History ComicBook / BlackMoonChronicles

** One of Ghorghor Bey's men is [[BalefulPolymorph turned into a frog]] by the master of a sorcerer's stronghold after demanding their surrender.

* LightIsGood: The Order of Justice, whose grandmaster Parsifal is an exemplar of the pious, LawfulGood {{Paladin}} and KnightInShiningArmor.

* OurDemonsAreDifferent: Various types of demons are seen. Most of TheLegionsOfHell are [[BigRedDevil big, red, horned humanoids]], though Lucifer himself looks could almost be mistaken for human. The [[HornyDevils succubi]] also originate in hell, and are [[ShapeshiftersDoItForAChange ambiguously sexual shapeshifters]]. All demons love human souls, which they [[SoulEating eat for lunch]]. The BigBad himself is a half-demon spawned by the Devil [[Spoiler: and the protagonist is revealed to also be a half-demon, spawned by Pazuzu]].

* ItsAllMyFault: Wismerhill blames himself for [[spoiler: the end of the world]] after [[BigBad Haazheel Thorn]] [[spoiler:uses his last ounce of magic to cause the Black Moon to crash into the Earth]], but the Oracle tells him that [[YouCantFightDestiny every possible path would have led him here]].

* IncrediblyConspicuousDrag: During Ghorgor's time with a traveling theater troupe, the lead actress of a Theater/RomeoAndJuliet-like play fell ill. The manager hurriedly looked for someone to replace her and went with Ghorgor. Without informing the lead actor, who was forced to proclaim his love for the delicate girl as the balcony collapses under her weight.

* AffairBlameTheBastard: In their youth, Wismerhill and Ghorghor Bey were both raised by men who did not father them, and abused them horribly for it. In Wismerhill's case, his mother had an affair with a demon lord disguised as a handsome elf prince. In Bey's case, his mother was raped by an ogre. They both get their revenge eventually; Wismerhill by personally murdering the man, Bey by leaving him to die as their town is besieged by another ogre raid.

* AllTrollsAreDifferent: In this case, [[HealingFactor similar in abilities]] [[KillItWithFire and weaknesses]] to both ''D&D'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' trolls, but 20+ feet tall, with a more-or-less caucasian skin tone, giant noses, and they look a bit like they came out of Creator/JimHenson's creature shop.

* AnArmAndALeg: During the final battle with Haazheel Thorn, he rips off Hellaynnea's arms when she tries to stop him from killing Wismerhill.

* AccidentalMisnaming: Haazheel Thorn mishears Krell-Dinard (Dinard's name after "he" tames a Krell) as Greldinald, and is not the kind of person you point this out to.

** Methraton, the Ultimate Mage, ''definitely'' has this much power. He's not a god either, more of an immortal archmage, and [[AGodIAmNot hates it when people mistake him for one]].

* RoleplayingGameVerse: The books start with a nobody called Wismerhill going on a journey and adding more friends to his party while facing various perils that are thrown in their way. It helps to explain a lot of what happens when you know that the series was inspired by one of Froideval's old ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' campaigns, and that he worked on ''AD&D'' for Creator/{{TSR}} in TheEighties.

** Aside from Hellaynnea, a succubus and his main consort, Wismerhill gains around ten other wives, all of whom bear him a daughter.

** Then in the very last volume, [[spoiler:when TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt is about to happen by way of [[ColonyDrop Moon Drop]], [[TheArchmage Methraton]] organises the evacuation to another world of the population of humanity's greatest, most organised nations from all continents. [[ElementalEmbodiment The Winds]] go through with minimal fuss; [[OurDragonsAreDifferent The dragons]] are let through by Methatron out of pragmatism, as it's not certain the human forces would be able to stop them or survive trying (a few dozen dragons? Messy, but doable. The ''entire species''? Good luck); everybody else who tries (orcs and other savage humanoids, barbarians, what-have-you) is screwed unless they're among the small minority allied to the protagonists. The elves/fairy folk and the dwarves [[FaceDeathWithDignity choose another path]].]]

* SpiritAdvisor: Greldinard's mother, who was a shamaness in life, continues to advise him as a spirit after her death. She actually plays a vital role in preventing Greldinard's youthful brashness from getting himself killed, as she uses her magic to bind a cave-dwelling monster to him so he can use it as a mount, and convinces the uber-powerful Haazheel Thorne to spare her son's life.

* MassiveNumberedSiblings: Wismerhill ends up fathering nine children ([[OutnumberedSibling eight daughters and one son]]) with Hellheyna and his harem.

