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Description

Big Sur. Sur means South in Spanish, and it was named so vaguely because you didn’t want to go there, you might go in, and never come out. Point Lobos is on the north end, just south of Carmel, and is sort of the gateway into this wild land.

I knew I was getting around to this eventually:

1. John Steinbeck, crusher of dreams, and novelist of renown, who has ears that are actually bigger than Grant’s.

2. The Dark Watchers of Big Sur, or as the early Spaniards called them Los Vigilantes Oscuros, are small, fairy-like shadow creatures that lurk about at dusk, watching you, and who will flee very quickly if approached, literally vanishing before your eyes into the mist. They’re vaguely human but wear black hats and black robes. These are the mysterious inhabitants of Steinbeck’s Dark Mountains, the Santa Lucia Range that runs along Carmel Valley. The Spanish thought they were all female and ran around taming griffins en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_serg… . This is a 1500s novel, but there are older references to at least some part of the legend in the 1000 AD Song of Roland, and there’s at least some possible connection to the actual name California although that’s widely disputed and not likely to find a resolution unless more documents come to light. In any case, the legends of dark watchers abounded in the early 1900s. Steinbeck included them briefly in his short story ‘Flight’, which is also a great example of Steinbeck’s almost pathological desire to destroy everyone’s childhood with exquisitely vivid prose. thereycenter.org/uploads/3/4/3…

Certainly there have been many examples of people going for a walk in or around the area and getting an unaccountable feeling of terror, and fleeing back from whence they came. Steinbeck’s son even wrote a book about these shadow creatures, and collaborated with an artist who illustrated it with beautiful paintings as he camped out in Big Sur, looking for the dark watchers. www.independent.com/news/2014/…

So if you’re walking in the mountains one evening, and you look up and see a silent figure silhouetted against the ridge, staring up at the sky, in a black cape and hat, it’s probably not Xander. Too short. Xander is, like, 6’4. He only looks like a shrimp compared to Grant.

OH ALSO! I'm extremely excited to announce that Chateau Grief (not just the comic but the landscapes too) is finally coming to Patreon on July 5, 2017! What kind of rewards would you like to see? Tell me in this poll

WEBSITE

Paypal donations <3<3
Free way to help out: TopWebComicsVoteForChateauGrief You don't even need an account, click the link, click vote.

Description

Big Sur. Sur means South in Spanish, and it was named so vaguely because you didn’t want to go there, you might go in, and never come out. Point Lobos is on the north end, just south of Carmel, and is sort of the gateway into this wild land.

I knew I was getting around to this eventually:

1. John Steinbeck, crusher of dreams, and novelist of renown, who has ears that are actually bigger than Grant’s.

2. The Dark Watchers of Big Sur, or as the early Spaniards called them Los Vigilantes Oscuros, are small, fairy-like shadow creatures that lurk about at dusk, watching you, and who will flee very quickly if approached, literally vanishing before your eyes into the mist. They’re vaguely human but wear black hats and black robes. These are the mysterious inhabitants of Steinbeck’s Dark Mountains, the Santa Lucia Range that runs along Carmel Valley. The Spanish thought they were all female and ran around taming griffins en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_serg… . This is a 1500s novel, but there are older references to at least some part of the legend in the 1000 AD Song of Roland, and there’s at least some possible connection to the actual name California although that’s widely disputed and not likely to find a resolution unless more documents come to light. In any case, the legends of dark watchers abounded in the early 1900s. Steinbeck included them briefly in his short story ‘Flight’, which is also a great example of Steinbeck’s almost pathological desire to destroy everyone’s childhood with exquisitely vivid prose. thereycenter.org/uploads/3/4/3…

Certainly there have been many examples of people going for a walk in or around the area and getting an unaccountable feeling of terror, and fleeing back from whence they came. Steinbeck’s son even wrote a book about these shadow creatures, and collaborated with an artist who illustrated it with beautiful paintings as he camped out in Big Sur, looking for the dark watchers. www.independent.com/news/2014/…

So if you’re walking in the mountains one evening, and you look up and see a silent figure silhouetted against the ridge, staring up at the sky, in a black cape and hat, it’s probably not Xander. Too short. Xander is, like, 6’4. He only looks like a shrimp compared to Grant.

OH ALSO! I'm extremely excited to announce that Chateau Grief (not just the comic but the landscapes too) is finally coming to Patreon on July 5, 2017! What kind of rewards would you like to see? Tell me in this poll

WEBSITE

Paypal donations <3<3
Free way to help out: TopWebComicsVoteForChateauGrief You don't even need an account, click the link, click vote.