Arslan Senki Ch. 32 Thoughts
I have a few questions about this one! I liked that the entirety of the chapter took place in the capital; there’s a lot going on in a short space of time and it makes sense to concentrate on the events there. The chapter opens with poor Innocentis panicking about the fact that Hildigo has been found dead...
WAIT, SO WHO KILLED HILDIGO?
I had assumed it was Guiscard who arranged for the assassination, but there’s something else going on here? I can probably blame the anime for that, since some changes were made concerning the events surrounding the departure of Bodin and the Temple Knights and Hildigo appeared only as a corpse (his character picture in the Animation Works guidebook is his dead body, lol) and if you watch the scene where Bodin is accusing Guiscard of having done it, he doesn’t exactly deny it. Huh.
I always enjoy thinking about the chapter titles; in this case ‘Return of the Warrior’ might hold a dual meaning in that it could refer to the return of Hilmes to the capital but perhaps also to the reappearance of another character at the very end of the chapter (fuck, I was so excited to see him but he looks terrible!).
Ah, seeing Bodin’s impotent rage and that look on Guiscard’s face when he tells him that Hildigo was found in bed with a woman when he died is so satisfying! Guiscard is technically an enemy of Pars too, but to see him get one up on Bodin is great.
But then trouble is brewing with the Temple Knights (covered very briefly in the anime, where a mention was made of the flag being removed) and Guiscard’s men are dispatched to deal with it. And oh look, it’s my fave nameless Lusitanian and we get to see him in action for the first time, and then as it looks like they are about to be overpowered by the Temple Knights, Hilmes rides in. He’s still hugely pissed off that he was ordered back to Ecbatana, so he was probably happy to have something to kill.
I got a real kick out of how insolent Hilmes was being - just as I was thinking ‘wow, he’s really not going to dismount his horse to speak with Guiscard, is he?’ someone speaks up and he ends up having to do so (it looks like Guiscard is aware of his displeasure and is trying to pacify him by suggesting he rest before they talk, and might have overlooked it, but after the blatant disrespect is pointed out it leaves Hilmes with no choice but to dismount).
...and the one who orders him to do so is Montferrat. This is where the scene deviated from my expectations, because Montferrat’s brother is not mentioned? And there’s no further conflict between Montferrat and Hilmes (and if it didn’t happen here I don’t see it happening later instead because it seems like something that would happen in the heat of the moment...though maybe we’ll see Montferrat voicing his concerns to Guiscard at some point?). It’s clear that Montferrat has his suspicions and dislikes Hilmes, so the cut isn’t a big deal, I was just surprised.
No mention of what the Temple Knights did before they departed the city, either? I hope that hasn’t been cut.
Husrab is in this chapter, too...
AHHHH AND I KNOW WHAT’S COMING AT THE END, OR RATHER WHO IT IS THAT WISHES TO SPEAK WITH HILMES. Yes, it’s Saam (how many chapters after we last saw him?). It’s been one month since the city fell and he looks awful, but his survival alone was miraculous enough and with wounds so severe, it’s not a surprise that he’s lost a lot of weight and looks so haggard (he must be in a lot of pain still). In that condition he’s not going to be joining Hilmes on campaign any time soon.
