This is mostly copied from an old topic I had. I just wanted to add some stuff, but am trying to avoid necro posting. If you want to see the original it is here
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To start off, I'll just point out the other characters established 'roles'

Cale- Okay, I think we can all agree that the Archmage and Dragon Guardians from the past want him to become king. There have been enough hints to that effect. Plus, he's the main character.

Benny and Krunch- They basically were responsible for bringing Cale into his confrontation with Legara. Benny drew him into her confrontation with Aelloon, which started this whole thing. Benny also acts as a fount of information at times. Krunch has helped mellow out Cale's idealisme/nievity, though other factors have greatly contributed.

Pella- She was sent by the Archmage to be Cale's guardian and Guide. I don't think there's much room for argument here.


Richard's really the only ambiguous one in the group. Now on to my main points.
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()While Richard isn't as free with information as some of the other characters, he apparently knows a lot about ancient mystical things. On page 15 he instantly recognizes the sword of truth when Benny mentions it. Apparently he also knows what it does, though his explanation is a bit lacking. He also recognizes The Phares on sight, a lost mystical being/item(?) from the beginning of time. He isn't skimping on knowledge. We also see later on that he has known about fellbunny for a while know, something no one else knows about. The man is sharp.

()Not that this really needs to be said, but Richard is uber strong. He might be necessary for the group to win solely based on that.

()The deeper things come into play mostly during the demon court. On page 158 he says that he is starting to remember things, ergo he had forgotten them. He also has been shown to have an abysmal memory, like on page 181 when he can't recognize the guy with blue skin. It's my personal theory that Richard has forgotten large chunks of his memory. It would explain his childlike behavior. He's still a homicidal maniac, but he acts more like a kid in a candy shop than a cold blooded murderer. Part of the reason we grow up(mentally) is because we have experiences that make us. Richard has been dead a long time, he is very strong as noted above, and he doesn't feel pain. Therefore he doesn't get any backlash from his actions. If he has forgotten any deeper experiences in his life, and doesn't get any real repercussions to his actions, then of course he would be childish. It would also make since that if he's lived(or whatever) for hundreds of years (note pg 158) then he'd forget some stuff.

()There are times when he completely drops his childish behavior, besides when he gets angry, and it usually has to do with the deeper bits of himself. The best representation of this is in the demon court. On page 153, just the mention of his name when he was alive is enough to snap him into serious mode. It doesn't last long but it happens. Later on page 158 he explains his actions to the demon judge. Here he isn't in a rage or anything, he's more contemplative. He even stays serious for the entire page. This page also suggests that he started remembering his past life after he met Cale. Earlier on page 115 The Phares remark that there is something deeper, behind the darkness(aka evil murderous tendencies). Richard brushes it off by saying "I'm very deep". I read this as him being wry rather than corny. This all points to there being much more to him than his murderous tendencies, prolific as they may be. He also drops the act on page 256 when talking to the Archmage in his bunny disguise. Again, I see the last panel as a more adult sarcasm than his usual juvenile lines. I believe that if you skim through from the beginning, the mature spells started around the battle with the Phares, and the regularity and length of the mature spells have slowly increased since the demon court arc.

()While I don't think that Richard is a danger to Cale's destiny, on page 210 the Archmage lists Cale's friends as something Pella will have to protect him against. There are also red, glowing evil eyes over his shoulder and, if you look closely, a hint of a hood over them(?). This could refer to Richard being an obstacle or enemy of Cale's rather than an ally. I personally like Richard and hope that I'm wrong here. In fact, this was the only point argued against in the previous topic I had all this in.

() I think that Richard also does a lot to get rid of Cale's naivety and blind faith in ideals. We should all strive for the ideals, but you can't perfectly follow them in an imperfect world. At the very beginning of the comic Cale is rather ineffectual. He needed to lose some of that starry-eyed innocence to become a good leader.

