Things You Never Noticed VI: The Undiscovered Detail

[Fyraltari]

Absent a message from the Giant, I prefer to think it's a reference to the last emperor of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus (who, admittedly, I had never heard of before joining this forum).

Edit: Nice to notice that I hadn't heard of Tarquinius, in opposition to Elan's Dad's goal.

King. The last* emperor of Rome was Romulus Augustus, which always cracks me up.

*Sort of. It's contested, and completely ignores the Eastern Empire.

[Aveline]

To nitpick myself, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was not an emperor but a king - I read beyond the Wikipedia summary today and learned that Rome was not always an empire.

Edit: Beaten to it by Fyraltari.

[Fyraltari]

To nitpick myself, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was not an emperor but a king - I read beyond the Wikipedia summary today and learned that Rome was not always an empire.

Edit: Beaten to it by Fyraltari.

Tarquinius managed to dsgust the Romans of monarchy so much that they spent half a millenium pretending their monarch wasn't a king and made up a lot of words to avoid saying "rex" like prince (first citizen/among equals), emperor (miltary commander/succeful general), August (sacred one) and Caesar (hairy one).

It's impressive, really.

[Peelee]

Tarquinius managed to dsgust the Romans of monarchy so much that they spent half a millenium pretending their monarch wasn't a king and made up a lot of words to avoid saying "rex" like prince (first citizen/among equals), emperor (miltary commander/succeful general), August (sacred one) and Caesar (hairy one).

It's impressive, really.

IIRC, one of the reasons so many people were in board with killing Julius Caesar was over fears he was going to crown himself king.

Also I somehow read "last emperor" as "last king" and didn't think anything of it into y'all came in with the corrections.

[Jasdoif]

Also I somehow read "last emperor" as "last king" and didn't think anything of it into y'all came in with the corrections.

The thing with the king was a temper-er of the emperor?

[Peelee]

The thing with the king was a temper-er of the emperor?

Joking about a Roman? That's low, man.

[Fyraltari]

IIRC, one of the reasons so many people were in board with killing Julius Caesar was over fears he was going to crown himself king.

Braodly speaking this is correct. Although, I don't think Cassius, Brutus & Co were as concerned over the fact that he would literally crown himself (as they probably realized that ol'Caius was too smart for that after that one time Antonius putting a crown on a statue of Caesar reminded everyone of how much of a PR disaster that would be) as they were over the fact that he didn't need to. As dictator-for-life he already had all the powers of a king and the very title proved that unlike Sylla he wasn't planning on retiring any time soon.*

"We're defending the Republic" was certainly their justification and the fact that they didn't follow up on their assassination with killing Antonius & Co and staging a coup as was traditional but by organizing elections points towards them being honest. and the fact that they took Antonius' deal and gave Caesar a state funeral instead of branding him a tyrant when Antonius pointed to them that that would meann nullifying all of Caesar's decisions including giving them their jobs points toward them being dishonest.

There's a good chance they genuinely suffered from a severe case of privilege myopia and thought the people would have thanked them for removing the one guy who had brought some stability and enacted progressive reforms for the noble goal of protecting the sacro-sainct Freedoms that in actuality had only ever benefitted the ruling class.

EDIT: * Which is why I find that correcting people when they call Caesar a roman emperor to be nothing but pedantic nitpicking. Dude checked all the boxes and Augustus' policies were basically the same as his. Just because he was killed by a bunch of political dinosaurs who never kept hold of power afterwards doesn't change that.

[D.One]

OMG. Just now I've noticed that these slaves were those slaves.

[Ruck]

OMG. Just now I've noticed that these slaves were those slaves.

Is the first one supposed to be #752, with the mention in the first panel? I would have thought #750, with Haley and Vaarsuvius actually helping the slaves escape.

[D.One]

Is the first one supposed to be #752, with the mention in the first panel? I would have thought #750, with Haley and Vaarsuvius actually helping the slaves escape.

It's the first panel of #752, with Haley saying they fled to the mountains.

Another thing I've been thinking about: How much time has passed beetween #68 and #1148? I'm still trying to figure ot if, aside from the pure joke scenario, is there any chance that the Deva and the Slaad met on an afterparty after Elan's shoulder.

[Fyraltari]

It's the first panel of #752, with Haley saying they fled to the mountains.

Another thing I've been thinking about: How much time has passed beetween #68 and #1148? I'm still trying to figure ot if, aside from the pure joke scenario, is there any chance that the Deva and the Slaad met on an afterparty after Elan's shoulder.

Around a year.

[D.One]

Around a year.

Ow, that's a shame. It would be funny for a Celestial Slaad to pop up, look at Elan and say something in the lines of "Thanks to you I'm here now"

[Vinyadan]

Absent a message from the Giant, I prefer to think it's a reference to the last emperor of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus (who, admittedly, I had never heard of before joining this forum).

Edit: Nice to notice that I hadn't heard of Tarquinius, in opposition to Elan's Dad's goal.

Unless it's actually about Tarquinius Priscus, also a king of Rome. "The Great Rome of the Tarquinii" is something of a refrain when talking about Rome before 509 BC. Also, his wife was called Tanaquil. But I find Tarquinius Superbus much more likely, simply because he was a bad guy in historiography.

