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[sunofdarkchild]

I'm always suspish when characters start killing people so easily, even though it might be in Illyana's character in this case, but also thinking about what's been happening across Duggan's books - it makes me wonder if there might be a retcon/history-rewriting coming to wash all the extremes away. It is after all what they're trying to accomplish over in Rise of the Powers of X...

It really shouldn't be in-character for Illyana at all. If Louise Simonson had remembered her origin after she took over from Claremont no writer would ever depict her as quick to kill. But unfortunately, because Simonson couldn't be bothered to reread the Magik limited series and see that Illyana spared Belasco because of what she feared killing him in anger would do to her soul, later writers have gone with her 'I can kill with little-to-no consequence' interpretation.

Simonson legitimately thought this moment ended with Illyana killing Belasco, which is why she had no problem killing people in Fall of the Mutants and trying to kill Forge, and probably why N'Astirh was created in the first place. Since Simonson thought Belasco was dead a new demon needed to be created to take his place in Illyana's final story.

If they were smart they'd say that she only kills when she deems it absolutely necessary and never out of anger, and that if she ever killed while truly angry she'd lose herself and go full Darkchild, kind of like how Jedi can kill, but if they do so in anger they risk falling to the Dark Side.

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[Uncanny X-Man]

It really shouldn't be in-character for Illyana at all. If Louise Simonson had remembered her origin after she took over from Claremont no writer would ever depict her as quick to kill. But unfortunately, because Simonson couldn't be bothered to reread the Magik limited series and see that Illyana spared Belasco because of what she feared killing him in anger would do to her soul, later writers have gone with her 'I can kill with little-to-no consequence' interpretation.

Simonson legitimately thought this moment ended with Illyana killing Belasco, which is why she had no problem killing people in Fall of the Mutants and trying to kill Forge, and probably why N'Astirh was created in the first place. Since Simonson thought Belasco was dead a new demon needed to be created to take his place in Illyana's final story.

If they were smart they'd say that she only kills when she deems it absolutely necessary and never out of anger, and that if she ever killed while truly angry she'd lose herself and go full Darkchild, kind of like how Jedi can kill, but if they do so in anger they risk falling to the Dark Side.

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I think you're spot-on with that... let's not forget that the Soulsword originally looked pretty much like a Lightsaber. With regards to what's in-character for Claremont's X-Men and non-Claremont X-Men, I'll just say we're basically talking about different characters and it's hard to reconcile the 2 versions more often than not.

[Thirteen]

The soulsword began affecting nonmagical objects and people between Fall of the Mutants and Inferno, as a sign of her growing loss of control over her powers. Specifically, issue 66 when she tried to kill Forge. The rest of the New Mutants immediately questioned why the sword was shattering non-magical rocks and creating demonic faces on the broken pieces.
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I took that as the early sign that the barrier between Earth and Belasco/Illyana's Limbo was eroding making "regular" things one Earth now "magical".

[dkrook]

The fall has died down and dragging to the finish line, You think they have someone else as the artist. I like Noto but his style isn't for this book IMO

This has so much of a ....."What are we doing here vibe" some of these narratives are bei g sleep walked through. After following Duggan for the last three years, one consistent thing he does is fade whole plots in and out in a way that is annoying.

[Wind Rider]

This looks so good! Daaaamnnnn Yana is going HAM! Love it!

[sunofdarkchild]

On a more positive note, breaking into a prison for mutant children to rescue them is quintessential Magik, who's always felt very strongly about protecting children given her own experiences as a child.

[cranger]

I think you're spot-on with that... let's not forget that the Soulsword originally looked pretty much like a Lightsaber. With regards to what's in-character for Claremont's X-Men and non-Claremont X-Men, I'll just say we're basically talking about different characters and it's hard to reconcile the 2 versions more often than not.

Simonson edited that story and her New Mutant run explained what was happening to Illyana (maybe retreading some stuff, but readership rotated much faster). Dark Illyana is a product of her return in the '00s all the way up to Gillen writing her as a villain.

[sunofdarkchild]

Simonson edited that story and her New Mutant run explained what was happening to Illyana (maybe retreading some stuff, but readership rotated much faster). Dark Illyana is a product of her return in the '00s all the way up to Gillen writing her as a villain.

Simonson may have edited the Magik mini, but she sure as hell got what happened in it wrong when she was writing New Mutants. This is what she wrote in 1988.

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This is the equivalent of writing Luke Skywalker talking about how he chopped Darth Vader's head off. They even have a note from Bob Harris saying it happened in the Magik mini when they all would have known that's the exact opposite of what actually happened.

