A Numerological Motif
that serves as sort of the Evil Counterpart
of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
. To put it simply, whenever you see the number 23, it hints towards a connection to the Ancient Conspiracy
Examples of works that use 23 as an Arc Number:
Anime and Manga
- It's one of the numbers in the recurring sequence of six on LOST.
- They Might Be Giants had a show in 1983 in which 23 was prevalent. The show was on January 23rd, John Linnell was 23 years old at the time, 23 people attended the show, they played 23 songs (although they had only planned to play 22), and Flansburgh and Linnell both earned $23.
- Every song by Black Metal/Ambient project Echtra is exactly twenty-three minutes long.
- The number is a frequent Easter Egg in the Gorillaz universe.
- The number 23 appears regularly in Kingdom of Loathing. FNORD
- In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, this gem of a conversation between protagonist Carl Johnson and The Truth:
Carl Johnson: What's with all the aluminum foil, man?
The Truth: Protection from mind control, dude.
Carl Johnson: Mind control?
The Truth: Induction of images, sound or emotion using microwave radiation. D'you know how many government satellites are watching any citizen at any moment?
Carl Johnson: No.
The Truth: Twenty-three. Do you know how many religious relics are kept at The Pentagon?
Carl Johnson: No, I don't.
The Truth: Twenty three. You see a pattern emerging here, man?
Carl Johnson: Man, I'm seeing patterns all over the place! Get that smoke out of my face!
- The 1920s slang "23 Skidoo!", which means go away, scram, or GTFO. (23 had been reported to mean "get out of here" as early as 1899.)
- Together with 28, one of the Arc Numbers in Wilhelm Fliess's Biorhythm theory.
- Allegedly, Gaius Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times during his assassination. According to Suetonius, only one of his wounds was fatal. There were seven or eight assassins, so it was about three hits each (a number of assassins in fact wounded their allies).
- The motor company Nissan whenever they launch a new race car in any series, will use the number 23 because Nissan sounds a bit like Ni-San or 2-3.