The Order of the Stick/Characters/The Order of The Stick: Difference between revisions

* [[Destructive Saviour|Destructive Saviours]]

* [[Good Counterpart|Good Counterparts]]: To the Linear Guild.

* [[Guys Smash Girls Shoot]]

* [[Meaningful Name]]: The above is of course in-story justification from the [[Prequel]]. The true reason for the name is, [[Captain Obvious|naturally]], that they are [[Stick Figure Comic|Stick Figures]].

* [[Player Character|Player Characters]]

A very intelligent human warrior with an ancestral sword and a serious problem with his unsupportive father ("Powerful mage, Devoted husband, Passable father"), Roy is the leader of the Order of the Stick. Deals with copious amounts of stress daily, often due to somewhat... er... [[With Friends Like These|unreliable]] teammates. Sworn to kill Xykon as part of his father's [[Blood Oath]].

 

* {{spoiler|[[Back From the Dead]]}}

* [[Badass Normal]]

* {{spoiler|[[Came Back Strong]]: Roy trained with his dead grandpa during his stay in heaven, and learned a new sword technique when he came back.}}

* [[Carry a Big Stick]]: Temporarily, while his sword was broken.

* [[Character Development]]

* [[Combat Pragmatist]]: He's willing to resort to underhanded tactics if his opponent is powerful enough that he can't win a straight fight. During his arena duel with Thog, he uses discarded crossbow bolts and a [[Grievous Bottley Harm|potion bottle]] as improvised weapons, [[A Handful for An Eye|chucks a handful of sand into Thog's face to blind him]], and finally wins by goading Thog into collapsing part of the ceiling on himself.

* [[Heroes Prefer Swords]]

* [[I Am Not My Father]]

{{quote| '''Roy:''' There's no way I'm [[Gender Bender|saying goodbye to the Trouser Titan]] just so I can fool some lame-ass assassins.<br />

'''Elan:''' [[Beat|...]] You call it the "Trouser Titan?"<br />

{{quote| '''Roy:''' You know, this bag of tricks isn't so bad once you get the hang of it.}}

* [[Made of Iron]]: Roy has a lot of hit points.

* [[Meaningful Name]]: His family got its name from the ancestral sword, which does have a green hilt.

* [[Mistaken for Special Guest]]: Roy is mistaken for the King of Nowhere when staying at an inn.

* [[Morality Chain]]: To Belkar, in a fashion. [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0748.html If Roy wasn't capable of knocking him out in one shot], Belkar would be far more difficult to control.

* [[Neck Lift]]: Favors this [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0101.html intimidation] [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0356.html method].

* [[Only Sane Employee]]

* [[Only Sane Man]]

* [[Vetinari Job Security]]: The "[[Never Split the Party|Don't Split the Party]]" arc is one long proof of this.

* [[Weapon of Choice]]: The Greenhilt family greatsword. He used a large wooden club for a while when his sword was broken.

* [[Won't Take Yes for An Answer]]: Roy does this at least twice.

** During his [[You All Meet in An Inn|tavern recruitment]] of the party in ''On the Origin of PCs'', after meeting with a refusal from some thirty adventurers, Roy begins to thank Haley for listening and saying that he understands, before realizing she just accepted to join.

* [[Redheaded Hero|Red-Headed Heroine]]

* [[Refuge in Audacity]]: She steals two of Belkar's potions to heal Elan. When Belkar accuses her, she [[Crazy Awesome|guilt trips]] him about being prejudiced.

* [[Shouldn't You Stop Stealing]]

* [[Single Woman Seeks Good Man]]: Her love for Elan, as she [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0772.html explains to her father].

* [[Sticks to The Back]]: Her bow.

* [[Street Smart]]

* [[Time to Step Up Commander]]: After Roy's death.

* [[Trick Arrow]]: After getting an Icy Burst Bow.

* [[Genius Ditz]]: Primarily due to being [[Genre Savvy]], but also often because he's just that good a guy.

* [[Genre Savvy]]: Although he's been [[Wrong Genre Savvy|mistaken]] sometimes. Also occasionally suffers from [[Contractual Genre Blindness]], as [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] and, in the process, [[Subverted Trope|subverted]] (when it gives Nale a headache) [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0793.html here].

