She’s either a War Hero or a War Criminal, depending on which Sarnothi you ask. She just wanted a chance for her daughter to live a normal life. Is that bad?
Plo Quar saw her daughter demonstrate unprecedented levels of Echo ability for a child so young. She’s a wanted woman and her daughter could be used as leverage against her – or could be used by people who would only see her as a powerful Echo despite her age.
She placed Selkie with the humans (with a suppressor built into her barrette) as a way to hide her daughter so Selkie couldn’t be used or used against her.
We have no information yet on whether or not she’s kept track of Selkie but for practical reasons she may not be – anyone tracking her would be able to figure out the significance of her returning to the same place all the time once they realized there was a Sarnothi child of the right age to be her daughter there.
I’m still of the opinion that everything she’s done has been to protect Selkie at huge personal cost to herself. I don’t doubt that she loves Selkie very much and giving her up was probably one of the hardest things she’s ever done.
Normally I would agree with you, but apparently random Sarnothi can both recognize Selkie on sight and know her background. This means that, with moderate effort, any enemy of Plo Quar can do whatever they want to Selkie.
Now, I agree that the life of a war hero/criminal is not the best for a child, and I’m sure that when Plo Quar gave her away, it was because she wanted what’s best for Selkie. However, I doubt that it was so that Selkie couldn’t be used against her; if it was, now that the cat is out of the bag, shouldn’t she try to get Selkie back?
…or maybe she IS trying to get Selkie back, and is currently jumping through bureaucracy hoops
Or she lost her memory by a green blow to the head.
I think I may be starting to sense some parallels between Plo Quar and Andi? I assumed that Plo Quar was either dead or still on the battlefield, but it looks like she’s just living her life after giving up her kid?
Of course, raising a child alone while living in exile can’t have been easy either- she probably assumes that Selkie is better off with an adoptive human family, much like Andi assumed Amanda would be better off.
We don´t know at which point she stopped being “still on the battlefield”. If it was only a few weeks or months ago – say right around the time the sarnothi became public knowledge – then she might simply not have had time to create a stable enough environment for her daughter to potentially live in.
Plus, Selkie has a new family now, who she´s been with for a while and who she is very happy with – whereas Amanda was still at the orphanage and was ecstatic to leave. Plo Quar is probably aware that just popping back into her daughter´s life and “reclaiming” her from her new family won´t exactly make things easier for the kid.
For that matter, she may not be done with her war yet. If that’s the case, she’d want Selkie to stay exactly where she is.
(Note: ‘may.’ Plo Quar could have plausibly done everything from selflessly giving up her daughter to selfishly giving up her daughter, and could have any sort of emotional reaction to Selkie, including ‘living reminder of her worst mistake.’ Absent more information, the answer could be anything.)
The fact that she showed up in the place of the “humans with suits” suggests she at least isn´t wanted by human authorities… which she would be if she still did things that cause sarnothi authorities to be upset at the humans for harboring her.
And you are right about the part in parentheses as well. For that matter, she may well still be figuring out for herself why she did what she did, and how to proceed from there. We will see.
Although note that whatever it turns out she did, she had infinitely better reasons than Andi did, and people here seem perfectly willing to accept that she’s grown and forgive her, so I really don’t get the sudden Plo Quar hate…
Its also possible that what Behr seeing here is Plo Quar attempting to locate Selkie. The Sarnthoni don’t seem to understand adoption all that well, so we don’t know whether Plo Quar really understood what the orphanage was.
Perhaps she simply did not realise Selkie could be given away and leave that children’s home, or she didn’t ever expect someone would want to adopt a child who was so obviously different to them.
Now the heat is dying down and there’s new on-land settlements she could go and hide, but Selkie herself is ‘missing’. Or Plo Quar thinks Tom, who didn’t abandon Selkie, is a better family and doesn’t want to disrupt it.
So, my takeaway from this is that Avery either knows something, or knows someone who knows something. There’s no way he isn’t somehow connected to the humans in suits tasked with relocating Sarnothi.
Avery is *directly* connected to the humans in suits tasked with relocating Sarnothi. He was on the lakeshore helping to coordinate the exodus of Sarnothi refugees. But he also asked Todd what, exactly, Scar had told him about Selkie’s mother – as if he (Avery) was looking for more info on her as well. I got the impression that he didn’t know where Plo Quar was either and was hoping Todd (via Scar) might give him some leads. It’s possible Avery’s superiors are keeping him in the dark on this.
