[Meeting…] Khanis Fhou

From the moment the first States and wars of conquest arose, ideologies were put in place to justify them. All of them, from domination by divine right (God or the gods will it) in Antiquity and the Middle Ages and Modern times to the defense and dissemination of the noble ideals of civilization and human rights in more recent times, served and serve to cover their true economic interests with a more or less honorable patina. In medieval times we have the holy war and the Code of Chivalry, whose supposed virtues are embodied in heroes of impeccable morals whose adventures were recorded in the songs of deeds. The Spanish comic we have at The Mask Warrior as the most famous example and archetype of this way of seeing the world, as we could see at the time.

However, currently this model seems to have become relatively obsolete. The disenchantment and nihilism that is gripping an important part of society, the weariness towards heroes as perfect as they are implausible, with no possible equivalent in real life, and the maxim of "every man for himself" as a dogma have paved the way for the proliferation of imperfect, contradictory and even openly anti-heroic characters. It is precisely this last profile that I am going to discuss today through Khanis Fhou, the protagonist ofscavenger, from Vilbor and Montalbá. Despite his almost unknown character and the short history of his adventures (a single graphic novel, and relatively brief), I consider him interesting as a counterpoint to Manuel Gago's warrior.

A murderer, thief and drunk named Khanis Fhou

The figure of Khanis Fhou could be summarized as the most radical possible antithesis of The Warrior of the Mask, Captain Trueno or any other protagonist of the national medieval-themed comic that we have seen in the past, especially during the Franco era. Of tall and stocky but poorly proportioned and not at all attractive, we find a character stripped of the slightest hint of anything that sounds heroic. It has the appearancedisheveled, with straight hair and a beard of several days, and his look barely reflects vitality. On the contrary, an alienated or absent expression always predominates, in which a war scar stands out in the area of ​​his right eye.

At the beginning of the story it is nothing more than a anonymous thief who sneaks into the temple of Tarshish, political and religious capital of the Tarsalian Empire, to plunder your treasure, since the war of conquest that the kingdom of Krieg has waged against them has caused them to neglect their vigilance. It is here where we see the moral character of this individual, who does not hesitate to murder in cold blood a monk and a woman by stabbing her in the back when he discovered him in the middle of the robbery (remember that The Warrior of the Mask refused to murder if it was not “in a good fight” or how he lamented when his rival was a woman, when it went against his principles to hit a female). As if that were not enough, after killing a few more sentinels, runs over another innocent person without any regard after getting hold of a horse, thus embarking on the run. From that moment, it is clear to us that we are before someone greedy and lacking all honor and humanity.

If he had been a skillful, meticulous and cunning bandit he would have gotten out of this successfully, but the moment he stops at the inn his suspicions come to light. alcoholism, his second great defect along with greed. Instead of paying attention to his rational side, which urged him to be discreet and set out before dawn, drank until he became so drunk who attacked half of the inn. As a consequence he could not do anything when the next morning He was surprised by some soldiers who were carrying out forced recruitment of any adult man they encountered on their way to wage war against the Kriegers. They did not hesitate to arrest him when they discovered the loot, seizing it on the spot to fall into the custody of General Merkel.

“Hero” by force

Once the troops set up camp on the land of a poor old man, our hateful protagonist was chained to immediately force him to speak, but the news of the arrival of an advance party of enemy forces over the nearby Owl Bridge made plans regarding him change. He became part of a small group that was tasked with the almost suicidal mission of burn the bridge to delay the arrival of the Krieg army (the estimated arrival time by that route was only two hours, while taking a detour would take three days. The arrival of reinforcements was estimated at four, still insufficient). When it seemed that the task was accomplished, the reckless behavior of an officer caused them to be discovered. This was where the captive bandit first flaunted his excellent combat skills, thanks to which they managed to burn the bridge with all the tactical advantage that this entailed. Thus He became one of the “heroes of the bridge”, along with the sergeant and the first corporal (the only three survivors).

Por si esto no era suficiente para que cambiase por completo la percepción de los soldados con respecto a él, el sargento recordó su verdadera identidad en cuanto éste dijo su nombre. Fue así como rebeló que hace muchos años Khanis Fou fue capitán de la guardia de Roveri. No sólo eso, sino que era reconocido como el caballero más prestigioso de dicho reino, alguien aclamado en innumerables cantares de gesta, pero que, misteriosamente, había sido relegado al olvido. Su figura se va agigantando entre la veneración que la alargada sombra de su leyenda suscita entre la tropa, sus innegables méritos en batalla y la alta mortandad entre la oficialidad. Pese a todo, él se limita a combatir por salvar su vida y aguardar el momento oportuno para huir con el tesoro bien lejos de allí. Con todo, cabe destacar que es el único de entre los presentes que sabe que esa guerra no es librada por motivos religiosos ni por antagonismos nacionales (los kriegers se refieren a ellos como “hermafroditas” al ser adoradores de un dios que es a la vez hombre y mujer), sino por meros intereses económicos.

Conclusion and recommendations

Khanis Fhou es simplemente un ladrón, asesino, borracho y pendenciero que tuvo la mala suerte de estar en el lugar y en el momento equivocados. Carece de cualquier objetivo en la vida que no sea el de escapar con las riquezas robadas en el templo más sagrado del reino en nombre del cual se ve obligado a guerrear. Pese a ser a todas luces un personaje despreciable, no deja de ser producto de una sociedad autodestructiva en el que la violencia endémica es norma. El gran enigma que rodea a este personaje (junto con el de si logrará salir con bien de esa o no) es cómo el caballero más grande del reino de Roveri llegó a ser el abyecto bandido que ahora conocemos.

Como ya indiqué en la introducción, la única obra que puedo recomendar es scavenger, publicada por La Cúpula Editions, y que no creo que tengáis problema en encontrar en cualquier librería o tienda de cómics. Debo advertir que es extremadamente violento, con sangre y miembros amputados por doquier, y con alguna que otra escena de sexo, pero resulta interesante por sus detalles políoticos de actualidad, algunos de ellos sutiles y otros tan evidentes que son hasta cómicos.