Missed plot line.

[DnDgeek13]

i think either i got lost somewhere or Rich missed a plot line.

here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0547.html) it implies that the prisoners are going to try to escape. i dont't think he ever got to doing something with them. if i'm wrong, please feel free to prove it. if not, state your opinion on whether or not this part means anything.

[Gift Jeraff]

It has probably just yet to come into play. They'll probably end up helping the Resistance and the elves somehow.

[Puns de León]

Perhaps Rich thought that it would have been too much for the prisoners to escape exactly at the time when V broke in and distracted the bad guys, so he shelved it. I would say that it just hasn't happened yet, but then again the villains are supposed to be on the move soon, so we might not see it. I think some hobgoblins are going to stay in Azure City, though, if Redcloak can convince Xykon that it can be beneficial, so the rebellion (aided by Team Peregrine!) might be mentioned later on upon returning from the Western Continent.

[Watcher]

And this (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0530.html) (3rd panel) implies (backed up by earlier strips) the Resistance's purpose is mostly to free the slaves and weaken Team Evil while they wait for the fleet to recover and attack again.

[factotum]

If the prisoners DID try to escape they'd all be slaughtered--they're in a city dominated by hobgoblins right now. Chances are that panel was just foreshadowing for a future moment when the Resistance, the Elves, and the prisoners all attack at the same time to retake the city.

[Berserk Monk]

I think it was just a punchline meant to make Red Cloak look dumb and get some laughs.

[David Argall]

Pretty likely it is not much in the way of foreshadowing. Keep in mind too that Azure City is pretty much off camera now. The heros are on the Western continent, and Team Evil will be leaving shortly. We may get a couple of comics about the city, but that is about the limit. We may well see nothing at all for the next hundred strips.

[Expeditious]

Methinks it's just another way to show O-Chul's coolness. O-Chul, being a shining example of what a paladin should be, manages to bring hope to the prisoners, even though Redcloak desperately tries to break him.

[NerfTW]

It's foreshadowing the growing resistance movement, as also shown with the elven insertion squads.

[Mc. Lovin']

Couldnt it justa been a red herring?

[Tass]

Come on.

Why does it have to be a plot point. It is in the friggin' last panel.

Redcloack wanted to push the morale of the prisoners in favor of the goblins, it backfired. Thats it.

Prisoners are resisting on a daily basis. Some maybe escape, some just passively refuse to work as hard, a lot is tortured, many is probably killed or executed, some are freed by the resistance, a few resistance members may be captured.

Now team peregrine and the elves are there.

This incidence, while funny, was a drop in the ocean.

[spargel]

He made is pretty obvious that it was foreshadowing. Lines like "If he can resist, then so can we" and "Spread the word to the next cell." make it pretty obvious that something is going to happen.

[Roderick_BR]

They didn't start yet. They are planning in helping the resistance, but the chance didn't show up yet. Since Hinjo started the plans to take the city back, they'll have that chance now.

[David Argall]

He made is pretty obvious that it was foreshadowing. Lines like "If he can resist, then so can we" and "Spread the word to the next cell." make it pretty obvious that something is going to happen.
While it is possible this comic happened yesterday or so, the apparent date is some months in the past, pretty much meaning nothing is going to happen.
It is shown after Haley has just left town, and may happen at the same time. Haley has described her report as providing several months old data. So at least 2, and likely 4+, months have passed, without any response worth our attention.

Not everything is foreshadowing.

[spargel]

While it is possible this comic happened yesterday or so, the apparent date is some months in the past, pretty much meaning nothing is going to happen.
It is shown after Haley has just left town, and may happen at the same time. Haley has described her report as providing several months old data. So at least 2, and likely 4+, months have passed, without any response worth our attention.


Wait, how did you get that 2-4 months thing?


Not everything is foreshadowing.

This is pretty much waved in our faces. The author was probably planning something, but he's either waiting till later, or he completely forgot about it.

[Shhalahr Windrider]

While it is possible this comic happened yesterday or so, the apparent date is some months in the past, pretty much meaning nothing is going to happen.
And… how long do you suppose it takes to form and execute a successful fifth column slave revolution? There's even an active resistance whose members aren't hindered with being prisoners and slaves, yet they have yet to make much of an impact. And that's with a three-month head start on the prisoners. These things do take time.

Frankly, I think the bulk of development from this is going to occur off-panel. As has been said, the main characters of this story are going to be away from Azure City for awhile. This sort of thing just serves to help the revelation of an in-progress slave/prisoner revolt upon the the return to Azure City feel like less of an ass-pull. But why bring up something like this if nothing would come of it?

[Jimorian]

It's pretty obviously foreshadowing, and the elven insertion team and other points show that the Azure City story arc is far from over, even if the focus is elsewhere now. And it's important not because of the Azurites so much as it's important to Redcloak, and so what happens to it will affect how he reacts during climactic later scenes.

A lot of people act like Rich's attention to these things is related to how long ago or how far in the future something may be, but a writer has an outline precisely so things don't get "forgotten" or cast aside. I think it's pretty safe to say that we're LONG past the point where major elements of the story are being made up as we go along.

[Jackson]

We can assume that Azure City will remain on stage for however long Xykon and Redcloak are there, and while their departure has been set in motion it's still going to take place at some indeterminate point in the future. Cutting away to the villains for a strip, or several, has been a staple of the comic for as long as there have been villains. And, for better or worse, the fate of the Order is now intertwined with that of the surviving Azurites, so it's likely that the former's story won't wrap up without having resolved the latter's.

So it's safe to claim that it's foreshadowing; it's rather less likely that Azure City will cease to matter to the strip just because they're headed to another gate. But we can't say it hasn't been played out until the Azure City plot is fully resolved, so it's not so much 'missed' for now as it is held in reserve.

[Thanatosia]

The last reasonable chance to say the story moved on from Azure City and won't be going back went right out the window with the cutscene to Task force Peregrine IMO. We *will* be seeing the resistance again.

[Optimystik]

It only counts as a "missed" plot line if there's no chance of seeing a resolution sometime in the future. This one is just open.

[David Argall]

Wait, how did you get that 2-4 months thing?

Haley says "several months", = more than 1. And she is talking after 16 weeks or so of a 40-45 week period, so more than 6 is ruled out.

This is pretty much waved in our faces. The author was probably planning something, but he's either waiting till later, or he completely forgot about it.
The story is heavily plotted out, meaning forgetting about something happens very rarely, if at all. The most likely pattern is that he blocks out the idea of Ma dragon taking on V and then goes back and inserts foreshadowing of that event. So if the prison scene was foreshadowing, the events it will cause are already planned out.
But there seems no reason to think anything is planned. We are pretty much done with Azure City. We will likely get a scene or two telling us what happens, but the camera is staying with the heroes and only goes to the villains to let us know what they will be doing to the heroes. The third stringers who are trying to bother the villains? They are lucky to get any coverage at all.
Instead of foreshadowing, the scene is the denouncement of Redcloak's prediction in the previous panel. It needs no continuation, and will get none.

[multilis]

I think its funny that some are so sure one way or another, when author/Giant/Rich could easily choose to do either. He has in past left hints that became *main plots* hundreds of comics/years later (eg black dragon, 3 fiends)

[spargel]

The story is heavily plotted out, meaning forgetting about something happens very rarely, if at all. The most likely pattern is that he blocks out the idea of Ma dragon taking on V and then goes back and inserts foreshadowing of that event. So if the prison scene was foreshadowing, the events it will cause are already planned out.


Really? I got the idea that the author just throws out some foreshadowing and decides what to do with them later.



But there seems no reason to think anything is planned. We are pretty much done with Azure City. We will likely get a scene or two telling us what happens, but the camera is staying with the heroes and only goes to the villains to let us know what they will be doing to the heroes. The third stringers who are trying to bother the villains? They are lucky to get any coverage at all.
Instead of foreshadowing, the scene is the denouncement of Redcloak's prediction in the previous panel. It needs no continuation, and will get none.

"If he can resist, then so can we" and "Spread the word to the next cell" is pretty blatant foreshadowing. Why can't the camera jump back to Azure City? Team Evil, the hobgoblins, the elves, and the resistance are still there, so we'll probably get at least one more chapter about that city. And I still want to know how you got 2-4 months.

[TriForce]

to everyone who is saying its either a missed plotline, or thinks its OBVIOUSLY foreshadowing:

its the punchline of that particular comic, nothing more.

Something is foreshadowing if it has a impact on the storyline, and the fate of azure city will most likely be nothing more then a sidetrack from now on, so EVEN is there is a widespread resistance there that rich didnt show us, none of the main cast will probably ever even know about it.

[Jimorian]

As I said, Azure City is important because it now relates to part of Redcloak's dream for a greater goblinoid nation. Whether he has that as a base of operations will help determine his attitude during the final battle -- does he have a fallback position where he can wage a conventional war against the humans, or has he lost it and NEEDS to win the battle of the gate as a desperation last gasp to save his vision.

There's far too much setup for the goblin situation to not be addressed by the end of the series (not saying it will be solved, just addressed). It's the source of tension in the Xykon/Redcloak partnership for one thing.

[multilis]

In the usual cliche story, all 7 gates are destroyed 1 by 1, and a great climatic battle has the 7th gate destroyed, then a final confrontation to stop the monster before it gets to full power.

We don't know if this is the usual story.

We know X will be near another gate and something bad is coming to dwarves, and fiends probably expect V to be near a gate.

*If* there is an final epic battle with "snarl" after a last gate falls, that battle could involve any or all of the gates, including the Azure one.

[Yendor]

Of course it's foreshadowing. Azure City is far too important to the story. We've seen Haley setting up a resistance movement, we've seen the elves make a suitably dramatic appearance to infiltrate the city, we've seen that the bad guys are still in the city and will be delayed there for some time. All of this is not something that can be dealt with trivially. It's not just a throwaway gag, it's a plot point that will be addressed at the appropriate time.

[Tass]

Exept it is not foreshadowing anything we didn't know. Yes of course people are resisting the goblin overlords all the time, this little incidence of increased prisoner morale was just a punchline.

I dont agree with David that we are not going to see more of AC, but calling that comic foreshadowing, or even a "missed plotline", is a stretch.

[Alaska Fan]

If you've read the comic for any time you know that Rich leaves all kinds of items like this. Clearly, with the introduction of the elves, we're not done with Azure City, even if no PCs are there. There will be events in Azure City that will impact the OOTS.

Xykon has ordered (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0662.html) Redcloak to get the minions to search for the phylactery. That may mean prisoners will be in one or more of the outlets from the sewer line. So the opportunity for a rebellion and/or escape will be better. And Rich gave us three place the phylactery can go, even if we don't yet know why. Perhaps the elves will try to infiltrate via a sewer line?