* ShapeshiftingSeducer: [[HornyDevils Succubi]] are able to take on any form, [[ShapeshiftersDoItForAChange female or male]], to lure in victims. Hellaynnea does a very extended demonstration when she offers to serve Wismerhill, going through 30 or so forms, including his previous lover who had been StuffedIntoTheFridge.

* TheFagin: As a young elf boy Pilou was bought from a slave merchant by a criminal mastermind who trained children to be pick-pockets for him and ultimately full-time thieves if they were successful. This was just one part of his organization, as most of the criminals working for him were adults.

* HorseOfAnotherColor: Greldinard rides a Krell into battle, a giant armored four-legged XenomorphXerox which usally resides in volcanic landscapes. In fact, the only reason he survived the encounter was because his mother helped him from the spirit world to subdue the beast.

** [[ThoseTwoBadGuys The demon nursemaids]] are pretty much the same as the less-than-fearsome assistants to the heroine of a previous work of Froideval's, ''Succubus'' (Hellaynnnea herself made a cameo in it).

* OurElvesAreBetter: No, [[HufflepuffHouse they really aren't]] (except Pilou).

* OurGodsAreDifferent: There are said to be many different gods, although [[PowersThatBe they're almost never seen]]. {{God}} and his angels occasionally help out the holy orders of knights who serve the empire but prefer to keep their distance from mortal affairs. The Oracle is another god, whose true form is a multi-headed EldritchAbomination [[spoiler:but is in fact a female HotGod.]]
** [[{{Satan}} Lucifer]], the Prince of Darkness himself, can be considered this, and likely one of the more powerful ones apart from {{God}}.

* EnemyMine: After Fratus Sinister is defeated by Lord Parsifal and has to go on the run, he joins up with the Black Moon to get revenge on both the emperor and on the dragonlords who abandoned him. Wismerhill even uses the trope word-for-word, stating that the enemy of his enemy is his friend. [[spoiler: It still doesn't end well for Fratus.]]

* AristocratsAreEvil: Played with. Some nobles are little more than bandits with a fort; others are sadistic assholes (most prominent in Ghorghor Bey's BackStory); the Baron of Moork is TheDragon to the BigBad. But then you have [[IncorruptiblePurePureness Lord Parsifal]] and [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Emperor Haghendorf]]. Most imperial nobles seem to be of average morality.

** Wismerhill is very amused when mage Shamballeau kills 20 of his soldiers in an explosion, going from initial rage to happily adopting him as part of his own growing band.
* ArtifactTitle: In the second cycle [[spoiler:with Haazheel and his religion dead, there's no more Black Moon to chronicle about. Instead, we follow Wismerhill facing new threats on the second Earth such as an army of snakes or a conspiracy against him.]]

* BadassNormal: Murata, unlike most of his allies, does not have any inherent magical powers (Wismerhill, Hellaynnea) or incredibly size and strength (Ghorghor). He's just a very well-trained human {{Samurai}}.

* BewitchedAmphibians: When Lucifer organizes an invasion of the second Earth after humanity has vacated the old one, he turns himself into a frog and turns back into his demonic self after Hellaynnnea kisses him.
-->'''Lucifer:''' Oh, I'm a prince alright, just not a handsome one...
* BigBadassBattleSequence: Since the Empire of Lynn and its vassals and enemies are in a near constant state of warfare, there are numerous examples of massive battles and city sieges being waged between armies of knights, mages, dragon riders, orks, elves, giants, and war machines. Ledroit's artwork is impressive for its attention to detail.

* BigGood: Methraton is the greatest force for good who (unlike {{God}}) actually takes an active interest in the affairs of the mortal realm. He's virtually a god in his own right, but he's really just an immortal archmage. His most significant act is probably [[spoiler:providing the portals used by the different nations in the world to escape the coming destruction of Earth.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Wismerhill manages to save many of the world's races from the impending destruction of Earth, but some of them choose to FaceDeathWithDignity instead.]]

* BlackSwordsAreBetter: When Wismerhill becomes the commander-in-chief of the armies of the Black Moon and one of the Lords of Negation, his master Haazheel Thorn gifts him with a black sword forged out of steel from the land of the dead.

* ChildByRape: Ghorghor Bey was conceived when his mother's small northern village was attacked by a group of man-eating ogres and she was discovered by a young ogre who, struck by her beauty, decided to rape her instead of eat her. She still loved her [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human half-ogre]] baby boy (partly because his birth crippled her for life, meaning she wouldn't be able to have children again), but to the rest of the village he was [[AllTheOtherReindeer some sort of abomination]].

