Tarquin's plan for Elan

[kyoryu]

So, we had the big reveal in 758. We know that Tarquin has a plan for Elan... I mean, he's got a surprise waiting for him, and do we *really* think Tarquin is doing *anything* out of the goodness of his heart? Didn't think so. So, what's the plan?

My theory: Tarquin is going to give Elan the continent. The whole thing. Sure, his current plan works and is relatively stable, but it's a high-touch, fragile stability. What the continent really needs is a ruler to guide them, to treat them as human beings, to help the cast off the chains of tyranny...

And under a single happy ruler (with Tarquin's Secret Death Squads... er... Happy Fun Squads to handle any dissidents), the whole continent can enjoy their first ever peace. Tarquin and co. get to retire and not worry about anything, while still getting all the luxury they could want.

Anyone else got any theories?

[Coidzor]

I can't see him doing that, since he already mentioned that the Elves would squash any kind of unity too near to their borders. And since he denied Nale's desire for that sort of thing already anyway.

I don't really see him wanting to derail his son's career as an adventurer when it was only just beginning really, since it seems like one of the things he would most genuinely approve of about both of his kids. I mean, Elan hasn't even really toppled any villains yet. That's like retiring from sports before making it through a single season.

Plus, as Elan mentioned, he's in the middle of something that he can't just abandon, and Tarquin seems like he'd know enough to not bother trying to make him, better to let him finish first before trying to recruit him..

About the only thing I can think of is an off the wall thought that Xykon/Redcloak put out some tendrils through certain channels and offered a reward for stalling as much of the OotS as possible.

But that just seems out of character for any of the members of Team Evil.

[Evil DM Mark3]

I think he may intend Elan as a new patsy for the rotation.

[blueblade]

I think he may intend Elan as a new patsy for the rotation.

This seems plausible. Best case, Elan turns out to be good enough at it to groom into a successor. Worst case, next patsy!

[treyh37]

I think he may intend Elan as a new patsy for the rotation.

actually i got the impression he's thinking of roy as a new patsy, afterall hes trying to recruit roy into the army

[Coidzor]

I think he may intend Elan as a new patsy for the rotation.
This seems plausible. Best case, Elan turns out to be good enough at it to groom into a successor. Worst case, next patsy!

I don't buy it. Sure, Elan's dumb enough to be used for such, but he is a good-aligned adventurer currently on a quest, it's not really worth Tarquin's time or effort to get Elan compared to waiting for someone who wants the gig to show up.

The only way I can think of to get it to make sense is if we also take it that Tarquin doesn't want his children having kids of their own in order to prevent the cycle of being a bad father from continuing or something completely out of left field.

[Edhelras]

I have a different suggestion: I don't necessarily think Tarquin's "surprise" to Elan need be pleasant at all. Look at Tarquin, at his treatment of Elan's mother, at his treatment of his other former wives, his former puppet emperors - it would in fact be more in line with his personality if his "surprise" to Elan would be to betray him, spectacularly, after this great show of "father-son-reunion&happy days". Either by in some way "sacrificing" Haley, or trying to force her to be his wife. Or by indeed attacking Elan himself, either throwing him in jail, making him the culprit of an assassination attempt, throwing him into the arena, or something like that. Or perhaps he has known, all the time, about the nature of Elan's good-aligned party, so he might stage an arena fight where all the 6 party members are put into mortal combat. Come to think of it - we haven't heard from the Linear Guild in a long time, have we? It would be splendid for a thoroughly Evil father like Tarquin to have his sons (Elan and Nale) and their teams face each other in the arena. That would be a big surprise too. And as I said it would be totally Tarquin to treat Elan thusly, betray him, after all this cozy father-son coziness.

[Souhiro]

The whole arc is very "Star Wars"-y.

So, I can figure Elan fighting against Tarquin over a Cathedral or something HUGE, getting his arm cut. "Join me, and together, we can rule the empire as father and son!"

[spoiler]So, then there would be the Big Damn Heroes, with the Belkster, and a Resurrected Fallen Miko, armed with chainsaws, and ready to kick some ash!

Yeah, I know, that last pard WON'T happen, but it would be SUPER-SPECIAL-AWESOME.[spoiler]

[derfenrirwolv]

I think his plans for elan involve a magic jar spell and a hostile takeover

[Evil DM Mark3]

I think his plans for elan involve a magic jar spell and a hostile takeover:smalleek: OK, that would be intimidating and awesome. Of course we did have a very similar arc when we last saw Nale, so it may be a bit played out.

[kyoryu]

I'm not sure I really buy that his plan for Elan is evil. He's going through a ton of effort to get Elan to like him. If he was planning on doing something horrible to Elan, why bother?

The only reason could be to get Elan to do something willingly he might otherwise not do, but that doesn't seem like Tarquin. Tarquin doesn't seem like someone that would cajole/manipulate in that manner. If someone doesn't give him an answer he likes, well, some torture can change that.

[Arzoo]

Magic jar does seem like the sort of thing he'd pull; he seems pretty fit, but he's definitely getting older.

Then again, he could have done that with Nale. It's fairly likely he was (for the most part) honest about Nale, but a magic jar ploy wouldn't be affected by Nale being evil in the slightest. And he's gone out of his way to avoid having any more children too.

[Edhelras]

One thing I had really forgot about already, is this (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0727.html). Tarquin knows something - quite a bit, probably - about Girard.
This can turn out in many ways - Tarquin can present Girard to Elan as a prisoner, or as a corpse or animated undead slave. Or it can turn out that Girard is somehow allied to Tarquin (less likely, perhaps). Or the mere mentioning of their search for Girard has been enough to convince Tarquin that his son is up to something that goes contrary to his own plans, thus Elan must be silenced or removed.

[Mercenary Pen]

My gut instinct suggests that Tarquin's plans for Elan may have something to do with a Helm of Opposite Alignment or a similar plot device.

[Drakonzeta]

I have a feeling it involves a certain pair of bounty hunters that extorted money from Tarquin in front of his son... remember Kilkil's note?

[Dr.Epic]

Depending on how "Elan" is pronounced, the title of this thread rhymes.

[TreesOfDeath]

I think I have it.

I was going to start a thread but my theory is very simple.

Tarquin simply wants another idiot proxy ruler for one of his kingdoms, especially one related to him and easy to manipulate. That might be al.

[Gd8908]

Tarquin tries to make Elan rule by his side, but he refuses and they have a huge sword fight, at the end of which Elan loses his left arm, and ends up hanging off the railing of where they are, but then Belkar and a ressurected gender-turned Miko arrive with chainsaws and start attacking the crowd. Haley tries to stop them but sees Elan about to be killed by Tarquin, so she rushes up, but is pushed off the balcony only to be caught in midair by a flying Chuck Norris who gets sucker-punched by Roy, who escaped in the confusion of Miko and Belkar, who dig a hole in the ground to China to escape prison. Meanwhile, Elan puts on his sunglasses, says, "Anything is possible," and flies off into the sunset.
(Come on Giant. Use it. You know you want to.)

[Damaris]

I think I have it.

I was going to start a thread but my theory is very simple.

Tarquin simply wants another idiot proxy ruler for one of his kingdoms, especially one related to him and easy to manipulate. That might be al.

What I don't get is, why tell Elan about the whole plan in that case? Wouldn't it be much safer to leave him in the dark about it, like he did with all the previous "rulers"? And then there's the fact that they get rid of their puppet kings on a regular basis, and Tarquin seems to genuinely care for Elan. :smallconfused:

[silvadel]

Elan would be quite scary with a helm of opposite alignment... Even scarier than Tarquin.

[King of Nowhere]

I think tarquin genuinely cares for his son. I think the foreshadowing that the fate of the empire is going to rest on him was just a foreshadowing, not some kind of xanatow's rulette - don't think tarquin would need that, he's done well for the last twenty years.
So i think the surpirse is just what the current strip 759 is displaying and nothing more.

[Crisis21]

I have a new personal theory on this as a result of a conversation in another thread. I'll go ahead and quote myself here for your benefit:


:eek: OMG! Tarquin could totally be doing that!

He admitted, to Elan's face no less, that he and his group set up coups against their 'rulers' every now and then. He's also expressed a love of the dramatic equal to Elan's, only evil in nature. Tarquin could be setting up Elan as the heroic liberator deposing his tyrannical father, and even further his own plan in the process!

Tarquin isn't trying to set up Elan as his heir, he's trying to goad Elan into a classic heroic son vs. villainous father duel!

If Rich is setting it up this way, I may have to bow and worship him even more.....


This theory assumes that Tarquin is well aware that Elan is a Good adventurer (even if he's not quite aware of Elan's naivety) and is planning on manipulating that into another classic of dramatic convention.

Seriously, he's been waiting for who knows how many years to just say: "Elan, I am your father." I can totally see him deliberately setting up a 'liberator son' vs. 'tyrannical father' duel, probably even to help transition the change over to a new empire name (the Empire of Blood has a couple of years under its belt and may be due for a turnover) at the same time.

Of course, we all know what happens when plans meet Elan.... :biggrin:

[Gift Jeraff]

My #1 bet is what Crisis21 said. If not, then maybe he just wants him to join the family business (a bard would be excellent for spreading propaganda, or maybe rallying up a resistance which is set up to always fail yet keep them forming their own legitimate resistance).

I highly doubt he wants to set Elan up as another figuredhead. My current thinking is that Tarquin genuinely cares about family--in a very Evil (and theatrical) way--hence why he did not want Nale to be on the throne (he knew he'd be killed in a year). Assuming that's what happened.

[derfenrirwolv]

:smalleek: OK, that would be intimidating and awesome. Of course we did have a very similar arc when we last saw Nale, so it may be a bit played out.


:roy: "Nice try nale, we've figured out that you're not really Ela..."

:nale: *walks into room* "You rang?"

:roy: "Goddammit.. what NOW, identical TRIPLETS!?*

[Renan_Sousa]

He'll probably use Elan in some way to destabilize the Empire of Blood. It's old enough already, and he needs something to overthrow the current government and replace it with a new one.

He'll probably get the party to kill the empress in some way.

[NihhusHuotAliro]

My gut instinct suggests that Tarquin's plans for Elan may have something to do with a Helm of Opposite Alignment or a similar plot device.

Ooh, good idea!

Sort of a waste of a good Helm, though.

Now, think about if it was used on O-Chul.