Fanfic / Eight Intertwined

"How can I say it? Those with kind hearts will find themselves shouldering the pain of others as if it were their own."

— Bishop Donovan, capturing the overall spirit of the story

Eight Intertwined is a Octopath Traveler novelization written by digitaldreams.

The story of Eight Intertwined follows the same general plot as its source material but with a healthy dose of added character development, canon divergence, and dialogue between the main eight travelers. It is a retelling and partial rewrite of the game with the goal of developing stronger relationships among the cast while they pursue their unique goals together.

The story can be read here on Archive of Our Own.

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This fanfic contains examples of the following tropes:

# to G

• The Ace: Olberic gained a reputation as one of the best soldiers in Hornburg, and even years after the fall of the kingdom, people still recognize his title.
• Adaptational Achilles Heel:
  • Therion has a weakness in fighting monsters. This is later explained by him having gone blind in one eye after his fall before the story.
  • The Dragon fought near Stillsnow now has a weakness to fire instead of ice to reflect how it is accustomed to its biome. This does not change the fact it can breathe fire, however.
• Adaptational Angst Downgrade: The ending of Primrose's story is much more hopeful than the ambiguous, somber ending to Primrose's story that plays out in the game proper. Primrose introduces her friends to Geoffrey's grave, and is certain despite her own trepidation that Geoffrey would be proud of the progress she made to live on her own terms and for her own goals.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Some of the characters suffer a bit more in this adaptation;
  • The death of Yusufa plays a much darker role for Primrose and her character arc than it did in the game proper; for a while after Yusufa's death, Primrose is left morose and jumpy, and develops a fear of getting close to anyone lest they suffer the same fate Yusufa did.
  • After the fall of Hornburg, Olberic not only lost his king and country but also his lover in the form of Erhardt.
  • Prior to the events of the story, Therion and Darius were in an incredibly toxic relationship that ended after their confrontation on the cliffside.
  • Cyrus develops a revulsion to blood, and takes Lucia and Yvon's betrayal much harder than in the game.
  • Ophilia falls into a self-destructive spiral after being forced to kill Morlock to save Alfyn's life.
  • Miguel betraying Alfyn's already faltering trust in the man and kidnapping Timothy causes Alfyn to start coming apart at the seams, until he's reduced to just shaking his fists and struggling with how others would view his actions before his fight with Miguel.
  • Simeon betraying Primrose and stabbing her in the stomach, followed by Primrose realizing Simeon groomed her and was responsible for the last ten years of her life and learning that Simeon was already over a hundred years old when she fell in love with him in her early teenage years causes Primrose to suffer a very realistic quiet mental breakdown. She's left so distraught she simply shuts down and allows sleep to take her, left utterly moorless and broken.
  • Because the reader gets a look in Ophilia's head following the revelation that Josef died before Ophilia made it home, this adaptation actually explores the effect the news has on Ophilia, whereas in the game Ophilia immediately needed to push any grief aside to save Lianna from Mattias.
• Adaptational Backstory Change:
  • The war that destroyed Ophilia’s village is never mentioned in the game. In this story, the war was started by Morlock and his greed. Ophilia was also taken in by Josef because of him having become close friends with her parents during his Kindling journey.
  • Therion’s parents are brought up in this story despite not being mentioned in canon at all. His father is Rufus, the leader of the Stillsnow brothel and trafficking ring, and his mother ran away from the ring after falling pregnant with him.
• Adaptational Badass: H'aanit is no slouch in the game, but takes her skills to new heights defeating the Devourer of Men, a vicious late-game sidequest boss, at what would be the start of the chapter 3s, with only Linde by her side.
• Adaptational Context Change: Much of the travel banter dialogue is spoken in a different context to fit the changed events of the story.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: Simeon appears far sooner for a brief cameo during Therion’s chapter two.
• Adaptational Explanation:
  • The reason Therion travels with the rest of the group is not just because of the fool’s bangle. Cordelia and Heathcote make a deal with the rest of the travelers to make sure he sees through his end of the bargain.
  • The entire story about what happened to Creek is explained where it was left vague in the source material.
  • Therion survived the fall off the cliff at Darius' hands because Aeber saved his life and healed his injuries before he could die.
  • There's an actual justification for why Yusufa is doomed to perish. While the game reveals healing magic cannot return the dead to life, it's also explained in the novelization that healing magic has no effect beyond the implication it dulls the person's pain if someone is just about to die.
  • When trapped in Wispermill, the travelers realize that they are unable to escape due to Mattias casting a magic seal over most buildings in town. This easily allows civilians from Wispermill to drug and subdue them and keeps the group behind bars until Lianna arrives.
• Adaptational Gender Identity: During the Wellspring arc, Therion reveals that he is transgender to Primrose.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Morlock and Omar are markably worse people here. Morlock ordered the destruction of Creek, and Omar was complicit in his crimes in Quarrycrest, including neglecting the citizens to allow Gideon free reign over the town.
• Adaptational Karma: Consequently, Morlock and Omar both die because of their roles in Creek and Quarrycrest's suffering.
• Adaptational Modesty: Primrose trades her dancer garb for a red and white dress similar to her Apothecary outfit once the group gets to Clearbrook. Much later, in Wellspring, she goes back to wearing dancer garb, though the narration explains it's far less sexualized than what the dancers in Sunshade wore.
• Adaptational Sexuality: Every one of the main eight travelers is queer in this retelling.^note As per Word of God, Ophilia is a lesbian, Cyrus is asexual and demiromantic, Tressa is pan, Olberic is gay, Primrose is bisexual, Alfyn is gay, Therion is gay, and H'aanit is an asexual lesbian. Additionally, Darius and Erhardt are explicitly stated to have been in relationships with Therion and Olberic respectively.
• Adaptational Villainy: Morlock is a far worse person than in the game and is made out to be irredeemable by both the main cast and the narration.
• Adaptational Wimp: Orlick was never a particularly difficult boss in the game, but here his buffoonery and childishness is played up significantly, making the fight with him more of a formality; the real fight is with his sizable retinue of hired guards. Once he remembers to start casting spells, he becomes slightly more threatening, but he's still dealt with easily.
• Adaptation Deviation:
  • The most standout example is the added information about Quarrycrest's bloody history and its conflict with Saintsbridge fifteen years before the story. Morlock was originally the rich leader of Quarrycrest and nothing more, but here, he waged a doomed war against Saintsbridge when the church questioned his labor practices.
  • Rather than throwing Cyrus in a pit in Yvon's birthplace, Lucia stabs him to account for Therion being there as well.
  • The travelers are made aware of the overarching plot fairly early into the story, at about the point of what would be Primrose's chapter 2 in the game. Though they are not made aware of Galdera's presence, they are aware they have to travel together by divine mandate. This partly helps Therion and Primrose ease into working with the group further, as Ophilia insists on working with them both with the knowledge granted to her in mind.
  • The travelers are able to enter the black market in Therion's third chapter almost immediately. They secure their places within the market in exchange for clearing out the lizardmen infestation in the cave. This cuts out a lot of backtracking to and forth from the town.
• Adaptation Origin Connection: Therion is the son of one of the men who murdered Primrose's father.
• Adaptation Personality Change:
  • Zigzagged - it's not so much that the personalities of the characters have changed, as the story is very true to even the most glossed-over aspects of each character, but Primrose in particular has part of her personality suppressed early on to fit the tone, as her more flirtatious and playful banters with other travelers wouldn't fit with the tone of her time spent in Stillsnow. As she becomes more comfortable with the party, this aspect of her personality from the games is integrated back in, as she feels more at home with the group than she did previously.
  • Downplayed for Nathan's guard and Alaic. To avoid having H'aanit outright assault the two with monsters as is necessary in the game, they're changed to have a fear of monsters, which allows H'aanit to simply scare them off to progress her story using Linde.
  • Less 'changed' and more 'brought up sooner,' but Mattias' dissatisfaction with the Church of the Sacred Flame and the gods of Orsterra is brought up far sooner based on his attitude when speaking with Ophilia, which helps to establish his 'savior' persona and complex well before it would normally come up in the game proper.
