Rich Morris' Comics - YAFGC and The ComixBlog

I guess that Mah'ri will eventually lose the war and will be deposed from the drow throne. (She's just too evil, right? Moreover, if she wins, she would probably raze the whole orc kingdom (and probably kill or enslave all the orcs, including Mrs. Bloodhand and the royal family), and we want both drow and orcs in the Black mountain, don't we?) So who would be the next drow ruler? Or maybe Black mountain drow will be fully conquered and their kingdom will exist no more? Take your bets!

I wouldn't say being too evil is the problem so much as she's likely bitten off more than she can chew. Drow vs Orc when the orcs are out of favor with their diety and Lolth is fully supporting them? Great power play. Drow vs Orcs and all their allies? Not so much, drow have never been particularily numerous so an attack on all fronts is pretty much the worst thing that can happen to them.

As an outsider Mah'ri is not familiar with Mrs. Bloodhand, her reputation or how all the other races voted her into power.

I wouldn't be surprised to find that 'Bith comes back as Arachne's puppet. I suspect that Arachne wouldn't want the throne herself. Maybe she'll even set Wolf up as Consort to make sure that someone loyal to her always has the restored Queen within knife's reach.

Alzaer'bith would probably just kill Wolf if she found out, though; she's not one of the great thinkers of this Age -- or any other. But I think she is the most likely candidate for the next Drow on the throne. She may be an idiot, but she mostly kept the lid on her society, and she's not a threat to the Bloodhand reign -- yet. Also, who else would be more diligent about undoing everything Mahr'i pulled off, except for Anancy?

Mind the fact that she is held in slavery by Arachne. Not only the drow might not want an ex-slave queen, but Arachne can be quite unwilling to give up her "toys" and seems to ignore the concept of common good.

P. S. That leads to an interesting question. Are all the drow men slaves because they are considered inferior to women or are they considered inferior because they are all slaves?

They are inferior because Lolth decrees it to be so.

As towards who would be queen, Bith isn't a bad choice. She managed to subvert Lewie's drive for empire for about 200 strips and was adept enough to see the advantages in allying with the surface folk against Karak.

But I suspect we'll have a new character on the throne. Ahne, perhaps.

Arachne doesn't want the throne: her responsibilities go beyond ruling a nation, and she seems to believe that the greatest power lies behind the throne, not on top of it.

Hmm. Has anyone thought that Wolf might become King, provided he pleases Lolth well enough? Or maybe just King consort. Old Eight-Legs might be so fed up with all the mucking about the recent monarchs have done that she takes direct political control, in addition to her religious power.

would it be too farfetched to think that Nephilia would come back?

I'm not so sure. Lolth has been shown expressing concern that her powers have waned somewhat due to her constant pressence on the material plane, if a campaign she encourages under a Queen she favors goes to crap because she was distracted by the temptations of the flesh she may choose to finally return home. Only one thing matters more to Lolth than her own pleasure, maintaining her power.

Both Anancy and Nephilia were punished by Lolth; therefore, both of them are highly unlikely to possess the throne. Wolf could be a more probable pretendent because he is neither transformed into a monster nor thrown into the hell, but he is a man, and, therefore, a permanent slave. And I don't think that Lolth would break social rules, established by herself, for the sake of every male whose... er... butt she liked.

His chances of surviving this story at all are about 50/50 at best.

Wolf provides lots of jokes which wouldn't be possible without such a character. That's why I think that Rich wouldn't dump him without a good reason and he will be still alive for a long, long time.

Considering we haven't lost any major plot characters since Jone in 1400 (two years ago), I'd say we're about due.

This sounds reallly clever but i agree that the drow could dislike the idea of a deposed queen returning. Plus Bith is not exactly easy to control once in the throne.
As for Arachne not being a fan of the common good, i think this depends on what her order decrees. So far she has helped resolve a lot of situations in the Black Mountain and she does have stakes in who rules the drow.

Essentially, she's the drow equivalent of an Illuminati (Tenebrati?).