Richard

Richard is a human Warlock masquerading as undead who willfully sows destruction without any provocation whatsoever, Richard is Cale's character foil and serves as the strip's comic relief. He is depicted as manipulative, powerful, and exceedingly evil, although he is also childishly playful. Richard is very sensitive about his less-than-threatening name and reacts aggressively to Cale's nickname for him - "Dick". His companions often react mildly to his frequently violent and sociopathic activities.

Character Profile

His titles include Chief Warlock of the Brothers of Darkness, Lord of the Thirteen Hells, Master of the Bones, Emperor of the Black, Lord of the Undead,and mayor of a little village up the coast which he describes as "quite scenic in Spring". He states that his titles are based on kills. He later whimsically decided to add "Lord of the Dance" to his list of titles and upon killing Ajellah, took her title of "Mistress of Magma" for himself. During a court trial with demons the judge refers to Richard's mortal self as "Lord Ashendale."

Because he is undead, Richard can sustain normally serious injuries without dying or even experiencing pain; he believed that a torture chamber the group was sent to was a spa (although he may have only been joking). A running gag in the series, in fact, is Richard being impaled by a sharp object thrown at him from off screen. He is also light in weight, enough for Cale to shoot an arrow with Richard attached to it with little effort.

Richard claims to be traveling with Cale out of sheer boredom and for opportunities to kill things. He used to have a companion - an imp named Hctib Elttil (whose name, Richard claims, accurately describes its place in their relationship) - but it ran away. He has a habit of singing at inopportune times or when in battle. In addition to his prodigious magical power, Richard was shown to be skilled enough in hand-to-hand combat to easily take out several trolls within seconds, claiming that he 'drained the soul of a monk once', and that it 'tasted like chocolate'.

Richard seems to have as much (if not more) control over Cale's companion pet, the panther Sooba, as Cale himself does, even going so far as being able to summon the cat to his side in battle("Madness? This is Sooba!".) Richard also has his own pet, a rabbit whom he seems to care for, and who in turn cares for him, such as when Richard returned from his banishment to the 'Plane of Suck'. It is later revealed that the rabbit is in fact the Archmage of Kethenecia, and that Richard had been aware of that fact for quite some time. Richard then offers the use of his undead army.

Though it would seem that Richard's only goal in life is to sow death and destruction wherever he goes (after all the other characters have explained their various motives behind their quest of finding the lost Sword of Truth, he simply states "I. LIKE. TO. KILL. THINGS. (How is that not clear by now?)", it is implied there may be some additional motivation within him. The Phares, elemental spirits whom Richard harnessed the power of, said that they saw another presence behind the darkness, which Richard shrugged off by saying "I'm very deep." On the flip side, he once saved the life of a young child - an oddly selfless act for him. However, Richard may have done this in order to break a curse placed on him by Hctib, his imp, who returned to punish Richard. It could have been accidental due to the fact that the child was very physically close to him. However, it was stated that only an act of selflessness could break the curse, hinting that this act might have been genuinely selfless. Also, while on trial he stated that, like Cale, he was on a path he was compelled to follow, and after killing most of demon court he left stating that for the first time in a hundred years he had a goal.

Most recently, Pretty, Pretty Unicorn, the little village up the coast which serves as the source of Richard's power, has been taken over and converted by Legara. To save it, Richard traveled there with Maikos, Sooba, and the bunny.

Richard measures his existence in at least hundreds of years. During much of this time, he had forgotten portions of his life before he became undead, but some of the memories are returning. Such as memories of tending a rose garden, despite his father not wanting him to.

On page 338 it shows that Richard used to be a little kind hearted boy.

Richard also has the capacity to perform uncharacteristically good deeds, but has to look around to make sure no one is watching. He seems particularly likely to do this for Cale, for whom he seems to have a well hidden soft spot. On a number of occasions however, Cale has had to offer Richard something. When he asked Richard to save a village of people, Richard replied "I don't 'Save'", until Cale said that afterward they were going to go and cut a path of slaughter and destruction through Legarion forces, to which Richard immediately strikes a heroic pose and proclaims "We need to save these people!" For instance, when Cale had his throat slashed by a Black Dwarf, Richard used a fire spell to cauterize the wound and carries Cale away from the mountain, despite his frequent assertions that he never saves anyone. He has also saved the life of a small boy for no good reason as well as saving an entire village from flooding at Cale's request. He can also be seen as strangely innocent after commenting that he thinks he hears Benn'Joon getting hurt in the distance by Cale when actually they made love just after kissing passionately. Characteristically he assumes that Cale was hurting her and offered to bury the corpse. Richard has admitted to murdering his father, as he reminisces on the first page.

