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12[[WMG:[[center:[-[[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStick Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickTheOrderOfTheStick The Order of the Stick]] – [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickHumanPartyMembers Human Party Members]] – [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickNonHumanPartyMembers Non-Human Party Members]] | [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickTeamEvil Team Evil]] | [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickTheLinearGuild The Linear Guild]] | [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickTheOrderOfTheScribble The Order of the Scribble]] | [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickAzureCity Azure City]] | [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickGreyskyCity Greysky City]] | [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickTheEmpireOfBlood The Empire of Blood]] | [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickNorthernLands Northern Lands]] | [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickAnimalCompanions Animal Companions]] | [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickDivineBeings Divine Beings]] | '''Others'''-]]]]]
13----
14[[foldercontrol]]
15
16!Greenhilt Family
17
18For Roy Greenhilt, see [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickHumanPartyMembers The Order of the Stick]].
19
20[[folder:Eugene Greenhilt]]
21!!Eugene Greenhilt
22[[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_10_at_94836_pm.png]]
23
24->''"I'll have you know that I was named Best Illusionist of the Year three times by the Wizzie Awards by the time I was your age."''
25
26->'''Race:''' Human ghost\
27'''Gender:''' Male\
28'''Class:''' Wizard (illusionist)\
29'''Alignment:''' LawfulGood (at time of death)
30
31Roy's rather selfish father who swore a BloodOath of Vengeance after Xykon killed and zombified his master. He's a condescending asshole to damn near everyone. [[PosthumousCharacter Dead before the beginning of the story]], he pays ghostly visits to his son.
32----
33* AbusiveParents: Of the emotional/neglectful variety, mainly, but there's a few hints of others. Most notably, his careless neglect resulted in the death of his infant son, Eric, due to his tinkering with spells, but he refused to try to make up for it aside from resurrection spells or even admit that he'd done anything wrong. Beyond that, he's completely dismissive of Roy, viewing him as either a in-between for Julia to get the Blood Oath of Vengeance or just a means for him to get into heaven. And while he's said to have spoiled [[ParentalFavoritism Julia]], he foolishly believes that her being a wizard automatically makes her more qualified to defeat Xykon, ignoring that she has her own desires and wants in life, and is not suited to the trials and tribulations of an adventurer (getting easily captured by Nale standing out), especially given the personal complexities surrounding the Gates and the people guarding them. He also promised to never see any family members including Julia if Roy fulfills the oath without hesitation not because he agrees that he is bad for them but because he doesn't care.
34* AccidentalMurder: He performed a magical experiment near his young sons, despite Roy's warning that it was dangerous, causing Eric's death in a MagicMisfire at three years old.
35* AgeGapRomance: After dying and no longer being bound by marital oaths, he pursues a relationship with a seemingly young woman named Violet, whom he occasionally brings along when dispensing wisdom from beyond the grave to Roy because it was more convenient (much to Roy's chagrin). However, due to how the afterlife works, this seeming young woman is actually old enough to have adult [[Really700YearsOld great-great-grandchildren]] while he's not.
36* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: A more serious example than what one would believe. His wife Sara figures that this is Eugene's FatalFlaw. Whenever Eugene sets out a goal, he pursues it with intense determination. Whether it was slaying Xykon, creating new spells or courting Sara, he pursued it devotedly. Sara herself points out that back when his goal was settling down with her, [[HappilyMarried their relationship was a very happy one.]] Unfortunately, he eventually tires of his current goal and flip-flops to another one, failing to follow through on any of his "projects". Of course this leads to large consequences where he is in a position he cannot leave, such as unable to leave his family and the Blood Oath he gave to destroy Xykon preventing him entering the [[invoked]] LawfulGood heaven. Now that he's dead, the heavenly forces are more or less forcing him to finish what he started, making him bitter and unhappy (well, more than usual).
37* BaldOfAuthority: As seen in the prequels, Eugene led his own party of adventurers to pursue Xykon when he was a much younger man, much like his son.
38* BarredFromTheAfterlife: For failing to fulfill his BloodOath -- not even trying, really. Roy at least ''tried'', which is why he gets to go in and Eugene is stuck until Xykon dies.
39* BeyondRedemption: A somewhat [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] and mundane example in that, while Eugene is not a villain and only a NominalHero at best, he is a tremendous {{Jerkass}} who is only out for his own motivations. Roy, however, believed at one point that if he could say the [[ArmorPiercingQuestion perfect one-liner]], it would finally cause his father to have a JerkassRealization. Unfortunately, Eugene's initial refusal to help Roy scry the mortal plane and overall behavior in Heaven firmly proves to Roy that his father does not wish to change, and never will change no matter how much Roy wants it.
40* BloodOath: "I, Eugene Greenhilt, swear on the blood that flows from my wounds this day that I shall not rest, in this life or any other, until I or my heirs have enacted horrible vengeance on those that have slighted me, named here as Xykon the sorcerer." Comes back to bite him in the butt, hard, as he kept pushing off that quest to kill Xykon until he eventually died. Now he's pushing his son Roy towards it -- insulting him all the while for being (in Eugene's mind) a DumbMuscle fighter instead of a wizard like he was.
41* ButHeSoundsHandsome: [[spoiler:While impersonating Julia, when Roy admits that Eugene instilled at least one good value into him about the Gods, "Julia" tries to get Roy to admit that Eugene wasn't "all bad, all the time".]]
42* CareerVersusFamily: A rare male example, where he admits to Roy he regrets having had a family and not spending as much time on being a wizard, since he might have killed Xykon by then. [[spoiler:Contrasting V who very much misses their mate, having done what Eugene wishes they could do.]]
43* CharacterAlignment: [[invoked]] His nominal alignment is LawfulGood, but this is subject to some discussion in-universe. He is currently waiting for a member of his family to fulfill the BloodOath he made years ago to slay Xykon; until that time, he is stuck in a limbo-like plane of existence where the deceased go to see which afterlife they are suited for. Based on Roy's judgement, it is implied that he is not really Lawful Good, or rather that he has failed to live up to the responsibilities of his alignment, and had not truly been Lawful Good for several years. The Prequel comic seems to have indicated that he would have been allowed in at the time of his death, but his impatience and inability to do anything has since resulted in an alignment shift (or rather, the fact that he stopped trying to fulfill his oath, even in his last days). In fact, later comics show that he's perfectly willing to let the world be destroyed since Xykon would be destroyed with it and that would technically fulfill his oath. Given that [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0490.html Roy nearly got kicked over from the Lawful Good afterlife to the Neutral Good one for far less egregious character flaws]], if the Blood Oath is ever fulfilled and Eugene ''is'' allowed to move on to his final judgement, he's gonna be lucky to even be able to end up in one of the ''Neutral'' afterlives, let alone the Lawful Good one!
44* CharacterizationMarchesOn: His first appearance presents him as a much more affectionate and helpful man than he later proved to be - both dispensing a useful prophecy and complaining that Roy never calls.
45* DeathIsCheap: He died and was resurrected six times before finally succumbing to old age.
46* {{Determinator}}: His wife says that whatever he decides to do he pursues with intense determination. The issue is that what he decides to do [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny changes easily]].
47* DirtyOldMan: Being dead hasn't stopped him from dating. By his own admission, he's been spying on Haley under the shower.
48* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: He behaves like a concerned father who's invested in his son's life in his first appearance. It's also implied he's up in heaven with his late wife by how he asks Roy if it's too much to ask for him to ''speak with dead'' with both of them. It's {{Retcon}}ned to him just being impatient and thrusting Roy to kill Xykon, while also being trapped outside the afterlife separated from his wife, who he's estranged from anyway.
49* EveryoneHasStandards: When he asks Roy why he doesn't just [[spoiler:let the gods destroy the world in order to thwart the Snarl, thereby letting him move on to the afterlife, Roy reminds him that if that happens, the dwarves will be condemned to an eternity of slavery ruled over by Hel. Eugene concedes that his son has a point, and is pretty critical of the way the dwarven afterlife works. Then ComicallyMissingThePoint rears its head and he suggests the dwarves should all commit suicide via dragon or a civil war.]]
50* FatalFlaw: He had several throughout his life which ultimately contribute to his current, miserable (more-so than usual) status in the story.
51** Apathy, which is detailed more in AttentionDeficitOohShiny, but to sum it up, though Eugene was capable of being very invested in whatever he set his mind to, he very rarely ever ''finished'' those ambitions, tiring of his goals, and never took, or even seemed to think that he should have taken, long-lasting responsibility for his actions. Even his current desire for revenge on Xykon reads less like still being furious that the lich killed his master and is now menacing the world, and more that he just wants him gone so he can finally move on to the afterlife and reap rewards that he has not earned.
52** Pride is his other, even more major one. Eugene believes ''heavily'' that being a wizard, and having the intelligence to match, makes one better than another, that magic is all-powerful, and can solve anything... an attitude which the story has deconstructed time and time again-having magic does not make you invincible, and a bit of inspiration and ''quick''-thinking can derail the plans and spells of the best of them. This resulted in Eugene essentially disowning his family for Master Fyron, who shared Eugene's thirst for knowledge ''and'' disdain for the less-intelligent, which got Fyron killed by Xykon, thus starting the Blood Oath of Vengeance in the first place. In the end, said pride contributed to Eugene's NeverMyFault tendencies; he refused and still refuses to realize that the subsequent mistakes he has made were his fault.
53** Selfishness is the final, key flaw. Detailed in ItsAllAboutMe more, but Eugene's selfish nature just spelled problems throughout his life, particularly in his interactions with his family. He never considered finishing the Blood Oath to avenge his master or protect the world; he just wanted it out of the way and dumped it on his children. Once dead, it manifests as the key trait behind his current misery; he gives no considerations for others, including (and indeed loathing the idea) his family, innocent people, and the celestial bureaucrats. Now the only Oath Spirit left, Eugene is completely alone and bored with no-one to talk to; yet he is unable to see ''why'' this is the case, solely because of his selfishness, apathy, and pride.
54* FreudianExcuseDenial: He himself has never self-reflected enough to admit to even a FreudianExcuse within the story, but this is quite evident whenever his family reflects on his actions. Eugene has all the trappings for a reason behind his behavior: friction with his father for [[JockDadNerdSon genuinely being different from him]], his master Fyron being killed by the evil lich Xykon with him helpless to prevent it, his experiments causing the death of his youngest son, and getting along with his daughter more for sharing his interests whilst verbally abusing his eldest son for not. Yet throughout, it is made clear that these were ''symptoms'' of his behavior, not the cause. Eugene was antagonistic to his father just for being a fighter and refused to ever see common ground with him, effectively disowning him for Fyron just to sate his thirst for knowledge. When Fyron died, Eugene did indeed swear revenge... but lost interest in doing so, failing to realize the ramifications of the Blood Oath he took. The fact that Xykon is not a mere personal threat, but a threat to the ''world'' doesn't matter to Eugene; he just wants to get into heaven. He had in fact, gotten ''bored'' with having a family and hated that his obligations were torn between them and his returning interest in magic; he endangered his boys with his experiments and believes that simply that being a wizard makes Julia preferable over Roy for the Blood Oath, completely disregarding the personal complexities demanded of the quest involving the gates as well as the fact that putting the Blood Oath on his children in the first place showcases no protective desire towards them, just how useful they can be to him.
55* FreudianSlip: [[spoiler:While impersonating Julia, he almost outs himself by saying that the oath was his burden, quickly adding that it's his family's burden. He also says "up here" in reference to being in the afterlife whereas Julia, being in Cliffport, would be "''down'' here".]]
56* GoneHorriblyRight: He taught his son to not give the gods any special deference just because they're all-powerful. [[spoiler:While impersonating Julia trying to give Roy advice, he recognizes that it's led to Roy's lack of respect towards ''him''.]]
57-->'''Julia:''' Seems like he would've been better served long-term by teaching you to never question the authority of those who created you.\
58'''Roy:''' Oh, it totally backfired on him ''personally'', but it was still a good lesson.
59* GoodIsNotNice: When his soul is getting judged, it is stated that he never did anything seriously wrong in his life and qualifies for the LawfulGood[[invoked]] afterlife, but he ''was'' a {{jerkass}}. That being said, before his death, he more or less got tired of being a husband and father, and while both alive and dead denigrates Roy at every opportunity, and considers wizards superior to everyone else. [[DeconstructedTrope The "Good" part ultimately faded away after his death]], as his desire for revenge, which is honestly more a case of selfish apathy, grew to the point where he [[spoiler:didn't care about a terrible genocide, and even tried to persuade his son ''not'' to stop the High Priest of Hel as the resulting destruction of the world would end his oath.]]
60* GretzkyHasTheBall: He thinks there are home runs in soccer, and has no clue if winning a game by 3-2 is good. His wife Sara deconstructs this by pointing out that as smart as he is, he could easily learn the rules of any physical sport in a short time, but won't because he feels it's beneath him.
61* GrumpyOldMan: He looks just as old as the day he died in the afterlife, even though the afterlife allows people to look like idealized self-images (see the entry for his wife Sara Greenhilt). This because he was always bitter and ornery by nature, though the Blood Oath he swore didn't help.
62-->'''Roy:''' Then why did Dad still look like a wrinkled old man?\
63'''Sara:''' Because your father has ALWAYS been a wrinkled old man in his heart, he was just hiding in a younger man's body most of his life.
64* HandshakeRefusal: As a ghost, he's lost the ability to hold anything corporeal, so he doesn't see the point to using handshakes anymore.
65* HappilyMarried: [[PlayingWithATrope Played straight]] originally with Eugene and Sara. As explained above in AttentionDeficitOohShiny, when he courts Sara, he devotes himself 100% to being a good boyfriend and later husband. This is why she doesn't want Roy to speak ill of him. However, Eugene's nature means he eventually becomes 100% devoted to something else though he has a family that he won't leave. "Till death do you part," indeed.
66* HateSink: In general, he's an [[{{Jerkass}} asshole]] to almost everyone he meets, with special regards to fighters and sorcerers, looking down on their (perceived) lack of intelligence. He barely put any effort into fulfilling his Blood Oath, and is completely dismissive of his family aside from Julia, and even then admits that he regrets having started a family at all, when it was his experiments that killed his youngest son. His disdain for his family is in fact so great, he readily agrees to Roy's proposition that he never interacts with them again. Going beyond his callousness towards his relatives, he doesn't care how horrific any action might be as long as it kills Xykon, [[spoiler:ranging from genocide or total oblivion of existence]], not displaying an ounce of sympathy towards anyone who might be affected by such actions, which ''includes'' his daughter. Not only that, but despite his achievements in life, his powers have really only helped the Order twice [[note]]Stopping the Sapphire Guard from executing the Order during their trial, and enabling Roy to keep track of the mortal world while he was dead[[/note]], and even those occasions were tainted by his attitude, which made it very clear that he only helped because of the benefit to ''him'', not his son and the world.
67* HelplessWindowDeath: As an apprentice, he was present when his master Fyron was attacked by Xykon. Xykon [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0078.html trapped]] Eugene within a [[ContainmentField force bubble]] to keep him from interfering in Fyron's murder.
68* HoistByHisOwnPetard: His NayTheist viewpoint didn't exactly teach Roy the BlindObedience he may have wanted. [[spoiler:He's managed to self-reflect on this much, pointing it out to Roy while he was impersonating Julia.]]
69* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Eugene's tendencies of judging people based on their classes rather than their alignments and personalities shows off best with his views on Roy and Julia. He believes the former to be unsuited to fulfilling the Blood Oath of Vengeance due to being a fighter, yet despite many failures, tragedies, and tribulations, Roy keeps working to fulfill the Oath, solely due to Xykon's evil and the threat he poses to the world. Julia, whom Eugene thinks would do better simply by being a wizard, is easily captured by the Linear Guild, a GoldfishPoopGang considered a mere irritant by the far more dangerous Vector Legion, and later on, makes a morally ambiguous suggestion to Roy that, if ever suggested to or done in front of [[spoiler:Serini Toormuck, the guardian of the suggestion's subject]], would likely see her thrown out of Kraagor's Gate or just cause the overall situation to deteriorate were she actually there, proving that she is ''not'' up-to-snuff to handle the complexities of the quest.
70* InsufferableGenius: Has a natural disdain for fighters, which is the reason why he never got along with his father and son, and is overall very prideful with his knowledge as a Wizard. Likewise, his master was also quite arrogant towards sorcerers, which got him killed by Xykon.
71* IResembleThatRemark: In ''[[Recap/TheOrderOfTheStickOnTheOriginOfPCs On the Origin of PCs]]'', Roy suggests that a common flaw among arcane spellcasters is a supreme belief in their own abilities. Eugene's response is an arrogant tirade about how magic is all-powerful and there is no problem that it cannot solve.
72* {{Irony}}:
73** In ''Start of Darkness'', he advises Right-Eye to drop his quest to destroy Xykon by pointing out that, when he's dead, he won't look back and say "Darn, I didn't spend enough time on petty revenge." After he dies, Eugene will indeed end up regretting the fact that he didn't spend enough time on "petty" revenge.
74** Also, his constant badgering of Roy for becoming a fighter and obsessing over the Greenhilt Sword, [[spoiler:which leads his son to become a MagicKnight dedicated to the sword.]]
75** In "[[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0485.html Hey! You! Get Off of My Cloud!]]", Eugene jokes about Roy [[Anime/DragonballZ training with a martial arts master who lives in the afterlife]]. Roy ''does''.
76* ItsAllAboutMe: Nothing is too horrific in his eyes if it means destroying Xykon so he can get into the afterlife. This includes, but is not limited to, regretting having ever started a family, [[spoiler:forever tainting one's soul via making a deal with all three Lower Planes at once in a bid for power, and destroying the entire planet along with everyone on it, so long as Xykon is swept away in the destruction as well. The only thing he considers being too high a price to pay is having the entire dwarven population being damned for eternity if the world is destroyed, since it means they all die dishonorably, and even then, only the fate of their souls matter to him, not their lives. He suggests that every living dwarf, numbering at least in a few million, should consider running out and get themselves killed in some random battle instead]].
77* {{Jerkass}}: Disdain for fighters, emotionally abusive to his children, dismissive of his entire family, incredibly selfish, and overall just a cranky and bitter person. His father even mentions that Eugene was rude and disrespectful to him simply for being a fighter. What makes Eugene's brand of nastiness stand out in particular is that he doesn't even have a FreudianExcuse for his behavior, as even as a child he only respected the intelligent and disdained everyone else. Even his wife, the one person who has any insight into his full character, admits that he was ornery and bitter by nature.
78* JerkassHasAPoint:
79** In ''Start of Darkness'' he refuses to cooperate with Right-Eye to take down Xykon because he refuses to put his family at risk of being targeted by Xykon, or leaving his wife and son alone, and suggests that Right-Eye drop it too. While he may be a terrible parent to Roy, part of him does care about his family, at least when he was alive.
80--->'''Eugene:''' Well, if you want my advice, you should both forget about working for some evil mastermind and move forward with your lives. When you're dead, you're never going to look back on your life and say, [[TemptingFate "Darn, I didn't spend enough time on petty revenge."]]
81** Roy notes that one of the only good things Eugene taught him was in questioning the authority of the gods and that they do not deserve any special treatment.
82** In his talk with Roy right after the Godsmoot about the Dwarven code of honor, he gives off the idea that the Dwarves could try and pick a fight with a dragon or start a civil war, just so they can die an "honorable" death. This callous suggestion outrages Roy, but we later see that Dwarves ''do'' see that as a valid way to help someone die honorably and avoid Hel.
83** He's also correct about [[LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards wizards being more powerful than fighters]], especially since the world of ''[=OoTS=]'' is based on ''D&D'' [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition 3.5th edition]].
84* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:
85** One scene in ''Start of Darkness'' portrays him as such, [[spoiler:where he declines a perfect opportunity to defeat Xykon out of concern for leaving his wife widowed and son fatherless. [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk Assuming he wasn't using that as an excuse]], given how disdainful he is towards Roy and Sara immediately thereafter.]]
86** [[spoiler:While impersonating Julia, Eugene first says that he wasn't thinking when he dumped his Blood Oath onto his children, and later lets slip that he feels useless and finds it hard being stuck unable to contribute to something that was his burden in the first place. [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk However, it does take a damper when taking into account that he's saying this to Roy while tricking him into thinking he's talking with his sister, and that soon after Roy leaves he shows that he's still primarily concerned with how his own future is on the line.]] Whether it's more manipulation of Roy on Eugene's part or genuine guilt remains to be seen.]]
87* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Any time he seems to show a less odious trait is quickly tainted by his motives for acting that way.
88** He seems to care for Julia, his daughter, whom he spoiled... but that only seems to be because she inherited his interest in magic. While this can be excused with the idea that he finally has something in common with a member of his family, upon being dead, he's revealed to want to push the Blood Oath of Vengeance onto her, ignoring how she's very inexperienced and thus stands zero chance against Xykon or any of his allies, and wants to lead her own life and finds the Blood Oath to be incredibly short-sighted herself. Finally, he's willing to [[spoiler:let the Gods destroy the world, glossing over how this will kill Julia, just so he can get his oath fulfilled]], and considering Roy's hesitance to inform Julia of the deal where Eugene doesn't have to interact with his family anymore, is not likely to go looking for her in the afterlife if that indeed came to pass.
89** His grudge against Xykon. Wanting [[EvilSorcerer Xykon]] destroyed is, in of itself, a noble goal, and while Eugene's initial motivation to avenge his master is understandable... he also abandoned his oath once it bored him, and the only reason he even cares about Xykon being defeated is not because Xykon is threatening creation itself in his quest to gain the Snarl, but just so Eugene can enter the afterlife.
90** On a smaller note, his talk with Roy on the ''Mechane'' is something he tries to pass off as him not needing an excuse for a visit... but Roy doesn't buy it, and Eugene exclaims that he's just bored since no-one is willing to talk to him.
91* JockDadNerdSon: His father Horace was a Fighter, while Eugene was interested in magic and studying even as a child. Unusually for this trope, Eugene was the antagonistic one in the relationship, constantly calling his father stupid and looking down on him for his preference for action over words, while all Horace wanted was to bond with his son, and never tried to force him into a physical Class.
92* LackOfEmpathy: Doesn't see what the problem is with the Gods ''destroying the world and killing everyone on it'', and in general doesn't care about how other people are affected by the consequences of his actions.
93-->'''Eugene:''' ...But I'm sure you've got some bee in your bonnet about letting people die or something.\
94'''Roy:''' Um, yes. Yes I do.\
95'''Eugene:''' See. I knew it. I don't know why that even matters, honestly.
96* LaserGuidedKarma: Eugene's final fate in the afterlife is currently unknown; whether he would be allowed to pass based on his prior judgement, or if all of his actions as an Oathspirit have impacted that... but considering his current position, karma has thoroughly punished him for his actions in his life and afterlife. His bitter and selfish nature have resulted in him becoming totally isolated in the spiritual realm with no proper interaction and no recognition, things that he took for granted or disdained as a living person. Even his talents in magic aren't able to do much good in a heavenly place where they're trumped by far more powerful forces than him, meaning his boasts of superiority now fall totally flat.
97* MasterOfIllusion: Illusion is his favored school. He's good enough to fool an entire group of paladins that he's really a being of law and good [[spoiler:and later tricks Roy into thinking that he's his sister Julia]].
98* NayTheist: He viewed the gods as little more than "fancy alien wizards who figured out how to crowd-source their magic", and passed this view on to his kids. Roy considers it to be one of the few good lessons Eugene ever taught him.
99* NeverMyFault:
100** His FatalFlaw is this, even going beyond his temperamental attention span. Eugene very rarely if at all takes the responsibilities for the consequences of his choices. This, tempered with his lack of devotion into his choices, keeps screwing him over, and his inability to recognize this causes problems for him and others around him. Most notably, he refuses to admit that the death of his second son Eric may be have been his fault because of his careless experimenting and that he made Roy fulfill his oath rather then take one last shot at it himself; this is why he's stuck at the gates while Roy is permitted to enter. Roy more or less addresses his father not dealing with the consequences during their conversation on the ''Mechane'' (though he's referring to Eugene's frustration at being the only Oath spirit waiting and no-one wanting to talk to him after the thing with the Celestial Deva.)
101--->'''Roy:''' I'm sorry to hear that, but it sounds a lot like a white fluffy cloud-bed that you made yourself and you'd just rather not lie in it.\
102'''Eugene:''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint I'm dead. I shouldn't have to mess with beds at all anymore]].
103** [[spoiler:While impersonating Julia, he almost slips up by referring to the oath as ''his'' burden and it being hard being stuck unable to contribute in any meaningful way to the oath's fulfillment, and generally feeling useless; whether Eugene had an unguarded moment where he's finally taking responsibility for what happened or if he was simply playing the part as Julia remains to be seen.]]
104* NiceJobBreakingItHero: His contributions to the fight against Xykon are not always motivated by the right concerns, and as a result he has a bit of a tendency to miss details that don't directly affect him but which are crucial to the mission. Most glaringly his decision to [[spoiler:conceal Vaarsuvius' Soul Splice from Roy]] leads to Roy being unaware of the consequences of said Splice, with near-disastrous effects. At the same time, the ultimate consequences of that decision may prove to have been better to happen than not - not that Eugene gets any credit for that, since his investment in the fight against Xykon extends just far enough to get the Oath off his back and allow him into the proper afterlife.
105* NominalHero: He's only ''technically'' on the side of good; very, ''very'' technically. This is why he's only barely inside {{heaven}} at all; he doesn't really care about doing good, he just happens to have done good during his life.
106* TheOathbreaker: Part of the reason why he's not allowed to pass on is as punishment for ignoring the Blood Oath he made as soon as it stopped being interesting for him.
107* OmnicidalManiac: [[PlayedForLaughs Played for]] BlackComedy; he comments about allowing the [[spoiler:gods to destroy the world to stop the Snarl]], as it would destroy Xykon and let him to pass on. He only withdraws the opinion when Roy points out that this would [[spoiler:condemn all the Dwarves to Hel]], and even after this is noted, his solution is to have them all go out and get themselves killed first.
108* OurGhostsAreDifferent: There are a number of rules involving ghost intervention: summoning, family heirlooms, blood oaths, etc.
109* PosthumousCharacter: His introduction is as Roy's SpiritAdvisor.
110* PrematurelyBald: In flashbacks to his youth, though his beard may be brown he is already bald.
111* ProphecyTwist: "When the goat turns red strikes true." Eugene, ever heard of [[WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma the comma]]?
112* RevengeBeforeReason: [[spoiler:He would be perfectly happy to see the world destroyed if it meant killing Xykon.]] What keeps this firmly PlayedForLaughs is the fact that he can't actually act on this, due to being, you know, ''dead''. His general attitude towards Xykon as a whole notably, reads less like someone who wants revenge due to the harm that the lich has caused, and more of a loose end that was never tied up and is now causing him problems he can't easily get rid of.
113* SarcasmBlind: For all the sarcasms he dishes out, he's not very good at noticing it when directed his way.
114-->'''Roy:''' I'm deeply sorry that our existence is not as efficient a solution to your long-term problems as you might have hoped for.\
115'''Eugene:''' It's OK, I'm used to it.
116* SpiritAdvisor: He appears to Roy in ghost form in the beginning of the story to give advice or portent. He's not tremendously helpful, though, because of his general jerkassery.
117* StaticCharacter: Most notable by Book 6; Eugene ultimately began life as an egotistical jerk who valued intellect above anything else, and as a dead person, stayed an egotistical jerk who values intellect above everything else. While ''The Order of the Stick'' features many characters, both protagonists and antagonists alike, growing and changing as people or showcasing HiddenDepths, Eugene stands out by never changing his views or ways, and thus by Book 6, where everyone in the Order has gained a great deal of CharacterDevelopment, he truly stands out as a dysfunctional asshole who is likely to remain that way forever. [[spoiler:However, while impersonating Julia he has a few moments where he seems to let his guard down while talking with Roy and admits that he feels useless and wishes he could contribute more to fulfilling the oath, loathing being stuck in the afterlife unable to do more when it was ''his'' burden in the first place. Whether it is genuine CharacterDevelopment on his part or him committing to playing the part as Julia remains to be seen.]]
118* TookALevelInJerkass: He's far nicer in ''Start of Darkness'' than after he died.
119* UnfinishedBusiness: That's why he's stuck on FluffyCloudHeaven and can't join the true afterlife. His Blood Oath is unfulfilled.
120* VengeanceDenied: Gave out a BloodOath of Vengeance against Xykon for killing his master. He died before the beginning of the story, but not before telling Roy to do it on his behalf. Unlike most cases however, this one could have actually been avoided. Eugene was perfectly capable of fulfilling the Oath in his youth, but grew bored of it and decided to focus on something else. He didn't even bother trying to return to it in his old age, instead dumping it on Roy and Julia. Had he put in more effort to see the Oath through or at least given it one last proper shot, he might not be stuck as an Oath Spirit.
121* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler:During his stint masquerading as Julia, he reveals that he'd have no ethical qualms about using Sunny (the juvenile beholder) as a decoy to lure Team Evil into an ambush. It's possible that in his mind [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman their beholder heritage precludes them from being subject to this trope]]]].
122[[/folder]]
123
124[[folder:Julia Greenhilt]]
125!!Julia Greenhilt
126[[quoteright:81:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/julia1_4776.png]]
127
128->''"I can feel my Coolness Factor dropping just by being in the same room as these dorks."''
129
130->'''Race:''' Human\
131'''Gender:''' Female\
132'''Class:''' Wizard\
133'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral
134
135Roy's younger sister (and technically Eric's as well). A mage student at Warthog's School of Wizardry and Sorcery and youngest child of the Greenhilt family.
136----
137* AcademicAlphaBitch: Her stereotypical behavior can often have people forget that she is still a Wizard and at least as smart as her brother and father. She is still in Wizarding school and [[spoiler:it's enough for Eugene to believably claim that she has been making an advanced ''sending'' spell that defies the 25-character limit rule and lowers the spell level, though "Julia" claims that she has not figured out the details as "her" successful ''sending'' to Roy allegedly relies on the prior connection thanks to the Blood Oath from Eugene.]]
138* ActionSurvivor: She isn't high enough level to be of much use in combat, but she still manages to help out the Order during their fight with the Linear Guild by running messages through the battlefield and destroying some of Pompey's minions.
139* AlphaBitch: Implied to be one by her attitude and dismissal of other students. Check out her page quote.
140* AttentionWhore: She is upset that she can't get Durkon's attention when Durkon is casting a spell to save the Order in Cliffport.
141* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: While she and Roy argue, they do love each other as brother and sister, something that Nale [[EvilCannotComprehendGood finds absolutely alien.]]
142* BareMidriffsAreFeminine: She wears a midriff-baring outfit, [[NoDressCode even to school]], that matches her BrattyTeenageDaughter personality.
143* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Julia inherited her rude and egotistical personality from her father.
144* TheBusCameBack: Julia's last appearance was in [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0364.html #364]] where she and Roy hugged goodbye in Cliffport, and wasn't seen again (save Elan's fantasy in #887) till #1191 via an advanced ''sending'' spell. [[spoiler:Except it was not Julia, but Eugene concealing himself with an illusion.]]
145* CharacterAlignment: TrueNeutral ("[[DoubleEntendre I go both ways.]]") [[invoked]]. This is properly displayed in [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1274.html #1274]], where she has no qualms suggesting to Roy to use Sunny as bait to trap Oona, to Roy's immediate disapproval, though she justifies it with TheNeedsOfTheMany due to the current stakes. [[spoiler:Although that turned out to be Eugene, casting even more doubt on his own supposed "Lawful Good" alignment...]]
146* DeadpanSnarker: Durkon is the only major character so far that she's neglected to snark at. [[spoiler:When she contacts Roy in the final arc, she briefly lets him believe she's dead before revealing her improved ''sending''.]]
147* EveryoneHasStandards: Probably one of the few people in the comic who ''doesn't'' really have a reason to hate or dislike Eugene Greenhilt, yet even she found her father's decision to make the Blood Oath incredibly short-sighted and isn't really up to fulfilling it.
148* IHaveBoobsYouMustObey: Her favorite way of getting attention is flaunting herself, either to students or even to the ''teachers.'' It has no effect on Durkon, though, and he actually respectfully chastises her for it and talks to her about it later. The fact that she listens to him and even says "yes sir" in regards to this implies that her disrespectful attitude comes from being able to flaunt herself to get her way before the steadfast Durkon set her straight.
149* LikeFatherLikeSon: Daughter in this case, but still. Similar to her father, Julia is a wizard, and has inherited his general ego and attitude from him. That being said, Julia is at least ''capable'' of listening to the proper authority figures, such as Durkon, and truly does care about her family, two traits that Eugene quite frankly does not have. Eugene's influence still shows, though. [[spoiler:This makes it easy for Eugene to impersonate her while talking to Roy via ''sending'' spell.]]
150-->'''Julia:''' I could still use your corpse. It'd be a half-step down from your usual conversational wit, but I doubt my teachers would notice.\
151'''Roy:''' Oh, there you are, Dad. I didn't notice you hiding in my sister's '''''entire personality''''' like that.
152* NotSoSimilar: While she may rib on Roy for being a fighter and has a rather large ego, not unlike her father, she actually does care about her family, with her jibes against her brother being far more playful than malicious, can actually listen to other people while Eugene blows them off, and most importantly, does not want the world to be destroyed, while Eugene actively desires it just to see his Oath be fulfilled. In addition, her assessment of her powers is quite realistic and grounded, contrast to Eugene's near-obsession with magic, and she can actually think through her actions, recognizing that her father wasn't really thinking when he made the Blood Oath.
153* NotTheIntendedUse: Eugene swore a Blood Oath that condemns his children to finish his unfulfilled vengeance. Julia figures out that his having children, plural, means [[spoiler:they can use it as a connection for communications magic]]. Subverted, as [[spoiler:it's not Julia. It's Eugene impersonating Julia and pretending to have come up with the ''sending'' project so he can continue to advise Roy on matters concerning Xykon and the Blood Oath.]]
154* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: She might be a sarcastic brat and ribs on her brother plenty concerning his track record with Xykon... but upon learning that if the Order fails to defeat him at Kraagor's Gate, it will likely mean the end of the world, she stops joking and is willing to offer advice, if possible. [[spoiler:Her acting out of character at this moment is because it's not Julia contacting Roy. It's Eugene disguising himself with an illusion to continue giving Roy advice, as Roy no longer wishes to be on speaking terms with Eugene.]]
155* PleasePutSomeClothesOn: After dealing with Leeky, Durkon sternly tells that he will have a talk to her about her way of address and attitude. Indeed, when the situation is over, he gives her said talking-to about respecting herself and her body. Surprisingly enough, Julia actually listens to him on both accounts and even respectfully responding with "yes sir." In contrast, Roy thinks her state of dress is Nale's fault.
156* SpoiledBrat: The only thing Roy tells [[spoiler:Eric]] about her is that she was spoiled rotten. Given Eugene's ParentalFavoritism towards her due to her being a wizard, it's not hard to draw the conclusion.
157* {{Stripperiffic}}: Roy thinks her midriff-baring outfit is a case of GoGoEnslavement, calling it a "faux-punk whore" style. It isn't. She deliberately dresses this way, something that Durkon admonishes her for. When she reappears in Strip #1191, she's taken his words to heart, wearing a much more modest outfit, albeit still exposing her shoulders. [[spoiler:It turns out to be Eugene, not her, so whether the real Julia's style has changed is unknown.]]
158[[/folder]]
159
160[[folder:Sara Greenhilt]]
161!!Sara Greenhilt
162[[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_10_at_94858_pm.png]]
163
164->''"This is the afterlife, Roy, honey. We all appear as our ideal version of ourselves, and I guess I never stopped thinking of myself as the 19-year-old looker who had never even heard the name 'Eugene Greenhilt'."''
165
166->'''Race:''' Human ghost\
167'''Gender:''' Female\
168'''Class:''' Unknown (probably Commoner)\
169'''Alignment:''' LawfulGood
170
171Eugene's wife, mother of Roy, Julia and Eric. Dead years before the start of the story, she meets with Roy during his visit in the afterlife.
172----
173* AbsurdlyElderlyMother: She died of old age a few years before the start of the story but has a daughter who's still currently a teenager.
174* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParent: Her comment about grandchildren reminds Roy why he never tells her about anyone he dates.
175* AmbiguouslyBrown: In contrast to Eugene and Roy, who have sub-Saharan African features, Sara has straight hair and slightly lighter skin tone. She has a belly dancer look when Eugene first meets her, suggesting a Middle Eastern (or the setting equivalent) background.
176* EthicalSlut: [[invoked]] Sara is having affairs with at least one other adventurer's ghost after her own death, when she finds out that the LawfulGood paradise is a FreeLoveFuture. [[spoiler:Roy finds this really embarrassing and awkward when he dies and hangs out with her while waiting for resurrection. Especially since her idealized self is [[OlderThanTheyLook younger than him]] and quite attractive.]]
177* GirlishPigtails: It's part of the "19-year-old looker" thing.
178* GoodParents: She is likely the cause for Roy's turn as a hero, as she reared her children more-or-less by herself.
179* HappilyMarried: Initially, she and Eugene have a very happy relationship together. It's why she doesn't let Roy bad-mouth him when they meet in [[invoked]] LawfulGood Heaven.
180* IWantGrandkids: Encourages Roy to get Celia pregnant so she can hear the pitter-patter of little feet... or the woosh-woosh of little wings, as the case may be.
181* LatinLover: Roy meets with Enriqué, his mom's current lover, during his visit.
182* OlderThanTheyLook: Because of the "idealized heavenly self" thing, she's an old woman with a teenager's body.
183* PosthumousCharacter: Like her husband, she's dead by the start of the story.
184* StacysMom: She's acknowledged as being quite attractive InUniverse, and Roy is put off by it quite a bit. The strip in which she's introduced is even called "[[FunWithAcronyms DMILF]]".
185* SupernaturallyYoungParent: [[invoked]] In the LawfulGood afterlife, people have an idealized version of their bodies. As a result, despite dying of old age and being wizened in the flashbacks that include her, her afterlife body is that of her 19-year-old self.
186* UnderstandingBoyfriend: ''Wife'', obviously, but anyway, she has a better understanding of Eugene than most people do. She explains to Roy about Eugene's [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny intense, but often shifting focus]] and how it factored into their marriage, while also keeping Roy from bad-mouthing him. She points out she was married to him for 30 years and hoped to gain some insight on him, all with a rather snarky and confident look on her face.
187[[/folder]]
188
189[[folder:Eric Greenhilt]]
190!!Eric Greenhilt
191[[quoteright:67:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eric_1353.png]]
192
193->''"hi roy! wanna play blocks with me?"''
194
195->'''Race:''' Human ghost\
196'''Gender:''' Male\
197'''Class:''' None[[note]]Roy imagines that he would've become a Bard while recalling Eric's favorite toy being a toy piano their uncle gave him. While it is impossible for Lawful characters to be Bards in ''D&D'' 3.5., Eric's LawfulGood affinity is the result of him dying as a toddler because ChildrenAreInnocent. [[/note]]\
198'''Alignment:''' LawfulGood
199
200Roy's baby brother, killed by Eugene's negligence. Technically Julia's older brother as well and thus the middle child of the Greenhilt family.
201----
202* AllLowercaseLetters: Due to being a toddler when he died.
203* CheerfulChild: [[invoked]] He's consistently seen happy. Roy thinks it never occurred to him to answer the resurrection calls because of his happiness and contentedness while in the LawfulGood heaven.
204* ChekhovsGunman: He can be spotted in an early strip's flashback: [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0113.html "Memories, Like the Edges of My Sword"]]
205* ChildrenAreInnocent: [[invoked]] He went straight to the LawfulGood afterlife because he was a happy normal child unburdened by any sort of problem.
206* PosthumousCharacter: He died many years before the start of the story.
