You have to kill off six of the surviving named kids introduced during the Goldy Pond arc. Who do you axe?
Can be for any reason (e.g., I feel they should have died based on their injuries, I feel these characters can be nixed with the least amount of impact to the story, I don't really care much about this character, their design doesn't do much for me, I can't bear to sacrifice any of the others, etc.), but six of these kids have to go:
(Chapter 69 & Chapter 70 Bonus Pages)
Ranked from 1 being the easiest choice to 6 being the hardest.
My list:
1.) Sonya
Feel like she's the least noteworthy/gets the least to do, and while not appearing the most gravely injured during the attack, she still took a beating.
(Chapter 85)
Lamentable in that I would have liked to see her bond more with Lucas as a fellow cane user after those events.
(Chapter 111)
2.) Paula
When I first read the story, I thought both she and Sandy died based on the amount of attention paid to how severe their injuries while receiving less spotlight than Oliver, who was also badly injured but seemed like he would be saved by virtue of his more prominent connection with Lucas.
(Chapter 85)
Reading through it quickly it looked like she'd been speared almost dead center through the neck instead of in her shoulder, but still very plausible to be a fatal blow left unattended for so long.
And then she and Sandy are both sleeping it off in chapter 96, so it's like, okay lol
(I've talked about this before here but this isn't actively wishing for the death or brutalization of children who are already victims of the farm system but wanting to see lasting consequences that have weight to them and seeing how characters cope. Sandy loses an eye, but much like Emma losing her ear, we never see him note his long-term struggles with that loss, such as having a larger blind spot, the anxiety and anger that would understandably result in, or even minor annoyances that when stacked together weigh on him. Compare to Lucas who, while still a very capable character, does reflect on how the loss of his arm impedes him. tl;dr was just hoping for a bit more from this, you feel me?)
3.) Sandy
Pretty much covered this in my reasoning for Paula.
(Chapter 85)
Like my guy not looking good.
Bit of a difficult placement though because he's my favorite out of my six choices due to this moment:
Touched on this before here, but one of the reasons the bonus scene from chapter 75 is among my favorites is because it's such a rare moment of insecurity that Emma lets slip about something concerning only herself. She tries to lightly laugh it off, but Sandy immediately recognizes how much it bothers her. After that initial moment of realization, he swaps to being upbeat without a hint of pity or tutting coloring his response. In this act, not only is some of Emma's inner turmoil over her missing ear alleviated, but it's another instance of her regaining that kind of elder sibling relationship she lost when all the older kids at Grace Field were shipped out.
I also like how he steps in to help soothe the younger children after Gillian and Ray argue in chapter 110 about whether to go after Lucas and Yuugo.
So this is what puts him above Paula for me, even though with all the blunt force trauma Nous was dishing out, he probably would be the first to die between the two of them.
4.) Theo
Honestly right after losing Jake and Monica he shouldn't be here, but this is a case of "I didn't want to sacrifice anyone else," so sorry Theo. 😞 Feels like you just vanish after the arc though.
5.) Pepe
He has more grounds to die than Theo due to being injured in the attack, but I like him being chef buddies with Ray and Mark. 🥺
(Chapter 84 Side Story | Chapter 98 | Chapter 110 Title Art)
6.) Nigel
He's on equal playing field with Gillian based on vibes and aesthetics for me so it just came down to a toss up.
Freezing easily isn't so bad when you can cuddle with someone who's always warm 🧊🔥 aka Nigel and Pepe sure make good roombuddies. no homo for sure ❤️🔥
aghhhh he's literally the BEST character in tpn.... PROVE ME FUCKING WRONG BITCH. He's so cute and silly amd sidevudhejfjdbejcjdbd AGAGAHSHSHS i love him sm hhagshagahahhahaha woah tpn alive in 2026🧐 ew my art sucks ew ew ew ew ew he's still cute tho my silly little engineer ahhaha KISS ME who said that.
