Anyone think that Malack was the main villain of this arc?

[CaDzilla]

Nale's been trying to kill him since he was 9

He is far older than Xykon

He had killed a hero

He had a big plan for the future

He is much more civilized than Tarquin

He has both magic and physical prowess at his disposal

[TRH]

Nope. /Thread

[AKA_Bait]

Main villain of this arc? No. Possibly the actual leader of Tarquin's party? Maybe. Possibly the actual brains behind the three kingdoms scheme? Also maybe. Consistently paired with Tarquin to keep an eye on him for the rest of the party? Probably.

[Boring McReader]

He may have been the most capably evil character. Left to his own devices he would have turned his empire into a slaughterhouse. But he wasn't even a minor villain.

The only lasting harm he did to the heroes was turning Durkon to a vampire. He restrained himself from killing Durkon's friends, and he was a thoughtful and helpful host earlier in the story. He was being set up as a primary villain along with Tarquin, but Nale ended that storyline prematurely.

[Happy Gravity]

Spoiler Alert: Nale killed him.

So no.

[CaDzilla]

He may have been the most capably evil character. Left to his own devices he would have turned his empire into a slaughterhouse. But he wasn't even a minor villain.

The only lasting harm he did to the heroes was turning Durkon to a vampire. He restrained himself from killing Durkon's friends, and he was a thoughtful and helpful host earlier in the story. He was being set up as a primary villain along with Tarquin, but Nale ended that storyline prematurely.

Also making Durkon drain all but the last of Belkar's blood, making him very incapable in combat.

[ThePhantasm]

Main villain? Malack wasn't even that much of an antagonist. He seemed rather ambivalent about the Order of the Stick.

[Angel Bob]

As much as I adore Malack, he was nothing near the main villain of this arc. He was possibly the second-most prominent "Big Bad" of Nale's story, but this isn't Nale's story, it's OotS.

[Kish]

If Miron, Laurin, Jacinda, and the unnamed guy with the shoulder pads had been in the comic more, I would love to be able to say something about a villainous ensemble.

[Gift Jeraff]

Considering he was just a pawn of Shoulderpadperson,
I'd say no.

[Ionathus]

I think something can be said for Malack being the most powerful villain of the arc, as per CaD's list, but definitely not the main villain. If anything, I really like AKA's idea of Malack being the one keeping an eye on Tarquin. As in, the fact that Malack is no longer around (paired with the fact that it's because Nale murdered him and Tarquin's subsequent execution of his son) is probably one of the biggest factors in Tarquin's current rampage of crazy.

I think in our analysis of Tarquin we might all be forgetting too quickly that his best friend in the world just got murdered...by his son.

If something like that doesn't make you want to exert control over your situation by any means necessary, I don't know what will.

[CaDzilla]

I think I have the roles figured out for Team Tarquin
Big Bad: SPG
Dragon: Malack
The Brute: Miron
The Evil Genius: Jacinda/Laurin
The Dark Chick: Tarquin

[Keltest]

Quite honestly unless he somehow manages to regenerate from being re-dead, I would call him a glorified plot device. He's an excuse to turn Durkon undead and have Nale killed. Hes otherwise had almost no impact on the story that ive noticed, and outside those specific instances, he barely even interacted with the order or guild at all.

[Sir_Leorik]

Nale's been trying to kill him since he was 9

He is far older than Xykon

He had killed a hero

He had a big plan for the future

He is much more civilized than Tarquin

He has both magic and physical prowess at his disposal

No. Don't see it.

[Snails]

Main villain? Malack wasn't even that much of an antagonist. He seemed rather ambivalent about the Order of the Stick.

For the win.

Malack was a reluctant obstacle. Only out of arguably mis-placed loyalty to Tarquin was Malack of any importance to the Order at all. If Malack had only understood the real score, that the Gate was not likely to be useful (Tarquin suspected that was the case), he might have simply waved a regretful good-bye to Durkon.

[Boogastreehouse]

I think it looks nice with a little space


I know the trend these days is to belittle Tarquin and talk about how he is a deluded minor villain, as if he can read the comments on the forum and that then he will somehow feel ever more deeply the sting of his eventual comeuppance...

But seriously.

Tarquin is clearly the villain of this part of the story.


I think it looks nice with a little space

[jidasfire]

I will say that had Malack been able to achieve his horribly sinister long-term goals and created an empire ruled by vampires for the purpose of mass sacrifice to a death god, now that would be a master villain worth fearing and facing down. As it was, Malack's story never came to that. His power level being what it was, the Order could have taken him in a fair fight. Tarquin, on the other hand, seems to be giving them far more trouble, even though he's hemorrhaging weapons left and right and quickly losing his mind.

[Gift Jeraff]

By Word of the Giant (no, not Rich, just a tall person I know IRL) "this book was intended from the beginning to focus on the Linear Guild and Tarquin as the main adversaries." (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15709534&postcount=246)

[Heksefatter]

Regarding those who suspect that Malack was paired with Tarquin, maybe even on a consistent basis, to keep an eye on him, it appears to be contradicted in the story.

According to Tarquin, his team switches partners every once in a while, to keep things fresh. So Tarquin and Miron paired up during Lord Tyrinar's turn to be the puppet. This is even confirmed way back when Haley received the ransom-letter from Miron.

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0759.html

Anyway, to answer the original question, it seems clear to me that if there is one main villain of the current arch, it is Tarquin. One could reasonably claim, however, that the villain was not one particular person, but the Linear Guild and Tarquin's group. I'd still say that the main villain was Tarquin, though, with Nale coming second. Malack was really never interested in the Order, except in Durkon (whom he liked in his twisted way) or in the gates. Rather he was passive, due to not having any particular reason to aid or oppose the Order.

[Bulldog Psion]

I like Malack a lot more than Tarquin, though I understand fully that he set up a situation where Durkon was basically forced to fight, which some Malack fans don't. However, Tarquin's clearly the main villain in story terms.

[AKA_Bait]

Regarding those who suspect that Malack was paired with Tarquin, maybe even on a consistent basis, to keep an eye on him, it appears to be contradicted in the story.

Consider that Miron is the one with the least patience for him and most immediately dismissive of him among the three of his party members we have seen speak. Parallel that with Elan and Roy around the time of the bandits. Notice anything?

[halfeye]

I like Malack a lot more than Tarquin, though I understand fully that he set up a situation where Durkon was basically forced to fight, which some Malack fans don't.
While I wouldn't see myself as a Malack fan, I don't see it that way, I don't think Malack set it up. They talked through their differences and came to the conclusion that there was no way to avoid fighting which wouldn't involve one of them giving up something they weren't prepared to give up, so there was going to be a fight. Once that was settled, it was a matter of when, and Malack chose "now".

[Heksefatter]

Consider that Miron is the one with the least patience for him and most immediately dismissive of him among the three of his party members we have seen speak. Parallel that with Elan and Roy around the time of the bandits. Notice anything?

*Shrug* I was more commenting on the fact that we know for mostly certain that Malack wasn't Tarquin's consistent "nanny." Generally speaking, I think what Tarquin said applies - the group switches who they work with. Sometimes it is Tarquin and Malack, sometimes it is Malack and Miron, sometimes it is Laurin and Tarquin, sometimes it is Jacinda and barbarian-looking-dude.

Edit: Just to make it clearer. I am not discussing whether Malack was there to ensure Tarquin not screwing up. I am, however, saying that if this was Malack's role, it is more likely a role which whoever is partnered with Tarquin has played. (That said, I am among those who believe that Tarquin has not been portrayed as incompetent until recently, but that is neither here nor there for the purpose of the original comment).

[Mike Havran]

Huh. Malack actually preferred (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0895.html) the heroes of the story over the recurring villain when it was on his own and died in a way that didn't involve any protagonist at all - so calling him the "main villain of the arc" seems a bit off.

[Ionathus]

*Shrug* I was more commenting on the fact that we know for mostly certain that Malack wasn't Tarquin's consistent "nanny." Generally speaking, I think what Tarquin said applies - the group switches who they work with. Sometimes it is Tarquin and Malack, sometimes it is Malack and Miron, sometimes it is Laurin and Tarquin, sometimes it is Jacinda and barbarian-looking-dude.

Edit: Just to make it clearer. I am not discussing whether Malack was there to ensure Tarquin not screwing up. I am, however, saying that if this was Malack's role, it is more likely a role which whoever is partnered with Tarquin has played. (That said, I am among those who believe that Tarquin has not been portrayed as incompetent until recently, but that is neither here nor there for the purpose of the original comment).

Not his consistent, official nanny, sure, but your argument seems to be based in the idea that Malack would need to be present just to keep Tarquin from going off the deep end. I don't think that's the case. I think it's one of the situations where the fact that Malack exists, somewhere, is enough to keep Tarquin thinking about Malack's stoic and even-tempered behaviour, versus his own slightly more extreme acts.

Seeing Malack as the spiritual heart of the team (and, as a high priest, that should be pretty easy to do) instead of its physical or secret leader gives the impression that while he may not have the final authority, and isn't officially there to watch Tarquin, his mere presence - or, if they've switched off, existence - may have a calming effect on Tarkie's antics.

