Does anybody know who Xykon's secret weapon is?

[Yeet1234]

Since Xykon's secret weapon is always in shadows, I have no clue what is actually is. If anyone else knows, please explain what it is.

[Jasdoif]

Since Xykon's secret weapon is always in shadows, I have no clue what is actually is. If anyone else knows, please explain what it is.Well, unless you're into guessing the possibilities, I'm afraid you'll just have to wait with the rest of us.

[ebarde]

He's a good man

[Precure]

Most agree that he's a Tarrasque.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/tarrasque

[Sir_Norbert]

Not sure whether you are serious, but the MitD evidence and guessing thread (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?615971-MitD-XV-The-Other-Dark-One) is pretty sure that he is not a Tarrasque.

[arimareiji]

Not sure whether you are serious, but the MitD evidence and guessing thread (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?615971-MitD-XV-The-Other-Dark-One) is pretty sure that he is not a Tarrasque.

Not sure where I saw this... do I remember correctly that someone came up with a decent theory that he's some legendary monster with an incredibly foul smell, fitting the comments about his smell, plus vomiting/disgust from the crowd?

[Peelee]

Not sure where I saw this... do I remember correctly that someone came up with a decent theory that he's some legendary monster with an incredibly foul smell, fitting the comments about his smell, plus vomiting/disgust from the crowd?

That'd be me (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24577709&postcount=488). :smalltongue:

[hroþila]

That'd be me (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24577709&postcount=488). :smalltongue:
Me, after seeing that the quoted post was posted on June 2020: Wow, it's amazing that anyone came up with a good guess so recently after years of hundreds of people trying, Peelee is a genius
Me, after actually reading the post: Peelee's genius status confirmed

[pearl jam]

Me, after seeing that the quoted post was posted on June 2020: Wow, it's amazing that anyone came up with a good guess so recently after years of hundreds of people trying, Peelee is a genius
Me, after actually reading the post: Peelee's genius status confirmed

Seconded. :smallbiggrin:

[Peelee]

Peelee's genius status confirmedSeconded. :smallbiggrin:
Permission to sig?

[pearl jam]

lol. you are welcome to have mine. lol

[hroþila]

Mine too. Being sigged is like an injection of serotonin.

[Precure]

Not sure whether you are serious, but the MitD evidence and guessing thread (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?615971-MitD-XV-The-Other-Dark-One) is pretty sure that he is not a Tarrasque.

Not to sound disrespectful, but that thread's handling the case is pretty controversial, especially their focus on "big events." Popularity of Tarrasque and how its turned down is basically a rUnning gag now.

[Sir_Norbert]

Among whom?

[Dion]

Among whom?

Top Men.

They review the forum postings when they’re not doing research on the ark.

[Peelee]

Among whom?Top Men.
This answer fits so many questions far too well.

[The MunchKING]

Since Xykon's secret weapon is always in shadows, I have no clue what is actually is. If anyone else knows, please explain what it is.

Ah now you've switched questions.

WHO, is easy. He's a good person (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0654.html).

WHAT is an all together trickier question, though we've been given many hints.

[Schroeswald]

The most popular guess by far (which I happen to agree with) is that he is a protean, but the jury is far from in and the protean is far from perfect (most important to me is the fact that it, like almost every other species offered, doesn’t have the best explanation for how he teleported O-Chul).
While for a time the Tarrasque was even more popular than the protean it is not so popular now because it has a lot of flaws. It’s main advantages are that it’s eating and sleeping patterns match and, if you want a D&D famous creature, it is one. Unfortunately just about every other metric it doesn’t work, it’s too big, too weak, and has no magic ability or knowledge.

[Precure]

Among whom?

I can't give you names since these discussions are ancient history by now and many of contributors already left this forum. My memory is nt that great anymore. But I distinctly remember that you were among us when those arguements took place.

[InvisibleBison]

Most agree that he's a Tarrasque.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/tarrasque

Crusher has been tracking (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24618436&postcount=7) people's guesses about what the MitD is for years now. There's currently 101 different guesses in that post, and literally none of them are the tarrasque. It's possible that there are some people who support the tarrasque who haven't submitted their guess for whatever reason, but I'm skeptical that there's enough of them for your statement to be true.

