I’m pretty sure no one’s told Belkar his days are numbered. Can you imagine his reaction if he knew?
Wait, huh?! Didn’t the Oracle tell him?
Yeah, the Oracle told him, but the memory was erased when they left the valley. Only the official answers to the questions were remembered.
I don’t know that Roy’s necessarily doing anything immoral, here. He doesn’t know that he’s leading Belkar to his death. He knows Belkar’s going to die sometime relatively soon, but that’s it. And the Oracle’s prophecies appear to be ironclad - presumably, whatever action Roy takes or does not take can only contribute to the circumstances surrounding Belkar’s eventual fate. Maybe Belkar dies in the final confrontation because Roy withheld the Oracle’s information. Or maybe he dies because Roy tells him about his impending death, and Belkar runs off on his own and gets eaten by a purple worm. If every action Roy can take still leads to Belkar dying, then Roy can’t be held morally accountable for Belkar’s death.
Assuming Roy doesn’t end up murdering the little psychopath himself, anyway.
Hmm.
The Oracle gets his info from Tiamat.
Last we heard Tiamat is now hugely pissed off at V and the fiends below.
Could Tiamat be interfering with the prophecy because of the black dragon genocide?
Aha, the plot thickens. Now we see if Belkar will get the chance to reveal what he sees, or whether his death is anon — and whether he’s believed if he does.
ETA: Good job getting this up so soon after the comic was posted; there are only six posts in the discussion thread!
I think the key point in terms of the morality of the situation is that Roy is withholding the knowledge from Belkar.
The theory has been discussed (I’ve mentioned it myself) that the Oracle may have simply lied about Belkar’s death.
Whatever sense of professional ethics the Oracle has about his prophecies wouldn’t apply - this wasn’t an official prophecy somebody had paid for. And the Oracle seemed to go out of his way to ensure that Roy found out about it and remembered it - and in a way where Roy would be able to think he had outsmarted the Oracle.
So here’s the theory: the Oracle is aware that the Snarl is going to destroy the universe. The Oracle is against this because he lives in the universe. But he doesn’t see any way to stop the Snarl.
The Order of the Stick visit the Oracle. During the course of their visit, the Oracle says that Belkar is going to die. He doesn’t mean it - he’s just saying it to annoy Belkar and he figures it doesn’t count because nobody will remember he said it.
But for the first time, the Oracle can foresee a future where the Snarl is defeated and the universe isn’t destroyed. When he thinks about it, he realizes the Order of the Stick will defeat the Snarl - but they need Belkar to do it. But the Oracle also sees that the rest of the group has become annoyed enough with Belkar that they are going to kick him out of the group. And finally, the Oracle realizes that the only way the group won’t kick Belkar out is if they believe he is only a short term problem because he’s going to die.
So the Oracle arranges things so that Roy comes back and he “accidentally” tells Roy that Belkar is going to die within a year. And then he “accidentally” banishes Roy in a way that doesn’t erase his memory. This kind of pre-planning events is easy of you have the Oracle’s power. So the Oracle has set it up so Roy will tolerate Belkar being around long enough for him to save the universe.
I certainly hope it’s something like that. If (when) Belkar bites it the strip will be immensely less interesting to me.
I wonder if he will be vamp’d. Then he’d still “breathe his last”, and I doubt vampires celebrate birthdays. But I suppose then oots will have to kill him.
You know, I wonder if maybe Durkon isn’t actually there on legitimate business. I mean, we’ve all been assuming that he wants to disrupt the conference, but maybe he just came because Hel wants a vote?
I would surprised everyone else, because as far as I remember, he’s the first high priest of Hel. Should make for quite a surprise for the other clerics. Well, and for Roy.
I bet all that procedural stuff about voting is suddenly going to become relevant.
My point is - is he there to manipulate all the other clerics, or kill them?
What’s Hel’s alignment? In 1st Edition, she’s NG, but in 3rd she’s LN. I wonder if the OOTS version is Lawful or not.
Since she’s willing to rely on vampires (not to mention manipulative subterfuge), I doubt she’s anywhere in the vicinity of G. Or L, really - the whole infiltration angle doesn’t strike me as particularly Loyal. Then again, I’ve always had difficulty with the L-C axis.
Tarquin is Lawful (as was Nale) and both have been fine with complex machinations and subterfuges. But I’d be very surprised if Hel as portrayed in the comic is anywhere in the vicinity of Good - even Neutral is looking like a stretch at the moment.
If I had to deal with rules-lawyering deities trying to steal my dwarf souls with excuses like “He died from an infected wound from a splinter but it was in combat with a spruce”, I’d probably go Chaotic in a hurry.
I still say that Belkar is really truly going to die and really truly stay dead, just like the prophecies say. Rich is going to do exactly what he’s told us very clearly he was going to do, and he’s going to surprise a bunch of people in the process.
That’s what I wondered when I read this last strip. Maybe all of this is simply to finally get some representation.
Just how much longer is the most time there can be until the end of the in-universe year?