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1[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ayreon_7574.jpg]]
2
3-->''"Welcome. You have entered the cranial vistas of psychogenesis. This is the place of no-time and no-space. Do not be afraid...."''
4
5''Ayreon'' is a series of sci-fi/fantasy RockOpera albums by Dutch musician Music/ArjenAnthonyLucassen. The music is mainly a combination of folk-influenced ProgressiveRock and ProgressiveMetal, but many other genres are represented. A key element of Ayreon's sound is the use of many guest musicians and vocalists - ''01011001'', for example, has 17 singers, including Lucassen himself.
6
7Although each album has its own concept or plot, the stories are all connected, if in sometimes strange ways. (The possible exception is ''Actual Fantasy'', which has songs based on several different stories and doesn't seem to be related to the other albums, although it could be argued elements of "Stranger from Within" were used in ''The Human Equation'', and "Back on Planet Earth" has several concepts that are later used in ''01011001''.) Because of the MindScrew nature of the series, it's hard to describe the plot without giving away major spoilers for the different albums.
8
9After a minor HypeBacklash to 01011001, Arjen decided to stop making Ayreon albums, releasing Music/LostInTheNewReal, with him as the only lead vocalist, in 2012. Come 2013, however, he revived Ayreon with a fresh set of vocalists and a more instrument-oriented direction in ''The Theory of Everything''. Four years later, ''The Source'' was released, coming back to both a guitar-heavy sound and the Forever storyline where the album serves as their backstory.
10
11Arjen has teased a new direction with ''Transitus'', a romance dealing with death in more GothicMetal direction than the previous albums. The album, together with a tie-in comic book by Felix Vega, is set for release in September 2020.
12
13Compare and contrast Music/{{Avantasia}}.
14
15----
16[[folder:Discography]]
17* ''The Final Experiment'' (1995)
18* ''Actual Fantasy'' (1996)
19** ''Actual Fantasy Revisited'' (2004, remaster)
20* ''Into the Electric Castle: A Space Opera'' (1998)
21** ''Electric Castle Live And Other Stories'' (Live performance of the album in order plus a few other songs, recorded in Tilburg, Netherlands in September 2019, released in March 2020)
22* ''The Universal Migrator'' (2000)
23** ''Part I: The Dream Sequencer''
24** ''Part II: Flight of the Migrator''
25* ''The Human Equation'' (2004)
26** ''Music/TheTheaterEquation'' (live album which is basically the theatrical adaptation of ''The Human Equation'' recorded in 2015, released in 2016)
27* ''01011001'' (2008)
28* ''The Theory Of Everything'' (2013)
29* ''The Source'' (2017)
30* ''Ayreon Universe – The Best of Ayreon Live'' (Live performance of various songs from the above albums, recorded in Tilburg, Netherlands in September 2017, released in March 2018)
31* ''Transitus'' (2020)
32
33!!Ayreon songs include (remember, thar be spoilers here)
34* [[https://youtu.be/OQ7tJlY8qpo Sail Away to Avalon]] (from ''The Final Experiment'')
35* [[https://youtu.be/qLwwqVA95eg The Stranger from Within]] (from ''Actual Fantasy'')
36* [[https://youtu.be/FCYeIWeznXs Across the Rainbow Bridge]] (from ''Into the Electric Castle'')
37* [[https://youtu.be/0usDwDIBIv0 The Castle Hall]] (from ''Into the Electric Castle'')
38* [[https://youtu.be/jg2Wxm2ZW20 Temple of the Cat]] (from ''The Dream Sequencer'')
39* [[https://youtu.be/V-Rdj6Me2dE Into the Black Hole]] (from ''Flight of the Migrator'')
40* [[https://youtu.be/6vYYMghd5so Day Three: Pain]] (from ''The Human Equation'')
41* [[https://youtu.be/LBgTiLMTlxo Day Eleven: Love]] (from ''The Human Equation'')
42* [[https://youtu.be/7g6ko7ZOtxA Liquid Eternity]] (from ''01011001'')
43* [[https://youtu.be/HJD5YmVPa-s The Sixth Extinction]] (from ''01011001'')
44* [[https://youtu.be/oFuMKdrzPqU The Day That the World Breaks Down]] (from ''The Source'')
45* [[https://youtu.be/CabtX6c82vU Planet Y is Alive!]] (from ''The Source'')
46[[/folder]]
47
48[[folder:Notable guest vocalists]]
49* Music/BruceDickinson (Music/IronMaiden) - ''Flight of the Migrator''
50* Hansi Kürsch (Music/BlindGuardian, Music/DemonsAndWizards) - ''01011001'', ''The Source''
51* Floor Jansen (Music/AfterForever, Music/{{ReVamp}}, Music/{{Nightwish|Band}}, Music/{{Northward}}) - ''01011001'', ''The Source''
52* Ande Deris (Music/{{Helloween}}) - ''Flight of the Migrator''
53* James [=LaBrie=] (Music/DreamTheater) - ''The Human Equation'', ''The Source''
54* Mikael Akerfeldt (Music/{{Opeth}}) - ''The Human Equation''
55* Music/DevinTownsend (Strapping Young Lad, The Devin Townsend Band, The Devin Townsend Project, Casualties of Cool) - ''The Human Equation''
56* Johan Edlund (Music/{{Tiamat}}) - ''The Dream Sequencer''
57* Jorn Lande (''Music/{{Masterplan}}'', ''Music/{{Jorn}}'') - ''01011001''
58* Fabio Lione (Music/RhapsodyOfFire) - ''Flight of the Migrator''
59* Timo Kotipelto (Music/{{Stratovarius}}) - ''Flight of the Migrator''
60* Fish - ''Into the Electric Castle''
61* "Sir" Russell Allen (Music/SymphonyX) - ''Flight of the Migrator'', ''The Source''
62* Mike Baker (Shadow Gallery) - ''The Human Equation''
63* Daniel Gildenlöw (Music/PainOfSalvation) - ''01011001''
64* Sharon den Adel (Music/WithinTemptation) - ''Into the Electric Castle''
65* Anneke van Giersbergen (Music/TheGathering) - ''Into the Electric Castle'', ''01011001''
66* Jonas Renkse (Music/{{Katatonia}}) - ''01011001''
67* Damian Wilson (Threshold) - ''Into the Electric Castle'', ''The Dream Sequencer'' (backing vocals on ''Flight of the Migrator'')
68* Tom Englund (Music/{{Evergrey}}) - ''01011001''
69* Bob Catley (Magnum) - ''01011001''
70* Marco Hietala (Music/{{Nightwish|Band}}, Music/{{Tarot}})- ''The Theory of Everything''
71* Cristina Scabbia (Music/LacunaCoil) - ''The Theory of Everything''
72* Tommy Karevik (Music/{{Kamelot}}, Music/SeventhWonder) - ''The Theory of Everything'', ''The Source'', ''Transitus''
73* Michael Mills (Music/{{Toehider}}) - ''The Theory of Everything'', ''The Source'', ''Transitus''
74* Tobias Sammet (Music/{{Edguy}}, Music/{{Avantasia}}) - "Elected", ''The Source''
75* Zaher Zorgati (Music/{{Myrath}}) - ''The Source''
76[[/folder]]
77
78Note: Due to the very nature of the series, it is difficult to discuss the tropes without revealing major spoilers. To those that are new to the series: Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.
79----
80!Ayreon includes examples of the following tropes:
81* AllThereInTheManual: Several of the albums have narrations in their album booklets that would guide you through the MindScrew of it all. Lyric sites have since also included those narrations.
82* AnachronicOrder: To experience the plot chronologically would require a rather complicated playlist, frequently jumping between albums. To experience it linearly from an in-universe perspective would occasionally result in swapping albums ''mid-song.''
83* ArtisticLicenseSpace:
84** Alpha Pegasi is not in M31.
85** The quasar 3C273 is not located in the center of the Virgo cluster of galaxies, but much further away.
86* AuthorAvatar: Some fan theories have it that Mr. L is supposed to be Arjen Lucassen himself, mostly because they have the same last initial (and Mr. L is played by Arjen Lucassen in the one song he appears in). Taken a step further by [[Music/LostInTheNewReal a later solo album]] which although not technically an Ayreon album, has many nods to it and revisits Mr. L.
87* BittersweetEnding: "Epilogue (The Memory Remains)" wraps up the fates of the Forever and New Migrator.
88* CastingGag: Hoo, boy.
89** ''01011001'' has its [[https://en.metal-tracker.com/torrents/images/2012170.jpg symbols]] for [[Music/{{AfterForever}} Floor Jansen]] and [[Music/{{Katatonia}} Jonas Renkse]] modeled after logos of their respective bands. Floor kept the omega symbol for Music/{{ReVamp}} and even used to sport it on her official website.
90*** Floor comes back to ''The Source'' as the Biologist, which was incidentally her childhood ambition. Her role as "omega" also resurfaces as she is the ''last'' voice you hear in several songs throughout the album. ''Especially'' the ending.
91** Fans have speculated that casting Music/{{Tommy}} Karevik as the Prodigy in ''The Theory of Everything'' was a [[ShoutOut possible reference]] to the Swede sharing his name with that rock opera by Music/TheWho that also features a disabled protagonist who gets "cured" at one point.
92*** Tommy was cast as the Opposition Leader for ''The Source''; ''Haven'', his second Music/{{Kamelot}} album released two years before, had themes of rebellion.
93*** Since 2001, Tommy has also worked as a [[https://66.media.tumblr.com/42efe33a24c0d2733db15ca729318e54/tumblr_n1nvy9MKrJ1qewmbio1_1280.jpg firefighter]]. His ''Transitus'' character Daniel [[{{Irony}} perishes in a conflagration]].
94** In ''The Source'' Mike Mills's robot is aptly named [[Music/{{Toehider}} TH]]-1.
95*** Mike is put through this again when he replaces the late Mike Baker as Me's Father for ''Music/TheTheaterEquation'', having played another bad father in ''The Theory of Everything''.
96*** And again when he voices the Statue, Mike's second nonhuman role after TH-1, in ''Transitus''.
97** One of the Furies in ''Transitus'' is voiced by Caroline Westendorp, who used to [[SopranoAndGravel sing and growl]] in a band called The Charm The '''Fury'''.
98** In perhaps the most ironic casting choice possible, [[Music/{{TwistedSister}} Dee Snider]] was chosen to play the role of Daniel's strict, overbearing father on ''Transitus''. This, despite his own band being most famous for songs and music videos CallingTheOldManOut. Completing the gag, Tommy Karevik as Daniel explicitly refers to him as "twisted" during his response bridge in "Get Out! Now!".
99* ClarkesThirdLaw: The Forever have created a substance that allows them to live forever by means of a simple injection, and altering the course of objects in space is ''something children do for fun''.
100* EpicRocking: Played with. Most songs are upwards of five minutes and often FadingIntoTheNextSong.
