SkunkyArt | Sleyf

The Wanderer is a relic hunter looking for relics. Her smoke effects the Hunter so badly because of the silver bullet the Box Maker put inside him. The bullet is an actual relic. Her interference in thinking the Stranger is the key to salvation, is also what pushes him into turning toward Magpie and understanding the power of change he has where others don’t. He’s a thing between, like her. Maybe a Weaver, I didn’t bother thinking about it, the plan was to see where it went, but the threads he sews under the skin are Weaver like, and he also sees the shape of the tapestry the Bird Collector’s Wife weaves and tells the Hunter that she’s a trapped Weaver.

The Stranger got the Knife of Nails from the Witch, whom he left in another timeline with the Father as a child. In the current timeline, (remember we’ve jumped twice) he finds the Child in the Blind City after the Hunter chased after her with intent to kill. She’s actually the one who leads the Hunter to the Stranger to free him of the Thousand Eyes.

The Box Maker mentions to the Hunter in the original timeline that there was a blacksmith who claimed to have nails made of a relic, which he in turn made a reliquary for. Only, that box also took them, via the way the Box Maker’s boxes work, and they later appear in the Father’s box.

The Father, whom, if you recall, made the Girl with no Tongue (the witch) use the iron to ‘purify her blood’ and thus protect herself from the thing hunting her, which was the Hunter in another timeline.

The Witch gives the Stranger the Knife of Nails, which is a knife made of those same nails, now with greater power thanks to her blood, knowing that he will use it in the future to get that silver bullet. Which he later figures is in the Hunter thanks to their connection, if anyone recalls, whenever the Hunter nears the Box Maker, the pain in his chest is felt by both he and the Stranger.

The Witch in turn needs that silver bullet to kill the Box Maker, because she is as much a slave to the cycle, since he keeps bringing her back again whenever she is killed. He’s simply doing what a faithful familiar does, but one cannot undo such bonds so easily. This leads us full circle to the first timeline in which the Hunter gets the silver bullet from the Witch, then an old woman.