I saw the recent edit, Eagal. That's not good enough. Reasoning with Anthony is not the objective. He's try to help Antimony by monitoring Anthony and learning what he can, while preventing him from moving forward with whatever he's doing by refusing commands. Having a talk about his daughter isn't part of the overall strategy, and runs the risk of giving something away. And it still doesn't exemplify the trope, Renard is in character and acting in coordination with others in order to do this.
Edited by 425599167
Eagal, I've given you over a week to respond. If you don't give me a good reason not to, I'm deleting the example.
In the future, you may wish to notify me rather than expect me to mystically divine the existence of a discussion. Even a simple "See discussion" in the edit reasons.
To summarize: Poor Communication Kills is when a misunderstanding is entirely implausible and against the characters' previously exhibited communication skills, personality, and relationship(s), and any normal person could clear up the misunderstanding in less than 30 seconds and solve the plot. (However, those rarer instances when in-character poor communication kills can count, too.) This is a frequent companion trope of the Idiot Ball and can often drive an Idiot Plot right off a cliff.
The trope does not distinguish whether the miscommunication need be intentional or unintentional. It is implausible for Renard to refuse to speak with Anthony for the sake of reuniting with Antimony, as his previously established personality and relationships suggest he should be willing to do all kinds of things he doesn't like doing in the interest of his loved ones.
The situation - his separation from Antimony - could potentially be resolved by way of a few short conversations in order to convince Anthony that he is not a threat to Antimony or anyone else. Renard's failure to do so is an example of Idiot Ball.
Whether it is likely that Anthony actually would return Renard subsequently is immaterial, as Renard doesn't know that one way or the other. He can't see the future, so he doesn't have a good reason not to at least try.
Seems like it fits to me.
Edited by Eagal You fell victim to one of the classic blunders!
Discussion edits are also displayed in your watchlist, which should contain pages you regularly edit. Pay attention. I know based on the edit history you've been aware of my criticisms.
Miscommunication is the failure to convey information. It's not miscommunication to deliberately mislead someone. It cannot be intentional, that's just deception. He doesn't try because reuniting with Antimony isn't his goal, learning more about the situation and protecting her is.
Discussion edits don't appear on your watchlist unless you add the relevant page to your watchlist. I did not have the page on my watchlist before today.
Deliberate failure to convey information is still failure to convey information. It most certainly can be intentional. Reference: Renard's intentional failure to convey information.
At what point did Renard say that he's staying to gather information? He is maintaining the charade because if he did not then Anthony would be made aware that Annie had disobeyed him, potentially resulting in further punishment. Such maintenance would be unnecessary if they were reunited.
Given two options, which do you think Renard would choose: The option that adds more stress to Annie or the option that reduces stress to Annie?
I'll give you a hint. It's not the first one.
Edit: I'm asking in ATT.
Edited by Eagal You fell victim to one of the classic blunders!
Alright, Eagal. Poor Communication Kills describes contrived miscommunication that unwittingly causes problems for everyone. Renard is not interested in talking to Anthony. He's intentionally trying to cause problems for him. Antimony gave him up willingly, and he's staying with Anthony to figure out why he came back, he can leave if he wants, but if he did, it would not help Antimony. Furthermore, he knows Anthony, and dislikes him greatly, and even if he did talk to him, it's unlikely Anthony would return him if his best friends, the Donlans, couldn't convince him to. Renard is known as a demon and a trickster. Nothing would be affected. Your logic also depends on Anthony being honest about his reasons for taking Renard from Anthony, which is rather dubious. If Anthony's goal was merely to keep him from his daughter, he wouldn't need to control him. Clear?
Edited by 425599167 Hide / Show Replies