. Alinua winces, clamping her hands over her ears as the Wyrm roars in anger.
. “Captain!” Valia looks behind her as Selach swims up, injured arm over her stomach.
. “Stand down, Selach,” Valia says quickly. “Your arm–”
. “No, look!” Selach points down, at the Wyrm’s face. “Her eye!” The glowing green eye peeks open, merfolk spear stuck right below it.
. “Regenerated already?” Valia says, following her gaze. “Then we have no time to waste.”
. “But wait–” Alinua starts.
. “Yes, you’ve noticed. She heals very quickly–” shifting her gaze to the Wyrm’s tail, where bone pokes up from the unhealed flesh. “–but not where you’ve done your work.” Valia looks at Alinua firmly. “Caturus will hold her. My squad will keep her too disoriented to strike. I will get you to the base of her skull, and you will sever her spine.”
. “Captain–” Selach starts anxiously.
. “Can you do it?”
. Alinua hesitates, staring at Selach, who’s holding her injured arm. “I don’t want anyone else to get hurt,” she says softly.
. Selach stares after them as Alinua and Valia dive down together, toward the struggling shape of the Wyrm.
If Alinua’s theory is correct (which still hasn’t been really proven or disproven to be fair), the Northern Wyrm god is not present in this incarnation currently, at which point it’s really just a big sea monster, the slaying of which, I would think, is Valia’s bread and butter.
Okay, now that Valia said it, I expect curveballs to be thrown. Alinua is a beacon to the Wyrm due to her being a Chimeric Carrier and she still doesn’t actually want to hurt anyone, including the chimera. I think she’ll need to strongarm Life into replicating what she did to Kendal, i.e. re-adapt the Northern Wyrm’s incarnation such that it can survive without the goddess or the chimeric healing factor sustaining the body. The question is whether she’ll succeed.
it was not life that made vash’s body become kendal, life only truly connected with alinua in chapter 3 when alinua destroyed the sentinel,
healing kendal was all alinua and she doesnt know how she did it
I think it was actually Red who first made me notice that when the characters explain the plan beforehand, it never goes as planned, while if the audience only hears of the plan *afterward,* it goes flawlessly.
Valia: You will be to the Wyrm as you have been to me; a pain in the neck.
You can really see the genuine concern on Valia’s face in the first panel; I wonder if she regrets allowing Selach to be Alinua’s escort and not herself. She’s also shifted her tone and wording towards Alinua, away from her previous harsh lecturing to efficient, matter-of-fact planning.
Panel 7 implying Alinua looking at Selach’s injury, followed by Ali’s look of resignation in panel 8 says it all. Alinua stayed to help the mer-people after she saw their injuries, now Selach is badly beaten, so Alinua has made this decision to prevent more suffering. There’s no time to investigate a possible Kendal-like situation; the Wyrm’s incarnation needs to be destroyed, here and now.
Despite their rocky start and conflicting attitudes, both Alinua and Valia are united here; no matter what has become of the Northern Wyrm, or their previous friction with one another, preventing more casualties takes precedence.
That’s how Red chooses to write a very compelling racist character (Valia). Someone who is very complicated with a lot of problems, tries hard to be helpful with those she respects, and yet turns fully into a monster around people she’s decided to hate. Very, very, very deep down, though, there’s a core that resonates to something profound, the truth of the character that she has yet to speak, smothered by Valia’s own choices. There is a possibility of, in some hypothetical future, Valia being redeemed in terms of her bigotry and easing up a little when it comes to qualities that are tied to, yet distinct from the bigotry…but that would take decades of intense personal effort, which Aurora definitely doesn’t have time for and sounds like something that Valia would be very reluctant to even attempt. And one can imagine that in that hypothetical, Valia would also be getting a LOT of very cathartic comeuppance. Or possibly just sad comeuppance.
I question how much of Valia’s hostility towards Alinua is down to personal prejudice towards land-dwellers, and how much is the culmination of this sindahlans-long Wyrm situation.
She’s spent months constantly on edge after their guardian deity turned against them, injured and killed her fellows, destroyed buildings, and is a constant risk for all who she holds dear. All of this thanks to a mysterious land-dwelling Life mage who appeared out of nowhere. Now ANOTHER mysterious land-dwelling Life mage has appeared out of nowhere, knowing far too much about their situation than she logically should; it’d be weird if she wasn’t hella suspicious at the whole thing.
It could be that the captain holds a degree of prejudice over land-dwellers for whatever reason; maybe even some inner self-loathing or something of the sort like some Sekrai have.
Or maybe this whole episode of her life, the Northern Wyrm’s mutilation and the horrors it’s wrought, has made her more cynical, confrontational, and hostile to outsiders.