207[[/folder]]
208
209[[folder:Horace Greenhilt]]
210!!Horace Greenhilt
211[[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_10_at_95015_pm.png]]
212
213->''"I was long in my grave before either of you were more than a gleam in my boy Eugene's eye."''
214
215->'''Race:''' Human ghost\
216'''Gender:''' Male\
217'''Class:''' Fighter\
218'''Alignment:''' LawfulGood
219
220Eugene's father, dead before his grandchildren were born. Roy's childhood hero from the stories told by his mother. He also was the one who gave the family their rep as the Greenhilts (while ''his'' father had the sword first, Horace was the one who made a family reputation with it.)
221----
222* CoolOldGuy: Roy has a much better relationship with him than his father because they relate better to one another, presumably since they're both fighters. Horace also takes time from his mountain treks to visit his daughter-in-law and his toddler grandson every now and then. It also helps that, unlike his son, Horace isn't an arrogant, aloof jerk.
223* CoolSword: The Greenhilt Sword, his family's namesake greatsword, which he still carries as a spiritual copy in the afterlife.
224* TheDragonslayer: Amongst Horace's most notable feats are the slaying of the red and green dragons of Reddragonsville. According to him, the green dragon of Reddragonsville was a much more difficult kill.
225* GiveMeASword: [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0497.html "ROY! Heads up!"]] You can't take it with you, you know?
226* GoodParents: PlayedWith. His relationship with Eugene is ''exceedingly'' frosty, such that they share a mutual DeathGlare upon briefly interacting in the afterlife and Eugene outright says he has nothing to say to him, and indicates that he's glad he doesn't visit, despite being capable of doing so by exiting the lawful good afterlife at any point and Eugene later on becoming annoyed over having nobody to talk to. However, this is all indicated through flashbacks to be squarely due to Eugene's own refusal to accept Horace as his father, feeling he's much better than him due to being a powerful magic-casting wizard, and his studious interests and prideful sense of superiority making him look down on Horace's genuine attempts to bond with him, such as fishing together, which he did with his own father and very much enjoyed. Horace's interactions with Sara and Eric indicate that he's a much better father figure in their lives than Eugene himself, and he regularly checks up on them in the afterlife to make sure they're doing ok, whereas Eugene willingly accepts never seeing his family in the afterlife without a second thought. Furthermore, whilst Horace was willing to be convinced to enroll Eugene in Magic University so he could follow the career he was passionate in, Eugene never extended the same courtesy to Horace's own career as a fighter, demeaning Roy when he chose to follow in his Grandfather's footsteps and being contemptuous that he'd ever succeed in making a successful career of it. Horace bitterly notes that even when his son was young he was disrespectful towards him and openly called him stupid multiple times, making it clear that Horace was not the father that Eugene wanted despite his efforts to be a good parent to him regardless.
227* FollowInMyFootsteps: Listening to stories about his heroic adventurer grandfather inspired Roy to become one himself. A snippet of an argument with Eugene is Roy holding the Greenhilt family sword and saying "Don't you know we come from a line of fighters?" Horace is especially proud Roy chose to be a single-class fighter.
228* MasterSwordsman: Like his grandson Roy, Horace was a single-classed fighter focused on greatsword combat with his namesake weapon. He passes on some of his knowledge to Roy, such as the Spellsplinter Maneuver, which no fighter alive knew anymore until Roy learned it. Furthermore, the Greenhilt Sword was a standard greatsword until Roy had it imbued with starmetal, meaning that Horace likely achieved his most heroic feats, such as the slaying of the red and green dragons of Reddragonsville, with a ''non-magical'' weapon.
229* OldMaster: Teaches Roy a sword feat in the afterlife -- a {{Counterspell}} feat for Fighters (timed strikes to disrupt spells during the moment the caster is casting). Turns out the feat is extinct by the time of the story and no Fighter alive knows it (until Roy).
230* PosthumousCharacter: He was dead before Roy was born.
231[[/folder]]
232
233[[folder:Celia]]
234!!Celia
235[[quoteright:133:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/celia_8.PNG]]
236
237->''"I just don't understand all the violence. I'll admit that I got caught up in the thrill of it all a few times, but I just can't stomach the idea of willfully deciding to end someone's life."''
238
239->'''Race:''' Sylph\
240'''Gender:''' Female\
241'''Class:''' Unknown (possibly Expert)\
242'''Alignment:''' LawfulGood
243%% Her spellcasting comes from her race, not her class. Sylphs can cast spells as a sorcerer whose level equals their hit dice.
244
245Celia is a [[WingedHumanoid sylph]] and [[BunnyEarsLawyer lawyer]] from the Elemental Plane of Air. She's first met in Dorukan's Dungeon, where she fulfills the role of Air Sigil Guardian. Later, she becomes the attorney for the Order of the Stick as well as Roy's girlfriend.
246----
247* ActualPacifist: Much to Haley and Belkar's frustration, she refuses to resort to violence in any and all circumstances. Though she has been known to let loose the occasional lightning bolt in anger. She also doesn't mind using violence against non-living things like golems, though her utility in that is hampered by the fact that golems are immune to most spells and some, like flesh golems, get buffs from lightning.
248* BareMidriffsAreFeminine: She's a [[FairySexy beautiful fey]] whose original Sigil Guardian costume leaves her belly exposed. Though she wasn't fond of working for Dorukan, she does admit one of the perks of the job was "a rather lax dress code."
249* BatmanGambit: Celia tricks Hank and other members of the Thieves Guild by playing on their greed. They know she could be tricking them, but the prospect of getting gold and magical items is too good to pass up in tough economic times.
250* BunnyEarsLawyer: She's quite naïve to the ways of the Material world, but she is a competent lawyer, even if just in training.
251* CharacterizationMarchesOn: She blasts Nale with a lightning bolt after he pranks her in one of her earlier appearances, contrary to her ActualPacifist beliefs in later strips, though this is explained as her not being able to always live up to her own ideals.
252* DamselInDistress: {{Lampshaded}} by Roy.
253-->'''Roy:''' Ah, there's my damsel. In distress. As is quickly becoming standard.
254* DamselOutOfDistress: When cornered and grabbed in Blind Pete's house, she rescues not only herself but her party members by [[spoiler:renegotiating Haley's contract with the Rogue's Guild.]]
255* DeliberateValuesDissonance: She and Roy [[DiscussedTrope talk about the root cause of her conflicts with mortals like Haley.]] Outsiders can't be revived nor do they have an afterlife, so they have different ideas about death than those that can come BackFromTheDead every day of the week given sufficient resources.
256* DitzyGenius: She's a highly competent lawyer (even though she's still in law school!), but lacks basic knowledge of the material plane and is very naïve.
257-->'''Roy:''' ''[freshly resurrected]'' Oh, right. I have to actually move my legs when I'm on this plane.\
258'''Celia:''' Don't worry, honey. I make that mistake ALL the time.
259* EatingTheEyeCandy: During TheStinger for Book 5, Celia mentions she's going to reread the parts of the book that feature Roy in a loincloth.
260* FairySexy: Roy thinks so, given that [[spoiler:the first thing he did after being revived is have sex with her.]]
261* FishOutOfWater: She's not familiar with how the Prime Material Plane or its inhabitants operate.
262* {{Flight}}: Normal for a sylph, but she's a surprisingly strong flyer too, able to carry Roy along with her.
263* GoodCounterpart: For Sabine in the Linear Guild; both are winged outsiders with supernatural powers, and both are in a relationship with the leaders of their respective parties.
264* GoodWingsEvilWings: Translucent dragonfly wings, both good and fey.
265* GranolaGirl: She's a vegetarian on top of being a pacifist.
266* GuestStarPartyMember: Serves as the caster for the Haley/Belkar/[[spoiler:Roy's Corpse]] group in the "Don't Split the Party" arc.
267* HelloAttorney: From Roy's point of view; incidentally, they became a couple after she showed up for his trial in Azure City.
268* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: She's incredibly naïve and liable to trust people who really don't deserve to be trusted.
269* {{Hypocrite}}: She claims to be an ActualPacifist but is known to fly off the handle to blast people or cheer on Haley when she kills the Thieves' Guild members. As Rich noted in the commentary, Celia is not a living incarnation of Law and Good, meaning she can fail to live up to her ideals.
270* InterspeciesRomance: Her boyfriend is a human.
271* IThoughtEveryoneCouldDoThat: She finds it very strange that humans cannot [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0529.html shoot lightning from their fingers]] or [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0531.html sense magic fields with their teeth]]. Part of what serves as her conflict between her and Haley how little she actually knows about humans' capabilities. Though she does have a bit of a good reason.
272* MeaningfulName: Suitably for an air elemental, her name means "heavenly" in Latin.
273* MysticalWhiteHair: That hair is a sign of her connection to the Elemental Plane of Air and her sorcerous powers over air and lightning.
274* PointyEars: Sylphs share this trait with elves.
275* PutOnABus: Put on Another Plane of Existence; that ''is'' where she lives, after all.
276* SexyBacklessOutfit: Her party dress in Azure City is backless. It has the advantage of letting her fairy wings free.
277* ShockAndAwe: Although she doesn't like to use it offensively, lightning is a natural power of hers.
278* ThouShaltNotKill: She's against killing, which puts her at odds with the adventurers. Although she has no problem cheering Haley on as she kills people.
279* TokenGoodTeammate: A pacifist adventuring with Haley (who is pragmatic about killing) and Belkar (who relishes it). At the same time, this is deconstructed a bit; while Celia's moral values on paper are certainly not bad, it results in a great deal of friction with the two; moreso Haley (who has the emotional intelligence to actually deal with Celia compared to Belkar), since Celia's naivety ends up causing their fair share of problems and personal conflict.
280%% Do not remove Celia from this trope; Token Good Teammate isn't about whether or not most of the party is good; it's about one member having HIGHER STANDARDS than the rest. Which fits perfectly with Celia's pacifism against adventurer values.
281%%%%% Too Dumb To Live involves someone actually dying. Several other tropes here cover her lack of knowledge and naivety.
282* VirtuousVegetarianism: Celia is a[[invoked]] LawfulGood ActualPacifist and vegetarian. Because she's an Outsider, she has a different perspective on death to most of the cast (instead of an afterlife, her soul will merge with the Elemental Plane of Air), which manifests as a greater-than-average respect for life, both her own and those of creatures around her.
283* WingedHumanoid: Sylphs have two pairs of dragonfly-like wings and an elfin body. Although Celia is medium-sized, unlike what's described in the ''D&D'' rules (no doubt to ease the romance with Roy).
284[[/folder]]
285
286!Starshine Family
287
288For Haley Starshine, see [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickHumanPartyMembers The Order of the Stick]].
289
290[[folder:Ian Starshine]]
291!!Ian Starshine
292[[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_10_at_91313_pm.png]]
293
294->''"'Not dying' is one of my best skills!"''
295
296->'''Race:''' Human\
297'''Gender:''' Male\
298'''Class:''' Rogue [[note]]Him being a 2[[superscript:nd]] edition Thief was a joke from the start of the series, essentially EarlyInstallmentWeirdness.[[/note]]\
299'''Alignment:''' ChaoticNeutral
300%% Alignment confirmed by Word of the Giant.
301
302Haley's father and former high-ranking member of Greysky City's Thieves' Guild before being supplanted by Bozzok. As a result, he has spent three years imprisoned.
303----
304* BelievingTheirOwnLies: Not quite as bad as Miko Miyazaki, but bad enough to think his daughter single-handedly manipulated the whole party into rescuing him while being on an unrelated mission, and Roy into believing he's TheLeader. He also accuses Elan of being a [[TheMole mole]] working for [[spoiler:his father General Tarquin]]. However, he does improve a little on this, coming to realise that Haley really ''is'' on her own mission and that Elan's a good guy (or at least, not out to destroy his family. Probably).
305* ChekhovsGunman: He's seen in a few flashbacks before appearing in the storyline proper, though even at the time there was no indication [[spoiler:that [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0744.html the old, white-haired gladiator]] could be him]]. When [[spoiler:Haley reunites with him]], it's already clear that he is indeed her father with Tarquin's revelation that [[spoiler:the Empire of Blood was called Tyrinaria before]] and the fact that [[spoiler:Ian was red-haired]].
306* CynicismCatalyst: Inverted. His wife told him to "be better than this city" as she lay dying, so he's trying to "be better" than a profit-minded thief that steals from everyone. His first idea was to overthrow an EvilOverlord.
307* DatingWhatDaddyHates: While he's fully capable of telling the difference between Nale and Elan, he still refuses to believe that Haley and Elan's relationship is anything more than one of Tarquin's ploys. Elan does manage to make him approve of him conditionally by telling him a secret plan to overthrow his father.
308* DiseaseBleach: His once-red hair is now white thanks to the poor conditions of his incarceration cell, and he looks much gruffer than when he was first detained.
309-->'''Ian:''' They used to call me "Red", but three years of malnutrition will do a number on your hair color.
310* DistressedDude: Freeing him was the big motivator for Haley to start adventuring.
311* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Haley claims in an early strip that he is a 2[[superscript:nd]] edition Thief instead of a Rogue. This has yet to be discussed again.
312* FrameUp: After the nation of Reptilia partially catches on to Tarquin's scheme, Tarquin has [[spoiler:their ambassador assassinated and pins the crime on Ian. This is done both to punish Ian for his disrespect towards Tarquin and to test Haley's worthiness of marrying his son by seeing how she handles the situation. However, this works to his advantage -- those who also want to bring down Tarquin figure that someone worth framing is an ally to have, so now Ian's would-be revolt has some decent allies.]]
313* {{Greed}}: He's Haley's father. Where do you think she got it from?
314-->'''Ian:''' Would it be crass to bill him extra for a single-use improvised weapon?\
315'''Geoff:''' Yes.\
316'''Ian:''' "Lovable miser" crass, or just--\
317'''Geoff:''' Just regular crass.
318* GroinAttack: Apparently suffered one that rendered him sterile ten years ago. Which makes Belkar's attempt at a FreudianThreat fall flat.
319* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: He trusts no-one but his own family and considers everyone else a potential enemy, raising Haley with this in mind. Although he's beginning to accept that somebody outside his family might yet have some good in them, given that the person in question is [[TokenEvilTeammate Belkar]], this trope is still very much in effect. Also, it turns out he was betrayed by [[spoiler:Geoff, i.e. ''family,'']] whom he trusted implicitly.
320* ImproperlyParanoid: His main flaw. He doesn't trust ''anyone'' outside of family and is always looking for an angle. While this is [[ProperlyParanoid advised]] in [[WretchedHive Greysky City]], everywhere else it gets in the way.
321* {{Irony}}: Lives his life by the paranoid philosophy of you can't trust anyone but family. [[spoiler: His brother-in-law Geoff has been betraying him.]]
322* ItSeemedLikeAGoodIdeaAtTheTime: [[spoiler:He ''let'' himself get caught in an attempt to stir up a rebellion against General Tarquin because he reasoned that jails would be bursting with Tarquin's enemies. However, those capable of following him were few in number and all died in the gladiator arena, and he's been stuck in jail ever since.]]
323* ItsWhatIDo: The reason Ian stays behind to help Amun-Zora with LaResistance is that being anti-authoritarian is what he's comfortable being and taking down rulers is just something he does.
324* ItTastesLikeFeet: Ian and Geoff cultivate some nutritious parasites over their bodies in case of hunger. "Mmmm! These ones taste like neck!"
325* JustLikeRobinHood: Rob from the rich and give 40% to the poor, after reasonable expenses.
326* LukeNounverber: Another Starshine.
327* MadeASlave: Gladiator, because he was caught thieving.
328* TheOldConvict: Fills this role at the gladiator camp; his reference to being nicknamed "Red" is a shout-out to a well-known example of this trope in ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption''.
329* ParentsAsPeople: While he clearly adores Haley, it's made clear that his ImproperlyParanoid nature (and teaching it to Haley) has contributed greatly to her emotional issues. That said, he wises up enough to let Haley make her own choices and trusts her judgement. Lampshaded in the commentary in ''Blood Runs In The Family''.
330--> It would be easy, after seeing Haley struggle with her upbringing in the previous books, to label Ian a terrible father — easy, but wrong. Maybe he didn’t know what he was doing all of the time, maybe he did mess her up in a lot of ways, but everything he ever did came from a place of love. He taught her to be secretive and paranoid because he truly believed that would keep her safe, and having seen Greysky society, it’s actually hard to argue the point. That’s why, at the end of the day, Haley doesn’t blame him. Because at a certain point in one’s adult life, one has to realize that their parents were just blundering through and doing the best they could with the imperfect tools their own parents gave them.
331* ThePigPen: Not by his choice, but three years in the Bloodstone Correctional Facility is hard on your hygiene. Belkar and Roy make a few comments about his stench.
332* ProperlyParanoid: Living in [[WretchedHive Greysky City]], it's no wonder he taught Haley to never trust anyone but family. His patronizing attitude towards Elan for being [[spoiler:General Tarquin's son]] is also understandable given how much more favored he is compared to Nale.
333* SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers: He believes the [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids other trope]], but he himself is proof of this. Choosing to remain in prison because you think your little girl is being hoodwinked by a calculating, nefarious, deeply undercover mole linked to an EvilOverlord [[spoiler:(Elan?! The ChaoticGood {{Cloudcuckoolander}}!? You're serious, right?)]] can be nothing but this. There are some cases in which he's improved -- as his wife had begged him -- but he doesn't on this one... initially. He warms up to him after seeing [[spoiler: the plan Elan gave him to deal with Tarquin.]]
334* SoProudOfYou: See [[BelievingTheirOwnLies Believing His Own Lies]]. Later, however, he encourages her to make her dead mother, and then him, proud, with obvious confidence that she will do it, on her actual quest.
335* StealthHiBye: Pulls this on Tarquin between two panels, even calling it the "Batman Exit".
336* UnknownRival: He sees Tarquin as a vile and dangerous villain that his late wife would be proud to see him depose. Tarquin sees him as one more expendable gladiator and, in fact, doesn't even know who he is.
337* WantedPoster: Thanks to Tarquin, he gets one when [[spoiler:framed for the murder of Ambassador Gourntonk]].
338[[/folder]]
339
340[[folder:Geoff]]
341!!Geoff
342[[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_10_at_91507_pm.png]]
343
344->''"'Nah, it's OK. We cultivate a variety of nutritious parasites on our bodies for just such an occasion."''
345
346->'''Race:''' Human\
347'''Gender:''' Male\
348'''Class:''' Rogue \
349'''Alignment:''' Unknown (probably ChaoticNeutral)
350
351Haley's uncle and Ian's brother-in-law. Geoff has been imprisoned in the Empire of Blood alongside Ian, and ultimately turns out to be the one responsible for ensuring that both of them remain in Tarquin's custody.
352----
353* AnArmAndALeg: He lost his right leg in the gladiator games, because he wasn't as good at dodging as Ian. It is now replaced by a wooden peg leg [[spoiler:that hides a wand of ''sending'']].
354* {{Foreshadowing}}: He reacts with fear to Belkar mentioning Bozzok, implying he has a bad history with him. [[spoiler:Near the end of the arc, it is revealed that Bozzok had been blackmailing Geoff into keeping Ian imprisoned in exchange for sparing the life of Jiminy.]]
355* TheMole: [[spoiler:He is Bozzok's mole against Ian Starshine in the Empire of Blood's jails, warning their captors of any escape attempt.]]
356* ThePigPen: Like Ian, having spent three years in the Empire's gaols, his hygiene is lacking. Though at least, the parasites he's now sporting help against starvation.
357[[/folder]]
358
359[[folder:Jiminy]]
360!!Jiminy
361[[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_10_at_91530_pm.png]]
362
363->'''Roy:''' You realize that if I could actually purchase a weapon, I would stab it with you now?\
364'''Jiminy:''' The irony is staggering, sir, yes.
365
366->'''Race:''' Human\
367'''Gender:''' Male\
368'''Class:''' Unknown (possibly Rogue)\
369'''Alignment:''' Unknown
370
371Geoff's son and Haley's cousin. Runs a polearm shop which seems to have problems keeping goods in stock.
372----
373* {{Expy}}: Jiminy is one for the cheese shop guy from ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''.
374* HiddenDepths: He's a lacklustre merchant in both of his appearances, but [[spoiler:given that he was previously a member of the Greysky City Thieves' Guild this likely means that he has a few levels in Rogue (given that the Fighter Outreach program was only instated at some point after Haley left the guild, and Jiminy left the guild at the same time as Ian disappeared).]]
375* SmallRoleBigImpact: Relatively speaking. [[spoiler:The reason Ian and Geoff had been stuck in the Empire of Blood's prison for so long was because Geoff exchanged both his and Ian's freedom in exchange for Jiminy's.]]
376[[/folder]]
377
378!Elan's Family
379
380For Elan, see [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickHumanPartyMembers The Order of the Stick]].
381
382For Nale, see [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickTheLinearGuild The Linear Guild]].
383
384For Tarquin, see [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickTheEmpireOfBlood The Empire of Blood]].
385
386[[folder:Elan's Mother]]
387!!Elan's Mother
388[[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_10_at_91924_pm.png]]
389
390->''"--then Teri, you double back and refill the peanut bowls on all the tables where the number of guests is a prime number. Any questions?"''
391
392->'''Race:''' Human\
393'''Gender:''' Female\
394'''Class:''' Unknown (probably Commoner)\
395'''Alignment:''' ChaoticGood
396
397Elan and Nale's ChaoticGood mother, a tavern waitress who reared him to be trustworthy and honest. She used to be married to Elan's father, before he had an entire tavern killed because someone pinched her rear.
398----
399* TheCameo: She has appeared in only two flashback panels in the entire comic, [[spoiler:aside from the LotusEaterMachine.]]
400* ComplexityAddiction: Her plans for managing a tavern are far more complicated than they need to be. She is the the current page image, and it is also the main thing she passes onto to Nale.
401* DatingCatwoman: She was married to an evil dictator despite being[[invoked]] ChaoticGood. Deconstructed, as this has led to the divorce.
402* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: A very clear example. She is a sweet woman with a good heart and raises Elan to be the same way.
403* LockedOutOfTheLoop: According to [[invoked]] [[WordOfGod Word of the Giant]], [[spoiler:she is still not aware that Nale is dead.]]
404* NoNameGiven: To the point that in [[spoiler:the LotusEaterMachine]], the priest refers to her as "Elan's mother".
405* PornStash: She keeps a collection of Julio Scoundrél pictures for her "alone time". Whether she knows he's her ex's nemesis isn't made clear.
406* SatelliteCharacter: In contrast to her family, she doesn't have much of a role in the story besides being related to Elan, Nale and Tarquin. Even her Complexity Addiction serves just as an explanation where Nale got it from, and even in Elan's fantasy she's only known as "Elan's mother".
407[[/folder]]
408
409!Vaarsuvius's Family
410
411For Vaarsuvius, see [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickNonHumanPartyMembers The Order of the Stick]].
412
413[[folder:Inkyrius]]
414!!Inkyrius
415[[quoteright:110:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/inkyrius_2032.png]]
416
417->''"I am sure it will be well-received when your Other Parent finishes mastering the way of magic and comes home. Now go wash up, both of you. Lunch is ready."''
418
419->'''Race:''' Elf\
420'''Gender:''' Unknown\
421'''Class:''' Unknown (probably Commoner or Expert)\
422'''Alignment:''' Unknown
423
424Vaarsuvius's mate, a baker. Ends up filing for divorce after the thing with the black dragon and V's neglectful behavior in general.
425----
426* AmbiguousGender: Inkyrius is not referred to as "Mother" or "Father" by their children and is instead referred to as "Parent".
427* ArmorPiercingQuestion: After V explains the terms and reasons behind their deal with the Fiends Inkyrius asks why don't they just give up the power now that the threat is gone. V's hesitation is enough for Inkyrius to know they value the arcane power more than their marriage even before V gives their answer.
428* {{Elfeminate}}: Like their spouse, we can assume that Inkyrius has the same androgynous appearance as V.
429* HappilyMarried: Inkyrius with Vaarsuvius at the start and how V knows a good bit about relationships. However, [[spoiler:V's somewhat neglectful treatment of them and their family caused some problems which came to light after the battle with the black dragon and V selling their soul to the fiends. V is forced to realize it was all their fault and concedes to the divorce to keep Inkyrius and their children safe. While it's unknown how Inkyrius currently feels about everything else, Vaarsuvius gazing longingly at a picture of Kyrie shows a great deal of regret and sadness on V's part.]]
430* InSeriesNickname: V calls them Kyrie.
431* MamaBear[=/=]PapaWolf: Is prepared to defend their children against [[spoiler:Soul-spliced V]] with a stick.
432* MuggleMageRomance: With V, as the Muggle to their Mage. [[spoiler:Eventually, Inkyrius divorces them after the whole soul-splicing incident.]]
433* NonActionGuy: A baker by trade.
434* OneHeadTaller: Is around the height of an average human, while Vaarsuvius is noticeably shorter.
435* PointyEars: As is common per elves.
436[[/folder]]
437
438[[folder:Vaarsuvius and Inkyrius's Children]]
439!!Vaarsuvius and Inkyrius's Children
440[[quoteright:196:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kids.PNG]]
441->'''Red-Haired Child:''' I made a picture of Other Parent from glitter and macaroni. I would very much like to present it.\
442'''Green-Haired Child:''' I helped!
443
444->'''Race:''' Elf\
445'''Gender:''' Unknown\
446'''Class:''' N/A\
447'''Alignment:''' Unknown
448
449Two young elves that were adopted by Vaarsuvius and Inkyrius.
450----
451* AmbiguousGender: Like their parents, both their genders remain unknown.
452* HappilyAdopted: They aren't the two elves' biological children, but they both clearly love their parents.
453* HarmfulToMinors: [[spoiler:Their legs get broken and they see their parent crucified on a tree by a monster out to murder the three of them. Then their other parent shows up and brutally kills their attacker, and massacres everyone the attacker was ever related to.]]
454* NoNameGiven: Over their short time in-comic, they're not given any name, Inkyrius just calling one of them "Loved One" once.
455* OlderThanTheyLook: They are both 26, but are still in kindergarten since elves mature very slowly.
456* PointyEars: As is common per elves.
457[[/folder]]
458
459!Elven lands
460
461For Little Whiskers, see [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickAnimalCompanions Animal Companions]]
462
463[[folder:Aarindarius]]
464!!Aarindarius
465
466[[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_14_at_124016_am.png]]
467
468->'''Race:''' Elf\
469'''Gender:''' Unknown\
470'''Class:''' Wizard (possibly also Archmage)\
471'''Alignment:''' Unknown
472
473Vaarsuvius's master in the magical arts, and also a friend to V's family. They sent Vaarsuvius off on their life of adventuring so V could get some life experience.
474----
475* TheArchmage: Aarindarius is implied to be this. The mage is quite powerful considering that they are shown (in a hypothetical scenario) to be strong enough to ''one-shot'' an elder black dragon without much effort, [[spoiler:the same mother black dragon that V needed the Soul Splice to defeat.]]
476* MentorArchetype: The one who taught Vaarsuvius arcane magic.
477[[/folder]]
478
479[[folder:Team Peregrine]]
480!!Team Peregrine
481
482[[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_11_at_114108_pm.png]]
483 [[caption-width-right:150:Left to right: the Lieutenant, the Commander, the Mage, the Cleric.]]
484
485->''"Team Peregrine to Elven Command: covert insertion successful. Will penetrate Cloistered territory on foot and rendezvous with designee 'Thanh' to coordinate further insertions. Liberation: commencing."''
486
487->'''Race:''' Elves\
488'''Gender:''' Varied\
489'''Class:''' Varied\
490'''Alignment:''' Unknown
491
492A team of elves sent to help liberate Azure City from the hobgoblins.
493----
494* AntiHero: They are sent to free Azure city from the Xykon's rule but they abide by the adventurers' rule of goblins= XP fodder even if the goblins might be innocent or willing to join their cause.
495* AssholeVictim: They are walking justification for Redcloak's point of view towards PC races. They are all massacred horribly, the Commander and Second suffering the only use of ''implosion'' in the comic [[spoiler:until Redcloak attempts it on Durkon nearly 200 strips later]].
496* AttackAttackAttack: [[spoiler:The Commander attempts to assault Redcloak due to an attempted RoaringRampageOfRevenge for his fallen comrades, despite being completely outnumbered and outmatched. This ends quite poorly, as you might expect.]]
497* CowboyCop: The commander, as demonstrated by the brutality he shows towards the captured hobgoblin prisoner.
498* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:The aforementioned deaths of the Commander and Lieutenant. This might have been the case for the rest of the team as well.]]
499* FantasticRacism: As far as the commander is concerned, the only good goblins are dead goblins.
500* FlatCharacter: Granted, they're supporting cast members and get less focus, but there are plenty of supporting cast characters with more focus than them. [[spoiler:It's a moot point since they're dead.]]
501* KickTheDog: The commander gives a hobgoblin prisoner false hope before throwing him off the ramparts of the prison, instead of just explaining that it was too big a risk and [[ShootTheDog offing him quickly]]. Later, Redcloak is told that, besides the prison guards, casualties include a pair of innocent hobgoblin bystanders who were shot in the back, presumably [[LeaveNoWitnesses because they saw the elves escaping]].
502* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler:Considering his [[FantasticRacism attitude towards goblins]] and that his KickTheDog moment was his only real scene before his death, the murder of the Commander by Redcloak can easily be seen as this. The Giant admitted in the book commentary that he wrote the Commander specifically so Redcloak could use ''implosion'' on someone that wouldn't be terribly missed.]]
503* MeaningfulName: "Peregrine" is a somewhat archaic word for "foreign", and Team Peregrine are elves from the Western Continent fighting for the liberation of Azure City across the ocean. The name may also evoke the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peregrine_Falcon peregrine falcon]], the fastest bird of prey on Earth, very fitting for a deadly strike force.
504* MoralMyopia: Commander "The Only Good Goblin Is a ''Dead'' Goblin" screams that he'll avenge every elf slain by Redcloak. Redcloak, for his part, doesn't comment on the irony of all the hobgoblins he avenges [[spoiler:by making the commander implode.]]
505* NoNameGiven: None of them are given monickers beyond their rank in the team.
506%%* OurElvesAreDifferent:
507%%* PointyEars:
508* RevengeBeforeReason: [[spoiler:The Commander, when he returns to the Resistance HQ only to see half of his team slaughtered by Redcloak, immediately attacks without thought or assessment.]]. Their presence in Azure City is also to avenge their fallen allied kingdom even though every other Azurite allies refused because of the danger.
509* ShootTheDog: The Azurites are unwilling to kill hapless civilians in their fights. Team Peregrine is not.
510* TotalPartyKill: [[spoiler:The wizard and cleric are killed off-panel by horned devils, and the Commander and Lieutenant are imploded by Redcloak.]]
511* WhatTheHellHero: One of the Azure City Resistance members is quite disturbed by the commander's ruthlessness. [[CantArgueWithElves Another finds it awesome.]]
512* WorfEffect: They are built up as awesome fighters, only to be completely destroyed in order to demonstrate Redcloak's power.
513[[/folder]]
514
515[[folder:Veldrina]]
516!!Veldrina
517[[quoteright:101:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/veldrina.png]]
518
519->''"Hey, I'm just as good as those stuffy hierarchical frumps! They wouldn't have picked me to represent the combined Western and elven pantheons if I wasn't!"''
520
521->'''Race:''' Elf\
522'''Gender:''' Female\
523'''Class:''' Favored Soul\
524'''Alignment:''' Unknown (probably Good)
525
526An elven priestess that Durkon and Roy met to ask to resurrect Durkon. Representative of the Western pantheon at the Godsmoot.
527----
528* CannotKeepASecret: She blurts out about their secret mission less than a minute after meeting Roy for the first time. As Wrecan puts it out:
529-->'''Wrecan:''' That elf has never had a thought that she didn't immediately articulate.
530* TheChosenOne: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. As a Favored Soul, she is granted an innate connection to her goddess; however, said goddess is "extremely minor" and her purpose at the Godsmoot is [[spoiler:only to relay the Western Pantheon's decision rather than to participate]].
531* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Pokes the [[spoiler:vamped Durkon]], while saying she's never seen a vampire before, ignoring how dangerous he is. Then invites him and Roy in, saying they "seem nice." Also blurts out several times she's on a secret mission.
532* ContestWinnerCameo:[[invoked]] From the Kickstarter, and this is Lampshaded by LeaningOnTheFourthWall:
533-->'''Veldrina:''' That's money I could have spent on a new brooch. Or maybe a nice ''cameo''.
534* DitzyGenius: She's personable, articulate, and shows signs of great intelligence, but is so bereft of common sense as to [[AdmiringTheAbomination tickle a vampire's chin]].
535* FluffyTamer: Has a pet tiger, [[FluffyTheTerrible Little Whiskers]].
536* HiddenDepths: Veldrina may be [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} ditzy]] and [[CannotKeepASecret terrible at keeping secrets]], but she's not ''stupid''. She has a good amount of knowledge on magical theory, and when it gets through to her that a situation is serious, she stops being bubbly and asks what she can do to help.
537* LiteralMinded: When Roy asks her to "just put a good word" for the Order with her fellow priests, she starts searching for the best word, saying at first she was going to use several.
538* MagiBabble: Indulges in it about Durkon's resurrection.
539-->'''Veldrina:''' Would that even work with a ''raise dead'' spell? No, I think it would need to be ''resurrection'', due to the negative particle wave interference.
540* MagicKnight: Her class is more combat-oriented than say, a Cleric.
541* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Dumplings, apparently.
542* UnskilledButStrong: The Favored Soul class works on an innate connection to a deity rather than study which makes them powerful with less finesse when compared to clerics; they're to them what sorcerers are to wizards.
543[[/folder]]
544
545[[folder:Wrecan]]
546!!Wrecan
547[[quoteright:113:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wrecan.png]]
548
549->''"They can't end the world right now, my wife and kids are on the other side of it!"''
550
551->'''Race:''' Human\
552'''Gender:''' Male\
553'''Class:''' Crusader\
554'''Alignment:''' Unknown (probably Good)
555
556Veldrina's bodyguard, and her minder. Familiar with Godsmoots from attending several as bodyguard for the Church of Marduk.
557----
558* BodyguardingABadass: Veldrina is a high-level MagicKnight caster. It's justified in that he has to guard her while she "trances", and more importantly, Veldrina not being endowed with a lot of (or even a little) common sense, someone has to be the straight man.
559* CloudcuckoolandersMinder: His job may well be more babysitting Veldrina than actual bodyguarding.
560* GenreSavvy: Says Durkon might stab them in the back later, then ask for forgiveness, due to having to hear that sort of thing from his teenage daughters (they apparently read a lot of vampire novels). As such, he's far more willing than Roy to listen to Belkar's concerns about Durkon.
561* GoodParents: His very first reaction about learning that the fate of the world is at stake is to worry about his wife and kids.
562* GoodWithNumbers: Mentions he likes to count things.
563* IHaveThisFriend: [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0989.html "Does that trick works on elves? Asking for a friend."]]
564%%* InMemoriam: Word of the Giant is that's he's based off a member of the forums who passed away. This is trivia and noted in the trivia tab.
565* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: His final conversation with Roy is more or less openly about [[{{Tuckerization}} the real Wrecan, a prolific member of the forum who died of heart failure]]. He spends one panel looking directly at the audience.
566-->'''Roy:''' I'm... I wish there had been more time. To get to know you better.\
567'''Wrecan:''' There's ''never'' enough time. Every day, one after another, until we wake up and it turns out that's the day our world ends. You have to do what you can, when you can -- because who knows if tomorrow is even happening, you know?
568* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: He's a bodyguard, so he carries a shield. There's four red baubles on it, figuring the four eyes of his god, Marduk.
569* MrExposition: He's quite informed about the Godsmoot and its rules, having attended a few already as a bodyguard, and imparts this knowledge to Roy and the rest of the Order (and thus, the readers). [[spoiler:Later he tells Roy about legacy weapons.]]
570-->'''Belkar:''' Thanks, Sacred Knight of the Expository Aside.
571* SarcasticDevotee: Sure, he's a loyal bodyguard for Veldrina, but that doesn't stop him from snarking at her at every opportunity.
572-->'''Wrecan:''' Not as fascinating as your uncanny ability to find the straightest line between your nose and something dangerous. '''''Back up.'''''
573* StraightMan: To Veldrina. He makes her idiosyncrasies funnier by reacting to them.
574* WeNeedADistraction: He uses CallingYourAttack to distract an enemy he cannot directly attack, so Roy has enough time to heal up.
575-->'''Wrecan:''' '''[[CallingYourAttacks SNEAK ATTACK FROM BEHIND]]--''' ... is something I absolutely cannot do as that would be against the rules.
576[[/folder]]
577
578!Weary Travelers Inn and Tavern
579
580[[folder:"Kaboom" Redaxe]]
581!!"Kaboom" Redaxe
582[[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kaboomredaxe.png]]
583
584->''"Tha's how a '''dwarf''' picks a lock thar!"''
585
586->'''Race:''' Dwarf\
587'''Gender:''' Male\
588'''Class:''' Unknown (possibly Assassin)\
589'''Alignment:''' Unknown
590
591One of two assassins who attempt to kill the King of Nowhere at the Weary Travelers Inn and Tavern.
592----
593* AllThereInTheScript: Redaxe's name is given in the Adventure Game, but not in the comic itself.
594* TheBusCameBack: He and his partner reappear for a brief cameo after Azure city is captured.
595* ExtremeLibido: Although he believes that his assassination attempt has failed and the King of Nowhere could send high-level mercenaries or soldiers after him at any minute, he nonetheless prioritizes having sex with hookers over escaping the inn.
596* KarmaHoudini: He never suffers any major consequences for attacking Roy and providing the explosives which ultimately blow up the Inn.
597* KavorkaMan: Claims to have seduced several Vestal Virgins, even though onscreen his only seduction method is to assume women he meets are hookers and tell them to come to his room.
598* MadBomber: Redaxe comes off like this. He loves blowing things up, and his method of "picking a lock" is to blast it into pieces with his arquebuse.
599* NobleDemon: Tries to limit civilian casualties, and asks that Roy (who he thinks is the King of Nowhere) do the same by sending away his servants so they aren't caught up in the fight.
600* OnlySaneMan: Comes off as this in comparison to his partner, who among other things became a shadowdancer without noticing that the ''Order of the Stick'' world has no shadows in it.
601* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Redaxe makes several misogynistic remarks, and seems incapable of understanding that the various women he encounters in the Inn are not all prostitutes.
602* ProfessionalKiller: Paid to assassinate the King of Nowhere.
603* WreckedWeapon: His arquebuse is sundered during his fight with Vaarsuvius and Haley.
604[[/folder]]
605
606[[folder:The Shadowdancer]]
607!!The Shadowdancer
608[[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shadowdancer.png]]
609
610->''"You know, I've been a member of this prestige class for years, and I've never noticed that before."''
611
612->'''Race:''' Human\
613'''Gender:''' Male\
614'''Class:''' Shadowdancer\
615'''Alignment:''' Unknown
616
617Redaxe's partner.
618----
619* CastingAShadow: This is how his powers are supposed to work, but the lack of shadows in the world of the comic prevents him from using them. (Although he finally finds a shadow at the end of the inn arc and uses it to teleport himself and Redaxe to safety).
620* DidntThinkThisThrough: He took a PrestigeClass which allows him to utilize shadows... but he's in a world that has no shadows, since it's drawn with stick figures.
621* KarmaHoudini: Like his partner, he faces no real consequences besides failure.
622* NobleDemon: Like his partner, he doesn't want to kill anyone except for his target.
623* ProfessionalKiller: Paid to assassinate the King of Nowhere.
624* StockNinjaWeaponry: He uses shurikens in combat.
625[[/folder]]
626
627[[folder:The King of Nowhere]]
628!!The King of Nowhere
629[[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kingofnowhere.png]]
630
631->'''Race:''' Human\
632'''Gender:''' Male\
633'''Class:''' Unknown (probably Aristocrat)\
634'''Alignment:''' Unknown
635
636A king who looks very much like Roy.
