WMG / The Order Of The Stick Plot

Nale will become a demon.

• Seeing that Sabine is a demon, he might decide that he'd prefer living that way.

Nale and Sabine will merge together and go one-winged angel.

Possibly the IFCC will have something to do with it.

The Snarl is actually Kratos.

• That's why it killed the Eastern Pantheon... and why it saved Zeus for last.

The Snarl is one of the nine forces.

• It hates everyone, it has been shown to be an omicidal manic (or a beast, we don't know how smart it is.) it was suggested that there being more then one gate intact has stopped it noticing the riffts, so when the last gate is being fought for, it will be happily trying to to kill everyone too!

The Eastern Gods aren't quite Dead

Or have been reincarnated in the form of the Order of the Stick. Roy=Zeus, Belkar=Ares, V=Athena, Elan=Hermes, Haley=Aphrodite(?), Durkon=Hephaestus (which would probably piss him right off).

• How about Artemis = Haley (Archer, Sneaky, intimacy issues...)
• Elan=Apollo. Both are allegedly attractive, and linked to music and storytelling.
  • Actually, Roy is more remmeniscant of Hades, the Only Sane Man of the Greek pantheon.
• V could be Hermes, who has a connection to magic and an androgynous son. Durkon could be Athena, since cleric is a wisdom-based class.

Nale will get to meet his mother.

It makes sense considering Elan already got to meet his father...

Vaarsuvius will join with Redcloak in a Face–Heel Turn after Xykon is defeated.

Redcloak's plan to use the Snarl to blackmail the Gods into remaking the world requires a powerful divine spellcaster (who can be Redcloak himself) and a powerful Arcane Caster. Currently, the role of Arcane Caster is allocated to Xykon, whose defeat the heroes are concentrating on. Once he's out of the way, Vaarsuvius (a powerful arcane caster who has been prophesized to gain complete and total ultimate power by "saying the right four words to the right being at the right time for all the wrong reasons") may join with Redcloak to remake the world in a way that benefits elves. He's been shown to be amoral, though not as obviously so as Belkar, and so this makes for a good Ass Pull.

• Since bards are also Arcane Casters, it's possible that Elan could do this - though the "powerful" part might be a sticking point.
  • Elan's Evil Twin brother Nale is also in the running, though with his unfavourable multiclassing, he is probably no better at arcane magic than Elan (and significantly worse than any of the dedicated wizards).
  • In fact, let's go ahead and say that Elan will play a role in unleashing the Snarl, which leads to visions of Vaarsuivius appearing to everyone and performing some symbolic action just before they dissolve into the "fabric of reality", which is some weird goo, as everything makes even less sense than before and weird religious symbolism appears everywhere, ultimately ending up with Elan and Haley as the last two people on Earth. On the bright side, the giant naked figure of Vaarsuivius stretching out of the stratosphere will finally prove hir gender once and for all. ..unless V is facing the other way, giving everyone a generous view of his/her butt. (The presence or absence of dangly parts could still be a giveaway.)
• V's four words: "I will join you."
  • It appears to have been "I... I must succeed". Though granted, that's really less four words and more three words, with a stammer.
    • What if those aren't the four words mentioned in the prophecy, and the prophecy actually hasn't been fulfilled yet, with the arc with the IFC a red herring in that regard? After all, by one interpretation of the events, V didn't obtain ultimate arcane power, since, as we know, he was beaten by Xykon in their magic duel.
    • Xykon explained it in his power equals power speech: because V didn't work for his power, he was unable to properly wield it and was defeated.
• Alternately, V will join with Redcloak, who does a Heel–Face Turn after Xykon betrays his lackey to probable death. It does seem like the kind of thing Xykon would pull.
  • What if Redcloak does the Heal Face Turn to betray Xykon before Xykon betrays him.Redcloak hates Xykon and the only reason he didn't smash his phylactery is because he can't admit he teamed up with him for nothing. He does however now have a whole city that is policalty stable for goblins to call their own. It is the equal footing his kind need so he might be able to forget The Plan and say Xykon outlived his purpose after the siege and just needed the right opportunity to kill him. Well what better opportunity when the Order attacks him. Then he has the reason and means to cut his losses, kill Xykon and go back to building an actual future for the gobliniods with Azure city. The think that the Order would agree to it because Roy's father's blood oath is on Xykon and only Xykon.
• Another take on this: V does not pull a Face Heel Turn but is present at the final showdown at the foot of the last Gate. Utterly by chance, he recites the mantra which unlocks it and somehow gains all of Snarl's power for himself. May or may not lend itself to an NGE ending — though if it did, stratospheric V's goody bits would be covered by a Mysterious Impenetrable Shroud of Power, or clouds.
• Tsukiko is a huge monkey wrench to any theory on this subject. She's a Mystic Theurge aligned with the bad guys. That makes her a divine caster and an arcane caster. This could mean she could fill in on either side of the above equation, or perhaps on both.
  • She's being groomed as a replacement for Redcloak, and is totally ignorant of Xykon's scheme. That's the two-part ritual that the MitD solved. Xykon knows that Redcloak is hiding something, and Tsukiko is Xykon's ticket out of their deal. Well...was...
• This makes sense. Both the Elves and the Goblins had to raise their own gods. Perhaps Vaarsuvius will either become or already is the elf god and Vaarsuvius's plan is the same as the Dark One's. The two team up for massive damage.
  • ...on the other hand, it would certainly explain why V says, in Origin of PCs, that he breaks more natural laws before breakfast then Roy will in a lifetime, because what Wizard would waste that many of his precious spells per day on something that early?
    • Breaking more natural laws than a pure core fighter isn't hard.
    • Prestidigitation is a cantrip, and it wash your equipment, hair and nails (are teeth living? If not it can also clean them), all things you would want to do before breakfast. I think that breaks more laws than Roy has ever done under his own power.
    • Well, OtOoPCs actually says that V breaks more natural laws than Roy is even aware of. I guess it still qualifies.
• ...And then they get married!! Squee!!!
  • That... actually might be remotely plausible. (considering V is female... then again, Redcloak hasn't confirmed his preferences) Both have something in common; they started with noble goals, but went too far, sacrificed what was important to them, and realised it too late, but plodded on with their course because they've sacrified too much to let it fail. At the very least, they've got something to talk about.

Hilgya will return with scores to settle.

After Durkon disapproves of her leaving her husband, she runs off into the dungeon in tears, but we never see her die in the explosion. The flumphs survived, so not everything died, and we saw in "Go Team Cleric!" and before that she's pretty good at surviving. She says to Durkon, "They abandoned us both, you know", suggesting she's angry. Nale does say he lost three people, but he may just be assuming that because of the whole giant explosion thing. She will want revenge on Durkon (for rejecting her and thereby making her run deeper into the dungeon), Nale (for getting her in the mess and not caring about getting her out, even if she was only using him a quest for Loki), and Xykon (just because, really). A crazy cleric who hates the good guys and the bad guys seems too good not to use.

• Alternatively, she will be pregnant with Durkon's child.
  • We may soon find out , her return seems imminent as of this comic. http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0581.html

The Next Prequel Book...

...which Rich has already alluded to, will be about The Order of the Scribble. Whether or not it will be told in crayon remains to be seen.

• No, no, no! It'll be about the Linear Guild!
  • You're both wrong, even though one of you is me! After SoD, there's no way it's not about the Sapphire Guard!
    • All wrong! It will be about that Guy with a Halberd!
    • Well, since the Sapphire Guard were founded by a member of the Order of the Scribble, there's no reason it can't be about both of them. I predict that at one point, the Order of the Scribble will face their evil duplicates, the Doodle Guild! And the Guy with the Halberd can have a cameo.
    • Their rivals are the Holey Order.
    • What about Baron Pineapple?
    • You're all wrong! It'll be about Trigak the chimera!

The Order of the Stick will lose and the last strip will be the gods going "Damn, we have to make the world again?"

Cos of all the tropes out there, hero saves the day is short far too many subvertings.

• It will be a happy ending for Elan.
  • He'll be spared as High Priest of Banjo.
    • Elan would be miserable anyway. His friends, especially Roy and Haley.

The Snarl will be released and unmake the world, and several of the characters will ascend to godhood in order to remake it.

Most likely, the new pantheon will include at least Vaarsuvius (who will obtain ultimate power), Redcloak (who has it as his entire goal), Elan (the Oracle said he'd have a happy ending), and Banjo the Clown.

• My theory is that Banjo, being a puppet god, is controlled by whoever's hand is in the puppet. So Elan will be saved because he is Banjo. And that might not include Redcloak; the Dark One is already a god and that's all Redcloak needs.
• Redcloak might well replace the Dark One as a God maybe. A lot of 'The Dark One isn't on the up and up' theories are floating around, and if Redcloak finds out he let all those Goblins die for nothing I wouldn't put it beyond him to unleash the Snarl on his former master.
• I hope that the heroes and even the Gods fight a final battle with the Snarl after it is released. The heroes Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence and fill the vacancy left by the Gods who perished in the battle and use their power to rebuild the Multiverse that was destroyed in the battle. The catch is that they do not and possibly even cannot understand the world's workings and they recreate the world differently than it was before. This leads to a 4th-edition-based world. The heroes decide that the new world is so wonderful that they reincarnate themselves to become adventurers, except for a few others who become the new Gods including Vaarsuvius who becomes the new Corellon-type God.
  • Redcloak's opinion about paladins made him invent the forth edition paladins(that doesn't have to be lawful good)!!

Banjo the Clown is really The Chessmaster who is controlling all of the other characters

Think of the irony: Banjo is the only literal puppet in the strip, but all of the other characters are actually "puppets" to him!

Shojo planned for Hinjo to battle devils in some capacity.

The flashback in this strip shows Hinjo having to get his mount's teeth filled due to Shojo feeding him a "20-lb. bucket of strawberry frosting". Normal, wacky Shojo antics, right?... Wrong. Remember, Shojo was not senile; he was actually a Chessmaster with Obfuscating Stupidity, and everything he did in his "dementia" was actually to serve a purpose that he wouldn't be able to get the paladins to go along with if he were completely honest (or to amuse himself, but that's just Comedic Sociopathy at work). Shojo wanted to make sure his nephew had another weapon in his arsenal that he could use against demonsdevils, and he did this by making sure that his mount would end up with multiple cavities that would need to be filled with silver. Whether he was actually planning an offensive against demonicdiabolic forces, or merely ensuring a strong defense against them, will have to wait for a later date. Also, I have apparently forgotten the difference between demons and devils since I hung up my GM screen.

