History VideoGame / EmbricOfWulfhammersCastle

** [[spoiler: The "Alice" Ending also points this direction. If you defeat ZEALOT and choose not to marry Embric or Louni AND you haven't done the Carmina route; you're back at the Duchess's Empty Castle with Alice. The Duchess wonders what she's going to do; but she tells Alice that she loves her and tells her her name. Then Alice tells her that her name isn't really Alice, it's Ember. BRRRRZT; flashes of Embric and the Awesome Fellowship killing Greyghast; and then a brown haired girl is talking to Embric where the Duchess and Alice usually talk after dreams; and they turn back into the Duchess and Alice.]]
** In the new ''Deluxe'' Edition, it is revealed that [[spoiler: The Duchess has [[{{Seers}} Precognition.]] The events of the game are her childhood self envisioning the future; however; these visions are being influenced by her being possessed by a devil who is [[EmotionEater feeding on her despair.]] ]]

-->'''Duchess:''' [[spoiler: I wonder, in vanity, if there has ever been a human man or woman who has had a dark elf weep loud and open over them as they passed. My love. Forever... Carmina]].

* CanonEnding: So far according to the demo of ''A Marquess of Notoriety'', it's mostly a [[BroadStrokes combination]] of [[spoiler: Iron Duchess+ with some aspects from the others.]]

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: Discussed InUniverse in the [[spoiler: D&D Ending. Duchess is played by a guy who always plays a Fighter named Embric and wanted to [[PlayingAgainstType Play Against Type]].]]

** At one point, also fairly early on, Alice punches out [[spoiler: Ecanecia, who is an EldritchAbomination taking the form of a young lady]].
* DefrostingIceQueen: Avoided like the plague with Falwythwier; she's a JerkAss, and she stays that way. [[spoiler: The best the player can hope for with her is grudging acceptance.]]

* DreamApocalypse: [[spoiler: What happens in the Final Ending- the entire dream world fades as Catherine awakens from her dream.]]

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** [[spoiler: She does this again after beating the same devil in the BonusDungeon; after presumably a successful Diplomacy check; the devil gives her name in hopes of seducing her. The Duchess uses the True Name to command the devil to initiate the DreamApocalypse.]]

* JerkAss: Lady Falwythwier, full stop. [[spoiler: It's hard to feel bad for her when Carmina leaves her a greasy stain on the pavement in one of the endings.]]
* KingIncognito: [[spoiler: Stew, one of the residents of the castle. He gets a character portrait when it's revealed, and ends up hooking up with Arugula.]]
* LadyLand: The areas the game takes place in do have men in them, but most of them exist as threats to the main character's safety or are laughable, useless idiots; [[spoiler: even the man the Duchess has been seeking the entire game turns out to be a woman.]] It's a Lady Land with Man Hazards.

* LukeIAmYourFather: Uttered by the Anti-Paladins regarding one of them to Louni. She blows it off. [[spoiler: There's a fair bit to support it, in any case: they definitely share a nationality, a language, and a natural hair color. Louni swears she doesn't remember even having a sister, though that doesn't stop her from antagonizing Xing in Everbrook while HidingBehindTheLanguageBarrier. For her part, Xing asserts that they are sisters even when there is no point in lying.]]

* MindScrew: The Alice ending and the Final Ending. [[spoiler: Was it TimeTravel? AlternateUniverse? Some kind of prophetic call for help into the future?]]

* SchrodingersGun: Many of the endings imply or state contradictory elements about the overall setting. A character lampshades this in her endings; stating that she doesn't really take anything to be real unless she encounters it stated [[RuleOfThree three times in different instances]]. Incidentally, there are at least 3 endings with her as a romance possibility. [[spoiler: There are also at least 3 Carmina endings...]] WordOfGod is even the [[spoiler: Betrayal]] ending where the Duchess [[spoiler:turns out to be a spy for the Anti-Paladins]] is possible; because nothing to that point contradicts it.

