The Gordian Knot: Morality, Justification and Saving the World in Watchmen

Narrativist analyses of Watchmen must inevitably confront the novel's peculiarly

abrupt closure upon concluding its climactic Chapter XII. Consequently, attempts towards

the mapping of Watchmen's teleological footsteps end, perhaps irreconcilably, with the

novel's silence. Moore offers no denouement, no clear moral stance that identifies an

archetypal villain and an archetypal hero, and no ends to justify Veidt's means. The reader is

therefore unable to turn to the author to provide closure. Given the weight of Moore's silence,

his refusal to adjudicate closure for the reader, the separation of characters along a good-evil

moral axis is inevitably immaterial. We cannot be certain of Adrian Veidt's morality because

we lack the historical retrospective vantage point from which to discriminate. We are

similarly unable to catalogue Rorschach, Dr. Manhattan, Nite Owl, etc., within a taxonomy

of heroic archetypes because Moore is silent in his arbitration.

In fact, Moore's silence bespeaks a broader thematic emphasis on the essentially

indecipherable and--consequently--unsolvable psychology of humanity. Moore articulates his

vision of humanity as the Gordian Knot: an infinitely entangled problem that, owing to the

intrinsic quality of a knot, invites endless attempts at untying, delineating, solving. Moore

emphasizes the importance of the Gordian Knot in providing humanity with a moral impetus

to solve its problems and save itself, but cautiously avoids suggesting that human society is

capable of realizing a teleological fantasy of Utopian perfection wherein all complications

have been subdued by the victory of human faculties. In his silence regarding the canonical

resolution of Adrian Veidt's master plan, Moore allows the reader to relish a temporary (albeit
costly) victory in which nuclear eschatology is narrowly avoided. However, the reader is left

without closure of Rorschach's gambit. Instead, the traditional narrative trope of the happy

ending is transformed into the question mark.

Moore's silence towards questions of moral absolutism may suggest artful deflection

of arbitrative powers naturally associated with authors, as the reader may depend on the

author to provide reconciliation and closure to a narrative, to provide some means of

separating protagonist from antagonist, victor from defeated. However, Moore's narrative

should not be mistaken as devoid of a manifest moral gradation, the extremes of which are

characterized within Rorschach and Adrian "Ozymandias" Veidt. Where Veidt is pragmatic,

ambitious and grandiose, Rorschach is single-minded, zealous and mundane. Contextually,

the relationship between Rorschach and Veidt is analogous to a collision between two

unstoppable forces. Both men possess mutually exclusive visions of morality: Veidt logical,

Rorschach ideological. Consequently, Rorschach and Veidt practice two incompatible

methods of unraveling the Gordian Knot.

In his "Watchmen Observations", Stephen Blatt notes the allegorical significance of

the Gordion Knot: The Phrygian Gordius ascends to kingship upon receiving an omen from

the Gods and, subsequently, fastens two ox carts together with a knot, promising dominion

over the entire world for whosoever unties the knot (1). Attracted to the Classical tradition,

Veidt articulates his motivations through an allegorical reference to the Gordion Knot while

delivering his villain's exposition to Rorschach and Nite-Owl: "The World's greatest ancient

puzzle was there. A knot that couldn't be untied. Alexander cut it in two with his sword.

Lateral thinking, you see. Centuries ahead of his time" (XI.10.2). Veidt models himself

against the Classical, epic model of heroism, wherein his interpretation of Alexander's history
becomes an Alexandrian hagiography. Here, the Gordion Knot signifies the apparent and

complicated dilemma of nuclear war which, owing to his superior intellectual faculties and

near limitless resources, Adrian Veidt solves by severing entirely. Veidt's "solution" ignores

the delicate dexterity required in undoing the diplomatic "knot" and, instead, forces

resolution in a clean sweep. His means are equally grandiose, if heartless, fabricating a

paranormal catastrophe at the cost of seven million lives to jolt humanity into union.

Nevertheless, the merit (or lack thereof) of Veidt's "master stroke" depends wholly on

historical perspective--a resolution Moore conveniently avoids by closing his narrative prior

to denouement. The reader cannot be certain if Veidt's methods achieved a greater peace and,

therefore, cannot categorically justify or dismiss Veidt's morality. Consequently, uncertainty

breeds suspicion, and we are forced to re-examine the conditions referenced by the Gordian

Knot allegory: If Alexander's lateral thinking failed to conquer the world beyond his short

lifespan, how would an identical solution provide a greater result in a much more

complicated world?

