July 17th, 2015
17 Jul 2015 · page 507 of 1306
This one was a bit of a killer, pleased with how it came out, though. Here's a larger version of that one big panel, if you're interested.
Cast: Henry Barber, Isabelle Holt, Mr Luxuria
Comments (48)
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Dammit, we all got the wrong Francis. Not Drake or Walsingham, but Bacon!
I admit to a little smugness when you were all trying to pick between the two.
Ah, Sir Francis Bacon. That guy is so not kosher.
Eeee, she's putting on the kettle. It's story time! I call dibs on the comfy chair!
(Don't feel too bad, 'enry. He's a very lively two-hundred year old dead bloke.)
I love the different styles of the illustrations. Particularly I'm fond of the sketchy-style for the Elizabethan picture. But the switching styles is a really deft touch, gives a real sense of changing time and place. Nicely done.
Edit: It is also nice to see that Henry has the right priorities too. Forget the danger, out-flirted by a dead bloke? THIS SHALL NOT STAND!
Is that Giordano Bruno haranguing a crowd?
Savonarola, I think.
Also, Henry V according to the note, though I'd have suspected a French king or Burgundian Duke without it; Jeanne d'Arc, whose adviser must have received the Heart pretty soon after Henry V died; Jane Grey and (presumably) Dudley; and some sultan, possibly Suleiman the Magnificent from the... magnificent style, or Bayezid II or Selim I from the dates.
Looks like Mehmed II the Conqueror, according to the facing page.
The Heart had a pretty busy 15th century, by the look of things!
they're talking about the one immediately down & right of Mehmed II
Yes - I had the order wrong, I think I was looking for a sultan to come after Savonarola.
And I suspect this is just the 15th century section of several centuries' worth of wearers - it's not as if lying, and the Famous Seven, went out of fashion ever before the 15th century or since...
Now let's not make any hasty assumptions here. How do we know for sure that this isn't just the same sort of thing as that photo from the Civil War of a guy who kinda looks like Nicholas Cage?
Tons of fun. We'uns do actually trace jewels through portraits, ya know. And what jewels were taken from whom and were worn when can make a bit of a statement.
Much easier to make out the Liar's Heart in the bigger one.
It might've been rough, but it really did come out well, Kate.
She's not quite up to speed, he's already twigging on to just how DANGEROUS this really has become.
I don't know - he's pre-occupied by being out-flirted by the dead guy, and she's thrilled that her research is coming together. She looked plenty aware of the danger a couple of pages ago, but that doesn't overpower everything else. They're both far more genuinely charming than Luxuria could ever hope to be.
I may be reading too much into this, but it occurs to me that Joan of Arc there bears something of a resemblance to Ms. Superbia...who we already know is French.
Actually I pegged Luxuria as the individual with Lady Jane, something about how they hold their head. Guessing the amulet has something to do with the deadly's human manifestations so from left to right Envy, Wrath with a fake moustache, Avarice, Sloth, then Pride.
Bugger, meant Superbia as the individual with Lady Jane, didn't get much sleep last night.
There's a thought. Certainly person-with-Jane has a confident (smug) enough expression to be Superbia. I was going with the other sins as the historical figures, myself. The only one I can't place is Acedia, but then that makes sense that Sloth might not be represented by strong ideals and the drive to achieve.
It's a magic tomato?
Some did consider the tomato the Forbidden Fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, but them people also said that about potatoes and probably every fruit and veg from the New World .
Huh. That would explain why Luxuria's still hopping around in the same body...
May need to put the kettle on, eh?
"A two-pipe problem, I fancy, Watson."
Henry's totally hot for Luxuria~
Lust does not apply exclusively to sexuality (bloodlust, for example). A sufficiently extreme desire for anything could be described as a lust. So an intelligent personification of Lust could manipulate anyone with a strong desire for anything, as long as they could identify and magnify that desire. Sex is just the most obvious and easiest to manipulate.
So the amulet that's drawn to those with ambition and a need to prove something has come to be possessed by Isabelle Holt. Sounds like someone REALLY wants to be respected.
So far she's just researching it, as far as we know. We do eventually see Syd accidentally steal it from Henry, so Henry and Isabelle end up with it eventually, but maybe they're trying to have it in safe-keeping?
Ah, but in Henry's conversation with Mr. Luxuria he was trying to tempt Henry by appealing to a lust for wealth and power. So while Lust's primary concern may be sex, it is not its exclusive concern.
It may be that Lust is the "chief" sin, that the other sins are derivations of Lust (except Wrath, unless we're talking bloodlust or a reaction to thwarted desire). Thus, Lust could easily be more versatile than the others and overlap with their areas of influence.
Hmm. No, at least not historically. The root of all sin is pride, not lust.
Ahem... Radix Malorum est Cupiditas - not Superbia or Luxuria.
(The idea of all sin stemming from Pride is post-Biblical, either Dante or Milton, maybe both.)
Do politicians use the heart of liars for its powers, or is the heart of liars called so because politicians use it?
I reckon it's neither. The Heart of Liars naturally gravitates towards power and those who lust for it, and politicians just always seem to be there when it arrives
I reckon it's both! You have to be a consummate liar to be a succesful politician in the first place, Heart or no.
No, you don't understand. Politicians don't use the Heart of Liars. It uses them.
Oh, I think it's a mutually beneficial arrangement. A bit like the BLiar and Mandy.
Maybe he was converted by a Christian missionary. Or maybe he's descended from the original middle-eastern Christians.
Not if he's Mehmed II - he was very definitely Muslim. But there was a lot of contact between Europe and the Middle East in those times, much more than between Europe and anywhere else. And while I don't think Islam has the same organisation of sins as Christianity (or, more specifically, Catholic Christianity - the Seven Deadly Sins aren't nearly as much referred to in Protestantism, at least not as a schema), Islam and Christianity do share a considerable amount of background.
Lust is definitely a major sin is Islam. Far as I know sins arn't categorised the same way but many of the same....things? emotions? motives? Are sinful.
"I KNEW it!"
[https://www.youtube.com/wat...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etnUCvuADoM "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etnUCvuADoM")
Thank you. I'm gonna be thinking about the implications this magic would have for Voodoo for the rest of the day now.
Oh oh oh look at the dates--I'm guessing that the necklace is heading toward Napoleon next. NAPOLEON!
There's been forshadowing. Isabel was wearing wellies.
Also, the necklace has been in the hands of advisers. Our Henry V has his mind on Many Things, as does Jeanne--the amulet is consuming the person in the background who is whispering just one of the voices that the Prominent One is hearing. Aaand the achievements of the driven ones are not all viewed with the same admiration everywhere--I was interested to read the summary of the events at Agincourt provided by the official website at the national park at that location. Different spin.
If the amulet has gotten away from Luxuria's grasp at the time Henry was asked to get it back, it might have slipped away in the past. And it may not appeal to the primarily altruistic mind--hence the whispering or smirking advisers in the background. The achievers aren't wearing it--they appear to be cat's paws of the wearers, who are in the game for something else . . . influence? wealth? the ability to manipulate people? the um harem? the love of inciting war on a huge scale?
We don't know any details of the body switching: it might be difficult so that Lust doesn't want to bother if it doesn't have to, or it may just really like the Duke's body and decided to keep it rather than switch. There also might be something special about the Duke's body, yet to be revealed, that Lust needs.
Lust may also identify as male: out of all the pics in the big panel, there appear to be 4 appearances as male (really can't say if they're all supposed to be the same body due to the different periods and styles) and only 1 female.
The lady next to Henry V is dressed in green, so I'd guess Invidia.
And Jeanne d'Arc's red banner suggests Ira, appropriate for her fierce warrior spirit.
Green, brown and gold for Lady Jane Grey - Gula or Avaritia, perhaps?
The scholar is also European, and might be able to better research historical figures from the West than figures in other regions. Nothing to say this couldn't be international. Although the seven deadlies are, of course, based on real world Christian doctrine...
so... Bob's evil twin?
I wasn't assuming they were the same avatars - the colour schemes may be more primal than that, I think. Given the historical figures involved, some array of assorted Deadlies makes more sense to me than them all being Lust (unless as suggested above Lust is defined so loosely as pretty much to include all the others in its portfolio, in which case why have a stylised group of seven at all?)
hang on a moment. is that anne boleyn i see? Fourth panel, sixth photo. and yet she doesn't appear to be wearing the necklace. the person next to her does....
upoun closer inspection that is lady jane grey. She was beheaded after like a week as queen. after some connection to lux, perhaps???