Webcomic / Aisopos

"Do you know what makes a human strong? The power no one can fight against. The power no one can handle. What creates such almighty power is… hatred and wrath. Do not blame your fate. Do not blame anybody. Life isn't something to understand, but to accept. Just face your death."

— Yadmon, Part 3

Aisopos is a Historical Fiction Korean Webtoon written by Yangsoo Kim and illustrated by Dogado published on Line Webtoon.

It tells the Coming of Age Story of the titular protagonist. It ran from July 2014 and it ended on March 2017 with a total of 130 chapters.

The story begins before the main character was even born. Master Yadmon, the tyrant of Samos, falls in love with Elli, a beautiful peasant girl. However, she is in love with a humpty dumpty named Frontis.

Her marriage with Master Yadmon forces these two lovers to be separated. This causes Elli to become gloomy and refuses to smile. Yadmon, not standing to see his beloved wife like this, hires Frontis to cheer her up.

Frontis' mere presence makes the young woman feel better and thus, he comes to visit them everyday, much to Yadmon's desires. One day, the two lovers manage to escape and settle down in Athens, where they have a boy, named Aesop.

Yadmon spends 10 whole years looking for them. Upon finding them, he accidentally kills the parents and takes the orphan child as a slave. And that's only the beginning…

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Aisopos contains examples of:

A-L

• Abusive Parents: Yadmon's father, the former tyrant of Samos. He sold his wife, never cared for his son and only saw him as his throne's thief and never let him decide for anything (with the only exception being the woman he would marry).
• Action Girl:
  • Bri. She spent her teenage years training under Lady Sappho, another Action Girl, and now, she is a skilled fighter.
  • Sappho, who is the leader of an action pack girl squad and taught Bri everything she needed to know.
  • Sappho's guardians, who are skilled warriors.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: Real Life Aesop was a dwarf and a hunchback. In this webtoon, he is a normal boy with cute/ good-looking characteristics. His father Frontis is portrayed as a "humpty-dumpty" instead.
• Adaptational Heroism: Believe it or not, Periander of Corinth was more ruthless, murderous, unpredictable and cunning. His pragmatism and intelligence are both accurately portrayed, however.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • Yadmon, in Real life, actually cared about Real Life Aesop and tried to free him. In the webtoon, he killed his parents, tormented him in daily basis, hunted him down for ten straight years after Aesop managed to escape, and still treated him the same awful way he did when the latter was a kid.
  • In Real Life Solon was a benevolent law-maker who reformed the Drakonian Laws into a system that was much more humane and fair than before. He went into a self-imposed exile because he thought his laws were as fair as they could be and he didn't want to be forced to change them. In the webcomic he is an Anti-Villain who organizes a coup that goes horribly wrong in order to get rid of Athens' corruption and emancipate the slaves. He ends up unwittinlgy helping Yadmon gain ultimate political power and causes Aesop's death. He is understandably horrified and goes into self-imposed exile because of that instead.
• Adults Are Useless: Half the adults in this webtoon are selfish jerks who don't know how to properly run their country. Specific examples include Yadmon, Drakon, Doddonis, Yadmon's father, who is the whole reason why Yadmon is who he is now and the teacher in Agoge.
• All Love Is Unrequited:
  • Yadmon, the Big Bad of the series, is in love with Elli, Aesop's mother. However, she chose a humpty dumpty, named Frontis, and together, they ran away to Athens.
  • Happens again with his son, Rikes, who fell in love with a beautiful woman from Samos, but it turned out that she planned to marry someone else…
• Anti-Villain: Solon in part 3. Sure, he wants to bring democracy to Athens and free the slaves but you have to admit that staging a coup where every Arcon is killed during a celebration is going too far. And then the coup goes horribly wrong and Yadmon co-opts it for his own purposes. His My God, What Have I Done? is completely justified.
• Arch-Enemy: After killing both of his parents and taking him as a slave, Yadom becomes this to young Aesop. Not helping by the daily humiliation and torment, which made his loathing for him even greater. Even after managing to escape and live far away from him for ten years, Aesop still hasn't forgotten what Yadmon had done to his and seeks revenge.
• Artistic License – History: Unsurprising, since this is a historical fiction webcomic. It should be noted however that for the most part the webcomic's creators have Shown Their Work.
  • As stated before Yadmon now is the story's Big Bad, instead of a kind master that tried to free Aesop.
  • In Herodotus' Histories pots were used to disable the Persian cavalry, not the Spartan one.
  • The context in which some of Aesop's myths are used in the webcomic is quite different from how they are normally used.
  • Yes, Thales really did stop a war by predicting an eclipse but here he is shown to do so much earlier than history recorded.
  • Believe it or not, Periander of Corinth was more ruthless, murderous, unpredictable and cunning. His pragmatism and intelligence are both accurately portrayed however.
  • Solon went into a self-imposed exile because he didn't want to be forced to change his laws. Here he goes into exile because he attempts a coup that goes horribly wrong.
• Art Shift: When the webtoon wants to retell a story, the drawings change to a style that looks exactly like it's been taken from Greek pottery.
• Athens and Sparta: This webtoon features these two city-states, as well as various others, like Corinth and many greek islands, like Lesbos.
• The Atoner: By the end of the story both Rikes and Solon become this. And it's heavily implied by the ending and the myth that Aesop in Rikes body said in the beginning of the story that Peisistratos ends up becoming this as well.

