Wielder of Names 3-59
Chapter: 3
“I heard a man’s heart is worn on his sleeve. Well, it ain’t exactly correct by my reckoning, but close enough. Men is easy to read. Their heart shows all up in their eyes and face. It comes out in their breath, their voice, and the slant of their walk. Men is living things, beautiful and simple.
Where does an angel keep his heart then, I wonder? Troubling thoughts, my lads. Troubling thoughts, indeed.”
– Volk, Stoker’s Guild scion
That reaction is entirely understandable.
It is easy to despise those that claim they are making a difference by doing nothing.
Dear holybeings, there are some things that i don’t understand:
* Who is this ‘Alice’ we keep hearing about? Perhaps Allison is not the intended heir after all?
* Who is 6 Juggernaut Star’s “enemy”? (we are led to assume it’s Zoss because Zoss appeared to give the key to Allison and 6 Juggernaut Star says “My Enemy” when White Chain asks about that, but he never said this directly; and the scriptures often talk of one’s enemy being oneself)
* How is Metatron outside of causality? How is this a cycle? There used to be a king and with this plan there will be another king, but that’s not really a cycle unless that new king will also get overthrown by new demiurges, but Michael’s plan is for the new king to rule forever and ever. That’s a line, not a circle.
* What is Metatron and Michael’s final goal, such that the strategy of killing everyone in Throne, and the ‘Royalist’ strategy, both achieve this goal, although they now both agree that the Royalist strategy is better?
* Why does Michael say this world will soon die? His plan seems to involve getting the key to the ‘right’ heir and then taking the heir to meet metatron, how does that destroy the world?
* What exactly does Metatron plan to do upon meeting the heir?
* Is Michael planning to use the key to resurrect YISUN, or just to enthrone the heir and tell everyone the heir is like a god?
* Does the Old Law still prevent the angels from wielding the key directly? If not, why not? If so, how do they plan to persuade the new King to do what they want? Do they plan on taking the key away from the new King and just destroying it (or locking it up)?
* Why does Michael say that killing everyone in Throne is impossible? It seems to me that it wouldn’t be that much harder than fighting off the entire universe when everyone in the universe attacks them to get the key, assuming they get the key from the King, especially if they are not able to use the key
* Why did Zoss think the heir would be more able to take power than he would have been able to take it back himself? If Zoss is such a nice guy (the kind of guy who would give away his key just because it’s better for the world), why did he torture Metatron back in the day? Did he mellow with age?
* What is preventing White Chain from ‘accepting’ Michael’s plan and then just doing what she wants anyways (not kill Allison, etc)? If they kill her in reprisal, well 6 Juggernaut already implied that torture and death was the ‘alternative’ to her working with them, so she’s no worse off pretending to agree than refusing. Does Michael think his plan is just so logical that White Chain will eventually agree with him?
* So the other angels do sorta believe White Chain but they aren’t moved to action? Don’t they want to at least see if Metatron’s really alive, and if so say hi to Metatron and pay their respects?
* Why did 6 Juggernaut Star kill Liminal Blossom? Was that required in order to awaken Metatron?
* Why is Michael’s plan evil? What’s so bad about protecting the key and helping get it to Zaid?
* Why is Michael’s plan better than doing nothing? White Chain seems to be concerned with reducing suffering and saving the world, will Michael’s plan do that more than doing nothing? Does she think it’s better than the status quo because the new King and the angels will rule an orderly universe and suppress corruption, crime, and bloodshed?
* If so, and assuming it isn’t breaking the Law, why is it ‘evil’? How can something be “wise” but not “good”? Is it a “do the ends justify the means” kind of thing, or is this some weird angel morality thing that makes no sense to humans?
* Alice is Allison’s name mistaken as being Alice-UN, which would make the UN an honorific. Perhaps those who drop it are confused, as humans were made from YIS.
* Should be Zoss. The conquering king did kill a lot of angels and tortured 1 Metatron. Ah, the greatest enemy is I. Not self. It’s always written as I.
* What is preventing White Chain from ‘accepting’ Michael’s plan and then just doing what she wants anyways (not kill Allison, etc)? If they kill her in reprisal, well 6 Juggernaut already implied that torture and death was the ‘alternative’ to her working with them, so she’s no worse off pretending to agree than refusing. Does Michael think his plan is just so logical that White Chain will eventually agree with him?
Angels struggle with lieing, remember? That’s against the Old Law.
Don’t know too much about the rest of these, sorry.
Ah, thank you.
>Angels struggle with lieing, remember? That’s against the Old Law.
