To the Bitter End

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

"For centuries, the people of the Plane of Ithia have suffered under the iron-fisted rule of the immortal sorcerer Morganem and his Council of Six. Now finally their pleas for help are answered: five legendary heroes arrive from beyond the crimsom storms of the Warp, seeking to topple Morganem's corrupt Empire.
But Morganem will not step silently into the darkness of history, and he prepares to fight these interlopers to the bitter end."

—The official website's summary.

To the Bitter End is a single-player Real Time Strategy Action RPG campaign created for Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. The website of the campaign is here, as well as links to more information on its characters and concepts.

Not to be confused with the infamous Ranma ½ fanfic, The Bitter End.

Tropes used in To the Bitter End include:
  • All There in the Manual: The official site contains a massive amount of background story and information, though it isn't necessary to play the game.
  • Exclusively Evil: The Void Children, and the Dharuk.
    • Though the Dharuk seem to show regret in the Epilogue
  • Animate Dead: Kaine Shariven and Dustwalker both use this ability extensively.
  • Anti-Grinding: Each Chapter has a level cap, which can be reached simply playing it from start to finish, without ever needing to take the additonal risk of specifically seeking out enemies to kill. The time limits in many Chapters further discourage level grinding.
  • Anti-Hero: Soul Reaver fits this trope - he might be dedicated to honour and justice, but his interpretation of these seems to give him a lot of leeway to do as he sees fit. This includes willingly using an Evil Weapon, summoning and controlling Daemons, absorbing the souls of slain foes to augment his powers and killing anyone he deems evil enough. And near the end of Chapter V, Soul Reaver alludes to having killed his own son to uphold his dedication to his beliefs.
    • And Fei Serumen, of course. He's an ancient Vampire Lord, after all.
  • Anti-Villain: Eryion Xanatha, one of Morganem's immortal Warlords is a typical Type IV on the Sliding Scale of Anti-Villains. He's basically The Paladin, but a past oath prevents him from betraying Morganem even though it's becoming clear that Morganem has turned into a Big Bad. In Chapter VII, rather than breaking his vow and surrending once it became clear he wouldn't win, he continues to fight to the death, only asking for Cameron to remember his well-intentioned efforts.
    • Kherek greatly cares about the Dharuk Mooks under his command. His hatred of the heroes is justified considering how many Dharuk they kill.
    • Morganem himself. A Well-Intentioned Extremist and Totalitarian Utilitarian, everything he's done he did in a genuine effort to make the lives of his mortal subjects better in the long term. It just didn't work out the way he planned, even after centuries. He acknowledges he has died a tyrant in his dying moments, and asks for the Companions to forgive him.
  • Asskicking Equals Authority: The Dharuk.
  • Apocalypse How: Class Z by Uthurak's intentions, which exists to destroy all creation.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: Played straight with Morganem, most of the Council of Six and Kurgah Ghar, but averted with Kaine Shariven. Despite the fact that Kaine is a member of the Council of Six he is actually less powerful than most of the Dharuk Officers and Dharuk Champions.
  • Badass Cape: Soul Reaver, Morganem, and Sera Poi all wear one.
  • Big Bad: Morganem
  • Bolivian Army Ending / Post-Climax Confrontation: Subverted Trope, with the Companions leaving Morganem's citadel putting them right in front of the Dharuk army assembled... who proceed to leave and scatter.
  • Boss Battle: A lot of these, typically at least one per Chapter. Chapter VII has SIX.
  • Black Magic: Soul Reaver's powers, Fei Serumen's powers over the Abyss, and most of Kitharsis' abilities.
  • Black and Grey Morality: Chapter I has Soul Reaver freeing a bunch of criminals whose units are unambiguously labelled as "Thug" and "Assassin" and so on. Soul Reaver himself notes the concept prior to the final fight of the chapter, calling the criminals' crimes small compared to the boss' plans that will "crush the spirits of hundreds".
  • Blow You Away: Kitharsis can summon a whirlwind for one of his ultimates.
  • Character Level: Heroes rise from Level 1 up to a maximum Level of 50.
  • The Chessmaster: Though it does not matter in the context of the campaign itself, Word of God states that Slayer is one of these. His enigmatic 'Master' is not at all benevolent, but he shares a common enemy with the Companions in Uthurak. Slayer is aware of all of this, and his actions are all calculated to ensure the Companions do his dirty work for him.
