History Webcomic / Drowtales

* AdultFear: All over the place given the setting, but probably the best example is what happens to [[spoiler:Shinae's]] baby, which is horrifying if you've ever had children or are even thinking about having them in the future. Continued in chapter 44 where we see [[spoiler:Chrys'tel]] having a miscarriage [[spoiler:because of her taint]].
** Chapter 46 also sees [[spoiler:Ariel]] first get stabbed in the hand and then get her arm chopped off [[spoiler:by Kalki]] in full view of her mother and father, with the former completely freezing up at the sight.
** Chapter 47, page 100: Suna is painfully mind-controlled, along with everyone around her, while her mother watches helplessly. You can almost see the bloodshed that could have followed. The worst part is that it looks if her eyes have been clawed out.
** Chapter 50. Dear lords chapter 50. [[spoiler: A couple of Sarg soldiers break into the room holding Ariel's three younger siblings and start killing them off, or trying, and when their fellow Sarghress try to stop them, they shout "Let us do our duty!!"]]

* WorldOfMulticoloredHair: The ancient elves often had hair in various unusual shades; one of the few surviving Dokkalfar, Diva'ratrika, had naturally lilac hair. Modern drow have uniformly snow-white hair; however, it's a very common practice among all drow cultures to dye one's hair, either wholly or in more complex patterns, and thus characters on-panel have hair in every shade of the rainbow. It's particularly common, although not universal, to dye one's hair in the colors of one's clan, house, or bloodline, which provides a useful way both in-universe and for viewers to quickly tell who is part of what of what faction -- for instance, most Val'Shargress characters dye their hair scarlet red, while Sil'lice's descendants usually dye theirs blue. A notable exception to this trend is Ariel, who uses her shapeshifting powers to simply make her hair whatever color she wants it to be without resorting to dye.

* MulticoloredHair: Since all drow have white hair, dyeing it, often but not always in the clan colors, is common.

* AbortedArc: A {{Seer}}, Shimi'lande, foresaw that Ariel was TheChosenOne of a prophecy in which she would play a central role in the war against the Nidraa'chal. Likewise, Snadhya'rune has also implied Ariel to be a key part of her plans. While Ariel's actions do have an impact, she is overall DemotedToExtra and neither of these plot threads come to fruition. This gets {{Lampshaded}} by Chirinide when Ariel asks her about it, telling Ariel that she does not know what Shimi'lande foresaw.

* FiveManBand: Chrys'tel (The Hero/Big Bad), Shinae (The Lancer/The Dragon), Kiel (The Big Guy/The Brute), Naal (The Smart Guy/Evil Genius), Kyo'nne (The Chick/Dark Chick).

* NotSoDifferent: Despite being a SuperiorSpecies the drow in particular are not actually that different from the goblin races. Just take a look at how the drow consider the goblin races. Now take a closer look at the drow. Ironic that the ones who consider halmes akin to locusts almost destroyed their own planet for mana-based life a millenia ago, isn't it?\\
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Later on, when Chiri'nide and Shan'aal visit the elves of Vanaheimr, [[spoiler:the way the Light Elves try to kill them and succeed in killing the refugees they brought causes Chiri to reference the drowussu's own views about "racial purity" and begin to question them]].

* RealityEnsues: [[spoiler: When Shala gets her throat slashed, she manages to stop herself from bleeding out...but without proper medical care she dies soon afterwards from heart failure, caused by blood loss.]]

* InfantImmortality: Averted on several occasions. Simply being a child is no guarantee for survival.
** One chapter features [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=8261 an impoverished woman drowning her baby son to save him from starving to death.]]
** And then there's [[spoiler:Shinae's baby]].
** Vene, one of Quain's [[spoiler:grandsons]], dies [[spoiler:after he is murdered by bloodthirsty Sarghress traitors working for Suu'be]].

Now has a [[Recap/{{Drowtales}} recap page]].

* ElementalHair: There's a bit of this with the clan colors: Sarghress (red / shapeshifting (blood element)), Sharen (purple / summoning (supernatural element)), Beldrobbaen (black / flesh and darkness elements), Nal'Sarkoth (green / wood element), and so on.

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Many, but not just the drow.

* ThoseTwoGuys: Kuso and Baliir, pair of Vloz'ress soldiers, a regular trooper and a Berserker. The trooper seems like a rather chatty and good natured fellow, while his friend is a GentleGiant... except when he fights. He's shown fighting once in the main story and once in a guest side story. He [[CurbStompBattle curbstomps]] his enemies both times. Would be ThoseTwoBadGuys except they act more like {{Punch Clock Villain}}s, if that.

* HeirClubForMen: Gender-inverted; as the drowlaths are matriarchal, the position for Ill'haresses and Ill'hars are passed down from mother to daughter, a tradition that came from the equally matriarchal Dark Elves. This trope is also a ''major'' motivation for Quain'tana, whose inability to bear children caused her to use underhanded tactics to secure an heiress. It destroyed her family and resulted in one dead daughter, and two other daughters hating her with a passion.

* OurElvesAreBetter: Not ''nicer'' mind you, nor cooler, and certainly not more "right". And also notable for being taller and stronger than humans. Basically, they are are tougher, and magic gives them a bigger stick than everybody else.

* HostileShowTakeover: As of April 2012, Kiel has taken over [[https://twitter.com/#!/Drowtales the Drowtales]] Website/{{Twitter}} account. She promptly demanded [[LovableSexManiac a tribute of princes]] ([[BiTheWay but would also accept princesses]]). There are also a series of news posts with Kiel directly addressing the readers.

* FantasticRacism: Drow tend to look down on nearly everyone else [[note]]Slightly less so for the Sarghress if you can fight. Depraved commoners. Also possibly the case for the Nal'sarkoth as they actively recruit non-drow races to build up their numbers.[[/note]], most of the non-drow major characters find themselves enslaved at some point, 'tainted' drow vs. 'pure' drow, grey drow vs black drow, driders vs. drow in general, "blind" drow vs. "normal drow" etc.
** In short, everybody versus everybody.

%% * WomanInWhite: Mel often appears like this due to her choice of clothing.

* [[AntiHumanAlliance Anti-Halme Alliance]]: Not ''all'' halmes/humans, just the kingdom that captured Faen.

* [[BadassGrandpa Badass Grandma]] - Most of the Illharesses fit this trope. Quain'tana in particular, as she is centuries old and can still kick the asses of most of her subordinates.

* [[spoiler: TheBadGuyWins]]: The Nidraa'chal war, which everyone [[spoiler:[[TheConspiracy thinks the Sharen won]] but really lost due to being taken over BY the Nidraa'chal in a coup, and the Nidraa'chal leaders were in fact high-ranking Sharen]].

* [[CallingTheOldManOut Calling The Old Woman Out]]: [[spoiler:Syphile]] finally tells her mother what a horrible parent she is, how she's ruined all the lives of her children, and tells her to 'do the only thing you know' [[spoiler:and kill her, something that actually manages to impress Quain (who still kills her).]]

* [[ARealManIsAKiller A Real Woman Is A Killer]]: Quain'tania only recognizes Ariel as being worthy of the title of her heir after she kills Mir'kiin

* [[WarriorPrince Warrior Princess]]: Ariel, Sil'lice, Chiri...

* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: Chrystel, and to a lesser extent, Ariel, Faen, Naal, Kiel, Chirinide, etc.

* Subverted with Mel'arnach, who has been conditioned by Snadhya'rune so thoroughly that [[spoiler:she doesn't stop Kalki from cutting off Ariel's arm, fully expecting Snadhya'rune to take control of the situation. Zhor calls her out on this]].

** Following in her lover's example, [[spoiler: Mel tries to kill her second born daughter in order to destroy the last of the Sarghress clan, [[TheChainOfHarm while tragically becoming as terrible or even worse of a mother like Quain]].]]

** Following in her lover's example, [[spoiler: Mel tries to kill her second born daughter in order to destroy the last of the Sarghress clan, [[CycleOfAbuse while tragically becoming as terrible or even worse of a mother like Quain]].]]