# Order of the Stick - Book 5 Discussion Thread

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 31, 2009, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323 "2009-08-31T04:09:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 192

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**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/3822 "2012-02-29T06:43:28Z")

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> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#):
>
> ```auto
> 
> (o o)
> _  
> 
> ```

I like how Blackwing is also

```auto

(o o)
  _  

```

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**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/3823 "2012-02-29T06:46:58Z")

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So how much inbreeding is there in the Draketooth family, anyway? Wouldn’t Familicide technically spare those who married into the family? Or am I being too literal?

(Though either way, the inbreeding question still holds, considering that I’m not sure how Girard would handle the whole “go out and find a spouse” thing or the “make absolutely sure they don’t spill the secret or want to leave to visit family too often” thing should the first be solved.)

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**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/3824 "2012-02-29T06:52:07Z")

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I think it would spare those who married in - as long as they hadn’t had children together. If Jeannie Draketooth and Peter Peasant have a child, Dorine Draketooth-Peasant, then Peter gets it due to being the father of a Draketooth offspring. But if Dorine doesn’t exist, he’s not in the Draketooth bloodline and so is spared.

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**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/3825 "2012-02-29T06:54:54Z")

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> [@Leaper](#):
>
> So how much inbreeding is there in the Draketooth family, anyway? Wouldn’t Familicide technically spare those who married into the family? Or am I being too literal?

No, that’s covered by the “directly related to them” clause. Anyone who married into the family and doesn’t have kids might have survived, but direct relatives of Dragon Mom’s descendants would have to include both parents. Otherwise, there’d be no point mentioning it.

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**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/3826 "2012-02-29T06:55:31Z")

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Also, I think that[Penelope’s story](http://oots.wikia.com/wiki/Penelope) is probably how they got new family members while avoiding inbreeding - people would leave the compound, romance an outsider, create offspring, and return with the offspring and any money they could find.

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**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/3827 "2012-02-29T07:48:46Z")

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Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. With a shotgun. Ouch.

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/3828 "2012-02-29T10:08:53Z")

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Well, that kind of conclusively settles it. I wonder what relation the mural dragon had to the matriarch?

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**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/3829 "2012-02-29T10:43:28Z")

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> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> Well, that kind of conclusively settles it. I wonder what relation the mural dragon had to the matriarch?

I think the answer is “Close enough for horseshoes and epic necromancy.”

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**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/3830 "2012-02-29T10:46:25Z")

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Someone on the OOTS forums suggested that it is the matriarch, being extra kinky. Can shapeshifting dragons turn into a human form of the opposite sex?

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**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/3831 "2012-02-29T10:53:35Z")

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> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> Someone on the OOTS forums suggested that it is the matriarch, being extra kinky. Can shapeshifting dragons turn into a human form of the opposite sex?

It’s not her - in #628, she says the dragon V disintegrated was her only child.

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**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/3832 "2012-02-29T11:06:02Z")

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Ah, OK then.

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/3833 "2012-02-29T11:35:24Z")

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Possibly her brother (also mentioned in that strip)?

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**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/3834 "2012-02-29T11:43:03Z")

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So the big two questions are, of course, a. Is Girard alive, and, b. Does he know who’s responsible. I fear the answer to both is “yes”.

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**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/3835 "2012-02-29T11:54:01Z")

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> [@Alessan](#):
>
> So the big two questions are, of course, a. Is Girard alive, and, b. Does he know who’s responsible. I fear the answer to both is “yes”.

Girard is part of the bloodline that just got wiped out (I’m pretty sure the circled figure in the family tree is him).

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**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/3836 "2012-02-29T12:03:54Z")

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> [@Steve\_MB](#):
>
> Girard is part of the bloodline that just got wiped out (I’m pretty sure the circled figure in the family tree is him).

He’s also an epic-level wizard. If anyone can survive Familicide, it’s him.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/3837 "2012-02-29T12:23:09Z")

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> [@Alessan](#):
>
> He’s also an epic-level wizard. If anyone can survive Familicide, it’s him.

There’s the interesting question of what that “halo” around him is. I’ve a speculation that he’s dead and has been dead for years, hanging around as a spirit of some kind perhaps. An idea inspired somewhat by an old OOTS strip actually; [“My ghost shall be both angry and vengeful, and will retain all my spellcasting powers.”](http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0163.html)

I have this image of V confessing to the Order, saying something about “I hope you can all forgive me in time”, then the viewpoint pulling back to show an extremely angry translucent Drakestooth standing there glaring at V while the party looks on with :eek: expressions.

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**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/3838 "2012-02-29T13:04:34Z")

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It may just be that the family tree was compiled by Girard so he marked himself on it, rather than it beinga halo.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/3839 "2012-02-29T14:43:06Z")

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> [@Alessan](#):
>
> So the big two questions are, of course, a. Is Girard alive, and, b. Does he know who’s responsible. I fear the answer to both is “yes”.

I’m going to go with a) No and b) No on account of a).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/3840 "2012-02-29T15:52:52Z")

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If Girard was alive to see his family Familicided and somehow survived (or if his ghost was hanging around like **Der Trihs** suggested), he would have noticed that they were killed by pink lightning, am I correct? And if he were to see V doing any of hir spells in that same shade of pink… a reasonable person might assume it was a coincidence, that there are probably tons of pink-casting wizards out there. Girard “Just Because You’re Paranoid” Draketooth probably does not fall under the catagory of “reasonable person”.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/3841 "2012-02-29T16:03:10Z")

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> [@Leaper](#):
>
> So how much inbreeding is there in the Draketooth family, anyway? Wouldn’t Familicide technically spare those who married into the family? Or am I being too literal?

I think people who marry into the family are affected. As Vaarsuvius said, the spell was intended to kill of everyone who would have a personal interest in revenge. And look at Vaarsuvius - he killed the dragon because of a threat to his mate. So he would realize that killing off all those other dragons (and their children) and leaving their mates alive would actually increase the chances of some dragon seeking him out for vengeance rather than eliminating it.

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