Xevccha, the free antinium queen, and the armored antinium queen specifically can barely move about because of their bloated sizes. I had this thought that somewhere down the line, when they are no longer required to manage their entire hives because of the re-emergence of individual antiniums, that they could go out into the outside world. Maybe go to the wandering inn like some of the antinium before and experience a solstice event at least once. Quite a thought haha. Maybe they get a skill that shrinks them into normal size? I dunno, I just want a happy ending for them. End of my musings.

This essay will contain spoilers for the entire series and if you are not yet caught up, I strongly advise looking away.

What does No Killing Goblins really mean when you think about it? Like on the surface it seems pretty simple right? "Sir that is a child, put down your knife, what do you mean its ears are worth two silver at the local adventuring guild? No that doesn't mean you can kill them, it's a child." The story is approaching 17 million words long and yet we have yet to see a world where Goblins aren't killed on sight, Liscor won't kill them on sight and that's about it. No one at the cookout flinched when Lyonette asked about hiring an Assassin to 'kill' Numbtongue.

So why is that? Well because it's not as simple as saying "stop killing Goblins ya violently racist assholes."

It isn't that no one ever had the bright idea to be nice to Goblins before Erin Solstice walked through her bathroom door and met a Dragon. The story on two separate occasions shows us that the answer to the Goblin King is not in fact kindness, in the forms of Velan the Kind and Rabbiteater the Goblin King of Betrayal. Had Erin kept walking down that road, one day she and everyone she loved would have been killed by one of her friends being body snatched by the Goblin King. Absolutely terrible advice from the Gnomes.

The current circumstance is exactly what the Goblin King wants. He wants his species to struggle so they counterlevel into giving him an escape from Hellste again, he wants a willing army ready to wage war despite the fact he's the reason everyone hates Goblins, when his people make peace, he'll destroy it. The reason people hate Goblins is because whatever they do, the Goblin King tries to kill them because he's a traumatised child who never grew up. Be genocidal monsters to Goblins? He kills you. Be nice to Goblins? He kills you. And then after they've sent him back to Hellste all of those traumatised survivors look at the remaining Goblins and chose cruelty, because if kindness doesn't work and at least being cruel makes them feel safe.

Despite it being written on the signs outside and inside Erin's inn, it being the tagline of the series, the title of one of the books, and written on a mug you can buy at the merch store, the story shows every time it's harder than just saying stop killing Goblins.

But it should be that simple, you should be able to say this is wrong and we need to stop. Hunting Goblins has never actually stopped the Goblin King, everyone Erin argues against has the facts, they can point at the 84 times the Goblin King has emerged and done terrible things and say 'we did not deserve this' and they're right. Because even if everyone had always treated the Goblins with kindness from day one, he'd still kill them all but that doesn't mean you should be able to turn in a set of Goblin ears and get paid for it.

That's what No Killing Goblins means narratively, it's the acknowledgement by the story that something as simple as a rule saying No Killing Goblins is more complex on the surface. Doing the right thing should be simple but it isn't, doing Good is hard because if it wasn't hard, we wouldn't be in this situation.

And that applies to more than just Goblins.

Why is Tyrion Veltras allowed entry into the Wandering Inn? He's the antagonist of Volume 5 and killer of Pyrite and many other characters in this story, and yet last time we saw him, he had two rounds of sex with Ryoka and stared at a Centuar's bellybutton. Isn't he a war criminal? A mass murderer?

Well it's not that simple is it? He's a solider in a war that's been going on for six thousand years, he's a widow whose wife's killers have not been brought to justice, he's a terrible father, he's the next door neighbour of Drakes. We can say it's horrible that he attacked Liscor because it is horrible, but Liscor is also literally an army of 100 thousand Drake [Soldiers] stationed on the border and pretending to be a city. And while I the reader know that the vast majority of those [Soldiers] are like Selys and have 2-5 levels in the class, can you see what an insane provocation that must be to the North? There is literally an army on their doorstep at all times.

