Red, I have a hard time reacting calmly and coolly at times like this. Don’t ask me to be ‘normal’ about it! Eek! This is the time to run around crazy like. I can not be calm!
“Swiftly, my champion,” the Light Dragon murmurs. “The Diadem will hold them, but it will not hold our foe.”
“Good,” the Champion growls, limping past Tess with a hand on his side. “The coward has hidden for too long.”
“Restrain yourself,” she tells him. “Facing him would gain you nothing, and the battle would destroy these innocents.”
“I know, but–” he suddenly breaks off, eyes widening, as he sees Kendal kneeling next to Alinua on the deck. His arms are around her, with no light-crown circling his head.
“Let them go.”
The Champion flung out a hand, a circle of light flickering to life around Kendal’s head.
Kendal turns his head a little, one eye staring out at him, as the light-crown crackles and fizzes out.
“What…” the Champion stammers in shock, “What ARE you?”
Sorry it’s been a while I’ve been pretty tired… I’ll try to do the missing pages this week/end
Ohhh dear… Yeah Champion you are dead. That is not Kendal’s “okay but lets talk about this” face. You hurt his friends. You are dead.
Also nice callback to the Tynan fight with the Twitter text Red
Oops almost forgot the quotation marks around L.D.’s words
Yes, we saw in the first attack that both Kendal and Michael are vulnerable to physical attacks. But they’re on an equal footing. And… star metal sword, anyone? Kendal just might have the advantage.
I didn’t expect that. I thought they’d have to be saved by a major distraction like the storm getting out of control or Rakhn showing up.
I think it might be that the magic is reacting to the spark of light that has been passed down since that first human but since Kendal isn’t naturally born and instead spontaneously popped into existance, there is no void or light for them to manipulate
Counterpoint: maybe the spell isn’t powerful enough to contain him. Do we know exactly what energy Alinua saw when she life-sensed in her sleep? Soul energy? Life energy? Are they the same, and if not then are the two are related/how? Whatever it was Kendal’s output was larger then a minor god’s in the heart of their OWN domain, therefore presumably FAR larger than regular human’s. I’m thinking The Champion miscalculated, he’s probably never had to contain anything more complex than a human (or former human). Now he’s basically handcuffed Clark Kent and is confused when the guy breaks out of them like nothing.
Also Kendal CAN be harmed by Void magic, it just takes more effort on VD’s part and even then the damage is not permanent or fatal like it would be for regular mortals. Perhaps Light magic is the same, and The Champion just needs to increase the voltage.
To add, Kendal’s lack of void does not make hin invincible to the dragon’s power, only prevents it from sticking and corrupting him to him. It’ll still kill if applied long enough, just like the six primordials and they definitely had no void. I think Kendal’s soul shining brighter than Gleicann’s is because its all in place, instead mostly spread out throughtout a forest
Oh, and life energy comes in a very specific shade of green and soul energy comes in any color. The collector could also see Vash’s soul with her lesser version of Life’s powers
I think (from what we’ve seen at least, and from what I can remember) that Kendal seems more incorruptible than immune to the elements.
Like, if the Champion were to stab him with a Light blade it would certainly work, but he’d also resist whatever effects the Light magic would produce, either completely or to a far lesser extent than anything else we’ve seen so far, though that also puts into question how exactly Ali heals him considering that’s the effect of Life, but maybe that’s the one element he’s not as resistant to (considering it’s mostly positive while the others are mostly harmful with the way they’d affect his body), or it’s because of his trust in her that it works, kinda subconsciously.
Again, this is mostly from memory, so I’ve likely missed some stuff that would agree/disagree with my propositions.
It’s because Kendal is made of the six well known elements and only lacks void and light, the secret or believied fake elements respectively. Gods who make independant avatars somehow modified the human body plan to not require them.
Kendal could be harmed by void because that’s what the substance does. It destroys and consumes whatever it’s in contact with. The reason Kendal can’t be disintegrated like Alinua was in the process of in Ch.5 is that his body doesn’t contain Void, per Walter’s own words.
The Diadem seems to act in a similar manner, manipulating the Light in a person’s body. Kendal doesn’t have that so he’s unaffected. He can still be hurt by hardlight constructs, but mental manipulation would never have an effect because it has nothing to latch onto.
I think that’s just the Light Dragon, who probably won’t appear physically this chapter, because we’re only just starting out the Arc and she would make a very fitting encounter for later on when tension is higher (and good golly things have already escalated enough in these past few chapters).
“Swiftly my Champion. The diadem will hold them
But it will not hold our foe.”
They argue over fighting the Dragon itself, until
Kendal says, “Let them go.”
A crown fizzled off his head again, as he cradles
Alinua’s blue body prone.
“What… What ARE you?” the Champion gasps,
At the vessel with life of his own.
It’s good to have you back. I liked your haiku reply to someone last page.
Oh boy! That won’t end well for the Champion.
And we’ll probably learn more about the Lady’s nature (and a bit more about Kendal’s) on wednesday!
Until then, question for everyone: Where do you think the Lady is? Unlike gods, the primordials all have more or less solid bodies. That would mean the LD should be an “enormous fuck-you dragon”, as Red says. So enormous she should be comparable to the planet’s size. Where could such a dragon be hiding well enough for the academic world to conclude she must not exist?
I’ve actually theorized she might be in some way part of VD. We know they are both dragons, but who says they can’t be the same one? The flashbacks we have seen seem to imply VD is the only occupant of that body, but nothing was said that directly goes against the idea VD’s “other” could just be a different part of him. After all, how likely is it there are 2 dragon shaped primordials? Although this will likely get disproven if and when we get more information on primordials and LD’s motivations, I think it’s a cool possibility to consider, and it very nicely explains why she doesn’t seem to have a body.
My thought on that is the light dragon was born when the lizard was at the height of inspiration for his human plan and starbirthed her. They are are dragon too because she doesn’t know she can shapeshift.
My wild insane conspiracy theory is that she’s the sun. Contrasts VD’s core of the earth thing, fits with her whole light thing, makes sense why she would be harder to channel by her followers (she’s too far), and if she’s also soul, it makes sense how it’s spread around so much, yet impossible to manipulate while she’s still alive (like maybe sunlight is soul energy or somethibg)
Good point! I was just putting out soul because it’s the only element described in the extra lore that is currently unaccounted for, and her whole mind/telepathy thing might tie into soul being able to be controlled by the mind (soulshaper monks), but maybe light is an eighth? I have no rebuttal for the sun’s colour not matching. That is a very good point that I fully did not consider
Maybe she’s hiding out in the equivalent of this world’s south or north pole? Off in some icy reach so inhospitable and barren that no people trod there? Good question, though, I’m not sure.
People have pointed out that some strange have been made between LD, Paladins, and Shield (the white moon). Maybe she’s sort of…hiding out, on the moon?
Kendal, in reply
“I am the sword made flesh, the weapon made manifest in the shape of man, I am Kendal, blade of Vash and I don’t appreciate you bringing harm to my friends.”
Your first take sounded classy and noble. I like the intellectual tone. The second response sounded like it came from the angry offended heart, if a bit blunt and crass. (smile) Either would work well!
Paladin, a warrior of light, who has a power and morals of goddess of Light and JRPG protagonist on his side: What are you?
Kendal: I was made by a god to be a vessel for said god. I am holy by definition, as opposed to profane. Or, to put this in game mechanics terms so you understand: I am literally made of Holy and therefore immune to all Holy and Light type of attacks and abilities.
Paladin: Wait, that’s 100% of my special attacks and allof my abilities!
Kendal: Yup. All you have left are basic physical attacks, which you didn’t level up since you got your first Light skill. Sucks to be you. Now, let my people go and we can talk about this mess.
As anyone who’s ever played an Aasimar or Tiefling in Pathfinder knows, you gotta be real careful about the definition of Person in spells like “Mass Hold Person”
It’s probably “mind magic” or something. Considering it hits their heads, and it contains the will as it is what stopped the mortals from being controlled by vd
I am very curious about what was going to follow that “but-“. Why is it so important to the Champ that VD face him personally? Even when his Lady is telling him, and he agrees, that VD’s direct intervention would only make the job the Champ came here to do more difficult and cause collateral damage? Is this a matter of closure or revenge for some Void-based trauma in the Champ’s own past? Parallel/foil thing with Falst?
Also, Light Dragon, if you’re going to be giving the guy advice and direction, throw us a bone and use his name!
I don’t think what follows the but would be very interesting because to me it felt most likely that he would just reiterate his overall hostile intent. “but I really want to confront that monster.” etc. I don’t feel like he was about to unload some elaborate backstory.
