<!– Global site tag (gtag.js) – Google Analytics –>
<script async src=”https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=UA-22856846-2″></script>
<script>
window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
gtag(‘js’, new Date());
gtag(‘config’, ‘UA-22856846-2’);
</script>
<!– Global site tag (gtag.js) – Google Analytics –>
<script async src=”https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=UA-22856846-7″></script>
<script>
window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
gtag(‘js’, new Date());
If she can punch Peonie in the boob then Denver is setting himself up for an epic kick to the groin.
It’ll be interesting to see why Tiff’s brother might want him dead. Tiff did seem to indicate that his their mother had every reason to hate him while Melan seemed to kill their father for ending her life.
EXIERN FAN THEORY NUMBER 826:
All the magic items are actually imprisoned Travelers which is why they have or can display, a degree of intelligence (particularly the book)
I don’t see how being turned into a woman would help a repressed (or just in a closet) homosexual man.
Would seem to only add to the issues, especially as Tiff did not seem like one to play catcher so to speak.
Though not sure just how aware of the distinctions between homosexual and trans sexual (and any other label that might apply) Denver would be given he lives in a fairly standard medieval fantasy world.
J4n1: Doofus was implying that Typh was hard on himself because he wanted to ‘sleep’ with males, and now that Typh is now Tiff, there shouldn’t be a problem anymore
Charles81: does Melanoma really need a reason to want his brother/sister dead?
Denver, you were doing so well there, and then you go step on that rather well marked landmine.
@Guesticus. The “why” is always important. If there’s a logical reason, negotiation is possible. If it’s for the evulz, there is no room for negotiation or compromise.
If Peonie were here, she would say, in that sweet way of hers, “Oh, and I’m sure turning into a dragon is going to be a piece of cake for YOU, isn’t it?”
There _is_ a difference between a man who’s attracted to men and a man who wants to be a woman. From what I understand, many ex-men who ‘transit’ to womanhood remain attracted to women. And I know many gay men who have absolutely no interest in becoming a woman. They’re two different kinks, don’t confuse them.
And, no, I’d imagine that Tiff’s ‘other issues’ were not cleared up by the gender swap. While it removed certain ‘hardware’ incompatibilities, the ‘software’ still needs reprogramming.
Just a nitpick, but psychologists and therapists have tried the software reprogramming route on transsexual people for years and never has it ever worked except on people who weren’t actually trans in some sense or were more manipulable. Granted, being a fantasy world, there’s probably a spell somewhere that would allow such re-programming, but that fundamentally changes who the character is.
This is why, lately, trans people have been given easier access to hormones and sign-offs for corrective surgeries. Of course, the cost of the surgeries and some of the hormones is still a bit restrictive, let alone the costs of all of those doctor and therapy visits, and many insurers are still resistant to provide benefits to trans people, so those tens of thousands of dollars for the surgeries and hospital room, board, and aftercare more often than not end up coming straight out of their pockets.
@charles Quote”EXIERN FAN THEORY NUMBER 826:
All the magic items are actually imprisoned Travelers which is why they have or can display, a degree of intelligence (particularly the book)”
Wow that a cool Idea but I think it would only apply to some Some Major Artifacts if any not not all.
Teresa told him off-panel. Whether she deliberately outed Tiff or just being candid about her own origin allowed him to put 2+2 together (always a hazard when someone else’s secret is inherently tied into one of your own that you don’t want to drag around your neck) is unknown. With Teresa it was probably a bit of both.
From the looks of things in Panel 3, it isn’t what Denver said… it’s when. He fell victim to one of the classic blunders – the most famous of which is, “Never get involved in a land war in Asia.” But, only slightly less well-known is this: “When a woman tells you something that she regards as deeply important, DO NOT BE PREMATURE IN THE USE OF LEVITY TO LIGHTEN THE MOOD!” There’s something else about a Sicilian and death but that’s what we tell the fools to believe while we’re building up our immunity to iocane.
