History Literature / Chalion

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Three loosely linked novels, and six self-published novellas, by Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold set in a reasonably historically accurate counterpart to medieval Europe, with a pantheon of five gods (the Father, Mother, Daughter, Son and Bastard) -- fairly activist gods, but ones who are incapable of acting directly on the physical world, requiring them to work through willing humans. In publication order:
* ''The Curse of Chalion'' (the Daughter's book)
* ''Paladin of Souls'' (the Bastard's book, direct sequel to ''Curse'')
* ''The Hallowed Hunt'' (the Son's book)
* ''Penric's Demon'' (novella, about one of the Bastard's demons)
* ''Penric and the Shaman'' (novella, sequel to ''Penric's Demon'')
* ''Penric's Mission'' (novella, sequel to ''Penric and the Shaman'')
* ''Mira's Last Dance'' (novella, sequel to ''Penric's Mission'')
* ''Penric's Fox'' (novella, interquel set after ''Penric and the Shaman'')
* ''The Prisoner of Limnos'' (novella, sequel to ''Mira's Last Dance'')

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!!This series contains examples of:

* AdiposeRex: Roya Orico is both obese and sickly, frequently with food stains on his clothing. [[spoiler: In fact he is diabetic and the disease is only held off by the menagerie.]] He is a peripheral force for good at best and his moral weakness puts major characters in peril.
* AllAreEqualInDeath: Every soul is picked up by one of the gods at their death, regardless of status or faith, and which god is shown in a miracle at their funeral. Then explored in the third book, where certain souls are shown to be impossible for the gods to pick up, and the trouble is about how to make them pickable again.
* AltarDiplomacy: In ''The Curse of Chalion'', Royesse (Princess) Iselle arranges her own marriage -- for rather urgent political reasons -- to the crown prince of a neighboring kingdom whom she's never seen, pausing briefly to collect the rumor that he is "well-favored" (which she cynically says people will say about any prince who isn't a perfect fright), before returning to more important practical considerations. When she finally meets him, they've practically already bonded over their shared love and admiration for the main character, Iselle's heroic secretary, and by the morning after the wedding, he observes that they look like a couple madly in love.
* AlwaysSecondBest: Illvin to Arhys. Illvin doesn't mind though, since his half-brother has a bad case of WellDoneSonGuy towards his dead father.
* AmazonChaser: Ingrey waxes almost poetic about Ijada's tall, statuesque form, and her ability to bash would-be rapists' heads in.
* AndIMustScream: The fate of the heirs of Horseriver.
* AndThenWhat: Ijada's extremely practical response when Ingrey offers to let her escape. Ingrey thinks she can escape into the woods and to her kin; Ijada thinks it likely she'll just end up [[RealityEnsues eaten by a bear]].
* AnotherMansTerror: In ''Curse of Chalion'', Cazaril prays for a death [[strike:magic]] miracle. If it succeeds, it will kill [[TakingYouWithMe both himself and his target]]. After he completes the ritual, he hallucinates that he is his victim, who chokes to death on his own tongue.
* AttemptedRape: Boleso tries it on Ijada just before the beginning of the novel, which not coincidentally opens with Ingrey going to collect Boleso's body.
* AttractiveBentGender: Penric, as Mira. It doesn't hurt that he has Mira's knowledge via Desdemona.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Ingrey becoming the hallow king for one night.
* BadassBoast: "Welcome to [my gates]. I am the Mouth of Hell." Bonus points for being literally true.
* BadassBookworm: Technically Cazaril is Royesse Iselle's tutor and he ''is'' very erudite. He's also a ''dirty'' fighter and will stop at ''nothing'' to help "his ladies", supernatural curses, supernatural tumors and evil chancellors be damned.
* BalancingDeathsBooks: Death magic. Basically it's just a prayer to Bastard to kill someone. If Bastard decides that the intended victim, indeed, deserves death, he'll send his demon to take the victim's life--and the demon will also take the life of the caster.
* BarefootCaptives: When Ista surrenders herself to the Jokonans they remove her sandals to humiliate her: "You will walk barefoot and bareheaded into the presence of the August Mother, as befitting a lesser woman and a Quintarian heretic." As an aversion, they leave Ilvin his boots, driving home his inability to protect Ista.
* BarredFromTheAfterlife: Most souls are taken up by the appropriate god upon death, and the gods offer a small miracle at each person's [[DueToTheDead funeral rites]] to confirm just Who took the soul up. When a soul ''isn't'' taken up, it's SeriousBusiness, not just for the mourners, but for the gods as well. (And a major theme running through most of the books in the series.)
** In the case of shamans and spirit warriors, the animal spirit linked to the dead person's soul needs to be called out by a (living) shaman before the soul can be taken up by the gods. This creates a puzzle - what happens to the soul of the last shaman left? Even the gods are't sure.
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Much of the reason Penric is able to get so much assistance from Desdemona is that he treats "her" like a person, with thoughts and feelings of her own, not merely a dangerous, if useful, tool.
--> '''Desdemona:''' You looked a ''god'' in the eyes. And spoke for ''me''. There is nothing in my power that I will ever refuse you, after that.
** He is the first of Desdemona's many riders to even give her a name.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: A recurring theme in the context of praying to the gods for an outcome.
-->'''Ista''': The gods' most savage curses come upon us as answers to our own prayers, you know. Prayer is a dangerous business. I think it should be outlawed.
* BearsAreBadNews:
** In ''Paladin of Souls,'' a bear shows up, Foix dy Gura kills it, [[spoiler:and the demon that was possessing the bear jumps into Foix.]]
** In ''The Hallowed Hunt,'' Fafa the ice bear isn't killed, but:
-->'''Ijada:''' I was imagining the most bizarre things befalling you.\\
'''Ingrey:''' Did they include a six-hundred-pound ice bear and a pirate poet?\\
'''Ijada:''' No...\\
'''Ingrey:''' Then they weren't the most bizarre after all.
* BelligerentSexualTension: In the backstory, Hallana and Oswin spent every moment together arguing theology, right up until they married each other -- and apparently carried on thereafter.
* BittersweetEnding: ''The Hallowed Hunt'' is a rare example of this in Bujold's works, with Ingrey [[spoiler: freeing the spirits of the Weald warriors trapped for four hundred years, but unable to free Wencel's or the other innocent souls from Horseriver before he achieves dissolution, and he's unable to help his own on father's ghost pass onto the gods, though he does free his spirit animal]].
* BlackMagic: More death magic. With the twist that it's actually a ''miracle'' when properly done. Only ''trying'' death magic is illegal for good reasons.
* BlessedWithSuck: If the gods bequeath a supernatural gift on you, even if it looks good on paper, it's going to make your life ''very'' uncomfortable/painful.
--> "If you are become their tool, it is for a greater reason, an urgent reason. But you are the tool. You are not the work. Expect to be valued accordingly."
* BlindWithoutEm: Baron Wegae kin Pikepool is not just blind without them, but is still rapturous about being able to see with his glasses, years after first being fitted with them.
* BloodMagic: Ingrey and Horseriver pay for their [[CompellingVoice Weirding Voice]] with this. Ingrey has a WoundThatWillNotHeal, and Horseriver coughs up blood afterwards. Penric, as a sorcerer using shamanic magic, gets a major nosebleed for even a minor geas on a dog; giving several commands to a human causes him to cough up at least a cup of blood. [[NoodleIncident He's found that trying to use sorcery to heal it just causes more problems later, and it's better to just pay the blood price up front.]]