101** ''The Theory of Everything'' has its "phases" cut up into tracks that either avert or [[MinisculeRocking invert]] the trope.
102* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Although good albums in their own right, ''The Final Experiment'' and ''Actual Fantasy'' are a bit odd to listen to later on. The music is softer and more electronic than other albums, the production's a bit below his later works, and they're noticeably shorter than the double albums he'd later be known for.
103* HeavyMithril: Sci-fi with a hefty mix of Myth/{{Arthurian|Legend}} fantasy and historical fiction.
104* HowDidWeGetBackHome: The last track of ''Into the Electric Castle'' describes the characters returning to their respective time periods without the memory of the Castle or Forever, but knowing that ''something'' happened.
105* IncrediblyLongNote: More recent material has seen bouts of this, e.g. Jørn Lande near the end of "Newborn Race", Tommy Karevik in "Patterns", and Sara Squadrani in "Quid Pro Quo".
106* LargeHam[=/=]HamToHamCombat: Ayreon provides the perfect arena for this, plus many of the singers hail from PowerMetal and ProgressiveMetal bands and thus are already well-versed in these tropes.
107* LuddWasRight: Because all these machines you're enjoying right now will eventually grow cold-hearted enough to kill you.
108* RockOpera: Except ''Actual Fantasy'', each of their albums is a ([[AnachronicOrder more or less]]) contiguous chapter in the story of the Forever and their interactions with humanity.
109* RunningGag: The many ways Arjen has come up with not to thank his brother.
110* SceneryPorn: Due to the quality of the music, most albums have this to some extent. ''The Dream Sequencer'' is so atmospheric it's hard not to imagine what the songs are describing.
111* SopranoAndGravel:
112** The Indian (Sharon den Adel) vis-à-vis Death (Robert Westerholt and George Oosthoek) in the second part of "Cosmic Fusion".
113** Fear (Mikael Åkerfeldt) provides his own gravel in "Day Twelve: Trauma".
114** To some extent, Magali Luyten delivers a Type 4 MetalScream hook to contrast the ethereal verses in "Ride the Comet".
115** Floor Jansen and Jonas Renkse in the second part of "The Sixth Extinction".
116** The Chemist (Tommy Rogers) whips up his signature MetalScream in "Everybody Dies" while everyone else sings cleanly.
117** The Furies in ''Transitus'', voiced by Marcela Bovio (mostly soprano) and Caroline Westendorp (both).
118* WorldWarIII: Due to the Forevers' interference, and in spite of their attempts to fix it, humanity wipes itself out in a nuclear war in 2085 CE. Most prominent in "Waracle", "2084", and "The Sixth Extinction".
119
120!!Tropes per album
121[[foldercontrol]]
122
123[[folder:''The Final Experiment'']]
124* ArtifactTitle: Ayreon himself only prominently appears in ''The Final Experiment'', where he is the protagonist. However, he makes a cameo in "Carried by the Wind" from ''The Dream Sequencer''.
125* BlindSeer: Ayreon. [[IJustWantToBeNormal He sometimes wishes he wasn't.]]
126* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Ayreon's visions and his madness are, as later elaborated on in ''01011001'', the result of [[spoiler:the message sent back into the past by the Final Experiment, humanity's last-ditch effort to save itself from destruction by changing the past. Ayreon, being a minstrel living in the Dark Ages, couldn't cope with the knowledge imparted to him by the message. He's also one of only two people to receive the message at all, the other being Mr. L, who was ''also'' driven at least partially out of his mind by it. So the only thing the Final Experiment actually accomplished was driving two innocent people insane.]]
127* IJustWantToBeNormal: Ayreon in the song "Nature's Dance". It's [[BlessedWithSuck understandable]].
128* OminousMessageFromTheFuture: Merlin eventually finds [[spoiler:that EVERYTHING Ayreon had been seeing was the result of a message sent back in time by humanity on the eve of its destruction. "E=mc^2" later reveals that Ayreon and Mr. L are the only ones who received the message sent by the Final Experiment, the last effort to save humanity.]]
129[[/folder]]
130
131[[folder:''Actual Fantasy'']]
132* BrainUploading: "Computer Eyes" mixes this with CyberneticsEatYourSoul.
133* DyingDream: Possibly "Beyond the Last Horizon", as the narrator does mention he's ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice.
134* ShoutOut: Instead of a full-on story like most Ayreon works, ''Actual Fantasy'' is inspired by sci-fi and fantasy films and some stories Arjen wrote himself.
135* TheSpook: "The Stranger from Within".
136* TomeOfEldritchLore: The titular "Abbey of Synn" houses one.
137[[/folder]]
138
139[[folder:''Into the Electric Castle'']]
140* AGodAmI: The Narrator in the Live version.
141* AllJustADream: [[MindScrew Maybe?]]
142** The Hippie, of course, thinks it must have been the [[MushroomSamba drugs]].
143* BloodKnight: The Barbarian, contrasted against the ShellShockedVeteran Highlander in "The Decision Tree".
144* CavalryOfTheDead: In "The Castle Hall", everyone that the Barbarian and the Knight had slain comes back from the dead to haunt them.
145* CloudCuckooLander: [[TheStoner Hippie.]]
146* ColorfulSong: Hippie's part in "Across the Rainbow Bridge".
147* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: Futureman contemplates this in "Evil Devolution", having gone through that fate himself.
148* DespairEventHorizon: "Valley of the Queens" sees the Egyptian get lost calling out the gods and never return to the group, having abandoned all hope. This is the worst-case scenario of being stuck in the Garden of Emotions for too long.
149* DrivenToSuicide: Implied in "Tunnel of Light" when the Highlander chooses to be the first to go.
150* DwindlingParty: Indeed, [[AnyoneCanDie some may die]]. By the end of the album, four of the eight humans perish.
151* EldritchLocation: The Electric Castle and everything leading to it, "the place of no time and no space". TheVoice even indicates that this may be a JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind for everyone involved.
152* FauxSymbolism: InUniverse. Given that everyone is from a different era and culture, the party have their own personal interpretations of the [[LiteralMetaphor literal]] Tunnel of Light that shines before them.
153* GardenOfEvil: The Garden of Emotions might seem like this until the Futureman realizes that the reason everyone is going mad in it is because the garden amplifies negative emotions.
154* GoIntoTheLight: "Cosmic Fusion". [[spoiler: Really NOT a good idea.]]
155* HopeSpot: "Tower of Hope" sees the Hippie and Futureman get this but their disillusionment saves them from falling into its trap.
156* HurricaneOfPuns: It seems as though TheVoice can't command a party without dropping several puns per location.
157* IHatePastMe: "The Mirror Maze", where the survivors [[IncrediblyLamePun self-reflect]] on their life before arriving in the Castle.
158* ItsAllAboutMe: The Barbarian oh so very much.
159* MythologyGag: The Knight drops a slew of Arthurian references throughout the album. Could he have known Ayreon himself?
160* OneWomanWail: [[Music/WithinTemptation Sharon den Adel]], as the Indian, treats us to this in "Amazing Flight" and "Cosmic Fusion".
161* OnlySaneMan: Futureman, apparently.
162* QuarrelingSong: The Barbarian often wants to start these.
163* RepetitiveAudioGlitch: The original version of the final track, "Another Time, Another Space", ends with "Remember... Forever-rever-rever-rever-rever" repeating for about a minute, in the manner of a record skipping. The [=iTunes=] version just has it repeat a few times before the track ends.
164* SchmuckBait: The Garden of Emotions, the Tower of Hope, and especially the gilded one of the Two Gates.
165* ShellShockedVeteran: The Highlander, contrasted against the BloodKnight Barbarian in "The Decision Tree".
166* TheVoice: [[spoiler:Forever of the Stars.]]
167[[/folder]]
168
169[[folder:''The Dream Sequencer'']]
170* CallBack: "2084" harks back to ''The Final Experiment'' and Ayreon's visions.
171** "Carried by the Wind" sees the colonist reliving Ayreon's last moments himself.
172* DarkReprise: ''One Small Step''.
173-->''As I lie here in this cold tank...''
174* DisappearedDad: The colonist's father died in the midst of WorldWarIII.
175* TheGreatOffscreenWar: WorldWarIII. However, we do get a very brief glimpse of what probably was one of the last battles in the intro of "2084".
176* TheHighQueen: "Dragon on the Sea" sees the colonist as Queen UsefulNotes/ElizabethI leading the defense of England from invaders.
177* ImportedAlienPhlebotinum: The Dream Sequencer.
178* LighterAndSofter: Than ''Flight of the Migrator''. {{Fanservice}} for the prog rockers who like it diverse and atmospheric.
179* AMinorKidroduction: "My House on Mars", where the colonist and his sister lament never getting to experience the ups and downs of life on Earth.
180** Other childhood flashbacks include [[UsefulNotes/TheSpaceRace "One Small Step"]], where the colonist used to be a little boy watching the first man on the moon, and "Temple of the Cat" in the eyes of an 8th-century Mayan girl.
181* OriginalMan: "The First Man on Earth".
182* {{Reincarnation}}: The colonist lives his past lives throughout the course of this album.
183* TakenForGranite[=/=]CircleOfStandingStones: "And the Druids Turn to Stone". [[spoiler: Who knew Stonehenge itself was made of people?]]
184[[/folder]]
185
186[[folder:''Flight of the Migrator'']]
187* AfterTheEnd: More prominently compared to ''The Dream Sequencer''.
188* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: The Migrator, and possibly the Forever.
189* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The colonist dies in the Dream Sequencer. The Universal Migrator speaks to him, and he becomes the new Migrator fated to free the Forever once and for all.]]
190* DarkerAndEdgier: Than ''The Dream Sequencer''. {{Fanservice}} for the metalheads who like it hard and heavy.
191* EldritchLocation: "The Black Hole", particularly the "Halo of Darkness" section where in the black hole in question you can "screams of fallen souls, sad cries of agony".
192* MindScrew: Perhaps the biggest offender of all the Ayreon story-albums to date. Even the descriptions of the Forever in "Out of the Black Hole" are vague.
193* PhlebotinumBreakdown: Just as when the colonist is about to reach Earth...
194* TimeTravel: Continuing from ''The Dream Sequencer'', ''Flight of the Migrator'' takes this all the way up to eleven when the last human on Mars chooses to be thrown back to [[PrimordialChaos the time when the known universe was about to be born]]. The Dream Sequencer even [[AreYouSureYouWantToDoThat asks]] about this.
195* UnrealisticBlackHole: Well, yeah—it's ''singing''!
196[[/folder]]
197
198[[folder:''The Human Equation'']]
199!!Tropes regarding the theatrical adaptation will go to Music/TheTheaterEquation.
200* AbusiveParents: ArchnemesisDad, mainly. The mother is reduced to almost an EmptyShell by the end of their marriage.
201* AntiHero: Pride. Like Reason and Love he is on the side of Me's survival from the beginning to the end. But unlike them, he is half of the reason Me is stuck in a coma in the first place.
202* BigWordShout: '''I DON'T KNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!'''
203** PunctuatedForEmphasis: '''LET!!! ME!!! OOOOOOUUUUT!!!'''
204* CarefulWithThatAxe: '''[[Music/DevinTownsend RAGE.]]''' Big time.
205* CastOfPersonifications: Beating ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'' to it by over a decade, this album has seven emotions (Rage, Fear, Agony, Passion, Pride, Love, Reason) guiding the lead character.
206* ComicallyMissingThePoint: One of the flashbacks in "Day Ten: Memories" talks about Me trying to propose but CannotSpitItOut, and his eventual Wife thinking he lost his keys.
207* CoverVersion: "Day Nine: Playground" is basically a rendition of Edvard Grieg's "Morning Mood".
208* DisappearedDad: He's mentioned a lot as Me relives his life, but the trope isn't subverted until "Day Sixteen: Loser".
209* TheEndingChangesEverything:
210-->'''[[spoiler:Forever of the Stars:]]''' [[spoiler:Emotions. I remember...]]
211* GhostInTheMachine: [[NoNameGiven Me]].
212* HowWeGotHere: The first 17 days.
213* HumblePie: Days 15-17.
214* IAmSong: "Day Three: Pain" for Agony.
215* KarmaHoudini: Father, by himself. Although he still has ex-wives to deal with in court.
216* LaserGuidedKarma: Best Friend [[spoiler:tampered with the books]] in "Betrayal" and so loses his job when Me outs him. Me regrets the strain he put on their friendship, [[spoiler: then sees Best Friend and Wife together while driving and so crashes his way into the coma that triggers the narrative.]] Best Friend regards both their fates as something like this trope.
217* MissingMom: She only appears as a manifestation of Fear in "Day Twelve: Trauma".
218* MoodWhiplash: "Day Eight: School".
219* MusicalisInterruptus: "Day Twenty: Confrontation". And then TheEndingChangesEverything.
220* NamelessNarrative: No human character is given a name.
221* NotWhatItLooksLike: TheReveal from days 17-19. [[spoiler: Me's Wife wasn't actually cheating on him with his Best Friend.]]
222* OutOfJobIntoThePlot: TheReveal in "Day Fifteen: Betrayal" [[spoiler:for Best Friend]].
223* SatelliteLoveInterest: Wife.
224* SingleTear: "Day Thirteen: Sign".
225-->'''Wife:''' Can you see? I swear it's true—a teardrop trickling down his cheek...
226* TookALevelInKindness: "Day Eighteen: Realization".
227* WhenYouComingHomeDad: "Day Six: Childhood".
228* YouAreNotAlone: Love in "Day Two: Isolation".
229* YourMindMakesItReal:
230--> '''Reason:''' We are as real as you imagine us.
231[[/folder]]
232
233[[folder:''01011001'']]
234* TheAtoner: "River of Time": The Forever resolve to give humans the technology to send messages to the past, in an attempt to push the ResetButton on all the damage they did.
235* ApocalypseHow: Two of them, both on Earth.
236** The first is a Class 4, caused by the Forever setting a comet carrying extremophile microbes with copies of Forever DNA on a collision course with Earth. They briefly debate redirecting it after they realize there's already life on Earth, but ultimately decide to let it hit, which wipes out the dinosaurs and paves the way for the evolution of humans.
237** The second is a Class 3a, and likely another Class 4, given the nature of nuclear radiation. Despite the Forever's attempts to prevent it, humanity wipes itself out in a global thermonuclar war.
238* BilingualBonus: Counting binary, "01011001" = "Y".
239* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: The Forever, [[ClarkesThirdLaw as their technology approaches "indistinguishable-from-magic" levels]], create substances and machines that enable them to live forever in a post-scarcity utopia. However, in the process, they largely lose their ability to feel emotions. They view humanity's arising on Earth as an opportunity for them to re-experience life as they once knew it... only for their interference to drive humanity down the same path they took.
240* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: "The Sixth Extinction": Because of the Forever's meddling with humanity's development, human civilization is destroyed by nuclear war in 2085 CE.
241* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: ''We gave them dreams, '''and what did they dream?'''''
242* FlingALightIntoTheFuture: First they try to fling a light into the ''past'' with the Final Experiment, and when that doesn't work, the Migrator leaves Earth before civilization ends.
243* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Mr. L receives the message from the Final Experiment and is driven at least partially insane by it. It also seems to open his mind to visions of the Forever, as "The Truth Is In Here" depicts him describing them and their undersea civilization in accurate detail, even though the humans who sent the message had no knowledge of the Forever.
244* ImportedAlienPhlebotinum: The machinery used in the Final Experiment, and the idea for it, are subliminally suggested to human scientists by the Forever, who regret what their interference has done to humanity and seek to repair it. [[WorldWarIII It doesn't work out.]]
245-->''It all came to me in the wake of a dream.''
246* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: "Unnatural Selection": The Forever despair over the way their interference with the human race has caused it to develop faster than it was ready for, leading to its self-destruction.
247* PhlebotinumKilledTheDinosaurs: "The Fifth Extinction": the Chicxulub meteorite is depicted as ''a toy lost by a Forever child'', whose carelessness in playing with it put it on an impact course with the Earth.
248* PoorCommunicationKills:
249** "Web of Lies". Simone likes PX, but when PX actually gets to reciprocate her messages, Simone has fallen for another guy online.
