So, on Order of the Stick [spoilers inside]
 

About Miko.

Did anyone else completely not see that coming? In the end, despite my long history of hating Miko, despite all that she fucked up, despite her complete superiority complex, despite all of this...I actually kind of felt sorry for her in the end.

Sure, she fucked up more than she could ever imagine. She let Xykon escape in the end and caused giant amounts of snags through killing Shojo, fighting Roy, etc etc etc. But the fact that she was little more than an overeager young girl, desperate to show her parents her commitment to her goal, really made me feel sorry for her. This episode hit me pretty hard, and I thought it was a great ending for her.

There's no doubt in my mind that she is most definitely dead. I doubt she'd be willing to be resurrected, and that's required to be revived. But I just wonder what Soon means by "He has been waiting for you. Windstriker will visit you as much as he is able." Is she going to hell? Did he dodge the question? Did Windstriker 'die' when Miko lost her paladinhood?

More questions, but honestly I really liked her ending. I also like the fact that it was the throne that, in fact, cut her in half.

Fully agree. Almost teared up a little despite not liking Miko(though I thought she was a very good antagonist) actually made her and how she acted a lot more sympathetic in one comic. Very good send off.

On where she's going, remember this is DnD there are like 16 different afterlife realms depending on alignment. Paladins like the Saphire Guard are likely to go to the Lawful Good or even Good-Lawful-Good place, Miko's probably gonna go to Lawful Neutral or the Lawful Lawful Good one.

Now I wonder if they'll Rez Roy before or after fleeing Azure.

You can;t tell right now, but the Hallelujah Chorus is going off in my head.

Did anyone not see that coming? I mean, it feels like a bit of a cop-out to me. Ending Miko's section with her dying... well, semi-heroically was pretty obvious, although to be honest, I had expected her to save the day completly before she died.

The word is she's going to Mechanus or whatever it was, the plane of pure order. Cause she's more lawful than good.

And no, I don't think she's coming back either. Is there a single person in the world who wants to resurrect Miko? It's expensive! And I can't think of anyone who'd want her for free even.

Whoa.

That guy can write.

See, that's what really gets me. OOTS is just a cute little comic visually, but the writing behind it is so goddamn fluent and vigorous it can be downright epic and emotional at times.

The final moment where Miko is lying, torn in half, came out of nowhere and the final panel of her eyes going all "X" actually hit me pretty hard.

I mean, it shows talent, when a character dies they get "X"s on their eyes, and it still doesn't come off as silly when an important character finally goes.

Personally, I was surprised.

The way things were shaping up, I thought that she was going to become some sort of Blackguard and harass the OOTS simply because she blamed them for her fall. The fact that she simply was trying to do her duty and failed - and died - because she couldn't accept that she was wrong was much more meaningful than any possible corruption could have been.

Of course, she could come back as a vengeful spirit or something. But I doubt it. It's much more powerful if she stays truly dead.

I took the liberty on changing the title because the entire thread is about one single comic and we might as well drop the spoiler tags. I advise anyone who isn't up to date on the OotS story to read up on it before continuing to read this thread.

Nah, I figured Blackguard was out the door for Miko from the beginning. It's totally against her nature as it is, and her, um, snapping Sabine's neck kind of dropped the theories in the water.

Honestly, 'Miko going Blackguard' theories wouldn't have come into being if this comic hadn't been set in a fourth-wall-broken DND 'inner world.' I knew she was going to stay de-paladin'ed...but I didn't know she was going to eat it.

What's funny is that even though her destroying the gate was a colossal fuck-up on her part...I still felt kind of sorry for her.

Also: What's with Soon's words on Windstriker? "he will visit you as often as he is able?" Something about that strikes really wrong with me.

Well, Windstriker would be in the same realm that the Paladin's go. However, Miko lost her good appalation when she killed Shojo, so she wouldn't be in the same afterlife as them - most likely the Lawful plane Mechanus than any other. It just seemed like Soon was trying to comfort her as she was dying without lying to her outright.