OOTS #816 - The Discussion Thread

[Caractacus]

This is starting to really come alive now. Extra characters (unless they are old ones disguised), more facts (unless they are misleading by omission) and more tension (unless burst by Spoiler Alerts) - super!

(Actually not a sarcastic post - just viewed it and thought it needed a disclaimer to that effect)

[FlawedParadigm]

Tarquin, you are my hero and my terror.

Is there a running count of how many times Elan has been right about things? We must be getting frighteningly close to double digits on that one.

[Psyren]

This certainly explains Draketooth being around all this time... Perhaps he really is/was just human. I definitely think Girard's dead, though he could just be really old.

Which means his trickster son (or granddaughter?) is guarding the gate, and about to be lied to by the other set of bad guys. Great.

OOTS forum rule #1: any character with red hair is potentially Haley.

Can we sticky this?

[Dr. Simon]

I'm just intrigued to find out what plotline the Giant has cooked up involving Girard's 15 year-old granddaughter, who is also Nale and Elan's stepsister.

Called Lena, perhaps? Not quite the "neutral twin", but still....

[hewhosaysfish]

The daughter is not Haley.

I don't normally say stuff like that so bluntly, but I thought it best to nip this one in the bud. Haley is 25 or so, Penelope's daughter would be 15. In fact, I put the line about it being 15 years in specifically to avoid people speculating that it was Haley.

[please nobody take me seriously]
Is she Therkla?
[/please nobody take me seriously]

[Gift Jeraff]

A thought occurs: might Ambassdor Gourntonk's urgent news for the Empress have something to do with the Draketooths?

[Skios]

I'm fairly sure that the whole Order, Elan included, knows very well what has happened to Tarquin's wives. However, I think they simply chose not to address the matter because of the whole saving the world thing, especially since Tarquin is their only source of information and resources on the whole continent.

[St Fan]

Whatatwist!

Here we see once again how Tarquin like to play with "exact words". His comment about "that Draketooth" in the previous strip wasn't bad grammar, after all.

My bet it that we haven't seen Penelope and Orrin's daughter yet, but she'll certainly have a role later in the story.

Haley's "sense motive" out loud and Tarquin's "spoiler alert" sure were funny.

[The Pilgrim]

Elan is so cute beliving that Nale killed Tarquin's ninth wife, instead of the obvious (that Tarquin killed her because she was showing too much initiative).

Despite Elan has finally accepted the fact that his father is utterly EVIL, his subconscious mind stills attemps to rationalize his atrocities and think the best of him.

[The Succubus]

Elan is so cute beliving that Nale killed Tarquin's ninth wife, instead of the obvious (that Tarquin killed her because she has showing too much initiative).

Despite Elan has finally accepted the fact that his father is utterly EVIL, his subconscious mind stills attemps to rationalize and think the best of him.

To free the feline from the bag, are we certain that Tarquin killed Penelope?

[Garwain]

The comic needed more female characters.

I'm betting all my internets on:
bet 1: the 15yo daughter is called Lena (for being family of Elan/Nale).
bet 2: the one I've been waiting for sooo long..... more scenes from team Evil!!!!

[jidasfire]

I would like to point out that I called some of this. Particularly the idea of a red-haired clan of anarchist types as the new group. I may have thought at the time that Haley and Ian were connected to said group, and while indeed not all redhaired people are necessarily connected, it should be pointed out that Ian does share a lot of traits with the information we know about Girard's clan. He is paranoid, Chaotic, and trusts family over all else. He's not a Draketooth, and he has no face tattoo, so perhaps he's not related to them, or if he is, he's illegitimately so.

It might be too many coincidences for Haley to be related to the Draketooths, of course, but if she were, it would give reason why they might allow the Order into their midst. It would also explain where Ian has gone, and why we might see him again soon.

[The Pilgrim]

To free the feline from the bag, are we certain that Tarquin killed Penelope?

Tarquin said that he had gone out of the way to prevent him from having another child, after Nale. In my town that translates as forcing medieval abortion practices on his wives. The fact that he is looking for this 10th wife reinforces the hypotesis.

His ninth wife telling him that she has a lead on her lost daughter and is planning to go for her, thus burdening Tarquin with a (step)child, is reason enough for him to kill her on the spot.

If you think about it, Tarquin is being merciful here (on his own twisted view, of course). Should he had let the mother rescue her child, he would have had to kill them both later. By killing Penelope first, at least her daughter is spared.

Tarquin, always nothing but merciful. *sarcasm*

[Hardcore]

Anyway it looks like the red hair didn't hate her husband.

[Hardcore]

Doh! General Knowledge...

[Wrecan]

burdening Tarquin with a (step)child

How is Tarquin burdened with a step-daughter? First of all, she's 15. She's pretty much ready to go out on her own. Second, she's never known Tarquin. Tarquin wasn't married to her mom when she was born. Tarquin never adopted Penelope's children from other marriages.

[whitelaughter]

Huh, so Tarquin may not have been behind the 'mysterious circumstances' after all?

Yeah, that was surprising. Emphasis on 'may' however.

