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Arkhan the Black

2019-10-21T12:24:32Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:645F:5756:B21D:ADC8: /* Mortal Life */

[[File:Arkhan's new style.png|300px|thumb|right|Arkhan the Black's new look]]
{{Topquote|You've read the signs as well as I. Nagash must rise, or our kingdoms of silence will fall. And yours will be the first.|Arkhan the Black}}
{{Topquote|One has to pay dearly for immortality; one has to die several times while one is still alive.|Friedrich Nietzsche}}

'''Arkhan the Black''' is the first and most loyal follower of [[Nagash]], who somehow went from a wastrel in a minor noble family to a super-badass necromancer-warrior. He has decimated kingdoms as Araby never fully recovered from the war he waged against it following Nagash's first death. Due to his power he has fought for and against many of the Tomb Kings as a warlord-for-hire.

Before 8th edition and the End Times he had no personality beyond being Nagash's right hand lich. He came back as a playable character in the 8th Edition Tomb Kings armybook, with the stirrings of his plan to bring back Nagash. The End Times were surprisingly kind to Arkhan. Following this, he's now an introspective, mercantile smartass, Warhammer Fantasy's first Hero Killer and he kind-of gets the girl (see below). To wit, he's the first playable Special Character to kill off other playable Special Characters and during the End Times he has the highest body count of all of them.

He has a voice actor now! While not as ideal as Vincent Price would have been, rest his soul, the one we have is fantastic. See below for more.

==Mortal Life==
Born thousands of years ago, back when Nehekhara was a kingdom of the living, Arkhan was originally a member of a noble family in Khemri during the reign of king Thutep. Despite his lineage he was the black sheep of the family, more interested in gambling, drugs, back-alley brawls and whore-mongering (turns out the temple of Asaph did ritual prostitution, but reputedly he had to pay double before any of the priestesses went near him). He earned the nickname "the Black" as a human from his appalling dental hygiene and his love of chewing juseh root, which reduced his teeth to black shards. However, all depictions of his skeleton form have him with normal, bone-white teeth, <strike>implying that Nagash has a very good dental plan. Maybe that's why he's so loyal to him</strike> [https://occultdetectives.tumblr.com/post/187823103997/how-did-arkhans-tooth-turn-from-black-to-white it turned out neither the teeth nor the skull were originally his - his first true death did come from decapitation].

==Vizier of Khemri==
When Nagash sought a cabal of followers to assist him in usurping the throne of Khemri he found them in Arkhan and his compatriots. In particular they were convinced by a demonstration of his newly created art of necromancy. The group supported Nagash by kidnapping victims off the street, this served to both supply Nagash with bodies for his experiments and to undermine his brother’s rule. Arkhan and the others started to learn rudiments of necromancy themselves during this time, and he was the first of Nagash's followers to partake of the elixir which granted eternal life, becoming the first of Nagash’s so-called "Immortals".

When Nagash finally usurped his brother’s throne, declaring himself king of Khemri, Arkhan was appointed his vizier. In response the Priest Kings of Nehekhara formed an alliance against Nagash, and Arkhan served as the great necromancer's foremost lieutenant in the struggle that followed. Battle after battle was waged, but inevitably the more numerous forces of the Priest Kings proved too much, and Nagash and his armies were forced back into the city of Khemri.

Arkhan is officially credited with leading the suicidal counterattack that allowed Nagash to escape the Army of the Seven Kings, single-handedly holding them off with spell-casting and swordplay for an hour before his death. There are different accounts of events across the editions of Warhammer:
* Some random schmo managed to hit Arkhan in the heart with a thrown spear and Arkhan's body was consumed by black flames, leaving behind a skeleton. While the Nehekharans destroyed the bodies of Nagash's other followers, they didn't desecrate Arkhan's remains out of respect for his badass last stand and simply built a stone cairn over them (first version).
* Same as before, except instead of respect for his last stand the Nehekharans built the cairn and didn't desecrate Arkhan's body because Arkhan gave a curse with his dying breath that anyone who touched his bones would die horribly (second version).
* Lamashizzar snuck up on Arkhan, carrying a prototype Cathayan gun. He used this to shoot Arkhan in the heart and incapacitate him for transport to Lahmia. The "throwing spear to the heart from an unknown soldier" was a cover story made up by Lamashizzar (most recent version, and canon as of the End Times).

==Imprisonment in Lahmia==

After his defeat, Arkhan and Nagash's nine books were smuggled to Lahmia. There Arkhan was restored to unlife and kept as a prisoner of Lamashizzar and W'soran to teach them Nagash's magic. Lahmashizzar was not smart, and while W'soran was a capable student, he kept what he learnt to himself. Lacking magical ability, Lamashizzar brought in his sister [[Queen Neferata|Neferata]] to aid in the lessons. One day, Neferata visited Arkhan herself and chatted with him. She wanted Arkhan to teach her as well, and used her charm to try and persuade him. To everyone's surprise, including her own, Neferata sympathized with the imprisoned lich and formed a genuine rapport with him that grew into something more. Arkhan gladly taught her magic (when Neferata offered a reward, Arkhan only asked for the chance to ride a horse with silver bells on its harness through the desert at night) until she was able to overthrow Lamashizzar and take the throne for herself with the king reduced to a figurehead under her thumb.

This turned out to be a grave error however when the king, still supported by many members of the cabal, tried to have Neferata assassinated with a deadly magical poison. Arkhan tried to save Neferata, but his methods reacted with Neferata's blood and she appeared to die. Furious and determined to have his revenge, Arkhan snuck into the royal palace and assassinated Lamashizzar in return. The king’s bodyguard Abhorash, though too slow to save his king, beheaded Arkhan in personal combat for his crime. Unbeknown to Arkhan his magic in fact had saved Neferata and turned her into the first vampire. She took charge with her brother dead, then had Arkhan's corpse discretely but respectfully buried in the Lahmian necropolis.

==As the Liche King==
Many years later Nagash, now secured in his northern fortress Nagashizzar, decided to take his revenge on the Priest Kings of Nehekhara. Although generations had passed, he had not forgotten his most loyal lieutenant. Knowing he would soon have need of him Nagash had Arkhan rise from his tomb and join him in the north. Once again he led his master’s forces against the united Priest Kings. During this time, Arkhan formed a bitter rivalry with W'soran. The former thought the latter was overconfident, the latter thought the former was a coward. They two often argued; when they weren't disagreeing on the best way to conduct the battles, they bickered over which of them was the better wizard, which form of undeath was best or who was Nagash's favorite. Between their mutual animosity and the great leadership and military prowess of king Alcadizaar of Khemri, they were unsuccessful despite a long campaign.

When Nagash enacted the first part of his Great Ritual, Arkhan commanded Nagash's undead army once more and this time easily defeated the plague riddled Nehekharans, taking Alcadizaar prisoner. Staying in Khemri to take control of Nagash’s supreme army of the whole undead Nehekharan nation when the second part of the ritual was cast, he instead was forced to flee when Nagash’s assassination left the risen kings with their own willpower. United under Settra, the wrath of the Tomb Kings was simply too great.

Intent on wreaking vengeance on the living for the death of his master, Arkhan ransacked Nagashizzar (fighting his long time rival W’Soran and other returned Immortals in the process) he then turned his army towards Araby, and for generations battered its kingdoms in what Arabian chroniclers would come to call the Wars of Death. Inhabiting the desert wastes that surround Araby, Arkhan would lead his armies upon an Arabian city, razing it to the ground before withdrawing again to the deserts.

Later he established himself once again in Nehekhara in his fortess of old, the Black Tower. From here his repeated raids and incursions, while not a major threat, soon became more than just a mere nuisance. Repeatedly Settra would be forced to do battle with Arkhan and whilst he had a vastly superior sense of strategy and better troops at his command their battles always resulted in a stalemate as Settra could never hope to match the great necromantic power of Arkhan. Therefore Arkhan would submit to Settra's authority and swear fealty before once again defying him just a few short years later. This stalemate might have been broken had the other Tomb Kings assisted but Settra was too proud to ask for their help and most considered Arkhan a valuable, if untrustworthy, ally. These constant battles against Settra did serve to improve Arkhan's sense of strategy through trial and error.

Over the following centuries, Arkhan busied himself with hunting down various treasures of Nagash in order to serve his master on the day of his return. However, for some reason, he didn’t re-join Nagash when he was resurrected and engaged in his northwards campaign against Sigmar.

Arkhan had for a long time foreseen the End Times coming and knew Nagash was one of the few beings who could be relied upon to defeat the Chaos Gods. Nagash himself also recognized this threat, and fast-tracked his plans for restoration by several centuries by telling Arkhan to get to work. In order to restore Nagash he needed to gain many of the items Nagash had imbued with his power over the years. Already possessing a number of his Nine books, Arkhan sought Nagash’s staff. By allying himself with Khalida of Lybaras to attack the vampire lord Mandregan in Sylvania, Arkhan acquired one of Nagash’s lesser staffs, and soon learned the location of his primary staff Alakanesh; Bretonnia. Though being undead and serving Nagash dulled his emotions, he's still in love with [[Queen Neferata]].

==The End Times==
With the coming of [[The End Times]], Arkhan made his move. To try and find Nagash's staff he backed Mallobaude's coup with resulted in Bretonnia's civil war, which was a failure for Arkhan due to the intervention of the Wood Elves and the return of Giles Le Breton. Since he already had two of Nagash's books, he entered Sylvanvia seeking the rest of them, but Mannfred took exception. After an amazing duel that resulted in a stalemate, they called a truce and the two formed an alliance. After much politicking, they arranged the plan to retrieve Nagash's treasures, with him and Mannfred leading several armies. Arkhan was the one who broke them out of the Wall of Faith trapping them in Sylvania through an ancient ritual; Mannfred had the power but lacked the knowledge of how to use it. The second time Arkhan tried to retrieve the staff he had to kill Kemmler for it because the necromancer had betrayed Nagash to serve the Chaos Gods. In the battle Arkhan lost one of the few things he cared about, a zombified cat he had adopted. Despite repeated assassination attempts from Beastmen led by Malagor and Mannfred's vampire knights, Arkhan succeeded and Nagash returned to the world.

During this time, Arkhan also established himself as a Hero Killer, killing Kemmler (magical duel), the Fey Enchantress (slit her throat and bled her out as the sacrifice to bring Nagash back), Eltharion (aged to dust by magic) and Nekaph (incinerated by magic). During the war for Nehekhara he took all the undead in Nagashizzar and conquered Mahrak and Quatar, [[FAIL|the latter in a big offscreen battle that's barely alluded to]]. At Khemri he was the visible commander of Nagash's armies and managed to do alright despite being outmatched. Eventually he was cut in half by Settra, who'd had enough of him by that point, and magically smuggled Nagash into Khemri within his own body (Arkhan's bisected body was taken to ritual that was supposed to stop Arkhan from being brought back, but one of the priests went quisling for Nagash). After the battle for Khemri ended with Settra's defeat and its destruction, Arkhan was made whole again and permitted to go to war wherever he wanted at the behest of his master once more. Now the [[Mortarch]] of Sacrament, riding the Dread Abyssal Razarak, The Doom of Traitors, Arkhan still serves Nagash with dedication in his actions... though for the first time in millennia he started having second thoughts.

When Nagash entered his sarcophagus to absorb the wind of death after conquering Nehekhara, Arkhan led the undead in his absence. When Isabella and the Nameless attacked, Arkhan showed some tactical savvy and organized the defense, but was defeated after a vicious fight with Isabella and killed. After the destruction of the Black Pyramid Nagash was furious over Arkhan's failure, but knew Arkhan was reliable and intelligent so Nagash restored him and Krell. When Nagash travelled to Athel Loren to work with the living, Arkhan was silent but snickering to himself about the irony of Nagash's situation. Apart from some witty banter with Vlad, Arkhan only speaks because Nagash doesn't want to, making Arkhan in effect the Mouth of Sauron. After a fight with the forces of the Chaos Gods, the Incarnates and their forces are sent to Middenheim. Arkhan helps co-ordinate Nagash's army, then Throgg came with an army of monsters. Nagash told Arkhan to take two Morghast hosts and hold them until dead. When Arkhan asked for any further instructions he sensed Nagash's doubt before Nagash said, "DIE WELL MY SERVANT." and abandoned him. Though it ends with Arkhan fighting, it's repeated that it's a fight he can't win.

In the Lord of the End Times novel, after the Incarnates fail to stop the rift, Neferata encountered Arkhan with an unconscious Isabella. Arkhan had survived Nagash's last order and driven back the army of Chaos monsters (with the unexpected help of Settra) but he was battered. Arkhan told her that Aliathra's magic gave him a vision of a mysterious figure who could save/restore the world even after it was destroyed, and that he would help them if he could. Arkhan then showed her his slowly disintegrating hand; with Nagash's destruction Arkhan was dying as well. He bade Neferata flee and try to avoid the world's destruction, and take Isabella with her, stating he thought it was possible she could survive the end of the world. Neferata kissed him, took Isabella and fled while Arkhan tried to buy her time with his magic. As Neferata escaped, there was a last burst of purple magic and she could no longer sense him and grieved, thinking him destroyed (OTP confirmed).

==Age of Sigmar==
With the world's reconstruction in Age of Sigmar, Arkhan's back! He's bound to Nagash and it's confirmed while Nagash exists, so does Arkhan. He fought alongside Nagash when the latter was allied with Sigmar, and followed him after Nagash's betrayal. When Nagash fell against Archaon, Arkhan led the counterattack where Nagash's body was retrieved along with thwarting the treachery of Prince Vhordai. However, the novel ''Nagash: The Undying King'' implies that he is not the same. Now Arkhan seems to have no memory of the previous world. One theory was that this is not the original Arkhan; either a construct made from Nagash's memory of Arkhan or another person who took up the mantle (like one of the theories about [[Farsight]] before it was revealed he's the same guy with life-stealing sword). Now it's either he simply has a creation-of-a-new-world hangover that made him forget his previous life or [[Grimdark|Nagash stole some of Arkhan's memories]]. In the novel ''Soul Wars'', it's confirmed that this is the original Arkhan and he's at least partially playing dumb. He plays the loyal servant so well that the other Mortarchs, and occasionally Nagash himself, forget that he's his own person and not just a neutral avatar of Nagash. This lets him get away with making his own moves in their endless politicking almost entirely undetected.

Arkhan was at Nagash's side when the latter abandoned Sigmar's alliance and during the fights against the forces of Chaos. When Nagash was killed by Archaon in the Battle of Burning Skies, it was Arkhan who thwarted Vhordrai's treacherous attempt to give Nagash to the Chaos Gods. Arkhan defeated the vampire and imprisoned him in a gravestone sarcophagus until Nagash returned. He also showed up in the Age of Sigmar audio book "The Bridge of Seven Sorrows" complete with a voice actor. He'd stayed in Stygx when Mannfred and the Stormcasts of the Hallowed Knights entered to find Nagash. They are stopped at the the other side of the bridge by Arkhan and his steed, Razanak. Arkhan called Mannfred schemer, ingrate and fearful before ordering him to leave. Tarsus started to give his message, but Arkhan told them he knew it was from Sigmar, that Nagash didn't want to hear it or have anything to do with Sigmar and ordered the Stormcast Eternals to leave or he'd be forced to kill them. When they persisted Arkhan seemed to admire them, but still summoned seven banshees to kill the Stormcasts, staying on the sidelines until Mannfred attacked him with Arkhan fighting back with relish. Arkhan managed to beat Mannfred back then Tarsus joined the duel and forced Arkhan onto the defensive. Mannfred took advantage of the distraction to cut of Arkhan's sword hand, run him through and hurl him against the bridge. Despite his injuries Arkhan wasn't vanquished, but got to his feet and explained that the entire confrontation was a test. Shortly after Nagash himself arrived to handle the situation and Arkhan stood aside to let Nagash handle things.

Later on Arkhan inadvertently helped the Stormcast by trying to capture Mannfred while he's dueling the Relictor Ramus. Mannfred fled and Arkhan claimed to have a message from Sigmar.

He was also present with the third meeting of the Stormcast Eternals seeking Nagash's help, where he pretended to lose control of a terrorgheist as part of a test Nagash had for them. Later, Arkhan provided undead reinforcements when they went to thwart Mannfred's latest schemes. After pushing back the forces of Chaos, Arkhan was put in charge of gathering gravestone for Nagash's Great Black Pyramid. During this time, Arkhan's revealed to have his own plan to deal with Chaos. Arkhan was trying to use the renewed conflict between Ayr and Shyish to manipulate both Nagash and Sigmar into joining forces against Chaos, as he figured that after the two gods slap each other around a bit and vent their anger that they'll eventually kiss and make up enough to unite against Chaos again (which is lampshaded by Mannfred). Arkhan correctly surmised that the Chaos Gods would only take the renewed conflict between them as a moment to strike again after their defeats in the realmgate wars and noted that the Pantheon had made their biggest gains against Chaos when united. One gets the impression that since becoming undead Arkhan would've been quite the noble and clever hero if he wasn't loyal to [[Nagash|an omnicidal sociopathic god]].

==On the Tabletop==
===As a Tomb King===
Arkhan's a spellcaster, first and foremost. Though he can only use spells from the Lore of Death, his copy of the Liber Mortis makes him a level 5 caster (though he loses a level, and thus a random spell, if it ever gets destroyed), and his Staff of Nagash lets him convert three dispel dice from one turn into three fresh power dice in the next turn. Like a Tomb King, he has the Nehekharan Undead, Flammable and "The Curse" special rules.

Fluffwise, Arkhan's supposed to be good in melee as well as a caster, and his Tomb Blade of Arkhan, which restores wounds to a unit he's with for each unsaved wound he inflicts on an enemy unit, would seem to support this. Statwise... not so much. At Strength and Toughness 5 and with 3 Wounds, he might seem survivable, but with only light armor for protection and a Weapon Skill of only 4, backed by three Initiative 3 attacks, it really isn't worth it. Especially not when he costs 360 points, takes up a Lord slot, and can potentially be your Hierophant.

If you feel you really need the magical offense, he's not a bad choice in a higher value game, but making him your Hierophant is a pretty bad move, since he can't use any of the Lore of Nehekhara spells that a Hierophant is supposed to use. He's also got the option to ride a flying chariot; using it is inadvisable.

===As Mortarch of Sacrament===
So, how does Arkhan change in the [[Undead Legion]]? He costs 650 points, loses Flammable, loses the Curse, is a Monster (Special Character), and has gained +1 Toughness, +5 Wounds and +4 Attacks. His Tomb Blade now only restores his own health and he's traded the Liber Mortis and Staff of Nagash for the Staff of Spirits, which operates much the same as his old staff (can sacrifice two Power Dice in one magic phase and then apply them to a spell in the next magic phase). He can Fly, is a Large Target, causes Terror, is Undead, rolls a D6 at the end of any Close Combat phase in which he's caused a Wound and recovers a lost Wound of his own if he rolls a 6, he reduces the wounds he suffers due to Unstable by -1 (in addition to any other modifiers), can march as normal, and doubles the points worth of models he summons when casting spells from the Lore of Undeath, including the additional points generated by Raise the Dead counters. He's a level 4 caster who can generate any combination of spells he wishes (that is, four from one, or two from each, or three from one and a fourth from the other) from both the Lore of Death and the Lore of Undeath. If this makes him sound like a mini-Nagash, that's because he pretty much is - While [[Nagash]] is awesome and can do awesome things, he's 1000 pt, so Arkhan is like a budget version of him, with lesser, although still powerful versions of his abilities. Take him if you don't want [[Nagash]] to fill up half your army and when you want room for other dudes and dudettes.

== In Total War Warhammer ==

He's finally in a video game! Added with the Tomb Kings expansion DLC for Total War Warhammer II, Arkhan the Black is the odd duck out of the playable tomb kings. He plays much more like one of the bad guy factions such as the Vampire Counts, Greenskins, Dark Elves, Skaven, or one of the three Chaos factions in that you're really not going to be doing a lot of diplomacy. All of the other Tomb Kings dislike you and you're almost certainly going to ruffle the feathers of Kroq-Gar, Teclis, Thorgrim, and Skrolk due to your proximity. Your only half-way decent relationships are with the Vampire counts; two of whose factions are squatting in Nehekharan territory you'd probably want for yourself, the Greenskins who should probably never be trusted, the Vampire Coast who are mostly out for themselves, and maybe the Dark Elves won't totally hate you but you have little reason to interact with any of them besides Lokhir anyway.

In exchange for having most of the factions near him being hostile to him, you get to patch some holes in the Tomb King Roster with Dire Wolves, Felbats, Crypt Ghouls and breaking the mould of kind of meh early game trash fodder; FUCKING HEXWRAITHS. Probably a bit underwhelming all things told as he's still lacking in what the Tomb Kings are really missing; an air game which could be provided by Vargheists and Terrorgheists, on demand healing from mortis engines, necromancers, the lore of vampires, or corpse carts, and anti-armour infantry in the form of cairn wraiths or great weapon grave guard but hey; take what you can get. Arkhan himself though is a pretty powerful lord who's actually quite strong in melee, gets access to a spooky looking floating chariot to ignore most terrain penalties, and perhaps most importantly gets access to the lore of <s>cheese</s> death.

If there is any down side to him, it's that CA went with the most gravelly voice actor one could imagine and changed his appearance slightly to still have some dessicated skin clinging to him instead of his canonically completely flesh stripped bones. However, he provides a fun campaign for either the Vortex or the Mortal Empires maps and given that if you're playing Arkhan you probably don't give a shit about diplomacy anyway, feel free to gank whomever's got the Sword of Khaine before going apeshit bananas with the sword of murderfuck and laugh as you basically delete any unit you charge with him and smiting any fools who aren't dead yet with either the purple sun of xerus or the sword of khaine's vortex. So far, Arkhan equipped with the Sword of Khaine is the closest you can get to the experience of playing as Nagash himself.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Arkhan_older_picture.png|Arkhan the Black [[Old School Roleplaying|back in the day.]]
File:Arkhan the Black's old model.jpg|Arkhan's first model (surprisingly less derpy than [[Nagash|his master's original model]]).
File:Arkhan2.jpg|Nagash might give a sweet dental plan...
File:Arkhan the Black new model.jpg|Arkhan's badass new model.
Image:Nef+Ark.jpg|Arkhan's dream, a reality as of the End Times "Kiss me you magnificent bastard. Give me your bone!"
File:Arkhanageofsigmar.jpg|"The more things change, the more they stay the same."
File:Arkhan Total War.jpeg|Now in digital form.
</gallery>

{{Tomb Kings}}

[[Category:Undead Legion]]
[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Arkhan the Black

2019-10-21T12:24:18Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:645F:5756:B21D:ADC8: /* Mortal Life */

[[File:Arkhan's new style.png|300px|thumb|right|Arkhan the Black's new look]]
{{Topquote|You've read the signs as well as I. Nagash must rise, or our kingdoms of silence will fall. And yours will be the first.|Arkhan the Black}}
{{Topquote|One has to pay dearly for immortality; one has to die several times while one is still alive.|Friedrich Nietzsche}}

'''Arkhan the Black''' is the first and most loyal follower of [[Nagash]], who somehow went from a wastrel in a minor noble family to a super-badass necromancer-warrior. He has decimated kingdoms as Araby never fully recovered from the war he waged against it following Nagash's first death. Due to his power he has fought for and against many of the Tomb Kings as a warlord-for-hire.

Before 8th edition and the End Times he had no personality beyond being Nagash's right hand lich. He came back as a playable character in the 8th Edition Tomb Kings armybook, with the stirrings of his plan to bring back Nagash. The End Times were surprisingly kind to Arkhan. Following this, he's now an introspective, mercantile smartass, Warhammer Fantasy's first Hero Killer and he kind-of gets the girl (see below). To wit, he's the first playable Special Character to kill off other playable Special Characters and during the End Times he has the highest body count of all of them.

He has a voice actor now! While not as ideal as Vincent Price would have been, rest his soul, the one we have is fantastic. See below for more.

==Mortal Life==
Born thousands of years ago, back when Nehekhara was a kingdom of the living, Arkhan was originally a member of a noble family in Khemri during the reign of king Thutep. Despite his lineage he was the black sheep of the family, more interested in gambling, drugs, back-alley brawls and whore-mongering (turns out the temple of Asaph did ritual prostitution, but reputedly he had to pay double before any of the priestesses went near him). He earned the nickname "the Black" as a human from his appalling dental hygiene and his love of chewing juseh root, which reduced his teeth to black shards. However, all depictions of his skeleton form have him with normal, bone-white teeth, <strike>implying that Nagash has a very good dental plan. Maybe that's why he's so loyal to him</strike> [https://occultdetectives.tumblr.com/post/187823103997/how-did-arkhans-tooth-turn-from-black-to-white it turned out neither the teeth nor the skull were originally his - his first true death came from decapitation].

==Vizier of Khemri==
When Nagash sought a cabal of followers to assist him in usurping the throne of Khemri he found them in Arkhan and his compatriots. In particular they were convinced by a demonstration of his newly created art of necromancy. The group supported Nagash by kidnapping victims off the street, this served to both supply Nagash with bodies for his experiments and to undermine his brother’s rule. Arkhan and the others started to learn rudiments of necromancy themselves during this time, and he was the first of Nagash's followers to partake of the elixir which granted eternal life, becoming the first of Nagash’s so-called "Immortals".

When Nagash finally usurped his brother’s throne, declaring himself king of Khemri, Arkhan was appointed his vizier. In response the Priest Kings of Nehekhara formed an alliance against Nagash, and Arkhan served as the great necromancer's foremost lieutenant in the struggle that followed. Battle after battle was waged, but inevitably the more numerous forces of the Priest Kings proved too much, and Nagash and his armies were forced back into the city of Khemri.

Arkhan is officially credited with leading the suicidal counterattack that allowed Nagash to escape the Army of the Seven Kings, single-handedly holding them off with spell-casting and swordplay for an hour before his death. There are different accounts of events across the editions of Warhammer:
* Some random schmo managed to hit Arkhan in the heart with a thrown spear and Arkhan's body was consumed by black flames, leaving behind a skeleton. While the Nehekharans destroyed the bodies of Nagash's other followers, they didn't desecrate Arkhan's remains out of respect for his badass last stand and simply built a stone cairn over them (first version).
* Same as before, except instead of respect for his last stand the Nehekharans built the cairn and didn't desecrate Arkhan's body because Arkhan gave a curse with his dying breath that anyone who touched his bones would die horribly (second version).
* Lamashizzar snuck up on Arkhan, carrying a prototype Cathayan gun. He used this to shoot Arkhan in the heart and incapacitate him for transport to Lahmia. The "throwing spear to the heart from an unknown soldier" was a cover story made up by Lamashizzar (most recent version, and canon as of the End Times).

==Imprisonment in Lahmia==

After his defeat, Arkhan and Nagash's nine books were smuggled to Lahmia. There Arkhan was restored to unlife and kept as a prisoner of Lamashizzar and W'soran to teach them Nagash's magic. Lahmashizzar was not smart, and while W'soran was a capable student, he kept what he learnt to himself. Lacking magical ability, Lamashizzar brought in his sister [[Queen Neferata|Neferata]] to aid in the lessons. One day, Neferata visited Arkhan herself and chatted with him. She wanted Arkhan to teach her as well, and used her charm to try and persuade him. To everyone's surprise, including her own, Neferata sympathized with the imprisoned lich and formed a genuine rapport with him that grew into something more. Arkhan gladly taught her magic (when Neferata offered a reward, Arkhan only asked for the chance to ride a horse with silver bells on its harness through the desert at night) until she was able to overthrow Lamashizzar and take the throne for herself with the king reduced to a figurehead under her thumb.

This turned out to be a grave error however when the king, still supported by many members of the cabal, tried to have Neferata assassinated with a deadly magical poison. Arkhan tried to save Neferata, but his methods reacted with Neferata's blood and she appeared to die. Furious and determined to have his revenge, Arkhan snuck into the royal palace and assassinated Lamashizzar in return. The king’s bodyguard Abhorash, though too slow to save his king, beheaded Arkhan in personal combat for his crime. Unbeknown to Arkhan his magic in fact had saved Neferata and turned her into the first vampire. She took charge with her brother dead, then had Arkhan's corpse discretely but respectfully buried in the Lahmian necropolis.

==As the Liche King==
Many years later Nagash, now secured in his northern fortress Nagashizzar, decided to take his revenge on the Priest Kings of Nehekhara. Although generations had passed, he had not forgotten his most loyal lieutenant. Knowing he would soon have need of him Nagash had Arkhan rise from his tomb and join him in the north. Once again he led his master’s forces against the united Priest Kings. During this time, Arkhan formed a bitter rivalry with W'soran. The former thought the latter was overconfident, the latter thought the former was a coward. They two often argued; when they weren't disagreeing on the best way to conduct the battles, they bickered over which of them was the better wizard, which form of undeath was best or who was Nagash's favorite. Between their mutual animosity and the great leadership and military prowess of king Alcadizaar of Khemri, they were unsuccessful despite a long campaign.

When Nagash enacted the first part of his Great Ritual, Arkhan commanded Nagash's undead army once more and this time easily defeated the plague riddled Nehekharans, taking Alcadizaar prisoner. Staying in Khemri to take control of Nagash’s supreme army of the whole undead Nehekharan nation when the second part of the ritual was cast, he instead was forced to flee when Nagash’s assassination left the risen kings with their own willpower. United under Settra, the wrath of the Tomb Kings was simply too great.

Intent on wreaking vengeance on the living for the death of his master, Arkhan ransacked Nagashizzar (fighting his long time rival W’Soran and other returned Immortals in the process) he then turned his army towards Araby, and for generations battered its kingdoms in what Arabian chroniclers would come to call the Wars of Death. Inhabiting the desert wastes that surround Araby, Arkhan would lead his armies upon an Arabian city, razing it to the ground before withdrawing again to the deserts.

Later he established himself once again in Nehekhara in his fortess of old, the Black Tower. From here his repeated raids and incursions, while not a major threat, soon became more than just a mere nuisance. Repeatedly Settra would be forced to do battle with Arkhan and whilst he had a vastly superior sense of strategy and better troops at his command their battles always resulted in a stalemate as Settra could never hope to match the great necromantic power of Arkhan. Therefore Arkhan would submit to Settra's authority and swear fealty before once again defying him just a few short years later. This stalemate might have been broken had the other Tomb Kings assisted but Settra was too proud to ask for their help and most considered Arkhan a valuable, if untrustworthy, ally. These constant battles against Settra did serve to improve Arkhan's sense of strategy through trial and error.

Over the following centuries, Arkhan busied himself with hunting down various treasures of Nagash in order to serve his master on the day of his return. However, for some reason, he didn’t re-join Nagash when he was resurrected and engaged in his northwards campaign against Sigmar.

Arkhan had for a long time foreseen the End Times coming and knew Nagash was one of the few beings who could be relied upon to defeat the Chaos Gods. Nagash himself also recognized this threat, and fast-tracked his plans for restoration by several centuries by telling Arkhan to get to work. In order to restore Nagash he needed to gain many of the items Nagash had imbued with his power over the years. Already possessing a number of his Nine books, Arkhan sought Nagash’s staff. By allying himself with Khalida of Lybaras to attack the vampire lord Mandregan in Sylvania, Arkhan acquired one of Nagash’s lesser staffs, and soon learned the location of his primary staff Alakanesh; Bretonnia. Though being undead and serving Nagash dulled his emotions, he's still in love with [[Queen Neferata]].

==The End Times==
With the coming of [[The End Times]], Arkhan made his move. To try and find Nagash's staff he backed Mallobaude's coup with resulted in Bretonnia's civil war, which was a failure for Arkhan due to the intervention of the Wood Elves and the return of Giles Le Breton. Since he already had two of Nagash's books, he entered Sylvanvia seeking the rest of them, but Mannfred took exception. After an amazing duel that resulted in a stalemate, they called a truce and the two formed an alliance. After much politicking, they arranged the plan to retrieve Nagash's treasures, with him and Mannfred leading several armies. Arkhan was the one who broke them out of the Wall of Faith trapping them in Sylvania through an ancient ritual; Mannfred had the power but lacked the knowledge of how to use it. The second time Arkhan tried to retrieve the staff he had to kill Kemmler for it because the necromancer had betrayed Nagash to serve the Chaos Gods. In the battle Arkhan lost one of the few things he cared about, a zombified cat he had adopted. Despite repeated assassination attempts from Beastmen led by Malagor and Mannfred's vampire knights, Arkhan succeeded and Nagash returned to the world.

During this time, Arkhan also established himself as a Hero Killer, killing Kemmler (magical duel), the Fey Enchantress (slit her throat and bled her out as the sacrifice to bring Nagash back), Eltharion (aged to dust by magic) and Nekaph (incinerated by magic). During the war for Nehekhara he took all the undead in Nagashizzar and conquered Mahrak and Quatar, [[FAIL|the latter in a big offscreen battle that's barely alluded to]]. At Khemri he was the visible commander of Nagash's armies and managed to do alright despite being outmatched. Eventually he was cut in half by Settra, who'd had enough of him by that point, and magically smuggled Nagash into Khemri within his own body (Arkhan's bisected body was taken to ritual that was supposed to stop Arkhan from being brought back, but one of the priests went quisling for Nagash). After the battle for Khemri ended with Settra's defeat and its destruction, Arkhan was made whole again and permitted to go to war wherever he wanted at the behest of his master once more. Now the [[Mortarch]] of Sacrament, riding the Dread Abyssal Razarak, The Doom of Traitors, Arkhan still serves Nagash with dedication in his actions... though for the first time in millennia he started having second thoughts.

When Nagash entered his sarcophagus to absorb the wind of death after conquering Nehekhara, Arkhan led the undead in his absence. When Isabella and the Nameless attacked, Arkhan showed some tactical savvy and organized the defense, but was defeated after a vicious fight with Isabella and killed. After the destruction of the Black Pyramid Nagash was furious over Arkhan's failure, but knew Arkhan was reliable and intelligent so Nagash restored him and Krell. When Nagash travelled to Athel Loren to work with the living, Arkhan was silent but snickering to himself about the irony of Nagash's situation. Apart from some witty banter with Vlad, Arkhan only speaks because Nagash doesn't want to, making Arkhan in effect the Mouth of Sauron. After a fight with the forces of the Chaos Gods, the Incarnates and their forces are sent to Middenheim. Arkhan helps co-ordinate Nagash's army, then Throgg came with an army of monsters. Nagash told Arkhan to take two Morghast hosts and hold them until dead. When Arkhan asked for any further instructions he sensed Nagash's doubt before Nagash said, "DIE WELL MY SERVANT." and abandoned him. Though it ends with Arkhan fighting, it's repeated that it's a fight he can't win.

In the Lord of the End Times novel, after the Incarnates fail to stop the rift, Neferata encountered Arkhan with an unconscious Isabella. Arkhan had survived Nagash's last order and driven back the army of Chaos monsters (with the unexpected help of Settra) but he was battered. Arkhan told her that Aliathra's magic gave him a vision of a mysterious figure who could save/restore the world even after it was destroyed, and that he would help them if he could. Arkhan then showed her his slowly disintegrating hand; with Nagash's destruction Arkhan was dying as well. He bade Neferata flee and try to avoid the world's destruction, and take Isabella with her, stating he thought it was possible she could survive the end of the world. Neferata kissed him, took Isabella and fled while Arkhan tried to buy her time with his magic. As Neferata escaped, there was a last burst of purple magic and she could no longer sense him and grieved, thinking him destroyed (OTP confirmed).

==Age of Sigmar==
With the world's reconstruction in Age of Sigmar, Arkhan's back! He's bound to Nagash and it's confirmed while Nagash exists, so does Arkhan. He fought alongside Nagash when the latter was allied with Sigmar, and followed him after Nagash's betrayal. When Nagash fell against Archaon, Arkhan led the counterattack where Nagash's body was retrieved along with thwarting the treachery of Prince Vhordai. However, the novel ''Nagash: The Undying King'' implies that he is not the same. Now Arkhan seems to have no memory of the previous world. One theory was that this is not the original Arkhan; either a construct made from Nagash's memory of Arkhan or another person who took up the mantle (like one of the theories about [[Farsight]] before it was revealed he's the same guy with life-stealing sword). Now it's either he simply has a creation-of-a-new-world hangover that made him forget his previous life or [[Grimdark|Nagash stole some of Arkhan's memories]]. In the novel ''Soul Wars'', it's confirmed that this is the original Arkhan and he's at least partially playing dumb. He plays the loyal servant so well that the other Mortarchs, and occasionally Nagash himself, forget that he's his own person and not just a neutral avatar of Nagash. This lets him get away with making his own moves in their endless politicking almost entirely undetected.

Arkhan was at Nagash's side when the latter abandoned Sigmar's alliance and during the fights against the forces of Chaos. When Nagash was killed by Archaon in the Battle of Burning Skies, it was Arkhan who thwarted Vhordrai's treacherous attempt to give Nagash to the Chaos Gods. Arkhan defeated the vampire and imprisoned him in a gravestone sarcophagus until Nagash returned. He also showed up in the Age of Sigmar audio book "The Bridge of Seven Sorrows" complete with a voice actor. He'd stayed in Stygx when Mannfred and the Stormcasts of the Hallowed Knights entered to find Nagash. They are stopped at the the other side of the bridge by Arkhan and his steed, Razanak. Arkhan called Mannfred schemer, ingrate and fearful before ordering him to leave. Tarsus started to give his message, but Arkhan told them he knew it was from Sigmar, that Nagash didn't want to hear it or have anything to do with Sigmar and ordered the Stormcast Eternals to leave or he'd be forced to kill them. When they persisted Arkhan seemed to admire them, but still summoned seven banshees to kill the Stormcasts, staying on the sidelines until Mannfred attacked him with Arkhan fighting back with relish. Arkhan managed to beat Mannfred back then Tarsus joined the duel and forced Arkhan onto the defensive. Mannfred took advantage of the distraction to cut of Arkhan's sword hand, run him through and hurl him against the bridge. Despite his injuries Arkhan wasn't vanquished, but got to his feet and explained that the entire confrontation was a test. Shortly after Nagash himself arrived to handle the situation and Arkhan stood aside to let Nagash handle things.

Later on Arkhan inadvertently helped the Stormcast by trying to capture Mannfred while he's dueling the Relictor Ramus. Mannfred fled and Arkhan claimed to have a message from Sigmar.

He was also present with the third meeting of the Stormcast Eternals seeking Nagash's help, where he pretended to lose control of a terrorgheist as part of a test Nagash had for them. Later, Arkhan provided undead reinforcements when they went to thwart Mannfred's latest schemes. After pushing back the forces of Chaos, Arkhan was put in charge of gathering gravestone for Nagash's Great Black Pyramid. During this time, Arkhan's revealed to have his own plan to deal with Chaos. Arkhan was trying to use the renewed conflict between Ayr and Shyish to manipulate both Nagash and Sigmar into joining forces against Chaos, as he figured that after the two gods slap each other around a bit and vent their anger that they'll eventually kiss and make up enough to unite against Chaos again (which is lampshaded by Mannfred). Arkhan correctly surmised that the Chaos Gods would only take the renewed conflict between them as a moment to strike again after their defeats in the realmgate wars and noted that the Pantheon had made their biggest gains against Chaos when united. One gets the impression that since becoming undead Arkhan would've been quite the noble and clever hero if he wasn't loyal to [[Nagash|an omnicidal sociopathic god]].

==On the Tabletop==
===As a Tomb King===
Arkhan's a spellcaster, first and foremost. Though he can only use spells from the Lore of Death, his copy of the Liber Mortis makes him a level 5 caster (though he loses a level, and thus a random spell, if it ever gets destroyed), and his Staff of Nagash lets him convert three dispel dice from one turn into three fresh power dice in the next turn. Like a Tomb King, he has the Nehekharan Undead, Flammable and "The Curse" special rules.

Fluffwise, Arkhan's supposed to be good in melee as well as a caster, and his Tomb Blade of Arkhan, which restores wounds to a unit he's with for each unsaved wound he inflicts on an enemy unit, would seem to support this. Statwise... not so much. At Strength and Toughness 5 and with 3 Wounds, he might seem survivable, but with only light armor for protection and a Weapon Skill of only 4, backed by three Initiative 3 attacks, it really isn't worth it. Especially not when he costs 360 points, takes up a Lord slot, and can potentially be your Hierophant.

If you feel you really need the magical offense, he's not a bad choice in a higher value game, but making him your Hierophant is a pretty bad move, since he can't use any of the Lore of Nehekhara spells that a Hierophant is supposed to use. He's also got the option to ride a flying chariot; using it is inadvisable.

===As Mortarch of Sacrament===
So, how does Arkhan change in the [[Undead Legion]]? He costs 650 points, loses Flammable, loses the Curse, is a Monster (Special Character), and has gained +1 Toughness, +5 Wounds and +4 Attacks. His Tomb Blade now only restores his own health and he's traded the Liber Mortis and Staff of Nagash for the Staff of Spirits, which operates much the same as his old staff (can sacrifice two Power Dice in one magic phase and then apply them to a spell in the next magic phase). He can Fly, is a Large Target, causes Terror, is Undead, rolls a D6 at the end of any Close Combat phase in which he's caused a Wound and recovers a lost Wound of his own if he rolls a 6, he reduces the wounds he suffers due to Unstable by -1 (in addition to any other modifiers), can march as normal, and doubles the points worth of models he summons when casting spells from the Lore of Undeath, including the additional points generated by Raise the Dead counters. He's a level 4 caster who can generate any combination of spells he wishes (that is, four from one, or two from each, or three from one and a fourth from the other) from both the Lore of Death and the Lore of Undeath. If this makes him sound like a mini-Nagash, that's because he pretty much is - While [[Nagash]] is awesome and can do awesome things, he's 1000 pt, so Arkhan is like a budget version of him, with lesser, although still powerful versions of his abilities. Take him if you don't want [[Nagash]] to fill up half your army and when you want room for other dudes and dudettes.

== In Total War Warhammer ==

He's finally in a video game! Added with the Tomb Kings expansion DLC for Total War Warhammer II, Arkhan the Black is the odd duck out of the playable tomb kings. He plays much more like one of the bad guy factions such as the Vampire Counts, Greenskins, Dark Elves, Skaven, or one of the three Chaos factions in that you're really not going to be doing a lot of diplomacy. All of the other Tomb Kings dislike you and you're almost certainly going to ruffle the feathers of Kroq-Gar, Teclis, Thorgrim, and Skrolk due to your proximity. Your only half-way decent relationships are with the Vampire counts; two of whose factions are squatting in Nehekharan territory you'd probably want for yourself, the Greenskins who should probably never be trusted, the Vampire Coast who are mostly out for themselves, and maybe the Dark Elves won't totally hate you but you have little reason to interact with any of them besides Lokhir anyway.

In exchange for having most of the factions near him being hostile to him, you get to patch some holes in the Tomb King Roster with Dire Wolves, Felbats, Crypt Ghouls and breaking the mould of kind of meh early game trash fodder; FUCKING HEXWRAITHS. Probably a bit underwhelming all things told as he's still lacking in what the Tomb Kings are really missing; an air game which could be provided by Vargheists and Terrorgheists, on demand healing from mortis engines, necromancers, the lore of vampires, or corpse carts, and anti-armour infantry in the form of cairn wraiths or great weapon grave guard but hey; take what you can get. Arkhan himself though is a pretty powerful lord who's actually quite strong in melee, gets access to a spooky looking floating chariot to ignore most terrain penalties, and perhaps most importantly gets access to the lore of <s>cheese</s> death.

If there is any down side to him, it's that CA went with the most gravelly voice actor one could imagine and changed his appearance slightly to still have some dessicated skin clinging to him instead of his canonically completely flesh stripped bones. However, he provides a fun campaign for either the Vortex or the Mortal Empires maps and given that if you're playing Arkhan you probably don't give a shit about diplomacy anyway, feel free to gank whomever's got the Sword of Khaine before going apeshit bananas with the sword of murderfuck and laugh as you basically delete any unit you charge with him and smiting any fools who aren't dead yet with either the purple sun of xerus or the sword of khaine's vortex. So far, Arkhan equipped with the Sword of Khaine is the closest you can get to the experience of playing as Nagash himself.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Arkhan_older_picture.png|Arkhan the Black [[Old School Roleplaying|back in the day.]]
File:Arkhan the Black's old model.jpg|Arkhan's first model (surprisingly less derpy than [[Nagash|his master's original model]]).
File:Arkhan2.jpg|Nagash might give a sweet dental plan...
File:Arkhan the Black new model.jpg|Arkhan's badass new model.
Image:Nef+Ark.jpg|Arkhan's dream, a reality as of the End Times "Kiss me you magnificent bastard. Give me your bone!"
File:Arkhanageofsigmar.jpg|"The more things change, the more they stay the same."
File:Arkhan Total War.jpeg|Now in digital form.
</gallery>

{{Tomb Kings}}

[[Category:Undead Legion]]
[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Goblin Slayer

2019-10-21T12:01:51Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:645F:5756:B21D:ADC8: /* Regarding the Setting */

{{promotions}}
[[Image:GoblinSlayerCover.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Cover of the first chapter.]]
{{Topquote|I slay Goblins.|Goblin Slayer}}

'''Goblin Slayer''' is a [[manga]] based on a light novel of the same name. The series is, like [[Dungeon Meshi]], relatively new but it has quickly gained popularity among [[neckbeards]] for its creative use of a '''very''' [[D&D|generic fantasy]] setting, though others will tell you it is nothing more than a discount version of [[Berserk]]. The story is mostly a [[Rip and Tear|gorefest]] that aims to show you the most efficient ways of killing as many [[goblin]]s as possible, whether it be through stabbing, maiming, poison, fire, or [[Awesome|creative use of utility spells]].

The series has gained notoriety for its explicit [[Rape|rape scenes]], causing some anons to label it as [[Smut for the Smut Throne|spanking material]] for [[/d/|a certain kind of people]]. Although, most [[Weeaboo|fans]] will also be quick to point out that these scenes feature women that look more like victims of spousal abuse rather than ''sexy'' vixens getting their ''comeuppance''. Others have pointed out in response that the rape scenes do showcase the rape victims in ways which are very close to a rape doujin with some mentioning that the light novel doesn't go into detail on the rape, unlike the manga devoting many pages showing the rape victims and their exposed genitals.

To say it's [[Skub|controversial and debated]] on /tg/ is an understatement and ironically, it's not even for the rape. The setting has some confusing worldbuilding with many calling it contradictory or outright nonsensical. Describing the complaints /tg/ has with the state of the world, the behavior of the characters and the many criticisms for the in-universe justifications (many which /tg/ found unsatisfactory) for everything can take up a page on its own and has taken up FUCKLOADS of threads.

The series now also has an official anime. And, the voice of Goblin Slayer in the English Dub? Doom Slayer (specifically, his mocap actor, for those of you who just went "He had a voice actor?!"). As is only proper.
Also, it has an [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i2qquegdB4| abridged series] that is arguably better than canon with some very impressive voice acting.

==Main Series==
The main series opens with a group of [[Adventurer|fresh-faced murderhobos]] going on their first quest, which like any other opening quest, is about killing [[goblin]]s that have been pestering the locals. This simple quest promptly ends with a near [[TPK]] after the rookies underestimate the dangers of a goblin lair. Just before one of the final survivors, [[Cleric|Priestess]], is taken out she's saved by the protagonist [[Fighter|Goblin Slayer]]. Another survivor is [[Grimdark|mercy-killed by Goblin Slayer at her request because the Goblins stabbed her with a poison knife and were about to rape her]]. The final one [[Grimdark|ends up PTSD'd hard due to rape]] so she is sent to a temple along with the rescued girls.

From there the manga chronicles Priestess's evolution as an adventurer and Goblin Slayer's realization that there may be more to life than [[Exterminatus|murderfucking]] goblins.

===Characters===
[[Image:GoblinSlayerSplatter.png|thumb|left|The Slayer making chunky salsa from a Goblin's head.]]
At some point the author decided that naming characters was too hard and as such no character has a name, but is instead referred to by their title, class, race, or some combination thereof. It's probably because the protagonist doesn't really care for their names and only remembers them by their titles. Although, this remains speculation.

*'''Goblin Slayer''' is what you would get if you combined [[Batman]], [[Doom|Doomguy]], and [[Ranger|Bear Grylls]] into [[Angry Marines|a ball of vengeful fury]]. It is quickly revealed that he is the only survivor of a [[goblin]] raid on his village when he was a kid, seeing the carnage was enough to change him into a [[Powergamer|killing machine]] hellbent on purging dirty midget [[Goblin|greenskins]] to the point of crushing Goblin babies with a club. Mostly, it’s because his older sister hid him, so that he saw what the goblins did to her while powerless to help and getting doused in her blood and... other fluids. Moreover, it's implied he was autistic, which makes his experience even more traumatic. The best moments of the series (according to those who aren't just here for the [[Slaanesh|rape]]) comes from seeing the many ingenious tools he's made to dispose of the [[goblins]], such as using a [[Awesome|gate scroll as a high-pressure water jet cutter]] or dousing a big goblin with gas and rolling it like a fat molotov cocktail. [[Skub|Though some of /tg/ is confused by how he's even aware of half the physics behind such a feat, given his fantasy setting.]] The light novel handwaves it by saying he heard a story about a mage scholar who made a portal to an ancient ruin he found on a map, and was crushed into a pancake by a wall of water when it turned out to be submerged, and he wanted to weaponize the phenomenon. In fairness to the author, Goblin Slayer interviewing civilians whose technology or gossip intrigues his autism is a consistent aspect of his character, and he later admits he had no idea water could actually cut under enough pressure at the time. He is also somehow able to project himself into dreams: when Sword Maiden (more on her below) told him of her nightmares of that time he simply told her to call upon him in said nightmares and he'd come. [[Awesome|And it FUCKING worked]].
*'''Priestess''' is a 15 year old newbie adventurer that is saved by '''Goblin Slayer''' after [[Rocks fall, everyone dies|her first quest goes south with her being saved almost moments away from being the latest sex toy for the goblins that overpowered the rest of the party she was with]]. Her design and abilities are not unlike that of a [[cleric]], as most of her miracles are support based. [[Vancian|Magic is governed by a number of daily uses]] like [[Dark Souls]] or [[3e|3rd Edition]]. She has a heart of gold, but is generally naïve when it comes to the horrors of the world.
*'''Childhood Friend''' or '''Cow Girl''' is the childhood friend of '''Goblin Slayer''' and also technically survived the [[goblin]] raid on the village by virtue of being out of town. She now lives on a farm with her uncle and rents a room for '''Goblin Slayer'''. This being a [[manga]] means that she is a love interest, she has huge knockers in reference to a common Japanese joke about girls with big breasts.
*'''High Elf Archer''' is an [[Elven]] [[ranger]] that joins the party a few chapters in. Even though she is a High Elf her description is closer to a standard [[Elf#Wood_Elf|Wood Elf]]. Even though she's 2000 years old, she is easily the most [[Loli|childish]] of the party.
*'''Dwarf Shaman''' is a [[Dwarf|Dwarven]] [[druid]] that throws rocks at people and lugs around tons of [[Alcohol|booze]]. He is a 107 years old and has a fatherly attitude which he mostly hides by teasing the '''High Elf Archer'''.
*'''Lizard Priest''' is a [[Lizardfolk|Lizardman]] that wears a native headdress and [[Necromancer|summons skeletal minions]]. He speaks very politely and tends to break up the verbal abuse between the '''Dwarf''' and the '''High Elf'''. A cool bro overall who worships dinosaurs, just like his kin in [[Lizardmen|another setting]]. Also loves dairy foods, especially cheese ("sweet nectar!").
*'''Guild Girl''' is a [[NPC|pen-pusher]] that takes requests from peasants, writes up quests notices, and hands out rewards when the tasks have been completed. She is another love interest.
*'''Sword Maiden''' is a gold level former adventurer living in Fortress City and an archbishop for the (unspecified) Supreme God. She's also [[Hot Chicks|smoking hot, looking like a grown up and EXTRA THICC version of Priestess]], while her robes of office are quite revealing. Her staff of office is [[Awesome|shaped in the form of a sword and scale and her familiar is a giant albino Alligator]]. While compassionate she's also got some childish traits, such as wanting to go to a festival rather than do her priestly duties and bottling up problems rather than talking about them. Powers include a healing spell that requires the presence of a virgin and aural vision. Often wears a blindfold because she's visually impaired and her body's covered in faint scars. All of her problems stem from Goblins because she's a former Goblin captive who was blinded, tortured (hence the scars) and [[Grimdark|deflowered via rape]] by them, which also left her with PTSD and a crippling goblinphobia. She is yet another love interest and the most open about her feelings for Goblin Slayer (but loves him as an idea rather than a person).
*The '''[[Goblins]]''' are almost a character unto themselves as they're present in nearly every chapter released so far. What makes them interesting is that the author has spun what is most often considered a weak low-level threat into crazy Viet Congs on crack, rather apt as the goblins are known for covering their weapons in a [[Nurgle|mix of shit and piss]] (essentially making them the goblin equivalent of [[Tucker's Kobolds]]). Generally, the goblins pose a great exercise for any longtime [[DM]] that wishes to go against tropes or surprise [[Party|veteran players]]. Some of their notable tactics include: Totems to distract from their hidden ambush tunnels (again, like Viet Cong), using seemingly live corpses as traps, hiding in old wells, using wolves as guard dogs and mounts, and using kidnapped women as literal meat shields by tying them to boards and hiding behind them. Of course, it's highly advised not to go too far with making them a deadly threat if you wish to keep them feasibly a weak and low-level threat. Many readers are confused why these goblins still remain underestimated despite what we've seen and many finding the justifications given to be very weak. Oh, and for added weirdness, it's implied that the story Goblin Slayer's sister told him of goblins coming from [[Morrslieb|the green moon that orbits their world]] might actually be true; at one point, Goblin Slayer and his team find a mirror-portal that, when looked through, reveals goblins working machines made from human bones in a field of endless green sand underneath a black sky...
*'''[[That Guy|Truth]]''' and '''[[This Guy|Illusion]]''' are the two cosmic forces that control the setting, by serving as twin [[GM|gods]] for its inhabitants. Truth is a lucky, cocky asshole who loves [[grimdark]] settings, encourages adventurers to party-kill one another over loot, and is a lazy shit that designs dungeons by just pouring a tons of high-CR monsters and traps into a maze and calling it a day. Illusion is a sweet girl who works hard to come up with well-designed challenges for the world's inhabitants. She's the kind of person who could roll a 0 on a D20. Because effort takes time, it seems to be '''Truth's''' fault that the story falls into a poorly-written excuse for a plot about "the demon lord's coming back". Therefore, '''Illusion''' tends to have less influence on the world, which is why their world actually doesn't make a lot of sense when you think about it. [[Skub|Hopefully that doesn't turn into the ''expected'' kind of fallback.]] Together, they gamble with the fates of men, using what are heavily implied to be ''[[5E]]'' rules. Goblin Slayer intrigues both of them, delighting Illusion with his creativity, and irritating Truth with his single-minded quest, by circumventing fate with his preparations, and therefore their manipulations. At the end of the day, neither of them will argue with the dice, though.

==Year One==
[[Image:GoblinSlayerBabyMaking.png|thumb|right|Even Goblins need some lovin'.]]
{{Topquote|How will I kill them next time?|Goblin Slayer}}

'''Year One''' is the prequel side-story to ''Goblin Slayer'' and is mostly about filling in the gaps of what has so far only been implied or glossed over in the main series. The title and premise is a reference to the [[Batman]] series of the same name.

'''Year One''' is [[Skub|divisive]] due to it filling out gaps which some anons believe only added to the mystery of the main character, while others are just happy to have more '''Goblin Slayer'''. However, it is undeniable that '''Year One''' caters to the [[/d/]]eviants that like [[Heresy|monster-on-woman]] action as it doesn't take more than nine pages for three women to be [[Rape|gang-raped in an explicit three-in-a-row fashion]].

==References==
The series is full of visual references to other Japanese works both [[video games]] and [[manga]], including [[Berserk]], Dragon's Crown, Fate/Stay Night, Final Fantasy, and many more.

==Criticism==
As stated above, this manga is undoubtedly a very, very controversial topic thanks in due part to the inconsistent setting. It’s a setting with two opposing sets of [[DM|gods]], which is presented as a game much like D&D, and this makes many inconsistencies within the manga/LN. Many threads have been taken up by arguments around this.

===Regarding the Setting===
One common criticism is the unrecognized threat of the goblins. Year One shows that goblin invasions have destroyed entire villages, and that this is something that has been going on for years - yet, despite that, goblins are still thought of as the lowest of threats by pretty much everybody who isn't the Goblin Slayer. There is an abundance of evidence against them being such low threats, with the adventurer's guild reporting that it is standard procedure for them to have to send multiple teams of new adventurers to wipe out '''one''' goblin lair, because many of the teams sent in to cleanse goblin lairs will end up being wiped out by the goblins. In no small part ''because'' they somehow think that the goblins are not serious threats. Making things worse, the manga is explicit that there are ''plenty'' of stories in-universe about adventurers being massacred, raped and traumatized by goblins... and yet '''still''' the prevailing attitude towards goblins is "eh, they're no biggie".

Now, the idea that goblin-hunting could be high-risk and low-reward is not contradictory in and of itself, and to the series credit, the prevailing rationale given for why adventurers move on from goblin-hunting as quickly as they can is explicitly the fact that the job is nasty and pays pathetically. But what is contradictory is the fact that goblins in this world are so dangerous, and yet nobody gives them any credit for the realistically dangerous foes that they are.

This stems into a related criticism; the lackluster official policy towards dealing with goblins. In a "realistic" setting, which Goblin Slayer is ostensibly trying to be, an adventurer's guild would:
* Drum it into rookie heads that goblins are '''not''' to be underestimated (in case all the horror stories didn't already do that).
* Train rookie adventures so they will be able to go into goblin caves and not be wiped out. (In fairness, it is implied that adventurer's guild do train low-level adventurers, but this amounts to a single "blink and you'll miss it" scene.)
* Forbid female adventurers going on goblin-hunting missions, because goblins reproduce exclusively by raping female humans or [[demihuman]]s.
* Have goblin-slaying experts who lead nest-purging missions and train rookies in how to successfully cleanse them. (Goblin Slayer is such an expert, but he shows no interest in passing on his skills to anyone not in his party, and he's regarded as a weirdo by other adventurers.)
* Hire bloodthirsty sellswords with few moral qualms to encourage low cost, high return solutions. Even if the women end up as sloppy seconds for the sellswords, it is better than goblins having their way with women.

Or, if that's far too much work, just make it so that people who don't know which end of the sword to hold can't go on goblin quests to deliver weapons and women right to their dens. Absolutely ''none'' of this happens in-universe.

Also relating to the criticism of goblins being an "unrecognized threat" is the idea that they would ''be'' unrecognized in the first place. If goblins routinely wipe out entire villages, swelling into hordes that breed exponentially as they conquer more villages, then a realistic reaction would be to ''encourage'' goblin-hunting, with Guild-given sizable payoffs for each nest wiped out and bounties on goblin corpses. Instead, the rewards for goblin hunting amount to the tiny handfuls of jink that villages can scrape together, which means they are callously left to their own devices. About the only realistic way to justify this level of callous indifference would be if [[Imperium of Man|demihuman cities are so numerous and/or expansive that they can always afford to lose a village here or there]]... and canon gives no indication that this is the case at all.

Supposedly, the light novels make it clear that ''normally'' goblin lairs are actually wiped out really quickly and rarely get to full-scale village threatening levels, and it's only in recent years, with the monstrous races swelling in power as a whole that people are being distracted from the usual anti-goblin clearing, giving goblins a chance to build up their numbers unopposed that they don't normally get. It still doesn't adequately explain the lack of respect for goblin slaying when their threat levels have been allowed to reached such a critical mass, or how reports of goblins reaching critical mass and wiping out villages seem to have either never been made, or are forgotten by everyone for no reason.

The other major criticism relating to the setting is the sheer tonal dissonance. Goblin Slayer treats the goblins with a grim, gritty, realistic motif: the goblins use simple but brutally effective pragmatic tactics like poisoned weaponry, ambush, traps, targeted shots, etcetera. And yet the rest of the world is full of standard JRPG traits, most prominently the abundance of [[Fantasy Armor]]. It just makes no sense; if goblins, reputedly the ''weakest'' enemy type, will exploit all of the realistic downfalls of things like fanciful "showy" armor or running around without a helmet, then why do such things exist? Why aren't they an even bigger problem when facing off against more powerful monsters? Scenes like a high-level, confirmed "dragon killer" [[barbarian]] being taken down in one stab by a cunning goblin only make it worse, because they seem to directly imply that the world ''normally'' runs off of light-hearted(ish) [[Heroic Fantasy]] tropes, then inexplicably switches to [[Dark Fantasy|Dark]] [[Low Fantasy]] whenever somebody is fighting a goblin.

Even with the explanation that this series is literally taking place in a world that two gods are "playing with", and that the major divine conflict is the clash between the two arguing over which way the world should be presented, this tonal dissonance just doesn't make any sense. The setting is clearly aiming for what [[TVTropes]] calls a "Deconstruction" of your standard [[Heroic Fantasy]] anime, but it does so in such a clumsy, hamfisted manner it completely ruins its own argument. It only gets worse the more you look into it - for example, the aforementioned [[barbarian]] is briefly shown with a [[Character Sheet]] based on [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]]... and yet, [[RAW]], a character like that ''is'' better off naked if no magical armor is around, because their skin ''is'' tougher than steel and they have [[Hit point]]s up the wazoo. It makes the goblin victories come off as being forced for the sheer sake of [[grimdark]], and is directly cited as a reason behind the common perception that the story is "tryhard" and "edgy", which turns off many readers/viewers.

===Regarding the Slayer===
The last of the big criticisms is directed not at the setting, but at Goblin Slayer himself. Namely, his tactics, which many have called out as presenting the illusion of pragmatism, instead of actually being pragmatic. The primary sub-criticism of this argument? Goblin Slayer's gear. To sum things up, Goblin Slayer deliberately uses the cheapest, nastiest, most low-quality gear he can, because he fully anticipates ultimately dying in battle and he wants to make sure the goblins will not profit from it when they loot his corpse afterwards. Except the obvious problem here is that [[Derp|having bad equipment makes his death and looting more likely, whereas good equipment would make that less likely]]. In a nutshell, the argument is that he's preparing so hard for events occurring ''after'' his death that he's unthinkingly increasing the odds of being killed.

There's also the sub-argument of just how much of a threat Goblin Slayer being looted really is. As a human, any armor he has would need to be forcibly resized, which would make it pretty much worse-off (if not useless) to goblins anyway. Weapons are slightly more salvageable, it's true, but not only is one goblin with a magic sword still '''one''' goblin, the fact is that goblins are established in the setting's canon to be absolutely '''terrible''' at taking care of their shit. Not only do they not maintain the arms and armor they use, but they deliberately abuse them, because they're full of envy over how demihumans can make this cool stuff and they can't, so an enchanted sword or spear would quickly wind up useless. Furthermore, goblins hate each other only slightly less than they hate non-goblins, and exist in a constant state of infighting and thievery over each other's stuff, because "seething, hateful envy" is pretty much their default state of mind. So, a goblin who gets his hands on, say, a +2 flaming sword will actually spend most of his time killing other goblins with it to keep it from being stolen - and will ultimately be murdered by another goblin who wants his sweet sword for himself. And then that goblin will need to kill other goblins to hold onto it, until he's ultimately murdered for it, and then the cycle starts over. So, if anything, having an enchanted weapon looted will probably result in more goblin deaths than if his cheap shitty longsword was looted.

The above doesn't even begin on the multi-thread long debates on the setting, the feasibility of organisations like the adventure guild, the "believability" of some of the tactics that Goblin Slayer uses, etcetera. This all can take many pages to explain, but the Fantasy Doomguy on steroids makes it at least readable. [[Skub| It can also be seen as "humorous" if viewed as a dark comedy where a goblin killing autist goes out and kills goblins]].

[[Category:Weeaboo]]

Goblin Slayer

2019-10-21T11:58:29Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:645F:5756:B21D:ADC8: /* Regarding the Setting */

{{promotions}}
[[Image:GoblinSlayerCover.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Cover of the first chapter.]]
{{Topquote|I slay Goblins.|Goblin Slayer}}

'''Goblin Slayer''' is a [[manga]] based on a light novel of the same name. The series is, like [[Dungeon Meshi]], relatively new but it has quickly gained popularity among [[neckbeards]] for its creative use of a '''very''' [[D&D|generic fantasy]] setting, though others will tell you it is nothing more than a discount version of [[Berserk]]. The story is mostly a [[Rip and Tear|gorefest]] that aims to show you the most efficient ways of killing as many [[goblin]]s as possible, whether it be through stabbing, maiming, poison, fire, or [[Awesome|creative use of utility spells]].

