! @Light:
! > How about going against the "Finns are whiners" stereotype for once? :happy:
Norland made sometimes rash decisions, yes, but they also were rash circumstances! A wild beast has going to devour an innocent girl so of course he did what his instincts told him to do and killed it! And as for chopping the trees, he was fighting against an extremely fatal disease which had to be eliminated no matter what! If he had wasted time arguing about cultural taboos the fever would have done even more destruction! If anything, it just proves how selfless man Norland truly was, being willing to risk anything for his friend and his people's well-being! Even the friendship itself!
! @The:
! > Eh, when someone is about to be eaten alive isn't the best time to be 100% cold and rational about respecting peoples human-sacrificing traditions. As for the trees, Noland was a biologist, and even with the crazy snake-worship, there wasn't any hints that the trees were anything special to the shandians. Asking people whether its okay or not to cut down some random, infected trees in their forest would have been really random.
But as a fellow Medicinal Biologist, I sympathize extremely with Noland, and his willingness to sacrifice his own life to fight the barbaric, outdated beliefs of a culture, which were leading to its extinction. I CANNOT vote against OPs numbah one representative of the natural sciences.
Plus, Noland and Calgara did make up in the end, and it was a beautiful glorious memorable moment; actually, it was all those things exactly because it was so last minute. A bit contrived sre, but hella effective.
Rayleigh…I said my piece on him last year. Short version: For me he is 100 times less memorable, and has provoked 100 times smaller emotional responses from me than Noland.
! I'm going to bind these two together and reply to both at the same time, hopefully you don't mind. It's not my intention to whine or complain, not at all, I'm just trying to voice some of the observations that I have made over time and after many rereads of Skypiea and the whole of OP. The Shandora flashback is one of the most enjoyable ones in the series and I have to say I tear up almost every time I read it. There are just some parts which I mentioned that make me frustrated and sad while reading it.
! As far as the snake goes, yeah, I'm going to say that while it was not the ideal decision, you guys are definitely right in saying that you can't really fault Norland for killing the thing. It was by far the easiest thing to do, and while I disagree with Daz - I remember the Shandians loudly calling the snake their god so that Noland also heard it - it's fairly evident that the mystical value and importance of the divinity was really secondary to the girl's life. And I'm pretty sure the snake itself would have gotten just a little upset over somebody stealing his lunch that arrogantly and would have continued to pester everyone involved for a long time. Maybe he could have run with the girl, maybe not, it's hard to say. I concede that point.
! But as far as the trees go, no, I don't buy the explanations of randomness or not having enough time. It was sheer thoughtlessness on Norland's part. You see, they had already given ample medicine to the villagers and made sure that they would not be in any immediate danger, and the way that Calgara had spoken to Norland about the gods and the land that "ate him" because it and its gods were angry at him he should have realized they held their lands and nature in very high regard. And even if he didn't, common courtesy still dictates that you consult the locals before you start landscaping in the area. As a lover of forests and plants myself, I would have made sure to ask everyone whether it was okay to chop down some trees with the explanation of why it was necessary, and Norland as a biologist surely understood the significance of trees better than anyone else there. He if someone should have known it would anger them, regardless of whether he knew about their sentimental value or not. It would not have been random at all. As it stands, though, it's nothing but thoughtless behaviour.
! And what comes after is just so sad to read. Calgara tells them to leave immediately without even telling them why, at which point Norland does not even bother to ask his friend why he is suddenly so upset (such a typical AND stupid thing for a man to do) nor does he stop to think of any possible reasons. Then, even though he resolves to wait for three days on the shore before embarking on the journey home pretty clearly hoping for his friend to come and say that he doesn't have to leave, he does not stop with the proceedings when he hears the reason for Calgara's anger, assumedly because he doesn't want to face the embarrassing and awkward moment of the two reconciling like real friends should. There was never even a real reason stopping him. He could have just decided to wait for a fourth day and resolve everything, but he's too held up by his own thoughts.
! So Calgara runs there and they make their promise, a moment that DOES indeed make the flashback and that in itself is just so marvelous to read as it is so well-timed and so well built-up that the climax is incredibly satisfying, but in reality, upon closer inspection, it's all so pointless. And sad. Norland would have left in all silence if Calgara hadn't shown up. That's what self-important people who run away from emotional moments because they think it's somehow awkward and shameful to admit that you indeed do have feelings do, and they do it without realizing that, even though it spares you from an awkward encounter, it always leaves the other person hanging and wondering about why they left and whether they are angry at them and whether they will ever see them again. And that is the kind of bullshit lone-wolf mentality that many people go for, thinking that it's really great and honourable, but in reality it just causes more harm and suffering than anything else. And most importantly, it deprives the people in question from the true beauty and goodness of an equal, esteemed friendship that they could have had were they a bit more courageous.
! So yeah, it's kinda hard for me to think of Norland as a real hero. He was a very good man, absolutely, but he was not without his faults and errors. Stupid, stubborn mistakes that almost cost him and another person something great. And that recurring theme plagued the entire arc from beginning to the very end. It's some food for thought, to be sure.
The above is by no means meant as a post to turn people away from voting Norland, by the way. He's a great character, so please do vote for him if you prefer him over Rayleigh. That was merely my reasoning for why I can't bring myself to like him as much as most of you do.