The Order of the Stick/Characters/Divine Beings

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The Snarl

Lord Shojo: The world took shape, but for every argument, a new snag would develop in the fabric of the world. A new snarl in the threads of reality. And the gods, blinded by their petty squabbles, did not see the Snarl growing every day... Growing more complex... growing more intelligent... growing more hateful.

An immensely powerful god-killing Eldritch Abomination whom many of the main villains wish to harness, each for their own reasons. Born from the dissensions and frustrations of the gods during the first creation of the world.

• Apocalypse How: Class X-2
• Bigger Bad: It's far more powerful than Xykon and overshadows the entire setting, but isn't personally involved in the plot and probably cares nothing for it.
• Blue and Orange Morality: Its mindset is pretty much unfathomable.
• Continuity Snarl: Literally the embodiment of one.
• Deader Than Dead: The fate of anyone killed by the Snarl.
• Eldritch Abomination
• Evil Overlooker: In this poster illustrating the Loads and Loads of Characters of OotS, the Snarl takes this role.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom
• Omnicidal Maniac: Most likely, though the revelation of a freaking planet within its rift opens all kinds of cans of worms.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Unusually, the can is the whole world.
• You Cannot Grasp the True Form: Artwork only portrays it as a ball of crayon scribbles with glowing eyes and clawed "limbs".

The Dark One

"I LIVE AGAIN!!"

Race: God (formerly goblin) Gender: Male Class: Unknown (rumors of a prestige class) Alignment: Lawful Evil

The evil god of all goblinoids. Originally a goblin warlord born with purple skin, he united many tribes in a mighty army threatening the human lands. He was killed through treachery, but had so many followers that he rose to godhood. Now he plans to upset the status quo between PC and monster races by using the Snarl as a bargaining chip. He's working to this end through his true prophet, the bearer of the Crimson Mantle.

• Aggressive Negotiations: Was killed during those.
• Anti-Villain
• An Axe to Grind
• Beard of Evil
• Big Badass Wolf: His mount while a mortal.
• Bigger Bad: An odd example, as the Dragon to the regular Big Bad works for him, and The Dark One's plan is what drives much of the story.
• Deity of Goblin Origin: The bloodshed of his followers allowed him to transcend his mortality and become a god.
• Eyes of Gold
• Flash Back: So far has only appeared through flashbacks, never in the current action.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Went from just another goblin to be slain for XP to a warlord, and then a god.
• Gone Horribly Wrong / Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: It was hoped assassinating the Dark One would demoralize and dissolve his followers. Instead, it enraged them enough to embark on a year-long crusade of vengeance, which allowed the Dark One to ascend to godhood and learn about the Snarl.
• The Goblin Behind the Goblin
• Killed Mid-Sentence
• Only Known by His Nickname: "His real name has been lost to antiquity."
• Rage Against the Heavens
• Vagueness Is Coming: Averted hard with his message for Redcloak -- "Don't screw this up."

Redcloak: Well, as theological revelations go, I guess that's refreshingly direct. Jirix: Then he added, "No pressure, though," which I thought was nice.

• Well-Intentioned Extremist

The Inter-Fiend Cooperation Commission

Nero: Well, that went fairly well. Cedrik: Everything is coming together quite nicely. Lee: Yes, we've certainly thrown our chips in the pot now, haven't we?

Race: Devil (Lee), Daemon (Nero), Demon (Cedrik) Alignment: Lawful Evil (Lee), Neutral Evil (Nero), Chaotic Evil (Cedrik)

Lee, Nero, and Cedrik: three powerful beings from the lower planes dedicated to uniting the factions of evil. So far this has meant appearing to Vaarsuvius in a desperate moment and granting V unprecedented arcane power by "splicing" V with the souls of three evil mages. Their long-term plans remain mysterious, but they do require V to stay alive and do involve the gates.

