I can’t see how any of Ophelia’s actions resulted in anything but good news and happy endings.
64 Comments
I love how Anthony just points out the flaw mid story. XD
And the dad already looks like a… “type”
Anthony’s also missed one.
When could that photo have been taken, within the sequence of events as described by his mother.
Um, anytime before she turned human? His dad’s not in the photo.
Hm… I think the photo is just simply one she took before the whole event happened.
Oh my gosh Tony that is no way to speak to your mother.
And how then should he speak to her?
Stop and think about how such a TEENAGER would react.
His life was screwed over by the events in Exchanges.
He is NOT coping well with what he has been transformed into.
He resents having to rely on the charity of his best friend, when it was the selfsame friend who caused Anthony’s current Situation.
And now, to cap things, he is learning just how comprehensive the extent of lies has been that he’s been told by his mother over his life to date.
Tony’s not exactly in the best mental state at the moment, what with his entire world being rocked (in the bad way) 24/7 for the past few days. Kid’s under a lot of stress.
Admittedly, he really shouldn’t talk to his mother like that, you’re right, but I think he’s due a little lee-way in light of the circumstances.
Oh man, this is getting better and better by the minute. I want to know more about this sorcerer, too. D:
What species would that sorceress be?
I wonder if the horns are common among human born sorcerers.
That they usually wind up gaining them in accidents involving magic.
Well we know thats true of Tim, but we will have to find out if its true to most if not all human born sorcerers.
Well, she has some sort of face thing going on too, as well as the horns. Plus the weird eyes.
She is using the same kind of magic stuff as Tim, one can see the stuff she is doing with the stick on the sand.
you know, I think the sorceress might be a jackal. not sure tho :l
Are Panes a thing? As in different from satyrs? They’re greek and have been depicted with goat faces. I’m pretty sure that sorceress isn’t human, at least.
Wonder what “I would do anything” wound up as.
Also, Jeez, Kory, what a great storyline you have here!
I believe the “anything” in this case is being banished to the human world forever. Poor girl.
Maybe not so banished, she still has the memories and people will still recognize her, though minus wings and tail.
But to remain human for the remainder of her life. We dont know how long Harpies are supposed to live either, could be quite some time, and maybe longer than a natural human lifespan.
I was thinking more along the lines of, “What payment did the sorcerer demand?” Clearly not her voice…
Perhaps it was more of a trade, or the sorcerer just felt sorry for her. Depends if they had some kind of monetary exchange or everything was based on trade and barter.
She had her own version of the OG little mermaid? minus turning to foam.
Until next week when it is revealed as obviously not true, the man on the boat is actually the Beatle I first took him for and that’s why she moved to Liverpool.
The Beatle? So Tony is half-harpy, half-rock and roll?
Well that wouldn’t be so bad either if he has one of the Beatles genes in him. Heck with his love for the guitar that we know about, he may be able to call out Alec for a battle of the bands and kick his arse!
Does anyone else think he looks a bit too much like Ike? We going to find out that Tony and Ike are half brothers?
Obviously it’s not that permanent for the next generation. Also, what exactly makes it permanent and other types of magic not? If it’s the same spell as the one for Ike’s father, then it’s not very good if it’s doing that to their children.
Ophelia, god dang it.
Actually, the spell probably would have persisted indefinitely if Tony hadn’t come into contact with the amulet. There weren’t any signs of it breaking down until the amulet had already started unraveling it.
Not so much, not permanent, but rather I think weaker in comparison to the Medallion Magic in that nokk medallion.
Remember what Tim says in Exchanges, Heartaches, page 25:
“Medallions, especially blank ones, hold a very, very powerful spell. There are few magics in the world that can compete with their complexity.”
“Weak or ill-cast spells buckle and fail when confronted with Medallion Magic.”
“If your friend here had an old or weak spell when he interacted with that Medallion, it could have been enough to crack the spell and cause it to get weaker until it disappeared completely.”
Possibly it is permanent in the sense that this is very strong magic, and it would take even stronger magics to undo it?
Such as the magics in a medallion?
So this sorceress would’ve said that it would take something more powerful than what she has to reverse her work, and so the spell is effectively “forever”.
The permanent was cast at Ophelia, not Anthony. Remember? Oh, yes, of course you do. You’ve just read it. Anyway, he’s her son, so the spell is weaker in him, which made it easier for the medallion to break it. Maybe in her case it wouldn’t happen. Not like that, at least.
