A Stronger Loving World

From WatchmenWiki

A Stronger Loving World is the twelfth and final chapter of Watchmen. The main characters confront Veidt at the Tarnak and learn that his scheme killed millions in New York, for the greater good. It was released in October 1987.

Synopsis

Midnight, November 2, 1985. Most of New York City has been devastated by the psychic trauma caused by the instant death of Ozymadias’ teleported “alien.”

Dr. Manhattan and heavily distraught Laurie tour the devastation. After they have seen enough, the two teleport away to the South Pole, to follow a trail of tachyon particles that Dr. Manhattan senses will lead to the source of the disturbance.

Meanwhile, inside his Antarctic retreat, Ozymandias continues to detail his “Hoax Invasion” plan to Rorschach and a disbelieving Nite-Owl. He tells them that in order to save humanity from self-destruction, he cloned the brain of a powerful psychic, then had geneticists make it much bigger and powerful. Programmed into the brain were horrifying images of aliens, so that the mental transmissions given off at its death would affect anyone around it who managed to survive the initial psychic blast. This event would force all humans to end their petty wars and unite against a new, more terrifying, alien enemy. Ozymandias celebrates.

After viewing the media coverage of the aftermath of the disaster, Ozymandias revels in his “victory” and convinces the “masks” that exposing the truth would plunge humanity back into its self-destructive course. They agree to keep the secret of who caused the “alien” and the murder of countless innocents, in order to keep the peace. Rorschach doesn’t agree with keeping the secret which forces Dr. Manhattan to kill him.

With the crisis over, Laurie and Dan, who have assumed new identities, visit Laurie’s mother. Laurie tells her mom that she knows Edward Blake, The Comedian, is her real dad, and that she has come to terms with that fact and bears no grudge.

In the end, the previously ignored journal of Rorschach is (possibly) picked up to be read by the newspaper he sent it to.

Closing Quotation

"It would be a stronger world, a stronger loving world, to die in." - John Cale, “Sanities”

Chapters edit
At Midnight, All the Agents... • Absent Friends • The Judge of All the Earth • Watchmaker • Fearful Symmetry • The Abyss Gazes Also • A Brother to Dragons • Old Ghosts • The Darkness of Mere Being • Two Riders Were Approaching... • Look On My Works, Ye Mighty... • A Stronger Loving World