KING OF SWORDS 174-177 (FINALE)
Chapter: 10
Thanks for reading!
These are the final pages of King of Swords. We’ll take a 1 week break to prepare and return Friday 10/2 Tues 10/6 with the final book of Kill Six Billion Demons, Breaker of Infinities.
This book was a blast to draw and I hope you’ve enjoyed it, I’ve learned a lot and hope to give it my all with Book 5. See you then!
-Abbadon
Oh my goodness….
On the plus side for Solomon, the mass can’t remember if the mass is all mincemeat.
Unfortunately for Dave, I believe this particular revolution was televised.
I seriously doubt anyone, at all, is going to be concerned about that at this point. Solley is the biggest back behind which to rally, at this point.
I understand Jagganoth’s goal here, though. He just turns up and Divisions a nuke with two-three demiurges present just after the most reliable one has gotten pummeled… there is no point in resisting this kind of threat.
He is the end. Of everything.
Four demi-urges, Gog-agog too.
Gog is probably toast at the moment. She’ll need to hurry up some fresh wormbatches from outside the arena.
Dang, Jagganoth! You just fried the pacifism vote. –How ya gonna win election now?
I was definitely not counting Allison.
Cause, come on, give her a bit of a rest, would ya.
Allison is not a demiurge, she’s a full urge.
That is not what demiurge means.
That is not what Name means.
I mean, like, the “demi” in “demiurge” isn’t the same as “demi-“. It’s “demos”. As in “democracy”.
Even discounting the previous three days, Allison wouldn’t normally be much of a threat.
With time, she would be able to reign in each of the Seven, as Zoss did before her. However, after a year of training, she’s only begun to mantle her Key properly. Jagannoth, meanwhile, has been doing this for centuries.
Now, I added a disclaimer, because yes, she’s a protagonist. In light of the fact that only a single book remains, I think we can expect her to receive plot armor. Still, if narrative concerns weren’t a consideration, she’d have little place in this fight.
Sidenote: This page has a fascinating look into goblin anatomy. Judging by the skeletons, the protrusions on their heads are comprised of soft tissue.
Interesting that in the middle panel, while everyone else is looking up at Jagganoth, she is looking at her hands as if to say “What did I just do?”
What most creatures, even Kings, do when faced with a sudden threat to their very survival: act on instinct.
The Blade of Want can’t be wielded by most hands, but the Hands of The Fuck Was That are an exception.
This is hilarious, and true.
Easily carrying eight weapons, Jagganoth has obviously been built using Pathfinder 1st Ed rules.
One wonders if the war Jagganoth seems to be proposing is mayhap not a threat he is issuing in the here and now – for him it could just be being said by way of a greeting, or his idea of smalltalk. And can we take anything from the fact he has planted his sword (one without quillons interestingly) and released it.
And for Jagganoth fighting, well any other demiurge really, let alone several together, but especially Allison and the clan – that has surely got to be fairly close / much closer to dénouement. There’s too much to do yet.
One thinks the big friendly red god may have wiped out the arena and its contents just for an entrance, just because he can, just to see the look on Solomon’s face, and just for fun.
Oh absolutely, I’m betting he saw mottoms invasion of mamons house as a green light, and has just been waiting for a good opportunity to make an entrance, namely this entrance.
The end of everything lays ground for the beginning of something.
You people are way too hung up on his Pride element. He dropped that the moment he realized his people were about to die. It’s clearly not his only thing. He’s at least a more complex character than that.
People are more willing to root for characters that are insidious and plan devious pitfalls than to even accept a powerful and fairly reasonable autocrat, who is not meek with the crown he built after earning its ores with his bare hands.
I think some people are not ready for Royalty in this community.
Indeed. Jagganoth just saved Solomon’s people from the disgrace of democracy.
I wonder why people wouldn’t like unbearably smug authoritarians who “””earned””” their power by having more psychosis than the last bloodthirsty moron with a key in their skull
You aren’t wrong about Solomon being a three-dimensional character but holy shit, imagine reading this whole-ass comic and come away believing that “Royalty” is a good thing that cool strong people have because they deserve it
Some sneering asshole in a gleaming bathrobe told you that he was super smart and benevolent and correct, and you *believed* him?
When faced with a nominally nice diseased autocrat and a nakedly evil diseased autocrat, you want us to “accept” the former instead of just killing both of them, and you’re *smug* about it?
Some people just have a hang-up for Ayn Rand…
“When faced with a nominally nice diseased autocrat and a nakedly evil diseased autocrat, you want us to “accept” the former instead of just killing both of them, and you’re *smug* about it?”
This hits a bit too close to home in the US election this year. 🙁
I dunno, I kinda miss the days when my diseased autocrats had the common courtesy to do their corrupt deeds in secret, instead of rubbing them in my face.
That doesn’t seem like too much to ask.
They should fear us at least that much.
Damn straight.
Something tells me that this Jagganoth fellow isn’t interested in a pleasant discourse on the nature of kingship.
Get fucked, mate.
Ugh really sorry, this reply went to the wrong comment 🙁 was trying to reply to one of the monarchist crowd.
I frankly thought you were just roleplaying a Jagganoth supporter. 😛
LMAO no, I’d never. SD might be a douchebag but Jagganoth is everything I despise incarnate, and of all the Demiurges he’s the only one I really hope gets murdered.
Wait, so you despise him because he wants to murder everything, and therefore you wish to murder him?
Probably he wants him to die for championing a genocide based on his religion.
Everyone’s so quick to denounce murder. Ug
*she wants him to die
But yeah, there’s the genocide thing, the rage thing, the physical invincibility thing, the machismo thing, and also just generally have the same vibe as your Juggernaut/Doomsday/Gregor Clegane types. I don’t like him because I’ve met too many little clones of him in my life in too many contexts.
I sincerely doubt you have ever met a “little clone” of Jagganoth.
Methinks you may just be hastily ascribing negative qualities to those you dislike.
It would be *very* surprising if you had met multiple genocidal god kings, even little ones.
@21 Indigo Cloud
You lack imagination.
I’m talking about abusers. You can see the patterns in most of the Demiurges. Mottom and Solomon David are controlling types (the latter the kind who thinks his abuse is a gift and his victims should be grateful). Incubus is your jealous type, the pretty boy who beats up his GF for talking to other boys. And Jagganoth is the man who gets violently drunk and beats the shit out of his whole family – but thinks he’s not a brute, oh no, he’s a very brilliant man who has an engineering degree.
See it now?
re: murdering the murderer is also murder.
this is why violence spreads so easy: when someone comes at you with violence, a violent response is being courted and required. unless you have an overwhelming advantage, you will not be able to defend yourself without also choosing violence. because genociders set the terms of peace as only the peace of the grave – only the peace of everyone but the chosen group being dead – it creates a dynamic where even the targets are warped into a violent shape. its a problem the comic wrestles with as well the 21st century reality.
but like, again there is little choice between letting genociders kill us all (in this case with a giant nuclear sword and in our case by poisoning the sky) or resisting with violence. i am not a pacifist, i always choose to fight for my life, so its a dilemma.
Vote Jagganoth! “Make the Multiverse a Steaming Pile of Ash Again! ” or MMASPAA… Doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, but when your a steaming pile of ash, that won’t matter.
And now begins the Infinite War
Yes, but can we go back to talking about how Solomon David’s totally the bad guy here?
He really is totally the bad guy. Yup.
Really really bad. SD is the worstestest.