There are A LOT of people trying to find her right now (human and Sarnothi) and I think it’s just a matter of time at this point before she’s found.
Just to throw another possible scenario into the mix,
What if Plo Quar is in some form of protective custody.
There’s always the chance that she’s been sequestered as an informant or some other sort of asset.
if she was being sequestered, she likely wouldn’t be able to walk freely around town, but maybe she is being *ordered* to stay away? And if so, being recognized by that sarnothi would possibly jeopardize that, which it has.
Without changing her appearance entirely, how could Plo Quar hide from Sarnothi refugees when so many of them are bound to recognize her. Now that Selkie is going to be hanging around Te Fahn’s family store, she’s likely to run into others who have either seen her mom or were saved by her mom – or both. This is going to be hard on Selkie, I think.
If he saw her when he was “talking to the humans in suits” one could assume that his sighting of Plo Quar took place in a government installation.
Just because she’s given the freedom to walk around in the building or on the grounds of such a place doesn’t mean she is free to walk into town on her own.
That said, I do also like the theory that she was trying to get help in tracking Nei Li down. I’m looking forward to their next talk with Avery.
Hum. I was rereading this whole conversation and I realized something.
The pond Selkie remembers as a baby… between “a few years” and him being “pointed towards” Jin Suir…
… Would that have possibly NOT been selkie then? Wasn’t the town there a more recent founding? And I was under the impression it had been about 4 years since Selkie came to the adoption clinic…? That COULD be called a “few” years, but…
Maybe I’m just grasping at drama straws or I’m otherwise mistaken?
I never thought about wether or not I respected Plo Quar.
Now I can confidently say that I don’t.
She’s either a War Hero or a War Criminal, depending on which Sarnothi you ask. She just wanted a chance for her daughter to live a normal life. Is that bad?
Remember they are the same side to the same coin you are the villain in someone else’s story. ME? I’m the bad guy in my OWN story. AND other peoples.
Please explain your criteria and how this strip in particular changes your assessment.
I’m curious as to why.
Plo Quar saw her daughter demonstrate unprecedented levels of Echo ability for a child so young. She’s a wanted woman and her daughter could be used as leverage against her – or could be used by people who would only see her as a powerful Echo despite her age.
She placed Selkie with the humans (with a suppressor built into her barrette) as a way to hide her daughter so Selkie couldn’t be used or used against her.
We have no information yet on whether or not she’s kept track of Selkie but for practical reasons she may not be – anyone tracking her would be able to figure out the significance of her returning to the same place all the time once they realized there was a Sarnothi child of the right age to be her daughter there.
I’m still of the opinion that everything she’s done has been to protect Selkie at huge personal cost to herself. I don’t doubt that she loves Selkie very much and giving her up was probably one of the hardest things she’s ever done.
Normally I would agree with you, but apparently random Sarnothi can both recognize Selkie on sight and know her background. This means that, with moderate effort, any enemy of Plo Quar can do whatever they want to Selkie.
Now, I agree that the life of a war hero/criminal is not the best for a child, and I’m sure that when Plo Quar gave her away, it was because she wanted what’s best for Selkie. However, I doubt that it was so that Selkie couldn’t be used against her; if it was, now that the cat is out of the bag, shouldn’t she try to get Selkie back?
…or maybe she IS trying to get Selkie back, and is currently jumping through bureaucracy hoops
Or she lost her memory by a green blow to the head.
I think I may be starting to sense some parallels between Plo Quar and Andi? I assumed that Plo Quar was either dead or still on the battlefield, but it looks like she’s just living her life after giving up her kid?
Of course, raising a child alone while living in exile can’t have been easy either- she probably assumes that Selkie is better off with an adoptive human family, much like Andi assumed Amanda would be better off.
We don´t know at which point she stopped being “still on the battlefield”. If it was only a few weeks or months ago – say right around the time the sarnothi became public knowledge – then she might simply not have had time to create a stable enough environment for her daughter to potentially live in.
Plus, Selkie has a new family now, who she´s been with for a while and who she is very happy with – whereas Amanda was still at the orphanage and was ecstatic to leave. Plo Quar is probably aware that just popping back into her daughter´s life and “reclaiming” her from her new family won´t exactly make things easier for the kid.
