Ok now, that doesnt make any sense!

[Chaman]

Why is Lien running away in the last panel of 559 this time? is she no longer a paladin? I mean what the hell?

[Tingel]

Maybe because the orcs took her weapon. Or maybe because she has learned something from the first time and - knightly honor or not - she doesn't want to make the same mistake again.

Neither of those two reasons is very convincing, I know, but they're at least possible explanations.

[Mauve Shirt]

Because they already had to rescue her once after she stayed and fought.

[teratorn]

Why is Lien running away in the last panel of 559 this time? is she no longer a paladin? I mean what the hell?

She was used to work with paladins... Paladins know no fear, and all of them looked like a good match to the orcs. That's why she didn't start running as fast as the other guys the last time. But she has learned now that the others would rather flee than fight and goes with them. She'll get the hang of it after a few more missions with Elan and Durkon.

[Laurentio]

Maybe she recognized, for once, that staying would being totally pointless.

Laurentio

[Corwin Weber]

"Only a fool fights in a burning house." - Klingon Proverb

[Zorn]

Maybe she recognized, for once, that staying would being totally pointless.

Assuming that she stayed behind just to fight, yes. Elan commented that Lien didn't run away because she was acting paladin-ish. True, that could mean that she stayed believing that the 12 gods were ordering her to eliminate this evil. It could just as easily mean, however, (and I'm sure there are a million other possibilities) that she stopped, believing that no one would escape unless she gave them a head start. That's certainly noble, but more importantly it's a clever decision as well. Better to sacrifice yourself and give your friends a chance than to risk getting everyone captured. Said friends might even be able to come back and save you, which makes the decision even better.

Edit: Forgot a comma in "she stopped, believing." I apologize if I threw anyone off; the meaning of the sentence changes entirely without it.

[Kurald Galain]

ABetter to sacrifice yourself and give your friends a chance than to risk getting everyone captured.

It's also the exact opposite of what a player character would do (which, of course, she's not).

[lonewolf23k]

Because they already had to rescue her once after she stayed and fought.

I think that's it in a nutshell. She originally chose to stay and fight the orcs to give the others the chance to escape. Which only resulted in them returning to rescue her. Thus, she logically realized "Well, no sense in performing a heroic sacrifice when they're just going to ruin it afterwards."

[ABB]

Maybe when you take the sword out of their hands paladins cease to suffer as much testosterone poisoning as normal.

[unstattedCommoner]

Maybe she realized that this was not the best place to use her mount (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0479.html) to its full potential, and luring the orcs to the beach would even the odds.

[Roderick_BR]

Why is Lien running away in the last panel of 559 this time? is she no longer a paladin? I mean what the hell?
As teratorn said, nothing in the paladin's codes mean she needs to stay and fight a horde of orcs in an useless fight. I mean, they are not threatening anyone right now, no innocents, no nearby towns, nothing. The code doesn't mean she needs to drop everything she's doing and attack the nearest evil creature. And considering she even went there without attacking anyone to start with (before they tried to sacrifice them), she doesn't have any reasons to stay.

Anyway, Elan managed to make them end the scene with another running scene :smallbiggrin: