The Order of the Stick/Characters/Team Evil

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Team Evil

Xykon: (to the MitD) We're seriously evil badasses here. I'm a mighty lich sorcerer, Redcloak is high priest of his evil goblin deity, and you--well, we all know how powerful you are.

Xykon

Xykon

"I think I just had an evilgasm."

Race: Lich (formerly human)
Gender: Male
Class: Sorcerer
Alignment: Chaotic Evil

An epic-level Chaotic Evil lich sorcerer with dire plans for the world and a serious lack of empathy for living things. He has a constant need for amusement, and often kills people or generally does evil acts to fulfill it, as he can't enjoy coffee (which he loved as a human) any more now that he is a lich. Don't let how at-ease he is fool you: he's stone-cold evil.

  • The Ageless: As an undead lich he's unaging and immune to most attacks affecting living beings.
  • Amulet of Concentrated Awesome / Artifact of Doom: Both subverted; Roy and Eugene originally thought Xykon killed Fyron Pucebuckle and stole a crown Fyron possessed because it was a powerful magical artifact. But it turns out Xykon stole it solely for a fashion accessory.
  • Animate Dead
  • Bad Boss: "Sacrificing minions... is there any problem it can't solve?"
  • Berserk Button: Xykon is big on being in control, so completely in control that he doesn't even need to bother to take things seriously. As a result, nothing infuriates him more than his control of things slipping away, especially due to an actual mistake. His reaction to the loss of his phylactery, which resulted from the fact that he was messing around with "harmless" prisoners who proceeded to completely humiliate him, is a perfect example -- especially considering his haste to hang all the blame on Redcloak.
    • He didn't react well in the backstory when he discovered becoming a lich meant he couldn't taste coffee anymore. Here it was more a Tranquil Fury button, making it all the more unnerving.
  • Big Bad: The whole purpose of the Order of the Stick is trying to take him down.
  • Black Comedy: Just how he manages to be both the most evil character in the series and one of the funniest.
  • Boring but Practical: Big fan of Energy Drain. As he says to a hapless Dorukan:

Xykon: All you need is power, in as great a concentration as you can muster, and style. And in a pinch, style can slide. ENERGY DRAIN!

MiTD: You killed more than one guy named Fyron in Cliffport?
Xykon: Five, actually.

  • Card-Carrying Villain: He's out to be as evil as possible and thinks that anybody with standards is nothing short of a pussy.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Averted while he's toying with his opponents. If for whatever reason he gets fed up with screwing around, he plays this deadly straight.
  • Contemplative Boss: Once.
  • Contractual Genre Blindness: He's well aware of the genres of being an Evil Overlord, but goes along with it anyway because he thinks it makes it more challenging for him to win, and thus more fun.
  • Crystal Ball: Xykon's crystal ball has a wide-screen and gets picture-in-picture.
  • Dem Bones: He's a walking, talking skeleton. Occasionally Lampshaded.
  • Despotism Justifies the Means: Xykon is only interested in world domination because that's what villains are supposed to do.
  • Draco in Leather Pants: In-universe; Tsukiko seems to think he's Not Evil, Just Misunderstood sex-symbol just waiting for the right woman (who would, of course, be her) to fall in love with so he can sweep her away in his arms. Words cannot even begin to explain how misguided this belief is.
  • Emergency Transformation: He undergoes the tranformation to lichdom willingly, because Lirian inflicts him with a magical disease which saps his spellcasting power while he remains alive.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Subverted in the prequel comic. When Redcloak approached with the possibility of becoming a Lich so they could break out of Lirian's prison, he tells Redcloak that for all his horrible actions in life, he could never stoop to that level of depravity. Five seconds later, Xykon admits he was just screwing with Redcloak. At the end of the comic, he pretty much states that having standards is for pussies. See also Pragmatic Villainy.
  • Eviler Than Thou: Start of Darkness ends up as something of a struggle between Redcloak and Xykon over who's the Big Bad and who's The Dragon. Xykon was the dragon while alive, but once Redcloak gives him lichdom, things change: Xykon overpowers him, outmaneuvers him, forces/tricks him into killing his own brother, and tops it off with a speech whose end is that trope's current page quote. Since Redcloak never told him that the gate ritual doesn't work the way he advertised, however, he's had a piece of leverage Xykon is unaware of all along.
  • Evil Is Petty: In addition to the various horrific atrocities he's racked up, Xykon is also quite simply a complete prick. Invoked intentionally by the author; not only is it funny, but it's also an attempt to prevent the fact that he's also very charming and charismatic let people forget that he's a very bad guy, since he's clearly evil in big, apocalyptic "E" and little, petty "e" fashions alike.
  • Evil Is Stylish: But in a pinch, style can slide.
  • Evil Laugh: Averted. He decided to opt out of it because he can't do this decently without actual lungs.
  • Evil Old Folks: Before becoming undead. Reminiscent of the Badass Grandpa when you consider that Xykon has no problem killing, maiming, or traumatizing anyone he meets, and yet the good guys never stopped him from racking up 80 years of age before his transformation.
  • Evil Overlord
  • Evil Plan: Getting control over the Gates and use the threat of the Snarl to take over the world.
  • Evil Sorcerer
  • Excuse Me While I Multitask: "Redcloak: Check it out, I totally conducted a job interview in the middle of a battle. -- Xykon"
  • Faux Affably Evil: Xykon is not only totally evil, but a complete tool, lording his power over all and continually acting like a massive prick. But he's also got boatloads of style and is funny as hell.
  • Finger-Poke of Doom: He often makes his spellcasting look like that. Also literally: he's a big fan of the spell Finger of Death. Plus, his paralyzing touch.
  • Flight: With the Overland Flight spell.
  • Flipping the Bird: "Oh look, I regrew a finger. Guess which one."
  • For the Evulz: Honestly, this seems to be Xykon's main motivation. Sure, he wants to Take Over the World, but that seems to be more like a long-term goal. In the here and now, he just wants you to suffer for his own amusement. Since he is pretty much immortal, he has a rather long time to take over the world, so why rush when you can plan everything out and make sure it works? Not like he has a set schedule or anything.
  • From a Single Cell: Xykon, as long as his phylactery is intact, can regenerate from nothing but his soul. (This is standard Dungeons & Dragons behavior for liches.)
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: Started off as just a Creepy Child with sorcerous powers in an "one-horse town" over a hundred years before the start of the series. Is now the prime threat to the continued existence of the planet.
  • Genius Ditz
  • Glowing Eyelights of Undeath: Xykon's are red.
  • Gone Horribly Wrong: One of Redcloak's hopes in turning Xykon into a lich was an attempt to gain additional leverage on him. It backfired and left him with less. But he seems to be coping with it.
  • Grammar Nazi: And not just about his name.

