Somali and the Forest Spirit (Episode 8) - Meetings and Bonds Prayed For

Somali and the Golem venture into the depths of the library in search of the head librarian, the only person to have checked out the Chronicles of Haraiso, but that was three-hundred and four years ago…

What happened?

After a run in with the guardian witches, Somali and the Golem were summoned to see Isolde Nebsolv, the head librarian who is close to death. She tells them that she wrote the Chronicles of Haraiso and was keen to tell them the story. It was about her ancestor, Feodora who was rescued by a human settlement. The settlement was presided over by a golem called Haraiso. To the humans it was like a god and when it informed them that Feodora is also a human, allaying their fears.

Later Feodora sees that the humans have captured a two-headed dragon, and even though it’s pleading for its life and presented them no danger, they decide to kill it calling it a grotesque. Feodora is horrified and tries to leave for home. A human child that she has become close with finds her and falls over the edge of a cliff in the high winds. Feodora decides to use her abilities to save the girl, even though it will expose her to the humans. Isolde then reveals that she had been told the story and warned not to write it down, but she did and not long after the humans were hunted to near extinction.

Somali and the Forest Spirit Episode 8 Feodora Nebsolv meeting Humans

What was your favourite element?

This episode is an odd one. It left me feeling a little empty. Sure, it managed to show the differences between the humans that Feodora met and Somali. Was it trying to show that there was hope for coexistence? I’m not so sure and from what we’ve seen so far, it is hard to see how that would work. Only a couple of the differing races that we’ve met have realised that Somali was a human, some may have and didn’t say anything, but all too often when the Golem has said that he’s looking for humans, one of the first responses is “to eat?” I also feel like this episode painted the humans in a pretty simplistic way. They were all scared and prejudiced, but then Haraiso didn’t do anything to help them change, which is odd considering they accepted it somehow.

Somali and the Forest Spirit Episode 8 Feodora Nebsolv and a Golem

What have you learnt?

This episode dealt with some fairly heavy concepts, but it seemed to be too quick and heavy-handed. Of course, the child that had been Feodora’s friend and had just been saved from certain death by her was prepared to change her views, but then Feodora also looked more human than the dragon. Admittedly, it was a story that had been passed down by word of mouth before Isolde wrote it down so there is the possibility of some bias and interpretation of exactly what happened. It does feel a little too black and white for my liking. A topic like this could have easily filled an entire series and consequently, cramming it into a single episode left it felling rushed.