Well she made you blind didnt she? Id say that is a pretty good punishment

The irony that he can't see that.... ;D

Unlike Nigel, I see what you did there.

*BADOOMBOOM*

Also a good one. ^^

Yall goin to hell xD

Good one. ^^

Now that Nigel is more level-headed, he finally speaks his mind with more consistency.
When he speaks about "what a real mother would do", I wonder if part of him, unconsciously, aims those words at his own mom.

It is more that he compares his own mother to Luna... And he was around his mother much longer than he was with Luna.

He has been effectively programmed by his abusive Parents to think that the abuse was "Okay" or "Rightful".

Of course, I think one of the reasons Toby was able to become better than Nigel was because he had the advantage of being forewarned through being the Second Child, and thus the Initial "Second Choice"... As well as the fact that his parents tried to Unperson Nigel once he was disowned, and Toby's dialogue implies he had pretty good memory for a child as young as he was at the time.

I agree with your line of thought, and if I may add an extra possibility of why Toby never became 'programmed' like Nigel may also include his parents being snuffed out. I grant we don't know when they died, but it is possible their lack of being in his life for a significant amount of time left Toby able to retain the 'self-awareness' to see their flaws and not let the sudden burst of 'affection' by them to taint his world view coupled with his seeing the 'cracks in the facade' of his family via what happened to Nigel.

I think more this exposes that Nigel is still colored by the toxicity of his upbringing and insight that if he tried to stray from the 'path' his parents set for him he would be 'corrected' back onto it. I do however also see it as wish-fulfillment from Nigel that someone would have cold-cocked his parents for abandoning him as they did. Yet, I mainly see it as him projecting his parents way of 'our way or the highway' coupled with Nigel's own bitter world-view and a dose of his personal trauma sprinkled in.

I can sympathize in a way, there are times I wish there were a force that would fix the injustices right then and there, but that is sadly not reality. Even in Nigel's own where Gods do exist, it seems even their powers have limits.

I mean, Luna lost all rights to imparciality when she adopted a daughter.

How so?

She could have chosen to better help Nigel but didn't. She picks and chooses who she wants to properly be motherly.

Wow that's a hot take, considering the fact that she tried to help Nigel repeatedly, but only got big F-u for her effort, and Luna adopted Mira because she become orphaned as a baby, you know, with BOTH her parents dead and all. You act as if Nigel got kicked out by Luna herself and nobody so much as spoke to him in what 5-10 years, when in reality Nigel hinself pushed everyone who tried to help him, including Luna, and keeps doing it right freaking now! You can't help someone who refuses help.
And Luna is Mira's mother, adoptive but still, and not Nigel's. So yeah, makes sense she mothers her child and not someone else's.

Luna could have broke the news about Nigel not being suitable to be a guardian in a better way because she could see how horrible his parents were (she mentions how she spoke with them once and then she gave up).

After Nigel was cast away by his parents, did she try to reach him? Did she at least try to appoint someone to try to care or reason with him? No. It was basically a "Let's leave angry child alone and let him raise himself. it'll be fine. Oh, no. Why does he hate me so much? Who could have seen this comming?"

As for Luna's attempt to help Nigel, she only spoke with him and tried to do "something" after he was caught trying to steal the badge a few pages ago. And let's not forget every single action of hers only infuriated him more. Not gonna pretend Nigel is a saint because he is a jerk now. But Luna PERSONALLY raised Mira out of a PERSONAL desire and decided to be a distant god-like figure to Nigel because...I don't know. She didn't feel like doing much.

1. Before being rejected Nigel was literally a golden child and Toby was a ghost, so if anything Luna should've vouch for him don't you think? And once Luna SAW the abuse, she talked to them about it, but again she's not a CPS, so she can do little more.
2. Nigel ran away on his own to who knows where, the only reason Luna even realized he was missing is because Nigel jumped at her like a rabid raccon, and that exchange didn't go well. It doesn't seem to matter who talked to Nigel about his situation, they were basicaly told to pound sand by Nigel. Again, you can't help someone who refuses help.
3. Yes, Luna made a decision to raise Mira by herself, but ALSO Luna tried her best in my opinion to reason with Nigel every time they met, and only got verbaly abused for her effort. I get why you forgot that detail, as it got skimmed over pretty quickly in the comic, as that part was from Nigel's perspective, and naturally he doesn't appreciate what Luna tried to do for him.

1)I fully agree that nigel's younger brother was also a victim and she should also have done something. But she's literally a god and while I don't think she should have adopted Nigel, she could have told someone "hey, there's a child that needs some attention. You should take him to foster care, or something."

2)you know that he was a young child, right? A child that had his parents whisper venomous words about how great he'll be all the time, right? You know that for a little kid their parents are everything, right? You can't possibly expect that a small child is capable of deep self-reflection that many adults struggle with, right? This self-reflection is also impossible given that nigel was ALONE. there litereally was NOBODY to so much as talk to him in a way that would actually help.

3)Luna only involved herself with Nigel's parents once and then gave up on it. She also only talked to him again, when he went to lash out his anger at her and words were basically "well, I talked to them, however they didn't care. So you're on your own, kid." At no point she personally tried to reach him before his hatred festered.

And you want to know the most ironic part? She keeps saying she wanted him to become a guardian (probably because of his "vision" power) and yet she makes ZERO effort to actually reach the guy directly. Again, the extent of her "help" was chatting with his parents once and then she washed her hands.

Ok, I was actually joking about Toby, to point out how ridiculous it is that everyone is laser focused on Nigel and his problems and making it Luna's responsibility to fix his messed up life. I do realise Nigel's situation and why he did what he did, in fact I think his characterisation is ON SPOT perfect. It's just that I don't like this type of character specificaly, so all the dog-piling on Luna is infuriating to me, because there are a lot of unbased accusations and wild assumptions. I can't realy argue the facts to be honest since I don't remember the entire comic plus the ASKs, but I do recall the mentioning of more then one attempt to talk sense into Nigel, after all he hangs out in the same town and was probably detained more then once for theft, hell even Toby reached out to him when they met, but it went nowhere, so it's reasonable to forget it happened at all.
My point still stends tho. Nigel refuses to talk at all, so it's on him.
Luna can't forse abusive parents to stop being abusive by force, so... yeah. She was expecting Nigel to think on what she told him as in "you can't become a guardian just because you want to", and try again next year, it wasn't her master plan to fuck up Nigel specifically, so Nigel is stupid and bumb to think so, AND so is everybody in the comments who takes the perspective of a petulant child as fact.

Goddess of life, not goddess of controlling your life, Nigel.
Also, if you really think she should 'smack' people deranging from them path, why are you so salty about the fact she 'smacked' you from deranging from your own path?

i think hes just irriationally angry

TBF She didn't "smack" his shitty parents when they abandoned him.

i thought they were killed by the chaos or whatever its called

They died from age and sickness, not by Rah J'an's forces.

Nope, they got killed by Chaos beasts. Toby (Nigel's brother) says that in the first question of the January's Q&A https://www.furaffinity.net/view/50954135/

Ah, Thanks, I missed that Detail.

It still gives the impression that Nigel's Prologue, or at least, his narrating role, is set in the distant Future, where Nigel looks back on himself with Shame and bitterness.

He notably puts Toby on a High Pedestal in the narrating prologue... Since he does not call Toby a "Shitty Individual" in the slightest, while Nigel went as far as to badmouth himself alongside his parents...

...So I kind of dread the idea that Toby maybe forced to pull a Reggie later on, and possibly when Miralle's Guardians would likely run into other patrolling Guardians... So if Nigel either has gained his sight back by then, or has gained some other supernatural Sight ability... The first, and last he may see of Toby is when Toby basically lets himself die to ensure that Nigel lives.

To be fair we the audience have not been shown if she ever did reprimand Nigel's parents. Maybe if Nigel and Toby reunite we may get to see a flashback or at least a dialogue dump confirming such. Also remember Nigel's parents ignored Luna telling them Nigel still had a chance, but they outright IGNORED their Goddess and assumed he was a failure. So even if she outright called them out would they still have listened?

