WHEEL SMASHING LORD 1-20
Chapter: 1
“Lord Mana, a man that treats people as he hammers iron, and treats tools as his most tender lovers. No greater craftsman will ever exist, I am sure. Shame.”
-Payapop Pritram
Kill Six Billion Demons
BREAKER OF INFINITIES
For those who missed it, this is probably how she became an alcoholic. Forced addiction as a means of control. See the wine pouring frame.
Source: abuse survivor myself, haven’t had that experience but know people who have. I, uh, hope the comic doesn’t continue in this vein for too long because holy fuck.
I just put that together. That’s…deeply upsetting
I wonder if Maya’s story covers all the tragedies of all the seven demiurges. She’s seen her family murdered like Solomon David. She’s been sexually ill-used like Nadia Om. She’s been mocked like Incubus. And she’s had her sense of agency stripped away, like Jadis. If she suffers Mammon’s loss of faculty (from booze?), Jagganoth’s brutalisation and whatever went wrong for Gog, she’s got the set.
What _is_ Gog-a-gog’s trauma, really?
I want to say abandonment issues, maybe?
Might be hard to fit into Maya’s questline.
I would wager something along the lines of “compulsive need for attention to validate her own existence”. Her fellow demiurges are powerful warriors, masterful mages, whereas she’s just…a literal pile of worms. She wants everyone to respect and like her, which is why she tries (in her own twisted way) to make everyone happy.
Notice, too, that when she had everyone in a position where they could have stopped Jag, where she could have demanded pretty much anything, she chooses to demand simple acknowledgement. And when denied it, tossed it all away.
Sounds like an upright fellow. It’d be a pity if something happened to him.
Yeah this is making me really dissapointed in the comic. Why do women have to get their cool moments through sexual abuse? Men can be cool through solely violence but not girls apparently.
There are many, many stories out there of male characters going through awful sexual abuse before gaining their strength. Berserk comes to mind. So I’d say your indignation is misguided.
You may feel uncomfortable with the theme, but it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be addressed in fiction.
Look, in a vacuum you would have a point. But here and now you don’t.
This is a pervasive enough trope that it’s frankly just tiring. And the inverse is not true. Male characters going through their lowest points generally suffer through the kinds of trauma that Maya suffered in the last couple of comics: loss of loved ones, bested in battle and disillusionment. But for men that’s generally enough. Sexual abuse is a statistical outlier for male characters. For female characters it’s like Edgy Option 1A.
I get where this discomfort is coming from. I agree, having this super awesome female character and then, of course, here comes the history of rape. The author is male, all I can say.
There are plenty of very awesome women in real life who, sadly, had or have to experience sexual abuse. Denying it is not helping them. We have yet to see how the rest of the story unfolds, but so far I feel the author is representing the vicious circle of abuse with the gravitas it requires. It would have been very different if he had handwaved it or turned it into fetish fuel.
Again, just because the topic is heavy, very real and disturbing, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be discussed – quite the opposite.
Berserk is a shit example if you want to talk about gender parity bc yes Guts and Griffith both experience on-screen incidents of sexual abuse, but literally every named woman through Conviction Arc is shown being raped or is experiencing a violent rape attempt. Casca alone gets jumped like 7 times. None of the other men in Berserk are sexually victimized. If we want to talk about topics being real, real men experience sexual violence all the time. I’ll be more comfortable when that’s an expected part of the narrative as well.
Fair enough for Berserk laying of the abuse more heavily on female characters than on male. However, I’ve been working for a few NGOs that deal with sexual violence. And that has taught me that although it is true that men too experience sexual violence, it is, sadly, way more common for women. Like, outstandingly more common.
Not saying that sexual abuse on men shouldn’t be depicted too. But in a world where almost every woman has at the very least had to deal with things like street harassment once in her life, it makes sense that fiction would have a tendency to show female abuse more frequently than male abuse.
You can choose to be equalitarian in your depiction of abuse. But then isn’t it somewhat disrespectful to women IRL, who suffer from this shit much more?
don’t be obtuse. even miura said he regretted the ways he was cavalier about the subject.
the subject of sexual violence against women has been used exploitatively by men for years (the figure of the defiled woman is an incredibly prolific trope) and depicting a circumstance =/= depicting it well.
There seem to be plenty of women in this comic having their cool moment in other ways, and besides, I don’t think this is meant to be a “cool” moment. This is the part when the heroic figure suffers then find a new strength and free themselves, I think.
