Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.35 Part 3/4 (Kisara, The Lady of the White Dragon)

Oh heck yeah, the time I started to write the draft, not at the time I wanted, because of some inconveniences -.-" (partially my fault being an absent minded person), I lost bit of motivation and inspiration to start it *sigh*, damn it, I hate when it happens...

The main focus in the post will be about YGO!lore and Kisara - The White Dragon...

Plot Summary:

The mysterious woman of the white dragon has just recovered and woke up, she is informed why she was in the hospital wing of the palace, the guard then escort her to the underground...while she doesn't arrive,  priest Seto and Akhenaden reaches the underground chamber escorted by a researcher in discovering how to evolve people's Ka and he shows the results and his conclusions in what makes someone's Ka stronger through the prisoners who survived a battle royale between life and death arena with suspension platforms with only abyss under them, priest Seto and Akhenaden are very impressed with the results of the research...
The mysterious woman arrives to the underground prison and priest Seto asks her name and she reveals she is called Kisara, the researcher wonders how is going to torture her to bring out her Ka, priest Seto becomes worried and starting to feel hesitant in bringing her to the suspension platform with the other prisoners and while revealing that she doesn't know about her Ka despite being so powerful that rival the gods, after feeling hesitant he finally agrees with the others in putting her in the suspension platform, the last two surviving from fighting against other 8 prisoners, Kisara not knowing how to summon her own Ka or can't bring it out, she doesn't fight, but priest Seto gets very worried for her life, so he comes after to see if he comes in time to save her, but the moment he reaches her, both of them almost fall, one hand of his holds Kisara's hand and his other hand holding a rope that was suspending the platform they were in and Kisara is unconscious with no signs of summoning the White Dragon...they are almost about to die, when the prisoners's Ka were about to attack, the White Dragon is summoned subconsciously by Kisara in order to shield them and then destroy the prisoners ka's, when priest Seto left the arena holding Kisara and they discuss about these events.


Key Points:

 

This is the time we see her face properly, I think she is very beautiful, she has that mysterious beauty air around her that I like very much (yeah, I like her character design), it's impressive she has been recovering for 4 days since the day she was brought to the hospital wing, in her days of recovery, Pharaoh was gone on the third day, I believe...this hospital wing of the palace looks like more like a prison cell than a hospital and is called "Isolation Tower", the way she calls priest Seto as if making a memo of the person who saved her from those bullies coming from prejudice based on superstitions and her life...


If you wish to continue reading this post click "read more" below:

 

I find their exchanges pretty interesting, specially from priest Seto, I'll start with Akhenaden...

"A woman who harbours a god...!?"   and priest: "Yes!"

This exchange alone, can speak for a few details, we can remember their last talk when priest Seto reported on his results of his "Ka-Hunt" and referred to the woman of the white dragon, he did mentioned her Ka rival to the gods and here it sounds Akhenaden is repeating what priest Seto just said and seems to be having a hard time to believe someone to have a Ka that rival the gods, it means priest Seto now considers the white dragon as god and is basing on...

"When I was on the Ka hunt in the city...we found her with Shada's Millenium Key. We have another prisoner who witnessed who her white dragon god with his own eyes."

 On the observation of the witness who is a criminal who they recently locked up and was previously stuck in the desert, it's very interesting that priest Seto remembers what that criminal said so well, being priest Seto who is someone like Kaiba isn't easily impressed, he was impressed by this prisoner by not only being able to see the God Ka of the mysterious woman but also being able to properly measure the power of the Ka for referring the white dragon as god who doesn't hold a millenium item to do so.
Now with Akhenaden...considering what priest Seto that there was even a witness who saw and able to measure without a millenium item...:

"A white dragon..." and priest Seto:

 "You are welcome to confirm it with your millenium eye...Lord Akhenaden."

Akhenaden is definitely becoming curious in seeing himself..., I find it amusing how priest Seto responds to this response as if saying "if you are having a hard time believing someone harbouring a god, you can go see it for yourself with your millenium eye".

For a change, Akhenaden is saying something decent and disguising his motives and thoughts better based on his loyalty to the throne that bit by bit is faltering...

"Seto...If something has happened to the pharaoh...then we have lost the protection of the three gods...and that means this palace is helpless..."

He is very right, he is more less saying that they do depend on pharaoh's protection of the three gods, if we remember when Dark Akhenaden addressed to Dark Yugi with a slight nostalgia and here, he does like to an extent his nephew, but as I said before, his negative feelings tend to be stronger.
Because being a matter that priest Seto noticed, which is why he was so focused in searching for powerful Ka.

 

Akhenaden not only faltering in loyalty inside but also starting to show in the surface, claiming they need a leader, a new pharaoh, that's quite bold from him to say such, but if you notice, priest Seto doesn't like the idea about the palace getting a new leader, which means he is already very loyal to the pharaoh and Akhenaden continues...

"Only the missing pharaoh can summon the three great gods. To become the next pharaoh, one needs even greater power...one needs new gods to fill Egypt's need...Seto, you must gain the power to surpass the gods!"

Despite giving a good point, but is rushed in bringing up in needing a "new pharaoh", when they haven't found the body, there is also a big change in his demeanour since he was recovered, it's weird that they still haven't noticed and how his hair is a bit out of place too, despite him implying to priest Seto to become the new pharaoh while priest Seto interpreted differently, to prepare a god for the next pharaoh, more or less as a good point, but it doesn't mean he likes it, his original goal about this is to protect the current pharaoh not give a god to a new pharaoh (you see gap difference in priest Seto's loyalty to the throne is healthier than it was with Akhenaden when he was younger, if we think about it, it's clear priest Seto has no interest in becoming a pharaoh, as we go along in this post and the next).

Akhenaden's thought...

"You are the one in Isis's prediction. The vessel to become the pharaoh..."

The nerve of this guy, he wishes it were the case, because his angry expression is considering of the missing pharaoh being alive and very likely to be the one referred in the prediction...

 

I find the exchange between the researcher Gebelk (who looks a lot like Kaiba's butler from Death-T) and priest Seto informitive, starting with the researcher who gives interesting info about Dark Yugi's father regarding this underground facility...

"The pharaoh doesn't even know this place exists. This facility has been closed since Akhenamkhanen's reign. I had quite a time finding the keys to the torture chambers..."

Gebelk when he refers pharaoh, he is speaking of the current pharaoh, Dark Yugi, that he doesn't know, mostly because as he explains further in the first underline, as we remember in the previous post, when Akhenaden was younger in his thoughts when leaving the palace that his older brother always frowned at cruelty, for this torture chambers been closed since the former king's reign, Dark Yugi's father already knew of this facility during his predecessor's reign and wasn't closed during Dark Yugi's grandfather reign from his father side, interesting details to think about, diving a little deeper to Dark Yugi's family, the time when the former king was a prince didn't agree with his father (Dark Yugi's grandfather) methods of punishing criminals, criminals and getting confessions, because in ancient times pharaoh's did terrible punishments when it came to the worst crimes only, so probably the moment the former king became a pharaoh, closed this facility, it reveals pharaoh Akhenamkhanen had pacifist principles and was particularly against violence...it resembles another character with similar principles (Yugi, the pharaoh soul's host)

The researcher himself takes me to some attention about the fact he took quite some time to find the keys to the torture chambers.
When did he started to look for them? my bet would be when priest Seto ordered this man to make a research about Ka's extraction on prisoners...

 And speaking of which, the researcher Gebelk reports about the results of his research after being asked by priest Seto regarding the Ka extraction...

"After many tests...I have discovered that hunger and fear are the best stimuli to bring out violence from a man's ka... on the other hand, severe torture...risks killing the prisoners Ba...and so it is counter-productive."

He is mostly right and even recognises it's drawbacks in the methods of torture in Ka extraction, make it stronger and he admits that yet somehow imperfected, even though this guy is awful and seem to be enjoying this, so he has a sadist strike, he does have some humility.

Here we see priest Seto revealing how the priests strengthen their spirits Ka...

"A spirit Ka becomes stronger when it's wielder undergoes through training and meditation. But these prisoners have monster Ka, what is strengthening them?"

I find cool this info, the most healthy way to make your spirit Ka stronger is through training and meditation, "the right way" and priest Seto noticed that driving strength behind monster Ka is different, Gebelk response to his question that he has found the answer but is about to show and explain it...

 

As we see in the panel above, the monsters Ka are quite huge but also very powerful acknowledged and impressed by Akhenaden and priest Seto, they first thought these prisoners probably always had such powerful Ka, then Gebelk reveals isn't the case, at first they were weak and small but himself found a way to raise and growing them...

 

Priest Seto curious in how he grew them, as Gebelk explains, he put 10 prisoners in this arena of suspension platforms battle royale with one rule, only one can leave the arena alive, there is these remaining two prisoners who hold these powerful monsters Ka...and here is the answer from Gebelt how these monsters Ka become strong (it's very interesting):

"Lord Seto...what makes a monster Ka strong...is the wielder's desire to live."

He is very correct, desire to live can be a powerful source of inner strength, in other words, it follows the survival mindset, priest Seto reaction means he did understood very well and agrees it can be a powerful source of strength and most people have it in them...

 

I love this character design not just being awed by her beauty, sometimes, but also admiring wonderful work of Takahashi's sensei in drawing her eyes, even though in mangás is in grayscale or black and white, for how her eyes are drawn does give the sense of mysterious eyes as people usually comment about people with blue eyes, her hair long, despite her long bangs would think it hides her face, but the eyes and pretty face makes it quite noticeable.

Gebelt reaction in seeing her, it's very disgusting even what he says is (I'm not gonna quote the bastard 😠)...it isn't even difficult, it was something perverse, for priest Seto reaction shows he didn't like at all what Gebelt was implying and started to become concerned... 

 

I find this scene most curious, as we see the woman introduced herself as Kisara gives the "put your hand in your heart" gesture in expressing her gratitude, it's a very important symbol of expression of sincerity and gratitude, next up the most importantly curious part of this scene is when priest Seto asks for her name, even for him is kinda curious, he didn't ever asked the prisoners and not even the criminal who witnessed Kisara's Ka, to him for someone who harbours a god inside her, prefers to address her and refer her by name...the way she introduces herself in giving her name is very curious and intriguing...

"...I am called Kisara."

She doesn't say "my name is..." but "I am called...", it implies many things about her character, for starters, it seems is not even her real name and doesn't know it either herself, also implying it was a name people have given to her before coming to Egypt too, which is strange in itself, you would think she knows her name, it gives the impression she doesn't know who she is for quite some time, here is a curious bit too, the meaning behind her name can be pronounced in arabic like this-> Quisara or Kizara and it means "the beloved one" (this name first appeared as the name of a main character being a lightskinned moroccan princess from John Fletcher work, "The Island Princess" and the origins of this name is also unknown), from people who have given her name as Kisara that means "the beloved one" could have been for many reasons, she was seen as deity, or "child of god" or even was a concubine to a king due to her beauty and blue eyes about to become a queen of consort...who knows, we don't know her origins and looks like she doesn't know either and why she was in the desert to begin with...she is a very mysterious character, her mystery doesn't end here...

 

She is surprised seeing those monsters and then the researcher asking why she was surprised by it and he supposed she knew about it, even priest Seto wonders how she doesn't know she has Ka, I'm not surprised since she is clearly a foreigner or not from Egypt but yet she can speak their language or looks like it to them...? Also this doesn't seem to be known to most people and Kisara thinks there is nothing like that inside her, then we get priest Seto, simpler explanation...about Ka and Ba...

 

"All living things have an energy that normal people can't see. Some people can give this energy a physical form with the power of their soul, their Ba. This is what we call Ka and you call monsters. Kisara...you, too, have this power!"

It's more or less what I explained in this post, the way he explained in how it is in all living things, it must mean is basically physical form of someone's life energy in a sense as I have explained before, it's linked to be a manifestation and reflection of their Ba, but life force/energy has to do with what you experience in your life and how it affects the self, in other words as I have said, the Ka is a reflection of the Ba, but then what means for her Ka being god-level from someone who seems to have no memories, not holding hatred towards anything even she doesn't think she could possibly have that sort power to give physical form, what kind of true nature reveals about this mysterious character called Kisara...
Then Gebelk gives his advice to see the best way to reveal the extent for her Ka by fighting the prisoners (priest Seto doesn't like it but think Gebelt has a point while feeling hesitant about it), here is why the researcher thinks it can be the case...

"When this girl's heart is filled with fear, she will involuntary summon her Ka! It will come to her side to defend her!"

This man thinks will be the same as the others, we can tell just by what we observed from her that she is pretty unusual and special case, implying that her Ka can't be summoned by normal means like this man is trying to suggest...

Priest Seto is starting to express his hesitation in letting Kisara to fight the prisoners, not just worried for her safety and since his intuition is usually spot on, he must be sensing since she harbors a god, this method might not work for her to summon the white dragon...much less to control it...

 

Akhenaden's darkness is starting to come to the surface more and more and becoming mad...telling priest Seto to test Kisara's power of god...even his words and facial expression are evidences of such...

"We must make a new god as soon as possible! If not...anarchy...death...destruction! Without the pharaoh, the palace is wide open! We have no gods to protect us!"

Despite what he is saying is technically true on the surface, but we know he is rushing to make his son to become the pharaoh, they should make sure if the pharaoh is truly alive first, even priest Seto is starting to notice and surprised with such forceful manner and almost aggressive way of speaking...that for sometime he can't talk back...