250** "E=mc^2" is the apocalyptic version, as the scientists do fling signals to the past but nothing really improves, because Ayreon and Mr. L are the only ones who receive the messages, and both of them GoMadFromTheRevelation.
251* ProductPlacement: "Connect the Dots": the protagonist mentions his Mac by name, and later drops KFC's "finger-lickin' good" catchphrase. These are used to showcase his uber-consumerist lifestyle, and, as he's TheEveryman, the growing obliviousness of humanity as a whole to the damage unchecked consumerism is doing to their planet and their civilization.
252* SelfBackingVocalist: Exaggerated by Anneke van Giersbergen in the "We Are Forever" part of "Age of Shadows", chanting "zero, one, zero" "off, on, off" "no, yes, no"). The verses respectively translate to "help help", "forever" and "sos sos".
253[[/folder]]
254
255[[folder:''The Theory of Everything'']]
256* ArcWords:
257-->''A future to build\
258A role to fulfill\
259Something to give\
260A reason to live''
261* BaitTheDog: "Quid Pro Quo".
262* BookEnds: The album begins and ends with the Teacher wondering what's up with the blackboard.
263* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:The Father]] in Phase IV.
264* DownerEnding: The Prodigy leaves a note saying he and his Father have finally cracked the theory of everything. However, [[spoiler:the Father had actually killed himself that night; the Teacher, Mother, and Girl find the Prodigy catatonic and the latter two carry him away, agreeing that no one's ready to know what was on the blackboard. The Teacher meanwhile notices there are ''two'' handwriting styles on there...]]
265* FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome: Zigzagged from Phase II onward. The Prodigy does improve his confidence and mental clarity [[spoiler:thanks to his Father slipping him PhlebotinumPills]] but then relapses to confusion and withdrawal after leaving home, and pounces at the opportunity to come back to that clarity again when Rival offers to replicate the drugs.
266* FunctionalAddict: Invoked by the Prodigy in Phase IV.
267* GenreShift: ''The Theory of Everything'' shifts away from the ScienceFantasy themes, being more of a psychological drama grounded to reality. It's also LighterAndSofter and less guitar-oriented than most of the discography.
268* HollywoodAutism: This album's inspirations were the likes of ''Film/ABeautifulMind'' and ''Film/RainMan''.
269* HowWeGotHere: The entire album.
270* IncrediblyLamePun: "String Theory" is an orchestral track dominated by string instruments.
271* InsufferableGenius: The Father, the Prodigy (Phase III and IV), and ''especially'' the Rival.
272* KarmaHoudini: The Rival.
273* LastNoteNightmare: Listen closely and amidst the noises of the sea you'll hear distorted whispers in the very [[InvertedTrope beginning]] and the very end of the album. And then when it stops altogether—
274-->''Help me.''
275* LuckyCharmsTitle: ŦĦΣ ŦĦΣΦɌ¥ ΦƑ ΣVΣɌΨŦĦIΠG
276* MacGuffinTitle
277* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: [[spoiler: Did the Prodigy's father return as a ghost to help his son, or was he a side effect of the drugs that the Prodigy was taking?]]
278* MinisculeRocking: Most tracks are 2 minutes or under in length but altogether they form 4 "phases", each [[EpicRocking over 20 minutes long]].
279* NamelessNarrative
280* NotSoDifferentRemark: LikeFatherLikeSon.
281 ->'''Father:''' "I was driven and blind, not so unlike yourself!"
282* PhlebotinumPills: The experimental FantasticDrug the Psychiatrist talks about in Phase II and III.
283* PostVictoryCollapse: "The Note".
284* QuarrelingSong: Most often between Mother and Father.
285** Special mention to "Collision" (Prodigy v Rival) for being the most iconic one of the lot.
286* RivalsTeamUp: The Rival and the Prodigy, and later [[LikeFatherLikeSon the Prodigy with his Father]].
287* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: It's a mystery how much the Girl knows the Prodigy is on the spectrum but she does find his introversion cute. The Rival likes her but he's too much of a JerkAss for their part of the love triangle to even get started.
288* SlippingAMickey: [[spoiler:The Father secretly drugs his son to [[ThrowingOffTheDisability try to treat his autism]]]]. When the Prodigy finds out, he leaves home.
289* ShoutOut: To ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', as the album has a total of 42 tracks.
290* ThemeNaming: Many of the mini-tracks have titles based on scientific terms, concepts and principles.
291* TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow: What the Mother and the Girl eventually think on the theory of everything, leaving it in the dark as the world isn't ready.
292* ThrowingOffTheDisability: The end of Phase II. Subverted in Phase III, then an invoked subversion in Phase IV where the Prodigy is taking the PhlebotinumPills not to fit in, but to be able to work on the Theory nonstop, with [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome dangerous]] consequences.
293* UncommonTime: Many of the instrumentals particularly in the first two phases. "The Eleventh Dimension" (11/4) takes bonus points for the theme timing.
294[[/folder]]
295
296[[folder:''The Source'']]
297* AncientAstronauts: Arjen made it a point to have an Astronomer aboard the ''Starblade'', too.
298* ApocalypseHow: Thanks to the cooling systems for the Quantum Core, the former source of Alpha's power, shutting down along with everything else. The exact scale of the destruction caused by the meltdown and resulting explosion isn't clarified, but it's at least a Class 3a (dominant species extinction) and might go all the way up to a Class X (planetary annihilation). It's outright stated that anyone who doesn't get off the planet in time has a ''zero percent'' chance of survival.
