Habibi

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Habibi is a graphic novel by Craig Thompson, published in in September 2011. It tells the story of two escaped child slaves, Dodola and Zam, who struggle to survive and find happiness. They get forcibly separated and are eventually reunited but not before experiencing several traumatic incidents. Meanwhile, their feelings for each other change as they get older.

The official website is here. Some images may be NSFW.

Not to be confused with the 1997 young-adult novel of the same name.

Tropes used in Habibi include:

• Affectionate Nickname: Dodola calls Zam "habibi," which roughly means "my beloved" in Arabic.
• Anachronism Stew: Despite the story taking place in modern times, Dodola is seen reading a chemistry textbook with very outdated information. And, none of the sultan's royal guards have guns. They just fight with halberds, swords and knives.
• Anger Born of Worry: Dodola yells at Zam for going to a village to trade water for food. Justified because they're both ex-slaves and can be recaptured at any time.
• Arranged Marriage: This happens to Dodola at age 9. Her husband does teach her how to read and write, though.
• As the Good Book Says...: Dodola regularly tells Zam stories from the Quran and Bible. This continues into their adulthoods.
• Bad Boss: The sultan of Wanatolia. What does he do to concubines who grow too old for his liking? Does he send them home to move on with their lives? No, he has them executed.
• Bittersweet Ending: Zam ends up a eunuch by his own choice, but him and Dodola still stay together as a couple. They even adopt a daughter.
• Black Best Friend: Hyacinth and Nadidah for Dodola.
• Coming of Age Story: For both Dodola and Zam.
• Complete Monster: The sultan of Wanatolia. He never shows any sign of caring for anyone but himself. After his and Dodola's son is murdered, she requests that he stop having sex with her during her mourning period. He rapes her while showing no grief over his son's death. Also, see the Bad Boss example above.
• Crapsack World: Holy shit, Wanatolia is one depressing country! Its rural areas are filthy slums. Garbage, disease and death are common sights. At one point, a fisherman is seen removing decomposed corpses from the lake he usually fishes from. Also, being kidnapped and sold into slavery is a legal and common occurrence. Some people, including Dodola's parents, sell their children for food and water out of desperation. The sultan is a fat and bastardly absolute monarch who happily allows all this to continue while living in a luxurious palace with hundreds of concubines.
• Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: When Dodola and Zam reunite after 6 years of separation.
• Despair Event Horizon: The fisherman Noah comes dangerously close to this. His village is a Wretched Hive. His homeless friend dies. Most the people who stay as his guests are ungrateful bastards. His house is blown up. He gets better after Zam and Dodola help him rebuild it.
• Domestic Abuser: Dodola's husband slaps her for accidentally spilling ink on his work.
• Doorstopper: The story is almost 700 pages long. It's a comic, so reading it still shouldn't take long.
• Driven to Suicide: Almost. Dodola confesses her romantic feelings for Zam and asks to have a child with him. This is after he already castrated himself. He regrets doing so to the point where he considers jumping off a dam to his death. And, that's why you don't make life-changing decisions on a whim!
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Ghaniyah
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Dodola and Zam go through hell before reuniting. Dodola is sold off to marriage at the age of 9. Then, her husband is killed, and she's sold into slavery. She rescues Zam and lives in the desert while having to resort to prostitution to survive. Then, she gets kidnapped into a royal harem for 6 years. While escaping, she gets sick from accidentally swallowing sewage and almost dies. As for Zam, he sees Dodola get raped and is so mentally scarred by it that he chooses to become a eunuch. He becomes friends with Ghaniyah and sees him get raped too. And, this is in addition to being separated from Dodola but not knowing why. Then, he gets kidnapped into the sultan's palace and is forced to work there.
• Eunuchs Are Evil: Averted with all examples except for the Chief Black Eunuch in the sultan's palace.
• Exact Words: The sultan captures Dodola but promises to release her if she can "turn a jug of water into gold." If she fails, she gets executed. She does turn a jug of water into gold.....by trading the former for the latter.
• Fan Disservice: Anytime the sultan of Wanatolia gets naked.
• Fat Bastard: Played straight with the sultan. Averted with Zam (as an adult), Hyacinth and Noah the fisherman.
• Foil: Zam and Nahid are this to each other. Both only survive as long as they do because they're taken care of by prostitutes. Zam is raised by Dodola, and Nahid gets most of his income from Ghaniyah. The difference is that Nahid hates Ghaniyah for being a prostitute. Zam, on the other hand, feels nothing but love and gratitude for Dodola.
• Fragile Speedster: Dodola is fast enough to outrun several royal guards but isn't strong enough to stop 1 man from holding her down and raping her.
• Good People Have Good Sex: Shown in one scene with Dodola and Zam even though the latter is a eunuch.
• Hello, Nurse!: Dodola gets this reaction from almost every man in the story, much to her displeasure.
• Honor Before Reason: Dodola and Zam have just enough money on them to buy a boat to escape Wanatolia for good. However, they decide to buy a slave and adopt her as their daughter. The story ends before we know whether or not they ever make it out, but at least we know they'll keep trying.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Dodola raises herself and Zam by exchanging sex for food with traveling caravans. Zam is so traumatized by seeing her get raped by one of her clients that he castrates himself. Dodola feels great guilt over it when she finds out. Ghaniyah counts too.
• Hypocrite: Nahid hates Ghaniyah for being a prostitute and repeatedly tries to turn Zam against him. This is in spite of Ghaniyah's income ensuring the survival of the entire group. After Ghaniyah is injured and unable to work, Nahid encourages Zam to do the same thing as Ghaniyah! One of the other eunuchs even calls him out on his hypocrisy.
• Iron Woobie: Both Dodola and Zam. Although they're forcibly separated with little hope of ever meeting again, they almost never give up on trying to find each other. The "almost" is because Dodola did give up once after being held prisoner in the sultan's palace for a few years and having a son with him. She quickly regains her determination after that son dies.
• Ironic Echo: Zam goes to a village marketplace to sell clean water, and a poor woman asks him to spare her some for free. His response is, "Well, it ain't free." Later, when Zam is forced to survive on his own, he meets the same woman and asks her to spare him some food for free. Her response is the same one he gave her earlier, word for word.
• Ironic Nickname: The large and scary-looking bodyguard assigned to Dodola in the sultan's palace is named... Hyacinth, a type of flower.
• Karma Houdini: The men who rape Dodola in the dessert and kidnap Zam into the palace, respectively. Whoever killed Dodola's biological son Rajab is definitely an example. The sultan is worse than all of them combined.
• Kick the Dog: Everything the sultan does counts as this.
• Large and In Charge: The Chief Black Eunuch even though he's rarely seen directly interacting with his subordinates. Zam becomes this when he's promoted at his workplace.
• Love Epiphany: Dodola realizes she's in love with Zam a few days after they almost have sex.
• Made a Slave: Dodola after her husband is killed by robbers and she herself is kidnapped by them. Averted with Zam, who is born into slavery because his biological mother is one.
• Moment Killer: Dodola and Zam are about to have sex. Zam chickens out because he thinks his lust makes him impure. He gets over it eventually.
• Ms. Fanservice: Dodola, for sure.
• My Girl Is a Slut: Averted with Dodola and Zam. Both are traumatized by Dodola's past as a prostitute even though she only did it out of desperation. Played straight with the sultan, who kidnaps Dodola because he hears about her amazing sexual skills.
• Nobody Poops: Horribly subverted with Dodola in 1 scene. She catches a disease from accidentally swallowing sewage. At night, Zam takes her outside to vomit and poop at the same time. It may be the nastiest scene from the book.
• Official Couple: Dodola and Zam. It's even on the book's front, back and side covers!
• One Head Taller: Dodola, being older, is 1 head taller than Zam when he's young. As an adult, he's 1 head taller than her. This is best illustrated on the front and back covers of the book, respectively.
• Opium Den: The place where sultan's harem resides is this. It really shows how happy they are there.
• Parental Neglect: Dodola neglects her biological son with the sultan because she's depressed about being a prisoner and misses Zam. She decides to put a stop to it only for her son to be murdered shortly after.
• Parental Substitute: Dodola is this for Zam, who is 9 years younger than her. It still doesn't stop them from becoming the Official Couple. Nadidah and Hyacinth also become this for Dodola's biological son Rajab while she was being neglectful. Nadidah was even the one who came up with his name.
• Platonic Life Partners: Subverted with Dodola and Zam. The reader expects them to end up like this after Zam has himself castrated. But, no, they still end up as a couple.
• Precocious Crush: Zam on Dodola. His feelings are eventually reciprocated.
• Rape as Drama: A common occurrence throughout the story.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Dodola, although kind and loving, is noticeably short-tempered. Zam starts out the same way but mellows out as he gets older.
• Relationship Upgrade: Dodola and Zam are an adoptive mother and son, respectively. By the end, they're also lovers.
• Scenery Gorn: The slums of Wanatolia. Their streets are filled with garbage and corpses. Their lake is polluted by sewage, so much that all the fish die.
• Scenery Porn: There's no other way to describe the sultan's palace. Also doubles as a Gilded Cage for Dodola and the other concubines.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: Hyacinth and some other palace eunuchs help Dodola pull off her "magic" trick even though it risks their lives to do so.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Nadidah eventually escapes from the sultan's palace. Dodola wants Hyacinth to tell her how to do it, but he doesn't trust her with the secret.
• Sex Is Evil and I Am Horny: Zam feels this way after seeing Dodola get raped. It bothers him enough to make him choose to be castrated. He eventually gets over this mindset.
• She's All Grown Up: Gender-reversed with Dodola and Zam. Dodola starts showing signs of attraction to Zam after 6 years of separation. She even notes several times how much he's changed.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: Dodola and Zam have a moment like this after the former recovers from her sickness and fully recognizes him. The fisherman Noah looks on awkwardly. Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Funny because she talks to him as if he's still her infant son.
• So Beautiful It's a Curse: Dodola is forcibly separated from Zam because the sultan kidnaps her into his harem.
• Teacher-Student Romance: The relationship between Dodola and Zam could count as this since she taught him how to read and write.
• Undying Loyalty: Dodola to Zam. She had the perfect chance to escape slavery by herself but chose to go back for him at great personal risk.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Nadidah escapes from the sultan's palace and is never seen again. Hyacinth stops appearing in the story after Dodola's escape from the palace. The worst case scenario is that the sultan executed him for helping Dodola with her trick.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Ghaniyah, the eunuch prostitute who befriends Zam. He's so attractive that he eventually gets raped.
• Wife Husbandry: Inverted with Dodola and Zam. Dodola raises Zam as her adopted son, and he becomes sexually attracted to her when she's 21 and he's 12, but she doesn't return his feelings until he's about 18 or so.
• Would Hurt a Child: The slave traders who almost killed Zam and whoever killed Dodola's biological son Rajab.