Watchmen ... what's up with the ending?

[Brennan Taylor]

I love Rorschach. I adore him in the scene where he pours the oil in the other inmate's face.

Rorschach is like Musashi. He believes only in total war.

[Thunder_God]

Musashi, why is that name so familiar?

[Brennan Taylor]

Musashi, why is that name so familiar?

Famous Japanese swordsman, he wrote a book on combat called "A Book of Five Rings." He also killed over 80 people in duels, usually with a wooden stick.

[Thunder_God]

Ah yes, Book of Five Rings. Miyamoto Musashi. Book is not 2 ft. from me.

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

And mine would be the pirate guy who sails on the raft constructed of bloated corpses. <wink>

Cheers,

Eric

That reminds me: what was the point of those sequences?  Just to show how crazy Rorschach is?

-Well, part of the point is parallelism.  He's telling you the story in two different arcs hoping the one will reinforce the other.  I personally think it's Moore's way of saying, "Hey, everything that's happening has been thought of before.  The solutions are out there, if people will look hard enough to find them."

Peace,

-Troy

[Bankuei]

I have this thing for those who do not give in

I assume Frank Miller heroes are also your thing as well, then.  It's a very macho character type, and one which folks find empowering- the idea of a hero who sticks to their ideals no matter what, and is empowered by them.

I thought it was always a great commentary how Rorschach respected the Comedian for his brutal forthrightness, but couldn't see past the patriotism that he was also an amoral murderer...

Chris

[quozl]

Another thing: why is Rorscach insane?  Why is he named Rorschach?  He's obviously there to expose the truth when nobody else cares about it and I don't think it's a coincidence that his mask is black and white.  But why the insanity?

[Thunder_God]

He's a fanatic.

In order to die for your beliefs, knowingly, you need to be a fanatic.

Thus he's one.

[quozl]

He's a fanatic.

In order to die for your beliefs, knowingly, you need to be a fanatic.

Thus he's one.

Fanatic does not mean insane.

[Thunder_God]

Fanatic does not mean insane.

I disagree.

[Bankuei]

"Insane" as in he has given up everything human about himself in order to become an idea.  He doesn't enjoy life, he doesn't have friends, he doesn't care what he eats, he exists only to perform a duty in reaction to, the injustice of the world.  He has become a vigliante acestic, without any belief in any higher ideal than what he does.

The sad fact is, if he had a bit more "human-ness" to work with, odds are pretty good that he would have had an easier time getting others to believe him.

Chris

[quozl]

Am I remembering wrong or wasn't there a scene showing Rorschach kill a dog just to show the reader that he was nuts?

[Thunder_God]

He killed the dogs to punish the murderer owner, the dog ate a lil child that was butchered.

The scene showing us he is "nuts" is when he's faced with Rorschach test, he sees bad things, like in a place where we'd see a butterfly he sees the dog he killed.

[Bankuei]

Actually, both of those just show you that he's traumatized beyond all belief.  His insanity is the fact that instead of trying to recover from the problem, he decided to throw away everything that makes him human in order to try to escape his trauma, and the problems of life itself- diving into his personal code of ideals (while at the same time espousing the world is a void where any meaning is just an illusion), that's his madness.

The violence is pretty irrelevant to the issue.

Chris

[two_fishes]

I've always felt that the pirate story is used to ultimately condemn Veidt for his actions. The hero in that story is a corollary for Veidt, who wants to rescue his world from evil but is consumed by evil in the process. This is suggested In the very last chapter, when Veidt mentions a recurring dream of swimming toward a dark ship--the same fate as the hero of the pirate story.

Rorschach, despite all his hatred of corruption, is completely ineffectual at doing anything about it. He fights crime on the streets, but only sees things as getting worse, not better, as a result. He unravels Adrian's plot too late to prevent it. He manages to reveal it to the world, but only in a medium that has no credibility whatsoever.