I’m with “Refugee” on this one. Murai defended the hole so they could get through; Digger defended Ed so she (?) could kill the dead god. Now that *that* has happened, what’s next?
1. I’m not sure Digger fully understands that this aspect of killing a god is kind of like running a ship. Every job, no matter how small it may seem, has a role. Not a perfect comparison, but it works for this bit.
2. “To stop one’s followers from doing what they believe is right is not the act of a god, but a tyrant, Burrower.” is now one of my favorite quotes. Ursula has so many quoteable quotes.
Not only that, if anyone else than Murai had defended the hole, Jhalm would have dispatched them and gone down. It’s _because_ it was Murai – a sick, injured pacifist child actually taking up a sword – that Boneclaw Mother had to intervene and get sense (if not poison) into Jhalm…
Keitera, Ed was male. (Couldn’t have fathered two children otherwise.) What’s next, indeed. Perhaps the caravan master will finally take Digger home (or close enough that she can use a map)?
I feel really stupid for just realizing this, but I think I know why Ganesh is never really shown as a full statue. It’s so he(she?) isn’t veiwed as a statue, or even as a part or avatar of Ganesh, but a real, wise, ancient being.
@Scott: I don’t think Digger cares whether Murai actually has a destiny. What bugs her, I think, is that Murai seems to have been denied the destiny she thought she had. It’s not Murai’s importance or lack thereof that matters to Digger; it’s the fact that the poor kid is being jerked around by fate. That’d annoy any good wombat.
“The act of a tyrant, not a god” – This resonates with me, a lot. Another of my favorite authors (Mercedes Lackey) once pointed out that “people sometimes want answers, without having to think about those answers. When their priests begin to give them the answers, and lead them rather than teaching them, that is when corruption begins to fester the faith.” That’s not an exact quote, but near enough.
This strip makes me want to pat Digger on the shoulder. Her bitterness is as much a reaction to pain as tears would be. She wanted more time, with all her friends, and isn’t getting it. Her “great deed” is done, and now she feels punished, not rewarded.
Not that she doesn’t have friends left! But I think, right now, she is feeling bereft, and peeved. And it’s such great art, Ursula, that we can infer so very much from the posture of the wombat’s ears and the positioning of her arms 😀
Of course Murai still has a god in her head — I don’t think her particular specimen was He Is, anyway, but rather one or another of the ones mentioned in her back-story.
*Charline de Lyon, the ever-evil one, nods at the god-tyrant quote* Yep, which is why I don’t bother claiming to be a god! I smite EVERYONE who dares to oppose me! Tyrrany is awesome when you’re the tyrant! And limitless power helps too. *dances gleefully, steeped in evil deeds* >:3
@JewelWolf: Don’t think so. I’m pretty sure the statue-part-views are to give Ganesh a range of expression; after all, the statue itself can’t move, so you can’t get the emotional range that way, but you get different emotional connotations depending on wiether you’ve got half the head, the whole head, just one arm with whichever implement it happens to be holding, a near-full view, etc. If she just focused on the whole statue every time, it’d never look any different.
@Loren: The god in Murai’s head is the Black Mother, the goddess of the forsaken homeless children in a small seafaring town. She was supposed to try and reach out to the goddess because the goddess wouldn’t speak to anyone over a certain age, and it failed miserably.
1st!
Didn’t answer the question, did he?
Sounds like Digger is peeved that Murai didn’t have MORE of a destiny!
Comes to that, little Digger, for all you did, you weren’t the one who actually killed the god either.
Ed couldn’t have done it without you standing guard as well.
That whole everyone has a role to play thing and each is important. .-.
Here’s the Votey-thingy. http://topwebcomics.com/vote/10180/default.aspx. Of course Murai has to still have the god in her head. How else would we have Digger the sequel?
I’m with “Refugee” on this one. Murai defended the hole so they could get through; Digger defended Ed so she (?) could kill the dead god. Now that *that* has happened, what’s next?
1. I’m not sure Digger fully understands that this aspect of killing a god is kind of like running a ship. Every job, no matter how small it may seem, has a role. Not a perfect comparison, but it works for this bit.
2. “To stop one’s followers from doing what they believe is right is not the act of a god, but a tyrant, Burrower.” is now one of my favorite quotes. Ursula has so many quoteable quotes.
Not only that, if anyone else than Murai had defended the hole, Jhalm would have dispatched them and gone down. It’s _because_ it was Murai – a sick, injured pacifist child actually taking up a sword – that Boneclaw Mother had to intervene and get sense (if not poison) into Jhalm…
Keitera, Ed was male. (Couldn’t have fathered two children otherwise.) What’s next, indeed. Perhaps the caravan master will finally take Digger home (or close enough that she can use a map)?
I feel really stupid for just realizing this, but I think I know why Ganesh is never really shown as a full statue. It’s so he(she?) isn’t veiwed as a statue, or even as a part or avatar of Ganesh, but a real, wise, ancient being.
@Scott: I don’t think Digger cares whether Murai actually has a destiny. What bugs her, I think, is that Murai seems to have been denied the destiny she thought she had. It’s not Murai’s importance or lack thereof that matters to Digger; it’s the fact that the poor kid is being jerked around by fate. That’d annoy any good wombat.
“The act of a tyrant, not a god” – This resonates with me, a lot. Another of my favorite authors (Mercedes Lackey) once pointed out that “people sometimes want answers, without having to think about those answers. When their priests begin to give them the answers, and lead them rather than teaching them, that is when corruption begins to fester the faith.” That’s not an exact quote, but near enough.
This strip makes me want to pat Digger on the shoulder. Her bitterness is as much a reaction to pain as tears would be. She wanted more time, with all her friends, and isn’t getting it. Her “great deed” is done, and now she feels punished, not rewarded.
Not that she doesn’t have friends left! But I think, right now, she is feeling bereft, and peeved. And it’s such great art, Ursula, that we can infer so very much from the posture of the wombat’s ears and the positioning of her arms 😀
@JewelWolf: I was pretty sure we had seen the entire statue at some point, so I went back and found this:
http://www.diggercomic.com/?p=78
Of course Murai still has a god in her head — I don’t think her particular specimen was He Is, anyway, but rather one or another of the ones mentioned in her back-story.
Post-heroism let-down? After all the excitement is over life continues, not always as she might have preferred. I think Hawk has it right.
Thanks for posting that link, Loren – now I am probably going to have to go back and read the whole thing from the beginning again 😛 😉
Remember, folks, you can still vote every day, not just when a new issue appears! I do – I make it part of my usual morning comic ritual 😉
*Charline de Lyon, the ever-evil one, nods at the god-tyrant quote* Yep, which is why I don’t bother claiming to be a god! I smite EVERYONE who dares to oppose me! Tyrrany is awesome when you’re the tyrant! And limitless power helps too. *dances gleefully, steeped in evil deeds* >:3
@JewelWolf: Don’t think so. I’m pretty sure the statue-part-views are to give Ganesh a range of expression; after all, the statue itself can’t move, so you can’t get the emotional range that way, but you get different emotional connotations depending on wiether you’ve got half the head, the whole head, just one arm with whichever implement it happens to be holding, a near-full view, etc. If she just focused on the whole statue every time, it’d never look any different.
And Hawk has already beaten me to what I was going to say… Again :p
Oh well, nail, head, I’d say you pretty well got it.
Irritated Digger is Irritated. Unfortunately, that’s life; things don’t always happen the way you would like. I just hope Murai is ok!
@Loren: The god in Murai’s head is the Black Mother, the goddess of the forsaken homeless children in a small seafaring town. She was supposed to try and reach out to the goddess because the goddess wouldn’t speak to anyone over a certain age, and it failed miserably.
Pffft. I still think poor Murai got herself royally upstaged. If the god in her head wasn’t feeding her delusions of destiny to begin with, I guess.
@ Waffles: Sorry 😛 *hug*