Character Development: Emil

[SeaAngel]

I'm assuming that the "gentle, but firm" approach is probably a standard in the Norwegian armed forces, as simply trying to instill bone-tough discipline just won't cut it when your enemy is an unending legion of Eldritch abominations. It'll whittle away at your humanity and sanity, slowly but surely.

I dunno. Is killing monsters harder and more soul-consuming that killing fellow human beings? Humans with families, hopes, dreams, people just like you?
I think killling monsters (particularly since some seem to suffer and want to die) must be rather easy, psychologically speaking. I'm pretty sure a lot of Norwegians captains are very harsh and demanding, like modern day captains, and Sigrun is just nice.
Or, in the contrary: exactly because killing monsters is easier, there is no need for the blind, mindless uniformity and obedience of current armies. Soldiers are more likely to obey their captains than have an existential crisis about how they're killing their brothers.
OR, she can afford to be nice because this is a small expedition and it's a good idea to get to know each other. She doesn't have to control twenty inexperienced, untrained soldiers.
ORrrrrr, Norwegians just love fighting and think it's totally normal, so Sigrun treats everything fight-related normally, like encouraging a person to learn to read or write.

[BrainBlow]

Humans may still be "dehumanized." And the ducked up stuff a person can do to another person who has been dehumanized in their eyes is scary. Just look at ethnic cleansing.

But the trolls, they are absolutely terrifying, and no two trolls are completely alike, meaning there's no one form you could get used to. It's always a new shape of terror.
The psychological trauma that comes from killing humans would be for different reasons than the one you would get from killing trolls.
There may be no guilt involved with the trolls, but the fear factor would still be enough to drive a person mad. Always something new, yet terrifying and disgusting. All shapes and sizes.

[Sunflower]

Sigrun is probably the best thing to happen to Emil. Ever.

Yes, definitely! 

Sigrun seemed to take a liking to him right off the bat, which I'm kinda assuming is because she probably enjoys the attention that the inexperienced young-uns give her.
She also seems to be generally understanding and accepting of his inexperience and clumsiness, knowing that a gentle yet firm hand is the best way to bring about his potential.

Well, Sigrun seems quite welcoming to all three youngsters -- remember, she was quickly calling Tuuri "little pal" and smiling affectionately at Lalli (as opposed to going "ew, who's this mute, withdrawn weirdo"). 

But I think she's especially ready to welcome Emil because she considers him a warrior.  That's the role she knows and respects the most.  (And that's presumably why Mikkel, the non-combatant, is the one team member she's not kind and respectful towards.)

I was a little surprised at first by *how* "gentle yet firm" she was being with Emil, as opposed to a blunt, "Oh, toughen up, Blondie!"  (Or even making fun of him the way she did about Mikkel's farm background.)  But she must have some people skills tucked 'way back under the I AM SO AWESOME stuff, that she so quickly figured out the way to get the best out of the insecure, self-conscious, perfectionist Emil.

Some gallows humor and learning an enjoyment for "the hunt" is probably how Norwegians go about it just to keep their minds intact.
I imagine this mindset is eventually going to start rubbing off on Emil due to Sigrun's influence.

[SeaAngel]

There may be no guilt involved with the trolls, but the fear factor would still be enough to drive a person mad. Always something new, yet terrifying and disgusting. All shapes and sizes.

I'm just saying, I think killing a fellow human or being attacked by a fellow human sound a lot more terrifying to me because of the hate involved. Dehumanizing happens sometimes, but I don't think it's the norm (it requires special propaganda, not just the "they're gonna kill your children and rape your wives" kind). Usually it's just a lot of hate and fear.

Anyways, I think the new troll shapes might even appear fun to an experienced warrior SOME of them are bound to be hilarious (like a troll whose tail has merged with its leg or one that has teeth on its ankles and will cut itself if it trips or something). The norwegians' tactic seems to be "run yelling towards the monsters" (Minna said something like that) so I doubt they try too much to dechipher weaknesses and find similarities.

