Annotated 1-13
Shrev here would not be with us very long, but he sure didn’t waste what screen time he had, introducing us to four different species-cultures in almost less time than it takes to tell it. I sure wish my pain-induced ramblings when I was in need of medical assistance were half so productive.
Although we planned to follow up with the winter elves here and eventually did, there was a point in the middle of the series where our plans were so much in flux that we weren’t sure we’d get to them at all, at least not within the main story. I’m glad we sorted that one out, because this bit would’ve been really unsatisfying if we hadn’t.
If this actually takes place a bit after Best’s story in this chapter, then it’d be reasonable that Shrev would specifically think of Best as an example of an elf without magic, as it didn’t take Best long to achieve some fame once he left the town that made him what he is today.
Syr’Nj’s tattoos were in her design notes right from the start, so the big tats that Erica gives the sample wood elves here are foreshadowing in a sense.
Guess he’s not so racist that he mistakes one elf for another.
There is a noticeable shift in the design of the wood elves after Waltrip took over.
That’s the best Syr’Nj face right there.
That winter elf’s ears are ridiculous (more like a donkey elf, really). I’m glad Weo didn’t look quite like that.
The first time we get to see the tattoos on Syr’Nj, Harky immediately recognizes them as a sign of Royalty. I guess that idea came after Erica drew this page.
Or he was commenting on the specific design, or these two are royalty.
“Or he was commenting on the specific design,”
Except Fr’Nj has a completely different tattoo design, and one page of Ask An Adventurer explained that their tattoos are unique and keep growing so obviously have no fixed design.
“or these two are royalty.”
Picking two royals as an example of their species would contradict the idea that people are not the same as their leaders, which is one of the most pervasive themes of this comic. (Humans of Gastonia aren’t like their leaders, wood elves don’t all think like Naror’Nj, some sky elves don’t agree with Caneghem, most Savasi don’t seem to have anything in common with Iver, at least some sisters of the Perpetual Bloodshot Eyeball (Rachel for one) are nothing like their reverend mother when they are no longer under her control.)
No fixed design is not the same as ‘no readable design motifs’. Maori Ta Moko are also unique, but have recurring motifs, indicating various aspects of their identity. Shared motifs – floral for both Syr and Fr – are easily incorporated into whatever parts of the magic that causes the tattoos to actually have designs and not just be random tracings along whatever the path of least resistance through their skin is.
It would be perfectly in line with the fact that this dude is literally saying ‘all wood elves are the same’.
So this got me re-reading Chapter 44, and I know it’s … huh exactly a month late, but I have a question:
When HR made the second Arkerra, what did he remove and what did he change?
The only things confirmed to be different in the text are the existence of the Berserker Curse and the Five, but you can no doubt imagine that many other things would have ended up different as a result of those absences.
What’s the exact difference between “arcane” and “forgotten lore” anyway?
One is magicians and the other is scholars that know shit nobody else knows or remembers.
Yeah, think of “arcane” as “strange news you can use,” and “forgotten” as “something no one will ever need except to win a trivia contest.”
I think arcane is more like science knowledge. And forgotten lore being more like history knowledge.
It’s pretty clearly a distinction between “knowledge you wish you had” and “knowledge nobody understands enough to care about anymore.
I guess the Winter Elves have ear-tubes to protect their sensitive hearing from the cold?
At this point in the story, did you guys know that “forgotten lore” actually translates to “visions of the future?” Or was forgotten lore part of what was in flux?
“Shit elves” will never not be funny to me