OotS 406

[Andor]

Bet the next few comics have nothing to do with this.

If we do go to a cutscene now, does Rich fall? Is there PrC for fallen cartoonists?

 

[Nonlethal Force]

I am going to insert OotS general rule #1:

Rich will seldom take the reader in the direction the reader anticipates.

After 406 episodes ... I would assume people would expect this. I would assume people would immediately not jump to their foregone conclusions. Yet people still do.

Rich wants everyone out there to suddenly spring up and feel sympathy for the old man and hate Miko. Why? So that when he reveals what's truly going on people are blown away.



Personally, I think Miko is walking a fine emotional line for a paladin. Thank God she's got levels of monk so that she isn't a complete paladin. Walking this much of an emotional line is bad for a monk/paladin. For a full paladin it would be unthinkable! However, I still think Miko is within her paladinhood.

I think this because I think the old man is evil. Think about it. Everyone here is all "Oh, poor old man. Oh, bad bad Miko." Rich is playing everyone at this moment and is doing it beautifully! But never once did anything in the script point to the old man not being evil.

Now, that doesn't make what Miko did right. I'm not arguing that Miko is some kind of saint. But I think all the Miko haters here are going to be shocked when the final truth is spun out. Miko's not innocent by a long shot. But neither is Miko the Blackguard that many here make her out to be.

I only hope that Roy and OotS takes their original advice. Stay out of it. The plot here is so deep that if Roy is so much as "figuratively" standing on the shoreline when the wave of plot comes rolling in, the OotS will be caught in the Tsunami that will destroy him/them. Stay out of it, Roy.

{On a side note, I do hope Belkar gets involved. It's about time he dies.}

 

[Voadam]

Furthermore whether the act was evil has nothing to do with Miko's beliefs, it has to do with Shojo's actions. If he had been acting as Miko though he was acting then her attack would not have been an evil action (although it still would have been a chaotic one.) D&D morality is not relative, it's absolute.

I agree that whether her action is evil or not is a yes/no absolute issue.

However I feel that to judge whether her action is evil is not dependent on things she does not know. If shojo was secretly an evil demon worshipper who used misdirection to prevent detect evil and secretly sacrificed babies on the side and Miko did not know about it, it would be irrelevant to whether her action in striking him down was evil. Similarly, the fact that she is actually wrong about his allying with Xykon is irrelevant to whether her action is evil.

The question is whether you feel her striking him down given her unreasonable understanding of the situation is an evil action. That is the relevant issue for determining whether her action is evil or good.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Rich's essay about Miko and her motivations in "No Cure for the Pladin Blues" is particularly enlightening.

Miko ain't gong any place good.

 

[Saloric Windrunner]

My prediction for the future: Miko will become a blackguard. I don't think she has fallen yet, but her faith has been badly shaken. The only thing left is for her to meet an outsider and who is waiting in the dungeon for her Sabine. Sabine will corrupt her and when they break out she will be the newest member of the Linear Guild.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Miko, I'd like you to meet Blackguard.

Blackguard meet Miko.

I'm sure you too will get along great.

Olaf the Stout

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Miko = Jaime Lannister?

Let's not get carried away.

Spoiler

At the end of the 2nd book, it was revealed he saved King's Landing from wildfire. And IMO, killing the mad king was a good thing, oath or not. That almost makes up for the twincest and the near-murder of Bran.

 

[LoneWolf23]

Miko = Mace Windu.

IMO, this whole scene is intended as a recasting of the Mace & Anakin confront Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith, with Shojo as Palps, Miko as Mace and Hinjo as Anakin. Obviously with a different background, outcome and right answer - but to me, the changes only serve to highlight the parallels (possibly even to make this scene a commentary on the one in Ep. 3?).

Mace was breaking the jedi code by attempting to strike down an apparently helpless Palpatine... = Miko is breaking the paladin code by striking down helpless Shojo...

... because he believed the Senate could or would not deal with Palpatine because he has corrupted them... = ... because she believes the magistrates could or would not deal with Shojo because he has corrupted them...

... as well as believing Palpatine is actually working in concert with the Separatists to achieve dictatorial control... = ... as well as believing Shojo is working with Xykon to achieve dictatorial control...

... while Anakin looks on in stunned horror as his mentor and friend, who he nonetheless was willing to condemn and deal with legally, is about to be executed. = ... while Hinjo looks on in stunned horror as his uncle and mentor, who he nonetheless was willing to condemn and deal with legally, is executed.

Now, the big differences are a) Palpatine is actually conspiring with the Separatists and is faking being helpless, whereas Shojo isn't guilty (presumably), b) Anakin stops Mace, whereas Hinjo doesn't (again, presumably - we don't *know* Shojo is dead), and c) Roy and Belkar are present as observers. However, R&B appear to be, for purposes of this scene, purely observers, completely removed from the action.

Wooaah there.. "Apparantly Helpless" Palpatine? Are we talking about the same Palpatine who, the moment the Jedi showed up to arrest him for treason, drew a lightsaber and killed all but Mace and Anakin, then started throwing Force Lightning at Mace who had to keep up his defensive guard just to repel the Lightning back at Palpatine? 'Cause that was about as "Helpless" as pinning down a vicious alligator and begging for your comrade to club it before it gets loose.

I mean, maybe if Lord Shojo had drawn a sword and started attacking Miko to kill her, I'd see some parallels, but the two situations are clearly not the same.

She, as a Paladin of the Sapphire Guard, is tasked with upholding the laws of the land. And unless she's empowered to serve as Judge, Jury and Executionner (which she isn't), then she just overstepped her authority by far beyond a mile.

Furthermore, she had no justification for killing Lord Shojo in cold blood like that. She barely had more then suspicions and her anger to base her actions on. Acting in Anger out of Suspicions is NOT an act of Law.

 

[Storyteller01]

I can see how killing him can be not an evil act and I would therefore rule on not losing paladin powers in my game.

What actions would you consider taking their powers away?

 

[Sir Elton]

The question I have is what abilities Miko has that let's her put a 14th level aristocrat down in one hit? I mean we're talking about an a person with 14 levels at d8 per level no max dice at first level, probably a -1 con modifier due to age and not having a great constitution to begin with so an average of 59 (average of 14d8-14) hit points and she can smite evil against him so how did she deal 69 damage (enough to put him down to -10) in one hit.

Actually, the Universe became governed under Rolemaster's ARMS LAW in that instant.