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Trope was cut/disambiguated due to cleanup


* DropTheHammer: The Hammer That Smashes Suns. Of course, it might look more like a giant crossbow. That fires ''comets''.
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* HeroicSacrifice: By Typhon, before the beggining of the story [[spoiler: and once again at the end, to defeat The Thing That Cries In The Night once and for all. Though it is not certain whether both of them are dead, banished forever, or just temporarily banished.]]

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* HeroicSacrifice: By Typhon, before the beggining begining of the story [[spoiler: and once again at the end, to defeat The Thing That Cries In The Night once and for all. Though it is not certain whether both of them are dead, banished forever, or just temporarily banished.]]



* MechanicalHorse: Bronze, the Steel General's steed, is a magically-enhanced mechanical horse that can ride through space. With each step it takes, it travels twice as far as the previous. It is said that with a sufficient run-up, it could circumnavigate the universe in a single stride.

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* MechanicalHorse: Bronze, the Steel General's steed, is a magically-enhanced mechanical horse that can ride travel through space. With each step it takes, it travels twice as far as the previous. It is said that with a sufficient run-up, it could circumnavigate the universe in a single stride.
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* AmnesiacGod: [[spoiler: Anubis's champion, Wakimis actually Set.]]

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* AmnesiacGod: [[spoiler: Anubis's champion, Wakimis Wakim, is actually Set.]]

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* AndIMustScream: Osiris deals with his enemies in this fashion. His ex-girlfriend is a living skull that he uses as a paperweight; one enemy is threaded into his carpet but aware as he is walked upon; other enemies are awake and aware in forms like ashtrays and fireplace pokers.



* AmnesiacGod: [[spoiler: Anubis's champion, Wakim.]]

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* AmnesiacGod: [[spoiler: Anubis's champion, Wakim.]]Wakimis actually Set.]]
* AndIMustScream: Osiris deals with his enemies in this fashion. His ex-girlfriend is a living skull that he uses as a paperweight; one enemy is threaded into his carpet but aware as he is walked upon; other enemies are awake and aware in forms like ashtrays and fireplace pokers.
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--> '''Madrak''': "How is it you still stand?"
--> '''Wakim''': "Because I cannot fall."

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--> '''Madrak''': "How How is it you still stand?"
stand?
--> '''Wakim''': "Because Because I cannot fall."
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* SadlyMythcharacterized: The ancient Egyptian gods still rule the universe. While the actual myths have a ''great'' deal of variation in how some of these gods are portrayed, Zelazny ignored most of that in favor of characterizations which forwarded his plot, Thoth was the TopGod before being forced out by a coup by Angels and trying to contain The Thing That Cries in the Night. Anubis is now an angel that became the ruler of the House of Death (a common misconception as Anubis was only the guardian of the resting places in the source myths). Osiris (The actual chief deity of the dead) became the ruler of the House of Life and is also an angel. Set is simultaneously Thoth's son and father.

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* AllAmazonsWantHercules: Played with: Megra insists on fighting Wakim before she'll sleep with him--because she has genetic SuperStrength, and wants to make sure she doesn't break him accidentally.

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* AllAmazonsWantHercules: Played with: Megra insists on fighting Wakim before she'll sleep with him--because him -- because she has genetic SuperStrength, and wants to make sure she doesn't break him accidentally.



* AndShowItToYou: A very darkly humorous scene where the god Horus consults a fortune-teller, specifically a reader of entrails. The entrails belong to the fortune-teller's chief rival, who gives accurate predictions while berating the fortune-teller for messing up. (Classic Line: "Those are my entrails! I will not have them misread by a poseur!")

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* AndShowItToYou: A very darkly humorous scene where the god Horus consults a fortune-teller, specifically a reader of entrails. The entrails belong to the fortune-teller's chief rival, who gives accurate predictions while berating the fortune-teller for messing up. (Classic Line: up.
-->
"Those are my entrails! I will not have them misread by a poseur!")poseur!"



* BreakingTheBonds: Wakim is StrappedToAnOperatingTable with his powers deactivated. He manages to break one hand free--which is enough to freak out the villains--before help arrives.

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* BreakingTheBonds: Wakim is StrappedToAnOperatingTable with his powers deactivated. He manages to break one hand free--which free -- which is enough to freak out the villains--before villains -- before help arrives.



*** It's subtle, but the implication is that The Thing That Cries In The Night is [[spoiler:Yaweh]].

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*** It's subtle, but the implication is that The the Thing That Cries In The Night is [[spoiler:Yaweh]].



* MyOwnGrampa: Set is the father of Thoth. Thoth is the father of Set. Ponder that for a while.



* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: One of the most prominent characters is Madrak the Mighty, a warrior-priest "of the non-theistic, non-sectarian sort", whose personal religion was based on an agnostic's deity (another character referred to him as a "holy ambulance-chaser"). When Set the Destroyer pointed out to him that Madrak had just aided in the destruction of the Nameless, an EldritchAbomination from beyond the universe, ''which perfectly fitted the definition of Madrak's agnostic God,'' the idea that his god existed - and he profited by Its death - made him suffer [[HeroicBSOD a crisis of faith]].
* PhysicalGod: All the Gods (and near-Gods) in the story, with the possible exception of The Thing That Cries In The Night.