• Adapted Out: Many travel banter scenes and even a few story scenes were cut to fit with the different tone of the story.
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: The travelers run into Kit a few times on the road, but the one who helps him most is Therion who carries out the adaptation's equivalent of the "In Search of Father" quests.
• Affectionate Nickname: Lianna refers to Ophilia as 'Phili.' Ophilia returns this by calling Lianna 'Anna.'
  • Alfyn later picks up on calling Ophilia 'Phili' too. He has nicknamed some of the other travelers as well. Cyrus is Cy, Tressa is Tress, Primrose is Prim, and Therion is Theri.
• All-Loving Hero: Ophilia's kindness and gentle nature from the original game manifests as this in the story itself. Drawing on her self-sacrificing and friendly nature, she actually has to have it explained to her at one point that an odd feeling she was feeling was anger. Though she grows more accustomed to being cross with people as the story goes on, she has a hard time hating people, which is why her admitting to loathing the people the party end up killing to Primrose after Ophilia herself kills Morlock demonstrates just how dire and serious the situation is. While she's a bit more of a realist than Alfyn, Ophilia is nonetheless dedicated to the idea that most people can be reasoned with and is willing to hear most people out.
• Amazon Chaser: Primrose shows the most interest in women more than capable of holding their own in a fight, especially ones with muscular, rugged builds.
• Amazonian Beauty: H'aanit is the most muscular of the female travelers, something that leads to Primrose's later romantic interest in her. Several of the goddesses also possess athletic builds, particularly Winnehild.
• Amicable Exes: After their duel in Wellspring, Olberic and Erhardt come to terms with the past and how they want to face the future. Erhardt admits to still being in love with Olberic, but after realizing Olberic has developed feelings for Cyrus, he backs off.
• An Aesop: Something that's touched on in the original game and expanded on here with several characters is that finding a way to understand their traumas and then independently seeking closure without exacerbating their vices or feeling the need to be identified by their traumas goes a long way towards those same characters forming a healthier, happier outlook towards life. By extension, this healthier outlook contributes greatly to the party working well with each other. Though Orsterra overall doesn't really have an established system for improving mental health, most characters find healthy closure by being open with their companions and achieving or considering something significant to them. The message is pretty clear - a person doesn't need their traumas to define them, and finding a way to move on from that trauma contributes greatly to a happier life.
• Artifact Domination: Hinted at in the game but made explicit here is that the dragonstones project a radius of control around them that tampers with the personalities of the people who interact with them for extended periods. The ruby dragonstone tempts Orlick to covet it to the point of isolation and zealotry, and to go to great lengths to keep it in his possession. As for the emerald dragonstone, Darius kills people and leaves his own men to die in order to secure his grip on it. The people who see the jewel prior to this are stated to be infatuated with it too.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Hägen plays a much greater role before leaving the group in Stonegard.
  • Odette also does much more during the group's time in Quarrycrest on account of her relationship with Primrose.
  • Pretty much every NPC from the game is given more limelight and time to interact with the characters, and sometimes even prove critical in moving the story forward in ways they didn't before; Barham, for example, gifts Cyrus with a map he sketched out previously that the party uses to seek out shrines to the Orsterran gods, and Cordelia Ravus gets a scene with everyone except Therion to impress upon them the importance of the mission of seeking out the Dragonstones. Additionally, any time the party revisits a town they were in previously, there are scenes dedicated to the travelers catching up with old friends.
• Badass Fingersnap: How Primrose finishes her fight with Albus. After all his excuses and justifications over the course of the fight, Primrose ends up just utterly done with him, and disarms him by snapping to summon a bolt of lightning and blast his dagger out of his hand.
• Being Good Sucks: So much so it's practially the Central Theme of the work, though it's also ultimately subverted in the long run. The kind of people who would go on the types of adventures the travelers go on with little expectation of reward are also the exact sort of people who feel the pain of everyone disadvantaged by life, nature, or other people. This extends to the inter-party communications as well, as even one sour mood can massively bring down the overall party dynamic. Eventually, however, the party manages to find the strength to overcome their emotional hurdles by finding comfort and support in each other.
• Berserk Button:
  • Injustice is this for Tressa and Cyrus. Unfortunately, this works against them almost every time they let their need for justice overtake them, as it's the quickest way to give them tunnel vision.
  • People exploiting others for petty gain is enough for Alfyn to enter a homicidal rage. Though he manages to restrain himself before he can kill Vanessa, on the grounds his drugs will properly torment her and she'll face up to her crimes in a prison cell, it's a very close thing.
• Best Served Cold: Primrose spends over a decade waiting for the perfect moment to kill the men who murdered her father, even after she stops wanting to finish out her revenge scheme.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Ophilia is a soft-spoken and kind cleric who does everything she can to avoid stepping on other people's toes. She also stabs a man to death when he threatens the life of her friend.
  • Alfyn is the most relaxed and open member of the group emotionally, but he jumps to violence very quickly when confronting Vanessa about her misdeeds in Goldshore, wondering if he'll have to kill her to keep everyone in the city safe. Later on in Saintsbridge, Alfyn kills Miguel to save Therion's life. After learning about Darius nearly killing Therion years ago, Alfyn says that he's willing to kill Darius when they see him again if it'll keep Therion safe.
• Beyond Redemption:
  • By the time they leave Goldshore, the characters largely believe Vanessa to be too far gone to be helped despite her having a redemption arc in the game.
  • Tressa believes this about Morlock leading up to her chapter two. This comes to a head when Morlock dies alongside Omar during the chapter two boss encounter where he lives in the base game.
  • Ogen tells Alfyn this about Miguel during the party's second trip to Saintsbridge.
  • Once the party starts to doubt Miguel and his intentions, the trope is discussed, with different travelers falling into different camps regarding the matter. Ophilia admits it's possible some people are beyond redemption but wants to give everyone a chance to explain their side of things and despairs at harming a wounded person even if there's a chance they're truly the trope; Therion and Primrose are quick to point out several of the people they had fought before who had no intention of redeeming themselves as proof of this trope; and Alfyn speaks against the idea but inwardly considers Therion and Primrose's opinions. Tressa, Cyrus, H'aanit, and Olberic decline to comment.
• Bloodier and Gorier: Seen in many instances across the story thanks to the fight scenes but most obvious with Miguel’s first appearance in Saintsbridge.
• Blow You Away: Bifelgan is more than just the Goddess of Commerce - she's also a talented Magic Knight capable in both melee combat and wind magic. She passes on the Tempest Spear, a weapon that empowers wind magic, to Tressa once the party overcomes her in combat.
• Bookends: The first chapter of Ophilia's story begins with the Clement sisters reciting the lines of a morning prayer in Flamesgrace. At the end of Ophilia's final chapter, the Clement sisters see each other off again with that same prayer, with both sisters repeating the line the other sister said before.
• Break the Cutie: Ophilia is an unabashedly kind person willing even to stick up for Therion after the man used the group to succeed in a heist. She also breaks down utterly after fatally stabbing Morlock to save Alfyn's life, utterly horrified at what she has done and how she felt doing the deed. It takes a heart-to-heart with Primrose for Ophilia to recover.
• Brutal Honesty:
  • Ogen is brutally honest when he tells Alfyn that Miguel more or less needed to die in Saintsbridge.
  • In Wellspring, H'aanit pins Therion down verbally by saying that if he wanted to leave in light of his trauma from fighting Miguel, he would have done so by now. The fact that he is still there means that he wants to be even if he won't admit it. H'aanit's bluntness forces Therion to rethink his recent closed-off behavior.
• Call to Adventure: Ophilia visiting Rippletide and assisting Tressa with the adventure of a lifetime by beating out Mikk and Makk's pirates serves as a call to exploration for Tressa, who quickly packs her things and heads out to explore Orsterra. Tressa reflects on how much she's changed since she started the adventure in chapter 154, at the tail end of the party's Darkest Hour, and recognizing that she still loves the adventure spurs Tressa to rally and continue on despite the party's hardship.
