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The Pillars of the Earth

597 statements
117 feature instances
56 referencing feature instances

The Pillars of the Earth	type	TVTItem
The Pillars of the Earth	label	The Pillars of the Earth
The Pillars of the Earth	page	ThePillarsOfTheEarth
The Pillars of the Earth	comment	An epic novel, published in 1989 and set in 12th century England, The Pillars of the Earth is the chronicle of a man, his family, their enemies and the extraordinary dream that consumes them all. It is by far the most popular story that Ken Follett, mainly an author of thrillers and various spy novels, has ever written.Tom Builder is a poor stonemason who dreams of building something that will be his legacy and which will sustain his family for the rest of their lives. Philip, the Prior of Kingsbridge, fights to build a cathedral there, against the wishes of his Bishop, his Lord and all manner of political enemies.The Gothic Cathedral at Kingsbridge, it turns out, becomes more important than anyone imagines. Woven throughout this deeply personal drama are the civil wars between King Stephen and Queen Maud, and later the machinations of King Henry II and the priest Thomas Becket.He followed it up with two sequels and one prequel many years later: World Without End, which picks up with the characters' descendants in the same village in 1327, A Column Of Fire, beginning in 1558, and The Evening And The Morning, set in the tenth century. Also adapted, along with World Without End, into a popular Euro Board Game, and a Video Game developed by Daedalic Entertainment and were released in 3 parts.A miniseries starring Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell, Matthew Macfadyen, David Oakes, Sam Claflin, Eddie Redmayne as Jack and Hayley Atwell as Aliena ran on the Starz network in July and August 2010.
The Pillars of the Earth	fetched	2023-09-05T00:14:42Z
The Pillars of the Earth	parsed	2023-09-05T00:14:42Z
The Pillars of the Earth	processingComment	Dropped link to AvertedTrope: Not a Feature - IGNORE
The Pillars of the Earth	processingComment	Dropped link to KnightInShiningArmour: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
The Pillars of the Earth	processingComment	Dropped link to MissionFromGod: Not a Feature - ITEM
The Pillars of the Earth	processingUnknown	KnightInShiningArmour
The Pillars of the Earth	isPartOf	DBTropes
The Pillars of the Earth / int_1186fcb5	type	Supernatural Gold Eyes
The Pillars of the Earth / int_1186fcb5	comment	Supernatural Gold Eyes: Ellen, who may or may not be a witch.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_1235f055	type	Dirty Coward
The Pillars of the Earth / int_1235f055	comment	Dirty Coward: Alfred Builder, who torments Jack mercilessly since childhood, then comes crawling back for a job, only to use it to backstab Jack.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_12dd1d4c	type	Rape as Drama
The Pillars of the Earth / int_12dd1d4c	comment	Rape as Drama: Happens to almost every woman in William's path.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_130436b9	type	Annoying Younger Sibling
The Pillars of the Earth / int_130436b9	comment	Annoying Younger Sibling: Richard has the tendency to be a ball and chain to his big sis Aliena. He gets better as he gets older.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_148efc99	type	Noble Tongue
The Pillars of the Earth / int_148efc99	comment	Noble Tongue: Norman French is often spoken by members of the nobility and clergy in England; at one point, when a senior clergyman speaks Norman French with an odd intonation, someone else realizes that he's a non-native speaker and one of the relative handful of English-speaking clergy to have risen through the ranks of the Norman-dominated church.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_1aa30797	type	Single Woman Seeks Good Man
The Pillars of the Earth / int_1aa30797	comment	Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Essentially what drew Ellen to Jacques, and eventually to Tom Builder.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_1b06aa41	type	Villains Never Lie
The Pillars of the Earth / int_1b06aa41	comment	Villains Never Lie: Generally Waleran can't be trusted, and the only thing that can be is his promise to make sure the Kingsbridge Cathedral is never built. By the end of the book, Prior Jonathan and a reluctant Jack believe that he has truly been broken by the Beckett scandal and thus can be trusted to live at the monastery as a humble monk.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_1badfbbb	type	The Heavy
The Pillars of the Earth / int_1badfbbb	comment	The Heavy: Waleran Bigod's position and intellect technically make him the Big Bad, but it is William who remains the most immediate threat to the people of Kingsbridge. While Waleran schemes from the shadows, William is the one who is always active on the scene. His actions are what effectively drive the story.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_1d18887f	type	Pay Evil unto Evil
The Pillars of the Earth / int_1d18887f	comment	Pay Evil unto Evil: this is William Hamleigh's rationalization for most of his violent acts, although the audience would not be expected to agree, whether he is seizing a man's castle (and later raping his daughter) because the latter dishonored his family by spurning his marriage proposal; burning a neighboring town because it infringed on his economic rights as lord; or raping and killing his own serfs for failing to pay their debts to him.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_1edfa2c7	type	Royals Who Actually Do Something
The Pillars of the Earth / int_1edfa2c7	comment	Royals Who Actually Do Something: Both King Stephen and Prince Henry (the future Henry II) lead men in battle. See also Warrior Prince.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_216ff5ed	type	Moses in the Bulrushes
The Pillars of the Earth / int_216ff5ed	comment	Moses in the Bulrushes: Tom Builder's son, Jonathan. He was abandoned as a newborn and left to die. He was found by monks and raised as Philip's son.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_25b7257f	type	Red Right Hand
The Pillars of the Earth / int_25b7257f	comment	Red Right Hand: Lady Regan has boils covering her face.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_297ab1b9	type	Parental Abandonment
The Pillars of the Earth / int_297ab1b9	comment	Parental Abandonment: Played heavily throughout the book. Tom abandoning his baby son so he could provide for his other two kids instead just shows how hard people had it during these times.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_2a8a7ea6	type	Bury Your Gays
The Pillars of the Earth / int_2a8a7ea6	comment	Bury Your Gays: The effeminate Matthew is killed by William quite early in the story.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_2af6bbeb	type	Break the Haughty
The Pillars of the Earth / int_2af6bbeb	comment	Break the Haughty: From the perspective of contemporary medieval characters, young Aliena is a spoiled brat who reacts rudely to William's awkward attempts at wooing her. She suffers very, very horribly for it. Waleran shrugs off most of the defeats tossed at him, but losing political favor by suggesting Beckett's assassination finally does him in, as least as far as Jonathan and Jack can see.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_2b14367f	type	Bring My Brown Pants
The Pillars of the Earth / int_2b14367f	comment	Bring My Brown Pants: William wets himself on the way to the gallows.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_2b49eaf	type	Damsel out of Distress
The Pillars of the Earth / int_2b49eaf	comment	Damsel out of Distress: Aliena is often in danger, but she's still quite intelligent and resourceful.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_2d768e2d	type	Succession Crisis
The Pillars of the Earth / int_2d768e2d	comment	Succession Crisis: Truth in Television as this is set against the political backdrop of The Anarchy.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_2eedb330	type	Murderers Are Rapists
The Pillars of the Earth / int_2eedb330	comment	Murderers Are Rapists: William. He was a murderer, many times over. He also raped Aliena and many other women and girls.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_2fa6b075	type	God Save Us from the Queen!
The Pillars of the Earth / int_2fa6b075	comment	God Save Us from the Queen!: The main reason Maud does not succeed Henry I despite previously being named Henry's heir.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_2fd7200b	type	Dead Guy Junior
The Pillars of the Earth / int_2fd7200b	comment	Dead Guy Junior: Tommy, the son of Jack and Aliena. Named after the deceased Tom Builder, whom William killed and had tormented in life. Fittingly, after he becomes the new earl, he dispatches William for killing Bishop Beckett on charges of sacrilege and sentences him to the gallows.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_34dcfc96	type	Kick the Dog
The Pillars of the Earth / int_34dcfc96	comment	Kick the Dog: William does everything except kicking an actual dog to remind you that yes, he is the villain.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_37d94ed9	type	Agony of the Feet
The Pillars of the Earth / int_37d94ed9	comment	Agony of the Feet: William tortures an enemy knight into confessing treason by hanging him from a tree limb and setting a fire under his bare feet.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_437820dc	type	Villainous Crush
The Pillars of the Earth / int_437820dc	comment	Villainous Crush: William has a very creepy obsession with Aliena.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_44fc28e8	type	Honor Before Reason
The Pillars of the Earth / int_44fc28e8	comment	Honor Before Reason: Aliena's father in the novel, much to Aliena's dismay. In the book, she resents her father for making her swear to restore the family's lordship. Averted in the miniseries, where she's the one with the idea.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_4604fd4d	type	Worthy Opponent
The Pillars of the Earth / int_4604fd4d	comment	Worthy Opponent: Minor example, but Richard and Robert of Gloucester have a degree of respect for each other.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_479d4e5a	type	Would Hurt a Child
The Pillars of the Earth / int_479d4e5a	comment	Would Hurt a Child: While on a punitive visit to one of his villages William discovers a young couple who have married without paying a fine en lieu of submitting to Droit du Seigneur, and decides he wants to rape the woman. To distract her father from interfering William grabs her newborn baby by the ankles and hurls it in the air as high as he can, attacking the woman as her father scrambles to catch his grandchild.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_47fea76b	type	Butt-Monkey
The Pillars of the Earth / int_47fea76b	comment	Aliena ends up on the horrific side of this several times (see Break the Cutie and Break the Haughty above), but the crowning moment has to be when her brother actually tries to defend her from what modern-day readers would rightfully call Domestic Abuse; Richard killing Alfred is considered murder, since Aliena is Alfred's wife, making her consent a non-issue. A protracted debate ensues, at high legal levels, as to whether Aliena really counted as married at the time.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_4b316d47	type	Break the Cutie
The Pillars of the Earth / int_4b316d47	comment	Break the Cutie: From a modern perspective, young Aliena is a feisty and fetching noblewoman who wisely rejects the advances of a creep. She suffers very, very horribly for it. Played straight with Elizabeth, quite literally on her wedding night, when William sates his violent lusts on her.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_4b39a18	type	Hope Springs Eternal
The Pillars of the Earth / int_4b39a18	comment	Hope Springs Eternal: However the villains try to stop the construction of the cathedral, they fail. Even burning the whole town down doesn't help. There is one point in the story when Philip gives up all hope, but it only lasts until Jack returns from France and decides to build the cathedral in Gothic style.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_4ef92d0b	type	The Atoner
The Pillars of the Earth / int_4ef92d0b	comment	The Atoner: Brother Johnny, a former outlaw who became a monk after rescuing Jonathan when he was a baby. Later Brother Remigius repents from his bad deeds throughout the story and accepts the role of a humble monk with no special authority.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_5313c266	type	Bookends
The Pillars of the Earth / int_5313c266	comment	Book Ends: The executions in the first scene and the last. The scenes even have the same opening sentence.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_5539b84f	type	Corrupt Church
The Pillars of the Earth / int_5539b84f	comment	Corrupt Church: Played straight with Ministers like Waleran who are raised to the top of the hierarchy; averted with Philip, Jonathan and other monks who strive to be Good Shepherd and dislike corrupt ministers.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_55940b68	type	Doorstopper
The Pillars of the Earth / int_55940b68	comment	Doorstopper: 973 pages.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_590eb583	type	Domestic Abuse
The Pillars of the Earth / int_590eb583	comment	Domestic Abuse: Alfred beats Aliena because he is impotent. And then there's William's brutal treatment of any female he's even mildly attracted to...
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_5aa60027	type	Tell Me About My Father
The Pillars of the Earth / int_5aa60027	comment	Tell Me About My Father: One sideplot revolves around Jack wanting to know who his father was, who killed him, and why.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_5beef860	type	Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?
The Pillars of the Earth / int_5beef860	comment	Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: For all that he fails to act like it most of the time, the very mention of Hell is usually enough to make William shake with fear.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_5ee2f7cc	type	My Secret Pregnancy
The Pillars of the Earth / int_5ee2f7cc	comment	My Secret Pregnancy: Aliena hides her pregnancy until the day of birth. Not surprising since she never had sex with her husband.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_5fcb9ad1	type	Time Skip
The Pillars of the Earth / int_5fcb9ad1	comment	Time Skip: Happens between every part.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_60547993	type	I Want My Beloved to Be Happy
The Pillars of the Earth / int_60547993	comment	I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: When Jack works in Toledo, his employer's daughter Aisa falls in love with him, and her father also wants to marry her to Jack. After he leaves, Aliena arrives, and Aisa is the only one who is nice with her and tells her to go after him because she realized that Aliena loves him.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_61996785	type	Sacrificial Lamb
The Pillars of the Earth / int_61996785	comment	Sacrificial Lamb: In-universe example in the story Jack tells Aliena (see the Author Avatar entry above) — the story initially focuses on the traditional brave, strong, virtuous knight, but he is abruptly killed off very early in the story, revealing the squire as its actual protagonist.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_643618e5	type	Replacement Goldfish
The Pillars of the Earth / int_643618e5	comment	Replacement Goldfish: Aliena is freaked out noticing how William's young wife Elizabeth looks like her.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_65acf9db	type	He Knows Too Much
The Pillars of the Earth / int_65acf9db	comment	He Knows Too Much: The reason Jack's father was hanged. Jacques was the only survivor of the White Ship disaster, which claimed the life of Prince William, the heir to Henry I of England. The conspirators behind the ship's destruction had him imprisoned. At first they were going to leave him there, but after he began to get a grasp of English they realized they had to have him killed, so they framed him for theft and hanged him.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_66755d29	type	Author Avatar
The Pillars of the Earth / int_66755d29	comment	Author Avatar: In-universe example — Jack makes up an epic story to tell his love interest, Aliena. The story's protagonist is a young squire who is not strong in battle but is courageous and determined all the same, using cunning or luck to barely escape from dangerous situations, and is madly in love with the beautiful princess.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_69681e01	type	Big Brother Instinct
The Pillars of the Earth / int_69681e01	comment	Big Brother Instinct: Richard is younger than Aliena by a few years, but will unfailingly step forward to defend his sister from physical harm (even if it ends up with him being beaten or mutilated). Aliena recognizes that, for all his faults, Richard has always been exceptionally brave and has always attempted to protect her from physical threats.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_6a4f3cf7	type	Took a Level in Dumbass
The Pillars of the Earth / int_6a4f3cf7	comment	Took a Level in Dumbass: Don't expect Richard to be competent at anything that doesn't involve hitting someone with a sharpened stick. He's better off fighting and dying in the Crusades than being Earl of Shiring.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_74ef476c	type	Kneel Before Zod
The Pillars of the Earth / int_74ef476c	comment	Once the Hamleighs have captured Aliena's castle her stiff-necked father refuses to kneel in submission, so Lady Regan orders that Aliena's ears be cut off if he does not submit.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_754df088	type	Put on a Bus
The Pillars of the Earth / int_754df088	comment	Put on a Bus: After he joins the Crusade, we hear talking about Richard again only when he dies without heirs.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_76f0d7a5	type	Historical Fiction
The Pillars of the Earth / int_76f0d7a5	comment	Historical Fiction/Historical Domain Character: Queen Maud, Kings Henry II and Stephen, and Thomas Becket play significant roles in the book. The Battle of Lincoln is a key plot point. King Henry I appears in the television miniseries. Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester, also appears in the book, and Robert, Earl of Gloucester, drives much of the early plot by his actions.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_77ed6b7d	type	Troubling Unchildlike Behavior
The Pillars of the Earth / int_77ed6b7d	comment	Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Jack burns the orginal Kingsbridge cathedral as a child so Tom will be able to feed the family by working on the building of its replacement.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_7a0374eb	type	Impoverished Patrician
The Pillars of the Earth / int_7a0374eb	comment	Impoverished Patrician: Aliena and her brother Richard.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_7c862b8a	type	Chronic Backstabbing Disorder
The Pillars of the Earth / int_7c862b8a	comment	Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Waleran Bigod, William Hamleigh, and Bishop Henry all have severe cases of this.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_7e6c0522	type	Off with His Head!
The Pillars of the Earth / int_7e6c0522	comment	Off with His Head!: Robert gets his head taken off cleanly. For Archbishop Beckett, it doesn't happen so cleanly.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_7e84a642	type	Serial Rapist
The Pillars of the Earth / int_7e84a642	comment	Serial Rapist: William, by far the vilest of the characters of the book, is sexually impotent with willing women, and can only get aroused through sexual brutality, either by beating up prostitutes first or by raping people.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_80621707	type	Arranged Marriage
The Pillars of the Earth / int_80621707	comment	Arranged Marriage: William and Aliena would have become this (it ended very badly), but it was to be William and Elizabeth twenty years later.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_85ca9dab	type	Second Love
The Pillars of the Earth / int_85ca9dab	comment	Second Love: Ellen and Tom are this to each other.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_85debad9	type	Plucky Girl
The Pillars of the Earth / int_85debad9	comment	Plucky Girl: Aliena, who goes from spoiled noblewoman to resourceful wool merchant in order to avenge her family. Ellen also counts.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_863c780a	type	Hopeless Suitor
The Pillars of the Earth / int_863c780a	comment	Hopeless Suitor: William. Aliena suffers awfully for this.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_8805822f	type	Naughty Nuns
The Pillars of the Earth / int_8805822f	comment	Naughty Nuns: Ellen had shades of this when she was a novice, justified by the fact she was forced by her father to join the nunnery and she hadn't any religious vocation. After having met Jack's father, she leaves the monastery with him.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_88933ad4	type	Parental Favoritism
The Pillars of the Earth / int_88933ad4	comment	Parental Favoritism: Tom ignores Alfred's selfishness and sometimes malicious "teasing" towards Martha and Jack.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_890d4ef2	type	Humiliation Conga
The Pillars of the Earth / int_890d4ef2	comment	Humiliation Conga: Waleran Bigod is put through this at the end of the book. He ends up a powerless monk.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_8976acda	type	Civil War
The Pillars of the Earth / int_8976acda	comment	Civil War: Takes place during The Anarchy and this provides a number of crucial plot points.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_8b68d9a7	type	Stalker with a Crush
The Pillars of the Earth / int_8b68d9a7	comment	Stalker with a Crush: After William Hamleigh seizes the Shiring Earldom, he is aware that Aliena, Richard, and their servant Matthew are still living in the castle. He stalks and watches over Aliena with freakish fascination, still obsessed with her even after she disgustedly rejected him twice. As soon as he gets the chance, he rapes her.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_8d0785d5	type	Didn't Think This Through
The Pillars of the Earth / int_8d0785d5	comment	Didn't Think This Through: King Henry unintentionally sending William as an assassin for Thomas Beckett, a well-loved Archbishop who's remained in good standing with the Catholic Church. The backlash following this leaves Henry at the mercy of the Church and God, and William at the gallows on the charges of sacrilege.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_8dd4a996	type	Identical Grandson
The Pillars of the Earth / int_8dd4a996	comment	Identical Grandson: Jack looks so similar to the father he never knew that he is mistaken for him by several people.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_8e20979	type	Wham Episode
The Pillars of the Earth / int_8e20979	comment	Wham Episode: William and his gang of soldiers attack Kingsbridge, nearly burning it to the ground and killing hundreds, including Tom Builder.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_90d44f44	type	Karmic Death
The Pillars of the Earth / int_90d44f44	comment	Karmic Death: William receives one courtesy of Tommy, Jack and Aliena's son, the new Earl of Shiring. William got Jack's stepfather unemployed twice, killed him in a raid on Kingsbridge, and has been tormenting his family, including Aliena. As the earl, Tommy exercises the right to arrest William on charges of sacrilege after the latter assassinates Thomas Beckett in a church.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_90e31482	type	Laser-Guided Karma
The Pillars of the Earth / int_90e31482	comment	Philip is nearly hoist with his own petard as a false accusation of fornication against him gets him put on trial and nearly ruins his career. People think it absurd that such a good man could be ruined by such a frivolous accusation and even one of his enemies, Ellen, speaks up in his defense.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_96144372	type	Aristocrats Are Evil
The Pillars of the Earth / int_96144372	comment	Aristocrats Are Evil: William is a depraved, war-mongering monster.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_977ddbc	type	The Upper Crass
The Pillars of the Earth / int_977ddbc	comment	The Upper Crass: William Hamleigh is a noble, yet interested in little other than sex, hunting, and fighting. This is why Aliena rejects William's marriage proposal.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_978a82e6	type	Big Bad Duumvirate
The Pillars of the Earth / int_978a82e6	comment	Big Bad Duumvirate: Waleran Bigod and the Hamleighs, particularly William. Their schemes are the main source of problems that the people of Kingsbridge have to contend with.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_99ddfcec	type	Unwitting Instigator of Doom
The Pillars of the Earth / int_99ddfcec	comment	Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Philip telling Waleran about Bartholomew of Shiring's plans to overthrow King Stephen, in an attempt to protect the Church and bestow the responsibility on someone higher in Church standing, starts a chain of events that leads to William's father becoming the new earl, William raping Bartholomew's daughter Aliena as revenge for her declining his proposal and insulting him, and Tom the Builder losing his first income in ages as well as his life in good time. Philip seems to realize this, since he buys Aliena's wool when no other merchant will buy from a woman and she needs the money.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_9a1d239e	type	Been There, Shaped History
The Pillars of the Earth / int_9a1d239e	comment	Been There, Shaped History: William was one of the assassins who killed Thomas Becket, and it was Philip's idea to make a saint of him.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_9bcd82c0	type	Took a Level in Badass
The Pillars of the Earth / int_9bcd82c0	comment	Took a Level in Badass: Richard. Goes from being little more than a puppet for Aliena to being a fairly kickass knight.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_9fe35833	type	Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas
The Pillars of the Earth / int_9fe35833	comment	Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: William's one good act is to build a church in his mother's memory, to rescue her soul from Hell, and he's even offended when Waleran takes advantage of it for his own plans. Granted, it's strongly indicated this is more over his fear for his own soul than love for his mother, given he had pretty much no love for her previously and had watched her die.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_a18fda9c	type	Dumb Muscle
The Pillars of the Earth / int_a18fda9c	comment	Dumb Muscle: Richard is a good soldier, but is not really good at anything else. It becomes especially obvious when he becomes the Earl.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_a42f56b0	type	Royal "We"
The Pillars of the Earth / int_a42f56b0	comment	Royal "We": Queen Maud. "We are betrayed!"
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_a5d92fce	type	Celibate Hero
The Pillars of the Earth / int_a5d92fce	comment	Celibate Hero: Prior Philip is not sexually deviant in any way. In the novel, he talks about his sexual lusts mercifully fading away over time. Word of God states that Philip was deliberately created to be a "cheerfully celibate" character, as Follett was sick of the outwardly-chaste but inwardly-smouldering-with-lust monk trope. invoked
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_a70223	type	Karma Houdini
The Pillars of the Earth / int_a70223	comment	Karma Houdini: William spends years getting away with murder, rape, pillaging, and sabotage because Waleran is the only priest who will absolve him. Waleran's role in framing Jack's father doesn't do a thing to his reputation in the Kingsbridge priory, apart from disproving his accusations. He merely walks away when Jack demands answers from him. It takes a political scandal which involves King Henry, William, and Philip to deliver the punishment of humility. As a child, Jack burns the original cathedral to the ground and is never punished.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_a836a9b5	type	Character Witness
The Pillars of the Earth / int_a836a9b5	comment	Character Witness: Remigius, whose gossiping gets Ellen banished from the village. Later on, after he is disgraced and Philip decides to give him a second chance, he and Ellen save Philip from being accused of fathering Jonathan out of wedlock and confirm Ellen's tale that the previous Prior James and Waleran had condemned an innocent man for political benefit.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_a8a5e4ed	type	Christianity Is Catholic
The Pillars of the Earth / int_a8a5e4ed	comment	Christianity is Catholic: Justified, not surprisingly, as the Reformation was still centuries away.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_a8dcb1d7	type	Love at First Sight
The Pillars of the Earth / int_a8dcb1d7	comment	Love at First Sight: Jack towards Aliena; he can't stop thinking about her from their very first meeting, at which time he's twelve and she's seventeen.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_aabe2fb	type	Deliberate Values Dissonance
The Pillars of the Earth / int_aabe2fb	comment	Deliberate Values Dissonance: Deconstructed, as Follet repeatedly illustrates a moral norm alien to modern values and then shows that plenty of contemporaries also rejected those norms and sought ways around them, reminding the audience that past societies are not monocultures. Prior Philip, although a benevolent figure for his community, and more compassionate than most of his peers, still has the views of a 12th-century monk on subjects like extra-marital sex or the respect due to his own authority. Other people think it's absurd that he insists that Aliena and Jack not cohabit due to Aliena being technically married to someone else, even though Aliena and Jack have a child together. When they finally get married Aliena is suprised the village is making such a big deal of it, as the townspeople generally considered Jack and Aliena to be more or less married already. Philip is nearly hoist with his own petard as a false accusation of fornication against him gets him put on trial and nearly ruins his career. People think it absurd that such a good man could be ruined by such a frivolous accusation and even one of his enemies, Ellen, speaks up in his defense. Aliena ends up on the horrific side of this several times (see Break the Cutie and Break the Haughty above), but the crowning moment has to be when her brother actually tries to defend her from what modern-day readers would rightfully call Domestic Abuse; Richard killing Alfred is considered murder, since Aliena is Alfred's wife, making her consent a non-issue. A protracted debate ensues, at high legal levels, as to whether Aliena really counted as married at the time. William indulges in his rights as husband and lord, raping his teenaged wife regularly and doing violence to his serfs when they violate his prerogatives and fail to pay what they owe him. Even his own steward is dismayed by his behavior, even the legally justified parts, and his wife is eventually rescued and returned to her family. When William insists on exercising Droit du Seigneur his steward points out that that isn't even a real thing. William's first attack on the quarry fails because while murdering laypeople is tolerable, murdering the monks present at the quarry would be crossing a Moral Event Horizon in the cultural norms of the time.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_b1c8e04e	type	Marital Rape License
The Pillars of the Earth / int_b1c8e04e	comment	William indulges in his rights as husband and lord, raping his teenaged wife regularly and doing violence to his serfs when they violate his prerogatives and fail to pay what they owe him. Even his own steward is dismayed by his behavior, even the legally justified parts, and his wife is eventually rescued and returned to her family. When William insists on exercising Droit du Seigneur his steward points out that that isn't even a real thing.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_b39d5719	type	Sadist
The Pillars of the Earth / int_b39d5719	comment	Sadist: William is sexually impotent unless he is violently assaulting his victims - consent inhibits him. When he is given the order to cut Aliena's ears off in front of her defeated father and his retainers, he discovers the command sexually arouses him. William comes to understand this quality gradually in himself; while he is holding an enemy's feet in a fire to make him confess treason William discovers that torturing a man gives him the same feeling as raping a girl, but later, dissatisfied, he decides that torturing a man without killing him is like stripping a girl without raping her.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_b5060b63	type	The Lad-ette
The Pillars of the Earth / int_b5060b63	comment	The Lad-ette: Ellen, raised by a widowed father among his men; she learns all sorts of masculine habits, until her father decides it's time she become more of a lady and sends her to live in a convent. It doesn't work out as he would have hoped.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_b97c1d0b	type	Standard Hero Reward
The Pillars of the Earth / int_b97c1d0b	comment	Standard Hero Reward: William believes that his heroic capture of the treasonous Earl Bartholomew and his castle will be rewarded with the opportunity to rape Aliena and then forcibly marry her. His mother disabuses him of the notion, as Aliena's new social status as the daughter of a traitor renders her unworthy. William is eventually temporarily given Bartholomew's earldom.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_b9f472b	type	Storming the Castle
The Pillars of the Earth / int_b9f472b	comment	Storming the Castle: Averted when Aliena wants to attack William in Shiring Castle, but Richard patiently explains that storming a castle never works. They manage to trick their way in instead. The Hamleighs seize Bartholemew's fortress home through a clever infiltration strategy.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_ba6cf869	type	Rape, Pillage, and Burn
The Pillars of the Earth / int_ba6cf869	comment	Deconstructed with William. In the beginning, he is just an idiot who is mocked by almost everyone. However, when he finally snaps, he becomes a nightmare: raping the woman who despised him, burning Kingsbridge to ashes, generally raping and pillaging all over the place because it's fun.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_babc974	type	Sadistic Choice
The Pillars of the Earth / int_babc974	comment	Sadistic Choice: Once the Hamleighs have captured Aliena's castle her stiff-necked father refuses to kneel in submission, so Lady Regan orders that Aliena's ears be cut off if he does not submit. William gives Aliena a choice between lying still as he rapes her and watching her brother's ear get cut off.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_bc74ef27	type	Berserk Button
The Pillars of the Earth / int_bc74ef27	comment	Berserk Button Don't ever laugh at William. He'll murder you. King Henry II does not like his underlings' cheap talk. Philip does not take kindly to people faking miracles. Anyone physically harming Aliena will send Richard into a mindless rage.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_bd86c157	type	The High Middle Ages
The Pillars of the Earth / int_bd86c157	comment	The High Middle Ages: The novel is set in this era.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_c4240537	type	Moral Event Horizon
The Pillars of the Earth / int_c4240537	comment	William's first attack on the quarry fails because while murdering laypeople is tolerable, murdering the monks present at the quarry would be crossing a Moral Event Horizon in the cultural norms of the time.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_c67af1b0	type	Big Bad Wannabe
The Pillars of the Earth / int_c67af1b0	comment	Big Bad Wannabe: Alfred Builder and Brother Remigius loathe protagonists Jack Jackson and Prior Philip, devoting their entire lives to ruining them. Though they do their part, they're but small pieces in the schemes of the story's true villains, Waleran Bigod and William Hamleigh. Ultimately, their efforts amount to little and they are both dismissed when they are of no further use. Later, Alfred is killed unceremoniously by Richard when the former tries to rape Aliena while Remigius pulls a Heel–Face Turn and later saves Philip from disgrace.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_c772e7c5	type	Rags to Riches
The Pillars of the Earth / int_c772e7c5	comment	Rags to Riches: Aliena goes from being homeless to one of the wealthiest wool traders in England.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_cb70651c	type	Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane
The Pillars of the Earth / int_cb70651c	comment	Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Every curse of Ellen's comes true. Scary, isn't it?
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_d29a6629	type	Death by Childbirth
The Pillars of the Earth / int_d29a6629	comment	Death by Childbirth: Agnes, Tom's first wife, dies after giving birth to Jonathan in the woods.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_d86210c	type	Have You Come to Gloat?
The Pillars of the Earth / int_d86210c	comment	Have You Come to Gloat?: Remigius asks this to Philip when he finds him begging. Instead of that, Philip invites him back to Kingsbridge.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_db71d717	type	Thanatos Gambit
The Pillars of the Earth / int_db71d717	comment	Thanatos Gambit: Thomas Becket doesn't run from his attackers, but lets himself be killed (in a church no less) to become a martyr. This results in exactly the opposite effect from what the antagonists expected.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_dde7da12	type	Come to Gawk
The Pillars of the Earth / int_dde7da12	comment	Come to Gawk: Remigius asks this to Philip when he's wandering the streets as a beggar. Philip, being the pious man he is, offers to take him back as a novice instead. This would save him a lot of problems later.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_df410b77	type	Decoy Protagonist
The Pillars of the Earth / int_df410b77	comment	Decoy Protagonist: Tom Builder, who dies about halfway through the book. Swapping protagonists in some fashion was probably unavoidable, since building churches was a generational undertaking, but Tom dies fairly young and suddenly.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_e1311c40	type	Romancing the Widow
The Pillars of the Earth / int_e1311c40	comment	Romancing the Widow: Ellen was doing this to Tom, although they had met when his wife still lived.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_e13156e1	type	Mama Bear
The Pillars of the Earth / int_e13156e1	comment	Mama Bear: Ellen leaves Tom when he won't do a thing about Alfred bullying Jack, in addition to being forced to stay away for a year.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_e192c0a7	type	Standard Female Grab Area
The Pillars of the Earth / int_e192c0a7	comment	Standard Female Grab Area: Used against Aliena during Alfred's attempted rape. Also attempted by William when he raped Aliena, but it fails there; instead, William threatens her brother to force compliance.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_e19e68	type	Cruel Mercy
The Pillars of the Earth / int_e19e68	comment	Cruel Mercy: Jack decides that forgiving Waleran and pitying him is the worst kind of punishment he can bring on the priest for engineering his father's execution.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_e2abcbfd	type	Turbulent Priest
The Pillars of the Earth / int_e2abcbfd	comment	Turbulent Priest: Thomas Becket, the Trope Namer himself, of course.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_e3109dae	type	Switching P.O.V.
The Pillars of the Earth / int_e3109dae	comment	Switching P.O.V.: The story is told from the POV of 5 characters.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_e4cd6f47	type	Wedding Deadline
The Pillars of the Earth / int_e4cd6f47	comment	Wedding Deadline: Jack tries to stop the wedding between Aliena and Alfred, but for this, he needs to escape the monastery. He ultimately fails, and while his mother actually goes there and curses the marriage, she doesn't stop it.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_e70127	type	The Mole
The Pillars of the Earth / int_e70127	comment	The Mole: Remigius is a secret spy to Waleran.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_e8d46c29	type	Backstory
The Pillars of the Earth / int_e8d46c29	comment	Backstory: Jack's parentage. Philip's story about how he became a monk.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_f1492605	type	Redemption Equals Death
The Pillars of the Earth / int_f1492605	comment	Redemption Equals Death: Averted. Both Remigius and Waleran end their time with the book as humble monks rather than die.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_f360fc33	type	Dumbass Has a Point
The Pillars of the Earth / int_f360fc33	comment	Dumbass Has a Point: For such a clod-headed oaf, William is quite cunning on a number of occasions.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_f8014b20	type	Explicit Content
The Pillars of the Earth / int_f8014b20	comment	Explicit Content: Per usual for Follett, the sex scenes are detailed, and lovingly so for the Official Couple.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_fb3576b2	type	The Dog Bites Back
The Pillars of the Earth / int_fb3576b2	comment	The Dog Bites Back: When William's abused wife helps Richard and his army to infiltrate and take over his castle and depose him as earl. Lampshaded by Waleran in the miniseries, saying, "If you kick a dog, it may someday bite you."
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_fbc54605	type	Riches to Rags
The Pillars of the Earth / int_fbc54605	comment	Riches to Rags: Happens to Aliena twice. She first goes from pampered noblewoman to being homeless. She then becomes a wealthy wool trader but loses everything in a fire thanks to William, falling from a position of wealth and social prominence to needing financial support (including an Arranged Marriage to Alfred) to survive.
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The Pillars of the Earth / int_ffad4e9f	type	Shown Their Work
The Pillars of the Earth / int_ffad4e9f	comment	Shown Their Work: Ken Follett wants you to know all about cathedral architecture.
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