Do We Know What Kind of Creature Malack Is?

[Deepbluediver]

I think Malack is Serini Toormuck. V's spell didn't find her beacuse she changed her name.
And gender.
And class.
And species.

Who doesn't love the reincarnation spell?

Rather than a "half-yuan-ti" the Monster Manual and other books contain a plethora of yuan-ti variants, each of which has some snake features and some humanoid features.

Ah ok, my mistake then.

[FujinAkari]

Can't we just stop talking about yuan-ti, since that theory is obviously wrong? Sheesh

This.

The only argument that Malack may be a Yuan-Ti and is merely using an imprecise word makes it equally plausible that Malack is actually an elf, avian, or sentient mushroom.

At the moment your argument depends on words no longer having meaning, then your argument becomes untenable.

Malack is not a Yuan-Ti.

[jere7my]

The only argument that Malack may be a Yuan-Ti and is merely using an imprecise word makes it equally plausible that Malack is actually an elf, avian, or sentient mushroom.

Not really. In an offhand comment, someone could plausibly group snakes with lizards, or say lizard instead of reptile. Someone putting together a D&D world could throw all the reptiloid races onto a continent and call it "The Lizard Lands" without it sounding odd. It's much less likely that someone would group mushrooms with lizards.

[MesiDoomstalker]

Or, since this is a comic aimed primarily at DnD players, who do know the difference, and a known group of non-players who wouldn't, Rich would use the less confusing (I.E DnD Terminology) and differientiate Lizardfolk and Yaun-Ti by calling them Lizardfolk and Yaun-Ti within the comic. If he didn't and had a character mis-match the terms and include Yaun-Ti in with Lizardfolk, it be confusing to the readers. Just because langauge is flexible doesn't mean it will be flexible.

[jere7my]

Or, since this is a comic aimed primarily at DnD players, who do know the difference, and a known group of non-players who wouldn't, Rich would use the less confusing (I.E DnD Terminology) and differientiate Lizardfolk and Yaun-Ti by calling them Lizardfolk and Yaun-Ti within the comic. If he didn't and had a character mis-match the terms and include Yaun-Ti in with Lizardfolk, it be confusing to the readers. Just because langauge is flexible doesn't mean it will be flexible.

Sure. It's pretty unlikely. But authors sometimes make decisions which are confusing to the readers.

I get the feeling there are two styles of discussion here. One seeks to prove their point of view, which means all other points of view have to be wrong. The other seeks to enumerate all the possibilities, however unlikely they may be, that aren't explicitly disproven by what we know, then wait to see what we find out. I've always said Malack almost certainly isn't a yuan-ti, but that it'd be possible for someone to use the term "lizardfolk" to refer to what the Forgotten Realms calls "the Scaled Ones." That continues to be possible, whether or not it'd confuse D&D players. Saying it's impossible is professing an understanding of Rich's brain that none of us has.

[Emperordaniel]

The only argument that Malack may be a Yuan-Ti and is merely using an imprecise word makes it equally plausible that Malack is actually an elf, avian, or sentient mushroom.

I've got to admit, I got a chuckle out of imagining Malack as a giant, somewhat-friendly mushroom.

+1 internets to anyone who gets the reference.

[MesiDoomstalker]

Anything is possible. Most things are improbable. Out of practicality, anything that is sufficiently unprobable is effectively impossible. If you have to use scientific notation to accuratly describe the possibility of something happening, then its effectivly impossible. By statistical chance, it won't happen in anything but an extremly large sample, which a single comic is the exact opposite of.

Your mistaken in saying that there are arguements who say "I'm right and your wrong" and those who say "Its possible, but not likely". Those who are trying to disprove your theory are because your theory has shakey ground and little basis. I haven't seen anyone say, in response to you, "No, your wrong I'm right" more of "Your wrong", in so many words. I can say Malack is really a polymorphed Sereni all I want, and it is possible that is the case, but the chances of that being the case are so slim, that is effectively impossible.

[CelestialStick]

Can't we just stop talking about yuan-ti, since that theory is obviously wrong? Sheesh

Based on the next several replies to the thread, I'd have to say "no."

Besides which, the yuan-ti are much cooler than lizardfolk.

[Coat]

Could he be a legless lizardfolk?

[CelestialStick]

Could he be a legless lizardfolk?

Maybe he's a half-dragon. How about a black half-dragon?

[Deepbluediver]

Could he be a legless lizardfolk?

But he still has arms....

Unless those are fake prostetic arms controlled with a continuous use of the Mage Hand spell.

Maybe he's a half-dragon. How about a black half-dragon?

An albino black dragon. I think this my favorite theory yet.

[CelestialStick]

An albino black dragon. I think this my favorite theory yet.

A white black dragon?!

But he still has arms....

Unless those are fake prostetic arms controlled with a continuous use of the Mage Hand spell.

Maybe he has arms of the naga, an artifact in Serpent Kingdoms. Ah, the mystery resolved: he is really a naga!

[Joe the Rat]

But he still has arms....

Unless those are fake prostetic arms controlled with a continuous use of the Mage Hand spell.

Wait, so now he's multiclassed to arcane as well?

An albino black dragon. I think this my favorite theory yet.

Not loving it for the theory (conservation of detail/exponential coincidentiality says he'd have been Familicided... unless he's already Undead... no, must stop now), but I am so going to use this next time I have genre savvy players encounter a dragon.

Besides, he's clearly an albino green dragon.

[CelestialStick]

Wait, so now he's multiclassed to arcane as well?


Not loving it for the theory (conservation of detail/exponential coincidentiality says he'd have been Familicided... unless he's already Undead... no, must stop now), but I am so going to use this next time I have genre savvy players encounter a dragon.

Besides, he's clearly an albino green dragon.

Perhaps he's an albino green half-dragon naga with arms of the naga?

[Toper]

For people who think Malack is a lizard, what do you think about the fact that he doesn't appear to have legs? When he's in motion he leans forward much more than any other character. See, for instance, panel 6 here, panel 5 here, panel 3 here. A biped would fall on his face in that posture, and don't even get me started on this one, panel 4.

Why he called himself a lizardfolk I do not attempt to explain; that argument's been hashed through enough. But he's definitely not playing with a full set of limbs.

[CelestialStick]

For people who think Malack is a lizard, what do you think about the fact that he doesn't appear to have legs? When he's in motion he leans forward much more than any other character. See, for instance, panel 6 here, panel 5 here, panel 3 here. A biped would fall on his face in that posture, and don't even get me started on this one, panel 4.

Why he called himself a lizardfolk I do not attempt to explain; that argument's been hashed through enough. But he's definitely not playing with a full set of limbs.

He kind of looks like Riker swaggering around the Enterprise. Maybe he's a werecommander?

[Coat]

But he still has arms....

Quite a few of the legless lizard subspecies have vestigial limbs.

Okay, typically they're vestigial legs, and his arms aren't vestigial, but then typically they're also not intelligent tool-users.

I'm just saying that a lizardfolk subspecies that doesn't have legs is maybe not a huge stretch. What I've got in my mind is something like Sirenidae, which of course is a salamander and an amphibian, not a lizard. But a cave-dwelling sub-species, accounting for the pale colour and special diet.

Also some of the legless lizards give birth to live young. I'm not sure it's relevant, but it's kind of cool.

[rewinn]

What if Malack represents some sort of mixmax character?

He took the "Legless" Character Disadvantage to gain the "Walk Without Legs" feat!

[CelestialStick]

What if Malack represents some sort of mixmax character?

He took the "Legless" Character Disadvantage to gain the "Walk Without Legs" feat!

He took Legolas?!

[Kish]

For people who think Malack is a lizard, what do you think about the fact that he doesn't appear to have legs? When he's in motion he leans forward much more than any other character. [...]
Why he called himself a lizardfolk I do not attempt to explain; that argument's been hashed through enough. But he's definitely not playing with a full set of limbs.

You're basing your argument on the positioning of a stick figure lizardfolk? Really?

I don't try to explain why he leans forward so much, for the same reason I've never tried to explain why Roy, despite being human, has only three fingers on each hand. That doesn't mean Roy's not human.

[Caractacus]

You're basing your argument on the positioning of a stick figure lizardfolk? Really?

I don't try to explain why he leans forward so much, for the same reason I've never tried to explain why Roy, despite being human, has only three fingers on each hand. That doesn't mean Roy's not human.

To be fair, Kish, his weird leaning is restricted to just him (as far as I know). I assume that this is why it attracts attention, whereas in contrast most other stick characters have the digital deficiency (despite being on-line...)

I think what makes me interested in it is that Rich has to have drawn him and positioned him on the page pretty much deliberately. After all, all of the characters need to be orientated with reference to the frame around them, and if his basic position is leaning forward, wouldn't Rich have immediately rotated it back a few degrees if that wasn't intended?

[ti'esar]

Every other lizardfolk we've seen - and there's at least three distinct body types - has obviously had feet, and doesn't engage in the same kind of weird positioning that Malack does. He isn't necessarily - or probably, in my opinion - a member of some legless race, but I am coming around to the view that if Malack does have legs and feet, he doesn't use them to move.

[CelestialStick]

You're basing your argument on the positioning of a stick figure lizardfolk? Really?

I don't try to explain why he leans forward so much, for the same reason I've never tried to explain why Roy, despite being human, has only three fingers on each hand. That doesn't mean Roy's not human.

Maybe Roy is only a half-human--or a three-fifths human.

To be fair, Kish, his weird leaning is restricted to just him (as far as I know). [snip]

And to Wil Riker, of course.

Every other lizardfolk we've seen - and there's at least three distinct body types - has obviously had feet, and doesn't engage in the same kind of weird positioning that Malack does. He isn't necessarily - or probably, in my opinion - a member of some legless race, but I am coming around to the view that if Malack does have legs and feet, he doesn't use them to move.

Maybe he's flying away on a wing and a prayer.

[rewinn]

He took Legolas?!

Maybe he's a lizardfolk/Wood Elf hybrid ... a Legless Legolas Lizard?

Maybe he's flying away on a wing and a prayer.

That's it! He's half lizardfolk cleric and half One-Winged Angel?

[CelestialStick]

Maybe he's a lizardfolk/Wood Elf hybrid ... a Legless Legolas Lizard?



That's it! He's half lizardfolk cleric and half One-Winged Angel?

Maybe he's the Greatest American Lizard!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9Q3orQhEcA

[Dr.Epic]

I think Malack is Serini Toormuck. V's spell didn't find her beacuse she changed her name.

And gender.

And class.

And species.

Do we know Malack's gender? Reptiles don't have the same defining gender characteristics as mammals and humans. Has it been stated Malack's a male?

[Tebryn]

Do we know Malack's gender? Reptiles don't have the same defining gender characteristics as mammals and humans. Has it been stated Malack's a male?

Yes. Even just in the last strip.

[CelestialStick]

Do we know Malack's gender? Reptiles don't have the same defining gender characteristics as mammals and humans. Has it been stated Malack's a male?

I've always though of Malack as a male, but in many reptile species, the fully-grown female is larger than the fully-grown male on average, and Malack looks pretty big, so he could be female.

[Deepbluediver]

A white black dragon?!

If you have an albino WHITE dragon...does anything change color? Does the dragon maybe turn clear?
Like this guy:

Spoiler

Show

If you can't see the picture, go here.

Which inevitably leads to the question: what does an albino Force-dragon look like?

Maybe he has arms of the naga, an artifact in Serpent Kingdoms. Ah, the mystery resolved: he is really a naga!

Ok, I thought that Yaun-ti and Naga where just two names for the same creature in D&D, what's the difference?

Wait, so now he's multiclassed to arcane as well?

I hadn't thought of that; is there no cleric domain that gives you the Mage Hands spell?

Well, since we're already neck-deep in the swamp of crazy theories, maybe if he's lying about being lizardfolk, he's also been faking the "cleric" thing this whole time with several levels of Artificer! Hence the reason he was so quick to run back to his chambers for some magic items when Nale first showed up.

I've always though of Malack as a male, but in many reptile species, the fully-grown female is larger than the fully-grown male on average, and Malack looks pretty big, so he could be female.

I've always thought that Malack acted like a male, and not even like a non-stereotypical female. Still he is obviously deeply disturbed over the loss of his children and is concerned with fostering more, which could very well represent some buried maternalistic feelings.

I'd file it under the "possible but unlikely" heading that Malack is biologically female but that lizard (or snake) society doesn't subscribe to the same definitions of gender-roles that humans do. Basically, a variation on the whole She is the King! trope, except more, She is the High-Priest!
I doubt Rich is gonna take time away from the epic heroic-fantasy tale to explore cross-species gender-identity issues, but maybe we'll see it as a bonus story in one of the books.

[FujinAkari]

Not loving it for the theory (conservation of detail/exponential coincidentiality says he'd have been Familicided...)

*innocent smile*

Conservation of Detail is overrated.