Character Development: Lalli

[curiosity]

I've just realised, Lalli found Tuuri's note to meet the expedition boat as he came home from his shift. *What* shift?  He'd resigned, why was he out on night patrol anyway?

It seems that he doesn't have many contacts in Keuruu and doesn't really communicate with other people. And I don't feel that information about someone resigning spreads widely under these circumstances (though Tuuri may have been chatting about it a lot). And if someone did in fact find out, why would they be bothered to question a person they had never really talked to before? Or maybe seeing a scout heading off to his shift after hearing that he had left his duties, the witness may just think: "Oh well, maybe he decided to stay after all".
I just think nobody cared enough to fix their thoughts on the matter. And Lalli himself didn't believe Tuuri was serious.

[JoB]

Or he may have just forgotten.

Precisely, see dialogue on page 74.

[Solovei]

On page 79 http://sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=79 in the little 'twelve hours ago' panel, Tuuri asks Lalli if he's still going out to work, like she wasn't expecting him to be - so maybe he wasn't supposed to, but did anyway.
This sort of ties in to how he didn't really know what was going on, or that he was leaving, especially since he wasn't taking Tuuri seriously anyway. (See: "I thought it was one of those weird jokes you sometimes tell me that I don't understand")
Of course it's also possible that he did actually have to work that last shift, I just thought it might be worth considering.

While they're standing at the dock, Tuuri is telling Taru that Lalli's shift "should have ended" at half past six. Meaning she is either EXPECTING him to be working his last shift (as someone said above, giving two weeks' notice and all) or she doesn't know where he is, but she is guessing he might be at work, in which case, his shift would've ended at that time.

[wavewright62]

Thanks for the heads-up on the double-post, Sunflower!

While they're standing at the dock, Tuuri is telling Taru that Lalli's shift "should have ended" at half past six. Meaning she is either EXPECTING him to be working his last shift (as someone said above, giving two weeks' notice and all) or she doesn't know where he is, but she is guessing he might be at work, in which case, his shift would've ended at that time.

That makes sense.  But, he did say he'd left his uniform at the guard house - if he'd only just done that, than he'd wouldn't have forgotten about the rendezvous.  Ah, well, I think we may have to chalk this one up more to artistic licence and less to Lalli, no?

[KMK]

I'm still not sure about the relationships between Lalli and Onni. The way he said, "you just HAD to show up" at the docks just before they left could be read in different ways, namely:

1. Onni thinks that if Lalli hadn't shown up, Tuuri wouldn't leave.
2. Onni isn't terribly fond of Lalli in the first place and his presence just made the whole "Tuuri leaving" situation worse.

I know one line of dialogue isn't a lot to go on, but it's something hat continues to puzzle me. Presumably Onni cares about both of them on some level, but maybe not Lalli as much as Tuuri? That might also explain Lalli's lack of mage training - Finnish mages are trained by other mages, and Onni is probably the closest person to Lalli who is also a mage. Them having a rocky relationship (Onni doesn't strike me as a terribly patient person) would certainly contribute to that.

What if both sets of parents were lost in a trading expedition to one of the islands that were crossed off. What if Lalli's parents convinced Tuuri and Onni's parents to come with them since Onni was old enough to watch out for the other two. And Onni holds a resentment to Lalli's parents that spills over onto Lalli.

[FinnishViking]

There are many reasons for this with one just being he doesn't like how non chalantly he seems to react to things while Onni is more serious. I hope Minna does some relations building after they manage to get out of their mission.

[Sunflower]

From page 251, speculation about Lalli's thought processes:

Lady of Birbs
"Why is he hugging me? oh god someone ?????? ???? ??" -Lalli

Hrolfr_2 
Why is he hugging me?
Why is she looking at the watch?

What are they talking about?
Why is she walking away like that?
Why has everyone lost interest in the Grossling?
Can we GO yet?
Is there a Plan?
What's that noise?

What's with the old books anyway?
I Wonder what the story about the dead guy on the floor is?
Can we go somewhere warm and quiet where I can have a nap?

Why did Tuuri drag me along for this, again? Why am I here for this?

Where's my rifle gotten?
Why is no one curious about the book on the table, it seems odd.

Do we stay here, or go, where are we going?
What's with Emil being so nervous and fake?

...And I forgot one, he's Finnish:

Why are these people talking so much and so loud. Are they on drugs?

-Lalli, just the previous 30 secs

Blacky
Lallicat wonders why Emilhuman is touching him. XD

Rosepieces
"What are you doing? This is not petting time..." -Lalli


Helenatroy
Lalli is really NOT used to people touching him, is he? He winces every time.

Aggeliki 
Well, it wasn't the gentlest of touches. If I was in his place, I'd need a lot of concentration NOT to wince.

Ann Marie 
I really wonder what he's thinking. "Why did crazy lady squish me together with messy Swede? And then smirk like that? Does she want us to make out now? D: Somebody help me!"

eta: and yes, I still ship them, but as obviously as Emil is crushing on Lalli, Lalli's emotional state is, um, less accessible. Who knows what's really going on in there.

DaiJB
I think it's a recent thing....lately, everytime someone gets near him, he gets hit...

[Richard Weir]

I just had a thought regarding Lalli's "kitty-blast" attack he used in the dreamworld on Page 212.

What if he only has a limited number of uses of this attack? Say, *9* uses? It's a very cat-like number, yes?

If so, it would in itself explain why he was so worried after he got out and to his starting dream. (Not that seeing a strange mage and being attacked by horrors weren't enough reason to be worried!)

[KMK]

Thanks for the heads-up on the double-post, Sunflower!
That makes sense.  But, he did say he'd left his uniform at the guard house - if he'd only just done that, than he'd wouldn't have forgotten about the rendezvous.  Ah, well, I think we may have to chalk this one up more to artistic licence and less to Lalli, no?

Remember first he thought he was fired and then Tuuri reminded him that they had resigned together. What do you bet that splitting his time between the dreamworld and the real one leaves him disoriented. Onni is his cousin and an experienced mage, yet Lalli seems to know only the very basics. Why hasn't Onni been training him? Over protective? Or is their some harsh feelings going back to their parents dieing?


I am adding some comments here that I posted on page 272.  The question was: Why is Lalli so sad?



I don't know.... his parents died when he was about 10 years old..... his big cousin Onni seems to disapprove of everything and seems not to like the sight of him (at the pier)..... though Tuuri loves him she doesn't understand him at all..... no one except Onni really understands what it is like being a mage and he doesn't seem to have been instructing him at all (is their something wrong with me?).... he never gets a solid night's sleep and sleep deprivation is a major component in depression...... he fights monsters in his dreams, the monsters in the closet are real.... everyone is loud and brash and hitting him...

I suspect that Lalli may have survived a troll attack on his and Tuuri and Onni's parents. I believe the parents of the cousins still operated their great grandfather's boat and traded with the other islands. Only one trip they didn't make it back. Maybe Tuuri and Onni were have been left behind and weren't on the boat but Lalli was. Because sleeping under beds and tables is a PTSD (post-tramatic stress disorder) type reaction. He may have survived by following the titles admonition to Stay Still, Stay Silent. But as I think about it I bet Onni was on the boat too. He and Lalli and they survived when the parents didn't. Tuuri didn't go on the journey because of an academic test or because she isn't immune. Onni and Lalli survive possibly because Onni discovers that he is a mage and instinctively lashes out at the trolls but it is too late for the parents. Onni is able to get himself and Lalli back to their village and he moves them right afterward.

[Paul Ferris]

Very interesting theory. I was massively overworked a few years ago (average 15-20 hours of sleep/week, constant work otherwise), and did slip into mild depression (eventually followed by a nervous breakdown), so that makes sense. I was very Lalliesque during that period as well (permanently drowsy, socially remote, unable to think about anything for long periods of time). If you had that recipe, extended it over years (thankfully, my stress was kept to 10 week terms), and threw in PTSD, the result would not be a normal person.

[Korppi]

Well i guess some people really don't. This reddit page is either going to make you laugh or blow your mind. For me it did them bouth.

http://np.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/2qjohv/what_did_your_parents_show_you_to_do_that_you/cn6pn30

Now THAT's a crazy conspiracy theory. I am impressed. 

[wavewright62]

(also posted in Disqus, sorry about double-ups)
Speculation: Lalli didn't get a good look at the running Braidy in the spirit world, and was too busy being attacked to see him stop and call out. I wonder whether Lalli believes Braidy is a metaphor, a spirit apparition and not an actual person, and was trying to come back to puzzle out what such an apparition could mean. Dream interpretation is an important mage-skill, and Lalli may be melancholy over his failure to grasp the nature of the lesson the vision was guiding him toward.

[Sunflower]

(also posted in Disqus, sorry about double-ups)
Speculation: Lalli didn't get a good look at the running Braidy in the spirit world, and was too busy being attacked to see him stop and call out. I wonder whether Lalli believes Braidy is a metaphor, a spirit apparition and not an actual person, and was trying to come back to puzzle out what such an apparition could mean. Dream interpretation is an important mage-skill, and Lalli may be melancholy over his failure to grasp the nature of the lesson the vision was guiding him toward.

No, don't apologize!  I LOVE it when people preserve their insights in the Forum!  It's (marginally) easier to retrieve and discuss them here than in the thousands-high stacks on Disqus.

[SeaAngel]

(also posted in Disqus, sorry about double-ups)
Speculation: Lalli didn't get a good look at the running Braidy in the spirit world, and was too busy being attacked to see him stop and call out. I wonder whether Lalli believes Braidy is a metaphor, a spirit apparition and not an actual person, and was trying to come back to puzzle out what such an apparition could mean. Dream interpretation is an important mage-skill, and Lalli may be melancholy over his failure to grasp the nature of the lesson the vision was guiding him toward.

Someone proposed in Discus that Lalli now thinks that since Braidy didn't respond to his call, he was killed/lost in the dream world. (He may well be lost... Or can't recognize a dream call or doesn't know how to go there again). So if that's true, Lalli entered the dream world to help Braidy.
Aaand for the first time I wonder if Lalli and Tuuri's parents were mages and got lost in the dream world.

[Cat Is in the Moon]

It does make you wonder what would happen if you "died" in the dreamworld. 
Would you simply never wake up or would something else happen?