Julia (left) and Tonny (right)
Marionetta
is a Fantasy Webcomic by MÃriam Bonastre Tur, hosted on Webtoon as a Webtoon Original.Julia, a young woman from a small hamlet in the nation of Kalgratt, is happy with her rather boring life. But when her best friend Kamille is kidnapped by a travelling circus, Julia races out on an adventure to rescue her, only to find her story cut brutally short. Now trapped by an eldritch castle masquerading as a traveling troupe, Julia must confront the horrifying secrets of the circus and Kalgratt itself, and become a traitor to both to survive.
Marionetta contains examples of:
- Bureaucratically Arranged Marriage: Exaggerated. All women in Kalgratt must be married by the age of twenty, unless they are in the army. The government approves a list of locale suitors and sends them to the woman's home along with soldiers until she makes a decision. If you try to evade this, or if you try to run away from your husband and he reports you, you are going to be hunted for the rest of your life.
- Circus of Magic: The Anthonin Gremminger Traveling Troupe is this. It is powered by people who signed contracts with Anthonin to become immortal in exchange for joining the circus.
- Crapsack World: Kalgratt is definitely this. All women must be married by the age of twenty to a government approved suitor and men need to be married by twenty-one. Both genders can marry younger or older by joining the army - which has been doing poorly. The government arrests Ah'kon on sight and essentially enslaves them because they need to use their magic to win wars and keep the nation running.
- Deal with the Devil: Downplayed. Anyone who makes a deal with the Castle (and Tonny) is enslaved to stay inside the castle forever... until they finally get bored of being eternally young and request a Mercy Kill. Dotty reveals it used to be a miserable existence nonetheless, but she found a loophole that let her move and alter the castle to give the residents more freedom.
- Devious Daggers: Julia uses knives and is seen killing her boss, Tonny, at the start of the first episode. Downplayed, as while she is willing to do some horrific things to further her goals, she does have standards. Played straight with Sahed, who uses a dagger to kill Kamille and a knife to slit Julia's throat to prove a point.
- Fantastic Racism: The country of Kalgratt discriminates against three-eyes (people with three eyes) or Ah'kon. Any discovered Ah'kon will be detained and used in experiments. The entire country is taught from their childhoods that Ah'kon are extremely dangerous and to report them to the police.
- Fantastic Slurs: People in Kalgratt call Ah'kon, three eyes, because they have, well, three eyes. Ah'kon consider the use of three-eyes to be highly offensive.
- Foregone Conclusion: As the first episode shows, it is inevitable that Julia will stab Tonny in the face during a live throwing knife performance. She does. Unfortunately, she doesn't know how to kill an immortal.
- Government Conspiracy: The fascist nation of Kalgratt has lied through their teeth about the true source of their power because the truth happens to be insane; they simply claim that magic is not real and that Ak'hon mutants who once claimed to be magicians should be rounded up in camps. In truth, Kalgratt's military focus is the study of magic, learned by experimenting on Ah'kons, and they're willing to kill anyone to keep their monopoly on the supernatural a secret.
- How We Got Here: The first episode shows the aftermath of Julia killing Tonny, and it then cuts to her several months earlier.
- Hide Your Otherness: Two Ah'kon, Sahed and Rainah, use masks to hide their third eye while performing.
- Missed the Bus: Julia and Kamille nearly miss the bus to work at the beginning of the story.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: Kamille gets the choice between joining the circus or being killed. Downplayed, as she gets killed anyways to bind her to the circus.
- Patriotic Fervor: Exaggerated with Julia at the beginning of the comic. As a sergeant's daughter, she lives and breathes for Kalgratt, until she is disillusioned after learning that Kalgratt uses magic to maintain the status-quo and hides it from the peasantry and that they basically enslave Ah'kon to do this.Julia: [imagines the flag of Kalgratt] Now we must be responsible adults! And fulfill our obligations to the great nation of Kalgratt.
- Really 700 Years Old: Tonny, Bob, Dotty, and Rainah are senior members who were alive when women wore ballgowns.
- Reduced to Dust: After a troupe member resigns and experiences their final death, all that's left of their body is dust.
- Slave Race: The Ah'kon, after being arrested, are forced to do most of the army's maintenance. Specifically, their magical maintenance.
- The Strongman: Bob is this. He is able to lift a bench with five people on it in a circus act.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Dotty, when she was alive, cheated on her husband with Bob. She didn't actually like her husband, he was just the least bad of the candidates she had to pick from when she was twenty.
- Purpose-Driven Immortality: The members of the Anthonin Gremminger Traveling Troupe are immortal until they decide to leave the circus, upon which they go to heaven.
- Putting on the Reich: Downplayed, the Kalgratt military's uniforms resemble Waffen-SS officer uniforms, though with a palette-swap and with most of the insignia removed.
- Team Mom: Dotty. She basically is a surrogate parent for Kamille and Julia, trying to help them adjust to life in the circus. She also is one of the oldest of the circus members and literally calls herself "Mama Dotty".
- Third Eye: Ah'kon have three eyes, though the third on their forehead can only see spirits; it can't be used like a regular eye.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Kamille calls Julia out for killing Tonny at the beginning of episode 1.Julia, what have you done? Did you ... Did you just kill him?
