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Added 2024-11-20 04:52:49 +0000 UTCI know lots of people hate Sonorie but I can't help thinking she's kinda cool. Plenty of flaws, did lots wrong, but I love a deeply grey character who, if nothing else, tried to remain true to what they believed in.
We'll see this little group briefly one more time, but until then, let's go see if Duane managed to find Sette. He's got a final date with a tiddybird.
Comments
Re: the slime, that's one of the main things I take away from Unsounded, that delicate balance between "if you completely stick to moral purity, the assholes will MURDER you" and "if you completely abandon it, you ARE one of the assholes." It's a tight-rope walk, like all of us have to do.
Josh
2024-11-22 04:48:14 +0000 UTCYeah! Last we saw her-- she had just tried to kiss Emil. Ch17-pg113
JarJar
2024-11-22 03:45:30 +0000 UTCAgree, you put into words the vibe I was getting from him and his somewhat incredulous expression. Ashley further expanded on this in a comment above about it being his sword arm and a tangible and visible expression of the cost of his loyalty to the Queen versus Chea. By the way, is Emne still alive?!
Spider
2024-11-22 03:39:35 +0000 UTCAnything's possible, but it's nothing the comic will ever get into.
Ashley
2024-11-21 16:23:23 +0000 UTCSo Duane could be one of Ssael's bastard descendants?
Mek
2024-11-21 08:09:40 +0000 UTCPeople HATE Sonorie? In a setting where there's like, Bell and Stafish and Ruckmearkha, and the Alds are borderline fascists? I hate it when people assume everything is necessarily about identity characteristics, but that smacks of sexism to me; Sonorie, well, she'd be a horrifying tyrant in real life ("I hanged a bunch of people in the square for youuuu ≽^•⩊•^≼") but, eh, that's pretty standard for a pre-Enlightenment pseudo-medieval monarch. I suspect a lot of the Sono-haters wouldn't bat an eye if from her crotch a ding-dong swung. Yeah, I've always thought she was cool for trying to cling to some remnants of like, basic human decency. That scene where she was all, "I don't wanna be the heir to the throne, I can't *kill* people!" did a lot to make her sympathetic.
Josh
2024-11-21 05:28:58 +0000 UTCShe knew what she was doing >)
Ashley
2024-11-21 00:04:52 +0000 UTC> Chea doesn't need him to kill anyone for her, not really Well it's easy to say now that Ruck already helped her with Karl!
Flyfly
2024-11-21 00:03:34 +0000 UTCObviously the Gods like her well enough too. Basically the rest of the country's leadership had turned against her, and now they're all dead (including the High Priestess!) and yet Maha's still alive. Truly, the Gods smiled upon her this day, saving her from that evil General's machinations.
Romv
2024-11-20 17:03:52 +0000 UTCNot just his arm, but his sword arm. And Hetr and his goon were the ones to mangle it like they did. There's something to be said here about Toma rethinking the cost of limitless fealty. Chea doesn't need him to kill anyone for her, not really. She just needs him.
Ashley
2024-11-20 16:15:35 +0000 UTC"What can change the nature of a man..."
Taerjaga
2024-11-20 15:59:56 +0000 UTCIs this why Toma loses an arm? He's faced his limits/mortality and now puts Chea over his duty
Capsandnumbers
2024-11-20 08:49:32 +0000 UTCI think I actually quite liked the Queen before the recent reveal about Ruck's role. That in my eyes made her a certified "Face Eating Leopards party" voter, and I think for such a character it's important they are perceived as competent-enough for their own grey schemes.
Flyfly
2024-11-20 08:47:57 +0000 UTCI like Sonorie, not despite but Because she has done questionable things. She makes me think of what I would do if I was a queen. Often people have lofty beautiful ideas on how to fix the world, but everyone would need to resort to tyranny to get those ideas anywhere. It's just how it is. I'm glad Sonorie has survived and I hope she survives until she manages to get off the plot to safety. As a sidenote, I really like her name! Sonorie just rolls off the tongue wonderfully
jaaama
2024-11-20 07:31:26 +0000 UTCSsael had many kids and grandkids - this is recorded in fairly trustworthy sources - but after those two generations there are no reliable records. So no one today can PROVE relation to Ssael, but you know plenty of Soud claim it anyway. It's historically proven politically effective to claim relation to Ssael, especially if you act the part.
Ashley
2024-11-20 06:27:10 +0000 UTCI like the queen but I'm not sure how easy it's going to be to leave. Unrelated question but are there any Soud who can actually claim to be a descendant of Ssael? I'm sure a bunch have claimed to be but are there any descendants?