* BodyHorror: A demon can manifest in you as a magical tumor... which, one physician theorizes, may eventually grow teeth and claws and tear its way out of you (a theory founded on the physician's discovery of teratomas, which can contain hair, teeth, and bone matter). Was terrifying for Cazaril [[spoiler: until it turned out he had a +5 Holy Tumor Of EvilChancellor Slaying.]]
** The really bad part was that Cazaril was less disturbed by the demon than by [[spoiler: the soul of Dondo dy Jironal, said EvilChancellor's rather more evil kid brother, who is stuck in the same tumor, happens to be vocally upset over the whole matter, and may be "leaking".]]
** The revealed form of [[spoiler: Horseriver, which is only humanlike in outline, has the marks of every death he has died, and the screaming faces of all the imprisoned spirits cycling around his skull.]]
* TheBookCipher: Used in ''The Curse of Chalion'' when Cazaril and Iselle need to communicate privately over long distances.
* BreakUpMakeUpScenario: Penric and Nikys appear headed for romance after ''Penric's Mission'', but her discomfort over how easily he becomes Mira in ''Mira's Last Dance'' throws this into disarray. They sort it out by the end of ''Prisoner of Limnos''.%%* BuryYourGays: In ''The Curse of Chalion'', Ias and dy Lutez both died in the backstory, as did Umegat's partner. [[AmbiguousSituation (Probably.)]] Umegat himself survives, though. -- ZCE
* CassandraTruth: Ista was labeled insane for years -- turns out she was just truthfully recounting the visions the gods were sending to her.
* CessationOfExistence: A possible fate if one's soul is sundered from the gods (either by choice or by other supernatural cause) and cannot be claimed by one in a reasonable time. This also happens immediately to any soul placed in the Bastard's Hell, an extremely rare event.
* AChildShallLeadThem: 16 year old Iselle's bid to establish effective power gains extra traction from her youth, her beauty, the timely commencement of Spring, and the fact that all three are the domain of the Daughter. Many of her subjects took it as a sign of divine favor from the Lady; incidentally, they were correct.
* ChekhovsGun: In addition to the merchant's diary, there are a quite a few.
** ChekhovsGift: Dondo probably did not intend to save the life of Iselle's betrothed when he gave her an extravagant strand of pearls.
** Cazaril carries both Chekhov's Tumor and Chekhov's Scars.
** ChekhovsArmy: The Order of the Daughter. Who knew a bunch of hardened soldiers sworn to the service of the Goddess of Virginity could help the maiden princess defend herself from unwanted suitors?
** ChekhovsSkill:
*** Iselle and Betriz are scolded by their guardians for their unladylike habit of riding horses like they're on fire; but when everyone believes them irretrievably besieged by Martou dy Jironal's forces, they just tear off into the night with one escort, into friendly hands and a perfect strategic stronghold before anyone even realizes they're gone.
*** One that takes several novellas to manifest: One of Desdemona's previous hosts, Mira, was a courtesan. Her skills are essential in ''Mira's Last Dance''.
** ChekhovsGunman: While telling Penric the family history in ''Prisoner of Limnos'', Nikys mentions her half-brother Ikos, who becomes important later.
* ChickMagnet: Arhys is quite [[UnusualEuphemism blessed by the Father]]. Indeed, it proves an important plot point.
* CompellingVoice: This is one benefit of harboring a spirit animal, as Ingrey discovers when he stops a raging ice bear with nothing but a firm verbal command. Horseriver -- being a bit more powerful and ''a lot'' more experienced -- can employ even more complicated tricks, overlapping with {{Jedi Mind Trick}}s and MindControl.
* ContinuityDrift: By way of UniquenessDecay, as magic and miracles steadily become more common over the series:
** In ''Curse'' there are only a small handful of saints who experience limited but profound interventions from their gods, and there are only a few overtly magical events in the book.
** In ''Paladin'', sorcerers are a known quantity and either rogues or Temple-trained agents of the Bastard; and while saints are still fairly rare they are treated more like appointed positions in the Temple endorsed by divine acclamation, kind of like lesser popes.
** ''Hunt'' goes right out with Temple sorcerers being uncommon but well-known, and saints of the Five being common enough the Temple makes distinctions between major saints and petty saints - they're talked about as a fact of the church hierarchy, with rather less of the awe-inspiring tone about them seen in ''Curse''.
*** The latter difference may partly be explained by Bujold herself in the Author's Note of "Penric's Demon"; ''Hunt'' takes place roughly two and a half centuries before ''Curse''. (It doesn't quite explain the drift between ''Curse'' and ''Paladin'', however, as the gap between the two books is explicitly stated to be three years -- but the story of ''Curse'' doesn't run nearly so deeply into church organization as ''Paladin'' does.)
* ContinuityNod: As Penric and Oswyl leave Martensbridge early in ''Penric and the Shaman'', they pass by the remains of Castle Martenden, which was heavily damaged at the end of ''Penric's Demon''. A brief discussion of what has occurred after the end of the earlier story follows.
* CorruptChurch: Averted due to having rather active gods. Very few "divines" are actively corrupt, and they are generally weeded out promptly.
* CrypticConversation: Between Cazaril and Ista. They understand each other perfectly well. It's Ista's ladies in waiting who think they're babbling nonsense.
** In general, between any two people touched by the gods. Cazaril remarks on this a few times: that the only person who can really understand a living saint "talking shop" is another such.
* CrystalDragonJesus: The Quintarian faith, while its theology is different and well-developed, fills the cultural role of the medieval Catholic Church. The Quadrene religion is closely related to Quintarianism but disagrees on a few very significant points, making it somewhat parallel the relationship between Christianity, Judaism and Islam. (Politically, it specifically parallels the medieval conflicts between Christianity and Islam in Spain.)
* {{Curse}}: Obviously a central theme in the first two books. Also important in the third, but there it is generally referred to as a "geas," and is another way of saying "magically compelled."
* CursedWithAwesome: Ingrey's "defilement" grants some wicked cool abilities like CompellingVoice, superhuman strength and a general air of being [[TroubledButCute angsty and tortured]] -- the downside is, as the last known living shaman, he will be sundered from the gods when he dies.
* DangerousForbiddenTechnique:
** Death magic is not only forbidden by law; if successful it results in the death of both [[TakingYouWithMe the target and the perpetrator]].
*** Technically, it's only ''attempting'' death magic which is a crime -- it's essentially attempted murder. If you succeed, the theology of Chalion rules that you have been granted a literal miracle of justice by The Bastard, one of the Gods. But you're still dead, and your corpse still needs to be burnt before sunset in case something else takes possession of it. [[spoiler: Unless you're Cazaril, that is, who is deeply uncomfortable with the implications of his survival.]]
** Sorcery is dangerous mostly due to the very thin line between possessing a demon and demonic possession.
** Possessing a spirit-animal gives one great physical strength and speed. Taking one of the "great beasts" gives one many supernatural powers, comparable to sorcery, but can drive the bearer mad, and will leave them sundered from the gods at their death -- unless another shaman is available to exorcize their soul.