• Casting a Shadow: Sealticge is the heroic embodiment of shadow magic, and carries the Shadow Fan to amplify this arcane power.
• Challenge Seeker: Unsurprisingly for a war goddess, Winnehild is eager and happy to find people strong enough to give her a good fight.
• Character Development: A major focus of the novelization is to show how the travelers organically grow(or in the case of Tressa, mature) over time, even and especially during other travelers' arcs. Effectively, the story serves to illustrate how each character comes into the development they were shown to have during each chapter of the original game.
  • Ophilia starts as a courageous, compassionate, kind young woman with strong leadership skills and an unwavering moral compass, who nonetheless suffers from a near-crippling negative view of herself, a depressing tendency to put everyone before her needs and desires, and a belief she is not worthy of her family's love. The major focus of her story is her burgeoning confidence in herself and a growing willingness to do what she wants to do - which is for the best, as her compassionate nature typically means that what she wants is to involve herself in helping others through their struggles.
  • Cyrus is already a fully mature and realized adult by the start of the story, but he has issues with poking his nose where it doesn't belong and rushing headlong into conflict. This is eventually brought up by Therese during his own personal Darkest Hour, where his reckless behavior and blind trust in others nearly gets him, Therese, and Therion killed. Hearing it straight from the mouth of Therese and looking inwards convinces Cyrus Therese is ultimately correct, and he takes steps to address his behavior in the future. Learning about this problem from Therese is also implied to help him come to his conclusions regarding the importance of education and learning from others.
  • Tressa begins the story stubborn and cowardly at the same time, and through her travels, she learns to stand up in the face of wrongdoing and not back down from a fight. Sometimes almost to the point of detriment as in Quarrycrest. Tressa sets out on her journey because she wants to learn more about the world. Over the course of the story, she learns a lot about herself and the rest of the travelers, including figuring out all of their most important treasures in the lead up to her final chapter. While the journey has brought her endless hardship, it has also brought her endless joy, and Tressa declares that she wouldn't change it for the world.
  • Olberic sets out unsure of his purpose and what he wants to do with his life in the aftermath of Hornburg's fall. Through his journey with the other travelers, Olberic realizes that he never lost his purpose in the way he originally thought and finds that his new companions on the road are reason for being. He fights for those who need his aid most and for those he loves just as he did in Hornburg. While his life has changed since those days, Olberic is happy with where he is now and wants to defend his new home with everything he has.
  • Primrose's initial plan is to avenge her father by killing the assassins who murdered him. She has used this idea for years as a reason to continue living and believes it to be her sole purpose in life. Along the way, she realizes just how much time she sunk into a purpose that she doesn't believe is right for her anymore, but she feels obligated to see it through to the end for her father's sake. Primrose only starts to improve when she settles on a purpose greater than revenge. She wants to stop Simeon because of something more than vengeance, and she wants to live as more than just a blade for her father's ghost.
  • Alfyn has a strong set of morals and values that he refuses to yield on for anyone. He acts as a source of reassurance and light for everyone around him... But he lacks the spine to back up his beliefs the instant he is challenged. Through his own journey and the paths of the other travelers, Alfyn realizes that his morality is far from being as cut and dry as he once thought. In the end, he decides to trust himself above all else even if it puts him at odds with people like Ogen.
  • Therion starts out trusting very little and wanting nothing to do with the travelers. The more time he spends with them, the more he opens up to the idea of trusting them. Despite having the opportunity to escape after unlocking the fool's bangle on his own, Therion chooses to stay with the travelers because he wants to and thinks of them as his new home. After the battle with Miguel, Therion begins to crumble at the seams, but he stays with the travelers through it all, and he finally decides after seeing Darius again that trusting is finally worth it for him.
  • H'aanit has little experience with the outside world when she sets out to find Z'aanta. She doesn't know much of the emotions of others despite wanting desperately to help when her friends begin to struggle. H'aanit begins to tap in more to her emotional side throughout the story, eventually acting as a voice of reason, particularly during Therion's darkest hour. In doing so, she also learns more about what she wants out of her relationships with others, including Z'aanta, Susanna, and eventually Primrose.
• Chekhov's Gun: The 'lore of the forest,' the special techniques passed down by S'warkii's hunters, that allows H'aanit to capture and persuade animals to fight for her is initially set up in chapter 31. Following this, H'aanit rarely has reason to call on monsters, as Linde works as an ideal partner anyway. It's not until the fight with Miguel one-hundred and twelve chapters later where H'aanit utilizes this ability again as her ace in the hole against Miguel, which allows her to form a protective ring of creatures around Timothy, herself, and Ophilia. With the aid of the forest, H'aanit is able to keep Timothy alive long enough for Alfyn to finish the fight and render Timothy proper aid and Ophilia is given free reign to strike Miguel safely with spells.
• The Chosen One: All of the travelers are this to a degree, though Ophilia and Therion are special cases. While all of them have been chosen to enact the will of the gods and avert tragedy, Aeber interceded to save Therion's life just as the fall from the cliff he suffered in the original game was about to kill him. Aelfric, meanwhile, blessed Ophilia so she wouldn't be found or have harm brought upon her during Morlock's genocide of Creek.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Given the Decon-Recon Switch here. Nearly every traveler goes out of their way to involve themselves in the affairs of others because they can't stand by when other people are in danger or are working through personal difficulties, though this is most apparent with Ophilia, Cyrus, Tressa, and Alfyn. The story shows just how damaging this tendency is to their psyches, given how much the suffering of others affects the heroes themselves and how they constantly get themselves hurt rushing into danger for the sake of others, oftentimes also coming out of the situation with more than minor amounts of psychological damage working through their own issues. The reconstruction comes from how their efforts eventually pay off in their favor, as they slowly but surely get to see how their actions have helped others and begin to benefit from being around other like-minded individuals who share their desire to right wrongs, meaning the party having this attitude eventually causes it to function as a support group for all the members.
• Cooldown Hug:
  • Primrose hugging Ophilia after the latter kills Morlock marks the point where Ophilia starts to return to her old self.
  • Olberic is finally able to bring Alfyn some comfort after their fight with Miguel by giving him one of these.
• Cowardly Lion: Even after growing a spine, Tressa is frequently shown to be the most afraid of any given monster the party comes across. This does not stop her from being a capable combatant, and she's introduced to the story managing to lift heavy barrels that Ophilia and Cyrus struggle with, establishing her deceptive strength.
• The Cynic: Therion and Primrose are generally distrusting of the world and the people in it because of their dark histories.
• Dark and Troubled Past:
  • Ophilia lost her entire hometown in a war sparked by capitalistic greed.
  • Olberic saw his kingdom fall and his king slain.
  • Primrose witnessed the murder of her father and then spent years in Helgenish's brothel ring for the sake of tracking Geoffrey's killers. Primrose later learns that one of the brightest spots of her childhood—her relationship with Simeon—was all a fabrication meant to orchestrate her inevitable downfall. Learning she was groomed tips her over the edge and into despair.
  • Therion lost his mother at a young age, leaving him vulnerable to a predatory, toxic relationship with Darius that culminated in him being pushed off a cliff and left to die.
• Darker and Edgier: The entire story is much darker than the source material because of how interconnected all of the stories and the character growth is.