* ConjoinedTwins: Ghorghor Bey's first love(s) as a young man were the conjoined sisters who travelled along as part of the FreakShow exhibition of the traveling circus group that Bey had joined. They were later killed by a swamp monster when the group had to escape the clutches of an evil nobleman. Bey did get his revenge on the duke in question, but he wasn't reunited with the twins until years later when Wismerhill resurrects them as a token of friendship to Bey and even goes to the trouble of giving them separate bodies.
* CoolBoat: The flag ship of the Tharque Empire, a maritime nation that once ruled the world, is made out of the skeleton of a dead sea monster. It utterly dwarfs the other ships, and is even powered by magic so that it can row itself.

** Gredinald's throne (later Wis). Turns out to be a potent magical artifact too.

** Justified in that Haazheel Thorn is a stupidly-high level mage in an RPGVerse. To quote the man himself just before he resurrects [[spoiler:Wismerhill]]: "Dead again? It's starting to become a habit...". In fact, the only time he gets angry about this is because Wis goes on a dungeon crawl through an undead prince's palace ''without'' having him along.
** Zigzagged after [[spoiler:Parsifal and Gredinald have their climactic duel. Greldinald later reappears as if getting a sword buried in your helmet is no big deal, but Parsifal's decapitated head being replaced on his body and brought back to life by a massive prayer is treated like a miracle.]]

** Oghun is a BlindSeer and demon prince who participates in the demonic invasion of Earth.

* DragonRider: Dragons are used as steeds by particularly badass warriors. The Dragonlords of the mountains in particular specialize in this form of warfare, and the Emperor of Lynn has some of the most impressive dragons in the entire setting.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The series was a lot closer to an RolePlayingGameVerse early on before moving to be closer to HighFantasy.
** Wis is first introduced as a knight errant using a horse and lance to... kill a rabbit.

* EnemyMine: After Fratus Sinister is defeated by Lord Parsifal and has to go on the run, he joins up with the Black Moon to get revenge on both the emperor and on the dragonlords who abandoned him. Wismerhill even uses the trope word-for-word, stating that the enemy of his enemy is his friend.

* FireAndBrimstoneHell: Hell is a fiery subterreanean landscape where the souls of the wicked are tortured by Lucifer and his giant red demons.

* GambitPileup: Haazhel Thorn intends to [[spoiler:give the world over to demons by opening demonic portals]]. But because Wis wasn't aware of it, he [[spoiler:closes one of the portals]], to Thorn's fury.

* GroinAttack: [[spoiler:Frater Sinister]], in [[TooDumbToLive an unbelievably suicidally stupid move]], summons Hellaynnea for a one-on-one session with the succubus. She responds by biting off his penis and sucking out his soul.

* ItAmusedMe: The prequel shows that the entire plot was set off by a bet between [[spoiler:Lucifer and Pazuzu]], because the former wanted a game that wouldn't be lost by his opponent [[BadBoss for fear]] [[EvilIsPetty of retribution]].

* MinionManipulatedIntoVillainy: Haazheel Thorne orchestrates the apparent murder of Wismerhill's long-lost father in a FalseFlagOperation to make the Empire of Lynn appear responsible. When Haazheel offers him an opportunity for revenge, Wismerhill joins the SorcerousOverlord's army and becomes one of his most useful assets in the war against Emperor Haaghendorf. Wis later discovers the truth when his ''real'' father shows up to inform his son how Haazheel has been manipulating him all along.

** Wismerhill and his entourage go on an unapproved mission to the southern provinces to invade a kingdom of the living dead. They mow down the skeletal armies outside the tombs fairly easily, but are almost killed by its [[OurLichesAreDifferent lich]] prince and his vampire and ghost lieutenants, surviving only thanks to their boss [[SorcerousOverlord Haazheel Thorn]]'s intervention.

* NightOfTheLivingMooks: Haazheel Thorn raises a gigantic legion of undead, lead by mighty wyrm-riding undead lords... merely as a way to soften up the imperial armies before battle. [[spoiler:He still loses said battle... [[XanatosGambit which is what he wanted]].]]

* OurAngelsAreDifferent: They're giant winged humanoids serving God who, unlike the demons, only rarely intervene in the world, most notably when the Knights of Justice summon Gabriel to ask him to make the Knights of Light see the true way after being led astray by its corrupt leadership.
* OurDemonsAreDifferent: Various types of demons are seen. Most of TheLegionsOfHell are [[BigRedDevil big, red, horned humanoids]], though Lucifer himself looks could almost be mistaken for human. The [[HornyDevils succubi]] also originate in hell, and are [[ShapeshiftersDoItForAChange ambiguously sexual shapeshifters]]. All demons love human souls, which they [[SoulEating eat for lunch]]. The BigBad himself is a half-demon spawned by the Devil.