299* AppliedPhlebotinum: Liquid eternity, also nicknamed [[TitleDrop the Source]], first mentioned in ''01011001''.
300* BilingualBonus: If you're counting binary. The binary chanted by [[Music/{{Toehider}} TH1]] in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFuMKdrzPqU "The Day That The World Breaks Down"]] translates to "[=trustTH1=]".
301* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The Forever reach Y and mutate into a [[PsychicLink telepathically united]] FishPeople but still fail miserably in their goal to get fully rid of machinery in their lives.]] Goes FromBadToWorse [[spoiler:when [=TH1=] becomes the new Frame.]]
302* FutureShadowing: Almost every line the Prophet sings in ''The Source'' counts, due to the release order of the albums.
303* [[GratuitousForeignLanguage Gratuitous Arabic]]: In "Deathcry of a Race", [[Music/{{Myrath}} Zaher Zorgati]] sings verses off [[AsTheGoodBookSays Genesis]] in Arabic.
304* LyricalDissonance: "Everybody Dies". [[ApocalypseHow The world goes boom]] - and you can dance to it.
305* PetTheDog: [=TH1=] encourages the Alphans who manage to escape for Planet Y, and seems to hope they make it.
306* PsychicLink: "Journey to Forever" sees the evolving survivors enjoying this new gimmick.
307* SurprisinglyGentleSong: "The Source Will Flow".
308* TeethClenchedTeamwork: The President and the Opposition Leader.
309* TranshumanAliens: [[spoiler: The once-[[HumanAliens humanoid]] Alphans artificially evolve into the Forever to adapt to their new home planet.]]
310* WhamLine: In "March of the Machines", a CallForward is made to the events of ''01011001'', hinting that the Forever's utopia isn't built to last.
311-->'''The Biologist:''' ''[[spoiler: The Age of Shadows will begin!]]''
312[[/folder]]
313
314[[folder:''Transitus'']]
315* {{Bathos}}:
316** The human realm is a CrapsackWorld. So much that an Angel of Death and two Furies and even a LemonyNarrator poke fun at it.
317** "Dumb Piece of Rock" and "This Human Equation" provide this in an otherwise [[StealthPun grim]] concept album.
318* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: The comic book shows Daniel [[FacialHorror horribly disfigured]] in the HouseFire, then cuts to an ''unburnt'' Daniel ([[LampshadeHanging who wonders about his lack of injury]]) in Transitus where he meets [[TheGrimReaper the Angel of Death]] and her Furies.
319* BigFancyHouse: Daniel's family owns one. When he is kicked out, he is forced to live in an OldDarkHouse by the graveyard.
320* BigWhy: The album opener "Fatum Horrificum" literally has a segment called "Why?!"
321** Daniel even combines this with BigNo
322** Abraham too, [[spoiler: appearing as a ghost to Lavinia right after he dies trying to save his daughter amidst yet another conflagration.]]
323* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:All the main characters die. Abby ends up in Transitus expecting hell but instead meets Daniel who finally takes her with him to the Great Beyond.]]
324* BlackGalOnWhiteGuyDrama: Abby and Daniel's OfficialCoupleOrdealSyndrome. Abby is a maid in Daniel's household.
325* CategoryTraitor: Daniel's brother and father accuse him of being this.
326* CreepyCemetery: The comic book cover.
327* DeadPersonConversation: "Hopelessly Slipping Away". Daniel consoles a grieving Abby and asks her to [[HerHeartWillGoOn let him go and move on with her life]].
328** Daniel also manages to reach [[spoiler:Lavinia and tell her that Abby is innocent.]]
329* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The story is set in the late 19th century, after all. Not that much has changed since then.
330* DespairEventHorizon: Abby after losing Daniel.
331* DevilInDisguise: The two Furies appear at one point as housemaids in Daniel's estate. In another track of the album, they're part of the mob accusing Abby.
332* EtherealWhiteDress: Daniel appears in [[SpiritWorld Transitus]] dressed entirely in white. [[spoiler:At the end of the comic book, Abby first appears in Transitus wearing a black gown, but after Daniel reaches out to her, she now wears white as well.]]
333** Inverted [[spoiler:with Henry in the epilogue, who questions why he's dressed [[DarkIsEvil in black]] upon reaching Transitus.]]
334* FieryRedhead: The Angel of Death herself and one of the Furies, given their [[InkSuitActor voices]] [[Music/{{Epica}} Simone Simons]] and [[Music/StreamOfPassion Marcela]] [[Music/{{Mayan}} Bovio]], who in real life are both pretty chill brunettes who like dyeing their hair red.
335* FireAndBrimstoneHell: The album cover seems to invoke this, but the comic book and the back of the album art shows Transitus seemingly as its own ''planet''.
336* ForbiddenLove: Between a rich white man and a black servant woman.
337* GetOut: Daniel's father kicks him out of the estate to preserve the FamilyHonor, then just to prove that he's not as heartless as Daniel [[CallingTheOldManOut accuses him to be]], he lets Daniel live in the OldDarkHouse by the cemetery.
338* GhostlyGoals: Daniel quickly learns [[spoiler:that his lover didn't start the fire that killed him,]] and thus begs for a chance [[spoiler:to help clear her name]]. The Angel of Death [[HiddenHeartOfGold grants him a week]] after hearing his story.
339* GoldDigger: Abby is accused of being this, even more so after Daniel's gruesome death. [[NotWithThemForTheMoney She isn't.]]
