Wolf time!

I was thinking the same thing.

What a salty individual Oren is turning out to be

Yeah I can't help but feel like Oren in season 2 is NOT the same as our OG bunny boy xD

He didn't have his coffee yet. No idea. But yeah he seems to have flip flopped from hopeful well meaning to welcome to the army.

That's what not having coffee does.

That's what orens forge is all about! Boom, done, figured out the hidden plot.

Maybe hes worried that he might be a risk if he goes out.

I know. He felt like a different person in Season 1. Wiser.

I think in season 1 he still thought that the Hollow was safe from predators, but since than Rask's dad and the wolf pack entered and now his perfect world has been shattered and he needs to fear for his little haven.

I guess Oren might have been pinning everything on Rask replacing Hemlock as their primary protector, feeling he is somewhat responsible for Hemlock and Sprig being gone. They JUST lost her and Sprig (I think it's only been a week or two?) and I bet Oren is feeling the pressure with these wolves skulking around (from his perspective). Everyone else doesn't seem to have the spine to stay and defend - notice how every time something slightly scary happens, most of the Hollow want to scatter. Oren's barely holding the Hollow together as it is, and now the only one who can hunt is leaving.

Not saying Rask deserves Oren's salty attitude, but if I'm thinking along the right lines, I can at least wrap my head around why.

I could definitely see this being the case. I've also been disappointed in Oren for not... you know, talking to Rask more about the situation, but it would make sense if he feels like he can't insist on Rask doing the dirty work, but also can't say that the dirty work's unnecessary. Hemlock and Sprig were happy to do it, so the conflict never came up. It's hard to admit when you can't find a way to reconcile your needs and your principles.

Hopefully we'll get another look into Oren's thoughts later! This story's always been good about making everyone's motivations clear, even if it takes some time to get there.

If he was any saltier, the wolves might consider him to be a pickled delicacy.

He's been like this the whole time - it's Rask who's changed. Rask was previously eager to fight and kill to prove his place in the Hollow, but he's come to see that they will always be suspicious of him no matter what he does, and that in the heat of the moment, he actually can't kill anyone anymore. So Oren is salty because Rask is no longer useful to his cause (he probably is hospitable to Egg not because his followers damaged her, but because she proves her worth by mining ore for his weapons).

It's sad but that feels pretty spot on.

I think it is more he is frustrated and maybe a bit angry. He defended him and, as a result, caused Hemlock and their followers to leave which weakened their position. Now he is leaving, which further weakens them. He probably thinks he made a mistake putting his trust in the Marten.

Except on page 179 (https://www.furaffinity.net/view/42994146/) when Rask asked "Leave after if I want?", Oren's reply was "The world is wide and I don't claim it." which suggests that Rask was free to go if he should ever so choose. Why tell Rask that if he would be salty about him choosing to depart?

Hmm, good point.

That was when he still didn't really know what to do with Rask, and he still had Hemlock and Sprig to protect the hollow. With Sprig dead and most of the good fighters defecting with Hemlock, Oren was probably counting on Rask to take up the mantle of defending the hollow. He lost those other members by choosing Rask, but now Rask didn't choose him back and he doesn't have a Plan C with a wolf at the door.

Oh fuck off, Oren.

"I'm sorry. I can't be a killer for you. You've opened my eyes to empathy."

Oren: "HOW DARE YOU NOT MURDER FOR THE HOLLOW"

Geeze, Oren.

Knew Oren needed to be smacked, with a tree, now the wolves are walking into a meat grinder, oh well they tried.

Uh oh.

It's so interesting how Oren and Rask have two different ideas of freedom. Oren has the idea of "freedom from danger" while Rask has the idea of "freedom to become." It's truly amazing that Rask has the same yearning that his uncle had, maybe just not the results he wanted.

Oren is also a prey animal, which absolutely shaped his idea of "freedom"! I think differing definitions of freedom is a major theme of this volume; there's also the wolves' "freedom from hunger" - with Swift promising the pups they'll taste a rabbit if they move to the woods, and Gristle believing there will be enough meat for everyone if they stop wasting it on Red. And of course Rask, the mesopredator, has a position between those.

Oh boy confrontation time...