I think everyone’s problem with Solomon is that he wants everyone to think he’s the good guy. It’s the lies that haunt us much more than the monster that’s just trying to destroy the universe for religious reasons.
This. At least Jagg seems honest in his intent and aspirations. Good going, Jagg.
Also, please get a hobby.
Some beings need no hobby, because they enjoy their work.
I mean, nobody is paying him for this. Dot dot dot.
Is this Jagganoth being One Punch Man in the “I’m a hero for fun” phase?
One can hope so.
(Regards the other topic of the threadlet, any reader who thinks Solomon David is “totally the bad guy” hasn’t been paying any attention at all over the course of this strip. The way the last three pages have gone, I’d put money down that David and Chain end up a couple.)
One needs not reap enjoyment or benefit from their work, so long as they believe the work to be necessary.
I get that that’s most people’s problem with him – its a legitimate problem and I’d argue it’s one of the main focuses of the work. The guy is fatally flawed and, as we saw, his flaws led to his prized city turning to ash in front of him.
My issue is with the commenters who seem to believe that Solomon doesn’t care about his people, that he doesn’t act in a way that he *thinks* is best for them, and that he is, in short, 100% evil without a single redeeming quality.
Now make no mistake: he is definitely far south of being a good guy, just like every single demiurge is.
But I feel like, with Solomon, so many people are also missing something else that has been a theme with this comic: that even the demiurges are human, and that there’s elements of them that makes them understandable, relatable, and even pitiable (and in Solomon’s case, I’d argue, even noble — in intent at least, if not in action).
Even Mottom, whose evil has destroyed thousands of worlds, has this. She fell into her position out of a rage at her husband’s own evils, and she was too scared to take the drastic actions needed to break the status quo and suffer the wrath of her courtiers.
Even Mammon, who got to his position through pure evil greed and ambition, has shown that his reign can be a source of refuge, comfort, and even some aspect of redemption in that those who seek out his vault through greed and violence end up staying for the vault’s peace and separation from the world. It’s selfish, yes, but it also keeps those evil people out of Throne where they’d do even more damage to those around them.
You may argue how some of the other Demiurges are pure evil – Incubus, Gog Agog, or Jagganoth for instance – but keep in mind that we don’t know their stories yet. I have no doubt that Abbadon has backstories that explain (but don’t entirely excuse) their behaviors as well.
They are all flawed, and even arguably evil. They all need to be deposed and the wheel broken. But I feel like none of them should be treated like pure unredeemable blackness – least of all Solomon, tyrannical, prideful and short-sighted though he may be.
He believes himself a hero even though he’s not one. But he’s genuinely *trying* to be a hero. He’s genuinely trying to help. And that, to me, counts for something.
Gog Agog’s explanation of how her worms works is as good as a backstory for me. She’s a bunch of people who didn’t want to be themselves anymore, so they became worms.
Solomon is a metaphor implying that even the most benevolent dictator is bad, which I personally find to be hilarious after observing the shit show called democracy.
Pretty sure the point was that Solomon WASN’T entirely benevolent, and actively weakened his empire’s potential by stifling it. In the end, he isn’t too much different from his former masters.
But it’s a moot point regardless; anything is preferable to complete obliteration.
a few million people trained in ki rata suddenly sounds like a really good idea
it probably never occurred to our man solomon here
He thought about it, no doubt. He also must have realized he could not count on them all being loyal to his master. I mean, he wasn’t.
And thus his folly in obsessively having to be the master dooms Rayuba.
You know, this is probably the best anti-Solomon argument I’ve seen. And it fits very nicely with White Chain’s argument that he’s afraid to let the kingdom grow beyond him.
Well done, I’m legitimately impressed.
i think there would have been some pushback until, well, just a moment ago really
A good idea, but ultimately irrelevant. If you are to face an enemy that is utterly invincible, whether you punch them one time or a million times does not a vast difference make.
Power is hardly a linear measure.
Then let us punch our enemy an infinite number of times.
BREAKER OF INFINITIES
You are uncountably punchy.
they could also be countably infinite punches
i think the one using the infinities might be jagganoth though.
and then we get some sort of triple fusion of our favourite incredibly scary women into Al-YS-UN and she hits him over the head with the wheel and then breaks it.
i may not be even be entirely wrong. exciting times in the sevenfold world indeed.
Jaggy is infinitely durable, the title given to Alison by Zoss next book will be BREAKER OF INFINITIES. You can do the math.
A million times?
I think Allison is going for six billion times.
Get out of here nazi
history class doesn’t teach very well if that’s what you call a nazi.
Gosh yeah a real mystery why someone who declares democracy a “shit show” and laughs at the idea of dictatorships being bed might be called “a Nazi” based on someone knowing any amount of history
Like, maybe they’re not a Nazi, but it’s really not that big of a stretch
Being a nazist – that is, supporting an ideology of national superiority, – has nothing, literally nothing at all in common with recognizing the strong points of authoritarian governments.
If anything, the world’s biggest power bent on national superiority, claiming to be the City on the Hill fit to spread its way of life worldwide to the primitive natives whether they want it or not, is nominally a democracy.
Sorry extremely not sorry that someone who was merely “recognizing the strong points of authoritarian governments” was called a “Nazi” when clearly they’re not specifically “supporting an ideology of national superiority”
Perhaps they only wanted an isolationist fascist government? Gosh, I’d feel so bad if that were the mistake made
Seriously why is this a thing that people feel the need to defend here
Why is the person who used “Nazi” *slightly* overbroadly somehow the worse person here than the dude who cheered for authoritarianism over democracy and, now, all the people defending that as “well it’s not this Arbitrarily Specific Thing so you’re not allowed to be mean about it”
Sorry you’ve got terrible priorities, I guess. Good luck dealing with that.
“Nazi” being watered down as a phrase when the president of my country says “many of them are good people” is a big deal.
I might prefer a strong monarchy over a weak direct democracy. Luckily, we are a republic.
If I’m your head you can compare monarchy and nazism, you must not know what either of them are.
I will say – depends on the monarch.
Like others have stated. You shouldn’t Talk about stuff you don‘t understand. Your view on this is narrow minded and foolish at best and more likely completely ignorant.
You are being more fascistic than the comment you are criticising and that‘s really ironic and funny.
Red Ettin, You have failed your teachers. Go back and apologize to them for being such an incredibly poor example of their students.
Dear teachers,
I’m real sorry I don’t split hairs about pro-authoritarians, and while I don’t think every pro-dictatorship authoritarian is a Nazi, I deeply apologize that I care a lot less about the misidentification of authoritarians as Nazis than I do that people think that’s an absurd thing to do because, I guess, they believe that “recognizing the strong points of authoritarian governments” is somehow not an extremely pro-fascist thing to do.
I promise in the future to do better by you by normalizing support for violent dictatorships because that’s somehow magically less harmful than mistakenly identifying a pro-violent-dictatorship creep as a Nazi.
My bad,
Red Ettin
Dear Red Ettin,
I hope this missive finds you well. I am not one of your teachers, but if you and they will permit me, I can perhaps guide you towards self-correction. As a philosopher I often find that my calling.
“Recognizing the strong points of authoritarianism” is not synonymous with “being extremely pro-fascist”. It may be synonymous with “pro-authoritarianism”, however it might also be inline with anti-authoritarianism. After all, if one cannot recognize or understand the strengths of an enemy, how can one ever hope to strike at their weaknesses or resist those strengths?
Smarminess when someone is trying to point out your failings only further underlines those failings, however if your goal was to have pro-authoritarians underestimate your intellect, I will congratulate you on a job well done. I’m sure they consider you beneath notice at this point.
