History ComicBook / TheBlackbloodAlliance

* AnimalReligion: In the prologue, Swiftkill tells her dying mother that she prayed like she showed her to and asks if God is with her now. "God" then shows up, but it's a hellish hyena that eats her mother offscreen. It's not clear whether the hyena really is something supernatural or if it's just a normal hyena that only appears demonic because we're seeing it through Swiftkill's perspective and is calling itself "god" to further break her.

* AmbiguousGender: The lazy emo wolf named Anyway.

* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: The Shadeless was a pack of "ultimate badasses" that gathered together to prove themselves by taking down Broadhorns (giant rhinos.) Now all that remains of them is a pack of lazy losers who lay around a tiny watering hole all day, fight over bones, and only get up to eat the bats that fly out of the nearby cave every night. [[EnsembleDarkhorse Boy are they all lovable, though.]]
* IfYouDieICallYourStuff: When Sunstride leaves the oasis, the rest of the Shadeless assume he won't survive and start fighting over his things.

* ProudWarriorRace:
** Implied to be the case with the Rubicund.
** The Shadeless were very strong in their heyday, but things changed when their territory became a desert.

* WithFriendsLikeThese: When Sunstride decides to go off on his own to find the Rubicund, a dangerous pack of dire wolves, the rest of the Shadeless are more concerned with bickering over who gets the bone he left behind, including Hearsay, his ''half-brother.''

* AdaptationNameChange:
** Whitewind was changed to Zephyr.

* AgeLift: Greyback has been aged for the reboot. Accordingly, his relationship with Whitewind/Zephyr was changed to uncle and niece instead of them being mates.

* CuteLittleFangs: While all the wolves have fangs, Cricket's are especially adorable since they show as a neat little pair even when her mouth is closed.

* DumbMuscle: Bloodspill is a rare female example.
* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference: Whitewind lacked the white streak on her back that Zephyr has.

* GeniusDitz: Despite her general cluelessness, Cricket is quite skilled at setting snares.
* GenkiGirl: Cricket is very cheerful, upbeat, and enthusiastic about proving herself to her peers by catching prey with her traps.

* HeinousHyena:
** The Queen of Thorns destroys Swiftkill's den and sends her lackeys after her in the beginning.
** Swiftkill's mother was eaten by a hyena years prior when she was still a puppy.

* MalignedMixedMarriage: Implied to be the case with Swiftkill's parents. Her Rubicund mother had to dig a secret tunnel to get past her pack's guards to meet with Swiftkill's father.
* AMinorKidroduction: The prologue begins with Swiftkill as a small pup at her dying mother's side.
* MixAndMatchCritters: Swiftkill is half dire, half normal wolf.

* OrphanedEtymology: The Queen of Thorns apparently knows what a evacuation crew is.
* PaidHarem: The Queen of Thorns has a reverse harem. If you pay close attention, she appears to be pregnant when Swiftkill encounters her (she has a very slight belly bump), which may possibly be why she sends her male servants after Swiftkill instead of attempting to fight her herself.

* PrettyBoy: Hearsay is a wolf version of this in-universe.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Lady Zephyr refuses to let Swiftkill be executed without a fair trial. She also knows about and supports Cricket's efforts to befriend Swift, assigning the former to look after the latter.

* RousingSpeech: Sunstride tries to rally the Shadeless to defend their oasis from Swiftkill. Subverted when they give up without a fight anyway.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: Greyback dies really quickly in the original, but in the reboot he has made it into old age.
* SpikesOfVillainy: The Queen of Thorns wears a collar with large sharp spikes, all from some kind of plant.

** Riptide's name was changed to Trip (in a test comic) and finalized to Sunstride in the reboot. There are no oceans nearby in either version so the former name, while nice, didn't make sense. The name "Sunstride" also reflects that he started out living in a desert.

* BullyingADragon: Sunstride deliberately provokes Swiftkill when they first meet even though she's much bigger than he is. She nearly mauls his face off before Cricket stops her.

* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference:
** Swiftkill had gray cream paws and hair tips in the first comic. These traits were carried into the reboot for a while before eventually being dropped.
** Riptide was the one hit with this trope the most, gaining a comparatively more muted color scheme as Sunstride.
** Whitewind lacked the white streak on her back that Zephyr has.
** Cricket's design was played with for a while before it was settled on. Her pup design in the test comic was drastically different.

* ForcedToWatch: Swiftkill is forced to watch her dying mother be eaten by a hyena.

* HatesBeingTouched: Swiftkill appears to be like this, or at least hates affection. See her reaction when Cricket nuzzles her.

* HybridPower: Being part Rubicund (dire wolf) has made Swiftkill larger and stronger compared to the regular wolves, though she's not as large as a pure dire.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:
** Swiftkill is a grumpy loner with little respect for anyone but herself, yet she still goes out of her way to protect others - notably, she rescues Cricket from the hyenas before even knowing who she is.
** Sunstride is introduced as cocky and snarky, to the point where he picks a fight with Swiftkill when they first meet. Once he warms up to her and Cricket, though, he's a rather nice guy.

* ParentalAbandonment: Swiftkill's mother is deceased and her father is missing.

* RedBaron: The hyenas know Swiftkill as "the green-eyed devil".

* StrongFamilyResemblance: Swiftkill looks very similar to her mother.

* TemptingFate: When Swiftkill boasts that the Inarians are too stupid to catch her, she doesn't even get to finish her sentence before running into one of Cricket's traps.
* WeakButSkilled: Cricket uses cunning and creativity to make up for her small size, including setting traps to catch prey that would be too big to bring down otherwise.

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: When Cricket frees Swiftkill, Swiftkill makes her getaway and runs past the elders and Zephyr. All of them have a reaction, and one of them can be seen taking the time to save the bone she had been chewing on.

* ObviouslyEvil: The brown hyena who feeds on the body of Swiftkill's dying mother and forces Swiftkill to watch him do so gives off a nasty impression even before he actually does anything, thanks to his glowing red eyes, torn ear, constant grinning with jagged teeth, and ragged-looking appearance.

* {{Retcon}}: The story was changed so that Swiftkill rips a male hyena's eye out in the beginning, but the old pages haven't been remade to reflect this yet.

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: When Cricket frees Swifkill, Swiftkill makes her getaway and runs past the elders. One of them can be seen taking the time to save the bone she had been chewing on.

* HybridPower: Being part Rubicund (dire wolf) has made Swiftkill larger and presumably stronger than the regular wolves, though she's not as large as a pure dire.

* MalignedMixedMarriage: Implied to be the case with Swiftkills parents. Her Rubicund mother had to dig a secret tunnel to get past her pack's guards to meet with Swiftkill's father.

* PeopleOfHairColor: Animal version. Each pack roughly has its own typical coat color, though there are wolves who don't follow this pattern. Inarians tend to have gray fur, the Rubicund have red fur, the Shadeless used to have a brownish color, but their descendants tend to have yellow on them now (Anyway is a exception with their dark fur). The hyenas also follow this trope. They tend to be a hard to describe brownish-yellowish color.

* {{Retcon}} The story was changed so that Swiftkill rips a male hyena's eye out in the beginning, but the old pages haven't been remade to reflect this yet.

* SpikesOfVillainy: The Queen of Thorns wears a collar with large sharp spikes from some kind of plant.

* HatesBeingTouched: Swiftkill appears to be like this, or at least hate affection. See her reaction when Cricket nuzzles her.

* HybridPower: Being part Rubicund (dire wolf) has made Swiftkill larger and presumably stronger than the regular wolves.

* ArtEvolution: The new comic has a bit of a Don Bluth film feel to it compared to the old comic. The art quality also has improved.

** The hyenas are based on a real [[SeldomSeenSpecies obscure]] hyena genus (''Chasmaporthetes,'' also known as running hyenas) that actually lived in America alongside wolves at the time. Their designs are appropriately more doglike compared to living hyenas, as the genus is known as the "dog-like" hyenas. Their designs also resemble striped hyenas and brown hyenas, two real and still living hyena species that are only a tad less obscure.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology:
** A real Saber-toothed cat probably would have broken its sabers off if it tried to use them the way the ones in the comic do, but that's just RuleOfCool in action.

* ParentalAbandonment: Swiftkill's mother is deceased and her father is missing.

** Swiftkill somehow manages to combine red and ''greyish-cream'' and still look nice despite the unusual color combo.

** Riptide's name was changed to Sunstride. There are no oceans nearby in either version so the former name, while nice, didn't make sense. The name change probably is also to reflect that he started out living in a desert.

* FeministFantasy: Both versions of the comic are very good about having very strong well-developed female characters, and most of the characters driving the plot (in both versions) thus far have been female.

** The Queen of Thorns sends her lackeys after Swiftkill in the beginning.

* TalkingAnimal

* YouNoTakeCandle: The birds. Strangely, Bloodspill starts speaking like that, too, when she is hunting lizards with Swiftkill.

* ShownTheirWork: The Hyenas are based on a real [[SeldomSeenSpecies obscure]] hyena genus (''Chasmaporthetes,'' also known as running hyenas) that actually lived in America alongside wolves at the time. Their designs are appropriately more doglike compared to living hyenas, as the genus is known as the "dog-like" hyenas. Their designs also resemble striped hyenas and brown hyenas, two real and still living hyena species that are only a tad less obscure.

* AnimalReligion: In the prologue, Swiftkill tells her dying mother that she prayed like she showed her to and asks if God is with her now. "God" then shows up, but it's a hellish hyena that eats her mother offscreen. It's not clear whether the hyena really is something supernatural or if it's just a normal hyena that only appears demonic because we're seeing it through Swiftkill's perspective and is calling itself "god" to further break her.

** Greyback and Whitewind/Zephyr are mates in the original. They appear to not be mates anymore, probably because Greyback is being portrayed more as a grumpy old man, while Zephyr appears to be younger than him.