The plot that wrote itself.

[joewithnoname.livejournal.com]

Sometime back Aziraphael gave Joe a copy of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land. Struck by it's haunting description of a desert hell he knew all too well himself, Joe became convinced that the book and its imagery had some relevance to his life at Milliways.

Last night, seeking information about an image from the Tarot reading in that poem, Joe asks Shipwreck:
Say, you met anybody in here named Belladonna? Or anybody you'd call, uh, the lady of the rocks? Or the lady of situations?"

Meanwhile, up at the bar...

Weirdness. That checks off the sailor (Shipwreck), the Wheel (a conversation with Moiraine), and Belladonna from the Tarot reading. No man with three sticks or one-eyed merchants yet.

Ophelia's possession by flowers also reminded me of the opening lines of the poem:

April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

--John

Comments

[theravenboy]

Any sign of old blind Teiresias, with wrinkled dugs?


...I do not think that Tim qualifies.

[daniidebrabant.livejournal.com]

And nobody's drowned in the Lake yet.

Least...not that I noticed.

[genarti]

Does Ophelia count?

[anthy-rosebride.livejournal.com]

Reg came close. *halo*

[muddypetticoats.livejournal.com]

Joe Dick tried, I think, but realised that since he was already dead, it wasn't really going to work. *grins*

[blue_ajah]

I remain fascinated by this plot, and am enjoying watching as it develops, just FYI. :)

[joewithnoname.livejournal.com]

That's the thing... so am I! I haven't done anything except get the book and keep my eyes open so far.

Eliot says in his notes that he associates the man with three sticks quite arbitrarily (and wrongly, if you know the Tarot!) with the Fisher King. Do we have any Fisher Kings? They're kind of a frequent trope.

--John

[blue_ajah]

I don't think so, actually. I can't think of one, anyway... (anyone else have a clue?)

Do we even have anyone who carries a stick of some sort? *looks thoughtfully in Raph's direction, just in case*

[big-b-wolf.livejournal.com]

Sir Apropos carries a crutch/staff, I believe.