Twenty Days of Lodoss War - Day 16 - The Wizard's Ambition
In which it is revealed that either Deedlit is an NPC, or the Lodoss War Gamesmaster made one of the same massive blunders that I made once lo these many years ago (lizzy_bbb did I ever apologise for that?).
More on that later. On with the show.
The Wizard's Ambition starts with Parn finally getting a clue and bringing Deedlit a flower, a white rose that just happens to match her hair. Shiris is eavesdropping and thankfully this pretty much kills the anime version of any love triangle from the novelisations or manga.
Incidentally in the dub Lisa Ortiz as Deedlit is fabulous and her Deedlit completely owns Parn's heart (and knows it :) ).
This is one of the few times in Lodoss War where I've gotten the impression of a manga or novelisation story arc being cut to fit episode length, and in this case I have to say it's a good thing.
I suspect that a large number of arcs were edited quite sharply to fit. Any given episode is likely to have a number of jumps to widely dispersed scenes just to remind you that certain characters are still alive. Slayn and Leylia are key examples of this in episodes 9 - 11, and they rarely get more than a minute of screen time when it happens.
Mostly I don't notice these jumps as content editing. The rapid jumps probably are content editing but don't feel like it. For the most part the jumps tend to expand the scope of the story, and serve the overall advancement of the plot.
However the mere hints in the last episode and the rapid shutdown in the opening moments of this episode does feel like a "make room, make room!" kind of cut.
But I digress, now back to the episode.
With the defeat of Shooting Star it is clear that the centre of political gravity in Lodoss is shifting to Flaim and King Kashue. Fortunately it appears that Kashue has had spies keeping an eye on Marmo. And the news from there is not good.
Another jump and Ashram wakes up to an interesting chat with Karla about what Wagnard is up to. This is where the "Nice job breaking it hero" impact of Requiem for Warriors manifests. Karla is unable to slap Wagnard down and is limited to putting Ashram back in the game with a weapon of dubious worth (demon sword against a demon goddess?).
Back to Kashue and he is preparing to rally Lodoss to invade Marmo to stop the resurrection of Kardis. In between the maniacal laughter Wagnard starts pulling off some impressively evil magic. Or at least Slayn and Leylia think so.
At this point Kashue is sending the messengers off with Parn and Deedlit heading for Moss, home of Prince Jester and the cool Wyvern Riders. :) This is when Deedlit finally admits that she would be a sacrifice in the ritual to resurrect Kardis.
We are then treated to Wagnard inflicting monologuing, maniacal laughter, a hopeless boss fight on Parn, including breaking his father's sword, and simply kidnapping Deedlit.
During which Deedlit is mostly cowering behind Parn. Sigh. Deedlit manages to summon help for Parn by enchanting the remains of Parn's sword with the spirits of light as she is taken away but that is effectively Deedlit's last act of free will in the series.
This, essentially, is something I did to lizzy_bbb's character in a Stormbringer campaign I was running when I was still at UWA.
The problem here is that I simply shut down any options for her character to escape.
This was bad, inflexible, GMing and my players were not afraid to let me know about it (see the text of the cut for a hint). Given that Lodoss War is based on a RPG I'm left with only two conclusions: the GM made the same blunder, or Deedlit was an NPC who acted as the plot demanded all along.
I hope it was the latter (but I'm not making any bets either way).
The episode ends with Parn setting off to rescue Deedlit joined by Slayn, Leylia, and Etoh. Oh, he also levels up to become a Paladin and receives Fahn's Holy Sword from Princess Fianna as proof.
Despite my initial criticisms, I'm becoming more and more impressed by Fianna: she is clearly no fool, and is not prepared to let sentimentality about her father's sword get in the way of saving the world. Fianna is also seeing Parn's potential clearly and making the best judgement she can to prevent the resurrection of Kardis.
Overall a good, solid, episode that sets up well for the grand finale of the last two episodes
Only four posts to go...
Day 1 - Prologue to the Legend
Day 2 - Blazing Departure
Day 3 - The Gender of Lodoss War
Day 4 - The Black Knight
Day 5 - The Grey Witch
Day 6 - Dub vs Sub?
Day 7 - The Desert King
Day 8 - The Sword of the Dark Emperor
Day 9 - The War of Heroes
Day 10 - Requiem for Warriors
Day 11 - Nice job breaking it hero
Day 12 - The Look of Lodoss
Day 13 - The Scepter of Domination
Day 14 - The Demon Dragon of Fire Dragon Mountain
Day 15 - The Sound of Lodoss
Day 16 - The Wizard's Ambition
Day 17 - Final Battle! Marmo, the Dark Island
Day 18 -
Day 19 - Lodoss, The Burning Continent
Day 20 -
More on that later. On with the show.
The Wizard's Ambition starts with Parn finally getting a clue and bringing Deedlit a flower, a white rose that just happens to match her hair. Shiris is eavesdropping and thankfully this pretty much kills the anime version of any love triangle from the novelisations or manga.
Incidentally in the dub Lisa Ortiz as Deedlit is fabulous and her Deedlit completely owns Parn's heart (and knows it :) ).
This is one of the few times in Lodoss War where I've gotten the impression of a manga or novelisation story arc being cut to fit episode length, and in this case I have to say it's a good thing.
I suspect that a large number of arcs were edited quite sharply to fit. Any given episode is likely to have a number of jumps to widely dispersed scenes just to remind you that certain characters are still alive. Slayn and Leylia are key examples of this in episodes 9 - 11, and they rarely get more than a minute of screen time when it happens.
Mostly I don't notice these jumps as content editing. The rapid jumps probably are content editing but don't feel like it. For the most part the jumps tend to expand the scope of the story, and serve the overall advancement of the plot.
However the mere hints in the last episode and the rapid shutdown in the opening moments of this episode does feel like a "make room, make room!" kind of cut.
But I digress, now back to the episode.
With the defeat of Shooting Star it is clear that the centre of political gravity in Lodoss is shifting to Flaim and King Kashue. Fortunately it appears that Kashue has had spies keeping an eye on Marmo. And the news from there is not good.
Another jump and Ashram wakes up to an interesting chat with Karla about what Wagnard is up to. This is where the "Nice job breaking it hero" impact of Requiem for Warriors manifests. Karla is unable to slap Wagnard down and is limited to putting Ashram back in the game with a weapon of dubious worth (demon sword against a demon goddess?).
Back to Kashue and he is preparing to rally Lodoss to invade Marmo to stop the resurrection of Kardis. In between the maniacal laughter Wagnard starts pulling off some impressively evil magic. Or at least Slayn and Leylia think so.
At this point Kashue is sending the messengers off with Parn and Deedlit heading for Moss, home of Prince Jester and the cool Wyvern Riders. :) This is when Deedlit finally admits that she would be a sacrifice in the ritual to resurrect Kardis.
We are then treated to Wagnard inflicting monologuing, maniacal laughter, a hopeless boss fight on Parn, including breaking his father's sword, and simply kidnapping Deedlit.
During which Deedlit is mostly cowering behind Parn. Sigh. Deedlit manages to summon help for Parn by enchanting the remains of Parn's sword with the spirits of light as she is taken away but that is effectively Deedlit's last act of free will in the series.
This, essentially, is something I did to lizzy_bbb's character in a Stormbringer campaign I was running when I was still at UWA.
The problem here is that I simply shut down any options for her character to escape.
This was bad, inflexible, GMing and my players were not afraid to let me know about it (see the text of the cut for a hint). Given that Lodoss War is based on a RPG I'm left with only two conclusions: the GM made the same blunder, or Deedlit was an NPC who acted as the plot demanded all along.
I hope it was the latter (but I'm not making any bets either way).
The episode ends with Parn setting off to rescue Deedlit joined by Slayn, Leylia, and Etoh. Oh, he also levels up to become a Paladin and receives Fahn's Holy Sword from Princess Fianna as proof.
Despite my initial criticisms, I'm becoming more and more impressed by Fianna: she is clearly no fool, and is not prepared to let sentimentality about her father's sword get in the way of saving the world. Fianna is also seeing Parn's potential clearly and making the best judgement she can to prevent the resurrection of Kardis.
Overall a good, solid, episode that sets up well for the grand finale of the last two episodes
Only four posts to go...
Day 1 - Prologue to the Legend
Day 2 - Blazing Departure
Day 3 - The Gender of Lodoss War
Day 4 - The Black Knight
Day 5 - The Grey Witch
Day 6 - Dub vs Sub?
Day 7 - The Desert King
Day 8 - The Sword of the Dark Emperor
Day 9 - The War of Heroes
Day 10 - Requiem for Warriors
Day 11 - Nice job breaking it hero
Day 12 - The Look of Lodoss
Day 13 - The Scepter of Domination
Day 14 - The Demon Dragon of Fire Dragon Mountain
Day 15 - The Sound of Lodoss
Day 16 - The Wizard's Ambition
Day 17 - Final Battle! Marmo, the Dark Island
Day 18 -
Day 19 - Lodoss, The Burning Continent
Day 20 -