* {{Dark Is Not Evil}}[=/=]{{Light Is Not Good}}: Played with. The Bastard's associated color is white... and he's the lord of demons and god of disasters, who people tend to try to appease rather than worship. Except... his role is to rein in and control demons so they don't hurt humans, and he's also the god of unexpected blessings. Further, most of his "disasters" are either [[ThePlan plans to eventually better humanity's lot]], or desperate measures to control the damage caused by the other gods' meddling.
** ''Paladin of Souls'' suggests that the Bastard maintains the balance between order and chaos, keeping the world between frozen stasis and destruction.
** Likewise, the Father's colors are black and grey, but he's the god of fatherhood, leadership, and justice.
* ADateWithRosiePalms: When Penric wakes up with some morning desire, he's about to "take matters in hand" when his female demon pipes up, interested to see what the experience is like from the other side. He decides he'd rather be frustrated for now.
* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler: Arhys]]
* DeadlyDecadentCourt:
** Roya Orico's court in Cardegoss, mostly due to his being a weak and accursed leader, and Martou dy Jironal an EvilChancellor.
** To a lesser extent the Hallow King's court in ''The Hallowed Hunt'', due to him being on a his deathbed, with much intrigue about the votes for his successor, [[spoiler: mostly due to the machinations of Horseriver, who wants to delay the vote as long as he can to temporarily take back the Hallow King's power.]]
** What we see of the court of Cedonia implies it is this world's version of the Byzantine court.
* TheDeterminator:
** Cazaril's not gonna let a little thing like having a deadly tumor infested by a demon and the sundered soul of a homicidal rapist in his stomach stop him!
** Even though Ista rather dislikes Cattilara, she has to marvel at the sheer determination it had to take for an untrained young woman to assert her will over a demon of chaos, especially considering that she's totally ignorant and slightly stupid.
* DeusExMachina: Used [[TropesAreNotBad judiciously]]. Most of the gods' works require human hands, but every once in a while they get to be the BigDamnHeroes.
** Cazaril is host to ''two'' miracles. The Bastard granted his prayer for a [[InsistentTerminology Death Miracle]], and the Lady of Spring restrained the demon which should have flown away with his soul and Dondo's.
** Subverted at the end of ''The Curse of Chalion''. Witnesses were left thinking that The Lady of Spring struck dy Jironal with a lightning bolt from a clear blue sky, for the crime of offering violence on Her day, when what they were really witnessing was the ''undoing'' of her earlier miracle.
** Arhys' [[OurGhostsAreDifferent sundered soul]] is saved when The Father of Winter makes Ista his living door into heaven.
** A subtle one, but technically the Son of Autumn saved Ijada from Boleso's assault. As she fought Boleso off, she prayed to her father's patron god -- the god of the hunt, and war. She tried to run, but could not. When she turned, she found the hilt of Boleso's war hammer under her hand...
* DidDoTheResearch: Horses get tired and riders get muddy. You can't swim in plate armor. Sheltered maidens can't wield cavalry weapons ([[DeusExMachina without help]]). Bujold cuts no corners on historical accuracy, and rather uses it to add tension and drama.
* DisappearedDad: Arvol dy Lutez is effectively this to his son Arhys.
* DiseaseByAnyOtherName:
** ''Paladin of Souls'': Ista sees the youngest child of her ArchNemesis and describes her as having the characteristics of "those children born to a woman late in life" —- very clearly talking about Down Syndrome.
** ''Curse of Chalion'': A physician enthusiastically tells a horrified Cazaril that his tumor could have grown teeth or hair, i.e. a teratoma. He attributes it to [[BodyHorror a demon attempting to grow a body and escape into the material world]].
** ''The Hallowed Hunt'': After a wolf-spirit sends the hero into a kind of metaphysical seizure, Hallana -- a sorceress/physician acolyte -- comments, "I have seen the falling sickness, and that was not it."
* DisguisedInDrag: Penric, as Mira, in ''Mira's Last Dance''.
* DoubleStandardRapeSciFi
** Thoroughly subverted in ''Paladin of Souls''. Ista points out to Foix just how horrible a thing that sort of mind control would be to do to anyone.
--> '''Ista''': She would never again be sure if a thought or a feeling were truly her own. She would be constantly halting, second-guessing, turning about inside her head. Madness lies down that road. It would be less crippling and more loving if you should take a war hammer and break both her legs.
** And then played fairly straight in ''Penric and the Shaman'', where a shaman attempted to use the weirding voice to seduce Ruchia. Bearing a demon made her immune, but she ended up [[NoodleIncident sleeping with him anyway]].
* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: It's Cattilara's main character trait.
* TheDreaded: Demons are ''terrified'' of the gods. Even Desdemona, who more or less received an official blessing from the Bastard to stay with Penric, does the spiritual equivalent of curling into the fetal position when a god's presence manifests.
* DropTheHammer: Though it's unclear ''exactly'' how, the Son of Autumn and a leopard-spirit enabled maidenly Ijada to bash a would-be rapist's brains in with his own big-ass war hammer.
* DueToTheDead: The climax of ''The Hallowed Hunt'' includes Ingrey, in his temporary role as [[spoiler: The Hallow King, aiding the ghosts of over ''four thousand'' Weald spirit warriors in removing their spirit animals and letting them pass on into the gods' hands.]] A little later he does the same for his late father, though his spirit had faded too much for the gods to take him up.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: A lot of characters. Cazaril is especially notable because [[spoiler: the solution for the curse, requiring a man "willing to lay down his life three times for the House of Chalion," means he literally had to ''practice dying'' through multiple [[NearDeathExperience Near Death Experiences]] so his soul would be open enough for the gods to recover the power of the curse from the world]].
* EquivalentExchange: Demons are creatures of chaos and disorder. Their powers can be used for constructive purposes, but this creates a "debt" that has to be paid by creating an equal amount of chaos. Fortunately, killing fleas, rats and other vermin counts; but unscrupulous sorcerers can murder humans and destroy villages if they want to discharge chaos more efficiently.
* EunuchsAreEvil: Played with in ''Prisoner of Limnos''. Master Bosha is very clearly ''not'' a nice person, and carries multiple poisoned weapons at all times. However, he's working for Adelis's intended, so once he confirms who Penric and Nikys are, he's on their side.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Inverted in the story of the Bastard's origin. His father was a powerful, murderous demon that consumed the soul of a completely unselfish human, and promptly had a conscience forced upon him. Cue MyGodWhatHaveIDone followed by HeelFaceTurn.
* EvilChancellor: Martou dy Jironal, as a result of the curse. Roya Orico, knowing he was cursed to be a terrible ruler, handed the reins over to dy Jironal in hopes of circumventing his fate... but the curse is smarter than that, and perverted dy Jironal's ambition into corruption, making Orico's decision a case of terrible misrule in itself.
* EvilMatriarch: Joen is well into Type 2, with MindControl possibly even pushing her to HiveQueen status.
* EyeScream: At the beginning of ''Penric's Mission'' a character is blinded by having boiling vinegar poured into his eyes. [[spoiler: Fortunately only his eyelids and cornea are burned, and Penric is able to repair the damage with a great deal of "Uphill" magic.]]
* FalseFriend:
** Dondo dy Jironal in ''The Curse of Chalion'' who wastes no time currying favor with Royse Teidez in order to corrupt him and make him dependent on his brother [[EvilChancellor Martou]].
