About the Oracle's "As for the elf..."

[DeviledEggs]

Could it be that he wanted to say "You didn't cause his/her death"?

[Greep]

^ what I'm thinking

[Enlong]

Eh, I think that V is yet another pseudo-cause that the Oracle was trying to use to worm his way out of it. Read panel 9 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0504.html). Belkar and the little revenge-game that V played with him is one of the things that is guilting hir into hir current madness. Which simply cannot end well. So, Belkar may have caused V's possibly upcoming death by kissing hir.

[B. Dandelion]

Eh, I think that V is yet another pseudo-cause that the Oracle was trying to use to worm his way out of it.
This is what I think as well -- there seemed to be a definite pattern of decreasing plausibility to the Oracle's explanations. Belkar having "killed" Roy was something quite a few people were willing to accept. Having "killed" Miko was straight out of left field, and Windstriker even more so, given that Windstriker never actually "died." That argues for the possibility of V not "dying" in a literal sense, but in some kind of way the Oracle thought he could squeeze to fit. For example, you might say as of 597 that she's dead to Elan, which is saying something, considering the kind (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0128.html) of (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0145.html) relationship (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0153.html) they showed before (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0478.html). (Durkon as well, but Elan and V were better established as friends.)

[Neopolis]

Eh, I think that V is yet another pseudo-cause that the Oracle was trying to use to worm his way out of it. Read panel 9 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0504.html). Belkar and the little revenge-game that V played with him is one of the things that is guilting hir into hir current madness. Which simply cannot end well. So, Belkar may have caused V's possibly upcoming death by kissing hir.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. By letting himself get almost-killed by Miko, he indirectly caused V's madness... At least partially, which is enough for that sneaky oracle to mention in an attempt to keep those pieces of steel out of his chest.

[DeviledEggs]

But Rich would definitely surprise us with something like this.:smallwink:

[Tirian]

Sheesh, sometimes a joke is just a joke. The Oracle was grasping at straws to prevent his own death (or at least the pain of Belkar's dull daggers), and the only straw he had left was attempting to justify how Belkar contributed to the death of someone who wasn't dead in any sense. Trying to read more into it than that is pretty darned silly.

[B. Dandelion]

Sheesh, sometimes a joke is just a joke. The Oracle was grasping at straws to prevent his own death (or at least the pain of Belkar's dull daggers), and the only straw he had left was attempting to justify how Belkar contributed to the death of someone who wasn't dead in any sense. Trying to read more into it than that is pretty darned silly.

sir are you honestly trying to insinuate that posters on a messageboard dedicated to a stick figure fantasy webcomic may in fact indulge in less than sober philosophical polemic at all times? For shame, sir. For shame.

Look it's this or the election, and I can't speak for anyone else but I could go the rest of my life without hearing the words "executive experience" or "mooseburger" ever again.

[Forealms]

Could it be that he wanted to say "You didn't cause his/her death"?

I just assumed that it was by Belkar's inaction that V dies 600 years later (or w/e).

[MReav]

I think the oracle would have said "The stress of searching for you caused the elf to suffer a heart attack 30 years before..." *stab in the chest*.

[NerfTW]

It was probably going to be "Elan uses an illusion of you to drive a point home, pissing V off instead of calming him/her down, and therefore leading to V's gaining ultimate cosmic power, which is so vastly different from the current V as to be considered a death."

[MReav]

Oh wait!

The excess stress of searching for you resulted in V using more and more questionable actions to find you. As a result, the elf began consorting with more and more powerful fiends, resulting in complete and utter corruption. And so, the good... neutral elf that was your party mate was destroyed.

[ref]

Wait, guys. You're all wrong. The Oracle was NOT trying to worm out of it, though maybe he's staging that for Belkar. The Oracle knew Belkar would kill him anyway, that's why he scheduled the resurrectors, and built the town. He's just toying with Belkar.

[NerfTW]

Wait, guys. You're all wrong. The Oracle was NOT trying to worm out of it, though maybe he's staging that for Belkar. The Oracle knew Belkar would kill him anyway, that's why he scheduled the resurrectors, and built the town. He's just toying with Belkar.

Yeah, we know that. But keep in mind he had a gradually more convoluted reason for each one besides himself. Roy's death was only slightly removed from Belkar's actions, Miko's considerably more so, the horse was just reaching, and therefore V's would be ridiculously implausable to the extent nobody can rationally argue it.