Tsukiko: We need a new Head Executioner, you know. Xykon killed the last one for spelling "guillotine" wrong on his daily reports.

  • Hilarity Ensues: Though he likes to say this, he's usually the only one laughing.
  • Immortal Immaturity: He's basically that creepy kid who amuses himself by tearing the wings off of flies and burning ants with a magnifying glass... except in the body of a 100-year-old skeleton.
  • Immortality Inducer / Soul Jar: His phylactery, which happens to be Redcloak's (un)holy symbol.
  • I Need You Stronger: To Roy, during the Battle of Azure City.
  • Jerkass: Not content with being evil on a truly grandiose scale, Xykon is also an unbelievable dick.
  • Kick the Dog: Xykon has a habit of torturing or killing people just because he's bored.
  • Large Ham / Evil Is Hammy: Xykon just loves his dramatic flairs.
  • Laughably Evil: Xykon gets some of the best lines and great comedic moments, which despite making him very entertaining does not detract from the very real and horrifically evil threat he presents.
  • Let's Get Dangerous: A rare villainous example. Xykon seems very like any other crazed megalomaniac, who doesn't understand tactics and is in it all For the Evulz. And then he gets serious.
  • Must Have Caffeine: He was incredibly fond of coffee when he was living. He actually had a speech on why he liked bad coffee. When he became a lich and thus unable to taste, this left him with the suffering of others as the only thing he could enjoy.
  • My Name Is Not Durwood: He thinks Roy's name is Bluepommel, Redblade, or Orangescabbard, when he can remember who he is at all.
  • Neck Lift: He's done it when pissed off (notably, to Vaarsuvius and Jirix). And don't try to change the subject with trivial concerns, like breathing.
  • Necromancer: It's his forte; in fact, the very first spell he cast (at four years old) was necromantic. Though he also uses Evocation spells and others as the situation requires.
  • Nice Hat: He considers his crown this; in fact, the reason he originally killed Fyron Pucebuckle and caused the whole blood oath of vengeance business wasn't because the crown was a source of magical power, but just because it upgraded his look from "Badass", to "Really Badass". However, he's now worn the crown for so long some of his evil has rubbed off on it, causing anyone else who wears it to register as evil regardless of their actual alignment when Detect Evil is used on them.
  • The Nicknamer: He does this regularly because he rarely bothers to remember people's real names. Or just to be demeaning, which he does very well. For example, by calling Redcloak "Wrong-Eye" or "Red-Eye", to remind him of his brother Right-Eye, whom he killed.
  • Not So Harmless: Underestimating Xykon because of his laid-back attitude would be a terrible mistake. Roy's first victory over him at Dorukan's Gate was a massive stroke of luck. One arc in particular provides a perfect example of this: he delivers a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to Vaarsuvius, and then when V and O-Chul nearly destroy his phylactery, causing it to fall into the sewers, he reacts by blowing up a huge part of the tower, attempting to execute the two of them by firing a Meteor Swarm directly into their mouths, and then punishing Redcloak for the incident by refusing to let him regenerate the eye he just lost.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Xykon acts the way he does because he's got a short attention span, is much more interested in satiating his whims than indulging in long-term planning, and because he is so damn powerful that he is (justifiably) confident that no-one is really a threat to him, and therefore he is willing to let tactics slide for the sake of style. However, he is far more clever than people give him credit for.
  • Only Known by His Nickname: "Xykon" isn't his real name; he chose it because it sounded cool as a teenager after cutting every link to his family by murdering them all.
  • Orcus on His Throne: So long as he has something to entertain or occupy him, he's content to just lounge around.
  • Our Liches Are Different
  • The Paralyzer: Lich touch.
  • Pet the Dog: Subverted in Xykon's first appearance in Start of Darkness. We first see him as a four-year-old crying over his dead dog Barky; when his sorcery powers activate and resurrect Barky, he is completely overjoyed. The subversion comes when the newly zombified Barky eats a bird, which entertains the kid and makes him want to find more birds to feed to Barky.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: When he was alive, Xykon had no interest in kidnapping virgins: it's much more interesting with someone who's had experience. He was also willing to let Roy walk away from their fight, because of how obvious the level difference was, so he could do some level grinding and come back later... but of course, Roy rejected that offer.
  • Psmith Psyndrome: Don't call him "Zykon". He can tell the difference.
  • Resurrective Immortality: He can respawn if his body is destroyed as long as his phylactery is intact.
  • Screw You, Elves: His response to every arrogant wizard who belittled his intellect and his sorcerous powers (compared to their wizardry) was to kill the jackass. Culminated in a "The Reason You Suck" Speech as he took out Dorukan.
  • Seen It All
  • Self-Made Orphan: He got his career as a villain started by having the zombies of his grandmother and the parody of Professor Xavier he just killed eat his parents.
  • Sense Loss Sadness: He was already pretty bad before being turned into a lich, but he became much worse after discovering he couldn't taste coffee anymore.
  • Shut Up, Kirk: When facing off against Lirian, or the soul-spliced Vaarsuvius. And then there's how he ended his second battle with Roy after the latter delivered a World of Cardboard Speech:

Xykon: I should point out three factors that I think you failed to fully consider, though. Factor one: I can fly under my own power, thanks to the Overland Flight spell I cast this morning. Factor two: a zombie dragon that lacks a bite attack isn't especially valuable to me. Factor three: Meteor Swarm.

  • So Long, Suckers!: He very nearly gets defeated by the ghost-martyr of Soon Kim, but makes his escape as Miko intervenes.
  • Sorcerous Overlord
  • Start of Darkness: The prequel book containing his and Redcloak's is the Trope Namer.
  • Take Over the World: His end goal.
  • To the Pain: After defeating Lirian, he traps her soul inside a gem, so she won't be resurrected, and then turns her body into a zombie, knowing how much she despises undead. He later plans to make her watch an ogre eating her zombified body, to lure out Dorukan.
  • The Undead
  • Un-Equal Rites: When he was alive, people tended to insult him in two ways: referring to him as a tactically inept dimwit far more concerned with self-gratification than forethinking (which was, admittedly, somewhat accurate), or... by proclaiming that, as a sorcerer, he was naturally inferior to wizards, due to the fact he has magic "in the bone" instead of needing to study and learn in order to acquire his powers.
  • The Unfettered: Believes that along with overwhelming force, a good villain should be able to go as far as they need to go to achieve their goals, no matter how depraved.
  • Unskilled but Strong: To Xykon, all one needs are "Force in as great a concentration as you can manage, and style. And in a pinch, style can slide."
  • Unwitting Pawn: The IFCC want him to gain control of a gate, for some unspecified reason, and made their deal with Vaarsuvius as part of a Batman Gambit to "knock him out of his comfort zone". Meanwhile, it appears Redcloak has been pulling his strings for years. However, those who have read Start Of Darkness know he's a lot more cunning than people give him credit for, and has at least one known on-screen contingency for if and when Redcloak betrays him -- the Monster in the Darkness is programmed to eat Redcloak if that ever happens.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Averted. He was evil since he was around four and killed his own parents and a handicapped man (albeit a very condescending one) when he was twelve.
  • Victory Is Boring: Elements of this show up in Xykon's character, especially how he offered to give Roy a chance to level up and actually have the fight be a challenge. And imagine what might happen if he actually took over the world. Just look at the games he invented with O-Chul to keep himself entertained.
  • Villain Decay: Conspicuously averted by the author, who wrote his origin story, Start of Darkness, with the intent that the audience would not gain any sympathy for him.