Now here’s an interesting, if belated, proposal: what if this very thing is the reason that White Chain removed her face? The last time she lied, to Praman Nand, it was her stone face that cracked. Perhaps in removing her face, she improves her ability to conceal her motives, allowing her to feign compliance with Michael’s plans while secretly supporting Allison.
*Are Michael and Metatron fully in agreement? Michael isn’t a Thorn Knight himself, though apparently allied. Being a secret Thorn Knight seems to deceitful for an angel.
*Michael is willing to trust White Chain because everyone thinks angels don’t lie. But we have seen White Chain lie to the androsphinx.
*Michael wants to restore the law. If everyone is dead, there will be no lawbreakers. If the king restores the law, that is also OK.
Maybe Zoss knew/thought his defeat was fated and wanted someone to avenge him? Spiteful enough for a non-nice king.
Ah Stagnation, the true instigator of temptation.
Do not denounce the Vigil of Nothingness. It is full of evils to slay and is far easier than turning one’s gaze towards Throne.
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN SO MAD THAT YOU TORE YOUR OWN FACE OFF? IF I HAD ONE TO TEAR OFF, I WOULD’VE DONE IT ALREADY. MAYBE I ALREADY HAVE.
Sithrak? Have you come here to punish us forver for our sins and/or virtues?
I once chanced upon the feather of an angel which had fallen to the ash. I picked it up in my hand, and when I turned it one way, it was a leaf; laced with life and delicately structured. When I turned it another, it was a knife; hard and shining with terrible purpose. My companion marveled at the many varied forms this angel-stuff could take, but he was grossly mistaken.
For no matter the way the feather was turned, it was always exquisitely thin, and terribly sharp.
Discard weakness. Go forth with conviction.
That last panel tho *rolls around in it* So good!
There are only options when one perceives them. A slave to pain and degradation, or a servant to a farce.
Fly free of the evils of passivity, White Chain.
The coin doesn’t have to land on any side, there’s always an edge, or eternal flight, or destruction of a coin. Or you can just steal it.
IT MAY SEEM GRIM BUT AL-YISUN MAY NEED THE POWER THE THORNS CAN GIVE TO SURVIVE! SQUAWK!
“Ow, ow, oh god why did I do that, I didn’t even know we could feel pain, holy crap!”
Here’s to the birth of the thorn 83!
Nay, even if White Chain becomes a thorn, when 82 dies, 82 will take time to reincarnate. It it’s unlikely she will be able to affect the plot afterwards without a century’s pause.
Lo! And they obsessed with immutable purity advocated change, and in response the demon-slayer removed her false face to reveal the nothingness beyond.
Finally, White Chain.
Finally, you accept the Prophecy.
Take your thorn armor, White Chain.
Take it and walk alongside with our Rising King.
Take it, walk, and kill six billion demons.
I really like how ripping her face off in order to confirm the revolve one has against Micheal actions. And I did notice that the angels she speaks to all see to be missing a head like as if it’s an anatomy only lesser beings.
Thats certainly one thing you could do…
“We Have To Do Something” are among the most foolish of words in any language. But White Chain does not have to complete Michael’s mission in the way Michael expects.
Wise choice, brother, wise choice! I am glad to have you with us.
Oh dear. It is terrifically hard for angels to change their forms; the fact that the concordant speak of millenia in the void is only one indication of this.
That 82 White Chain should make this transformation so easily is therefore indicative of something very dangerous. I wouldn’t want to be an angel when confronted with a sight like this, no I would not.
I suspect even these seemingly idle angels are agents of 2 Michael, since their inaction has pushed White Chain straight into the arms of the Thorns.
Unlikely. Their lies would crack them like eggs.
Truth is very often more horrible.
This won’t work. My sense of 82 White Chain is that betrayal isn’t in her. I suspect 2 Michael understands this, too. What is his game?
I am certain that White Chain ripping off her face so soon after Vladok did the same to his mask means something. I’ve no clue what.
Even lying is extraordinarily difficult for the aeons. I fear that her acceptance is sincere even if it violates her conscience.
So, White Chain has taken off her face in preparation for signing on with Michael. How loyal she’ll be, and which way she’ll turn at the climax, is another story — remember, she seems to know that Allison is the True Heir, and even 2 Michael doesn’t seem to get that.
It seems that faces are synonymous with weakness, or perhaps at least related. Humans can be easily read by them, attaching one to a demon weakens and binds them, and removing one from an angel grants them power. Intriguing.
”Do not fear the thorns in your path, for they draw only corrupt blood.”