(L) Sword Art Online - Light Novel Discussion

[Flere821]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

So in the end Gabriel is just another cartoonish villain just like Sugou. I knew it, that's all Kawahara's got. As expected, Mother Rosario is the best thing he will ever write. That was his pick. Now we can only go down. lol

Thanks a lot for the summary. I'm looking forward to Asuna's encounter with Kirito.

I dunno, Gabriel's at least more competent than Sugou. He doesn't have to borrow other people's work to be able to kick ass and be a villain at least.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Flere821

Gabriel's at least more competent than Sugou.

It's not a matter of competence.

[Flere821]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

It's not a matter of competence.

Then what is the matter? What do you mean by 'cartoonish'?

[RRW]

Gabriel is like mix between 3 previous villain. Death Gun gaming skill with Kayaba end motive and Sugou evilness.

[Flere821]

Originally Posted by RRW

Gabriel is like mix between 3 previous villain. Death Gun gaming skill with Kayaba end motive and Sugou evilness.

... Huh, I had never thought of it that way. Sounds quite close, if not as petty as Sugou.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Flere821

Then what is the matter? What do you mean by 'cartoonish'?

A non-character that is evil just for the sake of drama. What makes Gabriel tick? Why is he the way he is? Developing a character is more than showing how he is. You also gotta explain "why".

The protagonists get to have characterization (to some extent). I know why Asuna is the way she is, I even know why Kirito is the way he is (to a leaser extent, since he's less developed than Asuna). Villains need development too. It's not enough to know they're evil. That's just lazy writing.

[Flere821]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

A non-character that is evil just for the sake of drama. What makes Gabriel tick? Why is he the way he is? Developing a character is more than showing how he is. You also gotta explain "why".

That's probably my fault I skipped a lot of details back in WEB 6 summary, it was dedicated to his background. Roughly a whole LN worth of text to do so.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Flere821

That's probably my fault I skipped a lot of details back in WEB 6 summary, it was dedicated to his background. Roughly a whole LN worth of text to do so.

Then I'll reserve judgment until we know more about him. Thanks again for the summary.

[Shinon]

Where can i read previous chapters or summary of web novel?

[Flere821]

Originally Posted by Shinon

Where can i read previous chapters or summary of web novel?

They're in this thread, the last 20 page or so includes the Alicization WEB stuff. WEB 6 summary is here, as brief as it is:
http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost...postcount=2667

Oh, and here's another summary for the 2nd half of WEB8 Pt25 (at least it's labelled as this):

Spoiler for ”Part 25 2nd half”:

Palace Obsidia, in the Dark Territory’s highest peak. Dark Knight #11 Lippia Zankel reports back to her boss, Dark General Zast. Their familiars have found the Administrator is dead. It took her a week to know for sure, and the fact Administer’s countermeasures to prevent spying from the Dark Territory spells didn’t even detect or kill Lippia showed it’s probably true. Rumours suggest Administer died by a sword, which coincided with when the Synthesis Fifty left her patrol area half a year ago. Zast thinks this is a good opportunity to push for peace; the walls between Dark Territory and Human Kingdom will fall soon, and the ten leaders have been haggling and arguing heavily over who gets the land, loot and slaves. While the only rule in the Dark Territory is “the strong take what they want”, Zast is different to the other 9 leaders. This is shown when other servants of the ten leaders are taken but he had instead offered Lippia flowers and asked for her help.
While they have a 50,000 strong invasion force, the humans have the Synthesis Knights, each of them can match a 1,000 of their own; it’ll be an even battle between those 50 knights and their army. Sure, the Dark Territory will eventually win with superior numbers, but they’re likely to lose up to 20,000 of their own people. When their invasion succeeds the peace pact between the five races and ten leaders will be null and void, and ‘the time of iron and blood’ will come once again. The infighting will likely to last more than a hundred years. With the current situation, Zast is confident Synthesis One, Berculi, would be willing to accept peace if it’s proposed. On their side they’d have to assassinate the pro-war faction leaders, the mountain goblins, beastmen and dark mages guild leaders to get this working, but it’s not impossible. Lippia objected to the danger involved, Zast would probably be able to kill the goblin and beastmen leaders but the dark mage leader would be problematic to defeat with her tricks. Zast proposed to Lippia for her to become his wife and help him, but before they could plot any further the merchant guild leader rushed by his office screaming at the top of his lungs: their God has returned.