[Tvtyrant]

Since Xykon's secret weapon is always in shadows, I have no clue what is actually is. If anyone else knows, please explain what it is.

It's a Slaadi innit? They were surprised to find it, immensely strong, weird powers, has a parent, high charisma and is ugly.

[hroþila]

I think this might be one of those things where the forum isn't necessarily representative. I imagine there's plenty of people out there who know enough about D&D to know what a tarrasque is, but not enough to realize in which ways it doesn't fit. And many of them will be OotS fans, but not know it as well as a message board does, collectively.

[Blue Dragon]

I think he is the Snarl's offspring.

[Peelee]

I think he is the Snarl's offspring.

That is guaranteed to not be the case by the author. It also is completely at odds with parts of Start of Darkness.

[Sir_Norbert]

I can't give you names since these discussions are ancient history by now and many of contributors already left this forum. My memory is nt that great anymore. But I distinctly remember that you were among us when those arguements took place.

I see, sorry for being snarky. I wasn't sure if you were referring to this forum or off-site communities such as TVTropes.

If you're talking about very old discussions, then I don't remember either, but we have a lot more clues and information now than we had back then, so I wouldn't be surprised if most of the old participants, if they have continued to follow OotS and the forum at all, have different opinions now.

[pearl jam]

I haven't kept careful count, obviously, but as someone who has frequented to forums for quite some time, but *not* participated in the guessing thread, I would say that tarrasque is the most frequent answer that I have come across, so that may indicate something, I guess. lol

[Ruck]

The Protean is currently the leader in the guessing thread. (With good reason, in my opinion. :smallwink:)

[arimareiji]

I haven't kept careful count, obviously, but as someone who has frequented to forums for quite some time, but *not* participated in the guessing thread, I would say that tarrasque is the most frequent answer that I have come across, so that may indicate something, I guess. lol

Ah, but: The most frequent serious answer, the most frequent playful answer, somewhere in between, or can't be sure? (^_~)

[Squire Doodad]

Is this going to be a thread that has the OP question answered within 5 posts and then proceeds to be a 10 page long discussion about tangentially related topics?


I haven't kept careful count, obviously, but as someone who has frequented to forums for quite some time, but *not* participated in the guessing thread, I would say that tarrasque is the most frequent answer that I have come across, so that may indicate something, I guess. lol

Overall the Tarrasque has nothing going for it but raw power; it lacks any escape scene abilities, is not part of a species, and is far too big for the umbrella.
It basically shows that the Tarrasque is more on the minds of people than that it is relevant to MitD.

[Keltest]

The Tarrasque tends to be the first snap "i kind of know D&D and its the iconic big dumb D&D monster" guess a lot of people have without giving it much thought. To that end, i wouldnt be surprised if its the "most popular" in the sense that its the most common answer you get among people who dont really care one way or another.

Among people who actually give it some thought, its one of the weaker candidates. Among other reasons already mentioned, any creature identified with a singular article (ie "the" tarrasque) is unlikely to be "one of them" or have parents.

[Squire Doodad]

The Tarrasque tends to be the first snap "i kind of know D&D and its the iconic big dumb D&D monster" guess a lot of people have without giving it much thought. To that end, i wouldnt be surprised if its the "most popular" in the sense that its the most common answer you get among people who dont really care one way or another.

Among people who actually give it some thought, its one of the weaker candidates. Among other reasons already mentioned, any creature identified with a singular article (ie "the" tarrasque) is unlikely to be "one of them" or have parents.

I also pity a world where the Tarrasque is so common that people can see it and just be like "oh yeah I've seen plenty of these before".

[arimareiji]

I also pity a world where the Tarrasque is so common that people can see it and just be like "oh yeah I've seen plenty of these before".

Thank you, that laugh was much needed. (^_^)b

If by chance you're an FF10 fan, I imagine the best-case scenario would be something like that.

[Precure]

I also pity a world where the Tarrasque is so common that people can see it and just be like "oh yeah I've seen plenty of these before".

You could say the same for other popular guesses like Protean.

[Squire Doodad]

You could say the same for other popular guesses like Protean.

The Tarrasque stands out among the possibilities because it's a campaign unto itself instead of a high level monster capable of capping off a big encounter. It's basically a living cataclysm.