The series has gained notoriety for its explicit [[Rape|rape scenes]], causing some anons to label it as [[Smut for the Smut Throne|spanking material]] for [[/d/|a certain kind of people]]. Although, most [[Weeaboo|fans]] will also be quick to point out that these scenes feature women that look more like victims of spousal abuse rather than ''sexy'' vixens getting their ''comeuppance''. Others have pointed out in response that the rape scenes do showcase the rape victims in ways which are very close to a rape doujin with some mentioning that the light novel doesn't go into detail on the rape, unlike the manga devoting many pages showing the rape victims and their exposed genitals.

To say it's [[Skub|controversial and debated]] on /tg/ is an understatement and ironically, it's not even for the rape. The setting has some confusing worldbuilding with many calling it contradictory or outright nonsensical. Describing the complaints /tg/ has with the state of the world, the behavior of the characters and the many criticisms for the in-universe justifications (many which /tg/ found unsatisfactory) for everything can take up a page on its own and has taken up FUCKLOADS of threads.

The series now also has an official anime. And, the voice of Goblin Slayer in the English Dub? Doom Slayer (specifically, his mocap actor, for those of you who just went "He had a voice actor?!"). As is only proper.
Also, it has an [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i2qquegdB4| abridged series] that is arguably better than canon with some very impressive voice acting.

==Main Series==
The main series opens with a group of [[Adventurer|fresh-faced murderhobos]] going on their first quest, which like any other opening quest, is about killing [[goblin]]s that have been pestering the locals. This simple quest promptly ends with a near [[TPK]] after the rookies underestimate the dangers of a goblin lair. Just before one of the final survivors, [[Cleric|Priestess]], is taken out she's saved by the protagonist [[Fighter|Goblin Slayer]]. Another survivor is [[Grimdark|mercy-killed by Goblin Slayer at her request because the Goblins stabbed her with a poison knife and were about to rape her]]. The final one [[Grimdark|ends up PTSD'd hard due to rape]] so she is sent to a temple along with the rescued girls.

From there the manga chronicles Priestess's evolution as an adventurer and Goblin Slayer's realization that there may be more to life than [[Exterminatus|murderfucking]] goblins.

===Characters===
[[Image:GoblinSlayerSplatter.png|thumb|left|The Slayer making chunky salsa from a Goblin's head.]]
At some point the author decided that naming characters was too hard and as such no character has a name, but is instead referred to by their title, class, race, or some combination thereof. It's probably because the protagonist doesn't really care for their names and only remembers them by their titles. Although, this remains speculation.

*'''Goblin Slayer''' is what you would get if you combined [[Batman]], [[Doom|Doomguy]], and [[Ranger|Bear Grylls]] into [[Angry Marines|a ball of vengeful fury]]. It is quickly revealed that he is the only survivor of a [[goblin]] raid on his village when he was a kid, seeing the carnage was enough to change him into a [[Powergamer|killing machine]] hellbent on purging dirty midget [[Goblin|greenskins]] to the point of crushing Goblin babies with a club. Mostly, it’s because his older sister hid him, so that he saw what the goblins did to her while powerless to help and getting doused in her blood and... other fluids. Moreover, it's implied he was autistic, which makes his experience even more traumatic. The best moments of the series (according to those who aren't just here for the [[Slaanesh|rape]]) comes from seeing the many ingenious tools he's made to dispose of the [[goblins]], such as using a [[Awesome|gate scroll as a high-pressure water jet cutter]] or dousing a big goblin with gas and rolling it like a fat molotov cocktail. [[Skub|Though some of /tg/ is confused by how he's even aware of half the physics behind such a feat, given his fantasy setting.]] The light novel handwaves it by saying he heard a story about a mage scholar who made a portal to an ancient ruin he found on a map, and was crushed into a pancake by a wall of water when it turned out to be submerged, and he wanted to weaponize the phenomenon. In fairness to the author, Goblin Slayer interviewing civilians whose technology or gossip intrigues his autism is a consistent aspect of his character, and he later admits he had no idea water could actually cut under enough pressure at the time. He is also somehow able to project himself into dreams: when Sword Maiden (more on her below) told him of her nightmares of that time he simply told her to call upon him in said nightmares and he'd come. [[Awesome|And it FUCKING worked]].
*'''Priestess''' is a 15 year old newbie adventurer that is saved by '''Goblin Slayer''' after [[Rocks fall, everyone dies|her first quest goes south with her being saved almost moments away from being the latest sex toy for the goblins that overpowered the rest of the party she was with]]. Her design and abilities are not unlike that of a [[cleric]], as most of her miracles are support based. [[Vancian|Magic is governed by a number of daily uses]] like [[Dark Souls]] or [[3e|3rd Edition]]. She has a heart of gold, but is generally naïve when it comes to the horrors of the world.
*'''Childhood Friend''' or '''Cow Girl''' is the childhood friend of '''Goblin Slayer''' and also technically survived the [[goblin]] raid on the village by virtue of being out of town. She now lives on a farm with her uncle and rents a room for '''Goblin Slayer'''. This being a [[manga]] means that she is a love interest, she has huge knockers in reference to a common Japanese joke about girls with big breasts.
*'''High Elf Archer''' is an [[Elven]] [[ranger]] that joins the party a few chapters in. Even though she is a High Elf her description is closer to a standard [[Elf#Wood_Elf|Wood Elf]]. Even though she's 2000 years old, she is easily the most [[Loli|childish]] of the party.
*'''Dwarf Shaman''' is a [[Dwarf|Dwarven]] [[druid]] that throws rocks at people and lugs around tons of [[Alcohol|booze]]. He is a 107 years old and has a fatherly attitude which he mostly hides by teasing the '''High Elf Archer'''.
*'''Lizard Priest''' is a [[Lizardfolk|Lizardman]] that wears a native headdress and [[Necromancer|summons skeletal minions]]. He speaks very politely and tends to break up the verbal abuse between the '''Dwarf''' and the '''High Elf'''. A cool bro overall who worships dinosaurs, just like his kin in [[Lizardmen|another setting]]. Also loves dairy foods, especially cheese ("sweet nectar!").
*'''Guild Girl''' is a [[NPC|pen-pusher]] that takes requests from peasants, writes up quests notices, and hands out rewards when the tasks have been completed. She is another love interest.
*'''Sword Maiden''' is a gold level former adventurer living in Fortress City and an archbishop for the (unspecified) Supreme God. She's also [[Hot Chicks|smoking hot, looking like a grown up and EXTRA THICC version of Priestess]], while her robes of office are quite revealing. Her staff of office is [[Awesome|shaped in the form of a sword and scale and her familiar is a giant albino Alligator]]. While compassionate she's also got some childish traits, such as wanting to go to a festival rather than do her priestly duties and bottling up problems rather than talking about them. Powers include a healing spell that requires the presence of a virgin and aural vision. Often wears a blindfold because she's visually impaired and her body's covered in faint scars. All of her problems stem from Goblins because she's a former Goblin captive who was blinded, tortured (hence the scars) and [[Grimdark|deflowered via rape]] by them, which also left her with PTSD and a crippling goblinphobia. She is yet another love interest and the most open about her feelings for Goblin Slayer (but loves him as an idea rather than a person).
*The '''[[Goblins]]''' are almost a character unto themselves as they're present in nearly every chapter released so far. What makes them interesting is that the author has spun what is most often considered a weak low-level threat into crazy Viet Congs on crack, rather apt as the goblins are known for covering their weapons in a [[Nurgle|mix of shit and piss]] (essentially making them the goblin equivalent of [[Tucker's Kobolds]]). Generally, the goblins pose a great exercise for any longtime [[DM]] that wishes to go against tropes or surprise [[Party|veteran players]]. Some of their notable tactics include: Totems to distract from their hidden ambush tunnels (again, like Viet Cong), using seemingly live corpses as traps, hiding in old wells, using wolves as guard dogs and mounts, and using kidnapped women as literal meat shields by tying them to boards and hiding behind them. Of course, it's highly advised not to go too far with making them a deadly threat if you wish to keep them feasibly a weak and low-level threat. Many readers are confused why these goblins still remain underestimated despite what we've seen and many finding the justifications given to be very weak. Oh, and for added weirdness, it's implied that the story Goblin Slayer's sister told him of goblins coming from [[Morrslieb|the green moon that orbits their world]] might actually be true; at one point, Goblin Slayer and his team find a mirror-portal that, when looked through, reveals goblins working machines made from human bones in a field of endless green sand underneath a black sky...
*'''[[That Guy|Truth]]''' and '''[[This Guy|Illusion]]''' are the two cosmic forces that control the setting, by serving as twin [[GM|gods]] for its inhabitants. Truth is a lucky, cocky asshole who loves [[grimdark]] settings, encourages adventurers to party-kill one another over loot, and is a lazy shit that designs dungeons by just pouring a tons of high-CR monsters and traps into a maze and calling it a day. Illusion is a sweet girl who works hard to come up with well-designed challenges for the world's inhabitants. She's the kind of person who could roll a 0 on a D20. Because effort takes time, it seems to be '''Truth's''' fault that the story falls into a poorly-written excuse for a plot about "the demon lord's coming back". Therefore, '''Illusion''' tends to have less influence on the world, which is why their world actually doesn't make a lot of sense when you think about it. [[Skub|Hopefully that doesn't turn into the ''expected'' kind of fallback.]] Together, they gamble with the fates of men, using what are heavily implied to be ''[[5E]]'' rules. Goblin Slayer intrigues both of them, delighting Illusion with his creativity, and irritating Truth with his single-minded quest, by circumventing fate with his preparations, and therefore their manipulations. At the end of the day, neither of them will argue with the dice, though.

==Year One==
[[Image:GoblinSlayerBabyMaking.png|thumb|right|Even Goblins need some lovin'.]]
{{Topquote|How will I kill them next time?|Goblin Slayer}}

'''Year One''' is the prequel side-story to ''Goblin Slayer'' and is mostly about filling in the gaps of what has so far only been implied or glossed over in the main series. The title and premise is a reference to the [[Batman]] series of the same name.

'''Year One''' is [[Skub|divisive]] due to it filling out gaps which some anons believe only added to the mystery of the main character, while others are just happy to have more '''Goblin Slayer'''. However, it is undeniable that '''Year One''' caters to the [[/d/]]eviants that like [[Heresy|monster-on-woman]] action as it doesn't take more than nine pages for three women to be [[Rape|gang-raped in an explicit three-in-a-row fashion]].

==References==
The series is full of visual references to other Japanese works both [[video games]] and [[manga]], including [[Berserk]], Dragon's Crown, Fate/Stay Night, Final Fantasy, and many more.

==Criticism==
As stated above, this manga is undoubtedly a very, very controversial topic thanks in due part to the inconsistent setting. It’s a setting with two opposing sets of [[DM|gods]], which is presented as a game much like D&D, and this makes many inconsistencies within the manga/LN. Many threads have been taken up by arguments around this.

===Regarding the Setting===
One common criticism is the unrecognized threat of the goblins. Year One shows that goblin invasions have destroyed entire villages, and that this is something that has been going on for years - yet, despite that, goblins are still thought of as the lowest of threats by pretty much everybody who isn't the Goblin Slayer. There is an abundance of evidence against them being such low threats, with the adventurer's guild reporting that it is standard procedure for them to have to send multiple teams of new adventurers to wipe out '''one''' goblin lair, because many of the teams sent in to cleanse goblin lairs will end up being wiped out by the goblins. In no small part ''because'' they somehow think that the goblins are not serious threats. Making things worse, the manga is explicit that there are ''plenty'' of stories in-universe about adventurers being massacred, raped and traumatized by goblins... and yet '''still''' the prevailing attitude towards goblins is "eh, they're no biggie".

Now, the idea that goblin-hunting could be high-risk and low-reward is not contradictory in and of itself, and to the series credit, the prevailing rationale given for why adventurers move on from goblin-hunting as quickly as they can is explicitly the fact that the job is nasty and pays pathetically. But what is contradictory is the fact that goblins in this world are so dangerous, and yet nobody gives them any credit for the realistically dangerous foes that they are.

This stems into a related criticism; the lackluster official policy towards dealing with goblins. In a "realistic" setting, which Goblin Slayer is ostensibly trying to be, an adventurer's guild would:
* Drum it into rookie heads that goblins are '''not''' to be underestimated (in case all the horror stories didn't already do that).
* Train rookie adventures so they will be able to go into goblin caves and not be wiped out. (In fairness, it is implied that adventurer's guild do train low-level adventurers, but this amounts to a single "blink and you'll miss it" scene.)
* Forbid female adventurers going on goblin-hunting missions, because goblins reproduce exclusively by raping female humans or [[demihuman]]s.
* Have goblin-slaying experts who lead nest-purging missions and train rookies in how to successfully cleanse them. (Goblin Slayer is such an expert, but he shows no interest in passing on his skills to anyone not in his party, and he's regarded as a weirdo by other adventurers.)
* Hire bloodthirsty sellswords with few moral qualms to encourage low cost, high return solutions even if the women end up as sloppy seconds for the sellswords it is better than goblins having their way with women.

Or, if that's far too much work, just make it so that people who don't know which end of the sword to hold can't go on goblin quests to deliver weapons and women right to their dens. Absolutely ''none'' of this happens in-universe.

Also relating to the criticism of goblins being an "unrecognized threat" is the idea that they would ''be'' unrecognized in the first place. If goblins routinely wipe out entire villages, swelling into hordes that breed exponentially as they conquer more villages, then a realistic reaction would be to ''encourage'' goblin-hunting, with Guild-given sizable payoffs for each nest wiped out and bounties on goblin corpses. Instead, the rewards for goblin hunting amount to the tiny handfuls of jink that villages can scrape together, which means they are callously left to their own devices. About the only realistic way to justify this level of callous indifference would be if [[Imperium of Man|demihuman cities are so numerous and/or expansive that they can always afford to lose a village here or there]]... and canon gives no indication that this is the case at all.

Supposedly, the light novels make it clear that ''normally'' goblin lairs are actually wiped out really quickly and rarely get to full-scale village threatening levels, and it's only in recent years, with the monstrous races swelling in power as a whole that people are being distracted from the usual anti-goblin clearing, giving goblins a chance to build up their numbers unopposed that they don't normally get. It still doesn't adequately explain the lack of respect for goblin slaying when their threat levels have been allowed to reached such a critical mass, or how reports of goblins reaching critical mass and wiping out villages seem to have either never been made, or are forgotten by everyone for no reason.

The other major criticism relating to the setting is the sheer tonal dissonance. Goblin Slayer treats the goblins with a grim, gritty, realistic motif: the goblins use simple but brutally effective pragmatic tactics like poisoned weaponry, ambush, traps, targeted shots, etcetera. And yet the rest of the world is full of standard JRPG traits, most prominently the abundance of [[Fantasy Armor]]. It just makes no sense; if goblins, reputedly the ''weakest'' enemy type, will exploit all of the realistic downfalls of things like fanciful "showy" armor or running around without a helmet, then why do such things exist? Why aren't they an even bigger problem when facing off against more powerful monsters? Scenes like a high-level, confirmed "dragon killer" [[barbarian]] being taken down in one stab by a cunning goblin only make it worse, because they seem to directly imply that the world ''normally'' runs off of light-hearted(ish) [[Heroic Fantasy]] tropes, then inexplicably switches to [[Dark Fantasy|Dark]] [[Low Fantasy]] whenever somebody is fighting a goblin.

Even with the explanation that this series is literally taking place in a world that two gods are "playing with", and that the major divine conflict is the clash between the two arguing over which way the world should be presented, this tonal dissonance just doesn't make any sense. The setting is clearly aiming for what [[TVTropes]] calls a "Deconstruction" of your standard [[Heroic Fantasy]] anime, but it does so in such a clumsy, hamfisted manner it completely ruins its own argument. It only gets worse the more you look into it - for example, the aforementioned [[barbarian]] is briefly shown with a [[Character Sheet]] based on [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]]... and yet, [[RAW]], a character like that ''is'' better off naked if no magical armor is around, because their skin ''is'' tougher than steel and they have [[Hit point]]s up the wazoo. It makes the goblin victories come off as being forced for the sheer sake of [[grimdark]], and is directly cited as a reason behind the common perception that the story is "tryhard" and "edgy", which turns off many readers/viewers.

===Regarding the Slayer===
The last of the big criticisms is directed not at the setting, but at Goblin Slayer himself. Namely, his tactics, which many have called out as presenting the illusion of pragmatism, instead of actually being pragmatic. The primary sub-criticism of this argument? Goblin Slayer's gear. To sum things up, Goblin Slayer deliberately uses the cheapest, nastiest, most low-quality gear he can, because he fully anticipates ultimately dying in battle and he wants to make sure the goblins will not profit from it when they loot his corpse afterwards. Except the obvious problem here is that [[Derp|having bad equipment makes his death and looting more likely, whereas good equipment would make that less likely]]. In a nutshell, the argument is that he's preparing so hard for events occurring ''after'' his death that he's unthinkingly increasing the odds of being killed.

There's also the sub-argument of just how much of a threat Goblin Slayer being looted really is. As a human, any armor he has would need to be forcibly resized, which would make it pretty much worse-off (if not useless) to goblins anyway. Weapons are slightly more salvageable, it's true, but not only is one goblin with a magic sword still '''one''' goblin, the fact is that goblins are established in the setting's canon to be absolutely '''terrible''' at taking care of their shit. Not only do they not maintain the arms and armor they use, but they deliberately abuse them, because they're full of envy over how demihumans can make this cool stuff and they can't, so an enchanted sword or spear would quickly wind up useless. Furthermore, goblins hate each other only slightly less than they hate non-goblins, and exist in a constant state of infighting and thievery over each other's stuff, because "seething, hateful envy" is pretty much their default state of mind. So, a goblin who gets his hands on, say, a +2 flaming sword will actually spend most of his time killing other goblins with it to keep it from being stolen - and will ultimately be murdered by another goblin who wants his sweet sword for himself. And then that goblin will need to kill other goblins to hold onto it, until he's ultimately murdered for it, and then the cycle starts over. So, if anything, having an enchanted weapon looted will probably result in more goblin deaths than if his cheap shitty longsword was looted.

The above doesn't even begin on the multi-thread long debates on the setting, the feasibility of organisations like the adventure guild, the "believability" of some of the tactics that Goblin Slayer uses, etcetera. This all can take many pages to explain, but the Fantasy Doomguy on steroids makes it at least readable. [[Skub| It can also be seen as "humorous" if viewed as a dark comedy where a goblin killing autist goes out and kills goblins]].

[[Category:Weeaboo]]

Goblin Slayer

2019-10-21T11:54:45Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:645F:5756:B21D:ADC8: /* Main Series */

{{promotions}}
[[Image:GoblinSlayerCover.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Cover of the first chapter.]]
{{Topquote|I slay Goblins.|Goblin Slayer}}

'''Goblin Slayer''' is a [[manga]] based on a light novel of the same name. The series is, like [[Dungeon Meshi]], relatively new but it has quickly gained popularity among [[neckbeards]] for its creative use of a '''very''' [[D&D|generic fantasy]] setting, though others will tell you it is nothing more than a discount version of [[Berserk]]. The story is mostly a [[Rip and Tear|gorefest]] that aims to show you the most efficient ways of killing as many [[goblin]]s as possible, whether it be through stabbing, maiming, poison, fire, or [[Awesome|creative use of utility spells]].

The series has gained notoriety for its explicit [[Rape|rape scenes]], causing some anons to label it as [[Smut for the Smut Throne|spanking material]] for [[/d/|a certain kind of people]]. Although, most [[Weeaboo|fans]] will also be quick to point out that these scenes feature women that look more like victims of spousal abuse rather than ''sexy'' vixens getting their ''comeuppance''. Others have pointed out in response that the rape scenes do showcase the rape victims in ways which are very close to a rape doujin with some mentioning that the light novel doesn't go into detail on the rape, unlike the manga devoting many pages showing the rape victims and their exposed genitals.

To say it's [[Skub|controversial and debated]] on /tg/ is an understatement and ironically, it's not even for the rape. The setting has some confusing worldbuilding with many calling it contradictory or outright nonsensical. Describing the complaints /tg/ has with the state of the world, the behavior of the characters and the many criticisms for the in-universe justifications (many which /tg/ found unsatisfactory) for everything can take up a page on its own and has taken up FUCKLOADS of threads.

The series now also has an official anime. And, the voice of Goblin Slayer in the English Dub? Doom Slayer (specifically, his mocap actor, for those of you who just went "He had a voice actor?!"). As is only proper.
Also, it has an [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i2qquegdB4| abridged series] that is arguably better than canon with some very impressive voice acting.

==Main Series==
The main series opens with a group of [[Adventurer|fresh-faced murderhobos]] going on their first quest, which like any other opening quest, is about killing [[goblin]]s that have been pestering the locals. This simple quest promptly ends with a near [[TPK]] after the rookies underestimate the dangers of a goblin lair. Just before one of the final survivors, [[Cleric|Priestess]], is taken out she's saved by the protagonist [[Fighter|Goblin Slayer]]. Another survivor is [[Grimdark|mercy-killed by Goblin Slayer at her request because the Goblins stabbed her with a poison knife and were about to rape her]]. The final one [[Grimdark|ends up PTSD'd hard due to rape]] so she is sent to a temple along with the rescued girls.

From there the manga chronicles Priestess's evolution as an adventurer and Goblin Slayer's realization that there may be more to life than [[Exterminatus|murderfucking]] goblins.

===Characters===
[[Image:GoblinSlayerSplatter.png|thumb|left|The Slayer making chunky salsa from a Goblin's head.]]
At some point the author decided that naming characters was too hard and as such no character has a name, but is instead referred to by their title, class, race, or some combination thereof. It's probably because the protagonist doesn't really care for their names and only remembers them by their titles. Although, this remains speculation.

*'''Goblin Slayer''' is what you would get if you combined [[Batman]], [[Doom|Doomguy]], and [[Ranger|Bear Grylls]] into [[Angry Marines|a ball of vengeful fury]]. It is quickly revealed that he is the only survivor of a [[goblin]] raid on his village when he was a kid, seeing the carnage was enough to change him into a [[Powergamer|killing machine]] hellbent on purging dirty midget [[Goblin|greenskins]] to the point of crushing Goblin babies with a club. Mostly, it’s because his older sister hid him, so that he saw what the goblins did to her while powerless to help and getting doused in her blood and... other fluids. Moreover, it's implied he was autistic, which makes his experience even more traumatic. The best moments of the series (according to those who aren't just here for the [[Slaanesh|rape]]) comes from seeing the many ingenious tools he's made to dispose of the [[goblins]], such as using a [[Awesome|gate scroll as a high-pressure water jet cutter]] or dousing a big goblin with gas and rolling it like a fat molotov cocktail. [[Skub|Though some of /tg/ is confused by how he's even aware of half the physics behind such a feat, given his fantasy setting.]] The light novel handwaves it by saying he heard a story about a mage scholar who made a portal to an ancient ruin he found on a map, and was crushed into a pancake by a wall of water when it turned out to be submerged, and he wanted to weaponize the phenomenon. In fairness to the author, Goblin Slayer interviewing civilians whose technology or gossip intrigues his autism is a consistent aspect of his character, and he later admits he had no idea water could actually cut under enough pressure at the time. He is also somehow able to project himself into dreams: when Sword Maiden (more on her below) told him of her nightmares of that time he simply told her to call upon him in said nightmares and he'd come. [[Awesome|And it FUCKING worked]].
*'''Priestess''' is a 15 year old newbie adventurer that is saved by '''Goblin Slayer''' after [[Rocks fall, everyone dies|her first quest goes south with her being saved almost moments away from being the latest sex toy for the goblins that overpowered the rest of the party she was with]]. Her design and abilities are not unlike that of a [[cleric]], as most of her miracles are support based. [[Vancian|Magic is governed by a number of daily uses]] like [[Dark Souls]] or [[3e|3rd Edition]]. She has a heart of gold, but is generally naïve when it comes to the horrors of the world.
*'''Childhood Friend''' or '''Cow Girl''' is the childhood friend of '''Goblin Slayer''' and also technically survived the [[goblin]] raid on the village by virtue of being out of town. She now lives on a farm with her uncle and rents a room for '''Goblin Slayer'''. This being a [[manga]] means that she is a love interest, she has huge knockers in reference to a common Japanese joke about girls with big breasts.
*'''High Elf Archer''' is an [[Elven]] [[ranger]] that joins the party a few chapters in. Even though she is a High Elf her description is closer to a standard [[Elf#Wood_Elf|Wood Elf]]. Even though she's 2000 years old, she is easily the most [[Loli|childish]] of the party.
*'''Dwarf Shaman''' is a [[Dwarf|Dwarven]] [[druid]] that throws rocks at people and lugs around tons of [[Alcohol|booze]]. He is a 107 years old and has a fatherly attitude which he mostly hides by teasing the '''High Elf Archer'''.
*'''Lizard Priest''' is a [[Lizardfolk|Lizardman]] that wears a native headdress and [[Necromancer|summons skeletal minions]]. He speaks very politely and tends to break up the verbal abuse between the '''Dwarf''' and the '''High Elf'''. A cool bro overall who worships dinosaurs, just like his kin in [[Lizardmen|another setting]]. Also loves dairy foods, especially cheese ("sweet nectar!").
*'''Guild Girl''' is a [[NPC|pen-pusher]] that takes requests from peasants, writes up quests notices, and hands out rewards when the tasks have been completed. She is another love interest.
*'''Sword Maiden''' is a gold level former adventurer living in Fortress City and an archbishop for the (unspecified) Supreme God. She's also [[Hot Chicks|smoking hot, looking like a grown up and EXTRA THICC version of Priestess]], while her robes of office are quite revealing. Her staff of office is [[Awesome|shaped in the form of a sword and scale and her familiar is a giant albino Alligator]]. While compassionate she's also got some childish traits, such as wanting to go to a festival rather than do her priestly duties and bottling up problems rather than talking about them. Powers include a healing spell that requires the presence of a virgin and aural vision. Often wears a blindfold because she's visually impaired and her body's covered in faint scars. All of her problems stem from Goblins because she's a former Goblin captive who was blinded, tortured (hence the scars) and [[Grimdark|deflowered via rape]] by them, which also left her with PTSD and a crippling goblinphobia. She is yet another love interest and the most open about her feelings for Goblin Slayer (but loves him as an idea rather than a person).
*The '''[[Goblins]]''' are almost a character unto themselves as they're present in nearly every chapter released so far. What makes them interesting is that the author has spun what is most often considered a weak low-level threat into crazy Viet Congs on crack, rather apt as the goblins are known for covering their weapons in a [[Nurgle|mix of shit and piss]] (essentially making them the goblin equivalent of [[Tucker's Kobolds]]). Generally, the goblins pose a great exercise for any longtime [[DM]] that wishes to go against tropes or surprise [[Party|veteran players]]. Some of their notable tactics include: Totems to distract from their hidden ambush tunnels (again, like Viet Cong), using seemingly live corpses as traps, hiding in old wells, using wolves as guard dogs and mounts, and using kidnapped women as literal meat shields by tying them to boards and hiding behind them. Of course, it's highly advised not to go too far with making them a deadly threat if you wish to keep them feasibly a weak and low-level threat. Many readers are confused why these goblins still remain underestimated despite what we've seen and many finding the justifications given to be very weak. Oh, and for added weirdness, it's implied that the story Goblin Slayer's sister told him of goblins coming from [[Morrslieb|the green moon that orbits their world]] might actually be true; at one point, Goblin Slayer and his team find a mirror-portal that, when looked through, reveals goblins working machines made from human bones in a field of endless green sand underneath a black sky...
*'''[[That Guy|Truth]]''' and '''[[This Guy|Illusion]]''' are the two cosmic forces that control the setting, by serving as twin [[GM|gods]] for its inhabitants. Truth is a lucky, cocky asshole who loves [[grimdark]] settings, encourages adventurers to party-kill one another over loot, and is a lazy shit that designs dungeons by just pouring a tons of high-CR monsters and traps into a maze and calling it a day. Illusion is a sweet girl who works hard to come up with well-designed challenges for the world's inhabitants. She's the kind of person who could roll a 0 on a D20. Because effort takes time, it seems to be '''Truth's''' fault that the story falls into a poorly-written excuse for a plot about "the demon lord's coming back". Therefore, '''Illusion''' tends to have less influence on the world, which is why their world actually doesn't make a lot of sense when you think about it. [[Skub|Hopefully that doesn't turn into the ''expected'' kind of fallback.]] Together, they gamble with the fates of men, using what are heavily implied to be ''[[5E]]'' rules. Goblin Slayer intrigues both of them, delighting Illusion with his creativity, and irritating Truth with his single-minded quest, by circumventing fate with his preparations, and therefore their manipulations. At the end of the day, neither of them will argue with the dice, though.

==Year One==
[[Image:GoblinSlayerBabyMaking.png|thumb|right|Even Goblins need some lovin'.]]
{{Topquote|How will I kill them next time?|Goblin Slayer}}

'''Year One''' is the prequel side-story to ''Goblin Slayer'' and is mostly about filling in the gaps of what has so far only been implied or glossed over in the main series. The title and premise is a reference to the [[Batman]] series of the same name.

'''Year One''' is [[Skub|divisive]] due to it filling out gaps which some anons believe only added to the mystery of the main character, while others are just happy to have more '''Goblin Slayer'''. However, it is undeniable that '''Year One''' caters to the [[/d/]]eviants that like [[Heresy|monster-on-woman]] action as it doesn't take more than nine pages for three women to be [[Rape|gang-raped in an explicit three-in-a-row fashion]].

==References==
The series is full of visual references to other Japanese works both [[video games]] and [[manga]], including [[Berserk]], Dragon's Crown, Fate/Stay Night, Final Fantasy, and many more.

==Criticism==
As stated above, this manga is undoubtedly a very, very controversial topic thanks in due part to the inconsistent setting. It’s a setting with two opposing sets of [[DM|gods]], which is presented as a game much like D&D, and this makes many inconsistencies within the manga/LN. Many threads have been taken up by arguments around this.

===Regarding the Setting===
One common criticism is the unrecognized threat of the goblins. Year One shows that goblin invasions have destroyed entire villages, and that this is something that has been going on for years - yet, despite that, goblins are still thought of as the lowest of threats by pretty much everybody who isn't the Goblin Slayer. There is an abundance of evidence against them being such low threats, with the adventurer's guild reporting that it is standard procedure for them to have to send multiple teams of new adventurers to wipe out '''one''' goblin lair, because many of the teams sent in to cleanse goblin lairs will end up being wiped out by the goblins. In no small part ''because'' they somehow think that the goblins are not serious threats. Making things worse, the manga is explicit that there are ''plenty'' of stories in-universe about adventurers being massacred, raped and traumatized by goblins... and yet '''still''' the prevailing attitude towards goblins is "eh, they're no biggie".

Now, the idea that goblin-hunting could be high-risk and low-reward is not contradictory in and of itself, and to the series credit, the prevailing rationale given for why adventurers move on from goblin-hunting as quickly as they can is explicitly the fact that the job is nasty and pays pathetically. But what is contradictory is the fact that goblins in this world are so dangerous, and yet nobody gives them any credit for the realistically dangerous foes that they are.

This stems into a related criticism; the lackluster official policy towards dealing with goblins. In a "realistic" setting, which Goblin Slayer is ostensibly trying to be, an adventurer's guild would:
* Drum it into rookie heads that goblins are '''not''' to be underestimated (in case all the horror stories didn't already do that).
* Train rookie adventures so they will be able to go into goblin caves and not be wiped out. (In fairness, it is implied that adventurer's guild do train low-level adventurers, but this amounts to a single "blink and you'll miss it" scene.)
* Forbid female adventurers going on goblin-hunting missions, because goblins reproduce exclusively by raping female [[demihuman]]s.
* Have goblin-slaying experts who lead nest-purging missions and train rookies in how to successfully cleanse them. (Goblin Slayer is such an expert, but he shows no interest in passing on his skills to anyone not in his party, and he's regarded as a weirdo by other adventurers.)
* Hire bloodthirsty sellswords with few moral qualms to encourage low cost, high return solutions even if the women end up as sloppy seconds for the sellswords it is better than goblins having their way with women.

Or, if that's far too much work, just make it so that people who don't know which end of the sword to hold can't go on goblin quests to deliver weapons and women right to their dens. Absolutely ''none'' of this happens in-universe.

