I was thinking of “the raising fighting spirit” from Naruto myself. It reminds me of the 9 of Swords from my tarot deck – that calm that exists before the fighting gets started.
(If anyone’s wondering, I use the Witch’s Tarot deck by Ellen Cannon Reed.)
“You will not have to face the shadows alone”
…is it bad that I want to hug Jhalm for trying to be so nice and hit him for simultaneously being so accidentally horrible?
Lindale, you are not alone. I want to hug the guy and whack him upside the head, too. That, and I want to call him an idiot when I whack him upside the head and then hug him again.
Too bad no one thought of or had the ability to drag the statue over the hole.
As it is, Digger has got herself far more than a half hour: she is on her way and Jhalm could wander in the caves for days. Pack a lunch, Jhalm. Or find the recent tracks of the wombat.
I can’t decide which of the two I’d be more inclined to do.
She almost looks, in that last panel (I’m assuming that’s her), like she’s asking for just a *little* more patience. Maybe she’s getting exasperated with Jhalm too!
See, I *just* want to smack Jahlm. I think he’s being a manipulative bastard tellinng her ‘if only she will do what *he* wants, she won’t have to face the shadows alone’.
In the end, no matter how much help you have, you always have to face the shadows for yourself. Others can be there with you, but they can’t do it for you.
I think Murai is about to face her shadows and win.
I know I’ll probably be hated for this but I really have to respect Jahlm wordcraft. With only a little compassion, most likely genuine, he seems to have her already second guessing herself. I don’t think with all the self discovery she’s had through meeting Digger that she’ll be swayed, but it is impressive what a smooth soothing voice can do to a situation where one is uncertain in the stance they’ve taken.
Jahlm may be a manipulative bastard but he doesn’t do it out of malice but instead out of his belief that his way it the only possible way. He’s really just doing it all for everyones benefit, even if that may be only true in his on mind he stands behind his choices and his beliefs.
Somehow, I think Murai hasn’t quite finished what she was saying,
There may be a big “But -” coming up (no puns, please) : as in, “BUT – since there is no truly independent means of verifying the reality or unreality of this hypothesis – I choose to stay right here, and face the consequences.” 7@=e
@ Siege: Yes, if you’re smart enough to know fear. If your fearless you may well face not the shadows like a sane, frightened soul, but the light. The light’s good, don’t get me wrong. But if you face it you’ll lose your night vision. Face it too long and you’ll go blind. And all the time you’re facing it you’ll be unable to see your own shadow, stretching out behind you. you’ll stand there, unaware of the darkness you’re casting on the world, and whether or not it’s already rising up to meet you. It may be, just maybe that you’ve cast none, I’m sure such people exist. but they’re one in ten million of the people who think they are one or rarer, and you’d really have to be fearless to believe that you were one because if you didn’t, then one day you’d look over your shoulder, you won’t be able to help yourself, I mean who could resist it’s Orpheus’s curse. It’s the pink elephant in the room that you mustn’t think about The stone angel out to get you if you even blink. . The monster you could just see reflected in the top right hand corner of your computer monitor that would kill, you if you ever gave in and looked at it. That strangers hand hovering over your shoulder right now. The chasm beneath you when someone says “don’t look down”. You’d look eventually, no matter how much you wanted not to look away from the light, you look away BECAUSE you didn’t want to. Because you don’t eat the one fruit it he garden you’ve been told you will die if you eat off it because some snake tells you. The snakes not making you eat it, it’s just justifying that mad impulse to eat it you’ve always had BECAUSE you knew it would kill you. And I Wonder what you’d see in the unattended shadow. And I wonder if you’d be able to ever turn back to the light again, knowing what was there, waiting for you.
Or, as the great muse Terry Pratchett rather more succinctly, and without torturing a whole flock of metaphors quite so badly as my last offering, said” The presence of those seeking god is infantry preferable to those who know they’ve already found him. For a start, they’re bound to be disappointed one way or another before long”
@CoyoteGrey:
>but it is impressive what a smooth soothing voice can do to a situation where one is uncertain in the stance they’ve taken.
I found your statement intriguingly reminiscent of the described characteristics of Sweetgrass Voice. Perhaps the Smooth Talkers are drawn to each other, though Jhalm likely is unaware of it.
This scene rather reminds me of the Green Witch in the Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis, when she’s tempting Jill and Eustace and Rillian and Puddleglum and trying to convince them that Aslan and the daylight worlds are a lie.
So I keep expecting Murai to break out into a Puddleglum speech to deter her captain: “I may be crazy, but I’d rather live in my crazy world than betray what I believe in”– etc.
@BunnyRock The fearless who are too dull to know fear soon lose their lives. The fearless who have met fear, embraced its message, and cleansed it away…
Fear them, if you must face them down. Especially if you trained them, and they have been absent from you.
Why do I hear the music from Super Smash Bros.?
…
Anyways: http://topwebcomics.com/vote/10180/default.aspx You know your duty.
i hear the final countdown
I was thinking of “the raising fighting spirit” from Naruto myself. It reminds me of the 9 of Swords from my tarot deck – that calm that exists before the fighting gets started.
(If anyone’s wondering, I use the Witch’s Tarot deck by Ellen Cannon Reed.)
Ooh, spooky! That’s the deck I have too!
I am wondering if Murai is about to destroy the “shadow” she believes is in front of her now… Get ready to duck, Jhalm!
“You will not have to face the shadows alone”
…is it bad that I want to hug Jhalm for trying to be so nice and hit him for simultaneously being so accidentally horrible?
I sense an imminent epic Thursday.
Lindale, you are not alone. I want to hug the guy and whack him upside the head, too. That, and I want to call him an idiot when I whack him upside the head and then hug him again.
DON’T DO IT, MURAI!
Heh, and DIgger was worrying about Jhalm muscling past Murai…
Too bad no one thought of or had the ability to drag the statue over the hole.
As it is, Digger has got herself far more than a half hour: she is on her way and Jhalm could wander in the caves for days. Pack a lunch, Jhalm. Or find the recent tracks of the wombat.
Yeah… not gonna happen veil-boy.
Keep him talking, Murai; keep him wondering.
or just smack him really hard.
I can’t decide which of the two I’d be more inclined to do.
She almost looks, in that last panel (I’m assuming that’s her), like she’s asking for just a *little* more patience. Maybe she’s getting exasperated with Jhalm too!
She really should go with him. It is bound to take some time to get her to a healer.
It would probably take more time than a fight.
I wonder what kind of tool Ursula used for the roof and floors…
if this is a delaying tactic, it might be a very effective one! I think Murai can run circles around Jhalm if she’s clear-headed enough.
See, I *just* want to smack Jahlm. I think he’s being a manipulative bastard tellinng her ‘if only she will do what *he* wants, she won’t have to face the shadows alone’.
Kick his ass Murai!
In the end, no matter how much help you have, you always have to face the shadows for yourself. Others can be there with you, but they can’t do it for you.
I think Murai is about to face her shadows and win.
agh! I have caught up in the archives.
and Siege, I like the way you think.
I know I’ll probably be hated for this but I really have to respect Jahlm wordcraft. With only a little compassion, most likely genuine, he seems to have her already second guessing herself. I don’t think with all the self discovery she’s had through meeting Digger that she’ll be swayed, but it is impressive what a smooth soothing voice can do to a situation where one is uncertain in the stance they’ve taken.
Jahlm may be a manipulative bastard but he doesn’t do it out of malice but instead out of his belief that his way it the only possible way. He’s really just doing it all for everyones benefit, even if that may be only true in his on mind he stands behind his choices and his beliefs.
Somehow, I think Murai hasn’t quite finished what she was saying,
There may be a big “But -” coming up (no puns, please) : as in, “BUT – since there is no truly independent means of verifying the reality or unreality of this hypothesis – I choose to stay right here, and face the consequences.” 7@=e
@ Siege: Yes, if you’re smart enough to know fear. If your fearless you may well face not the shadows like a sane, frightened soul, but the light. The light’s good, don’t get me wrong. But if you face it you’ll lose your night vision. Face it too long and you’ll go blind. And all the time you’re facing it you’ll be unable to see your own shadow, stretching out behind you. you’ll stand there, unaware of the darkness you’re casting on the world, and whether or not it’s already rising up to meet you. It may be, just maybe that you’ve cast none, I’m sure such people exist. but they’re one in ten million of the people who think they are one or rarer, and you’d really have to be fearless to believe that you were one because if you didn’t, then one day you’d look over your shoulder, you won’t be able to help yourself, I mean who could resist it’s Orpheus’s curse. It’s the pink elephant in the room that you mustn’t think about The stone angel out to get you if you even blink. . The monster you could just see reflected in the top right hand corner of your computer monitor that would kill, you if you ever gave in and looked at it. That strangers hand hovering over your shoulder right now. The chasm beneath you when someone says “don’t look down”. You’d look eventually, no matter how much you wanted not to look away from the light, you look away BECAUSE you didn’t want to. Because you don’t eat the one fruit it he garden you’ve been told you will die if you eat off it because some snake tells you. The snakes not making you eat it, it’s just justifying that mad impulse to eat it you’ve always had BECAUSE you knew it would kill you. And I Wonder what you’d see in the unattended shadow. And I wonder if you’d be able to ever turn back to the light again, knowing what was there, waiting for you.
Or, as the great muse Terry Pratchett rather more succinctly, and without torturing a whole flock of metaphors quite so badly as my last offering, said” The presence of those seeking god is infantry preferable to those who know they’ve already found him. For a start, they’re bound to be disappointed one way or another before long”
@CoyoteGrey:
>but it is impressive what a smooth soothing voice can do to a situation where one is uncertain in the stance they’ve taken.
I found your statement intriguingly reminiscent of the described characteristics of Sweetgrass Voice. Perhaps the Smooth Talkers are drawn to each other, though Jhalm likely is unaware of it.
(Oh, and Happy Towel Day everyone!)
This scene rather reminds me of the Green Witch in the Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis, when she’s tempting Jill and Eustace and Rillian and Puddleglum and trying to convince them that Aslan and the daylight worlds are a lie.
So I keep expecting Murai to break out into a Puddleglum speech to deter her captain: “I may be crazy, but I’d rather live in my crazy world than betray what I believe in”– etc.
PS. That’s a VERY inexact Puddleglum quote. But it was an awesome scene in the Narnia chronicles and one of my favorites.
And I, for one, expect Murai to just go screaming off the deep end.
Like this!
Murai: You remind me alot of my father… I hate my father!
Jahlm: Eh? O_o
Murai whips off veil to reveal… SCARS!!* Wanna know how I got my scars? >:}
Jahlm: OMGWTF!!!! :O
My crazy world makes me happy! 😀
I really like the art on this page Ursula. The previous two weren’t any where near so dramatic or well done.
@BunnyRock The fearless who are too dull to know fear soon lose their lives. The fearless who have met fear, embraced its message, and cleansed it away…
Fear them, if you must face them down. Especially if you trained them, and they have been absent from you.
And I am one in a billion, or more.
@Siege…my god… at what point did we start playing “Vampire: The Masquerade”?
😉