Twice Blessed

From Left to Right: Vadim (Dwarf Warrior), Cade Masters (Paladin/Bard), Melchior (Human Wizard)

"Of course! Villains the World Over tremble at the name, CADE MASTERS, ADVENTURER EXTRAORDINAIRE!"

—Cade Masters, Twice Blessed

Twice Blessed is a fantasy Web Comic by Michael Haneline and Genevieve Gauss based loosely on Dungeons and Dragons. It is set in an alternate version of our world, where history was changed drastically at some point when magic was discovered.

The main plot focuses on the idiot paladin, Cade Masters, and the ruthless assassin, Delbin Black, who are the "Blessed" of Luck and Fate, respectively. At first they are sworn to kill each other but soon find that they must keep each other alive if they don't wish to perish.

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Tropes used in Twice Blessed include:

• Accidental Hero: Cade's idiocy gets him set on fire. He panics and jumps out of a window. As luck would have it, he lands on a group of bandits who are mugging a noble, further spreading the legend of Cade Masters.
• Alternate History: The comic is set in an alternate version of our world, where history was changed drastically at some point when magic was discovered by "Archmage Plato".
• Badass Princess: Princess Pella Brightwing, the pixie bounty hunter.
• Bilingual Bonus: Vadim's nickname for Cade, "Попрек", is Russ-, erm, Ustavian for "twit".
  • Also, Vadim's Surname, Valntipur, translates as "Boulderaxe". (Valn is the phonetic of валун, which means "Boulder", and tipur is the phonetic of топор, which means "axe.")
• Blessed with Suck: Cade Masters is the "blessed" of the goddess Idamra, giving him "extreme luck". Unfortunately, extreme luck doesn't necessarily mean good luck. An extremely unlikely bad thing is just as likely to happen to Cade as an extremely unlikely good thing.
• Bounty Hunter: The comic starts with a room full of bounty hunters who are out for Cade's head.
  • It then follows up with close-ups of three of them: a pixie, a cigar-smoking kobold with a big gun, and a pair of drow twins. Any guesses on which bounty hunters from this group are going to be most relevant to the story ?
• Cigar Chomper: Mig, the kobold bounty hunter.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: So far, its pretty obvious that Ustav = Russia. Word of God says there are other counterparts.
  • The map seen here gives a clue as to some of them. The story to date takes place in England (aka Caisleain).
• Fantasy Gun Control: Averted. Mig the kobold bounty hunter that uses a very large gun (or a small cannon) with a Chinese dragon motif.
• Five Races: being based on D&D, Twice Blessed plays this pretty straight. So far, it has humans as the Mundanes, dwarves as the Stout, pixies as the Fairies, elves as the High Men, and gnomes as the Cute.
• Freudian Trio: Cade, Vadim, and Melchior
  • Freudian Trio:
    • Cade: Id
    • Vadim: Ego
    • Melchior: Superego
  • Beauty, Brains, and Brawn
    • Cade: Beauty
    • Melchior: Brains
    • Vadim: Brawn
• Half-Human Hybrid: Cade Masters is 3/4 human, 1/4 elf. (His father was a human and his mother a half-elf).
• Idiot Hero: Cade Masters. Though sometimes it seems less like idiocy, and more like obliviousness.
• Innocent Innuendo: Cade Masters ruins Melchior's chances with a very attractive barmaid when he "innocently" mentions Melchior's troubles with his Rod of Wonder.
  • "THAT'S NOT A EUPHEMISM!"
• Lampshade Hanging: hangs a lampshade on Cade Masters's description sounding like a Mary Sue on the first page.
• Large Ham: Cade Masters
• Noodle Incident: Mentioned here.

"...the last confirmed Blessed of Idamra died in a freak noodle accident shortly after inheriting a large fortune."

• Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Played with. Vadim meets most dwarf stereotypes, but comes from a Russian-type culture and has a matching accent, drinks Vodka, uses the word "brother" in place of "laddie", and never seems to feel the need to point out that he is a dwarf.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Pella Brightwing, despite being a pixie, is so far one of the comics most dangerous combatants.
• Shout-Out: MINE IS AN EVIL LAUGH!
  • And the Alt Text was CURSE YOUR SUDDEN BUT INEVITABLE BETRAYAL!
  • Another (almost) quote from Firefly shows up here.
  • This page quotes from A Knight's Tale (and possibly winks at The Emperors New Groove).
  • The way Pella takes down the shield guardian is a shout-out to The Empire Strikes Back.
  • The title (and name of the main character) is undoubtedly a reference to First Wave.
• Slasher Smile: Truly terrifying one from Melchior here.
• Smoking Is Cool: Again, Mig, the kobold bounty hunter.
• Unflinching Walk: After Pella single-handedly takes out two constructs the size of houses that come after her, she then calmly sits down to dig through her bag for a healing potion while the warforged titan she defeated blows up just feet away from her. She doesn't even flinch.
• Vodka Drunkenski: Vadim Valntipur, a dwarf from Ustav, drinks Vodka by the mugfull.
• Warrior Princess: Pella Brightwing is a deadly warrior as well as a fairy princess.