Line #26 ComicBook/UntilWeSleep


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/da_until_we_sleep.jpg]]
2	''Until We Sleep'' is a three-issue comic book mini-series set in the ''Franchise/DragonAge'' universe, written by David Gaider, the lead writer of the games, and published by the Creator/DarkHorseComics. It provides the conclusion to the earlier mini-series ''ComicBook/TheSilentGrove'' and ''ComicBook/ThoseWhoSpeak'': Alistair, Isabela, and Varric finally corner the Tevinter Magister Aurelian Titus, the man behind King Maric's disappearance, in his fortress of Ath Velanis.
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4	Once again, the events of ''UWS'' are not meant to [[CuttingOffTheBranches override the player's personal canon]] from the games but instead to complement it.
5	----
6	!!The comic series contains following tropes:
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8	* AllJustADream: Subverted. In issue #2, Varric wakes up, realizing the whole adventure with Alistair and Isabela was just a vivid dream and, being Varric, immediately makes a note to himself to write it all down. It turns out, however, [[spoiler:that he was just thrown into the Fade by the Margallen pulse, so he not so much woke up as fell asleep]].
9	* AnArmAndALeg[=/=]OffWithHisHead: [[spoiler:How Maric kills Titus.]]
10	* BittersweetEnding: The heroes complete all they set out to do... but it doesn't bring any happiness to any of them.
11	* BrokenPedestal: Alistair is somewhat disappointed to learn that Calenhad - the king who founded Ferelden - was really a Reaver.
12	* TheBusCameBack: Mae Tilani returns after three issues as Aurelian's prisoner.
13	* ButNowIMustGo: [[spoiler:DoubleSubversion: King Maric decides he does not want to return from the Fade because Cailan, Loghain, and Alistair's mom are all dead.[[note]]He's probably refering to Alistair's fake mother. Fiona, the biological mother, is still very alive[[/note]] Then Alistair convinces him to return to ''him''. Then they wake up and realize that Maric cannot be disconnected from the Magrallen, so Alistair has to MercyKill him.]]
14	* DomainHolder: Aurelian Titus in his portion of the Fade. [[spoiler:Or so it looks. Actually, since Titus' entire power is based on Maric's dragon blood, leeched off by the Magrallen, the actual DomainHolder is Maric himself, while Titus uses his power by proxy.]]
15	* TheDragon: Parodied in the opening; Varric's narration casts some random mook as an evil Tevinter slaver named "Arthur" who works as Titus' right-hand man, who's righteously killed by his own folly and mourned by no one - all while the actual comic shows Varric shooting the random mook in the throat and then killing his (visibly) mournful companion. He admits it's just a better story than feeling bad for a nameless schmuck who joined the wrong cult.
16	* EyeBeams: Aurelian's Dragonfire.
17	* InDefenceOfStoryTelling: Varric proudly continues his tradition of {{discuss\|edTrope}}ing the very story he narrates.
18	* LotusEaterMachine[=/=]LeaveYourQuestTest: In the Fade Section:
19	** Varric goes through a dream where he was never cast out of the merchant's guild and can be together with his lover [[spoiler:and namesake of his favorite crossbow]], but quickly snaps out of it, realizing it's "not how it happened".
20	** Mae, similarly, dreams of being with her late husband Thorold again, although, being a mage, she knows she is in the Fade and gets over it quickly after Varric reminds her of her grudge against Titus.
21	** Isabela, strangely enough, goes through a sequence where she has joined the Qun as a warrior -- which Mae accurately calls her ''nightmare''. She, too, wakes up from it pretty quickly.
22	** Alistair, in the meantime, dreams that he is a PrinceCharming in the court of...
23	** [[spoiler:King Maric, who dreams of still being the just king of Ferelden.]]
24	* MercyKill: [[spoiler:Alistair has to end his father's suffering by destroying Magrallen.]]
25	* MergingTheBranches: In ''Inquisition'', Alistair can mention the events of this comic, specifically [[spoiler:seeing his father in the Fade]]. Interestingly, the only way to hear him say this is if he is still with the Grey Wardens, whereas in this story he is King of Ferelden. It can be inferred that, depending on your Dragon Age playthrough, the major events of these comics are broadly canonical, but the specific details can be different based on your world state (though who knows how things worked out if Alistair died in ''Origins'').
