Belkar and the Oracles Prophecy...

[Mystic Muse]

that would be very inconvenient for him to forget on the way in. of course then he'd know the oracle was a kobold

[Turstin]

I'm pretty sure that some Inevitable would become annoyed by the Oracle coming back several times and kill him and those guys who keep raising him. The Oracle only sees the outcome, but sometimes the justification is insufficient.

If he foresees every death, he'd know that whoever killed him would wait afterwards to kill the guys who teleport in and revive him. Therefore, he would foresee when the guy who killed him leaves, and tell his two men to teleport in then, after the danger is gone.

[derfenrirwolv]

that would be very inconvenient for him to forget on the way in. of course then he'd know the oracle was a kobold

Well, it works on the way OUT too. So unless roy writes everything other than the question he wants to ask down this time, he'll forget that he's a kobold on the way in, be surprised, and then forget again on his way out.

[Selene]

And then the comic will return to a more interesting character, such as Redcloak.
QED

Redcloak? Bleh. I'd rather spend comic time on Belkar any day. Or Xykon. And since for some odd reason we're announcing our religious affiliations, I'm an atheist. And neutral, not evil.

But I'd really rather spend time with O'Chul and MitD right now.

[tirsales]

The Oracle has stated that "Belkar will draw his last breath, ever, before the end of the year."

I personally always found it hard to imagine, why the Oracle was lying about this .. (compare #329 and #572 ;) ) - and that's why I still hope, that Belkar will somehow get away! (e.g. some permanent no-need-to-breath-charm) ;)

[JJ48]

On the topic of highly unlikely loopholes, maybe the Oracle meant that Belkar will, for some reason, draw a sketch of a breath, and it'll be the last sketch of a breath he ever draws. <sigh> Oh, the lost artistic talent.

[BlueWizard]

Belkar will be killed and stay dead.

He's a murdering jerk and no one who knows him will attempt to revive him.

You gotta be kidding.

[Silverraptor]

You gotta be kidding.

It doesn't look like he is.

Wanna track him down and murder him Belkar style?

[JJ48]

It doesn't look like he is.

Wanna track him down and murder him Belkar style?

<Begins tracking>

(Several weeks later, somewhere in Siberia)

Huh. I guess not having any ranks in Survival really DOES affect things.

[ThisIsNotDan]

On the topic of highly unlikely loopholes, maybe the Oracle meant that Belkar will, for some reason, draw a sketch of a breath, and it'll be the last sketch of a breath he ever draws. <sigh> Oh, the lost artistic talent.

This idea is made of win and awesome. If the Giant pulled this one, he would be my hero.

[David Argall]

There are a half dozen different prophecies that say Belkar is going to snuff it soon. And despite the many people saying it, the Oracle has been quite open and direct in his predictions. [Now useless answers, quite often, but not misleading.]

[Cúchulainn]

To be honest I'm not looking forward to Belkar's prophecy at all, we either get another Oracle screw and the resulting fallout of disbelieving threads, or another drawn out party member death.

Sometimes I just don't wanna get out of bed.

[Calmness]

I'm expecting Belkar to die, if only for the emotional impact.

[Zevox]

Belkar will be killed and stay dead.

He's a murdering jerk and no one who knows him will attempt to revive him.

You gotta be kidding.

Why would he be? That's what the evidence we have points to. The "draw his last breath" comment is far from the only thing the Oracle has said to indicate Belkar will die. "The Halfling shouldn't bother funding his IRA" and "he should savor his next birthday cake" from the first visit, for instance. And "your pal isn't long for this world" just before giving Roy the freebie "on-the-record" prophecy. All of these are easily identified as euphemisms for "he is going to die," and each, especially the "on-the-record" one about his last breath ever, implies his death will be permanent. The alternatives proposed thus far simply do not get past all of the references to the matter - most hinge on the "last breath" thing and claim Belkar will become something that doesn't breath, but that doesn't work for all the others, especially "isn't long for this world," which can hardly be interpreted as anything other than death.