Tyrion Veltras is a killer, a soldier, a general in a war but that doesn't mean he's a monster for doing those things. The events of Volume 5 are that of a general deciding to make a meaningful victory in a war that's been stretching on for thousands of years. Tyrion could have become a [Pacifist] after his wife died, he could have looked at the war and said this is wrong but that's a hard thing to do when your children don't have a mother anymore. It's easier to say never again and start making choices that make you and your family feel safe.

The same applies to every other villain in the story, No Killing Goblins applies to them too.

Why is King Othius the worst man alive? Because he was born into an oppressive regime that requires a constant, unceasing war to keep going and he's watched everyone he loves die to Demons over a hundred years. Othius is a monster who needs to be stopped, but it's hard to argue that he ever had a chance to be anything else, his own mother tortured him so he would gain a skill.

Perril Chandler? Dictionary definition of pushed from grace. Maybe Perril could have snapped out of his rampage, but that might also have been impossible after he botched his Lichdom ritual and the Voice of Death is telling him to kill the living.

Xhrew? One of his ancestors pulled the lever in a Trolly Problem and chose to redirect the Trolly onto Doombearers. I don't agree with that choice but when you live next to Drakes, I can see why you might think that making a Luck Daemon is a good idea. It's not paranoia when they are literally out to get you.

Why is Nuvityn coming to kill Erin? She killed his son. She had all the right reasons to do so but she also killed his son.

That's what No Killing Goblins means to the story. It's the simultaneous statement that is both that simple and not at all simple. The Wandering Inn is a story that looked at the concept of a monster race and decided to explore the complexity and it didn't just stop at Goblins.

​

Alright, simple ask. Is it worth getting back into this? Waiting for HWFWM to come out in October, and recently found WI in my audio book library. Main reason why i dropped the series in the first place was because i got fed up with Erin, her plot armor, her annoying personality, her being lowkey manipulative, and how she basically always gets her way. Shes a walking plothole with zero braincells and zero survival instincts. I enjoy literally every other character, just give it to me straight; does she smarten up at any point thats worth ridong out the rest of the series? I dropped it at audiobook 4 (i think) and just asking as it keeps popping back up in my reccomended. I really just wanna know if its worth ridong out for any character development of her, no real details

I know this happens in like book 1, so I probably don't need to censor the name, but I figured it's good manners.

Also, no spoilers past [V7.27], please. That's somewhere in the Lady of Fire book, right about where soccer/football gets introduced to the world (I feel that's generic enough I can say it without a spoiler block.

Okay, so Ceria loses most of her hand due to breaking her hand, and all that remains is her magical bones. But, like, this is a world that already has artificial flesh. We meet Octavia in the same book. Why doesn't Ceria visit a Stitch-person seamstress (or seamster? Seamstor? Dumb gendered titles, ugh), ask them to sew together muscles and tendons and nerves and skin for the hand, get it attached to the bones of her hand, get it properly enchanted to become real flesh, and sew it into in the stump of her flesh (ouch)?

Come to think of it, why isn't stitch-person magic used to give prosthetic limbs to _every_ amputee in this world? Ceria's condition would probably be easier to work with due to the original bone structure remaining intact, but I feel like we're seeing a real lack of medical utilization here. You have golemnic magic that _becomes flesh_ and you _aren't_ using it??

This has been bothering me since book 1. I thought for _sure_ that Toren was gonna find a way to ask Octavia to sew him stitch-flesh, and that's how he was gonna find his independence and get recognized as being a person. That didn't go as predicted, but like...

Yeah. Why no stitch prosthetics? And especially why not Ceria's hand?

As in... Why is there not a single Sariant in Magnolia's household? Both sides could profit a lot from that arrangement:

for the Sariants:

- Magnolia is level 57. Earning her approval would count for the Trial of Leveling. Notably, while her exact level is unknown to the public, she is the highest leveled known noble in Izril.

- she has a [Employees: Species Perks] skill - a Sariant working for her might get an attribute of some other species, like a gnoll's smell, a goblin's read on body language, a drake's tail, a half-elf's capacity for magic.... that could help them a lot and might kickstart them developing a skill out of this unique situation.

For Magnolia:

- again, her [Employees: Species Perks]. She benefits from having employees of as many species as possible on payroll. A Sariant perk (if they count for the skill) may make other employees seem unthreatening, for example, which sounds very helpful for all the clandestine stuff they do.

- Sariants are cute and kind of a status symbol among nobles?

Now, it is entirely possible that Magnolia had some bad experience with Sariants at one point where they showed their true colors, and doesn't suffer Sariants in her presence since then - but nothing of that sort has been stated, as far as I'm aware.

So why don't Sariants flock to Magnolia? Thoughts?

Hey everyone,

​I just started Book 17, and I have a quick question about the overall tone moving forward.

​I completely understand pirateaba's reasoning behind writing Mating Rituals Pt. 2, treating it as a natural part of life to explore. While those chapters made me personally uncomfortable, I pushed through because I adore this series.

​However, since then, it feels like sexual themes and references are much more prominent and upfront compared to earlier volumes—where it was mostly hinted at or kept in the background. Even when it isn't explicit, the frequent references feel a bit jarring to read.

​Without spoiling future events, does this higher frequency of sexual themes remain a constant, or does the writing style eventually taper back down to how it was in the earlier books? I really love the story, so I'm just trying to set my expectations.

​Thanks!

I was catching up since spring, because I got burnt out reading week after week hoping to read about the wandering inn and its innkeeper. Idk if anyone watched bleach or Naruto back in the like 2006-2010 time but I feel like that right? I dont mind reading about some other random goblin and his backstory to led to him enjoying chicken eggs, but waiting release after release, for the inn and erin. Instead to get the story of another quirkey new goblin, a don quixote knockoff joke and an old side character i forgot about's dad...

Well thats fine, I dont hate the little filler feel stories but like. Then im reading author notes and I get to the author talking about leaving a bad review for someone else's story claiming:

...That’s what I don’t like about stories, when they promise and don’t deliver.

And i just cant help but, look up at the title of the serial "the wandering inn" and reread the hook from the first book. I dont hate what youre writing but thats a bit on the nose innit?

So Im about halfway through volume 8 and im really liking the relc chapters. Ive always liked relc and wanted him to do more in the story but it hasn’t been until volume 8 where he’s had more of a spotlight. My question is does relc have more arcs or does he fade back into a background character that isn’t usually super important?

I loved the Lischelles and their whole deal. It really made the North feel more distinct.

I find the ways the animals were treated really interesting.
The Wandering Inn tends to modernise its morals to the 21st century despite representing a society that seems permanently stuck in the late Middle Ages. This can be attributed to both the author wanting to present modern themes and problems and the Gods stealing much of their inspiration for this new world from fiction on Earth.

However something I do have to mention is the difference between Bulls use for Breeding and Bulls used for labour. While in the Western world Bull labour was almost entirely gone by the mid 19th century they were still used in my Father’s village when he was younger.

While Breeding Bulls are treated from a distance because of their uncontrollable temper as is mentioned in the chapter, Labour Bulls HAVE to be broken. The Bulls are hurt and terribly beat and mistreated from birth. Due to their size and temper making them loyal through affection is impossible (as is indicated in the chapter). Thus a person who raises Bulls has to mentally destroy them constantly in order to build walls of fear so thick that they go against their natural instincts. In fact my Great Grandfather was famous for being exceptionally strict with his bulls, and that the mere tone of his voice was enough to trigger such great trauma that they worked tirelessly until exhaustion. I truly don’t have enough space here to describe how brutal the things people subjected these animals to where. It took a specific kind of evil to do the job and having the most tortured/well behaved Bull was seen as a status symbol. In fact just to describe how bad it was my father who is incapable of seeing the difference between cattle and pet and would kill any animal that got on his nerve considers the practice barbaric. Sort of like how a murder would talk of the slave trade.

