OOTS #1087 - The Discussion Thread

[Keltest]

Huh? The prophecy came straight from Odin. It was going to happen. It can't possibly be wrong. That's not how prophecies work. It could either happen that day when Durkon went home, or they could come up with a hasty plan to try and stave off disaster. It's what Odin does on his throne every day with his power of foresight that he traded one of his eyes for. Did nobody pick up on that subtext? Ragnarok?

It wasn't the high priest of Thor's doing that caused the prophecy. It's what caused it to come in this particular form, but at least Dwarven society got 20 extra years.

You think OOTS is going to stave off the destruction? Nope, it's going to happen no matter what, even if they save the rest of the world from the Snarl. Prophecy. Straight from the top.

I think you are assigning Odin a degree of omniscience and omnipotence he doesn't actually possess. As I said, if the prophecy doesn't come true, then its just wrong. And as we have seen, the gods in the stickverse can be so very, very wrong.

[Snails]

Creativity is inherently chaotic.

Without structure, originality too easily devolves into indecipherable noise. It is structure itself that is the most effective vehicle for highlighting the new.

So creativity worth remembering is always the melding of chaos with order.

[Malfarian]

Ok is there a "point" to the memory Durkon had there? I'm not getting the point of this strip, but I REALLY want to.

[Snails]

Ok is there a "point" to the memory Durkon had there? I'm not getting the point of this strip, but I REALLY want to.

My guess is it is to introduce a cast of characters, who will either be dramatically killed or appear in more important memory scenes. Or both.

[XXSwagmaster420]

It's unlikely that the host can directly fight for control, and even less likely that certain sorts of souls would be especially adept at such a task. Still, older vampires like Malak do seem to consider their vampire state to be a continuation of their mortal state. Whether that's because the vampire soul and the host soul eventually merge or because someone with all your memories, experiences, and outlooks would be hard to distinguish from you is a largely academic question.

Given the comment about distinct consciousness, it seems likely it's a merging thing.

[GAAD]

Free jazz is actually pleasant to listen to.

Oh, them's FIGHTIN words.

[LadyEowyn]

Ok is there a "point" to the memory Durkon had there? I'm not getting the point of this strip, but I REALLY want to.

So far as I can tell, the "point" is not the memory itself, but the fact that Durkon appears able to influence the vampire, based on the phrase in the memory being used shortly after by the vampire ("If s/he were already good at...I wouldn't have anything to teach him/her"). It took me a few reads through to notice it.

I highly doubt the bard character herself has any importance.

[Reddish Mage]

I think you are assigning Odin a degree of omniscience and omnipotence he doesn't actually possess. As I said, if the prophecy doesn't come true, then its just wrong. And as we have seen, the gods in the stickverse can be so very, very wrong.

We haven't seen prophecy be wrong however. Obscure, and coming true in totally unpredictable and irrelevant ways? Sure.

For example the prophecy is that "death and destruction" follows Durkon when he returns. Also Durkon will return poshumously.

Turns out Durkon is now deceased, but Durkon has returned, and that his vampire body has access to the "death" and "destruction" domains. Also, the vampires have caused quite a bit of both already.

Whether world-destruction comes along is anyone's guess. The prophecy was already fulfilled many ways. Certainly, Ragnorok could be a reasonable thing to reference by prophecy, but the Giant has already did an enormous fake out by having Durkula convince us he was Durkon, NOW prophecy that only has a vague mythic connection to world-destruction? That's not a commitment.

[Shoelessgdowar]

We haven't seen prophecy be wrong however. Obscure, and coming true in totally unpredictable and irrelevant ways? Sure.

For example the prophecy is that "death and destruction" follows Durkon when he returns. Also Durkon will return poshumously.

Actually even "Posthumously" hasn't been right yet. We have yet to see a prophecy right. We've seen scrying correctly, we've see lousy attempts to make the narrative fit the incorrect prophecies, but not a single prophecy has actually been correct yet.

No Gift Horse ever knocked, the polar opposite happened.
Belkar still hasn't caused The Death of anyone on his list.
Durkon isn't Dead until he makes it to Valhalla.
V spoke 3 words, not 4, to no one, at the wrong time, for several of the right reasons, and didn't attain complete and ultimate arcane power (complete and ultimate would not have faultered against Xykon).
Girard's Gate was the wrong Gate, Soon's Gate was the correct answer.

[The MunchKING]

Actually even "Posthumously" hasn't been right yet. We have yet to see a prophecy right. We've seen scrying correctly, we've see lousy attempts to make the narrative fit the incorrect prophecies, but not a single prophecy has actually been correct yet.

