Helltaker
is a series of webcomics made by vanripper (Łukasz Piskorz) based off of their free puzzle game of the same name. It follows the exploits of the Helltaker, a man who looks like an Expy of Johnny Bravo after he visits a Fire and Brimstone Hell and assembling a harem of demon girls.
The comics follow the Slice of Life exploits of the Helltaker and his harem as the demons try to adjust to things in the mortal world. The comic has multiple concurrent storylines going: one where the Helltaker jumped into Beelzebub's portal in one of the game's Multiple Endings (the "Abysstaker Ending"), and one where he stayed on Earth with the other demon girls (the "Regular Ending").
Tropes relating to the video game should go on its own page.
Tropes? Most intriguing!
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The "unholy texts" that Cerberus presents to the trick-or-treaters are the Necronomicon, the Satanic Bible and a book called "Magic Dog Wisdom," which has a dog wearing a wizard hat on the cover.
- Bespectacled Cutie: Discussed. Helltaker sees Zdrada with glasses one day as she's misplaced her contact lenses. He thinks she looks cute with glasses, to her personal shock. She insists she'll never wear them again around him after that day, and he insists she keeps wearing them. This argument breaks out into a bloody brawl.
- Baphomet: While she doesn't personally appear, Lucifer brings up that Baphomet exists in this world, strongly implied to be yet another Cute Monster Girl. The goat-like image of her is interpreted as being because she has a massive goat fetish, to the point of frequently shapeshifting into a goat-headed monster while visiting the human world to express her love for them, this being why demons are commonly associated with goats.
- Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality: Apparently, Modeus and Justice believe that the things shown in porn movies are real. Modeus is shocked when told by Azazel that the "exploits" she's hoping for in a gym aren't going to happen, and Justice stares in disbelief at being told the same thing when dressed as a cop.
- Cassandra Truth:
- Two angels in Heaven notice Judgement and Justice out on an errand. It's brushed off by one of the angels as more likely that it's just look-alikes rather than the actual demons.
- Zdrada tells Azazel about the concept of a Fallen Angel, even mentioning that Lucifer and Judgement are both fallen. Azazel chooses to believe instead that the idea of a fallen angel is a lie created by both Heaven and Hell, meant to scare angels into behaving. Zdrada laughs it off with Malina later, suggesting that Zdrada was telling the truth and that Azazel is just in deep denial.
- Chekhov's Gun: In a Halloween comic, Cerberus ends up chained on the couch as punishment for trying to corrupt trick-or-treaters. In another comic, after Modeus fails to tempt a pizza delivery man with a Love Potion, Modeus also ends up chained on the couch with Cerberus.
- The Corrupter:
- A comic set on Halloween has Cerberus try to tempt some trick-or-treaters into studying black magic and Satanism. They end up chained on the couch by Judgement.
- After Azazel shows signs of becoming a Fallen Angel, she announces her intentions to go to Heaven to have her condition treated. However, Lucifer uses Azazel's curiosity about demonkind against her by saying that if Azazel looks more like a demon, she can blend in among them easier. Azazel falls for this hook, line, and sinker.
- Covert Pervert:
- Azazel finds the "lewd music" that Modeus listens to "most intriguing." And when Cerberus starts talking about a feedback loop of pleasure, Azazel watches with interest. Finally, Azazel figures out that porn movies aren't real and are just actors doing it, because she "checked."
- Beelzebub keeps every room in her castle filled with Naughty Tentacles for "entertainment."
- Crapsack World: Played for Laughs, but in a parody of lockdown and 2020 being a year of escalating crises, apparently this version of Earth gets a lot of Alien Invasions and Zombie Apocalypses. Lucifer flat out wonders if God has given up on humanity.
- Creator Cameo: A subtle example, but in the comic about the quarantine and Tabletop Game the Space Marines have a skull on their chests. Said skull looks suspiciously similar to the head of Vanripper's Author Avatar (sans the glasses).
- Creator In-Joke: Modeus one time dragged Helltaker along to watch a "romantic comedy" movie, based on a romance book she read near the end of the main game, out of her desire to better understand human "romance." Said romance movie, called "Spider Season," involves the spider girl and house-owning guy from vanripper's older one-off comic "Mosquito Season."
- Cute Kitten: Subject 67 is initially displeased when Loremaster prepares to share her newest creation with him, warning her that it better not be "another eldritch tentacle abomination". He's right, but Loremaster proudly reveals that it's also an adorable, affectionate cat.Subject 67: This is acceptable.
