Record of Ragnarok (Episode 15) - Birth of a Monster

Jack the Ripper keeps his cards hidden, constantly changing the game in his favour. Life shaped him this way. Once upon a time, he used to be happy. His mother’s love was all he needed… but when it was no longer there…

Record of Ragnarok (Episode 15) – Birth of a Monster

What happened?

Jack the Ripper used to be happy. He would spend his days scavenging food for himself and his mother or reading Shakespeare. He had a peculiar gift that allowed him to see people’s emotions and as such he could manipulate them to his will. Of course, his mother was beautiful, her body filled with love despite their harsh life. She was a prostitute, but she always found time for him. That was until the man that had promised to come back for her married another.

Jack realised that the love she felt for him was meant for this man – his father. Without that love, his world crumbled. His mother yelled at him and knocked him away. He could see her anger. If only he could release her from it. His hands gripped her neck, squeezing. Her colour changed. She was more beautiful than ever before. Fear was majestic. She tried to attack him once more, but he was ready, driving a blade into her neck, killing her instantly. Only fear remained. He hoped that he would soon see Hercules’ true colours as he faced death.

Record of Ragnarok Episode 15 Jack the Ripper kills his father

What did you think?

This is episode was completely bonkers and not in a good way. I couldn’t stop laughing at just how ridiculous it was. He murdered his mother within minutes of her withdrawing her love from him. There was no mention as to how he got that eye or the ability to see emotion. The entire thing was just absurd. That’s before you consider just how many inaccuracies there were in this episode. I know this is fiction, but some of this was just lazy.

I mentioned in the last episode about the London Bridge is Falling Down nursery rhyme. I appreciate it may be a translation thing, but they were singing in English and are meant to be from England. Literally, every person in England knows that nursery rhyme. No one is going to get it wrong. Then, Jack’s mother had a bookcase full of books in her room at the brothel. Books would not have been cheap back then. That would have been enough to live a comfortable life. We also found out she had five abortions before Jack was born. Abortions were pretty lethal back then too so to survive five is quite the feat.

And finally, don’t get me started on Big Ben. I can understand people referring to Elizabeth Tower as Big Ben. That’s fine although it’s not true. Big Ben is the nickname of the bell in the tower. The gods referring to the tower as Big Ben and commenting on Jack throwing the face of Big Ben at Hercules is more lazy writing. If anyone is going to know the correct name of things, you’d think it was the gods.

Record of Ragnarok Episode 15 Jack the Rippers mother losing control

What have you learnt?

All of these things could be easily researched with whatever your favourite internet search is. In this day and age, it’s insane that authors will just make stuff up rather than perform a relatively quick search. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before because it’s one of my pet peeves with writing, but I started reading a zombie novel. I love zombie stories and suspension of disbelief is a key element to them. However, some lazy research made me drop the book in the first chapter.

The protagonist flew from Lagos, Nigeria to Cairo, Egypt in thirty minutes. That might seem like a nothing detail if you don’t know how big Africa is. The actual flight time should be around five hours and thirty minutes. All right, I laughed that off as the author not knowing and it probably being a pretty inconsequential detail. However, he then flew from Cairo, Egypt to London, England and that took twelve hours. Firstly, anyone flying from Lagos to London is not going via Cairo. Lagos to London is six and a half hours and Cairo to London is five and a half hours. The fact that the author wasn’t prepared to put the tiny amount of effort into researching those details was enough to make me walk away.

Then it was zombies, and now it’s gods fighting mortals, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make some of it accurate. In fact, you need to do that. Sprinkle in enough truths and it will make the more fantastical elements feel more real. This episode was a big disappointment.