Lastly, pro-monarchists are not necessarily, pro-violence. While I am remiss at the moment for examples of monarchs in the past that ruled with a firm, but non-violent hand, I will not also note the absolute lack of non-authoritarian governments.
Consider this and please try to be better in the future.
evileeyore, Cynic
Smarminess is 100% a reasonable response to
“Red Ettin, You have failed your teachers. Go back and apologize to them for being such an incredibly poor example of their students”
If you wanted a worthwhile and helpful discussion you’d have been less of dick at the outset. No apologies for responding in kind.
Dictatorship is bad. Authoritarianism is bad. Monarchy is bullshit. I will not how people who try and establish non-authoritarian governments end up in war-torn regions intentionally destabilized by outside forces, something that’s extensively documented.
Find more worthwhile uses of being of “philosopher” that aren’t excusing dictators. Consider this and please try to be less awful in the future. We’ll work on “better” when you get beyond “uniformly bad”.
Red Ettin,
No one has attempted to create a non-authoritarian government in a non-war-torn place in a very long time. And “intentionally destabilized by outside forces”? That’s a joke. They are over-run by outside forces because they have no stability and offer no resistance at all. There is a reason societies of humans evolved away from non-authoritarianism, because it is weak and inefficient for groups larger than roughly 100 people. Our best methods are to aim or authoritarian governments towards being democratic in nature, to give the people that are governed a voice in their governance.
You are smart.
Let the facistic fool think of himself as a warrior against fascism. He‘ll never get the irony.
You know simple people like you that try to pick dumb fights constantly are half the reason dictators get into power in the first place.
Are you retarded?
Be real cool if we could read a fun bad-ass comic without literal slurs in the comments. That’d be great. A real dream.
Be real cool if we could read a fun bad-ass comic without literal morons in the comments. That’d be great. A real dream.
What democracy? The overturn of power wasn’t completed, being interrupted by Jagganoth.
Oh, you mean in the real world? Sadly, there are no democracies in the real world. It’s all just representative republics. Learn the difference before you spout nonsense.
A country being set up as a republic does not preclude it being a democracy, the two terms refer to different parts of the government’s structure. Similarly, a representative government can be a form of democracy as not all democracies are direct democracies.
i think among the lessons of history is that this accepted wisdom is false: creating a class of rulers through elections also results in an oligarchy. its not even a mystery how it works: if you are american you’ve watched your congress people vote a high quality socialized healthcare for themselves and a patchwork failure for the rest of us. a representative democracy, especially one designed by human slavers who feared the underclasses would overthrow them, has not in fact evolved into a democracy. and i say this as a member of a wildly unpopular minority – we have yet to see white chain’s demand enacted and i for one would like to.
Sadly there are no democracies? Either the world is roughly half democracies, or you want actual direct democracy, where every person votes on every issue. Consider how difficult that is to implement on the scale of a country. It never has and never will be possible.
Returning to the comic, does anyone really think what was proposed was direct democracy across 1/7 of the universes? Assuming a competent citizenry representative government would have been an improvement over the one-man autocracy in place. But 51% support doesn’t change the way things work any more than it makes something moral.
“or you want actual direct democracy, where every person votes on every issue. Consider how difficult that is to implement on the scale of a country. It never has and never will be possible.” It’s been done quite a few times in various ways. Some european countries have polling stations open every weekend for the public to vote on various bills. Additionally, worker cooperatives are a democratic alternative to corporations and have a much smaller failure rate than normal enterprises. Anarchist parts of Kurdistan are also using something similar. Not every country is a large federation, and even the one’s that are could 1) use worker cooperatives or 2) impliment it on the state level at least.
I never viewed Solomon David as a bad guy, i.e., evil is as evil does. No, not an enlightened ruler, of course, but not bad/evil. He tried for some balance, but he kept trying to “win.” And now, the game is done…
This page proves that Solomon was never able to actually defend his people in the first place. The premise on which he built his authority was a lie and a sham, he couldn’t protect anyone. He’s useless and a charlatan.
Who COULD protect his people from a Demiurge who’s literally invincible?
Allison did so.
Right there. Solomon didn’t.
Precisely
Allison protected only a small group of people – to her own great surprise.
Allison didn’t even move, he’ll nobody had a chance to even take cover.
Worse, he’s drawn Jagganoth here, and killed ~100,000 of his people needlessly. I think that Jagganoth is here to fight Solomon, not to sieze Rayuba (note lack of conquering horde). If they fight, the city, and possibly the planet, will die. Run away Solomon, it’s the only decent thing you can do now! Go and fight outside, in the Void.
The point of the parable of Intra, surely, is that a demiurge protector should not be the ruler of a world, or even a permanent resident.
Is it that difficult to comprehend the story making a point that all the dread emperors are bad, and their destructive conflict isn’t the fault of any single one of them – but them all? Seriously, just read the latest parable of Intra a couple of times, maybe it’ll get through eventually.
Oy-vey, the Seven are bad for having a conflict, let’s wiggle our hands really hard as if removing the particular demiurges will not simply lead to more like them appearing from among the vatras or others of the powerful.
“The Celestial sovereign has a great need of many satrapies, vassals, and governors, far more than his (admittedly extensive) bloodline could ever handle on its own. So far out of the province of familial bonds he has turned to the only other bond he seems to find reliable: that of violent bloodshed.”
-Payapop Pritram
Harken back to the parable of Intra. People can be taught how to depose tyrants. It’s fatalistic and childish to assume things cannot change and the outcome will remain the same even if the conditions change.
in the words of the might ancients: oh shit
WAR WERE DECLARED
and the battle come down
This ham gum is all bones
The High Priest of Spilt Blood comes to worship at his altar, built from the bones of innocents on the ashes of incinerated worlds.
THE BIG HOG APPEARED ALL HAIL THE RED GOD LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Oh what a day! What a lovely day!
“…Who Killed the World ? !”
– The Splendid Angharad
~ Mad Max Fury Road
Pretty sure it was either Jotaro or Grand amor Tarkin.
Was kinda wondering how everyone “knew” Jagganoth was gonna show up from just the last page but now ig I’m a dummy lol
canisbelli is too self-critical, surely.
Jagganoth ( He who Lands like an Atom Bomb ! ) has been lurking at the periphery for a long time. Mottom explained the precarious balance of power now existing between the Seven Black Kings. We witnessed the machinations of Incubus and knew that Jagganoth longed for a return to war. I too thought that there would be more exposition happening post-arena challenge, but it looks like Abbadon rolled the dice and found this the perfect moment for ‘The Lord of Rage’ to interrupt. Incubus is an intriguer, Jadis is a paralyzed oracle, Gog-Agog loves to watch, Mammon was sequestered until recently, and Mottom did not want to take initiative.
How did I guess ? Red is Jagganoth’s colour. Red IS Juggernaut Star’s colour too (!) – but we just saw her get toasted by Vigilant Gaze. Who or What’s left that could make Solomon David break into a sudden sweat of fear ?
“He’s not a Who – He’s more of a WHAT.”
~ Blazing Saddles
It seems its time to address the big elephant in the room
And the big mound of worms — Gog was also present in the arena, and they are reckoned to be the most powerful of the seven demiurges after Jaganoth.
[citation needed]
There’s a semi-official tier list. Solomon David is #2.
I’ve never been able to figure out why, ’cause how is going to put down an interdimensional hive of parasites?