[KMK]

a) I'm still not convinced that Emil has any claim onto Sivs and Torbjörns (erm) wealth, much less authority to tell them not to spend it on whatever they like. They know each other well, as Emil was a guest in their house during his academic (erm) career, but no relation beyond that and bloodline has been established. Not even of the "met at infrequent clan get-togethers" kind.

b) I can list a great many things that the society around me is indifferent about, or would even frown at, but nonetheless aren't outright illegal. I guess that it would be technically illegal for the Quartet to make money off a government-funded expedition, hence the hush-hush, but da guvmint ain't necessarily setting the moral standards for Joe Sixpack.

I was of the impression that Emil's parents and Siv and Torbjorns  were partners in a joint unnamed business that suffered a catastrophic setback. I think they ended up originally being rich because their grandparents (Emil's great-grandparents) had been well prepared and suffered less damage in the aftermath of the Rash illness. They found a way not to be victims but providers in the post-apocalypse. But due to changing needs and perhaps a rigid business plan that didn't adapt to changing needs their services became obsolete.

[Sutremaine]

I think Emil is going to have some extremely freaky dreams after this day (in-story) is over. 

He's been through a roller-coaster of emotion, starting with being shocked awake by the proximity alarm;

[snipped for space]

I suspect his dreams will look like something out of Hieronymus Bosch as his subconscious tries to process all this.

I think we should keep a running total of the events that are going to have happened to Emil today. It's going to be a busy one, that's for sure.

[Sunflower]

Minando [on p. 268]
Let´s see:

-Earlier in the train, you suffered from cannon fever.
-you demonstrated that you can sleep everywere in the train station.
-you killed your first troll today, wounded another one.
-you were soaked in blood.
-you did the traditional puking afterwards.

There can be no doubt: Emil, you are a real soldier now.

[wavewright62]

I'm kind of surprised that this has gone mostly uncommented, but on the Chap. 7 cover comments, Minna slipped this in...

"Fear not, Onni could never be a villain. He's too much of a wimp.
Now <i>Emil</i> on the other hand..."

Emil as a villain? Maayyybe.

[curiosity]

Emil as a villain? Maayyybe.

Minna does her best to keep us intrigued, as always In my humble opinion, if Emil eventually does something that would make him a "bad guy", he'd do it not due to abandoned and malignant heart, but because of some instant impulse. Or pride/greed/vain that he'll fail to control. He doesn't strike me as villainious type, but with a well-plotted story you can hardly guess from the first glance who is who, right?

Plus, I have a feeling that somewhere among the blog entries or author's notes Minna had said that none of the characters in (then) up-coming comic is Hannu-level mean... but maybe things got mixed up in my head, don't know if I can quickly look it up now.

[Mélusine]

Minna does her best to keep us intrigued, as always In my humble opinion, if Emil eventually does something that would make him a "bad guy", he'd do it not due to abandoned and malignant heart, but because of some instant impulse. Or pride/greed/vain that he'll fail to control. He doesn't strike me as villainious type, but with a well-plotted story you can hardly guess from the first glance who is who, right?

Exactly my opinion.

[RandomTexanReader]

I think something very telling about Emil is his internal dialogue on pps 258-259, "I will do it... I can do it... I have to do [it]" which tells us that he's actually a lot more courageous than you'd expect: courage isn't not being scared, it's being scared as all getout and still doing what you should. Although vain (which I think pretty evidently comes from his insecurity) he's not arrogant enough to let his image endanger himself or others--he confesses to only having faced one troll/giant in his career, and humbles himself enough to thank Sigrun for taking the death room (although admittedly after she salves his bruised ego a bit). Despite panicking and using his lantern instead of his knife to take down molar-troll (which did turn out to be the right idea in the end) after being rescued he remembered his training quite well, possibly saving both his and Sigrun's life and achieving his first kill. When he realized that Lalli had been left inside his first instinct was to rush into a flaming, troll-infested, structurally unsound building: but to be fair, that can be an example of inexperience/lack of common sense as well as courage. Emil is fundamentally a good person, in that he tries to do the right thing, and I think we'll be fortunate enough to see him begin to develop into a fine young man by the end of the story.