* [[Good Counterpart]]: To his own brother {{spoiler|and father}}.

* [[Go Ye Heroes Go and Die]]: His rousing speech prior to the Battle of Azure City.

* [[Heroes Want Redheads]]

* [[Hero With an F In Good]]: Sometimes because he's [[The Ditz]] (to the point at which Roy briefly abandons him to his fate) and sometimes because he's ''too'' [[Genre Savvy]].

* [[Idiot Ball]]

* [[Idiot Hero]]

* [[Informed Attractiveness]]: He's a stick figure character that doesn't look much different than any other, and yet has multiple girls flirting with him.

* [[Insane Troll Logic]]: See [[Invisible Streaker]] below.

* [[Invisible Streaker]]: Attempted inverted invocation. Elan tries to be this when he thinks that because wearing heavy armor makes you less stealthy, wearing less armor will make you stealthier and [[Naked People Are Funny|being naked will make you invisible]].

* [[Its the Best Whatever Ever]]: Elan has a habit of saying this, usually shortly before the other shoe drops.

* [[Naked People Are Funny]]: "I'm invisible!"

* [[Nice Guy]]

* [[Noble Shoplifter]]: Elan does this to get a new lute while fleeing Azure City. Earlier, after escaping the Cliffport prison, he leaves a word of excuse in the clothes shop he's stealing from.

* [[Odd Friendship]]: He gets along well with Thog.

* [[Took a Level In Badass]]: A quite literal example of this trope. Dashing Swordsman hugely improved his effectiveness because its power is based on his high charisma.

* [[Wandering Minstrel]]: He's a bard; his understanding of [[Tropes|fictional devices]] is part of what gives him power.

* [[What Would X Do]]: When forced to think for himself, his default tactic seems to be "work out what Roy would say".

* [[With Catlike Tread]]: Elan has been known to foil the party's attempts at stealth in this manner, such as when he '''[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0090.html ROLLED A 4!]''' on his Move Silently check, and when Haley had to remind him that singing to encourage his companions to move silently across the battlefield would be counterproductive.

* [[Ambiguously Gay]]: Kyrie's gender is as unclear as V's and their children are adopted, and {{spoiler|the background to V's transformation includes a pink triangle.}} No word on whether ''that'' was intentional. Approached at a convention on the subject, [[Word of God|Word of the Giant]] was that Vaarsuvius' sexual orientation is {{spoiler|not going to be revealed prior to V's gender.}}

* [[And That Would Be Wrong]]: [[Trope Namer]]. Namely, blowing people up over social problems.

* [[The Atoner]]: After {{spoiler|the incident with the fiends and Xykon. And again, after learning that the Familicide spell he used to kill the black dragons has wiped out the Draketooths.}}

* [[Awesome but Impractical]]: V is a specialist Evoker who is denied access to Conjuration and Necromancy magic. This gives him/her access to the best destruction spells, but most ''D&D'' players would say this is one of the worst ways to play a wizard.

* [[Functional Magic]]

* [[Glass Cannon]]

* [[Hearing Voices]]: {{spoiler|On finishing the soul splice, Vaarsuvius' three "subcontractors" talk a lot amongst themselves and can be heard quite audibly. It's later revealed that they had as much influence over V's actions alignment-wise as cheerleaders.}}

* [[Heroic BSOD]]

** V has a bigger one when on realizing {{spoiler|the actual effects of the Familicide spell:not only did V kill all black dragons directly related to the ancient black dragon the spell was initially cast on, but also the entire Draketooth family, who descended from a black dragon, and everybody who the Draketooths had children with, and their families....}}

{{quote| '''Vaarsuvius:''' ''(curled on the floor)'' My fault. I am the cause. It sprang from my brow.}}

* [[Idiot Ball]]

** {{spoiler|V got slammed with it in the epic battle versus Xykon, despite having had more than enough sheer power on hand to win if the battle had been fought in an even halfway intelligent manner. [[Justified Trope]] due to V's overwhelming power trip and arrogance.}}

* [[Loves the Sound of Screaming]]: But only the screams of people that are really hated. For example, {{spoiler|forcing the Linear Guild's third kobold Yukyuk to serve as Mr. Scruffy's litter box while he is under mind control, and is very much aware of what's going on; V, as the one controlling him, is the only one who can hear his screams.}}

{{quote| '''Vaarsuvius:''' [[And I Must Scream|His silent screams]] are a symphony I cannot share.}}

* [[Mama Bear]] or [[Papa Wolf]]: Whatever V's gender is, you do not mess with V's kids.

