So the final book of the Arslan Senki series was eventually published yesterday.
And so far it has received rather negative reviews.
Basically, most of the remaining mysteries were solved or at least addressed to some extent, but as many fans had feared, everything was too fast-paced and therefore extremely messy. Some people wrote on twitter that it was more like reading a summary rather than a novel x(
Anyway, more spoilers under the cut.
(Warning: NOVEL SPOILERS)
dead/killed:
Jaswant
Isfan (by the sorcerer)
Kubard (dies in a duel against Ilterish)
Merlaine (beheaded by Zahhak)
Kishward (by Zahhak)
Parafuda (by Zahhak)
Daryun (by Zahhak)
Arslan (dies in a duel against Zahhak)
Lucian
Hilmes (killed by Daryun in a duel)
Bruhan (executed by Merlaine)
Guiscard (by Merlaine & Farangis)
Fitna (by Gieve)
Leyla (by Zahhac)
Tahamine (by Zahhac)
basically all the villains (Zahhak, Ilterish, Grugan, Master)
survivors:
Elam (marries Aisha, dies at the age of 68)
Gieve (dies from disease 10 years after Arslan’s death)
Farangis (dies from disease 25 years after Arslan’s death)
Rajendra (the only winner)
Salima
Nasrin, Aiyar
Ofrur (dies from a fucking cold before she turns 20 wtf)
Parizad
Plot:
All countries (Pars, Misr, Maryam, Turk and Turan) perish because all royals died (Arslan, Hilmes, Guiscard, Tahamine, Ilterish, etc). The only king who survived is Rajendra and thus Sindhura is the only country that continues to exist.
The kingdom of Pars becomes “Parstan” lmao
Zahhak suddenly turns out to be a Homunculus that was created through alchemy wtf (seems like Tanaka was inspired by Arakawa’s FMA lol)
Master’s identity was disappointing - he’s just one of the sorcerers/alchemists who created Zahhak (okay what were all these ominous scenes with him in the previous book about??)
The mystery of Andragoras & Tahamine’s daughter → there was no daughter in the first place lmao
Arslan’s last wish was to be buried together with Daryun wtf
When Daryun died, Arslan said “Daryun was like a big brother to me... no, he was more than that.”
no mention of what happened to Azrael, Shabrang and Kaivan (Isfan’s wolf baby) after their masters’ death
Out of the three survivors, it seems Gieve was the one who suffered the most from Arslan’s death (he could never really get over his death and died in his 30s)
Aiyar’s son (Kishward’s grandson) ROSTAM becomes the successor of Rukhnabad omg (”Rostam” is a legendary hero in Iranian mythology)
sort of a happy end in that when Elam dies a natural death at the age of 60-something, Arslan and all the others who died in the battle come to pick him up and the 16 Generals and their beloved master ride through the ‘endless heavenly shores’ (subtitle of this book)
in short, it’s a “and they all lived happily ever after - in Heaven” ending
in other words, Elam is Rose and Arslan is Jack
Bonus: The last words of the chracters
Hirmes: “I'm coming to see you now, Irina”
Kishward: “Your Majesty... Nasrin... Aiyar...”
Daryun (to Arslan): “I, Daryun, was happy to be able to serve you”
Arslan (to Elam, Gieve, Farngis): “Thank you, everyone...oh btw, bury me together with my bro, ‘kay?”
Arslan Senki vol.16 (final book) - Detailed spoilers + illustrations
So I finished reading the book and here are some detailed spoilers about the deaths of some characters.
(Warning: NOVEL SPOILERS)
Jaswant
first victim (vol.16 actually starts with his death)
Arslan gave him the order to protect the women (Nasrin, Aiyar, Tus’ wives, Parizad, etc) and escort them to Sindhura
on their way to Sindhura he gets badly injured in a battle against Paripada (a Sindhuran general who was caught as a war prisoner by the Parsian army)
Jaswant arrives in Sindhura and asks King Rajendra to accept the refugees from Pars
Rajendra wants to refuse but gets convinced by his wife Salima (yes they married in vol.15)
Rajendra reluctantly agrees to accept the refugees
Jaswant dies from the injuries (p26)
Rajendra suddenly says “I always wanted him (Jaswant) [as my servant]...” and it suddenly turns out that Jaswant, Salima, Rajendra and Gadevi were all childhood friends (which is such an obvious ass-pull because in vol.3 it was clearly stated that neither Rajendra nor Gadevi knew Jaswant)
Jaswant’s last words (to Rajendra): “I am very grateful [that you accepted the refugees]. I will return to Pars as soon as possible and tell His Majesty Arslan how kind Your Majesty King Rajendra and Your Highness Queen Salima w-... (*dies before completing his sentence*)”
what I don’t like about this: 1) Jaswant’s death was totally pointless, 2) Jaswant wanted to stay by Arslan’s side but had to leave Pars because Arslan gave him the fucking order to escort the women to Sindhura, 3) the only person who was at Jaswant’s side when he died was Rajendra (and Salima in the background) wtf Jaswant didn’t deserve this, if anything, he deserved to die in Arslan’s arms, 4) When Jofanes reports about Jaswant’s death to Arslan, he (*Jofanes) adds a little joke wtf (it pissed me off because I wasn’t in the mood for any kind of humour in that moment :/).
