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The Warlord Chronicles

1322 statements
261 feature instances
39 referencing feature instances

The Warlord Chronicles	type	TVTItem
The Warlord Chronicles	label	The Warlord Chronicles
The Warlord Chronicles	page	TheWarlordChronicles
The Warlord Chronicles	comment	The Warlord Chronicles (also known as the Warlord Trilogy, the Excalibur Trilogy, etc.) are a series of books by Bernard Cornwell that retell the Arthurian Legend in a fashion that is much closer to being historically accurate than the traditional legends, although many of the additions that were added to the original Celtic legends (such as Merlin and Lancelot) are still present and used in interesting ways. The series deals with war, religion and politics in post-Roman Britain in an unflinching way.The books are: The Winter King (1995) Enemy of God (1996) Excalibur (1997)The story begins in a remote monastery, many years after the fall of Arthur. Queen Igraine comes to the old monk Derfel, who was once one of Arthur's lieutenants, to get him to tell her the story of Arthur, so that it will not be forgotten. Reluctantly at first, Derfel begins telling the story of Arthur as he experienced it, as he rose from a simple spearman to one of the most trusted warriors and leaders under Arthur's command. Here is how his story begins:Britain, 480AD. Two generations have passed since the Romans left, and things look bleak for the native (Celtic) Britons. The Saxons are on an inevitable drive of conquest from the east, while Irish raiders attack from the west to steal, plunder, or carve out their own kingdoms. The many kingdoms of the Britons spend much of their time feuding and fighting with each other over territory and the ambitions of their kings and princes. Inside these kingdoms, the opposing religions of Christianity and the old British gods as worshipped by the Druids (almost wiped out by the Romans, but seemingly making a comeback under the influence of Merlin) jostle with each other and vie for the hearts and minds of kings, warriors and the ordinary people.For the Britons, the only bright spot is the fragile alliance against the Saxons, held together by the High King Uther of Dumnonia. Alas, even that seems like a lost hope because Uther, once a fearsome warrior, is a dying old man. With no legitimate adult heir (his son having recently died in battle), Uther has refused the advice of nearly everyone by insisting on naming his newborn grandson Mordred as his heir rather than his bastard son Arthur (whom he blames for his son's death), despite the fact that Arthur is already gaining fame as a warrior from his exploits. Instead, Uther declares a number of other major figures to be guardians, stewards and regents for Mordred until he comes of age. He dies soon afterwards, and the ambitious lords and priests are soon scheming and competing to gain a greater share of power for themselves. Returning from Brittany, Arthur tries to sort out the mess out and build an alliance to keep the Saxons from conquering all of Britain. He nearly undoes his own efforts, though, when he breaks off a politically powerful arranged marriage in order to marry Guinevere, throwing the British kingdoms into chaos.Even after Arthur clears these early hurdles, many dangers still await. Friends and lovers have a way of turning into enemies, religious differences continually threaten to rip Britain apart, and there are very troubling signs around young Mordred as he grows older...A TV series adaptation of the first book, also called The Winter King, was announced in 2020 for MGM+, just before the COVID-19 Pandemic hit. The production eventually moved to ITV, filming having begun in 2022. The series eventually premiered on MGM+ in August 2023 in the US only. A UK release is due to follow on ITVX later in the year.
The Warlord Chronicles	fetched	2024-02-27T13:46:35Z
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_10978c26	type	Runaway FiancÃ©
The Warlord Chronicles / int_10978c26	comment	Runaway FiancÃ©: Happens twice, and each time both parts of the couple are supposed to marry someone else. In Arthur and Guinevere's case, it starts a war. In Derfel and Ceinwyn's case, it wrecks Arthur's carefully-lain plans for presenting a united front against the Saxons - for a time, at least. Despite these results, both couples end things reasonably happy.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_1235f055	type	Dirty Coward
The Warlord Chronicles / int_1235f055	comment	Lancelot's reputation stems entirely from the fact that he pays bards to sing his praises. He's actually a Dirty Coward.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_1237828f	type	Anyone Can Die
The Warlord Chronicles / int_1237828f	comment	Anyone Can Die: And by the time of Arthur's final battle, most characters with a name will be dead.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_125e12c4	type	Second-Hand Storytelling
The Warlord Chronicles / int_125e12c4	comment	Second-Hand Storytelling: The whole series. this also means that we never really get to see all sorts of interesting things that Derfel wasn't around for. This means a lot of Noodle Incidents.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_12aa82b5	type	Interfaith Smoothie
The Warlord Chronicles / int_12aa82b5	comment	Interfaith Smoothie: Derfel is a devotee of the old British Gods, particularly Bel and Manawydan, as well as being a member of the warrior cult of Mithras (something of which the staunchly traditional Merlin disapproves). He later becomes a decidedly half-hearted Christian, but never really abandons his old pagan ways. Despite being one of Britain's Christian leaders, Bishop Bedwin - a former warrior - remains an active member of the cult of Mithras. When he dies, evidence is found that he "played both sides of the throwboard" by secretly worshipping the old British gods as well. The twin Druids Dinas and Lavaine have no problem with incorporating elements of the newer religions into their magic. While ostensibly a Christian, Mordred makes use of Druids when it suits him (and he ultimately apostates).
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_12dd1d4c	type	Rape as Drama
The Warlord Chronicles / int_12dd1d4c	comment	Rape as Drama: Gundleus does this to Nimue, ripping out an eye in the process. Strangely enough, though, she seems more happy that she's received two of her three "Wounds of Wisdom" than anything else, though she was in shock at the time. She consequently spent the years up to Lugg Vale angling for revenge against Gundleus. She gets it. As Derfel flatly remarks to Arthur at the start of Enemy of God, all of Britain probably heard him screaming.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_1439161f	type	Heroic BSoD
The Warlord Chronicles / int_1439161f	comment	Heroic BSoD: Nimue goes into one during her time on the Island of the Dead. Arthur does a minor one and goes Darker and Edgier after finding out about Guinevere and Lancelot. And also when he realizes that his code of ethics won't allow him to help Tristan and Iseult. Galahad also has a brief one after the fall of Ynys Trebes.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_14beeefd	type	Darker and Edgier
The Warlord Chronicles / int_14beeefd	comment	Arthur does a minor one and goes Darker and Edgier after finding out about Guinevere and Lancelot. And also when he realizes that his code of ethics won't allow him to help Tristan and Iseult.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_1520ad7e	type	Jumping Off the Slippery Slope
The Warlord Chronicles / int_1520ad7e	comment	Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Nimue.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_153299b4	type	Boisterous Bruiser
The Warlord Chronicles / int_153299b4	comment	Oengus Mac Airem and the Blackshields are a fairly amoral but mostly likable Boisterous Bruiser version.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_17501df2	type	Cool Old Guy
The Warlord Chronicles / int_17501df2	comment	Cool Old Guy: Merlin is awesome with a side of awesome. Bishop Emrys, one of the very few Christians in an authority position who is entirely reasonable, as was his predecessor Bishop Bedwin. Derfel grows into a version of this, with an extremely dry sense of humour.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_1869b4b1	type	Unreliable Narrator
The Warlord Chronicles / int_1869b4b1	comment	Unreliable Narrator: Self-admitted.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_1872821f	type	Related Differently in the Adaptation
The Warlord Chronicles / int_1872821f	comment	Related Differently in the Adaptation: Mordred here is Arthur's paternal nephew, not his maternal one (let alone his incestous son). Morgan and Arthur are full siblings, rather than half-siblings. Extending this, Igraine was Uther's mistress rather than his wife, and Cunedda's daughter instead of granddaughter. Lancelot and Galahad are half-brothers rather than father and son. Budic is Uther's son-in-law rather than cousin, and by extent is the father of Gawain here instead of Lot. Gwydre is the legitimate son of Arthur and Guenivere rather than being one of Arthur's bastards. Tristan is the son of Mark instead of his nephew.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_1a183344	type	Honorable Warrior's Death
The Warlord Chronicles / int_1a183344	comment	Honorable Warrior's Death: In the third book, a mortally wounded Aelle challenges Derfel to a duel, knowing that he couldn't win, but hoping to die in a fight so he can earn a spot in Valhalla.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_1ba17583	type	The Ghost
The Warlord Chronicles / int_1ba17583	comment	The Ghost: Clovis, the famous High King of the Franks, indirectly aids the Saxons and opposes Arthur, but never actually makes an appearance. Likewise, Budic of Broceliande is brother-in-law to Arthur, father of Gawain and one of Mark's wives, his conflicts with the Franks make up a major part of first Arthur's and then Mordred's military experience - but he never shows up in person and so we know nothing of his character or even how he reacted to Gawain's death.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_1bc2e445	type	End of an Age
The Warlord Chronicles / int_1bc2e445	comment	End of an Age: Roman civilization is still very much alive in some areas of Britain and Brittany, but it is steadily and rapidly giving way to a new and different society.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_1c3423d6	type	The Quest
The Warlord Chronicles / int_1c3423d6	comment	The Quest: The first part of Enemy of God revolves Merlin and Nimue's efforts to recover the Cauldron of Clyddno Eiddyn. His demand for warriors to accompany him on the quest annoys Arthur, who believes it to be a wild goose chase.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_1c8e096e	type	Childhood Friend Romance
The Warlord Chronicles / int_1c8e096e	comment	Childhood Friend Romance: Derfel and Nimue, on and off, though eventually it settles into more of a platonic admiration. Then Nimue goes mad.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_1d95dcb7	type	LadyMacBeth
The Warlord Chronicles / int_1d95dcb7	comment	Lady Macbeth: Guinevere comes awfully close to playing this role in the first two books, and is frustrated as hell that Arthur won't play along. The third book impressively rehabilitates her. While keeping her personality basically the same, amazingly enough.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_1dfbbf31	type	Heterosexual Life-Partners
The Warlord Chronicles / int_1dfbbf31	comment	Heterosexual Life-Partners: Derfel and Galahad share "everything except women". Galahad even becomes the lone Christian on the quest for a pagan artefact simply because he wants to help his friend.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_1dfd19f9	type	Papa Wolf
The Warlord Chronicles / int_1dfd19f9	comment	Papa Wolf: Derfel, big time after Dian is killed.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_1e12b5b7	type	Lawful Stupid
The Warlord Chronicles / int_1e12b5b7	comment	Lawful Extremely Stupid/Too Dumb to Live: Arthur allowing Mordred to become King, despite all the warning signs about Mordred, just to keep an oath. He eventually realises what a bad idea this was, and very reluctantly, takes over direct rule of Dumnonia.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_1e6dfea1	type	Ãœbermensch
The Warlord Chronicles / int_1e6dfea1	comment	Ãœbermensch: Merlin does operate on a set of principles, but they aren't principles that most other people would recognise or feel comfortable with. However, he's nowhere near as bad as Nimue.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_1edfa2c7	type	Royals Who Actually Do Something
The Warlord Chronicles / int_1edfa2c7	comment	Royals Who Actually Do Something: Uther became known as "the Pendragon" because of his many victories in battle. Arthur fits this trope to a tee, though in this particular version he isn't technically recognised as royalty. Same goes for Morgan, his sister, who is Merlin's prophetess and one of Arthur's most trusted advisers. Among the other Britons: Gorfyddyd and Cuneglas of Powys, Tristan of Kernow and (sometimes) Tewdric of Gwent. On the Saxon side, Aelle and Cerdic, though how much Cerdic gets involved in combat is uncertain. Derfel, as he's Aelle's son. Mordred, though he is unquestionably vile, makes a reputation as a Handicapped Badass and serious warrior in Armorica. Ceinwyn is a rare female example, for she plays a crucial role in Merlin and Nimue's quest for the Cauldron of Clyddno Eiddyn.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_20f689e9	type	Adaptational Villainy
The Warlord Chronicles / int_20f689e9	comment	Adaptational Villainy: Because this was inspired by certain Welsh hagiographies depicting Arthur as an antagonist, many Welsh saints and Romantic figures that were favored by the clergy get this treatment: Gundleus, based on King Gwynllyw from the Vita Cadoci, is transformed from a rash but good-natured prince who runs off with his true love and defends her from the lustful Arthur (before befriending Arthur and fighting alongside him) into a rapist who murders his lawful wife out of amusement. Said true love is herself transformed from Saint Gwladys, a pious and kind princess, into Ladwys, a lowborn woman who enjoys abusing Gundleus's servants and is as bloodthirsty as he is. Cadoc himself, also from the Vita Cadoci, serves as a minor antagonist in Enemy of God. While the reason he and Arthur meet is the same (Ligessac, a figure who betrayed the king, having sought sanctuary with Cadoc), Cadoc is depicted not as the Good Shepherd he traditionally is, but as an ass who flat out calls Arthur the grandson of Satan and, rather than granting Arthur cattle in compensation for Ligessac's deeds, orders his followers to attack Arthur's forces. Lancelot is probably the biggest victim of this. While Derfel admits that he may be clouded by bias, he is still turned from The Paragon into a Dirty Coward who boosts his ego and reputation with propaganda.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_217a1adf	type	I Love the Dead
The Warlord Chronicles / int_217a1adf	comment	Gawain remains virginal due to Merlin's promise of him saving Britain from the Saxons and becoming a hero and marrying Olwen. However, it's a trick. Merlin sacrifices him at Mai Dunn to summon the Pagan Gods. Olwen does end up having sex with him, though — after his death.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_22569655	type	We ARE Struggling Together
The Warlord Chronicles / int_22569655	comment	We ARE Struggling Together: The Britons sometimes seem to be their own worst enemy, with the rival kingdoms at each others throats as often as they're fighting their mutual Saxon and Irish enemies. Derfel realises that the Saxons also have this problem when a captured warrior tells him about the conflict between Cerdic and Aelle. Ultimately, it could be argued that the Britons were an even bigger threat to themselves than the Saxons were. Their almost perpetual state of political infighting means that they fail to put up a united front against the Saxons for any extended period of time. Any victory they win quickly gives way to vicious factionalism once again, and this will eventually allows the Saxons to take out the British kingdoms piecemeal.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_22a27b19	type	Alpha Bitch
The Warlord Chronicles / int_22a27b19	comment	Alpha Bitch: Guinevere starts off as something like this. She gets better. Igraine, the queen who commissions Derfel's autobiography, has some shades of this, though to a much lesser extent.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_23ff95fb	type	Brutal Honesty