I imagine the paladin will feel better about killing Erin when he is possessed by the void dragon and not when he is essentially a regular person trying to save his own life.
I agree with that. The Champion would rather have a climactic final battle with the dragon of absolute evil than kill someone who has been victimized by the dragon for the greater good.
This is beautiful. I love the way that Alinua is the one being cared for and held, when often she is the one doing this to the others. I love the anger and weariness is Kendal’s face when looking at the champion. I love how Kendal’s face is hidden from the champion until panel 7. This is gorgeous.
But seriously Kendal holding Alinua is actually my favourite thing ever.
“Normal about that panel”? Which one, the one where Kendal is cradling Alinua and putting her on his lap or the one where he’s looking at the camera with the most foreboding glare he’s ever had on his face while the diadem meant to contain him fizzled? Or maybe Mike’s look of terror when he sees Kendal completely unaffected?
Because I don’t think anyone is going to be normal about any of them.
Currently? That, being a creation not from The Twins, Kendal has no intrinsic soul matter in his body’s amalgam, though he does have a soul formed from ambient energy.
Barring that, his should might be more powerful in some meaningful sense, if Gleicann’s vision is anything to go by.
If Light magic was manipulating soul energy, then Kendal should be the most susceptible of the Floof Squad to it due to his incredibly densely packed soul. As it stands that Light magic does not work on Kendal because of the same reason Void magic doesn’t work on him the same way it does on mortals: he does not contain Light in his body. The Diadem doesn’t work on him, because there’s nothing for it to target.
I’ve posted a more comprehensive refutation on the previous page, if you’d like to read it.
Not sure how it follows that if you can manipulate non-compact non-dense soul energy one would be able to and it would even be easier to manipulate dense compacted soul energy. That’s like saying if someone can bend pure gold that is beaten out and defuse it would be even easier to bend iron that was compacted into a dense lump.
Note that while the void dragon is one of the 6 primordial that embody the elements that make up this world, the light dragon is not as far as we know a 7th primordial, but apparently just a god and so is not of the basic constituents of living things in the world, but made out of much the same sort of constituents as other living beings. So it’s not clear that there is some primordial substance of light that Vash might have purified out of his body, but that exists in most other living creatures.
On your first point, the more elemental energy there is, the more fuel you have for magic.
Less “purified it out” and more “didn’t include it in the first place”. Erin speculated Lucy to be a god, so nowhere near Walter’s level of power, and that hypothesis went out the window when he actually saw Michael’s eyes, implying that the Light Dragon is both a) real and b) Actually A Primordial.
First, the one who said she was a god was Erin, and he was just putting forth the current popular in-universe hypothosis, but he is starting to doubt it. Second her matter gave the first races sapience on the second page and she shares all the properties of a primordial and speaks in their font. Third the void swimmer is the 7th primordial and blue dragon the 8th. Fourth, Vash did not purify out any 8th element, he just didn’t grab in the first place because he does not know it exists. Fifth, i’m having a difficult time understanding your first point
He wouldn’t necessarily be more vulnerable if the lady were primordial soul. Consider what would happen if you placed Kendal the blade before a stone mage: primordial stone’s soul (“stone energy”) channeled through the mage’s soul into the blade should have no more effect on the blade than it would on a puddle of water. It’s alien matter, presumably from some distant, blue star from deep space.
Whether LD is primordial soul, primordial mind (which I’m most inclined to believe), primordial something else, or not a primordial at all, neither Kendal’s soul nor his mind came from her, they came from Vash. Just like his ability to consume food doesn’t come from the Void Dragon, but from Vash(‘s desire to eat cake). At least I assume Vash DIY’d himself some organic, free-range consumption element, not knowing that he could grab a handful of mass-produced void bred in captivity from the singing caves. He’d likely done the same with Kendal’s mind/brain. (Afaik, gods are only really able to focus and “think” while incarnated, which probably means their minds are a part of their bodies.)
Kendal’s soul, wherever exactly it came from, most likely came from Vash somehow and is unique. Vash’s soul wasn’t given to him by a primordial entity, it was spontaneously generated through mortal belief. If there was a primordial soul entity, I’d believe in a heartbeat that Kendal’s soul could no more be controlled by it than starmetal by a stone mage.
He has no dragon in him. Void already confirmed that for himself, so it stands to reason he doesn’t have the other dragon either, meaning effects that rely on the presence of such would be ineffective.
I agree with a theory several others ascribe to, which is that, just as Kendal does not have any Void in him, he does not have any Light in him either, so psychic attacks of those types can’t target him the same way they would a regular mortal. Brute-forcing light output might give him minor burns the way void did, but that’s more a sheer scale of energy thing than hijacking the body’s internals thing.
actually in retrospect probably not even the burns, as Mat pointed out that’s a void specialty to eat away at things. So only the blunt and cutting force from constructs.
he doesn’t have any light in him, we already know that he doesn’t have any void,vash putting light onto him wouldn’t make any sense because he was never supposed to develop sentience
Something something starmetal? I don’t know, though I’m really curious to find out.
Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that starmetal is some sort alien material (the name implies it comes from space, but that could admittedly also just be because it’s shiny). And it has some sort of secondary property (starfire) which is distinct from its planetside counterpart (elemental fire). What would that mean for its properties of accumulating soul energy? Tynan describes Vash’s soul slipping into the starmetal “as easily as a glove” (might be an unreliable narrator but I doubt it). Before that, Vash notes that Kendal’s soul is unique.
My hypothesis is that starmetal has some sort of property similar to soul crystals about it. It accumulates soul energy faster than other materials, which naturally leaves its marks on Kendal’s soul, which in turn explains why his soul appeared in the first place. (If this has been proven or disproven before and I just wasn’t paying attention, please tell me.)
But if starmetal is of alien origin, wouldn’t the omni-present soul energy move differently through it? It’d be distinct from the primordial elements making up the bodies of other creatures (or more accurately a mixture of primordial and alien elements) and thus, energy would flow differently. So Kendal’s soul would have something of a different texture to it, making it impervious to soul attacks, much like how a scalpel made for human skin would slide off a crocodile hyde. This is entirely free speculation, but it’s interesting.
I think there’s a lot to be said for whether or not Paladin magic is soul magic. If it were, this could be one potential explanation, though I admit it is pretty far-fetched.
It’s not just the name that implies that it came from space; Vash was literally the city built in the impact crater of the material Kendal is made of, which is why he had so much of it.
His soul is too different. Doing things this way takes a lot of force applied in the right way with the right technique. Trying to do the same to him would be like trying to put an octopus in a joint lock.
“There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.”
– Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man’s Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle)
The poor little champion of the light will soon learn why. I personally think this is beyond his experience, since I’m willing to bet that he only fought creatures of darkness which are very uncomplicated. For fighting normal people he had the diadem of headaches to hold them, not much of a fight. Now he has to fight someone, who he has made very angry, even worse it is the kind of cold anger, the kind of anger that sunders storms and razes cities. As cold and focused as the sword for which the man is named. He also has to deal with the moral ramifications of such beforehand, I don’t think he has actually had to fight someone.
Considering the theory that Kendal isn’t named after the sword but IS the sword…
Well. Michael might not think along the same lines as most people due to the Lady’s influence, but as he’s about to find out, neither does Kendal, for all that he’s gotten good at masking that he isn’t human. And here’s the thing about swords–they’re weapons of war, and in the case of Vash’s, forged to protect those he cared about. Which means that if the theory holds–and regardless of it does or not this has still been shown to be a core trait of Kendal’s– Kendal’s not going to let Michael get away with hurting his friends (family).
Kaiba, do you want the long answer, the longer answer, or several comment chains of theories?
“The diadem will hold them, but it will not hold our foe”. Oh man. Does that mean V.D. can take advantage of a mentally paralysed Erin and take over? Is the Champion’s attention on Kendal going to give V.D. a chance to attack while he’s distracted? Is that tail on the chapter cover a dragon V.D. is going to possess? (It’s not V.D. himself; it has spines on it’s back while his back is smooth)
As we suspected, Vash used neither V.D.’s element in his vessel’s creation, nor did he use L.D.’s unknown essence. Starmetal, whatever it is, must be the key; V.D.’s dialogue in 1-18-2 and the souls of the citizens of Vash still persisting in some form, with the metal’s trademark blue glow, points to this, in my opinion. That stuff is just as mysterious, if not more, than L.D.’s magic.