For that matter, she may not be done with her war yet. If that’s the case, she’d want Selkie to stay exactly where she is.
(Note: ‘may.’ Plo Quar could have plausibly done everything from selflessly giving up her daughter to selfishly giving up her daughter, and could have any sort of emotional reaction to Selkie, including ‘living reminder of her worst mistake.’ Absent more information, the answer could be anything.)
The fact that she showed up in the place of the “humans with suits” suggests she at least isn´t wanted by human authorities… which she would be if she still did things that cause sarnothi authorities to be upset at the humans for harboring her.
And you are right about the part in parentheses as well. For that matter, she may well still be figuring out for herself why she did what she did, and how to proceed from there. We will see.
Although note that whatever it turns out she did, she had infinitely better reasons than Andi did, and people here seem perfectly willing to accept that she’s grown and forgive her, so I really don’t get the sudden Plo Quar hate…
“The Humans in Suits” is now how I think of all authority.
Though I did have to check they weren’t an Indie band.
Its also possible that what Behr seeing here is Plo Quar attempting to locate Selkie. The Sarnthoni don’t seem to understand adoption all that well, so we don’t know whether Plo Quar really understood what the orphanage was.
Perhaps she simply did not realise Selkie could be given away and leave that children’s home, or she didn’t ever expect someone would want to adopt a child who was so obviously different to them.
Now the heat is dying down and there’s new on-land settlements she could go and hide, but Selkie herself is ‘missing’. Or Plo Quar thinks Tom, who didn’t abandon Selkie, is a better family and doesn’t want to disrupt it.
So, my takeaway from this is that Avery either knows something, or knows someone who knows something. There’s no way he isn’t somehow connected to the humans in suits tasked with relocating Sarnothi.
Avery is *directly* connected to the humans in suits tasked with relocating Sarnothi. He was on the lakeshore helping to coordinate the exodus of Sarnothi refugees. But he also asked Todd what, exactly, Scar had told him about Selkie’s mother – as if he (Avery) was looking for more info on her as well. I got the impression that he didn’t know where Plo Quar was either and was hoping Todd (via Scar) might give him some leads. It’s possible Avery’s superiors are keeping him in the dark on this.
There are A LOT of people trying to find her right now (human and Sarnothi) and I think it’s just a matter of time at this point before she’s found.
Out of all the pages you have drawn and written, this one has something specially strong to it.
Just to throw another possible scenario into the mix,
What if Plo Quar is in some form of protective custody.
There’s always the chance that she’s been sequestered as an informant or some other sort of asset.
if she was being sequestered, she likely wouldn’t be able to walk freely around town, but maybe she is being *ordered* to stay away? And if so, being recognized by that sarnothi would possibly jeopardize that, which it has.
Without changing her appearance entirely, how could Plo Quar hide from Sarnothi refugees when so many of them are bound to recognize her. Now that Selkie is going to be hanging around Te Fahn’s family store, she’s likely to run into others who have either seen her mom or were saved by her mom – or both. This is going to be hard on Selkie, I think.
If he saw her when he was “talking to the humans in suits” one could assume that his sighting of Plo Quar took place in a government installation.
Just because she’s given the freedom to walk around in the building or on the grounds of such a place doesn’t mean she is free to walk into town on her own.
That said, I do also like the theory that she was trying to get help in tracking Nei Li down. I’m looking forward to their next talk with Avery.
Mr. Behr doesn’t seem perturbed or curious about the situation. Perhaps young Echos are typically fostered?
And why that power-suppressing hair clip? How does the hair clip fit into this?
…good innit?
Oh shit, Plo Quar is in witness protection.
Hmm. That would explain things.
The Sarnothi are seeming more and more like stand-ins for the Anishinaabe to me.
Hum. I was rereading this whole conversation and I realized something.
The pond Selkie remembers as a baby… between “a few years” and him being “pointed towards” Jin Suir…
… Would that have possibly NOT been selkie then? Wasn’t the town there a more recent founding? And I was under the impression it had been about 4 years since Selkie came to the adoption clinic…? That COULD be called a “few” years, but…
Maybe I’m just grasping at drama straws or I’m otherwise mistaken?