BBCAWDIO thoughts

(Another slightly off topic post)

#BBCAWDIO musings

What if…

What we are seeing is a power struggle in another universe, the mirror world. The key to the power struggle – which could be between a) the Queen, the Prince and their cohorts and b) the Resistance, fronted by Finnegan, perhaps the original Puppet, perhaps Pinman etc – is one person from our world, i.e. Sam.

The struggle begun ages ago when the siblings – toymaker sister and prince brother, who incidentally were not nice persons at all – found out that they were, in fact, siblings. This they found out when she was commissioned to make him a puppet.

Through magic means (I think the magpie is sort of the fairy of this tale, granting wishes or making things happen) the toymaker is given the opportunity to bring the puppet to life. Still, bad person as she is, she tries to trick the magic. She ends up in the Mirror World, and finds that some of the things she has brought there – items and skills – give her power over the things residing there. At last she has a chance to be a queen in her own right! Eager to bring her brother along and rule this domain together, she struggles to find a way to do so. She realizes the only way is to bring him through the mirror, which she manages to do.

The original people of the mirror world take up the fight against the Queen, who manufactures armies. But the longer she’s in the other world, the more diminished her powers become. What she would need to finish the fight is the powers of one special person in the real world – Sam.

The Queen tries to ensnare her by her love of her brother. But, even though she made the promise, Sam recoils and runs from the fate she sees beckoning. The Queen is furious and traps her unfortunate Brother in the body of a magpie, but doing it so clumsily she left parts of him out, like the voice Pinman now has – perhaps mocking the original magpie, perhaps “on top of” the original magpie’s personality? – until she’ll get a chance to get her hands on Sam again.

Now, the Resistance is in trouble, as the Queens armies are overwhelming them. They see that the only way to get to the queen is through Sam, so they arrange, through the first puppet and through Finnegan, to have her transported into the mirror world. One last throw of the dice, so to speak. The mirror-Sam is a doll who became alive when she entered the real world. She’s not evil per say, just to keep Sam on the right track, worrying about her family.

Incidentally, I think Badger is the one who will turn out to be a traitor in the Resistance. Never quite trusted that fellow, much too quiet.

So – evil people are the Queen, the Prince and their cohorts. Good people are Finnegan, Pinman, the original Puppet, the magpie, mirror-Sam. I think the whispering voice could be the original Puppet, driving her along, trying to get her on the right track.

So now, just get rid of the evil people, get Sam back, wrap things up?

BBCAWDIO loose threads

(first of all, this is a kind of off topic post, since I'm involved in the #bbcawdio venture on Twitter - look it up, it's great fun! This is just a place to put loose threads and I'll delete this and coming posts later. You probably won't make much of what is written here unless you're involved, so feel free to ignore)


Here we go, the loose threads for the first four chapters, at least the ones I found. Could be that some were tied up later on, let me know! (my comments are in italic)

Scene One

"You've been a disappointment to us, Sam. We always thought you were the one." via (paulcrilley) (“The one” meaning what exactly?)

The woman looking across the divide certainly resembled her, yet the lines of her face told a far older story (so Sam in the mirror is much older? How come? Is it a future Sam?)

"It's our turn. You promised." (said by the Sam in the mirror – what promise was this? The same as is referred to later?)

(then, her brother “went away”, “they had taken him” and she “begged to follow” and “had promised”)

Scene Two

Where Sam sees her mirror-self, “the imposter”, cuddling with her mother.
“remember your promise”, the mirror-Sam says, again referring to the promise.

(Upon meeting the puppet) The puppet raised its hand and twitched a finger. As it did so, Sam was horrified to feel her own arm respond. (how come? Does someone have that power over here in this mirror world? And will this puppet make a comeback? Perhaps Sam will falter in her resolve later on, NOT annihilating the Queen, but the puppet appears and takes control over her limbs, making her do it?)

Scene Three

Sam stared at the city that seemed to be made out of wood and wax. (made of wax? Why? Perhaps it’ll melt at some point?)

(Someone started to sing the “heart of stone” song, after which..) "Shut up!" Sam screamed and she started to run towards the city, hoping to leave the whispering voice behind (so, who was singing that song? It’s been coming back a lot, that invisible singer should be back at some point methinks)

Scene Four

(introducing Finnegan, who has this line) "Her Most Excellent Collector of Things requires a trinket from all that attend," he said as he stepped from the carriage. (so, a Collector of Things? Does she collect any which ever things? Like hearts, brothers etc?)

(Sam finds the egg in her pocket when asked for a trinket) Where had that come from, Sam wondered. (yes, where HAD it come from? Was it the same mysterious voice? Was it the first puppet that put it there to get her on her way?)

(a bit of a strange line from Finnegan to Sam) Aye. You're not more than two hundred, if that." Finnegan replied. "And didn't I tell you to say nothing?" (now, why would he think she’s 200 years old? Is this an old world? A slow world? Or does he need new glasses?)

(Also: ) "She collects all sorts of things. Doors too, and memories, and dropped intentions." He sighed. "This is all I can do." (so she is really a Collector, right? How can we weave this into the equation?)