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Vathek

 Vathek
type
TVTItem
 Vathek
label
Vathek
 Vathek
page
Vathek
 Vathek
comment
Vathek (alternatively titled Vathek, an Arabian Tale or The History of the Caliph Vathek) is a Gothic Horror novel written by William Beckford. It was composed in French beginning in 1782, and then published in 1786 without Beckford's name as "An Arabian Tale, From an Unpublished Manuscript," claiming to be translated directly from Arabic (this was in fact an English translation by Reverend Samuel Henley). The novel chronicles the fall from power of the Caliph Vathek (a fictionalized version of the historical Al-Wathiq), who renounces Islam and engages with his mother, Carathis, in a series of licentious and deplorable activities designed to gain him supernatural powers.As a public domain work, it can be found at Project Gutenberg.
 Vathek
fetched
2023-10-23T08:29:49Z
 Vathek
parsed
2023-10-23T08:29:49Z
 Vathek
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Dropped link to EvilSorceror: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
 Vathek
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EvilSorceror
 Vathek
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Vathek / int_1d91d9bb
type
Deadly Gaze
 Vathek / int_1d91d9bb
comment
Deadly Gaze: Vathek has one.
 Vathek / int_1d91d9bb
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1.0
 Vathek / int_1d91d9bb
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1.0
 Vathek
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Vathek / int_1d91d9bb
 Vathek / int_2059a430
type
The Hedonist
 Vathek / int_2059a430
comment
The Hedonist: Vathek built five sub-palaces (annexes) to his own hereditary palace, each devoted to one of the senses. This is the earliest foreshadowing of his descent into evil.
 Vathek / int_2059a430
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1.0
 Vathek / int_2059a430
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1.0
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Vathek / int_2059a430
 Vathek / int_3c700857
type
Guys Smash, Girls Shoot
 Vathek / int_3c700857
comment
That said, he's pretty good with a bow.
 Vathek / int_3c700857
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1.0
 Vathek / int_3c700857
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1.0
 Vathek
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Vathek / int_3c700857
 Vathek / int_3cb1d38d
type
Bad Boss
 Vathek / int_3cb1d38d
comment
Bad Boss: Applicable to both Vathek and Carathis, and ultimately even to Iblis. Vathek shows absolutely no concern for the lives or well-being of his officials, servants or soldiers. Frequently, he degrades and tortures them For the Evulz. Carathis is more callous and business-like about it then her son, but deliberately sacrifices persons helping her at least once in the tale (when she walks her huntsmen guides to death, and then instead of giving them decent burials, feeds them to ghouls). She also randomly poisons her daughters-in-law and other noblewomen, then heals them with antidotes, as a form of practice. And, of course, in the end she murders her faithful "mute negresses," apparently under the theory that they should not outlive their mistress. Iblis sends forth his giaours to tempt proud men to his service in return for promises of treasure and power — but only gives them their rewards under conditions that ensure they will not enjoy their gifts. In a deeper sense (and possibly very intentionally on the part of Beckford, coming as he did from a liberal political family) this is true of the whole culture of the Abbasid Caliphate, which would let monsters like Vathek and Carathis so abuse their subjects for so long.
 Vathek / int_3cb1d38d
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 Vathek / int_3cb1d38d
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Vathek / int_3cb1d38d
 Vathek / int_3f0b2f50
type
Make It Look Like an Accident
 Vathek / int_3f0b2f50
comment
Make It Look Like an Accident: Carathis and her servants kill all of the palace attendants who try to rescue them from what they believe to be the palace on fire (it is actually one of Carathis’s dark rituals). They then tell Morakanabad after the fact that those people died in the flames.
 Vathek / int_3f0b2f50
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1.0
 Vathek / int_3f0b2f50
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Vathek / int_3f0b2f50
 Vathek / int_4aa98555
type
Evil All Along
 Vathek / int_4aa98555
comment
Evil All Along: Carathis is introduced as just Vathek’s mother who wants him cured of his strange illness, but as soon as he mentions the promise the Giaour made to him, she reveals that she has been practicing magic for decades and has a laboratory under the castle in which she practices necromancy and human sacrifice. From that point, she basically becomes the leader, pushing her son into ever greater villainy.
 Vathek / int_4aa98555
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Vathek / int_4aa98555
 Vathek / int_5fd14ab3
type
Sacred Hospitality
 Vathek / int_5fd14ab3
comment
Sacred Hospitality: Vathek rips this idea down and dances on it, particularly by stealing away his host's daughter in defiance of her Arranged Marriage to Gulchenrouz.
 Vathek / int_5fd14ab3
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1.0
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Vathek / int_5fd14ab3
 Vathek / int_63d861f8
type
Even Evil Has Loved Ones
 Vathek / int_63d861f8
comment
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Vathek is vile, but he clearly loves his mother Carathis and comes to love Nouronihar. For her part, Carathis may love Vathek (the political realities of her society mean that she has no practical alternative to supporting Vathek, so even if she only sees him as a tool to gain power, she can’t just murder him and seize the throne for herself the way she could if she were a man).
 Vathek / int_63d861f8
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Vathek / int_63d861f8
 Vathek / int_733e007a
type
Unwitting Pawn
 Vathek / int_733e007a
comment
Unwitting Pawn: Poor, poor Bababalouk.
 Vathek / int_733e007a
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1.0
 Vathek / int_733e007a
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1.0
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Vathek / int_733e007a
 Vathek / int_74440b13
type
Our Genies Are Different
 Vathek / int_74440b13
comment
Our Genies Are Different: Some are evil, but some are devout Muslims and try to save Vathek from himself.
 Vathek / int_74440b13
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1.0
 Vathek / int_74440b13
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 Vathek
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Vathek / int_74440b13
 Vathek / int_76dc4f31
type
"Arabian Nights" Days
 Vathek / int_76dc4f31
comment
"Arabian Nights" Days: Mixed with Gothic Horror.
 Vathek / int_76dc4f31
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1.0
 Vathek / int_76dc4f31
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1.0
 Vathek
hasFeature
Vathek / int_76dc4f31
 Vathek / int_7d89315b
type
"The Reason You Suck" Speech
 Vathek / int_7d89315b
comment
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: A good genie, sent by The Prophet Muhammad, gives one to Vathek in which he enumerates all his sins, just before the latter is about to make his damnation inevitable.
 Vathek / int_7d89315b
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1.0
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Vathek / int_7d89315b
 Vathek / int_7f115959
type
Mother Makes You King
 Vathek / int_7f115959
comment
Mother Makes You King: Almost everything Carathis does is to ensure her son will "reign on the throne of Soliman". Would it have been required so, she would've willingly suffered damnation to achieve this goal.
 Vathek / int_7f115959
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1.0
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Vathek / int_7f115959
 Vathek / int_87bb6874
type
Villain with Good Publicity
 Vathek / int_87bb6874
comment
Villain with Good Publicity: Vathek's people consider him a hero and are almost absurdly loyal to him at the start of the story, even as he oppressively taxes and indeed murders them. This does not last.
 Vathek / int_87bb6874
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1.0
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Vathek / int_87bb6874
 Vathek / int_898ff050
type
Villain Protagonist
 Vathek / int_898ff050
comment
Villain Protagonist: Vathek is cruel, wrathful, ruthless and selfish at the start of the story, and he has degenerated into a monster by the climax.
 Vathek / int_898ff050
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1.0
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Vathek / int_898ff050
 Vathek / int_9a1f23bf
type
Controllable Helplessness
 Vathek / int_9a1f23bf
comment
Controllable Helplessness: An early, non-video game example. Once Vathek is in hell, he is allowed to use the powers he came for for an unspecified, but brief, time before he is inevitably damned forever. Upon hearing this, he is so overcome with horror and despair that he doesn't even bother.
