Board Thread:The Last Sovereign Discussion/@comment-27713488-20161204112754/@comment-28783361-20170322193304

Yeah, while "make everyone happy" would normally set off a warning bell, Qum has been pretty reliable so far and tends to be rather insightful and capable even if she can't always explain herself clearly to others. She understands some things about the world and its magic that most others don't to the point where if she says/does things I am frequently inclined to believe her.

With that in mind, her comment back at the Gathering about Ginasta- "Cumdump confused - not power like Chosen, it was all explodey..."

This gives me the impression that unlike the Chosen, who are basically conduits for some external source of power, Ginasta's power is a lot more internal, where she basically generates and releases her own magical power in large (and forceful) quantities.

When the party beat her, she was basically exhausted and out of power and Simon had Robin attempt to "bind her in this weakened state". The other thing that came to mind is after dealing with the elves, Robin and Orilise have a conversation about magic in Robin's room where Robin discusses the benefits of looping a spell to diffuse local energy and extend the spell's life.

Putting that all together makes me wonder if when they locked down Ginasta in a weakened state she was still "on" and basically built up steam (possibly through a loop or so) and started putting out more and more energy than Robin's spells could diffuse, overloading the system in a magical explosion and allowing her to blast her way out (using a sword made of magical energy to cut through the bars).

And since Ginasta spent a few months doing nothing but the magic version of resistance training (unconsciously, if nothing else), she's going to be able to put out a lot more magical power the next time she clashes with Simon's group (and maybe she'll get to take her second turn this time).

I like to think of Ginasta as more of a magical force of nature like a tornado rather than anyone operating under the guidance of a higher power- she just wanders in and wrecks shit according to the limits of her abilities and understanding. I like her as a relatively heroic and well-meaning obstacle and source of resistance to Simon's plans rather than someone who's being manipulated into going against him because that makes her harder to brush aside and means Simon has to prove himself to her (and thus reassure both himself and the audience).