As for all the 'awkward homeschooler' bit, it's been my experience that social awareness is much like a language, and so has usually been completely 'learned' by the end of three years with frequent social interaction. Emil is still in the 'learning' phase, "don't make smart-alecky comments around somebody who understands you better than you understand him," "don't mock other nationalities in public," "don't assume that the red-headed stowaway is a prisoner and treat him accordingly," but his understanding of (and desire for) approval/disapproval in social situations is in working order, and I'd expect him to grow out of his social awkwardness almost completely over the course of the winter. As well as the painfully accurate teenage-drama tendencies, poor baby.

(side note: Mikkel demonstrated that Emil is a prime victim for slightly crueler senses of humor, and while the possibility of bullying at school has been brought up (and is probable, although I think it was probably more a form of shunning than active bullying) I'm more concerned about hazing traditions among Cleansers. Also I really do want to know more about his family background. The only time we really see him in his comfort zone is at his aunt and uncle's house, where he is obviously fond of his little cousins. When he puts his hand over Lalli's eyes to get him back to sleep, that is very much a thing that somebody familiar with babies would do, and his instinctive protectiveness (? I'm sure a partially smothered Lalli would beg to differ) when panicked on the train makes me think of him as an older sibling. However it seems to me that younger siblings would have been referred to by this point of the story, so it is also possible that he is an only child who just happens to have those personality traits.)

[Sunflower]

Braidy is definitely not bringing out Emil's good side.  The Disqus comments towards the end of Ch. 6 focused on this:

Rabbit  Helenatroy • a month ago
*David Attenborough voice*
Here we see a young male of Homo sapiens incineratus, displaying to intimidate a rival male encroaching upon its territory...

Eris, elder daughter of Nyx • a month ago
I know Emil is feeling all super important right now because he's been given the responsibility of keeping watch over the uber dangerous prisoner, but I wonder what he'd do if Reynir did something like started crying. I mean, Emil isn't really all that tough and he is never intentionally a twit. I can't help but feel that part of the reason he's so blasé about Reynir's suffering is because he's, well, oblivious to it (as is normal for Emil).

kauniiltaunia  Eris, elder daughter of Nyx • a month ago
I would love to see Emil try to comfort Reynir if he started crying. Imagine all the cute awkwardness! He probably wouldn't have a clue what to do, bless him
5  •Share ›
Avatar
mamioja  Eris, elder daughter of Nyx • a month ago
Remember Emil´s cousins? I think he would not be all clueless dealing with a sad and miserable underling person.
The trick with a sad kid is to distract him from his sad thoughts by giving him something else to do / think.
whispers; hairdressing saloon
3  •Share ›
Avatar
Incanus01  Eris, elder daughter of Nyx • a month ago
Well Emil is following orders from a superior officer and has this very important task so I am sure he is doing it both from suspicion towards this stranger who popped from the crate but more out of duty. He is not a meanie.
-Mikko-

Trinka  Eris, elder daughter of Nyx • a month ago
AAAAwww, I'm literally melting. I'm sure Emil would freak out a little and then comfort the poor guy. He's not a meanie after all, think of how nice he is to Lalli

Ann Marie • a month ago
...Just from the little of Emil's posture I can see, I can tell he's pretty puffed up about being assigned to guard their very dangerous prisoner.

Sunflower  Ann Marie • a month ago
"Emil's posture." Yep, I love the swaggering tough-guy lean and the thumbs in the belt. Do you think he ever saw cowboy movies? (I'm picturing Third World-village-movie-night type technology, with a projector trained on a sheet on a crumbling wall.)

Oh, and I think he's about to ask Sigrun for a billyclub.

[Sunflower]

Ole_the_Inventor • a month ago
...Emil is taking an alpha male stance, obviously taking pride in guarding the prisoner. A potentially dangerous situation, that can quickly lead to abuse.

