The Order of the Stick/WMG: Difference between revisions

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== The MiTD is the Snarl's creation. ==

== Vaarsuvius is a Eunuch ==

* Because I haven't seen many people bring this up, because it would justify the necessity for adopting children without making him gay, and because it would not necessarily ''not'' make him gay (very male-looking mate much?). It would also explain why Haley has no trouble rooming with V (as someone who was raised in the streets and mistrusts everyone and thinks the worst of people often) and why (while it's stated that V is not a virgin) V isn't particularly lusty, especially when compared to every other member of the order.

 

== Durkon will return to his homelands...undead. ==

* Notice how the oracle said that Durkon would return to his homelands posthumously, and that there's another prophecy saying that Durkon would bring death and destruction to its people...suffice to say it would make both prophecies come true at once...

 

== Sabine is the embodiment of the darkness in Haley's soul. ==

== Nale and Sabine will merge together and go one-winged angel. ==

Possibly the IFCC will have something to do with it.

 

== The real Thog will show up during the battle for Girard's Gate. ==

It makes sense considering Tarquin's now impersonating him...

 

== When Durkon dies, his last thoughts will be of Hilgya. ==

== the snarl is one of the nine forces ==

* It hates everyone, it has been shown to be an omicidal manic (or a beast, we don't know how smart it is.) it was suggested that there being more then one gate intact has stopped it noticing the riffts, so when the last gate is being fought for, it will be happily trying to to kill everyone too!

== Belkar really IS a (sexy and shoeless) god of war ==

* Belkar could be a god who is forcibly bound as a mortal ( a little tryst between a war god and a random halfling goddess of fertility and lead sheets, then a little messup involving a nasty bet which the other guy won), which explains why Belkar wanted Miko to kill him, thus freeing him to have fun eternally partying/excessively discovering ways to kill regenerating immortals. He would have been a good target to have him die at some point and have some terrible (or not) punishment in the Chaotic Evil afterlife (with multiple kilonazis of evil, why wouldn't he get the bad ending) after Roy's afterlife plotline. Belkar also has two devils, a slaad, and formerly an angel as his shoulder advisors, with the angel, after going insane, flutters off to heaven and is immediately put into Intensive Care, which other than the comedy value This Troper doesn't see why it couldn't have just been "We're imaginary. He'll be fine." as with Haley's personality people. Those could have been created as a last-second manifestation of Belkar's deityhood which stuck around. He seems to be a little suicidal (Is charging into a huge army of hobgoblins good for your health? I thought not.) as he has a war-god passion for killing now that he can't party and drink tons of Immortal's Epic-Level Beer. He won't just stab himself with a knife and get it over with as he's having a LITTLE fun and it's likely just commiting suicide will reincarnate him at the next available opportunity. The Oracle's prediction is either going to be true (Belkar dies and gets time off before he is dragged back to the mortal plane from wherever he goes next via resurrection) or the Oracle just thinks birthday cakes are tasty and Belkar's IRA isn't going to end well (A little too much world-ending might drive an accountant insane deciding what is likely to not be collateral damage when one or an other party is epic-final-battling and Belkar's IRA is ruined after a government change with halflings) and he finds a reason not to breathe or breathes just before the year ends. Or he WILL die and be resurrected before an afterlife plotline can go into effect.

== Nale will get to meet his mother. ==

It makes sense considering Elan already got to meet his father...

 

== Both Durkon and Belkar will die soon ==

They will then both have an afterlife adventure together.

 

== Team Evil will capture a gate, but not know where to go from there. ==

Redcloak claims that goblins and the other monster races were created for the sole reason of rinding XP for the hero races. But then we have Kobolds and Lizardmen who have deific patrons (and the Kobold's deific patron is Tiamat, one of the original deities), which makes me wonder if the Dark One is conveniently ignoring things like, say, human bandits and roleplaying as sources of XP.

* Depends on your house rules as to whether "Good Acting" applies. Besides, it's not saying that the monster races are the only source of XP—just that the only reason they EXIST is as one of the many sources of XP.

** I kinda get the whole ''[[The Matrix|Animatrix]]'' "Second Renaissance" vibe where, despite being presented as fact, it just sounds too... propagandized, to really seem true. There's probably a good deal of truth, but a lot was exaggerated, and some details omitted.

