The Scarf Singeing Moment...

The scarf singeing moment...

Previews of the new WIP I'm undertaking!

Arslan Senki Chapter 127

The long-awaited encounter with Zahhak is here! I'm tagging my posts for new manga chapters with 'arslan senki spoilers' but here is your reminder to look away (and probably avoid my blog until you've read the chapter) if you don't want to find out what happens.

Turns out I was right about a few things and my suspicions about something else seem likely to be correct, too.

The chapter opens with the legend of Zahhak and his defeat by Kaykhusraw as the Parsians know it. The title page features Kaykhusraw's open sarcophagus with his wrapped body and Rukhnabad inside, inside the tomb. This is clearly from an earlier time (presumably his burial?), well before Hilmes ventured down there, and given the chapter title it feels... ominous. (And it's right to feel that way, as you'll see when you get to the end of the chapter.)

The legend is conveyed in the typical stylised carving/illustration style that Arakawa has used for mythological history before.

Look what appears as a decorative border to one of the panels!

It might just be a nod to the existence of these creatures in the novels, but I really hope that their presence here makes it more likely we might actually encounter them before the end of the manga... DARK TEMPLE PLUS CREATURES, ARAKAWA PLEASE

Very much has the feel of something that has been mythologised, the details probably don't match up exactly with how it really went down, but the main points are there...

...and 300 years later, the Snake King appears to have returned

Farangis's raishal reacting like this is a nice touch and shows just how extreme the presence of evil is here. (Also I didn't know it could do that so I'm filing this detail away very happily.)

Those snake heads are really very freaky, the fact that they are so humanoid yet totally animalistic and driven by instict and hunger for human brains. Top notch horror!

Daryun's warrior instinct comes to the fore and overrides his shock!

The Zot do their best but one gets chomped pretty quickly, sadly. I'll go ahead and say it now, the Zot being the only casualties in this encounter was exactly as I called it, but Arakawa does her best to ensure their deaths don't feel trivial, as we later learn the names of those who fell, and even though we never got to know them it's clear that they meant something to their comrades.

Some very exciting combat scenes follow and Team Arslan enter the fray and get to grips with their frightening new enemy! Some key details about Zahhak rapidly become apparent: his blood is corrosive, and his wounds can heal.

The key is to keep moving! Alfarid realises this; one of the Zot tries to encourage her to flee, but is struggling with his terrified mount, but thanks to Elam and Alfarid loosing arrows at one of the snake heads he is spared.

Don Ricardo is in abject terror, but his behaviour later this chapter was a surprise for me, in a good way!

Estelle saving Don Ricardo just in time, and putting her life on the line to stand before him even though she's trembling in fear! 👌👌👌

She's so brave!

She doesn't know that the snakes have spotted/sensed Rukhbanad... but Don Ricardo does! Let's hope he will now give that 'junk sword' the respect it deserves. Anyway this is the part where he surprised me, as he breaks out of his terrified state to call out to everyone to rally to him and gather round the sword! Remember when I said 'quick, everyone group hug Don Ricardo'?

Of course, he's speaking in Lusitanian, but Estelle translates in an instant... and Gieve quickly grasps why!

"Is it truly Zahhak...?" This is the line that makes me think I might be on the mark when I say that Zahhak, although freed from Mount Damavand, may not have returned to full consciousness yet. I think those head jars may have something to do with a final ritual to bring about his true return.

So, it's not a stalemate. Zahhak cannot attack them, but they can't attack it either. But there's an ominous shape in the mist (and you can take one look at it and just KNOW it's going to be fucked up and even take a pretty good guess at how)

Before Team Arslan can get a good look at it, Zahhak withdraws, whether due to the arrows they fired at it it because of some other unknown reason isn't clear... Team Arslan leave without even being able to spare time to bury the bodies of the fallen, which clearly weighs on them, but night is drawing closer and they can't remain safely.

(I wonder whether they will still continue to Mount Damavand? Perhaps Arslan will appeal to Kaykhusraw's spirit to seek his approval to wield the sword? Or maybe priorities will have understandably changed and they'll change directions. Personally I think we'll at least get a scene that indicates Arslan has the right to wield Rukhnabad!)

Anyway Zahhak's also in a hurry to get somewhere and although Team Arslan didn't manage to glimpse the true horror, we do!

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK

Well, now we know what happened to Kaykhusraw's mummified body? I did think that Team Zahhak would use him as a vessel for the Snake King, thinking this might occur in Ecbatana, but nope, that looks to be the case already.

The torso ending in a cluster of snakes, ugh.

I wonder whether Kaykhusraw's spirit is aware of what has happened to his body now that it has been possessed like this?

I wonder whether the intention is for Zahhak to retain this form? Because at the end of the chapter you see the host body's brittle-looking arm disintegrate where one of Team Arslan's arrows struck it, and it looks different to Zahhak's snakes pushing arrows from their bodies and regenerating. So maybe this takeover of Kaykhusraw is a temporary thing, and Team Zahhak are planning to transfer Zahhak to a new body once he reaches Ecbatana? And that new body... who better than another descendant of the Parsian royal line? 👀

I feel like with any luck I might get my wish for Hilmes to come face to face with Zahhak and in a moment of horror realise exactly what the sorcerers have been using him for and what he's helped to bring about...

(I want Team Zahhak to be planning for Hilmes to be a host for Zahhak but I don't want for it to actually happen! I'd love it if Team Arslan managed to step in just in time... augh my brain is racing into visions of Hilmes captured for a head jar ritual below Ecbatana)

Oh and Zahhak really is heading towards Ecbatana as I thought, so it looks extremely likely that all final showdowns are going to take place there. I feel like this direction was actually hinted at when the corpse of Kaykhusraw was slithering towards the setting sun. It's a panel I really like, as it both indicates the sun (which represents the Shah) setting on the royal line and Pars alike, and as the sun sets in the west and Ecbatana is west of Mount Damavand, you can tentatively extrapolate where the Snake King is heading.

So now Team Arslan have seen the Snake King. One day soon, they will have to defeat him for good. And given that everyone survived this time, can we hope for the same to happen again when they next meet in battle?

Then and Now

STOP MAKING ME HAVE FEELS FOR SHAPUR I KNOW WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN AND I DON'T WANT TO LOVE HIM

I FEEL THE SAME WAY ANON BUT IT’S TOO LATE

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TEAM ARSLAN PRAYER CIRCLE. I AM SO SCARED.