Marchdancer - Marchdancer

Can’t open it either but still reblog it. Maybe someone else can open it.

The raw for Chapter 121 seems to be out but no images are loading for me? Dropping the link here to benefit everyone else while I cry!

first is zombie apocalypse AU, second is..we all know:”)

Okay bonus Dark Temple details as promised.

it looks pretty dank but it might actually be quite warm down there? The passageway leading to it that is discovered in Book 12 has an 'unpleasant hot wind' blowing out of it, along with a rather foul smell (more on that later)

having entered the passageway later, Kishward and Zaravant are described as being 50 gaz (approximately 50 metres) below the surface, with the way continuing on and down

they start to see creatures like ghouls and four-eyed dogs

eventually they emerge into 'a space that could rival the great hall of the royal palace' and that's only part of it — the light of their torches is not even sufficient to illuminate it all

countless snakes and scorpions are carved on the walls

there is an altar made of black stone (very likely this is what we are seeing in Shinobu Tanno's illustration where the black steps lead up to the cauldron full of blood)

okay now we're getting to the bits that made me 👀👀👀

there are 'several fireplaces large and small' so that's why it's hot but what exactly are these and what are they used for? It feels like it's for more than just heating the place. The Japanese is 炉, which Jisho.org says is 1. hearth; fireplace​ or 2. furnace; kiln. Are they burning fires for magical rituals as they seem to in Arakawa's manga? (I always thought that was interesting that given Zoroastrianism's fire temples / holy fires etc, the only time we see anything remotely equivalent it's being used by Team Zahhak.) Are they... cooking something...? I don't want to think about what. Or are they kilns used for baking Zahhak's creatures into being? Honestly this made my mind reel, I know they make them out of mud/dirt (clay?) and there are evidently plenty of those creatures living down there. Alchemical furnaces came to mind, too.

...there are also candlesticks (not that interesting but I'll just note for now that an earlier reference to Team Zahhak candles mention they are 'made of hardened sulfur')

...and jars, earthenware pots and bowls (read that sentence and don't think of the head jars challenge: failed)

The stone platform / altar is stained with blood and there's a blade with what seems to be flesh and/or bone fragments stuck to it. The presence of chains and numerous human bones makes it clear there's been a lot of human sacrifice going on (personal headcanon on this, supported by Tanno's illustration, is that they need the blood for their rituals etc, and the flesh is eaten by the ghouls, four-eyed dogs and winged apes, leaving the skeletons picked clean)

It looks like the place is very old - Kishward and Zaravant speculate that in the 300 years since the defeat of Zahhak, his supporters may have been hiding here

Above the ceiling is a pool/lake (a reservoir, I think?) which floods the temple when the roof collapses, and as the water level rises it flows into the liquids in the jars and pots and mixes with it, giving off steam and a foul stench, which fades as it's diluted and mixed with the large volume of rising water

To give you an idea of just how many of Zahhak's creatures were down there, the Parsian forces killed around 300, but there are plenty more still there when some of Arslan's forces return there in Book 13 to try and clear it out

...between rotting blood and remnants of dead bodies, sulfur candles, whatever's in those pots and jars, and the general dankness of life underground, I really doubt Team Zahhak smell very good, lol. I feel like it might be mentioned somewhere that the winged apes smell bad but I'm not digging around for that reference. (It reminds me that I did read something on Encyclopedia Iranica that mentioned those who practice magic 'grow hideous of appearance, and foul of scent' due to its nature. I'm not here for that sort of 'mages are gross' headcanon but I can't lie to myself and pretend they smell good)

Anyway I hope Team Arslan discovers this place beneath Ecbatana in the manga too because I'm super curious to see it and I would be delighted if it still floods because it seems Team Zahhak really need to be rinsed off lmao

I don’t know what version I like more……

I absolutely adore it that Shapur has black hair in both versions!!!

But I must say that Arakawas versions looks more like something out of this timeline…in the Ova Bodin reminds me of Gandalf 😂

Ok but I think the OVA definitely had good parts aswell…..but even if the scene is really hurting me Shapurs satisfied grin in Arakawas version is the best.

Like he still mocks Bodin even though he's already dead. Eat that you fanatic.

I don’t know if Shapur is yelling for an arrow to rescue him. But the speach he gives his comrades inside Ecbatana in Arakawas version is really great aswell.

Also every Shapur content is good content

OVA!Shapur for @tired-reader-writer

(I avoided the nastier moments where he's actually being beaten by Bodin. A small change in this scene: Gieve actually shoots a few more arrow and pins Bodin to the cart, and Shapur is shot in the chest rather than the head and manages to say some last words of thanks.)

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The Heroic Legend of Arslan Chapter 121

Read The Heroic Legend of Arslan Chapter 121 Online For Free

The translation is now out on mangasee123!