Follow TV Tropes

Following

Series / The Outpost

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_outpost_poster.jpg

The Outpost is an American fantasy TV series, acquired by The CW for US distribution and by Syfy for international broadcast. The series is executive-produced by Dean Devlin and Jonathan Glassner.

The story follows Talon (Jessica Green), the lone survivor of a race called 'Blackbloods'. Years after her entire village is destroyed by a gang of brutal mercenaries, Talon travels to a lawless fortress on the edge of the civilized world, as she tracks the killers of her family. On her journey to this outpost, Talon discovers she possesses a mysterious supernatural power that she must learn to control in order to save herself and defend the world against a fanatical theocracy.

The series premiered on July 10, 2018 and was renewed for a second season on 9 October. It was renewed for a third season on October 15th, 2019, and before that season even aired was renewed for a fourth, which premiered on July 15, 2021. In September 2021, it was announced the series would not be renewed for a fifth season, the show reaching a narrative conclusion at the end of the fourth.


This series provides examples of the following:

  • 2 + Torture = 5: After Garret is nearly killed by Dred, he's taken to the Prime Order capital, where the healer Sana nurses him back to health and strikes up a romance with him. Then the Tormentor comes and takes him to the dungeons to be beaten until he renounces Gwyn/Rosmund as a false queen, before Sana stops him and heals him back to health again. Turns out this is a ploy by both Sana and The Tormentor, who are husband and wife, and are using a combination of brutal torture, gentle healing, and carefully crafted lies to break Garret's spirit to get him to serve the Prime Order.
  • Accidental Murder:
    • Withers accidentally neck snaps Gwynn's handmaiden while trying to prevent her from exposing his illegal search of Gwynn's room.
    • Talon accidentally stabs Sammy while fending off him and the rest of Yavalla's brainwashed followers.
  • Action Girl:
    • Talon is a superb fighter, with swords, knives and her bare hands.
    • Rebb, Talon's Shadow Archetype and another Blackblood, is just as good a fighter as she is.
    • Nedra, another female Blackblood, is highly skilled with a sword as well.
    • Luna trained in Grinjorian, a rare form of martial arts that Talon is adept in. Even as a youngster, she was much better at fighting and less keen on becoming a member of the sanctuary.
  • Actually, I Am Him: A variation. Alton talks of how he and Gwynn played around a lot with "Fat Sammy" and how he was a good friend. It turns out Alton has been dead and the imposter is Sammy. "Lost a lot of weight since we last met."
  • Actually Pretty Funny: The Mistress' reaction to the Surprise Incest is to laugh hysterically.
  • Actual Pacifist: Talon's mother told her never to fight or kill, so she began as one. It quickly wore off when her family were killed, and she became a fearsome warrior.
  • Adam and Eve Plot: The entire Blackblood species were descended from one Half-Human Hybrid. This doesn't make sense for many reasons. E.g., the genes must be unrealistically dominant for them not to be bred out in the subsequent generations, absent incest which would have its own problems. However, given this is fantasy with the child's father being from a god-like otherworldly species, some magical cause is a possibility.
  • Agony Beam: The member of the Three known as One is capable of psychically inflicting pain on people thanks to his kinj.
  • Alien Blood: Talon's blood is as black as ink. It's why her people are known as "Blackbloods". The Masters also have black blood. It turns out that Blackbloods descended from a Half-Human Hybrid fathered by one of them.
  • All for Nothing: Naya had become The Mole for the Prime Order to save the lives of her family. When she returns to try and rescue them, Dred simply gloats that he had them all executed years before and asks Naya how it feels to have done all this for nothing.
  • All Your Base Are Belong to Us:
    • At the end of "Beyond The Wall", Dred seizes control of the outpost.
    • The Season 2 finale sees a huge Prime Order army laying siege to the outpost.
    • Late Season 3 sees Yavalla and the kinj-possessed Gwynn manage to take over the capital without killing a single soldier thanks to infecting them all beforehand. The same episode also sees a squad of Prime Order soldiers fleeing the capital taking over the outpost thanks to their leader possessing One's kinj.
    • In "Where Death Lives", the United overrun the outpost, quickly reducing the defenders to desperately holing up in the keep.
  • Altar Diplomacy: Tobin is forced to marry a childhood friend in order to gain access to her army, so he can use it to free the outpost from the Blackbloods. While this makes him ineligible to marry Rosmund, he accepts that her freedom and safety is more important than their shared happiness.
  • Ambiguously Absent Parent:
    • It is not explained what happened to Janzo's or Ilyin's fathers. They are just left unmentioned in the show.
    • Tobin's mother also isn't mentioned.
    • Later, Wren's father is also unexplainedly absent.
  • And I Must Scream: Talon's father Sai-vek spent four months impaled to the floor of a cave by spears, kept alive by his kinj but unable to move.
  • And This Is for...: After disposing of Levare by kicking her into the portal to the Void, Zed states "That was for Nedra", whom Levare killed several episodes earlier.
  • Animal Eye Spy: Yavalla can see through the eyes of those she controls, not just humans and Blackbloods but even animals. She uses rats to infiltrate and spy on the outpost, and birds to spy on Talon and Zed as they track her through the woods.
  • Annoying Arrows: Zigzagged. Everyone who's hit by arrows is at least debilitated, if not killed quickly. Even so, Tobin shrugs off being shot four times in a row with only a day's recovery time. Which is even weirder in hindsight, when much later on two arrows to the back are enough to mortally wound him.
  • Another Dimension: The Plane of Ash, where the Lu'quiri and the more belligerent Blackbloods were sealed away centuries ago.
  • Anyone Can Die: The show has a surprisingly high body count of major characters with Season 4 alone bumping off two huge ones in back-to-back episodes.
  • Arbitrary Skepticism:
    • Invoked when Naya tries to warn Gwynn the Prime Order have what are basically explosive bombs. She doesn't believe it but Janzo argues she's telling the truth.
    Gwynn: It's more like a fairy tale conjured up to frighten children.
    Janzo: What, like Plaguelings? Or demons? Or a portal that opens up to new worlds?
    Gwynn: Point taken.
    • It happens again when Gwynn is doubtful at Yavalla's boasting of a "paradise world" and the woman snaps at her doubts after all she's seen.
  • Armor Is Useless: Garrett is run through from behind while wearing a full suit of plate armor.
  • Asshole Victim: Toru Magmoor was such an evil piece of work that most people in the outpost who knew him are happy when Talon kills him.
  • Assimilation Plot: Yavalla decides to make everyone part of a hive mind she controls in Season 3, with the heroes fighting to stop this.
  • The Atoner: The Smith training Talon is this for having participated in the slaughter of her people.
  • Awesome Moment of Crowning: The series ends with Talon being crowned queen of the Outpost.
  • Back for the Dead: Corvin returns in Season 4 just to die by the episode's end.
  • Back from the Dead:
    • Garret is resurrected by the Three, after he's accidentally killed by negative conditioning that went overboard (i.e. he was beaten to death).
    • Sana also revives One long enough to transfer his kinj into her.
    • Later, Gwynn is raised after being killed to break Yavalla's control over her, along with Tobin (who had tried stopping them).
    • In the Season 4 premiere, Two resurrects Tobin again as part of a Deal with the Devil.
  • Badass in Distress:
    • Talon, on several occasions, is taken prisoner by Marshal Withers, the Greyskins, or the Prime Order, and has to fight her way free.
    • Garrett likewise faces imprisonment on several occasions and remains defiant every time.
  • Bathtub Scene:
    • Talon has one in "The Mistress and the Worm", when Gwynn invites her to dinner at her house and insists she clean up beforehand.
