Most Agonizing Cliffhanger ever?

[eras10]

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is not about the update schedule or the length of time between this update and the next update. At all. Keep it that way, please.

I don't know, but this cliffhanger feels like it's driving me crazier than any cliffhanger I can remember. I'm trying to think of worse recent ones.. the Tarquin 2-for-1 gut shot wasn't so bad, because I felt pretty sure Roy was alive.

And of course, there was Darth Vaarsuvius vs. Xykon. That has to have been worse than this, right? I vaguely remember feeling really, really intense about that one.

But this seems like peak, peak tension to me and I am refreshing the homepage way, way too much. I'm going to say 15 times today. This level of interest makes me stupid.

What say you? Most agonizing cliffhanger of this book? Where does it stack all-time? I started reading at the end of War and XPs, I think, but I wasn't invested then.

Additional note: by cliffhanger, I'm talking about the strip that left you needing to know what happens next strip the most.

[NerdyKris]

I've felt that way every single strip since the Durkon/Malack attack.

[Chronos]

This is a cliffhanger? Yeah, we're in a combat right now, and Tarquin is about to commit suicide some way or another, but I don't see any of the party being in particularly greater danger now than at any other point when interacting with Tarquin. Less, probably, because Tarquin is going all irrational.

[Cuthalion]

It's not especially doing anything for me. I'd say when Malack first attacked Belkar was one of the biggest. And... when the order was about to die.

[Timix]

For me 896 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0896.html) was one of the most agonizing cliffhangers ever. I checked for updates about every hour. No kidding.

[Gift Jeraff]

Malack biting Belkar takes the cake. Belkar better have savoured it.

[DaggerPen]

Of this book?

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0885.html

It went up when the forums were still down, so for like 24 hours straight I was on Tumblr desperately trying to find anyone else who also read it so as to freak out about it with me. The forums eventually came back up and we had a long argument about whether or not it could plausibly be an illusion (spoiler alert: it was), but the combination of "**** Team Evil just showed up out of nowhere while the Order is wounded and out any caster but Elan" and "there's no one I can talk to about this whyyyyy" was the worst for me.

[ThatNickGuy]

For me, nothing beats the end of Book 3, with the end of the war on Azure City. You had a split party, a dead leader, a broken and defeated nation, and then suddenly...bam. Huge, long, agonizing wait for the next strip. A well-deserved rest for Rich, of course, but for the fans? AGONIZING.

[Living Oxymoron]

I confess I'm very interested in seeing how Rich will depict the fight of a Wizard against a Psion, especially when Vaarsuvius has learn a lot since his battle against Xykon and is using his own power, what makes this thing more exciting. But oddly enough, I'm not any more anxious to see the next strip than I was when the recent comic was about to be published. I think it is because the action of the comic 934 satisfied me a lot, so I'm less anxious than I usually am.

I'm expecting an in-battle interaction between Vaarsuvius and Blackwing that we still didn't see in the comics. I don't know why, but I think that having a familiar will somehow make difference in this battle.

[Saturosian]

Ayup. I'm definitely into the double-digits, for "number of times gone to giantitp.com today."

I don't think this one is *agonizing* the way 885 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0885.html) was, and for that matter, 896 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0896.html) was pretty intense for me, too. I'll admit, I expected more flashy, dastardliness from the fiends (not that simply stealing V's soul at inopportune moments isn't impressive). No, it isn't *agonizing*, because unlike those two comics, I don't expect anything bad to happen to anyone I care about--quite the opposite, I'm really looking forward to a good casterfight. :smallcool:

[Trillium]

916 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0916.html)
I was like "Whoah!".

[ChristianSt]

Of this book?

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0885.html

It went up when the forums were still down, so for like 24 hours straight I was on Tumblr desperately trying to find anyone else who also read it so as to freak out about it with me. The forums eventually came back up and we had a long argument about whether or not it could plausibly be an illusion (spoiler alert: it was), but the combination of "**** Team Evil just showed up out of nowhere while the Order is wounded and out any caster but Elan" and "there's no one I can talk to about this whyyyyy" was the worst for me.

That was the first that sprung to my mind, too.
It is just that it doesn't really contain the information that this is an illusion (with overzealous detail-searching there is an argument that normally you should see the string from Redcloack's eye-patch in the last panel). And from a powerlevel-comparision there is just no way that the Order could win that fight at that time (imo any other outcome than a TPK would be pretty unrealistic).

Some others that I fought of are especially 199 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0199.html)/200 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0200.html).

And surely an argument is to be made for the strip with the title "Cliffhanger (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0067.html)" :smallwink:

[Ionathus]

Since I joined the readership (at 897), I would also have to go with 916 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0916.html). Why? Because there was every likelihood that someone might die again.

I mean, thematically, that last panel is really cool, but from a logic standpoint (though perhaps admittedly not a D&D one), that number of arrows alone should have killed someone.

Of course, I wasn't aware of the Tarquin Effect at the time, i.e. that whatever Tarquin wants to happen will not happen.

[eras10]

Some good suggestions...

916 didn't bother me much - I've seen the 100 arrows thing before (Book 3) - it's not that scary to high-level characters. (Maybe it should be, but archers don't aim very well).

885 and 896 are excellent suggestions, and really should be better than this one. Especially 885, because of the ridiculous level of danger and only one panel for Xykon. But I don't thiiiink I was this agitated. 896 didn't bother me personally that much. I knew it was plot-important if OOTS was warned or not, but it just didn't get me going emotionally..

Maybe it's because this Tarquin fight has been going for so long, and he's so genuinely disturbing. Kind of horrifying, even. Something about having on in the 'safe zone' of the ship is freaking me out. The masses beg for closure!

Edit: Actually, the closest competitor for me was probably
796. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0796.html) Some similarities - a long, drawn out fight and then a crushing, endangering loss. But definitely this isn't worse than 655-660. Although, thank heaven, Rich wrapped the 'insanely angry Xykon' part of that into just one strip.

Double edit: wow, rich is just so darn good at writing. it's not even funny.

[Takver]

Agree with 896 as the most agonizing recent cliffhanger for me.

Thinking about which comics sent me racing to the forums or my friends who read the strip...I think the first one after I joined the readership was 567 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0567.html), when Belkar killed the Oracle. I remember speculating that Roy might be able to say the trigger word for the Mark of Justice despite being dead (now I don't think that would have worked, but I was on the edge of my seat.) Of course, it turned out that the Oracle had it covered.

Vaarsuvius's duel with Xykon is probably the all-time winner, though. The thing about it is that it happened with almost no warning. Just "I am going to go kill Xykon" and the next strip V's there in the tower. And then the next ten strips after that are so intense and unpredictable, with Xykon getting to show off how terrifying he is.

[Spoomeister]

You can't get away from characterizing something as a cliffhanger without talking about the update schedule, at least obliquely. The cliffhanger-y nature is only made so by having to wait for the next strip or the next book. It isn't a cliffhanger if you turn the page and there's the next one. And it's part and parcel of reading a webcomic after a certain point. *shrug*

I haven't had copies of the books around for some time... here's hoping someone sees them on my xmas list... :) so I don't remember where most of the books left off. I think each book generally gets ended well at a good stopping point. (I think the first one did with a deliberate 'pose for the camera' moment.)

[DaggerPen]

You can't get away from characterizing something as a cliffhanger without talking about the update schedule, at least obliquely. The cliffhanger-y nature is only made so by having to wait for the next strip or the next book. It isn't a cliffhanger if you turn the page and there's the next one. And it's part and parcel of reading a webcomic after a certain point. *shrug*

No, I think it's entirely possible to do so. A cliffhanger isn't a cliffhanger if you turn the page and there's a next one, but the pages are still published discretely; we don't get one lump sum at once. Even the most frequently updating webcomics have cliffhangers. So do monthly and weekly comics, and even occasionally novels in a series (I'm looking at you, Catching Fire). And published novels can have cliffhangers at the end of each chapter so as to keep a reader hooked. So no, I don't think the update schedule has anything to do with what constitutes a cliffhanger. We can refer to something that hinges on the fact that the webcomic updates without mentioning the intervals between said updates.

And that's all I'll say on that subject.

[MesiDoomstalker]

I came in around the start of Bleedingham, but 3 cliffhangers that stood out for me was 406 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0406.html), 447 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0447.html) and immediately after 449 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0449.html). All were on the verge of butt-kickings and they were all awesome and I couldn't hit the next button quick enough.

[martianmister]

Probably this (www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0216.html) one.

[King of Nowhere]

I've felt that way every single strip since the Durkon/Malack attack.
I wanted to say that myself

[Spoomeister]

No, I think it's entirely possible to do so. A cliffhanger isn't a cliffhanger if you turn the page and there's a next one, but the pages are still published discretely; we don't get one lump sum at once. Even the most frequently updating webcomics have cliffhangers. So do monthly and weekly comics, and even occasionally novels in a series (I'm looking at you, Catching Fire). And published novels can have cliffhangers at the end of each chapter so as to keep a reader hooked. So no, I don't think the update schedule has anything to do with what constitutes a cliffhanger. We can refer to something that hinges on the fact that the webcomic updates without mentioning the intervals between said updates.

And that's all I'll say on that subject.

I wasn't referring to the intervals between updates. As I said, artificial cliffhangers are part and parcel of webcomics at all. Things being cited in this thread as cliffhangers, are really only cliffhangers for the online publication of them, and not for the strips as compiled in a book.

[Takver]

In the book they become page-turners instead.

[Deliverance]

#484 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0484.html) by far for me. Roy dead, half the surviving OOTS fleeing together with Azurite refugees on overloaded ships low on supplies, the other half left behind in the city overrun with hobgoblins, and Xykon does something, some mighty magic that I don't know of, declaring the city off the grid... which at the time could mean just about anything, but at a guess would be really nasty for his opponents in some way.

Talk about a cliffhanger!

[Tiiba]

I've felt that way every single strip since the Durkon/Malack attack.

I felt that way since I started reading.

[Jay R]

The absolute worst cliff-hanger to live through was this one (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0863.html).

[And I suspect that Rich agrees with me.]

[Demoman]

This one comic (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0875.html) was the one time where I sincerely hoped that above all other times the Order NEEDS to pull off a solo fight. Malack, to me, became even more of a monster than Xykon in the span of a couple panels.

And then the following couple comics.

[SlashDash]

The most recent in memory would probably be Malack vs Durkon. Especially with how everyone were ranting about Durkon could or couldn't make it out of their alive.


But in all the years combine? Probably Roy's death.