* To This Troper, the Dark One HAS to be evil- because the only thing that justifies fantasy heroes killing their enemies is when they are evil (or mindless.) To think that Redcloak's story is true and humans just started killing goblins for its sake is taking morality issues a little too far (especially for a humorous strip.) In the early D&D editions, it was made clear that monsters CANNOT change their alignment, unlike humans and demihumans; goblins are just born evil and are always evil, which justifies killing them off. I dunno if this applies to the current edition, but it should. Sure, there can be rare exceptions (just as there monster mutations) so heroes cannot have to be careful, but in general, goblins deserve to die; the XP they give is inconsequential.

== Belkar will turn into a WOMAN. ==

Note the lines the Kobold uses to avoid stating that Belkar will die: That he should savor HIS next birthday cake. That HE's not long for this world. That Belkar will draw HIS last breath before the end of the year. Turning into a woman (a new Girdle, perhaps?) would not only be a useful workaround to him dying (which almost every other assumed workaround requires), but would likely also serve to make Belkar(ina?) ever more pissed off. This said, like he needs to be any scarier...

** Um, no. The Order of the Scribble was composed of four males and two females.

** So, if V is male and Belkar turns into a woman, the adventuring parties will match.

 

== Belkar will turn into a God. ==

 

== Redcloak is, or will eventually become, [[The Starscream]] ==

* Unlikely, given the prequel comic.

* I think Tsukikko is a more likely contender for [[The Starscream]] position.

 

== Guessing at Vaarsuvius' alignment. ==

I'd guess he's Lawful Neutral. He passed Miko's Detect Evil spell back near the beginning, and he REALLY seems to be Lawful, but also a bit amoral. I really doubt he's Good, so he's probably Neutral.

* Never mind, [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0206.html True Neutral]

* Their reunion won't be as easy as just paying for his release, that's almost a given.

* Looks increasingly likely, given what we've learned about Tyrinaria recently...

 

* [[Knights of the Dinner Table|Order Of The Stick world?!]]

* [[Munchkin (game)|Each of them must face the gazebo alone]].

-I... guess he could be a particularly ugly gazebo? Although technically speaking, the gazebo's never actually described in the story beyond its dimensions, color, and the pointiness of its top. So I guess one could argue the gazebo's horrific appearance.

-The description states that the PC "awakened" the gazebo, implying that it was sleeping. Perhaps it had recently used one of its mighty and tiring abilities!|I'm bored and feel like justifying something completely silly!}}

== V is hiding something. ==

Based entirely on the look on his/her/its face in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0328.html this comic.]

Before escaping Azure City, Nale became interested in the Gates. Nale's a pretty smart guy, and must realize that a team of six villains wouldn't stand a chance against Xykon's army if it ever came down to it. We also know Nale resents his father. Knowing the way Nale holds onto grudges, what better way to totally humiliate his father than by taking control of the warlord's troops, either by trickery or force? He could even pick three more Linear Guild members from any [[Elite Mooks]] that happen to be in the army, and have the rest as cannon fodder ready to march at a moment's notice.

* Quite possible. Right now (strip 795) Nale is back at his father's empire. While he already has new members for his Linear Guild (Durkon's opposite hasn't appeared yet though, but there's no way Nale is back without a full Guild) I think Nale will take control of the empire thwarting his father's plan of living like a god or living as a legend, because Tarquin right now thinks Nale is dead and he expects Elan to be the one defeating him, if he is ever defeated. That would be a great [[Plot Twist]] for the comic, and this way there would be someone capable of fighting Xykon's troops. Then both armies would be mutually destroyed, leaving the Order with chances of defeating the Guild and Xykon.

 

== The Shojo in Belkar's hallucination wasn't actually a hallucination - it was Shojo himself. ==

 

== The whole party is controlled by giant space cats, and Xykon is from modern Earth. ==

 

== Redcloak (and maybe the rest of Xykon's crew) will visit the Oracle for information on the next gate. ==

 

== Julia (Roy's sister) will get married to Redcloak ==

* Possibly a reason for Redcloak to resurrect Roy, as mentioned above?

