12 KiB
[RT][FF] Scar's Samsara 8: Asura. The final struggle before the end.
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Author: u/Sophronius The Need to Become Stronger*
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Score: 40
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Created: 2017-09-10T20:43:40
Post:
Comments:
u/Kosijenac [+6] (25 minutes later)
I report thar this has managed to elicit the proper giddiness/suppressed maniacal giggling that a good tense action scene does in me.
EDIT: Seriously, I'm still 'riding the high' .
u/Sophronius [+2] The Need to Become Stronger (51 minutes later)
Hah, that's good to hear. I love writing action scenes, they've always been my favourite. Was a bit worried I had put too much dialogue into this one, but I guess not. :)
u/entropizer [+3] (4 hours later)
I don't think it flowed very well having Scar learn how to manipulate the spirits right before manipulating the spirits. Revelations should appear chapters ahead of time.
u/Sophronius [+2] The Need to Become Stronger (23 hours later)
Hmm, I kind of agree that it broke up the action a bit too much, but I don't think this is the kind of revelation I could have put in a previous chapter. Set-up like realizing that the fruits are the key and their meditation in the cave, definitely. But the last-minute epiphany that results in a power-up that allows the hero to beat the villain is an old and proven trope.
Of course, if you feel that the set-up and the lore provided so far doesn't justify Scar's realization, that's something else entirely.
I don't think it was unjustified though: Everything Scar realizes follows logically from what had been revealed before that point, or at least it seems that way to me.
u/entropizer [+3] (a day later)
From "'Yes', Scar shouted" to "why should you?" I felt you were very rapidly covering ideas that had not been adequately presented in previous chapters. I think it's valid to have one final puzzle piece slot into place at the moment of a story's climax, but this felt more like several puzzle pieces, and we weren't even given a particularly definitive explanation of how they fit together, which is why Scar expressed uncertainty in that very section.
Keeping the revelation shorter helped prevent it from breaking up the action, but also meant you couldn't do as much to justify it. I would have preferred more solid justification even if it meant you needed to break up the dramatic tension somehow. But best of all would have been to provide more groundwork for that justification in earlier chapters.
u/Sophronius [+4] The Need to Become Stronger (23 hours later)
I can't help myself: I have to show off all the set-up and foreshadowing that was necessary to justify the awesome magic stuff that happened in this chapter:
Chapter 2)
- "the extraordinary boon of divine status shall be offered as a reward for the king’s most loyal and able servants.”
- "They say you could call down lighting from the sky and bathe your enemies in fire. Surely no mere monkey could possess a stronger connection to the spirit world than you."
- “And then we pounce on him, take his bakora staff, and use it to reawaken your divine powers!"
Chapter 3)
- The walls of the tree were filled with incomprehensible scribbling and mural paintings picked out in shades of red.
- When she opened her eyes again, she saw to her amazement that the shapes were moving. "You can see quite clearly already, for one so recently introduced to Hakuna Matata.”
- “Oh man, I love this place,” said Timon. “Just the smell of these paints… hmm-hmm. This is great. Life is great. Everything’s great.”
- "Trust me: Inhale vapours, meditate on infinite. There is no more I can do – enlightenment must come from within.”
Chapter 4)
- “You and I have a spot in the afterlife now – fantastic! But we still don’t know if it really works that way" Slowly, Banzai's eyes opened – but when they did they stared out at nothing.
Chapter 5)
- "The Mufasa I knew would never have said that to you, not in a million years!"
Chapter 6)
- He dipped his staff into the bag, causing a red mist to pour forth. There was no spell that could force out the truth, but there were certainly powders and charms that affected the mind.
Chapter 7)
- "That powder… Rafiki used the same colour paint to mark Simba during his presentation! It’s not the staff – it’s the fruits that are attached to it.”
- "Spiritual power comes from being enlightened. All you need is to find something worth focusing on." Zira hesitated for a second, and then beckoned to her cub.
Chapter 8)
- "And if death ever does us part, then I swear I will drag your soul back screaming to where it rightly belongs.”
- "Spiritual power comes from gaining awareness of your own soul – and that means being honest with yourself, and with how you feel.”
- "I don’t have any spirits to call on, remember?” He closed his eyes in search of a connection, and this time he felt a second spiritual presence responding in kind.
- "Spirits might be stronger for their lack of flesh to weigh them down, but they’re ultimately still just animals with the will to keep themselves together after death."
Come on, that has to be enough set-up to justify an impromptu ascension to god-hood, right??? And on top of that, there's also the fact that in the Lion Guard, the MC acquires power over the elements by focusing inwards and connecting with the Kings of the Past, and literally raises a dead king as a cloud of flaming smoke by awakening a volcano with his roar while someone else tossed a bokara staff in there. I realize most people don't watch the Lion Guard since it's not very good, but anyone who does would totally have seen this one coming :p
u/CouteauBleu [+4] We are the Empire. (a day later)
I... don't really see any strong pattern or connection here? I mean, sure, it makes sense that things could happen like that given previous events, but I'm not really having a "Of course, it was there all along!!!" moment, if that's what you mean.
