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Shadow of Israphel is the flagship Minecraft series from the Yogscast, starting in 2010.

Shadow of Israphel contains examples of:

  • Action Survivor: Old_Peculier, who is a retired knight, has a smattering of prowess with the sword (enough to keep him from becoming The Load), but is not as good as Simon or Lewis, and needs to rest often and drink a ton of water because of his age. This is then subverted twice, but in two different ways. First, he becomes The Load because of The Taint. Then, he takes a level in badass and becomes Knight_Peculier.
  • Adventure Towns: First was Terrorvale, a small, out-of-the-way town with only three NPCs and a couple quests built on top of a vast cave system. Then came Mistral City, an immense city of airships, floating castles, shops, NPCs and even a mine dungeon, now burnt to a crisp then entirely covered by trees thanks to Swampy. Then there was the Carnivale de Banjo, a carnival owned by an eccentric man. Then came Barbecue Bay, a port under siege from pirates built right on top of a nether portal. Then was the Skyhold, home to the Skylords and new location of the Carnivale. Then was Stoneholm, subterranean home to the dwarves.
  • Allohistorical Allusion: In the Legend of Verigan flashback, Simon and Lewis have fun debating the strange green exploding monsters, how they tend to creep up on people, and how they seem to be made out of those (creeper) vines that grow on trees, and end up dubbing them "viners".
  • The Aloner: PirateTinman, who has been trapped in Grimmjaw's teasure hold for decades because two people are required to solve the first puzzle. Ends up being ditched again by the Yogscast duo because they couldn't figure out the proper way to solve the final puzzle, but somehow manages to get out of the puzzle anyway, Hand Wave'd in a parody animation in the beginning of one of the next episodes where he either swam in lava, used powered rockets to fly, grappled his way across, or a joke suggestion that Olivia Wilde and Katy Perry started kissing each other.
  • Amusement Park: Carnivale del Banjo. Lampshaded; Simon and Lewis refer to the local NPCs as "carny folk" and suspect them of cheating them out of money.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: While in Madame Nubescu's scrying chamber, you can see one of the signs labeling the contents of the chests around the room says "Tomes of Nightmare, Prophecy and Tasty Cooking".
  • Ascended Extra: Professor Grizwald only appeared in writing in an adventure map, but his memorable voice acting done by Simon made him into a One Episode Wonder that made him become a part of the Shadow of Israphel backstory (spelled "Grizwold") in the Legend of Verigan special.
    • His grandson (Prof_Webley), who they encountered in Episode 40, has joined the duo on their adventure. Sadly, he seems to be The Load more than anything else.
  • Ass Shove: How PirateTinman plays the security tape.
    Simon: Oh God, he's going to bend over and slip the disk between his butt cheeks.
    PirateTinman: *Bends over*
    Simon: Oh my God, he is as well!
  • Atrocious Alias: Lewis notes his player-invulnerability makes him like a superhero. Simon then grants him the names of Uselessnoobman and Terribleatcomputergames Fella.
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: One of the zombie dwarves in Stoneholm is actually a giant zombie dwarfnote , startling Lewis, Simon, and Peculier as they venture below Stoneholm.
  • Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: One of the reasons why it takes a while for anything to get done is that Lewis and Simon, to their own admission, keep getting distracted by interesting things that have no baring in the story.
  • Bad Future: Appears in a map-fragment induced vision in Shadow of Israphel Part 25.
  • Berserk Button: Do not make any sort of threat to Daisy's safety! Old/Knight_Peculier WILL kill you! King_Finbar learned this the hard way.
  • Big Bad: Israphel, or at least the closest by far, is the overarching villain. He booby trapped the Yogcave and then tried to ambush Lewis and Simon with arrows to provoke them into becoming part of the story in the first place, is the titular head of the Cult of Israphel and the one all his minions answer to, and bears a personal vendetta towards the Antioch family.
  • Big Damn Heroes: PirateTinman, who saved Isabel from Israphel in a flashback.
  • Bigger on the Inside: The "plane crafting table" in Shadow of Israphel episode 27.
  • Big "NO!":
    • Simon goes to town with a particularly large one when they discover the Yogcave has been destroyed at the start of Shadow of Israphel.
    • Simon also just does this whenever something bad happens, like him or Lewis dying, Old_Peculier passing out, or Lewis killing Daisy the cow.
    • Played tragically straight by Simon in Episode 38 when Knight_Peculier falls into the lava and dies.
    • Skylord_Lysander has one while imprisoned by Skylord_Jasper, after inquiring whether the heroes have found the key to his cell...Honeydew decides to produce a block of TNT.
  • Bizarrchitecture: Fumblemore's house, which he always rebuilds differently when he destroys part of it with a particularly destructive spell.
  • Black-and-White Morality: Good guys are good, bad guys are bad, and it's just a question of who is on which side in the end. Especially since the good guys are also Idiot Heroes.
  • Black Comedy Rape: Ep. 26, though it's only implied in the case of Skylord Jasper attempting it.
  • Black Spot: The pirates describe the fragment of Karpath's map as this.
  • Blatant Lies:
    • Jock Fireblast says Down there just be hard tack and bilging gear. when Lewis and Simon are investigating his "underwater ship" as he tries to hide the Hellgate.
    • Simon burns Israphel's geave in Terrorvale and says "I just went for a piss...I didn't burn anything....I DIDN'T BURN HIM!!!" to try to misdirect Old Peculier, but this is put aside when a hidden passageway is revealed.
  • Bleak Border Base: Knight_Peculier recounts his backstory to Lewis and Simon in one of these, or rather on top of one of these buried under several metres of sand. The area in question, named Lastwatch Hold was at one point a prominent Templar outpost, but gradually fell into decline and was eventually submerged entirely in the Sands.
  • Book Ends: A bit before discovering the town full of NPCs, Lewis and Simon build a portal to the Nether (which doesn't work). At the end of the season, they are at the same portal, preparing to venture into it. However, they end up not trying to enter until the start of season three, with season two being more of a breather season. And the portal still doesn't work.
    • Season three starts with the Celaeno on fire, and Simon and Lewis trying to reclaim their Survival Island items from the wreckage. Much later (though not at the end of the series, but at the end of an important part), they find Mistral City also on fire, and are trying to reclaim items from the wreckage. This time, specifically the Holy Record from the church.
    • In Survival Island (a custom map that eventually starts having slight relevance to the main plot), they are in a slight hurry at the start to get coal for torches. Near the end, they again go looking for coal, this time to fuel the airship that will take them home.
  • Brain Bleach: Both Lewis and Skylord_Lysander reach for the Super Whitening Extra Strength variety when they hear certain... noises coming from the Greasy Spoon Shoppe during Simon's fling with Granny_Bacon.
  • Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: The description of "Hitting Bedrock" says that they discover iron, gold, redstone and zombies.
  • The Cameo:
    • TotalBiscuit's grave is in one of the Shadow of Israphel videos.
    • TotalBiscuit, Notch, and deadmau5 seem to cameo occasionally in side events such as Granny_Bacon's funeral and a livestream event, but they're actually all bots.
  • Camp Gay: Skylord_Jasper revealed this time when the heroes meet him again.
  • Canine Companion:
    • Fumblemore had one in the "Legend of Verigan" livestream before it burned to death.
    • Angus_Eyeless has a dog, likely a seeing eye dog to help the blind pirate.
  • Cerebus Syndrome: From the 100% light-hearted beginning as a tutorial teaching others how to play Minecraft, to a highly popular dramedy series with an epic soundtrack, both the plot and the characters mature and become grimly serious. Meanwhile, Simon and Lewis do not (for the most part). Played for some laughs with Mood Whiplash, as the presence of the two heroes stops some well-written scenes that could've been pulled from a horror movie from being downright nightmarish. Such as episode 38's horrific aftermath of some guy who ripped his own bones out that is glanced over by Simon hitting Lewis with an arm and laughing at the slapping sound it makes.
  • Chaos Architecture: Lysander describes Fumblemore's floating tower as having this.
  • Characterization Marches On: Skylord_Jasper started out as extremely loud and extremely angry all the time. He even threatens to murder Lysander for stealing his towels. The only hint that he might have homosexual tendencies is his preference for pink in his home and Lysander calling him a "fag" while distracting him. When he reappears in Shadow of Israphel Part 26 he is no longer aggressive toward the heroes, he is flamboyantly gay, and he's calling Lysander "lover", making him outstandingly uncomfortable.
  • Chekhov's Gun:
    • The sand that always seems to appear in odd places during the Shadow of Israphel series, revealed to be part of a great desert that corrupted the lands in the past.
    • The "Cave of Terror," seen in the first episode, turned out to be not a cave at all, just the underside of a cliff. They decide to use this place to set up a portal to the Nether, which doesn't work. Turns out it may have resurrected Israphel from the dead, allowing him to let evil spread through the world once again.
    • The pumpkins' Heads-Up Display, originally just something silly and lighthearted becomes important when the pumpkins (now TVs) held a cryptic clue to find the third map fragment in their HUDs.
  • Chivalrous Pervert: Simon has shown shades of this, with his many love interests, who he seems to have only found attractive because of their looks. For further proof, watch the introduction to Shadow of Israphel episodes 21-23.
  • Clip Show: The latter half of Shadow of Israphel Episode 35, being told by Knight_Peculier as his backstory to the heroes.
  • Co-Dragons: Jock_Fireblast, Reverend_John, Creeper_Boss and Zombie_Boss have all served as this to Israphel. Jock did all of Israphel's handiwork at BBQ Bay, Reverend John carried out important actions at Terrorvale and the Ruined Castle, and both Creeper Boss and Zombie Boss were at Israphel's side at the castle under Terrorvale and the breach at the Wall.
  • Comically Missing the Point: In part 10 of Survival Island, Lewis discovers the Temple of the Lost Curator...while Simon is distracted by all the iron and coal that's in front of it.
    • When Lewis, Simon, and Old_Peculier come across the Hellgate the former two made much earlier on:
    Simon: "OH MY GOD!"
    Lewis: "OH MY GOD! A sheep just fell out of the sky!"
    • A hilarious (Acted out) one is given by Simon in "The Jackal and the Cave", when they come across a gruesome cave painting depicting The Jackal mauling a small group of people.
    Simon: "Okay, okay, I think I can understand this. See, these three guys have been having a barbecue, and this is an x-ray view, showing that they've eaten a bunch of hot dogs note , and that black swirly thing in the background note  is the smoke, coming from the grill."
  • Cool Airship: Skylords Jasper and Lysander have one, with Mistral City acting as the main port.
  • Crew of One:
    • The airships don't seem to have any crew other than a Skylord captaining it, plus passengers.
      Lewis: Well I assume it's more than one person on there. It's quite a big thing. Maybe it's one guy though.
  • Cutting the Knot: Simon and Lewis come to a door with a puzzle lock mechanism. Lewis tries to figure out the puzzle when Sim grabs some TNT and blows up the door.
  • Deadpan Snarker:
    • Peculier has his moments.
    "The signal tower doesn't need to be that bright..."
    • Lysander too.
  • Dead Person Conversation: Simon and Lewis have a very revealing one with Verigan in a vision in Shadow of Israphel Part 25, showing them that Israphel will take over the word if they fail.
  • Department of Redundancy Department: In Shadow of Israphel Part 12,
    Mr_Banjo: "This is a beautiful and exciting and fun and exciting place!"
  • Destructive Savior: Where they go, explosions, fire, and stolen items tend to follow.
  • Disk-One Final Boss: Episodes 15 and 16 of Shadow of Israphel are all about this, consisting of Simon and Lewis rescuing a wounded Old_Peculier from a deserted guard tower, and then ending up in an epic battle against Israphel and his hordes of minions, and repairing the wall while the enemy is regrouping. All the while, the three are constantly bombarded by a Zerg Rush of spiders, and forced to deal with the Sand everywhere.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Simon traps Strongman_Bruno in a tree as revenge for him cheating him out of a victory in a contest of strength.
  • Distressed Damsel: Twice; first Daisy_Duke, who is currently somewhere in the Nether after Israphel kidnapped her, then Granny_Bacon, who didn't last very long after Israphel's forces turned her into a zombie. Both of which were Simon's (very temporary) love interests, funny enough.
  • Distressed Dude: Knight_Peculier in Shadow of Israphel episode 15, wounded and forced to hide in a tower near the Wall by the forces of Israphel that breached it.
  • Don't Look At Me: Although Endermen were a later addition in the saga (as the series began long before they were added to Minecraft), when Peculier sees the first Endermen near the spire, he is already aware of how they become aggressive and warns Xephos and Honeydew of this.
    Peculier: "Avert your eyes!"
  • Doomed Hometown: The Yogcave, which was blown to smithereens by Israphel. Stoneholm is also this for Honeydew and Spacker LeChuck, as the people were enslaved by their resurrected king, and most of the populace was turned into zombies.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: Knight_Peculier's death is out of nowhere and painfully anticlimactic. It takes Lewis several seconds to even realize what happened.note 
    • Um_Bongo's death is also very sudden, but unlike the above example it didn't appear to be scripted, but instead the result of a poorly aimed jump. His appearance in one of the Yogscast's Minecraft snapshot videos seems to hint that he didn't really die.
  • Dug Too Deep: Simon says this word for word when exploring the Deepcore Tunnels in part 33.
  • Dumb Muscle: Strongman_Bruno.
  • Emo Teen: Simon's description of Young!Fumblemore.
  • Epic Fail:
    • When Simon, Lewis, and Skylord_Lysander try to sneak into Skylord_Jasper's house, the use a waterfall to quietly make their way down. Skylord Lysander doesn't make it in, and instead gets washed off of the roof.
    • Every time Lewis and Simon try to build themselves a bridge or stairs to walk across a gap or get out of a hole. After playing Minecraft so much, you'd think they would have some clue about how to do it properly, but as seen in their attempt to rescue Um_Bongo in Shadow of Israphel Part 29, Lewis always manages to block someone else's way with a misplaced block and doesn't even try to break it, while Simon just forgets to put something to stay on under himself BEFORE walking towards empty space and falls from the Skyhold.
    Um_Bongo: "Don't take me with you down there."
    • Surprisingly, Creeper_Boss does this in his first appearance. While Simon and Lewis had to actually fight Zombie_Boss, Creeper_Boss just blows himself up before the heroes can attack, and only deals slight damage. He's more careful in future episodes, though.
  • Evil Overlord: What Israphel will apparently become if the duo fails, resulting in the Bad Future seen in their vision.
  • Evil Versus Evil: The pirate ship battle between Grimmjaw_Slugface and Jock_Fireblast when Jock, who initially seemd to be the more noble pirate, turned out to be no better than Grimmjaw.
  • Exact Time to Failure: As of the ending of Episode 34, an ancient Sand God wakes up and the world ends in 3 days, 7 hours.
  • "Far Side" Island: Survival Island pretty much starts off this way.
  • Fetch Quest: To make a cure for Old_Peculier, Fumblemore requested a bucket of water (of life), dirt, feathers, creeper powder, and two golden apples. The two golden apples themselves had to obtained by getting diamonds for Granny_Bacon and a record for Father_Braeburn, and stealing them from another NPC. The result? A bucket of muddy water with two golden apples and some feathers in it.
    • Another fetch quest appears in Stoneholm. Moira_Magmabloom requires gold, lava, and beer to forge the key to the next area. The result? She gives the duo a lever. Knight_Peculier lampshades it this time, asking why the duo didn't just make one themselves.
  • Find the Cure!:
    • For Old_Peculier, as he was tainted by Israphel in Shadow of Israphel.
    • Later, for Skylord_Baako in Skyhold. Subverted when Nubescu and/or the Yogscast had the ingredients available. Double subverted when it only delayed his curse and he ends up dying on his deathbed.
  • Flat "What":
    • Lysander gives us one after Simon dismounts from a plane indoors and teleports through a ceiling in episode 27 of Shadow of Israphel.
    • Father Braeburn has a blink and you miss it one when Lewis falls off the sky platforms, dies, and then comes back and gets his stuff a few minutes later from where he fell.
  • Floating Continent: Skyhold, a flying base for the Skylords.
  • Fortune Teller: Madame_Nubescu is the Carnivale del Banjo's fortune teller, who gives advice for Lewis and Simon on their journey.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus: When Simon breaks his block of stone a split second faster than Strongman Bruno breaking his last block of stone during their strength contest, yet Mr. Banjo declared Bruno the winner, Simon discusses whether the viewers are going to pause the video to look at that split second.
  • Frothy Mugs of Water: Inverted. The beer in Stoneholm is buckets of milk with a texture pack applied. Bonus points for the new texture having froth on top.
  • Funny Background Event:
    • In part 17 of Shadow of Israphel, a zombie is seen lurking about in the background before setting itself on fire and dying.
    • In part 16, the tapestry on the wall in Verigan's Hold shows George Washington crossing the Delaware.
  • The Goggles Do Nothing
    Simon: Put the goggles on!
    Lewis: Do I get magical powers when I put the goggles on?
    Simon: No, but they make you look cool as heck.
    • Subverted in part 31. Lewis puts them on to protect himself from a plague in Stoneholm (Simon doesn't need them, dwarves are apparently immune to plague) but has to remove them because one of their mods makes you heavier when you have armour on. Fortunately the plague was a lie.
  • Grave Humor: The graveyard in Mistral City contains a good selection of this.
  • Guest-Star Party Member: In Shadow of Israphel, Old_Peculier sometimes lends a hand with the duo's adventures, but typically leaves after a while. Likewise, PirateTinman helped the duo out for a bit... before being ditched because the Yogscast couldn't figure out a puzzle to get all three party members across. Skylord_Lysander occasionally delves in this, too.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Astley the reformed creeper, until he blew up when the heroes try to get sulphur for the potion for Peculier. A cameo of him in Stoneholm's prison cells (played by a morphed player) is there to hiss "Never Gonna Give You Up" lyrics.
  • Hell-Bent for Leather: The leather cap keeps getting re-purposed into different items. From Shadow of Israphel Parts 3 to 11 it's Granny_Bacon's head. In Part 12, it appears to be Mr. Banjo's monkey head. In Part 26 it's a ball gag. From Parts 27 to 30 it becomes a pair of goggles that Simon loves because of Rule of Cool. The rest of the leather armor is likewise repurposed to the rest of Granny's skin and the rest of Banjo's monkey suit.
  • Help, I'm Stuck!: The server crashed when Xephos and Honeydew reached the end of the minecraft track near the CHLOE, and resulted in their minecarts being stuck together and Xephos and Honeydew remarking on their predicament.note 
    Honeydew: Ahh! Ahhh!
    Xephos: Oh god, I'm stuck!
    Honeydew: I can't - how do I get out!? I'm stuck, oh god, help!
  • Hilarious Outtakes: Here and Here. (Major spoilers.)
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Jock_Fireblast is killed in the same fire that he started.
  • Home Base: The Yogcave, which is consistently flawed, booby trapped, or on fire. Or outright bombarded while they were away.
  • Idiot Hero: Lysander has his moments, from allowing himself to be swept off Jasper's roof to constantly getting lost while looking for something.
  • If I Can't Port Here: Grimmjaw blows up part of the bay with his cannons simply because the other pirates wouldn't let him dock his ship in the Bay.
  • Island Help Message: To get attention from a nearby airship, in Survival Island part 8, Simon writes out help in lowercase with torches, and makes it stand out with an exclamation point.
  • It Makes Sense in Context: A man in a pilot's outfit and goggles called a Skylord distracting his Camp Gay rival by stealing his pink towels from his mansion so that Simon and Lewis can break in through the roof with a waterfall and attempt to steal his gold record for the third time, which turns out to be hidden in a chest inside his bed. They need this record so that they can give it to a rock n' roll preacher who is also an Elvis impersonator so that he will give them a golden apple in exchange for dedicating his church to the record. That, my friends, is one of many, many, MANY examples.
  • I Was Quite a Looker: Granny_Bacon, as seen in a flashback, as well as the Legend of Verigan Charity Livestream.
  • Jack of All Stats: Knight_Peculier. He isn't as good with communication or a sword as Lewis, as skilled of a miner or bowman as Simon, or as smart as Skylord_Lysander, but is competent at all of these.
  • Jigsaw Puzzle Plot: Many hidden clues of the lore are placed throughout the series in the form of the various items and locations.
  • Killed Off for Real: While Simon and Lewis frequently come Back from the Dead, as if they were playing regular Minecraft, any "NPCs" who die, outside of the "Legend of Verigan" special at least, remain dead. This applies both to scripted events such as Granny_Bacon's death and apparently accidental deaths, such as Um_Bongo falling to his doom.note  This rule inexplicably does not apply to Zombie_Boss or Creeper_Boss, who are killed in virtually every encounter, though it's possible Israphel either resurrects them or simply creates new ones.
    • As of episode 38, it would appear Knight_Peculier is dead.note 
  • Kill It with Fire: Jock_Fireblast likes this, being revealed to be the true culprit behind Mistral City's burning as well as the fire of BBQ Bay.
  • Kleptomaniac Hero: Lewis and Simon spend almost an entire episode trying to steal from Skylord_Jasper.
  • Large Ham: Skylord_Lysander, when not being the Straight Man, does this every now and then, yelling "For Victory!" every time he jumps into a dangerous situation. In Shadow of Israphel Part 30, Lewis started slipping Lysander's speech patterns into Grizwaldesque ones, which Simon noticed.
  • Late-Arrival Spoiler: The death of Knight_Peculier via minecart from Shadow of Israphel episode 38 can be seen on the BlueXephos channel background.
  • Lethal Joke Character: Young!Fumblemore in the Legend of Verigan Charity livestream. His combat skills are subpar, he constantly destroys his fellow adventurers by mistake with his spells, and can't gather resources without making a mess. However, he is incredibly good at blowing up spawners, and can deal with dense clusters of enemies with a blast of TNT.
  • Ludicrous Gibs:
    • Jock_Fireblast explodes into bones and porkchops (supposedly flesh) when he dies.
    • Skylord_Baaku does this quite suddenly, with a suffusion of redstone dust in place of blood, making poor Simon sick.
    • The site of Templar_Enoch's death. The walls and floor are covered with blood, and his rotting limbs are lying around. Yes, it's freaky.
  • MacGuffin: In Shadow of Israphel, the items needed to prove that the heroes' have conquered the trials of Skyhold: Fire, Snow, Leaves, and probably Netherack. They are even called MacGuffins by Simon in Episode 30. He turns out to be right, as Skylord_Lysander admits that they weren't really needed at all just as Simon is wondering why they couldn't have just used a flint and steel to break through the wooden seal.
  • Machinima: Becomes this when a mysterious player attacks them one (in-game) night.
  • Major Injury Underreaction: When the Yogscast boys came in for a "How to play Minecraft" video with Jesse Cox on OMFGcata, Lewis falls in lava. His reaction is quite calm.
    Lewis: Oop, I've just fallen in some lava and I died.
    Simon: Here is where he died. R.I.P. Lewis. Never forget. *proceeds to walk off*
  • Mauve Shirt: Gareth the creeper and his brother Henry, and their uncle, Mr. Astley.
  • May–December Romance: Simon and Granny_Bacon have a brief romance until Israphel's forces capture her.
  • Meadow Run: During Granny_Bacon's funeral, Simon reminisces about the good times he had with her. The screen then cuts to one of these in a wheat field, when suddenly the music stops and both of them duck down into the wheat while Simon makes grunting noises.
  • Meaningful Name:
    • Old_Peculier is old, and a bit quirky. When he becomes Knight_Peculier, this becomes slightly averted - he's a knight, but no longer peculiar.
      • A bit less obvious is the fact that he first appears as the owner of a small tavern in a small town, and "old peculiar" is an obscure slang term for beer from a small, local brewery, generally in a small town.
    • Jock_Fireblast turns out to be as much of a raging pyromaniac as Simon, as he was the one who burned down Mistral City, and much later, Barbecue Bay.
    • The Creepers in general. They usually creep up on Lewis or - much more often - Simon, exploding before they can react or be warned.
  • Metaphorgotten: Simon in episode 2 of the Survival Island map.
    Simon: "You're throwing caution to the wind. You know how it goes with wind. Sometimes it can just change direction and you're left with egg on your... face. I think I mixed metaphors a bit."
  • Mighty Glacier: Zombie_Boss, due to the fact that he always crouches while walking in order to make him seem more "zombie-like", though he is occasionally capable of bursts of speed.
  • Minor Injury Overreaction: In one episode, while Simon, Lewis, and PirateTinman are trying to dig their way into another part of Grimmjaw's treasure vault, PirateTinman accidentally punches Simon. Simon then starts whining incessantly dispite having only having taken one heart of damage. Lewis then replies with the hilarious line "Man up, bitch!"
  • "Mission: Impossible" Cable Drop: The duo does this when trying to steal Skylord_Jasper's music disk WITH A FREAKING WATERFALL!!
  • The Mole: In Shadow of Israphel, this is revealed to be Skylord_Lysander, claimed to have burned Mistral City. It later turns this he was framed, and Jock_Fireblast is the real culprit.
    • In Episode 29 we learn Skylord_Vitali was this to the Skylords, secretly a vampire who was behind the killings of Skylords.
  • Mood Whiplash:
    • In general, the dramatic/story elements of the "official" Shadow of Israphel series is offset by the humor and ineptitude of Simon and Lewis, often cracking jokes and pointing out absurdities as soon as a scene is over. As the series matures with darker themes and the plot of saving the world becomes more grim, the mood whiplash deepens greatly from its completely light-hearted origins.
    • The outright horrific depiction of Enoch's final resting place is severely undermined when both Simon and Lewis pick up his limbs and hit each other with them. With sound effects.
  • More Dakka: Israphel's earlier moments as an active threat involved him shooting rapid fire arrows at the heroes (back when this was how bows worked in Minecraft, before they changed to charging up a shot and then firing).
  • Multi-Episode Flashback: The Legend of Verigan charity livestream.
  • Name McAdjective: Simon notes that the crowd Swampy Bogbeard hangs out with would be the likes of "Clucky McFeathers" and "Wooly McBaaface".
  • Never Learned to Read: Honeydew and Xephos. Enforced, because all of the notes and map fragments are done through pieces of paper (which are blank), they both have to get NPCs to tell them what the paper is/says. Lewis comments they must not be able to read in Season 3.
  • Never My Fault: When Simon deliberately sets the Yogcave on fire:
    Lewis: Was that my flint and tinder?
    Simon: Yeah... so technically, it's your fault.
  • New-Age Retro Hippie: Swampy, Fumblemore's brother, who lives in a floating chunk of earth and forces you to climb up using saplings and bone meal. Whether or not this is just Simon and Lewis's speculation of what he sounds like, and not who the character actually is, is up to debate.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Simon and Lewis are the ones that built the portal that led Israphel back to Minecraftia.
    • Templar Enoch's expedition to investigate the metal remains ends up having a hand in releasing Israphel.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: If Israphel never messed around with Xephos and Honeydew, he never would've lured them to Old_Peculier when he was about to kill himself with poison. The rest is history.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot:
    • Spacker LeChuck, a pirate zombie dwarf in a boat.
    • PirateTinman, a robot pirate.
    • The possessed zombie dwarves, one of whom is also a giant, in Stoneholm, which are dangerous and unintelligent, unlike Spacker.
  • No-Sell: The first encounter with Zombie Boss sees Lewis and Simon close a door on him. He just simply axes the door apart.
    Lewis: Oh god, he's gone through the door!
    Simon: He destroyed the door!
  • Nobody Poops: Averted. The first time Lewis and Simon meet Fumblemore, he requires some makeshift toilet paper.
  • Non Player Characters: A major plot point that causes the Genre Shift from Let's Play to Machinima.
  • Nostalgia Level: The ruins of the Yogcave after the trip to Survival Island, destroyed from Israphel's machinations.
  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome: According to the PAX 2011 Yogscast Teleconference, the fight with Jock Fireblast had to be reshot because of one of these, as while Simon completely destroyed him, Lewis, the cameraman, wasn't there to film anything.
  • Off the Rails: Shadow of Israphel has been described by the Yogs as being like a Dungeons & Dragons adventure, with Simon and Lewis's friends creating an elaborate story for them to play without them knowing the entire story. Thus, (relatively minor) deviations to the main story ensue that the "gamemasters" have to account for and ad-lib. Occasionally leads to Hilarious Outtakes.
    • Simon creating a plane inside the aircraft carrier instead of creating it on the carrier is an example in episode 27. Skylord_Lysander is obviously surprised and didn't plan on having to rebuild the plane.
      Lysander: Please try not to break the laws of physics any more than you have already...
    • As pointed out by many commenters on YouTube, there was a way to get PirateTinman across the lava bridge puzzle instead of just abandoning him...
    • Though no NPCs were present to advance the story, the time Simon and Lewis attempt to find shelter at the Temple of Lehparsi after a sudden downpour is definitely this.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    Simon: Good news is I've dug our way out. Bad news is we're going to drown.
  • One-Steve Limit: Averted with Daisy the Yogscave cow, and Daisy_Duke, the missing blacksmith's daughter. When the Daisy name is later used for a random cow in Mistral City, Simon says "Daisy's not a cow!" to Lewis.
  • Only Sane Man: Skylord_Lysander is definitely this when ever he's part of the party. He scolds Xephos and Honeydew for the things they break, he constantly has to remind them to stay on track, and in every video he appears in the heroes do something that completely baffles him. Lysander is quite possibly the most sensible character in the cast.
  • Orgasmically Delicious: Granny_Bacon's cooked fish is apparently very delicious.
  • Out-of-Character Moment: At one point during the Legend of Verigan charity livestream, Lewis (who is playing Karpath) yells at a young Templar_Adaephon, after the young templar snaps at Professor Grizwald for needing to rest so often and even breaks his bed, which shocks everyone. Justified in that Templar_Adaephon is Karpath's apprentice. Lewis generally just acts generally braver than normal during the livestream.
    Karpath/Xephos/Lewis: Cull your toungue young Templar! We need the old man well and rested!
  • Percussive Maintenance: Simon fixes an apparent error in young Granny_Bacon's NPC coding this way, even referencing Fonzie from Happy Days in the process.
  • Planet Heck: The Nether, now that it works in multiplayer.
  • Posthumous Character: Templar_Enoch, the explorer that worked with Griswold in the desert excavation; Simon, Lewis, and Peculier find an Apocalyptic Log written by him at the excavation in question.
  • Port Town: Barbecue Bay, full of loud, talkative pirates - and perhaps even some bootleggers of some kind.
  • Power Trio: They become this whenever Old/Knight_Peculier joins them. Simon is the id, Old/Knight_Peculier is the ego, and Lewis is the superego.
  • Rain of Arrows: Israphel's tactic of choice.
  • Real Life Writes the Plot: Much of the early story of Shadow of Israphel was made when nether portals were broken in SMP, so they had to come up with excuses for why the heroes couldn't enter them until the game was fixed.
  • Reformed, but Rejected: Mr. Astley the Creeper lives in his house alone, and didn't take the heroes trying to get sulphur from him well.
  • The Reveal: Oh so many in Shadow of Israphel:
    • Skylord_Lysander is actually The Mole
      • And again in episode 24, where it turns out he isn't.
    • Israphel was summoned by the portal Lewis and Simon created
    • Jock_Fireblast is evil and stole the map fragment. He was the one responsible for burning down Mistral City.
    • Old_Peculier's father is actually a knight who needs to destroy Israphel and the portals, but trapped himself in the Nether to also trap Israphel - that is, until Simon and Lewis summoned him (Israphel) again.
      • And he's actually Karpath Antioch, son of Verigan Antioch The First. Peculiar's real name is Verigan The Second and he is the next Templar King (whatever that means).
    • Skylord_Vitali is a vampire, is working for Israphel and killed all the other Skylords.
    • King_Finbar is possessed by Israphel and all the dwarves have been turned into zombies.
    • The Wall has been sabotaged and the Sands are pouring out.
    • Israphel is working for a group of giant robots called Sentinels, who the Sand was just a prison for, the Sand was only evil because Israphel took control of it, and the Sentinels will activate and destroy the world in 3 days and 7 hours.
  • Ring-Out Boss: In their first encounter with Zombie_Boss, Lewis kills him by knocking him into a ring of lava around Israphel's castle, which is just as dangerous for them.
  • The Rival: Strongman_Bruno and Simon absolutely can't stand each other, and their personalities clash a lot. This is worsened by Bruno cheating Simon out of his victory in a strength contest, and Simon trapping Strongman_Bruno in a tree.
  • Sdrawkcab Alias: In the temple that Simon and Lewis take shelter in, a sign in front of an obsidian barrier says not to open, or else a beast of sorts named Lehparsi will be unleashed. They don't realize it's backwards for Israphel, and even consider breaking it open just for safety from the current enemy swarm.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: In addition to the wall holding the Sands back, Verigan built a massive machine to keep a Sand God sealed beneath the desert. By the time Lewis, Simon and Peculier find it, the machine has recently failed.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Skyward Scream: Simon-as-Verigan lets out the equivalent of one when Fumblemore accidentally blows him up while attempting to use magic to harvest wood.
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: After burning Israphel's grave and possibly someone else's as well by accident:
    <Honeydew> i just went for a piss
    <Honeydew> i didn;t [sic] burn anything
  • Take Up My Sword: Old_Peculier's father to Old_Peculier, to vanquish the evil spirit and destroy the Hellgates.
  • Tempting Fate: During the Battle of the Breach, Lewis remarks that the enemies probably can't make it through the then-recently repaired wall. Creeper_Boss blasts a new hole in the wall shortly after he says this.
    • When going through one of the trials in Skyhold, Lewis says that the trial was simple and that he was surprised at how, despite the presence of cobwebs, there wasn't a spider in sight. Less than a minute later, the two of them are attacked by a swarm of spiders.
  • This Is a Drill: Stoneholm's giant bedrock mining drill, strong enough to break unbreakable bedrock.
  • Toilet Humor: During Granny Bacon's Funeral, a Yognau(gh)t lets out a small fart, getting glares from the other Yognau(gh)ts and the attention of Lewis and Simon (Simon in particular calling it disrespectful and punching him).
  • Too Dumb to Live:
    • Simon's idea of "putting the heating on" inside the Yogcave is to use a flint and tinder to set the wooden floor on fire, nearly destroying the entire cave.
    • Lewis flooding the Yogcave after tunneling through one of the tower walls. Hell, both Simon and Lewis have a lot of these moments.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Old_Peculier regains his strength when cured, then takes up his father's armor, becoming Knight_Peculier.
  • Trash the Set: The Yogscast have done this a few times over the course of the Shadow of Israphel series: so far they destroyed the Yogcave, Mistral City, and BBQ Bay. They do, however, either fix or destroy for others to fix some of the older "sets" in the series that they store in either a public museum server or an RPG server for fans to visit.
  • 20 Bear Asses: Almost directly quoted from TV Tropes in Shadow of Israphel Part 7; and yes, they did have a Fetch Quest to Find the Cure!.
  • Underground Monkey: A few common hostile mobs are easily modified in the series' texture pack when Lewis and Simon need variety among the enemies encountered.
    • In Stoneholm, the zombies encountered are zombie dwarves, due to Finbar's undead curse placed upon the dwarves. Xephos, Honeydew, and Peculier later find that down in the Deepcore, the invokedDummied Out Giant also has a zombie dwarf form.
    • When Xephos, Honeydew, and Peculier venture into the Desert, the zombies and creepers are altered to resemble Zombie Boss and Creeper Boss, respectively turning a pale green with a templar uniform, and turning mottled brown with red eyes.
    • Modified zombies resembling Duncan's scientist skin appear inside the Jade Sentinel's Hand to represent defective clones.
  • The Unintelligible: Zombie_Boss, who only speaks in groans when confronting the heroes.
  • Unique Enemy: The specific spawning requirements of certain Minecraft mobs resulted in cases of this when they only appeared in specific areas of the series.
    • Despite being a common Nether mob, and the first purely hostile Minecraft mob in the Nether, only a single ghast is ever encountered by Xephos and Honeydew. And it never spawns during any of the brief moments the heroes go to the Nether, instead it patrols over the mossy cobblestone maze in Grimjaw's Treasure Hold.
    • Slimes in the earlier years of Minecraft had rare spawning conditions where they could only appear in specific chunks deep underground. Xephos and Honeydew only ever encounter a few of them in Skyhold, where they roam the ice maze during the Skylord Trials.
    • Silverfish were a recent addition to Minecraft at the time they were featured in the series, but since the heroes had not found a stronghold at any point, the only encounter with silverfish took place for a brief trap in Stoneholm.
    • A invokedDummied Out hostile mob, the giant, appears as a giant zombie dwarf when Xephos, Honeydew, and Peculier explore the Deepcore. They never fight it, opting to run, but lucky for them, only a single giant was present.
  • The Usual Adversaries: Silverfish. Simon in particular is terrified of them, calling them worse than Endermen, and both Simon and Lewis get mobbed by Silverfish multiplying repeatedly.
  • Vague Age: Lampshaded. Old Peculier, who is, well, pretty old, has an uncle, who was around during a time Granny Bacon was young, who seems a little older than Peculier himself, but his father was around during that time too, and a sister who is rather young-looking in the present day and he... Well... Don't think about it too hard. To clarify: Granny Bacon and Templar_Adaephon are both over one hundred years old.
  • The Virus: Called "the taint", later during Shadow of Israphel.
  • The Voiceless: Israphel, despite being the major antagonist of the series, has not spoken a single voiceline.
  • Vomit Indiscretion Shot:
    • Simon spewing Jaffa Cakes, following Skylord_Baako's death.
    Simon: AHHH! That's disgusting! What happened!?
    • And after Enoch's remains are discovered, Simon does it again, this time with the equivalent of several meals in porkchops and beer.
  • Weaksauce Weakness: Jock_Fireblast is ticklish, as the heroes discover using a feather.
  • Webcomic Time: At least from the NPCs' point of view, the series is implied to occur over a much shorter timescale than aired.
    • In Shadow of Israphel Part 25 (aired June 2011), Spacker_LeChuck mentions part of Swampy's forest being an inn "but weeks ago", even though Mistral City burned down and was evacuated in Part 10 in February.
    • In Part 34 (November 2011), the gang have three days until the Jade Sentinel is fully operational. As of July 2012, this is essentially still ongoing.
  • Wham Line: In part 23 of the first season, we have this line.
    Old_Peculier: That poor man, his son Israphel was out hunting when the creepers got him.
    Simon: *reacting to Peculier's line* Wait! What! Did you just ... Did you just hear that?
  • Women Drivers: Simon jokes about Isabel being one due to the Black Pimple apparently running aground on land.note 
  • World-Healing Wave: Used to restore the oasis of Swampy from Israphel's forces.
  • The World Is Just Awesome: Any of the pre-made dungeons and towns in the Israphel saga. Simon and Lewis typically have no idea what they're getting themselves into every episode, so they often awe at the scenery and detail put into the settings. And besides: it's Minecraft. It's bound to happen.
  • Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: The abandoned "Ye Olde Watche Towere", just outside Mistral. A less butcherede example is Granny Bacon's Greasy Spoon Shoppe.

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