Drowtales/Characters/Val'Sarghress Clan: Difference between revisions

* [[Asskicking Equals Authority]] (Pretty much how individuals move up in rank)

* [[The Clan]] (Due to them recruiting from all over Drow society the Sarghress clan is one of the largest in Chel.)

* [[Gambit Pileup]] (there are hints that the multiple interests making up the Sarghress are a weakness that could cause the clan to implode. Lulianne, a former Dutan'vir clearly has her own plans to bring back her old clan {{spoiler|and now thanks to Khaless' possession is also a spy for Snadhya'rune}}; as do Sker, Minka and {{spoiler|Mikilu}} as seen in a pre-timeskip cameo. Sil'lice is also hiding within the Sarghress, and while its not known what her exact plans are, she still doesn't exactly follow the Sarghress party line. Then there's the fact that {{spoiler|sleeper Nidraa'chal agents}} are in the clan as they are in apparently every major clan and even Kel'noz, Quain'tana's own son and the person she seems to trust most, has his own agenda. The only thing holding these people together is their mutual dislike of the Vel'Sharen, and it's uncertain if that'll be enough.)

* [[Generation Xerox]] (both [[Deconstruction|deconstructed]] and [[Invoked Trope|invoked]], since the fact that the same patterns are repeated across generations is ''not a good thing'', and Quain'tana's specific desire to have an heir who's a [[Generation Xerox]] of her has caused ''many'' more problems than it has solved)

** Ariel: Child (in the first arc) / Maiden (in the second)

** Mel'arnach: Witch ({{spoiler|in appearance}}) {{spoiler|Mother}} (in reality, especially after the timeskip)

** Quain'tana: Mother (officially to Ariel) Crone / Matriarch (as the official leader of the clan)

* [[Horse of a Different Color]] (the Sarghress use wolves as their primary mounts, and Rosof's Wolfriders in particular have a special bond with their animals)

* [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]] (Their clan philosophy)

* [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] (The entire clan is mostly made up of commoners and exiles with no real ties between one another except for uniting around Quain'tana as a figurehead leader.)

The main character, daughter of Quain'tana ({{spoiler|or so she thinks}}) and heir of the Sarghress clan.

 

* [[Anti-Hero]] (swings back and forth, but seems to have settled into a Type IV, or possibly even a Type III after the timeskip)

* [[Badass Adorable]] (as the story goes on she increasingly becomes this)

* [[Black Mage]]

* [[Blade on a Stick]] (her primary weapon after the timeskip, likely taking inspiration from Vaelia)

* [[Blow You Away]] (besides her shapeshifting, she also has an affinity for air sorcery)

* [[Break the Cutie]] (pretty much since day 1)

* [[Broken Bird]] (showed signs of it, but seems to have mostly avoided becoming this trope after the timeskip)

* [[Cheerful Child]] (originally, though she's not completely broken yet)

* [[Chronic Pet Killer]] (has been [[Flanderization|Flanderized]] into this by fans even though she's only had three, but she is still 1-2 on their survival since Melodia the feral isn't dead yet and survived the timeskip)

* [[Dramatic Irony]] (for most of the story the audience and several other characters have known that {{spoiler|her mother is really Mel'arnach, not Quain'tana}}, but she doesn't {{spoiler|yet}} know. This makes a lot of her interactions with both {{spoiler|Mel and Quain}} that much more interesting.)

* [[Freak-Out]] (did ''not'' react well to Faen's disappearance at all)

* [[Holy Child]] (Chirinide and the rest of the Kyorl'solenurn seem to think she's this and call her the "Daughter of the Holy Eye" (read: {{spoiler|Zhor, an aware}}), but Ariel is skeptical, to say the least)

* [[Multicolored Hair]] (can do it herself using magic)

* [[Naive Newcomer]] (for the first arc of the story, but this seems to have largely disappeared after the timeskip)

* [[Parental Abandonment]] (she does not have a good track record with parental figures, who are either abusive, distant or imprisoned, with the exception of Vaelia {{spoiler|who's now been [[Put on a Bus]], albeit by Ariel herself}} and now we can add {{spoiler|Diva'ratrika}} as a possible mother figure, leading to jokes that {{spoiler|Ariel has a 3/5 chance of stabbing Diva in the back at some point}})

* [[Plucky Girl]] (and how)

* [[She's All Grown Up]] (after the 15 year timeskip Ariel is now 30, or 15 physically, and shot up like a weed. Unsurprising, given her family.)

* [[She's Got Legs]] (much of her height seems to be because of her very long legs)

* [[Strong Family Resemblance]] (after the timeskip, her resemblance to her female relatives becomes really apparent, especially to Mel'arnach and {{spoiler|Kalki}})

* [[Sweet Polly Oliver]] (while at Orthorbbae. It takes Snadhya'rune about five years to catch on, but her classmates figure it out within the first week, and are only prevented from spreading the news by not being able to leave. Kel'noz also clues in the other headmasters early on.)

* [[Tomboy and Girly Girl]] (with Faen, and it helps that she spent about five years disguised as a boy in Orthorbbae. Her tomboyishness, along with [[Camp Gay|Sorane]] being in the same class helped disguise her true gender.)

* [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]] (her signature ability, though she's warned that if she's not careful she could accidentally put a vital organ in the wrong place)

* [[Yank the Dog's Chain]] (right after she finally gets acknowledged as Quain'tana's heir Faen disappears, sending her into a deep depression)

 

* [[Abusive Parents]] (foster parent, but still)

* [[Babysitter From Hell]] (when the girl you've raised says that her greatest wish is to kill you, you're this)

* [[Calling the Old Man Out]] (possibly her only [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]])

* {{spoiler|[[Dying Moment of Awesome]]}} (Opinion varies, but at the very least {{spoiler|1=[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?order=chapters&id=1552 her words had a lasting impact on Quain'tana]}})

* [[It's All About Me]] (the "Syphile's Great Deed" story shows that even before she got tainted she had some of this attitude, and talks to herself about she's the only legitimate Val'Sarghress left since everyone else is either disgraced, adopated, a male or a golem, which just makes the end result of that story all the more ironic since she single-handedly removes herself from the running.)

* [[Maternally Challenged]] (much like Quain'tana, but not played for laughs ''at all''. She thinks leaving Ariel with a dictionary to study constitutes "teaching" her.)

* [[Secret Keeper]] (Subverted. Syphile knew that {{spoiler|Ariel's parents were really Mel'arnach and Zhor, not Quain'tana}} and she was expected to keep this secret. Once she helped Chrys'tel escape, however, practically the first thing she did was spill the secret to her, and by extension to Zala'ess, and Zala has more than taken advantage of this knowledge to try and shame Quain'tana)

* [[Troubled Abuser]] (Kel'noz at the very least seems to think so, but he notably doesn't excuse Syphile for any of her treatment of Ariel even knowing this)

* [[Ain't Too Proud to Beg]] (she's twice prostrated herself before Quain'tana, but in both cases Quain has seen through it and can tell it's an act. The second one ends particularly brutally.)

* [[Broken Bird]] (With good reason. According to Kel'noz she "lost her mind a long time ago" {{spoiler|which is only half-right}})

* [[Did You Just Have Tea With Cthulhu]] (Ariel and Mel's first interactions are this, since Ariel has been {{spoiler|falsely}} told by Syphile that Mel is a monster)

* [[Did You Just Romance Cthulhu?]] ({{spoiler|she had a child with Zhor, who was originally a dark elf but is now a giant spider}})

** This could also apply to her relationship with {{spoiler|Snadhya'rune}}, who's the closest thing the comic has to a [[Big Bad]]. The other Sarghress certainly feel this way about their relationship.

* [[Fallen Princess]] (she explains to Lulianne that at one point she had her own servants, slaves and even people who call themselves her knights, and was mostly left on her own, but later on an incident (implied to be Sarv'swati's attack on Quain) made Quain take this all away and imprison her for refusing to follow Quain's plan)

* {{spoiler|[[Homosexual Reproduction]]}} ({{spoiler|she's Kalki's "father" and Snadhya'rune is the "mother", not that Mel knew it}})

* {{spoiler|[[Hot Mom]]}} (even more so after the timeskip, {{spoiler|where she has two sons and another daughter on the way}})

** Relatedly, the fact that she's disappointed in Ariel for still idolizing Quain also has an aspect of this considering that there are some subtle indicators that Mel on some level understands exactly how bad {{spoiler|Snadhya}} actually is, but is choosing to ignore it.

** And she claims that she wants {{spoiler|Ariel}} to be able to choose how to live her life, something Mel was denied, and yet {{spoiler|1=when Ariel does make the choice for herself, [http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=7853 Mel doesn't like it] and tries to stop her. Kel'noz is also well aware of this and [http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?order=chapters&id=1660 explains this to her].}}

* [[Mysterious Parent]] ([[Word of God]] has refused to answer any questions about who her and Kel'noz's father was, which has led fans to speculate that he's important, and also {{spoiler|Mel herself qualifies for both Kalki and Ariel}})

* [[Not Distracted by the Sexy]] (despite spending most of her time in what's essentially lingerie hardly anyone seems to notice. This can be chalked up due to drow culture and the fact that most characters are probably just used to her)

* {{spoiler|[[Obfuscating Insanity]]}} (and it's heavily implied that {{spoiler|1=she either made up the story about her killing men and being a rapist [http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?order=chapters&id=500 to make people leave her alone], or [[Sure, Let's Go with That|adopted some slander about her for the same purposes]].}} Notably, Lulianne sees right through it from the get-go)

* [[Psycho Lesbian]] ({{spoiler|it's an act}})

* [[You Have to Believe Me]] (Needless to say, {{spoiler|Ariel has problems believing Mel is her mother}})

** Possibly averted after the timeskip, where {{spoiler|the fact that Mel refers to Ariel as "my daughter" when talking to Faen implies that Ariel has acknowledged Mel, at least in private, though when Mel (again) starts insulting Quain'tana Ariel storms out, indicating that they're not 100% on good terms yet}}.

* [[Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught]] (his policy, and that of Orthorbbae)

* [[Only Sane Man]] (compared to the rest of his family he definitely comes across as this)

* [[True Neutral]] (as a Headmaster at Orthorbbae he's supposed to be this, but who knows what he really is )

* [[Twin Desynch]] (there's a heavy implication that he and Mel went through this after {{spoiler|he chose Quain'tana over her}})

The former heir of the Sarghress and leader of the Fallen Legion, sometime before Ariel's birth Laelle'aell was possessed by a demon, and though technically still alive (with the addition of some golem parts) is mainly used as a weapon now. She has had very little screen time, and some information about her is taken from a Daydream story about the early Sarghress/Sullisin'rune alliance, so its canocity is uncertainly.

 

* [[Empty Shell]] (one early character description called her a "container of souls")

* [[Follow in My Footsteps]] (she built up the Fallen Legion on her own, just as Quain built up her first army)

* [[Ninja]]

* [[Noodle Incident]] (it's unknown exactly what happened to her besides a few basic facts, like a demon being involved and a failed exorcism)

* [[Prophet Eyes]]

* [[The Spartan Way]] (she had to climb her way up to the top, just like Quain'tana, and essentially build her own army from the ground up)

* [[Amazonian Beauty]] / [[Brawn Hilda]] (In the past she was definitely more of the former, but is now more of the latter.)

* [[Badass]]

* [[Designated Hero]] (in universe and out)

* [[Drowning My Sorrows]] (Did this after {{spoiler|being rendered barren}})

* [[Heir Club for Men]] (Quain is willing do anything -- and we do mean ''anything'' -- to make sure she has an heir)

* [[Heroic BSOD]] (For a given definition of "heroism" anyway. As seen in a flashback, she did ''not'' take {{spoiler|being rendered barren thanks to a battle wound inflicted by Sarv'swati}} very well. It's one of the reasons she leans so hard -- to put it ''lightly'' -- on Mel to bear an heir)

** Most of her criticisms of the Sharen are shown to be pretty spot-on, especially when it comes to how the Sharen underestimate the people they rule over.

** Pulling Ariel out of Orthorbbae when her true gender is discovered by Snadhya'rune is this, especially since we find out that Snadhya explicitly planned to bring Ariel in to control her.

** Also, her anger at Syphile tainting herself becomes this in hindsight with the revelation that {{spoiler|many if not most of Snadhya's seeds are intentionally faulty and designed to kill the user within 50 years, and it's very likely that Syphile was carrying one of those seeds}}.

* [[Karma Houdini]] (Not unlike much of the cast.)

* {{spoiler|[[Law of Inverse Fertility]]}} (got hit by this ''hard'')

* [[Maternally Challenged]] (one interpretation of her bad relationships with her children is that she's not so much intentionally cruel as much as having ''no idea'' how to properly treat them, and among her children Laele'aell seems to have been treated best)

* [[Not So Different]] (with Diva'ratrika. Both are obsessed with continuing their bloodlines and pressure their daughters to have children, both are [[Control Freak|Control Freaks]], both of their children wind up hating them, {{spoiler|and they both share a descendant in Kalki}})

* [[Parental Abandonment]] (cause and victim)

* [[Satisfied Street Rat]] (deconstructed, since we see exactly how messed up a person raised like she was can become)

* [[The Spartan Way]] (how she seems to view most things, especially child rearing. As for the results, well, see above.)

* [[Mama Bear]] (to Ariel, and she's arguably the best mother figure Ariel has, despite not even being the same species! Ironically, at 18 in the initial arc she's actually only three years older than Ariel herself)

* [[Matron Chaperone]] (she assigns herself to this role after seeing [[Attempted Rape|what Rik tries to do to Ariel]], since Ariel doesn't understand the full implications of what he's trying to do)

* {{spoiler|[[Put on a Bus]]}} ({{spoiler|Ariel arranges for her to join the Highland Raiders on the surface, though a side story of her adventures on the surface focuses on her}})

* [[You No Take Candle]] (justified, since drow is not her native language, and she gradually improves through the story)

 

=== Liriel ===

* [[Servile Snarker]] (even before {{spoiler|Diva'ratrika awakens}} she gets away with saying some pretty daring things around Ariel)

* {{spoiler|[[Split Personality Takeover]]}}

* [[You Kill It, You Bought It]] (pretty much how she ended up with Ariel, who was there when Faen's powers resulted in the death of her former master)

** [[Crowning Moment of Funny]] in the original version. She looks at her old master, looks at Ariel. "Hi New Master!"

* [[Defeat Means Friendship]] (after Quain'tana beat him at Machike)

* [[Eye Scream]] (lost his eye in his duel with Quain'tana)

* [[Reasonable Authority Figure]] (compared to the bull-headed and rash Quain'tana)

* [[Token Minority]] (He's pretty much the only male dev'ess in the entire drow world, but considering that he not only took on Quain'tana and survived, but also managed to make her ''stop and think'' even after she'd beaten him and might have just killed him he's one tough S.O.B. Not to mention that he got the Sarghress wolf mounts at the cost of mana deprivation and has been Quain'tana's right hand man for centuries, playing a large part in earning them Val status, so the man has ''fucking earned it'')

* [[Your Days Are Numbered]] (due to the mana deprivation he doesn't have much longer to live, and knows it)

 

* [[Blue Eyes]] (of the pale blue variety, shared by Rosof)

* [[The Caretaker]] (is this to Sarnel)

* [[Skirt Over Slacks]] (seems to be her default outfit)

 

* [[Distaff Counterpart]] (in many ways, to Ariel)

* [[Honor Before Reason]] (was taught that the clan is above all else)

* [[The Stoic]] (to the point that you can count the number of times he's smiled on panel on one hand)

 

 

=== Sang Niz'zre Sarghress ===

 

* [[Artificial Limbs]] (all four of her limbs were cut off by the Sharen, so she got replacements)

* [[Badass]]

* [[Bishonen]]

* [[Estrogen Brigade Bait]] (both [[In-Universe]] and out, since he's had at least one mate and has fathered {{spoiler|Sil'lice's twins}})

* [[Blade Below the Shoulder]]

* [[Gray Eyes]]

 

 

The Dev'ess of the Nori'fu House and Koil'dorath's mother. She's vocally displeased with the way Quain'tana has been leading the clan.

 

* [[Braids of Barbarism]]

* [[Brawn Hilda]] (even more so than Quain'tana since she has more lines on her face)

* [[Curtains Match the Window]] (though her hair is likely dyed)

* [[The Starscream]] (implied, and [[Word of God]] is she'd try to take over if she thought she could get away with it, and Quain'tana knows this but also realizes that it's too dangerous to get rid of Suu'be)

 

=== Mandroga Nori'fu Sarghress ===

 

* [[The Big Guy]]

* [[Braids of Barbarism]]

* [[Curtains Match the Window]] (formerly had both orange hair and eyes, but now has mainly white hair with some red streaks)

* [[Facial Markings]]

 

=== Koil'dorath Nori'fu Val'Sarghress ===

Suu'be and Mandroga's daughter, Koil'dorath leads the Sarghress Heavy Infantry and was, until Ariel was officially recognized, Quain'tana's heir after Laele'aell's death.

 

* [[The Big Guy]]

* [[Braids of Barbarism]]

* [[Brawn Hilda]]

* [[Replacement Sibling]] (Quain'tana made her the heir after Laele's death to ensure someone would be there if she fell in battle)

* [[The Stoic]]

 

* [[Authority Equals Asskicking]]

* [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick]] (in the podcast about the dev'esses, the author describes her house like this)

{{quote|She is the Commander of the Highland Raiders, and her house is composed of her own family but also a lot of other troops that come within her groups to visit strange lands and meet strange people and kill them.}}

* [[Honorary Uncle|Honorary Aunt]]

* [[Number Two]] (in one of his podcasts, the creator of the comic states that the Yurunhiir house has a special function within the clan; namely that should something happen to the main Sarghress branch, the Yurunhiir would be the ones to rally the survivors into a new clan)

* [[Reasonable Authority Figure]] (she even agrees to let {{spoiler|1=[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=6689 Vaelia join the Highland Raiders]}})

 

Quill'yate's grandson and a Highland Raider.