• Darkest Hour: Chapters 151 and 152. Ophilia is left struggling with her self-esteem issues again after nearly losing Primrose at the hands of Simeon under her watch; Therion, who was already dealing with several mental illnesses, is brought to his limits dealing with his trust issues and guilt over his multiple perceived failures; Primrose is left feeling like something less than human and disgusted with herself over everything having to do with her revenge mission and learning she was being groomed by Simeon; Alfyn is left lost and uncertain over what to do after killing Miguel and coming to terms with the fact he's been working with thieves and killers, and is implied to be developing PTSD; and the whole party is strained over the last several days and the struggles they've dealt with. They've also learned that the Obsidians, Primrose's personal foes, are an entire organization spanning practically the entire continent of Orsterra, making the situation seem hopeless.
• Deadpan Snarker: Tressa and Therion are just as irreverent here as they are in the source material, though the nature of the Ensemble Cast means they have an easier time frequently showcasing dry wit.
• Death by Adaptation: Morlock and Omar are both killed in Quarrycrest by Ophilia and Olberic respectively. In the game, they survived and moved to Bolderfall after their fall from grace.
• Despair Event Horizon: Learning that she'd been emotionally groomed for years and had loved the man who would kill her father, on top of struggling with crippling dissociation and self-esteem issues, finally breaks Primrose entirely in chapter 152. She's left so emotionally exhausted she can only wallow in misery and think of herself as 'disgusting.'
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: The main thrust of Olberic and Tressa's character arcs. Though they're content to travel with the party, they're not entirely sure what they themselves are questing for. Tressa eventually resolves to quest to answer this question by seeking out her most precious treasure, while Olberic believes he will find his purpose by tracking down Erhardt and inquiring as to why Erhardt betrayed Hornburg.
• Devious Daggers: In most instances where daggers show up, it's to characterize individuals who are sneaky or morally ambiguous, or to highlight truly desperate or foreboding moments in the story. It's no coincidence Ophilia ends up killing Morlock with Primrose's dagger, and that same dagger is used to continually emphasize Primrose's inner struggle with the depraved killer she could become.
• Dies Differently In The Adaptation: Downplayed in the case of Miguel. It's still Alfyn who does him in, but here Miguel dies from Alfyn directly cutting into the back of Miguel's neck, whereas he bled out in the game.
• Dirty Coward: Albus' character is expanded on to establish that he didn't just sell out Geoffrey Azelhart for money, but also because he could smell blood in the water and was willing to backstab the Noblecourt guard rather than contest the Obsidians. This is a core aspect of his fight, as he recognizes he can't fight all the travelers and had the deck stacked from the start by having a command he could issue at the ready to swarm his chamber with guards.
• Disabled in the Adaptation: Therion was left blind in one eye after his fall off the cliff. While Aeber saved his life, he was unable to heal Therion's eye.
  Therion: "Darius pushed me off a cliff when he betrayed me, and... Aeber saved my life. He couldn't save my eye though."
• Disappointed by the Motive: Primrose is disappointed with Albus' motivations for helping to kill Geoffrey, finding him vain and cowardly for succumbing to corruption without a fight.
• Dishing Out Dirt: The element associated with Brand is earth, and he grants this affinity to the travelers as well, though Olberic uses it the most.
• The Ditherer: More or less Ophilia's biggest flaw. While Ophilia is courageous and acts with convinction when she feels there are people in need of aid, Ophilia has an incredibly difficult time managing her own affairs, and suffers from anxiety when she needs to make a choice that will impact her personal life. When such a situation arises, she prefers to just follow along with the party's goals, making her a rather unique example of both this and The Leader, since the party follows her. This is eventually played for tragedy, as Ophilia becomes convinced that if she hadn't dithered about completing the leg of the Kindling in Goldshore and gone straight home to Flamesgrace, she would have been able to see her father one more time before Josef died, saddling Ophilia with immense guilt.
• Door Stopper: The story currently stands at over 900,000 words, and it is projected to end at well over one million words.
• Driving Question: What is Tressa's one true treasure? This question and how Leon answered it^note Baltazar's ship, which is symbolic of both his legacy and his friendship with Leon. pushes Tressa forward through her adventure as she tries to come to terms with what she wants out of her journey. Much of the back half of her story is spent having Tressa interview the other travelers on what their treasures are as inspiration.
• Elemental Powers: The six elements introduced in the original game are expanded to number twelve in the story, and each god has exceptional control over one element in particular. The elements that have been added to Eight Intertwined are water; astral energy, which encapsulates miniature celestial bodies and, like Octopath Traveler's inspiration and sister series, incorporates time magic into the mix in the form of limited precognition; earth; aether, the purest form of magic; wood; and metal.
• Ensemble Cast: Though Ophilia has a strong case for being The Protagonist as the first character introduced and, by sheer dint of that fact and her involvement with other travelers, the most time devoted to following her actions, the travelers all have equal time spent on their stories and arcs once the full party forms.
• Establishing Character Moment: The adaptation uses what would be each character's chapter 1 from the game proper to outline various aspects of the characters that will stick with them going forward throughout the rest of the tale.
  • Ophilia's inner narration helps to further contextualize her personality as she's introduced to the reader; namely, she's very perceptive and has adapted to become a great actress to hide her insecurities regarding her identity as a Clement and her other anxieties, but also takes the first opportunity she is given to assist that family in a time of crisis. Additionally, while she's loyal to the church, she is revealed to have practiced combat magic in secret. This helps establish Ophilia as someone who suffers from an identity crisis and possesses more than a few insecurities, but is also courageous and creative in the face of direct adversity and quick to take charge of a situation, even if that sometimes requires her to act against the rules.
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: All of the travelers, regardless of their thoughts on fighting and killing, hate some of their foes. Some of the most notable are Ophilia and Tressa with Morlock and Alfyn with Miguel.
• Excellent Judge of Character: Part of what makes everyone in the party trust Ophilia to lead them is that she can pin people for how they really, truly are. The encouragement she gives Primrose, Therion, and Olberic to be the paragons they are capable of being informs much of their development. She's also implied to seriously question Mattias' story as a merchant in a famous emporium, but is called away before she can act on any of her suspicions. It's even noted in the narration she has an eye for sizing people up.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Winnehild uses metal magic to empower her weapons such that they strike with the ferocity and power of any other legendary weapon, and Cyrus demonstrates the ability to warp metal when he taps into Winnehild's power.
• Extreme Doormat: So much so that Ophilia has an anxiety attack when she's forced to choose between herself and the party. Ophilia almost exagerates the image of an extreme doormat, as she goes out of her way to put herself in situations where she can help and put others first when those situations aren't otherwise readily apparent. Going hand-in-hand with Ophilia's lack of self-confidence is the fact she'll always place her needs and goals a distant second to anyone who currently could afford any form of aid. The trope is played with, however, in that the fact Ophilia so eagerly goes out of her way to put others first ironically puts her in the perfect position to be seen as The Leader of the entire group, something she never bothers refuting so as to remain a pillar for her friends - such that she actually starts embodying leadership qualities despite (or perhaps because of) her submissive nature. Notably, however, this trope is never in play when people are in danger; Ophilia is more than willing to assert herself if it actively aids other people.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • For Morlock, all-consuming greed mixed with a general lack of care for anyone else. Morlock constantly continues to act well beyond the purview of his role as leader of Quarrycrest in an effort to amass more power and money. Though the party is initially willing to look the other way given Ophilia's desire not to give in to the concept of revenge, as Morlock was responsible for the destruction of Ophilia's hometown, Creek, they decide Morlock crossed a line by being so apathetic to the plight of his people that he did nothing to address a necromancer starting an abduction operation in the city's sewer system - a system he himself didn't bother to maintain nor monitor. If, at any point, Morlock had simply stuck with what he had as the leader of Quarrycrest and never attempted to expand his holdings, exploit his people, or ignore community crises, he would likely have survived the events of Tressa's second chapter.
