Yulvur never knew a man he could not best, and so he ruled within his tiny realm. Until he was slain by a greater fool. One that made Yulver’s same mistake eleven-thousand times over.
…honestly, that could have just as easily been the case- even worse would be if he had never actually learned how to swim, ensuring that despite his armors and weapons- being cast in a sea he never knew the depths of he was doomed without a chance to save himself.
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desart.[d] Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
— Percy Shelley, “Ozymandias”,
Oddly Mangled, Us
With profound apologies to Percy Shelley.
I met a dealer from an antique store
Who hauled a vast and legless trunk of stone
With him to shows on every foreign shore.
Where he the merchandise, with gloomy frown
And hands in pockets tucked, looked coldly o’er.
Some seller there his countenance misread
And offered him low price on certain things
Whereon his avarice had lately fed.
No joy upon the dealer’s face appears
But slow he turns, and slowly gives shillings
His triumph hidden under fake despair.
The seller’s take of cash is scant today.
The heavy trunk holds all that it can bear.
The dealer slowly hauls his trunk away.
Solomon speaks with similar fondness as Preem Hansa’s “What a magnificent idiot”. I would wager he’s done much thinking these three years hence—to speak nothing of the countless years before he abdicated.
36 Ringing Bell Shatters Thieves and Heretics Both
It is sayed the one, who masters the wheel can not smash it. Allison is the heir to the conquering king and similarly, but at a lower scale, White Chain is the heir to David.
I think both David and Zoss arrived essentially at the same conclusion and are similarly wise, but Zoss did not need a tournament to find the right person. Also, Zoss mastered the wheel while David did not quite achive that.
As is understand it, mastering the wheel is conquering it. And you do that by becomming royalty.
Alison was basically gifted mastery over the wheel, so someone other than a power obsessed monster has a shot of influencing how the world works. (And, optimally, she would use the gifted power to make it impossible for people to gain so much power, thereby smashing the wheel.)
Ah – but the question that has recently been raised is whether once she has solidified her position of mastery over the wheel, will she become obsessed with keeping it? Allison has clearly changed. She had to in order to survive, and it’s obvious to everyone. How much further will she change? And in what direction?
I think knowledge of her own mortality will help with maintaining perspective. Other God-Kings might never have truly expected to rule eternal but I would guess very few have had such convincing evidence as the word of Jadis
bro, i keep telling my parole officer this EXACT THING, but he’s all like, “no, this constitutes a repeat offense and a violation of the terms of your parole. you’re not even supposed to be this close to a playground.” i’m ENLIGHTENING the CHILDREN.
Salami David, the demiurge of shame, the bearer of the word fragility, dropping soliloquies and epitaphs on Ironblood and his own empire.
A very fine and very stupid man.
Of all the many former demiurges (mentioned by name), he is one of the luckier ones to have walked away personally intact.
Once a guardsman of Rayuba,
Husband, father, citizen.
One of many dedicated defenders,
who never expected to face the basilisk gaze of Star-lords.
Imagine them – whole armies reduced to fields of ash and shattered bone.
Bereft, alone, wounded,
bleeding, torn in body, broken in spirit,
you turned to the Monks,
who even Yemmod feared to disturb.
For some Star-lords knew better than to invite their own demise.
“Admit me as a novice to your order,
or I end my life at your feet.”
This, your ultimatum to the Silent Monks.
Admit you they did, those unfathomable prodigies
who preferred to let a world burn rather than unleash their fearful powers.
O’ Man, formed from great toil, training, and pressure.
Forged, compressed your corpus to a hardened edifice.
Feigning submission to the training.
Concealed did ye, vengeful longings.
Biding your time, gathering ever more power with each kata learned.
You became as diamond.
Your rage, concealed,
buried deep below every layer of sinew.
Hardening each day,
your goal of vengeance ever before you.
Do you think of them ?
Those who sheltered you ?
Those who taught you an Ultimate Martial Art ?
Do you feel you meted out Justice to those
who had power to stop evil – and did not ?
After felling Yemmod, you became the Star-Lord.
For generations to come – Unstoppable.
Bearer of the Word – Diamond,
aspect of the Divine, Yisun,
who disappeared into Creation.
You, the head and foundation of Empire.
You, the source of power, law, fear, obedience.
You, first voice before all others.
You, knowing no equal but Demiurges.
You, fossilized, crystalized, rigid.
Now, the conundrum of your Cosmos is unfolding.
Behold ! An age of Eschaton is come.
One of your Peers gathers all power to him.