This seems on par with what we have seen so far, with faceless slaves in brothels and the likes. The wheel doesn’t seem to be a good and egalitarian bastion of morality…
But on another hand, I think I understand your irritation, this is not an empowering moment, with a suffering some time far too real for some
… we just had a whole chapter that put Allison through the worst abuse possible, which culminated in the most awesome moment she’s had.
None of that abuse was sexual.
This dude sucks
Do they? I don’t personally recall any woman, apart from perhaps Nadia who experienced sexual abuse. Even then, she turned out a gluttonous tyrant.
Might be wrong, haven’t read the comic in a wee while.
I meant to reply to N.
Aaaa, first time using the comments.
Cio. On both ends. Both as Yal and as her current self.
She sexually assaulted Allison, even.
Wait. Cio sexually assaulted Allison? When??
Prim in the myths, Nadia that you mentioned, Allison (both with her storyline starting with like feeling pressured to go through with sex and Zaid being too clueless to pick up on her obvious discomfort, and with Cio’s sexual slaver ex going “oooh a gift for me? I love blondes” or something, which had sexual implications), Cio on both ends, the girl whose name I forgot but Allison took her place was literally there to be a Mottom Wife, a sex slaver told White Chain he wants to pimp her out, etc etc. Princess hasn’t had any sexual abuse moments but Princess was also a girl for like five minutes now.
It’s not very explicit for most but it’s a pattern that like, kinda sucks,
Wonder if we can cool it on telling people that they shouldn’t feel disappointed or grossed out by this page maybe? Lol. People will feel what they feel and if this triggers someones ptsd then the situation isn’t being helped by going ‘no you see it’s *supposed* to trigger you its super clever and deep see’
I don’t have a problem at all with the page itself even though some of it hits home for me, obviously this is going somewhere, but I do have a problem with the people in the comments being dismissive of the ones who ARE being affected.
Part of me wonders if Abbadon could do with putting a content warning for sexual slavery & forced addiction at the top of the page, even temporarily? But maybe that would mess with the flow of the narrative or something, I don’t know.
I feel this one is for me.
It’s totally normal and understandable that people feel disturbed and grossed out by this depiction of abuse – that’s how you should feel about it if you’re a sane person.
What I find problematic is that some people say they are disappointed with the author choosing to address this theme. Meaning, they feel sexual abuse shouldn’t be represented in fiction. Like I’ve said in earlier comments, I find this way of thinking dangerous, because it (unwittingly, I’m sure) goes in favour of covering up the disturbing reality of sexual abuse instead of reminding us that it exists.
Agreed however that a trigger warning could help on this page for actual abuse survivors.
I’m uncertain if a content warning would be appropriate. Why this page in particular?
This isn’t even the first time this subject has come up in the comic.
How have readers made it this far, only to say “okay this is too much, it crosses a line”
because people following ksbd actively don’t read ksbd all at once, we read it week to week? people can be in very different spaces week too week, and it’s silly to expect otherwise, especially since this has been the most direct he’s been about the subject
Because this is an intense and depictive page, right after an already intense event. A warning would be nice.
You’re making a logical leap between “they’re grossed out and disappointed” and “…therefore, they don’t want this theme represented in fiction”. Those two are wildly not the same.
Other interpretations could be that they find this particular handling to be gratuitous or weirdly off-handed, or that they’re upset about it happening to Maya specifically, or that they felt like this was an abrupt tonal shift from the otherwise over-the-top grimdark to something a bit too realistic, or that this particular instance represents a tired-as-hell trope that they’re sick of seeing everywhere.
“After six years, he grew tired of my body and presence. He tossed me the shattered hilt of an apprentices poor attempt and told me, with his hyena laugh, “here is your god killing sword, it’s blade is of the stuff between worlds.” Though he meant it as a cruel mockery and insult, I realized the truth in his words. This is what remains of his house and lands.”
That is more or less what I am expecting too. It’s not about a physical blade, any hunk of steel will do. It’s about the training – 6 years of it in this case. Considering how sexually overt Maya was as the lord of the armies, this might be the only way to bring her to being capable of using the technique. If so, it’s ugly but defined by her character.
What the Fuck does this have to do with how “sexually overt” she was? I understand your point of experience forging a person, but perhaps you should consider closely why you said it, or just don’t say some superfluous shit like she shod herself for sexual satisfaction.
Bad comment
(@Syzygy)
Man you’re good. If Abbadon would ever need an asistant writer, you should get the gig, I would throw you in.
