Where’s chapter 17? I thought you were gonna do three chapters in one day.
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Burnet is a man after my own heart
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My favourite part of the book was when The Ultimate Bo_ Theoriser said “it’s theorisin’ time” and theorised all over the place
Theorisin’ time
- Regarding the BoL “simulation”, the way it’s connected to Dreamers, and the whereabouts of Renner
In order to explain this theory I need to go through some points (please tell me if I got any of them wrong):
-
we were never told what exactly the BoL “simulation” was (I think everyone just assumed that was a matrix-like computer simulation, but it was never confirmed in any of the books, if I remember correctly)
-
Renner entered the same kind of simulation and became Tomorrow after he was swallowed by the Dreamer Ghid at the end of BoD.
I always assumed that Ghid just bit off his head and left the rest of his body lying on the battlefield, so I never even consider Renner as a candidate for Tomorrow’s true identity, but now I can see all the hints to that starting with the last chapter of BoD -
the book Cordax took from Volume might have a connection to Yuo and Tomorrow’s simulations
-
both Dreamers and these “simulations” have a strong connection to people’s wishes, or rather, dreams in written form (you have to feed a Dreamer a piece of paper with your wish written on it and it will literally make it come true, and everything a “Simulation” protagonist, such as Yuo and Tom, wishes, will be written down on paper by their Chronicler and come true as well)
So, my theory is: Yuo and Tom’s stories did not take place on any kind of computer simulation, they took place in some kind of “dream world” that can only be accessed through Dreamers, where every desire you write will come true. In Yuo’s and Tom’s cases, they entered this “realm” through a Ghid Dreamer, meaning that he had full control over the dimension and their actions, until Tomorrow broke free from Ghid’s will. I know this sounds crazy, but considering the similarities between the abilities of Dreamers and the laws of the “Simulation” worlds, I reckon there might be some truthfulness in my theory. Also, I think that the book from Volume’s room that he was so scared about was actually Yuo’s story (aka BoL) that Chronicler wrote down, which would mean that Volume is the Ghid controlling the Ghid Dreamers from BoD and, therefore, the Ghid in charge of Yuo and Tom’s/Renner’s simulations.
That would also explain how the Ghid Dreamer from BoR got access to Chronicler’s arm that he attached to Monopoly’s body
Keeping my theory in mind, I think that Volume got harmed because Renner broke free from Ghid’s influence in the “Dream world”. There’s also a possibility that this happened because Diero destroyed the book that Volume had thrown out the window, I’m not quite sure yet. I assume, we will find out in the next chapter.
- In the Multiverse of Ghidness
This is less of a theory and more of my smooth brain trying to comprehend the insanely complex Ghid lore.
First, let’s go through the full list of Ghids:
- countless Ghid Dreamer fakes from BoD, including the Ghid dreamer from BoR
- Ghid from BoL
- Ghid from Tomorrow’s world (presumably, the same as the number 2)
- Tott
- Lord Ghidlius from Eilrach’s flashback
- Volume
I’m not sure which of these are the same, but this is my guess: #1, #2, #3 and #6 are the same entity and #4 and #5 are the same as well, but it raises some questions: if #4 and #5 are the same, then why did Tott need to see Eilrach’s flashback to remember his past deeds? Why did Ghid (Volume) send Bird and Pakari’s parties to investigate the cider factory, something that he owns in the BoR? Is the city of music situated outside or inside the dark dome from the BoD? And many more… I think if I read all of these books back to back, I wouldn’t have any of these questions, but unfortunately I don’t have that privilege… so, could you please remind me about some Ghid-related details from the previous books that I might have forgotten?
One more thing, somewhere in this book Tott said that he wanted to end Ghid’s (his own) reign over this world so that someone else could rule it. The quote was somewhere in the first half of the book, but I can’t seem to find it… it’s very annoying. I hope it’s real and my sleep deprived brain didn’t just make this up. Could you please save me from this pain?
This entire situation confuses the hell out of me, I need answers and I feel frustrated
- Obama
This is the description of Wilhelmus the Lesser:
and this is the base of Willess12’s pfp:
Which means that this is what Wilhelmus looks like:
(Please confirm or deny this allegation, because I need that for potential drawings)
As opposed to “several of the chair”
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you’ve thought about this for too long
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-Better late than early (Sun Tzu, The Art of War)
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Standing here I realize
Correct. There was never any specifics given in relation to that.
Correct. Crawl into Ghid.
I cannot confirm or deny allegations that Diero is skydiving with a very valuable piece of property.
Without getting into specifics, yes, this is also correct.
NotaHFfan, that is quite possibly the stupidest theory you’ve ever come up with absolutely correct.