Your MIGHTIEST BLOWS avail not.
To buy time, you STRUCK and shattered.
Yes, outwardly you appear intact, not weak,
though you surrendered divine powers.
Yet the faults, the flaws remain within.
Your broken heart, your cracked spirit.
You are shamed, fragmented.
What’s left, “Once Diamond ?”
From pinnacle of pride, have you found humility ?
Let us ask – are you yet of USE ?
What’s your next play upon the Wheel of Creation ?
What then, when a diamond breaks ?
Pictures you can hear if you live with a cold winter: the snow crunch. On another note, Salami Dave never saw the irony of his way of living/his empire until now and im not sure thats where he is going. He carved the same bloody path and made the same strength exemple as this god-king he describe with disgust.
You think he is describing the king with disgust? I think he acknowledges that they were much the same, trying to unite people and forge a society. But each had themselves as the head of that society, and it could not survive their absence.
You are definitely right.
Solomon David is in a clear state of shame and deep reflection.
If the shame was not evident, he would speed and ping around the other 100,000 worlds cleaning them up after Rayuba was nuked – like this one.
white chain can scowl with the best of ’em. respectfully sits at the feet of a dude who throws people THROUGH mountains, but is mad lad enough to try to murder him with her eyes.
The key was never the source for Solomons prowess at putting peasants and god-kings through geographical fixtures. One does not become a demiurge simply by having a key. The power comes first. The key comes after.
Abaddon once mentioned Solomon David hasn’t even used his key yet really, other than to re-shape the arena earlier during the battle royale segment. Everything else is purely ki-rata.
The classic fate of Empires. So strong and seemingly invulnerable while they have no equal that will challenge them; When the challenge finally comes, more often than not even the work of generations is lost in mere decades.
One supposes that the involvement of god-kings merely makes that brittle diamond’s fate… more pronounced.
I know that she’s not, but White Chain has, to my mind, never looked quite so much like Solomon’s daughter than she does here (particularly staring up at him after he tells her “No”).
She is a child in human years, but an ancient in the years of gods.
He’s an ancient in human years, but ultimately still a child in the eyes of gods.
She took on his blood when reforging her form, and he learnt humility through her.
Perhaps it is less a relationship of elder and younger, but one of siblings, bound by blood to a fate of mutual annoyance unto the end of time itself.
Considering how her form could be “forged” from the very blood she drew from him, they would be related to each other more as siblings than as a parent/child dynamic.
It’s not stupid to want to try and build something. Sure, Solomon and Yulvur Ironsblood and Yemmod and all the rest could have gone about it in a better way, but why is destruction given such high consideration?
Whether it’s with your hands or a sword, breaking something is easy. Building something that stands the test of time (and of assholes) seems like the much harder tast.
Depends. Simply by holding a position of power you will be unjust. To continue to hold it you must defend it, to defend it you must hurt and oppress those who do not want you in it. If you choose to follow someone that is all well and good, but when they demand you follow them and hurt you for not doing as they say they are a tyrant.
The simple idea of having dominion over people who did not consent to your rule is tyrannical. There is no just king, no benevolent king. That’s a myth they created to make themselves feel better and to keep us from murdering them. There is not way to only be king over the people who want you to be. A king who abdicated at first sign of the loss of his subjects consent is now just any other person.
I think this comic struggles with what royalty is, the figurative and noble suggestion of a leader versus the reality that all authority and hierarchy is inherently coercive and tyrannical. “True Royalty” is about making your will a reality, rather than telling others what to do. You don’t need to be a king, in fact, becoming a king will actively prevent you from becoming royalty (in the philosophical sense of this story and world).
Why is the destruction given such high consideration? Well if a building suddenly collapses and kills a bunch of people, most would agree it’s pretty important to figure out why. That way any other builds with the same flaws can be shored up and buildings built in the future can be made without the same flaws
Yulvur and Solomon weren’t stupid for wanting to build empires, they were stupid for the way they built them. They clearly weren’t designed to stand the test of time. Their empires were built on a foundation shakier than sand, the shoulders of god-kings. As soon as the god-king holding them up fell so did the empire causing their people to suffer.
At least Yulvur is not a coward
Do you usually take the words of a man who uses his divinity to throw particularly large rocks at face value?
As you are not fated, I believe, to throw incredibly big rocks incredibly well- I believe I would take things at face value.
Well, when he’s within earshot, certainly.
If you valued a face you wouldn’t throw particularly large rocks at it
Yulvur never knew a man he could not best, and so he ruled within his tiny realm. Until he was slain by a greater fool. One that made Yulver’s same mistake eleven-thousand times over.