  • His petty desire to revel in harming others is what does in Miguel. Despite proving himself to be a match for most of the travelers despite his wounds, to the point he manages to take down Olberic, Cyrus, Tressa, and Therion before any meaningful damage manages to catch up with him, he decides to slowly taunt and choke out Therion while putting one of his spears away. This gives Alfyn the time he needs to regroup and end the fight in the travelers' favor.
• Five-Finger Discount: Therion is seen stealing many items from townsfolk over the course of the journey, most often apples he snags each time he passes through a town.
• Foreshadowing:
  • At the very beginning of the story, Cyrus is studying other elements not known by the rest of the world, and those same elements come up in the fights against the twelve gods.
  • Before the group goes to Quarrycrest, they hear about Morlock from Bartolo, and every small detail from that moment seems to point to Morlock having to die before they leave town.
  • There are many mentions of the group being followed before Lucia is finally exposed.
    • During the group's second trip to Stonegard, there are a lot of small details that build up to the resolution of the spy subplot. For example, the entire group is completely exhausted by the time Lucia appears, leaving them vulnerable to her deception. Cyrus and Olberic were attacked in the middle of the night by Lucia, and the aftermath of that skirmish left the group all too eager to trust Lucia leading up to her stabbing them in the back.
• Foil: Several of the travelers serve as foils for each other.
  • Ophilia and Cyrus are both friendly, polite mages, but Ophilia dedicates herself to healing magic while Cyrus focuses mostly on offensive magic. Ophilia is a natural leader and has unquestionable courage but is overtly afraid of many of the monsters she faces. Cyrus is outwardly brave but hesitates when faced with particularly horrific imagery and has a fear of blood, and though he's a great educator he typically serves as a font of information rather than someone who delegates. Ophilia is well-aware of her own faults and has an easy time reading others at a glance while Cyrus struggles to identify his feelings and talks with people to get a feeling for them. Visually, the two are described as the classic image of chiaroscuro; Ophilia, clothed in white vestments standard among the clergy, shines brightly next to Cyrus, who wears a personalized black outfit with an aesthetically-pleasing cape. Though both are skilled at talking others through their problems, Cyrus typically uses logic to suss out an answer while Ophilia speaks from the heart and uses intuition.
  • Tressa and Therion contrast greatly. Both are willful, have smart mouths, demonstrate craftiness, and march to the beat of their own drum, but Tressa sticks within the confines of the law when possible and only opposes it when she's convinced it can't work for justice. Tressa adheres to a personal code of merchant conduct that dictates she stick to the terms of a deal made, while Therion just takes what he wants and is done with it. Both characters are initially put off by the other's profession, and while Tressa is the most eager of the party to join by far, Cordelia and Heathcote have to effectively bribe Therion to tag along initially.
• For the Evulz: Though he's also interested in getting food to eat, it's eventually revealed that Miguel actively enjoys robbing and killing people. This actually leads to his death, as his attempt to draw out his murder of Therion gives Alfyn the time he needs to strike Miguel in the back.
• Fragile Speedster: Going hand-in-hand with Adaptational Achilles Heel, Therion's nature of being quick but frail within the game is demonstrated here by how frequently he's taken out of fights with one solid hit.
• Freak Out: The novelization puts more emphasis on how the death of her father changed Primrose utterly, downplaying a majority of Primrose's more comedic moments during the initial arcs to illustrate how much his death and the death of Yusufa broke Primrose. Picking up the pieces and learning to be happy again so that Primrose gets these traits back are a focus of her character development.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision: One is set up leading into the chapters covering Ophilia's third chapter from the game. In a unique variant, the 'heart's desire' ends up being Ophilia's family; Ophilia needs to choose between finishing up the Kindling in Goldshore and moving on back home to Flamesgrace, or putting off her duty so she can remain with her friends and help them overcome their final challenges. While there is a clearly 'right' option, as the Kindling is important to keeping all of Orsterra safe and Ophilia loves her family more than anything, Ophilia also highly values her friends, who look to her as The Leader of their party and need her to save Orsterra from other threats such as Lucia and the Obsidians. The quandary comes from what happens if Ophilia finishes the Kindling - she recognizes that if she was in front of Lianna or Josef again, she'd find it nearly impossible to leave their side again lest she lose even more time she could devote to her family, especially as Ophilia is concerned for Josef's health. Making the choice even more difficult is the fact that Tressa is fully aware of the choice Ophilia needs to make, and does a poor job hiding how much Ophilia leaving would affect her, something that eats away at Ophilia as she slowly starts to become cognizant of her growing feelings for the merchant.
• Friend to All Children: Ophilia and Alfyn form deep and lasting bonds with several children in Saintsbridge and Goldshore respectively. It's noted by the other travelers that their honest kindness and willingness to speak with children rather than at them and help them through problems makes the children love the duo in turn.
• Fury-Fueled Foolishness: Tressa is noted to suffer greatly from this. Though typically the last to pick a fight, she's the first to let her anger over a particular injustice control her, which frequently leads her to rush into situations untenable to her or the party. With exception to her time spent in Victors Hollow, this is the quality most likely to rear its ugly head and work against Tressa in each of her arcs.
• Gender Flip: The gods share the genders of the traveler whose class they embody in this adaptation. This means the Top God, Aelfric, is female, as is Bifelgan.
• Genre Savvy: From the very start of the story, Ophilia views Mattias with suspicion, questioning both his overall attitude and how much he stands out next to other merchants. Much later on, when Mattias appears yet again during her quest in Goldshore, Ophilia continues to pick apart his strange philosophy for a man supposedly allied with the Church of the Sacred Flame and becomes very interested in his efforts to try and keep track of her progress in renewing Orsterra's holy protection. Downplayed, however, in that in every situation where she meets up with Mattias, he either has an excuse ready to go to avoid her scrutinizing him for too long or the party is going through a crisis that requires Ophilia's full attention, so while Ophilia is less taken by Mattias than Cyrus, Alfyn, and Primrose are with Lucia, Miguel, and Simeon, respectively, she never gets to act on any of her concerns.
• God Is Good: The expanded roles of the gods in the setting establishes that all but one of them are genuinely benevolent deities whose decision to leave Orsterra for their celestial realm was out of a respect for the agency of their creations. Even with that respect in mind, they assist the travelers through trials that grant the travelers dominion over an aspect of each of their powers.
• Good Is Dumb: Actually discussed and somewhat justified in the case of Miguel. Pretty much everyone - including Alfyn - recognize the riskiness of helping Miguel once Ogen points out why he withheld treatment for the man. The overall party opinion on the matter is split down the middle with Olberic, Cyrus, and H'aanit not having any strong opinions, but everyone who thinks it's a good idea to just let him die can't fault the other side for wanting to hope for a peaceful resolution, as it's against the natures of Ophilia and Alfyn to want to harm others. Alfyn even notes when Miguel double-crosses them that he knew to look for Miguel's red hair immediately once he was made aware something was happening in Saintsbridge, showing he recognizes this was likely to happen but too hopeful he could make things right to leave an injured man to die.
• Good Shepherd: Though she's not just defined by her religion, a large aspect of Ophilia's character is that she is a truly good priestess out on a journey to allow her sister to look after their ailing father while she herself renews the divine protection of the Top God throughout the land. It's implied Ophilia largely grew into this role out of appreciation for the divine providence she believes saved her life during the genocide of Creek and the loving family she was blessed with. She later learns that it really was divine providence that spared her life, and shows nothing but loyalty to Aelfric.
• Green Thumb: Dohter has wood and plant-themed magic that manifests itself through the quick generation of plants. This ancient type of magic is passed on to the party once he is overcome, with Alfyn, Dohter's chosen, taking a particular shine to it.
• Grew a Spine: Tressa begins the journey anxious and afraid of initiating combat. By the time her chapter two rolls around, she's very gung-ho about the idea of starting a rebellion and inciting a coup.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Unlike the original game, Hägen gets actively involved in the journey, and assists the party in several fight scenes until his departure at the end of the party's first trip to Stonegard.