26	* NoodleIncident: We finally learn who Bianca was to Varric: [[spoiler:she was his lover in Ostheim who invented his AutomaticCrossbow (in the dream; according to ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', the weapon's prototype was created by Gerav, but he never managed to make it work until Bianca fix the design)]].
27	* {{Ouroboros}}: A serpent (dragon?) biting its own tail is part of the Magrallen.
28	* PartyScattering: After Varric shoots the Margallen, everyone in Ath Velanis is thrown into the Fade. Bad news is, Titus is the DomainHolder there.
29	* ShirtlessScene: Varric wakes up in the Fade completely nude, and he spends several panels with his impressive physique on display.
30	* ShoutOut: "How do you know all this, Varric?" is what Merrill used to ask in PartyBanter.
31	* SingleLineOfDescent: [[spoiler:Apparently the only known descendants of Calenhad are Maric and Alistair]].
32	* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: Varric positively identifies a brainwashed Alistair by how pathetic the latter's attempts at flirting with Isabela are.
33	* SpecialSnowflakeSyndrome: Invoked.
34	-->'''Varric:''' King of Ferelden, Templar, Grey Warden, and now [[spoiler:dragon blooded]]? Your Majesty is quite the special snowflake.
35	* SpiritWorld: In the grand tradition of the ''DA'' series, the comic features a Fade Section. It also marks the first definitely canon entry of a dwarf into the Fade (dwarves cannot dream and thus cannot enter the Fade). All previous instances of this were optional ([[spoiler:Oghren in [[VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins "Lost in Dreams"]], Sigrun and Oghren again in [[VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening "Shadows of the Blackmarsh"]], and Varric himself in [[VideoGame/DragonAgeII "Night Terrors"]]]]).
36	* StormingTheCastle: Team Alistair storms Aurelian Titus's keep Ath Velanis with the Qunari flotilla on artillery support.
37	* SuperDickery[=/=]LetsYouAndHimFight: Issue #2 cover depicts Isabela fighting Mae, her ally. It turns out [[spoiler:to be a not-quite-accurate depiction of her attacking Mae and Varric while being BrainwashedAndCrazy by the Fade]].
38	* SwitchingPOV: The previous two mini-series were told mainly from Alistair and Isabela's points of view, respectively. This is Varric's DayInTheLimelight.
39	* TakeOverTheWorld: Basically, Titus' plan. [[spoiler:Using Maric's dragon blood to power the Margallen, an artifact that has once allowed the Magisters to mind-control the masses by entering their dreams at will, Titus' plans to create a new cult of Dreamers and take control over the world population, starting from the Tevinter Empire.]]
40	* ThatManIsDead: Downplayed with Isabela, who cannot bring herself to use that name anymore (after days of [[BreakThemByTalking mental torture]] at Qunari hands) but doesn't want to go by her birth name, either, so she just calls herself "[[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Captain]]" for now.
41	* UnreliableNarrator: Varric, being Varric, narrates his own story in real time as it happens. And his narration is markedly different in tone to what we actually see.
42	* UnwillingSuspension: [[spoiler:King Maric spent Maker knows how much time dangling in the air, having his blood sucked out of him through tubes.]]
43	* WhatDoTheyFearEpisode: Most of the cast get idealized lives when trapped in the Fade. Isabela, unluckily, gets to live out her nightmare of being a Qunari convert.
44	* WellDoneSonGuy: [[spoiler:Maric commends Alistair's leadership skills and states that he probably makes a better king than himself.]]
45	* WrittenByTheWinners: King Calenhad is painted by the Chantry as an all-round heroic guy who rose from humble origins to rule the kingdom. However, the Qunari (claim to) remember the truth: [[spoiler:Calenhad was, indeed, of humble origins, but he actively desired power and to achieve it, struck a deal with a Witch of the Wilds (possibly even Flemeth herself). She instructed him to find one of the last great dragons and drink its blood, effectively [[RPGMechanicsVerse gaining the Reaver specialization]]. Unlike other Reavers, however, Calenhad's dragon blood was so potent, he passed it (if not his abilities) on to all his descendants.]] Of course, as Isabela points out, the Qunari version of the story may well be just as biased and inaccurate as the Chantry's, and the real truth might have already been lost to history.

Context ComicBook / UntilWeSleep