Rorschach responds to Veidt's solution with absolute disgust. Under the terms of

Rorschach's moral code, history is incapable of justifying the essentially and

uncompromisingly wrong Veidt: "No. Not even in the face of Armageddon. Never

compromise" (XII.20.8-9). Rorschach, intent on revealing Veidt's plans and therefore

destroying the peace consequent of Veidt's careful machinations, refuses compromise and

departs. Here, Manhattan disposes of him in the interest of protecting a greater peace.

However, the final panel punctuates the persistence of Rorschach's gambit and creates

uncertainty in an otherwise clean conclusion. A publisher reaches into a pile of material, hand

precariously hovering above Rorschach's journal (XII.32.8). Veidt's justification depends

entirely on the luck of the Publisher's draw.

In fact, the final panel illustrates a broader concept associated with the Gordian knot,

one that Veidt and Rorschach are incapable of understanding. The Gordian knot is inherently

impossible to solve. Even a seemingly successful unraveling possesses no permanence, as the

knot once again fastens itself over time. Alexander, Veidt's model, severed the legendary

Gordian knot, hence conquering the world. Upon his death, the Alexandrian Empire

fragmented into disarray, suggesting an entropic historical model wherein history progresses

in cyclical epochs catalyzed by violent attempts to create order from embryonic chaos.

Therefore, Veidt's logic is far from sound, as his ambitions towards "saving the world" echo

grandiose visions of his own kinglike importance, rather than a broad perspective

encompassing every facet of impending nuclear eschatology.

Blatt discusses Moore's vision of a paradoxical human nature--simultaneously chaotic

and yet compelled towards justice--in

The most critical problem raised by Watchmen...the events on the

streetcorner immediately preceding the disaster. These final

events go to show that people are complicated...[Veidt's] hopes

for a dazzling transformation of mankind as a whole are wildly

overoptimistic. It will take more than artificial aliens to put an

end to racial tensions or lovers' quarrels. (11)

Blatt's "streetcorner scene" references a brief humanist episode woven into the fabric of

Veidt's otherwise cold exposition, wherein a passing stranger interrupts a violent attack on a

woman by a scorned suitor. Catalyzed by his act of selfless intercession, a crowd soon forms

around the scene to rescue the victim. Here, the narrative is metatextual rather than
contextual, dictating Veidt's vision of a new, Utopian world created after his fabricated

disaster: "The brutal world [Comedian] relished would simply cease to be, its fierce and

brawling denizens rushing to join the mastodon in obsolescence...in extinction" (XI.24.7-9).

Veidt describes the destruction of Comedian's nihilistic world (and, necessarily, the

Comedian himself) and subsequent replacement with his own Utopia. However, the brief

glimpse of humanity illustrated by the streetcorner scene complicates the veracity of Veidt's

vision. Instead, Veidt's words become ironically re-arranged by association with image:

Altruism rescues brawling denizens, even beneath the threat of imminent extinction.

Regardless, the "streetcorner scene" cannot adequately represent Moore's rhetorical

voice, and it is instead a single permutation within a multifarious collage of human emotion.

Blatt's critique of the streetcorner scene is structuralist, juxtaposed necessarily beside the

murder of Mason at the conclusion of VIII: "Moore is not foolish enough to suppose that

solidarity is the only possible response to fear. Witness the knottops and Mason" (11). The

murder of Mason closes VIII in circumstances closely mirrored to the streetcorner scene at

the conclusion of XI. Here, however, the paranoid, violent top-knot mob illustrates a form of

psychological response violently opposed to the altruism of the street-corner. Mob mentality

overturns sensibility, and the lingering fear of Doomsday agitates a knot-top gang into

violence.

Careful scrutiny of the murder of Mason reveals image-textual attempts towards

pathos. The panel's artwork is detached, unfocused, removed from the action of aggressor

and victim, instead portraying the mess of mob violence between retrospective fragments.

Panels posited within the present narrative are devoid of dialogue, while panels illustrating a

retrospective flashback feature the indeterminate shouts of the present narrative.

