Who do you Think has changed the most?

[Mr. Shiny Objec]

Given that Roy is now back from the dead, I thought this would be a good time to discuss:

Who has changed the most since the first 120 comics?

:roy:: Has died and come back to life, not to mention found love and changed genders. That had to have changed him.

:elan:: Has suffered love and loss, gained some prestige class levels, and is actually thinking about how he is going to spend his life.

:haley:: Hello! Have you seen her hair? Oh yeah, and there was that whole mute-like thing that ended in her confessing to love.

:belkar:: This sexy shoeless god of war has (possibly) learned the evils of his way, no longer kill stealing or thinking of violence as the only answer.

:vaarsuvius:: Turned into a lizard, attacked by a black dragon, yelled at by Inky, soul spliced, and now paralyzed. This wizard has gone through a lot.

:durkon:: Ummm... Knows that hes going to get home? Eventually? When hes dead? Okay, its probably not him.

:xykon:: No longer the fun-loving Xykon, he had a brush with mortality, and is a whole new lich.

:redcloak:: Has overcome his own sub-racism and now knows the fury of Xykon, with his right eye (or lack there of) to prove it.

:mitd:: Monster-san has been shown the righteous path, and doesn't know if he likes it or not. He has made friends with "the enemy" and discerns feelings. He also might be able to teleport people.

Linear guild:nale::sabine::thog:: Thog too, has changed sides briefly, and Nale and Sabine were having relationship troubles.

Celia: She has randomly reappeared twice when no one expected it and is now a regular.

[Tenebrais]

Elan. He's gone from stupid, naive and annoying to merely innocent.

[Ancalagon]

::roy:: Has died and come back to life, not to mention found love and changed genders. That had to have changed him.

I think he has not changed that much, at least not in the sense of character-development.
First, he is more secure now and second, he now knows WHY he goes against Xykon. He now pledges his life to stopping a big evil (and he once gave his life for that).
Whatever he does now, he does for the right reasons. These two changes are big, but pale when compared to Elan and Haleys development.


:elan:: Has suffered love and loss, gained some prestige class levels, and is actually thinking about how he is going to spend his life.

Where to start? Elan made so many changes that Id like to sum them up with "he grew up" (at least to the degree to that he's possible to grow up; it's Elan after all). Taking a class that makes him competent is a nice thing, but we lately saw he even has learned to turn his bard-class into something useful. Elan surely has changed the most of all characters in the comic - who would have guessed that?



:haley:: Hello! Have you seen her hair? Oh yeah, and there was that whole mute-like thing that ended in her confessing to love.

A bit hard to judge, since her story/development is not over yet. She surely turned from a rogue who only cares for herself to someone who also knows about the "greater picture", her involvement with Elan is one part, but she also tooks responsibility as leader and she also took responsibility in the "greater quest to stop some evil".


:belkar:: This sexy shoeless god of war has (possibly) learned the evils of his way, no longer kill stealing or thinking of violence as the only answer.

Not that much development... he still thinks the things you mentioned, he just learned it serves him more when he "compromises" a bit. Given, for "Belkar" who is and never was more than "the murdering, chaotic-evil-halfling" that's a lot... but it's also more the "necessary bit" to keep him in the game (both from an in- as well as out-of-comic-perspective).


:vaarsuvius:: Turned into a lizard, attacked by a black dragon, yelled at by Inky, soul spliced, and now paralyzed. This wizard has gone through a lot.

Vaarsuvius went through a lot - but if he's learned something (anything?) from it, remains to be seen. Right now, I'd even say that Vaarsuvius had some development - but into the "wrong" direction, towards evil and selfishness. If Xykon's Lessons have a "positive" result... really remains to be seen.


:durkon:: Ummm... Knows that hes going to get home? Eventually? When hes dead? Okay, its probably not him.

Durkon is the flattest character so far and has not much development. A bit if you count Origin of PCs, but since #1 he's basically unchanged. Hopefully, he'll get some nice Durkon-story!


:xykon:: No longer the fun-loving Xykon, he had a brush with mortality, and is a whole new lich.

Well, if you include SoD, we have a lot to talk about. If you start from comic#1... not so much. Xykon is the same as he was when we first saw him.
What we saw was always in him and he stopped fooling around, but that "side" we lately saw was always there.


:redcloak:: Has overcome his own sub-racism and now knows the fury of Xykon, with his right eye (or lack there of) to prove it.

Yeah, I guess Redcloak finally realised he is the Head Cleric of The Dark One, The God of All Goblins. The "All Goblins" is the important issue. What comes from the loss of his eye... remains to be seen.


:mitd:: Monster-san has been shown the righteous path, and doesn't know if he likes it or not. He has made friends with "the enemy" and discerns feelings. He also might be able to teleport people.

I think the monster already know he could "wish" for things, as was indicated before. What comes from O'Chuls talk is not yet revealed, but mitd finally knows what a "friend" is, which is a huge development for it.


Linear guild:nale::sabine::thog:: Thog too, has changed sides briefly, and Nale and Sabine were having relationship troubles.

I think that they remain mostly unchanged is part of what they are. When Team Evil are the vilians who seem to be cliche, then the linear guild ARE the cliche. Also, what "change" can one expect from a century-old (or even older?) demon? Nale is just a jerk and he'll die as the same jerk he is now.
He might get humbled before his end so he has to realise he is NOT the master-genious he thinks he is.


Celia: She has randomly reappeared twice when no one expected it and is now a regular.

I find it hard to see real change or development in her. You could say she became much stronger in her ways and had to determine her moral limits - and decided she is NOT going to kill, even if the cause is as just as it can get.

[xyzzy]

Oh, definitely Elan. He was the useless comic relief guy in the first 120, and he's morphed into an extremely competent, useful character. Plus, he's had by far the best character development of anyone.

[Badgercloak]

:elan: His actions towards V since his departing and reapearence have went from Helpful to near Indifernce. He's a much deeper character for his experiences.

[Deepkicker]

You forget Roy's change of perspective- he went from wanting to defeat Xykon for selfish reasons to doing it because it had to be done for the sake of the world. He also learned not to take his teammates for granted. I'm going with Roy.

[Carrion_Humanoid]

Elan is definitely the one who changed the most. In the beginning he was just an Immature, Babylike character and now he's competent and not so Immature as before. Plus he has had probably the most character development of all the characters

[Mr. Mud]

Probably MitD... Or, at least, he's about to become the most changed character. Right now, maybe it's Belkar... I mean they devoted a few hallucinations to him...

And Varsuuvius hasn't relaly changed her perspective on anything, just quite yet.

[Optimystik]

Elan by far, although he does still have an annoying tendency to lapse into babytalk.

[The Pilgrim]

Elan, for sure. All other characters have developed their personality, but Elan has changed it. And has also changed his role in the Party. Formerly just a comic relief, an useless buffon, a ballast for his teammates. He is now somewhat responsible, halfway useful, and is able to use his capabilities to positively contribute to the party's effort. While still being a comic relief.

Coming close to him seem to be Belkar, V and Redcloack.

But Belkar is still the same, he just learnt to conceal it better. V may have changed a lot due to the recent events, but we haven't still seen it. And for Redcloack, he stopped to be Xykon's butt monkey bitch during the battle for Azure City, but has recently been put back into his place with one less eye.

[SadisticFishing]

Yeah, this one's easy. Look at the relative getup change.

Elan changed the most, by far :D

[Olorin Maia]

My vote is also for Elan. To me, this (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0647.html) comic shows exactly how Elan has become a full character and a valuable member of the party. Therka's death truly changed him, and for the better.

Everyone else's change seems to be superficial; Belkar (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0666.html) is out, and everybody else seems to be pretty much the same. I guess there is a pretty good argument for V (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0664.htmlhttp://), but not as strong as Elan's, in my opinion.

[Kaytara]

Oh, this is a tough one. Are we talking about character development from a meta perspective - as in, the character's role in the story dynamics - or the actual personality?

Roy: He became loyal to the Order of the Stick and he revised his reasons for pursuing Xykon. Also, he somewhat got over his grudge with his father, in a way, learning that it's not productive to answer bitterness with bitterness. In short, he's learned a few lessons.

Elan: Yep, he grew up a little. His experience of faring without Roy (both Cliffport and the fleet arc) and Therkla's death have taught him to take the adventure and most importantly himself and his own abilities seriously. He's recognised that with moderate power comes moderate responsibility and that he has the obligation to make the most of his abilities to influence the events and prepare for the future. He's certainly come a long way, turning from liability to a moderate force to be somewhat reckoned with. :)

Haley: Her most important change is growing more secure and confident. She's ready to stomp down her doubts and do what needs to be done and worry later. She has also become more comfortable with herself and the idea that others may like or even love her.

Durkon: Funnily enough, I think he actually became more like his grumpy old self during Roy's absence, swearing in frustration at the antics of his comrades where earlier he would just stand silent and let Roy do the swearing. But that phase is undoubtedly over now that Roy is back in the neighbourhood.

Belkar: It's clear with him: He has learned to pay more attention to his Long-Term-Self-Interest shoulder devil and less to the Immediate-Gratification shoulder devil. He has learned that, even as the God of War, he has limits and can't get away with everything. He is now sneakier about his evil.

Vaarsuvius: As others have said, with him it's difficult to judge because we have yet to see the repercussions his story arc will have on him. But some things are already showing. The most important lesson is that spells do not equal power, but power equals power and that non-arcane casters and combat classes are not inferior for having chosen a different kind of power (see V's respectful treatment of O-Chul). Another corollary is that teamwork and cooperation are ALSO a form of power and relying on others does not diminish your personal worth. Another discovery I think V may have made about himself is on the value of practicality, logic and intelligence - namely, that he is not quite so high-and-mighty in those departments as he believed, or else he would not have felt guilty for fleeing when he ran out of spells and would not have felt compelled to avoid fleeing when he ran out of spells a second time in a similar situation.
Exactly to what extent V learned all those lessons remains to be seen. However, if he actually ends up giving up the dream of ultimate arcane power, due to having already experienced it and found it too bitter for his liking... Well, that's a HELL of a change. Pursuit of arcane power and self-betterment in that regard were the defining characteristics of V's fundamental being up till now. Getting a reality check about the importance of arcane power essentially makes him a wholly different person.

Most character development? I'd say it's a tie between V and Elan, with Haley and Belkar coming up after that.

[Dark Faun]

Why am I not surprised Vaarsuvius got the biggest paragraph? :smalltongue:

I agree it's a tie between Elan and V, though there's a key difference; we're only at the beginning of V's change.

[Kaytara]

Why am I not surprised Vaarsuvius got the biggest paragraph? :smalltongue:
Because V's development is a lot less straightforward than "acquired confidence" and "became more mature"? :P
*lowers Discord into a tank full of dire aquatic squirrels for giving so much cheek*


I agree it's a tie between Elan and V, though there's a key difference; we're only at the beginning of V's change.

Maybe, but if Lord Tyrinar really IS Elan's father, that's likely to provide some room for character development, as well.

Nice to see you got your avatar fixed. :D

[Kish]

Vaarsuvius, hands down.

[Kaytara]

Vaarsuvius, hands down.

Really? You think V has already changed more significantly than either Elan, Haley or Belkar?

[Optimystik]

V has the potential for the largest change, but until he gets "thawed," my vote goes to Elan.

[pita]

:xykon:: No longer the fun-loving Xykon, he had a brush with mortality, and is a whole new lich.
Xykon is the same lich he always was. We've just seen a serious side of his twice. Now, and at the end of SOD. His brush with mortality probably shook him up a little.


:redcloak:: Has overcome his own sub-racism and now knows the fury of Xykon, with his right eye (or lack there of) to prove it.
Am I a horrible person for finding "his Right-Eye (or lack thereof) to prove it" funny? Redcloak hasn't changed a bit. He's just dug himself a deeper hole, and threw himself in with the hobgoblins after failing Xykon. I also told my friends we're calling him left-eye from now, to show goblin solidarity.


:mitd:: Monster-san has been shown the righteous path, and doesn't know if he likes it or not. He has made friends with "the enemy" and discerns feelings. He also might be able to teleport people.
He grew up, like Elan, but unlike Elan, it was all at once. He's now meditating on his choices.

[choie]

My list, from "most changed" to "least changed," looks like:

1) Elan, most certainly. I think Rich has taken an extraordinary amount of care in developing our bard from cartoonish buffoon to a still-dim, innocent, brave and sometimes shockingly perceptive young hero-lite. I know Roy is probably the intended focal character, but I believe Elan has actually had the most author attention -- and perhaps even author affection -- over the course of the strip. So many of the storylines have focused on Elan -- both Linear Guild appearances, Samantha/bandits, Haley's romance, Therkla -- and throughout we've seen him grow from somewhat useless appendage to the heart of the Order.

2) Vaarsuvius is next in line, which is amazing because until the end of the Azure City arc, V was pretty much as static as Durkon. But once V turned invisible and fled the doomed battle, Rich gave the elf his most nuanced, painstakingly developed character journey, from tortured obsession to sympathetic loving parent to near-madness to family abandonment (on both sides) to maniacal rage to destroyed, humiliated vulnerability touched with bravery. But we have yet to see the most important part of this journey, which is how Vaarsuvius will behave once V's processed everything. A more humble, less selfish, less arrogant, more compassionate and wiser V is what I'm hoping for, and if V shows signs of having learned a lesson from this utterly devastating arc, Vaarsuvius could well displace (or at least tie) Elan for Most Changed Character.

3) Redcloak has certainly changed, at least from the beginning of the strip if not counting SOD. He began as a fairly obscure right hand man, but now we all know just how dangerous and monomaniacal he is -- that he's the real brains behind Team Evil, though his power is nowhere near as great as Xykon's. His epiphany during the Azure City battle, realizing that he'd gotten just as ruthless and careless as Xykon toward goblinkind, showed tremendous growth potential. He's gotten more focused and scary since then, showing his willingness to torture O-Chul and murder the slaves.

4) Haley ... well, we've seen more sides of her (literally). She became more honest about her feelings for Elan, true. She's gained some leadership skills, though we haven't seen her running the group as a whole due to the separation. But has she changed? I don't really think so. If Roy had been dead since #120 and only saw her now for the first time, would he recognize her for who she is? Hair aside, I think he wouldn't notice a difference. She's still fundamentally the same.

4) Roy ... I don't know. Sure, he's now battling Xykon for the 'greater good' instead of his vendetta, but maybe that's because Roy realizes no matter how he tries, Xykon just ain't playing along with the "hero's personal nemesis" role. Also, and this may be related to the Xykon thing, but Roy's not trying to suck up to Eugene anymore. But that's about it. In fairness, like Vaarsuvius, Roy hasn't yet had the chance to show us what he's learned or how he's grown from the Celestia arc. Considering his usual condescending manner to the other members of his party, he needs to show them respect for all they've been through in his absence. But frankly I think there are signs that he hasn't changed; he didn't even thank Haley for the incredible trevails she went through to cart his body around, or indeed stop to greet or thank any of them (such as Durkon) for what they've been through. He just pops back to life and starts ordering them around without so much as a "man, it's great to see you all!" or even acknowledging their greetings. (And Vaarsuvius is always being slammed for arrogance! Hmph!) The big test of Roy's attitude adjustment will be how he deals with Elan, who has always borne the brunt of Roy's impatience and dismissive comments.

5) MitD has certainly changed thanks to his friendship with O-Chul; he's thinking more, he's considering others more. But his character is such a cipher. I think the fruits of his true character journey, if we see it, lie ahead of us.

6) Xykon doesn't seem to have changed since his first appearance, not fundamentally. We've learned more about him, and -- especially since the Vaarsuvius/O-Chul battle -- he's realized the perils of his lazy, laissez-faire attitude -- but we have yet to see how, if at all, his behavior with change. One difference may be if he actually remembers O-Chul and Vaarsuvius and goes after them. Xykon has rarely shown interest in mere vengeance, since other beings are so insignificant to him that if he's not around to blast someone to smithereens, he just can't be bothered (see: Roy). If Xykon starts taking things more personally, we may yet see an even scarier lich.

7) Belkar has changed on the surface -- he's certainly smarter about hiding his perfidy, and an increase of cunning does count as character growth. But all in all he's still the same psychopath we met back in the first strip, and I think Rich is content to keep him so. Though admittedly Belkar's newer ability to care for another creature (Mr. Scruffy) is nice to see.

8) Durkon hasn't changed at all, as far as I can tell. We've learned a little bit more about his ethics with his brief romance, but otherwise, nope, he's the same ol' Dwarf.

[Optimystik]

And, having been thawed, the winner is Vaarsuvius!

[choie]

LOL, for realsies, Optimystik. Needless to say, I wrote my above screed before seeing #667. Durkon bumps up a notch and Vaarsuvius jumps up to tie with Elan -- all from one strip!

[Kaytara]

LOL indeed, and yeah choie, I read your post just after reading 667 and had to grin like an idiot in a sort of "Well, she's in for a pleasant surprise!" way.

Now, I usually avoid spamming TVTropes, but excuse me as I go to edit the Crowning Moment of Heartwarming page.

[Captain Alien]

Haley has also learnt how hard is to be the leader. She is too independent to care about the others. She is a good person, so she has been taking care of more people than she is prepared to or might want to care about.

As some users pointed out, her character development is not over yet. Crystal's murder, the Thiefs guild, her father and her secret are going to be quite important in the next story arc.

I guess Roy, as the protagonist and character with more appearances is the one who has learned a lot through his adventures, though he has not changed a bit in his attitude. But he has learnt how to be a better leader, and many lessons abour responsability.

Elan is the Other Hero of the party, and he is also more responsible now than he has ever been. But he has had to make many decisions, now that he is able to fight, and now he is gooder than ever. Showing mercy for Kubota is a good example. When he was just a bard, he could not show us a real proof of his alignment (for his decisions were never important).

[Pyron]

Roy ... I don't know.

He just pops back to life and starts ordering them around without so much as a "man, it's great to see you all!" or even acknowledging their greetings.

Wha.... what? :smallconfused:

:roy: “Thanks. It's good to be back.”

That line (found in the comic (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0665.html)), is proof that Roy does acknowledge their greeting.

[choie]

Wha.... what? :smallconfused:

:roy: “Thanks. It's good to be back.”

That line (found in the comic (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0665.html)), is proof that Roy does acknowledge their greeting.

True. He says a cursory "thanks" to Durkon saying it was great to see him (though not for, y'know, going to the effort to bring him back to life). But does he respond in kind by saying "it's great to see you too, I've missed you" or anything similar? Does he even say "hi" to anyone? Nope. Just basically says he's happy to be alive, and then issues commands.

[waterpenguin43]

Elan for sure, he is now a lot more serious, reasonably competent, Zorro-like and in different clothes. A lot of change from the cute, clueless, "invisible" Elan from the first comic.

[FlawedParadigm]

I could probably argue a case for Hinjo, Daigo, or Kazumi, quite frankly.

Heck, if Miko had stuck around, there's a good chance she could have gotten this one.

I'd say overall that in a quantity sense, the most character development probably goes to Elan, since he's almost not even the same person he was during the first 120 strips. If I were to ever interview Rich, one of my questions would definitely be if he regretted anything he wrote in its pre-Cerebus days, now that it's gone and acquired a real (and very compelling) plot. I think there's probably half a dozen or so things he'd have changed in "the gag strips" if he'd planned it as a story from the get-go; like Redcloak's brother putting in an appearance somewhere.

However, I think in terms of the most *interesting* character development, Haley probably wins. Between the reason-to-be-greedy, speech loss, hallucinated self-aspect conversations, being temporary leader, et cetera that she's gone through, it's been a very wild ride for her, even with all the cryptograms. Heh.

[Draz74]

Comments (not in order of degree of change):

:roy: While Elan may have him beat, I think most of you are vastly underestimating Roy's development. Considering how much of his backstory-psychology is based on his poor relationship with Eugene, his refusal to ever again trade insults with the man is a HUGE step for him, which will have subtle but far-reaching effects. And another development he had back in the 200's -- his repentance of abandoning Elan to the bandits -- hasn't even been mentioned.

True, he's still got some weaknesses, and someday he'll have to fix his arrogance towards NPCs and learn to pay attention to them. On the other hand, I don't find any fault with his treatment of the party since his Resurrection. It's not his personality to get sappy and weepy and be like "I missed you guys so much! *sniffle*" When he makes sarcastic comments to them like "it'll take me half the night to get my armor functional," that is his way of expressing fond feelings. Frankly, I'm impressed that he got touchy-feely enough to tell Haley, "You did all right as far as I could see."

Besides, he saw how the party hurt for leadership in his absence; with that in mind, as soon as he was resurrected, he probably felt that the party needed a strong "Let's get back on track!" statement more than they needed anything slow-paced and emotional.

:belkar: Even more than V, I think how much his development turns out to be "real" is yet to be seen.

:xykon: After reading SoD, I have to agree with the folks who are saying he really hasn't changed at all. His latest displays of rage and cruelty are just a mood swing.

:haley: Actually, I think Haley may even have Elan beat. She gets my vote for #1 character development. She initially assumed #2 leadership of the Order as a simple grab for power/money, with no intention of accepting any responsibility. Now, she has had to learn leadership and accountability. And while some romances, such as Roy/Celia (so far), don't really involve meaningful change, Haley definitely had to change deeply to get to where she is with Elan. Her banishing of doubt that he would return to her after he left (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0483.html) is something she wouldn't have ever been able to do at the beginning of the comic. Wow.

:durkon: Again, it's subtle, but he's being underestimated. The most dramatic example of this is his latest "I was wrong." That's really pretty significant. I agree with the statement that he -- more than the others -- has regressed in Roy's absence but will now quickly rebound. We'll see now if he can get some new growth beyond that.

:redcloak: After reading SoD, I have to say he hasn't changed much. The developments he's had are interesting, but ... they are still avoiding his main issues. He's got some major flaws that, so far, he's just accepting rather than changing. Considering he's a "bad guy," I don't know if those things will ever change. Sad.

:mitd: Like Vaarsuvius, has probably gone through some big changes, but we have yet to see their effects in order to evaluate them.

:sabine: Hasn't changed a bit. Someone else said she's probably over 100 years old ... no. She's at least 2000 years old or something. And she's a fiend, her personality partly composed of eternal planar essence. I'm not expecting anything meaningful here, ever.

:thog: It will be interesting to see if his friendship with Elan ever comes back to have a real effect.

[Teln]

I'd say Roy's undergone the greatest change. He rotted, and now has an entirely new body!




Oh, you meant mental changes.

[Joerg]

Regarding V, I'm not altogether sure he learned that lesson about arcane power. During the fight with Xykon, it seemed one of the most important things he should learn: that arcane power (even total / ultimate) doesn't solve problems on its own, that it shouldn't be the primary goal; that having allies / friends is even more important. This seemed to be reinforced because the dragon waited until V was alone, and because of Kyrie's attitude.

And yet, when Durkon says that V's power had "solved it all", and there would have been a perfect opportunity for V to reply "no, we only got away because the paladin helped me" or "no, we could have solved it without that if we had worked together" -- well, he doesn't. Instead, he frets that he didn't use the power effectively.

So, until V shows an actual change of priorities and sees his quest for power as secondary, I'll put his change behind Elan and even Haley.

Haley is a good contrast: I'm quite sure now that she wouldn't leave the group if she were offered enough money. But I'm not so sure that V wouldn't leave the group (again) if he were offered enough power. Perhaps he'd say "this time, I'll use it the right way".

[Haven]

I'd have to say Haley has probably changed the most. I mean, I would never have predicted that Haley from Origins of PCs would one day lead a Resistance group. She used to be incredibly shallow, unloyal, etc. and despite herself she's gone from Chaotic Good-ish to firmly Chaotic Good.

V is a second. First he went to the literal extremes of his original character, and now she's on the rebound; I'm excited to see where he goes from here.

Elan is third. To me he hasn't overcome quite as many personal problems as Haley has. He hasn't done anything quite as astounding as Haley's simple act of glaring at her subconscious manifestation and forcing it away. Getting together with her was a much easier act for him.

Roy is fourth.

Durkon is dead last. Even behind "bird who got away" or random flesh golem #5 (seeing his fellow fall into the broken bridge triggered an epiphany! But not much of one because it's non-sentient). Mr Giant, if you give him an actual character arc I will give you all my dollars and build a statue in your honor.

[Kaytara]

On the other hand, I don't find any fault with his treatment of the party since his Resurrection. It's not his personality to get sappy and weepy and be like "I missed you guys so much! *sniffle*" When he makes sarcastic comments to them like "it'll take me half the night to get my armor functional," that is his way of expressing fond feelings. Frankly, I'm impressed that he got touchy-feely enough to tell Haley, "You did all right as far as I could see."

Hm, I don't see Roy quite like that. He seems quite willing to be emotional when he really IS worried, like when he saw Haley and V leaving the inn and was relieved to see them alright.

More to the point, Roy really DOES seem to think that the whole campaign revolves around him. (Which, incidentally, is a statement offered as an explanation by an Oracle who has so far never lied, even in insult). His treatment of NPCs we're all familiar with. Then there's the fact that he apparently had very little interest in the actual well-being of his teammates during their separation, as he only scried on them when it pertained to himself, like when he thought they would make progress in raising him. Since he seems to have no idea about the strained relations between Durkon and Elan and Vaarsuvius, apparently he hasn't tried scrying on them since that one time when he did it to find out why they hadn't raised him yet. And back then... He looks down to see the bard fretting with worry, the cleric torn with indecision and the wizard literally working tirelessly to find him so that they could raise him, and he has the gall to call them "two-timing jerks" for having run afoul of a minor B-list villain, which he perceives as a betrayal of his cause and his shiny main quest.

Now, I'm not trying to make a really big deal out of this... Just outlining the semi-significant evidence, which may or may not be conclusive. I do not think Roy is horribly callous or completely egoistical. I do think that, while his personality flaws are much less noticeable than those of his more colourful companions, he has a definite problem with egocentrism and the way he acted after being Resurrected is entirely in keeping with that.

[MoonBeam]

Elan definitely underwent the biggest change (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0647.html), transforming from a childish, whining clown to a dependable and (almost) serious adventurer. I love this strip (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0391.html) which shows us a part of the process.

Though it is possible that the biggest character development is just going to happen, with V as a main protagonist. Some of you suggest it already had happened in most recent strip (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0667.html) but I shall disagree for now, as I cannot see a true change in V's thinking.

[Kalbron]

And back then... He looks down to see the bard fretting with worry, the cleric torn with indecision and the wizard literally working tirelessly to find him so that they could raise him, and he has the gall to call them "two-timing jerks" for having run afoul of a minor B-list villain, which he perceives as a betrayal of his cause and his shiny main quest.


To be honest I saw that as more of a joke scene rather than a serious expression of annoyance. After all, he's stuck in heaven unable to earn XP, yet instead of getting him back into the action they're off running side-quests to level up. :smallbiggrin:

[Azukar]

"Changed the most since strip 120" surely has to be Elan, or Redcloak.

Elan got the most character development, Redcloak the most interesting backstory. Also note, Elan got the first appearance change ^_^

[CallingCtulhu]

Elan: Is somewhat competent and is actually able to fight. Has gotten laid.

Shojo: Is dead. That's about as changed as they get.

[Le Piaf]

prison changed thog.

[Slimslamer]

Elan first, then maybe Redcloak second (as we have yet to see what Varsuvius will take out of this) and Durkon definitly coming in last.

[valce]

Well V did polymorph into a big dragon, so I'd say the scales are in his favour.

Edit: Better pun :P

[xyzzy]

prison changed thog.

You get +1 Internets for this post. Bravo.

[Berserk Monk]

Gotta be Belkar. He went from a murdering halfling that would kill anyone anywhere to someone with some "restraint."

[SadisticFishing]

prison changed thog.

Bahaha. xD