OOTS #866 - The Discussion Thread

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

[CoffeeIncluded]

And NOW it hits V. Better late than never, but still far too late.

Also, glad to see you're doing so well.

[-Sentinel-]

Awww, that one was sad. Great character development though.

[PhantomFox]

And V's downward spiral continues. And blackwing isn't gonna help... so who will? Will V pull herself up by her own bootstraps?

[Douglas]

Not helping, Blackwing. V needs to be functional, not overwhelmed even more with guilt.

[Zmflavius]

Just in case there was any doubt whatsoever with regards to familicide.

[Codyage]

Oh wait! It could always be 3^3. So that is twenty seven times!

Wait, could we actually turn this into an equation? Could the square root be the good actions done? Or what that lead to an imaginary number?

[treyh37]

typo panel 5

"over a several years"

also yay new V/blackwing action

[RaggedAngel]

I'm extremely happy about how quickly these are being posted; you're really exceeding our expectations, Rich, and the effort is impressive. Thank you.

As for the strip, this is a great insight into V's internal conflict. And it's also a nice reminder that V's soul has split ownership now; and they never promised his time in the Hells would be postmortum.

[Blue Ghost]

First step toward redemption. It's painful, but it needs to happen. I'm happy for V.

[DaOldeWolf]

Personally, I believe he only dammed himself for times. Three for each splice and a single other one when he dies.

Still, I wonder if V just found the way to the gate.

[t209]

Poor V (Giving Manly Tears).
That poor elf, he lost his family (as in divorced) and now probably lose his way to a good afterlife.
Now I want payback for those resistance who died at Mountain Hideout. I want Redcloak's head for my office wall. FOR THANH

[EmperorSarda]

I do have to thank you most heartily for this strip, Giant.

You see, in the D&D campaign I play in, my character is a Halfling Cleric/Dracolyte of Bahamut. Reading this, the dragon and human female who had a long term relationship, I can use it for when my Halfling preaches in Bahamut's name, when he defends dragons. It is a great way to appeal to the NPC masses (and fellow roleplayers) of the true nature of Dragons, of why one should strive to seek to emulate such a being. Being able to understand the character and motives of a dragon (or anyone for that matter) helps when seeking to spread adulation and emulation.

So, thank you again.

[asphias]

great to see your thumb is healing so well. even though we've said it a million times, one more "please take your time and heal up well!" can't hurt

also, good to see V is starting to realize that having an evil alignement does not mean free to kill. let's hope he finds a way to redeem himself

[Alignment]

"Until this moment, my mind had never considered that[...]"

I didn't realize how little V understood his/her actions until this point. There's some very fun character development here.

[fergo]

It's kind of weird. We've seen it coming on the forums for so long (especially with the extended break) that it's surprisingly powerful to see V. come to terms with what she's done.

[Wolfram]

This comic reminds me of the Passover Seder, where the Rabbis prove that the Egyptians suffered up to 260 plauges at the Red Sea...

I hope for V that the damnation is merely multiplictive and not exponential!

[Psyren]

It would be multiplicative. Thrice damned (actions, arrogance, ignorance) for each of the three fiends. 3x3 = 9.

{table=head] Fiend |

Damn 1

|

Damn 2

|

Damn 3

Lee | actions | arrogance | ignorance
Nero | actions | arrogance | ignorance
Cedrik | actions | arrogance | ignorance
[/table]

...perhaps I'm taking the wrong attitude toward this strip.

[Turgon9357]

Oh hey, V!

I can't shake the feeling that that mummy is going to appear at an extremely inopportune moment.

[Xanamir]

I'm more of a lurker than a poster but this strip inspired me to add my own comments.

In particular, V's confession here made me think of one of my all-time favorite strips: http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0464.html. It's not my favorite strip because of Miko's death, but because of Soon's speech about the nature of redemption. I think it was one of the most poignant and insightful commentaries this strip has ever offered.

When we compare Miko's situation to V's, we see that unlike Miko, V now understands completely just how horrible hir actions were. More importantly, V is genuinely remorseful for all the damage s/he caused, instead of just blaming the circumstances or the IFCC. It would be easy to say "well, I was desperate" or "the fiends made me do it, the dragon made me do it, the soul splices made me do it."

"True redemption demands that you seek forgiveness for your past misdeeds," Soon said. "That you even acknowledge that you could, in fact, be wrong."

True, one might argue that V committed an atrocity (genocide) whereas Miko commited "only" a crime (murder) but then one must ask; is there a crime that is unforgivable? Is one life worth less than thousands? Miko could have redeemed herself. Does the same potential exist for V?

I really hope V gets hir chance at redemption. I hope s/he succeeds where Miko failed.

[Chess435]

This comic reminds me of the Passover Seder, where the Rabbis prove that the Egyptians suffered up to 260 plauges at the Red Sea...

I hope for V that the damnation is merely multiplictive and not exponential!

Or even worse.

[fruityjanitor]

Panel 9 is one of the greatest wall-of-text panels ever!

[Surfing HalfOrc]

And V's downward spiral continues. And blackwing isn't gonna help... so who will? Will V pull herself up by her own bootstraps?

Who will help V? I'm betting on Elan!

[dnzrx]

Or even worse.

Hey there! Let's not play the "make the elf cry a river" game right now.

[fwiffo]

V is overdoing it badly. And what is that "the judgement was never mine" stuff? Whose judgement it is, then? That type of excessive reliance on some kind of authority to make the judgement is much too lawful for someone who is at his core an individualist.

[Turgon9357]

Or even worse.

Oh dear.

But also cool. I need to research this.

[thepsyker]

I seem to be missing something, why isn't s/he just damned three times?

[Psyren]

I seem to be missing something, why isn't s/he just damned three times?

See my post *points up*

[Mutant Sheep]

V is overdoing it badly. And what is that "the judgement was never mine" stuff? Whose judgement it is, then? That type of excessive reliance on some kind of authority to make the judgement is much too lawful for someone who is at his core an individualist.

No one's judgement, I believe. I think V's point was "no one should do this", rather than "When I had that power I should have brought it to *reasonable authority figure*". The judgement wasn't his, wasn't Thor's, and I doubt V would even trust Elf-god ascended to make that decision. It was even further realization of the extent of Familicide and just how bad it was. And I'm happy he realizes genocide is bad.

(Oh, and nice update speed Mr. Burlew. I might ask that you slow down. The plot is speeding up and we aren't ready!)

[rgrekejin]

Well. That pretty succinctly summed up all of the message board debates we as a fanbase have been having for the last few years.