His first thought

[Ixthos]

First, putting aside how he is wrong, and fish - when cooked properly - is amazing (and lets not forget sushi), it is interesting that his first thought upon awakening or becoming conscious is that he doesn't like fish. So, what was happening moments before? I assume fish somehow tie into it, but he was in the middle of burning plant matter, so it probably happened just before or was related to just before he arrived.

So, for what reason was how much didn't like fish the first thing he thought about? 

[+Oltux72]

44 minutes ago, Ixthos said:

First, putting aside how he is wrong, and fish - when cooked properly - is amazing (and lets not forget sushi),

Indeed

44 minutes ago, Ixthos said:

it is interesting that his first thought upon awakening or becoming conscious is that he doesn't like fish. So, what was happening moments before?

I suppose he smelt something unpleasant, namely smoke, and associated with stuff he dislikes.
I would guess that he was pursued and fired upon when he made the transfer to his owned dimension, hence the immolated plants. Either some kind of ray gun or a side effect of damaged equipment.

 

[Johnny Silverlight]

Another possibility: His last meal on Earth included fish. Whether or not he ate it (perhaps feeling for some reason that he had to), he might still remember being disgusted by the smell when he was transferred to "his" dimension.

[Ixthos]

2 hours ago, Oltux72 said:

Indeed

 Fish lovers unit! Fish is not my favourite food, but it is nice

 

2 hours ago, Oltux72 said:

I suppose he smelt something unpleasant, namely smoke, and associated with stuff he dislikes.
I would guess that he was pursued and fired upon when he made the transfer to his owned dimension, hence the immolated plants. Either some kind of ray gun or a side effect of damaged equipment.

I'm not so sure, though it could be that. I personally think he likely was near to fish just before it happened (or maybe this setting has anthropomorphic fish assassins and he just escaped an attack by them). I think he was probably in some sort of aquatic setting just before he arrived.

Also, I'm not so sure he owns the dimension he's currently in. He my have assumed he did because the handbook mentions things that jogged his memory, but remember he also made several assumptions about himself and his situation before that, so it is possible he just assumed it was his. If he woke up holding car keys to a car, he likely would assume the car was his, even if he had just stolen it - he knows these dimensions are supposed to be isolated and only allow access to those who have the key, but that is already questionable with the other people in that dimension. Somehow they got in, and were there first - it probably isn't a place he bought.

 

1 hour ago, Johnny Silverlight said:

Another possibility: His last meal on Earth included fish. Whether or not he ate it (perhaps feeling for some reason that he had to), he might still remember being disgusted by the smell when he was transferred to "his" dimension.

Hmmm ... could be, though it seems a bit odd.

"All right, this is my last meal before I leave for good. What should I have ... what should I have? Any suggestions?"

"Well, our fish is excellent."

"I don't like fish. Its always got some hidden bones ready to stick you, and it comes apart too easily. And the taste! Eeew!"

"So ...?"

"I'd love to have some! Sign me up!" 

[+Oltux72]

2 hours ago, Johnny Silverlight said:

Another possibility: His last meal on Earth included fish. Whether or not he ate it (perhaps feeling for some reason that he had to), he might still remember being disgusted by the smell when he was transferred to "his" dimension.

We can assume that bad fish is cheap whence he came. It would explain his horrible attitude. He seems to be the type who does things on a budget.

41 minutes ago, Ixthos said:

Also, I'm not so sure he owns the dimension he's currently in. He my have assumed he did because the handbook mentions things that jogged his memory, but remember he also made several assumptions about himself and his situation before that, so it is possible he just assumed it was his. If he woke up holding car keys to a car, he likely would assume the car was his, even if he had just stolen it - he knows these dimensions are supposed to be isolated and only allow access to those who have the key, but that is already questionable with the other people in that dimension. Somehow they got in, and were there first - it probably isn't a place he bought.

• If you are being hunted, buying a place nobody can get at you secured by the laws of quantum mechanics will make sense
• He had mental reservations against the concept of unauthorized transfers of possessions
• He was on a guilt trip about his late wife's desire to own her own dimension

[Ixthos]

14 hours ago, Oltux72 said:

We can assume that bad fish is cheap whence he came. It would explain his horrible attitude. He seems to be the type who does things on a budget.

• If you are being hunted, buying a place nobody can get at you secured by the laws of quantum mechanics will make sense
• He had mental reservations against the concept of unauthorized transfers of possessions
• He was on a guilt trip about his late wife's desire to own her own dimension

Strangers who were there first, at least long enough to establish a presence with the local population, as well as those from his own world actively looking for someone else, implies he doesn't own that dimension. As there isn't time travel - or at least time travel hasn't been introduced as part of the setting - it seems like this isn't a world he bought for himself, but rather someone else's which he gained access to.

[+Oltux72]

7 hours ago, Ixthos said:

Strangers who were there first, at least long enough to establish a presence with the local population, as well as those from his own world actively looking for someone else, implies he doesn't own that dimension. As there isn't time travel - or at least time travel hasn't been introduced as part of the setting - it seems like this isn't a world he bought for himself, but rather someone else's which he gained access to.

