[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lessa.png]]
In an apocalyptic world where humans can turn into a murderous race of horned humanoid creatures called Demans, a man named Raynold Berger hunts Demans in search for his missing sister Lucy, who disappeared five years ago on her birthday.

On the other side, a being named Lessa had just awoken to this world and walks among its residents to observe how much the world has changed in his slumber.

These two soon run into each other and Raynold learns about the history of the Demans and how Lessa has an important role in their past and future.

''Lessa'' is an original fantasy/action webcomic from Naver, written and illustrated by POGO. Season 1 of the original series can be read [[https://comic.naver.com/webtoon/list.nhn?titleId=478262 here]]; Season 2 (titled ''Lessa: The Crimson Knight'') & 3 (''Lessa: Servant of Cosmos'') [[https://comic.naver.com/webtoon/list.nhn?titleId=603159 here]]. Season 1 & 2 can be read in English in full [[http://www.webtoons.com/en/fantasy/lessa/list?title_no=89 here]] and [[http://www.webtoons.com/en/fantasy/lessa-2/list?title_no=507 here]], respectively.

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!!Tropes provided:
* AllThereInTheManual: Q&As with POGO reveal extra details about the characters and setting, such as confirming that Hexagon Island is in the Southern Hemisphere or the Apostles' heights.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The Demans. Though, as time goes on, we meet subversions--humans who just thought it'd be cool to become one, but aren't interested in killing--and learn that many of the prominent Demans [[DrivenToVillainy had reasons to turn to evil]].
* AGodAmI: Averted with Lessa who is a god at the beginning of the story. Played with Ares who takes the powers of a god.
* AGodIAmNot: Lessa denounces himself as a god.
* ArtShift: POGO is capable of drastically different styles and it shows. A painterly style is often used for hallucinations or when portraying Lessa and Ra's divine discussions, while a different painterly style is occasionally used for dramatic flashbacks or monologues.
* AuthorAvatar: POGO appears as a Deman responsible for designing the Demans' clothing.
* BadassNormal: Rano and Jin are normal humans hunting Demans.
* BadBoss: Invoked by Ares, who only allowed the more AxCrazy of the Second Generation to create followers. In doing so, he hoped the Third Generation would hate their superiors enough to try and kill them, as an experiment to see whether or not the student could surpass the teacher.
* BigDamnHeroes: Happens often.
** In Season 1, when White is about to kill Rano, who was caught off-guard while buying groceries and thus mostly unarmed, Jin shows up and shoots off his horn.
** In Season 2, Mindy-Mindy is about to kill Lucy before [[spoiler:Lessa, who'd been apart from the group since the beginning of the season, stops her]].
** In Season 2, the militia ends up in a dire situation, with the commander hoping he'll have some kind of DieOrFly moment.. [[spoiler:before Lexter's father shows up on the scene]].
** In Season 3, when White is struggling against Luciel and ends up paralyzed, [[spoiler:Lessa appears and cuts through]].
* BigDamnReunion: [[spoiler:Between Rano and Lucy, at the end of Season 1.]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:Diane, Rano's previous reincarnation]]. Although, to be completely honest, we still do not know [[spoiler:her]] exact reasons for betraying [[spoiler:Lessa]]. Season 3 reveals that [[spoiler:Luciel]] deceived her, and that her soul was overcome with grief after realizing what she had done.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Season 2]], in which [[spoiler:Ares is defeated and the world is thus saved from the Demans, but Lessa is left to grieve as he delivers Ares's soul]].
* BlackEyesOfCrazy: Demans' have these when unleashing their Pentahorn (or higher) powers, although it's subverted in that this still applies to White post-HeelFaceTurn or [[spoiler:Miena who is perfectly sane and heroic by the time she achieves this]].
* BlackEyesOfEvil: When Dark Lessa, who managed to escape through a small crack in Lessa's heart, takes over his body, Lessa's eyes become completely black - like space, with stars floating inside.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Ra and his Apostles have shades of this, as they're well-intentioned but don't necessarily act according to a human morality. Lessa is closer to humanity, but only after spending thousands of years among them.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: White is still holding a grudge against Rano and Jin for shooting off his horn. They barely remember who he is.