340* GoodParents: Abby's father Abraham seems to fall under this trope, in stark contrast to Daniel's father (and the other two fathers to ever appear in the Ayreon discography).
341* GothicMetal: It may not be Arjen's first if you count songs like "Abbey of Synn", "Into the Black Hole", and "Day Twelve: Trauma" having gothic streaks, but this is a pretty big shift for Ayreon.
342* GreenEyedMonster: In "Talk of the Town", Abby accuses Henry of being one.
343* TheGrimReaper: The Angel of Death.
344* HellishPupils: When the Angel is about to punish someone, her eyes turn snakelike. The Furies, meanwhile, sport GlowingEyesOfDoom.
345* HouseFire: It all started with a fallen candelabra...
346** An even ''bigger'' one [[spoiler:in the same house takes Abby's life, and in an attempt to rescue her, her father's as well.]]
347* ISeeDeadPeople: Lavinia, Abby's FortuneTeller stepmother who also works as a maid at the mansion. [[spoiler: The Angel of Death gives Daniel the idea of exploiting this.]]
348* InTheDoldrums: Transitus is pictured in the comic as a barren place with rocks floating just about everywhere.
349* InkSuitActor: This album comes with a tie-in comic book instead of an animation, but the characters therein look a lot like the singers who portray them.
350* IntriguedByHumanity: "This Human Equation" sees the Angel of Death and the Furies pondering about human nature.
351* JudgmentOfTheDead: The Angel's shtick.
352* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Abby believes her trip to Transitus to be this.]]
353* KnightTemplarBigBrother: Henry.
354* {{Leitmotif}}: A big metal jive whenever the Angel of Death makes her grand entrance.
355* LivingStatue: Daniel remembers passing by a row of statues and seeing them come alive and [[ShipperOnDeck support]] his love for Abby. One particular centurion gets his own song.
356* LoveAtFirstSight: Mentioned word-for-word by Daniel in the comic as he recalls the first time he met Abby.
357* MetaphoricallyTrue: Lavinia, at least twice, [[spoiler:misleads the other living characters with these.]] Henry encourages this [[spoiler:to ensure he alone inherits his father's property.]]
358* MissingMom: "Get Out! Now!" reveals that Daniel has had a strained relationship with his [[KnightTemplarParent father]] ever since their mother was gone.
359* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Daniel and Lavinia, both from having put Abby in harm's way.
360* MythologyGag: The story is set in 18'''84'''.
361** "This '''Human Equation'''", anyone?
362** [[CarefulWithThatAxe UNIVERSAL MIGRATION!!]]
363** If you look closely, there is a painting in the great hall where Daniel's father introduces his sons to Lavinia and Abby, appearing again when the father scolds Daniel. [[spoiler:It's the cover for ''Into the Electric Castle''.]]
364** And the painting in Abby's room is the cover for ''The Theory of Everything''.
365** [[spoiler:The Great Beyond]] looks an awful lot like the cover to ''The Human Equation''.
366* OfCorsetsSexy: The two maids who watch Daniel get kicked out of the manor look awfully [[AnachronismStew underdressed]] for their time, [[DevilInDisguise unless]]...
367* OminousLatinChanting: Courtesy of Israeli [[GenreMashup a cappella metal]] choir Hellscore.
368* OneWomanWail: The Soprano, provided by Dianne van Giersbergen.
369* PretentiousPronunciation: Arjen insists on pronouncing "Transitus" with a [[GratuitousLatin Latin]] twang (TRAN-si-toos).
370* RescuedFromTheUnderworld: A rare inversion with the dead Daniel who begs for a chance to save the still-''living'' Abby. Then subverted [[spoiler:as both of them end up in Transitus anyway. At least they're [[TogetherInDeath together,]] right?]]
371* SatanicArchetype: The Angel of Death takes on mostly TheGrimReaper and JudgmentOfTheDead roles while the Furies get the additional shtick of [[DevilInDisguise blending in with the mortals]] and possibly [[TheCorrupter tempting them]].
372* ShamedByAMob: "Condemned Without a Trial".
373* ShipperOnDeck: [[ImaginaryFriend The Statue]] in "Dumb Piece of Rock".
374* SpiritWorld[=/=]PurgatoryAndLimbo: Transitus is described as a strange dimension between {{Heaven}} and {{Hell}}.
375** AfterlifeAntechamber: Aptly for the name, [[spoiler: Transitus itself. When Abby and Daniel end up TogetherInDeath, they head for "The Great Beyond" which is never shown in the comic apart from a portal.]]
376* StaircaseTumble: [[spoiler:A frightened Lavinia [[DeathByFallingOver dies]] this way.]]
377* TheStinger: In the comic book. Eventually, [[spoiler:Henry himself gets to meet the Angel of Death and the Furies, all with whips in hand.]]
378* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: This being a 19th-century BlackGalOnWhiteGuyDrama, gossip was bound to grow around Daniel and Abby's [[LoveAtFirstSight instant]] bond. All the more as when it's the white man who dies, the mostly white villagers accuse the black woman of murder.
379* TogetherInDeath: Abby [[DespairEventHorizon already]] [[DrivenToSuicide wanted]] this when she lost Daniel; her own stepmother invokes it further [[spoiler:by telling her [[MetaphoricallyTrue he's waiting on the other side]].]]
380* UptownGirl: GenderInvertedTrope for Daniel.
381* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: We never see [[spoiler:Daniel's nor Abby's father]] in Transitus, nor with the Angel.
382[[/folder]]
383

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