Chapter 1: The Shadow and the Robot

The Shadow and the Robot is the first chapter of Gunnerkrigg Court. It can be found here.

Summary

Annie begins by introducing us to the strange Gunnerkrigg Court. She begins her tale by telling of her first odd discovery; she has a second shadow.

She names the shadow Shadow 2 and eventually confronts it by standing in front of a flashlight. Shadow 2 can understand Annie and morphs his body into words which form his replies. He states that he wants to go back home, to Gillitie Wood.

Unfortunately, the Court and Gillitie are separated by a giant chasm, the Annan waters, spanned by a bridge which Court students are forbidden to cross. Unfazed, Annie decides to build a robot in order to walk Shadow 2 back to his home.

After ingeniously finding all the necessary parts except one arm, she easily constructs the robot (naming him Robot) and sends him and Shadow 2 on their way. They successfully make their journey, Annie staying behind and watching. After Shadow 2 rejoins his family, Robot decides to stay in the woods and find a second arm.

Characters and places introduced in this chapter

• Antimony Carver
• Shadow 2
• Robot
• Unnamed teacher
• Gunnerkrigg Court
• Annan Bridge
• Gillitie Wood

Notes and Trivia

• Tom's commentary for this chapter can be found here
• Being that it is the first appearance of Antimony, her character design is much more angular than future installments.
• Due to this chapter being released already before the author had properly planned the story, an unnamed teacher appears here, but never again.
• The door labeled "no spare robot parts" is a foreshadowing to the Seraph Squad, which does not appear until many chapters later.
• Robot's missing arm can be seen on page 32.

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