Oh! I just thought of something thanks to webby pointing out thus-----



In Gateways, Tom Sr. stated that Tom Jr. and Kate were suppose to be their only kids, then Jack was concieved, sort of an accidental/unplanned pregnancy. Perhaps there's something behind this?

Whoa, that's got potential.

The killing of Jack's mother was the first cutting of the branch to make Jack a spear... his killing of the man who did it was pruning his ability to kill, a necessary thing to fight the Otherness.

And seeing as Jack never had any real connection with Tom Jr. that would have been no branch had the events with his father happen the way they were suppose to.

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And seeing as Jack never had any real connection with Tom Jr. that would have been no branch had the events with his father happen the way they were suppose to.

Is the Ally so omnipotent to realize that?

As they seem to know what the heck is going on just about all the time I could assume so. If they can see things yet to come, that can surely allude to them knowing about Jack and Tom Jr's relationship early on as opposed to the events in Infernal.

Think... Tom just coincidentally couldn't go anywhere, had to stay in philly (in Gateways).

You could be right of course, it is a likely answer, and we really have no indication that Jack's Dad had any kind of contact with the otherness but....it is possible, especially when it was pointed out so openly that Dad didn't talk about those days, even though he was open about everything else, it seems there IS something there, what it is I don't know.....

Well, except to tell funny stories -- and to forbid us as kids to watch war movies (saying that the worst war movie was a cartoon compared to the real thing) -- my dad didn't talk much about the war either. Not until just before he died.

The difference with my father being that you couldn't ignore that he was a combat veteran -- according to the VA, he was 300 percent disabled.

In GATEWAYS, the otherness was a complete mystery to Jacks dad. And I don't try to draw parallels where there is no cause to believe that they exist.

If there is some connection, I'll let FPW bring it about.

Ken V.

I think the medals were more of just a reminder of his father. Reason his father didn't talk about those days is more than likely because of the fact he was a sniper and had to take out enemy on a more personal basis. Drudging up those memories can have a pretty bad impact on one's psyche.

Or, as it was with my father, the war was something he would just as soon try to forget. A great many combat veterans were like that. They just didn't want to talk about it.

I had a friend who didn't discover that his father was a World War II veteran until after his father had died. It turned out that both our fathers were in the same Regiment, and I was able to give him a good deal of information about what that Regiment did during the war.

His dad never talked about it at all!

Ken V.

This is also true. I guess we will have to wait and see. It does seem likely to me that since his life was orchestrated by the Ally at times, and "the lady" had taken an interest in him and his family (at least his Dad) then there might have been some episodes in the past where Jack's parents had encountered the otherness or at least some strange stuff.

Then again, Anya may have taken an interest in Jacks dad simply because he was Jacks dad, and she didn't like the idea of all the spears branches being trimmed.

After all, the Ladies seem to be pro-earth and pro-human, whereas the "Ally" seems merely to be . . . anti-otherness.

Ken V.

Think... Tom just coincidentally couldn't go anywhere, had to stay in philly (in Gateways).

Couldn't or wouldn't? I think it's been pointed out that Tom Junior was self-centered in the extreme, so I read that as meaning that Tom,Jr. just couldn't be bothered.

Ken V.

In Infernal it was revealed he had gotten into that situation and was under scrutiny by (I think it was) the FBI, hence why he couldn't leave Philly. More than likely that's why he couldn't leave it during Gateways (as he never actually said why he couldn't go) And remember what The Lady said, "No more coincidences"

One would think to see Tom Jr. not being able to leave because of 'matters' as coincidental to his and jack's father's accident... but yeah.. "No more coincidences"

Speaking of Nexus points I wonder if FPW will connect the dots with the Pillar burials and with his story "The Barrens"? I'll not say more if you've not read the story but there definitely could be a connection.

I was just thinking the same thing the other day. I recently converted a friend to RJ and The Adversary saga and had told him he must read the Barrens as well. Before I gave it to him I read it again and was remembering that this nexus point is mentioned in one of the Jack books (Crisscross?) and Jack came close to it in "All The Rage". I remember it being FPW's homage to Lovecraft but it nicely plays in with everything now.