Prediction Page, (bring your quatloos, gps, and internets, you'll need them.)

[Ruck]

I'm going to put another 100 gp on Peelee's side of this bet.

If Peelee does not want me ruining the odds on any possible return, I will make it a side bet that Belkar dies trying to save someone else.

If that lacks enough specificity, then:

60 gp for Roy
50 gp for Vaarsuvius
50 gp for Durkon
60 gp for Mr. Scruffy
40 gp for Generic Commoners

What kind of odds can I get on Hinjo?

[Peelee]

If Peelee does not want me ruining the odds on any possible return

Have at it!

[brian 333]

What kind of odds can I get on Hinjo?

For or against? I'd bet against him dying to save Hinjo, any amount, in favor of him accidentally saving Hinjo while trying to save Mr. Scruffy, then being embarrassed by the adulation he receives for being a hero.

[Ruck]

For or against? I'd bet against him dying to save Hinjo, any amount, in favor of him accidentally saving Hinjo while trying to save Mr. Scruffy, then being embarrassed by the adulation he receives for being a hero.

For, in my case. That line from the Don't Split the Party bonus strip has to come into play at some point.

Your theory is interesting, but I feel like there's not enough time in the story to fit in that beat and then still have him die another way.

[Lord Torath]

4) Tarquin will appear in this last book, but still will be defeated off panel by the women he wanted to marry (I don't remember her name)

Spelling note for a non-native English speaker: woman is singular, women is plural.

Personally, I like the idea that Amun-Zora gathers up the rest of Tarquin's unwilling fiances (Jenella and Mandy at the very least) and forms them into an elite squad that takes him down!

On the betting front: 1 x-ray of the hardware in my leg that the fact that the Quinton only agreed to help Team Evil while "behind the doors in this canyon" (panel 4) will be significant.

[Metastachydium]

Personally, I like the idea that Amun-Zora gathers up the rest of Tarquin's unwilling fiances (Jenella and Mandy at the very least) and forms them into an elite squad that takes him down!

Hm. What would you say the odds of zombie Penelope shambling into the scene are, for the beautiful symmetry of it (unwilling brides attack of their own accord; the willing wife against her will!)?

On the betting front: 1 x-ray of the hardware in my leg that the fact that the Quinton only agreed to help Team Evil while "behind the doors in this canyon" (panel 4) will be significant.

I'll take that. Two pretty petals say not much will come of the quinton's mislabelling Xykon as a humanoid either.

[ZhonLord]

I bet 10 gold that of the possible obscure talents that will save the day, it's going to be O-Chul's beekeeping deterring Oona's buzzing swarmers.

[brian 333]

I bet 10 gold that of the possible obscure talents that will save the day, it's going to be O-Chul's beekeeping deterring Oona's buzzing swarmers.

This is too good to not be true. I bet my grandfather's military boot heel that went to three oceans during WW2 that the beekeeping thing plays out as described.

[KorvinStarmast]

My prediction:

Elan will die saving Haley's life ( that gives him a happy ending since he is saving the life of his loved one and that makes him a Hero with a capital H) ... Roy and Haley get married and have a half a dozen children...

[Ruck]

My prediction:

Elan will die saving Haley's life ( that gives him a happy ending since he is saving the life of his loved one and that makes him a Hero with a capital H) ... Roy and Haley get married and have a half a dozen children...

BRB, I need to borrow Hilgya's cart so I can load up against this one.

[Kish]

My prediction:

Elan will die saving Haley's life ( that gives him a happy ending since he is saving the life of his loved one and that makes him a Hero with a capital H) ... Roy and Haley get married and have a half a dozen children...

A hundred gold says Elan will get a classically happy ending, not a classically tragic ending such as you've just described. Or to put it another way: that he will end the comic alive and also with no indications that he's going to die particularly soon after it ends.

Fifty gold says there will never be any indication that Roy has thought of Haley in a romantic context, ever, in his life.

[Mic_128]

I bet 10 gold that of the possible obscure talents that will save the day, it's going to be O-Chul's beekeeping deterring Oona's buzzing swarmers.

I was betting (hoping!) that would be the one to save th day, but hadn't thought of how. That's a brilliant idea how it could be useful!

[Metastachydium]

Fifty gold says there will never be any indication that Roy has thought of Haley in a romantic context, ever, in his life.

I could refer to a couple of early strips here, but I feel like it would be unfair. Plus, romantic doesn't really enter those scenes in any way anyhow.

Roy and Haley get married and have a half a dozen children...