• If he was planning ahead by doing that, I doubt he was expecting anything specific, just being Crazy-Prepared. Demons are something high-level paladins fight fairly often.
• Perhaps Shojo even got a few early warnings of the Great Fiendish Conspiracy, and hedged his bets.

Redcloak will betray Xykon and the Order Of The Stick will join The Plan

In Xykon's Moral Event Horizon moment at the end of Start of Darkness, he breaks Redcloak; however, it is quite possible that he will eventually push Redcloak too far, causing him to come out of his denial and decide to get rid of Xykon. The Order may join in this fight, possibly leading to the death of Belkar. The Order may learn the full details of The Plan and come to the conclusion that it is, sort of, fair. Rather than allowing Redcloak to find another chaotic evil wizard, Redcloak and V will end up performing the plane shift of the last gate. Then things will somehow go horribly wrong, allowing the adventure to continue; possibly against the Dark One who abuses his power as soon as he's handed a gate and maybe a corrupt/controlled V and Redcloak. Roy will die and go to LG heaven, however since it was somebody outside the family that actually defeated Xykon, Eugene will not. Haley and Elan will somehow survive this ordeal, and get the happy ending, though it will not be what the think. Durkon's body will be returned to his homeland after having been killed by trees suffering from epilepsy.

• Bear in mind that Redcloak is a negative energy cleric, and sooner or later is going to be high enough level to rebuke/command Xykon...
  • It's mentioned in the only sourcebook that ever went into any real detail about liches that one of the advantages of lichdom is fast level gain. Liches never have to sleep, never have to eat, they can just sit in their studies perfecting arcane arts...forever. Or fly across the countryside sweeping towns with Cloudkill for the XP. Xykon could quite easily get even further ahead of Redcloak whenever he feels like it.

Daigo will, letter by letter, reveal his last name. Then, he will die.

Compare 501 to 589. Like an cosmic game of H-O-R-S-E, he'll continue this joke until he runs out of letters and thus dies. And, giving the fact that Daigo is saving his last name to use as an emergency death-prevention, it'd be deliciously tragic if the reason he became a Mauve Shirt ends up being the impetus for his death.

• Additionally, his last name will be excruciatingly long. Perhaps so long that he'll be an old man dying at his wife's side surrounded by his grandchildren by the time he completes it.
• Alternately, his name will be Daigo Daigo.
• Alternately, Daigo will reveal his surname at his Elderly birthday party before officially "settling down" from adventuring, then die.

Nale will kill his father and/or take control of his army

Before escaping Azure City, Nale became interested in the Gates. Nale's a pretty smart guy, and must realize that a team of six villains wouldn't stand a chance against Xykon's army if it ever came down to it. We also know Nale resents his father. Knowing the way Nale holds onto grudges, what better way to totally humiliate his father than by taking control of the warlord's troops, either by trickery or force? He could even pick three more Linear Guild members from any Elite Mooks that happen to be in the army, and have the rest as cannon fodder ready to march at a moment's notice.

• Quite possible. Right now (strip 795) Nale is back at his father's empire. While he already has new members for his Linear Guild (Durkon's opposite hasn't appeared yet though, but there's no way Nale is back without a full Guild) I think Nale will take control of the empire thwarting his father's plan of living like a god or living as a legend, because Tarquin right now thinks Nale is dead and he expects Elan to be the one defeating him, if he is ever defeated. That would be a great Plot Twist for the comic, and this way there would be someone capable of fighting Xykon's troops. Then both armies would be mutually destroyed, leaving the Order with chances of defeating the Guild and Xykon.

The Shojo in Belkar's hallucination wasn't actually a hallucination - it was Shojo himself.

Shojo's spirit returned to Belkar's mind to give him advice at the right moment to recover properly. It has to be a spirit, as the Shojo in Belkar's head talks about things that happened after he died. To do this, he would need a focus to return to the material world as a ghost-spirit, and that focus is quite clearly Mr. Scruffy.

• Additionally, the spirit readily identifies himself as Lord Shojo while Belkar always calls him 'wacky old dude.'

The whole party is controlled by giant space cats, and Xykon is from modern Earth.

Word of God says so...◊

The Snarl will be released, and the heroes will take it down. Or maybe not...

When Shojo was telling the story of the Snarl's creation, he mentioned that the Gods were extremely vulnerable, even stating that "some theorized since that gods were even MORE vulnerable to the Snarl than a mortal of the same level would have been". This could hint that when the series approaches the end, the heroes will be of a high enough level to compete with the Gods. Furthermore, someone (which could be Redcloak, Xykon, or even Vaarsuvius as theorized above) will succeed in releasing the Snarl. The result: a no-holds-barred brawl with the fate of the world. The obvious result would be the heroes winning, and the world saved. However, as stated in one of the above entries, the "heroes save the day" trope doesn't have that many subversions, and Rich has never been one to follow the standard route for tropes, so it's entirely possible that he's planning on being one of the few subversions.

• Alternatively: The Snarl is released, and the world ends — but all or some (most likely including Elan) of the Order influence the creation of the world after that. If Elan is involved, he makes sure that the old Order is in some way brought back just the way it was.

Julia (Roy's sister) will get married to Redcloak

A Crack Pairing to end all crack pairings, Julia's wizarding school will close. As she has no living family members, she will set out on her own, and somehow end up being captured by Xykon's forces. She and Redcloak will meet/fall in love/etc, egged on by The Monster in Darkness, who wants some Happily Ever After. Roy will eventually find out and approve, despite some reservations. The happy couple will elope, making another Happily Married couple in the Order of the Stick universe. Eugene will then attempt to rip Roy's vocal cords out.

• Possibly a reason for Redcloak to resurrect Roy, as mentioned above?

The Ancient Black Dragon is working for the IIFC.

Her question to the Oracle actually was: "Who would be willing to revive my son?". He answered to go to the archfiend, who made a deal: she would be reunited with her son if she made all the scene she did to V. Then, V would have the deal with the IIFC and the dragon would have escaped. The thing she didn't know was that she would be killed and reunited with her son in death.

The IFCC will use V's soul to get information on the Gates once they have it

Seems likely after 637. Also, remember that if V ends the Soul Splice right now, they'll each only have it for about 5 minutes.

• They definitely want something out of him beyond just "testing" the splice.
• 668 confirms that what they want out of him has something to do with the Gates...

The agents of hell need a willing Good/Neutral soul for some sort of summoning or power upgrade.

By entering the contract wherein V's soul goes to each underworld being for the same amount of time he had been fused with the other souls, they can use him as a sacrifice after he dies to exploit a loophole where something can only occur/escape if a willing good or neutral soul is sacrificed in the deepest pit of hell by the combined power of all three eternally-warring faction leaders. The only way they could do that is by fulfilling such a contract as they offered V, then allowing the soul to be under their domain at the same time ("Exact order of custody to be determined").

In response to Elan and Haley's Relationship Upgrade, Nale and Sabine are going to break up.

They are evil opposites, so now that Elan and Haley are an item, we're going to start seeing the relationship start to fray. In fact, I'd say it's happening already. Nale seemed distressed at the revelation that Sabine routinely has sex without him.

Shojo didn't die.

He transferred his soul into Mr. Scruffy's body. Belkar's hallucination was Shojo communicating with him via magic.

• So Shojo is Marianne the Flash from Code Geass, Mr. Scruffy is Anya the, uh, Ayanami, Miko is V.V. and Belkar is C.C.? Uh, wow. The gender flips are the best part.
• Shojo is a 14th level aristocrat and doesn't know about magic.
  • Shojo knows about magic well enough. It's knowing how to do magic he doesn't get.

Haerta will find a host and join Xykon.

And inevitably betray him when it becomes necessary.

Vaarsuvius will join the Linear Guild.

Nale was talking about how they need a new spellcaster. Sabine works for overfiend guys, who think Nale has lots of evil potential. V and the Linear Guild have no particular animosity towards each other (V probably hates Elan more by this point) and V also seems to want to find Durkon and Elan for some rather unpleasant reasons. More little stuff like that. Perhaps the four words for the wrong reasons are a second deal granting actual dominion over V's soul in exchange for power like he had before Haerta left permanently.

• The reason V seemed to be looking for Elan and Durkon seems to be that s/he wanted to show off when she found Haley.
  • So V wants to say 'Ha ha you suck losers I hate you look how much more awesome I am than you. Watch as I solve the problem you've made no progress on in six+ months!' Look how pissed V gets when the possibly about-to-die to make V seem worse Daigo and Kazumi point out Elan and Durken already know where Haley is. He/she was not going to be friendly, and already had sort of stopped caring about Xykon. Now he/she will be even angrier at them.

There is an epic-level monster in the abandoned fortress.

V merely assumed the only monsters present were weak enough to be destroyed by the Azure City refugees. He could leave before they're attacked, then teleport some or all of the scattered team and/or his family back to find everyone but a few (named) characters slaughtered, and permanently imperil his soul, mind, elven status, etc. from guilt.

Everyone dies.

The world is saved, (or maybe not) by a third party (maybe Hinjo?). The last panel is exactly the same as the first, as the order wanted to continue their adventuring well into the after life. Happily ever after, and leads to an interesting paradox about always being on a continual loop in time and space. Edited for Grammar, and umm... sense-making.

• That's not the most depressing ending, as they get a happy ending despite the Stable Time Loop. Your theory says that they wanted to continue their journey, so they had the options of going to whatever Heaven their alignment would dictate; having the option to be adventurers forever is way better than some of the other possible endings.
  • Remember that in Elan's "Oh Buddy Roy" song he lamented the fact that he & Roy would go to separate afterlives due to their separate alignments and not be able to see each other. The Order will choose to adventure forever rather than being separated in different heavens.

Everyone lives...

...for a while. In Xykon's dungeon. Well, except for the named Azurites. All gates but the one in Azure City are destroyed, Xykon makes a deal with the gods that they each make him an epic-level cleric in exchange for not letting the Azure City gate open any more than it already has, he uses his new powers to capture the Order from afar and puts them in solitary confinement, and the last page shows them getting progressively less hopeful- Vaarsuvius, still soul-spliced, joining with Xykon voluntarily. The last panel is Xykon, with the burning world superimposed across his image, holding a gazing sphere showing the remaining Order dying of old age, and going to their own, separate afterlives, except for Durkon. Or not. Hopefully not.