* [[Mass Teleportation]]: [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0643.html "Epic Teleport!"]

* [[Morphic Resonance]]

* [[Murder Is the Best Solution]]

* [[My Greatest Failure]]

** Vaarsuvius is distraught over not having had enough power to win the battle at Azure City (though the wall would've fallen much earlier without V's aid), and failing to overcome the Cloister spell (though the elf very nearly ''succeeded'' with the bird-messengers, if not for a freak incident that was no fault of anyone).

{{quote| '''Vaarsuvius:''' I have a plan.<br />

'''Blackwing:''' Does it involve selling your soul? }}

* [[No Time to Explain]]:

{{quote| '''Vaarsuvius:''' Time is at a premium, precluding extended discussion.}}

* [[Pride]]

* [[Pronoun Trouble]]: For everybody else.

* [[Right Place Right Time Wrong Reason]]

* [[Ring of Power]]: [[Amplifier Artifact|A Ring of Wizardry]], pried from Xykon's charred fingerbone.

{{quote| '''Vaarsuvius:''' Actually, now just [six seconds]. I was being particularly verbose just there.}}

* [[Shock and Awe]]: Lightning spells are amongst Vaarsuvius's favorites.

* [[Sophisticated As Hell]]:

{{quote| '''Vaarsuvius:''' [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0800.html I may be in error, but I believe the appropriate proclamation is, "Sneak Attack, bitch."]}}

* [[Weapon of Choice]]: Spells. Prefers Fireball, Lightning Bolt/[[Chain Lightning]], Disintegrate and Prismatic Spray as attack spells. Also, {{spoiler|Explosive Runes -- *BOOM*}}

* [[What You Are in The Dark]]

** V's {{spoiler|rescue of O-Chul qualifies.}} V is heavily injured, nearly out of spells, and completely out of the league, against {{spoiler|Xykon, an Epic-level sorcerer and the [[Big Bad]].}} V turns invisible and means to escape through a hole in the wall, one Feather Fall away from safety... Nobody could possibly know or blame V for escaping in that situation, but V instead chooses to {{spoiler|go back and help O-Chul instead, rather than abandoning yet another person to their death.}} It is a very poignant and touching moment of partial redemption after everything V had done.

* [[When All You Have Is a Hammer]]: The way V's been using magic since the beginning. Trying to break the habit in the latest arc, with difficulties. {{spoiler|And could be said to have succeeded, if [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0800.html "Right Tool for the Job"] is anything to go by.}}

* [[Abstract Scale]]: His evil is mesured in KiloNazis.

* [[Alliterative Name]]

* [[Ass Shove]]: Implied.

{{quote| '''Belkar:''' But speaking hypothetically, if I had managed to conceal a Ring of Jumping someplace on my body that I was reasonably certain no one would search...}}

* [[Devil in Plain Sight]]

* [[Does Not Like Shoes]]: Like all halflings.

* [[Dump Stat]]: Wisdom

** So much so that that in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0058.html this early strip], when V buffs Belkar's Wisdom to enable him to use a healing scroll it completely changes Belkar's personality and life goals! Of course that would not only make Belkar less funny, but also less useful in a fight, so [[Status Quo Is God]]...

* [[Gay Bravado]]: Is "confident enough in his sexuality" that he can make come-ons at Roy to [[Squick]] the latter out.

