I didn't consider until drawing this strip that Suko should probably be jabbering some sarnothi child's rhymes at some stage. For now, I'm gonna say he's picked up the human ones off "Flixnet".
It is odd, but it has left a thought in my head… would the Sarnothi be considered protect under the same laws that were enacted to prevent Native American children from being taken from their biological parents and either placed in boarding schools or adopted to white families? I could almost see that as becoming a point of contention, with someone like Gien trying to use that to force Selkie to live in the settlement rather than with Todd, possibly forcing Plo Quar to return and give an exact reason why she put Selkie up for adoption to begin with.
Selkie wasn’t taken she was given up, and legally the adoption already went through, so I assume if such a law got applied it would not nullify said adoption retroactively… but I’m not familiar with those laws so could be off base here.
I don’t think it’s safe for him to tell them that he’s her Bio-Dad. And it’s probably awkward to tell Todd that.
Like he’s probably just there to see his kid. Whom he actually seems to adore quite a bit. If I were him, I’d probably come up with any excuse to see a kid that I’ve probably not seen since she was a tadpole.
“So, Selkie, on scale from 1 to 10, how are you rating Todd’s parenting, hmm? Are you being warm and well fed? What is his policy being like for cartoons and the games of video?”
Sai Fen I expected more out of you. This man has clearly made a change in his life and I expected her to be able to realize that. And before anyone jumps me for her reaction being perfectly normal and that he was a bad person in the past, remember that Selkie’s mom is basically a traitor and terrorist in their community and you were all quick to excuse what was said about her and defend her. This man has clearly seen the error of his ways and working towards rebuilding and helping those that he previously hurt. In order to make any progress, we have to realize that people can change and truly be sorry for things. She doesn’t have to forgive him for his past crimes, but she absolutely should not treat him as if he is vile. He works with her husband, she should know at the very least he isn’t about to pounce on her and her children.
She may not judge him, but after hearing all the stories, she’s going to be on edge for a bit, simply knowing he could likely wipe out the room with little effort. To put it another way, if Darth Vader had survived and been redeemed at the end of the films, not many former rebels would be willing to sit next to him at the dinner table.
Exactly. And there’s a distinction between being willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt, and being willing to put your children at risk over whether you’re wrong.
Moving the children into a location where they can have some level of protection is not unwarranted, and it is the Redemption Seeker’s cross to bear that he feels somewhat offended or excluded by the actions and attitudes of others after he did horrible things to their people.
I abhor the “Heel Face Door Slam” — seriously, redemption plots are my bread and butter, why else would I be writing MCU Loki fics? — and, on a more pragmatic note, if we make it impossible for convicts to recover and reconnect with society, then playing by society’s rules isn’t sufficient for their survival, and we (society) are setting ourselves up for huge problems once they realize the disconnect.
Even so, there’s room for shades of acceptance between “Never Live It Down”/”Redemption Equals Death” and “Everything’s sunshine and rainbows and of course you can babysit my kids Mr. Ex-Psychopath!”
TV Tropes contributor, yes, though not very active of late. I spearheaded the “So You Want To…” namespace, and started “If Jesus, Then Aliens” and “Ape Shall Never Kill Ape,” along with a couple of others. I’ll leave the link to my troper page under my name there.
If you’re referring to my propensity for using TV Tropes terminology to point to specific tropes… well, I see no reason to avoid it, when we’re discussing topics that make such patterns apply. Humans love categorizing patterns that they see, and this is a useful way to do so for patterns in media that sometimes bleed out into real life.
this is their first meeting, so obviously all she knows him from are “the stories.” its natural for her to be a little on edge and protective of her childrens, and i am sure as she gets to know K’limdai, and see he isn’t “the farmer” anymore she will be more at ease
I mean, if Mengele had been recruited by the U.S. like so many of the other scientists following WW2, that doesn’t mean you’d suddenly be okay with him hanging out with your twin daughters. You’d be pretty nervous.