Time for TINFOIL HAT SHENANIGANS! Those sideburns look awfully familiar. Perhaps even similar to a certain half-manticore’s? DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN!! SECRETLY, TONY AND IKE ARE HALF-BROTHERS!
(Just kidding. Mostly. It’s a popular hair shenanigan on British dudes, I’m sure, especially after the Beatles.)
((Also yeah, curious if the horns thing is a common side effect of learning magic or if she’s of a different race. Could Tim maybe be a halfsie of one of whatever those are and not know it?))
Tony en Ik halfbroers? Dat lijkt me geweldig. Zal bast nog een paar explosieve scene,s opleveren.
I think it’s kind of funny that Tony’s face feathers match the shape of his dad’s facial hair.
It is a rather amusing little detail, he is his father’s son. Lol
Oh god tony ur life is just falling apart at the seems now isn’t it.
I was gonna say this was just like the Little Mermaid, but then I read the alt-text
I think the most important thing that Tony will be taking away from this story is that there’s a sorcerer who can change a harpy into a human permanently. And even if she’s since died, the spell at least exists and can possibly be learned by another sorcerer.
Learned from who?
Tim has no knowledge of it, else he would have made some mention of it by now.
Another sorcerer rediscovering the spell independently, would likely be the only way. Unfortunately then you have the problem of learning who and where this new sorcerer is, and then, getting Anthony this sorcerer.
And if the old sorcerer on the island Avalon is still alive, there is the issue of getting Anthony to that Grecian island. Abbie can’t get to Cardiff without major problems. Imagine the nightmare of trying to get through Immigrations And Customs for a Monster race in 2004/2005.
True, true, but this is a comic so anything can happen in Kory wills it. At least, that’s what I do with my comic when I’ve stymied myself with similar problems.
Agreed with you Jeni, and Cardiff isnt terribly far from Liverpool, 3 1/2 hours by car, longer on a train. Someone who has a medallion from the magical world and who is able to drive could do it. However, for Abbie i bet that would be terrible uncomfortable, sitting down in a human way with all those tail feathers and not to mention feet that dont really work in the same way either. All in all an uncomfortable trip.
Also Jeni your right with all the heightened security from the 9/11 and if they where to go in july of 2005 then you have the 7/7/05 London Tube bombings which makes things harder.
Ah, but Tony can fly.
Or at least, he can when his wing feathers return and he learns the art.
He could in theory get himself to the Mediterranean sea under his own power and look around for the island, using his mother’s description of the location.
In theory.
In reality, storywise, its not likely of course.
Though-
Flying at a high enough altitude, over water to avoid casual detection from landbound humans, he could get there without being seen.
He is based on a frigate bird, so long range gliding on air currents should be a natural thing for him.
Just a thought.
-Badger-
Badger, I’d like to point out that we don’t know if Anthony can fly, yes hr inherited the harpy thing from his mum, but to what extent, did he get the hollow bones as well or is he still human enough that he is too heavy to fly.
Of course it would be nice if he could get there, but I cant see him wanting to even learn to fly, even with his mum as a guide, he would be way to angry at her for that. He’s 16 and not coping well at all.
Well, magic is strange and complex and a very good excuse for not having all the mechanics of the world worked out.
Geez, be a worse authority figure why don’t you Mr. Sorceror guy. “I command vast stores of hidden wisdom and can cast illusions about entire islands! Now, naive teenager, I will ascede to your request and permanently make you another species so you can run off with some douchebag who brought his boat here! Oh, you haven’t met him? That’s OK! Now you can! Not come back, I mean. Poof!”
Also, I bet she’s got an uncomfortable hole back there where her tail feathers came out…
Alles goed en wel. Maar wat is Anthony nou precies? En ik wil wedden dat de spreuk niet zo permanent is als dat ze denkt.
Fixed that for you :P
**********
Posted on July 14, 2014 by KoryBing
I can’t see how any of Ophelia’s actions resulted in anything but good news and HARPY endings.
I was gonna say but then I saw the text.
“And that is how I got impregnated by Hunter S. Thompson during his Woodstock phase.”
(You done goofed, Ophelia. I don’t think Tony’s gonna take this anywhere the vicinity of “well”.)
I gotta say, she really pulls off the harpy look.
