Comic for Wednesday, February 11, 2015

[ReBob]

So where is group B at anyway? Quite a long way from group A I recall, guessing around where Trace and co. first set sail more or less. So not much can be done aside from ride this storm out.

The shock has worn off, and I don't think this will end in tragedy. Maybe it will feel like tragedy, but a crisis will be averted before it gets too out of hand. Then again, maybe that's just the small part in me still affected by this new development, desperately clinging to hope that this isn't leading where the story wants me to believe it is.

[Hubris]

Wow . . . umm, ok . . . anyway, response time. I've seen a lot of good theories here and I'll state the ones I support. They're mostly all good possibilities. Personally I think Natani being stuck on the Zen side of the link is realistic, but small chance that's going to happen. Tom would then have to write a story about Group A always lugging around a vegetable Natani body and it just doesn't seem that conducive to story telling. Initially I would have gone with the pre-link, comatose, broken soul Natani that we saw. It would still mean Group A lugging around a veggie Nat but I think it would be more interesting from the reader's point of view if his soul is stuck in his body. Maybe he's alone in darkness or aware of what's going on around him but can't communicate back, either way seems more interesting than being stuck on the Zen side of the link. That was the most logical theory at first but apparently some people know more than I do, and it's said that Tom said Natani's soul is healed and doesn't really need the link anymore? Well in that case we move on to my most preferred theory: Natani just collapsed and went pale and dead-eyed from extreme mental trauma. After having such an intimate link for so long even if his soul is strong enough now, the separation would be excruciating. One last note, I believe Natani is still a guy. It would be interesting to see Natani temporarily revert to female gender and the relationship dynamics that would follow, but as I remember it (I don't feel like hunting for the page to confirm), Natani said that he copied bits of Zen's soul to fill in the gaps. I guess anything is possible where magic and ever-evolving storytelling is involved but it in my experience just because you lose the original doesn't mean the copy gets destroyed, and that's how I think it's going to work here. Natani suffered extreme mental trauma but will be fine soon enough and he is still one of the guys.

[blacksinow]

I can't say I am at all shocked by these events. Zen poisons the two sisters and likely intends to bring further harm to the group. Him being a keidren makes his self-destructive behavior more obvious. It's about time somebody smacked the smugness right off of his face. No pity here for him. My theory is that they are in their respective bodies, but the sudden shock of being severed has them out like lights momentarily. It would be like severing Tomax and Xamot's psychic link.

[ReBob]

Another question comes to mind, what is Zen's situation currently? We only see what happens to Natani, maybe it affected Zen in the same way.

[Stormlight]

About the eyes:
Natani's eyes seem to be quite literally a window into his soul. Before the accident, Natani's eyes were blue, and Zen's eyes were brown. When Natani's soul was shattered, the healers allowed the brothers to share parts of Zen's soul to fill in what was missing from Natani's and hold it together, hence Natani's gender identity issues.
From then on, Natani's irises were heterochromatic, one brown, one blue, reflecting his soul, which was part his and part Zen's. When it was just Zen recently, both eyes turned brown. All Zen. Now that the link between the brothers has been severed, it's just Natani's soul present, so both irises are blue...except there's nothing there.
Apparently, without Zen's soul keeping Natani's soul together and filling in for parts of it, Natani's soul is either too shattered or there's simply not enough of it to allow Natani any semblance of life/consciousness. The significance of the eyes is that the set up the healers created with Zen's soul to save Natani's has been destroyed. Perhaps it will rebuild itself if their connection is restored, or perhaps it has to be rebuilt like it was the first time, or perhaps Natani is trapped on the other side of the severed link, but either way, there's none of Zen's soul whatsoever in Natani's body anymore.

[FrogSteaks]

Zen poisons the two sisters and likely intends to bring further harm to the group. Him being a keidren makes his self-destructive behavior more obvious. It's about time somebody smacked the smugness right off of his face. No pity here for him.

