John

 FatherBox :

My Mission is to Protect You.

John :

Yeah? Who Sent You?

FatherBox :

You Did. Thirty-five Years from now, 

You reprogrammed Me 

to be Your Protector here 

in THIS Time.

John :

Oh, This is Deep.....

"The You That’s Out There in The Future is sort of like Another Person, and so figuring out How to Conduct Yourself Properly in relationship to Your Future Self isn’t much different than figuring out How to Conduct Yourself in relationship to Other People. 

 

Then we can expand the constraints. Not only does The Interpretation that you extract have to Protect You from Suffering and Give You an Aim, but it has to do it in a way that’s iterable, so it works across time, and then it has to work in The Presence of Other People, so that you can cooperate with Them and compete with Them in a way that doesn't make You suffer more. 

 

People are Not That Tolerant. They have Choices. 

 

They don’t have to hang around with you; They can hang around with any one of these other primates. 

 

So if you don’t act properly, at least within certain boundaries, you’re just cast aside. 

People are broadcasting information at you, all the time, about How You Need to Interpret The World, so They can tolerate being around you. 

 

And you need that because, socially isolated, You’re Insane, and then You're Dead. No one can tolerate being alone for any length of time. 

 

We can’t retain Our Own Sanity without continual feedback from Other People. 

 

It’s too damned complicated.  

 

You’re constrained by Your Own Existence, and then you're constrained by The Existence of Other People, and then you're also constrained by The World.  

 

If I read Hamlet and what I extracted out of that is the idea that I should jump off a bridge, it puts my interpretation to an end rather quickly. It doesn’t seem to be optimally functional. 

An Interpretation is constrained by The Reality of The World. 

 

It’s constrained by The Reality of Other People, and it’s constrained by Your Reality Across Time.  

 

There’s only a small number of interpretations that are going to work in that tightly defined space. 

 

That’s part of The Reason That Postmodernists are Wrong. It’s also part of the reason, by the way, that AI people who are trying to make intelligent machines have had to put them in A Body.  

 

It turns out that you just can’t make Something Intelligent without it being embodied, and it’s partly for the reasons that I've just described. 

 

You need constraints on The System, so that The System doesn’t drown in An Infinite Sea of Interpretation. It’s something like that."

John :

We're not gonna make it, are we?

People, I mean.

Uncle BOB, 

The FatherBox :

.... It's in Your Nature to 

Destroy Yourselves.

John :

Yeah.....

Major drag, huh?

A Mother

(The Shekinah..?) :

Break it up before I wring BOTH of your necks.

Princess O'Connor, 

Mother of The Future :

I need to know How SkyNet Gets Built.

Who's responsible?

Uncle BOB, 

The FatherBox :

The Man most directly responsible is 

Miles Bennett Dyson.

Princess O'Connor, 

Mother of The Future :

Who is that?

Uncle BOB, 

The FatherBox :

He's the Director of Special Projects 

at CyberDyne Systems Corporation.

Princess O'Conor, 

Mother of The Future :

Why him?

Uncle BOB, 

The FatherBox :

In a few months time, he creates 

a revolutionary type of microprocessor.

Princess O'Connor, 

Mother of The Future :

Go on. Then what?

Uncle BOB, 

The FatherBox :

In three years CyberDyne 

will become the largest supplier 

of military computer systems.

All Stealth bombers are upgraded 

with CyberDyne computers, 

becoming fully unmanned.

Afterwards, they fly with 

a Perfect Operational Record.

The Skynet Funding Bill is passed.

The System goes on-line on August 4, 1997.

Human Decisions are removed from Strategic Defense.

SkyNet begins to learn at a geometric rate.

It becomes self-aware at 

2:14 a.m. Eastern Time, August 29th.

In the panic, They try to Pull The Plug.

Princess O'Connor, 

Mother of The Future :

SkyNet fights back.

Uncle BOB, 

The FatherBox :

Yes. It launches its missiles 

against The Targets in Russia.

John :

Why Attack Russia? 

Aren't They Our Friends, now?

Uncle BOB, 

The FatherBox :

Skynet KNOWS The Russian COUNTER-Attack 

will eliminate It's Enemies over HERE.