Indeed, I dunno why but I love Ophelia as a Harpy more than as a human.
She should have thought longer and harder about it.
Very much so, but being young, naive and impulsive probably did not help in the matter. She wanted to meet this human, but she didn’t want to expose the island, to her it was the only way, but granted she should have thought longer and harder about it than a few days.
Oh crap, his dad is going to turn out to be a total jerkface. I can see already it :(
More than likely, but we dont know how Anthony’s father left yet, whether he left voluntarily, without telling her, or he is deceased. Heck maybe he left because he is also magical as well and is why he was hanging around that avalon. Tony might be really really lucky in that his fsther was a shape shifter of some kind.
I’m hoping his dad is some kind of shape shiftier and he gets the abilities of such. Something would finally go Tony’s way if that’s the case.
Lets just hope thats the case, it would be cool if it where so and would make Anthony’s transition that much easier, being human outside and a harpy in the Avalon
I don’t get why the sorcerer agreed to do the spell, you’d think they’d be more selective about things like that. Ophelia’s parents must have been pissed.
To me it seems really sad that she would give up her entire world for a man she had never known, she gave up her friends, her family, her wings, for a man who is no longer with her. Who I bet abandoned her, not long after or maybe before she even knew she was pregnant with his baby. Left to a cold cruel world with a body that was new to her. Its kind of similar to tony’s story. the whole new body, forced to leave all you love behind thing. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. It might be cruel to say but I really hope Tony’s dad is dead and didn’t just abandon her.
Agreed, though maybe she admitted to him what she was/used to be showed him that very same photo and he got scared off by it. Still I wonder why she moved to Liverpool? And in theory she could have used the CSA (Child Support Agency) to track his father down and make him pay child maintainance.
I’m still wondering what irresponsible sorcerer would just be like “eh, this is a young kid, whatever, I’ll wreck their life forever on a whim… Cool.”
psst – no alt text?
Well, two people said above that it cleared up their misconceptions. Maybe too well, so it was removed because of spoilers? It’s still missing.
Oh wow, Tony’s mom did the same face he did when reacting to his wings! Sweet detail :)
Great. Now “Poor Unfortunate Souls” is stuck in my head.
64 Comments
I love how Anthony just points out the flaw mid story. XD
And the dad already looks like a… “type”
Anthony’s also missed one.
When could that photo have been taken, within the sequence of events as described by his mother.
Um, anytime before she turned human? His dad’s not in the photo.
Hm… I think the photo is just simply one she took before the whole event happened.
Oh my gosh Tony that is no way to speak to your mother.
And how then should he speak to her?
Stop and think about how such a TEENAGER would react.
His life was screwed over by the events in Exchanges.
He is NOT coping well with what he has been transformed into.
He resents having to rely on the charity of his best friend, when it was the selfsame friend who caused Anthony’s current Situation.
And now, to cap things, he is learning just how comprehensive the extent of lies has been that he’s been told by his mother over his life to date.
Tony’s not exactly in the best mental state at the moment, what with his entire world being rocked (in the bad way) 24/7 for the past few days. Kid’s under a lot of stress.
Admittedly, he really shouldn’t talk to his mother like that, you’re right, but I think he’s due a little lee-way in light of the circumstances.
Oh man, this is getting better and better by the minute. I want to know more about this sorcerer, too. D:
What species would that sorceress be?
I wonder if the horns are common among human born sorcerers.
That they usually wind up gaining them in accidents involving magic.
Well we know thats true of Tim, but we will have to find out if its true to most if not all human born sorcerers.
Well, she has some sort of face thing going on too, as well as the horns. Plus the weird eyes.
She is using the same kind of magic stuff as Tim, one can see the stuff she is doing with the stick on the sand.
you know, I think the sorceress might be a jackal. not sure tho :l
Are Panes a thing? As in different from satyrs? They’re greek and have been depicted with goat faces. I’m pretty sure that sorceress isn’t human, at least.
Wonder what “I would do anything” wound up as.
Also, Jeez, Kory, what a great storyline you have here!
I believe the “anything” in this case is being banished to the human world forever. Poor girl.
Maybe not so banished, she still has the memories and people will still recognize her, though minus wings and tail.
But to remain human for the remainder of her life. We dont know how long Harpies are supposed to live either, could be quite some time, and maybe longer than a natural human lifespan.
