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"Someone once said it was a dark place that swallowed everything up. Even if that were true, an enveloping darkness like that also contains the light of hope."
Gilbert Nightray

You know that manga based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in which a virtuous and curious Alice wanders into the enchanting but odd realm of Wonderland, making new friends and finding love along the way?

This is not that manga.

Oz Vessalius is a teenage boy with daddy issues who is about to come of age and be recognized as the heir to his family, which is one of the Four Great Dukedoms.

Unfortunately, things don't quite go as planned, as Oz is attacked by the mysterious Baskervilles and sent to the Abyss for the crime of "existing." There he meets an amnesiac being named Alice/B-Rabbit—a monster called a "Chain" who cannot leave the Abyss without making a contract with a human. Together, Oz and Alice make it out of the Abyss only to be met in the real world by three agents of Pandora who inform Oz that he has been missing for ten years instead of just a single day.

Now a part of Pandora, Oz works to find illegal contractors, recover Alice's lost memories, figure out why the Baskervilles sent him to the Abyss in the first place, and unravel the mystery of a tragedy that occurred a century prior.

The answer... might be more complicated than you expect.

PandoraHearts is a Dark Fantasy manga by Jun Mochizuki (although it is considered an amalgamation of many, many different genres), which was serialized in Square Enix's Monthly G Fantasy magazine from 2006 to 2015. It was made into an anime series airing in 2009. Yen Press has published the English-language version of the manga for North America, and NIS America has announced their intent to localize the anime in a bid for new ground.

WARNING: To repeat a point mentioned previously, this manga is based (extremely loosely) on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. And it's filled with allusions to other children's tales. Ye with sanity be warned.


Provides examples of:

    open/close all folders 

    Tropes A-C 
  • Abusive Parents:
    • Xai Vessalius never acknowledged Oz as his son, or even as a human being. He turns out to be the one who sent him to the Abyss in the beginning of the manga.
    • Gilbert and Vincent's mother sold them to a freak show. It's not clear how their father felt about this, but he clearly did not intervene. After they escaped, they were forced to live on the streets, where they were abused and mistreated until Jack found them.
    • Duke Nightray was like this as well, at least to the point of pretty much allowing his son to die, even though he could have easily prevented this.
    • Jack's mother became increasingly physically and emotionally abusive as he got older. Eventually, this caused him to run away from home.
  • Adaptation Distillation: Some important elements in the manga are left out from the anime adaptation, presumably to make the story more understandable to the audiences. Unfortunately, this leaves more plot threads hanging and takes away heavily from the appropriate vibe.
  • Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Gilbert has once given Alice one. An omake shows that she liked it so much that she did things like stealing some candy from Break just so he'd give her more.
  • Alas, Poor Yorick:
    • Retrace LXX has a moment with Gilbert cradling Oswald/Glen's head in his arms.
    • In Retrace LXXVIII, a flashback to the Tragedy of Sablier shows Jack holding Oswald's head to his chest
  • Alice Allusion: A list of references and similarities between the two can be found here.
  • All-Loving Hero: Played with ruthlessly in the case of Oscar Vessalius. Because of the death of his wife and child, he always harbored a darkness in his heart towards Oz, who he saw almost as a replacement for his own dead son. This causes him to question his relationship with Oz and almost provokes him into killing him. However, by Retrace LXXXII, Oscar is finally able to come to terms with the death of his family as well as his love for Oz, and the chapter ends with him dying without regrets and the words, "To Oscar Vessalius, the man who loved and forgave everything, farewell." Oscar does end up becoming an All-Loving Hero but not without a bitter struggle to justify his doing so.
  • Alternate Timeline: In the final volume, Oz has a dream about hosting a tea party where everybody is happy and everyone who died throughout the course of the manga is alive. When he wakes up, the Intention of the Abyss suggests that it may have been a glimpse into one of these, rather than just a simple dream.
  • Always Identical Twins: Alice and the Intention of Abyss, which makes the latter's white hair all the more striking.
  • Amnesiac Hero: Oz, Alice and Gilbert were at the Tragedy of Sablier, but they lost their memories of their identities for different reasons. The first half of the series is mostly about them looking for clues of what happened at Sablier. Ironically, if they had remembered their past from the start, they would have known Jack was the last person they should have gone to for answers.
  • Amnesia Danger: If they haven't lost their memories from one hundred years ago, Oz, Alice and Gilbert wouldn't have spent the majority of the series being manipulated by Jack so he could almost destroy the world again. They also could have avoided the conflict with the Baskervilles for the most part.
  • An Aesop:
    • Everyone has the right to exist. Everyone has value and meaning and is deserving of love, regardless of how accidental or ill-fated their existences are, or whether the world would be easier off without them.
    • Obsessing over mistakes and what-ifs will only make you repeat your past. To move on, you must learn from what has happened and let go of your regrets.
  • An Arm and a Leg:
    • Early on in the anime, a chain lops off both Alice's arms after trapping her in web-like substance.
    • Jack had his body dismembered (arms, legs, and head) in order to create a seal that would restrain Glen Baskerville's soul. Retrace LXV reveals that it was Glen's body, not Jack's, that was split into five pieces, as it is his head that falls out of the broken sealing stone.
    • In Retrace LXXVIII, Gil severs his left arm in order to free himself from Glen's control and protect Oz, who is about to be executed.
    • Retrace XCII has Break cutting off Glen!Leo's hand.
  • Animalistic Abomination : Most Chains but especially the Cheshire Cat in his monster form and Oz The B-Rabbit given that they used to be a cat and a sentient stuffed rabbit.
  • Annoying Younger Sibling: Vincent to Gil. Though there is a reason for Vincent's clinginess.
  • Anyone Can Die: And almost everyone does by the end of the manga.
  • Apocalypse Maiden: Superstition holds that the Children of Ill Omen are this, due to a natural ability to influence the core of the Abyss. The Baskervilles considered it one of Glen's duties to make them Deaderthan Dead to protect the world. Lacie seems to exemplify this trope.It becomes a subversion when it's revealed to have all been a lie by the Jurors: Red-Eyed Children are the only beings that cannot be predicted by their near-omniscient Medium Awareness (and thus, cannot be predictably manipulated to guarantee a story the Jury will like), so the Jury wanted them dead.
  • Arranged Marriage: As revealed in Caucus Race, Gilbert actually had 13 planned marriages after he joined the Nightray Family but was able to escape it thanks to Break. His last one with Dahlia Garland was actually a plan by a cult for him to be sacrificed to an evil god.
  • Arc Words: When you hear the phrase "A darkness that swallows up everything", you know something crucial to the plot is going on. It's been used to describe the Abyss, Leo's eyes, and Jack's view of the world.. There is also the use of the word "sin" when talking about Oz, which is first mentioned in the very first panel of the manga and is finally explained in Retrace 70: Oz. Finally, whenever "one hundred years ago"/"the Tragedy of Sablier" is mentioned, expect things to get serious.
  • Art Evolution: The art goes from decent to gorgeous. It also makes characters like Alice look a little older even though only a few months have passed in universe.
  • Artifact Title: The series is named after the pilot chapter, Jun Mochizuki's debut manga, in which contractors had boxes called "Pandoras" in their chests where their hearts should be. These boxes were, quite literally, "Pandora hearts."
  • The Atoner: Glen/Oswald tries to atone for killing his sister Lacie by taking care of her daughter, Alice.
    • Xerxes Break, as much as he claims otherwise. He even states that he considers going blind to be part of his atonement for his past crimes.
  • Attractive Bent-Gender:
    • When Gilbert has to crossdress to help solve the mystery in one of the drama CD stories.
    • In Chapter 48, Oz turns up in a maid outfit. Despite the fact that its not nearly as revealing as Gil's was in the first anime omake, it's certainly nosebleed-inducing.
    • Break appears in a fine ladies' outfit for a promo card from Animate.
    • And then there's the whole "Maid-ora Hearts" omake thing, in which everyone wears a maid outfit. Young Gil also does in at least one anime omake.
  • Author Avatar: In the form of a black cat with a mustache.
  • Ax-Crazy: Most chains that have not been legally contracted.
  • Badass Bookworm: Leo, especially after contracting Jabberwock.
  • Badass Family: The Baskervilles.
    • There's also the Family Business, which is equally as badass as the family itself.
  • Badass Longcoat: Quite a few examples. It helps that it's the official Pandora uniform.
  • Bastard Bastard: Jack.
  • Batman Gambit: Jack's plan on sinking the world to the Abyss consist of him using Xai Vessalius in order to raise B-Rabbit's consciousness as his own son, while leaving enough clues for him to learn the true events that happened at Sablier. He also spread the rumor of B-Rabbit being a vicious chain in order for no one to contract it until Oz is ready. He also [[Scapegoat set up the Nightrays and Baskervilles as the instigator of the tragedy so that they could take action against the Vessalius Family. And he pushed Oz into finding Alice's memories so he can get some shards of his soul back and planned to take over Oz once B-Rabbit's powers matured. His plan would have gone through if it weren't for the Baskervilles shattering the five sealing stones, setting Oswald's consciousness free and creating a wrench in his plans.
  • Battle Butler: Gilbert, Break, and Echo so far.
    • Also, Glen's servants, the Baskervilles.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: One illegal contractor did manage to get Intention of the Abyss to change the past. Break asked her to prevent the betrayal of the family he was serving, as all but one of whom were killed by a rival family. She did. Instead, they were betrayed again a few years later, and no one got out alive.
  • Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: Our primary trio of Oz, Gilbert, and Alice, as well as our secondary trio of Sharon, Reim, and Break, all initially appear to fill this dynamic in their respective orders. However, these roles are frequently subverted down the line:
    • Initially, Oz is considered very attractive and acts carefree, ditzy, and highly flirtatious; Gilbert, though considered equally attractive, is first presented as knowledgeable, serious, and solemn; and Alice is always raring for a fight. But as soon as these roles are established, they start subverting them all over the place. For instance, Oz is way smarter than he seems, Gilbert can actually put up a fight, and Alice isn't as randomly violent as her rough 'n tough demeanor makes her seem, nor as physically powerful. In short, Oz, Gilbert, and Alice initially appeared to be Beauty, Brains, and Brawn respectively, but Oz slowly revealed himself to be the Brains of the group, Gilbert's combat skill leans him towards Brawn, with Alice being positioned more as a very boisterous Beauty.
    • For the secondary trio it's equally complicated considering Break's favorite hobby is Xanatos Speed Chess and he's the only member who can fight, but since Reim is characterized as far more studious and Sharon is an Ojou, ultimately we're forced to put their positions as Break being brawn, Reim being brains, and Sharon being beauty.
    • This also applies to the past trio. Although this could probably be mixed up a bit depending on your perspective, Lacie is beauty, Jack is brains as a Manipulative Bastard chessmaster, and Oswald is brawn as the most skilled fighter.
  • The Beautiful Elite:
    • Oz, Alice, Gilbert, Break, Sharon, Jack, Vincent, Elliot... it'd be easier to name the people who don't fall under this.
    • As of Retrace LXI, after his Important Haircut, even Leo has joined the ranks when he's shown to have very pretty eyes after all.
  • Best Beer Ever: Best wine ever. Sharon, Alice, and Gil all get completely sloshed on one glass.
  • Better to Die than Be Killed: Elliot in Retrace 59.
  • Beware the Nice Ones:
    • Oz is much smarter than he seems and will be able to outwit/manipulate you if he needs to. He's also the most powerful Chain to ever exist, as he was literally created to destroy the world.
      • Also, his fury is something not lightly trifled with: usually the brash and bold Elliot is the one startling the much more calm Oz with his temper, but during the Second Coming of Age ceremony, Oz's quiet, calm declaration that he would destroy all that Isla Yura had done scared Elliot instead. During the event, Oz actually flips between this Tranquil Fury and loud, aggressive anger; the first scares Elliot, the second spooks Vincent.
    • Jack. Doesn't he seem like the sweetest, kindest, gentlest, most generous soul you could ever hope to meet?
    • Sharon is the nicest girl you can meet. Just don't get her mad. Those paper fans HURT. A LOT.
    • And then there's Ada and her... hobbies.
    • Leo actually has a terrible temper, it's just that Elliot usually loses his before him. He's also very close to turning Yandere on behalf of Elliot. It doesn't help that he's next in line to inherit the name of Glen Baskerville and has thus come to possess quite a bit of power.
    • Beneath his Jerkass facade, Gilbert is an adorably emotional crybaby and a huge wimp... unless you hurt his master Oz in front of him.
    • Lily is adorable. She's also one of the Baskervilles.
  • Big Bad: Jack Vessalius who wants to sent the world into the abyss for his insane love for Lacie. Although Glen/Oswald seems to be competing with him in later chapters.
  • BFS: Fang's improbably large sword.
  • Big Eater: Alice, particularly when meat is involved.
  • Big Ol' Eyebrows: Oscar.
  • Big, Screwed-Up Family: Pretty much every family in the manga has some element of this, apart from (perhaps) the Rainsworths.
  • Bilingual Bonus:
    • Alice's battle theme, "Bloody Rabbit" is sung in Kajiura Yuki's own personal language, a mix of Spanish, Latin, Japanese, Italian, and whatnot. People refer to it as Kajiurian or Kajiurago.
    • In French, "Sablier" means "hourglass," "Ébauche" (Lily's hometown) means "rough/first draft," "Reveil" means "alarm clock," and "Lunettes" (Reim's last name) means "glasses." Break lampshades the latter in Retrace XLIX while attempting to change the subject.
    Break: "Did you know? 'Lunettes' means 'glasses' in another language~"
  • Birth-Death Juxtaposition: When Lacie dies, Alice is born. Though not in the way you'd expect.
  • Bishie Sparkles:
    • Sharon. One even hits Break in the head.
    • Oz is rather fond of throwing them around when he meets a pretty girl.
  • Bittersweet Ending: The main cast manage to prevent Jack from ending the world and Oswald from rewriting it, but returning stability to the Abyss and world costs most of the main cast their lives. And it can be deduced that every person Gilbert knows has already died by the time of the epilogue chapter. It's kept from being a Downer Ending by implying that all except Jack eventually get reincarnated, with Oz and Alice's reincarnations keeping at least some of their memories and reuniting with Gilbert in a modern-looking era.
  • Blood-Splattered Innocents:
    • Vincent at the Tragedy of Sablier.
    • Retrace LXX contains a rather disturbing panel of Oz covered in blood from memories brought on by his traumatic revelation as the true B-Rabbit.
  • Blue Blood: The four Duke Houses.
  • Body Horror:
    • People who get lost in the illusions in that hole in Sablier for too long tend to have this happen to them because of the power of the Abyss.
    • The ultimate fate of those chosen to become the new Glen Baskerville entails this; when the soul of Glen Baskerville leaves, the body slowly begins rot away until it turns into a Chain (note that the individual is still alive throughout this). Levi, the Glen before Oswald, is shown covered in the bloody bandages that are holding his body together just before his transformation into Humpty Dumpty.
  • Bodyguard Betrayal: In Retrace LXXIX, Gilbert betrays Glen by choosing Oz over the Baskervilles. Glen does not take this second betrayal well at all.
  • Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Break and Sharon.
  • Book Ends: The narration in the first chapter is partially repeated in the final pages of the epilogue, also implying that the "retraces" might have been Gilbert recalling the events of the story.
  • Bound and Gagged:
    • Oz has had this done to him on more than one occasion:
      • At Lutwidge Academy, he has his hands tied behind his back when he's kidnapped by the Baskervilles.
      • When he's captured by Isla Yura at his second Coming-of-Age Ceremony, his hands are bound in front of him.
      • He's tied up and locked in a cell after he's taken prisoner by the Baskervilles in Retrace LXXV.
      • In the anime, when he returns from the Abyss, Break arrests him and ties him up in order to try and coax Alice out.
    • Alice is bound in chains in two similar situations: The first time is when she's being tormented by the Intention of the Abyss, and the second time is when she has become trapped in Cheshire's dimension.
    • In Retrace LXXVIII, Break has been chained to a wall.
    • In the anime, Ada receives the same treatment as her brother at Lutwidge.
    • The cover pictures for the volumes depict each character surrounded - and commonly bound - by any number of chains. The most conspicuous in this regard are Echo's, Elliot's, and Lacie's covers. This site explores the chain symbolism.
  • Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Oscar, who may not be Ada's real father but treats Ada like his own daughter. In Retrace 24, he is outraged that Ada is "in love with someone," and drags Oz, Gilbert, and Alice to help look for Ada in her school in Lutwidge and find out just who she has a crush on. Though hints point to either Gil (treasuring the hat that Ada gave him) or Elliot (as she was disappointed that she couldn't return his school bag to him), it later turns out to be Vincent.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Gilbert, with respect to the enemies of his master (both Oz and Jack). In Chapter 38, a flashback to 100 years ago when Jack rescued him and Vincent off the streets shows a mysterious old woman implanting various compulsions in Gilbert's mind, including an intense need to kill his master's enemies. In chapter 33, Vincent happily exploits the hell out of the brainwashing in order to manipulate his dear brother into trying to kill Alice. Gilbert is also driven to attack Oz's father, who was responsible for sending Oz into the Abyss in the first place, but Break manages to snap Gilbert out of it.
  • Bratty Half-Pint: Alice.
  • Break the Cutie: Happens (or has happened) to most of the cast. Much to the point that the housecat and his killer are not spared.
  • Break Them by Talking: By the end of Retrace LXXIV, Jack has succeeded in doing this to Oz.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: All the anime omake start off with the characters thanking the viewer for buying the DVD, usually with funny results, and eventually cut to where the film crew is standing nearby.
    • somewhat with Retrace 91
  • Breather Episode:
    • The chapters where Oz, Alice, Gil and Oscar sneak into Lutwidge to visit Ada, Oz's sister. Subverted, as Oscar states that it was exactly his intention to let the gang have some silly fun for once, and some of the Baskervilles show up to cause trouble halfway through.
    • Episode 20 (Retrace XXVIII in the manga), right after Lutwidge, plays this straight.
    • Also played straight in Retrace XLVII: Unbirthday.
    • Retrace LXII: Repose played this straight until Leo shows up.
  • Breath Weapon: in the Anime.
  • Broken Hero: Oz, on so many levels.
  • Brutal Honesty: The manga towards the readers in Retrace 60. Instead of a recap page, there was a black page with one simple statement written in white: "Elliot... he died."
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Break.
  • Butt-Monkey: Gilbert. He is often the target of Oz's bullying, Alice's eccentricities, Break's... sadism, and even Sharon has had a few notable moments. And this is just from the core group. Even the mangaka has her own potshots at him, often describing him as "useless" or "seaweed head".
  • Calling the Old Man Out:
    • Gil tried to do this for Oz, but it doesn't work at all. At the end of the anime, Oz finally does it himself by giving Alice enough power to one-shot Gryphon.
    • Vincent did this to Duke Nightray after Elliot's death.
  • Can't Hold His Liquor: Almost everyone gets sloshed (apparently on one bottle of wine) in Episode 20, but Gilbert runs the gamut from misaimed belligerence to sloppy begging to a cute but slightly disturbing reversion to childhood. Then he passes out.
  • Cast Full of Crazy: Oh yes. If you want a cast of emotionally stable characters, you won't find it here.
  • Cast Full of Pretty Boys: The manga is a textbook example of this.
  • Cast Full of Rich People: The majority of the characters are aristocrats.
  • Cataclysm Backstory: Most of the story revolves around understanding and dealing with the repercussions of the Tragedy of Sablier, even if it doesn't appear to at first.
  • Category Traitor: As of Retrace LXXIX, Glen considers Gilbert to be this to the Baskervilles after the latter burns off his arm with the seal that controls him and declares his loyalty to Oz before escaping with him.
  • Character Development: All over the place. The cast of diverse and profound characters is one of the things this series is known for.
  • Characterization Marches On: Compare the main characters from the first volume to the succeeding chapters.
  • Central Theme: A couple. Identity, memory, judgment, the value of life, and the relationship between past and present are some of the major ones.
  • Cessation of Existence: A bit of a complicated version. In the world of the manga, the soul of someone who has died is accepted by the Abyss, goes through the Hundred Cycles, and is reincarnated after about one hundred years. Jack is technically already dead, but his soul was rejected by the Abyss, leaving him in a perpetual and completely unnatural state of aging and de-aging where his soul becomes increasingly damaged. When his soul is damaged to the point of no return, he will cease to exist entirely, something that does not usually happen.
  • The Charmer: Vincent is quite charismatic, especially toward women.
    Vincent: "All I have to do is utter a few soft words and share their bed to have them wound around my little finger."
  • Chekhov's Gunman:
    • According to Word of God in Levi's character profile for Volume 18.5, Levi was the one who was cross-legged and sitting behind Leo in Chapter 58.
    • In the manga, Rufus Barma in his true form can be seen pushing Duchess Rainsworth's wheelchair at Pandora's headquarters right after Oz and Alice are dropped there from Cheshire's dimension, even though his official debut isn't until some time later.
  • Cheshire Cat Grin:
    • Literally in episode 12 of the anime (Or the end of Retrace XIV of the manga). It would be ironic for it to not be in this show.
    • Also, Duke Barma's initial illusion wears this almost permanently.
  • The Chessmaster:
    • Vincent. Incidentally, literally as well.
    • There's also Glen Baskerville, by whom it's not certain how much is still being controlled, and to some extent Xai Vessalius.
      • Except, both Glen and Xai have been manipulated by Jack and Glen's solutions tend to rely more on force than manipulation
    • Jack Vessalius can be considered one, of the benevolent Mysterious Protector variety. Except he's not at all benevolent.
  • Chick Magnet: We've got quite a few of these to go around...
    • Gilbert is swarmed by smitten noblewomen drooling over his Tall, Dark, and Handsome look and bitter exterior (which makes them think he's a bad boy) at every social event he attends. And he hates it.
    • Additionally, noblewomen swoon over Gilbert's brother Vincent, who they interpret to be the gentle, kind brother from his warm smile and more friendly reactions to his fangirls. Needless to say, this interpretation is incredibly wrong.
    • According to the Caucus Race side novels, Elliot—yet another Nightray son with the two already mentioned above—has a rather large amount of girls at Lutwidge Academy who are interested in him. He acts extremely tsundere towards his fangirls and refuses to indulge them, though, which makes it seem like he really doesn't want this much attention.
    • Downplayed, but Oswald is implied to have his fair share of female admirers. Somehow, he remains completely oblivious to all of them.
    • In a drama CD, Levi and Jack discuss the latter's past relationships. Jack is implied to be a Chick Magnet here, as he seems to have had quite a few girlfriends. Jack mentions that all of his girlfriends have met unfortunate ends, such as death due to illness or suicide, but Levi seems to think Jack actually murdered all of them. Unfortunately, with what we know, he's probably right.
  • Childhood Friends: Oz and Gilbert have been best friends since they were kids, although Gilbert thought he shouldn't get so familiar with his master.
  • The Chosen One: Oz is said to be the key to obtaining the Intention of the Abyss, which explains why so many people are interested in him. He also has part of the soul of the country's "hero" inside of him.
    • The Chosen Many: Chapter LI reveals that the reason why the Baskervilles are Baskervilles in the first place is because they were chosen by the golden lights of the Abyss.Or rather because of the Jurors as they were nothing more than tools for their stories.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Jack makes tons of friends, many of which aren't even from the same generations of people. He manipulates and betrays every single one of them.
  • Chronic Hero Syndrome/Martyr Without a Cause: Oz, which is viciously and awesomely deconstructed in Elliot's "The Reason You Suck" Speech after he tries to make a Stupid Sacrifice.
  • Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Baskervilles wear blood red cloaks, Pandora wears black uniforms with insignias, and people associated with Jack wear green and white. With color associations so firmly established, changes in who wears what colors later in the series often is reflective of changes in the characters themselves.
  • Collector of the Strange: Miranda Barma and her collection of skulls, to which she wishes to add Oswald-Glen's head.
  • Comedic Sociopathy: Poor Gilbert.
  • Comes Great Insanity:
    • Alice in B-rabbit form. Or Oz when he's playing with that scythe.
    • Or Gil, if it has something to do with Oz, like when he tried to kill Alice in Retrace 35 since Alice was "snatching away his beloved master", or in Retrace XIX when he pointed his gun at Jack for sending Oz to look for Alice.
  • Conditioned to Accept Horror: Oz becomes this after hearing his father basically refer to him as trash. He declares to Gil that this is his life philosophy. Alice is surprised by the cheerful attitude he has, even when flung into the dark and watery abyss. This is probably a contributing cause to his position as Martyr Without a Cause: which Elliot chews him out for.
  • Cooldown Hug: Alice does this to Oz in Retrace 44.
  • Cosmic Keystone: The literal, invisible chains that hold the world from falling into the Abyss. Remarkably solid for such, as only one Chain in existence possess the power to break them.
  • Covers Always Lie: In a minor, subtle way. The cover of the first volume is Oz posing heroically, giving off the distinct impression that Pandora Hearts is an action manga or...literally every other shonen manga. Which is...not exactly accurate, to say the least.
  • Crash-Into Hello: Charlotte Baskerville first met Oswald-Glen by crashing into him, and immediately responded with a Luminescent Blush.
  • Crazy Consumption: Xerxes Break with his candy and cake.
  • Creepy Child: Vincent in flashbacks. Oz when "gathering information." The children of the House of Fianna, who have been simultaneously brainwashed into forgetting their Dark and Troubled Past and made into the contractors of Humpty Dumpty by having them drink his blood. Duke Nightray has a lot to answer for...
  • Cute and Psycho: Many characters, even without being Yandere, can still manage to be rather frightening. Notable examples are Lily and Lacie.
  • Cute Little Fangs: Elliot. Oh, Elliot.