[Lord Torath]

After a fifth or sixth rereading, I just noticed that Rich actually put the handle in front of the hand (panel 8). Every other time I can think of, Rich puts the hand in front of the weapon, even when it should be behind the weapon (Haley and Belkar in page 2 panel 6, Belkar in panels 7-12- dagger, not stake, Thor in panels 8-9, etc.).

[D.One]

Doing a re-read of some things, and I've noticed Nale's idea of who might recognize him was completely off-target.

Belkar is OotS's number one impostor recognizer, I must say.

[CriticalFailure]

V is now using the headband of +int as a hair tie. I didn’t realize that’s where it was rather than being out of view but still counting as a magic item.

[Laze]

V is now using the headband of +int as a hair tie. I didn’t realize that’s where it was rather than being out of view but still counting as a magic item.

Before I made my account here, I remember reading a discussion on this very forum, about it. Some people were saying that it shouldn't work that way, because it's not equipped on the head, while other were saying that it's too nitpicky and it should work anyway.

[D.One]

Blackwing states here that the Symbol of Death could, after killing the weakest members of the Order, have enough "juice leftover" to kill him, the cat and the baby (Kudzu). Now that I re-read that, I think that maybe the tactical option of Hylgia entering last might have been not only for the impact of the reveal, but also an extra safeguard to assure that Kudzu wasn't caught by some leftover Symbol.

[Ruck]

I had noticed on re-read that in #991, Thirden told Little Durkon that the Dinner Party Five had all met Sidgi right before he was born-- a bit of foreshadowing for how they all met-- but I didn't notice until now that he also refers to himself as a "miner-turned-bard," another bit of foreshadowing.

I was rereading #991 to investigate the "Is the person who retrieved the treasure chest from the troll's cave and gave it to Sigdi a Firehelm?" theory... and I noticed in both #991 and #1127, he is wearing armor with a red horizontal stripe (or belt, or waistband, or whatever) that matches not only Hilgya's, but also the other Firehelms we see in #1114. (Heck, it could even theoretically be her oldest brother-- he's wearing a different helmet / cap than the rest of them in #991 and #1127, and in #1114 her eldest brother isn't wearing any headgear and is bald. Headcanon is now that he was covering up his bald spot, if this ends up being true.)

[Fyraltari]

I was rereading #991 to investigate the "Is the person who retrieved the treasure chest from the troll's cave and gave it to Sigdi a Firehelm?" theory... and I noticed in both #991 and #1127, he is wearing armor with a red horizontal stripe (or belt, or waistband, or whatever) that matches not only Hilgya's, but also the other Firehelms we see in #1114. (Heck, it could even theoretically be her oldest brother-- he's wearing a different helmet / cap than the rest of them in #991 and #1127, and in #1114 her eldest brother isn't wearing any headgear and is bald. Headcanon is now that he was covering up his bald spot, if this ends up being true.)

Intersestingly Sigdi and the others are wearing brown belts. He is wearing the same kind of helmet, though.

[Ruck]

Intersestingly Sigdi and the others are wearing brown belts. He is wearing the same kind of helmet, though.

Browsing through this book, I haven't noticed any red belts on dwarves save on the Firehelms and the man who rescued the treasure chest from the troll cave. I was more skeptical when the connection was "He's also blond" but the red belt evidence gives it some merit to me, as that strikes me as something likely deliberate.

[Potatopeelerkin]

Not sure if anyone's pointed it out before, but Hoder's high priestess, who is blind, is facing the wrong way in the final panel on this page.

[Borris]

I just noticed that Durkon is emptying a flask in his cup of "bloodwort" tea in http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0737.html

[Ron Miel]

That's bloodwart. It's made from blood and warts.

[Mad Humanist]

I just noticed that Durkon is emptying a flask in his cup of "bloodwort" tea in http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0737.html

Yeah I never noticed that either. Or that Durkon says cheers at the end of the strip (to honour the brave livers).

EDIT: Nor did I notice that Durkon only asks about the Statue so that he could make use of that flask without Malack noticing.

[Fyraltari]

Hel broke the rule.

Note the phrasings used here.

[danielxcutter]

Hel broke the rule.

Note the phrasings used here.

What phrasings? Do you mean that since the bodyguards and clerics could hear her, it counts as telling them? I don't know, the fact that Thor considered Minrah hearing about it in passing sufficient suggests that it's not as ironclad as that...

[Fyraltari]

What phrasings? Do you mean that since the bodyguards and clerics could hear her, it counts as telling them? I don't know, the fact that Thor considered Minrah hearing about it in passing sufficient suggests that it's not as ironclad as that...

Heimdall and Loki used "the danger we dare not speak of" and "you-know-who" instead of "the Snarl" so this this looks like it should count as telling the mortals.

[Resileaf]

Heimdall and Loki used "the danger we dare not speak of" and "you-know-who" instead of "the Snarl" so this this looks like it should count as telling the mortals.

Well maybe she'll get a scolding later, but there's probably some bigger issues at work at the moment. x3

[danielxcutter]

Also, it's kinda implied that the gods in general are scared $*&%less of the Snarl, so...