YMMV / The Mice Templar

• Alas, Poor Scrappy: Harad was a Jerkass and a Dirty Coward in Volume 2, but he Took a Level in Kindness in Volume 3 and was grateful that Leito rescued him, even when he didn't deserve it. His unnecessary death at Pilot's hands is enough to bring a reader to tears, and Pilot ended up replacing Harad's role as The Scrappy because of this.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Right after Tosk has his arms cut off, he sheds a tear. It's never explained whether this happens because he was suddenly feeling guilty over what he did to Leito, or if he was suddenly overcome with the realization that he was about to die.
• Anti-Climax Boss: Boris the Torturer. Leito rushes him with a spear, dodges one of his attacks, and impales him in the neck. The "fight" starts and ends on one page.
• Complete Monster: Even for a series that thrives off Grey-and-Gray Morality, there are still a few villains who stand out for being incredibly vicious.
  • Captain Tosk is the leader of King Icarus's Rat Guard army. With thousands of rats at his disposal, Tosk leads his army from village to village, where he and his rats slaughter anyone in sight and round up all the survivors so they can be used for slaves in Icarus's palace. During Tosk's raid at Cricket's Glen, he fights and kills exiled Templar Master Deishun and personally cuts off Leito's arm before transporting the survivors to Icarus's palace. After the slaves are freed by Karic and Cassius, and Tosk is reassigned to Dealrach Ard-Vale, Tosk goes against his superiors' orders and leaves the city, longing to raze more villages. When he captures another group of slaves, Tosk has some of the mice run through a nursery of baby rats, both so he can watch as they're Devoured by the Horde, and also so he can indoctrinate a new generation of rats into hating mice. Upon discovering that one of his lieutenants betrayed him and tried to free a group of mice, Tosk orders the mice to club the lieutenant to death instead of giving the lieutenant a merciful execution. Even after the mice comply with Tosk's demands, he forces the mice to run through the nursery, telling them that they can now "run free." A vicious Blood Knight who craves violence, Tosk cares about nothing but killing as many mice as possible, even if it means defying orders or murdering his fellow soldiers.
  • Boris the Torturer, the Torture Technician of King Icarus's empire, thrives off experimenting in his "craft." When first introduced, he's interrogating a prisoner by burning her with heated tongs while he's nonchalantly talking to Captain Tosk. When Boris isn't torturing or experimenting on prisoners, he's choosing them to be sacrificed for the Druid priests, where the victims are impaled very slowly with a Templar blade. When Leito and the other mice from Cricket's Glen try to escape their dungeon, Boris orders his guards to recapture them and spare as many as possible so they can be used for future sacrifices or torture. Boris tries to find the ringleader behind their attempted escape so he can punish him accordingly, but ends up choosing Harad instead of Leito; Boris punishes Harad by gouging out his only eye. During the Samhain festival, Boris picks twelve prisoners to be Eaten Alive by a Serpent God—including Karic's entire family—but spares Leito for the sake of his own amusement.
  • Pilot the Tall is a fallen Templar who betrayed his Templar brethren and pledged allegiance to King Icarus. Working under Tosk's command, he spent twelve seasons finding exiled Templars so Tosk and Icarus's army could hunt them down and kill them. He's also responsible for the destruction of Cricket's Glen and Master Deishun's demise. After being rescued by Karic and learning about his encounter with the Fish Gods, Pilot agrees to take him to the Great Ash Tree—not for the sake of helping him fulfill his prophecy, but to use Karic as a trump card to prolong his life. When his plans fail, he goes back to King Icarus to try and get back in his inner circle, only to be denied and thrown into his dungeon. He later escapes Icarus's palace with Leito and Harad, where he brainwashes Leito into hating Karic and murders Harad once he grows suspicious of him. At the final battle, Pilot and Leito meet with a small group of mice and sneak back into Icarus's palace through a secret tunnel. When bats storm the tunnel, he convinces Leito to leave the other mice to die, and later orders Leito to attack Karic once they finally confront each other. When Leito discovers that he was deceived, Pilot tries to flee, only to run into Cassius. Even after he is beaten by Cassius and is on the floor pleading for mercy, he waits until Cassius turns his back before he stabs and nearly kills him. Manipulative, cowardly, and only concerned about his own survival, Pilot stands out as a creature with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
• Like You Would Really Do It: If a main character looks like he or she perishes, chances are they'll show up again later safe and sound. Even Karic, who's impaled very early on in the series, survives his injuries by the next issue.
• Paranoia Fuel: After it's revealed that Pilot is evil, despite his kind behavior earlier on, it's impossible to trust any character for the remainder of the series.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Despite the premise and the anthropomorphic setting, the artists and authors make it very clear that the series is for teenagers and adults only. The Mice Templar contains slavery, torture, heavy religious themes, some swearing here and there, and a plethora of Family-Unfriendly Death and Gorn.

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