The Armageddon Factor

 

"These Computers give us ACCESS to The World --

Troop movements, 

Soviet missile tests, 

Shifting weather patterns.

It all flows into THIS room 

and then into what we call 

The W.O.P.R computer."

"WOPR, what is that?"

"The War Operation Plan Response.

Well, The W.O.P.R spends ALL its time THINKING about World War III.

Twenty-four hours a day, 

365 days a year, 

it plays an endless series 

of War Games using ALL 

available information on 

The State of The World.

The WOPR has already FOUGHT 

World War III AS A GAME, 

Time and Time again.

It estimates 

Soviet Responses 

to Our Responses, 

to Their Responses 

and so on.

Estimates Damage, 

Counts The Dead, 

and looks for ways to 

IMPROVE The SCORE."

"But The POINT is, 

that The Key Decisions of EVERY 

conceivable option IN a nuclear crisis 

have [already] been MADE by the WOPR 

[within the context of a Joke/The False Reality of The War Game].

"You're Saying that THIS 

trillion dollar hardware 

is at The MERCY 

of THOSE Men 

with The Brass Keys."

"That's exactly right.

Whose ONLY PROBLEM 

is that They're HUMAN.

But in 30 days we could 

replace them with electronic relays.

Get The Men out of The Loop."

The King of The City

Amulets with carefully inscribed words of significance and power were available to combat evil in all its forms, and many examples addressed ghosts in particular. Such amulets had to be written, of course, by a qualified person, a trained scribe with the requisite knowledge of traditional materials, and were much more than a step up from simple amulets without words. Prevention being preferable to cure, the sensible approach was to keep ghosts off in the first place. Cheap and Cheerful Two modest clay amulets from the fourth century bc represent the simplest – and cheapest – resource of written type procurable from a professional. Both are nineteenth-century-AD archaeological finds from the ancient Babylonian city of Sippar and they not only represent what was obviously a simple ‘everyday’ amuletic expedient but were probably also written by the same hand. They are almond-shaped beads of clay, about one inch long, inscribed in cuneiform and bored through lengthways for a string. There are no others known. Each carries the same Akkadian message written in Sumerian shorthand. Considering that only nine cuneiform signs are used, it is surprisingly informative for us: Spell of God Asalluḫi: Ghost! Do not keep coming in! Asalluḫi is an inside name for Marduk, chief god of the Babylonian state pantheon, and master of everything that required the application of magic. Putting his name as ‘owner’ on a ghost-banishing spell was the most effective possible move. Many full-length and more literary Babylonian spells proclaim to demons that their written content is a spell of such-and-such a god, but with these small amuletic inscriptions the fact that it is a spell from Marduk is, uniquely, half of the whole utterance. The second line embodies the essence, addressing the ghost head-on in direct speech, ‘Ghost!’ and telling it straight, ‘Do not keep coming in!’ The reiterative ‘keep-doing’ Babylonian verb form conveys that this is no ghost who might have been half-glimpsed once or twice; it is one that keeps on appearing in the house. In this way the amulet reveals its own case history: here is a ghost that is really beginning to get on someone’s nerves. In fact, it tells us more. Amulet-writers with their handbook of time-hardened spells, much like cylinder-seal-cutters with their hardstones, congregated in the markets or in the neighbourhood of the main temples and could always provide what was needed at a variety of prices. These paired clay amulets are as pared down as possible, and could be made and written on the spot. Significantly, no client’s name is included, which suggests that such amulets were, in fact, produced in advance, dried and stored until needed, to be handed over with a reassuring ‘Wear this round your neck and the thing will go away.’ It is easy to imagine that such an amulet would provide comfort and fortify the victim in case of further sightings.

I'm Obbligato, Too.

Cinquanta :

Why doesn't Your Family love you?

Paul III :

I think they love me.

I hope so.

Cinquanta :

What's wrong with you?

Are you a Bad Boy?

You a Bad Boy?

Paul III :

No.

Paul III :

You're a Bad Boy.

Don't Lie.

What Did You Do?

Paul III :

I set fire to my school once — 

got kicked out.