Belkar will be killed and undeadified by Xykon.

It's simple, really. Xykon is most likely the only thing powerful enough to put an end to Death's Li'l Helper, and it would explain why the rest of the Order doesn't just run out and raise him.

• Or he'll fall into (?) a rift, and be unmade.
  • Or he'll fall into a rift and spend the rest of his life on the planet within the rift, which is revealed to be the Oracle's blind spot.
  • Confirmed with #870. Belkar gets turned to a vampire(?) by Malack, not Xykon.
    • Aside from that being half-confirmed, and half-jossed, un-Confirmed with #871 because of Durkon's Big Damn Heroes

Xykon will fuse with the Snarl

So O-Chul is about to throw the phylactery into the tear in reality (or V's familiar carries it in, whatever). When it enters the rip, the phylactery will shatter and Xykon's soul will be released. What happens when a creature that is a tangle of reality encounters a soul? Nothing good, to be sure. But I imagine that either: Xykon will fuse with it somehow, or his soul will cause the snarl to at least get more powerful/irritable.

• The Snarl destroys anything created by the pantheon of gods. Souls of beings that inhabit creation had to have been created by the gods, therefore, the Snarl would destroy Xykon's soul if O-Chul manages to throw the phylactery into the spacial rip. This is why the people who were killed by the Snarl before it was sealed cannot be rezzed or enter the afterlife.
  • Xykon's soul is not currently inside the Phylactery. Until he gets destroyed, Xykon's soul is in him (speculation based on SoD).
  • But he also completely flipped a shit when Soon's ghost said he would instruct the next human to destroy it during the siege. I think Xykon was probably just blowing smoke to manipulate Redcloak.
    • He was about to be defeated by an Epic Paladin... ghost thing. And his phylactery was about to be blasted as well. A certain amount of panic is to be expected.
  • Another result could be that Xykon becomes "mortal" again, which means that he can't regenerate again. Kind of like Voldemort after the Horcruxes were destroyed.
  • There actually was a book way back in second edition that went into detail about liches (including explaining how a character actually becomes one, which is useful flavor for DMs), and it explained that a phylactery isn't like a Horcrux—it contains no part of the lich's soul, it's just a sort of anchor that keeps that soul on the Prime Material. So assuming Rich Burlew knows about Van Richten's Book of the Lich, Xykon wasn't bluffing. On the other hand, a lich can only ever make ONE phylactery. If that one's destroyed, he's essentially mortal again, just undead. So it's understandable he'd panic at the idea of someone destroying it.

The Snarl is Haruhi Suzumiya.

It's not so much "evil" as "really bored". They both have the power to unmake reality, and can cause major disruptions in space-time just by being there. This could actually be the origin of Haruhi and her powers, which show up in many other media: the personified frustration and ennui of an entire world. Clearly, by the end of the comic's Myth Arc, The Snarl will be released, unmake the webcomic reality, and remake one more similar to our modern Earth, with plenty of anime tropes thrown in; the only effect of our heroes will be to wipe her memories of this, and make her into a human girl.

The Stone that stores Lirian and Dorukon's souls will be made into jewelry...

...And given by Elan to Haley. Possibly as an engagement ring, assuming we ignore that fact it's black and the size of Xykon's whole hand. I don't know why it would be mentioned in Start of Darkness at all if it didn't make an appearance eventually. Plus it would be a Heartwarming Moment for all involved.

• I assumed it was blown up with the rest of the castle.
• Putting the stone that imprisons two people's souls into jewelery for a gift is a Heartwarming Moment? Maybe if Lirian and Dorukon were freed first, but if they're still there, then no.

Even if/when Roy defeats Xykon, Eugene will not get into Lawful Good heaven

Even in life, Eugene seemed like a self-centered jerk, but in death he's even more so, possibly slipping into Lawful Neutral or even True Neutral territory. The most recent strip, where he indicates that he wouldn't care if Roy sold his soul or fell to evil, provided he defeated Xykon kind of clinches it for me. When Roy kills Xykon, Eugene will indeed move on, but to the LN or TN afterlife.

• My judgment may be skewed, but it seems Eugene was saying that if Roy had been willing to do whatever needed to be done to ensure Xykon's destruction, we'd all be in a lot better shape. I can't say I disagree.
  • Whatever needed to be done up to and including making a deal with demons for power. I'd say that disqualifies him as good, even if it might have worked (the moment you're ready to make a proverbial deal with the devil for power you're not qualified as good anymore, no matter your intentions)
  • True, true. Then again, it wouldn't surprise me if Eugene wan't LG. It seems Julia takes after him quite a bit, maybe she inherited her alignment from him, and is just more honest about it.
  • Made far more likely as of 664. My guess is that he'll be warned by an archon just as he's looking forward to Xykon's death and getting into LG heaven, and then try to stall.
  • Roy's archon mentions that he thinks that it's "technically past the point where this would be a possibility" re: Eugene going to Hell. Also, afterlives are all about the actions one takes during one's life. Plus, Eugene was already completely judged and found worthy except for the Oath of Vengeance.
• Is it possible that the angel is trying to see if he meant any of that stuff about giving the oath up for family and his showing that to be a lie could sentence him to a non hell but not lawful good heaven, or the angel would respond that the problem is not just that you gave up the oath but that you gave up your supposed reason for giving up the oath just as easily. If his actions now are not supposed to matter why would a third parties?

The Snarl did not kill the Eastern pantheon

The other gods did in a particularly heated argument which also involved starting the world over. The snarl was just a cover story, deliberately put in the new world as such, and will not actually do anything much if released or controlled.

The Oracle's comments about not funding an IRA are merely him offhandedly predicting the real world stock market down turn

While it is another Belkar that will draw his last breath ever.

Roy and Redcloak will face off in a final epic battle.

Which will end with them peaceably talking their issues out. Based mostly on the fact that in On the Origin of PCs, Roy chose to talk to the ogre party, and realised they were camped out for concert tickets, rather than a war camp. If Redcloak let anything about his dead family slip, I can see Roy at least TRYING to talk to him, rather than automatically killing him.

The Snarl doesn't exist.

Soon's wife was killed by the gods as a gambit to have the Order of the Scibble created so someone would build the Gates and lock off the other world inside the main one. The whole tale about the Snarl is a huge pile of lies made up to justify their actions. This way, the heroes work as unwilling jailors for the other world imprisoned within their own.

• This is quite possible, as every single depiction of the snarl has been second hand in a crayon drawing- Xykon was destroyed by the rune preventing entry to the rift, not the rift itself. As such, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that both the bearers of the crimson mantle and the rest of the cast have been deliberately misled.

An alternative version is that the Snarl was created by the gods as a defence mechanism, a part of the planet itself, to convince anyone living on the Order of the Stick planet to close any leaks that might let people escape from the other planet.

The Eastern Gods didn't die.

They're imprisoned on the other planet inside the main one.

The Other Planet is earth.

That's why people killed by the Snarl can't be resurrected. They're not dead; they're now living out ordinary lives in modern earth.

• will it be a fishoutofwater kind of living ot colorofmagic style
• When this is revealed, someone, probably V, will complain about what a cliche it is.

The Other Planet is the World of Science Fiction.

Only, Because it would be Funny

The Other Planet is the last one the Gods designed; it follows another RPG's rules.

It could be 2nd edition D&D, Exalted, World of Darkness, Call of Cthulhu or really any other RPG. Alternatively, it's Erfworld; that stuff about the two comics being unrelated is a total lie.

The Other Planet was created by the Snarl

The Snarl angered by the fact it was formed from the residue of the many panthon of gods when they were creating the planet and imprisoned in their second creation of the world, it decides it could make a better world by its own without having to argue anyone else. The Snarl's world is managed by a pantheon of Canaanite-abrahamic Gods, and the Snarl is the head of this Pantheon and its name is Ēl ʿElyōn. The first God created by the Snarl would be named Yahweh

The Snarl merged with the previous world.

So instead of looking like a giant scribble it's now Ego the Living Planet, only even more powerful and insane.

The Three Amigos of Evil were lying

Or at least obscuring the truth from the imp. It's true they don't want Xykon to control the gates, but they're not telling the whole truth, they want the gates themselves, and they only the soul of a sufficiently powerful divine caster to do it, they have V, they just need Redcloak's help.

The Other World is 4th Edition

It would be interesting to see the two interact.

The Snarl does not exist anymore

Oh sure, it still existed in some form during Soon's time, what with the claws from the voids, but notice how this hasn't happened since the gates were sealed. Even with the prisoners so dangerously close to the Sapphire rift, nothing happened: no stringy arm lashed out to take anything. My theory is this: over time, the Snarl, which is made of strands of creation, eventually began to unwind. Without anything to lash out at or destroy within its prison of creation, the threads found themselves loosening, unraveling; the knot that was the snarl began to undo itself. Until eventually, the un-knotted strands of creation within the rift fell back into their intended shape: a world.

The Snarl never actually destroyed anyone or anything

The planet within the rift the is old world that the snarl supposedly "destroyed". The story of the Snarl that Shojo tells the Order may not be the true account. In fact, the gods themselves may be mistaken, believing that the gods of the East were killed when they really became part of the Snarl. In other words, anything the snarl gets its tendrils on is not killed but is instead transported to the Snarl's realm. The snarl himself may not even be evil, simply wanting to absorb things more "real" than itself for unknown reasons. So yeah, basically like a being from the dungeon dimensions

The world beyond the rift is The Snarl.

The Snarl has had an extremely long time to sort itself out. It was made by gods who were new at this whole world-making thing, and since their fight over what would and wouldn't be part of the world was childish and immature, the Snarl itself was childish and immature. The unstoppable rage that killed the Western gods was merely a collossal temper-tantrum. With however many years it's been since then, the Snarl has grown up, used its powers to raise the Western pantheon, and is now a stable world with stable gods and stable people.

• Oi! I came to the same sort of conclusion about seven WMGs up... though I didn't think of the "temper tantrum" angle... [+]I guess great minds think alike! [ ]You stole from the WRONG man.

The world in the rift was made by The Dark one

just think abuot it, the dark one is the only god that seen interested in using the snarl. he probably found a way to use the threads that the snarl is made of and made his own world out of them.

That Guy with a Halberd will return

Considering the fact that Thog still exists because of his surprising popularity, there's at least a fair chance this unusually famous character will reappear at some point. Possible things he will do with his (hopefully) grand re-entrance include:

• Cutting off Xykon's head (which, unfortunately, probably won't kill him)
• Distracting/Flanking someone (such as Red Cloak) long enough for Haley to get in a dramatic Sneak Attack
• Speaking a single sentence in the background that hangs a lampshade on something
• Is given a name and revealed to be a high-ranking commander who is treated as though everyone knew him all along
• Rescues O-Chul from some catastrophe
• Asks Hinjo where he would like a lampshade hung
• Says one line, then gets killed

Crystal will be raised and recruited by the Linear Guild

Nale will want her on his team due to her being Haley's Evil Counterpart. This will cause conflict with Sabine (now redundant as Haley's Evil Counterpart), perhaps leading to Nale's and Sabine's break-up as hypothetised in a previous WMG.

• Crystal isn't an Evil Counterpart, though. She's The Rival. Aside from being in the same Thieves' Guild as Haley, the two don't have much in common.

In the battle for the final Gate, the Order of the Stick and the Linear Guild will set aside their differences and join forces to destroy Xykon

The IFCC made nale and the rest of the liner guild

maybe Elan really HAD a twin, but he died a long time ago. the IFCC needed someone to be their pwans on the mortal plane, so they crated five humanoids so they could watch for anything that can help them and they put sabine on the group so they could inspect them

the final battle will be nine-sided and the roaches'll say see? we told yo so

I'm not sure how will be in them, but my guess is that hilgya or right-eye's daughter (or both) coming back and forming their own groups

• or leeky and pompey
• Already confirmed by Word of God in the commentary from Don't Split The Party. There is one side we don't know about yet (or didn't know about at the end of the book).
  • Let's see... sides that will probably be involved:
    • The Order of the Stick (obviously)
    • Xykon (again, this seems obvious)
    • The Linear Guild (another obvious one)
    • Hinjo's forces (not definite, they're friends/allies with the Order, so those two may be a single side)
    • Girard himself (...if he hasn't been confirmed dead)
    • Redcloak and an army of Goblins & Hobgoblins (seems reasonable that he'd split off from Xykon at some point)
    • Tarquin and his army
    • The other nobles of Azure City
    • The Flumphs maybe?
  • (Sorry, breaking the nine) But may I add the archfiends?

the comics will end with an epic battel between the drak one and Xykon about controling the gate(s)

that will end when the order of the stick will come and seal back the gate(s)

the gods of the east didn't want to share the creation of the world with the other gods...

so they invented a snarl, and pretended to be killed by him, so they could create world alone

Kraagor isn't dead.

Nor is anyone else swallowed up by or sealed off into a Rift. Kraagor is living on the Planet Inside The Planet, and just has no way to get home.

Girard really did try to kill Soon

However, Evocation is a common barred school for Illusionists (what with spells like Shadow Evocation and its more powerful versions) so he couldn't get enough damage in a concentrated area as possible that would last indefinitely. It was more designed to kill/weaken Soon's flunkies (the ones with K. Geography) and now the illusionary Spice traps are going to activate (illusionary Spice scents that will attract every Purple Worm within ).

Soon was once like Miko

• It seems very odd that Girard would set a trap in the desert for Soon, literally betting on Soon breaking his oath of non-interference. Anyone who knows Paladins knows that they adhere to their promises very strictly, and Girard knew Soon personally so one would think he'd know better. However, there is one known Paladin who, in that situation, would have done exactly what Girard accused Soon of doing. Miko Miyazaki frequently reinterpreted events to suit her worldview and justify just about any action she took (up to and including killing her liege lord). In Soon's place, she would have found some way to justify breaking the oath and done precisely what Girard thought Soon would. In that context, it might just be that, during their time in the Order of the Scribble, Soon behaved much like Miko, which meant Girard probably felt justified in setting the trap he did. This also turns Soon's speech to Miko at her death into a Harsher in Hindsight moment since it means that Soon, when telling Miko about redemption and needing to admit you were wrong, was speaking from personal experience.

Celia will die

The fact that sylphs can't be raised from the dead sounds suspiciously like a Chekhov's Gun, or Chekhov's Boomerang if you consider her explanation for why she's reluctant to kill the first use. It would also be a good way for Burlew to pull an Alas, Poor Scrappy.

• Realted theory: when sylphs die, they go to the planet inside the planet. It is also where you go in the Lawful Good afterlife if you climb to the top of the mountain. It is a world similar to this one, but without death or injury.

Redcloak will reveal his backstory in an attempt to get sympathy points...

And no one will show any sympathy for him - BUT someone will express frustration with the Sapphire Guard. "You went and slaughtered a goblin village to eliminate the threat of the Crimson Mantle, and in the process, created the threat you were trying to eliminate! Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!"

• I don't see this one happening.

The strip after Belkar dies...

Someone who is upset at Belkar's death, probably Elan, will list off most of the non-death ideas suggested on the forums and this page, just to mock how wild and crazy the fans are, before getting shot down as one last "He's DEAD, dammit!". Because Rich has done it before.

Niu, a new character, will be important to the storyline.

Think about it. Why bother NAMING a character when he/she won't serve a supporting role to the heroes at the very least? In fact, I'll bet my money she was a relative to The Scrappy Miko. (I have ten.)

• Niu has been around since the beginning of the Resistance Arc, helping Haley freeing slaves and even before. And also, tell that to Solty Lurkyurg. And/or Buggy Lou. Or Trigak. Oh, wait, you can't, because they're all dead. I would expext Niu & Thanh to stay at this same supporting character level, maybe eventually show up in a big battle to take back Azure City.

The Dancing Knights will return.

They will either:

• Become a recurring Funny Background Event.
• Create a distraction at an important time.
• Be intentionally summoned as a distraction.
• "And kick, and kick, and ham and jam and spam a lot!"
• Be the new, much more painful-to-land-on flumphs.

Redcloak and Hinjo are gonna strike a truce at some point

Both want their peoples to have homes, both are pragmatic enough rulers to not let the past cloud their judgements, and both take rather laissez-faire approach to their alignment restrictions (which is really the only thing preventing them from realizing that war between the Sapphirites and the goblins is the worst outcome for both).

At least one of the NPC leveled prisoners is well optimized

Such as an iaijutsu focus expert,

The Other Planet is Eberron.

Because really, Without Eberron, there wouldn't even have been an Order of the Stick Comic.

• Someone has to get beat by Loli Pope.

Malachar is either human or allied with the humans, and plans on taking over sooner if not later.

Why else would a kingdom full of lizardfolk accept a human Guard? He used either diplomacy, Diplomacy, or his power as His Vizierliness to convince anyone who could argue.

Ian Starshine is Malachar.

"This 'Elan' fellow seems nice enough, and he will be Family, but Nale has got to be taken care of before the wedding." It's better to use a meat shield that will require an epic spellcaster or a lot of fighting than sit on the throne yourself (especially since Starshine sounds like the sort of guy who would hate being in the spotlight, aside from just the Rogue-type logic seen in flashbacks). Ian wouldn't bother trying to keep power when that strong a spellcaster or someone with the Order of the Stick equivalent of a MOAB is after the throne, and anyone else can be dealt with while they're trying to pry the meat shield off the throne.

All the characters are really characters from other webcomics.

V is Black Mage, sans destructive tendencies, Xykon and Redcloak are Richard and Cale, The Oracle and Therkla are Dominic and Luna, and Sabine is one of the Succubi from Sinfest

• Belkar is Black Mage after some re-constructive facial surgery and losing his magic.

The upcoming arc will be a Star Wars parody.

General Tarquin (not the resemblance to Tarkin) dresses like Boba Fett and reveals himself to be Elan's father in a parody of Vader's famous scene. And it also hit me that the lizard cleric looks a lot like Palpatine and the Blood Empress has Jabba Table Manners. You could even go back a couple of chapters to the Dune chapters- Lucas kind of ripped off Arakis when creating Tatooine. Also, the termal detonator, the "pray I don't alter it any further", etc. Speculations on what will come in the future is include that Elan will get a hand cut off by his father after he turned on the heroes but in the end dies to redeem itself to an army of small creatures defeating the empire.

Elan and Nale were only twins after they were born.

They used to be a Chaotic Evil half-pint, possibly named Neal. Elan got the chaotic, Nale got the evil.

Elan and Nale have other siblings.

I'm going to say older sister, older half-sister, or younger half-sister and/or multiple young half-siblings of varying sex. (Additionally, with the guess that this sequence is going to be at least partly Star Wars homage/pastiche, it leaves room for There Is Another, though I really hope they don't pull off a Luke And Leia bit, regardless of whether Vaarsuvius is Han or Luke. Unless s/he leans against the fourth wall long enough to express relief that that sort of thing wasn't going to happen).

Thog is Elan & Nale's half-brother.

Tarquin referred to Elan & Nale's mother as his first wife. That wouldn't have been in there if it wasn't important somehow, and it's already been established that inter-species hookups are more common, and attitudes to them more tolerant, on the Western Continent than they are elsewhere. This would also make yet another parallel between Elan/Roy & Nale/Thog, given that Roy & Elan have a surrogate big brother/little brother relationship.

Pompey and Leeky Windstaff will return.

Do we have this already?

Mr. Scruffy is the Big Good.

When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.

Every major good or neutral-aligned character introduced as of strip 729 will survive to the end of the strip, as will more than half the major evil-aligned characters.

The author seems to dislike killing off anyone the fanbase likes or is neutral to (unless they're a minor character, in which case they can die freely.) The exceptions so far have been Lord Shojo, who doesn't count because old people tend to die in these sorts of stories, and Therkla, who doesn't count because Hopeless Suitors almost always die in these sorts of stories. The only other major and popular good or neutral character who now has a precedent for doom is Varsuvius, and he's likely to just suffer for what he's done, rather than outright die. The only major good or neutral character who's currently unpopular is Celia, and she's likely to survive because she's a useful tool to comment on the morality of Dungeons & Dragons. There are a couple evil-aligned characters who have a good precedent for doom, like Xykon and Tsukiko, but even Redcloak has a good chance of getting spared for being interesting and vaguely sympathetic. (And Belkar is definitely going to survive—he fulfills the Richard rules of karma avoidance by being badass, funny, and an ally of the good guys.)

The oracle leads one of the factions that haven't been revealed yet.

His followers are the inhabitants of Lickmyorangeballshalfingville, and he's been manipulating several other sides for his own mysterious goals.

Tarquin is an arcane spellcaster

This is not based on anything Tarquin has done, but rather both of his sons have taken up arcane spellcasting classes. (Elan is a bard and Nale is a sorcerer) It's possible Tarquin did this too, taking levels in Duskblade, Warmage or some sort of prestige class. Fitting the recent Star Wars theme, a level 16 or so Duskblade can cast Chain Lightning a la Emperor Palpatine.

• I don't really know the D and D ranks well, but someone suggested he's a Blackguard once, and looking at the pictures for that class, Tarquin fits it to a t. On the other hand, Malack looks a lot Palpatine (if he was a lizard person), so I hope they'll have him shoot lighting from his fingers at some point.
  • While this is also valid, Blackguards are divine and not arcane, which is why I didn't mention them in my WMG.
• I think it's more likely that he's an eldritch knight, given Rich's desire to stick to core and Tarquin's appearance. However, given his associations, dragon disciple would fit thematically well, especially since spontaneous spellcasting requires draconic heritage.

The planet within the planet will be the final destination for goblinkind, with them all alive and well, as one facet of the Dark One's Plan.

The Dark One's Plan involves an ritual to help control the Snarl, which happens to be the purple energy seperating the outer world from the inner world. As it is, it is deadly to touch, but the ritual will allow transportation of goblinkind from the outer planet where they're hunted for sport into the inner planet where the inhabitants originally consumed by the Snarl will welcome the goblins as equals, like Little Green Men finally showing themselves to humanity. This will allow Burlew to reference Star Trek as well, and maybe even Long Cat as the goblin's welcoming host.

Belkar's Mama Bitterleaf sent to the old folks home will turn out to be Sarini, and the sixth gate is in possession of the halflings, found before joining the Order of the Scribble.

Exposure to the Snarl made all of halfling kind sociopathic, and Sarini was shipped there due to being too kind for her own good, plus turning an entire race insane. Alternatively, she pretended to be the heart of the team and obfusicated stupidity to learn the other locations of the Snarl Rifts so halfling kind could secretly take control of the world using a variant of Redcloak's ritual. Heck, I'll even throw out there she's the final boss of the comic, because NO ONE would see that coming.

Therkla will be revived.

Be it for Speak With Dead (possibly in an epilogue, with chronicler montage), as part of some mass-Raise Dead/create zombie plan, or just to push Elan's buttons. Bonus character-emotion-wrenching points if she had been told to move something important someplace hidden while under the command of her former lord, and V disintegrating his corpse and leaving the dust to the wind means the heroes have to revive her to learn where it is.

Belkar is Lawful Good, Xykon is the real Anti Villain, and Redcloak's a Complete Monster

They don't call it Wild Mass Guessing for nothing.

• Belkar promised... He had to, his master wouldn't tell him what the promise was until the oath had been cast, and Belkar Bitterleaf never went back on a promise... At least not until the day that Lord Brightpistil told him to act Chatic Evil to destroy the Evil Living MacGuffin, and save the world. He blocked Miko's Detect Evil to keep from revealing his true alignment even by the virtue of his own virtue, let alone his words or actions. Xyko's from the D&D equivalent of Halloweentown, where doing murders to people isn't a bad thing, and Redcloak faked every moment of compassion he showed onscreen, only wanting to get his brother out of the way and more easilycontrol the Goblin kingdoms.
  • OF COURSE!
  • Hey, why wasn't Belkar affected?

Girard Draketooth will be a Deconstruction of Chaotic Good and Chaotic Neutral characters.

While the exact details behind why he was sure Soon would break his oath are still not known (pretty much any theory is valid right now until we learn more), it's clear that he completely misunderstood what kind of man Soon was, and took the distrust of authority common to such characters way too far. He will be to Chaotic character types (including Chaotic Stupid) what Miko was to Lawful character types: Mainly a good guy who opposes the heroes anyway.

• This is arguably the case, since although we've never seen him and Girard is eventually revealed to be long dead, pretty much everything he's done has worked to oppose or make things more difficult for the heroes in some way, and Roy in particular has vented numerous times about how Girard's spiteful paranoia has only ended up causing more problems than it's solved.

The IFCC engineered the Order's original confrontation with the younger black dragon.

Think about it; the Order was sent to get the starmetal by Sabine in disguise, ostensibly as a wild goose chase. But what if she actually sent them that way because she was ordered to by Director Lee? The Fiends could have known that that particular dragon's mother was quite vengeful, and so a good way to create a situation in which one of the order members required their help was to ensure that she had a reason to come after them.

• Except going after the starmetal was Nale's idea.

The crescent moon above the Empire of Blood relates to the location of Girard's Gate as either showing its entrance or dispelling Girard's illusionary protection on the gate.

I also bet Xykon will appear soon that moonlit night after a dragged out battle between Roy's team and allies or gladiators of the Empire of Blood because conditions are right for the Gate to appear relative to the crescent moon.

The stone holding Dorukan and Lirian

......is a thus-far-unfired Chekhov's Gun. It's a stone holding the souls of two epic level mages. Now, where have we seen such souls used before?

At some point, V will decide to look into soul splicing, and will discover a way to do it with willing souls. During the final confrontation with Xykon, the stone will be broken, V will sense the souls, and team up with them to deliver an epic, well-deserved, and karmic beatdown to the lich.

Crystal is Right-Eye's daughter in disguise, which means that Haley's dagger is Right-Eye's dagger in disguise.

• Which, if Xykon can be separated from a certain magic item, would prove very useful indeed.

Finale will be epic battle between Snarl and Banjo the Clown

All remaining Black Dragons will join Xykon

This is the best way to V's Deal with the Devil to bite him/her.

Miko will appear in the comic again.

I'm not saying she'll return to life, but she'll make some sort of appearance. Possibilities include:

• Another cameo of her corpse.
• A flashback.
• We'll see her in the afterlife.
• Montage of important characters before the strip ends.
• She might actually return to life. I doubt it, though.
  • The Linear Guild are gathering in a gladatorial arena. Given Vaarsuvius' suggestion here, it seems possible that Miko could return once more.

The Grecian Gods live on inside the rift

Because theyr'e the only gods there, the world is heavily influenced by Grecian culture.

The world inside the rift is a normal modern world, with all the characters having normal counterparts

Roy would be a police officer, and his father a scientist, Durkon would be a priest, Haley would be a spy or a cat burglar, Elan would be a musician, his mother would still be a barmaid, but Tarquin and Malack would be ruthless businessman, and Nale would be criminal. Vaarsuvius would be a scientist, Belkar would be a serial killer on death row,and Xykon would be the leader of a terrorist group trying to, you guessed it, take over the worrld, M. Bison : Of course!.

Tarquin will kill Julio and cut off one of Elan's hands.

The Star Wars references in this arc kind of make one or both a necessity. With the former, I can imagine Tarquin killing Julio (perhaps for sleeping with one of his ladyfriends) and then as he dies, Julio would see Elan and tell him "I told you so". The maiming would make a lot of sense too (especially because it would work for both drama- besides the cruelty, it would temporarily impair Elan's bard abilities; as well as comedy- see Arrested Development for how a Hook Hand can be used for comedy gold). I picture Tarquin discovering how Haley freed all those slaves and thinking that Elan was in cahoots with her. Or in any case, soon enough, the two of them will have to come to blows. Tarquin will defeat Elan in combat and after declaring that he would never kill one of his children, chop.

• Forshadowed here and referenced here

Serini Toormuck is dead.

The incident with the Order of the Scribble occurred sixty-six years ago. Even when you consider that this comic doesn't completely follow D&D rules, she was probably in her twenties, which would put her somewhere in her eighties at this point — it doesn't seem like halflings live that long. Furthermore, Xykon is in possession of her diary — an object that someone with her personality would never want to let go of, so it stands to reason that Xykon might have taken it from her after her death (either he killed her personally during the eighteen year timeskip in Start of Darkness, or he took it from her corpse by chance, knowing him, it could be either one.) If this is true, the Order of the Stick is gong to be in for a nasty surprise if they end up trying to find her.

• Except halflings do live much longer than humans... they're based on hobbits, after all.

The Order will die in the final battle against Xykon and be resurrected

Current Arc Star Wars references will escalate.

Tarquin already has something planned for Elan that has to do with the Empire of Blood (and bringing order to the continent perhaps?), as in "with our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict, and bring order..." complete with ruling the empire (or continent) as father and son. Then through a series of events Tarquin will find that Redemption Equals Death as he dies in his son's arms.

The Northern, Southern, and Western gods deliberately engineered the creation of the Snarl to kill the Eastern Gods.

• After all of the pantheons had been arguing over how to make the world for whoever knows how long, the leaders of the North, West, and Southern gods realized that it was Zeus and his kin that were causing the most problems in terms of making the world. One of the gods saw how the occasional snag in reality would develop a semblance of intelligence for a few moments, and this led to the theory that enough snags would create an actual, intelligent monster - this god then explained to the other North, South, and Western gods that this could be used to get rid of the Eastern gods, take care of whatever problems they might have caused for making of the world, and then creation could be made with much more ease. All the other Southern, North, and Western gods agreed to this, and began to purposely create snags in reality to make an intelligent Snarl. They eventually did, and the Snarl what they wanted it too, but it was done a little too well

Elan will overthrow Tarquin from the shadows

Tarquin makes a big deal about how dramatic, widely told stories of good overthrowing the evil empire lets the bad guys win. Elan will brood over how it goes against his bardic philosophy, but ultimately decide to go against narrative convention and arrange for a more realistic and less personal and theatrical destruction of Tarquin's empire, possibly by arranging for a Paladin crusade and making sure his name is left off.

Tarquin gets devoured by the Snarl

Maybe Elan pushes him in, maybe not. But it eradicates him as thoroughly as the Gods of the East. Famed In-Story? Forget it. He won't be a footnote.

I have no particular reason for believing this except that it would be perfect karmic justice. An alternative method of destroying the memory of him works just as well.

• Except getting killed by the Snarl doesn't destroy the memory of someone. Soon still remembered his wife, for instance.
  • Doesn't always. It's not necessary that it happen all the time — just to Tarquin.
  • Not "doesn't always," but doesn't at all. There's not one person in the comic killed by the Snarl whose memory was "destroyed." Not even the Eastern Gods.
    • Only because you forgot about them...

Elan's "happy ending" doesn't refer to the end of the comic.

Rather, it refers to the "end" of the current father-son conflict. I don't think I can put it any better than Tarquin:

• "The end of what, son? The story? There is no end, there's just a point at which the storytellers stop talking."
• "If I win, I get to be a king. If I lose, I get to be a legend. I'll inspire a thousand more leaders to follow in my footsteps. And it'll all be thanks to you, my boy."
  • He's Genre Savvy enough to know that only his heroic son can defeat him; he should also be savvy enough to know that he won't be able to kill him. He'll probably have to fake his death in a No One Could Survive That! scene, which again may be part of his gambit.
    • Yeah, or he is Wrong Genre Savvy and he ends killed by Nale, so he doesn't get to be niether a king nor a legend, as he wasn't killed by a hero.
• Considering Elan's love for the dramatic I always thought his happy ending would be death by Heroic Sacrifice. Because, really, what would Elan want more than to die epically in some amazing sacrifice.
  • That's not a happy ending. A happy ending, for an idealist like Elan, would be living happily ever after.

Tarquin will be made immortal.

And then he will be sent to a plane of eternal torment.

Tarquin and Julio Scoundrel have fought before, and will fight again by the end of the current arc.

Tarquin has referenced fighting in Pun-Duels before, and both make near constant Shout Outs to Star Wars. Their Allignments also clash(Lawful Evil and Chaotic Good, respectively), giving them plenty of reasons to be rivals. And both are fairly famous.(Tarquin took over half the western continent, Julio was named Sexiest Man Alive.) Plus, I don't believe anyone would pass up this kind of opportunity for a Brick Joke.

• Don't forget that Elan's mom has a bunch of pictures of Julio. Could be magazine clippings, but what if they met and he posed for her.

Girard was unconscious during the final battle with the Snarl

He didn't see first hand what happened, only heard about it from Dorukan (who also had a grudge against Soon) and based on the descriptions provided by Dorukon came to the conclusion that Soon did something like shove Kraagor into the rift to save his own skin.

• But Dorukan wasn't the only witness to the final battle. Lirian was there too, and Girard knew that because both of them were required to seal the rift. It's more likely that Girard's (by all appearances) somewhat chaotic nature clashed with Soon's Lawful Good alignment.

We're going to run into a zealously over-paranoid Neutral Good character

We've got Miko for overly deluded Lawful Good, we've got Ian for overly paranoid Chaotic Good, so all we need is an overly paranoid Neutral Good to round out the circle.

• While I think she's canonically Lawful Good, it's easy to read Celia as Neutral Good, and she'd be a pretty much fit this- good to the point of Stupid Good, and if not paranoid, then somewhat overzealous.
• Does Girard Draketooth count? He seems a bit Chaotic, but he is incredibly paranoid, doesn't trust Soon as far as he can throw him, and he's been hiding in the desert since he started guarding his gate. Plus, we've never been given his explicit alignment.

Uncle Geoff is a traitor

Working for that Bozzok guy... somehow, for some reason. That's why he reacts like this. http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0779.html And Ian is just asking for it with that ridiculous "you can always trust family either way" philosophy of his.

• Geoff's apprehensive (almost fearful) "did he... send you?" rather unambiguously implies Bozzok might have sent Belkar to assassinate both of them for leaving the Guild.
  • Conceded. I didn't remember what their exact previous relationship with him was.
    • That doesn't make sense. Ian didn't leave the Guild — Bozzok arranged for him to be removed. Geoff is pretty clearly Bozzok's agent; his look when he says "did he...send you?" is him trying to figure out what Bozzok's new plan is — the real shock for him is right after that, when he says "Wait, Bozzok's dead?" He's clearly thinking "What will that do to our arrangement?" and he's relieved to learn that Bozzok's still alive. In 770 Ian explains that however often he escapes, the Empire always finds him; obviously Geoff is tipping off the captors.
• Confirmed! He sold Ian out to let his son leave the Thieves' Guild. And became that useless polearm dealer.

Tarquin will be killed offhandedly by someone besides Elan.

If he dies in a dramtic fasion he will get what he wants: to be the Big Bad of his son's Story Arc. The only way for him to lose if he becomes a mere foot note. V could disintegrate him, or Xykon could show up after the heroes leave (since he will be searching for that gate soon) and kill him out of boredom.

• Or he'll be killed fighting Roy (since he joined up with Elan partially with the intention of fighting him) after finding out that this is ROY's story (not Elan's as he believes), which means not only does he not die in a big grand dramatic final battle, but he'll be remembered as a mook of Nale's at best.

The three demons will cash in on V's debt at the worst time possible.

Vaarsuvius did the soul splice, but her debt hasn't been paid yet to the demons she bargained with; they still have a contract and they haven't yet made good of it. I predict that V will have her soul be controlled at the worst possible time; the final confrontation with Xykon. V will preparing to deliver the final blow when her soul will be seized and the group will have to deal with her in addition Xykon and the gang.

Tarquin will suffer the most horrific defeat... dying as a hero.

It may be against Xykon or the Snarl, but Tarquin will face them to protect Elan or his own hide. He'll lose, but he'll have done enough damage/inspired the masses to defeat them. The last thing he'll hear is his son saying how proud he is of his father, and how everyone will know his story as a person willing to sacrifice wealth, power, and everything in the name of the greater good.

The Snarl is not really evil, and in fact has never killed anyone

The reason its victims are supposedly Deader than Dead is because it doesn't kill them, merely teleports them to the planet inside its rift. It's not an Omnicidal Maniac, merely someone who wants a lot of people in its world. Its planet is a Utopia, hence why nobody has left. Team Evil will find all this out the hard way

Tarquin will be defeated, and Elan will make sure nobody knows what he was up to behind the scenes

Tarquin's whole gambit for becoming famous even after death revolves around him getting the credit for ruling all these kingdoms, even in the midst of all the political upheaval. However, the average person on the street wouldn't know that Tarquin was the real ruler each time and would just assume that the empires were being ruled by their respective rulers. When Elan finally gets around to defeating Tarquin, he's going to make sure that he knows that this story is going to stay untold. That way, he will rob him of the satisfaction of becoming legendary upon defeat.

Tarquin's allies won't be able to spread the truth either because nobody will believe them, or the Order will get them too.

Tarquin will be killed by Xykon

There is one hole in Tarquin Genre Savvy worldview "If I will I get to be the king, if I die I will become the legend'' he explained to Elan - if he will be killed by even bigger villain, after being at the reciving end of Eviler than Thou speech and said villain will then unleash such terror that everything he did will pale in comparision, he won't become legend. He will be doomed to be remembered as just one of minor characters in much more epic story of greater Big Bad. He cannot even hope to get his sons to have classic "avenging dead parent" subplot, because Nale hates him and Elan knows very well now how evil bastard his dad is. Can you imagine worst ending for somebody who loves the epic story structure so much? And who is better to do that to him than Xykon?

• In fact, Tarquin might get set up for this to happen. We now know that he will be following the Order of the Stick along with the Linear Guild, and is looking for the opportunity to fight Roy. Tarquin is at least a level above him, probably more, very intelligent, and extremely genre savvy, and so is quite possibly more than a match for Roy. Roy will have to think of a way to trick Tarquin into screwing up. Tarquin isn't cocky enough to lose like Xykon, and certainly not stupid and careless enough to lose like Thog, so he would have to trick him into doing something that Tarquin isn't aware would be a bad idea, like being in Xykon's way. Considering this, Roy may just stall for time, and, when he loses, bait Tarquin into gloating, just as Xykon or Redcloak walk in. They counter his plan exposition with an Eviler than Thou speech or Motive Rant respectively, during which Roy hopefully gets away, before Xykon/Redcloak unceremoniously mops the floor with Tarquin, instantly reducing him to a B-list villain in someone else's narrative.

Trigak the Chimera will return as a recurring villain.

As Hayley pointed out, Trigak was in the middle of escaping and swearing to come back and get the Order when they least expect it. All Trigak needs is some Offscreen Villain Dark Matter and a plausible reason to bring Trigak back and *BAM*! Resurrection.

• I will note that everything I know about D&D comes from this comic, so I don't know if monsters can be raised or not.

Tarquin and Redcloak will share a moment of being not so different.

No reason, but it would be cool.

• Perhaps the Empire of Blood was one of the nations that officially recognized Gobbotopia, something that they can bond over. And when Redcloak and Xykon inevitably turn on each other, Redcloak can team up with Tarquin, possibly in a Big Bad Duumvirate.

The IFCC identities

Judging on their colors and the colors of the summoned wizards (and knowing there's one for each evil alignement), it's highly probable that:

• 1: Lee (Lawful Evil) is the Orange one.
• 2: Nero (Neutral Evil) is the Purple one.
• 3: Cedrik (Chaotic Evil) is the Yellow one.

I'm aware that there's at least one strip that hints that Lee is actually the Yellow one, but it could be a mistake, since the Yellow Sorcerer looked more Chaotic Evil than else ("Tear down creation just to see if you can" sounds a lot chaotic) while Ganonron (orange guy) was more likely to be Lawful Evil (Or at least, using epic teleports and armies to conquer nations seems quite lawful-ish to me). This is my theory, I'd be glad to hear other possibilities.

The Linear Guild will be destroyed

As soon as The Order will eventually stop to focus on nemesis-on nemesis fights and get more pragmatic (eg: V using magic to blast Thog, Durkon using his holy powers to vanquish Sabine and so on).

The story of The Snarl as we know it is wrong

OK, I know there are alot of more specific versions of this theory up above. All the more specific theories are equally likely, but I think we should get the evidence for this basic premise on this page somewhere.

The main reason I think that the story is wrong is the fact that there is a "planet inside the planet" and the fact that this revelation, along with the line "perhaps we do not know everything we ought to regarding the task we are undertaking," ends a book. Note that all other books have significant forshadowing as their endings, too.

There are several ways that the story of the snarl could be wrong. We only know about the Snarl from two seperate stories (told by Redcloak as revealed to him by The Dark One and told by Lord Shojo as revealed to him by Soon). Both The Dark One and (maybe) Soon got the story of the Snarl's creation from the Gods. This means that one of the following could be true:

A) The gods lied. It was already explicitly stated that they tried to hide the Snarl's existence from the world, so what if 'the Snarl' is just another way to hide the real truth? See 1st panel of [1]

B) The Dark One/Soon lied. They could have learned the real truth and been so horrified that they told an incomplete or inaccurate version to their followers. In The Dark One's case, this could be part of an evil plan that he thought his high priest wouldn't like, and in Soon's case it could be part of some promise he made with the other members of his party to not tell the truth (and who knows, maybe the Dark One told the Order of the Scribble this version of the story, and they believed it). We already know that Soon and the others promised to not tell people about the gate, which seems to contradict that Lord Shojo knows the story.

C) Soon and the Order of the Scribble just guessed at the origin of the Snarl. The gods decided not to tell anyone (The Dark One, being a god, may have been an exception), so The Order of the Scribble must have figured out the story on their own, and they could have jumped to some incorrect conclusions. Note that in Start of Darkness, the origin of the Snarl is never discussed, just some vague lines about "you don't want to mess with it" and "we all now know what happens should we ever come to direct conflict." This could mean that, though The Dark One was told the origin of the Snarl, he never told his followers for the same reason the gods didn't.

The comic will end with a Heroic Sacrifice Total Party Kill

In order to finally save the world from whoever or whatever the real main threat is going to be, the entire Order of the Stick will willfully sacrifice themselves. It will happen on New Year's Eve, thus fulfilling the prophecy that Belkar will die before the end of the year. It will happen in such a spectacular way that their bodies are all obliterated except Durkon's, which Hinjo will find and respectfully return to his family, thus fulfilling Durkon's prophecy. Julio Scoundrél will also be dead by this point (after returning and dying in Elan's arms) and Elan will therefore get to spend eternity in the Chaotic Good afterlife, living it up with his girlfriend and mentor, thus fulfilling Elan's 'Happy Ending'. Plus whoever's in charge of the afterlife will, being Chaotic Good, find a way to bend the rules and let Elan and Roy visit each other occasionally, as a nod to Oh Buddy Roy.

Haley's Uncle Geoff is working with Tarquin

I know, fairly obvious that he's the one responsible for Ian getting recaptured. But it runs on a deeper level. Compare Geoff to Miron (the guy with the bandanna on his face) in this strip. Notice the baggy eyes?

• That could also explain why Geoff and Ian know about who really controls the politic situation and why a ransom note was sent to Haley when the empire is so far from Greysky City, since Ian didn't want Haley to get involved. However there's still the thing of Miron supposedly being with the Weeping King...

The planet within the planet is an accidental, and inevitable, creation of the Snarl

The Snarl is literally an incredibly potent bundle of divine energy (energy SPECIFICALLY USED TO BUILD A WORLD, no less) driven by pure chaos. From this, we can assume that the energy that composes it, having been rubbing against itself in an infinite number of ways for an undisclosed amount of time, eventually led to the creation of another set of Gods, who eventually made their own world. As for why the Snarl didn't destroy them: being that they (and everything else in the rift, due to it being a completely empty void except for the Snarl) are literally made of the Snarl, and so it can't distinguish them, or their planet from itself.

• Alternatively, the planet was created directly by the Snarl's chaotic and divine energies, with no God's in the middle of the process. This could potentially be foreshadowed by Roy musing on a world where people don't worship Gods in strip 669.
  • Hell, keeping in line with the whole 'the Snarl is a metaphor for dissent ruining a gaming group' thing, the planet in the planet could represent that sometimes bad situations lead to good ideas (which is to say, the dissent between the members of this 'gaming group' eventually lead to a second group creating a second world in a second session).

Girard Draketooth is a pseudonym

Why would a paranoid illusionist be using his real name after all?

Three Fiends will try to off Tarquin

Tarquin has recently joined forces with Nale and Linear Guild as as we all know Fiends use the Guild as their unwilling pawns. Having somebody as Genre Savvy as Tarquin messing in their plans would be a diseaster, so Fiends will try to get rid of him.

Tarquin will betray Nale

Somebody so Genre Savvy and in love with story structure should know that when there is Villain Team-Up there is going to be betrayal and that his partner is prone to Chronic Backstabbing Disorder. It's only logical he will betray him first.

• Probably after they find the Gate. "Malack, our business has concluded."
• This betrayal is so inevitable it barely counts as a Wild Mass Guess.

The Final Battle will end up being a massive Mêlée à Trois

For some reason, Girard's Gate will be destroyed, leaving only the last one. The Order and their allies will race to find and defend it, while Team Evil, the Empire of Blood, and the Linear Guild all pursuing. When they all arrive, they all start fighting each other for control of the Gate in a free-for-all, possibly with an Enemy Civil War breaking out for Team Evil (depending on whether or not Redcloak's had enough of Xykon's bullshit). And then, just when things seem to be reaching a climax, the IFCC will show up with their own forces, revealing that they intended for this battle to happen, in order to weaken all possible opposition/competition, before attacking everyone (and possibly taking control of V as per their deal, using him/her against the Order).

Xykon will be set up as the Disc-One Final Boss to the IFCC, but will hijack the plot at the climax.

At some point, Xykon and his phylactery will seemingly be destroyed, allowing the Fiends to take over as main Big Bads. Then, during the Final Battle, it will turn out that the phylactery was a decoy Xykon created after getting his real one back, which was then hidden away somewhere. He'll then regenerate in secret, then make a grand entrance during the climax, leading his forces against the weakened forces of both the Order/their allies and the IFCC, in the process proving himself worse than the Directors could hope to be.

• Not sure if this is entirely relevant, but as of right now, there is in fact a false phlyactery.

Right-Eye's spirit will appear at some point

Perhaps near the climax of the story, he'll start haunting Redcloak, playing the part of his conscience, trying to talk him into a Heel–Face Turn. Then Tsukiko will find out and inform Xykon, who'll capture and torment Right-Eye's spirit, which will cause Redcloak to snap — even if it's not a full HFT, it'll at least be an Enemy Civil War.

• Alternately, Right-Eye, believing his brother beyond redemption, will instead become a Spirit Advisor to the Order, in the hope that they can stop the Plan.

Thog will team up with Team Evil.

Tarquin's forced the Guild to abandon him, right? So, he'll probably escape from the Empire of Blood, wander around a bit, and then run into Team Evil. After he kills a few wights and/or hobgoblins, Xykon is impressed enough to keep him around as extra muscle. At the very least, this'll offer the opportunity for him to strike up a friendship with the MitD — they're both Psychopathic Men Children and dumb as bricks, so I imagine they'll get along.

Kraagor/Serini's Gate is in or near the dwarven homelands.

This would make a pretty good reason for the Order to go there, thus allowing for the prophecy about Durkon causing it to be destroyed.

The evil souls will return as a Quirky Miniboss Squad.

The IFCC will eventually need V brought to them so they can cash in on their deal (without wasting any time on it), so they'll dispatch these three to retrieve V. Perhaps it'll even be Qarr's suggestion, as he'll point out that they can't really trust Sabine to properly manipulate the Guild in their favor anymore because of her feelings for Nale, thus making it necessary to get some new minions in the field. As for why this is a feasible idea:

1) These souls were specifically chosen for the Soul Splice because they were the strongest, most evil souls the Directors had at their disposal. And don't forget the ghost-martyrs of the Sapphire Guard — we know that spirits can physically interact with the living world, so why wouldn't you send the most powerful ones at your disposal when you need something important done?

2) From a thematic viewpoint, this would be a great redemptive step for V, complete with Hannibal Lectures from the souls (Haerta seems like she might be the most prone to it), and V shutting them up, with help from the Order.

The Dark One (and by extension, Redcloak) and the IFCC will team up.

The Dark One wants equality for the goblin races, something that was denied them by the gods, though probably just the good gods, as we know at least some of the evil gods (like Tiamat) are the Dark One's allies. Meanwhile, the Archfiends have implied in their conversations with Qarr and Vaarsuvius that their ultimate goal (or part of it) is to invade the Upper Planes and bring down the gods of Good. So, perhaps they can work out a compromise of sorts — once they gain control of the Snarl, they use it to defeat the Good gods, and then the remaining Evil (and possibly the Neutral ones) can grant the goblins equality (or possibly even superiority, at this point).

Nale has one more Linear Guild member in hiding.

We still didn't meet a Durkon equiviliant during the fight. Malack may be taking up that role at the moment, but that doesn't mean that Nale didn't simply have his divine caster sitting off in the sidelines and waiting for the right moment to strike.

This last Linear Guilder is probably a former member who hasn't been seen for awhile, like Leeky or Hilgya. And they l are either the ally who's supposed to cast the ritual, or they are hiding out and waiting to free Thog and take him to reunite with the rest of the guild at the Gate

The fiends will use their deal with V to manifest in the material plane.

The terms of Vaarsuvius' deal specify that for every minute of Soul Splice, his/her soul will spend one minute with each soul's owner. "With." Not "in the service of," and not "in Hell with." The terms of the deal would be satisfied by bringing V to the nether realms, but they could just as easily permit the fiends - who aren't allowed to manifest in the mortal world outside of a bargain - to appear at V's side. Whether the elf goes to the demons or the demons come to the elf, the deal is satisfied. And the IFCC could wreak a lot of havoc in 45 minutes.

Soon and Girard blame each other for Kraagor's death.

We pretty much know Girard's side of the story, he blames Soon for ordering the sealing of the Rift which cost Kraagor his life, but what if it went both ways? Girard is pretty anti-authoritarian so he might have disobeyed an order that knocked him out of the fight (we don't see him in the final fight), but Girard finds it easier to blame Soon then acknowledge that if he followed Soon's order, Kraagor might have lived. Soon just doesn't dwell on it anymore (being dead does that to you).

• Perhaps he also blames Dorukon because the Rift sealing spell could have been fine-tuned, but Dorukon went on to his next spell rather than making it safer.

Soon wasn't at odds with all the Scribblers by the end it

The party wasn't Soon vs Everyone. Everyone had their own personal likes and dislikes, but they knew they couldn't function as bridges for the ones that hated each other (kind of like Magic the Gathering where each color has two more or less aligned colors that also happen to be opposed). Serini was the only one everyone liked by the end (so I won't include her in this analysis). My guess is the party breakdown went like this (includes my theorized personal views on each based off what I know at this time):

• Soon:
  • Allies: Serini (liked by all), Lirian (divine spell caster, traveled with longest, Azurites and Elves longstanding allies).
  • Enemies: Girard (anti-authoritarian prick, antagonistic toward divine spellcasters), Dorukon (cares more about magic than the safety of the world).
• Lirian:
  • Allies: Serini (liked by all), Soon (divine spell caster, traveled with longest, Azurites and Elves longstanding allies), Dorukon (lover).
  • Enemies: Girard (antagonistic toward divine spellcasters, uses people shamelessly).
• Dorukon:
  • Allies: Serini (liked by all), Girard (arcane spellcaster, mutual dislike of Soon), Lirian (lover).
  • Enemies: Soon (feels he negligently sacrificed Kraagor). Occasionally Girard but only when he's trash-talking Lirian within earshot.
• Girard:
  • Allies: Serini (liked by all), Dorukon (arcane spellcaster, mutual dislike of Soon).
  • Enemies: Soon (fascist prick, feels he negligently sacrificed Kraagor), Lirian (antagonistic toward divine spellcasters, wishy-washy hippie druid chick).

Therkla will return... as a succubus!

Okay, this is stretching a little, but; If you look at the circumstances of her death; She was a lawful neutral or lawful evil character (I can't remember if her alignment was ever given, but she obeys a master and he's evil, so non-lawful and good alignments are out of the question), however she betrayed her master (a chaotic act). As a result she might end up in the pit and become a demon. Since her sin (and reason for betraying her master) was lust, a succubus would make sense. Alternatively, if she ends up in a LE afterlife she could still come back as an equivlent devil (I can't remember if there's an equivelent, maybe a Lilin^note From Pathfinder or an Erinyes, although their fluff might not quite fit). Either way, she could end up as a counterpart (or replacement) for Sabine.

Tarqin will suffer a horrible fate...

...Elan will find a way to defeat him where he isn't remembered for all time. That's all it take for a crushing defeat for Tarqin, and Elan is humble enough to not need all his deeds known about.

• Worse. He'll die disguised as Thog, in such a way that nobody in the Order of the Stick will find out who he really is, so nobody will ever know how he met his end.

Tarquin's plan will be foiled by Villain Decay

The entire point of Tarquin's plan is that, if he is ever defeated, the story of his defeat will go down in history, with him as the badass General. Which is already working, as we are reading the story, and we see him as a Genre Savvy badass General. So the only way for his plan to be foiled is for him to lose that respect we currently have for him. He will be Out-Gambitted, Overshadowed by Awesome, and swallow an Idiot Ball, leaving him a complete failure of a villain by the time anyone bothers to kill him.

Kilkil will be killed

Making his name Meaningful. It will probably Belkar, who turns his head into... a bag?

• On the other hand, he might not die, making his name Ironic.
• Perhaps he'll be killed, raised, then killed again.

Redcloak's Ritual will be somehow completed by Elan

Naturally, giving control of the Gate(s) to Banjo the Clown.

Tarquin will cause Girard's Gate to be destroyed.

Each of the gates has been destroyed in a way that subverted the ideals of the one who created it.

• Lirian's gate was protected by nature and destroyed when the unnatural overpowered it.
• Dorukan's Gate was protected by runes only the pure of heart could use and destroyed by Stupid Good Elan.
• Soon's Gate was protected by the honour of a paladin and destroyed by a fallen paladin.

Girard believes the only unbreakable bond is family and used his family as a method of protection. Going with the theme already set up, having the gate destroyed due to a family as dysfunctional and untrusting as Elan's is only logical.

Banjo the puppet will pull some Big Damn Heroes moment

AS haley revealed, rivals get the others levels so each them are on even footing for a big "showdown." No, Elan made a rival for Banjo, and gave it to an island filled with Orcs, which now has a lot of believers, meaning it should be an actual deity at this point. If the rivals thing applies to gods as well, Banjo should be just as powerful, meaning the spark will be able to smite even a Lich.

Malack will have a Heel–Face Turn

Firstly, what we've seen implies that Malack is Lawful Neutral. If he has an overarching goal, it's stability, explaining why he supports Tarquin - but Tarquin working with Nale likely endangers the Gates, and thus the world's stability. Secondly, while Malack likely has a My Master, Right or Wrong attitude (being Lawful), Tarquin isn't Malack's only boss; he also answers to his god. Nergal is a member of the Eastern Pantheon and also implied to be Lawful Neutral, meaning that he is going to be opposed to anything that risks unleashing the Snarl. Three: Given the Troperiffic nature of the Elan/Tarquin conflict, there needs to be a Noble Top Enforcer type who betrays the Evil Overlord, and Malack fits the bill, especially considering the whole Nale aspect. Also, an unceremonious Cavalry Betrayal by Malack would be a perfect way of Tarquin not going out like a badass. Naturally, Malacks last words to his boss will be : `Nothing Personal, old friend. but this is business, Tarquin. Business.`

• Partially jossed now that we know Malack is Lawful Evil, but an Enemy Civil War and/or temporary Enemy Mine isn't impossible.
  • Especially since now we know his future plans. Xykon ending the world would get in the way of them.

An equally tragic event will befall the Linear Guild

Since Durkon died, and the Linear Guild is the Evil Counterpart of the Order, it make sense that something bad will happen to their team as well.

• Confirmed, sort of...Nale brutally murders Malack by taking away his staff and then removing his sunlight protection.

Hinjo will become a Fallen Paladin

Before Shojo's death, Hinjo was a paladin, and able to follow laws to the letter because that was all he had to worry about. However, he is also a patriot and will fight for his homecity. He's also rather bloodthirsty when it comes to the goblins when they invade. With Xykon no longer caring about Azure City, Hinjo will be free to purge the city of the goblins in a war. Jirix, and possibly Redcloak, will fight, lose, and surrender, only for Hinjo to execute them, which is unlawful and will result in a fall. But he'll understand, change his alignment to Neutral Good, and be a ruler like Shojo.

The Lotus-Eater Machine runes are the happy ending promised by the Oracle, but only in an Exact Words / Prophecy Twist sense

Elan's exact question to the Oracle was if the story was going to have a happy ending. Given the nature of the illusion, whether Elan will have a real happy ending or not has become an open question.

• Explicit word of Burlew (author commentary) is that when the Order of the Stick saga is complete, Elan will have a happy ending.

Girard's illusion uses a Dream Within a Dream setup.

The first layer is a Lotus-Eater Machine. The second layer is used after the first has been realized, forcing people to live out their "realistic expectations" layer.

Nale's plan against the Order had one major snag...

That snag is named Malack. Malack hates Nale. Malack does not hate Durkon and clearly honored his last wish to spare the Order once already. Malack probably knows Tarquin doesn't want Elan dead, since that would ruin his boss' "epic story plan". Malack clearly does not care about the Gate at all. Ten to one Malack comes up with some half-assed reason not to give it his all or "accidentally" let them escape.

Nale and Zzt'dri will walk right into the illusion

Preferably with Elan warning them about it precisely because he knows Nale totally won't listen to him. Malack, being Genre Savvy, will lag enough to keep himself and Durkon out of it, and as a favor to Durkon make up something along the lines of "Gosh, darn, I'm not sure if any of my prepared spells could snap them out of that. I will have to take a lot of time and go through all of them. I sure hope the Order doesn't run and save themselves like a certain cleric of theirs would want or anything!". The Order will take the hint and book it further in.

• Also, Belkar will take a picture and/or blackmail notes of all of the above in case they need something on Nale or Malack.

Serini will have taken at least one level of Paladin if/when she shows up for Kraagor's gate.

Rich said the schism between the Order of the Scribble is important to the plot and will be explained, and with every other member of that group confirmed dead it's up to her to explain that to us, so... anyway, there was a throwaway line where she expressed a desire to multiclass to Paladin, and we know how Rich loves bringing things back later on.

Tarquin's Buisness with Kilkil at the top of the pyramid is setting up the 2nd biggest reveal of all.

And the reveal will be that Tarquin and Xykon are one and the same with the living identity: Tarquin being a polymorph using Xykon's real unknown name. We know that before meeting Redcloak Xykon ran out of Toadies due to "creative differences" which is similar to Nales rebellion against Tarquin(Malack does not seem to be a Toady unlike the Goblins). Killkill is either Redcloak in a polymorph or a henchman for Xykon's plan serving as an evil counterpart for Belkar.

Girard's gate will self-destruct.

He's paranoid and clearly doesn't trust the only person he told the location of the gate. I believe that his gate is set to self-destruct if ANYONE tries to get near it unless they're a family member. The weakening of the fabric of the reality from the destruction of the gate might have some cosmetic changes to the setting that'll be indicative of a finale. Perhaps odd color skies whirling energy, etc.

The final gate is in Durkon's homeland.

The prophecy says that if he returns, it will bring disaster and doom on his homeland. Durkon is now a vampire in thrall to the bad guys. No way his homecoming is going to end well anyway at this point, so it makes perfect sense that the final gate — and thus the final climactic confrontation — will take place there.

It's all a ruse by the Eastern gods.

Tired of the strife and conflict with the other gods with their own visions of the world, the Eastern gods simply left and created the other world within the gates. They created the idea of the Snarl to deter the other gods from investigating. This other world is Earth, and the ancient greek creation myths are a heavily veiled reference to the other gods - the titans of mythology.

The three hooded demon guys are greek gods, trying to secure Earth from interference by people and gods from the The Order of the Stick universe. D&D are the true laws of the universe, and exists on Earth because the Gates are failing to keep the OotS universe out.

Roy's plan of destroying Girard's Gate will NOT end well.

I've noticed that the destruction of the gates tend to have some pretty odd effects on the areas around them. Azure city currently has purple skies,and a big gaping hole in the sky. It's also highly possible that destroying further gates increases the effect they have on their areas around them. Destroying Girard's Gate could lead to bigger immediate problems.

Hinjo will get an Eyepatch of Power

It may be temporary from getting a damaged eye in the absence of a cleric or permanent. When it happens, he will turn out to have actually kept the eyepatch he confiscated from Elan and it will come in quite handy. Elan's parting words to Hinjo in this comic could be foreshadowing to this.

The Sand Monster summoned will kill someone

But its not gonna be Roy. It's gonna be the "human with the greatsword."

Tarquin will find out that Nale killed Malack

• Knowing Nale he probably won't even bother to hide his disappearance...and will promptly launch an attack on his castle.