Bruhan
dies in a duel against Merlaine (p47)
Arslan “I don’t want to see someone who is tied up to be killed. So if you wish, you can choose someone and challenge them to a duel.” (wtf????) → Merlaine volunteers and he kills Bruhan in a ‘fair’ duel
last words: “How did my brother [Jimsa] die?” [Kishward answers: “He died as a general of Pars.”]
Lucian
killed by Grugan (p74)
his death was absolutely meaningless and redundant
last words (to his nephew): “My nephew, please take care of His Majesty Arslan... He is too gentle... I am very worried about that...”
Grugan
Elam kills him with only one fucking arrow (p75)
Guiscard
Merlaine and Farangis’ arrows hit his chest (p92)
last words: “I won’t die... I won’t die... I won’t die...!!”
most pathetic death scene
inconsistency: In one of the earlier volumes it was mentioned in the narrative part that Guiscard later becomes the founder of the “Kerfanis dynasty” in Maryam but in this volume it turned out that he had no children lmao
also the whole battle against Maryam concludes within 8 fucking pages
Tahamine & Leyla
Zahhak (who possessed Andragoras’ body) orders her to come with him to put pressure on Arslan
Tahimine refuses saying “I did something bad to Arslan. Now that I think, I used to hate on him even though he didn’t anything wrong.” (wow she realised it just now???)
Zahhak is like “Okay, then die” and kills her (p.126)
last words (to Leyla): “Leyla... Leyla... please call me your mother...“
Leyla
she’s beheaded by Zahhak right after Tahamine was killed (p.126)
Parafuda
dies in a battle against Zahhak and his troops (p136)
manages to beat one of the snakes on Zahhak’s shoulders but dies from the poison of the snakes
last words (to Farangis): “Please tell *Parizad [*his wife] that she was a great woman...”
Fitna
Gieve’s arrow hits her on her forehead and she dies (p144)
no last words
the most ridiculous thing about this is that Gieve beat the whole troop of Misr all by himself (within 1 page lmao)
I mean was Fitna, or rather the whole story about Misr, really necessary for the plot in the first place??
Kubard
dies in a duel against Ilterish (they kill each other at the same time)
he’s actually the only character whose death was depicted in a somewhat detailed and dramatic way (p162)
last words: “That’s about it, I guess.”
Isfan
the most ridiculous death in this volume (p163)
no last words
he’s attacked by the sorcerer and dies from the toxic gas/liquid (what the hell???) the sorcerer splashed on him (literally, that’s all what was written in the novel)
WTF????????
???????????????????
Sorcerer
Arslan gets outraged when he heard about Isfan’s death and challenges him to a duel (wtf)
Arslan “I will avenge Isfan!! I can’t leave it like this! I need to kill him [the sorcerer] with my own hands!”
And now I present you the most ridiculous conversation in this volume which goes as follows:
Sorcerer: You are a coward! If it wasn’t for the holy sword Rukhnabad, you wouldn’t even try to fight me!
Arslan: Okay, if you wish, I won’t use Rukhnabad to fight you. But you have to promise that you don’t use any magical power, either, okay?
WTF (it sounds like a children’s quarrel)
Arslan kills the sorcerer with Rukhnabad (p167)
again: WTF
Merlaine
manages to beat one of the snakes on Zahhak’s shoulders with his arrow
he’s surrounded by Zahhak’s troops and is badly injured, but still continues to fight bravely
but then he gets beheaded by Zahhak (p170)
no last words
Zahhak (to Merlaine): “Out of you all humans, you were the bravest brat”
Merlaine gets praised by the Snake King! What a honour wooooow
yes I’m super salty
Kishward
manages to beat both snakes on Zahhak’s shoulders with his two swords
but is killed by Zahhak (p173)
last words: “Your Majesty... Nasrin... Aiyar”
he was one of the major characters and appeared since vol.1 (1986)
number of pages Tanaka dedicated to the depiction of his death: 1 page
Tanaka are you fucking serious
Hilmes
dies in a duel against Daryun (p177)
last words: “I’m now coming to see you, Irina...”
Hilmes was one of the main characters
he was the antagonist of this series
number of pages Tanaka dedicated to the depiction of his battle against Daryun: 3 pages
Tanaka are you really fucking serious
also ridiculous conversation part2
Hilmes: You are the only one who might be able to kill me, Daryun.
Daryun: I won’t kill you. I will capture you alive and drag you before His Majesty Arslan. And you will kneel down before him and apologise for all you’ve done.” → then kills Hilmes
Arslan: You killed Lord Hilmes. How brave of you.
Daryun: He wanted to die. I just helped him out with that.
??????????
??????????????????
Daryun
fights Zahhak
manages to kill the two snakes on Zahhak’s shoulders but gets stabbed in his chest and dies
Zahhak (to Arslan): “He was the strongest out of all humans I’ve ever met.”
woooow Zahhak praised him yesss!! (*pure saltiness*)
at least he died in Arslan’s arms
last words (to Arslan): “I was truly happy to be able to served you”
number of pages Tanaka dedicated to depict the battle and death of one of the most popular characters of the series: 2.5 pages (*note: it’s 2 and a half pages, and not 25 pages)
Arslan
is outraged by Daryun’s death and challenges Zahhak to a duel WTF (who is this hod-headed guy??? is he really Arslan???)
Arslan and Zahhak kill each other in a duel (p200)
pages dedicated to this most important “protagonist vs main villain” battle: 2 pages
at this point everything seems so ridiculous that I don’t have the motivation to translate his last words
wtf
@ Tanaka Yoshiki this gif is for you
About Zahhak:
The most ridiculous thing about this book and the deaths of so many characters is... you know if the remaining generals had all attacked Zahhak TOGETHER at the same time (e.g. Gieve, Farangis, Elam and Merlaine focusing on beating the two snakes and Daryun, Kishward, Kubard and Arslan with his Rukhnabad focusing on beating Zahhak himself), they could have beat Zahhak and his two fucking snakes so easily. (*Also, it’s worth noting that Arslan is able to seal part of Zahhak’s supernatural power with his holy sword Rukhnabad lmao)
But no, they all attack Zahhak in a 1-on-1 battle for no reason, so even if they manage to beat the snakes or wound Zahhak, they give them enough time to heal/regenerate until the next general comes to challenge Zahhak to another duel. It’s like
day 1: Merlaine’s turn. He beats one of the snakes and dies.
day 2: (the snakes had enough time to regenerate) Parafuda’s turn. He beats one of the snakes and dies.
day 3: (again: the snakes had enough time to completely regenerate) Kishward’s turn. He beats both snakes and even manages to wound Zahhak, then he dies.
day 4: (again: the snakes had enough time to completely regenerate and Zahhak’s wounds are already healed) Daryun kills both snakes and dies.
day 4: FINALLY, Arslan doesn’t wait until the snakes have regenerated. But too bad, he dies, too.
Do you see how ridiculous this is??????
Everyone’s so extremely dumb in this book and I just hated it.
The final book (vol.16) of the Arslan Senki series will be released in two days, so here’s a quick reminder of “who is dead / still alive in AS” and my prediction of “who will die / survive in the end”.
(NOVEL SPOILERS)
Status Summary (as of vol.15)
Arslan: alive
Daryun: alive
Narsus: dead (killed by Hilmes, vol.15)
Elam: alive
Gieve: alive
Farangis: alive
Alfreed: dead (killed by Bruhan, vol.15)
Jaswant: alive
Kishward: alive
Isfan: alive
Tus: dead (protected Arslan from falling rocks and died, vol.14)
Arslan: 5% (too many death flags, he’ll probably sacrifice himself in order to seal/beat the Snake King)
Daryun: 10% (he said he’d follow Arslan if he dies, so...)
Elam: 50% (has the highest survival chance out of Arslan’s comrades imo, but we can never be sure since it’s Tanaka)
Gieve: 50% (he’ll probably survive because he’s said to be the author of the “Elegy for King Arslan”)
Farangis: 30% (I think she’ll survive but I also have the feeling she might protect Arslan from the Snake King and die)
Jaswant: 20% (same reason as above)
Kishward: 20% (same reason as above)
Isfan: 20% (same reason as above)
Merlane: 30% (might survive but I think he’ll die in a 1-to-1 fight against Hirmes)
Kubard: 40%
Parafuda: 50% (no one cares about him and Tanaka probably forgot his existence so he’ll probably survive)
Hilmes: 10% (he’ll probably be killed by either Daryun or Merlaine)
Bruhan: 10%
Guiscard: 50%
Rajendra: 99% (I’m sure he’ll survive)
Fitna, Leyla, Parizahd: 50% (honestly I don’t care about them)
Zahhak: 30% (if it’s a happy end then Arslan will manage to beat him once and for all, but if Tanaka prefers a tragic end, then he’ll probably survive somehow)
The title of the final book of Arslan Senki (The Heroic Legend of Arslan) was revealed just now and I’m relieved because it doesn’t sound that ominous as a lot of fans had feared.
「天涯無限」 (”The endless heavenly shore”).
Hmmm… it actually sounds somewhat hopeful? but it’s Tanaka Yoshiki the annihilator we’re talking about so I won’t keep my hopes up (I’m still 99.9% sure Arslan will die in the end).