Cinquanta :

Well, Boys Play with Fire — 

I did.

You want to try it?

If my son was kidnapped, bad, good, I would pay ANY money to get him back.

I would borrow it. Steal.

Okay, I steal anyway, 

but I would steal more.

Paul III :

Could I have another light?

Cinquanta :

Americans.

I don't understand you.

For us, Family is Everything.

We are obbligati.

I was born into My Family,

and that decides my whole life.

My whole life.

Paul III :

I'm obbligato, too.

As much as you.

Cinquanta :

What are you doing? Write!

Convince her to pay us our money,

or Madonna mia, I...

I'll kill you myself.

*****

Cinquanta :

You saw.

Paul III :

What?

Cinquanta :

Fuck, you've seen me.

…if I tell Piccolino, he'll have your eyes pulled out so you can never identify us.

Even blind, Your Family 

will pay for you.

Paul III :

You Don't Have to Tell him.

Please.

Cinquanta :

Look at Me. I want to see Your Eyes.

Look at me, look at me.

I Don't Tell on You

and You Don't Tell on Me.

Paul III :

Okay.

Threat

J. Paul Getty: 

Morning, Chase.

[Getty walks around a covered table] 

J. Paul Getty: 

Will you, uh, help me with this?

[Getty and Chase uncover the table to reveal a model mansion] 

J. Paul Getty: 

I'm, uh, building a house in California. 

An exact replica of 

my imperial villa in Rome, 

down to the very last detail. 

But with flush toilets. 

Yes, The Mountain may not 

have come to Muhammad, 

but it sure as hell came to me.

Nancy Getty's Secretary: 

Mr. Getty. The West Texas Intermediate, sir.

[secretary hands stock number strip to Getty] 

Fletcher Chase: 

What's it feel like, 

reading that slip of paper?

J. Paul Getty: 

Well, for a moment, 

Money loses all meaning 

and becomes as plentiful as air. 

Like flight. And then, it passes.

[Getty crumples the strip and throws it away] 

J. Paul Getty: 

What's, uh, all this I see on TV 

with Gail 

paying The Ransom in full? 

We both know she doesn't have it.

Fletcher Chase: 

The Lady's made 

other arrangements.

J. Paul Getty: 

But she doesn't have The Money.

 So, uh, what's going on? Come on. 

Where did she get it? 

Is she fucking somebody?

[pause] 

Fletcher Chase: 

You know, I think I'm finally beginning 

to understand what makes you tick.

J. Paul Getty: 

No, no, you couldn't begin to. 

So, spill it. What's going on?

 What's Her Game? 

Don't forget, Chase, 

I have a contract. 

And I'll enforce it.

Fletcher Chase: 

No, I Don't Think So.

J. Paul Getty: 

Oh? Why not?

Fletcher Chase: 

Can you hear me? 

I want to make sure that I'm very clear. 

Because whatever 

Personal Security 

you presently enjoy 

comes from me. Alright? 

Those Alsatians limping around the pool? 

My People trained them. 

Your Security System? 

My People installed it. 

The Bodyguards? 

That's right, you rapacious old fuck,

 You are Protected from 

every threat imaginable, 

unless that threat 

happens to be me.

J. Paul Getty: 

I suppose this is your way of submitting your resignation.

Fletcher Chase: 

Hey!

[Chase grabs Getty by the arm] 

Fletcher Chase: 

'Men of risk'? Isn't that what you called us? 

'I risk my money, you risk your life.' 

You're so full of shit. You and Me? 

We never risked a thing in our lives. 

We never took the chances ordinary people take. 

That's why we are 

What We Are Now. 

You're just cheap, Paul. 

You could have 

All The Money in The World, 

and you are still a no-good, miserable son of a bitch, 

and don't you forget it. 

Goodbye, Mr. Getty.

[Chase begins to walk away] 

J. Paul Getty: 

Those children are My Blood, Chase!

[Chase waves at him on his way out] 

J. Paul Getty: 

They're mine.

[Getty grabs the paper strip and throws it in the fireplace]

J. Paul Getty: 

She took them.

Well... Would You Like Me to Give You a JOKE?

