She had to retrieve Kendal when she first healed him and brought him into her tree. She had to have passed by the many, many chimeras slain by Vash. There’s also Kendal describing the Collector.
She did not met her in comic yet. But maybe, she did actually met her before?
She is the only chimeric mage that survived past childhood.
And she just happened to live next to the one city that the collector attacked?
It is imporbable the collector never found or approached her.
What if her presence there was how the collector became aware of the city Vash and decided “oh, that one will do nicely”?
Meaning Alinua has a secret guilt, thinking she brought this on the city?
nope, and god i’m looking forward to their meeting because alinua and her bond with life are the the antithesis to the collector and her parasocial relationship with life
okay I absolutely love the word “parasocial” in the context of the Collector. I’m just imagining toxic fans of an influencer going around like “you don’t get it, I touched her miiiind,” like c’mon guys just grow up
. “Then…?” Selach asks.
. “I only know one mage who can make chimeras like this,” Alinua says. “But I have to be sure.” She drops the decapitated one and swims forward, searching. “Let’s see if I can find one that’s more intact.”
. “Uh – okay, but try not to take too long,” Selach says. “The Wyrm mostly hides in the True Dark now, much deeper than she can reach, but she’s come back up here before. We don’t want to linger.”
. “I might.”
. “Huh??” Selach spins toward her in alarm.
. “If this is the Collector — if she took the Wyrm’s soul–” Alinua starts, swimming toward a mostly whole chimera, only a bite taken out of its side. “Then the Wyrm has become something new. Something that needs help.”
. “You want to HELP it?” Selach cries, coming up behind her. “If she’s not the Wyrm, then it’s just a rampaging monster!”
. “I know!” Alinua cries. “I just…” She takes a deep breath, kneeling in the sand. “My best friend was born the same way. And if… if the Collector had done this to him instead… if she’d mutated him, driven him mad…” She stops for a moment, hands resting on top of the chimera. “I want to believe I would have saved him anyway.”
This does actually come back to a pretty interesting point Falst made back when he was arguing with Kendal over the Life Lacrima – Kendal as the tall, blond, blue eyed and – presumably – attractive demigod is a lot easier to accept as a non-threatening human than many other “aberrations” that are running around.
Guess Alinua learned quite a bit from that encounter, huh.
Kendal is almost uncannily pretty, I imagine; his skin is perfect, and his hair never tangles, because it was specifically engineered by a god to not do that. He probably has near-perfect facial symmetry, too. Ticking a bunch of ‘conventionally attractive’ boxes.
When they were attacked by a chimera in 1-8-10, Alinua restrained and drained as much excess life energy as she could.
The only reason she ever fought Falst, was because she beleived he was making Chimeras. The second (1-10-11) she knew that was not the case, she healed his arm.
She is trying to restore the Wyrm. Or at least as much as possible.
Ough, Soulfriends beloved. I wonder if she really intends to do what she did with Kendal. She might have to ask Life for help in readapting the Wyrm’s body if this is the course of action she takes.
I think it’ll be more like what she did with that one chimera when they met Falst. She took the extra life magic out so at least it could be chill and not rampaging.
It’s making me a little nervous how the current seems to be flowing UP from the depths (if I am orienting them correctly). It also looks like the current got stronger in the last three panels
oh no, i have a theory, when the collector found out about kendal (amalgams can just form new souls after shes destroyed them) then if she had destroyed/taken/failed to take but still destroyed the wyrms soul then thats obviously where she’s going to go next to confirm/study this. also links in neatly to the “she’s coming”
Selach: Your best friend is the former vessel of a god? … Do you, by any chance, have any normal friends?
Alinua: … Umm … you?
Selach: … Ok, I’m flattered, but that also explains a lot.
I’m honestly not sure what the Northern Wyrm’s situation is anymore; trapped in it’s own out-of-control incarnation, warped to such a degree that this is the new normal, or gone completely and this is just what’s left behind. I’m hoping it’s the first and Alinua just needs to drain the excess energy, maybe dislodge a Collector dagger from the Wyrm Androcles’s Lion style, but I can’t rule out the other options.
Alinua wants the Wyrm to be another Kendal situation, a fully functional body that just needs a little help to make whole; otherwise it’s another Hilltop chimera-bear that she must drain of life to put out of it’s misery. Can the mutations be meaningfully fixed with Alinua’s skill alone? Can the incarnation gain a soul of its own? If the Northern Wyrm doesn’t de-incarnate often, could their body have accumulated enough soul energy separate from the god?
