History Tropers / TheGreatUnknown

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fursonaheadshot_4.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Mr. Cool]]

INT. TROPER PAGE. DAY.

''A man is sifting through piles of dusty trope pages and works. He looks up when he spots you, and smiles.''

[[FourthWallGreeting Hey there, I didn't hear you come in!]] As you can see, it's been awhile since I was in here, and I just thought I'd tidy things up a bit. As long as you're here, it'd be nice if you'd help me out, and I'll tell you a little something about myself as we do.

I'm The Great Unknown. Why do I go by that? Good question. Let's just say that [[{{Retcon}} now]] it's because, well, there are far too many things that are obscure and unknown out there. They're also great! Hence, it's my desire to show them off to, well, anyone who'll possibly listen!

If you want basic details, it wouldn't be fitting to give much away, but I'm a male from Pennsylvania who's old enough to know better but young enough to not care. And yes, [[SelfDeprecation I know that's an old joke]].

A couple things you should also know:

* I'm a [[UsefulNotes/FurryFandom furry]]. A huge one, in fact, and I have absolutely no reason to be ashamed about, thank you very much!
* I like to write and to roleplay. I can often be found on Forum Games, and I'm always planning to write fanfiction. Maybe one of these days I'll get one finished...

Okay, okay, I'll tropefy myself:
* {{Geek}} / {{Nerd}}
* TheShortGuyWithGlasses
* TheSnarkKnight
* SympathyForTheDevil: One thing you may notice about me is that I have a tendency to find ''something'' good in many if not most villains, and I'm never especially fond of heroes resorting to extreme methods to deal with them nor of writers giving out extremely harsh fates.

Anyway, that should cover the ''basics''. The rest is for you to find out! I mean, if you care. If not, I'll just be here, quietly editing things and not-so-quietly playing forum games!

Here are a few examples of the pages I've started:
* TwoFaced
* Radio/APrairieHomeCompanion
* Literature/TheWindInTheWillows
* Film/SunsetBoulevard
* Fanfic/PackStreet
* Fanfic/RoommatesMemoirsOfTheHairlessApe

[[folder:A Few Especially Good Friends I've Made Here]]
Note that not being on here yet doesn't mean you're ''not'' a friend!

* Tropers/{{arcada188}}
* Tropers/{{Beverly}}
* Tropers/DrNoPuma
* Tropers/PresidentStalkeyes
* Tropers/{{Sedmikrasky}}
[[/folder]]

It might be easier to list the things I ''don't'' like, so I'll just be slowly working on this list of things I particularly enjoy as I go along. For my own amusement.

[[folder:General things I enjoy]]
* AlternateHistory: [[SlidingScaleOfAlternateHistoryPlausibility Plausible or not]], but generally not AlienSpaceBats level.
* FairytaleMotif: Especially those that play TruerToTheText or at least encapsulate [[AnAesop the original message]].
* TheHerosJourney
** Comparative mythology in general.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Anime/AggressiveRetsuko''
* ''Anime/CowboyBebop''
* ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' (the 2003 version specifically)
* ''LightNovel/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions''
* ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt''
* Creator/StudioGhibli and Creator/HayaoMiyazaki in general
** ''Anime/PrincessMononoke''
** ''Anime/SpiritedAway''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}''
* ''ComicBook/CaptainCarrotAndHisAmazingZooCrew''
* ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}''
* ''ComicBook/LutherArkwright''
* Creator/AlanMoore (sometimes)
** ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''
* ''ComicBook/MouseGuard''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]
* Creator/TheCoenBrothers
** ''Film/{{Fargo}}''
* ''Film/GroundhogDay''
* ''Film/TheTrumanShow'
* '''Film/StarWars'''
** The original trilogy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Creator/RayBradbury
* Creator/JRRTolkien
** ''Literature/TheHobbit''[[labelnote:note]]My personal favorite[[/labelnote]]
** ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings
** ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''
[[/folder]]

--

And finally, since I do talk about her a lot, here's some information about my favorite original character, as written by myself.

