I can’t see the Oracle lying about Belkar. He may have wanted to motivate the Order, but not at the expense of destroying his rep. He gives out a prophecy that is wrong, then why would people come pay him vast sums of money?
As I pointed out, it wasn’t an answer to a paid question. Besides, saving himself and the universe from destruction is a pretty strong motive for telling a lie.
Has Belkar’s year passed?
I know that the Order was in Azure City, getting ready to defend against Xykon and his Hobgoblins, when there was a New Year’s celebration, but couldn’t the Oracle be using some other calendar?
My explanation has been that the Oracle meant, “And as for the elf- [By contrast] S/he kills you.” As to why V would kill Belkar, I thought it’d happen when V is “running on Infernal Standard Time”, tries to do something that’ll kill everyone (like free the Snarl), Belkar tries to stop V and gets killed.
I’m sure it’ll end up being something else, but I like that hypothesis.
I think the bit about the spice was just a throwaway Dune-reference and joke, with no other meaning, but we’ll see… Wouldn’t it be funny if Tarquin was the Kwisatz Haderach? He certainly fights like he knows the weirding way.
Belkar still has a few weeks left at least. After Roy was raised from the dead, he commented that Belkar had about seven weeks left at most, and that was only 2-3 weeks prior to the latest comic.
The New Year’s celebration in Azure City came well before the Oracle’s prophecy that Belkar would be dead by the end of the year. I suspect the Oracle is going by a different calendar.
:smack: Sorry for the goofed timeline.
Except in 572, he specifically said it was on the record. And your theory is that he knew that Roy would remember it. So it would be a deliberate lie that would hurt his reputation. And he knows that the world isn’t going to end, he has an appointment to be resurrected in the future.
Your theory isn’t helped by the fact that what the Oracle is saying in that strip is itself a lie. The prophecy he tells Roy in 572 isn’t what was actually said.
And what was the Oracle doing in 567 other than attempting to deliberately lie? He apparently has no problem deceiving a customer as long as it isn’t an official answer.
My theory is that he will not lie about what he sees when he gives an official answer. Your theory seems to be that the Oracle knew Roy would remember their chat, gave Roy an official, on the record (with light show and everything) answer that Belkar would die permanently before the end of the year. And that prophecy was a lie to goad Roy, and thus the Order, along.
Yes he was twisting words and meanings to avoid Belkar killing him. But that is standard Oracular business practice. Vague prophecies that can fit more than one ending, eg., “A mighty kingdom will fall.” But none of those was done while giving an official answer, and the prophecy was fulfilled in the end. I have no doubt that he will phrase his answers in a way that will be better for himself specifically, and even the world in general. But he won’t outright lie about them.
So? He’s stating the same thing multiple times in different ways, and in the process closing as many as possible of the large number of loopholes in a magical world. If he just said “Belkar will die”, well, that wouldn’t really mean much, since raises are (usually) trivial at that power level. Likewise, any other single statement he’s made has similarly-trivial loopholes. But put them all together, and it’s clear that, yes, in this case, Dead Means Dead.
I agree on the wording issue. Hell, for all we know, “Belkar will draw his last breath, ever” just means he’ll be permanently transformed into a fish or something.
And that’s why we also have “not long for this world”, and “should savor his next birthday cake”, and “shouldn’t bother funding his retirement account”.
Man, Burlew is going to pull off the world’s greatest narrative twist, without even trying: He’s going to do exactly what he’s been repeatedly telling us he’s going to do, and nobody is going to expect it.
The real surprise will be when he kills a different character off. After all, he’s promised Belkar’s going to die - but he hasn’t ever said Belkar will be the only one to die.
The same Oracle that foretold Belkar’s death also talked about Durkon’s death. No schedule given as happened with Belkar, but Durkon’s death has been put on the table. If the story finishes with Durkon still alive, his posthumous return to his homeland will be a dangling plothole.
You ever notice that Durkon is the only character who hasn’t developed any over the course of the story? All of the other five lead characters have changed and grown but Durkon is almost exactly the same as when he started. So unless he’s got some future character growth ahead of him, Durkon is in the story for some other purpose. A possibility is that his purpose in the story is to change the other characters - they’ll grow by reacting to his death. He’ll be like Kraagor or Right-Eye - somebody who effects the story by dying.
Well, he has grown more tolerant of humans, and human beer, but I think you are mainly right about him. His only real storylines have been the female Loki priest and his relationship with Maalok. No real growth from either.
Interesting possibility that occurred to me the other day. Suppose there is a temporary Order/Guild alliance against Xykon and Redcloak. And further suppose that Durkon is destined to die at some point.
What if those storylines are tied together? Maybe Malack ends up joining the Order after Durkon’s death.
I’m not making this an official prediction at this point. I’m just putting it out there as a theory so I’m on record and I can claim huge internet points if it later happens.
Another question. It’s been explicitly shown that Roy, Belkar, and Durkon don’t know what gender Vaarsuvius is. Have there ever been any explicit signs in the strip indicating that Haley and Elan don’t know?
I can’t recall it ever being explicitly shown one way or the other for Haley or Elan. My assumption is that Haley knows, since she’s V’s best friend and roommate, and that Elan doesn’t, since its usually safest to assume that Elan doesn’t know anything.
But that’s why he might know. Because it would be funny if Elan knew something that the smarter members of the group didn’t.
My assumption for some time has been that V is a girl, which is why she insists on rooming only with Haley.
I assume that V rooms with Haley because there’s one definite female and four definite males in the group. Haley’s room will only have Haley in it. If the group only gets two rooms, then V will certainly prefer to room with just one person, rather than four people. Especially if one of those four other people is Belkar. V absolutely would not be able to get any meaningful rest with Belkar trying to determine hier sex. Or gender. Whatever. And a mage needs hier sleep or trance time.