You are making two unstated assumptions, which may, but need not be true

• transfers take roughly the same time, that is you cannot get a nicer and faster transfer if you pay extra
• this is a pursuit, not an ambush

If we are talking about their dimension and the protagonist is a thief and intruder, we'll have to solve one basic problem. How did they know that he is coming?

Edited March 12, 2022 by Oltux72
embarassing eror of grammar

[Ixthos]

55 minutes ago, Oltux72 said:

You are making two unstated assumptions, which may, but need not be true

• transfers take roughly the same time, that is you cannot get a nicer and faster transfer if you pay extra
• this is a pursuit, not an ambush

If we are talking about their dimension and the protagonist is a thief and intruder, we'll have to solve one basic problem. How did they know that he is coming?

An ambush for someone else. The people - or one of the people - who wants the protagonist dead are looking for someone with red hair, and the protagonist is deliberately dressed as an aelv - i.e. an elf. If this was the world he had bought, why are people from his dimension hunting someone else?

Quote

“Ha!” the lord said. “Again, you think I’ve not heard any ballads? Besides, though I suspect you have the power of glamor when not inverted, you don’t have it now. You aren’t red-haired, nor do you have the features of a foreigner, like the man they claim to be hunting—so they wouldn’t want you.”

Wait.

The men weren’t looking for me?

 

I also have a hard time believing that arriving in the middle of a fire ball with your memories gone is the standard package.

[Edit] Furthering that point, if it is the standard package, why was the book the transferee needed destroyed by said fireball?

Edited March 12, 2022 by Ixthos

[+Oltux72]

8 minutes ago, Ixthos said:

An ambush for someone else. The people - or one of the people - who wants the protagonist dead are looking for someone with red hair, and the protagonist is deliberately dressed as an aelv - i.e. an elf. If this was the world he had bought, why are people from his dimension hunting someone else?

Camouflage? He suspected to be hunted.

8 minutes ago, Ixthos said:

I also have a hard time believing that arriving in the middle of a fire ball with your memories gone is the standard package.

[Edit] Furthering that point, if it is the standard package, why was the book the transferee needed destroyed by said fireball?

Exactly. Hence I suspect somebody attacked him while transferring.

But now that you mention it, there is an even wilder hypothesis. They were deliberately looking for dimensions with slower technological development. Probably because those with faster or equal development may strike back effectively. However, fast worlds should have the same technologies. Do we know they are from the same dimension? Are they looking for him or another version of him with minor differences, hair color included?

[Ixthos]

1 minute ago, Oltux72 said:

Camouflage? He suspected to be hunted.

That seems to be the greater stretch - it seems much more likely that this isn't a world he bought but which he entered for some purpose (consider his skill set as an infiltrator and his immediate instincts to hide and use a weapon) than for his transfer to have taken longer when he's on seemingly on the run and encountering people who want him dead who arrived at a place he just bought head of him. Of the two him being mistaken as to his precise situation (as he has been shown to be before) is much more likely than this being the standard method of entry into a world where others have already entered to hunt someone who is described as looking different from him but that's because he changed his appearance. It still could be the second, but the second requires more assumptions, including of which being that he, dazed and confused and missing his memory, correctly guessed that he owns this world - a world he assumed only authorised people can enter.

 

5 minutes ago, Oltux72 said:

Exactly. Hence I suspect somebody attacked him while transferring.

But now that you mention it, there is an even wilder hypothesis. They were deliberately looking for dimensions with slower technological development. Probably because those with faster or equal development may strike back effectively. However, fast worlds should have the same technologies. Do we know they are from the same dimension? Are they looking for him or another version of him with minor differences, hair color included?

I actually was just going to post a theory speculating on whether there are more advanced dimensions than the one he is from, but either way his current memories indicate the dimensions they travel to are deliberately chosen to be lower tech - either way if they are looking for a different version of him that would mean this isn't a dimension this version bought but one that another version bought.

[CryoZenith]

On 12.03.2022 at 10:26 PM, Ixthos said:

I also have a hard time believing that arriving in the middle of a fire ball with your memories gone is the standard package.

[Edit] Furthering that point, if it is the standard package, why was the book the transferee needed destroyed by said fireball?

It's not standard package, it's budget :D. And as the guide specifically said, the budget package comes with temporary memory loss :D.

So I don't think that's suspicious. I do agree that the second part is very suspicious, though - traveling in a way that destroys the guidebook is definitely not part of any package.

[Ixthos]

1 hour ago, CryoZenith said:

It's not standard package, it's budget :D. And as the guide specifically said, the budget package comes with temporary memory loss :D.

So I don't think that's suspicious. I do agree that the second part is very suspicious, though - traveling in a way that destroys the guidebook is definitely not part of any package.

Maybe it was the really really budget package 

[Pathfinder]

Would be funny if it turned out like another Lightsong. Instead of this great fighter/soldier or detective/infiltrator, in reality he is a performer or dancer which would explain his flipping and physique. And the reason he naturally reaches for his side is he used to go to roleplay/Ren fairs all the time, playing as a wizard flinging "fireballs" with his wand. He and his wife always dreamed of going to another dimension so they could really get to live out their fantasies but she passed away in an accident. Using the life insurance money, he upgraded his body and bought a budget dimension to live out their dream. But either something glitched in the transfer or he found out something he wasn't supposed to and is now on the run without his memory thinking he's something he isn't. 

[NameIess]

2 hours ago, Pathfinder said:

Would be funny if it turned out like another Lightsong. Instead of this great fighter/soldier or detective/infiltrator, in reality he is a performer or dancer which would explain his flipping and physique. And the reason he naturally reaches for his side is he used to go to roleplay/Ren fairs all the time, playing as a wizard flinging "fireballs" with his wand. He and his wife always dreamed of going to another dimension so they could really get to live out their fantasies but she passed away in an accident. Using the life insurance money, he upgraded his body and bought a budget dimension to live out their dream. But either something glitched in the transfer or he found out something he wasn't supposed to and is now on the run without his memory thinking he's something he isn't. 

That would be funny, but his combat experience and the way he froze up when fighting makes me think he was actually a mercenary or something similar.

[+Oltux72]

6 hours ago, Pathfinder said:

Would be funny if it turned out like another Lightsong. Instead of this great fighter/soldier or detective/infiltrator, in reality he is a performer or dancer which would explain his flipping and physique. And the reason he naturally reaches for his side is he used to go to roleplay/Ren fairs all the time, playing as a wizard flinging "fireballs" with his wand.

He has combat biomods which he recalls to be quite expensive. That strongly suggests that he is the real thing.

6 hours ago, Pathfinder said:

He and his wife always dreamed of going to another dimension so they could really get to live out their fantasies but she passed away in an accident. Using the life insurance money, he upgraded his body and bought a budget dimension to live out their dream. But either something glitched in the transfer or he found out something he wasn't supposed to and is now on the run without his memory thinking he's something he isn't. 

In that case why did he have stuff installed he could not pay to activate? That suggests that he did that in his old job hoping to make the payments. That is something hard to do from a budget dimension.

[Pathfinder]

19 hours ago, Oltux72 said:

He has combat biomods which he recalls to be quite expensive. That strongly suggests that he is the real thing.

The expense was covered by his wife's life insurance, which is also why he went with a budget world and wasn't able to activate all of them. He went for combat biomods because he was afraid of getting hurt.

Quote

In that case why did he have stuff installed he could not pay to activate? That suggests that he did that in his old job hoping to make the payments. That is something hard to do from a budget dimension.

So answered that above but basically he spent more money on the mods so he would be "safe" and went with a budget package to stretch the insurance money.

 

But there is one point that is crucial to all of this. It is the most important thing to the entire theory. It's going to be mind blowing when I write it, I assure you........

 

It was a joke. I had no intention of my original post being taken so seriously. Hence the line at the start being "would be funny if...."

Edited March 15, 2022 by Pathfinder

[The Bookwyrm]

Interesting that the fish thing is taken out in the final novel....

Also we don't really get a profound explanation of the fear of swimming, which is what kind of replaces the hatred of fish.

[Werewolff Studios]

19 hours ago, The Bookwyrm said:

Interesting that the fish thing is taken out in the final novel....

Also we don't really get a profound explanation of the fear of swimming, which is what kind of replaces the hatred of fish.

Yeah, I also found that interesting. Seems like it was changed to set up the nearly drowning thing later on. Still, one line about a bad history with water would've gone a long way. 

I also felt the singular realization of hating something made for a better start to the book. The first line being "I hate fish" or even "I hate the ocean/ swimming." was a more unique opening, and honestly made everything more mysterious. John waking up ready for a fight gives us context that, at the very least, the situation prior to the transporting wasn't safe, and that he's a fighter by nature. 

Not an egregious change by an means, but I preferred the original. 

[Nogo]

On 3/11/2022 at 10:41 AM, Ixthos said:

First, putting aside how he is wrong, and fish - when cooked properly - is amazing (and lets not forget sushi), it is interesting that his first thought upon awakening or becoming conscious is that he doesn't like fish. So, what was happening moments before? I assume fish somehow tie into it, but he was in the middle of burning plant matter, so it probably happened just before or was related to just before he arrived.

So, for what reason was how much didn't like fish the first thing he thought about? 

Well, many people say "carpe diem" before they do something rash.  I guess now days we say YOLO...  but he was a carpe diem guy.  Actually, a "carp diem" guy with his fish joke on the heals of it.  I'd wager a whole lot that he was thinking it when he stepped through the portal to come to the new dimension.  So, when his memory was blanked in the process the only remaining think in his brain's RAM was fish... from his silly play on words he liked to say.

That's my take on it at least.