• Black Cloaks
• Big Bad Triumvirate: They apparently lead the IFCC equally, though each is answerable to superiors on their own plane. Whether or not they're real Big Bads or just another competing faction remains to be seen.
• Chekhov's Gunman: First seen here, but not formally introduced until much later. Heck, they were mentioned way back near the beginning -- Sabine explicitly said that she'd been sent "by the archfiends" to be Nale's consort/sidekick. These guys are the archfiends in question.
• The Chessmasters: They are shaping up to be Chessmasters in a grand style, not only manipulating V, and the Order through him or her, but also Team Evil and the Linear Guild as well. Lampshaded with the title of strip #668, "Moving the Pieces".
• Circling Monologue: They do this once or twice during their deal pitch to Vaarsuvius.
• Color Coded for Your Convenience: All three look absolutely identical except for the color of their eyes, which is also reflected in the text of their speech bubbles and the color of their magic auras.
• Cosmopolitan Council: The Inter-Fiend Cooperation Commission is a "community-based grassroots organization dedicated to building bridges between the diabolic, demonic, and daemonic populations."
• Deal with the Devil: Made one for Vaarsuvius.
• Demon Lords and Archdevils: Duh.
• The Dividual: They always talk and act as a trio. Word of the Giant is that they're interchangeable, and despite being supposedly of different evil alignments, he doesn't bother giving them distinct personalities.
• Evil Is One Big Happy Family: The Trope Namers, they both play this straight and subvert it. On one hand, they aren't going to ally with or openly assist Xykon just because he's evil, because to them he's just another piece in the game; on the other, one of their long-term goals is to unite the three warring races of Fiends into a single alliance.
• Evil Plan: They seem to have one of these going.
• The Facelesses
• Footnote Fever: They manage to put footnotes in their speech.

Lee: Magical powers beyond your wildest imaginings!* Nero: *Based on typical wild imaginings of previous customers matching your demographic profile. Additional terms and restrictions may apply.

• Gambit Roulette: The IFCC really did get lucky with their plan. Expecting that Vaarsuvius would attack Xykon with the powers they gave him/her? Reasonable. Hoping that the attack would be effective enough to piss off Xykon, not powerful enough to kill him and that V would still be able to escape Xykon? Yeah, there was a lot that could've gone wrong. The IFCC even admits that they had no way to interfere and that their plan wasn't perfect.
• Glowing Eyes: Yellow (Lee), orange (Cedrik), and purple (Nero).
• Hidden Agenda Villain: They briefly discuss their long-term goals with Qarr, but ultimately decide it's too much exposition to reveal now. They do involve V, the Gates, and Xykon, however.
• Manipulative Bastards: Through use of Reverse Psychology, they try to convince Vaarsuvius to make a deal with them in the most blatant way possible... and they succeed. Though V was already willing to do so anyways... Then they implied that the spliced souls would have the ability to influence him, even though they actually had no control at all. "We only have to trick you if being honest doesn't work." actually sounds a LOT like "We're being honest." without actually meaning that at all.
• Meaningful Names: LE, NE, and CE are the abbreviations D&D uses for the three evil alignments.
• Messrs. Exposition
• Number of the Beast
  • Subverted with their adress, which is "9 Hells Plaza, Lower Planes 00999".
  • Note also that "Moving the Pieces", the strip where they enunciate their sinister mobiles, would have been strip #666 if not for the tribute pages to Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: By courtesy of the choir of dead pedophiles.
• Our Demons Are Different: They consist of a devil, a demon, and a daemon. Their challenge is proving the different kinds of fiends can work together.
• Pass the Popcorn
• The Plan: The Deal with a Mortal they made is just the start of it, apparently. Could probably be a Gambit Roulette altogether, since they admitted themselves that they couldn't control all aspects of their plan.
• Time Stands Still: From the moment they step on the island to offer Vaarsuvius their deal, time is stopped for the rest of the world, as they don't like to rush this kind of transaction.

Thor

"With my ultimate power of the thunders, I, Thor, smash this entire dungeon to shattered ruins, each piece no larger than a man's fist. Then, I return to Asgard to woo goddesses and drink an ocean's worth of beer. Huzzah!"

Race: God (Northern) Gender: Male Alignment: Chaotic Good (probably)

The god of Thunder, a major power of Asgard. Patron god of Durkon and of most dwarves.

