Web Animation / No Evil

No Evil is a web animation about a group of spirits and the world they live in. Created by Betsy Lee (A.K.A. Warlord-Of-Noodles), who is also creator of Brother Swan.

The series mostly involves the group of spirits in their attempts to head off a supernatural menace known as The Black Tezcatlipoca, a thing somewhere between a semi-sentient black ooze and a consumptive plague. The Ick(as it is known more informally) had been defeated previously when the area's protector spirit (A raven-woman known as Murder), and a group of monkey-spirit musicians gathered together against it, Murder sacrificing her life, while the monkeys sacrificed their sight, hearing and voice respectively in a mystical pact. Now the ick has returned and the spirits have to figure out why, as well as how to remove it from the residents of local villages.

The main characters are portrayed as anthropomorphic animals in the style of their mythological counterparts in an alternate world. It borrows heavily from various mythologies, such as the Native American mythos as well as more recent legends and tales. For example, Huey is based on his namesake from Native American mythos, and Paula is based off of the Paul Bunyan tall-tale.

The series is presented in a Slice of Life fashion on the artist's DeviantArt, while the videos follow more of a storyline of sorts. Some of the animations are set to a song, and some of them are fully voiced.

The animations can also be found on youtube here.

Has a Recap Page, so please feel free to give that a little love.

---

No Evil contains examples of:

• A Form You Are Comfortable With: The Red Tezcatlipoca of Judgement seems to adapt itself depending on its wielder. Originally a Scythe when wielded by Xipe Totec/Murder, after Kitty calls it a "glorified woodstove poker", that is exactly the form it takes when she gains control of it.
• All There in the Manual: Reading Betsy Lee's tumblr and the prequel comic Judgement reveals a lot about the series that's not explicitly stated in the actual animation, such as:
  • The setting is on a planet known as Scourosi.
  • The 4th, White Tezcatlipoca (Red, Blue, and Black have all been seen in the series in some form) is known as the Mercy Bow. It's eventually seen in Episode 35.
  • Ichabod and Calamity are siblings (this wouldn't be revealed until Episode 20).
  • Huey and Amoroq's relationship is expanded upon in Judgement.
• Animal Motifs: Each of the spirits has a human form, and that form has suggestions of their animal counterpart. There are a few of particular note, though.
  • Vinkle retains his cat ears in his human form
  • In his human form, Corn favors long, straight, floor-length garments like robes and capes which obscure his limbs. Combined with the his small steps, when he walks he looks like he's slithering.
  • Calamity's head-frill becomes a blue-green mohawk when she takes on her human form.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Played with; the Industrial Men, a group that came to Hollow to study the Tezcatlipoca mirror, don't believe in spirits, and instead think that they're humans that have somehow learned magic.
• Arc Number: 4. The Tezcatlipoca Mirror was broken into four pieces, the Black Ick was sealed into four pieces by four sacrifices, Tlaloc's tuning fork has four spells that, under Calamity's control, require four different people to use, one for each spell. In addition, the official map appears to have four distinct regions, with Hollow at the crossroads of all of these.
• As You Know: Direction starts with Xochipilli informing the gathered spirits of the Blue Tezcatlipoca; a magical machete that can cut magic, but because of this no spirit can wield it and no human can remain conscious in it's presence, and how he, Ixtiliton, Xochiquetzal and Xipe Totec/Murder sacrificed to seal the Black Tezcatlipoca away until a better solution could be found. Once he's finished, Calamity points out they all already knew that. But then again, the audience didn't.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Corn (Quetzalcoatl), being the youngest, and constantly afraid of everything. Also qualifies as The Cutie.
• Body Horror: The state of Ixtlilton in 017: Direction, entombed in Black Tezcatlipoca that's oozing from his eyes.
  • And in episode 18: Black Bart, what happens to Xochipilli, who had his ear-covers removed and started oozing the Black Tezcatlipoca from his ears, ending with the same fate as his brother.
  • The state of Brom Bones's head, a rotten, melting pumpkin. No wonder Angel wants Kitty to make a new head...
• Butterfly of Transformation: Xochiquetzal's main motif (besides monkeys) is centered around butterflies, which she controls through her instrument. She's capable of turning into a cloud of them, or planting one on someone in order to take them away to where they belong.
