Ln3 Theory - Tumblr Posts
I'd argue his encounter with Six actually does have the choice, just a crude version: Go with him or get torn apart.
It wouldn't surprise me if the Ferryman used his shapeshifting to convince one of Humpback's friends into going to the mirror house and then coming by to "clean up".
The brief thing with Low and Alone is interesting since my current theory is that only one will manage to escape the Nowhere, since all the promotional stuff is building up how close-knit the two are and tearing them apart would be classic LN fuckery.
I get the feeling the Ferryman's not strictly tied to the Maw, rather he just makes sure to get the kids that matter to the right places at the right ties to upkeep all the various operations needed to keep the various regions of Nowhere running. It could be argued he's a conduit for the will of the Nowhere itself.
So a post by @softichill made me realize that, by having Noone take off the pendant and escape the Mall, the Ferryman is essentially returning to his MO from the comics: He saves a kid from a (usually) non-humanoid resident before whisking them away for his own ends. Just something worth thinking about.
MASTERPOST (haven't linked it in a while :0)
Indeed! He is returning to his roots. Although I think Noone is different from all cases of him going into action before because of the nature of the other encounters. All of them are pretty different one way or another.
In the case of Six, he was chasing after someone who had already resided in the Nowhere for some time, with the specific purpose of taking her to the Maw. He did not come to her rescue, nor did he offer his hand to her: he instead pointed his finger at her chest in an accusatory way － or at least Six perceivs it that way.
It is worth noting that, unlike what happened with Noone and the pendant, the Ferryman did not wait for Six to take anything off her person.
This time it felt much more like an "I found you" moment. Like he was looking for her. It was so imperative that he took her there that he (presumably) chased after her and immobilised her to get her on the submarine.
This is the only time when a child found by the Ferryman is not given a choice on whether to follow him or not.
Or. Well. The illusion of a choice.
Which brings us to the second child taken by the Ferryman, the Refugee Boy. Considering that he might be originary of the Nowhere, since his village gave out charms to protect them against the North Wind, implying that he has always been a threat to the village, this is yet another peculiar case because it indicates that the Ferryman also looks for live, Nowhere-born children to bring to the Maw. He doesn't seem to make distinctions.
In this particular occasion, he had actually made a bet with the monster who was interested in the Refugee Boy. I wonder if the deal was struck when North Wind killed the girl and the Ferryman was "not in time" to offer his help to her as well, but considering how he deviously smiles when transforming back... I have my doubts it comes from a good place.
And also, I think that the next story I'm about to touch on points to the Ferryman only pursuing single targets rather than groups.
The next time we see the Ferryman is when he arrives at the end of the Humpback Girl's tale, after she's already faced the Mirror Man and has been abandoned.
The only thing that perplexes me about this is that it doesn't seem to be happening in a dream, but the Ferryman is also stepping into the "real world". I doubt the Humpback Girl is like the Refugee Boy because the other children who were with her make fun of her for being afraid of monsters, with the underlying message that monsters do not exist.
The presence of the Mirror Man, however, would imply that the Ferryman is not the only monster who can cross the bridges between various realities. And with this in mind, I am also thinking of whether or not he can only manifest through a specific kind of mirror in the real world, which are the ones we see in the comics and would explain why they were sealed away.
Maybe the choice of not destroying them could stem from the belief that maybe someone could return through them... (thinking hard about Low and Alone.)
Anyway. Back to the man of the hour, who, rather cowardly, shows up when the action has already finished. And this time, he just... vanished with her holding his hand. Like a boogeyman, taking yet another victim away.
There was no build up to this, like for Noone, who instead sees him in her dreams becoming more and more vivivd and to whom he even speaks -- something he has never done before.
And remember: all these kid, he is not taking ALL of them to the Nowhere. His objective is to get them on the Maw. Which is where I am afraid Noone might end up in at the end of this podcast -- whichever version of it, at whichever point in time.
It has me wonder when in the timeline the podcast takes place. I have a feeling this podcast will be revealed to come first in the timeline, dating back to a time even before VLN, but we'll see.