OMG. Nale's death totally lines up with Eugene's prophecy.

[konradknox]

Am I the first to remember this?

"When the goat turns red strikes true"

Nale turns on Malack and Tarquin.
Tarquin wears red, including a red dagger.

[TinyMushroom]

I'm not sure if it's a coincidence or not but very interesting nonetheless.

[Wou]

Huh.

10 characters

[Perseus]

I'm not sure if it's a coincidence or not but very interesting nonetheless.


Huh.

10 characters

I think you guys need to switch avatars...

Anyways, I'm pretty sure it is coincidence, I mean it isn't like Tarquin has the only red stuff on the planet.

[137beth]

Wow! Who knew Eugene had such prophetic powers?!? Make you wonder why he didn't warn Roy about Girard's illusion...

[Tsumeken]

Well Nale does have a Goatee

[Coat]

Well Nale does have a Goatee

Which is the exact, in comic, explanation of the prophecy: http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0060.html. With Haley as Red, rather than Tarquin.

However, the Oracle casually mentions that the 'two of you are running late for a pair of family reunions' (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0330.html) to Elan and Roy. And they go on to have a family reunion each shortly afterwards, with Nale and Julia respectively, in Nale's brother replacement trap. Which the Giant explains, in the book commentary, as fulfilling the prophecy.

But then they each have another much fuller family reunion afterwards: Roy with the rest of his family in the afterlife, and Elan with Tarquin.

Thanks to the vagueness of the English language, 'pair' could mean 'one each, for both of you', or 'two family reunions each, for all the people addressed'. And both interpretations are met.

So there is evidence, if you want to read it that way, that the Giant does go in for this kind of very long term references. And even though this scene may not have been on his mind when he drew 0015 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0015.html), it's entirely possible he remembered it when he drew this one.

Or not, and we're just seeing patterns in the blinkenlights.

[2.5 cats]

Great catch to both conradknox and Coat!

[Psyren]

Nale didn't actually "turn" at that moment though. He was openly against his father for a long time.

[Unisus]

So we have here - a thrice fulfilled prophecy *smile*

[AKA_Bait]

I think it's fair also to observe that Nale was "the goat" of his father's group, idiomatically speaking.

[konradknox]

The Giant messes with my heeead! :smalleek:

But yeah, I'm not actually saying that he intended this purposely or did it deliberately, it's just like another cool subconscious O.M.G. moment for me, as I realized it.

And yeah, Nale being "the goat" is an established nickname.

As for turning, I think he was playing along with his dad's scheme, until the line "This is horsecrap" in 913. That was the precise moment he openly turned and decided to have no more of it.