MitD XV: The Other Dark One

[Grey_Wolf_c]

I read this and realized we already have an example of the MitD getting injured but not incapacitated: strip 901. He does not appear to regenerate any health over the course of the strip, at least if we assume that the comic's long-standing precedent in which magical healing fixes damaged clothing is in effect.

But we also have evidence (Roy's sword) that broken magical objects do not fix themselves when the wielder is healed. MitD's umbrella is not a piece of clothing, it is a magical item enchanted to preserve Xykon's sense of drama.

GW

[Emanick]

But we also have evidence (Roy's sword) that broken magical objects do not fix themselves when the wielder is healed. MitD's umbrella is not a piece of clothing, it is a magical item enchanted to preserve Xykon's sense of drama.

GW

The umbrella's not broken, though, or it wouldn't be continuing to keep the MitD in darkness (assuming it is, in fact, a magical item). The damage to the umbrella looks much more like the cosmetic type that The Giant uses to help indicate that a character has taken hit point damage.

"Nonmagical apparel fixes itself when you're healed, but magical apparel doesn't" could be a rule in effect in the comic, but I don't know why that would be the case.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

The umbrella's not broken, though, or it wouldn't be continuing to keep the MitD in darkness (assuming it is, in fact, a magical item). The damage to the umbrella looks much more like the cosmetic type that The Giant uses to help indicate that a character has taken hit point damage.

The umbrella is broken enough it is replaced by their next appearance.

GW

[Keltest]

The umbrella is broken enough it is replaced by their next appearance.

GW

Thats not necessarily related. Haley has also gone through several entirely cosmetic armor changes, sometimes not even prompted by the plot, but simply for the sake of visual change. None of them were prompted by damage to the armor.

[Darth Paul]

The umbrella's not broken, though, or it wouldn't be continuing to keep the MitD in darkness (assuming it is, in fact, a magical item). The damage to the umbrella looks much more like the cosmetic type that The Giant uses to help indicate that a character has taken hit point damage.

"Nonmagical apparel fixes itself when you're healed, but magical apparel doesn't" could be a rule in effect in the comic, but I don't know why that would be the case.

Is the umbrella itself magical, or is it a standard item on which a magical effect has been cast?

For example, a Continual Flame spell is cast on an object that you touch, but the object does not thereby become a magic item, and it doesn't become immune to damage. My guess is that Xykon simply cast Continual Darkness (or a superior continual darkness version) on an ordinary umbrella, which finally got beat up enough to need replacing after the pyramid exploded.

[Ortho]

Is the umbrella itself magical, or is it a standard item on which a magical effect has been cast?

Adding on to this, how sure are we that the darkness originates from the umbrella in the first place? I've always interpreted the darkness as a property of the MitD, given that the light doesn't touch him even in a lit room.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Adding on to this, how sure are we that the darkness originates from the umbrella in the first place? I've always interpreted the darkness as a property of the MitD, given that the light doesn't touch him even in a lit room.

Xykon orders him to leap out of the shadows. You can't do that if you generate the shadows.

GW

[Qwertystop]

Adding on to this, how sure are we that the darkness originates from the umbrella in the first place? I've always interpreted the darkness as a property of the MitD, given that the light doesn't touch him even in a lit room.

He's excited to leave the cave and be out in the light rather than constantly hidden in shadows, until he's given the umbrella. I think he's just staying in a magically-darkened corner of the room.

[Hardcore]

It is just an ordinary umbrella that create a shade or shadow. It's shouldn't be able to hide the monster but does so because of rule is funny.
That is my opinion ofc.

Didn't rich mentioned the need to come up with an way to let MitD leave the mountain and remain hidden?

[Darth Paul]

It is just an ordinary umbrella that create a shade or shadow. It's shouldn't be able to hide the monster but does so because of rule is funny.
That is my opinion ofc.

Didn't rich mentioned the need to come up with an way to let MitD leave the mountain and remain hidden?

Possibly, but I don't remember it.

It's mentioned in a bonus strip in No Cure for the Paladin Blues that it is a magical darkness; the mountain having been destroyed by this point, they're talking about the darkness under the umbrella.

Did you see him yet?
He's permanently shrouded in magical darkness. How exactly was I supposed to "see him yet"?

[b_jonas]

I would also expect that they use magical darkness. The Order has Durkon, and he's a dwarf so he would be able to see the MitD under ordinary darkness. That would sort of spoil the reveal. I don't know how Kodrog the Slayer could see him though.

[Darth Paul]

Number one, I think we've generally accepted that the Kodrog strip was 4th-wall-breaking Rule of Funny. Even if not, a Darkness spell creates a shadowy area and grants the concealment effect, it's not impenetrable. Think of it as a portable dark corner. Someone looking under the umbrella, inside the area of effect, would certainly see MitD.

[Ariko]

Number one, I think we've generally accepted that the Kodrog strip was 4th-wall-breaking Rule of Funny. Even if not, a Darkness spell creates a shadowy area and grants the concealment effect, it's not impenetrable. Think of it as a portable dark corner. Someone looking under the umbrella, inside the area of effect, would certainly see MitD.

The tendency of Team Evil people seeing him is evidence in favor of that.

[ReaderAt2046]

Random thought: How many more strips do you think it will be until the big reveal? We're about thirty strips into the current arc, and it will probably last between two and three hundred strips based on the length of previous arcs, so I'm going to guess between a hundred and a hundred twenty more strips. (I don't think the reveal will come right at the end, because I suspect that MITD will have some important things to do after revealing itself).

[Peelee]

Random thought: How many more strips do you think it will be until the big reveal?

At least 10.

[Ruck]

Random thought: How many more strips do you think it will be until the big reveal?

Book 5 was 274 strips. Book 6 was 243 strips. We're on strip 28 of the current book, and Rich has promised Book 7 will be the last one, "even if it's the size of a phone book." So I'm gonna say 200 or so.

[Kornaki]

I think it will never be revealed. O'chul has already told us who MitD is, his species is just a label and irrelevant to his character.

Then jj abrams will direct Order Stickier and it will turn out he's a half dragon tarrasque with three levels in rogue.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

I think it will never be revealed. O'chul has already told us who MitD is, his species is just a label and irrelevant to his character.

Then jj abrams will direct Order Stickier and it will turn out he's a half dragon tarrasque with three levels in rogue.

I've been imagining the scene for MITD's eventual reveal for like nine years now

GW c

[Kornaki]

Yes, the reveal of his inner soul where he finally pays bare the truth of who he is and what he wants in his life.

(To be clear, I'm just trolling)

[Darth Paul]

Random thought: How many more strips do you think it will be until the big reveal?

Somewhere between 1 and 244 (the number of pages in my phone book). (Then again, I live in a small locality.)

[Sir_Norbert]

Random thought: How many more strips do you think it will be until the big reveal? We're about thirty strips into the current arc, and it will probably last between two and three hundred strips based on the length of previous arcs, so I'm going to guess between a hundred and a hundred twenty more strips.

Interesting that you mention the number 120. I guess it would be fitting for the reveal to come on strip 1337.

[Emanick]

I am guessing that the MITD will be revealed in 199 strips. Namely, strip #1416.

Totally wild guess, but if I'm close I'll be quite pleased.

[Edreyn]

In the last year of the comic. I assume it will about 4 years, so about 150-200 pages.

[Kish]

The umbrella is broken enough it is replaced by their next appearance.

GW

I honestly think "his accessories aren't repairing themselves, this proves he doesn't have Regeneration" is on pretty thin ice to start with. That happening for explicit magical healing is a convention, not a rule, and if his umbrella did suddenly repair itself over the course of a few panels--well, that would indicate really strongly that there was something special happening, wasn't there? The lack of a self-repairing umbrella isn't "so he doesn't have Regeneration"--it's "so Rich is not blatantly announcing that he has Regeneration, today." Or to put it another way--was Malack having a black-on-white speech bubble proof that he couldn't be undead?

We can't see the creature's flesh to see if that's regenerating, and there are no examples of him indicating "I am injured" and any amount of time later indicating "I am still injured."

(The one time he's sort-of gotten injured--the papercut--there's no way to know if he still had it a few seconds later, just that he found it unpleasant enough to comment on immediately. Although, actually, I do note that when he gets the papercut, his speech patterns go from "six out of eight words are indistinct" to "zero out of four words are indistinct" in the space of one panel.)

[Qwertystop]

The indistinct words might be less from the paper cut and more from the currently-eating-something. Which I guess indicates a conventional speaks-and-eats-with-the-same-orifice layout? Does that actually affect any of our candidates?

[fuschiawarrior]

snip

In Malack's case there was a concerted effort to hide that he was a vampire with the speech bubbles and mentions of his children besides there never was a guessing game around him.

I can understand if it was a mistake or if it was too short of in-panel time to show regeneration effects but if is "so Rich is not blatantly announcing that he has Regeneration, today" that's cheating. There was no need to have MITD taking damage, team Evil could have teleported after the explosion and it would make no difference to what happened. It would be like if at the reveal we discover that MitD was faking the swirly eyes or that his dad is from a completely diferent species or that the SBGH said sarcastically that it was surprising to find him in a jungle.

snip

Even if it was because of the paper cut it would imply that the speaking hole and the eating hole are the same.

[Darth Paul]

In Malack's case there was a concerted effort to hide that he was a vampire with the speech bubbles and mentions of his children besides there never was a guessing game around him.

Malack's example also follows a long fictional tradition of the vampire appearing to be simply an ordinary noble with some odd traits, until the horrifying reveal. This goes all the way back to (and possibly originated with) Bram Stoker's Dracula. His "children" were indeed what he considered the vampires he created, so that wasn't technically misleading once we had all the clues.

I can understand if it was a mistake or if it was too short of in-panel time to show regeneration effects but if is "so Rich is not blatantly announcing that he has Regeneration, today" that's cheating.

It could also be the case that a creature with a very slow regeneration ability, say 2 hp a round, wouldn't be noticeable over the course of one strip if the creature had a massive amount of hit points and were badly damaged to start with. (Which you sort of allude to.) Healing from 200 hp damaged to 180 hp damaged might not look all that different. The one instance I recall of MitD showing damage via his umbrella, it looks very badly damaged by the pyramid's explosion (after all, Xykon also lost his pelvis) and the next strip lasts only a few rounds, so we don't have a chance to see any serious regeneration happening.

[HeroErix]

I would like to put forward the theory that MiTD is actually this cat.

[Peelee]

I would like to put forward the theory that MiTD is actually this cat.

I find your argument surprisingly persuasive. Plus, KITTY!

[Grey_Wolf_c]

I would like to put forward the theory that MiTD is actually this cat.

See:

Section 3d: Light-Hearted Ideas

• The most dangerous box ever

GW