** [[spoiler: Clee]] in ''Penric's Demon'', who helps his elder brother kidnap Penric in order to [[spoiler: murder him and steal Desdemona]]
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The setting evokes Europe in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance:
** To the Iberian peninsula in the late Reconquista, with the map flipped around so that the Moors (that is, the Roknari) are in the north rather than the south.
** The Weald is German[=/=]Germanic central Europe.
** Even though it hasn't been visited on-screen, Darthaca corresponds to France.
** The mountainous and mercenary-exporting Cantons are the Switzerland of the setting.
** Present day Cedonia is the Byzantine Empire, while the Old Cedonian Empire represents the Roman Empire.
** Actually, the planet/hemisphere the series is set on seems to be flipped as far as north/south goes, the far-southern barbarian prince Jokol comes from a culture with a lot of similarities with viking culture (far-north on Earth), and summer is stated to come earlier in the northern region of Porifors.
* FlipPersonality: Demons in ''Paladin of Souls''. Those with second sight can see who is in control of a body.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Early in ''The Curse of Chalion'', Cazaril reflects that Royse Teidez' tutor, by clamping down on the young royse's misdemeanors, is making himself unpopular but doing Teidez more good than another man might who chose to curry the royse's favor by indulging his baser urges. Later, Teidez falls into the hands of a patron who does take that strategy, with unfortunate results all round.
* {{Foil}}: ''Paladin of Souls'' juxtaposes the hero, Ista, with the BigBad, Joen--two highborn women in their forties, frustrated by the lot society has based on their gender and age. Ultimately, Ista finds a new relationship with her god, declares her independence from her keepers, and finds a noble purpose in life. Joen dives into sorcery and sin, enslaving her family to her will in a twisted attempt to fulfill not her own stolen destiny, but her father's.
* ForgedMessage: A key part of the plot for ''Penric's Mission''. [[spoiler: Penric is delivering a reply to a forged message, allegedly from General Arisaydia to the Duke of Adria. The reply, which is legitimate, is used as evidence of the loyal Arisaydia's treason.]]
* ForWantOfANail: In the original poem's sense. After Cazaril realizes the extent of the gods' manipulations, he wonders how many men they sent on the road to help Teidez as he was sent to help Iselle, and who never made it. In ''Paladin'', the Bastard confirms to Ista that the Son of Autumn sent many, but all failed.
** A prayer to the Bastard calls this trope explicitly, with indication that it's divinely inspired at the time:
-->"And the Bastard grant us...in our direst need, the smallest gifts: the nail of the horseshoe, the pin of the axle, the feather at the pivot point, the pebble at the mountain's peak, the kiss in despair, the one right word. In darkness, understanding."
* TheFourGods: Not specifically the Chinese ones--they are a Father, Mother, Son, and Daughter--but similar in some respects, for instance in ruling the four seasons. Quintarians also believe in a fifth god, the Bastard, for "all things out of season."
* GargleBlaster: (''The Hallowed Hunt'') Jokol's men serve Ingrey a drink that is drunk in one gulp from a tiny glass and tastes like "pine needles."
* GeniusBruiser: Foix dy Gura is far less simple than he looks.
* GiveMeASign: One of them generally will, though you may regret asking.
* AGlassInTheHand: Cazaril does the snapped-pencil version (with a quill pen, since pencils have yet to be invented in Chalion) when Betriz mentions that Dondo dy Jironal has been paying her unwelcome attentions.
* GodsHandsAreTied: The reason why DeusExMachina aren't flying around everywhere. Explained in-story that a person who manages to open themselves to the Five Gods is an ''empty'' vessel, having surrendered their will completely. Harder than it seems, and not nearly a comfortable thing -- see the notes for BlessedWithSuck above.
* GrandeDame:
** The Dowager Provincara dy Baocia is a [[MeddlingParents Meddling Matriarch]]--her son moved his capitol and court from Valenda to Taryoon to get away from her, and much of her daughter Ista's flight at the beginning of ''Paladin of Souls'' is getting away from her even after she's died. Less than a month after her death, the following exchange occurs:
-->"My lord dy Baocia -- as the head of the family now, it's your place to insist she be more sensible!"
-->"Actually," Ista noted, "He's been head of the family for a decade and a half."
-->Dy Baocia snorted, and muttered under his breath, "Aye -- anyplace in Baocia but Valenda..."
** The Princess-Archdivine of Martinsbridge in the ''Penric'' novellas, who combines secular and spiritual authority in her district.
* GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler: There has been only one Earl Horseriver, and his house's descent from the old Hallow Kings is not a coincidence]].
* AHellOfATime: It's implied that if you're claimed by the Bastard for a lifetime of service to his church, you get this. If you're, say, a gluttonous, cowardly, would-be rapist on the other hand...
* HeroicBSOD: Caz breaks down sobbing after spending almost two years as a galley slave, walking for a month across the mountains as an impoverished beggar then being welcomed into the Provincara's household and given a nightshirt, tooth brush and a soft, warm bed to sleep in.
** And that's after spending months recovering from what sounds a lot like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (which was caused by spending 19 months in slavery rowing on a galley).
** In the backstory, Cazaril went through this toward the end of the long, desperate siege of Gotorget.
---> ... That night on the tower, tears of fatigue and despair -- and yes, rage -- running down his face, he'd torn [his Brother's medal] off and flung it over the battlement, denying the god who'd denied him. The spinning slip of gold had disappeared into the darkness without a sound. And he'd flung himself prone on the stones, ... and sworn that any other god could pick him up who willed, or none, so long as the men who had trusted him were let out of this trap. As for himself, he was done. Done.\\
Nothing, of course, happened.
::: [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor Or so he thought at the time.]]
* HeroicFatigue: Poor Cazaril!
* IKissYourFoot: Formal greetings in Chalion involve kissing the back of a person's hands, greeting one's superior (or someone you're grateful to see) involves kissing the feet too.
* ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder: In ''Mira's Last Dance'' Adelis cuts off a suggestion that he wear his sister's clothes again as a disguise with, "I'm a soldier, not an actor."
* InLoveWithYourCarnage: Ingrey's lieutenant, Gesca, suggests this is the reason Ingrey finds Ijada attractive.
** Arhys's "stunning first impression" on Ista involves him quite violently rescuing her from a band of captors, such that she's putting together a pleasant little fantasy of a RescueRomance even while noting how he and his sword are covered in gore...
* InsistentTerminology: As the Bastard's dedicats will tell you, it's a Death ''Miracle'', not magic. The misnomer persists, however.
* InspiredBy: WordOfGod says that ''Chalion'' was inspired by the history of Spain during the ''Reconquista'' period, specifically Isabella of Castile (Iselle dy Chalion) and Ferdinand of Aragon (Bergon dy Ibra). If you're familiar with the history of the period, this inspiration shows: most of the major characters and many of the events have real-life counterparts -- including some events you'd think couldn't possibly have parallels.
* InTheBlood: {{Downplayed}}. Earl Horseriver comments offhandedly that Ingrey's Wolfcliff ancestors also shared his penchant for being stoic and rather curt -- or as Horseriver put it, his "singular surliness." [[spoiler:And Horseriver would know. He almost certainly knew Ingrey's ancestors personally.]]
