Kendal is so pissed, and he is not taking Stefan’s bait. Love it. The Falst and Tess commentary is also gold.
I know Stefan won’t take this lying down and he’s not gonna instantly escalate, but this was also one hell of an opener from Kendal. I wonder how long either of them will entertain the other’s attitudes.
Kendal knows something that Stefan doesn’t, that the volcano is going to erupt soon. If Stefan doesn’t play Kendal’s game, Kendal won’t warn him. And since one of Kendal’s goals is to prevent Stefan from hurting his friends, he wins by default just by stalling.
Stefan: what an innocent little philosophical question, let’s consider it over some tea, yes?
Kendal: Let me rephrase, do you want to die by my sword or the hands of your army tonight?
It’s especially fun knowing he absolutely could win this. He just can’t do it while still playing nice. Armies of mooks aren’t actually very useful against massive aoe sword beams
YEAHHHH.
City god Kendal both has a very solid grasp on civilian-god relationships and is also Extremely done with you. Cut the fluff or he will cut it for you with the giant glowing sword.
Well, he’s immediately attempted to deflect with that “Come and introduce yourself first!” tactic (also an attempt to get Kendal’s name so they can track him as well as Erin). I suspect he doesn’t want to answer because he doesn’t disagree with his Lady, he only disagrees with Her Champion, and when he says that it will seal the deal on making an enemy of this powerful but somewhat reasonable individual.
So I think he’s cunning enough to avoid the question altogether, or make an especially wordy answer out of it. He wants to keep talking.
laughing my ass off at Live Falst Reaction (new reaction images acquired)
also gotta love Kendal’s atttitude of “Dude, your army & your figurehead tried to kill my friends and i just got back from being chucked around like a cat toy by a dragon under your command, and you want to talk about this NOW?”
Oh. Oho. Kendal is furious and having absolutely none of it. (And I am 100% here for it.) He also dodged the trap of divulging his name, so if he does somehow get out of this, the paladins won’t be able to use spellbirds to hunt him down.
Unfortunately, I think Kendal will be taken hostage, in part to keep the heat on him and off his friends, and in part because even Kendal is too physically exhausted, damaged, and outflanked here to brute force his way out of the situation—at least, too outflanked to do it without fatalities. (I think. I mean. He could surprise me. But…) I can see it in Stefan’s face in that last panel: “welp, the diplomacy attempt was a non-starter, time to resume the regrettable fallback of my giant fuck-you army.”
Stefan’s an interesting antagonist. He’s tactical-minded and has a veneer of levelheadedness and outward politeness, but, uh, yeah, Kendal’s got his number. Token diplomatic effort doesn’t change the fact that he’s been hunting them down and serves a god who was happy to sacrifice them all.
I know earlier I was hypothesizing that the paladins would imprison Kendal in Snowfast, but I was thinking about the Northern Wyrm’s line about him being “beyond my power to help” and some Tumblr and others’ commentary about it. Would the Snowfast be on a landmass within their domain, or beyond it? I’m not sure. Another possibility I’m wondering about is if the paladins have a base somewhere around Grimside, which got namedropped on page 2-1-1.
What order are Kendal’s speech bubbles in the bottom-middle panel meant to be read? Is it top left, top right, bottom left, or top left, bottom left, top right?
we read top left, bottom left, top right, which i think is the order that makes more sense. i think they’re arranged that way so it’s clear how they line up with Falst’s reactions, but it does kinda make the whole layout slightly less clear
The second option, I believe. Kendal’s speech bubbles are crossing three different panel borders. So the way I read is this:
Falst is whispering, Kendal starts speeking, Falst reacts, and Kendal contiues speeking.
Okay Tess is reminding me of Team Four Star Goku in the beginning.
Tess “You take the five dozen on the left, I’ll take the five dozen on the right.
Falst “Screw you! I’ll take on five dozen and one.”
Tess “That’s the spirit! 🙂
Stefan’s expression is very interesting in the last panel. The shut down closed expression does not bode well for further interplay and Kendal is so done with being pushed around despite his injuries. There is still a lot of damage he can do that Stefan has not really understood yet.
Also, does anyone else find Tess’ response to Falst’s line “You’re joking” odd? I read that as “Wish I WAS” when I checked when the page went up in the wee hours, and I think her saying “Wish I wasn’t” is a blooper because it really doesn’t look like she’s intended to be joking.
Stefan’s “interesting philosophical argument” comment reveals a significant difference in how he and Kendal think.