[[folder:Nakhta]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nakhtaportfunsize.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Read her description? She knew you'd do that.]]

Nakhta de Renaud[[labelnote:note]]Pronounced ''KNOCK-tuh deh Reh-KNOW''[[/labelnote]] is the Queen of Vulland, a FunnyAnimal kingdom in a Western European style setting. Her distinctively white-furred fox royal family tree [[RoyalBlood stretches back some 1000 years]], though it's rare that any one monarch [[HighTurnoverRate gets to enjoy the position for long]] with all the infighting, assassinations, and coups over the years. Nakhta's father was one such wily, long-reigning monarch, and even though she was the youngest of five kits, she was [[ParentalFavoritism the favorite]] and learned everything she knows from him. Like everyone in the family, she's [[RoyallyScrewedUp not entirely well]], acute paranoia that strikes from time to time and an absolute compulsion to scheme and plot being just two of her many issues. She was never expected to actually rule, though, until a tragically-timed accident at sea cost the lives of her mother, father, and all her siblings, leaving the just-adult vixen in charge. Once Nakhta has something, she's unwilling to part with it, particularly power, and only time will tell if she's capable of holding together such a fractious kingdom...

Nakhta was, as you might guess, largely intended as a {{Deconstruction}} of various villains across the ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' series. They're all StupidEvil [[BlackAndWhiteMorality irredeemable monsters]], but does that really make sense? Do they deserve NoSympathy for being raised by an evil family with no real chance to be good? Even if they're not, is it realistic for them to be pure evil and their relatives pure good? These are just a few of the questions raised by the series, and Nakhta is an examination of what it might look like if one of them were the protagonist instead.

An AlternateContinuity version of her appears in the upcoming visual novel ''VisualNovel/ThePiratesFate''!

'''Tropes associated with her:'''
* AmbiguouslyEvil: She likes to leave her motivations as hidden as possible. The only thing that's clear is that she has a plot for seemingly every contingency, but they vary wildly in just how dark they are, and her ultimate goals (if any) are unknown.
* TheChessmaster
* ComplexityAddiction: Nakhta would rather do something the more convoluted way on her own terms than a simple way on somebody else's. Then again, there are just times where she simply fails to see the obvious MundaneSolution.
* CunningLikeAFox
* DecadentCourt: It's been that way for centuries, and she sees no reason to change it. In fact, she might be quietly encouraging it, in order to take some of the potential anger of the commoners off herself if it comes to that, and also to keep them from plotting against her or terrorizing said commoners.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Assuming she can be considered evil, anyway, she ''won't'' bring physical harm to anyone [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes related to her]].
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: To some extent; while the people might be somewhat afraid of her, it's not because of her actual decisions. She really does try her best to be fair in her judgments whenever remotely possible. (As such, she sees herself as TheHighQueen.) Rather, people are afraid that she'll find out everything about them and their plans, with spies everywhere--and they're not wrong.
** [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask The Vixen Wearing the Queenly Mask]]: On the other hand, being a queen is a lot of pressure, and she didn't ask for it. She wanted to be [[TheManBehindTheMan the power behind the throne]]. She's just too stubborn to give it up.
* RoyalBrat: Downplayed, as she's 19, but she does have her moments of stunning immaturity from time to time. That, and she's ''extremely'' self-centered.
* RoyalWe: Specifically averted; Nakhta only ever uses first person singular to refer to herself. This might seem less conceited, but it's actually ''more'' so.
* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler:Averted! She's entirely innocent of her family's death, not that anyone believes her.]]
* TheSouthpaw: Somewhat literally.
* YoungestChildWins: With the twist that she neither expected nor wanted to before it happened.
[[/folder]]
--

I do have some others. [[AttentionDeficitCreatorDisorder A lot of others, actually]]. Here are a few of them in no particular order. Keep in mind, these ones have basically LooseCanon that can be fit into other kinds of stories, unlike Her Majesty up there.

[[folder:Isolee]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/isoleebatgirl_2.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Gloom Cookie]]

Let's talk about demons. [[OurDemonsAreDifferent They do vary quite a bit]]. In this version, its own universe unconnected to the others, they're creatures living on another plane of existence, on which exists Hell. Demons are natives to that plane, some of them working for the [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Infernal aristocracy]] (who are ''devils''). They are [[MadeOfEvil made of emotion]], and by definition that's negative emotion, classified according to the SevenDeadlySins. The more powerful one is, the more of an EldritchAbomination it is, and the less [[BlueAndOrangeMorality relatable to mortals]].

This brings us to Isolee, who is almost indistinguishable from a mortal. Just one more thing for her to angst about!

'''Tropes associated with her:'''
* BatOutOfHell: Yes, she's a demon and her favorite form to take is that of an anthro bat. She is, however, a ''fruit'' bat, rather than, say, a vampire bat.
* BodySnatcher: She can, and will, do this sometimes, especially if she's found a particularly rich source of emotion, but prefers to be herself.
* {{Emo}}/{{Goth}}: The perfect subculture for her to blend into. But you are what you eat, and see below.
* EmotionEater: Like all demons, she feeds on specific negative emotions, and has to regularly consume them by absorbing them to stay in this universe, otherwise she gets [[FightingAShadow banished]]. What does she eat? {{Wangst}}, mostly, and feelings of isolation and self-pity.
* HarmlessVillain: Sure, she's technically a monster, but she doesn't hate mortals, she just wants to stay out of Hell (do you blame her?), has next to no power to actually influence anyone, and might care more about mortals than she lets on despite herself. She would ''never'' see anyone die for her own ends.
* IKnowYourTrueName: "Isolee" is, of course, not her real name. This is why she's hiding it.
* SevenDeadlySins: '''Sloth''' is her category, in the sense of despair, and ''acedia'': just not caring anymore and wallowing in one's bad feelings.
* TheShadowKnows: As seen in her picture, it sometimes betrays her, since she's pretty close to shadow-stuff herself.
[[/folder]]

* SympathyForTheDevil: One thing you may notice about me is that I have a tendency to find ''something'' good in many if not most villains, and I'm never especially fond of heroes resorting to extreme methods to deal with them.

She will be making an appearance as the star of a side story in the upcoming visual novel ''VisualNovel/ThePiratesFate''!

* RoyalWe: Specifically averted; Nakhta only ever uses first person to refer to herself. This might seem less conceited, but it's actually ''more'' so.

[[/folder]]'

* RoyalBrat: Downplayed, as she's 19, but she does have her moments of stunning immaturity from time to time.

More later, like I said. And now, some things and tropes I ''don't'' like. Again, more later. I'll try not to make it ranty!

[[folder:Boo!]]
* AssholeVictim: ...and the like. Sure, some people are terrible. But wishing terrible things to happen to them, while a natural impulse, is something we should overcome. It's petty and childish at best, and borderline psychotic at worst. Note that this only applies to extralegal and fictional cases of fatal or [[FateWorseThanDeath worse]] levels. I accept the judgment of the law, and if you can't be amused by StupidCrooks getting HoistByTheirOwnPetard, where's your sense of humor?
* MyersBriggs: Frankly, it's about as reliable as astrology, or CharacterAlignment charts telling you why all the alignments are the "best one to choose".
* OutsideJoke: Particularly about certain topics. I don't feel like listing them, since they thankfully don't come up all that often.
* YourSoulIsMine: [[NoJustNoReaction Nopenopenopenope.]] This is some visceral horror right here. Nobody deserves to have their soul destroyed, in any context in which it's verifiable to be real.
[[/folder]]

Glad that's out of the way! Back to positive things.

* AssholeVictim: ...and the like. Sure, some people are terrible. But wishing terrible things to happen to them, while a natural impulse, is something we should overcome. It's petty and childish at best, and borderline psychotic at worst.

She will be making an appearance as the star of a side story in the upcoming visual novel ''The Pirate's Fate''!