JoshuaBeeking

Washing off the war.

I am very happy with the result of this one, it was a nice change of pace from constant comic pages making, but now it's time to return to it!

You can Imagine Henry and Hans going to an important meeting in town, but on the way there, they get ambushed by bandits and after successfully taking care of them, now they have to try to make themselves look presentable again.

1. they found the kuttenberg map and subsequent quests less engaging than trosky because it felt like henry had fewer personal stakes in the conflict after killing istvan.

2. they didn’t discuss the romance.

i don’t blame these folks for not including romance analysis in their 1+ hour videos, it’s all good, BUT. i was lowkey tearing my hair out like ahh that’s the point! henry is driven by purpose, and when his original goal of vengeance against istvan is fulfilled, he is left conflicted and drifting until he can find purpose in something new…or something (someONE) that’s been there the whole time. henry’s story is about disrupting the cycle of violence through human connection! refusing to let vengeance consume you by finding other reasons to keep living! and even without the romantic angle, henry finds purpose in his role as hans’ friend/protector, and hans too finds purpose beyond the constraints of his noble status in his bond with henry!! literally as soon as henry gets to suchdol fortress he’s like “idgaf about your truce, jobst, i need to save capon.” after being tortured, killing istvan, retrieving the sword, and fleeing trosky, henry is exhausted and desperate for a new reason to keep moving forward, and he reaches for hans. always hans.

obviously i am biased, but i truly believe that the story of kcd2 is better by romancing hans. it’s optional, sure, player choice etc, but so is confronting markvart outside of suchdol, and i think we can all agree that that scene is very impactful on the story and themes. there’s SO MUCH MORE i could get into on why i think the hans romance is essential to understanding kcd2 and henry’s story (they are narrative foils, they have parallel but opposite coming-of-age storylines, they are both redefining themselves in the wake of trauma and refusing to be what others say they are, hans kisses first - chooses henry first - but henry commits to hans in return, no more running from yourself and who you are and what you want to be) but that would be full-essay territory, probably, and this post is obnoxiously long as is.