September 15th, 2017
15 Sept 2017 · page 732 of 1306
Slow going.
Cast: Benjamin Thackerey, Heinrich Wolfe, Sidney Malik, Verity Cunningham
Comments (48)
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I guess we shouldn't be surprised that Benjamin "I always do everything the hardest way possible" Thackerey and Verity "Do try to keep up!" Cunningham are going ahead. But can the cousins manage to bring Sid and Wolfe along, too?
I guess if nothing else, Wolfe is guilty of knowing how to relax. :P
Wolfe is weak to that one eh :D
Ah. It does make sense that the golden boy and the talented wizard wouldn't have the "just get through on grit" that you need to go up against Sloth. On the plus side, does this mean that Ben gets an epic showdown and chance to fix his mistake? (And get some self-worth back after verbally eviscerating himself to beat Pride?)
An epic showdown? No, Ben just wants to do what's expected of him and get it over with.
We were all expecting Ben to be the weak link here because he's already tired out, but now it's looking like that teeth-gritting determination of his is going to carry him through, while the more easy-going members of the party start to droop.
Well, it makes sense that one's state of mind is more important than their state of body for fighting sins, even body-related ones. Still, I fear there is a certain level of physical exhaustion where will lost its power. I hope Ben won't have this experience.
Even if he falls from exhaustion, it will not mean that he succumbs to Sloth, only to fatigue, I think.
But I still hope with all my heart he'll be able to atone his summoning of Sloth (as Killersquirrel66 rightly notes), his mistake which torments him so.
I'd like to see his face actually.
It seems he is at the forefront not only to be the first to meet Sloth, but to hide his fасе from the team too.
Yes, I'd noticed we weren't seeing his face on this page. It reminds me a little of the bit after Henry got shot, where we didn't see Harry's eyes for the whole page.
[http://www.widdershinscomic...](http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/july-29th-2016-kickstarter-now-live/ "http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/july-29th-2016-kickstarter-now-live/")
I kind have been assuming he is just sleep walking, and kind of leading the team in circles while under sloth's control.
Potentially hiding his face out of shame is an interesting idea though.
Not shame, necessarily - he could just still be upset enough that he doesn't want the others to see his expression.
I don't necessarily think Ben will fall to it even though he is tired, if for no other reason than because he is a wizard with the knowledge to summon the deadlies. He knows what they can do, what they can't and the best safeguard against it. Ever since Envy and Gluttony he's been more on his guard.
Being on guard doesn't mean much though, if you are susceptible you are susceptible. Sid was on guard for Pride, and still almost fell into the trap while Ben was beating Pride.
Eh, I think Ben will just be the last of the three to end up falling, due to his determination. Verity will end up being the hero this time.
Wolfe overcame Wrath.
Voss overcame Envy.
Gorilla overcame Gluttony.
Ben overcame Pride.
Verity will probably overcome Sloth.
Sid will probably overcome Greed (Magpie buggerup to the rescue!).
Isabelle? may beat Lust. Or some other tertiary character that got ensorcelled by him.
I'm betting on Mal being the one to beat Lust, because he's asexual and therefore immune to the major aspect of Lust's power.
Though in Find the Lady it seemed like Lust was preying on everyone else's deepest desires, which weren't necessarily romantic in nature...though admittedly if he makes the mistake of trying that particular classic on Mal I imagine he'd be dissapointed! For that matter, Mal doesn't seem particularly ambitious about -anything-, so Lust might be out of luck anyhow!
It's like those logic puzzles from grade school: Not all lusts are sexual lusts.
Except Mal is stuck in the witch room, to perform the actual banishment.
We will know more for sure once Sloth has been dealt with, but it seems so far that its one character who personifies / is capable of overcoming each sin. So given what we have seen so far, I don't think we will see any repeats.
And so, snarkiness and general apathy saved the day! Who knew?
Lust seems to be more tied to luxury in this storyline, so Ben or Vi might have a better advantage against it. Sid and Wolfe are a bit too... distractable. Vi would be more on guard after pride, and less inclined to fall for Lust's antics, and Ben would rather just be done with all this nonsense.
Mal can't stop Lust, he is inside the WitchRoom to do the banishments.
I still think Lust is going to be Isabelle, to tie up that story wise (like how the gorilla butler finished off gluttony).
=== Mal can't stop Lust ===
I'm affraid Lust will try to stop Mal. And quite decisively and ruthlessly too :( The Anchor is unguarded now, do you remember it? :(
So it's highly probably Mal (and Harry) are to face Lust personnaly.
Oooh, you mean, like, Lux will try to go in and attack Mal before anyone weakens him? I hadn't considered that idea before!
I still think Harry is going to have to face Luxuria somewhere that there are enough witnesses to make her famous. Otherwise how would Alexa King recognize her name so quickly and associate it with the fight against the deadliest given that she's from almost 200 years later?
Well, with Wrath it was Sidney's idea and Wolfe's playing, and Voss and Wolfe kind of united against Envy in a sense, and Ben and Verity had a plan for Gluttony even if Gula delivered it, and Sidney figured out the tactic with Pride and helped Ben, so I think it's reasonable that it might not have to be a single person per sin. A lot of this is the whole group shoring up each other's weaknesses after all!
Vee helped against Envy too - she got up above the stage and cut the puppet strings that hadn't broken yet.
Oh yeah, very true!
Yeah, they were all group efforts. But it is still usually one person overcoming the actual sin, and so far it's been someone who was linked to that sin in some way as well.
Like Envy wise, Verity was the one who crashed the lights down, but Voss was capable of breaking free from his control first, which is why I give him the victory there. It was him breaking free that caused him to lose control of the situation.
Hmm! I hadn't thought about a link.. like how Voss threw off the sin that he'd earlier succumbed to, and the same for Gula too. Though with Wrath Wolfe was always fairly resistant, and Ben too seemed a pretty solid counter to Pride. Though if we're looking for likely past ties to the sin, Ben as the summoner I think still has the soundest link to Sloth? And Mal of course if he were there, what with the flashback info we're getting. Though I guess Verity hasn't had a chance to really go head on with one of them yet either.. I guess we'll see what happens!
Well, being really envious person Ben could have tried to summon Envy and offer it freedom for someone's strong magical talent (as one of options). As it was, I think Ben used to suppress his feelings of envy before they harm someone else besides himself. And it was the reason he failed before Envy, because he didn't have experience of fighting it and maybe even wasn't aware about his vulnerability.
I don't think it's possible to feed virtues by vices, rather there are things (low/high self-esteem, for example) that you can use for good or/and evil purposes. And vices, after all, are just perversions of good things.
In general, I easily can believe that low self-esteem of Ben fed its determination and that he did some good things from wishing to look better in his own eyes, but I really doubt that it's his motivation now. I got the impression that after his fight with Pride he somewhat accepted the idea of him being nothing. :/
Huh. Surprising idea to me, I really think of it just the other way around. For Ben, rather than his insecurity feeding his determination, I think of his determination being in spite of his insecurity. Like, everyone is better and more talented than he is, and no matter how hard he works, he will never catch up (http://www.widdershinscomic... "http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/character-qas-3/)"), but he just keeps working hard anyway, because it's his duty to do so. That's just how life is.
Carrying on for the sake of carrying on can be its own thing, and it's something I suspect both Ben and Verity have quite a bit of.
It certainly makes sense, but I can't help wondering whether Ben would have been determined in the same extent if he had been more lucky in some regards: more talented, more popular, taller, after all. Taking a glance at yawning Sid.
Difficulties strengthen the character, they say, and in this way, I think, his strong determination is in spite of his insecurity and due of it at the same time.
Though, the fact that Verity has no problems like Ben's ones but has determination like his might prove that the answer at my question "Yes".
