Makers of thief : fans of Shakespeare!!

Asgaroth on 14/12/2007 at 23:23

In the past half hour I've recognized 2 examples that show the makers of thief where fans of Shakespeare, Macbeth in particular

The first example is from the male nobles voice, when he spots the player
"Is this a thief I see before me?!"
Taken from the famous scene in Macbeth, where Macbeth envisions a dagger, pointed towards the kings room
"Is this a dagger I see before me? the handle toward my hand"

The second I found, only dromeders will find. I was looking through the properties of water arrows to fix a problem I'm having, when I noticed the script for water arrows, is entitled "OutDamnSpot" I believe this is what washes away blood (ironically) as well as douse torches.
Why ironic?
It's a direct translation from Lady Macbeth, as she is titled towards insanity, and sleepwalking/talking
Ironically she is having trouble washing blood from her hands (the makers of thief are saying, "If only Garrett was nearby with a water arrow") in her troubles she says
"Out, damn spot. Out I say!" (commanding the blood to leave as she washes - dreaming all the while btw, in case you haven't read Macbeth)

I'm sure there are more examples of their interest buried within dromed!

R Soul on 15/12/2007 at 00:21

One of the Mechanist idle comments is:

The piston connected to the spiral valve.
The spiral valve connected to the step gear.
The step gear connected to the steam jack.
O, hear the the word of Karras.

LGS must also have been fans of Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men because one of the Mechanist lines, when they see you, is "By Karras! A weed!", and in Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men there was a character called Weed.

Asgaroth on 15/12/2007 at 00:26

They must have had to do some research into Shakespearian language and thus put a few quotes in too.
Seemingly, having laughs with each other with various quotes from things they all had a common interest with

Nameless Voice on 15/12/2007 at 00:47

Quote Posted by R Soul

I suspect that might be a reference to The Secret of Monkey Island 2:

"The leg bone is connected to the head bone.
The head bone is connected to the hip bone.
The hip bone is connected to the rib bone..."

jtr7 on 15/12/2007 at 00:53

The first time I heard (as in, noticed) "Out, out, damn spot!" was in the demo for the game called "Blood," after frobbing a sink. I knew it came from somewhere, somewhere famous, but it may as well have been Edgar Allen Poe, for all I knew. You don't have to know the source to know a great quote, nor have read the source material studiously, nor be a fan.

But knowing what little I know of the LGS people, there was probably at least ONE who appreciated good ol' William S.

jtr7 on 15/12/2007 at 01:03

Interesting that the writers would have a Mechanist quote a variation of a song ultimately derived by one group after another from:

Ezekiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"
Ezekiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"
Ezekiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"
"Oh, hear the word of the Lord."

The foot bone connected to the leg bone,
The leg bone connected to the knee bone,
The knee bone connected to the thigh bone,
The thigh bone connected to the back bone,
The back bone connected to the neck bone,
The neck bone connected to the head bone,
Oh, hear the word of the Lord!

Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk aroun'
Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk aroun'
Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk aroun'
Oh, hear the word of the Lord.

The head bone connected to the neck bone,
The neck bone connected to the back bone,
The back bone connected to the thigh bone,
The thigh bone connected to the knee bone,
The knee bone connected to the leg bone,
The leg bone connected to the foot bone,
Oh, hear the word of the Lord!

A song about the dead being resurrected to go to holy war. We have the Hammers hatin' on the zombies, or walkin' around as Haunts, or Apparitions, and the Mechanists have their Masked Servants.

demagogue on 15/12/2007 at 02:34

I'm not sure this is the sort of material people do special research for. It's just general background (Western) cultural knowledge.

If you know anything more than the title of MacBeth, the one thing you'll know about it is "out damn spot", and "the hip bone's connected to the ... leg bone", people that learn that song learn it when they're 6. Anyway, if you grow up hearing these things being repeated around you all the time, then it doesn't seem as eyebrow-raising when you see allusions to them in other places ... just depends on your background.

And as for "Is this a thief I see before me?!" ... I wouldn't nec say this is from MacBeth or meant as any kind of allusion. The backwards syntax is one generic way to make a quote sound dated. I'm not sure it goes any deeper than that, although the MacBeth quote may well have put the meme into their heads.

I'm sure there's other stuff like that buried in there, though. It's fun to find little connections like that. That's why they're there.

Digital Nightfall on 15/12/2007 at 03:33

Quote Posted by Lee Hays and Pete Seeger

If I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning,
I'd hammer in the evening, all over this land.
I'd hammer out danger, I'd hammer out warning,
I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters
Oh, oh, all over this land.

I'm with dema on this one.

jtr7 on 15/12/2007 at 03:40

Hell, I remember a commercial for "Sizzler" restaurants that went:
"Dem bones, dem bones, dem...
Beefy bones.
Dem priime...rib...bones."

Fidcal on 15/12/2007 at 10:01

Not forgetting Shakespeare's false taff of course.