Chapter 2: Page 90
Hardin has a good point, naturally — once you murder a Canid general, it really doesn’t matter what led up to it, you really should just get the heck out of dodge. But of course there’s still the lingering issue of Dakkan and Quinlan. As complex as things were before, that all goes out the window after the events of tonight.
I’d like to welcome all of our new readers who ventured here thanks to Tracy Butler’s reblog/retweet of my post showing her amazing guest art from last week. For reference, on a normal update day, we may get somewhere around 3,000 page views and 500 visitors. After that reblog/retweet, we received over 42,000 page views and over 14,000 visitors! Needless to say, it blew all our previous visitor records completely out of the water and made a rather epic spike in our viewer metric chart!
Speaking of rather epic things, our guest art this week is from Nauno, who you might recall did a rather awesome piece of Quinlan readying his bow in the treetops several months back. Well, he’s back with a new piece, this one of Dakkan confronting a Polcan pirate on the Lutren coasts!
Thank you so much, Nauno! The pouring rain, the perfectly-timed lightning crack, the water dripping from the Polcan pirate’s (rather awesome) sword — it’s a perfectly epic confrontation! Rachel and I both love it, and look forward to when we can actually show these sorts of confrontations between the Lutren and the Polcan on Sunsgrove’s coasts!
Wait, did Kenosh just pull a ‘Reverse Zuko’?
Isn’t it suppost to be the good guys who co-opt the aid of the driven but sympathetic villain?
Who is “Good”? who is “Bad”?
The Ermehn have been left to die far from the eyes of those who sentenced them to this fate, left to fade from memory so that all involved may feel better about the blood on their hands. Thus far, the Canid have proven to be Jingoistic and Imperialist to a fault. Not very sympathetic.
Unfortunately, I don’t think Dakkan is going to be taking this in as much stride as his father. Forcing your lungs to work again like that is rattling enough, much less doing so staring at your best friend, slowly bleeding out in front of you. At this point, I doubt he’s got much left in him, getting to his feet will be a struggle, but this is Dakkan. He doesn’t need to be on his feet to do something brash and foolish. Who knows though, after being near-effortlessly brought to the brink of suffocation/blackout, maybe the fear is getting to him more than the rage. Time will tell, but his face suggests the former.
There’s no such thing as a good war, and it’s helpful to keep in mind that everyone here beyond Dakkan and Quinlan are hardened soldiers. They make terrible, deadly decisions with expert readiness, less thought, and little remorse. They have to, or they die.
In addition to my previous comment, I find the relationship between Dakkan and his father very interesting, and painfully sad. When Clovis suggested Kenosh saw his son as a disappointment, his defensiveness suggests it held at least some truth. Combined with his previous distance, we can tell he has trouble with intimacy, on some level. Here we have him, having watched his son choked near to death for the amusement of an ermehn, wheezing as he struggles to draw breath, and as soon as his son was dropped his attention immediately swiveled to Hardin. Not his boy, but his Counterpart, to quibble over tactics. His son, choking on his very breath not ten feet from him, barely elicits a response.
Poor Dakkan…
whoops, this one wasn’t meant to be a reply >_>;
Actually, I think that the reason he turned on Hardin is that he’s worried about Dakkan. Dakkan was never supposed to get caught in the crossfire. Didn’t you see his face on page 88? Once Dakkan’s out of danger, he turns on Hardin because Hardin was premature and that’s why Dakkan got caught in the crossfire. Anger stems from two primary emotions: fear and sorrow. Kenosh is afraid for his son, and that transmutes into anger because he was never supposed to get hurt. You’re right in that he’s not good at showing conventional affection because of his PTSD, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care. Kenosh loves his son very much, but doesn’t know how to show it.
Even so, I worry Dakkan will be troubled by this for quite some time. Probably knew his father wouldn’t be the type to rush over and check on him, but it doesn’t mean that maybe he wasn’t hoping he would anyways. The fact that the closest we’ve seen to Bald fatherly concern took a hanging chokehold to summon might definitely paint the relationship a shade darker.