What’s fascinating about this is that Maya, who was mentally broken and suicidal… Endured all of this. Perhaps, in a way, she felt like she deserved this treatment, that she earned this horrific abuse.
And yet… Here she is, much much later, recounting this story of trauma to Allison.
Maya sees in Allison a fellow survivor, a kindred spirit, and one who can understand what it’s like to be broken and yet still keep on living.
This is very relatable to me.
I think why this page is so divisive is that it’s not exactly clear what is going on and it’s also not clear *why* it’s not clear. Maya’s euphemistic language could either be to subvert and complicate the well-worn expectations of a miserably extractive sexual relationship between a big ugly guy and a helpless woman, or to invoke and reinforce them. My hope is that it’s something in between and the confused feelings of care and compassion in Maya’s word choice are coming from something other than pure hate, which we will soon find out. That would certainly be a more interesting narrative!
I’m afraid it’s likely that it’s the worst of both. She doesn’t hate him as you might expect, but not because this is anything different then what it looks like, but because she believes the experience was part of how she obtained her maybe-sword. That said while she cannot hate him entirely for he did what she asked him to do, I also expect he is very much dead and that this too was a necessary part of the path of her life. “Hate him? Not really. But he had to die painfully.”
I honestly can’t tell what exactly is happening here; he says “pay with your body” and “share my bed” but beyond that there is no implication (to me anyway) that any abuse took place, the way he is sitting on the side of the bed almost looks gentle and concerned. His feeding appears rough but someone has clearly bandaged Maya and from the pile of empty bowls beside her it’s obvious she’s being well fed as well.
If I didn’t know any better, I would think it looks like he is forging Maya herself into a god killing weapon.
he’s feeding her and tending to her wounds, yes, but in the same way a master feeds his slaves-not because he cares for her, but because she is useful to him, and her death would deny him that use-and, further more, because it raises her debt to him every time, and so she can never pay it off. think of it that way:
a man is in debt to a lord, and so the lord sends him to work in his mines.
the man works for the lord every single day from dawn to dask, stopping only to eat the single loaf of bread and drink the glass of water the lord provided him, and after 3 days the man has come close to paying his debt.
however, the process of mining in the deep dark caves and only eating the bare minimum needed to survive has left the man so drained and scrffed that on the 4 day, he collapses, and does not complete his work.
the lord nurses him back to health, giving him food and medicine, but charging him for this treatment, increasing his debt tenfold.
this cycle turns again and again, and the man never manages to pay his debt and free himself.
this is(essentially)may’s situation here, only much, much worse.
nope nope nope i’m done reading this fucking comic holy shit no no no
Holding on to a story for 8 years must be so hard and frustrating.
I think what makes this page disturbing (at least for me) is its realism. Even back at the beginning with Nand’s brothel, there were fantastical elements insulating the reader from the abuse. I recall that the prostitutes there were faceless figures whom the devils “wore”, presumably while doing the deed. Mottom’s husband was a superhuman god-king, and we only learned about his transgressions through her speech about him. We never saw him, nor his treatment of her, depicted on-page. Mottom’s experiences were very far removed from those of the modern reader.
What’s portrayed here is just mundane extortion.
We did see Mottom’s husband as a corpse with a peach tree growing out of him. An excellent frame. Around the tree were over a dozen bodies of virgin girls who had been sacrificed to him. I don’t recall anyone in the comments being the least bit offended by the murder of all those girls, unlike the overwhelming horror produced by Maya’s willing self-abasement.
Yeah, but that just reinforces my point. Hastet Om’s evil tree form, and the systematic human sacrifice needed to keep him alive (or just get him to shut up), are both squarely in the realms of fantasy. While something like that may be happening *somewhere* in the world, I’ve never heard of it and I doubt any other reader of this comic has.
In contrast, using a “trade” or “debt” as a way to coerce sex out of someone desperate is something that happens every day. I wouldn’t be surprised if a few of the comic’s readers have fallen prey to this in the past. I’m not saying that Manamum’s actions here are more disturbing because they’re *worse* than Hastet’s virgin sacrifices or Nand’s possessee prostitution ring. I’m saying they’re more disturbing because they’re much closer to things that happen in real life to real people.
That being said, we may actually have seen Hastet Om as a living human in one panel, but he was just imperiously looking over his armies. It would be very different if we saw him in his bedroom lecherously reaching out toward a frightened, underage, and clearly unwilling Nadia. Or we saw him verbally pressuring her into fulfilling her “wifely duties”. Instead, we get her description of what happened, putting a layer of abstraction between us and another horrible thing that happens to real people.