Oh, where’s Erin “The Exposition” Ruunaser when you need him?
Prediction for next week: More sleuthing from Alinua, maybe she might find something relevant after all to prove or disprove any of the N.W. fate theories. Then, close to the end of next week, Nessie will show up.
(There’s a point, if this isn’t the Wyrm and instead a new being, can we then call that being Nessie? Wyrmn’t?)
Nessie or Wyrmn’t, you ask?
My vote is on Wyrmn’t; Nessie is a great nickname for an unknown seamonster, but the monster is no longer unknown. (Not fully understood either, but still)
Also at the start of falst’s introduction arc you very much did help a rampaging monster. Mermaid shocked to find even rampaging monsters deserve help or painless ends
Someone mentioned earlier that the Collector had same face syndrome bc all her chimeras have three jaws/tongues and i’d also like to point out that for whatever reason she gives them all these luscious flowing locks. miss ma’am that is a fish
I’m not so certain this chimeric body of the Wyrm is as similar to Kendal as Alinua thinks. It depends on whether the Northern Wyrm is a spirit like Lady Ilia or a proper god…but the Collector has said she’d not acquired a God’s soul before. Granted, we don’t know what would have happened to Kendal if he hadn’t heard Vash’s screams for help, but…what happened with him seems pretty unique.
And what Lady Ilia described happening to smaller spirits’ souls after the Collector was finished with them is…not pleasant. I don’t think this is going to go well…
Oh, that’s awesome! I never would’ve thought ab the ramifications of demigods like Kendal vs demigods like this sea monster. I’m glad other ppl mentioned the page during the Falst-intro arc. It’s so cool to see how despite being like Falst or the sea monster, Kendal is not as disadvantaged and how looking human and good and inviting could’ve gotten him help from a regular person who might not have helped a more visible ‘monster’ in the same scenario. Not that Alinua wouldn’t, I totally believe she would’ve; she’s great!
Ohhh that last panel this page is SO good, both visually and in the way you can feel the weight of the entire scene and emotion hitting you like a runaway truck.
If this was an anime cartoon, I would say Alinua’s flowing hair in the final panel foretells or foreshadows some important or significant event (though in anime its the wind blowing rather than water).
What if Alinua knows the collector after all?
She never saw her in-comic. But what if they did met before Vash was summoned?
Alinua is the first and only person to survive the chimeric plague in 300 years. And she just happened to live next to the one place the Collector attacked for a succesfully captured god soul?
What if the collector originally went to the area looking for Alinua, was unsuccessful/rejected, saw the city of Vash and thought “hey, that one would do nicely”?
Oh. The feels. All of the feels 🥺
I’ve been away on a camp in the woods with no wifi all week, so I’ve not been able to comment. I used my only bits of mobile data on a hike to see this week’s updates, though xD
Wait did Alinua ever actually meet the Collector? The 3 Collector interactions in the comic all were Alinua-free.
She had to retrieve Kendal when she first healed him and brought him into her tree. She had to have passed by the many, many chimeras slain by Vash. There’s also Kendal describing the Collector.
I think she also lived close enough to bothered, the same way citizens of Vash were.
Well, maybe not the EXACT way the Collector bothered Vash
She did not met her in comic yet. But maybe, she did actually met her before?
She is the only chimeric mage that survived past childhood.
And she just happened to live next to the one city that the collector attacked?
It is imporbable the collector never found or approached her.
What if her presence there was how the collector became aware of the city Vash and decided “oh, that one will do nicely”?
Meaning Alinua has a secret guilt, thinking she brought this on the city?
nope, and god i’m looking forward to their meeting because alinua and her bond with life are the the antithesis to the collector and her parasocial relationship with life
okay I absolutely love the word “parasocial” in the context of the Collector. I’m just imagining toxic fans of an influencer going around like “you don’t get it, I touched her miiiind,” like c’mon guys just grow up
The tension here is palpable and the reveal is slow and gut wrenching, nice work!
That severed mutant head would make a good plushie. New merch idea?
omg yes
Chock full of heady goodness!
Maybe not *just* the head… But a chimera plush (of two, depending on how many variants are chosen) certainly might be marketable.
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: alinua writing her own AUs over here
Image source: help
tumblr text: character development will continue until morale improves
Bluesky Text: piecing the puzzle together
can red read an au if it was written by her own characters or that could put her in legal trouble too?
got me to laugh out loud, +1
i don’t think alinua would sue her, but erin might
. “Then…?” Selach asks.
. “I only know one mage who can make chimeras like this,” Alinua says. “But I have to be sure.” She drops the decapitated one and swims forward, searching. “Let’s see if I can find one that’s more intact.”
. “Uh – okay, but try not to take too long,” Selach says. “The Wyrm mostly hides in the True Dark now, much deeper than she can reach, but she’s come back up here before. We don’t want to linger.”
. “I might.”
. “Huh??” Selach spins toward her in alarm.
. “If this is the Collector — if she took the Wyrm’s soul–” Alinua starts, swimming toward a mostly whole chimera, only a bite taken out of its side. “Then the Wyrm has become something new. Something that needs help.”
. “You want to HELP it?” Selach cries, coming up behind her. “If she’s not the Wyrm, then it’s just a rampaging monster!”
. “I know!” Alinua cries. “I just…” She takes a deep breath, kneeling in the sand. “My best friend was born the same way. And if… if the Collector had done this to him instead… if she’d mutated him, driven him mad…” She stops for a moment, hands resting on top of the chimera. “I want to believe I would have saved him anyway.”
This does actually come back to a pretty interesting point Falst made back when he was arguing with Kendal over the Life Lacrima – Kendal as the tall, blond, blue eyed and – presumably – attractive demigod is a lot easier to accept as a non-threatening human than many other “aberrations” that are running around.
Guess Alinua learned quite a bit from that encounter, huh.
Hi, it is I, some call me …….Falst
Kendal is almost uncannily pretty, I imagine; his skin is perfect, and his hair never tangles, because it was specifically engineered by a god to not do that. He probably has near-perfect facial symmetry, too. Ticking a bunch of ‘conventionally attractive’ boxes.
When they were attacked by a chimera in 1-8-10, Alinua restrained and drained as much excess life energy as she could.
The only reason she ever fought Falst, was because she beleived he was making Chimeras. The second (1-10-11) she knew that was not the case, she healed his arm.
She is trying to restore the Wyrm. Or at least as much as possible.
Ough, Soulfriends beloved. I wonder if she really intends to do what she did with Kendal. She might have to ask Life for help in readapting the Wyrm’s body if this is the course of action she takes.
From what I recall, I’m relatively sure that even she isn’t sure what she did to Kendal, so Mama Life getting involved seems very plausible.
I think it’ll be more like what she did with that one chimera when they met Falst. She took the extra life magic out so at least it could be chill and not rampaging.
Hi!
:(((((((((((
my heart hurts.
“Would you still love me if I was a worm?”
Apparently, yes
Speaking of which, would kendal be a human-sized chimera or a chimera-sized chimera? Would he be a humanoid chimera?
“would you still love me if i wasn’t a wyrm? .:.(“
Poor unfortunate chimeras.
… and now I have Ursula’s song stuck in my head. And I absolutely do not have the voice to sing “poor unfortunate souls.”
It’s making me a little nervous how the current seems to be flowing UP from the depths (if I am orienting them correctly). It also looks like the current got stronger in the last three panels
Aliuna gorgeous flowing hair appreciation post
Yessssssss
Have you noticed that Alinua’s shirt is shorter now, showing off her lung gills? Not that I am complaining! (bite cheek)
oh no, i have a theory, when the collector found out about kendal (amalgams can just form new souls after shes destroyed them) then if she had destroyed/taken/failed to take but still destroyed the wyrms soul then thats obviously where she’s going to go next to confirm/study this. also links in neatly to the “she’s coming”
Alinua trying desperately to be the kind of person Kendal inspires her to be.
Yes! This!! You put it into words!
really enjoying Alinua’s Van Helsing arc. she’s perfect your honor
🙁
Selach: Your best friend is the former vessel of a god? … Do you, by any chance, have any normal friends?
Alinua: … Umm … you?
Selach: … Ok, I’m flattered, but that also explains a lot.
I’m honestly not sure what the Northern Wyrm’s situation is anymore; trapped in it’s own out-of-control incarnation, warped to such a degree that this is the new normal, or gone completely and this is just what’s left behind. I’m hoping it’s the first and Alinua just needs to drain the excess energy, maybe dislodge a Collector dagger from the Wyrm Androcles’s Lion style, but I can’t rule out the other options.
