Of course the same would - and did - apply to Pearl too, but few people are aware he knew this.

Hmm. Gets pretty complex, but ultimately in the course of mental evolution, I have started to come down on the side of this guy. The movie did very honorably at sticking to the graphic novel original, but the latter for its real sophistication is kind of hard to top.

Fiction skillfully used to provoke thought about assumptions and I think make a valid point.

Ymmv.