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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thieves_and_Kings_7421.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:From left to right: Soracia, Katara, Quinton, Varkias, Rubel and Heath]]
3
4''[[http://iboxpublishing.com/index.php Thieves & Kings]]'' is an all-ages {{comic book}} series by Mark Oakley, with six volumes published and more to come. Not much is available online, though there are [[http://www.iboxpublishing.com/sample_comic.htm sample]] [[http://www.iboxpublishing.com/TPB4.htm chapters]], a few [[http://www.iboxpublishing.com/Strips.htm webstrips]] and a [[http://iboxpublishing.com/quintonstrips/qstrips.htm spin-off]].
5
6''T&K'' is a {{Fantasy}} story, with a FairyTale feel, but surprising depth. The story format shifts back and forth from text with drawn background to pure comics, depending on which format suits the moment.
7----
8!!Tropes:
9
10* AerithAndBob: So much. For examples, here are the names of a few secondary characters; Sara, Jenny, Smith Robins, Calypso, Catastrophe, Cespinarve Rogue.
11* ArtificialLimbs: [[spoiler:Locumire gets one after Heath cuts off one of her arms]].
12* AuthorTract: ''[[{{SpinOff}} The Walking Mage]]'' is a ''very'' thinly-disguised political {{satire}}.
13%%* BigBad: Ramanious Kath.
14* BlackBeadEyes: Usually. Every once in a while, a character's eyes will be drawn with [[ArtShift more detail than usual]] to emphasize an important moment.
15* BornWinner:
16** Everyone with Fairy Blood is this.
17** Quinton. Soracia laments that even after spending a century practicing painting, she still couldn't do as good as what Quinton did on his first try. Using a stick he picked up from the ground, a nearby tent for canvas, and some berries mixed with mud for paint. His second try was even better, only he got bored in the middle of it, and walked away. That's Quinton for you.
18%%* CainAndAbel:
19%%** Katara (the Abel) and Kangar (the Cain).
20%%** Soracia (the Cain) and the Red Sorceress (the Abel).
21%%** [[spoiler:Quinton (the Abel) and the BigBad (the Cain)]].
22%%* ChickMagnet: Rubel is becoming one, as befits the mystique of becoming a Thief.%%How?
23%%* ConstructedWorld
24* CrazyPrepared: Quinton takes this over the top. As in "I planted this tree 100 years ago because I knew I'd need it right about now."
25* CreateYourOwnVillain: [[spoiler:Quinton accidentally became responsible for Locumire's StartOfDarkness when he mistook her for one of the Red Sorceress's incarnations]].
26%%* CuteGhostGirl: Sara Blue.
27%%* DarkMagicalGirl: Kimithin, Leahanna and Soracia.
28* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Heath defeats Jurid by trapping him in a bottle, which is apparently impressive enough to make Klachilies the Gorgon afraid of her.
29* DracoInLeatherPants: An InUniverse example: Soracia is the main villain of the first three volumes. Heath and Varkias think she's evil, but Rubel insists she's just a misunderstood [[TheWoobie Woobie]] who needs to be rescued from the ''real'' villains. [[spoiler:Turns out he was only half right; Soracia is perfectly capable of rescuing ''herself'']].
30* EnchantedForest: The Sleeping Wood is a GeniusLoci that doesn't like humans very much. Or roads. Oh, and if you follow the path through it, you get to the Fairy kingdom.
31* EvilOldFolks: Jenny's mother, Vale. Her numerous KickTheDog moments include using blackmail to force her daughter to get married, threatening to turn Heath over to Locumire, and killing Rubel's dog.
32%%* EvilPrince: Kangar.
33%%* FairyCompanion: Varkias is pretty much this to Rubel, apart from being a small winged demon rather than a fairy.%%How and why is this an example, then?
34%%* FalseInnocenceTrick: In a {{flashback}}, Rubel and his friends fall victim to this.
35%%* GambitPileup
36%%* GambitRoulette: Quinton seems to rely a lot on this trope.
37%%* GeniusLoci: The Sleeping Wood.
38%%* TheGhost: Ramanious Kath.
39* GoodCostumeSwitch: [[spoiler:Soracia's ''epic'' HeelFaceTurn culminates with the cutting off of her beribboned evil black cloak. It then forms up into a dummy shape of her and cries that it loves her. After that she wanders around in a fairly average cloak and skirt combo that still manages a certain amount of flair and swirl when she swings her longswords, but doesn't reek of black magic]].
40* GuileHero: Quinton is the ''master'' of this trope, to the point that we only have the word of Soracia and hints of his impossible age to give any sign that he's a wizard at all and not just some eccentric yarn-spinner. He seems to operate entirely on talent, force of personality, and bizarre luck.
41* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Soracia and Kimithin]].
42* HeterosexualLifePartners: Kimithin and Leahanna ([[spoiler:before Kimithin's HeelFaceTurn, anyway]]) are an [[ExaggeratedTrope extreme example]] since [[spoiler:they've been together for thousands of years]].
