Arknights: Rise from Ember Episode 10 Discussion

Season 2 was good, but this one is great! The fight scene between Amiya and Ch'en vs Talulah is so good! I wish there mere more of it, though. I'm not sure how good Talulah herself is without Kashchey's aid in a fight, but it's impressive how it takes 2 elite guards to barely even scratch her. That's badass.

Ch'en with her hair down is gorgeous. She should keep it that way forever!

I'm an anime only but I can tell this season can surely benefit from one or two more episodes, especially for the climax. It felt like I was watching a recap instead of a grand finale of a brilliant buildup from season 1. The pacing sucks in general, especially W's flashback and this one unfortunately.

Talulah is atoning for her sins (not sure how though). All in all, it's a great way to end this arc. I'd give it a 9/10 if not for the horrible pacing here and there.

A solid 8/10.

Awww even Talulah smiles now. We've come a long, long way.

Kashchey's influence on Talulah probably came more in the form of tactics, strategy and knowledge amassed over centuries, but even without him taking the reigns, Talulah would give her enemies a run for their money. She is a skilled swordfighter (likely thanks to her "adoptive" father) and a *terrifyingly* powerful Caster, undoubtedly one of the strongest currently alive in terms of just destructive power alone. The Deathless Black Snake spoke of how only FrostNova and Patriot could have stopped him, referring to FrostNova's (also terrifyingly powerful) frost-based Arts being possibly enough to counteract Talulah's flames, and Patriot just being an absolute gigachad of a melee fighter, who also has knowledge of ancient Sarkaz witchcraft - even with Terrans being physically very tough, Patriot would only need to get in one good hit and Talulah's innards would quickly become outards.

also fully agree that hair-down ch'en is peak.

@Benzux Thanks for the reply. Right, I forgot she did fight FrostNova to prove herself worthy when asking her to join the old reunion.

I have some extra questions if you don't mind answering. I don't mind if one or all of them are spoilers, just put the spoiler tag for other people:

1. How old are the main operators who show up on screen? I always assumed they were a hundred years old lol but that doesn't seem to be the case (not sure about Patriot though).

2. Because of question 1, I assumed the reunion has been around for a long, long time. Like the mortal enemy of Rhodes. When was the reunion established? Was Rhodes/Babel a thing when Talulah was still herself?

3. What's going to happen to Talulah? Will we see her actively if they decide to continue with the anime adaptation?

Thanks.

@Yuu_Kanzaki
I'm always happy to talk about this amazing world and story! Any and all questions are free to be thrown my way and I'll do my best to answer.

1. The ages of different characters vary quite a lot, some are quite young like Rosmontis, others are in the prime of their life like Ch'en, and yet others are veterans of several decades. To give some examples, Amiya is in her teens, Blaze is confirmed to be in her late 30s/early 40s, while a character called Hellagur (who was seen briefly in this episode when Kal'tsit was giving her speech, he was the white-haired gentleman wearing a jacket with "Azazel" written on it) boasts a whopping 44 years of recorded combat experience, making him likely at least 70 years old. Different races also have different lifespans, e.g. Sarkaz tend to live for longer than others (but due to the majority of them being Infected, they tend to die before reaching old age), though aside from some of the rarer races, the lifespans of Terrans regardless of race are about a century at most. Patriot, or Buldrokkas'tee, specifically is a Sarkaz from an old and likely quite pure bloodline, and while he was an Infected, he contracted Oripathy quite late into his life, and was probably at least 200 years old when he died. Then there are also some... special cases. Doctor Kal'tsit is one of these, which was hinted at when Patriot asked her how she has not aged a day since he last saw her. Her circumstances are given more details later on in the story.

2. Reunion as an "organization" (to use the word loosely) was born in the Ursus tundra from Talulah's ambitions and desires to carve out a place in the world for the Infected, so it has existed for at most a few years. As an idea, however, Reunion has not been the first time that the Infected have tried to band together to fight their oppressors, but Talulah was the one who gave the movement a name. Her actions also lit the flame of Infected resistance all across Terra, as people who have never interacted with the actual Reunion are taking up its banner. As for Rhodes Island, it has existed for longer than Reunion, but in the grand scheme of things, it is relatively new as well. Before it was known as Rhodes Island, the organization went by the name of "Babel", but as a result of the civil war in the homeland of the Sarkaz, known as Kazdel, Babel had to reorganize itself and was renamed Rhodes Island, after the landship that it is headquartered in. Episode 2 shows us some bits from the time of Babel, namely one of its founding members, the previous King of Sarkaz Theresa, who passed her crown to Amiya.

3. For now, as we saw, Talulah has been taken into custody by Rhodes Island, a neutral party as far as the nations who might wish to judge her are concerned. Rosmontis promised the Guerrillas that she would be handed to them for judgement, but the former Reunion members and national governments are not the only ones with an interest in the individual known as Talulah Artorius. The red-haired lady we saw briefly in this episode is one such individual who wishes to see her brought to justice. We won't be seeing Talulah in the next Arc, as, while Reunion's part in the story is not over, they are no longer one of the main actors (and because if we do get an adaptation for chapter 9 onwards, we'll be starting an entire new storyline). However, Talulah's personal story is not over either, and she will make at least one major appearance in a potential Season 4.

@Benzux Thanks again for the swift reply!

So theoretically Babel could've crossed paths with Talulah? If so then it's a shame since they're ultimately working toward the same goal.