: 3) Forget about GURPS, Pre-release info, Chimera (or
: whatever it is), any plugins and such, and let me ask
: you all what YOU think happend to the last 2 fallen
: lords.
The Myth II manual says that "most of the Fallen Lords were hunted down and destroyed" after Balor's defeat. Since The Watcher and Shiver were already gone, "most" probably refers to The Deceiver and the two unknowns--although of course they turned out to be wrong about the Deceiver.
Incidentally, there's always been something of a weirdness here Deceiver-wise. GURPS and the Myth II manual both have The Deceiver simply disappearing after his battle with The Watcher at Seven Gates, while TFL and Myth II narrations indicate that he continued his campaigns until after Balor's death and then was defeated by Twelve Motion's forces. These are apparently reconciled by saying that it wasn't generally known that The Deceiver was still around after Seven Gates because Twelve Motion never talked about it for some reason, but that seems a little suspicious...as do so many other things with the big D.
: In my own opinion, I think Bungie simply didn't put them
: in, but maybe expected to and did a pretty crappy job
: of covering that fact.
Well, they're pretty clear on the fact that they existed. They just didn't bother to put in many facts about them, since they weren't that relevant to the story and it was probably nice to have some mystery and flexibility for sequels and stuff.
: 4) Was Soulblighter really binded by Balor? Did all that
: about Balor dying and destroying all the other fallen
: lords, apply to Soulblighter?
: Im starting to think that its no. It seems to me that
: Soulblighter learned all he learned in that dark
: temple in the Untamed Lands and simply decided to
: follow his old pal Connacht, who became Balor.
: Soulblighter obviously didn't lose his powers when
: Balor was destroyed and I think that he was simply
: trying to save his friend.
Alric actually says that Balor had bound all the "Fallen", which generally includes not just the Fallen Lords but also lesser beings like Shades and, perhaps, any creatures sustained by or employing dark magics (such as the undead.) So it may be that the greatest effect of Balor's death was to destroy most of the lesser Fallen, decimating the Dark armies at one blow. Only those who had some reserves of personal power--like Fetch, Warlocks, and Fallen Lords--survived.
Although the Fallen Lords definitely didn't die when Balor did--all sources agree on that--I think they did suffer a power drop. Neither Shiver nor The Deceiver seem as powerful in Myth II as they were in TFL. Also, the Myth II manual speaks of their leadership being broken, so it may be that after the snapping of Balor's mental control the Fallen Lords were temporarily confused and disoriented.
Soulblighter certainly comes back stronger than ever, but that's after 60 years of preparation during which he enhanced his own body and developed his skills of sorcery to much greater heights. Immediately after Balor's destruction, I think he was weakened just like the rest of the Fallen Lords. If they *weren't* all weakened, it's hard to see how they could have failed to secure a Dark victory, what with eight of the Nine being dead or mortally injured, and almost all of the Light cities destroyed.
There's another little plot weirdness in here. The Great Devoid level instructions tell you to ignore anything Balor's head tells you, which clearly implies that it's not dead yet. This may be a remnant of a prerelease version where, as in the Black Company, powerful sorcerers could get pretty much diced into bits without dying--give them a staple gun and they're as good as new. Of course, in the final version Balor's head doesn't talk, so we don't know whether it's still alive one way or another.
So if you think that Soulblighter and other Fallen are still empowered after Balor's "death" in "The Last Battle," keep in mind that, at least in an earlier version, he probably isn't actually dead yet. He only dies when his head gets blown up in the Devoid.
--SiliconDream