I suppose he’s number 2 in that good old Goggy isn’t actually all that interested in fighting but is more akin to a temperamental child with nuclear codes. Powerful if she’d focus sure but where’s the fun in that?
Yeah, where were our wormy friends?
Even he could never beat her if she weren’t mad.
The mass is forever!
The mass never looses.
Anyone else feel like that ending should immediately followed by “roundabout”?
the words will make you out and out
Start Pink Floyd – Dogs of war then start reading the pages slowly taking in all the detail, hitting the last panel around 45 seconds into the song and then the lyrics start as the credits roll.
Probably crushed a lot of Gogs with that…
there is a little emergency Gog up Salamis butt, the worms are just playing safe
I hope we see a surviving off to the side, manning a food stall selling deep-fried Gog as multiversal war kicks off.
Does deep frying the worm make it safe? Does Gog ever eat herself if she gets hungry? Does Gog taste good?
Only one way to find out.
*proffers worm*
Cry Havoc And Let Slip The Dogs Of War.
Mark Anthony was talking about a milder war than the one just declared.
Cry heck and slip on the charred remains of the dogs of war…
ah yes! now, witness that most unsanctioned of actions:
to open old wounds.
Yo, Big J, you got enough swords there, bud?
Hey! He has a bow, as well. Jagganoth is an equal opportunity killer when it comes to range.
Also, it might just be the angle of the thing, but the middlemost hilt looks like it’s sheathed IN Jagg’s flesh. It’s certainly going through his furry cape.
You can see the tips of the sheaths just barely poking out past the edge of his cape, near his left leg.
Is nobody going to mention his war hammer?
Cause he does have one.
It’s a realistic warhammer too.
I mean, barring the fact that it is fit for an genocidal giant of multiversal devastation, it is realistically proportioned.
I like it.
We’re all dead.
:_D
He has six swords, ther are six demiurge that he needs to kill. I wouldn’t be surprised if he specially made one for each of them.
I like this thought.
Enough swords?
There’s no such thing.
Kaboom!
“I have long suspected the Belligerent Knights’ single minded devotion to Jagganoth as a natural outgrowth of the core tenets of their order. When a core tenet of your knightly creed includes ‘If it has a pulse – remove its skull!’, what can you do about a thirty foot invincible monstrosity impervious to physical harm and with complete mastery over space-time?
Worship it, of course!”
-Payapop Pritrum
A fell omen, indeed.
god i love the lore of this story
A brighter alternate: Those eyesockets will make excellent balconies, won’t they?
This man obliterated an entire arena of people simply to make an entrance. What a piece of crap. Like, Jadis explicitly entered without nuking the place. Damn you Jagganoth
Whole worlds burned during the Universal War. Horrible as this was, I imagine it’ll hardly be a footnote in the history of the conflict.
Well at least the spectators saw the greatest tournament ever, so they didn’t have that much to live for. I wonder what the average death toll is among spectators at Solly’s parties.
well it had been zero…
hot stone’s priorities are in the right place
i tell ya, i’m starting to think some of these demiurges are real poops
I’m sure I read somewhere that people die horribly just because Jagganoth walks past them when he’s angry; and he’s always angry. That’s probably why he doesn’t get out much. So the flash-fried audience is collateral damage rather than showiness. Don’t think J. cares much about image.
Red God turns all edges from his flesh, and thereby is the Sovereign Master of this world by the Law.
Are we about to see a fucking 2 (or 3) vs 1 demiurge fight?!
JAGGANOTH! JAGGANOTH! JAGGANOTH!
Well in the arena we have apart from Jagganoth these key wearers:
* Alison.
* Gog-Agog.
* Solomon David.
* Most likely Incubus, as he is allied with Jagganoth.
* Most likely the “cutting” lady (“Maya”/”Meti”), as she has been following Alison.
There are some interesting details here about the last two:
* Most likely “Maya”/”Meti” will oppose Incubus, even if she has “lent” him her seventh of the universe (she was one of the seven).
* Incubus has still got a hook into Alison, as she has accepted it.
Also Jadis, though she’s not expect to do much.
The Gogs recently present may not be key-bearers. We don’t know how the key power is shared between Gogs. We do know that they are not emissaries, because Abbadon said on Tumblr that Gog Agog doesn’t make emissaries.
Unless we’ve been deeply misled, Maya is the student of Meti (who is dead), not Meti herself. There’s also the question of whether Maya still has the use of her key: is Incubus’ key a copy of hers or was her key-power drained when Incubus took over.
It’s a mistake to think of the various Gogs as separate entities in any way, or of the word they bear as something physical or divisible. I would treat each physical Gog as the “real” Gog.
I think it’s been made pretty clear via context and allusion that Auntie Maya is the “rightful” bearer of the word Flame, but that Incubus either stole that from her or she gave it up willingly. The rest of the seven clearly consider him a pretender even if Jagganoth allows an alliance of sorts with him.
I, too, wonder what the implications of Allison being an “Emissary” of Incubus will be. That seems like the kind of thing that will come back to bite her here.
You forget. Cio bore a key once too. Also, Zoss might be present to some degree, depending on whatever lies allow him to continue to exist despite his death.
Nice Dark Souls Reference!
Jagganoth just turned a sparkling example of progress into the Kiln of the First Flame in half a second.
Gives Gwyn conniptions…
Try Fleeing, or No Joy Ahead
Good news everyone! You’re free!
It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor,
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
It’s a neighborly day in this beautywood,
A neighborly day for a beauty,
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you,
I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.
So let’s make the most of this beautiful day,
Since we’re together, we might as well say,
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Won’t you be my neighbor?
Won’t you please,
Won’t you please,
Please won’t you be my neighbor?
*Jagganoth starts a 5-pages-long tap dancing solo*
CURTAIN FALLS AND HOPES DOTH PLUMMET
DEATH ARRIVES WHEN RED GOD COMETH
DEIFIC ARROGANCE IS PUNISHED
JAGGANOTH
JAGGANOTH
JAGGANOTH
veni veni venias
ne me mori facias
hmm, notice the face that Princess is making in the first panel of page 176
Yeah, and doesn’t she look almost pleased in other panels as well? Well, Princess is a devil, so the idea of massive slaughter to come may appeal to her.
Princess isn’t smiling, at all. The tusks make it look like a smirk, but it’s actually a scowl
Princess is loving this shit.
well darn
I think I met you yesterday, sir.
Aaaaah, congrats!
This dude has serious issues.
It’s the end of the world. Again.
Now that Mick Jagganoth has arrived, can Incubowie be far behind?
And Jagganoth arrives with the force of a moderate-yield atomic bomb. About 50 kilotons, I’d say.
And Allison no-sells it.
I have to say I’m mildly disappointed that Davey didn’t get a chance to really wrestle with White Chain’s request, and that we didn’t get more of White Chain coming to terms with her new existence, and more interaction between Allison, Zaid, and the Demiurges re: Zoss’s key. Skipping right to the end like this feels rushed, since once it’s over I assume there’ll be no question about who the rightful heiress is.
As an aside, would we stat Vigilant Gaze more as the Law or the Master? He doesn’t seem to be a Fury-type even if he does pack quite the wallop.
Definitely seems like The Law to me, while White Chain would be The Master.
The Law has heavy armor proficiency, and Gaze is literally the most heavily armored angel we’ve seen yet. The Master has no armor proficiency, and White Chain seems to fight mostly unarmored other than the standard angel body.
