| abstract
| - Nale and Elan's father. A warlord at the Empress of Blood's service (or so it seems). In truth, the behind-the-scene ruler of the three largest empires on the Western Continent through his adventuring partners. Later joins the Linear Guild under his son Nale's command (at his own insistence), becoming Roy's counterpart.
* Above Good and Evil: "Realizations & Rationalizations"
* Affably Evil: Which makes him a very different character from Roy.
* Archnemesis Dad: A fact that he is thrilled about, considering his Dangerous Genre Savvy and personal slant about heroic stories.
* Arrow Catch
* An Axe to Grind: "I may even get my axe out of storage for the occasion."
* The Bad Guy Wins: Tarquin figures that he has to keep winning until a hero comes along to kill him, and then he will just become a legend.
* Bait the Dog: He initially comes across as so likable and essentially a Reasonable Authority Figure, that you'd be forgiven for thinking he's the nice, Noble Demon variety of Lawful Evil. You'd also be wrong. You would be very, very wrong indeed.
* Benevolent Boss: While it's a bad, bad, bad idea to screw with him in the slightest if you're a contractor (especially AFTER you've finished the job), he takes good care of his long-term employees, right up to permitting his second-in-command to kill his son for murdering the latter's children. Be sure to have information to trade for continued breathing.
* Blood Knight: His initial reaction to being attacked head on by entire Order sans V?
* The Brute: Although he hardly fits the character type, he replaces Thog in this role in the Linear Guild. Of course, given his intellect, it's possible he'll end up as Dragon-in-Chief instead...
* Card-Carrying Villain: While refusing to be placed in the D&D alignment system, he says he is running an evil empire. Also divorces his wife on grounds of being Lawful Evil.
* Carpet of Virility
* Chekhov's Swordman: First seen on page #50, but not again until #722.
* The Chessmaster: As demonstrated in "Spins of the Father" and on the next page.
* Crazy Jealous Guy: Implied to have been this toward his first wife. He promised her he would liquify everyone in the bar if a patron grabbed her butt again. When someone did, Tarquin proved the threat was Not Hyperbole. The marriage ended shortly after that.
* Crazy Prepared: He knows the counters to a great many obscure combat techniques, up to and including pun fighting.
* Dangerously Genre Savvy: Takes it to a new level. Even by this comic's standards, Tarquin is Genre Savvy. In his handbook to the guards, he includes items straight from the Evil Overlord List. And not only has he read the List, it is later revealed that his big Evil Plan is based around not just genre Tropes, but Audience Reactions Tropes, specifically Love to Hate, Evil Is Cool, and a hefty dosage of You Bastard.
* Dirty Old Man: So far, Tarquin has had no less than nine wives. And he's not above flirting with Haley or an attractive female petitioner.
* Disproportionate Retribution: He has the bounty hunters sent to their deaths via gladiatorial combat because they joined in on the barrage of Star Wars references he just made, and Gannji had the bad sense to reenact the infamous thermal detonator scene with a can of tomato soup. He's also murdered every guy in the bar his first wife worked at, then grounded them into fertilizer in response to one of the patrons grabbing her butt.
* Do Wrong Right: Is a big believer in this. Doing things the right way is more important than your reasons for doing them in the first place.
* Dragon-in-Chief: Technically, Tarquin is The Dragon to the Empress of Blood (who is herself a dragon), but in practice he's the one who runs things and the populace seems to think of him as their leader. And despite his protestations to the contrary, it's also looking likely that he'll prove to be this to Nale in the Linear Guild.
* Dramatic Unmask
* Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite his tyrannical attitude, he still cares deeply about Elan.
* Even the Guys Want Him: While the attraction shown on "Slash Attack" is obviously a put on, Tarquin is apparently used to men being attracted to him.
* Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Caused his divorce and an argument over a sign with Elan. Apparently.
* Evil Counterpart
* Unlike Nale, who is an "evil opposite" to Elan, Tarquin is a lot like Elan personality-wise, except he's evil (and smart).
* He also comes across as something of an Evil Counterpart to Roy (which is part of why Elan initially trusts him). Like Roy, Tarquin is a fighter who totally subverts that class's stereotype of being Dumb Muscle, and Tarquin's total amorality gives an idea of what Roy would be like if instead of being pragmatic and good, he was just pragmatic. He's also a foil to Roy in fighting style: where Roy relies on Boring but Practical heavy attacks and heavy armor to power through combat situations, Tarquin uses defensive feats and counterattacks to turn his enemies' strengths against them.
* Incidentally, he replaces Thog as Roy's counterpart in the latest incarnation of the Linear Guild.
* His subtle machinations and keen political savvy shows him as an evil counterpart to Lord Shojo.
* Evil Genius: His military record speaks for itself.
* Evil Is Cool: Invoked Trope, in that he certainly seems to think so (though he does not like to see it in terms of "good" and "evil".)
* Evil Overlord
* Evil Overlord List: He has read it. In fact, he seems to be trying to standardize it.
* Exact Words: Tarquin offers to send 500 of his troops to "join the battle" between the Free City of Doom and the Empire of Tears, to attempt to get a petitioner to sleep with him, which actually doesn't work. He fails to mention which side his troops would be on.
* Expy: His name evokes Tarkin of Star Wars, as does his position, he wears a Boba Fett-like helmet, and revealed his identity to his son in a Vader-parody.
* False-Flag Operation: He and his adventuring partners serve as advisors to the continent's greatest rulers and manipulate them into conquering smaller nations, "liberating" them, and then assimilating them under the guise of protection. This way, Tarquin's six-person party is the de facto ruler of one-third of a continent.
* Four-Star Badass: Conquered eleven different nations over the course of eight months shortly after appearing on the Western Continent -- and was only deposed through the combined efforts of twenty-six others. His personal combat prowess is also as impressive as his military savvy.
* Genre Savvy: He is Elan's father, after all.
* Giant Flyer: He uses a pteranodon as mount.
* Glamour: Tarquin has his armor enchanted with a glamour spell that allows it to give the appearance of having another shape and color than it actually does. He says that for someone who has to change flags as often as he did, it really comes in handy, saving him a lot of money on re-enchantment costs.
* A Glass of Chianti: Tarquin keeps several handy, just for dramatic speeches.
* Grandpa, What Massive Hotness You Have!
* Hair Antennae
* Healing Factor: Thanks to one of his magic items, presumably a Ring of Regeneration.
* The Hedonist: His speech to Elan makes him sound like this. The truth is more complicated.
* Hobbes Was Right
* I Always Wanted to Say That
* I Have You Now, My Pretty
* I Kiss Your Hand
* To Haley.
* To Amun-Zora.
* Is That What They're Calling It Now?:
* It's All About Me: Tarquin doesn't really seem to "get" that his horrible deeds could bother anyone, whether it is good-aligned people he interacts with, or sometimes, even the victims of those same deeds. He's basically a total sociopath who can be a nice guy to others when things are going his way, and takes badly to people who act against him. He also tends to assume that any odd plot development is about him unless proven otherwise.
* Kick the Dog
* Not that it wasn't there before, but pages #756 and #757 go a long way in proving that underneath all his affability, Tarquin is a monster.
* The latter might even be something worse. Page #759 really takes the cake.
* And it gets worse. In #763 he basically explains to Elan that his death would inspire other villains, and that even if Elan kills him, his last thoughts would be that he got three decades worth of being a god and that only the last ten minutes sucked.
* Lack of Empathy: An incredible lack of it to anyone outside of his inner circle. Even in it, you aren't exempt. He tells Malack he's sick of hearing about his dead children and to man up to work with Nale. On the other hand, when Malack later points out he's being a hypocrite regarding how he's treating their respective families, he apologizes and agrees not to do it again.
* Luke, You Are My Father: Elan and Nale's father, to be precise.
* Make It Look Like an Accident: Tarquin lost his last wife to "mysterious circumstances." It's strongly hinted that this trope is in play here. However, it is in fact subverted, because she genuinely did die in mysterious circumstances thanks to V's use of Familicide.
* The Man Behind the Dragon: He's not technically in charge, but he and Malack are clearly the brains behind the Empress of Blood. And behind the rulers of two other empires to boot.
* Meaningful Name: The name "Tarquin" calls to mind either Rome's tyrannical last king or his rapist son, both of which are fairly apropos for this Tarquin. However, despite the plethora of Star Wars jokes when he was introduced, Word of the Giant is that Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin wasn't in his mind during this name choice.
* Metaphorgotten:
* Moral Myopia: Cares very little for people not friends or family.
* Multilayer Facade: He disguises himself as Thog wearing a helmet. When Roy tries to unmask him, underneath is another mask.
* My Death Is Just the Beginning: It hasn't happened yet, but he's revealed that this forms the core of his Evil Plan.
* Narrative Causality: A great believer in the trends in stories. Mostly because he is incredibly Genre Savvy (a trait that Elan has inherited).
* Nerd in Evil's Helmet
* Not So Harmless: There were indications of him being evil from the very beginning, but "Of Clerks and Clerics" is the first to show him "in action", demonstrating that despite his seemingly friendly and goofy demeanor, he's not someone you want to mess with. Note that at the time he was "humiliated", he gave no sign of anger and didn't drop his pleasant façade.
* Obfuscating Stupidity: He's not above using it. As shown in "Also, the Desert is Dry", it's clear he knows Elan and Haley are secretly working together with Roy, Belkar and Durkon.
* Offhand Backhand: To stop Nale from escaping.
* Orcus on His Throne: This is how Nale sees him, and it pisses him off to no end, as he feels that Tarquin has more than enough power to conquer the world and can't get it through his head why his father has no desire to.
* Overly Pre-Prepared Gag: According to Malack, he's always willing to go the extra mile for a punchline, which is confirmed a few times, notably him waiting forever to say the line, "Elan... I am you father!"
* Pet the Dog: Despite being a vicious warlord, he's still willing to have a day of bonding with his long-lost son. Unlike Elan, however, readers get to see the true nature of the façade. Another instance is when he admits that because of how Elan turned out, Nale's upbringing is his fault. Finally, he gives an apparently genuine apology to Malack when he gets called out on toying with the Stick in order to see how good Elan is after having forced Malack to work with his children's murderer.
* Politically-Incorrect Villain: Though he's charming to women in general (Haley, being his son's paramour gets nothing more than a kiss on the hand, and later notes that he's rather attractive), his actions towards women he desires that aren't receptive to his attentions are rather repulsive.
* Pragmatic Villainy: Has no desire to outreach his grasp, knows the difference between family and philosophy, and is even willing to help the heroes prevent world domination. Because that would interfere with his regional domination. This makes him a wonderful Foil for Nale, who is absolutely crippled by his gigantic ego.
* Reasonable Authority Figure: As a result of just how very pragmatic he is, one of the rare evil examples. Perfectly willing to accept the requests and needs of the heroic party at face value without any hostages, blackmail, or conspiracy theories, recognizing that the scale of their quest precludes typical villainous behavior. Though it's later subverted when he finds out about the Rifts and decides to seize control of Girard's Gate from Elan's party.
* Resemblance Reveal
* The Reveal: Oh, he loves these.
* He's Elan's father.
* He and Malack are the real powers behind the throne.
* He and his adventuring buddies are the real powers behind the throne of the three biggest empires in the Western Continent, and they're playing a three-way con to absorb the rest.
* One of the aliases used by Tarquin's ever-changing empire was Tyrinaria, which means he is responsible for the unfair arrest of Ian Starshine, Haley's father.
* Rings of Power
* He never leaves home without a Ring of Regeneration.
* He also owns a Ring of True Seeing, a birthday present from his departed wife.
* The Scarpia Ultimatum: This page makes it fairly clear that his seduction of Captain Amun-Zora from the City of Doom had more than a hint of this. The same comic reveals that he "convinced" previous brides to accept him through Cold-Blooded Torture and will likely be doing the same to Amun-Zora.
* Shoulders of Doom
* Silver Fox: Haley sees him as evidence that Elan will still be attractive in his old age.
* So Proud of You: He's very happy Elan didn't turn out like his brother did. For rather off reasons:
* Spin Attack: Does something between this and Grievous Harm with a Body to Durkon.
* Stone Wall: His fighting style so far appears to be based on defending against enemy attacks and counterattacking.
* The Strategist: Both military and political long-term brilliant plans. There's a reason why Evil Genius is on this list.
* Strong Family Resemblance
* Tin Tyrant
* The Un-Reveal: Not as far as the readers are concerned since we already know who he is, but as far as the Order... Tarquin disguises himself as Thog when battling them. It quickly becomes clear to the Order that he isn't who he claims to be. But when Roy tries to remove Tarquin's helmet, underneath is a mask (with a humiliating response written on it to boot).
* Uriah Gambit: When his troops invades the Free City of Doom, he makes sure that one of the casualties is the husband of the woman he wants to bed.
* Utopia Justifies the Means
* Villain of Another Story: Tarquin is completely aware that the world is filled with myriad stories, that he is the Big Bad of only one of them, and that aiding other Big Bads is not in his interest. He thus bends over backwards to help his son's adventuring party find Girard, because he figures there is some world-destroying villain they need to stop -- in other words, a dangerous rival they intend to eliminate.
* Well-Intentioned Extremist: Claims to be this to Elan.
* What Is Evil?:
* Worth It: Tarquin figures that even though his death as a dictator is inevitable, it will still be awesome until the end.
* Worthy Opponent: He sees Roy as this. It's part of why he decides to join the Linear Guild, since he thinks he'll be a worthy challenge.
* Xanatos Gambit: Reasons that even though he will probably eventually be taken down by a hero one day, he'll still be immortalized as a legend by the same bards singing songs of his defeat. In the meantime, he'll be living the high-life as a king for X amount of years until that eventuality occurs.
* You Can't Make an Omelette: See Metaphorgotten above.
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