 SCULLY : (smiling)

It's an Alternate Reality -- 

'Fox' doesn't exist in coffee shops. 

MULDER :

No. It's A False Reality, Scully. 

Just like everything we've seen so far. 

Did Paul ever talk to you about having himself kidnapped?

You've got to remember who The Gettys ARE — Every time someone stays in the bathroom for too long,

someone makes A Joke

about being held for ransom.

Paul might have 

cracked A Joke

once or twice among friends...

There's That Word, again —

What word?

A "Joke."

You said you thought it was A Joke when it first happened.

Now you sound like that Policeman.

Whose side are you on, Mr. Chace?

I'm on My Own Side. Always.

And if this is A Joke, 

I'd like to make sure that 

I'm IN on it.

His Visions were Apocalyptic : 
A Pandemic was spreading across America. Hospitals were overwhelmed. People were panicking. A vaccine was needed. One that had to be created with a combination of human and alien DNA. And Jackson himself was the key. It ends with a UFO, hovering over the 14th Street Bridge. 

That's what he saw. 

 
So you think a shared vision means that it's more likely to come true? 
What if I didn't get a glimpse of The Future? 

What if I was just a receptacle for His Message to Me? Just like my dream to come here. 

Starbucks Barista :

( to Mulder, proffering a coffee. )

Hey, Bob.

SCULLY : (smiling)

It's an Alternate Reality -- 

'Fox' doesn't exist in coffee shops. 

MULDER :

No. It's A False Reality, Scully. 

Just like everything we've seen so far. 

I've been going over the forensics of the case. 

The Police Think, 

Jackson killed His Parents, then himself. 

But the spatter pattern tells me different. 

It Tells Me, 

There were Two Shooters. 

Her Body was moved after she was shot 

to make it Look Like There was One Shooter.

The Ritual of Chüd was A Battle of Wills 

and was The Only Way to defeat IT.

Contents

1 It (Novel)

2 It (1990)

3 It Chapter 2 (2019)

4 Later

5 Appearances

6 References

It (Novel)

Bill Denbrough first found the information about the Ritual when he found Night's Truth in Derry Public Library, where he also found It was a Glamour known to many cultures under many different names. The Ritual itself is from Himalayan belief, who recognized It as a sort of taelus. 

In the Himilayan tradition, a holyman and the taelus overlapped tongues, bit in to each other, and told riddles until one laughed despite the pain. If the taelus laughs first, it gets sent away for a hundred years, while if the man laughs first the taelus gets to eat the mans soul.[1]

THAT'S WHY HE'S A CLOWN.

As children, Bill is the only one to engage with It, being thrust toward the Macroverse, heading to the Deadlights, but his physical body remains put. He speeds by the Turtle, who only offers advice that "–you must help yourself, son," and "you've got to thrust your fists against the posts and still insist you see the ghosts[...] once you get into cosmological shit like this, you got to throw away the instruction manual."[2] Bill engages with it telepathically, biting his teeth into Its' tongue, saying "He Thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he see the ghosts" in his fathers voice repeatedly. Overall, the fight is one of the Losers optimism, imagination, unity, and belief over Its malice and anger. The Losers come out victorious, but ignore the Turtle's advice to make sure they finish the deal, and It escapes, which the Losers suspect but are not sure of.

As adults, Bill is the first to engage It again. However, without his childlike imagination, he is weaker in the battle. It taunts him, saying that the Turtle died some time ago. Bill 'misses' Its tongue, and Beverly calls out that something is wrong, It is laughing. Richie quickly realizes something is wrong and screams out in his Irish cop voice, catching Its tongue and being thrown into the universal sprawl with Bill. He saves Bill from the Deadlights, threatens It with his Voices, but they still struggle against it. As before, their bodies remain still in the real world, but Eddie hears Richie calling for help, and rather than enter with them, he uses his aspirator as before to seriously hurt It in the physical world, losing his arm in the process and dying of blood loss. In this time It is able to escape further into her lair, dropping eggs along the way that Ben stays to crush, as Beverly remains with Eddie's body. Reluctantly Richie leaves Eddie and Bill leaves Audra to go further after It needing to ensure It dies this time. Finding It, they hit It with their collective belief and love and childhood nostalgia along with the power of the Other[3]. Richie is knocked out, Bill crushes Its heart between his hands, and carries Richie, who he believes may be dead, back to the other Losers.

