The Sacrificers is a fantasy comic book published by Image Comics and written by Rick Remender.
In the world of Harlos, ruled by the gods led by King Rokos, the Sun himself, every twenty years, children know as the Sacrificers are taken by the gods' envoys and never seen again. One of those children is Pigeon, the mistreated son of a small farmer family who believes being sacrificed is his only purpose in life. At the same time Soluna, daughter of Rokos and Queen Luna, is determined to prove herself to her father. A series of coincidences lead the two to learn the secret behind the Sacrificers, forcing them on a journey to end one generation’s unnatural reign.
The first issue was published on August 2, 2023.
Tropes in the Sacrficers:
- Abusive Parents: Pigeon’s family (well, his father at least) force him to live in a bar, with his father beating him for as much as showing his face at dinner. That said, it is shown to be their way of coping with the fact that their son is a Sacrificer and they do care about him. It appears to be done among the families of Sacrificers so they and their families wouldn’t miss each other to much.
- Defector from Decadence: By the time we meet her, Soluna’s mother Luna has come to despise the means the gods use to keep their rule of the world and openly condemns them while making sure her daughter sees them. Rokos kills her for it.
- A Dog Named "Dog": The main protagonist is a Pigeon boy literally named Pigeon.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: The Foreman is the one who came up with the elixir of youth and gathers the children necessary for it. Despite this, he is barely tolerated by the lords, causing him great anger because he feels he deserves to be one of them.
- Evil Is Burning Hot: Lord Rokos is the Sun of the world. He is also a tyrant who keeps himself and his chosen elites alive and young by harvesting the hopes and joy of children for an elixir of youth, killing them in the process.
- God-Emperor: Rokos is the absolute ruler of Harlos as king of its gods, on top of literally being the world’s Sun.
- Immortality Immorality: Gods keep themselves young by harvesting the essence of children chosen as sacrifices.
- Kick the Dog: When confronted by Soluna about the elixir, the Foreman takes her pet Dotox hostage to force her to back down. After Soluna breaks down and agrees to do whatever he wants, Foreman kills Dotox just to gloat.
- Male Sun, Female Moon: Rokos and his wife Luna are literally the world’s sun and moon, respectively.
- Me's a Crowd: Queen Luna has number of copies, each meant to personify a different Lunar phase, with the original being a full moon.
- No Focus on Humans: Humans do exist on Harlos, however they play a secondary role in the story at best, with the most prominent being Foreman’s lover, who is in charge of preparing Sacrficers to be harvested for Elixir.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: The Sacrificers are children who are chosen by the gods to be taken away, secretly to be used for elixir to keep gods young. From what we see, most of them are horribly mistreated, in Pigeon’s case so they wouldn’t be missed. The only exception appears to be humanoid orcas, who revere their Sacrificers.
- Royal Brat: While Soluna isn’t nearly as bad as her father and his court, she is shown to be rather entitled and has no problem threatening those she feels are beneath her to get what she wants.
- Top God: Rokos is the leader of the gods of Harlos.
- Would Hurt a Child: The gods of the world keep their eternal youth by draining joy and hope from children, killing them in the process.
