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| 15 | [[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]] | '''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]] | [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickOthers Others]]-]]]]] |
| 16 | ---- |
| 17 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 18 | |
| 19 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2018_10_29_at_72813_pm.png]] |
| 20 | [[caption-width-right:350:From left to right; [[ThePaladin Soon Kim]], [[{{Druid}} Lirian]], [[StealthExpert Serini Toormuck]], [[BarbarianHero Kraagor]], [[MasterOfIllusion Girard Draketooth]], [[TheArchmage Dorukan]]]] |
| 21 | |
| 22 | !The Order of the Scribble |
| 23 | |
| 24 | ->'''Lord Shojo:''' Their final adventures together led them to seal all five of the rifts, trapping the Snarl once again in its timeless prison. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | The adventuring precursors to the Order of the Stick. They were responsible for sealing the Rifts and creating the Gates. So far Kraagor has only been seen in flashbacks during [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0276.html "The Crayons of Time"]] and ''Start of Darkness''; Dorukan and Lirian both appear in ''Start of Darkness'', Soon's ghost appears during the battle of Azure City and Girard appears as an illusion (and as a corpse). Serini appears during the final arc at Kraagor's Gate. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | [[folder:In General]] |
| 29 | * BadassCrew: While they stopped working together at the end, they were still all epic-level characters. |
| 30 | * CripplingOverspecialization: They all believe their respective strong suits are the best method for protecting the gates (Except for Serini, who goes with Kraagor's). So far, each gate has fallen due the inherent flaws of said strong suits. |
| 31 | ** Lirian's gate was guarded by the power of nature and was destroyed thanks to the unnatural abomination that is a lich being immune to her abilities... and a forest fire that ended up being as bad as it was because of all the dead wood lying around. |
| 32 | ** Dorukan believed in the power of wisdom and intelligence, specifically as manifested through arcane magic, and was beaten in a duel by Xykon brute-force spamming Energy Drains. And the gate itself was destroyed by [[TheDitz Elan]] activating the SelfDestructMechanism. |
| 33 | ** Soon based his gate's protection on the unbreakable honor of paladins. [[spoiler:Though this worked better than the others, coming close to killing Xykon, his gate was destroyed by a fallen paladin who was completely deluded and believed she was doing the right thing.]] |
| 34 | ** Girard only trusted his family and specifically distrusted Soon and paladins. Not only did Soon and his paladins ''never'' break their oath, with many other characters calling them out on how foolish that was, his gate only being guarded by his family [[spoiler: meant that they were all wiped out by ''familicide'' with no one left to protect the gate. The villains just walked in.]] He also didn't account for the existence of beings that are immune to illusions. |
| 35 | ** Serini decided to make her gate a tomb for Kraagor, rather than guard it herself; since he believed in physical might, her gate is guarded by high-level monsters out the wazoo that regenerate after a few days. In theory, a death trap that can't have its secrets plumbed. In practice, it means that it's a gold mine of experience points for sufficiently powerful characters (it's one of the few places that Xykon, an epic-level lich, can get XP to become stronger) and grants provisions to anyone trying to get in, thus increasing the strength of those trying to get to the gate. Below a certain threshold, it's admittedly impossible, but above that threshold, finding the gate is ''utterly inevitable''. [[spoiler: That is, unless someone else were to game the system. In truth, it ultimately turns out that Serini's gate is the only one that ''tried'' to ''avoid'' this, not only using Kraagor's belief in strength, but also using Kraagor's beliefs to mislead away from her own roguish belief in traps and tricks. The true test of the gate is to defeat all of the monsters and reach the end of each tunnel to get a stamp there, a gauntlet of monsters to test strength like Kraagor while using Serini's guile to misdirect those who believe there is an instant win button to getting in. She also treated the construction of her dungeon as an exercise in manipulating her party members into working together unknowingly, getting small amounts of help from most of them, though Lirian only helped reluctantly and Soon was too stuck on the Oath to help at all. She also expected to be able to turn to the others for help in the worst case, that hers may be the last standing completely took her by surprise.]] |
| 36 | * DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: They can be argued as one for the classic [[DysfunctionJunction dysfunctional band of heroes]] seen so often in fiction; like the Order of the Stick in the very same webcomic, they are a ''D&D'' party composed of people with conflicting personalities who would normally never interact with each other (maybe even hate each other), but are forced to interact anyhow by their players for the sake of providing interesting drama and storytelling. Unlike the Order of the Stick, though, who have all eventually become good ([[TeethClenchedTeamwork more or less]]) friends and [[TrueCompanions effective teammates]] [[PositiveFriendInfluence through leaning on and building mutual trust between each other]], the Order of the Scribble were never able to move past their initial distrust and animosity. This resulted in the Scribblers staying together solely out of self-preservation to save the world, and once that issue was resolved, they ultimately wanted nothing to do with each other. This has in turn caused subsequent problems because of their inherent distrust and dislike for one another, which unfortunately seems to be leading to the result of all their efforts being for naught. In short, the Scribblers show that putting together a group of contrasting people on a quest to save the world might make for good drama, but that "good drama" can also result in that same group violently self-destructing as soon as they no longer need to be together. |
| 37 | * DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: They managed to seal away the Snarl, a planet-destroying EldritchAbomination [[spoiler:which had destroyed the world countless previous times]]. Notably, this feat becomes more and more impressive the more we learn about it. |
| 38 | * TheFellowshipHasEnded: Kraagor's death turned existing tensions into a near-bloodbath, causing Serini to suggest this; the Scribblers would split up, guard their own gates, and never interact with each other again. However, Lirian and Dorukan maintained contact for the occasional hookup. [[spoiler:It turns out that Serini herself attempted to [[SubvertedTrope Subvert]] this as best as possible; she knew that her solution would ultimately weaken the Gates' defenses, and so she tricked the others into helping her protect her Gate, with only [[HonorBeforeReason Soon]] keeping to his word.]] |
| 39 | * MirroringFactions: Deliberate parallels are drawn between them and the Order of the Stick. The Scribblers have been shown to be individually very powerful characters, but internal strife drove them apart and their inability to work together means their respective Gates are falling one by one. Meanwhile, the Order's members all have sub-optimal character builds, but overcome their personal differences and prevail through teamwork, being able to account for each other's personal weaknesses and be stronger as a whole. |
| 40 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: Their various methods to protect the Gates cause more harm than good in the long run. [[spoiler:Soon Kim's decision [[HonorBeforeReason to stick to his vow not to interfere with the other Gates except his own]] leaves the Sapphire Guard at a tactical disadvantage, Dorukan's ''cloister'' spell ends up keeping the Order of the Stick separated for over three months, Girard's paranoia led him to give out false coordinates when the heroes have to find his Gate in a hurry, and Serini's decision that it would better to just let Xykon claim a Gate has potentially world-ending consequences]]. |
| 41 | * PosthumousCharacter: Of the entire Order, the only one who's still alive is [[spoiler:Serini.]] |
| 42 | * PrecursorHeroes: The Order of the Stick is literally following in their footsteps, for good or for ill. |
| 43 | * ShadowArchetype: Most of the Scribblers are loose parallels to the members of the Order of the Stick, and can be summed up as basically what would happen if the latter had never received proper CharacterDevelopment. |
| 44 | ** Soon Kim is a pretty clear one for Roy. Both leaders started out prioritizing their focus on obtaining their goals while remaining emotionally distant from their teammates. The situation in which Elan was kidnapped by bandits paralleled Kraagor's HeroicSacrifice, in which saving a teammate involved a major risk to himself and the party. Where they diverged was that Roy took the risk to rescue Elan, whereas Soon prioritized sealing the Snarl over Kraagor's life. The results were that Roy realized the importance of valuing his teammates and their goals, and by doing so, eventually earned their loyalty, while Soon's choice made his teammates realize they were disposable, resulting in them abandoning him after they succeeded in their quest. |
| 45 | ** Dorukan can basically be seen as what could have happened to Vaarsuvius if they had never learned the need to be more creative and altruistic in terms of how they use magic. Most notably, his very foolish choice of spells in his WizardDuel against Xykon in ''Start of Darkness'' is contrasted with [[spoiler:V getting DrunkOnTheDarkSide also getting demolished by Xykon in short order during ''Don't Split the Party'' but then proving themselves to be semi-successful after they realize the need to be cleverer in their approach, creatively using spells to help teammates, or playing full defense with Improved Counterspell to negate enemy casters while the rest of the team does their thing]]. |
| 46 | ** Girard Draketooth is one to Haley, with both being Chaotic-aligned [[TheLancer Lancers]] assisting their Lawful-aligned leaders on how they should be operating, and also have both a clear dislike towards authority figures and (at least initially) treat their family members as their only trustworthy confidants. However, Haley eventually learned how to open herself up and trust Roy, while Girard developed an irrational paranoia for anyone outside of his family that ultimately caused his Gate's destruction. Haley's love for Elan means that she trusts him more than anyone in the world, and is open to [[PositiveFriendInfluence make her better than she is]], while Draketooth's clan never trusted in-laws further than their ability to produce more Draketooths, abandoning them with the baby once the job was done. Additionally, while Haley is ProperlyParanoid and an ExcellentJudgeOfCharacter (i.e., being able to instantly tell from the start that the Linear Guild was bad news), Girard is a HorribleJudgeOfCharacter and TheParanoiac (having seriously thought that ''paladins'' would willingly break their oaths just to interfere with his Gate). Most obviously, it's pretty clearly not a coincidence that Draketooth is finally brought to the forefront of the story during ''Blood Runs in the Family'', a story arc that partly focuses on [[CharacterDevelopment how Haley has finally learned to trust others and be open with them]]. |
| 47 | ** Lirian, like Elan, is the "token blonde" in her adventuring party, and is (like Elan) implied to not be particularly brilliant, what with [[spoiler: using many of her spells poorly and telling Xykon as part of her dying words that there are four other Gates]] (though granted, she's not ''nearly'' as dumb as Elan is). Both her and Elan are also romantically involved with another member of their party (Elan and Haley, and Lirian and Dorukan). However, the most significant difference between Lirian and Elan is how the latter eventually had his idealism more tempered by harsh reality, leading to him gaining a (relatively) more realistic outlook on the world and being more willing to be creative with his spells and arsenal. Lirian seemingly didn't have this happen, and she was ultimately killed by Xykon primarily because of her [[spoiler:not realizing that the cave she imprisoned Xykon, Redcloak, and Right-Eye in [[LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard had all of the ingredients necessary to turn Xykon into a lich]]]]. Most notably, there are parallels that can be drawn between the respective CripplingOverspecialization seen in how Lirian defends her Gate using the power of nature and an AntiMagic plague (which can be negated by a [[spoiler:forest fire and undeath]] respectively), while Elan initially used his ''silent image'' spell only to try to invoke DistractedByTheSexy (which never worked) along with trying to use his bard songs [[ViolationOfCommonSense to improve stealth checks]] but became more effective through V helping him use the former more creatively and the latter being reworked into his "new" purpose as a SupportPartyMember who eventually ''does'' find ways to use his Performance skills in combat to cleverly solve problems. Amusingly, from a more class-based perspective, Lirian's actually this in regards to Durkon; he is a cleric, while she is a druid, and she is a FriendToAllLivingThings who has [[WhenTreesAttack several treants literally holding up her Gate]], while Durkon is a dwarf and so has an AbsurdPhobia of trees. |
| 48 | ** Serini Toormuck is probably the clearest example of this trope in regards to the Scribblers, being one to Belkar. Most obviously, both are the only halflings in their guilds, and have increasingly defined themselves by their animal companions/non-human friends. Serini is also a highly-optimized epic-level rogue, while Belkar is a horribly designed ranger-barbarian hybrid. However, while Belkar has slowly [[TookALevelInKindness Taken Levels in Kindness]] and become the beginnings of an actually better person, Serini has only [[TookALevelInCynic Taken Levels in Cynicism]] and become more embittered and apathetic regarding the CrapsackWorld she lives in. |
| 49 | ** Kraagor is admittedly the loosest example, but he can be seen as one to Durkon. Both of them are the only dwarves in their parties, and also served as their [[TheBigGuy tanks]] and [[TheHeart emotional centers]]. Both of them also die performing {{Heroic Sacrifice}}s, though [[spoiler:Durkon is lucky enough to be brought BackFromTheDead]]. However, Kraagor is mentioned to have primarily believed in the power of physical might (to the point where his Gate is basically one massive dungeon crawl), whereas Durkon slowly learns how to be craftier and more creative in how he uses his magic. Additionally, Kraagor is ultimately an AdvertisedExtra among the Scribblers, while Durkon's CharacterDevelopment features him becoming more assertive and intentionally active within the comic's narrative. |
| 50 | * StoryBreakerPower: According to Rich Burlew, this is why of the six, only Serini survived long enough to actually meet and interact with the Order. Dorukan, Lirian, and Girard were simply so much more powerful than any of the Order's casters, who, bar Elan, already border on this trope, that they would completely overshadow them in any kind of teamup. Soon isn't as versatile as the primary casters, but he is shown to be the only character in the comic with enough strength and skill to to outright defeat Xykon when going toe-to-toe. Serini, as a rogue, is still mainly in the GuileHero category even at epic level (she'd be about as good in a straight head-to-head fight as Roy), not to mention [[DentedIron age and injury taking off a lot of her old edge]]. |
| 51 | * TeethClenchedTeamwork: Before Kraagor's death, this appears to have been the case to varying degrees (in particular, it appears that Soon and Girard ''really'' didn't care for each other). After his death, things fell apart entirely. |
| 52 | * WomenAreWiser: Lirian and Serini appear to have been the most levelheaded members of the party. |
| 53 | [[/folder]] |
| 54 | |
| 55 | [[folder:Soon Kim]] |
| 56 | !!Soon Kim |
| 57 | [[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_11_at_10510_am.png]] |
| 58 | |
| 59 | ->''"Only the honor of a paladin is unbreakable -- even by death itself."'' |
| 60 | |
| 61 | ->'''Race:''' Human (later spirit)\ |
| 62 | '''Gender:''' Male\ |
| 63 | '''Class:''' Paladin\ |
| 64 | '''Alignment:''' LawfulGood |
| 65 | |
| 66 | A paladin and founder of the Sapphire Guard. He built Azure City's citadel around his Gate. He was the first to encounter the Rifts. His wife Mijung was killed by the Snarl, which was his motivation for sealing them. He guarded the Gate in Azure City with the Sapphire Guard. |
| 67 | ---- |
| 68 | * TheAce: It's worth noting that he's the ''only'' member of the Order of the Scribble to flat-out beat Xykon in a straight fight, let alone Xykon and Redcloak at the same time. He's a Deathless at the time, and he had a [[ZergRush huge swarm of ghost-martyrs backing him up]], but it's still an incredible feat, especially given how powerful some of the other members Xykon killed outright were. And Redcloak managed to use a modified form of his cleric class features to get rid of all the other ghost-martyrs eventually, only to still fall to Soon's spectral blade. |
| 69 | * BackupFromOtherworld: He becomes this to the Sapphire Guard after his death of old age. [[spoiler:If a threat endangers the throne room where the Snarl-Gate is held, he and the spirits of every Sapphire Guard member who ever died can manifest there as an army of incorporeal Deathless.]] |
| 70 | * BadassCreed: "Only the honour of a Paladin is unbreakable. Even by death itself." Cue one of Xykon's very few OhCrap moments, and more or less the only one that doesn't involve direct endangerment of his phylactery. |
| 71 | * BenevolentBoss: You'd expect a [[TheStoic highly stoic]] man who created an order of paladins to swear an oath to defend the Snarl-Gate on their lands [[DutyThatTranscendsDeath even unto death]] be a lot less forgiving of one of their order that falls from grace -- especially one [[spoiler:who ruins his attempts to kill off the BigBad. Instead, Soon is honest but not unkind as he tells Miko that she was overly hasty and has not redeemed herself due to failing to fully realize that she was wrong while stating redemption is a rare thing to achieve anyway, and reassures her that she will be able to see her Celestial mount Windstriker again in the afterlife.]] |
| 72 | * BigGood: Let's face it, despite his flaws, he really was one of the most powerful heroes to exist. He even came close to destroying [[spoiler:Xykon and Redcloak for good with only Miko (accidentally) preventing it,]] a feat not a single other member of the Order of the Scribble can claim. His death and the release of his martyr spell was one of the greatest blows the good guys have ever suffered. |
| 73 | * BrutalHonesty: Soon tells Miko [[spoiler:in her final moments]] honestly that she cannot be a paladin again, as she has as of yet failed to acknowledge the wrongness of her past actions that could allow her to redeem herself. [[PetTheDog He's not the least bit mean about it]], however. |
| 74 | * TheCavalry: '''''"[[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0449.html Ghost-martyrs of the Sapphire Guard — ATTACK!]]"''''' |
| 75 | * CreateYourOwnVillain: The genocidal operations launched by the order of paladins he founded directly led to Redcloak rising as a powerful, highly motivated goblin cleric willing and able to threaten not only the world but the very gods Soon worshipped. |
| 76 | * CrusadingWidower: There are hints which suggest that, had his wife not been killed by the Snarl, Soon would not have gone on to become the eminent hero who founded an entire order of paladins to safeguard the world from destruction. Before the Order of the Scribble broke up, Dorukan angrily accused him of his need of vengeance being more important to him than the lives of his allies. |
| 77 | * DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: For TheLeader, as Soon valued his goals much more than he valued his teammates, which ultimately caused them to lose faith in him and lead to the group splitting apart. While the Order of the Stick had their issues between teammates, they could always place trust in Roy to mitigate arguments and discuss personal problems. Soon let resentments foster which lead to hatred not only of him, but between the different members to the point where almost none of them wanted to see each other again. |
| 78 | * DutyThatTranscendsDeath: [[spoiler:The Sapphire Guard paladins' oath to protect the Snarl-Gate in the Azure City's throne room can allow them to manifest as ghosts to defend it once again, with Soon himself leading them. Sadly, their oath to defend the ''gate'' specifically prevents them from persisting on after Miko destroys it.]] |
| 79 | * TheFettered: His teammates call him a stick in a mud, and Serini even remarks how inflexible humans can be, but oaths are very SeriousBusiness for him and Paladins in general. Not only is it the source of their abilities, breaking a Paladin's oath could easily lead to excommunication. The power of a Paladin's oath [[DutyThatTranscendsDeath can even overcome death itself,]] as shown during the battle of Azure City. |
| 80 | * TheFriendNobodyLikes: It is implied that by the time their journey ended, all of the other Scribble members' opinions of him shifted from mild dislike to intense hatred. |
| 81 | * GoodIsNotNice: He is a good person and does show compassion, but his rigidity to the paladin code and his mission to seal and protect the Gates makes him really hard to work with, as seen in the flashbacks. Even when it's not Draketooth who picks on him, he is too humorless, serious and stoic to bounce off of other people, resulting in frustration and annoyance from others who constantly get the cold shoulder from him. |
| 82 | * TheHero: A former holder of the position. It was his personal tragedy and forceful charisma that assembled the Order in the first place, and though not without his personal issues, he seems to have been one of the kindest and most genuine members. |
| 83 | * HonorBeforeReason: What his insistence on making "do not interfere with the other Gates" part of the official credo of the Sapphire Guard has ultimately turned out to be. Whilst well-meaning, the practical effects of it have included the Guard being unaware when two of the Gates were captured by evil forces (and being forbidden to offer assistance even if they had known), and the Guard not knowing that the coordinates for Girard's Gate in their possession are fake, both of which seriously screwed things up. On the other hand, the Oaths were created because of the irreconcilable differences between the Order that lasted beyond several of their deaths, meaning the Oaths weren't as much the problem as the people who made them. [[spoiler:He also refused to talk with Serini when she came to ask for his aid to defend her gate, since he swore an oath not to speak to others.]] |
| 84 | * HopeSpot: Soon nearly kills both Xykon ''and'' Redcloak, and is quite ready to tell someone to destroy the phylactery Redcloak is wearing to keep Xykon down for good. [[spoiler:Sadly, Miko decides to destroy the gate of Azure City, [[VillainExitStageLeft which gives the two the chance to escape]] since the Sapphire Guard's ghosts can no longer manifest to defend a gate that no longer exists.]] |
| 85 | * HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: His insistence that only the Honor of a Paladin is unbreakable suffers from the fact that he lives in a universe that frequently criticizes such character archetypes, and many paladins, including and especially from his own order, are arrogant, barely contained zealots who look down on others. |
| 86 | * {{Irony}}: |
| 87 | ** Girard lived his life in eternal paranoia that Soon would break his vow not to meddle with how any of the other members of the Order manage their Gates, and it's implied that some of the others had their suspicions as well. In fact, he's the only one who ''didn't'' meddle in the affairs of the others in some way or another; Lirian and Dorukan were lovers, and Serini [[spoiler: built her dungeon with the help of Girard, Dorukan and Lirian (albeit without their knowledge of the contribution of the other two)]]. |
| 88 | ** Soon tried to protect his gate by having the Sapphire Guard crusade against anyone who could threaten Azure City, including the local goblin villages. Years after his death, [[DarkMessiah Redcloak]] sacked Azure City with a hobgoblin army, which wouldn't have happened if [[SelfFulfillingProphecy the Sapphire Guard hadn't destroyed his village]]. |
| 89 | * KatanasAreJustBetter: He used a katana because he was an honor-bound nobleman warrior from [[FantasyCounterpartCulture a place that is totally not Japan.]] |
| 90 | * KillUsBoth: He told Lirian and Dorukan to seal the last rift while he ''and'' Kraagor were still [[TrialByFriendlyFire within range]]. He made it out, Kraagor didn't. [[YouShouldHaveDiedInstead Girard didn't take it well]]. |
| 91 | * KingInTheMountain: His spirit rises to defend the Gate in its hour of greatest need. It works out pretty well for the purposes of evil smiting. It's also heavily implied that he spent his afterlife -- at least fifty years -- watching over the gate from the Celestial Realms, due to his knowledge of what is Xykon's phylactery as well as his other information about his paladins. It's not like he had anyone waiting for him up there, anyway. |
| 92 | * TheLeader: Of the Scribblers. In Serini's diary, all of them are following him, and based on his stern expression, he was the level-headed type. |
| 93 | * LifeWillKillYou: Soon passed away at the age of 58, shortly after having handed over command of the Sapphire Guard to Shojo's father, Lord Ronjo. |
| 94 | * TheLostLenore: Mijung's death became Soon's sole motivator for the rest of his life, and was behind his quest to seal the rifts, creating the Sapphire Guard and trying to wipe out any possible future threats to the Gates, which eventually resulted in the destruction of Redcloak's village. [[spoiler: Knowing that he'd never see Mijung again, her soul having been unmade by The Snarl, Soon tied his own soul to the Azure City Gate, serving as its guardian even in death.]] |
| 95 | * OurGhostsAreDifferent: [[spoiler:Even after his death, his spirit is bound to the Gate and he will protect it in an hour of need. As Redcloak pointed out, he and the ghost-martyrs are not traditional ghosts or even undead, but some kind of positive-energy spirits. In all likelihood, they're Deathless, positive energy undead from the ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' setting.]] |
| 96 | * ThePaladin: He's the founder of an order of paladins. |
| 97 | * PosthumousCharacter: As a non-main-spellcaster, full-on human who was already getting on in years when the Gates were made, he's long gone as the story opens, though his spirit remains. |
| 98 | * RevengeBeforeReason: Girard clearly believes that Soon is driven more by his desire to avenge his wife's death at the Snarl's hands than anything else, and Dorukan similarly accuses him of regards his revenge on Snarl to be more important to him than the lives of his allies. |
| 99 | * {{Samurai}}: As a {{Wutai}}-flavored paladin. Which is good, as the ''actual'' D&D samurai class is infamously terrible. |
| 100 | * SmiteEvil: A class feature for a high-level paladin. Xykon notes that the other ghosts just sting, while his "packs a wallop". |
| 101 | * TheStoic: His teammates describe him as being stiff and walking in stoic silence most of the time. The single scene where his wife appears shows him worrying slightly less about duty, suggesting that it was Mijung's death that caused him to be so hardassed. |
| 102 | * TurnTheOtherCheek: When he's with Miko [[spoiler:in her final moments]], he has every reason to tell her off. Instead, though he acknowledges she screwed up, his appraisal of her seems to be [[DamnedByFaintPraise as reassuring as he can make it]], and he doesn't point-blank tell her she failed until he's given a yes-or-no question. Even then, he offers a gentle critique of what she should have done instead, and claims that maybe she could have redeemed herself if she'd had the time, closing out by simply telling her she'll be able to see her only friend again. |
| 103 | * {{Unperson}}: Soon is presumed to have tried his hardest to purge anything relating the Gates that he's seen from the books. |
| 104 | * UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The crusades he ordered to protect the Gate from any and all threats would directly lead to the downfall of Azure City and the destruction of his Gate. |
| 105 | * WhosOnFirst: Not surprisingly, his name has led to such a scene. |
| 106 | -->'''Xykon:''' So, any ideas on how we should fight 'Stache boy, whoever he is?\ |
| 107 | '''Redcloak:''' Soon.\ |
| 108 | '''Xykon:''' I'd prefer to know ''now'', thanks.\ |
| 109 | '''Redcloak:''' No. I mean, that's his ''name''.\ |
| 110 | '''Xykon:''' What is?\ |
| 111 | '''Redcloak:''' Soon!\ |
| 112 | '''Xykon:''' Look, if you don't want to tell me his name yet, fine, but we really should find a way to beat him! |
| 113 | * WorldsBestWarrior: Soon is the strongest character yet seen in the comic to be entirely in a "warrior" class, that being paladin, with most of the other epic characters being casters of some variety and the other warrior-types (i.e. Tarquin, Julio, Miko, Roy and Belkar by the later arcs, ''maybe'' Horace) seemingly topping out in the high tens at most. He's also suggested to be the strongest member of the Order of the Scribble in a straight fight, performing by far the best against Xykon, and the only one of the group to outright beat him. If there's a stronger warrior in the setting, we've yet to even hear about them. |
| 114 | [[/folder]] |
| 115 | |
| 116 | [[folder:Dorukan]] |
| 117 | !!Dorukan |
| 118 | [[quoteright:117:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2018_10_03_at_120805_pm.png]] |
| 119 | |
| 120 | ->''"You have not earned your magic, it came to you in your blood."'' |
| 121 | |
| 122 | ->'''Race:''' Human\ |
| 123 | '''Gender:''' Male\ |
| 124 | '''Class:''' Wizard\ |
| 125 | '''Alignment:''' NeutralGood |
| 126 | %% Alignment confirmed by Word of the Giant. |
| 127 | |
| 128 | A powerful human wizard who helped to build the Gates. He guarded the Gate in the Redmountain Hills with a huge dungeon and powerful magical wards. Xykon defeated him in a mages' duel and took over his dungeon. |
| 129 | ---- |
| 130 | * TheArchmage: With Lirian's help, he developed epic-level magic to seal the Rifts and create the Gates. His most powerful home-created spell is ''cloister'', an epic-level abjuration that was designed specifically to guard his Gate. |
| 131 | * CrystalPrison: [[spoiler:Soul-bound by Xykon inside a gem.]] |
| 132 | * ForScience: Well, the uh, magical equivalent. Soon accuses him of not caring whether the gates fall and instead being more interested in researching new spells that he would use to protect them. Dorukan shot back by saying [[RevengeBeforeReason he cared more about avenging his wife than even the lives of his allies]]. |
| 133 | * IdiotBall: A '''lot''' of people have commented on the utterly idiotic way he used his spells in ''Start of Darkness''. He's old and complacent, and it costs him his life. |
| 134 | * InterspeciesRomance: Dorukan carried on a decades-long relationship with Lirian, a female elf druid who was his ally in the Order of the Scribble. They even defied the pact that the Order would not contact each other after deciding to guard their gates to carry on their affair, and he built a special exception into his uber-defensive spell, ''cloister'', so he could summon her from her Gate to his and back for romantic meetings and "booty calls". |
| 135 | * PosthumousCharacter: Only has appeared in flashbacks and the prequel book ''Start of Darkness''. |
| 136 | * PowerPerversionPotential: In [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0532.html comic #532]], it's shown that Dorukan left a loophole in the ''cloister'' spell to still be able to summon Lirian for "booty calls". This confirms in the online strip what had already been established by ''Start of Darkness'', that Dorukan and Lirian were still in regular communication with each other in violation of their oath. |
| 137 | * PsychicBlockDefense: A variant; Dorukan's custom-built ''cloister'' spell completely blocks non-epic scrying spells from looking in on any area it's been cast over. It also "clings" to any creatures inside the initial area of casting, so once they leave that area, they're still protected until the spell wears off. |
| 138 | * TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: [[spoiler:Xykon mocks Dorukan as being just like all the other wizards he's killed for mistaking potential versatility for concrete power, as Xykon's spontaneous casting style enables him to spam [[LevelDrain Energy Drain]] spells that render Dorukan weaker and weaker, until he finally dies.]] |
| 139 | * SealedGoodInACan: [[spoiler:His soul wound up trapped together with Lirian's in a gemstone after Xykon kills them both. Whether they'll be able to do anything if they're released is debatable, but it still fits.]] |
| 140 | * TheSmartGuy: As TheTeam's epic-level mage. |
| 141 | * TeleportInterdiction: The ''cloister'' spell he invented is basically designed to prevent DungeonBypass and the "scry and fry" tactic, so in addition to blocking off scrying spells, it completely negates almost every form of teleportation magic. There is one loophole, however, which he [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0532.html invented for personal reasons]]. |
| 142 | * ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: When Haley hears about the full effects of his signature spell, Cloister (a spell that not only locks out scrying and teleportation, but also spreads the scrying immunity to everyone in a wide radius and sticks to them for ''weeks''), the only conclusion her and Celia can reach is that he created the spell to be as overpowered as possible just to show off. Or, in their words, "[[CompensatingForSomething he's a man.]]" |
| 143 | * TogetherInDeath: With Lirian, via the aforementioned SealedGoodInACan. |
| 144 | * UnequalRites: Like many wizards who faced off against Xykon, he looked down on the lich for his origins as a sorcerer. [[spoiler:This proved a fatal mistake.]] |
| 145 | * WizardBeard: It's tradition! It's long and bushy, and makes up for the fact he goes completely bald in his old age. |
| 146 | * WizardClassic: While he was young and good-looking during his years with the Order, he's become a beardy old grump by the time Xykon kills him. |
| 147 | [[/folder]] |
| 148 | |
| 149 | [[folder:Lirian]] |
| 150 | !!Lirian |
| 151 | [[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_17_at_125706_pm.png]] |
| 152 | |
| 153 | ->''"Perhaps you will begin to appreciate how interconnected everything is during your long stay... though I doubt it."'' |
| 154 | |
| 155 | ->'''Race:''' Elf\ |
| 156 | '''Gender:''' Female\ |
| 157 | '''Class:''' Druid\ |
| 158 | '''Alignment:''' NeutralGood |
| 159 | %% Alignment confirmed by Word of the Giant. |
| 160 | |
| 161 | A powerful elf druid who met Soon shortly after his wife was killed. She helped Dorukan to build the Gates and guarded the Gate in the Elven Lands with nature's might and a magic-destroying virus. |
| 162 | ---- |
| 163 | * AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:Initially played straight when Xykon seals her soul inside a gem he carries with him. {{Defied|Trope}} when Xykon seals her lover, Dorukan's soul in there with her, and the two take comfort that at least they are trapped together]]. |
| 164 | * TheBeastmaster: As a powerful druid, she guards her Gate with "nature's might." |
| 165 | * BondVillainStupidity: [[spoiler:Towards Redcloak and Xykon. When your enemy is captured and at your mercy it's always better to kill them immediately, or at least post some guards to keep an eye on them.]] |
| 166 | * CrystalPrison: [[spoiler:Soul-bound by Xykon inside a gem.]] |
| 167 | * {{Druid}}: Nature magic is her specialty. |
| 168 | * ForestRanger: Her gate is... pastoral, for a given definition of the word. |
| 169 | * FriendToAllLivingThings: Even [[spoiler: ''bacteria'']]. |
| 170 | * IdiotBall: [[spoiler:Xykon and Redcloak would have been thwarted if she had bothered to leave a guard to supervise them, or at least not leave so many material components in their cell (making a lich's phylactery requires over 100'000 [=GPs=] worth). Also, while Lirian can be forgiven for using so many attacks that Xykon could NoSell due to the relative obscurity of liches in general, she did grab it when she led her opening attack with ''poison'' against an obviously undead individual. While liches specifically might be obscure, undead are pretty common for adventurers.]] |
| 171 | * InterspeciesRomance: It's implied in the web comic, with the prequel story ''Start of Darkness'' clarifying that she and the male human mage Dorukan carried on a long-distance relationship (circumvented with teleportation magic) for decades, even though they weren't supposed to see each other again as a result of the dissolution of the Order of the Scribble. |
| 172 | * LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard: [[spoiler:Inadvertently did this to Redcloak and Xykon in ''Start of Darkness''.]] In fairness to her, it's unlikely that a Good-aligned Druid would realize that the plants and fungi provided to sustain her prisoners could be used to perform the ritual for turning a caster into a lich. |
| 173 | * NeckSnap: [[spoiler:Xykon killed her with his newly strengthened boney fingers.]] |
| 174 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Also in ''Start of Darkness'', she accidentally told Xykon that there was more than one Gate, something he didn't (nor Redcloak, nor even the Dark One) know about.]] |
| 175 | * OurElvesAreDifferent: Seemingly better-balanced, mentally, than most of the Scribblers, and not too smug about it. |
| 176 | * PointyEars: As an elf, she has these. |
| 177 | * PosthumousCharacter: [[spoiler:Her ''soul'' is still around, but she was cut down in the prime of her life. Being an elf, she might have lived for ''centuries'' more if Xykon hadn't ripped it out.]] |
| 178 | * PowerNullifier: [[spoiler:If you succumb to her magical virus, you lose any and all spellcasting abilities. TheUndead are immune to this.]] |
| 179 | * ProfaneLastWords: [[spoiler:While it's a mild swear, her last living words are still a swear nonetheless.]] |
| 180 | -->'''Lirian:''' Crap. |
| 181 | * SayingTooMuch: [[spoiler:After her Gate is inadvertently destroyed, she comments to Xykon that her other four friends would succeed where she failed. This clues Xykon into the fact that there are four more gates, something he wasn't initially aware of]]. |
| 182 | * SealedGoodInACan: [[spoiler:Much like Dorukan, she is trapped in a gem.]] |
| 183 | * TakingYouWithMe: This could be seen as another function of her Gate's lack of protection from fire -- any conflagration would bring the gate down, so in the worst eventuality, the Gate would be destroyed before anyone could exploit it. |
| 184 | * TheSmartGuy: Along with Dorukan, Lirian was one of the party's spellcasters. A Druid specifically. Unlike Dorukan, she had a few clever moments, especially with the Guardian Virus. |
| 185 | * TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler:With Dorukan, via the aforementioned SealedGoodInACan. She considers it the one positive thing about the ordeal]]. |
| 186 | * VoluntaryShapeshifting: Druids get ComboPlatterPowers, so she can cast and shapeshift. |
| 187 | [[/folder]] |
| 188 | |
| 189 | [[folder:Girard Draketooth]] |
| 190 | !!Girard Draketooth |
| 191 | [[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_03_11_at_10428_am.png]] |
| 192 | |
| 193 | ->''"I've never trusted authority figures, be they kings, presidents, or party leaders. Give a man enough power, and he's bound to abuse it, no matter how noble he thinks he is."'' |
| 194 | |
| 195 | ->'''Race:''' Dragonblood Human\ |
| 196 | '''Gender:''' Male\ |
| 197 | '''Class:''' Ranger/Sorcerer\ |
| 198 | '''Alignment:''' ChaoticNeutral |
| 199 | %% Alignment confirmed by WordOfGod |
| 200 | |
| 201 | The Order of the Scribble's ranger/illusionist. He guards the gate in the middle of the desert on the Western Continent with powerful illusions. |
| 202 | ---- |
| 203 | * ChaoticStupid: In his own way, [[spoiler:Girard's near all-consuming antipathy for anyone Lawful and complete distrust in the ability of any Lawful organization to be effective are what drive all of his ill-advised and morally questionable decisions following the splintering of the Scribble]]. |
| 204 | * TheClan: Due to sheer paranoia, [[spoiler:Girard doesn't trust anyone outside of his family and Serini with defense of the gate, and the Draketooths' definition of "family" doesn't count in-laws, as Penelope would attest]]. |
| 205 | * DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Just like how Soon is one of these for TheLeader, Girard is this for TheLancer. Like Haley, Girard is the Chaotic second-in-command to the LawfulGood leader, but the difference lies in how the two work together. Haley is an effective second-in-command because she gives Roy a fresh perspective, and is still respectful enough of his own alignment that they don't clash too much. Meanwhile, Girard's own Chaotic alignment and {{Jerkass}} nature meant he had no respect at all for Soon's beliefs about honor (and in fact, was sure Soon would break his own oath quite easily), which led to no small amount of animosity between the two of them. |
| 206 | * DragonAncestry: He's two generations removed from a human/black dragon pairing, and passed this ancestry down to his own descendants. This turns out to be a problem when [[spoiler:this ancestry also provides a route for Vaarsuvius' ''familicide'' spell to kill them all]]. |
| 207 | * DualWielding: He favors two scimitars. |
| 208 | * EvilCannotComprehendGood: Or in this case, Chaotic Cannot Comprehend Lawful; Girard's conviction that Soon would sooner or later break his oath to not interfere with other gates displays an utter lack of understanding of how a Lawful character's mind works, especially the one of a {{Paladin}}. |
| 209 | * FacialMarkings: Has a purple birthmark or tattoo on his cheek, as do [[spoiler:the members of his clan. It's implied to be a mark of draconic heritage]]. |
| 210 | * FamilyBusiness: Outsiders, including spouses, need not apply. |
| 211 | * GiveMyRegardsInTheNextWorld: Just before the "[[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0695.html little surprise]]" he had set for Soon Kim activated, his illusion's last words are "Say hello to your barnyard gods for me." |
| 212 | -->'''Elan:''' What does that mean?\ |
| 213 | '''Haley:''' [[OhCrap It means RUN!!!!]] |
| 214 | * GoodIsNotNice: He's an immense {{Jerkass}}, distrusting of {{Paladin}}s, disdainful of anyone who's not a Draketooth, and one of the most powerful forces trying to protect the world from destruction. |
| 215 | -->'''Roy:''' Girard might have been a spiteful curmudgeon, but he was still doing the world a great service. We're all a little less safe now that [[spoiler:he and his heirs have passed.]] |
| 216 | * HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Inverted, to a degree. Unlike most examples of this trope, who trust clearly untrustworthy people, Girard went the opposite approach -- he distrusted Soon Kim when it turned out that Soon kept his word. As Haley says, he clearly didn't know how paladins think. |
| 217 | * {{Hypocrite}}: Hates Paladins for trying to justify their morally questionable actions by appealing to a Greater Good, but then [[spoiler:goes off and encourages his clan to seduce random strangers, knock them up and then both rob them and kidnap the baby to be reared by what amounts to a cult that protects the world from total destruction, i.e. for the greater good.]] The only way this isn't hypocritical is if he's a straight-up {{Jerkass}} who thinks that such behavior isn't wrong in the first place (then it's a DoubleStandard). Also, his professed distrust for authority figures would seem to clash with [[spoiler:the cult of personality he built around himself (the statue on his tomb and how his image on the family tree is given a halo).]] As he himself ironically said, "Give a man enough power, and he's bound to abuse it, no matter how noble he thinks he is." |
| 218 | * ImproperlyParanoid: He believed himself to be justified in his paranoia regarding Soon, and he may or may not have had reasons to distrust Soon, but it's well established that Soon kept his promise not to interfere with the others' methods of guarding the other Gates, which Girard doubted he would. [[{{Irony}} It appears that Soon was the only one who never saw the other Scribblers again]]. |
| 219 | * IneffectualLoner: [[spoiler:Taught his clan not to trust outsiders, especially paladins. Though they were able to hide the gate effectively for a time, their distrust of in-laws nearly led the Linear Guild right to them. Even worse, their distrust of outsiders is so strong that they would rather remain dead and leave their Gate unprotected than accept help from the Order]]. |
| 220 | * {{Jerkass}}: Girard was ''not'' a nice man, as is quite evident by the other tropes here, at least to his enemies, and to some of his allies. |
| 221 | * TheLancer: Served as both a {{Foil}} and [[TheRival rival]] to Soon Kim in the Order. Unfortunately, it ended ''really'' messily. |
| 222 | * LifeWillKillYou: Unlike the rest of his family, Girard is long dead by the time the Order of the Stick has located his gate. Judging from the state of his body, he'd passed away decades ago and Roy suspects from the state of his teeth that his death was of old age. |
| 223 | * LotusEaterMachine: [[spoiler:What his final illusion amounts to: it keeps the targets occupied for at least a few hours, ensuring his clan could kill them while they stood still.]] |
| 224 | * ManipulativeBastard: First he lies about where his pyramid is to throw off the scent of any paladins who break their "oath", knowing full well they won't suspect him of lying. To deal with anyone else, he set up a massive, heavily-fortified pyramid filled with his family members, traps, and immensely powerful illusions to defend his Gate. |
| 225 | * MasterOfIllusion: He decided the best way to protect the Gates from being abused was through a series of magical illusions such as a LotusEaterMachine. That was a hum-dinger that trapped everyone who got near it, so skillfully was it made. |
| 226 | * MeaningfulName: [[spoiler:Descendant of a black dragon.]] |
| 227 | * NayTheist: He criticizes Soon, [[HollywoodAtheist claiming the part of his brain that deals with logic weeps every time Soon kneels down and prays to a "glorified petting zoo"]]. This is despite knowing full well that those gods exist, are responsible for Paladin powers, and were even one of the main causes for the world-ending abomination their group had sacrificed so much fighting against. |
| 228 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: Girard's hatred of Soon Kim and his paranoia that Soon would break his word to "check in" on the gates led Girard to give a completely random set of coordinates for his gate instead of the real ones. Unfortunately, since finding the gates has become a matter of life-and-death, this has made the good guys' job much, much harder, since they have to comb the largest desert in the world -- all the while dealing with the illusions, distractions and traps that Draketooth set up to obscure it -- to find it, a process that could take months or years. To make matters worse, the only other person he told the true coordinates to was Serini, whose diary is in the possession of Xykon and his allies. So essentially, the bad guys have the coordinates for the gate and could easily reach it within seconds while the heroes were still looking. Nice going, Draketooth. |
| 229 | * NotBloodNotFamily: His family runs on this. Only those actually blood related to the Draketooth lineage are admitted in, and all would-be in-laws are to be robbed of their wealth and left behind. |
| 230 | * PoliticallyIncorrectHero: When his illusionary message ends with the assumption that he's talking to Soon Kim, he coldly remarks "[[PreMortemOneLiner Say hello to your barnyard gods for me]]" before the illusion violently explodes. Considering how the Twelve Gods of the South are an analogue to the Chinese Zodiac and the peoples of the Southern Continent are clearly coded as Asian, his remark can be taken as a racial slur. |
| 231 | * PosthumousCharacter: [[spoiler:He's been dead for at least twenty years.]] |
| 232 | * UnevenHybrid: [[spoiler:The grandson of a black dragon, which makes him part of a certain family tree...]] |
| 233 | * YouShouldHaveDiedInstead: He has a lot of bitter feelings against Soon about Kraagor's death and he makes it quite clear with the "[[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0695.html little surprise]]" he leaves for Soon to find when he "inevitably" comes to check out Girard's Gate. |
| 234 | [[/folder]] |
| 235 | |
| 236 | [[folder:Serini Toormuck ('''MAJOR UNMARKED SPOILERS!''')]] |
| 237 | !!Serini Toormuck |
| 238 | [[quoteright:100:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_04_08_at_30337_am.png]] |
| 239 | [[caption-width-right:100:[[labelnote:In Part 7]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/serini.PNG]][[/labelnote]] |
| 240 | ->''"I'm sure you both have very grandiose ideas about your place in the grand scheme of things, but I'm here to let you know: You don't have the juice. You don't even have the bottle that the juice would go in."'' |
| 241 | |
| 242 | ->'''Race:''' Halfling\ |
| 243 | '''Gender:''' Female\ |
| 244 | '''Class:''' Rogue\ |
| 245 | '''Alignment:''' Unknown[[note]]possibly LawfulGood in her youth as she was considering multiclassing into paladin, although this is ambiguous since Kraagor doesn't think she's the paladin type, and she's likely either ChaoticGood or ChaoticNeutral in the present day due to her rogue class[[/note]] |
| 246 | |
| 247 | A halfling who acted as the rogue of the party. She proposed the pact of noninterference, allowing the rest of the Order to go their separate ways. She created a dungeon with powerful creatures guarding Kraagor's Gate near the Dwarven lands, yet opted to continue a life of adventuring. Her diary has provided Xykon with the coordinates of all the gates. |
| 248 | ---- |
| 249 | * AccentUponTheWrongSyllable: [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1250.html "What's a 'ray-zergo'?"]] |
| 250 | * AllForNothing: The true purpose of the oath she had suggested to her party was for them to separate for a while until they were ready to make amends. Unfortunately, three factors caused this plan to fail: First was the fact that Soon Kim would stick to his word and never make contact with the others agan, second was the fact that Seirini failed to realize that things between Soon Kim and Girard Draketooth were beyond repair[[note]]as seen when it was revealed that Girard gave Soon fake coordinates for his gate (as well as had a booby trap waiting) and instilled his heirs with his distrust for Paladins[[/note]], and finally was the fact that Serini would end up outliving all of her teammates before she could even get them back together. |
| 251 | * AllLovingHero: Despite her cynical outlook in the present day, she has many friends and allies of monstrous races normally considered evil. The common thread seems to be that she treats everyone she meets with empathy, dealing with them as individuals rather than monsters or racial stereotypes. This is a more enlightened outlook than even most other Good characters have shown. However, it ''is'' shown that her perspective has its limits; she's ''very'' passive-aggressive and defensive around the paladins and sniffs her nose at "rigid" thinkers generally. |
| 252 | * AllYourPowersCombined: Her gate is not only protected by her own Roguish ways[[note]]Her use of traps and personal intervention by ambushing intruders as they lose their way in the labyrinthine caves[[/note]] and Kraagor's belief in might[[note]]The use of powerful monsters that can even challenge Xykon, and the true nature of dungeon, which is not a maze but a gauntlet[[/note]], but also elements from the other members. Soon's oath,[[note]]Mirroring Soon's oath to protect the gate and to prevent it from being used for evil, Serini swore to protect the world and would rather [[EvilVersusOblivion let the gate be used for evil than let the world be destroyed]][[/note]] Lirian's force of nature,[[note]]Her various monster allies[[/note]] Dorukan's arcane mastery,[[note]]Serini's traps are magical instead of mechanical, and the mountains have a curious property to block teleportations, just like Dorukan's ''Cloister'' spell[[/note]] and Girard's familial bond, labyrinthine defense, and misdirections.[[note]]Her monster allies are family to her; a primary defense of the gate is its magically labyrinthine tunnels; and like Girard, she lied about her gate's actual location, setting up a decoy to waste people's time instead.[[/note]] It would eventually be clarified that this case goes deeper than thematics. Serini approached Dorukan, Lirian, and Girard independently and convinced them to help her with the Gate, none of whom were aware of the other's presence. The similarity in defenses are because they're the ''same'' defenses. Only Soon refused her--and even then, thanks to O-Chul and Lien, his defenses would be added to Kraagor's Gate as well. Serini believes that this means Kraagor's Gate is the only Gate to be protected as they all should have been: by the combined efforts of as much of the group as could be mustered, rather than a single person. |
| 253 | * AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Considered Dorukan and Lirian to be this to herself...to the point that she believes that Xykon can't be beaten because he beat them. |
| 254 | * AnArmAndALeg: Lost her left hand and foot when Xykon ambushed her. Her current ones are regenerated troll flesh. |
| 255 | * TheBeastmaster: Serini has quite a few cavern-dwelling monsters in her retinue. |
| 256 | * BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: She was saved by the trolls she purchased potions from because she treated them as equals -- paying for their blood instead of just killing them for it. |
| 257 | -->'''Serini:''' A longwinded way of saying "We were friends", but you are correct. |
| 258 | * BodyHorror: The entire left side of her body is mottled green troll flesh, including her (now red) eye, because she survived Xykon's attack when a village of friendly trolls used their blood to heal her. |
| 259 | * BreakThemByTalking: Attempted. As her ambush plans against the Order collapse, she tries desperately to convince them to surrender anyway because they don't have what it takes to defeat Xykon. The fact that she's trying to convince them that they're stupid and incompetent ''while they're defeating her'' makes it less than effective. |
| 260 | * BrokenAce: Serini was once a member of a league of adventurers who traveled the world and saved it from the Snarl, and is a very high-level character with numerous magical beasts at her command. But her defeat and maiming at Xykon's hands and the deaths of her friends have left her a traumatized recluse, despairing that no one can actually stop Xykon. |
| 261 | * CharacterTics: Bonking people in the head with her staff at the littlest provocation. It's such a habit of her, Sunny warn the group about it ''before'' we ever see her start doing it. |
| 262 | * ChekhovsGunman: She didn't appear in person in the present time of the story until #1225, but she's a significant player in that she owns the last Gate. She last appeared in a flashback, over nine hundred strips and over 13 real world years ago. |
| 263 | * ClusterFBomb: When captured, Serini bombards the Order -- Haley in particular -- with constant insults. They're not actual profanity, but, as Belkar puts it, "old-timey insults". |
| 264 | * CoolOldLady: From Belkar's point of view, as she reminds him of his grandmother. To everyone else, not so much. |
| 265 | * CrazyPrepared: She keeps herself stocked with a wide variety of poisons, potions, and wands, which let her deal with almost any situation that might come up. She also has a large collection of unusual monster friends who will help her to trap and ambush anyone that comes wandering along. Makes sense, considering she is a rogue. |
| 266 | * DefeatMeansFriendship: After being defeated both in combat and reasoning, she agrees to help the Order fight Xykon, though she remains having little faith that it'll succeed. |
| 267 | * DespairEventHorizon: The reason she believes the Order can't win is that Xykon beat and murdered Lirian and Dorukan, and only left her alive because she wasn't a threat. If those two lost, who are better in her mind than the Order of the Stick, then they stand no chance. |
| 268 | * DidntThinkThisThrough: |
| 269 | ** When she came up with the Oath that each of the Scribblers would defend a single gate and vow not to get involved with the others, she had actually intended it to be a means to separate the others so they'd cool down before trying to patch things up. Unfortunateley, she failed to realize that an epic-level paladin like Soon Kim would take the vow seriously to the point that his bodyguards wouldn't let her in to see him. |
| 270 | ** She tries to get the Order to surrender by threatening to jump in a vat of amnesia potion and erasing her knowledge about the Gate that they need. Haley refuses, partially because she thinks Serini is bluffing but also because they'd only surrender to protect information that Serini would have no reason to give them, because they've surrendered. Plus, the Order hadn't even known Serini was still alive until a few minutes ago, so if she ''had'' gone through with the threat it would've simply put the Order back into the position they were already ''expecting'' to be in for the final battle. |
| 271 | --->'''Haley:''' Like, if nothing else, it's a really poorly constructed ultimatum. |
| 272 | * DontTouchItYouIdiot: Bonks Elan on the head when he attempts to touch the Threads of Reality, stating there's no telling what could happen to either him or the world otherwise. |
| 273 | * DopeSlap: She has a tendency to bonk people on the head with her staff when she thinks they're being foolish. Haley has warned her that she won't stand for it. |
| 274 | * DramaticUnmask: She takes off her hood in #1226 to reveal herself. |
| 275 | * EmergencyTransformation: She was horribly maimed and mortally wounded in her fight with Xykon. A group of trolls intervened by supplying her with some of their regenerative blood, leading to her current hybrid state. |
| 276 | * EntertaininglyWrong: Assumes Haley's the leader of the Order of the Stick when they arrive for her ambush with Sunny. In her defense, Haley walked in first (in order to scout for traps), and Roy was the first target to get hit with sleep darts (preventing him from giving orders); with the leader incapacitated, Haley takes charge as second-in-command, though chiefly because her high dexterity makes her impossible to hit with sleep darts and crossbow bolts. |
| 277 | * EveryonesBabySister: It's implied that she was this to the rest of the Order of the Scribble, although from her own point of view she believed the others thought she was a "poor, dumb halfling" who couldn't do anything by herself. Using this to her advantage, she managed to keep the group from killing each other, got them to agree to her plan to split and guard the gates individually, and convinced all of them aside from Soon to help her reinforce her gate. |
| 278 | * EveryoneHasStandards: She is jaded and would rather let Xykon win until more qualified heroes show up to stop him without destroying the Gate, but she won't kill the paladins or the Order for it. Her plan is to make them forget their mission with potions and release them somewhere safe. |
| 279 | * EvilCannotComprehendGood: Or rather, Chaotic Cannot Comprehend Lawful. Like Girard Draketooth, she just doesn't understand how a paladin's mind works. If she did, she would never have dismissed a paladin's oath as "a bunch of words" or expected him to break it. |
| 280 | * EvilVersusOblivion: Prefers the horrors of Xykon's rule to the slightest risk of the last Gate being broken and the Snarl devouring the world. Unfortunately for her, she isn't aware that Xykon's [[TheDragon Dragon]] Redcloak is ''planning'' to unleash the Snarl and that the gods are perfectly willing to destroy the universe to prevent that. |
| 281 | * EyeScream: Also lost her left eye, now has a red Troll eye instead. |
| 282 | * FatalFlaw: Serini's PoorCommunicationKills. She's running on all sorts of assumptions and refuses to listen to reason. Her JadeColoredGlasses are a close second; repeatedly refusing to consider interpretations besides the most pessimistic and cynical ones has undermined her plans for ''decades'' but she just can't bring herself to be otherwise. |
| 283 | * FloweryInsults: She employs these extensively against the Order of the Stick and its members. |
| 284 | * FluffyTamer: She actually managed to befriend a ''beholder'' and let her use them as a mount. Beholders are normally a race of {{Absolute Xenophobe}}s who regularly mind-control and brainwash every sentient being close to them out of fear that anyone they don't control is plotting against them. She also managed to befriend a mimic, a piercer, a lurker, ''and'' a trapper, all of whom are solitary monstrous predators. She even went so far as to use magic communication to give her monsters an idea of what is at stake and only recruited volunteers. |
| 285 | * FluffyTheTerrible: She's also named them, giving the beholder the name "Sunny", the mimic "Mimi", and the [[UsefulNotes/FranklinPierce piercer "Franklin"]]. |
| 286 | * {{Foil}}: To Belkar. |
| 287 | ** Both of them are the token halflings in their respective parties, and are (at least implicitly for Serini) of a Chaotic alignment. |
| 288 | ** Both of them are also very cynical and have close friendships with multiple animals/monsters, one of whom they have adopted (Serini is seen by Sunny as their mother, and Belkar has been taking care of Mr. Scruffy after re-discovering him following the Fall of Azure City and the death of his previous owner). |
| 289 | ** However, Belkar is a major case of SquareRaceRoundClass, being a horribly designed halfling ranger-barbarian (halflings are a race with a Strength penalty, which is one of ''the'' most important stats for both rangers and barbarians), while Serini is an epic-level rogue (and rogues are the best/preferred class for halflings to take). Their roles on each team are also practically the opposite of one another -- Serini was TheHeart and helped keep the entire Order of the Scribble together through her friendship and kindness, while Belkar is both TheBigGuy and TokenEvilTeammate for the Order of the Stick, being widely regarded as TheFriendNobodyLikes and only kept around to serve as raw muscle. |
| 290 | ** Belkar is also a NominalHero, only assisting the Order of the Stick (at least initially before CharacterDevelopment [[IChooseToStay makes him stay out of genuine loyalty]]) because he was hired by Roy, while Serini is quite obviously ''very'' personally invested in making sure her Gate doesn't fall to ruin as she helped set it up in the first place. Additionally, Belkar is of an Evil alignment, but has [[TookALevelInKindness Taken a Level in Kindness]] recently thanks to his [[MoralityPet animal companions]] and the rest of the Order serving as a PositiveFriendInfluence on him; in contrast, Serini is (implicitly) of a Good alignment, but [[TookALevelInCynic has lost virtually all of her former idealism]] and has become incredibly cynical and callous following both her maiming at Xykon's hands and all of her fellow teammates and friends dying. |
| 291 | ** Finally, while both are fighting to save the world, Belkar is fighting alongside the Order against Xykon, whereas Serini is fighting ''against'' the Order since she sees Xykon's rule as the LesserOfTwoEvils against the world being destroyed by either the Snarl or the gods (and ironically, her attempts to save the world might actually ''doom'' it because of her being LockedOutOfTheLoop regarding Redcloak's Plan). Even their weapons are opposites -- Belkar uses twin daggers (two melee weapons offset by his aforementioned racial Strength penalty), and Serini has a crossbow (which is augmented by her racial Dexterity bonus). |
| 292 | * FriendToAllLivingThings: Aside from being a FluffyTamer, she befriended Trolls and feels other humanoids deserve equality. |
| 293 | * TheFullNameAdventures: Her diary -- ''The Life and Times of Serini Toormuck, Halfling Rogue'' |
| 294 | * GenkiGirl: Every bit of information about her suggests that she was cheerful, energetic, and girly. However, in the present day she's noticeably taken quite a few levels in cynicism, though she still has a sharp sense of humor. |
| 295 | * GlassesPull: Well, ''goggles'' pull, but with the same effect, as Serini [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1249.html yanks them off]] just as she goes into her [[ShellShockedVeteran rant about Xykon]]. |
| 296 | * GoneHorriblyRight: Her suggestion that the Scribblers each protect one Gate and promise to not get involved in the others ended up being detrimental in the long run as it lead to all the other Gates except hers being too specialized in one field which ultimately led to their destruction, as well as leaving the Sapphire Guild at a disadvantage due to the oath keeping them out of the loop with the other gates. She eventually reveals that it was actually just a means to separate the others so they'd cool down until she could hopefully patch things up between them. Even ''she'' didn't keep the oath as she visited Dorukan, Lirian, and Girard for aid in setting up Kraagor's Tomb. Unfortunately, she had underestimated how seriously Soon Kim would keep his word, with her unable to even get an audience with him. |
| 297 | * GoodIsNotNice: Even once she's convinced to help the heroes, she's still a total condescending asshole. |
| 298 | * GuileHero: Instead of using raw force, she tricks Lien into surrendering to keep a poisoned O-Chul alive. She later reveals it was just a sleeping potion. She also gives the Order a lot of trouble by setting traps and using her animal companions to delay them. She also used this when she went to the Scribble spellcasters for help in setting up her gate. |
| 299 | * {{Halfling}}: She is initially a much straighter example than Belkar; jolly! Although her good disposition soured a bit with old age and becoming half-troll. And even in her prime years, she was capable of underhanded manipulation for the greater good. |
| 300 | * HealingFactor: The troll flesh she was given through her blood transfusion has given her a similar regeneration ability to theirs: Lien outright notes that she can heal from pretty much anything except fire and acid. |
| 301 | * TheHeart: What little we see of her pre-blood transfusion suggests it; she was the most approachable of the Order and the one to help smooth over the others' differences. She even proposed the pact to keep the other Scribblers from [[DividedWeFall killing each other.]] |
| 302 | * HeartSymbol: She drew a few on her diary [[ShipTease around Girard Draketooth]]. |
| 303 | * HeroAntagonist: She is undoubtedly a heroic figure whose goal is to save the world, and she is far more empathetic and egalitarian than most, in that she considers the NPC races just as worthy of saving as the PC races. However, when she re-emerges, it becomes clear her plan involves dosing the Order with amnesia potion to stop their conflict with Xykon, reasoning that given their track record of destroying gates, Xykon gaining control of the last one would be better than the Snarl being released. Unfortunately, she's operating with incomplete information, as she doesn't know about Redcloak's Plan, so if she's successful she may well ensure the destruction of the world she wants to save. |
| 304 | -->'''Serini:''' My job is to protect the world. Not the status quo. |
| 305 | * HeroicSelfDeprecation: Unfavourably compares herself to Dorukan and Lirian and once the Order manages to convince her that they're on the same side, she bitterly [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1256.html remarks]] "Fat lot of good it'll do you.". |
| 306 | * HolierThanThou: Serini has a tendency to fall into this with Soon and the Sapphire Guard, constantly calling them out for perceived [[LawfulStupid stupidity]] or FantasticRacism while either ignoring or neglecting to mention that she's [[NotSoDifferentRemark made similar mistakes]]. Her grudge against Soon is largely rooted in his refusal to break the "stupid oath" ''[[HoistByTheirOwnPetard she proposed]]'' to help her build a better Gate, but she [[NeverMyFault refuses to acknowledge]] that she ''might'' have made an error in judgment assuming that she could convince an epic-level paladin to become TheOathbreaker. When everyone enters the Kraagor's Gate dungeon and finds that [[FriendToAllLivingThings Serini]] had used magic to communicate with the monsters and let them know what's at stake, she angrily demands to know if the paladins expected her to "order people to stand around and wait to die" without telling them why... before backing down and admitting that that's ''exactly'' what she used to do before [[LiteralTransformativeExperience becoming half-troll]]. |
| 307 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: When she attempted to go to Soon Kim for help with Kraagor's Tomb, she wasn't allowed in the same room with him thanks to the vow which she suggested about not interacting with the other Scribblers or getting involved with the other Gates. Even ''she'' thought that it was just a bunch of words that he was taking far too seriously. |
| 308 | * {{Hypocrite}}: |
| 309 | ** She's the one who proposed the promise that none of the Scribblers would ever have dealings with one another again, yet she gripes and complains that Soon took the promise seriously and actually kept it. |
| 310 | ** She scoffs at the idea that the supposedly good gods would destroy the world rather than negotiate with the Dark One and the goblins[[note]]The gods actually have attempted this but they haven't been able to find a receptive audience.[[/note]] and is swayed by Belkar and Haley convincing her the gods (read: those in power) are selfish and callous enough to sacrifice everyone rather than make concessions. Her entire reason for opposing the Order is her utter refusal to make the slightest attempt to find common ground with the Order. To the point that she was actively rejecting their attempts to contact her rather than responding, even to tell them to go away. In particular, she disparagingly says the gods will wring their hands and insist they don't want to take the extreme action, then do it anyway when she herself acknowledges that Xykon ruling the world would be awful, but she fights the Order to help that happen rather than risk the world ending. |
| 311 | * HypocrisyNod: Serini espouses the PowerOfTrust to Sunny, but when Sunny proclaims she trusts Elan, Serini is disappointed. |
| 312 | -->'''Serini:''' Ugh, Sunny. Why do you have to be so trusting?\ |
| 313 | '''Sunny:''' But... you raised me to be trusting.\ |
| 314 | '''Serini:''' I didn't expect you to '''''trust''''' me on it! Do as I imply, not as I say or do! |
| 315 | * IHatePastMe: When viewing a recording she made while young, the bitter and jaded old Serini expresses grumpiness and embarrassment at how naive and excitable her younger self was. |
| 316 | * ImprobableWeaponUser: In a desperation move, she throws a sachet of ''potpourri'' in Belkar's face. Like most home aesthetes, he finds it offensive. |
| 317 | * InconsistentSpelling: In ''Utterly Dwarfed'''s author commentary, The Giant spells her last name as "Moortuck". |
| 318 | * InferioritySuperiorityComplex: Serini's ego is in a weird position. She spends as much time bragging about herself for her cleverness as she does putting herself down for her weakness--she seems to think of herself as the smartest person in the room who had everyone played for suckers, but also an idiot who needed help to get anything done. |
| 319 | * {{Irony}}: Serini spits mockery and venom at Soon's paladins, considering them the last and least aid her former companions could've given her compared to the mighty spells of the others. But Soon Kim's ghost-martyred paladins came closer than ''any'' of her other friends to actually destroying Xykon outright, including Serini herself who took her swing and got wrecked. |
| 320 | * JerkassHasAPoint: |
| 321 | ** PlayedWith. She's partly correct that if Xykon were to use the Gate to rule the world, eventually someone would probably manage to defeat him, and that many of the non-PC races like trolls, kobolds, and orcs would likely get a better deal out of a world under his rule than the status quo, meaning that letting Xykon win is better than risking destroying all the Gates and destroying the world. She doesn't, however, know about the Plan, meaning that a scenario where Xykon wins would likely be far worse than she anticipates, [[SelfFulfillingProphecy potentially bringing about the very apocalypse she is trying to avert]]. She has concerns that the Order and paladins are not the likeliest winner if they were to face Xykon with her help or not, which would be valid, but then she reveals that she believes they won't be able to beat Xykon because she believes Xykon is ''unbeatable'', which is patently false since they ''did'' defeat Xykon at Dorukan's Gate (with only his phylactery saving him) and the Sapphire Guard would have ''killed'' Xykon at Soon's Gate had Miko not wrongfully interfered. |
| 322 | ** She's also right in that Gates tend to blow up whenever the Order is at them through the conflict that erupts over them, hence why she attacked the Order to preempt any such destructive outcomes. Roy points out the logical fallacy in her argument: That with only one gate remaining, the Order aren't stupid enough to destroy it like they did with Girard's to keep it out of Xykon's hands, and they have every reason to help ''preserve'' this gate to the best of their ability, but Serini simply doesn't believe they're capable of that. |
| 323 | * JustBetweenYouAndMe: Rare heroic example. She kidnaps Lien and O-Chul and explains her plan to them, reasoning that it doesn't matter since she's going to dose them with amnesia potion anyway. |
| 324 | * KnightInSourArmor: Years of being a hermit after Xykon mutilated her has made her considerably more cynical. |
| 325 | * LesserOfTwoEvils: Believes that Xykon taking over the world is preferable to the world being destroyed, unaware that Xykon's victory will lead to the same result. |
| 326 | * LockedOutOfTheLoop: She is unaware of all the details regarding the situation of the gates: Redcloak's true plan for seizing one, the gods intending to blow up the planet, and that the Order has no plan to go after and destroy the gate, meaning that her intentions to stop the Order will cause more harm than good. A variation on the standard in that she locked ''herself'' out of the loop with her refusal to listen to the Order of the Stick. They made every effort to communicate this information to her. To be fair, V's constant intrusive ''sendings'' just made her more and more annoyed, especially when she was ''on the toilet,'' but this could have been avoided if she had just ''answered.'' |
| 327 | * LoyalAnimalCompanion: Serini has at least five: a beholder named Sunny, a mimic named Mimi, a piercer named Franklin, a Lurker and a Trapper; the latter two's names have not yet been revealed. |
| 328 | * MasterPoisoner: Brewing potions with various offensive applications seems to be a specialty of hers. Her poisons are so potent that she is able to incapacitate Roy and O-Chul with just a few darts. Considering that both characters are rather high-level Fighters (multi-classed Paladin in O-Chul's case), and taking into account O-Chul's extremely high Constitution, that is no small feat. However, so far the only "poisons" she's used are sleeping potions and an amnesia brew. |
| 329 | * NeverFoundTheBody: Her fate was the only one unconfirmed of all the Scribblers. She shows up in #1189, but we don't find out it's actually her until #1226. |
| 330 | * NeverMyFault: |
| 331 | ** When she complains about Vaarsuvius continuously ''sending'' to her, even when she was trying to sleep and was on the can, V points out that it was her lack of response that prompted the numerous attempts to contact her. Serini retorts that she ''didn't want to'' talk to Vaarsuvius. |
| 332 | ** Bases important plans on an ''epic-level paladin'' breaking his oath. Blames ''the paladin'' for those plans' failure when he won't. |
| 333 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: She wrote down all of the details of her adventures -- including the ''real'' coordinates of Girard's Gate -- and then didn't take proper care of it, allowing the diary to eventually fall into Xykon's hands, as seen in [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0196.html "The Diary"]]. This means Team Evil has perfect knowledge of where to find all the gates, whereas the Order of the Stick is desperately looking for the location of each one as the last one falls. However, this is later {{subverted}} in #1226 and #1227, which reveal that Xykon took it from her by force and nearly managed to kill her in the process. Also {{subverted}} in that the coordinates she gave for Kraagor's Gate in her diary are to a decoy location (albeit with a "gauntlet" that leads to the real gate), and the real gate is somewhere else entirely. |
| 334 | * ObfuscatingStupidity: She convinced the other Scribblers to assist in building Kraagor's tomb by speaking to them individually and presenting herself as a silly halfling who'd gotten in over her head and needed help, rather than the only person smart enough to realise they needed to work together, even if it had to be unknowingly. |
| 335 | * OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1283.html Strip 1283]] shows that she somehow managed to solo a fully grown ''Beholder'', with Sunny being the spawn of said Beholder. |
| 336 | * OhCrap: |
| 337 | ** She has a small one when she realizes that Elan is trying to goad her beholder Sunny into blinking -- turning off the anti-magic field just long enough for Haley to pull a flare arrow out of her bag of holding and light up the room. |
| 338 | --->'''Serini:''' What is [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} he]] babbling about? [...] No, no, wait! Don't do it! Stay strong! |
| 339 | ** Moments later, she has another one when she sees Haley going for her bow; unfortunately for her, Haley wasn't using it as a weapon, but as a swing bar. |
| 340 | * PetTheDog: Compared to the extreme cynicism she displays towards the humanoids of the Order of the Stick, she shows a much kinder side to the monsters under her employ, particularly her HappilyAdopted child Sunny. Almost all the monsters she has guarding her Gate consented to be there, including ones that don't have the capacity to understand why it's so important. |
| 341 | * PowerOfTrust: Serini is so powerful in this, she manages to get a ''beholder'' to believe in it. Keep in mind, beholders are extreme xenophobes who trust ''no one'' as a philosophy.[[note]]This part was admittedly {{Subverted|Trope}} when she reveals Sunny's backstory: when she tried to recruit a beholder for her dungeon [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome it tried to kill her on sight]] and she had to kill it. Sunny was [[TrulySingleParent budding from that beholder's corpse]] so Serini rescued them and raised them from "birth" as their mother.[[/note]] Ironically, her conflict with the Order and their paladin allies is born out of her absolute ''refusal'' to trust them, believing that they will inevitably spark another destructive conflict with Xykon over the gate that will lead to its destruction, and that they're not strong enough to beat him. So, despite her animosity for the lich, she chooses to fight them and wipe their memories of the location to allow Xykon to control the gate, believing that it's better for evil to win if it means preserving the planet... [[LockedOutOfTheLoop unaware]] that this actually threatens not only the Planet's survival, but the only chance the gods have to seal the Snarl for good. |
| 342 | * TheQuisling: Is actively working to sabotage any attempt to stop Xykon, because she believes it's better to let him plunge the world into darkness than risk destroying the last Gate and unleashing the Snarl. |
| 343 | * TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: |
| 344 | ** Gives one to the Sapphire Guard (read: O-Chul and Lien), calling them out for being too stupid to stop Xykon and then destroying gates rather than letting Xykon win, making it clear that they don't deserve any more chances to ruin everything. It's later revealed that this attitude is at least partially influenced by her remaining aggravation towards Soon Kim sticking with unbending dedication to the non-interference clause she proposed, which Serini only intended to be a stop-gap measure to allow her friends to calm down. Because her gate wound up being the last, she's annoyed by the Paladins' presence at the eleventh hour when she asked for better aid before, and takes out her aggression on the duo afterwards even when she's aiding the party. |
| 345 | ** By the time she actually exchanges any words with the Order (rather than just shooting poisoned crossbow bolts at them), she's at least partway into her [[VillainousBreakdown Heroic Antagonist Breakdown]], and can do little more than hurl insults at their intelligence and competence ''while they're in the process of defeating her''. Much less effective. |
| 346 | * TheResenter: Her hostility toward O-Chul and Lien mostly stems from Soon having kept his word to not talk to her unlike the rest of the group. It leads to Serini being really defensive to any perceived complaints from the paladins about how she handles thing, because Soon ignored her when she asked for advice. |
| 347 | * TheReveal: Comic #1226 reveals that she's actually been living inside Kraagor's tomb for several decades, after being attacked and left for dead by Xykon when he stole her diary. On top of that, half her body now consists of troll flesh due to troll blood being used to heal her after the attack. |
| 348 | * RoleCalled: Her diary -- ''The Life and Times of Serini Toormuck, Halfling Rogue''. |
| 349 | * ScatterbrainedSenior: Downplayed, but her limited memories make having her to help the team traverse the traps in the final dungeon she personally built less-than-ideal. |
| 350 | * ScrewPolitenessImASenior: Even now that she's nominally on the Order's side, she still takes potshots at their youth and inexperience. |
| 351 | * SeniorSleepCycle: In present times, Serini is an old halfling and tends to take naps at inopportune moments, such as during the Order's brainstorming for defeating Team Evil. |
| 352 | -->'''Serini:''' Easy for you to say, Mr. Under Thirty. I'm old, I take naps. |
| 353 | * ShellShockedVeteran: She suffered through her friends disbanding the party on bad terms, her friends being murdered, and her almost being killed by her friends' murderer. She'd underwent a ton of trauma, and said murderer is looking to take over the world. |
| 354 | * SlasherSmile: She sports a pretty unsettling one as she heads out to subdue the Order. |
| 355 | * SoleSurvivor: By #1226, she is the last Scribbler left alive. |
| 356 | * SpannerInTheWorks: Initially intended to thwart the Order's attempt to stop Xykon because she believed they were going to destroy the last Gate to stop him from winning. Even though they convince her otherwise, her attack on the Order ends up costing them their window of opportunity to ambush Xykon. |
| 357 | * SpeechBubbles: Post-blood transfusion, her speech bubbles are now green. Belkar once comments on her voice, implying that it isn't recognizable as a halfling's, thus it's certainly altered in some way. |
| 358 | * StopOrIShootMyself: When the Order manages to corner her, she threatens to take a dive into her cauldron of amnesia potion if they don't surrender, which would erase all memory she has of the gate. Haley isn't impressed since the Order wasn't even expecting her to be around, much less receive her help, and wouldn't be getting it if they surrendered either. Haley reveals V was ready to use magic to reverse the memory, so she wasn't bluffing; Serini admits she was bluffing because the serum only removes short-term memory. |
| 359 | * SurvivorGuilt: Part of the reason she has become a ShellShockedVeteran and a BrokenAce is due to the fact that her friends died while she thinks she wasn't good enough to outlive them. |
| 360 | -->'''Serini:''' You don't understand. Xykon is unbeatable, period! He beat Dorukan and Lirian!\ |
| 361 | '''Lien:''' And you! You think he's unbeatable just because he beat '''''you'''''!\ |
| 362 | '''Serini:''' Of course I think that! He ripped me apart like I was a bundle of twigs! Dor and Liri were so much '''''better''''' than me, and he killed them both! [[NotWorthKilling I'm only alive because I wasn't important enough for him to make sure I was dead!]] |
| 363 | * TookALevelInCynic: When she was younger, she was energetic and cheerful. However, the life she's lived has taken a toll on her personality, and now she's become a lot more jaded then she was before. The order finally convinces her to help them when Belkar and Haley describe the Gods' decision to destroy the world in the most selfish way possible: They are the jerks at the top and would rather burn it all down rather than let someone new have some of their power and all it costs them is the mortals. Later evidence suggests that she was always a ''bit'' more cynical than her teammates gave her credit for, but she's ''such'' a sour old woman that she definitely still qualifies for the trope. |
| 364 | * TranquilizerDart: She uses sleeping potion-laced darts to non-lethally take out her enemies. |
| 365 | * {{Troll}}: She enjoys lying to paladins, even though she was presumably friends with Soon in the Order of the Scribble. Given what she's become, this makes a VisualPun. |
| 366 | * TwoFaced: Her encounter with Xykon disfigured her entire left side, [[AnArmAndALeg destroying her left hand and foot]]. The hidden troll village she'd been trading with gave her troll's blood to save her life, which resulted in troll flesh growing over the wounds left by Xykon. |
| 367 | -->'''Serini:''' Kept me alive. Didn't do much for my complexion. |
| 368 | * UnderestimatingBadassery: Played straight with the Order of the Stick and averted with Xykon. She thinks the Order can't beat Xykon, simply because he defeated Dorukan and Lirian, and in #1254 calls Roy "some random sword-guy". She doesn't seem to cotton to the fact that the Order have faced off against the lich a few times, and actually defeated him once, and he would have been killed by the Sapphire Guard ghosts had Miko not destroyed the Gate. She actually invokes the trope by telling Lien and O-Chul she needs the crossbow she saves for an emergency because the Order is stronger than she thinks -- and they enter her lair, something she never expected they'd be able to do, at least so quickly. |
| 369 | * VillainousBreakdown: Or at least, Hero Antagonist Breakdown -- as it becomes more and more evident that Serini has greatly underestimated the Order of the Stick (who, don't forget, beat the "unbeatable" Xykon in ''the very first story arc'', even if it was mostly luck), she becomes less composed, less humorous, less reasonable, less focused on any sort of goal, and more desperate to just ''beat them''. |
| 370 | * WalkingSpoiler: She is the only member of the Order of the Scribble still alive, which we don't find out until strip #1226. Thus, almost any information about her is a major spoiler for Book 7. |
| 371 | * WeakButSkilled: Serini, as a rogue, is the only member of the Order of the Scribble to have neither inherent magic nor raw strength and power. Additionally, the height of her adventuring career was 56 years ago, and unlike Lirian (an elf druid who doesn't age), Dorukan (a wizard who gets bonuses from aging), and Soon (a ghost), she gets to actually feel the weight of those years. In combat, she relies on guile, skill, a host of items, and use of her environment and allies. |
| 372 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: In the modern day, this is the reason she captures O-Chul and Lien with the intention of erasing their memories - she knows that paladin oaths may invoke IDieFree to destroy her Gate in order to stop Xykon, which will result in the destruction of the planet. Given how O-Chul ''has'' attempted to destroy a Gate to take Xykon with him, this comes off as a reasonable assumption. She feels that letting Xykon rule the world is preferable to letting it be destroyed, especially since she's certain he'll be overthrown in a few years anyway, not to mention the fact that the Trolls and Kobolds might even be better off for it since Xykon practices EqualOpportunityEvil. (Granted, she doesn't seem to have cottoned to the fact Xykon doesn't care about ''anyone'', since he's shown he'd rather kill humanoids and raise them as undead troops.) |
| 373 | * WrongGenreSavvy: Her belief that it's better for Xykon to win than for the gates to be destroyed seems to follow the same kind of story-based logic that Elan and Tarquin use; the EvilOverlord will eventually be defeated because the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality demands it, so Xykon's victory will necessarily be temporary. She is even aware that she is in a cosmic horror story, which is why she thinks Xykon winning is the lesser of two evils. However, this is wrongheaded because it doesn't take into account Redcloak's Plan and the gods' willingness to destroy the world to prevent it from coming to fruition (both of which she seems unaware of). However, it's later revealed that she thinks standing up to Xykon is suicidal because he's too strong for her to go up against. |
| 374 | * TheXOfY: Her diary's title, ''The Life and Times of Serini Toormuck, Halfling Rogue''. |
| 375 | * ZombieAdvocate: Part of the reason that she is willing to let Xykon get the gate and rule is that the new world order would actually benefit a lot of the monster races that suffer in the current status quo. Downplayed, as it is not a goal of hers, but rather it is a reason she thinks that Xykon ruling is preferable to destroying the world. |
| 376 | [[/folder]] |
| 377 | |
| 378 | [[folder:Kraagor]] |
| 379 | !!Kraagor |
| 380 | [[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2017_04_08_at_30340_am.png]] |
| 381 | |
| 382 | ->''"'''Raging makes Kraagor a thirsty boy.'''"'' |
| 383 | |
| 384 | ->'''Race:''' Dwarf\ |
| 385 | '''Gender:''' Male\ |
| 386 | '''Class:''' Barbarian\ |
| 387 | '''Alignment:''' Unknown [-(as a barbarian, non-Lawful)-] |
| 388 | |
| 389 | A dwarf who acted as the party's barbarian. He was tragically killed by the Snarl when Dorukan sealed the last rift. |
| 390 | ---- |
| 391 | * AdvertisedExtra: Of all the Scribblers, he's the one with the least amount of known information about him. All that is known about Kraagor is his gender, race, class, that he liked to drink, he believed in physical might, and he was the only member of the party to die before the party was dissolved. |
| 392 | * BadassNormal: Assuming he never dipped into multi-classing, he lacks any kind of magical abilities. |
| 393 | * BarbarianHero: Though we get relatively little of the "hero" from the limited snippets of his personality, he is one of the Scribblers that saved the world in the past. His speech patterns are also unique: bolded, like Thog, but using capitalization and punctuation. He is also more intelligent, frankly, than Belkar or Thog. |
| 394 | * BeardOfBarbarism: And of dwarfishness. There are braids in them. |
| 395 | * TheBigGuy: A barbarian who believed "strength alone" was the most effective guardian. |
| 396 | * BigGuyFatalitySyndrome: Swallowed up by the Snarl at the moment of the Order's final victory, something that fueled a [[TheFellowshipHasEnded messy organizational breakup]]. |
| 397 | * BlackDudeDiesFirst: Okay, he's not human ''or'' "black", but he still clearly has the darkest skin tone of the Order of the Scribble and he was the only one of them to die [[DeathIsCheap (permanently, at least)]] during their quest. |
| 398 | * DeaderThanDead: If Redcloak and Lord Shojo are right, those killed by the Snarl lose their souls. |
| 399 | * TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: Kraagor's sacrifice also requires no one ever know what happened to hide the true nature of the Gates. |
| 400 | * TheHeart: Not as much as Serini, but his death was the catalyst that resulted in the Order of the Scribble falling apart. His teammates seem to have held him in a high regard, too- they erected a statue in his honor, Lirian calls him "dearest Kraagor" and Girard thinks Soon [[YouShouldHaveDiedInstead should have died in his place]]. |
| 401 | * HeroicSacrifice: He was lost sealing the final rift to contain the Snarl, being [[TrialByFriendlyFire too close]] to it as Dorukan cast the spell for sealing it. |
| 402 | * KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Assuming we have all the information about the Snarl, he is never ever coming back to life.]] |
| 403 | * PosthumousCharacter: He's dead, and unlike the rest of the Order, unlikely to have any further effects on the story. |
| 404 | * SmallRoleBigImpact: He's a PosthumousCharacter who has only been seen in flashbacks for a page or two. However, his death contributed to the Order of the Scribble falling apart and everything that came after. |
| 405 | * {{Unperson}}: Given Girard's bitter comment to Soon, Soon's campaign to expunge all knowledge of the Gates, and the non-vandalized inscription on his tomb saying "Sacrifice Forgotten", it's likely to say that history by and large doesn't remember him. |
| 406 | [[/folder]] |
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