Kendal is entirely concerned with practical questions. Who’s in charge of this operation? Was the attack on his crew done by a rogue agent, or was it ordered from all the way up? Can he trust that Stefan will not only be more reasonable, but has the authority to stop the other Paladins from harassing them? Stefan, however, appears to have the mindset of an IRL religious leader and thus sees the question as an academic debate. He evidently believes that he himself has correctly interpreted the will of his god, yet acknowledges that others in the very institution he is part of disagree with him on key details. He likely doesn’t expect the Light Dragon herself to come down in person to explain how she wants her followers to deal with the situation at hand.
By contrast, Kendal has a very different experience with gods in general. Being the former avatar of a not-quite-dead god himself, and being accustomed to other gods (Ilia, Gleicann, Zuurith, Tynan, Argist) treating him as they would Vash – that is, as a peer – he doesn’t draw a strict line between gods and people. That is, he sees gods as one would see human authority figures and expects gods and their followers to have certain natural mutual responsibilities that exist between authorities and their subordinates; for the followers to follow their orders and for the gods to communicate their orders clearly and maintain so that everyone in the organisation is on the same page.
Kendal is so pissed, and he is not taking Stefan’s bait. Love it. The Falst and Tess commentary is also gold.
I know Stefan won’t take this lying down and he’s not gonna instantly escalate, but this was also one hell of an opener from Kendal. I wonder how long either of them will entertain the other’s attitudes.
Kendal knows something that Stefan doesn’t, that the volcano is going to erupt soon. If Stefan doesn’t play Kendal’s game, Kendal won’t warn him. And since one of Kendal’s goals is to prevent Stefan from hurting his friends, he wins by default just by stalling.
Stefan: what an innocent little philosophical question, let’s consider it over some tea, yes?
Kendal: Let me rephrase, do you want to die by my sword or the hands of your army tonight?
I love done-with-this-shit Kendal
It’s especially fun knowing he absolutely could win this. He just can’t do it while still playing nice. Armies of mooks aren’t actually very useful against massive aoe sword beams
They are Magic mooks though. At least some of them.
You can really feel the city god in Kendal. He’s descended from a protector, and he will protect them.
You are so right with how it’s either the sword or the army. I never would have thought of that.
YEAHHHH.
City god Kendal both has a very solid grasp on civilian-god relationships and is also Extremely done with you. Cut the fluff or he will cut it for you with the giant glowing sword.
“Shipwrecking” is such an ugly word!
Kendal being the ***star*** of this part of the show <3 That is THE right thing to ask, and he is the right person to ask it!
And Falst being the voice of all of us. And Tess being Tess *sighs infatuatedly*.
Aurora Question #67: What’s your theory on Stefan’s answer to Kendal’s question?
“Interesting point, young man, and I CAST FIREBALL!!!”
Well, he’s immediately attempted to deflect with that “Come and introduce yourself first!” tactic (also an attempt to get Kendal’s name so they can track him as well as Erin). I suspect he doesn’t want to answer because he doesn’t disagree with his Lady, he only disagrees with Her Champion, and when he says that it will seal the deal on making an enemy of this powerful but somewhat reasonable individual.
So I think he’s cunning enough to avoid the question altogether, or make an especially wordy answer out of it. He wants to keep talking.
I feel like he has to answer “Champion,” because if he says he disagrees with his god, then he might lose control of his army.
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: technically a sea serpent sank our ship but at this point that feels like semantics
Image source: conflict
I think Red meant SEAmantics! Eh? Ehhh? 😀
* crickets *
The crickets are clapping
Tumblr text: live falst reaction
Bluesky text: let’s have a nice civil chat
laughing my ass off at Live Falst Reaction (new reaction images acquired)
also gotta love Kendal’s atttitude of “Dude, your army & your figurehead tried to kill my friends and i just got back from being chucked around like a cat toy by a dragon under your command, and you want to talk about this NOW?”
“What, you mean you DON’T bring forth philosophy quandaries as part of your introduction?”
Love that last panel: Hm. You’re supposed to be an innocent caught up in the Void Dragon’s plot, and as such, easily fooled.
It’s almost as though they know that Walter is dangerous and needs to be stopped, they just have different ideas as to how!
Kendal: I am the paragon of our group and I will not stop asking this question until I get a gods damned answer!
Oh. Oho. Kendal is furious and having absolutely none of it. (And I am 100% here for it.) He also dodged the trap of divulging his name, so if he does somehow get out of this, the paladins won’t be able to use spellbirds to hunt him down.
Unfortunately, I think Kendal will be taken hostage, in part to keep the heat on him and off his friends, and in part because even Kendal is too physically exhausted, damaged, and outflanked here to brute force his way out of the situation—at least, too outflanked to do it without fatalities. (I think. I mean. He could surprise me. But…) I can see it in Stefan’s face in that last panel: “welp, the diplomacy attempt was a non-starter, time to resume the regrettable fallback of my giant fuck-you army.”
Stefan’s an interesting antagonist. He’s tactical-minded and has a veneer of levelheadedness and outward politeness, but, uh, yeah, Kendal’s got his number. Token diplomatic effort doesn’t change the fact that he’s been hunting them down and serves a god who was happy to sacrifice them all.
I know earlier I was hypothesizing that the paladins would imprison Kendal in Snowfast, but I was thinking about the Northern Wyrm’s line about him being “beyond my power to help” and some Tumblr and others’ commentary about it. Would the Snowfast be on a landmass within their domain, or beyond it? I’m not sure. Another possibility I’m wondering about is if the paladins have a base somewhere around Grimside, which got namedropped on page 2-1-1.
What order are Kendal’s speech bubbles in the bottom-middle panel meant to be read? Is it top left, top right, bottom left, or top left, bottom left, top right?
we read top left, bottom left, top right, which i think is the order that makes more sense. i think they’re arranged that way so it’s clear how they line up with Falst’s reactions, but it does kinda make the whole layout slightly less clear
The second option, I believe. Kendal’s speech bubbles are crossing three different panel borders. So the way I read is this:
Falst is whispering, Kendal starts speeking, Falst reacts, and Kendal contiues speeking.
Falst: Don’t do it, don’t do it…
Kendal: I don’t think I should tell you anyth8ng…
Falst: Yes!
Kendal: This never had to be a fight…
Falst’s reactions are killing me lmao, also it’s always so fun to see Kendal be capital D Done with it
Okay Tess is reminding me of Team Four Star Goku in the beginning.
Tess “You take the five dozen on the left, I’ll take the five dozen on the right.
Falst “Screw you! I’ll take on five dozen and one.”
Tess “That’s the spirit! 🙂
Literally just thought of that reference too, lmao.
I’ve been waiting for the “you did this” rant for so long.
Stefan’s expression is very interesting in the last panel. The shut down closed expression does not bode well for further interplay and Kendal is so done with being pushed around despite his injuries. There is still a lot of damage he can do that Stefan has not really understood yet.
Kendal with the complete shutdown reminding everyone that even if he doesn’t understand everything, he’s still smart as sh*t
I love Tess and Falst up in the peanut gallery
YES, YES, YEEESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!
YOU TELL HIM KENDAL!!!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
Well at least he didn’t say “You know we are not so different you and I.”
Anyway I don’t see the champion there which is good for a moment there I thought our heroes were in trouble.
Rather like Captain Carrot, Kendall can sometimes seem very simple and straightforward. But don’t ever let that confuse you into thinking he’s stupid.
What is Captain Carrot from?
The Greater Good.
(Echoes: The greater good.)
Just introduce yourself as barrel-rider, man
There’s more lava in the background…
Also, does anyone else find Tess’ response to Falst’s line “You’re joking” odd? I read that as “Wish I WAS” when I checked when the page went up in the wee hours, and I think her saying “Wish I wasn’t” is a blooper because it really doesn’t look like she’s intended to be joking.
https://comicaurora.tumblr.com/post/823317736211070976/question-about-todays-page-falst-and-tess
We got clarification! Tess IS joking about actually fighting the Paladins, but she wishes she wasn’t.
Stefan’s “interesting philosophical argument” comment reveals a significant difference in how he and Kendal think.
Kendal is entirely concerned with practical questions. Who’s in charge of this operation? Was the attack on his crew done by a rogue agent, or was it ordered from all the way up? Can he trust that Stefan will not only be more reasonable, but has the authority to stop the other Paladins from harassing them? Stefan, however, appears to have the mindset of an IRL religious leader and thus sees the question as an academic debate. He evidently believes that he himself has correctly interpreted the will of his god, yet acknowledges that others in the very institution he is part of disagree with him on key details. He likely doesn’t expect the Light Dragon herself to come down in person to explain how she wants her followers to deal with the situation at hand.
By contrast, Kendal has a very different experience with gods in general. Being the former avatar of a not-quite-dead god himself, and being accustomed to other gods (Ilia, Gleicann, Zuurith, Tynan, Argist) treating him as they would Vash – that is, as a peer – he doesn’t draw a strict line between gods and people. That is, he sees gods as one would see human authority figures and expects gods and their followers to have certain natural mutual responsibilities that exist between authorities and their subordinates; for the followers to follow their orders and for the gods to communicate their orders clearly and maintain so that everyone in the organisation is on the same page.
I have exactly one word to say to this:
DAMN!
Live Falst Reaction is really funny if Tess can’t actually hear this, Falst only can because of the Catboy in him.
live falst and tess reaction