The Night Unfurls explores and questions the typical assumptions of many character archetypes Played Straight. Bear in mind that not all deconstructions are inherently dark.
- Child Soldiers: A Lighter and Softer variant. Sanakan, Hugh, and Soren are Kid Heroes who participate in the war against the Black Dogs, so yes, they count as this. Their mentor Kyril even outright states to the former two that becoming his apprentices is not some promotion, but rather a burden: they will fight, kill, struggle, and fall. They will bear witness to the hell that is war, the worst things that someone can do to another. Yet, their ultimate decision is to train for battle, and fight alongside their mentor in this war. The reason? Being a "normal" citizen isn't any better, if not worse. If the Black Dogs come for their defenceless selves, they would either be killed or be enslaved, not to mention how their "normal" lives involve getting beaten up by thugs on an indefinite basis. In addition, the kids are able to get a paycheck instead of stealing, and being able to kill dozens of greenskins and bandits, enemies whom they won't feel sorry for, is pretty cathartic.
- Harem Seeker: In modern-day works (especially that of the Harem Genre), a person who wants to have multiple romantic/sexual partners is either a Lovable Sex Maniac or a Chivalrous Pervert, the "perverted but likeable" type of character. Here, people like Anders Bleu have no qualms about joining an organisation with the goal to create a Sex Slave empire should the opportunity arise. From their perspective, if they can obtain multiple partners by joining said organisation, just like how kings or emperors have many concubines (which is what Vault and the Black Dogs mean by how every man could "live like kings"), why shouldn't they do so?
- The High Queen: Celestine is an honest, talented, and benevolent ruler, and her beauty is one of the reasons why many adore her. However, being a benevolent ruler doesn't equate to being a Universally Beloved Leader. As genuine as her humility and desire for her people's safety is, she also attracts dissidents who oppose her for one reason or the other. Aside from the obvious ones like Vault and the Black Dogs, the story has shown that certain people of the nobility or prominent position (e.g. Beasley, Grishom), as well as a sizeable portion of the common people (the rebels), will be ready to turn against her when the opportunity arrives (i.e. the Rebel Scum Arc). This is especially so when they believe they can take advantage of her generosity.
- There's also the irony that as a queen, Celestine is sheltered from the ugly side of war, in spite of her experience in ruling over a country subjected to a Forever War beforehand, together with the experiences due to her long lifespan as an elf. The reason? Just because she knows that War Is Hell doesn't mean she has seen the devastation first-hand, and without that, it is easy for her to become out of touch with reality. It is during Chapter 24 where Celestine, out of her own volition, leaves her palace to see the chaos for herself. As a result, the atmosphere in the healer tents gets to her — she is unable to bear witnessing the healers working their fingers to the bone, and listening to the cries and the lamentation of the injured. At one point, she even tries to lend a hand, to no avail, for the man she and the healers tried to help died anyway after six hours of surgery. She breaks down. Imagine what would happen if she goes to the rioting streets rather than the comparatively tame healer tents.
- The deconstruction comes in full circle after Celestine's first-hand experience of the strife outside the palace. There, she understands that her city is in the midst of dissent. Not even she, the Queen herself, can spare every single person from a cruel fate during war. If she wants to protect her people from the predations of Vault, the Black Dogs, and the ongoing war, she would have to become a ruler harsher than before. Once, she planned to appeal for peace and discuss terms with the rebels. Now, she doubles down on the punitive measures imposed on the nobility, while unleashing Kyril Sutherland to quash the rebellion by force. Even if this is at the cost of numerous lives, it is to prioritise on the bigger picture — the war effort, which should be clear of any distractions to prevent fighting on multiple fronts.
- It is worth mentioning that although this trope is deconstructed, it does not equate to Celestine suddenly Jumping Off the Slippery Slope and, say, razing her city to the ground. Clearly, she has not forgotten the principles she held as The High Queen, but at the same time, she realises that she ought to steel herself in an unprecedented situation like this.
- Master Swordsman: Characters known for their swordsmanship prowess often have unrealistic Implausible Fencing Powers gained via Charles Atlas Superpower, framed as purely skilled badasses born of effort, hard work, and determination. Put these people in a Low Fantasy setting and take away said powers, and they end up as people who happen to be better at using a sword than regular citizenry. While they have the skill required to fight mooks, they are by no means capable of effortlessly cutting chunks of body parts or mowing them down left and right.
- To illustrate the above, the remastered version has Alicia, her two seconds, and Kyril clearing out an orc den. On paper, Alicia is groomed to be a Knight In Shining Armour, making her a trained, seasoned Master Swordswoman. In practice, she thrusts her sword into an orc's gut and gets her blade stuck, a logical consequence of the absence of Implausible Fencing Powers. In contrast, the narrative clearly acknowledges Kyril as a superhuman being who owns inexplicably durable weapons (though nobody In-Universe knows this), so it doesn't matter whether he has a sword or not — he is 100% capable of chopping off a big orc's arm in one swing and killing orcs at a faster rate. To wrap up, Alicia has one kill, her two seconds have two kills each, and Kyril has five.