 

* [[Blade on a Stick]]

* [[Canon Immigrant]] (from the Relic Hunters game, along with several other Highland Raiders)

 

* [[Eye Scream]] (the reason her eyes look the way they do is because the Kyorl said she didn't need them since she'd lost her way from the Goddess)

* [[The Heretic]] (at some point she came into conflict with the mainline Kyorls, and as a result was tortured and exiled)

* [[Knight Templar]] (Possibly, judging by how quick she is to jump to conclusions about Quain'tana's new heir, but it is too early to tell.)

* [[Milky White Eyes]] ([[Word of God]] is she can still sort of see, but not well, and mainly sees blurs of color)

* [[Noble Fugitive]] (after the Kyorl declared her a heretic she ran away to the Sarghress, and thus thinks little of the Kyorl and their ideals. Most other members of the Mae'yukir are either refugees from the Kyorl or survivors of the Dutan'vir.)

* [[The Skeptic]] (Taking [[The Resenter|Suu'be's]] comments at face value Itan'sha appears to be this in comparison. When Ariel is declared as the new heir, she immediately supposes the Jaal'darya must have had something to do with it; knowing that Quain'tana is barren.)

* [[Token Minority]] (She's the only drowussu dev'ess seen thus far)

 

* [[Because You Were Nice to Me]] (Mel says this to her {{spoiler|as she's escaping}})

* [[Double Agent]] (in true drow fashion, Lulianne is spying on Mel and reporting to Quain'tana, but at the same time has her own agenda when it comes to bringing back her old clan {{spoiler|and now, thanks to being possessed by Khaless, is also a spy for Snadhya'rune too, meaning that in reality she's more like a [[Double Reverse Quadruple Agent]]}})

* {{spoiler|[[Evil Costume Switch]]}} (her [[Red and Black and Evil All Over|wardrobe]] after the timeskip, {{spoiler|1=[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=6855 due to Khaless' influence]}}, especially in the pants and [[Cleavage Window]])

* {{spoiler|[[Grand Theft Me]]}} ({{spoiler|1=[[Word of God]] confirmed that [http://www.drowtales.com/wordpress/?p=3760 Khaless' takeover was complete.]}})

* [[Hair Color Dissonance]] (her original hair color (<ref>see [[Retcon]] further down this entry</ref>) has been separately described as both pink and brown by different people, while it's much more obviously a pink in her later design.)

* [[Halfbreed]] (by her own words, fourth generation half blood)

* [[Letting Her Hair Down]] (fan consensus is that it makes her even hotter)

* [[My Greatest Failure]] (was present when the Dutan'vir Ill'haress was killed {{spoiler|1=[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=5932 by her own guardian, who was somehow tainted and set on her]}})

** It's also implied that {{spoiler|1=leaving the Dutan'vir children behind at their urging to look for information on what happened to their warriors, since the children they liked [http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=5950 were either taken by the Kyorl'solenurn or sold to slavers]. The fact that Khaless uses Sael's face to throw Lu off also suggests this}}.)

* [[Purple Eyes]] ({{spoiler|formerly}})

* [[Rose-Haired Girl]] (more a faded pink than is usual of this trope)

* {{spoiler|[[Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains]]}} (provides a one-woman version of this trope in her wardrobe before and after the timeskip, {{spoiler|thanks to Khaless}})

* {{spoiler|[[Taking You with Me]]}} (says this to {{spoiler|Khaless}}, but {{spoiler|Lu survives, albeit possessed by Khaless}}.)

 

=== Abyte Mae'yukir Sarghress ===

 

* [[Ass Shove]] (she humorously refers to having "a stick up my ass the length of Chel" before she went to the Mae'yukir)

* [[Blade on a Stick]] (her weapon)

* [[Mythology Gag]] (the little cartoon wolf holding a letter in its mouth on her satchel was previously on the site's front page as the donation button until it was redesigned)

* [[Plucky Girl]] (and how! Just read [[Break the Cutie]] above and marvel at how she's managed to keep a positive attitude)

 

=== Rek'mar Mae'yukir Sarghress ===

 

* {{spoiler|[[Death by Sex]]}} (averted, since [[Word of God]] clarified that {{spoiler|he had his aura drained by Lulianne / Khaless, but was otherwise okay}})

* [[Halfbreed]] (he looks much more drowolath than drowussu)

 

 

Return to the main character index [[Drowtales/Characters|here]].

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Characters]]