The Reason For Lidia's Existence (Ragnarok Manhwa)

Lidia is a thief / treasure hunter with a talking cat from the Ragnarok: Into The Abyss manhwa.

Do you like her? What do you think of her? What are some of the things that we can say about her character and her personality?

It's actually pretty easy to view the thief as an extra, a mere minor character that doesn't really have anything to do with the main story of Ragnarok.

To explain what that means exactly, let's start from the very first moment that we are introduced to this girl. This happens in Chapter 3 of Volume 1 wherein we suddenly skip scenes and move to Alberta where Lidia is. When this happened, I had to wonder as to the purpose of the scene in question because it didn't seem necessary at all.

We know nothing about the thief's character and we don't even know what her significance to the plot is. If you cut out this scene, it's like it wouldn't matter and we won't really miss anything. In fact, it might have been better if the scene had been cut out especially since it just brings us more questions and yet no answers.

An example is regarding Lidia's cat. We find out that it can apparently talk and I have to wonder where she met the cat and if cats normally talk in this manhwa or is it just this particular animal.

Chapter 4 of the same volume intensifies this assumption (that the scene might have been better off deleted) as we abruptly get back to the scene between Chaos, Iris Irine and the monster they're fighting. This really makes you wonder what was the point of showing us Lidia now? If she really had to be introduced to us, then couldn't she have been introduced later on?

If we had to jump scenes anyway, then why couldn't we jump from where Chaos is to where Fenris Fenrir is? We already know her, so we'd certainly be more pleased to see her plus she appears to be the more interesting character at this point in the comic (especially since she's the very first person we meet, so it's like there's a special connection to her).

As the graphic novel progresses, I can't help but ask what is the point of Lidia's character? Why is she a part of this story?

She seems to be nothing but an extra, someone who is there as a comic relief, to provide a few laughs to the reader and yet, overall, she doesn't appear to have any use at all.

For instance, Chapter 6 of Volume 1 shows Lidia attempting to steal a horn from Iris and Chaos. The question is why. What's the point of her trying to acquire that thing from the other two?

If you cut out that scene, what will we have missed? Do you think we'll miss anything of importance or of use to us if we've never read that incident?

The same can be said of the scene wherein Lidia attempts to steal Iris' weapon though, I suppose, it could be argued that the sole reason and purpose of said incident was to inform us, the readers, how special Iris' sword is (but the character handbook thing already tells us about this anyway, so what's the point of repeating this supposed fact yet again?).

The next time we meet Lidia is in Chapter 7 of Volume 2. We see her attempting to steal weapons yet again. Didn't she learn her lesson when she tried to steal Iris' sword back in volume 1 or did she forget about all that? I mean, wouldn't the other weapons zap her too since she's not their owner (like Iris' sword did when Lidia tried to steal it)?

How does she know these items wouldn't do the same? And what exactly is the point of showing us that the thief was trying to steal yet again?

Instead of showing us that, we could have seen other more important events such as a flashback explaining what exactly happened a thousand years ago (yeah, it's really annoying and aggravating how the comic refuses to tell us about this).

Sigh. Let's just move on to Chapter 29 of Volume 4 wherein we find out that Lidia is leaving, for now anyway. Why do you think she's really leaving? Is it that she doesn't have any use in the upcoming scenes?

I mean, she doesn't know where the treasure she's searching for is, right? So, why couldn't she accompany Chaos and the others on their quest? She might find something about the treasure that she's seeking if she went with them just as well as she might find something if she didn't go with them.

So, what are your thoughts on the treasure hunter's departure? For those that weren't pleased about it, know that Lidia makes a brief appearance in Chapter 39 and 40 of Volume 5. I had to wonder as to the purpose of her brief reappearance, but it's soon made apparent as she and her talking cat notice the floating fortress headed straight for Prontera where our resident main characters are currently located.

It was clear that she was there merely to expound about the evil force of the weird fortress and to tell us where it was going though it would have been easy to figure that out on our own.

That's the last we see of Lidia until the summary for Volume 8 tells us that she will be joining our protagonists again.

So it's no surprise at all when we soon see her. But you do have to wonder at how convenient it is that the air ship where our heroes are just happens to be where the treasure hunter is.

Anyway, Lidia and Iris Irine meet again and we get what is supposed to be a funny scene with how the former tried to bury the latter alive, but, to me, I just found this incident weird and not amusing in the least. It also didn't make sense at all.

Lidia just saw Iris again after quite some time of not having seen her and the first thing she tries to do is bury her. Why? Aren't they supposed to be friends? Moreover, isn't the thief going to ask any questions at all like what happened, where are the others and all other relevant and logical questions that one should ask when someone you know suddenly appears in front of you?

Aside from that, the question of how Iris suddenly woke up when she was unconscious mere moments before and even appeared to be injured also needs to be asked. But no one seems to care about that as the two girls joke around with each other before Loki shows up and the thief meets him for the very first time (and ends up having a crush on him at first sight).

As the three end up traveling together for a short while before they meet up with the others, we are treated to some amusing and funny scenes between Iris and Lidia who act as pretty perfect comic reliefs.

But, anyway, getting back to the post title, the reason for Lidia's existence may well be tied to the treasure that she's searching for, which is clearly an important plot point of sorts as we soon find in Volume 9.

Lidia finds the treasure that she seeks though she also ends up getting into trouble. Thankfully, she has Loki to help her out of it (that scene where Loki shows up while holding lunch boxes with that serious expression on his face is not only amusing, but also cute, wouldn't you agree?).

So, it took us more than a few volumes to figure out the reason for Lidia's existence though she still appears to be a pretty minor character, as compared to the others anyway. It's only too bad that we never really get to find out anymore about all of this since the manhwa abruptly stops at Volume 10, so nothing ever gets resolved).

What are your thoughts on Lidia then? Do you consider her an extra, a minor character that merely serves as comic relief or do you think there's more to her than that? Do you find her amusing and funny?

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by mikanxsakura (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Said image is meant to represent Lidia since the figure is blond and looks cheerful and happy-go-lucky, pretty much like Lidia
- The rest of the pics are enlarged product images from Amazon.com; links shown above via Amazon's Native Shopping Ads widget
- Last pic is also from Amazon.com; link shown above