No Gift Horse ever knocked, the polar opposite happened.
Belkar still hasn't caused The Death of anyone on his list.

... Is this trolling? He stabbed the Oracle right there in plain sight!

Durkon isn't Dead until he makes it to Valhalla.

So none of Tarquin's soldiers or Nale or anyone are dead because they didn't wind up in Valhalla?

V spoke 3 words, not 4, to no one, at the wrong time, for several of the right reasons, and didn't attain complete and ultimate arcane power (complete and ultimate would not have faultered against Xykon).

The point was All the Arcane Power in the World wouldn't do you any good if used unintelligently.

Girard's Gate was the wrong Gate, Soon's Gate was the correct answer.

He didn't ASK about Soon though. The Oracle knew that and explicitly tried to bait him into asking about all the Gates. But OF the choice between "Kraagnor's gate and Girard's Gate" Giurard's Gate was the correct answer.

[Peelee]

Actually even "Posthumously" hasn't been right yet. We have yet to see a prophecy right. We've seen scrying correctly, we've see lousy attempts to make the narrative fit the incorrect prophecies, but not a single prophecy has actually been correct yet.

No Gift Horse ever knocked, the polar opposite happened.
Belkar still hasn't caused The Death of anyone on his list.
Durkon isn't Dead until he makes it to Valhalla.
V spoke 3 words, not 4, to no one, at the wrong time, for several of the right reasons, and didn't attain complete and ultimate arcane power (complete and ultimate would not have faultered against Xykon).
Girard's Gate was the wrong Gate, Soon's Gate was the correct answer.

2/10. Strong start, but completely falls apart by the end.

[goodpeople25]

Huh? The prophecy came straight from Odin. It was going to happen. It can't possibly be wrong. That's not how prophecies work. It could either happen that day when Durkon went home, or they could come up with a hasty plan to try and stave off disaster. It's what Odin does on his throne every day with his power of foresight that he traded one of his eyes for. Did nobody pick up on that subtext? Ragnarok?

It wasn't the high priest of Thor's doing that caused the prophecy. It's what caused it to come in this particular form, but at least Dwarven society got 20 extra years.

You think OOTS is going to stave off the destruction? Nope, it's going to happen no matter what, even if they save the rest of the world from the Snarl. Prophecy. Straight from the top.

That's a quite a lot of weight put on assumptions about how prophecies work, (I don't think you're going to shake off the idea of the self fulfilling prophecy anymore than the hero's journey) how Odin's foresight works and his modus operandi (plus backstory that I don't think is given in the online comic. Is it in the books anyone? Of this comic not mythology) and possibly the extent of the prophecy (You seem set on a seemingly wider reaching result by quite a bit more than the minimum which could have possibly already occurred but I'm not sure where exactly that result lies. Though with hints of not being grounded solely in the comic. Which isn't on it's own a bad thing, just don't see much support for it here) and anything else I can't see.

Specifically on prophecies, this is what is happening now so what could of happened is purely hypothetical (at the very least to most characters involved) and Hurak would still be on the line for it if his motivations didn't match up. Also while I don't know/remember the exact words given for the prophecy I think there's possible room for the prophecies results to happen in a larger time frame after fulfilment with different results for better or worse if what happened at the the time the prophecy was given was different. To start, a "support beam" like Durkon can still affect events quite a bit (and imo has) with his presence and support and I don't see how a lack of actions/events taking place with consequences down the line couldn't fullfil the prophecy, though of course my practical experience with prophecies are (un)fortunately nil.

Separately, those are definitely fighting words SaintRidley regardless if I take you up on them or the sentiment behind them, I think Durkon's* comment on Durkon learning something from him works regardless of what will happen to the soul inside him, and yay back to this specific subject of the oracle that is always thrilling, new and achieves results. only that last one is supposed to be sarcastic, hopefully it didn't bleed into the rest or viceverca

Edit: And general statement of being a pre-sleep wall of text involving readability and making any bit of sense and so on.

[factotum]

... Is this trolling? He stabbed the Oracle right there in plain sight!

Maybe he's using that strange logic that goes, "The Oracle died, but he got better, so that means he never actually died in the first place"?

[Shoelessgdowar]

... Is this trolling? He stabbed the Oracle right there in plain sight!

He did not. The Oracle had already proved the prophecy was a lie by his multiple shoehorn narrative attempts, then committed assisted suicide with Belkar's Dagger, then ceased to be dead. Belker didn't ask if he was going to cause a death of those. In a World where restoring life is a possibility, A Death and The Death of someone are highly important distinctions, and that is if we dismiss the whole thing was nothing more than The Oracle both proving prophecies are fake (if his death was the one in the Prophecy, he would not have even tried to get out if it, he would have enjoyed his revenge, and known he was dead without the backpedalling, unless he knew he could possibly get out of it because he knows prophecies are fake, his shoehorn attempts prove unequivocally he was hedging his bets knowing prophecies can be defied) and exploiting a loophole in Belkar's Mark of Justice to screw with the Order and Belkar especially.

So none of Tarquin's soldiers or Nale or anyone are dead because they didn't wind up in Valhalla?

And you ask if I'm Trolling? Talk about the Pot calling the Crystal Goblet Black.
They went to their appropriate afterlifes, even Malack now has. Death is death once the soul has 100% moved on and is no longer in the body. Durkon's body isn't dead, and he is still in it. Until then, they're temporary cessations of lifesigns. See also above, Oracle is alive, Belkar didn't cause The Death of the Oracle, the Oracle only caused Belkar's Mark to trigger by ATTEMPTED Suicide (cause it failed to make him permanently deceased)

The point was All the Arcane Power in the World wouldn't do you any good if used unintelligently.

Nope, point was Complete And Total Arcane Power, complete and Total is All, not a lot. Also, the terms were The Right 4 words (I must succeed is 3, how right or wrong they were is debatable), to the right being (V said them to no one at all, no one by definition is no being, which can not be right), at the right time (Your Family in peril, desperation set in, lacking proper mental rest is far from the right time for anything, especially making coherent decisions), for ALL the Wrong Reasons (if a single reason is right, then it is not ALL the wrong reasons, and for it to be ALL the Wrong Reasons, there can not be a single Wrong reason missing. Saving Family is a Right Reason, ergo not ALL the rrasons were Wrong... Meanwhile, killing the Order, Freeing the Snarl, Destroying the Planet, and Proving 1 + 1 = Broccoli were not among the reasons, therefore not ALL the Wrong Reasons were factors).

He didn't ASK about Soon though. The Oracle knew that and explicitly tried to bait him into asking about all the Gates. But OF the choice between "Kraagnor's gate and Girard's Gate" Giurard's Gate was the correct answer.

For the answer to be correct, it had to be correct. A possible correct answer would be "Soon's gate, you stupid pedantic human, don't waste both your rime and mine with trying to outsmart truth."
To tout a reputation of always being 100% correct, you have to be 100% correct everytime, not sort of correct from a point of view.

------------------

Here, let me help you. The accurate answers shpuld have been.

"Imprisoned in your own mind by an idiotic Hel Worshipping Vampire Spirit bent on total destruction and death of this world"

"You won't. You will briefly taste a little sliver when you say 3 words to no one in particular at one of the worst times possible for a variety of reasons."

"When a Trojan Horse is about to destroy your chance at love, you will overcome your issue, and open yourself to new experiences and a brighter outlook on life."

"For a Giant in a Playground who will happily live up to his first name, it will."

"No. You will try and fail miserably, but in doing so you will have your own kind of metamorphosis, the you that you are now ceasing to be and a better you replacing the old you, but do feel free to try next time, after all, it is what will happen."

"Neither, you overthinking imbecile. My hob is to give you the correct answer, whether you try to screw up the question or not. Xykon is going to Soon's gate. Sure, I could sidequest you by falling for your idiocy, sending you to the Gerard's place, but my job is to be 100% correct, not sort of correct within the limited parameters you try to limit the answer to. Have fun jumping to stupid conclusions."

"Talk like a human instead of cawing, you'll get better lines, be remembered for some great quotes, get on t-shirts and holiday ornaments, and be considered far more than a side character."

See, those are the prophecies if they were the right ones, instead of the lousy wrong ones we were given.

[hroþila]

All your answers are completely wrong, as usual, so I'll just address one of them, to spare my own sanity:

V wasn't holding complete and total arcane power anymore when they faced Xykon. V had already lost 1/3 of it. "I... I must succeed" is four words, even if it's only three different words. The right being was V. The right time was when the opportunity to get ultimate arcane power presented itself. V's wrong reason to accept the deal was that V wanted the power, and "all the wrong reasons" is idiomatic.

[Quebbster]

My take on things:
"Posthumously" means "after death". Durkon died in strip 877, so Everything since then has been "after his Death". Sure, one might argue Durkon is not "dead as a doornail" as he thought he would be, but that doesn't make the Oracle's answer wrong.
Vaarsuvius did say four Words: "I... I must succeed." Also, it's Worth noting that V's question to the Oracle was formulated badly (much like Roy's): Instead of asking "Will I achieve complete and total arcane Power?", V was cocky, assumed it would happen, and asked how it would come to pass. I guess Darth V was as high as the elf's Power levels will ever go.
According to Haley herself, the answer she got from the Oracle wasn't useless.
Roy formulated his question badly. The Oracle even tried to Point it out and Roy realized his own mistake. Not the Oracle's fault.
And Belkar... see Durkon. He did cause the Death of the Oracle, no question about that. The Oracle got better, sure, but he did go to his appointed afterlife for a Little while just like Jirix.

If you want to play "It doesn't Count, because...", by all means do so. Personally, I appreciate the amount of planning and foreshadowing that has gone into this comic.

[Shoelessgdowar]

My take on things:
"Posthumously" means "after death". Durkon died in strip 877, so Everything since then has been "after his Death". Sure, one might argue Durkon is not "dead as a doornail" as he thought he would be, but that doesn't make the Oracle's answer wrong.
Vaarsuvius did say four Words: "I... I must succeed." Also, it's Worth noting that V's question to the Oracle was formulated badly (much like Roy's): Instead of asking "Will I achieve complete and total arcane Power?", V was cocky, assumed it would happen, and asked how it would come to pass. I guess Darth V was as high as the elf's Power levels will ever go.
According to Haley herself, the answer she got from the Oracle wasn't useless.
Roy formulated his question badly. The Oracle even tried to Point it out and Roy realized his own mistake. Not the Oracle's fault.
And Belkar... see Durkon. He did cause the Death of the Oracle, no question about that. The Oracle got better, sure, but he did go to his appointed afterlife for a Little while just like Jirix.

If you want to play "It doesn't Count, because...", by all means do so. Personally, I appreciate the amount of planning and foreshadowing that has gone into this comic.

I...I is one word... It is called stuttering. I = 1, must = 2, suceed = 3.

And... "You won't." is an answer. The question wasn't "How will I come close to Complete and Total Arcane Power?"

The Death is it. V caused The Death of Girard's Gate's protectors. Miko caused The Death of Lord Shojo. A Death is not The Death. Belkar did not cause The Death of anyone on his list.

------------------

The Prophecies must be maintained as 'Correct' for now, until the final comics have been printed, and all the fallacies in all the Prophecies can be revealed at once, otherwise is becomes obvious sooner we should let no prophecy hold any weight.

[Unoriginal]

He did not. The Oracle had already proved the prophecy was a lie by his multiple shoehorn narrative attempts

He did not. He provided interpretations of the prophecy's exact words in a way that'd angered Belkar, and so fulfilled the prophecy.

Belkar is also one of the actors in the events that caused the death of Miko, btw, so the prophecy would still have been right.

then committed assisted suicide with Belkar's Dagger, then ceased to be dead.

Which mean he died, thus fulfilling the prophecy.

Belker didn't ask if he was going to cause a death of those.

Yes he did.

In a World where restoring life is a possibility, A Death and The Death of someone are highly important distinctions,

No it's not.

and that is if we dismiss the whole thing was nothing more than The Oracle both proving prophecies are fake

They were proved to be right, if convoluted and relying on exact words, multiple time.

if his death was the one in the Prophecy, he would not have even tried to get out if it,

He didn't get out of the prophecy, he got out of the death. Nothing in the prophecy said "and the person you'll cause the death will stay death.

his shoehorn attempts prove unequivocally he was hedging his bets knowing prophecies can be defied) and exploiting a loophole in Belkar's Mark of Justice to screw with the Order and Belkar especially.

He didn't defy the prophecy.

Death is death once the soul has 100% moved on and is no longer in the body.

No, death is death once the body isn't animated by Positive Energy anymore.

Nope, point was Complete And Total Arcane Power, complete and Total is All, not a lot.

V had access to complete Conjuration, complete Necromancy and complete Sorcery, which totally completed the parts of Arcane Power V was missing.

to the right being (V said them to no one at all, no one by definition is no being, which can not be right)

He said it to himself.

(if a single reason is right, then it is not ALL the wrong reasons, and for it to be ALL the Wrong Reasons, there can not be a single Wrong reason missing. Saving Family is a Right Reason, ergo not ALL the rrasons were Wrong...

The only reason why V accepted the deal was because of ego. V could have obtained the same or better results otherwise, and V knew that, but the deciding factor, or "reason" was V's ego.

For the answer to be correct, it had to be correct. A possible correct answer would be "Soon's gate, you stupid pedantic human, don't waste both your rime and mine with trying to outsmart truth."
To tout a reputation of always being 100% correct, you have to be 100% correct everytime, not sort of correct from a point of view.

The answer was correct given how the question was asked. If someone ask you "between the store and the park, which one are you going first this afternoon?", you have no reason to say "I'm going to the pool this morning".

"Neither, you overthinking imbecile. My hob is to give you the correct answer, whether you try to screw up the question or not. Xykon is going to Soon's gate. Sure, I could sidequest you by falling for your idiocy, sending you to the Gerard's place, but my job is to be 100% correct, not sort of correct within the limited parameters you try to limit the answer to. Have fun jumping to stupid conclusions."

You realize that this is a guy who answered "in his throne room" when asked "where is Xykon?", right. The Oracle has to answer the question as asked, with the added problem being that anything not said in prophecy mode will be forgotten once the people leave the valley.

See, those are the prophecies if they were the right ones, instead of the lousy wrong ones we were given.

You seem to have an hard time getting the concept of "exact words twist", and you also seem to twist the events in the comic and the definitions of words so that it fits your view that the prophecies were wrong.

[Quebbster]

V had access to complete Conjuration, complete Necromancy and complete Sorcery, which totally completed the parts of Arcane Power V was missing.

Not being read up on D&D minutiae, I had completely missed this aspect. That's pretty cool.

[Kardwill]

Ah, but I think it suggests the opposite. Darkon just used the same phrasing and philosophy as someone in the memory. He is being actively influenced by what Durkon dredges up.

Oooooh, I didn't notice he took the bard's sentence. Nice!

Funny thing is, he probably chose to imitate the bard because what he said sounded cool and witty, but he didn't realise that it is really self-deprecating humor (because for him, no "master" would belittle himself in front of others, right?)
He's using Durkon's memory to look like he's got repartee, but he's really not good at picking up nuances in social interactions when they do not conform with his worldview.

[Yendor]

In the commentary to Don't Split the Party, Rich explains at great length exactly how Vaarsuvius' prophecy was fulfilled. And the extra commentary in the PDF version of War and XPs says that every official prophecy from 331, except Elan's, has been fulfilled at this point.

You can keep pretending the prophecies aren't real, but you're wrong. And if you're expecting the story to back you up on this, you're wasting your time.

[Wristlet Eater]

Complete And Total Arcane Power

Not really related, but when I saw this I had flashbacks to something I once saw on the 3.5 forum.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

I...I is one word... It is called stuttering. I = 1, must = 2, suceed = 3.

The author disagrees with you. He considers them 4 words. Therefore, in OotS-verse, they are four words, said by V for all the wrong reasons. After which they were given absolute power. Which they then proceeded to waste. But they did obtain it. Equally, your definition of "dead" and "posthumously" doesn't seem to match the definitions used by the author, and therefore by extension by the OotS-verse people.

You are grasping at straws to make your case - literally arguing what words 'ought' to mean or what you define them as to try and argue the prophecies aren't fulfilled. But it is an empty argument, because you don't get to define those words in-comic; the author does, as seen in the title of 899.

Grey Wolf

[Quebbster]

If I have two apples, one banana and one orange, how many fruits do I have? Three or four?

[hroþila]

Not to keep replying to Shoelessgdowar, but I think that, generally speaking, an elipsis in this comic tends to signify a longer break than would be expected from stuttering. "I... I must succeed" vs "I-I must succeed". Could be completely wrong because of course I haven't bothered reading through the archives to check, but that's my impression.

[goto124]

If I have two apples, one banana and one orange, how many fruits do I have? Three or four?

Should've thrown in some tomatoes there.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

If I have two apples, one banana and one orange, how many fruits do I have? Three or four?

The problem with this analogy is that typo-Belkar-screen name will either argue you have three types of fruit, or that V's words are actually one apple shown twice, a banana and an orange.

GW

[Quebbster]

The problem with this analogy is that typo-Belkar-screen name will either argue you have three types of fruit, or that V's words are actually one apple shown twice, a banana and an orange.

GW

Yeah, I really should disengage, but I liked that analogy a lot.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Yeah, I really should disengage, but I liked that analogy a lot.

It's a good analogy, don't get me wrong.

