History Literature / ChroniclesOfTheKencyrath

*** Torisen is trying his very best to be a good lord, but he's very aware that HundredPercentAdorationRating is impossible because it's not about being a good ruler, it's about whose interests you serve--and no matter what he does, half other half of the Kencyr are going to hate him.

* LoveDodecahedron: When they were young, the previous generation was a mess of this. Ganth and Trishien liked each other, but Ganth's father {{Parental Marriage Veto}}ed it. Ganth's brother Greshan liked Rawneth--who didn't really ''like'' him so much as she wanted to marry him for political power, but they suited each other very well anyways. Greshan's grandma [[ParentalMarriageVeto Grandparental Marriage Vetoed]] it. Their father tried to marry Ganth to Rawneth, but that didn't really go anywhere. Greshan was killed, and Rawneth [[spoiler:tried to raise him from the dead, and even got his father to approve their marriage under those conditions. But she ended up getting {{Bed Trick}}ed by a different undead.]] Meanwhile, Ganth fell in LoveAtFirstSight with Jamethiel, and next to her, Trishien couldn't hold up. Jamethiel eventually became his consort, but was her brother's consort for 3,000 years before that. Also, their half-brother Tirandys loved Jamethiel too, but was only ever an UnrequitedTragicMaiden in that regard. Jamethiel's own feelings for any of them are highly ambiguous.

** Narsa believes Jame to be the exotic, mysterious, unattainable Veronica, who distracts Timmon from her, the unexceptional Kendar Betty who actually loves him. It's a [[TriangRelations Type 5 triangle]], strictly speaking, but within the story, Narsa's the only one of the three of them who thinks it's a love triangle at all.
** Hatch thinks Jame is the exciting, exotic Veronica to Prid, while he--her cousin and DoggedNiceGuy--is the Betty. Prid's own feeling are rather ambiguous, but she seems to kind of like both Hatch and Jame, which would make it a [[TriangRelations Type 10 triangle]].

* ArmorPiercingSlap: Early in ''The Gates of Tagmeth'', [[spoiler:Ganth is possessing Torisen]] and Jame is so shocked she slaps him as hard as she can. It snaps him out.

# ''Deathless Gods'' (TBR Fall 2022)

* TheLostWoods: Several examples. The Anarchies swallows most of a brigand band. The Weald. The heart of the wood outside Hurlen. But most of the woods in Rathillien have a smidge of it.

* CluckingFunny: Thanks to a hilarious chicken-chase scene in Restormir in ''Seeker's Mask''.

* FlayingAlive: In Tai-tastigon, this is a punishment given for especially heinous crimes. By the end of ''God Stalk'', it has happened to Hangrell, [[spoiler:Dally, and Bane. With Bane it's taken UpToEleven because Bane ''can't die''.]]

** Caldane, UpToEleven, in both his treatment of women and Kendar

** Jame and Brier: They have a RedOniBlueOni thing going on. Brier is solemn, very military and highly disciplined, and Jame is kind of a loose cannon. Physically they contrast too: Brier is dark-skinned, tall and sturdy, with BoyishShortHair, and Jame pale, skinny and waif-like, with RapunzelHair. They are also both masculine or androgynous after a fashion, making them a BifauxnenAndLadette duo.

** There's the interesting and reoccurring pattern of Kencyr duos with BelligerentSexualTension fighting using the Senethar, and then it morphing into dancing the Senetha. (And then sometimes, back to the Senethar again!) It's happens in ''God Stalk'' with Jame/Bane, ''To Ride a Rathorn'' with Jame/Timmon, ''Honor's Paradox'' with Jame/Torisen, and ''The Sea of Time'' with Brier/Amberley.

*** Jame and Torisen are in the {{UST}} stage now, but seem on tract to become an OfficialCouple eventually (see {{Twincest}} below).

* ContemptibleCover[=/=]CoversAlwaysLie: With Jame being ''repeatedly and emphatically'' described as a flat-chested girl in the text, one has to wonder what part of "skinny elf-girl" the [[http://img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n65/n328827.jpg latest]] [[http://img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/c4/c22449.jpg cover]] [[http://img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/c4/c23468.jpg artist]] is having so much trouble with.

The series manages to be simultaneously TropeOverdosed and full of fantasy clichés and yet packed with imagination, new ideas, and twists on the ones we're used to. Hodgell tosses ideas casually into the story that could be the basis for whole novels from another author, but here are just little details of the setting. While other writers have people who ''perform'' magic, Hodgell's whole world is magical down to the core of its nature, and full of wonders to discover.

## The whole of Rathillien has an intrest in not being overrun by the Perimal Darkling.

* ParentalIncest: When you've lost one parent, and ''you'' resemble said lost parent very closely, and the parent you still have ''completely adored'' the lost parent, it gets... weird.

* RealWomenDontWearDresses: Tori definitely thinks so. The traditionally feminine matriarchs drive him up the wall, but he greatly respects his non-traditionally female friends like Rowan and Kirien. The starkest case of it is the contrast between how he sees Kallystine and Jame. Kallystine--traditionally very feminine--is his consort... who he hates and mistrusts (and rightly so). She manages to seduce him anyways, but it's implied that she had to use love potions to do it. Then there's Jame--who comes across as androgynous to the readers, and downright masculine to many in-universe--who he's genuinely attracted to.

* UnresolvedSexualTension: Two interesting examples in which someone is attracted to someone who represents or manifests a part of themselves--a darker part of themselves that they have issues with. The [=UST=] in both cases represents a part of themselves that pulls at them, but which they think it would be wrong to embrace.

* FiveRaces: The five sentient races on Rathillien fit this trope pretty well:
** Stout (Dwarf)--The Kendar (not small, but otherwise they fit the archetype closely).
** Fairy (Smaller Elf)--The Arrin-ken fit the "most magical" part of this stereotype; they're sentient big cats who communicate telepathically and have extremely long lifespans.
** Mundane (Human)--The native people of Rathillien.
** High Men (Taller Elf or Human)--The Highborn, who are gracile, charismatic, long-lived, prone to magical abilities, and believe themselves superior to everyone else.
** Cute (Hobbit/Moogle/Gnome etc)--The Builders (we don't know much about them, since they were already extinct before the story opens, but they were certainly hobbit-sized, and the evidence Jame found in their city suggests they liked parties… and [[spoiler:the crystals she gave to Caineron seem to have been intended as a practical joke]]).