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2%% Zero Context Example entries are NOT allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them. %%
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4%% Advice blurb: Vaarsuvius's gender is currently ambiguous, both for the readers and most of the characters in the comic; according to the comic's author, the various gender-specific pronouns used by other characters to refer to Vaarsuvius are simply that character's perception of their gender.
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6%% Therefore, please leave V's gender as "unknown". If you disagree with this, feel free to take it up on the discussion page. Thank you.
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8%% In cases like this, the grammatically correct pronoun is "they".
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10%% In addition, any further edit warring over character alignments will result in edit bans.
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12[[WMG:[[center:[-[[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStick Main Character Index]] | '''The Order of the Stick''' – [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickHumanPartyMembers Human Party Members]] – [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickNonHumanPartyMembers Non-Human Party Members]] | [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickTeamEvil Team Evil]] | [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickTheLinearGuild The Linear Guild]] | [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickTheOrderOfTheScribble The Order of the Scribble]] | [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickAzureCity Azure City]] | [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickGreyskyCity Greysky City]] | [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickTheEmpireOfBlood The Empire of Blood]] | [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickNorthernLands Northern Lands]] | [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickAnimalCompanions Animal Companions]] | [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickDivineBeings Divine Beings]] | [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickOthers Others]]-]]]]]
13----
14
15!The Order of the Stick
16[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/newoots_thread.png]]
17[[caption-width-right:350:From right to left: [[TheLeader Roy Greenhilt]], [[TheBigGuy Durkon Thundershield]], [[TheLancer Haley Starshine]], [[TheHeart Elan]], [[TheSmartGuy Vaarsuvius]], [[TeamPet Mr. Scruffy]], [[SnarkyNonHumanSidekick Blackwing]] and [[TokenEvilTeammate Belkar Bitterleaf]].]]
18
19
20->'''Roy:''' Let my people handle this, we're trained professionals. Well, we're semi-trained, quasi-professionals, at any rate.
21
22Led by Roy Greenhilt, the Order is a group of six [[PlayerCharacter PCs]] (plus a familiar, later two animal companions, and further later a cohort), out to destroy the evil lich Xykon and prevent him from [[TakeOverTheWorld taking over]] (or worse, [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destroying]]) the world.
23
24* The human members of the Order – [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickHumanPartyMembers Roy Greenhilt, Haley Starshine and Elan]]
25* The {{demihuman}} members of the Order – [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickNonHumanPartyMembers Vaarsuvius, Belkar Bitterleaf and Durkon Thundershield]]
26* For the Order's animal companions (Mr. Scruffy, Blackwing, and Bloodfeast), see [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickAnimalCompanions Animal Companions]].
27* For Banjo, see [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickDivineBeings Divine Beings]]. Yes, really.
28* For the cohort assisting the party from Book 6 and onwards ([[spoiler:Minrah Shaleshoe]]), see [[Characters/TheOrderOfTheStickNorthernLands Northern Lands]].
29----
30[[folder:In General]]
31* AchillesHeel: If the Order has something that qualifies as a collective weakness, it's that half of their members are susceptible to CharmPerson. It's serious enough that Durkon wouldn't risk bringing the entire order when facing a [[spoiler:Vampire with their Hypnotic Gaze, and it almost ended in the bad guys winning when the Order face The High Priest of Hel and his lackeys.]]
32* BadassCrew: Definitely.
33** They hold the defense of Azure City together almost by themselves.
34** Between Haley and Belkar, with support from the unnamed Greysky Cleric of Loki and Celia, they are able to devastate the majority of the Greysky Thieves' Guild members and incapacitate both Bozzok and Crystal when they are ambushed at Old Blind Pete's house.
35** After the [[spoiler:destruction of Girard's Gate]], the much-depleted Order still poses a credible threat to an entire army of FacelessGoons.
36* BunnyEarsLawyer: The Order are, bluntly, a group of extremely strange and emotionally dysfunctional weirdos. However, for all that, they're still a competent and powerful adventuring party who are probably the world's best hope for survival.
37* CallingYourAttacks: Any attack or spell they use is usually accompanied by them saying its name. Partly for reader benefit, although explained in ''On the Origin of [=PCs=]'' as a way to keep everyone on the same page.
