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Warning : spoiler forWatchmenEpisode 3
The mystery of Nite Owl ’s absence seizure from HBO’sWatchmenhas finally been solved … but the truth is n’t going to make fan of the funny book or Zack Snyder movie any well-chosen . In fact , they may terminate up wish they never learned the accuracy in the first place .
The originalWatchmengraphic novel was an ensemble story , butDan Dreiberg a.k.a . Nite Owlturned out to be just as much of a mascot as Dr. Manhattan himself . So when HBO’sWatchmenshow was bring out to not only be carry on on from the original story , but includingLaurie ( Silk Spectre ) , fans wanted to know where the Nite Owl was hiding . After all , theWatchmenlovers get their well-chosen endingin the comic book subsequence . Does the show suggest Laurie and Dan split up ? Or that Nite Owl did n’t endure to the modern Clarence Day ?
The third episode ofWatchmenhas propose a determinate answer , and it wo n’t be the one fans are hoping to discover . Yes , it ’s still possible that Dan Dreiberg could appear down the road , since he ’s not dead . And no , it is n’t entail Laurie and Dan drift apart and separated . But that might make the trueness more grievous , and not less .
Watchmen Confirms: Nite Owl is in Prison
give the version of Laurie being played by Jean Smart , it would be comfortable to believe almost any termination to her and Dan ’s romance . But there is reason to believe that it was losing Dan , and not growing disillusion about her preceding heroic meter , that ultimately pushed her into becomingLaurie Blake , the Comedian ’s girl . The confirmation comes when Laurie is call in at her flat by Senator Joe Keene , Jr. , and he discovers the bird of night she is keep as a pet cage in in her living way .
The owl itselfcouldbe a keepsake or adoring admonisher of her time with Dan followingthe ending of theWatchmencomic . But when Laurie cynically claims Keene is only ask for help to bolster up his streamlet for President , he fires back , hint he could sign all variety of pardons for his friends charged with crime , or serving sentences . “I could even get that owl out of its cage . “That line catches Laurie off guard , crack her tough exterior . The implication is clear : Dan spite up arrested and imprisoned forhis actions as Nite Owl , since The Keene Act ( championed by Joe Sr . ) made them illegal .
Nite Owl in Prison Answers One Mystery
Fans can still debate whether Dan ’s check and incarceration had to do with his preceding actions , or if he only could n’t stay out of retirement . Thefinal vamp ofWatchmen ’s endingdoesn’t definitively say Dan and Laurie are done bewilder up hoodlums , and the fate of Dan ’s stay could test to be even more of import than the clock time he ’s serving ( and have a slap-up part in Laurie ’s life path ) . fortuitously , it does explicate why the Tulsa constabulary effect are more than a slight familiar with the Nite Owl ’s engineering science .
The first trailers got rooter engrave their heads , showing Nite Owl ’s famed Owlship being piloted ( and crash ) by Police Chief Judd Crawford and Pirate Jenny . The question increased when Angela Abar was point to be using X - ray goggles eerily alike to those used by Nite Owl in the Watchmen picture . But if Nite Owl was arrested by law enforcement , there ’s no mystery as to how his gadgets wound up being used in service against masked criminals . Remember : Joe Keene , Jr. commence his mask cop program in his home state personally .
Few strings would need to be force in the wake of the White Night murder to give Tulsa constabulary an edge . Add the on the face of it covert and off the books , vigilante employment of the Nite Owl ship and goggles , and the line between the costumes vigilance man sit in prison cells and the block out fuzz catching advertizement guys becomes almost unseeable . No marvel Laurie became disillusioned . That level of hypocrisy seems too obvious to not be make do with in the show ’s next instalment , in which case the imply fate of Dan Dreiberg may be outright affirm in the appendage .
While a letdown for lover who hoped to see Laurie and Dan find felicity together , you ca n’t say it is n’t in the spirit of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons ' rootage material . Of the total cast , Nite Owl was undeniably the most good - hearted , well - import , and unsullied heroes . And in the populace ofWatchmen , it may be well-to-do to trust nobody gets a well-chosen ending . Here ’s hop President Keene design on keeping his Son .
MORE : Watchmen Disproves One Nite Owl possibility
