History Literature / AMemoryOfFlames

* AerithAndBob: Not so much when it comes to the human names, but among the tamed dragons you have names across the board. Simple ones (Snow, Onyx), poetic ones (Silence, Unmaker), compound ones (Wraithwing, Awestriker), two-word ones (Morning Sun, Storm's Shadow) to just plain weird ones (B'thannan). WordOfGod is that each eyrie has a different naming pattern for dragons.

* DragonRider: {{Deconstructed|Trope}} in that although Kemir does indeed ride on Snow's back, she's the one in charge. Played straight in most other examples, as when drugged the dragons are no smarter than dogs.

%% * RebelliousPrincess: Jaslyn. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero It doesn't end well.]]

* BondVillainStupidity: Deconstructed. Both dragons and humans alike will regularly let their enemies go or make silly mistakes, because of inherit flaws in their nature.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler: Meteroa]] kills a dragon without any divine weapons. Likewise with Skjorl--[[spoiler:twice.]]

* DragonRider: Deconstructed in that although Kemir does indeed ride on Snow's back, she's the one in charge. Played straight in most other examples, as when drugged the dragons are no smarter than dogs.

* FlingALightIntoTheFuture: In a Dying Moment of Awesome, [[spoiler: Vale Tassan throws the [[LegendaryWeapon Adamantine Spear]] into the church, so that the survivors have a chance of defending themselves against the dragons.]]

* HeroicSacrifice: Deconstructed. Jasaan bitterly remarks that because of [[spoiler: Skjorl's]] brave and heroic death, he'll only be remembered for that, and not all the horrible things he did in his life.

* IKnowYourTrueName: Averted. A dragon's true name is not given lightly, but they aren't secret and spells can't be worked on them, as Snow explains to Kemir.
* IThinkYouBrokeHim: Kemir to Snow, and once vice-versa.
* IgnoredExpert: The alchemists.

* LegendaryWeapon:: The Adamantine Spear.
* LetsGetDangerous: Meteroa and Lystra in one memorable siege.
* LetsMockTheMonsters: You could have a drinking game for the number of times Kemir calls Snow an idiot.

* Magitek: Teyiteki

* MoralityPet:
** Lystra to Jehal, and sometimes Kemir to Snow.
** Myst and Onix to Zafir, Kalaiya to Baros Tsen
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Jehal has a few moments sometimes. Usually they don't last.

* NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead: Discussed. See HeroicSacrifice above.

* NominalHero: Skjorl, in a strong deconstruction of the whole thing.

* PeerPressureMakesYouEvil: Played with. Snow is a much kinder dragon when it's just herself and Kemir, but becomes extremely short-tempered and destructive once she joins up with her own kind. Kemir's character, on the other hand, quickly degenerates without anyone to restrain him, and it's only when he meets up with Kataros that he begins to redeem himself. Both lampshade this.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Jehal gets two: an incredibly awesome one from Vale, and another one not long after from [[spoiler:Snow]]
* RebelliousPrincess: Jaslyn. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero It doesn't end well.]]

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Vale and Jehal in the first three books embody this, but this trope is heavily {{deconstructed}} in ''The Black Mausoleum,'' where ''none'' of the main characters like each other at all.

* [[VillainProtagonist Villain Protagonist:]] A number, including [[spoiler: the Picker, Kithyr]] and depending on your mileage, [[spoiler: Meteroa, Zafir and Jehal.]]

-> '''Snow:''' ''I have dreams. Memories of other lives I've lived. Many, many lives, but all of them long ago. I remember when my kind flew in our hundreds. I remember the silver gods and the very breaking of the earth itself, then a hundred lives of bright thoughts and flying free. And then, Little One Kailin, something changed, and everything since has faded into an eternal dull blur, dim and inpenetrable. Out of reach. All of my kin are still sleepwalking their lives...In my dreams your kind were never anything more than prey, and your thoughts were always filled with hopeless terror. Why would you wish to return to such a world?''

%%* ArcWords: A number; mainly ''the realms need a speaker'' and ''the potions are running out.''

