I DID mention the option of HAMMERHEAD submitting to Penk’s philosophy, but he is completely unwilling to do so. Also, “demonstrably untrue”? The ENTIRE known recent history between humans and the races of the Rebellion is the literal opposite of that. They betrayed Harky and Gondolessa; they betrayed Syr’nj; they even betrayed their own peacemakers. Even Penk HIMSELF had to be talked out of COMMITTING GENOCIDE; that was literally JUST two or three days ago.

The most proof there is of anything is that SOME humans are good and just; we already know the Rebellion has seen some doubt over their aggressive genocidal stance due to Syr passing judgement upon them as she died, only to return from death itself to wield the power of a goddess against them. But, again, for Penk himself to consider genocide an option… they clearly think of decent humans as an extremely rare exception to the rule, and there’s no proof otherwise.

Even now, Penk doesn’t necessarily think that humans are trustworthy; he’s just been convinced that there’s no need for a genocidal solution. There’s a major difference there, and you’re SEVERELY understating the extent of the distrust towards humans in the Rebellion.

What he’s saying is that he prefers to one day die as a direct result of his “ways” than to be killed because those ways are incompatible with the new chieftain’s. He’s literally acknowledging that Penk could kill him! How is that an accusation of weakness?

In Hammerhead’s case, he is left with either battling it out with Penk, or staying around to (as far as he believes) get backstabbed. If you want the middle ground, for Hammerhead this is the middle ground: “We’re going, please leave us alone and don’t bother us.” They’ve left the World’s Rebellion a rather substantial quantity of meat, too.

And it makes a lot of sense for Hammerhead to see it that way. In the previous page we see land sharks who couldn’t remember if they were supposed to eat Penk or not, and when we’re introduced to Hammerhead, the landsharks start slaughtering each other over a few of their own carcasses. Even if the Peacekeepers are being totally genuine, how hard is it going to be for the landsharks to remember who not to eat? How are humans and elves going to react if there’s an unfortunate “incident?”

And how does Hammerhead know that the humans that join this new alliance won’t plan on betraying his people?

… And you’re expecting him to turn around and not just intelligently discuss, but also CHANGE his worldview and what he sees as his nature? Dude, get some perspective. Land Sharks, no matter how eloquent Hammerhead may seem, are extremely different from every other species we have seen. He has made it extremely clear from day one that he, and his people, are animals. Trolls, Dwarves, Avians; these are not ‘prey’ to him. Like an actual shark, he’s willing to attack and eat things which are not prey when they tick him off, but he will not instinctively hunt them. But there is not, nor would there ever be, a situation wherein a human is NOT his prey. Their intelligence and the practicality of an alliance, let alone its morality, are completely and totally irrelevant to him. A shark won’t stop hunting its prey when that prey is getting scarce, or when a bigger predator looms, even if it’s prey has some very insightful ideas on how to deal with that bigger predator.

And none of what I just said, none of the stubbornness, unwillingness to change, or flat out brutality are Hammerhead’s FAULT. Those are traits of his species which Penk and Harky both knew from the beginning. You all are reading this series of events completely wrong. Hammerhead is not some obtuse idiot and he doesn’t exist so that we can pat ourselves on the back and comfort Penk for making the hard decisions here.

Hammerhead is the driving home shot for Penk that maybe he is WRONG. Hammerhead is, himself, definitive proof that there are some species that will not change in their ways, and those ways will be hostile to you. Land Sharks will not, by any means, EVER change their ways. This is non-negotiable fact which is not even up to them as a decision. Maybe backstabbing and conniving are in the Human nature as much as this is in Hammerhead’s? Sure, we know that those aren’t constant Human traits. Penk does not. Harky clearly did not.

tl;dr, Arkerra is not Earth and Land Sharks are not Humans, Trolls, Savasi, Avians, Gnolls, Gnomes, or any variety of Elf. Just as Harky believed betrayal to be Human nature, Hammerhead KNOWS hunting Humans is in HIS nature. Stop expecting a hawk to break bread with a field mouse.