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I have something that I fear more than death...
'What do you desire? Money? Glory? Power? Revenge? Or something that surpasses all others? Whatever you desire — '
'That is here.'
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The boy called Twenty-Fifth Baam is in a strange place. He has just lost his only friend. He is staring at a monster.
He is on the lowest Floor of the Tower.
He entered the tower chasing his best friend, Rachel. But once inside the Tower, everyone must make their own way to the top, and Baam quickly learns that the Tower's inhabitants have a low opinion of 'Irregulars' — those who enter the Tower without invitation. Faced with the prospect of a new test on every Floor and many, many, many intrigues and colliding stories and wills in this alien, magical realm, his determination to reunite with Rachel is the only thing keeping him going.
Written and illustrated by Slave.In.Utero, Tower of God (신의 탑) is a Korean Webtoon with over 400 chapters as of the end of 2018. And it is awesome, filled with giant monsters, puzzle-like tests, true companions and nasty competitors.
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Chapter 78 served as the end of the first saga and season, the second begins at Chapter 80 with an epilogue and prologue between the two seasons, and consists of three sagas that last up to Chapter 417. The third season begins with Chapter 418.
It is the first officially published story of the Talse Uzer universe; previous privately uploaded stories by S.I.U. have been infokilled by the author.
The webtoon can been seen here (in Korean) and officially translated into English here.
Also has its own wiki.
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General Tropes:
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- Abusive Parents: This is rather common in the 10 Great Families, most notable case would be the Hendo family, whose head made a deal shortening the life span of every single descendant of his blood in order to stay immortal.
- Koon's mother drove him to excel and be as ruthless and manipulative as she was. Until he'd had enough and used everything he'd learned to run away from home and 'borrow' a lot of expensive items from his father on his way out.
- Academy of Adventure: The Second Floor — the Floor of Test — is essentially a condensed, accelerated cross between one of these and a Wizarding School, spending a month teaching students the various skills and supernatural arts they will need to climb the Tower.
- Action Duo: Or rather trio, in which Anak and Hatsu make up the Action part and Ship Leesoo gets to run around and brag.
- Action Girl: Most of female cast, especially princesses. Not a surprise, considering that in the Tower there's not much differences between failing the tests and giving up your greatest wish.
- A Day in the Limelight:
- The Princess of Zahard arc (three chapters) focussing on Anak.
- The Knot of Wool/Completing Fences arc for Aguero and new character Edin Dan, after the time skip.
- The first chapter of the FUG arc begins with a typical day in the limelight for Yeon on the 21st Floor.
- Aerith and Bob: There are fantasy names like Rak and Anak, a person is named after his birth date, some characters have Korean, Chinese or Japanese names while there are yet others with names like Serena and Rachel. It all seems weird, but with the Tower being a multicultural focal point, the opposite wouldn't make more sense.
- There is a character that's a sharp-beaked bipedal mantis-shrimp called Kukaku Rakukakuka.
- Gas Bill?! That's a name? Um... it seems so: if you have piles of debt, maybe? Regulars do not need to use their real names when climbing the Tower, so they can choose whichever moniker they wish. Another example is Anak, who goes by her mother's name. But, at least aliases like 'Anak' or 'Ja Wangnan' have some thought and style invested.
- Affably Evil: Headon. He withholds information, makes things more complicated, coerced Yuri into giving away the Black March and seemingly sets up Rachel against Baam, thus bringing pain into his life, but he sincerely welcomes Baam and anyone with enough balls to climb the Tower with a genuine smile.
- Though his initial politeness to Baam can be seen in a different light when you later realize that it was partly an act to make Rachel feel even worse, and set her on the path to betraying Baam later
- Ha Jinsung. He actually came to kill the rest of Viole's team, but he ultimately respected Viole's decision to stay with them as he noticed this team came together on the basis of free will. He is always very cheerful and seems to have taken a liking to Wangnan.
- Agent Peacock: Jyu Viole Grace and Yu Han Sung. Very pretty. Very dangerous. A little bad.
- Ha Jinsung in all his slightly rumpled glory is unhappy he's been left out particularly as he pushes 'Ole's clothes at him every season. He's maybe not quiteas much of a bad boy as he'd have you believe, but good luck trying to find that out without getting flattened by his sharply shaped shirtness.
- A God Am I: The Slayers are declared the de facto gods of FUG.
- Alien Blood: Ren's creatures are green-blooded. And orange-blooded. And red-blooded. [1]◊[2]◊
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Yeon is really falling for Viole, a self-declared enemy of the ruling structure she is part of.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Urek's crush on Garam Zahard is respond to with scorn on the fair lady's part.
- All There in the Manual: S.I.U.'s blog provides a huge amount of detail on the setting and major characters within it. Some translations are available here.
- Almighty Janitor: Yu Han Sung, based on ability alone, is a High Ranker with a power said to have shocked the RED Vice-Commander. He, however, just takes an executive subordinates job on the Second Floor.
- Always Someone Better: Explicitly. Each of the Rankers that have climbed to the top of the Tower are given a rank based on how they did during their climb with their rank subject to change based on their influence and power within the Tower. Except, possibly, for Phantaminum, who holds rank #1.
- Even then, it is said that there are those outside the Tower who are stronger.
- This is Novick's antagonism against Ran. According to Michael The Missionary, Novick probably joined Aguero's team just so he could have the chance to beat Ran.
- Amazon Brigade: Zahard's Princesses, including Anak, Yuri and Androssi. They are the highest authority in the Tower, representing their father, and every single Princess (bar Repellista) is a certified and high performance Action Girl. Naturally, they are Always Female.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Even the fairly-average looking humanoids can come in alternative colours to the usual selection. Be it a pale slate, taupe, a strange violet shade, white-beyond-albino to other colours altogether, skin can get interesting. And, some Lizard Folk come in green, unsurprisingly. Others in brown, but, hey. Doubt we've seen the last of the colour combos.
- Ambiguously Brown: Quant, Kurudan.
- Ambiguously Gay: Ja Wangnan, judging by his more than bromantic relationship to Nia.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Yuri to Maschenny. It's mutual.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: The reason why Baam is in the FUG. Either he joins and trains to become a Slayer, or they'll kill all his friends from the 2nd Floor.
- Anti-Villain: Jyu Viole Grace and Ha Jinsung.
- Applied Phlebotinum: Shinsoo, a magical substance replacing air inside the Tower that can be controlled at will. It's more dense the higher the Floor and it can become as thick as water. One character, instructing others on its use, even explicitly states that it can do absolutely anything.
- Arbitrarily Large Bank Account: It's not highlighted, but Viole is incredibly well funded. He helps cover Team Tangsooyuk's expenses, and ends the Name Hunt Station conflict by buying out Kaiser's entire debt — enough money to buy 'a whole fleet of floating islands' — all at once. FUG spares no expense for their Slayer candidates.
- Art Evolution: There has being a growing degree of consistency and increase of detailed drawing over the course of the story.
- Artificial Human: Macseth and Enryu both have the ability to create life. Macseth's son, Lord Flux, is living proof.
- Ascetic Aesthetic: Many testing areas are big, blank and white.
- Makes sense though, given that the fights we've seen are often hard on the testing area and they likely need to replace parts or even the entire arena often.
- Asskicking Equals Authority: Zahard and the ten families originally got their power by fighting their way up the Tower, and modern Rankers get their authority the same way. Defeating your cutthroat competition in a fight is also part of the selection criteria for Zahard princesses.
- Attack Animal: Many of the pets Anima use, especially Ren and Yu Han Sung.
- Aura Vision:
- How Baam perceives Anak's power during Lero-ro's test.
- Ha Jinsung is seen for a short moment shrouded in dark clouds, sporting an angry smile, from the perspective of Karaka, so it can be assumed he has aura vision as well.
- Author Appeal: AQUATIC LIFE. This series is chockful of water and aquatic imagery in any and every form.
- And, by extension, all things remotely fishy. Water-life and things amphibious seem to be a... quirk. Not just monsters and beasts are such: many characters have water or aquatic beast-related sobriquets.
- Shinsoo translates as 'Divine Water' and Shinheuh, the creatures that live in the Tower, can be translated as 'Divine Fish'. Considering everything in the Tower dwells in shinsoo, all life can be considered to be 'aquatic'.
- Not to mention the positions and equipment: 'fisherman', 'lighthouses', 'wave controller', ...
- Authority Equals Asskicking: In a sense. Most of the authority figures are Rankers who gained strength by climbing the Tower for several hundred years and wield the unlimited force that is Shinsoo. Those who have authority and have never been Regulars and therefore Rankers are equally incredible, as seen with Repellista Zahard.
- Awful Wedded Life: Anak's parents argued all day long and made up all night long.
- A World Half Full: For those not at the bottom or middle of the heap, but nearer the apex of the social pyramid, the Tower comes across as something like this: there are perks with the costs and you can probably find some simulacrum of happiness for a time. For everybody else... well... see Crapsack World below.
- Ax-Crazy: Rachel and Xia Xia... though the latter calms down upon joining the heroes, and may have only een pretending to be crazy in the first place..
- Badass Adorable: Anak and Love, as well as Rak whenever he fights in his smaller form.
- Badass Boast: Rak delivers and delivers.
- Badass Bookworm: Ship Leesoo is kind of a dork. A very loud and extroverted dork, but still, kind of a dork. But he can fight two people at once, proving that his knowledge of the Killer Arts is not just for show. Severe case of Overshadowed by Awesome.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Rak and Koon Aguero during the crown game. Novick and Koon Ran against both arms of the Devil.
- Badass Family: The Koon family, the Ha family, and most importantly: the Zahard family.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Baam in the Power arc on the Hell Train. He wears a kick-ass tuxedo and goes toe to toe with the data of Jahad.
- Badass Normal: Subverted. Though it appears initially that Baam is heading towards this way, it's effectively confirmed now that he is not normal. Ship Leesoo is a genuine example, but being Ship Leesoo in a World of Badass, one is ultimately a Butt-Monkey and Action Survivor.
- It's virtually impossible to actually be a Badass Normal and make it up the Tower. As Lero-Ro points out, anyone who can't at least adapt to Shinsoo just doesn't have the qualities needed to rise through the Tower. The Tower has no place for those who aren't 'lucky' in that regard.
- Back Story: While characters like Anak and Serena have back stories that are fairly easy dealt with, the four main characters Baam, Rachel, Koon and Wangnan all have back stories that only slowly trickle through. Then there's the massive history of the Tower itself which has barely been explained.
- Bag of Holding: Aguero's seemingly harmless bag. Not only can it clone knives and swords and store it all in the bag, it can also hold three people inside, copy almost anything, and it's a useful shield.
- Barbie Doll Anatomy: This counts for some races inside the Tower: they have no nipples, as seen by Ja Wangnan in the bath.
- Bash Brothers: There are quite a few, including Anak/Hatsu
- Rak/Aguero
- Quant and Lero-ro
- Anak/Androssi
- Akraptor/Horyang
- Novick and Ran
- Among the 10 Great Families, the Defender Hendo Lok Bloodmadder and the Spear Bearer Koon Eduan were renowned as an unbeatable combination.
- Batman Gambit: Pretty much anything Koon Aguero Agnis is involved in.
- Battle Discretion Shot: Kang vs Rapdevil, Hatsu vs First Emperor.
- Beauty Is Bad:
- Yu Han Sung and to a degree, Prince.
- Viole is also not very nice sometimes.
- Aguero.
- Beneath the Earth: Where Baam grew up.
- Beneath the Mask: Aguero is insecure and aimless, Rak is a nice person, Rachel is selfish.
- In Season 2, Jyu Viole Grace seems like an emotionless sociopath. All he actually wants is for his friends to be safe, and he'll do anything to keep them that way.
- Berserk Button: Harming Baam's, Viole's or Koon's friends.
- And Ren managed to majorly piss off Yuri, twice. Once when he directly disobeyed her orders and threatened her, and then when he said he killed Baam.
- Anything regarding FUG is this for Mule Love.
- Best Served Cold: Anak has waited a long, long time for her revenge.
- Beta Couple: Ship Leesoo and Serena Rinnen. Platonically.
- Beware the Nice Ones:
- Kang Horyang, who is very kind, very caring and very polite, is coincidentally very strong.
- Baam himself is a really Nice Guy, but he really does know to how to hurt people, especially later on. Gods help you if you step on his Berserk Button.
- Lero-ro and any other kind Ranker that crosses the way of the cast.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Hell Joe really is incredibly powerful. But as Urek Mazino points out, not even close to powerful enough to achieve his ambitions of conquering the entire tower.
- Big Brother Mentor: Rachel to Baam, when they lived together.
- Big Damn Heroes: Most satisfyingly, Yuri Zahard saving Androssi and Anak from Ren in the nick of time. And then doing awesome stuff.
- Also, Viole and Kang Horyang double-teaming in season two.
- Big Guy: Rak Wraithraiser even when he gets magically chibified, Kurudan, Akryung and Kang Horyang. Sir Aka appears to have been this for the train survivors from six-hundred years ago.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: The Zahards, given what Androssi had to do to be adopted. Also the Koons, who at the age of ten fight each other to remain a part of the family. They are so spread out that when two of them meet each other one of them suggests they could be brothers, but who knows?
- Bishie Sparkle: Hong Chunhwa, Phonsekal Laure, Hon Akraptor and Kang Horyang.
- Bishōnen: Baam and later Viole, as well as Hong Chunhwa. The rest haven't been mentioned to be particularly pretty.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Rachel: After Baam protects her from the Bull, she pushes him out of the bubble they're in to die.
- Black Eyes of Crazy: Rapdevil and Rak.
- Blade on a Stick: Rak's giant spear.
- Bland-Name Product: Macksim, Yu Han Sung's favorite instant coffee, spoofs the Koreans most famous instant coffee, Maxim.
- Blessed with Suck: Baam's incredible talent, determination and kind personality have some surprisingly bad drawbacks. A lot of people want to use him manipulate him or get rid of him, among them the person he truly wants to be with.
- Blood Knight: Rak, though he isn't itching for the thrill of the fight, but the thrill of the hunt (of the strong which he can fight).
- Blue Blood: The Ten Great Families, including Koon Aguero Agnis, Yeon Yihwa, Phonsekal Laure and Zahard's Princesses.
- Bodyguard Babes: Zahard's princesses.
- Boisterous Bruiser: Quant and Rak.
- Boisterous Weakling: Ja Wangnan, Prince, and Ship Leesoo.
- In Part 2 Ship Leesoo is less of a weakling and more of a slightly above average fighter surrounded by absurdly strong team-mates...
- Book Dumb: Rak, all the way. And not just him, the Hell Train arc reveals that many Regulars focused on combat training at the cost of more mundane skills, to the point where one of the strongest D-ranked teams was nearly stopped by a simple math puzzle.
- Book-Ends: The first volume begins with Headon telling Baam that the answer to all things lies at the top of the Tower, and ends with Hwa Ryun repeating it to Baam.
- Breath Weapon: Once, Rak got so angry that shot fire from his mouth like Godzilla. Sadly, it was just comedy.
- Ren used a genuine Shinsoo beam to blast Androssi.
- Bromantic Foil: Ja Wangnan to Jyu Viole Grace, the second season protagonist with the first season protagonist.
- Brother–Sister Incest: There is an in-universe rumour that Aguero and Maria were lovers.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: Rak and Kang Horyang. One really likes Baam, the other really likes Goseng, both are really adorable about it.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Laure. He sleeps during battle and his blanket is like a child to him.
- Butt-Monkey: Evan, Rak and Ship Leesoo. And in season 2, Ja Wangnan and Prince.
- Word of God states explicitly that Yeon is meant to be such.
- Novick. Oh dear god, Novick. originally portrayed as a very strong fighter, he quickly descend into getting defeated by almost every on-panel opponent he faces. Reaches its peak when he gets impaled by a gigantic spear accidentally.
- By the Power of Grayskull!: The activation phrases for Ignition Weapons, e.g. 'Narumadanote , ignite!'
- Cain and Abel: It's been implied that Androssi may have killed some of her adopted sisters to become a princess candidate and it certainly doesn't stop after you've become a princess. Also, Yuram Zahard, who got murdered by Garam Zahard.
- Call a Smeerp a 'Rabbit': For starters, bulls are male, relatively docile herbivores, not bipedal, super-intelligent female amphibians that eat almost anything that gets near them.
- Call-Back:
- In the first volume, a random unimportant character tries to use a secret attack they call 'First Emperor's Scorching Fist of Death', but gets beaten before they can finish charging it up (and it's played for laughs.) Much, much later, later Urek Mazino, the most powerful Ranker currently active in the Tower, uses an identical attack with a nearly-identical name, 'Supreme King's Scorching Fist of Death.'
- 'Hey Lizard, when this is all over, lets eat together.'
- 'A guide only shows the path to those who can walk it.'
- Calling Your Attacks: Especially in the second season.
- Though its implied that some of these appear to be the Author telling us what we're seeing, not the character out-right naming the attack. Other times it's played hilariously straight.
- Lampshaded with the 'Supreme King's Scorching Fist of Death' which, in an author's note, is joked as having a name too embarrassing to use.
- Cannot Tell a Lie: Kang Horyang. He cannot lie, deceive, withhold the truth (mostly due to his floating wing) and doesn't need or want to.
- Catchphrase: Aguero's 'Trust trustworthy people.' He never means himself.
- Celibate Hero: Viole is really not interested in girls. No, not in boys, either.
- Less not interested and more that clueless about the world in general and women specifically. He even seemingly doesn't understand what a 'Date' is when Androssi, explicitly one of the most beautiful and sought after women in the Tower, mentions that they 'might not have time to date' if he doesn't hurry back
- Character Tics: Novick's tic to chew his thumb. Baam likes to stare into the sky. Rak likes to call everybody turtles.
- Character Name Alias: Baam is renamed as Jyu Viole Grace and Rachel is suddenly Michelle Light. It is implied that Ja Wangnan's name is also just an alias. Finally there is Wave Controller instructor Yuga, who's real name and identity is the Royal Assassin agent Lo Po Bia Ren. In fact many Regulars use aliases when entering the Inner Tower.
- Chaste Hero: Baam, who later becomes a Celibate Hero.
- Cheaters Never Prosper: Subverted, because it is more of a matter of how good you cheat. It breaks down to are you an Aguero or are you a Parakewl.
- Cheerful Child: Miseng. Though she is also a bit of a crybaby.
- Chekhov's Gun: The pendant Anak gave her mother before she got taken away was held by Ren to provoke her when trying to get back Green April. Its implied that he had a hand in killing Anak's mother.
- The rings Yu Han Sung gave the Regulars.
- Baam's Pocket. What other (Ir)regular owns an A-rank?
- The Hand or Arlen.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Headon, Hwa Ryun, the pair of eyes in the shadows you see briefly in the first chapter.
- Chew Toy: Evan, Quant and Ship Leesoo.
- Childhood Friends: Beniamo Cassano and Kang Horyang, Baam and Rachel.
- Code Name: Yuri's group uses these when they interfere with one of the test. The bubbly red-head is known as Ice Strawberry, Koon Hachuling is known as Mr Blueberry, Evan is Mr. Yeongji Mushroom and Kurudan is Kurudan.
- Combat Stilettos: Androssi wears these Or rather, she did; after Anak targets them in the fisherman battle, she stops wearing them..
- Comm Links: The Pockets, which allow amongst many other things, long range communication and the ability to translate other languages.
- Companion Cube: Laure and his blanket and pillow.
- Complete Immortality: Zahard and the 10 Warriors per contract with the Tower's Guardians. Well, except for Bloodmadder, as explained somewhere else on this page. It turns out that only Irregulars, who are exempted from the Towers contracts, are able to kill Zahard. That's why FUG is so interested in Viole and may be the real reason why the government prosecutes Irregulars.
- Conflict: Two predominant kinds: Man vs. Man, with all the Regulars clashing, and Man vs. Society, with people like Baam and Anak being regarded as dangerous elements to the Tower. Then there is the theme of Man vs. Fate, or as it is described here, Luck, exemplified in Lero-Ro's test and Ho's struggle and attempt at Baam's life. This conflict turns interestingly enough into a conflict of Man vs. Man again. According to the author, the Tower itself started as Man vs Nature (all the existing positions were originally invented to fight the aquatic monsters of the Tower), but eventually became largely Man vs. Man.
- Constructed World: No relation to the real world as far as we know, anyway.
- Cool House: Repellista's Castle.
- Cool Loser: Ja Wangnan. Damn cool. But damn pathetic.
- Cool Mask: Karaka has a masked helmet.
- Cool Sword: Black March and the other weapons of the 13 Month Series. Hong Chunhwa's, and for a while Androssi's, Narumada and Hong Danhwa's Krishna.
- Covert Pervert: Yuri, that was one epic nosebleed.
- Cowardly Lion: Evan is one, given that he's a High Ranker and sidekick to Yuri and at the same time, a larger worrywart than Ship Leesoo.
- Cranial Eruption: Happens several times, especially to Ship Leesoo.
- Crapsack World: This never really is spoken out loud, but in the outer part of the Tower, life is a unfair horrible dog eat dog society, even in the royal families. In the center of the Tower, where the exams are held… well, at least the food's good therenote . Fact is, everyone has a damn good reason to abandon everything to risk their life for the tiny chance of reaching the top.
- Creating Life: According to Yuga, even this is possible with Shinsoo; see Artificial Human above.
- Crossover: A One Shot with Tower of God characters fighting the MapleStory heroes.
- Cross-Popping Veins: Characters get them when they're agitated sometimes.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Ship Leesoo.
- Cue the Sun: After the Trustworthy Room Game, Viole just stares at the morning sun.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Aguero, Hatsu, Laure, Levin and Anak to the Regulars in the preliminaries, Akryung and Androssi vs 197 Regulars, Hwa Ryun vs all the participants of the final round of the crown game bar Androssi and Baam, Androssi using Anak to defeat all other Regulars in the Fishermen test, Quant vs all the Regulars, Androssi vs all the Regulars Quant didn't get, Ren vs Androssi and Anak, Yuri vs Ren, Baam oneshots the Bull, Viole dominates the 20th Floor with ease, Urek vs Tangsooyook and Varagarv vs Amaguta.
- Phantaminum vs. the world. According to Word of God.
- Wangnan, Viole and Horyang vs Lurker, Rapdevil and mind-controlled!Yihwa. Though Wangnan doesn't really contribute to the curb-stomping.
- Viole vs Ran and Novick.
- A more comedic example is Hachuling vs Quant... in video games. Guess who won?
- Viole vs Quatro.
- Curtains Match the Window: Rachel has golden eyes and light blond hair.
- As does Yu Han Sung.
- Ho's curtains and window are both yellow.
- Black for Hatsu.
- Quant has red .
- Yeon has pastel red eyes and an alice band with her families insignia with matching colors.
- The entire Koon clan has blue hair and blue eyes.
- Cute Bruiser: Love and Anak. Rak qualifies for this after he gets chibified
- Hot Clumsy Girl: Yeon.
- Cute Little Fangs: Ja Wangnan.
- Cute Monster: Narea's pet.
- The Mangdol Whale males. They combine the cuteness of dolphins and seals and have collars that look like flower necklaces. Squeeeee.
- Cute Monster Girl: Everybody from Anak's family.
- Cynicism Catalyst: Ho's friends. Akraptor's daughter, who isn't dead, but lost, or rather, kidnapped.
- Darkest Hour: Happens to several characters, especially Ja Wangnan and Baam. Poor Wangnan...
- Deadly Decadent Court: The 10 Great Families are saturated with intrigue.
- Deadpan Snarker: Androssi Zahard.
- Death by Origin Story: Anak Zahard and her husband.
- Death from Above: Enryu's Red Rain attack, which materializes spears. A multitude of spears.
- Kurudan's Dansulsa abilities allow him to displace the impact of his hammer somewhere else, via a Lighthouse, usually the crown of an enemy who will be squashed into the ground.
- Death Glare: Several characters, including Baam and Anak.
- Defense Mechanism Superpower: Baam.
- The Flame of Yeon is a power only the direct, female descendants of the family have. Normally not even they can activate it until they become powerful enough, but Ewha's activated to shield her from the periphery of Yuri's Storm of Roses attack for a few moments, saving her life.
- When Baam's fate is at risk, the Thorn will react to protect it and him, in one case outright evacuating him when King Zahard is about to kill him.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Aguero and Baam won Rak over to their side by tricking him. Wangnan somehow got Viole on his side when he tricked him into making his team win.
- Edin Dan also qualifies.
- Deity of Human Origin: The Axis, which includes Phantaminum, as they were gods made by humans out of humans.
- Determinator: Baam, but especially Rak. The moment he got bested by Akryung, he disappeared for several chapters, until the position tests were declared. Then it got revealed that Rak, like Akryung, already qualified for the final test.
- Ja Wangnan.
- Deuteragonist: Aguero in season 1, Ja Wangnan in Season 2.
- Did You Actually Believe...?:
- —Ho-- can't believe Baam actually thought they were friends.
- Hwa Ryun to Wangnan after she told him how FUG got Viole to become a Slayer.
- 'Why are you so shocked? Did you really think we were nice guys?'
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Enryu killed the 43rd Floor's Guardian, proving that even Physical Gods can die.
- Difficulty Spike: According to Evan, Headon did one for Baam's test, which was set about 20 levels higher than expected. Although it should be noted that Guardian's tests are said to be much harder than normal tests since only Irregulars can ask to undertake a Guardian's test.
- The top of the Tower has one, as none of the top High Rankers has cleared the 135th Floor's test (not even The Great Zahard, King of the Tower) and there are implied to be many more Floors after that.
- Although they were only unable to pass due to hostility from the Guardian, so it's not so much the Tower having a massive difficulty spike as it is the Guardian of the 135th Floor being a dick.
- The 2nd and 20th Floors are where most Regulars drop out because the difficulty rises immensely.
- The top of the Tower has one, as none of the top High Rankers has cleared the 135th Floor's test (not even The Great Zahard, King of the Tower) and there are implied to be many more Floors after that.
- Dirty Business: Climbing the Tower. Betrayal and ruining people's lives is usual, but many don't like it. Then again, most of them also don't want to stop climbing.
- Baam is explicitly stated to be different in his attitude toward the Tower and other climbers by several characters.
- Dirty Coward: The only thing Parakewl is a paragon of.
- Wangnan shows examples of this for comedic effect
- Dismantled MacGuffin: Enryu used an extremely powerful weapon called the Thorn to kill the guardian of the 43rd floor. He then split it into four pieces and left it behind for The Chosen One to find so that said chosen one can use it to slit King Zahard's throat.
- Distinctive Appearances: Hard to confuse anyone with anybody.
- Doting Parent: Ha Jinsung to Viole, his martial arts student. Even meets him in his dreams, the good fella.
- Dragon Lady: Yu Han Sung. He fits nearly all of the criteria, up to one point even his gender fits, because everybody thought he was a woman.
- Driven by Envy: Ho and Rachel, both partially.
- Dual Wielding: Hatsu until his swords were broken.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Ho and Yu Han Sung, the Second Floor's test director. The fans and translators thought for a long time that they were womennote . Done again with Nya Nia, with the author referencing his disposition to confuse the readers ('Huh? You're really a guy? Well, that was confusing.' — Wangnan to Nia). And then Baam stole Yuri's hairstyle and got assigned to be roommates with Yeon, who fully expected him to be a girl... until he walks into the male showers.
- Even the official translation sometimes has people who would logically know better refer to Yu Han Sung with female pronouns.
- And now we have Quaetro Blitz. SIU has outright lampshaded the past couple ones and it seems this is outright becoming a Running Gag.
- Dumb Muscle: Rak. He isn't the brightest, but damn can he fixate.
- Character Development shows him to be less dumb and more very very direct, with little patience for plots and indirection. He almost immediately figures out that Viole is Baam and seeks out and finds Aguero despite the latter being supposedly dead at the time. That makes him rather disturbingly clever given his tendency to run off on a whim often making him a Spanner in the Works to everyone's plans.
- Quaetro Blitz plays this trope straight.
- Eccentric Mentor: Ha Jinsung is weird.
- Quant is possibly the worst mentor of them all. But also rather eccentric.
- Emerging from the Shadows: Urek, Yuri and Quant do that, all with Red-Glowing Eyes of Doom.
- Egomaniac Hunter: Rak, he just wants to hunt the Strong, no matter what.
- Emoticon: Kang Horyang's floating wing sometimes transforms into symbols expressing his feelings.
- Empathic Weapon: Again, Black March, which has a female spirit and has taken a shine to Baam, and probably the rest of the 13 Month series.
- Enclosed Space: You wouldn't think that a place which is overall roughly six and a half timesnote the size of planet Earth is enclosed, but it's nearly impossible to get out of the Tower, and once you're in the Inner Section, you only get out by failing, winning or giving up.
- Enigmatic Empowering Entity: The Guardians who empower every Regular by making contracts with them. Nobody knows what's going on in their heads, especially not in Headon's.
- Ensemble Cast: While the story mainly focuses around Baam, Rachel, Aguero, and Wangnan, there are dozens of other characters, all with great characterization and well-fleshed out backstories.
- Entitled Bastard: Parakewl. The gall he has is truly amazing.
- Equivalent Exchange: Averted. Shinsoo exists everywhere inside the Tower, even in closed off spaces, and anyone with the skill (and contract) can manipulate shinsoo.
- Ermine Cape Effect: Averted. The princesses wear whatever they want, though Maschenny did wear a pimped out dress and Yuri does own a fur-lined jacket.
- Every Girl Is Cuter with Hair Decs: Yeon, Androssi and Yuri.
- Everyone Loves Blondes: You might remember that girl Baam is chasing. The one who he calls his light? Yeah, totally a blonde.
- Shown to be subverted by the time Part 2 rolls around, Aguero figured out Rachel's ruse and none of her Part 1 or Part 2 team-mates like her. Even Baam doesn't seem to be chasing her anymore given that he's, again, wondering why he's climbing the Tower.
- Everything's Better with Samurai: Why is Hatsu, the son of a potter, a samurai? We don't know.
- So far he is the only main character seen wielding a conventional sword, as almost everyone else uses Spears, Needles, or something even less like a conventional sword.
- Everything's Better with Princesses: Zahard's Princesses really add something to the story.
- Everything Is Better With Spinning: Love's Wonsulsa techniques, which are set around the premise of spinning the shinsoo into circles or spheres.
- Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry: The Family Crests, Yeongsook's rings and, most importantly, Jigena's Flower.
- Evil Albino: Augusgus, who is actually a member of FUG.
- Evil Cripple: Rachel seems like this, betraying and manipulating everyone to help herself, but as it turns out she's just faking being a cripple to gain this sympathy and help herself more.
- Evil Redhead: Alternate character interpretation of Hwa Ryun. She is still a member of a terrorist fanatical crime syndicate. Just apparently less evil than other members of said group. Maybe.
- Evil Tower of Ominousness: Maybe, but we haven't actually seen the outside of the Tower.
- Given what we've seen of the doors though it's a decent bet that if the Tower has a physical outside it's going to be pretty ominous.
- Extra Eyes: The Da'an have eyes all around their head.
- Expy: Phantaminum, by Word of God is from elsewhere in the same Universe as the Tower and may show up in other stories by the Author.
- Eyedscreen: Best way to frame glares and suspicious gazes, after all.
- Eyepatch of Power: Hwa Ryun after the Crown Game, where she lost her eye when attacking Rachel and accidentally hitting Baam instead.
- Faking the Dead: Baam. Koon Aguero
- Death Faked for You: Since Yu Han Sung plans it all.
- Aguero for much of Part 2 so far, who decides to let the world think he's dead for convenience.
- Fallen Hero: Jyu Viole Grace and Grace Mirchea Luslec.
- False Friend:
- Ho, Rachel.
- Rachel is also on the other side of this trope. After learning the truth, Koon assembles a whole team of False Friends to watch out for her — in both senses of the term.
- Famed In-Story: Phantaminum, Quant, Urek Mazino, Enryu, Hatsu, The Devil of the Right Arm, Yuri, Zahard, Androssi.
- Fanservice: Interesting case of mainly the male cast being sexy with their clothes off. The only sexy shots you get to see of the ladies are Yuri's Proper Tights with a Skirt, Yeon's shoulders and Androssi in shorts and t-shirts. The guys don't only flash their abs, they sparkle!
- Fantastic Lightsource: Shinsoo can be made to shine brightly.
- Also the Lighthouses.
- Fantastic Racism: Rak calls everybody except Anak turtles. He names her Lizard.
- Hoaqin openly said he thought Hwa Ryun's kind were of filthy blood and disgusting.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Hatsu is obviously from medieval Korea/Japan.
- Faux Action Girl: Yeon didn't really do much, did she? Even though she is practically second-strongest. And that how it's supposedto be.
- Favouritism Flip Flop: Parakewl is prone to this.
- Fearless Fool: Rak Wraithraiser might kind of an idiot compared to others, but he has the balls to stand behind his dumb ideas and the luck to succeed.
- His blunt approach seems to let him see through a lot of the plotting and subterfuge going on around him, so he's not so much stupid as he is direct.
- Female Gaze: Look at all the abs in the Furo Scene!
- And when Quant and Lero-Ro are showering.
- Finger Poke of Doom: Yuri and her death-bringing fingerflicks. they're so terrifyingly strong that even Ren, who is a member of Zahard's royal assassins, avoids her attack. Also, Yeon gets the third highest score in the Shinsoo Competition by just grazing the meter with her knuckles.
- Fish out of Water: Baam.
- Five-Man Band: The normal makeup of a team in the Tower, with the Positions being Fisherman, Light Bearer, Spear Bearer, Wave Controller, and Scout. Subverted somewhat in that many or all of the Positions will have multiple members and one person can have the ability to fill multiple positions.
- Flash Back: They are generally kept short, except for Rachel's.
- Flash Step: Love's 'Blue Oar'.
- Koon Aguero Agnis can do this via shinsoo reinforcement of his limbs, as shown in the Crown Game arc.
- Daniel Hatchid uses this to surprise Koon Ran and the rest of his team on the Entrance floor of Train City.
- Flexible Tourney Rules: Bar Guardian's tests, the administrators can change test rules at will.
- Flight: Flying fish, floating castles and levitation. There is a material called Suspendium that has levitational abilities when imbued with Shinsoo.
- Floating Continent: Many flying cities, castles and testing areas, making for absolutely wonderful Scenery Porn.
- Flower in Her Hair: Yeon and the flower-shaped family crest.
- Flying Seafood Special: Big time.
- Flying Weapon: The Sword That Flies Higher Than Any, which belongs to Hatsu and acts as an independent parry weapon. It gets broken later on.
- Androssi's shields.
- Hwa Ryun's staff.
- Forbidden Zone: The 43rd Floor, also known as the 'Floor of Death', a Floor whose Guardian was murdered by Enryu. Doubles somewhat as an Anti-Magic zone since all contracts and spells are nullified on this Floor due to there being no Floor Guardian to uphold them.
- Forced Prize Fight: The Koon family tournaments. Some argue that the climbing of the Tower is this as well.
- Fragile Speedster: Hwa Ryun, Edin Dan. Subverted by Koon Aguero Agnis, who is implied to be stronger than he appears.
- Koon: 'The reason I'm a Light Bearer isn't that I'm weak at close range. It's because I like giving orders.'
- Friendless Background: Baam grew up having no friends or any kind of human contact until Rachel came along. She herself said that he has always been lonely.
- Full-Contact Magic: Some techniques require this.
- Functional Magic: Shinsoo.
- Furo Scene: The 'Bath' chapters. Only Manservice and plot development, guys, nothing interesting like Goseng or Yeon in a bath.
- Gadget Watches: Though Pockets are more like gadgets with watches.
- Gambit Pileup: The entire 30F story-line with Aguero, FUG (both sub-groups), Viole, and an un-named group affiliated with the Workshop all trying to out-gambit each other. May have evolved into Xanatos Speed Chess in the Team Finals with the number of Chessmasters currently in-play and how quickly the various plots are bumping into each other and coming undone.
- Gender-Blender Name: Probably an accident as the author is Korean and the strip is written in that language and the names are later Romanized, but Khun Aguero Agnes and Jue Viole Grace, despite their third names, are both male. 'Viole' itself isn't the most masculine-sounding name in English.
- Genius Loci: The Tower. It is not Headon that chooses the Regulars, he merely approaches them and sees if they are worthy of proceeding.
- Gentleman and a Scholar: Ship Leesoo, surprisingly. As sociable as you can get in a group of ruffians.
- Giant Flyer: The White Steel Eels and several other beings, like the Air Whale on the 25th floor.
- Girl in the Tower: Essentially the catalyst for the entire plot; Headon even spells it out.
- Except that Rachel is very close and an Ill Girl. Except that even though they met up, they must still climb the Tower together, because Rachel will not stop midway.
Later revealed that she faked being an Ill Girl. Hinted at during Ho's funeral. She is a bit Ax-Crazy though! - Girl Next Door: Rachel. Not exactly your run of the mill girl, though.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: Yuri Zahard and Quant Blitz.
- Rak also gets a turn with this at one point.
- God-Emperor: King Zahard, an existence that is like a god to the residents of the Tower.
- Grappling-Hook Pistol: The fishing reels. They are, however, designed to retrieve small things and hold enemies down.
- Gratuitous Foreign Language: SIU admits that he uses Google Translate to write English and Spanish in his works. Notably, the Koon Family's skills are all set in Spanish since SIU based their colour scheme on the Argentinian flag.
- Groin Attack:Rak: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING?! MY PREY ISN'T WILLING TO CLIMB BECAUSE OF SOME FEMALE?! THE RUTTING SEASON MUST'VE STARTED ALREADY!! BRING HIM HERE NOW!! I'M GONNA YANK OUT HIS BANANA!!
- Ship Leesoo tries this against the Bull. It was a she. The effect is as you might have imagined.
- Bloomer guardian suffered one against Daniel Hatchid after Hwa Ryun pointed it out to be his weak spot. Everyone flinched except Hwa Ryun.
- Guile Hero: Aguero. He purposely directed A Team to their defeat just to give Baam and the other people in his friend list in B Team a chance to pass.
- Baam and Ja Wangnan can get pretty crafty from time to time.
- Ship Leesoo seems to be a Guile Hero in training since Aguero left the main team for Part 2. Still not a patch on his mentor though.
- Hair-Raising Hare: Headon is decidedly creepy and is either sadistic or merely enjoys fulfilling his duties in as literal a manner as possible.
- Hammer Space:
- The invisible inventories and fishing reels always make it seem like the fighters are pulling weapons out of nowhere.
- A straighter example of this trope is wherever Ren and Yu Han Sung keep their giant monsters.
- Animas store their Shinheuh in Bowls.
- Hates Everyone Equally: Parakewl. It seems the feeling is mutual.
- Hate Sink: Rachel. She sacrificed Baam with no hesitation, betraying someone who looked up to her his entire life, pretended for years to be handicapped, played with the emotions of others in order to further her goals, maimed a teamate, and showed absolutly no remorses for her actions. She made it pretty clear that everyone is a stepping stone for her, and is only interested in her dream. Pretty much everyone in-universe and out hates her, and Baam himself became enraged when she refused to answer his questions and acted disdainful towards him. Her 'Why are you still alive?' pushed him over the edge.
- Healing Factor: The thing that is commonly known as The Lobster heals Viole's injuries.
- Heart Broken Badass: Aguero, Anak and Viole.
- Heartwarming Orphan: Baam and Anak.
- Heroes Want Redheads: Hwa Ryun has been travelling with Baam for 5 years, it's hard to believe that it was allInnocent Cohabitation. On the flip side this is Baam, who's response to Androssi saying they 'wouldn't have time to date' if he didn't hurry back soon was 'Date?'
- Heroism Incentive: Want Laure to do something? Hold his blanket and pillow hostage, that works wonders.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Lero-Ro and Quant.
- Hidden Depths: Several characters, especially Rak and Akraptor. Aguero even points out that Rak is unexpectedly perceptive when he sees through Aguero's trick to get the other to help Baam in the final Second Floor test. Also one of the first characters to figure out that Viole is Baam and immediately upon hearing that Aguero is supposedly dead declares that Aguero is scheming again and doesn't believe he's dead. He's right. Could have been lucky, though.
- Hidden Eyes: Viole has Blinding Bangs. Headon has eyes in his mouth. Hwa Ryun has her mask at first and then an eye-patch for most of the series so far.
- Hikkikomori: Jaina Repellista Zahard. She is holed up in her giant Opera Lighthouse all day long in her floating castle, plays computer games and watches everything.
- Homeless Hero: The Regulars have no home they could speak of, mostly renting rooms, cottages, or entire buildings on each Floor while they train, rest, or take the tests.
- Honor Before Reason: Hatsu, Rak and Quant.
- Hostage Situation: Knowing that what Baam values most is his friends, taking them hostage is one of his enemies' most common ways of manipulating him, particularly by Karaka's faction of FUG.
- Hot-Blooded: Quant Blitz and Ja Wangnan.
- Hot Witch: Hwa Ryun, of the Red Witch clan.
- Huge Girl, Tiny Guy: When we first see her, Yuri towers over both Evan, her Guide, and Baam. While Evan comes from a race noted for their lack of height, we have yet to know if Baam has grown enough to match her.
- Humans Are White: Only three human characters of a rather large cast are not white.
- Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Rak seems to be fond of this.
- Hyper-Competent Sidekick: According to Word of God Yuri is around the top 500 Rankers; however her Guide, Evan Edrok, who is constantly ordered by her is in the top 100.
- Then again, she is a princess.
- They also have very different roles within a Tower group, and we've yet to see how Evan would do in a straight-up fight.
- It's strongly implied Evan's rank is more due to his influence in the Tower rather than his actual fighting power.
- Hyperspace Arsenal: Literally; Arms Inventories allow people in the Tower to store weapons in strange floating racks that can be summoned or dismissed at will.
- I Believe I Can Fly: Phonsekal Laure and Phonsekal Irue can both use their masterful Shinsoo control to allow himself to fly. Lero-Ro, Urek and many other Rankers have also been seen flying and levitating — it might be a standard power for Rankers, with their superior ability to use Shinsoo. Baam learns to use a blue disc to surf through the air, and later, this upgrades into energy wings.
- I Have Your Wife: The reason Viole works for FUG: The rings Yu Han Sung gave the Regulars as they left for the Third Floor are tracking devices. Viole HAS to become a Slayer, or else FUG will kill every friend Baam ever had.
- Laure's blanket and pillow are constantly stolen and used to have him help out for comedic effect by his teammates.
- Icy Blue Eyes: The rest of Koon's family, especially Aguero, Maschenny and Hachuling.
- Impoverished Patrician: Koon Aguero Agnis after the fall of his branch. But then he went and nabbed a few things out of his father, Koon Eduan's treasury.
- In the Back:
- Ho stabs Rachel in the back as he takes her hostage.
- The Lamia Man shot Koon through the back.
- Cassano punches through Horyang from behind.
- In the Hood: Androssi's team before they got formally introduced.
- Rachel's group that she steals the Hell Train with.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: What Aguero thinks of his half-sister.
- Indy Ploy: Quant's tactic of saving Rachel, Wangnan's plans in general, Baam also has a few of these.
- Inexplicably Awesome: Rak, as every reader you ask will attest to you. He is a goddamn badass and nobody knows anything about him.
- Inherent in the System: A major theme in Tower of God. The current climbing system allows those who reach the top to fulfill their wish, but on the way up, many suffer, die or drop out. The main problem is that there are set limits of how many Regulars per batch can pass. This increases competition between Regulars who go out of their way to play mind games with each other, lie, trick and deceive each other and often abandon friends and fight innocent people.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: Koon Maria Zahard.
- Innocent Cohabitation: Hwa Ryun and Baam spent five years together, yet nothing happened. Sure, Heroes Want Redheads, but then again, Baam was a Chaste Hero. And then he became a Celibate Hero. Can't have been all that innocent when he learnt what sex is. Baam and Rachel probably count as well, but we don't know how much time they spent together before the story started.
- In-Series Nickname:
- Rak: Gator.
- Parakewl: Goby.
- Androssi: Ghosty Eyeballs.
- Kang Horyang: Teddy.
- Aguero: Earrings.
- Akraptor: Silver Shithead and later, Silverfish.
- Yeon Yihwa: Hellion and Yeon Family's Flare.
- Instant-Win Condition: Almost each test has one of these.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Since age is something really relative in the Tower, tons of these.
- Internal Reveal: Baam is an Irregular.
- Interplay of Sex and Violence: When ever Ren fights you get the feeling you walked in on a SM session. He is one of the creepiest guys out there.
- Interspecies Adoption: Zahard's Princesses. Also, Ship Leesoo decides that he is from now on Anak's daddy.
- Invisibility: Quant's Black Fish technique renders him completely invisible; very useful for Scouts.
- It's All About Me: Parakewl.
- It's All Upstairs from Here: The plot.
- I Will Find You: Baam's vow to Rachel. It has changed its meaning a bit over the course of the series, but still is the creed of Baam's main driving force.
- Also counts as Yuri's driving motivation for the series, as in both seasons all she wants is to meet up with Baam again.
- Javelin Thrower: The Spear Bearers. Rak is a notable examplenote . Subverted somewhat by Novick who throws boomerang-like weapons instead of traditional spears.
- Jerkass: Several people, especially Parakewl, Mauchi, Prince and Kim Lurker.
- Joshikousei: That's what Yeo Goseng's name really means. No kidding. Her name is really High School Girl. Her cousin, Yeo Miseng, is actually named Middle School Student. She is a straighter example of the joshikousei trope since she actually wears a school uniform.
- Journey to Find Oneself: Aguero is climbing the Tower to find what he is lacking.
- Ki Attacks: Some Shinsoo-based attacks function that way.
- Kick the Dog: Rachel. Just because Edin Dan (rightfully) told her off after she asks him to be her legs, she goes berserk and literally takes his legs from him. Even with that, just ask Baam about it. Actually, many other characters fit the bill too, since betrayal runs deep in the Tower.
- Killed Off for Real: Ho, Nia, and Gyetang. Other than that, a lot of Regulars die in the first few chapters, approximately 200 in the first test of the Second Floor.
- Kill the God: Enryu killed the 43rd Guardian.
- Knife Nut: Koon Aguero Agnis.
- Knight in Shining Armor: Hong Chunhwa.
- Knight, Knave and Squire: Rak is the Knight, proud, optimistic and strangely idealistic. Aguero is the Knave, a pragmatic loner with great skill. Baam is the Squire, a Naïve Newcomer with ideals that will very soon be tested and whose optimism shines brightly.
- Knuckle Cracking: The Bull does this when it wakes up with its neck, as does Rapdevil with his hands before he punches the Shinsoo meter.
- Kraken and Leviathan: The really big species of Flying Seafood Special.
- Kung-Fu Wizard: The more combative Wave Controllers.
- Lamarck Was Right: The daughters of princesses who have been empowered by Zahard inherit the enhanced powers he granted them, which is why they're forbidden to have children (or relationships with men, period.)
- Eurasia Enne Zahard. Biological daughter of Eurasia Blossom and Po Bidau Gustang, two of the 10 Great Family heads, is ranked higher than both of them and is joint highest ranked Princess.
- Large Ham: 'How dare you presumptuous newbies mock and defy me, the magnificent Ranker Quant!'
- Rak, all the way.
- Last-Name Basis: Baam says Mr. Koon to Aguero all the time, even if he is his best friend.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Rak, who just passed the Door Test by gambling while Aguero was still trying to figure it out, and Parakewl, who simply attacked the Goblins in the fish hunt, nearly screwing up the plan.
- Legacy of Service: Evan Edrok is the attendant of a Zahard Princess, as is his father.
- Legally Dead: Baam, after Rachel tried to kill him and never was found. Anak, who took the name of her dead mother. Koon who never bothers to remind his teammates.
- Lethal Chef: Yeon. She made Miseng cry just at the idea of her cooking.
- Let's Split Up, Gang: Aguero suggests doing this after Baam's 'death' to cover up that Rachel has tricked them all and so that he can keep an eye on her.
- Light Is Not Good: Rachel. Just Rachel. Also, her alias was Michelle Light. The way she came down from the light that Baam sought, how she was illuminated, how she taught Baam everything, her golden hair and her attempt at murdering Baam out of relative pettiness just really qualify her. She even has the 'Light-Bearer' position.
- To a greater extent, 'Hoaqin'. Ever since his introduction, he's been said to be nothing but bad news and when we finally get to see what he looks like, he's completely pale white and glows eerily.
- Lightning Bruiser: Androssi, Anak, Quant, Viole, Love, Yuri, Ren, Urek.
- Like an Old Married Couple: Anak's parents, for obvious reasons.
- Limited Wardrobe: Ship Leesoo and his sweatsuit(s). Regulars in general, which comes from the fact almost all of them come into the Tower with basically nothing but the clothes on their back.
- Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: The 'wizards' in this case are the Shinsoo users, who still can focus on physical combat as Magic Knights. The difference in power growth and a lack of Shinsoo resistance causes most warriors (those not capable of using or resisting Shinsoo) to drop out at the latest at the Second Floor.
- Literal-Minded: Kurudan.
- Lizard Folk: Rak, Levin and Anak.
- Loads and Loads of Characters: Here's a run down of characters that play a rather important role: 25th Baam/Jyu Viole Grace, Rachel, Headon, Evan Edrok, Ha Yuri Zahard, Black March, Rak Wraithraiser, Koon Aguero Agnis, Lero-Ro, Anak Zahard, Hatsu, Yu Han Sung, Ship Leesoo, Yuga/ Lo Po Bia Ren, Quant Blitz, Serena Rinnen, Ho, Androssi Zahard, Akryung, Hwa Ryun, Parakewl, Kurudan, Jaina Repellista Zahard, Ja Wangnan, Kim Lurker, Nya Nia, Yeo Miseng, Yeo Goseng, Kang Horyang, Hon Akraptor, Prince, Yeon Yihwa, Mule Love, Rapdevil, Novick, Koon Ran, Edin Dan, Ha Jinsung, Urek Mazino, Karaka, Beniamino Cassano, Xia Xia, and more to come.
- Loads and Loads of Races: Besides normal humans there are the Red Witches and Silver-Haired Dwarves, the Da'an tribe, which are a docile tribe of giants with eight eyeballs around their head, at least 3 kinds of Horned Humanoids, 3 kinds of Winged Humanoids, 3 kinds of Lizard Folk, several races with eggheads and varying numbers of eyes, shape shifters, shrimp people, all kinds of Amazing Technicolour Population, Monstrous Humanoids in general, giant slimes, dog people, Puppeteer Parasites, lava eaters, and many more.
- Loners Are Freaks: Baam, trapped in a cave for years, shunned and feared by his people. Irregulars, feared by everybody. Baam is an Irregular. Do the math what happened.
- Everybody regards Viole as such.
- Lost in Translation: The metaphor and punnyness of Baam's name (Baam either means night or chestnut).
- Long-Lost Relative: Anak to Androssi.
- Long Runner: It's up to 300+ chapters as of this moment and there are many, MANY Floors still to pass.
- Love at First Sight: Horyang's wing literally turned into hearts when he first saw Goseng.
- Lovely Angels: Anak and Androssi.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Androssi's shield, as well as Kang Horyang's body shield, which is so strong that even Viole has to catch him off guard.
- Kaiser and Karaka are both automatically defended by armory shields in the Name Hunter arc... and in both cases, their opponent is able to easily smash through them.
- Luminescent Blush: Yeon.
- Yuto gets one through their helmet, which becomes hilarious once you realize who was behind said helmet at the time.
- Magic Enhancement: Shinsoo Body Reinforcement, which gives the characters superhumanphysicalability.
- Magic Knight: The Fishermen. Close combat and buffering spells.
- Magical Land: The world inside the Tower. The Second Floor is a giant field under a blue sky with a floating island city above and the 21st Floor has floating wing-like buildings. The landscapes and environments of each Floor vary immensely and are subject to each Guardian's whims.
- Magnetic Hero: Baam.
- Manipulative Bastard: Koon Aguero Agnis and Yu Han Sung.
- Master of Disguise: Ren. He was Yuga.
- Meaningful Name: Akryung is Korean for Evil Spirit. It is not known if he is truly alive, he rarely interacts with anybody, and killed over a hundred people in one go.
- Baam's name (Night) says much about how Rachel viewed living with him.
- Meganekko: Goseng.
- Mission Control: The Light Bearers.
- Mister Strangenoun: Lurker, Love, Wraithraiser, Rapdevil.
- Modesty Towel: In the Bath chapters. Also when we get a small peek of Lero-Ro and Quant in the shower.
- Monster Is a Mommy: White Steel Eels are very protective of their young.
- Morph Weapon: Green April and compression weapons in general.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: It's all about the wielding of Shinsoo and the application of braincells.
- Must Have Caffeine: Yu Han Sung, the coffee addict.
- My Favorite Shirt: Androssi is incredibly protective of 'humanity's greatest cultural heritage'note . When Hwa Ryun aims a kick at it, she loses her cool and quite literally slips up.
- My Greatest Failure: Akraptor failed to save his daughter, Ho was too weak to save his friends.
- Kaiser's is ruining her chances of becoming a princess by falling for a boy, and Alphine's is failing to stop Kaiser from doing so.
- My Rules Are Not Your Rules: Aguero. If you can't break the rules, you can still bend them beyond recognition.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: For starters, Rak Wraithraiser (or alternatively, Wreckraiser), and Akryung, meaning evil ghost. In series, the title Irregular instills fear into everybody due to guys like Phantaminum and Urek Mazino. Also, carrying the name of Zahard certifies that you are a really dangerous person. Also, Baam's new title is Slayer candidate.
- Rapdevil was probably meant to be threatening as well.
- Baam's 'I am ... (Jyu Viole Grace)' got the fake and his thugs running quickly.
- ... and again in the Flower of Zygaena arc with the other team running away from his reputation.
- Naming Conventions: The naming order in the Tower seems to be quite unique, because if you become part of another family (adoption happens a lot here), it gets integrated into your name. The east-Asian naming order, surnames first, given names second is preserved, as with Phonsekal Laure, Ha Jinsung and Yu Han Sungnote . If someone gets taken in, they tack the name of the foster parent at the end, as it is with all of Zahard's Princesses: Ha Yuri Zahard, Koon Maria Zahard, Koon Maschenny Zahard.
- Nerves of Steel: Baam faces down Headon's monster eel without flinching, simply because it's an obstacle.
- Never Found the Body: Because the body already walked away.
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: Rak is a big badass bipedal alligator.
- N.G.O.: The Wolhaiksong, or Winged Tree under the Moon or simply the Winged Tree (Organization).
- N.G.O. Superpower: Which is full of superpowerful Badasses like Urek Mazino, Baek Ryun and Kurudan and also closely affiliated to Yuri Zahard.
- Non-Malicious Monster: The giant shinheuh from the 21st Floor. It's ultimately docile, but causes freak waves when it lies down on it's back.
- So are the White Steel Eels when they are not breeding.
- No-Sell: Baam has a high Shinsoo resistance, to the point that most Shinsoo attacks are generally ineffective.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: Some Regulars aren't ascending the Tower to reach the top to fulfill their strongest desire. Rak Wraithraiser just does it to fight people.
- #1 Dime: The pendant Anak gave to her mother. Seeing it again fries some of her circuits.
- Number Two: Baek Ryun to Urek Mazino in Wolhaiksong.
- Obfuscating Disability: Rachel.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Headon follows his duties as they are outlined, but forgets some of the inconvenient niceties. Furthermore, Evankhell's Hell is set up to get rid of all that may threaten the Tower.
- Offing the Offspring: Hendo Lok Bloodmadder, in a rather round about way. When the 10 Great Warriors received immortality from the 100th Floor Guardian, Bloodmadder was the only one to be left out. He somehow managed to convince the Guardian to grant him immortality, but it came at a cost: Bloodmadder's children would have to be extremely short-lived, as it was their lives that sustained his from now on. After debating on this for a while, Bloodmadder's fear of his mortality finally took over, and hence on the Hendo Family was cursed.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Several.
- First there is Hatsu beating First Emperor's team completely by the way.
- Then there is Kang Horyang curbstomping Rapdevil.
- Oh, Crap!: Yu Han Sung has this pretty early.Han Sung (jokingly): Did a Princess of Zahard or an Irregular come in?Han Sung: WHAT THE FUCK?
- When the water buffalo turned on it's back, the part of Team Tangsooyuk that stayed behind gave this response. Yes, including Viole and Horyang.
- Quaetro Blitz gives a hilarious one when he saw how good Viole was with Shinsoo.
Quaetro: I'll bet you've never encountered someone who can manipulate three baangs of Shinsu before... *beat with a silent Viole brandishing FIVE baangs* Ara. Two short...- During Viole's Curb-Stomp Battle on Novick and Ran, the latter two got hit with this thrice within the course of a few panels. Ouch!
- Ojou: Maschenny, Yuri and Yeon.
- Older Than They Look: Yuri is over 600 years old and Anak is 300 years as well as being older than Androssi. Every single Ranker is this as well; being in the Tower and having constant contact with Shinsoo can either kill you or give you a long life with no aging.
- Some people who start handling shinsoo at a young age have their physical growth stunted leaving them with the body of a child. Case in point, Ms. Ice Strawberry.
- Ominous Multiple Screens: The Lighthouses, which are a Light Bearers base of operations, are basically a bunch of floating screens. Pretty harmless by itself... But then Repellista's 'Opera' gets revealed.
- One-Man Army: Phantaminum, who effortlessly defeated the High Rankers of Zahard all by himself. Hell, pretty much most High Rankers.
- Ha Jinsung proves this when he effortlessly storms Karaka's hideout.
- Only I Can Kill Him: Only an Irregular can kill Zahard, which is why the FUG wants Baam in their organization and will stoop to anything to make it happen. Funnily enough, Rachel is an Irregular too, so…
- Rachel also has never revealed herself publicly as an Irregular.
- Only the Worthy May Pass: The concept of the Tower. What constitutes one's worth is never explained (or for that matter, perhaps understood), the one thing that all Regulars and Irregulars have in common is there exceptional desire to reach the top, at least at first.
- Orphan's Ordeal: The reason for Anak's revenge trip.
- Orphan's Plot Trinket: The ring that Wangnan wears And Karaka's identical one.
- Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Evan and Alumik are Silver Dwarves, who are known for their short stature, silver hair, and being Guides.
- Our Monsters Are Weird: From the giant flying eels to the giant bipedal amphibious predator that is the Bull to the worm-keeping Barnacle Goblins, there are a lot of strange beasts inside the Tower.
- Outlaw: Irregulars, whose mere existence violates the rules of the Tower.
- Papa Wolf: Akraptor has taken quite an aggressively protective liking towards Miseng, and she does not always like that.
- Parasol of Pain: Akraptor's weapon of choice. It shoots beams.
- Parental Abandonment: All over the place. Especially Baam, who never knew his parents, and many children born in the middle section of the Tower, where child birth is prohibited. Many of them end up being lab specimen for unpleasant experiments.
- Parental Substitute: Rachel for Baam, Sophia Amae for Cassano and Horyang, Garam Zahard for Anak, if you want to call the last one that.
- Peek-a-Bangs: Kang Horyang, Beniamino Cassano.
- Petting Zoo People: Nia, Anak, Rak, Xia Xia, Vespa.
- Physical God: The Guardians of the Tower, as well as the Axes.
- The Rankers (particularly the High Rankers) also qualify, and they're even revered as such throughout the Tower.
- Pink Means Feminine: Subverted with Hwa Ryun, a grade A asskicker.
- Pintsized Powerhouse: Mule Love, the baseball and chicken-loving Ranker.
- Koon Ran, the strongest fighter of Koon Aguero Agnis' new team.
- Anak Zahard
- Pillar of Light: Occurs when people are transported between Floors.
- Place of Power: The Tower. Headon suggests that gaining magical abilities is a natural byproduct of climbing the Tower.
- Playing with Fire: The Yeon and Blitz Families are renowned for their fire-based powers, especially the latter.
- Playful Hacker: Koon Hachuling.
- Platonic Cave : ...Well, Baam's cave.
- Police are Useless: The Tower very much operates under Might Makes Right, and the Tower's government will pretty much let you do what you like so long as you don't personally tick off someone with influence. This even extends to their biggest enemies, FUG. The FUG Slayers' job is to kill the king and the nobility. You'd think they'd work at hiding their identity, but instead FUG announces official 'Slayer Nominees'. The Slayer Nominees are tougher than their classifications suggest, but the ones we've seen so far were declared when they were at the floor 20-40 (out of 134) range. FUG seems to be practically daring the rankers (who have been all the way up to floor 134 and back) and the government (the King and the heads of the Ten Great Families are all rankers themselves, and several families have multiple rankers) to do something about it. This finally changes when King Zahard notices Baam and declares a massive war.
- Posthumous Character: Anak Zahard. The living Regular using this name is actually her daughter.
- Power Copying: Baam's talent for Shinsoo techniques is so great, that he can basically copy any technique that is used against him, though it still needs to be trained.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: The Workshops that make all the wonderful toys in Tower use experiments on literal forsaken children to produce them (one we were shown had a survival rate of 0.2%); it's implied that creating an Ignition Weapon in particular requires using a human soul.
- The 13 Month Series weapons were outright stated (and shown) to have a soul sealed within them.
- Emily the chat simulator appears to be this, and indeed is, being another product of the workshop ignition experiments mentioned above.
- Power Levels: As the names suggest, Rankers have a ranking based in theory on how well they did climbing the Tower (but, in practice, based on how powerful they are) as well as the influence they have in the Tower. Exact numbers are rarely bandied about, though, aside from a listing the author provided of the top ten and a general distinction between the (top thousand) 'High Rankers' and the rest. Regulars are rated according to how far they've gotten, and given letter grades rating them within that based on how promising they are in their current group.
- Praetorian Guard: Zahard's princesses, on a more representative level.
- Then there's the guards of the princesses themselves.
- Pragmatic Villainy: The mainstream members of FUG oppose Karaka's agenda of killing Viole and turning him into a weapon, but mainly because they believe he's more valuable as a living ally and that as long as they hold up their end of the deal to spare his friends, Viole has little reason to defy the organization. They're probably right because Viole didn't make any moves to leave FUG until after Karaka's faction nearly killed Aguero.
- Precision F-Strike: Lero-Ro delivers one early on when he gives a speech saying that 'those who are not worthy should FUCK OFF', made all the more shocking because he's one of the kindest and most soft-spoken characters in the story.
- Pregnant Badass: Anak's mom.
- Princess Classic: Koon Maria Zahard.
- Proper Tights with a Skirt: Yuri, Androssi and Yeon.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Quant is a bit immature. And strong.
- Psycho Sidekick: While not absolutely psychotic, Baam notices early on that Aguero has some very fiendish qualities.
- Psychosomatic Superpower Outage: Yeon's Power Incontinence ostensibly stems from this.
- Punny Name: Baam can mean Night or Chestnut. Either how nightmarish he can appear to other or how how cute he is that you want to eat him right up.
- Purple Eyes: Prince.
- Pyrrhic Victory: These kind of victories are handed out like candy — or, just murky ones where you wind up unsure if a clear 'loss' or 'gain' was ever possible from the start. Every last win has a price (even the apparently easy-looking ones), and many of them are steep to the point of only looking like a win on paper, particularly if you don't scrutinise either the build-up, the background shenanigans or the long-term practical or psychological effects on the 'winners'. It even manages to hand out the inverse, of course: Pyrrhic Losses happen to major or majorish characters where, although they technically lost, they won the mid-game (Ran and Novick) or got a surprise prize from it (Lurker — although it's unlikely to do him much practical good; Serena is a better example — she's no longer in the game, but what she learned may give her a better life than she had before). Baam manages to practically be the Anthropomorphic Personification of 'Pyrrhic Victory', though.
- Rags to Royalty: Androssi Zahard, quite literally, as she is a Princess now.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The Irregular. The strong-willed girl in a wheel chair. The distrustful outlawed royal. The kind-hearted blood-thirsty alligator. The butt-monkey, boastful, goofy strategist. The anti-social girl on a revenge-trip. The mysterious silent giant. The loyal dual-wielding swordsman. The Knight in Shining Armor. His animal-controlling admirer. The power-house that powernaps. Permanently. The cold-blooded princess that came from rags to riches. The sneaky, arrogant coward. The reptilian sniper. And that Russian-Mexican muscle-devil. Weird bunch.
- To cheer Yeon up from her insecurities about her Power Incontinence and resulting Team Killer tendencies, Akraptor says that no one in the team will kick her out or make fun of her since everybody damn well knows they are all a trashy group of Regulars. This is also a bit of danger for the team, since several FUG members think the team is not appropriate for Viole and want them dead.
- Rapunzel Hair: Baam in his flashbacks, Ho, Black March, Yu Han Sung, Yeon, Yuri and Maschenny. And Baam after five years again. Trope winner is Robert Aisand, whose silver hair is said to reach his heels.
- Rant-Inducing Slight: Hell Joe was already upset that Karaka hadn't yet made good on his promise to get his people out of the Floor of Death. But the thing that really gets him ranting?Hell Joe: Plus that TV [you gave me] - ONLY HAS A FREAKING NEWS CHANNEL!!
- Razor Wind: Any cutting Shinsoo attack is basically this, since Shinsoo is the surrogate for air in the Tower. The only difference: It gets denser the higher you climb the Tower. And the denser it gets, the more it becomes like water.
- Really 700 Years Old: Anak is 300, Yuri twice her age. All Rankers are an extreme case of Older Than They Look, up to Time Abyss levels in some cases.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Lero-Ro.
- Rebellious Princess: Lady Yuri.
- Recurring Character: Yuri and Hwa Ryun.
- Red Baron: High Rankers have sobriquets that are officially issued out by the Ranking Administration Office, and the titles in question are usually in reference to the High Ranker's battle Position or other aspects. Some turn them the names down, though.
- Red Herring: For a while, you are to think that either Hwa Ryun, Aguero, or Androssi is manipulating Ho.
- This rather a common ploy of SIU.
- Revenge: Anak is driven by revenge for her parents, Ja Wangnan wants to kill Lurker for brutally murdering Nia and Love has a grudge with Viole, because FUG killed his parents before he started climbing. Viole is still pending on the thought of having his sweet revenge on Rachel. Hand in hand with the revenge theme however is a theme of forgiveness ( Anak befriends Androssi Zahard, Ja Wangnan forgives Lurker for killing Nia because the three of them were the same, Love says his desire for revenge has made him unfit to be an administrator and he wants to see Viole grow.).
- Ridiculously Average Guy: Rachel.
- Ring of Power: The Yoghurt Lady's rings are wands.
- Role-Playing Game Verse:
- Positions = Classes.
- There exist Stat Cards (although they're now defunct).
- Passing the Floor's test = completing a level.
- The Rankings = High Score.
- And it isn't even that obvious.
- Ronin: Hatsu.
- Royal Blood: All Princesses receive Zahard's blood. As compensation for all that power and authority, they are forbidden under the threat of death to not have lovers or children.
- Royal Rapier: Needles. Black March actually belongs to a princess.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Every member of the 10 Families (which includes Koon Aguero Agnis), Zahard's Princesses (Yuri, Androssi and by heritage, Anak probably Zahard himself.
- Zahard used to do something (long before the start of the story, he conquered Tower up to the 134th Floor with his 10 companions, who founded the 10 families), but now he's resting.
- Running Gag: There is one featuring Quant repeatedly endorsing the weirdest and greatly varying products in some of the most befuddling ways.
- There's also the repeated references to Baam's name being 'tasty' (Joke on how Baam means both 'night' and 'chestnut' in Korean)
- Bit of a meta example, but the fact that a character wearing tights (Yihwa, Hwa Ryun, Xia Xia) will in a later panel lose them happens a tad too often to be a drawing mistake.
- Samurai: Hatsu, since he is a wandering samurai with no master and no nobility, he is also a Ronin.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Yuri and Evan.
- Schizo Tech: There's guns, modern video games, and eventually a full blown AI (or maybe not?), existing alongside spear throwers. Justified by the way Shinsoo affects weapons and by the nature of the Tower — with little trade or communication between Floors beyond what Rankers enable (which mostly goes towards their own swag), tech levels can vary wildly from place to place.
- Sealed Badass in a Can: Baam, a potential badass, in his cave.
- Secret Identity: Rachel takes on the alias of Michelle Light, Anak Zahard pretends to be her mother and Baam himself is known as Jyu Viole Grace in season 2.
- Secret Police: The RED (Royal Enforcement Division).
- Security Blanket: Laure's blanket, of course.
- Seers: The Guides. Xia Xia appears as a Fortune Teller, but she more likely uses her Lighthouse and street wits to gain and dispense knowledge before she gave up that job and became a fanatic.
- Series Goal: Reaching the top of the Tower.
- Shirtless Scene: Several, especially in the baths.
- Shout-Out:
- When Quant still thinks he can win, Androssi asks him if he picked up 'seven magical balls.'
- SIU seems to like Dragonball Z, as earlier Rak can be seen comically performing a Genki Dama (as well as an energy blast) in the background.
- Baam thinks the shrunk Rak is a new Digimon.
- Rayquaza and Pikachu are seen in the background when Koon and Hatsu clash.
- After Rak, Aguero and Baam agree to stand together as a true team, the background briefly becomes a peach garden.
- Wangnan uses Shinsoo bombs that look like Pokéballs. Later on when Shibisu uses one, he states that he has it because he 'wants to become a Pokemon Go Master.'
- The second test uses a punching machine to determine Shinsoo strength, much like the one in Dragon Ball Z.
- Repellista Zahard has Fus Roh Da written over her doorway.
- The Mysterious Arcade chapter shouts out to various game, one of which was blatantlyStarCraft. The same chapter also brought us a literal Death Star straight from Star Wars.
- When Quant still thinks he can win, Androssi asks him if he picked up 'seven magical balls.'
- Shrouded in Myth: Phantaminum and Enryu, as well as several other celebrities of the Tower.
- Signature Move: Hwajeop Gongpasul (or Floral Butterfly Piercing Technique) for Viole and FUG, Fast Skip for Viole/Baam specifically.
- Quant's Black Fish.
- Sinister Surveillance: The Regulars on Evankhell's Floor have little to no privacy and don't even know it.
- Slasher Smile:
- It's probably hidden from the other characters by the shape of his head, but Headon sports one of these numerous times during Baam's test.
- Ren and Green April.
- Sleepyhead: Laure and the entire Phonsekal family.
- Smoke Shield: Appears a few times:
- After Laure hit Anak with a huge Shinsoo Blast.
- After Hong Chunhwa hit Androssi with a Sword Beam-
- After Ja Wangnan threw Shinsoo Bombs at Viole.
- After Viole completely obliterated a new challenger.
- Smug Snake:
- Ren, the Wave Controller instructor and member of the Royal Enforcement Division is a good schemer, but a foul bastard, clearly enjoying pushing several of Zahard's Princesses into a corner and trying to make them go at each other.
- Parakewl isn't even a good schemer, he's just an arrogant backstabbing whiney jerkass.
- Kim Lurker.
- Soul Jar: Some Ignition Weapons, which are literally powered by the soul of an abandoned child.
- Space Whale: The Guardian of the Second Floor, the steel eel on the First Floor, and we expect to see many others.
- Spell My Name with an 'S': Several, though most notable are Zahard/Jahad/Zahard (they changed it, then changed it back because screw the names, translators decide them) and Lahel/Rachel. The latter, coincidentally, was changed by the translators on the Wham Episode where Rachel is revealed to be a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing.
- There's also Koon Aguero Agnis/Kun Aguero Agnis. It was changed to Koon Aguero after the author confirmed his name's origin. The official translation seems to mostly be using Khun Aguero Agnes, though.
- Technically, the official translation of Androssi's name is Andorthy Jahad. Don't expect to see it in any fan translations, though.
- To be fair to the translators, they changed the name from 'Jahad' back to 'Zahard' because in the RAW for a chapter it showed a poster with Ha Yuri on it and it spelled her name as 'Zahard' in English.
- Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Shinsoo allows this, Enryu is well known for this.
- Squishy Wizard: The Light Bearers. Averted by Lero-Ro and Koon Aguero Agnis.
- Storming the Castle: Phantaminum.
- Star Scraper: The Tower is big. Insanely big. Touching the heavens big. Every Floor is several kilometers high and most have flying landmasses inside them, that's how big it is.
- Story-Breaker Power: Phantaminum. According to Word of God, his power as an Axis would allow him to 'destroy [Tower of God's] story.' Given the terminology SIU sometimes uses for Axes, this may actually be literal.
- Summon Bigger Fish:
- Yu Han Sung, literally, when fighting Ren, who was controlling a giant serpent, Han Sung calls out an even larger Shinheuh (God-Fish) called the Submerged Fish to devour the serpent.
- Summon Viole to deal with Lurker.
- Super-Deformed: Rak get shrunk after an unlucky encounter with Yu Han Sung and later has the ability to switch between sizes to fit into normal-sized places. Other than that, it's often used for comedic effect.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: Rachel and Baam, 2 confirmed Irregulars.
- Super Senses: Lero-Ro has some damn good ears.
- Some characters have the ability to feel and read the flow of Shinsoo and can safely navigate in complete darkness.
- And Baam himself ends up developing this in order to combat Kaiser's invisible weapons.
- Sword Almighty: Explicitly subverted. While a few people use them, swords become increasingly useless in the higher reaches of the Tower due to high concentrations of dense water-like Shinsoo, which replaces air in the Tower and makes broad-bladed weapons unwieldy. Instead, the default weapon-type of the Tower is the needle.
- That said, the only S+ Rank weapon in the entire Tower, the White Oar, is still a sword. Justified however in that it belongs to the strongest Family Head, Arie Hon.
- Sword Beam: Narumada and Krishna's ability.
- Sword of Plot Advancement: What the 13month series turns out to be. All of them were forged from the key Zahard used to lock off the 135th floor, so progressing past the 134th floor of the tower requires collecting all of them.
- Tagalong Kid: Miseng, Sunwoo Nare, and Prince.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Viole.
- Team Killer: Yeon. She isn't malevolent, though, she's just a hot girl prone to friendly fire.
- Androssi, on the other hand, is a much more deliberate version, even going as far as to kill her own teammates to pass the test.
- Technical Pacifist: Baam. The Da'an Tribe.
- Technicolor Eyes: Gold, Purple, Green, Red.
- Technicolor Fire: Yeon's flames were initially pink, purple and blue. They're now more traditional colours.
- Teen Genius:
- Yeon and Aguero are not even 20 and got quite far in the Tower.
- Baam and Hatsu are likewise not much older, but incredibly talented.
- Temporal Theme Naming: Twenty-Fifth Baam is named after his birthday. Black March is one of twelve plus 1 legendary weapons named after the English months.
- The Ageless: Those who climb the Tower slowly stop aging.
- The Beastmaster: Anima, such as Sunwoo Nare, Ren and Yu Han Sung, control Shinheuh.
- The Berserker: Aleksei Amigochaz sometimes gets extremely vicious when fighting, so far that many flat out avoid him even after the tests.
- Baam almost turned into this when he flipped at Train City.
- The Bet: Several though out the series.
- The Blacksmith: Edwaru and Macseth. Also, there's an entire research organization known as the Blacksmiths or Gongbang, though they are more scientists.
- The Chase: Baam's entire journey is focused on tracking down Rachel.
- The Chessmaster: Pretty much any of the Light Bearers.
- Special mention to Aguero who is possibly the most competent Chessmaster in the series so far if he just had the information or resources of a Ranker carries.
- Yu Han Sung, though there are indications that someone else was the real Chessmaster and he was merely the visible actor.
- The Chew Toy: Ja Wangnan, Yeon Yihwa, Ship Leesoo, Parakewl.
- The Chosen Many: All the Regulars and most of the Rankers have been chosen to enter the Inner Tower and climb it. It is the unchosen ones (who are there nevertheless) who are special.
- The Clan: Families get pretty big in the Tower since people have a tendency to live a long time.
- The Corruptible: The average Regular is pretty much this. Rachel too.
- The Corrupter: Grace Mirchea Luslec, head of FUG
- Also possibly the Tower contest itself.
- The Cutie: Baam and Miseng.
- The Dragalong: Ship Leesoo in very light shades. Ja Wangnan qualifies as well.
- The Dreaded: Irregulars. Baam.
- FUG
- The Faceless: Viole, due to Blinding Bangs, and Akryung.
- The Fair Folk: The Guardians. Or to be fair: Headon. He ain't no fairy godmother to you, Rachel.
- The Fighting Narcissist: Androssi Zahard.
- The Fundamentalists:
- FUG. Religious zealots who wish for the destruction of Zahard's Empire and who revere Luslec and his Slayers as gods. By far the most fanatic to date is Xia Xia (although she's calmed down now).
- Several members of the Zahard regime can be seen similarly, first and fore-most Ren.
- The Ghost: Influential and often referred to characters who never appear: Zahard, Phantaminum, Evankhell, and Enryu.
- The Gift: Baam's innate Shinsoo Control talent, as well as his natural resistance towards Shinsoo.
- The Heart: Baam and occasionally Rak.
- The Good, the Bad, and the Evil: Wingtree (Wolhaiksong) as the good, the Empire of Zahard as the bad and FUG as the evil.
- Or it could be FUG as the bad and Zahard as the evil, really it's debatable.
- The Hero: Baam.
- The Klutz: Yeon. Parakewl.
- The Lancer: Rak and Aguero.
- Novick is this to Koon Ran.
- Nia before he was killed to Ja Wangnan.
- Anak to Androssi.
- The Lost Lenore: Inverted: Rachel trying to kill Baam is what starts his depression.
- Hon Akraptor still grieves over the loss of his daughter, as does Ho over loss of his friends, as does Anak over the loss of her parents.
- The Man: Zahard's Regime…
- The Man Is Keeping Us Down: …kinda sucks.
- The Medic: Michael, the Missionary. Although healing is somewhat questionable.
- The Mole:
- Several characters are traitors. Hwa Ryun, Yu Han Sung, Augusgus, Apple and Michael all belong to FUG. Rachel qualifies as well.
- And again, Ren, the sneaky bastard.
- The Napoleon: Anak Zahard, Mule Love.
- Koon Ran (who Word of God states is slightly taller than Anak)
- The Paralyzer: Baam, due to Quant teaching him Fast Skip and his pacifism.
- The Power of Blood: Zahard's Princesses receive their immense power through the blood of Zahard.
- The Proud Elite: Maschenny, Yeon and Prince.
- The Quiet One: Akryung. A very creepy quiet one. Hwa Ryun and Kang Horyang are also not very talkative.
- The Right Hand of Doom: Rapdevil and Horyang. Both have taken the title Devil of the Right Arm. Also First Emperor, but we never got to see what his hand could really do.
- Now we have Cassano, the real Devil of the Right Arm (Although technically it's actually his left one — the name was to attract Horyang)
- The Runaway: Rachel. Though we don't know what she ran way from.
- The Smart Guy: Ship Leesoo, Koon Aguero Agnis. Koon Ran. Beta.
- The Straight and Arrow Path: Subverted in that Levin and his sniper rifle take down the only bowman of the series, and double subverted inthat the Spear Bearers overpower his rifle quickly because while the strength of an arm can grow, a guns fire power can't and in higher Floors, the shinsoo is more viscous.
- The Stoic: Viole, Kang Horyang.
- The Summation: Aguero delivers one after the Hide-And-Seek Test to explain his schemes and conclusions to Lero-Ro.
- The Thunderdome: All of the testing areas and by extension the Inner Tower itself.
- The Tower: Well, the Tower of course.
- The Unchosen One: The Irregulars: Baam, Phantaminum, Enryu, Zahard, Urek, Rachel, possibly Akryung.
- The Unfought: Zahard and Phantaminum never fought, ever though they faced each other directly and the latter just stormed the castle of the former.
- Yu Han Sung, The Chessmaster of the first season.
- The X of Y: The Tower of God.
- Throw Down the Bomblet: Ja Wangnan's PokéBombs.
- Time Abyss: The Tower and it's Guardians.
- Time Skip: Five years have passed between Season 1 and Season 2, around Chapter 78. Two more pass from then to the Workshop Battle, and another year passes from that to the Hell Train arc.
- Tin Tyrant: Akryung, also nicknamed Tin Can.
- Token Evil Teammate: Subverted with Hon Akraptor who's reason for voting Miseng to opt out by will might not have been so evil after all. Perhaps Akryung.
- Token Mini-Moe: Miseng.
- Token Minority: Quant. Kinda. If ethnicity wasn't so weird to begin with here. Kurudan is black with white hair (possibly a French or Brazilian football player?). Amigochaz… is kinda Mexican, with red wings. Kind of...
- Token Nonhuman: Rak, who is an alligator. To be fair, he is a token non-humanoid, since some people like Wangnan and Androssi aren't really human either.
- Tomboy: Lady Yuri, much to Evan's chagrin, Rachel also gives off the vibes of such. And of course Anak.
- Tomboyish Ponytail: Yuri and Yeon.
- Tomboy Princess: Lady Yuri of course.
- Took a Level in Badass: Baam quickly turns from being relatively useless in combat to a Shinsoo genius capable of freezing someone at will. Then after the timeskip he is by far the strongest Regular on the 20th Floor. And on the 28th Floor, the Wangnan's team, especially Miseng, shows their progress by easily winning a test.
- To Serve Man: Many of the beasts encountered have a special appetite for the meat of intelligent species.
- Total Party Kill: The Bull has a history of this.
- Toxic Phlebotinum: Shinsoo can be corrosive to the human body. It also can cause pressure sickness.
- Trademark Favorite Food:
- Yu Han Sung LOVES everything that is instantly prepared. Especially coffee.
- Rak loves bananas.
- Augusgus likes fried chicken, whereas Love prefers saucy chicken.
- Ja Wangnan likes to order tangsooyook with his friends. This ends up being the name of his team.
- Tracking Device: The rings Yu Han Sung gave to Aguero's team after Baam's 'death'.
- Mutually registered Pockets can track each other as well.
- Translator Microbes: The Pockets.
- Trapped in Another World: Very likely. No sign of the door through which he came in, and the environment of the Second Floor strongly suggests that the Tower doesn't follow the rules of a normal world.
- Tricked-Out Gloves:
- Blarouse's weapon.
- Love's giant, hovering baseball gloves.
- Troubled Backstory Flashback: Anak flashes back to her childhood and the assassination/execution of her mother who was guilty of having relations with a man and giving birth to Anak despite being a Princess of Zahard.
- Also, the short snippets of Aguero's past are rather uncomfortable.
- Same goes for Ho, who regretted his past, Serena who accepted her past and Androssi, who grew stronger and colder through her past.
- Also Baam, in a way, though the things he goes through after he enters the tower are, to him at least, worse. After all, before he didn't know he had anything to lose and now that he does he'll do anything to protect it.
- We get to see Kaiser's as well during the Name Hunter arc, revealing how she failed to becom a princess and was condemned to the Name Hunter station until she could pay back the damage her actions caused.
- Troubled, but Cute: Baam in the second season.
- True Blue Femininity: Maria and Maschenny.
- True Companions: Despite the harsh circumstances, even the anti-social Anak and the cynical, manipulative Androssi help Baam and Rachel take the Guardian's exam, even though they had no personal gain from it and it supposed to be ungodly hard.
- Tsundere: Rak and Yuri.No... I just- It's not that I'm worried about the turtle. I just wanted to check if anything might be wrong with my prey... You could call it... market research?
- Rak flat-out abandons this behavior in the second season, unashamedly tackling Baam when he sees him alive
- Turn Coat: Rachel.
- Turtle Power: Rak's verbal tic makes everybody but him and Anak an example of this trope.
- Bloodmadder got the nick name Long-Life Sea Turtle for his perseverance in his successful quest for immortality.
- Twice Shy: Goseng and Horyang, leading to Miseng and Prince's adorable effort to play cupid before the 30F battle.
- Unholy Holy Sword: The 13 Month Series is continuously getting a worse rep as information is trickling through that these weapons might have a damaging effect on the wielders psyche, causing one of the strongest Princesses in the history of the Tower to go berserk along with her weapon.
- Unni: Sunwoo Nare and Miseng hold great respect for Androssi and Goseng respectively.
- Unlimited Wardrobe: Not much in season 1, unlike the second. Some even wonder where Viole puts all his clothes.
- Unobtainium: Suspendium, the main material to create Lighthouses and other items. The purer, the better, and naturally they are very expensive.
- Unwitting Pawn: Everybody. That's why Yu Han Sung and Headon are such good chess masters. The main pawns are Ho, Rachel, Baam and Aguero.
- Prince is Lurker's unwitting pawn.
- Upgrade Artifact: The weapons of the 13 Month Series, especially Black March, who was given to complete newcomer Baam.
- Verbal Tic: To Rak, anything that is not an alligator is a turtle. Except Anak. She is a pesky lizard.
- Virgin Power: Yeon Hana's contract with the Guardians.
- Vitriolic Best Buddies: Anak and Hatsu get along pretty well, it might have even been love at first fight. But the weirdest relationship she has is the one with her aunt Androssi.
- There is rarely a pair that understands each other like Aguero and Rak. They are also the guys that constantly butt heads about which way to do things.
- Wager Slave: Both Yeon and Androssi risked being this, in Yeon's case she was 'property' already.
- Waif-Fu: Most of the Action Girl characters in the series.
- Waking Up Elsewhere: Baam after he'd been knocked out for several days. Edin after Aguero kidnapped him. Aguero himself after he survived the Hand of Arlen's destruction.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Urek Mazino, flaunting his tattoo. His tattoo that is his names over the crest of his organization.
- Walking Spoiler: Rachel. The most important things she does change the series drastically and come as a great surprise.
- Wave Motion Gun: Zahard keeps 10 superweapons called Cannon Salutes. His empire officially declares war on FUG by using one to fire a massive beam at one of their highest ranking members.
- Weapons That Suck: Manbarondenna, Aguero's bag.
- We ARE Struggling Together: All of FUG basically agrees that King Zahard needs to die for the good of everyone else, but there is no shortage of factional infighting. While mainstream FUG members support Baam, there are plenty that would prefer to kill and melt him down into a weapon so they can kill King Zahard themselves instead of relying on him. There are also some FUG members that are uneasy with Hoaqin's revival due to him being monstrous even by their standards.
- Webcomic: As a Korean Webtoon, it is one of the rarer examples where complete, manhwa-like chapters are published instead of single pages, but in one long, continuous strip and full-color.
- We Used to Be Friends: Baam and Rachel. In her quest for the skies, she left Baam behind, but he followed her and, from her perspective, stole her place in the story, resulting in her growing resentment for him. So she follows Yu Han Sung's plan and kills him.
- Wham Episode:
- Several in brutally quick succession: Rachel can stand! Rachel tried to kill Baam! Rachel was not chosen by the Tower, Baam was! Rachel hates Baam for stealing her dream! Headon is a Jerkass! Well, that last one isn't quite as much of a surprise by now, but still.
- Nia's betrayal and death.
- The Devil of The Right Arm has this back-to-back in increasing 'wham-ness'. As of season 2 chapter 51, Apple and Michael are traitors, Gyetang is dead, Dan turns out to not be such a bad guy after all, Rachel is finally confirmed as flat-out evil and/or insane, and Koon is has gone missing. Possibly one of the biggest Wham Episodes in the entire series.
- Season 2, chapter 65. Viole wipes out two of Leesoo's teammates easily with his new 'Thorn' power, Rak shoots up Koon and Wangnan, Traveller reveals Viole's identity to Androssi, and Viole outright says that he's lost the will to live.
- Season 2, Chapter 84, full stop. After Team Mad Dog seemingly allies with Viole to help him rebel against FUG, not a chapter later it reveals that all of them, Varagarv included, are loyal dogs to FUG and the ENTIRE act of running from and despising FUG was solely to lure Viole/Baam into a trap, and they show no remorse in mercilessly trying to kill Novick. Also, the true Thorn is the leftovers from when Enryu killed a Guardian, and to revive it as a proper weapon again FUG has been working on implanting a proper host with a demon that can resurrect its power. As if THAT wasn't enough, domo-kun cap boy Beta reveals to Viole that many Elders and members of FUG despise the idea of the new junior member obtaining what is basically one of the most powerful known weapons to exist, and have plans of their own, and cements that FUG and the scientists of the Workshop have been working together the entire time snatching up humans from the middle area of the Tower in secret for experiments. Finally, if the fridge logic is to be believed, Beta might be Rachel. Wham.
- Season 2, Chapter 90. Hwa Ryun was disguised as Yuto, the real Yuto's purpose was to deliver the fake Thorn and gain the Elders' and Reflejo's trust. The fake Thorn is a container for the real Thorn which absorbed the Thorn when Viole was in close proximity for a good while. Viole is now free.
- Season 2 Chapter 144-148. Baam meets Rachel again after almost a decade and Rachel coldly shoots him down when he asked why she did what she did. Baam can't comprehend what she's saying, showing some stalker-like tendencies, and then flips out. Also we see Rachel might not be as 'evil' as everyone thought from the way she initially reacted upon seeing Baam again.
- Season 2 Chapter 227. Wangnan gets captured by Rachel after getting brutally beaten up by Cassano, Akraptor is killed by Rachel, and Prince gets devoured by Hoaqin. This is shortly after a chapter where Yiwha and Rak are thought to have been killed by getting caught in the crossfire of a fight between two High Rankers.
- Season 2 Chapter 240 is a huge one. We learn about just who Baam is and where he came from, about Zahard's whims after stopping his climb and also the purpose of Enryu and his reason for killing the Guardian of the 43rd Floor.
- What You Are in the Dark: When alone Rachel shows how she really is. Self-centered, pampered and not a bit remorseful. And also slightly insane.
- Who Wears Short Shorts?: Yeon and Goseng, as well as Aguero in season 2.
- Witch Species: Hwa Ryun belongs to the Red Witch clan.
- Winged Humanoid: Amigochaz and a few other Regulars. As one of them falls from a pillar, Androssi notes that his wings were obviously not meant for flying.
- World Building: Tower of God is the first part in a series of stories set in the Talse Uzer universe.
- World's Strongest Man: Phantaminum.
- Written Roar: Rak.
- Yellow Brick Road: You climb the Tower Floor by Floor.
- Yin-Yang Bomb: FUG's signature move, Hwajeop Gongpasul/Floral Butterfly Piercing Technique, which applies the simultaneous use of Flow Control and Reverse Control, making an extremely devastating close range attack that doesn't harm the wielder if performed properly.
- You Are Number 6: 25th Baam, and before they got their names, Cassano and Horyang were #99 and #21 respectively.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Part of Urek Mazino's problem, one cannot simply exit the Tower.
- You Killed My Father: Or in this case, mother and father, but the focus is on the mother. And when Anak sees Ren with the necklace she gave her mother on the day they parted, her Berserk Button is jammed down.
- You Remind Me of X: Miseng reminds Akraptor of his lost/kidnapped daughter.
- Youthful Freckles: Rachel.
Season Specific Tropes
- Aborted Arc: Were you expecting more talk about the Black March's fickle spirit and relationship with Baam? Too bad.
- Achievements in Ignorance: Baam does a no sell on a Shinsoo barrier and thinks he must redo a test. Then he gets hit with a spell and is told to copy it. Nobody thinks it's possible. It is, when you're Baam.
- Action Mom: Anak's mother, who was a Princess of Zahard.
- Adorably Precocious Child: Baam is young, cute, diligent, honest and humble.
- All-Encompassing Mantle: Androssi, Akryung and Rachel In the Hood.
- Apologetic Attacker: Rachel, rather going into apologetic backstabber territory.
- Armor-Piercing Slap: Serena on Androssi; Rak on Aguero, interfering with Hatsu's attempt to pummel him.
- Asleep for Days: Baam after his run in with Hwa Ryun.
- Asleep in Class: Laure. And not only in class. During test and even on the battle field, he just wants to sleep.
- As You Know: A lot of Lero-ro's initial exposition contains this phrase.
- Atop a Mountain of Corpses: Aleksai Amigochaz after Evankhell's preliminaries.
- Bare-Handed Blade Block: Inverted, it's a bladed bitchslap block.
- Back for the Finale: Yuri Zahard back for the season 1 finale.
- Bad Dreams: Rachel has these. They are related to Baam. As does Ho.
- Banging for Help: Rachel, against Headon's Shinsoo Barrier to make Baam stop.
- Batman Gambit: Aguero pulled one relying on Quant trying to spite him for being played with. It involved making him think that Rachel is the target.
- Battle-Interrupting Shout: Lero-Ro managed to stop a fight between Regulars with just one interjection. Pretty cool for an entrance scene.
- Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: The Mangdol Madame is VERY different from the males.
- Blasphemous Boast:
- Quant: A mere Regular acting on the behalf of God? Ridiculous! The true god of this testing area is ME!
- Boom, Headshot!: Levin eliminates several people in the preliminaries with clean shots through the head.
- Break the Cutie: The three-stage plan that transforms Baam into Viole: Having to see people who don't hate each other fight and sacrifice each other. Being used and betrayed by a friend who blames him for his misery and then commits suicide, leaving a strong pang of guilt. Being betrayed by the person that he calls his light in the darkness.
- Miseng and Prince had to choose which one of them would be eaten by Hoaquin. After Prince sacrifices himself Miseng is completely broken, and that's before Wangnan joins up with Rachel.
- Broken Heel: Happens to Androssi twice during fights. She hasn't been wearing high-heels since.
- Brutal Honesty: Oh, Rachel, Headon's got you there.
- Can't Catch Up: Played out with Ho, who lost everyone he cared about to a monster he lacked the power to stop. Climbing the Tower he comes to realize he lacks the innate talent that Laure and Baam have and will never be able to beat them, so he's tempted by the local Knight Templar director into killing Rachel to destroy Baam's will to continue and improve his own chances of advancing. When he fails he drops a brutal Hannibal Lecture on Baam and his naive idealism before killing himself.
- Catapult Nightmare: Rachel's Bad Dreams.
- Conscience Makes You Go Back: The reason why Aguero went back to help Baam when they first met Rak. Though his understanding of conscience is that Baam was a person interesting enough to be saved.
- Conveniently Timed Attack from Behind: During Yuri's Big Damn Heroes moment.
- Cutting the Knot: Rak's solution to the Door Game: There are no more clues? I didn't get them anyway? Fuck it, just kick a door open, see what happens.
- Cute Monster: The Mangdol whales. At least the males.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Aguero had to act like a jerk to keep the others supporting Baam.
- Cryptically Unhelpful Answer: Headon, of course.
- Dead Guy on Display: The water graves seen in the silent episode.
- Dies Wide Open: Ho. Serena closes his eyes for him after he dies.
- Do Not Drop Your Weapon: Hatsu himself said that his hands were trained to never let go of his sword. When they do, they pin the RankerQuant Blitz down.
- Downer Ending: The ending of season one.
- Dramatic Chase Opening: Baam chasing Rachel.
- Driven to Suicide: —Ho--
- Drop the Hammer: Kurudan's Weapon of Choice.
- Dynamic Entry: Lady Yuri introduces herself to Baam this way.
- Eat Me: The solution for both the Ball test as well as the Submerged Fish Hunt. In one, you had to attack from inside. In the other, you had to become… excremented.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Rachel killing Baam.
- Exact Words: Saying 'The answer is always at the top, that is all I can tell you' really glosses over the fact that the answer to the question is 'Yes I have seen her. She is in the room right next to us, watching through the door.'
- Eye Scream: Hwa Ryun gets cut right through her eye.
- Flashback Nightmare: Ho experiences a short nightmare in which a monster murders a bunch of children while he's putting on a Shinsoo trick show.
- Foreshadowing: Aguero's bag can be seen being stopped at the shinsoo barrier before managing to pass through. Later it's revealed that he was keeping people from the first test in the bag.
- Fun Size: Rak got reduced to a Super-Deformed alligator when he pissed off Yu Han Sung.
- Gambit Roulette: Yu Han Sung's great secret plan. Relies on Aguero's great secret plan being made and failing, but only partially.
- Go Through Me: Baam stepped in front of Hwa Ryun to protect Rachel. It didn't go well.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Serena Rinnen.
- Happily Married: Despite everything, Anak's mother was very satisfied with her life.
- Hidden Purpose Test: The Doors.
- Hold the Line: The Crown Game.
- Hostile Show Takeover: Rachel. Hwa Ryun and Headon each converse this trope.
- If I Do Not Return: The condition Baam makes with the Guardian: If he happens to die during the test and Rachel survives, the Regulars can advance to the next Floor.
- If We Get Through This...: Androssi, twice. One of her promises was to go on a date with Baam after the Submerged Fish test, the other was the promise with Anak to eat together after they defeated Ren. Funnily enough, the second was no if-clause.
- Ignored Enemy: The Bull ignored Ship Leesoo for a Mangdol whale, Anak ignored Ren for the Bull and Androssi and Anak ignored the Bull to bicker with each other.
- Insignia Rip-Off Ritual: When Lero-ro quits, he rips off Evankhell's Badge and puts it on Yu Han Sung's table. Quant follows suit and gets his insignia plucked off by the Yu Han Sung.
- Intoxication Ensues: Shopin goes so crazy whenever he sips alcohol that he could perform at parties.
- Is It Something You Eat?:
- Is That a Threat?:
- Lo Po Bia Ren: If King Zahard were to find out about this… I can't imagine how disappointed he would be…Ha Yuri Zahard: Oy, RED newbie, are you threatening me right now?Lo Po Bia Ren: Th- Threaten? Of course not. I'm simply worry about the future of Zahard…Ha Yuri Zahard: Ah, really? Everything seems to be solved for you when you just add Zahard's name. That's really convenient! Using Zahard's name to threaten one of Zahard's Princesses… you must be out of your mind.Know this, the strength of Zahard isn't the kind that can be called upon so conveniently. Though, there's no need bothering to explain this to somebody who just uses Zahard's name as he pleases… Get out of here or I will kill you!
- It Amused Me: Lady Yuri's stated reason for helping Baam.
- It Meant Something to Me: Baam's and Ho's 'friendship'.
- It's Always Sunny at Funerals: Ho's funeral is in broad daylight.
- Kansas City Shuffle: Aguero makes Quant think he's been toying with him to get to Rachel so that Quant protects her.
- Aguero himself falls victim to a inverted to this in the door game: he was made to that he was being conned, when that wasn't the case at all. The information given to him was spot-on.
- Yu Han Sung knows that some people suspect he is up to something. And that's as right as they get, because they are all thinking in the wrong direction.
- Libation for the Dead: At Ho's funeral, wine is poured into his grave.
- Line in the Sand: And somehow, everybody crossed it to help Baam in his final test.
- Loophole Abuse: Part of Headon's justification for his test.
- Meaningful Funeral: The one in Chapter 59. It has a rather great impact on Baam.
- Missed the Call: Inverted. At first it seemed like Rachel was the one invited to the Tower, but it turns out she was not invited either.
- Monochrome Past: Most of the Flashbacks in season 1.
- Naïve Newcomer: Baam doesn't really get the idea behind sacrificing others for his sake. And he has no idea of how the Tower works.
- No-Dialogue Episode: Chapter 59 (Last Examination (3)), with the Meaningful Funeral and the Training Montage.
- Now, Let Me Carry You: Baam to a disabled Rachel. Not just carry her for a bit. To get her to the top of the Tower.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Anak acts like a selfish brat that is harmful to her team to conceal the fact that she chose to stand on the throne during the Crown Game to gain a huge tactical advantage.
- Only Smart People May Pass: One of the four solutions to the Door Test. Though that makes the 'only' part a little redundant. The other options were apathy, faith and gambling.
- Once More, with Clarity!: Baam's first test is shown in another light at the end of season one.
- Percussive Maintenance: Hwa Ryun gets herself a drink this way. Aguero, on the other hand, got a swollen hand.
- Petal Power: Ren's beast has a petal shield.
- Pinned Down: This caused a little bit of trouble for Quant during Hide-And-Seek.
- Point That Somewhere Else: Happens along with the inverted Bare-Handed Blade Block, when Androssi just gently pushes Serena's hand aside with a nonchalant 'Let's end the damage to this cultural heritage right here.'
- P.O.V. Cam: Anak's flashback about the last time she saw her mother.
- Rant-Inducing Slight:
- Baam saving Rachel from Ho by using a technique he just saw pushes the latter off the far end. Realizing that he will never be able to achieve his dream (it's a long story), he begins to rant against Baam how just by his innate talent he was getting in the way of those who did not have as much power as he did and was thus crushing the dreams and lives of others. He says that in face of that his attempts of trying to be friends are just belittling and claims to have never seen Baam as a friend. He then commits suicide.
- Rachel was really having doubts about killing Baam, but those quickly vanished when he one-shotted the bull and showed her how far beyond her reach he was.
- 'Reason You Suck' Speech: See CMOA above, both Baam and Rak, the latter especially to Aguero.
- Refused by the Call: Rachel actually wanted to climb the Tower, but apparently Baam took her place.
- Rule of Three: A little gag about Rak and Amigochaz throwing spears.
- Run or Die: Serena has an exceptional sense for this kind of situation.
- Samus Is a Girl: It's barely noticeable beforehand, but when Baam, splits the mask of the person in spandex who just kicked everybody's arse, she is revealed to be Hwa Ryun, a girl.
- Scope Snipe: Levin's sniper rifle gets disassembled by Rak's javelin thrown up the barrel.
- Seppuku: Aguero and Hatsu love to get into arguments, and one is whether ritualistic suicide is manly or idiotic.
- Sniper Rifle: Levin uses one until it is wrecked by Rak. It was very expensive.
- Some Kind of Force Field: The Barrier in Lero-ro's test invokes this trope.
- Spiky Hair: Dede Kancho.
- Supporting Protagonist: Ja Wangnan in season two.
- Super-Persistent Predator: The Bull, but there is more to it than it seems.
- Taking Him With Me: Ren sends the Bull off to kill Baam as Yuri kills his fake body.
- Talk to the Fist: Androssi does that to Quant.
- Teach Him Anger: Baam, for the life of him, could not conceive any reason why people would fight. The Rachel asked him what he'd do if somebody hurt her. He then understands he'd be angry enough to hurt somebody.
- Headon takes this to the next level when he tells Baam that he won't see Rachel ever again if he doesn't take that test. This is more a case of evoking Baam's greatest fear. Headon being Headon, he doesn't mention that Rachel is in an adjacent cavern watching them.
- They're Called 'Personal Issues' for a Reason: Ship Leesoo knows that Anak has a lot to sort out, but refuses to pry into her past before she is willing to share it with him, so he just keeps encouraging her.
- Thwarted Coup de Grâce: When Baam's Defense Mechanism Superpower activates during the Crown Game, the attacking Hwa Ryun is screwed.
- Training Montage: The chapter preceeding the Guardian's exam is basically this.
- Twist Ending: Season 1. Rachel tries to kill Baam, since she thinks Baam took her place as a Regular, this puts Akryung's and Baam's Irregular status in question. It seems as if Rachel also held some kind of fear of Baam. Furthermore, Headon is a mastermind that seemingly plans to change the Tower with the support of Yu Han Sung, Akryung and Hwa Ryun, and Baam as a central figure must vanish from the public eye, so his death must be staged. Since Baam was apparently chosen by the Tower, it also means that the Tower is apparently trying to change the system of Zahard. What. A. Tweeeest.
- Unexplained Recovery: So, how did Baam survive being digested by the Mangdol Madame with out a protective Shinsoo bubble?
- He Didn't. He fell away from the bubble when Rachel pushed him out, and sank to the bottom of the 'wineglass'/was transported out by forces unseen. He never went up into the Mangdol Madame.
- Unsettling Gender Reveal: Lo and behold, the Bull is female.
- Vagueness Is Coming:
- 'Soon a waves strong enough to shake the entire Tower will form.'
- Villainous Breakdown: Ho, who ends his life as the closing statement in a tirade against Baam, God and the world they live in after he failed to kill Rachel.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: During Lero-ro's test, a Regular ends up vomiting after feeling the shinsoo pressure seen at the 30th Floor and above.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Catan has this ability. It does him more harm than good.
- Wham Line: 'Sorry, Baam. You have to die here.'
- You're not it. You're not the One the Tower has Chosen.
- 'What Now?' Ending: Baam is presumed dead and the group carries on, unknowingly supporting the person that betrayed him. He is left despairing at the bottom of a lake.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Everybody calling out Aguero for not supporting Baam, who has been revealed to be an Irregular. Disgusted, they leave him one by one to help Baam. Exactly as planned.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Baam. And he's so goddamn cute at it.
- With This Herring: Baam takes the first test with nothing much but a cleaver until Yuri gives him a better weapon.
- Wolf Man: A wolfman appears and is defeated during the Crown Game.
- Wrecked Weapon: Baam's cleaver, Androssi's shields.
- You Shall Not Pass!: The entire A team during Hide and Seek tries this on Quant when their plan a fails. It fails completely.
- You Get What You Pay For: The food in Evankhell's cafeteria is bought with test points, hence, people get the cheapest available.
- You Won't Like How I Taste: Ship Leesoo says the exact opposite to the Bull to get it's attention, but is ignored. Baam also says this to Rak on their first meeting.
- Adrenaline Makeover: Baam as Viole, who became a lot more attractive and powerful to boot.
- Adventurer Outfit: Aguero, with his Nice Hat and his Boy Scout Uniform.
- It's a Safari Uniform Dammit.
- A Father to His Men: Ha Jinsung to Jyu Viole Grace. He really is proud of Viole and therefore even respects some of his more unpopular decisions.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Ja Wangnan. When he sees his last chance to pass the test, he walks up to Viole and simply begs, disregarding everything else, not only once, but twice. In the first instance, Akraptor, Kang Horyang and Miseng do the same.
- A Glass in the Hand: Yeon shatters a glass in her hand as she is trying to deal with Ja Wangnan and Hon Akraptor in the kitchen.
- Alertness Blink: Lurker realizing that he was stunned for several moments.
- All According to Plan: Augusgus says after the Trustworthy Room Game that All is going as according to FUG's plan.
- Arc Villain: Kim Lurker.
- Arson, Murder, and Lifesaving: At the end of the Untrustworthy Room arc, Augusgus chews Mule Love out for acting independently to get revenge, conducting an unauthorized test and thus indirectly causing a Regular's death. Furthermore, he criticizes him for not being even able to kill another Regular (as a Ranker, Love should outclass any Regularnote ) and giving him great publicity that way. But he still can see the right side of the matter and is glad that first of all, the Regular in question didn't die and even got the team mates he needed through that test. If this sounds a little wonky, that's justified: Augusgus is actually a sleeper agent for the same criminal organization that employed the Regular and killed Love's parents, and Love's independent action contributed greatly to their plans.
- Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: When Yeon tells Baam that even though he won her in a bet, she won't let him have her body. Turns out he didn't want her anyway. This makes her very angry.
- Baseball Episode: Love's fight with Viole, including two giant pitching gloves and attacks like Straight Ball and Pitch Change-up. The test which frames this fight is designed so that one must catch the MacGuffin that has been pitched before the Ranker gets it. It works with the three-strike system.
- Bath Tub Scene: See Furo Scene.
- Big 'SHUT UP!': Maschenny Zahard to the Royal Guards saluting her.
- Blade Brake: Ja Wangnan had to resort to this when Jigena flipped over.
- Blinding Bangs: Baam as Viole.
- Blood from the Mouth: Wangnan, after being stabbed by Beta, and Beta, after getting hit by Baam's wave explosion.
- Blush Sticker: Miseng. Also, Goseng when she is inebriated.
- Bunny Girl: Xia Xia.
- Buxom Is Better: Yihwa tries to invoke this trope.
- Cool Boat: The ship that takes the team to the 21st Floor test just looks plain awesome.
- Costume Copycat: After Viole gets famous, robbers try impersonating him to scare people into giving them their money. It doesn't work out that well.
- Bonus point for having a crappy t-shirt with FUG on it, and beneath that the words Foot Ball Club.
- Couldn't Find a Pen: After killing some of Koon's men, they wrote FUG [sic] in bright bloody letters on the wall.
- Creepy Child: Verdi. When we're formally introduced to her, she's going on about how she's going to turn Prince and Miseng into her dolls. She controls a giant octopus and goes by the name 'puppet master,' as well.
- Cultural Cross-Reference: 'Fus Ro Dah!'
- Cute and Psycho: Xia Xia. She is sort of adorable, but her absolute reverence of Viole and FUG's cause and her violent overzealousness make her absolutely crazy.
- Da Chief: Augusgus, Love's superior. Has Bling of War, gives orders that are ignored and Arson, Murder, and Lifesaving speeches. It's all just an act, though.
- Damsel in Distress: Butt-Monkey Yihwa can't catch a breath even in serious moments, cause she needs to be saved then.
- Dead-Hand Shot: Of the Sacrificial Lamb's legs covered in blood.
- Dramatic Stutter: Rachel, when Aguero surprises her.
- Door Jam: The motor speedboat motor that broke.
- Down in the Dumps: Ja Wangnan spouts very confident boasts while he rests majestically in a pile of garbage.
- Dude, She's Like, in a Coma!: Lurker seems to fondle Yeon after she was possessed by the 'thing'.
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: Hwa Ryun in her first appearance in Season 2.
- Enemy Rising Behind: Rapdevil.
- Energy Beings: The shinsoo monster Cassano and Horyang are imbued with.
- Everything's Better with Cows: Jigena/Zygaena, a giant sea monster that looks like a cow.
- Eviler Than Thou: Ja Wangnan discusses this trope when he tries to make Viole, the worst guy in the Tower, fight the petty Arc Villain.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Viole's old self did not have Blinding Bangs and a ponytail of awesome and nowadays Yeon is copying Viole's ponytail. The Blinding Bangs fulfill a certain purpose: With out them, Viole looks like Baam, so he has them to remind us that Baam has changed a lot.
- Faux Affably Evil: Kim Lurker, Apple and Michael the Missionary.
- Fedora of Asskicking: Aguero's new hat.
- Feed It a Bomb: Wangnan tries to shove a PokéBombs down Lurker's throat.
- Financial Abuse: Big time: Both Ja Wangnan and Yeon Yihwa are on the bad end of it, one being forced to sell his organs and the other being Prince's 'playmate', as well as Nia and Kim Lurker.
- Foreshadowing: The fact that Hwa Ryun told Rak that Baam was alive, was actually Jyu Viole Grace, and Rachel betrayed thembefore the Hand of Arlen incident shows that she knew all about Karaka's plans and was preparing for them quite some time before they began.
- Fun with Acronyms: Operation S.I.R.note
- Furo Scene: The 'Bath' chapters. Only Manservice and plot development, guys, nothing interesting like Goseng or Yeon in a bath.
- Godzilla Threshold: Lurker killing Nia and being about to win the Trustworthy Room Game was apparently enough for Wangnan to beg Viole for help.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: At one point, two members of FUG, Hwa Ryun and Ha Jinsung come over to visit Viole. Wangnan, Goseng and Miseng had to sit together with them at a table and they were extremely nervous.
- Gondor Calls for Aid: Nobody expected Viole to help Wangnan, but in the end, he did much more than even Wangnan hoped for.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Lurker killing Nia and Kang Horyang beating up Rapdevil are not seen but heard.
- Grows on Trees: Jigena's flower, a parasitic plant that grows inside the sea beast Jigena and which has a flower that is pure crystal.
- Hand Behind Head: Ja Wangnan when he receives unexpected praise.
- Hospital Hottie: Yeon, while she takes care of Viole, dons a nurse outfit.
- Human Resources: The idea behind the Skeleton Beautification Diet that Lurker offers Wangnan. Short version: organ theft.
- I Lied: Lurker told Nia that he lied when they made an agreement and then proceeds to kill him, to the horror of Wangnan and other Regulars listening.
- Koon Aguero Agnis does that to anybody after he's tricked them. Only trust trustworthy people, indeed.
- Impaled Palm: Akraptor impales Yeongsuk's hand with his umbrella to ensure that she doesn't use her wands.
- Inelegant Blubbering: After Wangnan realizes he is about to fail the test and is going to die by forced organ donation, he stops giving a fuck, sits down and bawls. Luckily, it's up to Viole to choose his team members, so Wangnan still has a chance.
- Instant Sedation: The darts Aguero uses against Edin knocked him out on the spot.
- Insulted Awake: Viole snaps Yeon out of the parasites mind control by using the same phrase that made her snap before: 'Ms. Yeon, I have no interest in your body!'
- I Shall Taunt You: Hwa Ryun's treatment of the Costume Copycat before he got a beat down.
- I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: The threat that made Baam become Viole and work for FUG. They threatened to kill his friends if he refuses or fucks up.
- Jade-Colored Glasses: Viole, who simply doesn't believe there is a way for everybody to be happy.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: The moment Viole gets involved, Tin knows he should scram immediately.
- On the 21st Floor, the enemy team didn't even bother to appear when they heard they'd be competing against Viole.
- Laughing Mad: We know Rachel has lost it because she does exactly this.
- Let's You and Him Fight: Novick wants to establish team hierarchy by fighting. Newcomer Dan is immediately the first to step up. it ends horribly for him.
- Lost Him In A Cardgame: Yeon was made a wager by Prince in the Shinsoo Competition. He lost her there.
- Mêlée à Trois: Viole vs. Kang Horyang vs. Hon Akraptor.
- Monster Clown: Tin's companion. Yihwa's parasite.
- Motherly Scientist: Sophia Amae, language instructor of Cassano and Horyang at the Workshop. She was in fact the person who gave them their names (Beniamino Cassano and Beniamino Ilmar).
- Not Distracted by the Sexy: Viole is really not interested in Yeon's body. This statement is debatable.
- Not So Different: Lurker pulls this on Wangnan, since they both are victims and culprits, in a sense.
- Old Hero, New Pals: Though pals is a bit of a stretch.
- Out-Gambitted: Through the Workshop battle arcs, 'The Truth' through to The 'Thorn'. The plan originating from Anak for Mad Dog's team, Novick and Viole to team up against FUG was thwarted by Team Mad Dog being affiliated with FUG themselves, pulling a Gambit with the end goal of melting Viole down into the Thorn. That plan was thwarted by Hwa Ryun's side when they anticipated this and the Fake Thorn which was given to Viole was actually a container for the REAL Thorn, which then gave Viole ownership of the real Thorn itself when he stayed in the same room he was trapped in with it for some time.
- Out of the Inferno: Akraptor after Yeongsuk's fire attack.
- People Jars: The tanks in which Cassano and Horyang were treated and brought up in.
- Planimal: The little cute critter with the flower on it's back inside of Zygaena which is actually Zygaena's baby.
- Playing Both Sides: Done multiple times, but the most prevalent example is White: he mass murdered a billion people and ate their souls by setting himself up as the god of two countries over the centuries, then used dogma to incite the masses and murdered their heroes whenever they tried to forge peace. Baam and company are NOT amused.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Kang Horyang owns and is not afraid to wear a pink apron.
- Rubber Band A.I.: According to Traveller, the security robots on the 30th Floor behave this way; if you destroy them too efficiently (such as via One-Hit Kill), the next robot chasing you will be massively stronger than the one you just destroyed.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Arguably, Nia. Arguable because some didn't like him.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Prince's initial team was set up after a fine amount of cash flowed into some corrupt administrators pockets.
- Sinister Silhouettes: The first time we see Karaka is when this trope is used in combination with Glowing Eyes of Doom. So we know he's there, he's dangerous and we don't know what he looks like.
- Slipping a Mickey: Poor Yeon falls victim to this. Actually the drink was meant for Prince, who gave it to her just to be sure nobody tricked. Turns out that that was exactly the idea behind the whole matter.
- Sword over Head: Ja Wangnan has the opportunity to finish off Lurker for good. He spares him, eventually.
- Talking in Your Sleep: Ha Jinsung, where he still fawns of Viole like an idiot.
- Talking Is a Free Action: Urek Mazino takes the time to tell Horyang that even the best Lighthouse in the Tower couldn't even delay him for a tenth of a second — while he's in midair and falling. Shouldn't the time spent saying it have delayed him for more than that?
- Technically, just because the Lighthouse wouldn't have slowed him down, it doesn't mean he is crossing the intervening distance instantaneously. He has plenty of time to say that.
- The Bartender: Hwa Ryun's cover.
- The Starscream: Kim Lurker to Prince.
- Too Much Information: No, Wangnan, nobody wants to know how well-endowed you are.
- Tournament Arc: The upcoming Workshop Battle.
- Tranquilizer Dart: Aguero uses these to 'recruit' Edin.
- Training from Hell: Koon puts his new Team, Wangnan and co, through this and still is nervous about the upcoming exams.
- Tron Lines: Rapdevil's power includes these.
- Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: Averted, instead Yeon just fries the whole thing in a fit of Tsun Tsun.
- Unflinching Walk: Viole, even though he got his with Shinsoo Bombs.
- Unusual Ears: Nia has very furry beast ears, and Xia Xia has rabbit ears.
- Uriah Gambit: The test on the 21st Floor was set in a manner that Team Tangsooyuk would face off against Urek Mazino, who was protecting the MacGuffin for his own personal reasons, and hopefully die.
- Crosses with Morton's Fork: The bet with the factions of FUG. Except, Karaka's side was deliberately playing for a heads they die; tails, they die situation from the start: the most that Baam could hope for was to fend the inevitable off — or Take a Third Option by breaking the rules of the game.
- Villain by Default: Kim Lurker was a Loan Shark, it was almost impossible for him not to become an antagonist.
- Visible Silence: The greatest part of Viole's dialogue when he first entered.
- Wing Ding Eyes: Love's eyes don't have pupils, they have hatchings and scribbles.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Ship Leesoo may be a great guy, but you'd think he'd be more bothered by his teammate turning innocent people into lifeless puppets with no free will. All he has to say on the matter is 'She's doing something weird again.'
- It's revealed later that she doesn't necessarily do this against the person's will. She offers it as a way of quickly making themselves stronger, at the cost of her having a form of control over their body. She's just a bit overenthusiastic about it.
- Womb Level: The test where Team Tangsooyuk has to retrieve a flower of the insides of Zygaena.
- World of Badass: The Tower, especially its inner section.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Aguero says something along these lines to a sniper Xia Xia (FUG) hired to assassinate him after obtaining this information.
- Your Head A-Splode: How Amaguta dies.