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Wednesday, May 13, 2009

V's first question after recovering from the shock, assuming the fight doesn't continue: "How in the Lower Planes do you know about soul splices?" Hey, now that the robe's red and eyes're normal again, maybe Redcloak recognizes her as an OOTS member.

(From The Order of the Stick. Click for full-sized end of the line.)

Technically, I still owe you an OOTS post for April, and this doesn't count. But it does give me some ideas for a full-fledged OOTS post, which I was planning to have next week... assuming I can get a post I was planning for this week in by then. Because it's been too long since I reviewed another webcomic blog.

Yes, Blogger-in-Draft is still making it impossible to upload images and forcing me to go back to old Blogger (screwing people who had made Draft their default dashboard and can't go back no matter what they try), why do you ask?
But anyway, since I normally make posts on Big Events and the forums are down as usual, I might as well make some comments here.

First, reflecting back on my original post on the splice, for two reasons. First, Burlew did a good job of keeping us on our toes with the splice. I started out thinking that, despite the power level, V had a good chance of hanging on to it into the next book; then it was revealed that V would lose splices one at a time and I thought that meant it made the most sense for them to all be lost within the current book; then plotlines started getting used up left and right, and things kept happening to V and he never lost a splice to them, and I started thinking there wasn't enough room for two splices to be lost in the relatively small time left in the current book. Then he decided to take on Xykon.

The pattern established with Haer(t)a seemed obvious: use an epic spell that would see the spliced caster appear "in the background" behind Vaarsuvius, then that caster would have their splice lost. While all the plotlines were being wrapped up, V had already used Ganonron's epic spell, so every time something happened that might ordinarily cause a splice break, I figured that meant V had one more teleport in her. And there was enough portent in V's decision to run to Xykon to figure that last teleport had arrived.

It would have been bad enough, in my view, for V to lose Ganonron alone and thus the ability to teleport away from the scene of the crime. I can certainly see the logic in Haer(t)a being the only lone splice lost - to establish that a splice could be lost at any time, to take her spells off the table, that sort of thing. But the fact that Jephton was not able to get off an epic spell doesn't sit well with me, and tells me that either Rich couldn't find a place for a third epic spell (a second "Epic Teleport" doesn't count) or changed his plans at some point after #643 - possibly, given the suddenness of the last two strips, just lost patience with the splice. Certainly I could have seen Ganonron lost but Jephton able to get off an epic spell against Xykon before he was lost - it seems Rich couldn't figure out what to do that would be big enough to give that shadow shot. (Some forumites suggested Jephton be given a completely ineffectual joke spell, though, so even that's not a show-stopper.)

Second, after the previous strip I figured that since Xykon had just fired off two Energy Drains and might have more in store, severely weakening the splices (seriously, if Jephton lost all his epic spell slots after the first, he might well be lower level than V after the second) the prudent thing for V to do was get out while the getting was good. Therefore, I figured something would happen to prevent V from leaving. Survey says... not really. I can see going for the Bixby's Hand after the energy drains, but staying in the game after Xykon neutralizes even that? With your next move being a simple Disintegrate?

It actually makes an odd level of sense, but in a way I doubt Rich intended. While it's possible that either V, Rich, or both weren't thinking the circumstances through (less likely than you'd think in the former's case with two more clear-thinking souls along for the ride with the most to lose), I prefer to think that this is V's pride and hubris rearing its ugly head again. V really does believe "my power... EXCEEDS yours!" and he can still defeat Xykon with brute force even after evidence comes up to the contrary, only realizing the prudency of retreat once it's too late. (That pre-current-book V's style of pounding on a problem until it falls fits the situation is an idea worth considering as well.)

I'm holding off on most of my future predictions until next week, and even then I'll want to hold off on some because I have a between-books state-of planned for when the current book ends. But for now I have only this: I think we're more than set up for the remainder of the book between any Team Evil-Vaarsuvius discussions and any discussions surrounding Roy's resurrection. We're already about halfway through the "20-strip cooldown period" I've identified at the end of each book. I can easily see three strips or more to wrap up the battle and have some catching up to do and tie up loose ends here, plus at least three strips to cover Roy's resurrection, throw in the usual splash page at the end - that's seven right there, out of about ten - and since we haven't seen any of the Linear Guild in the book so far, if they're to have any real substansive role in the next book - and it's becoming a fairly firm consensus they will, for reasons relating to Elan's and Nale's family - or just appear in this one, they better show up soon.

And if there's any importance to Roy meeting V's "subcontractors", could it be the knowledge that V could have lost them and remain trapped in Azure City, life status uncertain?

4 comments:

Acacia H. said...

To be honest, I was expecting Monster-san to play a bigger role in this fight. I figured at the very least, we'd have Monster-san's identity revealed (which I speculated on in the above review - a speculation I don't think anyone has made yet), and for it to be much more likely that O-Chul to die during the battle.

For Xykon to prevail over V with minimal outside help only goes to showcase how powerful he is. More importantly, it showcases the fact Xykon is able to think on his feet; he honestly didn't have much trouble against V, who was at that point a higher level than him.

As for V's fate... it's obvious V is going to die. Belkar has fulfilled his purpose in that regard, making a quick joke that results in V rushing off to her death.

Oh. There's one other reason why I believe V is definitely going to die. Notice that the two goblins and the female necromancer all referred to V as "she"? I think V's gender is being asserted on the eve of V's death.

Rob H.

Morgan Wick said...

1. It's too early for Monster-san's identity to be revealed, particularly after the playing with his unknown nature in 651. 651's main purpose was really to further the Monster's character arc, and any connection to V will happen in a more conversational form, because...
2. Belkar may have fulfilled his purpose, but V hasn't. Remember that the fiends had ulterior motives to put him under the Soul Splice, and the obvious one would be to take over V's soul near a Gate to use it for their own purposes.
3. I'd think I was immune to this outside of the forum. I think Redcloak took his cue from Tsukiko rather than make any determination on his own, honestly. They were all pretty good at avoiding pronouns in 652, especially Xykon's "Mr.-or-Mrs. Spock". (And Jirix doesn't actually use anything that would imply anything one way or the other.)
4. Re: your post. One downside to not being corrupted by the forum is that your insights aren't great and original. "MitD is an aspect of/child of the Snarl" is probably one of the top two theories surroundng him, with the main evidence against it being something Rich said in one of the books about MitD being "pre-existing".

Acacia H. said...

Huh. I went through a recent forum post concerning O-Chul and MitD and didn't come across a single suggestion on his being a Snarl Spawn. Guess I just missed out on the timing. ^^;;

Rob H.

Morgan Wick said...

It's lost currency recently, and probably a distant second. One perhaps more damning piece of evidence I forgot about is a scene in the "Start of Darkness" prequel book that makes it very unlikely.