Wow. I am disturbed by this way more than I should be.
Good thing Selkie is impressed!
I want to see where this goes. And how Todd copes with knowing his daughter’s species’ dinner and clothing can talk! And probably live short, painful lives.
Although, I am also coming to suspect that this is less Jar Jar Binks and more Water Parrots. Not speaking so much as imitating the sounds of their keepers.
And would you like to try our ‘oh so comfortable’ boiling jacuzzi? In just a few moments all your discomforts will be washed away. And I’m sure you will be (FEEL, I mean ‘feel’) delicious!
(btw, I love your avatar, especially now that I’ve found Shards “http://www.56shards.com/” and know where you got it.)
If you’re not careful, you’ll later see a Sarnothi wearing pants, notice the “Pants” tag, and then be like “Oh hey where is Pants the Eel? Oh. Oh Dave, how could you?!”.
This part of my flesh is very soft, I have been applying lotion to it daily, it will make an excellent pair of pants and be very soft on your sensitive areas. Can I also recommend my left flipper? The spines and webbing will make a very attractive hat.
First thing I thought of was myna birds; eels just repeating the most oft heard phrases.
Course, since I haven’t had enough coffee yet, I thought of minor birds, too young to sing in the majors, like the Met, … And then thought of miner birds with pick axes and shovels, going on strike, … And it went down hill from there.
I’m willing to bet it’s like birds and they’re just repeating things they’ve heard.
If that’s not the case and if they genuinely do have some measure of sentience then…. D:>
Bear in mind that we know they inbreed the eels too. Sarnorhi eels could be more intelligent in the wild, even if the farmed ones are severely mentally retarded.
It’s either a parot effect where they repeat want is most often said, or those are natural sounds the eels make and they were adopted into the dialect. Like how we have names for things based on the sounds they make. Given the religious importance of the eels I’d wouldn’t be surprised.
I was also thinking of cats. While cats don’t have the ability to imitate phrases accurately, they can imitate tone very well. For example, when I was taking care of my sister-in-law’s large male cats they would normally sound as you would expect a large male cat to sound. They were very friendly, with deep meows when you pet them. However, if I walked into the kitchen, suddenly the pitch of their voices would change to match my sister-in-law’s. Guess who usually called them into the kitchen for food every day?
Sarnothi’s main god is an eel. Who both blesses and eats his followers. So it seems Sarnothi are quite use to the idea that their dinner/clothes are something that can turn around and eat them/use them for clothes as well. As for short painful lives- again that is something their eel god does to them as well.
Well, at least he knows what his Destiny is to be… somebody’s pair of pants!.
as for all the ones saying they are “water parrots”… maybe…
maybe not… isn’t their god Han Shin Jian Tho an intelligent eel? you know, the one that gave of “his children” to eat? and didn’t the store owner, leather worker guy, say they were inbred? usually you get physical and mental abnormalities in the offspring when subjected to enough inbreeding… therefore those COULD be massively messed up sentient beings, ones that have been inbred thru the years, into the gigantic idiots we see here, by the breeders at the farm.
And for those on the “water parrots” bit…there’s a lot more scope in avian intelligence than science has scraped the surface for already. Case in point: Alex Pepperberg.
But see “frilly knickers” above.
Or better yet, don’t see them, for what is seen cannot be unseen…
Frilly eel knickers… heh…
Frilly eel knickers… heh heh HEE HEE heh heh…
Frilly eel knickers… heh hee HAH HAH HAH HAHHH!!!
Where’s my tomato-sauce-stained straitjacket??? AH HAH HAHHAaaaaa…
I wonder if maybe somehow the eels molt their outer skin and the sarnothi make use of that rather than killing them? Kind of like shearing sheep for their wool.
The leathersmith said the eels were butchered. Just past puberty. Now here is something to remember, just in case. 1) Sarnothi are not human, they do not have a human culture. If they did, then what’s the point of this comic? 2) It is fiction. If indeed these eels are sentient and all, that would be disconcerting at the very least, but that is not going to mean that the author condones animal cruelty any more than George Lucas was advocating killing children when Anakin went into the Jedi Temple.
