Whilst watching (for about the fifth time in two days, due to a sudden enthusiasm by Katherine) the Gene Wilder version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, I had an epiphany.
Willie Wonka is Dworkin.
(All this means a lot more if you’ve read Roger Zelazny’s Amber series, and, in fact, have played in Amber Diceless Roleplaying, or in an RPG based on Amber …)
No, but, really — think of it …
Omnipotent, omniscient, master (yet reclusive prisoner) of his own incredibly creative (and multi-dimensional) domain …
… ostensibly friendly and a bit crazy but also dark and paranoid and more than willing to watch (and even encourage) others spiral down into self-annihilation …
… owner of an army of ubiquitous dwarven servants from a “distant land” …
… captain of a boat that goes on hell rides …
… someone who enjoys observing parent-child relationships …
… and who’s looking for an innocent to take over his works.
There is so definitely an Amber game in there somewhere. “Nine Children in Wonkamber …” Golden Tickets with the Face of Wonka upon them, which, when gazed upon, trump some very special children to a strange realm where they are tested to destruction through their own greed and gluttony …
(via BD, thanks for reminding me)
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I swear it wasn’t us who killed Gene Wilder, to sprinkle his blood on the Pattern…
“That’s not blood.” Licks fingers. “That’s … chocolate.”
Hmmm … maybe walking the Pattern gets more and more difficult towards the center because … it’s getting more and more sticky.