All we really know regarding Luna and Nigel's parents, is that she spoke them, telling them that Nigel was different, likely alluding to the fact that he wouldn't turn out like past family members. Outside of that, it's never been mentioned or even suggested that she reprimanded his parents, or even called them out on their treatment of Nigel, to make him turn out the way he did.
The fact that Toby ended up a Guardian while being raised the same way Nigel was raised (barring the fact that he began to notice how messed up it was they completed washed their hands of Nigel and pretended he never existed), clearly shows they're more interested in their beliefs and have no interested in changing their methods, and despite Luna stating she found their methods concerning, she didn't take a more direct approach to stop it from continuing. From what's been shown, if Nigel's parents had another child, I'm fairly certain they would end up being raised exactly like how Nigel was, and other than expressing concern about how they are raised or taking minor steps to try and convince them to change their ways, Luna would more or less just kind of watch it happen.

"Also, if you really think she should 'smack' people deranging from them path, why are you so salty about the fact she 'smacked' you from deranging from your own path?"

Probably a case of "Rules for thee, not for me!" mentality that Nigel has here. He believes people that made him miserable should suffer, but as far as he is aware, Luna never punished his parents for being abusive, but he seems that it is "unfair" for him to be punished for his own assholery.

He's being a miserable little crap, but he's got a bit of a point. From his perspective, he's been rejected by the tree, then rejected by his parents, then mildly reprimanded for stealing, then blinded for talking back, then made a knight, then sent on some mission of dire import. I would be very confused about what I was supposed to have done if that sequence of events had happened to me.

That would be undeniably a confusing experience, I will not deny that.

I'm assuming that for the most part this is Nigel was brought up by his parents. That said, Nigel does in some ways have a point, that potentially, some of what had happen to him could have been avoided or prevented entirely if Luna wasn't so passive in letting people do what they wanted to do, even if what they're doing was incredibly damaging to themselves or others.

That said Nigel also needs to know, he can't blame his problems on her, because his bad decisions made his life even more pleasant, due to his inability to accept responsibility for his terrible choices.

i wonder when lily is going to become apart of the story

If I remember her bio correctly, Lily will be met by the Party either on the road after the next two towns, or in a Forest.

Free Will can be a wonderful thing... But there is a flaw.

What happens if a person who has been railroaded for much of his or her life and has their life planned out for them by someone else, is suddenly made to choose without any form of assistance or understanding of what those choices ARE?

We kind of see how it can play out with two of our Guardians here, one being Nigel, and the other being Tristian.

For Nigel, his life was mostly dictated by his parents until he was deemed a "Failure"... Then he was cast aside in Favour of Toby, who as was later revealed in a Patron QnA, also failed as well, but because he was more world wise than Nigel (having been mainly raised by the servants before his role with Nigel was switched), he was at least able to study his way into being a Guardian, while Nigel ended up festering in his bitterness and possibly with a Future Sight ability he has no idea how to control, that showed him nothing but nightmarish images (He brings it up during the screamfest he had with Luna, when he was demanding why he was not picked back then).

Tristan, on the other hand, had good Parental figures to attune his moral compass... Who were Semi-Feral albeit still intelligent Chicken-Lizards... His "Friends", on the other hand, were ones who manipulated and bullied him emotionally into being their Meal Ticket, as he was the only one with any actual skill in Legerdemain. However, he at least had a choice to make, as Luna pretty much said it to his face... It was just that Tristan was too much of a Good Hearted monke to realize their treachery.

One had Bad Parents, no Friends and a Younger brother who was estranged to him... While the other had Decent Parents, Bad friends and a lot of foster siblings... Uhhh... I have no idea where exactly this is going...

Sometimes in a world of free will a 'guiding force' is needed. Not control or demanding, but giving you options while showing you HOW to work, and/or live on the path you wish to take.