It (1990)

Bill Denbrough first battled It with the Ritual of Chüd with advice that was given to him by Maturin. The ritual was a psychic battle in which the two forces dueled with their wits. The children believed that the metal silver had supernatural abilities, as seen in numerous monster movies. Because the children believed it, the silver became real and was a chief weapon that was used in the ritual as children. Because Beverly was good with a slingshot, the Losers' Club injured It the first time when Beverly shot a chunk of silver into Its skull. The Losers thought that they killed It, but weren't sure, so they made a pact to return to Derry should It ever return. It was finally destroyed in the second Ritual of Chüd by the adult Bill, Richie Tozier, Beverly Marsh, Eddie Kaspbrak (he was killed by It) and Ben Hanscom.

It Chapter 2 (2019)

Here Mike Hanlon discovers the Ritual of Chüd himself by visiting with local Native American tribes as an adult. The Ritual involves burning tokens special to all those in the Ritual to expose Its true form as the Deadlights and trapping them in a vessel Mike stole from the tribe. Unlike the novel, the ritual is unsuccessful, as the Native Americans that attempted to use it to trap It failed and were brutally slaughtered. Mike withholds this truth from his friends, believing that the tribe was unsuccessful because they had not truly faced their fears and felt that his own group stood a far better chance at survival and victory. The Losers' performing of the Ritual exposes the Deadlights, but fails to actually contain It and are forced to back off. Taking the form of a half-spider/half-Pennywise hybrid, It separates the Losers to go through personal trials, overcoming each together giving them strength. However, this exposes Richie to the Deadlights causing Eddie to attack It with a spear, dealing a serious blow. It retaliates, killing him over Richie, but not before Eddie is able to tell the Losers they have to make It small to kill it. The Losers succeed in doing this, convincing each other that Pennywise is small by insulting It, until all the remaining Losers crush Its heart together, finally killing the ancient evil.

Later

Jamie Conklin is introduced to the Ritual of Chüd by former neighbor Professor Martin Burkett, whom Jamie confides in about his continued "haunting" by the revenant of deceased bomber Kenneth "Thumper" Therriault[4]. Jamie, confused and frightened by the fact that months pass and Therriault's specter refuses to "pass over," and indeed appears to be getting stronger instead of fading, explains his predicament to Professor Burkett, who speculatively posits that perhaps Therriault's soul has been infested by a demon since his death. Burkett, though lightly skeptical of Jamie's experience, suggests that there might not be a way to get rid of the unnamed entity residing in Therriault, but that Jamie can instead conquer it.

Though Burkett is a professor of English and European Literature, he claims to know much of the mystic arts through his consumption of supernatural literature, and espouses on the Tibetan tribal ritualistic tradition to Jamie. A present-day Jamie, narratively reflecting on the incident some ten years in his past, has since researched the ritual for an anthropology paper in college, and fact-checks Burkett. Burkett claims the Ritual was practiced by a series of Tibetan and Nepalese Buddhists, who used it as a meditative aid "to achieve a sense of perfect nothingness and the resulting state of serenity and spiritual clarity," which Jamie confirms, and that it was also used in combating demons, both mental and supernatural ("a gray area," according to Jamie). Burkett suggests the Ritual for this reason - theoretically it will be of use to Jamie whether or not Therriault's entity actually exists. Burkett then claims (later refuted by Jamie) that Chüd was commonly used against yetis, who are said to haunt their observers to their deaths, unless they engage and best the beast in a Ritual.