Yeah that’s how I’d build each of them as well, with Juggernaut Star representing the Fury. And Allison as the Fated. Princess is probably also the Fury. Just wanted to see if anyone else saw it any differently.
I’m not in general a fan of Apoc world but I do want to give this game a try someday. Of course, I’ll take any opportunity to play an angel.
Looks like Allison kind of forgot she could do that. Oh. Oh, I did that thing again…
Or she forgot she couldn’t do that.
I wouldn’t be too sure. Next up is book five, of presumably seven. We’re not at the end just yet, except in the sense that everything ends eventually.
I apparently didn’t take in what “Final Book” means. Disregard.
Yep, Abbadon announced it some time ago. Definitely sad news, I wish we could have seen detailed plots for another couple of years :C
As though this will be overly shortly. The last book took two years to see completion after all…
True, my calculations were sorely wrong xD My point still stands, though – I’d love this tale to go on for longer!
I agree. I’d love to see four more books.
However, just because K6BD comes to an end, doesn’t mean that’s it for the universe. Abbadon may have more tales to tell in this place (I can only hope).
Fortunately, he has also announced that the fifth book will be the longest. It might take a couple of years to do anyway.
Hello naughty demiurges it’s murder time
Looks like maybe Jadis has got her wish and found a way to die.
From the look of the sheltered area around Solomon I’m not sure Jadis even bothered and just tanked the blast.
The sheer snubbery of Jagganoth turning his back to Solomon David after reenacting his worst nightmare to address his challengers; That’s my new definition of chutzpah. Time for some S.D.-Allison tutelage!
Huh? He was facing Solomon David and Allison and Co were behind SD in the last panel. I’m pretty sure if Jagganoth turned his back to Solomon David, he’d just be addressing some slag and a pile of ash.
Out of all the little details in this scene, I find it interesting that Allison is staring at her own hands, while everyone else is looking at Jagernoth. I don’t think she was expecting to block that blast, or even really thinking about it, and only realized the enormity of what happened after the fact.
That actually fits in quite well with an assumption I’ve had about her power for a while. Namely, she’s more limited by her perception of what she’s capable of, rather than a lack of experience or raw might. In this case, she didn’t think about blocking the blast, she just did it, so her preconceptions didn’t have a chance to slow her down.
Judging by her expression, I think she might also be on the cusp of realizing her assumptions were wrong.
Hrmm… I know, right? Have to say, it’s about time she started to figure it out!
It’s also interesting that Solomon seems not to have shielded anybody. I assume that he knows damn well what he can and cannot do with his key, and he would want to save as many of his people as he could. So is this where Allison emerges as stronger than the other demiurges?
The word diamond might be focused on internal power or focused application. Also Alison only was able to shield herself and those directly behind her. I doubt Solomon could have saved more than 4 people at best, and that’s without having any time to reposition.
Also she manifested the crown, at least partially. And used her strength to protect. Nice touch with Cio holding on to her waist, glasses hanging off one of her horns.
It’s been a long story for her, how she comes in to her own, and what synthesis that takes with Cio and WC will be intriguing.
HOLY (dolphin noises)!
Hrmm… EPIC! I have to wonder about the status of the 108 pursuers. But I reckon they’ll turn up again soon.
Thanks for the party, Abbadon. Can’t wait to join you for the next one!
Maya has been suspiciously absent for someone who dragged a gaggle of fools all the way to the tournament.
Could use some worms right about now.
Bearer of the word “Blade” and god of the seven part world.
Well, Allison. To bamf or not to bamf?
ERROR: MASTER NOT FOUND. RECORDING EVENTS FOR FUTURE REVIEW.
LARGE BLADE APPEARING FROM NOWHERE. APPEARS TO BE CUTTING INTO REALITY.
BRIGHT LIGHT. ICE CORE MELTING.
EMET PROTOCOL FAILING.
VAPORIZATION IMMINENT.
Behold, the Brilliant Behemoth.
Alternatively: Bakuretsu, Bakuretsu, la la la!
I read that last bit as Iä Iä Iä, which seems fitting when celebrating a fifty-meter murder god piledriving a city with a nuclear explosion.
Colonial names for Linda and Sarah.
She pulls at the fence in her dream (gets a scare’a).
Vasquez drinks milk with her son. She’s his carer.
*cue Terminator 2 theme*
After Jagganoth’s first line I went back and read this while playing Princes of the Universe by Queen… Good shit…
Literally listening to the same song. Serious Highlander vibes with the “there can only be one” mentality of our beloved galaxy stompers.
and here’s thanos
No wait, maybe he’s two thanoses in a trenchcoat, because he wants to kill *every* organism in the multiverse.
Guess he got bored halfway through forging his armor?
It’s just for swag anyways. He’s invincible.
J A G G A N O T H
The living hype train, The infinite juggernaut, the best boi.
I hope above all else I get to see him swing those weapons in the next book.
That’s MY lord of destruction and despair, not yours
~Thirty~Cubit~Spear~ to the nads… does it every time…
White Chain’s Gender Reveal Party.
Perfect
That’s it, close the comments forever, we’re never going to have one better than this.
What the hell is Dave-Solomon’s toga made from?
Enduring pride.
That tweet about “me sowing: hell yeah this rocks!” and “me reaping: oh what the fuck fuck this shit” seems apt.
Noooooooow
I’m unerasable!
I’m indestructible!
I’M JAGGANATH!
I, too, enjoy the music made by that ragtag group of devils.
Now,
I am unstoppable
Endlessly beautiful
King of the world
Your connoisseur
What you deserve
And I am
Superhero Jagganath
And now, my fellows, we see the ultimate argument in favor of having the mightiest person lead the nation – because in a universe in which people can cause nuclear annihilation as part of their *entrance*, you need somebody who can convince them that you’re not worth the trouble of fighting, and you need to give that person a pretty solid incentive to stick around.
Yeah, no kidding. Old Zoss could probably have handled him, but as things stand now it’s going to be a real challenge for even the remaining demiurges together to match him.
The real fight is for a world without terrifying powers like him, where folks like Salami Dave take their place as aesthetics chasing enlightenment rather than paranoid quasi-benevolent dictators.
Well, keep in mind that combat ability and rulership ability are completely separate thing, and many generals who have seized control of nations have subsequently proven themselves utterly unfit to actually manage such nations.
If your “lucky” your dictator has actually both ability sets, but that is rarely the case. You’re way more like to just get a psychopath who knows they can solve their problems with sufficient violence.
Though I believe this “we need to give them incentives to stick around!” is why we keep seeing CEOs receive enormous bonuses on top of their massive salaries even as they drive their companies into the ground.
I mean, CEOs aren’t Invencible War Gods, and not exactly necessary for the defense or maintenance of a nation. In the K6BD multiverse, you’d presumably need at least one Invicible War God to defend your nation against other Invincible War Gods, and you don’t really need to make them your ruler. It’s not like ruling a nation is exactly a pleasant thing, after all. Your ego gets bigger but so does your workload. Much easier to just get supplied lots of money and live the easy life while slaughtering whatever enemies the (hopefully democratic) goverment of your nation points you at.
Does Jagganoth get a name-card page? You know what I’m talking about, like
“JAGGANOTH
THE RED GOD
IMMORTAL MONSTROSITY
BEARER OF THE WORD ????? AND GOD OF THE SEVEN PART WORLD
This would be the perfect time for it. I think only him and Jadis haven’t had one yet.
The word he bears is “blade.”
Pankrator Jagganoth also be known as God-Eater, possibly worrisome that, for some of the ‘little princes’.