Writing a story centered around your main antagonist is sort of difficult, because you risk "devillainifying" them. Yes, I just made that word up. What I mean though, is that once an audience has read all about a character's life, with all of their personal struggles and trials and tribulations and such, it's more difficult to see the character as the Big Bad. My challenge here was to tell the story of Xykon's life without making Xykon even slightly sympathetic. I mean, he's wholly and unapologetically Evil, but more to the point, he's kind of a dick.

    • Of course it's possible to feel that this has been averted so hard that it goes the other way and into making him a Villain Sue. Xykon gets his way far more often than most cackling card-carrying villains do, and even his temporary setbacks tend to lead to him gaining even more of an advantage after a brief period of eating not-so-humble pie.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Xykon loses his cool in a major way each time his phylactery is threatened. He drops what he is doing and goes into a dead rush for the darn thing if there's a chance it will be damaged, eyes wide and shouting all the way. If it is ever destroyed, we're probably going to get a shining example of a villainous breakdown in the style that only OotS can deliver.
  • Villain Protagonist: In Start of Darkness.
  • Villains Out Shopping: Xykon's caught doing this multiple times.
  • Voice of the Legion
  • We Have Reserves: See Bad Boss.
  • What Is This Thing You Call Love?: Due to being evil since childhood, Xykon never really understood any kind of intimacy outside of a purely sexual relationship.
  • When All You Have Is a Hammer: As a sorcerer, Xykon has a relatively small selection of spells, but can cast those he does know as often as he needs them (more or less), and so he goes for an approach of blasting an enemy until they are crushed under the sheer volume of his spells. This "blunt force" approach is why wizards look down on him, but Xykon sees it as a strength—his whole credo is that there is always a level of force against which no amount of skill or tactics can stand.
  • Xtreme Kool Letterz: Yes, that's why he's called "Xykon". Zs are for pussies, though.
  • You Meddling Kids: He references it in "The Diary".
  • Your Normal Is Our Taboo: Xykon refers to people sexually attracted to living humans as "disgusting biophiliacs".

Redcloak

Redcloak

(to his reflection in the mirror)
"It'll all be worth it. You'll see."

Race: Goblin
Gender: Male
Class: Cleric
Alignment: Lawful Evil

A goblin cleric with a bone to pick with human society and a sympathetic backstory. Xykon's right hand man, and the guy who keeps the evil trains running on time. He is far more organized, but not as evil, as Xykon. He is presently the supreme leader of a large army of hobgoblins and undead. He is confirmed as newly level 17 in strip #826.

Redcloak: Your city? Oh, I'm sorry, I thought someone would have told you by now. See, this is MY city now, paladin! I figure you owe me one village plus 35 years interest, so this is a good start!

  • Badass Cape: The Crimson Mantle, again.
  • Beleaguered Assistant / Hypercompetent Sidekick: More the former, in spirit anyway. If Xykon didn't have Redcloak around, the world would be a lot safer simply by virtue of Xykon being tactically stupid and having a hard time getting anything done.
  • Brutal Honesty: Instead of lying about the fact he killed Tsukiko, Redcloak outright reveals to Xykon that he murdered her, brutally.
  • Byronic Hero
  • Character Development: Went from being racist against hobgoblins and humans alike to being speciesist against humans when he realizes that he was acting more and more like Xykon (a thought that visibly terrified him). Also, following the loss of his right eye, Redcloak seems to have become more focused, actively working in order to create his goblin/hobgoblin utopia, and overall acts more collected... and deadly:

Redcloak: What I have lost in depth perception, I have gained in perspective.

  • The Chessmaster: Strips #825-830 have him crushing the Azure City Underground, recovering Xykon's phylactery, and destroying his largest rival for the position of Xykon's Dragon. He follows this up by calmly admitting he's been playing Xykon since the beginning.
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: A very good example. Unlike Xykon, he actually uses military tactics instead of relying on brute strength; he refuses to rely on classic elementals as Giant Mooks, and instead uses stronger and rarer ones; after some Character Development, he refrains from using the We Have Reserves tactic. Finally, he uses La Résistance to get his boss' Soul Jar, before ambushing them with a group of summoned devils and giving them a Total Party Kill, and simply orders one of his aforementioned elementals to kill a Paladin trying to goad him into a duel. He even points out he's not taking stupid risks any more in doing so. He also kills everyone who knows that he has possession of the phylactery to ensure the success of his Batman Gambit.
  • Dark Messiah: Serves an evil god who wishes to bring equality to the Exclusively Evil creatures.
  • Dead Little Sister: Most of his family was killed by the Sapphire Guard, and Xykon tricked him into killing his little brother, Right-Eye, to ensure his loyalty.
  • Deadpan Snarker
  • Disintegrator Ray
  • The Dragon: To Xykon, although the epic sorcerer is considerably more powerful than he is. Ironically, their relationship was reversed before Xykon became a lich, and now he's a Dragon with an Agenda. Although #830 has him claim to Tsukiko that he's still pulling Xykon's strings; he's just doing so in a very subtle, complex fashion...
  • Dragon with an Agenda: And how!
  • Even Evil Has Standards: One of the reasons that Xykon considers him a spineless wimp.
  • Eviler Than Thou: When it comes down to it, he proves to Tsukiko that he's worse than she ever could be.
  • Evil Genius
  • Exact Words: Uses this to convince Xykon that Tsukiko was planning to betray them.
  • Eyepatch of Power: After the below encounter with O-Chul. Xykon, at least, seems to approve of this development:

Xykon: I like you this way. It's like we have a grumpy pirate on the team.