• Boisterous Bruiser
• Bolt of Divine Retribution
• Continuity Nod: The Imagine Spot in Start of Darkness of the Dark One's plan to blackmail the other gods into granting racial equality has Thor getting attacked by the Snarl, saying that Loki was right, he really shouldn't have taunted the god-killing abomination.
• Drop the Hammer
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Durkon is a Lawful Good cleric of Thor, a (presumably) Chaotic Good deity. This shouldn't be possible based on core D&D rules. (Clerics can only be a 'step' away in alignment to their patron deity. So a cleric of Thor would need to be Chaotic Good, Chaotic Neutral, or Neutral Good.) Although Word of the Giant states that OotS Thor is distinct from both Nordic Thor and D&D Thor, so his alignment might not be Chaotic Good at all.
• Lightning Can Do Anything:

Thor: BOOYAH! Direct hit! Planetar: Lord Thor, I've been reading the description of Control Weather... and I'm not sure it can actually DO that. Thor: I'm sorry, I didn't hear you just there. What did you say, again? Planetar: *sigh* I said, "Nice shooting, sir."

• Horny Vikings
• Miss Conception: He should learn to recognize fertility goddesses.
• Public Domain Character
• Rule of Cool: He will bend the laws of reality on behalf of his worshippers, if he thinks the result will be particularly awesome.
• Shock and Awe
• Weapon of Choice: Mjolnir
• When All You Have Is a Hammer

Loki

"Dude, don't taunt the god-killing abomination."

Race: God (Northern) Gender: Male Alignment: Chaotic Evil (probably)

The god of Flames and Chaos, rival of Thor. Patron god of Hilgya.

• Badass Cape
• Deadpan Snarker
• Do Not Taunt Cthulhu
• Fiery Redhead
• Friendly Enemy: Seems to have this going with Thor.
• Public Domain Character
• Red Eyes, Take Warning

Odin

"Ooooo! Doggie!"

Race: God (Northern) Gender: Male Alignment: Chaotic Good (probably)

The All-Father; head of the Northern gods; Thor's father.

• Blade on a Stick
• Cloudcuckoolander: "Aww, but I like puppets!"
• Eyepatch of Power
• Public Domain Character
• Ravens and Crows: Hugin & Munin

The Twelve Gods

Dragon: We all now know what happens should we ever come to direct conflict over how to run this new world. I therefore suggest that each of our three pantheons be granted special dominion over one-third of this planet, to guide as we see fit.

The pantheon with dominion over the Southern continent, including Azure City. Based on the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac: Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig, Rat, Ox, Tiger, and Hare.

• Dragons Up the Yin-Yang
• Eastern Zodiac
• Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja: Monkey is responsible.
• Fantasy Pantheon
• Pillar of Light: Manifested to shut down someone that breaks a covenant with them. (spoiler: "Fading")
• Token Evil Teammate: Rat

Tiamat

"RRAWWR!!" (×5)

Race: God (Western) Gender: Female Alignment: Lawful Evil

The five-headed dragon goddess, progenitor of all evil dragons. One of the few allies of the Dark One. She grants the Oracle his powers.

• Breath Weapon: In five flavors.
• Cycle of Revenge: Is livid about Vaarsuvius killing one-fourth of all black dragons.
• Monster Progenitor
• Multiple Head Case: Tiamat has five heads, each of different color: white, green, black, blue, and red. The colors correspond to the five kinds of chromatic (evil) dragons.
• Our Dragons Are Different
• Voice of the Legion: With five heads, what do you expect?

Succubus secretary: Director? Ms. Tiamat is holding on lines 2, 3, 5, 8, and 11.

Marduk

"Well, there are those rules for monster PCs--"

Race: God (Western) Gender: Male Alignment: Unknown

The leader of the Western pantheon (equivalent to Odin or Dragon in this regard). He has to date played no role and had no line in the comic (except the above, from Start of Darkness). Marduk can be seen in Lord Shojo's tale about the making of the World and the origins of the Snarl.

• Ambiguously Brown: Has red-brown, brique skin.
• Extra Eyes: Has four eyes.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: And four arms.
• Public Domain Character
• Red Eyes, Take Warning

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