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  • Alternative Character Interpretation: Many fans are rightfully annoyed whenever Ariel yells at Mel'arnach. However, keep in mind that Mel'arnach freedom was bought by Ariel earning a favor from Quain'tana, which is no easy task, to say the least. How does Mel'arnach respond? By going out of her way to insult and provoke Quain'tana at every opportunity, badmouthing the Il'haress to anyone and everyone, which is basically throwing Ariel's gift back in her face, and basically condemning Ariel for being a loyal soldier to the clan, as opposed to being Mel's doting, unwavering pet/tool, and worshiping at the feet of Snad, the Devil in Plain Sight. It's quite possible that Ariel's rocky relationship with her birth-mother is simply the result of Anger Born of Worry twisting into something else due to Mel's own Selective Obliviousness, which Ariel has pointed out more than once.
  • Angst? What Angst?: Khal'harror is surprisingly perky for a member of his clan, and some fans were angered by his apparent lack of reaction to Naal's death, where he seemed more concerned about having lost Bob, the undead chicken. There is, however, a level of Fridge Brilliance to his behavior, since he already lost many members of his clan at once and the same incident left his sister forcibly tainted and later gets taken over by her seed as well as see his clan's power decline as many members simply gave up hope, so his attitude may in fact be a front and his lack of reaction to Naal's death may be simple denial.
  • Base-Breaking Character: Given the Grey-and-Gray Morality of the setting, this was perhaps inevitable, but there are a few things in particular that divide the fanbase:
    • Quain'tana Val'Sarghress. Like Syphile, since she's seen as either a monster or a horrifically realistic depiction of her brand of conqueror.
    • Some fans are vocally annoyed by Shinae's abrasive personality, while others like her very much.
    • And though it's not really a character, any time humans versus elves comes up half the fandom excitedly starts debating it while the other half groans at the fact that they're talking about it AGAIN. There was even a Daydream story designed to specifically address this out of continuity with drow coming into contact with the modern world, though it wound up not lasting very long.
    • When Wafay turned up, the subject of drowning babies came up in the forums, thus her popularity with the fans is based on whether they're for or against on the topic.
    • Any time the subject of Mel'arnach versus Quain'tana comes up, the forum tends to explode. Amusingly, Ariel herself seems sick of this in-story.
    • Diva'ratrika. Was she a character who had to do bad things to keep her empire stable or was she a bad ruler with an inflated sense of self importance which led to Chel's current state and her own eventual downfall at the hands of her daughters? Her actions towards the defeated in the Sharen/Sullisin'rune War? A necessary step to keep the peace, or is Ash'waren justified in wanting revenge? If the shoe were on the other foot, who is to say that the Sullisin'rune would not have done the same (or worse) to the Sharen?
    • Another point the forum-goers disagree on is whether her possession of Ragini can be justified or not. Many who think this event to be a Moral Event Horizon for her discount the fact that she obviously did not take the decision lightly and gave Ragini her freedom beforehand. Others who see the event as justified tend to dismiss Ragini because she was a slave and supposedly unimportant to the story on the whole.
    • Tur’geis and Sorin, two cameo characters in chapter 40. The actions of their characters (insisting he had the right to take loot and slaves and killing a civilian against orders, respectively) sparked a rather lengthy forum argument spanning several days that really boiled down to 'Old Sarghress ways', versus 'New Sarghress ways'note . When the forum mod Suntiger and Kern step in to sort things out you know it's been heated.
    • Kiel since becoming the official comic mascot, with many finding her antics annoying and childish, labelling her a Spotlight-Stealing Squad, and others finding her zaniness a welcome distraction from the oftentimes depressing war setting.
    • Mel, especially with her behaviour in Chapter 44 and Chapter 46. Some say she is justified because of the abuse she suffered at the hands of Quain'tana while others feel she has gone full circle and became a hypocrite and is no better than Quain. How she reacted to the brutal execution of the Sarghress squad in Chapter 46 turned off a lot of people who formerly sympathised with her. But it seems the hate died down when her conversation with Zhor showed just how Snadhya broke her and that Snadhya was doing it for quite a long time. One key point was how Zhor compared the clothing Snadhya gave Mel to that of Kalki's pets, and Mel couldn't really come up with a rebuttal.
    • Ariel. Many forumites are getting ready to throw her onto the scrappy pile, not just because she fails to know things that only those with knowledge beyond the fourth wall would like Vene's death, but because they believe she's not growing as a character, at all, and lets herself get smacked around too much. Others are annoyed that she's survived too often purely by what they percieve as plot armor, and want her beat up even more. Some want to see her completely snap and go Omnicidal Maniac, or close to it, abusing her shapeshifter powers to become a literal monster. Many even wonder why she "takes so long" to retaliate and is hestitant to kill her foes, even when taking into account that while the audience is enduring the story over several days or weeks, for her, it's been hours, tops. Those who remember that she's still young, inexperienced, and that the closest thing she's had to a "proper" education, is getting hunted like wild game down the corridors of Orthobbae for sport, and that every one of her kills, justified or no, has been horrifically traumatizing, for her is becoming an ever decreasing number.
  • Big-Lipped Alligator Moment - The dwarf seen dressed as Santa Claus with "Merry Christmas Elven Bastards" carved into his cannon. Besides being a rather bizarre fourth-wall breaking moment outside of a chibi page (where such things usually occur), he never shows up again after this page. Word of God is that it was a joke since the page was published around Christmas.
  • Complete Monster: these two chessmasters:
    • Snadhya'rune of the Sharen masterminds the rise of the Nidraa'chal, a terrorist faction that specifically makes a focus on targeting civilians, in order to throw the city of Chel into chaos. Snadhya also masterminds the murder of her mother in order to seize more power, using her daughter Kalki as the Nidraa'chal's proxy leader to keep herself out of the spotlight. Snadhya is also a sexual predator at Orthobbae, the school she runs and also where she recruited many of the Nidraa'chal's members by seduction, including her longtime lover Mel'arnach. Snadhya uses Mel as a tool and sends Mel back to her controlling and brutal mother Quain'tana Val'Sarghress, who breaks Mel's arms and holds her captive for 15 years. When Snadhya has several Sarghress captives, she toys with them before sadistically executing them to show off her new airship. Then when Kalki defies an order from Snadhya for the second time, Snadhya coldly informs her that she has run out of chances and has her killed by her summons without any emotion whatsoever.
    • Sene'Kha Vloz'Vress was the Drow responsible for turning the Vloz'Vress from a quirky Ragtag Band of Misfits into a far more sinister organization via manipulation of its super powerful, but child-minded ruler Kharla. Sene'Kha uses Kharla to kill her opposition or turn them into living dolls while using the Vloz'Vress as an expendable force. Sene'Kha even has them bind demons to themselves as practical suicide bombs and when finally captured, it is revealed she had planned to annihilate the vast majority of the City of Chel and rule over the remainder.
  • Crack Pairing: Quite a few, among the weirdest are Kessen and Sang'oro, whose only interaction was fighting each other and one is now dead and fanart has been drawn of Sarv'swati and Quain'tana making out in a prelude to "the most epic of hatefucks."
    • Though it's more like Crack Offspring (with the pairing part only being implied) someone pointed out that Jysmur kind of looked like some deranged lovechild of Kiel and Ariel, so this happened.
    • Tar'shay and Kery'awa, two cameo characters, to the point that their players sponsored a chibi page about them, based around a mutual love of fruits (melons and strawberries respectively).
    • Zhor and Oiloss'lin Xyrrai'zestu Sharen. The two have never met on panel but with the Fandom viewing them as the best Dad and Mom respectively in the series, some forumites have actively started to ship them and claim that their offspring would be the only drow in the underworld with a chance of growing up both normal and sane.
    • The once dormant Quain/Zala ship sprung back to new and glorious life with chapter 47, where the two get a Back-to-Back Badasses moment when Quain swoops in to save Zala from certain doom.
  • Designated Villain: Syphile fits this, much to many fans' ire since it turns out she's right about a lot of things.
  • Designated Hero: To prevent this page from devolving into natter (again) let's just say the fanbase is extremely vocal about everything in regards to morality within the Drow world.
  • Die for Our Ship: A good number of Ariel/Faen fans have declared that Quain'tana has to die now that it's been revealed that fear of her disapproval is the only apparent thing standing in the way of the ship.
  • Draco in Leather Pants: Practically a given with the setting.
    • There are a few fans out there who love to gush about how awesome, badass, and honorable Quaintana is, while either excusing or forgetting the disgusting things she's done to her own children. It even gets to the point where some think her treatment of Mel is justified because of how stubborn and naive she's been - never mind that Quain broke Mel's arms with a hammer.
    • Zala is also subject to this, in part because she does have some redeeming characteristics, mainly her treatment of her children, which puts her in stark contrast to Quain. That doesn't excuse her participation in the Nidraa'chal coup, but some fans overlook this part or try to present it as Zala being press-ganged into it, even though during the event she was pretty gung-ho about it, and in fact was downright giddy at the thought of stripping Diva naked and hanging her body from the gate and laughs at Snadhya's plan to let their mother die a slow painful death trapped in her throne room. Some of the Zala apologists can get pretty extreme.
    • Snadhya'rune also has a minor case of this, though most of the people who like her also admit that she's done many, many bad things. The fact that she's unapologetic about what she's done and upfront about it (at least to Sarv'swati) does make her interesting.
      • Part of it may be due to the Screw the Rules, I'm Beautiful! trope. When Chapter 25 was released, this was one of the first times readers got to see Snadhya'rune from her personal perspective and she was featured in no fewer than six different outfits throughout the chapter. Her stylized depiction gained her fans when previously most just saw her as a snake in the grass. If she wasn't as pretty as she appeared in that chapter, opinion of her might well be different.
      • And in-universe Mel seems to think of Snadhya'rune this way.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • The entire Beldrobbaen clan, through combining equal parts Goth, The Woobie and Dark Is Not Evil, to the point that on the forums the Beldrobbaen clan has more "members" than even the Sarghress, to the point that even the creator of the strip lists himself as a member! Lampshaded near the end of one anniversary animation where the Beldrobbaen members can be heard muttering that they're too emo to get anything done.
    • Kiel. She even narrates the new reader guide!
    • The Balvhakara are quickly turning into this, especially since they possess suits of armor that essentially let them become Iron Drow.
    • Baliir, Kiel's chief lieutenant, is rapidly becoming one to the point that some fans even jokingly insist that he's the main protagonist despite only being a secondary character at best.
    • Fame, Kiel's cousin, is easily one of the most well-received cameo characters. What do you get when you add one Vloz girl + airguitaring a demon goat? Instant Fanbase.
    • Tur'geis, a Relic Hunters PC and barbaric Sarghress warrior who had a memorable appearance in chapter 40. He appears quite often for a cameo in fanarts and commissions, most done/ordered by people other than the character's owner.
    • Ky'ovarde seems to be reaching this status post-timeskip, since she was popular enough that someone paid really money to bring her back, and her absolutely epic killing of Kyuusei instantly made her popularity shoot up.
  • Fan Nickname: Several.
    • Fans have dubbed the dragon-like biogolem Mel gives Ariel "Squishy".
    • The trifecta of Snadhya'rune, Sarv'swati and Zala'ess Vel'Sharen is also referred to as "The Gorgon Sisters" by some. The Traitor Sisters is also pretty common.
    • An incident in Chapter 15 (Ariel being kidnapped by Rik and having to fight him off, only to have him die) has also been referred to as being "Rik-rolled" by several forum members. The authors were seemingly aware of this too, since the chibi comic at the end of that chapter where Rick's reason or kidnapping Ariel was so they can form their own band. The band is called Rick-and-Roll, and their first song even includes the line "Never gonna give you up".
    • Syphile gained the nickname "Sniffle" or "Sniffile" from both fans and detractors due to to the number of scenes where she utters some variation of the line "it's not fair". "SyFAIL" also seems to have become popular during the new Chapter 1, and even her distinctive high-collared cloak has gained a nickname, with some calling it the Failcloak since she seems to do something stupid nearly every time she appears in it, including right before she dies.
    • One of Sil'lice's daughters has been nicknamed some variation of "Pissin'hermouth" after her declaration in chapter 17 that she'll "Pin [Zala'ess] to a freaking wall and piss in her mouth". Her actual name is Kadara, but Pissin'hermouth has stuck.
    • Sha'sana quickly gained the nickname "Sasha" all the way back in the Prologue, and when she appeared in Chapter 25 it resurfaced again.
    • "Team Purple" for the extended family of Mel'arnach, Snadhya'rune, Kalki, Zhor and Ariel due to them all having the same hair (or in Zhor's case, fur) color. There was one Daydream wallpaper of them all together that spawned this nickname.
    • Naal's pet spider, usually seen on her back, is affectionately nicknamed "Fuzz Fuzz" by fans, not to be confused with Fuzzy, and was referred to by that name in one chibi page. Ironically enough, Fuzz Fuzz and Fuzzy now appear to have met similar fates. It's also referred to as "Naal's baby" due to a scene in the main story where Kiel tells a woman with a pack lizard that it's Naal's big ugly baby when she objects to having a spider in her cart.
    • One Illhar'dro girl named Layani who appears in Chapter 33 (second from the right on this page) was quickly dubbed Hammer Pants by the fans, due to her pants reminding people of MC Hammer's. Fans also noticed that she's sporting one glove like Michael Jackson.
    • And Crossbow Lady, an unnamed Badass Bystander in Chapter 38 whose response to Maki was a crossbow bolt in the shoulder and telling them to get the f out of their district.
    • Quian Jie'yen, the Jie'yen ambassador, was compared to a "Drow Heidi Klum" because of her extremely long legs.
  • Fanon:
    • While it's not known what Zala'ess' original eye color before being tainted was, most fans who draw pre-tainted Zala make it the same shade of blue as the dyed part of her hair, following the pattern of her sisters.
    • Some readers like the idea of Kar'liir being Kiel's dad.
  • Funny Moments: Enough to have their own page, and the chibi pages in particular tend to be full of them.
  • Growing the Beard: Though opinion varies on when exactly this happened, the release of the Prologue in 2007 marked a major shift in the comic's story and set up much of the overarching plot and worldsetting, as well as demonstrating the high quality of the art delivered consistently since it was first published.
  • Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Heartwarming Moments: Courtesy of Ariel and Faen, Mel, and Vaelia, also Kiel and Naal. Any moment where two characters are shown to truly care for one another.
  • I Knew It!:
    • The theory that Drowussu are descended from light-elves, though this had been foreshadowed fairly heavily.
    • And at least one person guessed that Mel'arnach was Kalki's father before the actual reveal.
    • Several forum members also rather accurately guessed Kalki's true feelings regarding her relatioship with Snadhya'rune after chapter 25, picking up some fairly subtle clues that only paid off as of chapter 46.
  • Iron Woobie:
    • Waes. Herwoobieness isn't as obvious as her daughter's, but if you stop to think about it, a combination of losing all the girls of a single generation save one in a single day and knowing that said surviving daughter is going to die any day now, on top of the pressure of keeping her clan together must take a toll on the woman. Word of God says that if she died the clan would implode, but even with that there are factions within the clan who would get rid of her if they thought they could get away with it. Poor Waes.
    • Kiel has plenty to be woobiefied over, but takes it all in stride until Naal dies.
    • Ariel herself is also a good example when you consider her background and that as a young adult she's as functional as she is, which is a testament to the strength of the relationships she's formed with people like Vaelia and Faen.
  • Jerkass Woobie: Most Woobies count as this (with a few exceptions, including Faen). In particular:
    • Syphile Val'Sarghress may be a bitch, but her life sucks.
    • Diva'ratrika Val'Sharen may not be very likeable but no one seems to think she deserved what happened to her at the hands of her daughters.
    • Sil'lice Val'Sharen is a pretty nasty person who specialized in torture and abused Syphile essentially for shits and giggles, but damn, did her life suck during and after the War.
    • Her daughter Kadara as well, since it's obvious that the War and the death of her child left her in a very bad mental state, not that it mitigates her terrible treatment of Chrys'tel and Nau'kheol.
    • Shinae. It's hard not to feel sorry for her in this scene, even though the situation is partly self-inflicted.
      Shinae: You are not to go on your own. I am supposed to be your shadow. We were finally getting back to the good days...
    • Quain'tana too, since flashbacks show that she was left absolutely devastated by the death of Laele'aell, and it's heavily implied that afterwards she attempted to drink herself to death.
    • And Yami'ni of all people managed to gain a measure of this in the chapter where she was killed off. It probably helps that the one doing the offing was none other than Kalki.
    • And you can't help but feel a bit sorry for this Vloz'ress scourge right before Ariel kills him given how quickly things went to hell for him in a painful Humiliation Conga. And that's before we find out he was in fact a Fallen Hero and a former disgraced Sarghress.
  • Memetic Badass: The fans have turned Quain'tana into this. Chuck Norris fears Quain's abs.
    • Baliir and Sandaur are also heading down this route.
  • Memetic Molester: Farasank. Not surprising since his canon behavior is that of a sex offender.
    • It's also not uncommon to see this joke done with Faen in regards to Ariel, especially since the Slavemaster version of Faen is shown to be quite kinky and the canon Faen is implied to be a Covert Pervert.
    • Tsuris'lok's alter ego and eventual final form once his seed awakens the Stagwolf also gets this, due to his habit of making unsettling facial expressions. And then he shows up in Relic Hunters to molest squads that don't get their actions in on time, complete with Overly-Long Tongue, which puts this into canon territory.
  • Memetic Mutation:
    • There is a minor one in the forums of Drowtales where Kern is portrayed as somebody who enjoys feeding on angst, despair and anger because of how often the fans' favourites suffer and reacting with the above mentioned emotions. Comparisons to George R. R. Martin are inevitable.
    • Abs are something of a Running Gag too, either belonging to Quain, Shiir (a character from Path to Power known for being a Walking Shirtless Scene) or both in tandem, which would cause the universe to self destruct from sheer manliness.
    • A minor one with the second panel this page, where due to the placement of the speech bubble it looks like the dragon is talking. Jokes about the talking dragon persisted for several days after on the forum.
    • Jokes about Ky'ovarde actually been a Tsundere, including the author himself getting in on the fun.
    • Chocolate, especially in regards to Shimi'lande's addiction to it. Also canon as her chocolate obsession is mentioned in-comic during her eulogy.
    • Various people, mostly posters on the forum, having trouble spelling character's names. To the point that one cameo character has this as a character trait.
      • Co-author Kite also once got it on the fun during a livestream when someone asked a question about a page she was working on featuring Mel but misspelled the name as Mal, which happens to be the name of another (male) character. Kite proceeded to recolor Mel to have Mal's coloring before changing it back.
    • "____ is a Nidraa'chal agent!" has undergone a minor bit of mutation after the revelation that there are sleeper agents in every clan, sometimes resulting in multi-page debates on the forum about whether a character is or is not. As a result people will sometimes name characters in this who are clearly supposed to be a joke, "Mel's unborn baby" for instance.
  • Misaimed Fandom - Syphile wasn't originally intended to be sympathetic, but a lot of people take her side. Since the world exists in Grey-and-Grey Morality she does have some valid points, but not the point that the creator intended.
  • Moe:
    • Ariel.
    • Faen too, especially after her bout of Break the Cutie.
    • Myou Kyorl'solenurn.
    • Freyja.
    • Desmonde Kyorl'solenurn.
    • Ae'theriss Kyorl'solenurn.
  • Moral Event Horizon:
    • In Chapter 46, the execution of the squad left no more doubt about Snadhya's status as a monster. Her clear enjoyment of the squad's suffering really cemented it. And at the end of the same chapter, it made many readers agree that Snadhy'rune has outdone even Quain'tana, who at least showed some emotion when she killed Syphile, on being an Abusive Parent by telling her own daughter she only saw her as a tool and then killing her in cold blood without any regrets
    • In Chapter 42, Kyuusei crosses this in one conversation:
    Kyuusei: This will give us the excuse we need to deal with those of Dutan'vir blood. You know they cannot be trusted.
    Oba'ja: Your pet [Cas'nihlus] is of Dutan'vir blood.
    Kyuusei: Exactly.
    • Cemented a page later when we find out that he arranged to have Petri'cho tainted to completely discredit her in the event that she saw something that could implicate him and his co-conspirators essentially A Fate Worse Than Death. While the former was an Asshole Victim Petri'cho was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
    • For Balsii, after being told that the Balvhakara and Jie'yen will not accept her as the Queen, stabbing Nega'fanae in the throat and ordering her guards to kill Sandaur. What's more this is viewed as a Moral Horizon even by other characters in-universe.
  • Narm Charm: The chibi parody pages frequently include this.
  • Nausea Fuel: The Body Horror often involves this, especially the various ways that demons mutate their victims.
  • No Yay: Kharla x Anyone automatically draws this reaction from most fans, if only because her idea of a "date" would probably involve a trip to her dollhouse, and fans who are otherwise comfortable with Toy Shipping are squicked by the fact that she's mentally a child.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
    • Chirinide seems to have undergone this after what happened to her on the surface and in Vanaheimr, since it made her realize just how hypocritical and destructive her bigoted behavior was.
    • Some fans expressed surprise that when Nau'kheol appeared to have died in Chapter 32 they were honestly worried about him and then relieved that he was okay, given where his character started and how it evolved.
    • Shinae was greeted with universal cheering when she, single-handed, took on and defeated two of the "Sul Trio," killing them both while protecting Chrys'tel from certain death.
  • The Scrappy:
    • Chiri is considered to be this by some fans of the comic, mostly because of her abrasive personality and the hypocrisy of a lot of the Fantastic Racism she spouts, considering that she's half light-elf herself but she appears to have been Rescued from the Scrappy Heap in recent chapters, especially after coming to grips with her own heritage and her beatdown of the human king who was killing elves.
    • Syphile is for one section of the fandom, especially since bringing her up in any context tends to start a flame war, prompting an Oh, No... Not Again! reaction from those who've been there during previous flame wars.
    • Quain'tana as well, because some feel she's a Karma Houdini and an all around terrible person.
    • Sil'lice's daughter Kadara got some of this after her rough treatment of Nau'kheol and Chrys'tel, especially since even Sil'lice, who's not exactly the nicest person herself, seemed to think she went too far. There's a reason some fans refer to Kadara simply as "Bitch" now.
    • Nir'naya is widely hated due to her role in Diva'ratrika's death and her complicitness in the Sharen Sister's schemes, as well as the fact that she apparently threw fan-favorite Mikilu under the bus to get her current position.
    • Even Ariel gets this at times, though it depends on how forgiving you are considering that she's still mentally a child for much of the story. And now that she's all grown up, she's getting on people's nerves for still being naive and ignorant when she's definitely old enough to know better by now. She even says Quain 'does what she must' to Mel, of all people, who Ariel practically rescued from being left in a oubliette with broken arms that Quain smashed herselfnote . Some fans are just relishing the day when Ariel's adoration of Quain is finally shattered.
      • That said, some of the attitude towards Ariel can be... well, dumb. For instance, blaming her for not knowing things that the audience only knows about due to being on the other side of the fourth wall and acting like not immediately accepting such a life-altering, shocking revelation as finding out that your mother isn't really your mother without a hint of hesitation or doubt is proof that she's mentally retarded, and acting like they wouldn't be just a little doubtful if such a revelation was dropped on their lap (from their perspective) out of the blue and they were forced to make a life-altering choice right then and there. Yeah, right. Especially when the last person who tried to make the same claim attempted to murder you. Twice.
    • Yafein has never been particularly popular, but his post-timeskip appearance and smug attitude cemented it for many people, especially his squick-tastic relationship with his slave, who's heavily implied to be a Replacement Goldfish for his slave Maya, which adds an uncomfortable Oedipal aspect since she was his Parental Substitute. Quite a few people laughed when, after his smug statement that the invaders wouldn't bother with him since he was a Sullisin'rune rather than an Illhar'dro, he was shown tied up with the rest of them.
    • Although she gets rescued, fans loathed Shinae for her near constant whining, mood swings, hypocrisy ("you peasants shouldn't try so hard to rise above your station", "it's no fair I'm just treated like a tool by Zala because of how I was born"), ultimately culminating in the entire fanbase wanting her dead for poisoning Zala, stabbing Zala in the belly, and turning on Chrys'tel, who tried to plead the case that Shinae was being controlled, like just about everyone else.
  • Squick: Drow in this series are cannibalistic (though they eat other races too) and lean heavily toward incest and pedophilia. And they were even worse pre-retcon, as demonstrated by the bottom of the page here.
  • Take That, Scrappy!:
    • Considering how divided the fandom can be, it says a lot that everyone cheered when Nihi'liir lost her head.
    • Same with Kyuusei in chapter 42, with Word of God adding that his demise was specifically added as a sort of Fanservice.
    • In chapter 46, Kalki chops off Ariel's arm. A good chunk of the fanbase despises Ariel herself and has long wanted to see her fail. Word of God says that he had to hold himself back from revealing that yes, something bad was in fact planned to happen to her.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: How some fans felt about Sandaur.
  • Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: While Drow society does operate on a different moral wavelength from humans, slavery is still tolerated by almost everyone, everyone is a huge racist (or speciesist more accurately), and — if female — a misandrist to boot with few exceptions, and their culture is plagued by violence and self-centered debauchery. Several readers have expressed the thought that most characters could die and they wouldn't be that bothered by it or that the setting's degenerate society could collapse and they wouldn't mind either in the sense that whatever replaces it can't be any worse.
  • Shipping: Ariel & Faen and Naal & Kiel are both very popular fan couples, though three characters are chronologically in their 20s but have the bodies of pre pubescents and Ariel is 15 but physically 7, until after the time-skip where they're all young adults.
  • Toy Ship: There's also Ariel/Sillice's twins Kau and Shala, which despite the fact that they're technically related through adoption with their father Kor'maril hasn't stopped anybody. I wonder why.
  • Viewer Gender Confusion: Given that many members of the cast are either muscular female warriors or feminine men in largely similar armor and that drow gender roles invert human ones this was perhaps inevitable, but here are some examples:
    • Abyte Mae'yukir. Most of the comments on the concept art revolve around trying to figure out whether they're a man or a woman. In the main story it's eventually revealed that she's female.
    • Quain'tana can cause this as well, since she lacks the usual attributes associated with adult drow females, since they generally live in a World of Buxom.
    • Sil'lice's daughter Kadara (the one with the blue facial tattoos) also caused this, and many refused to believe she was, in fact, female until Sil'lice called her "daughter". The fact that she's very butch and has a foul mouth didn't help.
    • Nori'ga Vel'Sharen caused a bit of this too with his concept art, perhaps because of this his name was changed from the more feminine sounding Niro'ga and his facial features appeared more masculine in the actual chapter.
    • Koil'dorath and Suu'be invoke this as well. In Suu'be's case the author even poked fun at it in a podcast.
    • Also, Svala, one of Snadhya'rune's Feldian bodyguards. While she has a more feminine figure than her partner Sin'cani, her gender hasn't been revealed on page, though the on-site wiki refers to her as female.
    • And An'jin, one of the Jie'yen who rescues Jal'na, is very hard to tell the gender of since most Jie'yen shave their heads and wear clothing that hides their bodies. A later character seems to be under the impression he's male, likely from the voice.
    • Even people in universe seem confused by this Vloz'ress, since one passerby calls them "it" (which might be another trope) since the scourge's body is completely covered. Context later tells us the Scourge was male since Ariel's cover is blown when she dons the Scourge's cloak and keeps a clearly feminine voice, which tips off Maki.
    • The concept for Synathra, a Relic Hunter Canon Immigrant also generated some of this. Eventually another player clarified he's male.
  • The Woobie:
    • Faen
    • Ariel
    • Syphile, according the artist, who says that the fact that since Syphile herself was abused by Sil'lice, it makes her mistreatment of Ariel less about maliciousness and more of a cycle of violence. There are disagreements on this however.
    • Naal'suul, considering that everyone is surprised that she's even still alive.
    • Khal'harror, after watching his sister get stabbed and taken over by her seed, looking absolutely terrified)
    • Mikilu. It's difficult not to feel sorry for her after seeing what she was put through.

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