What the HELL is he tipping his arrows with? A plain recurve bow from 20-30 feet away (minimum) and he puts an arrow INTO a SKULL? (and a modest recurve at that) It appears to have gone into the temple. That’s not an archer, he’s a magician.
I just hope Gradus can scare off both a marksman and a battle Mage, and maybe Felnir is related to viviannna’s back story, or we are being introduced to a secondary character……
Oy oy, indiscriminate murder in the middle of a town? How unprofessional. Particularly since, if he could have hit a guy just opening a window in the head, he could have hit a girl running in a straight line in the back.
@ Wanderer:
You have a good point – but I think they’re not trying to kill Viv. Two comics previous, when she hid in the room, the ringleader said to find the box *and the girl.* If he had just wanted the box alone, he seems ruthless enough to say, “and kill the girl” instead, or just leave it unspoken that if she was in the way she would be killed like the parents.
@ All-Purpose Guru:
Well, on page 2 we saw that the arrows he shoots are covered in a Bluestream-forcefield, so I suppose that those tips are WAY sharper than normal.
I have noticed small colouring issues on Xardan. His belt on this page is gray, not red. And this has been pointed out before- Xardans hair on page 2/panel 4 and on this page panel 3 almost looks blond.
Since we already know that the girls parents are named Garret and Eileen and the title says Letter from Jael Bara i guess this girl might be Jael(if that is a female name….i have a hard time telling)
also it is unlikely that this girl is Viviana…this seems to have happened a good while ago and Viv looks a bit young to be this girl.
And if you have a look at Gradus…he looks a lot younger than on the pages with Viv.
Judging from his behavior he cared deeply for Vivs Mother but lost her(check the Rainbow Knife strip)
So i would expect this Girl to be the future mother of Viviana.
I would even go so far to hazard the guess that the box contains at least a Letter from her to her daughter.
Any thoughts on this?
To put these events in context, we’re in Aracona, the capital city of Cania; and this is 11 years ago. We’re told that Ileasaar was conquered and annexed a decade ago, so it’s likely the precise setting is during Cania’s capture of Ileasaar.
Given the Baras were former reporters of the year in Greendew, capital of Ileasaar, it’s likely they either were or were suspected of being involved with the resistance; so may have had access to knowledge the Canian Powers That Be didn’t want being made public at any cost (i.e. extremely politically damaging). Whatever’s in the box is important enough to warrant not only killing them, but also killing any witnesses.
As for why they’re not killing the girl, they may want to interrogate / torture her first to see if either (a) she knows anything about the box’s contents, (b) she’s told anyone outside the family about the box.
It may be that the girl was known at the time as Jael, but has since been renamed Viviana; alternatively it may be that Jael is (or was) another member of the family, whose letter to the girl’s parents is what’s contained within the box.
Incidentally, Jael is a girl’s name: its first known appearance was as a character mentioned in the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible, the heroine who killed Sisera to deliver Israel from the troops of king Jabin.
Maybe ‘our’ Jael will prove to be a case of nominative determinism? 🙂
run viv, run! if you die now, the future storyline is doomed and you cant have the romance with ilias i predicted from “the red hall 015”!
hah, look at me. after the sandra and woo strip with ye thuza and yuna annoying cloud, i promised i would never be a shipper of anyone again…
and here i am
If he could headshot a guy in the window why didnt he shot Viv in the leg to slow her down or stop her?
I’ll give you two theories:
First, the guy was stationary and she is running, and Letho doesn’t want to fire arrows randomly at her legs until he gets lucky. She could also be dodging and jumping to confuse him. Also, his arrows might be expensive enough he doesn’t want to waste them on missed shots (see second point).
Second, his arrows might be enchanted to make them extra deadly. So far we have seen him shoot two people and each one was an instant kill. The first blew right through a woman’s chest and the second pierced a man’s skull! He might not even have any normal arrows, and they are trying to take her alive for some reason. Also, if they are enchanted arrows, they might be a bit expensive (see first point).
