Just a note–Sofawolf Press is offering Digger Christmas cards! If you’ve been putting off buying cards, here’s a chance at a very Shadowchild Christmas…
Digger
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You know.. I think I’ve used Murai’s line there before..
😀 I know I did, when I had my first gyneacological appointment.
I have GOT to remember that line. It’s good enough reason to start a whole collection of awesome lines all on its own!
‘If everyone does what I say then they’d be happy’ – isn’t that the basis of most major religions?
Curses! Now I am caught up. OK, time for me to do Something*Positive and Zap and maybe a little Tao of Geek…. until the lovely Ursula gets far enough ahead for me to spend another night or two catching up (hate to see you go, girl, but LOVE to watch you walk away!).
Little did Digger know, there’s actually was a small dwarven community not far away that did grow diamonds on tubers, giving it the distinction of being the first and only dwarven community on the continent whose economy was completely agricultural. Unfortunately, the magical properties of the soil that allowed such a feat eventually faded and when the dwarves tried to restore it, the entire area was swallowed by the earth. Or maybe Digger did know and was implying that Jhalm’s reasoning would have the same result. Hmm…
Re: fanaticism
Actually, a lot of bad zeal isn’t someone being Too Sure and Not Caring. When you’re really sure of your beliefs, you tend to have a lot more understanding of the first principles behind your beliefs, and you can see how to apply them in ways that fit the situation and help everyone. Really zealous people are deep down happy. Fanatically zealous people are faintly hysterical.
Straight-up fanatical zeal is usually a product of someone feeling unsure in their beliefs, and covering it up by acting rigidly on what he thinks his beliefs are supposed to be. He can’t consult any innate understanding of principles, so he picks one option and sticks with it in all situations. He tries to make everyone go with this one option, because it’s what he’s clinging to. He can’t bend, because he’s afraid he’ll let go of belief entirely if he shifts his position in any way. If one’s beliefs really do hold less moral authority than those of other people, this can be an even worse problem; but the best beliefs in the world don’t work when pushed with this sort of false zeal.
This is not to say that beliefs never need to be defended with violence, because people’s beliefs do have consequences in real life. Often folks with other beliefs object to those consequences very strongly. But there’s a difference between fighting with honor and chivalry (in argument or combat) and thus showing that your beliefs have something to say for them, and pretending that service to your religion covers up all crime and dishonor supposedly done in its name.
Maureen – nice explanation, will have to remember that.
@Maureen: Very well said!
I WANT that Christmas card! It’s perfect for me. I know someone who loves dark chocolate, and I’m obsessed with gems. I could be Digger, and my chocolate-loving friend could be Shadowchild.
Ursula you are an awesome writer.
The second I read Murai’s line “He just wants what’s best for everybody, and if everybody just did what he said he’s sure it would work out.” it strongly reminded me of Ed’s line, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when he and Digger were talking about good and evil (totally paraphrased) “Evil always has a reason. It is punishing the world for not being the way it wants it to be.” It seems like that is exactly what’s going on with Jhalm, and whether or not you intentionally called back to that line, it is awesome that you have this theme, this sense of what evil is, and it’s so subtle yet it runs through everything, from abusive spouses to a good guy who’s getting ‘being good’ really wrong.
@Mark Antony: I believe the Diamond Potatoes were defeated by the Vampire Squash and Antlered Tomatoes in the Vegetable Wars a generation ago, and have since been stricken from the history books …
😉
RuralDragon- You have an awesome memory!! You pulled that connection out and put it in persective for me, thanks 🙂
It took me a moment to figure out that “Hsst! Get down!” was *Digger’s* line, since there was no little pointy thing on the speech bubble. I thought it was yet another surprise appearance, like the Oracular Slug. It took me another panel to figure out it was Digger.
I love the sound effect for Murai getting tackled!!
And I too must remember that line for use later!
Brenda – sure it’s not Surka?
I agree with Mazz. I’m pretty sure it was Surka. Remember everyone, just because she’s too small to be seen over the bushes, she still exists.
Poor Murai. It’s hard to have your crush stomped on and agree with the reasons. I get the feeling that when the showdown vs. Jhalm comes, it might be Murai that stands up to him, possibly with comic results, but Digger will be backing her up.
*YOINK!*
Just what they needed to underscore the seriousness of the situation: a Saturday-morning sound effect…. [email protected]=e
i caught up with the present! i’m so sad!
Maureen:
“Really zealous people are deep down happy. Fanatically zealous people are faintly hysterical.”
Wonderful choice of words, there.
I agree with Tindi. If anyone gets through to Jhalm, it won’t be Digger. Digger and Jhalm haven’t gotten along from the first, so both of them would dismiss anything the other says. However, Jhalm and Murai have similar views on the world, so if Murai tells Jhalm he’s wrong, he’ll probably take the trouble to consider why she feels that way. Also, Jhalm has proven that he cares deeply about the Veiled, enough to risk his life for Murai, so that’s another reason he’d listen to her before he would listen to Digger.
I have never found a real-life example of what sound “yoink” means. I’ve seen it used for so many different things too…
Hey, everyone, don’t forget you can vote everyday, whether there’s a new comic or not!
http://topwebcomics.com/vote/10180/default.aspx
great as always cant wait to see where this goes “dreams of epic battle”
but on a side note I have a question to anyone who may be kind enough to answer
“Is grim-eyes ed’s daughter?”
it would seem to make sense but im not completely sure
p.s sry to ask I just want some conformation here
Yoink is an awesome onomatopoeia because it doesn’t actually represent a sound. And, because I am a terrible person:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UnsoundEffect
Haha! Now you will be stuck in front of your computer for the rest of the day!
Ooo. Glowy.
Arg. Tvtropes.com is a BLACK HOLE. It never fails to suck at least 1/2 hour of my life away, every time someone links to it where I can see …
😕
Winston Churchill evidently once said that a fanatic is someone who WON’T change his mind, and can’t change the subject.
KevinBunny? Do you draw K&K or just reference it?
Maureen: great and wonderful comment. As good as any and should he in a book.
RauDragon: very insightful.
@ Nessa: Winston Churchill knew what he was talking about
@the unclean one:
All evidence (and there is a lot) points to Grim Eyes being Ed’s daughter. HOWEVER, this has not yet been explicitly said in the comic.
Darn you with your TV tropes! and darn me for not finding the Digger Christmas cards until late January!
I did get Ursula stuff for Christmas ‘thoug. Trying to explain a print of the famed “Wombat and Gears” ( http://www.redwombatstudio.com/blog/wpg2?g2_itemId=693 ) to my family was interesting. All though Christmas dinner my sister kept turning to me and saying “Okay, its a wombat. I get that. But whats with the goldfish?”
“… The pain is merely excruciating.” I love that.