 

I'm not going to quote those prisoners, but even Kisara understood what the fat prisoner meant (not saying she isn't smart, but is more she seems a bit naive, for her to getting this right away, when she came to Egypt was using a hood and going by herself, I wouldn't be surprised with her good looks and the mentality about men at this time regarding women was much worse than it is today (sexism was very prevalent, even though there is a lot than people think nowadays but more around privilege and equality and how women are treated in the media), that there were men who tried to get their hands on her...as you see by priest Seto doesn't like one bit where this is going and trying to hold back but the "grr...", he won't be able to for much longer, much less with the intentions behind the prisoners...the bastard Gebelt is enjoying this, Akhenaden doesn't like it but his darkness are taking over and based on his experience with the creation of the millenium items.

 

This moment is when priest Seto when couldn't longer be hesitant as she wasn't resisting to the fight, so he went to try to rescue her, but in vain, he ended up being in trouble himself when he tried fight against two prisoners while holding Kisara, when the prisoners Ka were getting closer, the white dragon appeared a bit after she became unconscious, Akhenaden makes an interesting remark as if he noticed what is up with her case, he is the first to notice with this...

"A god that appears...when the woman sleeps...!!"

As if understood immediately about her case, while also deeply impressed...the most interesting part is the next key point after priest Seto is trying to wake her up...

 

"Lord Seto!! You must not wake her!! Under normal circumstances, A person's Ka -- their spirit guardian -- is controlled by their Ba -- their self, their soul...but that white dragon is that woman's Ba freed from her body!! It only roams when she sleeps! If she awaken, it might vanish!"

Kisara's case is so curious, making her even more interesting and such a mysterious character, The White Dragon is more or less, the woman herself, as if Kisara herself is the human form of the White Dragon, when taking into consideration what has been implied about her, she seems to had no name, no memories of who she really is, the meaning behind her name that was given to her by her previous peers? she doesn't even know what she is, my theory and headcanon would be she isn't even from and wasn't born in the physical world, but instead from the "spirit world" that took physical form of a human to live among them but in order for the white dragon to blend in, hide itself in the subconscious or Kisara is the disguise, which would explain why in Kisara consciousness seems to not know anything about herself besides what was perceived by her peers from before coming to the desert to reaching Egypt, however when she is unconscious, the true form of herself comes in full in form of a white dragon, making the White Dragon be Kisara with all her memories - The white dragon is also protecting priest Seto for not forgetting in saving her life (similar to how the world of memory is consisted of all Dark Yugi's memories from when he was alive to the modern age), yeah, I don't agree when people say Kisara is the vessel and possessed by the white dragon, when in this scene as it shows and researcher Gebelt explained the White dragon is the true form of her soul, the characters most similar to her case regarding memories is similar to Dark Yugi current situation, but to her case is also similar to a certain character...regarding her Ba and Ka...

 

What a silent reception, this was after seeing "Light Burst Stream" attack destroying the two prisoners's Ka, you could say is sinking in about Kisara's true soul form extent of her power, specially to priest Seto while holding her and looking at her again (one can wonder what he is thinking), if we think about it, this his first time holding her too (a lot thoughts must be behind him) and Akhenaden, he is very impressed mixed with fiery determination...while researcher Gebelt openly expresses of how impressed he was by the extent of power of her soul, priest Seto agrees and finds it more impressive is that she doesn't know it...

 

Researcher Gebelt gives them an important reminder to the priests:

"When the Ba departs the body, the wielder falls into a coma...She probably doesn't remember anything when the white dragon appears."

This is an important detail to know, it's more or less what I explained before, regarding her memories, it must be very similar to Dark Yugi, in both their subconscious, they remember everything but in their consciousness is a different case, the differences between Kisara and Dark Yugi is that Dark Yugi is recovering his memories by re-experience inside the world of memory that was mostly created by his subconscious but he was only able to access it after his death sealed in the puzzle, Kisara to recover all her memories might be in similar way too...

By the way, there are rare cases when people fall into coma that patients can remember the conversations of the doctors and visitors in their hospital room, but Kisara's case was mostly her subconscious, so she won't remember...

Their discussion about the extent of power she has, Akhenaden claims might be greater than thief Bakura's Ka and priest Seto agrees and thinks if they harness it, it can counter the Diabond's shadow power...but Akhenaden goes even further that might be stronger than the pharaoh's three gods...no rush there...priest Seto doesn't disagree with the possibility (but I think Akhenaden is getting carried away a little, it shows he was very impressed by the white dragon), so Akhenaden asks how they can capture the white dragon...

the researcher's answer is interesting...