Aggeliki  Ole_the_Inventor • a month ago
I think Emil is too nice to do any actual abuse...
"You! Walk over there! And don't bother us! Do you want any cookies? Are you comfortable? Naive civilian! I'll show you later how to produce sparkles with your braid. Cookie?"
10  •Share ›
Avatar
Euodiachloris  Aggeliki • a month ago
That's sweet of you to think so, but... seriously... Look here as to why it's all too easy to turn into something you never thought you could quicker than you'd ever think possible. -_-

Psychology: scaring people about people. ;P
7  •Share ›
Avatar
Aggeliki  Euodiachloris • a month ago
I know about that experiment! But I still think nicer people would behave differently. There are some people who behave wonderfully to those they believe inferior or belonging to them: so they would behave well even to prisoners. They would still be patronising and demand their orders to be obeyed, issue punishments etc, but wouldn't do any actual abuse.

Is Emil nice enough to behave properly in such a situation? I think he is...
If there is anyone that would turn sadistically cruel and do abuse, my bet is on Tuuri.
(Plus the prison simulation in that experiment was quite different from the situation of our team here. If Emil participated in that experiment, sure, things might change, but here in the Silent World? Nah.)

Sadoka Ytrap  Euodiachloris • a month ago
That's quite terrifying. Not only the psychological study that you linked, but the ones it was compared to. I just hope that the study itself was more flawed than people in general, but there is a definite evil about it.

Euodiachloris  Sadoka Ytrap • a month ago
And, people call Psychology a soft option... (the nightmares suggest otherwise). ;P

These are things that need to be looked at, however. There's no point in just sticking to the happy, fluffy side of our thought processes and behaviours. Even if there is much better methodology to use to do it.

Euodiachloris  Brandenfascher • a month ago
The main problem with the original study (beyond the "OK, who didn't take Ethics 101?" thing) was the easily replicated perfect storm: lack of clear guidelines for those in the staff role, lack of clear, consistent leadership over both sides and a permissive atmosphere. Bad Things™ happen in social systems when those meet up.

Now, take a long, hard look at Sigrun's leadership style and how she treats Emil. And, the responsibility (without a guide) she's just handed him. Somebody may have to step in. Just in case. -_-

Sunflower  Ole_the_Inventor • a month ago
Luckily, Minna's too kind-hearted to let a "Lord of the Flies" situation evolve (or even let Emil have the nightstick he so clearly wants). But in other hands, this really could lead to abuse.

[OrigamiOwl]

I'm kind of surprised that this has gone mostly uncommented, but on the Chap. 7 cover comments, Minna slipped this in...

"Fear not, Onni could never be a villain. He's too much of a wimp.
Now <i>Emil</i> on the other hand..."

Emil as a villain? Maayyybe.

I kinda interpreted that in the way that his Cleansing isn't so great for books XD and that he might burn down a library or something... /Technically/ making him the team's own villain?
But I agree that Emil is not an evil or bad person. But that doesn't mean he can't say something hurtful or make a poopy moral/tactical decision or actually hurt someone (accidentally, unintentionally or otherwise. Like, *granny voice* you play with fire someone will get burnt!) but the exact same could also be said for any of the team members...

[Sunflower]

Page 290, where Mikkel explains to Emil that Reynir is not, N-O-T, their prisoner.

Crazybean • 23 days ago
I can't help but snicker at how Mikkel dumbs it down for Emil there. It's like he's talking to a toddler.... or the dog. 'No Emil!', 'Not yours!' 'Drop!'
He's gonna have to do that a lot with Emil, won't he?

Poor Emil, he was so proud and puffed-up. And then deflates so quickly to fall completely apart. This is what I might interpret as panicky, he's scared of having ruined a relationship forever and freaking out. He did the same on train after he discovered the food stain.

Sunflower  Crazybean • 23 days ago
Emil has a very fragile ego -- I think *because* it's so inflated. He worries a lot about what people think of him.