Double Wedding Band or a Three-Ring Circus? Why I'll be searching for Cuckoo connections in the Hallmarked re-read.

 A few posts back, I was pondering a revision of the Double Wedding Band structural model  (See here, here and here for background information) thanks to the unexpected observation of many substantial links between The Hallmarked Man and Career of Evil, noticed by me and multiple other readers. Fortunately, there is a relatively quick fix, which is to add a "big ring" chiastic model to the other major patterns seen,  the Double Wedding Band and the Leapfrog Effect. To do this, simply consider the full ten-part series as one giant ring, and make the five predicted turtle-back connections:  1-10; 2-9; 3-8; 4-7; and 5-6.  

This nicely accounts for the CoE-THM connections, as well as the LW-TRG connections and the TB-TIBH connections seen earlier. It also generates testable predictions (Yay!) for Books 9 and 10, namely, that they will connect to The Silkworm and The Cuckoo's Calling respectively. 

However, while looking at the single ring, I started playing with some other patterns, and, while I sometimes felt like I was playing with my old Spirograph. I came up with a new model that may let me scrap the Double Wedding Band entirely.  Find out more after the break. 

First, the Leapfrog Effect looks pretty cool mapped onto a single ring.  Note that the red lines connect odd-numbered books to odds, and the blue evens to evens. 

Then, I decided to draw my "Double Ring" connections (CC, first of Ring 1 with LW, first of Ring Two; SW-TB, CoE-TIBH, etc. on the single 10-point ring. Turns out, that gives a "Double Leapfrog" effect, with each jump leaping over two books instead of one. 

What's neat about this is that it gives us the start-turn-latch 1-4-7 connections people were predicting back in the days when we thought this was a seven-part series, along with every other prediction made and confirmed by the Double Wedding Band model (4-7,  2-5,  3-6,  5-8); as well as the ones yet to be tested (6-9, 7-10). 

Put the three rings together into one big three-ring circus  (Chiasmus, Single Leapfrog, Double Leapfrog) and you get every prediction made by the Double Wedding Band, plus the 3. CoE-8. THM connections that surprised me. And, it all comes in a visual that is, for me, quite a bit easier to understand.   Remember this diagram?

There are two more predictions made in the Double Leapfrog ring that were not part of the Double Wedding Band:  8. THM to 1. CC and Book 10 to CoE.  Obviously, we'll have to wait until the end of the series to test the 3-10 connection, but the 3-8 one can be done now.  We have that situation that scientists love: a testable prediction that will allow us to see which of two competing hypothesis is the better fit.  If the Three-Ring Circus is the better model, there should be lots of connections between The Hallmarked Man and Cuckoo's Calling, comparable to the ones seen between THM and Troubled Blood (predicted by Double Leapfrog) and those between THM and Career of Evil (predicted by Big Ring Chiasmus).  I made  a note of a few as I was going through the first read: the reappearance of Ciara Porter, and--probably most notably--a major and life-altering encounter between Strike and Robin on the Denmark Street staircase, but I did not count a huge number.  But then, I wasn't looking for them.  As I start the Advent Adventure re-read, I will be keeping the 1-8 connections in mind, and I hope my readers will join in the quest. Reddit's Random-Occurance-365 (who generously helped me out with a long list of CoE-THM connections I had missed) has already sent me some connections she had noticed; I'll make note of them in a later post. 

The Double Wedding Band still has one major point in its favor: it predicted the connections between THM and the fifth Harry Potter book, Order of the Phoenix, which are substantial. So far, I haven't seen a huge number of connections to any other Potter book (with the possible exception of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which is in its own category).  But, again, is that a reflection of what is actually there, or a bias stemming from my own expectations.  Other Harry Potter connections are something to be looking for on the re-read, as well. 

Looking forward to a fun holiday season!