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The Baroque Cycle
- 524 statements
- 103 feature instances
- 49 referencing feature instances
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The Baroque Cycle | label |
The Baroque Cycle | |
The Baroque Cycle | page |
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The Baroque Cycle | comment |
The Baroque Cycle is an epic by Neal Stephenson about the birth of the modern world set during The Cavalier Years, in the same universe as Cryptonomicon. Through the volumes Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World, the cycle follow the intertwining stories of natural philosopher Daniel Waterhouse FRS, vagabond 'Half-Cocked' Jack Shaftoe, his soldier brother Bob and harem girl-cum-capitalist Eliza of Qwghlm, who's also the love of Jack's life. Spanning decades and the globe, the novels chart the rise and eventual triumph of the scientific method and modern capitalism. Collectively, the story might best be described as historical science-fiction with fantastic elements.Basically, it's the result of what happens when you take one part tall tale, one part science, one part modern history, one part alchemy, a dictionary, a dash of macroeconomics, and a whole lot of guts. Add Isaac Newton, cryptography, The Sun King, puritans, the Royal Society, capitalism, Blackbeard, illegitimate children, and Solomonic gold.The protagonists: Daniel Waterhouse: Science Hero and son of a Well-Intentioned Extremist, he's eschewed his father's extremist Puritanism in favor of an interest in natural philosophy. In his old age, he's The Professor, but is often seen as a Mad Scientist. "Half-Cocked" Jack Shaftoe: Action Hero, Lovable Rogue, and unwilling Celibate Hero ("Half-Cocked" has more than one meaning...) with a thirst for adventure who lives his life as one Indy Ploy after another and is an example of I Have Many Names, such as: 'Half-Cocked' Jack, L'Emmerdeur, the King of the Vagabonds, Ali Zaybak, Quicksilver, Sword of Divine Fire, and Jack the Coiner. Eliza: An ex-slave rescued by Jack who soon discovers a talent for both finance and manipulation. Her brilliance, financial acumen, skill at espionage, penchant for planning and ability to manipulate people (including pretty much the entire French nobility) make her one hell of a Guile Hero. Bob Shaftoe: Jack's somewhat more level-headed brother and thus the Blue Oni to Jack's Red Oni. Spends much of the cycle trying to rescue a Distressed Damsel from a villain, working with Daniel and Eliza from time to time.Real Life natural philosophers featured heavily in the story: Isaac Newton: Cloud Cuckoolander extraordinaire and Ambiguously Gay freakish loner who happens to be one of the most brilliant people who have ever lived. Gottfried Leibniz: A German natural philosopher just a brilliant as Newton but without the personality flaws and with a very different worldview. Indeed, the book's main focus is the difference between Newton and Leibniz's worldviews. John Wilkins: The Professor who effectively founded the Royal Society. The Mentor to Daniel. Has an interest in how language can both obfuscate and clarify meaning. Robert Hooke: Deformed Omnidisciplinary Scientist and Jerk with a Heart of Gold. He's obsessed enough with his work that he can veer off into Morally Ambiguous Doctorate at times, but he's not completely amoral.Jack's Cabal, organized in The Confusion: Moseh de la Cruz: Spanish crypto-Jew and The Smart Guy who organized the Cabal and came up with their Plan. Badass Bookworm. Otto van Hoek: seaman who really hates pirates. Becomes The Captain when the Cabal gets their Cool Boat. Dappa: African linguist, Badass Bookworm, and just as much The Smart Guy as Moseh. Hates slavery just as much as Van Hoek hates pirates. Completely averts Scary Black Man, as he's one of the most calm, collected, and intellectual members of the Cabal. Jeronimo: Dashing Hispanic with Hollywood Tourette's. Gabriel Goto: Japanese Christian Rōnin who demonstrates Katanas Are Just Better. Born after his father was exiled from Japan and wants to go home for the first time in his life. As a Jesuit priest, he's also well-educated, and very much a Genius Bruiser. Vrej Esphahnian: Manipulative Bastard and old "friend" of Jack. Yevgeny the Raskolnik: The Big Guy. As The Big Guy he, of course, uses a hammer after he loses his arm at the battle of Khan el-Khalili it is replaced with a cannonball on an iron rod at on point and a massive flail at another pointAnd tying everyone together: Enoch Root, also known as Enoch the Red: Immortal alchemist and the only character from Cryptonomicon to personally appear in The Baroque Cycle. Straddles the line between Deus ex Machina and Deus Exit Machina: he often tips off the protagonists to vital information they couldn't have known otherwise (but he doesn't tell them too much), and he quickly makes himself scarce so the protagonists can act on that information by themselves. | |
The Baroque Cycle | fetched |
2023-10-11T22:07:38Z | |
The Baroque Cycle | parsed |
2023-10-11T22:07:39Z | |
The Baroque Cycle | processingComment |
Dropped link to DoorStopper: Not a Feature - ITEM | |
The Baroque Cycle | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_146f8df0 | type |
Situational Sexuality | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_146f8df0 | comment |
Situational Sexuality: In Quicksilver, Eliza states that while in the harem, she had intimate relationships with other women since no other men were around. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_146f8df0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_146f8df0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_146f8df0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_153299b4 | type |
Boisterous Bruiser | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_153299b4 | comment |
Boisterous Bruiser: "Half-Cocked" Jack Shaftoe, "L'Emmerdeur, the King of the Vagabonds, Ali Zaybak: Quicksilver." Jack's sons, Jimmy and Danny, also inherited this trait. Peter the Great also counts. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_153299b4 | featureApplicability |
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The Baroque Cycle / int_153299b4 | featureConfidence |
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The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_153299b4 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_1592e954 | type |
Man Bites Man | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_1592e954 | comment |
Man Bites Man: Charles White, Lord Bolingbroke's sadistic Dragon, has a nasty habit of biting Whigs' ears off. He keeps them to show off to his friends. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_1592e954 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_1592e954 | featureConfidence |
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The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_1592e954 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_166e33f3 | type |
Little Miss Badass | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_166e33f3 | comment |
Little Miss Badass: Johann von Hackleheber is a male example. At the age of five, he shoots a man attempting to harpoon his adopted father—in the eye—with a toy bow and arrow. Doing so saved his father's life. He only grew from there. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_166e33f3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_166e33f3 | featureConfidence |
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The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_166e33f3 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_17a606bd | type |
Master Swordsman | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_17a606bd | comment |
Master Swordsman: The Earl of Upnor is said to be the most skilled swordsman in England. During a duel, he even manages to convey sarcasm through the movements of his sword. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_17a606bd | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_17a606bd | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_17a606bd | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_1b8cef9c | type |
The High Queen | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_1b8cef9c | comment |
The High Queen: Sophie of Hanover. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_1b8cef9c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_1b8cef9c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_1b8cef9c | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_1d3bc993 | type |
Mistaken for Special Guest | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_1d3bc993 | comment |
Mistaken for Special Guest: Jack Shaftoe, AKA "King of the Vagabonds," accidentally crashes a masquerade party that King Louis of France is expected to attend dressed as...King of the Vagabonds. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_1d3bc993 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_1d3bc993 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_1d3bc993 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_1edfa2c7 | type |
Royals Who Actually Do Something | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_1edfa2c7 | comment |
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Louis XIV, William of Orange, Peter the Great, and the females of the House of Hanover. Notably, the King Charles II personally led a squad of firemen to deal with the Fire of London, and killed Daniel's father when he got in the way. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_1edfa2c7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_1edfa2c7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_1edfa2c7 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_21a446a7 | type |
Winter Royal Lady | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_21a446a7 | comment |
Winter Royal Lady: Much is made of the legacy of the original one; Elizabeth Stuart, the Winter Queen. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_21a446a7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_21a446a7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_21a446a7 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_227f74e1 | type |
Hollywood Tourette's | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_227f74e1 | comment |
Hollywood Tourette's: Jeronimo. There's even an amusing reference to the (fictional) St. Etienne de la Tourette. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_227f74e1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_227f74e1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_227f74e1 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_25b5600 | type |
Captain Ersatz | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_25b5600 | comment |
Captain Ersatz: Stephenson substituted some Real Life figures with these to make his story flow better: all members of Charles II's CABAL are these, Roger Comstock's life is almost identical to that of Charles Montagu (the narration even lampshades it by referring to Roger as "a Capulet or a Montague"), and in college, Daniel took the role of Isaac's Real Life roommate. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_25b5600 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_25b5600 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_25b5600 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_25bc8511 | type |
Generation Xerox | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_25bc8511 | comment |
Generation Xerox: Various characters are examples for their descendants, who appear in Cryptonomicon. Daniel Waterhouse: The ancestor of Lawrence and Randy Waterhouse, he is an extremely intelligent technophile who makes contributions to the realm of computing, but lives in the shadow of his more brilliant friends Jack Shaftoe and his sons are irreverent badasses. Bob Shaftoe is a soldier. Both are the ancestors of Bobby and Amy Shaftoe. Gabriel Goto is a tough and level-headed side-character. He is the ancestor of the unflinching, level-headed Goto Dengo. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_25bc8511 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_25bc8511 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_25bc8511 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_292d1ccd | type |
Everyone Went to School Together | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_292d1ccd | comment |
Everyone Went to School Together: Daniel Waterhouse and Isaac Newton, as well as Upnor, Monmouth, and Jeffreys, were all at Cambridge at the same time. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_292d1ccd | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_292d1ccd | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_292d1ccd | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_2a090d00 | type |
Lampshade Hanging | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_2a090d00 | comment |
Lampshade Hanging: When Bob gets himself in over his head, Teague asks him, "What d'you think y'are, a character in a friggin' novel, Bob?" He's accusing him of believing that he has Plot Armor. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_2a090d00 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_2a090d00 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_2a090d00 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_3149c4b0 | type |
It Will Never Catch On | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_3149c4b0 | comment |
It Will Never Catch On: Eliza thinks Jack's mispronunciation of the German word thaler as dollar is a stupid name for money. Enoch Root's friend thinks tea is too outlandish to ever catch on in England. Eliza's two banker friends thought the informal financial system used in Lyons will never work, the system is essentially the same as the modern credit-based economy. A variant: Moseh, espousing the Cabbalistic belief that gold and silver are formed by the sun's and moon's rays striking the Earth, expresses approval for the Spanish policy of establishing colonies along the equator, and confidently predicts that gold will never be found in, say, California or Alaska. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_3149c4b0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_3149c4b0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_3149c4b0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_33ba37ca | type |
Out with a Bang | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_33ba37ca | comment |
Out with a Bang: Roger dies rogering Newton's sexy niece. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_33ba37ca | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_33ba37ca | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_33ba37ca | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_33cddf79 | type |
Penny Shaving | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_33cddf79 | comment |
Penny Shaving: The literal version is a running theme in the series, with buyers always dutifully inspecting the coinage they received and only accepting partial value on any that show excessive shaving or clipping. This ties into the plot importance of Newton, who personally cracked down on coin tampering. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_33cddf79 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_33cddf79 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_33cddf79 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_38d02d44 | type |
Batman Gambit | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_38d02d44 | comment |
Batman Gambit: Jack's daring escape in the finale, performed by deliberately subverting a Thanatos Gambit (see that trope's entry on this page for details). Vrej Esphahnian's plan for getting revenge on Jack involves much manipulation of several people just to get aboard the same ship, several years pretending to be loyal to Jack, and eventually taking advantage of Jack's love for Eliza to lure Minerva into a trap. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_38d02d44 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_38d02d44 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_38d02d44 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_3c0a4666 | type |
Noodle Incident | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_3c0a4666 | comment |
Noodle Incident: Daniel Waterhouse may or may not have precipitated the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Something happened in 1677, involving Daniel, fire, and some of Newton's papers. The incident is referred to several times before we find out just what did happen. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_3c0a4666 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_3c0a4666 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_3c0a4666 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_43a045de | type |
Dropped a Bridge on Him | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_43a045de | comment |
Dropped a Bridge on Him: Used In-Universe when Bob Shaftoe notes how the greatest Master Swordsman of the era was defeated by an Irishmen with a log. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_43a045de | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_43a045de | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_43a045de | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_48d9e12d | type |
Funetik Aksent | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_48d9e12d | comment |
Funetik Aksent: Lord Gy speaks in an almost impenetrable Scottish accent. Other characters insist that he's not actually speaking English. In the afterword, Stephenson assures anyone who might be offended by the accent that his ancestors are surely already spinning in their graves. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_48d9e12d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_48d9e12d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_48d9e12d | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_4d044580 | type |
Motive Rant | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_4d044580 | comment |
Motive Rant: Edouard de Gex drops a massive one near the end after capturing Eliza, declaring that he despises money, considering it a form of pagan idolatry, and worse still, it enables commoners like her to ascend to the nobility. He describes his dream of a great auto-da-fé in which everyone he considers heretical — Protestants, Jews, capitalists, whatever — would be burned at the stake, with her, the "rich whore" who represents everything that in his view has gone wrong in the world, given pride of place among them. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_4d044580 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_4d044580 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_4d044580 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_516f986d | type |
Loving a Shadow | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_516f986d | comment |
Loving a Shadow: Gets an interesting twist in Eliza's relationship with Bob. She references the trope, but notes that since Bob is healthy and level-headed, and Jack is a crazy syphilitic, Jack, the original love, is the one who looks more like a shadow. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_516f986d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_516f986d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_516f986d | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_56515a39 | type |
Artistic License – History | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_56515a39 | comment |
Artistic License – History: Stevenson swaps out some of the real historical figures (King Charles II's CABAL, Newton's real Cambridge roommate John Wickins) and adds some mysterious personages (Enoch Root, Solomon Kohan). It also depicts Blackbeard as an active pirate, and the captain of Queen Anne's Revenge, in 1713. While the details of Edward Teach's early pirate career are sketchy, in real life he didn't become a pirate captain until 1716, and acquired the ship he rechristened Queen Anne's Revenge the following year. (Incidentally, this also means that he named the ship after a still-living monarch, rather than as a tribute to a deceased one as in real life.) | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_56515a39 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_56515a39 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_56515a39 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_59dbf1a1 | type |
King of Thieves | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_59dbf1a1 | comment |
King of Thieves: Jack Shaftoe is known as "King of the Vagabonds". Kottakkal is known as the Pirate Queen of Malabar (and is treated as an actual queen, as well as being, well, a pirate). | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_59dbf1a1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_59dbf1a1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_59dbf1a1 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_5e7eb915 | type |
Clarke's Third Law | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_5e7eb915 | comment |
In The Confusion, Enoch the Red provides an interesting twist on Clarke's Third Law: "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a yo-yo". Later Jack mentions that his "vagabond shoes are longing to stray". | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_5e7eb915 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_5e7eb915 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_5e7eb915 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_5f49ac76 | type |
Single-Target Sexuality | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_5f49ac76 | comment |
Single-Target Sexuality: Jack for Eliza, since Eliza is literally the only person who is able to sexually satisfy Jack (it has to do with Jack's disability and the things Eliza learned from "books of India" while in slavery.) | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_5f49ac76 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_5f49ac76 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_5f49ac76 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_60194b82 | type |
Spanner in the Works | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_60194b82 | comment |
Spanner in the Works: One of Jack's nicknames, "L'Emmerdeur note French for "he who covers everything in shit" - literally "the enshittener"," specifically references his tendency to be this. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_60194b82 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_60194b82 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_60194b82 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_60cc14ba | type |
Ruritania | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_60cc14ba | comment |
Ruritania: The fictional island of Qwghlm is presented as a backward place, with almost no resources except a lot of bird crap. The main livelihood of its residence is acting as Wreckers of English ships. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_60cc14ba | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_60cc14ba | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_60cc14ba | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_60fa92ac | type |
Names to Run Away from Really Fast | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_60fa92ac | comment |
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Édouard de Gex's alias, Edmund de Ath. Jeffreys' hired assassins, Bob Carver and Dick Gripp. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_60fa92ac | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_60fa92ac | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_60fa92ac | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_6114a875 | type |
Lost Technology | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_6114a875 | comment |
Lost Technology: Wootz steel. Well, not the steel itself, but the furnaces to produce it. While in India, Enoch Root notes that while the steel-making industry is booming, all the furnaces are old and well beyond point of badly needed repairs. Which nobody seems to perform, just like building new forges. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_6114a875 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_6114a875 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_6114a875 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_617f0563 | type |
Heel–Face Turn | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_617f0563 | comment |
Heel–Face Turn: Lothar, when he comes to feel affection for little Jean-Jacques/Johann. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_617f0563 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_617f0563 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_617f0563 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_61b8f9e2 | type |
Bunny-Ears Lawyer | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_61b8f9e2 | comment |
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: William of Orange is Genre Savvy enough to understand that the most competent people have the weirdest quirks. Thus, he goes out of his way to hire quirky people, and he distrusts those without quirks. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_61b8f9e2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_61b8f9e2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_61b8f9e2 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_648fe274 | type |
But for Me, It Was Tuesday | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_648fe274 | comment |
But for Me, It Was Tuesday: As Jack is preparing to kill the duc d'Arcachon, he informs him that it is for a mother and daughter he abducted, disgraced, and sold into slavery. The Duc looks bewildered for a moment and asks: "Which ones?" | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_648fe274 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_648fe274 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_648fe274 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_6682d6e4 | type |
Dying Moment of Awesome | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_6682d6e4 | comment |
Dying Moment of Awesome: Seeing that his friends are in danger, Jeronimo launches a one-man cavalry charge on the Duc's musketeers. He gets shot through the chest, but goes right on fighting, loudly declaring that the sixty seconds he has left to live are time enough to kill a dozen of them, and has already taken out at least five by the time the others swarm him with bayonets. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_6682d6e4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_6682d6e4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_6682d6e4 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_68f81ea8 | type |
Real-Person Fic | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_68f81ea8 | comment |
Real-Person Fic: About the Original Characters Jack, Eliza, and Daniel in the middle of the Baroque era. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_68f81ea8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_68f81ea8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_68f81ea8 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_6bda9a30 | type |
Meaningful Name | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_6bda9a30 | comment |
Meaningful Name: Moseh de la Cruz, meaning "Moses of the Cross." Being a crypto-Jew in a hostile society, Moseh didn't mess about when choosing his gentile name; "Suffice it to say that the Iberian peninsula is a complicated place to be Jewish." | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_6bda9a30 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_6bda9a30 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_6bda9a30 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_6c00ba30 | type |
Musical Assassin | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_6c00ba30 | comment |
Musical Assassin: Sort off, Eliza finally kills de Gex (with some help from Handel) by tossing a cello across an orchestra pit and skewering him with the instrument's end pin. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_6c00ba30 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_6c00ba30 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_6c00ba30 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_737a65f4 | type |
The Watson | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_737a65f4 | comment |
The Watson: Daniel Waterhouse for Isaac Newton, Gottfreid Leibniz, Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle, Christopher Wren, Christiaan Huygens, Henry Oldenberg, et al. Waterhouse's Character Arc can be described as a journey to the point where he finally stops being the Watson and requires his own Watsons to explain things to. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_737a65f4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_737a65f4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_737a65f4 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_747e6b7f | type |
Harmony Versus Discipline | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_747e6b7f | comment |
Harmony Versus Discipline: Leibniz is Harmony, Newton is Discipline. The real reason why they hate each other. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_747e6b7f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_747e6b7f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_747e6b7f | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_77a495f1 | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_77a495f1 | comment |
Historical Badass Upgrade: Peter the Great. In reality he was extremely tall, but also very thin and prone to muscle spasms. In the series, he's a giant with immense strength who single-handedly duels and kills the enormous badass Yevgeny. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_77a495f1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_77a495f1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_77a495f1 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_7919a45b | type |
Duel to the Death | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_7919a45b | comment |
Duel to the Death: With cannons. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_7919a45b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_7919a45b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_7919a45b | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_7e6c0522 | type |
Off with His Head! | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_7e6c0522 | comment |
Off with His Head!: Jack finds and beheads the man who sold Eliza and her mother into sexual slavery, and sends her his head on a silver platter. Literally. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_7e6c0522 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_7e6c0522 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_7e6c0522 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_80621707 | type |
Arranged Marriage | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_80621707 | comment |
Arranged Marriage: As per history, most of the nobility. Notably the German princesses Eleanor and Caroline. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_80621707 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_80621707 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_80621707 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_83bc57c0 | type |
Slave Galley | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_83bc57c0 | comment |
Slave Galley: Monsieur Arlanc, and Jack, as well as everyone else in the Cabal served in one. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_83bc57c0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_83bc57c0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_83bc57c0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_8411ab92 | type |
Red Oni, Blue Oni | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_8411ab92 | comment |
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Jack and Bob. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_8411ab92 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_8411ab92 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_8411ab92 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_86b21114 | type |
Badass Boast | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_86b21114 | comment |
Badass Boast with a distinct flavor of I Have Many Names | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_86b21114 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_86b21114 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_86b21114 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_8967e17f | type |
Back from the Dead | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_8967e17f | comment |
Back from the Dead: Daniel and Isaac. Maybe Édouard de Gex, but it's kept ambiguous, even against the man himself. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_8967e17f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_8967e17f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_8967e17f | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_8c9e724c | type |
Big Beautiful Woman | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_8c9e724c | comment |
Big Beautiful Woman: Kottakkal, the Pirate Queen of Malabar. She's six feet tall, weighs 300 pounds (she's described as having a "marvelous round belly"), and is desired by just about every man she meets. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_8c9e724c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_8c9e724c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_8c9e724c | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_8fe7f493 | type |
Ancestral Name | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_8fe7f493 | comment |
Ancestral Name: A prominent character in Cryptonomicon was Bobby Shaftoe, who had an uncle named Jack. Here, we meet their ancestor of two centuries earlier, Jack Shaftoe, and his brother Bob. Likewise, Randy Waterhouse's father Godfrey is revealed here to share the name of an ancestor, specifically the son of Daniel Waterhouse (who named him after Gottfried Leibniz). | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_8fe7f493 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_8fe7f493 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_8fe7f493 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_90d44f44 | type |
Karmic Death | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_90d44f44 | comment |
Karmic Death: Bob suggests this as an epitaph for the Earl of Upnor: "finest swordsman in England, beaten to death with a stick by an Irishman", which is exactly how he died. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_90d44f44 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_90d44f44 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_90d44f44 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_95979921 | type |
Evil Jesuit | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_95979921 | comment |
Evil Jesuit: Édouard de Gex. However, him being a Jesuit is just coincidental with the fact that he's a scary religious fanatic. He joined the order simply because it was Closest Thing We Got to his own beliefs, leaving him disappointed at how "timid" other Jesuits are. And then there is of course Gabriel Gato, who, while being a Jesuit, is a walking saint, especially when compared with de Gex. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_95979921 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_95979921 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_95979921 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_967856d8 | type |
Hired to Hunt Yourself | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_967856d8 | comment |
Hired to Hunt Yourself: Isaac, Daniel and their associates hire Sean Partry, the most famous of all living thief-takers, to help them track down Jack Shaftoe. As it turns out, Sean is Jack, having taken the time to set up this alternate identity against such an eventuality. This is actually foreshadowed earlier when Mr. Threader observes that thief-takers, by necessity, are all professional criminals themselves; it's the only way they can get anything done. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_967856d8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_967856d8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_967856d8 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_987be393 | type |
Gambit Roulette | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_987be393 | comment |
Gambit Roulette Eliza's incredibly baroque plan for getting revenge on Lothar. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_987be393 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_987be393 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_987be393 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_9cc1a329 | type |
Upper-Class Twit | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_9cc1a329 | comment |
Upper-Class Twit: Peer, who so embodies this trope that his name isn't even given in the text. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_9cc1a329 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_9cc1a329 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_9cc1a329 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_9d17b859 | type |
Made of Iron | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_9d17b859 | comment |
Made of Iron: Yevgeny is extremely tough and stoically endures even the most grievous injuries. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_9d17b859 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_9d17b859 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_9d17b859 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a12a5322 | type |
That Old-Time Prescription | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a12a5322 | comment |
That Old-Time Prescription: Jack's syphilis is cured when he contracts English sweating sickness. Treating syphilis by inducing a high fever was a real medical practice that sometimes did work. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a12a5322 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a12a5322 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a12a5322 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a2b38d3b | type |
Eye Scream | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a2b38d3b | comment |
Eye Scream: Both in-story and for the reader: Daniel inadvertenly walking in on Isaac experimenting by sticking a needle into his own eye socket. note While Daniel Waterhouse is entirely fictional, Isaac Newton really did put a blunted needle into his eye socket while at Cambridge, in order to manipulate his eye in an effort to better understand light. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a2b38d3b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a2b38d3b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a2b38d3b | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a4905771 | type |
Double-Meaning Title | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a4905771 | comment |
Double-Meaning Title Quicksilver and The Confusion. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a4905771 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a4905771 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a4905771 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a5d92fce | type |
Celibate Hero | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a5d92fce | comment |
Celibate Hero: Jack, but not by choice - the nickname Half-Cocked refers both to his mental state and the result of an operation to cure venereal disease gone horribly wrong. Also Isaac Newton, as per history. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a5d92fce | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a5d92fce | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a5d92fce | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a6275bef | type |
Cool Sword | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a6275bef | comment |
Cool Sword: Jack's Janissary sword; it's made out of wootz, which is for all intents and purposes, unobtanium that exists in Real Life. He acquires it while saving Eliza and it stays with him through his many adventures. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a6275bef | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a6275bef | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a6275bef | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a7aef9ff | type |
Obfuscating Stupidity | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a7aef9ff | comment |
Obfuscating Stupidity: Daniel Waterhouse pretends to be suffering from senile dementia in order to root out the spy in Sophie of Hanover's court. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a7aef9ff | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a7aef9ff | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a7aef9ff | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a80ad52c | type |
Hanging Judge | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a80ad52c | comment |
Jeffreys' hired assassins, Bob Carver and Dick Gripp. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a80ad52c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a80ad52c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_a80ad52c | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_aa2cd0c9 | type |
Motifs | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_aa2cd0c9 | comment |
Motifs The recurrent image in the first novel is quicksilver, a constant ingredient used in science, alchemy and finance. Mercury symbolizes the fluid scientific and economic forces that ruled the Age of Enlightenment. The second novel adds the concept of the confusion (or con-fusion), the mixing and destruction of the old to create the new. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_aa2cd0c9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_aa2cd0c9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_aa2cd0c9 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_aba0cd10 | type |
Cloudcuckoolander's Minder | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_aba0cd10 | comment |
Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Daniel is this to Isaac when they are students. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_aba0cd10 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_aba0cd10 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_aba0cd10 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_ae3d6438 | type |
Deadpan Snarker | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_ae3d6438 | comment |
Deadpan Snarker: The older Daniel gets, the snarkier he gets. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_ae3d6438 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_ae3d6438 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_ae3d6438 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_af3ea0e3 | type |
Face–Heel Turn | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_af3ea0e3 | comment |
Face–Heel Turn: Vrej Esphahnian. Twice. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_af3ea0e3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_af3ea0e3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_af3ea0e3 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bb01ad0e | type |
Cool Boat | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bb01ad0e | comment |
Cool Boat: Minerva. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bb01ad0e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bb01ad0e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bb01ad0e | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bbf11c0 | type |
Genius Bruiser | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bbf11c0 | comment |
Genius Bruiser: Fr. Gabriel Goto, SJ. A devout Jesuit and man so good with swordfighting, many people he faces would rather try to bribe him to join their side than face him in battle. Peter "Saturn" Hoxton, a big, burly brute of a man who happens to be a skilled clockmaker and bomb maker. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bbf11c0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bbf11c0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bbf11c0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bc74ef27 | type |
Berserk Button | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bc74ef27 | comment |
Berserk Button: Eliza does not like slavery. It's enough to get her to attempt to kill Jack with a harpoon for getting involved with it. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bc74ef27 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bc74ef27 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bc74ef27 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_beb9a361 | type |
Anti-Hero | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_beb9a361 | comment |
Anti-Hero: Jack and Eliza | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_beb9a361 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_beb9a361 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_beb9a361 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bf1255fa | type |
Really Gets Around | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bf1255fa | comment |
Really Gets Around: To an extent Eliza, although some of this is an Urban Legend Love Life as part of Obfuscating Stupidity | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bf1255fa | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bf1255fa | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bf1255fa | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bf9ed416 | type |
Immortality | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bf9ed416 | comment |
Immortality: The goal of the Alchemists, and apparent state of Enoch Root | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bf9ed416 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bf9ed416 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_bf9ed416 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c3478f1d | type |
Badass Bookworm | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c3478f1d | comment |
Badass Bookworm: Bonaventure Rossignol is a brilliant cryptanalyst who enjoys reading people's mail (encrypted or not) to find out if they're heading into danger just so he can run off to be a Big Damn Hero. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c3478f1d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c3478f1d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c3478f1d | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c3b51bb3 | type |
You Are Better Than You Think You Are | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c3b51bb3 | comment |
You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Daniel tells this to Hooke, who is insecure about being overshadowed by Newton. The distinction he makes between Hooke and Newton is similar to the distinction that Randy Waterhouse makes in Cryptonomicon between "dwarves" and "elves." | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c3b51bb3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c3b51bb3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c3b51bb3 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c4942576 | type |
Cunning Linguist | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c4942576 | comment |
Cunning Linguist: Dappa is this by trade, knowing various national and Common Tongues, so he could work as a translator in a slave-trading outpost. This comes handy for the Cabal. He also appears to be either naturally gifted with languages or having worked out an efficient system of learning new ones, as he picks another three along the events of the book. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c4942576 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c4942576 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c4942576 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c75df49a | type |
Shout-Out | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c75df49a | comment |
Shout-Out In The Confusion, Enoch the Red provides an interesting twist on Clarke's Third Law: "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a yo-yo". Later Jack mentions that his "vagabond shoes are longing to stray". The System of the World references two Monty Python jokes (involving The Spanish Inquisition and a shrubbery). There's also a brief mention of a book titled Python Explain'd, though knowing the author's pet subjects, that may well be a cheeky anachronistic reference to the programming language, which was in turn named after the comedy troupe. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c75df49a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c75df49a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c75df49a | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c7f294da | type |
Large and in Charge | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c7f294da | comment |
Large and in Charge: Peter of Russia: effect underlined by the fact that he apparently surrounds himself with midgets. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c7f294da | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c7f294da | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c7f294da | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c9597a03 | type |
Self-Deprecation | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c9597a03 | comment |
Self-Deprecation: Enoch The Red mentions having acquired some copies of a book called Cryptonomicon. Waterhouse's young son describes it as "A very queer old book, dreadfully thick, and full of nonsense," noting that his father uses it as a Doorstopper. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c9597a03 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c9597a03 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_c9597a03 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_ca7ec334 | type |
Two Lines, No Waiting | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_ca7ec334 | comment |
Two Lines, No Waiting: Three, actually: Daniel, Jack, and Eliza. And those are just the major ones... | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_ca7ec334 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_ca7ec334 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_ca7ec334 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_caa28b82 | type |
Cloudcuckoolander | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_caa28b82 | comment |
Cloudcuckoolander Hooke, anyone? Newton is off in his own world much of the time. Newton was this in real life. During his entire stint in Parliament, his only recorded words were a request to open a window. Subverted when Newton became Master of the Mint in the story and in real life; he singlehandedly wiped out counterfeiting in Britain and was awarded his knighthood for his services in this role rather than his contributions to science. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_caa28b82 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_caa28b82 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_caa28b82 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_cb70651c | type |
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_cb70651c | comment |
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Édouard de Gex is brought Back from the Dead. Maybe. Probably. The people that did this deliberately and intentionally keep it vague to de Gex himself, just to mess with his religious fanaticism and keep him paranoid about black magic being used on him. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_cb70651c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_cb70651c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_cb70651c | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_cda501da | type |
Killed Off for Real | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_cda501da | comment |
Killed Off for Real: Quite a lot of people. Of course, when you're writing Historical Fiction, Historical Domain Characters have to die when they're supposed to. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_cda501da | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_cda501da | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_cda501da | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d0d90308 | type |
Bizarre Taste in Food | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d0d90308 | comment |
Bizarre Taste in Food: The man who enslaved Eliza and her mother, Louis-François de Lavardac, duc d'Arcachon, subsists on a diet of rotten fish. Not fermented, rotten. One cook who nicked his hand whilst preparing the Duc's dinner suffered a fatal blood sepsis as a result. Given that the Lavardac family is noted as having strong relations with the Compangie Du Nord, this might be Stephenson depicting highly fermented fish like surstromming to people who have no idea what it is. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d0d90308 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d0d90308 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d0d90308 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d0f63e83 | type |
Magnetic Hero | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d0f63e83 | comment |
Magnetic Hero: Jack is one. It's outright stated in the books that the people that Jack finds himself around would in any other situation be leaders and good ones - as van Hoek shows. But they all look towards Jack to take action. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d0f63e83 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d0f63e83 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d0f63e83 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d13eb235 | type |
Occidental Otaku | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d13eb235 | comment |
Occidental Otaku: Inverted with father Gabriel Goto. He is Japanese, but born and rised in Manila in a family of religious refugees. Despite never being in Japan, he strictly adheres to what his parents drilled into him about local customs and culture, but in the same time he's an extremely devout Catholic, eager to go back to Japan and die for his religion. Given he's Goto Dengo ancestor, he must have survived and apparently ended up denouncing his faith. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d13eb235 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d13eb235 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d13eb235 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d5656fbe | type |
The Unpronounceable | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d5656fbe | comment |
The Unpronounceable: The written language of Qwghlm employs runes. Transcribing words into letters makes them utterly unpronounceable because there are no vowels. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d5656fbe | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d5656fbe | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d5656fbe | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d99d9918 | type |
The Captain | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d99d9918 | comment |
The Captain: Captain Otto van Hoek, member of the Cabal and captain of Minerva. Yes, he has a Hook Hand. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d99d9918 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d99d9918 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_d99d9918 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_db71d717 | type |
Thanatos Gambit | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_db71d717 | comment |
Thanatos Gambit: Subverted. Jack receives golden finery to bribe the executioner for a quick death. Instead, Jack distributes the riches to the crowd, pissing off the executioner and endearing him to the mob. When the executioner starts to hang Jack slowly as revenge, the mob storms the gallows and carries him to safety. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_db71d717 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_db71d717 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_db71d717 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_ddc4aa51 | type |
Unobtanium | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_ddc4aa51 | comment |
Unobtanium: The Solomonic gold Jack ends up with possibly the known world's supply, some of which is used in a life potion brewed up by Root. Also, wootz steel which also involves Jack and Root | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_ddc4aa51 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_ddc4aa51 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_ddc4aa51 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_dfc3e10a | type |
The Dung Ages | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_dfc3e10a | comment |
The Dung Ages: It seems that Stephenson can't go more than a dozen pages without making some reference to some form of feces, and just how many open sewers ran through 17th and 18th century European cities (especially London.) | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_dfc3e10a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_dfc3e10a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_dfc3e10a | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_e35ab565 | type |
Indy Ploy | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_e35ab565 | comment |
Indy Ploy: Jack loves these and whenever things starts to go down, he's already in the process of improvising a solution. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_e35ab565 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_e35ab565 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_e35ab565 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_e4c95972 | type |
Innocent Bigot | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_e4c95972 | comment |
Innocent Bigot: Daniel's great-nephew Walter, aka "Peer", is apparently unable to comprehend that the African Dappa — a highly intelligent and well-educated man who can speak twelve languages — is an actual human being and not some sort of well-trained performing ape, to the point where he has a conversation with Dappa and still doesn't grasp that he is actually talking and not just parroting noises. There is no malice in his racism; he's just unbelievably stupid. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_e4c95972 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_e4c95972 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_e4c95972 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_e6fa475c | type |
Offered the Crown | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_e6fa475c | comment |
Offered the Crown: Mr. Foot leaves the Cabal when the people of Queena-Kootah (which will later be known as Kinakuta) choose him to occupy their island's vacant throne, making him the first of the "White Sultans" mentioned in Cryptonomicon. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_e6fa475c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_e6fa475c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_e6fa475c | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_e851b5 | type |
The Plan | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_e851b5 | comment |
The Plan: The Cabal's Plan to steal the Viceroy of Vera Cruz's silver. The assault on the Tower of London. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_e851b5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_e851b5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_e851b5 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_eb81c601 | type |
Big Damn Heroes | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_eb81c601 | comment |
Big Damn Heroes: Eliza and Fatio's rescue of William of Orange. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_eb81c601 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_eb81c601 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_eb81c601 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_f516f938 | type |
Never Found the Body | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_f516f938 | comment |
Never Found the Body: Yevgeny, during the battle at Cairo. He turns up later. Jack, for Isaac Newton. Newton can only assume that his dead body was carried away and buried, but in reality Jack wasn't quite dead. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_f516f938 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_f516f938 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_f516f938 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_f55d739f | type |
The Baroness | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_f55d739f | comment |
The Baroness: D'Oyonnax. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_f55d739f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_f55d739f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_f55d739f | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_f594c8a9 | type |
Fed to the Beast | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_f594c8a9 | comment |
Fed to the Beast: According to Eliza, Qwghlm once had a hereditary aristocracy, but in the 8th century the Scots sealed them in a cave with some bears. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_f594c8a9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_f594c8a9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_f594c8a9 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_f5a3e496 | type |
Suspiciously Similar Substitute | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_f5a3e496 | comment |
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Daniel discusses this trope when he notes that some people can easily be replaced by Suspiciously Similar Substitutes (e.g. Thomas More Anglesey replacing John Comstock), while others aren't so easily replaceable. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_f5a3e496 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_f5a3e496 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_f5a3e496 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_fafa50f7 | type |
Phantasy Spelling | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_fafa50f7 | comment |
Phantasy Spelling: Many words are spelled in the archaic fashion, such as phanatiques, technologickal, clew, and phant'sy. Other words are spelled with their root words hyphenated to show that the terms are new and have yet to become compound words. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_fafa50f7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_fafa50f7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_fafa50f7 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_fd4f8299 | type |
Well-Intentioned Extremist | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_fd4f8299 | comment |
Well-Intentioned Extremist: All of the Puritans, though the ones that get the most focus are Drake Waterhouse and the Bolstroods. The Raskolniks, too, including Yevgeny. | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_fd4f8299 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_fd4f8299 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_fd4f8299 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_name | type |
ItemName | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_name | comment |
||
The Baroque Cycle / int_name | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_name | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Baroque Cycle | hasFeature |
The Baroque Cycle / int_name | |
The Baroque Cycle / int_name | itemName |
The Baroque Cycle |
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