OotS #460

[Andor]

I just don't get what Rich is doing with Miko.

She still hasn't been funny since the before the inn on the way to Azure city. And Rich still refuses to let her learn anything.

She's kind of the DMNPC answer to that creepy fat guy who's still playing scantilly clad under-age elf chicks 20 years after he started... and it was creepy enough the first time.

 

[blargney the second]

Miko is an unsympathetic character, and it seems to be a very deliberate literary choice on Rich's part.

On a total tangent, Thomas Covenant drove me nuts. (To the point where I skipped to the end of the entire series for the first and only time in my life.)
-blarg

 

[jonesy]

And just when I thought Miko couldn't possible get more annoying, she does.

She still hasn't been funny since...

Ever.

 

[wingsandsword]

Miko is an unsympathetic character, and it seems to be a very deliberate literary choice on Rich's part.

The strange thing is, for as utterly unsympathetic as she is, she still has a lot of fans. She's got some outright rabid fans on Rich's forums, and more than a few dedicated ones here.

Miko Miyazaki is literally a "how not to be a Paladin" example, which was eventually cashed in when she fell. I've always maintained that she was even in the beginning only barely LG, much closer to LN (and if wasn't explicitly a Paladin and thus LG, most people would have presumed her to be LN). She's bloodthirsty, unforgiving, merciless, and has the serious problem of believing anybody who disagrees with her or opposes her in any way is evil.

Now she's got the delusion that everybody who she opposes (Redcloak and Xykon, the OotS, Hinjo and Shojo. . .ect) is part of one vast evil worldwide conspiracy to take over the world and deprive her of her role as leader of the Sapphire Guard, and that her gods have a special plan for her to defeat them all.

As satisfying as it would be for her to go Blackguard and the OotS and Hinjo utterly defeat her, I still believe her most likely path is a "redemption in death" thing where she does get her paladinhood back, but only in death or right before her death (also fitting with the whole Samurai motif of the character). Redcloak is low on spells (using his last Harm for example), Xykon is getting pretty beat up by Soon from the sounds of it, and is probably low on spells himself, and the ghost of Soon might be able to talk sense into her, maybe.

 

[Kesh]

Keep in mind, the OOtS still hasn't found Xykon's phylactery yet. Even if he is utterly destroyed today, he'll be back.

My guess is that the big brawl in the throne room leads to this gate's destruction, along with Xykon, Miko is forced to flee (where she can brood & seek revenge), and the OOtS has to beat feet to the next gate. Where Nale and the others are headed...

 

[drothgery]

The strange thing is, for as utterly unsympathetic as she is, she still has a lot of fans. She's got some outright rabid fans on Rich's forums, and more than a few dedicated ones here.

I used to be one of them, until Rich gave into the Miko-haters-club with the post-inn series where he systamitically destroyed everything sympathetic about her, and then went over the top and then some with her killing Sojo. She's not interesting, she's not funny, and she shouldn't be in the strip.

 

[Quasqueton]

If Miko does something to directly or indirectly destroy the gate, she will be guilty of the exact charge that she originially went after the OotS for -- weakening the fabric of the universe. How ironic would that be?

Quasqueton

 

[Nail]

I used to be one of them, until Rich gave into the Miko-haters-club with the post-inn series where he systamitically destroyed everything sympathetic about her, and then went over the top and then some with her killing Sojo.

The Murder of Sojo was excellent story stuff. Doesn't get much better than that, IMHO.

She's not interesting, ....

We're copnstantly discussing her, aren't we? That's a pretty good gauge of interest, I'd say.

she's not funny,...

Arguable.....but personally, I'll give you that one.

and she shouldn't be in the strip.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hang on there a second. Why is that? She's an excellent foil for the OotS, and for the Plot as a whole. And she gets to be the anti-Paladin example for us all.

Tell me you won't be talking about Miko when you talk with your gaming friends about how NOT to be a paladin.......

 

[Prince of Happiness]

Tell me you won't be talking about Miko when you talk with your gaming friends about how NOT to be a paladin.......

Most D&D players provide perfect examples quite well on their own without Miko's help. I can't stand the character because every strip she's in is an exercise in tedium. I don't think she's an "interesting" character to some people (myself included) if all we're talking about is how much the character is...not good.

 

[Storm Raven]

As to the content of the strip, and the possible identities of the ghostly cloaked figure, I see two strong contenders:

1) If the story idea is to drive Miko completely over the edge, then it is Roy's ghost. He's been pretty cozy with Hinjo - offering to help defend the gate and so on, and that, plus his lawful good intentions may be all that is needed to get him in the ghost corps. Seeing Roy aligned with Soon will probably simply convince Miko that the entire Sapphire Guard was a sham and her "true" holy destiny is to destroy it.

2) If the story idea is to redeem Miko, then it is the ghost of Miko's own honor/paladinhood sent back to aid Soon in the hour of need. That may snap her out of her delusions, confronting her with her own arguments. She will likely see this as an evil trick of the OotS though, maybe an illusion cast by Elan or something.

There are a couple of other (to my mind) less likely options:

3) It is the ghost of Roy's father. I'm doubtful on this one, because I'm not sure if revealing him as the hooded figure will be that big of a deal.

4) It is Lord Shojo' ghost. I think this is unlikely, because he was not really much of a combatant, and he wasn't really a paladin (or even the right alignment).