* {{Irony}}: Dondo dy Jironal -- a man who promised rape and humiliation to his unwilling betrothed, Iselle -- is placed in charge of the Daughter's order, whose patron goddess is the divine incarnation of virgin women.
* ISeeDeadPeople: When they die, most people are taken up by one of the gods, but some hang around [[OurGhostsAreDifferent for one reason or another]], gradually fading away. One of the side effects of sainthood, and possessing a demon, is the ability to see them.
* KillTheHostBody: This plays out in a number of different ways:
** It is the standard method used by the Roknari. They either ritually bind the demon to the sorcerer-host and then burn the sorcerer, or else toss the sorcerer-host overboard at sea with a leaking cushion and sail away to let the sorcerer eventually drown. One problem is that these methods don't always work.
** In ''Paladin of Souls'', a demon in a ferret is dispatched by killing the ferret in the presence of a dying divine. The demon jumps to the divine, and the divine takes the demon with her when she then dies.
** The animal spirits bound to spirit warriors and shamans cannot be removed at all except by the host's death. A further complication is that the soul of the dead host is BarredFromTheAfterlife unless another shaman releases the animal spirit from the ghost.
** A purely villainous example in ''Penric's Fox'', when the sorceress Learned Magal is murdered. [[spoiler:Her killer wanted vengeance against her demon for actions taken by its previous host, the now-dead Learned Svedra.]]
* KingIncognito: Ista's [[CoughSnarkCough vaca-*ahem*]] pilgrimage in ''Paladin of Souls'' was taken under the alias of a minor noblewoman to avoid the entourage deemed fitting for a dowager royina, and the sister of a ruling provincar.
* KingOnHisDeathbed:
** [[spoiler:Poor Orico, for roughly the latter third of ''Curse''. It's suggested he dies well before it's officially announced, but that his wife and caretakers keep up the ruse that he's alive. All so Iselle is not formally starting a civil war against the man who is to be her regent, Chancellor dy Jironal, and to make it look like dy Jironal is instead overreaching.]]
** Also the Hallow King, whose imminent death drives the plot of ''The Hallowed Hunt'', as [[spoiler: Earl Horseriver takes advantage of the brief interregnum before Prince Biast takes the crown, to take back the full power of the Weald and finally achieve a permanent death and dissolution.]]
* KnightInSourArmor: Ingrey is determinedly cynical, prompting some teasing from Ijada.
-->"Now what makes you grow grim?"
-->"Nothing"
-->"To be sure."
* LaserGuidedKarma: The Bastard's speciality. Also, the slavers on Cazaril's ship suffered particularly {{Gorn}}-tastic deaths.
* TheLastDance:
** Cazaril intends to use what time he has left to secure the safety of "his ladies" and the political stability of the kingdom.
** Arhys waltzes into the enemy camp -- well-outnumbered and expecting to die -- gambling that his temporary immunity to injury will break their ranks and allow him to kill the enemy sorcerers.
* LastNameBasis: Many characters in ''Curse of Chalion'' and ''Paladin of Souls'' are referred to by last name; some go by nicknames based on them (Caz from dy Cazaril, Palli from dy Palliar). "dy Name" seems to mean "of Place," whether a town or fort or some other location, as the possibility of ennobling someone comes up in ''Paladin'' and the suggested "noble name" comes from their home town.
** Caz especially prefers to go by his family name as his older brother mercilessly mocked his given name when they were children, so he much prefers not using it.
* TheLastThingYouEverSee: Very much averted, as Caz informs someone stupid enough to threaten him that if he wanted them dead, they'd never see it coming.
* LiminalTime: The plot in ''The Hallowed Hunt'' hinges on this. In the period between the death of Hallow King and the election of his successor, the Hallow King's ancient powers fall back to their original wielder, [[spoiler: the Earl of Horseriver, who wishes to use this moment to spite the gods and finally achieve dissolution after involuntarily BodySnatching his descendants for four hundred years.]]
* TheLostWoods: The Wounded Woods, in the Weald. Everyone who sleeps in their bounds has mad, vivid nightmares that send them racing away in terror. [[spoiler:It's the cursed site of a horrible massacre of thousands of spirit warriors who still haunt the place, centuries later]].
* LukeNounverber: Jokol Skullsplitter. Weald clan names are generally of the form Animallandscape; examples include Wolfcliff, Horseriver, Badgerbank, and Lynxlake.
* LuredIntoATrap: ''Penric's Mission'', and presumably part of the Cedonian plan in ''The Prisoner of Limnos''.
* MacGuffinDeliveryService: The titular mission in ''Penric's Mission'' is delivering a letter [[spoiler:that the villain knows is coming because it's in response to a forged letter sent by him or someone in his employ.]]
* MadeASlave: Cazaril comes home fresh from the [[SlaveGalley galley rowbanks]] at the beginning of ''The Curse of Chalion''. And it had been so bad that after being freed, at first he starts weeping at the slightest cause. Yet his protecting of a fellow rower plays an important part in ending the curse.
* MakeTheDogTestify: A sacred crow is used to determine the truthfulness of a charge against Cazaril, by letting the Gods use it as a conduit. The crow, which Cazaril had fed and tried to teach to say his name, flew straight to him.
* MaleGaze: Used in ''The Hallowed Hunt'' when Ingrey starts falling for Ijada. For the female readers, it doubles as an excuse to describe her [[GorgeousPeriodDress pretty medieval dresses]].
* MeaningfulName: Jokol Skullsplitter, but it doesn't mean what you'd think.
* MissionFromGod: The crux of every book.
* MistakenForGay: Apparently a minor hazard of becoming a priest of the Bastard. Which becomes a major hazard when dealing with the Roknari, as both homosexuality and worship of the Bastard are forbidden among them and the punishments for both ''start'' with cutting off your thumbs.
* MistakenForPedophile: Cazaril's whip scars from his time as a galley slave cause this to happen to him, as whipping is the standard punishment for pedophiles in Chalion.
* MrFanservice: Bujold refrains from any enthusiastic descriptions of her heroes, but:
** Wherever they go, men sworn to the Daughter's Order are generally looked well upon (and giggled over a lot), what with being gallant defenders of womankind, among other things.
** In ''The Curse of Chalion'', after the Ibran contingent's heroic cross-country ride to bring the groom to Iselle, "they were collecting Chalionese ladies rather as spilled honey collected ants..."
** Arhys is able to make a world-weary middle-aged woman in the middle of traumatic circumstances suddenly rediscover her sexuality through his mere proximity.
--> A stunning first impression was not the same as love at first sight, but it was certainly an invitation to consider the matter.
* MultipleChoicePast: There's a few different versions of the Bastard's origin floating around, it's not clear whether the Mother had sex with a demon (or how voluntary said act was) or if he is more of a magical construct they created together.
* MundaneUtility: Penric uses his demon's magic to make printer's plates.
* MutuallyExclusiveMagic: Subverted; Penric, a sorcerer, learns shamanic magic as well, despite having a demon instead of a spirit animal. It still [[BloodMagic costs blood]], though, and even more than it would a shaman.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Cazaril, after his plan to get Iselle to marry out of the Curse results in [[spoiler: Bergon marrying ''into'' it.]]
* NeverMessWithGranny: Joen of Jokona [[spoiler:who has a powerful demon under her thumb.]] And Dowager Royina Ista [[spoiler:who ''eats'' that demon, sending it back to the Bastard's Hell.]]