* [[Geas]]: The Mark of Justice. {{spoiler|He breaks it half by accident: he kills the Oracle of Sunken Valley, but the Oracle had gotten just enough kobolds to move into the area to technically constitute a settlement.}}

{{quote| '''Angel:''' ''(twitching)'' ...and he kept stabbing them, again and again... He's a halfling, he's supposed to be jolly... Why isn't he jolly? '''WHY ISN'T HE JOLLY???'''}}

* [[Halfling]]: Of course, he subverts every expectation of the race.

* [[The Nose Knows]]: "Halfling sense activated!"

* [[Odd Friendship]]: Any actual ''friendship'' would be odd, but he really seems to care about Mr. Scruffy.

* [[OOC Is Serious Business]]: Yet another way he will screw with people's minds.

** [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0141.html "Horse Sense"]

** There was also the time {{spoiler|when he saved the two reptilian bounty hunters by releasing a huge freaking dinosaur to distract the soldiers trying to kill them. It's even pointed out that he could have just waited for the soldiers to kill them before letting loose the ''Allosaurus'', since a bunch of dead guards, on their own, would have been funny. Dead mercenaries that he hated '''and''' eaten guards? Hilarious in his eyes. Though [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0807.html this strip] reveals that he helped them ''because'' it reminded him of his relationship with Mr Scruffy}}

** It's never a good idea to point out ''either'' of these incidents, however. Or your world will become pain.

* [[Real Men Wear Pink]]: He has ranks in gourmet cooking, he knows the score to "Meet Me in St. Louis" and his best friend is a small, white housecat.

* [[Restraining Bolt]]: The Mark of Justice. It works even better than Roy's threats of bodily harm. {{spoiler|Kept him locked down for a while. It's been removed.}}

* [[Ring of Power]]: A Ring of Jumping +20; he puts it to very good use.

{{quote| '''Belkar:''' A magic item that can allow me to rain death from above on my enemies AND lets me reach stuff on the top shelf? Done.}}

* [[Sixth Ranger]]

* [[Snarky Non Human Sidekick]]

* [[They Have the Scent]]: Belkar tracks the way through the Windy Canyon by scent.

* [[Token Evil Teammate]]

* [[Unusual Euphemism|Unusual Euphemisms]]: He spouts ''D&D''-based euphemisms and innuendo regularly.

{{quote| '''Belkar:''' Hey, Sweet Thing, wanna hold my Rod of Lordly Might? If you press the right button, it might extend!}}

* [[Weapon of Choice]]: A warhammer and shield. Though he also uses cleric spells quite often.

* [[What Would X Do|What Would Thor Do?]]: In practice, not as applicable as one might hope.

* [[Will Not Tell a Lie]]: Though he bent the truth once or twice by using [[Exact Words]] when benefiting the rest of the order.

{{quote| '''Durkon:''' I count "able to be picked by a rogue" as a pretty major defect, aye?}}

* [[Intellectual Animal]]: Once acknowledged as such.

* [[Morality Chain]]: Offers guidance to Vaarsuvius to try and avoid a repeat of his past transgressions. It must be effective on some level, as {{spoiler|Qarr's immediate priority on crossing paths with the Order again is to try and get Blackwing out of the way.}}

* [[Parrot Pet Position]]

* [[Psychic Link]]: With Vaarsuvius.

{{quote| '''Blackwing:''' Now that you feel my pain, the healing can begin.}}

* [[Sarcastic Devotee]]

* [[Talking Animal]]: A trait for raven familiars, though before he refused to talk in anything but his native raven given V's mistreatment of him, and therefore only communicated in caws and through V's empathic link.

 

* [[Cats Are Mean]]: Not originally. [[Sarcasm Mode|Thanks, Belkar.]]

* [[Cute Kitten]]

* [[Good Counterpart]]: To Sir Scraggly.

* [[Head Pet]]: To Yukyuk, while the latter is dominated.

* [[Loyal Animal Companion]]

* [[Morality Pet]]: For Belkar... though he's still [[Chaotic Evil]], only a little bit less so.

* [[Team Pet]]

* [[Timmy in A Well]]: [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0732.html "The Papers Chase"]

[[Category:The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)/Characters]]

[[Category:The Order Of The Stick The Order Of The Stick]]