OOTS #819 - The Discussion Thread

[Faramir]

Amazing example of one brilliant way to run a high charisma lawful evil antagonist.

[Roderick_BR]

Tarquin's turning out to be the coolest villain/tyrant ever!
His speculations about Elan's party and the reasons are very well thought, showing he has the smarts and the experience.
The little show with Nale shows he's that badass

[ThePhantasm]

Tarquin is pretty badass. I don't understand the folk who are annoyed by his presence and wishing him dead. I find him much more entertaining than Nale at this point.

[deworde]

I would give Nale about 20 seconds before Malack gets him...

[Killer Angel]

YES!!!
Tarquin FTW... And now, smash him down!

[Icedaemon]

At this point, the only thing that might save Nale is Tarquin choosing him over Malack, which seems like a very poor and unlikely choice.

So, what we know about Penelope other than her background with Draketooth is that she purged all Evil components out of the castle's hair product, she apparently was content with Tarquin enough that she'd tell him about her personal stuffs like having a "friend" finding out about Draketooth for her, and she gave Tarquin a useful magic item for his birthday.

Sounds like a decent person! Also, I believe she really did love Tarquin (Not many women wouldn't, if he put his mind to it) and he had nothing to do with her death.

As I have stated before, it is more practical for evil people to surround themselves with (lawful) neutral ones, whose loyalty will not be easily overcome by sadism, ego or greed.

[Orzel]

OotS fathers may be poor dads but this one is harass at least.

That makes it even and bearable.

I like how he didn't automatically tell Alack so he could savor the theatrics without angry blasting.

[Raistlin82]

"For instance, right now, Awesome takes the form of a Ring of True Seeing".

Aaaaw, man.
You had to go and ruin it for me.
But you're right: Xykon did it first and better.
Oh, well... still a good comic, despite the recycled idea.

[hajo]

Tarquin isn't top of my list yet, but he just moved up many positions.

Then I'd like to see that list

[GalenDev]

It's official: Tarquin is the most awesome bad/good/bad guy in webcomics history.

Nale's "Oh Crap" face really made this thing for me. The realization of just how screwed he really is dawning on him.

[Kish]

This, of course, raises the question of why Tarquin sent the OOTS off: to reinforce Girard against Nale, to get them out of his hair, for some reason related to why Penelope died, just to get the band back together and to their destination, or because he knows Girard is predisposed to hate them? Or some other reason entirely?

Because he wants them to stop Xykon before Xykon conquers the parts of the world ruled by Tarquin?

Also, so much for any theories that Tarquin and Nale are in cahoots.

There were theories that Tarquin and Nale are in cahoots?

[Pendulous]

Tarquin is pretty awesome in that he seems to have the best features of Nale and Elan.

I'm more worried about Malack I can see him trying to bring down Tarquin, or trying some other evil, maybe even joining Xykon. But, there is hope, maybe Durkon's short friendship with him can help him see the light.

[SteveMB]

The old man liked to jerk his enemy's chain a bit before moving in for the kill, I guess.

[warmachine]

Which is probably why Tarquin did not mention that Nale was there. Tarquin wants information at this point and Nale is the most likely source. Nale is still showing the signs of Malack's attack.

The trouble is that I doubt Malak cares about information, just Nale's death, and he's not stupid enough to miss what Tarquin is saying. If Malak has Invisibility Purge, Nale will be attacked. If he doesn't, he will demand Tarquin attack Nale and almost certainly threaten Tarquin if he refuses, regardless of their alliance. I doubt Malak will stop even if Nale is captured alive. He might accept a capture provided he can torture Nale himself. After all, you don't get to be high priest in a city ruled by fear and intimidation if you aren't good at using threats to get what you want.

[Scarlet Knight]

Now here's the question: Is he gloating just for fun (because it is fun) or is he giving Nale a fair chance to flee in the hopes that this experience (and others like having a bounty put on his head) will eventually lead him to learning his lesson and shaping up?

Remember, Tarquin wasn't even offended when Elan challenged him to a duel to the death, so this may be his version of tough love for Nale-- giving him a chance to run. Just a chance, mind you, if he catches him than clearly Nale didn't learn enough.

Or maybe he really does want to catch Nale and just loves bragging, it's hard to say.

I believe that Tarquin knows that all he has to do is grab Nale and say "He is here, old friend, " & Malak would "claw,claw, bite" the life out of him.

I assume Tarquin loves both his sons, wants Nale to straighten out into a proper villian, and wants to divide the empire between them in some ying/yang way. Like Snowmiser & Heatmiser...

