As a Headscratchers subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
- The stories make reference to things that are from the Cthulhu Mythos, like Miskatonic University, but there was also a reference to the Alan Turing-Lovecraft paper/theorem/whatever. So, in the Laundry universe, was Lovecraft still a writer who wrote the same stories, but the stories were based on truth? Was he instead an occult researcher? Or are the characters using Cthulhu Mythos names jokingly?
- There's no reference to the Turing-Lovecraft theorem. Word of god is that, in the Laundryverse, Lovecraft's stories are based to some extent on truth, but he was such an Unreliable Narrator that they aren't hugely helpful.
- Re-check Atrocity Archives. There is a reference to the T-L theorem early in the book.
- We actually get to hear from Lovecraft in "Equoid." He was the 1920s equivalent of a hipster (at least, in Bob's opinion) who had a number of horrible encounters that set him on the path to occult research as a sideline for his hobby. He got more wrong than he did right, and his writings are compared to the occult equivalent of The Anarchist's Cookbook - if you try to use the recipes, you might just blow your hands off.
- There's no reference to the Turing-Lovecraft theorem. Word of god is that, in the Laundryverse, Lovecraft's stories are based to some extent on truth, but he was such an Unreliable Narrator that they aren't hugely helpful.
- CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN is repeatedly referenced, but whenever other code words end in a colour, there's invariably several variants of the core code word, delineated by colour, such as GOD GAME BLACK, GOD GAME BLUE, etc., grouped under the umbrella GOD GAME RAINBOW. So what other CASE NIGHTMARE RAINBOW scenarios are there?
- Word of God provides descriptions of CASE NIGHTMARE BLUE, RED, and YELLOW
. BLUE is the Lovecraftian singularity, RED is alien invasion, and YELLOW is a Vernor Vinge-style singularity with added tentacles. CASE NIGHTMARE PINK (further down the page) is invasion by My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
- Word of God provides descriptions of CASE NIGHTMARE BLUE, RED, and YELLOW
- How is it that Fred from accounting worked for the Laundry without being aware that the occult is real?
- Well, some of their staff at that point was barely aware what are they actually do, aside from "secret work for government", and he could be just that stupid.
- Need To Know. A field operative for the Laundry needs to know all the stuff about the occult because the field operative is going to be dealing with the occult on a fairly frequent basis. But the guy who calculates payroll just needs to know how many employees he needs to divide the operational budget between and on what scale each employee is being paid. He doesn't need to know that stuff, so no one tells him it. As for how he joined up originally, chances are he just blundered into something he didn't fully understand completely by accident but still had to be swept up and kept silent regardless.
- So, doesn't recent mandate for Mandate violate Benthic Treaty? Or he's so out of the scale, he can blow his nose in it, and Deep Ones will comply?
- A related question is why the Deep Ones don't respond to the subversion of the Black Chamber. I am sure that this will be dealt with in the next book. I suspect that they just haven't found out yet and a good part of the book may be convincing or otherwise causing them not to just excise the diseased flesh by washing away the US and UK.
- This far into CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN it’s probably counterproductive for the Deep Ones to kill large numbers of humans even though they could do so if they wanted. It is an interesting question as to why the Laundry didn’t use their liaison with the Deep Ones to try and deal with their Sleeper in the Pyramid problem instead of going with the Mandate, or at least why this wasn’t mentioned as a potential option.
- Could it be that the Cold Ones, the things that Nyarlathotep and his buddies are fleeing from, are the same as the Infovore from Atrocity Archive? The Infovores are described as ice giants, they suck heat and information out of the universes they inhabit and they are powerful enough to casually carve Hitler's face into the moon, so it does sound somewhat likely, doesn't it?
- Referenced in WMG.
- Why would The Mandate want more Erich Zahn instruments? He of all people should know that they all link up to the King in Yellow, who should be an enemy of his. And if they are indeed friends, is that why he made sure Mo survived the climax of Delirium Brief?
- They're powerful weapons when used properly, and summoning of the King in Yellow requires specific ritual. Also must be considered that Mandate is a dick and likes to troll his fellow Outer Gods and people in and out of his command, and that "enemy" isn't absolutely correct term - they're rivaling for the control of the Earth and at the same time pulling an Enemy Mine on Cold Ones, which invites very unpredictable dinamic where you're helping someone with one hand while backstabbing them with other. Also, if The Unspeakable Vault of Doom is canon, he is a friend of King in Yellow, at least, more than Cthulhu's.