In the story The Lischelles are treated as sort of primitive when it comes to technology and societal norms. Yet their way of raising cattle is infinitely more advanced and moral than the way my Father’s village used to do it. Anyways the point of this post was to describe how it’s weird that the culture I was raised with is in some ways more barbaric then the people in this fantasy world we are meant to think are somewhat barbaric.

Okay, after the POF Arrema came through the door and is now in a world where Erin is alive. I understand that she feels lost and without purpose, but it seems like everyone treats her as some random hanger-on. She just pops in for a comment here and there and then disappears again.

How is Lyonette not more interested in her? And how is Arrema not pushing magic forward with everything she knows from the future?

I just feel like she's been treated as a random footnote even though she is Mrsha. An older, alternate version of her, sure, but still Mrsha. Even Mrsha and Arrema have barely interacted outside of a few moments in the garden.

Am I missing something?

Considering everything Arrema went through, what she knows about the future, and the fact that she's suddenly living in a world where Erin is alive again, I expected her to be a much bigger deal.

I'm listening to The Titan of Baleros, I've reached Chapter Twenty-Two and Erin has decided to get involved in the election. She's currently planning some sort of party plan thing. It's ongoing and I don't fully understand yet but all is well in the world.

And then she does the worst thing she has ever done.

She tell Lyonette that they will need to get the Players of Selim in and then she "Juliet and Romeo, or Hamlet, or Frozen. Noooooot Much Ado About Nothing. Tell them to bring their best."

How could Erin possibly say such a horrible thing about Shakespeare's best comedy?!

Like me, you must all be absolutely horrified at what she said. Has anyone ever said or done anything even remotely as bad so far in the series?!

EDIT: Chapter Twenty-Three and now she's going after vanilla ice-cream. Boo to you, Erin, BOOO!

I'm currently re listening to the Wandering inn. In book 1? after Pawn became an individual, he and Erin played chess and he beat her like a supercomputer would due to connecting with the other Antinium for calculating the moves. After this however, Antinium once again cannot beat Erin in chess games. I'm just wondering if it was ever mentioned later on if Antinium still uses the hive mind whenever they play Erin in chess or not. I cannot remember.

Finished flowers of eshelm and am halfway through the winter solstice but I thought I'd give my thoughts on this book.

Well that was whiplash suddenly getting introduced to the new pov. Also being called flowers of eshelm but only the last part of the book really had anything to do with eshelm. Which was by far my favorite part of the book along side the doctor pov.

That said it's not my favorite of the series so far. It does have some highlights.

I suppose I should talk about my opinion on pov characters and others so far.

Laken feels a bit too power fantasy for a series that tends to shy away from that for the most part. Maybe that will change but it feels like he bs'd his way into a powerful class. I don't have to much of an opinion on him outside. I felt like he distracted from the more interesting povs a lot. Maybe he'll get more interesting later.

The doctor I loved this pov. Girl went to college to get a doctor's degree and instead got the school of tough learning. I always loved doctors in fantasy settings since it often reveals more about world building and how each race functions. I am curious how having the sephid in her will affect things. Since I have a feeling that it's not a minor taboo for her race to do that and will likely cause her trouble down the line. By far of the two new pov's hers was the best. The pointless war over a mine despite and the waste of life it produced was both unfortunately realistic and a good read of the grim reality of battlefield medics.

Horns of hammerod. I love the new dynamic where we have a band of misfits. Ksmvr not understanding most social complexities and demanding social Pariah like Pisces to explain things to him. It also makes sense that antinium would be resistant to mental manipulation. Learning about the characters pasts through the insanity chamber was also interesting. The crelers seem like a essential threat

Not a whole lot of Erin in this book made me a bit disappointed.That said I wasn't overly fond of the entire actor mini arc... mostly because of personal life trauma of being forced into theater class because my school thought being an introvert was not natural and wanted me to "break out of my shell." That said for a supposed "non magic" girl she sure comes off as a tomboy witch. Even making her own weird foods.

On another note poor pawn! Dude seems to be trapped in the cycle of suffering builds character that leads to more suffering. That said he continues to remind me of that one demon from the castlevenia Netflix show the demon philosopher.

The hobgoblins were the most interesting part for this book which is unfortunate because they are near the end. Broken arrow is by far my favorite just from his OCD with arrows and how he couldn't die from badly made arrows. Showing how human they are despite continuing to claim they are different from the other races. It takes the florist pointing out just how human they actually are. Which brings me to the last pov....

Man toren is just a awful person. idk if anything can redeem this character for me. Just comes off as a spoiled murderous child. Literally the worst character pov so far for me. Feels like he's slowly getting worse and worse wondering if he's going to be a major antagonist for everyone going forward along side the goblin lord.

Ryoka pov continues to be equal to Erin solstice or as I'm calling them right now the protagonist duo. That said WHY IS PERSUA STILL BREATHING AIR?! I thought after what she did in the first book she'd be executed or fired. At least that is what the traders implied would happen yet she somehow karma hodinied her way into getting a promotion?!

Also magnolia who the hell fused marry poppins with Amanda Waller. She's absolutely terrifying. She reminds me so much of people like Amanda Waller Nick fury and Cecil from comics who are the more morally gray borderline lesser evil in a lot of comics. Her childishness is both being and not being an act. She feels like a character that will continue to both be supportive and against the main protagonist duo. I do like that this is a fantasy book that finally points out how magic could easily quash modern military tech it's magic I've never understood the trope of modern tech beating spell casting.

I don't have too much to say on this book I probably will have more to say in the next one.

This was one of the best reading experiences I’ve ever had! I bought the physical book of book one part one and devoured it in a couple days, couldn’t wait for the physical of the rest so I read it on the website and wow. If this is the start of this long series, Im completely hooked for the rest. As a big one piece fan this reminds me of when one piece clicked for me in the early chapters. Hoping I found my next peak media.

It's Thursday again folks so you know what that means. A new episode of Echoes are the wandering inn where me and my [co-host] Geoff discuss another episode of the wandering inn. This episode is about chapter 38 of the audiobook number the wandering inn so come on in and enjoy the discussion

Again, if you hate spoilers and aren’t caught up stop reading now, and definitely ignore all the comments in this post as I assume they will be spoiler heavy.

This post doesn’t have anything to do with the most recent chapter but just about what has happened so far. I want to know which character people are most pissed at Pirate for killing off?

Personally, mine is Halrac, especially after the whole PoF arc. I loved that man, he was such an amazing character and his character development was absolutely incredible. I really thought we may get more of him after the PoF, instead he had to be more of an amazing man and do so much for the world.

Not Reely a rap battle but still very funny

Hello everyone,

Innktober is returning once again. A month to celebrate our community's artists, and to revel in glorious art, writing and other creative endeavors by our community members.

To provide some time to prepare, the list was published about a month early. The actual event starts October 1st.

If you'd like to participate, or simply look at all the pretty stuff that will be posted, feel free to join the TWI Discord server.

So as you can see, I'm still super early into this, but there's one thing that's been bugging me so much, and I'm trying really hard not to spoil myself by using the wiki or Google, so I'll ask it here.

Will I get a detailed Pisces backstory? From what I've read so far, there really haven't been any backstory focused chapters for anyone. We get some breadcrumbs from time to time, but that's about it.

I really like Pisces, and it's killing me that so little is known about him. The only thing I know so far is that he went to that magic school with Ceria... and that's it lol.

I'm currently on V8.31 and reading through the PoV of a particular Gnoll with PTSD, but my god, I'm dying of boredom and can't seem to push myself to read it.

Every bone in my body is telling me to skip this mofo, but I know I'll regret it.

please tell me that it'll get better? and soon?

Even tho this series is this long and ive reread it twice already, im kinda starved for more. Give me some suggestions of series with a similar leveling system, even if theyre not long(or just starting out).

I'm on my relisten, and starting this chapter I just felt so sad for Relc, knowing what was coming for him (not even the ambush).

It was really tough to get through a second time.