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Mordant's Need

1180 statements
232 feature instances
16 referencing feature instances

Mordant's Need	type	TVTItem
Mordant's Need	label	Mordant's Need
Mordant's Need	page	MordantsNeed
Mordant's Need	comment	Mordant's Need is a Low Fantasy duology by Stephen R. Donaldson, consisting of The Mirror of her Dreams and A Man Rides Through.Terisa Morgan is a Shrinking Violet living in a mirror-covered condominium. Obsessed with the idea that she is vanishing and that she exists to no one, she works the toneless days away until the night she meets Geraden. He comes through one of the mirrors in her room and persuades her to accompany him back through the mirror to his world, Mordant.Once in Mordant, Terisa realizes that she is there for a reason â€” the mirror-wielding magicians, called Imagers, believe she is The Chosen One to bring peace to Mordant, which is about to be attacked and is slowly deteriorating under the control of a mad king. Terisa thinks they are mistaken, but she cannot go back, especially after one of the most powerful Imagers, Master Eremis, begins to notice her.Warning: since the series is heavy on secrets, intrigue and Plot Twists, any list of tropes is going to contain heavy spoilers.
Mordant's Need	fetched	2024-01-19T04:45:18Z
Mordant's Need	parsed	2024-01-19T04:45:18Z
Mordant's Need	processingComment	Dropped link to Clairvoyance: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
Mordant's Need	processingComment	Dropped link to Foil: Not a Feature - IGNORE
Mordant's Need	processingComment	Dropped link to GoshdarnItToHeck: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
Mordant's Need	processingComment	Dropped link to HumanoidAlien: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
Mordant's Need	processingComment	Dropped link to IfYouEverHurtHer: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
Mordant's Need	processingComment	Dropped link to SpeedSex: Not a Feature - ITEM
Mordant's Need	processingComment	Dropped link to ThePowerOfTrust: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
Mordant's Need	processingUnknown	Clairvoyance
Mordant's Need	processingUnknown	GoshdarnItToHeck
Mordant's Need	processingUnknown	HumanoidAlien
Mordant's Need	processingUnknown	IfYouEverHurtHer
Mordant's Need	processingUnknown	ThePowerOfTrust
Mordant's Need	isPartOf	DBTropes
Mordant's Need / int_12dd1d4c	type	Rape as Drama
Mordant's Need / int_12dd1d4c	comment	Rape as Drama: It's a Donaldson story, what do you expect? Notable in that both Terisa and Geraden's brother Nyle are threatened by it.
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Mordant's Need / int_137f2d7	type	Card-Carrying Villain
Mordant's Need / int_137f2d7	comment	Card-Carrying Villain: Vagel. Eremis when he drops his act.
Mordant's Need / int_137f2d7	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_137f2d7	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_137f2d7
Mordant's Need / int_14c791fb	type	Conflicting Loyalty
Mordant's Need / int_14c791fb	comment	Conflicting Loyalty: Hoo, boy, lots of this. Terisa has to choose between Geraden and Eremis, and Eremis even tries to get her to distrust and/or spy on Geraden because he's an evil bastard. Nyle choosing between serving the King like his father and brothers, or betraying them to Alend for his love, Elega. Unfortunately for him, he chooses the latter and ends up being stabbed. Geraden's choice is the King's orders ... or Terisa.
Mordant's Need / int_14c791fb	featureApplicability	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_1777688d	type	Genre Savvy
Mordant's Need / int_1777688d	comment	The first book is dominated by uncertainty over just who is this trope. Genre Savvy readers can guess that it is either Geraden or Terisa or both, but many characters have their hopes set on "the Champion," a futuristic warrior seen in the augary who the Congery eventually summons to Mordant. In the end it turns out that the trope is subverted; Terisa, Geraden, the Congery's Champion and nearly a dozen other characters all have vital parts to play in saving the kingdom. Lampshaded by Terisa near the climax. She notes everyone has an assigned role — save herself and Geraden. Joyse chuckles and says not to worry — they'll cross that bridge when they get to it, just be prepared. He later says that he can deal with High King Festten; he's counting on Terisa and Geraden to take care of Master Eremis.
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Mordant's Need / int_17b7ab65	type	Universally Beloved Leader
Mordant's Need / int_17b7ab65	comment	Universally Beloved Leader: The Domne and his family are all considered unimpeachable, especially Artegal, who obviously studied the manual on being a Lovable Rogue. The Tor is respected enough that when he appoints himself The Good Chancellor, no one questions it or his loyalty to Joyse.
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Mordant's Need / int_18d15922	type	Title Drop
Mordant's Need / int_18d15922	comment	Title Drop / Shout-Out: The poem from John Meyers Meyer's Silverlock kinda, sorta name drops the titles of both books.
Mordant's Need / int_18d15922	featureApplicability	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_19e41d8f	type	And This Is for...
Mordant's Need / int_19e41d8f	comment	And This Is for...: How the Tor goes out in a blaze of glory.
Mordant's Need / int_19e41d8f	featureApplicability	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_1a3a91dd	type	Say My Name
Mordant's Need / int_1a3a91dd	comment	Say My Name: When Gart attacks the royal throne room with every important character there, Lebbick crows his name in a tone of voice that is a cross between Blood Knight delight and anger because at least he's an enemy he doesn't need to restrain himself against.
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Mordant's Need / int_1a8dc238	type	Underestimating Badassery
Mordant's Need / int_1a8dc238	comment	Underestimating Badassery: Averted by Eremis. Everything he does in the books are to try to keep Geraden and Terisa from discovering their true power. He never underestimates anyone, save Lebbick, of all people. If anyone is underestimating Geraden and Terisa, it's Geraden and Terisa themselves. Saddith thinks she has Eremis wrapped around her finger just because she has regular sex with him. Unfortunately, Saddith is just a disposable tool for Eremis, and she pays the price for underestimating him.
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Mordant's Need / int_1b4e322c	type	Mr. Fanservice
Mordant's Need / int_1b4e322c	comment	Mr. Fanservice: According to Geraden, his brother Wester.
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Mordant's Need / int_1bdbbbae	type	The Klutz
Mordant's Need / int_1bdbbbae	comment	The Klutz: Geraden, in spades. Imagers are scared of him being around their mirrors because he will break them if given a chance. When Geraden stop being Mr. Apologises a Lot and gains confidence, his klutziness ends and becomes the exact opposite.
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Mordant's Need / int_1bf0adc6	type	Did You Think I Can't Feel?
Mordant's Need / int_1bf0adc6	comment	Did You Think I Can't Feel?: A chilling version when Artagel attempts to unnerve The Monomach by mocking that he's so implacable, he has no emotions or dreams.
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Mordant's Need / int_1c861760	type	The Wonka
Mordant's Need / int_1c861760	comment	The Wonka: Havelock. Just don't ask him any questions.
Mordant's Need / int_1c861760	featureApplicability	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_1edfa2c7	type	Royals Who Actually Do Something
Mordant's Need / int_1edfa2c7	comment	Royals Who Actually Do Something: Prince Kragen, though a major reason for it is that he's contending for the throne. King Joyse before his dottage used to be front and center on all of his battles. Justified, in that he was more of a resistance fighter before finally unifying Mordant. Turns out he's still one, as when informed Queen Madin is kidnapped, he drops all pretense of senility and goes to rescue her. Single-handedly. When he returns, he's covered in dirt and blood, indicating asking nicely didn't work. All three of Joyse's daughters turn out to be Action Girls: Myst goes into a hostile landscape to find the Champion, who nearly kills her, Elega poisons the reservoir and allies herself with Kragan to save Mordant, and Shrinking Violet Torrent grabs a knife and goes after her mother, to give any rescuers a path to follow.
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Mordant's Need / int_23ff95fb	type	Brutal Honesty
Mordant's Need / int_23ff95fb	comment	Brutal Honesty: Terisa does this to Nyle, saying everything he did, betraying everyone he loved, was a complete Senseless Sacrifice. It almost destroys him, but it also allows him to understand that the people he did it for were complete liars.
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Mordant's Need / int_24c685bf	type	Good Bad Girl
Mordant's Need / int_24c685bf	comment	Good Bad Girl: Saddith is an ambiguous example. Terisa isn't sure what to think about her loose (not to say mercenary) sexual morals, and Geraden is actively repulsed by her offer to sleep with him so he'll have some experience for when he finally gets Terisa into bed, but she's also friendly, funny and cheerful, and Terisa mentions finding her presence reassuring. However, she is also Eremis' agent, but isn't aware that she'd helping him do anything particularly sinister - as far as she knows, she's just helping an ambitious but not treacherous Imager rise in the ranks in return for him getting her closer to her own ambitions. She seems genuinely regretful the one time she feels that she's failed Terisa; Eremis gets his revenge by orchestrating her getting beaten up by Lebbick, and dismisses her as "my sweet little slut."
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Mordant's Need / int_259d5879	type	Anachronism Stew
Mordant's Need / int_259d5879	comment	Anachronism Stew: Due to the Imagers' ability to access many worlds, at many different stages of development, a lot of anachronistic technology gets pulled into Mordant, but only in isolated examples which cannot be replicated (and advanced technologies have no way to maintain their power, so eventually run down and become useless).
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Mordant's Need / int_2a4e8051	type	Sexual Karma
Mordant's Need / int_2a4e8051	comment	Sexual Karma: We don't get any details of what Terisa and Geraden get up to, but it seems to be fairly vanilla while still being mutually enjoyable. Their enemies, meanwhile, include a sexual sadist, a homosexual rapist and a man who has sex with animals.
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Mordant's Need / int_2ae29c0d	type	The Dreaded
Mordant's Need / int_2ae29c0d	comment	The Dreaded: Everyone, repeat, everyone is scared of the High King's Monomach — save Lebbick because he's too far gone to care anymore.
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Mordant's Need / int_2bdae2ae	type	Awesome, but Impractical
Mordant's Need / int_2bdae2ae	comment	An Arch-Imager is someone who can walk through flat glass without going mad. Though this has few useful applications beyond providing a great emergency escape route, it's still considered the absolute most difficult thing you can do with Imagery, making it Awesome, but Impractical.
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Mordant's Need / int_2dc0d2bf	type	Hidden Depths
Mordant's Need / int_2dc0d2bf	comment	Hidden Depths: Invoked by Marganol, who picks Nyle as his new Contender because he sees things in Nyle no one else can see.
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Mordant's Need / int_30351912	type	Innate Night Vision
Mordant's Need / int_30351912	comment	Innate Night Vision: Vagel. When Terisa re-buttons her blouse in a dungeon after Eremis has threatened to rape her, Vagel mutters out of nowhere (from Terisa's perspective), "Unfortunate." This despite being in total pitch black darkness. Vagel explains to her having lived in the dark so long, he's acquired the ability to see in it.
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Mordant's Need / int_30ab0aa1	type	Worldbuilding
Mordant's Need / int_30ab0aa1	comment	Worldbuilding: The story, really, could have been told in one novel, but Donaldson takes all of the first book to establish Orison, and the second book has her visiting various parts of the Demense. The reader gets a real sense of people and locations before the shit really hits the fan.
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Mordant's Need / int_33ba37ca	type	Out with a Bang
Mordant's Need / int_33ba37ca	comment	Out with a Bang: Eremis' plan is to kill Terisa after having sex with her. Fortunately, Geraden keeps interrupting.
Mordant's Need / int_33ba37ca	featureApplicability	1.0
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Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_33ba37ca
Mordant's Need / int_355007c3	type	Brilliant, but Lazy
Mordant's Need / int_355007c3	comment	Brilliant, but Lazy: Artagel. He is the best swordsman in all of Mordant, among other things, but he never rises in the ranks of the army.
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Mordant's Need / int_3621828	type	Jizzed in My Pants
Mordant's Need / int_3621828	comment	Jizzed in My Pants: The first time Geraden and Terisa have a true sexual encounter, he is "far too early". They both laugh about it and they take it slower right afterward.
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Mordant's Need / int_374c339d	type	I'll Kill You!
Mordant's Need / int_374c339d	comment	I'll Kill You!: Late in the book, when Eremis attacks Terisa, Geraden screams "Eremis!" as if it were the worst curse word in the world.
Mordant's Need / int_374c339d	featureApplicability	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_38718ea8	type	Beautiful All Along
Mordant's Need / int_38718ea8	comment	Beautiful All Along: A subversion in that everyone thinks Terisa is absolutely ravishing, but Terisa herself doesn't, and it takes not having mirrors to realize her attractiveness.
