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Why Is Loki Looking For Chaos (Ragnarok Manhwa)?

Saturday, January 11, 2014
loki, chaos, ragnarok: into the abyss, manhwa
Alternate titles for this post include 'the misunderstanding that should never have been or that doesn't make sense' and 'why you should never jump to conclusions?'.

What could be so wrong about having Loki search for Chaos in the Ragnarok: Into The Abyss manhwa?

The post title question is actually easily answered, but that doesn't mean that the answer is satisfactory or that it makes sense. To explain what that means, let's take a closer look at the aforementioned question.

In volume 3 of the manhwa, Skurai is brought to the headquarters of the Assassins' Guild by Odin's Beholders where he is subsequently convinced to destroy said guild.
loki, chaos, ragnarok: into the abyss, manhwa
The swordsman easily wins against an entire army of assassins with the help of his cursed sword (which really makes you wonder as to the purpose of the pages and pages of endless fight scenes. After all, if we already know that Skurai is going to win, then what's the point of drawing it out when the plot could have been advanced instead?).

We later find that Skurai planned to blame his crimes on Chaos (yeah, I don't know how that could possibly make sense either; I talk more about that in this post) with the help of Odin's Beholders. What happens is that the leader of the Assassins' Guild is given the name 'Chaos' when he asks for the identity of the attacking swordsman. As such, said leader writes down this name in blood before he dies.

When Loki and his other fellow assassins arrive at their headquarters in volume 4 of Ragnarok: Into The Abyss, they find everything in ruins and everyone dead. Of course, they also find the clue that had been left for them (or, to be more precise, the clue that had been left for Loki, because, really, it's obvious that he'll be the one to deal with this).

This now brings us back to the post title question as we now know that the reason Loki intends to go after Chaos is so that he could avenge his fallen comrades. That's all well and good, and, of course, the one responsible for destroying the guild should be held accountable for his crimes.

chaos, loki, assassins guild, ragnarok: into the abyss, manhwa
The problem is with the clue that had been left for Loki. The clue is simply the word 'chaos' written in blood. Could anyone really consider that a reliable clue?

In the first place, who said that 'chaos' was the name of a person? It could be talking about something else entirely especially since 'Chaos' ins't exactly a common name (if you could even consider it as such because, really, who would name their child 'Chaos'?) .

Moreover, even if the clue was talking about a person's name, exactly how does Loki expect to find this person?

As mentioned, this isn't a common name, so how does the assassin expect to find the killer of his comrades with the only clue (the supposed clue is seeming more and more useless by the minute) he was left with?

What, is he going to go around asking people for their names? Why would people even tell him their names assuming that is Loki's plan? And, should he actually meet Chaos, why would he tell the assassin his name? Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the assassins even pondered this at all.

They seemed utterly sure that Chaos was the name of the one that had destroyed their beloved guild. I suppose it's only to be expected, especially considering how easy it was for Loki to have known where to find his target (seriously, how exactly does this divination thing work and are we really expected to believe that it's that simple? Perhaps if things were explained a bit more, then it would have been more believable).

loki, chaos, ragnarok: into the abyss, manhwa
Regrettably, no explanations are given and it doesn't look like we'll get answers anytime soon (if at all) since we move straight to Chapter 31 of Volume 4 wherein Loki finds Chaos.

Before that though, what questions can we ask regarding said incident?

  • How will the assassin find his target?
  • What kind of cool spell or item or ritual or whatever is he going to use to find the one he's looking for?
  • He's probably going to have a hard time because his only clue is practically useless and unreliable.
  • If he's not going to ask people for their names, then what is he going to do?
  • Is he just going to wander around until he finds the right person?

Loki didn't seem to have had a hard time at all though (it might have been better if he did have a difficult time, so it would have seemed more believable and plausible) since he easily spots Chaos thanks to whatever's written on the back of the latter's shirt.

No, I don't know how that is supposed to be believable. I mean, what if there are other people who also have shirts similar to Chaos'? What if Chaos decided to change his shirt (considering how many of the characters later get an unexplained makeover, this is a valid reason for concern)?

skurai, ragnarok: into the abyss, manhwa, assassins guild
How does Loki know that he found the right person just by noting whatever was written on the back of that person's shirt? He seemed really sure about his assumption too since he was quick to start attacking.

We don't get an explanation about all this though. Instead, we just find out, in Chapter 32 of the same volume, that the character 'rain' is what's written on Chaos' garment.

Wouldn't you say that that makes things even more unbelievable?

It would have been much better if whatever was written on Chaos' shirt was something uncommon because, as it is, rain is so common that it's so easy to think and believe that many other people would be wearing outfits that have that symbol.

Do you think that Loki should have had a harder time in finding the resident main character? Do you think that the clues given to the assassin were pretty much useless and unreliable? Do you wish that the manhwa had better explained these things so that they would appear more believable?

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki based on the image by Carl Emil Doepler (Public Domain) from Wikimedia Commons
- Said image was chosen because the figure depicts Loki from Norse Mythology
- The rest of the pics are enlarged product images from Amazon.com; links shown above via Amazon's Native Shopping Ads widget

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