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Okay, well, The End was written slightly poorly, and Tord is a clone theory is mainly just a headcanon to make up for said bad writing that would affect the plot too much so it had to be a theory.

I'm sure this has been said time and time again, but I just really like eddsworld and wanted to rant on Tord eddsworld. While watching Tomee Bear's video on this (which since I agree with most of him on this topic, this'll just be me talking a little more about what I find important) I realised if this is still even a little discussion, I disagree with most on it.

THE END IS NOT WRITTEN BADLY

As Edd Gould wasn't around to write the script himself, yeah, it's going to be different. I find the pacing a little weird, and especially its pace in the Legacy era as a whole off, but from a poorly planned crowdfunded whim, I don't know what else to expect from the team. As for the actual characterisation and dialogue,

In WTFuture, Tom remarks saying "Did anyone realise this is the most we've ever spoken", WAYYY past Tords resignation and the characters leave from the show. The show was very much Edd's World. Edd talked way more than the others, and with shorter episodes, there wasn't much spoken line to base a whole character off of anyways. Most of the characterisation came from the visual actions of the characters at that point in time. Tord didn't speak often. I would say at that point he definitely was a well-rounded character (eddsworld standards) but he was lacking in lines. From his screentime though, there are some very defining traits we know of.

He's smart More so a captain obvious, but whatever. In Zanta Claws, I always think of how he was the first to come to his own conclusion on what Zanta was doing. In Zombeh Nation, he's the first one to ask if they have any escape plans (very no nonsense about it too), and in general is one of the first to take action in the show. Much like a guide NPC, Tord directs the crew and in general gets things started. Though I do think he is used as a narrative item sometimes, or Edd just couldn't write, which is also plausible

Will settle for things of his own benefit This isn't TOO consistent, and ties in with the other traits, but given the events of The End, I figured I would add it. In Moving Targets, he had somehow acquired a jetpack and used it to get somewhere????? quicker than the other boys. I don't think the fact it would burn all their parachutes was in mind when he used it, but he didn't seem too concerned about them until they could've launched him back into the air later. In that one zombie animation you can find in eddsworld archives, Edd tells Tord to run on without him when they're both in mortal danger, and he does exactly that. As for the Necronomicon in Zombeh Attack 2, I am very torn on whether or not this even fits here. Matt and Tord didn't seem to like each other much at all? Nonetheless, both Edd and Tord seem fine running Tom and Matt over so Tord can get his Necronomicon. Also in the 2007 Halloween special Tord literally locks Matt out of the room he was in to hide from the killer. Now maybe he could've been saving him because we do know he was pretty pissed the room had no escape exit, but as far as I know atm, it was just a gag, he gives NO shit about Matts wellbeing, but in the end, idk much about it anyways!

Trigger-happy Very obvious, he likes guns, he likes violence, yada yada. He's the first to blow shit up and the first to fight, usually. He just has guns on him and is very happy when fighting, and was happy most scenes in Moving Targets, when no one else was. Also is annoying and teasing, mean generally, but not all the time, and not to an overdone extent.

Quiet So, Tord is generally quiet. I know I said the amount of lines all characters got in general was low, and so Tord was bound to not speak much, but all his lines are generally pretty...lacklustre. He has not much of anything to say, which I would imagine is an attribution to bad writing. I'm sure this would change with time, like Matt's standing as a character and his amount of lines, but Tord only speaks a few more than Matt did, and Matt had more telling lines than Tord did. Such as, in Hello Hellhole, Matt had significantly less lines than Tord did, mainly due to Tord being the plot firecracker, but Matt's lines being more humorous than any of Tord's lines. In Ruined, how Matt has humorous lines and a very silly personality, yet also adding on to his fairly disinterested traits, and Tord just...hates a happy song, is mistreated by his friends, and doesn't add on much throughout. Maybe I'm biased, but as much as I like Tord, he is very sparse. Matt made up for his sparseness by being comical. Not that Tord is unfunny though, just quiet, and a victim of being shorthanded by the script. (Sorry for the long Matt parallel, I just found them very similar)

So Tord's main character traits were that he was trigger-happy, a little selfish, a quiet character, and he was very smart compared to the other boys. While The End has more flowing dialogue, and less focus on the boys interacting with Tord and more on getting to the fight at the end, they did an OK job at portraying these traits in The End. I first think its important to note that, while Tom and Tord always had the teasing relationship, those weren't as often as I see the community made it out to be some years ago, and even sometimes now. I might honestly be blind or too forgetful but I can't think of a handful of times Tord or Tom were mean to each other in specific. Just more often to be pinpointed, I guess. Tom is the bigger evil in the instances I can remember they annoyed each other. So, for The End, Tord using Tom's reactiveness to kick him out (smart!) was all story motivated. Nonetheless, he is still quite violent in this approach, so trigger-happy is covered. Also the fight. Also the motivation behind the fight. In order to build a whole base in your bedroom (On the side might I add which is pretty crazy to never notice) and a massive giant robot plus some other useless violent shit and gather some enemies in the base you helped blow up in Moving Targets, you just need to be fucking smart. No surprise. Being smart has always been a very noticeable part of his character, as silly as he may also be. Selfish was showcased a LOT here, obviously. He intentionally stirs up drama in the house, kicks Tom out for selfish reasons, and then tries to kill Tom, blows up their house, shows no remorse because he doesn't need friends, and in general, tries becoming a dictator, which is pretty damn selfish. Also no surprises. For quiet, I will touch up more on this in the clone section, as I will admit is not very relevant here. Tord has many lines, not really personality building as I would say that's all in-between the lines and in his actions, and the quietness as a personality trait is only seen in the classic era, and is easily explained away. I only added it here FOR the clone part.

They hit all the bars, and unless you just didn't like the writing of Legacy in general, you can't really say they wrote Tord badly, unless you have your own version of him you are superimposing on canon. For as short-lived a character as Tord was (I know) they hit major points that you can actually pinpoint to classic Tord. So, Tord ISN'T written horribly, but he's different and so I'm still torn I thi

TORD IS NOT A CLONE

The main, probably only, real reason people think Tord is a clone is because of bad writing. I covered that already. But still, yes, Tord is undeniably different. But with the proper timeline, things fall into place.

Moving Targets happens, where we see the blond guy, and Paul. Patrick who comes in later is dressed in the same attire as the enemy base, and therefore Red Army. Immediately after, 25ft Under the Seat comes out and Tord immediately leaves, when we use The End's flashback Tord says he is going to "make it in the big city".

Eddsworld does not just happen in the episodes obviously, so we can assume there is a stretch of time between those two episodes. What happened between them is not important, unless the Tord teaser this year is actually covering that, which could change this timeline. We just know that behind or between those two plot points was the building of the secret base, and after those plot points was the growth of the Red Army. If not, then he would've just destroyed the world before 25ft, and he in fact did not.

With the talking thing.. yeah. He speaks more. This is a huge reason why he seems different. You make a quiet character speak his mind more often and then he seems like a new man. Tord is written with much deeper character and story intent than any of the silly episodic classic episodes we had gotten before. Zombeh Attack is as well, and guess who has deeper story intent than usual as well!

THIS is why he is so "new". He is evil now, and has an obvious intent to show his evilness. He's just a fleshier character, as 2d as the flesh may be. He's always been a malevolent character, much like a 'loveable bastard' type troupe. 2005 Christmas special, he takes over like half of Norway and did not plan to stop. Scrapped idea, he comes back as a supervillain in super average or whatever the series is called. I'm pretty sure he's the only eddsworld character with a mentioned political stance, as jokey as may be. He is the perfect base for a character who could just be a quirky, violent weird dude, or an evil man. To ignore this canon is to ignore massive parts of Tord, and would go against the story in The End. Tord has some sort of character growth on that hill, so it isn't thrown off that Tord was the one who betrayed his own friends. It was definitely meant to be Tord, and it has always been shown that he has that capacity.