: While reading tons of Head-related posts, two thoughts I
: have often contemplated come to mind.
: 1) The Head sent Alric in search of a suit of magical
: armor buried somewhere in the Barrier. Since Alric
: felt so betrayed, I always assumed the armor search
: was a wild goose chase. Indeed, Alric never speaks of
: it or searches for it again. He's probably embarrassed
: about being tricked. Anyway, I think the armor is a
: hoax concocted by The Head, or at least it was nowhere
: near the Barrier.
I always assumed that Balor's armor was the magical suit of armor that Alric was sent to retrive, since Balor was there to interrogate him when he was captured by The Deceiver. Since The Head seems to have been sending both sides to get each artifact - the Codex, the Watcher's arm, etc - it seems logical that he would send Alric to find it and Balor to snatch it away from him.
: 2) Ever see that picture of Balor sacking Muirthemne in
: Myth II? He has his helmet off and he's bald and ugly.
: Now look at him in the Myth I cutscene before
: "Pools of Iron". He seems young and has
: black hair blowing in the wind. (He's still ugly, but
: he sure doesn't look the same.) Now I personally
: believe this is a Bungie error. After all, how could
: we expect those overworked guys to be 100% consistent
: all the time, especially factoring in limited time and
: many different artists? But if we are to take
: everything that appears in the final version of Myth
: as universal truth, Balor has some explaining to do.
: Did he get reconstructive surgery? After all, he's on
: his second life and I wouldn't describe his old self
: as stunning. (If so, he has terrible taste in faces.
: If you're the most powerful, malevolent being in the
: world you can at least get yourself a satisfactory
: face. Why not be devilishly handsome or menacingly
: hideous? C'mon Balor, get yourself a fashion
: consultant or you'll never amount to anything.)
: Seriously though, Balor may have used many bodies, or
: even have been two people. The door's wide open.
: Please state your opinions on the matter.
Well for one thing, I don't think Balor looks bald in that pregame shot from The Ibis Crown. It's supposed to be a sketch done by the journal writer, so it's very rough. His hair just isn't drawn very well. Also note that he's screaming and really pissed off at the moment. Now in the cutscene before Pools of Iron, that's a professionally animated, detailed image, and Balor isn't exactly infuriated at that time. He's calm, waiting for Alric to come in and get slaughtered.
On a related note, though, you may be right that he's old and decrpid when sacking Muirthemne but healthy when fighting Alric. Now take into consideration that magical suit of armor! Perhaps that's what it does, keeps it's wearer in continual perfect health (unless something drastic like, oh, decapitation, happens to come about). It says that the armor makes it's wearer tireless in battle and nearly invulnerable to attack; I think continual, unending perfect health would do this, don't you?
