El Goonish Shive

Susan and Diane are dimensional alternates.

...I'm seriously just about fed up with this comic. I used to enjoy it, I really did. But these past two years or so have been driving me mad because of Shive's writing.

Not twins, but I am betting on half-siblings with truly amazing timing on the births. After all, Susan's dad did SOMETHING that royally P Od her mom.

No, I think this is some attempt to throw us off. An immortal somehow knew about Nanase and Diane's familial relationship, I'm not inclined to think that Jerry's knowledge is somehow wrong if he looked into the matter. At the very least, they're sisters by blood relation.

edited 29th Aug '16 2:57:36 AM by Cronosonic

I still think they're twins. He just looked at Susan's stuff. What if Diane was declared dead and kidnapped?

Well, that or dimensional alternates as someone else said.

I mean, you don't build up all those hints for no reason. Er, right?

Yeah, knowing what we know, it seems much more likely that someone wanted to hide the fact that Diane and Susan were twins really badly than it is they simply aren't.

tl:dr, Mr. Exposition is wrong.

Edward's background checks are thorough. Susan's an only child and she's not adopted. Thus declares Word of The Person Who Would Know Better Than Anyone.

Which doesn't necessarily mean there can't be something going on.

1. This only verifies that Susan and Nanase are not blood relations.
2. Even then, it might not even do that. Depends on how much you trust Edward Verres, a man who operates on a need-to-know basis and is in the business of ensuring that important secrets remain kept. A man who once threatened Justin with implied harm if he expands the circle of trustees. And who might not think this is any of Nanase's business anyway.

edited 29th Aug '16 7:18:28 AM by TobiasDrake

It's official Shive is only stringing us along. Y Ou big troll.

Though Maybe Diane was split from Susan minutes after she was born?

Susan is Nanase? Diane is Nanase? EVERYONE IS NANASE? (The name errors people have made above are quite hilarious, especially given the Not-Tengu arc.)

Even in psuedo-retirement, Verres would have access to any cover-ups made by human authorities. For the time being, I'd take his word for it, since he would have no reason to lie about it (compared to magically significant people like Tedd and Grace, Susan is barely a blip on the radar, and Diane isn't even on it).

The most likely scenario is half-siblings, which serves to illustrate how far back their father's infidelity goes. (The breakup between Susan's mom and dad was because Susan discovered Daddy Dearest sleeping with another woman, and then told her mom about it.) This isn't about magic at all; it's showing that their father was basically a scumbag from the get-go, and he was at it for years without being caught.

Which raises the question: how many half-siblings do Susan and Diane have at this point?

edited 29th Aug '16 8:07:42 AM by TotemicHero

Why this?

And who might not think this is any of Nanase's business anyway.

And thus Mr Verres continues his streak of being absolutely right.

Or alternatively: The paper work is fraudulent.

Like he said he's seen the records and that was his thorough check.

@23675 Well, my reaction was more subdued, but yeah, the same initial reaction pretty much.

@23676 That was the first theory I came up with as well.

@23678 Hmm... that's a pretty mundane explanation that would make total sense. Also, it would keep the Kudzu Plot under control. I'm really rooting for it.

@23682 Hmm... that opens up another possibility, which you hint at without directly saying it, so I will - Mr. Verres might just be lying.

@23683 You mean, via the Dewitchery Diamond? Possible, but that would just let the Kudzu Plot get out of control... and it'd open up a Plot Hole (namely, why didn't Abraham also try to get Diane while he was at it?).

Beyond all that, there are a few other off-the-wall theories that I can think of... and I really wish I trusted Shive enough to eliminate such theories as "birthed Diane in secret and covered her birth up while giving her up for adoption" out-of-hand.

not like that. Imagine that 10 minutes before new year a baby is born with an amazingly high magic potential that could be dangerous to aberrations and maybe even immortals. Someone tries to kill the baby, but it is impossible for some reason, so the baby -and her magic potential- is divided on two babies with half the power instead. One is returned to her parents as if she was the original, the other is given up for adoption.

Just a guess... the Kudzu Plot is out of control already anyway.

edited 29th Aug '16 12:08:03 PM by Kaitroper

I definitely believe Jerry more than I believe Verres. Verres clearly doesn't consider this important. Sure, he checked the paperwork, but he wouldn't have done anything more extreme like interview the doctors and nurses involved to see if it matched up.

All this really means is that there's something stranger about the Susan/Diane relationship than "Susan is adopted and doesn't know it." Which we probably should have expected, because, come on. It's EGS.

Well, barring dimensional shenanigans (which are highly likely, all things considered) the only way Diane and Susan could be sisters is with Susan's father getting another woman pregnant around the same time he got her mother pregnant.

Which would mean that they got their magical affinity from him, assuming genetics works like that.

Well, the theory that Diane is Susan's half-sister, with different biological mothers, is already solid with what canon evidence we have. First off, half-sisters are still sisters, and Jerry might not care to make the distinction, meaning he'd be right. Second, that would mean that Edward's sources and background checks are rather thorough; he just hasn't done one on Diane yet (or is just not revealing what he has on her if he has). Third, Susan's father was a known philanderer, and it's pretty reasonable to assume that it was not a one-off situation that Susan caught him in. Also, The Law of Conservation of Detail has to kick in eventually. In theory.

I'm hopeful that explanation holds, as it's the one that requires the fewest assumptions in addition to being the most grounded in the story.

But they are basically identical if not for Susan's first dyeing then awakening. Being that identical is hard with full siblings, even less if they only share one parent.

The universe is taunting me

It's not that weird that even half-siblings would potentially look identical. I've known cousins (thus, only sharing one set of grandparents) who have looked nearly identical. Sure, you also have cases like my own sister and I, who look so different outside of two features (one of which, eye color, is only striking in that we have an uncommon color - and it's not even the same shade) that most people assume we're not related at all, let alone have the same set of parents. But the idea that half-siblings could look so alike that they'd be twins is so mundane that it really doesn't require an explanation.

Hmm, that would explain why Diane was the one up for adoption. That lady probably did not want to deal with a daughter born of an affair.

Ugh, but I wanted them to be twins. Why did you set me up for disappointment, Shive?

So, assuming it's true, that would mean that their father had an affinity for summoning magic as well, and passed it on to both of them.

@Daremo : So this make Susan x Diane ok now? Quick, to the fan fic factory!

Why, just because there might be a chance that they are not related? When did such pesky details ever stopped fanfic writers before? Actually, since when does it not encourage them?

Also, I know the chance is slim, but it would be highly ironic if one of them was born from the dewitchery diamond, given it was the first hypothesis the characters get when they discoverd the similarities between the two (actually, highly improbable, as it should have awoken Abrams). Or maybe some alternate universe mumbo jumbo, who knows.

It is most likely not a lie from Mr Verres, though. He made abundantly clear in a previous discution with his son that, at this point, he considers straight-up lying to the group as dangerous and counterproductive.

EDIT: also, I completely disagree with Shive for once. The voice making the recap narration can totally NOT be anyone but Tensaided.

edited 30th Aug '16 1:56:20 PM by jaff

Comic 2233

All just one big coincidence? I'm not buying it.

NP 506

Pandora haet catgirl.

Come now, Pandora. You call yourself Pandora Raven. You can't be all that against theme naming.

I'm not buying that Mr. Verres would have that much trouble with adoption records either, although given his position is somewhat unofficial, it could be that he can't afford to make waves by asking.

As for name-based magic affinity, I'm reminded of The Wotch with Samantha Wulfe the Werewolf (and yes, I remember that there was some small mention of connections between the two series before it was dropped like a hot potato).