38* CasualDangerDialog: The whole Order gets up to this regularly, due to abuse of TalkingIsAFreeAction and the fact that they're {{Deadpan Snarker}}s. Vaarsuvius and Belkar, however, especially stand out, the former being generally unafraid (of combat), and the latter being a FearlessFool. Elan gets to do this whenever it's narratively appropriate, due to being a bard, and Roy gets quite a bit due to the fact that his sheer exasperation and/or frustration with the absurdity of the Order's circumstances overshadow his fears.
39* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Late into the story, Vaarsuvius gains the ''telepathic bond'' spell, allowing the characters to silently communicate with each other. When telepathically communicating, everyone's speech bubbles are color-coded.
40** Roy's speech bubbles are [[BlueIsHeroic dark blue]].
41** Haley's speech bubbles are orange.
42** Elan's speech bubbles are light blue.
43** Vaarsuvius' speech bubbles are pink.
44** Durkon's speech bubbles are brown.
45** Belkar's speech bubbles are green.
46** Blackwing's speech bubbles are dark grey.
47* DeadpanSnarker: ''All'' of them can be pretty snarky with both each other and anyone who crosses their path. While it's most apparent with Roy, Vaarsuvius, and Belkar, Haley also has her moments, and Durkon also becomes increasingly sarcastic thanks to his time spent [[spoiler:imprisoned in his own body with only [[EnemyWithin the High Priest of Hel]] to talk to]]. Furthermore, while Elan is typically SarcasmBlind, he usually becomes a {{Cuckoosnarker}} [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness whenever he gets sufficiently upset at someone]].
48* DeusExitMachina:
49** Vaarsuvius is removed from several fights due to being too powerful, such as falling off the wall during the Battle of Azure City, absent from most of the fleet fights, [[ItMakesSenseInContext temporarily thrown into an alternate realm of ranch dressing beings]], falling down a booby trap during a panic attack...
50** Removing Durkon from the equation is just as tough. He was the only match for the druid Leeky, he's Roy's best friend, and until Elan invested in learning some spells, the only healer. Hence things getting really tense when [[spoiler:he's turned into a vampire by Malack.]]
51* DestructiveSaviour:
52** During the first story arc, they defeat Xykon and drive off his minions, saving the world. Then they blow up the Dungeon of Dorukan because Elan [[WhatDoesThisButtonDo can't resist]] activating the [[SchmuckBait Self-Destruct Rune]].
53** During their stay at an inn, they foil an assassination attempt on a visiting king, but Belkar inadvertently sets off the assassins' explosives and destroys the inn. Sensing a pattern?
54** Azure City's castle also blows up not too long after their visit, but here they can hardly be blamed for it... at least not directly.
55--->'''Vaarsuvius:''' It is troubling that we can now recognize our failures by immediate auditory familiarity.
56** And [[spoiler:Girard's Pyramid can be added to the list.]] This time it is fully intentional, though, the Order having no other choice.
57* DysfunctionJunction: Literally '''every''' member of the Order has noteworthy mental issues of some shade or another, to the point where only Durkon and Elan can be said to ''not'' suffer from severe self-loathing problems. Roy has a hefty amount of SurvivorsGuilt thanks to his dead infant brother, Haley is both incredibly greedy and almost pathologically unable to trust anyone outside of her "family", Elan is a dimwitted {{Cloudcuckoolander}} MetaGuy desperate for the affection of others, Vaarsuvius is an InsufferableGenius who usually resorts to [[StuffBlowingUp violently blowing up]] awkward social situations along with developing a hefty GuiltComplex following their DealWithTheDevil, Belkar is an enthusiastically homicidal maniac who uses violence and {{Jerkass}}ery to hide his emotional vulnerability, and Durkon is an incredibly [[HonorBeforeReason honor-bound]] and fervently religious stick-in-the-mud. Needless to say, before they all became actual TrueCompanions [[FireForgedFriends over the course of the comic]], they initially got along like a bunch of wet cats. It's even lampshaded by Minrah during ''Utterly Dwarfed'':
58-->'''Minrah:''' Does ''everyone'' in your group have weird emotional issues?\
59'''Durkon:''' [[FalseReassurance Eh, tha cat's prob'ly fine.]]
60* FireForgedFriends: They build significantly more mutual trust once their goals escalate from loot (and/or justice and/or murder) to defending the world against clear and present threats.
61* FixedRelativeStrength: The groups distribution of power is always constant, regardless of the battles that one misses. Justified due to their universe being based around RPG mechanics. As Belkar's fight with Crystal and Bozzok shows, a frontline fighter can deal with multiple higher-level Rogue-type-classed and overcoming LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards is nigh impossible.