Also relating to the criticism of goblins being an "unrecognized threat" is the idea that they would ''be'' unrecognized in the first place. If goblins routinely wipe out entire villages, swelling into hordes that breed exponentially as they conquer more villages, then a realistic reaction would be to ''encourage'' goblin-hunting, with Guild-given sizable payoffs for each nest wiped out and bounties on goblin corpses. Instead, the rewards for goblin hunting amount to the tiny handfuls of jink that villages can scrape together, which means they are callously left to their own devices. About the only realistic way to justify this level of callous indifference would be if [[Imperium of Man|demihuman cities are so numerous and/or expansive that they can always afford to lose a village here or there]]... and canon gives no indication that this is the case at all.

Supposedly, the light novels make it clear that ''normally'' goblin lairs are actually wiped out really quickly and rarely get to full-scale village threatening levels, and it's only in recent years, with the monstrous races swelling in power as a whole that people are being distracted from the usual anti-goblin clearing, giving goblins a chance to build up their numbers unopposed that they don't normally get. It still doesn't adequately explain the lack of respect for goblin slaying when their threat levels have been allowed to reached such a critical mass, or how reports of goblins reaching critical mass and wiping out villages seem to have either never been made, or are forgotten by everyone for no reason.

The other major criticism relating to the setting is the sheer tonal dissonance. Goblin Slayer treats the goblins with a grim, gritty, realistic motif: the goblins use simple but brutally effective pragmatic tactics like poisoned weaponry, ambush, traps, targeted shots, etcetera. And yet the rest of the world is full of standard JRPG traits, most prominently the abundance of [[Fantasy Armor]]. It just makes no sense; if goblins, reputedly the ''weakest'' enemy type, will exploit all of the realistic downfalls of things like fanciful "showy" armor or running around without a helmet, then why do such things exist? Why aren't they an even bigger problem when facing off against more powerful monsters? Scenes like a high-level, confirmed "dragon killer" [[barbarian]] being taken down in one stab by a cunning goblin only make it worse, because they seem to directly imply that the world ''normally'' runs off of light-hearted(ish) [[Heroic Fantasy]] tropes, then inexplicably switches to [[Dark Fantasy|Dark]] [[Low Fantasy]] whenever somebody is fighting a goblin.

Even with the explanation that this series is literally taking place in a world that two gods are "playing with", and that the major divine conflict is the clash between the two arguing over which way the world should be presented, this tonal dissonance just doesn't make any sense. The setting is clearly aiming for what [[TVTropes]] calls a "Deconstruction" of your standard [[Heroic Fantasy]] anime, but it does so in such a clumsy, hamfisted manner it completely ruins its own argument. It only gets worse the more you look into it - for example, the aforementioned [[barbarian]] is briefly shown with a [[Character Sheet]] based on [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]]... and yet, [[RAW]], a character like that ''is'' better off naked if no magical armor is around, because their skin ''is'' tougher than steel and they have [[Hit point]]s up the wazoo. It makes the goblin victories come off as being forced for the sheer sake of [[grimdark]], and is directly cited as a reason behind the common perception that the story is "tryhard" and "edgy", which turns off many readers/viewers.

===Regarding the Slayer===
The last of the big criticisms is directed not at the setting, but at Goblin Slayer himself. Namely, his tactics, which many have called out as presenting the illusion of pragmatism, instead of actually being pragmatic. The primary sub-criticism of this argument? Goblin Slayer's gear. To sum things up, Goblin Slayer deliberately uses the cheapest, nastiest, most low-quality gear he can, because he fully anticipates ultimately dying in battle and he wants to make sure the goblins will not profit from it when they loot his corpse afterwards. Except the obvious problem here is that [[Derp|having bad equipment makes his death and looting more likely, whereas good equipment would make that less likely]]. In a nutshell, the argument is that he's preparing so hard for events occurring ''after'' his death that he's unthinkingly increasing the odds of being killed.

There's also the sub-argument of just how much of a threat Goblin Slayer being looted really is. As a human, any armor he has would need to be forcibly resized, which would make it pretty much worse-off (if not useless) to goblins anyway. Weapons are slightly more salvageable, it's true, but not only is one goblin with a magic sword still '''one''' goblin, the fact is that goblins are established in the setting's canon to be absolutely '''terrible''' at taking care of their shit. Not only do they not maintain the arms and armor they use, but they deliberately abuse them, because they're full of envy over how demihumans can make this cool stuff and they can't, so an enchanted sword or spear would quickly wind up useless. Furthermore, goblins hate each other only slightly less than they hate non-goblins, and exist in a constant state of infighting and thievery over each other's stuff, because "seething, hateful envy" is pretty much their default state of mind. So, a goblin who gets his hands on, say, a +2 flaming sword will actually spend most of his time killing other goblins with it to keep it from being stolen - and will ultimately be murdered by another goblin who wants his sweet sword for himself. And then that goblin will need to kill other goblins to hold onto it, until he's ultimately murdered for it, and then the cycle starts over. So, if anything, having an enchanted weapon looted will probably result in more goblin deaths than if his cheap shitty longsword was looted.

The above doesn't even begin on the multi-thread long debates on the setting, the feasibility of organisations like the adventure guild, the "believability" of some of the tactics that Goblin Slayer uses, etcetera. This all can take many pages to explain, but the Fantasy Doomguy on steroids makes it at least readable. [[Skub| It can also be seen as "humorous" if viewed as a dark comedy where a goblin killing autist goes out and kills goblins]].

[[Category:Weeaboo]]

Goblin Slayer

2019-10-21T08:57:18Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:645F:5756:B21D:ADC8: /* Main Series */

{{promotions}}
[[Image:GoblinSlayerCover.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Cover of the first chapter.]]
{{Topquote|I slay Goblins.|Goblin Slayer}}

'''Goblin Slayer''' is a [[manga]] based on a light novel of the same name. The series is, like [[Dungeon Meshi]], relatively new but it has quickly gained popularity among [[neckbeards]] for its creative use of a '''very''' [[D&D|generic fantasy]] setting, though others will tell you it is nothing more than a discount version of [[Berserk]]. The story is mostly a [[Rip and Tear|gorefest]] that aims to show you the most efficient ways of killing as many [[goblin]]s as possible, whether it be through stabbing, maiming, poison, fire, or [[Awesome|creative use of utility spells]].

The series has gained notoriety for its explicit [[Rape|rape scenes]], causing some anons to label it as [[Smut for the Smut Throne|spanking material]] for [[/d/|a certain kind of people]]. Although, most [[Weeaboo|fans]] will also be quick to point out that these scenes feature women that look more like victims of spousal abuse rather than ''sexy'' vixens getting their ''comeuppance''. Others have pointed out in response that the rape scenes do showcase the rape victims in ways which are very close to a rape doujin with some mentioning that the light novel doesn't go into detail on the rape, unlike the manga devoting many pages showing the rape victims and their exposed genitals.

To say it's [[Skub|controversial and debated]] on /tg/ is an understatement and ironically, it's not even for the rape. The setting has some confusing worldbuilding with many calling it contradictory or outright nonsensical. Describing the complaints /tg/ has with the state of the world, the behavior of the characters and the many criticisms for the in-universe justifications (many which /tg/ found unsatisfactory) for everything can take up a page on its own and has taken up FUCKLOADS of threads.

The series now also has an official anime. And, the voice of Goblin Slayer in the English Dub? Doom Slayer (specifically, his mocap actor, for those of you who just went "He had a voice actor?!"). As is only proper.
Also, it has an [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i2qquegdB4| abridged series] that is arguably better than canon with some very impressive voice acting.

==Main Series==
The main series opens with a group of [[Adventurer|fresh-faced murderhobos]] going on their first quest, which like any other opening quest, is about killing [[goblin]]s that have been pestering the locals. This simple quest promptly ends with a near [[TPK]] after the rookies underestimate the dangers of a goblin lair. Just before one of the final survivors, [[Cleric|Priestess]], is taken out she's saved by the protagonist [[Fighter|Goblin Slayer]]. Another survivor is [[Grimdark|mercy-killed by Goblin Slayer at her request because the Goblins stabbed her with a poison knife and were about to rape her]]). The final one [[Grimdark|ends up PTSD'd hard due to rape]] so she is sent to a temple along with the rescued girls.

From there the manga chronicles Priestess's evolution as an adventurer and Goblin Slayer's realization that there may be more to life than [[Exterminatus|murderfucking]] goblins.

===Characters===
[[Image:GoblinSlayerSplatter.png|thumb|left|The Slayer making chunky salsa from a Goblin head.]]
At some point the author decided that naming characters was too hard and as such no character has a name, but is instead referred to by their title, class, race, or some combination thereof. It's probably because the protagonist doesn't really care for their names and only remembers them by their titles. Although, this remains speculation.

*'''Goblin Slayer''' is what you would get if you combined [[Batman]], [[Doom|Doomguy]], and [[Ranger|Bear Grylls]] into [[Angry Marines|a ball of vengeful fury]]. It is quickly revealed that he is the only survivor of a [[goblin]] raid on his village when he was a kid, seeing the carnage was enough to change him into a [[Powergamer|killing machine]] hellbent on purging dirty midget [[Goblin|greenskins]] to the point of crushing Goblin babies with a club. Mostly, it’s because his older sister hid him, so that he saw what the goblins did to her while powerless to help and getting doused in her blood and... other fluids. Moreover, it's implied he was autistic, which makes his experience even more traumatic. The best moments of the series (according to those who aren't just here for the [[Slaanesh|rape]]) comes from seeing the many ingenious tools he's made to dispose of [[goblins]], such as using a [[Awesome|gate scroll as a high-pressure water jet cutter]] or dousing a big goblin with gas and rolling it like a fat molotov cocktail. [[Skub|Though some of /tg/ is confused by how he's even aware of half the physics behind such a feat given his fantasy setting.]] The light novel handwaves it by saying he heard a story about a mage scholar who made a portal to an ancient ruin he found on a map, and was crushed into a pancake by a wall of water when it turned out to be submerged, and he wanted to weaponize the phenomenon . In fairness to the author, Goblin Slayer interviewing civilians whose technology or gossip intrigues his autism is a consistent aspect of his character, and he later admits he had no idea water could actually cut under enough pressure at the time. He is also somehow able to project himself into dreams: when a girl who had survived a goblin raid told him of her nightmares of that time he simply told her to call upon him in said nightmares and he'd come. [[Awesome|And it FUCKING worked]].
*'''Priestess''' is a 15 year old newbie adventurer that is saved by '''Goblin Slayer''' after [[Rocks fall, everyone dies|her first quest goes south with her being saved almost moments away from being the latest sex toy for the goblins that overpowered the rest of the party she was with]]. Her design and abilities are not unlike that of a [[cleric]], as most of her miracles are support based. [[Vancian|Magic is governed by a number of daily uses]] like [[Dark Souls]] or [[3e|3rd Edition]]. She has a heart of gold, but is generally naïve when it comes to the horrors of the world.
*'''Childhood Friend''' or '''Cow Girl''' is the childhood friend of '''Goblin Slayer''' and also technically survived the [[goblin]] raid on the village by virtue of being out of town. She now lives on a farm with her uncle and rents a room for '''Goblin Slayer'''. This being a [[manga]] means that she is a love interest, she has huge knockers in reference to a common Japanese joke about girls with big breasts.
*'''High Elf Archer''' is an [[Elven]] [[ranger]] that joins the party a few chapters in. Even though she is a High Elf her description is closer to a standard [[Elf#Wood_Elf|Wood Elf]]. Even though she's 2000 years old, she is easily the most [[Loli|childish]] of the party.
*'''Dwarf Shaman''' is a [[Dwarf|Dwarven]] [[druid]] that throws rocks at people and lugs around tons of [[Alcohol|booze]]. He is a 107 years old and has a fatherly attitude which he mostly hides by teasing the '''High Elf Archer'''.
*'''Lizard Priest''' is a [[Lizardfolk|Lizardman]] that wears a native headdress and [[Necromancer|summons skeletal minions]]. He speaks very politely and tends to break up the verbal abuse between the '''Dwarf''' and the '''High Elf'''. A cool bro overall who worships dinosaurs, just like his kin in [[Lizardmen|another setting]].
*'''Guild Girl''' is a [[NPC|pen-pusher]] that takes requests from peasants, writes up quests notices, and hands out rewards when the tasks have been completed. She is another love interest.
*'''Sword Maiden''' is a gold level former adventurer who lives in Fortress City and an archbishop for the (unspecified) Supreme God. She's also [[Hot Chicks|smoking hot, looking like a grown up and EXTRA THICC version of Priestess]], while her robes of office are quite revealing. Her staff of office is [[Awesome|shaped in the form of a sword and scale and her familiar is a giant albino Alligator]]. While compassionate she's also got some childish traits, such as wanting to go to a festival rather than do her priestly duties and bottling up problems rather than talking about them. Often wears a blindfold and has aural vision because she's visually impaired and her body's covered in faint scars. All of her problems stem from Goblins because she's a former Goblin captive who was blinded, tortured (hence the scars) and [[Grimdark|deflowered via rape]] by them, which also left her with PTSD and a crippling fear of Goblins. She is yet another love interest and the most open about her feelings for Goblin Slayer (but loves him as an idea rather than the person).
*The '''[[Goblins]]''' are almost a character unto themselves as they're present in nearly every chapter released so far. What makes them interesting is that the author has spun what is most often considered a weak low-level threat into crazy Viet Congs on crack, rather apt as the goblins are known for covering their weapons in a [[Nurgle|mix of shit and piss]] (essentially making them the goblin equivalent of [[Tucker's Kobolds]]). Generally, the goblins pose a great exercise for any longtime [[DM]] that wishes to go against tropes or surprise [[Party|veteran players]]. Some of their notable tactics include: Totems to distract from their hidden ambush tunnels (again, like Viet Cong), using seemingly live corpses as traps, hiding in old wells, using wolves as guard dogs and mounts, and using kidnapped women as literal meat shields by tying them to boards and hiding behind them. Of course, it's highly advised not to go too far with making them a deadly threat if you wish to keep them feasibly a weak and low-level threat. Many readers are confused why these goblins still remain underestimated despite what we've seen and many finding the justifications given to be very weak. Oh, and for added weirdness, it's implied that the story Goblin Slayer's sister told him of goblins coming from [[Morrslieb|the green moon that orbits their world]] might actually be true; at one point, Goblin Slayer and his team find a mirror-portal that, when looked through, reveals goblins working machines made from human bones in a field of endless green sand underneath a black sky...
*'''[[That Guy|Truth]]''' and '''[[This Guy|Illusion]]''' are the two cosmic forces that control the setting, by serving as twin [[GM|gods]] for its inhabitants. Truth is a lucky, cocky asshole who loves [[grimdark]] settings, encourages adventurers to party-kill one another over loot, and is a lazy shit that designs dungeons by just pouring a tons of high-CR monsters and traps into a maze and calling it a day. Illusion is a sweet girl who works hard to come up with well-designed challenges for the world's inhabitants. She's the kind of person who could roll a 0 on a D20. Because effort takes time, it seems to be '''Truth's''' fualt that the story falls into a poorly-written excuse for a plot about "the demon lord's coming back". Therefore, '''Illusion''' tends to have less influence on the world, which is why their world actually doesn't make a lot of sense when you think about it. [[Skub|Hopefully that doesn't turn into the ''expected'' kind of fallback.]] Together, they gamble with the fates of men, using what're heavily implied to be ''[[5E]]'' rules. Goblin Slayer intrigues both of them, delighting Illusion with his creativity, and irritating Truth with his single-minded quest, by circumventing fate with his preparations, and therefore their manipulations. At the end of the day, neither of them will argue with the dice though.

==Year One==
[[Image:GoblinSlayerBabyMaking.png|thumb|right|Even Goblins need some lovin'.]]
{{Topquote|How will I kill them next time?|Goblin Slayer}}

'''Year One''' is the prequel side-story to ''Goblin Slayer'' and is mostly about filling in the gaps of what has so far only been implied or glossed over in the main series. The title and premise is a reference to the [[Batman]] series of the same name.

'''Year One''' is [[Skub|divisive]] due to it filling out gaps which some anons believe only added to the mystery of the main character, while others are just happy to have more '''Goblin Slayer'''. However, it is undeniable that '''Year One''' caters to the [[/d/]]eviants that like [[Heresy|monster-on-woman]] action as it doesn't take more than nine pages for three women to be [[Rape|gang-raped in an explicit three-in-a-row fashion]].

==References==
The series is full of visual references to other Japanese works both [[video games]] and [[manga]], including [[Berserk]], Dragon's Crown, Fate/Stay Night, Final Fantasy, and many more.

==Criticism==
As stated above, this manga is undoubtedly a very, very controversial topic thanks in due part to the inconsistent setting. It’s a setting with two opposing sets of [[DM|gods]], which is presented as a game much like D&D, and this makes many inconsistencies within the manga/LN. Many threads have been taken up by arguments around this.

===Regarding the Setting===
One common criticism is the unrecognized threat of the goblins. Year One shows that goblin invasions have destroyed entire villages, and that this is something that has been going on for years - yet, despite that, goblins are still thought of as the lowest of threats by pretty much everybody who isn't the Goblin Slayer. There is an abundance of evidence against them being such low threats, with the adventurer's guild reporting that it is standard procedure for them to have to send multiple teams of new adventurers to wipe out '''one''' goblin lair, because many of the teams sent in to cleanse goblin lairs will end up being wiped out by the goblins. In no small part ''because'' they somehow think that the goblins are not serious threats. Making things worse, the manga is explicit that there are ''plenty'' of stories in-universe about adventurers being massacred, raped and traumatized by goblins... and yet '''still''' the prevailing attitude towards goblins is "eh, they're no biggie".

Now, the idea that goblin-hunting could be high-risk and low-reward is not contradictory in and of itself, and to the series credit, the prevailing rationale given for why adventurers move on from goblin-hunting as quickly as they can is explicitly the fact that the job is nasty and pays pathetically. But what is contradictory is the fact that goblins in this world are so dangerous, and yet nobody gives them any credit for the realistically dangerous foes that they are.

This stems into a related criticism; the lackluster official policy towards dealing with goblins. In a "realistic" setting, which Goblin Slayer is ostensibly trying to be, an adventurer's guild would:
* Drum it into rookie heads that goblins are '''not''' to be underestimated (in case all the horror stories didn't already do that).
* Train rookie adventures so they will be able to go into goblin caves and not be wiped out. (In fairness, it is implied that adventurer's guild do train low-level adventurers, but this amounts to a single "blink and you'll miss it" scene.)
* Forbid female adventurers going on goblin-hunting missions, because goblins reproduce exclusively by raping female [[demihuman]]s.
* Have goblin-slaying experts who lead nest-purging missions and train rookies in how to successfully cleanse them. (Goblin Slayer is such an expert, but he shows no interest in passing on his skills to anyone not in his party, and he's regarded as a weirdo by other adventurers.)
* Hire bloodthirsty sellswords with few moral qualms to encourage low cost, high return solutions even if the women end up as sloppy seconds for the sellswords it is better than goblins having their way with women.

Or, if that's far too much work, just make it so that people who don't know which end of the sword to hold can't go on goblin quests to deliver weapons and women right to their dens. Absolutely ''none'' of this happens in-universe.

Also relating to the criticism of goblins being an "unrecognized threat" is the idea that they would ''be'' unrecognized in the first place. If goblins routinely wipe out entire villages, swelling into hordes that breed exponentially as they conquer more villages, then a realistic reaction would be to ''encourage'' goblin-hunting, with Guild-given sizable payoffs for each nest wiped out and bounties on goblin corpses. Instead, the rewards for goblin hunting amount to the tiny handfuls of jink that villages can scrape together, which means they are callously left to their own devices. About the only realistic way to justify this level of callous indifference would be if [[Imperium of Man|demihuman cities are so numerous and/or expansive that they can always afford to lose a village here or there]]... and canon gives no indication that this is the case at all.

Supposedly, the light novels make it clear that ''normally'' goblin lairs are actually wiped out really quickly and rarely get to full-scale village threatening levels, and it's only in recent years, with the monstrous races swelling in power as a whole that people are being distracted from the usual anti-goblin clearing, giving goblins a chance to build up their numbers unopposed that they don't normally get. It still doesn't adequately explain the lack of respect for goblin slaying when their threat levels have been allowed to reached such a critical mass, or how reports of goblins reaching critical mass and wiping out villages seem to have either never been made, or are forgotten by everyone for no reason.

The other major criticism relating to the setting is the sheer tonal dissonance. Goblin Slayer treats the goblins with a grim, gritty, realistic motif: the goblins use simple but brutally effective pragmatic tactics like poisoned weaponry, ambush, traps, targeted shots, etcetera. And yet the rest of the world is full of standard JRPG traits, most prominently the abundance of [[Fantasy Armor]]. It just makes no sense; if goblins, reputedly the ''weakest'' enemy type, will exploit all of the realistic downfalls of things like fanciful "showy" armor or running around without a helmet, then why do such things exist? Why aren't they an even bigger problem when facing off against more powerful monsters? Scenes like a high-level, confirmed "dragon killer" [[barbarian]] being taken down in one stab by a cunning goblin only make it worse, because they seem to directly imply that the world ''normally'' runs off of light-hearted(ish) [[Heroic Fantasy]] tropes, then inexplicably switches to [[Dark Fantasy|Dark]] [[Low Fantasy]] whenever somebody is fighting a goblin.

Even with the explanation that this series is literally taking place in a world that two gods are "playing with", and that the major divine conflict is the clash between the two arguing over which way the world should be presented, this tonal dissonance just doesn't make any sense. The setting is clearly aiming for what [[TVTropes]] calls a "Deconstruction" of your standard [[Heroic Fantasy]] anime, but it does so in such a clumsy, hamfisted manner it completely ruins its own argument. It only gets worse the more you look into it - for example, the aforementioned [[barbarian]] is briefly shown with a [[Character Sheet]] based on [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]]... and yet, [[RAW]], a character like that ''is'' better off naked if no magical armor is around, because their skin ''is'' tougher than steel and they have [[Hit point]]s up the wazoo. It makes the goblin victories come off as being forced for the sheer sake of [[grimdark]], and is directly cited as a reason behind the common perception that the story is "tryhard" and "edgy", which turns off many readers/viewers.

===Regarding the Slayer===
The last of the big criticisms is directed not at the setting, but at Goblin Slayer himself. Namely, his tactics, which many have called out as presenting the illusion of pragmatism, instead of actually being pragmatic. The primary sub-criticism of this argument? Goblin Slayer's gear. To sum things up, Goblin Slayer deliberately uses the cheapest, nastiest, most low-quality gear he can, because he fully anticipates ultimately dying in battle and he wants to make sure the goblins will not profit from it when they loot his corpse afterwards. Except the obvious problem here is that [[Derp|having bad equipment makes his death and looting more likely, whereas good equipment would make that less likely]]. In a nutshell, the argument is that he's preparing so hard for events occurring ''after'' his death that he's unthinkingly increasing the odds of being killed.

There's also the sub-argument of just how much of a threat Goblin Slayer being looted really is. As a human, any armor he has would need to be forcibly resized, which would make it pretty much worse-off (if not useless) to goblins anyway. Weapons are slightly more salvageable, it's true, but not only is one goblin with a magic sword still '''one''' goblin, the fact is that goblins are established in the setting's canon to be absolutely '''terrible''' at taking care of their shit. Not only do they not maintain the arms and armor they use, but they deliberately abuse them, because they're full of envy over how demihumans can make this cool stuff and they can't, so an enchanted sword or spear would quickly wind up useless. Furthermore, goblins hate each other only slightly less than they hate non-goblins, and exist in a constant state of infighting and thievery over each other's stuff, because "seething, hateful envy" is pretty much their default state of mind. So, a goblin who gets his hands on, say, a +2 flaming sword will actually spend most of his time killing other goblins with it to keep it from being stolen - and will ultimately be murdered by another goblin who wants his sweet sword for himself. And then that goblin will need to kill other goblins to hold onto it, until he's ultimately murdered for it, and then the cycle starts over. So, if anything, having an enchanted weapon looted will probably result in more goblin deaths than if his cheap shitty longsword was looted.

The above doesn't even begin on the multi-thread long debates on the setting, the feasibility of organisations like the adventure guild, the "believability" of some of the tactics that Goblin Slayer uses, etcetera. This all can take many pages to explain, but the Fantasy Doomguy on steroids makes it at least readable. [[Skub| It can also be seen as "humorous" if viewed as a dark comedy where a goblin killing autist goes out and kills goblins]].

[[Category:Weeaboo]]

Goblin Slayer

2019-10-21T08:52:36Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:645F:5756:B21D:ADC8: /* Characters */

{{promotions}}
[[Image:GoblinSlayerCover.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Cover of the first chapter.]]
{{Topquote|I slay Goblins.|Goblin Slayer}}

'''Goblin Slayer''' is a [[manga]] based on a light novel of the same name. The series is, like [[Dungeon Meshi]], relatively new but it has quickly gained popularity among [[neckbeards]] for its creative use of a '''very''' [[D&D|generic fantasy]] setting, though others will tell you it is nothing more than a discount version of [[Berserk]]. The story is mostly a [[Rip and Tear|gorefest]] that aims to show you the most efficient ways of killing as many [[goblin]]s as possible, whether it be through stabbing, maiming, poison, fire, or [[Awesome|creative use of utility spells]].

The series has gained notoriety for its explicit [[Rape|rape scenes]], causing some anons to label it as [[Smut for the Smut Throne|spanking material]] for [[/d/|a certain kind of people]]. Although, most [[Weeaboo|fans]] will also be quick to point out that these scenes feature women that look more like victims of spousal abuse rather than ''sexy'' vixens getting their ''comeuppance''. Others have pointed out in response that the rape scenes do showcase the rape victims in ways which are very close to a rape doujin with some mentioning that the light novel doesn't go into detail on the rape, unlike the manga devoting many pages showing the rape victims and their exposed genitals.

To say it's [[Skub|controversial and debated]] on /tg/ is an understatement and ironically, it's not even for the rape. The setting has some confusing worldbuilding with many calling it contradictory or outright nonsensical. Describing the complaints /tg/ has with the state of the world, the behavior of the characters and the many criticisms for the in-universe justifications (many which /tg/ found unsatisfactory) for everything can take up a page on its own and has taken up FUCKLOADS of threads.

The series now also has an official anime. And, the voice of Goblin Slayer in the English Dub? Doom Slayer (specifically, his mocap actor, for those of you who just went "He had a voice actor?!"). As is only proper.
Also, it has an [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i2qquegdB4| abridged series] that is arguably better than canon with some very impressive voice acting.

==Main Series==
The main series opens with a group of [[Adventurer|fresh-faced murderhobos]] going on their first quest, which like any other opening quest, is about killing [[goblin]]s that have been pestering the locals. This simple quest promptly ends with a near [[TPK]] after the rookies underestimate the dangers of a goblin lair. Just before one of the final survivors, [[Cleric|Priestess]], is taken out she's saved by the protagonist [[Fighter|Goblin Slayer]]. The other one [[Grimdark|ends up PTSD'd hard due to rape]] so she is sent to a temple along with the rescued girls.

From there the manga chronicles Priestess's evolution as an adventurer and Goblin Slayer's realization that there may be more to life than [[Exterminatus|murderfucking]] goblins.

===Characters===
[[Image:GoblinSlayerSplatter.png|thumb|left|The Slayer making chunky salsa from a Goblin head.]]
At some point the author decided that naming characters was too hard and as such no character has a name, but is instead referred to by their title, class, race, or some combination thereof. It's probably because the protagonist doesn't really care for their names and only remembers them by their titles. Although, this remains speculation.

*'''Goblin Slayer''' is what you would get if you combined [[Batman]], [[Doom|Doomguy]], and [[Ranger|Bear Grylls]] into [[Angry Marines|a ball of vengeful fury]]. It is quickly revealed that he is the only survivor of a [[goblin]] raid on his village when he was a kid, seeing the carnage was enough to change him into a [[Powergamer|killing machine]] hellbent on purging dirty midget [[Goblin|greenskins]] to the point of crushing Goblin babies with a club. Mostly, it’s because his older sister hid him, so that he saw what the goblins did to her while powerless to help and getting doused in her blood and... other fluids. Moreover, it's implied he was autistic, which makes his experience even more traumatic. The best moments of the series (according to those who aren't just here for the [[Slaanesh|rape]]) comes from seeing the many ingenious tools he's made to dispose of [[goblins]], such as using a [[Awesome|gate scroll as a high-pressure water jet cutter]] or dousing a big goblin with gas and rolling it like a fat molotov cocktail. [[Skub|Though some of /tg/ is confused by how he's even aware of half the physics behind such a feat given his fantasy setting.]] The light novel handwaves it by saying he heard a story about a mage scholar who made a portal to an ancient ruin he found on a map, and was crushed into a pancake by a wall of water when it turned out to be submerged, and he wanted to weaponize the phenomenon . In fairness to the author, Goblin Slayer interviewing civilians whose technology or gossip intrigues his autism is a consistent aspect of his character, and he later admits he had no idea water could actually cut under enough pressure at the time. He is also somehow able to project himself into dreams: when a girl who had survived a goblin raid told him of her nightmares of that time he simply told her to call upon him in said nightmares and he'd come. [[Awesome|And it FUCKING worked]].
*'''Priestess''' is a 15 year old newbie adventurer that is saved by '''Goblin Slayer''' after [[Rocks fall, everyone dies|her first quest goes south with her being saved almost moments away from being the latest sex toy for the goblins that overpowered the rest of the party she was with]]. Her design and abilities are not unlike that of a [[cleric]], as most of her miracles are support based. [[Vancian|Magic is governed by a number of daily uses]] like [[Dark Souls]] or [[3e|3rd Edition]]. She has a heart of gold, but is generally naïve when it comes to the horrors of the world.
*'''Childhood Friend''' or '''Cow Girl''' is the childhood friend of '''Goblin Slayer''' and also technically survived the [[goblin]] raid on the village by virtue of being out of town. She now lives on a farm with her uncle and rents a room for '''Goblin Slayer'''. This being a [[manga]] means that she is a love interest, she has huge knockers in reference to a common Japanese joke about girls with big breasts.
*'''High Elf Archer''' is an [[Elven]] [[ranger]] that joins the party a few chapters in. Even though she is a High Elf her description is closer to a standard [[Elf#Wood_Elf|Wood Elf]]. Even though she's 2000 years old, she is easily the most [[Loli|childish]] of the party.
*'''Dwarf Shaman''' is a [[Dwarf|Dwarven]] [[druid]] that throws rocks at people and lugs around tons of [[Alcohol|booze]]. He is a 107 years old and has a fatherly attitude which he mostly hides by teasing the '''High Elf Archer'''.
*'''Lizard Priest''' is a [[Lizardfolk|Lizardman]] that wears a native headdress and [[Necromancer|summons skeletal minions]]. He speaks very politely and tends to break up the verbal abuse between the '''Dwarf''' and the '''High Elf'''. A cool bro overall who worships dinosaurs, just like his kin in [[Lizardmen|another setting]].
*'''Guild Girl''' is a [[NPC|pen-pusher]] that takes requests from peasants, writes up quests notices, and hands out rewards when the tasks have been completed. She is another love interest.
*'''Sword Maiden''' is a gold level former adventurer who lives in Fortress City and an archbishop for the (unspecified) Supreme God. She's also [[Hot Chicks|smoking hot, looking like a grown up and EXTRA THICC version of Priestess]], while her robes of office are quite revealing. Her staff of office is [[Awesome|shaped in the form of a sword and scale and her familiar is a giant albino Alligator]]. While compassionate she's also got some childish traits, such as wanting to go to a festival rather than do her priestly duties and bottling up problems rather than talking about them. Often wears a blindfold and has aural vision because she's visually impaired and her body's covered in faint scars. All of her problems stem from Goblins because she's a former Goblin captive who was blinded, tortured (hence the scars) and [[Grimdark|deflowered via rape]] by them, which also left her with PTSD and a crippling fear of Goblins. She is yet another love interest and the most open about her feelings for Goblin Slayer (but loves him as an idea rather than the person).
*The '''[[Goblins]]''' are almost a character unto themselves as they're present in nearly every chapter released so far. What makes them interesting is that the author has spun what is most often considered a weak low-level threat into crazy Viet Congs on crack, rather apt as the goblins are known for covering their weapons in a [[Nurgle|mix of shit and piss]] (essentially making them the goblin equivalent of [[Tucker's Kobolds]]). Generally, the goblins pose a great exercise for any longtime [[DM]] that wishes to go against tropes or surprise [[Party|veteran players]]. Some of their notable tactics include: Totems to distract from their hidden ambush tunnels (again, like Viet Cong), using seemingly live corpses as traps, hiding in old wells, using wolves as guard dogs and mounts, and using kidnapped women as literal meat shields by tying them to boards and hiding behind them. Of course, it's highly advised not to go too far with making them a deadly threat if you wish to keep them feasibly a weak and low-level threat. Many readers are confused why these goblins still remain underestimated despite what we've seen and many finding the justifications given to be very weak. Oh, and for added weirdness, it's implied that the story Goblin Slayer's sister told him of goblins coming from [[Morrslieb|the green moon that orbits their world]] might actually be true; at one point, Goblin Slayer and his team find a mirror-portal that, when looked through, reveals goblins working machines made from human bones in a field of endless green sand underneath a black sky...
*'''[[That Guy|Truth]]''' and '''[[This Guy|Illusion]]''' are the two cosmic forces that control the setting, by serving as twin [[GM|gods]] for its inhabitants. Truth is a lucky, cocky asshole who loves [[grimdark]] settings, encourages adventurers to party-kill one another over loot, and is a lazy shit that designs dungeons by just pouring a tons of high-CR monsters and traps into a maze and calling it a day. Illusion is a sweet girl who works hard to come up with well-designed challenges for the world's inhabitants. She's the kind of person who could roll a 0 on a D20. Because effort takes time, it seems to be '''Truth's''' fualt that the story falls into a poorly-written excuse for a plot about "the demon lord's coming back". Therefore, '''Illusion''' tends to have less influence on the world, which is why their world actually doesn't make a lot of sense when you think about it. [[Skub|Hopefully that doesn't turn into the ''expected'' kind of fallback.]] Together, they gamble with the fates of men, using what're heavily implied to be ''[[5E]]'' rules. Goblin Slayer intrigues both of them, delighting Illusion with his creativity, and irritating Truth with his single-minded quest, by circumventing fate with his preparations, and therefore their manipulations. At the end of the day, neither of them will argue with the dice though.