The Champion seeing Kendal’s nature could have long term ramifications. Before the Champion thought these were ordinary people helping the dark dragon either unknowingly or under the “false” assumption they could help. Now he, and by proxy L.D., are face to face with a person they can’t explain, which might make them and future Paladins take a closer look at the gang.
Might they discern their true natures and powers? Would they see them as threats to eliminate or allies to recruit? Might the gang arrive on Helm to be greeted with wanted posters, not just of Erin but all of them?
This is what I was thinking. After all, Walter has only been keeping quiet because he can’t fight Kendal and Alinua (and Dainix who came in later). Michael has no way of knowing that Walter has somehow run into three separate exceptional people capable of containing him – nor that Erin, with that backup, would be able to convince Walter to ‘play dead’ exactly to keep the Lady’s paladins off his tail. So I’ve been expecting the end of this fight to happen when Michael found out about these people’s one-of-a-kind natures, hopefully making him willing to see that Walter has, in fact, not been playing these people like a fiddle this whole time.
This is also why I wasn’t expecting Walter to come out, because Erin has basically promised to protect him from the Lady in exchange for his cooperation – and Walter knows the paladins would kill Erin to get rid of him, and Erin doesn’t want to die, so he will fight tooth and nail. Hell, if Walter knows about the Lady’s morals, he may expect the paladin to have more trouble killing Erin when he can’t see Walter in Erin’s eyes. (Then again, Walter may not be able to contain his own pride).
The only counterpoint to all of this that I can see is, Walter absolutely has done a masterstroke of manipulation with Erin by now: he allowed him to cure Falst’s void corruption. Erin wasn’t interested while his own autonomy was pitted against the concept of “being the world’s only void mage” – but now he has seen that Walter gives him the power to cure people he cares about of a terrible, hitherto incurable affliction, and I think this may be the argument that might convince Erin to finally choose not to get rid of Walter – depending on how cards are played. If this comes up at all, that would be a reason for Michael to insist on killing Erin after all.
Very nervous about the fact that this ‘Diadem’ spell will do nothing to Walter, just as Erin’s seals don’t. Lucy’s right about one thing: if Void energy starts being thrown about, those without immunity will have nowhere to run.
I’ve been genuinely wondering how much of Erin’s surroundings Walter perceives at all times, given that he’s in his mind, but doesn’t seem to react to the moves Erin’s been making to deal with him. I suppose it’s more about what he considers worthy of his attention, and what he considers an actual threat. There’s no way he hasn’t noticed Lucy’s presence…but he’s still keeping quiet, even after “his precious vessel” has been damaged, something that threw him into a fury when Tynan did it. How far can Michael push it before Walter storms to the front? Alinua, Dainix, and Kendal can keep him contained…but they don’t want to kill Erin. Michael and Lucy, however, DO…making them a greater threat than any of Erin’s companions.
He could need his beauty sleep too. Cave corruption is getting more common, right? Maybe he really is dying down there, with his strength slowly leaking out into the world.
I feel Red’s been dropping a lot of hints here or there in the sad, not ‘evil’, looks of Voidy, and other minor elements, that the Void Dragon isn’t “irredeemably evil”, just very isolated and lonely. No idea if that’s the actual direction things’re gonna head in, but I would not be surprised at all if the dark side is redeemed in order to unify and rally against The Collector at the tail end of the story.
Where? He eats stars, thinking beings in this world. He destroyed the First Great Civilization without a second thought. He takes pride in his killing of the primordials. He will kill everyone in the team at any free moment. He also crack open the planet and kill everyone on it to continue his misson to destroy the universe. Every sign points to the void dragon being a very evil individual.
Obviously according to the current data the Void Dragon is evil. And maybe Red will go with that direction, of Voidy being cartoon style evil. Those types of characters can be fun. I just think it’s entirely plausible we’ll get a more complicated character. Even if, if that is the route to go down, it hasn’t even “started” yet.
i think its really funny how pretty much all the gods and alive primordials have known what kendal is for a while but lucy has NO IDEA at all and its like completely under her radar, like imagine michael going to talk to question zuurith and other gods about this and being like “when were you f*ckers planning on telling me that the void dragon’s vessel was somehow traveling with the only people on the entire planet who could contain him”
I personally wonder if there are other primordials in existence, far from the world of Aurora. Starmetal must come form somewhere, after all, which doesn’t make sense if the original Six Primordials (or Seven, now Eight Primordials) were Everything in Existence. Not to mention the Sun. What is it if not Primordial Fire? Does Starmetal come from there? Does it have a god, or a Primordial?
I’m sure that the Lady is going to become VERY interested in one member of the Floof Squad at LEAST. And that’s Falst. If Theia is “one her bears [her] eyes” then Falst could become one who bears her eyes too. She would have a spy, or maybe even a puppet, within the Squad, able to provide her with intelligence and perspective, willingly or not. As for the rest, Alinua might be a potential ally, as a Primordial Vessel (Life is presumably related to the Lady in some way or has some connection), and Dainix’ Soulfire might be related to Light as well, although this theory begins to crumble if the Lady is not the Soul Primordial (as she no longer seems to be). But Tess is never going to help the Paladins after this encounter, and Kendal might become a thing of terror to the Champion, considering his immunity to the Lady’s Diadem. Worse still, she might consider him an abomination. There’s no reason for this otherwise altruistic being to be a nice person.
The more we learn about the Lady, the less we know. If Kendal has a soul but no Light, then what the fuck is ‘Light’? And how can she manipulate minds like this? Where did she come from? I have so many new questions.
I remember that stars are alive and make primordials through important revelations and deep conversations and star metal is spun off from dead stars, but thats it
humans were not made with the light dragon in mind and if the light dragon were the element of soul, I don’t think even the strongest god could resist here power
kendal’s just immune to psychic attacks, i guess. very sweet that he checked on alinua first, and i cannot wait for the champion to get what’s coming to him, lol.
Listen up, Champion! Kendal’s about to teach you the pecking order.
So this is gonna go one of two ways, I think. Either Kendal talks the Champion down…or Kendal reminds folks that just because he is floofy of hair, he is also bad of ass.
So both my senses from seeing the last page were correct, Kendal was able to shrug off the halo and the halo does not work on the Void Dragon making for two things standing between the Paladin and killing Erin. I thought it would be one or the other that saved Erin but now one has started and the other seems likely (mentioning that the Void dragon is now a free agent is basically cocking a gun, chances it will be fired are now high) meaning it will be both.
i love how this makes sense, its been established that kendal was a body made for vash to inhabit and given how void creates a need for consumption and light gives intelligence and free will it wouldn’t make sense for vash to use them in the body he made(if he even knew about those elements in the first place) since putting void in a body would force him to consume stuff to maintain it and putting light in the body could make the body develop sentience and fight vash for controll, as such magic that affects those elements within kendal don’t work because he doesn’t has them
So if Void doesn’t work on Kendal because he lacks hunger, what does he lack to make him immune to Light? It can’t be a soul— we know Kendal has a soul. The opposite of hunger would be satisfaction… is Kendal physically unable to be satisfied as well? What are our thoughts on this?
You place a crown on someone whos already a king 😉
Joking aside kendal is the physical incarnation of a deity. might not be as big and transient as hunger and… light? but a deity nonetheless.
Its also worth remembering that the VD specifically said there was something in kendel he hadnt TASTED in a long time… and the VD eats stars so… maybe a manifestation of the sun itself or something?
Also if this comes to blows the champion does not have a tool to deal with kendal. light doesnt work and physical force DEFINITELY doesnt work on kendal. Hes stronger tougher and heavier than normal people. For example faust couldnt even make kendal use more than one hand and BROKE his wrist in response. and faust was able to hold him back.
The Paladins *name* their moves? And something like “Diadem” too? So pretentious. I guess it makes sense to names them if their moves are more limited, more well-defined, than the somewhat free-form casting of other elements.
But, is typical magic more free-form, or do we just have a bad sample size? The only traditionally trained mage in the party is *Erin the Elemental Magus*, so maybe there are names that we just haven’t heard. Though Erin really seems the type to name his moves either way. Wonder what he’d call the sky beam. “Elemental Stillness”? “The Panic Button”? “The Thing That Tess Disapproves Of”?
I’m pretty sure ‘The Panic Button’ is the one where he blows himself up 😛 Although we could lump that AND the self-electrocution under ‘Toasted Falst’.
It’s fascinating that this champion is going against the will of his Lady. If he can do that, why does he think Erin can’t? And why is he doing this in the first place?
its because his relationship with the lady is symbiotic while erin’s is parasitic, he acts in lucy’s name but he is his own person whose goals align with the L.D, in theory lucy should be able to take hold of his body if she wanted to like how both life and walter took control of alinua and erin’s bodies, since erin isn’t willing to destroy the world and free the void dragon its clear why he wouldn’t able to control himself
Folks saying Kendal is glaring / mad in the second to last panel. I don’t get that read. I get “tired”, which is almost worse than “disappointed” (and maybe a close cousin).
If the Champion is very, very lucky Kendal might say “I won’t ask again” first. But no, I don’t think he’s angry, per se. I think he is about to Protect His Friends, whatever that requires. If Champ refuses to listen to words, then he’ll speak in a language that can’t be ignored so easily. The gang _was_ attacking him, I think Kendal sees the diadem play as not inherently unreasonable as a reflex — but also Not Acceptable™ to continue.
Alternatively, there may already be another big hunk of rock inbound. Nothing like a couple of tons of superheated lithic bombardment to interrupt a pleasant conversation, after all…
That’s a fair read. Kendal doesn’t tend to raise his voice, except with other divine beings (Tynan, Zuurith) who I think he holds to higher standards. He tends to radiate a more decisive finality. Like with Falst, when it became evident nobody was going to listen to him and Alinua and Erin were getting hurt, he just started using his strength to shut things down. When Kendal’s decided words aren’t going to work, he doesn’t bother with them…he speaks “a language that can’t be ignored so easily”, as you said (and I love how you phrased that).
I still read ‘angry’ in his face, but it’s not a quiet anger or even a tranquil fury. He’s just become an Unmovable Object: either you’re going to stop, or he’s going to make you, end of discussion. After all, he still hasn’t drawn his sword.
Looking back, I tend to agree. Kendal’s expression does seem more neutral. His word choice, however, conveys something dangerous to me. He’s not attempting to reason or compromise, or even move the fight elsewhere. Kendal has issued an ultimatum, one he apparently has the unique power to carry out.
“you guys are gonna be normal about this panel right”
bro
kendal went from holding Alinua’s body to holding her *and* glaring with seething pain at this glowey holy-roller so…..
LET THEM FIGHT
I think the Light element is probably close to “mind magic”, not soul. The soul is the channel through the elements go through, and since gods already existed and the humans could already channel before the Light dragon woke up the mortal wills, it’s probably not soul magic. But when the light dragon woke up the mortal’s wills (which is the same color as her magic), she empowered them to control how they channeled – and like Erin said, the mind can remodel the soul. I think she probably gave them their minds? Though, this does have issues with how a homunculus can think for example, or how Kendall could think right when he started. Since LD is still around, maybe she continues to grant creatures their minds? Unsure.
It occurs to me that we’ve never really seen Kendal this mad. He’s had a battle-face on, got pretty cold when fighting Falst, and yelled at Zuurith during the arena battle with Dainix. Hurting Alinua is a different level, though. I feel like this is about to be the panels Red showed of Kendal grabbing someone’s wrist and yeeting them.
Omg 🤣🤣🤣
Yeah I think this is around here, cause in the bottom of the first panel you can see someone’s legs which kinda look like Alinua’s.
But that is so funny just YoInK YeeT
Thx for posting the link 😀
Something Vimes had learned as a young guard drifted up from memory. If you have to look along the shaft of an arrow from the wrong end, if a man has you entirely at his mercy, then hope like hell that man is an evil man. Because the evil like power, power over people, and they want to see you in fear. They want you to know you’re going to die. So they’ll talk. They’ll gloat.
They’ll watch you squirm. They’ll put off the moment of murder like another man will put off a good cigar.
So hope like hell your captor is an evil man. A good man will kill you with hardly a word.
-Men at Arms, Terry Pratchett
So the Champion said the Void Dragon was “hiding” when we know he was sealed in the Storm. Makes me think the Light Dragon actually had nothing to do with his sealing.
I think he meant hiding *during this encounter*, not in general. According to the paladin archives, they know where the Dragon currently is and why he’s there. The Lady and the Champion, according to their first appearance together in chapter 7, also know what the Storm was for.
Erin says at some point to Theia “Six elemental primordials died to imprison one primordial dragon.”, with a nifty diagram in the book of the six primordial runes surrounding the dragon. He says that as some kind of common knowledge even the dragon-sceptical academy is aware of.
Don’t you think she would’ve reacted in some way if that were new infornation to her?
Yes, they don’t know much else, but they are aware of this most fundamental fact.
Depends which panel you mean. Do you mean the panel of Kendal holding Aluina caringly? Because yes, I’ll be normal about that.
Or do you mean the panel showing Kendal looking up at the Emissary as they cast the diadem on him again and it just pops with no effect? Because that inspired a particularly evil sounding laugh that was entirely unstaged, which does not fall under my definition of “being normal.”
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: you guys are gonna be normal about that panel right
Image source: what
NOPE!
Coolest Kendal moment ever!
Red, I have a hard time reacting calmly and coolly at times like this. Don’t ask me to be ‘normal’ about it! Eek! This is the time to run around crazy like. I can not be calm!
Tumblr text: this can only end well
Twitter Text: so maybe this is the part I was calling the kaiju fight-
maybe the true kaiju fight was the friends we made a long the way
tumblr text: this can only end well
“Swiftly, my champion,” the Light Dragon murmurs. “The Diadem will hold them, but it will not hold our foe.”
“Good,” the Champion growls, limping past Tess with a hand on his side. “The coward has hidden for too long.”
“Restrain yourself,” she tells him. “Facing him would gain you nothing, and the battle would destroy these innocents.”
“I know, but–” he suddenly breaks off, eyes widening, as he sees Kendal kneeling next to Alinua on the deck. His arms are around her, with no light-crown circling his head.
“Let them go.”
The Champion flung out a hand, a circle of light flickering to life around Kendal’s head.
Kendal turns his head a little, one eye staring out at him, as the light-crown crackles and fizzes out.
“What…” the Champion stammers in shock, “What ARE you?”
Sorry it’s been a while I’ve been pretty tired… I’ll try to do the missing pages this week/end
Ohhh dear… Yeah Champion you are dead. That is not Kendal’s “okay but lets talk about this” face. You hurt his friends. You are dead.
Also nice callback to the Tynan fight with the Twitter text Red
Oops almost forgot the quotation marks around L.D.’s words
“being normal” means something different on Tumblr than it does in the rest of the world
Ah, the ole “What are you?” trope, a fine classic.
condition immunities: stunned
the yeet is fast approaching
And there it is. Kendal is immune to Light magic, and methinks his thick soul barrier is not a factor. 🙂
…and Kendal does not look as though he is in a Light-hearted mood right now, does he?
You guys were right! Oh, this is gonna be goooood…. *rubs hands together* I love it when a powerful foe finds the hero invulnerable.
Champo can.still make just about any weapon he can imagine
Yes, we saw in the first attack that both Kendal and Michael are vulnerable to physical attacks. But they’re on an equal footing. And… star metal sword, anyone? Kendal just might have the advantage.
I didn’t expect that. I thought they’d have to be saved by a major distraction like the storm getting out of control or Rakhn showing up.
I think it might be that the magic is reacting to the spark of light that has been passed down since that first human but since Kendal isn’t naturally born and instead spontaneously popped into existance, there is no void or light for them to manipulate
It’s because Vash didn’t put those two any void or 8th in the body Kendal now inhabits
So the theorists were right!
Counterpoint: maybe the spell isn’t powerful enough to contain him. Do we know exactly what energy Alinua saw when she life-sensed in her sleep? Soul energy? Life energy? Are they the same, and if not then are the two are related/how? Whatever it was Kendal’s output was larger then a minor god’s in the heart of their OWN domain, therefore presumably FAR larger than regular human’s. I’m thinking The Champion miscalculated, he’s probably never had to contain anything more complex than a human (or former human). Now he’s basically handcuffed Clark Kent and is confused when the guy breaks out of them like nothing.
Also Kendal CAN be harmed by Void magic, it just takes more effort on VD’s part and even then the damage is not permanent or fatal like it would be for regular mortals. Perhaps Light magic is the same, and The Champion just needs to increase the voltage.
To add, Kendal’s lack of void does not make hin invincible to the dragon’s power, only prevents it from sticking and corrupting him to him. It’ll still kill if applied long enough, just like the six primordials and they definitely had no void. I think Kendal’s soul shining brighter than Gleicann’s is because its all in place, instead mostly spread out throughtout a forest
Oh, and life energy comes in a very specific shade of green and soul energy comes in any color. The collector could also see Vash’s soul with her lesser version of Life’s powers
I think (from what we’ve seen at least, and from what I can remember) that Kendal seems more incorruptible than immune to the elements.
