Prediction: Someone's already been to the world in the Rift

[Ionathus]

The Order of the Scribble, in particular.

Back in BRitF Girard's holographic hate-mail to Soon Kim referenced Kraagor's death, and blamed Soon Kim for it. Moreover, Girard's final words are that Soon Kim should've been the one to die, which is the meat of the sentence and the part that stuck with me, but I'd forgotten the syntax he uses: he says "it should have been you that died in that rift" (emphasis mine)

I suspect this is foreshadowing that, unspoken in any of the legends, the Order of the Scribble didn't just close the rifts. They had to go into the rifts, or at least the one at the North Pole.

Narratively, it makes a lot of sense that the OotS would go into the rift, given that they've now seen the planet inside several times, and we still don't know what the IFCC is planning (and I suspect it's a completely different paradigm than all the other plans, given how cryptic they've been). I expect the "closing the rifts" business wasn't as smooth as was implied by the secondhand accounts.

This concludes the musings by me. I'm sure someone's caught this already and I'm late to the party, but would love to hear other's thoughts.


Edit: grammar

[Rogar Demonblud]

We already know the IFCC's scheme: unify the Lower Planes with the power of Friendship cooperation and use that force to wipe out the Upper Planes.

[Ionathus]

That is absolutely their scheme on the surface.

But come on, that's what they told V. And then they immediately admitted to Qarr that they'd been withholding info from V.

The Snarl annihilates souls and deific entities, so they're playing with fire in a big way if they mess this up. I don't see them staking that risk on a simple proof-of-concept ploy.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Do they actually know what the Snarl does? Or do they just know it's a really powerful entity that's been sealed away? We know what Nale told Sabine before she bolted to report in, and it didn't include any of the juicy stuff.

[CriticalFailure]

Haven’t theories been posted that Kraagor May have been trapped on the other side? I think it’s likely that Kraagors gate will be compromised and characters end up going through.

[Ionathus]

Do they actually know what the Snarl does? Or do they just know it's a really powerful entity that's been sealed away? We know what Nale told Sabine before she bolted to report in, and it didn't include any of the juicy stuff.

Based on the Crayons of Time, the Snarl seems capable of "melee" attacks with its claws/strands. The claws didn't show up at the end of Blood Runs in the Family, which means maybe they were an embellishment.

We only have one depiction of a person actually dying to the Snarl on the Prime Material plane, and it's also rendered in crayon which means it might be dramatized. Her body stuck around, though. We never see if Kraagor's does or not, so Kraagor being sucked into the rift is possible. However, they seemed to be quite convinced he was dead.

We've only seen the actual snarl in non-crayon time once, and it possessed Laurin's eyes and seemingly passed through 1 soldier, though due to the helmet we can't see if the guard's eyes were X'ed out as a result.

[Werbaer]

We've only seen the actual snarl in non-crayon time once, and it [URL="http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0945.html"]possessed Laurin's eyes

That's just its reflection in her eyes.

[Fish]

Kraagor is on that world with a billion Thor-worshiping dwarf clones to thwart Hel’s plan for soul domination.

Prove me wrong.

[Squire Doodad]

That's just its reflection in her eyes.

I saw it as being a "the snarl sees you" more than reflection or possession of any sort. At most, the Snarl looked through her spell but that's probably about it without us knowing more info.

[CriticalFailure]

Given that the antagonists have a divine magic user who gets magic from the dark one, is there a question of how the spells might interact with the snarl? Divine spells seem to contain some quiddity straight from the god granting the spell based on the fact that the gods want one of Redcloak's spell slots to seal the gate. What happens if he ends up interacting with it? Are Team Evil actually all four color beings because Redcloak's been healing them?

[Squire Doodad]

Given that the antagonists have a divine magic user who gets magic from the dark one, is there a question of how the spells might interact with the snarl? Divine spells seem to contain some quiddity straight from the god granting the spell based on the fact that the gods want one of Redcloak's spell slots to seal the gate. What happens if he ends up interacting with it? Are Team Evil actually all four color beings because Redcloak's been healing them?

I imagine that healing would be using a quiddity, not altering anything. An Epic level spell might hypothetically be able to alter a being's level of quiddity through the addition of a not already present color (like a Blue/Yellow being having Red added to it), but there's nothing to confirm that. Odds are spells would be akin to taking a single-quiddity essence, channeling it through a x-quiddity being, and then using that to manifest whatever effect the spell has. Which might mean that Redcloak's spells (as well as the other clerics of the Dark One) are 4-quiddity, but again I'm not sure if there's even an answer to that, or if it matters in the first place.

[Rrmcklin]

We already know the IFCC's scheme: unify the Lower Planes with the power of Friendship cooperation and use that force to wipe out the Upper Planes.

That is absolutely their scheme on the surface.

But come on, that's what they told V. And then they immediately admitted to Qarr that they'd been withholding info from V.

The Snarl annihilates souls and deific entities, so they're playing with fire in a big way if they mess this up. I don't see them staking that risk on a simple proof-of-concept ploy.

Quibble - that's their end goal, not their actual plan for achieving it. We have been given no reason to doubt that they're sincere about their motivations, but it doesn't actually tell us how they plan to use the Rifts and V to get from point A to point B.

And I mention this, because I think it's pretty common for people to misinterpret the things they've said.

Back to the OP question, even if that were the case and the Scribblers went into the Rift... so? What would that actually change?

[CriticalFailure]

Well, if Kraagor actually went through the rift rather than just being snarled, Serini might’ve tried to convince the others to secretly add some back door into hers behind Soon’s back or even compromised her own Gate (after all there are 4 more) things in an attempt to eventually see if he is still there. This idea is a bit out there but if true it could lead to all sorts of complications for The Order and Team Evil.

[Peelee]

Kraagor is on that world with a billion Thor-worshiping dwarf clones to thwart Hel’s plan for soul domination.

Prove me wrong.

OK.

That's not how clones work.

Proved!

[KorvinStarmast]

Kraagor is on that world with a billion Thor-worshiping dwarf clones to thwart Hel’s plan for soul domination.

Prove me wrong.

First, prove that there's beer on that world. Without that, you get no Thor worshipping dwarf clones who can survive.

[MossyMeow]

First, prove that there's beer on that world. Without that, you get no Thor worshipping dwarf clones who can survive.

Obviously, the ocean is made of beer, not water, which is why Laurin was unable to sense any fish.

[D.One]

Obviously, the ocean is made of beer, not water, which is why Laurin was unable to sense any fish.

It's the legendary Blue Beer E^TM.

[Squire Doodad]

It's the legendary Blue Beer E^TM.

The grand Indigo IPA, the fabled drink said to be brewed with Astral Barley and simmered over the flame of Tiamat's own disciples, whose potency is so outstanding that it would be undrinkable if it weren't for the fact that the alcohol content is so high that it shuts off the part of your brain that realizes you are drinking too much. Sparkling in the sunlight, glowing amidst the stars, Indigo IPA is the single greatest drink known to the universe, and curiously every world capable of brewing it ended up having the obliterated brew filtering through the very fabric of reality into the Snarl.

[Ionathus]

Back to the OP question, even if that were the case and the Scribblers went into the Rift... so? What would that actually change?

It's not like it disrupts anything, or changes any of the plot points, really. But if the Scribblers went into the Rift, then I'd expect the Order would do the same.

It would make sense to have the final battle in an entirely different world/dimension -- makes it suitably Epic for a fate-of-the-world fight. It also changes the dynamics and the rules everyone's working with, which serves as a great "oh no" moment. Think Xen from Half-Life 1.