  • Combat Medic: Sera Poi is the only character amongst the Companions to have abilities that heal herself and her allies.
  • Combat Tentacles: Used by the Void Growth in Chapter IV and Morganem in Chapter VIII.
  • Critical Hit: Soul Reaver's "Master Of Battle" and Sera Poi's "Deadly Marksman".
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Void children vs Dharuks in Chapter IV.
  • Cutscene Power to the Max: Very much in evidence during the victory cinematic at the end of Chapter VIII, where the heroes display even greater powers than normal. Justified because they're pushing themselves to the absolute limit one final time to prevent Uthurak from destroying the universe..
    • Also evident in Chapter V, when Sera fires a single super-powered arrow half-way across the map and hits Kathryn in the chest.
      • Possibly justified because Sera implies it was a special arrow that she was keeping in reserve.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Soul Reaver's hero title is "Immortal Dark Knight" with fitting colours in his appearance, but he's totally a good guy.
  • Designated Girl Fight: Sera against Kathryn in Chapter VII.
  • Determinator: The Companions, separated by magic across worlds, all nonetheless continue their fight against Morganem. At the start, they are five people (immortal themselves, granted) against a group of seven immortals creating an empire of worlds with suitable armies.
    • Soul Reaver in particular - he became an immortal after being crippled and tortured fighting a demonic Shadowlord. Unwilling to give up, he suddenly managed to tap into the power of his own soul. Souls are eternal and infinite, as is Soul Reaver's potential now (though he currently cannot consciously draw on the full extent of said potential). [1]
  • Distant Finale: The Epilogue.
  • Easy Amnesia: All five heroes suffer from this after their disastrous first assault on Morganem's fortress. It's used to explain why they have to level back up to regain full powers over the course of the campaign.
  • Eldritch Abomination: The phenomenally powerful and otherworldly Void Children that Morganem allies himself with. And, of course, their true form, Uthurak.
  • Evil Is Not a Toy: Morganem really shouldn't have summoned those Void Children... you know, considering they were pieces of an Eldritch Abomination that seeks to destroy all existence.
  • Experience Meter
  • Explosive Breeder: The Dark Memories, which split into two after every few attacks.
  • Eyes Always Shut: Slayer, though wisps of blue light smoulder from between his closed eyelids.
  • Fanfic: The game's Multiverse setting comes from a tandem story, some elements of which drew inspiration from other universes. For example, the character of Cameron Aileron and his background story were clearly inspired by the Space Marines from Warhammer 40,000.
    • However, while it shares the same name as the Warp from Warhammer 40,000, it seems that the Warp in "To the Bitter End" has no association with evil Chaos Gods. It's just what lies beyond the borders of reality. That doesn't make it any less dangerous to travel through.
  • Face Heel Turn: Crown Prince Thorin in Chapter V having gone to a neighboring kingdom to ask for military aid, returns saying it was found in ruins and thus believed the only way to help their people survive was to surrender to Morganem. He brings a bunch of Morganem's troops along for the ride just to show he's not joking.
  • Five-Bad Band: The council of Six
  • Five-Man Band: The five heroes (the Companions) fit this trope to a greater or lesser degree:
    • The Hero: Soul Reaver, the first hero the Player controls.
    • The Lancer: Cameron Aileron.
    • The Smart Guy: Fei Serumen (though his intelligence isn't the highest, he seems to have the sharpest tongue, and he relies on speed and evasion in combat).
    • The Big Guy: Kitharsis.
    • The Chick: Sera Poi.
  • Fragile Speedster: Fei Serumen.
  • Freudian Excuse: Most of the Warlords suffered from their experiences around mortals, leading to them believing that mortals don't deserve their free will. This is why they band together to try and control all the mortals in their home universe.
  • Green Thumb: One of Sera Poi's Ultimate abilities goes under this.
  • Guide Dang It: Not everything you're supposed to do within the game is perfectly clear, and the difficulty level is high. Fortunately, the hints section on the website can help out.
  • Guns Are Worthless: Cameron Aileron packs a machine gun... yet it does less damage than the medieval weaponry of his companions or some enemies.
    • Justified somewhat by the fact that the medieval weapons tend to be in the hands of superhuman warriors with phenomenal strength.
  • Heel Face Turn: Dying attempting to hold off the protagonists, the Dharuk leader in Chapter VII gives the Companions information to warn them about the Warlords' plans to defeat them.
    • And in Chapter I Hektor Bliten comes back to help Soul Reaver at a crucial moment. Although he admits is was partially because he couldn't have defeated the enemy forces on his own.
  • Hit and Run Tactics: How to defeat Kherek and Kathryn in Chapter VII.
  • Hold the Line: The first section of Chapter V has four of the heroes helping their NPC allies, the Guardians, hold off an enemy siege until reinforcements can arrive. Subverted, the reinforcements don't arrive and the contingent that left to ask for reinforcements made a Face Heel Turn.
  • Hyperspace Is a Scary Place: The Warp is an anti-reality between universes that completely destroys anything 'real' that enters it. Even creatures somehow protected from physical destruction usually go insane. In the Prologue even the Companions (though experienced Warp travellers and extremely powerful beings in their own right) are scattered and stripped of their memories and powers because they are unexpectedly hurled into the Warp.
    • And in Chapter VII, taking too long to stop the Warlords results in them unleashing an even more powerful version of the same attack... which this time will prove fatal.
  • Hypocrite: Dustwalker's outrage at Soul Reaver and Fei and calling them murderers for killing Kaine, his apprentice and only friend, evidences some Moral Myopia considering how they are both Necromancers, Kaine earlier being shown using Fei to kill a lot of innocent civilians for the purpose of raising them as armies for Morganem.
    • Although admittedly, it was Kaine that was responsible for all that killing, not Dustwalker, and there wasn't any evidence that Dustwalker would have approved of it. Dustwalker is actually pretty neutral... at least until his friend gets killed.
  • "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Soul Reaver against an insane Fei Serumen. During these battles, Soul Reaver refuses to use his Sphere of Annihilation spell (should the player try to do so), making it clear that his goal is not to kill his former ally, but rather to bring him to his senses.
  • Immortality: Possessed by several of the heroes and the Companions, and the primary unifying trait of the seven villains. Morganem's longevity as a Healing Factor-type Immortal is the primary reason why he believes himself worthy of the role of The Emperor and why he chose the Council of Six to stand by him.
  • Last of His Kind: Fei Serumen, having defeated and absorbed the rest of them.
  • Lightning Bruiser: The Dharuk with their Dharuk Battle Frenzy ability.
  • Lowered Monster Difficulty: Most enemies, justified because the characters are getting stronger.
    • Inverted Trope: (at the begining) with the Dharuk's Mooks. In the prologue the Companions were able to defeat a Dharuk's army with relative ease, while the first level, a Dharuk is hard to beat.
      • The Dharuk's Mini bosses. In the prologue, five of them are defeated with relative ease, while the seventh chapter an equal number are very difficult to overcome.
    • Averted Trope: Most Void Children units, (hatred, Desapir, Desolations, Malice and Sorrow.)
  • Magic Knight: Soul Reaver especially excels both in close combat and offensive magic. The rest of his Companions also have magical and physical abilities alike.
  • Mechanical Monster: The Juggernaut, without question. A towering, spike-covered tank that hurls explosive pillars and balls of chaos fire, spontaneously ignites anything that comes close, teleports in constant reinforcements, and to top it off, is barely scratched by most attacks.
  • Men of Sherwood: The allies in Chapters I, III and V.
  • Mighty Glacier: Kherek, without a doubt. He's hard a nails and hits like several tanks strapped together. The fact that he moves slowly is pretty much the only reason why Kitharsis can defeat him in a duel.
  • Mooks
  • Mr. Exposition: Slayer, who absolutely loves filling people in on the details of what's going on. His projection appears to fight in Chapter VIII, but to little effect.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Morganem upon realizing what the Void Children are and what is happening to him.
  • Necromancer: First there's Kaine Shariven, who is already a powerful Necromancer. And then there's Dustwalker, his Undead mentor...
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Cameron Aileron is an immortal, psychic, fire-elemental humanoid ex-Space Marine. Damn, that's cool.
