Things you never noticed II: I never noticed the first thread

[MesiDoomstalker]

I just realized that V's comment about Wizards in this strip is foreshadowing V's verbal (and literal) beatdown on Z in this strip.

Giant is a master of foreshadowing.

[Sethala]

I never noticed Durkon adding something with alcohol to his tea in strip 737 until recently (panel 6)

[Gift Jeraff]

Gannji knows that Roy is a Northerner, but how? Northern accent?

[Pheehelm]

My best guess is, he inferred it from the wanted poster which labels Nale a Northerner, and thinking Roy is associated with him.

[Gift Jeraff]

Good catch! And Tarquin says Elan was raised on the Northern Continent with Gannji present, plus halflings seems to be exclusive to the north, so I guess it's not really a stretch.

[Raistlin82]

Originally Posted by bronnt

That's the way this would work if it was a Final Fantasy game, I think. But it also seems the implication is that the heroes would need to be the same level as the Gods, so freaking epic levels. I'm not sure if the comic lasts long enough for them to gain that many levels.

Yeah... I didn't expect a direct, Final Fantasy-style, physical fight with the Snarl before (it seemed out of place), but after that comment... hmmm... I wonder why he bothered to explain that "rule".

As for epic levels... well, I'm not one of those who keep count, but I'm pretty sure that the OotS is closer to 20 than 10. Add this whole Tarquin city story, plus something will surely happen at the Girard Gate (which is still far away from being found, apparently), plus you have Serini's gate, which we already know is filled with high level monsters... and then probably a last confrontation with Team Evil (and Xykon is an epic sorcerer by himself, so I'm guessing they will be at least of a decent level when fighting him). And who knows what else could happen in-between all these events.
I imagine that after all that, epic level doesn't seem so impossible.

[Gift Jeraff]

The line might be there to explain how the Scribblers managed to fight off the Snarl while sealing the rifts. (They couldn't kill it, but perhaps they could repel it and/or chop off some threads while Lirian and Dorukan sealed them.)

[Peelee]

After just getting the first book, I noticed that in this strip., and actually all others with both characters, Thog and Roy's big boots are never on the same foot, respective to each other. As in, if Thog's big boot is on his left foot, Roy's will be on his right. The first panel doesn't show it, but the book changed that so it keeps with the different foot theme. Very subtle way of showing "opposite," possibly, like Elan and Nale's sashes hanging off opposing shoulders

[Gift Jeraff]

I always thought Nale grossly severed his victims' corpses in order to make sure the police gave their full attention and realized the murders were connected. It never really occurred to me that the distant body parts were likely the result of Thog just swinging his greataxe around without a care.

For some reason, I find that makes Thog both more charming and frightening.

Originally Posted by Peelee

After just getting the first book, I noticed that in this strip., and actually all others with both characters, Thog and Roy's big boots are never on the same foot, respective to each other. As in, if Thog's big boot is on his left foot, Roy's will be on his right. The first panel doesn't show it, but the book changed that so it keeps with the different foot theme. Very subtle way of showing "opposite," possibly, like Elan and Nale's sashes hanging off opposing shoulders

I noticed that in #808 but figured it was just a coincidence--good catch!

[bronnt]

I just realized that, way back in #383, Belkar tries to kill Nale with the Mark of Justice on him. Seems he forgot about it in the spur of the moment, catching one of his arch-enemies masquerading as his friend.

[Kish]

Originally Posted by bronnt

I just realized that, way back in #383, Belkar tries to kill Nale with the Mark of Justice on him. Seems he forgot about it in the spur of the moment, catching one of his arch-enemies masquerading as his friend.

He tried to ignore the Mark of Justice all the time. Haley had to drag him out of Azure City to stop him from wading into the hobgoblins. Even with immediate obvious consequences for him, Belkar simply didn't have the impulse control to avoid triggering the Mark for very long.

[Barstro]

I never noticed that Nale's magic was yellow, making him Elan's evil opposite.

[Who149]

It just dawned on me another way Nale and Elan are opposites.

Elan has a very low intelligence, but a decent to good wisdom.

Meanwhile, Nale has a decent to good intelligence, but terrible wisdom.

It came to me as he bluntly asked Malack "Hows the family?", and I feel its now been obvious since the beginning

[Gift Jeraff]

A lightning bolt is what foiled Nale last time. This time, Evasion helped him dodge one. I'm willing to bet he took a second level of rogue just for that.

Also, the bottom 2 rows of #397 seem to occur at around the same time as the top 2 rows of #398 (which makes sense), judging from Nale's body appearing in the third row.

[bronnt]

Another thing that I missed: The guard that escorted Enor and Gannji to the palace was Sabine in disguise.

[MesiDoomstalker]

Originally Posted by bronnt

Another thing that I missed: The guard that escorted Enor and Gannji to the palace was Sabine in disguise.

I don't think so. They have different skin tones. Similar, but the initial gaurd taking in Enor and Ganji is lighter, while Sabine is closer to a Reddish-Brown.

EDIT: Its possible that real-Dave escorted Enor/Ganji in and then was eliminated by Sabine who prompltly masquarades as him. Another faceless mook. Considering one of the gaurds didn't even know his name, a slightly different skin tone wouldn't of caused too much, if any, alarm among the gaurds.

[Holy_Knight]

Originally Posted by Gift Jeraff

A lightning bolt is what foiled Nale last time. This time, Evasion helped him dodge one. I'm willing to bet he took a second level of rogue just for that.

Also, the bottom 2 rows of #397 seem to occur at around the same time as the top 2 rows of #398 (which makes sense), judging from Nale's body appearing in the third row.

I just realized that there might have been another way to tell the twins apart. Elan could have shown the scar that he still has from when Nale stabbed him.

[factotum]

Originally Posted by Holy_Knight

I just realized that there might have been another way to tell the twins apart. Elan could have shown the scar that he still has from when Nale stabbed him.

That would hardly be definitive proof, would it? Scars are easy to acquire, and unless Tarquin and Malack knew everything that had happened to Nale while he was away, they have no reason to take one as proof Elan is not Nale or vice versa.

[Gift Jeraff]

Originally Posted by factotum

That would hardly be definitive proof, would it? Scars are easy to acquire, and unless Tarquin and Malack knew everything that had happened to Nale while he was away, they have no reason to take one as proof Elan is not Nale or vice versa.

He's talking about V in the strip I linked.

[Kish]

Originally Posted by Who149

It just dawned on me another way Nale and Elan are opposites.

Elan has a very low intelligence, but a decent to good wisdom.

Meanwhile, Nale has a decent to good intelligence, but terrible wisdom.

It came to me as he bluntly asked Malack "Hows the family?", and I feel its now been obvious since the beginning

1) Elan's Wisdom is catastrophic like his Intelligence. Remember when he considered multiclassing to cleric, and Roy told him "you need at least a smidgen of Wisdom," and his reply was not to protest that he did, but to deny that Wisdom is necessary to be a cleric?
2) That wasn't Nale being stupid, that was a(n incredibly vicious, I might add) taunt.

[bronnt]

Originally Posted by MesiDoomstalker

I don't think so. They have different skin tones. Similar, but the initial gaurd taking in Enor and Ganji is lighter, while Sabine is closer to a Reddish-Brown.

EDIT: Its possible that real-Dave escorted Enor/Ganji in and then was eliminated by Sabine who prompltly masquarades as him. Another faceless mook. Considering one of the gaurds didn't even know his name, a slightly different skin tone wouldn't of caused too much, if any, alarm among the gaurds.

Perhaps you're right. I went back and looked at it, and I guess I fixated on what seemed to be the same three guards. The second panel of #717 and the second panel of #793 are very similar, and show what seem to be the same three guards, along with the backs of the helmets of several more standing around. The skin tone is just a touch different, you're right. And since they are stick figures, the differences you can illustrate between guys in identical uniforms is pretty slim.

Still, it would make sense to me that this would be how the LG learned that the OotS was there in time for Zz'dtri to disguise himself as the elven ambassador. Even though he spied them back in #698, they wouldn't have known at that point they were heading for the Empire of Blood.

[MesiDoomstalker]

Originally Posted by bronnt

Perhaps you're right. I went back and looked at it, and I guess I fixated on what seemed to be the same three guards. The second panel of #717 and the second panel of #793 are very similar, and show what seem to be the same three guards, along with the backs of the helmets of several more standing around. The skin tone is just a touch different, you're right. And since they are stick figures, the differences you can illustrate between guys in identical uniforms is pretty slim.

Still, it would make sense to me that this would be how the LG learned that the OotS was there in time for Zz'dtri to disguise himself as the elven ambassador. Even though he spied them back in #698, they wouldn't have known at that point they were heading for the Empire of Blood.

They may have known OotS were on their way but Z being disguised as the ambassador seemed to be in place regardless of OotS's position. They also didn't know OotS would be heading to the castle and thus had no reason risking blowing their position with the replacment. Only after they arrived and the half-baked ambush was planned was the swap made.

[Shhalahr Windrider]

Originally Posted by Kish

2) That wasn't Nale being stupid, that was a(n incredibly vicious, I might add) taunt.

The point being that a bit more Wisdom might have indicated that that taunt was a Bad Idea™.

[Lvl45DM!]

Roy mocking Elans Wisdom does not indicate that Elan has none. Elan thinking Wisdom unnecessary to being a cleric is more of an Intelligence fail. Elan has average wisdom which shows up in his knowledge of story structure. Its not charisma based and unlike Tarquin he doesn't use it to his advantage so its not about intelligence. Its wisdom

[Procyonpi]

Originally Posted by Lvl45DM!

Roy mocking Elans Wisdom does not indicate that Elan has none. Elan thinking Wisdom unnecessary to being a cleric is more of an Intelligence fail. Elan has average wisdom which shows up in his knowledge of story structure. Its not charisma based and unlike Tarquin he doesn't use it to his advantage so its not about intelligence. Its wisdom

Knowledge of story structure strikes me as more of a bardic class feature than a sign of Wisdom. Off hand, I'd say Elan has better Wisdom than Intelligence, but that doesn't necessarily say much.

[The Linker]

Originally Posted by Lvl45DM!

Roy mocking Elans Wisdom does not indicate that Elan has none. Elan thinking Wisdom unnecessary to being a cleric is more of an Intelligence fail. Elan has average wisdom which shows up in his knowledge of story structure. Its not charisma based and unlike Tarquin he doesn't use it to his advantage so its not about intelligence. Its wisdom

This is the kind of thing I would imagine Rich reading and just shaking his head at. These strike me as the same kind of Wild Mass Guessing as from those who believed Belkar's was just Chaotic Neutral before Rich had to step in and say "Really?".

Elan touched the self-destruct rune for a building literally all of his friends were in, without asking anyone first. Complete lack of common sense. There's no way he has even an average wisdom.

[Nightmarenny]

Originally Posted by Shhalahr Windrider

The point being that a bit more Wisdom might have indicated that that taunt was a Bad Idea™.

It wasn't a bad idea. Nale already killed his kids. There is literally NOTHING he could do to get even more on his bad side.

[BlackestOfMages]

Originally Posted by Nightmarenny

It wasn't a bad idea. Nale already killed his kids. There is literally NOTHING he could do to get even more on his bad side.

except, y'know, consantly remind the guy you killed his kids.

when you've done something horrible to a person then keep reminding them that you've done it at every turn, it does make the feelings of hate more extreme

[Raistlin82]

Fanboysm needs to go.
Yes, taunting Malack like that was badass on Nale's part... and yes, it was still stupid (unwise, if you prefer).

Originally Posted by Gift Jeraff

The line might be there to explain how the Scribblers managed to fight off the Snarl while sealing the rifts. (They couldn't kill it, but perhaps they could repel it and/or chop off some threads while Lirian and Dorukan sealed them.)

Oh... good point.

[The hat]

In strip 604 Yor the fighter is Roy spelled backwards. Like Elan and Nale.