Quote Originally Posted by Murk View Post

Personally I would think Dies Horribly's prophecy has not been fulfilled yet because that was his whole shtick and without it he doesn't really have any character arc or narrative purpose left.
But then again Goblins' character arcs have never been really clear to me. I'm still very confused about Elli considering Chief's character arc to be "completed" (after which he came back into the story anyway, so... I don't know, man).
Personally, I feel Dies got a good arc exactly because he doesn't have a role left; his story has been told.

It also has a fairly readable structure. First part: home. At the warcamp, Dies is relatively safe and among friends, but a nervous wreck because of the prophecy. This starting balance is broken when MM & Co. attack the camp. Dies is then pushed into the second part, the adventure proper, where he has to survive in the hands of the Viper clan. During this part he meets allies and enemies and gains new powers and skills; he also solves his inner problems by surviving the prophecy. The third and final part has him empowered to defeat the Viper Clan and become physically whole again, restoring the balance.

What I don't like about this is that he actually still has a role left, hunting down the green monster, because his hand is one of two things known to hurt it greatly (the other one being the blade in the dungeon, which Grem may or may not have already recovered, I don't remember if he had it when he got out). I mean, I would have rather left him where he was. But a new team-up with Grem could be interesting, if Fox is also there.

Chief, instead, in spite of what the author said, didn't seem to have an actual arc to me. I mean, this would be his third part: in the first part, he is a leader ashamed of himself and his clan, who runs away instead of helping his goblins; in the second part (Brassmoon) he actually is risking his own hide to save one of his goblins and starts to join combat (during this chapter, he should have had his moment of defiance where he showed he wasn't ashamed of the clan any more); the third part should be his most dangerous one, but which he faces while already having the tools to win. Durkon's vampire arc could have been an example, in the sense that it's not an arc if the character has no agency, even if soul-trapped by a two-legged monster.
Instead, apparently, his arc was written as a linear crescendo in bravery until his death, and that was it. But that's just character growth, and actual arcs are generally represented as differring levels of tension (stakes) interspersed with moments of pause, recollection, and loss or acquirement instead.