The difference is in the distance, not the level of atrocity. Abaddon has certainly done a good job making me feel revolted with this character, but I can see how some readers would rather drop the comic after this.
How many cases have you heard of where someone gave themselves into this kind of punishment – for years – in pursuit of revenge?
The most trenchant reactions to this page seem clearly to be from people for whom this particular sin (out of the mind boggling array of sins displayed in KSBD) is particularly painful. Those people have all my sympathy. But think for a moment of people who have been victims war, or slavery, or organized crime… these things happen constantly in our world, and are hyper-illustrated here.
You know as well as I do that everything I said about fantastical elements insulating the reader from the previous examples of sexual violence in the comic can apply just as well to the war, slavery, and organized crime. None of that occurs like real-life violence does.
Maya’s motivation doesn’t change the fact that she’s still falling prey to everyday sleaziness. Stop being mad that I’m disturbed by a comic page that’s meant to be disturbing.
I’m sorry, “willing self-abasement”? Fuck off with that
A part of me believes he was hurried in writing this.
*careless. There, appropriate wordage.
if anyone’s interested in having this conversation i think i get why people react so viscerally to this specific page when this subject has come up multiple times in the comic already.
sexual abuse has been a thing in k6bd before. this is not out of left field per se. it came up. however this time it especially shocks because – we KNOW maya. we’ve KNOWN maya since the very beginning of the story. and right now we’ve been spending literally months following maya around while she talked to allison and trained her. maya is a monolith in the story and arguably the most badass character. everyone loves maya.
i think there’s definitely something to say about maya, the most Badass character ever, having sexual abuse as part of her tragic backstory. my personal comfort is that at least it’s not, like, the only thing that’s ever happened to her. many traumatic things have happened in her backstory that had nothing sexual in them. this twist rings wrong to me, though. there’s something exhausting about the fact that it seems not even the coolest most badass female character can’t escape sexual abuse. it’s not really this comic’s fault, it’s kind of a constant thing in media. if a woman is traumatised it has to do with sexual abuse one way or another. a woman doesn’t ever really have a “losing my family in a big fire and kneeling in front of the ashes and screaming NOOOO” moment without it turning about sexual abuse at some point. and i think what irks me is that for maya it was ALMOST the case. she had this huge tragic backstory akin to a superhero about how tragic and miserable revenge is and how fruitless all of this is and it almost had no sexual abuse in it.
that’s not to say women characters in k6bd don’t have tragic backstories without sexual abuse. and i’m not saying i’ll stop reading, i’ll personally keep reading and i still love k6bd and i think the author is doing great. i don’t necessarily think this scene is objectively bad and should objectively be removed. but if anyone’s confused as to why people are reacting more strongly to this page… here are my feelings as to why.
i get it but it feels handwringy. im a survivor and maya has always been my favorite character and this page is one of the most cathartic and strong in the whole comic. this story has been about overwhelming, universal weight of misogyny from page one. i dont want this to be a story that pretends that girls dont get raped. i want this to be a story that says raped girls can die drowning in the boiling gore of their enemies.
i wouldve been upset and not liked it if it was incubus that did it to her though. that would have rung really wrong to me, and authorially cruel. if it was incubus it would have been part of Her, like the farm was, but mana’s just a part of the world. incubus is her nemesis because of what he did, but i imagine mana doesn’t last much longer than those six years. ha ha. so like i said, i get it. but i really believe in this vision of her story and this page makes me feel strong.
It makes me feel strong as well. Maya endured this for years and years and made it through the other side, stronger despite what happened.
It’s… Yeah. Cathartic. When I get to talk about what happened to me and share it with others, it feels cathartic every time.
blood flower curse and mottom in harmony with all her past selves before dying, having reclaimed all the royalty they ate out of her. jadis having run from her own eternal pain so long but at last breaking her father’s infinity, praying to the god of suffering. how the wheel can hurt us temporarily but never touch our souls. this is the subject i trust the comic most on at this point.
this, one thousand times this. stay sharp, sister <3
I’m disappointed in the other readers that say they’re grossed out and saying they’re going to drop the comic now.
I was similarly disappointed way back in the comic when 001 had her outfit changed. And that Abbadon had to explictly tell you all to hold your horses when Cio was taken from Allison.
Like…what the fuck. Where’s the trust?
Like, if the creator ONLY ever had stories about women being harmed, then yeah, I can see why you might go all out to avoid the comic and condemn it. There ARE creators out there who absolutely have a problem with going straight for the most controversial content out there solely to exploit it for sexual or sadistic thrills.
But the actual evidence in THIS comic here is the exact fucking opposite. An entire DECADE has passed of trying to discuss and deal with a wide variety of topics in rounded, nuanced ways.
I’m not asking anyone to take anything on faith. I’m asking them to go back and consider the construction of the comic as a whole, and all the characters and themes of it, and figure out if all of that was done so poorly that THIS scene is STILL absolutley intolerable to you.
I think that decade of trust-building is a VERY different scenario than some artist or writer who doesn’t even TRY to care and just goes right for the shocking thrills.
I mean…ONE page and babies are being flung out with bath water so fast they’re hitting Mach 3.
Like…for fuck’s sake. The scene and Maya’s story aren’t even DONE.
Are you just…not considering context and nuance?
Are you just…not thinking things through? You decided X was bad, so of course X is bad and horrible and a nasty, nasty sin NO MATTER the context and vast array of variables surrounding it?
…if that’s the case…
…why are you even *reading* this comic? Did the creator’s skill at illustration dupe you into thinking there WASN’T one hell of a lot of philosopical and social thought beneath it? Were you looking at the pretty-shinies all along?
Yeah, I’m calling some of you dummies. Probably hurt some feelings.
But I’m feeling a lot like a professor that’s had enough of people’s shit and just chucked the projector across the room.
I’m hoping people won’t just sit there giggling at me and might stop and think a moment. (Go back and re-read the rest of the comic? Please?)
Also…I have a book rec for some of you. Kushiel’s Dart, by Jacqueline Carey.
Why am I reccing it? Because I think the subversion of religion might appeal to a bunch of readers of this comic…
…and also, the main character has a few moments where she lays down with strangers in order to achieve a goal. She’s bascially a holy courtesan.
I think a few of you could do with a good example of this type of character written brillantly.
My god the cringe on you.
really annoyed with everyone calling this nuanced or realistic. Fat balding hairy giant greenskinned orc man with tusks and prominent nose exploits a prone half naked woman. you can get this content everywhere. will it be more nuanced when she kills this incredible stereotype of the other?
This is the least possible gripe anyone could have about this page but it’s a bit award that this rapey pig man is probably the closest my body type and appearance has had to representation in this comic.
/s
that’s really unfortunate, i’m sorry about that. i think a not insignificant fraction of my disappointment came out of the fact that in any other context i might have enjoyed the character’s design. but. ugh.
Thanks for the book rec. You still sound like a nerd.
I agree with you. Abbadon has managed to pull this out by being a VERY carefull and slow writer.
Incubus: “Do anything to survive.”
Maya: “Do anything to kill Incubus.”
i don’t really have a problem with the idea of including themes of sexual violence in a comic more generally about violence, but the whole presentation of this is just so careless. really doesn’t help how a similar situation happened at the beginning of maya’s tale, nor does it help that the perpetrator here seems like a combination of a ton of racialized / othered physical traits. i just think the visuals here could have used some restraint (would have gone a long way tbh) but maybe asking for subtlety from ksbd is too much
like. idk. don’t get me wrong. is it unethical to be blunt and in your face about the subject? not really. but theres a marked difference between say, mottom’s own backstory explanation (who has v similar experiences) and this. idk! like obviously maya is going to be having her big ol empowering killing the perpetrator moment, but thats just schadenfreude. its embittering how clumsy it feels
actually no. i don’t care about any of that. i really think it is just about how specific this combination of traits are that the man looks like a cartoonish stereotype of the other. i’m superimposing idk. any number of the less outlandish looking characters onto this guy and it immediately feels less. uggish. goblin slayer type approach to violent themes idk
actually, id go so far as to say that maybe that kind of violent catharsis would be more voyeuristic and hackneyed. how many shows have i seen that featured one-off sexual assault that were ‘justified’ by the victim’s revenge. idk. all weird
This is the story of the Maybe sword, a sword that cuts through its own probability of existing, where it doesn’t matter if you had a real sword or not, you would’ve cut what you’re cutting right now eventually anyway.
I keep hearing theories that this “point” of the story is that Maya needs to go through suffering to be strong or that the abuse is the “forging” of the sword, but I don’t think that’s where this is going.
She isn’t held prisoner, and it doesn’t seem like Mana here is anything but a smith, so she could kill him without breaking a sweat with any old sword. Where she’s getting at with the story seems to be that she was willing to go through anything for that sword. No matter the price the sword is “worth it”. Nuclear weapons-grade piece of shit Mana here recognizes this and extorts her for it.
Though Mana is probably dead thanks to the Maybe Sword, her going through this to become “strong enough” to for that probably isn’t the goal here, but that his treatment of her isn’t worth the sword, there’s no point in staying in a situation like this, and if she wanted to cut, she probably should have cut in the first place. At least I *hope* that’s where this is going.
…To add to speculation, if this ends up being remotely accurate, I wonder if the name of the Maybe sword comes from the fact Maya was “hoping that he’d maybe make the sword after the next 3 days” or something like that.
Could work thematically, if the parallel is an abusive relationship where the victim is unable to leave because “maybe the abuser will change”.
This is entirely fan fiction, but damn I’m hoping that maybe the story doesn’t fuck this subject up.
That’s an interesting thought, but it would be very perilous for Abaddon to go that path. It would be dangerously close to saying “abuse victims can leave anytime and are therefore responsible for the abuse”.
I don’t think it’s inherently wrong to feature dark, gruesome elements, not even stuff like this. I get that it’s pretty triggering for some people, but I don’t think Kill Six Billion Demons is doing it badly here. It’s restrained, it doesn’t relish or fetishize Maya’s pain. It’s extremely matter-of-fact–Maya went through hell, and she’s trying to protect Allison from the same while warning her of what lies on the Path of Suffering.
That said, I really hope the next comic has the blacksmith getting killed so bad it breaks the new sword in two.
Oh, or wouldn’t it be cool if Maya ends up just using some random broken sword and naming it the Sword of Maybe? That’d be a real subversion. What matters is Mana becomes M a n a, as in, four fucking pieces.
I’ve always assumed that the Sword of Maybe is just some old piece of trash Maya picked up somewhere and that its apparent abilities are all about her technique. I would actually be a bit bummed if it turned out to actually be a magic sword of some description.
I kind of don’t vibe with this. Why is every powerful woman’s life a gauntlet of sex crimes? Like, even in dimensions beyond our ken? Forreal?
You know, I know the text seems to imply something sexual is going on with the bed sharing, but I have a suspicion this might LITERALLY be just sharing the bed. This guy seems to be of Jagganoth’s size, and Jagganoth’s wiener was like, the size of an entire person. It’d just seem odd to me if these ‘giant people’ were capable of sexual relations with normal-sized folks.
There are some other strange bits, like ‘ah yes, I’m continuing to use the same booze cask that my rapist used for years, and now my disciple, you drink from his rape-bottle too!’ The only way I could see it rationalized would be if it is a ‘trophy’ or something, but… eh, well, I could be looking too deeply into things, we’ll see on the next page.
It’s been so cool reading the quotes of the sword masters, and then realizing today that Allison was going to be next in line for that lineage!
Everyone talkin abt Maya chan in these comments as if she is bound to the logic of an american woman in a parking lot and not a god emperor punishing herself for having had her children slaughtered in front of her. You all need to listen to your auntie more.
This !
Yes. People (americans) seem to have forgotten that. She had been, at this point, nicknamed “The Destroyer”. She is not an Angel. She was one key-bearer, and the commander of the Greatest Army. She is responsible for many deaths also.
So you’re telling me Maya couldn’t heal up somewhere else before working up to getting that sword, and inevitably ended up in this disappointing cesspit of a trope?
Is she going to bring Allison to this blacksmiths door in order to “teach” her the Maybe Sword the same way, or some such nonsense?
Just… retcon this.
No, she’s going to teach Allison how to cut with Allison, instead of forcing some random piece of metal to do it for her.
Ouch. A disturbing page indeed.
So, here is finally an apparent kinsman of Jagganoth. We have already seen some exotic races of humankind across the Wheel, so apparently the fanged giants with peculiar skin colours are also the thing. I would even presume they are some kind of servants, if Abbadon had not stated otherwise.
Also, Manamum lives in a great anvil. Kinda appropriate. Not a workhouse of Koss, I guess? As far as I remember, this one was inhabited by Root Knights.
Also, yeah. The way of the “washed-up drunk” apparently started here.
I’ve been more under the impression that growing in size and sprouting horns and fangs etc is something that can happen to you as you grow in power. Remember how Alison briefly grew horns after eating the babel fish devil?
Looking at the very first reveal we see Jaggy as pretty human-sized, then he got a lot bigger by the time Maya ran into him, only to grow absolutely gigantic by the current day.