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Evolution of Eternal Sorrow

by Gordy Baron

The Evolution of Eternal Sorrow is the amazing graphic novel series which relates the story leading up to the naming of the Chasm of Eternal Sorrow. A wonderful read if you manage to find a copy. Here, however, is a synopsis of the events which take place in the graphic novels.

Spoiler Alert!!!! BE WARNED! Spoiler Alert!!!!

Sundered Lifestyle Arc

After The Sundering, the many peoples of Battal are confused and frightened, drifting leaderless. The first book of the Evolution, called "A Sundered Lifestyle," tells the tale of a young boy whose bedroom that he shared with his brother once rested on the very line on which Shield and Sickle were sundered. His relationship with his brother, who was now on a far away continent, and indeed his very life, is shattered, in a powerful metaphor for the shattering of the world. The identity of the boy and his brother are never revealed during this or any of the other books of the series, although some suggest that the boy's brother is, in fact, Lord Hopebane. However, due to the time difference between the events in Evolution of Eternal Sorrow and the Tides of Epic Conflict Saga, this seems unlikely. This first is used mostly to set the tone of what Battal has now become, and is really more of a prologue to "The Emotional Wanderer" arc.

Francis Hildaen Arc

The second volume, entitled "The Emotional Wanderer," introduces this arc's main character, Francis Hildaen. Francis begins the series as an unspectacular and hence rather poor member of The Guilde of Adventure Haurdcore. He is attempting to rid a small town of some pesky Seeping Knawers which are destroying walls of cottages in the area. Even with a task as simple as this, Francis can't accomplish unscathed; his armor becomes very damaged as he attempts to herd them away from the village. Clearly a great adventurer Francis is not, but this just adds to his loveable charm. After getting paid, he has a short flashback to his childhood, featuring his boyish past self proclaiming his dreams of one day being a great adventurer, saving several beautiful women and then taking them to bed. His parents prevented his past self from expounding upon this dream, but it is clear what was intended to follow, and Francis seems very distraught indeed to realize how far from his dream he has come. The book ends on a cliffhanger with Francis settling down for a good night's rest while a shadowy figure inquires at a nearby inn about his whereabouts.

The third book, "A Dream Rekindled," is the book which features the origins of the Chasm of Eternal Sorrow- itself. The mysterious figure from the second book finally locates Francis walking to the Guilde to see if there is any work this month. A long conversation ensues, in which the stranger tells the tale of the Chasm's origins in a flashback that in fact comprises most of the book. According to the stranger, back before even the Magic Sword Kings ruled, there was an amazing and magical kingdom which existed in a valley of the finest, very blackest obsidian. In this kingdom, every man, woman, and child had a horse, and the king had two, and everyone smiled and laughed all day long. However, there was a large gate on the outside of this kingdom, and none could enter from the outside. The people on the outside really wanted free horses, and thought the gate was really unfair. So they broke it. This started a war that lasted a thousand years, known as the Million Year War, and they waged hard and they waged constant. Soon, people from outside were flooding in and killing friend, foe, anyone they could see! The ground became littered with bones, and the mad spirits of the dead seeped into the ground. The dead spirits tainted it and filled it with a new-sprung eternal hate the likes of which had never been seen before, and from which, it is said, all hate in the world of Battal now flows. The hate streamed out in all directions, including along the innumberable axes of timenes, thus creating the Darkrift which retroactively created the Chasm of Eternal Sorrow.

However, in his castle, just before the king was knocked off his two horses and decapitated, he called out a decree to the spirits which now flowed with anger in his destroyed kingdom. He proclaimed that anyone who could enter this now tainted place and show kindness and peace, even when faced with his greatest faults and inner demons, would be granted the power to change the world. The spirts churned and swirled around him, acknowledging his power as the true sovereign of the kingdom, and binding his decree into the very bones beneath his horses' feet. The book ends with Francis, overwhelmed by this knowledge, asking the stranger where the Chasm is and why in fact he had to listen to the whole story, to which the stranger responds by placing a map in his hands and disappearing. Some have noted this mysterious figure bears a striking resemblence to descriptions of the Dark Master, but there is no solid evidence of this.

The fourth and final book, "Sorrow's Trial," is the story of Francis's quest and the origin of the name of the Chasm. Francis begins at the broken gate leading into the Chasm. We see a short review of the end of the stranger's tale, followed by Francis thinking of what great deeds he could do, if only he had the power mentioned in the story. Also, the guild didn't have any work for him this month anyway. He begins his decent feet crunching over the skulls and bones of the evil dead that carpet the earth. He arrives at the entrance to the grand castle a few panels later, the one we see the king in during the last book, only much more evil and destroyed. Francis steps inside and finds himself face to face with every person who was injured during each of his assignments from the Guilde. We see short flashbacks of many of his blunders as they all look him in the face and ask him why he's such a screw-up. They ask him why he isn't stronger, why he would undertake these tasks when he knew he wasn't up to it. He panics, unable to handle these questions, running wildly in a random direction. The phantoms chase him and he gets more and more lost (there are some really great landscape shots of the Chasm in this section). He runs into a corner, the phantoms of his past coming closer and closer. He pulls his sword, beginning to slash and kick and claw like crazy, but to no avail. The entire second to last page is a single frame that shows a skeleton in Francis' armor, being slowly eaten by Annelida. The last page shows the shadowy stranger singing in a tavern about Francis' brave adventure, claiming the right to name it for the first time; the Chasm of Eternal Sorrow. A newspaper in the foreground gives the date as Medianary of 10,435.

Fan Controversy

Some fans were outraged by this ending, claiming it wasn't an ending at all to the story, claiming there must be an additional book to follow this one. The rest of the fans, however, don't believe this. Francis is obviously dead, and that is the end of his tale. The other fans then point out that Francis could have put his armor on a skeleton and ran off, alive. The rest of the fans then admit this could be true, but he would have absolutely no reason to do so, to which the other fans have no response.