I’m not condoning her behaviour, I’m just saying I understand it, and it my not be deeply rooted in hatred. Who knows? If Alinua does end up helping the Northern Wyrm turn back to normal, and the god gives the elf her thanks, maybe Valia’s opinion of her might do a 180.
No doubt hostility to outsiders is part of it. But the casual use of wind-blower even when she was feeling a bit more favorable towards Alinua… I worked for ex-military and military contractors for about eight years. When I was being hired for one subcontractor I was told of my boss: “Fair warning: he used to be a D.I.” Valia’s casual use of, ah, let’s call them “unflattering epithets,” sounds very military to my ear.
I suppose that’s fitting, given her job; it would honestly be strange if didn’t have at least some hostility to outsiders.
Makes me wonder just how much first-hand experience she’s had with land-dwellers, if any at all.
Am I crazy or is there some parallels between Alinua and Kendal here with the “I don’t want anyone to get hurt” line. Besties who mirror eachothers fatal flaws together, stay together
You are absolutely not crazy in seeing that! “Nobody dies because of me. Not ever.” and “I don’t want anyone getting hurt” seem like pretty explicit parallels to me!
Did you know:
The deepest a human has dove underwater is 1090ft. The decent under a half hour while the accent took over 13 hours with large amounts of specialized equipment to ensure the decompression of returning to the surface did not harm him.
Hang on, I just had a thought. Does Aliuna’s contact with the Wyrm withdraw the life energy from it?
Is that what caused the explosion, and why the Wyrm can’t heal where Alinua touched it?
That’s one possibility. My pet theory is that this is “Revive kills zombie” trope. The Collector has pumped Wyrm of her “Dark Life” and twisted her into something unnatural. Alinua pumped “True Life” by accident, causing that part to overwhelm. Basically, the Collector herself is some form of leech or zombie and all her use of Life energy is actually abuse of it.
A theory I personally subscribe to is the idea that the Wyrm doesn’t have any soul in it- similar to a tree or a patch of grass. That would allow Alinua to simply tear it to shreds with life magic, something you can’t do to any creature that DOES have a soul in it.
Oh no. Alinua needs therapy…like, even MORE therapy than before.
I hope once all this Wyrm Chimera nonsense is over, before she returns to the surface, that Alinua can have a good, long, cathartic tirade at Valia for all the sh** that she’s been through on this side trip. Yes, including things that Valia had nothing to do with, because the idea of extending one’s empathy to people outside one’s own culture *desperately* needs to get through Valia’s thick helmet…I wonder what Valia looks like without the helmet. Although I also wonder why her entire lower back is unarmored and why the Sekrai apparently don’t have very flipper-y feet so idk.
I also wonder what the final (for now) parting conversation between Alinua and Selach will be like. I *imagine* that it would be sad but hopeful, intimate and heartfelt, and that Selach may give Alinua a little bit of that much-needed therapizing, but those are all very broad and it’s only a couple points. And if I’m dreaming, they might also drop some lore bombs!
And I am VERY curious to see whatever Terrible Fate that Alinua has been concocting for the Collector this whole time, when we eventually get there in the 2030s. But there’ll probably be a lot more yelling at the Life Primordial before They and Alinua can cooperate enough to bring something that stomach-churning to fruition, and so that in the aftermath the two can live in harmony, and that Alinua can find peace and happiness. And keep the friendships she’s already found!
‘Would you have been compassionate, even if he was monstrous, and couldn’t speak? Would you have been compassionate, even if he was dangerous? Would you have been compassionate even if the people around him said he needed to die?’
Seem to be the questions Alinua is asking herself. I doubt she’ll actually try to kill this chimeric Thing(same kind of Thing as Kendal).
Furthermore, Red’s framing has our heroes being framed kind of as folkloric heroes, as such I can absolutely see Alinua having an arc that superficially resembles the “Taming the Monster” tropes, but is itself far more complicated on her personal level.
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: in THIS comic? good luck with that buddy
Image source: hurt
Tumblr text: weighing the options
Bluesky text:this plan seems fine and good
. Alinua winces, clamping her hands over her ears as the Wyrm roars in anger.
. “Captain!” Valia looks behind her as Selach swims up, injured arm over her stomach.
. “Stand down, Selach,” Valia says quickly. “Your arm–”
. “No, look!” Selach points down, at the Wyrm’s face. “Her eye!” The glowing green eye peeks open, merfolk spear stuck right below it.
. “Regenerated already?” Valia says, following her gaze. “Then we have no time to waste.”
. “But wait–” Alinua starts.
. “Yes, you’ve noticed. She heals very quickly–” shifting her gaze to the Wyrm’s tail, where bone pokes up from the unhealed flesh. “–but not where you’ve done your work.” Valia looks at Alinua firmly. “Caturus will hold her. My squad will keep her too disoriented to strike. I will get you to the base of her skull, and you will sever her spine.”