* OurLichesAreDifferent: Wismerhill and his gang decide to go tomb raiding in a kingdom of the living dead in the southern provinces ruled by a lich prince. He's by far the most dangerous undead they face, and almost kills them with his magical powers. They survive only by summoning their boss Haazheel Thorn to help them out, who's an even more powerful dark wizard.

It deals with the VillainProtagonist / AntiHero Wismerhill, a [[HalfHumanHybrid half-elf]] [[ParentalAbandonment from an unknown father]] allying with EvilSorcerer Haazheel Thorn in order to overthrow the Christian-esque empire of Lhynn.

** Then in the very last volume, [[spoiler:when TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt is about to happen by way of [[ColonyDrop Moon Drop]], Methraton organises the evacuation to another world of the population of humanity's greatest, most organised nations from all continents. [[ElementalEmbodiment The Winds]] go through with minimal fuss; [[OurDragonsAreDifferent The dragons]] are let through by Methatron out of pragmatism, as it's not certain the human forces would be able to stop them or survive trying (a few dozen dragons? Messy, but doable. The ''entire species''? Good luck); everybody else who tries (orcs and other savage humanoids, barbarians, what-have-you) is screwed unless they're among the small minority allied to the protagonists. The elves/fairy folk and the dwarves [[FaceDeathWithDignity choose another path]].]]

** Dinard gets himself a giant monster called a krell to use as a mount that is, for all intents and purposes, a [[{{Film/Alien}} xenomorph]] the size of a bus.

** Souls from all the mortal races are devoured by the demons from hell, as well as succubi. [[spoiler:The main bad guy also dies this way when Lucifer shows his displeasure with his failure.]]

* AllowedInternalWar: The sprawling Empire of Lynn has very little control over its provinces outside the capital region, so is often unable to stop them from going to war with each other, while the Emperor spends most of his time on various campaigns against insubordinate governors to reassert the crown's authority.

* StoryBreakerPower: Wismerhill is perhaps a bit ''too'' powerful by the time of the second story arc on Terra Secunda where he's a GodEmperor. While his conflict with the Black Moon took years to unfold and finally killing [[BigBad Haazheel]] required immense effort and the help of all his allies, every conflict on Terra Secunda is resolved rather quickly with Wismerhill smashing Lucifer's demonic army, then smashing the Ophidian Army and kidnapping the Emperor with little effort, and then easily thwarting a ''second'' demonic invasion because his friendship with the new god pretty much gives him a DeusExMachina on call.

* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Wismerhill isn't the nicest person around but once he becomes a lord of his own kingdom he at least '''tries''' to run it well. Whether he succeeds is another matter but still.

* BlackKnight: The Lords of Negation are Haahzeel's most elite knights clad in black armor and controlled by him through their rings. Wismerhill eventually becomes their leader, and has to go through a lengthy ritual that leaves him as some sort of half-human half-ascended being.

* ElementalEmbodiment: The Winds are living creatures who speak to Wismerhill because they were good friends with his mother before she passed away, as she would always sing to them.
* TheEmpire / TheEmperor: Wismerhill thinking that Lhynn and its ruler are examples of these tropes is a key component of the bad guys' plan. In fact, emperor Haghendorf is more of a LawfulNeutral ReasonableAuthorityFigure who tries his best to properly run a massive feudal Holy Roman Empire {{expy}} despite living in a CrapsackWorld and trying to avert the prophecied violent end of his reign and his empire.

* EyeBeams: Wismerhill gain the ability to shoot red beams out of his eyes [[spoiler:because he's a half-demon]].
* EyepatchOfPower: [[TheStarscream Frater Sinister]] has his eye gouged out by the dragonlord he was allied with when his insurrection against the emperor falls apart, and has to wear a black eyepatch from then on as he openly joins the forces of evil.

* {{God}}: There's evidence enough he exists (Paladins of the Order of Justice are preternaturally good demonslayers, and high-ranking priests can perform resurrections) but we never see him, and he [[TheGodsMustBeLazy doesn't really do much]]; his one act [[spoiler:is gathering up all his followers (who seem to be mostly imperial citizens) in the same place, then removing that chunk of land from the planet just before things literally go to hell for everyone left behind]].

* GodIsDispleased: [[spoiler: After Wis destroys the Tables of the Covenant, God and the angels pull back from the world, although ThePaladin managed to get his country magically teleported away. Wis manages to thwart the demonic invasion that soon followed, but unfortunately the villain's failsafe involved the inevitable destruction of the world. So Wis instead organized a massive exodus of humans to other worlds (the elves and dwarves chose to stay).]]

