The Order of the Stick

Has Thog actually done anything evil that wasn't under the influence of Nale?

I understand that being willing to go through with some of the things he has is very bad, even at the command of someone else, but I feel like if left on his own he would just run around collecting abandoned puppies, or something.

edited 3rd Sep '13 5:09:07 PM by Todbot1

Tarquin strikes me as the kin of man who could take that loss in stride, albeit with disappointment.

Yeah. Kinda like the "yarp" guy from Hot Fuzz.

I'd argue that Thog's evil goes far beyond that of anyone else in the series, which is paradoxically what makes him seem so well intentioned. After all, everyone else believes they have a right to do what they do. Thog doesn't try to justify it, which makes it harder to hate him.

Someone who is pure evil can, in theory, achieve their goals without hurting anyone else—after all, if all they want is their own satisfaction, hurting others is more of a means than an end, and therefore avoidable. You have to have some good in you before you can decide that it's only righteous to hunt down the evil goblin women and children.

edited 3rd Sep '13 5:12:34 PM by Rem

Thog is like the Monster in the Dark, only... marginally less so. Yeah, the worst thing he'd come up with to do himself would be to rob an ice cream parlor. I think he's kinda destined to be taken advantage of, though, short of a group like the paladins taking him in.

EDIT: Or the goblins, come to that.

EDIT 2: Thog is pretty much a tool. He's only as evil as he's being told to be.

edited 3rd Sep '13 5:16:11 PM by Artemis92

Thog has a childlike mentality, but he enjoys hurting people. He has no qualms about taking a person and forcing them under threat of pain or death to be his "puppy", or destroying a shop that won't keep giving him ice cream.

Is it possible he could be taught to do good? Sure, just as any other evil person might in some way be reformed. Is it likely? Not really.

Thog is a self-centered simpleton with extreme anger issues. He's what Belkar could have been with a higher Strength, lower Intelligence, and green skin.

edited 3rd Sep '13 5:18:04 PM by Fighteer

We've seen Thog angry and Thog under orders, but when has he been shown to actually enjoy hurting people? :/

I'm not sure he knew that the guy wasn't his puppy, that it was under pain of death, or even that the shopkeep was being hurt.

It's not surprising that people are looking for ways to make Tarquin suffer. His charm is becoming increasingly superficial, or rather, what once made him charming is making him increasingly irritating. Which is almost certainly entirely the point.

Artemis: The biggest scheme Thog could pull on his own is robbing an ice cream parlor, but he'd kill everyone inside while he was doing it and then walk out without the faintest idea that he'd done anything wrong.

It is funny how evil and malice don't necessarily always go together, isn't it? :/ One might think the latter's a prerequisite for the former, but I dunno. It's probably one of those stupid "subjective definition" things.

When did I say Thog would have a change of heart? I'm saying it would kill Tarquin completely if he ended up a footnote in someone else's story - and that someone was a relatively minor recurring antagonist, one whose remaining lifespan could likely be measured in seconds.

Come to think of it, Roy killing him might also work, or frankly anyone besides Elan. Tarquin has a very specific idea of his place in history (and Elan's role in it), and denying him that would destroy him: being forgotten would be nicely karmic, but being remembered for the wrong reasons would be even better in some ways.

EDIT: Though frankly, I'm calling it now: if anyone's going to deal with Tarquin, it's Sabine or one of her demon bosses. And "deal with" doesn't necessarily mean "kill" in this instance - I don't think Sabine would settle for anything less than completely wrecking the "story" Tarquin has spent so long trying to write for himself. (Holy crap, I just realized while typing this that killing Elan might be on her agenda.)

edited 3rd Sep '13 5:30:54 PM by Ryusui

Thog would rampage whenever he was bored if it weren't for fudge ripple. But, of course, no matter how many people he kills, the audience still thinks he's lovable.

edited 3rd Sep '13 5:28:57 PM by Gilphon

But I'm not sure he entirely understands the concept that other people feel pain. He's like a child. He does whatever he wants with no comprehension for the consequences.

Tarquin's a smug prick. THAT'S why he should suffer.

Thing is, that wouldn't destroy him completely. His entire speech to Elan a ways back was that, eve if he dies in ignominy in some peasant revolt, he got to live like a king for years and years before the unpleasant last hour or so.

Writing a legend with his life is a bonus. He's already got everything else he wants.

Too late to do anything about that, though.

x7 It's easy to look from the outside and call some innocent injustice evil. The hard part is recognizing it in yourself. Were all of the people who supported slavery five hundred years ago as evil as someone who supports slavery now?

Yes, so I don't see a lot of point to focus on making him suffer or look for ways to thwart him that mke it so that nobody remembers him. He already has met his personal win condition. Fine, whatever. Let's just focus on helping people, then.

Also, on the subject of Thog enjoying the suffering of others: The third panel here.

"Thog is a self-centered simpleton with extreme anger issues."

sounds like my brother.

I will note that Sabine gives an opportunity to make Tarquin suffer without sullying the hands of the heroes. I know that's a trope, but I can't remember what it is.

edited 3rd Sep '13 5:52:42 PM by Arha

Thog is "childlike" in that he's the incarnation of that kind of solipsistic cruelty that can only come from genuinely not getting that other people have feelings and those feelings matter. The difference is that kids are restrained by their own lack of strength and their parents telling them not to do things (even if they don't understand why not until they're older). Thog has neither of those restrictions. An unsupervised two-year-old might step on a hamster to see what happened and not understand why they'd done anything wrong; Thog is strong enough to get away with doing that to people. It's not sadism per se; he doesn't enjoy the pain he's causing, he enjoys fighting, and the pain he causes is a side-effect he's either unaware of or doesn't care about.

Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work?

edited 3rd Sep '13 5:53:36 PM by johnnye

Yeah, that's it. I potholed Villains Do The Dirty Work but obviously that's a redlink.

That's actually pretty much exactly what I was trying to say. The example with the hamster in particular.

edited 3rd Sep '13 5:55:03 PM by unnoun

my brother's 16, strength isn't much of an issue when he gets that angry.

edited 3rd Sep '13 5:55:22 PM by Joesolo