The Ancient Magus' Bride - Vol. 12 Ch. 57 - Better bend than break II

[Doomroar]

Alice, the guy just doesn't want to go to jail for getting it on with an underage girl, how come you don't get that.

 

[Lhmac]

Well, that was definitely a special chapter.

 

[cgr]

@Doomroar
according to wiki, alice is 18, so not underage.

@thearkive
lucy webster is the long, black haired girl. The websters are a fallen noble family.

@Liquidxlax
headphones guy is zoey ivy, the gorgon (snake hair),

 

[DjAlexDubCheck]

@Deathhappens Agree, those chapters were magical and I love that character (think she's called Leanan Sidhe tho)
The following chapters about Christmas preparations are great and very magical too
https://mangadex.org/chapter/38840/17

 

[Evat]

@Ironclad Lol that's chicken shit compared to actual Borderline Personality.
There's a reason it's known as the hardest mental illness to deal with and why some therapists don't even accept patients with it. Compared to that Alice's problem is downright vanilla.

 

[Letheliah]

@ironclad I hadn't really considered how much of Alice's trauma could be leading her like this. I'm definitely reading C-PTSD (I'm not as well informed about BPD), and if Renfred is thinking the same as us knowing what he does about her past, then I can understand why he's insisting she's a child. Which I don't know if I agree entirely with, it invalidates Alice's autonomy, for instance, but I suppose that's why I enjoy these grey, complex relationships so much.

@captaininvictus you're making me want to do another read thru of this series and compile Elias' emotions onto every minute angle and crop now thanks

 

[Captaininvictus]

@letheliah

 

[DjAlexDubCheck]

@Doomroar @cgr I always thought she's in her twenties, go figure

 

[Deathhappens]

@DjAlexDubCheck

The Bain Sidhe (or Bain Shee, or Banshee, as we're more used to seeing it today) is an entire "race" of mythological beings, said to attach themselves to a family (or frequently, be ghosts of people of that family) who mourn for their dead, sometimes before the person in question has died or before the news of their death have reached the house (hence the modern interpretation about how their cry causes death to those who hear it). Leanan Sidhe are a different legend about Fae (or Sidhe) women who charm and take mortal men as their consorts/slaves. Silky is definitely a part of the former.


EDIT: Actually, I completely forgot we meet a Leanan Sidhe at the house of that writer. You're right. that story was interesting as well, although that arc was more about the relationship between the two than the folklore surrounding Leannan Sidhe.

 

[mdwnettleton]

@Deathhappens

I'm not well versed in the folklore, which is something I want to fix eventually, but from what I saw, they did explain the Leannan Sidhe about as well as it could have been. While the story wasn't about the details of the Lenean Sidhe, it gave the details, and it used those details to pose a problem, which mirrored the problem of the main character, which I think is a better story than if it had just been about the intricacies of the Leanan Sidhe. I don't know of specific stories in which they appear, but aside from their refusal making her their slave, and being able to escape from her by finding someone to take your place, the main conceit of her love meaning giving inspiration in exchange for a shortened life was the crux of her conflict, which forced Chise to answer "What are Red Currant's feelings for Joel?" which mirrored the question Chise had to answer about feelings for Elias.

 

[nobaka]

what a great chapter

but realtalk liam scares the bajeesus out of me

@Letheliah
alice definitely isn't bipolar or borderline (sometimes people use bpd for both), but I don't see any real instances of ptsd. She doesn't have any of the signs, just remembers that experience vividly and it's a powerful motivator (big surprise, his arm came off). Alice doesn't want to be treated as a child and protected by renfred, but a big part of that is that she doesn't feel like she is(was) worth protecting, since she's just druggie alley trash. She's moved past that for the most part, but it's still in there.

Renfred's still right, tho. She is a child. And not just physically and emotionally, but especially in relation to the world of magic.

But come on dude, she just wants the d, relax

 

[Svelandria]

I'd been wondering about her father for a while, but the fact that Chise points out that her father looked happy before he left seems like a glaring issue. Maybe he was coerced or blackmailed into leaving by someone? Or maybe, if we assume his ability to ward off mystical creatures is from a clan he was formally a part of, perhaps someone threatened to hurt his family if he didn't return from wherever he came from? Whatever the case, it seemed like his son, who ended up inheriting his abilities while Chise didn't, had something to do with it. I'm wondering if it'll be addressed at some point, although if it's not then that fine. At this point in the story it's not really that important of a plot issue that it needs to be resolved anytime soon, if at all.

 

[The5thSeraph]

@Deathhappens

The Bain Sidhe (or Bain Shee, or Banshee, as we're more used to seeing it today) is an entire "race" of mythological beings

Or an entire gender, since the first word just translates as "woman". Pretty much just a woman of the sidhe. It is rather unfortunate that the term has come to refer specifically to those crying for the dead, but I guess that is just how language goes.

 

[Deathhappens]

I'm in no way qualified to comment on the translation and exact meaning of the name, but mythologically there's definitely other kinds of female Sidhe (like the aforementioned Leannansidhe).