* GooGooGodlike: The inhabitants of Terra Secunda inadvertently create a new god, the One and Only, after [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve creating a new religion built around said deity]]. However, because the god was just "born", he is still a young child with omnipotent powers, so Wismerhill has to slowly teach the boy how to be a benevolent god.

* HealingFactor: Ghorgor Bey has a ring of regeneration in his nose which he stole from another half-ogre sent to kill him.

* HornyDevils: Hellaynnea the succubus. She also doesn't mind sharing Wis one bit (she even organises and executes the recruitment of his harem, which was her idea in the first place anyway). Though it was more a HeirClubForMen situation; she wanted to make sure he'd have descendants. This is borne out in that she probably had something to do with the fact that only one of his dozen kids (each from different, improbably beautiful and competent/powerful women) is male (neatly avoiding any complications come succession time), but she obviously took far too much pleasure from the whole situation for her decision to be purely pragmatic.

* ItsAllMyFault: Wismerhill blames himself for [[spoiler: the end of the world]] after [[BigBad Haazheel Thorn]] [[spoiler:uses his last ounce of magic to cause the Black Moon to crash into the Earth]], but the Oracle tells him that every possible path would have led him here.

* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Wismerhill gains a lot of ability from his starting point, ending up as a [[spoiler:[[PsychicPowers Psion]]/[[MagicKnight Lord of Negation]]/Cleric/Wizard in the process, and that's still leaving out his good connections with the [[ElementalEmbodiment Winds]]. Oh, and he's also a half-demon (at first believed to be half-elf), half-human, quasi-undead GodEmperor.]]

** The Oracle, while being the real deal (i.e. a god), is actually less powerful than this due to being depowered and shackled by the other gods for some transgression.

* RingOfPower: The Lords of Negation are Haazheel Thorn's most elite soldiers, and are controlled by him through several mind control rings. When Wismerhill turns against Haazheel, he has Shamballeau build other rings that will negate their effect. It works for a moment, but as soon as Haazheel notices this he destroys the second rings in swift order.

* SamusIsAGirl: [[spoiler:The Oracle is actually a god''dess''... and when freed after eons of imprisonment, she's quite keen on... intimate contact. [[CoitusEnsues Cue threesome with Wis and Hellaynnea]].]]

* SmokingIsCool: Pilou

* TooDumbToLive: [[spoiler:Fratus Sinister]] summons Hellaynnea the succubus to have his way with her. Apparently he forgot that succubi can suck out the souls of their victims.
* TookALevelInBadass: Wismerhill, who grows from loser to dark general [[spoiler:to emperor]].

* RoleplayingGameVerse: It helps to explain a lot of what happens when you know that the series was inspired by one of Froideval's old ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' campaigns, and that he worked on ''AD&D'' for Creator/{{TSR}} in TheEighties.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The series was a lot closer to an RPGMechanicsVerse early on before moving to be closer to HighFantasy.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Pilou's name originally referred to the fact that his personality changed depending on which sword he drew (as in "Heads or Tails"), this aspect was dropped pretty fast in favor of the standard LovableRogue personality.

* LizardFolk: The main villains of the second series are snake-men.

* ZeroGSpot: A variation where Wismerhill is carried by his WingedHumanoid lover Hellaynnea the succubus to have sex in the clouds.

* AbusiveParents:
** The man who Wis' mother was betrothed to never forgave her for bearing a child that wasn't his, and took it out on Wis once she died. [[spoiler:Wis eventually kills him by hacking off his fingers and throwing him off a castle tower.]]
** Ghorghor Bey's stepfather wasn't any kinder to him, largely because Ghorghor was the result of [[ChildByRape an ogre raping the woman he was in love with]] during an attack on their mountain village. He stayed his hand from killing Ghorghor at birth because of his mother's pleading, but after she died he threw out Ghorghor for good. Ghorghor, finally fed up with the years of abuse, kills the man before leaving the town.
** Subverted with Dinard: he kills both his kinda adoptive fathers (the human priest who showed him mercy, and the orc chieftain who let him in the tribe), but in both cases out of necessity (to spare the first being tortured, and the second was a SuicideByCop so Dinard could show his worth as leader). He is genuinely sad for both, even though they forgive him and die at peace.

* AffablyEvil: Haazheel Thorn is quite polite for an evil ancient sorcerer.

