天下制覇

Well, at least we got some daylight for half the episode.

Impressions:

Ah, much better. We can see for at least most of the episode, some nice (although certainly not amazing) action, and the story actually lurched forward a bit this episode. Given that it took them two to get out of the cave, it’s almost surprising that we got through the entire Gaius exchange, history lesson, and trip to Avalon in one. For those keeping ‘score,’ I’d also like to point out that we passed  Arawn’s first conquest as well. Morgan creeps into his bed on the voyage over and has her way with him before declaring herself his wife, which for some reason, is only a matter of minor annoyance for Riannon.

I loved the shot of Arawn striding forward while Morgan picked off the soldiers around him. Less interesting was the 50 second shot of a CG lantern while Ogam gave Arawn his history lesson. It is interesting to me that with all the added focus on Arthur, they’re playing down his connection to Arawn’s old brofriend, Pwyll. In the game, they show that the two are almost identical twins from the very start. Given that we’ve already been through Riannon’s past connection to Arawn, concealing Arthur’s just seems weird, but I guess if you haven’t played the game, it won’t feel as strange to you. I do really like that they’re actually showing other people in the Gael tribe too. That was another strange game thing… you just never saw anybody except the main characters. It actually makes it really feel like the tribe is on a mass exodus instead of just the party wandering around.

Brief Summary:

After Arthur’s gung-ho speech, Arawn gets attacked by an amazonian warrior. He easily fends her off and it turns out that she’s one of Arthur’s subordinates. She begs for death, first for losing, and then for her insolence in attacking their chief. Arthur wants his life taken too, prompting Arawn to call them all morons. 

The next day, having burned all their worldly possessions, Gael attacks an imperial port. They’re temporarily stopped by Gaius, who is very curious about Arawn. Gaius throws a magical dagger at Arawn, but the demon lord reflects it back at him. He demands to know Arawn’s goal and recieves the answer Regius. They argue over the meaning for a little bit before Arawn escapes on a ship. Gaius confirms to a subordinate that Arawn is the true demon lord as the dagger melts.

On the ship, Arthur runs around seasick. Ria notices Arawn’s wound and takes him to treat it. Morgan and her get into an argument over who gets to lick it before Ogam shoos them out. He recognizes the wound was made by electrum, the same thing that killed Arawn before. We get a history lesson about Arawn’s past war after Ogam heals the wound.

Later that night, Arthur challenges Arawn. He loses the fight, and begs Arawn to take care of Riannon. Arawn agrees to it.

In the morning, Morgan finds land.

Preview:

Elves elves elves!