Gabriel gazed upon the Fluctlights that will be his tools for the coming war. One of his lieutenants logged in as the Dark Knight, while he’s logged in as Vector, the God and Emperor of the Dark Territory. The ten leaders are introduced: Merchant guild leader, giants’ elder, assassin’s guild leader, beastmen’s elder, 1st seat of the Gladiators, Cannibals’ leader, Mountain goblins’ elder, plains goblins’ elder (the two goblin factions have a rivalry), dark mages guild leader named ‘D’ (stereotypical dark-skinned beauty schemer, with skin-revealing clothes, has 3,000 mages under her control), and finally the dark general Zast. Zast asked why did their emperor return now of all times, and Gabriel thought he’s not just a simple unit like you might see in games. Gabriel in his persona as the merciless Dark God replied:
--
“For Bloodshed and… Terror. Fire and Destruction. Death and the cries of Despair.”

Gabriel’s ice-like voice that was as smooth as clean-cut alloy echoed in the hall. The ten leader’s expressions tensed.

Looking at their faces one by one, Gabriel waved his right hand towards the eastern sky, his robe billowing with his movement.

“The Walls that protects the paradise favoured by the Gods that exiled Me from heaven is on the verge of collapse. We have returned… to demonstrate Our divine might to the world! We have only one wish, and that is to obtain the Priestess of the Gods that will arise in that land at this time! For every other human, plunder and kill as you wish! As all of the people of Darkness has hoped for… the promised time is here!” (All of this is supposed to be said in archaic, royal manner, hope my translation puts the feel across)
--
The assembled leaders and their officers went wild at Gabriel’s declaration, though he noticed throughout all this only Zast stayed knelling with a expressionless face. He couldn’t tell if it was because of his self control as a soldier or because of some other emotion.

Scene change, Gabriel’s lieutenant congratulated him and said he should have been an actor. Gabriel used the command console in his room to turn the time flow of UW back to 1:1 with Earth and told them what happened, and they will move against the Human Kingdom within 2 days. Their hacker warned if their character dies it can’t be revived, and they’ll have to come back in to UW in lvl 1 characters. The JSDF people haven’t attacked them yet. Gabriel told them the next time he contacts them will be when has captured Alice and about to log out. After that conversation Gabriel’s lieutenant wanted to go out and have some fun, but Gabriel told him to wait for now; after their target is retrieved Gabriel will give him a day’s offtime to go have fun later before they leave. His lieutenant agreed and left for the room next to his. Gabriel disrobed and prepared to sleep, but then another door into his room opened. Gabriel was surprised at that, he had gave orders to ensure no one, including his servants, could enter the floors above his throne room; according to the rule binding the Fluctlights they should not have been able to disobey their God. A small figure knelt next to his bed, and he asked what she was here for. She said she was here to serve him for the night as his partner, and from the thin clothing she wore Gabriel could see no weapons. He asked on whose orders did she come for, and after a pause she replied nobody ordered her to, she thought it was her duty. Gabriel gave a non-committal reply and lied down on his bed. Seconds later the human woman started to disrobe.

Gabriel was impressed at the level of AIs, since as far as he knew these are limited ones unlike Alice. He wasn’t impressed by the physical beauty though, but their own volition; the woman suddenly took out a knife hidden in her long blue hair and tried to stab him where he was lying down. He figured this would happen and intercepted the attack, and pinned her down onto the bed. From the flaws in her make-up and her muscled form he thought it’s not the assassin guild leader’s doing, more likely to be one of the other leaders and probably one of the human leaders’ doing. Gabriel asked who her commander was, and she replied no-one, she’s a vagabond. Gabriel understood that the laws of Dark Territory was the weak cannot disobey the strong, so if she’s lying to him it meant she thinks her boss is stronger than him and his order supersedes his. Gabriel decided he needs to make a example of his strength, and he’ll have to take down the leader than tried to do this to him. Gabriel asked why did she do this; was it for money or power? The woman said back to him it’s for the good of the world, since if war starts now they’ll lose 200 years of progress, where the weak will be ravaged by the strong. Details earlier in the chapter showed there are treaties and rules set up to minimise that in order to limit the chaos and build a superior fighting force compared to the Human Kingdom; instead of being tortured, used and killed the weak are sent to training schools to emerge as fighters of one kind or another. Gabriel was shocked at her words, was this really an AI before breaking the limits? In her eyes Gabriel can see resolve, loyalty, and even further inside her was…
After seeing what that emotion is, Gabriel decided he doesn’t need her alive anymore. He broke her neck, and after stopping her struggles he let go in surprise; even if this is VR, killing another person felt as real as killing someone else in RL. The woman’s soul/fluctlight emerged from her corpse, and after seeing that Gabriel abandoned all his self-control and sucked her soul inside him. He felt the bitterness of fear, pain and sadness; the sourness of regret and sorrow. And the sweetness of many more memories. Children of all races was playing around in a courtyard, and after they saw her they ran to her smiling. In another man’s arms she was embraced.
In her last moments before fading into oblivion, her last words were “I love you, master…”

Gabriel was stunned with bliss after feeling those emotions. He didn’t know the mechanics was the STLs are connected to the other lightcubes physically and there was some reversing flow of information, but he didn’t care. He sucked dry the remaining emotions within the dying woman, her feelings of love. Gabriel wanted to feel more. And he is more than willing to kill more.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Flere821

That's probably my fault I skipped a lot of details back in WEB 6 summary, it was dedicated to his background. Roughly a whole LN worth of text to do so.

Lol that's what happens when people rely too much on summaries

[RRW]

Originally Posted by Flere821

That's probably my fault I skipped a lot of details back in WEB 6 summary, it was dedicated to his background. Roughly a whole LN worth of text to do so.

but is there any reason for his behavior other than for evulz?

like all his squadmates is killed in a war and make him insane or something like that

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by RRW

but is there any reason for his behavior other than for evulz?

like all his squadmates is killed in a war and make him insane or something like that

or born Evil, ie Ted Bundy who from Kazu pov is a cartoon villain.

[Netto Azure]

Nowadays it seems everyone wants the moral gray anti-hero that will cause one to bend over to analyze their motivations. :P

Anyways, Alicization reads like a fantasy shonen now lawl. Ok that statement probably came out because I was reading Maoyuu Maou Yuusha lawlz.

[Shinon]

Ok question was the alice arc finished on the novel web version?

[RRW]

Originally Posted by Shinon

Ok question was the alice arc finished on the novel web version?

Yes, but i think there is hint of continuation

[blackwhite67]

Can someone tell me what ended up happening to Gabriel? I have to know cause I hate him so much. I hope its painful like what happened to Sugou.

[Flere821]

Originally Posted by RRW

but is there any reason for his behavior other than for evulz?

like all his squadmates is killed in a war and make him insane or something like that

See below:

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

or born Evil, ie Ted Bundy who from Kazu pov is a cartoon villain.

Gabriel's 'born evil'. Think of him as someone like Kotomine Kirei, born with a 'defect', but doesn't feel conflicted for being who he is. And he was smart enough to know society wouldn't accept him for who he is, so he hid that away when interacting with others.

Originally Posted by blackwhite67

Can someone tell me what ended up happening to Gabriel? I have to know cause I hate him so much. I hope its painful like what happened to Sugou.

That part isn't translated yet, so I don't know for sure. From translator comments I think:

Spoiler for not quite sure if this is the case:

Gabriel channeled into the Incarnation ability too much, became literally a dark god that fed on souls whose thirst cannot be sated. Eventually he fought Kirito, and Gabriel didn't make it out of UW alive.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Flere821

See below:

Gabriel's 'born evil'. Think of him as someone like Kotomine Kirei, born with a 'defect', but doesn't feel conflicted for being who he is. And he was smart enough to know society wouldn't accept him for who he is, so he hid that away when interacting with others.

[/SPOILER]

a Sociopath who also became a psychopath,

[Kleeyook]

This is just my opinion.

Spoiler for Kirito's handicap:

What the hell is wrong with this series? Kirito's adapted in dual-wielding but he can only used it in the very late level of SAO (75th floor), a few times in ALO and GGO. I know that dual-wielding is cheating since it's overpowered, but for him to go back to use only one-handed sword would surely make it uncomfortable. It's like a Muay Thai boxer got told to use only punches, no kicks, elbows or knees.

And to hell with start learning everything again from LV.1 everytime. I'd be very discouraged to do grinding for long. I can't quite understand the concept of their skills either. It's probably comparable to Halo players using joystick moving to COD on WiiMote. A bit different but all the same. Still, it's kinda boring as hell to relearn what you already from the start, with relatively no much time to create new skills.

Yuuki has HUGE advantages over SAO-players. She's fully in FullDive device, which is superior to that headgear the others have, thus giving her advantage on reflex over others, also two years of grinding. She doesn't have to risk her life fighting against enemies in SAO either. It's like a skilled martial artist who never face danger. Sure she has her own incurable illness, but being put to death by murder is too different from disease.

And what our protagonist does? He simply delete all his stats and possessions in ALO to start anew, instead of focusing on getting stronger by more exotic skills like *cough*Yuuki*cough* when his stats is so high end already.

What's the purpose of dual-wielding skill anyway? For coolness' sake?