Ah, on this week I’ll say quickly and briefly because first of all I’m still traveling, secondly I have little Internet and thirdly I have little time.: I expect this situation – now when happened what happened – or you can join to me or die in agony at the hands of Canid soliders… Hardrin well it came up – it seems to me that he specifically attacked earlier, to get caught up in it against the wishes of Kenosh, now he haven’t a choice, and I hope that action will move to Ermehn camp ;) ^^
In this week’s page, I really like the poor Dakkan groveling to Quin (I hope that is alive, even though the drama of this scene unfolds this hope – OMG – it would be horrible if they were discovered dead … :O :( ); After that, well drawn is the projection from the top and the entire figure of puffing, crawls Dakkan – great job :D :)
And I applaud the work of the Guests Art, which I really liked it ^^ :) ; Also very good job :) ^^
And now I must to continue my travel ;)
Best regards for all friends, from beauty wild Lubelszczyzna region ^^ :) (Sometimes I’m beyond the civilization XD ; so that not to the West, but the East XD ;) ) I appeal for some time – and on next week already I’ll be 100% on salmon party ;)
“…It seems to me that he specifically attacked earlier, to get caught up in it against the wishes of Kenosh, now he haven’t a choice…”
Maybe that is true but I think Hardin just wanted to take advantage of the cover of darkness provided by the storm.
PREVIOUS DAY
ERMEHN BATTLE BRIEFING
Hardin: There’s a storm coming in this evening. We attack tonight.
Bevan: Hold on, didn’t that old Lutren tell us to wait until General Tosch was there before we attack so we could get ’em both?
Hardin: Yes, but all good sneak attacks have to take place during a midnight storm. It’s bad luck in the war if you try another time of day; just look at Pearl Harbor!
Rhosyn: So we can’t just wait a night?
Hardin: The storm might clear up before then, and then what would we do? No, we have to take advantage of this opportunity and attack tonight.
Rathik: But-
Hardin: *Jams knife into table* WHAT PART OF IT’S THE MOST DRAMATICALLY APPROPRIATE TIME TO LAUNCH AN ATTACK DO YOU PEOPLE NOT UNDERSTAND??!!
. . . Yeah, Kenosh, that’s the real reason he didn’t wait. And this explains why Hardin so expertly dodges the question posed to him in this page.
Hmmm …Right, it’s more logical, than my theory – but could also want to force Kenosh to join to him ;)
And tell me please Fourth, are you some writter :) ? You have a wonderful and funny text/dialogue, which I like it very much :D )
I do write sometimes, usually just for myself and friends, but I do want to write a book one day. If I improve my art enough I might even start a comic of my own. I have plans . . .
As for humor, I really do try to make people smile, and I see opportunities for jokes in most parts of life. Thanks for reading my little comedic posts; it means a lot to me, and I hope they help you make it through the day.
Until next time,
-Fourth
I really like your funny humorous text ^^ (And I hope that one day I make some comic – I have some idea on some comic too ;) )
So, if I remember correctly, the two big theories for where Quin and Dak will go next were a) to Nessa or b) with the Ermehn. It looks like we now know which it is. Though the suggestion that Janik has a major role to play later in the story and Alex’s comment that the Vulpin “show up in force” later in the story suggest that our protagonists will make their way down there at some point. I don’t think that either of those comments pertained to Song of the Eastern Sands either, as they were both made before SOTES was announced.
It does seem plausible that Quin and Dak are either sent to Navran by Kenosh and the Ermehn or run off, unwilling to help Ermehn that tried to kill them, and venture down to Vulpin lands themselves. I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see what else happens. Other theories are welcome.
(Oh, and “Kenosh and the Ermehn” would be a good name for a Dunian band.)
Everything beautifully-nice Fourth, I too remember those theories ;) (and more I’m all for a theory that they would go with Ermehn), but after today’s new page I have great doubts whether these theories will be able to meet – I am afraid that in the next week we will be able to have a mourning… – Quin is strangely silent, so sitting motionless with bowed head, does not move… I fear the worst … that Quin is dead.
Oh, and guest art! Loooove the guest art.
(I do have to wonder how the Polcan pirate is holding his sword so that it’s at that angle but his face is still reflected in the blade from our point of view, though).
