Trigun Bookclub: deludedfantasy: Trigun Maximum Volume 8: Chapter 4-6

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Trimax Vol 8 Ch 4-6

Once again, to no one’s surprise, I am suffering about Trimax. Also, the last chapter of this volume makes me wanna scream and cry about Wolfwood. Fair warning, this one is a little long, but here goes.

Ch 4

Hang on, I just realized there’s no indication Wolfwood’s working with Home whatsoever. It’s a lot more likely that Home attacked the Ark hoping to either knock it down or somehow get Vash to appear, and Wolfwood used it as his opportunity to attack. Does Home even know Vash is trapped on the Ark?
This also implies that Wolfwood has been just as trapped on the Ark for seven months, watching the world be destroyed while being completely unable to do anything about it and feel guilty about his part in causing it. This is ten times worse than what I originally thought.
Has…has Legato just been standing in that room, staring at Vash for seven months while controlling him so he doesn’t escape? That’s just so insane and would take so much concentration. Though I don’t know what else I could expect from Legato at this point. He’d do literally anything for Knives.
“Don’t hesitate,” Wolfwood says. He’s been taught not to hesitate or ask questions, just pull the trigger. But this is the third time that, for whatever reason, he’s pointed a gun at someone and not pulled the trigger. First Knives, then Vash, and now Legato. No matter how necessary he knows the kill is, something holds him back. At the end of the day, he doesn’t want to be a killer, because he always hesitates.
A battle of wills ensues between Wolfwood, Vash, and Legato. Wolfwood is right, Legato has been concentrating nonstop for over half a year, he can’t control all of them without one of them slipping. I wonder how much Wolfwood turned over this escape plan in his head, all the different possibilities as he waited for his chance to strike.
Mini Angel arm!!! And Vash is actually able to control it this time!!!
Oh my god, did Legato make Wolfwood shoot himself in the gut? And then Wolfwood just went and casually slung Vash over his shoulder and walked out? The guy has nerves of steel to be able to do that without falling over.
Wolfwood is trying so hard to appeal to something in Livio that would care about the world and not this holy mission the Eye of Michael has indoctrinated into him. But of course, he’s too far gone, and they serve different purposes now. Nightow really likes writing about brothers who drifted apart and created completely opposing ideals.
Oh no, that’s so much blood. Wolfwood can’t drag both Punisher and Vash around and protect himself. He took all of Livio’s bullets protecting Vash…I don’t like this, I don’t like the implications.
Chapel is no longer in a wheelchair and dodged Wolfwood’s rocket. The Eye of Michael really doesn’t play around.
I don’t like this!!! I don’t like this!!! Wolfwood has finally met his match in battle. He can’t fight off Livio and Chapel, and protect himself and Vash. So he chooses to protect Vash. And the other thing is, I can’t tell if he’s shooting to kill or not. Has he already started on final quest for redemption?
Livio and Wolfwood were once just children together!!! They loved each other and now they’re trying to kill each other!!! But Wolfwood won’t give up just because it hurts or because of what they’ve become!!! He still has people he needs to protect!!!
Oh, oh, Wolfwood’s prayer! Every time he prays and shows a moment of faith, I break down a little. And this one is so vulnerable! He just wants a measure of forgiveness, to be someone different, someone better. He did horrible things to protect the people he loved and he became a monster to do it. He doesn’t think he can ever be forgiven but he’s asking anyway.
And then!! AND THEN!! Vash answers his prayer. This literal angel says, “Yes, you do. I believe you deserve to be saved.” And he uses his wings to shield him!! I’m gonna go curl up into a ball and cry.

Wait, I thought he was saying this prayer in his head. But Vash answers him out loud. Unless Vash can somehow hear his thoughts?
Also, what a beautiful spread honestly. Love it when Vash willingly uses the powers that scare him to protect instead of destroy.

Oh, Vash is very angry. He’s threatening people. We see this so rarely, and we know this means business. After being trapped and tortured for months and nearly watching his friend die to save him, Vash is done. And honestly, Chapel fucking deserves it, I hate that bastard.
Whatever the hell Knives just did was terrifying. That was a lot of power used at such a great distance. How is he keeping this up?
Vash still doesn’t value his own life at all but he’s found his will to fight, because Wolfwood was willing to put himself on the line to save him. Because he cared enough to do the right thing. I’m chewing on glass again, I can’t do this.
Look at Vash, going just a little feral. He deserves it after everything he’s been through. And he’s using the Angel Arm while fully in control of it and himself to save himself and his friend. I mean, he did mean to use it to shoot Knives but when that avenue closed, he used it to protect instead.
Hey, Knives, what the hell were those mouths on your weird new Plant body??? That’s freaky as hell.

Ch 5

Omg BABY WOLFWOOD!!!!
No matter how many times I read or watch what happened to Wolfwood and how he was essentially experimented on, I am always overwhelmed by how horrible it is. Not only did the Eye force him to become someone he wasn’t spiritually, emotionally, and metaphorically, they took away his ability to grow and mature on his own, so he didn’t recognize his own body and neither would anyone who’d known him before.
All of Wolfwood’s betrayals have been in service of protecting the kids from what happened to him. But even as he’s saying this, he’s thinking of Livio. Despite everything he did, he still failed to protect him and that failure haunts him.
Wolfwood, full of bullets and healing serum in the middle of nowhere after confessing to Vash the worst of his sins: And now it’s nap time. I can’t blame him, dude literally just fell out of an airship and is probably so tired, but the image of it is hilarious. More than it should be after everything Wolfwood just revealed, but Nightow has a talent for unexpected humor.
Also Vash’s “Don’t die on me!” makes my heart hurt.
They are so goddamn lucky Wolfwood decided to use Home’s attack on the Ark to rescue Vash because otherwise they’d be stuck in the middle of nowhere, injured with no way to get anywhere. This is why I originally thought Wolfwood was working with them! It’s just too convenient.
Blankie Vash and Wolfwood, my beloved. They deserve to be wrapped up in blankets and be all snuggly more often.
The most interesting thing we learn from all this is that Knives seems to be losing control of the Plants a bit. He intended to absorb them, but it seems he’s becoming lost in them himself.
Meryl!!! She never gave up hope that Vash was alive and out there. She found Marlon and got him to make another gun because she believed Vash would come back, and he’d need something to fight with.
Is Knives accidentally killing the Plants as he uses their powers? Another instance of Knives’s never ending hypocrisy. He condemns humans for using Plants to stay alive, but when it’s for his own goals, it’s a worthy sacrifice.
Wolfwood is leaving…I don’t like this one bit. (She says knowing exactly where this story is going)

Ch 6

Oooh, a Wolfwood centric story!
This is the first time I’ve seen bird imagery used to represent not pure unfettered freedom, but the burden of it. Constantly having to flap your wings to stay aloft and without any hope of shade from the harsh sun. It’s an interesting way to show Wolfwood’s beliefs about freedom. Mainly, that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
Love that Wolfwood just goes, “Yeah, sure, I’m a priest, whatever you say.”
I can’t tell if Wolfwood’s congratulations is sarcastic or sort of sincere. Because the story Maylene tells is pretty messed up. She’s being strong-armed into a marriage in order to protect her family’s livelihood. Wolfwood’s response feels very out of left field, even if it is sarcastic.
“How does the world look when you are able to choose your own path?” Wolfwood is the wrong person to be asking that question of, Maylene. He has no idea. He’s never had a choice about who was or what he could do. He’s been following orders longer than he’s ever had a modicum of freedom. And the only time he tried to forge his own path by killing Chapel and going after Knives, he ended up caught in a cage yet again.
Does Wolfwood envy Maylene’s luxurious cage? I think he does. It’s a peaceful life, after all, where you’d get everything you need and not have to worry about the rest. It’s interesting that Wolfwood would prefer a luxurious cage over what he currently has, because in my opinion, he’s just trading one kind of cage for another.
Or maybe I’m reading this wrong and Wolfwood is trying to convince himself that his own life in a cage is okay. And if he convinces someone else of it, he can shore up his own doubts about the life he’s stuck in.
OMG MORE BABY WOLFWOOD. And he’s holding a baby!!! I can’t believe they just foisted a baby on a little kid though.
Listen, I know Wolfwood was being parentified a little, but he’s so sweet and gentle with baby Maylene. He takes care of her and I think he got attached to her.
Oh no, he did!!! Look at his face when they’re leaving and Maylene is crying. She’s reaching for him and he’s trying to steel himself against it. He loved that little girl!!!
Hold on, did Wolfwood just…take a beating? He could’ve fought back, but he didn’t. Was he worried that it would make things more difficult for Maylene if he did.
Also, how does anyone believe he’s still a priest after what he said to Orekano? That guy deserved it, but, man, Wolfwood, that is not how a priest talks.
There is a price to freedom and not doing what is expected of you. Wolfwood knows that and now so does Maylene. People are dead because she wouldn’t go with Orekano. There are consequences when you make choices and they aren’t always good. That’s what he wants her to see. But his perspective is flawed. Maylene didn’t pull the trigger, Orekano did. You can’t control everything that happens, you can only control yourself and your choices. You can’t protect everyone by doing nothing. Which oddly enough, is something Wolfwood was trying to teach Vash at one point. But he’s not great at following his own philosophy either.
Side note, I also hate Orekano. What a useless, misogynistic piece of shit. Now that she’s not pure, he doesn’t want her anymore? Better for her to die? I hope Maylene or Wolfwood or someone shoots him.
THANK YOU WOLFWOOD. THANK YOU PUNISHER.
I think, more than anything, Wolfwood wanted Maylene to be safe. He wanted her to have a good life. He cared about her, after all. He thinks a life where you fill in the gaps of other people’s lives, where you are someone’s pawn but at least you’re a safe pawn is good enough. Because that’s his own life, and he has to be content with it or what will he do with himself?
But Maylene wants to be like a bird. She wants to truly be free. The moment where she passes Wolfwood the bird he made her back to him, I think, for just a moment, he remembered how he used to long for that himself when he was younger. Before he was forced into his own cage and made to live with it.
Idk if the way I’m interpreting this chapter makes any sense at all, but it’s driving me crazy. So much good Wolfwood character study packed into this short incident!!! Very excited to see everyone else’s thoughts on it.

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