A Fairytale for the Demon Lord

"A fairy tale for the demon lord” is…. Well, not really a fairy tale. A normal fairy tale would be a story about how the gallant knight ventured deep into foreign lands, slew the demon lord and rescued the sleeping princess from his evil clutches.

Which is precisely what happens.

….In the first two chapters….

But lets get back to that later.

One doesn't need to spend a lot of time in the manga-world before you know that people generally tend to avoid manhwa. In fact a lot of people tend to avoid these korean-made mangas like the plague. And Why? Well, there are a lot of reasons for that, and while they are all horribly generalizing they are however also true a lot of the time. Incoherent plotlines, long and indistinguishable names, sporadic character development, wacky and often off-putting art, meaningless misplaced and very often over-the-top violence, and, for some inexplicable reason, are every high school delinquent the leader of a juvenile-motorcycle-gang. Now there are a lot of decent and respectable Manhwas out there, Evyione for one was an excellent read, but anyone who ever read, "Love in the mask" or “Do you want to try” will know what I'm talking about.

Now, the point I'm trying to make here is that while "A fairy tale for the demon lord" is a Manhwa, it is also a Webtoon. And why is this relevant? Well you see Webtoons are vastly different from what you'd ordinarily describe as a Manhwa and can therefore generally not be categorised as the same genre.
Webtoons are digitally made, and are designed to be read on the computer or on a smartphone. This gives the artist a whole new range of potions that are expressed in the form of long clean strips of airy panels and beautiful coloured art. An additional perk are swift chapter releases, sometimes as much as one or two chapters a week.
"A fairy tale for the demon lord" as well as “Orange marmalade” and “Noblesse” are great examples of just these qualities, and if you are by any chance, looking for something dark, sinister and beautifully made, then "A fairy tale for the demon lord" is defiantly a great choice.
However while most Webtoons have freed themselves from the genetic diseases many Manhwa suffer from, "A fairy tale for the demon lord" has not quite managed just this.

"A fairy tale for the demon lord" wasn't made to have a powerful or gripping plotline, it was made to be an emotional ride, an insight into how love and longing can twist a man, and how far he is willing to twist himself for the sake of love. Its not a fairytale, but it’s a beautiful story in its own way.
I won't lie, it achieved its gaol, but in the pursuit of making its readers a somewhat blubbering mess, it forgot that sometimes an explanation is in order to help reader understand and keep up with the story. As a result, it suffered from one of the Manhwa-illnesses that was mentioned earlier; an incoherent and confusing plot.
Now careful reading can make up for this, and the sickness should therefore not have been terminal..... If the author had known when to stop that is.
Had the story ended at chapter 31, it would have been a remarkable read, an emotional mind fuck. But instead new characters were introduced just as you thought the series were done, come full circle you might say.
Promises for a second season were made. And all of this would have been FINE, if you'd known or at least understood the main characters. But you don't, you don't know any of them. Instead an impression is made, of the main character the nameless knight, princess Nir and of Odin. And that is okay, really, it makes you want to find out, but new characters are just too much: keeping track of the story as well as trying to figure out who the hell that new guy is..... Well it's just too much.

In the end "A fairy tale for the demon lord" is a beautiful, sinister, chilling piece of art, that suffers from the infamous illness of wanting to be a LONG series when it was clearly intended to be short.
Its different, and in some ways remind me of the beginning of "Casshern", if you'll forgive the comparison; dark, dramatic, and with an anticipation of doom.
Characters are left undefined, but that the nameless knight undergoes great character development is unquestionable and it is in this aspect that the Webtoon truly shines, as perplexing as that might seem.

This has got to be one of the greatest Manhwas that I've ever had the pleasure to read. The art was amazing throughout the story, evolving along with the story and improving alongside the author. The story is something that many people seem to find overly complicated or bad. Personally I found the story to be extremely deep and well written, when reading there were a few authors notes you had to keep in mind, like how none of the characters had anything to do with their Norse mythological counter parts.

Anyone who enjoys a deep emotional manga/manhwa would probably enjoy the first part of this story, and if your more of an action addict then the second half will be a perfect next fix.