The Warlord Chronicles / int_23ff95fb	comment	Brutal Honesty: A cultural trait of the Saxons. Derfel mentions that, while Britons like to speak in circles around a sensitive topic, Saxons tend to get to the point and say exactly what's on their mind. According to Arthur, Derfel has that same straightforward nature, though not as much as his Saxon kin.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_24067bb9	type	Related in the Adaptation
The Warlord Chronicles / int_24067bb9	comment	Related in the Adaptation: Mardoc, an Italian interpretation of Meleagaunt, is made Mordred's son. Peredur (Percivale) is the son of Lancelot and Ade (a minor love interest of Lancelot's from the Prose Lancelot). Derfel Cadarn is the son of Aelle.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_2484396e	type	Know-Nothing Know-It-All
The Warlord Chronicles / int_2484396e	comment	Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Prince Meurig of Gwent is stated to have a vast knowledge of law, history, and theology, but none of that translates into even semi-effective leadership. Any time he gives political or military advice, it's always totally inept.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_259d5879	type	Anachronism Stew
The Warlord Chronicles / int_259d5879	comment	Anachronism Stew: The names, at least, are not all consistent with the Dark Age setting. While Arthurian characters usually have more than one spelling of their names, influenced by different languages over time, the trilogy uses a mix of older, more period-appropriate spellings and later spellings which may be more familiar. For instance, the later form "Mordred" - as found in the 15th century Le Morte D Arthur - appears instead of "Medraut" - as found in the 10th century Annales Cambriae - or other earlier variants. This extends to the names of characters with no real equivalent in later works. Arthur's sons are called "Amhar" and Loholt" - "Amhar" is a 12th century form of the Welsh name "Amr" who appears in the 9th century Historia Brittonum, while "Loholt" comes from 12th and 13th century French works like Ã‰rec et Ã‰nide and Perlesvaus. "Culhwch", Arthur's kinsman from the older Welsh tale Culhwch and Olwen collected in the Mabinogion, rubs shoulders with people like "Lancelot", "Galahad" and "Sagramor," whose names come from much later French works. Cornwell admits in the author's notes that he deliberately kept the more anachronistic names like Mordred, Guinevere, and Lancelot because they were simply too iconic to replace in his mind. The Thirteen Treasures have their traditional names despite many of those names referring to figures who post-date both the narrative and the framing device, such as the Chariot of Morgan Mwynfawr, who was the grandson of Meurig ap Tewdrig.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_267ce120	type	Dirty Old Man
The Warlord Chronicles / int_267ce120	comment	Dirty Old Man: Merlin, Merlin, Merlin. Oh, and did we mention Merlin? It bears repeating. It is also worth noting that Derfel's immediate thought/dread when, after he and Ceinwyn pull a Runaway FiancÃ© moment and she hesitates from consummating their relationship, she says she's promised her virginity to Merlin. As it turns out, technically speaking she did, but it was a matter of Virgin Power that Merlin was after. Later, towards the end of Excalibur, when Olwen - who had once played the part of a spirit for Merlin and has since gone cheerfully mad - casually mentioned that she'd slept with Merlin (by now very elderly) many times, Derfel is less than surprised, remarking inwardly that "he [Merlin] was a goat". Also King Mark, but he completely lacks any of Merlin's redeeming features. Or, indeed, any redeeming features whatsoever.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_27ab0123	type	Offing the Offspring
The Warlord Chronicles / int_27ab0123	comment	Offing the Offspring: King Mark is just as much of a bastard here as in most other Arthurian stories. Poor Tristan. Poor Iseult.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_27b83210	type	Hufflepuff House
The Warlord Chronicles / int_27b83210	comment	Hufflepuff House: All of the British kingdoms apart from Dumnonia and Powys certainly qualify. This includes Gwent; despite being one of the larger kingdoms and having the largest army (trained on Roman lines and said to number over a thousand spears at various points, whereas other kingdoms usually struggle to raise half as many), its role in the novels is mostly reactive. It doesn't supply a single main character and frequently sits out crucial wars entirely. When Tewdric finally decides to aid Arthur at Mynydd Baddon, however, their disciplined infantry proves to be a crucial factor in the Britons' victory.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_2ae29c0d	type	The Dreaded
The Warlord Chronicles / int_2ae29c0d	comment	The Dreaded: The Irish king Diwrnach's savage treatment of his defeated foes has earned him this reputation, to the point where many Britons would sooner take on the Saxons than go up against him. On the heroes' side there is Sagramor. Derfel says at one point the Saxons are more afraid of him than they are of Arthur.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_2d4fa515	type	Ax-Crazy
The Warlord Chronicles / int_2d4fa515	comment	Ax-Crazy: Mordred when he grows up, and possibly Nimue in Excalibur. There are other examples as well, ranging from some inhabitants on the Isle of the Dead to minor but but completely nasty characters like Diwrnach, whose soldiers cover their shields with the blood and skin of slain victims. Diwrnach has a preference for using dead virgins for this... And as a certain other character mentions, the only certain virgins are children...
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_2dc0d2bf	type	Hidden Depths
The Warlord Chronicles / int_2dc0d2bf	comment	Hidden Depths: Aelle is much, much smarter than he appears to be. Derfel is also indicated to not come off as especially smart, but proves to be a much sharper political operator than anyone really gives him credit for being.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_2e8441c9	type	The Bad Guy Wins
The Warlord Chronicles / int_2e8441c9	comment	The Bad Guy Wins: One of the bad guys, anyway. See Cerdic's Karma Houdini entry below.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_3036294e	type	Scary Black Man
The Warlord Chronicles / int_3036294e	comment	Scary Black Man: Sagramor, though he's much more approachable once you get to know him. The fact that the Saxons fear him so much is the main reason why Arthur makes him the Lord of the Stones - the man responsible for defending Dumnonia's eastern border.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_319cc4d7	type	Low Fantasy
The Warlord Chronicles / int_319cc4d7	comment	Low Fantasy: This is easily the closest thing that Cornwell has ever done to a fantasy series, due to the rampant Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane and the necessary Artistic License â€“ History.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_37b5c1b0	type	Big Badass Battle Sequence
The Warlord Chronicles / int_37b5c1b0	comment	Big Badass Battle Sequence: Several throughout the series, most notably Lugg Vale in the first book, as well as Mynydd Baddon and Camlann in the third.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_385f5a1d	type	Achey Scars
The Warlord Chronicles / int_385f5a1d	comment	Achey Scars: Derfel has one on his left hand, evidence of his blood oath with Nimue. The fact that he does not have his left hand in old age gives a big clue as to how that ends.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_38b48685	type	Born in the Wrong Century
The Warlord Chronicles / int_38b48685	comment	Born in the Wrong Century: Arthur can come off this way due to his lack of superstition, as well as his vision of a just society.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_39441318	type	Horny Vikings
The Warlord Chronicles / int_39441318	comment	Horny Vikings: Not Vikings per se, but at this period in time the Saxons and the Franks still fit this archetype pretty well. Some of them even wear horned helmets.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_396e1c2a	type	Face Death with Dignity
The Warlord Chronicles / int_396e1c2a	comment	Face Death with Dignity: Merlin is actually smiling when he dies, having long since accepted his fate.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_3b113b7	type	Character Development
The Warlord Chronicles / int_3b113b7	comment	Character Development: At least a few initially unlikable, Scrappy-esque characters turn out to have understandable, sympathetic motives and grow on both the characters and readers. Guinevere is perhaps the crowning example - while, remarkably, still remaining fundamentally the same person.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_3bc88a7f	type	Foregone Conclusion
The Warlord Chronicles / int_3bc88a7f	comment	Foregone Conclusion: England exists, so things ultimately won't end well for our protagonists.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_3d1fbeb3	type	Virgin Power
The Warlord Chronicles / int_3d1fbeb3	comment	Virgin Power: Merlin requires a virgin to help him find the the Cauldron of Clyddno Eiddin. Ceinwyn is persuaded to delay consummating her relationship with Derfel in order to help him find it. Taliesin has the gift of prophecy so long as he remains a virgin. In order to ensure that he retains his power, he had himself castrated. Gawain remains virginal due to Merlin's promise of him saving Britain from the Saxons and becoming a hero and marrying Olwen. However, it's a trick. Merlin sacrifices him at Mai Dunn to summon the Pagan Gods. Olwen does end up having sex with him, though — after his death.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_3de32c52	type	Unrelated in the Adaptation
The Warlord Chronicles / int_3de32c52	comment	Unrelated in the Adaptation: There is both a Culhwch and an Olwen in the narrative, but they never meet or interact in any way, let alone become love interests. Cadoc doesn't appear to be related to Gundleus in any way, beyond Derfel suspecting he might have once been a spearman in the Silurian warband - certainly, no indication is given that he is Gundleus's son. Hywel is Derfel's initial mentor, not his father, and isn't related to Budic in any manner. There is no indication that Bors is related to Lancelot. In the Welsh Genealogies Cadwy is the son of Geraint, while here they belong to the same generation and are only connected by both being Dumnonian.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_3e8c87a3	type	Dated History
The Warlord Chronicles / int_3e8c87a3	comment	At one point Merlin remarks to Derfel how much of Christianity is taken from earlier pagan religions (specifically Mithraism), but it's mostly based on Dated History that was pushed in the 18th century onward, the kind repeated in pop culture like Zeitgeist and The Da Vinci Code that secular historians today generally have moved past.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_3fe2b13f	type	Ungrateful Bastard
The Warlord Chronicles / int_3fe2b13f	comment	Ungrateful Bastard: Gundleus is spared by Arthur despite his murders and uprising early in the first book. He proceeds to backstab Arthur at every possible opportunity throughout the rest of the book. Lancelot is, if anything, even more this trope.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_3ff156fa	type	Nay-Theist
The Warlord Chronicles / int_3ff156fa	comment	Nay-Theist: While Arthur doesn't dispute the existence of higher powers, he believes that men are far better off taking fate into their own hands than relying on the gods. He is deliberately vague about his beliefs in public, so that both Christians and pagans can assume that he might be one of them. However, he eventually manages to piss off both factions.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_40bb59d0	type	Blatant Lies
The Warlord Chronicles / int_40bb59d0	comment	Blatant Lies: Sansum claims that his church is too poor to contribute to the war effort, on account of giving away all their wealth to the poor. He says this while wearing a golden cross with a heavy golden chain, as well as a golden torque. Arthur sees right through him, and swiftly uncovers the hoard of treasure that he's been withholding.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_40c57041	type	Manipulative Bastard
The Warlord Chronicles / int_40c57041	comment	Manipulative Bastard: Merlin. He plays Derfel (and everyone else apart from Cerdic) like a violin. As his point on the Chessmaster page shows, he could quite conceivably have ruled Britain from behind the scenes if he so chose.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_4130657a	type	Cincinnatus
The Warlord Chronicles / int_4130657a	comment	Cincinnatus: King Tewdric of Gwent retires to become a monk, but agrees to resume the throne in Excalibur to fight the Saxons, before resuming his monastic life. Also, this is what Arthur wants to be, despite everyone else hoping that he becomes Regent for Life.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_41dd77d	type	Zerg Rush
The Warlord Chronicles / int_41dd77d	comment	The Saxons are depicted as little more than berserkers who use human wave tactics and war dogs. Perhaps this was to play up the contrast between the factions, as scholarly opinion and archaeological evidence shows the Saxons used shieldwall tactics similar to what the Britons are depicted using against them and each other in the books, complete with cavalry support - and there is no evidence of war dogs having ever been a thing. Plus there are a few mentions of them wearing horned helmets which is clearly Dated History. The later series The Saxon Stories by the same author do heavily emphasize them using shieldwalls in warfare.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_424c9a9b	type	Cold-Blooded Torture
The Warlord Chronicles / int_424c9a9b	comment	Cold-Blooded Torture: Happens to a few notable characters, with the recipients usually being tortured to death. Nimue is especially good at it. Nimue tortures Gundleus to death at the end of The Winter King as revenge for raping her and taking her eye out. In Enemy of God, Derfel and Nimue very brutally torture Dinas and Lavaine to death for murdering Derfel's daughter, Dian.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_43a045de	type	Dropped a Bridge on Him
The Warlord Chronicles / int_43a045de	comment	Dropped a Bridge on Him: Agricola's death at the battle of Mynydd Baddon literally merits all of five words. While not a main character, he was still a major supporting player in the story thus far, so it really feels like he got the short end of the stick there. Diwrnach's death in Excalibur is only mentioned, despite his having been a major antagonist in Enemy of God.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_44fc28e8	type	Honor Before Reason
The Warlord Chronicles / int_44fc28e8	comment	Honor Before Reason: Arthur has a bad case of this, and Britain bleeds because of it.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_453871ec	type	What Could Have Been
The Warlord Chronicles / int_453871ec	comment	What Could Have Been: In universe, just imagine how many lives could have been saved and how the future of Britain would have been changed had Arthur simply chosen to ignore Guinevere, or at least gone forward with his marriage to Ceinwyn. Or if Arthur had got rid of Mordred and claimed the Dumnonian throne for himself, as many wanted him to.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_4604fd4d	type	Worthy Opponent
The Warlord Chronicles / int_4604fd4d	comment	Worthy Opponent: The Saxon warrior king Aelle. He regards Arthur and Derfel the same way.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_479d4e5a	type	Would Hurt a Child
The Warlord Chronicles / int_479d4e5a	comment	Would Hurt a Child: The Druid twins, acting on orders from Lancelot, murder Derfel and Ceinwyn's daughter Dian. The Roaring Rampage of Revenge is everything you'd expect it to be. Merlin and Nimue sacrifice Gawain to the gods in their ritual at Mai Dun (and attempt to sacrifice Gwydre). Nimue, by her own admission, is willing to sacrifices as many children as needed for the pagan gods, as she believes the Cauldron of Clyddno Eiddin will resurrect them. It doesn't.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_4852f325	type	I Just Want to Be Normal
The Warlord Chronicles / int_4852f325	comment	I Just Want to Be Normal: Arthur's fondest wish. Probably the reason why he gives in to Lawful Stupidity (see below).
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_498a6a21	type	Badass Teacher
The Warlord Chronicles / int_498a6a21	comment	Badass Teacher: Hywel, Merlin's steward - a one-legged ex-warrior who teaches the young Derfel (and before him, Arthur) how to fight. Itâ€™s Hywel who passes on the invaluable lesson that on the battlefield, a sober man who knows the nine strokes of the sword will always beat a drunken brute with an axe. He also teaches that the privelidged should never take advantage of their inferiors - a lesson both men take to heart. When Hywel is killed, Derfel takes his sword, names it Hywelbane and always carries it into battle.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_49f20c6a	type	Gory Discretion Shot
The Warlord Chronicles / int_49f20c6a	comment	Gory Discretion Shot: While the battle scenes are as graphic as they are in any Cornwell work, instances of Cold-Blooded Torture tend to be alluded to rather than shown.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_4a852458	type	Big Good
The Warlord Chronicles / int_4a852458	comment	Big Good: Arthur, though he takes a much more active role than most, and his position is often disputed by his fellow Britons.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_4d1a06be	type	Doing in the Scientist
The Warlord Chronicles / int_4d1a06be	comment	Doing in the Scientist: Most of the series is about debunking mystical explanations for things (or at least keeping it very ambiguous), but the final book's climax has a number of elements that could not be plausibly explained as anything other than magic.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_4e3d253b	type	Downer Ending
The Warlord Chronicles / int_4e3d253b	comment	Downer Ending: Not much of a spoiler if you're familiar with the historical context and/or Arthurian lore, but... Arthur is seriously (perhaps fatally) wounded at the battle of Camlann and departs from Britain permanently, a weakling assumes the throne of Dumnonia, the Saxons will eventually push the Britons back into the western mountains, and Derfel will live out the rest of his days as a miserable monk under the thumb of Sansum before eventually dying to buy Sansum time to escape — although Derfel does seem to consider that last bit to be a happy ending, as it means he will die a warrior's death.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_4f4372e9	type	Early-Installment Weirdness
The Warlord Chronicles / int_4f4372e9	comment	Early-Installment Weirdness: In Enemy of God, Aelle makes an off-hand mention of Thor. Later, in Excalibur â€” which features a more in-depth exploration of the Saxon side (including the fact that Aelle in, in fact, not a Saxon at all, but an Angle) â€” Thunor is used instead, which is more accurate to the Anglo-Saxons, while "Thor" is primarily the Norse name for the same god.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_4f76852c	type	Badass on Paper
The Warlord Chronicles / int_4f76852c	comment	Badass on Paper: Lancelot - though, as Derfel notes, he can actually fight when he has no choice. He's just usually too much of a coward.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_4f773434	type	Wise Beyond Their Years
The Warlord Chronicles / int_4f773434	comment	Wise Beyond Their Years: Nimue, right from the start.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_504a1991	type	Body Horror
The Warlord Chronicles / int_504a1991	comment	Body Horror: Usually as a result of Cold-Blooded Torture, which in turn is usually as a result of Nimue getting mad at someone.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_51300dbf	type	Fat Bastard
The Warlord Chronicles / int_51300dbf	comment	Fat Bastard: King Mark and Bishop Cadoc.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_537dd8fe	type	Affably Evil
The Warlord Chronicles / int_537dd8fe	comment	Malldyn appears to be Affably Evil, right up until when he tries to kill and eat Derfel.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_53f5119f	type	The Dragon
The Warlord Chronicles / int_53f5119f	comment	The Dragon: Tanaburs to Gundleus, more so even Nasiens, his actual champion, while Gundleus himself becomes this for Gorfyddyd. Also Bors (the Noble Top Enforcer and eventual Heelâ€“Face Turn variant) to Lancelot, Cyllan to King Mark, and Olwen the Silver to Nimue, in a much more unorthodox way.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_5539b84f	type	Corrupt Church
The Warlord Chronicles / int_5539b84f	comment	Corrupt Church: A common stable of Bernard Cornwell's work. The Christian church overall comes off this way, though individual Christians, even ones in authority, can fall anywhere on the spectrum (mostly negative).
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_559b4bb3	type	Call to Agriculture
The Warlord Chronicles / int_559b4bb3	comment	This initially seems to be Guinevere's motivation for pursuing Arthur. In the early days of their marriage, her father siphons money from the royal treasury to fund his lifestyle (though how much she was involved in it is not stated), and she begins demanding that the usually modest Arthur be referred to as a prince. However, she does genuinely love Arthur, even if it takes a very long time for them to finally meet in the middle about their aspirations (Arthur dreams of the Call to Agriculture, Guinevere wants to be The High Queen).
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_55c87054	type	Mystery Cult
The Warlord Chronicles / int_55c87054	comment	Mystery Cult: The men-only cult of Mithras is accurately portrayed as a very secretive religion. Initiates must go through trials and ordeals in order to become full-fledged members, and adherents are not allowed to divulge any details about the cult to non-members. This doesn't stop Merlin from knowing all about it, of course. Guinevere's women-only cult of Isis also has shades of this trope.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_560e8d61	type	Deceptive Disciple
The Warlord Chronicles / int_560e8d61	comment	Deceptive Disciple: Nimue to Merlin, although it comes about in a different way from most takes on the story.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_56515a39	type	Artistic License â€“ History
The Warlord Chronicles / int_56515a39	comment	Artistic License â€“ History: Despite billing itself as a "historical" spin on the Arthurian mythos, this is still in effect, thanks in part to how much conjecture there is on the subject: The lineups for the ruling families of the British kingdoms don't necessarily follow the medieval Welsh genealogies for such kingdoms. Notably Gorfyddyd, the King of Powys in The Winter King, is entirely an invention of the author with no precedence in folklore or records (although his patronymic implies he's a son of the traditional Powysian king Cadell) The series doesn't mention Ambrosius Aurelianus and Vortigern, the immediate predecessors to Uther and Arthur as British kings/rulers according to Arthurian lore - Cunedda, the founder of Gwynedd, is named as Uther's predecessor in books in their place. Likewise, no mention is made of Saint Germanus, whose visits to Britain would have been in living memory for the older characters, and Pelagius and his followers are only given a off-hand mention in Excalibur, despite the Pelagian-Chalcedonian rivalry being given great importance by contemporary writers (Paganism, by contrast, is barely mentioned by those same writers). Aelle is revealed in Excalibur to not be a Saxon at all, but ruler of the closely related Angles. Traditionally, Aelle is indeed a Saxon, ruler of the South Saxons and thus traditional founder of Sussex - interestingly, Cerdic's base of power seems to be the region Aelle is traditionally associated with instead of Wessex. Also, the list of sons he's given in that same book (even discounting Derfel) don't match up with his traditional sons of Cymen, Wlencig, and Cissa. In the series, the heir of the British kings is called the Edling. But this is a later Welsh loanword from the Old English Ã†Ã¾eling (Aetheling) and wouldn't have been used yet. In one book, Culhwch mocks another character using the Latin phrase "cassus belli" (reason/cause for war) by saying "cow's belly". He and Derfel reminisce about this many years later in the next book. But this only works in English, not the Old Briton they would have been speaking, and for that matter it wouldn't have worked in the Old English Derfel is supposed to be writing in. Arthur and later Derfel's conflicts with the Franks centers around the fictional kingdom of Ynys Trebes, ruled by King Ban and involves Derfel meeting Ban's sons Lancelot and Galahad - Trebes, Ban, Lancelot, and Galahad are all inventions of the Romances, and no mention is made whatsoever of Syagrius, the Roman ruler of Gaul who Clovis actually fought during this time. The Saxons are depicted as little more than berserkers who use human wave tactics and war dogs. Perhaps this was to play up the contrast between the factions, as scholarly opinion and archaeological evidence shows the Saxons used shieldwall tactics similar to what the Britons are depicted using against them and each other in the books, complete with cavalry support - and there is no evidence of war dogs having ever been a thing. Plus there are a few mentions of them wearing horned helmets which is clearly Dated History. The later series The Saxon Stories by the same author do heavily emphasize them using shieldwalls in warfare. In general, the books are less a truly "historically accurate" or "possible/plausible truth behind the legend" version of Arthur in the vein of Sword at Sunset or Here Lies Arthur and more a Deconstruction of the Romances using the Dark Ages as a backdrop. Arthur is still mentored by Merlin, receives Excalibur from a mystical figure in the presence of a stone, and defeats antagonistic British kings at a great battle (Bedegraine in the Romances, Lugg Vale in the The Winter King), Lancelot shows up, there is a quest for a sacred container involving Galahad, a round table is set up at the equivalent of Camelot, and Guinevere commits adultery with Lancelot - all of which were elements invented in the Romances and not present even in Geoffrey of Monmouth's version of events. The big exceptions are Badon (which most historians agree happened, even if they disagree if Arthur was involved) and Camlann (which has traditions dating back to the 11th Century in writing), but both are in the final book, and none of Arthur's eleven other traditional battles are given so much of a nod. At one point Merlin remarks to Derfel how much of Christianity is taken from earlier pagan religions (specifically Mithraism), but it's mostly based on Dated History that was pushed in the 18th century onward, the kind repeated in pop culture like Zeitgeist and The Da Vinci Code that secular historians today generally have moved past.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_581f6468	type	Hero of Another Story
The Warlord Chronicles / int_581f6468	comment	Hero of Another Story: Peredur, Lancelot's son, is mentioned by Derfel to have become a figure of legend in his own right by the "present."
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_58204b95	type	Magic Knight
The Warlord Chronicles / int_58204b95	comment	Magic Knight: The twin druids Dinas and Lavaine present themselves as this. Unlike most druids they carry swords and claim to have fought in the shield wall during a major battle, and to be sure they are big, brawny and impressive looking. However, their actual abilities as fighters are never demonstrated, and according to Merlin at least, they're not real druids either.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_58626d87	type	Genius Ditz
The Warlord Chronicles / int_58626d87	comment	Genius Ditz: While King Ban is an accomplished poet who has collected and read a vast amount of Greek and Roman literature, he also comes off as a bit flaky and out of touch. Derfel notes that Prince Meurig seems to have inherited all of his father's intelligence, but none of his wisdom. See Know-Nothing Know-It-All below.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_5989e3b6	type	Enemy Mine
The Warlord Chronicles / int_5989e3b6	comment	Enemy Mine: With this much political scrambling and ambition, it happens constantly.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_5aa8d3d8	type	Friendly Enemy
The Warlord Chronicles / int_5aa8d3d8	comment	Friendly Enemy: Oengus Mac Airem is perpetually raiding the western borders of the British kingdoms, but he and Arthur still get along well and hold no personal animosity toward each other.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_5abc8612	type	Unholy Matrimony
The Warlord Chronicles / int_5abc8612	comment	Unholy Matrimony: Gundleus and his lowborn lover, Ladwys, who rides and reaves with her man. His willingness to fight for her safety is about the best that can be said for Gundleus. Downplayed with Mordred and Argante, who are a fair match in attitude and temperament and do have a twisted kind of Love at First Sight romance, but they're often parted by his foreign wars and she (allegedly) screws half her spearmen in a desperate attempt to quicken her barren womb.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_5fdf73bc	type	Photographic Memory
The Warlord Chronicles / int_5fdf73bc	comment	Photographic Memory: Sansum is almost completely illiterate, he can recognise his own name written down and that's about it, he gives all his speeches from memory and has the entire Bible memorised from having it read to him once by an acolyte.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_60194b82	type	Spanner in the Works
The Warlord Chronicles / int_60194b82	comment	Derfel and Guinevere, in Excalibur. In the previous books, neither especially liked each other. It didn't help that Derfel had a tendency to be the Spanner in the Works for Guinevere's political plans and according to Derfel himself, she saw him as little more than one of her husband's dull, lumpish warriors, while Derfel deeply disliked her friendship (which became more) with Lancelot. However, after Guinevere Took a Level in Kindness after undergoing a significant case of Break the Haughty, and they get to know each other better, they get on surprisingly well.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_60ea2a89	type	Starter Villain
The Warlord Chronicles / int_60ea2a89	comment	Starter Villain: Gundleus, more for Derfel and Nimue; and Owain, more for Arthur.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_617f0563	type	Heelâ€“Face Turn
The Warlord Chronicles / int_617f0563	comment	Heelâ€“Face Turn: Bors in Excalibur. First he secretly warns Derfel about Liofa's favourite trick before his duel with him, which likely saves Derfel's life, then he openly switches sides before the battle of Mynydd Baddon, reckoning that if he's going to die he might as well go down fighting for his own people.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_61a12ee2	type	Eccentric Mentor
The Warlord Chronicles / int_61a12ee2	comment	Eccentric Mentor: Oh, just guess.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_6205f4e5	type	Courtly Love
The Warlord Chronicles / int_6205f4e5	comment	Courtly Love: Probably the best description for Derfel and Nimue's relationship for most of their lives (i.e. until she went off the deep end), with Derfel's Undying Loyalty to her meaning that he has to/is willing to do just about anything for her, going to the Isle of the Dead to retrieve her (imagine the Dark Ages equivalent of Arkham Asylum, then make it worse, and you're not far off), spending the last of his money to have a new gold eye made for her, funding her buying of oddities of cult significance, and generally putting up with a lot.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_62434fe2	type	Sanity Slippage
The Warlord Chronicles / int_62434fe2	comment	Sanity Slippage: Nimue was never completely sane (at least, not after being raped by Gundleus), but she really starts suffering this as she becomes more desperate and single-minded in her quest to bring the Old Gods back.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_6366f900	type	Old Soldier
The Warlord Chronicles / int_6366f900	comment	Old Soldier: About half of the cast eventually becomes this.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_63be4131	type	Pretty Boy
The Warlord Chronicles / int_63be4131	comment	Pretty Boy: Lancelot, who is more interested in buying mirrors than providing his soldiers with food.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_63d861f8	type	Even Evil Has Loved Ones
The Warlord Chronicles / int_63d861f8	comment	Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Derfel thinks Morgan and Sansum's love is genuine, and seeing them embrace is the one time he's sympathetic to the man.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_64713b04	type	Pedophile Priest
The Warlord Chronicles / int_64713b04	comment	Pedophile Priest: Probably Sansum. It's very heavily implied on several occasions.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_66285452	type	Eyepatch of Power
The Warlord Chronicles / int_66285452	comment	Eye Patch Of Power: Nimue, from time to time.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_66583b22	type	Weapons Breaking Weapons
The Warlord Chronicles / int_66583b22	comment	Weapons Breaking Weapons: At one point, Derfe is forced to fight Liofa, the personal champion of King Cerdic of the Saxons. Derfel is used to fighting on the battlefield rather than one-on-one, and while he's a very capable fighter he soon realizes he's at a major disadvantage against the much quicker Liofa, who specializes in duels. Realizing that he's going to lose, Derfel switches tactics to try to attack Liofa's weapon, as it's a much thinner blade than his own big broadsword. After a couple of hits, Liofa's blade does in fact snap.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_66907f54	type	Hourglass Plot
The Warlord Chronicles / int_66907f54	comment	Hourglass Plot: Merlin starts out as sinister, enigmatic and overwhelmingly dominant over his much younger student and semi-consensual lover Nimue. Over the course of the first two books as Merlin is absent for long periods, Nimue does manage to take some agency for herself, but Merlin is clearly still in ultimate control over her and the course of her life. Midway through the third book, they try to perform a ritual which would bring back the Gods of Britain which involves sacrificing Arthur's son. Merlin is ultimately unable to go through with it and secretly glad when Arthur stops them, but Nimue has become a complete fanatic and is enraged when they're foiled. When they're next seen, Merlin is Nimue's blind, mad and powerless prisoner, who she sacrifices to summon a magic storm.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_69391768	type	Expecting Someone Taller
The Warlord Chronicles / int_69391768	comment	Expecting Someone Taller: A villainous example with Cerdic. Derfel is surprised to note that, despite his fearsome reputation, the man himself is short, slightly-built, with an almost clerkish appearance. He's still highly cunning and formidable, however. It runs in the family.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_6b1caa93	type	Adipose Rex
The Warlord Chronicles / int_6b1caa93	comment	Adipose Rex: High King Uther has become this by the time the series begins. King Mark of Kernow is this also.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_6c7136b7	type	Tactful Translation
The Warlord Chronicles / int_6c7136b7	comment	Tactful Translation: Several excellent examples from Derfel, who can speak Saxon as well as the British language. One of his best can be read here.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_6c913a7d	type	Chessmaster
The Warlord Chronicles / int_6c913a7d	comment	Chess Master: Merlin. Big time. Also Arthur, but his otherwise successful attempts at uniting Britain are hamstrung first by falling for Guinevere, then by Merlin via Derfel and Ceinwyn. Guinevere tries. She fails. On the Saxon side, there is Cerdic. He starts off as the weaker partner of a duumvirate with Aelle, by the end of the series he's pretty much the most powerful ruler still standing.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_6d89ad1a	type	The Ophelia
The Warlord Chronicles / int_6d89ad1a	comment	The Ophelia: Deconstructed through Nimue.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_6de71c57	type	Disc-One Final Boss
The Warlord Chronicles / int_6de71c57	comment	Disc-One Final Boss: Gundleus, Tanaburs, and Gorfyddyd in the The Winter King, all of whom are killed in or immediately after the climatic battle of Lugg Vale.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_6e23669f	type	Antagonistic Offspring
The Warlord Chronicles / int_6e23669f	comment	Antagonistic Offspring: Derfel to Merlin, his foster father - though not all that often, and with great reluctance. And Derfel to Aelle, a more textbook example, though he still doesn't like doing it. Amhar and Loholt to Arthur.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_6ee09826	type	Religious Bruiser
The Warlord Chronicles / int_6ee09826	comment	Religious Bruiser: Derfel is definitely one of Cornwell's more devout protagonists.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_6ee10e0	type	My Greatest Failure
The Warlord Chronicles / int_6ee10e0	comment	My Greatest Failure: Derfel views his participation in the massacre of a mining village as this. While he himself didn't actually murder any women or children, he kept silent about it when Tristan directly implicated Owain, and it still haunts him years later.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_726ab4c9	type	Attack Animal
The Warlord Chronicles / int_726ab4c9	comment	Attack Animal: The Saxons often loose vicious attack dogs to soften up enemy shield walls. Merlin counters this with a pack of bitches in heat.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_7426582d	type	Token Minority
The Warlord Chronicles / int_7426582d	comment	Token Minority: Sagramor. In the original stories he was a Hungarian prince, but this more historically-accurate setting being a few centuries too early for them, Cornwell has him a Nubian (making him a Composite Character with "African" or "Saracen" knights like Palamedes and Segwarides) who made his way to Gaul serving in the Roman army and wound up in Arthur's service. Due to his being unique and exotic, the Saxons (and Argante's druid) think he's a demon and he does nothing to discourage this impression.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_7453bc5b	type	Spared by the Adaptation
The Warlord Chronicles / int_7453bc5b	comment	Spared by the Adaptation: Galahad doesn't die at the conclusion of the Grail Quest analog, and in fact survives Camlann. Likewise, Gwydre doesn't die in a boar hunt and also survives Camlann.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_75538142	type	Friend to All Children
The Warlord Chronicles / int_75538142	comment	Friend to All Children: Galahad.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_77ed6b7d	type	Troubling Unchildlike Behavior
The Warlord Chronicles / int_77ed6b7d	comment	Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Mordred displays sociopathic tendencies even as a child.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_7919a45b	type	Duel to the Death
The Warlord Chronicles / int_7919a45b	comment	Duel to the Death: Done several times, although it's also subverted at least once where Derfel leaves his foe alive. Later, he comes to regret that.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_792bb47a	type	Heroic Bastard
The Warlord Chronicles / int_792bb47a	comment	Heroic Bastard: Arthur, Derfel and Galahad (although the latter is Lancelot's illegitimate half-brother in this work rather than his illegitimate son).
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_7a0374eb	type	Impoverished Patrician
The Warlord Chronicles / int_7a0374eb	comment	Impoverished Patrician: Guinevere's father Leodegan was once a king in his own right, but was driven into exile by the conquering Irish. He has trouble finding a suitor for his younger daughter on account of his family's loss of status, lands, and money.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_7a570c0	type	The Good Chancellor
The Warlord Chronicles / int_7a570c0	comment	The Good Chancellor: Bishop Bedwin and Bishop Emrys are this for Dumnonia, in stark contrast to Bishop Sansum's role as Treacherous Advisor.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_7aa989ea	type	Token Evil Teammate
The Warlord Chronicles / int_7aa989ea	comment	Token Evil Teammate: Sansum and Mordred occasionally play this role when circumstances temporarily force them to cooperate with Arthur.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_7bb844ec	type	Villain Decay
The Warlord Chronicles / int_7bb844ec	comment	Villain Decay: Gundleus, sort of. He's the primary antagonist throughout the first third of The Winter King, but after his initial defeat, he plays nice for a while and then takes a subordinate role to Gorfyddyd. He never really becomes less of a threat, it's just that much bigger threats arise. Also, Diwrnach. It's implied early on that he and Arthur will clash as Arthur makes a oath to Guinevere's father to take back his lost kingdom. He also serves as the Arc Villain for the first part of Enemy of God. His ultimate defeat and death by Arthur is then glossed over in Excalibur.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_7c862b8a	type	Chronic Backstabbing Disorder
The Warlord Chronicles / int_7c862b8a	comment	Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Gundleus in The Winter King. Also, Lancelot.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_7ea8f5ce	type	Knight in Shining Armor
The Warlord Chronicles / int_7ea8f5ce	comment	Knight in Shining Armor: Mostly subverted or deconstructed, but there are still a few straight examples.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_7eebe99c	type	The Alcoholic
The Warlord Chronicles / int_7eebe99c	comment	The Alcoholic: Gorfydydd becomes this after losing a war and an arm to Arthur. After Arthur breaks off the marriage agreement with Ceinwyn, Gorfydydd kicks his alcoholism and restarts the war.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_7fbb2a3	type	Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!
The Warlord Chronicles / int_7fbb2a3	comment	Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Oh, Arthur.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_81c72ad5	type	Vestigial Empire
The Warlord Chronicles / int_81c72ad5	comment	Vestigial Empire: Many Britons think back fondly to a time when the whole of their land was united under Roman rule. All that's left when the series begins is a patchwork of petty kingdoms scrambling to pick up the pieces.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_863fa679	type	What Happened to the Mouse?
The Warlord Chronicles / int_863fa679	comment	What Happened to the Mouse?: In the council at Glevum early in The Winter King, a lot of hay is made about protecting King Meriadoc of Stronggore. Meriadoc is namedropped a couple more times before he and Stronggore are completely forgotten about.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_86bb7d97	type	Cultured Badass
The Warlord Chronicles / int_86bb7d97	comment	Cultured Badass: Galahad, due to being raised in Ynys Trebes.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_86d4f985	type	Doing In the Wizard
The Warlord Chronicles / int_86d4f985	comment	Doing In the Wizard: An in-text example. Derfel tells things as they happened, between being privy to aspects of the story that didn't make it into the popular narrative and just by having been present at the events. As a result, he repeatedly disproves Queen Igraine's stories about Arthur, which mostly came from minstrels. For example, Igraine heard from a song that the Warriors of the Cauldron were surrounded on a remote hill and magically flew to safety. Derfel informs her that in fact they walked off through the fog. Igraine accuses him of having "old man's memory", and it is repeatedly hinted that Igraine is having his manuscript rewritten at the palace in order to accommodate her own ideas (and, given that this version of events obviously didn't survive to our era, that was probably the case). The scribe who's translating the text from Saxon into British/Welsh says Igraine won't let him change a word, but he wouldn't tell him if he was, so it's still up in the air.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_88a5b2e6	type	Circle of Standing Stones
The Warlord Chronicles / int_88a5b2e6	comment	Circle of Standing Stones: Stonehenge, the most famous Real Life example, is referred to as "The Stones". Arthur and Derfel go there to meet with Aelle, and Arthur tells Derfel that that's where Merlin gave him Excalibur.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_89623e9a	type	The Paragon
The Warlord Chronicles / int_89623e9a	comment	Lancelot is probably the biggest victim of this. While Derfel admits that he may be clouded by bias, he is still turned from The Paragon into a Dirty Coward who boosts his ego and reputation with propaganda.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_89a17726	type	Spell My Name with an S
The Warlord Chronicles / int_89a17726	comment	While Arthurian characters usually have more than one spelling of their names, influenced by different languages over time, the trilogy uses a mix of older, more period-appropriate spellings and later spellings which may be more familiar. For instance, the later form "Mordred" - as found in the 15th century Le Morte D Arthur - appears instead of "Medraut" - as found in the 10th century Annales Cambriae - or other earlier variants.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_8a817c2a	type	Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil
The Warlord Chronicles / int_8a817c2a	comment	Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Largely averted. This being the Crapsack World it is, most characters have a rather casual attitude toward wartime rape, regardless of what side they're on. Even Derfel, though he deeply disapproves of it, regretfully observes in the narration about his and Arthur having to compensate the families of girls and women that Mordred raped, that "it was a rare and lucky kingdom" where it was not necessary. There are a few exceptions, however.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_8ae880f7	type	Deconstruction
The Warlord Chronicles / int_8ae880f7	comment	Deconstruction: The whole series is a massive deconstruction of the Arthurian mythos. There's no anachronistic chivalry, jousting, plate armour, and the setting is full of ignorance, superstition and brutality.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_8dd4a996	type	Identical Grandson
The Warlord Chronicles / int_8dd4a996	comment	Identical Grandson: Cerdic is slight, even frail in build. He looks like a clerk, and would be very few people's idea of a warrior, let alone a warlord and one of the most powerful men in Britain. His phenomenal intelligence and cunning, however, have allowed him to elevate himself to the position of King of the Saxons (Aelle being King of the Angles), and just about everyone in Britain is cautious of Cerdic if not outright scared of him. His descendant, Alfred the Great, is given almost precisely the same treatment in The Saxon Stories.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_8f612013	type	Token Good Teammate
The Warlord Chronicles / int_8f612013	comment	Token Good Teammate: Bors is this for Lancelot's faction, and eventually he ditches Lancelot altogether.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_9053903	type	Ignored Epiphany
The Warlord Chronicles / int_9053903	comment	Ignored Epiphany: Not really a textbook example, but in The Winter King, after being rescued by Derfel from the Isle of the Dead, Nimue briefly considers throwing magic and the gods aside to live a normal life somewhere and maybe marry Derfel. Imagine how differently things might have gone...
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_90d44f44	type	Karmic Death
The Warlord Chronicles / int_90d44f44	comment	Karmic Death: Numerous.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_90e31482	type	Laser-Guided Karma
The Warlord Chronicles / int_90e31482	comment	Laser-Guided Karma: Gundleus rapes Nimue and tears out one of her eyes while attempting to claim the Dumnonian throne for himself. At the end of the first book, after having backstabbed his way through every second chance he got, he falls into Nimue's hands, and she is very intent on paying evil unto evil. Cue Cold-Blooded Torture. It isn't outright stated what she did to him, but the next book starts shortly after, with Derfel noting that "all of Britain" must have heard Gundleus' screams.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_91652846	type	Hero-Worshipper
The Warlord Chronicles / int_91652846	comment	Hero-Worshipper: Derfel to Arthur, early on. Arguably, it never really goes away.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_921932c7	type	Activist-Fundamentalist Antics
The Warlord Chronicles / int_921932c7	comment	Activist-Fundamentalist Antics: Sansum, leader of Britain's Christians and Derfel's superior in old age, often engages in this.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_9245d989	type	Sinister Minister
The Warlord Chronicles / int_9245d989	comment	Sinister Minister: Sansum was always portrayed as slimy and opportunistic, but he really crosses into this territory when he begins to actively plot Arthur's death and Lancelot's takeover of Dumnonia.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_94cce63e	type	Fighting Irish
The Warlord Chronicles / int_94cce63e	comment	Fighting Irish: King Diwrnach takes this stereotype to dark and disturbing new levels. Nimue also has quite a fiery temper. Oengus Mac Airem and the Blackshields are a fairly amoral but mostly likable Boisterous Bruiser version.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_95b7c400	type	Faux Affably Evil
The Warlord Chronicles / int_95b7c400	comment	Faux Affably Evil: Diwrnach tends to come off as amiable and reasonable in conversation, even as he's describing all the ways he's brutally murdered people and committed horrifying atrocities. Malldyn appears to be Affably Evil, right up until when he tries to kill and eat Derfel.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_95c2a9dd	type	Outliving One's Offspring
The Warlord Chronicles / int_95c2a9dd	comment	Outliving One's Offspring: Derfel has three sons, all of whom die shortly after birth, while one of his daughters, Seren, dies in childbirth later on. Most importantly, his youngest daughter Dian is killed in the second half of Enemy of God.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_970c790a	type	Big Bad
The Warlord Chronicles / int_970c790a	comment	Big Bad: Gundleus is set up as this in The Winter King, and he remains so to Derfel and Nimue personally until its end, but he's eclipsed as a threat to Arthur's cause long before then. Lancelot serves as the final villain of Enemy of God, but gets taken out a ways into Excalibur. The final novel begins with a Big Bad Duumvirate of Aelle and Cerdic, and ends with a looser one between Mordred and Nimue.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_978379ad	type	Token Enemy Minority
The Warlord Chronicles / int_978379ad	comment	Token Enemy Minority: Given how most Christians are depicted in the stories, Galahad (and, to a lesser extent, Tewdric, Emrys, and Bedwin) could be said to function as one of these. And Derfel himself is a Saxon in Arthur's army.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_97d54bb0	type	Tragic Keepsake
The Warlord Chronicles / int_97d54bb0	comment	Tragic Keepsake: Derfel keeps a lock of his youngest daughter's hair after she is brutally murdered. He eventually burns it, in keeping with the traditions of his people, but only after he has avenged her death.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_9820c37a	type	Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!
The Warlord Chronicles / int_9820c37a	comment	Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Merlin. Big Time. Also a case of Screw Politeness, I'm a Druid.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_9823f7c	type	ProudWarriorRace
The Warlord Chronicles / int_9823f7c	comment	Proud Warrior Race: The Saxons. And the Irish, and the Franks, and some of the less Romanized British tribes. A people group basically had to be this on some level in order to secure their long-term survival in this tumultuous era.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_9ccedbed	type	Single-Minded Twins
The Warlord Chronicles / int_9ccedbed	comment	Single-Minded Twins: Dinas and Lavaine.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_9e1e14ea	type	Ambition Is Evil
The Warlord Chronicles / int_9e1e14ea	comment	Ambition Is Evil: Although in one or two cases, a lack of ambition causes an awful lot of trouble too.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_9fe35833	type	Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas
The Warlord Chronicles / int_9fe35833	comment	Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Mordred never knew his mother, but he's still irritated that no one ever thought to give her a more distinguished resting place than a grassy mound, and later demands that Arthur and Derfel bring to justice Ligessac, whose actions resulted in her death. As a result, Arthur and Derfel don't question if Mordred had ulterior motives in getting them out of Dumnonia, or if Lancelot and Sansum had been manipulating this part of him.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_a1154544	type	Grumpy Old Man
The Warlord Chronicles / int_a1154544	comment	Grumpy Old Man: Merlin. And completely awesome and hilarious at the same time.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_a1ca3743	type	Believing Their Own Lies
The Warlord Chronicles / int_a1ca3743	comment	Believing Their Own Lies: Sansum is a toxic combination of a corrupt, Machiavellian schemer and a genuine religious fanatic. He does many things that are blatantly against the principles of his Christian faith, but Derfel comes to realize that he is the sort of man who could commit any act and inwardly justify it to himself.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_a22c6d89	type	The Evil Prince
The Warlord Chronicles / int_a22c6d89	comment	The Evil Prince: Massively inverted. Arthur refuses to be either this or Regent for Life. That's basically the cause of most of the problems in the story, particularly in the last book.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_a2b38d3b	type	Eye Scream
The Warlord Chronicles / int_a2b38d3b	comment	Eye Scream: Gundleus not only rapes Nimue, but tears out one of her eyes as well. Derfel first runs across Amhar and Loholt, sons of Arthur, when they're prying out the eye of a puppy. He gives them a very well deserved beating. As a child, Mordred demonstrates his incipient evil by trying to poke out the eye of Morwenna (Derfel and Ceinwyn's oldest daughter). Her mother intervenes, after having tried very hard to be kind to him, and smacks him extremely hard. Dinas and Lavaine are both on the receiving end of this - among many, many other things. It is very well deserved.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_a588c1cf	type	Cool Horse
The Warlord Chronicles / int_a588c1cf	comment	Cool Horse: Arthur and his knights use large warhorses to intimidate their enemies, rather that the smaller horses normally used by the Britons for scouting and skirmishing. Arthur himself rides a majestic mare named Llamrei.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_a5d92fce	type	Celibate Hero
The Warlord Chronicles / int_a5d92fce	comment	Celibate Hero: Galahad was supposedly in love with a harpist in his father's castle, but she dies shortly after they escape to Britain and after that he never marries, takes a lover or even shows interest in anyone else. It's unclear if he's an example of Single-Target Sexuality, or asexual/gay and she was The Beard.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_a6275bef	type	Cool Sword
The Warlord Chronicles / int_a6275bef	comment	Cool Sword: Excalibur, also known as Caledfwlch, the Sword of Rhydderch. It's one of the Thirteen Treasures of Britain.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_a65288e2	type	Ascended Extra
The Warlord Chronicles / int_a65288e2	comment	Ascended Extra: The series is notable for focusing on lesser known characters, such as Derfel and Sagramor, instead of more famous characters such as Gawain, Kay and Bedivere. In fact, most of the individual Knights of the Round Table are barely mentioned at all while Derfel, Sagramor, and Culhwch effectively act as Arthur's Trio.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_a681bfc6	type	Amicable Exes
The Warlord Chronicles / int_a681bfc6	comment	Amicable Exes: Derfel and Nimue, until she gets a bad case of Jumping Off the Slippery Slope.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_a70223	type	Karma Houdini
The Warlord Chronicles / int_a70223	comment	Karma Houdini: Sansum. He always bounces back from his temporary defeats, is eventually made a saint, and it's implied that he ends the series fleeing for safety, with Derfel covering his retreat. Also Cerdic. While his defeat at Mynydd Baddon prevents him from conquering the Britons entirely, he is still the single most powerful Saxon ruler by the time of Arthur's last battle and subsequent departure from Britain, with a great deal of formerly British territory under his rule. He's an Historical Domain Character, though, so there really wasn't much that could be done about that.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_a78753d5	type	Lady and Knight
The Warlord Chronicles / int_a78753d5	comment	Lady and Knight: Nimue and Derfel are a rather strange Dark Ages variation on this trope, being at first the Bright Lady and White Knight version, with Nimue eventually twisting into the Dark Lady version, while Derfel remains the White Knight, leading to their bond being broken. Later, Ceinwyn is the Bright Lady to Derfel's White Knight.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_a7b324e	type	Handicapped Badass
The Warlord Chronicles / int_a7b324e	comment	Mordred, though he is unquestionably vile, makes a reputation as a Handicapped Badass and serious warrior in Armorica.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_a94eaaa4	type	Odd Friendship
The Warlord Chronicles / int_a94eaaa4	comment	Odd Friendship: Nimue and Ceinwyn, the oddness of which is noted by Derfel - who knows and loves both women dearly (though in Nimue's case, it's more a platonic admiration). According to Ceinwyn, though, she admires Nimue's fire and drive. Derfel and Guinevere, in Excalibur. In the previous books, neither especially liked each other. It didn't help that Derfel had a tendency to be the Spanner in the Works for Guinevere's political plans and according to Derfel himself, she saw him as little more than one of her husband's dull, lumpish warriors, while Derfel deeply disliked her friendship (which became more) with Lancelot. However, after Guinevere Took a Level in Kindness after undergoing a significant case of Break the Haughty, and they get to know each other better, they get on surprisingly well. Even odder is the friendship that develops between Sansum and Morgan - he's a fundamentalist Christian and she's a pagan prophetess - although from the former's point of view being friends with Arthur's sister has obvious advantages. This friendship is arguably what saves Sansum's life when the Christian plots against Arthur are revealed in the aftermath of his unexpected victory at Lugg Vale. Sansum and Morgan eventually get married, though Merlin doubts that they ever consummate their relationship, as "Sansum doesn't know how to rut. At least, not with women."
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_a9f86a47	type	What a Senseless Waste of Human Life
The Warlord Chronicles / int_a9f86a47	comment	What a Senseless Waste of Human Life: Several notable cases, including Tristan and Iseult.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_aabe2fb	type	Deliberate Values Dissonance
The Warlord Chronicles / int_aabe2fb	comment	Deliberate Values Dissonance: All over the place, as appropriate for these post-Roman times. Killing women and children in raids is a normal practice, as are rape and slavery. The pagans occasionally perform human sacrifices. Merlin and Nimue take it up to eleven in Excalibur by trying to sacrifice Arthur's son, much to the latter's anger. Teenage girls are commonly given in political marriages, and can be burned at the stake for running off with other men.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_aba8065b	type	Fatal Flaw
The Warlord Chronicles / int_aba8065b	comment	Fatal Flaw: Arthur's would probably be his Honor Before Reason tendencies, or else his tendency to let idealism blind him. Uther's is his inability to see past his resentment of Arthur, leading to his disastrous decision to appoint Mordred as his heir. Derfel is arguably too complicit with Merlin and Nimue's machinations (which is understandable, given that he grew up with them), and it eventually comes back to haunt him in Excalibur.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_ac928039	type	Four-Star Badass
The Warlord Chronicles / int_ac928039	comment	Four-Star Badass: Arthur, Sagramor, Aelle and, later on, Derfel.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_ad4a45be	type	Final Boss
The Warlord Chronicles / int_ad4a45be	comment	Final Boss: Mordred ends up being this.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_ad7533dd	type	Creepy Catholicism
The Warlord Chronicles / int_ad7533dd	comment	Creepy Catholicism: The Christian church, or at least the faction of it that is led by Sansum, has heavy shades of this. Some of the more fanatical Christians are shown going into ecstatic frenzies of self-flagellation during worship services (Truth in Television for some of the odder early Christian sects), and when the Christian-backed Lancelot "marries" Norwenna, Sansum has her decayed corpse dug up in order to perform the grotesque ceremony.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_ad8dbae4	type	Public Domain Artifact
The Warlord Chronicles / int_ad8dbae4	comment	Public Domain Artifact: The Thirteen Treasures of Britain provide the focal point of Merlin and Nimue's plans. The Cauldron of Clyddno Eiddyn is a composite of the Halter of Clyddno Eiddyn, the Cauldron of Dwrnach the Giant (who is reimagined as a mundane if bloodthirsty Irishman named Diwrnach) and the Holy Grail, and Dwrnwyn the sword is composited with Excalibur.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_ad9559e6	type	Arc Villain
The Warlord Chronicles / int_ad9559e6	comment	Also, Diwrnach. It's implied early on that he and Arthur will clash as Arthur makes a oath to Guinevere's father to take back his lost kingdom. He also serves as the Arc Villain for the first part of Enemy of God. His ultimate defeat and death by Arthur is then glossed over in Excalibur.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_ad9fbc1e	type	Pyrrhic Victory
The Warlord Chronicles / int_ad9fbc1e	comment	Pyrrhic Victory: Several of Arthur's victories are like this toward the end of the series. The battle of Mynydd Baddon is the most notable example, as Arthur crushes the Saxon forces and kills some of their main leaders, but throws the religious balance of power towards Christianity, loses his most valuable ally, and effectively dooms Merlin to Nimue's wrath.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_ae3d6438	type	Deadpan Snarker
The Warlord Chronicles / int_ae3d6438	comment	Deadpan Snarker: Derfel has his moments, particularly as an old man, by which point he has developed a very dry sense of humour.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_af3ea0e3	type	Faceâ€“Heel Turn
The Warlord Chronicles / int_af3ea0e3	comment	Nimue is completely uncompromising in her devotion to the old gods, and becomes increasingly fanatical about it, resulting in a dramatic Faceâ€“Heel Turn in Excalibur.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_b0cac376	type	The Usurper
The Warlord Chronicles / int_b0cac376	comment	The Usurper: Many would like Arthur to be this. Lancelot attempts to become this.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_b10d7e8e	type	Head-in-the-Sand Management
The Warlord Chronicles / int_b10d7e8e	comment	Head-in-the-Sand Management: Prince (later King) Meurig of Gwent, at least once per book.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_b4fb830c	type	Smarter Than You Look
The Warlord Chronicles / int_b4fb830c	comment	Smarter Than You Look: Aelle's much, much sharper than he lets on, looking and acting like a womanising Boisterous Bruiser, but figures out that Derfel is his son the first time they meet. The only other person to have figured it out that fast is resident genius Merlin, who has the advantage of having known Derfel since he was a small boy.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_b5171e10	type	Tragic Villain
The Warlord Chronicles / int_b5171e10	comment	Tragic Villain: Nimue. She starts off as Derfel's childhood friend, morphs into a scared anti-hero, and ends up as a full-on antagonist with warped morals and shaky sanity.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_b51a2dd8	type	Demythification
The Warlord Chronicles / int_b51a2dd8	comment	Demythification: For the Arthurian legend.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_b593baf1	type	Author Filibuster
The Warlord Chronicles / int_b593baf1	comment	Author Filibuster: Some of Arthur's grievances with organized religion in general seem to reflect Bernard Cornwell's own views. Somewhat justified in-universe due to Sansum's behaviour, as well as Arthur legitimately believed that Guinevere was using the worship of Isis to betray him.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_b7c53a22	type	Blood Knight
The Warlord Chronicles / int_b7c53a22	comment	Blood Knight: Quite a few, and even those who aren't like this can act like it in a fight. Derfel is astonished the first time he sees Arthur fight a duel because he expects to Arthur to use his head, instead Arthur fights like a man possessed and sheepishly admits that he enjoyed it afterward.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_b8ab7dc4	type	Treacherous Advisor
The Warlord Chronicles / int_b8ab7dc4	comment	Treacherous Advisor: Sansum.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_b8e3f20a	type	Demoted to Extra
The Warlord Chronicles / int_b8e3f20a	comment	Demoted to Extra: Ironically, the figures from the Welsh stories get this in favor of later Romance figures. Gawain, Kay, and Bedivere barely appear and are killed off quickly. Rather unusual for "historical" Arthurian retellings, since in the earliest version of the legends the last two formed a team of three with Arthur, while Gawain was Arthur's best warrior before Lancelot was introduced. Derfel and Culhwch (who are, admittedly, also from the Welsh tales) and Sagramor (who is an invention of the Romances) take on their usual roles somewhat, and at the end Derfel is the only surviving warrior of Arthur who throws Excalibur into the sea after the last battle.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_b9d334b2	type	Aerith and Bob
The Warlord Chronicles / int_b9d334b2	comment	Aerith and Bob: The naming schemes are an odd mix of Romance names of various origins (Arthur, Guenevere, Lancelot, Mark), modern Welsh names (Iorwerth, Dafydd), medieval Welsh names with modern spellings (Culhwch, Derfel, Olwen), medieval Welsh names with latin spellings (Gundleus, Cuneglas), and names that sound Welsh but don't translate to anything (Gorfyddyd). And then you add the Irish and Anglo-Saxon characters to the mix, leading to a situation where we see Merlin, Nimue, and Lavaine interact with Derfel and Cerdic.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_ba6cf869	type	Rape, Pillage, and Burn
The Warlord Chronicles / int_ba6cf869	comment	Rape, Pillage, and Burn: The fate of pretty much any town or city that falls to an enemy army. The sack of Ynys Trebes by the Franks was so brutal and thorough that, years later when Derfel is an old man, legends persist that the screams of women and children can be heard at night near the ruined city.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_bbfaa837	type	Knight Templar
The Warlord Chronicles / int_bbfaa837	comment	Knight Templar: Nimue, who becomes more fanatical in her devotion to the gods and willing to go further than Merlin ever did.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_bdb5c651	type	Real Men Love Jesus
The Warlord Chronicles / int_bdb5c651	comment	Real Men Love Jesus: The cult of Mithras is portrayed as a soldiers' religion, with no women being allowed to join. Only warriors who are highly respected are allowed into its ranks. It's not quite as secretive as Derfel thinks, though, as Merlin can recite the opening initiation.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_be0ad6b7	type	Used to Be a Sweet Kid
The Warlord Chronicles / int_be0ad6b7	comment	Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Nimue, even after losing an eye, was capable of being sweet and kind, and part of her dreamed quite sincerely of getting married and having children with Derfel. She even brings this up to him after he rescues her from the Isle of the Dead, replaces her golden eye with the last of his money, and weaves her a Lughnasa bower, the two of them having a brief Rescue Romance. But what she feels is her duty to the gods eventually leads her to take a different path - and in the end, her devotion to it at all costs ends up twisting her and, ultimately, driving her insane.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_bfaff026	type	Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy
The Warlord Chronicles / int_bfaff026	comment	Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: The Saxon champion Liofa comes off this way. He fights with unparalleled skill and technique (rather than the brute force favoured by most of his comrades), and takes great pride in the fact that he's never lost a duel or received a single scar. He gets humbled when Derfel breaks his sword and gives him a scar to remember him by. He later kills Cuneglas at Mynydd Baddon after goading him into single combat.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_c313d43a	type	True Companions
The Warlord Chronicles / int_c313d43a	comment	True Companions: Derfel and Galahad.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_c3bdfbb9	type	Let's You and Him Fight
The Warlord Chronicles / int_c3bdfbb9	comment	Let's You and Him Fight: Happens fairly often, as single combat was seen as a legitimate way to settle legal disputes or gain renown on the battlefield.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_c5249b29	type	Nice Guy
The Warlord Chronicles / int_c5249b29	comment	Nice Guy: Somewhat strangely for a Cornwell protagonist, Derfel is this. He generally respects authority, is fiercely devoted to his people, and is an all around friendly guy if you don't go out of your way to antagonise him, even trying to be polite to Lancelot when they first meet and shrugging off his insults. Aside from his love of battle (which was entirely acceptable for the time period), he lacks any roguish or renegade qualities.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_c57293d6	type	Chastity Couple
The Warlord Chronicles / int_c57293d6	comment	Chastity Couple: In the third book Morgan marries Sansum. They apparently never consummate their marriage, likely because Sansum is almost certainly a pedophile and even if he wasn't Morgan is grotesquely deformed. However, when Derfel sees them together he is surprised to see that their relationship is not just an alliance, they genuinely do care for each other. Morgan is happy to just have anyone, loves Sanusm and is fiercely loyal to him, to the point of renouncing magic and becoming Christian; meanwhile Sansum respects and trusts Morgan more than anyone else and is genuinely fond of her, if only platonicaly.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_c5b47b36	type	Offscreen Moment of Awesome
The Warlord Chronicles / int_c5b47b36	comment	Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Derfel's battle exploits that earn him the moniker "Cadarn" (meaning "The Mighty") occur during the Time Skip between his entry into Arthur's service and his mission to Armorica.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_c5fe6c81	type	Strong Family Resemblance
The Warlord Chronicles / int_c5fe6c81	comment	Strong Family Resemblance: Amhar and Loholt take very heavily after their father in appearance, if not personality. Ceinwyn's daughters all closely resemble her. Derfel heavily resembles Aelle, save for the blond hair. Merlin figured out that Derfel is Aelle's son long ago because of this - he remarks at one point, after Derfel had charged into battle, enraged, that all he needed was the trademark bear skin cloak to be Aelle.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_c66cb5a9	type	Human Sacrifice
The Warlord Chronicles / int_c66cb5a9	comment	Human Sacrifice: Done several times. In fact, it's part of the acclamation ritual when Dumnonia has a new king. In The Winter King, this victim is a captured Saxon. Merlin and Nimue go to Cadair Idris to do this in Enemy of God (when Derfel asks who the victim was, they just reply "no-one you knew"). It's later both done again and attempted unsuccessfully in Excalibur.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_c83a589c	type	Luke, I Am Your Father
The Warlord Chronicles / int_c83a589c	comment	Luke, I Am Your Father: Derfel and Aelle. Done unusually tactfully.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_cb70651c	type	Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane
The Warlord Chronicles / int_cb70651c	comment	Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Because lets face it, the existence and reliability of magic is all over the place in this series. Intentionally so, going by the author's track record.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_cc4d190a	type	Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?
The Warlord Chronicles / int_cc4d190a	comment	Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Not a textbook example, but pretty much everybody has this reaction when Cerdic publicly humiliates Merlin. Until this point, the Druid had commanded a religious awe from everyone he came into contact with, even Christians and Saxons. When he had a disagreement with Cerdic, however, the Saxon King simply grabbed him and cut off part of his beard, leaving everyone in the room in shock. Merlin tries to hand-wave his humiliation by claiming that the Saxon gods have more power in their territory.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_cde51255	type	Antagonist Title
The Warlord Chronicles / int_cde51255	comment	Antagonist Title: The Winter King, kind of. The title is a reference to Mordred, who is only an infant in the first book, but who eventually becomes the Final Boss of the series.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_ce767e6f	type	Co-Dragons
The Warlord Chronicles / int_ce767e6f	comment	Co-Dragons: Amhar and Loholt become this to Mordred, after serving Lancelot as co-brutes. Lancelot has an acclaimed dragon in his cousin, Bors, but Dinas and Lavaine do much of the king's dirty work.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_cf511248	type	All Part of the Show
The Warlord Chronicles / int_cf511248	comment	All Part of the Show: Cunningly used by the Saxons. If your enemies have a whole series of signal fires to warn of an invasion, then what better time to attack than during Beltain, a religious holiday when massive bonfires are being lit everywhere?
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_d001c42c	type	Anti-Villain
The Warlord Chronicles / int_d001c42c	comment	Anti-Villain: The Anglo-Saxons and Nimue, for very different reasons. The Anglo-Saxons as a whole are fleeing westwards from the aggressively expanding Franks, while Nimue is trying to bring the old Celtic gods back to Britain (though her methods become increasingly immoral as she experiences a Sanity Slippage.) Cuneglas, Gorfyddyd's son, starts out as this. After his father's defeat and death, he drops the "villain" part and allies himself with Arthur.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_d0309fad	type	Religion is Magic
The Warlord Chronicles / int_d0309fad	comment	Religion is Magic: Played with, and readers tend to be left guessing how much magic is real and how much is simple trickery.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_d03fc3f1	type	Good Shepherd
The Warlord Chronicles / int_d03fc3f1	comment	Good Shepherd: Bishop Emrys. Bishop Bedwin is implied to have been this before him, but he doesn't live long enough in the story for it to really come across.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_d08595d3	type	Broken Bird
The Warlord Chronicles / int_d08595d3	comment	Broken Bird: Nimue, during her time on the Isle of the Dead, and arguably later on, when she goes Ax-Crazy. Olwen, after an unspecified time in Nimue's care following the failed ritual at Mai Dun, with Derfel noting that she's quite clearly mad, albeit in a harmless sort of way.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_d2a11313	type	Death of the Old Gods
The Warlord Chronicles / int_d2a11313	comment	Death of the Old Gods: A major theme of the series. British (ie. Celtic) paganism greatly declined when the Romans invaded and killed most of the Druids. Roman rule also brought Christianity and other deities to Britain, which are becoming increasingly influential. Then there's the Anglo-Saxons, who worship the Germanic-Norse pantheon. Merlin and Nimue are dedicated to bringing back the influence of the old British gods and destroying all foreign religion in Britain.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_d39e327f	type	What the Hell, Hero?
The Warlord Chronicles / int_d39e327f	comment	What the Hell, Hero?: Arthur, several times. He gets a particularly cold one from Derfel over the way he deals with the Mark/Iseult/Tristan triangle.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_d3a4af1e	type	Sympathy for the Devil
The Warlord Chronicles / int_d3a4af1e	comment	Sympathy for the Devil: Mostly with Aelle, who's generally noted as rather likeable.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_d45c0b86	type	Refuge in Audacity
The Warlord Chronicles / int_d45c0b86	comment	Refuge in Audacity: Much of Merlin's humour - and, in fact, just about everything he does - falls under this category. At one point, he strolls into the middle of a battlefield and starts talking about something completely different, the quest for the Cauldron.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_d52d28b6	type	Hypocrite
The Warlord Chronicles / int_d52d28b6	comment	Hypocrite: Sansum, in so many ways.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_d7fc9fd0	type	Vitriolic Best Buds
The Warlord Chronicles / int_d7fc9fd0	comment	Vitriolic Best Buds: Galahad and Culhwch are prone to squabbling about their religious differences, but that isn't a barrier to them being close friends. Derfel and Galahad ar not above ribbing each other either, but to nowhere near the same extent.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_d839c530	type	The Unfettered
The Warlord Chronicles / int_d839c530	comment	The Unfettered: Merlin comes off as this, but doesn't quite cross the line. Nimue, on the other hand, is a very different story.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_d839c530	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_d91d0365	type	The Magic Goes Away
The Warlord Chronicles / int_d91d0365	comment	The Magic Goes Away: Merlin feels this is happening to the world, and that the gods are abandoning it as well.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_d91d0365	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_d9cf40fa	type	Screw This, I'm Outta Here
The Warlord Chronicles / int_d9cf40fa	comment	Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Near the end of the first book, Tewdric pulls this on Arthur. Weary of fighting a war that is basically Arthur's fault, Tewdric withdraws Gwent's forces from the upcoming battle, leaving the Dumnonians to face Gorfyddyd's vast horde by themselves.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_d9cf40fa	featureApplicability	1.0
The Warlord Chronicles / int_d9cf40fa	featureConfidence	1.0
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	The Warlord Chronicles / int_d9cf40fa
The Warlord Chronicles / int_da3043c5	type	Fake Ultimate Hero
The Warlord Chronicles / int_da3043c5	comment	Fake Ultimate Hero: Lancelot's reputation stems entirely from the fact that he pays bards to sing his praises. He's actually a Dirty Coward. Poor Gawain thoroughly believed that he was chosen by the Gods to finally drive out the Saxons. This was just a lie that Merlin convinced him of because he needed him as a Human Sacrifice. Owain, the Champion of Dumnonia, is a partial example. He's set up to be an important supporting character to the protagonists after he heroically helps rescue Derfel's band of refugees from Gundleus, and afterword becomes the first warlord whom Derfel serves under. However, he's later revealed to be a complete bastard who embezzles tax funds, rapes prisoners, and slaughters an entire mining village (whose inhabitants were sworn to an allied kingdom) as part of an under-the-table deal. That last one ends up costing him his life. While he certainly doesn't lack for courage or battle-prowess, he's hardly the champion he's introduced as.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_da3043c5	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	The Warlord Chronicles / int_da3043c5
The Warlord Chronicles / int_daba1b82	type	Finishing Each Other's Sentences
The Warlord Chronicles / int_daba1b82	comment	Finishing Each Other's Sentences: The twin Druids Dinas and Lavaine have a tendency to do this.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_daba1b82	featureApplicability	1.0
The Warlord Chronicles / int_daba1b82	featureConfidence	1.0
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	The Warlord Chronicles / int_daba1b82
The Warlord Chronicles / int_dae5c997	type	Action Girl
The Warlord Chronicles / int_dae5c997	comment	Action Girl: Guinevere joins in the battle of Mynydd Baddon in Excalibur.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_db38d6ca	type	Torture Technician
The Warlord Chronicles / int_db38d6ca	comment	Torture Technician: Nimue is a rare heroic example (for the most part). Then the Mai Dun ritual gets ruined and she becomes The Unfettered.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_db38d6ca	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_db912a80	type	The Good King
The Warlord Chronicles / int_db912a80	comment	The Good King: King Cuneglas of Powys and King Tewdric of Gwent are both nearly ideal monarchs. The Christian Tewdric is eventually made a saint, and is remarked as one of the few men made such who actually deserved it.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_dd3969b	type	Hijacked by Jesus
The Warlord Chronicles / int_dd3969b	comment	Hijacked by Jesus: Merlin makes the old "Jesus was copied from Mithras" claim.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_dd3969b	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	The Warlord Chronicles / int_dd3969b
The Warlord Chronicles / int_dde43ab	type	Tattooed Crook
The Warlord Chronicles / int_dde43ab	comment	Tattooed Crook: The unscrupulous Prince Cadwy and his warriors tattoo themselves in the manner of their pre-Roman ancestors.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_dde43ab	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_de5f028b	type	Barbarian Hero
The Warlord Chronicles / int_de5f028b	comment	Barbarian Hero: While the Britons tend to be more civilized than the Saxons and Irish, Culhwch still has most of these qualities.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_dea5ae31	type	Doomed Protagonist
The Warlord Chronicles / int_dea5ae31	comment	Doomed Protagonist: When we first meet Derfel at the beginning of the series, he is a sad, defeated, and maimed old man. It's a Foregone Conclusion that his autobiography isn't going to end well.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_e0222ff2	type	Buy Them Off
The Warlord Chronicles / int_e0222ff2	comment	Buy Them Off: The Britons of Dumnonia successfully do this to Aelle's Saxons. They only have so much gold, though...
The Warlord Chronicles / int_e0222ff2	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_e0904aa4	type	No Party Like a Donner Party
The Warlord Chronicles / int_e0904aa4	comment	No Party Like a Donner Party: The inhabitants of the Isle of the Dead are prone to cannibalism.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_e11b003d	type	Translation Convention
The Warlord Chronicles / int_e11b003d	comment	In one book, Culhwch mocks another character using the Latin phrase "cassus belli" (reason/cause for war) by saying "cow's belly". He and Derfel reminisce about this many years later in the next book. But this only works in English, not the Old Briton they would have been speaking, and for that matter it wouldn't have worked in the Old English Derfel is supposed to be writing in.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_e1471b66	type	MamasBoy
The Warlord Chronicles / int_e1471b66	comment	Mama's Boy: Despite her resentment of him, Arthur clearly held his mother in high regard, and only says good things about her.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_e16217f8	type	Historical Villain Upgrade
The Warlord Chronicles / int_e16217f8	comment	Historical Villain Upgrade: Sansum is loosely - very loosely - based on Saint Samson of Dol, who is traditionally portrayed as a monastic reformer and one of the Seven Founding Saints of Brittany. Here he is The Fundamentalist, a Hypocrite, implied to be a pederast, and generally the most antagonistic figure in the entire narrative.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_e205b147	type	Merlin and Nimue
The Warlord Chronicles / int_e205b147	comment	Merlin and Nimue: Provides a well thought-out and explored version of this relationship.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_e205b147	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_e30c7674	type	Sliding Scale of Beauty
The Warlord Chronicles / int_e30c7674	comment	Sliding Scale of Beauty: Ceinwyn, as a Princess Classic, meets the Western archetypal of beauty exactly, with pale skin, blonde hair and soft features. Guinevere on the other hand is also very good looking but unconventionally so, with vaguely masculine features and taller than was considered attractive for a woman at the time, and more striking than beautiful. When Queen Igraine is surprised at how Derfel describes Guinevere, as the stories she's heard describe Guinevere as the most beautiful woman in Britain, he tells her than many women would have gladly traded their beauty for Guinevere's looks and charisma.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_e41b191f	type	Nude Nature Dance
The Warlord Chronicles / int_e41b191f	comment	Nude Nature Dance: Olwen the Silver does this. She's mad, but cheerfully so.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_e41b191f	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_e4965307	type	Composite Character
The Warlord Chronicles / int_e4965307	comment	Composite Character: Galahad being Lancelot's illegitimate half-brother makes him one for Ector de Maris and, oddly enough, Lancelot himself (Lancelot's baptismal name in the Vulgate was "Galahad, son of Ban"). Lancelot is one with Geoffrey of Monmouth's depiction of Mordred, Arthur's regent who seduces Guinevere and allies with the Saxons. Derfel is one for Kay, being Arthur's close confidant (he's even a Saxon like the version of Kay from Arthur of the Britons) and the killer of one of Arthur's sons as in Perlesvaus, and, ironically, Lancelot (specifically, the version depicted in Lanzelet). Also, as his first lover is Lunete (Lynette), he can be viewed as a stand-in for Sir Gareth, while his relationship with Nimue brings to mind Sir Pelleas. He ultimately becomes one with both Percivale, the good friend of Galahad and hero of a mystic quest, and Bedivere, the one-armed final survivor of Camlann who returns Excalibur to the water. Culhwch takes on a lot of the traits traditionally given to Gawain, being a Boisterous Bruiser who is friendly with everyone (except Lancelot). Ironically, Gawain takes on Culhwch's role of being Olwen's love interest, albeit not in a way either man would have enjoyed. Mardoc, being the son of Mordred, is one with Melehan. Mordred himself is one with Eliwlod, being Arthur's paternal nephew, and by extension his eponymous father is one with Madoc ap Uther. Ceinwyn is a composite of Amide (Percivale's sister and the Grail Maiden) and one of the three Gwenhwyfars of the Welsh Triads, being Arthur's first betrothed. She also becomes a stand-in for Percivale's lady love Blancheflour like Derfel does for Percivale himself. Argante takes the name of a faerie queen from Layamon's Brut, but as Arthur's third wife she stands in for one of the three Gwenhwyfars of the Welsh Triads (even being barren like later depictions of Guinevere) and given that he sets Guinevere aside to marry her and then sets her aside to take Guinevere back, this makes her the "False" Guinevere. As Mordred's wife she combines his two traditional wives Gwenhwyfach and Saint Cywyllog. Guinevere, Ceinwyn, and Morwenna ultimately become the three ladies who help Morgan take Arthur to Avalon.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_e4965307	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_e5421161	type	Expy
The Warlord Chronicles / int_e5421161	comment	Expy: Gorfyddyd and Gundleus for the Rebel Kings of the original stories (Lot, Uriens, Rience and some others).
The Warlord Chronicles / int_e5421161	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_e543a655	type	Light Is Not Good
The Warlord Chronicles / int_e543a655	comment	Light Is Not Good: After going completely bonkers, Nimue dons the white robes of a Druid and starts riding a white horse into battle. By this point, she has allied herself to Mordred and is entirely willing to torture and murder her former friends in order to achieve her genocidal ends.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_e543a655	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_e5467735	type	Expy Coexistence
The Warlord Chronicles / int_e5467735	comment	Expy Coexistence: Derfel, as mentioned above, takes elements from Kay, Percivale and Bedivere, but their Welsh prototypes also appear in the narrative in minor roles.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_e5467735	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_ea35fda5	type	Bastard Bastard
The Warlord Chronicles / int_ea35fda5	comment	Bastard Bastard: Amhar and Loholt, both of whom are Antagonistic Offspring to Arthur.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_ea35fda5	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_eb9afb9d	type	Evil Old Folks
The Warlord Chronicles / int_eb9afb9d	comment	Evil Old Folks: Tanaburs.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_eb9afb9d	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_eba6a077	type	Cain and Abel
The Warlord Chronicles / int_eba6a077	comment	Cain and Abel: Lancelot is the Cain to Galahad's Abel.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_eba6a077	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_eba911fd	type	Dark Messiah
The Warlord Chronicles / int_eba911fd	comment	Dark Messiah: When Lancelot attempts to usurp the throne of Dumnonia, he portrays himself as the harbinger of Christ's imminent return in order to rally support from the Christians.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_ee7a60e9	type	One-Steve Limit
The Warlord Chronicles / int_ee7a60e9	comment	One-Steve Limit: Averted, with two Mordreds who are father and son, two Igraines (Arthur's mother and Derfel's patron) and also two seperate characters named Gawain (one a member of Arthur's warband, the other a more plot relevant character in Excalibur who seems to have no relation to the prior).
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_eedee4d	type	The Starscream
The Warlord Chronicles / int_eedee4d	comment	The Starscream: Lancelot to Arthur, Sansum to Arthur and Mordred.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_eedee4d	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_f0508c08	type	Decomposite Character
The Warlord Chronicles / int_f0508c08	comment	Decomposite Character: Merlin and Bishop Emrys are implied to both be sources for the medieval conception of Merlin. Aside from the names (Emrys is the modern Welsh version of Ambrosius, which is often given to Merlin as a surname), both men are cool old guys who serve as mentors and advisors to the protagonists. And in the end, both are killed by Nimue.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_f0508c08	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_f1492605	type	Redemption Equals Death
The Warlord Chronicles / int_f1492605	comment	Redemption Equals Death: Bors doesn't outlive his Heelâ€“Face Turn very long.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_f1492605	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_f4f3252e	type	Law of Inverse Fertility
The Warlord Chronicles / int_f4f3252e	comment	Law of Inverse Fertility: Mordred has dozens of bastard Children By Rape, but is totally unable to impregnate his queen.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_f4f3252e	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_f6b2bfb7	type	Gold Digger
The Warlord Chronicles / int_f6b2bfb7	comment	Gold Digger: This initially seems to be Guinevere's motivation for pursuing Arthur. In the early days of their marriage, her father siphons money from the royal treasury to fund his lifestyle (though how much she was involved in it is not stated), and she begins demanding that the usually modest Arthur be referred to as a prince. However, she does genuinely love Arthur, even if it takes a very long time for them to finally meet in the middle about their aspirations (Arthur dreams of the Call to Agriculture, Guinevere wants to be The High Queen). Lunete, Derfel's first lover, only shacks up with him because of the potential wealth that an up and coming young warrior can bring. Nimue catches on to this immediately, and tells him as much.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_f76842b1	type	The Fundamentalist
The Warlord Chronicles / int_f76842b1	comment	Even odder is the friendship that develops between Sansum and Morgan - he's a fundamentalist Christian and she's a pagan prophetess - although from the former's point of view being friends with Arthur's sister has obvious advantages. This friendship is arguably what saves Sansum's life when the Christian plots against Arthur are revealed in the aftermath of his unexpected victory at Lugg Vale. Sansum and Morgan eventually get married, though Merlin doubts that they ever consummate their relationship, as "Sansum doesn't know how to rut. At least, not with women."
The Warlord Chronicles / int_f76842b1	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_f7883b17	type	Love Makes You Dumb
The Warlord Chronicles / int_f7883b17	comment	Love Makes You Dumb: Arthur, again. After falling for Guinevere and reneging on a vital marriage agreement that would have finally united the Britons, he assumes that he'll be Easily Forgiven and that the whole thing will just blow over. He is wrong.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_f7d4f121	type	Mushroom Samba
The Warlord Chronicles / int_f7d4f121	comment	Mushroom Samba: The initiation rites into the cult of Mithras involve this.
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_f9f2c33	type	Running Gag
The Warlord Chronicles / int_f9f2c33	comment	Running Gag: What, exactly, is a camel?
The Warlord Chronicles / int_f9f2c33	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_fab3235a	type	Easy Evangelism
The Warlord Chronicles / int_fab3235a	comment	Easy Evangelism: Justified with Lancelot and Mordred - it's made clear that they convert to Christianity for purely pragmatic reasons. Lancelot becomes a Christian in order to avoid the humiliation of being rejected for membership of the warrior cult of Mithras. Mordred even reverts to paganism after establishing his power in Dumnonia.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_fab3235a	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_fbd5fda1	type	Friendly Rivalry
The Warlord Chronicles / int_fbd5fda1	comment	Friendly Rivalry: Arthur and Owain start out with this sort of relationship, though it isn't long before they drop the "friendly" part.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_fbd5fda1	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_fccd06b6	type	Beware the Nice Ones
The Warlord Chronicles / int_fccd06b6	comment	Beware the Nice Ones: Arthur, Derfel, and Galahad are all genuinely kind people, but God help anyone who winds up on the opposite side of them in battle.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_fccd06b6	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_fd4f8299	type	Well-Intentioned Extremist
The Warlord Chronicles / int_fd4f8299	comment	Well-Intentioned Extremist: Merlin eventually backs away from this without crossing the Moral Event Horizon. Nimue, on the other hand, goes Jumping Off the Slippery Slope. Technically Merlin does cross the Event Horizon, but only against strangers (and it's dubious whether it was a Moral Event Horizon by the standards of his time), hesitating when it comes to betraying his friends.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_fd4f8299	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_fd55a59b	type	Personal Dictionary
The Warlord Chronicles / int_fd55a59b	comment	Personal Dictionary: Sansum repeatedly refers to himself (and a handful of other characters he likes) as a living saint - an oxymoron even in the 6th century, as a saint by nature needs to Heaven (in other words, dead). Derfel adopts this habit when referring to figures like Cadoc and Carannog, likely because Sansum was his main source on the nature of saints.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_fd55a59b	featureApplicability	1.0
The Warlord Chronicles / int_fd55a59b	featureConfidence	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_ff7e9adf	type	Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold
The Warlord Chronicles / int_ff7e9adf	comment	Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Derfel, Galahad, and Ceinwyn.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_ff7e9adf	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_ff7f34c5	type	Pet the Dog
The Warlord Chronicles / int_ff7f34c5	comment	Pet the Dog: Merlin's adoptions of orphans, freaks, and those touched by the gods, as well as cats. Also, the cat that Arthur and Derfel get for the little girl who testifies against Owain.
The Warlord Chronicles / int_ff7f34c5	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Warlord Chronicles / int_name	itemName	The Warlord Chronicles

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	A Good Way to Die / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	All Part of the Show / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Call That a Formation? / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Cincinnatus / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Combat Breakdown / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Cool Sword / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Corrupt Church / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Deceptive Disciple / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Demythification / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Demythtification / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Druid / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	English Literature / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Eternally Pearly-White Teeth / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Excalibur / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Excalibur in the Stone / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Family-Values Villain / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Head-in-the-Sand Management / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Historical Fantasy / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Honorable Warrior's Death / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Life-or-Limb Decision / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Love Sacrificed for Power / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Merlin and Nimue / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Mystery Cult / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Nay-Theist / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Patricide / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Scary Black Man / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior! / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Tactful Translation / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	The Dung Ages / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	The Gambling Addict / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	The High King / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	The Ophelia / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	The Wise Prince / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	The Wrongful Heir to the Throne / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Throwing Your Shield Always Works / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Token Minority / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Villain of Another Story / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Weapons Breaking Weapons / int_253e45cd
The Warlord Chronicles	hasFeature	Regent for Life / int_253e45cd

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