She bear word Mind. Some-un said it prev page.
JAGGANOTH
THE GOD-EATER
LORD OF RAGE
PANKRATOR
CRIMSON KING OF THE BELLIGERENT KNIGHTS
BEARER OF THE WORD ‘BLADE’ AND GOD OF THE SEVEN-PART WORLD
^^^^^ !!!!
Aw, Red God, big little Red God, what has got you so mad about everything?
We want to gnaw at the roots of that wrath, to dig down into the dark where they tear the earth asunder to get at its heart.
Such power and fury must come from somewhere.
It’s not a message hidden in the dark
Or a truth that no one’s seen
It’s a little bit of everything
Hard to believe it’ll be over soon (-ish)! I don’t suppose the next project will be a KSBD spin-off?
damn that went from 0 to 9001 real fast lmao
Holy actual shit, like, I was expecting the dude to cleave the Void and bring forth his legions clad in Thorn-steel or some such, Solomon to make a panicky plea for aid to Allison and Co., but this motherfucker nukes the field as an opener
Jagganoth like “yeah the demiurges are all assholes, that’s true, but me? I’m the BAD GUY.”
DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMNN!
Solomon compared to this looks like a big joke.
So he will kill them all and the comic name KSBD was a referer to Red King?
Seeing how powerful he seems I doubt alliance from Solomon, Gog-Agog, Allison and her pack will have any meaning of opposition against this.
From my seat at the edge of the Void, I see the Red Light blaze across the infinite skies of infinite worlds, and I see a million worlds unmade in the span of mere blink. I see the nails of angelic might plunged into the beast’s back, and I see the blade it carries, and it smiles red with the blood of wars fought and wars to come.
Behold Jagganoth.
Behold the End.
Pray for the heir. And for her strength.
For that is all we can do.
The…. last book?
NOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Well, that escalated quickly.
Yesss, this is perhaps my favorite trope ever, former enemies join forces to fight the real bad guy. Go go team Allison Dave!
Never thought I’d say this about a bunch of people watching a death sport, but… OMG the poor audience. 🙁
Cio clinging to Alison like that is an eternal lesbian mood TBH.
.
Oh. Fuck.
In awe at the SIZE of this lad. Absolute Unit.
Things that are awesome about this page:
-Jagganoth cutting through reality with a freaking sword
-Cio clinging to her gf for dear life
-Allison once again being surprised at what she can actually do
☝️
(also white chain trying to hold onto CIO for dear life 😂)
Did any of the 108 stars survive that?
Are the scars which Jagganoth bears memories of a time before taking up the key?
so i’ve been reading back in in this book and there’s a supplementary text about this guy named
‘yaun’
………………..maybe it’s nothing but MAYBE
The final Book… now that is a sad note to digest.
If Maya was present and survived that, then there are technically seven demiurges in one place…
Solomon, Jadis, Gog Agog, Jagganoth, Allison. That’s five… Incubus, Mottom and Mammon are not physically there, Maya never bore a key, and Yabalchoath is no more, who am I missing?
Pretty sure Maya had Incubus’ key before he gained it. It’s never stated outright but there are a lot of clues, especially in the conversation Incubus has with Jagganoth.
My understanding is that, during the Universal War, Maya was among the seven most powerful demiurges with one of the seven biggest keys, and was on-par with Jadis, Solomon David, Gog-Agog, Mottom, Jagganoth, and Mammon at the time. But at some point after at least some of the other six started considering and discussing forming the seven, Maya just stopped for some reason. Stopped fighting. Stopped conquering. And just let Incubus have her keys, thereby forcing the others to take him as their seventh. According to this interpretation, Incubus’s key is not the same as Maya’s key, but it does contain Maya’s, as she never actually held a full 111,111 keys.
Cio.
Ciocie Cioelle was never a Demiurg. Her previous form, Yabalchoath, had a fraction of Mammon’s key, but she lost both her power and her identity when she was defeated and renamed. So I wouldn’t count Cio for this list
She remembers that life. Doesn’t sound like an actual break in her selfness. Besides, she literally had the master key yesterday.
So Jadis knew this would happen. And she arrived too late to warn anyone that it was time for judgment day. SHE certainly isn’t going up in the character ranking list! Disgusting.
Don’t judge, perfect omniscience is probably very nuanced in its’s workings. Perhaps it’s a Doctro Strange-esque “Actions required for best future” sort of thing.
Jadis’ only wish is to die. That’s probably why she came here.
Jadis’ only desire is to die. That’s probably why she’s here.
congratulations to the author on finishing ANOTHER book!
once again it is heartwrenching graphico-literary gold 💛
Welp, we’re boned
~Bender
I don’t know if I’m not reading too much into it but I like how he says “a war”. Everybody thinks about it as “reigniting the universal war” but Jagganoth does not care about the mythos of it. A war is a war and he intends to wage it.
Title drop.
I love how Vigilant Gaze helps White Chain to put on her cloak again after that blast :D.
Holy fucking shit that was metal
My, how he’s grown. Back in Seeker of Thrones 4-30, Jagganoth was drawn about 4 times Incubus’ height (4 Incubits?), or about 3.5 Solomons in imperial units. He’s bigger now. Maybe he gets bigger as he gets angrier?
After going back and looking, he was also much less covered in random bits as well. And I just now realized Allison looks suspiciously like incubus, white hair, horizontal slashes, I think I may have missed the bit where everyone was pointing that out.
But, to be fair, incubus could be bigger than solomon.
Whats stopping him from slowing time to pull the spikes out?
Remember, Jagganoth is more powerful than all of the other demiurges individually. The only reason he was being kept at bay was because they were all united against him with the Pact of the Seven Part World. Peace was had, for a little while…
For a Time, there has been Peace.
BUT NOW, THERE IS JAGGANOTH!
Could one ask why a reportedly invulnerable 30 foot tall killing machine bothers with battle armor?
Gotta put on a show my guy.
Gotta stick her weapons somwhere. Certainly not up his own ass.
His* auto correct is being really annoying today.
Hey. Calm down bro. Ir was just a prank man, calm down bro
Just several hours ago contemplated suddenly that “evacuate” is ethymologically analogous to “devastate”. So, apparently that’s exactly what we witnessed.
A S T O N I S H I N G
To perhaps coin a phrase here,
WHAT THE FUCK IS EVEN THAT
Deus Belli
Now that is a dynamic entry.
Ah, that is indeed a wondrous entrance. [golf claps]
cue Lavos theme music
Well Alison, are you ready to fight the final boss?
Well folks… who wants a look at the Nuclear JaggaCock?
*hand raise*
I must admit to a degree of curiousity.
That guy on right looks like he eating a baby :3
Tyrant? That’s not a tyrant…
This is a tyrant.
Deific gender reveal parties are way worse than human ones.
IT’S A BOY!! *BOOM*
(Everyone dies)
David and goliath.
well shit.
In the last panel Solomon David’s energy crown seems to have disappeared. Maybe he’s focusing all his energy on something?
The real question is: what animal does that sweet-ass fur jagganoth’s wearing come from? What creature would be badass enough for an invincible universe-lord to wear? What would even be big enough?
Also, Jaggy is a pretty good strategist, attacking first his most dangerous foe. After SD is dead, none of the other Demiurges form a real threat, especially since it was SD that kept them together, more or less.
(And yes, I know Gog-Agog is very powerful, but wasn’t it mentioned that this was because she’s so very hard to kill completely, not because she’s that big of a threat?)
A demagogue is no threat to a literal god of war that hasn’t bothered with politics in thousands of years xD Incubus might go for a timely backstab, however…
have you seen his back? it will be difficult for emo dream boy master o blades to climb his leg unnoticed let alone penetrate the cape. we can only hope
Ah, but what if he is already hiding inside Jagganoth’s head?
One last thing: Jaggy’s a coward. He’s invincible, so he doesn’t run ANY risk fighting others. It’s easy to win, if you play in God Mode. For someone who loves war so much, it’s actually odd that he would accept a cheat like that. Makes every fight boring, if nothing can happen to him.
Jagganoth doesn’t “love” war. It’s not a pleasure thing, nor is it about having fun. He just wants to destroy the wheel. Destroy everything. He’s a massive nihilist. He hates the cycle, and as far as he cares the only real way to stop the cycle to is to completely annihilate it, thus annihilating everything that exists.
It is the only way to finely be rid of the GOG infestation.
He should take off and nuke the entire multiverse from orbit…
It is amazing to see everyone else look up in either fear or disbelief while Alison is looking down at her hands with her feeble halo, simply thinking “Wait, I did that?!”
Every day slowly stumbling towards royalty.
That’s… just his entrance… nuclear explosions are how he teleports. Whelp.
I once knew a society of people in the transportation business that complained to Jagganoth about the fact that his chosen method of transportation involves nuking both the start and destination of every journey. However, their complaints stopped shortly after he responded with a personal visit, so I can only assume that their arguments were not very persuasive.
I cannot help but think about the similarities or connections between 6 Juggernaut Star and Jagganoth.
Jagganoth obtained 30 angel feathers to drive into his flesh. Juggernaut Star has mangled wings and doesn’t display feathers.
To my recollection, Abbadon has stated that both Juggernaut Star and Jagganoth ‘know more about the true nature of the universe’ and both are pissed about it and want to destroy it.
The whole flame effects they have going for them, hiding their face behind a mask, interrupting this tournament by using Division to appear smack dab in the middle of the arena…
Although I might be misremembering details.
> Jagganoth obtained 30 angel feathers to drive into his flesh. Juggernaut Star has mangled wings and doesn’t display feathers.
Oh my, that’s an exellent observation, how could I miss this point myself? Jagganoth’sconnection with Thorns seemed obvious for years, yet I failed to place this particular detail in the puzzle. Seems rather likely.
Fucccck yeah what an ending!! I can’t wait for what happens next
If Jagganoth’s swords swing can casually nuke a colosseum, that may or may not have been protected by Solomon’s power as seen in page 9-108, then I am quite interested in what effect his bow and arrows will have.
Even more interesting is if his sword is made to cause this much destructive power then he has another 5 likely equally special swords as this opening sword’s only differing trait to the other is that its currently drawn.
Dude you are a god! I’m so excited to see what comes, but a little saddened at the thought of it all ending. I’ve read your work for so long now! haha and you always updated speedily and just destroyed expectation after expectation. Wish it could go on for a few more years!!!
On the one hand I am crestfallen that this absolutely awesome comic is going to end but on the other hand what an end to this chapter.
Tearing your way through reality with a blast that nukes every creature in proximity and flattens a good part of the city, That is one hell of an entrance.
On the bright side, Jagganoth only has six arrows. So….
I count eight arrow shafts. And his bow looks like a composite model, too…
We never got to see Solomon do the serious series serious punches, so this is a good chance.
I wonder how many Swords Master Jagnoth has in his back…
Could it be that he is the Ten of Swords? As demonstrated by Zoss during his most recent visitation?
Jaggy is looking rather terrifyingly like Surtr at this point.
idc what anyone says not only is he an absolute tank Jagganoth is fucking HOT. like smoking…or maybe that’s the smoke of Rayuba being obliterated instantaneously. Either way that’s a glorious jockstrap he’s wearing.
The reality of warfare is that when a guy’s got a sword that causes nuclear blasts, the size and makeup of your armies are pretty irrelevant.
Well Abadon hear it from me first: I like big books and I cannot lie. Give us a thick chapter before you let the story die
Witness the Pankratosword.
Would it be in bad taste if I screamed incoherently while running in the opposite direction until my vocal cords shredded and legs failed me?
The lactic acid and adrenaline from all that running and screaming make the meet quite sour. Very bad taste indeed.
3 thoughts:
1. Allison looks amazing with her hair down like that.
2. Solomon’s Circle of Power building might have saved the city itself from this devastation. Audience was unlucky though.
3. I don’t know that giants can fight normal-sized people all that well, different engagement zones of weaponry and all that. Giant has to be swinging their close combat weapons around their feet, could be easy to cut your own toes off doing that.
What a nice hammer…
If one wanted to create a weapon for the purpose of shattering a diamond, it would be an excellent form.
And it could be convenient if by chance a parallelepiped needed some attention, too.
when is the physical copy of this book coming out?
The Red God possess both prodigious size and nightmarish strength; this will be a massacre.
By the end of next book he’ll have his share of Inordinate Exsanguination.
I’m way too in love with the fact that, despite his being a demigod of unimaginable strength, his warhammer was drawn with realistic proportions rather than as an ugly Warcraft/Warhammer chunk of steel.
Huh. Is it me or is Solomon actually _crying_?
For all we gave him crap, he maybe did care, in his twisted ways, after all.
Also, Alison might have managed to protect herself and those behind her… but note part of that might simply have been aided by the fact that she was behind two other demiurges who also facetanked some of that blast.
Now the question arises: do the three (four if Gogagog has a self left standing somewhere in all this) with keys try to stand their ground, or do they withdraw to fight another day?
Mortal logic dictates a fight here and now is not ideal for any of the quartet.
But since when did Kings follow mortal logic?
I think fleeing here would destroy Solomon, god of pride, more surely than Jagganoth could.
More like fleeing would let Rayuba scourged. AGAIN.
Thank you, Master!
This was amazing book to live through.
Jaggy certainly knows how to make an entrance.
DOUCHE CHIIIILLLLL
I don’t suppose this happens every time they do the tournament? It would explain why the built a new one.
Hey Abbadon, when can we expect to see book 4 out as a print with Image Comics???
I actually do sympathize with Solomon David, while I do not excuse his actions are they unknown ? The man lost his family , his world to a power hungry psycho and the only people who could have changed the battle stood by and let it happen , so he trained with those who stood idly (mighty stupid of them to not understand how some fires of revenge can burn so hot for so long) by and when he was done he destroyed them utterly for their failure in his eyes. He went after the man who had taken everything from him and stole his power and his first act was to return his world to glory , is he a dictator yes , is he authoritarian yes, deluded yes, but a human was made powerless and had everything ripped from him and then he gained that power and used it to install his own piece of sanity among 777,777 universes , how after all that do you expect him not to consider himself a hero , of all the 7 we have seen whose worlds seem more prosperous?
As for the rl implications of a benevolent absolutist dictatorship vs a self rule republic ..my opinion is neither works for long anyway. Benevolent dictators give way to cruel oppression and a government of the masses often rots from within giving rise to endless power struggles and class divisions in their own way both are flawed to me for I am yet to see a system of government that survives the spirit of its founding in perpetuity
holy shit what is WITH the monarchist bros here lately
Man, panel 13 says a LOT.
“All’s well that ends well, unless it doesn’t.”
