Errant Story: Difference between revisions

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[[File:ESch37small.jpg|frame| You might want to stand back, [[Walking Disaster Area|bad things]] [[Doom Magnet|tend to happen around these three.]]]]

A [[High Fantasy]] [[Web Comic]] that ran from 2002 to 2012, and the second webcomic of Michael Poe (''[[Exploitation Now]]'' being his first, ''[[Does Not Play Well With Others]]'' his third). With a light touch of [[Post Modernism]], [http://www.errantstory.com Errant Story] has a sizable amount of self-referential humor, [[Genre Savvy]] characters, and quite a few [[lampshade]]d, [[Subverted Trope|subverted]], [[Invoked Trope|invoked]], and roundly mocked tropes. It starts out following the adventures of a half-elven mage seeking ultimate arcane power, though as other main characters join up it quickly becomes evident that there is much more going on behind the scenes. The comic underwent slow onset [[Cerebus Syndrome]], but still retained many of its humorous elements well into the series.

Character-specific tropes can be found on the [[Errant Story/Characters|character sheet]]. The comic also [http://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page has a wiki].

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* [[All-Encompassing Mantle]]: The regular elven military loves this trope.

* [[All There in the Manual]]: Extensive information regarding the world of Errant Story can be found on the comic's wiki.

* [[All Trolls Are Different]]: The trolls were one of the original species (possibly the second after the dwarves) to inhabit the world, though their civilization was destroyed and their numbers devastated once the various elven races got together and launched a long, though ultimately unsuccessful campaign to exterminate them. They were likely created by Anilis and Senilis, the elven creator gods and were tutored by the same demigods that taught the elves, though the elves believe that the trolls were failures and sought to wipe them from existence. From what has been seen of the trolls they are large, strong, matriarchal (as apparently only the women are able to use magic), and cannibalistic, though they see this as a sort of immortality as the consumed are believed to live on as a part of the tribe.

** They seem to mirror the Kroot of Warhammer 40k in this regard, though without the freaky genetics that make it actually true, and having your remains eaten after you die seems to be something of a compliment (they do it to humans only if suitably impressed). In fact, one of the punishments in their culture is [http://www.errantstory.com/2009-07-08 "no one save the dirt and the worms shall eat of your meat."] Likewise, they consider it very offensive to cremate someone's remains and burning a troll's corpse will royally piss off their tribe.

** Interestingly, despite the aforementioned cannibalism they also seem to be the [[Only Sane Man|Only Sane Race]].

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* [[Badass Back]]: {{spoiler|When he attacks the Praenubilus Astu, the last elven city left in the world, Ian kills an elven guard behind him by causing the guard's head to explode without looking.}}

* [[Badass Grandpa]]: Ichiro Hinadori, Meji's grandfather, is an impressively powerful mage, an unrivaled [[Papa Wolf]], and has balls of solid titanium.

* [[Badass Normal]]: Jon has his guns, a good aim, and his wits. So far, he's just about managed to hold his own against all the magical super-warriors he's run into.

* [[Bad Boss]]: High Commander Yenhael.

* [[Bad Dreams]]: Sarine has had at least one of {{spoiler|the [http://www.errantstory.com/2006-06-07 stillbirth of her child.]}} Considering that it happened two thousand years ago and is only part of the emotional baggage she has been carrying it was certainly not her only one.

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** ''Major'' example: [[Physical God|Meji]] saves the elves from utter annihilation, and afterwards one of the elves arrogantly demands that she give up her powers, "generously" offering her amnesty if she does so, and promising to hunt her forever if she doesn't. One forum post compared Meji's saving of the elves {{spoiler|from Ian}} to a bunch of Jewish commandos parachuting into Berlin in 1945 to save German civilians from the depredations of the Red Army, so the elf's reaction is as [[Ungrateful Bastard|ungrateful]] as it is suicidal. The [http://www.errantstory.com/2012-01-02/5340 page] is even called "Poking Bears With Sticks".

* [[Buy Them Off]]: A favorite tactic of Sarine when she needs to quickly get people to cooperate is to [http://www.errantstory.com/2009-01-28 bribe them with an artifact] or a piece of [[Lost Technology]] she has on account of her position as an elven ranger. She even [http://www.errantstory.com/2009-02-11 comments] that at the rate she's going she'll run out of stuff to buy people off with.

* [[Came Back Wrong]]: When {{spoiler|Ian [http://www.errantstory.com/2007-03-07 tries to resurrect his dead sister] she comes back as an empty shell.}}

* [[Can't Argue with Elves]]: Played straight in some cases, though just as often someone like [[Badass Normal|Jon]] [[Screw You, Elves|will tell them to get bent.]]

* [[Cats Are Magic]]: Ellis. He can talk, fly and is extremely resilient to offensive magic.

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** [[The Chick]] / [[Team Pet]]: Ellis

* [[Flashback Nightmare]]: Seen in spades as Sarine [http://www.errantstory.com/2006-06-05/518 dreams] of her {{spoiler|half-elven}} daughter who died at birth.

* [[Foreshadowing]]: WAY back, Meji [http://www.errantstory.com/2003-08-27/138 mentioned] some insane conspiracy theories: {{spoiler|the races were created by acient super advanced alien life forms, Veracia and the elves are running [[Ancient Conspiracy|ancient conspiracies]], and northerners are using [[Lost Technology]]. Every single one's been proved true}}.

* [[Forever War]]: The Errant War dragged on for centuries, to the point where it stopped being about the events that kicked it off and degenerated into a war of genocide. It eventually "petered out" when there was no one left to fight simply because everyone was dead.

* [[From the Mouths of Babes]]: the reason for the [[Glamour Failure]] below.

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* [[Interservice Rivalry]]: Between the ranger corps and the regular elven military. The former thinks the other is a bunch of backwards do-nothings who should leave matters of the outside world to those who know how to get around there, while the latter thinks the other is a pack of lunatics for volunteering to leave their [[Hidden Elf Village]] in the first place. Illustrated [http://www.errantstory.com/2004-02-23 here.]

* [[In the Blood]]: Half-elves (reputedly) have a tendency to go violently insane. This is ultimately what led to the Errant War which devastated the old elven empire and the reason behind the elves' policy of killing half-elves wherever they are found.

* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]: Many of the characters, such as Jon, Sarine, and Meji, are all a bit dickish at first glance. In fact the only one who is nice on the surface {{spoiler|turns out to be a genocidal maniac.}}

* [[Jumping the Shark]]: Invoked by Sara and Bani [http://www.errantstory.com/2010-05-28/4823 in a commentary strip], where they lament that the author has now done so after Chapter 45.

** And then reversed, [[Russian Reversal|Soviet style]], in [http://www.errantstory.com/2010-05-31/4824 the next commentary strip].

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* [[Reasonable Authority Figure]]: The elven Commander Nisotta and Paul, the Ensigerum second in command. Pretty much everyone else with any real power is at least a little [[Idiot Ball|idiotic.]]

* [[Red Herring Shirt]]: An inept and cowardly guard from the Veracian Church, [http://errantstory.com/2007-09-07 named Sandel,] {{spoiler|[http://errantstory.com/2007-09-10 turns out to actually be an undercover spy for the Ensigerum] Time-Ninja-Monks! Still only a [[Mauve Shirt]], but that's a hell of a lot better than being an NPC Guard.}} Also, the [[Faceless Goons|Viradior]] who attacks Sarine after her arrival in the elven territories and gets knocked on her ass turns out to be Misa, a moderately important side character, performing an [[Attack Hello]].

* [[Red Shirt]]: Plenty of them, from Veracian guards to elven soldiers.

* [[Replacement Goldfish]]: Part of the reason {{spoiler|Meji is not killed by Sarine is because she is reminded of her stillborn child. Sarine still hasn't come clean about this, but it's become less of a motivation after Meji ran off with Ian}}

* [[Rousing Speech]]: Combined with [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]] when [http://www.errantstory.com/2011-04-07/5178 Sarine addresses the elves] following {{spoiler|Ian launching his assault}}:

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* [[Throwing Your Sword Always Works]]: Used, but only effective when [http://www.errantstory.com/2009-04-08 paired with magic].

* [[Too Stupid to Live]]: The elves, full stop. See [[Ungrateful Bastard]] for the biggest example.

* [[Training ~~From~~ Hell]]: Endured by Sara and Chris en route to becoming Ensigerum monks, with the little extra detail that {{spoiler|the Powers That Be secretly hope that Chris won't survive it -- as Sara eventually tells him.}}

* [[Training from Hell]]: Endured by Sara and Chris en route to becoming Ensigerum monks, with the little extra detail that {{spoiler|the Powers That Be secretly hope that Chris won't survive it -- as Sara eventually tells him.}}

* [[Troperiffic]]: Proudly. Poe has been known to reference TV Tropes by name in some of his [[Filler]] strips.

* [[24-Hour Armor]]: Mostly averted, humans generally don't even wear armor at all let alone full plate (the only people who seem to are elves) and even those who wear more reasonable armor don't wear it when they don't need to. The regular elven military does use full plate, and the problems with it are [[Lampshaded|mentioned]] [http://www.errantstory.com/2008-09-05 here.]

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[[Category:Webcomics Long Runners]]

[[Category:Fantasy Webcomics]]

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