OOTS #1096 - The Discussion Thread

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

[Basement Cat]

Roy's right. He's so right it hurts. This kind of maneuver never works where prophecies are concerned. But if the High Priest had simply told Durkon he would indeed have stayed away. Moreover Durkon would have been spared decades of loneliness and pain.

It will be interesting how this revelation will effect Durkon when he learns of it. Ironically I can see Durkon rejoicing at the news once he gets it: "There was a reason? Thor be praised!"

[hamishspence]

Roy does make a very good point here.

[Auburn Bright]

Aw, this one's kind of sweet. In a weird way.

[endiku]

No surprise.

But good to get it out in the open...

[DecimalPoint]

Yep, 1 point to Roy

[GudBelkarIsGud]

Oh wow. I don't know why, but just a few lines of dialogue from Roy seemed to better highlight Durkon's anguish for me better than the flashbacks shown to us so far. It's a pretty good testament to how well Durkon's onscreen stoicism and overall positive attitude has been portrayed. I mean, it makes sense that he'd be torn up inside, but I always got the feeling that he'd long ago made genuine peace with it. Maybe he hadn't.

This little bit of dialogue also made me realise the depths of Roy's friendship with Durkon; it's pretty clearly on a much deeper level than the other friendships in the group.

Damn. I love this writing!

[Doctor West]

No surprise.

But good to get it out in the open...

Well, no surprise to the maybe 10% of readers who bought and read On The Origin of PCs or hang around on the forums enough to pick up spoilers.

[Alaska Fan]

Roy's last observation is as poignant as anything the Giant has written so far. Well played.

[Peelee]

I really like how Roy has grown a distaste for prophecies.

[ironkid]

Roy's right. Durkon would've obliterated himself, just to make it zero chance for the prophecy ever be fulfilled. Whether that would count as a honorable death would be unconsequential to Durkon.

But *WE* know that.

You know how a liar expects everyone to be a liar, and a traitor expects everyone to be a traitor? That tells you who the former high priest of thor was. He probably would've expect for Durkon to blackmail the city, threatening it with simply returning, or something like that.

Here's to hoping he dies in disgrace, Thor strips him of his powers, and that Garm gets a former high priest of thor as chewing toy after all.

[dude123nice]

Roy's right. Durkon would've obliterated himself, just to make it zero chance for the prophecy ever be fulfilled. Whether that would count as a honorable death would be unconsequential to Durkon.

But *WE* know that.

You know how a liar expects everyone to be a liar, and a traitor expects everyone to be a traitor? That tells you who the former high priest of thor was. He probably would've expect for Durkon to blackmail the city, threatening it with simply returning, or something like that.

Here's to hoping he dies in disgrace, Thor strips him of his powers, and that Garm gets a former high priest of thor as chewing toy after all.

Pretty sure he is already dead.

[CoffeeIncluded]

The old high priest already died, several hundred comics ago. But yes, this was the worst possible way to go about things.

[Coliumbos]

Here's to hoping he dies in disgrace, Thor strips him of his powers, and that Garm gets a former high priest of thor as chewing toy after all.

I suppose this is all meant to be past tense, given that the current High Priest is different.

Still, yeah, revelations that are only revelations to people who don't know the character. Roy's right - Durkon would have done it all to himself anyway, if it would protect someone. But that's always the greatest tragedy about these things - the naturally good have to be forced away, but the naturally evil must be kept close to stop prophecies from occurring. And they're always set in motion by those who seek to stall them.

[Mr_Ratatosk]

What's funny about this comic is that it more or less reiterated what everyone has been saying on the forum for a few weeks now. Though I think Roy put it in much better terms.

"Break his own leg kicking his butt out the door." I might have to find an excuse to use that one day...

[Seto]

That's a wonderful character-driven strip.

[Gnome Alone]

Even Belkar's expression is a little miffed here.

[Knick]

I call this the "Wheel of Time problem", whereby good characters mess up by not sharing important information until it is too late.

[Antonok]

That last line made me laugh a bit too hard.

So been thinking this for a while, but the prophecy said when he returns home, why didn't they just forbid him from ever leaving in the first place? Never leave, never have to return.

[Ruck]

Yeah, I always thought Hurak's reasoning was faulty-- if you know Durkon is lawful enough to never come back if you tell him, you ought to know that that would hold true even if you told him the truth. (Especially as Good as he is, too, not just Lawful.)

Anyway, I love how this is all coming together-- that the party finally knows the real story of why Durkon was exiled. I am sure it will come up again once the Order confronts the vampire.

[hamishspence]

So been thinking this for a while, but the prophecy said when he returns home, why didn't they just forbid him from ever leaving in the first place? Never leave, never have to return.

Hurak had concluded at the time that something would have eventually forced Durkon to leave, no matter how much they tried to prevent it.

[MReav]

I disagree with Roy.

Durkon breaking his leg to kick himself out the door would impede his ability to leave faster.

[IDrankWHAT]

I'm akin to believe that this new evidence will come about during Roy VS Durkula and Roy will tell him, if my buddy Durkon is in there and can hear me, yadda yadda yadda. Durkon will hear this inside and Durkula is gonna be pretty much up that one creek without a paddle.

[IDrankWHAT]

I disagree with Roy.

Durkon breaking his leg to kick himself out the door would impede his ability to leave faster.

Then again, even if he did break it, he would probably just heal it back anyway!

[HandofShadows]

And Roy has no idea that the real Durkon is still in there fighting as best he can.

[KishouTheBadger]

Personally makes me wish that Hurak is in Hel's Hell, because of what he did. I get he was trying to delay the prophecy, but it was still such a poor way to handle things, especially towards someone as devout and lawful as poor Durkon.

The bastard got lucky dying before the rest of the dwarven lands were doomed, so I expect a punchline where all the afterlife dwarves stare at him in contempt as he says something sheepish like "Uh... opps?"

[Chei]

It's really nice to see Roy speak up for the Durkon-that-was. And terribly painful for him to come to the conclusion that Durkon's life was "exactly as unfair as he always feared it was."

Last time the issue of resurrecting Durkon came up, Roy made the painful but necessary determination that they can't prioritize Durkon over the world. I kind of hope that this story nudges Roy to decide that he's going to get his friend back, one way or the other.

[Lord Torath]

Yeah, I always thought Hurak's reasoning was faulty-- if you know Durkon is lawful enough to never come back if you tell him, you ought to know that that would hold true even if you told him the truth. (Especially as Good as he is, too, not just Lawful.)

Anyway, I love how this is all coming together-- that the party finally knows the real story of why Durkon was exiled. I am sure it will come up again once the Order confronts the vampire.

Now we just need Roy to tell everyone what The High Priestess of Thor told him about Durkon no longer being banished.

Great strip, Giant. Thanks!

[HUMVEE Driver]

LOL Great title for this one! That's a first!

[gamingfreak10]

Durkon's a better man than I. He'd exile himself; I'd just say "k, then I won't leave".

So maybe not necessarily better as much as less lazy...