377: Journal 2
| Journal 2 |
 Title text: That's my hat! You took my hat! |
Explanation
This comic is a direct sequel to 374: Journal, where Black Hat discusses his plan exactly as Danish describes it here, that is, he intends to display signs of interest in order to flatter a stranger only to hurt her by rejecting her when she responds. In this case, the plan backfires when Danish recognizes his plan before he has a chance to implement it. Black Hat's tendency to act in enigmatic, and at times sociopathic, ways serves to give him a sense of superiority while at the same time keeping others distant enough that they can't hurt him. Danish not only recognizes that, she also calls him out on it. She recognizes his secret longing for connection to another, a connection that she could give should she choose to do so. Instead, she uses a more insidious version of his own ploy by laying bare his intentions and his desires before stealing his hat and removing it and herself from his life.
Danish proves she is equal to — or even better than — Black Hat. His hat is an emblem of his sociopathy and possibly a realization that, in the completely hypothetical situation that Black Hat is just a character in a webcomic, no one would recognize him without his hat.
The stunned Black Hat can bring his vast intellectual powers to say nothing more to an already-departed Danish than “That’s my hat! You took my hat!”
The whole "Journal" story is:
Transcript
- [Black Hat and Danish are sitting in a train across from each other. Black Hat is writing in a journal.]
- Black Hat: blush
- Danish: I see what you did there.
- [Danish stands up.]
- Danish: You were trying to open me up so you could hurt my feelings.
- Danish: You like to hurt people.
- [Danish walks closer.]
- Danish: Well, I like to hurt people too. And you know what?
- [Danish is in Black Hat's face.]
- Danish: *whispering* I'm better at it than you.
- Danish: I'm about to hurt you more than you could ever hurt me.
- Danish: See, I just saw right through you.
- Danish: Alone of all the people you'll ever meet, I understand you-
- [Danish hits Black Hat's hat so it falls off.]
- [Black Hat is surprised.]
- [Danish catches Black Hat's hat and puts it on.]
- Danish: -and you'll never see me again.
- [Danish exits frame left.]
- [Black Hat sits alone on the train and puts his arms down.]
Trivia
- This comic is the first comic that Danish appears in. Her name comes from 515: No One Must Know.
- This comic is one of the few to have lowercase letters.
- This comic is one of the ones sold signed on the XKCD store
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I like how the explanation says that she is equal to, better than, or worse than Blackhat. Did we cover all of the bases? 108.162.237.161 15:42, 30 July 2014 (UTC)
It would be nice if the plot of the Journal series was not spoiled! 173.245.51.207
Fixed up the explanation. First time, someone check before removing the incomplete tag.Dontknow (talk) 21:49, 2 March 2017 (UTC)
I removed "worse than" from the explanation, because I think it ruins the point of the sentence it was in. Change it back if I'm wrong.
But I like my hat! (I almost always wear this green beanie lol) SilverMagpie (talk) 07:32, 8 May 2018 (UTC)
i don't like seeing black hat's hair. it unsettles me. 172.69.70.21 18:01, 31 August 2023 (UTC)