Like, if the Champion were to stab him with a Light blade it would certainly work, but he’d also resist whatever effects the Light magic would produce, either completely or to a far lesser extent than anything else we’ve seen so far, though that also puts into question how exactly Ali heals him considering that’s the effect of Life, but maybe that’s the one element he’s not as resistant to (considering it’s mostly positive while the others are mostly harmful with the way they’d affect his body), or it’s because of his trust in her that it works, kinda subconsciously.
Again, this is mostly from memory, so I’ve likely missed some stuff that would agree/disagree with my propositions.
It’s because Kendal is made of the six well known elements and only lacks void and light, the secret or believied fake elements respectively. Gods who make independant avatars somehow modified the human body plan to not require them.
Kendal could be harmed by void because that’s what the substance does. It destroys and consumes whatever it’s in contact with. The reason Kendal can’t be disintegrated like Alinua was in the process of in Ch.5 is that his body doesn’t contain Void, per Walter’s own words.
The Diadem seems to act in a similar manner, manipulating the Light in a person’s body. Kendal doesn’t have that so he’s unaffected. He can still be hurt by hardlight constructs, but mental manipulation would never have an effect because it has nothing to latch onto.
If Kendal throws The Champion in the water, will it attract the Cover Creature?
I think that’s just the Light Dragon, who probably won’t appear physically this chapter, because we’re only just starting out the Arc and she would make a very fitting encounter for later on when tension is higher (and good golly things have already escalated enough in these past few chapters).
No, not the champion, the thing with the godzilla tail.
Yeah— that’s probably the Light Dragon’s tail, and she probably won’t appear physically this chapter (I hope).
He moves to end it
But finds Kendal No-Sells his
Diadem attack
(bonus)
To no one’s surprise
Kendal was not affected
By the crown attack
“Swiftly my Champion. The diadem will hold them
But it will not hold our foe.”
They argue over fighting the Dragon itself, until
Kendal says, “Let them go.”
A crown fizzled off his head again, as he cradles
Alinua’s blue body prone.
“What… What ARE you?” the Champion gasps,
At the vessel with life of his own.
It’s good to have you back. I liked your haiku reply to someone last page.
Champion sallies forth, but stops instead to stare
At Kendal, unaffected, facing him with starfire glare
The haikus, ballad verses, and couplets you folks all come up with are awesome, just for the record.
Oh boy! That won’t end well for the Champion.
And we’ll probably learn more about the Lady’s nature (and a bit more about Kendal’s) on wednesday!
Until then, question for everyone: Where do you think the Lady is? Unlike gods, the primordials all have more or less solid bodies. That would mean the LD should be an “enormous fuck-you dragon”, as Red says. So enormous she should be comparable to the planet’s size. Where could such a dragon be hiding well enough for the academic world to conclude she must not exist?
I think in a similar situation to life somehow and on the shield too maybe?
I’ve actually theorized she might be in some way part of VD. We know they are both dragons, but who says they can’t be the same one? The flashbacks we have seen seem to imply VD is the only occupant of that body, but nothing was said that directly goes against the idea VD’s “other” could just be a different part of him. After all, how likely is it there are 2 dragon shaped primordials? Although this will likely get disproven if and when we get more information on primordials and LD’s motivations, I think it’s a cool possibility to consider, and it very nicely explains why she doesn’t seem to have a body.
My thought on that is the light dragon was born when the lizard was at the height of inspiration for his human plan and starbirthed her. They are are dragon too because she doesn’t know she can shapeshift.
My wild insane conspiracy theory is that she’s the sun. Contrasts VD’s core of the earth thing, fits with her whole light thing, makes sense why she would be harder to channel by her followers (she’s too far), and if she’s also soul, it makes sense how it’s spread around so much, yet impossible to manipulate while she’s still alive (like maybe sunlight is soul energy or somethibg)
The sun is yellow/white, the other is blue and she has no direct control of soul energy
Good point! I was just putting out soul because it’s the only element described in the extra lore that is currently unaccounted for, and her whole mind/telepathy thing might tie into soul being able to be controlled by the mind (soulshaper monks), but maybe light is an eighth? I have no rebuttal for the sun’s colour not matching. That is a very good point that I fully did not consider
This is my thought too.
Maybe she’s hiding out in the equivalent of this world’s south or north pole? Off in some icy reach so inhospitable and barren that no people trod there? Good question, though, I’m not sure.
What an excellent question.
People have pointed out that some strange have been made between LD, Paladins, and Shield (the white moon). Maybe she’s sort of…hiding out, on the moon?
On a scale of 1 to 10, my friend, you’re fu-(gets soulfired).
That’s starfire, Dainix is our soulfire guy.
I think that’d be a “Lightfire” then? Because I’m pretty sure Kendal was supposed to be the one getting blasted, not the blaster
Kendal, in reply
“I am the sword made flesh, the weapon made manifest in the shape of man, I am Kendal, blade of Vash and I don’t appreciate you bringing harm to my friends.”
Alternatively:
“fuck around and find out”
Alternatively alternatively: “Ya done goofed”, depending on the level of gravitas Kendal is going for
Or alternatively alternatively alternatively, “your mom”, if Kendal decides to be freaky
Your first take sounded classy and noble. I like the intellectual tone. The second response sounded like it came from the angry offended heart, if a bit blunt and crass. (smile) Either would work well!
Kendal, who has the power of (a) god and anim(at)e(d star metal) on his side: Let my people go!
Paladin, a warrior of light, who has a power and morals of goddess of Light and JRPG protagonist on his side: What are you?
Kendal: I was made by a god to be a vessel for said god. I am holy by definition, as opposed to profane. Or, to put this in game mechanics terms so you understand: I am literally made of Holy and therefore immune to all Holy and Light type of attacks and abilities.
Paladin: Wait, that’s 100% of my special attacks and allof my abilities!
Kendal: Yup. All you have left are basic physical attacks, which you didn’t level up since you got your first Light skill. Sucks to be you. Now, let my people go and we can talk about this mess.
As an added bonus, Physical attacks are 99% of Kendal’s arsenal. He’s literally a hard counter to Michael’s everything.
Oop long story anyway he’s PISSED. You can only hurt the floof gang so much before statistically-unlikely-exception Kendal beats your ass
And THIS is why you research the people you attack FIRST. You learn useful information!
Now that’s just a power move
now what do you mean by normal
It appears that you have harmed Kendals best friend. Do you wish to proceed?
Yes No Help
LOL!
As anyone who’s ever played an Aasimar or Tiefling in Pathfinder knows, you gotta be real careful about the definition of Person in spells like “Mass Hold Person”
I’d say itt’s confirmed then. Light magic != soul magic
Is that ! supposed to be something else?
And are you saying it proves the paladins are using soul magic? because it implicitly disproves it.
The symbole “!=” meand “does not equal”
They are trying to say that it disproves it, that’s what the ! before the = is for, it’s meant to be “does not equal”. ≠ this sign.
!= means does not equal to, at least it does in coding language.
An exclamation mark before the equals sign denotes “does not equal”. They’re saying light magic IS NOT soul magic.
The symbole “!=” meand “does not equal”
I love how you tried to make a very simple point with “light magic doesn’t equal soul magic” but two little symbols threw everyone else off
I prefer ≠ myself.
Sometimes what one person takes for granted can be confusing to others
It’s probably “mind magic” or something. Considering it hits their heads, and it contains the will as it is what stopped the mortals from being controlled by vd
I am very curious about what was going to follow that “but-“. Why is it so important to the Champ that VD face him personally? Even when his Lady is telling him, and he agrees, that VD’s direct intervention would only make the job the Champ came here to do more difficult and cause collateral damage? Is this a matter of closure or revenge for some Void-based trauma in the Champ’s own past? Parallel/foil thing with Falst?
Also, Light Dragon, if you’re going to be giving the guy advice and direction, throw us a bone and use his name!
It may partially be his misconception the dragon cause cave corruption on purpose
He might have had someone close to him cave corrupted, like Falst.
Ikr I know this thing is like their antichrist who could literally end the world but I’m kinda getting a vibe that for him its personal.
I don’t think what follows the but would be very interesting because to me it felt most likely that he would just reiterate his overall hostile intent. “but I really want to confront that monster.” etc. I don’t feel like he was about to unload some elaborate backstory.
I imagine the paladin will feel better about killing Erin when he is possessed by the void dragon and not when he is essentially a regular person trying to save his own life.
