Summary:

After experiencing another vision involving the little girl, with this one showing a time when Arawn departed, Riannon finds Arawn outside by himself. He tries to give back the scarf because he can’t promise her anything, but she refuses to take it and asserts that she wants to stay at his side. The next day, the group sets out to attack the Empire’s gathering forces, but they get stuck inside a dark forest, and Rathty and Llyr feel weaker because of what Ogam identifies as the strength sapping magic. When they reach a clearing, their escape route suddenly gets cut off, and a bunch of undead emerge from the swamp. Although there’s some initial hesitation to fight what have turned out to be reanimated corpses of their former friends, Arawn and company have no choice but to do so, however the undead refuse to stay down. Ogam proposes using his magic, but Arawn wants to save it and instead wants to try using a certain magic himself. With the others covering him, he initiates a powerful spell that instantly wipes out all of the undead with a beam of light from the sky.

Since everyone is shocked at what Arawn just did, Ogam explains that it was a holy spell of pure white power. The side-effect of this magic is that it also turns Arawn and his clothes white, and it also triggers a flashback in Arthur of when his father was killed. The person who killed Arthur’s father had claimed to be Arawn and had challenged Arthur to come kill him if he hated him. Driven by this hatred, Arthur now accuses Arawn of killing his father, and he points his sword at Arawn even as Riannon tries to protect him. Not listening to his sister’s pleas, Arthur charges forward, but Arawn gets between him and Riannon and takes the sword in the gut. Regaining his senses only after it’s over, Arthur realizes what he’s done, but it’s too late. Arawn doesn’t blame Arthur though and instead says that he believes in him before he collapses. Sometime later, Gaius hears about what happened, and his spies report that Arthur ran away and that Arawn escaped death but can’t fight, so Gaius gets ready to attack.

Preview

So for a few minutes this episode, they really, really surprised me and made me think that they were actually killing off the main character. That’s the kind of gutsy plot twist that I’d love to see a series try, and everything here was setting up perfectly for that scenario. But then, right before the episode ends, we find out that no, Arawn really isn’t dead (Gaius apparently has some amazing spies), so it was all for naught, and I have to admit to being a little disappointed. After all that – which even included a slow motion collapse – the least they could have done was to pretend that he was dead as a cliffhanger and saved the Gaius stuff for next episode – that would have been a much stronger way to end the episode.

Still, this was a major step forward in the plot, and it looks like Arawn really was an angel. However, it doesn’t seem to me like the person who killed Arthur’s father was actually Arawn, despite that person saying so. I could see it all being a plot to frame Arawn by the mysterious guy who keeps being briefly shown. On the other hand, Arawn didn’t deny doing it, and he called his past self an ignorant lamb, so maybe it was him. Regardless, Arthur’s drive to kill him soured me on Arthur again because he’s an idiot (even though I suspect something was influencing his actions). Someone should have just knocked him out when he showed that he was about to do something reckless. In any case, it feels like we’re at the really juicy parts of the story now, so I’m excited to see what happens and if there are any surprises in the battle next episode.

33 Comments

  1. “…it was a holy spell of pure white power”

    I’m sorry, but when I read that I totally took it the wrong way for a sec. ^^; This is what happens after you’ve just had a discussion on racism and ethnic stereotypes at school.

    I hope something’s influencing Arthur to do what he did. Because Arawn was still asleep when his father died. He’d have to be completely blinded by rage or else really stupid (or both) to not realize that.

    mangaka-chan
  2. Jesus fuck, you people are pathetic, calling Arthur an idiot. He’s been taught a set of morals, and he’s abiding by them. And guess what you morons are doing in your daily life, huh? Exactly. Arthur has been changing his views slowly, and this event will make him practically tumble down that hill of change.

    Venire
  3. So,Arawn is still alive it seems.And Arthur was really out of his mind,but he realizes for what he’s done.Yup,and its was too late.

    Gonna watch for another battle this week!

    Holding
  4. Geez, you guys can’t expect Arthur to remain calm and emotionless when it comes to the person who killed his father. He’s been seeking him and hating him all his life.

    He realized his mistake and now he’s sorry for it. If it was one of the girls who did this you would be willing to forgive easily, but you hate him only because he’s a guy.

    Damn double standards…

    Darklord
  5. I HATE ARTHUR!!!! He’s the biggest ass I’ve seen in anime to this date. Does anyone find it ironic that Arawan is Arthur’s killer? At first I was distrusting of Arawan, but now I think he’s more trusting than Arthur. I can’t wait for the next episode!

    Black_Otaku
  6. @ Venire
    Yes Arthur keeps to his morals. Morals that proven to be rather foolish and one-dimensional as the rest of the cast has shown. And the problem here is that Arthur keeps resetting. You’d think by now he would have gotten more mature with the development he had, but each episode makes him annoyingly stupid again.

