History Characters / UseOfWeapons

* WarriorPoet: Less of a Warrior than your usual examples because Sma rarely if ever uses physical forces but there's no denying she has an artistic streak and a certain literary talent, which manifests primarily in poetry.

* BerserkButton: Chairs. Zakalwe can barely stand to be in the same room as one without smashing it apart, which is linked to incidents in his DarkAndTroubledPast... [[spoiler: Namely that his cruel half-brother Elethiomel had sex with his sister on a chair, before ''[[GenuineHumanHide killing her making a chair out of her remains]]'' as the brothers fight on opposite sides of a civil war...]] [[spoiler: But this too turns out to be a ''massive'' twist -- "Zakalwe" ''is'' Elethiomel, with the chair-phobia now making even more sense - every time he sees one, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone it reminds him how much of a monster he had become]]]].

* BerserkButton: Chairs. Zakalwe can barely stand to be in the same room as one without smashing it apart, which is linked to incidents in his DarkAndTroubledPast... [[spoiler: Namely that his cruel half-brother Elethiomel had sex with his sister on a chair, before ''[[GenuineHumanHide turning her into a chair]]'' as the brothers fight on opposite sides of a civil war...]] [[spoiler: But this too turns out to be a ''massive'' twist -- "Zakalwe" ''is'' Elethiomel, with the chair-phobia now making even more sense - every time he sees one, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone it reminds him how much of a monster he had become]]]].

* HeroicComedicSociopath: Gained this reputation after utterly annihilating a small group of primitive bandits who were unlucky enough to menace Sma, in a fight which was [[CurbStompBattle several times more one-sided]] than a hunter-gatherer tribe facing off against a tank battalion. He appears to regret this somewhat, especially as Sma will [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten keep bringing it up]] when he's getting too lippy for his own good.

* DeadpanSnarker: Is always quick to respond to Zakalawe's antics with incredibly dry comments.

%%* DoAnythingRobot:

** On transforming into his 'suitcase' disguise, he deliberately makes himself extremely heavy for when Sma first picks him up.

* ByronicHero: Zakalwe seems to more or less check all the boxes. First of all, he's [[BrokenAce handsome, extremely intelligent, an accomplished soldier, commander and lover]] but with a DarkAndTroubledPast which constantly haunts him and renders him [[TenMinuteRetirement unable to find peace]]. Furthermore, he's more than willing [[SocipathicHero to commit acts of shocking violence and brutality]], but at least tends to [[PayEvilUntoEvil direct these towards those that deserve it]], and finally, he's totally disconnected from any sort of friends or family, being constantly dropped into strange new planets to help the Culture play God, then extracted just as fast, with his [[TheAgeless functional immortality]] allowing this cycle to continue over and over and over again. [[spoiler:And then, of course, TheReveal makes him a rather interesting example -- it's not exactly difficult to argue that Elethiomel still ''is'' a ByronicHero, just a '''very''' dark one. He's somehow decided that [[HeelRealization he no longer wants to be a monster]], but he's committed an act of such utter evil that this epiphany [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone comes with utterly debilitating guilt]]. This leads him to throw himself into danger in his work for Special Circumstances chasing a redemption that he knows he doesn't deserve]].

[[folder:Cheradenine Zakalwe]]

* ImprobableAimingSkills: [[ImpliedTrope Possibly]]. He shot a fighter jet out of the sky with his PlasmaCannon, but it's difficult to tell just how much this down to his own reflexes, instead of being the result of BioAugmentation or the weapon itself.

* ImprobableAimingSkills: [[ImpliedTrope Possibly]]. He shot a fighter plan out of the sky with his PlasmaCannon, but it's difficult to tell just how much this down to his own reflexes, instead of being the result of BioAugmentation or the weapon itself.

* LadykillerInLove: Normally given to [[AGirlInEveryPort taking and discarding at least one new lover]] during every mission, but he falls ''hard'' for the beautiful poet Shias Engin. It's not clear exactly what happened to their relationship - possibly he really was just "on leave" from SC as he claimed, if they split up, or if something else went wrong. He will later claim (via his internal monologue at least) that he only "thought" he loved her, but it's clear he's still at least slightly heartbroken.
* PlasmaCannon: Uses a plasma rifle. It's [[{{BFG}} big and bulky]], being almost a thousand years out of date by the Culture's standards, but [[TheyDontMakeThemLikeTheyUsedTo Zakalwe retains a fondness for it]] -- for one thing, it looks cool, and he also enjoys the [[StuffBlowingUp copious number of explosions]] its use tends to result in.

* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: {{Subverted}}. Initially, it seems beyond laughable that Cheradenine Zakalwe, the badass mercenary, is terrified of ''chairs''. [[spoiler:But of course, once it's clear [[TraumaButton exactly]] [[SiblingMurder what]] [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone this]] [[BeyondRedemption represents]], "no longer funny" would be an {{Understatement}}]].

* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: {{Subverted}}. Initially, it seems beyond laughable that Cheradenine Zakalwe, the badass mercenary, is terrified of ''chairs''. [[spoiler:But of course, once it's clear exactly [[SiblingMurder what]] [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone this]] [[BeyondRedemption represents]], "no longer funny" would be an {{Understatement}}]].

* WeaksauceWeakness: {{Subverted}}. Initially, it seems beyond laughable that Cheradenine Zakalwe, the badass mercenary, is terrified of ''chairs''. [[spoiler:But of course, once it's clear exactly [[SiblingMurder what]] [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone this]] [[BeyondRedemption represents]], "no longer funny" would be an {{Understatement}}]].

* WeaksauceWeakness: {{Subverted}}. Initially, it seems beyond laughable that Cheradenine Zakalwe, the badass mercenary, is terrified of ''chairs''. [[spoiler:But of course, once it's clear exactly [[SiblingMurder what]] [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone it]] [[BeyondRedemption represents]], "no longer funny" would be an {{Understatement}}]].

* DoYouWantToCopulate: Was planning on slowly seducing Relstoch Susslepin, a composer from the planet she was stationed on at the start of the book. Being ordered to pick up Zakalwe means she has to cut this short, so she simply asks him "Do you want to fuck?".

* LadykillerInLove: Normally given to [[AGirlInEveryPort taking and discarding at least one new lover]] during every mission, but he falls ''hard'' for the beautiful poet Shias Engin. It's not clear exactly what happened to their relationship - possibly he really was just "on leave" from SC as he claimed, if they split up, or if something else went wrong. He will later claim (via his internal monologue at least) that he "thought" he loved her.

* HeelRealization: [[spoiler:Appears to have had a rather extreme one offscreen -- Elethiomel was a ruthless monster who would kill and [[GenuineHumanHide horrendously mutilate]] his own cousin to get another cousin to [[DrivenToSuicide kill themselves]]. He would then begin experiencing [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone such an extreme level of guilt about it]] that he assumed the identity of his victim, went on a 100-year HumanPopsicle voyage to a distant planet to get away, has [[TheAtoner spent the rest of his life trying to atone]], and [[TenMinuteRetirement cannot ever find peace]]. This is possibly due to the [[CainAndAbel vicious hate-fuelled rivalry]] between himself and Cheradenine suddenly disappearing and leaving no motivation for his evil]].