I agree with that. The Champion would rather have a climactic final battle with the dragon of absolute evil than kill someone who has been victimized by the dragon for the greater good.
Yup, “The Champion asks Kendal what he is”. Crossing that one off the bingo card.
This is beautiful. I love the way that Alinua is the one being cared for and held, when often she is the one doing this to the others. I love the anger and weariness is Kendal’s face when looking at the champion. I love how Kendal’s face is hidden from the champion until panel 7. This is gorgeous.
But seriously Kendal holding Alinua is actually my favourite thing ever.
Oh dear, you seem to have convinced Kendall to Get Serious. Ya done goofed.
He made the nice, calm and reasonable one, angry.
“Normal about that panel”? Which one, the one where Kendal is cradling Alinua and putting her on his lap or the one where he’s looking at the camera with the most foreboding glare he’s ever had on his face while the diadem meant to contain him fizzled? Or maybe Mike’s look of terror when he sees Kendal completely unaffected?
Because I don’t think anyone is going to be normal about any of them.
Does anyone else sense starfire incoming? That’s an awfully glowy eye you got there Kendal.
Aurora Question #10: What are your theories as to why Kendal is unaffected?
Currently? That, being a creation not from The Twins, Kendal has no intrinsic soul matter in his body’s amalgam, though he does have a soul formed from ambient energy.
Barring that, his should might be more powerful in some meaningful sense, if Gleicann’s vision is anything to go by.
If Light magic was manipulating soul energy, then Kendal should be the most susceptible of the Floof Squad to it due to his incredibly densely packed soul. As it stands that Light magic does not work on Kendal because of the same reason Void magic doesn’t work on him the same way it does on mortals: he does not contain Light in his body. The Diadem doesn’t work on him, because there’s nothing for it to target.
I’ve posted a more comprehensive refutation on the previous page, if you’d like to read it.
Not sure how it follows that if you can manipulate non-compact non-dense soul energy one would be able to and it would even be easier to manipulate dense compacted soul energy. That’s like saying if someone can bend pure gold that is beaten out and defuse it would be even easier to bend iron that was compacted into a dense lump.
Note that while the void dragon is one of the 6 primordial that embody the elements that make up this world, the light dragon is not as far as we know a 7th primordial, but apparently just a god and so is not of the basic constituents of living things in the world, but made out of much the same sort of constituents as other living beings. So it’s not clear that there is some primordial substance of light that Vash might have purified out of his body, but that exists in most other living creatures.
On your first point, the more elemental energy there is, the more fuel you have for magic.
Less “purified it out” and more “didn’t include it in the first place”. Erin speculated Lucy to be a god, so nowhere near Walter’s level of power, and that hypothesis went out the window when he actually saw Michael’s eyes, implying that the Light Dragon is both a) real and b) Actually A Primordial.
First, the one who said she was a god was Erin, and he was just putting forth the current popular in-universe hypothosis, but he is starting to doubt it. Second her matter gave the first races sapience on the second page and she shares all the properties of a primordial and speaks in their font. Third the void swimmer is the 7th primordial and blue dragon the 8th. Fourth, Vash did not purify out any 8th element, he just didn’t grab in the first place because he does not know it exists. Fifth, i’m having a difficult time understanding your first point
He wouldn’t necessarily be more vulnerable if the lady were primordial soul. Consider what would happen if you placed Kendal the blade before a stone mage: primordial stone’s soul (“stone energy”) channeled through the mage’s soul into the blade should have no more effect on the blade than it would on a puddle of water. It’s alien matter, presumably from some distant, blue star from deep space.
Whether LD is primordial soul, primordial mind (which I’m most inclined to believe), primordial something else, or not a primordial at all, neither Kendal’s soul nor his mind came from her, they came from Vash. Just like his ability to consume food doesn’t come from the Void Dragon, but from Vash(‘s desire to eat cake). At least I assume Vash DIY’d himself some organic, free-range consumption element, not knowing that he could grab a handful of mass-produced void bred in captivity from the singing caves. He’d likely done the same with Kendal’s mind/brain. (Afaik, gods are only really able to focus and “think” while incarnated, which probably means their minds are a part of their bodies.)
Kendal’s soul, wherever exactly it came from, most likely came from Vash somehow and is unique. Vash’s soul wasn’t given to him by a primordial entity, it was spontaneously generated through mortal belief. If there was a primordial soul entity, I’d believe in a heartbeat that Kendal’s soul could no more be controlled by it than starmetal by a stone mage.
What you are saying is that Kendal’s soul is like Leela’s prom dress made from carpet remnants?
You’re back!!! 🙂 (No, I have no theory, but I missed you).
He has no dragon in him. Void already confirmed that for himself, so it stands to reason he doesn’t have the other dragon either, meaning effects that rely on the presence of such would be ineffective.
I agree with a theory several others ascribe to, which is that, just as Kendal does not have any Void in him, he does not have any Light in him either, so psychic attacks of those types can’t target him the same way they would a regular mortal. Brute-forcing light output might give him minor burns the way void did, but that’s more a sheer scale of energy thing than hijacking the body’s internals thing.
actually in retrospect probably not even the burns, as Mat pointed out that’s a void specialty to eat away at things. So only the blunt and cutting force from constructs.
I don’t think he has anything of either dragon in him. “There’s no me in you”
he doesn’t have any light in him, we already know that he doesn’t have any void,vash putting light onto him wouldn’t make any sense because he was never supposed to develop sentience
Something something starmetal? I don’t know, though I’m really curious to find out.
Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that starmetal is some sort alien material (the name implies it comes from space, but that could admittedly also just be because it’s shiny). And it has some sort of secondary property (starfire) which is distinct from its planetside counterpart (elemental fire). What would that mean for its properties of accumulating soul energy? Tynan describes Vash’s soul slipping into the starmetal “as easily as a glove” (might be an unreliable narrator but I doubt it). Before that, Vash notes that Kendal’s soul is unique.
My hypothesis is that starmetal has some sort of property similar to soul crystals about it. It accumulates soul energy faster than other materials, which naturally leaves its marks on Kendal’s soul, which in turn explains why his soul appeared in the first place. (If this has been proven or disproven before and I just wasn’t paying attention, please tell me.)
But if starmetal is of alien origin, wouldn’t the omni-present soul energy move differently through it? It’d be distinct from the primordial elements making up the bodies of other creatures (or more accurately a mixture of primordial and alien elements) and thus, energy would flow differently. So Kendal’s soul would have something of a different texture to it, making it impervious to soul attacks, much like how a scalpel made for human skin would slide off a crocodile hyde. This is entirely free speculation, but it’s interesting.
I think there’s a lot to be said for whether or not Paladin magic is soul magic. If it were, this could be one potential explanation, though I admit it is pretty far-fetched.
It’s not just the name that implies that it came from space; Vash was literally the city built in the impact crater of the material Kendal is made of, which is why he had so much of it.
His soul is too different. Doing things this way takes a lot of force applied in the right way with the right technique. Trying to do the same to him would be like trying to put an octopus in a joint lock.
Well, look at that. We were right. Kendal is immune to this psychic attack.
And, if that one panel is any indication, he means business.
“There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.”
– Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man’s Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle)
The poor little champion of the light will soon learn why. I personally think this is beyond his experience, since I’m willing to bet that he only fought creatures of darkness which are very uncomplicated. For fighting normal people he had the diadem of headaches to hold them, not much of a fight. Now he has to fight someone, who he has made very angry, even worse it is the kind of cold anger, the kind of anger that sunders storms and razes cities. As cold and focused as the sword for which the man is named. He also has to deal with the moral ramifications of such beforehand, I don’t think he has actually had to fight someone.
Considering the theory that Kendal isn’t named after the sword but IS the sword…
Well. Michael might not think along the same lines as most people due to the Lady’s influence, but as he’s about to find out, neither does Kendal, for all that he’s gotten good at masking that he isn’t human. And here’s the thing about swords–they’re weapons of war, and in the case of Vash’s, forged to protect those he cared about. Which means that if the theory holds–and regardless of it does or not this has still been shown to be a core trait of Kendal’s– Kendal’s not going to let Michael get away with hurting his friends (family).
Funny how all three apply here
It’s currently daytime outside the storm (Kendal probably woke up in the morning, which was the moment they hit the storm), but yes.
Unfortunately not red, unfortunately not.
IDK, any ending where the champion gets his teeth pushed in counts as ending well to me.
wait. wrong text.
responding to the Alt text BTW
Hooooly macaroni Kendal is not having it
Kaiba, do you want the long answer, the longer answer, or several comment chains of theories?
