Spoilers: Siryn, Archangel and Beast return to Krakoa bringing Rictor and Apocalypse, both dying. Polaris, Havok, Monet and Unus soon emerge from the gateway with Rockslide’s dead body. Dr. Reyes has Rachel get the injured to the Healing Gardens. Lorna particularly feels guilty over Rockslide’s death. In Otherworld, Saturnyne decides to close the External Gate, which greatly upsets Krakoa. Later, at the Healing Gardens, neither Monet or Rachel are able to read Polaris’ mind about the prophecy regarding the champions and their swords. Healer thinks it’s best for Rictor to die so he can be resurrected swiftly. This angers Apocalypse, who tries to kill Healer; however, Rachel intervenes just in time. Polaris has Xavier prioritize the resurrection protocols for Rictor and Rockslide as they were casualties of war. The Five resurrects Rictor without any problems. However, when Xavier attempts to upload Rockslide’s memories, Cerebro and all backup cradles short-circuit, the connection between the Five is lost and Rockslide’s body disintegrates. The Five decide to destroy all remaining eggs as they could be tainted. Rockslide forms a new, strange body before them. Cerebro gets back online, restoring the connection between the Five. Xavier verifies that Rockslide is indeed “a” Rockslide, but not their Santo. They turn their attention to Rictor; however, Xavier is sure that Rictor is actually himself. The Five bring the issue to the Quiet Council, and deduce that because Rockslide died in Otherworld, it has corrupted the resurrection protocol. As Otherworld is the nexus of all realities, Rockslide is now a composite of all alternate Rockslides that ever were. In addition, death in Otherworld rewrites all Cerebro backups accordingly, meaning that true resurrection for a mutant who dies in Otherworld is no longer an option; “our” Rockslide is lost forever. Polaris still can’t figure out how to unlock the information passed on to her. Magneto demands she tries harder, and so she does. Lorna foretells the prophecy relating to each champion and their swords. Later, Xavier and Magneto warn Apocalypse that the resurrections protocols are suspended until further notice. They scorn him for dooming all of mutantkind. Polaris is still deeply affected by Rockslide’s true death and uses his remains to construct a casting circle as instructed by Saturnyne. All champions must retrieve their swords and place them in the circle to open a portal to the tournament. Magik is the first to arrive and places her Soul Sword on the casting circle. Let the war begins she says.
The prophecy: As above, so below. From one womb came two -- a hero destined to brandish what the earth hath swallowed, and an echo doomed to yearn for what the stars hath forsworn.
Cypher deduces this one is about the Braddock twins.
“For so long, my life has been out of control. Chaos and serendipity, wrapped in insanity. I have suffered, I have lost. Not just my life, but my very soul, my self. But no more. Now I know who I am.” – Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Braddock, daughter of Otherworld, mutant, telepath, telekinetic, defender of the realm and, above all, X-Man.
19 comments:
...Regarding the prophecy, is Betsy supposed to be "the echo doomed to yearn for what the stars hath forsworn"? I'm not sure if I like that.
Anyway, this whole thing about death in Otherworld affecting resurrections in Krakoa makes sense. And even though I never cared much for Santo, I feel bad for him being dead for real... but then again, if the new Rockslide is supposed to be "a composite of all alternate Rockslides that ever were", shouldn't the Krakoan Rockslide be part of this composite? So technically couldn't his personality (which should be part of this composite) eventually take over this new body? Hickman did say that he likes to "return the toys to the box undamaged after he plays with them".
And Xavier, Magneto and Apocalypse already fighting each other... this can't be a good sign for the Krakoan society, can it?
I'm worried for Betsy now. The December Excalibur solicit about "some things lost cant be replaced" 😭
Chin up, everyone!
I am hopeful that Elizabeth will metapmorphose (like a butterfly) into something grand to behold post Ten of Swords. Or maybe I am playing myself and putting too much faith in this story. So far issue one of this arc was awesome though, so I’mma be glass half full until I have reason not to be.
A disaster. It's like covid for the mutants brain dead clones. No it's not the future I want for Storm and Betsy and Wolverine. Cancel ditch Arakko and the Apocalypse bunch. Not worth the pain.
It's a weird situation. If Betsy dies in Otherworld in the end of XoS, she'll return as a new being, so it wouldn't be really Betsy.
But, if we think about it, can we even say the X-Men who died and were resurrected by the Five before XoS are really themselves? While the bodies and minds are the same, for people who believe in souls (and even many people who don't have a religion believe in souls), can we really be sure if the souls of the fallen mutants went to the cloned bodies? If they didn't, technically wouldn't these mutants be gone - and wouldn't their cloned bodies be new individuals who just believe they are the same people they were cloned from? If that's the case, the only difference would be whether the clone would have the same memories/personality from the cloned individual or not, but the individual herself/himself would be gone either way.
I hope these questions are addressed later on, with more depth than just "Xavier says this is still the same person, so it is the same person and this discussion is over".
Optimism is difficult to have once you piece together information from the covers, the summaries and the interviews.
The ten of swords card with Betsy is upright which decodes crisis, betrayal, loss and pain. Reversed is healing, victory and strength to resist. There is nothing else for Betsy to lose other than her life.
Betsy's absence on the cover of Excalibur in the aftermath of X of Swords reveals something. Very ominous and sadly this is the worst year to be a Betsy fan if the signs are fulfilled by the story.
Doug translates the prophecy alluding to the great battle in the Otherworld. A piece from the prophecy refers to Betsy and Brian.
"From one womb came two, a hero destined to brandish what the earth hath swallowed
And an echo doomed to yearn for what the stars hath foresworn"
The hero destined might be Brian Braddock and the doomed echo who yearns the stars is Betsy Braddock wielding the Starlight Sword. The lines give away the result of the battle, however it could be guesswork.
The death in Otherworld and the insufficiency of the resurrection protocols to bypass it spell trouble.
Since de the begining i'm not optmistic about the x of swords....
@Unknown The Otherworld is falling apart at the same rate divided Krakoa is. Because Opal Luna Saturnyne relies on her White and Green priestesses and has lost the powerful Captain Britain corps. The atmosphere is pessimistic on purpose and other dimensional incursions might happen while the Captain Britain door keepers are absent.
Amenth has the Twilight Sword and given the pocket dimension is crawling with demons it is safe to predict a connection to Surtur from Thor. Hickman loves the synergy between his work on different titles, and for adding more to the mythology of Ultimate Thor than writers created for the main book in decades, I'm confident he will expand his Okkara history to a broader scale.
He has to break some characters to achieve his goal. Nonetheless, I wish he doesn't do it at the expense of some beloved X-Men characters. For example Betsy, who is already worn out by the constant changes to her body, mind and status. The same wish stands for Tini Howard.
I have a question. Jamie was ressurected in Excalibur #1 but from what death?
Yes, he died in Remenders XForce but did Jamie not randomly appear in a Black Widow series sometime after that where he was killed again?
Did he appear anywhere after that but before Excalibur? Or was his ressurection due to his death in the Black Widow issue?
Also, I wonder since Brian and Betsy both from Otherworld heritage if dying in Otherworld may not have the same effect on them as let's say Rockslide.
Yes, good point! Maybe her physiology is different due to her Otherworld heritage.
I'm optimistic with her destiny. We may not enjoy the way she's been written, but the X-team is showing they WANT to write her (even if they have different ideas of what should be done to her than we do). I don't think Betsy will be sent to editorial limbo anytime soon. And while I said I'm not sure if I like the prophecy in case she's the "echo" and not the "hero", in no way it indicates she will die or that her resurrection will be tainted like Rockslide's was. Maybe it's just an indication of her post-XoS goals.
Whatever it is, it's far from the Fraction era where we feared for her life because she was treated by pretty much all writers as a minor character who they could dispose of at any time for cheap shock value. This time, whatever happens to Betsy, at least we know she'll still be around.
...As for Jamie's return, I'm afraid I have no idea.
Is Kwannon in this story at all? I could see them killing her and returning her to who she was "supposed" to be. Maybe a strong ninja mutant Empath without the baggage of the bodyswap drama or being a murderous assassin. That could actually benefit both characters potentially.
Kwannon is on covers for the Hellion issues tying into Swords but I don't think the Hellions will be directly involved in the tournament.
I doubt they're going anywhere with Kwannon. If they do change Betsy again... why?? Shes finally a clean slate back in her real body and now they want to convolute her further? I hope im just panicking over nothing but im seriously exhausted with what they've been putting Betsy through as far as removing majority of her identity staples. Just leave her alone Marvel! Lol
@randybear Jamie died two times in the 2010s.
The first death was during the trial of Fantomex in Otherworld where Betsy possessed Brian to twist Jamie's neck.
The story was a continuation of the story Skinnless Man a.k.a Weapon III stealing the Necromon artifact. The actual twist was that this Jamie was a possessed future Jamie with the demon Horaomce, who wanted to take over Otherworld to access the multiverse and infect reality with the help of Necromon. The Britain Corps due to Fantomex's affiliation with the Weapon X project and him found with bullets made of the skin of Weapon III was accused by Horaomce as his agent. Betsy discovered the truth about the demon of the woods and her paternal house in Otherworld and killed future Jamie. The real Jamie was hidden in the 6th Dimension.
The second death of Jamie was of his present self.
After the Foursaken hunted him, he hid in the 6th Dimension of dark mage Tiboro and possibly was tasked to bring him the space stone to energize the screaming totem. Black Widow had the space stone and Jamie brainwashed a mob of British children to steal it and had his servants corner her. Jamie's blood was infected with dark snakes from Tiboro and poisoned Black Widow but with the help of a disguised Merlyn Black Widow killed Jamie and was healed. One of the blood snakes of Jamie was taken to Krakoa and was used to DNA resurrect him.
Ok so basically he's back from the Black Widow death. I was hoping it was the UXF death as that took place on Otherworld. Back to the drawing board lol...
You guys are panicking because why?
Betsy and Brian might be missing post Swords and apparently if you die in Otherworld you can't be brought back as the same person even via resurrection protocols.
Excalibur solicit for December is "some things that are lost cant be replaced" which sums up exactly what happens when a mutant dies while in Otherworld
@Jaime Braz the person who coughed the rhyme is mutant phobic. I don't go for the writers throats. Saturnyne and Merlin yap like that but they're gangsta. Betsy isn't an echo she's scream queen.
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