No, a true Orc warrior doesn’t use a mirror. A true Orc warrior shaves himself with his trusty dagger using his reflection in the blade of his battleaxe. Of course, some true Orc warriors also try to shave themselves with their trusty battleaxe using their reflection in the blade of their dagger, but these don’t tend to live as long as the other ones. Actually, it’s a wonder that they shave at all, in view of the sort of barbarians they’re supposed to be…perhaps it’s just because they hate dwarves that much.
They do seem to have a somewhat warped idea of leadership, though, if they feel that being bossier makes a boss somehow better…but then, that does fit in with their barbarian stylings.
But the main point of today’s strip is the grand entry of the other Big Chieftain. He’s similarly no stranger, and has had vastly more screen-time than the other one, in fact. He doesn’t come with a Portable Throne of Evil ™, but instead opts for another traditional method of transport: being borne on a shield, ancient-gaulish-chieftain-style. It’s much less comfortable, since he has to stand the whole time, but it’s much more suited to warrior-king. Which makes one wonder why DM chose it, since he’s definitely not going to lead his man from the front rank…so it’s probably got something to do with his short stature – it’s kind of the only way he’ll rise about the heads of his devoted followers.
Is it just me, or does there seem to be just the slightest amount of tension between the two Big chieftains and their respective retinues? It must be me, I guess…after all, who has ever heard of the forces of evil suffering from internal tensions? Could there be a greater unifying force than shared hatred of everything that is good, love and light? Perish the thought.
More on Monday.
Oh that’s a shield. I thought because of the little dip in the middle in the 7th panel it was a surfboard and the DM was horde-surfing.
Now that you mention it, evil never seems to be of “average” looks. The forces of evil are either ugly, disgusting, and intimidating; or decadent, refined, and far sexier than anyone on the side of good.
I guess you can’t really make it in the world of evil unless you go for the extreme. Trying to go with, “Melvin the Malicious,” doesn’t really strike fear in the hearts of your enemies after all.
Yeah, it’s supposed to be a shield…I was in a hurry and had no time to look for a better looking one. ^_^; But it could as well be a surfboard, anyway – the concept of being borne on a shield is very close to crowd-surfing, anyway. XD
Some people argue that that’s one of the reasons evil often remains unopposed for too long in real life – people don’t recognize it as evil, because it, and the people promoting it, look too normal. Heinrich Himmler looked like an accountant, and at one point in his life was bent on giving up politics in favor of chicken farming (he had, literally, already bought the farm). This ‘banality of evil’ is at odds with peoples’ expectation – formed, or at least reinforced by the treatment in fiction – that evil has to clearly look evil, or at the very least look somehow extraordinary.
For movies, being a visual medium, there’s still little choice than to stick with the established pattern. In the Fu Manchu novels, the villain himself is described as being physically unimpressive and normal looking…when Christopher Lee tried to play him like that in a series of movies it just came over as very, very wooden acting.