Belkar Dying by the End of the Book

[Oscredwin]

I don't know how he's going to die, but I expect it's being thematically being built up with strips like 881 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0881.html). In the last panel he seems frustrated that all he's good for is hurting people. Things seem to be coming to a head in his character development such that he's either going to die while nominally hurting someone (Tarquin? IFCC? Xykon?) and letting the rest of the Order escape/otherwise saving the day, or we're going to get a "I'm finally doing something good" act. I think we might actually get a confirmed alignment shift (assuming a purposeful heroic sacrifice).

Does anyone else agree? Or do we think he has more character development to go through?

[MichaelGoldclaw]

You are not the only one.

[jidasfire]

Whenever Belkar gets so much as a papercut, people immediately start predicting his demise. "No, no, guys, hear me out. I know for a fact that Belkar will die at the hands of Buggy Lou. I know he's a minor NPC villain, but he could theoretically cause death and Belkar is destined to die, therefore it's the only thing that makes sense."

So yeah, color me skeptical. Frankly, Durkon already died in this book, and Belkar is undergoing a lot of change that is only starting to bear fruit. Anything's possible, but it doesn't seem to be where the story's going at the moment.

[Emanick]

I have always been extremely skeptical of the possibility that Belkar will permanently die before the last book. He's a main character, and thus a key part of the Order. A major part of the story would be lost if he disappeared. And with his recent character development, even the "dead weight" and "narrative liability" arguments for disposing of him have wilted.

Besides all that, the prophecy has stripped Belkar of the plot armor protagonists normally wear into virtually every battle, making every major fight he participates in far more interesting than it would normally be. To kill him now would drain a tremendous amount of potential drama from the remaining story, since this tension would immediately vanish.

Frankly, I can't see Rich killing Belkar before Kraagor's Gate. It would be a tremendous waste in every way, and it would strip away much of the continuity that has underlined the Order's journey towards becoming a coherent and unified team, permanently weakening that theme. Perhaps he'll be killed and raised somehow and will again die permanently before the end of the year (though I'm not sure why or how this could happen), but that's about the only way I see Rich allowing him to perish in the near future.

[Porthos]

DStP commentary:

"Oh, and someone will die. But I bet you already knew that, right?"

Now, at the time, people rightly expected that to be Belkar.

But with Durkon's death, the statement has been fulfilled. Now there's nothing saying that there can't be two deaths in the book. But it is now up in the air.

And, as an aside, the 'I bet you already knew that' line is a pretty decent red herring statement to the audience if Belkar doesn't die in this book.

Makes me want to say something like "Sneaky little Burlew. Wicked. False. Tricksy, he is." :smallamused:

Of course, the wording of it was suspicious. And I certainly narrowed my eyes when I first read it. Just wasn't sure where exactly he was going with it. :smallsmile:

[Kiraxa]

Belkar still has around 5 weeks before the end date on his prophecy, if I remember right. Its only been two weeks since Roy's Resurrection. I'd say he'll live till next book.

[137beth]

I have always been extremely skeptical of the possibility that Belkar will permanently die before the last book. He's a main character, and thus a key part of the Order. A major part of the story would be lost if he disappeared. And with his recent character development, even the "dead weight" and "narrative liability" arguments for disposing of him have wilted.

Besides all that, the prophecy has stripped Belkar of the plot armor protagonists normally wear into virtually every battle, making every major fight he participates in far more interesting than it would normally be. To kill him now would drain a tremendous amount of potential drama from the remaining story, since this tension would immediately vanish.

Frankly, I can't see Rich killing Belkar before Kraagor's Gate. It would be a tremendous waste in every way, and it would strip away much of the continuity that has underlined the Order's journey towards becoming a coherent and unified team, permanently weakening that theme. Perhaps he'll be killed and raised somehow and will again die permanently before the end of the year (though I'm not sure why or how this could happen), but that's about the only way I see Rich allowing him to perish in the near future.

These are my thoughts as well--
I wouldn't be shocked if he died soon, but I've long ago gotten fed up with the 203857203 threads proclaiming that Belkar must die in the next strip right away and anyone who suggests that maybe he isn't dieing immediately is a moron. Oh, but we've been having those strips for years now, so they've all been wrong so far:smallsigh:

[Vinsfeld]

I have always been extremely skeptical of the possibility that Belkar will permanently die before the last book. He's a main character, and thus a key part of the Order. A major part of the story would be lost if he disappeared. And with his recent character development, even the "dead weight" and "narrative liability" arguments for disposing of him have wilted.

Besides all that, the prophecy has stripped Belkar of the plot armor protagonists normally wear into virtually every battle, making every major fight he participates in far more interesting than it would normally be. To kill him now would drain a tremendous amount of potential drama from the remaining story, since this tension would immediately vanish.

Frankly, I can't see Rich killing Belkar before Kraagor's Gate. It would be a tremendous waste in every way, and it would strip away much of the continuity that has underlined the Order's journey towards becoming a coherent and unified team, permanently weakening that theme. Perhaps he'll be killed and raised somehow and will again die permanently before the end of the year (though I'm not sure why or how this could happen), but that's about the only way I see Rich allowing him to perish in the near future.

This is exactly what I've always thought. I thought I was the only one to think that Belkar will survive until the last book.

[Oscredwin]

Ok, let me rephrase my question. How much more character growth does Belkar look like he has left? I know this section is pretty heavy on V and Durkan's character arcs....

Actually, I don't think there is room for him to die (from a narrative standpoint). The end of this book is going to have dramatic character development for Durkan, V, Elan, and maybe Haley. Getting Belkar's swansong in their might be too much, even for Rich. I'm switching over to the Belkar won't die in this book.

[David Argall]

As has been noted many times before, the Belkar predictions are absolutely convincing, except that our author has this love of surprising us, and the literary convention of several prediction confirming the same thing, yet each of them only being technically right is well known. I prefer logic, but our author has been "illogical" quite a few times already.

[CRtwenty]

I don't think he's going to die in this book. His death seems more like something that'll occur at a suitably dramatic point in the final arc. In-comic he's still got several weeks before he reaches the absolute deadline for his demise, and being as it seems unlikely he'll be rezzed (based on the wording of the prophecy) it wouldn't make sense to cut him entirely out of the final book.

[thereaper]

Honestly, I'm somewhat expecting the very next strip to be the last one this arc.

A big splash page of V getting possessed, Xykon teleporting in, a nice shot of the team seeing how screwed they are...yeah, it could work.

[Coat]

I'm willing to bet on a clear redemptive curve for Belkar - of which we've only seen the start, so far - abruptly and shockingly interrupted by his death, without hope of resurrection.

When this will happen I have no idea, other than it being when we least expect it. Heh, at this point I even wouldn't be surprised if Belkar gets turned into a vampire, just because we've already been shown it not happening, so it's the last thing we expect.

As others have said, the Belkster's got a couple more weeks left on the clock, and in this comic - and at this pace of events - a couple of weeks can go a long way.

That said, I'd still be surprised if Belkar makes it all the way to the last book: Kraagor didn't, and the parallels are obvious.

[Newwby]

I wouldn't be surprised if some Oracle twist on the prophecy was forthcoming. 'Draw his last breath' doesn't have to mean dead necessarily, plenty of creatures don't breathe.

Frankly I'm hopeful Belkar redeems himself for some of his past actions by carrying on the way he has been going. At the very least if he has to die it'd best be some heroic sacrifice like others have predicted. Nothing like a good redemption story!

[Belkar<3]

I have always been extremely skeptical of the possibility that Belkar will permanently die before the last book. He's a main character, and thus a key part of the Order. A major part of the story would be lost if he disappeared. And with his recent character development, even the "dead weight" and "narrative liability" arguments for disposing of him have wilted.

Besides all that, the prophecy has stripped Belkar of the plot armor protagonists normally wear into virtually every battle, making every major fight he participates in far more interesting than it would normally be. To kill him now would drain a tremendous amount of potential drama from the remaining story, since this tension would immediately vanish.

Frankly, I can't see Rich killing Belkar before Kraagor's Gate. It would be a tremendous waste in every way, and it would strip away much of the continuity that has underlined the Order's journey towards becoming a coherent and unified team, permanently weakening that theme. Perhaps he'll be killed and raised somehow and will again die permanently before the end of the year (though I'm not sure why or how this could happen), but that's about the only way I see Rich allowing him to perish in the near future.

I totally agree. It would be so anti-climatic to kill Belkar similar to the way he died in the illusion, just randomly drop dead.

[Goosefarble]

I try to refrain from predicting things about this sort of thing, because I'm almost always wrong about them (I was one of the people who assumed the roomful of dead Draketooths was an illusion, for example), but I feel that this soon after Durkon, with Durkon having sacrificed himself to save the others, would be a very bad time dramatically speaking to kill Belkar. Like other people in the thread have said, it'd be totally expected and not at all a surprise. Besides which, we've already had a moment where everyone THOUGHT he was going to die - Malack's attack before Durkon's Mass Death Ward.

And on the other note, I feel like we've got a long way to go with Belkar yet. I, like a lot of others, believe (or at least really hope) that he gets a proper send-off with a kind of heroic sacrifice thing going on. Something to justify all the times he's been a little nuisance throughout the arc. That, or he could just die in the explosion when the gate blows up. This is Rich Burlew we're talking about here.