Yeah, the cousins contrast well, don't they? My beloved phrase "grim determination" applies pretty well, I think, to Ben, while Verity has, perhaps you could say, buoyant (as in, high-spirited) determination.
Thanks, Wing, for pointing out the broken link, sorry about that. I was trying to link to the third Q&A page following the Gluttony chapter. Trying again: [http://www.widdershinscomic...](http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/character-qas-3/ "http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/character-qas-3/")
I'm also concerned about how we're not seeing Ben's face, though it does
make total sense that Ben who got his degree through hard work despite
less natural talent would fare better than
Sidney I-was-never-so-good-at-the-whole-studying-thing! Malik. Oh, Sid!
As to Ben's insecurity, I mean Voss also was very jealous of Wolfe for his 'effortless' skill, but he looked for the quick fix with magic, or to tear Wolfe down to make himself feel better, whereas Ben has always just buckled down and determinated his way through his failings. I agree that Ben's grit is definitely in spite of his low self esteem rather than because of it.
That said, I'm a little surprised Wolfe seems to be flagging about as fast as Sid, since it seemed like part of Voss' lesson was that being good at things doesn't mean it doesn't take hard work to be a good person. After all, Wolfe was the one who was working so hard trying to 'make a difference' and piece together the Lamplight mystery, and is usually the one who drags Mal into action. He even got kicked out of the army because he couldn't bear to let a bad thing happen by just sitting back and doing nothing. Still, maybe he's better at taking action for the big adventure-y moments, and slogging through a dull, pointless seeming fog catches him at a disadvantage? Or maybe because he was doused with the oil in the past? I guess some other people here have a good point that he actually -knows- how to take it easy, whereas Ben and Verity seem allergic to the idea. ; )
I wondered about Wolfe, too. (And I recalled Voss' words about "too easy" as well. :))
I think he uses to enjoy what he's doing, whatever it is: "big adventure-y moments", helping his friends or just routine working (catching malforms, for example). So, he can do hard work without necessity of struggling with himself. But, because of that, "carrying on for the sake of carrying on" isn't his strong suit, and going through the fog, I think, requires that quality.
That's a really good point, Wolfe does seem good at finding enjoyment and worth in even menial tasks, and also at letting go of pointless conflicts. So if something is supernaturally made to seem an unnecessary struggle, fighting through it could be a much less familiar reaction for him. Whereas that's kind of Ben's day to day life : P
Yeah, Ben is certainly Saturday's child, if one judges by this song: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monday%27s_Child "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monday%27s_Child") :)
You know, I'm still concerned that the light is a trap, it's just a bit to angler fish for me. The light not getting any closer plus the question why have the light at all I guess?
I'm wondering if it's a lamppost burning the Sloth-imbued oil.
I'm finding it very interesting how the characters' foibles which make them critically vulnerable with one deadly spirit, actually give them the power and determination to overcome a different one. Vee's pride refuses to let Sloth win, so she pushes through the fatigue, while when facing Pride she almost single-handedly undermined the whole effort. Similarly, Ben's low self-esteem made him ripe for exploitation by Envy, but made him a superhero against Pride. @Emily points out how Wolfe and Sid are vulnerable to Sloth by virtue of their easy-going relaxed personalities, whereas that quality made Wolfe the very antithesis and antidote to Wrath.
It's like Mystical Victorian England Group Megaman over here.
This is a really good point!
TWIMC:
"The Victors" by Heylir - an English version of her earlier fanfic "Победители" - [http://archiveofourown.org/...](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12110382 "http://archiveofourown.org/works/12110382")
:)
Thanks for sharing, Maria! And Heylir, this is really good! I'm impressed by both the writing and the translation quality.
We shall have more :)
"A duff degree" ("Диплом 'для бедных' ") is in process :) Slowly :)
Thanks for your kind words! Maria was of great help to me in regard of the latter. :)
You guys are doing a great job!
I am reminded of that old adage...sometimes the light you see at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train.
A rare look at Sid actually being tired.