Annotated BBWTE 6
Penk is definitely not so sure of himself that he doesn’t fear Hammerhead might be right. But there are no half measures here. Either cage Hammerhead and break bread with the enemy, or set him free and sacrifice honor for war. It’s not like he could say, “In honor for your service to us today, we grant you… a ten-minute head start. Magda, get ready to release the berserker.”
But it must have occurred to him that Frigg and Fr’Nj represent hugely powerful assets to the Gastonian side. Gravedust is nothing to sneeze at either. And WAV will probably end up working with Gastonia the way things are going. The prospect of just eliminating all that… I mean, what if this specific group of people is what turns the tide in the war against them later? He has to have considered it. Even if he’s also considered that killing Gravedust in that manner would mean Magda never looked at him the same way again.
Lovely final panel here. I think this is the only time Hammerhead’s face registers quiet amusement. Angry as he is, he takes some solace in the belief that ultimately, the joke will be on Penk.
“Draw a hammerhead shark, in chains, with an expression of quiet amusement” — that sounds like the kind of request I wouldn’t even be sure can be fulfilled at all, but it works here.
Also, if I was Penk, I’d probably realize 10 seconds after closing the door that the correct reply would not have been to try to explain, but to ask him two questions:
1: Why did he demand to be treated differently from his less-verbal fellow landsharks, and why was it right to grant him the respect he demanded?
2: How does he imagine the end of this war?
Follow-up: Hammerhead showed strength but also restraint and ability to have serious words, and that’s why he was made a Champion. He is not like other landsharks. The Humans showed compassion for their enemy, and that’s why their help was accepted. This is how we know they are no enemies, at least for now. These people are not like the other Humans.
The war is going on because the peoples of the Rebellion want peace, and Gastonia was not letting them live in peace. Once the Rebellion knows that it can have that peace, Gastonia, too, will know peace again. That’s why enemies are not prey: You hunt the prey to eat, and you keep hunting it, forever, because you need to eat the prey. This means you must never kill all the prey so you don’t run out. The hunt never ends. A war *can* end. In fact, if a war does not end, everyone loses, even more than if it does.
“It’s not like he could say, “In honor for your service to us today, we grant you… a ten-minute head start. Magda, get ready to release the berserker.””
… Okay but why not?
Because it would not achieve any of the goals on the table. It would not be a truly equitable exchange for their loss or the lives they saved, and so it would not be honorable. It would be the “Gastonian way,” a surfacey show of fairness that would fool no one but those at the top. Nor would it really satisfy Hammerhead, who respects inconsistency even less than he respects diplomacy. And while Penk isn’t thinking consciously in these terms yet, his honor has to be worth something if he’s going to command a coalition.
Oh from his personal level, I get it. Yeah he’d never, he’s too much of an honorable guy, period.
Because honestly in general it feels like anyone in this faction wouldn’t have even given them the 10 minutes. Harky would’ve probably killed them again. On a maybe cooler looking arena, as an honor.