* CameBackWrong: Ares when he was revived by Lessa centuries ago as a soul sucking immortal.
* CardCarryingVillain: Played with. Many people see the Demans as this, and certainly, some people who certainly ''are'' this want to join them for that reason. (And a few, like Caleb, toe the line.) However, it's worth noting that in the application round we see, Mindy-Mindy--the sole subversion--is the only one White accepts, with him stating that Ares would despise the others given that Ares himself is more of a WellIntentionedExtremist who believes UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans.
* CatFight: Subverted. Lucy's fight against Belle and Mindy-Mindy starts off with fanservice in the form of skimpy outfits, but it rapidly degenerates into a vicious, brutal affair where only one leaves alive.
* ChessWithDeath: Parodied. Raynold plays chess with [[spoiler:Ra]] and thinks that he'll be given powers and [[spoiler:be brought back to life]] if he wins. [[spoiler:Ra]] makes it clear that this is not the case. They continue playing anyway.
* CoincidentalBroadcast: A tv falls and turns on right as Raynold and Lessa finish a talk, letting them know Ares' plan.
* CosmicChessGame: The plot is essentially one between Ra and Dark Lessa.
* CrapsackWorld: In this world, if you're not rich enough to afford living in the Hexagon Field, your fate is practically sealed: you either become a Deman, or have your soul sucked out by one of them. [[spoiler:Even more of a crapsack world after Ares takes over the Hexagon Field.]]
* CucumberFacial: Miena, Yuzuru, and [[spoiler: Lucy]] do one together.
* CynicismCatalyst: [[spoiler:Diane's betrayal.]]
-->'''Rabiel:''' After that day, Lord Lessa, "the complete good", lost his innocent belief. The only reason Lord Lessa could counter that woman was because he originally contained an absolute good that juxtaposed the absolute destroyer. However, since realizing that there is no such thing as an absolute good, he became more like us. Fearing betrayal, crying at unfairness, wishing that the world would change..."
* DarkIsNotEvil: Lessa and Lucy, as two Demans/Deman-adjacent beings but completely heroic.
* DeathByOriginStory: Rano and Lucy both on the same night, but in different ways. Rano watched his mother (and dog) be killed by a Deman, blacked out [[spoiler:because his powers awakened]], and woke up the next morning to find Lucy missing. Meanwhile, Lucy's friends were slaughtered by Belle and she herself was made into a Deman and essentially abducted.
* DidYouJustScamCthulhu: Subverted. Rano makes an attempt to do this in order to get Ra to [[spoiler:revive him]], but Ra outright tells him not to bother with trying to outsmart him.
* DisappearedDad: Rano's father, who was killed by a burglar many years ago.
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Season 1]], which ends with TheBadGuyWins.
* DownerBeginning: Season 2, which starts off with [[spoiler:Rano apparently committing suicide]].
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Subverted in the Season 2 finale. [[DramaticIrony It's made obvious to the reader that this isn't the case]], but [[spoiler:when Lessa is sent to the past, he initially believes that the events of the series were only a prophecy he saw in his dreams]]. It serves as something of a cruel HopeSpot for him, as he vows to do better with this knowledge of the future, only for [[spoiler:Dark Lessa to reveal that it already happened]].
* DreamWalker: Lessa.
* DudeLooksLikeALady: A lot of people have noted that Lessa looks remarkably feminine; there was even this one time when a man, who worked in a brothel, suggested that Lessa should work there for a couple of days. [[spoiler:There is actually a reason for this: after Dark Lessa was sealed inside of him, originally a simple goat, his appearances changed to match those of her, as she was trying to get out.]]
* EldritchAbomination: Dark Lessa. Also, to a certain extent, Ra, The Father of All Beings.
* EvilAllAlong: Played with. It was clear from the beginning that Ares, the current leader of demans had some sort of a hidden agenda (and, well, you know, the whole "being the big bad guy ruling over the ObviouslyEvil demans" thing), but no one could've guessed just how much of an evil bastard he is.
* EvilIsCool: What a lot of people seem to think in-universe. Those criminals were sure very eager to throw away their humanity and become Demans because it's so ''amazing''.
* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: The first reaction of Demans to Lessa, their God and creator, is:
-->'''Deman:''' ''[surprised]'' That little one is our Father?
* ExtremeOmnigoat: As a goat, [[spoiler:Lessa chewed through just about everything. It's PlayedForLaughs when he eats Rabiel's papyrus, though also PlayedForDrama as him eating Luciel's flowers is one of the reason why Luciel hates him]].
* EyeColourChange: Lessa's eyes change their colour whenever he uses his divine powers. The same happens with Lucy, when SplitPersonalityTakeOver happens.
* EyeScream: We don't see what exactly happens to Lessa's right eye, presumably, upon the fall into the ocean, but the results aren't pretty: later, we're shown a large amount of blood running down his cheek, and for the whole next chapter he's got a bandage, covering it entirely. [[spoiler:And Rano in the second season post time-skip.]]
* FalseFriend: [[spoiler:Diane]], though she subverts it when it's revealed that she believed [[spoiler:''Lessa'']] was this to her. [[spoiler:Ares plays it more straight, as revealed in the last chapter of the Prelude.]]
* FangsAreEvil: Subverted in Lessa's case, played straight with most of the Demans.
* FantasticScience: Jin and Miena are delighted to have Lessa around, as it means they can scientifically research the nature of a ''god''.
* AFateWorseThanDeath: The beings in the god realm consider being barred from reincarnation to be this, as it means being deprived of all the encounters and experiences of your future lives.
* FromBadToWorse: In Season 3, [[spoiler:it turns out that sealing Dark Lessa is part of Luciel's plan, and doing so allows him to transform into a god. Things look dire... and then it turns out that the sealing failed, and Dark Lessa awakens--which is far, far ''worse'']].
* FromNobodyToNightmare: How most of the higher Demans came to be. They generally started as slaves, child workers, or victims of persecution--which then drove them to obtain power at any cost and lash out at the rest of the world.
* GodInHumanForm: Lessa. Also, Dark Lessa, who looks just like a human woman, and Ra, who resembles a man with long black hair. Dark Lessa is later revealed to be something of an inversion, as it's not that she looks like a human--Ra made humans look like ''her''.
* GodOfEvil: Lessa. Subverted, since while he is a god of night and death, he's one of the, if not the most, kind and innocent character in the series. Played straight with Dark Lessa, who's only wish is to swallow the universe and destroy everything.
* GodsHandsAreTied: A recurring theme throughout the series. On one hand, the gods' lack of interference in the mortal world is why Ares resents them--and why he wants to do better--but on the other hand, it's shown that the gods' intervention can cause a ''lot'' of problems, and there's a price to pay for it.
* TheGodsMustBeLazy: How Ares feels, after witnessing so much misery that the gods seemingly do nothing about, and it drives his GodhoodSeeker tendencies so that he can give the world with a proactive "god". In reality, the truth is more complicated, as it's more that GodsHandsAreTied.
* HappinessInSlavery:
** In Zone 3, the only way to live a good life is to become one of Belle's "dolls". As a result, despite the fact that it means selling oneself into slavery, many people make it an aspiration.
** In the past, Lessa freed Ares from a life of slavery, only for Ares to devote himself to being Lessa's servant, much to Lessa's confusion. As Ares put it--though he hated being a slave--he finds peace in "oppression" if by the hands of a benevolent god like Lessa.
* HealingFactor: Even with most of his powers missing, Lessa still manages to recover in a very short period of time from being impaled through his abdomen by a giant tentacle monster - the direct result of which was his guts being "all over the place".
* HellbentForLeather: The choice of modern attire for Demans is all-black leather.
* HellishPupils: During his [[spoiler:transformation from a goat to a human, Lessa's eyes]] still have horizontal, goat-like pupils. Rather than creepy, though, it looks goofy and adorable.
