King of Swords 1-5
Chapter: 1
Grab the reins, you awesome puppeteer, you conductor of chains
Redeemer. Unbreakable strings. Damnation leashes
Remote cords extend, the trusses they run
They stretch all the way behind the sun.
-Meshuggah, “Behind the Sun”
Huh, I had my money on Gog-Agog stealing him.
She/They might, but Zaid was squarely purchased by Solomon from 0001. I suspect it might be a coming development.
Hey, Zaid! How does it feel to be relevant to the plot again, bro?
That’s presumptuous. He’s just appearing. He’s not relevant yet…
True enough.
I really didn’t even recognize Zaid…. huh
also man he really is bragging about his powers.
That’s not bragging. That’s just stating a fact. If you want to see him brag wait until he starts destroying suns.
Zaid seems pretty composed, all things considered.
Do we have any sense of how much time has passed? How long he’s had to adjust to his circumstances like Allison has?
When one is kidnapped by angels covered in thorns, given to a literal dragon whose hoard is a whole nation of gold, then sold off to a earth-like world with two suns…
…jaded does not begin to describe one such man.
-Hello 911? Someone’s stealing my sun
That’s was never YOUR sun. It has always been Solomon’s sun, he was just letting you use it.
I didn’t even realize that was Zaid at first.
Setting up Zaid as Nega-Allison begins now?
Hey Abbadon, if this world has two suns, how come there aren’t two different shadows from two different light sources? I suppose it’s possible that it’s a reignited Sun and an ignited Jupiter type deal or the second sun isn’t bright enough to create obvious shadows but bright enough to disturb sleep patterns.
Maybe he placed it so that the planet is always in daylight, which is why Zaid is having a little trouble sleeping. Would that work?
There are 2 different shadows. Look at the last panel. Both suns are almost overhead right now, so columns on both sides of the walkway have inwards facing shadows.
It’s also possible one’s geosynchronous and the other isn’t, meaning the explanation for there only being one shadow is that *this is nighttime*.
There are, though, if you look at the previous page. One sun is casting light from one side of the corridor, and the other is casting light from the other side (which is out of frame in this page).
I suggest that you take a look at the first panel of the previous page 😉
Check the first panel of the previous page, fam. (Which, coincidentally, was super confusing without the context of this page!)
On the previous page, there is light coming in from 2 different angles, see the shadow cast on the top left. As for Zaid’s shadow, its because he is only in direct sunlight from the one sun (does that make sense), the other sunlight is shadowed.
I took what Zaid said to mean that the suns are up at different times and exist at different sides of the planet
Look at the previous page, panel 1. You’ll see what you’re looking for.
There are two shadows, check the pillar shadows on the previous page when Solomon is walking towards the reader.
Panel 1 of the previous page gave away the “Two suns” thing with its strikingly impossible lighting on the covered walkway. In this page, they are standing in the ceiling’s shadow of one sun, while being lit by the other.
Magic
Zaid and Salami Dave are only standing in the light of a single sun in this sun. The last update showed that the walkway they’re on is both incredibly wide and has two equivalent sources of light striking both sides, as evidenced by the shadows in that scene.
Might it be that Solomon has arranged it so the capital is always bathed in light? So that sunrise always coincides with sunset? Zaid may have implied that.
As to the practicalities of that, a planet stationary with reference to the two suns, perhaps? Or possibly this is the case some of the year, as it orbits one of the two.
It’s because Solomon David is a fraud and a pretender to the Throne. Only Mammon has the wealth to place a star in the sky, much less two of them.
Look at the previous page – both rows of guards cast shadows towards the middle of the pathway. Each guard is illuminated from the back
If you look at the last page, you see that the arcade is lit up from two directions. But there should be secondary figure shadows as well, I think. Lighting is super hard. Having two suns, impressive as it is, is just setting oneself up for trouble…
The idea here may be that he has trouble sleeping because the two suns always illuminate opposite sides of the globe, so there is never night.
Judging from how light is coming in from both banks of windows equally upon the previous page- as well as the issues with sleeping- I would assume that they are placed an equal distance away in such a way that they line up with each other and the planet simply rotates in the exact center between them because he decided that would work.
There are two shadows. Last page had symmetrical shadows on the colonnade, coming from opposite light sources. I hope comment moderation lets my reply through xD
I think the implication is that as one sun sets the other rises, hence the disturbed sleep.
there is a time of the ‘year’
when even s-types planets
have both stars aligned
and only one shadow
refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitability_of_binary_star_systems
It seems that the ward that is not Al-YISUN has been taken in by the Great Tyrant. I was wondering when we’d see his mediocrity again.
It is strange indeed that Solomon David’s power is great enough to place suns in the sky, a force not even Al-YISUN can match right now. I wonder—what will be this tyrant’s downfall?
Oh boy, Zaid’s back! And is Solomon David instructing him?!? Man, I am so hyped right now.
Ah, and here, now that the pattern of Zaid’s beard growth is apparent, we can see yet further proof that he and Zoss are in fact one and the same.
The beards match; the facts don’t lie!
The finer points of pencil’s edge
suggest a detail on the page.
does that translate to lineage?
Many many sailboats with upthrust sails. Long causeway. Longer colonnade. Long beard, well oiled. Two hot balls of gas in the sky. What’s he trying to say?
He’s saying all those sons sitting on the council weren’t just the result of wining and dining, if you catch my meaning.
He’s saying that he has a huge, enormous, girthy… claim to royalty.
Smug bastard
I can’t believe Allison was dating Johnny Depp.
Yessss. I knew it.
Now, does Zaid even remember Allison? Or, does Dave know about her already, and if yes how much and has he told Zaid?
And what are Zaid’s opinions on Dave? Unlike Allison, he woke up in heaven instead of hell. As far as we know, as far as he knows, life in the multiverse is good.
So much to think about.
Also the Sun placement sounds pretty awesome for a (on the surface) medieval tech world. Zaid better recognize that and be careful around here.
He’s a great deal more proud of his suns than his sons.
The suns are provably benefiting the world he stands on and shaping its course.
Perhaps if any of his sons showed even an iota of such power he would be less disappointed in them.
*finger guns*
Oh hey, it’s that guy.
“We have two suns because I wanted to show off…”
Credit where credit’s due, Zaid seems to be dealing with his current predicament quite well.
It’s been a while since the initial abduction. Zaid is probably past the first stages of dealing with his situation.
After all, one can only sustain a freak-out for so long.
Abducted by bone warriors through the vortex and such notwithstanding, I expect his experience has been generally smoother–awakening in a well-appointed and herbal scented room, bells chiming in the cool breeze blowing in from the balcony overlooking extradimensional Santorini here, perhaps.
That last frame could be a dictionary definition of “Don’t fuck with me”.
New Favorite Found. I will follow Solomon wherever he leads.
This is what happens when you have a character with a massive ego that is COMPLETELY justified. It goes from annoying to awe-inspiring awful quick. Combine that with his relative restraint – he tolerates dissent, plans for his eventual death, delegates authority, and is reasonably polite – and the God-Emperor here is rapidly shaping up to be one of the best characters in the comic.
Funny, since binary stars are more common than singular.
Yeah, but a stable orbit for a planet in their vicinity (unless the suns are very far apart)? Tricky.
There’s having multiple sons and then there’s having multiple…suns.
There once was a human they called Zaid,
Who, kidnapped by thorny promenade,
Found himself stuck in Yre,
But that came under fire,
Now in princely garments he’s arrayed.
A most interesting development indeed. Perhaps this pawn may be a more important chesspiece than we’d anticipated.
Oh no, Zaid got all rugged and regal and hot!