I wanted to incorporate the classic “enemy’s reflection on sword.” I then realized that the angle was a bit off for it to happen. It’s already too late to change anything. Plus I was going for the Polcan holding the sword in his right hand and in a defense position to fight back against Dakkan. I still have a lot to learn about angles.
Ha, every piece of art has flaws. Just a fact of life. Yours still looks great.
(If you check out my art contribution a few pages back I am in no position to criticize). ;)
Seeing Kenosh looking regretful at the huge can of worm he just opened, would make even Steve Urkel cringe in shame.
On a serious note, The more this goes on, the more bad I feel for Dakkan and Quinlan. I’ll assume we’ll probably wont get much exposition for now since the two groups are not out of danger yet, but I wonder if Dakkan will comply with both Kenosh and the Ermehn. Who knows.
And man, do I love Dakkan’s treatment within the fandom. You guys are seriously making him into such a rebel and I love it! Nauno your epic renditions are still…epic!
There are lots of great expressions this page, especially from Kenosh, but poor Dakkan’s face takes the cake. This is a disaster, especially for him, and he’s not going to take it well in the least. Getting stuck staring at your bleeding out best friend after you’ve been almost throttled to death doesn’t help.
The question is, is just Kenosh going with the Ermehn, or are Dakkan and Quin going as well?
I suspect that Hardin is referring to Kenosh only with his comment, but Kenosh will feel guilty enough to insist that Quinlan and Dakkan come along as well.
Of course, they will not be too thrilled with this idea, and how they react is anyone’s guess.
I have a feeling that either Hardin will not allow them to tag along (especially since Quin is wounded hhe’dprobably see them as liabilities that would slow them down), or Dak will coldly break ties with his father who he will see as a traitor and take the wounded Quin away to get treatment and will have to face the wrath of the remaining Canid. Either way, Dak will still have to deal with the shame of knowing that his father is now officially a traitor (even if Kenosh’s action were for the “greater good”)
All the time I am afraid (same as above already posted and I justified those concerns above in conversation with the Fourth) that you may find that Quin silently walked away from us … that’s just sitting there in pain, quietly died…
I’m pretty sure Quin just blacked out. I doubt he’s been cut from the story just yet.
I also hope that Quin survives it ;)
Now I even came to my mind one interesting idea – that in the same way as teenagers and young people (around 19-20 years old – as much as I have, Dakkan and Quin) especially with Warsaw and Kraków, and other Polish areas in the years of II World War – this all young people and now Dakkan and Quin, are generation of “Columbuses”, which is a generation of young people who have undergone rapid growing up/the transition from juvenile fun, colorful summer youth fun; through the horrible experience of war – death of their friends or families, the death of themselves or the repression and brutality and blood of war – forced it on them very quick maturation/become adults, often with multiple injuries, including mental post-combat activities changing the approach to other people and radical change of their nature…
And while all of this story from the beginning, I consider that this process occurs on Quin and Dakkan…
It certainly seems that the characters are going to go through a lot of accelerated maturing through these events. I’m constantly reminded of the various flashbacks we see of young Quin and Dak and how they’re contrasted with the current events. It will be interesting to see how they will be by the end of the series.
It will be a very interesting thing to see…
But it is a pity that happy young people – like Quin and Dakkan – full of life and fun, can become serious and shy adults as Kenosh…
Oh no, Dakkan looks so broken and shocked, this is really upsetting me. So now we know for sure that Kenosh was working with Hardin and Co. or at least knew about the attack before it happened… dang. Well there goes any hope that maybe he was just at the wrong place and wanted to save the poor captured Ermehn, from the Candid who were about to commit a war crime by executing an unarmed soldier (because he was their captain makes this worse IMO). What is to become of our heroes, only following pages will tell.
Fantastic to hear about the spike in viewership though, the little community is growing.
If Dak ever gets back home, just think of the shame he will have to endure now that he will have the reputation of being the son of a traitor.
If you thought Dak had daddy issues before- WHOO boy
Oh no, why would you say that. Ah jeez. Especially since his father holds such a grand position in the Lutren army everyone must know who he and Dak are, and news will spread quickly of what happened here and of what Kenosh did.