Perhaps if Nigel had someone in his corner helping him see through his blind rage at the betrayal of his parents as well as the ones Nigel perceived from everyone else (which was just the anger taking deep root vs. actual betrayals from others not his parents), he might have become less of an angry, stubborn individual. The same could be said of Tristan, having someone help him see how he was being manipulated by his 'friends' and ultimately meant nothing to them but a means to an end.

Yet again, Nigel would have to calm down and actually LISTEN to someone to come around, but so far he's shown even as far back as when his troubles started, to be unable to see past himself and his world-view. He still can't see fully that his parents are to blame, but also himself since he choose to run away when Luna tried to reach out to him. He is a victim of his parents methods of raising a tool-er child, no tool, he was nothing but a tool. However, he could have made choices that could have resulted in himself not being on the streets.

The same is of Trisan, Luna gave him insight that he had a choice in life and perhaps his current company were not the band of brothers he had been bullied into thinking. Yet once those 'friends' started their tactics, he caved. Yes it is hard for someone constantly under such circumstances to get out from under it, but Tristan was given a different perspective and even seemed to deem down acknowledge Luna was right. Yet he could not muster the fortitude to at cave under pressure.

There is always a duality to free will, just as there is a duality to a laid path in life.

Pretty much.

Nigel has progressed to Edgy Teenage Atheist. Which...well, it's progress, I guess?

I am looking forward to seeing each one of these guys wake up and get their act together.

Boy be projecting so dang hard.

The fact that Nigel is rationalizing things more is an improvement, a small one, but an improvement nonetheless. However, I'm not sure he is completely right about Luna, even if he is mostly right; this suddenly became very interesting.

For all his tantrum throwing Nigel does seem to seek for a parental figure to guide him, which seems reasonable enought, used to have one, until it was "taken away" from him. The way his parents educated him is also reflected in what he expects this mother to be: someone who smacks and punishes their stupid children if they stray away from the path. He doesn't see a mother as a primarely loving figure, but as a corrective authority first and foremost.
Ironically, the one time Luna acted as he expects a mother to act, he ended up calling her a bitch over it. Perhaps rightuflly so to an extent, as Luna was very extreme in her ocrrective measures.

In an alternate universe, or filler arc, this conversation could lead to where Miralle storms off in anger to vent and gets captured by a particular Hyena Barbarian Huntress (Irkingir Gift Pic for Viktria)

Lol.

"Well, well, well, Nigel! YOU are positioning yourself as a person with free will. But in fact - you are justifying, your terrible fate. But don't worry... I'm not judging you. And none of us - condemns you. In fact, you following a special path of destiny. And this path can lead you - to incredible consequences. Possibly terrible. Yes... but incredible. Don’t leave this path, and stay true to your path, until the end, of your difficult life.
Ohhh... and by the way, don't ever forget one thing: GARY LOVES YOU."
@
Gary Miller

epic work! VIKtria!

Lot going on here. ^^

'Free Will.'

Absolutely correct!

(Nigel) "WHY WONT SHE SMITE MY A-HOLE PARENTS FOR EFFING ME OVER?!"
(Miralle) "Also Free wil...wait, what?"

A lot of the comments are glad Nigel got punished by Luna, but let's be real- Nigel got a harsher punishment than anyone has by Luna, ever. Blindness? Extreme, and unless she sees in the very distant future- I have no clue on how this can help anyone. I get it that Gods work in mysterious ways and it'll help him become 'better', but that's a risky bet.

Not to mention how she is with Nigel compared to his parents- she did have responsibility and she failed Nigel in my eyes. So did his parents. He has no guide, and I think Luna knows that, which is why she sent him with the party that can help him, since they are his age and they're mortals.

Still, I am hoping to see Luna apologize and Nigel get a good ending. Hate him all you want, the dude was done dirty growing up any one of us would have resented his parents & Luna for ruining his life.

Nigel has trauma. I think that's safe to say.

Sounds more like he was being spoiled and lead into something he wasn't truly prepared for.

Someone has mommy issues

uhhh thats a nice statement! having a free will also means beeing responsible for your own actions. i hope nigel will unterstand this one day.