* HeroicBSOD: Lessa experiences a brief one after [[spoiler:Ares takes away his powers and then throws him off the cliff into the sea,]] asking Jin to kill him, since he's "a corrupted person". Then he tries to jump out of the window. Granted, it was the second floor and, most likely, Lessa was aiming for escape, but still. Note, that when they stop him from doing that, he becomes borderline hyterical, screaming that they're not going to get anything out of him; judging by the bottle of pills and a glass of water we see afterwards, they had to give him some sort of sedatives to calm him down. Actually, understandable, since he was betrayed by someone who was like a son to him and who he thought would always be on his side. In the second season, we have Miena, [[spoiler:who has been turned into a deman by Belle and saw Dark Lessa.]]
* HoistByTheirOwnPetard: In Season 1, humans create an artificial sun, with the idea that it'll protect them against Demans even at night. [[spoiler: Only for Demans to take over and repurpose the sun for their own uses so that it creates fake sunlight.]] However, at the end of Season 2, [[spoiler:Lexter and Blake hijack the sun so that it produces real sunlight once more--therefore wiping out most of the Demans in Hexagon Field.]]
* HornedHumanoid: All of the demans. Also, Lessa, during his transformation [[spoiler:from a goat to an actual person.]]He still has them, but they only show up when he's angry and/or uses his powers.
* HornsOfVillainy: The Demans. Subverted in Lessa's case.
* HumanoidAbomination: Lessa's true form is a giant, faun-like creature with goat's legs and ears, two huge horns curving back from his forehead, long wavy hair and glowing pale-blue eyes.
* HumansAreSpecial: Lessa believes this, citing that there are things that humans can do that even gods cannot.
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: A recurring theme is that although the deities don't help matters, a lot of the problems and tragedy caused throughout the series came from ''humans'' and their own despicable actions/screw-ups.
* HumbleGoal:
** Lexter admits that, as silly as it might sound, all he wants is to go home and eat a meal with his family again, to which Rano replies that his own dream is pretty much the same.
** Subverted in the bonus Christmas episode, though PlayedForLaughs. Lucy goes around playing Santa, with the intention of giving her loved ones nice items for gifts... except Rano (in his sleep) asks for a girlfriend and Jin (also in his sleep) asks for someone to marry, much to her dismay.[[labelnote:Her solution?]]She puts them in a bed together.[[/labelnote]] Lessa, meanwhile, asks for ''world peace'', at which point she gives up.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:Lessa in the past, being run through by Diane's spear.]]
* IndividualityIsIllegal: Individuality is discouraged among the Apostles, as it led to Luciel's defection. It's why they all wear the same clothes and the white crown. However, it's subverted at the end of Season 2, where Ra tells them that they're now free to remove their crowns to unlock their full power.
* InterfaithSmoothie: The "true" religion in ''Lessa'''s version of Earth goes with the idea that to an extent, all religions have aspects of the truth/call the same thing by different names. Ra is known as an Egyptian god but also seems to be the God in Christianity (Rano accuses him of being responsible for the flood, although Ra doesn't confirm if this actually occurred), with his Apostles representing the known archangels in Christianity. On the other hand, the notion of {{Reincarnation}} as an afterlife, rather than the existence of Heaven or Hell, takes its cues from other religions.
* InMysteriousWays: Why Ra doesn't believe in directly interfering with human affairs. Humans, good or bad, will eventually get their karma in one lifetime or another, and so everything balances out.
* {{Irony}}: Before the beginning of the story, Anderson was dangerously ill. Fearing death and desperate, he turned for help to demans and immediately after turning slaughtered all of the other hospital residents, all the while blaming his doctor, [[spoiler:Jin]], for not finding the cure in time. The dramatic irony is in the fact that the exact same day when he gave up, [[spoiler:Jin]] was going to tell him that they're, in fact, have found the cure and that the clinical trial had also been successfully finished. If only he waited for at least a day or even just a couple of hours more...
-->'''[[spoiler:Jin]]:''' The one who made it good-for-nothing was you.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: Lessa
* KillItWithFire: The Deman are weak to fire.
* LaResistance: The militia in Season 2.
* LikeASonToMe: Lessa considers Ares like a son.