() More recently Richard has been actively affecting how things are going. First, he sent the giant, unbeatable, undead army to the same city Cale is trying to lead people to. He even pretty much says on page 256 that he is sending them to guard Cale's city. Later, page 271, apparently he and Pella both pick up the fact that they need to destroy the Geared Tower to get the gnomes to go with them. Even though Pella was the one to do the dirty work, Richard was perfectly willing to do it. In the very latest page, 304, it is at least half because of him that the sisters and the sons are (we assume) going to follow Cale. He eventually decided to let fellbunny talk to the Matron, who was then told to listen to Richard. I don't think Richard and the Archmage talked this over or in anyway planned this previously. I believe that, despite some of Richard's tendencies, the Archmage just knows that he is on Cale's side. His childish actions before telling everyone to follow Cale is just Richard being Richard. All of these actions are explicitly for Cale's benefit.

I've listed all of this as proof that Richard will have a large part in Cale's destiny, and may even be the deciding factor. While I haven't come up any big theories on how it will happen, I do believe that Richard will have an extended mature spell and that he will be the main reason why Cale's destiny is either triumphant or tragic.

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Kudos to anyone who has read all of this. Anyone who wants to discuss points I've made, or suggest something, feel free. I mainly just wanted to get all my thoughts on Richard down somewhere.

Think of Richard as an old brother, or a mentor to Cale. He's just sitting at the kitchen table making sure Cale doesn't burn himself, or torch the house.

Only because he wants to burn Cale and torch the house himself.

ROFL!

Yea, Richard's the only Cale torcher (so far) in the series. Benny can attest to that, and admonish you to watch for stray centipedes..

I see this as Richard's own journey as well as Cale's. They are each other's ying and yang, slowly but sure causing each other to grow and acting as an influence. Cale is no longer as naive as before, knowing that there are some harsh things that need to be done, and Richard's destructive behaviour is no longer as mindless as it once was.

There's also the fact that Richard seems to be a big favourite of Sohmer and Lar. In the beginning, he seemed to be the main character, not Cale, mostly because I was an LICD fan first and thought Richard was like Rayne and Cale was John. Also, there's a lot of merchandise featuring him more than the other cast and the movie is about him. I think LFG is supposed to be about both of them, but becuase Cale's story is happening now, he has more focus.

This actually gives me a weird thought. What if Cale and Richard are the same person? Or if Cale really is Richard's father? He could have gone back in time to prevent the darkness of elves, or maybe he had to cause it, became a lord and had a son named Richard, after his friend. Then whatever happened to Richard happened and time became a stable loop. Either that or Richard is Cale's evil clone.

I'm probably reading too much into the "He is my mother" comment.

I'm going to be realy honest with you guys. I absolutely Haaate Cale. From the beginning, I thought of him as the joke, and Richard the main character. Not only is he more interesting, funny, and intelligent, he's simply more powerful. The fact that Cale went through some kind of " emotional change" and became the main character that calls all the shots and gained everyones allegiance is complete B.S. in my opinion. He kills a little kid, and suddenly he's numero uno bad M.Fer? I'm sorry, but that doesn't hold water. The only reason I really still read this comic is Richard. He's a beast, and turning my back on him would probably get me a fireball through the stomach. But, deep down inside, everytime I read a new page a little false hope is keeping me held onto the chance that Richard might wise-up and kill Cale for real real, not just torch him.

God forbid rounded characters with realistic motivations and drives should ever steal the spot-light from two dimensional mary sues.

/win

Well technically, Cale is becoming a Mary Sue too. He's gaining some bad ass abilities (Taking on three dwarves alone, starting the fight by catching an arrow that nearly hit Benny and then throwing it at the shooter's head) and is now a king, simply because everyone says he is. Yes, he killed the kid, but still, wouldn't Krunch be the better choice for ruler?

Also, Richard is becoming more well-rounded. He now has a motivation, helping Cale, but he doesn't understand why, so he's also seeking that answer.

Both characters are developing and becoming one another, in a sense. Maybe they are the same person? We don't know much about Cale's origins, really.

Richard obviously has always had his place in the Archmage's plans for Kenthia. Take a look at Page 63.

Personally I'm really hoping he eventually turn on the group and go back to his evil self. Cale could always use some more angst. Richard indicates this is very much possible on Page 63.