    Tropes D-F 
  • Dances and Balls: Oz's Second Coming of Age ceremony. Turns out, it was a ploy to get several people in one place for a plot to repeat the Tragedy of Sablier. The plot failed, but that doesn't stop it from not ending well.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Nearly the entire cast.
  • Darker and Edgier: PandoraHearts is based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Since the latter's intended audience is children, the former is naturally more serious and disturbing. Jun Mochizuki stated that PandoraHearts came from her evolved impression of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland—from "cute and interesting" to "angsty and intimidating."
  • Darkest Hour: Oz finds out that he is not a human being, is shot by Gilbert, rejects Alice's existence, and succumbs to the idea that the world would be better off without him. As he is about to be executed, he looks on with Dull Eyes of Unhappiness and accepts his fate...
  • Dark Is Not Evil:
    • Alice, the Bloody Black Rabbit (who wears all black in her human form during flashbacks), is the heroine of the story.
    • Oz turns out to be the real Bloody Black Rabbit. He is the protagonist of the story and a Messianic Archetype.
  • Deal with the Devil: Making an illegal contract with a Chain will end up with the contractor eventually being sucked into the Abyss.
  • Death Wail:
    • Leo unleashes several of these at random intervals for days after Elliot's death.
    • When Break dies, Sharon lets out an anguished scream. All the more heartbreaking due to how calm, composed and ladylike she generally is.
  • Deflector Shields: At least one of the Sealing Stones had magic protections around it that suppressed abyssal power and worked to prevent the summoning of Chains. Being within the boundaries of this protection caused Oz significant pain.
  • Demonic Dummy: The Intention of the Abyss' room is filled with these.
  • Demonic Possession: Played with throughout the series.
    • It's zig-zagged with the Core and the Alice Twins, who act as its host (one more than the other) but usually are more in control than the Core, and the Core is perfectly fine with this—until they try to separate from it.
    • It's zig-zagged again with the Duldee, Duldum and Zwei situation. To clarify: Noise made a Contract with the Puppeteer Chain, Duldee, which has the power to turn people into living puppets and also had the unfortunate tendency to damage its Contractor's psyche. To avert these affects, Duldee used its own abilities to create a false, disposable personality in Noise called Duldum, which would take the damage in her place. The two personalities, Noise and Duldum, were together called Zwei. But Noise ended up going insane anyways, Duldee was revealed to be taking advantage of this to control its Contractor, and one of the later incarnations of Duldum gained real independent feelings and became Echo, resulting in three entities fighting for control of Noise's body by the story's climax.
    • It's then inverted by Oz and Jack. Despite Oz being the most destructive and powerful Chain in existence, it's Jack, the man he's technically possessing, who is the malicious one of the duo and who gains the ability to usurp the other from control (though Oz later learns to fight him over this.
    • Played straight relatively early on in the manga before any of the above examples. Elliot's Contract with the copycat Chain Humpty Dumpty allowed Humpty Dumpty to mentally control him whenever it felt such tactics were necessary, and it usually used this to murder people it felt were a threat to Glen Baskerville. To prevent the Chain from using him any more, Elliot rejected it entirely, which ended up killing him.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Jack has crossed the line twice, with the first one being undone when he meets Lacie and the second one happening because of Lacie's death.
  • Determinator: Elliot throwing off the influence of Humpty Dumpty to find out his true memories. Pity that they're of him murdering his family. Possibly a deconstruction.
  • Devoted to You: So much.
  • Disappeared Dad: What happened to Sharon's father?
  • Dissonant Serenity: Even after slashing his best friend, being sent into the Abyss, and being attacked by Chains, Oz is able to joke around and happily eat cookies. It turns out that Oz's attitude is because he'd already been traumatized to the point of not caring about his life anymore. The Abyss inspires no fear in someone who doesn't care if they die.
  • Distant Finale: The epilogue in the final volume takes place approximately one hundred years after the main plot concludes.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: Once you know the true events of Sablier, Oz's psychotic Freak Outs in the first half of the manga begin to look a lot like PTSD.
  • Dream Melody: If someone's playing "Lacie", it's a cue to pay attention to them. Just make sure you're looking at the right person.
  • Dress-Coded for Your Convenience: Red cloaks for the Baskervilles, black uniform and insignia for Pandora. While the Baskervilles never lose their cloaks nor Pandora their uniform, the color schemes in general become less restrictive as the story goes on, reflecting melding and shifting allegiances and moral themes.
  • Driven to Suicide: Alice killed herself, despite prior speculation that she was murdered. Also counts as a Dying Moment of Awesome and Heroic Sacrifice, considering she killed herself in defiance of Jack's wish to communicate with the Intention of the Abyss.
  • Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Oz, after finding out the truth about his existence.
  • Dysfunction Junction: In a manga thematically based off a book that coined the phrase "We're all mad here," this should not be a surprise. The protagonist, Oz, went for years at a time without seeing his father who convinced him that his life didn't matter and then threw Oz into the Abyss. His best friend Gil is a Failure Knight trying to make up for the fact that he was mind-controlled into attacking his best friend and who lived through the Tragedy of Sablier. His deutragonist, Alice, is an amnesiac with an apparently Evil Twin who wants her dead. The cast's mentor archetype, Break, signed an illegal contract to try to change the fact that the family he was bound to protect was massacred, dragged into the Abyss and had his eye torn out, only to have the family die off anyway. This is only touching the main cast in the first half of the manga. It gets so much worse by the end.
  • Ear Ache:
    • In Retrace LIV, Vincent (who is already feeling stressed due to having just suffered a Flashback of Sablier) cuts off a Brainwashed and Crazy cult member's ear with his scissors with the aim of interrogating him.
    Vincent: "Well... I have so many question to ask you. Oh, but you don't have to answer them right away... Because right now, I really need to torture someone..."
    • In Retrace LXXXI, Oscar gets part of his ear shot off while redirecting the bullet that a Jack-controlled Oz aimed at him.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Young Elliot and Leo appear in episode 11, where they both see Gilbert first entering the Nightray mansion. The latter also counts as an Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole due to their meeting actually taking place far later than that.
  • Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Alice, Gilbert, Glen (Or more specifically, Oswald and Leo) and Lacie.
  • Eldritch Abomination: Chains.
  • Eldritch Location: The Abyss. Apparently, it used to be a paradise of golden light, albeit with some patch of darkness somewhere on it.
    • Infernal Paradise: Isla Yura tries to create one by bringing the world into the Abyss.
  • Emotionless Girl: Echo initially appears like this.
  • Et Tu, Brute?: Glen's betrayal of Jack's friendship at the Tragedy of Sablier, which is actually revealed to be Jack's betrayal of Glen, as Jack deliberately opened the doors to the Abyss and tried to bring the entire world into it just so that he could meet Lacie again.
    • Anyone who was betrayed by Jack, after the revelation in Retrace LXV also applies, including Oz, who learned that he was just being used by Jack like he was one hundred years ago as the B-rabbit and Arthur Barma, who was befriended by Jack for the sole purpose of writing a false account of the events that played out at Sablier that made Jack look like the hero.
  • Even the Guys Want Him: Both Oz and Gil apply.
  • Evil All Along: Jack, Jack, and Jack.
  • Evil Twin: Intention of the Abyss. Or so it seemed.
  • Evil Versus Evil: Jack vs. Oswald. Jack's a sociopathic Manipulative Bastard who wants to send everyone to the abyss (partly so that he can see Lacie again, partly because he thinks the abyss is beautiful). Oswald is a sociopathic nerd who wants to stop this by going back in time and erasing his sister from existence, as well as most of the main cast and some bystanders. It would be grey and grey morality if they cared about the lives of innocents, but they don't.
  • Extra Eyes: Humpty Dumpty.
  • Extreme Mêlée Revenge: Done by Vincent to Break in Retrace LXXXI, where the former blames the latter for Gil's betrayal of the Baskervilles.
  • Eye Color Change: Oz's eyes change from green to red when he uses the powers of the B-Rabbit.
  • Eye Scream:
    • Break is missing his left eye because the Intention of the Abyss ripped it out.
    • Vincent also has a tendency to take scissors to eyeballs. Like that one time with pre-Chain Cheshire.
  • Face Framed in Shadow: Oswald/Glen Baskerville for the first half of the series.
  • The Faceless: Xai Vessalius (until Retrace XCII), Jack (at first), the Headhunter, until Retrace 61, the Chain "Raven", of which we only get to see feathers until Retrace 55, and Lacie until Retrace 65.
  • Face–Heel Turn: Leo pulls one after Elliot's death, once he becomes the new Glen Baskerville.
  • Failure Knight: Gil and Break.
  • False Friend: Jack to Arthur Barma, only using the latter to conceal the truth about the Tragedy of Sablier.
  • Fanservice:
    • Episode 20, the first and second omakes, the Doki Doki Pandora Gakuen omakes, the Maid-ora Hearts omakes, and the Gil in Wonderland manga omake.
    • The kiss Oz had with Alice at the start of the series.
    • The Oz and Gil fanservice in episode 15.
  • Fate Worse than Death: Getting thrown into the Abyss is not a pleasant experience. Oz just handled it really, really well.
  • Fête Worse than Death: Oz's second Coming-of-Age celebration turns out this way.
  • Feuding Families: The Nightrays have for a very long time, since even before the occurrence of the Tragedy, been close allies with the Baskerville Clan. It is for this reason that, after the Baskervilles and their master Glen attempted to cast the world into the Abyss, that the Nightrays were suspected of similar treachery for no reason other than their association. The Nightrays' situation regarding their Black Winged Chain exemplifies the significant disadvantage they have to their peers, with Raven unable to Contract with anyone for the entire century until Gilbert was adopted into the family. The Nightray's less-than-desired position is what fuels the rivalry between them and the Vessalius Dukedom, who is by far the most influential even among the other Great Dukedoms. The resentment runs deep and strong, to the point of fostering outright hostility between the Nightray heirs and the Vessalius heirs.
  • Five-Man Band: The main five cast members all appear to start out as clear cut examples of this, but eventually start playing with most of the archetypes.
    • Oz—The Leader and Guile Hero, type Charismatic with shades of Levelheaded. He leads the group's investigations and makes most of their major decisions.
    • Gilbert—The Lancer. He backs up Oz in all situations, but contrasts heavily with him in personality and outlook.
    • Break—The Smart Guy, type Trickster. He starts out knowing more than anyone else about the situation and easily manipulating both friends and enemies.
    • Alice—The Big Guy, Class 4. She's the quickest to jump to intimidation and often eager to battle.
    • Sharon—The Heart. She's the peacekeeper and emotional support of the group.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: Oz and Elliot, and the main five characters in general.
  • Fireworks of Love: In Retrace XXXIII, Oz and Echo watch fireworks together during their Not a Date at a festival. Oz then gives Echo a hair brooch, something Echo knows is supposed to be a romantic gesture even if Oz doesn't get it.
  • First Time in the Sun: Oz and Alice after a stint in the Abyss.
  • Fish out of Temporal Water: Oz learned he was sent ten years to the future after he was sent to the abyss. The Baskervilles had it worse, the reason they were silent before the start of the story is because they were sent nearly one hundred years to the future after the tragedy of Sablier. Gil and Vincent are actually from one hundred years in the past, but Gil doesn't remember it. Break too was from the past, sent 30 years to the future after killing 116 people and meeting the Intention of the Abyss himself.
  • Fluffy the Terrible: Some of the Chains have pretty ridiculous names. Example: Humpty Dumpty.
  • Food Slap: At their first meeting, Jack splashes a glass of water all over Oswald when the latter accuses the former of appearing deceptive and untrustworthy.
  • Foreshadowing: The manga has tons of it:
    • During one of the earlier volumes, Break warns Oz that "what's left in the end isn't always what you wish for." At the time, one of the few things known about Break was that he said random things of no importance to unnerve people. Except... by the end of the manga, almost everyone is dead.
      • Break also highlights that neither he nor Oz have long to live, and wonders which of them (between him and Oz) will out-live the other. They end up dying on the same day, although Oz outlives Break by a couple of hours.
    • In the official art, Oz is frequently wearing rabbit motifs: rabbit-eared hats, rabbit-eared pajamas, rabbit badges on his band lapels, winter clothes with rabbit patterns on the sweater and black and red rabbit faces on the gloves. Similarly, the Black Rabbit plush is often dressed in Oz's signature red tie. This foreshadows that Oz is the actual B-Rabbit.
      • The first volume has a picture of Oz with red eyes sitting in front of a wall with "B-Rabbit" labeled above him in spray paint, complete with a small doodle of the creepy rabbit itself. Oh, Mochijun...
      • The same volume contains this scene before the plot really gets rolling: Oz picks up the infamous pocket watch and finds himself in Alice's room from the past. Though it's difficult to realize on the first read-through, because you're looking at Oz from an odd perspective, reading in hindsight and paying attention to where Oz is actually looking makes it clear that the first thing Oz saw in his vision was himself—the Black Rabbit, in his original form.
    • That official picture of Jack, dressed in black and kissing the hand of an unknown person, has gained LAYERS of meaning since the traumatic revelations of Retrace 65. The mangaka, when asked, stated that who the hand belongs to "is of no consequence". Similarly, images with Jack posed possessively with Oz gained an entirely new meaning after Retrace 70 was released. Also, the official art of Gilbert obsessively cradling a skull has become a lot more sinister in light of recent chapters.
    • There happens to be a website dedicated to the foreshadowing symbolism in the official pictures.
    • In Chapter 97, Glen being uncapable of killing Alice because of her resemblance with Lacie foreshadows that, even if he gets to a time before Lacie met Jack in order to kill her, he won't be able to pull it off.
    • Elliot's choice at the end of the Isla Yura arc to die as himself with his painful memories rather than letting Oz kill him or Humpty Dumpty alter his memories again to give him peace foreshadows the eventual conclusion of the conflict between Jack's efforts to end the world, Oswald's desire to erase the painful events of Sablier, and Oz's Take a Third Option.
  • Forgotten First Meeting: The main trio had already met at different points before the Tragedy of Sablier, but they all got cases of amnesia and only discovered how they were associated until much later.
  • For Want Of A Nail: Oswald thinks that if Jack had never met Lacie, the balance between the surface world and the Abyss would have remained completely intact. However, several other characters suspect he is wrong. See In Spite of a Nail.
  • Fourth-Wall Observer: The Jury are well aware of the fact that the events transpiring is nothing but a story being recorded into a book.
  • Freudian Trio:
    • Id: Alice — Hotheaded, emotional, loud, and somewhat aggressive. Acts mainly based on instinct.
    • Superego: Gilbert — Stoic (most of the time), ethical, and concerned with how others see him.
    • Ego: Oz — Can be as emotional as Alice or as logical as Gilbert, depending on the situation. Often acts as the mediator when they fight.
  • Friendship Moment: Gilbert, Oz and Break after visiting the Barma mansion.
  • Future Badass: Gilbert.
    • Slightly subverted, as he is usually just good at putting up a tough front, while his real personality is basically the opposite of that.

    Tropes G-I 
  • Gecko Ending: The anime diverged from the manga after the visit to Rufus Barma's mansion and ended before the main trio visited Sablier, where the main plot really kicks in.
  • Generation Xerox:
    • Oz will probably look exactly like Jack in a few years. Justified in Oz's case in that his body is Jack's body. The existence known as "Oz" is actually the chain B-Rabbit.
    • Sharon looks like a shrunken version of her mother.
    • Alice resembles Lacie, who turns out to be her mother.
    • Those who receive the soul of Glen Baskerville also inherit the duties that come with being Glen, along with memories and such.
      • It is also worth noting that, while Levi and Oswald look nothing like each other, Oswald and Leo seem to resemble each other heavily.
    • If you consider Oz to look like Jack, Gilbert to look like Oswald, and Alice to look like Lacie, this trope was probably included on purpose. There are a ton of parallels between the main/present trio and the past trio, and by parallels we mean that there are multiple similarities...and a ton of differences that pretty much seem like intentional opposites.
  • Girl in the Tower: Alice, 100 years ago. Before her was Lacie, though this Girl in the Tower was able to slip out from time to time on a whim.
  • The Glasses Come Off: Leo's. Probably for the rest of eternity, considering he never actually needed them.
  • Gothic Horror: The series has a good many tropes representative of the genre, including old castles and mansions, crazy ladies in towers (Lacie and later Alice/the Intention of the Abyss initially appear to play this straight before subverting it, as none of them are actually crazy and are only locked up because of their connection with the Abyss), confinement and imprisonment, Evil Twins and doubles (Alice and the Intention and Jack and Oz, respectively, play with these concepts), mutilation and torture of multiple varieties, otherworldly places (the Abyss) and creatures (chains), and insanity, among others.
  • Grand Theft Me: Retrace XXXIX shows that Glen has no permanent body of his own and must possess others to continue ruling the Baskerville household. Gilbert was lucky enough to evade this fate 100 years ago.
    • Subverted in Retrace LXVIII. Turns out that "Glen" is merely a title given to the leader of the Baskerville family, contracted to all the necessary Chains, and thus has the authority and power to meet with the Intention of the Abyss personally. Potential "Glens" are determined by an unknown set of criteria, but it appears that there's a direct correlation between being related to a potential "Glen" by blood and being a "Child of Ill Omen".
    • As of chapter 65, Jack has taken complete control of Oz's body and used it to stab Leo with one of B-Rabbit's chains.
      • Also strangely inverted in chapter 70 and chapter 77 in that, apparently, it was Jack's body all along before Oz took over.
    • Retraces 74 and 78 show that Glen, specifically Oswald, has taken over Leo - and Leo won't do a thing about it.
  • Grey-and-Gray Morality: One of the main themes of the series, especially with the Well-Intentioned Extremist methods Pandora and the Baskervilles are willing to go through to learn about and protect the Abyss, respectively.
  • Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Ada. Despite her collection, she is still an exceptionally kind and forgiving person, so the trope fits.
  • Hair-Raising Hare: The Bloody Black Rabbit will mess you up. The White Rabbit too.
  • Handicapped Badass: Xerxes Break after he goes blind.
    • And Gilbert after he cuts off his own left arm. Cue Big Damn Heroes moment.
  • Happiness in Slavery: Echo. Subverted once you get her talking about her "beloved master." Gilbert's devotion to his master Oz approaches this as well, as it reaches the point where he wishes to stay Oz's servant even when he becomes a noble with complete freedom.
  • Harmful Healing: Played with, in a way. The reason why Elliot is a Humpty Dumpty contractor is that Leo made him drink its blood to 'forget' (read: erase) the mortal wounds Elliot received while they were looking for the children in Sablier. When Elliot remembered those forgotten memories, the wounds came back.
  • Hartman Hips: Disturbingly enough, Isla Yura.
  • Healing Potion: Vincent bribes Break with an antidote after he poisons both Sharon and Echo... and then, to prove the antidote works, Vincent gives Echo said potion by frenching her.
  • Hearing Voices:
    • Leo can hear the voices of the past Glens speaking to him and spent sixteen years of his life trying to ignore them until finally giving in and accepting his role as the new Glen.
    • Noise hears a cacophony of voices so intensely that her chain creates a Split Personality for her in an attempt to keep her from insanity; it doesn't work.
    • Oz hears some pretty plot-important ones during his "first" visit to the Hole at Sablier. As illusions of the Tragedy begin to form around him, Oz hears horrible, tortured, pleading screams from a single voice, and then promptly has a major Freak Out. These screams are made distinct from the speech of those in the illusion and are given no clear source. They turn out to be Oz's own from 100 years past, pointing to this being something of a setting-induced PTSD episode.
  • Hellish Pupils:
    • Lottie's pupils make it easy to tell that she's creepy.
    • Zwei seems to have similar pupils. As does Leo.
    • Levi seems to have a different variation, but still creepy nonetheless.
  • He Who Must Not Be Seen:
    • Jack right about up until the end of the Cheshire Arc. Had heavy elements of Face Framed in Shadow.
    • Also, Xai Vessalius, Oz's father. We don't get a good look at his face until Retrace 92, when Oz finally overcomes his fear of Xai's rejection and realizes that Xai's opinions of him do not determine the value of Oz's existence. Up until that point, Oz couldn't look bring himself to look him in the face, so we couldn't either.
  • Heroes Gone Fishing: The Unbirthday chapter, where everyone(including Elliot and Leo) spend one day having a tea party hosted by Oscar.
  • Hero Antagonist: Oswald/Glen Baskerville, in the past. In the present, while he tries to pretend even to himself that his goals are noble, the point is made that he's far from heroic and is now motivated largely by revenge.
  • Heroes Prefer Swords: Though he is not the protagonist, Elliot is the most traditionally heroic character, believing passionately in justice. His weapon of choice is a sword.
  • Heroic Sacrifice:
    • Jack went through a particularly horrifying sacrifice to seal away Glen in order to keep the peace, which involved Jack being physically separated into five pieces. At the end of Retrace XLII, one of Jack's dismembered arms is shown. Retrace LXV reveals that it's not Jack's, but Glen's body that got split (his head was in one of the Sealing Stones).
    • Elliot rejecting Humpty Dumpty despite his Incuse being one quarter from completion comes to mind, as well.
    • There's also Alice killing herself with a pair of shears to prevent Jack from using Oz and cutting off any further contact between him and her twin. After that, she also became a chain just so Alyss wouldn't have to go through the trouble of making an anguished B-Rabbit!Oz destroy her memories.
    • Another instance occurs heartbreakingly in Retrace LXXXII, where Uncle Oscar pushes Gil, Alice, and Oz through the gate so that they can escape their pursuers. He himself stays behind, and... well...
    • Given the choice between allowing Jack to end the world or allowing Oswald to retcon him and everyone he loves out of existence, Oz chooses to die separating the Intention of the Abyss and the Core so that stability to the Abyss will return and reality won't collapse. In doing so he both saves the world and overcomes his lack of self-worth, because Oz's alternative to Jack's and Oswald's plans ensures that their story has an ending Oz chooses, and that the impact of his life and those of the people he loved cannot be erased from the world. Still, Oz breaks down in tears mourning the life he'll never get to lead from here on out—culmination of his character arc or not, it's still every bit the sacrifice. And though technically already dead, helping Oz to separate the Intention from the Core means that both Alice twins actively sacrificed themselves here as well.
  • Heroic Safe Mode: In Retrace LXXV, Oz, having discovered that he is B-rabbit and that he's killed many innocent people, boots up in safe mode after being totally destroyed by Jack. He becomes indifferent to his fate, convinced that Glen executing him is for the best since he isn't "real," only a chain inhabiting Jack's cursed body.
  • Hidden Weapons: Break's cane is a concealed sword. Echo and Lottie both have hidden knives up their sleeves.
  • Hiding Behind Your Bangs: Break's bangs cover the left side of his face because his left eye socket is empty. Cheshire's bangs cover the right side of his face. This is not a coincidence. He has Break's left eye.
  • Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act: The last arc of the series revolves around this conundrum. Oswald wants to go back in time and prevent the Tragedy of Sablier, however, the Tragedy was driven by the underlying issues with how the Baskervilles managed the Abyss, the Core, and the Children of Misfortune, issues that had gone unaddressed until the Tragedy, meaning that erasing the Tragedy wouldn't remove the problems that actually caused it, only the specific happenstance triggers that Oswald knows of from this particular timeline—and even if Oswald does succeed, he will be destroying the existence of every person who lived after the moment that he changed. The progagonists find this last part unacceptable, positioning that a solution for those in the present and the future is the only way to actually move forward in regards to these underlying problems—however difficult it is to live with, leaving the past to the past and dealing with the consequences in the present is the only way to actually move on from them.
  • Hope Spot: Used throughout the series, the most brutal one being the first thirty or so pages of Retrace 104. After planning to have a tea party with everyone after the Grand Finale is over, Oz enacts his plan to stop the end of the world by contracting with the Intention of the Abyss herself. The final chapter opens with Oz's tea party, but what seems like a happy ending grows into a suspicious Tear Jerker as more and more deceased characters appear. Finally Oz is led from the tea party by the Alice twins, who pull him out of the illusion and reveal it to have been a dream—or perhaps a glimpse at another reality. Either way, neither is real or accessible to Oz.
  • Hope Springs Eternal: The manga has a reputation for being tragic, but this is the major underlying theme, and perhaps even the overarching aesop. The characters certainly suffer, but as they become stronger people with a better understanding of themselves and others, they find meaning in their suffering and realize there is hope after all.
  • Hot for Student: Heavily implied throughout the Pandora Academy Omakes.
  • How We Got Here: Episode 12 explains to us how Oz, Gil and Alice ended up in line for a three-round arm-wrestling match for Gil's hat. Of course, since it's Oz talking, we learn that Gil is a useless moron and Oz is The Hero. It's true.
  • Humanoid Abomination: Cheshire Cat and Oz The B-Rabbit unlike most chains they gain human forms when they become chains while some barely had some human parts.
  • Humans Are Flawed: One of the Central Themes. People can be selfish and cruel, but they can also be loving and kind.
  • I Didn't Mean to Turn You On: Oz does this to Gil in the first Caucus Race light novel by wearing an apron and asking if he would make a pretty wife.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each chapter name is preceded by "Retrace:" and the chapter number in Roman numerals. (For example, the first chapter of the manga, Retrace I: Innocent Calm.)
  • Idiot Hair: Rufus Barma.
  • If We Get Through This…: Near the end of the manga, Oz declares that if everyone survives, he wants them to get together for another tea party. It's revealed later that Oz said this only to lighten the mood, as he was aware several of them would die, including himself.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal:
    • Retrace LXIII reveals that the Intention of the Abyss doesn't want to be the Intention of the Abyss anymore. This is justified, considering that pretty much everybody wants to use or destroy her and that she's been confined to a horrific Eldritch Location for who knows how long.
    • Vincent has never felt "normal" because of his one red eye, and so he finds a kindred spirit in Noise, who is also an "aberration" because she is neither fully human nor fully Baskerville and must be confined due to her chain possessing her and driving her into madness.
    Vincent: “If all the people break, and all the world breaks, and everyone and everything goes mad, then I can be normal, just like everyone else, right?”
  • I Just Want to Be Special: Vaguely implied with Gilbert, whose ultimate desire—at least for a while—is to be needed by someone.
  • I Just Want to Have Friends: Arthur Barma.
  • I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Break's reason for becoming an illegal contractor is a desire to undo this.
  • I'm a Humanitarian: Most Chains, if you consider what they used to be. Subverted in Alice's case.
  • Immune to Fate: The true reason the Children of Ill Omen are looked upon as "sins": They are utterly unpredictable to the otherwise omnipotent Jury and are constantly in the way of the Jury's job, so the Jury created the Baskervilles to eliminate them.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Jack, through Oz, stabs Leo with one of B-Rabbit's chains in Retrace LXV.
  • Important Haircut: Leo gets one in Retrace LXI.
  • Impossibly Cool Clothes:
    • Alice's dress/coat/thing comes to mind. Also, obviously, all the noble suits and dresses.
    • The Lutwidge school uniforms are nice enough to make James Bond jealous.
  • Improvised Weapon: Alice uses some utensils to good advantage when possessing Oz in the beginning.
  • Innocent Flower Girl: Oz meets one. It doesn't end well.
  • In Spite of a Nail:
    • Break, when he was still Kevin Regnard, asked the Intention of the Abyss to prevent the massacre that killed the family he was protecting. However, they still die later on due to his absence.
    • A hypothetical version. Oswald believes that if Jack and Lacie had never met, the surface world and the Abyss would have remained balanced. However, conclusions drawn by several characters and statements about the stability of the Core of the Abyss at the end of the manga suggest that he is incorrect, and that even if he were correct about preventing this specific sequence of events, something else with equal (or worse) consequences would have happened anyway.
  • Irony: When Oz finds out he's a Chain and not a human, he has one of the most human reactions possible. And while Jack is breaking him by talking, it's clear that Jack, the human, is the demonic one of this duo.
    • In the beginning of the manga it's made clear that the Chain B-Rabbit is infamous because it supposedly causes the death of every person who's ever made a Contract with it. This turns out to be a lie concocted by Jack Vessalius to scare people away from contracting with Alice until he's ready to reunite the powers she stole with the real B-Rabbit. However, it still proves true by the end of the story, because Oz ends up being a direct or indirect cause of death for every person he's made a Contract with.
  • Instant Runes: Instant transport for every Illegal Contractor who needs to be offed to the Abyss.
  • Intimate Healing: In order to prove to Break that the antidote for Sharon really works, Vincent administers the antidote to a poisoned Echo by kissing her. Lottie pulls the same trick on Ada Vessalius in the anime, except with poison instead of an antidote.
  • It's All My Fault:
    • Gil blames himself for his inability to protect Oz when the latter is condemned to the Abyss at the start of the series.
    • Leo seems to feel this way about Elliot's death, among other things.
    • Retrace LXXVIII reveals that Oswald feels this way about the Tragedy of Sablier and blames himself for his naivety in trusting Jack.
  • I Will Find You: Jack spends eight years trying to find Lacie before he finally reunites with her.
    • In the last few pages of Retrace CIV, Gilbert steadfastly holds on to his promise of seeing Oz and Alice when they are reincarnated in 100 years. However, Vincent ends up being the one who tracks down Oz and Alice, both as one last sign of love for his brother and another attempt at self-redemption.
  • I Work Alone: Sharon calls Break "Mr. One-Man-Show" because of this.

