What happened to Miko?

[Gidion]

What do you guys think happened to Miko after she died? I mean did she end up in some sort of heaven like Roy, because Soon seemed to indicate that when he was talking to her.
Or did she go to some sort of Hell as she had murdered, and the Gods seemed pretty annoyed about it:smallbiggrin:
I don't now much of the rules of D&D only the basics.So was Roy's experience in Heaven accurate to it? If not could you use those strips to extrapolate a likely OOTS canon scenario? and if she is in Hell could you describe what "plane" is like?

[hamishspence]

In OOTS, there's a number of afterlife planes- just like in core D&D:

"Heaven, hell, the abyss, limbo, valhalla, and a dozen more"

as Roy puts it.

Now which plane Miko would go to, is harder to determine- a great deal of DM's discretion applies here.

Did she change alignment from Good to Neutral, or from Lawful to Neutral? Was her act, unrepented, something that, as the Deva put it to Roy, would have her "putting the file in the True Neutral bin"?

Celestia isn't the only afterlife where LG characters can go- there's Bytopia (For the NG-leaning) and Arcadia (for the LN-leaning).

For descriptions of the individual afterlife planes- Manual of the Planes is the main 3.0/3.5 source. Fiendish Codex 1 covers the Abyss in detail, Fiendish Codex 2 covers the Nine Hells in detail.

Some of that content is to be found online though.

[super dark33]

She died, went to heaven, end of deal.

[ORione]

Presumably she went to an afterlife appropriate to her alignment.

Which raises the question of what her alignment is. That's a can of worms that we shouldn't open.

[Jet Samurai]

It is implied that she didn't go to Celestia (or whatever the LG plane is), as when she asks about Windstriker, Soon tells her she will be able to visit him periodically. That says to me that they won't be in the same place.

[Squark]

It is implied that she didn't go to Celestia (or whatever the LG plane is), as when she asks about Windstriker, Soon tells her she will be able to visit him periodically. That says to me that they won't be in the same place.

To me, on the other hand, it implies he will probably be reassigned to another paladin some day.


Look, Gidion, let me repeat what ORione said, with added emphasis. YOU DO NOT WANT TO OPEN THIS CAN OF WORMS.

Seriously. Every time someone posts a thread like this, the Giant kills a kitten. Please stop before he gets to Mr. Scruffy.

[Zevox]

Which raises the question of what her alignment is. That's a can of worms that we shouldn't open.
Little late for that - the thread's here, so it's inevitably going to run its course like all others of its kind.

As always, my opinion: she dropped to LN when she murdered Shojo, went to Arcadia if she was lucky, Acheron if she was unlucky, Mechanus otherwise. I'd find Acheron most fitting personally.

And that will be my one and only post in this thread, with any luck.

Zevox

[Gidion]

Presumably she went to an afterlife appropriate to her alignment.

Which raises the question of what her alignment is. That's a can of worms that we shouldn't open.

In the books the Giant go on at great length about her being Lawful Good but "playing" it all the wrong way. So her alignment would be the same as Roy's. So I assume she had the same sort of interview he had but I couldn't see her getting in with a murder on her file. So would they just send her off to some other heaven?
Can they change your alignment just like that? I thought alignment was something you decided. Can the "angels" just decide you where wrong? Is the D&D afterlife a sort of "punishment" "reward" sort of deal or just a "sorting" kind of thing? because some of the evil planes look pretty grim:smalleek:

[Gidion]

Little late for that - the thread's here, so it's inevitably going to run its course like all others of its kind.

As always, my opinion: she dropped to LN when she murdered Shojo, went to Arcadia if she was lucky, Acheron if she was unlucky, Mechanus otherwise. I'd find Acheron most fitting personally.

And that will be my one and only post in this thread, with any luck.

Zevox

Thanks. This is the sort of thing I was looking for:smallsmile: Ignore my last post as it took so long to type I missed the last couple of reply's.

[Zevox]

(*sigh* So much for just one post...)


Can they change your alignment just like that? I thought alignment was something you decided.
They don't change your alignment - you do, by your actions. Just deciding "I'm Lawful Good" is not enough, you have to actually follow through on that, for the most part anyway. Perfection isn't required, but enough divergence from the alignment you want to be means you aren't actually that alignment, but a different one entirely, even if an only slightly different one.

Miko, in my opinion, fits that, having barely been good most of her life, and crossing the threshold to neutral when she murdered Shojo.


Is the D&D afterlife a sort of "punishment" "reward" sort of deal or just a "sorting" kind of thing? because some of the evil planes look pretty grim:smalleek:
A little of both. The dead are sorted to planes by their alignment - their actual alignment, judged by their actions in life, not by what's on their metaphorical character sheet/what they think they are. Those planes appropriately reflect those alignments - good and neutral planes are generally pleasant places to be, evil planes not so much. Though devout followers of evil gods may be rewarded by their deity in the afterlife, depending on the god and the followers in question.

Zevox

[Dr.Epic]

She died, went to heaven, end of deal.

Yeah, except no. Considering she did a major evil deed prior to her death and never atoned, we don't know this.

[FujinAkari]

Short Answer: We don't know, probably somewhere between Celestia and Mechanus.

Long Answer: Rich has gone to great lengths to make sure not to hint where Miko ended up, so it really just depends on your personal opinion. Smart money is that she didn't end up in a Chaotic or Evil afterlife (if she had, then Windstriker wouldn't have been able to visit -at all-) nor whichever afterlife the Paladins go to (Traditionally, divine characters don't go to normal afterlives, they go to their Gods' realms, and Windstriker could have visited Miko pretty much all the time if she got to go there)

Beyond these two assumptions (and they are -just- assumptions, Soon could have easily just been being polite or honestly unsure so staying neutral) there isn't any real "right" or "wrong" answer, just feelings.

[Gidion]

Just had a awesome idea! assuming Belkar is to die reasonably soon and he has been shifting further and further toward neutral. He may end up in a neutral "heaven" and if Meko was condemned because of her murdering to the same place she could be waiting for him for round two of the battle royal!

Belkar after his sorting="well this isn't so bad considering"

Miko="time to pay for your sins halfling and no one will stop me now!"

Belkar="what the....YOU...but how?..oh sc*ew it....bring it on b*tch"

[VanBuren]

Maybe she still went to LG Heaven, but just doesn't get to go to the exclusive Paladin section.

[Dr.Epic]

Maybe she still went to LG Heaven, but just doesn't get to go to the exclusive Paladin section.

The LG afterlife is divided into PC classes?:smallconfused:

[Tetsujin-28]

I'm assuming she either went to Arcadia or Mechanus, hopefully the Giant will provide an answer on this one day.

[thereaper]

I'd prefer if he didn't.

Miko is just one of those characters that is supposed to make us think long and hard about the alignment system. Her posthumous destination is no different. If it is answered for certain one way or the other, it removes that element.

[Starbuck_II]

When the oracle said Belkar was breathing his last breath. He meant the consciousness of Belkar; in reality Miko's consciousness and belkar's will merge into a new being: Bemo, since not really Belkar Oracle will be correct and Miko will be alive.

He/She will have Gestalt rules. Ranger 3/Monk 3//Ranger 9/Pally9//Barbarian 1/Pally 1. Due to this fusion of alignments: she stays a Paladin. Belkar's new attitude allows him to maintain Good status as he is playing the GAME now.

I'm not sure if he will be a Halfing or Human though.

[hamishspence]

I wondered if the Twelve Gods were intended to cover the 12 non-evil aligned planes (two of the Lower Planes, Pandemonium and Acheron, are not technically evil aligned).

If so- and if their servants can pay visits to any of their planes- then Miko could be in a non-Good plane yet still receive visits from Windstriker.

[Mutant Sheep]

When the oracle said Belkar was breathing his last breath. He meant the consciousness of Belkar; in reality Miko's consciousness and belkar's will merge into a new being: Bemo, since not really Belkar Oracle will be correct and Miko will be alive.

He/She will have Gestalt rules. Ranger 3/Monk 3//Ranger 9/Pally9//Barbarian 1/Pally 1. Due to this fusion of alignments: she stays a Paladin. Belkar's new attitude allows him to maintain Good status as he is playing the GAME now.

I'm not sure if he will be a Halfing or Human though.

Obviously he becomes a dwarf by possessing Durkon's body, killing him.:smallbiggrin:

[FujinAkari]

The LG afterlife is divided into PC classes?:smallconfused:

Yes, as I said in my Long Answer, Divine Characters go to the specific demiplane where their God lives, so Durkon will NOT go to Celestia, but to Valhalla and hang out with Thor.

Its a little hazy what the 12 Gods do, but if canon is followed then LG Paladins will end up in a special afterlife, not the general one.

[martianmister]

Miko's going to an evil afterlife is similar to Belkar's going to a good afterlife: I can't see it. My guess: Same place as other paladins (LG afterlife). Paladins "usher her to her destination" and Windstriker's "visit her as much as he is able" shows that.


Yes, as I said in my Long Answer, Divine Characters go to the specific demiplane where their God lives, so Durkon will NOT go to Celestia, but to Valhalla and hang out with Thor.

All souls do "rest on the Outer Plane that matches their alignment" (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0737.html). Durkon is LG, Thor is (most likely) not Lawful.

[hamishspence]

Clerics may get exceptions, depending on the setting. In Complete Divine it points out that while ordinary souls tend to go to the plane matching their alignment, clerics and other divine casters tend to go to their deity's domain.

[Runolfr]

So I assume she had the same sort of interview he had but I couldn't see her getting in with a murder on her file. So would they just send her off to some other heaven? Can they change your alignment just like that? Can the "angels" just decide you where wrong?

I would presume, from the interview process, that the Deva can decide that you do not meet the criteria for entering the particular "heaven" you're applying to enter. If that happens, they turn you away, and you either apply at another Outer Plane or wander around as a ghost (who won't necessarily be able to manifest -- Roy couldn't, for example).

I gather from her final conversation with Soon that Miko was going to be turned away from the LG Outer Plane. She was undoubtedly Lawful enough, but her Good quotient was always dubious, and she crossed the line with the Twelve Gods when she murdered Shojo. She could presumably still qualify for entry into the LN outer plane, or possibly the the plane at the LN/LG intersection (if such a plane exists in Rich's cosmology).

[hamishspence]

Roy's list of five planes and "a dozen more" did sound a little like the Great Wheel- especially in its older incarnations, when Mechanus was Nirvana, and Ysgard was (at least partly) Valhalla.

The "iron plain" mentioned by Jirix sounded a bit like Acheron.

So, maybe it is a reskinned Great Wheel.

[Kish]

No amount of D&D knowledge would tell you for sure based on the information we have. She's not in the same place as Windstriker, but she wouldn't be in any case, since he's not dead, and is probably another paladin's mount now. If she was still Lawful Good, she's somewhere in Celestia, just not as high on the mountain as she would be if she'd died a true paladin. If she was any other alignment then...etc. People say that "she was obviously X alignment and therefore she is in Y." People will say that what Soon said about Windstriker visiting her as much as he is able proves she's in an upper plane (because Windstriker couldn't visit her in the Nine Hells) and that it proves that she's not in an upper plane (because there would be no limits on Windstriker visiting her in Celestia). At the end of the day, the information the comic's given us is simply not sufficient for anyone to know where she is.

[faustin]

Miko´s demise is quickly becoming to the Giant like Sherlock´s one to Sr. Arthur Conan Doyle, a constant headache caused by annoying fans.

[hamishspence]

If she was still Lawful Good, she's somewhere in Celestia, just not as high on the mountain as she would be if she'd died a true paladin.

A case could be made that she was LG, but not LG enough to get into Celestia- thus allowing for a LG Miko in Arcadia, or Bytopia, or maybe some other plane that's compatible with a mildly LG alignment.

[denthor]

My guess she defended this one gate. Lawful

Killed a CG/N lord she was sworn to protrect and serve Nuetral at best.

Put the two together lN (lawful NUETRAL) little law very Nuetral

[Surfing HalfOrc]

The LG afterlife is divided into PC classes?:smallconfused:

Um, sort of... Celestia is a mountain, wide at the base and surrounded by an ocean, and pointy at the top. The mountain has Six Levels, with a Seventh Level above the mountain. You climb to your level, then stay there. I think getting to the Seventh Level requires a special permit, or maybe it is impossible. Never was really into Planescape.

Paladins have a city (and supposidly stables) at the highest mountain level, and Miko could be gutting fish at the base of the mountain. Winstriker could then come down to visit whenever he is not off with his new Paladin.

I'm also one of the few that think Miko might make a return, if only to save Roy and atone for her actions.

[Cranica]

There's debate about Miko's alignment? Huh, I'm new around here, but I'd always assumed that LG as a paladin, turning LN and causing her to Fall. She's certainly not Evil, just misguided, and never stops being Lawful, so I can't see anything but LN for her at time of death.

[Snails]

A case could be made that she was LG, but not LG enough to get into Celestia- thus allowing for a LG Miko in Arcadia, or Bytopia, or maybe some other plane that's compatible with a mildly LG alignment.

We are all guessing, but Arcadia does seem like the most sensible answer for someone who tried to be LG, was a fairly successful Lawful, but seemed to fall down on the Good part.

I agree that, given how Soon was skirting the Windstriker question, we should assume that Soon believes Miko will not make the cut for Celestia. Soon may be wrong, but his guess is probably better than ours.

[Kish]

There's debate about Miko's alignment?
Very little debate.

Lots of assertions. Assertions come in all nine flavors.

[WickedWizard17]

There are several possible answers, as is always the case with OotS. If we're going by normal D&D, I believe that Miko only lost her paladin powers because she did something that completely shifted her away from being Lawful Good. So she was probably Lawful Neutral - or as a certain website would put it, Lawful Stupid. But since the Giant frequently writes with his own mashup rules, she could have lost her powers not due to a full-on alignment switch, but merely because she broke her oath to serve her master - and then murdered him. So the Twelve Gods removed her as a paladin. Which means she could still be in Celestia, probably at the very bottom getting really pissed off at being on the very top. If she was there, I'm not surprised we didn't see her, because the focus was on Roy. 1) If Roy saw her, he'd probably cut and run. 2) If she saw him, she'd probably think it was some kind of mirage or she was being tested by the gods, because she's totally convinced he's evil and would therefore not be in heaven at all. A quick check of strip #486, wherein we see a long line of dead Azurites, Miko doesn't appear. But then, we shouldn't have expected her to.

All of that gibber-gabber aside, the point is, Miko is dead. We probably shouldn't bother focusing on wherever that crazy chick ended, and wonder about more important things, such as HOW LONG CAN THAT RAGE OF THOG'S LAST????!!!!

[Kish]

There are several possible answers, as is always the case with OotS. If we're going by normal D&D, I believe that Miko only lost her paladin powers because she did something that completely shifted her away from being Lawful Good.

A paladin who commits a single evil act or "a gross violation of the code of conduct" Falls.

No alignment shift is required. "You have to shift alignments to fall" is what would be the house rule, or, as you put it, the "mashup."

[Snails]

There's debate about Miko's alignment? Huh, I'm new around here, but I'd always assumed that LG as a paladin, turning LN and causing her to Fall. She's certainly not Evil, just misguided, and never stops being Lawful, so I can't see anything but LN for her at time of death.

Careful.

A paladin falls when making any overtly evil act, but 1 or two acts do not usually an alignment make. A fallen paladin can very easily stay LG forever.

I personally believe that Miko has always seemed closer to LN than LG. That said, it is a bad assumption that a LG character becomes LN because they "fell".

[Zevox]

Just had a awesome idea! assuming Belkar is to die reasonably soon and he has been shifting further and further toward neutral. He may end up in a neutral "heaven" and if Meko was condemned because of her murdering to the same place she could be waiting for him for round two of the battle royal!

Belkar after his sorting="well this isn't so bad considering"

Miko="time to pay for your sins halfling and no one will stop me now!"

Belkar="what the....YOU...but how?..oh sc*ew it....bring it on b*tch"
Doubtful in the extreme. Belkar is thoroughly chaotic, and Miko was always very lawful. For them to end up in the same plane for their afterlives would be a huge stretch, to say the least.

Zevox

[Lord Bingo]

My best bet is that like Eugene Miko is stuck on a cloud until a certain something gets resolved. In her case that would be atonement for her misdeed. Windstriker can visit her on the same terms that Roy could visit his father.

[Vinyadan]

I don't think it is right to see this problem in a D&D way. I mean, I think that this is one of those points in which the comic is a literary product and the literary aspect goes beyond any D&D rule.
Miko's death is a strip in which a powerful warrior of good - not simply a paladin npc, but a knight who devoted herself fully to the cause - hears for the first time the truth about her actions and the way she acted during her whole life. And she does not hear this from a very powerful npc with a homebrew template that gives him the ability to float, but from the founder of her order, returned from the dead to fight her same enemy. They talk about atonement, but I don't think it is the anonement spell, but real-life atonement. Finally, she give a look to the way she lived her relationships and to the only friend she ever had, thus revealing her misery.
The important thing in her death is not in what bizzarre setting she will end to, but that she will not be in the same place as her fellow paladins who kept true to their cause, and that she understands it and the reason for it. She perfomed "adequately", not "well".

Miko is my favourite character in OoTS, because she is, for me, the only actual tragic character. Totally mad, but still striving to perform her duty, even though in a deranged way. And the final moment, in which she actually sees her life as it was, gives her something more human than all the other characters have. I honestly don't like so much Roy's verbose explanations in the afterlife, because to me they simply seem explanations, without actual pathos or humanity. Miko's death is pictured in a rather realistic way (beside liches, ghosts, blowing stuff).

And, anyway, someone had to make a joke about this MAD paladin. :smallbiggrin:

[FujinAkari]

My best bet is that like Eugene Miko is stuck on a cloud until a certain something gets resolved. In her case that would be atonement for her misdeed. Windstriker can visit her on the same terms that Roy could visit his father.

How does this make any sense? Did Miko take a Blood Oath never to break her Paladin vows?

[Iranon]

My interpretation: Miko would by nature be a very honourable LN (too harsh to be good), but dedicated her life to being LG and reacted to any conflict between natural and chosen alignment with 'must try harder'.
Her tragedy is in how disastrous this seemingly minor conflict turned out to be, both for her sanity and everyone she was in contact with.

I like to think she's at peace in Arcadia where these technicalities don't matter. In a way she deserves better than the afterlife she hoped for and not fitting in.

[Lord Bingo]

How does this make any sense? Did Miko take a Blood Oath never to break her Paladin vows?

My reasoning is this: Miko has unfinished business which prevents her from entering the afterlife, insofar as she must atone for her misdeeds and come to truly understand the essence of being a lawful good paladin. Only then will she be able go to her eternal reward.
In this sense I liken her to Eugene, only while he broke(ignored) his blood oath Miko broke the paladin code. Eugene cannot go to the afterlife before his oath is fulfilled and Miko cannot go to her afterlife before she truly repents.

Like people before me in this thread, I do not buy the whole alignment change argument -at least not from a D&D rules perspective. If paladins who -more or less accidentally- were to commit an evil act/break the paladin code invariably were to change alignment, they would not need an atonement spell to get their powers back but rather something which would change their alignment back to lawful good.
As the deva informed Roy, alignment wise it is about always striving to live up to the high ideals of being lawful good, even if you sometimes fail. Miko never really got it right, but in her own sick way she tried. Now, to enter the afterlife she needs to finally understand her alignment.

[Holy_Knight]

I don't think it is right to see this problem in a D&D way. I mean, I think that this is one of those points in which the comic is a literary product and the literary aspect goes beyond any D&D rule.
Miko's death is a strip in which a powerful warrior of good - not simply a paladin npc, but a knight who devoted herself fully to the cause - hears for the first time the truth about her actions and the way she acted during her whole life. And she does not hear this from a very powerful npc with a homebrew template that gives him the ability to float, but from the founder of her order, returned from the dead to fight her same enemy. They talk about atonement, but I don't think it is the anonement spell, but real-life atonement. Finally, she give a look to the way she lived her relationships and to the only friend she ever had, thus revealing her misery.
The important thing in her death is not in what bizzarre setting she will end to, but that she will not be in the same place as her fellow paladins who kept true to their cause, and that she understands it and the reason for it. She perfomed "adequately", not "well".

Miko is my favourite character in OoTS, because she is, for me, the only actual tragic character. Totally mad, but still striving to perform her duty, even though in a deranged way. And the final moment, in which she actually sees her life as it was, gives her something more human than all the other characters have. I honestly don't like so much Roy's verbose explanations in the afterlife, because to me they simply seem explanations, without actual pathos or humanity. Miko's death is pictured in a rather realistic way (beside liches, ghosts, blowing stuff).

And, anyway, someone had to make a joke about this MAD paladin. :smallbiggrin:
This is very well said. Excellent post, Vinyadan.

I would add that her dying words "I can live with that" strike me as, while perhaps not exactly repentence, a kind of acceptance which could be the first step towards it. She hears a compassionate but direct and truthful assessment of herself from someone she completely trusts and admires, and for possibly the first time seems to see and understand her own character flaws. That suggests that at least the chance of redemption is there, although whether and how that might play out in an afterlife remains to be seen.

[Ingus]

Just had a awesome idea! assuming Belkar is to die reasonably soon and he has been shifting further and further toward neutral. He may end up in a neutral "heaven" and if Meko was condemned because of her murdering to the same place she could be waiting for him for round two of the battle royal!

Belkar after his sorting="well this isn't so bad considering"

Miko="time to pay for your sins halfling and no one will stop me now!"

Belkar="what the....YOU...but how?..oh sc*ew it....bring it on b*tch"

A fitting punishment for Miko, a fitting reward for Belkar

"You again, ethnocentric bitch?"

[Gitman00]

I think, thematically, Acheron (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acheron_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)) would be a good fit for her. A plane of endless war that is never resolved? Perfect for someone who solved every problem with her blades, and fell from grace and died because of it.

[veti]

Long Answer: Rich has gone to great lengths to make sure not to hint where Miko ended up, so it really just depends on your personal opinion.

This is wisdom.


Smart money is...

This, however, isn't. Smart money stays the hell away from making bets where there is no reason to believe they'll ever be settled at all.

To the OQ: this isn't a question about D&D rules. D&D rules say all kinds of things, but most importantly "what the DM says, goes". If the DM rules that she's reincarnated as a righteous Vorpal Wallaby, then that's what happens and I for one would not be even slightly surprised.

[MythicFox]

I wondered if the Twelve Gods were intended to cover the 12 non-evil aligned planes (two of the Lower Planes, Pandemonium and Acheron, are not technically evil aligned).

You're assuming that the Twelve Gods are all non-Evil. In Start of Darkness... ...Rat was specifically depicted as one of the 'few allies' of the Dark One, alongside Tiamat, suggesting at least a non-Good alignment. It's possible that the Twelve Gods collectively run the gamut of alignments and as sort of a 'cosmic balance' thing and the Paladins they empower are either tied to the pantheon as a whole or as a philosophy (which is possible in some settings).

Now, that said, that's pure speculation on my part. So, y'know, grain of salt.

[Zevox]

My reasoning is this: Miko has unfinished business which prevents her from entering the afterlife, insofar as she must atone for her misdeeds and come to truly understand the essence of being a lawful good paladin. Only then will she be able go to her eternal reward.
In this sense I liken her to Eugene, only while he broke(ignored) his blood oath Miko broke the paladin code.

Except that's not at all how the D&D afterlife, or the Paladin code, works. Misdeeds don't keep you out of the afterlife, they simply impact which one you get sent to, and the Paladin's code is just a set of rules (or rather broad guidelines, since no sourcebook ever gives a specific set of rules for it) that a Paladin must follow in order to remain a Paladin. Eugene is a unique case due to the particular magic involved in the Blood Oath - barring something like that (and the Paladin code is nothing like that), Miko would not be kept out the afterlife, simply assigned to whichever one was deemed appropriate for her.

Zevox

[RecklessFable]

Belkar after his sorting="well this isn't so bad considering"
Miko="time to pay for your sins halfling and no one will stop me now!"
Belkar="what the....YOU...but how?..oh sc*ew it....bring it on b*tch"

So for Belkar, the final reward!


All souls do "rest on the Outer Plane that matches their alignment" (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0737.html). Durkon is LG, Thor is (most likely) not Lawful.

I never noticed that he was "correcting" his tea in that frame!

[SoC175]

I wondered if the Twelve Gods were intended to cover the 12 non-evil aligned planes (two of the Lower Planes, Pandemonium and Acheron, are not technically evil aligned).

If so- and if their servants can pay visits to any of their planes- then Miko could be in a non-Good plane yet still receive visits from Windstriker.Rat is implied to be evil

[Umberhulk]

Even with the likely alignment change I was really hoping Roy would bump into her in Celestia. AWKWARD!

[FujinAkari]

This, however, isn't. Smart money stays the hell away from making bets where there is no reason to believe they'll ever be settled at all.

That isn't what that phrase means. Smart money means "Well, if you are forced to take a position, the smartest option is..."

[VanBuren]

That isn't what that phrase means. Smart money means "Well, if you are forced to take a position, the smartest option is..."

That isn't what that phrase means either. The phrase refers to what people with inside knowledge would pick when betting.

[FujinAkari]

That isn't what that phrase means either. The phrase refers to what people with inside knowledge would pick when betting.

I have -never- used it that way, to me it always represented which option was the one most likely to pay off, simply declaring that the best option is not to bet defeats the whole purpose.

But it may be a regional thing :)

[hamishspence]

Rat is implied to be evil

Or at least evil-leaning, true. And there are plenty of LE people in Acheron and CE people in Pandemonium. However, those two Lower Planes themselves aren't evil aligned.

You could have "All the planes inhabited by the Twelve Gods are non-evil" without "All the Twelve Gods are non-evil".

Thus, a being such as Windstriker, wouldn't suffer a magical penalty if they chose to visit Acheron. Whereas they would, if they were to visit Baator.

[The Succubus]

There should be a saying on these boards:

"Let bisected paladin's alignments lie."

[ref]

Like with Vaarsuvius' gender (and maybe it should happen with MitD's genus too), several alternatives should be drawn, showing Miko on each of those expected planes, sort of like "to prevent the ending of the movie to be leaked, several endings were filmed".

I can envision a final book of a few unresolved mysteries that each have several solution shown, so each reader can pick the ones they prefer.

[veti]

I have -never- used it that way, to me it always represented which option was the one most likely to pay off, simply declaring that the best option is not to bet defeats the whole purpose.

Yeah, but there's essentially zero likelihood that any option will pay off. It's like betting on whether balrogs have wings. I still say, the only "smart" option is not to bet.

[FujinAkari]

Yeah, but there's essentially zero likelihood that any option will pay off. It's like betting on whether balrogs have wings. I still say, the only "smart" option is not to bet.

Not true.

The only thing that provides any sort of clue is Soon's commentary on Miko, and his 'Windstriker will visit you as much as he is able' and 'we (Soon and the other Ghost-matyrs) will escort you to your destination.' These only make sense if she -doesn't- go to an Evil or Chaotic afterlife (nor to Windstriker's home afterlife)

So the smart money is that she doesn't end up in either of those places :P


Is it evidence? No, Soon doesn't know and is just guessing, but he is the only authoritative guess we are given.