History Literature / BookOfSwords

** ''Cons:'' ... where it will stay. Which means that anyone nearby, say a distraught loved one, can use it. [[CycleOfRevenge Against the person who used it last]].

** ''Cons:'' This devotion can go to the user's head, and the effects start wearing off after three days away from its influence. Also, the sword makes its victims fanatically devoted to the wielder but not obedient, which means they may choose to do something other than what the wielder wants if they think it's in their "lord's" best interest. And said fanaticism does not yield the clearest judgments.

** ''Cons:'' This devotion can go to the user's head, and the effects start wearing off after three days away from its influence.

* MutuallyAssuredDestruction: Soulcutter is roughly as dangerous as a nuclear weapon that you have to detonate by hand, being an almost inescapably fatal EmotionBomb.

* CycleOfRevenge: Farslayer was '''made''' for this trope. Since it remains in the body of the last person it killed until somebody removes it, all too often it gets picked up by a friend of the last victim, who then orders the Sword to kill the person who threw it at their friend (And yes, vague instructions to kill the party responsible without the wielder knowing who it is do work). At which point one of ''his'' friends will then pick up the Sword and send it back. And so on. This can continue until one side runs out of vengeance-minded friends and family in the immediate vicinity.

* DealWithTheDevil: Vilkata. He cuts out his own eyes as a sacrifice in order to curse an enemy. Thereafter, various demons provide vision for him. Vilkata throws his pet demons a bone every now and then in fresh human flesh to torture.

** Dual wielding Swords can have its advantages, especially when CombiningPowers. For instance, dual wielding Shieldbreaker and Soulcutter prevents one from being affected by Soulcutter's life-draining power.

The Gods decide to have a game. The playing pieces are humans, armed with 12 nigh-indestructible swords forged by Vulcan, imbued with unique powers.

* BornLucky: Whoever holds Coinspinner, obviously.

* DeusExMachina:
** Swords just randomly appear in the weirdest places... which, since the whole thing is a game run by the gods anyway, [[JustifiedTrope makes a fair bit of sense]].
*** This is also Coinspinner's stated power.
* {{Determinator}}:

* ElaborateUndergroundBase: The Blue Temple's underground vault complex

* EmpathicWeapon: Coinspinner, arguably.

* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: As a result of changing human opinions about them, the gods start to actually change.

* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: The power of the human heart combined with Woundhealer [[spoiler:destroys Shieldbreaker.]]
* HereThereWereDragons: By the end of the series, Dragonslicer has almost made itself obsolete.

* HighHeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Queen Yambu]]

* InfinityPlusOneSword: All of them. Shieldbreaker, Doomgiver, and the Mindsword especially.
* InstantMessengerPigeon: And Instant Messenger Lizards.

* MermaidProblem: Pops up, with sad results, in Farslayer's Story.
* TheMetricSystemIsHereToStay : The Swords are "a full meter of god-forged steel".
* MutuallyAssuredDestruction: Soulcutter is roughly as dangerous as a nuclear weapon that you have to detonate by hand, as an EmotionBomb.

** ''Symbol:'' A Stylized dragon.

** ''Cons:'' This devotion can go to the user's head, and the effects start wearing off after three days.

** ''Cons:'' ''... including the bearer.'' Therefore, drawing the sword is generally the last decision anyone makes, and the mere threat of someone ''possessing'' it is often a big deal. Also causes RapidAging in its wielder.

* {{Determinator}}: Baron Doon, who goes three rounds against Shieldbreaker by using sheer cussedness (and dropping his destroyed weapons before the Sword can finish the job).

* HealingShiv: Woundhealer's power is to heal any injury short of death, including inborn physical and mental disabilities, in anyone cut by its blade.

* AbsurdlySharpBlade - Several of the Swords inside their specialties and to a lesser degree outside of them, with the sole exception of Woundhealer, which is a HealingShiv, and cannot harm a living creature. Bear in mind that Woundhealer is still very sharp, and will cut through non-living matter just fine.
* AfterTheEnd
* AGodAmI - Anyone who uses the Mindsword. Its ability is to turn everyone within a couple hundred yards into mindlessly devoted slaves to the wielder. A few days with the hangers-on, and the wielder starts to believe the hype.

* AerithAndBob - Main characters include Mark, Ben, Vilkata, Yambu...
* AntiClimax - The main series (the first three books) spends the whole time building up and building up [[spoiler: to a somewhat weak ending that ends more on a whimper]].
* ArtifactOfDoom - the whole purpose of Soulcutter, and the other swords have traits of this. Mark in particular has a few choice things to say about Townsaver shortly after he gets it.
* AttackReflector - Doomgiver. It understands the attacker's intent and will reflect any threat. A dropped boulder? Doomgiver will send it flying right back up to hit the dropper, even if it has to turn corners. A demon threatens to turn your body inside out, eat you, and digest you for a million years? We'll just say that being turned inside out and forced into your own stomach is not comfortable. A succubus tries to make you fall in love with her? She falls in love with ''you''. A few Gods are planning to deprive you of your Sword? [[spoiler: They lose ''theirs''.]]

* BigBad - Several - Vilkata and Yambu in the first trilogy, the immortal wizard Wood for most of the Lost Swords iterations.
* BlackMagic
* TheBlacksmith
* BlatantLies - The name of the country of Tasavalta literally means "republic" in Finnish. Tasavalta is a hereditary monarchy, the exact opposite of a republic.
* BlessedWithSuck - Most people who get one of these swords. Sure, they are awesome, but they have cons and so many other people want to take it away from you.
* BookEnds - The main story begins and ends with Vulcan crawling along the same mountainside looking for fire.

* TheCaper
* CallARabbitASmeerp - Ridingbeasts, woolbeasts, milkbeasts, etc. Are they horses/sheep/cows?
* CatchPhrase - Whenever someone uses Farslayer, they recite the second line of its verse in the poem. Since the water sprite in Farslayer's Story simply threw it and it worked anyway to kill a demon, the catch phrase doesn't appear to be more than a tradition.

* ClingyMacGuffin - Once the battle starts, the wielder of Shieldbreaker can not let it go. And it can only harm armed opponents. So, one man can take on an army of soldiers armed to the teeth, demons, even the Gods themselves, but don't let the [[IncrediblyLamePun unarmed man]] get a stranglehold. Townsaver and Dragonslicer exhibit similar clinginess to a slightly lesser degree.
* CoolMask - The Emperor is said to wear masks from time to time.
* CoolSword - All over the place.
* CycleOfRevenge - Farslayer was '''made''' for this trope. Since it remains in the body of the last person it killed until somebody removes it, all too often it gets picked up by a friend of the last victim, who then orders the Sword to kill the person who threw it at their friend (And yes, vague instructions to kill the party responsible without the wielder knowing who it is do work). At which point one of ''his'' friends will then pick up the Sword and send it back. And so on. This can continue until one side runs out of vengeance-minded friends and family in the immediate vicinity.
* TheDarkSide
* DealWithTheDevil - Vilkata. He cuts out his own eyes as a sacrifice in order to curse an enemy. Thereafter, various demons provide vision for him. Vilkata throws his pet demons a bone every now and then in fresh human flesh to torture.
* DeusExMachina - Swords just randomly appear in the weirdest places...
** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] since the whole thing is a game run by the gods anyway.
*** It's also Coinspinners stated power.
* {{Determinator}} - Baron Doon, who goes three rounds against Shieldbreaker by using sheer cussedness (and dropping his destroyed weapons before the Sword can finish the job).
* DualWielding - Difficult for most people to do with Swords. Causes intense nausea, but some people can handle it. However, the major drawback is that this significantly amplifies the stamina drain of wielding just one Sword, causing even people that can pull it off to tire ''very'' quickly.

* EarthAllAlong
* ElaborateUndergroundBase - The Blue Temple's underground vault complex
* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses - Kristin
* EmpathicWeapon - Coinspinner, arguably.
* EvilAlbino - Vilkata.
* EvilVersusEvil - Yambu, the Silver Queen, is the BigBad of the first two books. Then Vilkata, the Dark King, shows up in the third book, and Yambu makes an [[EnemyMine alliance with her former enemies]] against him.

* FlamingSword - Vilkata's demonic eyesight presents the Mindsword as a spear of fire.
* ForgedByTheGods

* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen
* {{God}}s
* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: As a result of changing human opinions about them they start to actually change.

* HappilyMarried - Played straight and averted. Mark and Kristin are happily married, except when she is under the spell of the Mindsword. In the latter half of the series, Ben spends most of his time adventuring specifically to avoid his wife and child. Jord and Mala seem to get along well despite their marriage having been arranged without much input by them.
* HealingShiv - Woundhealer is their king.

* HereThereWereDragons - By the end of the series, Dragonslicer has almost made itself obsolete.
* HeroicBastard: Mark.
* HighHeelFaceTurn - [[spoiler:Queen Yambu]]

%%* ImplausibleFencingPowers - Certain Swords grant their users this ability.

* InstantMessengerPigeon - and Instant Messenger Lizard
* IntimateHealing - [[spoiler: Kristin gives Mark her virginity in order to summon Aphrodite, in the hopes that the goddess can heal the poisoned wound Mark had received from the Mindsword. It works.]]

* LargeHam: A Large Ham?! Hahaha!!! Ask the mighty Mars, the War God, and none other, why this trope appears here!!! And gods and demons, Baron Doon as well, who will defy all the gods to be named the true god of ham! Kneel down and acknowledge him now, demons blast you, or he'll spit you on the end of a meter of god-forged steel, which is ''doubly'' magic!
* LastOfHisKind - By the end of the Last Book, [[spoiler: Woundhealer is the last Sword left.]]

* LostTechnology - Earth, 50,000 years in the future. Technology is replaced by magic. Nuclear explosions have become demons. [[spoiler: ARDNEH = [[strike:[[DeusEstMachina God]]]] = A computer program designed by the United States.]]

* NakedFirstImpression: Mark's first encounter with Kristin. Given the circumstances--that they were in the middle of an enemy camp, that Mark needed all of his willpower even with Sightblinder not to give in to the Mindsword, and that Kristin was going to be tortured to death if he didn't get her out quickly--Mark paid hardly any attention to her nudity, save for grabbing an extra cloak on the way out.
* NamedWeapons: The swords obviously.
* NoHonorAmongThieves: The Seventh Seal of Benambra's Gold - the greed of thieves. Once the party reaches the vault, they all turn on each other over the gold, despite there being more than all of them combined could possibly take. Mark and Ben (Who take all the Swords they find and what cash they can conveniently carry without bickering over individual pieces of treasure) are the only ones to make it out alive.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Their growth is actually a bit like tadpoles.
* PenultimateWeapon
* PoisonedWeapons - The Mindsword.

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething

* SoulJar - Demon's hearts are tied to mundane objects. Farslayer can instinctively identify what they are and go for that rather than harmlessly impaling the demon's physical body, which could be a long way off.
* StoutStrength -- Ben, one of the main characters, is a tall, broad guy with a stupid-looking face. If he's wearing something that shows his general outline, he looks fat, and his arms and legs are so thick in proportion to their length they look stubby. Almost none of it is fat, though; Ben is much, much stronger than carnival strongmen, and gifted with above-average intelligence to boot.

* SwordFight
* SwordOfPlotAdvancement - All of the 12 Swords, even in universe. They were made by the Gods to facilitate the Game.

* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks - This is Farslayer's power, and we mean it ''always'' works. Even if the target is halfway around the world, underground, defended by powerful magic, and [[spoiler: one of the Gods]].
** The difficulty being that it's not {{Mjolnir}}, it doesn't come back and it has no particular loyalty to the thrower. Meaning that the magical sniper sword is now sitting in your enemy's camp, through your enemy's heart yes, but also in easy reach of any of his allies (Or grief-stricken family members with a motive to avenge their fallen loved one)...
* TreacherousSpiritChase - In Woundhealer's Story, one of the main characters keeps seeing tantalizing hints of a specific girl he vaguely recognizes. Every time he comes across evidence of her, it mysteriously turns into a mundane material that has reason to be there already. Hair caught in a rough bush turns to spiderweb in his hands, fabric turns to moss, etc, and each time he is drawn further into the forest. [[spoiler: Only after he's magically paralyzed by an enemy does he realize the entire thing had been an evil enchantment designed to lure him there.]]
* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters - The Swords work against the Gods, too. [[spoiler: By the end of the third book, all the gods have either been killed, or faded away from lack of belief.]]
* UnbreakableWeapons - The Swords are invulnerable to everything except each other.

* VirginPower

** ''Pros:'' Turns any attack upon its bearer back onto the attacker - to include attacks that do not necessarily damage the bearer. (e.g. one of the Goddesses attempted to use magic to make a bearer fall in love with her to the point of being her slave - and ended up enslaved herself).

** ''Symbol:'' Concentric circles, similar to a bulls-eye.

** ''Cons:'' ...where it will stay. Which means that anyone nearby, say a distraught loved one, can use it. [[CycleOfRevenge Against the person who used it last]].

** ''Cons:'' "No weapon" can stand up to it, [[ExactWords literally]]; Shieldbreaker can't harm unarmed opponents, or protect against unarmed attacks. Once drawn, Shieldbreaker can't be dropped when enemies are nearby, whom it will kill even if the user wants to show mercy. It also drains its wielder's stamina, eventually causing death by exhaustion, and making unarmed attacks even harder to stop. [[note]]These drawbacks were used to great effect to overwhelm the Smith God by mobbing him with a pack of unarmed human fighters when he was using the Sword - he could not let it go, but the Sword couldn't hurt any of the fighters without a weapon, and he was eventually exhausted and overwhelmed. On a number of occasions, this has resulted in clever wielders and opponents essentially playing a game of "Musical Swords" where the opponent of Shieldbreaker's wielder will drop their Sword, forcing Shieldbreaker's wielder to drop it to avoid this weakness, and both try to get the non-shieldbreaker sword in hand when the other isn't close enough to Shieldbreaker to pick it up.[[/note]].

** ''Cons:'' The bearer has no control over how he appears, and since he often appears to be [[RefugeInAudacity something fearsome or wonderful]], the sword is [[WithCatlikeTread not particularly stealthy]]; its wielder is better off trying to brazen it out.

** ''Cons:'' ''...including the bearer.'' Therefore, drawing the sword is generally the last decision anyone makes, and the mere threat of someone ''possessing'' it is often a big deal. Also causes RapidAging in its wielder.

** ''Pros:'' Stonecutter [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin cuts through stone and earth like it was soft cheese.]] Useful for toppling castles, making tunnels and cutting statues and gemstones.

** ''Cons:'' Wayfinder picks the swiftest path... but the swiftest is not the safest. In fact it seems to deliberately choose [[InHarmsWay the worst and riskiest way possible to get there]].

** The difficulty being that it's not Mjolnir, it doesn't come back and it has no particular loyalty to the thrower. Meaning that the magical sniper sword is now sitting in your enemy's camp, through your enemy's heart yes, but also in easy reach of any of his allies (Or grief-stricken family members with a motive to avenge their fallen loved one)...

* SoulJar - Demons souls are tied to mundane objects.

* NoHonorAmongThieves: The Seventh Seal of Benambra's Gold - the greed of thieves. Once the party reaches the vault, they all turn on each other over the gold, despite there being more than all of them combined could possibly take. Mark and Ben (Who take all the Swords they find and what cash they can conveniently carry without bickering over individual pieces of treasure) make it out alive.

** ''Cons:'' "No weapon" can stand up to it, [[ExactWords literally]]; Shieldbreaker can't harm unarmed opponents, or protect against unarmed attacks. Once drawn, Shieldbreaker can't be dropped when enemies are nearby, whom it will kill even if the user wants to show mercy. It also drains its wielder's stamina, eventually causing death by exhaustion, and making unarmed attacks even harder to stop. [[note]] These drawbacks were used to great effect to overwhelm the Smith God by mobbing him with a pack of unarmed human fighters when he was using the Sword - he could not let it go, but the Sword couldn't hurt any of the fighters without a weapon, and he was eventually exhausted and overwhelmed. On a number of occasions, this has resulted in clever wielders and opponents essentially playing a game of "Musical Swords" where the opponent of Shieldbreaker's wielder will drop their Sword, forcing Shieldbreaker's wielder to drop it to avoid this weakness, and both try to get the non-shieldbreaker sword in hand when the other isn't close enough to Shieldbreaker to pick it up.[[/note]].

** ''Cons:'' [[HealingShiv It heals anything it cuts, so its nigh-useless as a weapon]]. On the upside, [[RunningGag when not used against living flesh, it behaves like an extremely well-crafted sword]].

* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: The source of the Gods' power, much to their surprise.

* MermaidProblem: Pops up, rather sadly, in Farslayer's Story.

* NamedWeapons

* ImplausibleFencingPowers - Certain Swords grant their users this ability.

* GoldFever

* MermaidProblem

* VirginSacrifice: [[spoiler: Baron Doon]] attempts to do this out of desperation when cornered by a demon, but thankfully, he's interrupted before he can go through with it. Kristin, meanwhile, makes use of a [[IntimateHealing different sort of sacrifice]] in a situation that's almost as bad.

** ''Pros:'' Unsheathed, it emits the sound of a cheering crowd, and compels fanatical devotion toward its bearer upon all who can see or hear it. The effects start wearing off after three days. Even sheathed, it works on some level. Wounds caused by its edge also fester horribly.
** ''Cons:'' This devotion can go to the user's head.

** ''Pros:'' Confers immunity to all armed attacks (claws and teeth count), including the other Swords. Substitutes its own abilities for the bearer's skill, blocking attacks and striking with superhuman strength and speed. Any weapon (or equivalent) blocked or struck by Shieldbreaker will ''explode'', generally severely harming or killing the opponent. This is the only way to destroy another Sword. Any opposing magic is negated harmlessly.
** ''Cons:'' It's said that "no weapon" can stand up to it, and this is [[ExactWords literally true]]; Shieldbreaker can't harm unarmed opponents, or protect against any type of unarmed attack. Once drawn, it is nigh impossible to let go of Shieldbreaker as long as there are enemies present, whom it will kill even if the user wants to show mercy. Also, it draws strength from its wielder to operate; a long-enough fight can cause its owner to die of exhaustion, and the user has barely any strength left to fight unarmed attackers. [[note]] These drawbacks were used to great effect to overwhelm the Smith God by mobbing him with a pack of unarmed human fighters when he was using the Sword - he could not let it go, but the Sword couldn't hurt any of the fighters without a weapon, and he was eventually exhausted and overwhelmed. On a number of occasions, this has resulted in clever wielders and opponents essentially playing a game of "Musical Swords" where the opponent of Shieldbreaker's wielder will drop their Sword, forcing Shieldbreaker's wielder to drop it to avoid this weakness, and both try to get the non-shieldbreaker sword in hand when the other isn't close enough to Shieldbreaker to pick it up.[[/note]].

** ''Cons:'' It's said that "no weapon" can stand up to it, and this is [[ExactWords literally true]]; Shieldbreaker passes harmlessly through unarmed opponents and grants no protection whatsoever against punches, kicks, grapples, or any other type of unarmed attack. Because Shieldbreaker controls its wielder's body during battle, he or she can't do anything to at all to fight back against an unarmed opponent - or, for that matter, choose ''not'' to kill an armed one. Once drawn, it is nigh impossible to let go of Shieldbreaker as long as there are enemies present. Also, it draws strength from its wielder to operate; a long-enough fight can cause its owner to die of exhaustion. [[note]] These drawbacks were used to great effect to overwhelm the Smith God by mobbing him with a pack of unarmed human fighters when he was using the Sword - he could not let it go, but the Sword couldn't hurt any of the fighters without a weapon, and he was eventually exhausted and overwhelmed. On a number of occasions, this has resulted in clever wielders and opponents essentially playing a game of "Musical Swords" where the opponent of Shieldbreaker's wielder will drop their Sword, forcing Shieldbreaker's wielder to drop it to avoid this weakness, and both try to get the non-shieldbreaker sword in hand when the other isn't close enough to Shieldbreaker to pick it up.[[/note]].