637----
638* MistakenIdentity: Roy is mistaken for him, which ultimately results in two assassins accidentally attacking Roy instead of him.
639* WhosOnFirst: His country's name is used in one of these sequences, which ultimately culminates in Roy being mistaken for him (since Roy said he was "the king of nowhere", meaning not a king, and the hotel staff thought he said he was the King of the country called Nowhere.)
640[[/folder]]
641
642[[folder:The King of Somewhere]]
643!!The King of Somewhere
644
645[[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kingofsomewhere.png]]
646
647->'''Race:''' Human\
648'''Gender:''' Male\
649'''Class:''' Unknown (probably Aristocrat)\
650'''Alignment:''' Unknown
651
652A king staying at the Weary Travelers Inn and Tavern.
653----
654* KarmicJackpot: The Order saves his life, so he agrees to cover their bill at the inn.
655* WhosOnFirst: As with the King of Nowhere, he's used in one of these sequences.
656[[/folder]]
657
658!Bandit camp
659
660[[folder:Samantha]]
661!!Samantha
662[[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_11_at_114637_pm.png]]
663
664->''"Death? Destruction? Meaningless carnage? Sounds like my kind of party!"''
665
666->'''Race:''' Human\
667'''Gender:''' Female\
668'''Class:''' Sorcerer\
669'''Alignment:''' Unknown (probably Evil)
670
671The leader of a group of bandits in the Wooden Forest, she won the position from her father, and has turned the bandits into a vehicle for satisfying her urges.
672----
673* ArcVillain: She's the most powerful opponent of a mini-arc that ultimately has little to nothing to do with the comic's larger story. She's just a bump in the road while the Order is on a sidequest.
674* BadBoss: A bit of chatter between two bandits establishes that when a bandit named Jim protested against the changes she was making, she responded [[NoodleIncident by cutting off something that doesn't grow back]]. She's also willing to risk the lives of her followers just so they can abduct handsome men for her.
675* BanditClan: She's the leader of such a group.
676* BrattyTeenageDaughter: With the bonus of having magical powers which she can use to get her way.
677* CardCarryingVillain: She embraces violence, destruction, and mayhem without any shame or pretenses. Just look at her character quote.
678* ChallengingTheChief: She takes over leadership of the bandits by defeating her father in single combat.
679* ColorMotif: Her magical aura and all of her clothes are purple.
680* EvilIsPetty: Samantha has a powerful and experienced melee fighter in her dad, magic powers, and a small army of bandits... and uses it all just to satisfy lazy whims and desires, including having the group kidnap attractive men for her.
681* EvilSorcerer: Magic powers, bad attitude, and even her father thinks she's "rotten to the core."
682* HalfTheWomanSheUsedToBe: Miko cuts her in half when Samantha attempts to use her spells on Miko.
683* MuggingTheMonster: Her attempt to compel Miko magically to serve her doesn't work out for her at all.
684* TheStarscream: Prior to the events of the series, she usurped control of the bandits from her father.
685* UngratefulBastard: Upon being freed by a stranger, Samantha immediately attempts to magically enslave her rescuer.
686* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Averted. Author Rich Burlew was less than pleased by fans asking this question and speculating about whether she and her father would later play a role in the comic, so he wrote a [[KilledOffForReal definitive end]] to their story.
687[[/folder]]
688
689[[folder:Samantha's father]]
690!!Samantha's father
691[[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_11_at_114614_pm.png]]
692
693->''"I will not see my noble band of brigands turned into some kind of cheap dating service."''
694
695->'''Race:''' Human\
696'''Gender:''' Male\
697'''Class:''' Unknown (though probably includes at least one level of Ranger)\
698'''Alignment:''' Unknown
699
700The former leader of a group of bandits in Wooden Forest who is serving as the NumberTwo when the Order encounters the clan.
701----
702* AntiVillain: As opposed to his daughter, there's nothing to indicate that he's a bad person, on the contrary he states that he set up the bandits with the aim of only stealing from rich or otherwise deserving targets, and on several occasions he shows himself to be a reasonable man willing to hear out others and give fair weight to what they have to say. He is stuck being an opponent of the Order, however.
703* AvengingTheVillain: When Miko kills Samantha, he immediately attempts to avenge her. The difference in power makes it a CurbStompBattle that does not end in his favor.
704* BanditClan: He is the former leader of one.
705* ChallengingTheChief: He publicly declares that anyone who can beat him in single combat may take over leadership of the bandits. He comes to regret this when Samantha uses her magic to defeat him. He takes advantage of the trope, however, by waiting until Samantha has used up her high-level spells in battle and is low on HP before he challenges her.
706* DualWielding: He prefers to use a pair of swords.
707* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Despite their disagreements, he still cares for Samantha, as he instructs his followers to treat her gently after he knocks her out and also attempts to avenge her when she is killed by Miko.
708* KarmicThief: States that he originally set up the bandit clan to rob only rich and/or deserving targets.
709* NoNameGiven: His proper name never appears in the comic, so he is simply referred to here as Samantha's dad.
710* NumberTwo: He currently serves as this to Samantha, but disagrees with her and tries to take back leadership of the clan from her.
711* PapaWolf: Tries to attack Miko after she kills his daughter. Unfortunately, it doesn't work out well for him.
712* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: He is much more reasonable and approachable than his daughter. Both Haley and Miko initially have success by trying to reason with him, only for their efforts to be undone by Samantha herself.
713* RuggedScar: His most prominent feature is a large scar that adds extra evidence to his toughness.
714* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Averted. Author Rich Burlew was less than pleased by fans asking this question and speculating about whether he and Samantha would later play a role in the comic, so he wrote a [[KilledOffForReal definitive end]] to their story.
715[[/folder]]
716
717!Black Dragon family
718
719[[folder:Black Dragon Teenager]]
720!!Black Dragon Teenager
721[[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/teendragon.png]]
722
723->''"You've robbed me of a meal, puny though it may have been."''
724
725->'''Race:''' Black Dragon\
726'''Gender:''' Male\
727'''Class:''' N/A\
728'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil
729
730A teenage black dragon living in a cave containing the starmetal that Roy wants to use to reforge his sword.
731
732----
733* FauxAffablyEvil: [[LikeFatherLikeSon Just like his mother.]] He's polite to the heroes, complimenting Vaarsuvius's intelligence and talking about his open-mindedness to other species, while trying to kill and eat them.
734* {{Irony}}: His mother taught him to speak lizard in order to improve his life; this ultimately got him killed when he was able to understand the polymorphed Vaarsuvius and thus could be mind-controlled by them.
735* PornStash: When Roy questions how it was known this dragon was a teenager, Durkon reveals that he found copies of ''Big Tailz'' magazine and ''Playdrake'' and a bottle of lotion stashed underneath the horde.
736-->'''Roy:''' Someday, I will learn not to ask questions to which I know I will regret knowing the answers.
737* SmallRoleBigImpact: Only appears for a few strips in what is otherwise a relatively minor story arc early in the comic, but Vaarsuvius killing him turns out to eventually have very wide-reaching consequences.
738* ToServeMan: His response to sapient trespassers is to try eating them.
739[[/folder]]
740
741[[folder:Black Dragon Mother]]
742!!Black Dragon Mother
743[[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_11_at_113612_pm.png]]
744
745->''"Say 'Disintegrate' one more time, Vaarsuvius. For me."''
746
747->'''Race:''' Black Dragon\
748'''Gender:''' Female\
749'''Class:''' N/A\
750'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil
751
752An ancient black dragon that is the mother of a teenage black dragon that Vaarsuvius killed. She seeks revenge upon Vaarsuvius for the death of her son.
753----
754* AintTooProudToBeg: Tries desperately to surrender just before Vaarsuvius casts Familicide, even though by this point she's just a reanimated head and the fighting is conclusively over.
755* AllForNothing: When Vaarsuvius returned for a second round, now empowered with the three soul splices, she feared that all her efforts to get revenge on V would have been for nothing just before finally managing to swallow V whole. It did come to be moments later when V cast ''shapeshift'' from inside her and burst out, instantly killing her, and then proceeded to raise her from the dead solely to make her watch as Vaarsuvius cast ''familicide'' and exterminated her entire lineage. While V's family renounced them shortly afterwards as a result of the deal that was taken to accomplish this, the black dragon was left with her vengeance over Vaarsuvius denied after a year's worth of endeavors to track down her son's killer and waiting for the opportune moment to strike.
756* AntiMagic: Claims to be no slouch at spellcasting herself, but intentionally uses the spell ''antimagic field'' to remove V's ability to defend themself.
757-->'''Black Dragon:''' What would happen if we turned the magic off? ...Fascinating. It appears that you cease to be a mighty wizard and become a fragile, pointy-eared monkey. While I? I am still a dragon.
758* BadassBoast: While explaining to V how they can't stop her:
759-->'''Black Dragon:''' Without your magic, you are ''nothing''. With it? You are still less then I.
760* BreathWeapon: As a black dragon, her breath weapon is a stream of acid, which Vaarsuvius barely avoids. Even mere droplets of spit from her are shown sizzling on the ground.
761* BroughtDownToBadass: As she points out after casting an ''antimagic field'', even though she's just disabled her arcane spellcasting, she is still ''a dragon''.
762* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: She was very close to her son, so naturally she didn't take his death well. And in turn she was very close to his father, before he was killed by adventurers and had his scales turned into a suit of armor for the party leader's use.
763* ExploitedImmunity: Despite being a proficient spellcaster with an interest in the arcane, she's perfectly willing to [[AntiMagic "turn the magic off"]] and rely solely her draconic brute strength to give herself an edge over {{Squishy Wizard}}s.
764* FateWorseThanDeath: Attempts to deal one to V rather than just kill them by killing V's children and binding their souls to her before leaving the material plane forever. She gets hit with one in turn, when V casts Familicide and wipes out her entire family.
765* FauxAffablyEvil: She's very polite towards Vaarsuvius as she attacks them, complimenting the use of ''forcecage''. But then she grapples V and [[EvilGloating gloats]] about how she'll first torture and then brutally murder Vaarsuvius's own children, then bind their souls to her for eternity, plus maybe skin the spouse alive and make a nice hat, for completion's sake.
766* LaserGuidedKarma: She could have settled for simply killing Vaarsuvius to avenge her son's death, which they were ready and willing to accept, but she had to make it personal (and [[EvilIsPetty petty]] too) by threatening their family instead. Cue V making a DealWithTheDevil (and the Daemon and Demon as well) for the power necessary to save their family and issuing her a CurbStompBattle.
767* MamaBear: Her attack is solely to avenge her son and make Vaarsuvius pay by taking the lives of Vaarsuvius's children.
768* RevengeByProxy: She attempts this on V, murdering their children as recompense for her son's death. She ends up the victim of this on a massively larger scale, with V murdering ''every being related to her'' (1/4th of black dragons, and a good number of humans)) in recompense.
769* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: If she'd kept her vengeance to V and called it a day, things would have ended there. Because she instead decided to make them suffer by targeting their ''family'' instead, once V gets the power to defeat her they are inspired to wipe out ''every single creature'' that could '''possibly''' make a claim of blood relation to her. This wipes out approximately one-quarter of black dragons alone, and incalculable numbers of non-dragon (yet related) beings. Although V does take the time to make sure she's ''very'' witting of what her actions caused before sending her off to the afterlife again.
770* VillainHasAPoint: While she is undeniably evil, she makes a valid point about adventurers treating dragons, including ''children'', as nothing but prey.
771* WouldHurtAChild: She plans on eating V's children alive, slowly and feet-first. And then bind their souls to prevent any resurrection. She considers this a fair trade, to make Vaarsuvius pay for killing her son. When V finally catches up to her at their cottage, she has already broken their legs.
772* YouMonster: After being animated as a disembodied head, so Vaarsuvius can use Familicide on her entire line so no-one else will come their family, this is her response to Vaarsuvius who coldly replies "We're all somewhere in the Monster Manual aren't we?" before finishing her off for good.
773* YoureNothingWithoutYourPhlebotinum: Traps Vaarsuvius in an ''antimagic field'' to demonstrate to them how useless a SquishyWizard is when BroughtDownToNormal.
774[[/folder]]
775
776!Cliffport
777
778[[folder:Fyron Pucebuckle]]
779!!Fyron Pucebuckle
780[[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_11_at_123017_am.png]]
781
782->''"Ah, well, a sorcerer is sort of like an idiot savant. Not very smart, but strangely adept at magic."''
783
784->'''Race:''' Human\
785'''Gender:''' Male\
786'''Class:''' Mage (illusionist)\
787'''Alignment:''' Unknown
788
789Eugene Greenhilt's mentor. Fyron's murder by Xykon results in Eugene swearing a Blood Oath to track him down, which in turn directly leads to Roy forming the Order and setting out to stop Xykon once and for all.
790----
791* CompensatingForSomething: His opinion of sorcerers in general, to Xykon's annoyance.
792* CoolTeacher: Eugene remembers him as a thoughtful teacher who encouraged curiosity and whose door was always open to him. If he didn't know the answer to a question off the top of his head, he and Eugene would figure it out through experiments rather than just look it up.
793* ParentalSubstitute: Eugene outright says Fyron was more of a dad to him than his own father. However, this is indicated to be due to ''Eugene's'' own choices rather than any direct failing on Horace's part. His flashback of how they never saw eye to eye when he was a young boy had an elderly Horace holding two fishing poles whilst Eugene ignored him to continue reading, and Horace later recounts to Roy that he persisted on reading even when he did manage to get him on the boat, completely refusing to engage in the father-son bonding activity. Given that Horace fondly recounts on how his own father took him fishing when he was young, he was clearly willing to ''try'' to bond with his son, but Eugene refused to demean himself in an activity he thought was beneath him.
794* PosthumousCharacter: Dead before the story begins.
795* SquishyWizard: While superior to human Xykon at spellcasting, he ultimately dies when Xykon bludgeons him to death with a Wizzy Award.
796* UnequalRites: Openly contemptuous of Xykon once he learns his opponent is not a wizard, but is instead a sorcerer.
797[[/folder]]
798
799[[folder:Chief]]
800!!Chief
801[[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_11_at_123108_am.png]]
802
803->''"The mayor is so anxious for us to close this case, you'd think he put max ranks into Ride (My Ass) skill!"''
804
805->'''Race:''' Human\
806'''Gender:''' Male\
807'''Class:''' Warrior\
808'''Alignment:''' LawfulNeutral
809
810The Chief of Police in Cliffport, who finds himself in over his head when the Linear Guild begins slaughtering the populace.
811----
812* DaChief: His archetype.
813* OffWithHisHead: Gets decapitated by Nale.
814* CigarChomper: Is always seen smoking a cigar.
815* SurroundedByIdiots: Other than the rookie, this is his general opinion on the other officers he's working with.
816-->'''Officer #1:''' ''[holding a map with multiple arrows made out of massacre victim locations pointing to the park]'' I think the killer might be trying to tell us something.\
817'''Officer #2:''' Yeah, but what?\
818'''Chief:''' I think the secret message is, "I need to toughen my hiring standards."
819[[/folder]]
820
821[[folder:Rookie]]
822!!Rookie
823[[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_11_at_123043_am.png]]
824
825->''"That's the killer, men! Take him down, no mercy!"''
826
827->'''Race:''' Human\
828'''Gender:''' Male\
829'''Class:''' Unknown (probably Warrior)\
830'''Alignment:''' LawfulNeutral
831
832A junior police officer working on the Linear Guild murder investigation.
833----
834* FieldPromotion: Takes over after the chief is killed.
835* HyperCompetentSidekick: To the Cliffport Chief of Police. While he initially seems like a typical newbie officer, he is one of the few officers serving under him who is competent in his work, deciphering Nale's series of crimes and figuring out that they [[ComplexityAddiction form several arrows pointing to the Cliffport city park]]. As such, when the Chief is decapitated by Nale, the Rookie informally takes charge of the CPPD.
836* TookALevelInBadass: Went from throwing up at the sight of a crime scene to taking charge as the de facto leader of the CPPD forces arresting the Linear Guild.
837[[/folder]]
838
839!Orc island
840
841
842[[folder:In General]]
843* AllLowercaseLetters: All the orcs' speech bubbles are in lowercase, including the chieftain's and the shaman's.
844* ThirdPersonPerson: The island orcs talk like this. Given their comment about how first-person pronouns intrigue them, it may suggest they don't exist in the orc language.
845* YouNoTakeCandle: Lampshaded. Once the orcs see a second group chasing the heroes (actually an illusion conjured by a panicking Elan), they let them do the job and go back to studying grammar, verb conjugation, capital letters and first-person pronouns.
846[[/folder]]
847
848[[folder:Chieftain Grukgruk]]
849!!Chieftain Grukgruk
850
851[[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/grukgruk.png]]
852
853->''"orcs worship giggles now."''
854
855->'''Race:''' Orc\
856'''Gender:''' Male\
857'''Class:''' Unknown (possibly Fighter or Barbarian)\
858'''Alignment:''' Unknown
859
860The chieftain of a tribe of orcs the Azurite scouts encounter during their quest to find a new home.
861----
862* ChasedByAngryNatives: He leads his tribe into a chase with the Order of the Stick and the Azurites.
863* ParodyReligion: He and his tribe begin worshipping Elan's hand puppet Banjo. As mentioned in the quote, they switch from Banjo to worshipping Giggles, Clown God of Slapstick (and another of Elan's puppet.)
864* PunchClockVillain: Works for Qarr to capture and kill the Azurite scouts, but doesn't oppose them outside of his contract and even forms an alliance with them once Qarr flees.
865[[/folder]]
866
867[[folder:Shaman Vurkle]]
868!!Shaman Vurkle
869
870[[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vurkle.png]]
871
872->''"shaman vurkle never get to sacrifice anything nice."''
873
874->'''Race:''' Orc\
875'''Gender:''' Male\
876'''Class:''' Unknown\
877'''Alignment:''' Unknown
878
879The shaman of Grukgruk's tribe.
880----
881* BlindObedience: Vurkle mentions that he's happy to have a new god because it was difficult to think for himself, so he'd rather a divine figure do it.
882* HumanSacrifice: Attempts to sacrifice Lien to Banjo, the tribe's new puppet god.
883* ParodyReligion: He leads the tribe in worshipping Elan's hand puppet Banjo and later in worshipping Giggles.
884* VirginSacrifice: Averted. Vurkle says Banjo prefers a woman with experience, as opposed to a virgin.
885[[/folder]]
886
887!Crew of the ''Mechane''
888
889[[folder:The ''Mechane'']]
890!!The ''Mechane''
891
892[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_05_30_at_122036_am.png]]
893
894Yes, the ship herself. Despite only having a handful of appearances, she's already made a profound impact on the plot.
895----
896* AwesomeMcCoolname: Julio Scoundrél definitely knows his great and appropriately self-referential names.
897* BoardingParty: Her crew fends off a boarding attempt by a swarm of [[BeastMan Horusfolk]], inhabiting an AncientEgypt-themed setting, during Julio's salad days.
898* CoolAirship: She [[{{Expy}} looks exactly like]] the ''Blackjack'' from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''.
899* DeathFromAbove: The ''Mechane'' is heavily armed, carrying ballistae and a store of firebomb grenades.
900%%%* DeusExMachina: Invoked by her name.
901* DressedToPlunder: Several crew members have typical pirate attires, such as eye patches and peg legs.
902* GenreSavvy: Thanks to Julio's influence, they know better than to interfere in the "third-act duels".
903* GlobalAirship: She fulfills this role, first for Elan in Book 3, then [[spoiler:for the whole Order of the Stick from the end of Book 5 up to the beginning of Book 7]].
904* HeroicNeutral: You wouldn't expect the ''ship herself'' to have an alignment, but alas. [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1051.html According to Julio]] (as relayed by the crew), the ''Mechane''[='=]s nick-of-time arrival requires a good-faith effort at heroism -- which means it can't be exploited to run away from a fight.