Haley does have pretty much that exact hair colour, but there's no way Celia's that unlucky in these affairs.

[Kish]

I could refer to a couple of early strips here, but I feel like it would be unfair. Plus, romantic doesn't really enter those scenes in any way anyhow.

Yes, as you yourself point out, the early-strip scenes you're referring to would not be "unfair" so much as, "Ah, a strip that...doesn't have what I said. There are 1281 of those and counting!"

[Lord Torath]

Yes, as you yourself point out, the early-strip scenes you're referring to would not be "unfair" so much as, "Ah, a strip that...doesn't have what I said. There are 1281 of those and counting!"

*strip* being the operative word, of course.

On the other hand, he seems rather disturbed by the conversation coming through the wall.

[Metastachydium]

Yes, as you yourself point out, the early-strip scenes you're referring to would not be "unfair" so much as, "Ah, a strip that...doesn't have what I said. There are 1281 of those and counting!"

Well, my concessions were being generous insofar as they tacitly let the assumpton that making half a dozen children (which is, at the end of the day, a biological process) and marrying (ultimately a legal formality) had romantic thoughts as a neccessary prerequisite and therefore your comment was neither missing Korvin's point, nor a non sequitur in relation to it slide, but yes.

[Kish]

Korvin is free to take my bet whether one "generously" considers it to have anything to do with what he said or not, if he wants.

(Or anyone else here, of course. Gold pieces only, though!)

[KorvinStarmast]

A hundred gold says Elan will get a classically happy ending, not a classically tragic ending such as you've just described. Or to put it another way: that he will end the comic alive and also with no indications that he's going to die particularly soon after it ends.

Fifty gold says there will never be any indication that Roy has thought of Haley in a romantic context, ever, in his life.

Korvin is free to take my bet whether one "generously" considers it to have anything to do with what he said or not, if he wants.

(Or anyone else here, of course. Gold pieces only, though!)

Did you notice how the Harry Potter movies ended, in terms of who married whom?
Did you notice how the Hunger Games movies ended, in terms of who was a couple with kids years later?
What I threw out there is in the same family of curveballs thrown. And Rich throws curveballs. It is one of his talents as a writer.

Rich does some trope subversion. This one - expectations subversion is in the same family - I threw against the wall and a few noodles stuck.

Also, your answer is boring.

The only problem with this SWAG, for my taste, is that it plays slightly into Tarquin's hands in terms of Elan being the Big Damned Hero (Firefly reference to those not among the cognoscenti) of The Order. So that's working against it.

As to who marries and has kids: I was about Roy's age, single, never gonna get married, at about age 28.
Three years later I was married, we had one child and ended up having another.

Life's a funny thing that way.

See also "When Harry Met Sally" as regards long time friends who years later got married ...

[Kish]

Issues with your particular examples (Katniss ended up with the character who she was obviously going to end up with from the first book and I am baffled that anyone ever thought "Team Gale" had a chance of getting off the ground, never mind treating it as some kind of default as you do here; Harry ended up with the first character who expressed romantic interest in him way back in Book 2, and the primary argument I saw predicting him ending up with Hermione was the only thing that could conceivably point to Roy getting involved with Haley, a bluntly expressed "leading ladies go to main heroes") aside, pony up, Korvin. You have many words but there is no gold behind them.

[KorvinStarmast]

pony up, Korvin. You have many words but there is no gold behind them.

Lighten up, Francis. (Movie ref you can google if you need to)
I have wasted enough time on this today.

[Metastachydium]

Korvin is free to take my bet whether one "generously" considers it to have anything to do with what he said or not, if he wants.

(Or anyone else here, of course. Gold pieces only, though!)

Oh, my. You really do sound salty over a non-serious comment that was basically in agreement with your (given the bet attached, presumed to be) light-hearted rebuttal of some notion just because it didn't conform to some standard you never held yourself against in the first place.

[Ruck]

Did you notice how the Harry Potter movies ended, in terms of who married whom?
Did you notice how the Hunger Games movies ended, in terms of who was a couple with kids years later?
What I threw out there is in the same family of curveballs thrown. And Rich throws curveballs. It is one of his talents as a writer.

"throws curveballs" is so broad as to not really be an effective lens. On top of that, not all curveballs are equally good storytelling. (If the final dungeon collapsed on the Order right now and killed them all, that would certainly be a curveball, but it wouldn't make for a good story.)

I could also say, "Rich engages in foreshadowing." He has already foreshadowed, rather explicitly, that Elan will have a happy ending. Or I could say, "Rich is a good storyteller because he knows how to make his storytelling developments satisfying," which killing a main character so his girlfriend can get with another main character-- who already has a girlfriend, mind you-- I cannot see would be.

Rich does some trope subversion. This one - expectations subversion is in the same family - I threw against the wall and a few noodles stuck.

This wouldn't be a trope subversion; this would be a character subversion in order to fit the trope of Leading Man and Leading Woman Get Together.

Also, your answer is boring.

And we're back to the Wouldn't It Be Cool If rule.

[Kish]

And we're back to the Wouldn't It Be Cool If rule.

I'm more concerned with the subjectivity of "boring," for my part.

(Korvin's proposals amount to: let's have something happen that doesn't make any sense for the sake of unpredictability--and that's plenty boring, along with its other failings. "Shaggy dog story" is not a compliment.)

[Ruck]

I'm more concerned with the subjectivity of "boring," for my part.

(Korvin's proposals amount to: let's have something happen that doesn't make any sense for the sake of unpredictability--and that's plenty boring, along with its other failings. "Shaggy dog story" is not a compliment.)

No disagreement here; I'll just say that "cool" is also subjective, so in my view I was connecting the dots that "boring" = "not cool" and "cool" = "not boring" (not as entire definitions of either term, but at least in part).

[brian 333]

12 quatloos that nobody bets anything on those arguments whether they ever get to be funny or not.

[Metastachydium]

I could also say, "Rich engages in foreshadowing." He has already foreshadowed, rather explicitly, that Elan will have a happy ending.

Well, yes, but we shouldn't forget that he's also a malicious agent of the Snarl, as evidenced by his familiarity with Fruit Pie, so that happy ending might look a lot unlike what you seem to be picturing. (I'm willing to bet more Melian staters on this, but you'll probably have to steal a few from whoever steals the previous ones from the museum yourself. Just a fair warning.)

[Precure]

Xykon will escape to his secret astral fortress, only to be trapped there forever. He'll slowly turn mad from boredom, blood oath will be unfullilled.

[KorvinStarmast]

No disagreement here; I'll just say that "cool" is also subjective, so in my view I was connecting the dots that "boring" = "not cool" and "cool" = "not boring" (not as entire definitions of either term, but at least in part).

You seem to be making some assumptions on what a happy ending looks like.
The Oracle is notoriously cryptic in his responses, so there's a substantial amount of room for what "happy ending" looks like to expand into. One of those options is certainly "Haley and Elan live happily ever after and love each other until death does them part" but that's not the only option.

The hidebound reactions to a bit of thinking outside of the box should not have surprised me.

Xykon will escape to his secret astral fortress, only to be trapped there forever. He'll slowly turn mad from boredom, blood oath will be unfullilled.

Xykon has agency. He can go to his fortress, he can leave it. Should boredom confront him, he has the means wander off somewhere - there are so many planes and places to choose from - in order to mitigate any boredom so encountered.

What could trap him there such that he could not leave?

[brian 333]

What could trap him there such that he could not leave?

A shortage of spell slots and a lack of access to a teleportation device.

[Ruck]

You seem to be making some assumptions on what a happy ending looks like.

If thinking "the character explicitly promised a happy ending dies, and then two other characters do something entirely out of character that has not been suggested in any way at all at any point in the story" wouldn't qualify as "a happy ending for Elan" nor makes sense as an ending to this story counts as "making assumptions" and not "basic deductive reasoning from the evidence," then, well, you got me.

The Oracle is notoriously cryptic in his responses, so there's a substantial amount of room for what "happy ending" looks like to expand into. One of those options is certainly "Haley and Elan live happily ever after and love each other until death does them part" but that's not the only option.

This isn't a case for why the specific ending you proposed makes sense. It's just a way of saying "Who knows? Anything could happen!" Sure, I suppose in theory, literally anything could happen. I'll still bet against, say, the entire story turning out to be the dream of an alien child, or the British police showing up at the end to arrest Roy for indiscriminate murder of goblins, because those endings don't make any sense for this story, either.

(Also, I'll add that "Yes-- for you, at least" is about as straightforward as the Oracle has ever been.)

The hidebound reactions to a bit of thinking outside of the box should not have surprised me.

You ever heard the saying "Don't be so open-minded that your brain falls out?"

Your insinuation that the responses to your proposal are just close-minded reactions from people afraid of new ideas aside, I will reiterate, the ending you proposed simply does not make sense for the story and the characters we have seen after all this time. You have not made a case that it makes sense; you've only accused people of being close-minded for pointing out that it doesn't make sense.