    • Gwynn herself has one in the Season 2 premiere while discussing strategy with Naya.
    • Falista has one in "The Gods Thank You".
  • Big Bad:
    • Season 1 has Ambassador Everit Dred, the highest-ranked Prime Order officer seen so far, who ordered the massacre of the Blackbloods.
    • Season 2 has The Three, Dred's superiors and the apparent God Emperors of the Prime Order.
    • Season 3 has Yavalla, who intends to enforce peace among humans and Blackbloods by brainwashing them all.
    • Season 4 has the Masters, a group of Physical Gods who travel through dimensions and drain worlds of life to fuel their immortality. Of them all, Vorta appears to be first among equals, as she tends to make most of the decisions and act as spokesperson.
  • Big Badass Battle Sequence: The Prime Order's attack on the outpost in the Season 2 finale.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Just as Dred is about to have all the heroes hanged, the rebel army that Calkussar and Garrett spent all season building come charging through the gates to the rescue.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Sana, the Prime Order nurse who cares for the wounded Garret, at first seems like the Prime Order's Token Good Teammate. At the Three's behest, she's manipulating Garret in a scheme to brainwash him into doing their bidding. Oh, and the brutal guard who she saved Garrett from is her real husband helping her in the scheme. It works.
  • Bittersweet Ending: The finale of Season 3. Yavalla is destroyed, and her death frees those under her control, but Gwynn has to sacrifice her life to achieve it. Talon is appointed leader of the Outpost by both the humans and Blackbloods, but it's clear she doesn't want or believe herself up to the position, and is in mourning for Gwynn and her father. Two and Three are still alive and in a position to rebuild the Prime Order, and the black and white kinjs have, in Two's words, "awoken the gods": both kinjs are seen entering into the sarcophagi of two demonic creatures, one male, one female, and awakening them.
  • Blackmail Backfire: Withers tries to hold up how he has letters proving Rosmund's true identity that will go to the Prime Order "in the event of my untimely death." Rosmund simply states that he'll still be alive...and working in the lowest levels of the mines.
  • Bloodless Carnage: Though not entirely bloodless, there's little blood when someone's wounded, no matter what the injury is (of course, that's standard for prime time TV).
  • Bluff the Imposter: Invoked when Gwynn's long-thought dead brother Alton arrives at the Outpost, claiming to have been hidden in secret like Gwynn was. Over lunch, Gwynn brings up a tale of a cat they used to tease with Alton correcting her it was a dog with a different name. He also is able to bring up other things they did as children to convince Gwynn of who he is. Turns out he is actually the royal maid's son and was thus witness to all those events. The real Alton is dead.
  • Boldly Coming:
    • Human man Janzo and Blackblood woman Wren quickly grow attracted to each other. After flirting, Wren proposes they "test" if in fact both their species have compatible genitals, as a "science" experiment. Which they do, and yes they're compatible. After this, they grow into a couple and even conceive a baby together.
    • Talon (a Blackblood woman) and Garret (a Human man) finally become lovers too in Season 3.
  • Brainwashed: In Season 3 Yavalla's kinj is capable of reproducing, with her infecting people using it. Each one infected becomes mind controlled to her kinj and will obey her commands.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: In season 2, Garrett is subjected to a combination of torture, a "kindly nurse" seducing him and trickery to be convinced Rosmund is not the true Queen, Talon is a monster and he has to destroy them both for the Prime Order. He even stabs Withers to prove his new loyalty.
  • Brother–Sister Incest: Janzo and Naya spark a sweet romantic relationship that lasts even after she's revealed herself as Dred's spy. When they're in prison together with Elinor, she reveals the names of her parents, cluing Elinor to the fact that Naya and Janzo are in fact twins. Needless to say they are immediately squicked the hell out. Thankfully, they'd done nothing more than kiss.
  • The Bus Came Back: Naya vanished after Season 2, but in Season 4 it's revealed she just moved to another town and reenters the story.
  • But for Me, It Was Tuesday: When Talon confronts Toru Magmoor, he sighs in a bored tone that "it sounds like vengeance, then." As he faces her, he just shrugs to ask "so who was it?" indicating he's more than used to people seeking revenge for those he's murdered.
  • But I Can't Be Pregnant!: Wren gets pregnant in Season 4 from Janzo, surprising her as it wasn't even certain if any Humans and Blackbloods could reproduce, so she's naturally incredulous.
  • The Cameo: Lindsey Stirling has a brief appearance as the bard/highwayman Puck in "The Book of Names".
  • The Can Kicked Him: A close variant: Toru Magmoor is peeing in an alley when Talon catches up with him, and coolly asks her to at least wait until he's finished before trying to kill him (rightly suspecting she's trying to avenge one of the very many people he's killed).
  • Cannot Keep a Secret: Janzo promises Wren he won't tell anyone she's pregnant. It doesn't take him even a a day to have spilled it without trying.
  • Cassandra Truth: Naya is hit by this when she tries to warn about the bombs in the season 2 finale. Not only is she a known traitor but the idea of devices that can unleash fire to destroy walls seems too much to believe. Janzo points out that Naya's story is likely true for the simple reason that it's so outlandish that "why would the Prime Order feed her a story they know no one would believe?"
  • Cast from Hit Points: It's revealed the people possessed by the spore kinjs are fueling their reproduction with their own bodies' energy, which is slowly killing them.
  • Cavalry Betrayal: The season 2 finale has Zed and the Blackbloods aiding in driving the Prime Order away... and then Zed declaring they're now in control and making everyone else prisoners.
  • The Chosen One: The Smith has spend many years studying an ancient prophecy and he is convinced that as the last Blackblood, Talon is the one who will fulfill it.
  • Conveniently an Orphan: Talon's mother, brother and everyone else who lived in their village were murdered, while her father was absent for some reason, so she's left free to go on adventures. Gwynn's foster father is killed as well, right as she takes up her role as a hero too.
  • Couldn't Find a Pen: After Talon mortally wounds Toru Magmoor, he spends his last moments using his own blood to spell out a message to the Prime Order revealing that there's still one Blackblood left.
  • "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Upon discovering how Alton is an imposter, Gwynn relates that had Sammy been up front and honest about being an old childhood friend, she'd have accepted him and welcomed him. Instead, he has to be executed for faking being Alton to con her out of gold.
  • Courtly Love: Commander Calkussar discourages the relationship between Garret and Gwynn because he's a commoner and she a highborn lady (moreover, she's really Princess Rosmund, heir to the throne). Subverted, though: Gwynn/Rosmund loves him deeply, and after declaring herself Queen of the Realm and beginning the revolution against the Prime Order, she drags Garret to bed with her because Screw the Rules, I Make Them! (though they're interrupted before they can consummate).
  • Creepy Child: Ilyin, the girl who accompanies Dred everywhere and acts as his lie detector. She never speaks, rarely blinks, her eyes are lightly discolored, and everything about her body language is just wrong. She's revealed in the Season 1 finale to be the mysterious "Dragman" who can translate the Book of Names.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Tobin at first appears to be an incompetent buffoon, but when sober he reveals himself to be a combatant nearly as skilled as Talon or Garrett.
  • Cruel and Unusual Death: Garret is sentenced to death by drowning, which entails he get dunked underwater and held there. In reality, drowning like that has been described as agony by survivors. He survives, though a Blackblood later subjected to the same sentence does not.