I would now like to see you address the dark wall lol
Three chapters left.
I can absolutely confirm the allegation that Wilhelmus the Lesser looks like Obama Fried Chicken, not because I want him to but because such is destiny
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You are just like me Trying to make history
I literally forgor how it functions and what it was made for… I guess it’s time to reread BoD again
What. No. It can’t end in three chapters. No. Please. I need more book to theorise about. without book my life will be meaningless…
Cordax please make more of these
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the wall was made around the area where ghid has total control to keep ghid contained, and if diero does the flame thing you can enter
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You know hwat, I’m feelin’ generous today, so…
Actually serious critique of the Book of Tears
Generally I enjoyed this book so far, but I have some… actually pretty major problems with it, I’d say the most major in the entire series, so let’s go through them.
- Some characters don’t have any role in the story
Every character is supposed to have a purpose, this is one of the most essential things you should keep in mind when writing them. If a character doesn’t do anything and is just dragged along as the story progresses, it can lead to them becoming redundant and blending into the background, especially if that character doesn’t have any outstanding personality to show.
This is where my criticism comes from: the majority of Tott’s party literally don’t do anything throughout the story. Only Diero and Tott himself are active, while Racie, Cordax and Winger just sort of… exist around them. Cordax’s case isn’t as severe, since he has a very memorable and distinct personality. His presence is always noticeable, yet he still doesn’t really do anything. Unlike in the previous books, here he doesn’t provide much of anything other than comedic relief. I feel like his ability to get himself into absurdly dangerous situations and still somehow escape them and his lockpicking skills are greatly underutilised in this book.
But Cordax’s case is incomparable to the other two, Racie’s and Winger’s, that is. Not only has Winger not done anything, he also doesn’t have much personality. There was very little dialogue with him, so we didn’t really have a chance to get to know him better in this book. Although, his case was improved slightly in the last two chapters where he got some character development by confronting his dad.
And Racie… oh, Racie… I think she is the weakest character in the entire series. She doesn’t have a single line of dialogue in the entire book, a single character trait other that being mortified all the time: she doesn’t bring anything to the table whatsoever. Which is a real shame, I think you could have utilised her being a hacker and given her the sense of humour of the user she is based off of. Right now she very much feels like one of those stereotypical characters that are very cowardly, but actually have great strength, but without the twist regarding strength which makes this comparison completely pointless and now I look like a fool…
- The story feels very rushed
This book has two parallel plot lines unraveling independently at the same time, which is one plot line more than usual. So, it would make sense for it to be significantly longer than the other ones. But, judging by the rate at which the story has been developing, this isn’t going to be the case. Currently there are 16 chapters in total, 11 of which are about Tott and the other 5 - about Tomorrow, (my math might be incorrect because I can’t count) and, judging by this statement,
The end is very near. In three chapters, even.
And the problem is that not much has happened in the book. There is no room for the characters and the reader to breath and, because all the events occur at such a fast pace, none of them feels all that important. The most severe example of that, in my opinion, is the party’s stay in the town there the street fight took place. Their presence there was so abrupt that I thought that this entire section was completely redundant… and that makes for a perfect transition into the next criticism:
- There in no buildup and direction in this story so far
Because of the story occurring so quickly, I didn’t feel much buildup to its culmination: the standoff against Volume.
Normally, a story has a direction in which it develops, which is set by the goal(s) of the main character(s).
The party in Tott’s part of the story has a clear goal: to find and kill Ghid, which is good because you can easily build the entire story around this, but here’s the problem: the characters don’t really do anything to find him, they are just led there by the invisible hand of the author.
Let’s look at the overall story so far: the party get arrested by the police because they were burying a bunch of bodies in an inappropriate location; they kill the officer and find out that the car is possessed by a skeleton king; they’re chased by the police; they are arrested by the police again; they escape from the police to some random city; they meet some kind on an AI there, but they’re separated because the police arrests them once more; they get dragged back to the police building, where someone called Volume wants to meet them; turns out Volume is actually Ghid; they fight.
As you can see, there’s next to no direction in the story. Essentially they just sort of stumble into Ghid by accident in the end with no buildup to that moment.
I think that Tomorrow’s side of the story is much better in this regard: there was a clear goal: to overcome Ghid’s influence, and Tomorrow completed that goal. But his journey to that wasn’t all that long to begin with and consisted out of two steps. And now we loop all the way back to my second criticism.
Well, I’m hoping that your words about those three chapters were not true and we will get many more. There are still so many users left that didn’t appear in the book yet, and there’s no way you’re gonna cram them all into those supposed three chapters, right?
