Man, Magi is so bonkers, I suppose it shouldn’t come as a surprise that we’re talking about killing gods now. Sigh. Just another day in Alma-Torran.
More on the god-slaying in a bit. First up – a trip to see the Exposition Dragon!! Hooray!
Ok, Mother Dragon. Or Origin Dragon. Or whatever – but she did give out a lot of expository dialogue. I’m just sayin’.
Yep, in that time honoured Magi tradition, this chapter was rammed full of chit-chat as the Dragon at the bottom of the rift explained how the whole world is dying, and that someone has, for the last 500 years, been working towards killing Illah. Heavy stuff.
One or two things struck the conspiratorial element of my mind during the gang’s chat with the dragon. First, that as a kid during his previous attempts to subjugate and then converse with the Origin Dragon Solomon looked EXACTLY like Aladdin. Like, identical. I mean, you can’t see a face, but everything else to my eyes is bang on point for Solomon and Aladdin being related (even if not in the traditional Father-Son way… but I’m still clinging to that theory).
Secondly – and oh boy, folks, this ones a beauty – secondly that there were Fanalis in Alma-Torran. I know I referred to them as werewolves a few chapters back and it looks like I had that wrong – they aren’t wolves… they’re LIONS. Red Lions from the Isteqa continent to be precise.
Very, VERY Fanalis-y… See?
Or, at least, that’s my theory. It wasn’t explicitly stated that the Red Lions were Fanalis, but the panel depicting them had them look really, really similar to the true form of the Fanalis as described by Mu a few chapters back.
And if the Fanalis have survived into the new world, then why not the Origin Dragons, too? I mean, both are meant to be ridiculously old, powerful races beyond the control of the magicians and their towers, so if one survived, why not the other..? And if they did survive, could there be human-form Origin Dragons running about Magi’s world in the same way that there are Red Lions? Or, could they be out there among the Magi world’s own continental rift? Which leads me to my crackpot theory of the week (tinfoil hats at the ready, folks…): could Yunan be related to the Origin Dragons..?
I mean, white is a predominate colour for both; both live at the centre of the continental rift, both love expository dialogue… Eh, I know I’m clutching at straws, but I do think we’ll see an Origin Dragon in the present time eventually, and my top candidate is everyone’s favourite mysterious magi and Sinbad-antagonist.
The final theory born of this week’s chapter is that the continental rift could well be a result of the dissipation of magoi discussed by the dragon. That, if true, could well mean that the Magi world could face the same terminal fate, in time, as the magoi Solomon gifted his world with begins to run dry with time. A scary thought…
I’m aware that I’ve actually spent more time in this review extrapolating stuff from what was only very briefly touched upon and that I haven’t really spoke a great deal about the chapter itself. And that, folks, is because the chapter itself was a bit lightweight in terms of content and plot-movement, being instead pretty much entirely devoted to backstory and world-building.
We learned that the origin of Solomon’s good-heartedness may well come from his time with the Origin Dragon; so too, we learnt that he doesn’t think Illah a god. That last point feeds into something I’ve been considering for a while: that Illah was very much a man like Solomon, and that this world-destruction and creation has been going on for a very, very long time. All this has happened before, and – I imagine – will happen again…
Other than that, Sheba scowled at Arba a bit, and then held hands with Solomon, sending elements of tumblr into a frenzy of Sheba x Solomon posts. Hows that for a succinct summary?
Cue the shippers…
And I guess that just leaves the final element of the chapter: the god-killing. Or, rather, the mention of the anticipation of the god-killing – because nothing this chapter actually happened, it was only spoken of. King David, who is 800 YEARS OLD is plotting to destroy Illah. Yep. Hopefully, with the lovely final panel finishing on him, we’ll be seeing Solomon’s daddy and his nefarious schemes in more detail very, very soon.
David… incoming…?
THE GOOD!
- This chapter was a feast for the theorists, hinting at some much and yet confirming very little. Still, the exposition was well delivered and leaves me desperate to know more, so I figure it was pretty successful.
- I know I poked fun, but I was very happy to see the continued development of Sheba and Solomon’s relationship. They are so gosh-darn cute.
THE BAD!
- Action? Any action? Nope. Not a complaint, as such, but I really want to see some of the world-breakingly epic stuff that was hinted at in this chapter come to pass really soon. Because while hearing about it is great, I want to actually see David attempt to kill god. Ooooh boy.
Overall: A pretty neat expository chapter that has successfully whetted my appetite for things to come. I give it a respectable 7/10
Sleeping Geeks 