Scenes from a Memory Plot Hole?

[ZKX-2099]

That whole part is just a reference to Voices.

"You've got to know who you're dealin' with because, like a stranger,
A-heh, just might come in through here with a gun...
And then, what would you do? (Heh.)"

Think about it.

[TheSilentHam]

ftfy

[Scorpion]

[ZeppelinDT]

Mili, you just hit the Rush postcount.

Oh god, Nicholas's son is a orphan.  Cruel, cruel DT... Orphaning a kid in a prog album is not cool... 

Well not necessarily, it's explicitly stated he has a wife, and I'm pretty sure it implies she's still alive. Certainly it never explicitly stated that she's licked the bucket.

But in the context of the song it kind of implies he's always alone at night.  It's a recurring dream he's having rather than being like, just some random dream he had one night when he happened to be alone.  He also comes home to an empty home at the end of the story.

The real answer is probably a lot simpler.

The Fatal Tragedy lyrics were written by JM.  The Through Her Eyes lyrics were written by JP.  They probably just didn't compare notes.

[MoraWintersoul]

Well one of the foundations of the story is who and what Nicholas is, it's a little too huge to miss when not comparing notes.

When he wakes up he is always "alone", he never wakes his family up. About arriving to an empty house... his son is school-age and has friends (probably) and god forbid if anyone remembered his wife is allowed to have a social life of her own

[ZeppelinDT]

Maybe... but it still doesn't explain why he's alone every night.  I interpret the "alone at night" line as suggesting that he's alone every night.  He's talking about his recurring dreams, not just about one particular night.

[Scorpion]

But women who have own social lives aren't any good as wives!

I'm sorry. I couldn't pass that one by.

[MoraWintersoul]

But women who have own social lives aren't any good as wives!

I'm sorry. I couldn't pass that one by.

Zeppelin, I always thought it meant that he is the only one awake and therefore feels alone.

[Sketchy]

Bugger it, I meant "kicked". I had my mind on food.

[TheGreatPretender]

Mili, you just hit the Rush postcount.

Oh god, Nicholas's son is a orphan.  Cruel, cruel DT... Orphaning a kid in a prog album is not cool... 

Well not necessarily, it's explicitly stated he has a wife, and I'm pretty sure it implies she's still alive. Certainly it never explicitly stated that she's licked the bucket.

Okay, but this guy is dreaming about some other girl. He's having crazy visions. So just because he has a song and WIFE, it doesn't mean that they're living together. She could have easily left him for something like that. Heck, by the time Finally Free happens, they could be all out divorced.

In fact, that should be DT12: Metropolis Pt. 3: Nicholas' Divorce Trial

[ZeppelinDT]

But women who have own social lives aren't any good as wives!

I'm sorry. I couldn't pass that one by.

Lol.  I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've heard anybody use the word "dweeb" since 1987.

Zeppelin, I always thought it meant that he is the only one awake and therefore feels alone.

I guess it could have meant that, although to me that sounds like kind of a weird interpretation.

I actually thought that somebody in the band had been asked about this at some point and they just said something like "yeah, we just overlooked that", but it's entirely possible that I'm completely imagining that.

[Orbert]

Well one of the foundations of the story is who and what Nicholas is, it's a little too huge to miss when not comparing notes.

When he wakes up he is always "alone", he never wakes his family up. About arriving to an empty house... his son is school-age and has friends (probably) and god forbid if anyone remembered his wife is allowed to have a social life of her own

This has come up before.  His son had a soccer game after school that day.  Nicholas had an important meeting at work with a new client and it ran late, so his wife took their son to the game.  It was an away game, one of the few over in the next county with a non-conference team.  By time Nicholas finally got off work, the game was over, so he just went home.  Made a drink, turned on the TV, figured he'd relax a bit before they came home.

[MoraWintersoul]

I guess it could have meant that, although to me that sounds like kind of a weird interpretation.

I actually thought that somebody in the band had been asked about this at some point and they just said something like "yeah, we just overlooked that", but it's entirely possible that I'm completely imagining that.

It's pretty possible they said that actually... my memory fails me though.

I don't really think it's that weird. When you sleep in a room with someone and you're the only one awake, you feel alone. Or perhaps I've trained myself to feel alone that way because all my life I've been unlucky enough to share a room and therefore never feel alone

[DebraKadabra]

[jonnybaxy]

Perhaps because he doesn't know fully about Victoria, he doesn't feel complete, he's not fully there and therefore he feels alone... Or as in misunderstood "how can I feel abandoned even when the world surrounds me"

Nah, I'm just an idiot.

[hefdaddy42]

Maybe we shouldn't be surprised that there could be something that MIGHT be a plot hole shows up in a "story" written by a bunch of musicians.

[Cedar redaC]

And thus we see: KFC+SFAM= Dream Theater Forums.

[lonestar]

Maybe we shouldn't be surprised that there could be something that MIGHT be a plot hole shows up in a "story" written by a bunch of musicians.

Well that type of reasoning just doesn't belong in a thread of mindless and silly speculation now, does it?

[DebraKadabra]

Quit using your brain, hef!