905* JustInTime: She only arrives anywhere in the nick of time. Much like on the ''Discworld'', however, you can't "cheat" and exploit this -- you have to actually make the effort.
906* {{Magitek}}: {{Downplayed|Trope}} by the ''Mechane'' herself. Her hull is enchanted for greater strength and lightness, and the helium for her balloon is summoned from the Elemental Plane of Air, but she otherwise operates according to mundane physical mechanics of lighter-than-air buoyancy and airfoil thrust.
907* SchizoTech: The ''Mechane'' is revealed to have electronic components in [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0949.html #949]], and yet she's still armed with nothing more sophisticated than ballistae.
908* TheSkyIsAnOcean: Indeed, she appears to be a rather standard seagoing vessel with a giant balloon and an engine instead of sails. Bandana is unsure how seaworthy she could be when forced to do a water landing, so the trope is downplayed.
909* SkyPirates: Those exact words are used. Julio is the captain of an airship and her sky pirate crew. They engage in certain less-than-legal activities while adventuring.
910* TravelingAtTheSpeedOfPlot: She flies faster the more is at stake, but is explicitly [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0937.html stated]] to only ever reach a destination in the nick of time. [[MundaneMadeAwesome Even for dentist appointments.]]
911* WoodenShipsAndIronMen: Evokes the time period, though instead of cannons, they use ballistae and firebombs.
912[[/folder]]
913
914[[folder:Julio Scoundrél]]
915!!Julio Scoundrél
916[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_10_at_84938_pm.png]]
917
918->''"So, now's probably a good time to mention that I'm a wanted criminal in Azure City. I admit to nothing, but I have it on good authority that there are several attractive young heiresses in this town that are quite shamefully lax in securing their most valuable jewelry."''
919
920->'''Race:''' Human\
921'''Gender:''' Male\
922'''Class:''' Dashing Swordsman\
923'''Alignment:''' ChaoticNeutral
924%% Alignment confirmed by Word of the Giant.
925
926A swashbuckling adventurer who takes Elan briefly under his wing. Captain and owner of the ''Mechane''.
927----
928* BadassLongcoat: His iconic look. He has a full collection of them.
929* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:He appears to join the fight against Tarquin just when the Order looks completely defeated.]]
930* TheBusCameBack: Or in his case, the Airship Came Back -- [[spoiler:[[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0930.html in a dramatic unveiling of Elan's plan to turn the tables on his father.]]]]
931* CaptainMorganPose: In the panel describing his fame, he proudly takes this pose.
932* TheCasanova: He has a son and/or daughter in every port of the continent.
933* CelebrityEndorsement: He advertises a brand of healing potion à la Advertising/TheMostInterestingManInTheWorld.
934* ChickMagnet: Among certainly many others, both Laurin and Elan's mom had crushes on him.
935* DareToBeBadass: [[spoiler:This is how Elan convinces him to help out against Tarquin. "Any hero can defy danger but only a special hero can defy the story itself."]]
936* DashingHispanic: His first name, prestige class and mustache all allude to this trope.
937* ADayInTheLimelight: He has a short story all for himself in ''Snips, Snails and Dragon Tails'', aiding a DamselInDistress recover a priceless jewel. On an interesting side-note, he rescued said damsel from [[spoiler:Tarquin.]]
938* DefiedTrope: He attempts to defy the standard mentor death by staying far away from Elan. [[spoiler:Elan convinces him it'll be cooler if he shows up and defies the trope anyway. Indeed, the only reason he does so is specifically ''for the privilege of defying the trope''.]]
939* DisappearedDad: Julio makes an offhand remark about having a son and/or daughter in every port on the continent, and one of the side-stories has him reminding people that he's got a separate PO box for legal issues for things like suing him for child support.
940* FamedInStory: He's a world-famous sky pirate, renown ladies' man, and all-around dashing action hero. Just hearing the name of his airship is enough for Elan to identify him (no surprise as he's a bard, plus his mom is probably Julio's biggest fan).
941* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the initial duel between Tarquin and Elan, the former offhandedly mentions that he's found a way to counter such [[YouFightLikeACow pun-fighting techniques.]] Guess who shows up near the tail-end of the Empire of Blood arc?
942* GenreSavvy: He's ''even more savvy than Tarquin at his best''. He is well aware of the values of {{training montage}}s, of iconic heroic images (longcoat, mustache, etc.), [[MentorOccupationalHazard and especially of the fate that awaits]] the MentorArchetype. Unlike Tarquin, he also knows the value of a DefiedTrope at a dramatic moment -- and understands not to be GenreBlind by being ''too'' Genre Savvy.
943* GentlemanThief: Combines this with TheCasanova to great effect, as his character quote attests.
944* AGirlInEveryPort: Has a long-running fan club of "Julioteers" and "a son and/or daughter in every port on the continent", so he [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0392.html settles]] for gifting prized possessions to his protégé Elan rather than sort out which one is entitled to them.
945* GoodHurtsEvil: Or Chaos Hurts Lawfulness in the present case; Julio carries a Chaos Sabre, which [[spoiler:gives Tarquin a painful wound.]]
946* HamToHamCombat: Part of the Dashing Swordsman class -- he teaches the rudiments of pun-combat to Elan.
947* HeroOfAnotherStory: Literally. There's a whole other story (in Stick Figure HD) about him in ''Snips, Snails and Dragon Tails''. Also, there's a forthcoming Julio Scoundrél PDF that will invoke this.
948* ImprovisedTraining: He set up a fake training montage for Elan, complete with backgrounds to indicate a time lapse.
949-->'''Julio:''' Elan, ''never'' underestimate the value of a good training montage. It could save your life one day. Although I suppose I should get around to actually ''teaching'' you some of this...
950* ImpossiblyTackyClothes: The fact that he isn't perpetually seen in a state of terrible fashion is because of Felix's tireless efforts.
951* InformedAttractiveness: He held the title of "Sexiest Man Alive" for a time, yet like Elan (and everyone else, for that matter), he's a stick figure.
952* InSeriesNickname: The "Julioteers" for Julio's female fans.
953* IShallTauntYou: To [[spoiler:Tarquin]], his old nemesis.
954-->'''Julio:''' I think that's half your problem, T -- you always think everything that happens is about '''you'''!
955* JustInTime: The only way he arrives for anything ([[MundaneMadeAwesome including dentist appointments]]), is not a second early or late. It's only heroic.
956* LoveableRogue: The poster boy for the loveable rogue in the ''[=OotS=]'' universe. Literally -- he has a poster.
957* MagicCarpet: He owns a blue one, and even uses it in fights for mobility. [[spoiler:He apparently stole it from Tarquin, who gouges it in half in their latest encounter during the Empire of Blood arc.]]
958* MagicWand: Always carries a wand of ''sending'' in his coat pocket.
959* MasterSwordsman: One of the top 100 swordsmen of the century.
960* MentorArchetype: For Elan -- only during a few days, but this has considerable influence on Elan's CharacterDevelopment.
961* MentorOccupationalHazard: He's GenreSavvy enough to try to [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0392.html avoid this]]. [[spoiler:Though he can still be convinced to help out, as shown in episode #930. True to form, he defies it spectacularly in [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0933.html #933]].]]
962-->'''Julio:''' Well, as an older mentor figure, the most likely scenario is that I'd return only to be randomly killed by an enemy of yours so that [[PietaPlagiarism you can cradle my dying body]] while swearing revenge -- so don't take it personally if I say that I sincerely hope we never cross paths again.
963* NiceJobBreakingItHero: His self-induced absence from the ''Mechane'' is probably the single greatest factor that allows [[spoiler:Andi to become TheStarscream and perpetrate TheMutiny against Bandana, who Julio had appointed as captain in his absence]].
964* PassingTheTorch: Julio decides to hit the road and visit the Outer Planes, but not before giving his Chaos Sabre and control of the ''Mechane'' to Elan for the last leg of the Order's journey. This is [[PlayedForLaughs hilariously done]] since the letter that he left to Elan has him doing the voice-over... with him standing right beside Elan.
965-->'''Elan:''' Oh man! [[NeverGotToSayGoodbye I can't believe he left without saying goodbye]]! There's so much I wanted to tell him!\
966'''Haley:''' Well, you could just turn around. He's standing right behind you doing the voice-over through a can.\
967''[beat]''\
968'''Elan:''' [[ContractualGenreBlindness Farewell, brave captain! I know not when we shall see your like again!]]\
969'''Julio:''' "PS: Actually, maybe I better hit the head before I go."
970* PrestigeClass: Dashing Swordman. It compensates his average Strength and Dexterity scores by making Charisma his primary fighting attribute. It also gives special abilities that make him function like a movie-style action hero (such as jumping through windows without worrying about the broken glass bit). He ends up mentoring Elan in gaining a level in this class.
971%%* PutOnABus: Deliberately, see above.
972* ReallyGetsAround: Julio has a lot of success with the ladies. [[DisappearedDad Using the protection that goes with it on the other hand]]...
973* RoyalRapier: The weapon of choice of the Dashing Swordman. [[spoiler:On his return in Book 5, he switched to a Chaos Sabre, which is close enough.]]
974* RuleOfDrama: A lot of the things he does are because they will make for a better story. When Elan finds out that [[spoiler:Julio could have given Elan a ''sending'' wand to warn Haley that Nale was impersonating him]] but didn't because it would make for a better story (which is incidentally also why he didn't mention Elan's uncanny resemblance to one of his "B-List villains"), he has mixed feelings about it. After meeting a villain who also follows the rule of drama, Elan thinks that good stories aren't worth hurting people over.
975* SilverFox: He now has grey hair, unlike on the cover of ''Townspeople Weekly'' describing him as the "Sexiest Man Alive", but it's doubtful he's considered any less attractive.
976* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Delivers a succinct, but very accurate one to Tarquin.
977-->'''Julio:''' I think that's half your problem, T -- you always think everything is about ''you''!
978* UnlimitedWardrobe: Although he sticks to the BadassLongcoat look and V-neck shirt, he has lots of costumes, changing twice during Elan's 20-minute-long TrainingMontage. [[spoiler:He does it on his return too, having changed clothes between receiving the ''sending'' and confronting Tarquin, and again afterward.]]
979-->'''Julio:''' Now if you'll excuse me, I'm in desperate need of a wardrobe change.
980* WeMeetAgain: [[spoiler:"General Tarquin, we meet again!"]]
981* AYearAndADay: In the Julio comic from ''Snips, Snails and Dragon Tails'', the Mummy Queen informs him that her curse holds him for a hundred years and a day.
982[[/folder]]
983
984[[folder:Beatrix "Bandana" Secundus]]
985!!Beatrix "Bandana" Secundus
986[[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_10_at_85417_pm.png]]
987
988->''"You kiddin'? I've been workin' toward bein' captain my whole life!!"''
989
990->'''Race:''' Human\
991'''Gender:''' Female\
992'''Class:''' Rogue\
993'''Alignment:''' Unknown
994
995Pilot and acting captain of Julio Scoundrél's CoolAirship ''Mechane''.
996----
997* AcePilot: Looks that way. She succeeded her father on this post. Her efforts in pitching and rolling the ship [[spoiler:contribute in keeping Tarquin from climbing back onboard]].
998* ActionGirl: Handy with a shortsword, an excellent pilot, and almost as GenreSavvy as Julio himself. There's a reason she's his second-in-command.
999* TheCaptain: Effectively, since Julio's departure from the ''Mechane''.
1000* CoolBigSis: Haley attempts to be this to Bandana when she gets in charge, since Haley knows that leadership roles and Rogues don't usually mix well (especially with her own prior experience). However, Bandana has been working her whole life to being a Captain and is handling the position of leadership better than Haley expected (and better than Haley's performance as a leader). Bandana is still appreciative of the consideration, though.
1001* ADayInTheLimelight: The Frost Giant mini-arc puts particular spotlight on her; with the Order mostly busy fighting the Frost Giants (which at this point, they've become strong enough to reasonably deal with without any major drama), the perspective switches over to Bandana and the crew, highlighting her role as Captain against a mutinous Andi.
1002* DeadpanSnarker: Like most characters in the comic, she has plenty of sarcastic biting quips, mostly against the strangeness of the world she lives in. Unlike Roy, she mostly rolls with the punches.
1003* DeathGlare: After reclaiming the ship from Andi, Bandana initially tries to act like nothing happened and gives Andi an order. Andi, surprised, responds with "Uh, sure." She is ''then'' on the receiving end of a coldly furious stare, which naturally leads to:
1004-->'''Andi:''' ... ''[meekly]'' Yes, captain.
1005* {{Determinator}}: Knew from the time she was a girl that she wanted to command her own ship, despite her father being an enlisted member of Julio's crew. She views captaining the ''Mechane'' as merely a jumping off point to getting her own ship.
1006* AFatherToHisMen: In this case, A Mother to Her Men -- after Julio's departure, when she takes over as acting Captain, it's clear she cares a lot about the crew.
1007-->'''Haley:''' ''[after shooting the ''Mechane''[='s=] control console with frost arrows]'' ...I didn't just make that worse, did I?\
1008'''Bandana:''' Worry 'bout it when all my people are safe.
1009** Takes on a bit of ToughLove when the crew is about to break down fighting the Frost Giants, pointing out the hard truth of their situation; just acting like neutral pirates and whining about the good guys and bad guys isn't going to save their lives or get them through the crisis. They have to buckle down and do their part, no shifting responsibility or blame.
1010* {{Foil}}:
1011** To Haley, another Rogue. Haley offers to help Bandana get acclimated to command, based on her experience as a leader in the Azure City Resistance. Turns out, however, that Bandana's been planning for command her whole life, and doesn't suffer the usual Rogue hangups about being in a position of authority. Nonetheless, she's grateful for Haley's offer.
1012** To Miko. Whereas Miko was a HolierThanThou KnightTemplar paladin, Bandana is a ReasonableAuthorityFigure of a PirateGirl. Both women were characters tagging along for a significant portion of the Order's quest, but whereas Miko was constantly opposed to the Order, plotted to punish them, and ultimately doomed her own side's goals due to her descent into madness, Bandana averts any JurisdictionFriction with Roy; he does his job, she does hers. Their roles amongst their true groups differs both professionally and how their deal with it. While Miko was the strongest paladin of the Sapphire Guard, she was also deeply loathed for her behavior and eventual tendency to overstep her boundaries. Bandana was made interim captain of the ''Mechane'', and demonstrates far more rationale and critical thinking in that role than Miko managed as a regular paladin.
1013* GenerationXerox: Followed in the footsteps of her father, Fidel Secundus, Julio's previous AcePilot and NumberTwo.
1014* GenreSavvy: To be expected from Julio's second-in-command. She immediately realizes that, despite it being her ship, the Order, and more specifically Elan, have the current say when escaping Tarquin.
1015* ImpliedDeathThreat: Declares that Andi's mutiny is her first strike. When Andi asks what happens at Strike 3, Beatrix says nothing will happen -- because Andi won't make it past Strike 2.
1016* JurisdictionFriction: Sensibly avoided when the Order boards the ''Mechane''. In most day-to-day matters while they're on board, Roy usually defers to her since she's Captain. In turn, Beatrix is savvy enough to realize that in matters specifically relating to world-saving, it's probably a good idea to defer to the heroes responsible for sorting it out.
1017* MeaningfulName: Beatrix comes from the Latin word for "traveler", while "Secundus" is (literally speaking) Latin for "second", but can also mean "trusted right-hand man" (both fit, since she's the second in her family, after her father, to work under Julio and, as her father was, his trusted first mate -- turned acting captain). But her chosen nickname makes her "Bandana" Secundus, suggesting the expression [[OvershadowedByAwesome "second banana"]], which reflects her narrative role on the ''Mechane'' when we first meet her. Her father's name, Fidel Secundus, literally means "faithful second" but again suggests "second fiddle", which means the same thing.
1018* NervesOfSteel: Keeps her cool (and remains an effective officer) under pressure, barely flinching when both the ''Mechane''[='s=] engines fail and things start exploding. When she and Haley are attacked by [[spoiler:a reanimated Crystal]], she immediately counters with what she gauges to be the most effective weapon, while [[CasualDangerDialog chatting with Haley]].
1019* NeutralNoLonger: [[invoked]] Tells the crew that they can't just stay their ChaoticNeutral way of pirating anymore with the world on the balance, even if she doesn't understand it well herself. She then tells them they need to suck it up and do something about it rather than just relying on the heroes to do so.
1020* NumberTwo: She is Julio's first officer when introduced.
1021* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: "Bandana" is a nickname she came up with as a child; her true name is Beatrix. Her parents are [[MeaningfulName Fidel Secundus]] (from ''Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tails'') and Lakaita Secundus, so she likely shares their surname.
1022* PirateGirl: Considering the {{Troperiffic}} nature of the ''Mechane'' and her crew (Bandana included), she's a very mild example. She's been dreaming of becoming a sky-pirates captain since age eight, however.
1023* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: To her crew. After the brief mutiny that Andi leads, when the dust settles she makes it clear that given the stressful circumstances she's willing to let bygones be bygones and move on as if nothing had happened... while also making it abundantly clear to those who need to know that if anything of the kind ''does'' happen again, she will ''not'' be as lenient the next time.
1024* RememberTheNewGuy: Her and Elan's initial reaction indicates that they met when Julio initially trained Elan to be a Dashing Swordsman, but she's never actually appeared before [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0933.html page #933]].
1025* RousingSpeech: Has a very grounded one for the crew, who are lost and unsure of what to do due to Andi's mutiny and battling the Frost Giants. She tells them that yes, it sucks, and it is ''not'' going to get better by just standing around and whining about it, or pointing the finger at the heroes. It's either suck it up and keep going, or give up and die. It works.
1026* SelfMadeWoman. She grew up on the ''Mechane'', watching her parents be ordered around by Julio and his officers, and resolved that she'd give the orders one day. Now she can, as acting captain and she plans to get her own ship, in good time.
1027* StraightGay: She mentions an ex-girlfriend when loaning Haley some of said ex's armor.[[invoked]] [[WordOfGod Word of the Giant]] confirms that she is gay rather than bisexual.
1028* ToughLove: Shown when she was tied up and had to reassure the crew. While lampshaded how it wasn't really comforting, she says that it's because of the serious matter at hand. She brings up how they have to be NeutralNoLonger and become more involved in the world affairs. However, it's clear that she does this because she cares for the crew and knows they need to do this for their own good. She does imply she could be traditionally comforting, but would only do so for her girlfriend.
1029[[/folder]]
1030
1031[[folder:Felix]]
1032!!Felix
1033[[quoteright:124:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oots_felix.png]]
1034
1035->''"Captain, that lightning hit us square! Both main propellers are stalled and we're losing--"'' [[[ExplosiveInstrumentation console explodes in his face]]]
1036
1037->'''Race:''' Human\
1038'''Gender:''' Male\
1039'''Class:''' Unknown (possibly Rogue)\
1040'''Alignment:''' Unknown (probably ChaoticNeutral)
1041
1042The ''Mechane'''s electrical engineer and helmsman.
1043----
1044* AcePilot: Once Bandana ascends to acting captain, he takes over as chief helmsman, though he doesn't hesitate to surrender the helm to Bandana herself or to junior crew members when the situation calls for it.
1045* DreadlockRasta: His hairstyle, making him easy to visually identify among the crew.
1046* TheEngineer: Apparently supervises the ''Mechane'''s engines and electronic components, making him one.
1047* ExplosiveInstrumentation: In a ShoutOut to ''Franchise/StarTrek'', his command console explodes in his face after the ''Mechane'' is hit by lightning.
1048* TheFashionista: He was Julio Scoundrél's personal sartorial adviser, and when picking winter gear for the Order he takes care in choosing the right sizes and color schemes. Of course, being part of a pirate crew certainly makes him an ActionFashionista too. Apparently, Julio's taste in clothing was so bad, the fact that Felix managed to become a competent pilot between fixing Julio's frequent assaults on good taste in clothing is a testament to his work ethic.
1049* NumberTwo: After Bandana becomes acting captain, he becomes the new first officer.
1050* SeriousBusiness: Fashion is this for him. He can't let his captain go on an adventure while dressed in tacky clothes. Even when the ''Mechane'' is under attack from boulder-chucking giants and just a few impacts from falling out of the sky, Felix's reaction is bafflement at the giants' lack of sartorial creativity.
1051-->'''Felix:''' Would it kill them to break up all that blue and grey with a few gold accents to pull their ensembles together? ''[crew glares at him]'' What? You think a splash of fuschia would pop better?
1052* TeethClenchedTeamwork: [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0951.html Is initially unhappy about working with Elan to effect repairs]], [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0949.html due to Elan's, shall we say, unorthodox medical procedure]], but they're seen getting along once they've started.
1053* TranquilFury: His retaliation against [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1064.html Andi's mutiny and provocations ]] is to serenely and calmly ask for [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1079.html Andi's pay to be forfeited .]]
1054[[/folder]]
1055
1056[[folder:Andromeda]]
1057!!Andromeda (Andi)
1058[[quoteright:110:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oots_andi.png]]
1059
1060->''"Everybody, stay back! You know the captain's orders: No interfering with third-act duels!"''
1061
1062->'''Race:''' Human\
1063'''Gender:''' Female\
1064'''Class:''' Unknown (possibly Rogue)\
1065'''Alignment:''' Unknown (probably ChaoticNeutral)
1066
1067Chief engineer of the ''Mechane''.
1068----
1069* BerserkButton: Damage the ship after she's fixed it. {{Downplayed|Trope}} in that, when Belkar explained that he wanted to make stakes [[spoiler:to use against Vampire Durkon]], she offers him scrap wood to use.
1070* BystanderSyndrome: In regards to the Order's quest, Andi does not want to continue helping them when the Order needs to get to Firmament. Even when Bandana ensures that the crew will get a proper pay from the extra mileage, Andi would prefer that their crew of pirates remain ''pirates'', not, as she puts it, a ferry service. When the ''Mechane'' is attacked by Frost Giants, rather than assist in engineering, ''her area of expertise'', Andi prefers to stand around and complain. [[spoiler:Likewise, not too much later, while her later mutiny of Bandana is rooted in pettier grievances, as detailed below, it's also motivated by her not wanting to put the ship in any more danger resulting from the Order's quest, and '''if''' they had successfully managed to escape under Andi's command, she likely would've thrown the Order off the ''Mechane'' despite Julio's wishes ''and the impending end of the world''.]]
1071* CaptainObvious: This little moment:
1072-->'''Mateo:''' '''''ANDI!!!''''' Which way do I go around this mountain?!?\
1073'''Andi:''' What? Uh, which way has more room to --\
1074'''Mateo:''' [[AskAStupidQuestion Andi, if I could tell, I wouldn't be asking!]]\
1075'''Andi:''' But... I don't know that we can fit through ''either'' side!\
1076'''Mateo:''' '''''Yes I know that is the nature of the dilemma thank you!'''''
1077* CommanderContrarian: Her irrational dislike of Bandana gets to the point that she declares any point Bandana makes must ''automatically'' be wrong, [[InsaneTrollLogic because it's Bandana's]].
1078* DudeWheresMyReward: Considers herself to have more of a "claim" to the captaincy of the ''Mechane'' than Bandana does, on the grounds of having substantially longer service aboard the ship. It's ultimately just part of a very, ''very'' [[SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp petty grudge.]]
1079* TheEngineer: The Mechane's chief engineer, with fifteen years of experience patching it up.
1080* GadgeteerGenius: Cannibalizes the ''Mechane'''s starboard engine to repair her port engine, getting her to half speed where she had been dead in the air and losing altitude.
1081* GenreSavvy: She's the one to remind the crew about Julio's orders concerning [=PCs'=] duels. Also, like Belkar, she thinks it's a bad idea to have [[spoiler:Vampire Durkon]] walking around. [[spoiler:She's right.]]
1082* HumblePie: The swift reversal of her mutiny has resulted in an equally swift decline in snide criticisms of Bandana's leadership and a marked increase of meek uses of the phrase "Yes, captain."
1083* {{Hypocrite}}:
1084** She's very insistent on the captain listening to others' opinions, as long as she's one of those people offering opinions [[spoiler:rather than the captain herself]]. After [[spoiler:knocking out Bandana and taking over, she cuts Bandana off by snidely remarking that Bandana's changed her mind about "the captain" listening to others]], then she proceeds to ignore Kweisi and Mateo's warnings about the ship having lost altitude.
1085** Her claim that she's entitled to be captain because she's older than Bandana is countered when Carol points out that ''she's'' even older than both of them, and therefore logically has even more right to be captain. Andi immediately claims that it doesn't count because Carol is a half-elf.
1086** She indignantly whines that Bandana constantly criticizing her attempts at leadership from the sidelines instead of doing something more constructive isn't helping matters. Of course, not only has criticizing Bandana's leadership from the sidelines been her major contribution since Bandana took over, she is also the ''reason'' Bandana can only criticize instead of doing something more constructive.
1087--->'''Bandana:''' Guess we'll put ''self-awareness'' on the list of stuff we're running short on, right after ''lift gas'' and ''options''. And ''licks of common sense''.
1088* JerkassToOne: Towards Bandana, and for extremely petty reasons. Andi only sees an eight-year old brat who was just handed her position as interim captain of the ''Mechane''. Whilst their relationship seemed professional prior to the Order's quest shifting to the North, once Bandana is made captain, Andi's nastier attitude quickly comes to the surface, [[spoiler:to the point where she attempts a mutiny.]]
1089* JerkassHasAPoint:
1090** When the Order's mission shifts to needing to head up to Firmament, Andi does not want to help them, regardless of her personal opinion of Roy, due to the number of stops that have been made and lack of payment, on top of the quest details having not been explained. The second issue is something Bandana considers a good point, and arranges for, in addition to funding for ship repairs, individual payments for the crew throughout the rest of the voyage.
1091** Belkar wanting to make stakes against vampires? Great. Belkar trying to make those stakes ''out of the wood the ship is made out of?'' Yeah, not hard to argue with Andi on that one.
1092* ItsAllAboutMe: Her grudge against Bandana spurs her mutiny against the younger woman (due to Bandana being a handful for her back when Bandana was eight and she babysat her at fifteen), feeling she automatically knows better than Bandana in any and all situations, and that things would go much better if Bandana listened to her. The course of her mutiny demonstrates this attitude is not merely JerkassToOne; Andi disregards the criticisms and fears of the crew, thinking that just giving them orders is sufficient, ignoring the actual facts of the situation at hand.
1093* IRejectYourReality: As part of her incompetent leadership-style, Andi seems to think that she can overrule the actual facts of the situation at hand with her own opinions. One example is a possible escape route for the ship to take...except it's far too high an altitude for the ship to climb in its current condition. Andi automatically assumes that they will have room, instead of taking actions like say, lightening the load, or even finding a different route. If she says they can make it, they can make it.
1094* JustAKid: Andi refuses to see Bandana as anything but the child she had to babysit years ago and serves as the crux for her antagonism toward her.
1095* KarmaHoudini: {{Subverted}}. After her mutiny fails, she's seemingly let back onto the crew with nothing more then a stern glare. However, once they're out of immediate danger, Bandana makes it clear she won't tolerate any more shenanigans from her and, drawing inspiration from Felix, she decides her share of the pay will be split among the rest of the crew instead.
1096-->'''Bandana:''' And as for ''you'', now that we're out safely -- that's Strike One.\
1097'''Andi:''' ...What... What happens on Strike Three?\
1098'''Bandana:''' Nuthin'. [[ImpliedDeathThreat 'Cause you won't make it past]] Strike '''''Two'''''.
1099* KnowWhenToFoldEm: When Andi sees that Bandana convinced the rest of the crew to untie her while Andi was distracted fixing an engine problem, she immediately puts up her arms in surrender.
1100* LeaderWannabe: While she often claims to be more fitting to run the ship, she quickly turns out to be very incompetent when compared to Bandana. Not only does she ''not'' even have seniority (there's a half-elf crew member), she proves to be indecisive, lacking the ability to command, and being more concerned with tying up Bandana than the approaching mountains. When Bandana points out that her gripe is rooted in being the former's old babysitter than any decision Bandana made presently, Andi's rebuttal is simply childish. Shortly afterwards, she shows herself to be completely willing to ignore the expertise of the crew ([[{{Hypocrite}} which she herself claimed Bandana was doing]]), which results in [[spoiler:Roy losing the Greenhilt family sword (thankfully averted thanks to its Weapon of Legacy status) and possibly some more damage to the ship.]] Ultimately, it's made pretty clear that Andi's "mutiny" has the support of no-one except herself, and the only reason it lasts as long as it does is that everyone has bigger fish to fry at that point than putting her back in her place; the very second her back is turned and things have calmed down a bit, everyone turns on her.
1101* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: She looks genuinely shocked with herself after [[spoiler:whacking Bandana with a wrench in a moment of fury, [[AvertedTrope but once her mutiny begins in earnest, doesn't regret it in the slightest.]]]]
1102* NoBadassToHisValet: DeconstructedTrope -- most of the crew recognize Bandana as a capable captain chosen by Julio to help the Order of the Stick complete their mission. Andi, however, still views her as the kid who gave her trouble during her studies back when she babysat her, and the Order's mission to be a mess not worth getting involved with. The deconstruction starts when we realistically see what happens when someone maintains this view and refuses to recognize change. This attitude makes Andi reluctant to follow Bandana and gripe about how ''she'' should be in charge. [[spoiler:Eventually, she knocks Bandana out in a mutiny in an attempt to escape an encounter with Frost Giants... before proceeding to make things worse and proving herself to be an incapable captain. While she fixes the engines, Bandana regains control and proceeds to fix the issues quickly.]]
1103* OhCrap: After [[spoiler:her mutiny, Mateo asks her where to go since she sent them to a dead end.]]
1104* ThePeterPrinciple: She's an excellent chief engineer and invaluable in that role, but, when she seizes command of the ship, she quickly proves to be a poor captain: specifically, she tries to apply methods and viewpoints she used as an engineer to commanding the ship despite the fact that they don't translate well; she's indecisive at critical times; she tends to get so bogged down in details that she misses the big picture (at one point she runs off to fix a problem with the engines, leaving the ship momentarily leaderless); and, her abrasive style results in her failing to make the most of the crew's talents and ignoring the areas of expertise that other crew members have.
1105* PlotIrrelevantVillain: More akin to Plot Irrelevant ''Antagonist'' since at her core, Andi is a neutral character with a {{Jerkass}} nature rather than a full-blown villain, but it's worth pointing out that the Order had no idea of the mutiny she led; Bandana just sums up the situation as the crew losing their way briefly, Roy quickly shoots down Elan's inquiry to elaborate, and the resulting HumblePie keeps Andi in her engineer role for the rest of the arc.
1106* SarcasticDevotee:
1107** Been this to Bandana ever since she was left in charge of the ''Mechane''. She has to be constantly reminded that it's ''Captain'' Bandana now. She considers Bandana's position as Captain to be temporary experience-building, and believes that she has more of a claim to the ship if Julio retires for real.
1108** She's on the receiving end when she [[spoiler:clobbers Bandana with a wrench and takes over the ship. It's immediately clear that she's out of her depth and the only reason anyone's following her is because they have bigger fish to fry at this point, but everyone makes a point of getting very snippy with her]].
1109* SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp: Her entire beef with Bandana is that she was the latter's babysitter back when she was fifteen and resents her for having been a difficult-to-manage child... [[DisproportionateRetribution ''when the latter was eight years old.'']]
1110* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: While the root cause of [[spoiler:her mutiny]] lies with a petty grudge against Bandana, she has also had enough of the dangers of the Order's quest and no longer wishes to assist them with it, preferring to complain instead of help. Bandana's regaining control of the situation puts a stop to it.
1111* TheStarscream: Ultimately, when she disagrees too vehemently with Bandana's assessment of the frost giant-filled pass, [[spoiler:she smashes her wrench against her head and seizes control of the ship.]]
1112* SuddenNameChange: Andi was named Sally at first, but The Giant retconned her name and [[https://twitter.com/RichBurlew/status/506304691412955137 jokingly feigned ignorance about the change.]]
1113* WrenchWench: Andi is the ship's chief engineer and handy woman, and she has been able to repair major damage to the ship's engines on several occasions.
1114[[/folder]]
1115
1116[[folder:Kwesi]]
1117!!Kwesi
1118[[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_10_at_85538_pm.png]]
1119
1120->''"We're close to maximum altitude already!"''
1121
1122->'''Race:''' Human\
1123'''Gender:''' Female\
1124'''Class:''' Unknown (possibly Rogue)\
1125'''Alignment:''' Unknown (probably ChaoticNeutral)
1126
1127The ''Mechane'''s aeronautical engineer.
1128----
1129* CasualDangerDialog: Kwesi would rather work out who's fault it is that giants are attacking the ''Mechane'' than worry about falling out of the sky in a flaming wreck.
1130-->'''Andi:''' We're doomed if they target the engines!\
1131'''Carol:''' How are there even this many giants in one place?\
1132'''Kwesi:''' Yeah, what'd those adventurers do to piss them off?
1133* DeadpanSnarker: Mortal peril doesn't bother Kwesi nearly as much as not being able to get the ''Mechane'' to do what she wants it to do.
1134-->'''Andi:''' This is insane! These giants are going to knock us out of the sky!!\
1135'''Kwesi:''' Tell me about it.
1136* TheEngineer: Bandana looks to Kwesi to manage the ''Mechane'''s airworthiness and altitude.
1137[[/folder]]
1138
1139[[folder:Mateo]]
1140!!Mateo
1141[[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_10_at_85613_pm.png]]
1142
1143->''"Anyone have strong feelings on which way I should go around this next mountain?"''
1144
1145->'''Race:''' Human\
1146'''Gender:''' Male\
1147'''Class:''' Unknown (possibly Rogue)\
1148'''Alignment:''' Unknown (probably ChaoticNeutral)
1149
1150The ''Mechane'''s junior helmsman.
1151----
1152* AcePilot: Not to the degree of Bandana or Felix, but Bandana relies on him in a pinch when Felix is managing the ''Mechane'''s electronics.
1153* {{Determinator}}: When a giant's thrown rock smashes into the bridge, only he and Bandana manage not to go flying. Mateo hangs onto the helm with his fingertips, but doesn't let go. Also pilots with his tongue sticking out in effort.
1154[[/folder]]
1155
1156[[folder:Carol]]
1157!!Carol
1158[[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_10_at_90449_pm.png]]
1159
1160->''"If we're going by age, I should be captain! I'm older than all of you!"''
1161
1162->'''Race:''' Half-elf\
1163'''Gender:''' Female\
1164'''Class:''' Unknown (possibly Rogue)\
1165'''Alignment:''' Unknown (probably ChaoticGood)
1166
1167Another crew member of the ''Mechane''.
1168----
1169* HalfHumanHybrid: She's an half-elf. However, the gag of half-elven ancestry being figured by a pointy ear on only one side, like with Pompey, has been phased out from the comic by this point (or it's just hidden by her hair).
1170* NiceGirl: She's the first to move in order to help any crew member or guest that's been wounded. After Haley got her arm broken by Tarquin, she offers her own bandana to make a sling. She and Haley shares a parting hug when the Order leaves the ship.
1171* OlderThanTheyLook: Being a half-elf, she's older than any of her human crewmates (except maybe Julio) while still looking quite young. Andi argues that doesn't count in matters of seniority.
1172[[/folder]]
1173
1174!Others
1175
1176[[folder:The Oracle]]
1177!!The Oracle
1178[[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_11_at_81634_pm.png]]
1179
1180->''"Geez, I can peer into the murky depths of the future, and yet I always seem to get interrupted during bath time."''
1181
1182->'''Race:''' Kobold\
1183'''Gender:''' Male\
1184'''Class:''' Expert\
1185'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral
1186%% Alignment confirmed by Word of the Giant.
1187
1188Tiamat's Oracle of the Sunken Valley is a snarky kobold with a dislike for Belkar specifically and everyone in general.
1189----
1190* AllPowerfulBystander: His {{Seer|s}} powers allow him to figure out basically anything there is to be known, but 99% of the time he has no interest in helping the Order beyond the point where they're willing to pay for his aid. He sometimes even does things that directly screw them over, [[spoiler: tipping off the Black Dragon to V's location, goading Belkar into attacking him and activating the Mark of Justice, and refusing to help Roy's ghost communicate with Haley and Celia]] being the primary examples.
1191* BackFromTheDead: It takes him all of maybe three minutes; being an oracle, he sets up his resurrections in advance, down to the minute of death.
1192* CrazyPrepared: Seeing the future allows him to always have the magic item he needs on hand.
1193* CallForward: With his precognitive powers and tendency to ramble, he often makes references to events that haven't happened yet. Take this exchange with Eugene Greenhilt in ''[[Recap/TheOrderOfTheStickStartOfDarkness Start of Darkness]]'':
1194-->'''Oracle:''' Hey, it's Film/GhostDad!\
1195'''Eugene:''' Huh?\
1196'''Oracle:''' Eh, it'll be funny later. [[TakeThat Funnier than the Cosby movie, at least.]]
1197* DeadpanSnarker: At each and every customer, or at least the ones he doesn't respect. For instance, when Roy gives his overly specific question, he responds, "you've outsmarted yourself at least."
1198* DeathIsCheap: He's been killed by angry clients any number of times, but has a contract agreement with a pair of spellcasters that teleport in to revive him whenever it happens. That being said, death is still ''painful''.
1199-->'''Oracle:''' I think the halfling ''dulls his blades'' just to make it hurt more.
1200* EnsembleDarkhorse: [[invoked]] Invoked by the Oracle during his Fourth Wall Aside to "Oracle fans".
1201* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Just "Oracle" or "the Oracle of Sunken Valley".
1202* EveryoneHasStandards: The Oracle will see just about everyone, but he will be conveniently away [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0737.html when Xykon comes a-callin'.]]
1203* ExactWords: He tends to use them in his prophecies with people he doesn't particularly fancy. When Belkar asks if he'll cause the death of Roy, Miko, Miko's horse, V or the Oracle himself, he simply answers "Yes." He later explains he did cause the death of Roy and Miko tangentially, then concedes he was bullshitting, but after Belkar stabs him the prophecy is completed.
1204* FantasticRacism: "You mammals are disgusting..." It explains why he answers Blackwing's question normally, instead of a MathematiciansAnswer.
1205* ForeseeingMyDeath: Naturally, due to his abilities, and he has hired a wizard and a cleric to teleport to his location and provide him with a ''raise dead'' or ''resurrection'' spell at very specific times. If he sees himself dying by violence, he'll also try to find some way to screw with his murderer, [[spoiler:such as tricking Belkar into activating his Mark of Justice]].
1206* {{Foreshadowing}}: That's his job, being an oracle and all. He's foreshadowed very important happenstances, like Roy's and Elan's "family reunions" (Nale kidnapping Julia in Cliffport) and, quite early, even [[spoiler:Belkar's incoming demise]].
1207* FourthWallObserver: "Fourth Wall Aside" demonstrates that his oracle vision can see the fourth wall in addition to the future.
1208* HighAltitudeInterrogation: He was dangled out a window by Roy and Durkon, as seen in a flashback, before conceding them a third question.
1209* ISeeDeadPeople: Though at first he pretends not to, in order to snub [[spoiler:Roy's ghost]]. When he reveals he can perceive ghosts, it's a PokeInTheThirdEye since [[spoiler:Roy assumed no living person could hear or see him -- which was true, but the Oracle read the graphic novels]].
1210* {{Jerkass}}: Downplayed. Given proper respect, or maybe as a favor to fellow reptiles or followers of Tiamat, he is quite genial. The Order tends to be abusive to him, which results in him treating them poorly.
1211* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: His interactions with the Order are mutually abusive, with him being a snarky jerk who charges a lot for potentially vague and meaningless answers should the questioner not be specific enough, and the Order threatens and enacts physical violence on him for being that way. However, he's got a vested interest in the Order succeeding against Xykon so when Roy gives a very specific question that excludes what he actually wants, the Oracle tries to convince Roy to rephrase the question and is ignored. Meanwhile, his interactions with his fellow reptilians are quite genial. He worships Tiamat, so he's also very friendly with chromatic dragons.
1212* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Visitors to the Sunken Valley remember his prophecies, but nothing else about their visit due to a charm, including the Oracle's true identity. This spell nearly keeps the Order from returning to Azure City to defend it from Xykon's attack, but it also keeps Belkar from getting kicked out of the Order and left to die from his curse after he kills the Oracle. He dismisses Roy's ghost in such a way, however, that he ''remembers'' his encounter with the Oracle. (Of course, Roy's memories get hazy anyway when he's resurrected.)
1213* LizardFolk: He's a kobold.
1214* MagicWand: Uses one to banish [[spoiler: Ghost Roy]] back to the afterlife. Being an Expert, Use Magic Device is presumably one of his chosen class skills.
1215* MathematiciansAnswer:
1216** The Oracle's answers can be extremely literal. He gives one to Belkar, to the halfing's disgust, and gave one to Roy during his first visit.
1217--->'''Oracle:''' Hey, "in his throne room," was a perfectly legitimate answer to the question "Where is Xykon?"
1218** Thanks to that incident, Roy is smart enough to have a specifically-worded question prepared, to prevent the Oracle from doing this during his second visit. Unfortunately, Roy's question is ''so'' specifically-worded that he manages to outsmart himself. The Oracle ''does'' try to warn him.
1219* MediumAwareness: Higher than any other characters in the comic, which is saying something. In fact, he says he understands Haley while she was dealing with a language affliction only because he ''reads the graphic novels'' (which haven't been printed at that point) and saw the translations there. In his meeting with Eugene he points out that they're meeting in a flashback nested in a callback in a prequel book already, so it's unlikely they'll meet again. When saying Belkar will die within the year, he [[BreakingTheFourthWall breaks the fourth wall and winks to camera]] to tell readers it's an InUniverse year.
1220* MetaphoricallyTrue: His argument for Belkar's prophecy fulfilled on their second visit. [[TemptingFate It becomes literally true immediately after, as one of the people Belkar asked if he'd end up killing was the Oracle himself.]]
1221* {{Omniglot}}: A special case. He can tell what Haley is saying despite the CypherLanguage because he can look into the future [[NoFourthWall when the translations are included in the book]]. He can also understand Blackwing's caws.
1222* NonMammalMammaries: Specifically mentions getting to second base with another kobold. Eugene asks how that's possible [[LampshadeHanging if she's a reptile]].
1223* PowerFloats: During the oracular trance, he floats above the ground.
1224* ProphecyTwist: The Oracle has given eight prophecies to the Order (excluding "in his throne room"), and all of them except Haley's either had a twist to them or have yet to be fulfilled in-comic.
1225** Roy asked whether Xykon would go to Girard's Gate or Kraagor's Gate first. The Oracle replied that Xykon would go to Girard's Gate first. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:Xykon gets there seconds before it explodes, and the Order doesn't need to protect it from Xykon at all.]]
1226** Durkon asked when he would return to his homeland. The Oracle responded, "posthumously". Unfortunately, [[spoiler:Durkon becomes a vampire and goes back as part of a plan to destroy the universe.]]
1227** Vaarsuvius asked how V would obtain complete and ultimate arcane power. The Oracle said, "by saying the right four words to the right being at the right time for the wrong reasons". Unfortunately, [[spoiler:the power V obtains, while [[ExactWords technically]] being "complete and ultimate", is full of limitations, completely temporary, and the catalyst of consequences that will follow Vaarsuvius for the rest of V's natural life and [[DealWithTheDevil possibly beyond]]. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Also, one of the words was more of a stutter]].]]
1228** Belkar asked if he would "cause the death" of Roy, Miko, Windstriker, Vaarsuvius, or the Oracle himself. The Oracle just said, "yes", without specifying which. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:Belkar ends up killing the Oracle just before Haley and Celia could ask him a very important question, and the Oracle -- having seen this coming -- uses it to trigger a curse on Belkar that makes him incredibly sick, turning him into TheLoad.]]
1229** Elan asked whether the story had a happy ending. The Oracle answered, "yes, for you at least". Unfortunately, [[spoiler:the "happy ending" is actually part of an [[LotusEaterMachine illusion-trap]] protecting Girard's Gate, and while Elan is in it, he realizes that perfect happy endings are a little naive. Whatever will happen, will happen, but the fantasy he wished for -- his family getting back together -- won't. Especially considering what happens to [[KilledOffForReal Nale]].]] However, WordOfGod has stated that Elan will get a genuine happy ending at the actual end of the story.
1230* ReligionIsMagic: {{Played with}}. He worships Tiamat and owes his precognitive abilities to her, but he's not a cleric as is normally standard for this trope in ''D&D'' settings.
1231* {{Revenge}}: He gets his over Belkar, who is cursed by the Mark of Justice to never harm a living being within a settlement, by creating the town of [=LickMyOrangeBallsHalfling=]. [Founded: Last week. Population: Just Enough.]
1232-->[[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments "No, seriously, give them a good once-over!"]]
1233* RuleOfFunny: Invoked, as usual. The Oracle admits he considered calling the aforementioned kobold town [=ShouldHaveCheckedAMap=] [[ToiletHumor but decided to go blue instead.]]
1234* {{Seers}}: Probably the most well-known and reputed oracle in the ''[=OotS=]'' world (although not many people know he's a kobold).
1235* SelfFulfillingProphecy: It happens, such as with Belkar. [[spoiler:He predicts that Belkar will kill him and then ticks him off to the point that he does, and activates the Mark of Justice.]]
1236* ShootTheMessenger: This happens to him often enough that he schedules his resurrections in advance.
1237* SpeechBubbles: His normal (white) speech bubbles turn green when entering the trance and doing a prediction; incidentally this answer is all the petitioner will remember.
1238* YourMom: After Roy's keep insulting his mom to see if he can see his ghost form, the Oracle finally reveals he was aware by calling Roy's mom a slut.
1239[[/folder]]
1240
1241[[folder:Sir François]]
1242!!Sir François
1243[[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/francois.png]]
1244
1245->''"Don't break the paladin code by strangling Elan... Don't break the paladin code by strangling Elan..."''
1246
1247->'''Race:''' Human\
1248'''Gender:''' Male\
1249'''Class:''' Paladin\
1250'''Alignment:''' LawfulGood
1251
1252A paladin who employed Elan as his herald until Elan's idiocy screwed up François' plans one too many times.
1253----
1254* AscendedExtra: Interestingly, he's been featured in the end-of-year calendar collections, consisting of short character vignettes, more often than nearly any other character with so little page time. Apparently, he and Elan went on a surprising number of adventures together before he finally abandoned Elan in the prequel book ''[[Recap/TheOrderOfTheStickOnTheOriginOfPCs On the Origin of PCs]]''.
1255* DitchTheBodyguards: Escapes from Elan, who tries to act in a bodyguard-like role (but is terrible at it). [[spoiler:That being said, he still has the decency to do this in a safe, if somewhat seedy town, where Elan is not in immediate danger, instead of somewhere in the wilderness.]]
1256* MadnessMantra: The above quote, which he repeats while struggling with the temptation of ditching his vows to put an end to source of all his frustrations -- Elan.
1257* ThePaladin: A seriously played one, to the extent that he's willing to call out other adventurers who kill monsters just because they live in a cool dungeon.
1258[[/folder]]
1259
1260[[folder:Saha Kapoor]]
1261!!Saha Kapoor
1262[[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kapoor.png]]
1263
1264->''"You could start by reminding him that he married a crazy fierce ranger queen with elite nature skills."''
1265
1266->'''Race:''' Human\
1267'''Gender:''' Female\
1268'''Class:''' Ranger\
1269'''Alignment:''' Unknown (probably TrueNeutral)
1270
1271A veteran ranger from the Peripheral Frontier. Her family is trying to get into Azure city's territory to escape the Realm of the Dragon, which is invading the Frontier. She volunteers to help O-Chul deal with the hobgoblin incursions on the Azurite border in exchange for a recommendation from the military that Azure city's immigration authorities let their family in.
1272----
1273* ActionMom: Being a mother doesn't stop her from being a highly skilled combatant and tracker.
1274* AmbiguouslyBrown: She has dark skin and her appearance borrows from several different real world traditions. She wears a head scarf reminiscent of a hijab, and also has what appears to be a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bindi_(decoration) hindu bindi]] marked on her forehead.
1275* AntiHero: She's a rather ruthless UnscrupulousHero. She has few compunctions or moral qualms about killing people, is quite willing to use violence without exhausting all other possibilities, and freely admits that she doesn't give much of a damn about anyone other than her family.
1276* CrazyPrepared: She believes in being ready for worst-case scenarios. She has apparently been giving her son extensive training in self-defense with real knives. She mentions that she has been teaching him in this manner since he was ''five''. As such, when she's away, she appoints the pre-teen boy to be the family's protector.
1277* DeadpanSnarker: She can be cuttingly sarcastic, sometimes without ever changing her expression or giving any sign that she's not being sincere.
1278-->'''Saha Kapoor:''' Your humility is refreshing, and I am moved by your frank personal assessment of your shortcomings.\
1279'''Zhou:''' Wow, really?\
1280'''Saha Kapoor:''' No, you sound like a buffoon.\
1281'''Zhou:''' Is "buffoon" a compliment in your country?\
1282'''Saha Kapoor:''' Only insofar as it ranks slightly above "moron" and "dumbass".
1283* DualWielding: She dual-wields her kukris and shows skill with both hands. The only hint that she's not completely ambidextrous is when she attacks the Ettin: she attempts to cut off both heads simultaneously but only gets one because she misses the slice with her "off hand".
1284* KukrisAreKool: She fights with two kukris that, when thrown, return to her like boomerangs.
1285* TheLancer: She acts as this for O-Chul in "How the Paladin Got His Scar," as the only other member of the group with any meaningful combat experience. She serves as a counterweight to O-Chul's more traditionally heroic attitudes, advocating more pragmatic and/or violent actions.
1286* MoralityPet: Her husband and family are this to her. She is a gentle and loving wife and mother around them, the rest of the time she's a stone-cold badass.
1287* PrecisionGuidedBoomerang: Her kukris return to her hand after being thrown, no matter how far they've gone or who they've killed.
1288* ScarilyCompetentTracker: One of her ranger skills. She is '''excellent''' at tracking down the hobgoblins and others that O-Chul is trying to find.
1289* SpeaksFluentAnimal: Another of her ranger skills. She talks to several animals while working with O-Chul.
1290* TalkToTheFist: She pulls this several times, most memorably on the Ettin, when she cuts off the brutish head while the more "sophisticated" one is in the middle of speaking.
1291* ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer: She believes in this. Although she says that her first inclination is to avoid trouble, if she can't avoid it, she believes that the answer is then to destroy it efficiently and completely. Moral hangups about killing other intelligent beings are for wimps.
1292[[/folder]]
1293
1294[[folder:Phil Rodriguez and Jones (The Lawyers)]]
1295!!Phil Rodriguez and Jones
1296[[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_11_at_112830_pm.png]]
1297[[caption-width-right:150:Jones (left) and Phil Rodriguez (right)]]
1298
1299->'''Mr. Jones:''' We might have some success citing precedent. Get me the case files for [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Sauron vs. Baggins]], [[Literature/{{Dragonlance}} Takhisis vs. Everman]], and... [[Literature/HarryPotter Riddle vs. Board of Education]].\
1300'''Phil Rodriguez:''' How about [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz Witch vs. Gale]]?\
1301'''Mr. Jones:''' Hmmmm. Yeah, OK, but East, not West.
1302
1303->'''Race:''' Humans\
1304'''Gender:''' Male\
1305'''Class:''' N/A\
1306'''Alignment:''' LawfulNeutral (Jones), Unknown (Rodriguez)
1307%% Alignment confirmed by Word of the Giant.
1308
1309Messrs. Jones and Rodriguez -- attorneys at law. Two lawyers who enforce copyright for Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast, they also sometimes take court cases.
1310----
1311* AmoralAttorney: It's implied that the only reason Jones keeps Rodriguez around is so that the latter's record can absorb all losses in court, keeping the former's record flawless. 5-0 for Jones, 0-150-ish for Rodriguez.
1312* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Phil Rodriguez is about as cuckoo as Elan, as seen from [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0032.html his very first appearance]].
1313* TheComicallySerious: Jones is a never-smiling, serious man, to better contrast with his ditzy partner and the ridiculous situations they're put in.
1314* CutenessProximity:
1315-->'''Rodriguez:''' Ohmygod!!! You have a kitty!!!
1316* HilaritySues: Their main role is suing for comedy.
1317* IveGotAnXAndImNotAfraidToUseIt: When the two are confronted by brigands...
1318-->'''Mr. Jones:''' Get back! I have a restraining order and I'm not afraid to use it!
1319* NeverMyFault: Jones is an incompetent who uses Rodriguez to pass on all the blame for his failures as a lawyer.
1320* NoFourthWall: All of the characters are aware of the fourth wall, but the lawyers are explicitly from outside the comic strip. They were originally introduced for the purpose of carrying off anything that might be a violation of copyright (including a Mind Flayer and a Drizzt clone).
1321* RecurringExtra: You can never tell when they'll show up for a gag. They even get once mixed up with the Flumphs.
1322* SmartJerkAndNiceMoron: Mr. Jones is a walking EvilLawyerJoke, who throws legal impediments in the path of the Order (except when they retain his services; he's a [[ConsummateProfessional professional]]). Phil Rodriguez is affable and dimwitted, regularly committing legal gaffes and {{Malaprop|er}}isms. Whenever they lose a case, Mr. Jones [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0287.html manipulates the court transcript]] so that Mr. Rodriguez is listed as primary counsel, allowing Mr. Jones to maintain a "perfect" record at trial.
1323-->'''Mr. Rodriguez:''' Aww, man! That means my record will fall to 0-147.\
1324'''Mr. Jones:''' Naturally, I remain perfect at 5-0.
1325[[/folder]]
1326
1327[[folder:The Flumphs]]
1328!!The Flumphs
1329[[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_11_at_113217_pm.png]]
1330
1331->''"...and ever since then, I've felt like... I don't know, like just I'm a... a minor character in, you know, someone else's story."''
1332
1333->'''Race:''' Flumph\
1334'''Gender:''' Unknown\
1335'''Class:''' N/A\
1336'''Alignment:''' LawfulGood
1337
1338A pair of bizarre aberrations left over from ''D&D'' 1st edition. Originally kept as part of Dorukan's menagerie of discontinued monsters, the flumphs escape the dungeon's destruction after Xykon's defeat. Ever since, they keep running into the oblivious main characters... who keep landing on them from great heights.
1339----
1340* BrickJoke: They once swap places with The Lawyers, so ''they'' get crushed by a falling character while the flumphs pretend to be lawyers in court.
1341* TheChewToy: They exist solely as landing cushions for the main characters.
1342* LivingCrashpad: Their lot in life.
1343* NotQuiteFlight: They're floating a bit above the ground thanks to their bizarre aberration anatomy (something about buoyant gases in their bodies according to the original ''Fiend Folio'').
1344* OurGhostsAreDifferent: They are joined, for a strip, by the Ghost of Lame Monsters Past, who looks like a ChainedByFashion Flumph. He soon serves as an incorporeal crashpad for [[spoiler:Roy's ghost falling from Heaven]].
1345* RecurringExtra: You can never tell when they'll show up for a gag. They even once get mixed up with the Lawyers.
1346* RunningGag: Someone falling on them.
1347* ShooOutTheClowns: Played with and lampshaded all to hell. [[spoiler:When Roy dies, one of the Flumphs feels that he has to be somewhere as a gag. Then you realize how many times the Flumphs have saved the lives of all the people who landed on them.]]
1348* ThrowTheDogABone: They get a reprieve from the constant mistreatment in Book 6, [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1090.html where they are left untouched while crossing the Dwarven lands,]] since technically they aren't trespassing because they're levitating and never touching the ground.
1349-->'''Flumph:''' Why can't more places we visit treat us this well?
1350[[/folder]]
1351
1352[[folder:The Ettin]]
1353!!The Ettin
1354[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ettin.png]]
1355
1356->'''Right head:''' What an unprovoked slur on my good character. I can assure you that I, the right ettin head, have never swung a giant club at anyone.\
1357'''Left head:''' I WILL KILL YOU WITH MY GIANT CLUB!!
1358
1359->'''Race:''' Ettin\
1360'''Gender:''' Male\
1361'''Class:''' N/A\
1362'''Alignment:''' Unknown (presumably Evil)
1363
1364A two-headed giant encountered by O-Chul and his party during their search for the hobgoblin base during the events of "How the Paladin Got His Scar".
1365----
1366* {{Angrish}}: The left head talks more or less exclusively in angry shouts.
1367* CarryABigStick: Likes to use a club as a weapon.
1368* FauxAffablyEvil: The right head. During the fight he uses a reasonable tone, but comes up with increasingly bizarre reasons not to stop the left head's rampage and attacks on the heroes. When Saha kills the left head, the right head drops the act almost immediately and furiously insults and attacks her. As O-Chul points out, if it had been telling the truth, it would have welcomed being freed from the influence of the murderous and deranged other head.
1369* JekyllAndHyde: It invokes this as a deliberate tactic. The left head goes on a rampage while the right head pretends to speak reasonably and engage whatever it's attacking. This just serves to distract the target and make it easier to kill.
1370* MovingTheGoalposts: The right head does this repeatedly when others try to talk to it and get it to stop attacking. Naturally this is part of the Ettin's strategy for attacking people as detailed under FauxAffablyEvil and JekyllAndHyde.
1371* NeverMyFault: The right head insists that he shouldn't be blamed for the bad language and physical assaults of the left head.
1372* {{Satire}}: Of Internet trolls. The left head just screams insults and attacks, while the right head throws out a series of obviously inane arguments (e.g., that him trying to stop the left head from attacking would be a violation of the left head's rights, or that his victims can't "prove" he attacked them without evidence).
1373[[/folder]]
1374
1375[[folder:The Snail]]
1376!!The Snail
1377[[quoteright:324:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/buildtosnail.png]]
1378
1379->''"I am a vampiric half-dragon half-troll lycanthropic fiendish snail! Tremble at my illogical glory!"''
1380
1381->'''Race:''' Vampiric Half-Dragon Half-Troll Lycanthropic Fiendish Phrenic Snail\
1382'''Gender:''' Hermaphrodite\
1383'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil
1384
1385A heavily templated snail and primary antagonist of the ''Dragon'' magazine comics.
1386----
1387* AllTrollsAreDifferent: A half-troll that is also a snail.
1388* TheCameo: It is seen on a rock to the left of the {{Snowlem}} in the "Must Have Been Some Magic..." wallpaper.
1389* {{Dracolich}}: Due to being both a vampire and "half"-dragon.
1390* {{Flight}}: It has two wings on its back, allowing it to fly.
1391* HybridOverkillAvoidance: A big parody of the concept.
1392* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Vampiric Half-Dragon Half-Troll Lycanthropic Fiendish Phrenic Snail.
1393* PsychicPowers: As a phrenic creature, it has psi-like abilities.
1394* OurDemonsAreDifferent: A fiendish creature that is also a snail.
1395* OurDragonsAreDifferent: A half-dragon that is also a snail.
1396* OurVampiresAreDifferent: A vampire that is also a snail.
1397* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: Can change into a slightly hairier snail.
1398* RaisingTheSteaks: A vampire snail.
1399* ShownTheirWork: This is actually a completely legal stack of templates in D&D 3.5 (though it would have no wings because it isn't large-sized[[note]]The Savage Species sourcebook has a "Winged" template that could also be used. It probably ''is'', because the templates don't actually add up to Challenge Rating 14, indicating that the Snail may have some more templates.[[/note]]). The "lycanthropic" template can only be applied to a Humanoid or Giant (which the Snail becomes by being Half-Troll). There is a special "vampiric" template that can only be applied to Dragons (which the Snail becomes by becoming Half-Dragon afterward).
1400* TooManyHalves: Six.
1401[[/folder]]

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