Sorry I don't know how to link the pages.

Here you go

And I don't see it that way. It's all just a foreshadowing to the panel before Cale kills the kid, nothing more. They were posed the same way in that panel. Also, Richard becoming evil again would throw out all his character development.

Richard seems to be 'growing a conscience' , thankfully not so fast that he's gonna turn into the flower child Cale was before the whole 'child killer' incident, but it's still there. He has begun to remember what his life was before he became undead.

To repeat my favorite quote ever: "I do what I do, when I choose, why I wish. I answer to no one."

He says it to the 'lesser demons' who dared to try him about saving that boy's life at the risk of his own unlife... Richard just ultimately does not give a DAMN what people think of his reasons for doing things, he just either kills them if he doesn't like them, or makes a joke and walks off if he DOES like them.

My theory: Because this is at least a semi-WoW-based world, Richard didn't willingly become undead (re: the playable Undead of the Frozen Throne expansion). He's gonna remember who did it to him and his village, and eventually ask Cale to help him seek out revenge about it. Hell, the guy might even work for Legara...

And now Sohmer bans my account for reading his mind, deletes this post, and sends a hitman to my apartment /kidding... I hope

That's a very good point you make there and I agree with you in the fact that Richard is going to have a large part in Cale's Destiny. Though I believe that at some point Richard will remember everything and tell Cale about his past which I think would be pretty cool.

Also, let's not forget that page in the comic where Richard saves cale's life by searing the cut on his neck shut, and then sealing him inside the body, yadda yadda, etc.
I actually wish that Cale had questioned why Richard saved his life, as this is such an un-richard thing to do, based on his previous actions.

Ether makes some interesting points about Richard's psychological make-up, but I would like to pose an alternative theory.

Richard is the antagonist of the group.

Now, before we get our torches out, let me point out that being the antagonist among the protagonists isn't the same thing as being the villain. Only rarely do the heroes have to stand up to Richard directly, but somehow he always has that one, jerk comment ready that will get the ball rolling.

You might look at Richard as the battering ram. When all else fails, he abrasively moves the plot along.

I have an theory about Richard I'd like to throw out here.

Ether made a few important points about Richard:
-He seems to have a bad memory about his life.
-He is AMAZINGLY powerful
-He is deeper then you would think
-He has massive amounts of knowledge.

We also have no idea who he before he died other then the fact he was a 'Lord Ashendale.', his father hated his chosen profession and he was alive a long time ago.

Much like the dead blue sailor on page 181, he recongized the Archmage on page 75 here. Now, here is my theory.

The Archmage is Richard's dad. He doesn't like Richard because while the Archmage is an agent of Good, Richard obviously isn't. Being the son of such a powerful person would explain how Richard knows magic, and knows a bit more then everyone else. When the group went back in time, Richard slaughtered an entire village. We learn later from the demon court that this robbed Legara of an elite fighting group. If Richard knew all of this before he killed everyone in the town, it means it wasn't a random killing frenzy, but merely a well-planned preemptive strike. (Kind of like if someone went back and killed Hitler- No hitler no holocaust) He would have recognized his dad's plan and as thus would have known that the Archmage was the bunny. It could also mean that Richard has been planning something completely different from him, which would explain the red eyes in the background of the painting.

Thoughts?

When it comes to Cale becoming king you need to remember that Kenthia was an Elven city and it is no far stretch to assume that Cale's family may have had blood ties to it or it could be that he was personally suited for the role.
After all they did arrange for him to loose what little innocense he had, and a king cannot be too innocent or he will not be able to make the hard choices.

Richard is a diferent ball of misery.
I do not believe that the archmage is Richards father, there is a connection but during their time in kenthia there is no mention of the archmages name or any lineage. Richard just seemed to unfamiliar with the whole affair.
Plus how did Richard get the body out of Kenthia and into his nice little village up the coast?
When it comes to his memory it is sharp but unused. Doing the "slaughter the world" thing may be a barrel of laughs but there is no mental stimulation going on.
He has spent untold hundreds of years serving no real purpose, and that is why he values Cale more than he will say.
Traveling with the group has given him a purpose again, outside the day to day evil acts.
A mission and friends can drive you to do great things, in his case great evil but stil great.

