#hodir

Mom: *notices my room's empty doorframe*

Mom: what happened to your door?

Me: *single tear runs down my face*

Hm, let me put the rest of my thoughts in bullet points because otherwise I’ll never be able to keep it in check, lol. I AM SUCH A FANGIRL FOR ZANDEH PLEASE FORGIVE MEEE~.

apart from not being set at night, Hiromu Arakawa’s version of this fight is very close to the novels both in terms of dialogue and actual combat

OMFG I love Zandeh’s lines like “Take my blade of righteousness!” and he really did say that Daryun’s head and heart belong to him!

...and his sword really is bigger than normal?

perhaps it wasn’t intended to be quite as outsized as it appears in the modern adaptations but since it’s described as ‘massive’ ‘hefty’ ‘heavy’ and having a ‘broad blade’ there’s some basis for that design at least

Farangis’s horse was only half beheaded here. I love the way her movements during her attempt to kill Zandeh are described (the entire fight is well-written and I enjoyed how her fighting style and movement is like the complete opposite of his, right down to what happens when their horses are killed under them).

it’s mentioned that Zandeh picks up his helm at the end of this part before he and his men go chasing off after Daryun and Farangis; good because I was worried about his head after he threw it away in the manga version!

for anyone who only watched the anime and didn’t ever take Zandeh that seriously as a potential threat, it’s clear here that even though Daryun has more experience and technical skill, the extent of Zandeh’s fighting spirit is what makes him a fearsome opponent

didn’t realise that Zandeh got some cuts when fighting Daryun but it makes sense as he has a lot of strength but not so much finesse (and probably more of a focus on attack rather than defending)

and he did lick the blood from his head wound! I had wondered whether that detail was added in the manga but no, it’s there