WWTW

"Who watches the Watchmen?" (Chapter 8, Page 26, Panel 7)



A recurring quote and image in Watchmen, the idea of "who watches the watchmen" is important. It doesn't just refer to the the Watchmen as in the group of masked heroes watching over the citizens, but also to the people higher up the echelons in the world. A prime example of this is Adrian Veidt. Known as the smartest man in the world and this wonderful person, he is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people in New York. He is the great "watcher" of the world, but who watches him to make sure he doesn't over step his boundaries? Moore's idea that no one should be above watching, or the law, is an important idea even today, more than twenty years after its publication.