• Cassandra Truth: In "Wrip an' Vinkel", when Calamity, Ichabod, and Huey show up at Kitty's house to discuss their plan for fixing things, Kitty is skeptical of their explanation for what happened to other stuff they'd "borrowed":
  Kitty: "Are you here to steal food or fodder today?"
  Huey: "We might take a quilt if you've got one!"
  Calamity: "Oh, you know we only just borrow stuff."
  Kitty: "So where's my pumpkin and my scarecrow?"
  Calamity: *Beat* "They walked away."
  Kitty: "I often worry about the lack of creativity these days. I'm so glad we have you three screwballs."
• Composite Character: Almost all of the main cast are hybrids between Native American Mythology and American folk tales and colonial literature— Calamity is both Calamity Jane and the Aztec water deity Chalchiuhtlicue; Wrip and Vinkle are the Algonquin Mahtigwess and Lusifee and a Decomposite Character of Rip Van Winkle with Vinkle being forced to fall into a deep sleep by the Black Tezcatlipoca in 011; Paula is a mixture of Paul Bunyan and the concept of a Bear from various Native American tribes; Huey is the Aztec Huehuecoyotl, but shares traits with the Native American Coyote (two distinct entities); the trio of Ixtlilton, Xochipilli, and Xochiquetzal are based off of three Aztec deities, but have merged with the eastern concept of the Monkey Morality Pose; and Ichabod is... well, Ichabod Crane.
• Creepy Child:
  • Angel, who also appears to be sewn together, meaning she may be an Undead Child as well.
  • Charles, who has some degree of control over the Black Ick.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: As much power as Charles wields, he's still a child, meaning it's easy for Calamity to lay him flat in Episode 29.
• Cruel Coyotes: The coyote spirit Huehuecoyotl (Huey for short) is seen as this by the citizens of McCoy In-Universe, who believe that he's a spirit that works for their rival town Hatfield; this isn't reflective of reality at all, as Huey wants to help those in both towns, but much like the Feuding Families the towns are named after, they assume the worst of anyone associated with their opposite.
• A Day in the Limelight: "Vineyard Institute" is a very Xochiquetzal-focused story, while "Dangerous Host" is all about Amaroq.
• Deadpan Snarker: Calamity.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: In 026 Vineyard Institute, it's revealed that the Industrialized Men have several 'traditional people' locked up in an asylum due to the fact that their intelligence, as well as their closeness to the spirits, pose a threat to the Industrialized Men. Considering the traditional people closely resemble Native Americans, it's not that hard to draw a parallel between this and similar real-life practices.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Ichabod has an obvious crush on Wrip, and constantly tries to do nice things for her. Too bad for him, she's already together with Vinkle- a nice parallel with the story Ichabod's name derives from.
  • Deconstructed a little in the exchange below:
  Ichabod: Wrip deserves a...clever partner.
  Kitty: Wrip deserves to choose what she likes.
• Double-Meaning Title: "Hollow Victory". On the one hand, the spirits have done everything they needed to do in Hollow Village now, Namely, they've found Xochiquetzal, and defended her and Hollow from Charles and the Black Tezcatlipoca. On the other hand, Ichabod got caught in the Black Tezcatlipoca during Charles' attack and the Spirits' ritual to remove it from the Tlaloc's Fountain didn't remove it from him. making their previous success a little less substantive.
  • The title of "Alien" refers to both the "alien spaceship" Clark finds, and the differences between the spirits and the people of Hollow.
• Eldritch Location: Mictlan Wood, where Charles, Amoroq, and Angel have made their home. It's named for the Aztec underworld.
  • When Xochiquetzal finds herself in it in 016: Welcome to Mictlan, every time she seems to escape it, she just ends up back in the center of it, until Black Bart shows her the true way out.
  • When Betsy Lee was asked on Tumblr where Mictlan Wood is in relation to the other landmarks around, she responded "Wherever it wants to be."
• Empathic Weapon: All the Texcatlipoca to some extent, though the only one seen Talking so far has been the Red Judgement Scythe, asking those who try to claim it what makes them think they're worthy to wield it.
