History Manga / PandoraHearts

* DarkIsNotEvil ''and'' LightIsNotGood: Alice, the black rabbit, is the heroine of the story, while [[spoiler:the Will Of Abyss]], the white rabbit, isn't someone you want to stumble upon... [[EyeScream Seriously]].Ditto for [[spoiler:Oz for being the real B-Rabbit]] and Jack Vessalius [[spoiler: who is instigator of the plot for his obessive love for the twins mother Lacie.]] However, the LightIsNotGood part is subverted, as the Intention of the Abyss turns out not to be so bad. Also, Hope is a major reoccurring theme and often compared to Light in-story.

** [[spoiler:Noise]] hears a cacophony of voices so intensively that [[spoiler:her chain creates a SplitPersonality for her in an attempt to keep her from insanity; it doesn't work]].

* NiceMeanAndInBetween: Oz is nice, as he believes everyone deserves to be respected and treated with kindness, and he tries to resolve problems without hurting anybody. Alice is mean, as she can be rather arrogant, rude, and self-absorbed, and her instinct is often to fight her way through until she gets what she wants. Gilbert is in-between, as he cares deeply for others but can also be coldly brutal and logical if he believes it to be necessary. This is especially present near the beginning of the manga. However, it levels out somewhat over time with CharacterDevelopment, the most noticeable example of this being how Alice gradually chills out.

* HairRaisingHare: The Blood-Stained Black Rabbit will mess you up. The White Rabbit is worse.

* GreyAndGrayMorality: One of the main themes of the series, [[spoiler:especially with the well-meaning but insane Jack and the WellIntentionedExtremist methods Pandora and the Baskervilles are willing to go through to learn about and protect the Abyss respectively.]]

* LikeFatherLikeSon: [[spoiler:Alice (physical appearance, being locked in a tower) and the Intention of the Abyss (physical appearance, falling for a Vessalius, psychotic tendencies) to their mother Lacie]].

* SnowMeansLove: [[spoiler:Lacie and Jack's meeting]] was on a winter day.

--> Sheryl: (to Break) You treat her like a child, Xer-kun.
--> Break: Not true! I'd prefer to say that I take care of her as if she were my daughter.
--> Sheryl: Daughter? I think you look more like an older brother who can't bear to be separated from his little sister.

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Despite the heavy Victorian Era themes and the fact that a Big Ben replica appeared in the manga ''and'' the majority of the place names are French words, it is ''never'' explicitly stated where the hell all these characters are from. It's made even more confusing when Gil has a conundrum about [[UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns which version of "I" to use]].

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield:
** Despite the heavy Victorian Era themes and the fact that a Big Ben replica appeared in the manga ''and'' the fact that "Sablier" means "hourglass" and "Reveille" could mean "clock" or "to wake" (depending on the spelling/accent) in French, it is ''never'' explicitly stated where the hell all these characters are from.
** It's made even more confusing when Gil has a conundrum about [[UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns which version of "I" to use]].

Now a part of Pandora, Oz works to find illegal contractors, [[AmnesiacHero recover Alice's lost memories,]] find out why the Baskervilles sent him to the Abyss in the first place, and [[CataclysmBackstory unravel the mystery of a tragedy that occurred a century prior.]]

->"''Someone once said it was a dark place that swallowed everything up. [[HopeSpringsEternal Even if that were true, an enveloping darkness like that also contains]] [[LightEqualsHope the light of hope.]]''"

->"''Someone once said it was a dark place that swallowed everything up. [[HopeSpringsEternal Even if that were true,]] [[LightDarknessJuxtaposition an enveloping darkness like that also contains]] [[LightEqualsHope the light of hope.]]''"

->"''Someone once said it was a dark place that swallowed everything up. [[HopeSpringsEternal Even if that were true, an enveloping darkness like that also contains the light of hope.]]''"

* BookEnds: [[spoiler: The narration in the first chapter is partially repeated in the final pages of the epilogue, also implying that the "retraces" might have been Gilbert recalling the events of the story.]]

->"''They said it was a dark place that swallowed up everything...but...that doesn't mean there was never any light there.''"
-->--'''Narrator'''

----

->Those who come to the Abyss are all the same.
->They're all desperate to get something back.
->But everyone goes mad partway.

** The most obvious example, the "Bloodstained Black Rabbit" (or ''B-Rabbit'') is something of a zigzag. [[spoiler:Jack]] had spent years spreading B-Rabbit's reputation for violence to the point where the chain gained the moniker "Bloodstained." However, the series defines the "B" differently via subscript as the chapters progress and more is learned, moving from "Bloodstained" to "Broken" and eventually to "Beloved" (the latter coming from the Alice twins).

** It's interesting to note that when Oz finds out the man Ada's in love with is [[spoiler:Vincent]], the main body of the manga does not show him reacting whatsoever. Additionally, in the omake featuring his and Gilbert's reactions to their siblings' relationship, Oz only acts mildly perturbed. It's possible this trope was actually subverted and that Oz's aggressive, overprotective reaction had more to do with the idea of ''Gilbert'' dating Ada than Ada having a boyfriend in the first place.

** It's interesting to note that when Oz finds out the man Ada's in love with is [[spoiler:Vincent]], he has no shown reaction in the main body of the manga. Not to mention how in the omake featuring his and Gilbert's reactions to their siblings' relationship, Oz only acts mildly perturbed. One has to wonder if Oz only got that mad before because [[HoYay he wants Gilbert to himself...]]

* {{Adorkable}}:
** Arthur Barma. He was quiet and awkward and hardly had any friends until he met Jack. Becomes TheWoobie when it's revealed that [[spoiler:he was being used by Jack the whole time. He's later forced to write an account of the events at Sablier that portrays Jack as the hero and Glen as the villain.]]
** Retrace LXXXIV reveals that [[spoiler:Arthur's grandson Rufus]] had some adorkable qualities himself as a young man, as seen when he unabashedly [[spoiler:proposes to Sheryl, a married woman]] with such an earnest and oblivious look on his face.
** [[{{Bookworm}} Leo]] is also an example, what with the cartoony flowers that appear when he's in a good mood and his reaction to Alice biting Oz's cheek. He even has the OpaqueNerdGlasses! Then [[spoiler:he receives his ImportantHaircut, at which point he crosses over into {{Bishonen}} territory.]]

* BeautyBrainsAndBrawn: Our primary trio of Oz, Gilbert, and Alice, as well as our secondary trio of Sharon, Reim, and Break, all initially appear to fill this dynamic in their respective orders, however the main trio subverts these roles down the line:

** This also applies to the [[spoiler:past trio,]] [[spoiler:Lacie]] is indisputably beauty, but [[spoiler:Jack]] and [[spoiler:Oswald]] could both individually be considered brains and brawn.

* PoisonousFriend: During the first half of the manga, Gilbert had the increasingly powerful urge to [[spoiler:kill Alice]]--both because [[spoiler:her contract with Oz was slowly killing him]] and he was [[[[spoiler:GreenEyedMonster incredibly jealous of how close she was to him]]]]. CharacterDevelopment allows him to develop a much healthier mindset, and [[spoiler:after a while he no longer counts as this trope]].

* PoisonousFriend: During the first half of the manga, Gilbert had the increasingly powerful urge to [[spoiler:kill Alice]]--both because [[spoiler:her contract with Oz was slowly killing him]] and he was [[[[spoiler:GreenEyedMonster incredibly jealous of how close she was to him]]. CharacterDevelopment allows him to develop a much healthier mindset, and [[spoiler:after a while he no longer counts as this trope]].

* PoisonousFriend: Gil isn't a very efficient one (yet), but he's terrified that he seems about to become one for Oz. [[spoiler:What with those overprotective murderous urges, attempt to kill Alice and all...]] Oz had a moment when he wanted to be this for Alice and stop her suffering [[spoiler:by killing her.]] Vince, though, is a ''very'' effective one for Gilbert, very much against Gil's will. [[spoiler:Vince caused the Tragedy of Sablier in order to protect his brother]].

** Oz's dad is almost entirely absent from his life, having left him with his uncle when he was very young. When he does appear, he is [[AbusiveParents extremely emotionally abusive]].

** Oz's mom died when he was young, and Oz's dad sucks. A lot.

** This trope has gone far enough that Oz's seiyuu, Junko Minagawa, stated in an interview with [[WordOfGod Jun Mochizuki]] that Alice is the manliest member of the trio (which includes her and two guys), as well as that Gilbert is the ''true'' heroine of the manga. Jun Mochizuki seemed to agree.