* AwesomeMcCoolName: Silence's and Blackscar's true names: Crisp Cold Shaft Of Winter Sunlight and Black Scar Of Sorrow Over The Earth, respectively.
%%** ''I am Red Lin Feyn, daughter in blood of Feyn Charin and the Crimson Sunburst, enchantress, navigator. Arbiter of the Dralamut''.
** To give a clearer view: Feyn Charin is the first guy to explore the Storm-Dark, who finds a way to move between world, Crimson Sunburst is the woman who goes to war against the residential boogey man- the elemental man and very nearly won. Both title of enchantress and navigator ain't for pushovers either.

%%* BadassInDistress: All of them at differing points, but Kemir in particular.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: We don't know enough about the Taiytakei to judge them, but it seems to be this. Snow claims that dragons have no morals whatsoever in a ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem fashion.

%%* CombatPragmatist: Master Sy lived and breathed by this trope.

%%* DeadpanSnarker: Many, but in particular Meteroa.

%%* DespairEventHorizon ...yet he comes very close to this at the beginning of ''Order of the Scales.''

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Things really aren't looking too good for the human race now that dragons are ruling the roost again. It's implied that the end of the world is not far away, either.]]

%%* FatalFlaw: Lots of these--but the best examples are probably [[spoiler: Kemir]], who is so dead-set on revenge that he all but destroys the world, and [[spoiler: Skjorl]], who has serious lust issues.

%%* GoneHorriblyRight: Well, Kemir wanted dead dragon-knights...

* [[HiddenBadass Hidden Badass:]] Lystra in the third book. Winning a duel after just giving birth? Awesome.
* [[HiddenDepths Hidden Depths:]] Snow can ''cook''.
* [[HobbesWasRight Hobbes Was Right:]] ''The realms need a speaker''.
* [[HorseOfADifferentColor Horse of a Different Colour:]] Again, the dragons--but only when they're drugged.
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Dragons certainly think so.

* [[IThinkYouBrokeHim I Think You Broke Him:]] Kemir to Snow, and once vice-versa.
* [[IgnoredExpert Ignored Experts:]] The alchemists.

* [[ImmortalLifeIsCheap Immortal Life Is Cheap:]]

* [[IncestIsRelative Incest:]] Meteroa really, really liked his nephew Calzarin, [[spoiler: who may have also been his [[ParentalIncest son.]]]]

* [[KilledOffForReal Killed Off For Real:]] [[AnyoneCanDie Lots and lots.]]

* [[KissingCousins Kissing Cousins:]] Doesn't actually happen, but Sakabian ''really'' has a thing for his cousin Zafir.
* [[LegendaryWeapon Legendary Weapon:]] The Adamantine Spear.
* [[LetsGetDangerous Let's Get Dangerous:]] Meteroa and Lystra in one memorable siege.
* [[LetsMockTheMonsters Let's Mock The Monsters:]] You could have a drinking game for the number of times Kemir calls Snow an idiot.

* [[MindRape Mind Rape:]] Dragons are capable of this; this is most apparent when [[spoiler: Reborn!Silence]] breaks the mind of a Scales simply by "telling him the truth".
** Three... little... slices. You!Obey!Me!
* [[MoodWhiplash Mood Whiplash:]] There's a tear-jerking heart-to-heart between Snow and Kemir in which Kemir tells Snow that she can't go around wantonly killing babies and children, because they're innocent and might just serve a higher purpose. Snow thinks this over, agrees, and promptly eats the boy in question's parents.
* MoralityPet: Lystra to Jehal, and sometimes Kemir to Snow.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Vale is the Night Watchman. If that doesn't tip you off, he also has another name when he goes to war. The Scorpion King.

* [[NecessarilyEvil Necessarily Evil:]] Outsiders are required to do some pretty awful things just to stay alive.

* [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Our Dragons Are Different:]] In Deas' universe, dragons are at least fifty feet tall, were apparently created by magic, don't need to breathe, are capable of [[MindRape mind-raping humans]], have immortal souls that simply recycle bodies (which burst into flame when they die) and think of humans as nothing more than amusing food. Did we mention they used to rule the world? Did we mention that humans have been keeping them as pets?
* [[OneManArmy One Dragon Army:]] The chapter ''A Taste of Happiness'' in Book Two shows exactly what one angry dragon can do.