==Year One==
[[Image:GoblinSlayerBabyMaking.png|thumb|right|Even Goblins need some lovin'.]]
{{Topquote|How will I kill them next time?|Goblin Slayer}}

'''Year One''' is the prequel side-story to ''Goblin Slayer'' and is mostly about filling in the gaps of what has so far only been implied or glossed over in the main series. The title and premise is a reference to the [[Batman]] series of the same name.

'''Year One''' is [[Skub|divisive]] due to it filling out gaps which some anons believe only added to the mystery of the main character, while others are just happy to have more '''Goblin Slayer'''. However, it is undeniable that '''Year One''' caters to the [[/d/]]eviants that like [[Heresy|monster-on-woman]] action as it doesn't take more than nine pages for three women to be [[Rape|gang-raped in an explicit three-in-a-row fashion]].

==References==
The series is full of visual references to other Japanese works both [[video games]] and [[manga]], including [[Berserk]], Dragon's Crown, Fate/Stay Night, Final Fantasy, and many more.

==Criticism==
As stated above, this manga is undoubtedly a very, very controversial topic thanks in due part to the inconsistent setting. It’s a setting with two opposing sets of [[DM|gods]], which is presented as a game much like D&D, and this makes many inconsistencies within the manga/LN. Many threads have been taken up by arguments around this.

===Regarding the Setting===
One common criticism is the unrecognized threat of the goblins. Year One shows that goblin invasions have destroyed entire villages, and that this is something that has been going on for years - yet, despite that, goblins are still thought of as the lowest of threats by pretty much everybody who isn't the Goblin Slayer. There is an abundance of evidence against them being such low threats, with the adventurer's guild reporting that it is standard procedure for them to have to send multiple teams of new adventurers to wipe out '''one''' goblin lair, because many of the teams sent in to cleanse goblin lairs will end up being wiped out by the goblins. In no small part ''because'' they somehow think that the goblins are not serious threats. Making things worse, the manga is explicit that there are ''plenty'' of stories in-universe about adventurers being massacred, raped and traumatized by goblins... and yet '''still''' the prevailing attitude towards goblins is "eh, they're no biggie".

Now, the idea that goblin-hunting could be high-risk and low-reward is not contradictory in and of itself, and to the series credit, the prevailing rationale given for why adventurers move on from goblin-hunting as quickly as they can is explicitly the fact that the job is nasty and pays pathetically. But what is contradictory is the fact that goblins in this world are so dangerous, and yet nobody gives them any credit for the realistically dangerous foes that they are.

This stems into a related criticism; the lackluster official policy towards dealing with goblins. In a "realistic" setting, which Goblin Slayer is ostensibly trying to be, an adventurer's guild would:
* Drum it into rookie heads that goblins are '''not''' to be underestimated (in case all the horror stories didn't already do that).
* Train rookie adventures so they will be able to go into goblin caves and not be wiped out. (In fairness, it is implied that adventurer's guild do train low-level adventurers, but this amounts to a single "blink and you'll miss it" scene.)
* Forbid female adventurers going on goblin-hunting missions, because goblins reproduce exclusively by raping female [[demihuman]]s.
* Have goblin-slaying experts who lead nest-purging missions and train rookies in how to successfully cleanse them. (Goblin Slayer is such an expert, but he shows no interest in passing on his skills to anyone not in his party, and he's regarded as a weirdo by other adventurers.)
* Hire bloodthirsty sellswords with few moral qualms to encourage low cost, high return solutions even if the women end up as sloppy seconds for the sellswords it is better than goblins having their way with women.

Or, if that's far too much work, just make it so that people who don't know which end of the sword to hold can't go on goblin quests to deliver weapons and women right to their dens. Absolutely ''none'' of this happens in-universe.

Also relating to the criticism of goblins being an "unrecognized threat" is the idea that they would ''be'' unrecognized in the first place. If goblins routinely wipe out entire villages, swelling into hordes that breed exponentially as they conquer more villages, then a realistic reaction would be to ''encourage'' goblin-hunting, with Guild-given sizable payoffs for each nest wiped out and bounties on goblin corpses. Instead, the rewards for goblin hunting amount to the tiny handfuls of jink that villages can scrape together, which means they are callously left to their own devices. About the only realistic way to justify this level of callous indifference would be if [[Imperium of Man|demihuman cities are so numerous and/or expansive that they can always afford to lose a village here or there]]... and canon gives no indication that this is the case at all.

Supposedly, the light novels make it clear that ''normally'' goblin lairs are actually wiped out really quickly and rarely get to full-scale village threatening levels, and it's only in recent years, with the monstrous races swelling in power as a whole that people are being distracted from the usual anti-goblin clearing, giving goblins a chance to build up their numbers unopposed that they don't normally get. It still doesn't adequately explain the lack of respect for goblin slaying when their threat levels have been allowed to reached such a critical mass, or how reports of goblins reaching critical mass and wiping out villages seem to have either never been made, or are forgotten by everyone for no reason.

The other major criticism relating to the setting is the sheer tonal dissonance. Goblin Slayer treats the goblins with a grim, gritty, realistic motif: the goblins use simple but brutally effective pragmatic tactics like poisoned weaponry, ambush, traps, targeted shots, etcetera. And yet the rest of the world is full of standard JRPG traits, most prominently the abundance of [[Fantasy Armor]]. It just makes no sense; if goblins, reputedly the ''weakest'' enemy type, will exploit all of the realistic downfalls of things like fanciful "showy" armor or running around without a helmet, then why do such things exist? Why aren't they an even bigger problem when facing off against more powerful monsters? Scenes like a high-level, confirmed "dragon killer" [[barbarian]] being taken down in one stab by a cunning goblin only make it worse, because they seem to directly imply that the world ''normally'' runs off of light-hearted(ish) [[Heroic Fantasy]] tropes, then inexplicably switches to [[Dark Fantasy|Dark]] [[Low Fantasy]] whenever somebody is fighting a goblin.

Even with the explanation that this series is literally taking place in a world that two gods are "playing with", and that the major divine conflict is the clash between the two arguing over which way the world should be presented, this tonal dissonance just doesn't make any sense. The setting is clearly aiming for what [[TVTropes]] calls a "Deconstruction" of your standard [[Heroic Fantasy]] anime, but it does so in such a clumsy, hamfisted manner it completely ruins its own argument. It only gets worse the more you look into it - for example, the aforementioned [[barbarian]] is briefly shown with a [[Character Sheet]] based on [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]]... and yet, [[RAW]], a character like that ''is'' better off naked if no magical armor is around, because their skin ''is'' tougher than steel and they have [[Hit point]]s up the wazoo. It makes the goblin victories come off as being forced for the sheer sake of [[grimdark]], and is directly cited as a reason behind the common perception that the story is "tryhard" and "edgy", which turns off many readers/viewers.

===Regarding the Slayer===
The last of the big criticisms is directed not at the setting, but at Goblin Slayer himself. Namely, his tactics, which many have called out as presenting the illusion of pragmatism, instead of actually being pragmatic. The primary sub-criticism of this argument? Goblin Slayer's gear. To sum things up, Goblin Slayer deliberately uses the cheapest, nastiest, most low-quality gear he can, because he fully anticipates ultimately dying in battle and he wants to make sure the goblins will not profit from it when they loot his corpse afterwards. Except the obvious problem here is that [[Derp|having bad equipment makes his death and looting more likely, whereas good equipment would make that less likely]]. In a nutshell, the argument is that he's preparing so hard for events occurring ''after'' his death that he's unthinkingly increasing the odds of being killed.

There's also the sub-argument of just how much of a threat Goblin Slayer being looted really is. As a human, any armor he has would need to be forcibly resized, which would make it pretty much worse-off (if not useless) to goblins anyway. Weapons are slightly more salvageable, it's true, but not only is one goblin with a magic sword still '''one''' goblin, the fact is that goblins are established in the setting's canon to be absolutely '''terrible''' at taking care of their shit. Not only do they not maintain the arms and armor they use, but they deliberately abuse them, because they're full of envy over how demihumans can make this cool stuff and they can't, so an enchanted sword or spear would quickly wind up useless. Furthermore, goblins hate each other only slightly less than they hate non-goblins, and exist in a constant state of infighting and thievery over each other's stuff, because "seething, hateful envy" is pretty much their default state of mind. So, a goblin who gets his hands on, say, a +2 flaming sword will actually spend most of his time killing other goblins with it to keep it from being stolen - and will ultimately be murdered by another goblin who wants his sweet sword for himself. And then that goblin will need to kill other goblins to hold onto it, until he's ultimately murdered for it, and then the cycle starts over. So, if anything, having an enchanted weapon looted will probably result in more goblin deaths than if his cheap shitty longsword was looted.

The above doesn't even begin on the multi-thread long debates on the setting, the feasibility of organisations like the adventure guild, the "believability" of some of the tactics that Goblin Slayer uses, etcetera. This all can take many pages to explain, but the Fantasy Doomguy on steroids makes it at least readable. [[Skub| It can also be seen as "humorous" if viewed as a dark comedy where a goblin killing autist goes out and kills goblins]].

[[Category:Weeaboo]]

Goblin Slayer

2019-10-21T08:45:58Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:645F:5756:B21D:ADC8: /* Characters */

{{promotions}}
[[Image:GoblinSlayerCover.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Cover of the first chapter.]]
{{Topquote|I slay Goblins.|Goblin Slayer}}

'''Goblin Slayer''' is a [[manga]] based on a light novel of the same name. The series is, like [[Dungeon Meshi]], relatively new but it has quickly gained popularity among [[neckbeards]] for its creative use of a '''very''' [[D&D|generic fantasy]] setting, though others will tell you it is nothing more than a discount version of [[Berserk]]. The story is mostly a [[Rip and Tear|gorefest]] that aims to show you the most efficient ways of killing as many [[goblin]]s as possible, whether it be through stabbing, maiming, poison, fire, or [[Awesome|creative use of utility spells]].

The series has gained notoriety for its explicit [[Rape|rape scenes]], causing some anons to label it as [[Smut for the Smut Throne|spanking material]] for [[/d/|a certain kind of people]]. Although, most [[Weeaboo|fans]] will also be quick to point out that these scenes feature women that look more like victims of spousal abuse rather than ''sexy'' vixens getting their ''comeuppance''. Others have pointed out in response that the rape scenes do showcase the rape victims in ways which are very close to a rape doujin with some mentioning that the light novel doesn't go into detail on the rape, unlike the manga devoting many pages showing the rape victims and their exposed genitals.

To say it's [[Skub|controversial and debated]] on /tg/ is an understatement and ironically, it's not even for the rape. The setting has some confusing worldbuilding with many calling it contradictory or outright nonsensical. Describing the complaints /tg/ has with the state of the world, the behavior of the characters and the many criticisms for the in-universe justifications (many which /tg/ found unsatisfactory) for everything can take up a page on its own and has taken up FUCKLOADS of threads.

The series now also has an official anime. And, the voice of Goblin Slayer in the English Dub? Doom Slayer (specifically, his mocap actor, for those of you who just went "He had a voice actor?!"). As is only proper.
Also, it has an [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i2qquegdB4| abridged series] that is arguably better than canon with some very impressive voice acting.

==Main Series==
The main series opens with a group of [[Adventurer|fresh-faced murderhobos]] going on their first quest, which like any other opening quest, is about killing [[goblin]]s that have been pestering the locals. This simple quest promptly ends with a near [[TPK]] after the rookies underestimate the dangers of a goblin lair. Just before one of the final survivors, [[Cleric|Priestess]], is taken out she's saved by the protagonist [[Fighter|Goblin Slayer]]. The other one [[Grimdark|ends up PTSD'd hard due to rape]] so she is sent to a temple along with the rescued girls.

From there the manga chronicles Priestess's evolution as an adventurer and Goblin Slayer's realization that there may be more to life than [[Exterminatus|murderfucking]] goblins.

===Characters===
[[Image:GoblinSlayerSplatter.png|thumb|left|The Slayer making chunky salsa from a Goblin head.]]
At some point the author decided that naming characters was too hard and as such no character has a name, but is instead referred to by their title, class, race, or some combination thereof. It's probably because the protagonist doesn't really care for their names and only remembers them by their titles. Although, this remains speculation.

*'''Goblin Slayer''' is what you would get if you combined [[Batman]], [[Doom|Doomguy]], and [[Ranger|Bear Grylls]] into [[Angry Marines|a ball of vengeful fury]]. It is quickly revealed that he is the only survivor of a [[goblin]] raid on his village when he was a kid, seeing the carnage was enough to change him into a [[Powergamer|killing machine]] hellbent on purging dirty midget [[Goblin|greenskins]] to the point of crushing Goblin babies with a club. Mostly, it’s because his older sister hid him, so that he saw what the goblins did to her while powerless to help and getting doused in her blood and... other fluids. Moreover, it's implied he was autistic, which makes his experience even more traumatic. The best moments of the series (according to those who aren't just here for the [[Slaanesh|rape]]) comes from seeing the many ingenious tools he's made to dispose of [[goblins]], such as using a [[Awesome|gate scroll as a high-pressure water jet cutter]] or dousing a big goblin with gas and rolling it like a fat molotov cocktail. [[Skub|Though some of /tg/ is confused by how he's even aware of half the physics behind such a feat given his fantasy setting.]] The light novel handwaves it by saying he heard a story about a mage scholar who made a portal to an ancient ruin he found on a map, and was crushed into a pancake by a wall of water when it turned out to be submerged, and he wanted to weaponize the phenomenon . In fairness to the author, Goblin Slayer interviewing civilians whose technology or gossip intrigues his autism is a consistent aspect of his character, and he later admits he had no idea water could actually cut under enough pressure at the time. He is also somehow able to project himself into dreams: when a girl who had survived a goblin raid told him of her nightmares of that time he simply told her to call upon him in said nightmares and he'd come. [[Awesome|And it FUCKING worked]].
*'''Priestess''' is a 15 year old newbie adventurer that is saved by '''Goblin Slayer''' after [[Rocks fall, everyone dies|her first quest goes south with her being saved almost moments away from being the latest sex toy for the goblins that overpowered the rest of the party she was with]]. Her design and abilities are not unlike that of a [[cleric]], as most of her miracles are support based. [[Vancian|Magic is governed by a number of daily uses]] like [[Dark Souls]] or [[3e|3rd Edition]]. She has a heart of gold, but is generally naïve when it comes to the horrors of the world.
*'''Childhood Friend''' or '''Cow Girl''' is the childhood friend of '''Goblin Slayer''' and also technically survived the [[goblin]] raid on the village by virtue of being out of town. She now lives on a farm with her uncle and rents a room for '''Goblin Slayer'''. This being a [[manga]] means that she is a love interest, she has huge knockers in reference to a common Japanese joke about girls with big breasts.
*'''High Elf Archer''' is an [[Elven]] [[ranger]] that joins the party a few chapters in. Even though she is a High Elf her description is closer to a standard [[Elf#Wood_Elf|Wood Elf]]. Even though she's 2000 years old, she is easily the most [[Loli|childish]] of the party.
*'''Dwarf Shaman''' is a [[Dwarf|Dwarven]] [[druid]] that throws rocks at people and lugs around tons of [[Alcohol|booze]]. He is a 107 years old and has a fatherly attitude which he mostly hides by teasing the '''High Elf Archer'''.
*'''Lizard Priest''' is a [[Lizardfolk|Lizardman]] that wears a native headdress and [[Necromancer|summons skeletal minions]]. He speaks very politely and tends to break up the verbal abuse between the '''Dwarf''' and the '''High Elf'''. A cool bro overall who worships dinosaurs, just like his kin in [[Lizardmen|another setting]].
*'''Guild Girl''' is a [[NPC|pen-pusher]] that takes requests from peasants, writes up quests notices, and hands out rewards when the tasks have been completed. She is another love interest.
*'''Sword Maiden''' is a gold level former adventurer who lives in Fortress City and an archbishop for the Supreme God. She's also [[Hot Chicks|smoking hot, looking like a grown up and EXTRA THICC version of Priestess]], while her robes of office are quite revealing. Her staff of office is [[Awesome|shaped in the form of a sword and scale and her familiar is a giant albino Alligator]]. While compassionate she's also got some childish traits, such as wanting to go to a festival rather than do her priestly duties and bottling up problems rather than talking about them. Often wears a blindfold and has aural vision because she's visually impaired and her body's covered in faint scars. All of her problems stem from Goblins because she's a former Goblin captive who was blinded, tortured (hence the scars) and [[Grimdark|deflowered via rape]] by them, which also left her with PTSD and a crippling fear of Goblins. She is yet another love interest and the most open about her feelings for Goblin Slayer (but loves him as an idea rather than the person).
*The '''[[Goblins]]''' are almost a character unto themselves as they're present in nearly every chapter released so far. What makes them interesting is that the author has spun what is most often considered a weak low-level threat into crazy Viet Congs on crack, rather apt as the goblins are known for covering their weapons in a [[Nurgle|mix of shit and piss]] (essentially making them the goblin equivalent of [[Tucker's Kobolds]]). Generally, the goblins pose a great exercise for any longtime [[DM]] that wishes to go against tropes or surprise [[Party|veteran players]]. Some of their notable tactics include: Totems to distract from their hidden ambush tunnels (again, like Viet Cong), using seemingly live corpses as traps, hiding in old wells, using wolves as guard dogs and mounts, and using kidnapped women as literal meat shields by tying them to boards and hiding behind them. Of course, it's highly advised not to go too far with making them a deadly threat if you wish to keep them feasibly a weak and low-level threat. Many readers are confused why these goblins still remain underestimated despite what we've seen and many finding the justifications given to be very weak. Oh, and for added weirdness, it's implied that the story Goblin Slayer's sister told him of goblins coming from [[Morrslieb|the green moon that orbits their world]] might actually be true; at one point, Goblin Slayer and his team find a mirror-portal that, when looked through, reveals goblins working machines made from human bones in a field of endless green sand underneath a black sky...
*'''[[That Guy|Truth]]''' and '''[[This Guy|Illusion]]''' are the two cosmic forces that control the setting, by serving as twin [[GM|gods]] for its inhabitants. Truth is a lucky, cocky asshole who loves [[grimdark]] settings, encourages adventurers to party-kill one another over loot, and is a lazy shit that designs dungeons by just pouring a tons of high-CR monsters and traps into a maze and calling it a day. Illusion is a sweet girl who works hard to come up with well-designed challenges for the world's inhabitants. She's the kind of person who could roll a 0 on a D20. Because effort takes time, it seems to be '''Truth's''' fualt that the story falls into a poorly-written excuse for a plot about "the demon lord's coming back". Therefore, '''Illusion''' tends to have less influence on the world, which is why their world actually doesn't make a lot of sense when you think about it. [[Skub|Hopefully that doesn't turn into the ''expected'' kind of fallback.]] Together, they gamble with the fates of men, using what're heavily implied to be ''[[5E]]'' rules. Goblin Slayer intrigues both of them, delighting Illusion with his creativity, and irritating Truth with his single-minded quest, by circumventing fate with his preparations, and therefore their manipulations. At the end of the day, neither of them will argue with the dice though.

==Year One==
[[Image:GoblinSlayerBabyMaking.png|thumb|right|Even Goblins need some lovin'.]]
{{Topquote|How will I kill them next time?|Goblin Slayer}}

'''Year One''' is the prequel side-story to ''Goblin Slayer'' and is mostly about filling in the gaps of what has so far only been implied or glossed over in the main series. The title and premise is a reference to the [[Batman]] series of the same name.

'''Year One''' is [[Skub|divisive]] due to it filling out gaps which some anons believe only added to the mystery of the main character, while others are just happy to have more '''Goblin Slayer'''. However, it is undeniable that '''Year One''' caters to the [[/d/]]eviants that like [[Heresy|monster-on-woman]] action as it doesn't take more than nine pages for three women to be [[Rape|gang-raped in an explicit three-in-a-row fashion]].

==References==
The series is full of visual references to other Japanese works both [[video games]] and [[manga]], including [[Berserk]], Dragon's Crown, Fate/Stay Night, Final Fantasy, and many more.

==Criticism==
As stated above, this manga is undoubtedly a very, very controversial topic thanks in due part to the inconsistent setting. It’s a setting with two opposing sets of [[DM|gods]], which is presented as a game much like D&D, and this makes many inconsistencies within the manga/LN. Many threads have been taken up by arguments around this.

===Regarding the Setting===
One common criticism is the unrecognized threat of the goblins. Year One shows that goblin invasions have destroyed entire villages, and that this is something that has been going on for years - yet, despite that, goblins are still thought of as the lowest of threats by pretty much everybody who isn't the Goblin Slayer. There is an abundance of evidence against them being such low threats, with the adventurer's guild reporting that it is standard procedure for them to have to send multiple teams of new adventurers to wipe out '''one''' goblin lair, because many of the teams sent in to cleanse goblin lairs will end up being wiped out by the goblins. In no small part ''because'' they somehow think that the goblins are not serious threats. Making things worse, the manga is explicit that there are ''plenty'' of stories in-universe about adventurers being massacred, raped and traumatized by goblins... and yet '''still''' the prevailing attitude towards goblins is "eh, they're no biggie".

Now, the idea that goblin-hunting could be high-risk and low-reward is not contradictory in and of itself, and to the series credit, the prevailing rationale given for why adventurers move on from goblin-hunting as quickly as they can is explicitly the fact that the job is nasty and pays pathetically. But what is contradictory is the fact that goblins in this world are so dangerous, and yet nobody gives them any credit for the realistically dangerous foes that they are.

This stems into a related criticism; the lackluster official policy towards dealing with goblins. In a "realistic" setting, which Goblin Slayer is ostensibly trying to be, an adventurer's guild would:
* Drum it into rookie heads that goblins are '''not''' to be underestimated (in case all the horror stories didn't already do that).
* Train rookie adventures so they will be able to go into goblin caves and not be wiped out. (In fairness, it is implied that adventurer's guild do train low-level adventurers, but this amounts to a single "blink and you'll miss it" scene.)
* Forbid female adventurers going on goblin-hunting missions, because goblins reproduce exclusively by raping female [[demihuman]]s.
* Have goblin-slaying experts who lead nest-purging missions and train rookies in how to successfully cleanse them. (Goblin Slayer is such an expert, but he shows no interest in passing on his skills to anyone not in his party, and he's regarded as a weirdo by other adventurers.)
* Hire bloodthirsty sellswords with few moral qualms to encourage low cost, high return solutions even if the women end up as sloppy seconds for the sellswords it is better than goblins having their way with women.

Or, if that's far too much work, just make it so that people who don't know which end of the sword to hold can't go on goblin quests to deliver weapons and women right to their dens. Absolutely ''none'' of this happens in-universe.

Also relating to the criticism of goblins being an "unrecognized threat" is the idea that they would ''be'' unrecognized in the first place. If goblins routinely wipe out entire villages, swelling into hordes that breed exponentially as they conquer more villages, then a realistic reaction would be to ''encourage'' goblin-hunting, with Guild-given sizable payoffs for each nest wiped out and bounties on goblin corpses. Instead, the rewards for goblin hunting amount to the tiny handfuls of jink that villages can scrape together, which means they are callously left to their own devices. About the only realistic way to justify this level of callous indifference would be if [[Imperium of Man|demihuman cities are so numerous and/or expansive that they can always afford to lose a village here or there]]... and canon gives no indication that this is the case at all.

Supposedly, the light novels make it clear that ''normally'' goblin lairs are actually wiped out really quickly and rarely get to full-scale village threatening levels, and it's only in recent years, with the monstrous races swelling in power as a whole that people are being distracted from the usual anti-goblin clearing, giving goblins a chance to build up their numbers unopposed that they don't normally get. It still doesn't adequately explain the lack of respect for goblin slaying when their threat levels have been allowed to reached such a critical mass, or how reports of goblins reaching critical mass and wiping out villages seem to have either never been made, or are forgotten by everyone for no reason.

The other major criticism relating to the setting is the sheer tonal dissonance. Goblin Slayer treats the goblins with a grim, gritty, realistic motif: the goblins use simple but brutally effective pragmatic tactics like poisoned weaponry, ambush, traps, targeted shots, etcetera. And yet the rest of the world is full of standard JRPG traits, most prominently the abundance of [[Fantasy Armor]]. It just makes no sense; if goblins, reputedly the ''weakest'' enemy type, will exploit all of the realistic downfalls of things like fanciful "showy" armor or running around without a helmet, then why do such things exist? Why aren't they an even bigger problem when facing off against more powerful monsters? Scenes like a high-level, confirmed "dragon killer" [[barbarian]] being taken down in one stab by a cunning goblin only make it worse, because they seem to directly imply that the world ''normally'' runs off of light-hearted(ish) [[Heroic Fantasy]] tropes, then inexplicably switches to [[Dark Fantasy|Dark]] [[Low Fantasy]] whenever somebody is fighting a goblin.

Even with the explanation that this series is literally taking place in a world that two gods are "playing with", and that the major divine conflict is the clash between the two arguing over which way the world should be presented, this tonal dissonance just doesn't make any sense. The setting is clearly aiming for what [[TVTropes]] calls a "Deconstruction" of your standard [[Heroic Fantasy]] anime, but it does so in such a clumsy, hamfisted manner it completely ruins its own argument. It only gets worse the more you look into it - for example, the aforementioned [[barbarian]] is briefly shown with a [[Character Sheet]] based on [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]]... and yet, [[RAW]], a character like that ''is'' better off naked if no magical armor is around, because their skin ''is'' tougher than steel and they have [[Hit point]]s up the wazoo. It makes the goblin victories come off as being forced for the sheer sake of [[grimdark]], and is directly cited as a reason behind the common perception that the story is "tryhard" and "edgy", which turns off many readers/viewers.

===Regarding the Slayer===
The last of the big criticisms is directed not at the setting, but at Goblin Slayer himself. Namely, his tactics, which many have called out as presenting the illusion of pragmatism, instead of actually being pragmatic. The primary sub-criticism of this argument? Goblin Slayer's gear. To sum things up, Goblin Slayer deliberately uses the cheapest, nastiest, most low-quality gear he can, because he fully anticipates ultimately dying in battle and he wants to make sure the goblins will not profit from it when they loot his corpse afterwards. Except the obvious problem here is that [[Derp|having bad equipment makes his death and looting more likely, whereas good equipment would make that less likely]]. In a nutshell, the argument is that he's preparing so hard for events occurring ''after'' his death that he's unthinkingly increasing the odds of being killed.

There's also the sub-argument of just how much of a threat Goblin Slayer being looted really is. As a human, any armor he has would need to be forcibly resized, which would make it pretty much worse-off (if not useless) to goblins anyway. Weapons are slightly more salvageable, it's true, but not only is one goblin with a magic sword still '''one''' goblin, the fact is that goblins are established in the setting's canon to be absolutely '''terrible''' at taking care of their shit. Not only do they not maintain the arms and armor they use, but they deliberately abuse them, because they're full of envy over how demihumans can make this cool stuff and they can't, so an enchanted sword or spear would quickly wind up useless. Furthermore, goblins hate each other only slightly less than they hate non-goblins, and exist in a constant state of infighting and thievery over each other's stuff, because "seething, hateful envy" is pretty much their default state of mind. So, a goblin who gets his hands on, say, a +2 flaming sword will actually spend most of his time killing other goblins with it to keep it from being stolen - and will ultimately be murdered by another goblin who wants his sweet sword for himself. And then that goblin will need to kill other goblins to hold onto it, until he's ultimately murdered for it, and then the cycle starts over. So, if anything, having an enchanted weapon looted will probably result in more goblin deaths than if his cheap shitty longsword was looted.

The above doesn't even begin on the multi-thread long debates on the setting, the feasibility of organisations like the adventure guild, the "believability" of some of the tactics that Goblin Slayer uses, etcetera. This all can take many pages to explain, but the Fantasy Doomguy on steroids makes it at least readable. [[Skub| It can also be seen as "humorous" if viewed as a dark comedy where a goblin killing autist goes out and kills goblins]].

[[Category:Weeaboo]]

Goblin Slayer

2019-10-21T08:45:12Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:645F:5756:B21D:ADC8: /* Characters */

{{promotions}}
[[Image:GoblinSlayerCover.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Cover of the first chapter.]]
{{Topquote|I slay Goblins.|Goblin Slayer}}

'''Goblin Slayer''' is a [[manga]] based on a light novel of the same name. The series is, like [[Dungeon Meshi]], relatively new but it has quickly gained popularity among [[neckbeards]] for its creative use of a '''very''' [[D&D|generic fantasy]] setting, though others will tell you it is nothing more than a discount version of [[Berserk]]. The story is mostly a [[Rip and Tear|gorefest]] that aims to show you the most efficient ways of killing as many [[goblin]]s as possible, whether it be through stabbing, maiming, poison, fire, or [[Awesome|creative use of utility spells]].

The series has gained notoriety for its explicit [[Rape|rape scenes]], causing some anons to label it as [[Smut for the Smut Throne|spanking material]] for [[/d/|a certain kind of people]]. Although, most [[Weeaboo|fans]] will also be quick to point out that these scenes feature women that look more like victims of spousal abuse rather than ''sexy'' vixens getting their ''comeuppance''. Others have pointed out in response that the rape scenes do showcase the rape victims in ways which are very close to a rape doujin with some mentioning that the light novel doesn't go into detail on the rape, unlike the manga devoting many pages showing the rape victims and their exposed genitals.

To say it's [[Skub|controversial and debated]] on /tg/ is an understatement and ironically, it's not even for the rape. The setting has some confusing worldbuilding with many calling it contradictory or outright nonsensical. Describing the complaints /tg/ has with the state of the world, the behavior of the characters and the many criticisms for the in-universe justifications (many which /tg/ found unsatisfactory) for everything can take up a page on its own and has taken up FUCKLOADS of threads.

The series now also has an official anime. And, the voice of Goblin Slayer in the English Dub? Doom Slayer (specifically, his mocap actor, for those of you who just went "He had a voice actor?!"). As is only proper.
Also, it has an [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i2qquegdB4| abridged series] that is arguably better than canon with some very impressive voice acting.

==Main Series==
The main series opens with a group of [[Adventurer|fresh-faced murderhobos]] going on their first quest, which like any other opening quest, is about killing [[goblin]]s that have been pestering the locals. This simple quest promptly ends with a near [[TPK]] after the rookies underestimate the dangers of a goblin lair. Just before one of the final survivors, [[Cleric|Priestess]], is taken out she's saved by the protagonist [[Fighter|Goblin Slayer]]. The other one [[Grimdark|ends up PTSD'd hard due to rape]] so she is sent to a temple along with the rescued girls.

From there the manga chronicles Priestess's evolution as an adventurer and Goblin Slayer's realization that there may be more to life than [[Exterminatus|murderfucking]] goblins.

===Characters===
[[Image:GoblinSlayerSplatter.png|thumb|left|The Slayer making chunky salsa from a Goblin head.]]
At some point the author decided that naming characters was too hard and as such no character has a name, but is instead referred to by their title, class, race, or some combination thereof. It's probably because the protagonist doesn't really care for their names and only remembers them by their titles. Although, this remains speculation.

