Half assed comic

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metoo
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Re: Half assed comic

Post by metoo » Mon Aug 17, 2015 3:47 pm

gattoparde59 wrote:In answer to "that guy" we never actually see Eli running, we only hear about strange foot prints which could be Eli heading for a take-off across the snow.
Perhaps. However… ;-)

The policeman (Staffan) who traced the foot prints came running back, saying that he had followed them to Bällstavägen, where they disappeared because of the traffic. (Bällstavägen is a main road that runs through Norra Ängby, where the cancer woman's house was situated, towards Blackeberg.) Staffan was out of breath, which tells me that he had run a few hundred meters. This seems too long to be a take-off run; therefore I conclude that Eli ran on foot all the way back to Blackeberg.
But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist

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gkmoberg1
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Re: Half assed comic

Post by gkmoberg1 » Tue Aug 18, 2015 2:52 pm

Our forum should host an annual Eli Run from Norra Ängby to Blackeberg. Funds raised could benefit orphans. We would host it once a year on the evening of October 30th. We can figure out Eli's likely route down Bällstavägen, over to Blackeberg, and then across the town to their apartment building. No entry fee for 12 year olds.

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Mishrashade48
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Re: Half assed comic

Post by Mishrashade48 » Tue Aug 18, 2015 5:03 pm

gkmoberg1 wrote:Our forum should host an annual Eli Run from Norra Ängby to Blackeberg. Funds raised could benefit orphans. We would host it once a year on the evening of October 30th. We can figure out Eli's likely route down Bällstavägen, over to Blackeberg, and then across the town to their apartment building. No entry fee for 12 year olds.
I'm definitely down for that. Just tell me where I need to sign. We'll need to make t-shirts too. :)
All of life's journeys come with meetings, partings, and reunions.

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gattoparde59
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Re: Half assed comic

Post by gattoparde59 » Tue Aug 18, 2015 5:31 pm

gkmoberg1 wrote:Our forum should host an annual Eli Run from Norra Ängby to Blackeberg. Funds raised could benefit orphans. We would host it once a year on the evening of October 30th. We can figure out Eli's likely route down Bällstavägen, over to Blackeberg, and then across the town to their apartment building. No entry fee for 12 year olds.
Well. . . . . to be a proper Eli event, participants would have to run in the buff, in October, at night. ;)

Oh, and barefoot too.

I'll break open the story and tell you what is there. Then, like the others that have fallen out onto the sand, I will finish with it, and the wind will take it away.

Nisa

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metoo
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Re: Half assed comic

Post by metoo » Tue Aug 18, 2015 6:01 pm

gattoparde59 wrote:Well. . . . . to be a proper Eli event, participants would have to run in the buff, in October, at night. ;)

Oh, and barefoot too.
Stark naked, actually. And with petrol scented hands!
But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist

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Jameron
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Re: Half assed comic

Post by Jameron » Tue Aug 18, 2015 10:59 pm

I didn't think Eli was naked when he left the cancer woman's house? That's why he was able to undress when he got to Oskar's room?

To metoo, "in the buff" is an Englishism for "stark naked". Not being a grammar nazi, just thought the information would be useful to a non native speaker.

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"For a few seconds Oskar saw through Eli’s eyes. And what he saw was … himself. Only much better, more handsome, stronger than what he thought of himself. Seen with love."

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metoo
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Re: Half assed comic

Post by metoo » Wed Aug 19, 2015 5:39 am

Jameron wrote:I didn't think Eli was naked when he left the cancer woman's house? That's why he was able to undress when he got to Oskar's room?
Eli undresses in the movie, but in the novel Eli seems to go straight from the window to Oskar's bed, and the cancer woman episode is novel only. Oskar and Eli also talk in the novel about Eli running outside naked. Additionally, Oskar's mother came to Oskar's room asking about the voices she had heard, and she might perhaps have noticed Eli's clothes on the floor, if there were any.

