That actually does open other avenues of inquiry, should the investigator also be partially elven, then they are also susceptible to Pratt root poisoning. And if the elves in this world are as long-lived as elsewhere, then our intrepid inspector could have been an eye witness to the historical events they recounted earlier.
All because you made a point about her ears. I’ve elf a mind to name Carruthers a suspect!
Well, the sketch lines in 3485 feudalism’s last panel have a very human like lower arc to the ear. Though if one of her parents was a half-elf she might have inherited the skill of exceptional hearing and knowledge of pratt root poisoning and other details another way…
Confirming elves can live that long: Arachne was shown in a flashback as a child watching Lewie when he was originally alive, which cannot have been long after when the first Bloodhand king entered the Black Mountain. And her sister Anancy, and her old buddies Mahr’i and Elzear’bith are/were probably around the same age.
On the other hand, it moves Carruthers DOWN several notches on my list of suspects. If she were trying to outwit Lucas and Cadugan and cover up the truth, then she wouldn’t let them know about her excellent hearing; she would quietly continue to gather intelligence on what the opposition was thinking.
It also makes me wonder what else she’s overheard from hapless card guests… and how badly she must despise Baz Hoggs, given that he’s got to be an endless fount of vile insults to anyone he imagines is out of earshot.
"And in Panel 3 class, we see an exceptionally fine visual specimen of the expression If Looks Could Kill…"
That’s a Vorpal Glare (+3 natch) right there. Ouch, indeed.
The acute hearing brings up a lot of interesting ideas. Pratroot knowledge aside, I’d even bring up the idea she might be something like a weretiger–if only because that’s a particular creature we haven’t seen in this strip yet (to my knowledge)–and she’s pretty fierce. 😀
That was just great. Carruthers’ hearing and her feelings about Lucas’ impersonation don’t matter one whit as to whose theory is right or wrong. But her catching him out and calling him on it was well executed. The Abbott rounding out her character with the facts others have been in Lucas’ position *tip my hat*
Flip side, the fact that she can listen in on conversations that would reasonably be considered private without letting people know, rude at the least. Granted, there may be times for it, as with this crime, but Lucas and Cadugan are not suspects. And though they patently are on the main suspect’s side as far as believing her innocent, there’ve done nothing to indicate that they seek to falsify anything. So still, at best, rude without excuse.
One of the failings of aristocrats is because servants learn to not show that they hear everything, they get careless in how they talk. As for Cadugan, as a ranger he has a disdain for social mores anyhow. Nice that they get brought back into reality.
Carruthers isn’t using magic or otherwise cheating to augment her hearing. She’s just got good ears. Some folks in real life have keen senses, and they’re not obligated or expected to warn others of the fact.
If anything, she’s showing trust by letting them know she’s heard them, before they’ve said anything consequential. While also reveling in their minor embarrassment, because Carruthers.
Question for t!. Reading through the comments from the beginning of this story, it really seems that Captain Lilianne Carruthers character is disliked by the majority of commenters. Did you set out to make her an antagonist? Personally, I like her character and hope she stays in the cast after this story wraps, but then, I also really liked Meegs and she’s hands down, the most hated character in the history of this strip. Whatever happens, I’m enjoying this story. Keep up the good work.
Thank you.
I am SO relieved someone finally brought this up.
Because the anti-Carruthers venom has been appalling.
As a person, I would enjoy pushing Meegs into the crater of a volcano.
As a *character*, her slimier characteristics make her a wonderful total package.
Honestly, based on the discussions I’ve seen over the years, I doubt that more than 35% of YAFGC readers can recognise that distinction. I would be, honestly, overjoyed, to discover that the real number is over 50%.
And still, even knowing all this, the aggressive refusal on the part of some people to see things from another person/character’s point of view has been *very* disheartening.
(I would be remiss if I didn’t mention one particularly beautiful exception, a reader who kept an open mind during an email discussion.)
