the fourth door is nigh-invisible, does someone want it to stay closed? I don't think that's going to work out for them...
Or no one claimed it yet.
Someone in the comments noticed there's room for many more doors. Maybe a door begins to appear when a future witch is born? Wait, no, maybe rather when a new anchor is needed, created? Well... suppose we'll have to wait and see...
I think he likes blue because it's "his" color/ And the color of his anchor's door.
Suddenly, out of nothing, I'm wondering: how old is Mal, exactly?
He probably doesn't know, either.
I get the impression he's in his 30s, but I don't remember if it's been confirmed anywhere.
Kate states in the comments here that he's in his mid 20's, although he's not sure.
[http://www.widdershinscomic...](http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/character-questions-2/ "http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/character-questions-2/")
Thanks for the link. Those Q&A pages are so great. Glad you remembered this comment and reminded me.
I'm not sure how I feel about being the same age or possibly older than Mal :'|
Don't worry: Mal's cynicism acts as a multiplier. :)
Hmm. Can't remember if it's been established before....but is that third anchor in New Zealand? Going by the partial name and the door architecture that'd be my guess....that or somewhere in polynesia.
......Although if there is an anchor in NZ in the 1830's I really hope there's some serious divergence from Our World timelines...those were not good times here.
I'm guessing South America, personally.
I think you're at least close -- late binger here. Note that Widdershins is pretty much on the Greenwich meridian (~ 0deg), Everest is at ~ 90deg, New Zealand is ~180deg. Annnd, here's a prediction: Chicxulub is at ~ -90. Do anchors attract asteroids?
Mount Tapuaenuku perhaps?
Interesting that two of three anchors appear to be on mountains, but Widdershins is not.
Hrm, yes, the musket wars... I remember in Canterbury the sacred sites where Te Rauparaha's army had massacred people... and of course the knock-on effect of the Taranaki tribes' migration to the Chatams, and what happened there...
Well, it certainly would be a suitable feast for the Deadlies, to be honest.
I remember a sticker on a fish tank in a pet shop.
Very cranky goldfish with an obvious headache: "It should knock in your head like you knock on the glass."
Ah, Panel 5 - the ever-analytical Harry, experimenting to see if what she thinks that she just observed is true.
The fourth door leads back to Monsters Inc
[https://www.youtube.com/wat...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEqrt6nZTS4 "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEqrt6nZTS4")
When Luxuria proposed taking over the Widdershins anchor the response from the other deadlies was "Their witch won't allow it." which suggests that the deadlies expect there to be a witch at every anchor. I think Izzy also said something about an association between witches and anchors,
"How should I know?" Mal says so indignantly, like his magic soulspace hasn't been beaming snippets of info directly into his brain for the last few pages.
I'm very curious to see how this place looks in his eyes! (I assume we're not already there because he's not double-taking at all the colour and the absence of Harry's aura.) Also oh ho, a fourth - as yet unsealed? currently witchless? - door. I wonder if this means Mal's door will eventually form into something more solid like the other two. And must the door always be localised at the anchor, or will it be a handy summonable portal into the netherspace? There's clearly a very direct connection between door and witch. SO MANY QUESTIONS, ARGH.
Mysterious Almost-Door must be investigated . . . but after opening the present! Presents contain things which must be identified as soon as possible or they will induce madness! Or is that just me?
I looked back at Green-Eyed Monster and that's the impression, yes. Has he got some kind of older memories, then ?
Harriet Barber: acting like this magical dimension is just any ordinary person's house where parcels are delivered.
Surely Mal must be in his thirties, with those greying sideburns.
I know at least two people who were totaly gray in their twenties.
Interesting. Does that mean O'Malley is linked (perhaps permanently) to the Widdershins Anchor now? And if those other doors open would he go through into the other Anchors?
I would say he was linked before now!
And most people don't go significantly grey until at least their fifties. If Mal is actually as old as he appears, he's in his late forties, at least, and probably older.
Mal is decidedly not most people, though.
According to the comments here he's in his mid 20's, although he's not sure exactly what age or where the white streaks come from.
[http://www.widdershinscomic...](http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/character-questions-2/ "http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/character-questions-2/")
Hrm... isn't the Chonolungma anchor literally on top of Everest? I wonder how their witch ever gets in here.
magic
No, it's just in the Himalayas
Aha! Still, I seem to recall that no one had ever made the climb, though? [http://www.widdershinscomic...](http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/may-23rd-2014/ "http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/may-23rd-2014/")
Oh, I see, the anchor itself IS at the base of the mountain and there's a tunnel to it. That makes sense!
Rumours of a fourth anchor, eh?
Anyone else having flashbacks to the collective unconscious from Psychonauts?
Well, this is Mal, so that would explain it
Is the third anchor somewhere on the Chatham Islands perhaps? depends how far off the coast of New Zealand it is, I guess. Stewart Island? Auckland Island? Campbell Island? White Island?
I need to know everything about the NZ anchor I don't even care about Widdershins anymore, give me Maori witch adventures
ya gurl has solved the mystery: Tapuaenuku Island in the Chathams, otherwise known as Little Mangere Island! Yes! Thanks 2 the person who suggested Mt Tapuaenuku in Canterbury :)
ooo thank you!
I feel like the blue door isnt special besides being the link between the world and the anchor. It is shares pain because Mal made the connection to the anchor space. My gut feeling is that the unseen door is truly his.
I hope it's an instruction manual.
My family has "start silvering at puberty" on my dad's side. My brother and I seem to have taken after our maternal grandmother, though: salt-and-pepper starting in the early forties. Bit of a surprise for us, really. We grew up expecting the other outcome, given what happened to our cousins.
Yay, the epigenetic effects of mitochondrial DNA! xD
So this is the 'inbetween'. So if those 3 doors are to the human world, is the last one to where spirits come from?
THAT THIRD DOOR IS TO A MARAE OMG NEW ZEALAND REFERENCE passes out from fangirling
There's an Anchor in New Zealand? At least, there are a lot of "Tapu-" places in New Zealand. Also a lot of places that are Tapu, but that's another matter (or is it? I'm not well acquainted with the Maori language).
I shoulda tried harder at magic when I was there. Or maybe not, NZ is a pretty big place area-wise, could be the Anchor was way off still. :p
Not many Europeans down that corner of the world yet, either. Now I'm wondering if Widdershins-world Maori have a wizarding tradition of their own...
Just want to comment my new headcanon that I bet the Mountain witch chose blue for Mal because his door is blue. I presume that his door has been actively visible from inside the between place ever since he came to town, right? It would only make sense that even without his knowing the anchor made note of his arrival and set up for the new witch in town. I wonder if the favorite colors of Aparna and Nyree are yellow and red respectively? It's so sweet that the magic door gets to be his favorite color and also that Mountain Witch would be able to give him a good gift based on that. <3