Despite Jamie's obvious disgust, Burkett explains the binding of tongues and subsequent battle of wills, which he surmises happens telepathically in order to not disrupt the physical link, explaining that the first to withdraw loses all power over the winner. Jamie has qualms about engaging Therriault in the Ritual, unsure if he will be given an opportunity to get close enough without luring the spirit and potentially harming himself, which he expresses facetiously, but Burkett explains the tongue-biting aspect is meant to be symbolic, comparing it to the Christian Eucharistic tradition. He also compares the ritual to other ceremonial wartime greetings, such as the Māori haka, Japanese kamikaze mizu no sakazuki, an ancient Egyptian tradition of exchanging forehead strikes between members of warring houses before the formal battle, and Japanese sumo Chirichozu. Burkett says all these traditions have the same meaning, which is a combative meeting of enemies with an expectation that a winner will be declared.

Jamie surmises later that perhaps the Ritual was already in motion, and that every confrontation with Therriault had been an engagement of wills, but he follows Burkett's advice and engages Therriault in a Chüd soon after[5]. During the ritual (in which Jamie simply grabs the entity full-bodied and refuses to let go), he experiences the entity's singular deadlight, implying that he was fighting a Glamour. Jamie describes the experience as a trembling of the world like a plucked guitar string, perceptible at low levels even to passers-by who unknowingly came near the spirit, but which increases to near-unbearable levels with proximity and duration. The Glamour attempts to bargain with Jamie throughout, but Jamie is familiar with the entity's ability (distinct from that of a "normal" spirit) to make untrue claims when unprompted- though it abides by the spirit rule of being unable to lie when directly questioned. For this reason Jamie persists until the Glamour agrees not only to cease haunting him, but instead to be haunted by Jamie- that is, to remain at his beck and call. Jamie also compels the Glamour to admit to being afraid of Jamie before releasing it. The Ritual occurred outside of linear time (as remaining by the elevator doors remaining open), and caused a localized power surge and minor explosions upon its completion. Though Jamie felt invigorated afterwards, these manifestations of the Glamour on the physical world make him believe that it drew power from him, as well, and was no longer bound to the purely incorporeal nature of Therriault's spirit.

Appearances

It

It (film)

Later

References

 Part 4, Chapter 13, section 3, PG 683

 Chapter22, section 2, PG 1071

 Chapter 23, section 2

 Chapter 37, PG 145

 Chapter 43, PG 156

Ezekiel The Great

Carol has stolen food and supplies, and is trying to sneak out of The Kingdom after dark, by slipping out via The Garden —

•fruit-Time•

She reaches for An Apple —

Ezekiel: 

By all means, Fair maiden.

Have one.

This enclosure was built for the purpose 

of common recreation and study.

I had it repurposed into 

A Garden Worthy of Our Splendor.

I dare say it's my favorite place 

in the entire Kingdom.

It pleases me that you've seen it 

with your own eyes before 

choosing to leave us so suddenly.

Eskimo Carol :

Geez, yeah, I I'm real sorry about this.

Um, it's just — What good am I here? 

King Ezekiel I :

Jerry would you excuse us? 

Sir Jerry of Kingdom :

[Inhales deeply.]

If you need me, holler.

I keep in hollering range.

Deuces! 

King Ezekiel I : 

If I hadn't happened upon you right now -

What's that saying...? 

Never bullshit a bullshitter.

Have I got that right? 

The Sweet-and-Innocent act 

you've been doing -- it's quite clever.

Worked on me.

Blend in, Get People to Trust You, 

Acquire What You Need from Them, 

and then You're Gone, 

as if You were never there.

The guns you brought here in your pack -- 

they belong to Saviors.

Eskimo Carol :

What do you know about The Saviors? 

King Ezekiel I :

More than I care to, unfortunately.

They nearly extinguished you.

But you did more than 

put up a fight, Carol -- You Won.

Eskimo Carol :

[Chuckles.]

By ending up here? 

King Ezekiel I :

That's funny to you? 

Eskimo Carol :

[Sighs.]

You're A Joke.

This Place is.

That's What You Do with Jokes — 

You Laugh.

Out There -- Out There, it's Real.

I've been to places where 

I thought I wouldn't have to -- 

Where I could just Be.

You're selling These People A Fairy Tale.

King Ezekiel I :

Maybe they need The Fairy Tale.

Maybe The Contradiction is The Point.

Eskimo Carol :

And ruling over people 

and having your ass kissed 

by everyone's just a perk? 

