#gurgin

By how it was described in the novels (not features in screencaps) it really felt like it was a brutal bloodbath when they got into the Keep of Saint Emmanuel. Could they possibly have declared/announced this earlier in the battle? Maybe not, maybe there's logistical reasoning behind it. Nonetheless, while I didn't feel so much for the mass suicides at the end of the battle (unfortunately), I did get the sense that the battle preceding was bloodier than its manga counterpart. Sometimes I do have to wonder things like this.

Arslan you are so funny.

JEBDIDHDISH GUISCARD?!

Why... did you want to know, Guiscard? Does the truth matter? The truth is what you paint it as, no? True or no, you can use it for propaganda, right?

God I sound like Andragoras. Ew.

I must say that Guiscard is a character I don't really... get.

I kinda wanna know how these things are used... I suppose it doesn't matter, the description is just there for Vibes, but still.

I want the deets, Tanaka.

“these words shone with a great light” is such an ironic description, I'm not gonna lie.

So this is where Parsians thought Rukhnabad came from! Taking notes, taking notes... (I have AU Thoughts™ but not enough brain juice to elaborate immediately, maybe if somebody asks about it...)

As currently known by chapter 121, for the fandom records.

He knows Husrab is supposed to be dead (this is the point I'm absolutely hoping is true). He did not see him, but he must have heard Tahamineh call out and mention him by name in chapter 81. C'mon, Guiscard, I hope you were conscious enough for this!

He knows that magic is real and has heard of Zahhak. Chapter 108

He knows what Isfan looks like (Idk why this is relevant but he does). Chapter 108,109.

He does not know what Hilmes was doing on Mt. Damavand. Chapter 106

He does not know he was supposed to be kidnapped by the sorcerers on the night of Isfan's attack on the Lusitanian camp. Chapter 109

(Compilation of Evil)

Seriously though, Rian had it rough!

@tired-reader-writer expressed curiosity as to why the most recent chapter added fuel to the fire of my delusions, and I did write a shamefully long comment to explain myself but Tumblr ate it, so I'm just gonna write a post instead.

Essentially, what I really latched on to was the flashback redraw of when Gurgin appeared in Chapter 109 (his 'last' chapter, if he really is dead). When I say I was surprised to see his face again... But why did Arakawa choose to redraw this moment? It's not the first time something like this has happened (there are several instances where a character's memory features a redrawn version instead of a copy-and-paste panel) but everything Arakawa does feels so deliberate that I just kept wondering.

Chapter 109, the moment where Isfan's senses appear to alert him to Gurgin's presence.

Chapter 140, Isfan remembering that same moment, with not just one but two different panels of Gurgin; one being a composite of Isfan's reaction and Gurgin's location outside the tent, the other being a much closer view of Gurgin's very distinctive mask.

It's definitely tempting to believe that Arakawa is zooming in on him like this to remind us what he looks like because soon we'll see him again. At least, it's tempting to me, because I want this to happen very badly. There's even precedent for Arakawa using this sort of visual window into a character's thoughts to serve as a useful reminder ahead of future events!

In Chapter 124, when Sam is fighting Kishward in the underground waterways, it's revealed that he wishes he could have died a warrior's death like Garshasp and Shapur:

Here, the faces of Sam's old comrades come to his mind and are clearly presented to readers, along with his dialogue between the two panels indicating their names. These are characters we haven't seen since the early chapters of the manga, yet just seven chapters later, we begin to see these undead warriors come back. This must surely be why Arakawa chose to highlight their appearance again here, to jog the memories of readers and remind us of their fate, soon to be juxtaposed with their unnatural resurrection.

In fact, thinking back even further (because I really do believe Arakawa planned for all of this from the start), Chapter 38's early introduction of Nasreen and Ayyar (Kishward's wife and child) surely serves a similar purpose.

In the novels, Kishward doesn't marry Nasreen and father Ayyar until after Book 7 (well after Manuchurh's death at the Battle of Atropatene). At the time, I just thought Arakawa included his family a little earlier because it was cute (and because if she was intending to wrap up her adaptation before any timeskip, it was the only way to show these characters).

But perhaps it was always more than that. Manuchurh died without us ever knowing him or seeing him in action. Until his return as one of the undead warriors, our only image of him is his severed head. Without his familial connection to Kishward, his return would have left a lot of readers scratching their heads like '??? who is this guy?'.