* [[PersonOfMassDestruction Person of Mass Destruction]] Snow describes herself as one.

* [[PetTheDog Pet the Dog:]] For an amoral killing machine, Snow has a number of moments, culminating in when she spares a little boy on Kemir's request and then spends half the day carefully cooking a meal for him.
* PossessionBurnout: Eventually [[spoiler: Siff.]]
* [[PunyEarthlings Puny Earthlings:]] Dragons describe humans as "amusing food."
* [[PreAssKickingOneLiner Pre-Ass Kicking One Liner:]] ''Little one, I am hungry.''

* [[PsychicLink Psychic Link:]] In the third book, Snow and Kemir develop one.

* [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech The "Reason You Suck" Speech:]] Jehal gets two: an incredibly awesome one from Vale, and another one not long after from [[spoiler:Snow]]

* [[RoyallyScrewedUp Royally Screwed Up:]] Jehal's brother had a few...issues. [[spoiler: Namely killing virtually his entire family and having an affair with his uncle.]]
* [[ScienceMarchesOn Science Marches On:]] In the old days, a heap of people had to be sacrificed a week to keep the dragons under control. Now...
* ServileSnarker: Meteroa.
* [[ShutUpHannibal Shut Up, Snow!]] Kemir again.
* SociopathicHero: Skjorl.
* [[StaringDownCthulhu Staring Down Cthulhu:]] Kemir regularly mocks and insults Snow, a dragon who thinks so little of him that she occasionally forgets that he's on her back and breaks his face.
* SympatheticPOV: Another deconstruction involving Skjorl. At first, during his chapters, Skjorl appears simply to be a hard-hearted but pragmatic AntiHero. However, when we see him through the eyes of other characters, he's as much a monster as the dragons he hunts, and that's even before we get to [[TheReveal Scarsdale...]]

* {{Telepathy}}: Dragons speak using this.

* TerseTalker: Skjorl.
* [[HeWhoFightsMonsters Those Who Fight Monsters]]: Skjorl is compared several times throughout the fourth book as worse than a dragon, and he even admits it to himself in the book's climax.
** The Dragon Queen goes further in this idea: the only way to tame the dragons is for riders to be as tough, as ruthless and as unyielding as the dragons they command. So in a retrospective, Skjorl is the ideal Adamantine Man. He was probably the same before the dragons awakened, the CrapsackWorld setting just brings out the worst of him.
* [[TitleDrop Title Drop:]] Everyone wants to be in the Adamantine Palace. The King of the Worldspine is known as The King of the Crags. Dragons are kept drugged to their eyeballs by The Order of the Scales. The Black Mausoleum is also where everyone wants to be at.
* TookALevelInBadass: Kataros, oh so much.

* [[WeHaveBecomeComplacent We Have Become Complacent:]] Most humans don't even know that dragons are only kept dumb by potions, and most of the ones who do know don't care. Even after [[spoiler: a whole bunch of dragons awaken and start blowing up castles]], they're far more concerned about their petty power struggles, to the alchemists' dismay.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse In-universe example. Vale and Zafir both wonder over what actually happened to Knight-Marshal Nastria.
* [[WhatTheHellHero What The Hell, Hero?]] A few examples, but the one that most stands out is when Snow prevents Kemir from raping a female dragon knight with a healthy helping of irony and "I told you so."

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: [[spoiler: Zafir.]]
* AbsurdlySharpBlade: The Elemental Men's bladeless knife
* [[ActionDuo Action Duo:]] Sollos and Kemir.
* [[ActionGirl Action Girl:]] Shezira and Jaslyn qualify.

* AfterTheEnd: ''The Black Mausoleum.''
* [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Authority Equals Asskicking:]] If you're a king, you are in possession of a few hundred dragons.
* AmbiguouslyEvil: It's probably easier to list who ''isn't'' than who is.
* [[AnyoneCanDie Anyone Can Die:]] Oh, yes.
* [[ApocalypticLog Apocalyptic Log:]] [[spoiler:''The Order of the Scales''.]]
* [[ArcWords Arc Words:]] A number; mainly ''the realms need a speaker'' and ''the potions are running out.''
** ''Dragons for one of you. Queens for both. An empress.''
* [[ASharedSuffering A Shared Suffering:]] Snow and Silence.

** ''I am Red Lin Feyn, daughter in blood of Feyn Charin and the Crimson Sunburst, enchantress, navigator. Arbiter of the Dralamut''.

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: The last thing [[spoiler: Jehal]] calls out before he dies? [[spoiler: ''Zafir.'']]
* BadassBookworm: Vale Tassan.
** Lin Feyn. Emphasis on badass.
* [[BadassCreed Badass Creed:]] ''When night comes it falls to the Adamantine Men to keep watch over the nine realms.''
* [[BadassInDistress Badass In Distress:]] All of them at differing points, but Kemir in particular.
** This is the whole point of The Dragon Queen to [[spoiler:Zafir.]]
* [[BeastOfBattle Beast of Battle:]] In serious battles, dragons are the only unit. For obvious reasons.
* [[BewareTheNiceOnes Beware The Nice Ones:]] Vale Tassan is polite, friendly, and always leaves his door open. He's the greatest warrior in the realm.
* [[BigBad Big Bad:]] It depends on your viewpoint, but it's either Snow or the Taiytakei. [[spoiler: Neither of them, the real big bad are the Silver Kings: Isai Iah and Black Moon.]]
* [[BigDamnHeroes Big Damn Heroes:]] Bizarrely, [[spoiler: Snow]] of all characters gets a moment, saving [[spoiler: Kemir and Kataros from pirates]] in the nick of time.
* [[BlackandGreyMorality Black and Grey Morality:]] ''Everyone'' is bad, even the sympathetically-displayed characters, although some are much worse than others. The possible exceptions are Vale Tassan, Kataros and Lystra. Snow could also be excused due to the fact that [[BlueAndOrangeMorality she's not human.]] Justified in that it's a [[CrapsackWorld Crapsack World]].

** Zafir's flying suit-armour. It is glorious.
* [[BlueAndOrangeMorality Blue and Orange Morality:]] We don't know enough about the Taiytakei to judge them, but it seems to be this. Snow claims that dragons have no morals whatsoever in a [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem Screw The Rules, I Make Them!]] fashion.

** The truly unknown are the[[spoiler:Elemental Man]].

* [[BornAgainImmortality Born Again Immortality:]] When a dragon dies, its soul wanders in purgatory for a little while, before it returns as a hatchling.
* [[BreakTheBadass Break The Badass:]] It takes a while, but eventually [[spoiler: Snow does it to Kemir]].
** In The Dragon Queen, this happens to [[spoiler:Zafir.]]
* [[BreakTheCutie Break the Cutie:]] Lystra and Kataros and [[spoiler:Chang-Liang.]]
* [[BringMyBrownPants Bring My Brown Pants:]] [[spoiler: Jehal,]] finally coming face-to-face with Snow.
* BrotherSisterIncest: Well, actually it's sister-sister incest. [[spoiler: Lystra and Jaslyn.]]
* [[BullyingADragon Bullying A Dragon:]] In a very literal sense, Kemir.
** Shrin Chris Kwen to Zafir
* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler: Bellophros]]

* TheChessmaster: Many try to be this. [[DefiedTrope They all fail.]]

* [[CrapsackWorld Crapsack World:]] For the nobles, perhaps not so much, but if you're an Outsider, this most certainly applies.
* [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment Cruel and Unusual Punishment:]] The little incident involving Jehal and [[spoiler: a crossbow]].
* CombatPragmatist: Master Sy lived and breathed by this trope.
** Subverted by the Sun Monks: they foughtlike Kungfu master because their main purpose was to establish order, not to kill people.
* CompanionCube: Skjorl openly describes his axe as "his lady, his lover."
* [[ConvenientlyCoherentThoughts Conveniently Coherent Thoughts:]] Snow can, apparently, read Kemir's mind so well that she knows what he's going to do before ''he'' knows. [[spoiler: Snow also manages to guess each and every one of Jehal's secret fears while he's literally shitting himself about the fact that she's about to squeeze him to death.]]
* [[CrystalDragonJesus Crystal Dragon Jesus:]] Oddly a very literal example.
* [[TheDayofReckoning The Day of Reckoning:]] Climax of Book Three.
* DeadGuyJunior: Common with the realms' royal families.
* [[DeadpanSnarker Deadpan Snarker:]] Many, but in particular Meteroa.
** Baros Tsen got this so bad that not even a dragon can stop it.
* [[DecoyProtagonist Decoy Protagonist:]] Deas likes this trope. In the first book, we have [[spoiler: Shezira and Sollos]]. In the second, we have [[spoiler: Semian and Jostan]].

* DemonicPossession: Siff suffers from this.
* {{Determinator}}: It takes a ''lot'' to break Kemir...
* [[DespairEventHorizon Despair Event Horizon:]]...yet he comes very close to this at the beginning of ''Order of the Scales.''
** [[spoiler: Zafir]] is this when she realizes she can't go home.

* DisasterScavengers: Called ferals in the fourth book.
* DisneyDeath: Invoked--[[spoiler: Snow throws Kemir]] off a mountain, but she intended for him to survive.
* DoNotCallMePaul: "You may know my true name, but that does not give you the right to use it."
* [[DownerEnding Downer Ending:]] [[spoiler: Things really aren't looking too good for the human race now that dragons are ruling the roost again. It's implied that the end of the world is not far away, either.]]
* [[TheDragon The Dragon:]] Meteroa for Jehal, and in an odd role-reversal, Kemir for Snow. You could also count the drugged dragons for their riders.
* [[TheDragonsComeBack The Dragons Come Back:]] Not in a literal sense, but they are most certainly returning.
* [[DragonRider Dragon Rider:]] Deconstructed in that although Kemir does indeed ride on Snow's back, she's the one in charge. Played straight in most other examples, as when drugged the dragons are no smarter than dogs.

* [[TheEmpath Empath:]] Awakened dragons can read feelings, and their own emotions are projected onto those around them. Since dragons are usually always enraged, the effect on humans is...not pretty.
* [[EndOfAnAge End of an Age:]] [[spoiler: The time of humans is done; the dragons' is just beginning.]]
* [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt The End of the World As We Know It:]] ''This is how the world will end...in flames.''

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Aside from hunting down Skjorl, Blackscar's main objective is to find the new body his mate has been reborn into.
* ExactWords: ''Thieves and liars shall quiver and weep...'' They do, along with everyone else.
* [[FantasticDrug Fantastic Drug:]] Souldust.
* FatalFlaw: Lots of these--but the best examples are probably [[spoiler: Kemir]], who is so dead-set on revenge that he all but destroys the world, and [[spoiler: Skjorl]], who has serious lust issues.
** In-universe example: The one way you are guaranteed to beat a dragon is by playing the waiting game. Dragons have no patience whatsoever.
* FailedASpotCheck: Alas...this turns out to be poor [[spoiler: Kemir]]'s undoing in ''Order of the Scales.'' He forgets he's wearing dragon-knight armour when he walks into a village with a known hatred of dragon knights.
* [[FlingALightIntoTheFuture Fling A Light Into The Future:]] In a Dying Moment of Awesome, [[spoiler: Vale Tassan throws the [[LegendaryWeapon Adamantine Spear]] into the church, so that the survivors have a chance of defending themselves against the dragons.]]
* [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan Get A Hold Of Yourself, Man!:]] In one of their eerie-sweet shared dreams, Snow to Kemir.
* GhostCity: [[spoiler: Evenspire and Bloodsalt]] in ''The Black Mausoleum.''
* [[GiantFlyer Giant Flyer:]] The dragons.
* [[GoneHorriblyRight Gone Horribly Right:]] Well, Kemir wanted dead dragon-knights...
** [[spoiler: Zafir]] just want to go home...
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Silence [[MindRape Mind Rapes]] a Scales by telling him the truth of dragons.

* [[GroinAttack Groin Attack:]] With a ''crossbow,'' no less.

* HappilyArrangedMarriage: To Jehal's surprise, his marriage to Lystra is this.
* [[HeroicBSOD Heroic BSoD:]] Kemir at the beginning of ''The Order of the Scales''. He slips in and out of it for the remainder of the book.

* {{Adorkable}}: Chang-Liang

''A Memory of Flames'' is a fantasy series written by Stephen Deas. So far, it consists of four books: ''The Adamantine Palace'', ''The King of the Crags'', ''The Order of the Scales'' and ''The Black Mausoleum''.
Once, dragons and other strange monsters ruled the world and humans were simply prey. Thanks to the intervention of a mysterious figure called [[TheGhost The Silver King]], however, the dragons were tamed (read: drugged into docility) and became the cavalry of kings and queens, kept in check by a mysterious organization known as The Order of the Scales. It's been so long since dragons were free that most humans have forgotten just how dangerous they truly are.

* Adorkable: Chang-Liang

* [[SubmissiveBadass Submissive Badass:]] Vale Tassan. He may have sworn a life of service to the speaker and the speaker's buddies, but he's still the Scorpion King and the greatest warrior in the realm.

* [[BadassGrandpa Badass Grandpa:]] Hyrkallan and Meteroa.

* {{Badass}}: Most qualify in one way or another, but Kemir, Snow and Vale stand out.

* GenreSavvy: Most characters (the ones who don't tend to end up dead) but the most notable examples are when Zafir mocks Jehal's plan of exiling Lystra and her unborn child, because they'd just come back and make a claim for the throne; and when Kemir says he doesn't want to know Snow's true name if it's a secret and he's going to get eaten for knowing it.

** UptoEleven in the final chapters of ''TheDragonQueen''. One fully-trained dragon and rider against a city defended by Tesla Coil, Flying Airship and Lightning-flinging Titan? [[spoiler: they don't stand a chance]].

** Invoked with [[The Storm-Dark]]. Dragons fear final death just like everyone else.

** To give a clearer view: Feyn Charin is the first guy to explore the Storm-Dark, who finds a way to move between world, Crimson Sunburst is the woman who goes to war against the residential boogey man- the elemental man and very nearly won. And the Arbiter title is nearly like that ''Arbiter'' :ultimate authority in times of dire need.

* BadassBookworm: Vale Tassan.[[spoiler: Bellophros, Chang-Liang.]]

** Getting your soul thread cut by the Warlock's Knife has the same effect.

The next trilogy "The Silver Kings" composed of 3 books: ''The Dragon Queen'', ''The Splintered Gods'' and ''The Silver Kings'' bridge the events between ''The Order of the Scales'' and ''The Black Mausoleum'' and characters from "The Thief Taker" series also join the cast here.

* CanonWelding: ''The Black Mausoleum'' to both the original three books and the Thief Taker series. The next trilogy continues from there.

** [[Spoiler: Zafir]] just want to go home...

* Canon Welding: ''The Black Mausoleum'' to both the original three books and the Thief Taker series. The next trilogy continues from there.

* [[DeadpanSnarker Deadpan Snarker:]] Many, but in particular Meteroa.

The next trilogy "The Silver Kings" composed of 3 books: "The Dragon Queen", "The Splintered Gods" and "The Silver Kings" bridge the events between "The Order of the Scales" and "The Black Mausoleum" and characters from "The Thief Taker" series also join the cast here.

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: It's been one of the few topics that the series has stayed unusually light on; but whenever we do see rape, it's treated as a MoralEventHorizon.

** Likewise, known bad people such as Jehal become a lot more easy to like when we're in their head.

* BadassBookworm: Vale Tassan.

* [[BigBad Big Bad:]] It depends on your viewpoint, but it's either Snow or the Taiytakei.

* [[BlueAndOrangeMorality Blue and Orange Morality:]] We don't know enough about the Taiytakei to judge them, but it seems to be this. Snow claims that dragons have no morals whatsoever in a [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem Screw The Rules, I Make Them!]] fashion.

* [[BreakTheCutie Break the Cutie:]] Lystra and Kataros.