Few heroes in Marvel Comics pull off the tough guy act quite as well as Wolverine. Everyone’s favorite Canadian mutant (sorry, Deadpool) is as short on words as he is short in stature. However, Marvel Comics writer Saladin Ahmed wants to explore how Logan deals with loss, which is why Ahmed broke Wolverine’s claws.

During an interview, Saladin Ahmed discussed the reasoning behind breaking Wolverine’s claws in Wolverine #19 earlier this year. He talked about how it impacts both the character in the visual medium of comic books and on a narrative level.

“Well, it obviously affects things like the action in the book,” Ahmed commented. “But on a deeper level, this was another instance of messing with a tough guy’s emotions. The loss of the claws is a physical problem for Logan as a warrior, but the deeper damage comes when he has to face what the loss means to him. Is adamantium, which was forced on him so traumatically, really a part of him? Getting to write that sort of internal wrangling mapped into crazy Marvel moments is why I love this job!”

The relationship between Wolverine and his adamantine claws has always been a difficult one. They make him a much more dangerous fighter, but they also represent perhaps the most traumatic experience of his very long life. When he loses them, he is likely to feel both more vulnerable and more human than before. Exploring that dynamic was Saladin Ahmed’s motivation for breaking Wolverine’s claws earlier this year.

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