GW

[The MunchKING]

He did not.

So you're just going to blatantly lie about what happened?

Well I guess that answers my previous question. And in only 8 letters too. That's some efficiency.

Belker didn't ask if he was going to cause a death of those.

And yet he totally did.

In a World where restoring life is a possibility, A Death and The Death of someone are highly important distinctions,

SHOULD BE? Maybe... ARE? Apparently not.

and that is if we dismiss the whole thing was nothing more than The Oracle both proving prophecies are fake

And what if we do not? What if we assume he knew he would die there and just wanted to wind Belkar up more?

And you ask if I'm Trolling? Talk about the Pot calling the Crystal Goblet Black.

I'm mocking your answer. It's not really trolling, if I wasn't doing it just to get a rise out of you. Besides, I'm making a point. If you accept they are dead because their souls aren't in their bodies moving it around, then you should be able to follow the basic logic that Durkon is dead because his soul isn't in his body moving it around, an evil spirit from Hel is.

They went to their appropriate afterlifes, even Malack now has.

And Durkon's afterlife is to be stuck in his body. QED, dead.

Death is death once the soul has 100% moved on and is no longer in the body. Durkon's body isn't dead, and he is still in it.

The whole "0 HP and negative CON" thing disagrees with you.

Until then, they're temporary cessations of lifesigns. See also above, Oracle is alive, Belkar didn't cause The Death of the Oracle, the Oracle only caused Belkar's Mark to trigger by ATTEMPTED Suicide (cause it failed to make him permanently deceased)

and yet the Oracle and Durkon still flatlined. Durkon hasn't had any vital signs for weeks now.

Nope, point was Complete And Total Arcane Power, complete and Total is All, not a lot.

It was more power than anyone in the Universe ever had before or will have again. That is pretty much "Complete and Total" by any colloquial use of those words.

Also, the terms were The Right 4 words (I must succeed is 3, how right or wrong they were is debatable),

I... I must succeed is four though.

to the right being (V said them to no one at all, no one by definition is no being, which can not be right),

V said to herself to reassure of herself of the rightness of her cause.

Meanwhile, killing the Order, Freeing the Snarl, Destroying the Planet, and Proving 1 + 1 = Broccoli were not among the reasons, therefore not ALL the Wrong Reasons were factors).

Again, Colloquialisms. The Oracle isn't a lawyer and never claimed to be. He explicitly liked messing with people with his prophecies.

For the answer to be correct, it had to be correct.

No, that would be completely WRONG for the question he was asked. The correct answer to "Kraagnor's gate or Girard's Gate" is NOT Soon's Gate. On a multiple choice test, if the choices are A or B, C is automatically wrong.

Here, let me help you. The accurate answers shpuld have been.

"Imprisoned in your own mind by an idiotic Hel Worshipping Vampire Spirit bent on total destruction and death of this world"

Which is in fact post humously. He died. And he hasn't even come back to life, so you don't even get that excuse.

"You won't. You will briefly taste a little sliver when you say 3 words to no one in particular at one of the worst times possible for a variety of reasons."

Which would be boring, wrong, and wouldn't achieve his objectives.

"For a Giant in a Playground who will happily live up to his first name, it will."

Maybe not, if whiny little trolls keep picking apart every little thing in every little comic.

"No. You will try and fail miserably, but in doing so you will have your own kind of metamorphosis, the you that you are now ceasing to be and a better you replacing the old you, but do feel free to try next time, after all, it is what will happen."

Except he DID cause the death of several of those, including ACTIVELY STABBING ONE OF THEM TO DEATH.

The Oracle is totally better than you at this so far.

"Neither, you overthinking imbecile. My hob is to give you the correct answer, whether you try to screw up the question or not. Xykon is going to Soon's gate. Sure, I could sidequest you by falling for your idiocy, sending you to the Gerard's place, but my job is to be 100% correct, not sort of correct within the limited parameters you try to limit the answer to. Have fun jumping to stupid conclusions."

Except that's NOT his job. His Job is to give True, but still pointless answers to the questions asked in order to manipulate filthy bipeds for his own amusement. He is under no obligation to save you from your own stupidity.

"Talk like a human instead of cawing, you'll get better lines, be remembered for some great quotes, get on t-shirts and holiday ornaments, and be considered far more than a side character."

See, those are the prophecies if they were the right ones, instead of the lousy wrong ones we were given.

Except arguably "How can I be a main character" was not what Blackwing asked. Most people assumed it had to do with getting V to remember and be nicer to him.