Mek
2024-11-20 05:55:43 +0000 UTCThis moment between the Queen and Toma feels very significant/ symbolic. I wouldn't be surprised if he has already decided to retire. Always liked Sonorie... at least she tried. I hope history remembers her fondly. (I still believe we got another reveal coming-- that they actually managed to wreck the Dammakhert)
JarJar
2024-11-20 05:46:31 +0000 UTCSuch a polite declaration of priority from Toma. I like that Sonorie respects it.
CD
2024-11-20 05:44:40 +0000 UTCI’m glad these four are (hopefully) through the worst of it. I’ve been rooting for them all for different reasons. Also, what a badass line from Toma!
jumanji-mongie
2024-11-20 05:41:51 +0000 UTC"You're gonna carry that weight"
Mister Scarecrow
2024-11-20 05:30:44 +0000 UTC"Heavy is the head..." And all that. She is pretty morally grey but she is grey in a way that makes sense for her. She is a monarch beset on all sides from within and without who genuinely seems to be doing reprehensible things while attempting to benefit her people and her nation knowing full well every enemy set against her would happily do even more reprehensible things given half a chance. In her mind, in her world this is the path she has to travel. And she's genuinely fun to watch.
Mister Scarecrow
2024-11-20 05:26:25 +0000 UTCI never hated Sonorie. Trust the plan.
Talcon
2024-11-20 05:23:20 +0000 UTCIt is indeed! And recognizing that complexity has always been part of Maha’s character. We see her approach situations with caution and poise- we see her actively contemplate extreme forgiveness…. She embodied a lot of lessons I see in the comic. And I love how what she was ultimately fighting to protect from Ruck IS her regrets. She has to keep her no- her horror and disgust. Accepting the pain you will cause and will be cause and forgiving yourself for it… reminds me a lot of Duane.
Madison
2024-11-20 05:22:15 +0000 UTC"Life is hard," is probably a pretty good lesson to take away from Unsounded, especially in terms of the angles of morality, intention, and societal pressure. As Duane put it earlier-- "such casual villains we are."
L Anon
2024-11-20 05:19:32 +0000 UTCYay, I'm glad! Maha for me is a lesson in good people pushed towards atrocity by frustration with the intractable, inescapable flaws of human nature. The rational mind balks against the slime of where we came from, but that slime is always on our heels. You have to walk on it, or you go nowhere. And I won't say that what she and Roger did is okay, but at the end of this, their actions will have moved the world a little bit nearer to where they'd wanted it. If they'd rested on norms and moral purity, Roger would still be a miserable little Copper servant of his parents', and Maha would probably have been assassinated by now. Life is hard!
Ashley
2024-11-20 05:13:09 +0000 UTCHe's come to some decisions in the last few days.
Ashley
2024-11-20 05:07:36 +0000 UTCYeah! And it would be terribly difficult to believe this person had remained in power for so long without dirtying her hands.
Ashley
2024-11-20 05:07:17 +0000 UTCThe Queen is certainly more noble than some other characters in this very comic- and considering what she prioritizes and how she has always been characterized, this feels Good to me. I had thought you might kill her off, it’s always possible, but I always felt that would be a deeply cynical turn. In terms of Unsounded as a text, I feel like it priorities lessons born of suffering, living with regrets and making peace with them, and using them to build a better tomorrow. For all her faults, Maha is a character that has always strived towards those ideals… and so she passes the narrative tests given to her. yay Maha! I like her
Madison
2024-11-20 05:05:24 +0000 UTCThe most genuine badass of the comic so far.
Luuuuuuu
2024-11-20 05:02:36 +0000 UTCI don't hate Sonorie, I think she did the things she did, not for self aggrandisement but for a sense of duty to Cresce. She's not cruel for cruelties sake. She made a deal with a devil and bears the knowledge of the horrors that brought and I believe she accepts the blame and the responsibility that making those decisions entails. Sweet Chea, I'm so happy she's with her dad.
GracieV
2024-11-20 05:01:55 +0000 UTCI find the queen to be interesting and complicated! Love Tomas line though, they both are going to have to live the rest of their lives with the weight if what's happened
Renee
2024-11-20 05:01:48 +0000 UTC"Ch-chased away, Somewhere..." Off in the distance, the faint noises of Yakkety-Sax can be heard as she says this.
Michael Stakely
2024-11-20 04:58:12 +0000 UTCWhat a fucking line Toma. The epitome of badass dad.
Rifter
2024-11-20 04:57:01 +0000 UTCI love Sonorie, I think she's so interesting. Hope she makes it out of this alive, for her own sake and the sake of Cresce.
Natalie
2024-11-20 04:56:21 +0000 UTCI love the queen! We already have an excellent moral paragon in Toma. It’s nice to have some grey mixed in.
Ben Dennard
2024-11-20 04:56:00 +0000 UTC