I'm not entirely sure it's the wolves, I don't think Rask gave them the directions to the hallow itself, just to "a lake in the shadow of the mountain". Though considering Rask's first meeting with Hemlock at that very lake, they might consider any predator showing up there to be too close for comfort.

They are currently at the Lake under the Shadow of the Mountain to send of Rask as Sibyl is unable to enter the Hollow due to her spines. So yes That is 100% Swift, Red and the pups that just arrived and if I pin Hemlock correctly a very angry rabbit sitting high up to keep an eye on the situation.

Possibly. Is there a map of the territory a person could look at? Any panel with a birds eye view of the land?

If Rask ends up leaving with the wolves, then I hope he also asks Egg to come with them, too. The hollows' residents only keep her around because she's useful for digging up the ore that Oren uses for his smithing. If Egg was to become too infirm to fulfill that task any longer, or if the ore resources dried up, I suspect that they would consider her usefulness to have run out. Since they're so fearful of "others", I could see them finishing the job they started on her.

And if Egg departing with Rask & company means they have a harder time getting ore, well, too bad. They're not interested in anything resembling equality. They only kept the two predators around because they were seen as "useful", and we're seeing Oren's treatment of Rask now that he is "no longer useful".

woe, wolves be upon ye

oh shit 👀👀 could definitely be the wolves, but could also be a certain wolf pelt-toting rabbit returning too

I dunno, I don't think Hemlock would inspire such a fearful reaction. Maybe if she was completely soaked in blood, but she wasn't last we saw her.

i wasnt necessarily reading it as fear, could also just be shock too; though i think proof of having killed an entire wolf could still elicit some fear regardless!

Ohh boy, wolves on the horizon!

...or they just set fire to the whole forest, no biggie...

i think Oren is going stabby stabby!
i can't let you leave here with the knowledge of our existence.

I see Rask as being a mediator in this meeting with the wolves. Something that Oren would not be able to do

Hi, new friends!!

One coould say this is comedic timing that right as Rask leaves the Hollow the Wolves now enter to seek the promised better way of life. Well Rask should have been faster with the good byes, now you are stuck to broker that deal you wanted to make.

I don't see any outcome other than the predators all leaving together as a group. There's no way predators way bigger than Rask (nevermind the fact that the available "non-intelligent food supply" for them will not support the wolves, it was already iffy about supporting Rask and Egg) are going to be allowed to "join the club". Especially given the prevalent fear just of Rask (remember the mice whispering to themselves "he's a killer"), and Oren seeing Rask as nothing more than a guard dog to protect "his people".

The citizens of the hollow see proactively killing predators as "the best defense is a good offense" -- unless that changes, they're going to end up starting a war they probably can't win. Today, it's "killing any predators who tresspasses into our territory", there will come a tomorrow where "we must send a war party into this predator group's territory and kill them all, for the sake of our defense". Eventually, that policy will spark a conflict which will be bigger than they can chew.

You are quite right. The feeding thing was always the problem here from the start. They are still reproducing as fast as in the wild, but have no longer loss of life so their food sources would have started to run out at some time. Predators are just the most immediate problem with their need for protein to survive.

But with an apex predator now right at their doorstep who is with a severly wounded mate and 2 pups will force not only Oren, but all of the defenders of the Hollow to show their true colors. Cause now he will have to show what his words truelly mean or if they are just smoke and mirrors. It will also be interresting to see oren's reaction when one of the pups exclaims that those here are just like the rabbit who killed Uncle Seral and saved them (the murderous loose cannnon not doing the killing).

Yeah, that's something I've commented about in the past. They're going to quickly outgrow their population past the point the forest can sustain -- and they will have to either expand, figure out birth control, or end up killing one another for resources. Considering how the option of killing comes pretty easy to them (since the spears empower them for that; right now it's "self defense", but it's a slippery slope where they might get too used to killing such that it becomes second nature), I can very much see something akin to a civil war for resources coming to them in a generation or two. That, or we'll see them wage this world's first resource war on some neighbor.

If Rask leaves the hollow for a while, on returning he might find that terrible things have happened. Over the pages, we've seen the hollow denizens show Rask nothing except fear and hatred (at this point, I honestly cannot guess what Oren thinks). There's a reason why Yoda says what he says about fear, anger, and hate.

I really hope Egg goes with him, for her sake.

Surprise hug, for sure.

Crap.