Each discovered that power is utterly meaningless if it can be taken away from you. The Ruling King is the only king there is.
You seem to be missing the intended subtext. Soloman is saying that he and Yulvur are the same as Jagganoth and Solomon.
And there’s also an implication that Yulvur simply chose not to return after he was thrown through that mountain. Much like Solomon now…
LeehwgoC is wise!
Though I assumed the implication was he survived being thrown through a mountain and his broken body eventually succumbed to the sea foam.
…honestly, that could have just as easily been the case- even worse would be if he had never actually learned how to swim, ensuring that despite his armors and weapons- being cast in a sea he never knew the depths of he was doomed without a chance to save himself.
Fat good that did him.
Was.
He is not talking about Yulvur
love the inclusion of the statue when discussing Ironblood’s rise. Just fantastic visual storytelling.
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desart.[d] Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
— Percy Shelley, “Ozymandias”,
Oddly Mangled, Us
With profound apologies to Percy Shelley.
I met a dealer from an antique store
Who hauled a vast and legless trunk of stone
With him to shows on every foreign shore.
Where he the merchandise, with gloomy frown
And hands in pockets tucked, looked coldly o’er.
Some seller there his countenance misread
And offered him low price on certain things
Whereon his avarice had lately fed.
No joy upon the dealer’s face appears
But slow he turns, and slowly gives shillings
His triumph hidden under fake despair.
The seller’s take of cash is scant today.
The heavy trunk holds all that it can bear.
The dealer slowly hauls his trunk away.
Good
I thought this was a real and preexisting poem. Beautiful
No take-backs!
If you want o ice fish barefooted, bring a stool.
If you don’t care about the cold then you don’t need a stool.
Ah, but does the cold care about you?
It’s too late, white chain. You’ve already been cursed with strength. The change is irreversible; you can never go home again.
But can you shop there? 😄
Gold star for Grosse Point Blank reference! 🌟
My guy’s hand is bigger than his face
He’s not falling for that one again.
This is the real reason he massacred the Ki Rata masters.
He used the terrible enemy-hitting-itself technique.
this might actually be a reference to michelangelo’s david
not sure though, so
i can think of something else that’s bigger than his face
what. who said that
Solomon speaks with similar fondness as Preem Hansa’s “What a magnificent idiot”. I would wager he’s done much thinking these three years hence—to speak nothing of the countless years before he abdicated.
I think that Solomon is very close indeed to achieving Royalty.
It is sayed the one, who masters the wheel can not smash it. Allison is the heir to the conquering king and similarly, but at a lower scale, White Chain is the heir to David.
I think both David and Zoss arrived essentially at the same conclusion and are similarly wise, but Zoss did not need a tournament to find the right person. Also, Zoss mastered the wheel while David did not quite achive that.
mastered? or conquered
the distinction is important when one seeks to smash
As is understand it, mastering the wheel is conquering it. And you do that by becomming royalty.
Alison was basically gifted mastery over the wheel, so someone other than a power obsessed monster has a shot of influencing how the world works. (And, optimally, she would use the gifted power to make it impossible for people to gain so much power, thereby smashing the wheel.)
Ah – but the question that has recently been raised is whether once she has solidified her position of mastery over the wheel, will she become obsessed with keeping it? Allison has clearly changed. She had to in order to survive, and it’s obvious to everyone. How much further will she change? And in what direction?
I think knowledge of her own mortality will help with maintaining perspective. Other God-Kings might never have truly expected to rule eternal but I would guess very few have had such convincing evidence as the word of Jadis
True; but the Ruling King does not typically care about dying. Just look at Zoss.
Regardless, it will certainly be interesting to see what happens.
Oddly enough now is the most that he’s reminded me of Zoss so far.
Pants of course, are optional as a Ki rata master.
As we all know, pants are a lie meant to keep enlightenment hidden.
Pants are a Throne’s merchant’s guild invention to sell you more clothes.
He is wise to avoid them.
bro, i keep telling my parole officer this EXACT THING, but he’s all like, “no, this constitutes a repeat offense and a violation of the terms of your parole. you’re not even supposed to be this close to a playground.” i’m ENLIGHTENING the CHILDREN.
naynay is….. observant?
Even so, I’d wear pants when sitting on the ice. Unless you want the boys to retract up to your navel.
Pants are an illusion, and so is death.
Salami David, the demiurge of shame, the bearer of the word fragility, dropping soliloquies and epitaphs on Ironblood and his own empire.
