Wrong-Eye: Poetic, innit? (SoD Spoilers)

[suzaliscious]

If you have not read Start of Darkness, read no further.

Seriously, don't.

Disclaimer: I'm probably going to be that annoying fan that reads too much into a favorite work of art.

We don't even know their real names. "Right-Eye" and "RedCloak" are nicknames the latter spat out so that Xykon wouldn't slaughter them should he find their names too hard to pronounce. The former's title was bestowed entirely based on the fact that a Paladin stabbed his left eye out when he was a boy. He only has a Right Eye. Simple, yes?

And yet ...

I don't know how many of you agree with Right-Eye in that final confrontation they had and how many of you support RedCloak's views and choices. I'll be frank in saying, though, that Right-Eye was correct. RedCloak effed up when he decided to turn Xykon into a Lich in Lirian's basement. He effed up bad - and he's consecutively made wrong decisions from every point then on in the story. (This is debatable but bear with me for a moment.) Right-Eye hit the nail on the head about everything - about how the Plan is likely not the best way to foster the Goblin peace that RedCloak so desperately seeks. (Look at Right-Eye's little village.) That associating with Xykon was crushing their souls. He was even right in the beginning - associated with Xykon, the dying human was probably smart. But when he evidently became a liability, they should have cut their losses and run. Found another arcane spellcaster, even, if RedCloak was so hell-bent on that Plan (they probably would have done that, since Right-Eye would not have spent years under Xykon's thumb and become disillusioned with the Plan. Eventually he might have also acquired the same viewpoint about the Plan as he ultimately did - Right-Eye seems to have a very sensible worldview.) Most importantly, he also judged his brother correctly, why he continued to stubbornly hold on to the belief that allying with Xykon was still in their best interest. Why RedCloak couldn't admit to himself that it was only because he no longer had a choice, couldn't admit that he was ... wrong.

So yeah, Right-Eye was right. Wrong-Eye was wrong.

Fitting, isn't it?

[ThePhantasm]

Yes. People on the forums have been saying the same thing for some time now. I can't think of anyone that would disagree with you.

It is a well constructed and tragic story.

[NerfTW]

As we've just seen, Red Cloak still considers Xykon a tool. AND he considers goblin deaths a necessary risk. Right-Eye and Redcloak had a difference of opinion, yet I fail to see any point at which Xykon has been a liability. If anything, he's the only reason they've gotten this far. Without Xykon, the regular Sapphire Guard would have stopped them.

Goblin villages have been attempted before. And they've been crushed. Red Cloak believes the plan is the best way to stop this. And every time Xykon has had an edge, Red Cloak has out maneuvered him. We just saw that his bending to Tsukiko's orders was just an act he only kept up until it became too risky. He also just acquired the means to destroy Xykon, as the fake phylactery is now in the elemental plane and not the real one.

Right Eye had a different opinion, but I disagree that Red Cloak has been anything but in control this whole time. He just doesn't mind the occasional death of goblins to further his plans, even if they happen to be his brother and nephews.

[B. Dandelion]

As we've just seen, Red Cloak still considers Xykon a tool. AND he considers goblin deaths a necessary risk. Right-Eye and Redcloak had a difference of opinion, yet I fail to see any point at which Xykon has been a liability. If anything, he's the only reason they've gotten this far. Without Xykon, the regular Sapphire Guard would have stopped them.

Goblin villages have been attempted before. And they've been crushed. Red Cloak believes the plan is the best way to stop this. And every time Xykon has had an edge, Red Cloak has out maneuvered him. We just saw that his bending to Tsukiko's orders was just an act he only kept up until it became too risky. He also just acquired the means to destroy Xykon, as the fake phylactery is now in the elemental plane and not the real one.

Right Eye had a different opinion, but I disagree that Red Cloak has been anything but in control this whole time. He just doesn't mind the occasional death of goblins to further his plans, even if they happen to be his brother and nephews.

I wholeheartedly disagree.

Redcloak has never come out and acknowledged Xykon is a liability, because that would entail admitting they were wrong to team up with him and that thousands of goblins have died needlessly as a result. Redcloak does mind needless goblin deaths at Xykon's hands, that was pretty much the first piece of characterization we ever got out of him. He was willing to risk goblin lives in the pursuit of the plan, but he wanted those causalities to be as few as possible. It's plain he was uncomfortable with Xykon's carelessness resulting in their deaths, and he had to rationalize it by tying it to The Plan and making Xykon absolutely essential to carrying it out. As Xykon grew increasingly depraved and impossible to control, he had to step up the scope of his rationalizations -- but that's what they've been, from day one. If he had known beforehand what Xykon would wind up doing to his people, do you really think he would have agreed to ally with him in the first place?

As for being in control, the only consistent hold he's had over Xykon is his knowledge of the ritual and thus, his own necessity to Xykon's bid for world domination. The only assurance that grants is that Xykon probably won't kill Redcloak for so long as he believes Redcloak is loyal. That is not "control". If he had control, he would force Xykon not to kill his followers, but he is completely ineffectual at managing to do that. Worse, Redcloak being necessary for Xykon's plans makes him effectively a prisoner who couldn't quit if he wanted to. When Right-Eye urges them to "escape", Redcloak doesn't retort that oh no, they've got everything well in hand, he argues that Xykon will chase after him -- which is indeed exactly what happens later on. So Redcloak, himself, knows this. The fact that he actually doesn't want to quit makes him a willing slave, but it doesn't alter the reality of his circumstances.

Possessing the phylactery has never, ever done him one whit of good. I am a little surprised by the number of people who state that Redcloak's deceptive swapping of the phylacteries represents a fundamental change in the status quo -- for thirty years, he had the phylactery. After the swap, he retrieved the phylactery and managed to trick Xykon into claiming a fake. All that's changed is Xykon thinks Redcloak has less hold over him than he once did, when Redcloak has as much hold as he did for that thirty-year-period when it never did him any good in the first place. That's not progress. It's running to stand still.

Redcloak has maintained his deception of Xykon for some thirty-five years and will reap a benefit from it if all goes according to plan. Knowing that, he can mentally frame the situation in a way that makes all of the sacrifices along the way worth it. He has to do this in order to live with himself. But it's not an indication he's been in control the whole way, it's an indication of his incredible capacity for self-deception. All the evidence in SoD points to him having gotten involved in something he never would have volunteered for, and the net effect has been to erode his adherence to principles he once stood by.

[Flame of Anor]

Redcloak has never come out and acknowledged Xykon is a liability, because that would entail admitting they were wrong to team up with him and that thousands of goblins have died needlessly as a result.

Exactly. Redcloak is the King of Denial and the Grand Duke of the Sunk Cost Fallacy.

[Bleak Ink]

As we've just seen, Red Cloak still considers Xykon a tool. AND he considers goblin deaths a necessary risk. Right-Eye and Redcloak had a difference of opinion, yet I fail to see any point at which Xykon has been a liability. If anything, he's the only reason they've gotten this far. Without Xykon, the regular Sapphire Guard would have stopped them.

Goblin villages have been attempted before. And they've been crushed. Red Cloak believes the plan is the best way to stop this. And every time Xykon has had an edge, Red Cloak has out maneuvered him. We just saw that his bending to Tsukiko's orders was just an act he only kept up until it became too risky. He also just acquired the means to destroy Xykon, as the fake phylactery is now in the elemental plane and not the real one.

Right Eye had a different opinion, but I disagree that Red Cloak has been anything but in control this whole time. He just doesn't mind the occasional death of goblins to further his plans, even if they happen to be his brother and nephews.

I agree with two-thirds of this completely, but will toss in a remark on the last bit: "doesn't mind" isn't quite what I interpret; "considers necessary at times" seems closer to the proverbial mark. It sounds detached and cold, sure, but thinking more with logic than emotions is what needs to be done in an undertaking like his.