43* IHaveManyNames: Soracia is also known as "The Shadow Lady", "The Queen of Halves", and "Lady Salina". Her friends call her "Sally". Being much older than her, Quinton Zempfester presumably has a lot more (he was definitely called "Kaluvinar" in the long distant past).
44* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: The first five volumes are named after their covers' colour schemes; The Red Book, The Green Book, The Blue Book, The Shadow Book, and The Winter Book.
45* ImpossibleTheft: A major theme of the setting is that by dedicating yourself to living the ideal of larger-than-life fairy-tale existence, whether it be a thief, a knight, a wizard, or whatever, you can become magical yourself. Rubel is able to perform an ImpossibleTheft because he is a '''Thief''' (with a capital-T).
46* IntangibleTheft: [=McGi=] has performed feats like [[spoiler:retrieving a girl's lost memories]].
47%%* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: Soracia is clad in ribbons of living shadow.
48%%* KudzuPlot
49%%* LadyAndKnight: Katara and Rubel.
50%%* LadyOfWar: Soracia.
51%%* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine:
52%%** The Red Sorceress (Light) and Soracia (Dark).
53%%** Heath (Light) and Katara (Dark).
54%%** Kimithin (Light) and Leahanna (Dark).
55%%* LivingShadow: Jurid.
56%%* ManipulativeBastard: Locumire and ([[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation maybe]]) Quinton.
57* MayflyDecemberRomance: What Soracia's relationship with Rubel would be. Which is why she wanted to steal his soul, so they could be together forever.
58* MedievalStasis: Without explanation -- there have been (many, many) wars, mind, but Heath moves from centuries in the past to join the other main characters and no one even comments on her accent.
59%%* MediumBlending
60* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Ramanious Kath and his [[TheDragon Dragons]], Jurid "Dawn Swallower" and Klachilies "The Gorgon".
61* NotAsYouKnowThem: Katara at the beginning of the first volume is very different from the WellIntentionedExtremist she later becomes.
62* PastLifeMemories: [[spoiler:Katara has very detailed memories of the Red Sorceress's past incarnations]].
63* PhysicalGod: Possibly [[spoiler:Quinton]]. Soracia refers to him as a god at one point, but it's unclear if she is being literal.
64* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Soracia and Quinton are older than some major geological features. Locumire is also quite old.
65* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: [[spoiler:Heath gives a fantastic one to [[{{Jerkass}} Vale]]]].
66%%* RedOniBlueOni: Leahanna (Red) and Kimithin (Blue).
67%%* SceneryPorn
68* SealedEvilInACan: Jurid is a powerful monster, but spent a thousand years or so stuck in a glass bottle.
69* {{Soaperizing}}: The story focuses just as much on the characters' relationships as it does on the Epic Battle Between Good and Evilâ„¢.
70* SoftGlass: Averted by Rubel; he does go through a couple windows, but in the first case he is just opening the window, not breaking it, and in the second case, [[DiscussedTrope recognizing that going through a window can kill you but having no choice]], he hides in a large iron pot.
71* SnarkyNonHumanSidekick: Varkias and later, [[CatsAreSnarkers Basil]].
72* TalkingAnimal: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]. Kimithin, Heath and Varkias can hear Basil (a cat) when he talks, but it just sounds like meowing to Rubel (who can only talk to [[HeroesLoveDogs dogs]], horses and mice). When Kim asks Basil if Leahanna's cat can also talk, he says: "Not to humans."
73* TakeThat: Several of the side stories start with Quinton getting a really bad idea (usually inspired by UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush) and sucking gullible people into his (inevitably disastrous) plan.
74* TalkingYourWayOut: [[http://www.iboxpublishing.com/strip19.htm When Quinton is imprisoned by trolls]], he talks his way out by excitedly greeting one of the trolls [[spoiler:as the spy sent to free him, thus creating suspicion among the other trolls that he actually is a spy, and setting in motion a self-fulfilling prophecy, as the hapless troll finds that he is doomed to torture for his imaginary spy secrets if he does not go rogue and flee immediately. Rather than face this fugitive fate alone, Quinton offers the troll his assistance, if released, and the two make a break for it together]].
75* TemporalParadox: Heath and Katara are technically the same person (both being {{Reincarnation}}s of the Red Sorceress), but exist at the same time due to TimeTravel. It's implied that this is seriously messing with Katara's sanity.
76* {{Textplosion}}: ''Thieves & Kings'' is about 50% comic pages and 50% illustrated text.
77* TimeAbyss: Quinton. To give you an idea of just how old he is, Soracia is young compared to him and she's ''ten thousand years old''.
78* UndyingLoyalty: [[spoiler:Soracia's Lamp Knights]] are a [[TheUndead literal]] example.
79* UnreliableExpositor: Quinton and Katara. The latter is implied to be a little bit insane, and as for Quinton... well, either he's [[ForgetfulJones genuinely very forgetful]], a [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative]] [[ConsummateLiar liar]] or [[TakeAThirdOption both]].

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