I disagree.
Some of the predictions are way more interesting than the actual comic in my opinion.
It doesn’t help that with very few exceptions (like the 3-4 soul-splice turbo strips) most updates are simply one small cliffhanger after the other without anything actually happening progress-wise.
Most suggestions actually DO something, while most actual strips only tease.
Well, maybe D&D has made up it’s own version, but a phylactery by normal definition is a place to store your soul when you take it out, so that you won’t die when your body dies, not some arcade style “extra life” box. I’d bet the D&D description doesn’t spell this out because it assumes you know what the word means.
Plus, look at the reactions of Xykon, V, and Ochul – they have been far more focused on the phylactery than they would have been if it only meant Xykon had to build a new one (as they know they can’t manage to defeat Xykon), and the entire last scene doesn’t even make sense unless threatening the phylactery puts Xykon in mortal peril.
I’d expect a phylactery to have some sort of anti-scrying enchantment.
Phylactery has a normal definition?
What was the point of the exploding runes? Just to propel the phylactery away? Couldn’t the bird have just dropped it? Why would zykron have read the runes before just grabbing the medallion?
I’m not aware of any big mojo anti scrying enchantments that will stick to an item. A place or a person, yes, an item no. Of course there could be something in some obscure sourcebook that does it.
A phylactery by normal definition is a container for a prayer or excerpt of holy text. So various orthodox Jewish paraphernalia, e.g. tefillin, are in effect phylacteries. No soul-bearing connotation outside of D&D. But of course, the majority of uses of the word since the '70s have been D&D-related…
It also demonstrates that at this point V has retained pr regained at least a little real intelligence and creativity, instead of the insane arrogance of the soul splice.
Exactly. He/She hasn’t totally been drained of all conscience.
Rimbo
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^— that’s how I read it, too. But V’s got a long way to go if he’s going to recover his/her family.
Rimbo
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I think the moment of realization was panel 7.
Maybe if you’re an Orthodox Jew or something, but most people aren’t terribly versed in Judaism. Its soul bearing connotation in fantasy fiction predates D&D, which in general more people are familiar with.
The concept of hiding your soul in a box/bone/jar so it’s safe stems from older myth, although now that you mention it I don’t recall them using the word Phylactery… Still, whatever word you use the meme is well established, and the characters clearly think thats how it works.
Ah. I guess I just assumed there was something, as it’d make sense. No idea whether D&D had such a thing. However, if your foes can scry where your Phylactery is it rather defeats the purpose.
Ummm, I think you underestimate the size of the D&D audience. Like it or not, I expect the D&D definition is the right one to a huge majority of gamers.
Perhaps, although I’d argue D&D is still much more niche than fantasy fiction, even if it is the most popular PnP RPG.
Regardless, I’m talking about the people who wrote the D&D definition, not the audience, as they likely are familiar with fiction. And besides, the two definitions appear to be the same anyway, so it’s moot.
It’s also a clever little callback to Xykon’s use of the bouncy ball with the insanity symbol.
How about the epic-level anti-scrying Cloister enchantment that applies to everything in the city at the time it was cast? How about that, then?
Okay, is it just me, or does the Rift in that strip now more than ever resemble a giant vagina?
Also, I like the little touch where the phylactery bounced off the eye of the statue of Red Cloak. The same eye that O’Chull took out.
No, it’s not just you. I saw those panels and had to stop for a second because… wow.
The Snarl needs to mow the lawn.