Alinua wants the Wyrm to be another Kendal situation, a fully functional body that just needs a little help to make whole; otherwise it’s another Hilltop chimera-bear that she must drain of life to put out of it’s misery. Can the mutations be meaningfully fixed with Alinua’s skill alone? Can the incarnation gain a soul of its own? If the Northern Wyrm doesn’t de-incarnate often, could their body have accumulated enough soul energy separate from the god?
Oh, where’s Erin “The Exposition” Ruunaser when you need him?
Prediction for next week: More sleuthing from Alinua, maybe she might find something relevant after all to prove or disprove any of the N.W. fate theories. Then, close to the end of next week, Nessie will show up.
(There’s a point, if this isn’t the Wyrm and instead a new being, can we then call that being Nessie? Wyrmn’t?)
Nessie or Wyrmn’t, you ask?
My vote is on Wyrmn’t; Nessie is a great nickname for an unknown seamonster, but the monster is no longer unknown. (Not fully understood either, but still)
Also, I think Wyrmn’t is way funnier
Throwback to Vashn’t xD
I think Nessie could still work, but Wyrm definitely wouldn’t
Sounds like we’re getting a new party member! 😀
I wonder if she can do it as life’s vessel, since chimeras and the chimeric plague have been cast as kind of irreversible
Also at the start of falst’s introduction arc you very much did help a rampaging monster. Mermaid shocked to find even rampaging monsters deserve help or painless ends
Someone mentioned earlier that the Collector had same face syndrome bc all her chimeras have three jaws/tongues and i’d also like to point out that for whatever reason she gives them all these luscious flowing locks. miss ma’am that is a fish
I’m not so certain this chimeric body of the Wyrm is as similar to Kendal as Alinua thinks. It depends on whether the Northern Wyrm is a spirit like Lady Ilia or a proper god…but the Collector has said she’d not acquired a God’s soul before. Granted, we don’t know what would have happened to Kendal if he hadn’t heard Vash’s screams for help, but…what happened with him seems pretty unique.
And what Lady Ilia described happening to smaller spirits’ souls after the Collector was finished with them is…not pleasant. I don’t think this is going to go well…
G̶o̶o̶d̶ B̶a̶d̶ Emotional way to start the day!
“I want to believe that I would have saved him anyway.”
Damn, Red cooked with that line. And expression of vulnerability and sheer power at the same time.
Is that line suppose o be bisecting Aliuna?
(I’m sorry I can’t spell her name. I’m cursed.)
I forgive you at least! I have done worst typos myself (and other errors, sadly)
It’s a panel break so you focus on Alinua’s face, then the chimera head, rather than taking it all in with one glance
You may have been the one to ask on tumblr, but Red says yes, it’s to draw attention to both Alinua’s face and the chimera she’s holding
Oh, that’s awesome! I never would’ve thought ab the ramifications of demigods like Kendal vs demigods like this sea monster. I’m glad other ppl mentioned the page during the Falst-intro arc. It’s so cool to see how despite being like Falst or the sea monster, Kendal is not as disadvantaged and how looking human and good and inviting could’ve gotten him help from a regular person who might not have helped a more visible ‘monster’ in the same scenario. Not that Alinua wouldn’t, I totally believe she would’ve; she’s great!
Ohhh that last panel this page is SO good, both visually and in the way you can feel the weight of the entire scene and emotion hitting you like a runaway truck.
If this was an anime cartoon, I would say Alinua’s flowing hair in the final panel foretells or foreshadows some important or significant event (though in anime its the wind blowing rather than water).
TL;DR: I’m alone in the sea with decaying reminders of the evil ahead…
“If **she** is not the worm. Then *it* is just a rampaging monster!”
I see what you did there red
You gotta at least try.
What if Alinua knows the collector after all?
She never saw her in-comic. But what if they did met before Vash was summoned?
Alinua is the first and only person to survive the chimeric plague in 300 years. And she just happened to live next to the one place the Collector attacked for a succesfully captured god soul?
What if the collector originally went to the area looking for Alinua, was unsuccessful/rejected, saw the city of Vash and thought “hey, that one would do nicely”?
Oh. The feels. All of the feels 🥺
I’ve been away on a camp in the woods with no wifi all week, so I’ve not been able to comment. I used my only bits of mobile data on a hike to see this week’s updates, though xD