62%%* FourTempermentEnsemble:
63%%** Sanguine: Elan.
64%%** Choleric: Belkar.
65%%** Melancholic: Roy and Vaarsuvius.
66%%** Phlegmatic: Durkon and Haley.
67* FourPhilosophyEnsemble:
68** '''The Cynic:''' Vaarsuvius and Haley post-CharacterDevelopment. V originally joined the Order just for the opportunity to use adventuring for spell research, but is set apart from Belkar below by being far more logical, cold-minded, and eager to harp on criticism/boast of their own intellect among their perceived lessers prior to them undergoing a lengthy BreakTheHaughty character arc in ''Don't Split the Party''. Since then, while they're now a significantly kinder and more empathic person who is fervently dedicated to [[TheAtoner atoning]] for their past misdeeds, they still have a very bitter outlook on the world and are on some level utterly convinced that they are irrevocably damned no matter what they do. Haley, meanwhile, eventually evolves into a nobler person, but keeps her street-smart attitude from before and is ProperlyParanoid about whatever suspiciously positive opportunity falls into the Order's lap.
69** '''The Optimist:''' Elan. Not only is he the kindest and most sincere member of the Order, but he goes out of his way to try and see the best in everyone and keep up everyone's hope even when things seem their bleakest. Part of his CharacterDevelopment in ''Blood Runs in the Family'' is his idealism becoming increasingly tempered by harsh reality, with him eventually losing any hope for [[spoiler:his family being reunited and even directly admitting that his TragicDream for his evil father and brother to be worthy of his love is painfully naïve]].
70** '''The Realist:''' Roy and Durkon. Roy obstinately ''tries'' to be [[invoked]] LawfulGood, but often finds himself engaging in far shadier and more chaotic-aligned means to ensure the greater good is achieved (i.e., him keeping Belkar as part of the Order for as long as he has). Durkon, for his part, does his best to be as honorable and considerate to others as possible, but is also fully aware of the world's cruelties and often agrees with Roy's more pragmatic stratagems.
71** '''The Apathetic:''' Belkar and Haley prior to her CharacterDevelopment. Belkar initially joined the Order only for an opportunity to further indulge his ComedicSociopathy, and has to be given a RestrainingBolt for several months so that he can eventually learn how to "trick" everyone else into thinking he's become a legitimate team player (though he has ironically started to [[BecomingTheMask Become the Mask]]). Meanwhile, Haley is initially concerned with only getting enough money to pay for the bail to release her father from prison, but she eventually becomes more of a genuinely noble person thanks to her time spent with the Azure City Resistance and her FireForgedFriends relationship with both Roy and Durkon.
72%%** The Conflicted:
73* AFriendInNeed: Not all of them, but mutual assistance is common. Most noticeable -- using the trope name -- when Roy offers [[spoiler:to let Vampire Durkon drink his blood]], and Elan and Haley jump to offer as well.
74* GuysSmashGirlsShoot: All the guys are melee fighters (even Belkar, which makes no sense for a halfling ranger), except for Haley the archer. Downplayed somewhat in that Belkar can use his daggers as throwing knives (but [[BloodKnight he typically prefers]] the hands-on approach), [[MagicKnight Durkon mixing it up with divine magic]] and Vaarsuvius not identifying as female, but rather as genderqueer. Briefly inverted when Haley takes Roy's sword ([[spoiler:to change the target of a Silicon Elemental that was ordered to kill "[[ExactWords the human with the greatsword]]" first]]) and Roy takes up Haley's bow.
75* HistoryRepeats: Just like the Order of the Scribble, the Order of the Stick is a group of six quirky adventurers drawn into an epic quest revolving around the Snarl and preventing the gods from needing to destroy the world. Both parties are made up of three humans and three non-humans including an elf, a halfling, and a dwarf. Both parties suffer a significant CrisisOfFaith and are broken apart when one of their number dies (though at least the Order of the Stick was able to re-assemble), one of their members was/is doomed to be KilledOffForReal (Kraagor was [[DeaderThanDead killed by the Snarl]], while Belkar is prophesied to "take his last breath - ever" before the end of the InUniverse year), and both groups [[spoiler:lose their dwarven members in combat - though Durkon, unlike Kraagor, was eventually brought BackFromTheDead]]).
76* InterspeciesFriendship: The team consists of three humans, a dwarf, an elf and a halfling, all who become FireForgedFriends.
77* JustifiedTitle: The team name (and webcomic title) were originally just a reference to the drawing style, but it got a justification in the ''[[Recap/TheOrderOfTheStickOnTheOriginOfPCs On the Origin of PCs]]'' prequel. See Line-of-Sight Name below.
78* LethalJokeCharacter: As you can see with MinMaxing below, the Order are sub-optimal in almost every way. Nevertheless, they're saving the world.
79* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: Vaarsuvius and Durkon are often given a DeusExitMachina during plot-important fights because they are a wizard and cleric, respectively, and so develop fantastic powers the others lack. This means the Giant often places situations where they can't solo the encounter.
80* LineOfSightName: In response to his teammates' lame attempts at coming up with a name for their group based on ridiculous things (like the fact that they were hired in a tavern, a trait that most adventuring groups share, or that it was a cloudy day), Roy sarcastically suggested they call themselves "the Order of the Stick" because there was a stick on the ground. To his dismay, the name struck a chord with everyone else.
81* LukeNounverber: Everyone whose last name we know follows this formula, with Roy Greenhilt, Haley Starshine, Belkar Bitterleaf, and Durkon Thundershield.
82* MayflyDecemberFriendship: The team consists of three humans, and three people who all count as LongLived: a Halfling who downplays it, a Dwarf who plays it straight, and even-moreso Elf.
83* MeaningfulName: The above LineOfSightName is in-story justification from the {{Prequel}}. The true reason for the name is, naturally, that they are {{Stick Figure|Comic}}s.
84* MetaGuy: While Elan is easily the most prominent case (to the point where this makes up a not-insignificant part of his characterization), all members of the Order have MediumAwareness to at least some degree and frequently engage in LampshadeHanging.
85* MinMaxing: Averted. ''None'' of the Order's members have perfect builds, often making choices that better fit their personalities rather than what makes them the most effective from a gameplay perspective.
86** Durkon's focus on healing as a cleric means that he can't make as good of a use of his dwarven traits. Furthermore, his low Charisma results in him having a consistently poor success rate at Turn Undead. And on a more comedic note, due to his ludicrously thick FunetikAksent, some of his spells simply fizzle out because his own god can't understand them.
87** Roy's high Intelligence and Wisdom scores don't transfer over in terms of arcane power for him as a fighter due to him wanting to be a BadassNormal to stick it to his {{Jerkass}} wizard father, to the point where it's not until the penultimate story arc that he becomes a MagicKnight through [[spoiler:his Weapon of Legacy]]. Furthermore, Roy has no real weapon proficiency in anything other than two-handed weapons, which results in him being a terrifyingly powerful force on the battlefield whenever he has his Ancestral Relic/[[spoiler:Weapon of Legacy]], but being mediocre at best when armed with anything else. Averted in that his 18 Strength and high Constitution are optimal for single-class fighters.
88** Vaarsuvius barred themselves from Conjuration and Necromancy (the two best schools for wizards) by only focusing on Evocation (the single ''worst'' school for wizards) due to their initial belief in the supreme might of arcane power being founded largely in StuffBlowingUp. Furthermore, V having taken Dexterity as one of their many {{Dump Stat}}s results in them often whiffing ray attacks on any moving target that's beyond point-blank range.
89** Haley is a rogue who specializes in archery, and while that's not ''totally'' crazy, it's rarely done the way she does it for a reason because standing so far back denies Sneak Attack dice (which requires flanking, that cannot be done with a ranged weapon, or taking advantage of a flat-footed opponent, which can only be done from less than 30 feet away). Furthermore, at one point she mentions that she took the "Manyshot" feat, one of the weakest feats ever printed ''in any book'', and which specifically prohibits Sneak Attacking on the second shot -- though in at least two of the instances in which "Manyshot" has been used, it has ironically saved her life. Finally, her weapon of choice is a longbow, when rogues are only proficient in shortbow by default. Essentially, this means she burned another precious feat on a martial weapon proficiency for an average of only 1 more point of damage per attack, and a range increase she can't fully benefit from because, again, she needs to be up close to Sneak Attack.
90** Belkar deserves special mention here, as he has quite possibly the single worst build ''in the entire comic.'' To further elaborate, Belkar's "build" is (deliberately) suboptimal; as a halfling he gets both a Strength penalty (Strength is one of the most important stats for both his barbarian and ranger classes) and a Dexterity bonus (but he hardly ever uses missile weapons), and taking Wisdom as a DumpStat impairs his use of key Ranger skills (i.e., tracking) and spellcasting. Furthermore, he specializes in DualWielding, [[AwesomeButImpractical which is typically regarded as impractical]] due to the high feat and stat taxes involved and all of the accuracy penalties that come with it. The only aspect of his build that ''isn't'' complete crap is that he appears to utilize his Dexterity to extremes, jumping around like [[Franchise/StarWars Yoda]], meaning he is very good at defeating low-level minions. Additionally, since his racial favored class is rogue, the disparity between his ranger and barbarian levels means he now earns 20% less experience than the entire rest of the party (assuming that rule is being enforced).
91** However, Elan explicitly min-maxes when he starts branching into healing magic (a result of his experiences with Therkla), resulting in the ironic situation where [[TheDitz Elan]]'s build is the best optimized of the party given that his strongest stat (Charisma) is the primary stat used for both his base and prestige classes; Dashing Swordsman ''weaponizes'' Charisma.
92* MirroringFactions: It eventually turns out that they're this in regards to the Order of the Scribble, the {{Greater Scope Paragon}}s behind the creation of the [[CosmicKeystone Gates]]. The Order of the Stick's members do not have optimized character builds (with the ironic exception of Elan), but they're also TrueCompanions and able to kick tons of ass through working together to be stronger as a whole while making up for their individual weaknesses. In contrast, from what can be discerned, each of the members of the Order of the Scribble consisted of people with optimized builds to the point that each was a JackOfAllStats concerning their specific role on the team, but internal strife and drama resulted in virtually all of them hating each other and [[BreakingTheFellowship splitting up to defend their Gates individually]], resulting in CripplingOverspecialization issues and the current DividedWeFall situation facing the Gates.
93* MoralityKitchenSink: The individual moralities of the Order's members are all across the board.
94** [[invoked]] Both Roy and Durkon are LawfulGood, but in different ways, with Roy being a clever manipulator and planner who became a fighter because of his desire to [[WeHelpTheHelpless help protect those who are unable to protect themselves]], and Durkon being an obstinate ReligiousBruiser dedicated to following the tenets of his god Thor while aiding those in need.
95** [[invoked]] Similarly, while both Haley and Elan are ChaoticGood, Elan's more of a silly {{Cloudcuckoolander}} who usually doesn't understand rules while trying to do whatever he feels is the right thing, whereas Haley has literally admitted multiple times that [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight she will flat-out ignore society's rules]] if they're interfering in her helping protect both innocent people and her loved ones.
96** [[invoked]] Then there's Vaarsuvius, who is TrueNeutral and initially joined solely for the opportunity of conducting spell research "in the field," and following them ''violently'' JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope has made becoming TheAtoner a core part of their identity.
97** [[invoked]] And finally, there's Belkar, who is ChaoticEvil and the literal TokenEvilTeammate of the entire party who joined just to get more opportunities to indulge in his ComedicSociopathy.
98* NiceMeanAndInBetween:
99** Among the human members of the Order, Elan is the Nice (Elan's relentlessly idealistic and cheery, to the point where Roy typically has him act as TheFace for the whole Order), Haley is the Mean (Haley is pessimistic and paranoid -- the latter to a downright pathologic level -- despite still having a strong moral center, and has such a MoneyFetish that parting with money -- even for a good cause -- gives her a rash unless haggling is involved), and Roy is the In-Between (Roy is a bitingly sarcastic and cynical KnightInSourArmor, but one that always tries to make sure he and his teammates are doing the right thing, and is definitely more of an optimist than Haley due to having had a safer childhood).
100** Among the non-human members of the Order, Durkon is the Nice (Durkon is incredibly polite and self-effacing, and has selflessly sacrificed his own life ''multiple times'' in the name of what's right), Belkar is the Mean (Belkar is a {{Jerkass}} SociopathicHero with a comically-vast AmbiguousCriminalHistory), and Vaarsuvius is the In-Between (V has NoSocialSkills along with a generally haughty and stoic demeanor, but has also dedicated themselves to atoning for their past mistakes and can be polite to those they view with genuine respect).
101* PlayerCharacter: The Order's members are explicitly described as such in-universe, even though the distinction [=PCs/NPCs=] becomes increasingly unclear since there are no actual players behind the MainCharacters. Redcloak notes in the forward of ''On the Origin of [=PCs=]'' that NominalImportance has more of an effect on what constitutes main characters and unimportant characters.
102%% * PlayerParty
103* PositiveFriendInfluence: All of the Order's members help build each other up and inspire them to improve as people. It's perhaps the most obvious with Haley and Belkar, the former who is specifically inspired by her love for Elan to become a more honest and heroic person, and the latter who has his animal companions become a collective MoralityPet that make him actually develop empathy for his fellow mortals.
104* RagtagBunchOfMisfits:
105** To quote ''[[Recap/TheOrderOfTheStickOnTheOriginOfPCs On the Origin of PCs]]'':
106--->'''Roy:''' The rogue is [[AmbitionIsEvil ambitious]] and {{greed}}y, the ranger [[TokenEvilTeammate is a complete psychopath]], the wizard is [[StuffBlowingUp trigger-happy]] [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness and never stops talking]], and the bard [[TheFool is as dumb as a box of moldy carrots]]!\
107'''Durkon:''' As I recall, ye called me "surly and unpleasant" shortly after ye met me. [...] Maybe all these folks need is [[TheLeader a good strong leader like ye ta whip 'em inta shape]].
108** In [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1230.html #1230]] Elan invokes the trope when describing the EarlyInstallmentWeirdness of the early comics, calling the order "a ragtag band of {{Unlikely Hero}}es with [[DarkAndTroubledPast unresolved issues]] who [[TeethClenchedTeamwork didn't see eye-to-eye]]".
109* ReleasingFromThePromise: Originally they were held together by a contract until Xykon was destroyed. They continued after its condition was apparently fulfilled, though, and when Roy discovered that Xykon was still alive (well, not dead), he destroyed the contract, not wishing to hold them together by compulsion. Belkar, for his part, was kept around due to being useful in combat despite being TheFriendNobodyLikes, and had to be given a [[RestrainingBolt Mark of Justice]] to keep him in line until [[IChooseToStay he decided to stick with the Order for good]] after going through a VisionQuest in ''Don't Split the Party''.
110* TheSixthRanger: The Order occasionally has temporary members that travel with them whenever their goals align. Miko Miyazaki escorted them to Azure City and fought with them on the way there, and Celia is an honorary member due to dating its leader. Another is Yukyuk... [[{{Brainwashed}} kinda]]; [[spoiler:V sarcastically welcomes him into the Order after brainwashing him into fighting against the Linear Guild. And from the end of Book 6 onward, Minrah Shaleshoe is accompanying the Order to the North Pole as Durkon's cohort while they head off to try and save the world.]]
111%%* SpeculativeFictionLGBT: [[invoked]] At least two of the Order's members are on the LGBT spectrum, with Haley being confirmed as bisexual per WordOfGod, and Vaarsuvius being genderqueer per WordOfGod (though more along the lines of AmbiguousGender in the comic proper) along with being AmbiguouslyGay due to the gender of their longtime partner Inkyrius being left intentionally ambiguous. Belkar, for his part, despite having [[PoliticallyIncorrectHero repeatedly made sexist and homophobic remarks]], is AmbiguouslyBi (supplemental materials claim that he wants to "[[UnusualEuphemism schtup]] Vaarsuvius"). Both Durkon and Elan are also AmbiguouslyBi; in ''Utterly Dwarfed'', Durkon claims to have considered every member of the Order as potential candidates, and Elan is visibly disappointed when [[spoiler:Vampire Durkon feeds on him and informs him that they don't now share a "mystical blood bond [[HomoeroticSubtext that draws [Elan and Durkula] into]] [[VampiresAreSexGods a mesmerizing web of erotic subtext]]"]]. Funnily enough, Roy is the ''only'' member of the Order to be explicitly straight.
112* TheTeam:
113** TheLeader: Roy Greenhilt calls the shots in the Order, being the [[OnlySaneMan only member mentally stable enough]] to properly juggle all of his team's various neuroses and make sure they stay on track regarding their goals. This results in him having VetinariJobSecurity ([[spoiler:which proves to be a problem when the Order temporarily implodes because of his absence in ''Don't Split the Party'']]).
114** TheLancer[=/=]NumberTwo: The Order only has one for the vast majority of the comic, but gains a second near the midpoint of the penultimate story arc:
115*** Haley Starshine is the official second-in-command and [[TheLancer is a greedy thief to contrast the duty-bound warrior]]. She eventually becomes his adviser on devious lines of thought (i.e., figuring out Redcloak's BatmanGambit regarding the Xykon Decoys during the Fall of Azure City).
116*** [[invoked]] Following [[spoiler:Durkon's vampirization]], Belkar Bitterleaf becomes the one who is most willing to call Roy out for being GenreBlind along with forcing the group to confront certain uncomfortable questions they ''need'' to face if they want to save the world. Haley's still the NumberTwo, but she's more supportive and less abrasive than Belkar is, and Belkar is also more of a stark contrast to Roy in terms of both personality and character build (being an AxCrazy ChaoticEvil halfling ranger/barbarian compared to Roy's LawfulGood GeniusBruiser fighter).
117** TheBigGuy: There are three of these in different ways:
118*** CombatMedic: Durkon Thundershield wears armor and has a spell that makes him huge.
119*** BloodKnight: Belkar is the bloodthirsty one who mainly contributes with physical prowess. He even lampshades this in ''Utterly Dwarfed'', noting how he's pretty much kept around only for raw muscle.
120*** BlackMage: Vaarsuvius specializes in offensive magic and mostly goes around [[StuffBlowingUp blowing stuff up]].
121** TheSmartGuy: The Order has four:
122*** Vaarsuvius is your traditional wizard who weaponizes their intelligence and is a big fan of SesquipedalianLoquaciousness.
123*** Roy, as the guild's leader, is the strategic mastermind and has a mind sharper than the Greenhilt family sword.
124*** Haley is cunning enough to analyze and counter cons, tricks and schemes, all of which makes her an effective NumberTwo.
125*** Even [[GeniusDitz Elan]] can be this when it comes to the [[MetaGuy comic's]] [[GenreSavvy narrative]] and examining narrative phenomena in play (such as knowing anything that is a "million in one chance" is guaranteed to happen).
126** TheHeart:
127*** Elan is most definitely this, [[HairOfGoldHeartOfGold being the sweetest, kindest and most empathetic member of the team.]] Durkon even mentions that he is the heart and soul of the team when planning to save him.
128*** Durkon himself is the most stable, mature and [[TheReliableOne reliable]] member through his dedication and solid personality. He can be counted on whenever madness is going on (barring the dwarves' irrational paranoia involving ''trees'').
129* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Mostly prevalent in the early days of the comic due to everyone's various neuroses getting in each other's way. It still crops up every now and then, mostly whenever any of the more moral members of the party butts heads with [[TokenEvilTeammate Belkar]].
130* TookALevelInBadass: Considering the RPGVerse nature of the comic, everyone in the Order gains literal levels in their respective classes as they overcome obstacles. Beyond that, they also function better as a team, with each of them going through sufficient CharacterDevelopment to make them all more competent and supportive in combat. As Roy puts it in #1063: "It's just the most probable outcome given how strong my party is these days. We're not the team that freaks out, fights among themselves and runs away anymore." In the same encounter, Haley also notes that they can easily handle enemies that they used to run away from.
131* TrueCompanions: Although they have a rocky start, they evolve into tight friends with time. It is sealed when Roy rips up his teammates' initial contracts and gives them the choice to pursue the quest on their own choice. Even [[TokenEvilTeammate Belkar]] has stuck with them till now, despite several opportunities to defect to the evil side.
132* TwoGirlsToATeam: [[spoiler:For a while, Haley was the only woman on the team. But with the inclusion of Minrah Shaleshoe as the EleventhHourRanger, the Order now has a grand total of two women on the team.]]
133* UnlikelyHero: Invoked verbatim by Elan about the team's origins as a RagtagBunchOfMisfits in #1230.
134* WithFriendsLikeThese: The comic was at the start all about their personal conflicts. The group's various dysfunctions sometimes look even more insurmountable than many of their enemies.
135-->'''Roy:''' Wow. [[TemptingFate It's refreshing to not have to jump through hoops to convince the members of my own party to participate in a mission.]]\
136'''Vaarsuvius:''' Can anyone endeavor to explain why in the unspoken names of the infernal dimensions we are wasting our precious time at this insignificant mudhole???
137* YouAllMeetInAnInn: It's an EnforcedTrope. Yes, the Order's initial recruitment was held in a tavern, on Elan's insistence, because it is traditional.
138[[/folder]]

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