Today, I saw Roy in Durkon

[Regneva]

... and last month, I had seen him in Haley

The strips as of late, shows a fascinating turn of group dynamic.

The group Order of the Stick is an example of balance among characters. Each one with unique personalities and hijinks. They balance each other.

80% of the oots fans' favorite character is either Belkar or Elan because they are stupid, self-involved and they constantly make a fool of themselves. We all love them
They are balanced by Roy, who keeps them in line and tries (in vain) to teach them. Most of hilarious "Roy moments" involve either Belkar or Elan.

Now with Roy gone, Haley is fulfilling his role as contrast for Belkar, and Durkon seems to be stuck with Elan. When I saw Durkon's face of frustration in strip #561, I felt a reminiscence of Roy and it filled me with joy. It made sense, and it felt "just like OOTS"

It all shows Mr. Burlew's ability to tell a good story, in depth and detail. Not with stick figures but with deep characters and their personalities. He is no doubt, an excellent artist and a writer and he always knows how to develop and evolve his characters

[Moff Chumley]

A very good point. I think it would be apt to point out that Varsuvius is now free of the little restraint Roy held him/her/it to.

[Sir_Elderberry]

Reminds me of something J.K. Rowling once said--that the reason it was rather common for a character to be taken out of the action or not speaking to the others--Hermione being petrified in Book 2, Ron not speaking to Harry in Book 4, etc--was to show the dynamic between the remaining characters. That seems to be a lot of what we're getting out of Roy's death.

[theinsulabot]

im still finding it interesting that as V appears to be growing more and more unstable as time passes. despite his intelligence score being justifiably enviable, without either roy's stabilizing leadership or haley's friendship, he appears to be doing the elf version of spiraling downwards, if he were human i would fully expect him to have been driven to strong drink. im curious how badly out of control he may fall if he cant establish some kind of hold on himself

[Calemyr]

Yeah, you have to wonder if V will fall far enough to say the four right words to the right person at the right time for all the wrong reasons. Or is this too soon for that? Would Rich really kill the gift horse that lays the golden eggs?