    Tropes J-L 
  • Jerkass: Xai Vessalius at his best. Bernard Nightray - totally. Also, Rufus Barma (though not as bad as the other two.)
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
    • Elliot. Some might say he's just a tsundere though. By Retrace XL or so it's fair to say that Elliot is a much nicer guy than he wants to show.
    • Break. It's not always obvious that he does have a heart, but he's got his moments.
    • Oz himself, particularly in that scene where he made Gil sign a contract making him officially his servant for life... the purpose of which was to cement the fact that Oz must always protect him, since a master's task is to take care of his servants. Oz was still a jerk about it.
  • Jigsaw Puzzle Plot: You could rename the manga Mind Screw and no one would notice. Played very straight in the beginning when the group is searching for fragments of Alice's memory. The whole story (all 104 chapters of it) just centers around how and why the Tragedy of Sablier happened and what the Intention of the Abyss wants by constantly revisiting these two things.
  • Kick the Dog: Pretty much everything Jack says to Oz in Retrace LXXIV.
    Jack: You are a chain... B-rabbit, the destroyer... The people you love, and the people you wish to protect... All that you've achieved... They're fake. Don't forget that..."
  • KidAnova: Oz really likes younger girls.
  • Kid Detective / Amateur Sleuth: Oz, Alice, Elliot and Leo, all of whom are trying to decipher some mystery, usually having something to do with the Tragedy of Sablier.
  • Kid with the Leash: Several contractors, including Oz and the flower girl they meet early on.
  • Killer Rabbit: Most notably literal rabbits, and in black and white varieties. One is a main character. Though not the one you think...
  • Large Ham: Alice is Chewing the Scenery like it's going out of style.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: Conversely, Trauma-Induced Amnesia.
  • Laughing Mad: The Head Hunter, after killing Rytas, Marie and Glooner.
  • Lecherous Licking: Several examples; see the trope page for details.
  • Leonine Contract: Alice's contract with Oz can be considered this, as it was the only way for Oz to escape the Abyss and Oz agreed to it without being completely aware of the consequences.
  • Let's Get Dangerous!: Break. He even says "time to get serious" at one point in the anime, which Alice takes as her cue to GTFO without needing further instruction. Every time he puts on his game face (usually by whipping out the Mad Hatter, though revealing the concealed sword does the trick too), everyone craps their pants, but the sudden air of panic is no damper whatsoever to his flamboyant attitude. He still snarfs candy and talks with hearts in his speech bubbles as he watches his opponents slowly bleed to death.
  • Light Is Not Good:
    • The Intention of the Abyss, who wears all white and sometimes manifests as a white rabbit, isn't someone you want to stumble upon...seriously. Eventually subverted, as the Intention of the Abyss turns out not to be so bad.
    • Jack is often accompanied by bright colors and occasionally wears white in official art. He caused the Tragedy of Sablier.
  • Like Brother and Sister: Oz and Alice. While their relationship is generally treated more like best friends than siblings, they are unusually close, and Oz states in one of the Caucus Race side stories that he loves Alice like she's his sister.
  • Like Father, Like Son: Alice (physical appearance, being locked in a tower) and the Intention of the Abyss (physical appearance, psychotic tendencies) to their mother Lacie.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Save for a few special circumstances.
  • Little Miss Badass: Alice, Echo, the Intention of Abyss, Sharon (biologically 23, but physically 13), Lily...
  • Lonely Rich Kid: The whole story pretty much starts as Oz being this.
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Quite a few, most noticeably Vincent and Jack, with his braid. Leo and Rufus Barma also count, along with Break, who had a ponytail right after being spit out of the Abyss, and Gilbert, whose hair is at least long enough to tie back.
  • Loss of Identity: By the end of Retrace LXXIV, Oz himself appears to have lost all sense of identity thanks to Jack's manipulation.
  • Love Makes You Crazy / Love Makes You Evil:
  • Love Triangle: Multiple.
    • Ada and Noise both love Vincent, who never had any feelings for the latter and (eventually) returns the feelings of the former.
    • Lottie and Miranda both love Oswald, who is completely unaware of both of their affections. This is a bit of a strange variation because Lottie and Miranda never meet or become aware of one another. Oh, and Miranda is a psycho.
    • Rufus Barma is completely in love with Sheryl Rainsworth, but she has a husband and never returns his feelings, although she does seem to adore him platonically. Also a bit of a strange variation because 1) it's unclear if Duke Barma actually knows Sheryl's husband, and 2) the readers don't meet Sheryl's husband or even learn his name.
  • Lover Tug of War:
    • Episode 17. "My master!" "No, my servant!"
    • And then again in Episode 20, this time with all parties involved drunk out of their minds.

    Tropes M-O 
  • Magic Pants: When Alice turns into her rabbit form, not only do her clothes grow with her, but her miniskirt turns into a pair of pants! (Probably justified by magic.)
    • Possibly could be considered Foreshadowing, as Alice stole that animalistic form and her powers from the true B-Rabbit, who identifies as male. When she took control of the powers, she altered the form and B-Rabbit outfit to resemble her human appearance; it makes a kind of sense that when she takes the Chain's prior form, the more masculine aspects of the outfit return.
  • Manipulative Bastard:
    • Rufus Barma, Vincent, and Break.
    • Oz (most notably in Retrace XLVIII), although it's worth mentioning that he only is this when absolutely necessary.
    • Retrace LXV: Jack.
  • Marshmallow Hell: Done to Oz by Lottie, notably.
  • Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Alice is the masculine girl to Gilbert's feminine boy, although they're the variation of this trope in which the girl and boy are not romantically affiliated with one another but have some other type of relationship (in this case, friendship/rivalry/sibling-like, etc.). Alice enjoys combat, voracious and carnivorous eating habits, and holds spite for things such as fashion/romance/refinement. In addition, she is incredibly blunt and literal and appears to have a significantly difficult time understanding anything psychological. It's also worth noting that although she isn't a Bokukko, her speech patterns in Japanese are apparently masculine. Contrasting Alice's masculinity, Gilbert enjoys sewing, cooking, cleaning, household chores in general, and handicrafts. Besides this, he is also sensitive and emotional.
    • This trope has gone far enough that Oz's voice actress, Junko Minagawa, joked in an interview with Jun Mochizuki that Alice is the manliest member of the trio (which includes her and two guys), as well as that Gilbert is the true heroine of the manga. Jun Mochizuki seemed to agree.
  • Mask of Sanity: The vast majority of the time, Jack appears to be nothing more than a friendly, unassuming, and charismatic man. In reality, he is extremely dangerous.
  • Meaningful Echo: From the beginning and end of Retrace LXXX:
    Oscar: [thinking] "Oz, you have no idea what it meant to me to be held by that small hand of yours... What torture it was."
  • Meaningful Name: Oz was named after Oswald and 'Oz' as in the WONDERful LAND. 'Rufus' means 'red'. Lacie is an anagram of Alice, appropriate, as Lacie was Alice's mother.
    • On a meta-level, many of the Retrace names and subtitles double as this, sometimes factoring in Meaningful Echos. Good example of this are Retraces 3 and 76, "Prisoner and Alichino" and "Alice and Oz," which share the subtitle "Lost Child and Black Rabbit," and Retraces 10 and 82, "Malediction" and "Wish," which share the subtitle "Curse." The first two focus on Oz and Alice and the juxtapositioning of their realities, while the latter two focus on the burdens, or "curses," that Xai and Oscar have put on Oz respectively.
    • The name "Vessalius" isn't just a possible reference to an anatomist who saw his job as dispelling myths and revealing the truth of his field, it's also a Stealth Pun on the word vessal, a hollow container used to hold or carry something. Oz is thought to be the Vessal of Jack Vessalius and Jack reinforces this belief when trying to convince Oz he is nothing; in reality, Jack is the vessal of Oz, and Jack fears that he himself is empty.
    • Jack's name is doubly ironic, because "Jack" has been, throughout the years, a generic slang term for "man" and also for "criminal." Obviously, he's a criminal, but the irony comes from the generic "man" part of the meaning. Jack is the most human main character of the cast from 100 years ago, but emotionally proves himself less human than Oz (who likewise proves himself one of the most human characters emotionally, despite being perhaps the most literally inhuman entity sans the Core), and even inverts their Demonic Possession relationship by being the demonic one of the two despite his humanity.
      • Additionally, Jack's character is based on the Knave of Hearts. The word "knave" is another term for "jack" in cards, but even more significant is the other definition of "knave": A dishonest or unscrupulous man.
  • Meido: The Maidora Hearts omake. Young Gilbert also wore a maid outfit in the first anime omake.
  • Merlin Sickness: Because his corrupted soul was rejected by the Abyss, Jack was excluded from the hundred-year cycle of rebirth. As a result, his body repeatedly matures to the age he was at during the Tragedy of Sablier (twenty-four) before reversing back to infancy. Each time he completes this cycle, another piece of his soul is destroyed.
  • Mind Rape:
    • When Alice is in Cheshire's dimension, she confronts horrible, nightmarish visions of herself. A notable one is when a ghoulish version of herself is bleeding at the eyes.
    • Oz himself gets this treatment from Jack after it's revealed that the latter was Evil All Along. It is intensified by the extensive physical contact, including Jack holding Oz down on the metaphorical ground of their shared mind, or gripping his shoulders to force him to watch memories of Sablier. It ends with Oz suffering an identity crisis and having a Heroic BSoD.
  • Mind Screw: The manga as a whole. Characters thought to be the epitome of truth were lying, and everything that kept the characters sane and/or defined their identity gets destroyed. With Alice in Wonderland as its template, this aspect of the series isn't too surprising.
  • Misery Builds Character: Every character integral to the plot has suffered through horrible, traumatic experiences and has come out badass, twisted, sadistic, or a mix of them all. On the bright side, they're interesting people!
  • Misplaced Retribution: In Retrace LXXXI, Vincent beats up Break and blames him for Gil's betrayal of the Baskervilles, despite the fact that Break wasn't even directly responsible for Gil's decision.
  • Mistaken for Gay: This exchange from Retrace LXVII:
    Levi: (referring to Oswald's research into Jack's history) "Still, it's pretty unusual for you to show interest in someone."
    Oswald: "You're right. I couldn't help but be interested in him."
    Levi: "Uh... what? I didn't know you swung that way."
  • Mood Whiplash: There's quite a lot in this manga.
    • Retrace XLVI: Vincent having sinister thoughts about tainting Ada, whom he hates for her purity. Cue Ada showing off her collection to him.
    • Oz reaching out to Leo ends with the latter being impaled by the former (or, to be specific, Jack) with B-Rabbit's chain.
    • Retrace LXXXII contains some of the happiest, most beautiful moments in the series. And then Uncle Oscar dies.
  • Mistress and Servant Boy:
    • Alice completely dominates Oz and calls him her property. Oz does next to nothing to combat this and only wants to keep Alice pleased. This is an extension of their original relationship in which Oz was Alice's stuffed rabbit and the wish that gave him a consciousness was to make Alice happy.
    • Oz and Gilbert are a same-sex version. Gilbert was made into Oz's manservant at a young age and he sworn unquestionable loyalty to Oz. Even though Gilbert got himself adopted into the Nightray Dukedom, Oz stills asks Gilbert to serve him and Gilbert faithfully does so.
  • Morality Kitchen Sink: Morality is a big subject in this series, so it's only natural that the characters are all over the spectrum.
  • More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Humpty Dumpty.
  • More than Mind Control: What Vincent pulled off with Gilbert in Retrace XXXIII has elements of this.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Gilbert is the very obvious Mr. Fanservice. He's had a shirtless scene or two in the manga, and Jun Mochizuki enjoys drawing him in ridiculous and semi-provocative situations and outfits (and has basically outright stated this).
  • Multiple Demographic Appeal: The fandom has both female and male readers of varying ages.
  • Must Have Nicotine: Gilbert has tried to quit smoking eight times but to no avail. A special manga omake even chronicled his ninth time trying to quit.
  • My Death Is Just the Beginning: With both Jack Vessalius and Glen Baskerville.
  • My Greatest Failure: Both Break and Gil's backstories. Gilbert failed to save Oz from getting dragged into the Abyss, while Break failed to save the lives of all but one little girl in the family he used to serve. There's more, but it's...complicated.
  • My Greatest Second Chance: Break and Gil again, the former in terms of protecting Sharon and the latter in terms of protecting Oz.
  • My Master, Right or Wrong:
    • Echo. It is revealed that she thinks Vincent is annoying, but (usually) obediently follows his orders.
    • The Baskervilles, who slaughtered nearly an entire city without knowing the reason why.
  • My Sister Is Off-Limits: Ada sends her uncle Oscar a letter saying she's in love with someone, and he, being extremely overprotective, drags the main cast (including her brother Oz) to her school in order to find out who it is. Her interactions with Gilbert show that they've gotten close, and both Oz and Oscar end up mistakenly thinking Gilbert is the guy she's dating. Oz gets pretty damn pissed at Gilbert until it's all sorted out.
    • It's interesting to note that when Oz finds out the man Ada's in love with is Vincent, the main body of the manga does not show him reacting whatsoever. Additionally, in the omake featuring his and Gilbert's reactions to their siblings' relationship, Oz only acts mildly perturbed. It's possible this trope was actually subverted and that Oz's aggressive, overprotective reaction had more to do with the idea of Gilbert dating Ada than Ada having a boyfriend in the first place.
    Oz: "Ah, so this is how it is. But Vincent, Vincent...Why'd she have to choose him of all people?"
  • Mystical White Hair: The Intention of the Abyss, who is Alice's identical twin sister and whose white hair is the result of her being born in the Abyss and merging with its Core.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast:
    • Demios, which means "Executioner." Its nickname, The Queen of Hearts (or Queen of Hurts), doesn't make anyone feel any better.
    • The most obvious example, the "Bloody Black Rabbit" (or B-Rabbit) is something of a zigzag. Jack had spent years spreading B-Rabbit's reputation for violence to the point where the chain gained the moniker "Bloody." However, the series defines the "B" differently via subscript as the chapters progress and more is learned, moving from "Bloody" to "Broken" and eventually to "Beloved" (the latter coming from the Alice twins).
  • Necromantic: The goal of some illegal contracts, which usually fail to work and backfire horribly on the contractor.
  • Never Trust a Title: Retrace I (the first chapter of the manga) is called Innocent Calm. The course this series takes is...neither of those two things.
  • Nice, Mean, and In-Between: Oz is nice, as he believes everyone deserves to be respected and treated with kindness, and he tries to resolve problems without hurting anybody. Alice is mean, as she can be rather arrogant, rude, and self-absorbed, and her instinct is often to fight her way through until she gets what she wants. Gilbert is in-between, as he cares deeply for others but can also be coldly brutal and logical if he believes it to be necessary. This is especially present near the beginning of the manga. However, it levels out somewhat over time with Character Development, the most noticeable example of this being how Alice gradually chills out.
  • Nigh-Invulnerability: The Baskervilles heal unnaturally fast, and as such they will not die from physical injuries. However, they do die from natural causes—they may have unusually long life spans, but once they reach a certain age and their body reaches its limit, their time is up.
  • No Sense of Humour: Reim, to contrast Break. Also, Rufus Barma. Also, Glen/Oswald, who keeps the record for longest held poker face. Not that we don't love them all anyway (see: The Comically Serious).
    • Subverted in Rufus' case. In a bizarre twist, 18.5 Evidence reveals that he actually enjoys teasing other characters.
  • Noble Fugitive: Both Oz and Gil have become these by Retrace LXXXIII, as the former was raised as the heir to one of the duke houses and the latter was adopted into one.
  • Noodle Incident: An omake asks the question of why Gilbert is so scared of cats. Instead of answering, Gilbert goes to cry in a corner and the author's note states that the reason behind his fear is so serious and traumatic that no one would make fun of Gilbert's cat phobia if they knew.
  • Nostalgic Music Box: "Lacie," the song played by the watch Oz finds at the beginning of the series.
  • Not a Date: In Retrace XXXIII, Oz makes Echo go to a festival with him, even getting her dressed up for the occasion. Although it wasn't neither's intention to have a date, it sure ends up feeling like it to Echo after a while.
  • Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: The point is made for every antagonistic character, but in no way does it attempt to justify their actions. Most will have tragic backstories (Jack, Vincent). Some, though, are just plain nuts (Isla Yura). The manga overall makes the point that people cannot be colored black and white. However, unlike what this trope may imply, it's still made clear this does not actually excuse or justify the characters' actions.
  • Not So Stoic:
    • Happens with Vincent in Retrace LXI. He even comments that "It's not like me... to get carried away like this."
    • And yet again in Retrace LXXXI, where he calmly walks into Break's cell (after blowing a hole in it, of course) and proceeds to beat the hell out of him, blaming him for Gil's betrayal of the Baskervilles or, in other words, chosing Oz over him.
    • Leo reveals to Oz that he has quite the temper himself, he just rarely loses it because Elliot usually loses his first. This becomes especially evident after Elliot's death, which proves to be Leo's breaking point.
  • Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Retrace 65 and the following chapters. They take everything you knew about the main cast, stomp it into the ground, set it on fire, and laugh. And laugh, and laugh, and laugh.
  • #1 Dime: Gilbert treasures his hat. When it gets lost in an early chapter, Gilbert forces Oz and Alice to help him and is desperate to find it. In Retrace 24, it's revealed Ada gave it to him.
  • Obfuscating Insanity: Break, who generally acts "insane" to unnerve others and catch them off-guard.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Oz acts goofy and charming, full with a devil-may-care attitude and a never-wavering smile. It gives off the impression that he's just a reckless teenage boy without a care in the world. The truth is that he's incredibly intelligent.
  • Off with His Head!: Humpty Dumpty and Demios can do this respectively
  • Ojou: Sharon is a prime example of this, along with her mother and grandmother.
  • Older Than They Look:
    • Break and Sharon don't age during the ten year timeskip.
    • Rufus Barma is a man in his seventies, but you wouldn't know by looking at him.
    • Lottie and the rest of the Baskervilles seemed to apply, but Chapter LXI clarified that the Baskervilles fell into the Abyss 100 years ago and popped out in the present time - making them a normal age after all... unless they have been affected by the age-stopping effect of their Contracts long enough.
      • Something like this also happened to Vincent and Gil, who were around eight and nine years old at the time of the Tragedy of Sablier.
    • This seems to apply to Zwei/Echo as well. She also didn't age at all in the ten year Time Skip before Oz escaped the Abyss.
    • Alice was alive and visually the same age a hundred years ago, too.
    • Oz can technically be considered twenty-five years old. Except that he was originally a pair of stuffed rabbits owned by Lacie. If you count his age from the time he was given sentience by the Abyss, he's over a hundred years old.
    • If you consider this by year of birth, the only major characters who aren't in some way Older Than They Look are Oscar, Xai, Ada, and Lady Rainsworth.
      • Given several decades, Lady Rainsworth could potentially also fall into this trope. Sharon revealed in a chapter that contractors stop aging. Thus, most of the main cast will eventually become this.
    • Rotting alive aside, Levi looked pretty much the same as he raised Lacie and Oswald grew to adulthood.
  • Ominous Latin Chanting: Some soundtracks have this.
  • Once More, with Clarity: Quite a lot, but most notorious is the end of Retrace LXV. See that person huddling in a blanket having a hand held out to him by a girl called Lacie? That's not Glen. It's Jack.
  • One Cast Member per Cover: Every volume cover features a different character with chains around them. Only Oz and Alice get to appear on two covers instead of just one.
  • One-Sided Arm-Wrestling
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
    • It's noted by a couple of characters that Break is unusually agitated and more prone to violent methods when trying to find out if Reim is alive or dead after the Pandora team searching for the Sealing Stone at Isla Yura's party are murdered.
    • When Glen finally enters the Abyss in order to kill the ones who caused the Tragedy of Sablier, thus erasing the Tragedy from history, Lottie, who followed whatever he said without question in the past and was eager to engage in violence, has an absolutely sickened look on her face.
    • Although severely depressed even before, Oz always had a sense of hope and determination that remained. But when Lottie is watching over him after she and the Baskervilles imprisoned him and Jack Broke Him By Talking, she is visibly unnerved by the emptiness in Oz's eyes/voice and his complete lack of will to live.
  • Omake: Each limited version of manga and anime volumes have at least one omake.
  • Orphanage of Love: The House of Fianna seems to be quite a pleasant place. It isn't. See Creepy Child above.
  • Our Demons Are Different: Chains are from the Abyss. However, while during the series most are dangerous and human-devouring, this is said to be because the Abyss was corrupted by the Intention, turning the Abyss black and driving most of the Chains to madness. Operating under normal conditions, the Abyss is a golden paradise under the command of a semi-conscious deity known as the Core, who rules over the Chains and the souls of the dead, making this more a case of Our Angels Are Different.
  • Overdrawn at the Blood Bank: The astounding amount of blood lost throughout the duration of the manga and anime.

    Tropes P-R 
  • Paper Fan of Doom:
    • Sharon, her mother and her grandmother. Don't even think about messing with the Rainsworth women. Hell, Sharon has dozens of them hidden in her dress all the time! In two colors, white and yellow!
    • Duke Barma as well. He can parry swords with it!
  • Parasol of Pain: The umbrella Oz uses in the anime to fend off the Creepy Doll that attacks him in the Abyss.
  • Parental Abandonment:
    • Oz and Ada's dad is almost entirely absent from their life, having left them with their uncle when they were very young. When he does appear, he is extremely emotionally abusive to Oz.
    • Not to mention Gil and Vincent's parents, who sold them to a freak show because of Vincent's red eye.
  • Parental Substitute: Break sees himself as this to Sharon.
    • Oswald is this for Alice and Gil.
    • Jack is this for Vincent.
    • Sheryl is this to Break and Sharon, although biologically she's the latter's grandmother.
  • People Puppets: It would seem that Glen is able to verbally control Gil's body - or at least his left hand.
  • Perpetual Molt: Glen's Five Black-Feathered Chains do this.
  • Pimped-Out Dress: Many a fancy dress is worn. Some art has one or both Alice twins wearing a dress trimmed with white fur and has a Showgirl Skirt over a miniskirt.
  • Planning for the Future Before the End: In Retrace 90, Oz suggests having a tea party together after everything blows over while their group heads into Sablier for the last time. The group gets very excited over this idea, with Alice talking about meat, Gilbert planning the different desserts, Sharon fawning over all of them, and Break talking like he's an old man watching the young'ins play. Then Break, Alice, and Oz die. While it seemed like simple irony, Break was aware his body was giving out quickly and the last Retrace reveals Oz had known he was going to die since he came up with their plan at Lutwidge the day before, meaning that Oz brought up the idea for a tea party just to comfort everyone knowing full well it'd never happen.
  • Polar Opposite Twins: In dress style, at least - Color-Coded for Your Convenience. In earlier chapters it seemed to apply to their personalities as well, but they actually have things in common, such as a Hair-Trigger Temper.
  • The Pollyanna: Sharon, Ada, and Alice. Oz was this for a while before being successfully broken by recent events.
  • Posthumous Character: Jack, Lacie, and Glen. Well, not quite for the first and third, anyway.
  • The Power of Friendship: Alice, Gilbert and Oz convince Break that they are his comrades. A heart-warming moment ensues.
  • Psychological Horror: Easier to call a Psychological Thriller, but there's enough gore, and there are certainly enough dark themes for this manga to qualify.
  • Psychological Thriller: Arguably the best way to sum up this manga, which is about a million genres piled into one. Once you get a little farther in, the manga is almost entirely based on the Dysfunction Junction aspect of the cast and never-ending Mind Screws.
  • Reality Warper: Alyss' implied power when her anger destroys her room in the Abyss.
  • Really 700 Years Old:
    • Alice's implied age as B-Rabbit.
    • Jack gets this too, having been alive for a hundred years, if only because of de-aging until he's an infant, by which point he starts aging again until he reaches the time his soul was distorted, and the cycle went on and on for a hundred years. By the second deaging cycle—around 75 years after being cursed—his soul was so distorted and weak that his Chain, Oz, ended up in control of the infant body by default.
    • A good portion of the cast is this, honestly, due to the time-warping properties of the Abyss and the way Contracting affects aging.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
    • Elliot gives a nice, lengthy, angry one to Oz at Lutwidge Academy, calling him out on being a Martyr Without a Cause and explicitly using the term "suicidal idiot."
    • Eventually Oz realizes he actually is suicidal and gives himself an incredibly harsh internal berating about all his flaws and the reasons why he should die. Obviously this doesn't help with the suicidal bit very much.
    • Of all people, Duke Barma delivers one of these to Oswald in Retrace LXXXVII, pointing out that the latter is just as human (and thus just as fallible) as the rest of them and has his own selfish reasons for acting despite all his claims that he's trying to right a past wrong for the sake of the rest of the world.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning:
    • Vincent, Break, and Cheshire all have... well, one red eye each. Vincent was discriminated one hundred years ago because of it. Break was known as "The Red-Eyed Ghost" during his time as an illegal contractor. Cheshire is a villain, and his eye was originally Break's.
    • Oz gets these in Retrace LVI when he used B-Rabbit's power.
    • Lacie, according to Retrace LXVI.
    • It turns out that being born with red eyes is an indication of being a Child of Ill-Omen.
  • Red String of Fate: Parodied in one omake, where Oz follows his to find out who his soul mate is.
  • Relax-o-Vision: In the sixth DVD special, the intro to the Omake does this.
  • Rescue Hug: Gil frequently does this to Oz.
  • Rip Van Winkle: The Abyss tends to do this to whoever is able to escape it.
  • Room Full of Crazy: Alice is in one when she first appears. The Intention of the Abyss' room was also this when Kevin was dragged down.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: All four duke houses are part of Pandora, an organization that protects civilians from Chains and researches on how to get to the Intention of the Abyss. Oz, Gilbert, Sharon, Duke Barma, Elliot, and Leo are this.
  • Rule of Symbolism: Too many to list. Just look at the official artwork that has so many symbolism on it.
  • Rules of Orphan Economics:
    • Jack pretty much randomly decides to adopt Vincent and Gilbert, making them his "servants" and just being incredibly kind and awesome and takes care of them until something goes horribly, horribly wrong: The Tragedy of Sablier.
    • And then in Retrace LXV Gil is revealed to be Glen's servant.
  • Running Gag:
    • Oz and his attraction to younger girls, Gil and his hat, Alice and her meat, Break and his cake/lollipop/Emily/entering the room through anything but a door, Sharon and her tea/harisen/shipping.
    • Also, Glen and the bird.
    • Elliot and Oz and their Holy Knight references.
    • Leo being a Covert Pervert who likes reading erotica.

    Tropes S-U 
  • "Save the World" Climax: The story begins as a mystery with the main cast acting as Amateur Sleuths trying to figure out the motivations of a bunch of apparent assassin/terrorists called the Baskervilles, but after Jack breaks the stabilizing chains that hold reality together, it quickly becomes a race against time to stop The End of the World as We Know It, preferably in a way that doesn't Retcon most of the main cast out of existence.
  • Sanity Slippage: Pretty much everybody in the entire manga at some point, but we've included specific examples anyway.
    • Vincent's deranged behavior and mindset began to form due to being sold to a freak show by his mother, and then being forced to live out on the streets with people abusing him and with only his big brother Gilbert to protect him. It started getting much, much worse once he had to watch the Tragedy of Sablier play out before his very eyes, ending up as one of the only survivors amongst the corpses and fire.
    • Jack was already messed up due to being abused by his mother and then running away, forced to live on the streets. However, he absolutely lost it after Lacie's death. As of Retrace XCIX, it is revealed that he was already completely insane by the time he met Oswald, as a result of the eight years where he only lived to be able to meet Lacie again, using every existing mean possible and losing every sense of morality and identity. As a result he became unable to recognize his own feelings, which horrified him, and every attempt at reuniting with Lacie was so that he could be his true self, who deep down resented Lacie for messing him up this much.
      • Jack's betrayal caused this in Glen/Oswald, who, due to the great emotional damage, became obsessed with revenge.
    • Elliot's mother Bernice was teetering on the edge for a while, thanks to the Headhunter case.
    • Post-Elliot's-death Leo is either this or else he just stopped caring, possibly both.
    • Participating so heavily in the Tragedy of Sablier as well as losing her beloved Oswald/Glen inflicted this upon Lottie until her Character Development starts kicking in.
    • Losing Oz to the Abyss had some pretty lasting effects on Gilbert, as he is notably much more violent and possessive when Oz reappears. Like the above example, his Character Development eventually solves this issue.
    • This trope also seems to apply to Oz himself during the first half of the series, due to his destructive Freak Outs that come from the erratic reemergence of fragments of his rather unpleasant memories. The second half of the series follows Oz trying to remedy all of this.
  • Scenery Porn: In the last chapter after the Abyss has been restored as a place full of light. It was enough to move Jack to tears.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!:
    • How Oz and the gang manage to get away with most of the stuff they do.
    • Oz exploits his connection to Jack when he needs to.
  • Serious Business: Gil is very attached to his hat. Epic arm-wrestling ensues.
  • Servile Snarker:
    • Leo is this in spades to Elliot, though his position as the latter's servant is mostly just a title, as the two are closer to Vitriolic Best Buds than master and servant.
    • Gil is this to Oz, occasionally.
    • Turns out that Echo has quite a lot to say about her master Vincent when given the occasion to vent.
  • Sex God: Vincent, in spite of his misogyny, seems to sleep around a lot for his own purposes. He says at a certain point in the manga that in the past he has only had to sleep with women in order to get them wrapped around his finger.
  • Shattering the Illusion: Break to Rufus.
  • She Is All Grown Up: Sort of. Ada's grown-up appearance is extremely attractive and throws off both Oz and Gilbert. However, unlike the most common form of this trope, neither of them actually seemed to be attracted to her, since the former is her brother and the latter is Ambiguously Gay.
  • Shipper on Deck: Sharon eagerly supports Oz/Alice. She attempts to teach the Chaste Heroine (or possibly even Asexual) Alice about romance in hopes that this will inspire her to get together with Oz. Unfortunately, Word of God has proved her efforts to be in vain (see Ship Sinking below), although she seems to realize that Oz and Alice don't like each other this way eventually. She chills out during the second half of the series.
    • In an omake, Gilbert and Lottie got very excited and nosy upon discovering that Reim had proposed to Sharon. Upon finding out the latter had actually been flat-out rejected several times, they showed their wholehearted support for the ship and demanded Reim keep trying in spite of everything.
  • Ship Sinking:
    • The revelation that Lacie and Glen (the black-haired one we know whose name is Oswald, that is) are actually brother and sister has debunked quite a lot of fics that pair the two as lovers.
    • Ada/Gilbert was sunk when it was revealed that the person the former was dating was Vincent, of all people.
    • Jun Mochizuki desperately attempted to do this with the Break/Sharon pairing, having Sharon refer to him as her older brother several times. It got to the point where she had Break describe his relationship with Sharon to Sheryl as a father-daughter relationship, although Sheryl argues against this, albeit still by saying they acted like an uncle and his niece. Eventually Jun Mochizuki said in an interview that Break was in love with Sharon's mother, Shelly.
    • In an interview, Jun Mochizuki claimed that Oz and Alice were not and would not be romantically attracted to/involved with one another because their relationship is on a different, platonic level. Oz also directly states in one of the Caucus Race side stories that he loves Alice like a sister.
  • Ship Tease:
    • Oz/Alice were a prominent example at the beginning, but the romance and flirting aspect seemed to die down towards the end of the manga and in an interview Jun Mochizuki claimed they never were and never would be romantically interested in one another. Then there's Oz/Sharon, which is more of a fleeting crush shown only in the beginning, and Oz/Echo, which was teased more and more as the manga went on and was favored by Jun Mochizuki in the same interview mentioned above. Worth noting that most if not all heterosexual Oz ships aside from Oz/Alice and Oz/Echo constitutes of Oz putting on his flirty disposition.
    • Also Elliot/Leo, Ada/Vincent although that treads into Official Couple, Jack/Alice which gets dramatically complicated, messed up, and sunk later, Break/Gilbert, Break/Alice, Break/Reim, Gilbert/Alice, and Reim/Lily with a side of Squick.
    • Jack/Lacie has been teased since Retrace LXV. Most of the fandom agreed this ship existed whether mutually or just on Jack's side until it was revealed that Jack's violent obsession with Lacie comes not from extreme love, but extreme hatred, the only thing that can apparently make him feel alive.
    • Even Gil/Sharon got some with their tea party.
    • Gilbert and Alice had some major blushy moments around each other, and Gilbert was willing to defend her to the death by the end.
    • In the drama CDs, Elliot is implied to possibly being able to develop feelings for Alice, had things gone differently.
    • Oz/Gilbert has some, mostly on Gilbert's side. He blushes a lot and prefers to pay attention/spend time with Oz than hang out with his large hoarde of fangirls, and he's determined to stay by Oz's side forever.
  • Shoot the Dog: In Retrace LXIX, it is revealed that Oswald, upon becoming the next Glen Baskerville, was forced to do this to his younger sister Lacie by tossing her into the abyss. It was mentioned that all the other Glens with Children of Ill Omen as siblings were forced to do this as well.
    • This is taken even further in Retrace LXXVIII: Oswald intends to travel back in time in order to kill Lacie before she can give birth to the Alice twins and incite the creation of Oz the B-rabbit, all so that he can prevent the Tragedy of Sablier from coming to pass.
  • Show Within a Show: Book Within a Book, rather, and there are a few examples.
    • Most notable is Holy Knight, the favorite series of both Elliot and Oz, although they can't stop fighting over which of the main characters is better. The series follows the loyal and selfless servant Edgar and his noble and brave master Edwin. The joke is that Edwin has a similar personality to Elliot and Edgar bears several resemblances to Oz's own servant Gilbert. Oz lampshades this in a guidebook when he says his dream servant would be Edgar, but that Gilbert is close enough.
    • There's also one of Sharon's favorite romance novels, Sylvie and the Mongrels, which Oz also got into. The book follows a young woman Femme Fatale named Sylvie who captures the attentions of her beloved by eliminating anyone who stands in her way and humiliating him until he falls for her. The joke here is that the plot, while rather dark (and borderline abusive), has a very lighthearted and fluffy feel, as well as that Sylvie herself resembles Sharon.
    • Additionally, there are the murder mystery novels written by the in-universe author who uses the alias "Evil B" (the only one of his books mentioned by name is called Fruit of Uncertainty). This is another author who Elliot and Oz love. However, this is a bit of an odd example because, unbeknownst to the other characters, "Evil B" is actually the in-universe canon character Levi Baskerville. As the man himself humorously explains in an omake, "Evil" is an anagram of "Levi," "B" stands for Baskerville," and the alias makes him sound more ominous than he would with his actual name.
  • Shut Up, Hannibal!: In Retrace LXXXI, Jack, while controlling Oz's body, tries to turn Oscar against Oz by reminding him that he's the reason his wife and child are dead. Fortunately, Gil (who isn't aware of this) has had it up to here with Jack's Break Them by Talking tactics and interrupts him with one of these. This serves to solidify Oscar's resolve, which he thanks Gil for after.
  • Significant Anagram:
    • Rearrange the name "Alice" and you'd get the name "Lacie", the one who drove Jack out of his Despair Event Horizon and the dead little sister of Glen/Oswald Baskerville. It's also worth noting that the name Lacie was used by Lewis Carrol to refer to the original Alice in his books, it can't be a coincidence. It turns out that Lacie is Alice's mother.
  • Significant Birth Date: Oz was born the day after Christmas.
  • Single-Target Sexuality:
    • Vincent cares about only one person in the world—Gil. He actively scorns all women and has shown no interest in members of the same sex outside of his brother in spite of the fact that said brother definitely does not seem to return his feelings. Eventually it can't be said Vincent has Single-Target Sexuality even if his attraction to Gilbert remains, because he ends up falling for Ada.
    • Gilbert himself is implied to be more of this trope than his brother, not only actively avoiding the women who fawn over him but often fawning himself over Oz. While this can be seen as ambiguous in the main body of the manga, the omakes make it pretty plain.
  • Sinister Scythe: B-Rabbit uses a scythe. Later on, so does Oz himself, who offhandedly lampshades how, strangely, his body knows exactly how to use it .
  • Slasher Smile: Lotta people. Especially the Baskervilles and Intention of the Abyss. Break sometimes pulls these, too.
  • Smarter Than You Look: Oz is a lot more clever than he likes to let on.
  • Smart People Play Chess: Vincent has one particular scene where he shows his badass-ness in a game of chess.
  • Smoking Is Cool: Gil, who can often be seen with a cigarette in his mouth in angsty situations.
  • Sniff Sniff Nom: Alice. She ate flowers and bit on Rufus Barma's pet bird once.
  • Snow Means Love: Lacie and Jack met on a snowy day. Eventually subverted, as it turns out Jack is not in love with Lacie.
  • Soft-Spoken Sadist: Vincent (voiced by Jun Fukuyama) has a deceptively easy-going outward disposition. In actuality, he's quite the sadist.
  • Spell My Name With An S:
    • Was it Bezalius or Vessalius? Bezarius?
    • And is it Reo or Leo? Sharon or Shalon? Elliot with one "l" or two?
    • Don't forget Sabrié, actually Sablier (meaning "hourglass" in French)
    • Or Liam vs Reim...
      • The official guidebook confirms each these as "Vessalius," "Leo," "Sharon," "Elliot," and "Reim," though subs and scanlations still do whatever suits the weather that day.
    • A humorous example of this trope appears in-universe, where Alice names her rabbit doll "Oz" after Oswald but spells it as "Os". Levi notices and corrects her spelling for her.
  • Spanner in the Works: This, and not any sort of distortion, is a Child of Ill Omen's true "sin." As they are all inherently born Immune to Fate and are utterly unpredictable even to the otherwise omnipotent Jury (who are trying to plan out the fate of the world down to the second so as to make a better story), the Jury hate them for this with a passion and created the Baskervilles to eliminate CoMs and other spanners.
  • Split at Birth: Alice and Intention of the Abyss.
  • Stealth Hi/Bye: One of the many, many reasons some characters dislike Break, often complaining that he should enter rooms like a normal person.
  • Stepford Smiler:
    • Oz spends a little over half the story as Type A: Depressed, but has a quick stint as a Type B (empty and having given up on life) after his Tomato in the Mirror revelation. It only lasts two or three chapters though, before he throws off this trope all together and becomes a much stronger person for it.
    Oz: (thinking, after being ignored by his father at Sablier in Retrace XLI)"I have to smile."
    • Lacie, as well. She's fond of enjoying herself despite knowing her fate from an early age.
    • Levi rarely ever stopped smiling even though he was rotting alive.
    • Jack is revealed to be a Type C with dashes of the other two types.
  • Stoic Spectacles:
  • Stopped Caring: Leo, after Elliot's death; it's a rare non-comedic example of this trope.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: Alice greatly resembles her mother Lacie.
  • Suicide, Not Murder: One of the major mysteries in the series was exactly who killed Alice during the Tragedy of Sablier. After many a Red Herring, it turns out Alice killed herself to eliminate all means of communication between Jack and the Intention of the Abyss, who possessed Alice's body to interact with Jack.
  • Supernatural Gold Eyes: Gilbert has these. He is also a Baskerville, and was also chosen to be Glen's vessel, though the ceremony that would ensure that was foiled.
  • Sweet Tooth: Break and Sharon, but especially Break.
  • Switched at Birth: Xai Vessalius's real son was stillborn (implied to have been poisoned by Jack) and switched with Oz, who was at that point inhabiting Jack's cursed body.
  • Sword Cane: Break's cane is actually the scabbard of his sword.
  • Take a Third Option: Chapter 82 has the main trio of Oz, Alice, and Gil essentially represent the third option to Jack's insane desire to unite the real world and the abyss, and his horrible crimes to the Baskervilles and Pandora, who at this point are working together to stop Jack by going back in time and trying to Retcon away the Tragedy of Sablier, along with the events of the series.
  • The Talk: Subverted. In one of the Caucus Race novels, Alice asks Gilbert where babies come from. Obviously readers were expecting Gilbert to perform (or attempt to perform) this trope. Instead, Gilbert tells Alice, without any hesitation whatsoever, that babies come from dragons. Then he proceeds to take advantage of Alice by saying the dragon will only like her and give her a baby if she starts behaving benevolently. Oz notices what Gilbert is doing, and it's made clear in other stories and implied in this one that Oz and Gilbert already know where babies actually come from.
    Oz (in response to Gilbert's lecture to Alice): Hey, hey, hey. Gilbert?
  • Tears of Remorse: In Retrace LXXVIII, Jack, of all people, gets these when he finds Oswald's decapitated body and realizes that he did this to him. Unfortunately, in a flashback it's revealed to us that, while crying, he develops something between a Psychotic Smirk and a Slasher Smile, making us certain something really, really isn't right with him
    Jack: "Glen... What happened to you? Did I... do this? That's right. It was me. Because you... You were trying to kill Alice! I used... Oz's power... and killed my own friend."
    • More like tears of remorse and hysteria, but Gilbert gets these when he regains his traumatic memories and ends up shooting Oz in the chest.
  • There Are No Therapists: But it's a Dysfunction Junction cast and most are still scarred from Sablier in some way or another, so they all really need one. Justified, though, as the setting of PandoraHearts is based off late 19th century Europe, a time when therapy was in its earliest stages and mental health treatments were, for the most part, hardly better than Cold-Blooded Torture—so as a whole, no one in 19th century Europe every really willingly sought or considered psychological help.
  • There Is Only One Bed: A small example appears in Retrace LXXXIII, where Oz and Alice share a bed while Gil sleeps with only his head on it. Nobody comments on the arrangement.
  • Thicker Than Water: The reason Gil never abandoned Vincent when they were children, even though he received a lot of abuse because of Vincent's red eye.
  • Thinking Up Portals: Sharon can do this with Eques.
  • Third-Person Person: Echo refers to herself in third person.
  • Those Two Guys: Elliot and Leo start out as this, with their usually being in the same place at the same time justified by Leo being Elliot's servant. In later chapters, they completely break out of it by 1) gaining large scenaristic importance, and 2) one of them getting killed and the other pulling a sort-of Face–Heel Turn as a result.
  • Thwarted Coup de Grâce: In Retrace LXXVIII, Oz's execution is thwarted by Gilbert shooting Glen!Leo in the hand.
  • Time Abyss: The Abyss has been stated to be a god-like entity that is both the end and the beginning of the world. Glen Baskerville (his soul and legacy, at least) and Jury are also implied to be this as well.
  • Tomato in the Mirror:
    • Elliot. Obsessed with finding the killer of his siblings, until he finds out that it was HIM, courtesy of Humpty Dumpty manipulating his memory.
    • Gilbert turns out to be Glen's servant. He does not take this well at all after seeing his former master's head.
    • Retrace LXX, titled Oz, with the subtitle Reality, reveals that all this time, Oz's body is actually Jack's and Oz himself is actually B-Rabbit.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Alice is the tomboy to Sharon's girly girl. Sharon has a resonating passion for romance, fashion, and "ladylike"/refined mannerisms, while Alice carries disdain for all of these passions. Instead, Alice's passions are widely masculine.
  • Took a Level in Badass:
    • Gilbert, it seems, after Oz has been gone for 10 years. But we quickly find out that he's not so much a badass as he is incredibly good at putting up a tough front. But still miles more badass than the timid little kid we start out with.
      • He appears to have taken a genuine one in recent chapters though, going as far as to burn his own left arm off to prevent his contract to his previous master, Oswald, leading him to ever hurt Oz again.
    • Oz as of Retrace XXXVII.
    • And Leo, now a Baskerville as of Retrace LXII.
  • Trauma Conga Line: Most of the characters in the series are well-acquainted with trauma, but the most significant on-screen example we get is with Oz himself, who ends up being hated by nearly everybody around him for something that isn't even his fault and then having to pay the price for it.
  • Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Several characters have no memories of who they once were or what lives they had, and thus go on a Quest for Identity. Unfortunately for them, their pasts are absolutely horrific.
  • Troubled Backstory Flashback: Oh boy. It's quite likely this manga includes more of these than any other manga in existence. Every character has a potential "troubled backstory" to flash back to, and the ones who originally don't remember certain things will get to experience this delightful trope later...
  • Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour: As a kid, Vincent like to chop dolls up with scissors, and he stabbed out the eyes of human!Alice's cat.
  • True Companions: Alice, Oz, Gil, Break, and Sharon.
  • Tsundere: Alice and Elliot are type A; Sharon and Echo seem to be more of type B.
  • Two Guys and a Girl: Oz, Alice, and Gilbert. Jack, Alice (or Lacie), and Glen/Oswald. Glen/Levi, Lacie, and Oswald. Break, Sharon and Reim seem to be this in their off-screen escapades. Oz, Elliot and Leo also counts as one.
  • Two Siblings In One: In chapter 76, Alice is still alive although she does not have a physical form in any realm. Therefore, she resides in the crossroads of her soul and her sister's. In their pre-Tragedy of Sablier days it was averted, as the two could swap bodies but were not shown to share bodies until Alice was Driven to Suicide.
  • Unmoving Plaid: Sharon's dresses.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Pretty much everyone except for the Baskervilles, with the possible exception of Duke Barma, end up being this to Jack. The Baskervilles are doing their damnedest to stop him, though.
    • Even Rufus admits that both he and the Baskervilles were manipulated by Jack. Essentially, the entire cast was used by him in some way or another.
    • The Baskervilles themselves were pawns to the Jury.
  • Unreliable Expositor: Jack. Jack, Jack, Jack and everything about him.
  • Unsound Effect: All over the place. The very first page of the manga has "taking off glove" as a sound effect, for example.

