Disenchantment

""Ever wish you could live in a place where people were really, truly happy"?"

- Bean [In Dreamland]

""I'm sick of being happy all the time. I wish just once I could go somewhere where people are miserable"."

- Elfo [In Elfwood]

Disenchantment is the creation of The Simpsons and Futurama creator Matt Groening and Josh Weinstein, and was released on Netflix on August 17th, 2018. It is a fantasy fiction adventure cartoon set in a mythical Middle Ages time period and features a variety of well-known creatures of folk lore including elves, ogres, giants and mermaids, as well as it's own novel species such as Dankmirians and Maruvians, and of course, humans. It follows the twin tales of disenchantment of the alcoholic protagonist Princess Tiabeannie of Dreamland ("Bean" for short) - who rebels against her father King Zog and step-mother Queen Oona in search of happiness - and her newfound elf buddy Elfo who has exiled himself from Elfwood in search of misery. She finds herself cursed by a personal demon (daemon) Luci for reasons unknown to her (but known to the audience). As the trio embark on a quest to find the Elixir of Life, Bean and Elfo's paths are entwined in the discovery of their true identities.

A-E
"Malfus: Immortality is folly: those who desire it become blind to what is precious and right before them. Our daily lives, that we may live each day and say... Laughing Horse: "Hahahahahaha!" Malfus: You know, I'm profoundly lonely but I think you should leave.""
 * An Aesop: Aesops abound. eg.


 * This is arguably an attempt to laugh at the seriousness of the tone here, but it is none the less true as it relates to King Zog.

"Malfus: [Of immortality] The monotony, the repetition, the monotony, the repetition... beat ...the monotony, the repetition."
 * Accidental Kidnapping: Poor Tess is assaulted, locked in shackles, and dragged to Dreamland, all because, by sheer coincidence, she looks like the Girlfriend in Canada Elfo described, and Elfo simply can't admit he was lying about it.
 * Accidental Murder: Bean tends to kill a lot of folks by accident, the first being her fiance, Prince Guysbert
 * Affectionate Parody: Of the High Fantasy genre.
 * The Alcoholic: Bean is driven to drink by her father.
 * Anvilicious: In S01E08, "The Limits of Immortality"

"Elf King: "How can the world's greatest race be racist?" Bean: [Stares directly to the viewer while this line is delivered after she goaded the Elf king]."
 * Baleful Polymorph: Prince Merkimer is turned into a pig in the second episode; he has remained a recurring member of the cast (even getting A Day In The Limelight for one episode) but as of the end of season 3, he has yet to be turned back.
 * The aforementioned Day in the Limelight reveals that it was more a Freaky Friday Flip with an actual pig. The pig who was flipped to Merkimer's human body was somehow able to learn to talk because of it, along with a few... unpleasant human traits.
 * Big Eater:
 * Zog; to give one example, in one episode, after someone tells him turkey is good for insomnia, he eats two entire turkeys in bed.
 * Bean becomes this in an episode where she tries to write theater drama; the scene starts with her doing so at a desk covered with cheese and bread, and is now on her sixth cinnamon roll.
 * Bi the Way: Bean was Ambiguously Bi for a long time, sometimes lusting after men but hinting that she might go both ways, until season three when the "ambiguous" part was eliminated. Although to be honest, it may have shifted to Ambiguously Gay, as she never had the same emotional attachment to men that she does with Mora.
 * Bizarre Alien Biology:
 * Oona's people, the Dankmirians, seem to combine traits of amphibians and reptiles, with a few mammalian features. For example, she can scale walls, grab insects with her long tongue, can dislocate her joints, and can breathe underwater.
 * Elves cannot grow body-hair; Luci accidentally offends one of them by saying whisky will grown hair on his chest. "On the plus side," says Elfo, "we're always bikini ready."
 * Bizarre Alien Reproduction: Oona again - in fact, it seems even she and Zog have no idea how they conceived Derrek. In the pilot, what she says to Bean suggests her species does so via amplexus, a form of external fertilization common to amphibians - but a later episode shows Derrek hatched from a hard-shelled egg similar to a reptile's.
 * Blessed Are the Cheesemakers: The castle actually has a vault in the subbasement specifically for cheese.
 * Break the Fourth Wall:

"Elfo: Well now we know something we didn't know yesterday!""
 * By Wall That Is Holey: a nod is given to this classic piece of cinema when an ogre falls on Elfo, only for his tiny body to fit exactly through the hole in the ogre's chest.
 * The Caligula: Zog is a cruel, tyrannical, and incompetent ruler. He often orders subjects beheaded just for annoying him, or some other trivial matter. He over-taxes the elves when they move in simply because they have more money than everyone else (though in his defense, he changes his mind later and gives if back), and confiscates their harvests after "inspecting" it. In one episode where he falls ill, he regrets having all the doctors beheaded.
 * Despite this, in season three,
 * Call Back:
 * When Elfo says "screw the 'Jolly Code'" you can hear the elf called Weirdo make a creepy groan, in a call back to his earlier appearance.
 * The "King Fight" at the beginning of season 1 is called back to with a "Queen Fight" at the end of the season.
 * When Elfo pulls another lever to escape.
 * Captain Obvious Aesop:

"Jester: Oh no!"
 * Catch Phrase:

"Elfo: Hi, I'm Elfo! / Doink."

"Luci: Do it! Do it, do it, do it! / Noice!"

"Luci: Princess Tiabeanie, you are hereby cursed from the deepest depths of the underworld!"
 * Cliff Hanger: literal one at the end of S01E01 (obviously designed to make you want to watch the second episode immediately after).
 * Cool and Unusual Punishment: One episode has Zog try to shame Bean into obedience by having her put in a drunkard's cloak (an actual device, by the way); naturally, it doesn't work.
 * Curse: Luci, the demon, curses Bean in S01E01:

"Bunty: We'll scrub you right up, as clean as a child on his funeral day. Arms up! Ow, how my Charlie sparkled on this mornin' when they heaved him into the burial pit." Bean: He's in a better place now. Bunty: Oh yes...beat...down there with all his little friends. Bean: Argh! Not so hard!. I'm sorry Bunty, I don't mean to be insensitive about your dead whatever, I just really don't want to marry this wealthy prince."
 * Dead Baby Comedy:
 * Dead Baby Comedy:

"Bean: I hate this feeling... Bunty: Sobriety, ma'am?"
 * Deadpan Snarker: Bunty

"Elfo: Singing at work is not happiness - it's mental illness."
 * Deconstruction: Plenty of tropes get broken down. eg.

"Bean: I might as well give up and accept that I'll never be anything more than a wealthy queen of a fabulous faraway kingdom...[sniffs]...it's my destiny."

"Kissy: I can't go all the way."
 * Deconstructive Parody:
 * The whole show is this about the fantasy genre.
 * Hansel and Gretel get a disturbing cameo.
 * The deconstructed parody is Reconstructed to be worse than the original.
 * Demonic Possession: In S01E03, Luci the demon
 * Den of Iniquity: The Den of Wonders in the Black Light District, a fantasy equivalent of an opium den. They actually admit children - for a reduced price.
 * Designated Girl Fight:
 * Deus Ex Machina: A griffin. Twice..
 * Devil in Plain Sight:
 * And in many ways,.
 * Double Entendre:

"Bean: A fairy? Maybe she can help us. Do you do magic? Fairy: Sure, I've done a trick or two. What do you have in mind?"


 * Dream Land: The citadel where the humans live is called "Dreamland".
 * The land of the elves - "Elfwood" - appears from another dimension and is an example of a dreamworld within a dreamworld.
 * Dumb Is Good:
 * Equal Opportunity Evil: Bean at first admires Steamland for not having the "glass ceiling" that Dreamland does. Be that as it may, Steamland seeks to conquer and subjugate Dreamland, . They also use child labor, abuse the working class, and throw non-humans like Elfo and Mora into a prison that double as a circus freak show.
 * Everyone Has Standards: Bean has quite a few vices, and not a lot of morals or ethics. Drinking and gambling she's okay with. Public nudity, she's fine with. Stealing from her stepmother's purse? Okay, that makes her hesitate and feel a little guilty afterwards, and likely causes a lot of regret later, seeing as the snake-root gives her even less morals, enough to approve of grave-robbing. This is lampshaded later, when Oona forgives her for everything except stealing the snake-root, sternly telling her never to do it again.
 * Evil Cripple: Zog is, by his own admission, arthritic, anemic, and diabetic, and he makes his health worse in one episode where he gives himself gout on purpose after hearing it's a "nobleman's disease".
 * The Executioner: Stan has elements of the Professional and Psychopathic type; he seems to love his job a little too much but is still pretty decent towards anyone he doesn't have to kill.
 * Exorcist Head:
 * Eyes Do Not Belong There: Prime Minister Odval has a third eye on his forehead that he always keeps hidden under his hat. He used to have a fourth eye, but You Do NOT Want to Know what happened to it.

F-J
"Luci: Hold on - there's something I've always wanted to try. [Rotates Bean's head 3 times]. So cool! I didn't even know the human body could do this! Bean: It can't..."
 * Fantasy Kitchen Sink: incorporates as many myths, fairytales and mythical creatures as it can. It also plays with this, and lampshades it with a speech in episode 4 about the confusion which results from living in a fantasy world. (see /Awesome/).
 * Fan Disservice: Much like Matt Groening's other works, there's quite a few scenes where fat, ugly, and often old males are shown naked or partially naked.
 * Fantasy World Map: Foreshadowed in S01E01 in King Zog's chamber.
 * Fantastic Drug:
 * Oona uses snakeroot (called "Oona's little helper" by Bean) to soothe her nerves, although it seems to have the opposite effect, causing Oona to start screaming in rage and run around a fountain in the courtyard. When Bean, Elfo, and Luci try it, it seems to work like long-lasting LSD, causing them to spend the whole day doing crazy things like stealing grog and participating in cockfights.
 * Bliss is a hallucinogenic drug that the trio use in the Den of Wonders in the Black Light District. It causes all three of them to experience Mushroom Samba hallucinations.
 * Luci smokes cigars which uses Twinkletown Gigglebud, which is also used by the elves in Elfwood; this is clearly a thinly veiled reference to cannabis.
 * Foreshadowing:
 * Bean's three wishes in S01E01 include.
 * The on Big Joe's carriage in S01E03 and it's relation to  in S01E08.
 * I Always Wanted to Say That: Played With when Luci jumps into Bean's mouth:

"Elf King: How can the world's greatest race be racist?""
 * Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Bean, and it's obvious she takes after her mother.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: Non-lethal example, Luci gives up a chance for two promotions, losing his immortality, powers, and even his parking space to rescue Bean and Elfo from Hell.
 * I Ate What?: Many:
 * In the pilot, Luci, being a demon, isn't comfortable in a church, so he grabs for a bottle of wine; when Bean tells him its communion wine, he seems sickened. In the next scene, he seems okay with drinking it.
 * "Faster, Princess! Kill! Kill!"; Bean is horrified when she discovers the turkey leg Hansel and Gretel give her is human flesh.
 * "Swamp and Circumstance"; at the Dankmire restaurant, Luci and Elfo are drinking from what looks like a small punchbowl, until a waiter comes by and asks if they'd like to order drinks, telling them the "punchbowl" is a centerpiece.
 * "In Her Own Write"; when Bean tries coffee for the first time (it's a new thing at the time), she is disgusted, wondering why anyone would serve beer hot and bitter. After being told what it is, however, she quickly becomes addicted.
 * Irony: plenty of irony to go around:
 * Verbal irony:

"Cloyd: Oh no, they're onto us. Jerry: They'll know exactly what we're up to. Becky: You don't even know what we're up to! Jerry: Every day you say you'll tell me and you never do."
 * Dramatic Irony: Luci's role is to steer Bean "towards the darkness" - that much the audience is let in on. Luci doesn't seem to know what she is being steered towards exactly, and Bean doesn't realize she is being so steered. Thus the audience is left to figure out the nature of what it is towards which she is being steered. The dramatic irony is that it is
 * Gentle Giant: Tess, an actual giantess, although unfortunately, she Does Not Know Her Own Strength
 * Godiva Hair:
 * Oona; her floor-length locks are so long, they not only cover her breasts in one scene, they cover her behind in another.
 * Shameless Fanservice Girl Ursula, a forest selkie, and several mermaids have this too.
 * Hidden Agenda Villain: In season one, Cloyd and Becky seem to be the antagonists, being the ones who send Luci to tempt Bean into evil, but their goals are kept hidden. When they are discovered to be, more information is revealed - something about Bean being instrumental to a prophecy - but nothing solid. This is even lampshaded in "Princess of Darkness".

"King Zog: How do I look? Spiffy, right? I had the dogs lick me clean twice."
 * Jerkass: The selfish, vain and arrogant King Zog.


 * The Jester: Jester. Not very good at it, though.

K-O
"Stan The Executioner: We best be-heading to work. Hahahaha. It's an executioner joke. You'll 'ear all of them in the first 15 minutes. Then it's basically just human tragedy."
 * The Kingdom: Dreamland
 * Lame Pun:

"Elf King: Elfo - no! It is forbidden! [to leave Elfwood]. [Elfo pulls a lever] Superviso: I don't know why we keep that lever there."
 * This joke manages to Pun, explain itself and lampshade that Tragedy is being Played For Laughs, all at the same time.
 * Lampshade Hanging:
 * In S01E01:

"[ Elfo pulls a lever ] Bean: How did you know that was there? Elfo: Unlike some people, I read the guide book."
 * In S01E06:

"Home owner: Hey! You can't park on my lawn! Viking: My flaming arrow says I can. Home owner: You've got a talking flaming arrow? Viking: What? No, it's just a regular arrow. Home owner: Well I'm sorry. Things get confusing in a world with occasional magic and curses. And while I'm a fan of such worlds, I just feel some more clearly set out rules for what can and cannot happen would help - erghhh [shot with the arrow]. Viking: He says it's ok to park here."
 * In S01E04:

"Odval: Incredible! All that malarkey with the magic elf's blood actually paid off. Sorcerio: It took all season but it did - and by "season" I mean fall or summer or whatever this is."
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In S01E010:

"Sven: Why are there so many dead things floating in the "Elixir of Life"? Bean: A little bug never hurt anyone... Unnamed Viking: What about that squirrel?" Elfo: Oh, that's my pet "Bloaty". Sven: Wait a minute... you named your pet squirrel "Bloaty" before he died and got all bloated? Elfo: And your name is "Sven" and you're a viking sooo we're all a little obvious here, aren't we? Come one. Drink up."
 * Leap of Faith: At the end of
 * Locked Away in a Monastery: Zog tries this on Bean, but due to Luci, she's branded a heretic and kicked out after a day.
 * MacGuffin: elf's blood, the Eternity Pendant, and the combination thereof.
 * Meaningful Name: Luci is short for Lucifer - and is a Maru demon, similar to the daemons of His Dark Materials.
 * Parodied with all the elves having silly elfish names like Elfo, Shock-o, Superviso, Return-o ("No one returns - not even Returno!") and Weirdo (who is clearly a perverted elf) etc.
 * Lampshaded by Elfo in S01E04:


 * Moral Dilemma: Bean has to decide whether to
 * The second season sets Bean up for another:
 * Noodle Incident: Bean tells her dad that she traded places with a pauper for a full year and he never noticed.
 * Not Hyperbole:
 * In the pilot, Oola sympathizes with Bean, saying she had butterflies in her stomach on her wedding, adding that, "I never should have eaten so many". And then emphasizes that by snagging a fly out of the air with her tongue.
 * In "Swamp And Circumstance", Oola tells her family that they can expect a "warm welcome" in Dankmire, although what she means is, the weather in Dankmire is humid and hot. Dankmirians are, in fact, rather dour and rude.
 * Orphean Rescue:

P-T
"Merkimer: [to Bean] I've loved you since the moment you killed my brother."
 * The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Literal example in season 2, where Oona is picked up by pirates who have no idea what to do because their captain never gives them any orders. After Oona shows them what they should be doing - pillaging, plundering, and drinking lots of rum after doing so - she becomes their first mate, and later captain after the one they have resigns.
 * Prince Charming: Bean wishes for a "boyfriend who is a good listener". Instead she gets
 * Prince Charmless twice. The first being the inbred Prince Guysbert, and the second being his brother, Merkimer.

"Bean: Sorry, I've lost track. What are we praying for now? Nun: Oh for... we are praying - Sister Tianbeanie - that God might see fit to help the poor. Bean: If you want to help the poor why don't you just melt this God guy down [points to big gold statue of God] and pass him out like coins? I mean: cut out the middle man, right guys? Nun: Huh! Blasphemer! How dare you bring logic into the house of God!"
 * Protagonist Centred Morality: Being part of the royal family causes Bean to gets away with a lot of things her father would execute civilians for, and while he does try to punish her, it never truly sticks. Her very first scene in the pilot shows her making a blatant attempt to cheat at cards, and from then on, her rebellious teenager party-girl antics cause a lot of trouble. Her actions often cause quite a few deaths - albeit mostly by accident, to folks who deserve it.
 * Of course, her father is little better, being a cruel, oppressive, and incompetent tyrant, but his Overprotective Dad qualities give him a pass over darker villains like.
 * Satire, Parody, Pastiche:
 * Satire of religion (Pythonesque):

"Queen Oona: Your daughter feels useless because she is useless. King Zog: But she's hurtin'. Queen Oona: Her purpose is to be married off to unite kingdoms. Like we do. Make offspring like Derek."
 * Satire of royalty:


 * Parody of fairy tales and high fantasy. Features elves, giants, mermaids, humans, enchanted forests, etc.
 * Pastiche of Disney. A hooker fairy looks an awful lot like a washed-up old Tinker Bell...
 * The Protagonist: Princess Tiabeannie ("Bean" for short).
 * Pun-Based Title: Episode titles such as "Swamp and Circumstance", "To Thine Own Elf Be True"
 * The Quest: To find the elixir of life, of course.
 * Red Herring:
 * Reluctant Ruler:
 * Zog never wanted to be king; when he was young, he was a Warrior Prince who preferred a more martial role in the nobility, and only became heir after his older brother was assassinated. As one might expect, he isn't a very competent ruler.
 * Oona too. When she was a child, she dreamed of being a warrior, but ended up in a marriage of convenience as part of a peace treaty.
 * Royal Blood: Parodied with an homage to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, as pointed out at Monty Python's Holy Grail An Influence.
 * Running Gag:
 * Luci likes to ride on the back of as many of the other characters as possible.
 * Luci mistaken for a cat.
 * The "Plague Patrol" cart features a number of times.
 * Sadistic Choice:
 * At the end of season one,
 * This results in
 * Sand Is Water: A sand whirlpool occurs at one point.
 * Shout Out: Multiple to Game of Thrones in season 1. Mainly, a Parody of the Iron Throne, and a female protagonist with silver hair, as well as a marriage (attempted) to a son of incest.
 * Sirens Are Mermaids: Zigzagged. Sailors believe mermaids use magical song to lure sailors to their doom, but actually, the magical song is from a herd of walruses (who have something else in mind for victims). Mermaids do prey on humans however, admitting they intended to do so to Bean and Elfo, and that the rubdown they gave them was a marinade (unless their claim of doing so was sarcasm).
 * So Unfunny It's Funny: Jester; most of his jokes involve goats, and Zog gets far more laughs dumping him down a trap door that he has in his throne room for that exact purpose.
 * Steampunk: The whole theme of Steamland, in contrast to Dreamland being High Fantasy. Steamland seems to be around early 20th Century technology, with a few fantasy elements like robot drones and zeppelins. But they also seem intent on conquering and subjugating Dreamland.
 * Stupid Evil:
 * Talking Animal: Played With as King Zog assumes (without question) that Bean's demon is a talking cat. In one episode, Luci manages to get away from him by switching himself with an actual talking cat... who turns out to be an even bigger jerk.
 * Tragedy: Played for Laughs.
 * Troperiffic: This has the potential to be one of those shows.

U-Z
"Bean: All this wedding hassle for a stupid political alliance! I thought that I'd get married for true love or because I was wasted... Bunty: Lots of reasons to get married ma'am: I got married for a goat. Now let's hurry - the prince'll be here any minute to marry ya, and, time permittin'... (beat) meet ya."
 * Wedding Day:
 * Deconstructed:


 * Wicked Stepmother:
 * Who Wants to Live Forever?: The quest for the elixir of life (as in Holy Grail) and the Eternity Pendant.
 * You Are Worth Hell: