Comic for October 28, 2022: Tyrannical Tirade

[Warrl]

Poor innocent Clovis was born in brothel with nothing

Or so Clovis chooses to believe.

[Neutral Smith]

https://www.deviantart.com/twokinds/art ... -934749768

The Dragon Tyrant Nora oppressing an innocent victim caught in her evil web!

At least, that's how Clovis sees it.

This is the full version of a panel from Twokinds Page 1185

[Hulk10]

I really have no sympathy for Clovis since he sold his own parents into slavery...............

[Zaigan]

I really have no sympathy for Clovis since he sold his own parents into slavery...............

Interestingly, it might be the case with this last tidbit that his mom might already have been a slave sold to the brothel by her parents, or at least an indentured servant. Most sexworkers have historically not chosen the profession but been forced into it. Selling spare children into brothels was a pretty common way poor parents settled debt or made ends meet for the children they kept. I mean selling your slave mom to a different slaver is at best a sidegrade, but I guess if she just when on to be a house cleaner it might have been better than sex slavery. We don't really know his connection to his father. Was he just an unfortunate john who's worse crime was getting a prostitute pregnant? Did he try to do anything right by her and his kid, or did he cast him away as illegitimate? It's equally possible with either route.

From Nora's point of view, turning him female should have forced him to live the life he'd been forcing on others, endure the hardships his actions had put on others, and cause him to change his ways and those of his followers. From Clovis' perspective, in counterpoint, she turned him into this "horrid thing" that "doesn't deserve to exist" and "shouldn't have a will of its own", and therefore his situation was something that couldn't be rectified by anything short of a gender swap. Nora simply didn't know how broken his mind was when she did that. If she did, she may well have done something differently.

Oh yes, Nora's efforts made sense. It could have worked that way. I can't remember how long back she looked into Clovis to weigh her approaches, but when I read that comic it made sense as an ironic punishment because of what we as the audience knew of Clovis at the time. Nora may or may not have known more, but it was an understandable effort, but as it turns out with the information we gained later, it isn't surprising that it ultimately failed. Nora works in curious ways, but she isn't omnipotent, so I don't blame here.

It is unfortunate that Clovis made the choices he made in life. He did have hardships that are sympathetic, but he made those choices. Along the way he could have stopped at points... probably way more than we know. I think his last point where he could have had a scrap of redemption was thrown aside when he decided he had to kill the first person beside himself he realized he loved... because he couldn't allow himself to love.

Ultimately, I think that will probably be what sets him apart from Trace, even though Trace probably has a much higher body count, but we can't picture a world where Trace is punished for his pre-reset deeds. Trace was actually not a particularly bad person until he tried to revive Saria the first time and basically poisoned himself with dark magic. It's like when someone suffers extreme brain damage and it destroys their capacity for compassion or any ethics. They may become evil, might even need to be stopped, but you can't hold it against the person they were because that person was essentially killed in the accident. Trace got factory reset and learned enough of who he had been to hopefully not repeat past mistakes that he arguably only did because he was driven to madness by dark magic.

Clovis however, has uh.. I think those are cluster B personality traits. He might have been genetically predisposed to them, or it might be his environment, but he's still smart enough to understand actions and consequences. He kept making the choice to dig his grave deeper though. It makes him a compelling villain to me, because he is responsible for his actions, but I can still understand why he thinks what he does and how he justifies it to himself.

[Warrl]

He did have hardships that are sympathetic

Or so he claims.

I consider him perfectly capable of making up a lie to gain some advantage (such as sympathy) and then forgetting that it's a lie. Or remembering that it's a lie but choosing to persist in it.

[MaverickMopete]

Oh yes, Nora's efforts made sense. It could have worked that way. I can't remember how long back she looked into Clovis to weigh her approaches, but when I read that comic it made sense as an ironic punishment because of what we as the audience knew of Clovis at the time. Nora may or may not have known more, but it was an understandable effort, but as it turns out with the information we gained later, it isn't surprising that it ultimately failed. Nora works in curious ways, but she isn't omnipotent, so I don't blame here.

