History ComicBook / Arawn

* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: [[spoiler: Towards the end of the comic Siamh summons the goddess of war Morrigan in order to fight Arawn possessed by the Cauldron demon. The goddess has the upper hand for most of the fight and manages to nearly kill him thanks to her superior divine powers. As she is going to give him the finishing blow the demon attacks her with one of his tentacles and absorbs her divine essence, killing Morrigan. As the demon retaines his strenght, all what remains of the powerful goddess is a lifeless bunch of bones and flesh.]]

* FullFrontalAssault: Morrigan, Goddess of War, appears as a mighty and beautiful winged woman. She is always completely nude, even during [[spoiler: her fight with Arawn]].

* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: [[spoiler: Towards the end of the comic Siamh summons the goddess of war Morrigan in order to fight Arawn. The goddess has the upper hand for most of the fight and manages to reduce him to bloody pieces thanks to her divine powers. As she is going to give him the finishing blow the demon attacks her with one of his tentacles and absorbs her divine essence, killing Morrigan and reducing the corpse of the powerful goddess to a bunch of bones and flesh.]]

* PhysicalGod: The gods are physical entities, and can be killed by beings of equal power.

* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: [[spoiler: Towards the end of the comic Siamh summons the goddess of war Morrigan in order to fight Arawn. The goddess has the upper hand for most of the fight and manages to reduce him to bloody pieces thanks to her divine powers. As she was going to give him the finishing blow the demon attacks her with one of his tentacles and absorbs her divine essence. ]]

''Les chroniques d'Arawn'' is a French comic book written by Ronan le Breton and drawn by Sebastian Grenier originally published in the pages of the ''Magazine/HeavyMetal'' magazine. Its loosely based on Myth/CelticMythology and tells the tragic story of Death-Lord Arawn, an EvilOverlord that has thoroughly conquered the land and how he came to be the way he is.

* MsFanservice: Siamh. Most women tend to be {{fanservice}}y, but she is the one to receive most [[MaleGaze attention]] in the story, being frequently depicted partially or fully naked. Even when she is covered, her outfits are really skin-tight.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Arawn and all his brothers become kings and they are all powerful warriors in their own right.

* ArtifactOfDoom: The Cauldron is a powerful item giving its owner the power to summon demons and the undead, heal grievous injuries such as as dismembered limbs, but it can also corrupt people into desiring it. Its a completely evil son of a bitch to booth that causes so much disgrace and misery that [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings the One Ring]] would probably feel jealous.

* AnAxeToGrind: The Sun Axe is Math's indestructible weapon, capable of shattering almost any weapon with its blows.

* PostClimaxConfrontation: [[spoiler:After the deaths of Math and Engus, as well as the Cauldron being destroyed, all threats and torments Arawn has faced are seemingly defeated. But then his uncle Fenris tried to usurp his power, but fails spectacularly and gets killed for his troubles.]]

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: The Cauldron switches owners very frequently and is constantly whispering promises to those next who can provide more souls to it.

The [[ChildByRape unwanted son]] of an {{a|ctionGirl}}mazon named Siahm, [[BadassFamily he and his half-brothers were trained as a warriors]] and each one of them acquired magic artifacts, with Arawn gaining a Cauldron of Blood, [[ArtifactOfDoom an unholy relic with unspeakable powers]] and has a mind of its own. With each of Siahm's sons parting ways and gaining their own kingdoms, Arawn's older brother Math turns into a ruthless tyrant who utterly destroys all those that stand in his way and also desires Arawn's cauldron for himself. Things go FromBadToWorse when Math [[IHaveYourWife kidnaps Arawn's wife Deirdre (who is also pregnant with his child) and holds her hostage until his brother surrenders his cauldron in exchange for her return]]. An [[CainAndAbel all-out war between siblings erupts]], which ends up causing everyone whom Arawn knew turning against him because of a prophecy his mother had about all of her children dying and one of them (believed to be Arawn) turning evil. So naturally, Arawn decides that [[ThenLetMeBeEvil he might as well be the monster everyone think he is and make the prophecy come true]]...

* ActionMom: Giving birth to four kids hasn't hampered Siahm's skill with the sword, as she succeeds in killing several werewolves.
* AlwaysIdenticalTwins: The four sons of Siahm are two sets of identical twins spawned from a different father. Math and Kern were the sons of her husband Dag, Arawn and Engus were the sons of her rapist Bran. Each one looks identical both to their twin and their sire.

* BastardBastard: Siahm's illegitimate children from Bran's rape end up turning into this trope.

* ChildByRape: Arawn and his twin brother Engus were conceived from Siahm's rape by Bran.

* DeathGlare: Rather than screaming or crying, Siahm simply glared silently at Bran while ''he raped her''.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Pretty much every major character is either a murderer or an outright AxCrazy warlord but has this as their only redeeming trait. Brothers Math and Kern are at least loyal to each other, the amazon warrior Siahm loved her own mother as well as her husband Dag, the rapist Bran had his older brother and father to look up to, Arawn and Math both love their sons, Arawn was driven by his love for Deirdre, etc.

* ExposedToTheElements: JustifiedTrope. This gets lampshaded by the decapitated head of his former friend that Arawn is recounting his life story to. His mother Siahm was an amazonian warrior, the LastOfHerKind, who always walked around in a ChainmailBikini, even in the middle of winter. This was because of a magic spell that she used to prolong her life and protect her body from the elements.

* TheFarmerAndTheViper: Arawn's father Bran repaid Dag's hospitality by killing him in his sleep, trying to sacrifice his sons Math and Kern and raping his wife Siahm besides Dag's corpse, which ended up conceiving Arawn and Engus.

* GiantFlyer: Siahm traveled to her son Math's castle when she felt the end of his reign was near on a giant eagle. It was killed right when she arrived by a hail of arrows.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Siahm and her children have the power of manifest these during a fight.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Siahm, who does a lot of questionable decisions (such as siding with Math when he kidnaps Deirdre, even though he raped his sister-in-law and is clearly driven insane driven by his desire to have Arawn's cauldron), but she survives the events of the series.]]

* LastOfHerKind: Siahm and her mother were the only two amazons who survived the destruction of their tribe. Eventually her mother passed away as well, leaving her as the last amazon.

* MotherNature: After everything is over, Siahm goes to live in the forest where she is protected from Arawn's wrath by the goddess of nature, fertility, and women. She also resurrects [[spoiler:Kern]] as a forest god each time Arawn tries to kill him in revenge.
* MsFanservice: Siahm. Most women tend to be {{fanservice}}y, but she is the one to receive most [[MaleGaze attention]] in the story, being frequently depicted partially or fully naked. Even when she is covered, her outfits are really skin-tight.
* MysticalWhiteHair: Siahm is a white-haired pretty girl, just like the rest of her Amazon tribe. She also possesses some limited magical power, being able to extend her own lifespan.

** Siahm leaves Arawn to die as a baby in the forest, but he survives after being cared and nursed by a she-wolf.

* OurLichesAreDifferent: After Fenris is killed by Siahm, he resurrects himself as a walking skeleton but retains his magical powers.

** One of Siahm's greatest fears was seeing all her children dying. [[spoiler:And they all do with one of them dying by her own hand, though Arawn and Kern are resurrected.]]

* ParentalFavoritism: It's clear that Siahm prefers her legitimate children with her deceased husband Dag over the bastard children born from Bran's rape, even siding with them with they declare war on each other, nevermind that the one who started it was Math.

** According to Siahm's prophecy, one of her sons will become all powerful, which she believes to be Math. Turns out [[spoiler:every single one of her children end up becoming all-powerful at some point... Except for Math, who is reduced to a broken shell of his former self caused by his madness]].

* RaisedByWolves: Downplayed. Arawn was initially left out in the freezing cold to die by his mother Siahm, but he was nursed back to health by a she-wolf who become a surrogate mother to him. However, he spend his youth living with both his human and wolf relatives.
* RapeAndRevenge: Siahm was raped by Bran after he killed her husband Dag. She immediately killed him after freeing herself.

** Siahm is raped by Bran right next to her husband's corpse.

** Arawn was born without genitals which Siahm thought marked him as who would betray all others. He gains them once he bathes on the Cauldron for the first time. Unfortunately he is hit with his trope ''again'', after Math strikes the left side of his face with his axe, blinding him in one eye and giving him a disfiguring scar.

* ScrewDestiny: Siahm wants to at least stop all her children from dying, and at least have one become a god. At the end, [[spoiler:she decides to take matters into her own hands and slays Math after he became a shadow of himself]].

* SupernaturallyYoungParent: Siahm looks [[MsFanservice extremely hot]] for a woman that gave birth to four sons. She also shows no sign of aging, or hell any change, when her children reach adulthood and have kids of their own. There is a reason for that: [[spoiler: she drinks the blood from her enemies' hearts, as her tribe's secret to extend their vitality and longevity, preventing their bodies from being destroyed by the ravages of time.]].
* ThatManIsDead: Although he keeps his old name, once he becomes a godlike EvilOverlord, Arawn makes it clear to Siahm that he is [[DeityOfHumanOrigin no longer the mere mortal that she once bore]].

* VillainousLegacy: Bran and his tribe were responsible for massacring the amazons in search of the seer stones and it was he who forged the Cauldron of Blood and raped Siahm, who gave birth to Arawn and Engus.

* WarGod: The Celtic war goddess Morrigan plays a part in the story. Arawn summons her to give him an army to fight his brother Math, which she grants him in exchange for a blood sacrifice. Siahm asks for her help in fighting the demon spawned from the Cauldron of Blood, [[spoiler:which results in the demon killing Morrigan and absorbing her powers.]]

* AntiHero / AntiVillain: Before his StartOfDarkness, Arawn wasn't necessarily a nice person; He became King of Cymru by butchering his way through the throne room and violently murdering his predecessor Gresholm. He has a few redeeming qualities such as having a warrior's pride, a sense of fair play and being genuinely in love with Deirdre.

* ThudAndBlunder: Every character is a walking Boris Vallejo special with no characterization other than to do badass-looking things and strike badass-looking postures. By comparison, the run-of-the-mill examples of this trope read like ''Middlemarch''.

* BlackAndGrayMorality: Its pretty hard to pin point which side is the most "grey", but its a pretty accurate assessment to say nobody on either side comes out clean.

* YoungestChildWins: A very dark inversion, with Arawn being the youngest of all his brothers and a VillainProtagonist. With that said, his eldest brother Math was ''worse''.

* RatedMForManly: TropesAreNotBad.

* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: The comic is a deconstruction of the EvilOverlord. Arawn, sitting atop his skull-adorned throne in ScaryImpracticalArmor, introduces himself as the immortal demon god of death, lives in an EvilTowerOfOminousness in a [[{{Mordor}} burning wasteland]], and rules over an army of hellspawn monsters and undead soldiers who mindlessly obey his every word. However, he WasOnceAMan, and relates his long and sad life story of what it took for him to become such a figure of pure evil. The answer involves [[YouCantFightFate irrevocable prophecies]], [[ArtifactOfDoom evil artifacts]], [[DivineConflict divine intervention]], and [[CainAndAbel decades of warfare between him and his three warrior brothers]]. Also, despite his immense power, he never got what he really wanted, since even with his mastery over life and death he [[CameBackWrong cannot truly bring back the woman he once loved]].

* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: The comic is a deconstruction of the EvilOverlord. Arawn, sitting atop his skull-adorned throne in ScaryImpracticalArmor, introduces himself as the immortal demon god of death, lives in an EvilTowerOfOminousness in a [[{{Mordor}} burning wasteland]], and rules over an army of hellspawn monsters and undead warriors who mindlessly obey his every word. However, he WasOnceAMan, and relates his long and sad life story of what it took for him to become such a figure of pure evil. The answer involves [[YouCantFightFate irrevocable prophecies]], [[ArtifactOfDoom evil artifacts]], [[DivineConflict divine intervention]], and [[CainAndAbel decades of warfare between him and his three warrior brothers]]. Also, despite his immense power, he never got what he really wanted, since even with his mastery over life and death he [[CameBackWrong cannot truly bring back the woman he once loved]].

* MaritalRapeLicense: Subverted when Deirdre becomes Arawn's wife by right of conquest after he murdered her husband and took over his kingdom. Naturally she despises him and pushes away when he tries making a move. Arawn rips her dress and attempts to force himself on her, but he refrains from doing so as he prefers that she gave her consent. She eventually does after rejecting him for a few weeks.

** [[spoiler:Math is built up as Arawn's ArchEnemy, having played a huge hand in the bed events that turned his brother in the Death-Lord he is now. However, Math dies on Volume 5 in the most pathetic way possible: a broken shell of his former self on his throne, struck down by his own mother rather than Arawn]].

** The most prominent deadly rivalry is between Math and Arawn for possession of the Cauldron, driving the elder brother to utterly ruin his younger brother's life and push him down the dark path. [[spoiler:While Arawn is ultimately robbed of personally killing Math, he makes sure to torture his sibling in the Underworld for the rest of time]].
** Kern seems to be the only one in good terms with all his brothers until he too is tempted by the Cauldron and tricked into [[spoiler:sacrificing Engus to the Cauldron in order to become a god. The joke was on him, since it was Engus who rose as a god at the end an promptly killed his brother]]. At the end of the series, [[spoiler: Kern is resurrected as a god himself named Kernunos, leaving him as Arawn's only surviving sibling. Arawn tries to kill Kern in revenge, but he is always brought back to life every night]].
** Engus himself, despite being Arawn's blood brother, also ends up partaking in this trope when he [[spoiler:becomes a god and usurps the Cauldron's power from him. Engus actually succeeds in killing his brother in a duel, but just like his own example above, Arawn is resurrected by the Cauldron and murders his brother in revenge]].

* NobleWolf: Arawn was nursed by an albino she-wolf named Sohrja. Sadly, she becomes the first of Math's many victims after being corrupted by the Cauldron. Her remaining wolf pack still follows Arawn.

* ParentalFavoritism: It's clear that Siahm prefers her legitimate children with her deceased husband Dag over the bastard children born from Bran's rape, even siding with them with they declare war on each other.

* ProtagonistTitle: Arawn is the lead character.

* VillainousFriendship: Arawn's only true friend as an EvilOverlord is the decapitated head of his advisor Owen. In fact, the whole reason why Owen is still alive is because Arawn forces the Cauldron not to kill him and later brought him BackFromTheDead after Owen gave his own life to destroy it.

* ForTheEvulz: The Cauldron has no long-term end goal other than devouring souls and is constantly searching for people to corrupt who can provide him with victims, it doesn't matter how many owners he screws over, [[ManipulativeBastard the bastard]].