Plus as David Argall said, the Oracle's prophecies have all been exactly what they seemed thus far. Some have been useless, like the snarky "in his throne room" response to the question "where's Xykon?", but none have been deceptive. Haley's is the only one that was even metaphoric, and it too wound up being quite obvious when it was occurring.

And to respond to a common objection before anyone raises it, we have substantial evidence that the Oracle's offhand remarks are just as accurate as his "on-the-record" prophecies. For instance, during their first visit, he tells Roy and Elan that they are "running late for a pair of family reuinions" - and immediately afterward we had the Cliffport side-quest where they rescued Julia from Nale. We also know from the Oracle himself that the whole reason he has the memory charm is so that visitors do not remember his off-hand remarks, which even without further evidence would strongly indicate they are as accurate as his official prophecies.

Zevox

[Silverraptor]

<Begins tracking>

(Several weeks later, somewhere in Siberia)

Huh. I guess not having any ranks in Survival really DOES affect things.

Wait, is it you doing the tracking or me? Because if that's supposed to be me, you definitely don't know how many ranks in survival.

[JJ48]

Why would he be? That's what the evidence we have points to. The "draw his last breath" comment is far from the only thing the Oracle has said to indicate Belkar will die. "The Halfling shouldn't bother funding his IRA" and "he should savor his next birthday cake" from the first visit, for instance. And "your pal isn't long for this world" just before giving Roy the freebie "on-the-record" prophecy. All of these are easily identified as euphemisms for "he is going to die," and each, especially the "on-the-record" one about his last breath ever, implies his death will be permanent. The alternatives proposed thus far simply do not get past all of the references to the matter - most hinge on the "last breath" thing and claim Belkar will become something that doesn't breath, but that doesn't work for all the others, especially "isn't long for this world," which can hardly be interpreted as anything other than death.

A challenge, eh? Ok, I'll take a shot. Seeing as how I already addressed the "on-the-record" prophecy, with the "drawing a picture of breath", I shall now attempt to explain, in highly unlikely, yet oddly possible scenarios, what the others could mean. Now, assuming that the "off-the-record" prophecies were all accurate, we will now see how all of them could, in fact, be referring to things other than Belkar's death.

Statement: "The Halfling shouldn't bother funding his IRA"
Meaning: The economy will soon be taking a long-term hit. Investment would be unwise.

Statement: "He should savor his next birthday cake."
Meaning: It's going to be especially yummy, and, in fact, it'll be the best dessert he'll ever have in his life.

Statement: "Your pal isn't long for this world."
Meaning: Ignoring for the moment that one could hardly call Roy and Belkar "pals", the obvious answer is that he isn't LONG FOR the world, he's SHORT IN the world! <rim shot> Simply oppositify the adjective, and change the preposition, and it becomes crystal clear!

[Silverraptor]

A challenge, eh? Ok, I'll take a shot. Seeing as how I already addressed the "on-the-record" prophecy, with the "drawing a picture of breath", I shall now attempt to explain, in highly unlikely, yet oddly possible scenarios, what the others could mean. Now, assuming that the "off-the-record" prophecies were all accurate, we will now see how all of them could, in fact, be referring to things other than Belkar's death.

Statement: "The Halfling shouldn't bother funding his IRA"
Meaning: The economy will soon be taking a long-term hit. Investment would be unwise.

Statement: "He should savor his next birthday cake."
Meaning: It's going to be especially yummy, and, in fact, it'll be the best dessert he'll ever have in his life.

Statement: "Your pal isn't long for this world."
Meaning: Ignoring for the moment that one could hardly call Roy and Belkar "pals", the obvious answer is that he isn't LONG FOR the world, he's SHORT IN the world! <rim shot> Simply oppositify the adjective, and change the preposition, and it becomes crystal clear!

Those....were....GREAT!!!!!

Now let me debunk the "on-record" one.

Statement: "Belkar will draw his last breath-ever-before the end of the year."
Meaning: It's a cold day and Belkar is trying to draw his frosty breath onto some paper with colored pencils, but he can't do it good enough, so he gives up trying forever.

[JJ48]

Wait, is it you doing the tracking or me? Because if that's supposed to be me, you definitely don't know how many ranks in survival.

I meant me.

[Silverraptor]

I meant me.

Oh, ok then. Next time get behind me. I know this place like the back of my own hand. (Hey! This birth mark looks like a map!)

Edit:(Just for the record, I was joking with the birth mark thing.)

[multilis]

Snarl with kill some more gods, the gods will look for the most lawful and good PCs to elevate to replace them. Of course Belkar and Miko will be chosen.

Moral of this story: Don't pretend to have charactor growth or else what you pretend could come true.

[Teddy]

Supernatural ability (or spell, or spell-like ability) of prescience or not, the oracle doesn't seem to be especially well filled in on the undead traits, since he states that ghost-Roy will forget everything except the prophecies when he passes the memory charm. All undeads are immune to all mind-affecting effects, and since the memory charm doesn't seem to work by incapacitating the exact parts of the brain which hold the unwanted memories, we can assume it is a mind-affecting effect. In other words: Roy would have remembered everything even if he left the normal way. He probably wouldn't have set of the charm at all, since he's etheral.

[factotum]

I don't think that ghost-Roy is technically an undead--he's just an incorporeal spirit. If he *were* a ghost according to the definitions of the Monster Manual he'd be able to make his presence felt a lot more than he does!

[Athaniar]

Crazy theory: Belkar will die very soon (within the next few strips), go to the Abyss, and then be called upon to reinforce Vaarsuvius's splice. That will shatter the last remnants of V's sanity for sure.

[Selene]

I love the smell of desperation in the morning. Belkar's a dead hobbit walking, folks. Maybe he'll go out in a blaze of stabbity glory.

[brilliantlight]

You gotta be kidding.

Until real recently I would have agreed with him. was getting as predictable as a road runner cartoon.

[brilliantlight]

Crazy theory: Belkar will die very soon (within the next few strips), go to the Abyss, and then be called upon to reinforce Vaarsuvius's splice. That will shatter the last remnants of V's sanity for sure.

That would work.

[Volkov]

He may become a death knight, belkar with a bunch of undead cronies, damage reduction, and the abyssal blast ability is something to fear

[David Argall]

A challenge, eh? Ok, I'll take a shot. Seeing as how I already addressed the "on-the-record" prophecy, with the "drawing a picture of breath", I shall now attempt to explain, in highly unlikely, yet oddly possible scenarios, what the others could mean. Now, assuming that the "off-the-record" prophecies were all accurate, we will now see how all of them could, in fact, be referring to things other than Belkar's death.

Statement: "The Halfling shouldn't bother funding his IRA"
Meaning: The economy will soon be taking a long-term hit. Investment would be unwise.

Statement: "He should savor his next birthday cake."
Meaning: It's going to be especially yummy, and, in fact, it'll be the best dessert he'll ever have in his life.

Statement: "Your pal isn't long for this world."
Meaning: Ignoring for the moment that one could hardly call Roy and Belkar "pals", the obvious answer is that he isn't LONG FOR the world, he's SHORT IN the world! <rim shot> Simply oppositify the adjective, and change the preposition, and it becomes crystal clear!

All of which fail to address the point that the Oracle has not been giving deceptive answers. In fact, we seem him try to avoid giving Roy an answer that will set him on the wrong path. And his purposes in the story pretty much require that his answers be truthful.

[Dagren]

I think one reason people don't want Belkar to go is that it would be a waste of his recent character development. I for one would like to see where that goes, so I agree it would be a shame if he dies soon.

[factotum]

Character development? What character development? All he's learned is how to hide his more evil urges...