- Fallen Angel: Azazel is on her way to becoming one. A comic shows that Azazel's hair is starting to turn from black to grey, which is a bad sign for her since all demons have Mystical White Hair. She buys lots of black hair dye to counteract it, but that doesn't work. A later comic shows she starts growing horn-like bumps on her head. When Zdrada tells Azazel about fallen angels in the former instance, Azazel goes into deep denial, saying that angels falling from grace is a "fairy tale," and that Zdrada must be part of a conspiracy between Heaven and Hell to scare her. Justice affirms in the latter instance that Azazel is indeed becoming a fallen while also revealing Lucifer and Judgement as two such examples, though this time Azazel despite her insistence otherwise is spooked enough to decide to take a quick trip back to Heaven to get looked at... until Lucifer convinces her to stay by suggesting she try and use this as an "opportunity" to further her research in "disguise."
- Furry Reminder: Beelzebub is shown to still have fly-like traits as a human, such as her mouth creating a corrosive acid to dissolve her food when she eats.
- Glasses Are Sexy: Zdrada puts on a pair of glasses in one comic, seeing as how she lost her contact lenses. When Helltaker says he likes the look on her, Zdrada says that she'll never wear them again.
- Gushing About Shows You Like: Malina does this in-universe about Heroes of Might and Magic III, saying that among the turn-based strategy games she's played, Heroes 3 is the best. She even engages in some lusting over its characters until she catches herself. A later comic shows Malina getting Azazel into the game as well.
- Holy Burns Evil: A shot of Zdrada as she's brushing her hair shows a cross-shaped burn on her chest where her necklace's charm usually rests.
- I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: Judgement does this with a dog on Earth. While out shopping for groceries, she picks up a small dog with a smile on her face, carrying it under her arm as she talks to Justice. The dog even shows up in later comics.
- Mythology Gag: A literal one. Judgement calls Lucifer "snake" at one point, a reference to the snake that tempted Eve at Eden and started Original Sin being commonly interpreted as the Devil.
- Pet the Dog:
- Azazel takes photos of Pandemonica being nice to an old man who runs a local coffee shop, even after she's had caffiene (which normally makes Pandemonica into a Jerkass). Pandemonica, embarrassed, confiscates the photos.
- Judgement has no interest in being friendly with Lucifer until she's told that the local cinema is playing six straight hours of cute puppies and kittens on its screen, which they both go to watch together with the dog.
- Pizza Boy Special Delivery: Defied. Modeus offers this when she orders pizza, saying that she's perfected a Love Potion. Cue Judgement chaining up Modeus and putting her on the "punishment sofa."
- Recurring Extra: Ever since Judgement first found and took it home, unofficially adopting it, a white dog has periodically popped up in some of the comics, mostly acting as a Funny Background Event by getting up to some weird shenanigens.
- Refuge in Audacity: The Harem is doing an unintentional case of this. Heaven can see that they're on Earth, but the idea that demons are living as normal people on Earth is so absurd, the angelic higher-ups rationalize it as simply very similar-looking humans.
- Scare 'Em Straight: Discussed. Azazel is in denial about becoming a Fallen Angel, calling it a fairy tale spread by the Church to scare angels into being good.
- Sharing a Body: Discussed. Since Cerberus is three bodies that share one soul, Helltaker asks if his pancakes would be triple delicious if Cerberus ate them with all three of their bodies at once. Cerberus nervously responds that they could get stuck in an "infinite loop of pleasure," which "usually ends in bloodshed."
- Slasher Smile: After Lucifer tricks Azazel into continuing her path to becoming a Fallen Angel, Lucifer gets a sadistic grin on her face.
- Start My Own: When Modeus tells Justice that events in porn movies don't happen in real life, Justice decides to play out the scenes herself, bringing Modeus and Azazel along to find someone who will play along with their dirty cop bit. They get arrested fifteen minutes later for impersonating police officers.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Modeus, Justice, and Azazel pretend to be cops, intending to act out what they saw in a porn movie by knocking on random doors until somebody plays along with them. Fifteen minutes later, they're arrested for impersonating police officers.
- That Liar Lies: Modeus accuses Azazel of lying about events in porn movies not happening in real life.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: One comic has the Helltaker and Lucifer looking out the window to see a Cat Girl riding a tank and waving around a sword and communist flag, while space marine-like soldiers attempt to fight her off. Helltaker casually says that it might be an alien invasion or a zombie apocalypse, since "we've had a lot of those lately" on Earth. note
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Lucifer reveals that she can transform into an anthropomorphic goat. She then taunts Helltaker over his denial about being a furry.