Now, upon re-reading I notice that Eli had shoes on when running from the burning house - the tracks in the snow were made by "child shoes". Is this an inconsistency in the novel? Did Eli remove the clothes but keep his shoes on? Did he start running with his clothes still on, but undressed somewhere on the way to Oskar's window?

The reason for undressing I imagine is that the attack on the cancer woman was a particularly messy affair, where Eli's clothes got soaked with blood. Eli left his stained pink sweater at the scene after attacking Jocke, so apparently he was uncomfortable wearing bloodied clothes.

However, in the case of the cancer woman Eli might have been in a hurry. When waking up from his morphine induced coma, he possibly found that he had missed the opportunity to "shut off the infection" in his victim. He was now short of time to stop the victim from rising as a new vampire, and he didn't have time to bother about the state of his garments. He quickly searched through the house, and in the garage he found some petrol, which he poured over the victim. Then he lit the fire and ran away. Only later, when he had made some distance and felt safe, he undressed. Perhaps not until he was right outside Oskar's window, noticing it was left open.

If we decide on this scenario, the runners in the proposed memorial race would need to run neither barefoot nor naked. Unfortunately, authenticity would instead require them to wear blood stained clothes...
But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist

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Jameron
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Re: Half assed comic

Post by Jameron » Wed Aug 19, 2015 12:11 pm

metoo wrote:Eli undresses in the movie, but in the novel Eli seems to go straight from the window to Oskar's bed...
There is a delay. Oskar listens to Eli breathing and asks if he can look, Eli tells him to wait...
Oskar shut his eyes tightly. The window opened and a cold draught blew into the room. The window was carefully closed. He heard how Eli breathed, whispered, ‘Can I look now?’
‘Wait.’
The sofa bed in the other room creaked. His mum had gotten up...

Lindqvist, John Ajvide (2010-10-11). Let the Right One In (pp. 184-185). Quercus. Kindle Edition.
Although this isn't conclusive proof that Eli is undressing, it suggests that there might be time to do so, and that maybe Eli was doing something he didn't want Oskar seeing. However, if John thought that it was an important point that Eli remained dressed while flying to Oskar's room (at some point, we know he flew) I'm sure he would have described Eli undressing. Just imagine Oskar's thoughts, knowing that a girl he was interested in was undressing barely a couple of metres away from him :shock:

Maybe my assumption is based on my having seen the film before reading the book? *shrugs*

Either way, it's not an important detail, so if people want to run (or fly) partially naked across a Stockholm suburb, who am I to argue against it :lol:

.
"For a few seconds Oskar saw through Eli’s eyes. And what he saw was … himself. Only much better, more handsome, stronger than what he thought of himself. Seen with love."

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metoo
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Re: Half assed comic

Post by metoo » Wed Aug 19, 2015 12:53 pm

Jameron wrote:... at some point, we know he flew ...
Not really - Eli was quite capable of jumping the distance between the ground and Oskar's window sill. He made similar jumps at other times in the novel. But if Eli did fly the last distance, any delay inside Oskar's bedroom might have been because Eli needed to un-grow his wings...

Anyway, the novel rather strongly suggests that Eli didn't fly the first few hundred meters. Furthermore, growing wings would take some time, during which Eli would be able to run an appreciable distance at the speed he could make. Plausibly, producing wings would also consume some "vampire energy" (whatever that would be), which I think Eli wouldn't want to spend unnecessarily, since he would then have to replenish it sooner. At least, that's how I prefer to view to Eli's (and later Oskar's) vampire powers - they are not unlimited. Flying might be fun, but there is a cost.
Last edited by metoo on Thu Aug 20, 2015 5:49 am, edited 2 times in total.
But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist

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Jameron
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Re: Half assed comic

Post by Jameron » Wed Aug 19, 2015 9:53 pm

That's true, I didn't really consider Eli jumping up to Oskar's window.

Later in the book, Oskar seems to think that Eli left his room naked, which suggests that he arrived naked. So that settles it. :D

.
"For a few seconds Oskar saw through Eli’s eyes. And what he saw was … himself. Only much better, more handsome, stronger than what he thought of himself. Seen with love."

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