Characters progression vs orbs?
 

Another stone for that beach of theories for 8-bit theatre if you will :p it's growing quite rapidly now. Unless some chuckle heads beaten me to this whole idea in the exact ways I'm trying to point out here.

Does it seem like it's just me or has each Light Warrior faced their most greatest challenges as they approach each fiend or orb? Bear with me here-

Earth orb = By here Thief has shown who he is as Elven Royalty, he's affirmed himself as the only real leader for the group, and the theft of a soul inside an orb was his greatest theft and since then I don't think I've ever seen a theft so challenging for him.

Fire orb = For Fighter, by here we'd seen the last of the lessons Fighter had learned from his younger days in the Vargus training, and one of his greatest sword challenges yet, as he learnt the final truth about how many Vargus schools their really were, plus the death of BB who was just like Fighter, the 2 often did things as stupid as each other, though BB died leaving Fighter probably the victor amongst a challenge of stupid, so now Fighter wanders as a miracle of stupidity and possibly just about undefeatable as a sword master.

Water orb = To Black Mage, not so much happened around the Fiend I'd dare say, but between the Fire and Water orb he'd faced his horrors and atrocities, what he'd become, and came to terms with that quite graciously. Plus his development across learning magic as he's become a blue mage learning whatever move he can survive... which must mean if HE a weakling survived it, it can't be all that great :p. Since the water orb... which isn't that long perhaps, Black Mage's sins may seem to have been routine rather than the greatest atrocity he could think up to date.

So, Wind orb, or Air orb I've lost track and memory of how it goes by now, I think sometime soon Red Mage will finally step up to come to terms with who he is and what he's learnt of the his travels with the other 3. Perhaps in his knowledge, resourcefulness and being able to adapt? Maybe we'll even finally get some insight to his past and little more knowledge on how his training to become a Red Mage went...

I MAY be onto something about this, then again this may be a sucky idea altogether that I randomly by chance stumbled upon as I was waiting to go to sleep last night, you may just prove to me that every warrior has had as much development established between each orb, but it seemed a good idea when I thought of it anyway. Feel free to add more detail to what each Light Warrior has crucially learnt during the approaching duration to each orbs.

Yeah yeah, like, you know how Tiamat is the mother of all dragons, and Bahamut is kind of like the brother from another mother - Dang it - I mean another mythology, and maybe RM's bastardization and ego and knowledge of the manipulation of the world all leads up to the fact that he is the godliest of the characters, son of the fat waisted goddess of dragons herself.

A quick sleight of pen and a mimicry of Tiamat's powers could easily turn RM into a dragon or his own mother or any number of insane incestuous monstrocities before the revelation* comes.

Maybe his other mother, who helped to conveive him, is that adultering Matoya.



*Or the Revolution. Sure.

Matoya actually having a kid?



the mind reels

Well, for now this looks like a credible theory with the latest comic.

Oh wait... it didn't get deleted... you just humped it back to the top and left me looking a few pages back wondering what had happened to it :p grrrr

I dunno, I've got an inkling of an idea that Red Mage might die in the effort to collect the orb. I remember way back (several boards ago) when Red Mage wasn't all too popular, and not overly developed. At the time, everyone wanted White Mage to be the 4th member of the team.

Maybe it was just to placate people, but Brian did say that White Mage might join the team eventually. Then again, she kinda has already done this from time to time, so maybe I'm just seeing something that isn't already there.

Still, Red Mage has always struck me as the nerdy goofball who's separate from the rest of the group. If this were a horror flick, he'd be the one who'd be off on his own saying, "Guys? Guys? This isn't any fun anymore! GUYS?!?".

And clearly the first one to die.

In all this time, never once have I cared all that much for Red Mage's backstory, true he's become a bit more of an enjoyable character for me *. However, he's pretty much reached the limit of his depth of character, in my thinking.

Story-wise just think how much further you could develop White Mage, if she started thinking that RM's death was her fault. She turned down joining the Light Warriors on this latest endeavor, which might finally be the tipping point where she accepts that there is no fate, except the one you make for yourself.

SWB
* (Compared to the days when he wasn't all that funny, and was just spouted pointless jargon. To this day the most painful series of comics continues to be the one of the werewolf ones in which RM does most of the talking/comedy.)

I don't know, Red Mage kind of died in the fight against the last Fiend, so killing him again, albeit in a more definite way, seems a little repetitive (as does White Mage feeling responsible for someone else's death). Also, I'm pretty sure the plot depends on the original four Warriors sticking together long enough to face Chaos.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if the comic ended with everyone dead, just because it would piss everyone off.

Except it has been stated that everything exists to hurt Black Mage, and a dead Red Mage would make for a happy Black Mage.

Therefore, I propose the theory that RM, Thief, and Fighter cannot die, no matter what, just because it makes Black Mage suffer.

I think we're more likely to see RM get backstory here. He's just revealed himself as the last of his kind, which has never come up before. In fact, he usually refers to his order as "we" or "our." This new train lends itself less to his death and more towards greater involvement somehow. By all means, he might leave the party, but without a suitable replacement, it doesn't seem likely he'd be gone forever.

Looking at it this way, WM has explicitly stated it's not her place to join the team. And, as her place within the story stands, both as a White Mage under oath to aid, but not join, them, and as the creator of the universe, it would be inappropriate for her to do so, especially because of her conflict with Sarda.

Dragoon might replace him, but he was built up as the cool, quiet type at first, then finally revealed to be much like a cross between RM and Garland. Replacing RM with him might keep some of the same dynamic, but that in itself might hurt things, because he's not the punching bag RM is and wouldn't stand for it, not to mention the vast difference in their abilities and the fact he hasn't been granted a class change and has no other abilities than Jump. It would be counterintuitive at this point to introduce him as a replacement before he's had any real time to develop, though if he traveled with them for a while, it might allow for a smoother shift.

So, yeah. WM might replace him temporarily, or they might just all travel together, but I don't think RM's dying.

If RM dies, who's gonna make those craaaaazy RPG references/be a total fanboy?

Nobody is as versatile as that guy. Can't replace him, nope.

*actually wants to see RM backstory. He should get his turn, dammit! :O*