I just had an idea that's sort of like what I suggested above. What if they're the same person?

Think about it. How old is Cale? He seems to be like the Lord of the Rings elves, and we know they can live for centuries without aging. Meanwhile Richard has been causing misery for centuries. We know nothing of what Cale has been up to or where he has come from, but have gotten a glimpse of Richard's past. We've also seen back stories for Krunch, Benny and Pella, but not Cale, the main star. Also, what was Richard before he died? Something human shaped, obviously, but that means he could have been an elf.

Could Cale be an inner goodness that split off from Richard and formed its own being? A man of pure good meeting a man of pure evil and both feeling a connection to the other. And slowly, they are becoming more like one another. How so? They are reminding each other of who they used to be, Lord Ashendale, but Richard was the original and so only he has the memories. And maybe at the end of it all, they will fuse together again to become Lord Ashendale once more, ruler of the world and leading all the races to a golden age.

Amen.

Sarcasm is lost on me when Richard comes into the equation.

You're all thinking first time you met the characters, they've mostly all moved past those roles, although some of them are reasonably interesting enough to make such cookie-cutter roles obsolete.

Richard for example, what is he, comic relief? Insanity taken form? Evil incarnate? In the first few panels, he might have made those easily, but then you get times like the demon court, when he goes to help his village, he sends his village to Kenethicia (spelling?), calls the fellbunny out, etc. Now, it was argued that he's forgotten a lot, etc. So he really is just comic relief with some new roles coming in.

But sometimes.. Some panels.. I'd almost say he's just playing everyone. Like when he checks around to make sure no-ones watching before helping Cale out, noting the Sword of Truth then being silly to take the attention away, etc. I'd give him an A in misdirection and manipulation. Note Cale still doesn't know about the undead army. =P

Or he could just be childlike, insane. Coming back into lucidity briefly before slipping once again into madness, where he kills everything.

I'm going for Xanatos Gambit though.

Far beyond his original comic relief role, possibly more of a mastermind than the Archmage himself, seeing as how he's the one taking care of the Archmages plan atm. Undead army, his personal help and all that.


Note for those claiming relations. Isn't Richards father buried? And the source of his father? To say the Archmage is alive but also buried at the same time is pushing things. From what I've seen of the Archmage, I'd almost say he exists outside of time, and his influence in the real world is limited. Even if he exists in normal time, there's no way he could be the father given Richards father is buried in a cairn last we see of him. =P If he was, it would require an extremely mind-bending explanation, almost ret con style.

The Cale and Richard bit.
Easy, Cale is an elf, almost a BE from WoW. Richard.. Just doesn't look feminine enough to be a BE. Or he's gotten himself an excellent stylist. =P
Cale also looks fairly young, Richard is fairly old, by the looks of things. Even allowing for the "elves live eons" argument, you'd think Cale would know a bit more about the world than he did at the start. He was as childlike as a two year old. Either he was just born or he's missing a huge chunk of his life, it may work with the second one requiring another mind-bending explanation, first is out though.

And this just isn't the comic for brainf**k twists to it. It's more casual, funny, etc. The authors can do what they want, of course. But they'd be pulling some major changes to make Cale and Richard related, or Richard and the Archmage.

But as an awesome quote goes:
"This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong."
-- Iain Clarke

^This. QFT. Richard is the one who pushes the character development of the other protagonists when the villains aren't around to do so.

All of you make excellent points. I agree with most of them... except Richard being the son of the Archmage or Cale.

One theory I favor and support is Cale and Richard being one and the same. In this story, traveling through time is possible and has nothing near the realistic precautions one must take to ensure the same future is ahead. Thus, Richard could've gone back in time, forgetting his past and wanting to re-experience it, meeting himself as a younger elf without even realizing it. I mean, come on. This is Richard we're talking about.
Not to mention, on page 154, the demon court says he traveled back in time. For what purpose, it fails to mention.