[HandofShadows]

Are they ranks for being cool in D&D? Because if there are Tarquin has a LOT of them. (Even if he is a very bad guy)

It's interesting that Tarquin does not really care exactly about what the Order is doing. Just that he thinks he will benifit from it.

[Roderick_BR]

And Tarquin is the only one that can see him, unless T. routinely hands out rings of true seeing to his low-leve guards. And Nale can still cast Dimension Door.

Tarquin not only failed to put a sword through the guts of his nation's most wanted criminal, he also gave said criminal important tactical information. All Nale needs to do now is to devise a tactic that defeats true seeing, and then, patricide.

Purge Invisibility and See Invisibility are much cheaper and easier spells to cast around.

[rman]

Then Tarquin would have known all along there was a drow posing as the elven ambassador. Interesting.

[Toper]

Wow. Excellent, well-paced, shocking comic. The Giant never ceases to surprise. I thought Nale might still be in the city, but I didn't expect him to be captured.

I doubt Tarquin would kill his son; note how attached he is to Elan even though they've barely met. I bet he'd torture him, though. Nale may be in for some painful characterization.

But I think the scene's about to shift, and we won't see any more of Tarquin for quite a long time; I'm not expecting him to reappear in the next year.

Then Tarquin would have known all along there was a drow posing as the elven ambassador. Interesting.

That's a good point, but Rich probably just forgot about that particular interaction.

[Casterbridge]

Well nothing really to add other than I've been enjoying this strip for years but Tarquin is bringing a whole new level of awesome to it.

[AbuSpud]

why are people thinking Tarquin for some reason botched his attempt to catch Nale?

Nale is alone in Tarquins castle, this comic was jsut Tarquin showing Nalei jsut how mcuh more amazing then him he is he probably has big plans for Nale and step one is "make him run around for a while terrified and let him think he has a chance to escape before showing him theres no way out"

maybe he even plans to run him down until hes too tired to take another step and then hand him to Malack

Or plans to let him escape in a very specific direction to accomplish a very specifc goal? Tarquin is a master manipulator.

[Wanda V'Orcus]

You do realise that's precisely the kind of villain he wishes to be, right? Swashbuckling, wise-cracking, moustache-stroking, over-the-top villainous villainy villain?

Yes, but he just let a completely white cat -- the perfect accessory for such a villain to stroke nonchalantly -- fly off with the OoTS!

Cheers, JohnH / Wanda

[leakingpen]

indeed, giant, i think people are learning to to run villians properly from your comic! awesome.

[ScrapperTBP]

Hahaha amazing as always Giant. Looking forward to the next one. Busted :D

[pendell]

That ... that is just AWESOME. That's a crowning moment of awesome for Tarquin. He is now officially my favorite villain in the strip. Granted, he's evil and he murders slaves for fun and his own twisted pleasure, and that is evil and he deserves to die for it, but Xykon does the same and Xykon doesn't have Tarquin's style.

It's probable Tarquin won't live through the arc. But if the Giant ever decided to do a sequel to OOTS, a sequel starring Elan taking on his father would not be bad at all.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Caractacus]

Fixed for you

I think that you aren't paying attention enough to Tarquin's character type - you seem to be mistaking him for you with spiky shoulder pads.

Tarquin appears to be even at ease with dying, as long as he is in control of events up to that point. He enjoys teasing and playing with his enemies it seems. He doesn't necessarily even WANT to capture Nale. He might or he might not. It depends very much upon what he is seeking to achieve - and this we do not know.

As far as we can tell (I think that this is what we have been led to believe, anyway), Tarquin enjoys weaving a web of control and being one step ahead of both his enemies and events. This is what he lives for. The challenge. If he just stabbed him, he'd have one less channel to watch.

BTW, I am convinced that what we know of Tarquin means that:

All Nale needs to do now is to devise a tactic that defeats true seeing, and then, patricide.

is surely not a correct assessment of the situation. Is there anything about Tarquin's character that we have seen that would make us believe that he would be thinking anything else than 'Note to self: Nale now knows about the Ring of Seeing. Adjust personal defences accordingly'?

[Enlong]

That was pretty dang great.

By the way, I didn't know that True Seeing came in rings. I suppose it makes sense, as a powerful passive enchantment, but True Seeing kind of strikes me as the sort of spell you'd put in a magic spyglass. Or a pair of spectacles.

Or even better, a monocle.

[Chris Wiz]

You know, I just registered for the forums today to say:

Tarquin. Is. Badass.

I laughed like a little girl at this episode. Thanks!

[CloakedDancer]

Very nice. I like how this comic seems to take all reader viewpoints into account and addresses them so that there won't be any complaining later. Of course I'm sure someone will complain anyway.

[Nevereatcars]

B-B-B-BUSTED!!!