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Penric's job as MacGuffinDeliveryService in ''Penric's Mission'' causes [[spoiler:Adelis to be blinded as a political threat.]]
* NobodyOver50IsGay: Averted.
--->'''Umegat:''' When I was a young lord in the Archipelago, I fell in love.\\
'''Cazaril:''' Young lords and young louts do that everywhere.\\
'''Umegat:''' My lover was about thirty then. A man of keen mind and kind heart.\\
'''Cazaril:''' Oh. [[BuryYourGays Not in the Archipelago, you don't.]]
** As well, [[spoiler:Ias and dy Lutez]] were noted for being into their fifties when [[spoiler:Ias and Ista married, and Ista learned of their ongoing secret relationship]].
* NoManOfWomanBorn: The specific conditions of raising the curse in ''The Curse of Chalion.''
* NotWearingPantsDream: Learned Oswin contrasts his wife having god-sent dreams with his own.
* OffOnATechnicality: Cazaril isn't arrested for death magic because it turns out only ''unsuccessful'' attempts are illegal.[[note]]The whole part about successful and genuine attempts leaving the perp alive is not something the temple has ever dealt with.[[/note]] Plus the law is mainly there to curb people trying to fake it with poisons and other mundane methods.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Iselle's escape from Martou's forces at Valenda. The story quickly becomes the stuff of legend in Chalion, but we only get to hear a few brief descriptions of it after the fact.
* OhCrap: Cazaril's initial reaction to the job offer of Secretary-Tutor to Royesse Iselle.
--> "Couldn't you give me a fortress under siege instead?"
** The Provincara's response to that is to dryly note that a fortress under siege is almost exactly what her granddaughter is going to be.
** Cazaril has this response, to greater or lesser degrees, to a ''lot'' of requests that are laid on him; Ista remarks that his admitted fear of them makes him wiser than those who either aren't smart enough to know just how far out of their depth they are, or are too proud to admit it.
* OrderVersusChaos: They're opposed, but it's an unusually polite and amicable conflict since the god of chaos, the Bastard, is part of the family, just as interested in maintaining the balance as anyone else, and willing to play nice as necessary.
* OurDemonsAreDifferent: Demons answer to the Bastard, who is like the [[HufflepuffHouse House of Hufflepuff]] when it comes to taking up souls. He takes anyone not covered by the other four gods and is the patron of homosexuals, bastards, and all things out of season; His worshippers regard him as necessary to hold the world in balance between total stasis and total destruction. Demons are not inherently malicious, but they are creatures of disorder and their abilities reflect it. This is acknowledged in Chalion, but mostly means that possession of (or by) a demon puts you under the temple's purview. You're allowed to keep it ''if'' you display the right temperament to keep it under control and not abuse its powers. The Roknari, on the other hand, consider the Bastard to be the [[SatanicArchetype the equivalent of Satan]], and the Quintarian religion heresy. They cut off the thumbs, tongue and genitalia of people thought to worship him.
* OurSoulsAreDifferent: Everything about magic is based on something to do with the soul. Living beings are one of the only points where the spirit and material realms cross over at all, and so are the only vessel through which spiritual forces (AKA, magic) can manifest in the material world. Thus divine miracles must come through a willing soul; sorcery is the product of demon possession; and the Wealding shamans bonded animal souls to human to grant strange powers from the mix.
** As for the general trope details: If you lose yours, you die. They can be damaged and destroyed, but they can also be borrowed from without ''too much'' harm. Mind, body, and soul are all distinct but interconnected, such that memory and even wounds can go with them. Ghosts are damaged souls or those of people who willingly turned from the gods -- not just disbelievers, but from active hatred. More than one soul can inhabit a body, but [[YourSoulIsMine bad things]] tend to happen.
* OutGambitted: [[spoiler:Horseriver.]] He almost succeeded in his revenge on the Gods, except that his chosen shaman was [[spoiler:his heir as Hallow King]], and severing Ingrey's link to Ijada (which he initially put in place) was what drew her and the five divine representatives to [[spoiler:Bloodfield/Holytree]].
* PetTheDog: dy Jironal gets a very brief one when Cazaril looks for him in his chancellory office, patting one of his couriers on the shoulder and encouraging him to do his best when the man reports winter snows making travel difficult.
* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: [[spoiler: Iselle and Bergon.]] As a bonus, it's actually ''self-arranged'', sight unseen, completely [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething for very important political reasons.]]
* ThePlan: The gods can mostly only interfere in the world by nudging people, so they do a lot of these. [[spoiler:Horseriver does this as well in his attempts to spite them.]]
* PiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Jokol and his men are frequently subject to speculation that they are pirates. If they in fact are, they are the kind that go around singing, drinking and... that's about it.
** They are [[FantasyCounterpartCulture fantasy Norsemen]] in a time where the Norse had a reputation as pirates, reavers... and merchants. Jokol is present in the Weald as a prince and representative of his people (and also to recruit a divine to perform his wedding back home), so while he and his crew may be talked about as pirates, it would be counterproductive to actually engage in any piracy.
* PoisonedWeapons: Master Bosha carries several.
* PossessingADeadBody: Discussed in ''The Curse of Chalion''. Several characters say that a body slain by death magic must be burned before nightfall to prevent ghosts from possessing it; one describes such a possession, seen many years ago.
-->I saw a case once, when I was a young divine. The degraded spirits are shambling stupid things, but it’s so very awkward to get them out again once they take possession. They must be burned...well, ''alive'' is not quite the right term. Very ugly scene, especially if the relatives don’t understand, because, of course, being your body, it screams in your voice...
** In ''Paladin of Souls'' Ista describes [[spoiler:Arhys]] as being a ghost possessing ''his own'' dead body.
* PowerPerversionPotential: Two characters attempt to use spirit warriors' compulsion abilities for their own gratification. It fails both times.
** In ''The Hallowed Hunt'', Prince Boleso erroneously thinks that his spirit animals will give him power over the Weald and its kin--specifically he thinks Ijada can be his mind-controlled paramour. He gets his head bashed in, instead.
** In ''Penric and the Shaman'', Desdemona tells Penric that a Weald shaman once attempted to seduce Penric's predecessor using his weirding voice. His voice failed to work on the sorceress. Though, incidentally, his seduction succeeded.
** In ''Paladin of Souls'', Ista explicitly tells Foix not to do that, pointing out [[DoubleStandardRapeSciFi that it would be a horrible thing to do to someone]].
* PrinceCharming: The role Cazaril desired for Royse Bergon to play to save Iselle from the eponymous curse. It didn't quite work out as intended.
** It didn't work out the way Cazaril intended. It worked out ''exactly'' the way the Five Gods intended.
* QuicklyDemotedLeader: ''Paladin of Souls'' is actually Ista's second CallToAdventure. The first time--before the events of the series--she sort of [[NiceJobBreakingItHero accidentally murdered a guy]] and [[HeroicBSOD went crazy]], leaving it to her daughter [[TakingUpTheMantle to sort things out]].
* RageAgainstTheHeavens: The driving force behind [[spoiler:Earl Horseriver]]'s big plan in ''The Hallowed Hunt''. He's unspeakably pissed off at the gods turning their backs on the Wealdings long ago.