Well, Ghid, you certainly got what you asked for, now it’s my turn.
That’s a very convoluted way to say “yesn’t”
Yeah, but which of the Ghids?
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But in the end it had to be this way
so this is an issue, but i can’t divulge how I’m going to resolve it just yet.
Don’t you just love it when you can pretend to know what you’re doing all along? 
rest assured this actually was intended, I just seem to have sidelined the pair a bit too much.
that’s-
ok yeah that’s completely fair
that’s the culmination?
accident?
Don’t you just love it when you can pretend to know what you’re doing all along?
Whaaaaaaaaat noooooooooo I would never cram all the unused users into the last two chapters of the book in a fight sequence that was mostly ignored pfft cmon that would never happen in the last book specifically
it was actually a very convoluted way to say Yes
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the original one, not any of the dreamers, I assume (I haven’t read all of BoT so this may not make any sense)
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But maybe we’re both the same
Well if you were to extend this book by ten chapters of so, you would have a lot more time to divulge just don’t end this journey so soon please please please
Don’t you just love it when you can make stuff up in your book review
To be fair, all those characters from the last book were already familiar to us from the previous books so they didn’t need to established. This time you don’t have that privilege because some of these users are going to appear for the first time… well, at least that’s what I tell myself to try to erase my pain and sorrow…
Wooooo yeah baby! This is my first big theory that was approved by ghid
Well… we still don’t know which one is the original, so I guess we could do a little theorising. When you catch up, that is.
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ok by the original I mean the one who is not tott who is also not a dreamer and exists in the real world
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–
Chapter 17
–
The crisp cold wind suddenly whipped against your face. You looked down, staring at the snow covering your ankles, wondering if it wouldn’t have been easier to simply move the boat down the mountain rather than moving the whole party up to it. The Chronicler floated at your side, dutifully writing away at his tome containing every action you ever took and every thought you ever… thought.
“There is a matter I wish to discuss before we embark,” The Chronicler interjected in your musings, not bothering to look up from his paper. “Before you took control of this place, The One To Trust made some mention of me being granted life.”
You looked up at your scribe. “I haven’t forgotten. But before we can attempt that, we need some way of reaching Ghid- The One To Trust. How can we do that?”
“I was honestly convinced you had a plan.” Jethryn commented, rubbing his arms from the cold. “Hey Sonus, would you mind heating up a little? I’m going to die of being cold before boss-brain here figures out his midlife crisis!”
“I don’t know why I missed you.” You murmured at your very dear friend as SON∩S glowed brighter, the snow around the group beginning to melt away into the rough, unwelcome rock of the mountaintop. “Chronicler, what can we do to find Ghid?”
“I know him only as The One To Trust, I am afraid.” The Chronicler replied, shrugging two of his shoulders. “Perhaps you should tell me who he is in greater detail.”
“Okay…” You closed your eyes. In your memories and thoughts you sought and sifted every appearance that Ghid had made, including his more recent ones in this strange land of possibility. You thought of every sinister expression, dubious act, and you thought- you commanded this world to show you this monster, this fiend, The One to Trust.
A wide brim walked out of the darkness, two blue eyes glowing underneath it. Diero’s grin was just as devious as ever, and for a moment your mind was filled with the horror that somehow your trusted ally, that rustic gunslinger, was the monster legends had been built off of.
His manner was menacing as he approached, as if he had no compunction about tearing your throat out. Then you could see the lines running from his wrists and ankles, high into the air, where from a shadowed perch law the bony hands of a thousand Ghids, all tugging and pulling the lines that kept Diero moving ever forward.
But a cord ran from the nest of Ghids, higher and higher into the air, as the rest of Diero and his puppet masters fell away, the other end adhered to a folded scrap of paper. Reluctantly, you reached for it, held it in both hands, and unfolded it-
'Tott is your master now.'
Your eyes opened.
Reaching forward, you wrote with your finger in the snow that remained.
The
One
To
Trust
“I’ve been such an idiot.” You sat down, looking at your handiwork while The Chronicler hovered behind you, looking at both the name Tott in the book and The One To Trust written on the ground, not quite getting the connection. “You summarized his name as an acronym and gave him something?”
“No.” You pressed your fingers to the bridge of your nose. “Tott. He’s someone I used to travel with, someone… He was Ghid the entire time. And I handed Diero over without the slightest consideration.”
Sensing the confused stares from everyone, you continued. “Diero is a Dreamer - a sort of genie-golem thing that can do literally anything you tell him to, as long as he eats it in written form. He was what my plan was hinging on, and I handed him directly over to Ghid.”
