Quote Originally Posted by The Giant View Post
In what way do you see "Power" as being a theme of OOTS? Because I kinda don't know what you're talking about, but I might if you extrapolate on what you see as the theme. Generally speaking, I think of themes as being things you can sum up in declarative statements, such as, "Your family is who you decide your family is, not strictly those to whom you're biologically related."

So I think there are the explicit references to power: see Vaarsuvius's quest for ultimate arcane power, Xykon's speeches on power, the debate by combat about how Roy'a intelligence was a form of power, etc.

I do think on a metafictional level there appears to be something foucaldian happening, especially evidenced in the most recent book, where you seem to be examining the power of narrative structure. I don't have a great argument prepared, but I think this would be a decent start for an academic paper analyzing Order of the Stick.