The Promised Neverland Chapter 126 Review by Elusia
Overview:The chapter begins outside where Dominic tries to walk for the first time in a while, the other kids cheering him on and Gilda telling him to not push himself. The older kids were worried about the other young kid, Chris, as Emma and Ray tend his wounds. Ray said that he looks well and will wake up soon. Emma, while still worried, agreed.
Ray then changes the topic to Norman, mentioning that it has been another full day during which he has not returned. Emma wants to talk to him badly because of what had happened before. She thought about Norman’s subordinates and that while she was glad to have met them and saw that they are good people to hang out with, she reflected that their view of the demons was pure hatred. She knows that while Grand Valley group back in Goldy Pond also resent demons, the grudge towards the demons they harbored was on an another level, terrifying her. She also contemplated that Cicero thought that every demon is the same, but Emma mentions Musica and the demon children. She asserted that it's not right. Ray agreed, but in addition, says that they won’t care about it considering their tough past and that their anger is at that point where it cannot be stopped any more. He affirmed that they are trapped in the cycle of hatred and nothing can be done. He continued by saying that this is what it means to be at war, where all signs of compassion get lost in a mutual spiral of killing and harming each other, repeating the same actions the humans have inflicted on each other over and over again since the dawn of civilization. Emma took in every prospect in Ray’s point of view, wondering if there’s really nothing to do. Before she responds to Ray, outside screams are heard and inform them about Norman coming back from his trip and Emma and Ray rush out to see him. Norman was shortly greeted by his group. He tells them that the deed was done and that he will move on to the next step of the plan. On his way to his office he runs into Emma and Ray waiting for him and Emma asks him to talk in private. The trio then went inside.
Emma apologizes for the sudden request when Norman just returned, but he assures her that it’s alright. After that, he asks her about her worries, but Ray wanted clarification from him first about the plan. He asks whether Norman plans an insurrection and Norman praises him for the right guess. Emma was confused, but Ray continues the conversation, saying that Norman will provoke a crisis between the demons and making them destroy themselves in the process. Emma took note of it and is shocked that the pawns Norman talked about before were demons and that he was making an alliance between them. He explains that the demon society isn’t monolithic, but based instead around a caste system with a king, nobility, commoners and the lesser ones below them. Notably, there’s the royal family and the five regent lines, which are the other royal families that have rights to royalties. Emma concludes in thought that the five families had joined forces with the Ratri clan as they build up Lambda. Norman further states that they oversee all the plantations, control the human meat supply, rule the caste society and brag about their wealth and privileges, making the demons below them feel unhappy which caused growing tension between them. He declares that they can use that as an advantage.
Ray then asks Norman again about the alliance and Norman explains that there’s a noble demon clan named the Gilan. Through the schemes of the families, they were falsely blamed and stripped of their fame and privileges. He describes that such punishment would be called an exile since taking it would mean not eating human meat, which causes their bodies to decay and go back to the wild demon forms, but the clan went into hiding instead, waiting for an opportunity to take revenge for 700 years of humiliation. They would steal from the other plantations, the streets and other sources to keep their human shape and intelligence in check. Emma expresses that it was amazing for Norman to find such demons, but Ray was hesitant about it. Norman reassures him that it’s a good decision to make as while it’s a risky move to make and the possibility of them eating the kids in the end holds up, the main deal was for the demons to kill each other, using the motive of acting for revenge from the higher ups. He also states that the main reason for it is that if everything goes well, the cattle children won’t die because the demons need to keep them alive since their existence is more beneficial to the demons than them battling against the demons and dying and he won’t lose to the battle of wits. He affirms that he’s not doing it out of audaciousness, but in determination that he’ll do it without spilling human blood.
Emma is deep in thought about Norman’s plan. She agrees that having a demon war would be a huge advantage for the cattle children and that if the royal families and nobles will fall down, so will the whole system. All of it, along with the farms, will be decimated, converting the demons back to their wild forms and exterminating their society because it needs supplies of human meat to sustain itself. She comprehends all of Norman’s plan. But she tells him that there are demons that aren’t like them, the ones that won’t devolve even without eating human meat and who don’t absorb traits from all living things. Ray adds that they could be demons like that who have no necessity for human meat. She asks whether Norman had calculated them as well but Norman suddenly looks purely shocked. He asks the two where they heard about it and where they saw “her”. He is in utter disbelief as he asks them if the “blood maiden” clan was still alive.
Thoughts: The whole chapter was pretty good in setting up what is about to come. From another Ray and Emma talk to the whole trio doing their thing after so long, it was quite a heavy dialogue chapter. But it still manages to push the plot further, especially with the ending.
The talk between Emma and Ray wasn’t as impactful as the first one back when Emma busted out every feeling she had, but this one was still good in how they portrayed their relations further.
Then, the whole trio talk was great. It was a very nostalgic nod towards the first arc where the three leads talk about their plans to escape. It gives back the group dynamic many fans want to see happening again since Norman finally appeared after a long while.
I am looking forward to see what they’ll do with the ending. It was only a matter of time when they were to talk about Musica again.
Overall, I give this chapter a solid 7/10.
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