  • Nonstandard Game Over: Chapter I if you let the guards catch you. Also happens in Chapter V if you let the allied heroes die, and in Chapter II and VII if you allow the timers to expire. Attacking and killing peaceful allies in Chapter III nets another one.
  • No Ontological Inertia: Played straight with Khaal Spire's collapse, though justified in-game by being a (now damaged) magical construct partially maintained by the Big Bad.
    • Also played straight with the subsequent vanishing of the Void Children.
    • But otherwise mostly averted in the Epilogue, which suggests that while Ithia is now recovering, there is still much work to be done.
  • One-Hit Kill: This is what happens to your entire party if you don't act fast enough to stop the casting of Uthurak's Apocalypse spell.
  • One-Man Army: The Companions and most of Mini Bosses and Bosses.
  • Our Vampires Are Different: Fei Serumen, other than displaying the traditional vampiric immortality and thirst for blood, seems to have few of the problems that other vampires do. Sunlight, for example, doesn't seem to faze him one bit.
  • The Paladin: King Garamond and Prince Theros Eridem. Honourable holy warriors who uphold their charge to the last, all the while stoving in heads with giant warhammers.
  • Playing with Fire: Cameron Aileron's capabilities.
  • Powered Armor: Cameron Aileron wears a full body suit of this.
  • Psychic Powers: Also Cameron Aileron's powers.
  • Psycho Rangers: The Council of Six (except Kaine Shariven).
  • Rain of Arrows: One Sera Poi's abilities.
  • Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Soul Reaver looks to be in his late twenties despite apparently being many millenia old. The same goes for most of the other immortals (save for Kaine Shariven)
  • Red Shirt: Those town guards who join you on Chapter II have no chance in hell of surviving if you bring them with you to fight Fei. It was their decision, though...
  • Restart At Level One: Soul Reaver in Chapter I.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: King Garamond, Crown Prince Theros and Prince Sorin Eridem.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Uthurak. Morganem unwittingly releases it in the Prologue.
  • Shoulders of Doom: Several examples, including Soul Reaver, Cameron Aileron and Morganem.
  • Smurfette Principle: Sera is the only female Companion. Kathryn is the only female member of the Council of Six. The only other woman to appear in the game is an unnamed and unfortunate victim of an insane and bloodthirsty Fei in Chapter II.
  • Sorting Algorithm of Evil: In the Chapters I and II, the enemies are human and Undead, in Chapter III are replaced by Dharuk, while in Chapter IV, the enemies are the Void Children.
    • Played straight with the Bosses, but averted with the Dharuk Officers.
  • Strategy RPG
  • Stripperiffic: Kathryn Urdanna wears leather, and not a lot of it. Somewhat justified since apparently she used her, ahem, talents to great effect as an assassin.
  • Summon Magic: Soul Reaver's "Summon Daemons", Kitharsis' "Create Skeletal Minions" and Fei Serumen's "Abyssal Summon", to name just a few.
  • Timed Mission: Several Chapters have a timed element, though in some cases the timer is implicit (with enemies growing stronger that longer the player delays, for example). Luckily, the time limits are not arbitrary but rather make sense in the context of the plot.
  • Title Drop: The final playable Chapter is fittingly titled "The Bitter End".
  • Torture Technician: Soul Reaver kills one for the key he holds in Chapter I.
  • Tragedy: Especially in Morganem's backstory and ultimate fate.
  • Unexpected Gameplay Change / Genre Shift: The first chapter is a Real Time Strategy with RPG elements, but the rest of the game is an party-using RPG.
  • Unholy Matrimony: Maelstrom and Kathryn Urdanna both seem genuinely in love. Any harm that befalls Kathryn at the Companions' hands drives Maelstrom into a fit of berserker rage. And Kathryn's final thoughts before her death are of Maelstrom.
  • Villain Pedigree: Human and Undead Mooks.
  • Warrior Prince: The Crown Prince Theros Eridem and Prince Sorin Eridem.
  • The War Sequence: The Prologue, Chapter V and Chapter VI.
  • What Measure Is a Mook?: Played straight initially, but later averted when Kherek pointedly draws attention to the slaughter the Companions have been wreaking amongst the Dharuk.
  1. ↑ One of his abilities is even titled "Iron Will"!
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