Disenchantment

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"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.

Tropes used in Disenchantment include:

A-E

• An Aesop: Aesops abound. eg.

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."

• • 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.
• The Alcoholic: Bean is driven to drink by her father.
• Anvilicious: In S01E08, "The Limits of Immortality"

Malfus: [Of immortality] The monotony, the repetition, the monotony, the repetition... beat ...the monotony, the repetition.

• Break the Fourth Wall:

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].

• Captain Obvious Aesop:

Elfo: Well now we know something we didn't know yesterday!"

• Affectionate Parody: Of the High Fantasy genre.
• Accidental Murder: Bean tends to kill a lot of folks by accident, the first being her fiance, Prince Guysbert
• 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.
• 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.
• Catch Phrase:

Jester: Oh no!

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

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

• Cliff Hanger: literal one at the end of S01E01 (obviously designed to make you want to watch the second episode immediately after).
• Curse: Luci, the demon, curses Bean in S01E01:

Luci: Princess Tiabeanie, you are hereby cursed from the deepest depths of the underworld!

• Dead Baby Comedy:

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.

• Deadpan Snarker: Bunty

Bean: I hate this feeling... Bunty: Sobriety, ma'am?

• Deconstruction: Plenty of tropes get broken down. eg.

Elfo: Singing at work is not happiness - it's mental illness.

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.

• 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 possesses protagonist Bean by jumping into her body when Big Jo arrives to exorcise him.
• 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.
• Deus Ex Machina: A griffin. Twice. When the protagonist Bean falls off the edge of the world she is surprisingly rescued by such a chimera, and again at the end as the gang sink into the sand.
• Double Entendre:

Kissy: I can't go all the way.

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.
• 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.
• 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: Luci and Bean, S01E03.
• 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

• 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).
• Fantasy World Map: Foreshadowed in S01E01 in King Zog's chamber.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Bean's three wishes in S01E01 include getting her mom back, which happens at the end of S01E09.
  • The symbol on Big Joe's carriage in S01E03 and it's relation to the pendant in S01E08.
• I Always Wanted to Say That: Played With when Luci jumps into Bean's mouth:

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...

• 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.
• Irony: plenty of irony to go around:
  • Verbal irony:

Elf King: How can the world's greatest race be racist?"

• • 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 realise 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 the unfreezing of her mother - which is one of her three wishes - who seeks the ruin of her father's kingdom.

• 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.
• Jerkass: The selfish, vain and arrogant King Zog.

King Zog: How do I look? Spiffy, right? I had the dogs lick me clean twice.

• The Jester: Jester

K-O

• The Kingdom: Dreamland
• Lame Pun:

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.

• • • 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:

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.

• • In S01E06:

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

• • In S01E04:

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.

• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In S01E010:

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.

• Leap of Faith: At the end of S01E01.
• 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:

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.

• Moral Dilemma: Bean has to decide whether to rescue Elfo or her mother.
  • The second season sets Bean up for another: to side with her father and rescue Dreamland, or with her mother and destroy it.
• 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 Darkmire, although what she means is, the weather in Darkmire is humid and hot. Dankmirians are, in fact, rather dour and rude.

P-T

• 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.

Merkimer: [to Bean] I've loved you since the moment you killed my brother.

• Satire, Parody, Pastiche:
  • Satire of religion (Pythonesque):

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!

• • Satire of royalty:

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.

• • 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: Oona is this at the end of season one. For a while, it seems like her hatred of Dagmar has become enough to resort to murder. In truth, she takes the more sensible option and flees Dreamland, Dagmar being the one truly behind the attacks.
• 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, Bean has to choose whether to use her one use of the vial to restore her mother or bring Elfo back to life. She choses her mother - and eventually regrets doing so.
  • This results in Zog getting one too, having to choose between Dagmar and Oona, having married the latter when he assumed Dagmar was dead. On one hand, Dagmar is the woman he truly loved, and is far more liked by the citizens of Dreamland. On the other hand, Oona is the mother of his heir, and rejecting her could cause already damaged relations with Darkmire to erupt into war for the second time. Eventually, he chooses Dagmar, which again, turns out to be a bad choice.
• Sand Is Water: a sand whirlpool.
• 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.
• So Unfunny It's Funny: The 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.
• Stupid Evil: When Oona tries to sneak onto Dagmar's ship and is caught, Dagmar tries to get rid of Oona by shackling her to an anchor and throwing it overboard. Oona's species has both lungs and gills (even telling Dagmar that in a previous episode), meaning she can breathe water and thus cannot drown; at most, this is a temporary solution for Dagmar.
• Talking Animal: Played With as King Zog assumes (without question) that Bean's demon is a talking cat.
• Tragedy: Played for Laughs.
• Troperiffic: this has the potential to be one of those shows.

U-Z

• Wedding Day: Averted as Bean makes a run for it and begins her quest.
  • Deconstructed:

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.

• Wicked Stepmother: Inverted. The audience is primed to expect Bean's step-mother Queen Oona to be wicked, but it turns out to be her mother Dagmar which is the evil one.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: The quest for the elixir of life (as in Holy Grail) and the Eternity Pendant.