Consequently, the narrative becomes violently jarred, fragments of present action iterating

into flashbacks, the juxtaposition of which simultaneously illuminates Mason at his glorious,

heroic prime versus Mason in the present: Mason the elderly murder victim (VIII.27-28). A

fractured image-textual aesthetic suggests a fractured, violent collective psychology resultant

of nihilistic, fatalistic culture. Here, the murder of Mason directly supports Adrian Veidt's

disdain for the "fierce and brawling denizens" of Comedian's "brutal world".

The "knot top" evokes imagery implicit of the Gordian Knot socio-historical motif

permutated throughout Watchmen's discourse, specifically iterated here as a hairstyle and

rebellious expression. The Gordian Knot exists outside of Veidt's fantastic obsessions with

symbolism and antiquity, instead inextricably embedded within basic human conscience. It is

the manifestation of conterminously the human compulsion towards solving problems and

the human frustration in its collective inability to achieve a state of permanent equilibrium.

By wearing a knot at their heads, the knot-top gang effectively submits to and champions the

aforementioned dilemma. Consequently, the knot-tops embrace disorder, immersing

themselves into a recklessly irreverent lifestyle justified by a nihilistic surrender to inevitable

nuclear Doomsday. The End-Of-The-World becomes a progressively unsolvable and

increasingly inevitable situation. A consequent attitude of nihilism begins to take root within

the psychologies of the defeated and, ultimately, leads to an atrophy of order, sensibility and

compassion. This is the world Adrian Veidt sought to destroy.

Among the residents of this atrophied moral landscape, Moore characterizes "The

Comedian" as their foremost and prophet. The Comedian represents a peculiar anomaly for

Veidt. Possessing far-reaching insight and clarity of vision, but lacking in the mental fortitude

to shoulder the weight of the truth, Comedian becomes the victim of his own brilliance. He,
like Veidt, recognizes the Gordian Knot in the inevitability of nuclear catastrophe. Unlike

Veidt, Comedian resigns into nihilism, sheltering himself in some small pride that he,

singular in the world, understands the "cruel joke" of existence.

During a narrative flashback coterminous with the Comedian's funeral ceremony, an

early meeting of costumed heroes explores the brief ideological conflicts between Comedian

and Veidt. Comedian dismisses the fantasy of a superhero organization as a child's fantasy,

incapable of understanding the scope of America's problems, but an excuse "to play cowboys

and Indians". Lashing out at Veidt, Comedian produces a lighter and sets fire to a

presentation: "It don't matter squat. It don't matter squat because inside thirty years the nukes

are gonna be flyin' like maybugs" (II.10-11). Comedian's insight proves correct. Nuclear

disaster proves imminent, though his estimate of "thirty years" proves ironically optimistic.

Defeatism becomes the fuel for Comedian's unprincipled megalomania and solipsist

insistence on his own, unique understanding. He takes pleasure in witnessing--even

furthering--a descending global spiral towards self-annihilation to vindicate his nihilism.

Therefore, as Comedian begins to learn of Veidt's master plan, he recognizes it as an

elaborate practical joke born of Veidt's superior intellect and, most importantly, a scheme

entirely capable of saving the world and dismantling Comedian's core philosophical impetus.

The discovery leads to Comedian's gradual existential withering, such that the final encounter

between Comedian and Veidt (prior to Comedian's execution by Veidt) is described by Veidt

as one of mutual understanding, wherein Comedian resigns himself to his death. Despite his

temper and arrogance, Comedian is, at his core, a defeatist, resigning himself to Veidt's

victory in the same manner he resigns himself to the senselessness of his existence.

The Gordian Knot therefore transcends its limitations as a narrative device or

allegorical fixation of an obsessive Adrian Veidt to situate his megalomania within a

grandiose classicism, representing instead the essential engine of human motivation. While

Veidt's understanding of the "Gordian Knot" expresses itself through the allegory of the

impossible challenge (opening the knot leads to control of the world), the "knot" reiterates

itself within the psychology of any given character as the persistent fear of inevitable nuclear

eschatology, the unsolvable "problem" of securing a peaceful existence. Comedian and the

knot-heads are among the many who, unable to exorcise themselves of the phantom of

Doomsday, resign themselves to nihilism. Some few, such as Adrian Veidt, believe in the

victory of human intellectual abilities over Gordian Knots of our own making.