History Webcomic / DownTheHatch

** Taken UpToEleven in the side comic ''Cookies and Karma'', showing a loving close-up of a fire-demon's bloody, gore-soaked maw in the middle of an attack on a human village.

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* PragmaticVillainy: Mort denies Noah's request for warm clothes (he's not that stupid), yet later decides to [[MyBloodRunsHot snuggle up with Noah]] to sleep as the youth lacking clothing is ill-suited to survive the cold climate without the fire demon. Not out of concern of Noah's welfare, but waking to see that his "breakfast" frozen to death yet again, [[CatAndMouseBoss when he wants to play]], was proving to be ''unentertaining''.

* JerkassRealization: Mort teases this, as in Chapter 6, [[spoiler:Noah wakes up on top of his belly instead of inside it.]] However, Mort quickly reverts to type:

-->'''Noah:'''[=NononoNO!=] Not again!!

-->'''Noah:'''Wha - what happened?
-->'''Mort:'''[[AC:Oh, you froze to death. Again.]]
-->'''Noah:'''I - I told you...
-->'''Mort:'''[[AC:Frankly, it's getting a little old, so I supposed it would be in both our interests to keep you warm. It's no fun eating ''frozen'' meat. [[HereWeGoAgain Speaking of which...!]]]]
-->'''Noah:'''NononoNO! Not again!!

--> '''Mort:''' [Well, if you're ''sorry'', I suppose I can forgive you. In that case, just go. Go on, go look for... whatever it was you were babbling about.

* ClingyMacGuffin: The amulet of Rakkura is sentient and ''refuses'' to part with Noah whom it has chosen. [[spoiler: In actuality, it despises Noah as much as Mort, and curses him with immortality as punishment for a past transgression.]]

* ClingyMacGuffin: The Ouroboros amulet is sentient and ''refuses'' to part with Noah whom it has chosen.

* {{Ouroboros}}: The amulet. In addition to [[spoiler:reacting violently to fire-demons]], the snake motif strongly hints at the amulet's true nature, and why Mort wants it so badly: [[spoiler:It's an amulet of infinite respawns. The one bonded with it can die an infinite number of times and always will come back to life, from any remnants at all.]]

* SnakesAreSinister: The cult of Rakkura worships the snake god who is completely immortal and bestows eternal life with whomever its amulets bond with. Rakkura itself appears to be quite malevolent and only remains with Noah [[spoiler: because [[MyGreatestFailure his past failures]] denied the deity a mortal soul it previously bonded with.]]

* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: [[spoiler:Mort finds the amulet he's searched his whole life for - but the amulet turns out to be SentientPhebotinum and ''hates'' Mort, choosing Noah instead to bond to. Turns out the amulet Rakkura also hates Noah, and is only bonded with him as punishment for a heinous crime.]]

* SentientPhlebotinum: The amulet. [[spoiler: It's wearing an ''awfully'' smug look after successfully repelling Mort, and when Naji asks it who it has chosen, ''a spirit snake pops up.'' It takes one look at Mort, hisses at him, then ''bites into Noah's shoulder'' and wraps itself around his throat.]]

* SnakesAreSinister: The cult of Rakkura worships the snake god who is completely immortal and bestows eternal life with whomever its amulets bond with. Rakkura itself appears to be quite malevolent and only remains with Noah [[spoiler: because his failures in past denied the deity a mortal soul it previously bonded with.]]

* TheManyDeathsOfYou: Since Noah [[spoiler:cannot permanently die]] while the Ouroboros amulet remains bonded to him, and fire-demons can live for many centuries, he's going to [[spoiler:get [[NightmareFuel killed over and over again]]]].

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Invoked directly with Noah, who considers the Ouroboros amulet bonding to him and bringing him back to life repeatedly, a FateWorseThanDeath, of course the amulet [[ClingyMacGuffin is having none of it]].

* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: [[spoiler:Mort finds the amulet he's searched his whole life for - but the amulet turns out to be SentientPhebotinum and ''hates'' Mort, choosing Noah instead to bond to.]]

* ClingyMacGuffin: The Ouroboros amulet is sentient ''refuses'' to part with Noah whom it has chosen.

--> '''Mort:''' [[AC:Well, if you're ''sorry'', I suppose I can forgive you. In that case, just go. Go on, go look for... whatever it was you were babbling about.]]

* GroundhogDayLoop: A truly ''horrifying'' example. [[spoiler: As long as the amulet remains bonded to Noah, he can't die permanently... but he remains in Mort's power. What the fire-demon does with his immortal captive has yet to be seen, but the chapter title "A Fate Worse than Death" does not bode well for our protagonist.]]

** Chapter 4: A Fate Worse than Death. [[spoiler:The GroundhogDayLoop Noah finds himself in because he can't die - but remains in Mort's power. The full import of the title, however, has yet to be seen.]]

* PettingZooPeople: Quite a few of them, though the comic has so far only introduced one - Naji the raven (and magic artifact expert).

--> '''Mort:''' Well, if you're ''sorry'', I suppose I can forgive you. In that case, just go. Go on, go look for... whatever it was you were babbling about.

-->'''Mort''' [[AC:You're (Noah) really only good for one thing.]]

--> Mort: And that's the end of it. [[spoiler:You're lucky I'm not in the mood for dessert, ''pigeon.'']]

-->'''Mort:''' *talking to his belly* You clearly came here with a death wish. I'm granting it. Now settle down and ''die'' already.

-->'''Mort''': Has [the amulet] been tampered with?

-->'''Mort''' ''[[spoiler:*to Noah*]]'': You're really only good for one thing.

* TheManyDeathsOfYou: Since Noah [[spoiler:cannot permanently die]] while the Ouroboros amulet remains bonded to him, and fire-demons can live centuries, he's going to [[spoiler:get [[NightmareFuel killed over and over again]]]].

The story concerns one older teenager Noah, sent by goblins with a pathetically undersized dagger to kill a troublesome "animal." When he reaches the place the goblins gave him, he doesn't find a cougar or a bear - he finds an Imperial Fire-Demon, apparently asleep. Still not understanding what he was facing, he raised his dagger, and the ''[[OhCrap very much awake]]'' Imperial Fire-Demon rumbled:

* TheManyDeathsOfYou: Since Noah cannot permanently die while the Ouroboros amulet remains bonded to him, and Mort is an extraordinarily long-lived hungry fire demon, he's going to get [[NightmareFuel eaten over and over again]].