/-/S'pht-Translator-Active/-/


Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the Intro
Posted By: PhiltronDate: 12/7/20 7:23 p.m.

In Response To: Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the Intro (General-RADIX)

: Looking forward to the rest, but I wanna say now: I really don't think that
: completely tossing out the dream levels is a good idea. Even if most of
: the terminals have more to do with the SO's past than present events, they
: do seem to have an actual narrative point as what the SO is experiencing
: (in one way or another) in between timeline jumps. And Thothandal appears
: to be guiding them down the right path long before Durandal's and Thoth's
: fusion, which I feel has to count for something wrt: their place in the
: plot.

: At most, I'd analyze them separately from the "main" narrative,
: rather than discount them for being "non-diagetic" and risk
: losing some insight into what's going on.

See, this is the problem with talking about the dream levels. I disagree with everything you said. You're making a lot of assumptions here, in my opinion. And they're commonly held assumptions in the Marathon community, but it would take too long for me to explain why I disagree with them.

For example, my interpretation of the dream levels is this:
1) they do NOT have to do with the main character's past, at least not literally or symbolically
2) there are NO one-to-one symbolic or metaphorical allusions between the dream levels and the actual game
3) they are not about what the main character is experiencing between jumps
3b) in fact, I don't believe the main character experiences anything between jumps; he just jumps, with no events in between, like walking through a door, and his decision making occurs while he's inside the various timelines
4) the Durandal-S'pht entity are not guiding him down the right path; that's what it counts for

Honestly that last one really annoys me. If S'pht-Durandal don't exist yet then the reasonable conclusion would be that they aren't present in the dream levels; suggesting they are present before they exist adds needless confusion to an already confusing story. On top of that, if S'pht-Durandal were guiding the main character through the timelines, then that would mean they have similar time traveling manipulation abilities to the main character which just muddies the plot even further and ruins the significance of the main character's actions.

Ultimately, the mistake I think you're making is treating the dream levels literally and diegetically. Which I warned against in my intro. Trust me, you'll be doing yourself a huge favor if you let go of the desire to connect the dream levels directly to the plot of Infinity.

I have on several occasions tried to connect the dream levels to the plot of Marathon, and failed multiple times, because I ultimately realized its not a direct allegory or metaphor.

I might as well say right now regarding the white text terminals. I don't believe they're Thoth, at least not most of them. I think most of them represent some sort of intuition provided to the main character through his Jjaro implants. I also think they may represent other things, like a non-diegetic narrator, but I'll maybe get into that later, possibly, there's a lot to talk about, so who knows.

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Pre-2004 Posts

Replies:

Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroPhiltron 12/7/20 5:53 p.m.
     Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroGeneral-RADIX 12/7/20 6:12 p.m.
           Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroPhiltron 12/7/20 7:23 p.m.
                 Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the Intropfhore 12/7/20 8:05 p.m.
                       Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroGeneral-RADIX 12/7/20 9:51 p.m.
                             Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroDurandal_1707 12/8/20 3:07 p.m.
                                   Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroGeneral-RADIX 12/8/20 8:49 p.m.
                 Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroGeneral-RADIX 12/7/20 9:45 p.m.
                       Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroGodot 12/7/20 11:38 p.m.
                       Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroPhiltron 12/8/20 4:14 a.m.
                             Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroGeneral-RADIX 12/8/20 4:51 p.m.
                       Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroVikingBoyBilly 12/8/20 11:19 a.m.
                             Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroPhiltron 12/8/20 4:29 p.m.
                                   Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroVikingBoyBilly 12/9/20 4:11 a.m.
                                         Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroVikingBoyBilly 12/9/20 4:17 a.m.
                                               Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroDurandal_1707 12/9/20 5:01 a.m.
                                                     Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroVikingBoyBilly 12/9/20 7:00 a.m.
                                                           Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroAaron Freed 12/9/20 4:57 p.m.
                                                                 Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroVikingBoyBilly 12/10/20 2:00 p.m.
                                                     Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroBob-B-Q 12/10/20 8:31 a.m.
                 Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroForrest of B.org 12/7/20 11:44 p.m.
                       Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroForrest of B.org 12/7/20 11:50 p.m.
                       Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroGeneral-RADIX 12/8/20 1:15 a.m.
                             Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroDurandal_1707 12/8/20 3:29 p.m.
                                   Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroGeneral-RADIX 12/8/20 5:56 p.m.
                       Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroPhiltron 12/8/20 4:05 a.m.
                             Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroDurandal_1707 12/8/20 3:33 p.m.
                                   Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroPhiltron 12/8/20 4:35 p.m.
                                         Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the Intropfhore 12/8/20 7:42 p.m.
                                               Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroPhiltron 12/10/20 6:45 p.m.
                                                     Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroGeneral-RADIX 12/10/20 8:16 p.m.
                                                           Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroPhiltron 12/12/20 8:42 a.m.
                                                     Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroGodot 12/11/20 12:07 a.m.
                                                           Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroBob-B-Q 12/11/20 8:23 a.m.
                                                           Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroDurandal_1707 12/11/20 1:57 p.m.
                                                     Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the Intropfhore 12/11/20 1:24 a.m.
     Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroGodot 12/7/20 11:24 p.m.
     Re: Marathon Infinity: the Story: the IntroVikingBoyBilly 12/8/20 10:42 a.m.

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