If he were really smart he should have some “disabling” arrows. Likely he underestimated how difficult it might be to capture this young girl and didn’t plan ahead to bring any such thing.
In the attack on the Red Hall, the arrows were glowing red. But must all enchanted arrows glow red? Perhaps not; the red glow could have been a spell specifically to make arrows go through a magic shield, like the one Ars tried to use. Here, the two assassins didn’t expect to encounter any magic shields. (And by the way, the archer who attacked the Red Hall in comic 045 could have been Letho, 11 years older. We could see part of the guy’s face behind his mask, and his facial hair is similar to young Letho. The beard color is lighter but, 11 years later, that’s plausible.)
If Letho were Green Arrow from 70’s comics he would have a single arrow with a boxing glove on it, which he would shoot at her head to knock her out. He isn’t, he’s an assassin and I think he likes his work quite a lot.
One thing that has bothered me from the day I read it… during the attack on the Red Hall, Ilias tried to fight the attackers. They didn’t stab him, blast him, poison him, or slice him… they knocked him in the head. Why? Given the speech about making rabbits leap over fences, I wonder if there is an overarching plan that the attackers wanted him to lead an effort to save Lilith before she is executed. That seems awfully wheels-within-wheels though. Red Hall 046
@ steveha:
If I were to frame someone I would not only give the proper evidence but also make sure he/she looks guilty. So yeah, making sure that the guy with the proper “motivation” to free Lili makes it through the attack alive would be a proper strategy.
@ Sharien:
Dude. Re-read stuff. Viv’s box(in present day) was unopenable despite efforts over the “past 10 years”. The intro of this story was “11 years ago”. So, she had the box ~1 year before she started trying to open it.
As far as the “Coloring issues”, they’re in dynamic lighting. The “blonde” hair was in a frame where he’s clearly bathed in yellow light. The “gray” belt is actually dark red(rgb: 44/35/20), while in his shadow., and the whole attack frame has everything a darker, browner shade than normal(both of their hair, the belt, etc)… with a brightly colored spell being cast next to them(by them). It also messes with Viv’s color–notice in her dodging panel, her shirt is 2 tone, neither of which it is in the following panels.
The only real issue I have is the dodge panel itself–she closes one eye, leaves the other open, but for some odd reason, she closes the eye that is *not* towards the bright flash of light. That’s like the inverse of a standard flinch. I don’t know what’s up with that.
I dunno, dude. Seems like “the past 10 [or so] years” is the safer presumption rather than “the past 10 [of the eleven] years [that I’ve had the box because me and the dude who rescued me from my parent’s murderers couldn’t decide if we wanted to open it for a year].”
Unless this isn’t Viv, but her separated-at-birth twin sister Jael, but that’s really multiplying entities needlessly.
Since then members of the city have placed tabards out of their windows in a tribute to those that were killed on this day.
(Also to hide shields and things under them, cause hey preparation).
Pretty sure that guys death is going to weigh on poor ??? for years to come 🙁
Oh, and for those wondering who Felnir is? He’s the guy in the last panel about to have a very pointed encounter with Gradus (and the leader of those murdering sacks of turnip-lickers)
at last Gradus will save the day (telling by the tag), but too bad that mister was killed and most likely any witness they spot but not anymore
Credit where it’s due, Letho’s quite the marksman.
What the HELL is he tipping his arrows with? A plain recurve bow from 20-30 feet away (minimum) and he puts an arrow INTO a SKULL? (and a modest recurve at that) It appears to have gone into the temple. That’s not an archer, he’s a magician.
I just hope Gradus can scare off both a marksman and a battle Mage, and maybe Felnir is related to viviannna’s back story, or we are being introduced to a secondary character……
Oy oy, indiscriminate murder in the middle of a town? How unprofessional. Particularly since, if he could have hit a guy just opening a window in the head, he could have hit a girl running in a straight line in the back.