  • Eye Scream: O-Chul did this to him in #655.
  • Eyes of Gold
  • Fakin' MacGuffin
  • Fantastic Racism: As a goblin, he's a victim of it by humans, who assume his people to be Exclusively Evil Neutral Evil. (Although, going by the backstory, Goblins are Always Neutral Evil by definition and cruel destiny.) He also despises humanity, which he considers not racist but speciesist, since he hates all races of humans equally (an ironic statement, given he seems to have a particular hatred of Azure City). He himself was racist against the more warlike hobgoblins until halfway through the battle of Azure City (see My God, What Have I Done?).
  • Fatal Flaw: Refusal to turn back, because otherwise, everything he's sacrificed will have been in vain.
  • Freudian Excuse
  • Foil: To Xykon, naturally.
  • From Nobody to Nightmare
  • The Goblin Behind the Lich: All that kowtowing and submissiveness to Xykon? Redcloak's just manipulating the lich in his own way by subtly guiding Xykon in the direction he wants.
  • Good Powers, Bad People: As a cleric, he can cast healing spells. Most of the time, he just does this to heal his minions (or uses reversed versions to "heal" Xykon), but later on, he puts it to an evil use in performing Cold-Blooded Torture on O-Chul, as he can heal him after each session.
  • Half Truth: When he explains why he killed Tsukiko, strictly speaking everything he says is true—it's just that he skips a few details along the way.
  • Healing Hands
  • He Knows Too Much: Crushes the Resistance by planting a goblin infiltrator, disguised as a human with a polymorph spell. When the spy manages to recover Xykon's phylactery, instead of receiving the promised reward, he is sent to his death to cover up the details behind the battle. He then did it again, with Tsukiko.
  • High Priest: As Xykon's quote at the top of the page states, Redcloak is the high priest of the Dark One.
  • Ignored Epiphany: Pride and stubbornness kept him from ending his deal with Xykon before turning Xykon into a lich, or leaving The Plan behind during Xykon's disappearance, or helping his brother take Xykon out after Right-Eye tried to show Redcloak just how out of touch Redcloak is. May be more of a delayed epiphany than an ignored one considering later events. He admitted that's he's pulling Xykon's strings and seems to be taking steps to backstab him, such as killing Tsukiko and choosing to hide the fact that he's recovered Xykon's phylactery.
  • I Lied: Slightly more verbose one from Redcloak when he tells his real plan for the Snarl.

Tsukiko: That... that doesn't help Xykon at all!!
Redcloak: Yes, I know. That's why I kept it from him from more than 30 years.