 Vathek / int_9a1f23bf
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Vathek / int_9a1f23bf
 Vathek / int_9a8c7632
type
Dumb Is Good
 Vathek / int_9a8c7632
comment
Dumb Is Good: Or maybe Ambition Is Evil, especially when it leads to The Dark Arts and Scientific Sins:
 Vathek / int_9a8c7632
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1.0
 Vathek / int_9a8c7632
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Vathek / int_9a8c7632
 Vathek / int_9b629c86
type
Pressure Point
 Vathek / int_9b629c86
comment
Pressure Point: Carathis' "mute negresses" practice a curious combat technique consisting of "pinching" opponents, even to death. It's not certain if this is a national martial art, or an evil extension of a common means of harem discipline.
 Vathek / int_9b629c86
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1.0
 Vathek / int_9b629c86
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 Vathek
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Vathek / int_9b629c86
 Vathek / int_9fe35833
type
Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas
 Vathek / int_9fe35833
comment
Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: The only other living human being Vathek cares about at the start of the book is his mother Carathis.
 Vathek / int_9fe35833
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1.0
 Vathek / int_9fe35833
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Vathek / int_9fe35833
 Vathek / int_a3c0d670
type
Evil Chancellor
 Vathek / int_a3c0d670
comment
Evil Chancellor: Also averted; the vizier Morakanabad only wants what is best for Vathek, and has no knowledge of his or his mother’s diabolical actions at any point.
 Vathek / int_a3c0d670
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 Vathek / int_a3c0d670
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Vathek / int_a3c0d670
 Vathek / int_a679184b
type
Due to the Dead
 Vathek / int_a679184b
comment
Due to the Dead: Right before the woodcutters perish from exhaustion inflicted on them by Carathis, the group passes by a cemetery and they ask Carathis if she will at least inter them. Carathis doesn't, because she can tell gouls live there and feeding them the corpses of the woodcutters may get them to share some useful knowledge.
 Vathek / int_a679184b
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1.0
 Vathek / int_a679184b
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1.0
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hasFeature
Vathek / int_a679184b
 Vathek / int_adfd3165
type
For the Evulz
 Vathek / int_adfd3165
comment
Vathek shows absolutely no concern for the lives or well-being of his officials, servants or soldiers. Frequently, he degrades and tortures them For the Evulz.
 Vathek / int_adfd3165
featureApplicability
1.0
 Vathek / int_adfd3165
featureConfidence
1.0
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Vathek / int_adfd3165
 Vathek / int_b58c51d8
type
My Beloved Smother
 Vathek / int_b58c51d8
comment
My Beloved Smother: Carathis is somewhere between this and Evil Matriarch, as she is always spurring Vathek on to greater heights of pride.
 Vathek / int_b58c51d8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Vathek / int_b58c51d8
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Vathek / int_b58c51d8
 Vathek / int_bbd25056
type
Eunuchs Are Evil
 Vathek / int_bbd25056
comment
Eunuchs Are Evil: Averted; Bababalouk is at worst a Punch-Clock Villain whose badness is mainly in working for someone like Vathek.
 Vathek / int_bbd25056
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-1.0
 Vathek / int_bbd25056
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Vathek / int_bbd25056
 Vathek / int_c3bafbce
type
Satan
 Vathek / int_c3bafbce
comment
Satan: Going by the name of Eblis here.
 Vathek / int_c3bafbce
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1.0
 Vathek / int_c3bafbce
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1.0
 Vathek
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Vathek / int_c3bafbce
 Vathek / int_c66cb5a9
type
Human Sacrifice
 Vathek / int_c66cb5a9
comment
Human Sacrifice: Vathek goes so far as to sacrifice fifty children to an evil genie. They are saved by a Genie ex Machina.
 Vathek / int_c66cb5a9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Vathek / int_c66cb5a9
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 Vathek
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Vathek / int_c66cb5a9
 Vathek / int_ca4e037
type
Dude Looks Like a Lady
 Vathek / int_ca4e037
comment
Dude Looks Like a Lady: Gulchenrouz. Also a Non-Action Guy: That said, he's pretty good with a bow.
 Vathek / int_ca4e037
featureApplicability
1.0
 Vathek / int_ca4e037
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1.0
 Vathek
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Vathek / int_ca4e037
 Vathek / int_cc1bd54d
type
Non-Action Guy
 Vathek / int_cc1bd54d
comment
Also a Non-Action Guy: That said, he's pretty good with a bow.
