What if Elan and Nale Switched places.

[PieTin-11]

I'm wondering. If Elan was raised to be evil by Tarquin and Nale was raised to be good by Elan's mom. Elan still being the one with infantile brain damage. This would change a lot. Assuming this good aligned Nale would still be an adventurering bard in the order of the stick i'd imagine this would change a lot. Elan would be too dumb to betray his father and form the linear guild and Nale wouldn't even consider pressing the self destruct rune in Xycon's thrown room.

[martianmister]

Elan would be Tarquin Jr.
Nale wouldn't be a bard, he would help her mother in the family job.

[Alkerite]

To be a tad more through than my predecessor, the switch would COMPLETELY UPEND THE STORYLINE.
1. The sapphire Guards excuse for kidnapping the party revolved around a mistake ELAN made, and only Elan would make that mistake.
2. Amulet of dorukan would still be around
3. Cliffport or whatever that city was called would never have been haunted by Nale
4. Tarquin would still be Tarquin, with Elan following in his footsteps as an idiot savant fighter, or what have you, to help Malack in the future.
5. Malack wouldn't be dead.
6. Malack's CHILDREN wouldn't be dead.
So on so forth.
We can also assume that Haley would still be chaotic greedy, as the cause of her arc revolved around how she lived ELAN for who he was, and she obviously has a thing against lawful types, so Nale is right out. Sabine would also probably be Elan's concubine.

This story is built around its characters, with little contrivance pushing them into plot. It revolves around who the characters are as PEOPLE, so even something as innocuous as switching the Tarquin Twins changes A LOT about the story.

[hroþila]

Nale wouldn't have been abandoned by Sir François, so he wouldn't have been at the inn, Roy wouldn't have found any party members and he would have had to go with Durkon's far more powerful candidates.

[Lacuna Caster]

This story is built around its characters, with little contrivance pushing them into plot.
You've got to be kidding me.

I'm sure many things would be different, but Roy would still have been obliged to hunt down Xykon, and destroying the Gate would actually be a reasonable way to take out Team Evil when and if conventional tactics failed (which they almost certainly would if Xykon made anything resembling an effort.) Actually surviving the self-destruct sequence would be another matter, but it's entirely plausible that getting shanghai'd by Shojo would follow as before. Beyond that it's a bit of a crapshoot.

[Alkerite]

You've got to be kidding me.

I'm sure many things would be different, but Roy would still have been obliged to hunt down Xykon, and destroying the Gate would actually be a reasonable way to take out Team Evil when and if conventional tactics failed (which they almost certainly would if Xykon made anything resembling an effort.) Actually surviving the self-destruct sequence would be another matter, but it's entirely plausible that getting shanghai'd by Shojo would follow as before. Beyond that it's a bit of a crapshoot.

Nice opener, don't really have any retort, as finding contrivance is a matter of opinion, save for the start of the story. Oh, and to clear up my usage of contrivance, I'm using the second definition.
Anyways, I concur, the entirety of the story would become a crapshoot, character arcs would alter, relationships would change, subplots would be erased, and so on so forth.

[Alkerite]

Nale wouldn't have been abandoned by Sir François, so he wouldn't have been at the inn, Roy wouldn't have found any party members and he would have had to go with Durkon's far more powerful candidates.

Why would Nale be with Francois? Even IF his alignment would change from his upbringing, I do NOT think he'd be a bard, heralding a mighty knight.

[PieTin-11]

To be a tad more through than my predecessor, the switch would COMPLETELY UPEND THE STORYLINE.
1. The sapphire Guards excuse for kidnapping the party revolved around a mistake ELAN made, and only Elan would make that mistake.
2. Amulet of dorukan would still be around
3. Cliffport or whatever that city was called would never have been haunted by Nale
4. Tarquin would still be Tarquin, with Elan following in his footsteps as an idiot savant fighter, or what have you, to help Malack in the future.
5. Malack wouldn't be dead.
6. Malack's CHILDREN wouldn't be dead.
So on so forth.
We can also assume that Haley would still be chaotic greedy, as the cause of her arc revolved around how she lived ELAN for who he was, and she obviously has a thing against lawful types, so Nale is right out. Sabine would also probably be Elan's concubine.

This story is built around its characters, with little contrivance pushing them into plot. It revolves around who the characters are as PEOPLE, so even something as innocuous as switching the Tarquin Twins changes A LOT about the story.

If Elan never pushes the rune, the party would get the rest of the lute and xp from the dungeon and leave, Miko would never be called to hunt down the oots to bring them to azure city. So we've got two options here once Xycon regenerates. Either Xycon decides to return to his tower once the party leaves in order to continue his work on the rift, or he decides to cut his losses invade azure city like the ordinary timeline. I'd guess the former.

[Lacuna Caster]

Nice opener, don't really have any retort, as finding contrivance is a matter of opinion, save for the start of the story. Oh, and to clear up my usage of contrivance, I'm using the second definition.
I don't mean to be snide. But I can think of various points of inflection within the story that rely on, uh, conspicuous crits or fumbles, sometimes for laughs, sometimes with drastic effect, and sometimes, perhaps confusingly, both.

I find it interesting that various readers are quite open to Nale/Elan swapping alignment under different parents- being genetic twins would imply that any differences are down to environment- but their personalities clash so much it's hard to imagine genetics mattering that little.

[PieTin-11]

I find it interesting that various readers are quite open to Nale/Elan swapping alignment under different parents- being genetic twins would imply that any differences are down to environment- but their personalities clash so much it's hard to imagine genetics mattering that little.[/QUOTE]

True. Nale did have a baby goatee.

[JustIgnoreMe]

I find it interesting that various readers are quite open to Nale/Elan swapping alignment under different parents- being genetic twins would imply that any differences are down to environment- but their personalities clash so much it's hard to imagine genetics mattering that little.

True. Nale did have a baby goatee.

You may want to look at the Word of Giant about this very question:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?222955-Disappointing-Fathers-and-Saintly-Mothers-in-OOTS/page2&p=12242039#post12242039

[Lacuna Caster]

I don't think the author really addresses the question there- he's just emphasising that Elan spared Nale more out of general mercy than 'there but for environment goes I'. Since Nale is dead now, I don't think the story itself is likely to give any further information.

I have to say that I consider Nale to be, essentially, a joke character with paper-thin motives who remained essentially undeveloped until, like, the last handful of strips he appeared, but if we take those as evidence... basically, his hatred of Malack is so intense that it can induce him, for once, to prepare and execute an effective plan. Which I guess doesn't speak well of Malack(?), but it's not like Nale has a measured and reasonable sense of proportion when it comes to revenge plots.