"The girl is different from the other prisoners I've tested. I've never seen a case where the Ka appears when the wielder is unconscious."

As I have mentioned before, it was implied her Ka couldn't be summoned by normal means by how Kisara didn't knew about that she had within her, it shows that if someone's Ka is that level or even close, the holder of this kind of similar level would have to hold back or inside the subconscious, one can wonder why isn't the case for thief Bakura and the pharaoh, thief Bakura's Ka as we have seen where the source of his hatred is based on a traumatic event he remembers very vividly, so of course, he remembers, the pharaoh was inherited based on a prophecy and as a pharaoh..., but Kisara's case is for special reasons that will go in the next key point besides being the true form of her soul...

 

The conclusion the researcher comes why the white dragon is her soul and can only be out when she is unconscious is...

"This can only mean one thing...her Ba and her Ka are united."

Where we have seen this before....we have seen when Mahado fused his Ba with his Ka, he took out his own life to do so, we saw how it turn out, he became the Black Magician we know, if Kisara was a sorceress like Mahado, she would remember most things, but since isn't the case, she is whole only when she is sleeping...and the other angle Akhenaden observed is...

"Or in other words....the Ba of the white dragon is possessing that's girls body...using her as a vessel..."

I agree to disagree with him, if we go for my theory that white dragon is a spirit from a "spirit world" disguised or took a physical form of a human and hides in the subconscious (since the human psyche is very complex) and her origins unknown, by what Akhenaden said, he would be technically correct, but Kisara's case is more or less similar to Dark Yugi's current situation and Mahado to becoming Black Magician, if she was a sorceress she could probably have awareness of her true form and be able to control it, also again if we follow my theory by what researcher Gebelt said and Akhenaden above, in a way the White Dragon's Ka is Kisara and Kisara's Ba is the white dragon, they are one the and the same - it's very possible my theory to be correct (which is where I disagree with Akhenaden saying "white dragon is possessing that girl" just because she doesn't remember anything after when she is in that form), besides in ancient times and even in spiritual knowledge, "vessel" in technical terms is the body like a shell/cage of the soul, but he is only saying this way for his own convenience...to suggest priest Seto to become the vessel of the white dragon...

The researcher approves to be the good solution in capturing the white dragon by freeing her soul from the body...

 

Priest comes to the conclusion they meant...

"What?!! You'd make her vessel without a soul!? That would mean her death!"

We can confirm in this scene that the vessel in technical terms here means what I said above being the body/shell/cage of the soul...
If we look from the time when he was creeply watching Kisara sleep, he was steeling himself that if he had to make the white dragon his, he would be willing to take her life, and now...
as Akhenaden says...

"If you sacrifice the girl...the god will become yours...Seto."

You see him becoming very hesitant because initially when he found her, he thought he was willing to, but now the chance came, he isn't sure if he wants it anymore, which more or less implies that he has grown a very soft spot for and attracted to her...

And as I have pointed out, Akhenaden is only suggesting this for his own convenience in rushing to make his son becoming the new pharaoh without confirming if his own nephew, the current pharaoh is alive or dead (the bastard! 💢).

Then priest Seto says the most reasonable and rational answer:

"I think we're getting ahead of ourselves. First things first...We must discovered what happened to the pharaoh!"

Despite to be in front of him, his chance in getting a god almost on a silver platter that he has considered before, yet he remains loyal to the pharaoh and takes priority in finding the pharaoh, dead or alive, it shows character development on his part as well, from someone who was first introduced as extreme then has grown in becoming rational and reasonable person, probably the biggest influence is Akhenaden before he drown to his darkness, the pharaoh and Kisara (yes, her).

Akhenaden doesn't say anything because he knows priest Seto is right while thinking the pharaoh being alive would get in the way in his own wish of his son becoming the new pharaoh...

Here we have the confirmation that priest Seto doesn't know Akhenaden is his father...in his thoughts continue...

"I've already sold my soul to the shadows...as a father, the only thing I can do for you...is to give you a god...to make you king!! My hands are already covered in blood..."

The nerve of him...it was his own choice to make the preparations before suggesting his own brother (former king) and suggesting and manipulating his brother by omitting an important detail on purpose to get a permission from his brother (former king), because if he had given the info about the necessary cost, the former king wouldn't have permitted, he thinks he lost the "right" to become pharaoh because of his own choices, he does regret to some extent in manipulating and jealousy for his brother and being responsible to the massacre of Kul Elna and creation of the millenium items, but his ambitions and greediness are still strong enough to not feel enough regret and projecting his own greediness and ambitions on his son (when he might not even want it) and not caring if his nephew is dead or alive.

See Ya Next Post!