H to M

• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Both Ophilia and Alfyn are blonde, idealistic characters. Even compared to their source material, they stand as easily the most openly benevolent and selfless members of the party, as their thoughts are near constantly occupied by ways in which they can help their friends or help innocents around them.
• Happily Adopted:
  • Ophilia is very happy with Josef and Lianna as her adoptive family.
  • It turns out that Susanna Grotoff functionally started an entire line of adopted children, starting with Z'aanta, as the story focuses more on her familial connection with H'aanit as an adopted grandmother. It's also strongly implied that Susanna sees Alaic as an adopted son as well.
• Hard Truth Aesop: With the expanded context of the scene itself and the scene leading up to the moment Miguel kidnaps a child, where Alfyn's story isn't a standalone tale like it is in the game itself, the overall moral lesson of Alfyn's arc in Saintsbridge is that there truly are people who are not worth saving. At two points Alfyn takes a second to consider that no one is beyond redemption, only for the point to be refuted by either his own words or Primrose's account of how Helgenish serves as an example of someone who needed to be dealt with. Even Ophilia admits with no small degree of trepidation that, despite hating the feeling of killing Morlock, she would do it again and again if she had to, because she needed to save Alfyn's life and Morlock's cruelty brought about his own downfall. Sometimes, cruel actions need to be taken to help people more deserving of aid, and sometimes, the right option is to admit when someone is too far gone to help.
• Healer Signs On Early: Ophilia is the starting character in this retelling.
• Honor Among Thieves: Therion sticks it out with the travelers and his quest for the dragonstones even after picking open the lock on the fool's bangle in Saintsbridge.
• Hypocritical Humor: The basis for the comedy inherent to Primrose and Therion's bickering - each member of the duo mocks each other for qualities they themselves are guilty of having.
• Hypocrite:
  • Alfyn believes every person is worth saving despite bringing up a few people who deserved to die such as Helgenish, Rufus, and Morlock just a few sentences later.
  • Primrose encourages others to open up early in the story despite being notably emotionally withdrawn through her chapter two.
• I Am a Monster: Several characters start to feel this way after Ogen's explanation for why he won't heal Miguel brings into question the party's actions killing others. Having to kill Miguel nearly convinces Alfyn he is this trope, and Primrose ends up associating herself with the act of revenge and refuses any chance to feel happiness following the event.
  • Primrose's case only gets worse following her excitment killing Albus and learning of just how much of her life had been controlled by Simeon. It reaches the point in chapter 152 where Primrose dissociates with humanity entirely;
  Narration: 'Primrose shook her head. If she spoke, she would just end up crying, and she didn't want to embarrass herself by being human in front of these people who loved her so dearly.'
• An Ice Person: Though skilled in all the core elements scholars use, Alephan has a special connection with ice.
• Ideal Hero: Ophilia, Cyrus, and Tressa all fall into this role, though as a bit of a deconstruction it also means they're the most effected when circumstances outside their control or actions they have to take to maintain their morality cause them to run into hardship. Having to kill Morlock to save Alfyn leaves Ophilia catatonic for some time, and the fact that scenario came to pass because Tressa rushed into the situation that led up to Morlock nearly killing Alfyn leaves Tressa feeling incredibly guilty and more than a little bitter about how her plan fell through. When the dust settles following the battle with Yvon, Cyrus is likewise left deeply repentant over how his desire to trust the good in others nearly led to the death of him, Therion, and Therese.
• Ineffectual Loner: Played tragically for Primrose and Therion. For various psychological reasons, the two go out of their way to break from the party at certain points in the plot, and even within their backstories mostly fended for themselves up to the start of the tale. This has dire consequences mentally for Therion, who suffers a breakdown after returning the ruby Dragonstone to the Ravus estate, and for Primrose, whose habit of taking others for granted and focusing on her own mission meant she wasn't there to help Yusufa when the dancer needed her most.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice:
  • Lucia stabs Cyrus near-fatally after luring him and Therion into a trap in Stonegard.
  • Simeon stabs Primrose with a drug-laced knife in Noblecourt.
• Irony: Ophilia, as noted throughout the page, is a ditherer who always puts others first at the expense of herself. She's also the only traveler who has two adapted chapters back-to-back, as the arc devoted to Ophilia's chapter 3 immediately transitions into Ophilia's chapter 4, more or less forcing Ophilia to put herself first and be in the spotlight.
• It's All About Me: Albus' Fatal Flaw. He doesn't have loyalty towards anyone but himself and whoever looks like the most powerful figure in front of him to follow. All his motivation is dedicated towards survival, himself, and money, meaning he burns his bridges with whoever he betrays and is reliant on the person he follows thinking he's a useful enough asset to maintain. As Simeon views all lives as rote and only cares about engineering drama, he leaves Albus high and dry simply to get an opportunity to derive pleasure through seeing Primrose's pain.
• It's All My Fault: Primrose blames herself for what happens to Yusufa and uses it as a justification for isolating herself in the group's earlier adventures.
• It Never Gets Any Easier: Discussed between Alfyn and Olberic in regards to Olberic's former work as a soldier. Olberic can't decide if this is the case, but he explains how time and distance can heal the trauma of it all, and implies that he himself got used to it eventually.
• It's Personal:
  • Alfyn raged after Vanessa more than any other enemy up to that point after realizing she was misusing the craft he loved so much.
  • Primrose went after Helgenish with renewed vigor after Yusufa's death.
  • Ophilia had more of a reason to detest Morlock after learning about Creek's fate from Bartolo.
• Jumped at the Call: Tressa is far and away the most eager to join Ophilia's group, having desired to see the world for quite a while.
• Just You and Me and My GUARDS!: His inner monologue reveals that Albus wants a one-on-one with Primrose. He was clever enough to figure out how to separate her from her friends, invoking this trope when it becomes clear he is very quickly becoming overwhelmed, but clever strategy on the part of Cyrus and Olberic with an ice barrier and a rock wall to divide the battlefield still forces Albus to take on Primrose, Revello, Linde, Alfyn, and Therion all at once.
• Karmic Death:
  • Helgenish dies at Primrose's hands after abusing her for years.
  • Rufus is similarly killed by Primrose years after he murdered her father.
  • Morlock dies at the hands of the sole survivor of the attack he ordered on Creek.
• Knight in Sour Armor: At the start of the story, Olberic is just going through the motions within Cobbleston, still rooted in the past and nostalgic for his glory days. Once he's given a proper quest to involve himself in, he proves himself to still be the model of chivalry he was as the Unbending Blade of Hornburg, though he's still plagued by doubts. Part of his Character Development is finding a reason worth living for again as he slowly transitions into being a Knight in Shining Armor.
• Knight of Cerebus: Though the story is fairly dark to match the source material, the arrival of Miguel forces Alfyn to struggle with the concepts of morality and mortality far more than in the game itself. Miguel also comes the closest to killing several of the heroes, as he has Therion dead to rights and only fails to kill the thief due to indulging in the act of slowly choking Therion out long enough for Alfyn to get in a sneak attack, an experience that leaves Therion utterly terrified.
• Lampshade Hanging: Ophilia actually brings up how odd it is for an apothecary to leave a patient who just went through an intense surgery alone in a dingy, dirty shack at the edge of town. Alfyn actually has an explanation for leaving Miguel behind, though.
• The Leader: It's mentioned among a few characters, most notably Primrose, that Ophilia is more or less seen as the person unofficially in charge of the group - she's typically looked to to give the party their objectives, and organized the entire crew in the first place. It's outright confirmed during chapter 141, where it's noted in the narration that everyone agrees on this point even if no one says it aloud.
• Life Drain: Aether, Dreisang's element, has the bonus effect of somewhat restoring the user's vitality when it harms targets. Cyrus notes that though it is useful for perservering in the face of protracted fights (or fighting past one's limit), the energy regained isn't as large as the energy expended, so aether is typically useful for its ability to extend a user's operative time spent fighting rather than as a replacement for rest and healing.
• Light 'em Up: Aelfric is the authority on light magic, and effectively teaches Ophilia how to use Reflective Veil by employing it judiciously in her fight against the party.
• Logical Weakness: How the story justifies the Break system from the game to keep even the combat true to the text - most opponents the travelers fight react differently to weapon types and magical elements based on various aspects of their physiology or place of origin - Joshua Frostblade, given his origins in Northreach, reacts poorly to fire magic, as an example. Nocturnal enemies and creatures found in caves and deep forests will likewise be Blinded by the Light, while creatures from bright areas don't take well to darkness. The additional six elements introduced in the fanfic also have their parts to play in breaking enemies.
• Love Confession: In Chapter 172, Primrose finally tells H'aanit exactly how she feels about the Huntress. Luckily for Primrose, H'aanit reciprocates.
• Love Triangle: Primrose's mounting affection for H'aanit causes a triangle to form during the Noblecourt arc. H'aanit isn't aware of Primrose's feelings towards her, but Primrose is stuck figuring out if she prefers her old flame Simeon or if she still wants to try to win over H'aanit. Once she realizes what a duplicitous snake Simeon was, she firmly decides on H'aanit.
• Lower-Deck Episode: Several of the chapters focused on a given character's story in each location will also document the things the other travelers get up to, if they aren't with the lead character for the given arc.
• Made a Slave: More detail is given regarding how Primrose and Yusufa are slaves within Sunshade; due to how Helgenish manages things, his hidden assassins have the run of the place, and anyone under Helgenish's employ that acts out of line is either beaten to incapacitation or death and left outside to act as a message regarding what happens to people who upset the 'master.' Even if the people working for Helgenish are still tempted to leave, the Sunlands desert and the monsters surrounding the city act as a good motivator to stay under Helgenish's thumb.
• Magically Inept Fighter: It's noted that Olberic doesn't take to magic as well as the other travelers. Though the Sword of Stone granted to him by Brand gives him control over earth, he reserves that power typically for nonlethal purposes in a fight so he can restrain his enemies. This is exploited in the fight with Steorra; because she can only see the most likely interpretation of the immediate future, her powers fail her when someone utilizes tactics and skills atypical of them, and Olberic scores the first meaningful hit in the fight utilizing magic.
• Magic Knight: Though all the travelers eventually gain proficiency with both magical spells and martial weapons, only Tressa truly fits the bill of someone who uses magic and martial skill interchangeably. Other characters show a very clear preference for one or the other; in Primrose's case, she almost exclusively bombards enemies with magic before moving in to end fights with her dagger, while Ophilia and Cyrus know how to whack things with their staves but default almost exclusively to spellcasting, for instance.
• Making a Splash: Balogar is subtle about his usage of the element of water, preferring to use it to channel other elements with ease and overwhelm his opponents with nonstop aggression, but it's implied he can use water directly to harm others. His Oceanic Scythe is easy to wield because of is connection to the element, though the party mostly needs to use the Oceanic Scythe and the eldrite to get anything out of the element of water, as Balogar has no specific chosen traveler who can use the element with expert proficiency.
• Martial Pacifist: Ophilia hates killing people and will tell anyone who listens this fact. She's also great at actually doing just that, killing Morlock to save Alfyn and Hróðvitnir to save Emil and Derryl, though she typically prefers focusing on healing people and using magic nonlethally to scare off beasts.
• Misery Builds Character: The entire cast goes through a lot over the course of the journey, and most of their character development stems from some horror they encounter on their shared journey.
• Mundane Utility: As an ever-lit lantern, Aelfric's Lanthorn, which carries the Ember, is used by Ophilia to explore dark areas.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: Primrose lampshades this aspect of herself when she goes to have a friendly chat with Natalia and H'aanit. She has to restrain herself from simply offering to murder Nathan to get him off Natalia's back, recognizing that solution was too extreme for a stalker and coming to question her normalcy and attraction to H'aanit for thinking of it in the first place. As the story continues, Primrose becomes more philosophical about the life she leads and comes to confront this natural inclination within herself, eventually accepting that she'll take pragmatic options but cutting back on how often she feels killing a person is necessary to the party's goals.
• Mythology Gag: The Tome of Tundras, Alephan's divine artifact that he gifts to Cyrus, is taken wholesale from the mobile game, Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent.