This misconception of what Illyana actually did at the climatic moment of her origin story completely ruins Simonson's writing of her. Because she wrote an Illyana who killed Belasco instead of sparing him, her version of Illyana never learned the lessons the real character learned in the Magik miniseries and had to learn them all over again from the start. Because she wrote an Illyana who killed Belasco without consequence, her Illyana could kill multiple people ad plot to kill Forge despite that going against everything she learned in her origin and being completely out of character. And this is again likely why Belasco was replaced by N'Astirh since there was this misconception that Belasco was dead.

It's inexcusable that this happened. Bob Harris wouldn't care this since he had it in for Illyana from the start and may have been behind the rushed ending for her in Inferno, but Simonson absolutely should have known better when she edited the original and should have at least looked at the original story so she could realize how wrong she was.

[cranger]

Simonson may have edited the Magik mini, but she sure as hell got what happened in it wrong when she was writing New Mutants. This is what she wrote in 1988.

Magik saying she killed Belasco.jpg

This is the equivalent of writing Luke Skywalker talking about how he chopped Darth Vader's head off. They even have a note from Bob Harris saying it happened in the Magik mini when they all would have known that's the exact opposite of what actually happened.

This misconception of what Illyana actually did at the climatic moment of her origin story completely ruins Simonson's writing of her. Because she wrote an Illyana who killed Belasco instead of sparing him, her version of Illyana never learned the lessons the real character learned in the Magik miniseries and had to learn them all over again from the start. Because she wrote an Illyana who killed Belasco without consequence, her Illyana could kill multiple people ad plot to kill Forge despite that going against everything she learned in her origin and being completely out of character. And this is again likely why Belasco was replaced by N'Astirh since there was this misconception that Belasco was dead.

It's inexcusable that this happened. Bob Harris wouldn't care this since he had it in for Illyana from the start and may have been behind the rushed ending for her in Inferno, but Simonson absolutely should have known better when she edited the original and should have at least looked at the original story so she could realize how wrong she was.

Whatever the story behind this 'error' might be, all of this is ignoring a whole lot of 'dark' Illyana stories that Claremont continued to write and that the current depiction of Illyana is so far removed from the 80s stuff that it is irrelevant. I might actually take back what I said about blaming this on Gillen and the stories just before, and just realize that Duggan is just writing everyone like this anyway.

[sunofdarkchild]

Whatever the story behind this 'error' might be, all of this is ignoring a whole lot of 'dark' Illyana stories that Claremont continued to write and that the current depiction of Illyana is so far removed from the 80s stuff that it is irrelevant. I might actually take back what I said about blaming this on Gillen and the stories just before, and just realize that Duggan is just writing everyone like this anyway.

Claremont never had her dropping people in Limbo for the demons to eat or plotting to murder someone. He was at least consistent in maintaining her Jedi-code that killing may sometimes be necessary but if it is ever done in anger it would lead to her eternal damnation. If Claremont had written her doing anything like the stuff Simonson had her do, she would have instantly become the Darkchild forever and turned full world-conquering villain on the spot. There would have been no slow corruption leading to Inferno.

Simonson's Illyana is a fundamentally different character from Claremont's because Claremont's was using a dark, corrupted power that would inevitably turn her fully evil no matter what she did, and would do so immediately if she crossed the killing in anger line, while Simonson's Illyana was just too young and immature for the power she wielded and everything would have been fine if she was just a few years older. That is very much the approach later writers have taken, having her gain control over her power through maturity and age, and in any case that kind of change would have to made if she was to have any kind of future upon being brought back.

Since Illyana was created with a specific endpoint in mind, her surviving past that point or her being brought back after that point would mean changing her story drastically, much as how Jean's story had to be changed so much when they brought her back. Had her characterization not changed under Simonson and had her death been sacrificing herself to take out Belasco and ensure she wouldn't become him at the same time, this would have undermined her sacrifice and story. It would have been a mistake to bring her back at all. But since her characterization was already changed and Inferno was such a failure as a final story for her, ironically there was more room to make her return work. Inferno works much better when it isn't her end but just another step in her development, and her return was much closer to the story her death should have been. And since Simonson already made the kind of changes returning her would have necessitated, those changes were much less jarring than they would have otherwise been had Claremont continued writing her. In a perfect world Inferno would have been the story of her final battle with Belasco and both of them would have stayed dead after that, but ultimately good did come from the bad even if it took 2 decade to happen.