* LukeYouAreMyFather: At one point Ares calls Lessa the father of the Deman. This is also relationship between Ares and Lessa, with Lessa being the father.
* MauveShirt: The militia--the commander especially--who are given enough screentime to be BackForTheFinale. [[spoiler:And who are subsequently wiped out at the start of Season 3 to up the stakes.]]
* MusclesAreMeaningless: There are several characters who slender yet incredibly strong.
* MysticalWhiteHair: Interestingly enough, in the beginning Lessa's hair were much more closer to white than they are now, which could be a metaphor for Lessa slowly losing his childlike innocence and purity. You can notice them slowly begin to change their color after he, full of despair, revives Ares, and finally, in the end, become ashen-grey, the way they're now, after [[spoiler:Diane betrays and kills him.]] Compare this and his hair color from any other chapter.
* NightmareFace: This manhwa has it's fair share of terrifying faces.
* TheNothingAfterDeath: What eternal death is: [[spoiler:those who die eternally, such as Ares and Ra, are sent to the void within Dark Lessa]].
* NowLetMeCarryYou: Lucy to Rano.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Many Demans.
* OnceMoreWithClarity: In Season 2, Gabriel guides Rano through Ra's memories of the beginning and his encounters with Dark Lessa, showing her LackOfEmpathy. We see these memories again in Season 3, as Ra thinks over them, which shows [[spoiler:a more emotional depiction of Dark Lessa, as she expresses remorse over destroying Ra's gifts and actually looked fond when they first met]].
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: There's Ra's Apostles, who are all real-life angels from Christianity such as the ArchangelRaphael, ArchangelGabriel, etc., and who take the stage in Season 3.
* OurDemonsAreDifferent: Although Deman are much more closer to vampires than to actual demons, they have some similarities, those being horns, fangs, supernatural strength and an unholy power to take other people souls.
* OurSoulsAreDifferent: Can be used to prolong one's life, can become a ghost, [[spoiler:like Rano's mother who's still tied to their old house]].
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: The Demon are kind of this. Sunlight burns them, they can sire other Deman, but suck souls instead of blood. They also have the fashion scene of the vampires from the Blade movies.
* PaintingTheMedium: Characters have different colored speech bubbles based on what they are. Humans have normal black on white, Demans have white on red, the Archangels have black on bright blue. The gods have unique speech bubbles; Lessa has white on dark blue, and Ra has black on a yellow to white gradient.
** When characters are using large amounts of power, their speech bubbles change to reflect this.
* ParentalIssues: Ares. Lessa was basically his father figure, and most of his motivation stems from his relationship with Lessa.
* PietaPlagiarism: Ares cradles Lessa's body in his hands after [[spoiler:Diane impaled Lessa's chest with a spear and Dark Lessa almost escaped his body]]
* PlayingWithFire: Ra’s powers Ignition.
* PleasePutSomeClothesOn: Young Ares' reaction upon his first meeting with Lessa. Lessa, not having any idea what modesty and nudity is, politely refuses, saying that Ares can [[HilarityEnsues keep it to himself]].
* PokeThePoodle: How Lessa declares that he's become corrupted: he's so evil now that he can even ''steal bread''.
* PowerDyesYourHair: Every Deman's hair becomes a few shades lighter when using their Pentahorn powers; e.g. Lucy's hair becomes pink. Similarly, Lessa's hair returns to its original pale blue whenever he's using a significant amount of power.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Ares was born in Ancient Egypt. Many of the other Demans from third generation and up, while younger than him, are also fairly old; White is one of the youngest at about a hundred years. Ryan is the only ones who averts this and it's part of why Ares recruited him, as he wanted someone with modern knowledge (i.e. how to use the internet).
* RedBaron: The titular Crimson Knight of Season 2--a title shared jointly between Rano and Lucy. [[spoiler:Though the true origin comes from Lessa, who went around fighting Demans to distract them from the comatose Rano.]]
* ReligionOfEvil: This is how the Ares runs the Deman, his even the high priest of his religion. [[spoiler:Later after taking Lessa's powers he becomes its god.]]
