Goblin Slayer (anime! light novel!)

Or here's an idea: maybe GS doesn't die. He just retires after having reached a point mentally where he's able to leave goblin slaying to other adventurers. The culmination of his character development geared towards letting go of his self-destructive mission. The legacy he and his companions leave behind is that future adventurers and maybe even the kingdoms' leaders no longer take goblins so lightly.

It'd be a fitting way to end the series without necessarily killing off the MC in a cliche manner. Because even though he's still alive, he's not Goblin Slayer anymore.

Edited by M84 on Dec 6th 2018 at 2:30:12 AM

and Priesress taking over after his death would complete her development into a battle hardened veteran, with the bonus of ensuring that his legacy lasts forever, it feels very complete in regards to her character

Again, I don't see this series doing anything like that.

That's not actually a good thing. It's a running theme in the series that while GS is being positively influenced by her, she is also becoming more ruthlessly pragmatic like him. The narrative doesn't portray this as a good thing. It doesn't get much more blatant than Priestess' own patron deity ordering her to knock it off after Priestess went too far by using a purification miracle to turn a goblin's blood into water.

Edited by M84 on Dec 5th 2018 at 10:21:54 PM

It's a mixed message. If she hadn't been ruthlessly pragmatic with the goblin lord? We saw how that ends up.

Except she's starting to do this even without GS' advice. That trick with the purification miracle? That was all her.

Fighting alongside GS has been good for her in some ways — a lot of ways — but it's also taking its toll on her.

Edited by M84 on Dec 5th 2018 at 10:52:48 PM

She suffers from a Heroic BSoD from the event in question, though, and she used Purification like that in a panic; it's not like she used it maliciously, even if Earth Mother appeared to her in a dream and warned her of using her miracles like that ever again, or else end up being unable to receive blessings ever again. Aside from that particular event in Volume 7 I don't think she's ever used a miracle to actually directly kill something, outside of using Protection as a trapping mechanism. Hell, she gives up a very valuable reward in Volume 8 as penance for misusing Purify Liquid like that.

Edited by ITNW1989 on Dec 5th 2018 at 6:54:07 AM

It's still not a good sign when one's own patron deity has to intervene and stop you.

Earth Mother popping down and telling her not to do it again was likely just a warning not to let it get to her head that she could use Purify like that, regardless of whether or not Priestess had any intention of doing so again; considering her reaction to the result, it's unlikely she was going to do it again.

It's actually a somewhat realistic take on how human relationships work. Of course Priestess is going to be influenced by GS since she spends so much time around him. And of course not all of that influence would be positive.

While the stuff GS does is important, the series doesn't ease up on the notion that actually being GS is not a good thing. It's self-destructive, much like his inspirations Batman and the Punisher. Heck, GS's own abusive mentor Burglar represents a potential bad future for GS if he doesn't change.

Edited by M84 on Dec 5th 2018 at 11:08:28 PM

Well, yeah, her being slowly influenced by GS from all the time they've spent together is natural, but I find the idea that she's becoming more ruthless a little bit of an overreaction in regards to GS' influence on her. She's still the party's cinnamon roll after all this time, and I find her influence on GS to be more impactful than the other way around.

Priestess herself wonders if she's becoming too desensitized and numb to atrocities.

Her joining GS on his goblin slaying has not been an unqualified benefit for her.

This is partly why I think the proposed ending that she takes up GS's mantle is a decidedly bad ending. Unless one is specifically going for a downer ending. Trying to portray it as a triumph would also undercut the running theme that what GS is doing isn't healthy.

Edited by M84 on Dec 5th 2018 at 11:27:23 PM

Yeah, that kind of ending goes against the entire (explicitly stated) point that what GS is doing is entirely unhealthy, and I highly doubt the author's gonna go for that sort of ending.

I think best development for Priestess would be NOT became Goblin Slayer's "Batman" but rather find her own way as "Nightwing", became leader of her own silver gold ranked team with own fame and reputation.

There is no reason for GS to have legacy, best ending would be rise of new generation of adventurers who are willing tackle goblin threat and thus there wouldn be no need for characters like Goblin Slayer in first place

Speaking of reputation, that's actually the reason why it takes so long for Priestess to rank up past Obsidian, despite having gone on so many jobs with GS and the crew; the Guild originally thought that she was being carried by them, before she herself led a crew of beginners to counter a goblin horde, convincing the Guild to give her the promotion to Steel in Volume 6. That alone convinces me she'll likely be leading her own party as part of an epilogue for the series. She's already powerful enough as a spellcaster anyway; note that Apprentice Cleric, who usually trains with Heavy Warrior, can only cast one Miracle, Holy Smite, once a day, despite being the same rank as Priestess.

Holy shit, a cover WITHOUT an obviously marketable cute girl with the main character off to the side.◊

Well at least Best Girl finally got the cover. Good job Lizard Priest.

No see, best girl was always Goblin Slayer.

Heh this is funny.

https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-feature/2018/12/06-1/how-to-make-your-own-goblin-slayer#comments

How to create your own Goblin Slayer for your Dn D campaign. How accurate is this?

How on earth is he Lawful Evil? I'd put him at NN during Year One, before he starts interacting with the guild, at which point I'd say he'd started drifting towards LN, while he further starts to drift towards either NG or LG as the story progresses.

If possible, I'd switch off his Strength Proficiency to Wisdom instead, for that willpower of his, or have him get Resilient as a Feat at one point to get proficiency in Wisdom. I'd even lower his Charisma down to 7, while bringing up his Intelligence to 12; reasonably intelligent, but not remarkably so.

All of his stats should be average or below except his Constitution. That is canonically what he is: the Gods note that there's nothing particularly special about him except for his higher than average constitution.

And bullshit is he Lawful Evil.

Edited by M84 on Dec 6th 2018 at 11:33:45 PM

Finally found the spot I left off at in the manga. Chapter 22. The point where everything goes horribly wrong.

Edited by Soble on Dec 7th 2018 at 8:01:36 AM

re Stats: Ditch the Elite Array and go with standard human commoner NPC statline (lots of 11s and 12s), with focus on Constitution. Barring Goblins, he's supposedly barely Sapphire-level in combat skills.

I mean, he's consistently shown to be just that. Any time a somewhat serious threat crops up, he gets knocked flat on his ass until he thinks of some way to defeat the thing without just stabbing it.

The Farm Raid arc is indeed going to be the last arc adapted for the anime, as shown at the end of Ep 10.

Rather fitting climax, and the writers manged to make it make sense in the anime.