    Tropes V-Z 
  • Voices Are Mental: When Jack is in control of his and Oz's body, he speaks with an adult voice. This seems to be something exclusive to the anime, because Jack mentions in the manga that there were actually many instances prior to Retrace 80 when Jack was the one in control and nobody noticed.
  • Was It All a Lie?: Gilbert's reaction to seeing Oswald!Glen's head instead of Jack's after the fourth sealing stone was broken.
  • Was Once a Man:
    • The Abyss' power can turn even humans into chains. Results include the aforementioned example on Body Horror.
    • There's also Alice, whose deceased soul hijacked B-Rabbit!Oz's powers to prevent Jack from using them to hurt anyone else and to use them herself to destroy the Intention of the Abyss' memories. After Oz regains control over his own powers, she's rendered akin to a very solid ghost.
    • Humpty Dumpty, who used to be Levi until he fully transferred Glen's soul to Oswald's body and rotted away shortly after. It has been implied that this happens every time said soul transfer ceremony succeeds.
  • Webcomic Time: The first sixty four chapters took place in a span of at least two of months, sans Time Skip. The last forty took place in less than two days.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: As a child, Oz works and studies obsessively, hoping this might catch his father's attention. It doesn't, and though he seemingly stops this particular method by the time he's a teenager, he still desperately longs for his father to acknowledge him. Eventually his realization that he is not worthless and has many others in his life who love him deeply allows him to shed this trait.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist:
    • Oswald is initially this when he deliberately mass murders a city full of innocents in order to keep them from becoming Chains, which would exclude them from the hundred-year cycle of rebirth. However, he becomes a subversion when he attempts to execute Oz and then travel back in time in order to kill Lacie before she can give birth to the Alice twins and before B-rabbit Oz can conceive a soul. Ostensibly this is all to the end of preventing the Tragedy of Sablier from ever happening, but when Rufus challenges him on this, Oswald's reasons are revealed to be largely motivated by hurt pride and a desire for revenge on Jack.
    • Leo also seems willing to become one in order to fulfill his role as Glen Baskerville by destroying the Intention of the Abyss. When push comes to shove, and Oswald prepares to execute Oz, he appears to be too shell-shocked to actually go through with killing his former friend.
  • We Used to Be Friends:
    • Jack and Oswald were best friends, to the point where Jack was the only one who could make Oswald smile besides his sister. Then Jack completely lost his mind (which was already teetering on the edge) and killed Oswald. Oswald felt incredibly betrayed, and thus his revived soul became brutally obsessed with revenge. The interesting thing about this example is that unlike the traditional friends-become-quarreling-protagonist-and-antagonist version of this trope, these two both became antagonists. But they certainly aren't working together...
    • Oz and Leo, in a way. They are friends until Elliot dies, emotionally destroying Leo. Afterwards, Leo joins the Baskervilles as the new Glen, not really caring about anything anymore. However, Oz doesn't give up on him, and they come to terms before Oz's death.
  • We Would Have Told You, But...: Retrace VI and Episode 8. Break and the rest of Pandora use Oz, Gil, and Alice as bait to see what the Baskervilles would/could/are capable of doing.
  • Wham Episode:
    • Retrace LXV: Collapse. Or, more appropriately, seventy pages of the status quo getting ground to itsy bitsy pieces. It's the sort of WHAM that literally invalidates everything we thought we knew.
    • Retrace LXX: Oz. Poor Oz faces the Tomato in the Mirror problem. Or, more specifically, the Rabbit In The Mirror...
    • Retrace LXXIV: Broken Rabbit: Who killed poor Alice? Poor Alice killed herself, and for Oz's sake. Also, Gilbert involuntarily shooting Oz after a Glen-possessed Leo orders him to.
    • Retrace LXXVI: Alice & Oz. The memories Alice has found throughout the series? They're actually her sister's.
    • Retrace LXXVIII: Decision. Explains why Oz was able to take over Jack's body, why pieces of Jack's soul are scattered among Alyss's memories and how Oz replaced Xai's child, who is stillborn. Also includes Glen fully taking over Leo, executing Oz to keep him and Jack out of the way of his plans, in which said plans involve going back in time to kill Lacie in order to prevent the whole tragedy from happening, before being stopped by Gilbert, who burnt his left arm off.
    • Retrace XC: Jurors. Turns out Jury aka the woman who brainwashed Gil into loyalty to his master and supposedly watched over Glen was waaay more than we thought. She's actually just one of many Jurors, beings that transcend human understanding that, basically, edit stories aka worlds around until they reach a satisfactory ending, after which they place it in an archive of sorts. Also, the whole world of PandoraHearts as we know it is one of those stories, and the Jurors saw it fit to end it soon, to Glenwald's great disapproval. Also, about the Children of Ill Omen? It was all a lie by the Jurors as they were a threat to their plans not to the worlds and all of the Baskervilles goals were lies as they only wanted to see how far they would break the Abyss.G
  • Wham Line:
    • What Xai says to Gilbert regarding Oz, his own son:
    Xai: "A child like that...should never have been born."
    • As well as Gilbert's response to Xai asking if he "intends to defy his master" in the same conversation as the previous example, respectfully arguing with the latter over matters involving Oz. This reply is unusually aggressive and bold for Gilbert's younger self, although it still manages to retain its respectful tone to a certain extent:
    Gilbert: "Many apologies, but my master is not you...it is Young Master Oz!!!"
    • Break is talking to Sheryl in one scene about the knowledge he's obtained regarding Oz's birth, and the strange and suspicious actions of his father surrounding it. He ends up saying this to her:
    Break: "In short, the Oz we know...may not be the real Oz Vessalius..."
    • Retrace LXX:
    Jack: "This body does not belong to Oz Vessalius."
    • Retrace LXXX:
    • Retrace XCII:
    Break: "Sharon, Reim, I don't want to die... "
  • When She Smiles: When Alice smiles and does cute things, Oz blushes and/or laughs, and Oz's feelings towards Alice grow.
  • Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Despite the heavy Victorian Era themes and the fact that a Big Ben replica appeared in the manga, as well as the fact that the majority of place names are French words, it is never explicitly stated where the hell all these characters are from. It's made even more confusing when Gil has a conundrum about which version of "I" to use.
    • It has been confirmed in some guidebooks that the manga takes place in a fantasy world separate from ours, though the architecture does draw some inspiration from the Victorian Era and German architecture. They even use a different calendar from the one we use.
  • Whole Episode Flashback: More like a Whole Arc Flashback, starting from Retrace 66 to Retrace 74, though Retraces 70 and 72 do take some time to look at the present for some moments.
  • Whole-Plot Reference: To Alice in Wonderland, although PandoraHearts is pretty unique among others of its kind.
    • Oz in general is a pretty obvious homage to The Velveteen Rabbit, though like above Mochijun still makes Oz unmistakably her own creation.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Gil fears cats. With a passion.
  • With a Friend and a Stranger: At the beginning of the series, Oz and Gilbert already share a devoted friendship of five years. On the other hand, Oz and Alice first meet in the second chapter, although they sense they have met somewhere before. Turns out Oz did know Alice way before he ever met Gilbert; they just had forgotten it.
  • With Friends Like These...: Applies to a lot of cast in different ways, but the most for Reim, who is stuck with dubious pleasure of being Break's closest friend (or, at least, they seem to know the most about each other, what with Reim working out Break had gone blind pretty quickly.) Apparently that means he gets to do Break's paperwork, chase him around to attempt to make him DO said paperwork in the first place, be the butt of a number of Break's schemes and jokes, and, on a more sombre note, gets to watch him waste away and die. Lucky him.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds:
    • The Intention of the Abyss. After reading her Backstory, it's pretty hard not to feel sorry for her.
    • Vincent as of Retrace XXXVIII and XXXIX (though it doesn't make him less of a jerk).
    • Lily as of Retrace L.
    • Glen Baskerville. Or more specifically, Oswald.
      • And Leo looks pretty damn determined to follow in his footsteps.
    • Oz, especially back when he was B-Rabbit, being forced to kill and destroy when all he wanted to do was to protect Alice.
    • Some Illegal Contractors are this, as Chains are drawn to the most desperate of people willing to do anything to change the past. Oz invokes this trope after encountering the Flower Girl, wondering what could have made such a young girl so desperate. Likewise, William West, Break and Miss Sinclair were also this.
  • World of Chaos: The Abyss is a chaotic and unfathomable dimension where things like time don't make sense at all.
  • Written by the Winners: The truth about The Tragedy of Sablier. Being the only survivor, Jack could make Arthur Barma write the records however he wanted. Thus, the Baskervilles and Nightrays became Scapegoats.
  • Yandere:
    • The Intention of the Abyss is yandere for Jack and knows it—that's why she has Alice use B-Rabbit's power to destroy her memories of him during the confrontation at Sablier. She realizes that, as long as she has memories of him, she'll always love him and will end up hurting others in her quest to get to him.
    • Gilbert's devotion to Oz has a pretty dark edge. It's hinted at early on and outright shown in Retrace XXXIII, where Vincent goads him into resolving to kill anyone who hurts or snatches his master away from him—no matter who it is. However, it's part of Gilbert's character development to grow out of his violent possessiveness and learn how to love Oz in a safe and sane way.
    • Vincent is yandere for Gilbert, claiming that everything he does is for his brother's sake and concerning himself only with maintaining Gil's wellbeing. In Retrace LXI, he reveals that he's working with the Baskervilles only so that he can use the Intention of the Abyss to erase his existence from the world, thus allowing Gil to grow up without him and ideally have a better life for it.
    • As of Retrace L, Leo is also one, stating that "if Elliot has an enemy, no matter who he may be, I'll kill him! Even, for example, if it is you [Oz] or even myself."
    • Oz was yandere for Alice before he remembers his past as her stuffed rabbit doll, at which time she was literally everything to him. Remembering this enabled him to finally understand and come to terms with why he behaved this way and helped him work through the repressed trauma that caused this obsessively protective streak. He ends the series with a far greater understanding of himself, having learned to care for Alice without becoming harmful to her or others, much like Gilbert above regarding Oz himself.
    Oz, pre-Reveal: "Alice, don't cry. Whoever makes you sad, whoever hurts you, I will destroy them. All of them...With my own hands!"
    • Miranda Barma is yandere for Oswald's... head.
    • Retrace LXXXIX reveals that Noise is a rather unstable one for Vincent, going so far as to kidnap Ada, who she believes him to be in love with.
    • Jack was believed to be severely yandere for Lacie. Then The Reveal in the last volume told us that his violent, obsessive behavior towards her was caused by pure, unadulterated spite, which is apparently the only thing that can make him feel alive.
  • You Said You Would Let Them Go: Vincent promises Break an antidote to cure Sharon if he destroy Alice's memories. When Break obeys, Vincent drops it off the balcony.
  • Your Days Are Numbered: Break. Although he still looks young, he's essentially rotting on the inside, and his chain (combined with the effects of his first, illegal contract) puts an extremely heavy strain on him.
    • All Illegal Contractors bare a clock symbol on their body that counts down in correlation with the amount of power they've used through their Chain. When the clock face reaches where the 12 would be, the contractor (and anyone too near them) is dragged by that Chain into the deepest parts of the Abyss, doomed to either be eaten by a Chain or become one themselves if they cannot get the Intention of the Abyss to grant them an alternative.

Alternative Title(s): Pandora Hearts

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