(also, the The Lion Guard is pretty awful)
u/Sophronius [+2] The Need to Become Stronger (a day later)
Fair enough, it’s more a smattering of evidence and foreshadowing than any deductive proof, but I do think that Scar’s conclusions follow logically from the information as given: He starts out thinking that A) becoming king allows you to live on in the afterlife, and B) Magic comes from said spirit kings granting you power. However, he then tests A by scouting the afterlife with Banzai, which only leaves him braindamaged, and B) is put into question as both Simba and Nuka only see and say what they already believe. This convinces him that magic does not come directly/exclusively from the Kings of the Past.
Then Zira tells him about her vision while looking at the red wall paintings, and Rafiki’s “Hakuna Matata” teachings which involve animals breathing in vapours and getting high from his red paints. Scar adds two and two together and concludes that magic comes from enlightenment, and that the fumes from his red fruits help you achieve this.
So then during the fight, he tells Zira that spirits are just enlightened animals who persist through their magic after death, and it’s only through her words that he realizes that this means they can also draw on each other’s power despite still being alive. And of course, she realizes that she can negate her own death as well as her son’s by drawing on their connection which after all was the object of her meditation in the first place.
The rest is just foreshadowing, with Zira talking about stealing Rafiki’s staff, using it to reawaken Scar’s power and bathing his enemies in fire, which is of course exactly what happened - though not the way she imagined.
u/CouteauBleu [+2] We are the Empire. (a day later)
I'm seeing a lot of logical leaps here that only work because you're the author.
However, he then tests A by scouting the afterlife with Banzai, which only leaves him braindamaged
Maybe the afterlife is only for lions, and hyena kings don't get anything? Maybe you actually need to be king for a week before the "afterlife bonus" kicks in? Or maybe it worked, and Banzai's spirit moved on to the afterlife, leaving her body an empty shell? It's not like Scar tried to freeze an actual Lion King as a control group.
both Simba and Nuka only see and say what they already believe
Maybe Mufasa was about to tell Simba that Scar killed him, but Scar interrupted the ritual before it could happen? Or maybe Mufasa was restricted by Ancient Spirit Laws in what he could say, and Simba misinterpreted his message? (which wouldn't be that hard, given that, again, he was interrupted)
Scar adds two and two together and concludes that magic comes from enlightenment, and that the fumes from his red fruits help you achieve this.
Maybe enlightenment in unnecessary, and the magic red fumes do everything?
So then during the fight, he tells Zira that spirits are just enlightened animals who persist through their magic after death, and it’s only through her words that he realizes that this means they can also draw on each other’s power despite still being alive
I'm not seeing the connection.
u/Sophronius [+1] The Need to Become Stronger (a day later)
Those are not so much logical leaps as they are liberal application of Occam’s razor. Sure, it’s possible that you become immortal a week after becoming a king, but it’s a needlessly complicated way to explain Scar’s observations. Scar only ever credited the original “Lion Kings become immortal becomes they’re lion kings” story because it was the official explanation: When it turned out that Rafiki was full of crap, there no longer was any reason to privilege that particular hypothesis.
“Lions are special” is still simple enough to be worth considering, but that doesn’t explain why a mandrill is the world’s strongest magic user. Also, as Scar remarks to Zira in the cave, the common thread running through Magic monkeys/magic captains/magic kings is the red fruits and the unusual levels of wisdom involved with each, not the fact that some of them are lions (most lions seem exactly the same as other animals in this regard).
Maybe enlightenment in unnecessary, and the magic red fumes do everything?
The main argument from Scar here is that all known magic users and spirit kings were considered to be very wise, which seems like a bit much of a coincidence otherwise. Also, he already knew that Rafiki was teaching his acolytes enlightenment using those fruits, and he has a low prior for “these particular fruits just happen to be magical”.
I'm not seeing the connection.
This follows from his generalization of “magic comes from enlightenment” and “Enlightened spirits persist after death”. Scar distinguishes between two hypotheses:
- Enlightenment gives you a connection to spirits. ALSO being a spirit gives you power.
- Enlightenment gives you power, immortality, and allows you to connect with others.
He concludes that 2 is more likely as it posits only one mechanism for magic, rather than two, while explaining the same data. (Also, Zira saw a vision of her living son with no known spirits involved)
Like I said, it’s not a logical proof, but IMO it presents a series of very reasonable educated guesses.
u/None [+2] (a day later)
Been away for a while. Just read Chapter 1. Hoo, this is good. Thanks for writing!
u/Sophronius [+1] The Need to Become Stronger (a day later)
Cheers! Let me know how you like the rest of the chapters.