“He’s in Tott’s control, though. And I know Tott’s Ghid, but hear me out.” Jethryn commented, raising his hand in protest to your beginning to correct him. “Diero was assigned to Tott, so if you got rid of Tott, wouldn’t that make Diero free real estate again?”
“It’s a good enough plan for me now get off me.” The axle complained, as Jethryn was standing on him. He continued, not seeming to pity the pole’s plight. “I have a theory which revolves around just how powerful you are, but figure out your chronicler’s issue first.”
Slowly standing, you looked with some gravity towards your Chronicler, who flexed his hands before speaking. “You must will this book to write all on its own. If I stop writing, your story ends. So please, make it capable of penning the story for you.”
Without a word, you mentally commanded the parchment to accept ink without the need of a pen, and seamlessly the book filled in the words before the Chronicler’s pen could touch them. With another thought the clipper ship, which had been silently circling above the peak, swept down near your party and awaited your arrival.
“Only one last thing.” You stepped towards the Chronicler, as he flexed his now freed writing hand. “Everyne who lives is someone, and you’re not bound by Ghid’s will anymore. Who do you want to be?”
The Chronicler looked towards the clipper ship even as you recalled the strange persons you met who had crossed the bridge between fictional fantasy and the real world. SON∩S, who now floated silently beside you, had inhabited Jethryn’s dreamer, and the three metal giants whose cobalt swords had nearly killed Tott right then. If only… The trouble that would have saved.
“I know what I’d want.” The Chronicler looked down at the book, the page turning to begin anew. “And I’d like you to make it as tough as that fellow you thought of was. Barring any criminal activity… A ship must have a captain, and a Pirate Captain I’d like to be.”
“That’s dumb get off me.” The axle complained again. “I promise, I’ll start screaming in your ear if you don’t EEAAAUUUGGGHH!!”
It was unclear if the scream was caused by Jethryn deliberately stomping on the piece of metal, or the equal parts fascinating and repulsive transformation occurring before you. The Chronicler’s body warped and peeled, recycling pieces of itself over and over until a humanoid figure eventually emerged from the shifting mass - one with metallic skin, coat, and beard, a white glow in his beady eyes, and the same blue sheen reflecting off his feathered pirate hat.
“Don’t forget.” You took hold of the Chronicler’s shoulder. “You are not anything different from what you were a moment ago. Your actions, who you choose to be, will decide who you really are.”
“I appreciate your wisdom, Tomorrow.” the Chronicler replied, a gleam in his eye. “But today I am far different than ever before. I’m alive.”
With a whistle he beckoned the ship to his side and climbed aboard, beckoning the party to follow. “That rapscallion Ghid will only get so far against our combined forces! Let us be off, and leave this place behind- into the REAL world!” With SON∩S floating starboard, the ship ascended, turned, and flew towards the skyline, your crew safely aboard and anxious to turn Ghid’s head into a fine paste.
“Jethryn, now would be a good a time as any to tell me what you were thinking.” You leaned towards your friend as the rest of the party was distracted with the chance of being free. “If you’ve got a good plan to get to Ghid, now the time to help me save face.”
“HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT HE’S DOING!!” Jethryn shouted, pointing at you while most of those present turned around in confusion. “So anyway, my idea was to just insist that Ghid himself bring us to him. Or Tott, same thing.”
“But Ghid isn’t here.” You replied.
“That’s part of my theory.” Jethryn shrugged. “It won’t hurt to try, so tell that monster what for and let’s go home. I want to give his teeth a permanent imprint of my shoe.”
You once again closed your eyes. They opened as the whole world around you began to shake and quiver, and you pressed on, eyes open this time, as the sky itself seemed to rattle in protest of your notion. “Now! Everyone get ready!”
Off to the side, a terrible screaming hiss occurred, and a dark tear split open in the middle of the air itself. With a cheer from the Chronicler, the clipper ship spun its wheel and entered through the gap into the darkened sky beyond.
Below, an entire city beckoned the eyes of all on board. A massive canyon flanked it, stretching high above the rooftops. A massive tower floated starboard, and seeing a glass extension adhered to it, you jumped.
–
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The world has turned And so many have burned
One journey will come to a close by the end of next chapter.
And it will come
Like a flood of pain
Pouring down on me
And it will not let up until the end is here
And it will come
Through the darkest day
In my final hour
And it will never rest until the clouds are clear
Until it finds my dreamers have disappeared
I think it might be Ghid
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ah yes my favorite character from BoD that one perfect guy who has one line of dialogue and then dies
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three lines Cordax ugh smh smh smh smh ugh ugh smh ugh 
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did he even represent a user or was he just some guy
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read BoT
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give me one more day
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