2023-03-01 [DMFA #2104] - Dark Pegasus' Contractual Obligation Album

[Tapewolf]

Formalities must be observed.  I hope the adventurer is able to treat this as a badge of honour.

[PhycoKrusk]

Maybe the goal wasn't to destroy Aliph. Maybe what they wanted was to be the one he broke the record with.

Bet nobody thought of that, did they?

[mithril]

at least Aliph is showing restraint, going for demoralizing, but (presumably) less lethal methods of defense.

and i have to say that given how he was introduced originally, i never expected to find myself enjoying his role in more recent storylines. hopefully we'll get some insight into exactly what he was trying to do back in those early strips, now that the subject has been breached, and why he gave up on it, to help explain the shift in apparent characterization (beyond that of "Dan is an unreliable narrator with limited perspective)

[ProfesseurRenard]

Formalities must be observed.  I hope the adventurer is able to treat this as a badge of honour.

"They call me Six-Skips Sully. I squared off against the Dark Pegasus and survived."

[Nightmask]

I think that's less an adventurer mindset than simply that of someone driven to do what they think necessary to avenge the deaths of innocent people or obsessed with eliminating someone they consider evil.  So they keep trying despite it being obvious that they can't win and should go plan for another day.

[WhyNot?]

i have to say that given how he was introduced originally, i never expected to find myself enjoying his role in more recent storylines. hopefully we'll get some insight into exactly what he was trying to do back in those early strips, now that the subject has been breached, and why he gave up on it, to help explain the shift in apparent characterization (beyond that of "Dan is an unreliable narrator with limited perspective)

I feel like that's kinda already been addressed, hasn't it? He was passed over for what should by all rights be his, and apparently common citizens still thought was his, for Malle of all people, which led him to try and prove his worth. So he tried to expand Zinvth's holdings by conquering a notoriously impregnable kingdom only for it to go terribly wrong, becoming a personal bugbear that he tries to fix from time to time.

I suppose you could argue that Devin and Kria are also unreliable narrators but I feel like any future discussion of H-Ann is going to less reveals/recontextualizations on DP's part and more just clarifying his personal feelings on the subject.

Unless you're referring to the 'Dark God' bit itself, which was part of his genocide plan. After dropping a word as heavy as that, I do feel the need to point out that part of the point of this scene is that DP doesn't follow Being (Human-ish) morality so, despite all his admirable and likable qualities, trying to place him in that mold will always leave weird odds and ends.

If you're talking about his personality change from his first appearance to now, though I don't know how 'Dan being an unreliable narrator' could be a point in events we're seeing as they happen, the canon explanation is that the resurrection process messes with him and gives him 'good and bad days' and apparent emotional swings. Though considering how every other flashback of him seems functionally identical to how he consistently is, and aside from Devin's brief lines I quoted above only bought up in the 'Return of Dark Pegasus' arc the concept is introduced in, I'm not sure how much of a thing it's meant to be. Maybe it'll become a point later or maybe it's just one of those small acknowledgments of how stuff from really early strips doesn't line up right that DMFA does from time to time.