Webcomic / Far to the North

Kelu is gon' give it to ya.

"I have faced bigger and scarier things than you...but by all means, come add some scars to my knuckles!"

— Kelu

Far to the North is a webcomic about a girl named Kelu and her extremely large family. The prologue and first chapter largely have Kelu dealing with the hazards her energetic nieces and nephews inadvertently stumble into, but when a group of bandits infiltrate their home posing as refugees, things take a turn for the worst.

Begun in February of 2015, and went on indefinite hiatus after finishing the first volume in 2019. Far to the North is created by Allison Shaw, who also makes Tigress Queen. The comic currently updates on Wednesdays and is an affiliate of Hiveworks.

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Far to the North contains examples of:

• Accidental Proposal: Judging by the goblin's reaction, Kelu may have unwittingly done this.
• Action Girl: Kelu, in spades. She punches a dragon with her BARE HANDS within the first ten pages of the comic. Later, after a goblin nearly shoots her nephew she marches up a mountain without a coat to GIVE IT BACK THE ARROW. Her metaphorical balls are probably big enough to be seen from space.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Kelu and Mizha, after Junuka saves Mizha's life.
  Mizha: When small...Mizha say...Kelu is not my sister. Very bad! I am wrong! Kelu is my sister! ...Little sister. ^note Kelu is at least a head taller than Mizha, despite their being almost the same age.
• Big Bad: Pagra Zhu, the "Widow Eater"; he ordered the Saengorians to gather the dragon scales, and did not explain why. Also, he is apparently leading an armada to attack the trading port where the men from the village went.
• Blood from the Mouth: Song does this after Moguunya Sa stabs him in the back. It is yet to be seen whether or not he'll survive.
• The Caligula: The King of Saengoria. He forces his slaves to fight to the death for his amusement and half his kingdom is in rebellion against him.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Despite Kelu's Badass Boast (see page quote), Junuka easily defeats her in hand-to-hand combat. Of course, Junuka has been fighting for his life for years, and Kelu is a relatively inexperienced brawler.
• Did Not Think This Through:
  • Only after a goblin pulls a Stealth Hi/Bye directly behind her does Kelu realize she never had a plan for what to do once it showed up.
  • So, you want dragon scales, yes? Ever pondered if some might actually be attached to a living dragon, still—in a land you know has "demons"? Or, if they'd be happy to be considered a source of revenue?
  • When Mizha runs out of the building with the dragon scales, Moguunya Sa and several of his men give chase after her without putting their disguises back on. Soon most of them are dead.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Did you just punch a dragon in the face, rip out one of his scales, and stab him in the gums with it?
• Disguised in Drag: The group of Saengorians cover themselves to avoid being targeted by the Goblin, who targets men with dark hair.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • The leader of the slavers thinks nothing of violating Sacred Hospitality but sexual assaults are still beyond the pale.
  • The Dragon (who kidnaps a woman as a pet) finds the Rethuii practice of abandoning their children to die of exposure during hard times to be horrifying and keeps any he finds as his own children.
• The Exile: Mizha is this. Her father, General Ruun, displeased the King and was enslaved. Mizha only avoided this fate by fleeing north.
• Family of Choice: After Kelu returns with Song and several other goblins, Mizha is the first to greet her. She says that she considers Kelu her sister, and apologizes for not saying this sooner.
• Full-Name Ultimatum: Used by Kelu's mother to stop her beating up Junuka.
• Forced into Evil: At least two of the Saengorian hostage-takers are this. The others might have been.
  • Lu Ro, one of the hostage-takers under Moguunya Sa's command, is not part of the team willingly. He was arrested and sentenced to slavery for stealing some fruit in an attempt to save his sick son. Gathering dragon scales under Sa's command was Lu Ro's only chance to get a pardon.
  • Junuka himself was also born into slave, being the son of a Sex Slave, and being forced to fight other slaves for the Saengorian King's amusement.
• Good All Along: The dragon is this. He's first presented as seemingly threatening Kelu's nephew, for which she stabs him in the gums with his own scales. It's later revealed that he helps protect The North from invaders and adopts children whose parents abandon them - with Song being one such example. When Kelu tells him about her family's predicament he sends Song and his other goblin sons to the rescue with seemingly no hesitation.
• Good Is Not Nice:
  • The Temmrien, the Goddess of the North and it's people. She comes to the aid of any among her followers who calls for her, and goes out of her way to rescue Song, but don't expect her to show mercy to bandits. When she rescues Junuka, she does so at the cost of magically binding him to obey her.
  • Kelu is another example. She's normally a reasonable woman, but anyone who threatens her family can expect to pay dearly for it.
• Grim Up North: By design. Beyond the usual hazards, any male with dark hair will be shot on sight by goblins. And that's not counting what happens if you run into one of their masters...
• Hidden Depths: Song, the Goblin that Kelu meets in the beginning, is presented as an intimidating badass with a Cool Mask. He backs this up by mortally wounding Junuka and tossing him down a ravine. However, once he takes Kelu back to his home she learns that he has a soft side. He even juggles for her!
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: Subverted with Lu Ro. He is horrified when Moguunya Sa pinches Myska's cheeks and makes her scream, and in fact declares his intent to mutiny against Sa. However, Kelu was unaware of this and thus did not tell the goblins to spare him when they ambushed and killed the Saengorian hostage-takers. While he does die, he is the only one of the slain hostage takers who goes to the Saengorian version of Heaven.
• Heroic Bastard: Junuka might be, career choice aside. He appears more skilled than most of his companions and is much more professional. Plus he gets a Luminescent Blush when Kelu grabs him to point out how he's almost as tall as she is.
• Hime Cut: Mizha's hairstyle fits her as she's apparently high ranking in her home country and raised in a very wealthy house (though Word of God says they aren't actually princesses) and hasn't adapted well to life in the North.
• I Have Your Wife: More like I Have Your Whole Family is how the bandits put an end to Kelu's Mama Bear rampage once their true nature is revealed.
• I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: The kids try it on a FULLY GROWN DRAGON. Once the creature wakes up he decides he likes the idea, and attempts to abduct one of them to keep as a pet instead.
• Let Us Never Speak of This Again: After their run in with the Goblin Kelu tells the kids that like the incident with the Dragon, this also never happened.
• Mama Bear: Technically Auntie Bear, but messing with 'her' kids is still a very bad idea. Just ask the dragon.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Kelu's family taking in a group of apparently starving refugees backfires horribly when the 'refugees' take them hostage in an attempt to rob them for dragon scales.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Kelu dubs the goblin who helps her "Songbird" (or just "Song" for short).
  • Irony: He's mute, like the rest of his kind. That is, until the Temmrien gives him the power of speech.
• Our Goblins Are Different: For starters, they're at least seven feet tall, can smell blood, have eyes like hawks, and possibly scales. According to Kelu they were crafted specifically by dragons to kill Saengorians with their insane archery skills. And they're really rather pretty once you get to see under the masks. Later the dragon reveals that goblins are actually young human boys exposed to dragon venom which causes them to gradually change till they become full-blown dragons.
• Our Dragons Are Different: The one we've seen fits the Western Dragon mold relatively well, breathing fire, flying on bat wings, and seeking to 'collect' one of Kelu's nieces to keep as a pet. The fact that they've apparently created the entire goblin race from scratch suggests they have abilities we've yet to see though.
• Parental Abandonment: Song's origin story. He was born as a normal human, but his parents abandoned him in the forest to die. The dragon couldn't bare to leave him there, so turned him into a goblin and raised him as his own.
• Physical God: The Temmrien, the patron deity of The North.
• People of Hair Color: Northerners are almost universally blond (though Sathu and her mom are strawberry blondes) while Saengorians have dark brown hair. Zhuri is dismayed that he gets targeted by the Goblin for it despite being born in the north.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Apparently believed by Moguunya Sa, the leader of the hostage-takers. He's fine with entering the home under false pretenses, taking Kelu's family hostage and using physical violence against Mizha when she talks back, but when one of his men tries to molest Kelu's sister in law he knocks the man out and lectures the others about having some class. Subverted later on. After stabbing Song in the back, he tells Song "I want you to watch!" while he grins at Kelu and tries to grab her.
• Redemption Earns Life:
  • Played Strait with Junuka, who is the only Saengorian hostage taker who survives. He unknowingly called out to the Temmrien for aid after Song mortally wounded him, and after healing him she magically enslaved Junuka as punishment for violating Sacred Hospitality. He willingly agrees to help her rescue Kelu's family, and as such is spared.
  • Downplayed with Lu Ro. While he does die, he's the only one of the dead Saengorian hostage-takers shown going to his people's version of Heaven. So for him, redemption earns afterlife.
• Sacred Hospitality: Brought up as being one reason the hostage taker's actions are so despicable. Their leader does draw the line at one of his men trying to molest Kelu's sister in law, at least.
• Shirtless Scene: At one point, after he takes Kelu back to the cave where he lives, Song takes off his shirt. In doing this, Kelu is able to see the full extent of his scales.
• Son of a Whore: Junuka again. The fact that so many of the other slavers taunt him about this is one of the reasons he comes off as a Heroic Bastard.
• Stalker with a Crush: Something has been scattering scales around Kelu's home disguised as tiny snowmen. Details so far are sparse, but it seems to be an "invitation" to her. It later turns out that these scales and snowmen were created by Song, a Goblin. He rescues Kelu from Junuka, takes her back to his cave, and takes her to the dragon so he can send all the goblins to rescue Kelu's family from the hostage-takers.
• Statuesque Stunner: At 6'1" Kelu towers over every man we've met so far barring Song. It's apparently a feature of her Northern blood.
• Tangled Family Tree: Kelu's mother, older siblings, their respective spouses, and their many children all live under the same roof. Keeping track of them all requires a chart. Word of God clarifies some of the relations in The Rant here.
• Together in Death: When Lu Ro is taken to the Saengorian version of Heaven, he is greeted by the spirit of his son. The son he got arrested trying unsuccessfully to save.
• War Refugees: Due to the civil war in Saengoria, many civilians from that country are fleeing through The North in search of a safer home. Mizha is one of these as well, fleeing after her father angered the King.
• The Women Are Safe with Us: When one of the hostage-takers tries to rape Kelu's sister-in-law, their leader Moguunya Sa has Junuka knock the man out and severely lectures the others.
• Worthless Yellow Rocks: When the women find out that the Saengorians are looking for dragon scales their reaction is one of disbelief, since they're found everywhere on the ground and are worthless to them.

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