As the oldest known dragon in the world, she's very much omnipotent.

What she's not is omniscient.

She can DO anything. (Omnipotence) She just doesn't KNOW everything (omniscience).

[whiskeyfur]

I think his last point where he could have had a scrap of redemption was thrown aside when he decided he had to kill the first person beside himself he realized he loved... because he couldn't allow himself to love.

The monologue on https://twokinds.keenspot.com/comic/1134/ and https://twokinds.keenspot.com/comic/1135/ is pretty telling. In light of the more recent comics... yea, I think Clovis is well and thoroughly broken.

Though a key phrase in there kinda sticks out, "Despite the amulet"... so I have to wonder how much of his mindset is the amulet's doing.

If it was indeed the amulet that pushed him to kill Brutus... he's going to be one very miserable fox indeed if he survives it all and realizes what that amulet had costed him.

[Hulk10]

Oh yes, Nora's efforts made sense. It could have worked that way. I can't remember how long back she looked into Clovis to weigh her approaches, but when I read that comic it made sense as an ironic punishment because of what we as the audience knew of Clovis at the time. Nora may or may not have known more, but it was an understandable effort, but as it turns out with the information we gained later, it isn't surprising that it ultimately failed. Nora works in curious ways, but she isn't omnipotent, so I don't blame here.

As the oldest known dragon in the world, she's very much omnipotent.

What she's not is omniscient.

She can DO anything. (Omnipotence) She just doesn't KNOW everything (omniscience).

Astute observation

[TheFrozenSlime]

ok, for the first time in, well, probably close to 6 years, I'm fully caught up on the comic. Feels weird. I've not had to stew on a page for an extended period of time for a while; I've either already known what's really going on with pages I've reread, or there were always more pages for the newer stuff. So... to make sure I have everything straight: Detritus (the evil side of trace) is now dead, along with Stoney (RIP best boy) and Saria for real this time. Clovis's men are all dead, and Clovis stole Reni's speech and is currently giving her the stereotypical villainous monologue. All according to Brahm's yet-to-be-revealed master plan. That about right? Sounds right to me.

Where was Clovis first introduced? I know it was a side comic some years ago, but for the life of me I can't seem to find it... It would be a nice refresher for the backstory of Clovis's present breakdown. Haven't read the prior discussion on this page yet, btw. I like how Clovis is a foil for Natani: Both male in mind w/ female body, but Clovis's body was magically altered while Natani's mind was. In other discussion: Damn, the story's gotten a lot more intense as of late. "As of late" being the last couple years, but given as I blew through the latest chapter in one sitting.. yeah, 0-100 pretty quick. Finally, good action for the first time since the Basitin Isles arc a decade+ ago.

[Warrl]

Where was Clovis first introduced? I know it was a side comic some years ago, but for the life of me I can't seem to find it...

We actually got to meet Clovis in the side comic The Dragon Masquerade which is where he acquired some of his issues (or maybe they just got worse) when a certain dragon gave him something he really really wanted but not quite in the way he wanted it.

However he'd been mentioned earlier. He's the mage who patched Zen's and Natani's souls together (and did some unauthorized things as well).

[TheFrozenSlime]

Where was Clovis first introduced? I know it was a side comic some years ago, but for the life of me I can't seem to find it...

We actually got to meet Clovis in the side comic The Dragon Masquerade which is where he acquired some of his issues (or maybe they just got worse) when a certain dragon gave him something he really really wanted but not quite in the way he wanted it.

However he'd been mentioned earlier. He's the mage who patched Zen's and Natani's souls together (and did some unauthorized things as well).

I knew he was the one soul stitcher, but I had forgotten about The Dragon Masquerade. Had also forgotten how on the nose that story/moral was. Thanks!