It has since been revealed that Richard's meeting with Cale was no accident, and that the warlock was charged with protecting Cale. It has also been revealed that Richard may not be undead at all after Cale saw his face without its veil. Without his veil, Richard speaks with white text boxes, though he may have been simply mocking Cale.

In the 452nd issue, Richard was shown painting his human colored skin white, and after being shot by a Legion arrow he experienced pain and bled, retreating and incinerating an innocent family hiding in a barn. After gathering the ashes into a small black bag he was impaled by a soldier to no ill effect, indicating it may have something to do with his immortality, although it's possible that simply killing the innocent fuels his immortality as well.

In chapter 499, Richard entered the gem of Tavor's crown after the latter's death. Shortly, thereafter he began incinerating the heads of anyone foolish enough to put the crown on. In fact, Aelloon would have met the same fate as the others had someone not warned him. Aellon then calls for some battlemages to exorcise Richard from the crown. After killing a few of them he is defeated and locked in a dungeon. Aelloon then asks Richard if he can kill the unkillable and orders him to do so. Richard initially refuses though he changed his mind once Aelloon showed him exactly what he wanted Richard to kill. It is then revealed that Hctib Elttil will accompany Richard as he goes on this quest. It is then revealed that the chains can control the undead and Hctib used them to have Richard beat the crap out of himself. Sometime later, Hctib asks Richard "so what's new?" and Richard responds "I'm slowly turning human" which alludes his court sentence from the demonic trial. Richard then states that his target is an appendage indicating that it may be Dnah.

Richard in battle.

Known Powers and Abilities

• (Fire) Most prominently, Richard demonstrates his power over fire. Often referred to as his "fwoosh", varying degrees of flame based attacks seem to be Richard's standard method of devastation.

• (Ice) Though less used than fire, Richard also commands a variety of spells based on ice and cold attributes, such as encasing himself in a large block of ice to shield both himself and Cale from a lava flow, encasing his arm into a blade of ice, and making it hail.

• (Lightning) On rare occasions, Richard has shown the ability to fire bolts of lightning from his hands.

• (Necromancy) Richard has on occasion shown that he can control the skeletal remains of enemy combatants(or more specifically, he can force his enemy's skeleton to rip off it's own skin and then fight at Richard's command). He has stated that he "drained the soul of a monk once". He has also sealed the souls of people he has killed into cards.

• (Portals) Though he doesn't seem able to create portals at will, Richard has the ability to power already existing portals. He does demonstrate the ability to control space/time while trapped on the Plane of suck, but it is unknown whether or not this is one of his regular abilities, or something unique to the Plane, as Richard himself was unsure of his ability to use these powers.

• (Possession) Richard has the ability to inhabit the bodies of others, through the use of the magical gem that he wears. He has also shown the ability to use his gem to possess inanimate objects such as the gem attached to Tavor's crown. When possessing others, he retains control of his other powers.

• (Materialization) He has also shown the ability to materialize his magic into solid form such as creating arrows with his mind and creating an air tight bubble which was chained to his body. When he does this skill the object is green indicating that it is most likely magic that has been shaped into a physical form rather than actually creating a physical object.

• (Near Immortality) Richard has been shown to been hundreds of years old, has survived numerous normally fatal injuries such as being decapitated or having holes in his chest, and has even survived an axe to the brain, a normally fatal wound for an undead. It is important to note however, that Richard is not truly immortal. This is demonstrated in the Plane of suck when Richard uses his new found time/space powers to create copies of himself, only to murder them moments later. It has also been revealed that Richard must kill and collect the ashes of innocents to retain his immortality otherwise he starts bleeding like everyone else.

• (Hand to Hand Combat) Richard has demonstrated knowledge of martial arts which he gained from draining an unknown monk's soul. He has also shown to have some knowledge of pressure points. He usually demonstrates his physical prowess when he finds himself either unable to use magic, or is fighting against something impervious to magic such as a Blargh.

