Chapter 40-1 Monsters

[Elisa]

Are we sure that Ink is actually turned? I could have missed it somewhere in the story but I see a lot of people saying he is the only turned one with normal eyes. I had personally pictured him as never turning at all. But if that is the case then it leaves us with a few questions..........

1) If Ink is not turned. Is he/was he behind the explosion that caused the turning??? If so, did he know how to keep himself from turning(antibiotics, etc, etc)? So did Ink somehow set up the explosion knowing that he would not turn, and knowing that he would be able to control those who did??? Meaning even if the explosion happened and he was locked up in a transport vehicle, he could call his minions to bust him out.

2) If Ink is turned. Was the explosion just merely something that happened??? And Ink became the person we see now after being bitten?? Did something in his medication from the mental ward keep him from fully turning???

Oh crap and are Saul and Tanya from the same ilk?????

[scbubba]

I noticed this too. At first, I thought it was just a bit of banter, similar to Saul and Victor, but now it does seem like it's getting a bit more serious

I thought they always called him Carl. Now, Robbins was definitely upset at the whole discussion. I mean, let's face it, he watched a whole bunch of these things slaughter people. He doesn't like the idea of the thing he hates being made into something rationale or justified. And then to have "one of his own" in Carl take the side of the enemy (in Robbins' eyes) puts those two soldiers at odds. I'm wondering if this is going to be story tension or if it's just character tension? Meaning is it tension that will impact the storyline directly or is it the tension that just helps the characters be more real.... (there are probably actual terms that writers use for stuff like this but I don't know what they are)

[scbubba]

If they double-check the mental facility or the courthouse, they may find some sort of transcripts from interviews, or even a video of him being studied by a psychiatrist. The fact that he can communicate with the other biters and has a level of super-human abilities does imply that he is, in some shape or form, turned. Then again, his ability to speak, write and his intelligence suggests otherwise.

Good call. I've felt like we will end up back at the hospital before it's all over. The trail seems to be leading us in that direction for sure now....

[skankyfish]

Good call. I've felt like we will end up back at the hospital before it's all over. The trail seems to be leading us in that direction for sure now....

I agree. I happened to just listen to that episode yesterday, and the descriptions of the tattoo gun sitting in pools of ink and blood really started my brain whizzing. Who was tattooed there? Ink? Little Ones? Both?

[ZombieWildfire]

1) If Ink is not turned. Is he/was he behind the explosion that caused the turning??? If so, did he know how to keep himself from turning(antibiotics, etc, etc)? So did Ink somehow set up the explosion knowing that he would not turn, and knowing that he would be able to control those who did??? Meaning even if the explosion happened and he was locked up in a transport vehicle, he could call his minions to bust him out.

My initial theory, apropos of very little was that Ink knew something was coming, and was worried that if he turned he would forget all of the knowledge he thought he would need- hence the last minute tattoos, which were a way of ensuring that he wouldnt lose his notes, no matter what.

Sort of like writing on your arm to cheat in an exam I guess. The problem with that theory, of course, is that head and hands seem to be a rather odd choice of where to put the tattoos. And he seems to have finished off the job with the tattoo gun in the mental ward of the hospital.

[UndeadSweeper]

My initial theory, apropos of very little was that Ink knew something was coming, and was worried that if he turned he would forget all of the knowledge he thought he would need- hence the last minute tattoos, which were a way of ensuring that he wouldnt lose his notes, no matter what.

Sort of like writing on your arm to cheat in an exam I guess. The problem with that theory, of course, is that head and hands seem to be a rather odd choice of where to put the tattoos. And he seems to have finished off the job with the tattoo gun in the mental ward of the hospital.

I guess a camera and mirror could solve that but yes it's very awkward.

[FenixArc]

Coming out of a long time of forum lurking for this...

Surprised I didn't see anyone mention it yet. Following the double entendre suspected of many chapter names, what if another group of "Monsters" are the surviving humans? Kelly just mentioned that at least some of the attacks seem to be in retaliation. My first thought was the movie Starship Troopers. During the whole film we are indoctrinated to believe that the bugs are the enemy, the bugs are evil, the bugs will stop at nothing to destroy humanity. Watch the movie a little bit closer (or read into the conspiracy theories at least) and it's not so black and white.

Do I really think that's the intended meaning of the title? Not necessarily, but I don't think it's any more tin foil hatted than some other stuff flying around.

[LiamKerrington]

So Ink got his tatoos from a fellow inmate/patient... perhaps his "Markings" are to identify him to the zombies as "The One They Should Follow"?
i mean, you gotta think that one of the reasons he's still alive and in command is due to a collective respect/idenification among the zeds, right?
TOTSF, haha.

Don't forget: Strange symbols were on sheets of papers in Ink's office at Raydon Labs as well. So Ink's connection to strange symbols seems to date back into pre-zombocalypse-times. Maybe and considering the nature of strange symbols this might be kind of an esoterically fueled supersticion-thing going on in Ink.

I don't think you missed anything. I keep listening over and over to see if they mention a street or anything that would hint to location. I got nothing. Kelly only mentions that she has an idea of which courthouse it might be. Other than that, just a google search of L.A. courthouses show that there \are two in Inglewood.

Sure. But at the time Kelly and guys show up at the court, they still think that the haze at Ground Zero exists; and Ground Zero - as I see it on the map - would be quite close to these two courts; so I guess it is fairly unlikely that Kelly and the soldiers are at one of these two courts ...

Are we sure that Ink is actually turned? I could have missed it somewhere in the story but I see a lot of people saying he is the only turned one with normal eyes. I had personally pictured him as never turning at all. But if that is the case then it leaves us with a few questions.......... *snip*

Good questions (the snipped part of your posting). But I think Ink is turned; and evidence is right in front of you: a) he killed Paul in the Tower, b) although being hit by a bullet into his chest in the Tower, he got up again and started running, c) he jumped out of the Tower's second or third floor (in which one was Burt's armory?), d) he ran at a crazy speed away from the Tower, e) he snatched an arrow shot by Riley out of the air ...
No - he is not a human being anymore. It might be the shell of a human, but he has changed in many ways similar to what we have seen on other zombs, so he is a zomb.

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Paranoid schizophrenics - they do get medical treatment like pills and shit, right? Would things like this have allowed Ink to remain partially human and thus self-aware and half way down the self-control to allow him to become the zombie-lord of LA?

Best wishes!
Liam

[Witch_Doctor]

Oh crap and are Saul and Tanya from the same ilk?????

Well, I'm assuming Tanya gave herself the antibiotic ASAP. Saul got it WEEKS after his exposure.

Then again, maybe the antibiotics doesn't affect the Z-cooties.

[LiamKerrington]

Oh crap and are Saul and Tanya from the same ilk?????

Which fuels another theory I had back in my first days listening to WA and being active on this forum ... Just another parallel to the movie of "Doom" ... Imagine a certain genetic code which makes "zombs" kind of different from humans. Most humans would die when this specific code gets activated. Others (and few, compare the numbers) become animalistic monsters striving for destruction and eat and other crazy shit, while others become angels of light and fire ... It is similar in the movie of "Doom". There is a certain gene activating "the evil" and making its victim a minion of it, while on others the gene activates the good or holy spirit ... What, if Ink and his minions are "evil" becaue the zombie-gene or zombie-agent activates their evil sides, while Tanya and Saul (and others?) might be "turned" into "good" or "holy zombies"?

Best wishes!
Liam