Who will destroy the fifth gate?

[irondude]

The first gate was destroyed by Redcloak, by accident. The second was destroyed by Elan, not exactly by accident but by being completely oblivious to what he was doing. The third and fourth by Miko and Roy, interestingly both of which knew what they were doing, both were mistakes and both were warned to stop but couldn't listen.

Depending to who you ask only one was destroyed by a villain (If you care to count Miko as a hero), or they have been destroyed evently by two heroes and two villains (If you care to call redcloak a villain). Be as it may, the one with the EVIL tag was the only one who DIDN'T intend to destroy a gate...

So who will destroy the fifth gate? Belkar? The monster in the darkness? One of the monsters that defend it? What is your bet?

[Synesthesy]

Nobody. The Gods said it loud and clear that if the Fifth Gate was destroyed, they would undone creation within ten, fifteen minutes.

So, the last gate will also be the only to stand.

[Kantaki]

I agree with Synesthesy, the last is unlikely to fall considering that the gods will react with the destruction of the world if that happens.

Sure, it is possible that we will see more of the Snarl and the world inside the rifts, but there is no need to destroy the world for this. After all the Order (or someone else) has to rebuild the destroyed Gates. That should offer a opportunity or four.

[Gift Jeraff]

Xykon after learning of Redcloak's deception and then plane shifting.

[Roland Itiative]

I think the fifth Gate is definitely going to be destroyed. There are plenty of places for the story to continue afterwards (dealing with the Snarl directly in its own dimension, going to the outer or astral planes), and it wouldn't necessarily mean the end of the OotS world as we know it.

Just creating a random scenario here, but let's say the last Gate gets destroyed, and the gods immediately start recreating the world. The Order moves onto the Snarl world, and ends up destroying it for good. The gods are impressed, ask if the Order wants anything as a reward, but they just ask for the new world to be remade exactly like the old one, with every soul being true resurrected on the new world. Happy ending for everyone.

Anyway, back on topic, I don't see any of Team Evil being responsible for the last Gate's destruction. It goes against their goal, and I don't think they'd mistakenly destroy one again. So, the most obvious answer would have one of the Order members being the one to destroy it... except they'll probably all know that destroying the last Gate equals destroying the world.

So, I guess there are two likely possibilities. Durkula, who would have everything to gain by destroying the Gate, assuming Hel loses the vote currently going on, or V, who could be manipulated by the IFCC into destroying the Gate, as we already know it fits into their plans somehow (assuming they can somehow control V, even though they said they can't, I'm not trusting Fiends' words any time soon :P).

[irondude]

I think the IFCC might do it, but also I don't think that's the end of the story. At this point, someone should be aplyingher/himself to repair Lirien's gate at the very least.

[Quild]

I think that destroying the Gate is definitely Hel's back-up plan and that the story about Durkon's father was about locating that last Gate.
However, I expect him to fail.

None of the members of the OOTS is going to try and destroy the Gate, they'll protect it at all cost.
Team Evil isn't going to do this either. Well, maybe Redcloak because of The Dark One's back up plan, but I don't expect that.
IFCC, for what we know, have no pawn that can do that for them.

I don't believe it will be destroyed at all.

[Wildroses]

I haven't yet decided if the fifth gate will stand or fall, but if it does get destroyed I'm guessing Belkar will do it because my pet theory is that Belkar will die like Kraagor: heroically trying to seal the rift and ultimately sacrificed for the sake of the world.

[Windscion]

Pfui. It will be the work of the demon roaches, you'll see. They already attacked the fourth wall plenty of times.

[JustinKase]

Nobody. The Gods said it loud and clear that if the Fifth Gate was destroyed, they would undone creation within ten, fifteen minutes.

So, the last gate will also be the only to stand.

Unless of course the plan for the end is for the gate to be destroyed, and a new world be created, new characters created, and the next series to begin ;)

But, seeing as Elan is to get a happy ending, I am hoping that isn't the case :D

[ChillerInstinct]

The Snarl itself.

Now that it has been able to leak out of Girard's rift, it knows that its prison is crumbling fast. If it's been gaining power in dormancy, it might be able to focus all of its strength at the final lock, so to speak, and eventually brute force it, just in time for the Order to be ready to attempt to deal with it.

Alternatively, Redcloak's plan to teleport it succeeds, but then goes horribly wrong when the Snarl breaks loose when the Dark One attempts to use it as leverage, killing the entire Northern Pantheon, including the Dark One, and possibly the other living pantheons as well. The gods die as a result of their inner conflicts, leaving the mortal world as the only ones capable of killing/rebinding the Snarl.

My point is, of the the major players, the only one we know that has a vested interest in the Snarl breaking loose is Hel. Unless the HPoH ends up triggering the gate as per its mistress's wishes, there really is no villain that has an express interest in letting the Snarl out. It's possible the IFCC might, I suppose, but I get the feeling that, like Xykon, they really have nothing to gain from all of creating getting obliterated.