N to S

• Named by the Adaptation:
  • The other dancers under Helgenish's command are given names despite being left nameless in the game.
  • Alfyn's mother is also named in this adaptation. Ironically enough, she shares a name with a character in Octopath Traveler II despite this story releasing two years before the sequel game.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: Much to Ophilia's horror, she vastly underestimated how deadly Josef's illness was, and reels back in shock upon learning that she never got to see her father following her departure to perform the Kindling. That she dithered for so long for the sake of her friends contributes massively to Ophilia's guilt, since she feels she could have gotten back in time to see her father if she'd kept to her mission.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: Lucia goes well beyond her role in the game, constantly hounding the party and wearing them down psychologically once she's introduced in Quarrycrest, before making an attempt on Cyrus' life. It's made abundantly clear that Lucia is aware of how dangerous the travelers are together, and does everything as efficiently as possible to get her target as alone as possible so she can dispatch him in one fell swoop.
• Oblivious to Love: H'aanit is completely clueless regarding Primrose's feelings for her, even after Primrose gets H'aanit to realize she is attracted to women and makes several passes at her. H'aanit just thinks Primrose is acting strangely. The implied justification is that Z'aanta, social maverick and single father that he was, never really had a mind for non-platonic relationships either, and had a difficult time teaching H'aanit how to seek out companionship, which wasn't helped by their somewhat distant relationship. She finally realizes how Primrose feels about her when Primrose cuts out all the pageantry and just outright states she loves H'aanit in Chapter 172.
• Only One Name: Therion and H'aanit have no surnames and go only by their first names.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The group is shaken to the core and terrified when Ophilia withdraws from the rest of the group to the point of borderline catatonia.
• Orphan's Ordeal:
  • Ophilia slipped into deep depression after the destruction of Creek and the deaths of her parents. If not for Lianna and Josef, she never would have snapped out of it.
  • Primrose's house fell from grace after her father's death, leaving her bitter, jaded, and fixated on a sunk cost fallacy revenge trip.
  • After his mother's death, Therion was left alone and vulnerable to be taken advantage of by Darius.
• Out-of-Character Moment: Ophilia goes eerily silent after having to kill Morlock.
• Playing with Fire: Aeber's connection with his element is such that he occasionally seems like parts of him are smoking or on fire. His Inferno Dagger grants Therion more expansive control over the element, as well.
• Pragmatic Adaptation:
  • Most random encounters are excluded for the sake of preserving the pacing of the story.
  • A few concessions in gameplay had to be made for the sake of story cohesion. Namely, though the concept of Breaking is maintained, Boosting is at best distantly hinted at. While it makes sense for enemies to reel from being hit by attacks that are particularly effective against them, the Boost mechanic doesn't work as well given how wounds are treated more seriously in the story and how the characters would necessarily be constantly on the move in a battlefield.
  • Classes as a concept no longer exist, and are by and large replaced with the travelers simply learning more magic as they interact with each other. Similarly, certain characters respond well to certain weapons and skills based on what they can realistically handle; Olberic can cast magic but is noted to have no talent for it and focuses mainly on his weapons, Cyrus is too physically weak to rely on heavy weapons and sticks to spells, Ophilia has some skill with a dagger, and so on.
  • The travelers all venture together, even through dungeons. While they're liable to split up when they enter a city, they still always typically come together in time for each arc's climax. As a result, the bosses from the game itself end up needing to battle all of them and Linde at once, with some notable exceptions. ^note Because Primrose is hiding at the time, she's absent from the fight with Orlick. Additionally, while they are present, Cyrus and Therion are forced to leave the majority of the fight with Yvon to the other travelers due to how wounded they are, though Cyrus lands several key blows and ends the fight, while Therion takes the time to rescue Therese and keep her away from the carnage. The number of allies a boss has will typically increase to preserve tension, and if the boss didn't have any allies its abilities will frequently be played up to account for the additional combatants.
• The Quiet One: Eight years of being stuck with his thoughts and regrets over his failure to protect Hornburg have left Olberic largely withdrawn and quiet. Even as the party forms, it typically takes no small degree of coaxing from people like Cecily and Ophilia to get him to open up at all.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: It's noted that, aside from Ophilia, who is the daughter of one of the most powerful men in the Church of the Sacred Flame and the Flamebearer besides, and Cyrus, who is a valued scholar trusted with the education of a princess and a future duchess, all the members of the party are either from humble backgrounds^note Tressa is the daughter of two merchants from a sleepy seaside town only notable due to being one of the few ports for the Inner Sea, H'aanit comes from a quaint Woodlands village, Therion has enough money stashed away to live comfortably but is frequently on the lamb as a result of his legendary larceny, and Alfyn comes from a quiet corner of the Riverlands or have fallen from grace and now lead humble lives.^note Olberic was one of the two greatest knights of Hornburg, but with Hornburg in ruins his title means little now in terms of authority, and Primrose's claim to the Azelhart line is tenuous at best now that it has lost all authority and holdings in Noblecourt.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: It's explained that, given Saintsbridge's connection to the Church of the Sacred Flame, Bishop Bartolo is more or less both a high-ranking church official and the city's mayor. He performs well in his capacity as the leader of the Saintsbridge region, and even housed Ophilia briefly as a child following the destruction of Creek. Though he disapproves of the mayor of the neighboring city of Quarrycrest, Bishop Bartolo has largely kept Saintsbridge isolated from Morlock's dealings to keep the people of his city safe. When Ophilia admits later to killing Morlock in self defense, he refuses to hold Morlock's death to Ophilia, reasoning that she did what she had to do in the moment and that, overall, things worked out for the best.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: H'aanit reflects that throughout all her life, she's had this relationship with Z'aanta, being the cool, logical, driven blue to Z'aanta's irreverent, risky, expressive red. It's played for tragedy, as H'aanit coming to realize this relationship and not be a part of it for so long causes her to suffer no small degree of loneliness.
• Refusal of the Call: Therion initially wants to leave the rest of the group but is dragged into their adventure after the others make a deal with Cordelia and Heathcote to ensure he sees his mission through.
• Reluctant Warrior: Ophilia and Alfyn dislike combat and vastly prefer healing their comrades to injuring their enemies. They do what they must, particularly when their friends are threatened, but they don't like fighting. Similarly, Therion likes stealing and avoiding combat entirely when possible.
• The Rival: Once Primrose and Therion feel comfortable enough in the party to bare their hearts and honestly befriend the other travelers, they begin developing a rivalry in regards to their love lives and coming clean about their feelings to the other travelers.
• Rule of Symbolism:
  • Devious Daggers as a trope is in full effect in this tale. Typically, whenever a character more aligned with magic has to kill someone, they will use a dagger to symbolize the desperation of the action - this occurs twice for Ophilia.
  • Attention is drawn to Ophilia's gloves constantly, especially when they are stained in blood, which are symbolic of Ophilia's otherwise kind nature giving way to her desire to protect others and the cost she pays in blood to ensure that protection.
• Running Gag: Therion acquiring apples, and the party wondering when or how he did so. Even when the story follows his perspective, the reader is often informed that Therion has an apple but is never told how or when he got it.
• Saintly Church: Even when compared to the original game, the Church of the Sacred Flame stands out as utterly, unquestionably benevolent. Only one (minor) member of the church is shown to be wicked, and Bishop Bartolo's expanded role as the de facto head of Saintsbridge only adds to the organization's overall benevolence.
• Scenery Porn: Ophilia is written to be more in-tune with the environment around her, and whenever she's the viewpoint character she tends to focus a bit more on the scenery in a given location, which leads to richly-detailed accounts of what she's viewing. This is best exemplified during her first visit the Woodlands and her arrival in Saintsbridge, both of which take her breath away.
• Shipper on Deck: Primrose teases Therion many times about his relationship with Alfyn and encourages him to pursue it. Therion returns the favor with Primrose and H'aanit.
• Shock and Awe: Draefendi literally uses lightning arrows to hunt, allowing her to never run out of ammunition. Her bow, when passed to H'aanit, gives H'aanit the ability to produce lightning arrows as well.
• Shout-Out: It is likely no coincidence, given the other fandoms the author writes for, that the item the party receives that allows them to recreate fast travel from the original work is called the Warp Staff.
• The Social Expert: Ophilia's upbringing served to give her keen insight into how people think and work, as she came to highly value the life she had after the loss of her parents and her brush with death in Creek. In the game, this quality manifested in Ophilia's Guidance path action, whereas here, Ophilia is typically the mediator for both the party and anyone the party meets. This quality is also frequently why the party looks to Ophilia as The Leader, since she can talk the party through its problems with significant consistency, up to and including her ability to initially get the party to work with Therion, whom Tressa distrusts on principle. Ophilia's social perception immediately tells her something is off about Mattias, though she can't detect exactly what, and allows Ophilia to talk the party and Erhardt into trusting her decision to give the lizardmen near Wellspring a water source to call their own, as Ophilia recognizes resource scarcity is ultimately why the lizardmen so frequently clash with Wellspring.
• So Proud of You: When Ophilia admits to killing Morlock to Bartolo, the bishop commends her for her integrity and admits he feels she did the right thing given the circumstances in an effort to save her friend - though he also presses onto Ophilia the importance of not letting his approval for her actions regarding Morlock leave the church building.
• Spared, but Not Forgiven: Alfyn doesn't kill Vanessa, but he and the rest of the travelers find her actions to be irredeemable, and they want nothing to do with her ever again.
• Spared by the Adaptation: In Wellspring, Therion spares Gareth after realizing he is Darius' replacement for him. He tells Gareth to leave and never cross his path again because if they fight once more, he won't spare him again. Gareth leaves alive even though he dies after his boss fight in the game.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: To a degree. H'aanit understands Linde and Hägen's demeanors far better than everyone else, and her narration often likens their actions to human behaviors.
• Squishy Wizard: Cyrus is noticeably lacking in physical defenses compared to the rest of the travelers, something Lucia takes advantage of by stabbing him in Stonegard. Afterward, Cyrus is even squishier and easier to take out of a fight.
• Star Power: Steorra has control of the celestial spheres and produces star-like meteorite projectiles in combat. This power overlaps somewhat with time magic in that it also grants Steorra limited precognition, but unlike most of the powers of the gods this aspect of Steorra's stellar power isn't inherited by the travelers when she is beaten.
• Stating the Simple Solution: One of H'aanit's specialties. Having grown up with Z'aanta, who gambled as easily as he breathed, H'aanit needed to learn to be practical incredibly quickly, and is typically the first person to give the blunt, simple answer to a problem as a result.
• Statuesque Stunner: Primrose finds H'aanit and Steorra to be overwhelmingly attractive, and both of them are notably taller than most of the group.

