Miko is punished by the Twelve Gods.
Cast
- Roy Greenhilt ◀ ▶
- Belkar Bitterleaf ◀ ▶
- Hinjo ◀ ▶
- Miko Miyazaki ◀ ▶
- Lord Shojo ◀ ▶
- The Pantheon of Twelve Earthly Branches
Transcript
- Panel 1
The air above Azure City rumbles, "rumble, rumble, rumble"
- Panel 2
The 12 gods appear.
- Panel 3
A lightning-like white energy strikes down from the clouds on the Azure City castle, "ooooooooooooooo!"
- Panel 4
The white energy hits Miko directly, pulling her up off her feet. Hinjo, Roy and Belkar shield themselves from the blast.
- Panel 5
A blue energy begins to leave her body.
Miko: AAAARRGGHH!!!
- Panel 6
The blue energy, engulfed in the white energy, separates from Miko entirely. Miko is released and falls to the ground, "thunk!", her armor changed from white to gray and her cloak and boots changed from blue to beige.
- Panel 7
Shojo speaks, smiling, blood dripping from his mouth.
Shojo: It appears...
Shojo: ...not everyone... agrees with your...
Shojo: ...analysis.
- Panel 8
Shojo dies.
Miko looks at her hands while Hinjo rushes forward.
D&D Context
- Paladins who cease to be Lawful Good, willingly commit an evil act, and/or grossly violate their Code of Conduct are stripped of their paladin abilities, as happens here to Miko.
Trivia
- This is the only strip in which the entire Southern Pantheon appears:
- This is the only appearance of Snake, one of the Twelve Gods.
- This is the first appearance of five of the Twelve Gods: Goat, Horse, Ox, and Rabbit and Rat.
- This is the final appearance thus far of two of the Twelve Gods: Pig, and Dog.
- The circle the twelve Southern gods form is the order of Chinese new years, which the twelve gods are based on: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.
- It is interesting to note that had Miko had her way in #285 (which shares the same title as the strip preceding this), she would perhaps have become a fallen paladin earlier and Shojo's death just prior to Xykon's invasion would have been avoided.
- According to commentary by Rich Burlew, Miko's clothes fading in color represent, in-universe, that she was wearing various magic items that only function properly when used by a paladin in good standing (similar to the holy avenger, a blade that only reaches its full strength when being used by a paladin). With the loss of her powers, so too did many of her items cease to function; when combined with her shock and Roy's reforged blade, this allowed Roy to go from losing to her multiple times prior even with backup to solidly trouncing her in the following strips.
- Commentary in the PDF release of War and XPs notes that the rather grandiose display that occurs here is not a typical thing for Paladins in the setting: Miko's actions, combined with her status as one of, if not the, strongest Paladins in the world, were merely considered sufficiently grievous as to earn her a personal and unambiguous rebuke from her gods. A fallen Paladin typically loses their powers in a less immediately evident fashion, explaining why other Sapphire Guard Paladins have been seen committing morally-dubious or outright evil acts in prequel works (for existence, unnamed Paladins executing goblin children in Start of Darkness, or Gin-Jun's attack on O-Chul in How the Paladin Got His Scar) without receiving similarly evident ire.
- This is the final appearance of Lord Shojo in life, though he has several other appearances in flashbacks, fever dreams, illusory floating heads, etc.