“If Dak ever gets back home” please don’t speak like that, I don’t want to think about what could happen to these innocent characters. Not after one of them is shot in the shoulder and the other is choked.
Well, we were promised a rough ride, and here we go.
Wait, wait – don’t forget the truth about Ermehn is mendacious by Canid and influential people with power and money, and all inhabitants of four kingdoms have bad-false opinion about Ermehn, by the official lie of Canid about Ermehn – so from the point of view of the inhabitants of Lutra, Kenosh may be a traitor, but from the point of view of truth and morality, Kenosh is not a traitor, he did well :)
This weeks page has a little bit of a sentimental value to me as well I guess because it was around this time last year that I first found this glorious webcomic. Of all the webcomics, or stories in general for that matter, I have read in my short 17 years of life none, have captured me quite like this one has. When I first found and started reading this at around 1:00 AM I can’t quite describe how reading about the various races, their different opinions and their biases as well as reading about the history of war and trouble these lands faced engaged me. I can only think of one other universe and series that has drawn me into this scale, and it’s fantastic to be able feel like this and just be so enthralled by a universe and everything that has happened inside of it.
The community for this comic is absolutely fantastic as well. Every week I can’t help but get excited for both the new page and the fun and thought filled discussions that will occur in the comments after every new page.
I also feel like I have to thank the BWD community as I recently reached out to some of its many members for some assistance on personal issues. To those of you that I messaged, it really means a lot that you could help.
I would like to thank Alex and Rachel for the world and environment that they have built as well as the work, effort and love that they have put into this comic. It truly shows.
I know he’s dead and it’s probably in poor taste but I like how Canus looks face flat on the ground like that xD
Whack-a-stoat is, in fact, quite a popular game amongst the Canid.
CLOVIS, not Canus. Why did I think that?
I adress him as General Snowball, because his fur white and fluffy.
Wait, is that a Rick and Morty reference I see before me.
“Let’s get wrickity wrackity wrecked, son!”
“What is my purpose?”
“You pass butter.”
[looks at his hands; his shoulders sag; he speaks in a sad defeated tone] “Oh my God.”
Oh and also you can’t forget!
“I’m Ants in My Eyes Johnson here at Ants in My Eyes Johnson’s Electronics!”
Truly, he was the fluffiest of them all and his passing leaves a big, poofy hole in the cast.
Alas, poor Clovis. You slew him, Kenosh.
Truly, he was the fluffiest of us.
A fellow of infinite floof.
Pfff… It’s one less of criminal :p
I just wanna give Kenosh and Dakkan and Quinlan a big hug, a bucket of fish and a bucket of acorns.
Dakkan needs his mother to whisk him away someplace safer and give him a cookie, a nice warm bath, and a plate of salmon sashimi.
Kenosh asks that you please do not touch him but he will graciously accept the bucket of fish.
Awww… :( Now, in this moment could use a mother’s love to hug his mom and cry on… Sometimes even young adults warrior need it – we are just people – especially Dakkan whose psyche requires multi-month therapy… :(
Is Quin propping himself up on his injured shoulder?
Next page is Dakkan trying to revive him, calling out his name, the frame shows Quinlan’s face, closer and closer, whie at the same time the scene fades to black.
End of second act.
I refuse to believe that Alex and Rachel are that evil.
Can they be evil? Of course. But no one could possibly be evil enough to do what you suggested.
Jesus Christ and All Saints! :O …
Please thesillyzalot, do not scare me :O ….
Through it more and more I think and I’m afraid that Quin is dead… :(
I didn’t say he dies. That’s just an standard-issue “he dead or he not dead?” suspence scene.
And you’ll have to wait 6 months to see that he wasn’t dead, he just lost an arm.
Roflcopter
Ah, 6 months :o XD ?, So if you say… Ok, I can wait ;) –
all in all it was a good tactic from the Alex and Rachel ;)
Oh no!!!! It seems like the end of chapter 2 is coming!?!?! I dunno, it’s just speculation on my part.
Honestly ending the chapter here would be frustrating, but in a good way. All great cliffhangers leave you impatient for more
Hardin poses as the royalty, Kenosh is angry and surly, Dakkan is coming to grips with an unsettling realization about himself, and Quin – true to his style – keeps being outclassed and ignored. All’s well in the world!