- One-Man Army: Being able to take out enemies by the hundreds and thousands is not as glamorous as it sounds.
- So the Good Hunter is the Player Character from Bloodborne who has killed thousands of enemies throughout his time in Yharnam. Beast. Human. Eldritch Abomination. It never matters. Very cool! Does he come out mentally unscathed? No. At the very first chapter, the readers get to see his P.O.V. — rather than a glorious, god-slaying warrior, Kyril is a tired Shell-Shocked Veteran who considers his role as Hunter of Monsters Dirty Business. Rather than feeling proud of his accomplishments, he sees killing as a grim task meant to be endured, a task that makes one susceptible to uncontrolled bloodlust. Furthermore, the readers get to see how Kyril copes with the emotional baggage he received from the hell that is Yharnam, including the all-too-common "Vietnam flashbacks" (or in this case, "Yharnam flashbacks"), together with the desensitisation to the blood he has shed in his wake (a legitimate coping mechanism in and of itself). Turns out that killing things/people by the thousands really does wonders to a person's psyche.
- Fiction in general tends to emphasize how awesome One Man Armies are as a result of either of the following: training, talent, genetics, or being a Born Winner. The Good Hunter? He was a mere farmer who just wants a cure for some disease, yet found himself amidst neverending pain through dying gruesomely over and over again, amidst horrors that would sap away the sanity of any lesser person. Fast-forward to present, Kyril is surely a badass and a great one to boot. Getting there, on the other hand...
- Just because The Good Hunter is invincible doesn’t mean he is no limitations, namely, a) he simply cannot be everywhere at once, and b), he doesn’t want to risk exposing anything related to Yharnam by tapping into his potential as an Eldritch Abomination. Kyril, a Combat Pragmatist first and foremost, is fully aware of his attributes as an empowered Hunter of Monsters. In order to mitigate the limitations mentioned before, he plays the role of Four-Star Badass by leading his Men of Sherwood into battle, cooperating with his fellow sergeants, and having his troops attack the enemy on multiple fronts simultaneously to achieve victory. The Good Hunter is formidable, yes, but a One-Man Army fighting with a well-trained army is simply more efficient.
- With that being said, the fact remains that the One Man Army is a force to be reckoned with. While there are limitations, Kyril's pragmatism is more than enough to compensate for that. Most importantly, his very strength and reputation is the reason why he is able to triumph every battle. The reason why the Forever War is finally able to end. The reason why Eostia has a chance to repel the Black Dogs (keep in mind that the Black Dogs actually win in Kuroinu canon).
- Street Urchin: In reality, it is unlikely for orphaned pickpockets like Sanakan and Hugh to somehow thrive in the streets, be satisfied with their lives, or coming out of the ordeal unscathed, being fully exposed to an environment that is Harmful to Minors. To elaborate, they had to resort to thievery and beggaring just to fill their stomachs; they had to move from place to place for shelter and sleep; and should they get caught, they were forced to bear scars and injuries from people/things all too willing to hurt children. Hugh, in particular, suffered a Slashed Throat from a bandit, robbing of his ability to speaknote .
- Fast-forward to the present, the two kids manage to reside in a village as shelter, only for it to be attacked by the Black Dogs, a consequence of warfare. Hugh ends up getting stabbed in the eye by an orc, left to bleed out; Sanakan gets taken by a group of those mercenaries to a church, rounded up along with the village women for an orgy. Were it not for Kyril cleaning up the entire village of the Black Dogs and finding the two by chance, the two would be so utterly screwed that they won't even survive one chapter. Sanakan and Hugh's well-being only starts to improve when Kyril becomes their mentor to help them defend themselves, as well as their implied Parental Substitute to provide them food, a home, and someone to care for their health physically and mentally.
- Worthy Opponent: In typical stories, the scenario where a villain developing respect towards their adversary, often the protagonist, is used to make the villain more admirable and sympathetic. Here, Shamuhaza finds his adversary Kyril misguided in his persistence, and is very, very eager to face the Hunter, the person who has seen the Eldritch Truth like himself. This doesn't change the fact that both want the other dead. It also doesn't change the fact that Shamuhaza is a villainous figure who conducted experiments upon every citizen in the Fortress City of Rad, a figure whose actions would doom Eostia into suffering a Beast Plague like Yharnam before it should he be kept alive. Last but not least, Kyril outclasses him a ton, and he proves exactly that by the time Shamuhaza gets his wish a second time. Nothing gratifying about that.