“The diadem will hold them, but it will not hold our foe”. Oh man. Does that mean V.D. can take advantage of a mentally paralysed Erin and take over? Is the Champion’s attention on Kendal going to give V.D. a chance to attack while he’s distracted? Is that tail on the chapter cover a dragon V.D. is going to possess? (It’s not V.D. himself; it has spines on it’s back while his back is smooth)
As we suspected, Vash used neither V.D.’s element in his vessel’s creation, nor did he use L.D.’s unknown essence. Starmetal, whatever it is, must be the key; V.D.’s dialogue in 1-18-2 and the souls of the citizens of Vash still persisting in some form, with the metal’s trademark blue glow, points to this, in my opinion. That stuff is just as mysterious, if not more, than L.D.’s magic.
The Champion seeing Kendal’s nature could have long term ramifications. Before the Champion thought these were ordinary people helping the dark dragon either unknowingly or under the “false” assumption they could help. Now he, and by proxy L.D., are face to face with a person they can’t explain, which might make them and future Paladins take a closer look at the gang.
Might they discern their true natures and powers? Would they see them as threats to eliminate or allies to recruit? Might the gang arrive on Helm to be greeted with wanted posters, not just of Erin but all of them?
This is what I was thinking. After all, Walter has only been keeping quiet because he can’t fight Kendal and Alinua (and Dainix who came in later). Michael has no way of knowing that Walter has somehow run into three separate exceptional people capable of containing him – nor that Erin, with that backup, would be able to convince Walter to ‘play dead’ exactly to keep the Lady’s paladins off his tail. So I’ve been expecting the end of this fight to happen when Michael found out about these people’s one-of-a-kind natures, hopefully making him willing to see that Walter has, in fact, not been playing these people like a fiddle this whole time.
This is also why I wasn’t expecting Walter to come out, because Erin has basically promised to protect him from the Lady in exchange for his cooperation – and Walter knows the paladins would kill Erin to get rid of him, and Erin doesn’t want to die, so he will fight tooth and nail. Hell, if Walter knows about the Lady’s morals, he may expect the paladin to have more trouble killing Erin when he can’t see Walter in Erin’s eyes. (Then again, Walter may not be able to contain his own pride).
The only counterpoint to all of this that I can see is, Walter absolutely has done a masterstroke of manipulation with Erin by now: he allowed him to cure Falst’s void corruption. Erin wasn’t interested while his own autonomy was pitted against the concept of “being the world’s only void mage” – but now he has seen that Walter gives him the power to cure people he cares about of a terrible, hitherto incurable affliction, and I think this may be the argument that might convince Erin to finally choose not to get rid of Walter – depending on how cards are played. If this comes up at all, that would be a reason for Michael to insist on killing Erin after all.
Very nervous about the fact that this ‘Diadem’ spell will do nothing to Walter, just as Erin’s seals don’t. Lucy’s right about one thing: if Void energy starts being thrown about, those without immunity will have nowhere to run.
I’ve been genuinely wondering how much of Erin’s surroundings Walter perceives at all times, given that he’s in his mind, but doesn’t seem to react to the moves Erin’s been making to deal with him. I suppose it’s more about what he considers worthy of his attention, and what he considers an actual threat. There’s no way he hasn’t noticed Lucy’s presence…but he’s still keeping quiet, even after “his precious vessel” has been damaged, something that threw him into a fury when Tynan did it. How far can Michael push it before Walter storms to the front? Alinua, Dainix, and Kendal can keep him contained…but they don’t want to kill Erin. Michael and Lucy, however, DO…making them a greater threat than any of Erin’s companions.
He could need his beauty sleep too. Cave corruption is getting more common, right? Maybe he really is dying down there, with his strength slowly leaking out into the world.
I feel Red’s been dropping a lot of hints here or there in the sad, not ‘evil’, looks of Voidy, and other minor elements, that the Void Dragon isn’t “irredeemably evil”, just very isolated and lonely. No idea if that’s the actual direction things’re gonna head in, but I would not be surprised at all if the dark side is redeemed in order to unify and rally against The Collector at the tail end of the story.
Where? He eats stars, thinking beings in this world. He destroyed the First Great Civilization without a second thought. He takes pride in his killing of the primordials. He will kill everyone in the team at any free moment. He also crack open the planet and kill everyone on it to continue his misson to destroy the universe. Every sign points to the void dragon being a very evil individual.
*opportunity, not moment
Obviously according to the current data the Void Dragon is evil. And maybe Red will go with that direction, of Voidy being cartoon style evil. Those types of characters can be fun. I just think it’s entirely plausible we’ll get a more complicated character. Even if, if that is the route to go down, it hasn’t even “started” yet.
I’m still curious about where you saw any sign the dragon is not evil, just lonely
i think its really funny how pretty much all the gods and alive primordials have known what kendal is for a while but lucy has NO IDEA at all and its like completely under her radar, like imagine michael going to talk to question zuurith and other gods about this and being like “when were you f*ckers planning on telling me that the void dragon’s vessel was somehow traveling with the only people on the entire planet who could contain him”
So, a lot to discuss here.
I personally wonder if there are other primordials in existence, far from the world of Aurora. Starmetal must come form somewhere, after all, which doesn’t make sense if the original Six Primordials (or Seven, now Eight Primordials) were Everything in Existence. Not to mention the Sun. What is it if not Primordial Fire? Does Starmetal come from there? Does it have a god, or a Primordial?
I’m sure that the Lady is going to become VERY interested in one member of the Floof Squad at LEAST. And that’s Falst. If Theia is “one her bears [her] eyes” then Falst could become one who bears her eyes too. She would have a spy, or maybe even a puppet, within the Squad, able to provide her with intelligence and perspective, willingly or not. As for the rest, Alinua might be a potential ally, as a Primordial Vessel (Life is presumably related to the Lady in some way or has some connection), and Dainix’ Soulfire might be related to Light as well, although this theory begins to crumble if the Lady is not the Soul Primordial (as she no longer seems to be). But Tess is never going to help the Paladins after this encounter, and Kendal might become a thing of terror to the Champion, considering his immunity to the Lady’s Diadem. Worse still, she might consider him an abomination. There’s no reason for this otherwise altruistic being to be a nice person.
The more we learn about the Lady, the less we know. If Kendal has a soul but no Light, then what the fuck is ‘Light’? And how can she manipulate minds like this? Where did she come from? I have so many new questions.
I remember that stars are alive and make primordials through important revelations and deep conversations and star metal is spun off from dead stars, but thats it
Kendal smash.
Makes sense. He’s immune to Dark dragon essence, so no reason he wouldn’t be just as immune to Light
humans were not made with the light dragon in mind and if the light dragon were the element of soul, I don’t think even the strongest god could resist here power
This is meant for Longshot97, sorry
about to toss you back into the wall from whence you came is what he is
Possibly the best comment.
Replace the possibly with officially.
I feel like Kendal is about to beat this guy’s ass.
this is one of my favorite tropes EVER
The paladin’s reaction reminds me of how confused Erin was by Kendal before he knew what Kendal was.
Oooh boy that second to last panel. Kendal is absolutely done with Michael threatening his friends, and I am 100% here for it.
And “what are you” what a question! Which iirc Kendal doesn’t even have an answer to! I wonder exactly what he will say here, if anything.
kendal’s just immune to psychic attacks, i guess. very sweet that he checked on alinua first, and i cannot wait for the champion to get what’s coming to him, lol.
Yeeeess, the power of love buff! Do iiittt.
“What are you?”
“I’m actually not quite sure.”
Listen up, Champion! Kendal’s about to teach you the pecking order.
So this is gonna go one of two ways, I think. Either Kendal talks the Champion down…or Kendal reminds folks that just because he is floofy of hair, he is also bad of ass.
Champion, previously none of the party wanted to fight you, just protect their friend.
Kendal wants to fight you now.
So both my senses from seeing the last page were correct, Kendal was able to shrug off the halo and the halo does not work on the Void Dragon making for two things standing between the Paladin and killing Erin. I thought it would be one or the other that saved Erin but now one has started and the other seems likely (mentioning that the Void dragon is now a free agent is basically cocking a gun, chances it will be fired are now high) meaning it will be both.
“Normal about that panel” no shot. I see two panels, one is pure shipping fan service and the other is far too badass not to go wild over.