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Mordant's Need / int_38ad0e6a	type	BreakingSpeech
Mordant's Need / int_38ad0e6a	comment	Breaking Speech: Fails spectacularly when Artagel tries this on the High King's Monomach. He only manages to press the Berserk Button of The Stoic, which makes him even more deadly. However, it does give Nyle time to sneak up on him and stab him in the armpit, the only vulnerable spot between armor plates, to kill him.
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Mordant's Need / int_38d02d44	type	Batman Gambit
Mordant's Need / int_38d02d44	comment	Batman Gambit: Master Eremis seems fond of these, but they don't always succeed ... Havelock and Joyse's strategy. It works spectacularly.
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Mordant's Need / int_3929e0db	type	You Need to Get Laid
Mordant's Need / int_3929e0db	comment	Saddith thinks Lebbick's real problem is he needs to get laid to calm down, and ponders that any woman who could do that would gain more power. Eremis nudges her to do it, and hoo boy is she wrong.
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Mordant's Need / int_39b8d3d6	type	Boring, but Practical
Mordant's Need / int_39b8d3d6	comment	Gilbur has the Boring, but Practical ability to create mirrors really fast.
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Mordant's Need / int_3a20231e	type	Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness
Mordant's Need / int_3a20231e	comment	Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: The High King's Monomach. It's the way Terisa is able to identify him.
Mordant's Need / int_3a20231e	featureApplicability	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_3cb6468e	type	Bad Liar
Mordant's Need / int_3cb6468e	comment	Bad Liar: Terisa. After lying to Elega about Myst's actions, she smiles and says that she knows she's lying, but she approves, since lying is a proactive action, and Terisa to that point had been too much of an Extreme Doormat.
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Mordant's Need / int_3e74b72e	type	The Pollyanna
Mordant's Need / int_3e74b72e	comment	The Pollyanna: Played with when it comes to Myste. She seems to be one of these, always defending Joyse, saying he must have a reason for acting the way he does. This outlook shatters, though, when Joyse forces Kragen to play hop-board with Terisa, though she never shows it outwardly. However, she decides she can no longer be a Neutral Female and makes up her mind to find the Champion, even though it's almost certainly suicidal in a few ways. Overlaps with Good Is Not Soft.
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Mordant's Need / int_3f7a958b	type	Secret Test of Character
Mordant's Need / int_3f7a958b	comment	Secret Test of Character: Kragen fails one when he doesn't refuse playing hop-board with Terisa. Joyse stated that had Kragen called him out on his bullshit, Joyse would have been assured he was genuinely seeking an alliance with him. However, Kragen did want an alliance, but decided that he'd ally himself with Elega, who planned to be Regent after deposing her father. When Joyse returns from saving his wife, he begins to make patently ridiculous but still plausible accusations aimed at Kragen, including saying he's in league with High King Festten. It's then that Elega reveals herself and starts a combination of What the Hell, Hero? and "The Reason You Suck" Speech at him in defense of Kragen. Joyse then laughs heartily and apologizes, saying if Kragen had any intent of betrayal, he would not have brought Elega along. It was an honest act.
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Mordant's Need / int_4023b8c8	type	First-Name Basis
Mordant's Need / int_4023b8c8	comment	First-Name Basis: Ribuld tells Terisa that he's well acquainted with The Tor even though he's never in his demesne. That's because he's one of his subjects, which is why The Tor casually calls him by his first name.
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Mordant's Need / int_4215e3e	type	Keeping Secrets Sucks
Mordant's Need / int_4215e3e	comment	Keeping Secrets Sucks: As Terisa finds out the hard way ...
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Mordant's Need / int_424c9a9b	type	Cold-Blooded Torture
Mordant's Need / int_424c9a9b	comment	Cold-Blooded Torture: Prince Kragen threatens King Joyse's envoy Master Quillon with this if he doesn't reveal the King's plans, though he doesn't go through with it. Regardless, Elega is not pleased. Lebbick and Eremis both want to submit Terisa to this treatment at different times in the story, but in neither case is their motivations exactly "cold-blooded."
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Mordant's Need / int_447d9e50	type	Xanatos Speed Chess
Mordant's Need / int_447d9e50	comment	Xanatos Speed Chess: Eremis states outright at one point that he doesn't have a single master plan, but rather takes every opportunity to improve his position relative to his enemies, while making sure that if any one strategem fails he'll still be around to try something else.
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Mordant's Need / int_44cc729e	type	Verbal Weakness
Mordant's Need / int_44cc729e	comment	Verbal Weakness: Questions of any kind undermine Havelock's brief and tenuous periods of lucidity. Terisa has to learn to avoid asking questions when trying to talk to him during these periods, lest a carelessly-asked question send him back into babbling lunacy while he's trying to communicate important information.
Mordant's Need / int_44cc729e	featureApplicability	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_4604fd4d	type	Worthy Opponent
Mordant's Need / int_4604fd4d	comment	Eremis, of sorts. When one of his plans fails, or new obstacles arise, he doesn't pout or get angry. Rather, he gets pleased because he loves a Worthy Opponent and being able to overcome something new just shows how great he is.
Mordant's Need / int_4604fd4d	featureApplicability	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_46e1fd22	type	Walking Disaster Area
Mordant's Need / int_46e1fd22	comment	Walking Disaster Area: Geraden. Goes hand-in-hand with being The Klutz.
Mordant's Need / int_46e1fd22	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_46e1fd22	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_46e1fd22
Mordant's Need / int_4832a3bb	type	Always Chaotic Evil
Mordant's Need / int_4832a3bb	comment	Always Chaotic Evil: The callat, the mysterious species befriended by Eremis are described as such by him.
Mordant's Need / int_4832a3bb	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_4832a3bb	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_4832a3bb
Mordant's Need / int_4b316d47	type	Break the Cutie
Mordant's Need / int_4b316d47	comment	Break the Cutie: Geraden. He starts deteriorating with Artagel's near-death experience and keeps sliding ... and sliding ... and sliding ... until you think he has nothing left to lose. Then Nyle dies and the shit hits the fan.
Mordant's Need / int_4b316d47	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_4b316d47	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_4b316d47
Mordant's Need / int_4e7c4536	type	Wham Line
Mordant's Need / int_4e7c4536	comment	Wham Line: When Terisa tells Havelock to tell her what Joyse saw in the augury about Elega, he replies, "Spreading her legs for Prince Kragen." She then realizes Joyse is Obfuscating Stupidity and is in the middle of a Batman Gambit.
Mordant's Need / int_4e7c4536	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_4e7c4536	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_4e7c4536
Mordant's Need / int_4f62bde6	type	Kavorka Man
Mordant's Need / int_4f62bde6	comment	Kavorka Man: Eremis is described as being balding and not at all conventionally handsome, but also as just having something about him that makes that irrelevant.
Mordant's Need / int_4f62bde6	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_4f62bde6	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_4f62bde6
Mordant's Need / int_4fe1aa4c	type	Gorgeous Period Dress
Mordant's Need / int_4fe1aa4c	comment	Averted. All the female characters wear Gorgeous Period Dresses most of the time and are overall pretty feminine, but that doesn't stop them from keeping cool heads and getting things done. Subverted in that the women in Orison also aren't stupid - even the royalty own heavy wool dresses for winter which are are plain and highly functional.
Mordant's Need / int_4fe1aa4c	featureApplicability	-0.3
Mordant's Need / int_4fe1aa4c	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_4fe1aa4c
Mordant's Need / int_508d91a2	type	Pre-Mortem One-Liner
Mordant's Need / int_508d91a2	comment	Pre-Mortem One-Liner:note Though Eremis isn't actually dead. He may as well be.
Mordant's Need / int_508d91a2	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_508d91a2	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_50a33496	type	Trap Is the Only Option
Mordant's Need / int_50a33496	comment	Trap Is the Only Option: The Big Good allies realize that the valley where they'd face off against the enemy is an obvious trap. Some state they'd rather retreat to Orison for a Last Stand. The heroes realize that that is the real trap. Fortunately, the Congery invents the aforementioned Boring, but Practical mirrors, which allow the Orison and Alend armies to intentionally spring the trap long before the Cadwal forces are ready for, and being stronger than Festten expects to them to be.
Mordant's Need / int_50a33496	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_50a33496	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_50a33496
Mordant's Need / int_51ed5fb9	type	Straw Hypocrite
Mordant's Need / int_51ed5fb9	comment	Straw Hypocrite: A large part of why Terisa frequently believes that she's not really real is that Eremis keeps arguing, quite skillfully, for that being the case for everything that came out of a mirror - Images are creations of the glass, the theory goes, and the memories of their own world they arrive with are false. In the end, he gloatingly admits that he finds the idea of Images not having their own inherent reality to be absurd. But arguing that Images aren't real is the only way to convince those bleeding hearts in the Congery that it's okay to rip them out of their own worlds for your own purposes, and he considers the idea of him not being allowed to do that to be equally absurd - because in his mind, the ability to do a thing implies the right to do it.
Mordant's Need / int_51ed5fb9	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_51ed5fb9	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_51ed5fb9
Mordant's Need / int_52488c54	type	Drowning My Sorrows
Mordant's Need / int_52488c54	comment	Drowning My Sorrows: Several characters feel the need to do this at times. The Tor, especially after it seemed like Joyse allowed Lebbick the freedom to rape and kill Terisa. He gets better. Sort of. After an especially demoralising day, Terisa goes back to her room and "gets more drunk than ever before in her life." Geraden admits to having resorted to this on occasion when he felt especially tired of failing at everything.
Mordant's Need / int_52488c54	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_52488c54	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_52488c54
Mordant's Need / int_5261369c	type	Sand Worm
Mordant's Need / int_5261369c	comment	Sand Worm: Large enough to the point of possibly being a Lawyer-Friendly Cameo from the Dune series.
Mordant's Need / int_5261369c	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_5261369c	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_5261369c
Mordant's Need / int_52aa0c4a	type	The Caligula
Mordant's Need / int_52aa0c4a	comment	The Caligula: High King Fessten, though it's only mentioned by other characters and not actually seen.
Mordant's Need / int_52aa0c4a	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_52aa0c4a	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_52aa0c4a
Mordant's Need / int_53f5119f	type	The Dragon
Mordant's Need / int_53f5119f	comment	The Dragon: The Monomach, who is a Legacy Character, and Arch-Imager Vagel for High King Festten. In the present day, Gilbur and Vagel are both Eremis' Dragons. Oddly, none of the Dragon's are a Dragon with an Agenda.
Mordant's Need / int_53f5119f	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_53f5119f	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_53f5119f
Mordant's Need / int_547b8f44	type	Uncatty Resemblance
Mordant's Need / int_547b8f44	comment	Uncatty Resemblance: Everyone thinks Master Quillon resembles a rabbit, including Gilbur when he kills him.
Mordant's Need / int_547b8f44	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_547b8f44	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_547b8f44
Mordant's Need / int_55180ce	type	Snow Means Death
Mordant's Need / int_55180ce	comment	Snow Means Death: An interesting inversion on this trope. When Terisa arrives in Mordant, it's near the end of winter. All of its inhabitants are hoping for a late snowmelt, because the longer that the snow is on the ground, the harder it is for Alend and Cadwal to use the roads to attack Mordant.
Mordant's Need / int_55180ce	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_55180ce	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_55180ce
Mordant's Need / int_553aaabe	type	Safety in Indifference
Mordant's Need / int_553aaabe	comment	Safety in Indifference: Terisa developed her 'fading' as protection from her emotionally abusive parents, and is now sometimes able to invoke it at will, however other times it occurs spontaneously (hence why her apartment is full of mirrors - to prove she still exists when it comes over her). Unfortunately for her, Joyse knows she's important somehow and forces her to "declare herself", even letting Lebbick have her for interrogation (though he had Quillon save her before he could actually rape and/or kill her.)
Mordant's Need / int_553aaabe	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_553aaabe	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_553aaabe
Mordant's Need / int_57b80b45	type	Fantastic Racism
Mordant's Need / int_57b80b45	comment	Fantastic Racism: The Termigan hates all Imagers and Alends.
Mordant's Need / int_57b80b45	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_57b80b45	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_57b80b45
Mordant's Need / int_57d43e40	type	Fantasy Counterpart Culture
Mordant's Need / int_57d43e40	comment	Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Alend is reminiscent of Turkey and Cadwal is reminiscent of Arabic culture.
Mordant's Need / int_57d43e40	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_57d43e40	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_57d43e40
Mordant's Need / int_58204b95	type	Magic Knight
Mordant's Need / int_58204b95	comment	Magic Knight: They don't get many opportunities to show it, but Eremis and Gilbur are both this. In addition to both being Imagers, Eremis is very good with a sword, and Gilbur is extremely strong and dangerous despite his deformities.
Mordant's Need / int_58204b95	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_58204b95	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_58204b95
Mordant's Need / int_58b42f3d	type	Trickster Mentor
Mordant's Need / int_58b42f3d	comment	Trickster Mentor: Adept Havelock, being a blend between this and a Mad Scientist.
Mordant's Need / int_58b42f3d	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_58b42f3d	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_5989e3b6	type	Enemy Mine
Mordant's Need / int_5989e3b6	comment	Enemy Mine / Fantastic Racism: The Termigan despises Imagers and Alends. He only joins the final battle because he sees Kragen, the Alend Contender, fighting with Mordant's army. Joyse is told Termigan trusts his enemy more than he trusted his King.
Mordant's Need / int_5989e3b6	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_5989e3b6	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_5a75677c	type	He's Just Hiding
Mordant's Need / int_5a75677c	comment	He's Just Hiding: In-Universe example. The dead body found in Nyle's room while recovering injuries was actually his physician, his face chewed off to make people think it was Nyle who was killed. Instead, Nyle was spirited away by the Big Bad Ensemble as a hostage.
Mordant's Need / int_5a75677c	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_5a75677c	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_5a75677c
Mordant's Need / int_5abc8612	type	Unholy Matrimony
Mordant's Need / int_5abc8612	comment	Unholy Matrimony: Elega and Prince Kragen are a pair of scheming bastards, but they seem to genuinely love each other. They also join the heroes in time for the final battle, and end the story on good terms with them.
Mordant's Need / int_5abc8612	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_5abc8612	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_5abc8612
Mordant's Need / int_5ad80bf8	type	It's All My Fault
Mordant's Need / int_5ad80bf8	comment	It's All My Fault: Darsint marvels at Joyse's plan. He remarks he'd never think to make himself a target to save his men, and maybe that's why he lost his crew on Pythas, because he wasn't able to.
Mordant's Need / int_5ad80bf8	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_5ad80bf8	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_5ad80bf8
Mordant's Need / int_5b47c8c7	type	Magic Mirror
Mordant's Need / int_5b47c8c7	comment	Magic Mirror: Geraden believes that Terisa is The Chosen One because she keeps a houseful of mirrors that show her own image and hasn't been harmed.
Mordant's Need / int_5b47c8c7	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_5b47c8c7	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_5b47c8c7
Mordant's Need / int_5b6e57e	type	Required Secondary Powers
Mordant's Need / int_5b6e57e	comment	Required Secondary Powers: A mirror can move you between worlds. It also quite helpfully alters you to be able to breathe the local air and speak the local language as you pass through it.
Mordant's Need / int_5b6e57e	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_5b6e57e	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_5b6e57e
Mordant's Need / int_5c49af66	type	Men Are Strong, Women Are Pretty
Mordant's Need / int_5c49af66	comment	Men Are Strong, Women Are Pretty: Played with in the series, especially with Terisa. Gets subverted in many ways by the end.
Mordant's Need / int_5c49af66	featureApplicability	-0.3
Mordant's Need / int_5c49af66	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_5c49af66
Mordant's Need / int_5ce7dbb9	type	Central Theme
Mordant's Need / int_5ce7dbb9	comment	Central Theme: The hopboard takes on new meaning when it's revealed the events are being manipulated by a literal Chessmaster. Joyse wants to save the pieces, while Havelock is willing to sacrifice them. When Joyse shows Terisa a hopboard problem - the pieces are in stalemate - she casually tilts the board so all of the pieces are in chaos. Joyse is sickened by this, telling a befuddled Terisa that while it may be just a game to her, it's life and death for him. Later, after Terisa knows Joyse was Obfuscating Stupidity, she notes that Eremis is the one trying to "tilt the board".
Mordant's Need / int_5ce7dbb9	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_5ce7dbb9	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_5eb92325	type	Declaration of Protection
Mordant's Need / int_5eb92325	comment	Declaration of Protection: Geraden, to the point of assigning two guards illegally to watch over her, and then, after that, his brother Artagel.
Mordant's Need / int_5eb92325	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_5eb92325	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_5eb92325
Mordant's Need / int_5ec27210	type	Sleeps with Everyone but You
Mordant's Need / int_5ec27210	comment	Sleeps with Everyone but You: In a rare male example, Eremis is this to Terisa. She dreams about him and even dresses up in her sexiest gown and goes to his room, but finds him having sex with Saddith.
Mordant's Need / int_5ec27210	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_5ec27210	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_5ec27210
Mordant's Need / int_5fb5dad8	type	Royal Blood
Mordant's Need / int_5fb5dad8	comment	Royal Blood: Played straight with Elega, Torrent, and Myste. Subverted in Alend, where heirs - and not necessarily the king's sons - have to fight over who gains the throne. This provides the (innocent) reason why Prince Kragen arrives in Orison.
Mordant's Need / int_5fb5dad8	featureApplicability	-0.3
Mordant's Need / int_5fb5dad8	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_5fb5dad8
Mordant's Need / int_608bf5a0	type	Shoot the Hostage
Mordant's Need / int_608bf5a0	comment	Shoot the Hostage: A variation. Eremis discusses the pros and cons about driving Queen Madin insane by translating her through flat glass. He notes a damaged hostage is a double-edged sword: while it might break Joyse's spirit, it might also only serve to fuel his resolve.
Mordant's Need / int_608bf5a0	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_608bf5a0	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_6439de78	type	Heroic Sacrifice
Mordant's Need / int_6439de78	comment	Heroic Sacrifice: The Tor. In a tearjerking scene, he asks for a horse and some weapons to make one last charge. Fortunately, it's not a senseless one.
Mordant's Need / int_6439de78	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_6439de78	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_64d3ffd8	type	The Extremist Was Right
Mordant's Need / int_64d3ffd8	comment	The Extremist Was Right: King Joyse united Mordant through brute force in his youth, and then used absolutely any means necessary to force every Imager in the known world into the Congery, including things like taking their families hostage. As a result, a world that had been at constant war for generations has now been peaceful for decades. King Joyse turns out to still be both an extremist and right in his old age - his convoluted plan to draw out and defeat Eremis and High King Festten brings suffering and death to countless innocents, but in the end it succeeds in defeating Eremis' bid for world domination.
Mordant's Need / int_64d3ffd8	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_64d3ffd8	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_659ef759	type	Implacable Man
Mordant's Need / int_659ef759	comment	Implacable Man: The High King's Monomach, Gart. For a man of few words, he's absolutely chilling when he does speak the during the duology.
Mordant's Need / int_659ef759	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_659ef759	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_659ef759
Mordant's Need / int_675ff0f1	type	Apologises a Lot
Mordant's Need / int_675ff0f1	comment	Apologises a Lot: Geraden. Almost anything he says in the first half of the book is followed by "sorry." Terisa puts her foot down.
Mordant's Need / int_675ff0f1	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_675ff0f1	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_692c48c4	type	Navel-Deep Neckline
Mordant's Need / int_692c48c4	comment	Navel-Deep Neckline: The first thing Terisa notices about Saddith is that she loves to show off by having most of the buttons on her blouse unbuttoned.
Mordant's Need / int_692c48c4	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_692c48c4	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_6a1cbf28	type	Rebellious Princess
Mordant's Need / int_6a1cbf28	comment	Rebellious Princess: Elega. Especially since it turns out she's been plotting against King Joyse the entire time with Prince Kragen and Nyle. But also Myste, when she goes after the Champion and attempts to reason with him.
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Mordant's Need / int_6a1cbf28	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_6a2ae11f	type	Improbable Weapon User
Mordant's Need / int_6a2ae11f	comment	Improbable Weapon User: Havelock comes after Vagel with a feather duster. Later, in an Offscreen Moment of Awesome, he's killed him by impaling him with a tree branch. Havelock's hand mirror that opens onto a world of infinite radiance works just fine as a flashlight, but is also capable of blinding an assailant, and charcoaling a callat prisoner.
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Mordant's Need / int_6b983bf7	type	Unstoppable Rage
Mordant's Need / int_6b983bf7	comment	Unstoppable Rage: Lebbick, making him scarier than anyone in the book.
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Mordant's Need / int_6b983bf7	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_6c3d1777	type	Magic A Is Magic A
Mordant's Need / int_6c3d1777	comment	Magic A Is Magic A: A strong point of the series, the rules of "imagery" are well defined, interesting and major elements of the plot.note Ironically, "magic" is a foreign word to the people of Mordant Essentially mirrors in Mordant's world don't show whats in front of them but rather show what's happening at a specific point in the same world (if they're flat) or another world (if they're curved). Only someone born with the talent for Imagery can craft a mirror - if a regular person tries, the work will somehow fail - and even they have no way of knowing what Image will appear in a mirror until it is completed, unless they are making an exact copy of an already existing mirror. Once a mirror is completed, the Imager who made it (and only that Imager) can step into it, teleporting themselves to the location shown, or teleport a creature or object visible in the mirror to where they are. Working with flat glass carries two dangers: stepping through a flat glass sends you mad, and should you happen to look in a flat mirror focused on where you're standing and thereby see yourself in the mirror your mind is permanently erased of everything, meaning you are for all intents and purposes dead. These rules apply to most Imagers, but some Imagers have specialised talents or skills (it's often unclear which) that lets them ignore certain ones: The Congery was established by Joyse and Havelock for scientific research into mirrors and images, as well as a philosophical thought group. An Adept is an Imager who can use any mirror, not just ones he has created himself. An Arch-Imager is someone who can walk through flat glass without going mad. Though this has few useful applications beyond providing a great emergency escape route, it's still considered the absolute most difficult thing you can do with Imagery, making it Awesome, but Impractical. It turns out that Geraden can not only use any curved mirror, making him a partial Adept, but also change the Image in a curved mirror, including changing it to the Image of a place in the same world. Notably, it turns out that translation through a curved mirror does not cause madness even when the Image in that mirror is of such a place, making this talent able to duplicate the abilities of an Arch-Imager. It further turns out that Terisa can use any flat mirror and change the Image in it in the same way as Geraden can with curved ones, and also sense when she is currently within the Image of a flat mirror, as well as being able to pass through flat glass without going insane in the manner of an Arch-Imager. She can also sense when something is being translated via mirror to her location. Late in the series, Vagel turns out to be capable of choosing before creating a mirror what its Image will be, effectively being able to custom-make mirrors according to need. Gilbur has the Boring, but Practical ability to create mirrors really fast. Eremis knows a way of translating himself or others through a flat glass without causing madness, though this is explicitly said to be a learned technique note (it involves translating a specially treated flat mirror into a curved mirror, and then translating the people to be transported through both mirrors at once - effectively removing the harmful qualities of within-the-same-world translation by routing them through another world), not an inherent talent. Barsonage notes that normally trying to perform this technique ends up with the flat mirror being shattered.
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Mordant's Need / int_6c3d1777	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_6dc502d1	type	Big Brother Worship
Mordant's Need / int_6dc502d1	comment	Big Brother Worship: Artagel gets this a lot from Geraden, and also Nyle.
Mordant's Need / int_6dc502d1	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_6dc502d1	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_6dc502d1
Mordant's Need / int_6f54cbdf	type	The Ditherer
Mordant's Need / int_6f54cbdf	comment	Master Barsonage, when he stops being The Ditherer and finally gets The Congery to stop being an infighting mess and gives them focus.
Mordant's Need / int_6f54cbdf	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_6f54cbdf	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_6f54cbdf
Mordant's Need / int_7464705c	type	Arc Words
Mordant's Need / int_7464705c	comment	Arc Words: Hearing horns. "Do you know who your enemies are?" In the second book, "Choose your risks carefully" becomes a running theme.
Mordant's Need / int_7464705c	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_7464705c	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_7464705c
Mordant's Need / int_74d10a21	type	Jerkass Has a Point
Mordant's Need / int_74d10a21	comment	Jerk Ass Has A Point: The Termigan tells Terisa that any Imager will inevitably start to think that he is better than others, simply because he can do more. He is clearly wrong about most Imagers, who behave more like fussy academics than the sort of Nietzsche Wannabes he sees them as... but towards the end of the series, the Imager Big Bad turns out to justify his actions in exactly that way: if he can do a thing, then as far as he's concerned he has an inherent right to do it.
