I'm a little lost plot-wise

[ken-do-nim]

I've been reading the comic for a while now and here's what I'm confused about:

1. What is/was Xykon planning to do with the gates? In other words, if Miko hadn't destroyed it and he'd manage to defeat Soon's ghost, what would he have done?

2. Don't the gates keep the Snarl in place? So with each gate destroyed, doesn't that give the Snarl a chance to break out and destroy the universe? Soon must have known that, why did he even say that Miko did "adequately"? What she did was horrible! Who knows, the Snarl could be just about ready to test its prison once more and find it weak enough to break out of now.

[PlasticSoldier]

1. What is/was Xykon planning to do with the gates? In other words, if Miko hadn't destroyed it and he'd manage to defeat Soon's ghost, what would he have done?

2. Don't the gates keep the Snarl in place? So with each gate destroyed, doesn't that give the Snarl a chance to break out and destroy the universe? Soon must have known that, why did he even say that Miko did "adequately"? What she did was horrible! Who knows, the Snarl could be just about ready to test its prison once more and find it weak enough to break out of now.

1. Xykon is going to use some magic ritual to control the snarl as a weapon and conquer the multiverse.

2.It needs all five broken to escape and being a being of pure chaos it's not going to be searching for very long before it's attention span goes away.

[Belkar's Left Foot]

He was planning to see if there was some way to harness the power of the Snarl, just enough to kill the gods and rule the world, but not enough to kill Xykon himself.

The Gates are just seals on the holes in the prison, so yes with each gate destroyed, thats one more hole to get through, but I doubt that destroying the gate actually means letting the snarl loose, seeing as the holes existed for thousands of years without the snarl really getting out, just little breaks here and there, close range things can be killed, but not the world.

[Porthos]

I've been reading the comic for a while now and here's what I'm confused about:

1. What is/was Xykon planning to do with the gates? In other words, if Miko hadn't destroyed it and he'd manage to defeat Soon's ghost, what would he have done?

Without going into Start of Darkness (which really fleshes out Xykon's and Redcloak's motivations), most of what we know about Xykon and the Gates can be seen here:

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0195.html
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0196.html
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0442.html


2. Don't the gates keep the Snarl in place? So with each gate destroyed, doesn't that give the Snarl a chance to break out and destroy the universe? Soon must have known that, why did he even say that Miko did "adequately"? What she did was horrible! Who knows, the Snarl could be just about ready to test its prison once more and find it weak enough to break out of now.

Sort of. The rifts were weakness in the walls of The Snarls Prison, where it could stick an arm out and attack people (and drag them in). Even when all five rifts were active, it wasn't enough for The Snarl to escape. The main worry is that if the rifts are allowed to be unsupervised, they might continue to grow, eventually to the point where The Snarl might break free. Heck, the real worry is that if the Rifts are allowed to expand (if indeed they can expand), that The Gods will destroy the world so they can reform The Snarl's Prison.

As for Miko doing an "adequate thing" by destroying the Gate, we already know that Xykon and Redcloak can attempt to do something to the Gate that would (again staying away from SoD spoilers here) somehow control The Snarl. In Soon's eyes it is probably better to destroy a Gate (that in time can be rebuilt) than allow it to fall in the hands of people who seek to control The Snarl.

Of course, if Miko had waited just six seconds longer, the whole issue would have been moot. :smalltongue:

[ken-do-nim]

Thanks all! I guess I should go get Start of Darkness.

[Dunamin]

Thanks all! I guess I should go get Start of Darkness.
All the answers to your initial questions can be found within the main comic, though, if that's your concern.

[Sir_Norbert]

Irrelevant. Start of Darkness is a wonderful book, so yes, you certainly should get it.

[Garriath]

2. Don't the gates keep the Snarl in place? So with each gate destroyed, doesn't that give the Snarl a chance to break out and destroy the universe? Soon must have known that, why did he even say that Miko did "adequately"? What she did was horrible!


I get the impression that Soon was doing everything he could to make Miko go as painlessly as possible while maintaining his lawfulness. The fact is, she didn't do "adequately" by any standards, but yelling at her just as she's doing wouldn't have just been fruitless, it'd have been cruel.

[David Argall]

I get the impression that Soon was doing everything he could to make Miko go as painlessly as possible while maintaining his lawfulness. The fact is, she didn't do "adequately" by any standards, but yelling at her just as she's doing wouldn't have just been fruitless, it'd have been cruel.

Soon is a paladin. No lies allowed. If he said adequately, he meant adequately. When she asked about getting paladin back, he said no, not maybe or anything else. He even added details about how she had not even come close. He may be kindly in expressing things, but he said what he meant.

You focus too much on the final result and what it might have been if she had performed flawlessly. But she was mortal, and thus has to be given the benefit of doubt in judging her actions. She is not guilty of doing much wrong if she does something sensible and it merely turns out to be the wrong thing. You risk a 1 on a lot of rolls and grumble about bad luck, not bad planning those times it happens.
All authorities agree that a destroyed gate was superior to a gate controlled by the lich. Miko had a reasonable belief the Gate was about to fall under the lich's control. She was wrong as it happened, and one could have tried alternate tactics that might have been better even if the lich was making such a threat, but her assessment was entirely reasonable. Her behavior was adequate. Things went wrong, but Soon does not consider her the cause of that. Just the dice rolled the wrong way.

[Moody]

Soon is a paladin. No lies allowed. If he said adequately, he meant adequately. When she asked about getting paladin back, he said no, not maybe or anything else. He even added details about how she had not even come close. He may be kindly in expressing things, but he said what he meant.

paladins cant lie now? A Paladin is sworn to uphold his faith and the law and do no wrong - so long as the lie meets those 3 criteria they are fine

Soon was "twisting" the truth to comfort Miko while what he said was true it wasnt the whole truth, Miko chose the wrong path for the right reasons and so she "adequately" fufiled her duty, she was dieing and there was no need to chastise her it would have been needlessly cruel which paladins CANT be