[t209]

I would like to point out that I called some of this. Particularly the idea of a red-haired clan of anarchist types as the new group. I may have thought at the time that Haley and Ian were connected to said group, and while indeed not all redhaired people are necessarily connected, it should be pointed out that Ian does share a lot of traits with the information we know about Girard's clan. He is paranoid, Chaotic, and trusts family over all else. He's not a Draketooth, and he has no face tattoo, so perhaps he's not related to them, or if he is, he's illegitimately so.

It might be too many coincidences for Haley to be related to the Draketooths, of course, but if she were, it would give reason why they might allow the Order into their midst. It would also explain where Ian has gone, and why we might see him again soon.

The baby is not Haley! I saw a few red hair strands on the baby!
P.S- Why I always feel that Girard's gate will be buried (if in a tunnel) instead of destroyed?

[FlawedParadigm]

Also, isn't "Discern Lies" a bit pointless here? Hasn't everything Tarquin's said been technically true from his perspective (or he believes it all to be true?) Now if there was "Discern Misleading Wordings and Sentence Structures"...

Interesting that his latest (no pun intended) wife died of mysterious causes just as she was spreading knowledge of this kid. If that's the specific reason she had to die, then that suggests Tarquin knew that there's a reason that information ought to be covered up. Meaning that while he's not lying, he probably knows far more than he's letting on. They don't have a non-domination type spell for fixing that one, either. (Probably from a plot perspective why V needs very much to not be in this scene. Unless Tarquin has a convenient magic item making him immune to mental domination - which he probably does, since he makes a living off of half-truths, obfuscation, and deceit - then being forced to spill everything he knows would be Bad Times for him.)

[JSSheridan]

Thanks Giant!

[jidasfire]

The baby is not Haley! I saw a few red hair strands on the baby!
P.S- Why I always feel that Girard's gate will be buried (if in a tunnel) instead of destroyed?

I never said the baby was Haley. The hair and age (and a quote by the Giant) speak to that. I'm just mentioning the possibility of a connection between Ian and the Draketooths through other means, and I fully admit that it may not be the case at all.

[sims796]

I'm suprised at the level of intelligence & understanding that Elan has displayed lately.

[Ron Miel]

I'm just intrigued to find out what plotline the Giant has cooked up involving Girard's 15 year-old granddaughter, who is also Nale and Elan's stepsister.

Maybe we've seen her
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0649.html

Wouldn't be the first time a one panel throwaway joke became significant later.

[DougTheHead]

OOTS forum rule #2: any character without red hair but with a similar hair style is a member of Haley's supposed "mystery race", and proof that she's part angel/devil/succubus/elf/whatever. (All because the forum thinks that "I'm not exactly what you'd call a nice girl" or something to that effect, makes less sense than "I'm not exactly what you would call human").

Yes yes, Hayley's big, dark secret, the one she hasn't even told her closest friends, is that despite her rampant kleptomania and job as a professional thief and murderer (i.e. an adventurer), she's not very nice.

[Orzel]

Race to Mt. McGuffin!

I hate that game. No full day rests.

[rbetieh]

Elan is so cute beliving that Nale killed Tarquin's ninth wife, instead of the obvious (that Tarquin killed her because she was showing too much initiative).

Despite Elan has finally accepted the fact that his father is utterly EVIL, his subconscious mind stills attemps to rationalize his atrocities and think the best of him.

Tarquins behavior towards Elan seems to point to the fact that he might sympathise with his Ninth wifes desire to find her long lost daughter. I doubt he killed his wife over that. Since the Wife didnt go on the adventure herself, we can surmise that she really wasnt all that interested in starting things back up with Draketooth.

[Scrynor]

Anyone else getting the sudden impression that Iain "knowing a place" as they run off into the desert to hide is going to be with the Draketooths in Windy Canyon? I mean, he does fit with their type well. Even if he's not strictly with them it certainly makes sense that he would have tried to recruit them for the rebellion.

I'm personally betting on relations. Iain is somehow at least part Draketooth. It would give Iain more reason to care about liberating this region of the world from a dictator and give us a good reason to make the conspiracy against Iain more relevant to the main plot and delve into it deeper.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Anyone else getting the sudden impression that Iain "knowing a place" as they run off into the desert to hide is going to be with the Draketooths in Windy Canyon? I mean, he does fit with their type well. Even if he's not strictly with them it certainly makes sense that he would have tried to recruit them for the rebellion.

I'm personally betting on relations. Iain is somehow at least part Draketooth. It would give Iain more reason to care about liberating this region of the world from a dictator and give us a good reason to make the conspiracy against Iain more relevant to the main plot and delve into it deeper.

I'm thinking that too. And maybe that's how the Order will be able to get through to Draketooth...

[Terbovus]

Okeydokey, so who's got the best anagram for Sdigiji? Or is it a play on all those made up item names with too many I's and J's: 'the Golden Rod of Rodjigaj? The Glowing Orb of Terijor? Lets just call it a plus 5 thingy!'

[EpsilonShawn]

'Lena' would be a cute name out of the anagram batch, except I'm not seeing it happening; they basically have no relation to this girl.

His comment about "that Draketooth" in the previous strip wasn't bad grammar, after all.

No, no no.
Poor syntax, I might give you that. But bad grammar? That designation bothers me immensely, more than it should.