From the art in Panel 3 (feet up, hands on chest, kinda rocking back and forth), I think this was what Denver was attempting. Poor Denver schlemazeled when he tried to schlemiel…
Sqeezing the cans was devers blunder. Tiff wanted sausage she could careless about the
Mellons on her chest. Sexual perferance has nothing to do with your body. She likes men she wants to be close to a man. A woman’s body just makes it more exceptable. Her problem is she is a misaujistic man in side. She thinks woman are weak and like farm animals made for breeding and labor and not much else. Her brother is the same way .
Ohh, I sense a lecture on the difference between being gay and being transgender incoming… one that the writer of this reveal could arguably been given beforehand but I suppose that’s neither here nor there at this point…
Dr. Z: because that is a cultural thing, and for Barbarians, is perfectly normal/natural, even non-Barbies don’t judge them on it, for the same way Indian’s don’t protest outside “Burger Nation” for eating cows
@ Dr Z
I did address it previously and still feel the same. This isn’t a reaction to Typh being gay, though I do feel it’s the wrong direction to take this story since it lessens the transformation IMO. Nor is it a reaction to Tiff no longer being who we thought she was, though that’s part of it, and chemiclord is right to say you should never be afraid to let your characters be unlikeable. My problem is when they are all unlikeable. Right now we have one likeable character, Denver, and he’s secondary to the storyline.
Many of you may remember the movie “What about Bob?” starring Richard Dreyfus and Bill Murray, both fine actors. I hated that movie because neither character was sympathetic. They were both absolute jerks.You have to be able to sympathize with someone in the story.
Right now we have Tiff, who turns out to have been a monster in the making before her change. There’s some chance the story will be redeemed there and I’m waiting to see if that happens. Peonie who is a willful spoiled brat not above being manipulative to get what she wants and willing to sacrifice her best friend for that end. Look at the scene where her Dad says she never wanted to be ruler and he will have to sire a new heir. She’s ready to turn Tiff over to him after that. The King himself is ruthless, cunning and completely in charge. I actually like him for that, he’s a great character but he isn’t sympathetic either. Sister Teresa, Niels and others are occasional characters at best, they come and go and it’s hard to build the proper feeling into a story with them.
This leaves Denver, not the primary protagonist but fairly central to the storyline and the only main character I can still sympathize with. Slowly he’s beginning to have more relevance to the story and is showing some depth of character. His early appearance were almost 2 dimensional but his learning to deal with becoming a dragon, interest in Tiff (he can do much better after these revelations) and coming out of his comfort zone to become a strong character are well done. IF I remain after this storyline it will probably be because of him and no other reason.
Ohhh, big whoop, so some murders might’ve happened, and some rapes might’ve been attempted….boys will be boys, after all.
Seriously, though, it’s not really all that disconcerting when you think about it, for several reasons. One…Tiff has steadily, and definitively, been pretty bloodthirsty since we’ve known her. She has almost ALWAYS preferred the immediate, violent, often fatal solution to one of peace and compromise. When she used non-violent methods, there was a pretty strong, specific, acute reason for it. That doesn’t crop up out of the blue, you know. The skill and desire for such a!s-kickery comes from a history of developing both, and that belies a violent past. Not just with fighting and brawling, but through intimidation, murder, arson, theft, and yes…rape.
The caveat here is a rather important one. Tiff, as a child brought up knowing nothing else but this violent environment, did what any child in this situation would do…”he” tried to learn and excel at it to please the parents and community. What we should be paying attention to is the actions of the adult Tiff, when exposed to outside elements, when choice is actually provided to him/her. Tiff underwent a perception-shattering event when he became a she, and when she was forced to deal with southerners on a level beyond taking what she wanted.
The defining points of her character are changing, and that’s not easy for someone who already felt at-odds with the world she grew up with (by hiding his homosexuality). Following a horrible path when she had no other choice didn’t make her a monster. The choices she makes now that there ARE choices are what defines her.
I think that makes Tiff a very sympathetic character. Denver is also undergoing his own change, and had his own personal struggle before that change happened (the “death” of his “parents” before realizing he was a dragonling), but he seems to be handling it better…possibly because he had better help with it from the beginning. Or maybe he’s just better at dealing with internal strife, as opposed to Tiff being better able to deal with external strife, despite Denver’s handling of the demon-yeti-thing.
I think this storyline is a natural progression, and a good one. The reveal is far more than simple gender identification and sexual preference. What Chem is doing here is revealing Tiff’s true motivations, which we’ve previously been denied, though they were hinted at. Sure, in the first strips “he” was motivated by greed, then later by a desire to undo “her” curse and stop Faden. But here, at last, is the true motivating factor…what truly drives Tiff forward, in any form.
I think that offers some pretty damn good sympathy for a character.
And meanwhile I don’t give a rat’s arse for her sexuality.
To be honest, I find most character development in 95% of stories to be dull as dishwater. Most of the time the character come off as whiny, self-absorbed, and convinced that their problems are far worse than anyone else’s. And right now, Tiff is very much coming off that way.
It may be realistic; many people are whiny, self-absorbed, and convinced their problems are worse than everyone else’s. And often proud of that fact as well. Which just means not only do I have little sympathy for most characters in stories, but for many people as well.
Tiff was doing what was expected of him when raiding the southern villages. Up till the farm boy incident.
Its easy to justify doing horrible things if they are your duty. Soldiers have been killing people inmass for as long as we have had wars. Only in the last few hundred years has the western armies tried to only kill the enemy combatants. Looting and raping was the norm . The vikings spend their DNA though out northern europe .
As for the psycho comments. There is a lot more to them than hurting a few random people.
I would like to point out that Tiff never acted like she ever liked men or women. She looks and acts more like completly asexual, really bloodthirsty and someone who really prefers riches to being a hero. She also hates women and this is what makes her hate herself. Her sexuality could be described as either a or bi sexual, but she needs to really like the one she will be comfortable with regardless of gender or (in case of Denver) species.
On the culture side, this medieval culture is heavily influenced on DnD and classical XX. century Earth culture, even the king mentioned drawn porno (hentai) and Peonie yaoi, not to mention Tiff automatically assuming that brother/sister Teresa prefered the little boys he taught. So nobody is as innocent as they look. (except maybe Denver the dinosaur – I mean the dragon)
This is probably a really weird time to bring this up, but was Tiff’s possible familial relation to whichever Knight is traveling with them ever cleared up? I really have no idea why it is that I just thought of that.
A while back, I generated a 4 point (IIRC) list of the possible relationships between Neils and Tiff. Number 4 was “none…just a coincidence” or something to that effect.
Chemic said that one of the points was right. Little bugger. 😉
Andor: you touched upon something very telling about the readers: double-standards! It’s fine for Tiff to be all brutal and violent at the drop of a hand, because female Tiff is cute when she gets angry (plus it’s easy to pass that off as part of the ‘curse’). But it’s not okay for male Typh, who was brought up in that culture where that sort of thing was the norm (even the ‘cultured’ South view what the ‘uncultured’ Northern Barbarians as normal, for them) to pillage and attempt to rape (and it seems it was only bad when he turned his attention towards the Farm boy after knocking down the Girl)
DocSavage: speak for yourself please, personally never liked `Pole, and the sooner he ‘hatches’ and goes off to the wilds for the next dozen hundred years the better imo
@Dr. Z Well I think a lot people forget the point of the book is evolution. Not really Redemption.Redemption would mean a immoral choice but That would imply choice. And without choice there no sin nor crime.
As soon as Typh found a choice she took it but till that point there was no choice.
Typh Was a animal with no other culture no any other way to live presented. Was about 12 to 13. Living Under a Father who was little better than a cult leader. Who was told till rape and Kill outsiders was the Will of ASH.
Even in are world I doubt we would charge him as a Adult or Even Mentally Competent.
Why do people assume that Tiff is 100% gay in those flashbacks? There’s been plenty of heterosexual rapists who went after a guy not because they found the guy attractive, but because they were doing it for the thrill of overpowering somebody who could be equal to them. It’s a rapist’s way of feeling superior, and THAT’s where they get their sexual kick from.
Rape isn’t about sex or sexuality most of the time. It’s all about power, and what the rapist will do in order to attain that high feeling from the power-trip.
It’s been said in the story again and again that Tiff often saw women as total weaklings, useless, etc… and on top of it Tiff’s father didn’t have a consenting relationship with Tiff’s mother. Tiff’s father was a evil rapist of women, and most likely expressed to his sons about the importance of dominance, power, etc.
So it was probably only natural that Tiff would want to emulate his father, and do the same exact thing. But due to the fact that Tiff saw women as useless weaklings… he realized that he couldn’t find any challenge at all in raping them. Tiff couldn’t get that “high” from exerting power over women in that way like his father did. But when that farm boy came into the scene… Tiff felt that rush, because he saw a possible equal that he could be challenged by. This way he was able to assert his dominance over others and get that high feeling.
Rapists are often more complex and yet very much simple all at once. The majority of pedophiles and rapists often self-ID as straight, yet they will go after boys/men just as much as they go after females…. to them, it’s all about the power-dyamatics… and more than often you will find that a lot of them had a highly mysgonstic viewpoint of women…. and that’s why they sometimes will go after guys… for the challenge of it. Because to them, women are just pretueal victims and therefore no challenge at all.
I’m not discounting the fact that Tiff may very well be gay or transgendered after all… I’m just giving you guys another possible reason for why Tiff was the way (s)he was before.
Hi. First post here. Aurora moon, the reason we think tiff is gay is because he said he was. I am not sure if you have been reading, but several pages back tiff stated the reason that she did not rape the girls was because they did not attract hir. Granted, what you say could be true, but when someone says “I’m gay,” I tend not to argue. I’m not in their head, so I can’t tell.
A weak point, I know, but if you need more evidence the author put a thing up about this a little while ago stating that yes, tiff was gay, among other points. I tend to go with Word Of God with things like this.
Yeah. I was just disagreeing with everyone in that universe who seems to assume that:
1) If you have a low opinion of women and find them unattractive for that very reason, then you must be gay. (unfortunately, I’ve known a few horribly misogynistic men in real life that proves that to be the total opposite sometimes).
2) That rape was all about sex and sexual attraction. (I kind of give Tiff a pass on that one, because obviously he grew up having some very skewered viewpoints about what sex was supposed to be… considering that he had an evil rapist for a father.)
3)That all of Tiff’s problems regarding that could be magically fixed by staying a woman forever. (like Dragon boy in the comic seems to wrongly assume).
I would have no problems with Tiff being gay after all… but I happen to believe that she/he is really confused right now, and the fact that Peonie and others seem to be trying to tell her what they think she is isn’t helping any.
Be a Producer! Your name/title with an optional SFW hyperlink will be posted prominently HERE following the close of the month! You’ll also receive monthly mailings from Exiern’s author, Scott T. Hicken!
ah Denver, open mouth and insert foot. Did he look a little hopeful when he asked that question?
Tiff is channeling her inner girl right now. She looks super cutie when she’s mad but not enraged.
DEATH Glare!
If she can punch Peonie in the boob then Denver is setting himself up for an epic kick to the groin.
It’ll be interesting to see why Tiff’s brother might want him dead. Tiff did seem to indicate that his their mother had every reason to hate him while Melan seemed to kill their father for ending her life.
There be dragons.
EXIERN FAN THEORY NUMBER 826:
All the magic items are actually imprisoned Travelers which is why they have or can display, a degree of intelligence (particularly the book)
I don’t see how being turned into a woman would help a repressed (or just in a closet) homosexual man.
Would seem to only add to the issues, especially as Tiff did not seem like one to play catcher so to speak.
Though not sure just how aware of the distinctions between homosexual and trans sexual (and any other label that might apply) Denver would be given he lives in a fairly standard medieval fantasy world.
J4n1: Doofus was implying that Typh was hard on himself because he wanted to ‘sleep’ with males, and now that Typh is now Tiff, there shouldn’t be a problem anymore
Charles81: does Melanoma really need a reason to want his brother/sister dead?
Denver, you were doing so well there, and then you go step on that rather well marked landmine.
@Guesticus. The “why” is always important. If there’s a logical reason, negotiation is possible. If it’s for the evulz, there is no room for negotiation or compromise.
If Peonie were here, she would say, in that sweet way of hers, “Oh, and I’m sure turning into a dragon is going to be a piece of cake for YOU, isn’t it?”
There _is_ a difference between a man who’s attracted to men and a man who wants to be a woman. From what I understand, many ex-men who ‘transit’ to womanhood remain attracted to women. And I know many gay men who have absolutely no interest in becoming a woman. They’re two different kinks, don’t confuse them.
And, no, I’d imagine that Tiff’s ‘other issues’ were not cleared up by the gender swap. While it removed certain ‘hardware’ incompatibilities, the ‘software’ still needs reprogramming.
Just a nitpick, but psychologists and therapists have tried the software reprogramming route on transsexual people for years and never has it ever worked except on people who weren’t actually trans in some sense or were more manipulable. Granted, being a fantasy world, there’s probably a spell somewhere that would allow such re-programming, but that fundamentally changes who the character is.
This is why, lately, trans people have been given easier access to hormones and sign-offs for corrective surgeries. Of course, the cost of the surgeries and some of the hormones is still a bit restrictive, let alone the costs of all of those doctor and therapy visits, and many insurers are still resistant to provide benefits to trans people, so those tens of thousands of dollars for the surgeries and hospital room, board, and aftercare more often than not end up coming straight out of their pockets.
Denver… you moron! =_= Wrong response, wrong time!
Can somebody please remind me in what episode Denver learned of Tiff’s male past?
@charles Quote”EXIERN FAN THEORY NUMBER 826:
All the magic items are actually imprisoned Travelers which is why they have or can display, a degree of intelligence (particularly the book)”
Wow that a cool Idea but I think it would only apply to some Some Major Artifacts if any not not all.
@ Lurker.
According to this comic:
http://www.exiern.com/2012/06/19/what-lies-beneath/
Teresa told him off-panel. Whether she deliberately outed Tiff or just being candid about her own origin allowed him to put 2+2 together (always a hazard when someone else’s secret is inherently tied into one of your own that you don’t want to drag around your neck) is unknown. With Teresa it was probably a bit of both.
From the looks of things in Panel 3, it isn’t what Denver said… it’s when. He fell victim to one of the classic blunders – the most famous of which is, “Never get involved in a land war in Asia.” But, only slightly less well-known is this: “When a woman tells you something that she regards as deeply important, DO NOT BE PREMATURE IN THE USE OF LEVITY TO LIGHTEN THE MOOD!” There’s something else about a Sicilian and death but that’s what we tell the fools to believe while we’re building up our immunity to iocane.
From the art in Panel 3 (feet up, hands on chest, kinda rocking back and forth), I think this was what Denver was attempting. Poor Denver schlemazeled when he tried to schlemiel…
Tact!
Or not.
Blood geyser, stage left, in 5…4…3…2…
Sqeezing the cans was devers blunder. Tiff wanted sausage she could careless about the
Mellons on her chest. Sexual perferance has nothing to do with your body. She likes men she wants to be close to a man. A woman’s body just makes it more exceptable. Her problem is she is a misaujistic man in side. She thinks woman are weak and like farm animals made for breeding and labor and not much else. Her brother is the same way .
Yup, I like my male equipment. No interest in becoming a woman whatsoever. But we need not mistake Denver’s naive opinion with the author’s.
@BadTiming
I’m guessing from context you meant “misogynistic”, and I suppose that because of the barbarian culture in this story that would be true
Ohh, I sense a lecture on the difference between being gay and being transgender incoming… one that the writer of this reveal could arguably been given beforehand but I suppose that’s neither here nor there at this point…
WHY ARE WE NOT ADDRESSING THE HORRIBLE MURDERS & ATTEMPTED RAPE COMMITTED BY THE PROTAGONIST??? Seriously. It’s disconcerting.
Does the Book Wyrm not even pick up on that fact? Tiff doesn’t seem to care much, and that moves her more from a hero to a psychopath.
On a litter note:
I wounder if a big part of this issue is Tiff’s issues with her mother.
She seems to have had a lot of issues with her, and now she looks like her.
Dr. Z: because that is a cultural thing, and for Barbarians, is perfectly normal/natural, even non-Barbies don’t judge them on it, for the same way Indian’s don’t protest outside “Burger Nation” for eating cows
@ JoeBotz
Great quote! I love that movie.
@ Dr Z
I did address it previously and still feel the same. This isn’t a reaction to Typh being gay, though I do feel it’s the wrong direction to take this story since it lessens the transformation IMO. Nor is it a reaction to Tiff no longer being who we thought she was, though that’s part of it, and chemiclord is right to say you should never be afraid to let your characters be unlikeable. My problem is when they are all unlikeable. Right now we have one likeable character, Denver, and he’s secondary to the storyline.
Many of you may remember the movie “What about Bob?” starring Richard Dreyfus and Bill Murray, both fine actors. I hated that movie because neither character was sympathetic. They were both absolute jerks.You have to be able to sympathize with someone in the story.
Right now we have Tiff, who turns out to have been a monster in the making before her change. There’s some chance the story will be redeemed there and I’m waiting to see if that happens. Peonie who is a willful spoiled brat not above being manipulative to get what she wants and willing to sacrifice her best friend for that end. Look at the scene where her Dad says she never wanted to be ruler and he will have to sire a new heir. She’s ready to turn Tiff over to him after that. The King himself is ruthless, cunning and completely in charge. I actually like him for that, he’s a great character but he isn’t sympathetic either. Sister Teresa, Niels and others are occasional characters at best, they come and go and it’s hard to build the proper feeling into a story with them.
This leaves Denver, not the primary protagonist but fairly central to the storyline and the only main character I can still sympathize with. Slowly he’s beginning to have more relevance to the story and is showing some depth of character. His early appearance were almost 2 dimensional but his learning to deal with becoming a dragon, interest in Tiff (he can do much better after these revelations) and coming out of his comfort zone to become a strong character are well done. IF I remain after this storyline it will probably be because of him and no other reason.
Ohhh, big whoop, so some murders might’ve happened, and some rapes might’ve been attempted….boys will be boys, after all.
Seriously, though, it’s not really all that disconcerting when you think about it, for several reasons. One…Tiff has steadily, and definitively, been pretty bloodthirsty since we’ve known her. She has almost ALWAYS preferred the immediate, violent, often fatal solution to one of peace and compromise. When she used non-violent methods, there was a pretty strong, specific, acute reason for it. That doesn’t crop up out of the blue, you know. The skill and desire for such a!s-kickery comes from a history of developing both, and that belies a violent past. Not just with fighting and brawling, but through intimidation, murder, arson, theft, and yes…rape.
The caveat here is a rather important one. Tiff, as a child brought up knowing nothing else but this violent environment, did what any child in this situation would do…”he” tried to learn and excel at it to please the parents and community. What we should be paying attention to is the actions of the adult Tiff, when exposed to outside elements, when choice is actually provided to him/her. Tiff underwent a perception-shattering event when he became a she, and when she was forced to deal with southerners on a level beyond taking what she wanted.
The defining points of her character are changing, and that’s not easy for someone who already felt at-odds with the world she grew up with (by hiding his homosexuality). Following a horrible path when she had no other choice didn’t make her a monster. The choices she makes now that there ARE choices are what defines her.
