#redcloak

[cosmicsodacan-art]

(Judas by Lady Gaga playing ominously in the distance)

#this took ages and ages to color #it was hell #eugh. anyways #redcloak oots #the order of the stick #order of the stick #oots #gitp #giant in the playground #art by me #fan art #digital art #redcloak #team evil #team evil oots #artists on tumblr

[grassknotts]

If you’ve seen the Barbie trailer you know that someone had to

#the order of the stick #order of the stick #oots #redcloak #xykon #meme #barbie #barbie movie #barbie meme

[saturniade]

May I suggest Redcloak? 👀 (Love your oots art btw)

i support goblins rights to be wrong <3

#order of the stick #redcloak #thank you for the request (and for the compliment!!)! i dont think ive drawn him before.... #doods #yoo my post

[optogeneticist-sketchbook]

2023.12.02

#i feel like this is kind of how they are but not really. #no questions please. (lighthearted) #redcloak #oona #oots #order of the stick #csp

[inbarfink]

#order of the stick #oots #Julio Scoundrel #Julio Scoundrél #Tarquin #General Tarquin #Jirix #Kilkil #elan #elan the bard #Thog #durkon thundershield #belkar bitterleaf #redcloak #vaarsuvius #Hinjo #O-Chul #o chul #Monster in the Darkness #mitd #crystal #nale #Haley Starshine #sunny #sunny the beholder #Roy Greenhilt #the oracle #the oracle of sunken valley

[theoutcastrogue]

Rich Burlew’s The Order of the Stick is approaching the finish line, and it’s crazy to think that it launched in 2003 as a light-hearted parody of D&D rules – starting with the transition from 3rd Edition to 3.5. It’s crazy that we’re now on strip #1262, 1262 comic strips with stick figures, 1262 punchlines, together making an amazing story which goes so beyond escapism.

OotS features one of my favourite antagonists of all time. Redcloak is a villain with an Actual Point and a hell of a backstory, and his arc, to my joy, is now coming forward. Plot-wise, I think the whole comic is Redcloak’s story – the Order reacts to his plans and machinations, and Xykon is the Big Bad only in terms of raw power, which he seeks for power’s sake. But Redcloak is a motherfucker with a cause, and a large chunk of OotS’s themes revolve around that cause.

In the most recent strip, “Two Villages”, we see the Extremely Wise bugbear (and goblinkin) Oona giving her insight on how much, and how exactly, Redcloak cares about actual living goblins.

“Intentions are sparkly, like fresh snow on mangled corpse. But little bald man is dong in his life what we bugbears are calling “living in two villages.” First village is named Doing-Very-Best-For-Goblins, where we are skipping and playing and not worrying about getting smushed by dwarf or elf. Second village is named Right-All-Along, and all the rocks and trees there are telling little bald man he is being very smart and justified.”

“Anyway, little bald man is liking both villages and is owning fancy cottage with indoor fireplace in each. Okie dokie! Villages are across river from each other. No big whoop to be living in both. Lunch in one, dinner in the other! Everyone is happy!

But problem with living in two villages is: what if one day, bridge over river is being eaten by angry dolphin? Which village will little man be living in then? Which choice will he be choosing when choosing time is here?”

Oona is not worried that Redcloak will choose his ego over his cause. Oona KNOWS he will do that, and that’s why she’s helping him and “fighting off dolphins”, so that the bridge stays intact and he never has to make that choice in the first place.

The Order of the Stick #1262, by Rich Burlew (btw Oona’s wolf is the greatest animal companion of all time)

Like. Dude. The SHIT you can SAY with STICK FIGURES while being HILARIOUS at the same time, I love comics so much, I love D&D, I love fantasy, it’s amazing.

#Rich Burlew #OotS #The Order of the Stick #Redcloak #Oona #comics #analysis #heroes and villains #trs #d&d #rogues in fiction

[bimbocore]

Order of the Stick Characters react to you being Infertile

Roy:

*tries not to look upset* "Hey it's ok Y/N.... we already have the rest of the party to take care of, they're always a handful..."

Haley:

*relieved*

"Oh thank fucking god, I was NOT ready"

Elan:

"B.. but.. our story arcs were gonna be concluded.... we were gonna have a happy ending with a second generation to carry on our legacy in the sequel!!"

Durkon:

*he gently consoles you in the doctors office*

"If'n Thor dinnae want us ta haf children, then thar be nuthin' we can do, lass."

Belkar:

"And? You can still put out, right?"

Vaarsuvius:

"Please, do not fret Y/N. Adoption is still an opportunity we have the ability to take advantage of."

Redcloak:

"Ok."

Xykon:

"Who are you again?"

#oots #order of the stick #xykon #roy greenhilt #redcloak #haley starshine #vaarsuvius #belkar bitterleaf #jude.png #jude.txt

[theintelligentfool]

Where is the goblin fanart from

genuinely: THANK YOU for asking

that's Redcloak (as rendered by my very cool friend lonny of @cosmicsodacan-art!!!!), from The Order of the Stick, aka probably my single favorite webcomic of all time !!!!!!!!!!!!!! which means more than you'd think given how many webcomics i enjoy....... it just had its 20th birthday, but it's still going very strong - though it's current update schedule has it slated to wrap up this next year or two, so, i recommend getting in on it before it ends!

it starts off as a simple dungeons and dragons themed gag-a-day strip, often going for goofy puns or banter between various d&d stereotypes, but very quickly developed a real heart at its core. the plot grew more involved, the characters gained more depth, and the stakes raised time and time again. the art style is all stick figures, but changes drastically (for the more interesting, definitely) over the course of the run.

redcloak, the character featured in that beautiful stained glass style piece, is one of the primary antagonists of the series. he's second in command of "team evil," and is fascinating for (among other reasons) his warped-over-time ideals, religious struggles, and the deeply rich backstory that's revealed by one of the prequel comic books but hinted at enough to get the gist of in the main comic itself.

order of the stick is available on the website it's hosted on, giant in the playground, as well as in a collection of books (one for each "arc" of the story). these books, including the assorted prequels, can all be purchased digitally, and almost all of them can also be purchased physically. one of my genuine goals is to, once the comic finally finishes, to purchase the entire collection and take them with me to college next year! that's actually been an idea i've had in the back of my head since middle school, so, wild that i've been keeping up with this series that long.....

#you can get into it now and keep up with it - always fun this is what i like - or wait till it concludes #anyways. um. i love oots so very much but it doesn't get a lot of traction on tumblr #half dozen or so other oots fans reading this post: I Would Die For You #order of the stick #the order of the stick #oots #fool.txt #Smiles at you. I love this fucking COMIC #redcloak #redcloak oots

[andromeda3116]

all right fuck it let's talk redcloak

i will say it's been years since i read start of darkness, and i've since lost my copy of it, so i only sort of remember what happened in it, but i recall it establishing that redcloak is the king of the sunk-costs fallacy, and it really becomes clear with his brother.

he has to pull this off. he killed his own beloved brother for this, it has to be worth it. he has to make it be worth it.

and he has his moment of revelation at the battle for azure city, that he's been treating the hobgoblins as fodder -- the way that everyone else treats his goblins -- even though they're the same species. they're all goblins, tarred with the same brush.

and like... he's not really wrong. the goblins were fucked from the start, created to be nothing more than walking xp for adventurers, robbed of their chance to have their own lands or gods or homes. he is absolutely right to campaign for goblin equality. it's hard to blame him for taking every step necessary.

and then durkon meets with him.

and durkon negotiates, he argues pretty convincingly that following the plan, as-is, will destroy everyone, goblins included, and that -- while imperfect -- if they live and the dark one becomes a god on the same tier as thor, things can begin to improve for the goblins. it will take time, it will be a hard uphill battle, but they can make it happen. they can work this out.

and redcloak can't relent. he can't accept that. he has to make this all be worth it, and a generations-long war of attrition against speciesism to bring his people onto equal footing isn't good enough. and like. i get that. it's not the perfect solution he wants. it's not the glorious revolution where everything is magically better on the other side of it.

it's the exact same mindset of probably millions of online leftists right now: this "solution" you're offering, of clawing our way through incremental change to ultimately create a better world we will never see, as opposed to our "solution" of violent revolution now that puts our guy in charge who will somehow magically fix everything as soon as everyone realizes we were right all this time -- is unacceptable. redcloak is a bolshevik. he's a communist revolutionary, he's lenin. he's standing up for the oppressed, he's Fighting The Good Fight, he thinks the ends will justify the means, even if that means includes his own death, because it will mean that he died trying to make things better for his people.

he doesn't see that this "solution" is doomed to fail. if not because of flaws inherent to itself, because the world itself will crumble around him if he doesn't let go of this fantasy of a perfect ending.

and when he tries to kill durkon and casually asks, how many goblins have you killed? and durkon replies, carving redcloak entirely bare, straight to the core:

not as many as you.

redcloak is the arbiter of his own destruction. he's a walking sunk-costs fallacy. he had good intentions. he meant well. he isn't wrong, at the core. but he has to make this all be worth it. he has to justify the moment where he killed his own brother.

he's an incredibly compelling villain, magnificently well-written and deep, and it's like... he's beyond redemption, he proved that when he tried to kill durkon instead of taking his offer seriously. and that's a tragedy. because redcloak just wanted his people to be treated like people. but he hitched his wagon to xykon, and he kept spiraling down and further down, and now...

i honestly have no idea how redcloak's story ends. does he turn on xykon in the clutch and save his people at the bottom of things? does the dark one abandon him and force him to face the mirror, the fact that this hasn't been about his people for a long time? does he die screaming, cast into the rift or destroyed by the snarl? does --

i genuinely can't guess. and I don't know what the "correct" ending for him is. i do think the dark one is necessary to containing the snarl -- but what of what's inside the snarl? and what happened to laurin when she looked into it? and --

ugh, this story is so good, and redcloak is such a damn amazing villain. i admit that i'm a sucker for the sunk-costs fallacy villain, who started off with good intentions but kept going further and further down in the pursuit of their goals, until they no longer know just what they're fighting for anymore, except to make this all be worth it.

and redcloak is one of -- if not the -- best examples of that i've ever seen.

#order of the stick #redcloak #order of the stick spoilers #oots #oots spoilers #oh shit and now that i'm fully caught up i'm considering all of redcloak's actions and then the warg says in the most recent comic #''intentions matter only in the absence of results. and then only for the blaming.'' #like. shit.

[red-black-aesthetic-bout]

Round 1: Match 26

Scorpia (She-ra and the Princesses of Power) vs. Redcloak (Order of the Stick)

Scorpia

- she's a super sweet half scorpion princess and I love her very much <3

Redcloak

- goblin rights lobbyist who wants to unleash a primal horror so his god can hold the other gods at gunpoint - Wears black armour and the Crimson Mantle, a powerful magical item created by the goblin god Dark One for his high priests. He's on a divine mission the improve the lives of goblins by threatening the gods, but sunk cost fallacy makes him ignore all the flaws in The Plan so as to not waste the lives of all the goblins who've already died, most notably his baby brother Righteye who Redcloak killed himself. The story's not over though so there's still hope he will turn things around (and also save the universe from an endless cycle of destruction in the process).

mod notes: ah my brothers love she-ra

#scorpia #she ra and the princesses of power #spop #redcloak #order of the stick #round 1 #redblack tournament

[aerspyder]

Must Have Been Some Magic Oona's worg Greyview is my favorite character. I will take no questions at this time.

#oona #redcloak #roy greenhilt #oots #order of the stick #Greyview #worg

[cosmicsodacan-art]

Not as many as you.

#god I love this guy sm #I’ve been having so many redcloak thoughts lately #rotating him in my brain #art by me #fan art #digital art #artists on tumblr #oots #the order of the stick #redcloak #redcloak oots #giant in the playground #order of the stick

[grassknotts]

physically wrestled my way out of art burnout to create this

#the order of the stick #order of the stick #oots #redcloak #durkon thundershield #durkon #artblock be damned I will keep making redcloak shitposts until I DIE

[song-of-oots]

Team Evil’s dynamics in general just fascinate the hell out of me. There’s just so much tension there between Redcloak and Xykon, between Redcloak and Oona, between MitD and everybody really (but especially Xykon). Almost all of them keeping secrets from each other (and in Redcloak’s case also hiding from himself) and it’s not clear just how much Xykon already knows/suspects and what he might have up his sleeve…

I’m just riveted to every Team Evil interaction, every subtle hint and ambiguous look, and dying to find out what happens next.

#team evil #order of the stick #oots #xykon #redcloak #oona #mitd #all this tension building building building #when will it break?

[optogeneticist-sketchbook]

2023.12.02

#redcloak #oots #order of the stick #csp #thinking about that post about drawing a waifish and sickly waluigi #anyway. more importantly i was thinking aboyut that person who draws him with fur. its based #the order of the stick

[inbarfink]

#Xykon #Redcloak #The Monster in the Darkness #Right-Eye #Jirix #Oona #Tsukiko #oots #order of the stick #web comic #webcomics #webcomic #web comix #team evil #right eye #tumblr polls #my polls #polls #i love polls #fandom polls #poll time