Annotated 44-17
Flo wrestled a lot with this page of mine…was it going too fast? Isn’t Byron’s prophecy pretty much what he already knows? Could we make a stronger statement about Goblaurence’s refusal of prophecy?…but ultimately, it ran as I drafted it, save one line Flo added to the end. Sometimes you need to be told what you already know in order to properly believe it.
And the callback joke to Byll’bb, from way back in Chapter 1, was a comfort to us. And would it ever pay off in Goblaurence’s last appearance.
This page’s FB promo was one for the Marvel Comics fans: “Okay, everybody line up and get your prophecies in nice, neat alphabetical order! You get a revelation! And you get a revelation! And you get a revelation! Just think: if the prophecies in Civil War II were handled like this, it would save everyone a lot of grief.”
It was at this point Goblaurence became the greatest proponent for peace between the races, for he must answer a calling of the highest order.
Isn’t Byron’s prophecy pretty much what he already knows?
Sure, but confirmation of an encouraging prognosis is always nice to hear. And maybe Goblaurance is not the only one who would appreciate to have walked miles during a raging blizzard for *something*, even something vague like a dope recomendation. (tee hee hee)
About Auraugu… is he just blissfully dense here, or is he just in denial? Both would seem in character, IMO.
I interpret Auraugu as accepting his prophecy (looking resigned in panel 1) but encouraging the group to move on rather than comfort him. He has kayfabe to consider!
Besides, Weo indicates that Auraugu already knew all or most of this. It’s “just” a confirmation, helping him move on.
One of Auraugu’s roles has always been as a sort of moral support, for the alliance as a whole but also for his smaller group. That’s something that’s exemplified with the wrestler schtick – the mask is on, he’s the face of the world’s rebellion, and the face of the world’s rebellion is not a sad one.
So, we see that he’s sad, Penk goes to comfort him, and he is reminded (right or wrong) that he needs to be the group’s rock and it’s back to cheerful Auraugu, both indicating that he’s totally fine and also moving things along so that everyone else can receive the information they came here for.
That’s how I interpreted it, anyway.
He can’t have anyone talk to him about Lady Arfa’s death. Everyone knows she can’t last much longer, but his job is to pretend that she can. So he’s probably really uncomfortable with Weo mentioning these things in front of other people, hence the “don’t you have anything more important” reply. He can’t be seen to accept the prophesy as true, and he’s probably actually not as interested in becoming her successor as most others might assume.
And some sneaky prophesizing/nudging as Weo nevertheless mentions a forthcoming ‘new alliance’.
So if Goblaurence doesn’t take the mushrooms, it will always be in his future. So until he takes them, he cannot die.
Read too much Douglas Adams, have we?
Of course, as long as Goblaurence doesn’t take the mushrooms, he’ll never have the trip of his life. And the older he is at that point, the higher the risk that it will also become the last trip of his life, somewhat reducing the appeal…
I found Byron’s prophesy a little underwhelming: “you *may* never have another episode” — in other words: “maybe you’ll be fine”. That wording would still be accurate if there were several instances in the future where he is prevented from taking his meds and goes berzerk again, in very bad ways.