. “Captain–” Selach starts anxiously.
. “Can you do it?”
. Alinua hesitates, staring at Selach, who’s holding her injured arm. “I don’t want anyone else to get hurt,” she says softly.
. Selach stares after them as Alinua and Valia dive down together, toward the struggling shape of the Wyrm.
POST
I’m getting bad vibes here, like there’s something they don’t know yet… what did Selach mean to say?
Ali had mentioned wanting to help the Wyrm because it reminds her of Kendal. I’m thinking Valia was going to say that, but Ali spoke first.
I think that is just genuine worry about Alinuas wellbeing.
Underwater, nobody can see you cry.
As dubious as it is for a military captain to be taking the initiative to kill (the embodiment of) a god, at least she’s being efficient about it.
If Alinua’s theory is correct (which still hasn’t been really proven or disproven to be fair), the Northern Wyrm god is not present in this incarnation currently, at which point it’s really just a big sea monster, the slaying of which, I would think, is Valia’s bread and butter.
And even if she is in there, she’s most likely suffering due to her new, mutated form, making this a mercy.
Again can this be answered by womp womp? (for the fish)
Poor alinua 🙁
Okay, now that Valia said it, I expect curveballs to be thrown. Alinua is a beacon to the Wyrm due to her being a Chimeric Carrier and she still doesn’t actually want to hurt anyone, including the chimera. I think she’ll need to strongarm Life into replicating what she did to Kendal, i.e. re-adapt the Northern Wyrm’s incarnation such that it can survive without the goddess or the chimeric healing factor sustaining the body. The question is whether she’ll succeed.
it was not life that made vash’s body become kendal, life only truly connected with alinua in chapter 3 when alinua destroyed the sentinel,
healing kendal was all alinua and she doesnt know how she did it
Alinua also notably lost control when she was first healed Kendal, hence why I think that Life intervened to a degree.
I think it was actually Red who first made me notice that when the characters explain the plan beforehand, it never goes as planned, while if the audience only hears of the plan *afterward,* it goes flawlessly.
Valia: You will be to the Wyrm as you have been to me; a pain in the neck.
You can really see the genuine concern on Valia’s face in the first panel; I wonder if she regrets allowing Selach to be Alinua’s escort and not herself. She’s also shifted her tone and wording towards Alinua, away from her previous harsh lecturing to efficient, matter-of-fact planning.
Panel 7 implying Alinua looking at Selach’s injury, followed by Ali’s look of resignation in panel 8 says it all. Alinua stayed to help the mer-people after she saw their injuries, now Selach is badly beaten, so Alinua has made this decision to prevent more suffering. There’s no time to investigate a possible Kendal-like situation; the Wyrm’s incarnation needs to be destroyed, here and now.
Despite their rocky start and conflicting attitudes, both Alinua and Valia are united here; no matter what has become of the Northern Wyrm, or their previous friction with one another, preventing more casualties takes precedence.
That’s how Red chooses to write a very compelling racist character (Valia). Someone who is very complicated with a lot of problems, tries hard to be helpful with those she respects, and yet turns fully into a monster around people she’s decided to hate. Very, very, very deep down, though, there’s a core that resonates to something profound, the truth of the character that she has yet to speak, smothered by Valia’s own choices. There is a possibility of, in some hypothetical future, Valia being redeemed in terms of her bigotry and easing up a little when it comes to qualities that are tied to, yet distinct from the bigotry…but that would take decades of intense personal effort, which Aurora definitely doesn’t have time for and sounds like something that Valia would be very reluctant to even attempt. And one can imagine that in that hypothetical, Valia would also be getting a LOT of very cathartic comeuppance. Or possibly just sad comeuppance.
I question how much of Valia’s hostility towards Alinua is down to personal prejudice towards land-dwellers, and how much is the culmination of this sindahlans-long Wyrm situation.
She’s spent months constantly on edge after their guardian deity turned against them, injured and killed her fellows, destroyed buildings, and is a constant risk for all who she holds dear. All of this thanks to a mysterious land-dwelling Life mage who appeared out of nowhere. Now ANOTHER mysterious land-dwelling Life mage has appeared out of nowhere, knowing far too much about their situation than she logically should; it’d be weird if she wasn’t hella suspicious at the whole thing.
It could be that the captain holds a degree of prejudice over land-dwellers for whatever reason; maybe even some inner self-loathing or something of the sort like some Sekrai have.
Or maybe this whole episode of her life, the Northern Wyrm’s mutilation and the horrors it’s wrought, has made her more cynical, confrontational, and hostile to outsiders.
I’m not condoning her behaviour, I’m just saying I understand it, and it my not be deeply rooted in hatred. Who knows? If Alinua does end up helping the Northern Wyrm turn back to normal, and the god gives the elf her thanks, maybe Valia’s opinion of her might do a 180.