So, yeah. The Snarl itself or no one. My personal prediction is that Xykon and Redcloak are going to learn the hard way that the Snarl Is Not A Toy (and, really, if the Snarl can leak out of that relatively tiny hole in Girard's rift, you can't tell me Gobbotopia with it's massive purple skylight ISN'T going to get nommed), probably after Redcloak fulfills the Dark One's plan, which in turn goes horrifically wrong.

[Fish]

No one will.

The Gate will be moved to the inside of Xykon's super-powerful secret fortress, where the MitD can guard it.

[martianmister]

Blackwing.

[DataNinja]

Blackwing.

Guess what spell I cast before sending this bird into the gate.

[Euclidodese]

Manbearpig.

[eilandesq]

Predicted sequence of events:

--Gate is destroyed, completely by accident, probably after just about everyone involved for one reason or another says, "We probably shouldn't let this gate be destroyed,":

--Gods start to try to destroy the world, and are prevented from doing so by some unforeseen event;

--Snarl emerges, but things do not go as they did last time (Snarl kills and annihilates the souls of everything it can get at, then eventually gets caged again) due to unforeseen circumstances that are explained in retrospect by things we already knew, and which the OotS had a major role in making happen (since they *are* the heroes, after all).

--during the course of all of this, Xykon is permanently destroyed, the Plan is foiled but the goblins end up having their long term interests improve from what they were before, and the Snarl is permanently or all but permanently removed as a threat to the Universe.

[Kindley Pixel]

My point is, of the the major players, the only one we know that has a vested interest in the Snarl breaking loose is Hel.

Hel doesn't want the Snarl to break loose, she wants the gods to destroy the world so that she gains control of all the dwarven souls, if the snarl gets loose and consumes everyone's souls she'll gain nothing.

[Onyavar]

I think that destroying the Gate is definitely Hel's back-up plan and that the story about Durkon's father was about locating that last Gate.
However, I expect him to fail.

None of the members of the OOTS is going to try and destroy the Gate, they'll protect it at all cost.
Team Evil isn't going to do this either. Well, maybe Redcloak because of The Dark One's back up plan, but I don't expect that.
IFCC, for what we know, have no pawn that can do that for them.

I don't believe it will be destroyed at all.

Pretty much my opinion.

Still, we don't even know who will be around for the fifth gate.
Will Hel, by then, already be dealt with? (If not, my bet is on Undurkon)
Is Kraagor, by some technicality, still alive? (If so, my bet is on Kraagor).
Are Roy and company arriving there only after another two weeks have passed, and the ritual is nearly complete? (If so, my bet is on Redcloak).
Is there still one time slot on V left for the IFCC? (If so, my bet is on an associate of them).
Are SPG or Tarquin around for the battle? (If so, my bet is on SPG).
If several of the above conditions are set, additional contigencies apply - but I say, my bet is 6:4 that we heard the last Krakakakakoom in comic 899.

[An Enemy Spy]

A general but not mandatory rule of a good climax is for everything to be at its absolute darkest and most hopeless before things turn around, thus getting the most possible drama out of the situation. I think the gate will be destroyed, and that the world on the other side of it will come into play. Otherwise, why would the Giant even include it in the story?

[blunk]

Hilgyula for the long shot.

[Crusher]

With the benefit of hindsight, Jiminy's destruction of Kraagor's gate will seem obvious.

[obaryb]

IMHO the last gate will be destroyed by Durkula (or Durkon) with the help of IIFC.
The OOTS and the Team Evil will move to the other planet to deal with Snarl, they will join forces only to discover that Snarl is now conscious and not so evil. Snarl is acting as the only God for the new world. In the end the survivors: Roy, Vaarsuvius, Elan, Haley and Redcloak will help Snarl to manage the new world, which is our Earth ofc.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

The D-Devils will destroy the fifth gate, just so they can start singing about the sixth one. [/Probably too obscure to be funny, I'm like a pun-hipster that way.]

[dtilque]

So who will destroy the fifth gate?

I disagree. The Doctor will not get involved at all.

[The Pilgrim]

Nale. Because, why not?

[jidasfire]

My bet's on Xykon, just to ruin everyone's day and force them out to his citadel of death.

However, a minor quibble with the initial statement of the thread. While it was probably in the long term a bad thing for Roy to have destroyed Girard's Gate, what he did made total sense in context, and even with the benefit of hindsight it remains true. Had Roy not done what he did, Xykon and Redcloak would have butchered them all in short order. Roy didn't know this, but he suspected, and his instincts turned out to be correct. Thus I wouldn't quite put what he did on the same level as Miko, who actively turned a winning scenario into a losing one. He weighed a bunch of bad options and settled on the least bad.

[StLordeth]

I haven't yet decided if the fifth gate will stand or fall, but if it does get destroyed I'm guessing Belkar will do it because my pet theory is that Belkar will die like Kraagor: heroically trying to seal the rift and ultimately sacrificed for the sake of the world. I'm going to go ahead and put my chips in with Wildroses here. I think this fits the best.