* TheArchmage:
** Methraton is the "ultimate archmage" who approaches the level of power of a PhysicalGod, though he specifically denies being one.
** [[BigBad Haazheel Thorn]] is the leader of a whole army of dark mages, and is the most powerful one of them all.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking:
** [[TheEmperor Emperor Haghendorf]] has maintained his position as supreme monarch of the Empire of Lynn by nearly constant warfare. He also rides the biggest dragon in the empire into battle.
** [[EvilSorcerer Haazheel Thorn]], the leader of the [[ReligionOfEvil Black Moon]] and the forces of evil, is easily one of the most powerful mages in the world.

* BestHerToBedHer: Hellaynnnea, a [[HornyDevils succubus]], offers to serve Wismerhill after he spares her life and becomes his consort. This is right after she played a big role in killing Wismerhill's previous girlfriend Fey.

* BigBad: Haazheel Thorn, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast the Master of the Black Moon]], über-powerful EvilSorcerer capable of commanding vast hordes of TheUndead and TheLegionsOfHell, [[PhysicalGod demigod]] and spiritual leader of a powerful ReligionOfEvil, lord of a massive BadassArmy of humans and monsters, [[spoiler:Son of Lucifer...]]
* BigBadWannabe: Frater Sinister, who plots to take the throne of the Emperor. Unfortunately for him, he fails to measure up to Haazheel and Whismerhill. [[spoiler: He ends up unceremoniously castrated and burned by Hellheyna after attempting to make her his mistress.]]

* DemotedToExtra: Pepette and Goum.

* DisappearedDad: Wismerhill doesn't know who his father is, although he's later told that he was a dark elf prince. [[spoiler:He pulls an appearance in the end, though, to congratulate his son and to see his grandkids (among other things). It turns out that he is actually a Prince of Hell who has been playing a game of DivineChess with Lucifer, as he reveals Haazheel Thorn's [[HellOnEarth true plans for the world]] and how he has manipulated Wis.]]

* DivineDate: When [[spoiler:the end of the world]] approaches, [[spoiler:the Oracle]] shakes off its EldritchAbomination form to reveal its real form as a female HotGod. Having not experienced sensational pleasure for eons, she then has a threesome with Wismerhill and his succubus girlfriend.
* TheDragon:
** Greldinard, Baron of Moork, to Haazheel Thorn. Wis himself becomes this for a while when both the former [[TheManBehindTheMan decide to lay low for a while]].
** [[spoiler:Haazheel Thorn himself is this to [[GreaterScopeVillain his father]], [[{{Satan}} Lucifer]].]]

* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas:
** Ghorghor Bey is a dreaded warlord who could snap a person in half thanks to his enormous size. However, he dearly loved his late mother, since she was pretty much the only person in his village who loved the half-ogre boy, [[ChildByRape a result of her being raped]] during an ogre attack. He makes a point to [[GraveMarkingScene visit her grave]] when he and his army are marching through the area when he's an adult.
** Wismerhill himself is an AntiHero at best, but his mother was the only person he knew for the first few years of his life, since she had to keep her bastard son hidden from her husband, who eventually finds out and kills her. Wismerhill repays him for this (and the abuse he suffered at the lord's hands) years later by hacking off his fingers and letting him fall to his death.
** Greldinard's book reveals that he loved his adoptive orc mother and allied with Haazheel to avenge her death since he considers the Empire responsible for her death.
* EvilMentor: Haazheel to Wismerhill, as he grants him entry to the highest orders of the Black Moon to teach him TheDarkArts and make Wismerhill a dark general in his war against the Empire of Lynn.
* EvilOldFolks: BigBad Haazheel Thorn, leader of the [[ReligionOfEvil Black Moon]] and the forces of evil opposed to the Empire of Lynn, looks downright ancient.
* EvilSorcerer: Haazheel Thorn is an archmage who leads a ReligionOfEvil, though his priests (or at least, the ones with magical powers) qualify too.

* TheFaceless: Greldinard never removes his helmet (or his armor) on-panel once through the whole series. The closest we get is showing his hands going up, then going back down with the helmet, while contemplating swearing loyalty to [[spoiler:Wis or Haazeel]]. Eventually in les Arcanes de la Lune Noire, it is revealed that he's [[spoiler: half human and half orc; his adoptive mother was an orc who magically merged his body with her stillborn's]].

* ForgottenFallenFriend: Poor Feydriva is never mentionned again after her demise in book 3. [[spoiler:At least not until book 17 where Wismerhill dreams about her.]]

* FromNobodyToNightmare: Wismerhill starts out as a ThisLoserIsYou type who fights rabbits with a joust. During his journey he gains more power and followers, eventually becoming the commander-in-chief of the Army of the [[ReligionOfEvil Black Moon]] [[spoiler:and emperor of the new world after the death of the old one]].