*** Warning! What follows is a peek behind the curtain, which contains one not-yet-revealed thing *I* do not consider to be a spoiler, and may imply, or open up to inference, some (mild) others. ***
I set out to make Carruthers an antagonist insofar as I wanted this story to feature the classic Investigator Who Arrests The Wrong Person. That character is usually dim-witted, belligerent, and arrogant (and, fwiw, male), so we wanted to create someone more nuanced. Intelligent and *qualified*, but prone to having a blinkered viewpoint, which is why she arrested someone the reader knows (through much more experience of the suspect – to say nothing of meta reasons!) to be innocent. Likable, for preference, but certainly understandable, at the very least. In one of my favourite Christie’s, "The Murder on the Links," Poirot accuses the investigator of fitting the evidence to the hypothesis, instead of the other way around. I love that juxtaposition, but even though Carruthers is here representing a Whodunnit staple, I designed her more like an ensemble player in my beloved procedurals, H:LOTS and the 87th. She’s a meat-and-potatoes detective, and is going to be right far more often than she is wrong.
She was named after a character Rich & I both like, and while designing her we certainly talked about her as though she could come back. She’s got some fun facets I’m looking forward to revealing in this story.
Sometimes I also wonder how many people here played actual role-games. There is always this skill that one has to master: distinguish character-knowlegde from player-knowlegde. I think liking someone as a character or as a person somewhat similiar to it.
As for one, I’m completely with you on Meegs. I always found her a brilliantly written character, as such, she easily belonged to my favorites, yet I wouldn’t want to hang out with her. Not for long anyways…
As for Captain Carruthers, I don’t get why people dislike her at the first place. I guess they are just unable to put themselves into her shoes. Now, if I would be good at my job, would give my best to do it, and to do it right, and would get some conviencing results out of it, likely wouldn’t be all too happy to have someone around to question my work either. And yes, it would definately influence my attitude towards said person too. And yet, she strikes me as someone who would see and admit her mistake, and even learn from it, would her results turn out to be wrong. I can picture her parting with Lucas and Cadugan, and even with Maula in good terms, and eventually working with them together in the future too.
All in all, she doesn’t seem to be a bad person, just someone who takes her job seriously, and is currently irritated by the circumstances.
I also hope we can see her in future strips again, eventually in a different setting where we can see even more depths to her character!
Just to put in my two cents I LOVE Caruthers not only as an antagonist but as a person. The fact that she is competent, intelligent and humorless ( as far as it seems) make her a killer combo. Someone DIED – and a person universally liked nontheless – and an intelligent and empathetic character treats that fact seriously. I haven’t read many comments but if readers don’t like her then I’m a bit dissapointed.
On the same note I’m glad Lucas got called out on his BS. I like the guy but that ‘impression’ bit reminded me of the typical asshole 14year old boy who makes fun of the weird kid/the teacher. It was more of a callback to the jerk he used to be than the guy he’s grown into.
I know they’re our heroes and I love Cadugan and Lucas more than anyone else in this ‘verse (and I love a LOT of these guys to an unhealthy degree) but in these particular few pages they’re in the wrong.
And yeah I know it’s a lighthearted comic so of course there gonna be jokes under any and all circumstances. And I can totally see Lucas doing something like this, it’s not OOC or anything, it’s just a less lovable side of Himmel and I’m glad Carruthers called him out.
> I LOVE Caruthers not only as an antagonist but as a person.
Damn.
Thank you.
It’s been great to see this support for her.
(Mucat, I know you’ve always been in her corner.)
> It was more of a callback to the jerk he used to be than the guy he’s grown into.
I think of jerk behaviours as being unprompted and malicious. This I regard as more a combination of letting off steam – Maula is in trouble, and they’re concerned for her – plus frustration with the headstrong person who put her in that trouble.
I agree with almost all of what you said about the captain… I enjoy her as the antagonist, in the actual meaning of the word; as an investigator, because she does know her shit; as a character, because she has qualities and traits and depth; and mostly as a person, although not somebody i’d want to hang out with myself. She seems to care about her job and doing what is right, despite the consequences and politics.
I do not see her as humorless: if she had no sense of humor, she would’ve called Lucas out differently, not by using his words. And i’d be upset if i found that somebody i barely knew was mocking me. Regardless of how we as readers who know lucas, and can interpret motives/moods/meanings for doing so, she does not. She just met this duke who has been sent by the king to oversee and reinterpret her work, so she’s got to be already feeling judged. Then some of that judgement manifests. So yeah, i very much see humor in her deflection/flippancy. Dark and bitter maybe…
As for Meegs… I tried to like Meegs as a person…. As a character i respected the details and portrayal, and the story lines would have been lessened had she not been who she was. But as a person, i kept finding myself looking for excuses for her actions, but i never liked her. I don’t really like Eddie either (as a person), but i can respect him. He’s very much a power to support the throne, and unfortunately, many times to do the most good for the people means the person can’t be the nicest.
I think the title of the previous strip could be used for this one as well, because the captain and the duke have very much made an impression on each other!
Although admittedly not nearly as much as the victim and harpsichord.
______
I hadn’t considered the aspects of her hearing, in general or specific to her viability to being the murderer or her trusting Lucas and Cadugan. I’m finding this fascinating ^_^
It does cause me to generate a more general genetic question. How far down the generations can hereditary traits occur? Can they skip generations in the world? Are they based in our world’s genetics of recessive and dominant? Some of this has been discussed previously, in terms of race. I don’t recall traits being included in the explanation, or if it was said that traits are based on race.
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I just realised we never saw her ears. I wonder now how pointy they are…
That actually does open other avenues of inquiry, should the investigator also be partially elven, then they are also susceptible to Pratt root poisoning. And if the elves in this world are as long-lived as elsewhere, then our intrepid inspector could have been an eye witness to the historical events they recounted earlier.
All because you made a point about her ears. I’ve elf a mind to name Carruthers a suspect!
Well, the sketch lines in 3485 feudalism’s last panel have a very human like lower arc to the ear. Though if one of her parents was a half-elf she might have inherited the skill of exceptional hearing and knowledge of pratt root poisoning and other details another way…
Confirming elves can live that long: Arachne was shown in a flashback as a child watching Lewie when he was originally alive, which cannot have been long after when the first Bloodhand king entered the Black Mountain. And her sister Anancy, and her old buddies Mahr’i and Elzear’bith are/were probably around the same age.
OOOUUUUCH…
Ouch indeed.
On the other hand, it moves Carruthers DOWN several notches on my list of suspects. If she were trying to outwit Lucas and Cadugan and cover up the truth, then she wouldn’t let them know about her excellent hearing; she would quietly continue to gather intelligence on what the opposition was thinking.
It also makes me wonder what else she’s overheard from hapless card guests… and how badly she must despise Baz Hoggs, given that he’s got to be an endless fount of vile insults to anyone he imagines is out of earshot.
"And in Panel 3 class, we see an exceptionally fine visual specimen of the expression If Looks Could Kill…"
That’s a Vorpal Glare (+3 natch) right there. Ouch, indeed.
The acute hearing brings up a lot of interesting ideas. Pratroot knowledge aside, I’d even bring up the idea she might be something like a weretiger–if only because that’s a particular creature we haven’t seen in this strip yet (to my knowledge)–and she’s pretty fierce. 😀
Whoops xD
That was just great. Carruthers’ hearing and her feelings about Lucas’ impersonation don’t matter one whit as to whose theory is right or wrong. But her catching him out and calling him on it was well executed. The Abbott rounding out her character with the facts others have been in Lucas’ position *tip my hat*
Flip side, the fact that she can listen in on conversations that would reasonably be considered private without letting people know, rude at the least. Granted, there may be times for it, as with this crime, but Lucas and Cadugan are not suspects. And though they patently are on the main suspect’s side as far as believing her innocent, there’ve done nothing to indicate that they seek to falsify anything. So still, at best, rude without excuse.
Nonsense.
They talked loudly enough for her to hear – what’s she supposed to do, rupture her eardrums "just in case"???
t!
One of the failings of aristocrats is because servants learn to not show that they hear everything, they get careless in how they talk. As for Cadugan, as a ranger he has a disdain for social mores anyhow. Nice that they get brought back into reality.
Carruthers isn’t using magic or otherwise cheating to augment her hearing. She’s just got good ears. Some folks in real life have keen senses, and they’re not obligated or expected to warn others of the fact.
If anything, she’s showing trust by letting them know she’s heard them, before they’ve said anything consequential. While also reveling in their minor embarrassment, because Carruthers.
Question for t!. Reading through the comments from the beginning of this story, it really seems that Captain Lilianne Carruthers character is disliked by the majority of commenters. Did you set out to make her an antagonist? Personally, I like her character and hope she stays in the cast after this story wraps, but then, I also really liked Meegs and she’s hands down, the most hated character in the history of this strip. Whatever happens, I’m enjoying this story. Keep up the good work.
Thank you.
I am SO relieved someone finally brought this up.
Because the anti-Carruthers venom has been appalling.
As a person, I would enjoy pushing Meegs into the crater of a volcano.
As a *character*, her slimier characteristics make her a wonderful total package.
Honestly, based on the discussions I’ve seen over the years, I doubt that more than 35% of YAFGC readers can recognise that distinction. I would be, honestly, overjoyed, to discover that the real number is over 50%.
And still, even knowing all this, the aggressive refusal on the part of some people to see things from another person/character’s point of view has been *very* disheartening.
(I would be remiss if I didn’t mention one particularly beautiful exception, a reader who kept an open mind during an email discussion.)
*** Warning! What follows is a peek behind the curtain, which contains one not-yet-revealed thing *I* do not consider to be a spoiler, and may imply, or open up to inference, some (mild) others. ***
I set out to make Carruthers an antagonist insofar as I wanted this story to feature the classic Investigator Who Arrests The Wrong Person. That character is usually dim-witted, belligerent, and arrogant (and, fwiw, male), so we wanted to create someone more nuanced. Intelligent and *qualified*, but prone to having a blinkered viewpoint, which is why she arrested someone the reader knows (through much more experience of the suspect – to say nothing of meta reasons!) to be innocent. Likable, for preference, but certainly understandable, at the very least. In one of my favourite Christie’s, "The Murder on the Links," Poirot accuses the investigator of fitting the evidence to the hypothesis, instead of the other way around. I love that juxtaposition, but even though Carruthers is here representing a Whodunnit staple, I designed her more like an ensemble player in my beloved procedurals, H:LOTS and the 87th. She’s a meat-and-potatoes detective, and is going to be right far more often than she is wrong.
She was named after a character Rich & I both like, and while designing her we certainly talked about her as though she could come back. She’s got some fun facets I’m looking forward to revealing in this story.
t!
Sometimes I also wonder how many people here played actual role-games. There is always this skill that one has to master: distinguish character-knowlegde from player-knowlegde. I think liking someone as a character or as a person somewhat similiar to it.
As for one, I’m completely with you on Meegs. I always found her a brilliantly written character, as such, she easily belonged to my favorites, yet I wouldn’t want to hang out with her. Not for long anyways…
As for Captain Carruthers, I don’t get why people dislike her at the first place. I guess they are just unable to put themselves into her shoes. Now, if I would be good at my job, would give my best to do it, and to do it right, and would get some conviencing results out of it, likely wouldn’t be all too happy to have someone around to question my work either. And yes, it would definately influence my attitude towards said person too. And yet, she strikes me as someone who would see and admit her mistake, and even learn from it, would her results turn out to be wrong. I can picture her parting with Lucas and Cadugan, and even with Maula in good terms, and eventually working with them together in the future too.
