The subject of Kore has been discussed and debated thoroughly
on the Goblins board, here's what Thunt has to say about it...
"Okay, since I've been officially invited in, here
I go...
Well, the way I see it, it's hard to say for sure if Kore
rushing in and killing the orcs and ogre is an evil act or not. At that point
we have no real background for those characters so we don't really know if
they're evil or not. Are they relaxing after pillaging a village? Are they
hiding because they're good folk who just wanna stay out of everyone's way? We
don't know. I hint at the group being at least slightly less than lawful by the
way Sticks reacts to Targoth being a dwarf. He also comments on the fact that
others in the area might want to hurt Targoth simply because he is a dwarf. But
on the other hand, maybe the group is afraid of the chld because dwarves keep
doing nasty stuff to them. At this point in the story, I deliberately left it
open to go either way. There's just not enough story to know for sure who to root
for. Though, it does seem that Hawl and Boulder are nice folk, since they both mention how they'd protect
Targoth from harm. But again, Hawl does claim to have killed Targoth's Father
and we don't know about that either (Hawl's back story will be available soon
by donation before it appears in book format). But I'm flip flopping here...
This storyline fogginess was deliberate. Before Kore's
appearance, the comic hadn't taken on any really serious tones. I wanted
to take advantage of the fact that no readers knew what to expect or even what
direction the comic was going. So I left everyone wondering if this Kore guy
was good or not. Was it going to be funny again once he got past the door?
Surely the dwarven kid would be safe since he's the same race as Kore and
surely a comic as light hearted as this would never kill a child or a main
character!
Kore really starts to come into focus when he kills Hawl.
Yes, Hawl is an orc who is in a room with other orcs who, for all the reader
knows, are the worst evil doers in the realm, but the guy's last request is to
not hurt a child. When Kore kills Hawl, it's a moment designed to make the
reader raise an eyebrow and think "now wait a minute, that shouldn't
be".
Targoth's murder is the big moment that the whole
situation is leading up to. It's (if I've done my job right) the last thing a
reader would expect to happen, and it does a few very important things in the
storyline. It shows the reader that Goblins will have very dark moments and
that anyone could die at anytime. And it proves that Kore is one nasty dude.
His logic is meant to be incredibly flawed. I mean, he's killing a child
because he was around creatures he saw as evil, even though he was kidnapped!
By this logic, anyone who is kidnapped by evil would have to die. Hell, anyone
who says hello to a passing orc would have to die. Kore is shown to be, without
a doubt, the villain. That doesn't mean that there isn't still a hell of a lot
of mystery there. I mean, everyone kept calling him a paladin. So either he's
not a paladin and a lot of folks think he is, or he is a paladin, but there's
something that just doesn't fit. Because it's my belief that paladins can't get
away with murdering innocent children.
Now I am by no means a D&D expert when it comes to
paladins. Sure, I know all about what it says in the core books. I know those
books inside and out. But I really don't know a lot about the optional types of
paladins that can be found in various other texts. So there's no way I'm gonna
argue about that.
![Smile]()
I do
however, believe that it's difficult to put something as complex as alignment
into D&D format. I mean, ask the townsfolk what they think of Farmer John
and his alignment, and they'll say that he's lawful good. He feeds the town and
doesn't charge the poor folk because they have no money and he even donates his
time to help Old Lady Jones with her firewood. But ask the chickens, cows and
pigs that he slaughters every night without any sign of ever stopping such
bloody carnage and they'll have a different opinion.
After 24 years of being a DM, I've learned to quietly back
away from most alignment arguments.
Two points I will add about Kore... Firstly, you will
never find a funny update about him. Anytime he appears everything will take on
a very serious tone. And secondly, I did infact have him completely figured out
and written down before I added him to the comic. I'm not making him up as I
go. How could I add little clues about him and his situation if I don't know
myself?
![Very Happy]()
Alright, my break time is over and I'm going back to draw.
![Cool]()
Thunt"
As you can see there is no doubt that Kore is an evil
bastard and that he did in fact kill the kid... of course that can be figured out
by the crossbow bolt firing noise shown in the panel after he says "That
Seed... has been placed within you. As a result, you may one day grow to
empathize with their evil ways. I cannot allow that risk to exist. All evil,
even potential evil, must be eradicated." KATHUNK