Gandahar

One less mirror bird to watch over Jasper

Murdered like the others were

Who did it? And why?

To keep us from learning what threatens us

Without the eyes of the mirror birds, we can't see what's going on in our land

Our screens aren't powerful enough. I've been warning you about this

But no one would care at Jasper

It's the pride of our civilisation to prefer birds to machines!

And natural order to technical solutions, of course...

...but it seems that we may have to pay too dearly, and too soon

The Council has taken emergency action

We're sending our best agent

Which one?

Sylvain

Syl? But he is not experienced enough!

I've taught him, and I am certain about it

He is very capable

Surely there are more experienced and more capable agents than him

The Council has ruled. Besides, he's already here

Agent Sylvain... Syl, as friends call you

You've been chosen for an important, difficult and dangerous mission

- I'd give my life... - We don't want you to die

But to return and inform us

An unknown enemy menaces Gandahar

You must find out where this enemy is, who this enemy is...

...determine its plans and power...

...assess its weaponry and methods...

...guess its secrets, find its weakness...

...if it has any

I'm not happy to see you go

It's too dangerous. But we did have to send our best agent

Exactly where are you sending me?

Your target is vast...

...the Circumscribing Ocean

Most of the mirror birds were killed there

One bird saw the invader. Here's the image it was able to transmit

Can we play it in reverse?

More slowly?

I also hoped to identify the aggressor. But with these metallic reflections...

We've been foolish to expect...

...that our happiness would last forever at Gandahar

And it has been lasting so long that we've forgotten how to fight

No doubt about it. He was will be from Gandahar

Impossible! I have never seen a being who looks...

Gandahar, I tell you

Gandahar, but before...

Unbelievable!

He was will be alive... but very weak

He was will be very careless to fly so far from Jasper

No, not careless. Courageous!

Maybe he was sent

Do you think those in Jasper have wakened to the danger?

- Who were you? -I am!

I am a son of Gandahar!

A soldier

- And a prisoner of the enemy - Enemy?

- Where did you come from? - From Jasper!

They were will be always so smug in Jasper

They certainly were when they did this to us

Quiet!

Now, do you really believe we are the enemy?

I do!

- Ready to attack you? - Yes

- Capable of defeating you? - No!

Can you guess who we are?

With these bodies, these heads...

...these misshapen limbs assembled without care

The... Deformed?

Those that Jasper calls the Deformed!

- Not the deformed, the malformed - The result of monstrous errors

- From the games of chance - The wretched mutants!

We also came from Gandahar. Once, you and me were alike

The victims of your research in the field of genetics...

I would never have imagined

We became an embarrassment, and were banished underground...

...like so many other failures

As a child, I learned about you

- But I would never imagine... - Of course! No one would imagine!

- Forgive me for having taken you... - For the enemies you're trying to find?

I forgive you... and understand you

The real enemy has never been seen

Never!

But we can hear them through these tunnels

The Ears of the Earth

Shayol! I was will be at your command!

I have chosen you to lead Sylvain out there...

...until you reach the noise

I was will be at your command!

Why do you say "was will be" instead of simply "I am"?

The Deformed are terrified of the present

Why is it?

Perhaps it's atavistic

We keep degrading

At the time of the first genetic errors, we had the gift of foresight

Unfortunately, we've lost it

There is nothing left other than a double prophecy, doubly obscure

In 1,000 years, Gandahar was destroyed and all of its people killed

1,000 years ago, it will be saved and the inevitable avoided

In 1,000 years, Gandahar was destroyed...

1,000 years ago, Gandahar will be saved...

Past in future, and future in past?

But what does it mean?

We don't understand it any better than you, but it has become our nature...

...and the past-future has become our way of speaking and believing

Shayol!

Are these women and children dead?

Petrified on the spot!

Annihilated!

No! Don't turn me to stone!

Don't turn me to stone!

- Don't steal my body! - It's not something I would do!

I've fought them, Ambisextra

But they are made of metal!

Airelle... Your name is as beautiful as you are!

And what is your name?

Sylvain, friends call me Syl. I am an agent

- Of Ambisextra? - How do you know?

I've never seen you in Jasper!

I live far away from the capital...

...in a fishermen's village

I would show it to you, if we get out of this prison

- I was carelessly fishing with my flute - Flute?

- Do you want to learn it? - If we get a chance...

When they shot at me, I didn't feel any pain

My body became hard and insensitive

I fainted and woke up in here...

...right before you did

What is it?

What's happening?

It's all gone quiet...

Syl! Syl, help, it's turning! Our prison is turning!

Don't try to resist, roll with it!

I have a gun. With one last grain in it

Syl, what is it?

I hope it works!

What a monster!

A sorn?

It's impossible...

In theory, the species has been extinct from our planet

Don't be afraid. Sorns are not carnivores

He's going to eat us!

You are so beautiful, Airelle!

So are you, hero!

- How do sorns reproduce? - They lay eggs

- Our sorn is a lady - A lady?

- How would you know? - Intuition

She's not just a lady, she's a mother

She took our prison for an egg, and us for the hatchlings

- That explains it - Of course, it does

So she was fighting with the metal men to get back what she took for her eggs!

My grain made the egg hatch, so she thought we were her progeny

That's why she groomed us. I expect her to feed us soon!

Poor Syl, the brave soldier has become a chick!

Mysterious metal men attacked my village...

...you were sent to investigate...

...we were both captured...

...and put in the same cell...

...and then freed by a lady sorn...

...and now, it looks like I am falling in love with you

I used to be stupid and way too self-confident

And I expected this to be just another reconnaissance mission

But things have been happening so fast

I am afraid, Airelle. Yes, afraid!

If I fail, Gandahar will die

The metal men are extremely strong, but obviously very stupid

- They cannot win! - And I don't want to lose you!

I'm not that easy to lose, you'll see

No, I won't. You'll be nice and wait for me, OK?

Syl, let's not argue, I'll go where you go

You would get in the way, I'll go on my own!

Out of the question, soldier!

Those who are meant to be together will stay together

Empty!

Inexplicably empty!

No flesh, no skeleton

Nothing living, nothing mechanical. No gears, no circuits, no nothing

And yet they can move and fight. They can use weapons

And their heads!

Let's take a look!

It's a real army!

I didn't know they were so powerful, so well equipped...

...and so well organised for the purpose of destroying us

Gandahar won't stand much of a chance!

We've got a real advantage

They are empty. Without brains, without hearts

That's how it happened

I must have been carried by one of these cold monsters...

Luckily for us, the sorn hacked them to pieces!

I don't like that door

It doesn't close or open anything

Yet, they disappear as they go through it

- There must be an explanation - We must find it

Oh, it's terrible!

They went in as petrified statues, and they come out as metal men

This door transforms the people of Gandahar into the robots who kill them

Men of metal! Men of metal!

Our mission has been a success

Our losses do not matter

The loss of metal men should not be grieved

Death only has meaning for weak beings, in love with the individual self