Someone asks him what he did to make selkie’s mom rip off his face. That’s one possible implication, but I doubt it, it’s just too dark for this comic.
IIRC, we don’t know exactly what happened between Scar and Plo Quar, but the circumstances were shady. I am guessing he is not a rapist, but only because I don’t think this is that kind of story, not because it’s an implausible interpretation.
Let’s not throw the R-word around too lightly. Also, while I am being cagey about specifics on Scars backstory for now, I’m not going that far with it.
Confirmed. I don’t usually like to break speculation chains or otherwise tacitly confirm story elements, but I think it’s a good idea to call a full-stop on any kind of sexual assault speculation. I’m not going THAT dark.
For some reason, my eye always wants to see K’Limdai’s head scar tissue as hollowed out, rather than swollen beyond the original shape of his skull, which seems the intent.
I know that, and there’s some angles where it’s more obvious than others, by my eye keeps telling me 20% of his head’s mass is missing!
O_o
Um… Is Selkie currently within hearing range? If so, then this would be the point at which she could connect “That cool guy Scar” with “That evil Farmer that Te Fahn told about”.
Leave it to Suko to have the cutest possible reaction to “farmer”.
As for Sai Fen’s reaction, there’s all kinds of reasons why she might want the kids out of the room, depending on how much she’s been told. It’s not like she’s demanding that he leave, she just wants to corral the kids away in case the grownups want to talk about matters they’d be uncomfortable mentioning in front of kids.
Dave; thank you for doing this comic, and having it on three levels– one for the kids, one for the adults, and one for the philosophers. It does my heart good. I am Thankful for you and for that.
So after re-reading tidbits involving Scar (AKA, the farmer), Plo Quar, and the roles and current relationships of the four clans, here’s my personal theory as to what happened between Scar and Plo Quar:
As Te Fahn put it, the Farmer (Scar) is someone who would pretend to help people, and then turn around and enslave them. If someone ran, Scar would ‘zap’ them. Scar is of clan Sar’Teri, the clan who had all of Sarnoth at gunpoint in order to maintain the status quo and keep all of Sarnoth hidden from the world while the Jin’Sorai, allied with the other two clans, wanted reparation for what the humans had done to Behn. Plo Quar, a Jin’Sorai Peacekeeper, was originally on the side of the Sar’Teri. Eventually, Plo Quar switched sides to work with the Jin’Sorai alliance. Due to her switching sides, she became a wanted criminal who had to flee the city. Plo Quar met with Scar, whom she either knew previously, or whom she thought was a Sar’Teri defector siding with the Jin’Sorai alliance. Likely, she asked for help or he offered it. During that time, they had a tryst, and afterwards either Scar tried to enslave Plo Quar, or she found out that Scar was a slaver. One way or the other, the result was Plo Quar mutilating Scar and then fleeing again, this time with a little something extra to remember that point in her life–Selkie. I also think that one of the reasons that Plo Quar made the resonance suppressor and put Selkie in a human orphanage before going into hiding was to protect Selkie from being enslaved and used as a tool due to her powers as well as the possibility of being kidnapped and used as a hostage to force her war criminal mother out of hiding.
It’s times like this I wish we could “like” people’s commentary. Very well thought out and until or unless Dave tells us otherwise, that’s the best theory I’ve seen so far.
This is very skeevy. Selkie is not their subject they don’t have any right to be doing inspections, surprise or otherwise.
And yea that he even got their address is a huge red flag.
It is odd, but it has left a thought in my head… would the Sarnothi be considered protect under the same laws that were enacted to prevent Native American children from being taken from their biological parents and either placed in boarding schools or adopted to white families? I could almost see that as becoming a point of contention, with someone like Gien trying to use that to force Selkie to live in the settlement rather than with Todd, possibly forcing Plo Quar to return and give an exact reason why she put Selkie up for adoption to begin with.
Selkie wasn’t taken she was given up, and legally the adoption already went through, so I assume if such a law got applied it would not nullify said adoption retroactively… but I’m not familiar with those laws so could be off base here.
Maybe Plo Quar actually sent him and he is just obfuscating who sent him.
I don’t think it’s safe for him to tell them that he’s her Bio-Dad. And it’s probably awkward to tell Todd that.
Like he’s probably just there to see his kid. Whom he actually seems to adore quite a bit. If I were him, I’d probably come up with any excuse to see a kid that I’ve probably not seen since she was a tadpole.
This isn’t an inspection. He’s Selkie’s biological father, remember?
“Inspection”.
“So, Selkie, on scale from 1 to 10, how are you rating Todd’s parenting, hmm? Are you being warm and well fed? What is his policy being like for cartoons and the games of video?”
Sai Fen I expected more out of you. This man has clearly made a change in his life and I expected her to be able to realize that. And before anyone jumps me for her reaction being perfectly normal and that he was a bad person in the past, remember that Selkie’s mom is basically a traitor and terrorist in their community and you were all quick to excuse what was said about her and defend her. This man has clearly seen the error of his ways and working towards rebuilding and helping those that he previously hurt. In order to make any progress, we have to realize that people can change and truly be sorry for things. She doesn’t have to forgive him for his past crimes, but she absolutely should not treat him as if he is vile. He works with her husband, she should know at the very least he isn’t about to pounce on her and her children.
She may not judge him, but after hearing all the stories, she’s going to be on edge for a bit, simply knowing he could likely wipe out the room with little effort. To put it another way, if Darth Vader had survived and been redeemed at the end of the films, not many former rebels would be willing to sit next to him at the dinner table.
Exactly. And there’s a distinction between being willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt, and being willing to put your children at risk over whether you’re wrong.
Moving the children into a location where they can have some level of protection is not unwarranted, and it is the Redemption Seeker’s cross to bear that he feels somewhat offended or excluded by the actions and attitudes of others after he did horrible things to their people.
I abhor the “Heel Face Door Slam” — seriously, redemption plots are my bread and butter, why else would I be writing MCU Loki fics? — and, on a more pragmatic note, if we make it impossible for convicts to recover and reconnect with society, then playing by society’s rules isn’t sufficient for their survival, and we (society) are setting ourselves up for huge problems once they realize the disconnect.
Even so, there’s room for shades of acceptance between “Never Live It Down”/”Redemption Equals Death” and “Everything’s sunshine and rainbows and of course you can babysit my kids Mr. Ex-Psychopath!”
What are you, a TVT editor?
TV Tropes contributor, yes, though not very active of late. I spearheaded the “So You Want To…” namespace, and started “If Jesus, Then Aliens” and “Ape Shall Never Kill Ape,” along with a couple of others. I’ll leave the link to my troper page under my name there.
If you’re referring to my propensity for using TV Tropes terminology to point to specific tropes… well, I see no reason to avoid it, when we’re discussing topics that make such patterns apply. Humans love categorizing patterns that they see, and this is a useful way to do so for patterns in media that sometimes bleed out into real life.
“Easily Forgiven” is the rainbow-spewing one you’re referring to, unless TVT changed its titles again.
Ah, had forgotten that one. Thanks.
(Though I think, in this instance, my phrasing there better demonstrates both the concept and the tone I meant to convey it in.)
this is their first meeting, so obviously all she knows him from are “the stories.” its natural for her to be a little on edge and protective of her childrens, and i am sure as she gets to know K’limdai, and see he isn’t “the farmer” anymore she will be more at ease
I mean, if Mengele had been recruited by the U.S. like so many of the other scientists following WW2, that doesn’t mean you’d suddenly be okay with him hanging out with your twin daughters. You’d be pretty nervous.
Apt comparison. Giving someone a second chance is not the same as offering them unconditional trust.
(Hisses through teeth) Ohhhhh boy, here we go.
Okay, now I’m not so sure where this is going.
He says he’s changed, most villains do. He’s a rapist, that means he feels entitled. Could be trying to get to Selkie to force her mom out of hiding.
Hes a what now?? Did I miss a page??
Someone asks him what he did to make selkie’s mom rip off his face. That’s one possible implication, but I doubt it, it’s just too dark for this comic.
IIRC, we don’t know exactly what happened between Scar and Plo Quar, but the circumstances were shady. I am guessing he is not a rapist, but only because I don’t think this is that kind of story, not because it’s an implausible interpretation.
Let’s not throw the R-word around too lightly. Also, while I am being cagey about specifics on Scars backstory for now, I’m not going that far with it.
Rapist or not, by Sarnothi law Selkie isn’t supposed to exist.
Wait, which page established this detail?
Dave confirmed that Scar did not sexually assault Plo Quar, and that he has no plams to have sexual assault involved in his comic at all. Read the comment
https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie995/#comment-50926
Confirmed. I don’t usually like to break speculation chains or otherwise tacitly confirm story elements, but I think it’s a good idea to call a full-stop on any kind of sexual assault speculation. I’m not going THAT dark.
For some reason, my eye always wants to see K’Limdai’s head scar tissue as hollowed out, rather than swollen beyond the original shape of his skull, which seems the intent.
I know that, and there’s some angles where it’s more obvious than others, by my eye keeps telling me 20% of his head’s mass is missing!
O_o
I’ve always perceived it as missing tissue. You mean to tell me it isn’t?
😮
Compare it at different angles. The scar tissue is sightly larger than the rest of his head.
Um… Is Selkie currently within hearing range? If so, then this would be the point at which she could connect “That cool guy Scar” with “That evil Farmer that Te Fahn told about”.
YEAH UH HUH
Leave it to Suko to have the cutest possible reaction to “farmer”.
As for Sai Fen’s reaction, there’s all kinds of reasons why she might want the kids out of the room, depending on how much she’s been told. It’s not like she’s demanding that he leave, she just wants to corral the kids away in case the grownups want to talk about matters they’d be uncomfortable mentioning in front of kids.
Dave; thank you for doing this comic, and having it on three levels– one for the kids, one for the adults, and one for the philosophers. It does my heart good. I am Thankful for you and for that.
So after re-reading tidbits involving Scar (AKA, the farmer), Plo Quar, and the roles and current relationships of the four clans, here’s my personal theory as to what happened between Scar and Plo Quar:
As Te Fahn put it, the Farmer (Scar) is someone who would pretend to help people, and then turn around and enslave them. If someone ran, Scar would ‘zap’ them. Scar is of clan Sar’Teri, the clan who had all of Sarnoth at gunpoint in order to maintain the status quo and keep all of Sarnoth hidden from the world while the Jin’Sorai, allied with the other two clans, wanted reparation for what the humans had done to Behn. Plo Quar, a Jin’Sorai Peacekeeper, was originally on the side of the Sar’Teri. Eventually, Plo Quar switched sides to work with the Jin’Sorai alliance. Due to her switching sides, she became a wanted criminal who had to flee the city. Plo Quar met with Scar, whom she either knew previously, or whom she thought was a Sar’Teri defector siding with the Jin’Sorai alliance. Likely, she asked for help or he offered it. During that time, they had a tryst, and afterwards either Scar tried to enslave Plo Quar, or she found out that Scar was a slaver. One way or the other, the result was Plo Quar mutilating Scar and then fleeing again, this time with a little something extra to remember that point in her life–Selkie. I also think that one of the reasons that Plo Quar made the resonance suppressor and put Selkie in a human orphanage before going into hiding was to protect Selkie from being enslaved and used as a tool due to her powers as well as the possibility of being kidnapped and used as a hostage to force her war criminal mother out of hiding.
It’s times like this I wish we could “like” people’s commentary. Very well thought out and until or unless Dave tells us otherwise, that’s the best theory I’ve seen so far.
Well done! 🙂
Much appreciated.
I have a theory that kill him die is actually the farmer