* TheUnfought: Vecnathrax. [[spoiler: He's not really a threat by himself, though.]] Duke Thermin. The Grey Elves. All possible SequelHook.
** Also [[spoiler: Tsograleeg/Ecinacea. She may never be fought, though, since she promises not to obliterate any part of the universe The Duchess will miss.]]

* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: The dialogue just before you enter a certain tomb certainly gives the player this vibe. [[spoiler: Final it is, dungeon it is not.]]

* VisionsOfAnotherSelf: [[spoiler: Arguably the entire cast, though it is most prominent with Alice/Ember.]]

* NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization: The Duchess is only temporarily miffed at Carmina [[MindRape raping her in her dreams]]; she even wrote the entire thing in her dream diary for Alice to... [[ADateWithRosiePalms enjoy]].

* BrokenBridge: At one point, the Duchess finds a boulder in the path of the LostWoods. She's absolutely delighted at finding such a cliche and calls Alice over to make fun of it.

Primarily a comedy and heavily [[YuriGenre Yuri]] (having originally been released to the /u/ board of 4chan), the object of the game is not to fight monsters with a band of heroes to save the world from some cataclysm, but to explore the stories of the people of Castle Wulfhammer. There is almost no traditional combat and the game is ''packed'' with scenes and endings, [[Characters/EmbricOfWulfhammersCastle and lots and lots of characters.]]

Primarily a comedic and heavily [[YuriGenre Yuri]] (having originally been released to the /u/ board of 4chan), the object of the game is not to fight monsters with a band of heroes to save the world from some cataclysm, but to explore the stories of the people of Castle Wulfhammer. There is almost no traditional combat and the game is ''packed'' with scenes and endings, [[Characters/EmbricOfWulfhammersCastle and lots and lots of characters.]]

%% * GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* OddJobGods: Everything has a deity associated with it. One of the more plot-relevant ones is the Goddess of "strawberries, chocolate [[spoiler:and, secretly, illicit sex]]".

** Louni endings (Empire/Marquess Wulfhammer): [[spoiler:Louni confesses that she has been working with Lord Vecanthrax to set up traps and obstacles for the Awesome Fellowship because it's fun. The Duchess either joins Vecanthrax (Empire) or just gets together with Louni (Marquess Wulfhammer).]]

*** Leave The Ball:
** Dwarf Endings (Iron Duchess/Iron Duchess +): [[spoiler:After discovering that the Good Dwarf is several different dwarves under a CollectiveIdentity, the Duchess bonds with them and becomes a close friend. Years later, Duke Thermin launches an invasion on Wulfhammer, intending to take it for himself, while the dwarves help the Duchess fight back. Eventually, the Duchess wins, but she dies of old age- in the plus ending, Carmina cries by her deathbed.]]
** Carmina Endings: The Duchess ggrows close to Carmina, and eventually tries to help her escape captivity.
*** Naharess: [[spoiler:The Duchess and Carmina run away to the Underdurt to live together, but the Duchess is forced to become Carmina's slave to be allowed inside, and eventually Carmina's jealous ex-lover kills her.]]
*** Flight to Elstwhere: [[spoiler:The Duchess is able to get the Awesome Fellowship to stand down peacefully, and takes Carmina with her back to Elstwhere.]]

** Bunny Ending (Syluthians):
** Kumoda Ending (Dark Elf's Curse):

** Dark Duchess Ending (Fleeing):

*** Elstwhere with Alice/Elstwhere with Carmina: The Duchess and her allies defeat the Z.E.A.L.O.T. army, and Embric finally returns after his absence. The Duchess decides to go back to Elstwhere, and gets together with either Alice or Carmina.

** [[spoiler: The Final Ending lacks this option, however; once it's over, you end up back at the main menu.]]

* ManBehindTheMan: Vecnathrax is the oft-spoken of ArchEnemy of the Awesome Fellowship; a very old [[OurLichesAreDifferent Lich.]] It turns out, he's actually quite senile. The person who is really behind his schemes is [[spoiler: Louni; who is finding all of his old plans back when he was competent and firing them up and seeing how the Awesome Fellowship handles it. For the [[WarForFunAndProfit Artistic Value]].]]

* MsFanservice: The Duchess, who can and will end up in her undergarments at the drop of a hat (or a drop down a well). It's also a game mechanic; at least one story path requires her to be in her underwear before it will progress. [[spoiler: Her fanservice is especially apparent when she dons her evil dress.]]
** [[spoiler: Also Carmina, who usually appears naked and sumptuous-- in actuality she's emaciated and sick from being kept imprisoned and malnourished, but she uses illusions to satisfy her vanity.]]

* NobleDemon: The leader of the anti-paladins is this taken to almost ridiculous extremes, especially compared to the utterly amoral Awesome Fellowship.
* NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization: The Duchess is only temporarily miffed at Carmina; she even wrote the entire thing in her dream diary for Alice to... enjoy.

* OnlyMostlyDead: The plot goes into quite detail what it's like in a world where anyone can get resurrected for a price. Only one person really dies permanently not including the endings; mostly due to him being a ButtMonkey and getting eaten by a spider. It's implied even then that if anyone cared; they could do a full Resurrection. As it is, you have the option of shelling out money to [[{{Reincarnation}} reincarnate him as a dog.]]
* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: [[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstructed]], the dwarves are so identical that the Awesome Fellowship did not realize [[spoiler:that their dwarf was eventually replaced by ''seven different dwarves'' playing the original one, even when they all have different hair colours and one of them isn't even a guy.]]

* PragmaticVillainy: WordOfGod is that Carmina is really, really unrepentantly evil. She's also more than intelligent enough to know it's not in her best interest to push it; and she ''does'' love the Duchess [[spoiler:as evidenced in one ending where she actually cries when the Duchess dies of old age.]]

* ReallyGetsAround: The Duchess is quite open-minded. Very, very open-minded.

* RPGsEqualCombat: Almost completely averted. Physical combat opportunities aren't available for much of the game and are rather incidental, so much of the Duchess's EXP gain actually comes from her attempts to interact with and integrate into the Marque of Wulfhammer and the Awesome Fellowship (and perhaps also shoving a lich off a cliff once). What few battles there are are introduced by the message, "Negotiations have failed!" In this respect, it's rather more like a tabletop RPG than a videogame RPG - [[FridgeBrilliance which makes sense when you consider how familiar the game's creator appears to be with the latter.]]

-->''"Seventh-In-Line for the Throne is great. Close enough for priveliges, but too far away for casual assassinations."''
* SchrodingersGun: Many of the endings imply or state contradictory elements about the overall setting. A character lampshades this in her endings; stating that she doesn't really take anything to be real unless she encounters it stated [[RuleOfThree three times in different instances.]] Incidentally, [[FridgeBrilliance there are at least 3 endings with her as a romance possibility.]] [[spoiler: There are also at least 3 Carmina endings...]]
** WordOfGod is even the [[spoiler: Betrayal]] ending where the Duchess [[spoiler: turns out to be a spy for the Anti-Paladins]] is possible; because nothing to that point contradicts it.

* SmarterThanYouLook: [[spoiler: The nameless, faceless people on the castle grounds only speak short WelcomeToCorneria lines because they're scared of the Duchess. When she earns their trust, they speak ''long'' WelcomeToCorneria lines. One of them even works in the fields so he has lots of time to think deep thoughts.]]

* SpockSpeak: The Duchess, with the excuse that she was conditioned that way in childhood.
-->'''Duchess:''' Who is a delightful little nereid? That is correct! It is you!

* {{Stripperific}}: Duchess tends to lose her clothes a lot and end up in her underwear-- which includes panties, a brassiere, gauntlets and footwear, though it's hard to tell whether they're socks or boots or stockings because of graphic limitations.

* TalkingIsAFreeAction: Mentioned word for word.
* TheFogOfAges: Vecnathrax is rather senile, which makes sense as he's a thousand years old skeleton.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Most of the pairings that The Duchess can end up in.
* UnderratedAndOverleveled: Possibly the only game where this happens to the ''main character''. The Duchess gains experience and levels up over the course of the game's events, almost none of which are remotely related to fighting. By the time she actually ends up in combat, she's likely to be capable of fighting on the level of the Awesome Fellowship, who've presumably spent a long time accruing much more relevant experience.

* AbusiveParents: He was her uncle, but Greyghast's "training" of The Duchess. [[spoiler: Likely sexual abuse, we see him walking to her in a memory when she couldn't move.]]
* AffablyEvil: Carmina seems ''really'' nice and friendly for how evil she is, from treating the townsfolk of a Dark Elf city well in a flashback to her relationship with the Duchess.
* AllJustADream: [[spoiler: Every ending except the last ending has the Duchess "waking up" in her room. The Final Ending has you traveling through a developer's room with character descriptions for everyone. Then you "wake up" with the Awesome Fellowship led by "Ember", an Embric/Alice fusion rescuing child-Duchess (who looks different from the memories) from being raped by Greyghast. Then it goes to the main screen.]]

*** In the new ''Deluxe'' Edition, it is revealed that [[spoiler: The Duchess has [[{{Seers}} Precognition.]] The events of the game are her childhood self envisioning the future; however; these visions are being influenced by her being possessed by a devil who is [[EmotionEater feeding on her despair.]] ]]

* AristocratsAreEvil: The Duchess isn't, but Bad King Greyghast the Terrible and Duke Thermin are happy to take up the slack.
* BeautyBrainsAndBrawn: Falwithwier, Louni, and the Good Dwarf [[spoiler:the girl one, anyway]] for the Fellowship, Arugula, Duchess, and Alice for "Rugie and her Happy Friends".
* BigBad: [[spoiler:Azraela D’Fleur/Tierra del Fuego]] is revealed in the Final Ending as the one behind all the villains the Duchess has faced, as [[spoiler:the events are the Duchess dreaming of the future, but Azraela is influencing the dreams to feed on her despair]].

* BodyguardCrush: Alice towards the Duchess.

* BrokenBridge: At one point; the Duchess finds a boulder in the path of the LostWoods. She's absolutely delighted at finding such a cliche and calls Alice over and they make fun of it.
* CantHoldHisLiquor: The Duchess gets drunk really easily.
* CanonEnding: So far according to the demo of ''A Marquess of Notoriety'', it's mostly a [[BroadStrokes combination]] of [[spoiler: Iron Duchess+ with some [[BroadStrokes aspects from the others]].]]

* TheChessmaster: Vecnathrax [[spoiler:when he does what Louni tells him.]] [[spoiler: The True Duchess in the Natural Twenty Ending is also a schemer.]]
* ChildProdigy: Grettel is less than 10 years old, but very smart and learns new things easily. Various endings have her in some form of strategist or other advisor role.

* CrapsaccharineWorld: Sure, it's a lighthearted romp through lesbian sex and fourth-wall-breaking ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' references. [[spoiler:Until you start discovering [[DarkAndTroubledPast horribly dark backstories]] involving [[HarmfulToMinors exposing children to death]], rape, brutal and explicit murder, an EldritchAbomination or two...]]
* CuteBruiser: Alice doesn't have levels in Barbarian for nothing.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Early in the game, climb the cliffs and look at the castle. The Lich Vecnatrix walks up and makes conversation. If one immediately selects "Shove", the Duchess pushes him off the cliff and gains "disproportionate experience" for "defeating" him. "I have heroic exploits to talk about at parties! How thrilling!" (No, it didn't destroy him.) Other choices result in running away or getting temporarily captured.
** At one point, also fairly early on, Alice punches out [[spoiler: Ecanecia, who is an EldritchAbomination taking the form of a young lady.]]
* DistressedDamsel: Deconstructed; the Duchess is constantly being kidnapped and imprisoned whenever she leaves the safety of the castle, but she's been kidnapped and imprisoned all her life and has gotten very good at it; the Fellowship doesn't band together to help her and when Louni rescues her, she finds it just as annoying as most gamers do when being forced to rescue the hero's love interest.
* DecoyDamsel and BecomingTheMask: Duchess, in the Black Duchess path.

* DoubleEntendre: Duchess muses that male lords prefer large water jugs over small ones, which are more convinient and easier to carry.
* DreamApocalypse: [[spoiler: What happens in the BonusDungeon.]]
* TheDulcineaEffect: Lord Embric and the Duchess are to be wed despite never having met. [[GenderFlipped we play as the female party in this arrangement...]]

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Bad King Greyghast The Terrible has some form of love towards his niece, the Duchess, but it's not nearly enough to prevent him from abusing her.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Nobody asks what the Duchess' name is. At the end of her romance path, Louni asks, but Duchess is interrupted-- she does tell Carmina. The Good Dwarf is called the Good Dwarf because no one can pronounce his Dwarven name. [[spoiler: And nobody realizes there's more than one; each with their own name.]]
** At one point, a villain challenging the group to a riddle contest and asks them the Duchess' name. ''None of them can recall it'', and they all get captured as a result. This includes a potential love interest and a friend she's had since childhood.
** [[spoiler: And Alice's name isn't really Alice...]]
* EyesAlwaysShut: For a very, very, [[BlackEyesOfEvil good reason.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler:"Awaken without Saving?" She hasn't been saved yet.]]
** [[spoiler: Embric's portrait is quite similar to Alice's.]]
** At one point in the game, you can end up kidnapped by Vecnathrax -- the Duchess comments that on the way home she felt like she was Embric of Wulfhammer. [[spoiler: In the D&D ending, this turns out to be more or less literally true -- she's played by the same person as Embric, who decided to play her this time instead of his usual tactic of bringing in an essentially-identical relative of Embric when his latest iteration of Embric died. It's also somewhat applicable to the usual interpretation of the Alice and Final Endings -- Embric is simply a product of the Duchess' drug-addled imagination, in which she split the real Ember into two different characters: Embric and Alice.]]
** The manual establishes that it's not actually certain that the Good Dwarf is male -- people assume such because he/she looks like a short bearded man, but no-one in Aeresland actually knows enough about dwarves to tell the difference. [[spoiler: It turns out that there are 7 Good Dwarves, one of whom is a female -- since no-one knows enough about dwarves, they can't tell them apart, or even tell that the female dwarf is female when she's wearing a beard.]]
** [[spoiler:A man mentions how Alice looks just like a female Embric when you're traveling with her in Everbrook.]]
* GameplayAndStorySegregation: The Duchess gets stripped all the time, but she always has all her equipment, including her dress!

* GildedCage: The Duchess's life when Greyghast was still alive.
* GagBoobs: Countess Knockersdale, and they're big enough to cover a noticable portion of her portrait. Lady Backmore, meanwhile, has a Gag Butt. The former's name is also [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Fal during a party; she just doesn't want to believe the Duchess that "Knockersdale" really is her name.

* GuideDangIt: A common reaction from players.
%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
* HarpingOnAboutHarpies: Alice was kidnapped by them as a child. They're obsessed with shiny things and not very bright, and had Alice polish mud.
* HiddenDepths: Countess Knockersdale, of all people, [[spoiler:saves Cathrine from revealing her seer capabilities and counsels her on using them in one of the final endings.]]
* HopelessBossFight: Two fights that seem pretty hopeless (and might be if you take them on without a lot of leveling) are actually winnable. First is [[spoiler: the evil Lamia, which grants you a Diamond Ring for the Duchess (only outclassed by the Wedding Band from a certain ending) if you win]]; Fal will save you if you lose. Then there's [[spoiler: Xing and company's ambush during the date with Louni.]]
* HotForStudent: Raine has the hots for the Duchess. The Duchess has to make it clear that Grettel is hands-off!
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Lady Falwithwier's excuse for how she imprisons Carmina. Carmina could easily break free and kill them all with her magic if she were physically fit.
** [[spoiler: Presumably this is the True Duchess's motives in the Natural Twenty ending.]]
* IJustWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Alice; [[spoiler: she only comments on how she loves the Duchess the most in a NoFourthWall Developer's Room.]]