  • Crystal Dragon Jesus: The Prime Order has many similarities to Christianity in what's seen of their religion. First of all, the Three (a trio of people-two male, one female) are believed to be holy, and wear robes very similar to the ones that Catholic bishops have, along with miters. They have many powers, including an ability to raise the dead. Not only that, but they even appear to have a cross symbol (although it may just be the design of the window slits in one room). Given they are villains, the darker side is also present-they conduct purges of Blackbloods (whom the Prime Order believe to be inherently evil) plus people who know a language they use, since it might cast doubt on their teaching. Also, the sect appears to have Inquisition-like members, plus having strict bans on drinking, gambling or extramarital sex, as some conservative Christians have enforced.
  • Cult: The episode "Kill the Rat, Kill the Kinj" features a group of humans who worship the Lu'quiri as gods and perform human sacrifices to them.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle:
    • Dred's forces easily crush the rebels who The Mistress and Withers gather, as Iliya had informed him of their exact plan with her ability, so he had them standing ready in ambush.
    • The end of "Dying is Painful" has Talon wipe the floor with Captain Orlick after she and her friends sneak into the outpost.
  • Deal with the Devil: In the Season 4 premiere, Falista agrees to be the new One if Two resurrects Tobin.
  • Death by Childbirth: Janzo relates that his mother died giving birth to him along with his sister, and Talon expresses her sympathy for this.
  • Defiant to the End: Even when on the verge of being hanged by the Prime Order, Withers and the Mistress can't help but mock Higgs' incompetence.
  • Demihuman: Blackbloods look visually indistinguishable from humans except for having pointed ears with black tips and, well, black blood. This is because they're all descended from a human woman along with a Master, making them all Half-Human Hybrids ultimately.
  • Did You Actually Believe...?:
    • Said verbatim by Janzo when Naya reveals herself as The Mole to save her captive family. He openly asks if she actually thought the Prime Order was ever going to let them go when they can use them to keep Naya's loyalty and even suggests they're already dead.
    • Dred says pretty much the same thing when he later gloats to Naya that her family was executed years before and how she never even asked for some sort of proof they were alive before doing his bidding.
    • When Talon tells a priestess she fulfilled the prophecy stopping the Prime Order, the Priestess scoffs if Talon actually thinks her destiny was "to save a small home of humans from other humans?"
  • Dirty Coward: Three is always quick to teleport away at the first sign of danger.
  • Disappeared Dad: Ilyin only mentions her mother when recounting her past.
  • Disappointed by the Motive: Gwynn assumes Sammy was posing as Alton as some sort of revenge for how he was the one punished for Alton's actions and how he lived with nothing so becoming king was payback. She's outraged to realize this was about him conning her out of some gold for a fake mission.
  • Disney Death: Garrett is seemingly killed by Dred in the Season 2 premiere, but it's revealed two episodes later that while the wound he received was serious, he was taken to healing fast enough to be saved.
  • The Dog Bites Back: Naya ultimately fatally stabs Dred after he gloats that he executed her family years ago.
  • Doomed Hometown: The Blackblood village Talon was born in was completely destroyed.
  • Do Not Go Gentle: In "Where Death Lives", Tobin gets stabbed in the side by a United and is severely wounded, but despite this still manages to fight on for several more minutes and still manages to nearly get away before a couple of arrows to the back finish him off.
  • Do You Want to Copulate?: After much flirtatious banter, Wren asks if Janzo wants to "test" whether Blackblood and human genitals are compatible... for science, don't you know. He agrees, and the "experiment" offscreen confirms they are.
  • Dragon Ascendant: In the last episodes of Season 2, when Talon mortally wounds One, he passes his kinj and position as one of the Three to Sana, who takes command of his army.
  • The Dreaded: The black kinj, which gives its host the power to kill anything with a touch. Two admits that even though the Prime Order searched for it for centuries, they feared actually finding it.
  • Dressing as the Enemy:
    • Raelius dresses as a Prime Order soldier to rescue the main characters in the season one finale (it helps that they wear helmets).
    • Talon, Garrett and Zed do it when infiltrating the Capital in season 3.
  • Driven to Suicide: Commander Calkussar's wife killed herself rather than live with what her husband had done. Specifically, allowing their own daughter to be executed in Princess Rosmund's place.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: After Garret is reportedly killed, Gwynn starts to drink and gamble frequently while not occupied with her duties.
  • Due to the Dead: After Nedra dies, Zedd and Wren give her a Blackblood funeral, scattering her ashes as the latter sings a beautiful dirge.
  • Dying Clue: As the Mistress lays dying, she tells Janzo about the tunnels running under the outpost and the surrounding area, which gives him the idea for the plan that defeats the Prime Order's army.
  • Eating the Eye Candy: Gwynn can't help but look at Tobin as he's practicing sword-fighting while shirtless, despite her reluctance to marry him.
  • Enemy Mine:
    • The free humans and Blackbloods eventually have to ally together against Yavalla's brainwashed army.
    • To free Gwynn from Yavalla's control, Garrett and Talon are forced to ally with the Prime Order's Two.
  • Epic Fail: When Gwynn is held captive, Tobin decides to impress her with a rescue. The fact he's incredibly drunk is just the start as in less than a minute, he's sent flying out a window to the courtyard.
  • Equivalent Exchange:
    • Two in Season 3 says it takes one life to raise someone from the dead. Talon and Garret thus decide reluctantly to let her kill an old, mad prisoner (Garret's rationale is that it would be ending his pain). She later also kills another on her own to raise someone else.
    • In Season 4 she demands twenty lives to raise Tobin, saying it's necessary as he was dead for longer.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Marshal Withers would love nothing more than for Talon to be executed but he refuses to hand her over to the Prime Order. He even suggests that him executing her would be the more merciful option.
  • Evil vs. Evil: Season 3 has the United vs the Prime Order.
  • Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!:
    • Talon, Garrett and Janzo are on a mission to find a book in a cavern that's been burned. Garrett muses on how "if they can go to that much trouble to burn a book, surely, he'd go through just as much trouble" to kill Talon. Talon asks "what, send an army?" Instantly, all three get looks of horror as they realize the Outpost is in serious danger.
    • In the third season finale, when Yavalla sees Talon and demands to know where Sai-vek is, Talon snaps "he's dead." Yavalla scoffs "he cannot die, that's—" as long as he possesses the Black Kinj...then sees Gwynn standing behind Talon and realizes Gwynn now has the one thing that can destroy Yavalla.
  • Faceless Goons: Prime Order soldiers wear helmets with their visors habitually down (it allows impersonation by their enemies of course).
  • Faking the Dead: Garret's death is faked when he's sentenced to death for killing a Blackblood, using a drug which made him seem dead.
  • Familiar: Yavalla controls animals to serve as her minions, having them infect people spores from her kinj so they're under her spell too, plus spy on them.
  • Fantastic Drug: Colipsum, a highly addictive grey powder. It turns out to be made from Plagueling eggs, and is key to spreading their infection.
  • Fantastic Racism:
    • Even before the genocide took place, the Blackbloods had to put up with quite a lot of discrimination from their human neighbors. On the flipside, the Greyskins hate humans so much they're trying to use colipsum, the addictive eggs of a parasite, to wipe them out.
    • As shown in Season 2, the other Blackbloods trapped in the Plane of Ash look down on humans and see them all as the enemy. They also have contempt for Blackbloods with mixed ancestry, like Talon.
  • Fantasy Gun Control: Averted as the Prime Order has bombs which can destroy an entire bridge or similar target.
  • The Farmer and the Viper: In desperate need of men, Gywn allows a captive group of Prime Order soldiers to defect and pledge loyalty to her in exchange for their lives. In return, they liberate the captive Two and kill several of Gywn's soldiers on their way out of the outpost.
  • Feuding Families: Tobin's family has been feuding with his cousin Milus's over a dispute that their grandfathers had. Although their fathers officially settled it, there's still bad feeling about it.
  • Final Battle: The showdown with the Masters at the end of Season 4 serves as the last conflict of the series.
  • Five-Man Band: A fairly strange one that depending on how you look at it, only consists of four people, but the 5 elements to one are all there. Talon is The Leader, Garret is The Big Guy, Janzo is The Smart Guy, Gwynn is The Heart, while Garret, Janzo, and Gwynn all additionally serve as Talon's Lancer.
  • Florence Nightingale Effect: Garret develops feelings for Sana, a Prime Order nurse who tends to him. But he doesn't realize she's also a Honey Trap and has deliberately set up the situation to seduce him.
  • Forced to Watch: Tobin relates that even after his father swore loyalty to the Prime Order, his sister was killed in front of them as a warning of what would happen if they betrayed them.
  • Forceful Kiss: Janzo tries to do this with Talon, on Naya's advice. She throws him to the ground. Gwynn points out to her this is a bad idea, and likely would get Janzo's arm broken or worse if he keeps it up.
  • The Fundamentalist:
    • The Prime Order are violent religious fanatics who have set up a theocracy which forbids alcohol, extramarital sex and gambling with very harsh punishments. Additionally, they have committed genocide against the Blackbloods, believing them to be evil. Other ethnic groups are also mentioned as being purged, likely due to similar beliefs they hold.
    • After becoming the new One in Season 4, Falista increasingly slides into this mindset, as she becomes convinced that the gods have chosen her for a special purpose.
  • Genocide from the Inside: In Season 4, the Blackbloods still in the Plane of Ash are almost completely wiped out when the Blackfists decide to purge the other tribes and are killed in retaliation, leaving only a handful of survivors.
  • Genre Mashup: The show is basically a fantasy western, with most of the characters of The Wild West, such as:
    • The Bartender: The Mistress, who owns the local inn/tavern.
    • The Blacksmith: A surprisingly knowledgeable fellow known only as The Smith. He's quickly killed off, but not before forging a new sword for Talon and pushing her into exploring her heritage.
    • Cavalry Officer: Captain Garret Spears, the dashing Captain of the Border Guard who makes his debut coming to Talon's rescue.
    • Clueless Deputy: Danno, the mute Outpost guard.
    • The Drifter: Talon herself, who has spent most of her life since the massacre on the move.
    • The Savage Indian: The "grey skins", against whom the Border Guard is supposed to protect the frontier.
    • The Sheriff: Marshal Withers is the judge, jury, and executioner in Gallwood Outpost.
  • Genre Throwback: To the action-adventure fantasy series of The '90s, with more than one reviewer making explicit comparisons to Xena: Warrior Princess. Though the mood is rather less comedic than in those old shows, the similarities in style seem to arise more because this show is being produced in Australia, just like Xena, Hercules, etc. back in the day. It also shares a similar aesthetic in terms of wardrobe and set design.
  • A God Am I: After gathering a significant number of followers, Yavalla eventually declares herself a god.
  • God-Emperor: The Three are the absolute rulers of the Prime Order, who worship them as deities.
  • God in Human Form:
    • This appears to be what the Prime Order believe of the Three, whom they hold are divine. Since they're unfazed by one of the Three dying and then being replaced by Sana (taking his kinj), it's apparent they view them as simply the Three's human hosts.
    • Yevella also says she's a god, with the United worshipping her as such.
  • Good Colors, Evil Colors: Good characters tend to wear blue, green or earth tones. The bad guys wear black, dark colors or red, generally speaking.
  • Good Parents: From what little's shown, Talon's birth mother was a kind, devoted parent. So were her adopted ones, although again only briefly seen. Gwynn's foster father is also great with her.
  • Godzilla Threshold: With a Prime Order army about to overrun the outpost, Talon opens up a portal and allows the other Blackbloods and the Lu'quiri to cross over so they can aid in the fight. They win but it immediately backfires on Talon.
  • Grew a Spine: Janzo starts the series as an Extreme Doormat, but by the end of the first season isn't afraid to stand up to anyone.
  • Halfbreed Discrimination: Most of the Masters loathed the son Aster fathered with a human, calling him an abomination and trying to kill him. By extension they hate all Blackbloods, who descend from him.
  • Half-Human Hybrid:
    • Janzo reads in a book that Blackbloods were created by humans and Lu'quiri mating. Talon scoffs at the notion, saying a human would never survive a sexual encounter with them, as they're huge insect-like beings.
    • Season 4 has Wren become pregnant by Janzo. She's surprised, as it wasn't even clear their species can conceive.
    • Also in Season 4, it's revealed Blackbloods are all descended from an ancient, otherworldly species called the Masters. One, Aster, loved a human woman and sired a child with her. This explains the above, as they have common ancestry (their close similarities are an obvious clue — in fact, Aster says his species must have had common ancestry with humans too for this to happen).
  • Happily Adopted:
    • After he reveals her true parentage, Calkussar tells Gwynn that she probably shouldn't call him her father anymore. However, she replies that he raised, protected and sacrificed everything for her, so he's her father and will always be, which clearly touches Calkussar.
    • Talon, after losing her birth parents, found kind human ones who took her in.
  • Healing Factor:
    • As a Blackblood, Talon is able to survive multiple stab wounds to the stomach and a few days later the wounds have healed.
    • Yavalla is capable of healing from what would be fatal wounds.
  • Healing Hands: The member of the Three known as Two can heal the wounds of others with her kinj, as a side effect of its main ability to raise the dead.
  • Heir Club for Men: Prince Anton, despite being younger than her, would have the rightful claim to the throne ahead of Rosmund as he's male.
  • Heroic Fantasy: The series centers on Talon, a young woman from the Blackblood species (who are similar to elves) seeking vengeance against those who murdered her family, learn more about her people and aid friendly humans in a struggle with the evil Prime Order, a cruel theocracy who rule the region.
  • Heroic Sacrifice:
    • Talon's mother saved her by distracting Toru, slashing his leg as he attacked Talon, then being killed by him as Talon escapes.
    • In the Season 3 finale, Rosmund takes on the black kinj in order to kill Yavalla, killing herself in the process.
  • Hidden Backup Prince: Gwynn is the rightful queen, who'd been kept hidden by a lord who switched her with his own daughter (she was beheaded).
  • Hide Your Otherness: As a child, Talon cut off the tips of her pointy ears in order to blend in with human society after her village's massacre.
  • High Priest: Yavalla is the high priestess of the Blackbloods, and revered as a result. Later, she's succeeded by her daughter Wren.
  • The High Queen: Gwynn grows into this when she's shown to be the late king's heir. She's regal, calm and lovely, though still struggling at times with the weight of her new responsibilities.
  • Hive Mind: Yavalla starts forming one in Season 3 with her kinj, whose spores take over people's minds. This is explicitly compared with various insect hives by Janzo.
  • Hive Queen: Yavalla is this to her hive mind, and Janzo compares her with one sting-flies (presumably an alternate name for bees) have, saying everything depends on her.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: In the Season 2 finale, the Prime Order army besieging the outpost is defeated when Garrett causes their huge bomb to go off prematurely, killing them all and sparing the defenders.
  • Hollywood Atheist:
    • Tiberion Shek, a brutal mercenary who murdered defenseless people without a qualm, asserts there are no gods or destiny, only strength and weakness (he's on the "strong" side in his view), which is all that matters to him.
    • Averted with Janzo, who's mentioned as not believing in the gods, but this comes after he kindly offers to pray with Naya over her mother and sister dying. This fits with his generally kind, caring nature. Further, he's a great hero in his right, having found the cure for a deadly disease.
  • Hope Spot:
    • In "The Vex Rezicon", Withers and the Mistress lead an uprising against the Prime Order's occupation force... and are promptly ambushed and slaughtered, due to Dred's mole tipping him off.
    • In "From Paradise to Hell and Back", Zed and Talon seem to successfully kill Yavalla by setting her on fire and cutting her head off, only for her to get back up a few moments later.
  • Human Sacrifice: In "Kill the Rat, Kill the Kinj" it's learned there's a cult sacrificing captured humans to a wild Lu'quiri. They're caught after kidnapping their latest potential victim.
  • Human Pincushion: Tobin gets shot four times with arrows by an archer from the Prime Order (he's fine after just a day's bed rest).
  • Hypocrite: A lot of the Prime Order's officials don't abide by their rules. Dred has no tolerance for this, ordering one he catches in bed with a woman to hang (alongside her) as they aren't married.
  • I Gave My Word: The only reason why Talon doesn't kill the captive Two is because she agreed to free her and take her to the Outpost in exchange for Two healing Gwynn and Tobin.
  • I Have Your Wife: Naya spies on Gwynn for the Prime Order because they had threatened to kill her mother and sister, who were living in the Capitol.
  • Immortality Immorality: The Masters prolong their lives by draining the life force of other beings, and have in fact drained countless worlds dry in order to sustain themselves.
  • Immune to Mind Control: Talon, as a result of her kinj, isn't affected with Zed's mind control power.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Talon gets run through by Toru Magmoor with a sword and the Lu'quiri with its claw, though she's tougher than ordinary mortals and manages to kill Magmoor the same way in return.
  • Impeded Communication: Gwynn's attempts to summon aid against an advancing army are marred as the enemy archers expertly cut down every one of the carrier birds.
  • Insectoid Aliens: The Lu'quiri have a strong resemblance to three-meter praying mantises.
  • Interspecies Romance:
    • Human man Janzo and Blackblood woman Wren become lovers starting in Season 3, as do Talon (Blackblood) and Garret (Human).
    • Aster, from the ancient Masters, loved a Human woman named Tally. A child the couple had is the person who all Blackbloods descend from.
  • Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: One of the men in the Outpost's army tortures a Prime Order agent to learn what he knows. Gwynn orders this halted however, saying she won't allow it anymore.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: Marshal Withers may be an asshole, but as Commander Calkussar is forced to admit, Talon is actually guilty of murdering Toru Magmoor and executing her will avoid a level of scrutiny from the Prime Order that nobody in town wants. And in the end, it does lead to the Prime Order coming to the outpost in force.
  • Just Following Orders: One of the ex-Prime Order soldiers who helped Jaaris abuse the Blackbloods defends himself this way. Gwynn is not impressed.
  • Just Friends: Talon and Janzo. After Janzo was pretty obvious about his crush on Talon and jealousy towards Garret throughout the first season (and Talon was well aware of it), there's a scene with a rather cruel misunderstanding in the last episode that serves as definite Ship Sinking, with Talon telling Janzo that he's a better man than Garret but that she "loves him like a brother". To his credit, Janzo takes this rejection remarkably gracefully - especially considering he was already stressed and crying with severe pain at the time, and that Talon had just kissed him, to momentarily distract him from said pain.
  • Keystone Army: Yavalla controls the kinj which infected the people who became the United, who thus obey and worship her. The heroes therefore decide to kill her so they'll be free. It works temporarily when she's dead, with the United briefly disabled. However, then she regenerates, with her control restored.
  • Kick The Son Of A Bitch: While Talon won't kill the captive Two (see I Gave My Word above), she's not above hitting the priestess when she gets a little mouthy.
    Two: I saved your friends!
    Talon: And that's the only reason why you're still alive.
  • Kill It with Fire: Yavalla is set on fire by Talon and Zed (which only slows her down, given her incredible healing ability).
  • Kill It with Ice: In the series finale, Talon sends the Masters into another dimension, a land so bitterly cold that they freeze into ice statues in seconds.
  • Kneel Before Frodo: In the Season 3 finale, with Rosmund's death, everyone at the outpost kneels to Talon as their new leader.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: When Withers is sentenced to the mines, he quickly discovers it's filled with scores of criminals that he had sent there, all of whom are eager to get some payback.
  • Last of His Kind: Talon is the only survivor of her village, and is believed to be the only Blackblood left alive. Subverted by Season 2, which reveals that there are other Blackbloods living in the Plane of Ash with the Lu'quiri.
  • Last Stand: The outpost's defenders are reduced to this in the Season 3 finale, as the United have reduced them to just the keep.
  • La Résistance: Since before the start of the series, Calkussar and Garrett have been building an army to rise up against the Prime Order and retake control of the kingdom. They finally go into action in the season finale.
  • Life Drinker: Two can gain power by absorbing what appears to be the life energy of someone after they die (even if she doesn't kill them personally).
  • Light Is Not Good: The Three wear white robes and face paint.
  • Little "No": Two's reaction to the seeming death of the red kinj after Talon kills its host.
  • Living Lie Detector: Ilyin, a girl in service to Dred, can tell if anyone lies.
  • Long-Lost Relative:
    • A man claiming he's Gwynn's brother arrives at the Outpost. It turns out that he's a fake.
    • Naya turns out to be Janzo's sister.
  • Love at First Sight: Janzo tells Talon he's loved her since the moment he saw her.
  • Love Dodecahedron:
    • Janzo has a crush on Talon, who develops UST with Garret, who's in a long-term relationship with Gwynn. Season 2 makes this even more complicated, as Gwynn orders Naya (who clearly has a crush on Janzo) to try and help Janzo win Talon over. Later in the season, we're also introduced to Tobin and Zed as new love interests for Gwynn and Talon, respectfully.
    • Things have more or less resolved by Season 3, as by this point Garret has let go of Gwynn (who's happily with Tobin), and quickly ends up having a Relationship Upgrade with Talon.
  • Made a Slave:
    • The Mistress "adopted" Janzo, but didn't want a girl, so she sold his sister as a slave.
    • In the Season 3 premiere, the entire human population of the Outpost have been made slaves of the invading Blackbloods, who are forcing them to mine an ore they need for them. Once Yavalla arrives, she orders them all freed.
    • This gets turned around on the Blackbloods later on in the same season, when Jaaris's rogue Prime Order soldiers take over the outpost and sentence all the Blackbloods to fight to the death for his amusement.
  • Make Way for the New Villains:
    • As soon as The Three are introduced early in Season 2, they have Dred imprisoned for his failures and take over as the central antagonists.
    • Come Season 3, and the Three are quickly ousted from power by Yavalla and the United, who steal their kingdom out from under them.
    • In Season 4, Two and Three briefly retake power after convincing Falista to become the new One, only to quickly submit themselves to the command of their reawakened "gods". Three is soon after killed by Tobin, while Two is killed by the gods when she's not needed anymore.
  • Makes Us Even: Said verbatim in the season 2 finale as Gwynn decides to pardon Sammy for impersonating Alton. Sam instead offers to help fight the Prime Order. He's stabbed in the battle with Gwynn helping him and both agreeing they've saved each other's lives.
  • Male-to-Female Universal Adaptor: This is discussed by Wren and Janzo. It turns out that all other human and Blackblood organs are the same, so she asks if it's the case with their genitals. Janzo doesn't know, so they decide to find out. Yes, it turns out they are. This isn't entirely surprising here as Blackbloods look very similar to humans, and for good reason: they all have human ancestry.
  • Maligned Mixed Marriage: Nedra opposes Blackbloods being with Humans, saying they need people to continue the Blackblood species, with Zed later agreeing. Wren and Talon, both in relationships with Human men, take this badly of course and tell them off.
  • Man on Fire: During her fight with some Prime Order soldiers, Talon knocks one away into a campfire, and he runs off in flames screaming.
  • Mass "Oh, Crap!": The ending of season 2 as the residents of the Outpost realize too late the Blackbloods are taking over.
  • Medieval European Fantasy: The series is set in a fairly standard Medieval Europe analogue, with the clothing and weaponry typical (aside from some bombs the Prime Order has, and Talon wearing more masculine garb), plus general social conditions. Generic feudalism exists, though the government overall is now a repressive theocracy. Unlike many examples though, there are a few characters who have non-European looks.
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard:
    • The Smith is killed by Tiberion Shek for having spared and protected Talon.
    • Commander Calkussar, who sacrificed his honor and his family to protect Princess Rosmund and has been raising her to seize back her throne, is killed by Ambassador Dred for suspected disloyalty (he's right, but it was still for little more than being unreliable in delivering supplies to the Prime Order).
  • Mind Control: Zed gains this ability after finding another asterkinj, similar to the one that gives Talon her Lu'quiri summoning power.
  • The Mole:
    • Gwynn's second handmaiden, Naya, is revealed to be spying on the Outpost for Dred, who's holding her mother and sister prisoner.
    • Season 2 shows that the Prime Order has several moles in the Outpost's army.
  • Mooks: The Prime Order's soldiers. Most of them are dumb and poor fighters whom the heroes take down by the truckload.
  • Mugging the Monster: Two roadside musicians turn out to be bandits who try robbing Janzo and Talon on the road. She easily scares the pair off with her combat skills.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Just as he's about to kill Gwynn, Garrett (off the drug that had been affecting his mind) realizes how the entire "false queen" story was a trick by the Prime Order to use him against his love. He nearly turns his blade on himself before Gwynn stops him. He also says the line verbatim upon realizing he stabbed Withers.
  • My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: Janzo's efforts at speaking the Blackblood language get pretty close, but are still a bit rusty.
  • My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Aster betrayed and imprisoned the other Masters to stop them from destroying the world after he came to love the native races.
  • Narnia Time: Rebb explains that the reason she looks just the same despite last being in the normal world over three hundred years ago is because time works differently in the Plane of Ashes. There's no sun or moon, and thus no way to really measure it for them anyway.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
    • Janzo allows a group of Prime Order defectors into the Outpost after they agree to forswear their allegiance to the Three. They promptly seize control of the Outpost.
    • In the Season 4 premiere, Talon dithers on taking the late Rosmund's throne due to not wanting the responsibility. By the time she's convinced, the vacuum has been filled by Falista, who has just been convinced to join the Three.
  • No Biochemical Barriers: Humans and Blackbloods turn out to be similar enough biologically despite some blatant differences that they can reproduce together. As Wren finds out when Janzo gets her pregnant. It turns out this is because all Blackbloods are descended from a human and a Master.
  • No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Zed saves an infant from a monster. The baby's father brings Prime Order soldiers against him for his reward, due to bigotry against Zed's race.
  • No Name Given: The Smith (or The Wolf) is never called by his real name.
  • No-Sell:
    • Those who possess kinjs are immune to the abilities of other kinjs.
    • Yavalla's healing ability allows her to recover from being set on fire and even decapitated.
  • No Social Skills: Janzo is quite socially awkward, having a great reluctance to meet people's eyes at first, standing hunched over, and has little knowledge of how to interact with people, let alone romantically approach them. Naya in Season 2 tries to help him get more adept.
  • Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Most of the cast speak with an English accent, including the lead Jessica Green (who's really Australian). However, some of the minor characters who are played by actors of other nationalities (most are Serbians) don't even try.
  • Not Himself:
    • After being conditioned through drugs, psychological manipulation and trickery Garret is a completely different man-fanatically loyal to the Prime Order, hateful of Gwynn and expressing violent bigotry toward Blackbloods (the opposite from his previous attitudes).
    • Gwynn acting much more upbeat and friendly than usual tips off Talon that something is amiss (not that she isn't affectionate, but in a more reserved way). Wren also realizes this about her mother Yavalla, who hugs her (which normally she never does).
  • Off with His Head!:
    • Galwood Outpost uses the guillotine. The Prime Order prefers hanging.
    • Yavalla is decapitated by Talon, but she still regenerates afterward.
  • Offing the Offspring: Commander Calkussar allowed his own daughter to be executed in place of Princess Rosmund, who assumed Gwynn's identity.
  • One-Hit Kill: Anyone a possessor of the black kinj touches dies instantly.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Elinor Chadwick is usually called "The Mistress" and her real name isn't revealed until the second season when her sister appears.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Seeing her mother both apologizing and wanting a hug makes Wren instantly know something is wrong.
  • Our Demons Are Different: The Lu'quiri are burly, three-meter insectile humanoids whom the Blackbloods banished to the Plane of Ashes long ago. A prophecy says that a Blackblood will summon them back to the world of the living as an army, which prompts Ambassador Dred's genocide of Talon's village. According to Rebb, however, the Lu'quiri are actually the Blackbloods' battle partners, and they along with the Blackbloods partnered with them were betrayed by Talon's tribe during a war with the humans.
  • Our Elves Are Different: The Blackbloods have the requisite pointy ears,note  have black blood, are stronger than humans and can survive injuries that would kill a regular person.
  • Our Orcs Are Different: Known as "Greyskins", they're large, brutish creatures who live in a tribal society and are viewed as barbarians by the humans of the outpost.
  • Our Souls Are Different: The kinjs are revealed in Season 4 to contain the souls of the "gods" known as the Seven. When a kinj and its host are fully vaporized by the black kinj's power, that soul is free to return to its original body.
  • Our Zombies Are Different: The plaguelings are of the Parasite Zombie variety, as they are controlled by a thing that grows inside them when injected by another plagueling. Once the parasite takes over, the people lose all control over their bodies. They also have Nested Mouths than contain the stinger they use to infect people. It turns out that the colipsum drug is made of their eggs, which are fertilized by the stinger, meaning people who don't take the drug don't turn.
  • The Paranoiac: Falista in Season 4 after taking the throne, becoming increasingly convinced that she's surrounded by enemies and conspirators, a belief that Two happily feeds in order to manipulate her.
  • Parental Abandonment:
    • Talon's father's absence is unexplained at first. Her mother was murdered. As if that weren't enough, she's adopted by a human family, and they are slaughtered by Varek (a Blackblood who hates humans).
    • Gwynn's birth parents (i.e. the king and queen) were killed in her childhood by the Prime Order, who overthrew her father. Her adopted father is later murdered too.
    • Garret's mother was murdered, and he later kills his own father while brainwashed as a test of loyalty.
    • Janzo doesn't mention his father. Since his mother died giving birth to him, he likely doesn't know. He was probably born out of wedlock as otherwise The Mistress wouldn't have adopted him.
    • Wren's father is never seen or mentioned. Her mother is later killed to stop her Assimilation Plot.
    • Tobin's father is dead and his mother simply never gets mentioned.
  • Patricide: Garrett executes his father to prove he's loyal after being indoctrinated into believing in the Three.
  • Penal Colony: The mine beneath the Outpost the convicts are sent to is one.
  • Planet Looters: The Masters are a fantasy take on this trope, as they travel from dimension to dimension, draining the worlds they find of life in order to fuel their immortality.
  • Playing with Fire: The Master known as Kultor is able to summon and throw fireballs.
  • Power Incontinence:
    • Talon takes a good chunk of Season 1 before she learns to actively control opening portals.
