Last thing I expected. Now, law of narrative causality implies that the Silver Centurion who killed Brunhilde (one of the most memorable scenes in this comic) is actually Ardaic.
You’d think the Silver Centurian who murdered Brunhilde in order to allow Gastonia to enslave an entire race would probably have been more chill with Taro the Murder Prodigy than Ardaic clearly is. I’m holding out hope he’s not that Silver Centurion, but, yeah….
Shit.
Fuuuuck me.
It all makes perfect sense. And I missed it completely. I feel bad about myself.
Ardaic serves Gastonia. Whether he likes what he has to do on its behalf does not matter.
There’s nobody else in that final frame… Could it have happened entirely in Ardaic’s head? Where the Silver Centurion is essentially a secondary personality that Ardaic has cultivated so he can “do what needs to be done”, and then lock away the guilt of what he “has to do” in a secondary personality that doesn’t feel guilt so that it doesn’t bleed into his regular persona?
Something like a Jekyll-Hyde dynamic, and the final panel of C29P17 is basically what happens inside Ardaic’s head when the Silver Centurion is invoked?
Given the phrasing, it could maybe be sort of like the whole thing with the Avatar State.
Ardaic may have been a Silver Centurion…or at the least can use the amulet to call upon previous incarnations of the Silver Centurion into his bodily vessel.
Maybe there are many who can become the Silver Centurion, but only one at a time. And maybe they are linked, thus able to guide whoever is the current Silver Centurion.
You’re onto something. The Silver Centurion is a god like Tectonicus or the defiant Wolf-god that keeps talking to Frigg. He’s a primal idea form that represents Gastonia itself.
Ardaic is holding a “holy symbol” of sorts and donning the persona of Silver Centurion.
He’s basically like Rachel, Harky or Frigg. The difference is that he directs his “faith” towards Gastonia.
I think… there are two silver centurions. One produces magic weapons, the other fights more as a mortal. Ardaic appears to be the one who has the power. Or, it’s a transferable power, like that of any office.
Still, that’s relatively minor… I’m wondering why his paladin-y powers are blue and Frigg gets the gold standard.
At one point in D&D they expanded the idea of paladins so that they could “worship” an idea or philosophy, rather than a deity. I wonder if Ardaic isn’t a Paladin of Gastonia.
Ah, nearly three years after the fact but I’m glad to see I was at least partially right, the Silver Centurion isn’t any one person, it’s a position/title passed around to whoever needs it. Now the question is whether he’s the one involved in the Brunhilde incident or not, my guess is no, but still a bit early to be sure.
I remember at the time thinking “Man, wouldn’t that be an interesting theory.”
Well whatdoyaknow.
Also, rereading early pages reminded me, they had the ceiling cave-in almost 3 years ago. It’s weird to think that all of this has been running for so long now that /that/ is old news.
In Pathfinder, there is the Grey Paladin archetype that allows for alignments of Lawful Good, Neutral Good, and Lawful Neutral and fits in a political intrigue setting.
No, it proves the Centurion is not any one person. Only reason why people guessed Arddiac was the Centurion was the lip of his his visor ‘looks like a mustache’
We have no idea what the amulet’s deal is. There may be more than one, or it may not be bound to an individual, or it may be able to project the centurion separately. There’s no telling what the medallion actually serves as a focus for.
“Let the will of the many guide the hand of one.”
That gets you the Silver Centurion, but what is he/it going to do?
I wouldn’t be at all surprized if Taro was in for a little surprize. If the will of the many is for peace, then…
Did taro’s irises turn red for comedic effect or did his dad place a demon or devil inside him? If not, I wonder if he can shoot Lasers….and if so, does he have to say “Ima firing mah lazors!” to shoot them?
I can imagine Taro finally deciding to rid himself of Ardaic for any number of nefarious reasons, Ardaic reaching for the medallion and… discovering it’s not there or that he has a fake while Taro has gotten the real one.
I think Ardaic showed Taro that on purpose. The look on his face is like, “Come after me, and I won’t just lay down and die like your father, you impudent whelp!”
Will of many ? Ha ! More like “Man chose, a slave obeys”
Until next page have plot twist we can all agree Gastonia is rotten corpse dancing on Taros strings and needs to go for good ?
Sweet baby fucketyfuck, these plot twists are too many for my faint heart!
What I want to know now is:
1: Who else is taking turns being the Silver Centurion? Are any of them plot significant otherwise?
2: Who else knows about this? Most important, is Jarvis in on it?
3: Is panel 2 the best face Taro will ever make?
I think it is some sort of constitutional republic…
Noble houses decide along lines of laws that they have to have to adhere to, and supposedly their focus is the good of the state and the citizens. Sounds like republic to me.
Well, shit.
Last thing I expected. Now, law of narrative causality implies that the Silver Centurion who killed Brunhilde (one of the most memorable scenes in this comic) is actually Ardaic.
You’d think the Silver Centurian who murdered Brunhilde in order to allow Gastonia to enslave an entire race would probably have been more chill with Taro the Murder Prodigy than Ardaic clearly is. I’m holding out hope he’s not that Silver Centurion, but, yeah….
Shit.
or, alternately, Ardaic is the successor of the original Silver Centurion.
Fuuuuck me.
It all makes perfect sense. And I missed it completely. I feel bad about myself.
Ardaic serves Gastonia. Whether he likes what he has to do on its behalf does not matter.
I mean even Syr’nj even confronts him about this very thing. Ardaic is loyal to a fault. He is a solider who never questions his orders.
As opposed to being a Liquider or a Gasser.
But… But they’ve been in two places at once! HOW DOES THAT-
Wait. If it’s an amulet, I’m guessing he can hand it off to someone else? OR MAYBE HE HAS A TWIN? THE OL’ NEUTRAL GOOD, LAWFUL GOOD TWIN DYNAMIC.
I’m trying to remember, when was the time they were in two places at once?
Never mind, I found it.
http://guildedage.net/comic/chapter-29-page-17/
There’s nobody else in that final frame… Could it have happened entirely in Ardaic’s head? Where the Silver Centurion is essentially a secondary personality that Ardaic has cultivated so he can “do what needs to be done”, and then lock away the guilt of what he “has to do” in a secondary personality that doesn’t feel guilt so that it doesn’t bleed into his regular persona?
Something like a Jekyll-Hyde dynamic, and the final panel of C29P17 is basically what happens inside Ardaic’s head when the Silver Centurion is invoked?
Does that mean Ardaic wishes he had blue eyes?
He does have blue eyes in the last panel.
Maybe Silver Centurion is a separate entity, and he was talking to his spirit? The amulet’s incantation does seem like some sort of possession.
Given the phrasing, it could maybe be sort of like the whole thing with the Avatar State.
Ardaic may have been a Silver Centurion…or at the least can use the amulet to call upon previous incarnations of the Silver Centurion into his bodily vessel.
Maybe there are many who can become the Silver Centurion, but only one at a time. And maybe they are linked, thus able to guide whoever is the current Silver Centurion.
You’re onto something. The Silver Centurion is a god like Tectonicus or the defiant Wolf-god that keeps talking to Frigg. He’s a primal idea form that represents Gastonia itself.
Ardaic is holding a “holy symbol” of sorts and donning the persona of Silver Centurion.
He’s basically like Rachel, Harky or Frigg. The difference is that he directs his “faith” towards Gastonia.
Come to think of it, it’s just like when Graiya possessed Syr’nj through the Bough.
I think… there are two silver centurions. One produces magic weapons, the other fights more as a mortal. Ardaic appears to be the one who has the power. Or, it’s a transferable power, like that of any office.
Still, that’s relatively minor… I’m wondering why his paladin-y powers are blue and Frigg gets the gold standard.
Sort of implies their powers are different in nature.
At one point in D&D they expanded the idea of paladins so that they could “worship” an idea or philosophy, rather than a deity. I wonder if Ardaic isn’t a Paladin of Gastonia.
“BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL I HAVE THE POOOOWEEEER… to shut annoying kids up.”
No self-respecting twin dynamic lacks a Chaotic or Evil aspect.
Uninown power of the amulet… Get the kid to shut up!
Crap, the conspiracy theory was true. Now we will never hear the end of it.
Ah, nearly three years after the fact but I’m glad to see I was at least partially right, the Silver Centurion isn’t any one person, it’s a position/title passed around to whoever needs it. Now the question is whether he’s the one involved in the Brunhilde incident or not, my guess is no, but still a bit early to be sure.
Well, someone called it.
http://guildedage.net/comic/chapter-29-page-17/#comment-326310
I remember at the time thinking “Man, wouldn’t that be an interesting theory.”
Well whatdoyaknow.
Also, rereading early pages reminded me, they had the ceiling cave-in almost 3 years ago. It’s weird to think that all of this has been running for so long now that /that/ is old news.
How do you explain the Centurion’s appearance at the Fort battle where Ardaic was giving him orders?
I thought Rana might have a vendetta against Aradic for executing Yalaria, but I can see Sundar wanting a piece now.
Oh my GOD he’s the paladin, HOW DID I NOT SEE THIS BEFORE. YEARS. YEEEAAAARS.
AAAAAAUGH.
AUGH IM STUPID.
I’m not sure Paladin is even the right word. The Silver Centurion seems to be the physical embodiment of Lawful Neutral.
Reminds me of the deity Helm from Forgotten Realms.
In Pathfinder, there is the Grey Paladin archetype that allows for alignments of Lawful Good, Neutral Good, and Lawful Neutral and fits in a political intrigue setting.
Does Arkerra even have alignment? Not even all D&D editions and settings care about Paladin alignment.
Because we seen Ardaic and the Silver Centurion in the same room; Chapter 29, Page 17.
Lets pretend that didnt happen.
No, it proves the Centurion is not any one person. Only reason why people guessed Arddiac was the Centurion was the lip of his his visor ‘looks like a mustache’
or it proves that the silver centurion is an entity all its own.
We have no idea what the amulet’s deal is. There may be more than one, or it may not be bound to an individual, or it may be able to project the centurion separately. There’s no telling what the medallion actually serves as a focus for.
Argh, celestial paladin! Rogues HATE those.
– Ardaic is a Green Lantern!
– The Silver Centurion seems to be related to Frigg’s Glowy Hammer Shit and, as such, the Meme Gods.
That oath/command phrase is interesting.
The will of the many, mmm? So, who is it that the many want the silver to polish?
“Let the will of the many guide the hand of one.”
That gets you the Silver Centurion, but what is he/it going to do?
I wouldn’t be at all surprized if Taro was in for a little surprize. If the will of the many is for peace, then…
Fortunately its the hand of the many and not the limb of the countless.
Squash the bug.
I know it’s only magic, but I still want the Inspector Gadget theme to play.
I love Inspector Gadget, but this is throwing more of a “By the power of Grey Skull, I am He-Man!” Vibe for me.
Definitely more He-Man than Inspector Gadget.
So, Ardaic’s eyes change colour when he becomes the Silver Centurion?
Definitely looks that way. Not exactly unusual given the “power-up glowy shit” going on.
His eyes have actually been drawn blue before, but not often. http://guildedage.net/comic/chapter-20-page-15/
Got a feeling our boy Brock is about to bite it…
Power Ranger’s theme song or magical girl transformation sequence?
He’s angry that she gnome named him “Trap Meister Taro?” Best not read through this board the last few weeks to see what we’ve all been calling him.
The difference is, we’ve been calling him names. He is now Named. He can never go into gnometown without being known by that again
That would be the best!
I’m missing a puzzle piece here, how would every gnome magically know he’s now called “Trap Meister Taro”?
All it takes is one witness to get back to Gnometown
Did taro’s irises turn red for comedic effect or did his dad place a demon or devil inside him? If not, I wonder if he can shoot Lasers….and if so, does he have to say “Ima firing mah lazors!” to shoot them?
I dunno about the will of the many, but the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
“…Or the one.”
Damn utilitarian Vulcans.
That’s my new band name, btw.
“Call me a useless moustache again, you sniveling twerp.”
I can’t help but think that it would have been wiser of Ardaic not to show Taro that particular trick…
Unless, of course, he has a better one for when the little twerp inevitably tries to take him out.
Your avatar is perfect for your comment.
I can imagine Taro finally deciding to rid himself of Ardaic for any number of nefarious reasons, Ardaic reaching for the medallion and… discovering it’s not there or that he has a fake while Taro has gotten the real one.
I think Ardaic showed Taro that on purpose. The look on his face is like, “Come after me, and I won’t just lay down and die like your father, you impudent whelp!”
Will of many ? Ha ! More like “Man chose, a slave obeys”
Until next page have plot twist we can all agree Gastonia is rotten corpse dancing on Taros strings and needs to go for good ?
Sweet baby fucketyfuck, these plot twists are too many for my faint heart!
What I want to know now is:
1: Who else is taking turns being the Silver Centurion? Are any of them plot significant otherwise?
2: Who else knows about this? Most important, is Jarvis in on it?
3: Is panel 2 the best face Taro will ever make?
1. Other guys, and maybe!
2. Other guys, and probably!
3. Most definitely!
She Gnome gnamed him like one who has gnome-mercy. It gnaws at his soul even gnow.
Ugh, gnomeor puns.
I just now noticed Bandit Mario-jumping Taro’s head. :D
Democracy paladin? I can accept this.
It is indeed an enchanting idea (pun mostly unintended), but sadly Gastonia has never been a democracy as far as we have seen.
I think it is some sort of constitutional republic…
Noble houses decide along lines of laws that they have to have to adhere to, and supposedly their focus is the good of the state and the citizens. Sounds like republic to me.
Can’t believe I never even considered this twist!
“Let the will of the many guide the hand of the one.”
Infinite power at the cost of playing as a Twitch.