– Machinations 5:13
I love Princess’ face as well, “Finally some real fightin”
I really liked this page, the small details like the calamity going around where Solomon and Jadis were standing. I wonder if Allison and crew even survived due to their own effort or more so because they were simply in the wake of Solomons own shield. Also of note is if the explosion was a result of breaking trough the immaterium and any barriers Solomon might have against direct teleports or if the explosion was intentional part of the entrance. If former it might speak volumes of how much stronger Jadis is with her spells in particular since her entrance was much smoother. Speaking of Jadis if this turns out into an all out demigod brawl her powers are probably least explored so far so will be interesting to see what (if anything) she can actually do in a fight.
Solomons appearance is of sheer terror so it’s still up in the air if there will be a fight immediately after. It could be that hes here simply to announce the start of the war and one or both sides want to disengage. It’s also possible Solomon will snap out of it and immediately attack Jagganoth in rage over the destruction he caused.
I admit, I am not fond of war. Besides the obvious, there are so many tiny things that could mean the difference between victory and defeat in combat. Too many to predict with any kind of certainty.
I am still unsure why Jadis is here, too.
Maybe Athena can always have a sound battle plan which survives contact with the enemy, but us mere mortals are left with only the chaos and confusion.
Ah, I forgot – she wants to die. Ground zero of Jagganoth is definitely a good place to accomplish that.
Is democracy a shitshow? Hell, yes! But holy shit damn ass is everything else so much worse. (Except maybe Singapore, which seems to have figured out a non-psychotic system of one-man rule).
Let’s start with the big three poster children of authoritarian role in the last century: Maoist China, Stalininst USSR and Nazi Germany. Totalitarian utter hellholes. Utterly the worst. Mao killed tens of millions BY ACCIDENT during the Great Leap Forward. Arbitrary and random violence against everyone including allies was a ‘feature’ rather than a ‘bug’ in Stalin’s system. And Nazi Germany…’nuff said.
As for the other authoritarian aspirants to horrible…. The Gulf States and North Africa? Hard pass. Post-colonial dictatorships of sub-Saharan Africa? No thanks. The murderous dictatorships of the right and left in Latin America? Nnnope.
So considering the alternatives, I’ll happily take the democratic shitshow as the least bad form of government going.
For the record, Singapore is one of the most unhappy developed nations in the world. It’s peace is won with compromises that leave no one happy or particularly empowered and all the issues they could be working out are just sort of brushed under the rug. It is far from an enlightened dictatorship just because it’s economically advanced.
Every party needs a pooper that’s why they invited you…
I wonder what motives of Jagganoth are.
We’ve only the word of the other demiurges on that and I’m wondering how reliable are their accounts, particularly Mottom’s. Abbadon said on Tumblr that Jagganoth was possibly the most interesting of the Seven, so one might expect something more nuanced than “smash everything”.
Also, what are Metatron & co thinking about all this? They seen to have wound up Jagganoth and sent him marching to war, but now they support the King instead.
Mottom seems quite terrified of Jag, and she belongs to a category of people that needn’t bother to lie to their lesser.
Occam’s razor suggests that unless we are presented with alternative possibilities within the comic, the hypothesis that Jag is indeed an omnicidal maniac bent on destroying the Wheel should be favored.
As for Metatron, we learned from 6 Jugg Star that initially, Metatron had the omnicidal vibe himself before having a change of heart.
I think its likely that in his goth period Metatron gave Jag some of his own feathers, and sent him on his crusade.
White chain’s desire has been granted, the people of rayuba have been liberated
from life
Indeed.
Final book?
It´s the end?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Literally every panel in this strip would make a rad-ass wallpaper
He finally got a done clothes
Some clothes. Fack U autocorrect
My master would advise the Rising King and her companions to remove the nails that preserve his durability. Or he would ask them if he looks more like a duck or a platypus. Hard to say, honestly.
Siiick entrance bro
When could I but the book?
Oh hai!
*begins faithfully checking BookShop.org for pre-order detais on book 4*
Interesting how he refers to Solomon and Jadis as “princes” but referred to Incubus as a “little king”
So, did anyone notice that on panel, I don’t know, 13? The one where Allison has her hands out, clearly creating a shield for her and her companions? Then 2 panels later, when the big bad says “Hello little princes!”, we see debris piled up in front of the two Demi-Urges standing ahead of her, as if THEY also threw up shields, and ALLISON was shielding her friends from not the original blast, but only what got through the DemiUrge shield in front of her…
It isn’t spelled as love and peace, certainly none of the stories it contains espouse that kind of nonsense. I’m not kidding but if you don’t know it you will never know or understand how the thing that draws us to peace is built upon war, it only sounds ironic to baby, to someone who knows it’s a mere fact of life.
I’m suprised at the sheer number of comments on the nature of Dave’s character and politics as well as political debates that ensued, but no one, not one seemed to critique the author here for not providing enough clarity. Compared to previous Demiurges, this one was far less detailed and we saw much less of the society. We got big hints it was patriarchial, but without seeing the effects on women (and now the planet is bust so we’re unlikely to see their experiences). Instead what we have is an angel who has 0 experience on the planet yelling how its all fake with little direct evidence and only storytelling habits on her side. We’re expected to believe them simply because they are the protagonist and we’re familiar with them and this is pretty much all we have to judge Dave on.
With Mottom and Mammon we saw that they are truely pathetic in their current state. The protagonist didn’t need to utter a word. With Incubus we are also shown this and the protagonist doesn’t know his true state. Dave doesn’t fit the pattern that made the comic so good. The author here slipped. It’s not that he’s good, or bad, or complex or anything its that we don’t know enough about the society to make a proper judgement. We didn’t see enough of everday life and problems, in fact we mostly see its sucesses.
If there is a similar message here it’s that in spite of all his success he still failed when Jaggnoth came and he lost everything. His pride was not power, and it cost the entire planet it’s life. But thats not the fault of pride itself, so the message falls flat. It could have been any other Demiurge and the same result would have happened.
The author failed to demonstrate how Pride was it’s own prison here and relied too much on the protagonist to communicate the message directly.
I’m really sad we’re only getting 1 more book and we don’t get to see all the demiurges equally detailed, but perhaps its for the best. I really wanted a book just on Jadis, her cult, and the trappings of omniscience and over-thinking. I really wanted to see a book on how knowlege is weakness. I’d love more on Gog-Agog too but this chapter really dissapointed me. We saw very little of the society and just got a long arena fight.
It’s nearly time. I’m excited.
He seems nice.
Well, Ol’ Jack just started reading a week ago and i’ve just caught up with the general proceedings. I hope nothing too dramatic happens on this last page now that I have to suspensefully await each new updat- Oh dear.
Wait. Is it really true that the next book is going to be the last? The story barely feels like it has reached the midpoint. Allison had only just embraced her role as a demiurge instead of trying to run away from it all. Her Hero’s Journey had only just begun.
I have a feeling Abaddon is rushing this for some reason.
Behold, the God that burned the truth of the Six-Part World into his heart. He knows better than any other that the war of all against all never truly ended. If Solomon were wise, he would have marshalled all others to his side to strike down the brazen Red God. For while there is Jagganoth, peace is a lie.
I bet even Solomon’s having some war flashbacks right now.
He probably didn’t expect Rayuba to be the first place to get destroyed in the coming war… Burned down before his eyes, again.
I know it’s not the whole city and planet yet, but things look dire for his precious capital.
“Everywhere you go! Just making friends!”
– Sid, The Ice Age Sloth
I feel a steven Universe Vibe here ….
The first thought I had upon seeing Jagganoth:
Alison is going to pull that one sword *right out of its head*!
We’ll see how it all comes out (pun intended).
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