You can tell a character is relatively unimportant when their nametag is “Man”
@ Wanderer:
You have a good point – but I think they’re not trying to kill Viv. Two comics previous, when she hid in the room, the ringleader said to find the box *and the girl.* If he had just wanted the box alone, he seems ruthless enough to say, “and kill the girl” instead, or just leave it unspoken that if she was in the way she would be killed like the parents.
Woah, Holy CRUD! That guy! He just shot that guy!
RUN VIVI! RUN LIKE THE WIND!
@ All-Purpose Guru:
Well, on page 2 we saw that the arrows he shoots are covered in a Bluestream-forcefield, so I suppose that those tips are WAY sharper than normal.
I have noticed small colouring issues on Xardan. His belt on this page is gray, not red. And this has been pointed out before- Xardans hair on page 2/panel 4 and on this page panel 3 almost looks blond.
Boom! Headshot!
… Is this child… Viv? Or her mom…?
I’m-a call bullshit on the ??? name for the girl. We all know who she is.
If he could headshot a guy in the window why didnt he shot Viv in the leg to slow her down or stop her?
Since we already know that the girls parents are named Garret and Eileen and the title says Letter from Jael Bara i guess this girl might be Jael(if that is a female name….i have a hard time telling)
also it is unlikely that this girl is Viviana…this seems to have happened a good while ago and Viv looks a bit young to be this girl.
And if you have a look at Gradus…he looks a lot younger than on the pages with Viv.
Judging from his behavior he cared deeply for Vivs Mother but lost her(check the Rainbow Knife strip)
So i would expect this Girl to be the future mother of Viviana.
I would even go so far to hazard the guess that the box contains at least a Letter from her to her daughter.
Any thoughts on this?
mmh… maybe it’s a flesh wound?
Don’t really recognize people nor location in the last panel, though^^
I was a proud father of a family but then took an arrow to the head…
@ MirecU:
Rofl, nice
Lestyna wrote:
Sharien wrote:
This flashback takes place 11 years ago dudes. I seriously doubt that Viviana is 10 years old and her mom had a pre-teen pregnancy.
To put these events in context, we’re in Aracona, the capital city of Cania; and this is 11 years ago. We’re told that Ileasaar was conquered and annexed a decade ago, so it’s likely the precise setting is during Cania’s capture of Ileasaar.
Given the Baras were former reporters of the year in Greendew, capital of Ileasaar, it’s likely they either were or were suspected of being involved with the resistance; so may have had access to knowledge the Canian Powers That Be didn’t want being made public at any cost (i.e. extremely politically damaging). Whatever’s in the box is important enough to warrant not only killing them, but also killing any witnesses.
As for why they’re not killing the girl, they may want to interrogate / torture her first to see if either (a) she knows anything about the box’s contents, (b) she’s told anyone outside the family about the box.
It may be that the girl was known at the time as Jael, but has since been renamed Viviana; alternatively it may be that Jael is (or was) another member of the family, whose letter to the girl’s parents is what’s contained within the box.
Incidentally, Jael is a girl’s name: its first known appearance was as a character mentioned in the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible, the heroine who killed Sisera to deliver Israel from the troops of king Jabin.
Maybe ‘our’ Jael will prove to be a case of nominative determinism? 🙂
So, they can score a bulls-eye on him, but can’t hit her?
Hm elven years? Then im probably almost completely wrong
It looked like a bit more 😉
run viv, run! if you die now, the future storyline is doomed and you cant have the romance with ilias i predicted from “the red hall 015”!
hah, look at me. after the sandra and woo strip with ye thuza and yuna annoying cloud, i promised i would never be a shipper of anyone again…
and here i am
Can’t help but lol at panel 2. SO random.
@ Mage of Chaos:
Poor Man, he got but a single line.
@ Jacollo:
I’ll give you two theories:
First, the guy was stationary and she is running, and Letho doesn’t want to fire arrows randomly at her legs until he gets lucky. She could also be dodging and jumping to confuse him. Also, his arrows might be expensive enough he doesn’t want to waste them on missed shots (see second point).
Second, his arrows might be enchanted to make them extra deadly. So far we have seen him shoot two people and each one was an instant kill. The first blew right through a woman’s chest and the second pierced a man’s skull! He might not even have any normal arrows, and they are trying to take her alive for some reason. Also, if they are enchanted arrows, they might be a bit expensive (see first point).
If he were really smart he should have some “disabling” arrows. Likely he underestimated how difficult it might be to capture this young girl and didn’t plan ahead to bring any such thing.
In the attack on the Red Hall, the arrows were glowing red. But must all enchanted arrows glow red? Perhaps not; the red glow could have been a spell specifically to make arrows go through a magic shield, like the one Ars tried to use. Here, the two assassins didn’t expect to encounter any magic shields. (And by the way, the archer who attacked the Red Hall in comic 045 could have been Letho, 11 years older. We could see part of the guy’s face behind his mask, and his facial hair is similar to young Letho. The beard color is lighter but, 11 years later, that’s plausible.)
If Letho were Green Arrow from 70’s comics he would have a single arrow with a boxing glove on it, which he would shoot at her head to knock her out. He isn’t, he’s an assassin and I think he likes his work quite a lot.
One thing that has bothered me from the day I read it… during the attack on the Red Hall, Ilias tried to fight the attackers. They didn’t stab him, blast him, poison him, or slice him… they knocked him in the head. Why? Given the speech about making rabbits leap over fences, I wonder if there is an overarching plan that the attackers wanted him to lead an effort to save Lilith before she is executed. That seems awfully wheels-within-wheels though. Red Hall 046
my guess is he hasn’t shot her in the leg, simply because it hasn’t crossed his mind to do so
@ steveha:
If I were to frame someone I would not only give the proper evidence but also make sure he/she looks guilty. So yeah, making sure that the guy with the proper “motivation” to free Lili makes it through the attack alive would be a proper strategy.
@ Sharien:
Dude. Re-read stuff. Viv’s box(in present day) was unopenable despite efforts over the “past 10 years”. The intro of this story was “11 years ago”. So, she had the box ~1 year before she started trying to open it.
As far as the “Coloring issues”, they’re in dynamic lighting. The “blonde” hair was in a frame where he’s clearly bathed in yellow light. The “gray” belt is actually dark red(rgb: 44/35/20), while in his shadow., and the whole attack frame has everything a darker, browner shade than normal(both of their hair, the belt, etc)… with a brightly colored spell being cast next to them(by them). It also messes with Viv’s color–notice in her dodging panel, her shirt is 2 tone, neither of which it is in the following panels.
The only real issue I have is the dodge panel itself–she closes one eye, leaves the other open, but for some odd reason, she closes the eye that is *not* towards the bright flash of light. That’s like the inverse of a standard flinch. I don’t know what’s up with that.
@ Lucid:
I dunno, dude. Seems like “the past 10 [or so] years” is the safer presumption rather than “the past 10 [of the eleven] years [that I’ve had the box because me and the dude who rescued me from my parent’s murderers couldn’t decide if we wanted to open it for a year].”
Unless this isn’t Viv, but her separated-at-birth twin sister Jael, but that’s really multiplying entities needlessly.
Since then members of the city have placed tabards out of their windows in a tribute to those that were killed on this day.
(Also to hide shields and things under them, cause hey preparation).
Whether ??? is or is not Viv, Mrs Barras is most certainly related as she has the same hair style as older Viv
Pretty sure that guys death is going to weigh on poor ??? for years to come 🙁
Oh, and for those wondering who Felnir is? He’s the guy in the last panel about to have a very pointed encounter with Gradus (and the leader of those murdering sacks of turnip-lickers)
@ TheManWithNoUserName:
As long as his target isn’t our small protagonist….
But where would the story go if he could hit her?
Or does he even want to?
now why they didnt shoot her in the leg
How the hell did he do that? Those arrows have to be enchanted?
Nooooo!!! They killed a middle-aged J. Jonah Jameson in quest for power!
…they must be stopped.