All in all, she doesn’t seem to be a bad person, just someone who takes her job seriously, and is currently irritated by the circumstances.
I also hope we can see her in future strips again, eventually in a different setting where we can see even more depths to her character!
> she strikes me as someone who would see and admit her mistake
Exactly! In fact, we’ve already seen her admit when she’s been wrong – non-investigatively, but still.
t!
Just to put in my two cents I LOVE Caruthers not only as an antagonist but as a person. The fact that she is competent, intelligent and humorless ( as far as it seems) make her a killer combo. Someone DIED – and a person universally liked nontheless – and an intelligent and empathetic character treats that fact seriously. I haven’t read many comments but if readers don’t like her then I’m a bit dissapointed.
On the same note I’m glad Lucas got called out on his BS. I like the guy but that ‘impression’ bit reminded me of the typical asshole 14year old boy who makes fun of the weird kid/the teacher. It was more of a callback to the jerk he used to be than the guy he’s grown into.
I know they’re our heroes and I love Cadugan and Lucas more than anyone else in this ‘verse (and I love a LOT of these guys to an unhealthy degree) but in these particular few pages they’re in the wrong.
And yeah I know it’s a lighthearted comic so of course there gonna be jokes under any and all circumstances. And I can totally see Lucas doing something like this, it’s not OOC or anything, it’s just a less lovable side of Himmel and I’m glad Carruthers called him out.
him not Himmel- damn autocorrect and its fixation on German just because it’s my mother tongue. I hope I caught all other cases.
> I LOVE Caruthers not only as an antagonist but as a person.
Damn.
Thank you.
It’s been great to see this support for her.
(Mucat, I know you’ve always been in her corner.)
> It was more of a callback to the jerk he used to be than the guy he’s grown into.
I think of jerk behaviours as being unprompted and malicious. This I regard as more a combination of letting off steam – Maula is in trouble, and they’re concerned for her – plus frustration with the headstrong person who put her in that trouble.
t!
I agree with almost all of what you said about the captain… I enjoy her as the antagonist, in the actual meaning of the word; as an investigator, because she does know her shit; as a character, because she has qualities and traits and depth; and mostly as a person, although not somebody i’d want to hang out with myself. She seems to care about her job and doing what is right, despite the consequences and politics.
I do not see her as humorless: if she had no sense of humor, she would’ve called Lucas out differently, not by using his words. And i’d be upset if i found that somebody i barely knew was mocking me. Regardless of how we as readers who know lucas, and can interpret motives/moods/meanings for doing so, she does not. She just met this duke who has been sent by the king to oversee and reinterpret her work, so she’s got to be already feeling judged. Then some of that judgement manifests. So yeah, i very much see humor in her deflection/flippancy. Dark and bitter maybe…
As for Meegs… I tried to like Meegs as a person…. As a character i respected the details and portrayal, and the story lines would have been lessened had she not been who she was. But as a person, i kept finding myself looking for excuses for her actions, but i never liked her. I don’t really like Eddie either (as a person), but i can respect him. He’s very much a power to support the throne, and unfortunately, many times to do the most good for the people means the person can’t be the nicest.
I think the title of the previous strip could be used for this one as well, because the captain and the duke have very much made an impression on each other!
Although admittedly not nearly as much as the victim and harpsichord.
______
I hadn’t considered the aspects of her hearing, in general or specific to her viability to being the murderer or her trusting Lucas and Cadugan. I’m finding this fascinating ^_^
It does cause me to generate a more general genetic question. How far down the generations can hereditary traits occur? Can they skip generations in the world? Are they based in our world’s genetics of recessive and dominant? Some of this has been discussed previously, in terms of race. I don’t recall traits being included in the explanation, or if it was said that traits are based on race.