You've got to remember, though, He was ordered to bring back Sythe after he was found to be a traitor. It would be much easier for him to do that if the rest of Group B were out of the way. Thankfully though he was caught before he could do the deed. Also, I'm not sure where you're getting the self-destructive argument from...

[Rafe]

I see people are starting to realize the horrible effect this could have on Keith.

Just remember what happened the last time Keith had to lose someone - one of the most gut wrenching emotional moments in this whole story:



What's going to happen to him if he has to lose Natani as well? It wouldn't be hard to argue that without Natani, Keith might not be able to go on living.

Imagine an even worse, more tragic Romeo-and-Juliet type ending: Keith tries everything he can to save Natani, even risking his life to try to keep her alive as he did with "Laura", only this time, with no Natani to help him, he dies in the process. Natani is revived only to find Keith has died keeping her alive. (Get Shakespeare to start on this ending now.)

[Chris]

Before the accident, Natani's eyes were blue, and Zen's eyes were brown.

Actually, Natani's eyes were originally brown too.

[The Rookie]

I see people are starting to realize the horrible effect this could have on Keith.
Just remember what happened the last time Keith had to lose someone - one of the most gut wrenching emotional moments in this whole story:

Worst part is (story wise) that only happened recently, like a day or two recently.

On top of everything else to do with the Basidian isles, he's pretty much holding onto a thread here.

[victorymon]

Wow, just wow...
I hope that the change will be different. Like and are seperated. Now that the soul-link is broken maybe its in female form we will see...

...

wait a second! Thats not the first time that the spell was broken! Remember, when the tower exploded!
Whats the big difference, huh?
When the shackle is removed the link will be back.

[DragnMastralex]

Half of soul was destroyed by the mage... filled the missing half with a piece of his soul thus the link both shared was the piece Zen left inside Natani... the shackle broke the link by forcing Zen's soul back into his body completely... remember that the shackle is designed to repress the magic that causes the outward change like in Raine. so Natani isn't dead but she's slipping away trapped in limbo as only a soul fragment she is stranded between worlds with only half of her soul.

She could gain part of another soul with a skilled mage's help creating a new bond and connection with a new person... somehow I don't think Keith would mind volunteering.

[Bellhead]

Wait a second! Thats not the first time that the spell was broken! Remember, when the tower exploded!
Whats the big difference, huh?
When the shackle is removed the link will be back.

I made a post a few hours ago about that. I think that Zen will remain calm on the belief that the link will be safely restored when the shackle is removed, assuming he realizes that was the cause.

So Natani isn't dead but she's slipping away trapped in limbo as only a soul fragment she is stranded between worlds with only half of her soul.

Where are you getting "limbo" from? Nat's soul is in pieces. Not lost, broken. As far as we know, her soul is still there, it's just not complete enough to function right now.

[Stoneage89]

Man, I wish I could get to these threads earlier.. First off, the last four panels of this comic are an accurate representation of my reaction to it.
Also I have a theory. Its not well thought out, and someone else may have proposed it, but I think Trace will be able to save natani, and may be even "Turn him back on" or whatever. But I think it will be something akin to being able to interact with natani, but natani not really being "there"
That may sound stupid, but hey Its just a theory a GAME theory.

[Foxwell]

I've put thought into a scenario where something would happen to Zen and Natani's link and came with the conclusion that others have already posted in this here thread: someone skilled in magic is going to have to pair Natani up with some other person (ahem). And of course, the problems with that have already been mentioned (someone actually being skilled in magic).

There is something else that comes to mind if this were to happen though. I'm assuming having that shackle on will be temporary, so suppose Natani paired up with totallypickingarandomboatmember Keith. Would the link then become some sort of three-way between Natani, Keith, and Zen? If so, that would be interesting. Then there's the possibility of the current link being overrided. Who knows.

Though perhaps the magic of a true love's kiss is all that's needed to fix this mess.

[Sage Asuka]

Keith would make a great Yoko in Gurren Lagann