Dwarves Vol III By Nicolas Jarry

 Dwarves Vol III

By Nicolas Jarry

This is my fourth review in the series, so I'm just gonna hit the highlights before jumping into the graphic novel itself. This is a French comic series with each graphic novel adopting a new main character, in an interrelated series of stories set in the same fantasy world. Dwarves take place in the same world as three other series who run under the titles of Elves, Orcs, and the most recent release Mages. As you might imagine Dwarves focuses on the Dwarven people of this fantasy world and tells the story of Dwarvish protagonists. Now that we've refreshed that, let's jump into it (Thank Azathoth.). 

Volume III focuses on Aral, a recently graduated engineering (What?  Journeyman?) focusing on obtaining his mastery. His biggest desire is to succeed at building a suspension bridge (That is… probably going to be a tall order.  And next week’s episode is the Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster.), find a wife, start a family, and put his past behind him (Oh here we go!). In what has been a firm tradition for Dwarvish main characters in this series, he had a troubled relationship with his father (What the… look, it’s almost like Monsieur Jarry was taking his cues from Spielberg with the daddy issues.  Not that I can throw stones, what with my massive daddy issues.). In this case, an experiment he conducted as a child started a house fire that killed his Mother and his Father never forgave him (This is why you always supervise your mad-scientist/engineer children!). His father would go on to die in a quarry accident with that division between the two of them never healing (Ouch.   Also, these people need OSHA, because that quarry was certainly not up to code.). Aral interestingly enough isn't consumed with angst over it. He makes it clear in the story that he wishes that he had listened to his Father, stopped experimenting at home and his mother was alive but he can't change the past only focus on his future. It's a suspiciously healthy outlook for a main character in this series, so I firmly suggest that none of y'all get too attached to it (Oh No…). It's also one that's going to be very challenged in the story itself. Before I get into the weeds, let me fill in the back story of this because it actually explains a lot about Dwarven society and the current state of their civilization. 

So, long ago after a war with the Elves, a powerful warlord named Fugor Greathelm established a Dwarven Empire that dominated the eastern regions of the world. Now, Fugor had taken certain injuries that left him unable to father children, so it's perhaps no surprise that he turned to adoption. He adopted a dark-skinned, black-eyed dwarven boy found one day by one of his servants and named him Forgrim. While Forgrim grew quickly and grew well, Fugor died before his adopted son could reach adulthood, an event I suspect was helped along by those elvish wounds (That is what war wounds tend to do.). Fulgrim put himself forward as his adopted father's successor to the title of Emperor but the various lords of the fortress-states rejected him completely. Each one of them decided that he would rather be a King of a city than a Lord in an empire and used the fact that Fulgrim was adopted as a convenient excuse (They’d have done it anyway.). Being soundly rebuffed by the nobility of the empire and lacking the military strength to really contest it, Fulgrim decided to attempt an alternate strategy. Gathering scholars and adventurers from across the empire, Fulgrim founded the Dragon's Lodge, an esoteric society devoted to gathering and compiling the knowledge of all races and using them to the benefit of Dwarven kind. They learned arts and secrets both arcane and scientific. They began to spread out to the different Fortress-states and made themselves indispensable. The Dragon Lodge was also a center for innovation and experimentation, soon their secrets and processes were powering a new Dwarven Golden Age. They began to draw devotees to themselves from across the Dwarven world promising mastery of secrets beyond anything Dwarves had achieved before and the possibility of eternal life (Because that is always part of it.  Then you’re giving yourself mercury poisoning and inventing gunpowder…{You think he’s kidding but this is so common that the EPA has a task force on the ritualistic use of mercury, you can look up the report and read it or even buy it on amazon}). Fulgrim himself had taken the title of Immortal Dragon and he lived up to it as four centuries passed and he seemed untouched by the years. Fulgrim stood on the brink of retaking his Father's Empire, rebuilt into something even grander and greater than his Father's wildest dreams, and doing it without firing a shot or fighting a single battle. This would have been the kind of victory that military strategists since Sun Tzu have lauded as the highest ideal, the kind of victory you win without fighting. Fulgrim however, had other ideas. For reasons I won't spoil but instead will encourage you to read the book to find out, Fulgrim had his followers turn on the rest of Dwarven kind in an orgy of slaughter and mayhem (That is just so… Stupid.  I get that there are reasons but WHY!?). This (Surprising no one {Fulgrim seemed surprised}) caused many members to defect and the Dragon Lodge was thrown down and split into four orders. The Forge, the Shield, the Talisman, and the Temple; those who maintained their loyalty to Fulgrim were ejected from Dwarf society becoming clanless and casteless (See where loyalty to emperors gets you!). However, the surviving masters of the Dragon Lodge gathered together and wrote down the knowledge they hadn't shared with the rest of DwarvenKind in a book. A book they made 12 copies of and hid in ancient underground cities. One of which has been found, under Aral's ancestral city-state. 

This means Aral, his master, his master's niece Senna and a group of the Temple's best must get into the underground city, destroy whatever is guarding the book, and then destroy the book before someone reads it (But… nooooo). Because there are dark secrets in that book, the kind could rip apart nations (Why on earth would they get written down then!  Jesus, stop taking notes in the cabal meeting! {I’m going to suggest the last loyalist masters of a cult who are willing to murder their fellows on the word of their leader might not care about the effects of their secrets on outsiders}). The kind of secrets that the Temple has a duty to contain and destroy. This isn't going to be easy though because it means Aral is going to have to confront his Father's family and the bad blood between them, his father, and him. He's also going to have to do it in a city-state slowly but surely going mad, as Dwarves lose their grip on reality and turn on each other in violent rages (Wait a minute... ). Is this a spell triggered by exposing the book? Something that guards it? Or something to do with the King of the city-state, who is a distant relative of Aral's and seems to be losing his grip on reality (If it ends up being a King and The Land Are One thing I am gonna lose my shit!  Down with monarchist propaganda! {I’ll just note that Dwarven kings are never presented that well in these comics}). For that matter are the Dwarves of the Temple going to be in any better state or will they succumb to infighting and hatred or worse will they find the book and fall into temptation? 

Volume III is told completely from Aral's point of view and is told using the framing device of him writing this down in a journal as an old man. This honestly robs it of some suspense but the story makes up some ground by making us feel a bit of concern about the fate of Aral's companions (It’s the problem with epistolary formats, yes.). It's an interesting story and it fills in a lot of lore about the Dwarvish people in this specific world setting. Although if you ask me Aral isn't as interesting or compelling as Redwin or Ordo, I think part of that is while Redwin and Ordo were pursuing their own goals and dreams, for most of this book Aral is basically working for other people and towards their goals. On the flip side, this does make him more like the average person (Insert commentary about the class struggle here.{insert sniping here}Insert Lyudmila Pavlichenko reference here.{Annnd that’s enough meta for this week!}). Senna, the niece of Aral's master is an interesting character but is thrust pretty firmly into the background and we don't know much if anything about her. The rest of the characters get even less attention. So if the plot and Aral don't grab your attention, it'll be a complete miss. That said the plot is good and compelling and Aral isn't a terrible character, just not as good as prior protagonists. Dwarves Volume III by Nicholas Jarry gets a B- from me. 

    So this review was chosen by our ever-wise patrons. As a patron you get a vote on upcoming reviews, themes, and more starting at a dollar a month. As well as every review open for discussion. If you'd like to join us, feel free at https://www.patreon.com/frigidreads Next week to celebrate Veteran's Day and the Marine Corps Birthday we'll be running a double feature of GI Joe V and VI. After that is Elves Vol III. Until next week, stay safe and Keep Reading.

Red text is your editor Dr. Ben Allen

Black text is your review Garvin Anders