Lord
2019-05-14, 09:33 AM
So it occurs to me that Tarquin botched his chance with Elan.
When I was first reading the book I was hoping they would part amicably. I hoped Tarquin would end up being a sign that even the bad guys don't want the world to end. I was even expecting it because I regarded Tarquin as a rational actor and he had no good reason to fight Elan. That was before Tarquin jumped off the slippery slope and how far gone he was was revealed.
Now I've been thinking about Tarquin's goals and what he should have done. His goal was to be the main villain and force Elan to defeat him as the hero. His error of judgement was assuming that he was the main villain and that Xykon was a side boss.
When it became clear that Elan thought of Roy as the main hero, he flipped the board. He burned up what goodwill he had left, leading Elan to drop the plot thread.
It occurs to me that this was the last thing Tarquin should have done. Xykon is the main villain and Tarquin has only just entered. Hijacking control of a story from an already established villain never works out. It screams 'arc villain.'
What he should have done was set up for a sequel. Order Stickier.
He should have just let the Order of the Stick go on their merry way with his help. This would allow him to pretend as if he engineered the downfall of Xykon. Thus establishing him as the greater villain. From there he should speed up his plans and go about trying to consolidate his power over his continent.
If all goes well the Vector Legion will have established a full on empire. They can come into the limelight as darklords in their own right. This will raise their threat level considerably as they start conquering foreign countries.
The Order of the Stick have already decided to go back and beat Tarquin. And he will by now have been revealed before everyone as a diabolical mastermind. In this situation, Roy's character arc is done. He has defeated his archenemy and is now merely a supporting leader protagonist. Elan is the one with a personal connection to Tarquin.
Durkon and Malack could have a rivalry. Belkar would already be dead by this stage, so he could be replaced by Sabine or something. Vaarsuvius has already had one showdown with Laurin. It could easily make a rivalry.
In fact, in this situation, Tarquin is from a narrative perspective much more likely to kill off Roy. After all, Tarquin regards Roy as a worthy opponent and Elan is the hero of Order Sticker. In Tarquin's worldview this would mean Roy would lose to him at some point.
Of course this wouldn't be a perfect setup. And the plot would be lower stakes than the Snarl, but I could see it making a decent sequel. Maybe Tarquin comes up with a plan to become a god or something for a suitably climactic moment.
That said, I suspect that Tarquin would eventually get usurped in his role as main villain. The Vector Legion is very much a big bad ensemble. He probably wouldn't have been nearly as important as he would hope to be. But he would still be far more likely to get what he wants than by doing what he actually did. And even if Roy was still the main hero, Elan being the one to kill Tarquin isn't mandatory. Tarquin could still become a legend if he was defeated by Roy with an assist from his son. He'd just need to make the rivalry personal enough.
Not that i think this SHOULD have happened. After a certain point, continuing a story detracts from the quality of previous installments. But if Tarquin had been a bit more of a long term thinker he probably could have pulled this off.
What do you think?
When I was first reading the book I was hoping they would part amicably. I hoped Tarquin would end up being a sign that even the bad guys don't want the world to end. I was even expecting it because I regarded Tarquin as a rational actor and he had no good reason to fight Elan. That was before Tarquin jumped off the slippery slope and how far gone he was was revealed.
Now I've been thinking about Tarquin's goals and what he should have done. His goal was to be the main villain and force Elan to defeat him as the hero. His error of judgement was assuming that he was the main villain and that Xykon was a side boss.
When it became clear that Elan thought of Roy as the main hero, he flipped the board. He burned up what goodwill he had left, leading Elan to drop the plot thread.
It occurs to me that this was the last thing Tarquin should have done. Xykon is the main villain and Tarquin has only just entered. Hijacking control of a story from an already established villain never works out. It screams 'arc villain.'
What he should have done was set up for a sequel. Order Stickier.
He should have just let the Order of the Stick go on their merry way with his help. This would allow him to pretend as if he engineered the downfall of Xykon. Thus establishing him as the greater villain. From there he should speed up his plans and go about trying to consolidate his power over his continent.
If all goes well the Vector Legion will have established a full on empire. They can come into the limelight as darklords in their own right. This will raise their threat level considerably as they start conquering foreign countries.
The Order of the Stick have already decided to go back and beat Tarquin. And he will by now have been revealed before everyone as a diabolical mastermind. In this situation, Roy's character arc is done. He has defeated his archenemy and is now merely a supporting leader protagonist. Elan is the one with a personal connection to Tarquin.
Durkon and Malack could have a rivalry. Belkar would already be dead by this stage, so he could be replaced by Sabine or something. Vaarsuvius has already had one showdown with Laurin. It could easily make a rivalry.
In fact, in this situation, Tarquin is from a narrative perspective much more likely to kill off Roy. After all, Tarquin regards Roy as a worthy opponent and Elan is the hero of Order Sticker. In Tarquin's worldview this would mean Roy would lose to him at some point.
Of course this wouldn't be a perfect setup. And the plot would be lower stakes than the Snarl, but I could see it making a decent sequel. Maybe Tarquin comes up with a plan to become a god or something for a suitably climactic moment.
That said, I suspect that Tarquin would eventually get usurped in his role as main villain. The Vector Legion is very much a big bad ensemble. He probably wouldn't have been nearly as important as he would hope to be. But he would still be far more likely to get what he wants than by doing what he actually did. And even if Roy was still the main hero, Elan being the one to kill Tarquin isn't mandatory. Tarquin could still become a legend if he was defeated by Roy with an assist from his son. He'd just need to make the rivalry personal enough.
Not that i think this SHOULD have happened. After a certain point, continuing a story detracts from the quality of previous installments. But if Tarquin had been a bit more of a long term thinker he probably could have pulled this off.
What do you think?