• Batman Gambit: After Aesop is crossed due to false assumptions over some people's death, Bri decides that it's finally time to act and wipe out Yadmon once and for all. She accomplishes this by using her mystic powers as a Pythia. This results to switch Aesop's body with sir Rike's, Rike's body to his dad's, Yadmon, and Yadmon's body to Aesop's. It is followed by killing herself as a payback for this.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Daross is clearly a Nice Guy and rarely gets into a fight, except when asked for (like when his teacher asked him to bring Aesop back through threats). However, when confronted and being in danger, he knows how to fight and defend himself.
• Big Bad: Yadmon. The Adaptational Villainy that he received had turned him into a psychotic ruler, addicted to one particularly lady, hunting her, her husband and her son for ten whole years, treating the boy like crap, because he dared not to receive the spear that was aimed at him and for not looking like his mother and then, proceeds to hunt down the kid again for ANOTHER ten years, capturing and treating him in an even nastier way!
• Big Brother Instinct: Lenius has this towards his younger brother, Daross. From the moment he entered the agoge, he promised himself he would protect him at any costs. Considering the harsh conditions and Daross's sensitive personality, it made sense that he sent him to Athens back when they tried to help Aesop return from Sparta.
• Bilingual Bonus: There is quite a number of Meaningful Name characters named after Greek words.
  • Elli is named after "Ellios" the Greek word for "sun" as stated in the first chapter.
  • Frontis means "care" ie to look after somebody.
  • Archius means "principle". He is certainly a man who sticks by them.
  • Kollos literally means 'Ass', and his main characteristic is that he is a Jerkass.
  • Chrysa literally means "golden", which fits her warm motherly personality.
  • Theo means "God", but it doesn't have any meaning. It's simply a very common Greek name, which is why the prisoner and later Aesop use it to hide their true identity.
• Bittersweet Ending: The webcomic ends in a pretty complicated way, to say the least. Aesop is accused of the murder of a handful of people and he is sentenced to death by crossing. His friends can't do anything other than stare and scream to let him go. The only one who actually tries and succeeds is Bri, through a mystic dance, where Aesop swaps bodies with Rike's, Rike's with Yadmon's, and Yadmon's with Aesop's. This results in Aesop surviving and while Yadmon is finally executed. However, Bri has to kill herself for the payback; and Korki, Sallas, the Barbarian, Daross and Lenius never find out about this, thinking that their beloved friend is now dead. Each one of them eventually dies from old age while Aesop, in Rike's body, outlives them.
• Blackmail Backfire: Drakon refuses to promote Yadmon as an Arcon and tells him he is going to be his puppet, in return for not revealing that it was Yadmon's father who attacked Athens. The next day he ends up mysteriously "suffocating" during the victory celebrations in Aigina.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Among Aesop, Bri, and Lenius, Bri is the Blonde, Aesop is the Brunette and Lenius is the Redhead.
• Bookends: The webcomic, to be more precise, begins with an old man (who the audience assume that is old Aesop) sitting on a table and telling a fable, while a crowd from the outside yells and demand the death of Peisistratus. It ends the exact same way, but with Aesop in Rike's body coming out and trying to defend the poor man by telling them a fable.
• Broken Aesop: The Eye for an Eye aesop might cause more troubles, if you think about it…
• The Bully: Kollos is this to Aesop and Bri (although his treatment towards them has some psychopathic tendencies, as he beats them frequently and one time, he even tried to murder the protagonist).
• Cardboard Prison: Subverted with the condemned cells underground, a place where Aesop delivered fresh water to the prisoners at one point, where no one can escape. Plenty die from diseases or from dehydration.
• Central Theme: Since the main character is a slave, it will of course talk about slavery in Ancient Greece.
  Aesop: We are slaves… are we allowed to go outside?
  Bri: Being a slave is not that different from a free man. Regardless of status, life is the same for everyone.
  Aesop: But, what if we run away?
  Bri: They will find and get you anyway. Aristocrats with power like Master Yadmon have men across the Aegean sea. The entire Greece is a prison to us. Even if we run away, kids like us will starve to death. Being a slave might be better after all.
• Cerebus Syndrome: The story was a little depressing, to begin with, starting with a young and cheerful child losing both of his parents and being forced to be a slave, but the third part is where the drama and the overly sad tone are more clear, with the protagonist continuing to be a slave to his family's killer, being treated in a more awful way and almost dying from crossing.
• Chekhov's Gun: Orestes' Remains, a Sacred Necklace, whose owner receives supremacy over Greece. It appears as something that Lady Sappho has asked Bri to get her. Then, we learn about its power and that it has lead to a war between Tegea and Sparta.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Plenty of people that Aesops meets during his life, turn out to have a bigger role later in the series.
  • Lenius and Daross, the two Spartan brothers. They helped Aesop flee from Sparta, thanks to Lenius's idea of tricking the soldiers into thinking that he and Aesop fought for Daross and Aesop injured him. And that's the last we hear from him. Meanwhile, Daross is taken to Athens and lives with Mrs. Chrysa. While he has a bigger role and even saves Aesop's life once, he later appeared in silent cameos only. Then, in Part 2, the two brothers reunite again and become the main members of the gang.
  • Solon, a new politician, who only made a brief appearance in Part 1, has an even bigger role in Part 3 (Part 3 takes place 30 years later), where his actions result in Aesop's death.
  • Lady Sappho, the woman who buys Bri and trains her. At first, we meet her in Sparta, then when she takes Bri under her wig, but in Part 2, her role is expanded into her own arc.
• Chekhov's Classroom: Daross manages to confront against Kollos' minions, thanks to the training from the Agoge.
• Chekhov's Skill: Daross, being a Spartan boy under training, predictably knows martial arts and he was shown to use a spear as a main weapon back when he was in the Agoge. However, it's not brought up again, until later in the series, where he makes one from cut wood and uses it to defend himself.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Bri and Aesop, who knew each other ever since they were 10 years old. Their relationship, however, has a lot of ups and downs and it's very difficult to hold onto it (not because of inner fights, but from outside factors).
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome:
  • The Helots, despite being the first people that Aesop meets when he arrives in Sparta and telling him all about their awful conditions, are never seen or mentioned again throughout the series.
  • Kollos and his minions, after being left near the shores of Miletus, never appear again and it's unknown what happened to them.
• Clarke's Third Law: Played for Laughs. When the Barbarian encounters the Deus ex Machina created by Thales, he thinks it's an actual God with real powers. Thales explaining to him that it's all based on machinery doesn't change his opinion.
• Clever Crows: One of the forest animals that Paian orders around is a crow.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Yadmon tortures Adult!Aesop mainly for sadistic purposes.
• Coming of Age Story: The webtoon narrates Aesop's life, right from his childhood days, till the day he grew old.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Solon in Part 3, where his actions sentence Aesop to death. To be more specific, he is more of an Anti-Villain, since he eventually realises his mistake. Yadmon still serves the role of the Big Bad, however.
• Convenient Eclipse: Subverted. This is how Thales stops a war between two tribes that ravages a nearby village. The subversion is that much like the real "Battle of the Eclipse" on which the incident is based, Thales had managed to accurately calculate and predict the time and day of the eclipse, so unlike the normal usage of this trope, the eclipse was not unexpected (at least from Thales' point of view).
• Cool Big Bro: Lenius, in comparison to Daross. Lenius, despite having his left arm severed because of a serious infection, is still able to fight and being, overall, a badass.
• Corporal Punishment: The most common example is through whipping.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: While Daross is neither The Ditz, nor the Butt-Monkey, you wouldn't expect him to kick ass voluntarily. Turns out wrong, when Kollos' minions are about to kill him and he doesn't hold himself from attacking these bastards.
• Cursed Item: Orestes' remains, in a more metaphorical way. While it grants power and the title of "Ancient Greece's ruler" to its owner, they also get attacked frequently by thieves who want the necklace for themselves, like how Tagea is the main target attack of Sparta.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Bri's final dance during Aesop's execution. Its purpose is to do a "Freaky Friday" Flip between Aesop, Yadmon and Rikes. True to the trope, it requires its user to sacrifice her life in order for it to work, something that Bri willingly does.
• Darker and Edgier: Part 3 is far more dark and depressed compared to the first two parts. Aesop still works for the man who killed his parents, he receives severy punishment on daily basis, he hasn't seen his friends for 20 years and he almost got himself killed!
• Declining Promotion: Aesop. He has great rhetoric skills and he is able to convince everyone through his words and his fables, however, the reason he doesn't belong to an upper class has mostly to do due to his slave position (a slave cannot free themselves, except if they pay back or if their masters choose to free them. Considering Yadmon, it's rather difficult…).
• Deconstruction: The Never Give Up aesop in Frontis' fable: it's alright to quit, but only after you have tried hard and know that there's no way for you to succeed, or else, your efforts will prove to be meaningless.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: As important as the Greek civilisation was, the creators make an effort to show that times and values were really different back then.
  • The webcomic shows that the wealth of ancient Greece was mostly built on the backs of hard-working slaves. Sure, there were slaves who rose up to become quite important and even managed to escape slavery, and/or were practically brothers to their masters (such as Archius), but for the most part the life of a slave was a hard and often very short one. And the most horrific thing is that both the masters and the slaves view this situation as perfectly normal. You really couldn't imagine a society without slaves back then.
  • Same goes to the teacher in Agoge about the way he treats his students, especially Lenius and Daross. He instantly beat Lenius the moment he saw him, just because he was late, told him to cut one of Aesop's limbs and threatened Daross that he would harm his brother if he didn't bring him Aesop. We might consider this sort of behaviour brutal and dehumanizing but this was really how tough and unforgiving the Spartan Agoge was.
• Deus ex Machina: Not used as a trope directly. Rather the webcomic shows the trope's theatrical origin (mechanical God and all), courtesy of Thales.
• Distant Finale: The last chapter takes place when Aesop, now in Rike's body, is old. Specifically, it took place in the year 560 B.C, 20 years after the events of Part 3.
• Doomed by Canon: Or rather, "Doomed by History". As expected from a story featuring several Historical Domain Characters:
  • Subverted with Drakon. History states that he suffocated after being covered by numerous pieces of cloth in Aigina. In the webcomic, that's how history records his death. In reality he was poisoned by Yadmon.
  • Very much like his real-life counterpart, Aesop is falsely accused and executed, though the circumstances are vastly different. And then there's the whole "Freaky Friday" Flip situation, where his life is saved by having his mind transferred into Rikes' body.
  • In the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue, it's outright stated that, like her real-life counterpart, Sappho ended her own life after she had her love rejected.
  • Similarly, Solon dies in self-imposed exile though, again, his reasons for going into said exile are vastly different.
• Downer Ending:
  • Part 2 ends with Bri erasing her past memory and forgetting all the people she even knew, including Aesop, becoming Pythia and Aesop being taken hostage by Master Yadmon, returning to his old slave life.
  • Similarly, Part 3 ends with Bri killing herself in order to save Aesop and switching his body with Rike's, Rike's with Yadmon's and Yadmon's with Aesop's, resulting to the Big Bad 's death. However, Aesop's friends never learn about this and the last time they are mentioned, they have all died from old age…
• The Dreaded: Master Yadmon to Aesop. Justified, considering his harsh treatment towards him…
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After all these years of slavery and humiliation, Aesop, in Rike's body, managed to live a happy and free life.
• Enforced Cold War: The war between Tegea and Sparta for Orestes' remains, a necklace that gives to its owner power all over Greece. No side wants to give up.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Yadmon really loved his mother, for being the only person who loved him unconditionally, and he was close to her until his father sold her.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Played with. Drakon might be a ruthless sleazy, greedy, sexist and self-centred ruler who intentionally made his laws extremely strict and bloody to punish his fellow citizens, but even he looks down on Yadmon for betraying his own father. It should be noted however that it was him that goaded him into it by promising to make him an Arcon if he did so.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Yadmon deeply cares for his slave/friend Archius. And his son much later.
• Eviler than Thou: Drakon uses Yadmon to his advantage but when he goes back on his promise to promote him as an Arcon, and pretty much tells him he is going to be his puppet from now on, in return for not telling anyone his father attacked Athens. He ends up mysteriously suffocating during the victory celebration in Aigina. Yadmon becomes an Arcon short-after.
• Evil Mentor: Drakon is this to Yadmon. Not only does he initiate him in the "dog eat dog" world of Athenian politics, he tells him his ideas of taking over power, and shows him how to be a more effective Manipulative Bastard to get ahead. Unfortunately for everyone in the webcomic Yadmon takes those lessons to heart.
• Evil Teacher: The teacher in Agoge. He beat up Lenius just because he was late, threatened him to cut one of Aesop's limps and then, Daross to bring him back, or else he would kill his brother.
• Expy: The protagonist is helped by an uncivilised Gentle Giant with a face full of hair and a massive beard. Doesn't this reminds you of a particular Gentle Giant, named Hagrid, from a well-known francise?
• Family-Values Villain: Yadmon's only redeeming quality is that he deeply loved both his mother and his son. He shows concern when Rikes got poisoned.
• Fat Bastard: Doddonis, who is not better than the rest of the adults.
• Fiery Redhead: Lenius, most notably when he started to grow hair. While he is not that hot-tempered, he will not to hesitate to attack you if he feels threatened.
• Fluffy Tamer:
  • The Barbarian. Thanks to a special whistle, he is able to calm down the wolves, when they attacked young!Aesop.
  • Paian knows how to control forest animals, including giant-sized bears!
• Foreshadowing:
  • The reveal that Bri is actually a girl dressed as a boy. While she was helping Aesop in the condemned cells underground, Theo commented that "his" friend was so beautiful that "he" would trick everyone into thinking "he" is a girl, had they seen "him" wearing a skirt. And, in later chapters, Bri was drawn in more "feminine" postures and with more "girly" characteristics.
  • Bri's destiny. When it's found out that she was actually a girl dressed as a boy and that they would ship her to another place, Kollos bullies her and says that her destiny from now is to be a Sex Slave or a meaningless weaver. Bri, however, snaps out and says that she will change her fate. While it seems at first that she refers to Kollos' words, it's also about her becoming a Pythia or else, she will die.
  • During chapter 8 Drakon describes the oligarchy of Athens as a Hydra, and that the proper way to get power is not to just cut off its head (killing the Arcons) but to subsequently burn it (replace them with loyal "puppets"). 118 Chapters later this is exactly how Yadmon gains ultimate power by co-opting Solon's coup and using it to his advantage.
• For Want Of A Nail: Had Elli not ran away from Yadmon, he would never follow them to Athens, where a man of his would kill her accidentally when he aimed for Aesop.
• The Four Loves: All the four types of love are shown in this Webtoon through various characters.
  • Storge:
    • Both of Aesop's parents towards their only son.
    • Master Yadmon towards Rikes.
    • Lenius towards his younger brother, Daross.
  • Phileo: Aesop towards his friends (Korki, Sallas, Lenius, Daross, the Barbarian) and vice versa.
  • Eros:
    • Aesop towards Bri.
    • Frontis towards Elli.
    • King Hyakinthos towards Paiana.
    • Master Yadmon towards Elli.
  • Agape:
    • Bri towards Aesop. Heck, she even killed herself to save him!
    • Frontis towards his son.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: And a triple one at that after Bri dances and sacrifices her life in the penultimate chapter. Yadmon's mind goes into Aesop's body, Rikes' mind goes into Yadmon's and Aesop's into Rikes.
• Freudian Excuse: Yadmon might be a tyrant who torments the protagonist in every possible way and hunted down a woman for TEN whole years (only for her to be killed accidentally by one of his men), but the source of his problems stems from his father's treatment. His father made it clear to him that he didn't care about him, only saw him as his throne's thief and never let him decide for anything. The only exception was the woman he would marry. Obviously, he didn't want to lose the only thing he was ever free to chose.
• Gang of Bullies: Kollos and his two minions.
• Generation Xerox: This Webtoon provides two examples:
  • The first one being a group of people who travel across Ancient Greece in order to get away from Master Yadmon and his rage (Frontis and Elli / Aesop and his friends).
  • The second one being a man who fell in love with a beautiful woman from Samos, only to be revealed that said woman has an affair and she plans to marry another man, which causes the former one to kill her fiancé (Yadmon /Rikes).
• Genericist Government: The Vouli in Ancient Athens.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: Solon's attempted coup in Part 3. He wants to free Athens from corruption and emancipate the slaves. What he actually ends up doing is helping Yadmon attain ultimate political power by eliminating his adversaries and getting Aesop falsely charged for his crime.
• Gorn: Chapter 50 is extremely violent and bloody compared to the rest of the series.
• Guile Hero: As a complete aversion to the Idiot Hero trope, Aesop is not dumb at all! In fact, he is very cunning (in a good way), knows how to deal with every situation and uses his rhetoric skills effectively.
• Handicapped Badass: Lenius. After he injured his left arm in order to trick the Spartan soldiers into thinking that he fought Aesop, because he kidnapped his younger brother, it got infected and he had to to cut it. Despite being neglected, he proved to be one of the best soldiers.
• Happily Married:
  • While they were still alive, Aesop's parents, Frontis and Elli.
  • After they reunite, King Hyakinthos and Paian.
• Happiness in Slavery:
  • Averted. Aesop doesn't find any joy in serving the man who killed his parents, Yadmon, and he could do anything to escape from his slave condition.
  • Averted again with the Helots, the Real Life Slave Race of Ancient Sparta. They are humiliated and beaten on daily basis and once a year, the Spartans declare war on them and kill them.
• Hate Sink: Kollos is the one who suffered the most and worked effectively! With his bullying tendecies and no apparent redeeming qualities (heck, even his name indicates that he is a jerkASS), fans quickly disliked him.
  • Yadmon gets it as well in part 3, as he sinks lower than he ever has before.
• He-Man Woman Hater:
  • Drakon commented once that women are just worthless pigs.
  • Kollos also says that Bri's fate, now that she is a girl, is just to be a sex toy or to weaver inside a dark room for the rest of her life.
• Hero Secret Service: Sappho's guardians.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Bri takes her own life to complete the body-swapping ritual so she can save Aesop and eliminate Yadmon once and for all.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Archius and Yadmon. Archius was Yadmon's personal assistant ever since they were kids and he willingly received the punishments that were aimed to his master in order to protect him.
• Hidden Depths:
  • When Lenius was first introduced, he appeared as a cruel teen, willing and threating to kill, if necessary. Then, as the story continued, his heroic traits (devotion and Big Brother Instinct) became more obvious.
  • Thanks to the times he spent with Ms. Chrysa, Daross finds out that he likes cooking and turns out to be an extremely good cook. Had he remained in the military-based Sparta, he would never discover this passion.
• High-Class Call Girl: Tonise, a courtesan from Corinth, famous for her beauty.
• Historical Domain Character: A lot of Real Life historical figures appear in this webcomic, like the main character himself, Aesop, Yadmon, Thalis, Solon, Sappho and Drakon.
• Hypocrite: Drakon and Yadmon, big time.
  • Drakon goads Yadmon into betraying his father by promising to make him an Arcon. When Yadmon actually does so, he reneges on this promise on the basis that "it's not appropriate to promote a man who killed his own father".
  • Yadmon dismisses Aesop's fables and makes fun of them, but he uses them to impress his student, Peisistratus, who seems to enjoy them.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The arcs tend to get named after well known Aesop Fables, recorded history or famous Greek expressions. Examples:
  • The Delusion of A Wolf".
  • "A Village of Burning Dresses".
  • "The Shadow of Reality".
  • "Flame of Hope".
  • "The Fox and the Ticks"
  • "The Fox and the Crane"
• Hold the Line: When finally being found out by Yadmon's warriors, Frontis stares at his son intensely, deciding that Aesop's safety is more important than his own, before telling him to run and face them all alone. He is immediately killed…
• Insult Backfire: When some male guards meet Sappho's female guardians and see that they gather knives, they tell them that the only place a woman is allowed to hold a knife is in the kitchen. The guardians' response? Pulling out their spears!
• Insult to Rocks: In chapter 20 Archius compares Drakon to a lion that wants to rule over everything. Yadmon's response pretty much amounts to that.
  Yadmon: Don't insult lions. Beasts stop eating when they're full
• Interclass Friendship: Korki and Sallas (two free citizens) are friends with Aesop (a slave).
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Bri has this in her mind when she does the body-swapping ritual as she doesn't want Aesop to suffer any longer.
• Jerkass: Kollos serves this role, as he constantly tries to ruin Aesop's life, for no reason whatsoever. Taken further in Chapter 36, where he set up a fire at the Waterhouse, in order to kill him.
• Jigsaw Puzzle Plot: At the beginning of the second part, Bri is tasked to bring Orestes' remains. What it is and what its meaning is isn't mentioned, until later chapters.
• Join or Die: After both of his parents are murdered, Aesop is brought in front of Master Yadmon, who presents him two options: the first one is to accept the gold he offers to him and become his slave, and the second, to turn around and be killed by Yadmon's soldiers. Aesop chooses the first option.
• Karma Houdini:
  • Doddonis's fate is unknown, but he never receives any consequences from his awful actions.
  • Periander. He is shown throughout the story to be a very untrustworthy, paranoid, tyranical and traitorous ruler, who is equally willing to work with Aesop as much as throw him under the bus when it suits him. He never receives any comeuppance for his cruel acts.
  • Solon is an interesting case. While he gets away from his contribution to kill Aesop, the guilt from his actions torments him and hunted him for the rest of his life.
• Kid Hero: From the first part, every kid can qualify, but most notably, Aesop, Bri, Daross and Lenius.
• Kid Hero All Grown-Up: The main cast in "Part 2".
• Kudzu Plot:
  • The first part ends with Aesop, the Barbarian and Thales finding the treasure of Miletus, but it's unknown what will happen to Bri. It's implied that this question will be answered in the second part.
  • The second part ends with Aesop returning to Yadmon as a slave and Bri having her memories erased and becoming a Pythia. The audience is left questioning whether Aesop will finally be free, if Bri is ever gonna remember him again and what will happen to these two.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: At the end of the second part, Bri has to forget her previous life (in order to survive) and start a new one as Pythia.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • Drakon, who was a Sleazy Politician and a huge misogynist ends up "mysteriously" dying from suffocation, after the crowd threw clothes upon him. In reality he was poisoned by Yadmon after he had tried to blackmail him into becoming his puppet.
  • Kollos and his two minions, three of the most massive jerkasses in the webtoon, are abandoned close to the coasts of Miletus.
  • Master Yadmon killed both of Aesop's parents and made the rest of his life miserable. After Bri transfers his soul to Aesop's body (and Aesop's soul to Rikes' body, and Rikes' soul to his father's body), he finally dies and Aesop is free at last.
• Like Father, Like Son:
  • Just like his father, Rikes also fell in love with a beautiful woman from Samos, who was, however, engaged.
  • Aesop shares a Strong Family Resemblance with his father and they are both nice guys.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: As stated above, Rikes also fell in love with a beautiful woman from Samos, who was engaged to someone else. However, unlike his father, he realised his mistakes and spent the rest of his life fixing them.
• Living Is More than Surviving: After Rikes transferred to his father's body, he realised his mistakes and spent the rest of his life fixing them.
• Logical Weakness: The Spartan standing army might seem strong and unbeatable, but put them in a situation where they have to break phalanx formation (for example, by littering the battlefield with huge rocks) and they become vulnerable to attack.

M-Y

• Made a Slave: Aesop becomes the slave of Yadmon, the person who killed his parents. Now, that's bad luck!
• Made of Indestructium: Orestes' remains cannot be destroyed, so Aesop and King Hyakinthos decide to throw it in the sea.
• Magic A Is Magic A: Followed fairly closely with the Pythias' dance. Apparently, they have psychic powers that can switch someone's body with another's, even this was never mentioned before.
• Magic or Psychic??: The Pythias' dance and it ambiguous nature.
• Mama Bear: Ms. Chrysa may not be Aesop's mother, but she dislikes the idea of him being taken advantage and she will do anything to help him out.
• Manipulative Bastard: Drakon is this initially, manipulating Yadmon into turning on his father and then using that fact to blackmail him. Yadmon soon surpasses him however and ends up becoming more ruthless and manipulative than Drakon ever was.
• Master Race: The Spartans view themselves as this, compared to the Helots (who are a Slave Race). But because their population is 1 to 7 compared to them, they declare war each year against them and kill the most dangerous ones.
• Mighty Whitey: Aesop is a mere slave from Athens, but, almost every city-state that he visits (with the exception of Sparta) treats him with respect, thanks to his amazing rhetoric skills, and listens to him when they have a problem, like King Hyakinthos, when he was in a war with Sparta for Orestes'remains.
• Misplaced Retribution: Yadmon failed to get back Elli and inadvertedly caused her death, so he takes it out on poor Aesop by going out of his way to make the poor kid's life as miserable as possible.
• Misery Builds Character: The reason why Aesop remained humble and gentle, despite the respect he gained throughout the series. Up from his childhood, he was Made a Slave, was treated with hatred from the person who killed his parents, had few friends and almost nobody wanted him. Aesop never forgot about this.
• Mr. Smith: Aesop uses the name "Theo" to hide his identity when travelling.
• Ms. Fanservice: Various dancers appearing in the webtoon, who all wear skimpy clothes.
• Mutually Unequal Relationship: Averted with Master Yadmon and Archius (Yadmon's bodyguard ever since he was a child), who both see each other as equal.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Solon gets a big one during part 3 when he realizes that his actions unwittingly lead to Yadmon's ascent to ultimate power. He gets an even bigger one when Aesop is falsely accused for his own crime and sentenced to death.
• Mystical Plague: At one point, almost every person at Delphi dies through unknown conditions…
• Naïve Newcomer: Aesop himself when he arrives in Sparta. He knows nothing of their culture and so, he has the Helots explaining to him every single about their harsh conditions and the fact that they are killed and humiliated by them on daily basis.
• Near-Death Experience: Happens to Aesop on multiple occasions:
  • When Master Yadmon decides to punish him by hanging him to a tree in a mountain and the wolves attack him and try to eat him. Luckily, the Barbarian comes the right moment to save him.
  • When he first arrives in Sparta and he finds himself upon a mountain of corpses. Then, he starts having hallucinations that a monster is attacking him and fades. The moment he wakes up, he sees that he has been taken shelter from a Helot family.
  • Finally, as an adult, where he is about to die in a cross, but Bri saves him at the last moment through a mystical dance, that transfers him to Rike's body.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Upon finding his loved-one again, Master Yadmon orders his guards to kill the kid and the father, but spare the mother. The guards fail and end up killing both the father and the mother, but spare the child.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:
  • Frontis goes out of his hiding place to tend to his son when he hears him get hurt, leading to Yadmon's guards tracking him down.
  • Aesop is put into a position where he can either save Yadmon's life or kill him. After a brief talk, he decides to do the former. How does Yadmon repay him? He tracks him down, invades his village and captures all his friends forcing him to go into a slave pact with him again in order to save their lives.
• No Name Given: The Barbarian that lives in the mountains is not given a name.
• No OSHA Compliance: The condemned cells underground isn't a safe or hygienic place. The prisoners and the slaves die from diseases or hydration every day and noone seems to care. It's for that reason that a slave mother neglects the position of delivering water down there and insisting that an orphaned boy (Aesop) should go instead.
• "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: Thales stopping a war by calculating and predicting a solar eclipse might seem outlandishly outrageous to the reader... until it's pointed out that he actually did that in real life.
• Not Quite Dead: It's presumed that Aesop has died in a cross, while in reality, he has been transferred to Rike's body.
• The Lost Lenore: Heavily deconstructed with Yadmon's obsession with Elli. Losing her causes him to become a tyrant, and and abuse Aesop for the remainder of his life. In the end, Yadmon is reduced to buying blonde women and naming them Elli as a replacement of sorts, much to Aesop's chagrin.
• The Not-So-Harmless Punishment:
  • Whipping, in general.
  • At one point, Master Yadmon decides to hang Aesop from a tree and leave him to be eaten alive by wolves. While he survives the night, the experience would surely scare him and hunt him for a life.
• No Woman's Land: It's clarified that Ancient Greece, despite how marvelous it is, is not a good place for a woman. They have few to no rights and their only destiny is to either get married and have children or be a priestess and remain virgin. Made even worse if you were a slave, where, not only the conditions were even worse, but you would also be a Sex Slave. No wonder Bri disguised herself as boy…
• Official Couple Ordeal Syndrome: Played Straight with Aesop and Bri.
• Old Money: Master Yadmon, being the son of the tyrant of Samos, is arguably one of the richest noblemen in Ancient Greece. He even helped Athens by gifting her with ships!
• One-Hit Kill: Elli is immediately killed by a spear thrown for her son.
• Parental Substitute: Ms. Chrysa is, fortunately, a good example of this, after both of his parents had died. She treats Aesop like a son, nurtures him and gives him various life-lessons that shape him to adulthood.
• Patricide: During a naval battle, Master Yadmon kills his father, freeing himself from his abusive behaviour. Not being privy to Yadmon's Freudian Excuse Drakon is less than impressed however, and denies Yadmon's request to become an "Arcon" (ie a high lord of the city), on the basis that a man who kills his own father is not someone to be trusted.
  Drakon: To put it crudely... You think it's appropriate to promote the man who killed his own father as an Arcon?
• Pet Monstrosity: Paian has various wild forests animals that obey her and protect her from hunter and offenders. As a payback, she pets them.
• Plagiarism in Fiction: An especially evil example. During Part 3 of the story, Yadmon is shown collecting and writing down Aesop's tales with the specific intent of passing them off as his own (as "Yadmon's Fables" nonetheless) so that his name will go down in history as their creator. Considering what he puts Aesop through for each and every one of them, every single day of his enslaved life, this comes off as especially abhorrent to the reader.
• Plot Armor: The one that suffers that most of this is Aesop, at the end of the story…
• Police Are Useless: Let's just say that Master Yadmon's guards don't do a good job at following his orders. They are tasked to kill Aesop and his father, Frontis, and leave the mother, Elli, alone, but they end up killing the parents and sparing the child. And that's only the beginning…
• The Power of Friendship: Emphasized as extremely important throughout the series, which is one of the most strongly-played examples of this trope.
• The Power of Hate:
  • Master Yadmon's hatred for Aesop is what leads him to hunting down for TEN whole years to punish him for daring to run away from him.
  • Same for Aesop, as well, as this power is what drives him to take revenge for what Master Yadmon did to his parents.
• The Power of Love: Strongly played with Bri. She hd promised, ever since she was a child, that she would protect him at any cost. And she kept that promise, even if she had to kill herself to do so!
• Pragmatic Villainy: Sure Periander of Corinth might be a psychopathic tyrant who opresses the citizens under him but he is perfectly willing to work with Aesop and take his advice if he sees that it will benefit him in the long run.
• Protagonist Title: The webtoon is named "Aisopos", after the titular character.
• Proud Warrior Race: The Spartans are this, arguably…
• Red Is Heroic: Averted with the Spartans, who wear red cloaks, but besides Lenius and Daross, aren't portrayed in a positive light.
• Renowned Selective Mentor: Theo might tried to open to Aesop, but revealed the hideout of the treasure, only after he was sure he could trust him and his friends.
• Rich Bitch: Almost every nobleman in Athens, but especially Doddonis and Drakon.
• The Rival:
  • Aesop vs Master Yadmon.
  • Aesop vs Kollos, in the first part.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Hyakinthos, the king of Tegea, who will do anything to protect his citizens by kicking some Spartan ass!
• Satellite Character: Korki and Sallas, who only serve as Aesop's friends.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: After an army of Spartans hunts down Lenius, Daross and Aesop and surrounds them, Lenius decides that what's best is to let his little brother go at Athens with Aesop. He wounds himself and lets them escape.
• Single-Target Sexuality:
  • Master Yadmon was deeply in love with Ellis and hunted her down for TEN years after she and Frontis run away. He found her in Athens, where one of his guards accidentally killed her.
  • Yadmon's son, Rikes, also fell in love with a beautiful woman from Samos and he was determined to marry her.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Bri falls for Aesop, who is a Nice Guy and has never harmed her.
• Ship Sinking: Bri becoming a Pythia and getting Laser-Guided Amnesia in order to be saved pretty much amounts to that.
• Shout-Out:
  • The Spartans' appearance and clothing is literally taken away from 300. Though this is mostly to drive the Take That! home.
  • The chase scene from Chapter 57 to Chapter 58. Doesn't it scream Aladdin?!
  • Bri's dance movies in Chapter 91 resemble that of the Oracle's from Three Hundreds.
• Shown Their Work: It's clear the creators are fans of Greek civilization and Herodotus' Histories in particular.
  • All the Greek terms (Polis, Arcon, Tyranos) are accurately used and in the correct context.
  • The political system of each polis (ie City State) is shown accurately, along with its potential weaknesses.
  • Greeks really did use pots to fend off cavalries in the Persian/Greek war.
  • Thales really did use his calculations to predict an eclipse and end a war.
  • Periander of Corinth really did order the burning of the dresses after he unwittingly killed his wife.
  • The weakness of the Spartan phalanx system in battle is accurately shown and foreshadows Sparta's ultimate defeat in the battle of Leuctra against Thebes.
• Sleazy Politician: Drakon. He is a sexist, greedy, ambitious "Arcon" (ie high ruler of the city) who looks down on his fellow Athenians and deliberately made his laws bloody strict because he detests them. He detests the oligarchy of Athens and is only a part of it because he admits it's the best place for him ''for now''. He then goads Yadmon into turning on his own father by promising him a position as an Arcon, and then goes back on his promise on the basis that "it's not appropriate to promote a man who killed his own father". And then he attempts to blackmail Yadmon into becoming his puppet in return for not revealing to anyone that his father attacked Athens. It doesn't end very well for him...
• Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: Right from the beginning, the series talked about the deal of slavery and how it was handled in Ancient Greece.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Theo might only appeared in "The Errand Boy In Prison" arc, but he is the one who tells Aesop about the treasure in Miletus and gives him some important tips about life, which makes the young protagonist curious.
• Social Services Does Not Exist: Somewhat justified, as it takes place in Ancient Greece and these things were done differently.
• Sour Grapes Tropes: The myth that the tropes reference is mentioned verbatim, and a lot of them show up here too.
• The Sociopath: Master Yadmon, as well as Solon. At least, the latter regrets his actions, while the former still show apathy to Aesop to his death.
• Soul Jar:
  • Aesop to Master Yadmon's soul.
  • Rikes to Aesop's soul.
  • Yadmon to Rikes' body.
• Spanner in the Works: Aesop's plan in Part 2 is to get enough money to buy his freedom and live a happy life with Bri. None of these happens as Bri suddenly gets sick and the only way to save her is to accept her fate and become a Pythia, losing every bit of memory from her previous life and he's captured by Master Yadmon after a ten-year chase.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Real Life Aesop died by crossing. There, his soul is transferred to Rike's body before he died.
• The Spartan Way: One of the city-states' culture that the webcomic covered was about Ancient Sparta, mentioning the Krypteia, a ritual where Spartan youths were sent to hunt down and kill dangerous helots, and a glimpse of life in the Agoge.
• Starcrossed Lovers: Aesop and Bri. After their ten-year reunion, they are forced to be separated, because Bri ought to obey her destiny and become a Pythia, in order to be saved. To do that, however, she has to forget everything about her previous life.
• Stay in the Kitchen: The guardians dismiss Sappho's female guardians and tell them that the only place they are allowed to hold a knife is in the kitchen. This backfires when they pull out their spears.
• Strictly Formula: The first two parts are all about Aesop traveling all around Greece.
• Stripperiffic: All the Spartans presented in "Lion's Den" arc wear nothing but loincloths and capes, not unlike those in 300.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Aesop looks almost like his father, minus being a hunchback. Which, unfortunately, makes Yadmon take his anger and bitterness out on him even more.
• Surprisingly Creepy Moment: The webtoon can be very nightmarish-y if it wants. Like, when Aesop first visits Sparta and he's in a mountain full of bones.
• Take That!: The "Lion's Den" story arc is a huge one for the film 300 by showing some of the nastier aspects of the Spartan way of life, such as the Krypteia (where Helots where routinely murdered for training), and by driving the point home that the Spartan Society is absolutely not one that should be romanticized and idolized. The "Zeus Stinger" arc contains another big one by showing the Logical Weakness of the Spartan way of fighting, namely its inflexibility and strict adherence to phalanx protocol which can be lethal if they are fighting someone who is a good strategist and can come up with a good way to break them up.
• Terrible Trio: Kollos and his two minions.
• This Is Gonna Suck:
  • Going on a trip to Sparta. Even if it is to save your best friend.
  • Whenever Aesop confronts Master Yadmon.
• Time Skip: The webcomic has three time skips.
  • The final part of Episode 1 happened in 610 B.C, 10 years after the middle part (620 B.C.). By that time, Aesop is 10 years old.
  • Episode 57 (the first episode of Part 2) took place in 600 B.C, 10 years after Episode 56. Here, Aesop is 20 years old.
  • Episode 105 (the first episode of Part 3) occurred in the year 580 B.C, 20 years after Episode 104. Aesop is 40 years old once this episode is released.
  • And then there is the Distant Finale, at the final third part of Episode 130.
• Took a Level in Badass: Bri spent her teenage years training under Lady Sappho, and as a result, she became an incredible good warrior, who saved Aesop many times. No wonder she's a fan-favourite among the audience.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Master Yadmon was already a despicable human being, but as time passed, his treatment towards Aesop became harsher (sending him to the Dungeon, whipping him every day, etc.).
• Training the Gift of Magic: At the end of the second part, Bri is trained to become a Pythia, something like a fortune-teller in Ancient Greece.
• Tragic Villain:
  • Periander, who, after he killed his wife, ordered Corinth to burn all of the women's dresses. He still grieves about her to this day.
  • Solon, who just wanted his city-state and the slaves to be free, but ended up killing Aesop in the process.
• True Beauty Is on the Inside: Frontis might have been an ugly "humpty dumpty", but Ellis fell in love with him because he was strong, kind-hearted, caring and dependable.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Frontis and Elli play this straight. See above trope.
• Ultimate Job Security: Yadmon's guardians had only one job: to capture Elli and kill the father and kid. They end up killing both of the parents. Seriously, these guys need to enroll in aiming lessons! The only guardian who does his job correctly and deeply respects his master is Archius.
• Underestimating Badassery: Kollos'two minions were pretty sure they would beat up Daross, for he was just a child. But little did they know that Daross was a Spartan and was taught how to be a warrior…
• Undying Loyalty: Archius towards Yadmon and vice versa. Also Aesop's friends and Bri to the point she performs a Dangerous Forbidden Technique to save his life at the cost of hers.
• Unnecessary Roughness: Master Yadmon shouldn't be that harsh on Aesop. He is just a kid! Then again there's Misplaced Retribution at play so...
• Unusual Pets for Unusual People: Paian, a woman who lives in the wild, has a whole army of forest animals.
• Unwitting Pawn: Solon ends up becoming this during part 3. He plans to lead a coup that will free Athens of its corruption and emancipate the slaves. What he actually ends up doing is allow Yadmon to get rid of his political opponents, leading to his ascent to ultimate political power. He is horrified to say the least.
• Villainous Legacy: If you thought that Master Yadmon was the only villain in the story, you haven't met his father! Not only was an awful husband, but a horrible father as well, who controlled Yadmon all his life and never showed him any sign of love. When Yadmon meets him in a battle, where he leads the enemy, he doesn't hesitate and kills him.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Master Yadmon. After he gave Athens a whole fleet, he started to be quite respected by the citizens. This doesn't exclude the rest of Greece.
• Wham Episode: Chapter 128, where the protagonist, the antagonist, the antagonist's son and love interest all die. And then comes Chapter 129…
• When It All Began: Elli and Frontis' love.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Chapter 130 shows briefly what happened to the characters involved.
• Wizards Live Longer. Averted. Bri may became a Pythia, but she died at the age of 40.
• Words Do Not Make The Magic: Pythias' mystic dance.
• Would Hit a Girl: Played for Drama. In Chapter 7, Kollos and his friends hit Bri (unaware that she is a girl in disguise) for not daring to steal food from a party.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: Part 2 is essentially all about Aesop trying to get enough money to buy his freedom and Yadmon chasing after him to force him back into slavery. Aesop eventually loses.
• You Killed My Father: Aisopos' hatred for Yadmon stems from the fact that this man killed his parents.

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"I remember a story Aesop told me a long time ago."