No Rest for The Wicked (webcomic)

No Rest For the Wicked is a now-defunct Web Comic by Andrea L. Peterson set in a world where many Fairy Tales are true, in all their grim glory.

Some are Fractured Fairy Tales, but that does not prevent them from being as grim as the originals.

The main plot features the insomniac Princess November from "The Princess and the Pea" setting out to save the moon, buried as in the fairy tale "The Dead Moon". She gathers a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits about her from various tales, and they encounter more fairy tale characters along the way.

Other included fairy tales are "Puss in Boots", "Diamonds and Toads", "Little Red Riding Hood", "Beauty and The Beast", "Hansel and Gretel", "The Girl Without Hands", "Sleeping Beauty", "The Boy Who Set Out to Learn What Fear Was", "Bearskin", "Snow-White and Rose-Red and The Raven''.

Characters:
 * November, the princess from "The Princess and the Pea". Suffering from insomnia ever since the moon vanished. (Not that she slept well at any time.)
 * Perrault the cat from "Puss in Boots" -- except that he's a Funny Animal, not a Talking Animal. Still working for his master, the Marquis, until November persuades him to leave.
 * Red from "Little Red Riding Hood". Has an ax. Uses it freely.
 * Jack-or-maybe-Hans, The Boy from "The Boy Who Set Out To Learn What Fear Was."
 * Clare, the Girl Without Hands.
 * The Witch, an old woman who's lived alone in the woods. For a long time.
 * Anna & Klaus, two children the witch has kidnapped.
 * Prince Ricardo, AKA "Picky Dick", the prince from "The Princess And The Pea". A Prince Charmless if there ever was one.

No Rest for The Wicked seems to have started in late 2002 or early 2003 on a now-vanished website called "icarusfalls.com"; in October 2005, Peterson moved it to its own domain, where she continued to produce installments until February 28, 2013. The comic abruptly ceased updating after that, with no further posts of any sort by Peterson explaining why, but the site remained functional for another seven years, until some point between the end of January and the beginning of February 2020, when it began returning a WordPress error instead of its content. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine kept an archive of it; you can read it here.

"Perrault: Now, if you were to bury this bird behind your inn...should you then find, say, a golden tree with diamond fruit growing upon that very spot three days later...well, that would be quite something, wouldn't it?"
 * Abusive Parents: Claire strongly implies that the village parents are like this.
 * All Trolls Are Different: This one lives under a bridge.
 * An Arm and a Leg: Claire's hands were lopped off.
 * An Axe to Grind: Red.
 * Angel Unaware: The innkeeper asks Perrault
 * Arranged Marriage: November has one planned in the background.
 * Artificial Limbs: Clare has a pair of silver gauntlets that work like mechanical hands.
 * Ax Crazy: Red, literally.
 * Back from the Dead: Red says that three people died in a certain bed, and she was one. Perrault wonders how she's alive.
 * Badass: Red definitly qualifies.
 * Badass Normal: To be just, Ricardo can pull this off.
 * Baleful Polymorph: Prince Orson
 * Barehanded Blade Block: The boy's meeting with Ricardo.
 * Be Careful What You Wish For: November's mother knows this
 * Berserk Button: Perrault speaks of "Beauty" to the Beast, as an abstraction; Beast assumes it's his Beauty and goes berserk.
 * Considering her backstory and reaction to the Hansel and Gretel witch, it's safe to say Red hates people who hurt - or at least eat - children.
 * She also hates anyone who gets in her way.
 * Ricardo may be a prat, but he is genuinely anguished when his horses are killed.
 * Big Badass Wolf: alluded to. And a number of their skins appear in Red's cottage, although she claims they left the woods because of the moon's disappearance.
 * Big Damn Heroes: Red at the witch's
 * Big Fancy House: The Beast's
 * Bilingual Bonus: November's mother is named Avril, which is French for "April" (thus fitting into the Temporal Theme Naming).
 * Blackmail: Perrault accuses November of this.
 * Blatant Lies: November denies stories about a witch in the woods.
 * Break the Cutie: Red and Clare both went through hell in their backstories; Red, especially, is a Broken Bird.
 * Clare is just as much of a Broken Bird, but expresses it in more of a Nico Robin sort of way.
 * Burn the Witch: Clare almost gets this treatment.
 * By the Lights of Their Eyes: Beast and November, in his shadow
 * Captain Obvious: The innkeeper
 * Catch Your Death of Cold: One danger of playing in the snow
 * Cats Are Mean: Played entirely straight with Perrault.
 * The Chick: November. She's fragile enough to be bruised by a leaf, but she knows people well enough to keep her group together.
 * Chronic Pet Killer: Ricardo is on his thirteenth horse name Artax.
 * Clear Their Name: The group for Claire.
 * Colourful Theme Naming: Red.
 * Cool Gate: With Ravens!
 * Curse: The beggar woman laid one on November for not being generous enough to part with all of her food.
 * Cutting the Knot: While Perrault thought up a clever plan to get Red and November through a gate by manipulating the owners of the mansion, Red simply smashes the gate with her axe.
 * Dances and Balls: November met Princess Colette at one.
 * Dangerous Sixteenth Birthday: November is sixteen.
 * Dark and Troubled Past: Claire.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Perrault.
 * Red gets snarky comments in every chance she gets. They pretty much make up half her dialogue.
 * Deal with the Devil:
 * Death by Despair: Beauty thinks the Beast's condition is caused by this.
 * Deliberately Monochrome: Limited Palette; Red's cloak is red, as are the roses at the Beast's castle.
 * Despair Event Horizon: Claire may not actually have fallen over it, but she came very close; she was saved by external forces and
 * Disappeared Dad: The Boy's threw him out. Even his foolish and cheerful nature does not entirely protect him from this; he is wistful about how November's father loves her.
 * A Dog Named "Dog"
 * Domestic Abuse: The Beast accuses Perrault of this.
 * Don't Sneak Up On Me Like That: Perrault startles November.
 * Dramatic Thunder: When November feels desperate.
 * Drowning My Sorrows: A Jack the Boy remembered.
 * The Empath: November is extraordinarily sensitive. Against her, this means that she gets hurt by things such as having leaves fall on her face. More impressively, she can sense death, tell when people have noble blood, and is usually able to surmise the intentions of the people she brings into the group(she senses Perrault's boredom, as well as Clare's innocence). This is a Call Back to her source story, The Princess and the Pea, where it is the Princess's sensitivity that is used to determine her royal lineage.
 * Everything's Worse with Bears: Or so the characters assume.
 * Fair-Weather Friend: Red calls Perrault this.
 * Fallen Princess: November.
 * Famed in Story
 * Fearless Fool: The Boy
 * Fence Painting: Perrault's technique for getting the bear to dig.
 * The Fool: The Boy.
 * Forbidden Fruit: Red picks the Beast's roses and puts one behind November's ear. The Beast is furious.
 * A Friend in Need: They search for the information to save Claire, and then Claire goes to help them.
 * Friend to All Children: The children, sanely, do not like her, but Red is passionate about defending children.
 * Friend to All Living Things: The Boy sings a song about how Ricardo would think such a princess must have fleas.
 * Funny Animal
 * Ghost Story: When November was little, her sister September told her about how a queen once wished her daughter into a raven.
 * Girl with Psycho Weapon: Red and her axe.
 * Genre Savvy: "Aha, I can see where this is going. Mysterious old beggar women need to be handled very, very carefully."
 * Invoked intentionally by Perrault when tricking an inn keeper to let them stay the night for free. He convinced the man that they were fairies, figuring he probably knew his fairytales well enough that he wouldn't question strange forms of payment (like a dead bird) if they came from the Fair folk.

"Perrault: There is a reason why fire is the traditional method of dealing with your kind."
 * Get Out!: Red to November, during the fight with the witch. It's for her protection.
 * Grammar Nazi: Prince Ricardo.
 * Grave Robbing: Claire is suspected of this on top of serial child murder.
 * Gray Rain of Depression: November, plodding through the forest.
 * Green-Eyed Monster: The Beast has it, bad.
 * Hair of Gold: invoked.
 * Happily Married: Claire and King Gareth, apparently.
 * The Hedge of Thorns: Prince Ricardo tackles the one around Sleeping Beauty's castle, and is apparently the only prince to have successfully done so.
 * Hitchhiker Heroes: The group.
 * Home, Sweet Home: November wants it.
 * Honorary Uncle
 * How Do You Like Them Apples?: September's problem.
 * Humanoid Abomination: The witch had long since become one of these by the time November's group encountered her.
 * : In the worst way possible.
 * I Am Not Left-Handed: Ricardo, though the princess had to take his word for it.
 * I Am X, Son of Y: The Boy: "I'd tell you 'Jack, son of...' ...but my dad made me swear never t' let on I'm his."
 * I Did What I Had to Do: Red explains that the witch was already dead.
 * Inelegant Blubbering: Klaus says Anna does this.
 * I Have a Family:
 * In Harm's Way: Perrault joins the quest because his life is too dull.
 * Ironic Echo
 * The Insomniac: November
 * It's Not You, It's Me: November to the Boy.
 * I Was Beaten by a Girl: The Boy asks if this trope applies to Ricardo.
 * The Jeeves: Perrault, albeit somewhat frustrated with it.
 * Kick Them While They Are Down: Ricardo accuses the Boy of this.
 * Kill It with Fire: For witches

"November: Well obviously she recovered!"
 * The Leader: November
 * A Light in the Distance: Gives November hope for a refuge.
 * Lightning Reveal: In the storm, the one bright panel is with lightning.
 * Literary Allusion Title
 * Little Red Fighting Hood: She's got an axe.
 * Loners Are Freaks: Red has lived by herself in the middle of the forest for several years and is seen as a witch by the locals who see her. Admittedly, she didn't seem to go out of her way to correct this idea.
 * Losing Your Head
 * The Lost Woods: Between kingdoms -- which is to say, most of the setting.
 * Love Hurts: Every couple thus far.
 * Love Makes You Crazy: The Beast.
 * Love Triangle: Perrault suspects this.
 * Magnetic Hero: November.
 * Malicious Slander: Drove the witch and her children out of the village.
 * Massive Multiplayer Crossover
 * Meaningful Rename: When November asks Red to give her her name, Red pretends to believe it's asking for this.
 * Minor Flaw, Major Breakup: This pretty much defines Prince "Picky Dick" Ricardo's entire life.
 * Mixed Metaphor: One of those minor flaws.
 * Morality Pet: November, for Red.
 * The Munchausen: Perrault's attitude to November's story, at first.
 * My Beloved Smother: Taken to nightmarish levels with the Witch.
 * My Significance Sense Is Tingling: November can tell there was death in that bed.
 * Nice to the Waiter: November is genuinely kind, but she also deliberately invokes this; she doesn't want anyone to see the king's daughter being unkind to a beggar.
 * No One Gets Left Behind: in Red's backstory
 * The Nose Knows: Red
 * Not Good with People: Red.
 * Not Now, Kiddo: A mother to her daughter about Red.
 * Not Quite Dead
 * : Red and The Witch, as Perrault pointed out.
 * Not What It Looks Like: Perrault is standing by November when the wind blows a leaf into her face and bruises her. Red reacts badly.
 * Odd-Shaped Panel: feather-shaped.
 * Off with His Head
 * One for Sorrow, Two For Joy: November's sisters teased her for using the rhyme for ravens.
 * Only in It For the Money: November tries this on Perrault.
 * Overprotective Dad: November's orders The Boy to bring her back or not return.
 * Parental Abandonment: Clare says she suffered it, and now knows she's no better. (She used to have a baby with her. It's gone now, and she refuses to explain.)
 * Parental Neglect: Why the children vanished.
 * Princess: Princess November, of course, and various others.
 * Playing Possum: Recommended for dealing with bears.
 * Primal Fear: November can't sleep because the darkness feels like it's smothering her.
 * Prince Charmless: Ricardo, son of King Ricardo, who is better known as "Picky Dick" for rejecting princesses on the basis of such flaws as fat arms and whistling through their noses while they sleep.
 * The Promise: The Beast got one.
 * Proper Lady: Perrault describes November's upbringing as this.
 * Public Domain Character: All of them, just about.
 * The Quest: The cast is seeking the moon.
 * Rags to Royalty: Back story for The Boy, the Marquis, Claire. . ..
 * Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: So far, a runaway princess, a talking cat, Little Red Riding Hood, and a woman with silver-wrought hands.
 * Ravens and Crows
 * Refusal of the Call: Perrault, until November points out that he's bored.
 * Right in Front of Me: The Boy and "Picky Dick".
 * Ring of Power: Perrault steals one.
 * Royal Blood: November can sense it and knows that the Marquis doesn't have a drop of it the moment she saw him.
 * Rule of Three: November is the youngest of three.
 * Rule of Seven: The soldier has to last seven years.
 * Runaway Fiancee: The quest is running from the wedding, although it's implied that this alone wouldn't have been enough to make November bolt.
 * Run or Die: Perrault's reaction to his first meeting with Red.
 * Sacred Hospitality: Or lack thereof.
 * Sand in My Eyes: The Beast claims he got dust in his eye when he starts talking about Beauty.
 * The Scapegoat: The villagers are eager to blame Clare for the disappearance of their children,.
 * Schedule Slip: Following the October 2009 hurricane in the Philippines (the author's home country), the webcomic went for over a year without updating.
 * And again, it's been since October 2010 (WELL over a year) since the last update.
 * Seems to have finally resumed as of March 2012, along with a new site design.
 * Secret Test of Character: The beggar woman. November nearly passes, but not quite.
 * She Cleans Up Nicely: Inverted.
 * Shirtless Scene: The Boy gets one.
 * Shout-Out: Perrault's name. Among others.
 * Shrouded in Myth: Red.
 * Slasher Smile: And how!
 * ... I LOVE CATS.
 * ME TOO.
 * So Proud of You: Colette says this of November's mother.
 * Speech Bubbles Interruption: The boy to Ricardo.
 * Standard Hero Reward: The Boy got November, the youngest of three sisters, and half a kingdom.
 * Stay on the Path: Perrault prefers it to following Red.
 * Stick'Em Up: Claire tried this.
 * Stranger in a Familiar Land:
 * The Strategist: why November sought out Perrault
 * Talking Animal
 * Tasty Gold: Slightly non-standard use: while rummaging through a room full of gold, Perrault bites a ring to confirm that it's enchanted.
 * Temporal Theme Naming: November, her sisters August and September, and their father, King January.
 * Tender Tears: Anna cries over the freed Klaus.
 * They Do: Claire and King Gareth did.
 * Thicker Than Water: The Beast resents this.
 * Think Nothing of It: The innkeeper tries this.
 * Thoroughly Mistaken Identity
 * Town with a Dark Secret: The village where they find Clare. That there is a witch in the forest is well-known.
 * The Tragic Rose: Red is drawn to them.
 * The Undead: The forest witch. She can still control bits that get hacked off her main body, and re-attach them to the whole.
 * Unexplained Recovery: Red. It's lampshaded with a blatant reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
 * Unexplained Recovery: Red. It's lampshaded with a blatant reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.


 * Upper Class Twit: The Marquis.
 * Visible Silence: Often invoke.
 * Weakened by the Light: The Moon used to keep creatures of darkness at bay.
 * When All You Have Is a Hammer: When November, Red, and Perrault reach the Beast's estate's gate, Perrault, having gotten on the other side by himself, lays out a detailed plan of tricking the then-unknown-owners of the mansion into vacating the place and letting the other two in. Red just smashes the gate in.
 * Wicked Witch: Attributed to both Red and Clare. It's not true for either.
 * Word of God: The author provides footnotes for those who do not catch the allusions.
 * You're Not My Mother: November says this to the witch.
 * Youngest Child Wins: the Boy chose November because she was the youngest. This is lampshaded, when The Boy and the Marquis imply that the youngest implies that she is the most attractive.
 * Zany Scheme