Annotated 48-31
FB: Frigg was hoping the fight would end like Wii WWE, but instead she’s muttering a wee “w/e.”
An earlier draft had Ardaic helping Frigg with the missile. This is clearly better: he couldn’t help her while he was the Silver Centurion, because the Silver Centurion is the nation. To retain the morality that still guides him, he must now become someone else. Maybe a corpse! I do think his offer to Frigg here is sincere.
Of course, while Frigg really isn’t the best audience for all this talk, she’s not the kind of fighter who would execute a surrendering opponent. Penk, Byron, and Syr’Nj had already forbidden that as a policy matter, anyway.
The Chapter 2 version of Frigg, though, would’ve knocked Ardaic’s ass out well before he got through that soliloquy. “I yield–” “GREAT!” [MACE TO DA FACE]
This is a very ‘tabletop RPG’ moment. Talking being a ‘free action’ and combat rounds so often being of indeterminate length (even if a time is stated somewhere in the depths of the ruleboos, it is almost always ignored). So characters and NPCs get to have philosophical debates mid-battle and whilst not really missing a beat.
I mean, yes and no. It sort of makes sense if you consider that everyone immediately nearby probably stopped scuffling briefly because their lives flashed before their eyes as a giant ball of death zipped down toward them (before being knocked away by Frigg). It’s also noteworthy that the two combatants are so powerful that anyone would be a fool to actively engage either of them, or get between the clash of titans; they’re practically superheroes next to common soldiers of the other factions. Finally, Frigg probably needed a breather after her heroic feat. She’s clearly exerted a LOT of energy if the last page is anything to go by.
So, yes, they are talking in the middle of a battlefield. However, it wasn’t all THAT long; long enough to catch one’s breath, and enemies are far enough away that Frigg has to actively march out toward them while dragging Ardaic behind her. Doesn’t feel too much like a “talking is a free action” moment to me.
If you wanna attack the woman who just batted a thaumaturgic tactical nuke away, or the man who just fought her to a stand still, go right ahead.
Really, the is s was Ardaic still trying to justify his actions. Kind of selfish considering he’s monologuing while the war still us raging around him. He really made it all about him when bombs on falling on ‘his’ people, yeesh. I really wish we saw more of this part of Ardaic earlier in the comic. It would have more weight to his seemingly ‘lap dog’ nature to the head of houses knowing he had a personal grudge against ‘savages.’
This is a great, weighty moment, but the subtext is actually sublime
You would think that the Silver Centurion would be able to help depose Taro since he’s proven himself a threat to the nation.
That’s what so darn interesting about this: Are the institutions part of the nation? Because Ardaic is certainly done trying to excuse the corruption within the House of Houses, but he seems unwilling to just say “screw this noise” and wield the power of the Silver Centurion to reshape the goverment at his whim. Ardaic is adamant about that enchanted amulet being property of Gastonia, and him being just a servant that wields it when it’s necessary. Ardaic seems to me as both too noble and too level-headed to bestow upon himself grandiose titles such as “liberator” or “true patriot”
…which, tbh, is a very good and very insightful thing *not* to do. If Ardaic used his power to make himself the top dog in Gastonia … he’d still be a dictator, and there’s no way that can end well.
Fortunately, he’s all about loyalty, and that pretty much makes it impossible to become a ruler. He needs something and/or someone larger than himself to devote himself to.
Threat to the nation? Taro’s the nation’s only hope. (Well, not really, but only because H.R. is on his way–none of them know that, and what it means is that Gastonia/Iwatania has no hope.) If Taro is defeated, Iwatania, the seat of the dominance of the Iwatani family, ceases to exist, and Gastonia, the seat of human dominance, doesn’t rise once again in its place–it gets conquered, its people assimilated into an egalitarian one-world government led by Penk.
The Silver Centurion has never been the champion of anything worth championing, nor is it now. Its first appearance showed it brutally slaughtering a human who had balked at facilitating slavery, whose last words were an entirely sincere “Gods save Gastonia!” Once it was established that the medallion didn’t simply stop working at the name change from Gastonia to Iwatania, it makes perfect sense that opposing the king of Iwatania and agreeing to work toward the nation’s defeat means someone can’t summon the Silver Centurion anymore.
One of my favourite Frigg momentbecause damn, girl’s got a point. I hate it when people apologize and then proceed to make you their makeshift therapist. I don’t fucking care what trauma caused you to be an asshole and I’m sure as hell not interested in being sympathetic to YOU for hurting ME. You realized you made a mistake? Good. Say I’m sorry, optionally offer a way to make it up to me and most importantly, do better in the future. F you’re important enough to me, *I* will offer sympathy. On MY terms.
That’s an incredibly shitty way of accepting (or not?) an apology.
He’s not demanding sympathy, either (read his text on panel 3 if you have doubts), much less “therapy”.
I, for my part, am fed up with non-pologies where someone says “sorry” but you never know whether they understand why what they did was wrong, whether they actually regret doing anything or just believe that it’s smarter in the moment to apologies than to keep defending what they did.
Ardaic believes that what he says in panel 3 may well be his last words, and he has just noticed that he’s failed his in his live’s mission. I think it’s completely understandable that doesn’t go “oh hey, sorry, I guess I was wrong, I’ll be over there if you want to kill me now”. I also find it understandable that he inserts a few words to explain his earlier actions (at least some of which is necessary to believably declare a change of mind). And if those are a few words too many … well, I guess I wouldn’t expect someone whose life just collapsed to apologize like this *and* be more considerate of others’ time than others are of his.
Also: Where do you see him making Frigg his “makeshift therapist”?! Do you have difficulty dealing with the fact that other people have feelings, too? Are you looking for a reason to keep hating him?
Hey, of course that was anticlimactic for Frigg. It kinda feels like he’s taken a hard-earned victory from her. She was about to start another round of exchanging blows with him but can’t now, so she punches back with words instead. Not very nice, but maybe understandable, too. But actually, she could have also just interrupted him halfway through and told him to stuff it because she’s got a battle to end right now. Maybe she’s also a bit jealous because Ardaic, of all people, who up to now was more of an institution than a person, just managed to open up more to her than she managed to open up to her superbest friends, ever.
Oh yeah, he is asking for sympathy big time. The first words out of his mouth arr “my family was slain.” Which, like, dude, sucks for you but not at all relevant to the point at hand. Then he gives his all autobiography and why everything he did felt justified at the time, which again, yeah it probably fid but NOT THE ISSUE.
And then he ends with “so now if you want you can kill a defenseless POW, thereby proving that I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG.” Yep, sorry, not an apology, not understanding what he did wrong, not offering reperation and not even making an attempt to see Frigg’s point of view.
I do not, in general, have a problem understanding or dealing with other people’s emotion. I also don’t particularly hate Ardaic (more like feel pity for him). I have a problem with people not being able to put their own feelings aside and focus on other people for a change. Ardaic isn’t apologizing to Frigg for hurting her, he’s confessing for straying from his own ideals and asking her to deliver his penance. IN THE MIDDLE OF A FUCKING BATTLE. Guy has a serious ego issue.
Heck, he never even says the word “sorry.”
Nothing in his kittle soliloqui qualifies it as an apology.
You go try and get in a similar situation without trying to make yourself look a little sympathetic. Dude, if he didn’t care what Frigg thinks about him, he could have simply stormed off in the other direction and started a new life before Frigg got off her feet. Of course, this clearly means something to him.
“not even making an attempt to see Frigg’s point of view.” — he goes to great length to explain why his point of view was wrong, and Frigg’s right. What else did you expect?
“Guy has a serious ego issue.” If it was some foot soldier doing this, I’d share that assessment. But it’s not. Ardaic used to be the Peacemakers’ manager, so to say (as in: he brought the band together and organized their first gigs), and he was about to hand Frigg her ass (or at least he’d have had a chance to do so). He’s also correct to assume that a quick “look, I’m was wrong, really sorry about that, are you mad now?” is not going to cut it.
*Of course* Frigg is the wrong person to tell these things to, and of course he didn’t have to bring the story of his life into it, either. But he’s probably correct to think that he does have the time for a few extra words because noone is going to attack either him of Frigg if they value their lives. Also: I bet this is the first time he’s had an honest straight talk like this. It’d be kinda weird if he got all eloquent about it with zero practice.