    @Darklord
    When Morgan tried to kill Arawn they didn’t know each other. When Octavia tried to kill Arawn, they were enemies. When Arthur tried to kill Arawn, Arawn had been the established leader of the tribe and brought them peaceful lives and military victories as well as a mentor for Arthur. And then he just saved everyone’s lives from zombies. All of which is conveniently forgotten because of his my father’s killer issues at a critical time when they are about to battle the empire

    There is no double standard here and its most certainly not because he’s a guy. Bottom line: Arthur’s an idiot and it’s fifteen episodes already. Where’s the alleged “maturity” that Arthur had? Will Arthur finally stop being stupid? Maybe maybe not, but as it stands he’s my most disliked character of this show until the show can change my mind.

    fragbet
  7. @Venure: See, when it’s a girl being blamed, people like you will always find some excuse to justify her actions, while when it’s a guy they will find one no to. When most people see boobs, they are willing to forgive anything. You are doing exactly what I expected. I can easily turn it around and say Arthur had the best reason to attack him being suspect that he is his father’s killer as opposed to just being an unknown potentially dangerous stranger or being an alleged enemy just because the Empire says so. But why bother…I will never change your mind. I am pretty sure Arthur will mature in the coming episodes, but the opinion of him won’t ever change – that’s what happens when people are so extremely biased.

    Darklord
  8. @Darklord
    Being presumptuous aren’t you? I hate idiocy, doesn’t matter if there a huge set of knockers. Morgan is an idiot but she has little significant screen time that has any significant impact to the plot. And I haven’t justified any girl who did something stupid.

    fragbet
  9. Even for revenge, it was really honorable for Arthur to attack a guy when he is down because he just saved everyone’s lives (note sarcasm). He was ready to stab his own sister which is pathetic. Surprised no one else tried to protect Arawn. At least they could have tried to protect the sister.

    chicken feathers
  10. Arthur was justified. Sure it was at a bad time, but all you people hating on him would of done the same thing.

    Yes, he let rage consume him, but that’s what makes revenge so easy to tap into. But at the same time, his sister is allowing herself to let love blind her of her brother’s ordeal and Arawn’s past act.

    Arawn is to blame as well for don’t defending himself. At most, he only justify Arthur’s action by his words.

    This reminds me of the response to a certain character in Samurai 7 in a similar situation and the character development that came afterward before they satisfied the haters and derailed his character.

    Raven the Wolf
  11. How is Arthur justified for willing to sacrifice his sister for the sake of his own revenge? The way this episode showed it, Arthur would have stabbed his sister if Arawn didn’t take stab himself.

    chicken feathers
  12. Venire at 6:03 am on July 15th, 2009

    Jesus fuck, you people are pathetic”

    do you REALLY think I’m going to read the rest of what you wrote and actually take you seriously? after reading this part before it? you must be smoking some high quality dope son.

    cghjcghjcghuygu
  13. I know it isnt really fair to compare to kinds of media from the other, the tears to tiara PC game and this anime, but ah screw it, is it just me, or was this episode a disappointment compared to this particular scene in the game?

    I mean when I went through this scene in the game, I was really amazed, the background music and the voice acting of the characters really fits into it, basically the atmosphere was completely different. Somehow when I watched this episode, i was quite disappointed, though the quality is better than in the game, the way this scene played out was far more better in the game. Besides Arawn’s clothes turning white, shouldnt his hair also turn to blonde? he really looked cool in game, too bad the anime just transformed his clothes.

    X
  14. @ Black_Otaku

    Woah, you’re getting there.

    Anyway, I don’t think he was trying to sacrifice his sister. He may be in rage but he still deeply cares for his sister. At least his rage was dissipated after that event and he came back to his senses. Even then, Arawn still believes in him because Arawn understands and trusts Arthur and that trust was right because Arthur at least quickly came back to his senses and understands what he just did.

    Arthur is an idiot but at least he is someone who is also very protective of his family. At this point, even though Arawn is the chief leader, Arawn is not exactly family yet and therefore Arthur’s rage for his father at the hand of “Arawn” overides that. Everyone during a rage will not always think clearly even if they think they are. Beside, Arawn is old and experienced while Arthur is rather young and still hot headed and thus sometimes acted too fast which makes him an idiot but in now way is he a bad person. He’s someone with a heart but needs some polishing which is what Arawn sees in him. Also, he’s very much like someone close to Arawn.

    Silve
  15. Arthur is the hero of the story, calm down. He honestly thought that Arawn killed his family, how would you react? (plus whatever mind control the spirits put on him)

    To the person who asked, Arawn’s last words before collapsing were “I believe in you, Arthur”

    rufe
  16. Revenge is always a stupid “reason”, no matter the circumstances.

    “Arthur is an idiot but at least he is someone who is also very protective of his family. At this point, even though Arawn is the chief leader, Arawn is not exactly family yet and therefore Arthur’s rage for his father at the hand of “Arawn” overides that.”

    So protective that he was seconds away from stabbing his own sister…

    ...Dot
  17. I don’t know… but it seems to me that Arthur wasn’t himself back then, with the crazed look and the continuous chant of korosu, korosu. It’s less than human for me. Although I know someone can be a demon when he’s so obsessed with hatred or revenge. Arthur wanted revenge for his father, but I truly doubt that he would go as far as doing it at cost of his sister.

    It was already established in the beginning how much he cared for Rhiannon. Revenge can blind someone, but I don’t think someone as strong willed as Arthur could be blinded of the fact that he could’ve killed the last of his family. And the way he snapped out of it was odd too. It was rather instantly, not gradually. Like someone just woke up from a dream or trance.

    And on lighter note, Rhiannon looks pretty with her hair down.

    audriel

Leave a Reply to Eld Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *