"War is war, my lord. These things are inevitable."
"Some wars are caused because different factions want different things. However, in this conflict, years of war were caused by two factions who wanted the same thing. The Koopa Throne. This decades-long conflict of battles, slaughter and betrayal, became known in the Koopa Kingdom... as the Wars of Frozen Flames."
—The opening lines spoken in every episode
Wars of Frozen Flames is a web-animated pseudo-historical period drama by FreezeFlame22.The series is is heavily based off Wars of the Roses and is divided into four parts. In the 15th century, after a long succession of armed conflicts both in and out of the kingdom lead to an anarchist revolt of peasants, King John Koopa VI's royal cabinet names Lord Sigmund Phoenix King's Claw following the death of the previous King's Claw at the hands of anarchist peasants. This however doesn't sit well with Lord Richard Koopa of the House of Sherbet, the king's second cousin once removed and the heir to the throne due to the former being childless, as Sigmund abandoned his troops to die in the middle of a battle and claimed no responsibility for his actions. From there onwards the tensions among the nobility escalate further once other various houses start aiding their respective allied fractions, each having their own reasons and interests, leading the Koopa Kingdom into a long period of battles, slaughter and betrayal. The series serves as a way to explore the franchise's universe and expand upon the established lore.
The show was first uploaded on YouTube on January 8th of 2022 with it's first episode, "The Feeble King". All of the episodes are expected to last six parts each.
Wars of Frozen Flames contains examples of:
- Anyone Can Die: Unlike in Carl, Bowser's Koopalings or Donkey Kong Island, character deaths are way more prominent in this series, and the main characters and antagonists are not excluded from this. In fact, due to the series taking place in the past, every single character will die at some point.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: Heavily deconstructed:
- Richard Koopa II became king following the unexpected death of his father Edrick Koopa IV, being only nine years old at the time. Unfortunately, Richard was also a cruel and vicious child who took much pleasure in the suffering of others, including women and animals, and is stated to have only gotten worse as he grew older and gained more power. His cruelty led to his own downfall however, as he was overthrown and imprisoned by his far more popular cousin Prince John, later crowned King John Koopa IV, leading to his death by starvation in a prison cell as a result of John IV forgetting about having Richard fed.
- John Koopa VI became king of the Koopa and Bohnenkraut Kingdoms when he was nine months old following the unexpected death of his father John Koopa V. This trope is still present during John VI's majority of age due to him suffering from Bohnenkraut Madness, a mental illness that induces insanity and unhinged behaviour on the victim, and in John's case, it manifests as him having the mental age of a little child.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Taking place in the 15th century this is a given, and something that the series often criticizes and makes fun of. Major targets of these include the laws of succession, the unfair treatment the society of the time gives to women and children born outside of marriage, as well as to how it can psychologically damage them as the years go on, among other things.
- The subject of marriage and infidelity gets brought up and called out very often: a man can take as many mistresses as he wants while already being married, even having illegitimate children if he wishes to, but if a woman were to do the same, she is immediately labelled as a slut. A woman also loses everything if their husband dies, mainly any power or political influence she may have had as well as the custody of her own children, whereas a man gets to carry on with his life if his wife dies. The illegitimate children suffer a lot as well, as they are shamed for being born rather than their fathers for conceiving them with a mistress and are unable to do much with their lives unless they are recognized as legitimate, something that happens very rarely.
- Arranged marriages are yet another target of the series' criticism and satire. It is no secret that in the Middle Ages most marriages were done out of convenience to gain power and wealth, and more often than not, the bride and the groom had little to nothing in common, leading to a lot of instances of an Awful Wedded Life. Cynder and John are the perfect text-book example of this, with the marriage being one of the leading factors as to why Cynder became the person she is in the series. The children being married are also shown suffering from their parents decisions, not having much of a choice on who to choose as their partner (sons), or none at all (daughters): Robert tries hard to rebel against what his father and society in general expects of him and tries to marry for love, but his engagement to his loved one, Joanna, is ultimately torn apart by the war, Jane is separated from her son (whom she had when she was sonly 14 and whose birth rendered her sterile) after her husband dies and is forced to remarry, and while her new husband, Korrin, treats her wonderfully the world around her continues to criticize her for her age and the fact that she is unable to bear anymore children.
- Jane being only fourteen years old when she married her first husband, Edrick Solberg, and gave birth to James is an occurrence that was, unfortunately, very common back in those times, with many pre-teen and teenage girls being married off to older men.
Word of God has also stated that Edrick Solberg was six years older than Jane, meaning that he was 20 and she was 14 when they married and had James, and even then this itself was toned down from the actual event prior to the Wars of the Roses, as Margaret Beaufort and Edmund Tudor, whom Jane and Edrick are based on respectively, were aged 13 and 26 when she got pregnant, that being an age gap of twelve years. - Just like with the real-life people involved in the Wars of the Roses, most, if not all, of the noble families are related in one way or another as a result of all of the many Arranged marriages they put their descendants through. This of course results in a Tangled Family Tree where, more often than not, incest plays a big role. Most notably, Rickon and Rose have feelings for each other and Tobias took Lily as a mistress (and if real life events are anything to go by, they will get married to each other in the future), despite the fact that Lily and Rose are Tobias and Rickon's first cousins once removed (most specifically they're their cousin Berwick's daughters).
- Feuding Families:
- The House of Kayenne and the House of Sherbet, as well as their respective supporters, are this due to their feud for the Koopa throne, a product of years of crisis and both political and economical instability. Their feud is directly based on the rivalries between the Houses of Lancaster and York.
- The House of Python and the House of Blackfoot are at odds with each other due to the Pythons allegedly stealing land belonging to the Blackfoots in the past. Their feud is based on the actual feud between the Nevilles and the Percys.
- Floating Timeline: Compared to other shows within the FF22 universe, this trope is completely averted for this series given that it is a pseudo-historical period drama that takes place in the late 1400s.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Three major cases, two of which overlap with Mature Younger Sibling and Childish Older Sibling.
- Robert and Halbert, the two eldest sons of the House of Sherbet. Both are incredibly talented when it comes to fighting, with Robert being the more experienced of the two, but Halbert is the more sensible one, as whereas Roberts tends to put his responsibilities aside, Halbert is much more invested in them, usually helping his father Richard in political matters. It's implied that this has caused Robert to develop an inferiority complex regarding Halbert, as Robert might be Richard's heir, but he feels like it should be Halbert instead of him.
- Lord Berwick has two daughters. The older daughter, Lily, is very immature and irresponsible, and is shown to Really Get Around despite Berwick disapproving of said conduct. Meanwhile the younger daughter, Rose, is much more calm and responsible, embodying the traits of a Proper Lady as Berwick expects.
- The two surviving Solberg brothers Rodrick and Theodrick. Thedorick thinks with his muscles rather than his brain most of the time whereas Rodrick tends to stop and think things through before taking any action that could potentially lead to unnecessary violence.
- Foregone Conclusion: If you know how the actual War of the Roses went down, you'd easily be able to guess how the story will progress. That said, there are some differences between the series and the actual historical event.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: Queen Cynder is pretty terrifying when she is angry. Gets even worse once she begins plotting against Lord Richard.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: While some are better people than others, no character in the series is truly "good" or "evil". In the end, the conflict of the Wars of Frozen Flames boils down to two factions having clashing ideals and the interests of the nobility lead them to support the faction that benefits them the most. Even the characters with the best of intentions, such as Lord Richard, don't usually take the most morally correct decisions most of the times, usually being blinded by their own interests and ideals. The narrator at the start of every episode makes it perfectly clear: this is a period of battles, slaughter, and betrayal.
- Love Triangle: One exists between Sir Rodrick Solberg, Lady Jane Phoenix and Sir Korrin Sylver. Jane had lost her husband and was told that she had to remarry if she wanted to have a source of income, and Rodrick has a crush on her, but couldn't bring himself to marry her because her husband was his older brother Edrick, and he felt that marrying Jane would be disrespecting his memory. Rodrick instead offers to raise Jane's son James when she's forced to give him away to someone at the service of the crown as a ward upon remarriage in accordance to the law of the time, and find a suitable husband for her, which he finds in Korrin. However, Jane and Korrin start developing a strong bond after he empathizes with her and promises to make her happy, which causes Rodrick to feel jealousy towards Korrin.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Queen Cynder and King John VI. She is cruel, ambitious and not afraid to get her hands dirty with blood, while he is an overly sensitive Manchild who is terrified of the very thought of battle.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Almost every single character is based on a historical figure from the actual Wars of the Roses. For example, Lord Richard is based on Richard of York, Lord Berwick is based on Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, and Lady Jane Phoenix is based on Lady Margaret Beaufort.
- The Late Middle Ages: As expected from a series heavily based on Wars of the Roses, the series starts in the late 15th century, in the 1470s to be more precise, during the reign of King John Koopa VI, who is based on the actual Henry VI of England.
- The Mentally Disturbed: John VI inherited a mental illness from his mother's side of the family: Bohnenkraut Madness, which causes anyone who suffers from it to act completely insane. In John VI's case, the illness causes him to behave like a child, a toddler even, which is Played for Laughs most of the time (though it's treated more seriously when it comes to how it affects Cynder or the realm as a whole).
- One-Steve Limit: Two or more characters having the same name is far more common in Wars of Frozen Flames that it is in any of the other series. Major examples include up to four Richards (King Richard Koopa II, Lord Richard Koopa and his father Prince Richard, and Richard's own son, who is called Rickon for the sake of differentiation), Lady Jane Phoenix having a cousin who is also named Jane, and most of the Blackfoots being named "Symon".
- Professional Buttkisser: Lord Horace Sylver. It's clear that he is Loyal to the Position rather than to a specific faction, always being willing to, in the other nobles' words, be a "dicksucker" for whoever holds the most power at the moment.
- The Plague: At the start of the series, many people in the continent are suffering from The Black Plague, which as the name suggests, is based on The Black Death. The two most notable examples include King Edrick Koopa IV, who became infected with the plague and died thirty days after being crowned king, and Lord Raymund Kassimeer, who was sent to the Frosted Kingdom and caught the plague there, leaving him bed-ridden for three years.
- Short-Lived Leadership: As stated in the prologue, King Edrick Koopa IV, who had succeeded his father Robert Koopa III, died shortly after being crowned king as a result of becoming infected with the Black Plague, reigning for only thirty days. This resulted in his sole surviving son succeeding him as King Richard Koopa II at the mere age of nine years old.
- The Wrongful Heir to the Throne: King John Koopa VI is heir to the throne by the right of his father King John Koopa V, but is completely unfit to rule due to a mental illness. Unsurprisingly, he is easily manipulated by his corrupt advisors, leading to the throne becoming heavily indebted.