For further reading, refer to the third-to-last strip here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0913.html): Tarquin explicitly calls Malack "his best friend." We can write it off as him callously trying to "clean up the clouded narrative," but I think that while Tarquin may be incredibly evil he's still human enough to feel loss after his best friend is betrayed and murdered. That he then turns that loss into a roaring rampage of "THOU SHALT FOLLOW THE NARRATIVE" is important to note, and may even be most of the story, but I don't think it's the only thing going on in his mind.

He wants control. He loses control. In a moment of loss, he tries desperately to regain control.

And goes crazy and alienates the fanbase as a result.

[Heksefatter]

Not his consistent, official nanny, sure, but your argument seems to be based in the idea that Malack would need to be present just to keep Tarquin from going off the deep end. I don't think that's the case. I think it's one of the situations where the fact that Malack exists, somewhere, is enough to keep Tarquin thinking about Malack's stoic and even-tempered behaviour, versus his own slightly more extreme acts.

Seeing Malack as the spiritual heart of the team (and, as a high priest, that should be pretty easy to do) instead of its physical or secret leader gives the impression that while he may not have the final authority, and isn't officially there to watch Tarquin, his mere presence - or, if they've switched off, existence - may have a calming effect on Tarkie's antics.

For further reading, refer to the third-to-last strip here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0913.html): Tarquin explicitly calls Malack "his best friend." We can write it off as him callously trying to "clean up the clouded narrative," but I think that while Tarquin may be incredibly evil he's still human enough to feel loss after his best friend is betrayed and murdered. That he then turns that loss into a roaring rampage of "THOU SHALT FOLLOW THE NARRATIVE" is important to note, and may even be most of the story, but I don't think it's the only thing going on in his mind.

He wants control. He loses control. In a moment of loss, he tries desperately to regain control.

And goes crazy and alienates the fanbase as a result.

Well, what you describe was not my argument. I was mostly just observing on the claims of Malack being paired with Tarquin.

It is possible that Malack was the spiritual heart of the team. I don't know. We haven't seen all that much evidence regarding it. The only two team members we've seen a lot of is Tarquin and Malack. Then we've seen a bit of Miron and Laurin, but not of their interaction with Malack. Jacinda and the barbarian-looking-dude we only know barely.

[Chantelune]

Consider that Miron is the one with the least patience for him and most immediately dismissive of him among the three of his party members we have seen speak. Parallel that with Elan and Roy around the time of the bandits. Notice anything?

And sometimes, two characters have red hair without being family members.

Just because two situations can be somehow similar in some aspect doesn't mean they are the same or there is some sort of hidden meaning.

I see no indication that Malack was in any way a pawn of Miron, or even keeping an eye on Tarquin for him. Miron may have little patience for Tarquin's "story nonsense", but Tarquin also said that he was not complaining that this trait of him brought them money and power.

Oh, hey ! Roy have little patience with Elan's antics most of the time. Does that mean he planted Haley as Elan's boyfriend so she can keep an eye on him ? :smalltongue:

[Domino Quartz]

Haley as Elan's boyfriend

Uhh...I'm pretty sure Haley is a female.

[Kish]

Roy (or possibly Durkon now) has a belt for that...

[Jay R]

This arc has a red dragon, a team comprising a demon, a daemon, and a devil, a general that welcomes his son home by burning slaves alive, and the great reveal that one person successfully murdered all the Draketooths.

Drinking bloodwart tea, while appalling, just doesn't make the big time.

[Chantelune]

Uhh...I'm pretty sure Haley is a female.

Several people called Haley "young man" since she arrived on the western continent. And during her aphasy arc, she said "I'm not really..." which the previous point indicate as the missing word being "female" and thus prove beyong any doubt that Haley is, in fact, a dude in disguise ! :smallcool:

/forumlogic. :smallbiggrin:

[Dorsidwarf]

But why stop there?

Haley has four limbs. One of them is broken. This is clearly a symbol of subtraction, therefore we can conclude that since 4-1=3, three is the hidden symbol here. This is confirmed by Team Tarquin - we've seen four of them talk, one of those, Malack, is dead. Again - 4-1: Three. But what of the significance of three? Since the main comic began, three gates have KRAKKAKOOM'. Tying this into the theory, this shows that since the gates are vital for the support of Reality, so must be three. Where else is the fabric of reality an important plot point... Half life. The Half-life series.

Three... Half-Life....

Half Life Three confirmed.


/internetlogic :tongue: