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<     Episode 1846: Who Scorns for Adonais?     >

Episode 1846: Who Scorns for Adonais?

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If there are certain resources you don't need, you may as well dispose of them, to prevent any enemies from using them... Scorched Earth—or Tatooine, as the case may be—is a good policy for evil characters to use to really emphasise their evilness. Triply so if the "resources" are living beings...

Heck, even calling living beings "resources" is a good indicator of evilness.

Commentary by Keybounce (who has not seen the movie)

So Chrome Trooper turns out to be General Plasma. Plasma. Fastener. That asthma. Gee, voice to text is even worse at names than I am. Plasma, Fasma, Phasma - ahh, that's the proper spelling. What is it with strange names and this setting?

The poetic speech of the general is a little hard for some to follow. I suspect that English majors will be loving this part of the movie. But for the rest of us? I think the original, based only on that last line, was something like, "My name is Ozymandias".

And, a quick Google turns up:

I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert.... Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

This is amazingly close to the original, like a song parody's alterations. And it implies what we can expect to see the next time Phasma speaks - something about nothing remaining, the decay of a colossal wreck, and the sand stretching off.

It also implies that the original speech last time was not meant to be prophetic, or Oracle-ish, but referential.

There's two odd things about this comic. First, as someone pointed in the forums, while there might be a vast supply chain set up to make sure that there is a vast amount of the generic white armor suits available for everyone, and Sally's character seems to have handcrafted robes (every adventurer knows that handcrafting your own robes gives them some type of plus based mostly on the material used and sometimes your own crafting skill), chrome armor in a desert/sand environment should get very scratched and non-shiny very quickly. If you want to keep this Shining Armor, you probably need a force field of some kind.

(Sorry, not sorry.)

The second is of course the command to fire. Killing unarmed and helpless villagers is very likely to cause Finn to make a loyalty check.

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

Definitely an Ozymandias reference, but this isn't a happy twist on Shelley's gloomy poem. This is a tragic twist where everyone except the speaker ends up dead. The kind of general Phasma appears to be is the kind that breeds enemies that fight to the death. When word eventually gets out that all combatants in an area are rounded up and killed after a surrender, there's little point in not running away or fighting to the bitter end if running isn't possible. And this looks like a casual, if bombastic, massacre by Phasma, so I think he'll end up being the big bad in the end. Kylo might be extremely ruthless in their dealings, but he hasn't killed off a whole village just because. No question about which side is evil now.

Finn definitely doesn't seem comfortable with mowing down the villagers, or at least, is confused enough by the monologue to not be watching the group. If he doesn't fire on the group, or at least, only puts on the appearance of being with the First Order still by intentionally aiming poorly, then I think this is the first step in turning to the Rebel side.

Ben probably will end up good guys again with his new character, but he's been pretty good about sticking with how his character would act rather than how he would, so he could end up on either side. Pete's character though; that's a tough call. Probably the bad guy's side if the GM lets him modify his character before a proper intro happens. Corey's probably still solidly on the Rebel side. And Jim's got a semi-traitor again. I give it a 50-50 chance we end up with an even split of players on good team and evil team at this point.

Maybe it's because I've seen Episodes I-VI before, and I had an idea of what would be coming up in future comics, but this is the first time in Darths & Droids I've actually been metaphorically on the edge of my seat for reading the next comic.

Transcript

GM: This is General Phasma, your field commander.
Kylo Ren: Very well, General. Do with the villagers as you wish. I have no need of them.
General Phasma: That wrinkled lip, that sneer of cold command,
General Phasma: Speak to his gen’ral well those passions red.
General Phasma: They yet survive, these base and lifeless things;
General Phasma: The eyes that mock them and the heart that bled
General Phasma: Do order death and lo! these words take air:
General Phasma: ‘My name is Gen’ral Phasma, fear my wings!
General Phasma: Look on my works, ye wretched, and despair!’
Finn: Huh?
General Phasma: Fire!!


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Published: Sunday, 31 May, 2020; 03:11:16 PDT.
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