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Tyger, Tyger burning bright,/In the forests of the night,/What immortal hand or eye/Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
— "The Tyger" by William Blake

Fearful Symmetry is the fifth chapter in the twelve chapter series Watchmen, written by Alan Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons. It was released in January 1987.

Characters[]

Featured characters[]

Plot[]

A man walks through the rain past discarded newspapers reporting Russia's invasion of Afghanistan. He walks into a house, which is soon to be revealed to be the home of the former criminal mastermind known as Moloch.

Moloch hears a noise in the middle of the night, so he climbs out of his bed and takes a gun for safety. Remembering Rorschach's break in last time he checks the fridge wherein he finds a note saying "Behind You". It has been left by Rorschach who then questions him about the Comedian's visit to Moloch's a week before his murder. Rorschach makes suggestions that the list was related to the press allegations that Doctor Manhattan has given cancer to many of his close friends. Realizing Moloch has no intentional part in this plan, Rorschach leaves.

Meanwhile a man, fearing nuclear holocaust, has murdered his two children before taking his own life - we join them during the police questioning his wife. The scene cuts again to the newspaper vendor, who discusses the end of the world with a delivery man who puts forward the idea that in World War III, as opposed to the Second World War, there will be no place to run to. The boy reading the pirate comic learns of the character's plan to make a raft of wood, using the bodies of the dead men who had gas in their stomachs for buoyancy. During this time, Dan Dreiberg and Laurie Juspeczyk are having dinner at Gunga Diner, Dan invites Laurie to live with him after she has been asked to leave her home in the military and had her expense account shut down now that Jon has disappeared. Rorschach, who has ventured outside without his mask to wait for news from Moloch, via a secret message, sees Dan and Laurie leaving the diner.

The pirate story continues, with the protagonist seeing the reflection of himself as a maniac, while the news vendor rants to anyone who will listen about the apathy of the world. Adrian Veidt walks to a meeting, discussing ideas of morbidity, death and an afterlife with his secretary who is merely concerned with physical appearance and money. She is shot at and hit, while Veidt fights the man who eventually bites into a suicide capsule to prevent Veidt discovering who sent him. At Moloch's, Rorschach discovers that he was murdered, and a bullhorn from outside commands Rorschach to come out and surrender - clearly, it is a trap. Rorschach attempts to escape by jumping out of a window but twists his ankle upon landing and is overwhelmed by the SWAT troops. He is then taken into custody.

Trivia[]

  • This issue's title is from William Blake's poem "The Tyger."
  • The issue's cover is a reflection of the "Rumrunner" neon sign outside Moloch's window. The "RR" symbol and the bones give us a skull-and-crossbones, and the RR is a mirror image.
  • The "Forecast: Cloudy, heavy rain later" line on the New York Gazette paper is symbolic foreshadowing, with Rorschach reflected at the very top.
  • ISSUE MOTIF: Skull-and-crossbones, and mirror images in general.
  • COVER CLOCK: 7 min. to midnight.
  • A note on the layout of this issue: The entire issue's story pages are a mirror image. Page 1 reflects page 28, page 2 reflects page 27, and so forth; the two-page spread on pages 14-15 is where the "mirror" lies. Each page is a reflection both of layout and content.
  • Page 3, Panel 5: This time Moloch sees the pile of defrosted food on the floor - tipping Moloch off that Rorschach may be in his fridge like last time.
  • Page 4, Panel 1: Note that Rorschach’s mask looks very much like a tiger in this panel, a nod to the poem “The Tyger” by William Blake, from which the title of this chapter, “Fearful Symmetry,” was appropriated.
  • Page 5, Panel 4: Throughout Watchmen, Alan Moore creates a single piece of dialogue that has multiple meanings. In this panel the phrase, “tough break,” signifies not only Moloch contracting cancer, but also the egg Rorschach is breaking in the foreground.
  • Page 7, Panel 1: Note the triangle around the Buddha (posed, in typical fashion, in a triangular seated position), complete with blood splash; the triangle and splash images are repeated in at Page 8, Panel 1. The blood splattered on the poster is also a visual echo of the splash of Rorschach’s foot in the puddle on the final panel of the previous page, adding another transitional layer between these pages.
  • Page 7, Panel 1: The use of the phrase “flash of enlightenment” is used ironically in reference to the father who killed his children for fear of impending nuclear doom.
  • Page 7, Panel 3: The poster on the wall displays the vapid new age slogan "Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life". This is, ironically, not true for the room's dead occupants.
  • Page 7, Panel 6: There is a poster showing the cover art for the album Aoxomoxoa by the Grateful Dead. The album's title is a palindrome, which is also a mirror image reinforcing the symmetry motif of this issue.
  • Page 7, Panel 7: An image resembling Snoopy, the dog from Charles M. Schultz's Peanuts comic strip, appears on the dead child's slipper. Apparently there are some cultural consistencies between the Watchmen universe and the real world.
  • Page 8, Panel 1: The mud splash on the logo of the Pyramid Deliveries truck reflects the blood splash on the Buddha at Page 7, Panel 1.
  • Page 22, Panel 6: Edward Blake’s case number is 801108, another palindrome that is also a mirror image of itself.
  • Page 25, Panel 6: The hair spray in Moloch's apartment is another product produced by Veidt EnterprisesAdrian Veidt permeates the world of Watchmen and pervades this particular chapter despite his character only showing up in a handful of pages. Like his capitalist empire, Veidt is everywhere while physically remaining in the background.
Watchmen Chapters
Chapter I: At Midnight, All the Agents...Chapter II: Absent FriendsChapter III: The Judge of All the EarthChapter IV: WatchmakerChapter V: Fearful SymmetryChapter VI: The Abyss Gazes AlsoChapter VII: A Brother to DragonsChapter VIII: Old GhostsChapter IX: The Darkness of Mere BeingChapter X: Two Riders Were Approaching...Chapter XI: Look On My Works, Ye MightyChapter XII: A Stronger Loving World
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