Going by the standard of most appearances, Belkar is the main villain. But I prefer to judge it by narrative standards - Xykon and Redcloak are the anti-protagonists; it’s their actions that the protagonists are working against. Lesser opponents like Miko or Nale or Crystal are only important because they interefere with the Order’s ability to oppose Xykon and Redcloak.
I don’t know that Nale’s going to finally be taken care of before Xyklon. He might be taken care of Saruman-style, as a denouement after the main action is resolved.
No, that makes him a main character (though behind most of the rest of the Order), but despite being unquestionably evil, he isn’t a villain (just like Miko, despite being good, is).
But where will O-Chul and Sharky McPaladin reappear? Last image of them was enduring a rainy night of sleep on a tiny island.
My guess is there’s a reason Burlew made five gates (three of which have been destroyed). It seems incredibly unlikely that the final battle between the forces of good and evil will be fought over the fourth gate. It’s almost certain that whatever events happen at Girard’s Gate, they will not be the climax of the story and we’ll move on to the fifth and final gate.
It doesn’t have to be, but it’s neat from a storytelling perspective.
Act I sets up the protagonists and ends after a confrontation with Xykon. The party winloses, the whole Gate thing is established. Act II has the PCs getting stronger, sideplots getting fleshed out, Gates are explained as well as why stopping Xykon is crucial. The act ends with Xykon skullfucking the whole party, underlining their unpreparedness.
We’re now in Act III where the B-plots start getting resolved first, then the A plot needs to. V tried to hurry it up and kill Xykon off first, and failed because Stories Don’t Work That Way. Can’t tie up the main plot with loose threads hanging.
However, a new OotS vs. Xykon confrontation which does not resolve it all would add nothing to the table except drag things on.
As they are set up, events point to the OotS facing Xykon with all their allies together and each character being “rounded out”. We’re close to that: Roy has resolved things with his dad (and learned a super sikrit sword move), Haley has finally found her father and settled things with her past, Elan did as well and learned responsibility along the way, V has learned his lesson in magic and Belkar has learned to be evil intelligently. The only one left is Durkon, but he never had much substance and unless I’m mistaken his subplot with the lizard priest will be the only thing approaching a growth arc for him.
Point is, there’s not much more substance that can be added to the characters now without it becoming really jarring or pure filler.
Now, there are other narrative structures beyond the three act set up, and it’s also possible (albeit tricky) to turn the third act of one story into the first act of an entirely different story, but I don’t think that’s what Burlew’s shooting for. Then again, he’s surprised me quite a few times, so who knows.
Aren’t we forgetting the character development of the villains? Particularly Redcloak?
How about the battle for Girard’s gate resulting in the destruction of Xykon and the reveal of Redcloak as the main villain? Then it’s on to the 5th Gate for the big showdown.
Or Xykon wins, the ritual is performed and something completely different than intended by either Xykon or the Dark One/Redcloak happens.
Remember the planet the bird saw inside the rift to the Snarl? And then there’s the question of why the Snarl wasn’t reaching out though the rift left by the destruction of the paladin’s Gate and grabbing people like it used to before the Gates were made. There’s something going with the Snarl that no one appears to understand, which means that using the Gate ritual might not have the effects that anyone thinks it will.
Then there’s the Three Fiends, and exactly what they can do with 30 minutes or so of V’s time.
And there’s the question of whether or not we’ve even seen all the major players yet, since there are at least nine sides according to the roaches (and if you can’t trust demon roaches, who can you trust?).
Actually, I could see it go this way:
Showdown at Girard’s, Xykon beating (or at least delaying) the PCs long enough to tap that [del]ass[/del]Gate and immediately getting into a major tiff with Cloaky when he finds out the ritual doesn’t do what Redcloak told him it would.
He wails on the cleric, kicks his ass, then goes into a supervillainous 'roid rage and decides that fuck it, he didn’t become a Lich for this shit. Pledges to unleash the Snarl for good by tearing the last gate open with raw power (and/or the help of the Fiends).
Redcloak gets captured by the OoTS, tells them his spiel, they team up (since Redcloak is essentially a good guy, or rather a really bad guy with good motives) and everyone races to the last Gate to stop Xykon. Cue ultimate showdown of final destiny for real this time.
Oh, how I’d like to see this.
I was thinking of that as a counter-example when I was writing and Nale ain’t no Saruman. I’d managed to forget that there are still two gates left, though so, yeah, we’ll probably see Xyklon at Girard’s gate’s destruction, and not for the final time.
And, this is some weeks late, but thank-Burlew for getting Haley back to her proper hair.
So far we’ve seen the Order of the Stick, which is trying to prevent anyone evil from using the gates. We’ve got Xykon who wants to control the gates because he thinks they’re a source of power. We’ve got Redcloak, who wants to control the gates so he can hold the world hostage. We’ve got the Infernal Trio, who have some plans for the gates and are using the Linear Guild as their pawns. We’ve also got the Linear Guild itself, because Nale apparently has some unknown plan for the Gates which presumedly is different than the Infernal Trio’s. There’s the mysterious brotherhood that’s only been hinted at and that apparently wants to preserve the gates from destruction.
Also the Paladins who want to defend the gates at all costs (even at the cost of sanity or practicality), and the original party who found the gates (Girard, Dorukan, Lirian et al.). There used to be Kubota, though of course now his side is spread over a vast area. The guild of thieves might count as a side, so could Elan’s father’s cabal.
Then there’s Banjo. He has a darker agenda than you might think.
So is Elan the Prophet of Banjo?
Guys, remember, nine sides is a D&D joke.
LG NG CG
LN TN CN
LE NE CE
It may also be true.
Maybe. Except that the Three Fiends are respectively LE, NE, and CE while all being one side. And the OotS is all over the alignment map while also being one “side”.
The demon roaches said the characters don’t know about some of the sides. But it’s clear that the characters are fully aware of the nine alignments.
New one is up!
Linky
Aw man. Now I’m rooting for Enor. 