 Vathek / int_cc1bd54d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Vathek / int_cc1bd54d
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 Vathek
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Vathek / int_cc1bd54d
 Vathek / int_cfc52d52
type
Spoiled Brat
 Vathek / int_cfc52d52
comment
Spoiled Brat: Nouronihar, whose first appearance in the story involves playing a mean prank on Bababalouk, just because she can.
 Vathek / int_cfc52d52
featureApplicability
1.0
 Vathek / int_cfc52d52
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Vathek / int_cfc52d52
 Vathek / int_d2d520f4
type
Our Ghouls Are Creepier
 Vathek / int_d2d520f4
comment
Our Ghouls Are Creepier: Gouls are pale and haggard human-looking beings that live inside the tombs and underneath the earth within cemetery walls. The fancier the cemetery, the more likely gouls live there. This knowledge is what draws Carathis when she finds herself en route to Istakar with dead guides, because she can give the gouls the corpses to eat in return for solid directions. Her servants, Nerkes and Cafour, also hope to get an orgy out of it, but while they do get the gouls interested, once Carathis has the information she needs, she orders them to leave with her immediately.
 Vathek / int_d2d520f4
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Vathek / int_d2d520f4
 Vathek / int_da53340
type
Religious Horror
 Vathek / int_da53340
comment
Religious Horror: With an Islamic flavor, for once.
 Vathek / int_da53340
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1.0
 Vathek / int_da53340
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1.0
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Vathek / int_da53340
 Vathek / int_dda99fa8
type
Despair Event Horizon
 Vathek / int_dda99fa8
comment
Despair Event Horizon: The ultimate punishment of Hell forces one to cross this, along with having eternal fire burning in one's chest cavity.
 Vathek / int_dda99fa8
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1.0
 Vathek / int_dda99fa8
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 Vathek
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Vathek / int_dda99fa8
 Vathek / int_e16217f8
type
Historical Villain Upgrade
 Vathek / int_e16217f8
comment
Historical Villain Upgrade: The real Caliph Wathiq probably wasn’t a Satanist. Nor would his mother have been one, for that matter...
 Vathek / int_e16217f8
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 Vathek / int_e16217f8
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 Vathek
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Vathek / int_e16217f8
 Vathek / int_e54326a2
type
Hell
 Vathek / int_e54326a2
comment
Hell: Vathek, Nouronihar, and Carathis end up there (called "The Palace of Subterranean Fire" in the story) in their quest for power. Has a fire and brimstone aspect in that the hearts of sinners are consumed with the flames of their sins such that it shines through their bodies.
 Vathek / int_e54326a2
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 Vathek / int_e54326a2
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 Vathek
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Vathek / int_e54326a2
 Vathek / int_f4fe270
type
Villainous Glutton
 Vathek / int_f4fe270
comment
Villainous Glutton: Vathek, and how! This is his appetite dulled by stress:
 Vathek / int_f4fe270
featureApplicability
1.0
 Vathek / int_f4fe270
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 Vathek
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Vathek / int_f4fe270
 Vathek / int_f9876f7e
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Faking the Dead
 Vathek / int_f9876f7e
comment
Faking the Dead: Fakreddin, Nouronihar’s father, does this with her and Gulchenrouz in an attempt to keep Vathek away from her. It doesn't work.
 Vathek / int_f9876f7e
featureApplicability
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 Vathek / int_f9876f7e
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 Vathek
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Vathek / int_f9876f7e
 Vathek / int_ffad4e9f
type
Shown Their Work
 Vathek / int_ffad4e9f
comment
Shown Their Work: Vathek is capped off by an extensive series of endnotes. Some of which have footnotes. And one of those footnotes has a footnote of its own.
 Vathek / int_ffad4e9f
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Vathek / int_ffad4e9f
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ItemName
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Vathek

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

 Vathek
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"Arabian Nights" Days / int_d6356792
 Vathek
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Bad Boss / int_d6356792
 Vathek
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18th Century Literature / int_d6356792
 Vathek
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Gothic Horror / int_d6356792
 Vathek
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Our Ghouls Are Creepier / int_d6356792