One more take on the 434

[Carnivore]

I think that it is Fighter and Black Mage talking. White Mage's text box is pink, not red. The panels show how Black Belt, Red Mage, Thief (as much as I love him, I know he's doomed.) and White Mage were killed to leave Fighter and Black Mage alone. The first panel looks like smoke, so maybe that's Black Belt's death. The next looks like somebody staring down a Hadoken, or other spell, which is either Red Mage of Thief. the third looks like... I dunno, a hole to a hell dimension or something, again, Red Mage or Thief, and the fourth is White Mage's robes covered in blood, she is likely dead as well.

Don't forget, Fighter is the smartest. Maybe he can speak like that after all.

[bolevar321]

It's definitely BM talking with the orange text; it's obvious.
The second speaker, after recent events is quite probably WM. Her robes are now stained which explains the wierd pattern. Not to mention, she is the only one who could possibly talk about fate in such a cynical manner. It's not fighter, since he actually belives in fate; unlike his comerades, he actually thinks he IS a light warrior. It's not RM because he believes in fate. The gods, or the players, control his life, and he does his best to take control of his life as a "character." It's not thief. He strikes me as someone who believes in taking advantage of everything, fated or not. So who can it be? who but white mage?

She used to believe in fate, god, and the light warrior prophecy. I think then, she started doubting in the ability of the light warriors, seeing them succeed either through her efforts, or luck alone. Then, she found out that she herself had created the universe, not god. She now lost faith that god existed, but could not pervert her faith by creating a false god.

When she came back, she sought out black belt. Presumably, she thought that since he saved the light warriors so often, perhaps he would be fated to do so again. Perhaps WM was fated to miraculously heal him. Her faith will probably be broken now that BB's head asploded all over her robes. This would explain why the speaker is so cynical about fate.

Also, I don't think WM will turn dark and want to hadoken the earth into oblivion. Firstly, being a black mage does require faith, albeit to demons, which she no longer has. Secondly, from losing faith, one tends to feel indifference not hatred or despair. She would lose some of her ability to care, and as such, lose some motivation, and perhaps, lose some of her affinity for magic.

[Amake]

If there's anything made to throw us speculants off, I think it's the color of the captions. The black text on red background isn't repeated anywhere else that I remember, and hell king BM was a brief and hopefully unique episode. You'll notice I dismissed the colors in my theory; there's no real reason to base any speculation on them.

[Warlock]

I have to disagree that Fighter is the smartest. He is dumb as a post, but even a stopped watch is right twice a day.

[ZAKtheGeek]

Hell king "uber" BM has returned once. Actually, it would be pretty crappy if it happened a third time...

The red background box looks the most like fighter's, if anyone's.

Wait...

Sarda?

[bolevar321]

Originally Posted by Invisible Queen

If there's anything made to throw us speculants off, I think it's the color of the captions. The black text on red background isn't repeated anywhere else that I remember, and hell king BM was a brief and hopefully unique episode. You'll notice I dismissed the colors in my theory; there's no real reason to base any speculation on them.

My theory had nothing to do with the color of the captions, it had to do with deductions based on what was said, and careful consideration of the personalities of each character. I would have actually considered Sardathustra as the second speaker, except that this dialogue seems to take place facing their imminent doom. Sarda would never be doomed, he's the wizard who did it. So it must be BM and WM. And again, IT'S NOT FIGHTER! He considers himself to be a light warrior, he believes in fate! not to mention, wryness, as seen in the 4th panel (Just like we were always going to, right?) simply doesn't fit him.

[ZAKtheGeek]

Not the fighter you think you know. But sleeves are great for concealing surprising objects.

[bolevar321]

Well, yeah, if you want to call in possible changes of character... In which case, it could well be Black belt's spirit channeled into, idunno, onion kid talking to BM. That doesn't make it likely.

[DFM]

I've personally always felt it was Black Mage and White Mage talking, with:

"It's not too late."
"It is for some people."

As a personal attack by Black Mage against White Mage regarding Black Belt. If this is true, it probably means that the rest of the light warriors are still alive at the time of this confrontation, because if they’ve all recently died, it isn’t likely Black Mage would have to dig up Black Belt’s ancient memory to try and sting White Mage. He's got a lot of fresh material right there.

In addition, the dialog fits White Mage extremely well, since she has so far been the only one in the comic who cares at all about fate one way or the other, and it shows in her a great deal of character change. The speech about a lack of fate coming from anyone else seems almost pointless.

[POS Industries]

Clearly, the colors of the dialogue boxes are different from the normal text colors used in the comic in order to make it unclear. I think the fact that the lines most likely attributed to BM are the same color as Hell King BM might just be a coincidence. Or possibly not, since the Hell King incident came after. As for the red boxes, I'm pretty sure it's not Thief or RM, as the conversation seems to suggest a deeper connection between the two people. There's a signifacance in this conflict. Thief or RM vs. BM just wouldn't carry that. Therefore, we are left with either WM or Fighter. While Fighter feels a strong bond for BM, the feeling is not exactly mutual. Also, I'm sorry, but regardless of how much smarter Fighter could conceivably become, in no way is that how he talks. Anyway, I don't see Fighter losing his faith in the great destiny of the Light Warriors. Nor would he have thought leaving BM on the nose of the airship was funny. Fighter's not that mean. Someone suggested Sarda, but he wasn't even on the airship, so that last bit doesn't work.

Thus, we're left with WM. I still don't think that the question of who is on what side has been sufficiently answered, though. Now that I think about, WM did create the universe. Why shouldn't she be the one to destroy it? To be the alpha and the omega? BM, however, has mentioned that he doesn't want to end the universe because there wouldn't be anything left to destroy. Their goals wouldn't match in this scenario.

That doesn't mean it won't be BM that blasts the others into oblivion. He still has to kill them all. Perhaps the great conflict just comes down to a lesser of two evils. Or BM managing to talk sense into WM through the course of their battle, but a realization on her part that she still can't let a purely destructive force like BM exist. Oh noes, the downer ending!

Whatever comes of it, I plan to just sit back and enjoy the ride.