: Meanwhile, he sent Alric to be captured by The
: Deceiver because he knew Myrdred wouldn't kill him,
: either because a) Myrdred and The Head were working
: together or b) Myrdred wouldn't destroy such a
: valuable asset, both as a potentially brain-washable
: weapon and as a bargaining chip ("behave, Balor,
: or I'll sic Alric on you") as the fated hero of
: Light. Indeed, we see that The Deceiver captured Alric
: instead of killing him on sight, like a truly
: dedicated Fallen Lord would.
: --SiliconDream
Which would explain why Alric and the Deceiver are suddenly so chummy in Myth 2... except for one thing. We know that while Alric was in the desert, under Myrdred's captivity, he was "interrogated" by Balor. Maybe the Deceiver had planned on turning Alric into a weapon against Balor, but something went wrong and Balor found out that the avatara was under Myrdred's power... at any rate, Alric's captivity (as opposed to his destruction) has to have met with Balor's approval. If Balor had wanted to kill Alric then he had a perfect opportunity. And the Deceiver doesn't exactly make it easy for Alric to get away--he and the champions have to fight their way out of a very nasty mess to get to the teleportation platform.
Possible theory, which anyone is welcome to shoot down: Balor still thinks of himself as Connacht. Yes, he's working with bad guys now and he's doing some pretty awful things--razing Muirthemne, his own hometown, for one--but he's under some kind of mind-clouding fate. When he sees Alric in the desert he doesn't understand what's happening. Alric is obviously a good guy, but he's fighting for the wrong (in Balor/Connacht's twisted notion) side. Connacht/Balor refuses to kill an avatara but he decides that Alric is the confused one (talk about irony) and so essentially locks him up for the duration. To force the confrontation Alric has to go so far as to fake allegiance with the Myrkridia.
Another possibility: Balor knows he's the leveller and he knows Alric's the hero. If he kills Alric, he knows that the hero will eventually just come back in another form. If he keeps Alric alive but on ice forever, he can't come back, and Balor can rule for eternity.
Well, that's my two cents. Let the feeding frenzy begin!