* RememberedICouldFly: Raynold doesn't remember what happened the night his family got attacked and [[TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening how he survived it]], until five years later at the exact moment he needed to.
* SacrificialLamb: "This goat [[spoiler:actually, Lessa]] has the only threat to this world sealed inside. It's a sacrificial lamb to save everything".
* SatanicArchetype: Split between Dark Lessa, Lessa, and Luciel. Dark Lessa is the GodOfEvil who is explicitly compared to the Devil at one point, possesses dark powers as her name suggests, and tends to act as TheCorrupter to others; Lessa (also crossing over with MessianicArchetype) has inherited said dark powers and whose (however accidental) creation of Demans coincided with his fall from grace; Luciel is a FallenAngel [[MeaningfulName whose name]] is believed to have possibly been the original name of Lucifer, the iconic example. In the last case, Rabiel eventually states explicitly that he's become the Satan of humanity, and [[spoiler:Lessa confirms that his new name, after abandoning Ra's mantra, is Lucifer]].
* SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan: The Dark Lessa was sealed inside a goat, the most pure being, who later transformed [[spoiler:into a person under this influence and became Lessa.]]
* SecretTestOfCharacter: Although Ra comes off as antagonistic to Lessa at first, Lessa comes to realize that Ra is merely testing him and in fact supports his decision to help humanity.
* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Subverted. [[spoiler:Dark Lessa sends Lessa back into the past with the opportunity to kill Ares, therefore preventing him from creating the Demans, but Lessa refuses and leaves the present unchanged, on the basis that Ares as a child has done no wrong and shouldn't be punished for his future self's deeds.]]
* SmokingIsCool: Averted. According to a Q&A with POGO, the only smoker is [[AxCrazy Caleb]] and [[BadBoss Belle]]; White (who the fan thought seemed like the type to smoke) refuses to precisely because he associates it with Caleb, while Jin quit for unspecified reasons and Rano also quit because the reality is that smoking is detrimental to one's health and he needed to be in top form to fight Demans.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Reynold vs. Rainold, Lexter vs. Rexter, Raviel vs. Rabiel, etc.
* StarCrossedLovers: Ra fell in love with Dark Lessa--though POGO notes in a Q&A that it's a type of love beyond human comprehension, rather than strictly romantic--but had to seal her away to protect his world, when he realized she couldn't understand. [[spoiler:Season 3 reveals that his feelings may have not been so unrequited, though, and that she also lamented their fundamental incompatibility.]]
* StartsWithASuicide: Season [[spoiler:2]] begins with [[spoiler:Rano killing himself]].
* SuperStrength: All of the Demans have it.
* SweetSheep: Goat, technically, but [[spoiler:Lessa's original self--considered the purest being in existence--is reminiscent of a sheep]].
* TechnicolorEyes: Lessa's eyes change their color when he uses his divine powers to a neon purple with blue and white.
* TemptingFate: The people inside the Hexagon Field have capitalized on the Deman phenomena making masks, plays movies, and even theme parks. Rano even comments on how dangers they are.
* TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow: Dark Lessa.
* TimeAbyss: Of the god realm's inhabitants, only Lessa is younger than the planet.
* TimeSkip: Between the first and the second season.
* TooDumbToLive: White, who attempts to extract Lessa's vapour for himself to become stronger without Lessa's consent and almost gets killed for his trouble. Also, Demans who attack Lessa in the beginning of the second season.
* TranshumanTreachery: People are more than willing to give up their humanity to become a Deman and there's even an application process. Once turned, the ex-human Deman stop caring about human lives and view then as nothing more then a meal. For example, newly turned Mindy Mindy has no problems with killing three people whatsoever.
* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Where is Hexagon Island. Conjecture can place it as potentially in the Mediterranean (Ares is an Egyptian, and the island appears to have been initially settled by Europeans)
* WholeEpisodeFlashback: Occasionally done, usually to exposition on Lessa and Ares's long history together, or to explain Lessa's origins.
* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: When Ares sees just a part of Dark Lessa's true form, his eyes literally start to bleed.
--> "The unknown being... beyond the range of a human's perception..."