I think that makes Tiff a very sympathetic character. Denver is also undergoing his own change, and had his own personal struggle before that change happened (the “death” of his “parents” before realizing he was a dragonling), but he seems to be handling it better…possibly because he had better help with it from the beginning. Or maybe he’s just better at dealing with internal strife, as opposed to Tiff being better able to deal with external strife, despite Denver’s handling of the demon-yeti-thing.
I think this storyline is a natural progression, and a good one. The reveal is far more than simple gender identification and sexual preference. What Chem is doing here is revealing Tiff’s true motivations, which we’ve previously been denied, though they were hinted at. Sure, in the first strips “he” was motivated by greed, then later by a desire to undo “her” curse and stop Faden. But here, at last, is the true motivating factor…what truly drives Tiff forward, in any form.
I think that offers some pretty damn good sympathy for a character.
And meanwhile I don’t give a rat’s arse for her sexuality.
To be honest, I find most character development in 95% of stories to be dull as dishwater. Most of the time the character come off as whiny, self-absorbed, and convinced that their problems are far worse than anyone else’s. And right now, Tiff is very much coming off that way.
It may be realistic; many people are whiny, self-absorbed, and convinced their problems are worse than everyone else’s. And often proud of that fact as well. Which just means not only do I have little sympathy for most characters in stories, but for many people as well.
Tiff was doing what was expected of him when raiding the southern villages. Up till the farm boy incident.
Its easy to justify doing horrible things if they are your duty. Soldiers have been killing people inmass for as long as we have had wars. Only in the last few hundred years has the western armies tried to only kill the enemy combatants. Looting and raping was the norm . The vikings spend their DNA though out northern europe .
As for the psycho comments. There is a lot more to them than hurting a few random people.
Once again my mobile phone failed me. Spelling and grammer mistakes. I wish it was like Tiff’s sword and never allow such bunders.
I think Tiff should just stop fighting the inevitable; I mean clearly two-thirds of her companions want to be punched, repeatedly.
Bad Taiming> Spelling and grammer mistakes
Grammar…
I would like to point out that Tiff never acted like she ever liked men or women. She looks and acts more like completly asexual, really bloodthirsty and someone who really prefers riches to being a hero. She also hates women and this is what makes her hate herself. Her sexuality could be described as either a or bi sexual, but she needs to really like the one she will be comfortable with regardless of gender or (in case of Denver) species.
On the culture side, this medieval culture is heavily influenced on DnD and classical XX. century Earth culture, even the king mentioned drawn porno (hentai) and Peonie yaoi, not to mention Tiff automatically assuming that brother/sister Teresa prefered the little boys he taught. So nobody is as innocent as they look. (except maybe Denver the dinosaur – I mean the dragon)
This is probably a really weird time to bring this up, but was Tiff’s possible familial relation to whichever Knight is traveling with them ever cleared up? I really have no idea why it is that I just thought of that.
Tiffany’s mother was named Gillian.
Niels’ sister was named Irene.
They were two different people, and weren’t even taken at the same time (Irene was “taken” three years before the raid that took Gillian).
Now, Niels DOES have a niece in the barbarian nation, just not Tiffany.
Why the evil eye Tiff? Denver has a right to know where he stands with you.
A while back, I generated a 4 point (IIRC) list of the possible relationships between Neils and Tiff. Number 4 was “none…just a coincidence” or something to that effect.
Chemic said that one of the points was right. Little bugger. 😉
Andor: you touched upon something very telling about the readers: double-standards! It’s fine for Tiff to be all brutal and violent at the drop of a hand, because female Tiff is cute when she gets angry (plus it’s easy to pass that off as part of the ‘curse’). But it’s not okay for male Typh, who was brought up in that culture where that sort of thing was the norm (even the ‘cultured’ South view what the ‘uncultured’ Northern Barbarians as normal, for them) to pillage and attempt to rape (and it seems it was only bad when he turned his attention towards the Farm boy after knocking down the Girl)
DocSavage: speak for yourself please, personally never liked `Pole, and the sooner he ‘hatches’ and goes off to the wilds for the next dozen hundred years the better imo
@Dr. Z Well I think a lot people forget the point of the book is evolution. Not really Redemption.Redemption would mean a immoral choice but That would imply choice. And without choice there no sin nor crime.
As soon as Typh found a choice she took it but till that point there was no choice.
Typh Was a animal with no other culture no any other way to live presented. Was about 12 to 13. Living Under a Father who was little better than a cult leader. Who was told till rape and Kill outsiders was the Will of ASH.
Even in are world I doubt we would charge him as a Adult or Even Mentally Competent.
But soon as he found other ways he follow them.
Why do people assume that Tiff is 100% gay in those flashbacks? There’s been plenty of heterosexual rapists who went after a guy not because they found the guy attractive, but because they were doing it for the thrill of overpowering somebody who could be equal to them. It’s a rapist’s way of feeling superior, and THAT’s where they get their sexual kick from.
Rape isn’t about sex or sexuality most of the time. It’s all about power, and what the rapist will do in order to attain that high feeling from the power-trip.
It’s been said in the story again and again that Tiff often saw women as total weaklings, useless, etc… and on top of it Tiff’s father didn’t have a consenting relationship with Tiff’s mother. Tiff’s father was a evil rapist of women, and most likely expressed to his sons about the importance of dominance, power, etc.
So it was probably only natural that Tiff would want to emulate his father, and do the same exact thing. But due to the fact that Tiff saw women as useless weaklings… he realized that he couldn’t find any challenge at all in raping them. Tiff couldn’t get that “high” from exerting power over women in that way like his father did. But when that farm boy came into the scene… Tiff felt that rush, because he saw a possible equal that he could be challenged by. This way he was able to assert his dominance over others and get that high feeling.
Rapists are often more complex and yet very much simple all at once. The majority of pedophiles and rapists often self-ID as straight, yet they will go after boys/men just as much as they go after females…. to them, it’s all about the power-dyamatics… and more than often you will find that a lot of them had a highly mysgonstic viewpoint of women…. and that’s why they sometimes will go after guys… for the challenge of it. Because to them, women are just pretueal victims and therefore no challenge at all.
I’m not discounting the fact that Tiff may very well be gay or transgendered after all… I’m just giving you guys another possible reason for why Tiff was the way (s)he was before.
@ Guesticus
I am speaking for myself, expressing my own opinion. That is what we do in these comments after all.
Hi. First post here. Aurora moon, the reason we think tiff is gay is because he said he was. I am not sure if you have been reading, but several pages back tiff stated the reason that she did not rape the girls was because they did not attract hir. Granted, what you say could be true, but when someone says “I’m gay,” I tend not to argue. I’m not in their head, so I can’t tell.
A weak point, I know, but if you need more evidence the author put a thing up about this a little while ago stating that yes, tiff was gay, among other points. I tend to go with Word Of God with things like this.
Yeah. I was just disagreeing with everyone in that universe who seems to assume that:
1) If you have a low opinion of women and find them unattractive for that very reason, then you must be gay. (unfortunately, I’ve known a few horribly misogynistic men in real life that proves that to be the total opposite sometimes).
2) That rape was all about sex and sexual attraction. (I kind of give Tiff a pass on that one, because obviously he grew up having some very skewered viewpoints about what sex was supposed to be… considering that he had an evil rapist for a father.)
3)That all of Tiff’s problems regarding that could be magically fixed by staying a woman forever. (like Dragon boy in the comic seems to wrongly assume).
I would have no problems with Tiff being gay after all… but I happen to believe that she/he is really confused right now, and the fact that Peonie and others seem to be trying to tell her what they think she is isn’t helping any.
For those reading the comic for the first time, let me pose you this riddle:
Typhan-Knee and Melan-Knee were exiled at the same time, and never saw each other again until they met outside the village.
Melan-Knee changed his name to Wyll-Line when he took over as chief. Typhan-Knee/Tiffany had no way of knowing that.
Typh recognised the name on the assassination contract as her brother’s.
Hmmm – a slipup on Chemiclord’s part?