No doubt hostility to outsiders is part of it. But the casual use of wind-blower even when she was feeling a bit more favorable towards Alinua… I worked for ex-military and military contractors for about eight years. When I was being hired for one subcontractor I was told of my boss: “Fair warning: he used to be a D.I.” Valia’s casual use of, ah, let’s call them “unflattering epithets,” sounds very military to my ear.
I suppose that’s fitting, given her job; it would honestly be strange if didn’t have at least some hostility to outsiders.
Makes me wonder just how much first-hand experience she’s had with land-dwellers, if any at all.
The Wyrm is held fast, although quickly healing
Valia tells Ali how they Her fate will be sealing
Does it even have a spine anymore? It seems 90% mashed potatoes.
Or maybe just 40%
Am I crazy or is there some parallels between Alinua and Kendal here with the “I don’t want anyone to get hurt” line. Besties who mirror eachothers fatal flaws together, stay together
Yeah they are the two most alike main characters. At least from my view
You are absolutely not crazy in seeing that! “Nobody dies because of me. Not ever.” and “I don’t want anyone getting hurt” seem like pretty explicit parallels to me!
Did you know:
The deepest a human has dove underwater is 1090ft. The decent under a half hour while the accent took over 13 hours with large amounts of specialized equipment to ensure the decompression of returning to the surface did not harm him.
yo that’s really cool actually! I guess Alinua’s setting a new record huh?
i wouldn’t count it, most people don’t have the magical ability to adapt their bodies to any environment
That’s only if Alinua makes it back to the surface in one piece and the wyrm is trying it’s darndest to ensure that does not happen.
And after this, no one else got hurt ever. From now on, they all talked out their problems.
Hmmm, I wonder:is what Selach noticed a sign that further injury or boops might not be needed? I.E. Life herself is already hard at work.
Panels 7 & 8 – Alinua hun, YOU are being hurt. Her expression tears at my heart and makes me cry.
Hang on, I just had a thought. Does Aliuna’s contact with the Wyrm withdraw the life energy from it?
Is that what caused the explosion, and why the Wyrm can’t heal where Alinua touched it?
That’s one possibility. My pet theory is that this is “Revive kills zombie” trope. The Collector has pumped Wyrm of her “Dark Life” and twisted her into something unnatural. Alinua pumped “True Life” by accident, causing that part to overwhelm. Basically, the Collector herself is some form of leech or zombie and all her use of Life energy is actually abuse of it.
A theory I personally subscribe to is the idea that the Wyrm doesn’t have any soul in it- similar to a tree or a patch of grass. That would allow Alinua to simply tear it to shreds with life magic, something you can’t do to any creature that DOES have a soul in it.
The parallels with the bear chimera from way earlier are absolutely heartbreaking
Oh no. Alinua needs therapy…like, even MORE therapy than before.
I hope once all this Wyrm Chimera nonsense is over, before she returns to the surface, that Alinua can have a good, long, cathartic tirade at Valia for all the sh** that she’s been through on this side trip. Yes, including things that Valia had nothing to do with, because the idea of extending one’s empathy to people outside one’s own culture *desperately* needs to get through Valia’s thick helmet…I wonder what Valia looks like without the helmet. Although I also wonder why her entire lower back is unarmored and why the Sekrai apparently don’t have very flipper-y feet so idk.
I also wonder what the final (for now) parting conversation between Alinua and Selach will be like. I *imagine* that it would be sad but hopeful, intimate and heartfelt, and that Selach may give Alinua a little bit of that much-needed therapizing, but those are all very broad and it’s only a couple points. And if I’m dreaming, they might also drop some lore bombs!
And I am VERY curious to see whatever Terrible Fate that Alinua has been concocting for the Collector this whole time, when we eventually get there in the 2030s. But there’ll probably be a lot more yelling at the Life Primordial before They and Alinua can cooperate enough to bring something that stomach-churning to fruition, and so that in the aftermath the two can live in harmony, and that Alinua can find peace and happiness. And keep the friendships she’s already found!
‘Would you have been compassionate, even if he was monstrous, and couldn’t speak? Would you have been compassionate, even if he was dangerous? Would you have been compassionate even if the people around him said he needed to die?’
Seem to be the questions Alinua is asking herself. I doubt she’ll actually try to kill this chimeric Thing(same kind of Thing as Kendal).
Furthermore, Red’s framing has our heroes being framed kind of as folkloric heroes, as such I can absolutely see Alinua having an arc that superficially resembles the “Taming the Monster” tropes, but is itself far more complicated on her personal level.
Hmmm, yes, Alinua playing along until she can unleash her Third Option on the Wyrm, that seems highly likely to me.
Ah, damn, the spoken plan guarantee. They aren’t going to sever the worm’s neck. Or, it will get WAY more convoluted on the way there