• Equivalent Exchange: Ichabod mentions that Ixtlilton, Xochiquetzal, and Xochipilli trading one of their senses each (sight, voice, and hearing, respectively) and Murder (Xipe Totec) sacrificing her life indirectly, was an "even trade" for sealing away the Black Tezcatlipoca and saving everyone.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Amaroq's team is basically a family.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: Charles ends up snared in the Ick just like his victims.
• Excrement Statement: In one of the supplementary comics on Betsy Lee's deviantart, Ichabod has a bird make one of these on his face; naturally, he takes it as a sign of good luck.
• Eye Scream: Charles seems to have ripped Ixtlilton's mask off his face, resulting in the Black Tezcatlipoca streaming out of his eye sockets and entrapping him in it. Considered the mask was likely connected directly to his eyes and the look on his face, it appears to have been painful.
• Facial Markings: Almost all of the spirits have these in human forms; some are less noticeable and can best be described as eyeliner and lipstick fitting the colors of their Nagual forms, while others, like Calamity, have jagged lines down their face. Paula seems to be the exception to this, showing none of the aforementioned traits.
  • Upon stealing and absorbing Ixtlilton's seal, Charles gets a line and three dots under each of his eyes.
• Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: Jackalopes are this world's equivalents of beasts of burden such as horses or donkeys, whereas chupacabras are their primary predators.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • Apparently spirits are not liked in the town of Hollow, forcing spirits who do come to the city to take human forms. Corn, who doesn't react well to crowds on top of all of his other anxieties, can't keep it together while in town...
  • A slightly less fantastic case occurs in 026 Vineyard Institute— in Hollow, several "traditional people" are locked away in an asylum, due to the fact that their intelligence poses a threat to the Industrialized Men's machinations in the town.
• Fantasy Gun Control: Averted. Firearms are shown a couple of times in the show, and a character in the prequel comic mentions a village chief aiming a shotgun at them.
• Fearsome Critters of American Folklore: Jackalopes are the size of horses and domesticated as beasts of burden, while Chupacabra prey on livestock. There's also a glimpse of a Hoop Snake in one scene.
• Flat "What": Calamity's response to seeing Ichabod caught in the Black Tezcatlipoca at the end of Hollow Victory is no less emotional for its understatement.
• Friendship Trinket: In "Alien", it's revealed that Kitty's turqouise necklace was a gift to her from Ichabod from back when they were children. Partially he gave it to her because his mother wouldn't allow him to have it, but also because he read that turqouise is meant to be good luck. She put it on shortly after he gave it to her (when she told him that McCoy wanted her dead for getting rid of Amaroq), and hasn't taken it off since, as it's the same turqouise necklace she wears throughout the series. Until Ichabod was infected with the Black Ick, at which point she gave it to his mother before she set off with Calamity and Corn in an attempt to find a cure for him before it's too late.
• Functional Magic: Aside from Magic Music listed below some spirits make use of alchemy or magic artifacts as well. Wrip casts illusions from potion bottles, Kitty weaves magic into her textiles (explained in this video), and Tlaloc's tuning fork has four different spells in it used by different people (water control by Calamity, lightning by Ichabod, tracking by Huey, and the fourth remains unknown.)
• Furry Reminder: When Corn gets scared, he rattles his tail about. When he gets really scared, he'll actually lash out and bite people close to him. Considering he's a rattlesnake, this has consequences. And this has apparently happened to Calamity multiple times.
  Huey: So, I heard Corn bit you again.
  Calamity: Yeah, you think I'd be immune.
• Hand-or-Object Underwear: Murder's clothes are burned off in the process of claiming the Red Tezcatlipoca and she has to cover herself with her wings, fortunately the jar Tlaloc left for containing the Red can transform into a dress. The same happens to Kitty when she becomes the new wielder, awkwardly holding the scythe in front of her chest until Murder hands her the jar.
• Healing Shiv: The White Tezcatlipoca or “Mercy Bow” is supposed to fire healing arrows made of magic when wielded by its’ proper wielder. When someone unworthy fires it they act as Annoying Arrows instead.
• Heroic Neutral: Most of the main cast don't take sides in the Hatfield/McCoy conflict, seeing it as something that's for them to settle, but they do intervene if the villages go too far against one another- McCoy stealing Hatfield's food and Hatfield trying to kill McCoy's livestock have both warranted an intervention by the spirits. Unfortunately, because Amaroq appointed himself the "spirit of McCoy" they got the idea that Huey was similarly aligned with Hatfield, meaning that diplomacy in McCoy (particularly trying to cure those in the village afflicted by the Black Ick) more difficult.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Murder (Xipe Totec) who sacrificed her life to save everyone else from the Black Tezcatlipoca.
• Horse of a Different Color: Paula rides a giant blue ox, while jackalopes seem to be the preferred riding beasts of most villages.
• Kleptomaniac Hero: Both Huey and to a lesser extent Calamity have elements of this. Huey has a pile of stolen junk, and both he and Calamity borrow (and never return) a pumpkin in order to make a puppet to scare Wrip and Vinkle.
• Known Only by Their Nickname: The majority of the cast addresses each other using nicknames, as their proper names are a bit of a mouthful- the only exception to this is Ichabod, who addresses all characters by their proper name, except for Wrip and Vinkle.
• Lizard Folk & Snake People: Calamity and Corn, respectively. Despite their status as spirits, both of them are cold blooded, and are in danger of passing out in the middle of winter if not properly protected.
• Love Triangle: Ichabod has a crush on Wrip, who is in a relationship with Vinkel. This is discussed in "Wrip an' Vinkel", where Ichabod is trying to help cure Vinkel in hopes of cheering up Wrip:
  Paula: The little love triangle is adorable.
  Kitty: Ain't a love triangle. It's a love line segment with one very ambitious point.
• Magic Music: All the time! Magic and music are heavily intertwined in this world. Any time someone is using magic, there is always Music and/or Singing accompanying it.
• Making a Splash: Calamity, being based off of an Aztec water goddess, is capable of controlling said element with the help of Tlaloc's magic tuning fork.
• Man Versus Machine: Paula and a scientist from the Institute invoke this against one another in a challenge to see who will be able to dig up copper first, Paula with her strength or the scientist with his jackhammer.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Calamity and Corn.
• Mighty Lumberjack: Paula, being based off of Paul Bunyan, has traces of this archetype, with her often carrying large axes and, as of the latest arc, she's mainly been seen wearing flannel.
• Monkey Morality Pose: Referenced in by the title, Ixtlilton, Xochiquetzal, and Xochipilli have sealed away their sight, voice, and hearing in order to seal away the Black Tezcatlipoca. They even have covers for each part of their body representing this. Reinforced by that the three shaman are spider monkeys.
• Mr. Exposition: Xochipilli in Direction begins the episode with an explanation on the Blue Tezcatlipoca, a sword that might be able to permanently dispel its Black brother. Lampshaded by Calamity, who says that they already know all of this.
• Nervous Wreck: Corn. He looks perpetually freaked out, has frequent night terrors and can't handle being around large groups of people. Amaroq's attempt to kidnap him caused him to have a full-blown panic attack, complete with Tears of Fear, in which he started attacking everything that moved, including Calamity.
• Noodle Incident: We don't know what happened to ruin Amaroq's tail (and according to Wrip the spirits don't talk about it even to her and Vinkle), but apparently whatever happened was caused by Kitty. "Alien" shows the apparent immediate aftermath of it, where Kitty is delivered to Ichabod's family home by Xochiquetzal, Kitty claiming that McCoy wants her dead because Amaroq is gone. Somewhat lampshaded by Ichabod in that he questions how (and even if) Kitty actually was the one who got rid of Amaroq, but she doesn't answer.
  • In "Banishing Babies" we see what happened, she suggested he use his tail to ice-fish but due to getting bitten by Corn earlier he passed out and the water froze around it. Then the next day Amaroq came across a McCoy family abandoning a baby with a Hatfield father. Meaning it may not have actually been Kitty that drove him off but McCoy blamed her.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: Tlaloc's Tuning Fork. Tlaloc's Test shows how Calamity and Ichabod found a frog-shaped fountain while wandering the desert. Calamity found instructions on how to properly and courteously use the pump, and insisted on following the instructions while Icky wanted to drink the priming water and be done with it. Because of this, Calamity was granted use of Tlaloc's fork, and is the person who gets to decide who else gets to use it.
  • The four Tezcatlipoca, and most actively attack would-be unworthy wielders. The Blue one merely sends spirits flying when they try to pick it up but the Red nearly killed Murder and she was its chosen wielder, and of course everybody but Black Bart who touches the Black falls asleep and is enveloped by it. The White doesn’t hurt unworthy wielders, but rather those they try to heal with it.
• Posthumous Character: Tlaloc gave his life to break the Tezcatlipoca mirror, which created the Red, Blue, Black and White Tezcatlipocas.
• Power Up Full Color Change: In the prequel comic, as side effect of flying next to lava to claim the Red Tezcatlipoca, Xipe Totec's feathers turn from blue and purple to an ashen black. When Kitty takes up the scythe in “Black, White, and Red All Over” her red fur turns sooty grey.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "Kid. Nap. Ings. Kidnappings." Wrip's exasperated growling at Calamity and Huey after the latter two wander off in the aftermath of Corn's averted kidnapping.
  • This makes her something of a hypocrite in 'Black Bart' when she wanders off on her own in town and ends up among those who get ick'd by Charles/Black Bart
• The Quiet One: Vinkle, at least stated In-Universe by Kitty.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Despite the fact that everyone regards Ichabod as crazy for his superstitions, so far everything he's concluded from perceived "omens" has been right, or at least partly right. He concluded something terrible was going to happen because a bird flew in though his window. While Calamity and Paula regarded this as crazy, if Ichabod hadn't gone out trying to discover what was going to go wrong, they may not have discovered that Kitty had been kidnapped by Angel. When he saw an "ominous" cloud over Hattfield, he stated that something bad was about to happen to the village, and came to the conclusion that McCoy was going to attack Hattfield. He was wrong, but not entirely: Hattfield was going to attack McCoy, but something bad was about to happen to one of the villages.
• Running Gag:
  • Up through the episode Brom Bones, There's a running joke of people having their scarecrows stolen. They were stolen by Huey, who in Brom Bones turns out to have a large pile of them hidden in the woods.
  • Ichabod and Omens (or as Paula puts it: "OoooOOOOOomeeEEeeeens.")
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The Black Tezcatlipoca is this, bound away in Ixtlilton, Xochiquetzal, and Xochipilli, in exchange for their sight, speech, and hearing.
• Shock and Awe: In 013 Conduct, Ichabod wields Tlaloc's tuning fork to summon lightning to drive off a pack of Chupacapras.
• Shout-Out: Much like Coyote, Huey can voluntarily remove his eyes from his skull and throw them about, as seen in 009 Brom Bones.
  • There are quite a few references to the Land of Oz series; not surprising, given that Betsy Lee has expressed a love for the franchise in the past.
    • Some skeletal beings in Mictlan Wood resemble the Wheelers from Return To Oz.
    • Angel is a patchwork girl, as seen in The Patchwork Girl of Oz; the sister work to No Evil, the webcomic Brother Swan, reveals that her full name is Ozma Angeline, after the princess of Oz.
    • Brom Bones bears more than a passing resemblance to Jack Pumpkinhead.
    • A map of the setting from the official Tumblr looks a lot like Oz itself, with Hollow acting as an analogue to the Emerald City.
    • Charles shares a name with Charles Earl Boles, aka the real life Black Bart. One of the most notorious stagecoach robbers of California and Oregon. While he's hardly robbing stagecoaches, he does live up to the title of thievery that the name carries with his stealing of the black Tezcatlipoca.
• Shown Their Work: Betsy Lee definitely did not just pick names out of a hat. The characters all have some nod to Native American and Aztec mythos, as well as folks of the Old West, such as the villages of Hatfield and McCoy, or more recently Charles, whom says his friends call him that, but others can call him Black Bart, as in the outlaw.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Would you believe that Calamity and Ichabod are siblings? It's established outright in the prequel comic Judgement, but in the animation, it's not even mentioned until episode 20.
• Sign Language: Used by the characters to talk to the deaf Xochipilli, and the mute Xochiquetzal also uses it to communicate, if some lines from the blooper reels are any indication.
• Sinister Scythe: The Red Tezcatlipoca, or "Judgement Scythe", especially since it kills attempted wielders without the strength of will to restrain it and then covers the surrounding landscape with lava.
• Stealth Pun: Ichabod, a Crane, is able to use Tlaloc's fork to control lightning. This technically makes him a Thunderbird.
• Small Town Rivalry: The villages of Hatfield and McCoy, like the families they are named for, hate each other and are constantly paranoid about what the other is planning.
• Southern Belle: Kitty and Wrip are pretty close to this, judging by their clothing and mannerisms.
• Spider People: The monkey trio's "mama" is an otherwise unnamed spirit that resembles a spider.
• Tall Tale: In episode 30, a stealth reference is made to American folk hero John Henry. Paula (who was based off of another folk hero, Paul Bunyan) and a scientist from the institute, go out to a copper mine in search of said ore. Paula intends to get some with sheer man(bear?)power and a couple pickaxes, while the scientist plans on using what appears to be a jackhammer he made himself, referencing the infamous bet made by Henry wherein he tries to dig a tunnel faster than a steam powered drill. They are interrupted before they can really get into the contest, though, so it's never proven which one would have done better. Though, considering how the legend ended for Henry, the inconclusive outcome is probably for the best. Even if Paula IS a spirit.
• Team Mom: Kitty (Kajortoq) has aspects of this.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: It's pointed out a few times that McCoy and Hatfield need each other to prosper- Hatfield is a farming village, whose crops are transported by livestock bred by McCoy, which are in turn fed by the crops from Hatfield.
  • Charles and Amaroq don't have the best relationship, with Amaroq serving as a Team Dad and trying to rein him in, while Charles wants nothing more than to show off his powers.
• Thanatos Gambit: Xipe Totec died to seal away the Black Tezcatlipoca... well, most of it, at any rate.
• Those Wily Coyotes: Huey (Huehuecoyotl) is the resident coyote of the work, often causing or getting into trouble. He also seems to have a long streak of kleptomania.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Averted. Huey flinging Tlaloc's fork at Amaroq's head manages to, at most, annoy him, and it's not like Amaroq needs much help in that department to begin with.
• Time Skip: The time between Episode 2 and Episode 3 is quite long- in the second episode, all of the main characters are children, but by the third, Calamity, Kitty and Corn are, at the very least, teenagers.
• Tom the Dark Lord: Charles seems to have this going on, residing in Mictlan Wood and appearing to be Amaroq's boss.
  • Confirmed, as Charles has attempted to steal and absorb the artifacts from the shamanic trio that seal away the black ooze. He's also known as 'Black Bart' to his non-friends.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Calamity and Wrip, in their interactions together.
• The Unpronouncable: In the six blooper reels, some of the cast have difficulty pronouncing the names of a few concepts and characters in the show- "Tezcatlipoca" seems to give Sushi-just-ask (Paula) and T.L. Jones (Winkle) some trouble in the fourth blooper video.
  T.L. Jones: Tesla, Cottage, La, Polka Music.
  Sushi-just-ask It is a Texas Pickle! Can I just call them Texas Pickle?
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: The entire main cast are spirits that prefer animal forms (called nagual), but can shift in to human forms if necessary- for instance, Ichabod changes to human so that he can eat with his hands and communicate in sign language. Wrip can take this one step further, having access to bottles full of... something that allow her to take on almost any form she wishes.
• Wham Episode: Hollow Victory starts off lighthearted, but quickly becomes this as Charles attacks the gang and citizens of Hollow with the Black Ick, and when the ritual is performed to get rid of the sleeping sickness, Ichabod remains covered in the black, to Calamity's visible horror.
  • Banishing Babies show us more of Amaroq's past, including how he lost his tail and why he left McCoy. He wasn't kicked out like previously thought, he left because McCoy was going to leave a baby, heavily implied to be Charles, to die because his father is from Hatfield.
  • Black, White and Red All Over: Hoo boy. Murder is still alive, but she sacrificed her spiritual status and immortality. Murder, Amaroq, and Charles all end up snared in the Black Tezcatlipoca, and Kitty is only spared because she takes up the Red.