Rimbo
3541
Oh, and Nale will probably show up for one last chance to fuck things up.
SlyFrog
3542
He lost that dramatic fight. Then, after a dramatic additional few acts, he came back and won the big one. I was just responding to the post suggesting that Elan was a worthless fighter, and would have no hope of standing up to Tarquin.
I don’t think the author is going to dust Tarquin this early, but I also doubt that Elan is going to get skewered and die either.
Maybe Elan will lose a hand, discover that Haley is actually his sister, and then get Tarquin to kill Xykon. :)
Given that Elan bases all of his decision-making around dramatic tropes, challenging his wicked father to a rooftop duel after resisting the temptations of the dark side actually seems like a pretty safe call. All standards of storytelling point to his winning the fight.
Or getting maimed. He could get maimed. But then he’d come back later and win after training really hard.
Alternately, Grand Moff Tarquin could just escape, as Nemeses are wont to do. Perhaps have his minions take Elan captive, maybe even have him thrown into the Arena.
Another thought is that he’s smart enough to foresee Elan might not go along (*); the burning slaves schtick is likely his idea of an alignment litmus test. If so, he’s prepared for Elan’s attack. Perhaps he has Haley under close guard, to be taken hostage should it prove useful?
strategy
3545
That was a nice analysis.
Evil may be absolute in D&D, but like many good authors, Burlew clearly likes to play with the notion of Evil being a point of view. I think Behemoth too readily dismisses the evil acts of characters who are clearly “Good” according to the rules (i.e., the mass genocide perpetrated by the Azure City Paladins against the goblins).
Personally, I’m one of those that think Red Cloak will “switch sides” at one point, but not because he is not a “villain” - he clearly has done some despicable deeds - simply because it will be the action that makes the most sense to him (unless the only way for the goblins to achieve their goal is to unleash the tentacled one, in which case he will probably be the only Evil character still working to this end in the final showdown). However, the message he received from the great Goblin sort of indicates otherwise. Red Cloak is the character who most clearly exemplifies the “Evil as POV” IMO.
I will be very disappointed if Tarquin turns out to be a simple cardboard stylish villain. I suspect the fact that Tarquin has managed to create a state where Lizardfolk, Humans and Kobolds all seem to manage to live in something resembling peace is going to become relevant to the plotline. I definitely expect that the Order will be faced with the issue of supporting the “Good” side (resulting in chaos - cf., the Azure City resistance) or supporting the “Evil” side (and Order).
OrfBC
3547
Swinganamiss! And looks like everyone was right about Tarquin, he knows the story isn’t to the epic fight yet.
Edit: And just finished the strip. That was amazing.
Heh, figures that Tarquin would have some levels in Dashing Swordsman.
Sebmojo
3549
I don’t think he’s got any chance of being cardboard - his motives are plenty complex based solely on what we’ve seen so far.
noun
3554
A playful but logical lawful evil character. I like Tarquin quite a bit.
The Giant’s main villains are all great. Some of the throwaways are 2D, but that’s to be expected.
Fantastic conclusion to an already amazing mini-arc. Looking forward to seeing how the games go down.
Definitely one of the best arcs ever.
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0763.html
That is a pretty sweet gig, you must admit.
Ahahahaha. “You’ll probalby end up losing a hand or an eye or something.”
I rofl’d.