 

 

== After having his epiphany, Belkar is now [[Neutral Evil]]. ==

* Nah, he's still Chaotic Evil, but he's faking Ethical Neutrality.

** He's chaotic evil, up from chaotic stupid.

* I hope the author is planning to give him SOME character development, because as the unrepentant evil bastard he is now I can't stand him (I don't even read his word balloons anymore.) Hopefully his "fake" conversion will lead to real changes. It can be done well. See: [[My Name Is Earl]].

 

== V and Haley really were physically involved. ==

 

== Elan is going to have to find a prestige class that lets him keep his bardic abilities no matter what his alignment. ==

== Vaarsuvius and Inkyrius are ''not'' both "married" and of the opposite sex. ==

It will turn out that they adopted the last surviving members of their family, and may be as much as fraternal twins. [[Twincest]] and/or [[Ho Yay]] may ensue, but it is more likely that they are [[Heterosexual Life Partners]] or the one-sided version of [[Romantic Two-Girl Friendship]] (the second sentence assuming neither explicitly used the word "spouse" in common).

 

== Thog and Therkla are brother and sister. ==

[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Exactly what it says.]] The Oracle foretold Belkar's death and is wrong. His prophecies have been correct so far, but when Belkar's moment of truth comes, he lives, if for no other reason than to spite the Oracle. After all, it's been taken for granted that the [[You Can't Fight Fate|Oracle is always right]]. It would be the perfect subversion for the Oracle's foreshadowing and predictions to be right until the very end. And really, what could be more inspiring than Belkar living past the end of the year and [[Screw Destiny|flipping the bird to fate]], just in time for the final showdown?

* At least not until New Year's eve. Thirty years from now. The "not long for this world" stuff was off the record, and "Belkar will draw his last breath -ever- before the end of the year". Everything implying that he would die ''this'' year, including the in-comic time comment, was off the record. The Oracle may have been guessing that he would die from the curse mark, and the prophecy was as ambiguous to him as it was to Roy. (Alternately, it could even be a definition of the word "year", possibly a title for a living being, but I digress.)

** It's worth noting that Roy remembers the entire conversation (not just the prophecy) and that he didn't put that to any immediate use. Meaning some incidental comment the Oracle made (or some other detail of the scene) may come up as important later, when Belkar's prophesied number is up.

* Two words: ioun stone. Among the ridiculous amount of other things they can potentially do, there are a number of types (particularly the Sustenence stone) that eliminate the user's need for air. Belkar will simply come into one of these and, without the need to do so, never bother himself with breathing again.

 

== [http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Elan Elan] has a [[Meaningful Name]]. ==

** The first can't work, Elan gives his skill points/level as an amount that would need the human bonus points to get.

 

== Vaarsuvius is [[8-Bit Theater|Thief's]] grandma/pa ==

I know that The Giant will probably never confirm/deny it, but dangit, -ius is a masculine ending.

* In some languages; maybe not in others (especially fictional ones). For example, in Spanish and Italian, "-o" is a masculine ending (as in the names Mario and Diego); however, some feminine Greek names end in "-o" (such as Hero or Calypso). My guess is that ''both'' V and Inkyrius are ''neither'' male nor female.

** And yet there are no other females with masculine-sounding names, or vice versa, regardless of race. I really think that if The Giant had intended on making V's gender ambiguous from the start, he would have given him a more androgynous name.

*** However, if memory serves The Giant ''didn't'' intend V's gender to be ambiguous from the start.

* Gender=Female ([[Tertiary Sexual Characteristics|Pi]][[Pink Girl, Blue Boy|nk]]. Though color is determined by race for dragons, pink isn't, as far as this troper knows, a dragon color.)

** However, in some editions there are rules for draconic crossbreeds, so it could be a red/white hybrid.

** The pink color of the dragon simply fits with V's magical aura. Every caster so far has displayed a color to their spells (except for Tsukiko, who being both a divine and arcane caster, has two colors depending on which type of spell she's casting), and V's color is pink. Whether that [[Pink Girl, Blue Boy|means anything]], who knows, but [[Word of God]] says we'll never be dolt V's actual gender.

 

** This is quite possible, as every single depiction of the snarl has been second hand in a crayon drawing- Xykon was destroyed by the rune preventing entry to the rift, not the rift itself. As such, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that both the bearers of the crimson mantle and the rest of the cast have been deliberately misled.

 

 

== The Eastern Gods didn't die. ==

* Crystal isn't an [[Evil Counterpart]], though. She's [[The Rival]]. Aside from being in the same Thieves' Guild as Haley, the two don't have much in common.

 

>_> <_<

* That's a 403.

== Minister Malack is a vegetarian/vegan. ==

He's deathly pale and apparently has a "special diet". No one else knows he is, possibly since not eating meat is a horrid taboo in traditional lizardfolk society. Not to mention, a character that seems to be a vampire (as some WMGs have claimed) turning out to just be a vegetarian fits perfectly with the comic's [[Rule of Funny]] rules.

 

== Redcloak will reveal his backstory in an attempt to get sympathy points... ==

* When has Thog acted lawful? And also, don't forget "yay, resisting arrest is fun!" as well as hacking to death several hundred people within city limits.

** I figured "lawful" was the best term for someone who looks for a leader (usually Nale, in his case) and follows that leader's orders without thinking for himself. I guess you could call that [[Neutral Evil]] with pathetically low Charisma—I'm a bit confused about the alignments at this point.

{{quote|'''Rich Burlew:''' First, remember that alignment is a guide, not a strait-jacket. Not even for NPCs. Evil characters can love, good characters can hate.}}

 

== Girard is a dragon that assumes human form. ==

The 3.5 fluff makes it pretty clear dragons often do this for shits and giggles, plus ''Drake''tooth?

 

== Shojo is attempting to change Belkar's fate. ==

 

== The Other Planet is [[Eberron]]. ==

* Someone has to get beat by Loli Pope.

 

* There are no players. What else could it mean?

** My interpretation was that PCs were individuals with killing skills far beyond normal people—in our terms, people capable of taking combat-oriented classes like "Fighter" or "Sorceror" rather than NPC ones like "Aristocrat." Basically, they're [[Graceling]]s. (Also of note is that whatever it is, it's apparently hereditary.)

 

== Ian Starshine is Malachar. ==

 

== Pompey is the son of Dorukan and Lirian ==

== Malack is actually female. ==

In [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0764.html this strip], Malack's discussion of pursuing a mate/having more children suggests two interpretations. On one hand, the obvious explanation is that Malack is male and lost his wife at some point before Nale murdered his children. On the other hand, the having a mate and having children might not be directly connected. It's possible that Malack is something like a [http://www.nerve.com/content/the-science-of-sex-lesbian-lizards lesbian lizard]- reproducing through parthenogenesis, but still engaging in mating behavior similar to that of a typical lizard. The comic has followed lizard biology before, so this wouldn't be too surprising. It would also work for narrative purposes, as it makes Malack a perfect [[Evil Counterpart]] to the [[Ambiguous Gender|ambiguously gendered]] V.

 

== Tarquin and Julio Scoundrel have fought before, and will fight again by the end of the current arc. ==

 

== Vaarsuvius and the rest of the elves are a genderless species. ==

* What about Pompey?

** He might have 'inherited' a gender from his human parent.

 

== The reason why Vaarsuvius is referred to as V instead of an "it". ==

 

== Ian's theory in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0771.html strip 771] is correct ==

== Durkon's parents were/are hippies. ==

So, every other Order member whose parents have been shown in the comic has a problematic relationship with them. In Durkon's case, it could mean that similarly with Ned Flanders on the [[The Simpsons]], his parents were ultra-laid back, and as a result, he overcompensated and became ultra-lawful and straitlaced.

 

== Tarquin will be killed offhandedly by someone besides Elan. ==

There are several ways that the story of the snarl could be wrong. We only know about the Snarl from two seperate stories (told by Redcloak as revealed to him by The Dark One and told by Lord Shojo as revealed to him by Soon). Both The Dark One and (maybe) Soon got the story of the Snarl's creation from the Gods. This means that one of the following could be true:

 

 

B) The Dark One/Soon lied. They could have learned the real truth and been so horrified that they told an incomplete or inaccurate version to their followers. In The Dark One's case, this could be part of an evil plan that he thought his high priest wouldn't like, and in Soon's case it could be part of some promise he made with the other members of his party to not tell the truth (and who knows, maybe the Dark One told the Order of the Scribble this version of the story, and they believed it). We already know that Soon and the others promised to not tell people about the gate, which seems to contradict that Lord Shojo knows the story.

* Probably after {{spoiler|they find the Gate. "Malack, our business has concluded."}}

* This betrayal is so inevitable it barely counts as a Wild Mass Guess.

 

== The [[Final Battle]] will end up being a massive [[Melee a Trois]] ==

The last time the oracle said anything about his fate, he'd only just activated the Mark of Justice, and had yet to start his development. Now that he has, the future events have changed, but the oracle hasn't shown up to say anything about it. Before, he would have reached a point where he was left for dead because he was seen as too evil to bother rescuing. Now, however, his development, fake or not, will convince someone he's at the very least redeemable, and so avert the prophecy. Note the passcode required to remove Belkar's Mark of Justice: "Evolve or Die", which in the context of the dream/hallucination/ghost Shojo's comments could easily mean 'Develop your character or get killed off.'

 

Think about this one for a minute. It's constantly surrounded by undead, it has a childlike disposition, absurd powers for its size, and is supposed to be utterly terrifying. What could be more terrifying than an undead god fetus?

 

 

== The corpse was telling the truth. ==

 

* This troper bets 10gp that you are right. It makes WAY too much sense.

 

== By the end of the series, Elan and Haley will have broken up as a subversion of [[Happily Ever After]] and [[Babies Ever After]]. ==

Haley will eventually complete her emotional growth, learn to trust and open up as much as she chooses...and then start to question the validity of her feelings for him, because those trust issues are what made her find him attractive in the first place. Once she doesn't need him to make her a better person, she'll come to the conclusion that a non-adventuring relationship with Elan just wouldn't work, and break up with him amicably before it can go bad (though she'll always wonder how it might have gone). Elan will then complete ''his'' character growth when he has to deal with it, and find his happy ending some other way after the breakup: the Oracle said it ended well for ''Elan'', after all.

 

== Therkla will return...as a succubus! ==

Okay, this is stretching a little, but; If you look at the circumstances of her death; She was a lawful neutral or lawful evil character (I can't remember if her alignment was ever given, but she obeys a master and he's evil, so non-lawful and good alignments are out of the question), however she betrayed her master (a chaotic act). As a result she might end up in the pit and become a demon. Since her sin (and reason for betraying her master) was lust, a succubus would make sense. Alternatively, if she ends up in a LE afterlife she could still come back as an equivlent devil (I can't remember if there's an equivelent, maybe a Lilin<ref>From [[Pathfinder]]</ref> or an Erinyes, although their fluff might not quite fit). Either way, she could end up as a counterpart (or replacement) for Sabine.

 

== Xykon knows what Redcloak is really up to; he just doesn't care. ==

Xykon knows full well what Redcloak is planning to do with the Gate, but Xykon is fully confident that the Dark One's plan won't work because it basically relies on blackmail and a constant threat. Since the Snarl is basically dormant (and Xykon is fully capable of flying and seeing what was inside the rift; Redcloak isn't) there's no real danger of opening a Gate onto the realm of the gods. He's going to wait for Redcloak's plan to fail, call him an idiot, bully him into being properly loyal, and use the Gate to control the real world by tossing ordinary humans into God-knows-where. It doesn't actually change his plans if the world on the other side of the Gate isn't actually dangerous as long as he knows it can remove them from their lives and possibly their chosen deities.

 

 

== Vaarsuvius will achieve complete and total ultimate arcane power from Banjo the Clown ==

The Oracle said "By saying the right four words, to the right being, at the right time, for all the wrong reasons." There were 3 demons, so they weren't the right "being" Furthermore "I- I must succeed" is a lame excuse for four words.

 

V showed interest in worshipping Banjo, but didn't because he didn't have espresso coffee. If Elan manages to get an espresso coffee maker, V might worship Banjo, who will use his magical puppet powers to give V arcane power. The four words being "I will worship Banjo" or something like that.

 

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