I hope that Kendal just gives Michael a “I am the divine blade of Vash, and you are trespassing in the domain of a god” speech 😛
i love how this makes sense, its been established that kendal was a body made for vash to inhabit and given how void creates a need for consumption and light gives intelligence and free will it wouldn’t make sense for vash to use them in the body he made(if he even knew about those elements in the first place) since putting void in a body would force him to consume stuff to maintain it and putting light in the body could make the body develop sentience and fight vash for controll, as such magic that affects those elements within kendal don’t work because he doesn’t has them
So if Void doesn’t work on Kendal because he lacks hunger, what does he lack to make him immune to Light? It can’t be a soul— we know Kendal has a soul. The opposite of hunger would be satisfaction… is Kendal physically unable to be satisfied as well? What are our thoughts on this?
You place a crown on someone whos already a king 😉
Joking aside kendal is the physical incarnation of a deity. might not be as big and transient as hunger and… light? but a deity nonetheless.
Its also worth remembering that the VD specifically said there was something in kendel he hadnt TASTED in a long time… and the VD eats stars so… maybe a manifestation of the sun itself or something?
There’s starmetal in his bones 😉
Oh.
Oooohhhhh.
Return of Angry Kendal.
This is the Kendal that shattered Falst’s hand.
I forgot he could do this.
…I’m kind of scared now.
Also if this comes to blows the champion does not have a tool to deal with kendal. light doesnt work and physical force DEFINITELY doesnt work on kendal. Hes stronger tougher and heavier than normal people. For example faust couldnt even make kendal use more than one hand and BROKE his wrist in response. and faust was able to hold him back.
TL;DR: White knight gets blindsided by surprise immunity.
Normal? When have I ever been normal?
Oh gods, Kendal looks so *distressed* in that second-to-last panel. Someone get this man a warm blanket and a stuffed animal when they make landfall!
The Paladins *name* their moves? And something like “Diadem” too? So pretentious. I guess it makes sense to names them if their moves are more limited, more well-defined, than the somewhat free-form casting of other elements.
But, is typical magic more free-form, or do we just have a bad sample size? The only traditionally trained mage in the party is *Erin the Elemental Magus*, so maybe there are names that we just haven’t heard. Though Erin really seems the type to name his moves either way. Wonder what he’d call the sky beam. “Elemental Stillness”? “The Panic Button”? “The Thing That Tess Disapproves Of”?
I’m pretty sure ‘The Panic Button’ is the one where he blows himself up 😛 Although we could lump that AND the self-electrocution under ‘Toasted Falst’.
Tess disapproves of too many of Erin’s actions for him to name spells based on that
It’s fascinating that this champion is going against the will of his Lady. If he can do that, why does he think Erin can’t? And why is he doing this in the first place?
its because his relationship with the lady is symbiotic while erin’s is parasitic, he acts in lucy’s name but he is his own person whose goals align with the L.D, in theory lucy should be able to take hold of his body if she wanted to like how both life and walter took control of alinua and erin’s bodies, since erin isn’t willing to destroy the world and free the void dragon its clear why he wouldn’t able to control himself
Folks saying Kendal is glaring / mad in the second to last panel. I don’t get that read. I get “tired”, which is almost worse than “disappointed” (and maybe a close cousin).
If the Champion is very, very lucky Kendal might say “I won’t ask again” first. But no, I don’t think he’s angry, per se. I think he is about to Protect His Friends, whatever that requires. If Champ refuses to listen to words, then he’ll speak in a language that can’t be ignored so easily. The gang _was_ attacking him, I think Kendal sees the diadem play as not inherently unreasonable as a reflex — but also Not Acceptable™ to continue.
Alternatively, there may already be another big hunk of rock inbound. Nothing like a couple of tons of superheated lithic bombardment to interrupt a pleasant conversation, after all…
That’s a fair read. Kendal doesn’t tend to raise his voice, except with other divine beings (Tynan, Zuurith) who I think he holds to higher standards. He tends to radiate a more decisive finality. Like with Falst, when it became evident nobody was going to listen to him and Alinua and Erin were getting hurt, he just started using his strength to shut things down. When Kendal’s decided words aren’t going to work, he doesn’t bother with them…he speaks “a language that can’t be ignored so easily”, as you said (and I love how you phrased that).
I still read ‘angry’ in his face, but it’s not a quiet anger or even a tranquil fury. He’s just become an Unmovable Object: either you’re going to stop, or he’s going to make you, end of discussion. After all, he still hasn’t drawn his sword.
Looking back, I tend to agree. Kendal’s expression does seem more neutral. His word choice, however, conveys something dangerous to me. He’s not attempting to reason or compromise, or even move the fight elsewhere. Kendal has issued an ultimatum, one he apparently has the unique power to carry out.
“you guys are gonna be normal about this panel right”
bro
kendal went from holding Alinua’s body to holding her *and* glaring with seething pain at this glowey holy-roller so…..
LET THEM FIGHT
“Facing him would gain you nothing, and the battle would destroy these innocents.”
THANK you Light Dragon, that’s what I was saying last page.
What was that Red once said? About rolling a tasty number of damage due against an immune opponent?
Feels just as good as last time.
oh, hes pissed.
I think the Light element is probably close to “mind magic”, not soul. The soul is the channel through the elements go through, and since gods already existed and the humans could already channel before the Light dragon woke up the mortal wills, it’s probably not soul magic. But when the light dragon woke up the mortal’s wills (which is the same color as her magic), she empowered them to control how they channeled – and like Erin said, the mind can remodel the soul. I think she probably gave them their minds? Though, this does have issues with how a homunculus can think for example, or how Kendall could think right when he started. Since LD is still around, maybe she continues to grant creatures their minds? Unsure.
That panel of Kendal is going to live in my brain for the rest of time.
It occurs to me that we’ve never really seen Kendal this mad. He’s had a battle-face on, got pretty cold when fighting Falst, and yelled at Zuurith during the arena battle with Dainix. Hurting Alinua is a different level, though. I feel like this is about to be the panels Red showed of Kendal grabbing someone’s wrist and yeeting them.
Can you link to that? I really want to see
Here it is. https://comicaurora.tumblr.com/post/758845385574957056/in-my-continuing-experimentation-on-refining-my
Omg 🤣🤣🤣
Yeah I think this is around here, cause in the bottom of the first panel you can see someone’s legs which kinda look like Alinua’s.
But that is so funny just YoInK YeeT
Thx for posting the link 😀
My shipping brain is trying to claw its way out of my skull right now….
Something Vimes had learned as a young guard drifted up from memory. If you have to look along the shaft of an arrow from the wrong end, if a man has you entirely at his mercy, then hope like hell that man is an evil man. Because the evil like power, power over people, and they want to see you in fear. They want you to know you’re going to die. So they’ll talk. They’ll gloat.
They’ll watch you squirm. They’ll put off the moment of murder like another man will put off a good cigar.
So hope like hell your captor is an evil man. A good man will kill you with hardly a word.
-Men at Arms, Terry Pratchett
JUST AS PREDICTED! Heck yeah!
So the Champion said the Void Dragon was “hiding” when we know he was sealed in the Storm. Makes me think the Light Dragon actually had nothing to do with his sealing.
Reread Nightmare. And yeah, I don’t think the dragon would hide from anything in his true body. Another strange gap in knowledge from the Paladins?
I think he meant hiding *during this encounter*, not in general. According to the paladin archives, they know where the Dragon currently is and why he’s there. The Lady and the Champion, according to their first appearance together in chapter 7, also know what the Storm was for.
I reread those pages, starting with 1.14.8, and it seems like they barely know anything about the dragon
*1.14.20
Erin says at some point to Theia “Six elemental primordials died to imprison one primordial dragon.”, with a nifty diagram in the book of the six primordial runes surrounding the dragon. He says that as some kind of common knowledge even the dragon-sceptical academy is aware of.
Don’t you think she would’ve reacted in some way if that were new infornation to her?
Yes, they don’t know much else, but they are aware of this most fundamental fact.
Specufically 1.14.18; I’m not talking about what Lady Huracan knew however many thousands of years ago, I’m talking aboit what they know now.
I meant who he is as a person
“Can’t you tell freezer? It’s like Vegeta said…”
GET EM KENDAL
Whoooo
Paragon vs Paragon fight
Let’s freaking gooooooooooooo
Depends which panel you mean. Do you mean the panel of Kendal holding Aluina caringly? Because yes, I’ll be normal about that.
Or do you mean the panel showing Kendal looking up at the Emissary as they cast the diadem on him again and it just pops with no effect? Because that inspired a particularly evil sounding laugh that was entirely unstaged, which does not fall under my definition of “being normal.”
Oh my GOD champion! You can’t just ask someone what they are?
Hmm, apparently BlueSky is all right with panel 5 of this page, but not Falst and Dainix.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm…