Cover for Beyond the End
"Remember Naruto?"
— Gabe
Beyond the End is a Fantasy webcomic written and illustrated by Dusk Pendragon, aka DuskDragonXIII. The story follows a Fallen Angel, End, as he tries to return to Heaven. While he accepts the decision for him to fall, he longs to know the reason why he did. As he journeys through Purgatory, he is joined by a centaur, Roman; a fellow fallen-angel-turned-demon, Cain; and a strange cat boy thing, Halcyon. They each have something they seek or something to run from.
Beyond the End is available at BeyondTheEnd.gay, Tapas, Webtoon and Webcomics App. The webcomic began in August 2016 and releases a chapter once a month around the 25th.
Beyond The End provides examples of the following tropes:
- All-Loving Hero: End tries to give everyone a chance and trusts everyone unquestioningly until that trust is actually betrayed. He's welcoming to demons, angels, and everything in between. He doesn't even doubt Michael for casting him down from Heaven.
- Alphabetical Theme Naming: Eremiel, Gabriel, Ramiel, Uriel and then Michael, Raphael; the majority of major angel names are rhyming or partially rhyming.
- Animal Eyes: Hal has cat eyes, on account of being a cat boy
- Animorphism: There are beast men in Purgatory; both original residents and residents from the Beforeworld. Residents of the Beforeworld take on what was their "ideal form", which can include animalistic features.
- Archangel Gabriel
- Archangel Michael
- Archangel Raphael
- Archangel Uriel
- Art Evolution: DuskDragonXII's art has improved significantly over the comics run, and has gone back to redraw the first few chapters to make the art more consistent.
- Badass Normal: While Roman isn't a human, he lacks the powers the other characters have. Despite this, he's willing to kick an angel if push comes to shove. And he'll win.
- Big Brother Mentor: Gabe to End.
- Big Brother Worship: End has a bit of this towards Gabe.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: The characters frequently address readers as asides.
- Break the Cutie: End starts off still very optimistic and almost childish, despite having just been cast down from his home. However, as time goes on, he quickly gets broken down and starts snapping at his friends as the insecurities gather.
- Cain and Abel: Cain was cast down from Heaven for killing Abel, living up to his name. They later meet again in Death's realm and end up fighting.
- The Cameo: Parad and Graphite from Kamen Rider Ex-Aid appear as amphiteres alongside on based on Kuroto, later revealled to be named Kuro. Kuro, however, ends up a Recurring Extra.
- Cat Girl: Hal is a cat boy.
- Cheerful Child: Tita remains a cheerful child, despite her tragic circumstances.
- Combat Medic: Honey is supposed to be a healer, but she's constantly trying to start fights. Inversely, End was trained as a fighter, but is primarily a medic.
- Coming of Age Story: This is End's coming of age story.
- Cute Little Fangs: Most demons have these.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Uriel, Honey, and Mortis are all noted as being dark elementals, and none of them are evil.
- Deadpan Snarker: Roman and Cain take turns.
- Death World: The Deadwoods. Basically unsurveyable and filled with Shrouds - a creature that causes horrific deaths after luring in their victims.
- Doomed by Canon: When we get to the flashbacks for Eremiel and Abel's deaths, it's well-established that they're both long dead. Readers know exactly how this will end.
- Elemental Personalities:
- End is light; innocent and cheerful, always wanting to do what is right even if he is uncertain what that is.
- Michael is light and hard set on his morals. He always believes his decisions are the morally correct ones and everyone should follow them. He's quick to cast judgement.
- Uriel is fire and is emotional, going from completely laid back to full snapping if pushed in any way he dislikes. He's frequently referred to as a Wildcard and unpredictable. He's also fun-loving and the life of parties.
- Hal is water, both willing to listen to everyone else's story and try to make things work, but with little actual moral fibre.
- Raphael is air and is rarely in Heaven to do any work. He prefers to wander Purgatory, talking to the people there and making friends as he travels.
- Mortis is dark and first introduce as an intimidating antagonist. He turns out to have a heart of gold, but remains secretive.
- Lucifer is dark and brooding, frequently going to the garden to do so.
- Elemental Weapon: Cain's sword is electrified.
- Expressive Ears: Roman and Cain both.
- Eye Motifs: Lucifer and Michael.
- Fake Memories: Everyone remembers Eremiel as a martyr, only for it to turn out he was anything but.
- Fallen Angel: End, Cain, and Lucifer are all fallen angels. Cain and Lucifer have since become demons.
- Family Theme Naming: While unclear if they're twins, Cain and Abel.
- Fire Is Red: Both played straight with Uriel and subverted with Michael,
- Forgot the Disability: End constantly forgets that Roman can barely see more than a metre ahead.
- God: Not shown, but spoken of as an existent figure in the world.
- Guardian Angel: Multiple angels serve as End's guardian angel while he is in Purgatory, trying to protect him from Michael's wrath. Primarily, Gabriel and Uriel fill this role.
- Healing Hands: End.
- Killing in Self-Defense: In the original version of chapter 23, but it was rewritten so that the character miraculously survived.
- Language Barrier: No one knows sign language and Hal is mute. While he can communicate through his chest at the start, he later loses this ability.
- Large and in Charge: Michael is considerably larger than the other angels.
- Light/Darkness Juxtaposition: Uriel and Lucifer are both the darkness to Michael's light, one being his partner and the other being his brother.
- Light Is Not Good: Michael is themed around light, but is a major antagonist.
- Little Bit Beastly: Angels not only have wings but tails and hooves (or other beastly forms).
- Magic Knight: Most characters have an elemental ability in addition to swords and daggers.
- Magical Incantation: End recites bible verses (poorly) as incantations.
- Manly Tears: Michael breaks after having to kill a shroud that disguised itself as Uriel.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Mortis, along with his dogs Rig and Ore; a demon that has survived in the Deadwoods and is sent by Lucifer to capture Hal.
- Nice Guy: End and Gabe are both incredibly nice to everyone they meet, though that doesn't mean they don't have their breaking points.
- Odd-Shaped Panel: When meeting Ayuy in particular, the panels mold with Ayuy's fluid shapes.
- Oh, My Gods!: Different characters will curse their respective god's name.
- Only a Flesh Wound: After Mortis's encounter with the shroud, he's clutching an injured shoulder, not letting the full extent of the injury be seen. Given the effects shrouds had on other characters, it's most likely a lot worse than he lets on. Still, he gets up and heads back to Hell.
- Our Angels Are Different: While the angels are mostly humanoid, they lack human organs, except for other they personaly elect to have. They instead have a halo core that connects them to the Metatron, and a soul core that is their vital point. Angel wings may start off the classic fluffy kind, but they'll form with the angel's personality and take on what their ideal shape is; End, for example, has dragon-like wings patterned with the night sky. They also have clawed hands and hooves for feet - though this may vary between angels.
- Our Centaurs Are Different: Purgatorian centaurs - including Roman - have horse ears and teeth.
- Our Gods Are Different: Several gods are mentioned and it's implied many more may exist. If there is a religion to believe in a god, that god will exist. They're known to be more present than the God the angels cater to, and will walk among the people if they choose, and get friendly with each other. There are also the Aftergods, which are gods that only became known in the afterlife.
- Past-Life Memories: Hal mentions having some from his time in the Beforeworld.
- Pink Means Feminine: Subverted. Honey has pink hair, but she's more known for being one of the few angels willing to talk back to Michael, regardless of rank. She'll actively challenge him to fights.
- Playful Cat Smile: Cat smiles are common across all DuskDragonXIII's art.
- Pointy Ears: Many characters have them.
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: End and Hal both tend to do these.
- Purgatory and Limbo: The bulk of the story takes place in Purgatory.
- Put on a Bus: Happens to Halcyon, though he does return later.
- Really Gets Around: Cain has been cursed to sleep around and it has to be with different partners.
- Really 700 Years Old: All the characters are at least 800 years old. Hal is at least over 5000 and lies about it. Some of the characters are as old as creation. Cain comments on this early on, having not realised how significantly younger End was due to their ages not looking too far apart.
- Recurring Extra: Kuro, an amphitere that accompanies Death.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Uriel and Michael. Uriel is defiant and wild, doing whatever he likes. He's known for being destructive, foul-mouthed and mannered. Michael is the one upholding all the rules, cold-hearted and unyielding. Yet the true and the closest they could be.
- Satan
- Self-Sacrifice Scheme: Abel convinced Cain to kill him to save the corruption spreading through Heaven.
- Shapeshifter Default Form: While it's unclear which is the default form, Hal's default form is either his humanoid form, or his lion form. The lion form is the one he takes when he's exhausted, but the humanoid one is the one he spends the most time in.
- Shirtless Scene: Cain and Mortis are seen shirtless in bed together.
- Shout-Out: Reference is made to the infamous "it's laced with drugs" scene from Devilman
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: Hal keeps changing his look and outfit.
- Sitting on the Roof: Not quite the roof, but Cain and Hal talk on the tree tops. End also sits on cliffs to think.
- Smoking Hot Sex: Mortis smokes in bed after sex with Cain.
- Smoking Is Not Cool: Eremiel blows smoke near End, who waves it out of his face.
- Sword Fight
- Sympathy for the Devil: Quite a few times we see Lucifer sitting, miserable without Hal. When other characters talk bad about him, Hal comes to his defence, before reiterating that he's not going back.
- Talking Animal: Most creatures in the comic can talk, including amphiteres and ravens.
- Totalitarian Utilitarian: Michael's philosophy. It is deemed a great mercy if he allows the receiver to live.
- Visible Silence: Hal attempting to speak while mute is shown through crossed speech bubbles.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Michael and Uriel.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Hal can switch between multiple forms, including a lion and a sea serpent
- Weredragon: Mortis.
