Malack

Herpetology

Malack Is A Snake

• Author statement (“snake person”)
  Rich Burlew thought the snake body was obvious, as stated in his March 2020 Patreon Q&A answer.

• Snake terminology used in-comic
  • Haley calls Malack “Whitesnake” in dialogue.
  • While being drained, Durkon refers to Malack as a “treacherous snake.”
  • Hel refers to Malack as “Nergal’s snake.”

• Visual reference
  We see a lot of Malack in this scene.

• Serpentfolk Vampire reference
  A Monster for Every Season: Spring 2 includes a “Serpentfolk Vampire” depicted as white-scaled and wearing a black palette swap of Malack’s outfit. “Serpentfolk” are Rich’s legally distinct version of yuan-ti. Buy it and judge for yourself whether this is meant to suggest Malack is a kind of Serpentfolk.

Malack Is A Lizard

• First meeting identification
  On first meeting, Elan and Haley identify Malack as a lizardfolk, and Vaarsuvius does not correct them, in their introduction scene.

• Self-identification
  Malack explicitly identifies himself as a lizardfolk in dialogue, after Durkon identifies him as such first.

• Head and upper-body depiction
  Malack’s head shape is shown alongside other lizardfolk in this strip.

Conclusion

The apparent contradiction is resolved if, in Rich Burlew’s setting, snake people are commonly classified as lizardfolk and this is well known to the characters. This explanation fits the evidence, though others remain possible.

Thank you to hamishpence and Unoriginal for most of this research.