Incorporating Nasreen and Ayyar and revealing that Manuchurh is Kishward's father-in-law allows him to have a place in the narrative even after his early death, much in the same way that Isfan's backstory kept Shapur in our hearts and minds.

A glimpse of Manuchurh and Khayr's heads, long before any of us could have had nightmares about seeing them again.

(Khayr we know even less of, but in Chapter 132 again it's Gieve's memory of his severed head, complete with visual representation, that is used to identify him upon his return.)

Even the Chapter 77 scene of Kubard asking about the fates of the other Marzban not at Peshawar could fall into the category of a scene that functions as a reminder of the names and fates of those who would return as undead, albeit without visuals this time.

But it's worth remembering that all of these scenes are doing double duty. It's not like their sole function is to drop names of characters Arakawa needs us to remember later on. They also enrich the story in other ways, telling us something about the still living characters and their relationship with others, both alive and dead. We see that Kishward is a family man as well as a warrior. We see Kubard's grief for Shapur and his other comrades. We see Sam's envy for the fallen, arising from his feelings of living on in disgrace.

So, setting aside for a moment the question of whether or not Arakawa wants to remind us of Gurgin because his role, too, is not yet over, what is the other purpose of that scene?

Undead Shapur reveals that he has been brought back by the sorcerers of the Snake King, upon which Gieve asks him "You mean the sorcerers in masks and black robes?", which Shapur confirms. It's at this point that Isfan suddenly remembers his encounter with Gurgin. At face value, perhaps he's just making the connection of how these things are linked, but... Gurgin isn't the only sorcerer Isfan has seen. He fought one before in Peshawar (and arguably got a better look at Pulad, who he fought at close range, than he ever did at Gurgin, who he simply chucked a sword at).

Yet he doesn't recall Pulad, just Gurgin.

And to be honest, I'm surprised that he hadn't already linked Pulad and Gurgin in his mind.

What stands out to me is that Isfan recalling this moment isn't telling readers anything they don't already know. After all, we've seen more of Team Zahhak behind the scenes; we already know that they're all part of the same group. I think that's why it feels to me as though the primary reason for showing us Gurgin again is something else, especially because the moment Arakawa chose to show us is of him alive and interfering, rather than that of his death. (Okay, yeah, it could be just because this is the moment Isfan first spotted him, but if she'd also reminded us of his end or had Isfan recall him as 'the one I killed' rather than 'what I saw' I'd be more inclined to accept his death, whereas right now, flashing back to a panel of him alive and well, just makes me think 'well, what if he is still alive?').

To recap the other supporting points for Gurgin's theoretical survival and return, they are:

No dead body (we never see what happens to his body after that night even though we see the wreckage of the Lusitanian camp including outside the tent where he was stood) and nor does Guiscard mention it.

Holy Master never makes mention of his loss (though we do see Ghundi depart to bear news of this to him, so this might be tenuous and largely based on me just wanting to see the bastard's reaction so I can assess just how little he cares).

Mask design has 'most important disciple' energy, and the fact that it reveals part of his face (see Arakawa's design sketch) allows the potential for him to be recognised. In fact, I'd say the fact that we haven't actually seen his features in canon, just his mask and a glowy eye in darkness, actually makes me even more suspicious... because why would Arakawa design him so his face is partially visible, and then never show it?

That very mask design would allow for him to be recognised by Farangis and THAT would allow for us to get her backstory at last (which otherwise feels like it might not have a place in Arakawa's adaptation) along with info about Gurgin's own past.

So far the disciples have basically just been evil but boring little guys who literally no-one cares about. Gurgin actually has backstory that would add a lot of interest and I think there are a lot of options for Arakawa to do something cool with it.

He was actually the last disciple standing in novel canon. If he comes back in the manga, he'll get the chance to occupy that position again (I'm not kidding myself that he'll get to live to the end even if he does come back but I'm okay with that, I just want to see more of him first).

If the intent for his character arc is that he survived Isfan's sword to come back and cause trouble again (for Isfan specifically?) then it suddenly makes sense that Arakawa flipped his position in the novels, where he was the one watching someone else fuck up and get killed.

If Sam survived getting skewered through the torso, why can't Gurgin survive getting skewered through the neck?

(Even little things like the fact that Isfan's horse is wounded yet is still alive and alert make me wonder... We saw it react to Gurgin's presence before, could the same thing happen again?)