I bet they make all kinds of eel stuff…
Eel pants, eel hats, eel cardigans, eel loincloths, eel bras, eel hairbands, eel boots, eel wrist guards, eel leggings, eel shorts, eel shirts, eel anklets, eel shields, eel pillow cases, eel fricasee, eel tartar, eel flambè, eel steak, eel sushi, eel sashimi, eel eel eel eel eel eel eel baked beans eel eel eel eel eel…
Eel sausage and spam. Eel eggs, sausage and spam. Eel eggs, sausage, spam and eel. Eel, eel, eel, sausage, and spam, or lobster thermidor au crevette with a moray sauce served in a Provencale manner with shallots and aubergines garnished with truffle pate, brandy and with a fried egg on top and eel.
I’m guessing the talking is similar to birds imitating speech? It’s not just parrots, corvids (crows, magpies, jays, and ravens) can do it too. The eels’ size makes this more similar to an ostrich farm than an aviary, though.
And now we all know why their fairy tales are based on God-Eels of doom. Hell, someone seeing one of these from a ship and you have the Loch Ness and the eastern dragon myths taken care of as well…
“…Which is why it was eventually decided to cut through the whole tangled problem and breed an animal that actually wanted to be eaten and was capable of saying so clearly and distinctly.”
what.
the.
fuck.
dave.
This. Just…this.
my thoughts exactly XD
They personify the eels already with their legends. Maybe this is why they take the Eel Spirit’s sacrifice so seriously.
OMG>faints. I echo WTF Dave. I keep parrots BTW. Nobody would ever get the chance to make pants out of my feather people.17
That’s kind of messed up.
“You’re slated to become pants? Lucky! I’m going to be jock straps!”
and now i´m imagining the other eel to start screeching FRILLY KNICKERS XD
all joking aside though, those things are bleeping huge!
(nods) Bred for leather; the bigger they are, the more skin they have.
On the other hand, the bigger they are, the worse the surface to volume ratio gets.
who cares about volume ratio if you can simply turn the body parts into yummy eel nuggets?
Have you seen cows lately?
Umm… probably the exact opposite, Chris. These are animals, not a rubber balloon. A salamander does not have thicker skin than a crocodile.
Wow. I am disturbed by this way more than I should be.
Good thing Selkie is impressed!
I want to see where this goes. And how Todd copes with knowing his daughter’s species’ dinner and clothing can talk! And probably live short, painful lives.
Although, I am also coming to suspect that this is less Jar Jar Binks and more Water Parrots. Not speaking so much as imitating the sounds of their keepers.
meesa your food now okie?
Okie!
And would you like to try our ‘oh so comfortable’ boiling jacuzzi? In just a few moments all your discomforts will be washed away. And I’m sure you will be (FEEL, I mean ‘feel’) delicious!
(btw, I love your avatar, especially now that I’ve found Shards “http://www.56shards.com/” and know where you got it.)
was prize for guessing sweeney toddler years back
Roflmao!
Why isn’t Pants tagged??? XD
Seconded
Thirded. And can Pants be a recurring character? 😉
Maybe if he ends up someone’s…
…pants.
I suspect he isn’t tagged because he’s probably saying that due to someone telling him what he’s going to become.
Because Sarnorhi pants are………… (wait for it) ……..TAGLESS!
*Ba-dumm TSSS!*
Amazing!
If you’re not careful, you’ll later see a Sarnothi wearing pants, notice the “Pants” tag, and then be like “Oh hey where is Pants the Eel? Oh. Oh Dave, how could you?!”.
*thumbs up*
And Dave will be humming the Trollolo song as he does…
….
….*starts humming because now the song is stuck in her head*
…Dammit. I have missed a glorious opportunity.
It’s not too late!!!
Friday can’t come soon enough, so many questions. oO
They don’t seem particularly inteligent so I’m hoping above guess about “water parrots” is correct.
