As the water supplies failed/went bad, the Engineers and their settlement neighbors realized they had to move. As a community, they stockpiled enough fuel and supplies to make one long run to Walhalla (geography very loosely based on the actual place in Australia). Due to bad luck, nearly all the adults died over the course of the long run but for Joe and Danny (the Bullet Farmer), who both had experience surviving storms and managed to shelter at the last minute. The dust/sand-caused deaths to adults and infants alike are similar to those experienced in the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression.
When Joe takes over the convoy, they spot the pillars on their way to Walhalla. Joe decides that it would be a safer bet to stop and settle at what would become the Citadel as opposed to pushing on to Walhalla as their food and water are running low, despite having more than enough fuel to make it all the way. Pragmatically, they settled at the Citadel, and thus Joe was able to stockpile fuel and materials in his new stronghold.
At one point Joe really was a hero. It's not that absolute power corrupts absolutely (which is a silly saying); more that Joe was entrusted with power and eventually comes to believe that he deserves it. Had he been a better man, he would have stopped the children's idol worship of him instead of letting it get out of hand and letting it go to his head. Had he been a better man, he would have worked alongside the children instead of making them serve him, under the excuse that he was too busy/too important to be breaking rock.
White is the color of death in some cultures.
Ace's blackened head is an unconscious imitation of his father's black helmet. Others adopt that look as well, though in different ways.
Miss Giddy's speech comes from a mishmash of two main sources, the Bible and Shakespeare, plus my own additions. She is not talking about Immortan Joe, but the proto-War Boys don't know any better. Unintentionally, between her tattoos and the funerary speech, she gives them a vocabulary to both define and describe themselves.
Jan's unnamed younger sister is Rictus Erectus' mother, and one of the first Milk Mothers. Initially the Milk Mothers were part-time insurance against maternal deaths and the ensuing starvation of the babies, but the milk was turned into a source of income once Joe realized he could sell the surplus at a premium rate. Now it is merely a commodity like anything else; water, produce, slaves, War Boys, etc.
The Prime Imperator was the main antagonist in 'Furiosa'. Once Furiosa became a full War Boy, she is literally untouchable to him; she became part of a system of minor and major alliances among Revhead crews, Drivers, and Lancers as well as the overall War Boy population. The Prime rises to power purely by chance, being the oldest boy of the survivors. Serving Immortan Joe and his family keeps him out of harm's way, which is why he has no scars despite his age in contrast to The Ace.
The Ace is around nine years old at the beginning of the story. The driving mechanisms for the rigs are height adjustable so most kids around that age or even younger can drive in case of extremis. He spends several years with the other kids digging out the warren of the Citadel and doing hard labor until he's old enough to guard Bartertown runs. By the time of Jan's death, he is about sixteen. As they don't count the foundation date of the Citadel until some years after the first settlers arrived, by the time we get to the movie, the Ace is about 49. This puts Immortan Joe, the Bullet Farmer, and Miss Giddy respectively in their late 60s/early 70s, mid 70s, and late 70s/early 80s. The Ace is prematurely aged by his years of intense physical labor. 12045 days is interpreted as counting from the foundation date of the Citadel plus 30 to reflect that Max had been at the Citadel for at least a couple weeks before Furiosa went rogue.
In Furiosa, Furiosa is supposed to be a young teenager, perhaps fourteen or fifteen when The Ace takes her on as a War Pup. By the time she is an Imperator, she's known the Ace for about ten years or so, first as her War Pup trainer, and then later as her War Boy trainer. The Ace fell back into favor amongst his fellow Half-life Noble peers and went back to training individuals as he does with Nux in L'Arbre du Ténéré. The Ace and Furiosa were equals only briefly in Fortuna; she's gone past where he is willing to go. Imperator Furiosa with The Ace as her crew chief spent years doing trade runs and working together before the day of that fateful detour from Gastown.
Once again, I salute Geoduck, for editorial advice and for listening to my ramblings. Once again, I salute my readers, who have ridden with me for a few short stories, on the superhighways of the Internet.
Thank you for reading!