  • Immortal Immaturity: Right-Eye calls him out on a variant of this, claiming that since he hasn't aged in decades, he's basically frozen in the past and refuses to move on like he (Right-Eye) was forced to do.
  • Kick the Bitch: Hands up everyone who broke out into uncontrollable evil laughter when he took out Tsukiko.
  • Kick the Dog: Taken Up to Eleven when he slaughters the entire Azurite Resistance... minus one survivor.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Redcloak losing an eye -- and being forbidden to regenerate it -- just so he could remember his brother every time he looks at a mirror.
  • Line-of-Sight Name: To avoid Xykon blasting him for giving him a long, complicated name, he uses "Redcloak" to introduce himself to the sorcerer when they first met.
  • Manipulative Bastard: If his statement in comic #830 is true, he is this on an incredible scale.
  • Mission from the Dark One
  • Moral Myopia: Redcloak really gets angry when people try to reanimate those he cares about as undead. But he has no problem when it gets done (or indeed, doing it himself) to those he doesn't care about. Sadly, Xykon knows how to play him in such a way that he is unable to bring himself to defy it when it happens.
  • Must Make Amends: Redcloak ordered thousands of hobgoblins that he was in command of into certain death without thinking or feeling anything because of the ancient grudges between goblins and hobgoblins. After a hobgoblin saved his life during the battle, however, Redcloak reacted with horror to everything he he had done and become, and promptly led the hobgoblins to a smashing victory, even sometimes putting his own life at risk in order to save those of his men.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: This happens after a hobgoblin sacrifices his life to save Redcloak from a catapult during the battle for Azure City. At this point, he becomes significantly more considerate for his hobgoblin army and personally leads them through the attack.
  • Non-Action Guy: Sorta; aside from epic characters like Xykon, the Order of the Scribble, and possibly Tarquin he's probably the most powerful character in the story. But he is never shown engaging in physical combat even when drawn in melee by another character, relying entirely on magic despite the fact that his class has decent melee abilities.
  • Older than He Looks: The Crimson Mantle stops him from aging. He's only 50ish, but by goblin standards that's like 120, and he still looks like a teenager.
  • Only Known by His Nickname: He adopted the name of "Redcloak" after seeing Xykon kill a lizardman because of his long, hard-to-pronounce name. His real name is never given.
  • Only Sane Goblin
  • Pointy Ears
  • Pragmatic Villainy: He has leaned more and more this direction as the comic goes on, especially since he lost his eye. He doesn't rise to the bait when he's taunted, doesn't take unnecessary risks, is thorough and methodical when executing his plans, and more or less abandons his Honor Before Reason tendencies. He's clearly been reading the Evil Overlord List.
  • Rage Against the Heavens: The Plan. His Mission from the Dark One is a plan to blackmail or kill the other gods into making the goblinoid races something other than XP fodder.
  • The Reliable One: Which he lampshades, saying that while everyone else is out having fun he's making sure the trains run on time.
  • Scars Are Forever: Although clerical magic could have fixed his eye with ease, Xykon orders Redcloak to keep that particular wound as a reminder of what happens when they "sit on their lazy asses".
  • Start of Darkness: The comic book containing his and Xykon's is the Trope Namer.
  • Storm of Blades: The Blade Barrier spell.
  • The Strategist: Unfortunately for the good guys.
  • Then Let Me Be Evil
  • Throat Light: The first time he put on the Crimson Mantle, in Start of Darkness.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Redcloak was always a powerful character, ever since he took the famous Crimson Mantle, but strips #824 to #827 demonstrate that not only has he become more powerful thanks to his 17th level, he also became wiser, refusing to let Thanh duel him, for very sound reasons:

Redcloak: Stupid risks are just that: Stupid.

Redcloak: Because, let's be clear: if I tolerated your humiliating attemps to undercut my authority before, it was only because killing you would've upset the delicate puppet strings upon which "Lord Xykon" unknowingly dances. But if you're going to stand here, and tell me that you'll expose one of those strings to him? If you're going to be THAT stupid? There can only be one rational response to that.


The Monster in the Darkness

The Monster in the Darkness

"So... can I have some stew? [...] Can I get toys? [...] Can I be let out of the box?"

Race: Unknown
Gender: Male (presumably)
Class: Unknown
Alignment: True Neutral

Exactly What It Says on the Tin, a creature perpetually surrounded by darkness because Xykon wants to dramatically reveal it as his trump card. So far, that hasn't happened. He isn't actually evil and has a childlike personality, but has incredible strength and can laugh off most attacks.

MitD: Order of the Stick! Your broken corpses will taste delicious lightly seasoned with nutmeg!
MitD: Order of the Stick! I will bathe in your blood with lavender bath gel and a good loofa!

MitD: I don't wanna go! There might be something scary in there!

Xykon: Look, there's nothing in there any scarier than you are.
Redcloak: Sir, he's about as scary as musty styrofoam.
Xykon: Correction: any scarier than you SHOULD be.


Demon-Roaches

Demon-Roaches

Right-Eye: The real problem is the structural damage they do.
Redcloak: Yeah, they really rip up the walls. Especially the fourth wall.
Demon-Roach: That joke is dedicated to all you fans out there!

A group of fiendish insects who follow the villains around, making sarcastic comments and pop culture references along the way.


Tsukiko

Tsukiko

"Besides, they were the ones who threw ME into prison for being different -- for understanding that a pulse is not a prerequisite for being loved! They all got exactly what they deserved!"

Race: Human
Gender: Female
Class: Wizard (necromancer)/Cleric/Mystic Theurge
Alignment: Neutral Evil

A young mystic theurge recruited during the battle of Azure City to create undead Mooks. Her love of the undead (yes, in that way) and impressive spellcasting ability led her to become Xykon's top enforcer, much to the annoyance of Redcloak. She discovers Redcloak's deception, and is unceremoniously executed via Redcloak turning her beloved wights against her.

