Is there any possible significance to the fact that the Monster and the wolf can communicate freely?
It’s not a wolf, it’s a worg. They’re close to human intelligence, and have their own language. Some of the more intelligent ones also speak Common and/or Goblin. So maybe Monster-San speaks Worg or Goblin, or maybe Greyview speaks Common. None of those would be particularly surprising.
And I’m still fond of the theory that Monster-San is the Son of Godzilla
Whatever monster-san is, he is less childlike than he was when he was introduced. And we’ve been told now that he is not yet a full grown adult. I’m thinking young teen.
I see from here that Worgs are neutral evil. Oona is pretty obviously LE and clearly has high moral character, setting aside cannibalistic tendencies and the like.
Treats are very tasty. I think I’ll get one now. Not more than that mind you: I don’t get as much exercise as Greyview does.
One character has expressed the thought that he’ll grow. We don’t know that she’s right.
Goblinoids eating humans isn’t exactly cannibalism.
Or else he’s just taken the form of a young creature, and his mental faculties have been improving not because of age but because of his recovery from the massive brain damage he underwent. I stand by my theory.
Meme material.
I love the wo- uh, worg.
Could be because his viewpoint is a bit pessimistic. “Is futile to argue . . .”
I’m hearing his voice with a Russian accent. I love all his (her?) lines. So gloomy. So emphatic.
We’ve already had indications that Monster-San isn’t fully grown, though they might have just been in the print-only material.
And Oona wasn’t even planning on eating humans herself, just feeding them to a monster. Which is still evil, of course, but fits in just fine with her feral style of worldview.
Alessan, what was your theory for Monster-San?
That was the strip I was going by, but I guess your interpretation makes more sense. Though I don’t get the logic–unless it was because they knew that Elan had set the self-destruct, and they needed to leave rather than attack.
[QUOTE=Chronos]
Alessan, what was your theory for Monster-San?
[/QUOTE]
I think he was the one who suggested it could be
One of the Greek pantheon that was destroyed in the previous Snarl attack
[Spoiler]What BigT said - specifically, Zeus. My theory is that he was severely wounded in the Snarl’s attack, and spent centuries wandering around as a mindless beast. Zeus, after all, was a famed shapeshifter, and it makes sense that he would take a horrific form out of sheer PTSD.
I’ve found plenty of evidence to support my theory, but the biggest one, if I may harness my inner Elan, is that he’s too important to the story to be anything else. He’s been around too long, played to big a role, and been too big a secret to be just some random monster, no matter how powerful. From a storytelling point of view, he has to have some personal relevance either to the characters or to the story’s overarching plot, and since I don’t see him as a father, brother or son of any of the main characters, he has to be intimately connected to the Snarl and the very foundation of the world. Being a lost god fits.
[/spoiler]
There are some problems with Alessan’s proposal. Adapted from Oots thread: [spoiler]If Zeus has D&D stats, he will have Divine Ranks, which automatically gives him immunity to mind control. That Xykon has applied mind control to him is a key plot point.
Why would Stereotypical Big Game Hunters think there is a market in selling deities? (My answer: why not? None of the leading candidates have obvious in-game resale value. This objection deserves mention, but I think it could be finessed via Rule of Funny.)
Redcloak recognizes MitD. Not sure he or Xykon would want a chaotic good deity around. [/spoiler] I can imagine workarounds to the above, but they are exactly that - workarounds.
- Is there any evidence that the mind control actually worked?
Even if it did, the MitD was in a severely weakened state. Maybe his mental protections were on the fritz.
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Shapeshifter.
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Shapeshifter. My WAG is that he’ll be revealed as a specific, very powerful monster, only for there to be a twist later on when we find out he’s only taken the *form *of that monster.
I like the OOTS folk, but they have a tendency to see the strip as a game of D&D, rather than as a story using D&D mechanics. From a purely storytelling point of view, he can’t just be a monster, no matter how much he’s hinted to be. He’s too important.
Plus, he can cast Wish! Instinctively!
In support of Alessan’s theory:
The hunters recognized what the Monster in the Darkness appeared to be. But they were surprised to find it in the jungle and to find it could talk. This supports the idea the Monster in the Darkness is not actually what it appears to be and fits with the shapeshifted god theory.
It’s in both the on-line strips and in Start of Darkness, but the latter is no longer print-only. You can buy an electronic version. There’s no excuse for a real fan not to have it.
The main evidence for him being a youngster is that he’s often playing with young kids toys and likes things like Rainbow Brite. But there’s also the fact that immediately after the two occasions he evoked adult powers (stamping to make an earthquake, teleporting O-Chul and V), he was extremely tired, like he’d over-exerted himself. He doesn’t have the stamina he will have when grown up.
He’s also said that his father is much bigger than himself. Now, it’s possible that, since he hasn’t seen his father in a long time and only knew him when young, he has since caught up to him without realizing it, but taken at face value, it suggests that he’s still small for his kind (whatever that is).
Or maybe it means that his father was really big. Like, huge. Titanic, even.
Chronos apparently finds your Zeus theory hard to swallow.
What if, in surviving the Snarl, he time-traveled/age-reverted to manifest as the infant god who escaped the gullet of Chronos?
Xykon is an epic-level caster. An epic Charm spell might do the trick.