Latest Page Discussions/Comic Update Chitchat

[thorny]

Yeah. Is Minna really not going to give us anything of what they said?

That is if so both frustrating, and really bad writing. She spends the whole adventure building up to this and then there's nothing there?

[Esprit]

Hello everyone, i'm one of the silent readers for years who finally got tired of being silent. Many thanks to everyone who has ever written on this forum.

I really dont like when the author leaves such moments for the reader to think up. If the following pages will not contain at least a brief summary of what the conversation was about then for me this is simply a failure and a big sign that the comic is 'rolling down'. Quite interesting dialogues and moments have already been missed and it's just unacceptable to lose the last and really important things. I can understand why Minna 'forgot' about the backstories of some of the characters. With a changed worldview it can be difficult to see things and people from the same perspective as before. And what used to be close now seems very distant. But letting go of what the whole path led to like this?.. Really? Hope I am wrong.

[yung_chrysanthemum]

To be fair, this is not the first time an emotional reunion has been done off-screen. Remember when Emil and Lalli tagged up with the group at the end of Adventure 1? (though they did at least show Mikkel's reaction)

It's pretty easy to imagine what they talked about too. Tuuri clearly was going to explain what happened in Adventure 1, Lalli probably didn't say much of anything, Onni probably didn't either. Grandma definitely scolded Onni for not going with Tuuri on the first adventure.

Would I have traded the Surma vs Bear and Gang vs Bear sequences for chatting with Grandma though? In a heartbeat.

[thorny]

If nothing else, Grandma may have genuinely useful information about the nature of kades; even if it's only that she wasn't conscious while in there. If she was conscious while in there, she ought to be debriefed in detail, with Onni taking notes.

But it's the emotional stuff that's really missing. Is she glad to be rescued? Does she feel like she was rescued? Is she, and is Tuuri, resigned to going with the Swan? looking forward to it? wishing there were some way out of it? The swan demands two souls; did Onni volunteer to be one so that Tuuri -- or Ensi for that matter, though Tuuri seems more likely -- could stay? if so, how did they react? Does Ensi have advice for Onni? encouragement? is she still angry at him? Did Ensi want to know what Onni and Tuuri's and Lalli's lives have been like since she left them? If not, why not?

[Jitter]

Did Ensi let them know it was not their fault? I mean the original attack on their village, which she would have views on.

If she did scold the boys for what happened to Tuuri, did all of this actually make their emotional baggage even worse, and not better?

[tehta]

As I already posted in the comic comments, I join Jitter in hoping that grandma had some kind words for the boys (as she did for Tuuri!)
Lalli deserves praise for how he handled the Kade incident. How many kids his age would have kept it together so well?
Onni deserves major praise for keeping the family together and raising the other children. He gave up so much.

It seems rather unlikely, considering both the guys' self-soothing body language.

However, overall I think I am way less disappointed than most, because I was not expecting to see any of this reunion, at least not after we followed Reynir as he walked away. I was actually surprised that the birds were still there, yesterday: I expected Lalli to just tell Reynir it was time to go. And Minna has a long track record of leaving emotional scenes to the imagination. In Adv One she at least hinted at deeper emotion (see Reynir and Lalli after Tuuri's funeral) but more recently it's been... just missing. I was enormously disappointed by the Lehto reunion (regarding Tuuri, all we got was Reynir's 'joke' and the others' reactions to it; and Onni said he would talk to Lalli, and then... ?)

[JoB]

Did Ensi let them know it was not their fault? I mean the original attack on their village, which she would have views on.

Considering Onnis referral to "grandma's one mistake", I don't think that they ever thought of it being their fault in the first place. A task to address and clean up matters at some point during their lifetime maybe, but not personal guilt.

[Jitter]

Considering Onnis referral to "grandma's one mistake", I don't think that they ever thought of it being their fault in the first place. A task to address and clean up matters at some point during their lifetime maybe, but not personal guilt.

Maybe not rationally, but the way Lalli acts after Tuuri was bitten indicates to me he’s carrying more guilt than he objectively should. And Onni, first refusing to leave Keuruu and now on a suicide mission? A few minutes of talking will not heal these things, but they could be a push to set healing in motion.

[tehta]

Blame and guilt are not a zero-sum game. To me, the fact that Onni blames grandma does not imply that he does not blame himself for some aspects of the death of his family. (Maybe not for the attack itself, but for not having done more, somehow. Even if he rationally knows that getting the kids out was his duty, he must also know that he could have done more* for the others.) Actually, I feel like his having a blame-guilt mindset makes it more likely that he might blame himself, too.

I think I am slightly more balanced than any Hotakainen, but I think I would definitely feel guilt in his situation.

[thorny]

Blame and guilt are not a zero-sum game. To me, the fact that Onni blames grandma does not imply that he does not blame himself for some aspects of the death of his family.

In fact, he seems to have expanded that blame, or at least a terror of it, to the entire surviving family.

He tells Lalli that because they're Hotakainens they can't afford to make any mistakes at all. Grandmother only made one and look what happened!

[Jitter]

In fact, he seems to have expanded that blame, or at least a terror of it, to the entire surviving family.

He tells Lalli that because they're Hotakainens they can't afford to make any mistakes at all. Grandmother only made one and look what happened!

Indeed, this is not a healthy mindset!

[thorny]

Oy?

Is the Swan Jewish?

(If the Swan's going to tell them to be ready, but not what to be ready for, "Oy" seems like an appropriate response.)

[wavewright62]

'Oy' as an exclamation is a thing in several languages & cultures.  I know it from Estonian, for example, which is close enough to Finnish for this. 
I also know it from... (takes a deep enough breath to yell loud enough that Keep Looking and Roisin can hear me...)

AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!
 
*listens*  how about...


ZIGGY ZAGGY ZIGGY ZAGGY!

[JoB]

Oy?
Is the Swan Jewish?

No, incorporated.

[Róisín]

Wavewright, I am much amused by that reference.