[SPOILER] Plot Discussion Thread *Spoiler Alert*

[aquilantiqua]

Why don't we have a super-sceprical version?

>Lily dies at childbirth and even after 8 years or so Mandus still grieves at her death.

>Goes to Mexico in search for a treasure, because he's broke.

>Finds nothing but a tropical fever. Comes back to London, his fevered mind gives him a vision of a machine, which would make him rich.

>Constantly works on the factory, becomes more and more indifferent and/or violent towards the children.

>His children descend into the machine and get killed (for example in the steam pipes).

>Mandus blames everyone in the world and visualizes it as if he's been feeding them to the machine.

>Destroys the machine, gets amnesia.

>Travels deep into his subconsciousness, understands that he is the one to blame, accepts the truth and kills himself.


Don't really think this is true, but as a theory it will do.

I guess this interpretation discounts any supernatural element?

OK, I'm down with the idea that AMFP could be all a journey within Mandus' mind, but I don't think it's plausible to discount supernatural involvement here. No matter how mad Mandus is, how could he have possibly accurately prophesied all of the wars of the 20th century, down to specifics like the Battle of the Somme? And I'm almost certain he was having some sort of...episode in that note where he's masturbating in front of a mirror that seems to have some pretty direct references to 20th century Germany (sulfur mustards, which was first used in full-scale battle by the Germans in WWI; Empire, perhaps referring to the German Empire; Ubermensch, a term that the Nazi party latched onto).

Someone from TCR kindly gave us some cut dialogue earlier in this thread. "Shall I tell you the difference between a madman and a prophet, little Mandus? History. Everything else is as dull and busy as bluebottles on the lips of starveling."

This could mean a whole range of things. Why was Abraham a prophet for obeying God's order to murder his own son, but Mandus is a madman for obeying the voice telling him to kill his sons? Why is Noah a prophet for following commands to build a way to survive the sky opening up, but the Aztecs' rituals for "stopping the sky from falling down" are just "mythological"? It's all down to historical interpretation and cultural bias. From an outside perspective, Mandus is a goddamn nutter, but we have first-hand perspective, and from this angle it looks like he was definitely a conduit for...something.