TWWR Round up 12/22/2025– The Aftermath of Consequences

This is the last round up before Christmas. If you’re celebrating, I hope you have a fantastic holiday. If you’re celebrating another holiday or not at all, I hope that it’s also a wonderful day. I personally will be enjoying two days off from work while I attempt to catch up in Monster Hunter Wilds for the Festival of Accord: Lumenhymn. I’m just a few levels away from 100 which will unlock the rest of the game for me.

In comic news, I saw that Under the Ash Tree is updating again. It restarted in September at roughly one page a month (though they are long pages). The webcomic is no longer updating on DeviantArt and will be exclusive to ComicFury. This is such an enjoyable tale, and I love how it has a (dark) storybook feel. It’s also told from a third-person perspective. If you’ve been missing this one or haven’t read it, please do so.

Africa | Page(s): 453 | Patreon

It’s time to check in on Faida in the aftermath of her being ousted from her clan. She’s seen better days as she had to trudge through the swamp water with numerous bites on her body. Her former clan mates even ripped her ears to shreds. At the moment it’s hard to tell if she’s on death’s door or has a bit longer to live. Either way, I’m extremely happy that Badru found her. He may be a coward (in general), but he’s loyal to his mate. I’m also glad he ran instead of fighting, as it wouldn’t do Faida any good if he were dead or also badly injured. She now has someone to clean her wounds and hunt for her, giving her a tiny shot at recovery. If she does survive, I suspect the two of them will be a duo for quite a while as they’re not likely to join another clan.

Despite the former matriarch’s bad choices regarding Africa, ignoring her clan, and wanting revenge on the lions, I still feel bad seeing her brought so low. But matriarchs come and go, and nature is cruel.

What Lurks Beneath | Pages(s): 955 – 957 | Patreon

I was right, Petrel is tired because watching Egret is a pawful. Falling asleep is dangerous for them because he’ll likely run off. At least this time it was right into Sturgeon’s paws. It’s actually blowing my mind to see how happy and friendly Egret is here. It makes me wonder what happened to turn him into the surly adult we know in the present. I also can’t help but note that he’s the same age as Hake and Trout, but isn’t speaking yet. Arual confirmed on Tumblr that he is autistic on top of having delayed speech. We know that he eventually gets it. I just hope he has more moments of happiness before everything goes sour. On a lighter note, he totally has the mouse that Trout caught. Finders keepers!

The nice moment between Sturgeon and Petrel regarding Egret ends abruptly as the fight between them and Thresher is brought up. Petrel is already cautious regarding what Trout has to say, and they’re sore that she called Snapper on them. Again, I don’t think Trout left that part out to be malicious, but I do think the Daisy might take it that way. I can already see how much respect they’ve lost for the future queen, and the conversation is just getting started.

In The Lion’s Den: The Scarlet Uproar | Page(s): 73 – 74 | Patreon

I missed how unhinged the Therians are. Also, the contrast between how realistic and detailed they’re drawn compared to the critters. It really does give them an otherworldly, almost supernatural feel. I also like how we’re immediately starting off with the crazed glowing pupils, though Maximus is quite calm. That said, being eaten alive for the crime of theft and lying is overkill. Even the audience with their jeers and calls for blood didn’t seem like they expected the thief to die. The punishment for his crime strikes me as more related to lying about having a family versus the crime itself. At least that’s what I gather between Maximus’ angry expression and the masked feline’s reaction.

These pages are also a bit dark in their humor. The expression the lion makes before chomping down on the thief, the audience reaction, and Kay’s mouth being left agape are funny to me. Speaking of Kay, I am curious to see what the tyrant thinks of her being a former royal and how she gets out of this mess. (I’m pretty confident in stating that she’ll have some plot armor.)

Before we get to the former royal, I’m even more curious to see if Maximus allows anyone else shoved into the arena to leave with their lives or if it’s going to gorge itself on critters tonight.

Lost Scent | Page(s): 107 | Patreon

I was horrified to see this heart-to-heart moment nearly broken up by Danell. It turns out Piper and Tulpi have been standing right next to the ship’s communication device and likely anyone near the other end heard their conversation. That’s unnerving. I do love how Piper shuts the interruption down by waving away his speech bubble as she shoves a pillow into the mouth of the device. (I really don’t know what it’s called, and I tried to look it up. It looks like either a gramophone or a phonograph, but those are music related items from the 19th century.)

She urges Tulpi to go on regarding her feelings. The Akita-mix wonders if not being more outgoing was her fault, and the Whippet agrees with her slightly, but insists she has her own strengths. After all if Motte didn’t care, would she be being traveling so far with Tulpi? Hopefully, those words can help the Akita overcome her abandonment issues. She had to travel with her brother for familial reasons, but it’s likely that she and Motte chose to travel together. This is definitely the talk that she needs.

Golden Shrike | Page(s): 338 | Patreon

My question has been answered. Antaras coerced Loss into calling for Eve. I get the feeling the god is doing so out of panic or fear more than anything else. Calling her seems to involve spewing black and red smoke from its mouth. Those are Eve’s colors as they’re present in Iralee’s description of her, and the god’s speech bubbles for the few times she has spoken. I’m really curious as to how Antaras will bind her to Oudia. Will they fight, bargain, or does the God-caller trick her?

Home | Page(s): 948 | Patreon

Thank goodness this exchange between Ranach and Onofre is finally over. We get into the heart of what could be a possible redemption arc for Ranach. He berates the Dragonsfall Baron for wanting to wipe out the remnants of the Meteor Tribe despite the dogs that served under Arenak being gone. He begins with the excuse that his partner was killed by Nordgarde Tribe, but the former Jarl doesn’t buy it. His partner was killed during a raid they initiated. I guess Onofre’s dogged pursuit of Nordegard are the consequences of Roamer killing him when everyone in the former MT was ordered not to hurt the raiders. That said, I’m doubtful the combined tribes would have stopped at burning tents since they seemed hellbent on finding a reason for a larger attack.

As much as I hate to admit it, Onofre does have a point about the former Jarl. Why does Ranach care? At the end of the day, he was rejected by his tribe (for good reason), attacked them, and ran south. There are two reasons I can think of on why he suddenly cares about their well-being despite siccing a cursed beast on them earlier in this story.

One, Kique does have redemption in mind and for that to happen Ranach has to become a slightly better person. That said, he’s crossed too many points of no return to be redeemed. His attempted murder of Rogio, his successful murder of Jonna, Fuss, Ulfr (with attempting a sexual assault first), and Kargo. Burning his former tribe’s walls to the ground. He’s not shown a shred of remorse for these acts, save for Rogio, but then wanted to sleep with Iberon as soon as he figured out he was Rogio’s brother. Yeah, no.

The second reason for the former Jarl suddenly caring is that he wants an intact tribe to reclaim as his own. Perhaps instead of wiping the tribe out, he wants to rule over them, but first has to subjugate them either through violence or manipulation. It would be a very Ranach thing to do, except there’s no one left in the tribe who’d willingly bow to him. (If this was a better told story, perhaps we’d have some parallels between Ranach’s desire to rule and Marduk’s.) At this point, if he wants to be a leader again, his best shot is starting over if the rebellion succeeds, and charming the followers who don’t know or care about his past.

On the upside, he’s terrified of Kargo. Also, he accepts that the dog he murdered is alive. Can we now have a path that leads to him finally believing that Rogio is alive as well? If Kargo could come back, why couldn’t Rogio in his mind? It would resolve one of the dumbest plot points that has been running for years and hundreds of pages.

Off for the week:

On hiatus:

The Order of the Black Dog | Issue Page: | Patreon