  • Animate Dead
  • Anti-Villain: Subverted Type II. She's on Team Evil because she was persecuted... for acts that are already evil to begin with.
  • Better Living Through Evil
  • Black Bra and Panties: She wears this under her nightie when Dark-V attacks Xykon.
  • Bullying a Dragon: Despite him being a more powerful cleric than her, she still treats Redcloak like shit, seeing him as a spineless coward squirming under Xykon's heel. Needless to say, it didn't end well for her. Also see Too Dumb to Live and Underestimating Badassery. Though Redcloak had been cultivating that image for decades.
  • Cruel and Unusual Death: Life drained completely by the wights she loved so much. And then devoured.
  • Dark Action Girl
  • Dark Chick
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Parodied. Since she thinks that death is the opposite of life and the Living Are Bastards, the undead are therefore caring and misunderstood—and Xykon will eventually grow to love her. Even the Monster in the Darkness tries to tell her that it doesn't work that way. Eventually Redcloak proves her wrong in a particularly cruel way by killing her with her own beloved minions.
  • Dark Magical Girl: She did turn against Azure City because she thinks Humans Are the Real Monsters, because she was being persecuted and because she loves Xykon. On the other hand, she thinks Humans Are the Real Monsters because she's basically insane, she was persecuted for things like reanimating corpses to have sex with them, and her love for Xykon is a sexual attraction for him, due to being an animated skeleton, that makes even Xykon feel sick to think about it.
  • Death by Irony: In two ways: First because she is drained to death and eaten by her beloved wights, and she is killed by Redcloak (who she considered a spineless wimp) using nothing more than his Command Undead class feature and a Dispel Magic to counterspell her Shout.
  • Dragon Wannabe: She thinks she has what it takes to be Xykon's Dragon. Unfortunately, the spot's already taken by Redcloak. When the two throw down, he shows her exactly how badly outclassed she is.
  • Energy Ball: She uses a number of non-core "orb" spells (Electric Orb, Fire Orb, Lesser Acid Orb, Cold Orb) in order to counter Haley's evasion skill.
  • Everything's Better with Plushies: Tsukiko sleeps with a Xykon plushy. And yes, the fans started begging for one as soon as they saw it.
  • Evil Sorceress
  • Famous Last Words: "I love you all! I love you! I love you! Why don't... you love... me?"
  • Flight
  • Fluffy Tamer:

Tsukiko: (to a newly-created undead) Hello, little one. I'm your mommy.

Belkar: Oh, and hey, Tsukiko. On behalf of all the men in the city: Thanks for wearing a short skirt while flying. You've given me a lot to think about. Heh.

Thanh: You have sold out our entire civilization to outsiders!
Tsukiko: Yeah, but at least I got a good price for it. What can I say? It was a seller's market.

  • The Red Mage: Being multiclassed to allow her to cast both divine and arcane spells gives her a wider breadth of casting ability and spellcraft knowledge than a single-classed character would have, but neither of which are at the depth a single-classed caster has.
  • Smarter Than You Look: Don't let the pigtails, her love for the undead or her Xykon doll fool you: she's dangerous. She found some creative ways to counter Haley's evasion, and unlike Xykon she discovered that Redcloak's ritual doesn't have the intended purpose that he led them to believe it had (although with some unexpected help from the MitD).

Tsukiko: I was expelled from some of the best wizard academies in the South, you know.

  • Smug Snake
  • The Starscream: Not towards Xykon, but Redcloak. In fact, her behavior sometimes may resemble the Trope Namer—despite that Redcloak is higher than her in the hierarchy, she constantly disrespects him, tries to undercut his authority and mocks him... and her attempt at taking his position backfires spectacularly. Too bad for her that Redcloak doesn't have much tolerance for betrayal.
  • Thinks Like a Romance Novel: When you think about it, she really acts like she's the heroine of one of those Twilight-esque books, where evil creatures are really Not Evil, Just Misunderstood and Xykon is this perfect guy whose heart she is destined to win at the end. Suffice to say, she's incredibly wrong about this, and finds out the hard way.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Really, Tsukiko? You really thought for one moment that Redcloak would stay idle while you crush his decades-long plan? You really thought that gloating about how you were going to usurp his place in front of him was a smart move? Really?! Sorry my girl, but you got what you deserved. Redcloak himself lampshades it:

Redcloak: Because, let's be clear: if I tolerated your humiliating attempts to undercut my authority before, it was only because killing you would've upset the delicate puppet strings upon which "Lord Xykon" unknowingly dances. But if you're going to stand here, and tell me that you'll expose one of those strings to him? If you're going to be THAT stupid? There can only be one rational response to that.

  • Underestimating Badassery: She probably thought, if nothing else, that between her wights, her ability to teleport and her huge spell selection, she could escape Redcloak before he could do anything to stop her -- which is why she spent so much time taunting Redcloak and spelling out her plans. Unfortunately, Redcloak nullified all her advantages in short order (warding his sanctum against teleportation, controlling her wights, having them grapple her, and counterspelling the few spells that she could cast while grappled) and Tsukiko soon found herself way over her head.
  • Vain Sorceress
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: She thinks she's the Mary Sue heroine of a Twilight-style supernatural romance. Oh, how wrong she is.
  • Zettai Ryouiki: Probably not an example (it's impossible to tell for sure because of the art style—though when sitting, the boots reach below the knees), but this is popular with fanarts depicting her in a more realistic style.
  • Zombie Advocate


Xykon Decoys

Xykon Decoys

MitD: How did you get them to look exactly like Xykon?
Redcloak: I didn't. They're human skeletons. I put a blue robe on them and called it a night.
Heck, I had to put those colored pendants on them just to tell them apart.