Or maybe he came back to find himself and stop himself from becoming what he is and forgot along the way, thus having an unintentional, unexplainable pull towards Cale. And as for the King Cale bit... It doesn't have a nice as a ring as Lord Cale'Anon Ashendale. Well, to me anyway.

Wow, people are still looking at this.

Honestly, I don't think the whole Richard being related to/being Cale or the Archmage make much sense. I don't think Richard is at all well adjusted, but in his more serious moments he is fully aware of his past and everything. At least by this point, as his remembering and everything has been a matter of progression. So why would he show no clue towards seeing a relative or past self? He treats those two as he has grown to see them instead of having any really odd reactions. Also, I don't think some of the time traveling required by some of these theories would work within the comic.

Our great and estimable creators seems to be using the "Stable Time Loop" type of time-travel. Also see "You Already Changed the Past"(Look at the other time travel tropes on this site and you will get a feel for the differences between other types of time travel theory.). Basically, this says that if you go in the past and do something then it will have absolutely 0 effect on the past present or future, as you had always done it (confusing you yet?). Time travel has only been used twice in the story so far. First the dead princess and banshee looking thing send Cale into the past. Even though he fights and is there and all it doesn't matter because the city still falls and the princess still becomes a spirit thingy. It is at least partially implied that the princess sent him back because she remembered him fighting for her city. In the second instance it is made very clear that Kethenica mysteriously disappeared when they try to go there. Soon after we find out the reason it disappeared is because Cale and Co. went back and did everything. So basically it is impossible to change history. Even if you go back, whatever you do is and was already a part of history before the idea even crossed you mind. I think Richard is smart and knowledgeable enough to know the futility of trying to change history. Any ideas the archmage has towards these goals seems to lean towards his own inability to consider that he may not be perfectly right or that his idea of perfection is hypocritical and impossible, or that he has way too much faith in his own power and right to dictate how things should go.

In case you didn't notice, I view the Archmage as much less of a messiah or guiding force than at least he himself thinks he is, and that he is the type of person to have a breakdown when forced to seriously face the question of why he has to be or has any right to be the one who chooses how things should turn out when compared to anyone else (especially seeing as he has admitted that they(including him) have already screwed up with their utopia and he seems to be trying to make a copy of what was).

Actually, I believe the time travel mentioned in the demon court refers to this incident where he traveled back to Kethenacia with all the rest of the group. We have no reference to any other instances of time travel.

And as for other instances related to Richard, I would agree that he is smarter than most people in the comic give him credit for and is probably something of a facade. However, I doubt he's really the sort to be "playing everyone".

Making sure no one is looking before saving Cale is probably more seeing that his reputation as the most diabolical and evil being in existense isn't going to be tarnished by a heroic act (that isn't done to undo chibi form ). Figuring out the Archmage's disguise could be due to detecting the inherent magical essense while he's constantly holding it.

Essentially, my point is this. Richard is already fairly overpowered. Let's not make him moreso by giving him the smarts to pull of a full legth Xanatos Gambit.

But thats kinda the whole thing...
Richard comes off as a goofy character who doesn't seem like more than a overpowered Lich
yet... Richard has lived for thousands of years
he has had all that time to plot scheme and come up with all kinds of gambits.
As well we have seen hints of his plotting side ... such as when he sent his army into the ocean

Now here comes the important part ... I doubt Richard is or is related to Cale/Archmage in anyway
Again he has lived for thousands of years, he could of run into the Archmage at some point in his life
AS for the Cale/Richard angle unless Cale gets a name change from King Cale ... to Lord Ashendale that is a highly unlikely situation

Now my theorey is Richard was the son of a very powerful darklord that was probably incontrol of quite a bit
but Richard compared to his dad wasn't very powerful (then Lord Ashenvale) so Richard killed his father (presumably in his sleep) and stole his powers. Now with his new powers he begins to create his own havoc as well as a little village up the coast. My thoughts are Richard didn't want everything his father controlled he just kept the titles to remind people who was truly in charge. Something tells me he tried to gain more power over the years until at one point his thirst for power cost him ... and made him forget his past as well as giving him that green scar over his eye (and everything else too).