I was thinking more along the lines of, “What payment did the sorcerer demand?” Clearly not her voice…
Perhaps it was more of a trade, or the sorcerer just felt sorry for her. Depends if they had some kind of monetary exchange or everything was based on trade and barter.
She had her own version of the OG little mermaid? minus turning to foam.
Until next week when it is revealed as obviously not true, the man on the boat is actually the Beatle I first took him for and that’s why she moved to Liverpool.
The Beatle? So Tony is half-harpy, half-rock and roll?
Well that wouldn’t be so bad either if he has one of the Beatles genes in him. Heck with his love for the guitar that we know about, he may be able to call out Alec for a battle of the bands and kick his arse!
Does anyone else think he looks a bit too much like Ike? We going to find out that Tony and Ike are half brothers?
Obviously it’s not that permanent for the next generation. Also, what exactly makes it permanent and other types of magic not? If it’s the same spell as the one for Ike’s father, then it’s not very good if it’s doing that to their children.
Ophelia, god dang it.
Actually, the spell probably would have persisted indefinitely if Tony hadn’t come into contact with the amulet. There weren’t any signs of it breaking down until the amulet had already started unraveling it.
Not so much, not permanent, but rather I think weaker in comparison to the Medallion Magic in that nokk medallion.
Remember what Tim says in Exchanges, Heartaches, page 25:
“Medallions, especially blank ones, hold a very, very powerful spell. There are few magics in the world that can compete with their complexity.”
“Weak or ill-cast spells buckle and fail when confronted with Medallion Magic.”
“If your friend here had an old or weak spell when he interacted with that Medallion, it could have been enough to crack the spell and cause it to get weaker until it disappeared completely.”
Possibly it is permanent in the sense that this is very strong magic, and it would take even stronger magics to undo it?
Such as the magics in a medallion?
So this sorceress would’ve said that it would take something more powerful than what she has to reverse her work, and so the spell is effectively “forever”.
The permanent was cast at Ophelia, not Anthony. Remember? Oh, yes, of course you do. You’ve just read it. Anyway, he’s her son, so the spell is weaker in him, which made it easier for the medallion to break it. Maybe in her case it wouldn’t happen. Not like that, at least.
Time for TINFOIL HAT SHENANIGANS! Those sideburns look awfully familiar. Perhaps even similar to a certain half-manticore’s? DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN!! SECRETLY, TONY AND IKE ARE HALF-BROTHERS!
(Just kidding. Mostly. It’s a popular hair shenanigan on British dudes, I’m sure, especially after the Beatles.)
((Also yeah, curious if the horns thing is a common side effect of learning magic or if she’s of a different race. Could Tim maybe be a halfsie of one of whatever those are and not know it?))
Tony en Ik halfbroers? Dat lijkt me geweldig. Zal bast nog een paar explosieve scene,s opleveren.
I think it’s kind of funny that Tony’s face feathers match the shape of his dad’s facial hair.
It is a rather amusing little detail, he is his father’s son. Lol
Oh god tony ur life is just falling apart at the seems now isn’t it.
I was gonna say this was just like the Little Mermaid, but then I read the alt-text
I think the most important thing that Tony will be taking away from this story is that there’s a sorcerer who can change a harpy into a human permanently. And even if she’s since died, the spell at least exists and can possibly be learned by another sorcerer.
Learned from who?
Tim has no knowledge of it, else he would have made some mention of it by now.
Another sorcerer rediscovering the spell independently, would likely be the only way. Unfortunately then you have the problem of learning who and where this new sorcerer is, and then, getting Anthony this sorcerer.
And if the old sorcerer on the island Avalon is still alive, there is the issue of getting Anthony to that Grecian island. Abbie can’t get to Cardiff without major problems. Imagine the nightmare of trying to get through Immigrations And Customs for a Monster race in 2004/2005.
True, true, but this is a comic so anything can happen in Kory wills it. At least, that’s what I do with my comic when I’ve stymied myself with similar problems.
Agreed with you Jeni, and Cardiff isnt terribly far from Liverpool, 3 1/2 hours by car, longer on a train. Someone who has a medallion from the magical world and who is able to drive could do it. However, for Abbie i bet that would be terrible uncomfortable, sitting down in a human way with all those tail feathers and not to mention feet that dont really work in the same way either. All in all an uncomfortable trip.
Also Jeni your right with all the heightened security from the 9/11 and if they where to go in july of 2005 then you have the 7/7/05 London Tube bombings which makes things harder.
Ah, but Tony can fly.
Or at least, he can when his wing feathers return and he learns the art.
He could in theory get himself to the Mediterranean sea under his own power and look around for the island, using his mother’s description of the location.
In theory.
In reality, storywise, its not likely of course.
Though-
Flying at a high enough altitude, over water to avoid casual detection from landbound humans, he could get there without being seen.
He is based on a frigate bird, so long range gliding on air currents should be a natural thing for him.
Just a thought.
-Badger-
Badger, I’d like to point out that we don’t know if Anthony can fly, yes hr inherited the harpy thing from his mum, but to what extent, did he get the hollow bones as well or is he still human enough that he is too heavy to fly.
Of course it would be nice if he could get there, but I cant see him wanting to even learn to fly, even with his mum as a guide, he would be way to angry at her for that. He’s 16 and not coping well at all.
Well, magic is strange and complex and a very good excuse for not having all the mechanics of the world worked out.
Geez, be a worse authority figure why don’t you Mr. Sorceror guy. “I command vast stores of hidden wisdom and can cast illusions about entire islands! Now, naive teenager, I will ascede to your request and permanently make you another species so you can run off with some douchebag who brought his boat here! Oh, you haven’t met him? That’s OK! Now you can! Not come back, I mean. Poof!”
Also, I bet she’s got an uncomfortable hole back there where her tail feathers came out…
Alles goed en wel. Maar wat is Anthony nou precies? En ik wil wedden dat de spreuk niet zo permanent is als dat ze denkt.
Fixed that for you :P
**********
Posted on July 14, 2014 by KoryBing
I can’t see how any of Ophelia’s actions resulted in anything but good news and HARPY endings.
I was gonna say but then I saw the text.
“And that is how I got impregnated by Hunter S. Thompson during his Woodstock phase.”
(You done goofed, Ophelia. I don’t think Tony’s gonna take this anywhere the vicinity of “well”.)
I gotta say, she really pulls off the harpy look.
Indeed, I dunno why but I love Ophelia as a Harpy more than as a human.
She should have thought longer and harder about it.
Very much so, but being young, naive and impulsive probably did not help in the matter. She wanted to meet this human, but she didn’t want to expose the island, to her it was the only way, but granted she should have thought longer and harder about it than a few days.
Oh crap, his dad is going to turn out to be a total jerkface. I can see already it :(
More than likely, but we dont know how Anthony’s father left yet, whether he left voluntarily, without telling her, or he is deceased. Heck maybe he left because he is also magical as well and is why he was hanging around that avalon. Tony might be really really lucky in that his fsther was a shape shifter of some kind.
I’m hoping his dad is some kind of shape shiftier and he gets the abilities of such. Something would finally go Tony’s way if that’s the case.
Lets just hope thats the case, it would be cool if it where so and would make Anthony’s transition that much easier, being human outside and a harpy in the Avalon
I don’t get why the sorcerer agreed to do the spell, you’d think they’d be more selective about things like that. Ophelia’s parents must have been pissed.
To me it seems really sad that she would give up her entire world for a man she had never known, she gave up her friends, her family, her wings, for a man who is no longer with her. Who I bet abandoned her, not long after or maybe before she even knew she was pregnant with his baby. Left to a cold cruel world with a body that was new to her. Its kind of similar to tony’s story. the whole new body, forced to leave all you love behind thing. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. It might be cruel to say but I really hope Tony’s dad is dead and didn’t just abandon her.
Agreed, though maybe she admitted to him what she was/used to be showed him that very same photo and he got scared off by it. Still I wonder why she moved to Liverpool? And in theory she could have used the CSA (Child Support Agency) to track his father down and make him pay child maintainance.
I’m still wondering what irresponsible sorcerer would just be like “eh, this is a young kid, whatever, I’ll wreck their life forever on a whim… Cool.”
psst – no alt text?
Well, two people said above that it cleared up their misconceptions. Maybe too well, so it was removed because of spoilers? It’s still missing.
Oh wow, Tony’s mom did the same face he did when reacting to his wings! Sweet detail :)
Great. Now “Poor Unfortunate Souls” is stuck in my head.
Sideburns are genetic, apparently. XD