A very fine and very stupid man.
Of all the many former demiurges (mentioned by name), he is one of the luckier ones to have walked away personally intact.
Better to be a god of a mountain than a king of a world.
Because mountains are of no worth to anybody, so no one will came to take it from you.
A man by the name of Thror would like a word with you
Tenfold Archer, you mean frailty?
Mountains? Of no worth? Tell that to every mining tycoon and dwarven empire ever. Pfeh. Tallfolk.
“Diamond Lord”
Once a guardsman of Rayuba,
Husband, father, citizen.
One of many dedicated defenders,
who never expected to face the basilisk gaze of Star-lords.
Imagine them – whole armies reduced to fields of ash and shattered bone.
Bereft, alone, wounded,
bleeding, torn in body, broken in spirit,
you turned to the Monks,
who even Yemmod feared to disturb.
For some Star-lords knew better than to invite their own demise.
“Admit me as a novice to your order,
or I end my life at your feet.”
This, your ultimatum to the Silent Monks.
Admit you they did, those unfathomable prodigies
who preferred to let a world burn rather than unleash their fearful powers.
O’ Man, formed from great toil, training, and pressure.
Forged, compressed your corpus to a hardened edifice.
Feigning submission to the training.
Concealed did ye, vengeful longings.
Biding your time, gathering ever more power with each kata learned.
You became as diamond.
Your rage, concealed,
buried deep below every layer of sinew.
Hardening each day,
your goal of vengeance ever before you.
Do you think of them ?
Those who sheltered you ?
Those who taught you an Ultimate Martial Art ?
Do you feel you meted out Justice to those
who had power to stop evil – and did not ?
After felling Yemmod, you became the Star-Lord.
For generations to come – Unstoppable.
Bearer of the Word – Diamond,
aspect of the Divine, Yisun,
who disappeared into Creation.
You, the head and foundation of Empire.
You, the source of power, law, fear, obedience.
You, first voice before all others.
You, knowing no equal but Demiurges.
You, fossilized, crystalized, rigid.
Now, the conundrum of your Cosmos is unfolding.
Behold ! An age of Eschaton is come.
One of your Peers gathers all power to him.
Your MIGHTIEST BLOWS avail not.
To buy time, you STRUCK and shattered.
Yes, outwardly you appear intact, not weak,
though you surrendered divine powers.
Yet the faults, the flaws remain within.
Your broken heart, your cracked spirit.
You are shamed, fragmented.
What’s left, “Once Diamond ?”
From pinnacle of pride, have you found humility ?
Let us ask – are you yet of USE ?
What’s your next play upon the Wheel of Creation ?
What then, when a diamond breaks ?
/chef’s kiss
Well done!
Yes, this is a good one,Oneirimancer!
This is a beautiful distillation of Slomon David’s character arc.
Pictures you can hear if you live with a cold winter: the snow crunch. On another note, Salami Dave never saw the irony of his way of living/his empire until now and im not sure thats where he is going. He carved the same bloody path and made the same strength exemple as this god-king he describe with disgust.
You think he is describing the king with disgust? I think he acknowledges that they were much the same, trying to unite people and forge a society. But each had themselves as the head of that society, and it could not survive their absence.
The crushing realisation that what goes around comes around.
he describes himself with disgust, our dear former godking is but a standin for him, and therin rests his statement
You are definitely right.
Solomon David is in a clear state of shame and deep reflection.
If the shame was not evident, he would speed and ping around the other 100,000 worlds cleaning them up after Rayuba was nuked – like this one.
Which is why he refuses to take the key from White Chain.
You are right, I missed the irony here. Solomon is wiser than i thought, apologies to the former bearer of the word: Diamond.
Sal’s towering body and dense mane remind one of White Bolt and Dark Cloud’s encounter with Yaun.
I noticed that too. I know Solomon was a very big man, but not gigantic like Yuan. White Chain isn’t small, either.
Solomon looking like a proper hermit.
White Chain needs Solomon to help them, but she wants him to take back the Key. Surely she can have both?
Nothing beside remains
Solomon has Prim’s respect
They should give the key to a fish.
This could be problematic, with Gog agog (a pile of worms) ruling 1/7th of the multiverse. Imagine the chaos.
Mofos about to make a divine Wishiwashi
From YISUN’s perspective, the Wishiwashis are already divine.
Probably.
Well, you know. Gog-Agog seems like she needs a friend, and a fish bearing the word diamond might be a better pal than any of the humans she’s wormed.
What else to eat a worm than a fish?
Spoiler: White Chain ultimately did *NOT* want to live forever, so she ended up giving the key to a frog on the side of the road
I read this listening to Kardashev and JESUS CHRIST ABADDON THIS IS GOOD
It may explode your head when you read about the Kardashev-scale.
‘So, how’d it go, what’d he say?’
“No.”
‘BOOM! YOU OWE ME LUNCH, PRINCESS!’
*GRRAAARGH*
Was he always this big?!
No, Solomon David was once a much smaller man. He has become swol with wisdom.
and fish
white chain can scowl with the best of ’em. respectfully sits at the feet of a dude who throws people THROUGH mountains, but is mad lad enough to try to murder him with her eyes.
OTOH, w/o the key it’s not clear that he can continue to throw people through mountains.
The key was never the source for Solomons prowess at putting peasants and god-kings through geographical fixtures. One does not become a demiurge simply by having a key. The power comes first. The key comes after.
Besides. Kirata makes no use of the forehead.
Abaddon once mentioned Solomon David hasn’t even used his key yet really, other than to re-shape the arena earlier during the battle royale segment. Everything else is purely ki-rata.
Thass what eatin fish does to ya
The classic fate of Empires. So strong and seemingly invulnerable while they have no equal that will challenge them; When the challenge finally comes, more often than not even the work of generations is lost in mere decades.
One supposes that the involvement of god-kings merely makes that brittle diamond’s fate… more pronounced.
man, Salami D has really let himself go. in an upwards and outwards direction, mostly.
I know that she’s not, but White Chain has, to my mind, never looked quite so much like Solomon’s daughter than she does here (particularly staring up at him after he tells her “No”).
She is a child in human years, but an ancient in the years of gods.
He’s an ancient in human years, but ultimately still a child in the eyes of gods.
She took on his blood when reforging her form, and he learnt humility through her.
Perhaps it is less a relationship of elder and younger, but one of siblings, bound by blood to a fate of mutual annoyance unto the end of time itself.
Considering how her form could be “forged” from the very blood she drew from him, they would be related to each other more as siblings than as a parent/child dynamic.
“Very fine and very stupid man…”
I don’t mind to have that carved into my tombstone.
It’s not stupid to want to try and build something. Sure, Solomon and Yulvur Ironsblood and Yemmod and all the rest could have gone about it in a better way, but why is destruction given such high consideration?
Whether it’s with your hands or a sword, breaking something is easy. Building something that stands the test of time (and of assholes) seems like the much harder tast.
*test
Moreover, only the worst kind of idiot strives to be king.
-Meti’s Sword Manual
Yeah, well, Meti can go get bent.
Being a bad king is bad, but I think that you could be a good king. A benevolent king. A just king. A merciful king. etc etc etc
And if you grew up under some kind of totalitarian jackass, then wanting to replace him with something better is NOT idiotic.
Depends. Simply by holding a position of power you will be unjust. To continue to hold it you must defend it, to defend it you must hurt and oppress those who do not want you in it. If you choose to follow someone that is all well and good, but when they demand you follow them and hurt you for not doing as they say they are a tyrant.
The simple idea of having dominion over people who did not consent to your rule is tyrannical. There is no just king, no benevolent king. That’s a myth they created to make themselves feel better and to keep us from murdering them. There is not way to only be king over the people who want you to be. A king who abdicated at first sign of the loss of his subjects consent is now just any other person.
I think this comic struggles with what royalty is, the figurative and noble suggestion of a leader versus the reality that all authority and hierarchy is inherently coercive and tyrannical. “True Royalty” is about making your will a reality, rather than telling others what to do. You don’t need to be a king, in fact, becoming a king will actively prevent you from becoming royalty (in the philosophical sense of this story and world).
Scandinavian, Irish, and Anglo-Saxon cultures often elected their kings. So kings do not automatically rule w/o the consent of their subjects.
Why is the destruction given such high consideration? Well if a building suddenly collapses and kills a bunch of people, most would agree it’s pretty important to figure out why. That way any other builds with the same flaws can be shored up and buildings built in the future can be made without the same flaws
Yulvur and Solomon weren’t stupid for wanting to build empires, they were stupid for the way they built them. They clearly weren’t designed to stand the test of time. Their empires were built on a foundation shakier than sand, the shoulders of god-kings. As soon as the god-king holding them up fell so did the empire causing their people to suffer.
That’s fair, I suppose.
It’s stupid to build value as a system around people without putting the value *into* the people. That was Solomons Big Mistake.