I am in mind of the scene in Restaurant at the End of the Universe where the diners meet their dinner.
Glad I’m not the only one who went there …
The Ameglion Major Cow was the first thing I thought of.
I also went that way. That they did the same thing, but the eels just aren’t as intelligent, likely on purpose as the cows.
This part of my flesh is very soft, I have been applying lotion to it daily, it will make an excellent pair of pants and be very soft on your sensitive areas. Can I also recommend my left flipper? The spines and webbing will make a very attractive hat.
Yes, I went there too!
First thing I thought of was myna birds; eels just repeating the most oft heard phrases.
Course, since I haven’t had enough coffee yet, I thought of minor birds, too young to sing in the majors, like the Met, … And then thought of miner birds with pick axes and shovels, going on strike, … And it went down hill from there.
Or uphill. You have a beautiful mind if that’s where it went.
*applause*
Or it could be Then messing with them? Or it could be Sai Fen or Agent Brown’s stepson
I’m willing to bet it’s like birds and they’re just repeating things they’ve heard.
If that’s not the case and if they genuinely do have some measure of sentience then…. D:>
Bear in mind that we know they inbreed the eels too. Sarnorhi eels could be more intelligent in the wild, even if the farmed ones are severely mentally retarded.
It’s either a parot effect where they repeat want is most often said, or those are natural sounds the eels make and they were adopted into the dialect. Like how we have names for things based on the sounds they make. Given the religious importance of the eels I’d wouldn’t be surprised.
Aw, you, Genseepaws, and AnnaB beat me to it.
I was also thinking of cats. While cats don’t have the ability to imitate phrases accurately, they can imitate tone very well. For example, when I was taking care of my sister-in-law’s large male cats they would normally sound as you would expect a large male cat to sound. They were very friendly, with deep meows when you pet them. However, if I walked into the kitchen, suddenly the pitch of their voices would change to match my sister-in-law’s. Guess who usually called them into the kitchen for food every day?
PANTS PANTS PANTSSSSS
There needs to be an eel named Boots…
Sarnothi’s main god is an eel. Who both blesses and eats his followers. So it seems Sarnothi are quite use to the idea that their dinner/clothes are something that can turn around and eat them/use them for clothes as well. As for short painful lives- again that is something their eel god does to them as well.
Well, at least he knows what his Destiny is to be… somebody’s pair of pants!.
as for all the ones saying they are “water parrots”… maybe…
maybe not… isn’t their god Han Shin Jian Tho an intelligent eel? you know, the one that gave of “his children” to eat? and didn’t the store owner, leather worker guy, say they were inbred? usually you get physical and mental abnormalities in the offspring when subjected to enough inbreeding… therefore those COULD be massively messed up sentient beings, ones that have been inbred thru the years, into the gigantic idiots we see here, by the breeders at the farm.
Time for another spin-off: The Adventures of PANTS, the eel!
And for those on the “water parrots” bit…there’s a lot more scope in avian intelligence than science has scraped the surface for already. Case in point: Alex Pepperberg.
I read a book on this! The Genius of Birds. It’s great and informative.
Ok, the wide white eyes are what really makes me back away slowly…
These talking eels are my new favourite characters now. 😀 😀 😀
Solomon Grundy wants pants too
Dang it you beat me to it!!!
Omg I love you!
Does no-one remember Restaurant at the universe, and the talking cow?
Ameglion Major Cow? Yes, read comments above.
Brief question: American pants, or British pants?
For Todd? American pants, and they’re brown.
But see “frilly knickers” above.
Or better yet, don’t see them, for what is seen cannot be unseen…
Frilly eel knickers… heh…
Frilly eel knickers… heh heh HEE HEE heh heh…
Frilly eel knickers… heh hee HAH HAH HAH HAHHH!!!
Where’s my tomato-sauce-stained straitjacket??? AH HAH HAHHAaaaaa…
This is the most horrifying thing I’ve seen in a while.
….D= So is the other one shirt?