*'''Goblin Slayer''' is what you would get if you combined [[Batman]], [[Doom|Doomguy]], and [[Ranger|Bear Grylls]] into [[Angry Marines|a ball of vengeful fury]]. It is quickly revealed that he is the only survivor of a [[goblin]] raid on his village when he was a kid, seeing the carnage was enough to change him into a [[Powergamer|killing machine]] hellbent on purging dirty midget [[Goblin|greenskins]] to the point of crushing Goblin babies with a club. Mostly, it’s because his older sister hid him, so that he saw what the goblins did to her while powerless to help and getting doused in her blood and... other fluids. Moreover, it's implied he was autistic, which makes his experience even more traumatic. The best moments of the series (according to those who aren't just here for the [[Slaanesh|rape]]) comes from seeing the many ingenious tools he's made to dispose of [[goblins]], such as using a [[Awesome|gate scroll as a high-pressure water jet cutter]] or dousing a big goblin with gas and rolling it like a fat molotov cocktail. [[Skub|Though some of /tg/ is confused by how he's even aware of half the physics behind such a feat given his fantasy setting.]] The light novel handwaves it by saying he heard a story about a mage scholar who made a portal to an ancient ruin he found on a map, and was crushed into a pancake by a wall of water when it turned out to be submerged, and he wanted to weaponize the phenomenon . In fairness to the author, Goblin Slayer interviewing civilians whose technology or gossip intrigues his autism is a consistent aspect of his character, and he later admits he had no idea water could actually cut under enough pressure at the time. He is also somehow able to project himself into dreams: when a girl who had survived a goblin raid told him of her nightmares of that time he simply told her to call upon him in said nightmares and he'd come. [[Awesome|And it FUCKING worked]].
*'''Priestess''' is a 15 year old newbie adventurer that is saved by '''Goblin Slayer''' after [[Rocks fall, everyone dies|her first quest goes south with her being saved almost moments away from being the latest sex toy for the goblins that overpowered the rest of the party she was with]]. Her design and abilities are not unlike that of a [[cleric]], as most of her miracles are support based. [[Vancian|Magic is governed by a number of daily uses]] like [[Dark Souls]] or [[3e|3rd Edition]]. She has a heart of gold, but is generally naïve when it comes to the horrors of the world.
*'''Childhood Friend''' or '''Cow Girl''' is the childhood friend of '''Goblin Slayer''' and also technically survived the [[goblin]] raid on the village by virtue of being out of town. She now lives on a farm with her uncle and rents a room for '''Goblin Slayer'''. This being a [[manga]] means that she is a love interest, she has huge knockers in reference to a common Japanese joke about girls with big breasts.
*'''High Elf Archer''' is an [[Elven]] [[ranger]] that joins the party a few chapters in. Even though she is a High Elf her description is closer to a standard [[Elf#Wood_Elf|Wood Elf]]. Even though she's 2000 years old, she is easily the most [[Loli|childish]] of the party.
*'''Dwarf Shaman''' is a [[Dwarf|Dwarven]] [[druid]] that throws rocks at people and lugs around tons of [[Alcohol|booze]]. He is a 107 years old and has a fatherly attitude which he mostly hides by teasing the '''High Elf Archer'''.
*'''Lizard Priest''' is a [[Lizardfolk|Lizardman]] that wears a native headdress and [[Necromancer|summons skeletal minions]]. He speaks very politely and tends to break up the verbal abuse between the '''Dwarf''' and the '''High Elf'''. A cool bro overall who worships dinosaurs, just like his kin in [[Lizardmen|another setting]].
*'''Guild Girl''' is a [[NPC|pen-pusher]] that takes requests from peasants, writes up quests notices, and hands out rewards when the tasks have been completed. She is another love interest.
*'''Sword Maiden''' is a gold level former adventurer who lives in the city and an archbishop for the Supreme God. She's also [[Hot Chicks|smoking hot, looking like a grown up and EXTRA THICC version of Priestess]], while her robes of office are quite revealing. Her staff of office is [[Awesome|shaped in the form of a sword and scale]]. While compassionate she's also got some childish traits, such as wanting to go to a festival rather than do her priestly duties and bottling up problems rather than talking about them. Often wears a blindfold and has aural vision because she's visually impaired and her body's covered in faint scars. All of her problems stem from Goblins because she's a former Goblin captive who was blinded, tortured (hence the scars) and [[Grimdark|deflowered via rape]] by them, which also left her with PTSD and a crippling fear of Goblins. She is yet another love interest and the most open about her feelings for Goblin Slayer (but loves him as an idea rather than the person).
*The '''[[Goblins]]''' are almost a character unto themselves as they're present in nearly every chapter released so far. What makes them interesting is that the author has spun what is most often considered a weak low-level threat into crazy Viet Congs on crack, rather apt as the goblins are known for covering their weapons in a [[Nurgle|mix of shit and piss]] (essentially making them the goblin equivalent of [[Tucker's Kobolds]]). Generally, the goblins pose a great exercise for any longtime [[DM]] that wishes to go against tropes or surprise [[Party|veteran players]]. Some of their notable tactics include: Totems to distract from their hidden ambush tunnels (again, like Viet Cong), using seemingly live corpses as traps, hiding in old wells, using wolves as guard dogs and mounts, and using kidnapped women as literal meat shields by tying them to boards and hiding behind them. Of course, it's highly advised not to go too far with making them a deadly threat if you wish to keep them feasibly a weak and low-level threat. Many readers are confused why these goblins still remain underestimated despite what we've seen and many finding the justifications given to be very weak. Oh, and for added weirdness, it's implied that the story Goblin Slayer's sister told him of goblins coming from [[Morrslieb|the green moon that orbits their world]] might actually be true; at one point, Goblin Slayer and his team find a mirror-portal that, when looked through, reveals goblins working machines made from human bones in a field of endless green sand underneath a black sky...
*'''[[That Guy|Truth]]''' and '''[[This Guy|Illusion]]''' are the two cosmic forces that control the setting, by serving as twin [[GM|gods]] for its inhabitants. Truth is a lucky, cocky asshole who loves [[grimdark]] settings, encourages adventurers to party-kill one another over loot, and is a lazy shit that designs dungeons by just pouring a tons of high-CR monsters and traps into a maze and calling it a day. Illusion is a sweet girl who works hard to come up with well-designed challenges for the world's inhabitants. She's the kind of person who could roll a 0 on a D20. Because effort takes time, it seems to be '''Truth's''' fualt that the story falls into a poorly-written excuse for a plot about "the demon lord's coming back". Therefore, '''Illusion''' tends to have less influence on the world, which is why their world actually doesn't make a lot of sense when you think about it. [[Skub|Hopefully that doesn't turn into the ''expected'' kind of fallback.]] Together, they gamble with the fates of men, using what're heavily implied to be ''[[5E]]'' rules. Goblin Slayer intrigues both of them, delighting Illusion with his creativity, and irritating Truth with his single-minded quest, by circumventing fate with his preparations, and therefore their manipulations. At the end of the day, neither of them will argue with the dice though.

==Year One==
[[Image:GoblinSlayerBabyMaking.png|thumb|right|Even Goblins need some lovin'.]]
{{Topquote|How will I kill them next time?|Goblin Slayer}}

'''Year One''' is the prequel side-story to ''Goblin Slayer'' and is mostly about filling in the gaps of what has so far only been implied or glossed over in the main series. The title and premise is a reference to the [[Batman]] series of the same name.

'''Year One''' is [[Skub|divisive]] due to it filling out gaps which some anons believe only added to the mystery of the main character, while others are just happy to have more '''Goblin Slayer'''. However, it is undeniable that '''Year One''' caters to the [[/d/]]eviants that like [[Heresy|monster-on-woman]] action as it doesn't take more than nine pages for three women to be [[Rape|gang-raped in an explicit three-in-a-row fashion]].

==References==
The series is full of visual references to other Japanese works both [[video games]] and [[manga]], including [[Berserk]], Dragon's Crown, Fate/Stay Night, Final Fantasy, and many more.

==Criticism==
As stated above, this manga is undoubtedly a very, very controversial topic thanks in due part to the inconsistent setting. It’s a setting with two opposing sets of [[DM|gods]], which is presented as a game much like D&D, and this makes many inconsistencies within the manga/LN. Many threads have been taken up by arguments around this.

===Regarding the Setting===
One common criticism is the unrecognized threat of the goblins. Year One shows that goblin invasions have destroyed entire villages, and that this is something that has been going on for years - yet, despite that, goblins are still thought of as the lowest of threats by pretty much everybody who isn't the Goblin Slayer. There is an abundance of evidence against them being such low threats, with the adventurer's guild reporting that it is standard procedure for them to have to send multiple teams of new adventurers to wipe out '''one''' goblin lair, because many of the teams sent in to cleanse goblin lairs will end up being wiped out by the goblins. In no small part ''because'' they somehow think that the goblins are not serious threats. Making things worse, the manga is explicit that there are ''plenty'' of stories in-universe about adventurers being massacred, raped and traumatized by goblins... and yet '''still''' the prevailing attitude towards goblins is "eh, they're no biggie".

Now, the idea that goblin-hunting could be high-risk and low-reward is not contradictory in and of itself, and to the series credit, the prevailing rationale given for why adventurers move on from goblin-hunting as quickly as they can is explicitly the fact that the job is nasty and pays pathetically. But what is contradictory is the fact that goblins in this world are so dangerous, and yet nobody gives them any credit for the realistically dangerous foes that they are.

This stems into a related criticism; the lackluster official policy towards dealing with goblins. In a "realistic" setting, which Goblin Slayer is ostensibly trying to be, an adventurer's guild would:
* Drum it into rookie heads that goblins are '''not''' to be underestimated (in case all the horror stories didn't already do that).
* Train rookie adventures so they will be able to go into goblin caves and not be wiped out. (In fairness, it is implied that adventurer's guild do train low-level adventurers, but this amounts to a single "blink and you'll miss it" scene.)
* Forbid female adventurers going on goblin-hunting missions, because goblins reproduce exclusively by raping female [[demihuman]]s.
* Have goblin-slaying experts who lead nest-purging missions and train rookies in how to successfully cleanse them. (Goblin Slayer is such an expert, but he shows no interest in passing on his skills to anyone not in his party, and he's regarded as a weirdo by other adventurers.)
* Hire bloodthirsty sellswords with few moral qualms to encourage low cost, high return solutions even if the women end up as sloppy seconds for the sellswords it is better than goblins having their way with women.

Or, if that's far too much work, just make it so that people who don't know which end of the sword to hold can't go on goblin quests to deliver weapons and women right to their dens. Absolutely ''none'' of this happens in-universe.

Also relating to the criticism of goblins being an "unrecognized threat" is the idea that they would ''be'' unrecognized in the first place. If goblins routinely wipe out entire villages, swelling into hordes that breed exponentially as they conquer more villages, then a realistic reaction would be to ''encourage'' goblin-hunting, with Guild-given sizable payoffs for each nest wiped out and bounties on goblin corpses. Instead, the rewards for goblin hunting amount to the tiny handfuls of jink that villages can scrape together, which means they are callously left to their own devices. About the only realistic way to justify this level of callous indifference would be if [[Imperium of Man|demihuman cities are so numerous and/or expansive that they can always afford to lose a village here or there]]... and canon gives no indication that this is the case at all.

Supposedly, the light novels make it clear that ''normally'' goblin lairs are actually wiped out really quickly and rarely get to full-scale village threatening levels, and it's only in recent years, with the monstrous races swelling in power as a whole that people are being distracted from the usual anti-goblin clearing, giving goblins a chance to build up their numbers unopposed that they don't normally get. It still doesn't adequately explain the lack of respect for goblin slaying when their threat levels have been allowed to reached such a critical mass, or how reports of goblins reaching critical mass and wiping out villages seem to have either never been made, or are forgotten by everyone for no reason.

The other major criticism relating to the setting is the sheer tonal dissonance. Goblin Slayer treats the goblins with a grim, gritty, realistic motif: the goblins use simple but brutally effective pragmatic tactics like poisoned weaponry, ambush, traps, targeted shots, etcetera. And yet the rest of the world is full of standard JRPG traits, most prominently the abundance of [[Fantasy Armor]]. It just makes no sense; if goblins, reputedly the ''weakest'' enemy type, will exploit all of the realistic downfalls of things like fanciful "showy" armor or running around without a helmet, then why do such things exist? Why aren't they an even bigger problem when facing off against more powerful monsters? Scenes like a high-level, confirmed "dragon killer" [[barbarian]] being taken down in one stab by a cunning goblin only make it worse, because they seem to directly imply that the world ''normally'' runs off of light-hearted(ish) [[Heroic Fantasy]] tropes, then inexplicably switches to [[Dark Fantasy|Dark]] [[Low Fantasy]] whenever somebody is fighting a goblin.

Even with the explanation that this series is literally taking place in a world that two gods are "playing with", and that the major divine conflict is the clash between the two arguing over which way the world should be presented, this tonal dissonance just doesn't make any sense. The setting is clearly aiming for what [[TVTropes]] calls a "Deconstruction" of your standard [[Heroic Fantasy]] anime, but it does so in such a clumsy, hamfisted manner it completely ruins its own argument. It only gets worse the more you look into it - for example, the aforementioned [[barbarian]] is briefly shown with a [[Character Sheet]] based on [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]]... and yet, [[RAW]], a character like that ''is'' better off naked if no magical armor is around, because their skin ''is'' tougher than steel and they have [[Hit point]]s up the wazoo. It makes the goblin victories come off as being forced for the sheer sake of [[grimdark]], and is directly cited as a reason behind the common perception that the story is "tryhard" and "edgy", which turns off many readers/viewers.

===Regarding the Slayer===
The last of the big criticisms is directed not at the setting, but at Goblin Slayer himself. Namely, his tactics, which many have called out as presenting the illusion of pragmatism, instead of actually being pragmatic. The primary sub-criticism of this argument? Goblin Slayer's gear. To sum things up, Goblin Slayer deliberately uses the cheapest, nastiest, most low-quality gear he can, because he fully anticipates ultimately dying in battle and he wants to make sure the goblins will not profit from it when they loot his corpse afterwards. Except the obvious problem here is that [[Derp|having bad equipment makes his death and looting more likely, whereas good equipment would make that less likely]]. In a nutshell, the argument is that he's preparing so hard for events occurring ''after'' his death that he's unthinkingly increasing the odds of being killed.

There's also the sub-argument of just how much of a threat Goblin Slayer being looted really is. As a human, any armor he has would need to be forcibly resized, which would make it pretty much worse-off (if not useless) to goblins anyway. Weapons are slightly more salvageable, it's true, but not only is one goblin with a magic sword still '''one''' goblin, the fact is that goblins are established in the setting's canon to be absolutely '''terrible''' at taking care of their shit. Not only do they not maintain the arms and armor they use, but they deliberately abuse them, because they're full of envy over how demihumans can make this cool stuff and they can't, so an enchanted sword or spear would quickly wind up useless. Furthermore, goblins hate each other only slightly less than they hate non-goblins, and exist in a constant state of infighting and thievery over each other's stuff, because "seething, hateful envy" is pretty much their default state of mind. So, a goblin who gets his hands on, say, a +2 flaming sword will actually spend most of his time killing other goblins with it to keep it from being stolen - and will ultimately be murdered by another goblin who wants his sweet sword for himself. And then that goblin will need to kill other goblins to hold onto it, until he's ultimately murdered for it, and then the cycle starts over. So, if anything, having an enchanted weapon looted will probably result in more goblin deaths than if his cheap shitty longsword was looted.

The above doesn't even begin on the multi-thread long debates on the setting, the feasibility of organisations like the adventure guild, the "believability" of some of the tactics that Goblin Slayer uses, etcetera. This all can take many pages to explain, but the Fantasy Doomguy on steroids makes it at least readable. [[Skub| It can also be seen as "humorous" if viewed as a dark comedy where a goblin killing autist goes out and kills goblins]].

[[Category:Weeaboo]]

Goblin Slayer

2019-10-21T08:22:53Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:645F:5756:B21D:ADC8: /* Characters */

{{promotions}}
[[Image:GoblinSlayerCover.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Cover of the first chapter.]]
{{Topquote|I slay Goblins.|Goblin Slayer}}

'''Goblin Slayer''' is a [[manga]] based on a light novel of the same name. The series is, like [[Dungeon Meshi]], relatively new but it has quickly gained popularity among [[neckbeards]] for its creative use of a '''very''' [[D&D|generic fantasy]] setting, though others will tell you it is nothing more than a discount version of [[Berserk]]. The story is mostly a [[Rip and Tear|gorefest]] that aims to show you the most efficient ways of killing as many [[goblin]]s as possible, whether it be through stabbing, maiming, poison, fire, or [[Awesome|creative use of utility spells]].

The series has gained notoriety for its explicit [[Rape|rape scenes]], causing some anons to label it as [[Smut for the Smut Throne|spanking material]] for [[/d/|a certain kind of people]]. Although, most [[Weeaboo|fans]] will also be quick to point out that these scenes feature women that look more like victims of spousal abuse rather than ''sexy'' vixens getting their ''comeuppance''. Others have pointed out in response that the rape scenes do showcase the rape victims in ways which are very close to a rape doujin with some mentioning that the light novel doesn't go into detail on the rape, unlike the manga devoting many pages showing the rape victims and their exposed genitals.

To say it's [[Skub|controversial and debated]] on /tg/ is an understatement and ironically, it's not even for the rape. The setting has some confusing worldbuilding with many calling it contradictory or outright nonsensical. Describing the complaints /tg/ has with the state of the world, the behavior of the characters and the many criticisms for the in-universe justifications (many which /tg/ found unsatisfactory) for everything can take up a page on its own and has taken up FUCKLOADS of threads.

The series now also has an official anime. And, the voice of Goblin Slayer in the English Dub? Doom Slayer (specifically, his mocap actor, for those of you who just went "He had a voice actor?!"). As is only proper.
Also, it has an [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i2qquegdB4| abridged series] that is arguably better than canon with some very impressive voice acting.

==Main Series==
The main series opens with a group of [[Adventurer|fresh-faced murderhobos]] going on their first quest, which like any other opening quest, is about killing [[goblin]]s that have been pestering the locals. This simple quest promptly ends with a near [[TPK]] after the rookies underestimate the dangers of a goblin lair. Just before one of the final survivors, [[Cleric|Priestess]], is taken out she's saved by the protagonist [[Fighter|Goblin Slayer]]. The other one [[Grimdark|ends up PTSD'd hard due to rape]] so she is sent to a temple along with the rescued girls.

From there the manga chronicles Priestess's evolution as an adventurer and Goblin Slayer's realization that there may be more to life than [[Exterminatus|murderfucking]] goblins.

===Characters===
[[Image:GoblinSlayerSplatter.png|thumb|left|The Slayer making chunky salsa from a Goblin head.]]
At some point the author decided that naming characters was too hard and as such no character has a name, but is instead referred to by their title, class, race, or some combination thereof. It's probably because the protagonist doesn't really care for their names and only remembers them by their titles. Although, this remains speculation.

*'''Goblin Slayer''' is what you would get if you combined [[Batman]], [[Doom|Doomguy]], and [[Ranger|Bear Grylls]] into [[Angry Marines|a ball of vengeful fury]]. It is quickly revealed that he is the only survivor of a [[goblin]] raid on his village when he was a kid, seeing the carnage was enough to change him into a [[Powergamer|killing machine]] hellbent on purging dirty midget [[Goblin|greenskins]] to the point of crushing Goblin babies with a club. Mostly, it’s because his older sister hid him, so that he saw what the goblins did to her while powerless to help and getting doused in her blood and... other fluids. Moreover, it's implied he was autistic, which makes his experience even more traumatic. The best moments of the series (according to those who aren't just here for the [[Slaanesh|rape]]) comes from seeing the many ingenious tools he's made to dispose of [[goblins]], such as using a [[Awesome|gate scroll as a high-pressure water jet cutter]] or dousing a big goblin with gas and rolling it like a fat molotov cocktail. [[Skub|Though some of /tg/ is confused by how he's even aware of half the physics behind such a feat given his fantasy setting.]] The light novel handwaves it by saying he heard a story about a mage scholar who made a portal to an ancient ruin he found on a map, and was crushed into a pancake by a wall of water when it turned out to be submerged, and he wanted to weaponize the phenomenon . In fairness to the author, Goblin Slayer interviewing civilians whose technology or gossip intrigues his autism is a consistent aspect of his character, and he later admits he had no idea water could actually cut under enough pressure at the time. He is also somehow able to project himself into dreams: when a girl who had survived a goblin raid told him of her nightmares of that time he simply told her to call upon him in said nightmares and he'd come. [[Awesome|And it FUCKING worked]].
*'''Priestess''' is a 15 year old newbie adventurer that is saved by '''Goblin Slayer''' after [[Rocks fall, everyone dies|her first quest goes south with her being saved almost moments away from being the latest sex toy for the goblins that overpowered the rest of the party she was with]]. Her design and abilities are not unlike that of a [[cleric]], as most of her miracles are support based. [[Vancian|Magic is governed by a number of daily uses]] like [[Dark Souls]] or [[3e|3rd Edition]]. She has a heart of gold, but is generally naïve when it comes to the horrors of the world.
*'''Childhood Friend''' or '''Cow Girl''' is the childhood friend of '''Goblin Slayer''' and also technically survived the [[goblin]] raid on the village by virtue of being out of town. She now lives on a farm with her uncle and rents a room for '''Goblin Slayer'''. This being a [[manga]] means that she is a love interest, she has huge knockers in reference to a common Japanese joke about girls with big breasts.
*'''High Elf Archer''' is an [[Elven]] [[ranger]] that joins the party a few chapters in. Even though she is a High Elf her description is closer to a standard [[Elf#Wood_Elf|Wood Elf]]. Even though she's 2000 years old, she is easily the most [[Loli|childish]] of the party.
*'''Dwarf Shaman''' is a [[Dwarf|Dwarven]] [[druid]] that throws rocks at people and lugs around tons of [[Alcohol|booze]]. He is a 107 years old and has a fatherly attitude which he mostly hides by teasing the '''High Elf Archer'''.
*'''Lizard Priest''' is a [[Lizardfolk|Lizardman]] that wears a native headdress and [[Necromancer|summons skeletal minions]]. He speaks very politely and tends to break up the verbal abuse between the '''Dwarf''' and the '''High Elf'''. A cool bro overall who worships dinosaurs, just like his kin in [[Lizardmen|another setting]].
*'''Guild Girl''' is a [[NPC|pen-pusher]] that takes requests from peasants, writes up quests notices, and hands out rewards when the tasks have been completed. She is another love interest.
*'''Sword Maiden''' is a former gold level adventurer and an archbishop for the Supreme God, residing in the City's cathedral. She's also [[Hot Chicks|smoking hot, looking like a grown up and EXTRA THICC version of Priestess]], while her robes of office are quite revealing. While compassionate she's also got some childish traits, such as wanting to go to a festival rather than do her priestly duties and bottling up problems rather than talking about them. She's also a Goblin rape victim, [[Grimdark|which is how she lost her virginity]], and is terrified of them which is why she contacts Goblin Slayer in the first place. She is another love interest for Goblin Slayer and the most open about her feelings for him, even if she loves him as an idea rather than a person.
*The '''[[Goblins]]''' are almost a character unto themselves as they're present in nearly every chapter released so far. What makes them interesting is that the author has spun what is most often considered a weak low-level threat into crazy Viet Congs on crack, rather apt as the goblins are known for covering their weapons in a [[Nurgle|mix of shit and piss]] (essentially making them the goblin equivalent of [[Tucker's Kobolds]]). Generally, the goblins pose a great exercise for any longtime [[DM]] that wishes to go against tropes or surprise [[Party|veteran players]]. Some of their notable tactics include: Totems to distract from their hidden ambush tunnels (again, like Viet Cong), using seemingly live corpses as traps, hiding in old wells, using wolves as guard dogs and mounts, and using kidnapped women as literal meat shields by tying them to boards and hiding behind them. Of course, it's highly advised not to go too far with making them a deadly threat if you wish to keep them feasibly a weak and low-level threat. Many readers are confused why these goblins still remain underestimated despite what we've seen and many finding the justifications given to be very weak. Oh, and for added weirdness, it's implied that the story Goblin Slayer's sister told him of goblins coming from [[Morrslieb|the green moon that orbits their world]] might actually be true; at one point, Goblin Slayer and his team find a mirror-portal that, when looked through, reveals goblins working machines made from human bones in a field of endless green sand underneath a black sky...
*'''[[That Guy|Truth]]''' and '''[[This Guy|Illusion]]''' are the two cosmic forces that control the setting, by serving as twin [[GM|gods]] for its inhabitants. Truth is a lucky, cocky asshole who loves [[grimdark]] settings, encourages adventurers to party-kill one another over loot, and is a lazy shit that designs dungeons by just pouring a tons of high-CR monsters and traps into a maze and calling it a day. Illusion is a sweet girl who works hard to come up with well-designed challenges for the world's inhabitants. She's the kind of person who could roll a 0 on a D20. Because effort takes time, it seems to be '''Truth's''' fualt that the story falls into a poorly-written excuse for a plot about "the demon lord's coming back". Therefore, '''Illusion''' tends to have less influence on the world, which is why their world actually doesn't make a lot of sense when you think about it. [[Skub|Hopefully that doesn't turn into the ''expected'' kind of fallback.]] Together, they gamble with the fates of men, using what're heavily implied to be ''[[5E]]'' rules. Goblin Slayer intrigues both of them, delighting Illusion with his creativity, and irritating Truth with his single-minded quest, by circumventing fate with his preparations, and therefore their manipulations. At the end of the day, neither of them will argue with the dice though.

==Year One==
[[Image:GoblinSlayerBabyMaking.png|thumb|right|Even Goblins need some lovin'.]]
{{Topquote|How will I kill them next time?|Goblin Slayer}}

'''Year One''' is the prequel side-story to ''Goblin Slayer'' and is mostly about filling in the gaps of what has so far only been implied or glossed over in the main series. The title and premise is a reference to the [[Batman]] series of the same name.

'''Year One''' is [[Skub|divisive]] due to it filling out gaps which some anons believe only added to the mystery of the main character, while others are just happy to have more '''Goblin Slayer'''. However, it is undeniable that '''Year One''' caters to the [[/d/]]eviants that like [[Heresy|monster-on-woman]] action as it doesn't take more than nine pages for three women to be [[Rape|gang-raped in an explicit three-in-a-row fashion]].

==References==
The series is full of visual references to other Japanese works both [[video games]] and [[manga]], including [[Berserk]], Dragon's Crown, Fate/Stay Night, Final Fantasy, and many more.

==Criticism==
As stated above, this manga is undoubtedly a very, very controversial topic thanks in due part to the inconsistent setting. It’s a setting with two opposing sets of [[DM|gods]], which is presented as a game much like D&D, and this makes many inconsistencies within the manga/LN. Many threads have been taken up by arguments around this.

===Regarding the Setting===
One common criticism is the unrecognized threat of the goblins. Year One shows that goblin invasions have destroyed entire villages, and that this is something that has been going on for years - yet, despite that, goblins are still thought of as the lowest of threats by pretty much everybody who isn't the Goblin Slayer. There is an abundance of evidence against them being such low threats, with the adventurer's guild reporting that it is standard procedure for them to have to send multiple teams of new adventurers to wipe out '''one''' goblin lair, because many of the teams sent in to cleanse goblin lairs will end up being wiped out by the goblins. In no small part ''because'' they somehow think that the goblins are not serious threats. Making things worse, the manga is explicit that there are ''plenty'' of stories in-universe about adventurers being massacred, raped and traumatized by goblins... and yet '''still''' the prevailing attitude towards goblins is "eh, they're no biggie".

Now, the idea that goblin-hunting could be high-risk and low-reward is not contradictory in and of itself, and to the series credit, the prevailing rationale given for why adventurers move on from goblin-hunting as quickly as they can is explicitly the fact that the job is nasty and pays pathetically. But what is contradictory is the fact that goblins in this world are so dangerous, and yet nobody gives them any credit for the realistically dangerous foes that they are.

This stems into a related criticism; the lackluster official policy towards dealing with goblins. In a "realistic" setting, which Goblin Slayer is ostensibly trying to be, an adventurer's guild would:
* Drum it into rookie heads that goblins are '''not''' to be underestimated (in case all the horror stories didn't already do that).
* Train rookie adventures so they will be able to go into goblin caves and not be wiped out. (In fairness, it is implied that adventurer's guild do train low-level adventurers, but this amounts to a single "blink and you'll miss it" scene.)
* Forbid female adventurers going on goblin-hunting missions, because goblins reproduce exclusively by raping female [[demihuman]]s.
* Have goblin-slaying experts who lead nest-purging missions and train rookies in how to successfully cleanse them. (Goblin Slayer is such an expert, but he shows no interest in passing on his skills to anyone not in his party, and he's regarded as a weirdo by other adventurers.)
* Hire bloodthirsty sellswords with few moral qualms to encourage low cost, high return solutions even if the women end up as sloppy seconds for the sellswords it is better than goblins having their way with women.

Or, if that's far too much work, just make it so that people who don't know which end of the sword to hold can't go on goblin quests to deliver weapons and women right to their dens. Absolutely ''none'' of this happens in-universe.

Also relating to the criticism of goblins being an "unrecognized threat" is the idea that they would ''be'' unrecognized in the first place. If goblins routinely wipe out entire villages, swelling into hordes that breed exponentially as they conquer more villages, then a realistic reaction would be to ''encourage'' goblin-hunting, with Guild-given sizable payoffs for each nest wiped out and bounties on goblin corpses. Instead, the rewards for goblin hunting amount to the tiny handfuls of jink that villages can scrape together, which means they are callously left to their own devices. About the only realistic way to justify this level of callous indifference would be if [[Imperium of Man|demihuman cities are so numerous and/or expansive that they can always afford to lose a village here or there]]... and canon gives no indication that this is the case at all.

Supposedly, the light novels make it clear that ''normally'' goblin lairs are actually wiped out really quickly and rarely get to full-scale village threatening levels, and it's only in recent years, with the monstrous races swelling in power as a whole that people are being distracted from the usual anti-goblin clearing, giving goblins a chance to build up their numbers unopposed that they don't normally get. It still doesn't adequately explain the lack of respect for goblin slaying when their threat levels have been allowed to reached such a critical mass, or how reports of goblins reaching critical mass and wiping out villages seem to have either never been made, or are forgotten by everyone for no reason.

The other major criticism relating to the setting is the sheer tonal dissonance. Goblin Slayer treats the goblins with a grim, gritty, realistic motif: the goblins use simple but brutally effective pragmatic tactics like poisoned weaponry, ambush, traps, targeted shots, etcetera. And yet the rest of the world is full of standard JRPG traits, most prominently the abundance of [[Fantasy Armor]]. It just makes no sense; if goblins, reputedly the ''weakest'' enemy type, will exploit all of the realistic downfalls of things like fanciful "showy" armor or running around without a helmet, then why do such things exist? Why aren't they an even bigger problem when facing off against more powerful monsters? Scenes like a high-level, confirmed "dragon killer" [[barbarian]] being taken down in one stab by a cunning goblin only make it worse, because they seem to directly imply that the world ''normally'' runs off of light-hearted(ish) [[Heroic Fantasy]] tropes, then inexplicably switches to [[Dark Fantasy|Dark]] [[Low Fantasy]] whenever somebody is fighting a goblin.

Even with the explanation that this series is literally taking place in a world that two gods are "playing with", and that the major divine conflict is the clash between the two arguing over which way the world should be presented, this tonal dissonance just doesn't make any sense. The setting is clearly aiming for what [[TVTropes]] calls a "Deconstruction" of your standard [[Heroic Fantasy]] anime, but it does so in such a clumsy, hamfisted manner it completely ruins its own argument. It only gets worse the more you look into it - for example, the aforementioned [[barbarian]] is briefly shown with a [[Character Sheet]] based on [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]]... and yet, [[RAW]], a character like that ''is'' better off naked if no magical armor is around, because their skin ''is'' tougher than steel and they have [[Hit point]]s up the wazoo. It makes the goblin victories come off as being forced for the sheer sake of [[grimdark]], and is directly cited as a reason behind the common perception that the story is "tryhard" and "edgy", which turns off many readers/viewers.

===Regarding the Slayer===
The last of the big criticisms is directed not at the setting, but at Goblin Slayer himself. Namely, his tactics, which many have called out as presenting the illusion of pragmatism, instead of actually being pragmatic. The primary sub-criticism of this argument? Goblin Slayer's gear. To sum things up, Goblin Slayer deliberately uses the cheapest, nastiest, most low-quality gear he can, because he fully anticipates ultimately dying in battle and he wants to make sure the goblins will not profit from it when they loot his corpse afterwards. Except the obvious problem here is that [[Derp|having bad equipment makes his death and looting more likely, whereas good equipment would make that less likely]]. In a nutshell, the argument is that he's preparing so hard for events occurring ''after'' his death that he's unthinkingly increasing the odds of being killed.

There's also the sub-argument of just how much of a threat Goblin Slayer being looted really is. As a human, any armor he has would need to be forcibly resized, which would make it pretty much worse-off (if not useless) to goblins anyway. Weapons are slightly more salvageable, it's true, but not only is one goblin with a magic sword still '''one''' goblin, the fact is that goblins are established in the setting's canon to be absolutely '''terrible''' at taking care of their shit. Not only do they not maintain the arms and armor they use, but they deliberately abuse them, because they're full of envy over how demihumans can make this cool stuff and they can't, so an enchanted sword or spear would quickly wind up useless. Furthermore, goblins hate each other only slightly less than they hate non-goblins, and exist in a constant state of infighting and thievery over each other's stuff, because "seething, hateful envy" is pretty much their default state of mind. So, a goblin who gets his hands on, say, a +2 flaming sword will actually spend most of his time killing other goblins with it to keep it from being stolen - and will ultimately be murdered by another goblin who wants his sweet sword for himself. And then that goblin will need to kill other goblins to hold onto it, until he's ultimately murdered for it, and then the cycle starts over. So, if anything, having an enchanted weapon looted will probably result in more goblin deaths than if his cheap shitty longsword was looted.

The above doesn't even begin on the multi-thread long debates on the setting, the feasibility of organisations like the adventure guild, the "believability" of some of the tactics that Goblin Slayer uses, etcetera. This all can take many pages to explain, but the Fantasy Doomguy on steroids makes it at least readable. [[Skub| It can also be seen as "humorous" if viewed as a dark comedy where a goblin killing autist goes out and kills goblins]].

[[Category:Weeaboo]]

Goblin Slayer

2019-10-21T08:22:31Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:645F:5756:B21D:ADC8: /* Characters */

{{promotions}}
[[Image:GoblinSlayerCover.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Cover of the first chapter.]]
{{Topquote|I slay Goblins.|Goblin Slayer}}

'''Goblin Slayer''' is a [[manga]] based on a light novel of the same name. The series is, like [[Dungeon Meshi]], relatively new but it has quickly gained popularity among [[neckbeards]] for its creative use of a '''very''' [[D&D|generic fantasy]] setting, though others will tell you it is nothing more than a discount version of [[Berserk]]. The story is mostly a [[Rip and Tear|gorefest]] that aims to show you the most efficient ways of killing as many [[goblin]]s as possible, whether it be through stabbing, maiming, poison, fire, or [[Awesome|creative use of utility spells]].

The series has gained notoriety for its explicit [[Rape|rape scenes]], causing some anons to label it as [[Smut for the Smut Throne|spanking material]] for [[/d/|a certain kind of people]]. Although, most [[Weeaboo|fans]] will also be quick to point out that these scenes feature women that look more like victims of spousal abuse rather than ''sexy'' vixens getting their ''comeuppance''. Others have pointed out in response that the rape scenes do showcase the rape victims in ways which are very close to a rape doujin with some mentioning that the light novel doesn't go into detail on the rape, unlike the manga devoting many pages showing the rape victims and their exposed genitals.

To say it's [[Skub|controversial and debated]] on /tg/ is an understatement and ironically, it's not even for the rape. The setting has some confusing worldbuilding with many calling it contradictory or outright nonsensical. Describing the complaints /tg/ has with the state of the world, the behavior of the characters and the many criticisms for the in-universe justifications (many which /tg/ found unsatisfactory) for everything can take up a page on its own and has taken up FUCKLOADS of threads.

The series now also has an official anime. And, the voice of Goblin Slayer in the English Dub? Doom Slayer (specifically, his mocap actor, for those of you who just went "He had a voice actor?!"). As is only proper.
Also, it has an [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i2qquegdB4| abridged series] that is arguably better than canon with some very impressive voice acting.

==Main Series==
The main series opens with a group of [[Adventurer|fresh-faced murderhobos]] going on their first quest, which like any other opening quest, is about killing [[goblin]]s that have been pestering the locals. This simple quest promptly ends with a near [[TPK]] after the rookies underestimate the dangers of a goblin lair. Just before one of the final survivors, [[Cleric|Priestess]], is taken out she's saved by the protagonist [[Fighter|Goblin Slayer]]. The other one [[Grimdark|ends up PTSD'd hard due to rape]] so she is sent to a temple along with the rescued girls.

From there the manga chronicles Priestess's evolution as an adventurer and Goblin Slayer's realization that there may be more to life than [[Exterminatus|murderfucking]] goblins.

===Characters===
[[Image:GoblinSlayerSplatter.png|thumb|left|The Slayer making chunky salsa from a Goblin head.]]
At some point the author decided that naming characters was too hard and as such no character has a name, but is instead referred to by their title, class, race, or some combination thereof. It's probably because the protagonist doesn't really care for their names and only remembers them by their titles. Although, this remains speculation.

*'''Goblin Slayer''' is what you would get if you combined [[Batman]], [[Doom|Doomguy]], and [[Ranger|Bear Grylls]] into [[Angry Marines|a ball of vengeful fury]]. It is quickly revealed that he is the only survivor of a [[goblin]] raid on his village when he was a kid, seeing the carnage was enough to change him into a [[Powergamer|killing machine]] hellbent on purging dirty midget [[Goblin|greenskins]] to the point of crushing Goblin babies with a club. Mostly, it’s because his older sister hid him, so that he saw what the goblins did to her while powerless to help and getting doused in her blood and... other fluids. Moreover, it's implied he was autistic, which makes his experience even more traumatic. The best moments of the series (according to those who aren't just here for the [[Slaanesh|rape]]) comes from seeing the many ingenious tools he's made to dispose of [[goblins]], such as using a [[Awesome|gate scroll as a high-pressure water jet cutter]] or dousing a big goblin with gas and rolling it like a fat molotov cocktail. [[Skub|Though some of /tg/ is confused by how he's even aware of half the physics behind such a feat given his fantasy setting.]] The light novel handwaves it by saying he heard a story about a mage scholar who made a portal to an ancient ruin he found on a map, and was crushed into a pancake by a wall of water when it turned out to be submerged, and he wanted to weaponize the phenomenon . In fairness to the author, Goblin Slayer interviewing civilians whose technology or gossip intrigues his autism is a consistent aspect of his character, and he later admits he had no idea water could actually cut under enough pressure at the time. He is also somehow able to project himself into dreams: when a girl who had survived a goblin raid told him of her nightmares of that time he simply told her to call upon him in said nightmares and he'd come. [[Awesome|And it FUCKING worked]].
*'''Priestess''' is a 15 year old newbie adventurer that is saved by '''Goblin Slayer''' after [[Rocks fall, everyone dies|her first quest goes south with her being saved almost moments away from being the latest sex toy for the goblins that overpowered the rest of the party she was with]]. Her design and abilities are not unlike that of a [[cleric]], as most of her miracles are support based. [[Vancian|Magic is governed by a number of daily uses]] like [[Dark Souls]] or [[3e|3rd Edition]]. She has a heart of gold, but is generally naïve when it comes to the horrors of the world.
*'''Childhood Friend''' or '''Cow Girl''' is the childhood friend of '''Goblin Slayer''' and also technically survived the [[goblin]] raid on the village by virtue of being out of town. She now lives on a farm with her uncle and rents a room for '''Goblin Slayer'''. This being a [[manga]] means that she is a love interest, she has huge knockers in reference to a common Japanese joke about girls with big breasts.
*'''High Elf Archer''' is an [[Elven]] [[ranger]] that joins the party a few chapters in. Even though she is a High Elf her description is closer to a standard [[Elf#Wood_Elf|Wood Elf]]. Even though she's 2000 years old, she is easily the most [[Loli|childish]] of the party.
*'''Dwarf Shaman''' is a [[Dwarf|Dwarven]] [[druid]] that throws rocks at people and lugs around tons of [[Alcohol|booze]]. He is a 107 years old and has a fatherly attitude which he mostly hides by teasing the '''High Elf Archer'''.
*'''Lizard Priest''' is a [[Lizardfolk|Lizardman]] that wears a native headdress and [[Necromancer|summons skeletal minions]]. He speaks very politely and tends to break up the verbal abuse between the '''Dwarf''' and the '''High Elf'''. A cool bro overall who worships dinosaurs, just like his kin in [[Lizardmen|another setting]].
*'''Guild Girl''' is a [[NPC|pen-pusher]] that takes requests from peasants, writes up quests notices, and hands out rewards when the tasks have been completed. She is another love interest.
*'''Sword Maiden''' A former gold level adventurer and an archbishop for the Supreme God, residing in the City's cathedral. She's also [[Hot Chicks|smoking hot, looking like a grown up and EXTRA THICC version of Priestess]], while her robes of office are quite revealing. While compassionate she's also got some childish traits, such as wanting to go to a festival rather than do her priestly duties and bottling up problems rather than talking about them. She's also a Goblin rape victim, [[Grimdark|which is how she lost her virginity]], and is terrified of them which is why she contacts Goblin Slayer in the first place. She is another love interest for Goblin Slayer and the most open about her feelings for him, even if she loves him as an idea rather than a person.
*The '''[[Goblins]]''' are almost a character unto themselves as they're present in nearly every chapter released so far. What makes them interesting is that the author has spun what is most often considered a weak low-level threat into crazy Viet Congs on crack, rather apt as the goblins are known for covering their weapons in a [[Nurgle|mix of shit and piss]] (essentially making them the goblin equivalent of [[Tucker's Kobolds]]). Generally, the goblins pose a great exercise for any longtime [[DM]] that wishes to go against tropes or surprise [[Party|veteran players]]. Some of their notable tactics include: Totems to distract from their hidden ambush tunnels (again, like Viet Cong), using seemingly live corpses as traps, hiding in old wells, using wolves as guard dogs and mounts, and using kidnapped women as literal meat shields by tying them to boards and hiding behind them. Of course, it's highly advised not to go too far with making them a deadly threat if you wish to keep them feasibly a weak and low-level threat. Many readers are confused why these goblins still remain underestimated despite what we've seen and many finding the justifications given to be very weak. Oh, and for added weirdness, it's implied that the story Goblin Slayer's sister told him of goblins coming from [[Morrslieb|the green moon that orbits their world]] might actually be true; at one point, Goblin Slayer and his team find a mirror-portal that, when looked through, reveals goblins working machines made from human bones in a field of endless green sand underneath a black sky...
*'''[[That Guy|Truth]]''' and '''[[This Guy|Illusion]]''' are the two cosmic forces that control the setting, by serving as twin [[GM|gods]] for its inhabitants. Truth is a lucky, cocky asshole who loves [[grimdark]] settings, encourages adventurers to party-kill one another over loot, and is a lazy shit that designs dungeons by just pouring a tons of high-CR monsters and traps into a maze and calling it a day. Illusion is a sweet girl who works hard to come up with well-designed challenges for the world's inhabitants. She's the kind of person who could roll a 0 on a D20. Because effort takes time, it seems to be '''Truth's''' fualt that the story falls into a poorly-written excuse for a plot about "the demon lord's coming back". Therefore, '''Illusion''' tends to have less influence on the world, which is why their world actually doesn't make a lot of sense when you think about it. [[Skub|Hopefully that doesn't turn into the ''expected'' kind of fallback.]] Together, they gamble with the fates of men, using what're heavily implied to be ''[[5E]]'' rules. Goblin Slayer intrigues both of them, delighting Illusion with his creativity, and irritating Truth with his single-minded quest, by circumventing fate with his preparations, and therefore their manipulations. At the end of the day, neither of them will argue with the dice though.

==Year One==
[[Image:GoblinSlayerBabyMaking.png|thumb|right|Even Goblins need some lovin'.]]
{{Topquote|How will I kill them next time?|Goblin Slayer}}

'''Year One''' is the prequel side-story to ''Goblin Slayer'' and is mostly about filling in the gaps of what has so far only been implied or glossed over in the main series. The title and premise is a reference to the [[Batman]] series of the same name.

'''Year One''' is [[Skub|divisive]] due to it filling out gaps which some anons believe only added to the mystery of the main character, while others are just happy to have more '''Goblin Slayer'''. However, it is undeniable that '''Year One''' caters to the [[/d/]]eviants that like [[Heresy|monster-on-woman]] action as it doesn't take more than nine pages for three women to be [[Rape|gang-raped in an explicit three-in-a-row fashion]].

==References==
The series is full of visual references to other Japanese works both [[video games]] and [[manga]], including [[Berserk]], Dragon's Crown, Fate/Stay Night, Final Fantasy, and many more.

==Criticism==
As stated above, this manga is undoubtedly a very, very controversial topic thanks in due part to the inconsistent setting. It’s a setting with two opposing sets of [[DM|gods]], which is presented as a game much like D&D, and this makes many inconsistencies within the manga/LN. Many threads have been taken up by arguments around this.

===Regarding the Setting===
One common criticism is the unrecognized threat of the goblins. Year One shows that goblin invasions have destroyed entire villages, and that this is something that has been going on for years - yet, despite that, goblins are still thought of as the lowest of threats by pretty much everybody who isn't the Goblin Slayer. There is an abundance of evidence against them being such low threats, with the adventurer's guild reporting that it is standard procedure for them to have to send multiple teams of new adventurers to wipe out '''one''' goblin lair, because many of the teams sent in to cleanse goblin lairs will end up being wiped out by the goblins. In no small part ''because'' they somehow think that the goblins are not serious threats. Making things worse, the manga is explicit that there are ''plenty'' of stories in-universe about adventurers being massacred, raped and traumatized by goblins... and yet '''still''' the prevailing attitude towards goblins is "eh, they're no biggie".

Now, the idea that goblin-hunting could be high-risk and low-reward is not contradictory in and of itself, and to the series credit, the prevailing rationale given for why adventurers move on from goblin-hunting as quickly as they can is explicitly the fact that the job is nasty and pays pathetically. But what is contradictory is the fact that goblins in this world are so dangerous, and yet nobody gives them any credit for the realistically dangerous foes that they are.

This stems into a related criticism; the lackluster official policy towards dealing with goblins. In a "realistic" setting, which Goblin Slayer is ostensibly trying to be, an adventurer's guild would:
* Drum it into rookie heads that goblins are '''not''' to be underestimated (in case all the horror stories didn't already do that).
* Train rookie adventures so they will be able to go into goblin caves and not be wiped out. (In fairness, it is implied that adventurer's guild do train low-level adventurers, but this amounts to a single "blink and you'll miss it" scene.)
* Forbid female adventurers going on goblin-hunting missions, because goblins reproduce exclusively by raping female [[demihuman]]s.
* Have goblin-slaying experts who lead nest-purging missions and train rookies in how to successfully cleanse them. (Goblin Slayer is such an expert, but he shows no interest in passing on his skills to anyone not in his party, and he's regarded as a weirdo by other adventurers.)
* Hire bloodthirsty sellswords with few moral qualms to encourage low cost, high return solutions even if the women end up as sloppy seconds for the sellswords it is better than goblins having their way with women.

Or, if that's far too much work, just make it so that people who don't know which end of the sword to hold can't go on goblin quests to deliver weapons and women right to their dens. Absolutely ''none'' of this happens in-universe.

Also relating to the criticism of goblins being an "unrecognized threat" is the idea that they would ''be'' unrecognized in the first place. If goblins routinely wipe out entire villages, swelling into hordes that breed exponentially as they conquer more villages, then a realistic reaction would be to ''encourage'' goblin-hunting, with Guild-given sizable payoffs for each nest wiped out and bounties on goblin corpses. Instead, the rewards for goblin hunting amount to the tiny handfuls of jink that villages can scrape together, which means they are callously left to their own devices. About the only realistic way to justify this level of callous indifference would be if [[Imperium of Man|demihuman cities are so numerous and/or expansive that they can always afford to lose a village here or there]]... and canon gives no indication that this is the case at all.

Supposedly, the light novels make it clear that ''normally'' goblin lairs are actually wiped out really quickly and rarely get to full-scale village threatening levels, and it's only in recent years, with the monstrous races swelling in power as a whole that people are being distracted from the usual anti-goblin clearing, giving goblins a chance to build up their numbers unopposed that they don't normally get. It still doesn't adequately explain the lack of respect for goblin slaying when their threat levels have been allowed to reached such a critical mass, or how reports of goblins reaching critical mass and wiping out villages seem to have either never been made, or are forgotten by everyone for no reason.

The other major criticism relating to the setting is the sheer tonal dissonance. Goblin Slayer treats the goblins with a grim, gritty, realistic motif: the goblins use simple but brutally effective pragmatic tactics like poisoned weaponry, ambush, traps, targeted shots, etcetera. And yet the rest of the world is full of standard JRPG traits, most prominently the abundance of [[Fantasy Armor]]. It just makes no sense; if goblins, reputedly the ''weakest'' enemy type, will exploit all of the realistic downfalls of things like fanciful "showy" armor or running around without a helmet, then why do such things exist? Why aren't they an even bigger problem when facing off against more powerful monsters? Scenes like a high-level, confirmed "dragon killer" [[barbarian]] being taken down in one stab by a cunning goblin only make it worse, because they seem to directly imply that the world ''normally'' runs off of light-hearted(ish) [[Heroic Fantasy]] tropes, then inexplicably switches to [[Dark Fantasy|Dark]] [[Low Fantasy]] whenever somebody is fighting a goblin.

Even with the explanation that this series is literally taking place in a world that two gods are "playing with", and that the major divine conflict is the clash between the two arguing over which way the world should be presented, this tonal dissonance just doesn't make any sense. The setting is clearly aiming for what [[TVTropes]] calls a "Deconstruction" of your standard [[Heroic Fantasy]] anime, but it does so in such a clumsy, hamfisted manner it completely ruins its own argument. It only gets worse the more you look into it - for example, the aforementioned [[barbarian]] is briefly shown with a [[Character Sheet]] based on [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]]... and yet, [[RAW]], a character like that ''is'' better off naked if no magical armor is around, because their skin ''is'' tougher than steel and they have [[Hit point]]s up the wazoo. It makes the goblin victories come off as being forced for the sheer sake of [[grimdark]], and is directly cited as a reason behind the common perception that the story is "tryhard" and "edgy", which turns off many readers/viewers.

===Regarding the Slayer===
The last of the big criticisms is directed not at the setting, but at Goblin Slayer himself. Namely, his tactics, which many have called out as presenting the illusion of pragmatism, instead of actually being pragmatic. The primary sub-criticism of this argument? Goblin Slayer's gear. To sum things up, Goblin Slayer deliberately uses the cheapest, nastiest, most low-quality gear he can, because he fully anticipates ultimately dying in battle and he wants to make sure the goblins will not profit from it when they loot his corpse afterwards. Except the obvious problem here is that [[Derp|having bad equipment makes his death and looting more likely, whereas good equipment would make that less likely]]. In a nutshell, the argument is that he's preparing so hard for events occurring ''after'' his death that he's unthinkingly increasing the odds of being killed.

There's also the sub-argument of just how much of a threat Goblin Slayer being looted really is. As a human, any armor he has would need to be forcibly resized, which would make it pretty much worse-off (if not useless) to goblins anyway. Weapons are slightly more salvageable, it's true, but not only is one goblin with a magic sword still '''one''' goblin, the fact is that goblins are established in the setting's canon to be absolutely '''terrible''' at taking care of their shit. Not only do they not maintain the arms and armor they use, but they deliberately abuse them, because they're full of envy over how demihumans can make this cool stuff and they can't, so an enchanted sword or spear would quickly wind up useless. Furthermore, goblins hate each other only slightly less than they hate non-goblins, and exist in a constant state of infighting and thievery over each other's stuff, because "seething, hateful envy" is pretty much their default state of mind. So, a goblin who gets his hands on, say, a +2 flaming sword will actually spend most of his time killing other goblins with it to keep it from being stolen - and will ultimately be murdered by another goblin who wants his sweet sword for himself. And then that goblin will need to kill other goblins to hold onto it, until he's ultimately murdered for it, and then the cycle starts over. So, if anything, having an enchanted weapon looted will probably result in more goblin deaths than if his cheap shitty longsword was looted.

The above doesn't even begin on the multi-thread long debates on the setting, the feasibility of organisations like the adventure guild, the "believability" of some of the tactics that Goblin Slayer uses, etcetera. This all can take many pages to explain, but the Fantasy Doomguy on steroids makes it at least readable. [[Skub| It can also be seen as "humorous" if viewed as a dark comedy where a goblin killing autist goes out and kills goblins]].

[[Category:Weeaboo]]

Goblin

2019-10-21T08:15:21Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:645F:5756:B21D:ADC8: /* Goblin Slayer */

[[File:Path Gob Rat.PNG|thumb|right|300px|Brushy brushy.]]
'''Goblins''' are mythological creatures of unclear origin and contradicting descriptions. They are small humanoids of a mischievous nature, possibly belonging to the fey family (along with creatures such as redcaps, brownies, leprechauns, kobolds, etc).

The origin of the word "Goblin" can be traced back to the British "Gobelinus" which was the name of a demon that once caused trouble in Normandy. It has been theorized the term began with [[Kobold]], which was a German Fey spirit whose origins can be traced to one of a variety of earlier myths based in Paganism from various other culture. Kobolds also gave their name to cobalt, due to the fact that new advances in mining in Germany during the middle ages allowed access to large amounts of cobalt ore, although the mining was very dangerous and they had no idea how to smelt the metal so as a result the numerous mine collapses as well as the "theft of the ore, with only poison and ash left behind" were blamed on Kobolds. Either way, Goblin myths often involve mischief, mining, and chemistry.

In modern fantasy, the term "Goblin" has been very much determined by the Tolkienian use of the word - as in a species of humanoids in service to evil, with the "Orcs" being another word for the same thing, with Tolkien claiming the etymology for that word being an old English term for demon. Goblin appearance has been further shaped by both video- and boardgames, as well as various artists. They are universally smaller than humans, although the exact size varies, and often have large pointy ears (larger and more animalistic than elf ears) and either long, crooked and pointed noses or orc-esque noseless features.

The typical goblin stereotype is that of a savage warrior and raider that attacks villages and ambushes unwary travelers; being one-dimensionally evil, they can be (and are) killed without remorse in large numbers (unless you read Eberron, G:LTTE, or Terry Pratchett's Snuff). Another Goblin stereotype is that they are a race of unusually technologically advanced and ludicrously smart and cunning race on par if not better than [[Dwarves]] such as creating fantasy machine guns or an entire robot army such as those in Warcraft or Dungeon Siege. They act and move in smaller groups as they don't pose a large threat by themselves, and are commonly the first combat encounter for a young adventurer. Goblins tend to live in caves and gang up with orcs and similar races, to whom they are sometimes described as belonging to the same family or species. Their intelligence is usually fairly low, although among dumber and larger brutes will be the clever ones doing the "skilled" work while the bigger ones shout orders.

Because of the comedy potential, players have always liked being goblins, and they were one of the three most-popular races requested for an add-on to 5e as of a recent survey.

[[Goblinoid]]s include a vast array of species in D&D, ranging from obscurities like the stone-skinned [[Norker]]s and the "they heal when you hit them, die if you heal them" [[Nilbog]]s to mainstays like the more organized [[Hobgoblin]]s and the big, scary, pseudo-[[orcs]] called [[Bugbear]]s.

==In /tg/ Media==
In the [[Iron Kingdoms]] and [[Magic: The Gathering]] (sometimes), goblins have a penchant for technology and love to tinker with machinery (especially steampunk contraptions and the like), somewhat propagating the "mad scientist" archetype.

In [[Kings of War]] goblins are still a source of evil comic relief. They're often suggested to have been created by the [[Celestians (Kings of War)|Celestian]] Garkhan the Black after he finished creating the orcs with "whatever was left," although where exactly they came from is a mystery. They're still engineers as in many settings, but they tend to be very short-term thinking and don't like to test things before they use them.

In [[Eberron]], goblins are quite a bit different than their usual portrayal, described in the d&d section below

In [[Pathfinder]], they're stupid little freaks with all manner of strange quirks (good singing voices, fear horses and writing, like fire and pickles), sort of a cross between Gremlins and a baby-eating Stitch. They are also very funny and (somewhat) lovable, and even have their own comic series. Surprisingly, despite being described as naturally inclined towards a mixture of [[Chaotic Stupid]] (easily distractable to the point of stopping combat ''mid-swing'' to chase a frog or pick their nose) and [[Stupid Evil]] (love of torturing anything smaller than them) behaviors, they have no mental penalties. Pathfinder also has a goblin variant called the Monkey Goblin, which is even ''stupider'' than regular goblins, but much stronger and more agile, using a rat-like prehensile tail to aid it in a life in the trees.

In [[Malifaux]], they're noseless hillbillies with very few womanfolk called Gremlins complete with straw hats, jug bands, blunderbusses, and lots of pigs. Also come in an Asian variant.

==Tolkien Goblins==
Tolkien was not consistent on the relationship between goblins and orcs. Initially he said that "orc" was merely the halfling word for goblin. Later works said that goblins were a subtype of orc. Later still works treated goblins and orcs like completely separate creatures, so take your pick.

Goblins and Orcs are given different backstories from Tolkien, although the most prominent one is they are the twisted forms of Elves tortured and beat into submission by Morgoth and Sauron. Other origins are being an Asian group of Elves stolen from their people and bred as slaves by Morgoth and Sauron, just being animals uplifted by M&S, fallen Maiar, men who were corrupted rather than Elves (or a mix of the two, with some interbreeding with humans as another possibility), or slimy rocks transformed by Morgoth's magic into living beings. Regardless, almost all were the backbone of Sauron's armies who have heavily industrialized and produce only ugly things that cause sickness (perhaps as a metaphor for wartime industry).

There are hints that not all Goblins and Orcs were evil, as a few passages indicate no race was wholly united for or against Morgoth; there are independent groups of Goblins in The Hobbit, and a few lines given indicate that Orcs will go to great lengths to avenge their fallen leaders, while in his notes he considered them a race capable of free-choice and thus not the "Always Chaotic Evil" that many modern works paint them to be.

<gallery>
Image:Tolkien Goblins.JPG|The most accepted origin of Goblins in the Middle Earth setting.
</gallery>

==Warhammer==
In early [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]], Goblins were merely a shorter variety of Orcs, which were greenskinned evil humanoids who sometimes bred with humans. In fact, Warhammer Fantasy was the very first depiction of Goblins and Orcs as green skinned, something that has since become a staple of the races in pop culture.

With the creation of [[Warhammer 40,000]], the Goblins became [[Grots]], also called Gretchin, who like the [[Orks]] were actually a type of fungus ape. Between their legs is only two bulging spore-sacs which burst upon death and grow into new Grots/Orks in the ground.

After 40k had massive success, this was ported back into Warhammer Fantasy and Goblins along with the Orcs became fungus men. [[Skub|some oldschool Warhammer fans have rejected this, and the term "Orcgina" can make many on /tg/ go into flashbacks about the arguments inspired between the oldfags and newfags on the subject.]]

In both settings, Goblins/Grots are smaller greenskins who are extremely vicious but extremely cowardly and refuse to attack something unless they outnumber it ten to one (preferably more). Against nonthreatening foes however they enjoy torturing them, and POWs are subjected to horribly slow deaths to the chittering amusement of the tiny greenskins.

In Warhammer Fantasy Goblins are independent of Orcs, many living in their own tribes. A few even have their own gods, like the [[Forest Goblins]] who worship the [[Spider-god]]. Despite this, many Goblins also join groups with Orcs either to bully the Orcs into doing the manual labor, or where they are bullied into doing the manual labor. While only the [[Black Orc]]s are capable of actually producing new goods or learning technical knowledge among the larger greenskins, Goblins produce many things from giant flying ships to chariots. Of particular note is the Night Goblins, master chemists who's biology is bizarre and alien in its fungus nature even to other greenskins. Apart from all this, the main distinction between Goblins and 40k Grots is that Goblins aren't all weak, subservient slaves - Goblins individually ''are'' pretty weedy, but they do try and deck themselves out in armor and whatnot and can even take over Orc tribes, if a cunning or vicious enough Boss arrives. Most often this will be a Shaman (for his tricks and ability to scheme) or a Night Goblin Warboss (for being fucking insane), but even a normal Goblin Warboss can be a significant threat.

In 40k, Grots have almost no freedom and are only found alongside their bigger kin. They're not the strongest, quickest, meanest, or anything-est compared to the Orks, except for being better shots and more kunnin', to the point of generally being brighter (though that's not saying much). In most cases they are at best assistants, at worst slaves and moving targets. The only exception is the [[Gretchin Revolutionary Committee]], although that...ended badly. They fare a little bitter in Mek-controlled settlements where their technological know-how and small size are in more demand. They may even be allowed to make their own tanks - small and scrappy, but dangerous at least

In both Warhammers all greenskins speak in a British Cockney accent, with heavy Chav mixed in for variation. Goblins were renamed to Grots in [[Age of Sigmar]].

<gallery>
Image:Bad Moon Goblins.png|Warhammer Fantasy Goblins of today.
Image:Goblin Airship.JPG|Warboss Beater Pan(ic)!
Image:Gretchinmob.jpg|Grots.
</gallery>

{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}

==D&D Goblins==
[[Dungeons & Dragons]] did not do anything particularly innovative with goblins. Instead, they are fairly close(ish) to their Tolkien roots - or, rather, to the simplified version of Tolkien's goblins; small, hateful, savage creatures that infest the unwanted corners of the world, constantly squabbling amongst themselves for power and occasionally spilling out to raid and terrorize the neighboring civilized lands when their numbers build up enough. Whilst Tolkien's goblins were actually quite inventive and adept at building things, since they were a combination of the two peoples that Tolkien most disliked (the Central soldiers he'd fought in WW1, and the industrialists he believed were destroying the countryside), D&D's goblins lack that trait due to [[Medieval Stasis]] - they're not as primitive as [[lizardfolk]], but are basically just tribal scavengers, in a stark contrast to goblins in other settings being the "chaotic and/or evil tinker race".

In fact, when you scratch the surface, D&D goblins may tap into the same "evil mook" basis as Tolkien's goblins, but actually are deliberately taken in different ways. Whilst originally D&D [[orc]]s & goblins are implied to have often worked together, and even interbreed, by the time of [[Planescape]] the two were actually bitter enemies - the two races share the same "heaven" of [[Acheron]], where they constantly war in an attempt to drive the other race to extinction. This even persisted into 3rd edition, when the orcs' changed racial alignment of Chaotic Evil meant they shouldn't have been going to Acheron in the first place. This stands in stark contrast both to Tolkien (who initially said that "orc" and "goblin" were words in two different languages for the same race) and to other popular settings, such as [[Warhammer Fantasy]] & [[Warcraft]], where goblins tend to be a strong racial ally to orcs.

Some sourcebooks, usually setting dependent, present a more nuanced portrayal of them and give them a deeper culture than that, but for the most part, D&D goblins are your standard generic cannon fodder evil mook race.
However, just like the [[orc]]s, goblins have a ''long'' history of being a potential PC race in [[Dungeons & Dragons]] - they've been playable in literally every single edition, with multiple incarnations in 3rd edition. The usual idea is to play them up as "spunky little troublemakers" - either a braver analogue to the [[halfling]] or a less annoying version of the [[gnome]]. And, for what it's worth, goblin PCs are actually generally quite liked. In fact, goblins were one of the player races most requested for a formal update into 5th edition PC races. Given the second season of [[Critical Role]] features a goblin PC as a main character, in the form of Nott (a self-loathing female who wants to become a [[halfling]]), and the fact that [[Pathfinder]] goblins have such an fandom that Pathfinder 2e promotes them to a corebook race, many are expecting 6e to feature playable goblins in the PHB, just like how 4e added the [[tiefling]] and the [[dragonborn]].