It's like if the reaction to Godzilla was "Oh jeez, another one of these, there goes my plans for this evening. Anyone have the Giant Bone Disposal Crew's number?"
Which, by the time the series has been through like 30 movies, is technically a reasonable response.

[arimareiji]

The Tarrasque stands out among the possibilities because it's a campaign unto itself instead of a high level monster capable of capping off a big encounter. It's basically a living cataclysm.

It's like if the reaction to Godzilla was "Oh jeez, another one of these, there goes my plans for this evening. Anyone have the Giant Bone Disposal Crew's number?"
Which, by the time the series has been through like 30 movies, is technically a reasonable response.

:belkar: "Heh, Giant Bone Disposal Crew... nah, too easy."

[Precure]

...I was trying to let it go since I don't want to start a discussion outside of that thread, but you guys keep bringing this thread back up. Here I will show you one of that thread's "more likely" guesses:

Uvuudaum (https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/1/1f/Uvuudaum-3e.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20190129235915)

Yes, a monster with no mouth and eyes are more likely to be the MitD even though his eyes and mouth are one of few certain things we knew about him. "Why?" you might wonder. Because it fits the big scenes. According to its rules, it's a more likely candidate than Tarrasque! That's why I don't care about that thread anymore. I'll say no more on this.

[Keltest]

...I was trying to let it go since I don't want to start a discussion outside of that thread, but you guys keep bringing this thread back up. Here I will show you one of that thread's "more likely" guesses:

Uvuudaum (https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/1/1f/Uvuudaum-3e.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20190129235915)

Yes, a monster with no mouth and eyes are more likely to be the MitD even though his eyes and mouth are one of few certain things we knew about him. "Why?" you might wonder. Because it fits the big scenes. According to its rules, it's a more likely candidate than Tarrasque! That's why I don't care about that thread anymore. I'll say no more on this.

The thread doesnt rank things by how "likely" they are. Its not some sort of formal submission, and theres no prize if the thread gets it right. Its strictly analysis. Its up to the individual to decide how much any given con disqualifies a given candidate, and what they themselves think is likely. To my knowledge, there is no suggestion that has been submitted so far that doesnt have at least one trait or characteristic that is inconsistent with the MITD as presented.

The Uvuudaum is a good candidate except for the eyes thing and a couple other flaws. The tarrasque is a bad candidate for a variety of reasons that the thread goes into detail on. Neither of them are likely to be the MITD, for different reasons.

[Precure]

The thread doesnt rank things by how "likely" they are. Its not some sort of formal submission, and theres no prize if the thread gets it right. Its strictly analysis. Its up to the individual to decide how much any given con disqualifies a given candidate, and what they themselves think is likely. To my knowledge, there is no suggestion that has been submitted so far that doesnt have at least one trait or characteristic that is inconsistent with the MITD as presented.

THAT would be fair, if true, but unfortunately:


Not sure whether you are serious, but the MitD evidence and guessing thread (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?615971-MitD-XV-The-Other-Dark-One) is pretty sure that he is not a Tarrasque.

[Peelee]

No small part of my own reasoning that I don't think it's a tarrasque would be that it's thematically boring. It's the go-to big monster in D&D, the automatic ultimate challenge. It's the standard bearer for the biggest toughest monster. If it turns out to be a tarrasque, I for one will be sorely disappointed because I would have expected better from the author, given everything he's written so far.

[Edreyn]

Stop pretending, we all know MitD is Gazebo.

[Keltest]

THAT would be fair, if true, but unfortunately:

Sure, because there is a lot of problems with it, but the thread, as opposed to the posters, makes no judgement beyond that.

The posters have a concensus, more or less, but oy because each person reached it individually due to the strong evidence.

[Squire Doodad]

THAT would be fair, if true, but unfortunately:

The analysis of one monster has no bearing on the analysis of another.
The Uvudaam being an FBS candidate has nothing to do with Tarrasque not being one.

[arimareiji]

Stop pretending, we all know MitD is Gazebo.

Speaking of famous flavor-text misunderstandings, are you sure MitD isn't "the Darkness" (https://youtu.be/-leYc4oC83E?t=51)*? (^_^)°

* - notably weak against Magic Missile