Annotated 35-9
I think it’s pretty obvious there is zero chance Sundar will sway Gravedust, Fr’Nj, or WAV, but someone probably had to voice the option he’s espousing, if only as a momentary consideration. They are at war, and while this is a peaceful settlement, so was Leafport. And Leafport didn’t have Gastonia’s three mightiest heroes as targets of opportunity.
I love the expressiveness John gives him throughout, too. You can hear the grin in his voice in panel 1 and the loud, can’t-quite-make-it-out shouting in panel 5.
An earlier version of this debate had Gravedust and Sundar on different sides. Gravedust would be assessing the Champions as a distraction worth eliminating if their loss weakened the Cultists’ abomination. Sundar would be arguing, “We gotta protect that village fulla innocents! It’s what Brunhilde would do!” At that point, we hadn’t worked out that the Beast destroyed the soul as well as the body and gained strength with each life lost. And Gravedust can be stone cold, and he clearly doesn’t recognize Magda from this distance, and he’d never consent to harming dwarven civilians… But even with all that justification, it still wouldn’t feel right for his character at this stage. He’s nobler than that. Sundar, on the other hand, legitimately could’ve gone either way. He’s grown a lot but still has some Gastonian prejudices to shed before he becomes his best self.
“He’s grown a lot but still has some Gastonian prejudices to shed before he becomes his best self.”
Heck he was kidnaping Gastonian children at the beginning of this tale anyways.
Momentarily thoughtful Frigg might be the scariest Frigg of all.
They say that it has all gone to Hell when the quiet ones raise their voice and demand to be noticed.
Which is true too.
But when the loudmouths, the braggers and the mongers of all sorts go quiet (somewhat often when the quiet speak), you know things got serious. Especially if they went silent first.
That, or the monster already got close enough to eat them, which means it’s definitely too close to you as well.
Like any good parent knows: “Yelling and crying isn’t bad. It’s when things get silent, you know something is terribly wrong.”
Your Leafport link is broken, T. Instead of pointing to GuildedAge.net, it looks like it’s pointing to GuildedAge.com (which, incidentally, seems to be available for purchase, if anyone’s interested).
Thanks, fixed!
I love the light in the last panel. The sun was already low in the last few panels, and now it’s creating this beautiful mood … well planned, too.