King Ezekiel I :

May I? 

[ He sits by her.]

People want someone to follow.

It's Human Nature.

They want someone to make 'em feel safe.

And people who feel safe 

are less dangerous, more productive.

They see A Dude with A Tiger, shoot -- 

they start tellin' stories about finding it in The Wild, 

wrestling it into submission, turning it into His Pet.

They make The Guy Larger than Life, A Hero.

And who am I to burst their bubble?

Next thing you know, they treat me like Royalty.

They wanted -- They needed Someone to Follow, 

s-so I-I acted The Part.

I faked it till I made it.

I was A Zookeeper.

Shiva -- She fell into one of the concrete moats in her exhibit.

It was empty, the vets were on their way, 

but her leg was ripped open.

She was gonna bleed out.

The sound she made.....

She was in so much pain.

I knew the risk.

I had to try.

And I got my shirt up around her leg -- 

Saved Her Life.

After that, She never showed 

so much as a tooth in my direction.

Keeping A Tiger isn't practical -- I know.

She eats as much as Ten People.

She could yank The Chain out of My Hand -- 

hell, She could yank my arm right off...

But She hasn't.

She won't.

I lost a lot, just like Everybody Else.

When it all started to End, 

I found myself back at The Zoo.

Shiva was one of the last animals left.

She was Trapped, Hungry, 

Alone. Like Me.

She was The Last Thing Left 

in This World that I loved.

She protected me.

She got me here, made me 

Larger than Life.

And I made This Place.

I used to act in community theater -- 

played a few kings in my day 

[Chuckles.]

Arthur, Macbeth Martin Luther.

[Chuckles.]

My Name really is Ezekiel, though.

[Sighs.]

That's 100% real.

Cards on the table.

Nothing up my sleeve.

I'd appreciate you keep this 

between us, though, for Them.

And, yeah, a little bit for me.

Eskimo Carol :

[Sniffles.]

I don't care.

You do what you want.

I just want to go.

King Ezekiel I :

Go where? Carol —

Eskimo Carol :

Away.

King Ezekiel I :

I'm sorry.

Eskimo Carol :

For what? 

King Ezekiel I :

For whatever Bad You've been through.

There's so much of it out there now, you know? 

[Sighs.]

Too much.

Out there, it feels like it's all bad, 

especially when you're alone.

[Sighs.]

The thing is, though 

it's not all bad. It can't be.

It isn't. Life isn't.

Where there's Life, there's Hope, 

Heroism, Grace, and Love.

Where there's Life, there's Life.

I hope that's not what 

you're walking away from.

Eskimo Carol :

So what if I am? 

King Ezekiel I :

Maybe you don't have to.

I made My Own World here.

I found a way to deal with The Bad 

by going a little overboard 

with all The Good.

I just embraced the contradiction.

Maybe you could, too, in Your Own Way.

Like, maybe you could Go and Not Go.

Yeah, I-I sound like a crazy person.

I get it. You know, maybe I am.

But I think I can help if you let me.

Eskimo Carol :

Why do you even care? 

King Ezekiel I :

'Cause it makes me •feel• good.

I'll get your stuff together, 

find somebody I trust 

to meet you at The Gate, 

so you can go and -- and not go.

We'll see if I'm on to something 

or if it's just more bullshit.

What do you say? 

You're sure this is 

what you want, right? 

Eskimo Carol :

I am.

King Ezekiel I :

It's up to you.

It should have always been up to you.

Whoa.

Whoa.

Okay? [Horse whinnies.]

[Snorts.]

Got it.

[Sighs.]

‭Stay there.

It's good we're here.

[Snorts.]

‭How's that? 10 more minutes, 

and I might start to regret 

all the times I tried to shoot and stab you.

I think you're my favorite person I ever knocked out.

Definitely top two or three.

[Chuckles.]

Take care of yourself.

I will.

‭Do you promise? 

Always watching, 

always ready, remember? 

I do.

Okay.

Thank you.

[Lock clanking.]

Whoa.

[Gate creaking.]

[Sighs.]

[Gate closes.]

[Walker growls.]

[Growling.]

[Growling stops, walker thuds.]