* GodEmperor: Haazheel Thorn, a stupidly powerful evil archmage and main bad guy, is worshipped as a god by his followers in the [[ReligionOfEvil Black Moon]]. [[spoiler:Though he is the half-demon son of Lucifer, who ''is'' a god.]]

* AGodIAmNot: When Wismerhill asks Methraton if he is a god, Methraton vehemently denies it as he hates the actual gods. He's more of an archmage with his own religion devoted to him.
* GreaterScopeVillain: [[{{Satan}} The Prince of Darkness himself]], [[spoiler:who decides to send [[TheLegionsOfHell his legions]] to conquer/destroy the world together with his son [[BigBad Haazheel Thorn]] after his EvilPlan to get {{God}} to leave it in disgust with his followers goes JustAsPlanned. After he is banished back to Hell and Haazheel himself is killed, he voices his displeasure by devouring Haazheel's soul.]]

* HeroAntagonist: Haghendorf stands opposed to Wismerhill and Haazheel Thorn for much of the comic and is basically trying to defend tons of lives from Haazheel's evil.
** In the beginning, Prince Parsifal appears to be a kind, just, and valiant KnightInShiningArmor [[spoiler: and that's precisely who he is.]]
* HeroesWantRedheads: Wismerhill's lover Hellaynnea has burning red hair. After all, she is a succubus, so it highlights both her connection to the fires of hell and her fiery personality.

* HotGod: [[spoiler:The Oracle]]'s true form is a nubile bald woman with shining skin. She also hasn't experienced earthly pleasures for several millennia and wants to make up the time. Cue threesome between the goddess, Wismerhill, and his succubus girlfriend.

* HybridPower: Greldinard is actually [[spoiler:a human baby adopted by an orc shamaness, who then merged him with her dead orc baby]] to create a true hybrid. [[spoiler:Dinard inherited human intelligence and orc strength,]] allowing him to rise to become supreme king of the orcs before he joined Haazheel's army.

* JustDesserts: [[spoiler:After Haazheel Thorn's defeat [[SoulEating his soul is devoured]] by his father Lucifer for failing to deliver the Earth to him. Especially karmic because Haazheel's plan was to have the rest of humanity harvested by the Legions of Hell so that he could become a god.]]

* LittleMissBadass: Pepette has a moment where she goes up to an UpperClassTwit holding flowers... and rips a knife out of them, holding it to his throat.

* LovableRogue: Pile-ou-Face.

* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:Haazheel Thorn appears to be directing the Black Moon in its genocidal war against the Empire of Lhynn, but he is actually under orders from Lucifer to create a favorable enough situation that he can just stroll in and TakeOverTheWorld to make it a new Hell (with every inhabitant's soul as a bonus)]].
* TheManBehindTheMonsters: Most of the demons of hell are of the BigRedDevil type, but the [[{{Satan}} Prince of Darkness]] himself looks like a TallDarkAndHandsome man in ornate robes.

* MonochromaticEyes: Haazheel Thorn has some pretty scary eyes, as he lacks pupils. This is just one hint [[spoiler:that he's only half-human.]]

* MrExposition: After [[spoiler:Haazheel's death]], a clone/homonculi of the person appears whose only purpose is to inform Wismerhill of his creator's last plan to bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt through ColonyDrop.
* MsFanservice: The protagonist's main squeeze is a [[HornyDevils succubus]]. 'nuff said.

* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: Dinard realizes he's in charge of a tribe of warriors with little ability to think beyond charging wildly at the enemy, which is part of the reason he readily works for Haazheel Thorn.

* ObviouslyEvil: Haazheel Thorn. Even [[Franchise/StarWars emperor Palpatine]] post-lightning bolt to the face looks more thrustworthy.
* OldSoldier: Emperor Haghendorf is already an old man by the time of the main storyline, but he remains as always a FourStarBadass who commands the imperial armies against all its enemies, has his personal brigade of war dragons, and is still one of the best swordsmen in the world. AuthorityEqualsAsskicking indeed.
* OmnicidalManiac: Haazheel Thorn's initial plan is to bring about HellOnEarth. When this fails, he uses his dark magic to ensure that [[ColonyDrop the Black Moon will crash into the Earth]] and destroy all life.

* OneWingedAngel: When he finally goes into VillainousBreakdown because Wismerhill [[spoiler:closed the HellGate and defeated his remaining forces]], Haazheel transforms into a [[spoiler:muscular demonic humanoid who breathes rays of undeath.]]

* ThePaladin: Lord Parsifal, the Grand Master of the Knights of Justice, is a completely devout and heroic warrior who fights on the emperor's side in various wars, though he specifies that he serves God alone. His counterpart Frater Sinister of the Knights of Light is both corrupt and [[TheStarscream ambitious]].
* PetMonstrosity: Pilou takes a dragon egg and decides to hatch it so he can raise the baby dragon. This makes sense, since his origin story shows that he himself was [[RaisedByWolves raised by dragons]].

* RaisedByWolves: Pilou was raised by a female dragon who took him to her cave for food, but decided to save him for her offspring when he happened to burst from his egg at that exact moment. The young dragon and the young elf then bonded and the three became a family.

* {{Samurai}}: Murata is an Asian-looking warrior dressed in traditional garb bound by a code of honor. What makes him stand out so much is that he inhabits a MedievalEuropeanFantasy setting, although other FantasyCounterpartCulture nations are implied to be out there as well.

* SealedEvilInACan: After Methraton defeats Lucifer during his invasion of the New Earth he seals him away inside a prison elsewhere, since he's too powerful to destroy completely. [[spoiler:At the end of book 21, [[GooGooGodlike the One]] casts Belzebeth into Lucifer's prison.]]

* SinisterSchnoz: Haazheel Thorn has a very long and sharp nose as one of his many ObviouslyEvil traits.

* SociopathicHero: While several of the protagonists show signs of this, Pile-ou-Face is probably the best example; one gets the impression he'd get along famously with [[Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick Belkar Bitterleaf]]. In his first appearance his personality depended on which of his swords he drew, the blue-glowing peaceful one and and hellish-red psychotic one. Or so he claimed; he's maintained a standard LovableRogue personality over the entire series.
* SorcerousOverlord: [[BigBad Haazheel Thorn]] is an incredibly powerful and ancient archmage who has built his own dark religion to conquer the Empire of Lynn [[spoiler:and prepare the world for the arrival of the forces of hell.]]

* TheStarscream: Fratus Sinister, [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder to pretty much anyone else who's in power]].
* StickyFingers: Even after becoming a powerful general in Wismerhill's army, [[LoveableRogue Pile-ou-Face]] is often seen robbing people of their purses in the background.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: Feydriva, Wismerhill's first LoveInterest, meets a FateWorseThanDeath thanks to two demons, for no real reason save giving him a fight scene and a bout of angst. [[SatelliteLoveInterest Wis gets over it pretty quickly though, and she is never mentioned again.]]

* TechnicallyLivingZombie: [[spoiler:Greldinald]] was truly born when an orc shaman fused her dead infant with a newborn human boy. As a result, his skin is a patchwork of pale and green skin.

* ThisLoserIsYou: Wismerhill at the beginning, before [[TookALevelInBadass taking many, many, MANY levels in badass]].
* ThongOfShielding: Feydriva wears a ChainmailBikini which exposes a fair amount of her glutes, getting her attention from quite a number of men (and dwarfs).

* TinTyrant: Greldinard wears an impressive suit of red armor that he never takes off, while also serving as the Baron of Moork and the right-hand of Haazheel Thorne.

* TopWife: After becoming emperor, Wismerhill acquires a RoyalHarem of 12 wives, each of whom would qualify as the WorldsMostBeautifulWoman in her own right. However, Hellaynnea, who is a succubus, is the one he spends most time with. Not so incidentally, she is his only wife who [[HeirClubForMen bore him a son]], while his others all bore him daughters. Since she arranged all these marriages for him as well, it's all but guaranteed that she engineered this.

* UnwittingInstigatorofDoom: [[spoiler: Wismerhill's father appears and reveals to him that he was manipulated into serving the Black Moon. But he also points out to him that he was able to achieve greatness on a rare level, and that he can do good or maybe better on the good guys' side.]]

* VillainDecay: Lucifer is flat-out ''terrifying'' during his main series appearances, as a FauxAffablyEvil Prince of Hell with ultimate plans to annihilate the entire human race and a habit of devouring screaming souls. In the SequelSeries, Lucifer and his minions track down Wismerhill and the other survivors to the new Earth, but the entire demonic army is quickly curb-stomped and Lucifer himself is sealed away by Methraton.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Parsifal. He and his children are pretty much the only ones with an unusual hair color.
* YouHaveFailedMe: [[spoiler:Lucifer makes his displeasure at Haazheel Thorn's failure to give him the world on a platter known quite emphatically: he eats his soul like it was a piece of candy.]]

* YoungerThanTheyLook: Goum is just seven years old, just like his twin sister, but was cursed to be fully grown so he could fight in the arena.