A Mortal Descendant 2013-05-28

[KnightDelight]

The "That plan was best" is really confusing in light of this new comic. How could it have been best if we now know she didn't think Bia's plan would work? And the comic with the "Shelly needlessly spent all that time in the forest" comment seems like she is also saying since Bia's plan would not work in the first place, there was no need for Shelly to become a sphinx, or even a need for Shelly at all.

I have to wonder, though, did Brandi store the people so she would have a "resource" she could unleash much, much later in the final showdown with the elder gods (or whatever)?

Also, since she probably cannot have offspring herself, did she do the combining thing with the six babies so as to create a different form of super-being, bypassing the traditional route of doing it by mating with the gods? Basically giving birth to a whole new line of god-like beings who suffered none of the negative traits of the gods, yet had the same powers. This, perhaps being what she meant by Bia's plan not working since anything she gave birth to would have the usual "weaknesses" of the traditional gods.

[Wyvern]

Also, since she probably cannot have offspring herself, did she do the combining thing with the six babies so as to create a different form of super-being, bypassing the traditional route of doing it by mating with the gods?

If Brandi really wanted to manufacture vastly powerful immortal offspring, there's no reason why she couldn't follow Mayahuel's lead and go into the pottery business. There's no reasonable need for anything more powerful than the Chimera, and that's known technology now. The only thing stopping her is that she knows how golems are made and wouldn't want to.

[Julie]

Now, yes, but when Shelly said she'd "only live as long as any human", she still didn't know momma dearest was a titan. That she thought herself mortal when unaware of her own half-titan nature, is, as shadowinthelight writes, inconclusive.

As Julie pointed out, Shelly has been told she's immortal. When she's surprised with news that she's been played (Justin's butt slap, Phix revealing Justin's true identity, Bia telling her she's never returning to mortality) --Shelly loses control over her morphing. I suspect Shelly actually knew more about Bia than she let on, since she isn't there for Nudge's reveal in the Library, but is casually talking about it with Bud later.

Shelly probably learned about her ancestry from Nudge while in the Time Forest. Later, she had forgotten everyone, as well a part-human might after 80k years. But those were just some secrets to keep, until her memory returned, and she would remember how important they were.

So while Shelly was surprised that Justin is Epimetheus, she was not surprised Bia was her mom. She was confused at first by Bia's lies, and then disappointed and ashamed of her mother, because Shelly already knew that much of the truth.

Oh, and Shelly was surprised that she wasn't mortal. Because she had figured out, over 80k years, that a mortal would fulfill the prophecy. So that's why she's so casual with Monica while she's dying repeatedly: Monica is the mortal descendant.

Huh...I was under the impression that Shelly learned the truth about Bia from Nudge or perhaps Phix after the Library incident but before the strip where we see her talking about it calmly. A lot of things seem to happen "off screen" in this comic, so that seemed to be a safe assumption.

[Sidhekin]

Shelly and Nudge had a bit of a session during the Library incident: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/lovely-place/ and http://wapsisquare.com/comic/sunset/

And commentary: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/for-a-while/

[jwhouk]

I think Nudge got Shel up to date on what was going on with Bia. Whatever the initial reaction, Shel is probably over it.

That might have been when she let it slip to Ms. Wahnee that her Latina Bestie was a little bit more than she seemed with that shiv in her head.