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TRANSCRIPT:
YANORA: Well, to start, I’ve been wrong. Many times. We obviously chose the wrong way to try to raise you. It seemed to work on Gudik, because while he’s not the picture of filial love and devotion, at least he’s become a fair king. Too interested in wars, but then his father was much the same in his youth. But you are different, and I was stupid - I thought that … well, I’ve already told you once what I thought at the time. And yes, it was cold. It was calculated. I sacrificed you, my son, and thought I was doing the right thing. But you weren’t born to be a prince, I see it now. You’d have been much happier, not to mention more useful, as an ostler or something else more humble. You always got on better with the horses than with people. Blind of me not to see how important that sort of thing can be. And then your father died and I didn’t even give you someone you could go to for anything like comfort. That was another mistake.
MALDIK:(snort!) Keeping score?
YANORA: Of course. But Maldik … I don’t love seeing you fail. I always wanted you to succeed, and in my way, I was trying to help you to do that.
MALDIK: You old cunt! … trying to “help” me?
YANORA: Yes! Obviously it didn’t work out the way I thought it would.
MALDIK: Obviously.
14 thoughts on “Some Explanations – Page 1127”
Phoebe
“You weren’t born to be a prince” – and he’s taking it so well! He must really be fed up trying to play king and failing miserably!
EmmaC
I think that, for once, she took out the edges and was being completely honest without trying to attract pity. Now, is Maldik going to react in a “good” or at least decent way? See that in the next page?
Archone
One of the most painful experiences anyone can feel is to be made aware that they are responsible for the suffering of someone they love. That instead of bringing happiness to those they love, they have brought pain and misery.
…Yanora needs to express said experience a great deal more. Visibly, openly, and in front of Maldik. With plenty of actual apologizing, not just “I did this, and you suffered for it, but I’m not actually going to make an apology because my pride is still too important.” Then maybe, MAYBE, he can heal enough that they can try pull him out of the mess he’s in (and by extension, all the many, many Kivalians and Eregonians who will suffer with him, because of said mess).
Life is saucisse
“not the picture of filial love and devotion”
Well, try having filial love and devotion for a mother like Yanora. :-S
Archone
Seriously. I keep hearing her speaking in Judy Greer’s voice. As in, the voice of Mallory Archer.
Prairie Son
Well, at least she can admit being a screw up as a mother.
If he’s good with horses, maybe you should’ve put him on a holding outside the city to work on raising a better breed of warhorse. Nobles like the idea of a better ride.
The Gorram Batguy
While I must acknowledge Yanora’s step in the right direction, speaking to anybody in terms of “you’d have been…more useful” is a great way to dehumanize them and make them feel worthless. So, she’s not quite “got it” yet apparently.
Lora
I don’t think anyone here is surprised that Maldik is not a people person. Him being a horse person does surprise me a little, but it does make sense; horses don’t talk back and a well trained horse will follow you and show affection to the person taking care of them.
I guess the real matter is whether any of this will penetrate his head or if he’ll continue along the same path he’s already on. He certainly don’t like his current path one bit, so there’s a change he’ll grab an opportunity to change it.
Freelance
If you don’t keep track of your mistakes, how can you learn from them?
jd.
I’m thinking maybe the secene in Gudik’s tent has given Yanora food for thought. While she has contributed to advance the cause of alliance, she has also wasted a lot of time with her (admittedly spirited) banter. Either someone else (possibly Ipola) has mentioned that, or she has reflected on it.
Whatever the reason, she is superb in this page. I love how frankly she looks him in the eye, her formidable social armor completely discarded. (And promptly donned again in the last panel, but hopefully his own remark is acknowledgment that she is trying to make amends.)
Zaid
I think Yanora’s forgetting something: he’s not the prince, he’s the backup prince:
He has to be competent enough to keep things running well if his brother is absent or gone (including death) but not so good people will want to keep him on the throne instead of Gudik or Gudik’s heir whenever he comes of age (If he even has one, or even has a bride to potentially give him one).
Unfortunately you can’t keep anything like royalty on the bench that way, they either take the reins that weren’t truly meant for them or they crack under the pressure of their own inadequacies and the deliberately limited power they’ve been hamstrung by and become the pawns to other players who aren’t so fettered.
Prairie Son
Gudik is not married and has no children. If Maldik’s claim of ‘boy-lover’ is more truth than insult, it’s unlikely that will change. Meaning Maldik will come to the throne later in life, and then pass it on to his children (much like what happened to John in our world–all British monarchs are descended from him, not Richard I).
Zaid
Because he never returned from the crusades right?
Also darn. I guess that aggravates things because they thought Gudik would have heirs when they groomed him to be a king and partly neglected/ partly undermined Maldik’s formation and Gudik basically left them scrambling now that they’re both adults by refusing to have children.
So now Maldik has to be ready to be king if anything happens -and- is responsible for the formation of the succession. Really bad play.
Zaid
Because he never returned from the crusades right?
Hmm, then that makes things even worse. Because half-neglecting / half-undermining Maldik’s formation was fine if he was just going to be a prince, but since Gudik’s refused to care for the succession after they both became adults that means Maldik isn’t just going to be king if Gudik dies in one of his wars but is also partly responsible for raising the heir then the flaws in his training can potentially affect multiple generations. Man that’s bad.
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