Spoiler alert: everyone dies
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Wellll, not everyone. There’d be no show if everyone was dead after 3 episodes, no? ;D
Anyways, so Lykos is too late; the outsiders have come to attack Falaina and kill everyone on the Mud Whale. Sami is dead, having thrown herself in front of Chakuro to protect him from the first wave of gunfire. As Chakuro sits stunned atop the cliffside, the people around him are slaughtered by the gunmen. Others die too elsewhere on the Mud Whale, including Lady Taisha and a couple of Ouni’s friends.
Of course, because both Lykos and the Council of Elders have explained nothing, no one can understand why the attack is happening. Who are these masked people with guns? Why do they want to kill everyone on the Mud Whale?
Someone who is later revealed to be Lykos’ brother fills in these blanks: the attack is called the Falaina Sinner Extermination Project, and it’s happening because the people living on the Mud Whale are considered to be heretics, implying that the rest of the world (or at least the people on the Mainland) perhaps doesn’t use their thymia, at least not in every day life? That’s my theory anyways.
Lykos is angered by what she sees and uses her thymia to fight back against the attackers. Suou attempts to follow her as she heads down towards where Chakuro is but is sidetracked by many crying children. Suou wants to talk to the attackers because he’s convinced that the attack is some kind of mistake, and he wants it to end via non-violent means. However en route to the fields he sees Ouni kill a couple of the masked men without hesitating, and he falters. What if this attack can’t be stopped without killing the invaders?
Back in the fields, Chakuro comes under attack by an enemy troop with a flail. Some kids interfere and the attacker makes them his new target, which prompts Chakuro to use his thymia for the first time (that we’ve seen). Chakuro picks up the flail and attempts to fight back against his enemy, who has now pulled out a sword, but Chakuro not much of a fighter. Thankfully Lykos quickly appears to save Chakuro from some other masked soldiers who approach him.
Elsewhere on the Mud Whale we see Lykos talking to some of the attackers, and we learn that Lykos and her island were initially the ones meant to attack Falaina! The invaders want to take Lykos back with them on their island, Skylos, but Lykos refuses. She gets upset and emotional, having not used the nous to eliminate her emotions for awhile now, then runs off. The men she was talking to do not attempt to follow her.
Lykos finds Chakuro in the fields and sees that she’s too late to save Sami. Chakuro has noticed that the invaders have the same skin color as Lykos, and he appears to no longer trust her. Suddenly one of Lykos’ comrades comes running over, and we learn his name is Liontari. He’s a cruel, heartless character, a true psychopath to the bone. He has no qualms about killing innocent people and in fact appears to revel in the chance to hurt or kill someone. That hair tho. o.o
Skylos approaches Falaina and an order is given for all troops to withdraw. They came for Lykos’ island, and having secured it they no longer have a reason to stay on the Mud Whale. The Commander’s jester shows up and makes an announcement stating that Lykos to be left on the island – her brother Orka wants to test the effects of Falaina on the human body. Which is stupid because really, if that’s what he wanted to study, all he had to do was look at the existing inhabitants of the Mud Whale, no? Unless he’s looking to study the effects of a “normal” human who was not born and raised on Falaina, I guess?
Back on the Mud Whale the injured are brought to the infirmary for treatment, and the dead are prepared for burial. Ouni reveals to a couple of people that he tortured a couple of the attacks for more information about their plans for Falaina, and shares that he learned that in seven week’s time, the attackers will return to kill everyone left on the Mud Whale.
The next day a mass funeral is held for everyone who died in the attack. Customs state that people who attend a funeral to see off a loved one is forbidden to cry, but everyone was unable to hold back their tears, except for Suou.
My thoughts: So now Chakuro and the others know they have seven days before the next attack. Before the final attack. What will they do? Will the Council of Elders finally be forthcoming with the information that they’ve been hiding from everyone else? And what will Lykos do to help protect Falaina’s citizens?
What a sad episode. T___T Poor Sami. Chakuro didn’t even get to apologize to her for the night before when he was teasing her. And poor Suou too.
I’m curious about why Liontari shows so much emotion compared to the other soldiers who were on Skylos. Does he not feed his emotions into the nous like everyone else?
Ahhh I just want to know more but we’re only 3 episodes in so I know I have to be patient. sits impatiently Can’t wait for next week’s episode!!
I think it is more like the people on Mud Whale want to live peacefully and use their thymus for nonviolent peaceful purposes. They oppose war and want to be human. For their safety the Mud Whale ancestors must have imposed a self-exile.
Meanwhile the rest of the world want war using thymia, and to have a successful war, soldiers should not have emotions, like compassion or empathy, and become empty shells of a human by surrendering to the nous.
Oh, that’s a good way of looking at it. Thanks! 🙂