    • When Falista accidentally comes into possession of the red kinj in Season 3, she can't control it at all, with its powers lashing out at everyone around her whenever she gets angry. During the Last Stand against the United, however, she finally learns to activate and direct it at will.
  • Properly Paranoid: Gwynn reveals that as much as she wanted to believe Alton was alive, she had to doubt in his story until she could prove he was an imposter.
  • Prophet Eyes: Ilyin's eyes go white when she has an insight on something.
  • Puppet King: Falista is accused of being this to the Three after joining them in Season 4. For now, she appears to be asserting her own authority.
  • The Purge:
    • The Prime Order worked hard to wipe out the entire Blackblood race. In addition, they have also wiped out most of the Yrilians.
    • Janya drains the life of everyone living in the Capital, and then in several villages, in order to keep herself and the other Masters fueled.
  • The Quisling: Higgs, the guy who replaces Withers as Marshal, quickly becomes this to the Prime Order, sucking up to them once they take over the outpost.
  • Redemption Equals Death: The Mistress does the right thing for once, coming to Janzo's defense during Season 2's climatic battle, and gets fatally stabbed for it. She lampshades it between last breaths where she also tells of the escape tunnels that allow the heroes to stop the Prime Order army.
  • Reduced to Dust: While the black kinj is normally just a Touch of Death, at full power it does this to its victims. In the Season 3 finale, being supercharged by contact with Yavalla's white kinj does this to both her and its own host, Gwynn. Afterwards, it returns to its true body, Tera, who goes on to kill Two, Falista, and Tobin by doing this to them.
  • Relationship Upgrade: Talon and Garret finally hook up in Season 3.
  • Religion of Evil: The human cult who worship Lu'quiri in "Kill the Rat, Kill the Kinj" do so through human sacrifices.
  • The Reveal: Gwynn is actually the rightful heir to the throne.
  • Revenge: Talon wants to avenge her family and people by killing those who wiped them out. After learning that Toru Magmoor was a mercenary involved, she kills him, and escapes the punishment due to Gwynn's intervention. Then later she also kills another mercenary who helped, Tiberion Shek. On defeating Dred, who is with the Prime Order which started the genocide, she tries to kill him too before Gwynn stops it.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge:
    • Talon has made it her life’s purpose to hunt down and kill the men who slaughtered her family.
    • Garrett goes on one in the back half of Season 2 against the Prime Order agents who brainwashed him.
    • Munt has an epic one after his mother is killed.
  • Rousing Speech: Gwynn gives one in the Season 3 finale to her troops as they prepare for the Last Stand against the United.
  • Royal Blood: All the Blackbloods are descended from an ancient emperor. This gives them the ability to summon and banish demons. Gwynn also turns out to be a princess.
  • Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Commander Calkussar forbids Gwynn/Rosmund and Garret's love affair since he's a commoner and she's the heir to the throne. In the season one finale she drags him to bed with her, since, being the queen, she gets to make the rules about who she can love.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When the United attack the capital, Three uses his kinj to teleport away, abandoning Two to be captured.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can:
    • The Blackbloods banished a whole horde of demons known as Lu'quiri to another dimension in ancient times. They are also the only ones who can call them back.
    • Season 2 reveals that there's another, more belligerent, faction of Blackbloods trapped alongside the Lu'quiri.
    • As first shown in the last scene of the Season 3 finale, and expanded on throughout Season 4, there's the Masters, the seven beings who inspired the Prime Order and Blackblood religions. Their bodies have been locked away for centuries in sarcophagi in hidden tombs, while their souls were separated in the form of the kinjs.
  • Servant Race: The Kahvi are bred specifically to serve the seven Masters.
  • Sexy Discretion Shot: Used in "There Will Be a Reckoning", when Talon and Zed sleep together. They both kiss and start to take off their clothes, then the camera cuts away to them cuddling together the next morning.
  • Shadow Archetype: Rebb, the Blackblood we meet early on in Season 2, could be seen as one to Talon. She's every bit the skilled fighter that Talon is, but she doesn't have Talon's heroism or morals. She also kills the Dragman without a second thought.
  • Shirtless Scene: Garrett conveniently loses his shirt while sparring with Talon.
  • Shoot the Medic First: During the Final Battle with the Masters, the first one the heroes target is Janya, whose healing powers could aid the others.
  • Shoulders-Up Nudity: In "The Mistress and the Worm", when Talon takes off her filthy clothes to take a bath, the camera stays above her shoulders.
  • Sins of the Father: The Season 3 premiere invokes this, entitled "For The Sins of Your Ancestors". As punishment for humans' atrocities against their kind in the past, the invading Blackbloods enslave all the Humans at the Outpost.
  • Slave Liberation: After the humans of the Outpost have been made slaves by the Blackblood invaders, they're liberated with help from Talon and Zed, after he turns against them.
  • Snake Oil Salesman:
    • "The Hardest Part of Being Queen" sees a merchant arriving at the Outpost claiming to have a cure for the United infection. As Janzo deduces, however, it's just berry juice.
    • This same con artist returns in "Something To Live For", now pretending to be an emissary of the rampaging Masters, promising protection for villages that give him "tribute".
  • Sole Survivor: After the massacre of her people, Talon is the last living Blackblood. Subverted when Season 2 reveals that there are more imprisoned alongside the Lu'quiri.
  • Stop, or I Shoot Myself!: During the Season 3 finale, Wren holds a knife to her own throat to distract her mother. Unfortunately, it doesn't last long before the infected Janzo infects her too.
  • Straight Edge Evil: The Prime Order forbids alcohol, drug use, extramarital sex, prostitution, and gambling. While some members break the rules or are lax in enforcing this, Dred takes it very seriously.
  • Suddenly Speaking: After being silent for all her prior appearances, Ilyin does so in the season one finale to identify herself as the Dragman.
  • Suicidal Overconfidence: Three thinks that his teleporting kinj powers can let him threaten Falista with no consequences. Tobin is quick to stab him in the back when he's doing so, before he can see it coming and flee.
  • Suicidal Pacifism: Talon's people were a group of Blackbloods who firmly believed that to kill anything (animals for food included) was wrong. Sadly, they were slaughtered by humans who emphatically didn't share this view, with none fighting back.
  • Summon Magic: This turns out to be the power Talon has (and Blackbloods generally). She's able to invoke and banish the Lu'quiri (most people call them demons), although it's difficult to master (the latter especially) and they must obey her when she speaks in her language.
  • Surprise Incest: Janzo is horrified to discover that his love interest who he just finished making out with is actually his long lost twin sister. Naya doesn't take it much better.
  • Surrounded by Idiots: Invoked by Janzo handling the bar and an annoying Blackblood messing with his lab.
  • Sympathetic Murderer: He may have amply deserved this, but Talon killing Toru Magmoor was murder. The show still portrays her as being in the right, with Withers being wrong for trying to get her executed (granted, he doesn't give her anything like a fair trial).
  • Taking the Bullet: Well, crossbow bolt, actually. Danno does this for Withers in the first season finale, saving him from Higgs at the cost of his own life.
  • Taking You with Me: In the Season 3 finale, Rosmund takes on the black kinj and uses it to kill Yavalla at the cost of her own life.
  • Teeny Weenie: Men are insulted more than once by claiming that they've got tiny penises.
  • Teleportation: The member of the Three actually known as Three can do this, thanks to his kinj.
  • Their First Time: Janzo, who's established as a virgin earlier, loses his virginity with Wren and they later become a couple.
  • The Theocracy:
    • Fourteen years before the start of the series, a religious group known as the Prime Order overthrew the monarchy and took total control over the realm, with the Three (their leaders whom they believe are divine) ruling.
