Tarquin

Tarquin is a villain in the webcomic Order Of The Stick. He is the father of Nale and Elan, and was the best friend of Malack, who was a member of his adventuring party.

Initially, he appeared to be an ideal father to Elan, even agreeing to spend the day with him. He also seemed rather averse to killing Nale, although he had murdered three of Malack's vampire spawn and wanted him dead for this action.

it rapidly became apparent that he was actually sociopathic, and that the lives of others meant very little to him. This was shown when he arranged for the deaths of some escaped slaves, believing that they were rebelling against him and deciding that it would be an excellent present for his son if he arranged the burning slaves in his son's name.

Also, after Enor and Gannji captured Elan, Tarquin forced them to fight to the death with each other, also believing that Elan would want this. After they refused to fight each other, Tarquin instructed his minions to shoot them to death with crossbows. Thankfully, they were saved by Belkar Bitterleaf and Ian Starshine.

Later, after he found out that Nale had murdered Malack and refused to participate in his schemes, Tarquin stabbed him in the heart with his dagger. After his associate Laurin Shattersmith disintegrated Nale to prevent him from ever being resurrected, he is unable to understand why Elan never wanted him dead despite him being his brother, as he had tried to murder him in the past.

Shortly afterwards, believing that the Order Of The Stick were inhibiting Elan's potential as a hero, Tarquin ordered his men to kill Belkar Bitterleaf, Durkon, and Roy Greenhilt, assuming that he would be able to recruit more members for another adventuring party and telling him that he should be their leader.

Finally, after Elan summoned Julio Scoundrel to protect him from Tarquin and fled from him on The Mechane (Julio Scoundrel's ship), Tarquin immediately told him that he was going to murder the other members of the Order Of The Stick (including Haley Starshine, his girlfriend), murder the Mechane's entire crew, and cut off his hand, believing that he had forced him to do so (as he also believed was the case of Nale).