The effects of Belkar's fake character development

[The_Void]

After reading some old strips, I now see a major effect of Belkar's fake character development. When he reigns in the evil, it doesn't reduce the sum of evil in the group, in just causes others to step into the void.

Belkar didn't kill Pete - instead he encouraged the Cleric of Loki to become a murderer.

Belkar explicitly chose not to kill Crystal so that Haley could go and kill her herself, the most morally grey thing she's done yet in the comic.

The group insists that they keep Belkar around because he's a useful warrior/they're keeping him under control. But in actuality, they keep him around because they need him. They need him to commit evil acts, so that none of the rest of them have to. Belkar is the restraint that keeps the rest of the group away from evil. Even Vaarsuvius, whose descent into evil was in no way directly due to Belkar, it's notable that it happened right after they'd been apart for a few months.

[Griever3216]

Huh, this is very interesting. I had never thought of that before.

I agree with you that Belkar's actions can be indirectly translated according your theory, however I doubt this is the main reason why the OOTS keep him.

As stated by Roy here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0489.html), Belkar is a high-level character who can be useful in their quest. This does not necessarily mean that they need him so he does all the dirty work for everyone else. Generally, the Order's quest deals with evil things, so it is not bad killing them. It has been Belkar's own actions that have caused trouble to the Order or himself. And as you can see here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0399.html) and here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0540.html), they do not approve his actions. Notice that in the last link Haley does need Belkar's help, not to aimlessly kill left and right, but because she is dealing with evil and is in big trouble.

However, I will agree with you. Since Belkar's fake development, he has been more slily evil. He did drive the cleric into commiting murder, but you can possibly argue that he let Haley kill Crystal because it was the "right" thing to do. We all hate frag stealers and Belkar's development is all about making sure the Order will have his back covered in case of emergency. The fact that Crystal's murder was evil was just a bonus for Belkar.

[Silverraptor]

Finally! A thread that dipicts Belkar's fake character development as still evil aligned!

[GoC]

I think Belkar's "character devolopement" simply means he's discovered how to be even more evil. Instead of merely commiting evil acts his goal is now to make others evil.

[David Argall]

After reading some old strips, I now see a major effect of Belkar's fake character development. When he reigns in the evil, it doesn't reduce the sum of evil in the group, in just causes others to step into the void.
Pretty much just an overthought nonsense theory, which is not an unusual type around here.


Belkar didn't kill Pete - instead he encouraged the Cleric of Loki to become a murderer.
This was not Belkar trying to hide his evil. He was just amusing himself.


Belkar explicitly chose not to kill Crystal so that Haley could go and kill her herself, the most morally grey thing she's done yet in the comic.
Belkar at that time had no way of knowing that Haley would ever have a chance to kill Crystal, or even that Haley was still alive. Here too he is displaying, not hiding, his evil. It simply happens that both Crystal and Belkar deem leaving her alive worse than killing her on the spot.

[Fawkes]

In a meta sense, I think you're spot on, Void. Belkar's taking delight in his new "teach a man to fish" approach (just look at his face in the last panel of 648).

Of course, none of them realize what's going on.