Dances With Balrog is absent from the Alliance meeting.

I just did the quest chain on my Marauder I'm leveling up for the card bonus, and I can't help but notice that someone is missing.

Kyrin is in the opening cutscene but not actually at the map, Lady Syl is at the map but not in the cutscene, etc.

.....But absent from both the cutscene and the map are three job instructors: Oz, Hawkeye, and Dances With Balrog. (And technically Mastema, but, you know. They think s/he's Demon Slayer's pet.)

Oz and Hawkeye we can write off as not being important enough to attend the meeting. They are the least two serious Cygnus instructors afterall. But Dances With Balrog's absence is rather odd.

Oversight? Supposed to represent that not everyone approved of the Alliance?

.....Or something more sinister?

Black Mage = Dances with Balrog confirmed 100%

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Originally Posted by whybanme

Black Mage = Dances with Balrog confirmed 100%

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But.. but.. Spiegelman!

Probably just an oversight. I highly doubt the Nexons are that good at foreshadowing.

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Originally Posted by See

But.. but.. Spiegelman!

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You know, I do kinda want this. Or at least an explanation of all the random crap surrounding him (eg. the pictures of him with von Leon, Horntail, and Zakum you find at the Monster Park).

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Originally Posted by Maping

Probably just an oversight. I highly doubt the Nexons are that good at foreshadowing.



You know, I do kinda want this. Or at least an explanation of all the random crap surrounding him (eg. the pictures of him with von Leon, Horntail, and Zakum you find at the Monster Park).

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What if they do a plot change plot change and he's actually just really good with photoshop?

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Originally Posted by See

What if they do a plot change plot change and he's actually just really good with photoshop?

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Spoiler

You see him actually building Zakum in the winter map of Gonzo Gallery

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Originally Posted by Endgame

Oz and Hawkeye we can write off as not being important enough to attend the meeting. They are the least two serious Cygnus instructors afterall. But Dances With Balrog's absence is rather odd.

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Or you know, they are generals, they could be pulling some misions for Nineheart, coordinating the security around the alliance hall (because you got a lot of alliance liders there) watching over victoria while the town leaders are away or a docen other stuff. Having the least serious personality =/= being the least relevant characters.

Dances with Balrog could be doing those same stuff and your argument can be also applied to this video

http://youtu.be/1beJEsS-W1Y

Where are Dark Lord and Kyrin?

Dances with Barlog, Kyrin and the Dark Lord don't have a connection to a Hero class, that is why they are left out.

Luminous isn't there either.

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Originally Posted by Jamesie

Luminous isn't there either.

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Given that the Alliance was released before Luminous was made, the reason is obvious.

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Originally Posted by Jamesie

Luminous isn't there either.

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The meeting was added during Legends, so Phantom was still frozen, and Luminous was still off in the woods with Lania.

Correct me if I'm mistaken here, but I would say the disparity in the attendance is due to how the big three are the leaders of each group (Athena Pierce, Cygnus and Claudine) while some of the others who don't have obvious connections are there as audience. Consider the Resistance as an example, the quest dialogue you get leading up to the Alliance implies that Brighton, Belle and Checky all went there along with Claudine as they still do not trust Cygnus fully and thus must see the events unfolding themselves, Lady Syl is there as she's also suspicious of this, Neinheart and Mikhail are present as the former is Cygnus' advisor and the latter is her bodyguard more or less while Lilin may be there for tworeasons: 1) She has connections with Aran and knows about the Heroes which would make her a suitable representative for them given that Lilin is one of the options for invitation if you're a Knight of Cygnus or 2) Well, she is Neinheart's sister and an important figure considering what was mentioned in #1.

So there you go. If at anything I'm more curious about why Mercedes isn't there seeing that one of her quests was pivotal towards Cygnus' decision to form the Alliance and she wouldn't have much overlap with Lilin given that she could represent her own people, frozen as most of them were at that time.

There's a Mercedes NPC in the game's data that is apparently unused, possibly meant to be used at the meeting.

Also to add to my previous post, Phantom and Luminous get Will of the Alliance from just talking with Cygnus, they don't even get the cutscene + the meeting room.

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Originally Posted by Endgame

There's a Mercedes NPC in the game's data that is apparently unused, possibly meant to be used at the meeting.

Also to add to my previous post, Phantom and Luminous get Will of the Alliance from just talking with Cygnus, they don't even get the cutscene + the meeting room.

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Not unused, IIRC she just randomly shows up at Six Path Crossing if you're a Demon Slayer.

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Originally Posted by Five Second Pose

Not unused, IIRC she just randomly shows up at Six Path Crossing if you're a Demon Slayer.

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There's actually 2 of that NPC. One is used for the quest, the other is unused.

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Originally Posted by Maping

Probably just an oversight. I highly doubt the Nexons are that good at foreshadowing.



You know, I do kinda want this. Or at least an explanation of all the random crap surrounding him (eg. the pictures of him with von Leon, Horntail, and Zakum you find at the Monster Park).

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Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/XwGhr.jpg?1

Spiegelmann is the Thom Bombadil of Maplestory. Some characters need to be mysterious in good fiction (which Nexon is desesperately trying to make).