Next-strip predictions

[Fyraltari]

She brought inside her hideout Lien and O'Chul; if such door does not exist, this means:
- arrive at some door (I mean, the ones that are checked by Team Evil);
- bypass the "swap-over";
- arrive to a place with a wall of magical conjured stone;
and everything making sure no one could spot, hear or smell her + Sunny + the paladins.

It's my Occam razor, but Serini's mind works in mysterious ways...

Team Evil camps pretty far away from the actual doors, at the village avove the rift. It wouldn't be hard to access them unnoticed especially if you have invisibility. No one noticed the MitD painting extra Xs.

[brian 333]

Or they noticed and didn't say anything, like Oona did when she spotted the paladins.

I still think Serini is a friend of the bugbear village. What the bugbears know about her is unknown at this point, but they are admirers of strength, and Serini is undoubtedly a very strong character. It would be smart on her part to have invited them to the pole years ago to serve as scouts and guards, and to have someone around to give aid if it is ever needed.

The only thing I have to back this up is her friendship with monsters and a hunch that Serini is too sociable to live next door and never visit her neighbors.

If this is the case, Oona isn't there to oppose Xykon, because that might endanger her village, but she is there to monitor Team Evil.

[RatElemental]

Or they noticed and didn't say anything, like Oona did when she spotted the paladins.

I still think Serini is a friend of the bugbear village. What the bugbears know about her is unknown at this point, but they are admirers of strength, and Serini is undoubtedly a very strong character. It would be smart on her part to have invited them to the pole years ago to serve as scouts and guards, and to have someone around to give aid if it is ever needed.

The only thing I have to back this up is her friendship with monsters and a hunch that Serini is too sociable to live next door and never visit her neighbors.

If this is the case, Oona isn't there to oppose Xykon, because that might endanger her village, but she is there to monitor Team Evil.

The bugbears also scratch out their existence hunting, tanning and assumedly eating her monster buddies. And she's very much a crotchety old knight in sour armor after her run in with Xykon, I could totally believe she became a hermit who only talks to aberrations.

[Squire Doodad]

If this is the case, Oona isn't there to oppose Xykon, because that might endanger her village, but she is there to monitor Team Evil.

She already is, she mentions that she's there to keep an eye on them and make sure they don't completely drain the hollow of monsters.
That said, Oona being friends with Serini opens the possibilities of her either subtly making sure they keep on sticking to the main defenses, or deciding to swap sides and partner with Serini in the final battle.

[Jervis]

The very fact that his story is unresolved is a defeat of Tarquin.

1) He insists on a narrative that focuses on him. Deny him that.

2) He insists on a sense of order. The unfinished story arc leaves his narrative in disarray. Leave his story a tangled, unfinished mess.

3) He wants his son to take his place when his story is over. Keep Elan as far from that situation as possible to prevent him being forced into that role.

The ideal ending that destroys Tarquin and punishes him for his crimes has already happened. He's no longer important to the story, he never gets to 'finish' his story, and his legacy is that he will be forgotten.

As it sits now, the very best thing, (in my opinion,) is to never mention Tarquin in story again. If the Order must touch base with the Western Continent again, it should be with Ian, who can discuss the progress of dismantling the empires and the rise of independent but mutually beneficial city-states in which the values of enslavement and violence as entertainment are being eliminated in favor of freedom of expression and individuality. Whatever role Tarquin may have had in resisting this could be subsumed by referring to 'the old guard stubbornly fighting the inevitable changes.'

TLDR: Tarquin is better than dead: everything he fought for for his whole lifetime is over. Anything that gets him more on-panel time now reduces the severity of his punishment.

I think he'll come back kinda when the snarl or whatever planet the snarl has morphed into escapes (and lets be honest, it will), and his fate is to die in part of that montage. Or, a even worse fate for him, to die off screen to set up how bad the end of the world scenario is. If he does come back it's gonna be a die to save Elan thing or death equals redemption plot turn. I can see him dying and his last words being something like

"Elan, i thought i was gonna be a final big bad, but in the end, i was just a vehicle for your character development. I'm just another parent who has to die for the plot to move forward."

"Tell me Elan, was I- was i at least a good-"

"Cure Serious Wounds"

"WHAT!!!"

"I'm not giving you the satisfaction of dying on screen, you're gonna be a foot note in the epilogue."

"COME BACK HERE AND STAB ME THIS INSTANT YOUNG MAN!"

[KorvinStarmast]

For strip 1260, I predict a scene change to Team Evil and Redcloak trying to get Xykon to grasp what he has discovered.

But what I want is a flash to IFCC, or V being pulled away just as the planning gets serious...

[Ron Miel]

Serini will start to tell her version of Order Of The Scribble, how they found the rifts and why they broke up.

This will rethink everything you thought you knew about the rifts.

Renewing this speculation. Serini's story begins next strip. Cue the crayons.

[Peelee]

Renewing this speculation. Serini's story begins next strip. Cue the crayons.

If Serini tells her own story, I don't see any reason for it to be in crayon.

[Ionathus]

For strip 1260, I predict a scene change to Team Evil and Redcloak trying to get Xykon to grasp what he has discovered.

But what I want is a flash to IFCC, or V being pulled away just as the planning gets serious...

Most transitions in this latest book have had a very clear visual clue: we got a cutaway to Lien when the paladins were revealed in chains, for instance, and a cutaway to Durkon when he went to talk with Redcloak, and Serini "POP!"ing away for the ambush when we cut away from the paladins. Not that it'll be impossible for a sudden transition to happen, but it doesn't feel like this scene is quite done yet.

Renewing this speculation. Serini's story begins next strip. Cue the crayons.

If Serini tells her own story, I don't see any reason for it to be in crayon.

I agree with the idea we'll hear Serini's story next, and also agree it probably won't be crayons. Especially because Rich has said the crayon pages are much harder to produce these days after his thumb injury. My guess is we still have one crayon section in the works, but it's not going to be until later.