Is There Ever A Valid Reason For A Character Makeover (Ragnarok Manhwa)?

What is the reason why some of the characters in Ragnarok: Into The Abyss manhwa changed their outfits and looks? Is this a valid or pointless reason?

We first see some of the characters of the graphic novel change their outfits in Volume 8.

This seemed to have come from out of the blue and completely without rhyme or reason because we've already spent about 7 volumes getting used to how these characters look.

We're practically in the middle of the series already (especially considering that the manhwa abruptly ends in volume 10), so, if one or some of them was going to change their look, then it should have happened much earlier. What's wrong and what could possibly be the problem with this change in the getup of some of the characters?

First of all, upon initially being introduced to a character, readers start getting to know this person. Readers will begin to get used to the character's outfit, looks, hairstyle, weapons and the like, so much so that, when this person shows up, there is no question or doubt as to his or her identity because it's easy to tell right away who this person is.

However, if things abruptly change and seemingly without reason, then this just comes across as extremely unbelievable. Let's take a look at a good example of a believable character makeover.

We can see this in the anime and manga series called Card Captor Sakura by CLAMP.

In the aforementioned series, we see the main character, Sakura Kinomoto, is pretty much always changing her resident outfit though she does have a few regular staples.

But why is this not a problem? Why is it that people wouldn't and shouldn't mind if Sakura wears a different costume every time she goes off to capture the Clow Cards?

This is because we are given a valid and believable reason as to why she has to wear different costumes all the time. Furthermore, this costume change doesn't happen in the middle of the series. We see this occurring even in the early parts of the show, so we've come to expect that this is how it goes in this particular anime.

Moreover, even though Sakura's outfits constantly change, her look remains the same, ensuring that readers of the manga and viewers of the anime will always recognize her. This is especially so since her hairstyle doesn't really change and she pretty much looks the same as always, only with a different outfit in each episode.

In contrast to that, let's take a look at Iris Irine and Fenris Fenrir who both undergo a complete and total makeover. With regards to these 2, there is such a drastic change not just in their choice of clothing, but even in their hair style that it makes it difficult to recognize these 2 at first. With how they look right now, it almost seems as if they're new characters.

The question now is why? Why is it necessary for these 2 to change their outfit and looks? Why do they have to look different? What was wrong with how they used to look? Did they have to change their outfits because their fight with Bijou and her troll caused much damage to their old clothing?

This is possible since we did see how damaged and torn their clothing were. However, what was wrong with getting those clothes fixed instead or even just buying clothes that were similar to the ones they always wear? Why the need to change the way their clothes look?

And what about their hair style? Why would there be a need to change that as well?

If you look at it in that way, it's hard to see why there's a need for either of these women to undergo such a drastic makeover.

They were already perfectly recognizable before as readers got to know them and how they looked for the past volumes.

But now, thanks to all these changes, there is a need to get used to these characters all over again.

Could this makeover be just an excuse to give existing characters new clothes and new hairstyles for no clear reason? After all, it's not like their new outfits gave them special powers or something.

Perhaps, if the new clothes were actually special, it would make for a very good reason as to why the 2 ladies had to change their outfits. As it is though, this whole makeover just comes across as completely pointless and useless.

Moreover, even if you can somehow attribute Iris and Fenris' makeover as being due to the fact that their former outfits sustained much damage during their fight with Bijou and her troll (though that wouldn't explain the need to change their hair styles), how can anyone possibly explain Skurai's sudden and unexpected makeover?

Skurai was not part of the fight against Bijou and her troll or even against Sara Irine and Himmelmez.

We never see him get his clothes torn or damaged. In fact, it's more likely that he would be the one to destroy other people's outfits as opposed to getting his own destroyed.

So what's the reason for his makeover? Why the sudden need to change his hairstyle and even his clothing?

At the moment, his new look comes across as more than a bit disconcerting, disturbing and even unappealing.

Simply put, he doesn't seem to look right at all. He looks very strange and odd and weird. If there's no real good reason for him to change his hairstyle and his clothes, then why do that? What's the point of his makeover?

What do you think of the 3 aforementioned characters' makeovers? Do you like their new looks and hairstyles? Do you think there's a good reason why they had to do this or was this just an excuse for the characters to look different and sport new clothing and hair styles?

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki based on the image by Rusembell (CC:BY) from deviantArt
- Image is meant to symbolize the changes in a character's looks and outfits
- The rest of the pics are enlarged product images from Amazon.com; links shown above via Amazon's Native Shopping Ads widget

Why Does Skurai Kidnap Iris Irine (Ragnarok Manhwa)?

What's wrong with having Skurai kidnap Iris Irine in Ragnarok: Into The Abyss manhwa? Why would he want to do that anyway?

In Volume 9 of the graphic novel, Skurai captures Iris Irine, intending to use her as bait in order to fight Chaos.

So that's the entire reason why he decides to kidnap the girl. But the real question is why does Skurai have to do something like that just to fight Chaos?

Why does he need to resort to such a method just to challenge the main character?

Let's start from the beginning in order to understand why this just doesn't make sense and why it comes across as downright unbelievable.

First of all, we are initially told that Skurai planned to have Loki and Chaos fight by blaming the destruction of the Assassins' Guild on the latter. When the main character was weakened after his fight with the assassin, the swordsman planned to step in to finish him off. Of course, we know that that's not exactly what happened.

Loki and Chaos did end up fighting, but, for some strange and unknown reason, Skurai decided it was a good idea to step in and join the fight. So much for not wanting to fight the protagonist head-on because the hero was apparently more powerful than him.

That would have been far more believable if the swordsman hadn't decided to interfere with the Loki and Chaos fight especially since we saw how capable Skurai was during that fight scene and how the resident hero himself wasn't exactly having an easy time.

The aforementioned fight scene shows us that the swordsman has absolutely no qualms in just confronting the main character and challenging him to a fight pretty much whenever he wants to.

As such, exactly what is the point of having to kidnap Iris just to pick a fight with Chaos? Why would Skurai need to do that when he could just go straight to wherever the protagonist is and challenge him to a fight?

Whether the main character will agree or not isn't the point here.

Even if the hero refuses to fight Skurai at first, if the swordsman keeps trying to attack him and hurt him, then obviously Chaos will have no choice but to fight back to defend and protect himself unless he wants to be defeated.

Besides, Chaos should have no problems in accepting Skurai's challenge and fighting with him since the swordsman was the one responsible for killing Peony Irine and many other citizens of Fayon.

As such, the whole 'kidnap Iris and use her as bait to fight Chaos' scene just comes across as contrived and convoluted.

In other words, it simply doesn't make sense because it shouldn't be necessary to do this at all.

It's like we're just being given false plot or drama or it could even be just another excuse for yet another long fight scene.

Do you think it was necessary for Skurai to have to capture Iris just so he could challenge Chaos to a fight or was this act completely pointless and useless?

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by CoDLia (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Image is meant to represent Skurai and his sword, Talatsu
- The rest of the pics are enlarged product images from Amazon.com; links shown above via Amazon's Native Shopping Ads widget

What's Wrong With Skurai's Plan To Fight Chaos (Ragnarok Manhwa)?

Skurai wants to fight Chaos in Ragnarok: Into The Abyss manhwa. Just what is so wrong and what doesn't make sense about the plan that he came up with?

First, let's take a look at the reason why Skurai wants to fight Chaos. According to the character handbook of Volume 5, after Skurai met Chaos in Fayon, he now apparently wants his blood.

This is very much unbelievable though because we never see any indication of this whatsoever. If you look back on the scenes in Fayon involving Skurai, you can see that the swordsman was only ever interested in Lord Irine and Sara Irine.

He was even shown attacking those 2. But we never see him pay even the slightest bit of attention to Chaos. So, how could he possibly be interested in fighting the graphic novel's resident protagonist?

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the comic has any plans of answering that question anytime soon (or at all) as it appears that it just wants us to believe what it says without question. Sigh. Let's just move on to the next thing that the character handbook tells (yes, tells and not shows) us.

It now adds that, apparently, Skurai tricked Loki into going after Chaos by destroying the Assassins' Guild and blaming it on the main character. That doesn't make an ounce of sense though because the swordsman wouldn't have been in the guild's headquarters if he hadn't been brought there by Odin's Beholders.

In fact, in reading the manhwa itself, we can see how it was Odin's Beholders who convinced Skurai to decimate the entirety of the Assassins' Guild, so how can the comic change its mind so easily now and tell us that it was the swordsman's plan all along?

If you think that's not enough unbelievable stuff, don't worry because there's more and it's just as crazy as the aforementioned things, if not more. The 'story so far' continues to tell us about Skurai's plan to fight Chaos. And how very nice of it to tell us things that never happened.

For starters, if you're wondering why the swordsman doesn't just attack and fight against the manhwa's hero directly instead of having to resort to such an odd and unbelievable plan, this is apparently because Chaos is stronger than Skurai.

To get Loki and Chaos to fight, the swordsman blamed the destruction of the Assassins' Guild on the former. Once the hero has been weakened, Skurai intended to step in so he could fight Chaos and be the one to finish him off. Yeah. So, how believable was that?

Needless to say, this would have been so much more believable if these things didn't just suddenly come from out of nowhere. If we had any indication or even just foreshadowing of what was to come instead of being outright told, then things would have been far more realistic, logical and believable.

More than that though, what makes Skurai's convoluted plan even more unbelievable is the apparent fact that the main character is stronger than him. Sure, it would make sense for the heroes of the story to be strong and powerful.

However, at this point in time, we have seen no indication at all that Chaos is more powerful than Skurai. In fact, all we've seen so far is just how deadly of a fighter the swordsman is. We saw how he single-handedly destroyed the guild and how good and capable he is in wielding his sword, Talatsu.

As for Chaos, we see that he has potential, but that, as of the moment, that potential hasn't been reached, which is to be expected because we're still in the beginning parts of the story.

As we continue to read the manhwa, we're supposed to see the growth of the main characters as they evolve and develop their personalities and improve their fighting skills and abilities.

It's not supposed to happen all at once or right away, otherwise it would be beyond unbelievable. As such, what makes Skurai say, right now, that Chaos is stronger than him?

Maybe if we were in the latter parts of the plot, this could be believable, but, right now, this just falls flat. What can you say about Skurai's plan to fight Chaos? Do you think it's right that Chaos is apparently already stronger than Skurai?

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki based on the image by Rusembell (CC:BY) from deviantArt
- Image is meant to represent Chaos because the figure's hair is messy and spiky
- The rest of the pics are enlarged product images from Amazon.com; links shown above via Amazon's Native Shopping Ads widget