T to Z

• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Therion is very hesitant to work with the rest of the travelers when he first joins them.
• Teleportation with Drawbacks: Alephan's Warp Staff allows the characters to teleport, acting as the novelization's means of adapting the fast travel mechanic from the game. Just like the fast travel mechanic, however, the Warp Staff can only travel to just outside civilized settlements, and the travelers need to actually visit those settlements first. The Warp Staff can allow people to go to places they haven't been to as long as they're being escorted by someone who has, though.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Yusufa's only unkind act is squealing on where Primrose ran off to when she left Helgenish to chase down Rufus, and even then Helgenish's goons had to beat Yusufa within an inch of her life to force her to talk. Primrose is dumbstruck regarding how a girl like Yusufa, who had only ever known slavery, jealousy, and the wretched depths of human cruelty, could be so blindingly pure-hearted and good. Just as in the original game, this doesn't stop Yusufa from dying at the hands of Helgenish.
  Narration: Yusufa was the only dancer within Sunshade who didn't detest Primrose openly. In fact, Primrose didn't even know if Yusufa was capable of hating anyone, too full of hidden love and care for the world between her empathetic eyes and kind gestures.
• Town with a Dark Secret: Many of the towns have elements of multiple chapters combined to make them more cohesive.
  • At a first glance, Quarrycrest is a simple mining town, but in truth, the leader of the city is too apathetic to the plight of the people to do anything about them being abducted. He also started a failed war fifteen years prior to the story and got away with barely any punishment for it, something that lands him in hot water when the travelers show up.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Therion steals an apple from nearly every town the travelers visit, and everyone else is left wondering just where he finds them.
• Tragic Keepsake: Primrose holds her father's dagger dear as the only symbol of him she has left.
• Tranquil Fury: Primrose is eerily calm when she confronts Helgenish despite being infuriated and murderous after he killed Yusufa.
• Turn the Other Cheek:
  • After his duel with Erhardt, Olberic chooses to not kill him upon seeing that he has turned over a new leaf as Wellspring's guardian.
  • After the battle with Gareth, Therion chooses to spare him upon realizing Gareth was Darius' poorly-masked replacement for him. Therion instead tells Gareth to not pursue Darius and never cross paths with Therion again unless he wants Therion to actually kill him next time.
• The Unchosen One: Zigzagged with Ophilia. She was not the one selected by the church to perform the Kindling, but she was chosen by Aelfric fifteen years before the story. She gets in the way of her antagonists' plans regardless of her chosen one status.
• Unexplained Recovery: Averted. In the game, it is not known how Therion survived his fall after he was pushed off a cliff by Darius. In this retelling, it was because Aeber, the god of thieves, intervened and healed his injuries when Therion was on death's door.
• Vengeance Feels Empty: Despite planning for a decade to get revenge against the men who murdered her father, Primrose finds herself ultimately unsatisfied with that purpose. In her second chapter, she begins to realize that she only wants to see it through to the end because she has sunk so much into it. This only gets worse in her chapter three when she uses killing Albus as a self-destructive coping method to the aftermath of facing Miguel. Primrose ultimately decides that revenge isn't her purpose anymore after seeing Simeon again, instead vowing to stop him for the sake of others who he may choose to take advantage of after her.
• Vitriolic Best Buds:
  • Though most of the party gets along just fine, Primrose and Therion end up becoming this as the two open up more. The subject of romance especially has them at each other's throat.
  • Over time, Tressa and Therion start forming an honest friendship with each other, though at no point do either of them endorse the other's way of living. Tressa grumbles whenever theft is necessary and Therion is quick to point out how much faster it is to simply steal products whenever Tressa insists on sticking to her morals, though both frequently cover each other in active combat and respect the other's skill in their craft.
• Wham Episode:
  • Chapter 152. Cyrus learns the dark history of the Ventus Empire, directly tying the supplemental materials into the adaptation, and by association realizes that Simeon Ventus was a man that, at over a century old, actively pursued romantic relations with a woman no older than twelve or thirteen in an effort to groom her. Primrose realizing this and reflecting on everything she's been through and lost causes her to finally snap.
• What You Are in the Dark:
  • Despite knowing Therion absolutely could steal Baltazar's treasure map from the skinflint merchant holding onto it, and wanting the map desperately because of Leon's bond with Baltazar, Tressa never once gives into the temptation, proving her morals and values ironclad.
  • Once Therion realizes he can get the fool's bangle off on his own, he decides to hide that fact from the rest of the party, wanting them to believe he's still as selfish and self-centered as he was when he first joined the party. Alfyn does eventually figure out the truth, though.
• Worth It: Tressa deems the loss of half her winnings from the Victors Hollow tournament to get the shield she trades for Baltazar's treasure map to be entirely worth the effort and monetary loss, because she was able to avoid giving into the temptation to steal the map outright. Even the merchant who had been giving her a hard time up until that moment is awestruck by just how accomplished a merchant Tressa had to be to get the map fair and square.
• Wretched Hive: Like in the game, Sunshade is a den of back-alley deals, slavery, and debauchery. The town itself is written as having a malevolent energy that sickens Ophilia, Cyrus, Tressa, and Olberic when they first arrive.
• You Are Not Alone: Part of what helps Therion come back down from his breakdown following retrieving the ruby Dragonstone and gives Olberic at least a temporary answer to the significant quandry regarding why he continues to live are heartfelt assertions by Ophilia that they are no longer alone in the world. Therion takes this to heart and comes to depend upon and trust Alfyn, while Olberic rallies behind the idea that he fights for the party, which helps him win the tournament in Victors Hollow.
  Ophilia: "I'm not going to force you before you're ready to talk to us about what's going on, but... As long as you understand that we're all here for you, we should be alright. The instant you're ready to talk, all you have to do is find us. You're not in this alone. All of us are here because we want to be."
  Therion: "Yeah. I guess so."
  Ophilia: "Let's go. We're all here for you as long as you're willing to have us. Self-sabotage is difficult to push through, but... You don't have to do this on your own. As long as you know that we're here... It's going to be alright."
• You Killed My Father: Primrose says this to each of the men of the crow before she fights them to the death.

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