* RasputinianDeath: Arhys. [[spoiler:Strictly speaking he was dead to begin with, but the Jokonans made very sure he would not get up again once he stopped moving.]]
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: [[spoiler:Earl Wencel kin Horseriver has been unwillingly [[BodySnatcher stealing his heirs' bodies]] for four hundred years.]]
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: As nearly every major character is a noble or high-ranking priest, most of the good guys of each book count as this in some capacity, often to each other. Cazaril was set to be one for Iselle as her tutor and secretary, and [[spoiler:became one of the highest ones in Chalion as her chancellor, responding to Ista's pilgrimage plans with a full purse, the dy Gura brothers, and a note wishing her well]]. Most of the villains are defined by something having made them quite unreasonable, if only on a particular matter -- [[spoiler:Earl Horseriver]] was as decent a lord as you could ask for, when you weren't in the way of his plans.
* RebelliousPrincess: Ista switches this up a bit by abandoning upper-class female expectations nearly a generation after her royal husband dies (and a couple of years after her daughter takes the throne). Rusticate in a peaceful manor? No, too many bad memories. Go to the capital and either play politics or bond with the grandkids? Even worse memories, pass. [[spoiler: Declare a vocation for the least reputable deity in the pantheon and ride into a war zone to hunt demons?]] ''Coolness''!
* ReligionIsMagic: Especially if one of the gods takes an interest in you. Also, death magic actually consists of praying to the Bastard to help you commit a murder-suicide.
* ReligionIsRight: For the most part, though it isn't done in an anvilicious way: the church isn't completely immune to corruption, and ''The Hallowed Hunt'' presents a character with very legitimate reasons to hate the gods. As a rule, faiths in the world are right but incomplete thanks to the limitations of both gods and humans (to act and to understand, respectively):
** The Quadrenes exclude the Bastard, but the gods do acknowledge Him as one of them in visions. Otherwise the Quadrenes are mostly right.
** It was a Quintarian kingdom that conquered the Wealdings and converted them by the sword, failing to understand that the Weald's shamans practiced different ways to seek the same gods, and the gods could and would respond.
** And the Old Wealdings clearly didn't understand as much about the nature of souls and communication with the gods as the other faiths do, resorting to sacrifice -- even human sacrifice -- in a way that the other faiths have clearly found unnecessary if not outright horrifying. Their methods ''do'' work, they're just kind of scary.
* RescueRomance: Ista self-consciously muses over this after Arhys saves her from raiders; the daydream is squashed when her identity is revealed to him and set on fire when she meets his wife.
* RevivalLoophole: This is Ias and dy Lutez's plan for breaking the curse. It doesn't go well.
* RomancingTheWidow:
** Lord Illvin to Ista in ''Paladin of Souls''.
** Penric and Nikys are headed toward a relationship at the end of ''Penric's Mission''. [[spoiler:They agree to start that relationship at the end of ''Prisoner of Limnos''.]]
* RoyallyScrewedUp: The magical version -- see title for ''The Curse of Chalion''.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething:
** Iselle, with a vengeance. The instant [[spoiler: she becomes next in line for the throne,]] she starts laying plans so fast even Cazaril can't keep up. Also, The Fox and Bergon.
** Orico is a subversion. He demonstrably doesn't do anything important because of his fear of the curse, which sometimes puts the protagonists into quite a pickle. But it turns out that his part in the gods' plan was simply [[spoiler:to survive long enough to let the next generation come of age and have their own stab at removing the curse after Ista and Ias have botched their attempt]], which he manages to do.
** Ista's backstory is a painful subversion. She was [[spoiler:touched by the Mother and became a saint, so she could learn what was necessary to break the royal curse. The attempt she, Ias, and dy Lutez made to break it ended in failure and dy Lutez's death]], and a lot of stuff went wrong from there. It could very well be she wasn't meant to "do something" in this case and was meant to be [[spoiler:the Gods' messenger to the right person at the right time]], and so was always doomed to failure against the curse.
** The Hallow King was meant to be one, a paragon of the old Wealdings. In the centuries since the Darthacans broke the Old Weald, the Hallow Kingship became a mere political office. [[spoiler:Mostly because Horseriver had at least half the magical power of the kingship with him down through the centuries, and none of the kings since then had any idea there was anything to it nor how to use it]].
* RuleOfThree:
** The eponymous ''Curse of Chalion'' can only be drawn back by the gods through the will of a man who would lay down his life three times for the House of Chalion.
** Referenced, subverted, and (to an extent) played straight in ''Paladin of Souls''. The second time Ista tells her story (to dy Cabon), she says "Perhaps some third occasion shall release me." The third time, however, doesn't; it's the fourth, where she's finally, fully honest with herself, that does. However, the first was in the previous book, so the final one is the third in this particular book.
* RulesLawyer: Learned Oswin is a medieval fantasy counterpart to a modern lawyer or barrister. He is often somewhat sardonically called a "most perfect servant of the Father," but all who know him respect his scholarly ability. Ingrey is infuriated when Oswin asks if Ingrey could be forced to remove Ijada's spirit animal after her hypothetical execution. When Ingrey implies he would resist (violently), Oswin points out to the judges that her execution would also include her eternal soul's sundering from the gods, a heinous sin if carried out. It is only after the fact that Ingrey realizes this is a powerful argument ''against'' executing her.
* RunForTheBorder: The final third of ''Penric's Mission'', all of ''Mira's Last Dance'', and the final part of ''Prisoner of Limnos''.
* RunningGag: There are a few.
** In ''The Curse of Chalion'', several characters comment on how old Caz looks with his beard.
** In ''Paladin of Souls'', when a Chalionese character mocks Jokonan Prince Sordso--nicknamed "Sordso the Sot"--for drinking, writing morose poetry, and in general being totally un-statesmanlike, they will almost always follow it up with a grudging admission that his poetry is actually quite good.
** ''The Hallowed Hunt''
*** The actual origin of Jokol Skullsplitter's name.
*** Whether Jokol is a pirate or a prince.
*** Hallana's beleaguered attendants constantly retrieving her braids, capes, and pins, and repairing the small things damaged due to her magical Wake of Chaos.
** ''Penric's Demon'', ''Penric and the Shaman'' and ''Penric's Mission''
*** People expressing surprise when they learn that Penric has given his demon a name.
*** Jokes about what inspiration the Bastard governs, which apparently includes dirty songs.
*** Desdemona's running tally of vermin she's exterminated to feed her need to produce chaos. Verges on BlackHumor in ''Penric's Mission'', as she moves up from lice and bedbugs to rats and at least one diseased cat to fuel all of Penric's "uphill" magic.
* SatanIsGood: Well, [[SatanicArchetype the Bastard]] is more akin to [[Myth/NorseMythology Loki]]. He may have a rude sense of humor and assist in the occasional (justifiable) murder-suicide, but his church runs orphanages and is largely responsible for the enlightened views of homosexuality that most of Chalion's world has.
** In the competing Quadrene theology, the fifth god is conventionally evil, and all those "out of season" things in his domain are damnable sins (e.g. illegitimate children, homosexuality, demonic possession, etc).
* ScarsAreForever:
** Cazaril has horrible overlapping scars on his back from being whipped [[MadeASlave during his time on a Roknari galley]]. Fortunately they turn out to be [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Scars]] and help Royse Bergeon recognize him when they meet again in Ibra.
** Adelis ends up with scars across his upper face and disconcerting red irises after [[spoiler: Penric successfully heals his eyes]]. In the end he figures he can make it work with his reputation as a military commander.
* SecretlyDying: Cazaril after his death magic is prevented from BalancingDeathsBooks properly. [[spoiler:He gets better, thanks to some more divine intervention at the end.]]
* SenselessSacrifice: The Old Wealdings used to practice HumanSacrifice as a way to speed their prayers to the gods. These sacrifices were willing, moved by desperation to make sure the gods heard their kinfolk's prayers when the gods took up the sacrifice's soul upon death. As the Darthacans invaded the Weald centuries ago, the Weald quickly ran out of willing sacrifices and started killing criminals and prisoners of war instead, [[ATragedyOfImpulsiveness and never stopped to think what kind of prayers these unwilling sacrifices must be taking up to the gods with them]]. No wonder the Five turned their backs on the Old Weald.
* ShoutOut: In ''The Curse of Chalion'' a young dedicat describes a book that is clearly a parallel-universe version of ''Literature/TheCanterburyTales''.
--> "It's a fine conceit," said Umegat. "The author follows a group of travelers to a pilgrimage shrine, and each one tells his or her tale in turn. Very, ah, holy."
--> "Actually, my lord," the dedicat whispered, "some of them are very lewd."
** The widow in the pilgrimage party that inspires Ista, who couldn't be more the Wife of Bath if she had that lady's name stamped on her forehead.
** On their way to Orbas in ''Mira's Last Dance'', Penric, Adelis and Nikys stop in a town in time to observe the double funeral of two young lovers [[Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet from feuding families]].
** Sealmaster Hetwar and his relationship with Ingrey has a lot in common with [[Literature/VorkosiganSaga Simon Illyan and Miles Vorkosigan]].
* SmugSnake: Dondo dy Jironal makes his [[EvilChancellor big brother]] look good.
* SpareToTheThrone: The death of the rebellious elder son of the Fox promotes Bergon from spare to the Heir of Ibra--and to the top of Iselle's short list of potential spouses. Then the death of Iselle's brother makes ''her'' the Heiress of Chalion.
** Shows up peripherally in ''The Hallowed Hunt'', as the eldest and youngest sons of the Hallow King have already died. Succession politics aren't central to the plot, but they are a crucial detail.
* TheSpeechless: Umegat's assistant Daris is an elderly little man who is missing his thumbs and tongue. The missing tongue means that he can't speak, but he does make various mouthed hums, welcoming noises, and other sounds.
* TakeAThirdOption: A {{Magnificent Bastard}}ly subversion of this originates the enmity between Cazaril and Dondo.
* TakingYouWithMe:
** In a really crazy villainous version, [[spoiler: Horseriver]] wants to take the souls of his dead warriors into oblivion with him, to spite the gods.
** The essential nature of death magic. You conjure one of the Bastard's demons to kill someone, but the demon will take you too. It's a last resort "miracle of justice" when all mortal justice has failed, but the suicidal nature of it makes damn sure you are serious down to your soul about needing it.
** In ''Penric's Mission'', an enemy sorcerer tries to make his demon give Penric a heart attack, knowing that Penric's death will drag the sorcerer's demon to the Bastard's hell but leave him alive. It fails, and Penric gives him a very stern lecture about treating his demon more respectfully.
* ThatOldTimePrescription: Ingrey was given a pain-reliving medication made from poppies (among other things).
* ThatWasTheLastEntry: Cazaril finds an encrypted diary belonging to a man who practiced death magic. The encryption is easy, but tedious, to crack, so when he finds himself wanting to practice death magic in turn, he realizes that he only actually has to read the last entry of the diary to figure out what worked...
* ThoseTwoGuys: Ferda and Foix dy Gura. Foix is promoted to a more regular secondary cast role in ''Paladin'', while Ferda disappears for most of the book.
* TricksterMentor: The Bastard. He even exults in His chosen railing against Him because it means they're ''thinking'' about the crappy situation they're in where even a god needs their help. And because it amuses Him.
* UglyGuyHotWife: Cazaril feels this way about himself and [[spoiler:Betriz]]. She, on the other hand, doesn't care about his premature aging, missing fingers, horrible scars or the fact that he's almost twice her age -- but she does make him shave off his beard.
* UnableToSupportAWife: Cazaril pleads this at one point.
* WarriorPoet: Jokol.
* WellDoneSonGuy: Arhys to his father, the Chancellor dy Lutez, until the man's death.
--> "I had a real father. Arhys... had a dream."
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: A theme of the Penric novellas. Most sorcerers treat their demon as a thing or dangerous animal. Penric gives his a name and treats her respectfully, and she has reciprocated by becoming his friend. He's trying to spread the word and enact change, but it's difficult -- many people assume his demon has made him BrainwashedAndCrazy.
* WhenHeSmiles: Ijada thinks Ingrey's smile is ''devastating''.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Centuries of [[ThePlan byzantine political plotting]] actually all boiled down to [[spoiler:Horseriver]] trying to die.
* YouAreNotAlone: Part of the motivation of all the Five Gods. They regard ''every'' human soul, "Great Souled" or not, as precious, and spend much effort to get a saint, sorcerer, or shaman in the right place to help sundered souls pass on.
* XanatosSpeedChess: [[spoiler:Horseriver's]] plans tend toward this. He knows the Gods will take every opportunity to foil him, so he has plans to work around whatever impediment they throw at him. We see several of his backup plans, such as the stag in his stables.
----

* SpiritedYoungLady: Though technically a [[RebelliousPrincess princess]], Royesse Iselle is more spirited than rebellious and, in all, fits this trope to a T. This may stem from the author's love of good Regency and Victorian literature.
** Ista notes absently in ''Paladin of Souls'' that she was once "spirited" like her daughter Iselle, before she got caught up in the unfortunate events of her young marriage and the subsequent twenty years where everyone treated her as a madwoman. Ista spends much of the book rediscovering herself as a Spirited Middle-Aged Woman.

* BodyHorror: A demon can manifest in you as a magical tumor... which eventually grows teeth and claws and tears its way out of you. Was terrifying for Cazaril [[spoiler: until it turned out he had a +5 Holy Tumor Of EvilChancellor Slaying.]]

* BarredFromTheAfterlife: This is SeriousBusiness, and the Five Gods will exert themselves to avert it. Most souls go directly to their god at death, with [[DueToTheDead funeral rites]] being only a confirmation to the still-living. However some few miss the connection, have unfinished business, actively refuse the gods, or have an animal-spirit companion that needs to be called out of the soul before it can go on to the afterlife. A living shaman can call out animal spirits from a dead soul, and a living saint or the above-mentioned funeral rights can help in the other cases. But for some souls, becoming a fading ghost is a blessing, with decay and forgetfulness being preferable to an eternity of perfect memory.

* BarredFromTheAfterlife: Sometimes someone who [[DueToTheDead doesn't get the proper funeral rite]] and died a traumatic death can't be taken up by the gods and ends up a lost soul, although they can be redeemed by a living saint. Shamans attach an animal spirit to their soul and need another shaman to separate the two when they die. This damnation (becoming a ghost) also occurs to those for whom the afterlife would not be welcome -- they choose forgetfulness and decay instead of an eternity of perfect memory.