• (Immense Strength) When Richard's magic was sealed during the demon trial, Richard was still able to rip one of the demonic bailiffs in half using only his bare hands. Also, he was able to kill a bear and rip off its arms when he himself did not have his own arms attached to his body. He has sharp nails to along with his strength such as when he cut a dwarf open so he could place Cale within the corpse. When fighting against Tavor's guards he ripped off various organs from any soldier who came within his vicinity.

Equipment/Paraphernalia

• Richard's amulet
• Pillaging Shovel
• Bear Arms
• Fork of Truth
• Kidney Hat
• Sword of 77% Probability
• Sword of Maybe, Maybe Not
• Sword of Mostly Falsehoods
• Stick of Lies
• Handfork of truth

Trivia

• Sometimes when characters are listing off the cast's races Richard is referred to as "miscellaneous".
• His battle cry is "For Pony." He argued about this with Cale who didn't think it was serious enough for a war cry.
• Richard has killed parodies of such characters and caricatures as Frodo Baggins, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mary Poppins, St. Valentine, and a Smurf.
• He often makes references to things in popular culture, such as Martin Luther King Jr., The judges of American Idol, Rick Astley, Street Fighters, A Few Good Men, and a reference to Transformers, in the form of the Universal Greeting. "Bah weep granah weep ninni bong".
• Richard is one of the few characters with his own unique dialogue color scheme, the others including Tim (before page 532), Hctib Elttil, and Sooba.
• Richard is something of a craftsman, and has been seen to create things such as a hat made from a kidney, a wallet made from a Smurf, a bed from the hides of several bears, and a throne made from the bones of the fallen Bloodrage Clan.
• As Krunch tells the story of Kethenecia to his companions on page 57, he is remarks that Richard may have been present at the time, when the dragons ruled Kethenecia, "The Lord of Darkness smote the king" (Richard presented himself to Cale using the same title), "and freed the humans only to enslave them again at a later date and corrupt their souls to create an army of-". The presumption is an army of undead, the same undead, living in Richard's village up the coast.
• It has been revealed that Richard may be a republican, though given the nature of the series and that of Richard himself he may have just been joking.

Richard Quotes

• Rejoice. For very bad things are about to happen.

• I don't even pay the price for my own crimes.

• I accept the verdict. But I deny the sentence.

• Please ignore the fact that my hand is on fire. It is not meant to be an aggressive gesture. It's how I say hello.

• I like Cale's strike at unarmed women initiative. All in favor?

• (singing) When you wish upon a star..I will kill you near or far

• You're life isn't important Cale. Focus on what's at stake. Am I going to be okay?

• (To Cale after incinerating him) Walk it off, you pussy.

• (To Cale) I find it amusing how you were SO judgmental of the dark arts a few hours ago. But now that you're in trouble, pull his skeleton out, Richard, oh please.

• (After encountering an army of trolls while heavily outnumbered) This isn't where I parked my horse.

• (After being asked what rhymes with your wholesale mass slaughter) Locate and butcher your daughter

• (about Cale) No idea what he is talking about, but I respect his attitude and willingness to kill

• (after being stabbed)An odd way to show someone that you missed them but I'm willing to keep an open mind

• Killing means never having to say you're sorry

• (about dying) It's not so bad. You'll care about your personal hygiene a lot less

• I know the dark robes may allude to some mysteriousness, but I assure you, I'm rather translucent in my goals and ambitions. I don't SAVE.

• I would like to nominate myself for MVP of this prison break.

• (Before being banished)My..only..regret..is..not..killing..all..of..you..and..your..families

• I'm tired of all this. It's time for me to stop all this adventuring. I need to settle down. Find a farm, a family. Then slaughter them all and find a new farm and family.

• Women. Why are any of them still left alive?

• (about women) What are your thoughts on penning them up to use for mating and the creation of snacks

• (to a gnome whose wife and children he killed) They're in a better place.

• (after being told about the Blargh) I'm impervious to impervious-ness.

• Did you ever get the feeling that you're missing out on a fight with a dragon?

• (after confessing to Hctib that he was turning human) You know when you answer a question that the other person didn't expect you to answer, and you do it surprisingly honestly? That just happened.

• I was just going to look. With fire. And lightning. And reanimated chipmunks. And racoons. On fire.

First Appearance: Page 1

See Also

• Richard appearances