    • Yavalla is the leader of the Blackbloods in Season 3, and also their high priestess. She then starts taking over people's minds to become ruler of them all.
  • This Cannot Be!: A minor example but Two reacts this way when, after accusing them of causing chaos by bringing the white kinj from the Plain of Ashes, Talon retorts it was already in their world.
  • This Is Unforgivable!/Revenge Before Reason: For the "crime" of using his newfound Mind Control powers to save her from a grey skin, Talon (over)reacts by telling Zed how he "betrayed" her. A duel ensues which ends with him being pushed through a portal back to the Plane of Ash, supposedly never to be seen again. Of course, it didn't help that Zed had lied about knowing what his Kinj power was. Or that his first reaction to Talon's anger was to try and mind control her into calming down.
  • Threat Backfire:
    • Upon being captured, a brainwashed Garrett thinks he can intimidate Gwynn with how the Prime Order knows she's not the true Queen and undermine her. Of course, the threat is meaningless as the entire "Gwynn a false queen truth" was faked by the Prime Order to break Garrett.
    • Garrett tries to sway Janzo to his side by telling him how Gwynn is a false queen and the Prime Order will lock Janzo up for aiding her. Janzo clearly sees Garrett is not in his right mind and by this point, barely cares about any threats on his life with all he's been through.
  • Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Garrett does this to kill a Prime Order soldier pursuing Gwynn.
  • Title Drop: Done Once an Episode.
  • Token Minority: Janzo and Naya are played by South Asian actors, Tobin's actor is black. Zed's is mixed race. A couple minor characters are also people of color: Essa, Milus, Sill and Jabaan, along with a few extras. Later the Blackblood leader Yavalla, along with her daughter Wren, are played by black or mixed race actresses. The rest of the series' cast is white, though it's more than usual for a fantasy.
  • Token Minority Couple:
    • Janzo and Naya, the two characters whose actors are South Asians, get together in Season 2. They break up after discovering they're brother and sister.
    • Season 3 has Janzo get with Wren, the only young woman of color in the cast who isn't his sister.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Talon is the tomboy, dressing in masculine clothing and having trained to fight. Gwynn on the other hand is a proper lady who's in a dress habitually and has traditional female manners. Though not a fighter, Gwynn is also a strong woman in her way and becomes less girly in time, putting on armor and wielding a sword by the end of season one. Both get along well and complement one another.
  • Tome of Eldritch Lore: The Vex Rezicon, or "Book of Names", containing the names of every one of the demons the Blackbloods sealed away, and which includes hidden in its spine a jewel that, when exposed to fire, whispers out those names.
  • Toplessness from the Back: Used when Talon takes off her shirt to sleep with Zed. He even brushes her hair away, seemingly to give the viewer a better view.
  • Touch of Death: The power of the black kinj. Unfortunately, its host has no control over it.
  • Tough Love: Withers tried to do this with his older son. After he was caught committing theft, Withers sent him down to the mine as punishment, which was just to be a few days. However, it went wrong as the other prisoners Withers sent there recognized his son, beating him to death.
  • Turncoat: Commander Calkussar is infamous as the captain of the royal guard who opened the palace doors to the Prime Order and betrayed his king. Marshal Withers in particular has a very low opinion of him because of it. The truth is actually much more complicated. See the Undying Loyalty entry below.
  • Undying Loyalty: Commander Calkussar never betrayed his king. Everything he did was ordered by the king who saw that the Prime Order were about to win, so he hatched a plan to preserve the royal line. Calkussar sacrificed his honor and his family to bring this plan to fruition.
  • Unexpected Virgin: Garret expresses surprise when Janzo says he's never been with a woman (though given his social awkwardness, it isn't too odd).
  • Unusual Euphemism: Wren first asks Janzo if Blackblood and human organs are the same, then after he says yes wonders if their genitals are compatible. He awkwardly surmises that they are, and then she proposes a "science experiment" to test whether Janzo's right. At first he demurs, embarrassed, but then later does "test" this with her (and apparently yes, they are compatible).
  • Utopia Justifies the Means: Yavalla decides to create a promised paradise the Blackblood religion prophesied with her kinj, through brainwashing everyone into being peaceful.
  • Vampiric Draining: A major development in Season 3 is Janzo discovering that the Hive Mind kinj drains the life force of those it inhabits every time it duplicates. The more this happens, the more it drains the host. Indeed, when Talon and Garrett track down the possessed Gywnn now ruling the Capital, they see she suddenly looks like a woman in her 60s and getting older before their eyes.
  • Vengeance Feels Empty:
    • Talon eventually admits that killing everyone responsible for her family's deaths didn't make her feel any better.
    • Garrett says the same thing after getting his own revenge.
  • Viking Funeral: A variant in the series finale. After Aster dies, his body is put on a boat and set out on the water, but rather than being burned Talon opens a portal to send it to the Void.
  • The Voiceless: Ilyin is capable of speaking, though she mostly chooses not to in the first season.
  • Void Between the Worlds: The series finale features the Void, a frozen wasteland so cold that anything that enters it freezes solid in a minute. This is where the Masters are sent in order to get rid of them for good.
  • Waif Prophet: Ilyin is a little girl able to see unknown things, and when she does her eyes turn white.
  • Wedding Finale: Talon and Garrett get married at the end of the series.
  • Weird West: The series is Heroic/Low Fantasy but has a great deal of Western vibes.
  • Wham Shot: When finally making their way to the kinj-controlled Capital in Season 3, Talon and Garrett are stunned to see that, virtually overnight, Gwynn has aged forty years due to the kinj draining her life force.
  • What Beautiful Eyes!: Talon has striking blue eyes, which is commented on in the series. In fact, Wolf says it's part of the reason he stopped himself from killing her.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Naya disappears between Season 2 and 3.
  • What You Are in the Dark:
    • During the climatic fight in the Season 2 finale, the Mistress decides to grab all the outpost's gold and sneak away in the chaos while no one's looking... until she sees a Prime Order soldier about to kill Janzo. Then she flies into Mama Bear mode and attacks the soldier and gets fatally stabbed herself in the process.
    • While it appeared that Sammy (the fake Alton) was just a greedy coward, when he hears the Prime Order is coming, rather than run, he offers to fight with the soldiers. He proves himself in combat, saving Gwynn's life and taking a nasty stabbing himself.
  • White Hair, Black Heart: Dred. He's got unnaturally white hair and is the Big Bad of Season 1.
  • Why Won't You Die?: Dred asks this of Talon during their showdown in the Season 1 finale.
  • Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Tobin refuses at first when Talon challenges him to a fight, as she's a woman. Once she starts hitting him though, he swings at her, but misses every time since he's fairly drunk.
  • Would Hit a Girl: Jaaris murders a number of Blackblood women, threatens to kill Wren, and was quite willing to fight Talon.
  • Yin-Yang Bomb: Should the white and black kinjes make contact, they kill both hosts. Rosmund sacrifices herself to do this with Yavalla.
  • You Are Number 6:
    • The members of the Three are only referred to as One, Two, and Three.
    • The Kahvi have no names, instead being identified only by bar code-like numbers engraved on their necks.
  • You Have Failed Me:
    • For failing to both stop the blossoming rebellion at the Outpost or kill Talon, Dred is punished by The Three by being stripped of his rank and imprisoned.
    • Sana's first action at becoming the new One is to painfully execute the guards who failed to protect her predecessor.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: After Two restores the awakened gods to their full strength, they kill her in order to return her kinj to its own original body.
  • You Killed My Father: Naya learns that Dred killed her mother and sister a long time ago, and she immediately stabs him to death in revenge.

Top