I am terribly behind in this story because uni sucks but OMG WHAT A POINT TO COME BACK TO.
I usually keep my comments in the tags but this chapter has touched one of my favorite topics ever and my thoughts just won't fit in only tags.
Ok. So. Villain origin stories.
Honestly I tend to be a bit of a skeptic when it comes to origin stories because it's so difficult to create a truly despicable villain without falling in clichés? Like yeah, we all know that one who was evil from birth and feared by everyone. Or the one who had a rough childhood that explains their actions. Or the one who was good until the world wronged them and now wants revenge. Don't get me wrong, I'm not hating on those tropes. But they're common, they're cliché, and- honestly? After two or three similar stories, they're boring (just my opinion lol).
That's why this chapter struck me as specially interesting. We get a villain origin story, yes. Pure evil, animal torturer (hate those), murderous tendencies towards their own family members. Ok, I've seen those before. But. BUT. This character had the potential to be a hero. Like one of those blessed protagonists the town loves, those who could've had it all. That's what I liked so much about this origin story.
What if the blessed one was evil? The Black Knight was the jewel of the village, the Star among the commoners, the chosen one. His upbringing didn't seem particularly bad, yet he turned out to be rotten. And there were signs! It wasn't a cheap revelation like "without any precedent whatsoever, turns out I was the bad guy all along!" Type of plot twist. Everyone saw the signs, but the villagers and his own family did not want to believe it. That's what I loved so much about this chapter.
The collective blindness, the excuses, the shared secret. Everyone knew, but no one wanted to believe it. Blessed in ignorance, just as blessed as their jewel was. Only the paladin saw the truth, but they didn't do anything about it either (kind of a jerk move ngl but to each their own lol).
And the perspective, omg. I loved how the story was told from the pov of the normal sister, the one who didnt receive a blessing and who wasn't even mentioned in the story she herself was telling until it was absolutely necessary. The idea of this child having to endure everything the Black Knight put their village through but not being able to do anything, either due to the power difference or to whatever remained for fraternal love is so bittersweet I wouldn't like to read this story from any other character's pov.
And gosh, the pace. Somehow one single chapter was enough to perfectly lay out the personality of both the Black Knight and Calipha, tell their whole story, keep the plot moving, and give us some golden moments from other characters (furious Garl, worried Sylvia, the villagers, kinky Dullahan lol). It had enough backstory for it to be like an info dump, but the flow of events was so natural it doesn't seem like it.
Gosh, how I missed this story. Maybe I read too much into it but Idc, thinking about these characters and this world makes me happy. It's good to be back.
andulkaphoto
vaporwave
annaxmalina
dededos
areudirty
