#croaker lore

I knew my partner’s autism diagnosis and obsession with numerical sequences would pay off one day.

There we were, scrolling through the latest muppet joker posts, when we noticed something odd. A haphazard keyboard smash. And numbers. Now, when you’re talking ‘bout the numbers, there’s no one better than an autistic creature with a special interest in theoretical geometry and a tendency to obsess over patterns, to consult. With a collective background in code cracking and cryptic language, we set to work, trying to find the perfect cipher to decode this string. It couldn’t be Ceaser, if it were, it would need to be progressive, but there was no way to use this ‘7x7’ hint. Grid based ciphers were not often flexible enough for a 7x7 grid space. Then it hit us. The solution was not to use a 7x7 grid of pre-determined characters to decipher a random string; no, the string was the 7x7 grid.

One public outburst later, and by Jove we had it. The solution.

|Y  O   E/  N   A   A   I   |

|O  T/  N   O   Y/  T   S  |

|U/  K  O   T/   T   T   S/ |

|C   I    R   I     H   E  P  |

|A   L   M   N/  A   R   A |

|N   L/  A    A/  T/  S.  N |

|N   M  N.   W  M  P   T! |

Translated, the string read: ‘YOU CANNOT KILL ME NORMAN. NOT IN A WAY THAT MATTERS. PISS PANT!’.

There it was, the proof we’d been looking for - along with a true understanding of the limits of a route cipher. Something was not right with this rebrand. The character of ‘the muppet joker’, the insidious creation of this so-called ‘Norman Light’, was alive and kicking. Reaching out through the void of a somewhat popular Tumblr blog to assert his mupping dominance! Watch out, @the-muppet-joker.

Norman Light cannot kill his creation. His life will forever be consumed by trying to rid the world of the horrors he’s birthed. His creation will torment him always.

This was only the start of the puzzle. Dr Jekyll, Dr Frankenstein, Dr Norman ‘Croaker’ Light, all bearing creations that they shunned, all bearing the consequences of their hubris - their challenge to God.