Mordant's Need / int_74d10a21	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_74d10a21	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_74d10a21
Mordant's Need / int_75979171	type	The Cuckoolander Was Right
Mordant's Need / int_75979171	comment	The Cuckoolander Was Right: She's idealistic, but not stupid. Joyse did have a plan. He just didn't bother to tell anyone else but his inner circle of Havelock and Quillon.
Mordant's Need / int_75979171	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_75979171	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_75979171
Mordant's Need / int_76df59f1	type	Thicker Than Water
Mordant's Need / int_76df59f1	comment	Thicker Than Water: played straight with Artagel guarding Terisa for Geraden's sake and almost dying for it. Also with Nyle, when he comes back to save Geraden and Terisa from the strange monsters. Inverted with Terisa's parents being completely loveless and Elega betraying her father for Prince Kragen.
Mordant's Need / int_76df59f1	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_76df59f1	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_76df59f1
Mordant's Need / int_787c6068	type	My Significance Sense Is Tingling
Mordant's Need / int_787c6068	comment	My Significance Sense Is Tingling: "A touch of cold as thin as a feather and as sharp as steel."
Mordant's Need / int_787c6068	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_787c6068	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_787c6068
Mordant's Need / int_7896ecc3	type	Perpetual Smiler
Mordant's Need / int_7896ecc3	comment	Perpetual Smiler: Artagel always smiles in combat, even when he's losing. Terisa notes in the second book that his overeagerness might be another form of suicide.
Mordant's Need / int_7896ecc3	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_7896ecc3	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_7896ecc3
Mordant's Need / int_78c895c8	type	Amusing Injuries
Mordant's Need / int_78c895c8	comment	Amusing Injuries: When we meet Stead, he's recovering from some broken bones, courtesy of a cuckolded husband. What makes his injuries amusing, aside from how he got them, is the way he refuses to let them stop him from continuing his womanising ways. At one point, Terisa wakes up to find that he's climbed into bed with her. She understandably freaks out and pushes him off the bed, and he turns out to be unable to get up from the floor thanks to his injuries - and he still keeps cheerfully hitting on Terisa and trying to sell her on the idea of sleeping with him. Mood Whiplash/Wham Line: Terisa is amused by his attempts until Stead matter-of-factly says she must not think of Geraden as a man, because if she did, why is she here and not in Geraden's bed? She does just that immediately after, and finally expresses her feelings for Geraden to him personally.
Mordant's Need / int_78c895c8	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_78c895c8	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_78c895c8
Mordant's Need / int_79eb1e2e	type	Neutral Female
Mordant's Need / int_79eb1e2e	comment	Neutral Female: Terisa is both a straight example but later uses her passivity as a weapon, highlighted when she tricks Eremis into seeing his own reflection in a mirror.
Mordant's Need / int_79eb1e2e	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_79eb1e2e	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_79eb1e2e
Mordant's Need / int_7a570c0	type	The Good Chancellor
Mordant's Need / int_7a570c0	comment	The Tor is respected enough that when he appoints himself The Good Chancellor, no one questions it or his loyalty to Joyse.
Mordant's Need / int_7a570c0	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_7a570c0	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_7a570c0
Mordant's Need / int_7a82c3d2	type	All Love Is Unrequited
Mordant's Need / int_7a82c3d2	comment	All Love Is Unrequited: Nyle has always carried a torch for Elega, and harbored resentment towards Geraden for being King Joyse's chosen suitor instead of him. Elega does admit Nyle is a better match for her than Geraden because of the former's proactiveness. It makes it easy for her to convince Nyle to sabotage Orison's water supply.
Mordant's Need / int_7a82c3d2	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_7a82c3d2	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_7a82c3d2
Mordant's Need / int_7a98f156	type	Kill It Through Its Stomach
Mordant's Need / int_7a98f156	comment	Kill It Through Its Stomach: How Darsint kills the gigantic Sand Worm.
Mordant's Need / int_7a98f156	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_7a98f156	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_7a98f156
Mordant's Need / int_7b3ebb57	type	Buxom Beauty Standard
Mordant's Need / int_7b3ebb57	comment	Buxom Beauty Standard: Saddith definitely believes this. It's downplayed regarding Terisa, but Saddith constantly notes Terisa's... assets rival anyone in the kingdom, and while she and Myste are the same height and waist, Myst's dresses don't account for Terisa's figure.
Mordant's Need / int_7b3ebb57	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_7b3ebb57	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_7b3ebb57
Mordant's Need / int_7b6e47a5	type	Armor-Piercing Question
Mordant's Need / int_7b6e47a5	comment	Armor-Piercing Question: Asked by Quillon and Joyse: "Do you know who your enemies are?"
Mordant's Need / int_7b6e47a5	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_7b6e47a5	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_7b6e47a5
Mordant's Need / int_7c7ee100	type	Cannot Tell a Lie
Mordant's Need / int_7c7ee100	comment	Cannot Tell a Lie: On the other hand, Terisa is a really bad liar. Ironically, when Elega knows Terisa's lying, it makes her happy, because lying is being proactive.
Mordant's Need / int_7c7ee100	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_7c7ee100	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_7c7ee100
Mordant's Need / int_7d89315b	type	"The Reason You Suck" Speech
Mordant's Need / int_7d89315b	comment	"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Given by both Eremis and Nyle. Eremis' speech has to do with convincing Terisa that Geraden and Gilbur have been plotting together all along and is effectively an attempt to get her on his side. Nyle's speech is given to Geraden as to why he is betraying the king instead of aiding him like all his other brothers. Both times, the recipients of such speeches are unmoved.
Mordant's Need / int_7d89315b	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_7d89315b	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_7d89315b
Mordant's Need / int_7eebe99c	type	The Alcoholic
Mordant's Need / int_7eebe99c	comment	The Alcoholic: The Tor.
Mordant's Need / int_7eebe99c	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_7eebe99c	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_7eebe99c
Mordant's Need / int_7f514dd1	type	AwesomeByAnalysis
Mordant's Need / int_7f514dd1	comment	Awesome by Analysis: Terisa is able to figure out events in the castle, such as Nyle's true fate, despite being locked away in a jail cell. This makes Lebbick extremely suspicious how she could have figured them out without outside help. However, Terisa merely goes by the Sherlock Holmes mantra that "when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth"; for example, she knows there's no way Geraden could have been a powerful Imager who killed his brother, leading her to the (correct) conclusion that Nyle was never killed, as the man who was killed was the doctor who was the same height and weight as Nyle.
Mordant's Need / int_7f514dd1	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_7f514dd1	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_7f514dd1
Mordant's Need / int_7fbb2a3	type	Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!
Mordant's Need / int_7fbb2a3	comment	Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Terisa tells Eremis that Joyse is pretending to be feeble. Thanks to that leak, Eremis alters his plot with that info in mind.
Mordant's Need / int_7fbb2a3	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_7fbb2a3	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_7fbb2a3
Mordant's Need / int_80621707	type	Arranged Marriage
Mordant's Need / int_80621707	comment	Arranged Marriage: Almost, between Elega and Geraden, before the events of the book. Elega put her foot down, because of Geraden's lack of drive and talent.
Mordant's Need / int_80621707	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_80621707	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_80621707
Mordant's Need / int_80b57bec	type	Super-Soldier
Mordant's Need / int_80b57bec	comment	Super-Soldier: The High King's Monomach, Gart. He is the most skilled swordsman there is out there, and his Apts are no less deadly. For Mordant, this exists in the form of Artagel, Geraden's eldest brother, although he's not as good as Gart, as revealed when they meet twice and both times Artagel is defeated.
Mordant's Need / int_80b57bec	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_80b57bec	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_80b57bec
Mordant's Need / int_8288929a	type	Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves
Mordant's Need / int_8288929a	comment	Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: The Perdon's fate, as a good man trying to help his King by betraying him is murdered along with all his men by the bad guys. In a non-lethal version of the trope, there are a lot of opinions on how The Armigite is to be punished for letting Prince Kragen travel through his Care unmolested in exchange for ignorance. Prince Kragen suggests acquittal — naturally! — while Darsint recommends death. King Joyse decides the worst punishment of all: to ignore him, and the rest of the leaders follow suit, and no one will even give The Armigite the time of day. One assumes his replacement will be better treated, especially since the other Care leaders snark that his father would be ashamed at his behavior early in the story.
Mordant's Need / int_8288929a	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_8288929a	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_8288929a
Mordant's Need / int_83641c73	type	Logical Weakness
Mordant's Need / int_83641c73	comment	Logical Weakness: Terisa notes that while the evil Imagers can send horrors upon horrors on Orison and other Cares, it won't matter because rule requires manpower. Therefore, they're stuck til the enemy army arrives.
Mordant's Need / int_83641c73	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_83641c73	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_83641c73
Mordant's Need / int_868409c	type	Broken Pedestal
Mordant's Need / int_868409c	comment	Broken Pedestal: Nyle was Joyse's number one fan, and not just because he was in love with Elega. Joyse's downfall hits him so hard he springs from Undying Loyalty to conspiring with his daughter to betray him. When Joyse embarrasses Kragen by forcing him to play hopboard, it quietly breaks Myste, who decides she's had enough and wants to act. She never lets it show, however.
Mordant's Need / int_868409c	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_868409c	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_868409c
Mordant's Need / int_86b21114	type	Badass Boast
Mordant's Need / int_86b21114	comment	Badass Boast: After Terisa gives King Joyse a well-earned What the Hell, Hero? for his plan, he replies simply, "My lady, you have not seen me fight." It is then Terisa understands why the man inspires so much Undying Loyalty. After Havelock saves Geraden and Terisa from being trapped in Terisa's world, he has this winner:
Mordant's Need / int_86b21114	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_86b21114	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_86b21114
Mordant's Need / int_87bb6874	type	Villain with Good Publicity
Mordant's Need / int_87bb6874	comment	Villain with Good Publicity: Eremis is the most popular Imager in the Congery (even Terisa initially thinks he's the leader, not Barsonage.) After he feeds the populace with fresh water after the reservoir was poisoned byElega and Nyle, his stature is never higher. This annoys Lebbick to no end.
Mordant's Need / int_87bb6874	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_87bb6874	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_87bb6874
Mordant's Need / int_88ebc539	type	Always a Bigger Fish
Mordant's Need / int_88ebc539	comment	Always a Bigger Fish: Artagel is the best swordsman in all of Mordant, but the Monomach is better.
Mordant's Need / int_88ebc539	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_88ebc539	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_88ebc539
Mordant's Need / int_89631688	type	The Chosen One
Mordant's Need / int_89631688	comment	The Chosen One: The first book is dominated by uncertainty over just who is this trope. Genre Savvy readers can guess that it is either Geraden or Terisa or both, but many characters have their hopes set on "the Champion," a futuristic warrior seen in the augary who the Congery eventually summons to Mordant. In the end it turns out that the trope is subverted; Terisa, Geraden, the Congery's Champion and nearly a dozen other characters all have vital parts to play in saving the kingdom. Lampshaded by Terisa near the climax. She notes everyone has an assigned role — save herself and Geraden. Joyse chuckles and says not to worry — they'll cross that bridge when they get to it, just be prepared. He later says that he can deal with High King Festten; he's counting on Terisa and Geraden to take care of Master Eremis. Played straight with Joyse in the backstory, thanks to Havelock's augury which tells him that he will be the one to turn Mordant from a bunch of provinces that are the playthings of Alend and Cadwal into a united nation - and will unite the Congery. It turns out that he's still not quite done, either.
Mordant's Need / int_89631688	featureApplicability	-0.3
Mordant's Need / int_89631688	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_89631688
Mordant's Need / int_8a4bec9e	type	MindWipe
Mordant's Need / int_8a4bec9e	comment	Mind Wipe: The result of seeing yourself in a flat mirror.
Mordant's Need / int_8a4bec9e	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_8a4bec9e	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_8a4bec9e
Mordant's Need / int_8ae880f7	type	Deconstruction
Mordant's Need / int_8ae880f7	comment	Averted by Artagel and Minnick. Heck, the latter deconstructs the trope by chuckling that everyone else makes a big deal out of little things, when, really, everything is simple when you really think about it.
Mordant's Need / int_8ae880f7	featureApplicability	-1.0
Mordant's Need / int_8ae880f7	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_8ae880f7
Mordant's Need / int_8b568cb7	type	Posthumous Character
Mordant's Need / int_8b568cb7	comment	Posthumous Character: Lebbick's wife. She looms largely in the story as she was Lebbick's Morality Pet, and her death and absence has made Lebbick harsh and violent without her to rein him in.
Mordant's Need / int_8b568cb7	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_8b568cb7	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_8b568cb7
Mordant's Need / int_8ba9512b	type	Our Zombies Are Different
Mordant's Need / int_8ba9512b	comment	Our Zombies Are Different: Shambling corpses full of flesh-eating cockroaches.
Mordant's Need / int_8ba9512b	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_8ba9512b	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_8ba9512b
Mordant's Need / int_8c9e724c	type	Big Beautiful Woman
Mordant's Need / int_8c9e724c	comment	Big Beautiful Woman: The Domne's daughter-in-law who is married to his eldest son Tholden, Quiss, is a down-to-earth mother.
Mordant's Need / int_8c9e724c	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_8c9e724c	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_8c9e724c
Mordant's Need / int_8d0785d5	type	Didn't Think This Through
Mordant's Need / int_8d0785d5	comment	Didn't Think This Through: What did the Congery expect when they pulled a Space Marine out from the middle of a battle without asking him? Eremis knew very well what would happen, which is why he encouraged it.
Mordant's Need / int_8d0785d5	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_8d0785d5	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_8d0785d5
Mordant's Need / int_8f9c00fd	type	The Apprentice
Mordant's Need / int_8f9c00fd	comment	The Apprentice: Geraden, one of many. In the series, apprentices are referred to as "Apts" in both Mordant and Cadwal.
Mordant's Need / int_8f9c00fd	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_8f9c00fd	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_8f9c00fd
Mordant's Need / int_935212c	type	Feminine Women Can Cook
Mordant's Need / int_935212c	comment	Feminine Women Can Cook: Averted. Terisa is plenty feminine, but her kitchen in New York is described as "immaculate" (read: never used) and when she travels with Geraden, he does all the cooking.
Mordant's Need / int_935212c	featureApplicability	-1.0
Mordant's Need / int_935212c	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_935212c
Mordant's Need / int_94e4c8ab	type	Betty and Veronica
Mordant's Need / int_94e4c8ab	comment	Terisa has to choose between Geraden and Eremis, and Eremis even tries to get her to distrust and/or spy on Geraden because he's an evil bastard.
Mordant's Need / int_94e4c8ab	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_94e4c8ab	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_94e4c8ab
Mordant's Need / int_95a4c6df	type	Wild Card
Mordant's Need / int_95a4c6df	comment	Wild Card: There are three in the books: Terisa, Lebbick and The Tor, according to Joyse. Darsint is one that Festten didn't expect, either, since he takes out the catapults and the Sand Worm with his futuristic weaponry.
Mordant's Need / int_95a4c6df	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_95a4c6df	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_95a4c6df
Mordant's Need / int_978a82e6	type	Big Bad Duumvirate
Mordant's Need / int_978a82e6	comment	Big Bad Duumvirate: Master Eremis and High King Festten. It's implied that if they had won, Eremis would have eventually managed to remove or gain control over Festten, but during the events of the book they are in practice equal partners, albeit ones that both seem to think that they are (or at least should be) the one in charge. Festten is no fool, as Vagel states that he and Gart are there to make sure Eremis doesn't get any funny ideas.
Mordant's Need / int_978a82e6	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_978a82e6	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_978a82e6
Mordant's Need / int_97d54bb0	type	Tragic Keepsake
Mordant's Need / int_97d54bb0	comment	Tragic Keepsake / Take Up My Sword: Of the Heterosexual Life-Partners sort. When being asked to keep Orison under control, Artegel demands Lebbick's bloodied helmet and armor. The more blood, the better, because he wants the populace to know who and what he stands for.
Mordant's Need / int_97d54bb0	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_97d54bb0	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_97d54bb0
Mordant's Need / int_97d97c28	type	Revenge Before Reason
Mordant's Need / int_97d97c28	comment	Revenge Before Reason: Artagel wants a third go-around with Gart, the High King's Monomach. Everyone thinks it's a bad idea. They're right. Vagel as well. Terisa notes that he's basically being humiliated by a lesser Imager (Eremis), but he retorts he doesn't care so long as Joyse is destroyed.
Mordant's Need / int_97d97c28	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_97d97c28	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_97d97c28
Mordant's Need / int_984ef9ef	type	"Not So Different" Remark
Mordant's Need / int_984ef9ef	comment	"Not So Different" Remark: After Terisa describes his father as being controlling and his wife being an Extreme Doormat, The Domne remarks Terisa's already met High King Festten.
Mordant's Need / int_984ef9ef	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_984ef9ef	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_984ef9ef
Mordant's Need / int_9bcd82c0	type	Took a Level in Badass
Mordant's Need / int_9bcd82c0	comment	Took a Level in Badass: When Terisa returns briefly to her world, she's shocked that her former employer, a Mission for the Poor Reverend, actually stood up to her father and had him auction her apartment. It gives her no shortage of joy and pride in him. Master Barsonage, when he stops being The Ditherer and finally gets The Congery to stop being an infighting mess and gives them focus.
Mordant's Need / int_9bcd82c0	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_9bcd82c0	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_9bcd82c0
Mordant's Need / int_9c1f758a	type	Kill It with Fire
Mordant's Need / int_9c1f758a	comment	Kill It with Fire: The only way to permanently kill the green ghoul children. Also how the fire cat is ironically killed.
Mordant's Need / int_9c1f758a	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_9c1f758a	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_9c1f758a
Mordant's Need / int_9cad69bf	type	Depraved Homosexual
Mordant's Need / int_9cad69bf	comment	Depraved Homosexual: Gilbur. Vagel even mentions that Gilbur tends kill his sex partners rape victims, which Gilbur refers to as "male meat".
Mordant's Need / int_9cad69bf	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_9cad69bf	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_9cad69bf
Mordant's Need / int_9cdef1ef	type	Lovable Sex Maniac
Mordant's Need / int_9cdef1ef	comment	Lovable Sex Maniac: As mentioned, Stead, who is Mordant's version of a free love hippie. According to Geraden, he loves women so much, he assumes they love him just as much. This, naturally, gets him into a lot of trouble. (He states only Quiss has been able to turn him down, so apparently he's that charismatic.)
Mordant's Need / int_9cdef1ef	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_9cdef1ef	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_9cdef1ef
Mordant's Need / int_9d12bbc1	type	Foreshadowing
Mordant's Need / int_9d12bbc1	comment	Foreshadowing: The Tor tells Eremis he will die a "fool's death". The latter ends up Mind Wiped standing up naked with a full erection. Saddith thinks Lebbick's real problem is he needs to get laid to calm down, and ponders that any woman who could do that would gain more power. Eremis nudges her to do it, and hoo boy is she wrong.
Mordant's Need / int_9d12bbc1	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_9d12bbc1	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_9d12bbc1
Mordant's Need / int_9dd2cbc2	type	CloudCuckooLander
Mordant's Need / int_9dd2cbc2	comment	Adept Havelock used to be the Merlin to Joyse's King Arthur. His last confrontation with Vagel left him a babbling lunatic, albeit with a few, rare flashes of the man he used to be.
Mordant's Need / int_9dd2cbc2	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_9dd2cbc2	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_9dd2cbc2
Mordant's Need / int_9f74002a	type	Feminist Fantasy
Mordant's Need / int_9f74002a	comment	Feminist Fantasy: Word of God is that the series was meant as this, hence Terisa's arc of going from a non-entity entirely under her father's thumb to playing an active role in a cause she believes in, all three of King Joyse's daughters going against tradition by involving themselves in events, and the constant theme of how different men treat women. Some readers did not think much of the effort, citing the relative scarcity of female characters compared to male ones, that fully half of the ones that do play major roles are morally ambiguous at best, and the fact that the protagonist is constantly being threatened with (or subjected to) rape, torture and other abuses to an extent that some might call excessive.note To be fair, the same happens to a male character. On the other hand, Joyse's daughters, however, all show courageousness, with Elega taking the initiative to try to restore stability, Myste going after The Champion to save him from being hunted down, and even Shrinking Violet Torrent arming herself with a knife, and managing to avoid being kidnapped alongside her mother, and helping her father rescue her.
Mordant's Need / int_9f74002a	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_9f74002a	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_9f74002a
Mordant's Need / int_a03b1d9f	type	Failure Hero
Mordant's Need / int_a03b1d9f	comment	Geraden admits to having resorted to this on occasion when he felt especially tired of failing at everything.
Mordant's Need / int_a03b1d9f	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_a03b1d9f	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_a03b1d9f
Mordant's Need / int_a139f52b	type	Fantasy World Map
Mordant's Need / int_a139f52b	comment	Fantasy World Map: Subverted. A distinct lack of one, actually. Justified in that the story is told through the eyes of Terisa, and when names of places are thrown at her, the reader is as confused as she is. What can be ascertained is that Mordant is a string of countries between Alend, which has a coastline, and Cadwal, which is a desert country.
Mordant's Need / int_a139f52b	featureApplicability	-0.3
Mordant's Need / int_a139f52b	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_a139f52b
Mordant's Need / int_a3a7c41	type	Black Sheep
Mordant's Need / int_a3a7c41	comment	Black Sheep: Nyle. Instead of being loyal to the King like the rest of the Domne's sons, he chooses to plot insurrection. Both Artagel and Geraden are furious when they find out.
Mordant's Need / int_a3a7c41	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_a3a7c41	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_a3a7c41
Mordant's Need / int_a4c37cbe	type	Mood Whiplash
Mordant's Need / int_a4c37cbe	comment	Mood Whiplash/Wham Line: Terisa is amused by his attempts until Stead matter-of-factly says she must not think of Geraden as a man, because if she did, why is she here and not in Geraden's bed? She does just that immediately after, and finally expresses her feelings for Geraden to him personally.
Mordant's Need / int_a4c37cbe	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_a4c37cbe	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_a4c37cbe
Mordant's Need / int_a5a24920	type	Big Breast Pride
Mordant's Need / int_a5a24920	comment	Big-Breast Pride: Saddith, full stop. Terisa is an aversion; while she has the assets, she isn't cognizant of them, even when Saddith flat out tells her she's well-endowed.
Mordant's Need / int_a5a24920	featureApplicability	-1.0
Mordant's Need / int_a5a24920	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_a5a24920
Mordant's Need / int_a6123b72	type	Enfant Terrible
Mordant's Need / int_a6123b72	comment	Enfant Terrible / Self-Made Orphan: Eremis. You know that gigantic Sand Worm he summons at the end of the second book? He first summoned it at age ten. He also deliberately killed his family by creating a house fire.
Mordant's Need / int_a6123b72	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_a6123b72	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_a6123b72
Mordant's Need / int_a96b8b63	type	Space Marine
Mordant's Need / int_a96b8b63	comment	Space Marine: The Champion, Darsint, who was fighting over a planetoid that was marginally strategically important. Darsint later says Pythas wasn't that important, at least not enough to cost him his men.
Mordant's Need / int_a96b8b63	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_a96b8b63	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_a96b8b63
Mordant's Need / int_a9de87d2	type	Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass
Mordant's Need / int_a9de87d2	comment	Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Geraden. Subverted with Eremis who recognizes Geraden's talent and constantly keeps him from learning his own power.
Mordant's Need / int_a9de87d2	featureApplicability	-0.3
Mordant's Need / int_a9de87d2	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_a9de87d2
Mordant's Need / int_ac5364fe	type	Chekhov's Hobby
Mordant's Need / int_ac5364fe	comment	Chekhov's Hobby: For both Myste and Elega, it is exploring the secret passages throughout Orison. Elega uses this to hide from the Tor's men and the Castellan and also poison the water supply; Myste uses it to escape Orison and chase after the "Champion."
Mordant's Need / int_ac5364fe	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_ac5364fe	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_ac5364fe
Mordant's Need / int_acecb17d	type	Chekhov's Skill
Mordant's Need / int_acecb17d	comment	Chekhov's Skill: Geraden's constant clumsiness. It may inconvenience him throughout the book, but it has also taught him how to recover quickly, and that makes all the difference when he attacks Nyle. For Terisa, knowing how to play hop-board. It aids her in playing Prince Kragen to a stalemate and therefore saving him face.
Mordant's Need / int_acecb17d	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_acecb17d	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_acecb17d
Mordant's Need / int_ad1db87c	type	Oh, Crap!
Mordant's Need / int_ad1db87c	comment	Oh, Crap!: The only swear Terisa begins to use is "Oh shit." She later mutters to herself that she really ought to learn a new swear when it starts achieving Catchphrase status. Vagel panicks when he sees Havelock attacking him — with a feather duster. Regardless, Vagel books it in a hurry.
Mordant's Need / int_ad1db87c	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_ad1db87c	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_ad1db87c
Mordant's Need / int_adfd3165	type	For the Evulz
Mordant's Need / int_adfd3165	comment	For the Evulz: Eremis has fun being evil.
Mordant's Need / int_adfd3165	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_adfd3165	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_adfd3165
Mordant's Need / int_ae3d6438	type	Deadpan Snarker
Mordant's Need / int_ae3d6438	comment	Deadpan Snarker: One noticeable effect of Terisa's growing self-confidence is that she starts making more and more sarcastic remarks as the story goes on, first just in her head, then out loud.
Mordant's Need / int_ae3d6438	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_ae3d6438	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_ae3d6438
Mordant's Need / int_af7d483f	type	Dreaming of Things to Come
Mordant's Need / int_af7d483f	comment	Dreaming of Things to Come: Everything Terisa dreams about comes true, sort of. They come true but they're different in many ways.
Mordant's Need / int_af7d483f	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_af7d483f	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_af7d483f
Mordant's Need / int_b01abe4f	type	Catchphrase
Mordant's Need / int_b01abe4f	comment	The only swear Terisa begins to use is "Oh shit." She later mutters to herself that she really ought to learn a new swear when it starts achieving Catchphrase status.
Mordant's Need / int_b01abe4f	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_b01abe4f	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_b01abe4f
Mordant's Need / int_b0a529cb	type	Extreme Doormat
Mordant's Need / int_b0a529cb	comment	Extreme Doormat: Terisa's mother, which Terisa inherited. The Armigite. It gets him shunned in the DÃ©nouement.
Mordant's Need / int_b0a529cb	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_b0a529cb	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_b0a529cb
Mordant's Need / int_b11ac9f5	type	Abusive Parents
Mordant's Need / int_b11ac9f5	comment	Abusive Parents for The Domne. When he learned Terisa's father used to lock her in the closet til she stopped crying, he became angry enough to throw his crutches out of the window and curse Joyse out (even though Joyse had no involvement with her abuse.)
Mordant's Need / int_b11ac9f5	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_b11ac9f5	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_b11ac9f5
Mordant's Need / int_b1346878	type	Fate Worse than Death
Mordant's Need / int_b1346878	comment	Fate Worse than Death: When Geraden and Terisa enter a deserted village, they find a pile of burnt corpses. Geraden guesses they're the ones who didn't get away. Terisa replies they might be the ones who did get away. Geraden's less than pleased at this idea.
Mordant's Need / int_b1346878	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_b1346878	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_b1346878
Mordant's Need / int_b26cc887	type	Just Between You and Me
Mordant's Need / int_b26cc887	comment	Terisa pushes Emeris' button by saying he's afraid of Geraden, or anyone for that matter. She even provokes him into a Just Between You and Me in which he outright admits he's the traitor.
Mordant's Need / int_b26cc887	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_b26cc887	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_b26cc887
Mordant's Need / int_b4fce1ab	type	Obfuscating Insanity
Mordant's Need / int_b4fce1ab	comment	Obfuscating Insanity: Subverted. Havelock is insane in that he can't communicate lucidly anymore save some brief periods. However, he's still The Chessmaster and is able to keep to his plan and react.
Mordant's Need / int_b4fce1ab	featureApplicability	-0.3
Mordant's Need / int_b4fce1ab	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_b4fce1ab
Mordant's Need / int_b838c815	type	Dénouement
Mordant's Need / int_b838c815	comment	The Armigite. It gets him shunned in the DÃ©nouement.
Mordant's Need / int_b838c815	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_b838c815	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_b838c815
Mordant's Need / int_b84adf36	type	By "No", I Mean "Yes"
Mordant's Need / int_b84adf36	comment	By "No", I Mean "Yes": Or, rather, By "Yes", I Mean "No". The Tor is horrified that King Joyse seems to be giving permission to Lebbick to do anything it takes to interrogate Terisa, saying that Lebbick may rape and/or kill her. Joyse retorts Lebbick has to do his job. Lebbick is grateful, until Joyse then warns him he'd better be prepared to explain all of his actions. Joyse wants Terisa to "declare herself" and stop being passive, but he has no intention of letting things get too far, as he sends Quillon to rescue her if Lebbick crosses the line or seems like he will.
Mordant's Need / int_b84adf36	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_b84adf36	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_b84adf36
Mordant's Need / int_ba0791de	type	First Girl Wins
Mordant's Need / int_ba0791de	comment	First Girl Wins: Or First Guy Wins in this case, played completely straight.
Mordant's Need / int_ba0791de	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_ba0791de	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_ba0791de
Mordant's Need / int_ba440e1	type	THeUnfavorite
Mordant's Need / int_ba440e1	comment	The Un-Favorite: Eremis — although he's able to work around it with his wits — and Nyle. No one seems to like The Armigite. His fate at the end? No one will acknowledge him anymore - he's not worth spending breath on. Nyle thinks of himself of this to King Joyse. It leads to his betrayal, and in the end, Joyse apologizes deeply to Nyle, and he didn't mean to ignore his obvious talents. Privately, Joyse tells Terisa the reason he didn't pay him any mind was that Nyle seemed so needy.
Mordant's Need / int_ba440e1	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_ba440e1	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_ba440e1
Mordant's Need / int_bbb6c059	type	I Shall Taunt You
Mordant's Need / int_bbb6c059	comment	I Shall Taunt You Eremis loves doing this. It's hinted he gets sexually aroused from taunting his victims. Joyse does this gloriously to Festten. He even says he's always wanted to laugh in Festten's face - and he does it without actually laughing.
Mordant's Need / int_bbb6c059	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_bbb6c059	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_bbb6c059
Mordant's Need / int_bc74ef27	type	Berserk Button
Mordant's Need / int_bc74ef27	comment	Berserk Button: Lebbick has a few - mostly dealing with his wife - and fairly violent ones (just ask Saddith). Artagel presses a button that would normally elicit Unstoppable Rage in Lebbick but instead breaks him out of his Despair Event Horizon gently. Joyse. He's able to keep up his pretense of being a doddering old fool as things get grimmer and grimmer, but when he finds out his wife, Queen Madin, is kidnapped and held hostage, the line has been crossed. He completely drops the act, and even bullied Havelock into letting him use his smoke beast to rescue her, according to the latter. Keep in mind Havelock is Joyse's closest friend and confidant. Abusive Parents for The Domne. When he learned Terisa's father used to lock her in the closet til she stopped crying, he became angry enough to throw his crutches out of the window and curse Joyse out (even though Joyse had no involvement with her abuse.) Terisa pushes Emeris' button by saying he's afraid of Geraden, or anyone for that matter. She even provokes him into a Just Between You and Me in which he outright admits he's the traitor.
Mordant's Need / int_bc74ef27	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_bc74ef27	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_bc74ef27
Mordant's Need / int_bce16d24	type	Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?
Mordant's Need / int_bce16d24	comment	Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Terisa asks Eremis why he doesn't just translate Joyse through a flat mirror and drive him insane. He chuckles he wants Joyse to suffer first. Questions are asked in the second book why the enemy Imagers haven't attacked; they realize that they were waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
Mordant's Need / int_bce16d24	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_bce16d24	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_bce16d24
Mordant's Need / int_bd188274	type	Description in the Mirror
Mordant's Need / int_bd188274	comment	Description in the Mirror: Used rather neatly to show both Terisa's appearance and a large part of her characterisation.
Mordant's Need / int_bd188274	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_bd188274	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_bd188274
Mordant's Need / int_bf09d8e8	type	Eye Colour Change
Mordant's Need / int_bf09d8e8	comment	Eye Colour Change: Much is made of King Joyse's blue eyes. When he is playing the doddering old fool, they're watery and dull, but still a deep blue. When he drops the act, they become piercing and vibrantly blue.
Mordant's Need / int_bf09d8e8	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_bf09d8e8	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_bf09d8e8
Mordant's Need / int_bf1255fa	type	Really Gets Around
Mordant's Need / int_bf1255fa	comment	Really Gets Around: Saddith and Eremis.
Mordant's Need / int_bf1255fa	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_bf1255fa	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_bf1255fa
Mordant's Need / int_bf487e2b	type	Translator Microbes
Mordant's Need / int_bf487e2b	comment	Translator Microbes: The possible existence of this trope is discussed. Terisa perceives people in Mordant as speaking English, but Geraden says it's possible that translation through a glass makes you fluent in the language of the world you enter. He compares it to the fact that all translated creatures can somehow breathe Mordant's air, too.
Mordant's Need / int_bf487e2b	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_bf487e2b	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_bf487e2b
Mordant's Need / int_bfad4265	type	I Have You Now, My Pretty
Mordant's Need / int_bfad4265	comment	I Have You Now, My Pretty: Terisa ends up in this situation a lot. First to Lebbick, at the end of the first book. It's very ambiguous whether he wants to rape her or torture her, and at that point he probably isn't sure himself, but whatever it is, he's really looking forward to it. Eremis also takes Terisa captive on no less than two occasions in the second book and makes it very plain what he means to do to her each time.
Mordant's Need / int_bfad4265	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_bfad4265	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_bfad4265
Mordant's Need / int_c099ca1a	type	Real Women Don't Wear Dresses
Mordant's Need / int_c099ca1a	comment	Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: Averted. All the female characters wear Gorgeous Period Dresses most of the time and are overall pretty feminine, but that doesn't stop them from keeping cool heads and getting things done. Subverted in that the women in Orison also aren't stupid - even the royalty own heavy wool dresses for winter which are are plain and highly functional. The tailor is disgustedly doubtful of duplicating Terisa's jeans, but Terisa coos women from her world find them "delectable".
Mordant's Need / int_c099ca1a	featureApplicability	-0.3
Mordant's Need / int_c099ca1a	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_c099ca1a
Mordant's Need / int_c3191ad7	type	Smooch of Victory
Mordant's Need / int_c3191ad7	comment	Smooch of Victory: Terisa gives one to Havelock when he helps rescue her from Eremis. He becomes giddy like a child, before resuming his insanity (fortunately, he says nothing to kill the mood.)
Mordant's Need / int_c3191ad7	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_c3191ad7	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_c3191ad7
Mordant's Need / int_c31dc964	type	Grew a Spine
Mordant's Need / int_c31dc964	comment	Grew a Spine: Terisa's Character Development. However, when she sees her previous employer, Reverend Thatcher (whom she had always seen as impotent), actually strongarm her father into selling her abandoned apartment for his charity mission, she's inspired, and her father's hold on her vanishes as if smoke.
Mordant's Need / int_c31dc964	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_c31dc964	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_c31dc964
Mordant's Need / int_c3fbac64	type	Bestiality Is Depraved
Mordant's Need / int_c3fbac64	comment	Bestiality Is Depraved: High King Festten. Eremis derisively calls him a "sheepfucker" and states Festten only gets off having sex with animals.
Mordant's Need / int_c3fbac64	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_c3fbac64	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_c3fbac64
Mordant's Need / int_c5249b29	type	Nice Guy
Mordant's Need / int_c5249b29	comment	Nice Guy / Nice Girl: Despite the dark tone of the story, they exist. Oh, Geraden ... Unfortunately, he begins a very dramatic downwards slide after his brother Artagel is injured, and the subsequent plots around Nyle that begin to pop up. Terisa, too, is a remarkably nice person. She makes mistakes, but there is absolutely no malice in her even towards people who she has every reason to hate, and she always seems thrilled when she can do something nice for someone.
Mordant's Need / int_c5249b29	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_c5249b29	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_c5249b29
Mordant's Need / int_c601fc37	type	Professional Killer
Mordant's Need / int_c601fc37	comment	Professional Killer: Gart was the Royal assassin of Cadwal (The High-King's Monomach). He was trained from childhood for the role, and maintained his own stable of apprentices.
Mordant's Need / int_c601fc37	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_c601fc37	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_c601fc37
Mordant's Need / int_c6b8d37a	type	Cliffhanger
Mordant's Need / int_c6b8d37a	comment	First to Lebbick, at the end of the first book. It's very ambiguous whether he wants to rape her or torture her, and at that point he probably isn't sure himself, but whatever it is, he's really looking forward to it.
Mordant's Need / int_c6b8d37a	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_c6b8d37a	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_c6b8d37a
Mordant's Need / int_c9790040	type	Decadent Court
Mordant's Need / int_c9790040	comment	Decadent Court: While some characters are decadent and others aren't, the entire series revolves around secrets and palace plots, which outsider Terisa and commoner Geraden must entangle to figure out just what the heck is going on.
Mordant's Need / int_c9790040	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_c9790040	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_c9790040
Mordant's Need / int_c9e5a0db	type	Legacy Character
Mordant's Need / int_c9e5a0db	comment	Legacy Character: Gart is from a long line of Monomachs.
Mordant's Need / int_c9e5a0db	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_c9e5a0db	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_c9e5a0db
Mordant's Need / int_caa28b82	type	Cloudcuckoolander
Mordant's Need / int_caa28b82	comment	Cloudcuckoolander: Myste, with her romantic notions. The Cuckoolander Was Right: She's idealistic, but not stupid. Joyse did have a plan. He just didn't bother to tell anyone else but his inner circle of Havelock and Quillon.
Mordant's Need / int_caa28b82	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_caa28b82	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_caa28b82
Mordant's Need / int_cc7fae30	type	Outside-Context Problem
Mordant's Need / int_cc7fae30	comment	Outside-Context Problem: What makes Imagery so dangerous. It can bring things into the world that the people of Mordant have very limited ability to deal with (what exactly do you do against a cat the size of a horse that incinerates everything it touches, including the arrows you try to shoot at it?). Geraden's theory to why most creatures to come out of mirrors is so dangerous is that their being Outside-Context creates their Villainy - they can't help but be harmful to the environment around them, because it's an environment that they're not meant to be in.
Mordant's Need / int_cc7fae30	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_cc7fae30	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_cc7fae30
Mordant's Need / int_ce1d78bc	type	Foreign Queasine
Mordant's Need / int_ce1d78bc	comment	Foreign Queasine: Geraden buys Terisa a snack at the market that he says is a delicacy in Domne. Terisa takes one bite and then has to struggle to avoid letting him see how disgusting she finds it.
Mordant's Need / int_ce1d78bc	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_ce1d78bc	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_ce1d78bc
Mordant's Need / int_cfa546f4	type	Mother Russia Makes You Strong
Mordant's Need / int_cfa546f4	comment	Mother Russia Makes You Strong: According to Geraden, most of Cadwal "is ragged rocks and desert, and regions with water also have the kind of winds that tear your skin off your bones" which has bred a "strong and cruel" people. He goes on to say that because of this harsh climate, even "the men who fail as the High King's Monomach's Apts are so strong that Carmag is built on their bones."
Mordant's Need / int_cfa546f4	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_cfa546f4	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_cfa546f4
Mordant's Need / int_d013cd12	type	Lovable Rogue
Mordant's Need / int_d013cd12	comment	The Domne and his family are all considered unimpeachable, especially Artegal, who obviously studied the manual on being a Lovable Rogue.
Mordant's Need / int_d013cd12	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_d013cd12	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_d013cd12
Mordant's Need / int_d129e13e	type	"Eureka!" Moment
Mordant's Need / int_d129e13e	comment	"Eureka!" Moment: When Barsonage realizes Geraden had figured out Eremis' "flat mirror into curved mirror" trick on his own, he states Geraden is a real Master, not some silly Apt.
Mordant's Need / int_d129e13e	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_d129e13e	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_d129e13e
Mordant's Need / int_d2d520f4	type	Our Ghouls Are Creepier
Mordant's Need / int_d2d520f4	comment	Our Ghouls Are Creepier: Green, child-like creatures that absorb every living being they touch and multiply by splitting themselves like bacteria.
Mordant's Need / int_d2d520f4	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_d2d520f4	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_d2d520f4
Mordant's Need / int_d397657d	type	Hoist by His Own Petard
Mordant's Need / int_d397657d	comment	Arch-Imager Vagel was once the most powerful Imager in the world and arch-enemy of King Joyse during the founding of Mordant, and at the start of the series many believe that he's the mastermind behind the recent troubles. Once he actually appears, it turns out that he's a wreck, passively serving the real mastermind Eremis in the dreary hope that by doing so he'll at least get to see the people who brought him low fall. In the end even his final defeat is anticlimactic. While Gilbur goes down fighting and Eremis gets satisfyingly Hoist by His Own Petard, Vagel is last seen fleeing in panic from a crazy old man, who then kills him off screen by impaling him on a tree branch.
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Mordant's Need / int_d397657d	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_d397657d
Mordant's Need / int_d39e327f	type	What the Hell, Hero?
Mordant's Need / int_d39e327f	comment	What the Hell, Hero?: Thanks to King Joyse's gambit, he gets a lot of it, before and after his Batman Gambit is revealed. To his credit, after he ends his act, he accepts full responsibility for his action, and apologizes to all injured parties, most of all Nyle.
Mordant's Need / int_d39e327f	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_d39e327f	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_d39e327f
Mordant's Need / int_d44ea142	type	You Are Not Alone
Mordant's Need / int_d44ea142	comment	You Are Not Alone: Artagel convinces Lebbick of this after Lebbick has retreated to his home after maiming Saddith, stating everyone who matters needs him: Geraden, Terisa, Joyse, and so on.
Mordant's Need / int_d44ea142	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_d44ea142	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_d44ea142
Mordant's Need / int_d62dd556	type	The Chessmaster
Mordant's Need / int_d62dd556	comment	King Joyse himself changed the world in his youth, stopping the warfare between two great empires and turning Imagery from a weapon of war to something that could be peacefully studied. These days, he can barely be roused from the hopboard table and reminded that he's still got a kingdom to run. Subverted. Joyse is only pretending to have fallen.
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Mordant's Need / int_d62dd556	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_d66cd0e6	type	Training from Hell
Mordant's Need / int_d66cd0e6	comment	Training from Hell: In Cadwal, even training to be the Monomach's assistant has a high mortality rate.
Mordant's Need / int_d66cd0e6	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_d66cd0e6	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_d66cd0e6
Mordant's Need / int_d7b34c31	type	Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"
Mordant's Need / int_d7b34c31	comment	Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" / Spell My Name with a "The": The leaders of each of Mordant's provinces are known by the name of their region, ie. The Tor, The Perdon, The Domne, etc.
Mordant's Need / int_d7b34c31	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_d7b34c31	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_d839c530	type	The Unfettered
Mordant's Need / int_d839c530	comment	The Unfettered: The Big Bad is this, and very proud of his refusal to accept no moral restrictions on his behaviour whatsoever. You could make a case for King Joyse being a benign example, being willing to use absolutely any means at his disposal to pursue what he sees as the greater good — til The Domne gave Joyse some perspective about how life goes on, preventing him from becoming a tyrant.
Mordant's Need / int_d839c530	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_d839c530	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_d839c530
Mordant's Need / int_d9cf40fa	type	Screw This, I'm Outta Here
Mordant's Need / int_d9cf40fa	comment	Vagel panicks when he sees Havelock attacking him — with a feather duster. Regardless, Vagel books it in a hurry.
Mordant's Need / int_d9cf40fa	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_d9cf40fa	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_d9cf40fa
Mordant's Need / int_dae5c997	type	Action Girl
Mordant's Need / int_dae5c997	comment	All three of Joyse's daughters turn out to be Action Girls: Myst goes into a hostile landscape to find the Champion, who nearly kills her, Elega poisons the reservoir and allies herself with Kragan to save Mordant, and Shrinking Violet Torrent grabs a knife and goes after her mother, to give any rescuers a path to follow.
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Mordant's Need / int_dae5c997	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_dae5c997
Mordant's Need / int_dbc2a0cd	type	Hand Wave
Mordant's Need / int_dbc2a0cd	comment	Handwave: When Terisa asks how they deal with natural mirrors and reflections (such as water or in each other's eyes), Joyse merely says they avoid trying to find them.
Mordant's Need / int_dbc2a0cd	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_dbc2a0cd	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_dbc2a0cd
Mordant's Need / int_dc67d9ba	type	Kiss of Death
Mordant's Need / int_dc67d9ba	comment	Kiss of Death: Lebbick gives a passionless kiss to Terisa. He's conflicted by how sexually attractive she is and how he wants to honor his dead wife. The conflict drives him to murderous rage.
Mordant's Need / int_dc67d9ba	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_dc67d9ba	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_dca70c44	type	Reasonable Authority Figure
Mordant's Need / int_dca70c44	comment	Reasonable Authority Figure: Of all the people in charge, only Prince Kragen proves to be one. This is why Elega is in love with him. When she harbors a potential royal hostage and lets her go under his nose, Kragen is angry, but is willing to listen to why she did it, and is able to accept her decision as logical.
Mordant's Need / int_dca70c44	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_dca70c44	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_dca70c44
Mordant's Need / int_dda99fa8	type	Despair Event Horizon
Mordant's Need / int_dda99fa8	comment	Despair Event Horizon: Of all the characters in the book, the Tor gets it worst, and is reduced to a mass of blubbery flesh that gorges on wine.
Mordant's Need / int_dda99fa8	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_dda99fa8	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_dda99fa8
Mordant's Need / int_de9047ac	type	Gambit Pileup
Mordant's Need / int_de9047ac	comment	Gambit Pileup: At first the book looks like this, both to Terisa and the reader. However by the end it's pretty clear there's only three factions. Neatly pointed out by Terisa to Master Quillion in quite a touching moment. When Quillion asks Terisa why she didn't tell anyone about Gart trying to kill her again Terisa asks, quite fairly, who Quillion expects her to trust. The Tor is the wild card, behaving in a way even Joyse didn't expect, which both infuriates and warms him.
Mordant's Need / int_de9047ac	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_de9047ac	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_de9047ac
Mordant's Need / int_e34400ab	type	Ambiguously Gay
Mordant's Need / int_e34400ab	comment	Ambiguously Gay: Geraden says his brother Wester is the hottest thing on two legs, but isn't interested in women.
Mordant's Need / int_e34400ab	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_e34400ab	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_e34400ab
Mordant's Need / int_e3d06d0c	type	Bash Brothers
Mordant's Need / int_e3d06d0c	comment	Bash Brothers: Argus and Ribuld. They are introduced at the beginning of the story and then treated almost as the same character. They are reasonably good at fighting, at least able to hold off Gart for some time. And the moment they're separated Argus dies.
Mordant's Need / int_e3d06d0c	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_e3d06d0c	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_e4965307	type	Composite Character
Mordant's Need / int_e4965307	comment	Composite Character: Stead is described as Geraden doing his best Eremis impression and half-succeeding.
Mordant's Need / int_e4965307	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_e4965307	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_e4965307
Mordant's Need / int_e52a0409	type	Calling the Old Man Out
Mordant's Need / int_e52a0409	comment	Calling the Old Man Out: Elega does this a few times to Joyse, and not without reason.
Mordant's Need / int_e52a0409	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_e52a0409	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_e52a0409
Mordant's Need / int_e567510d	type	Determinator
Mordant's Need / int_e567510d	comment	Determinator: Geraden. When he sets his mind on something, he never gives up. A prime example is trying to become a full-fledged Imager. He's the longest serving Apt (which is an embarrassment) who is looked down on by everyone. Despite Eremis' attempts to humiliate him into quitting, he never does.
Mordant's Need / int_e567510d	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_e567510d	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_e567510d
Mordant's Need / int_e7dfebe8	type	I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!
Mordant's Need / int_e7dfebe8	comment	I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!: Oh, Saddith knows how to use this to her advantage, and even lectures Terisa on it. After Lebbick beats her up and disfigures her, she bares her maimed breasts to a crowd to highlight what he did — a perverse example of her using her breasts to manipulate people.
Mordant's Need / int_e7dfebe8	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_e7dfebe8	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_e83f211c	type	O.O.C. Is Serious Business
Mordant's Need / int_e83f211c	comment	O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Geraden and Barsonage visit Havelock late in the second book, Havelock has cleaned his entire quarters, arranged all his mirrors neatly, swept and cleaned his chasuble. He's normally an extreme Pig Pen. He knows that events are coming to a head.
Mordant's Need / int_e83f211c	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_e83f211c	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_e8760868	type	Space Whale Aesop
Mordant's Need / int_e8760868	comment	Space Whale Aesop: The ethics of transporting people and animals from their native habitat is explored. The real world equivalent is basically respecting the rights of strangers and the dangers of invasive species, as well as the touchy subject of forced relocation.
Mordant's Need / int_e8760868	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_e8760868	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_e8760868
Mordant's Need / int_ea0d06f0	type	Bookcase Passage
Mordant's Need / int_ea0d06f0	comment	Bookcase Passage: In a non-bookcase example, the secret passage in the Peacock Room. It's used at different times by Terisa, Master Quillon, Gart, and Adept Havelock. Castellan Lebbick knows about it and attempts to use it to prove Terisa is conspiring against the king. Saddith knows about it as well, and tells Master Eremis, who then tells Gart.
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Mordant's Need / int_ea0d06f0	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_ea0d06f0
Mordant's Need / int_eaa8a7d8	type	Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers!
Mordant's Need / int_eaa8a7d8	comment	Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers!: Eremis and other like-minded Imagers. Eremis is offended by Joyse's idea that Imagers shouldn't pluck living beings from their world without getting permission. It's the reason why he promotes the idea that things translated from mirrors are created by Imagers, and don't have any prior existence. When Terisa notes that the callat have a history and culture before Eremis discovered them; therefore they couldn't have been created by the Mirror. Eremis chuckles and says no sane person should believe Images had no existence before being translated. He goes on to say that it doesn't matter. Imagers don't need to ask - they should be The Unfettered.
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Mordant's Need / int_eaa8a7d8	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_eadc018f	type	Pinball Protagonist
Mordant's Need / int_eadc018f	comment	Pinball Protagonist: Terisa, all the way.
Mordant's Need / int_eadc018f	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_eadc018f	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_eadc018f
Mordant's Need / int_eae41a	type	The Vamp
Mordant's Need / int_eae41a	comment	The Vamp: Saddith. She sleeps with men to rise in social position.
Mordant's Need / int_eae41a	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_eae41a	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_eaf5a1ac	type	Groin Attack
Mordant's Need / int_eaf5a1ac	comment	Groin Attack: Terisa does this once to Eremis. It succeeds in making him less trusting. Played for Laughs by Argus.
Mordant's Need / int_eaf5a1ac	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_eaf5a1ac	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_eb002293	type	Shrinking Violet
Mordant's Need / int_eb002293	comment	Shrinking Violet: Terisa at first. This is also considered to be Myste and Elega's sister Torrent's main trait but it turns out she's more like her mother than anyone thought.
Mordant's Need / int_eb002293	featureApplicability	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_ed3a5a30	type	Big Labyrinthine Building
Mordant's Need / int_ed3a5a30	comment	Big Labyrinthine Building: The castle, Orison, with its secret passageways, dead ends, and misshaped architecture.
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Mordant's Need / int_ed3a5a30	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_ed6d2a0a	type	The Mad Hatter
Mordant's Need / int_ed6d2a0a	comment	The Mad Hatter: Adept Havelock. He went insane after following Arch-Imager Vagel through a flat glass, and now spends his days playing checkers hop-board and talking about sex.
Mordant's Need / int_ed6d2a0a	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_ed6d2a0a	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_eff83d77	type	Mundane Utility
Mordant's Need / int_eff83d77	comment	Mundane Utility: Traditionally, Imagery has been used almost exclusively in the following way: one, create a glass with an Image of something horrible in it. Two, aim the glass at your enemies and translate the horrible thing right into their laps. The stated purpose of the Congery is to find non-destructive uses of Imagery. Over the course of the story, a few such uses are in fact employed - see Boring, but Practical for an example.
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Mordant's Need / int_eff83d77	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_f16da697	type	Undying Loyalty
Mordant's Need / int_f16da697	comment	Undying Loyalty: Joyse was so popular that even in his profoundly senile state, the Tor, Myste, Geraden and Lebbick support him, thick and thin, as does The Fayle, since he's the Queen's father. Geraden's brothers. Eremis asks Artagel why he doesn't trust him. Artagel's response is simple: because Geraden doesn't. Invoked by Joyse when Terisa questions why he didn't have someone spy on Geraden when he was around her. He snorts Geraden was loyal to Terisa and didn't need to be spied on. Geraden and Terisa, and not just because they're in love. Near the end of the story, even Havelock says that Geraden is unreliable because he'll save Terisa over everyone else, including Orison. Just like Joyse. However, he grins sincerely when he says that.
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Mordant's Need / int_f32dadad	type	Instant Messenger Pigeon
Mordant's Need / int_f32dadad	comment	Instant Messenger Pigeon: Used between Prince Kragen and his father. Averted in that Terisa desperately lectures Castellan Lebbick on the one-way usage of such birds.
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Mordant's Need / int_f32dadad	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_f36c4f98	type	Easily Forgiven
Mordant's Need / int_f36c4f98	comment	Easily Forgiven: Terisa admits to King Joyse she blabbed his pretending to be weak to Eremis, potentially totally wrecking his and Havelock's plans. He merely replies, "My lady, you were provoked." Justified, in that he's been a Manipulative Bastard and can't expect his Batman Gambit to go super-smooth.
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Mordant's Need / int_f36c4f98	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_f42f96fa	type	Would Hit a Girl
Mordant's Need / int_f42f96fa	comment	Would Hit a Girl: Lebbick, Eremis, Gilbur. The Termigan's men knock Terisa out the second they learn she's an Imager.
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Mordant's Need / int_f42f96fa	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_f5e6ed44	type	No Sense of Humor
Mordant's Need / int_f5e6ed44	comment	No Sense of Humor: Joyse, according to The Domne. However, he notes, that Joyse has a great sense of joy.
Mordant's Need / int_f5e6ed44	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_f5e6ed44	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_f6b2bfb7	type	Gold Digger
Mordant's Need / int_f6b2bfb7	comment	Gold Digger: Saddit is sleeping her way to the top. She craves power more than money, however.
Mordant's Need / int_f6b2bfb7	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_f6b2bfb7	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_f6b2bfb7
Mordant's Need / int_f6b698ac	type	Complexity Addiction
Mordant's Need / int_f6b698ac	comment	Complexity Addiction: Eremis, of sorts. When one of his plans fails, or new obstacles arise, he doesn't pout or get angry. Rather, he gets pleased because he loves a Worthy Opponent and being able to overcome something new just shows how great he is. Averted by Artagel and Minnick. Heck, the latter deconstructs the trope by chuckling that everyone else makes a big deal out of little things, when, really, everything is simple when you really think about it. King Joyse also averted it when creating the Congery. Quillon says Joyse didn't create the Congery for research or any other higher intellectual goals. Imagers were hurting people and Joyse wanted them to stop.
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Mordant's Need / int_f6b698ac	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_f769e261	type	Anything but That!
Mordant's Need / int_f769e261	comment	Anything but That!: Reading the book again will show that Joyse was ready to drop the pretense of being weak and take action several times in the book, such as when Tor brought his dead son maimed by creatures to him, when Terisa lied about Myst going to seek out her mother, and when Havelock did nothing to save Terisa from Gilbur. The last straw, however, was Queen Madin being kidnapped. Even though Havelock begged him not to go after her, Joyse was adamant and demanded he have Havelock's cloud pet fly him to Fayle and rescue her. He was not going to pretend to be weak when his wife is in danger, period.
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Mordant's Need / int_f769e261	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_f8173bd9	type	Medieval European Fantasy
Mordant's Need / int_f8173bd9	comment	Medieval European Fantasy: Kinda, sorta. There's a lot of Schizo Tech involved, too.
Mordant's Need / int_f8173bd9	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_f8173bd9	featureConfidence	1.0
Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Mordant's Need / int_f8173bd9
Mordant's Need / int_f818b637	type	Dude, Where's My Respect?
Mordant's Need / int_f818b637	comment	Dude, Where's My Respect?: Nyle, especially since he's Overshadowed by Awesome by Artegal and Geraden. It leads him to ally with Elega and Prince Kragen.
Mordant's Need / int_f818b637	featureApplicability	1.0
Mordant's Need / int_f818b637	featureConfidence	1.0
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Mordant's Need / int_f933e594	type	How the Mighty Have Fallen
Mordant's Need / int_f933e594	comment	How the Mighty Have Fallen: Several characters used to be a lot more impressive in the backstory than they are today. Arch-Imager Vagel was once the most powerful Imager in the world and arch-enemy of King Joyse during the founding of Mordant, and at the start of the series many believe that he's the mastermind behind the recent troubles. Once he actually appears, it turns out that he's a wreck, passively serving the real mastermind Eremis in the dreary hope that by doing so he'll at least get to see the people who brought him low fall. In the end even his final defeat is anticlimactic. While Gilbur goes down fighting and Eremis gets satisfyingly Hoist by His Own Petard, Vagel is last seen fleeing in panic from a crazy old man, who then kills him off screen by impaling him on a tree branch. Adept Havelock used to be the Merlin to Joyse's King Arthur. His last confrontation with Vagel left him a babbling lunatic, albeit with a few, rare flashes of the man he used to be. King Joyse himself changed the world in his youth, stopping the warfare between two great empires and turning Imagery from a weapon of war to something that could be peacefully studied. These days, he can barely be roused from the hopboard table and reminded that he's still got a kingdom to run. Subverted. Joyse is only pretending to have fallen. Castellan Lebbick is introduced mid-fall. His Undying Loyalty to a doddering Joyse is constantly tested, especially with his wife's recent death (after having been nearly raped to death decades ago), makes him have a Hair-Trigger Temper, and events of the book find him being ground down into a broken wreck. Prince Kragen's father, King Margonal. He is blind, unable to move under his own power anymore, his line of succession is in jeopardy, and he is deathly afraid of King Joyse, saying that his dreams are more vivid now that he's blind, and they all star Joyse humiliating him.
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Mordant's Need / int_f9876f7e	type	Faking the Dead
Mordant's Need / int_f9876f7e	comment	Faking the Dead: Nyle is believed dead when his body is partially devoured by translated creatures. They later realize that it was actually the doctor, who was killed and put in Nyle's place to be partially devoured, while a seriously wounded but still alive Nyle was spirited away to Eremis' hideout.
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Mordant's Need / int_f9f2c33	type	Running Gag
Mordant's Need / int_f9f2c33	comment	Running Gag: A rare instance where it's an In-Universe one to the characters: the Coitus Interruptus of Eremis and Terisa by Geraden. He claims that he thinks Terisa is in danger with Eremis. Saddith mocks him for that feeling. He's right.
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Mordant's Need / int_fc45bac0	type	Wouldn't Hit a Girl
Mordant's Need / int_fc45bac0	comment	Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Darsint, which saves Myste's life. Would Hit a Girl: Lebbick, Eremis, Gilbur. The Termigan's men knock Terisa out the second they learn she's an Imager.
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Mordant's Need / int_fd4f8299	type	Well-Intentioned Extremist
Mordant's Need / int_fd4f8299	comment	Well-Intentioned Extremist: Nyle and Elega. According to The Domne, Joyse. He noted that there was a fine line between being a crusader and a tyrant, and it was his job to give Joyse perspective. This is why he refused to give Joyse any men to fight for him; he told Joyse he needed every man to help with his sheep who were foaling at the moment, reminding him that life goes on and that he needs to know what end his means are aiming for.
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Mordant's Need / int_fd5f23a7	type	Skyward Scream
Mordant's Need / int_fd5f23a7	comment	Skyward Scream: When Tor brings his eldest son, who is dead and badly mutilated, to Joyse, the latter lets out one, and it looks like he'll finally take action, til Havelock reminds him he has to play hop-board. We later learn that Havelock is reminding Joyse there is a plan and to stick with it, and that Joyse's biggest weakness is that he must protect his loved ones, no matter the cost.
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Mordant's Need / int_fe614133	type	Beauty Is Never Tarnished
Mordant's Need / int_fe614133	comment	Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Terisa. When Terisa is cut on the cheek by Gart, Saddith later says that it'll leave a scar - but it'll only add to her beauty. Likewise Myste, in the second book. She acquires a burn scar on the side of her face, but Elega thinks that "instead of marring her beauty... it had the effect of increasing her air of conviction."
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Mordant's Need / int_ff7f34c5	type	Pet the Dog
Mordant's Need / int_ff7f34c5	comment	Pet the Dog: Terisa is given a long, lengthy tour of Domne by Minnick. She realizes she can either spend the entire day looking at the area, or cut it short. She chooses the former, which pleases Minnick immensely. The peck on the cheek she gives him after pleases him even more. When Havelock gets Terisa and Geraden back from Terisa's world, she's so happy she kisses him, too. Havelock is so pleased he can withstand a question from Geraden, which would usually snap him out of lucidity.
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Mordant's Need / int_fff371b4	type	Death Seeker
Mordant's Need / int_fff371b4	comment	Death Seeker: Lebbick. He actually fights Gart to a standstill because he abandons restraint, not caring if he gets killed or not.
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Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Bash Brothers / int_d8d1fc03
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Mordant's Need	hasFeature	How the Mighty Have Fallen / int_d8d1fc03
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Mordant's Need	hasFeature	Big Breast Pride / int_d8d1fc03

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