I giggled at this one. 😀
I’m glad you did. 😀
I wonder if maybe somehow the eels molt their outer skin and the sarnothi make use of that rather than killing them? Kind of like shearing sheep for their wool.
The leathersmith said the eels were butchered. Just past puberty. Now here is something to remember, just in case. 1) Sarnothi are not human, they do not have a human culture. If they did, then what’s the point of this comic? 2) It is fiction. If indeed these eels are sentient and all, that would be disconcerting at the very least, but that is not going to mean that the author condones animal cruelty any more than George Lucas was advocating killing children when Anakin went into the Jedi Temple.
However, given how the eels are talking, the “parrot theory” seems more likely. It’s also the one I’m really, really hoping to be true.
Remember, Selkie: “Food that talks is not food.” (ref: https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2003-11-30 )
Nice reference! 🙂
…was not expecting that. Huh.
So if that one is pants, is the other one shirt?
I bet they make all kinds of eel stuff…
Eel pants, eel hats, eel cardigans, eel loincloths, eel bras, eel hairbands, eel boots, eel wrist guards, eel leggings, eel shorts, eel shirts, eel anklets, eel shields, eel pillow cases, eel fricasee, eel tartar, eel flambè, eel steak, eel sushi, eel sashimi, eel eel eel eel eel eel eel baked beans eel eel eel eel eel…
Bloody vikings.
…spam spam spam spam….
Eel sausage and spam. Eel eggs, sausage and spam. Eel eggs, sausage, spam and eel. Eel, eel, eel, sausage, and spam, or lobster thermidor au crevette with a moray sauce served in a Provencale manner with shallots and aubergines garnished with truffle pate, brandy and with a fried egg on top and eel.
Eel haggis!
Aaargh!
I can’t handle all these eels..
curious, how has no one ever caught one of these eels on the surface before?
or is this species purely a in bred creation of the sarnthoi?
Maybe there are sarnothi in loch ness and the monster legends was an escaped eel.
Maybe they have, and just don’t understand the language. Or maybe the eels can’t produce sounds in air.
Um, not to be ‘that guy’ but… leathersmith did say these guys were inbred…
And at the end of the ‘eel farming’ arc the final comic will be a musical: “Once More with ‘eeling” ;-}}
Yes, it is pants. But is it pants oblong?
I’m guessing the talking is similar to birds imitating speech? It’s not just parrots, corvids (crows, magpies, jays, and ravens) can do it too. The eels’ size makes this more similar to an ostrich farm than an aviary, though.
I am curious about Pants is his name, his fate, or his life’s goal? 🙂
[Kosh] … YES…. [/Kosh]
Wooww…. I LOVE this. And their faces… I can just imagine them swimming around honking going “PAAAAAAAAANNNTS”.
Or sneaking up on you zombie video game style, mouths wide open, and the last thing you hear is the whisper “paaaaannnts….”.
I’m pretty sure they’re like parrots. They can say WORDS, but they can’t really SPEAK, per se.
So… Politicians, then?
Huh. Repeating… Sarnothi Eels are like Parrots I guess? (Which opens up whole new Questions I would think)
Dave what the fuck are those things? They look like my nightmares on crystal meth!!!!
I am holding my sense of horror at bay, at least until I know if they are real sophonts or just parrots.
Anybody think that maybe(Just Maybe) The eels shed? or the skin is harvested, but non-lethally? Just throwing it out there….
And now we all know why their fairy tales are based on God-Eels of doom. Hell, someone seeing one of these from a ship and you have the Loch Ness and the eastern dragon myths taken care of as well…
Has it been explicitly said sarnothi only exist in this one lake?
Hitch Hikers!
“…Which is why it was eventually decided to cut through the whole tangled problem and breed an animal that actually wanted to be eaten and was capable of saying so clearly and distinctly.”
I think this might be a moment people point back to in the future and say “This is where Selkie jumped the shark.”
HELLO
I AM GUY
I AM GUY
GUY! GUY!
THIS THIS THIIIIIS
AM THIS
AM GUY I
*This continues for awhile*
GUY GUY GUY!