The biggest exception to goblins being generic evil baddies in d&d is the Eberron
setting, where they're given a nuanced portrayal, with a deep and sophisticated culture. In [[Eberron]], "goblin" is used to refer to bugbears, hobgoblins, and goblins. They are the descendants of the once mighty continent spanning Empire of Dhakaan that collapsed because of an invasion by the Daelkyr, masters of the plane of madness. The invasion was eventually beaten back by an alliance between the empire and the orc tribes called the Gatekeepers (badass men-in-black style druids who protect the world from lovecraftian horrors), but the empire fell afterwards. They're not the savages that you can kill guilt free in every other setting.
In the current day they are split up into three broad cultural groups (and a few splinter groups) - the smallest of the big three are The Heirs of Dhakaan, or Dhakaani, which are the badass super disciplined remanents of the empire who preserved their way of life after the empire collapsed by hiding underground or in secluded mountains and would like to bring goblins back to their previous heights. The various goblin races are all equal under the Dhakaani and share a eusocial bond like ants. They specialize in different tasks - the hobgoblins are administrators and soldiers (females are usually bards), goblins are workers, scouts and spies, and the bugbears are shock troopers and heavy laborers - but if you're better at a job outside your cultural role, the empire doesn't waste talent and puts you in that job.
Then you have the Ghaal'Dar, who made up the bulk of the descendants of the collapsed empire and had to deal with the fallout. Their culture degenerated into petty barbarian tribes with a might-makes-right mentality, their eusocial bond destroyed by the daelkyr. They are usually ruled by hobgoblins due to their superior ability to organize vs the other two subspecies. However, during the conflict known as The Last War they united and stole a chunk of land from the human kingdoms that they named Darguun. It's their "new goblin Homeland" and they're starting to rebuild their culture from there, but nobody thinks it will last. It's ruled by an alliance of clans with the leader, Lhesh Haruuc maintaining a delicate balance of power between them to maintain stability. He's tried to institute the rule of law and has been mostly successful, but a few clans (mostly in desolate areas where they can get away with it) only pay lip service. The country has been a success so far and their culture is slowly clawing it's way out of the dumps, but many are worried that when Haruuc dies it will all fall apart, so he is desperately looking for a competent successor.
The last major cultural group are the city goblins. They're the descendents of Ghaal'Dar goblinoids who weren't killed or fled when the humans conquered the continent, and were enslaved for a few thousand years. They're mostly lower g goblins, and were released from slavery about a thousand years before the current time. They're considered tax paying citizens and have all the rights (on paper) of human or Demi human citizens of the countries they live in. However, they tend to be poor and live as second class citizens in many places due to racism and lack of opportunities. The majority of them are loyal to their country of birth and consider themselves regular citizens, and they often dislike the Ghaal'Dar for commiting war crimes during the Last War and giving goblins a bad name. Most of the ones who were sympathetic to Ghaal'Dar moved to Darguun.
Goblins (like 99% of races in this setting) are not naturally evil in Eberron, they have the same range of alignments as every other sentient race. For cultural reasons they do tend towards being lawful neutral, but only slightly.

As a somewhat curious aside, D&D goblins are yellow (mostly) compared to the more usual goblin color of green. These even survived after the popularization of green Goblins in many other fantasy settings, most prominently the aforementioned Warhammer Fantasy and Warcraft. A few settings sometimes portray them as shades of grey, or the previously mentioned colors with a grey tint. They're even portrayed as red in some artwork.

The D&D goblin has a ''huge'' family tree, to the point they even coined their own racial name; "[[goblinoid]]". The two most prominent goblin-kin are the [[bugbear]]s - large, hairy, brutish goblins that, arguably, are D&D's attempt to maintain the orcy archetype without making orcs & goblins officially related - and the [[hobgoblin]]s, who are literally Tolkien's uruk-hai.

===Basic Stats===
Goblin PCs first appeared, alongside many other "classic humanoids", as PCs in the Known World Gazetteer #10: The Orcs of Thar. Under the Basic system, they had the following crunch:

::Goblin Ability Modifiers: -3 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Constitution
::Note: Like all Humanoids from "The Orcs of Thar", a Goblin has racial ability score caps of 18 in all scores bar [[Intelligence]] and [[Wisdom]], which are capped at 16.
::Note: Like all Humanoids from "The Orcs of Thar", a Goblin determines its [[Charisma]] score for interacting with [[human]]s and [[demihuman]]s by dividing its Charisma score by 3 (rounding down) and subtacting the result from 9.
::Goblin Natural Armor Class: 8
::Can become a [[Shaman]] (8th level) and a [[Wokani]] (6th level)

{| class=wikitable
!Goblin's's level || XP Required || Goblin's hit dice
|-
|0||0||d8-1
|-
|1||800||2d8-2
|-
|2||1,600||3d8-3
|-
|3||3,200||-
|-
|4||6,400||4d8-4
|-
|5||13,000||5d8-5
|-
|6||26,000||6d8-5
|-
|7||55,000||-
|-
|8||110,000||7d8-5
|-
|9||220,000||+2 Hit Points
|-
|Subsequent||160,000||+2 Hit Points
|}

===AD&D Stats===
Having appeared in Orcs of Thar, naturally, goblins went on to appear in [[The Complete Book of|The Complete Book of Humanoids]]:

::Ability Score Modifiers: -1 Strength, -1 Charisma
::Ability Score Range: Strength 4/15, Dexterity 4/17, Constitution 5/16, Intelligence 3/18, Wisdom 3/18, Charisma 3/12
::Class Restrictions: [[Fighter]] 10, [[Cleric]] 9, Shaman 7, Witch Doctor 7, [[Thief]] 12
::Infravision 60 feet
::Can detect new or unusual constructions in an underground area with a 25% chance of success (1-2 on a d8).
::Goblin shamans have access to the Spheres of Divination, Reversed Healing, Protection and Reversed Sun.
::-1 Penalty to their attack rolls when in bright sunshine
::Monstrous Traits: Appearance (-2 to to reaction rolls), Bestial Habits (-2 to reaction rolls)
::Weapon Proficiencies: Axe, Military Pick, Morning Star Sling, Short Sword, Spear
::Nonweapon Proficiencies: Alertness, Animal Handling, Animal Training (Worg), Begging, Chanting, Close-Quarter Fighting, Fast-Talking, Fortune Telling, Hiding, Hunting, Information Gathering, Looting, Mining, Religion, Riding (Worg), Set Snares

===3e Stats===
In 3rd edition, goblins appeared as an NPC race in the [[Monster Manual]] and were made fully playable in [[Forgotten Realms: Races of Faerun]]. They were reprinted without change in a few books after that.

::-2 Strenth, +2 Dexterity, -2 Charisma
::Small
::Humanoid ([[Goblinoid]])
::Base speed 30 feet
::Darkvision 60 feet
::+4 racial bonus on Move Silently and Ride checks
::[[Favored Class]]: [[Rogue]]

====Pathfinder====
Of course the [[Pathfinder]] ruleset included Goblins, and tweaked them up a bit from their third edition version by giving them more dexterity. By Paizo's own reckoning, this puts their overall Race Points (RP) on a par with the other PC races, so should be a viable option for players, even if it is a bit uninspired.

::-2 Strenth, +4 Dexterity, -2 Charisma
::Small
::Humanoid ([[Goblinoid]])
::Base speed 30 feet
::Darkvision 60 feet
::+4 racial bonus on Move Silently and Ride checks

Pathfinder did considerably more to support Goblins as a usable race, for both players and DMs. An entire splatbook was dedicated to their place in Golarion, while they were also included in the Advanced Race Guide and had additional options in the Monster Codex, allowing for a respectable variety in race trait customisations, giving them things like bite attacks, perceptions boosts, weapon familiarity, among others; the ability to create a medium-sized goblin who is not a [[Hobgoblin]]; a bunch of racial feats; and a handful of dedicated class archetypes, including [[Alchemist]]s with [[Awesome|flying mount companions]].

===4e Stats===
Like in 3e, the goblin appeared as a PC class in the [[Monster Manual]] for 4th edition. However, like all such races in 4e, its statblok there was...serviceable, but underwhelming. However, one of the last sourcebooks of that edition to be published, "The Dungeon Survival Handbook", brought them back as an official race, and boy were they beefy!

::+2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom OR +2 Charisma
::Small
::Speed 6 squares
::Low-light vision
::+2 Bluff, +2 Stealth
::Goblin Reflexes: +1 to Reflex defense.
::Racial Power - Goblin Tactics: At will, as an immediate reaction to being missed by an enemy melee attack, you can shift 1 square.

The biggest boost that the DSHb gave, besides the flexible mental ability score boost, was a selection of racial feats and racial utility powers, both of which really strengthened the goblin's mechanics and thematics.

''Goblin Racial Feats:''
* Ankle Biter: +1 feat bonus per tier to damage rolls vs. creatures larger than you, +1d6 damage on critical hits against creatures larger than you.
* Desperate Goblin Tactics: When bloodied, Goblin Tactics lets you shift 3 squares.
* Goblin Feint: When you use Goblin Tactics, you gain Combat Advantage against the triggering enemy until the end of your next turn.
* Shadowcreeper: Requires [[Assassin]] class. When you use Goblin Tactics, you shift 2 squares and gain Partial Concealment until the end of your next turn.
* Sneaky Stabber: Requires [[Rogue]] class. When you deal Sneak Attack damage to an adjacent foe, reroll any damage rolls of 1 until you get a result higher than 1.
* Wrist Biter: When you use Goblin Tactics, the triggering enemy takes 1d4 damage per your character's tier before you shift.

''Goblin Racial Utility Powers:''
* Fast Filch: At-will. When adjacent to a creature granting combat advantage, as a minor action, you can make a Thievery check to pick its pocket or perform sleight of hand. Level 2.
* Leg Up: Encounter. When adjacent to a creature, as a move action, you can jump your speed horizontally or up to 10 feet vertically. Level 2.
* Little Green Lie: Encounter. If you fail a Bluff, Diplomacy or Intimidate check, you can re-roll the check as a free action. If it was a Diplomacy or Intimidate check, you can use your Bluff modifier instead. Level 2.
* Living Shield: Encounter. If you are hit by an enemy melee or ranged attack whilst adjacent to an ally, as an immediate interrupt, you can shift 1 square and transfer the hit to that ally. Level 6.
* Unwitting Guardian: Encounter. When adjacent to a Medium or larger creature, as a move action, you can can shift 1 square to enter the target's space, occupying it until the end of your next turn and being hidden from all creatures except the target. Level 6.
* Down and Through: Encounter. As a move action, choose a Medium or larger enemy adjacent to you and shift up to 5 squares to a different square adjacent to that creature; you can move through its space during this shift. Level 10.

===5e Stats===
Finally, goblins appeared as a PC race in 5th edition's Volo's Guide to Monsters. Like their fellow [[goblinoid]]s, the [[kobold]], the [[orc]] and the [[Yuan-ti]], they were officially described as "unbalanced", which has earned a lot of fan flak, as this is literally an open invitation for more close-minded DMs to refuse goblin PCs - goblin fans are still hoping that WotC will eventually put out a splatbook with a "more official" and/or balanced version of goblin PC stats. Ironically, they were better off than the poor kobold.

Hopes of a reboot were shattered when the Guildmaster's Guide to [[Ravnica]] came out in November 2018; whilst earlier [[Plane Shift]] articles had presented an alternative goblin statblock, the GGR simply reprinted the Volo's Guide stats below.

::+2 Dexterity, +1 Constitution
::Small
::Speed 30 feet
::Darkvision 60 feet
::Fury of the Small: Once per short or long rest, when you inflict damage with an attack or spell on a creature larger than you, inflict bonus damage equal to your level.
::Nimble Escape: You can take the Disengage or Hide action as a bonus action on each of your turns.

As mentioned above, [[Plane Shift]] featured alternative goblin stats - two separate versions, in fact. Whether they are better than the official version is a matter of debate, though...

* [[Zendikar]] Goblin
::+2 Constitution
::Small
::Speed 25 feet
::Darkvision 60 feet
::Grit: You have Resistance to Fire and Psychic damage, your Unarmored AC is 11 + Dexterity modifier.
::Tribal Affinity: Choose either the Grotag Tribe (you have Proficiency in Animal Handling), the Lavastep Tribe (you have Advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made in rocky or subterranean environments) or the Tuktuk Tribe (you have Proficiency with Thieves Tools).

* [[Ixalan Goblin]]
::+2 Dexterity
::Small
::Speed 25 feet, Climb 25 feet
::Darkvision 60 feet
::Climber: You have a Climb speed of 25 feet if you are not encumbered or wearing either medium armor or heavy armor.

===[[Half-Goblin]]s?===
Given the strong connections between goblins and [[orc]]s in some settings, particularly in [[Dungeons & Dragons]]' older editions, and the existence of [[half-orc]]s, one may ask if there's ever been any love give to half-goblins? Well, ironically, not really; though [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] claimed that [[goblinoid]]s interbred with each other and with orcs all the time, that fluff was lost after the change to 3rd edition, which wanted to try and make the two races distinct. As for goblin/human crossbreeding? Forget about it; they barely gave half-orcs any love, so you can imagine they'd be less than interested in half-goblins.

Except... there was one setting where [[goblinoid]]s took the place of orcs. In the [[Dragonlance]] setting, orcs don't exist, being replaced by goblins and [[draconian]]s, and so the half-goblin appeared there in 3.5's Races of Ansalon sourcebook. Surprisingly, they're known for both being very self-confident and assured (in fact, their Charisma penalty is described as stemming from coming across as ''too'' confident, making them seem overbearing or aggressive), in contrast to the propensity for wangsting endemic to half-orcs and half-elves in other settings, very brave (in contrast to the traditional goblin cowardice) and with a drive to be peacemakers and diplomats, rather like half-elves. Essentially, rather than bitching about being rejected by both worlds (human and goblin) or about the lack of a "true" half-goblin culture, half-goblins are near-universally driven to try and force the world to shape up and make a culture for them, by bringing goblins and humans to work together in peace. Which is actually kind of badass, and certainly a change from the norms for half-breeds. In essence, they're said to combine human ambition and drive with goblin ferocity and mob mentality.

Half-goblins are described as looking more or less like human-sized goblins; half-bugbears might be particularly hairy, and half-"common" goblins shorter than average, but still within the human stature. Although this stature can lead to them being mistaken for [[hobgoblin]]s, they apparently lack quite as many fangs and have more human-like eyes, which makes the difference obvious enough at a closer look.

::+2 Dexterity, -2 Charisma
::Humanoid (Goblinoid)
::Medium
::Base speed 30 feet
::Darkvision 60 feet
::+2 racial bonus on Bluff and Move Silently
::+4 racial bonus on Will saving throws to resist Charm, Compulsion and Fear effects.
::Favored Class: Any

==[[Warcraft]]==
Goblins are a staple race in the Warcraft franchise. They have green skin, are very short, have long and strong fingers, long noses, large pointy ears, and sharp teeth.

In Warcraft 2, when the game expanded to more than just Humans, Orcs, Ogres, and Demons, Goblins were first mentioned. They were small mechanically-inclinded lunatics who invented great devices and were god-tier chemists. They offered their services to the Horde since it gave them more opportunities to wreak havoc and the races that would come to be those of the Alliance had ignored them for their entire history.
The Goblins mainly performed recon and VIP transport for the Horde via their Zeppelins, demolitions in the form of suicide Sapper squads, the invention of airtight missile-launching capsules that were tied to the backs of giant turtles to use as submarines, and finally experimenting on their Forest Troll allies to transform them into giant Berserkers. In secret they also helped the resident Sauron, an insane evil dragon named Deathwing, in his various endeavors. Goblins were described as insane, sadistic, and greedy for gold.

In Warcraft 3, Goblins became a neutral group. It was revealed only a small portion of the Goblin race actually worked with the Horde, while the others have always provided their services to anyone with gold to spend and after the fall of the first Horde they have enforced that their own race remain entirely neutral to all factions. They did little of importance other than provide transportation for the various power players in this time.
When the second Horde was building their capital of Durotar, a small number of Goblins lead by world famous Gazlowe provided them with fair deals (which is itself a big deal for their race) for Goblin services including demolition.

In vanilla World of Warcraft, Goblin lore expanded even further; a small number of Goblins were seen in the Alliance, some among the Horde, while it was revealed almost the entirety of their race dwell on an island called Kezan which has a massive underground city called the Undermine. The Cartels run Kezan, the most powerful of which is the Steamwheedle Cartel which performs the basic services offered in Warcraft 3. They maintain a few cities around the world including Ratchet (Gazlowe's city nearby Durotar), Booty Bay (a port which services anyone who reaches it, mainly pirates although they are just as much at threat from pirate attack), Gadgetzan (a desert city of scum and villainy, plus a small gladiatorial arena), and Everlook (a town high in the mountains of Kalimdor near by ancient magical Elf ruins).

Goblins have a racial rivalry with the other mechanically minded race, [[Gnomes]], although hostility varies from giant robot wars to having a giant racetrack where they see which race can build the best vehicles to next-door neighbors who collaborate with each other on inventions and take any opportunity to try and make the other admit their philosophy is better.

In general, the Goblin philosophy is "Chemicals, 50% chance of explosion is acceptable, make it fast so it makes money!" while the Gnomish philosophy is "Magic and radiation, take your time and spend decades if need be, 10% chance of turning yourself into a chicken or a different color is acceptable, make it for the love of knowledge and invention".

In Cataclysm, Goblins recieved a MAJOR update as they became a player race. One of the cartels which was one of the weaker ones (having their section of Kezan entirely on the surface, mainly producing pop culture, cars, sports, and edibles) joined the Horde after Deathwing set their portion of Kezan on fire (since in the middle of a not-football game a ball was kicked and hit him). Their trade prince sold the entire Cartel into slavery after charging them all their possessions for supposedly safe passage off the island, and the ships were caught in a naval battle between the Horde and Alliance. After conquering the island, they then joined the Horde which was in the middle of becoming a fascist genocidal dictatorship again thanks to shit leaders (also, their trade prince got to keep his job despite the mess he caused). They quickly upgraded the Horde from catapults to giant robots and from bow and arrow to machineguns, then created their own new capital by completely renovating a huge chunk of the continent into the symbol of the Horde complete with a Mount Rushmore of their racial leader.
During the Kezan levels it was also revealed that Goblins have become multicultural, taking on things previously alien to them like worship of the light and shamanism (although the former is seen as a combination of medic and television evangelism, while the latter is perceived as cutting deals with nature). Kezan is very modern and has television, pop stars, sunglasses, champagne, fancy cars, neon lights, not-Chinese food, electricity and lightbulbs, and many other conveniences not seen elsewhere in the rest of the Renaissance setting outside the homeland of the Gnomes.

Goblin origins were also explained. In ancient times, Goblins were an semi-intelligent race of monkey which was enslaved by Island Trolls and forced to mine a substance called Kajamite. Kajamite has a side-effect of causing a huge boost to intelligence (although not coherent thought) in anyone who imbibes it, and one day the Troll slavemasters entered the mines to whip their tiny laborers and were disintegrated with laser beams. Since then, the Goblins have mined Kajamite and used it as an ingredient in ingestibles of all kinds (including "Kaja-cola") although their supply was beginning to run out, and there was fear they may regress back to being mere monkeys without it. Like most Cataclysm plots, this was never brought up again although there was hints that with the Kaja-cola that was left everywhere they go that monkeys drinking it have begun becoming intelligent as well.

Goblins in Warcraft 2 had extremely squeaky, high-pitched voices and tended to babble or shriek. In Warcraft 3 the shrillness of the voice was lessened, and they became more calm and coherent. The Goblins in World of Warcraft still have a voice that is higher-pitched than a human, although only slightly more for males while gaining something of an American Brooklyn accent. The non-Bilgewater Goblins still speak in their Brooklyn accent or a general American accent, Bilgewater Goblins speak like they're from New Jersey both in accent and expression.

<gallery>
Image:GoblinZeppelin.png|A Goblin Zeppelin pilot in Warcraft 2.
Image:GoblinSappers 2.jpg|Goblin Sappers in Warcraft 2.
Image:Goblin Sappers.jpg|Warcraft 3 Goblin Sappers.
Image:Goblin Tinker WX.png|Warcraft 3 Goblin Tinker.
Image:WoW Goblin Fem.jpg|World of Warcraft female Goblin player characters.
Image:Warcraft Goblin Player Male.jpg|World of Warcraft male Goblin player characters.
Image:GOBLINS AND GNOMES.jpg|Goblin/Gnome rivalry.
Image:Kezan.png|The Bilgewater portion of Kezan.
Image:Goblin Easter.png|Goblins are into holidays in a big way, either as a business conspiracy or over-enthusiasm.
Image:Goblin femSapper.jpg
</gallery>

==[[Goblin Slayer]]==
[[Skarsnik|The said goblin in this manga while being a weak, tiny and barbaric humanoid is capable of many unorthodox tactics and teamwork that they could outplay and murder low level adventurers numerous times, whom the said adventurers underestimate the cunning goblins]]. They are barbaric primitives so they have to loot tools. However, they are capable of some degree of intelligence, like using signs like totems to create distractions as well as cover their weapons with urine and poisonous herbs to not only prevent adventurers from healing themselves, but also mark them with scents for goblins have an acute sense of smell. While they use mercenaries and pets such as wolves and orcs to further boost their effectiveness, the biggest contributors of their horde are their red shirt goblin goons, who are weak, small, but expendable and effective while attacking in groups. The horde is often led by a goblin mage that is capable of casting spells like fireball.

Oh, and this being Japan, they're sadists native to the moon who have only one gender and use rape to reproduce. What the hell else would you read this shit for?

==Goblins (The Webcomic)==
{{/co/}}
[[File:Webcomic Goblins.jpg|thumb|right|400px|"This is the arc that will not end, it will go on and on my friend..."]]
Goblins are the stars of a webcomic called [http://www.goblinscomic.org/ Goblins] created by a man known as "Thunt" (real name Tarol Hunt, though in 2019 they announced that they are transitioning to female and are changing their name to Ellipsis Hana Stephens) in 2005, which claims that #GoblinLivesMatter and all the bad stuff comes from evil clans but most monsters are totally bros and it's all just a misunderstanding or a result of the ignorant sadistic humans, with those of the monster who ARE bad only being a product of human oppression.

Even so, only half of the arcs even have goblin protagonists - the other focuses on two adventurers, the, well, min/maxed human named Minmax and his dwarf cleric partner Forgath. Originally they were in an adventuring party (back when the comic was actually still a parody of an RPG world, complete with characters confusing the first person and meta as well as the cleric praying to the DM) who were at first all [[Drizzt]] clones then a bad weeaboo crew although the joke of the characters all dying at the same time due to their incompetence shortly after being rolled was dropped after the second time, and the parody plot was entirely dropped later on as well.

The supposed main characters are a group of goblins who were supposed to be just your average quick skirmish that was guarding a treasure chest full of magic gear they weren't allowed to open for reasons none of them knew. After surviving the attack by Minmax, Forgath, and their idiot friends that suffered a TPK, the Goblins decided to commit the ultimate act of heresy against their race and become player characters by adopting classes.

Then the story starts getting convoluted, going through a human city that is mostly just built on torture-killing monster races, having Minmax and Forgath go on a subplot that involved a Yuan-Ti that lead into a seemingly unending dungeon arc involving parallel realities before a misunderstanding forced the two characters to separate with her, while at the same time the Goblin group attempted to escape from a paladin who has taken the Lawful Good definition into "an omnicidal maniac who enslaves the souls of those he has killed while maintaining a personality straight out of a [[Warhammer 40000]] fanfic". While having side stories involving ANOTHER insanely complex dungeon. While a third group, made up of one of the Goblins plus an evil Goblin who's really tragically misunderstood product of her situation going through ANOTHER unending dungeon.

The common points that are inevitably mentioned on /tg/ when Goblins is brought up are both the lack of an improvement of art over the course of the comics decade of history and the meme "IMSAD", the latter of which is a good summary of most of the plot of the comic. After a small breakdown caused by backlash from [[SJW]] fans taking issue with the torture-rapist ex-adventurer governor villain, [http://www.goblinscomic.org/kins-story-is-kind-of-true/ the creator revealed that the reason the villains are written so absolutely edgetastically hammy in their evil is he was using the comic to work through some emotional trauma caused when some men raped his mother before he was born and the story of it scarred him.] He also later revealed he had a history of domestic abuse. Somehow he thought this would make things better.

Thunt is currently supported exclusively through the webcomic, which goes on hiatus from time to time.

Recently Thunt has been working on turning his comic into an animated series which he funded on Indiegogo. Somehow, he managed to get several famous voice actors on the project.

<gallery>
Image:Webcomic Goblins IMSAD.gif|Congratulations, you now know the basic plot.
Image:IMSAD 2.jpg
Image:Webcomic Goblins Page.jpg|An actual page, from when it was still a parody.
Image:Webcomic Goblins Thunt Goes Bananas.jpg|A piece Thunt made during his breakdown. Feel free to insert your own reference to [[Chaos]] corruption here.
Image:4chan on Goblins.png|tl;dr
</gallery>

==Monstergirl Depictions==
{{Monstergirls}}
Traditionally, the idea of goblins being [[monstergirls]] was something of a niche, at best; most thought of them as just hideous, stupid, filthy little monsters - who would want to put their dicks in that?

Ironically, it was [[Warcraft]] that probably first sowed the seeds of female goblins being fuggable; whilst the attractiveness of female goblins in that game is contentious, people must admit that they were better-looking than the tumor-riddled, snaggle-toothed, scarred abominations that make up the canon depictions of most goblins prior to that. They were certainly attractive enough to start scoring [[Rule 34]] artwork, and this became a revelation to fa/tg/uys: that goblin-girls did ''not'' have to be fugly!

From there, goblin-girls became an underground sensation, slowly developing and evolving in the steamier underbelly of /tg/ and on /d/ (or at least its "western counterpart" /aco/) until they have become as mainstream in the /tg/ fandom as any monstergirl has a chance of being.

Because goblins vary so widely in their depictions, it shouldn't be surprising that goblin-girls likewise have been a particularly fertile ground for interpretations. There are five "mainstream" depictions of the goblin-as-monstergirl you will probably encounter on /tg/, and many different sub-forms and cross-pollinations. All depend on which of various "goblin aspects" that a creator deigns to focus on; tinker skills, short-sighted hedonism, mischievousness, raw sexual appetites, and fertility:

* The "Pervy Tinker" archetype directly traces its roots back to Warcraft's Rule 34'd goblins: this envisions goblins as a "techy" race with a strong lewd streak, leading to them focusing their mad science skills on coming up with newer and more deviant ways of getting off. Depending on the fundamental tech level of the setting and the creator's own tastes, this can range from aphrodisiac gas grenades and automated dildos to [[golem]]s built as living sex engines and bimbofying/transforming [[magitek]] rayguns. Rule 34 interpretations of World of Warcraft lore can be counted as this, as well as rare goblins in Corruption of Champions that are mentally stable enough hold their panties on.
* The "Shameless Slut" archetype likewise has its roots in Warcraft goblins, vis a vis their canonical obsession with money, but is perhaps one of the more widely known "generic" archetypes as well. These goblins are hedonists who take a great deal of pride in their libido and their love of pleasure, integrating with the other races and usually gravitating towards roles based on "entertaining", from barmaids to outright prostitutes. In fact, they are often depicted as actively enjoying whoring themselves out, as it ensures a steady stream of partners and profit, whilst sating their perverse and degrading sexual desires. These goblin-girls are often size-queens, specifically choosing partners based on the stature of their masculine organs. The adult comic artist Incase is focused on this one, and might as well started it with his drawings.
* The "Mischief Maker" archetype is the most innocent of the archetypes, portraying goblins as just playful, fun-loving hedonists whose greatest aims in life are pranking, partying and making love, not necessarily in that order.
* The "Savage Slut" archetype is perhaps the oldest of the archetypes, for it owes its origins to the original interchangeability of goblin and [[orc]]. These goblins are basically sexy "savages", wild and primal little monstergirls who live a primitive lifestyle centered on hunting, playing, and of course capturing & having sex with men. Essentially, this depicts goblins as [[shortstack]] or [[loli|"a loophole for masturbating to underage children"]] orcs. Kenkou Cross' Monster Girl Encyclopedia is focused on that.
* The "Breederphile" archetype is, in comparison, probably the youngest of these archetypes. These goblins are defined by their racial pregnancy fetishism, and by having bodies almost literally built to breed. Being impregnated is intensely orgasmic, pregnancy either fills them with ecstasy, makes them incredibly horny, or both, birth is a series of some of the most intense orgasms in their lives, and social standing often revolves around how many daughters they have to boss around. {{BLAM|+++...SCANNING...+++}} {{BLAM|+++Congratulations Neophyte, you have just weathered the single worst psychic assault a slaaneshi daemon is capable of unleashing; you may now be promoted into the ranks of the [[Grey Knights]]+++}}This archetype does make some sense if you think about it: after all as a 'cannon fodder' species for PC, where do all the Goblins come from? Corruption of Champions might as well started this archetype.

More recently, moreso than even the Breederphile, a variant of goblin-girl portrayal native to [[Urban Fantasy]] settings has come to /tg/'s attention from our [[shortstack]] fetishising kinsfolk on /aco/. Combining parts of the "Shameless Slut" and "Breederphile" stereotypes, paired with some occasionally-awkward racial coding, the so-called "Ghetto Goblin" tends to be used as an less-racially-offensive imitation of the "hot-blooded Latina" or "Ghetto Black Girl" racial stereotype, in that they are sexually open, tend toward foul language and fiery tempers when angry and lewd vocalizing or body-language when aroused or teasing others, and frequently dress provocatively. While breeding for the Ghetto Goblin isn't usually as erotic as with the Breederphile, the social status of the Ghettoblin is often measured by how many offspring they have, how often they have sex, and how early they first had sex. They arouse easily, to the point that human men in their stories often need to talk Ghetto Goblins out of outright molesting them openly in public.

Whilst these archetypes are certainly well known, there are also two specific depictions of goblin monstergirls that have achieved enough recognition to be recognizable by name; the MGE Goblin and the CoC Goblin.

The [[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]] depiction of the goblin is essentially a mashup of the Mischief Maker and the Savage Slut archetypes. These primitive mamono live in tribal clusters, entertaining themselves by playing pranks on each other or the races around them, hunting game, and conducting banditry for fun, profit and boyfriends. In appearance, they resemble pointy-eared human [[loli]]s with horns and superhuman strength, allowing them to fight with weapons that only a strong human man would normally have a chance of lifting. Simple-minded and carefree, they have no intention of giving up the lifestyle they so enjoy.

The CoC Goblin takes its name from Corruption of Champions, a [[/d/|hentai]] fantasy text adventure game that was popular on /tg/ for a while, before the fact that [[furries]] are much more willing to put money where mouth is when it comes to getting fetishistic shit done led to the inevitable flooding of the game with [[beastfolk]] waifus and encounters and /tg/ promptly banished it. Still, before it went under, it had a significant impact on the goblin-girl arena: CoC may not have created the idea of the Breederphile archetype, but it certainly brought it to the attention of what passes for /tg/ mainstream. CoC's goblins are Breederphiles who became a pregnancy-obsessed all-female race due to corruption of their water supply. Once a brilliant race of alchemists and inventors, they have since devolved into a Savage Slut culture, living in crude tribes based on a massively curvy matriarch, her husband(s), and as many daughters as she can make who are willing to stick around - whilst goblins are fiercely competitive with each other, there is also safety in numbers, keeping them from being eaten by [[hellhound]]s or raped/beaten to death by [[minotaur]]s. Such clans are often notably inbred, for their corruption means they have little sense of objection to incest, with only the matriarch's jealous possessiveness in regards her husband keeping her daughters at bay. They're also examples of the Pervy Tinker archetype, using what remains of their former knack for invention to create sex toys and perverse alchemical concoctions for use in subduing husbands and molding them to their liking.

==See Also==
*[[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition races]]

<gallery>
Image:Cute_Goblin_Adventurer.jpg
Image:Goblin_Dancer.jpg
Image:Goblin_Adventurer_1.png
Image:Goblin_Bar_Wench.png
Image:Goblin_Monk_1.jpg
Image:Goblin_Shamaness_1.jpg
Image:Goblin_Shamaness_2.jpg
File:MGE Goblin.jpg
</gallery>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Sneaky Goblin.gif
Image:Goblin Knight.JPG|A more "player character" variety.
Image:GreenGoblin3.jpg|Most goblins tend to [[Alchemist|throw pumpkin bombs]] and use flying crafts to annoy [[/co/|superheroes]].
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Unified Setting/Goblins]] Yet another take on a classic concept.
* [[Goblin Slayer]], a man with a serious beef against goblins.
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqx4ywmqYUw The most common reaction to Goblins]
* [[Goblinoid]], for the extended goblin family.

{{D&D1e-Races}}
{{D&D2e-Races}}
{{D&D4e-Races}}
{{D&D5e-Races}}
{{Pathfinder-Races}}

[[Category:Kings of War]][[Category:Monsters]]