Nine sides

"Let's call it a theory. But if I told you, you wouldn't believe me." Keep in mind that parts of this article or section relies on speculation, and that it'll continue to be updated with more information as the comics go on.

A pair of Demon Cockroaches implied at one point that the grand plot of the comics involves at least nine distinct factions, at least some of which were not yet known about at that point.

Eventually, at the commentary in Book 4, "Don't Split the Party", author Rich Burlew confirmed that the Cockroaches' claim was accurate and furthermore that one of those factions would be introduced in Book 5 (which turned out to be "Blood Runs in the Family"), implying that said faction is either the Vector Legion, Hel or perhaps the Draketooth Family.

As of the time of Comic #997, "Plan B", several additional groups were revealed and speculated to be among the nine.

It is still not entirely clear who are those factions, nor how they are counted or even if they have all been revealed. Some have become entirely or practically extinct since, while others have complex relationships with close alliances or some level of internal conflict, some of which has been only hinted at and may not be significant.

For instance, Azure City's resistance had been unified by the time of #548, but it used to comprise at least three distinct factions. Their Elven allies may or may not be counted separately, as well, and all later become effectively extinct.

Forum discussion on the matter is recurrent.

In a Q&A on Patreon, Rich Burlew clarified that there was not specifically meant to be exactly nine sides, merely that there were many sides in the conflict and that the readers had yet to encounter some of them. "Nine" was thrown out as an arbitrarily high number, and Burlew believes that there is no right or wrong answer to what the "nine sides" could be.

Factions known at the time of Comic #548

• Order of the Stick
• Team Evil, arguably two, three, or even four separate factions given the incompatibility of their end goals:
  • Xykon and those loyal to him, including Tsukiko (now deceased).
  • Redcloak has been allied with Xykon for a long time, but he seems to be working against him behind the scenes. He fully expects Xykon and the Dark One to run at cross purposes eventually. Redcloak's faction seems to be aligned with the goals of the Dark One as well as Jirix as leader of Gobbotopia. (See below). Before he killed Tsukiko, he revealed that the Ritual is supposed to complete The Dark One's goals instead of Xykon's. Afterward, he gives a fake phylactery to Xykon and keeps the real one for himself. The fake is put in Xykon's Astral Fortress.
  • The Monster in the Darkness was apparently loyal to Xykon at this point, but has shown to be working independently against Team Evil later on. He may represent his own faction, or be coming over to the side of his friend O-Chul and the Sapphire Guard.
• The Sapphire Guard, the Azurite government-in-exile, and the Azurite Resistance, including their elven allies represented by Team Peregrine and Team Harrier. The latter two groups are now extinct.

Factions revealed later

• Inter-Fiend Cooperation Commission (had a cameo early on but was only truly revealed later). The only known members are the three archfiends, Sabine, and Qarr.
• Vector Legion. Malack was destroyed, and Laurin Shattersmith may have been taken by the Snarl, but the remaining members are assumed to still be active.
• Loki, Thor, and those members of the Northern Pantheon who favor saving the world, starting with the Godsmoot plot in Utterly Dwarfed. Note that Loki and Thor are aligned on the issue of the Snarl, but are personally at odds over Hel.
• Hel, Thrym, and those members of the Northern Pantheon in favor of destroying the world to save themselves from the Snarl, as well as her minions, especially the High Priest of Hel.

Arguable and/or speculative

• Lord Kubota and his faction of conservative Azure City nobles. Kubota's house is now extinct.
• The Elven people, who are Azure City's allies, but might have goals distinct from them.
• The Snarl. The nature of the Snarl's agency is unknown, but it may have its own designs.
  • Hypothetically, any people who may exist inside it (although the limited evidence available implies that there are none.)
• The Dark One, who may or may not be in full alliance with Redcloak and Gobbotopia
  • There is somewhat ambiguous hinting that Jirix and Gobbotopia may rebel against Redcloak and/or Xykon
• The Greysky City Thieves' Guild. It is unknown if the guild is still active or still has its original goals since Bozzok and Crystal have died.
• Amun-Zora's resistance against the Empire of Blood, employing Ian Starshine, Gannji, and Enor

Former Factions

• The Order of the Scribble: currently only Serini Toormuck is still alive and active.
• Linear Guild, now largely extinct. Sabine is the only known survivor, but she is now (and was then) aligned with the IFCC. There is a probability that Thog has survived, given his burial beneath the ruins of the arena.

Alternative interpretations

• 9 Alignments in D&D — Most discussion has revolved around organized groups seeking various objectives, but one theory which has been proposed many times is that the nine sides are the nine alignments of D&D. However, this is unlikely given that Rich Burlew himself stated in the commentary for "Don't Split The Party" that we would have our first encounter one of the nine sides in the coming book, "Blood Runs In The Family".
• Just a joke — Others have proposed that the comment by the demon-roach was just a one-off joke, without implications on the plot. However, the author's commentary in Don't Split the Party would seem to suggest this is not the case.