Three skeletal undead—a Death Knight, a Huecuva, and an Eye of Fear and Flame—created by Redcloak for the battle of Azure City, to sow confusion within the enemy ranks by having them look identical to Xykon.

  • Anti-Magic: The Death Knight has some serious Spell Resistance, to Vaarsuvius' great annoyance.
  • Badass: All three to different extents, but the Death Knight in particular. He cuts his way through three giant Soldiers, blasts through several normal soldiers, kills General Chang, and nearly defeats a weakened V.
  • Battle Strip: The Death Knight rips his Xykon robe, revealing his heavy armor, before charging at the breach.
  • Blood Knight: The Death Knight
  • Body Doubles: Well, Skeleton Doubles at least.
  • Dem Bones
  • Deus Ex Machina: The Death Knight getting crushed by a falling dragon head, from Vaarsuvius' viewpoint.
  • Dirty Coward: Skullsy—ahem, the "Eye of Fear and Flame".

Redcloak: I think I got a little too much "fear" and not enough "flame" on that one.

  • Fate Worse Than Death: Belkar intimidates Skullsy to serve him, and fight off Hobgoblins. Skullsy continues to do so, until Belkar mentions keeping him and using him for many different things. When he mentions a chamber pot, Skullsy snaps and says that he's finally found something worse then death, and promptly attacks them. Heley smashes him on a rock and they run from the guards that were attracted by the commotion.
  • Fearless Undead: Subverted by Skullsy, played straight by the two others.
  • Fireballs: One of Skullsy's two powers, to Belkar's delight.
  • For the Evulz: Both the Huecuva and Death Knight's main motivation.
  • Glowing Eyelights of Undeath
  • Ignored Enemy: The Huecuva being distracted from killing Hinjo by a pair of ninjas.

Huecuva: Well, you got your contract killing in my hatred of all that's good and pure!

Death Knight: Choose you doom, then, chicken-mage: Original Recipe, or Extra Crispy?

Skullsy: Stay back! I can shoot Fireballs and Fear beams out of my magical eye gems!


Hobgoblin General

Hobgoblin General

"Truly, there has never been a more impressive display of magic."

Race: Hobgoblin
Gender: Male
Class: Unknown (probably Warrior)
Alignment: Lawful Evil

The General of the hobgoblin Forces, and loyal second-in-command of Redcloak.

  • Beard of Evil
  • Deadpan Snarker: The above quote was his reaction to the underwhelming battle between the head Azure Cleric and Redcloak.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: When Miko destroys the gate, a hobgoblin reports that the General was in the Courtyard, and presumably died.
  • Evil Counterpart: To General Chang (though they never meet). Chang questions detrimental orders, while The Hobgoblin General is continuously loyal.
  • Mook Lieutenant
  • My Master, Right or Wrong: Goes along with Redcloak's careless slaughter of hobgoblins because he is the supreme leader.
  • Number Two: To Redcloak.
  • Pointy Ears
  • Undying Loyalty: To Redcloak, like all hobgoblins. Cemented when Redcloak stops wasting troops, and leads them to a smash victory.
  • The Watson: Redcloak explains his plans to the General. After his death, Jirix takes this role.


Jirix

Jirix

"Thank you, thank you. And thank you, Supreme Leader, for those kind words. I didn't mind the Resurrection spell, either."

Race: Hobgoblin
Gender: Male
Class: Cleric
Alignment: Lawful Evil

Redcloak's hobgoblin second-in-command, following the conquest of Azure City, and now Prime Minister of the newly-formed state of Gobbotopia.

Jirix: Trust me, we're a LOT safer staying right-- *POW!*
(Miko beheads him with a kick)

Roughly 200 strips later...

Jirix: XYKO-- *splurnkth!*


The Booted Wight

The Booted Wight

"...Can I have his shoes?"

Race: Wight (formerly human or goblinoid)
Alignment: Lawful Evil

Tsukiko's sidekick and the face of her undead army.


Right-Eye

Right-Eye

"You know what your problem is, Big Brother? You never seize the moment."

Race: Goblin
Gender: Male
Class: Rogue
Alignment: Neutral EvilTrue Neutral

Redcloak's younger brother and conscience. While Right-Eye only appears in the Start of Darkness prequel and doesn't live through it, he's one of the original founders of Team Evil and very important to Redcloak's backstory.

Right-Eye: Life is about growing -- growing older, growing wiser, growing closer to your loved ones. But you, you're frozen in time. You're still the same angry kid who took that artifact off of your master's corpse that day.