Didn't she abandoned The Hollow?

She did,
but it's clear that she still is willing to work with them because she's still concerned about the safety of other prey animals.
she's just "on her own path, away from the hollow" as Oren puts it.

Snap out of it soldier, get him to medical, get a new weapon, and await new orders, double time.

40k vibes lol 'while he has breath in his lungs and a spear in his hand his duty is not done' ''the hollow stands'' XD

Hemlock seems a lot nicer when she is not constantly mad at Rask. c:

She’s a mother who lost her whole family, so it makes sense she’d try to care for those under her. The predator-prey dynamic is simply a major conflict of interest. Both sides want to survive, but both can’t always have it. Hemlock is incredibly determined that her side remains alive. Frankly, it’s the least any animal would do even under normal circumstances.

So this page reveal that Hemlock and other animals left the hollow but don't leave the hollow, looks like she can't let Oren and the other animals alone; even when she disagree the Oren methods to protect them.

Also see how racist she is, she take care of another prey, but if it a pred, even when that pred shows he or she is trustworthy, she won't hesitate to stay; she es good and bad at the same time; we all know why she act like that, but it is to go to extremes

Sorry, I'm gonna jump in. Full stop: Racism can not and does not apply here. There are a host of reasons that animals are really shitty analogies for race and to cut to the chase here, that has never been the theme of this story. The story is about exploring how multi-animal societies could function, if they even could.

Point being, they are separate species. They have completely different biology and physiology. Wolves are fundamentally different and physically cannot survive eating grass, just like if you tried to feed raw meat to a rabbit, you'd have a dead rabbit.

Predators want to eat them. Hemlock is keeping her people safe and correctly believes her people are in danger. The wolves are there to kill them.
It's like getting mad at Ripley in Alien because she doesn't welcome the xenomorph onto the ship with open arms.

Yeah, you're completely right, Hemlock has her reasons to act like that, and those are heavy reasons of why she behaves in that way; I think I exaggerated when I use the word "racist" and sorry about that.

I know that preds and preys are very difficult and even almost impossible to be friends, and this conflict can use as a parallelism of our real life, we have good examples like zootopia who shows that topic and I think that makes the story more interesting.

My point was that it's cool that she shows concern about other animals, that's shows she is not he villain, but is also sad that she only sees another preys in that way even when Rask is also (and technically) a prey too.

Again, sorry for the misunderstanding, that was no my intention

PD: I like so much the comic, I can't wait to see what is coming

Ah, no worries, I'm sorry for coming down hard. Hemlock gets a lot of hate, some of which I feel is undeserved, and I feel compelled to weigh in. Thank you for reading and thinking about the characters-- it really does mean the world to me that people are engaged enough to discuss character motives. Hemlock has an interesting role in this volume and I really can't wait for it all to come together. :]

And people think human civilization was/is hard. Hooooo boy, we're going to need a surplus of level heads and forward thinkers. I'm optimistic not out of naivete, but simply because there's no point in being anything else.

Man Hemlock is my favorite, I dont get why people would hate on her for having in-character moments motivated by her history. Its what makes her radical and interesting, she drives the plot and conflict forward with her ideals

Ah, thanks for taking the time to say so! She's one of my favorites, too, largely because her PoV is really clear and she forces indecisive characters to act.

so she is more likely speciesist

I mean... in so far as every living creature to ever exist is guilty of 'speciesism'...still no?
She's more than willing to fight for, share resources and live with mice, squirrels, hares, etc. *shrugs*

She’s playing it needlessly risky by abandoning their fortress in the first place.

It's nice to see this gentler side of her. It's also reassuring to see she doesn't fully resent Oren...I was worried she'd try to take him out, to lead everyone down her path, one without compromise. I can't exactly blame her, they are species who can and have eaten their friends, families, loved ones. I'm sure there isn't one family around who hasn't lost someone to predators.

It's kind of random, but I love the voices that my mind assigns to these characters.
In my head, Hemlock is voiced by Julia Sawalha (Ginger from Chicken Run); Oren sounds like Christopher Plummer (Captain Von Trapp from The Sound of Music); Rask's voice is a bit harder to describe, but is a bit like a cross between Linguini from Ratatouille, and Lenny from Shark Tale; Sybil talks like an elderly Italian woman.

I love this, thank you for sharing!!

I like how they think the two pups are fullgrown. they are gonna be in for a shock.

I like this side of hemlock

I love how calm & reasonably Hemlock can be sometime's.

Now she has some wolves to deal with. 😕

I usually just lurk, but I've been reading Oren's Forge since you started posting it here and I just had to say how much I love this page. Hemlock is one of my favorite characters in this comic; she's so complex and nuanced, and I really love her more direct approach to the world around her. I feel for Rask of course, but her actions make sense considering her experience.

But this page just showcases a hint of the gentleness she's capable of. She genuinely cares, and I specifically love her expression in the 5th panel. There's no judgment, no condemnation. She understands. You captured that so well.

I just... absolutely adore Hemlock and I can't wait to see where this goes. Thank you so much for posting, as always!