The Night Unfurls explores and questions the typical assumptions of many tropes Played Straight.
- All Men Are Perverts: Overlapping with A Man Is Always Eager. Vault and the Black Dogs want to overthrow the current regime in favour of a Sex Slave Empire, believing that every man wants sex and to have as many partners as possible. As the story progresses, it is clear that there are just as many men who fight against the Black Dogs, because a) not all men think with their libido, b) not all men entertain the idea of a No Woman's Land. In particular, Vault invites Kyril to join him, thinking that he wants the same things as he does. His failure to to consider that Kyril is actually celibate, together with Evil Cannot Comprehend Good, only succeeds in creating his biggest obstacle to his ambitions (in the remastered version, he gets killed by an exploding star to the face for his troubles).
- Defiled Forever: The idea that sex makes a person "worthless"note even if not by choice makes it harder for people so treated to obtain help and support. Case in point, Lily and her fellow nuns are raped in the dungeons after the Black Dogs take over the fortress of Feoh. However, the higher authorities of The Church decide to deny them the resources and support needed to recover, claiming that these nuns have been "tainted", which would cause them to betray Eostia's cause. Some members even intend to use this as an excuse to dehumanise them, to kick them out of the church, and to make them their "servants" by force. This is in spite of the fact that these nuns, like many other refugees of war, are in dire need of help due to the trauma they suffered.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Shown to be horrific rather than a result of Interspecies Romance or something cool.
- Chloe is half-human, half-elf. She was born of rape.
- Mutants appear as mix-and-match Elite Mooks. Some of them are half-human, half-whatever, with insect heads, wings, eyes, tendrils, etc. They are the result of Shamuhaza's experiments that involve Face Full of Alien Wing-Wong, Body Horror and all.
- Staring Down Cthulhu: A character staring straight ahead towards a figure who is way, way above them in terms of might, causing the latter to hesitate or be intimidated, is typically used to characterize the former as a fearless badass, the only one capable of doing such a feat. In The Night Unfurls, what happens when some random person glares at the figurative and literal "Cthulhu" that is Kyril Sutherland?
- Several named characters do this to show their disapproval (e.g. Chloe, Claudia, etc.). Kyril merely disregards this trivial gesture. After all, it wouldn't make sense for an uber-powerful being to be intimidated that easily.
- Several Black Dog mooks do this to build up some measure of bravado. The common result is that whatever bravado they have is gone in an instant when Kyril makes a move and raises his weapon. Surprise, surprise. You need Plot Armor to pull it off successfully.
- So far, Sanakan is the only one able to stare at him in defiance, impress him, and not end up dead, except there is a more important condition in play for her to accomplish this feat — the fact that the uber-powerful being is aware enough to see Sanakan as an innocent rather than prey. Should the "Cthulhu" in question attempt to harm her (like what any member of the Black Dogs would do), she would've been toast.