Just a question for the authors that occurred to me while I was rereading some old BWD comics, but how common is literacy in Dunia? Literacy is something we often take for granted, but it is a huge advantage over people who are illiterate. To look deeper into this question, I went back and looked for all the references to literacy that I could.
https://westerndeep.net/comic/chapter-2-page-50/
Here Hardin states that Ashtor and Eira are the last two Ermehn scribes in the wastes (most likely), but that only covers the Ermehn in the wastes. As Cain and Yurk show, there are Ermehn in places like Nessa, too. Do they factor into this at all?
https://westerndeep.net/comic/chapter-1-page-41/
Meanwhile, we have the Land’s End Tavern, which advertises itself with a sign showing both a tree on the edge of a cliff and its name in writing. Real-world medieval taverns generally only had pictures and no written signs at all; the peasantry were universally illiterate, but if you told everyone that you were going to the Red Bell, they still knew what you meant. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the Red Bell is the tavern whose sign shows a red bell. The presence of writing here is, I feel, more to benefit the audience than the patrons, but I could be wrong.
https://westerndeep.net/comic/chapter-2-page-56/
Then, we have this one. Here, Quinlan is shown to be quite adept at writing as he pens a message to King Dabheid using the Tamian script (we’ve seen the Tamian, Felis, and “Lingua Franca quasi-English” scripts so far). This proves that Quin is literate, but as Captain of the Tamian Royal Guard and a member of the Tamian nobility, it makes perfect sense that he would be so. It would be stranger if Quin were illiterate. So while this comic more or less establishes that the nobility are taught to read and write, it remains silent with regards to the common folk of Dunia.
https://westerndeep.net/comic/prologue-01/
Finally, let’s talk about the Felis. So far, if I had to make a guess, I would say that literacy is common amongst the Dunian nobility but rarely found anywhere else. However, the Felis, with their focus as a “scholar race” throw a wrench into that. Here, in the Felis marketplace, we see a stand with no (visible) picture and a marker in Felis script. To me, this indicates that the Felis tend to be literate across the board. Presumably, the scholar race would have a more literate populace than the members of the other races, but this has never been formally confirmed.
So my final prediction is that the nobility of the Four Kingdoms and the common Felis are literate, while the commoners of Aisling, Sunsgrove, and Navran are illiterate along with essentially all of the Ermehn and Polcan races. I would appreciate a confirmation or refutation of this guess, and any theories anyone else comes up with, anything that I missed, or any other points that the authors want to make would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
An interesting lecture :D :) (Thanks Fourh :D – you place in my taste of Ethnograph Explorer ^^ ;) )
Hello! I’m sorry to trouble you, but I want to ask you for permission on translating of your comic for the Russian public with your authorship.Thank you
Ah, hello friends again ^^ :D
After 10 day travel on Lubelszczyzna region, distance of more than 1000 km, along with my great friend, companion and my master in everyday life and travel – my beloved grandfather; finally I came back to Kraków ^^ – I’m tired but happy, with a great amount of positive energy to the job, a fantastic experience and a lot of beautiful photos…
And finally I can fully participate in the Salmon party ^^ :D
And here the question/request to Alex and Rachel ;) .:
After the end of my Travel I found that I can call it very nicely “Beyond the Eastern deep” – Why am I so called? – because I visited and I saw really wild places, away from civilization, only not on the West, but on East ;) – sometimes I really felt like Dakkan or Quin, wandering through the marshes, grasslands, forests, sometimes all wet in the rain XD – but it was a fantastic experience ^^ ;) ; During my travel I got up to the border with Belarus, on the Bug River (like Canid State :p) – This was Really beautiful and wild place, far beyond the Eastern deep ^^ ;)
And here ask for Alex and Rachel – can I call my photo album and this one photo to my Gallery in DevianArt “Beyond the Eastern deep”? -This is a picture of the border pole.: https://scontent-fra3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtf1/v/t1.0-9/15876_403730733148927_7630058683389560284_n.jpg?oh=be40e2f7a8facae8ca20c5bf22cafaf9&oe=56567537
;)