The Faraway Paladin: The Lord of Rust Mountain

Episode 4

Faraway Paladin episode 4 spends its time doing what this series does best: showing that William is a good lad with a good heart.

The big focus of this episode is on Ru's training. Will has decided to make Ru his thane, and as such they begin training to help him get up to speed. One side note I will make is that I find the choice of thane as the title to be an… odd choice. I wouldn't ever claim to be an expert in the various European cultures that used the title of thane historically speaking, but I always thought there was some measure of land management involved. Most feudal titles are like that (it would sort of be like calling someone “my baron” without a barony to manage, for example). But maybe there is a use of the term that just means close retainer, knight, or something along those lines. That's the intent… or then maybe it isn't? Maybe Will is going to give Ru some portion of Torch Town to manage and he is trying to train him up to be able to protect that land. It struck me as odd and perhaps I'm alone in this.

Nevertheless, Ru gets some training from Will and Menel. I liked these sequences. Who doesn't love a good training montage after all? It's just good bonding time for the lads and Ru's naivete is fun to watch. As someone who has enjoyed a lot of fantasy media over the years, it was nice to see a dwarf warrior in the role of mentee for once. Usually, Dwarves are grim and dour older mentor-type figures, given that they typically live very long lives and their beards make them appear older so it makes sense to plop them in that role. We rarely see a depiction of a relatively inexperienced dwarf, and it's minor but it is a fun twist on an old formula.

Later, Will and Ru head into the dungeon together. There was some nice practicality, namely the multiple light sources element. However, I do question the wisdom of going in on their own without any support, supplies, etc. This is one of those times you have to let realism slide but it does break my immersion a bit. There's a reason those classic dungeon-crawling adventures in the 1970s often involved huge parties followed by scores of hirelings/retainers backed up by provisions, wagons, pack animals, etc.

I'm curious to see how this delve pans out regardless.

Rating:

Grant is the cohost on the Blade Licking Thieves podcast and Super Senpai Podcast.

Faraway Paladin: The Lord of Rust Mountain is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.