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The Black Magician Trilogy
- 462 statements
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The Black Magician Trilogy is the debut series of Trudi Canavan, and is centred around the country Kyralia where only the rich and powerful are allowed to learn and use magic, and the poor are more or less ignored unless they're being trodden underfoot. This age-old system has something of a spanner jammed in its works when Sonea, a girl born and raised in the slums of the capital city Imardin, discovers that she has natural magical abilities. Since she learns this by throwing a stone through a magical barrier and knocking out a magician, it doesn't exactly stay a secret for long.The original trilogy follows Sonea as she evades and then is recruited by the Magician's Guild, learns to control her powers, tries to avoid being bullied, gets caught up in a power struggle, falls in love, goes on an epic journey and saves her country from destruction. It was followed by a prequel, The Magician's Apprentice, and the sequel trilogy, Traitor Spy, was finished in 2012.Spoiler Warning: Nothing Is the Same Anymore after the end of the original trilogy. Entries regarding the Traitor Spy trilogy may have unmarked spoilers. | |
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Anyone Can Die | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_1237828f | comment |
Anyone Can Die: In the third book, named characters start dropping like flies. The sequel trilogy is no less bloody. | |
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Single-Target Law | |
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Single-Target Law: At the end of the original trilogy, the Guild revises its laws to make Sonea the one exception to the ban on Black Magic, at least until she retires and appoints a successor as Black Mage. It's done in part to reward her for saving the country and in part to secure a uniquely powerful asset — especially since the school's rivals have been exposed as extraordinarily powerful black magic practitioners. | |
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Cool Old Guy | |
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Cool Old Guy: Everyone seems to like Rothen - except for Fergun, and honestly, who gives a toss about Fergun - and he goes to a good deal of trouble to protect Sonea. | |
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Genre Savvy | |
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The Guild actually is aware of the downsides of this trope, and work very hard at getting Sonea to train properly so that she will at least have an idea of what she's doing instead of just brute-forcing everything in her way. | |
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Wrong Context Magic | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_1b9df446 | comment |
Wrong Context Magic: The Guild doesn't know about magic that can block mind-reading, which means that Naki expected to get off scot-free for her crimes, until Dannyl discovered it and told the Administrator by complete coincidence. | |
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The Rival | |
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Sonea is a ridiculously powerful mage, but starts out untrained. Even by the end of the second book, Regin is still somewhat more skilled than her, but by then, she's learned that it doesn't matter when she can just blast through any shield he can make. The Guild actually is aware of the downsides of this trope, and work very hard at getting Sonea to train properly so that she will at least have an idea of what she's doing instead of just brute-forcing everything in her way. | |
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Asskicking Leads to Leadership | |
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Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The position of High Lord of the Magician's Guild is filled by the strongest magician, pretty much irrespective of other concerns; Akkarin got the job because he was as strong as twenty other magicians. Strength is also a sort of status marker in the Guild, which leads to trouble when Sonea is of low social status but is magically nearly a match for Akkarin on her own naked strength. At the end of the Black Magician Trilogy, both of these examples are subverted. Sonea is by far the strongest magician in the Guild, but as the Black Magician, she is not permitted to hold other positions in the hierarchy, and the position goes to the former Head Warrior. | |
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Wizard Duel | |
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Wizard Duel: Sonea eventually gets fed up with Regin's cruelty and challenges him to one of these. She then proceeds to wipe the floor with him by the final round. Then, to not quite rub it in, she heals him. In your haughty rich face, Regin. Later on in the plot it's revealed that Akkarin has been fighting and killing Sachakan magician spies on a regular basis. | |
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Harmful Healing | |
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Harmful Healing: Magicians heal their wounds automatically when unconscious. This can lead to bones healing in warped and deformed ways, which requires re-breaking and resetting by a properly trained healer. | |
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Proud Scholar Race | |
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Proud Scholar Race: The Duna, who have important secret keepers of magic lore and history. | |
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May–December Romance | |
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May–December Romance: Akkarin is thirteen years older than Sonea, and also used to be her guardian. She doesn't let that bother her, though. Regin starts a rumor that this is going on between Sonea and Rothen (her first guardian who's old enough to be her father at least). | |
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Breaking the Glass Ceiling | |
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Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Sonea is the first non-aristocrat to be accepted into Imardin's Wizarding School, solely because her innate magic is vastly too strong to risk leaving untrained. She finds herself mostly ostracized as a "slum girl" and obsessively dedicates herself to becoming as skilled as she is powerful, to make clear that she's earned her place there. | |
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Guile Hero | |
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The first is with Tayend and Dannyl. Anyone who has been around them for longer than five minutes can see that they're a couple, and when the situation with the rogue magic rebel group arises in Elyne, Akkarin suggested that Dannyl let them "be told a false truth regarding his and Tayend's relationship" in order to gain their trust by supposedly giving them information that they could blackmail him with afterwards. The leader, Dem Marane, calls him out on this in the Hearing and tells the magicians assembled just to look at Tayend and Dannyl together and they'll see that it's the truth. Luckily by this point Dannyl A) had the good sense to leave Tayend on the other side of the ocean to prevent speculation from arising, and B) was able to bluff his way out of it. | |
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He Who Fights Monsters | |
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He Who Fights Monsters: Akkarin narrowly manages to subvert this and comes close to crossing the lines at some points. In The Magician's Apprentice, the Guild barely manages to repel a Sachakan invasion after witnessing the atrocities committed by the latter, especially the slaughter of civilians. When they wage war to Sachaka in retaliation, they start to use the same tactics against the Sachakan population as revenge. | |
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My Master, Right or Wrong | |
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My Master, Right or Wrong: Takan has this view of Akkarin. However, despite his incredible loyalty whatever the circumstances, he still believes that what Akkarin is doing is fundamentally right. | |
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Power Levels | |
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Power Levels: Magical strength is an inborn trait, and in Kyralia, determines much of a mage's status. Sonea is the strongest magician in the Guild besides the High Lord; this throws a major curveball into the pecking order, since she comes from very humble origins. Turns out, personal strength isn't nearly as important as the Kyralians think it is. Once Black Magic gets involved, resources and numbers matter more than one's own individual power. | |
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Friends with Benefits | |
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In the Traitor Spy trilogy, this is averted. Dannyl's relationship with Tayend is seriously on the rocks, but he strikes up a Friends with Benefits relationship with a Sachakan man and it's made very clear that sex is happening. Lilia doesn't get as much sex in, but she does get to kiss her girlfriend on a regular basis. | |
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Collateral Angst | |
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Collateral Angst: Cery's sub plot in the traitor spy trilogy is kicked off when his wife and kids are murdered, providing angst and motivation for him. | |
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Person of Mass Destruction | |
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Person of Mass Destruction: Magicians. This is more clear in The Magician's Apprentice, where it's made clear early on that non-mages are completely useless in magical warfare, especially when Black Magic gets involved. In all cases, however, magical power is the arm of decision in war. This is especially the case for Sonea; her teachers realize very quickly that she's stronger than half a dozen other magicians, and they work very hard to make sure she's properly trained. | |
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Squishy Wizard | |
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Squishy Wizard: Although a lot of magicians (read: most) fall into this category, this trope is played with a bit: magicians are made physically stronger and more healthy than normal people by the constant flow of magical energy through their bodies. Magicians also have a stronger "inner shield" and can survive drowning and being buried underground by using a shield to protect their bodies and supply them with a limited amount of oxygen. They're just completely unused to fighting or dealing without their magic. Sonea, who retains her instincts for fighting with a knife, is actively discouraged from using them, since having magic means that she is almost always capable of fighting non-lethally and will be held to that standard. | |
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Does Not Know His Own Strength | |
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Does Not Know His Own Strength: Sonea really has no idea exactly how powerful she is until half way through the last book, and all her teachers, including Akkarin, deliberately keep her in the dark for two reasons: 1) so she doesn't get cocky and start relying on her brute strength without fine-tuning her skills, and 2) because they're all quite wary about what exactly she could be capable of if she really applied all her power (and for good reason). When she has Akkarin running to the wire on his mana reserves to try to keep her under control, you really start to get some idea of why all the High Magicians are on edge. | |
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Mutant Draft Board | |
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Mutant Draft Board: Naturals must be trained by the Guild. This isn't a matter of social control, and more a recognition of the fact that an untrained natural will usually go off like a nuke when she loses control of her ability. In a variation, the Guild has pretty much forgotten this at the start of the trilogy - there hadn't been a known case of anyone manifesting magic on their own for centuries, enough that it wasn't really remembered that it was possible. This is a significant part of the drama in the first book, since not only does the Guild have to rediscover forgotten protocols, but it has also picked up a lot of noble prejudice since that last case (for historic and social reasons, magical ability is concentrated in the nobility), which goes about as well as one can expect when a very powerful natural from the poor underclasses suddenly turns up. | |
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Obstructive Code of Conduct | |
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Obstructive Code of Conduct: There's a lot of rules set up regarding the Black Magicians' conduct after the Trilogy ends, since one rogue Black Magician and a loyal follower could wipe the floor with the entire Guild if unchecked. These rules get even stricter in the second trilogy when it's learned that Black Magic users can bypass the blocks used to strip renegade conventional mages of their power pretty much at will, which means that the only way to permanently remove the threat of a rogue Black Magician is execution. | |
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No Body Left Behind | |
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No Body Left Behind: At the point of death any magic remaining in a magician's body is expelled, destroying their body. If they are particularly powerful, then the excess magic will destroy anything nearby in an explosion. This is only avoided if the magician uses all their mana first, or is drained. | |
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Bittersweet Ending | |
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Bittersweet Ending: At the end of the first trilogy Lorlen and Akkarin are dead, along with at least half of the Guild and a fair chunk of the people left in Imardin; Imardin itself is mostly destroyed. But the Guild makes efforts to start again and to actually help the common people this time by building a hospital; Dannyl and Tayend get to stay together, and Sonea reveals she is pregnant with Akkarin's son. | |
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Someone to Remember Him By | |
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Someone to Remember Him By: Sonea is pregnant with Akkarin's child at the end of the first trilogy after his death. | |
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Defeat Equals Explosion | |
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Defeat Equals Explosion: All energy left in a magician's body is released upon death, usually violently. Of course, there might not be any left if a black magician was the killer. | |
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Big Good | |
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Big Good: Akkarin. | |
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Love Confession | |
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Love Confession: We get a good, if rather odd, one. Akkarin confesses that he began to fall for Sonea after he watched her kill someone with Black Magic. O...kay. It sounds more romantic when you read it. Dannyl gets his indirectly via Tayend's sister with a very clear If You Ever Do Anything To Hurt Him message centred around it. Considering that she's not a magician and she still manages to scare him a little with threats of completely ruining his political standing if he hurts her little brother, this is rather impressive. Sonea also gets a rather clumsy one from Cery. | |
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Cast from Hit Points | |
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Cast from Hit Points: Technically, all magic works like this; your Mana is your Life Energy. Black Magic lets you cast from other people's hit points. | |
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I Am Not Left-Handed | |
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I Am Not Left-Handed: Sonea frequently limits her power when dueling against any other magician because she's so powerful that she can nearly break the Arena barrier, and so she has to be careful that she doesn't inadvertently kill her dueling partner. In Sonea's duel with Regin, she spends the first four rounds (it's a three-out-of-five match) fighting more or less on par with Regin in terms of strength. This is justified; if she'd blatantly steamrolled him with raw power from the get-go, it would just look thuggish. In the fifth round, she stops playing around, cuts loose and nearly kills him; Regin only survives because of Akkarin's timely intervention. | |
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Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp" | |
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Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": The author renames everything, or replaces it with subtly different fantasy versions, to the point of needing a glossary in the back of each book. She justifies this in an interview by saying that coming across the word 'sheep' during a fantasy novel can kinda spoil things, so she has another farm animal instead. Curiously she forgets to come up with a new name for horses. Wine also retains its name, even though beer is renamed "bol". | |
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Rejection Ritual | |
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Rejection Ritual: Akkarin and Sonea are exiled as punishment for practicing black magic. This involves all of the present magicians in the Guild taking it in turns to tell them "I cast you out. Do not enter my lands again." and tear a small rip in their uniform robes. Rothen and Dannyl refuse to complete the ritual for Sonea, instead wishing her luck. | |
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Late-Arrival Spoiler | |
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Late-Arrival Spoiler: Sonea becomes the Black Magician at the end of the original trilogy, which is obviously spoiled in The Ambassador's Mission. | |
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The Black Magician Trilogy / int_5f3bb274 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_60194b82 | type |
Spanner in the Works | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_60194b82 | comment |
Spanner in the Works: In The Rogue, Naki had a mind-blocking stone, which allowed her to resist a mind probe and fob the blame for her father's murder off on Lilia because the Guild didn't know about that kind of magic. Unfortunately, right before her second trial, Dannyl learned about that kind of magic and just happened to mention it to the Administrator, who put two and two together immediately. | |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_60194b82 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_61cd6e2b | type |
Color-Coded Wizardry | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_61cd6e2b | comment |
Color-Coded Wizardry: There's colour coding for the three different disciplines of magic (Warriors wear red robes, Alchemists wear purple robes, and Healers wear green robes) as well as for rank (the heads of each discipline wears a black sash, the King's Advisors wear gold sashes, the Administrators wear blue robes, and the High Lord wears black robes.) The High Lord wears white robes after the Trilogy's end, and black robes are reserved for the Black Magician. Novices wear shorter brown robes and by the second book of the Traitor Spy trilogy Lilia wears brown robes with a black armband in her role as the "black novice". | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_61cd6e2b | featureApplicability |
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The Black Magician Trilogy / int_61cd6e2b | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_63be4131 | type |
Pretty Boy | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_63be4131 | comment |
Pretty Boy: Tayend. It's the first thing Dannyl notices upon meeting him and many other people remark on his good looks, including a group of pirates who ask Dannyl how much he'll sell him for. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_63be4131 | featureApplicability |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_63be4131 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_640a7996 | type |
Fancy Dinner | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_640a7996 | comment |
Fancy Dinner: Akkarin has dinner with Sonea every First Day. With golden cutlery and really nice sounding food. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_640a7996 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_640a7996 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_6a2486cd | type |
Graying Morality | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_6a2486cd | comment |
Graying Morality: The Traitor Spy Trilogy. There aren't any ichani to make a mess, Sachaka's actual nobility are Affably Evil and not antagonistic towards Kyralia, the Magician's Guild is mostly played as well-meaning but somewhat incompetent, and the Traitors fight for equality between the genders and Slave Liberation, but are actually a Lady Land, treat their men like crap (though better than Sachaka treats their women), suffer quite a bit of He Who Fights Monsters when fighting Sachaka, and try to kill Lorkin for the Sins of His Father. So far, the only unambiguously evil characters we've seen are Naki, Skellin and Lorandra. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_6a2486cd | featureApplicability |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_6a2486cd | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_7315fd38 | type |
Covers Always Lie | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_7315fd38 | comment |
Covers Always Lie: The UK versions feature the main character posing with a staff in a martial-arts esque stance, while the US versions are even worse; one of them has a flaming pegasus on the cover, for no reason whatsoever! Downplayed in the Australian release. The Magician's Guild just has a picture of the Guild, The Novice shows Somea and Regin facing off in the arena, and The High Lord shows Somea, Akkarin and the magicians assembled in what looks like the Guildhall. Again, Aussie division publishing seems to be the best out of all of them. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_7315fd38 | featureApplicability |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_7315fd38 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_738d1a0f | type |
Because You Were Nice to Me | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_738d1a0f | comment |
Because You Were Nice to Me: Sonea comes to love Akkarin because, while he's not a very nice person, he didn't treat her any differently over her low social status, and always respected her as a person. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_738d1a0f | featureApplicability |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_738d1a0f | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_7b7182fe | type |
Closet Key | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_7b7182fe | comment |
Closet Key: Tayend is a pretty classic example of this. The very first thing the reader learns about Tayend is that he's beautiful. His long blond hair and form-fitting clothes are described constantly, and all from Dannyl's point of view. Dannyl's open-mindedness does make the situation a little easier. This is actually a pretty unusual example, as Dannyl was once aware that he was gay, he'd simply started subconsciously used magic to suppress it to the point where he "forgets" and Tayend was on hand to remind him again. Lilia also thinks Naki is unusually gorgeous and wonderful at first sight. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_7b7182fe | featureApplicability |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_7b7182fe | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_84609623 | type |
If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her... | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_84609623 | comment |
Dannyl gets his indirectly via Tayend's sister with a very clear If You Ever Do Anything To Hurt Him message centred around it. Considering that she's not a magician and she still manages to scare him a little with threats of completely ruining his political standing if he hurts her little brother, this is rather impressive. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_84609623 | featureApplicability |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_84609623 | featureConfidence |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_84609623 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_84c65a8c | type |
Reinforce Field | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_84c65a8c | comment |
Reinforce Field: Infusing magic into building materials can make them much stronger, enabling Kyralian nobility to build sweeping, airy constructions out of reinforced glass. When the Ichani black mages realize that each noble estate is a reserve of magical power that they can tap, they're delighted. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_84c65a8c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_84c65a8c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_84c65a8c | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_8a4988bb | type |
Mind Rape | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_8a4988bb | comment |
Mind Rape: Normally, you can't enter someone else's mind without invitation. Akkarin, however, can forces his way in. It's traumatizing, to say the least. What Akkarin went through in the Sachakan wastes was literal mind rape. Day after day after day after day.... When Sonea finds out about it, she's fairly appalled, to say the least. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_8a4988bb | featureApplicability |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_8a4988bb | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_8c9cad1e | type |
Psychic Static | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_8c9cad1e | comment |
Psychic Static: Sonea tries this against Akkarin when he mind-rapes her, throwing random images at him. His countermeasure is a Poke in the Third Eye. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_8c9cad1e | featureApplicability |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_8c9cad1e | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_90c018ac | type |
Justified Trope | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_90c018ac | comment |
In Sonea's duel with Regin, she spends the first four rounds (it's a three-out-of-five match) fighting more or less on par with Regin in terms of strength. This is justified; if she'd blatantly steamrolled him with raw power from the get-go, it would just look thuggish. In the fifth round, she stops playing around, cuts loose and nearly kills him; Regin only survives because of Akkarin's timely intervention. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_90c018ac | featureApplicability |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_90c018ac | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_91c651a1 | type |
Guilt-Free Extermination War | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_91c651a1 | comment |
Guilt-Free Extermination War: In The Traitor Queen, the Traitors institute a policy of "no quarter" against the Ashaki, and they know that the Ashaki will give no quarter back. This worries Lorkin just a bit, since he's joined the Traitors and isn't all too happy with their ruthlessness. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_91c651a1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_91c651a1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_91c651a1 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_96fbeaf | type |
There Are No Therapists | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_96fbeaf | comment |
There Are No Therapists: Averted. While psychiatry as a profession doesn't exist, the Guild is wise about taking a distrustful, traumatized Street Urchin and throwing her right into the middle of a student body full of arrogant nobles, many of whom look down on her because of her common blood. Several ranking mages take it upon themselves to help shepherd her through her problems and help her deal with the other students' bullying. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_96fbeaf | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_96fbeaf | featureConfidence |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_96fbeaf | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_970c790a | type |
Big Bad | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_970c790a | comment |
Big Bad: Kariko could be considered this, as the leader of the Sachakian invading party. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_970c790a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_970c790a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_970c790a | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_9976945 | type |
Psychic Surgery | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_9976945 | comment |
Psychic Surgery: What healing magic actually is: Telekinetically repairing the body, normally assisted by medical equipment and herbal drugs. The Ichani do not know of this application of magic, as such it is used against them. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_9976945 | featureApplicability |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_9976945 | featureConfidence |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_9976945 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_9ce377f1 | type |
Cure Your Gays | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_9ce377f1 | comment |
Cure Your Gays: Dannyl has struggled against rumors about being gay which have ruined his reputation (in his home country at least — others are more open). Eventually, when he is completely out of mana it turns out that he was gay, but he blocked out the memories and has been reflexively using Healing magic to block any sexual impulse for years. Tayend, the gay man he had been travelling with, had already figured it out but didn't want to say anything, and they end up becoming a couple. Also subverted in that Tayend's father seems to think that the only reason Tayend is gay is because he chooses to be. Tayend avoids letting Dannyl use Healing magic on him, fearing that his homosexuality is a sickness that will be detected. Dannyl does learn Tayend's secret by Healing him, but only because Tayend is so nervous that he's unintentionally mentally "shouting" it. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_9ce377f1 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_9ce377f1 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_9e2c893 | type |
Black Magic | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_9e2c893 | comment |
We get a good, if rather odd, one. Akkarin confesses that he began to fall for Sonea after he watched her kill someone with Black Magic. O...kay. It sounds more romantic when you read it. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_9e2c893 | featureApplicability |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_9e2c893 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_a74e8ba4 | type |
Thieves' Guild | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_a74e8ba4 | comment |
Thieves' Guild: The appropriately named Thieves. By the time of the sequel trilogy however, the Thieves have stopped working with each other. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_a74e8ba4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_a74e8ba4 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_a8357dc2 | type |
No Woman's Land | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_a8357dc2 | comment |
No Woman's Land: Sachaka and Lonmar. Both societies are incredibly strict about letting their women out in public, don't teach them magic and generally treat them much worse than their male counterparts. In Lonmar, a woman is publicly punished for having an affair. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_a8357dc2 | featureApplicability |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_a8357dc2 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_a8a04f6f | type |
And I Must Scream | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_a8a04f6f | comment |
What Akkarin went through in the Sachakan wastes was literal mind rape. Day after day after day after day.... When Sonea finds out about it, she's fairly appalled, to say the least. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_a8a04f6f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_a8a04f6f | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_aabe2fb | type |
Deliberate Values Dissonance | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_aabe2fb | comment |
Deliberate Values Dissonance: Homosexuality is strongly stigmatized in Kyralia to the point that it can jeopardize someone's career. In Lonmar, however, it's a capital crime, which even Kyralians are shaken by. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_aabe2fb | featureApplicability |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_aabe2fb | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_af11866 | type |
Wizarding School | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_af11866 | comment |
Wizarding School: The Guild maintains one. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_af11866 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_af11866 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_af11866 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_b17f6a27 | type |
I Did What I Had to Do | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_b17f6a27 | comment |
I Did What I Had to Do: Akkarin. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_b17f6a27 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_b17f6a27 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_b17f6a27 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_b8e3f20a | type |
Demoted to Extra | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_b8e3f20a | comment |
Demoted to Extra: Happens to Cery in the second book, but he's brought up to main character status again in the third. Harrin and Donia, on the other hand... | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_b8e3f20a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_b8e3f20a | featureConfidence |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_b8e3f20a | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_beb9a361 | type |
Anti-Hero | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_beb9a361 | comment |
Anti-Hero: Sonea, but the biggest culprit is Akkarin, who took up Black Magic in order to defend himself and Kyralia against the Ichani, and, despite Sonea, Rothen and Lorlen convinced that he's the Big Bad for the first two-thirds of the original trilogy, is in fact the only thing stopping the annihilation of their country at the hands of some ridiculously powerful black magicians. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_beb9a361 | featureApplicability |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_beb9a361 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_bfad4265 | type |
I Have You Now, My Pretty | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_bfad4265 | comment |
I Have You Now, My Pretty: One of the Sachakians during the invation, to Sonea. It actually allows her to defeat him via healing magic. Avala too, counts. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_bfad4265 | featureApplicability |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_bfad4265 | featureConfidence |
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| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_bfad4265 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_c2fc1ae | type |
Neck Snap | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_c2fc1ae | comment |
Neck Snap: A mugger stabs Tayend, and Dannyl reacts by slamming him magically into a wall and breaking his neck. That said, Dannyl doesn't ever react well when Tayend is threatened or hurt. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_c2fc1ae | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_c2fc1ae | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_c2fc1ae | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_c3478f1d | type |
Badass Bookworm | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_c3478f1d | comment |
Badass Bookworm: Sonea becomes this once she learns to read and write. This really surprises her teachers when she becomes the top of her class. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_c3478f1d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_c3478f1d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_c3478f1d | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_c5ee8215 | type |
Magical Society | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_c5ee8215 | comment |
Magical Society: The Magician's Guild, naturally. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_c5ee8215 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_c5ee8215 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_c5ee8215 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_cc28a8d7 | type |
Have I Mentioned I Am Gay? | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_cc28a8d7 | comment |
Dannyl barely manages to scrape onto this side of Have I Mentioned I Am Gay?. We know from the third book that he got together with his love interest near the end of the second one, because judging by the information given, the POV of that story was cut off just before it happened, and in the rest of Novice there are only very subtle allusions made to it. And by the third book, the readers know that they are together because they are told so, repeatedly. Unlike the other two romances that run the full gamut from sex to kissing to casual cuddles, these two don't even touch each other until the last 100 pages of the series, at which point they manage to till up a grand total of two hugs and nothing more. And the books have the gall to claim that Everyone Can See It - the characters must be mind readers. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_cc28a8d7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_cc28a8d7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_cc28a8d7 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_cc7fae30 | type |
Outside-Context Problem | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_cc7fae30 | comment |
Outside-Context Problem: So there's an army of Black Magic users coming to attack us? Too bad most of us have no idea what Black Magic even is, much less how to fight it. Inverted when these villains don't know how to defend against the offensive uses of Healing magic, as they never invented Healing. The far off nation of Igra mentioned in the Traitor Spy trilogy. Used gunpowder "ballthrowers" to conquer all surrounding nations, collectively far larger than the Allied Lands, and have almost completely eliminated the use of magic, except by the priests who hunt down and kill any other magicians. Never properly appears, but it's clear that a conflict between them and the Allied Lands is inevitable. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_cc7fae30 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_cc7fae30 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_cc7fae30 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_cda501da | type |
Killed Off for Real | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_cda501da | comment |
Killed Off for Real: Cery in The Traitor Queen. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_cda501da | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_cda501da | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_cda501da | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_cec7dac0 | type |
The Magocracy | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_cec7dac0 | comment |
The Magocracy: In Sachaka, magicians are the ones in charge. Unlike the Allied Lands, this includes the King. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_cec7dac0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_cec7dac0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_cec7dac0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_d33456e7 | type |
Improbable Age | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_d33456e7 | comment |
Improbable Age: An in-context version, as everyone is constantly struck by how young Akkarin is despite him being the High Lord. At the time of The Magician's Guild he's around 30 years old (possibly late twenties), and he still has men and women decades older than him being deferential to him. Despite the fact that it's more his incredibly sharp political acumen, diplomatic insight and intellect than just his great magical prowess that got him the title, it doesn't stop even Lorlen, his best friend, from wondering how he managed it at such a young age. Akkarin seems to be aware of this, because he grows his hair out long and wears it in a ponytail in the style of the old magicians to try to lessen the impact. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_d33456e7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_d33456e7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_d33456e7 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_d39e327f | type |
What the Hell, Hero? | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_d39e327f | comment |
What the Hell, Hero?: Akkarin forcibly reads the thoughts of Lorlen, Rothen, and Sonea. He has good reasons for doing it, but that doesn't change the fact that he essentially mindrapes his best friend, an old man, and a scared girl barely twenty years old. Lorlen and Rothen call him on it. | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_d39e327f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_d39e327f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy | hasFeature |
The Black Magician Trilogy / int_d39e327f | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_d66cd0e6 | type |
Training from Hell | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_d66cd0e6 | comment |
Training from Hell: Of a sort: Akkarin approves of Sonea constantly being accosted, attacked, and practically tortured by up to twenty bullying novices, in the hopes it will toughen her up. Although Akkarin knows Sonea is much more powerful than she thinks—eventually, undeniably more powerful than all her tormentors combined—she doesn't realize this and is absolutely terrified each time it happens. | |
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Intimate Healing | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_da2f3716 | comment |
Intimate Healing: The "Lover's Death" allows for a black magician to drain magic through coitus. It's originally shown solely for having the target go Out with a Bang, but it can also be used nonlethally, just like regular Black Magic. In fact, it's far more pleasurable than regular sex or the regular means of transferring mana. | |
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Everyone Can See It | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_dbd2c15e | comment |
Everyone Can See It: Two examples. The first is with Tayend and Dannyl. Anyone who has been around them for longer than five minutes can see that they're a couple, and when the situation with the rogue magic rebel group arises in Elyne, Akkarin suggested that Dannyl let them "be told a false truth regarding his and Tayend's relationship" in order to gain their trust by supposedly giving them information that they could blackmail him with afterwards. The leader, Dem Marane, calls him out on this in the Hearing and tells the magicians assembled just to look at Tayend and Dannyl together and they'll see that it's the truth. Luckily by this point Dannyl A) had the good sense to leave Tayend on the other side of the ocean to prevent speculation from arising, and B) was able to bluff his way out of it. The second is with Sonea and Akkarin, after they start to trust each other and become closer. This is more an inversion, in that anyone who knows either of them well knows something is going on way before they admit their feelings, but no one in the Magician Guild wants to even think about the possibility, especially Rothen and Lorlen, the former who just has to watch Sonea talking to Akkarin to notice something is different (and is subsequently absolutely horrified by the idea and goes into denial about it until long after Sonea and Akkarin are exiled). | |
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Armoured Closet Gay | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_dc2912f | comment |
Tayend is a pretty classic example of this. The very first thing the reader learns about Tayend is that he's beautiful. His long blond hair and form-fitting clothes are described constantly, and all from Dannyl's point of view. Dannyl's open-mindedness does make the situation a little easier. This is actually a pretty unusual example, as Dannyl was once aware that he was gay, he'd simply started subconsciously used magic to suppress it to the point where he "forgets" and Tayend was on hand to remind him again. | |
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The Scapegoat | |
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The Scapegoat: In The Rogue Lilia is accused of murdering Naki's father, and she's found with blood on her hands and knowledge of Black Magic. Sonea reads her mind and can't find any evidence of it happening, but she's ordered to be depowered and imprisoned (effectively for life) for the crime of learning Black Magic anyway. Naki killed him, concealed her own involvement with a mind-blocking stone, and set Lilia up to take the fall. | |
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White Is Pure | |
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White Is Pure: Invoked by the Magician's Guild to rehabilitate its image after a Black Magic scandal. The High Lord traditionally wears a black robe, but due to its new association with black magic, they switch to white for "something fresh and clean". | |
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Determinator | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_e567510d | comment |
Determinator: Tessia in The Magician's Apprentice was a chirurgeon's apprentice when her latent magical talent awakens. Upon being told that she would have to give up medicine to become a magician, she refuses to accept this, and ends up single-handedly inventing the entire field of magical Healing. | |
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But Not Too Gay | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_e90f5682 | comment |
But Not Too Gay: Dannyl barely manages to scrape onto this side of Have I Mentioned I Am Gay?. We know from the third book that he got together with his love interest near the end of the second one, because judging by the information given, the POV of that story was cut off just before it happened, and in the rest of Novice there are only very subtle allusions made to it. And by the third book, the readers know that they are together because they are told so, repeatedly. Unlike the other two romances that run the full gamut from sex to kissing to casual cuddles, these two don't even touch each other until the last 100 pages of the series, at which point they manage to till up a grand total of two hugs and nothing more. And the books have the gall to claim that Everyone Can See It - the characters must be mind readers. In the Traitor Spy trilogy, this is averted. Dannyl's relationship with Tayend is seriously on the rocks, but he strikes up a Friends with Benefits relationship with a Sachakan man and it's made very clear that sex is happening. Lilia doesn't get as much sex in, but she does get to kiss her girlfriend on a regular basis. | |
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Jerkass | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_eb8ec7c8 | comment |
Jerkass: Akkarin is the only person standing between the Ichani and literal annihilation of Kyralia and puts his life on the line more than once to do so, but there is a very good reason why nearly everyone is convinced that he's a cold, heartless bastard, and why Sonea is convinced that he's the Big Bad for quite a while. ... Actually, however near he does come to Jerk with a Heart of Gold territory, even crossing into it, YMMV on whether the "cold, heartless bastard" bit is a facade or not. As Sonea put it: | |
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Have I Mentioned I Am Sexually Active Today? | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_eddb470c | comment |
Have I Mentioned I Am Sexually Active Today?: Lampshaded when Cery the Street Urchin hears noble teenagers bragging about their alleged sexual prowess. He's amused because most slum kids their age have actually done the things the nobles are claiming to have done and don't see it as some sort of prize to shout from the rooftops. | |
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Mundane Utility | |
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Mundane Utility: Healing magic can be used to save someone's life after their throat is slit, purge poison or cure deadly diseases. But you can also use it to keep that pesky seasickness at bay. Dorrien levitates instead of using the stairs in his first scene, highlighting how he enjoys using magic. | |
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Raven Hair, Ivory Skin | |
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Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: The standard look of Kyralians. | |
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Unskilled, but Strong | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_f25b1ae6 | comment |
Unskilled, but Strong: Sonea is a ridiculously powerful mage, but starts out untrained. Even by the end of the second book, Regin is still somewhat more skilled than her, but by then, she's learned that it doesn't matter when she can just blast through any shield he can make. The Guild actually is aware of the downsides of this trope, and work very hard at getting Sonea to train properly so that she will at least have an idea of what she's doing instead of just brute-forcing everything in her way. Regin shows a bit of this tendency at first. His initial, pre-training forcestrike is a brilliant bolt that wastes a lot of energy on generating showy heat and light, something that his trainer remarks disapprovingly on. | |
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Mercy Kill | |
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Mercy Kill: By the time of the second trilogy, the Black Magicians of the Guild have become responsible for ending the lives of magicians on the verge of dying by natural causes, draining them to death so that they don't explode. | |
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Not Evil, Just Misunderstood | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_f48d0f54 | comment |
Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Akkarin. Who knew that he was actually trying to save everyone? In a wider sense, so-called 'Black Magic'. Really, it's not inherently evil, but if abused it is incredibly dangerous, as the Guild learned the hard way from Tagin's example. | |
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Law of Inverse Fertility | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_f4f3252e | comment |
Law of Inverse Fertility: Sonea falls under this trope from the virgin side of things. She manages to get pregnant while in the very stressful situation of travelling into exile into a hostile land filled with ruthless stronger magicians, who are hunting them (her and the father) as a prelude to the invasion the country they've just been exiled from. High stress isn't usually conducive to fertility. | |
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Matriarchy | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_f7057d51 | comment |
Matriarchy: The Traitors. They claim to be equal between genders, but will admit they are a matriarchy if questioned. | |
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Evil Cannot Comprehend Good | |
| The Black Magician Trilogy / int_f8e010ce | comment |
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Throughout the series, the Sachakans are a threat because of their practise of black magic, but they have a major flaw in being unable to heal or strengthen each others' magic. | |
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The Black Magician Trilogy |
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