Captain Vraay! Dark elf (maybe?)! Another female (Definitely)! Another morally ambigious character (possibly)! I'm not keen on spoiling certain games for our younger members, but the practice of ship captains becoming party members is by no means completely new. Now, four's a crowd, but five is a really COOL crowd.

Or is it one too many? You be the judge. I just think this opportunity is too good to pass up.

Naah. If she became a permanent member, it would be one too many.

She could serve as an ally, though, or as a recurring antagonist. But really, why should she leave her ship and crew to go ambling along with a bunch of wandering fools landlubbers adventurers? I doubt the quest for the sword will play out at sea. And on land, without her ship and status as a captain, Tah'Vraay would be just another big-breasted female character. She'd either be extraneous, or start to overshadow the rest of the group (the Mary-Sue problem, also known as the "Vala becomes part of the Stargate SG-1 team" problem).

I've seen it done time and again in bad novels and bad fanfiction (or at least in fanfic done by inexperienced authors)... adding too many characters just because they seem "cool" who are then cluttering up the story, but in the end the author doesn't know what to do with 'em all because said characters have no real substance or goals beyond providing one special effect or gimmick.

Of course, so far we know next to nothing about the captain, so if she turns out to fit perfectly into the intra-group dynamic as a fifth member and enriches the story, I shall stand corrected. Until then... no.

Why does everyone think the group needs a 5th member anyway? (Mind you, I'm not against groups larger than four in general, after all Lord of the Rings had 9+ mayor characters, I'm just wondering.) The main characters have met, very RPG-style like, they're on their quest... any additional character added afterwards would have to have some reason to be on the same main quest. Otherwise they'd just run along without a logical reason why.

Yeah, like when RJ decided that Mat and Perrin needed to be as big as Rand...and then so did Fayle, and Nynaeve, and Egwene, and Elayne-Min-Aviendha...and then there were so many subplots I could barely tell Tylin from Berelain. 11 books, and then Shai-Tan brings back the Forsaken and we're all back where we started, except some of us don't have all our limbs any more. I mean, blood and bloody ashes, but if I hear one more word about Mat's bloody luck, I won't be responsible for my own actions.

*ahem*

So, that's my WoT rant for today.

But she could have some purpose, like Richard killed her family (and her friends, and her friends' families, and...you all know Richard), and she joins the group for no defined reason until they find the sword and, just as Cale is about to take it (because you know he will), she siezes it and stabs Richard, who goes out with some line like "No, pain! My only weakness!" or "Dammit, at least tell me who you're seeking revenge on behalf of before you kill me". Then Richard would have to come back, or half the fanbase would spontaneously combust, like they did when L (Ryuzaki, 'Death Note') ....*mustn't reveal spoilers*...danced...on the moon...with his and Light's illegitimate children...for his birthday...yeah.

it wouldnt work primarily because benny seems to dislike her. a lot.

we have a fifth member.....SOOBA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What skills does she have that would be practical outside of the water? Though it's possible she gets roped in on the standard "I will come with you for my share of your treasure, then form bond everlasting!" pitch.

That would be lame, Richard would more likely just look at it sticking out of his chest and make a witty remark like "I may have deserved this ... "

thats what i thought! minus coming up with the other witty remark. but he might say something like "now thats just not nice. now could someone get this out of me? it kinda hurts...

"You and Cale huh! You guys must really like me!" ?

Captain: *stabs*
Richard: What, are these things growing out of me now?

More along the lines of
Cap:Stab
Richard:Fwoom

Richard props up corpse:Yes Richard you can kill all my men in their sleep and use my boat at your leasure. Also instead of being buried i would enjoy being revived by benny so that you can feed me to some rabid animals.. or perhaps sooba."

lol

Vraay would be a good party member, or at least a temporary one, in that matter. She's kinda like a rogue (i know, i know, don't kill me for saying something directly related to WoW, but...) slash warrior person, and is very independant. i want her job!

There is no possible way for the Capitan to become a fifth party member, at least not the way I see it.

1) By the third page of the comic back when it first began, there was not-so-subtle hints about there being a comic about FOUR party members, as well as pre-made wallpapers with four members and a giant rabbit...however the rabbit is besides the point.

2) There is already Richard as the wise cracking, "kill-all-that-moves" styled attitude, adding another similar to him would destroy the comic humour capabilities. Richard and the Capitan are just too similar for her to be of any use comic-wise or other to the group.

3) The head butting of Cale and the others, mainly Richard's motives would also diminish with the addition of another female for Benny to challenge.

To conclude: it would kill the comic, no questions about it.

Alright...so we've ruled out that cappn is staying...but how exactly is she going to leave? She's too short lived to have a dramatic death, and too well loved already to just leave...

She could be a reccurring character, after all we have more landmasses to get to and there has to be some way for teh group to get over to them especially if zepplins are unviable.

Maybe she could kill benny and take her place hmmmm???? She's less green and therefore better looking XD

How does describing her as a rogue directly relate to wow? Sorry, that one puzzles me.
Anyhow with a name like Vraay, "Classic Drow". However a drow pirate?... that one amuses me. I'll take prestige class in swashbuckling for 500. I have to agree she would be great as a semi-reoccurring support character. But as a full time party member, eh, a bit iffy. Too early to tell really though.

(And yes I know swashbuckler is a starting class. Don't get all uppity on me. WOOT)

she's just like Tavor and loved just like Tavor, but Tavor died, so our sweet captain Vraay might have a chance of dieing too... it's just one of those things bound to happen, i guess

p.s. mine was a joke

I can't see her becoming a 5th party member. Maybe, like others have said, just as a recurring character, but who knows, she could become a "temporary" 5th member (think FF12) that wants to accomplish something before taking off.

I'm all for a fifth female member. let's face it, the group is one big sausage fest

What are you saying? Replace Krunch with someone who can't be turned into sausages.

I'm gonna have to go with everybody else on this one. I think that the four party member's we already have work pretty well together. Besides, all of them were introduced within the first several strips. While I obviously can't say what's going to happen, it seems to be that it would be kind of out of place to randomly add a 5th member by itself in the middle of the comic like this. (ha ha maybe she'll show up right when they finally get the sword to collect on that tab Richard owes her for the mast!)

She probably is just a character who appears on the ship for lack of other interactions, like the elf bandits, Alleon's army, the dwarves and the guards of the first city we were introduced to, 'cause let's face it, there is little humour that can be pulled from a ship.
As well, as if the Capitan was not around the writers would have to shorten the ship ride and thus make the journey seem far too short compared to the rest of the travelling.

She doesn't seem to be the type of character to be permanent.

I agree. There doesn't seem to be much to her except for the occasional smart-aleck remark, and we get plenty of those from Richard. I figure the captain will have used up her usefulness once the group gets to port.

At the risk of killing the thread, I just had to tell Tails that your avatar rules. Red vs. Blue rules. Much rulage going on there.

As for the good captain, I'm pretty sure she's gonna drop them at the specified port, collect the extra dough from the broken mast, and wave a fond farewell to our intrepid heroes without even looking back over her shoulder. They haven't quite been nothing but trouble, but close enough for government work. I don't think she'll miss them much, and it doesn't look like any of them will miss her much.

Useful, but probably not "group" material. At least not on a regular basis. A return trip would not go amiss, though.