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* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: One of the most prominent characters is Madrak the Mighty, a warrior-priest "of the non-theistic, non-sectarian sort", whose personal religion was based on an agnostic's deity (another character referred to him as a "holy ambulance-chaser"). When Set the Destroyer pointed out to him that Madrak had just aided in the destruction of the Nameless, an EldritchAbomination from beyond the universe, ''which perfectly fitted the definition of Madrak's agnostic God,'' the idea that his god existed - -- and he profited by Its death - -- made him suffer [[HeroicBSOD a crisis of faith]].
* PhysicalGod: All the Gods (and near-Gods) in the story, with the possible exception of The the Thing That Cries In The Night.



* TimeyWimeyBall / MyOwnGrampa: Set is the father of Thoth. Thoth is the father of Set. Ponder that for a while.
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At opposite ends of the universe lie the House of Death, ruled by Anubis, and the House of Life, ruled by Osiris. Between, lie the Middle Worlds, where mankind flies between the stars in mighty spaceships, and colonizes countless worlds. All in the Middle Worlds are subject to the tides of Life and Death, except the Three Hundred Immortals.

Anubis has spent a thousand years training a champion chosen from among those who dwell in the House of Death, and now this champion has mastered the arts of combat and Temporal Fugue. Anubis gives him a name, Wakim, and sends him forth to hunt down and destroy one of these immortals, The Prince Who Was A Thousand. Learning of this, Osiris decides that ''he'' should be the one to kill The Prince, so he dispatches his son, Horus. Meanwhile, on the world of Blis, medical technology and bio-enhancement are causing the tides of Life to approach critical mass....

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At opposite ends of the universe lie the House of Death, ruled by Anubis, and the House of Life, ruled by Osiris. Between, Between lie the Middle Worlds, where mankind flies between the stars in mighty spaceships, and colonizes countless worlds. All in the Middle Worlds are subject to the tides of Life and Death, except the Three Hundred Immortals.

Anubis has spent a thousand years training a champion chosen from among those who dwell in the House of Death, and now this champion has mastered the arts of combat and Temporal Fugue. Anubis gives him a name, Wakim, and sends him forth to hunt down and destroy one of these immortals, The Prince Who Was A Thousand. Learning of this, Osiris decides that ''he'' should be the one to kill The Prince, so he dispatches his son, Horus. Meanwhile, on the world of Blis, medical technology and bio-enhancement are causing the tides of Life to approach critical mass....
mass...

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* IndecisiveMedium: One chapter is written as an epic poem and another is written as a script for a play.
** Actually, Zelazny wrote the book this way purposely as a writing exercise in perspective for himself, never really intending to have it published.

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* IndecisiveMedium: One chapter is written as an epic poem and another is written as a script for a play.
** Actually,
play. Zelazny wrote the book this way purposely as a writing exercise in perspective for himself, never really intending to have it published.
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**Actually, Zelazny wrote the book this way purposely as a writing exercise in perspective for himself, never really intending to have it published.
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* ArcWords: "Skagganauk Abyss" and variations occur several times throughout the book before its nature and ultimate purpose is revealed. Also, a series of interludes concerning a [[{{Cerberus}} dog]] playing with a glove, [[CargoCult a pair of old shoes]], and [[NorseMythology three quarreling artisans.]]

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* ArcWords: "Skagganauk Abyss" and variations occur several times throughout the book before its nature and ultimate purpose is revealed. Also, a series of interludes concerning a [[{{Cerberus}} dog]] playing with a glove, [[CargoCult a pair of old shoes]], and [[NorseMythology [[Myth/NorseMythology three quarreling artisans.]]
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added information

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***It's subtle, but the implication is that The Thing That Cries In The Night is [[spoiler:Yaweh]].
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-->''"Now, some say her name is Mercy, and others say it's Lust. Her secret name is Isis. Her secret soul is Dust."''

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-->''"Now, ->''"Now, some say her name is Mercy, and others say it's Lust. Her secret name is Isis. Her secret soul is Dust."''
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''Creatures of Light and Darkness'' is an interstellar ScienceFantasy novel by Creator/RogerZelazny. It combines [[EgyptianMythology Egyptian Gods]] with standard ScienceFiction themes to produce a truly unusual work.

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''Creatures of Light and Darkness'' is an interstellar ScienceFantasy novel by Creator/RogerZelazny. It combines [[EgyptianMythology [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Egyptian Gods]] with standard ScienceFiction themes to produce a truly unusual work.



* DivineParentage: Set is both father and son to Thoth (and vice versa, of course), and Horus is the son of Osiris and Isis. The latter is canon in EgyptianMythology.

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* DivineParentage: Set is both father and son to Thoth (and vice versa, of course), and Horus is the son of Osiris and Isis. The latter is canon in EgyptianMythology.Myth/EgyptianMythology.
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* NoIAmBehindYou: One of the earliest examples of this trope. The Steel General, Wakim, and several other characters practice a martial art known as "Temporal Fugue", which allows the practitioner to project himself backwards through time for a few seconds. A duel between a Fugue master and an ordinary (albeit very powerful) warrior looks thus: "Then, bowing his head slightly, Wakim vanishes from where he stands and Madrak lies upon the ground, his staff broken before him." When two Fugue practioners fight, they both choose preferable moments to attack and fight simultaneously in many moments during the Fugue interval. Unfortunately, such duels between two practioners can seriously strain the time-space continuum, and can even lead to the destruction of a planet they fight on.

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* NoIAmBehindYou: One of the earliest examples of this trope. The Steel General, Wakim, and several other characters practice a martial art known as "Temporal Fugue", which allows the practitioner to project himself backwards through time for a few seconds. A duel between a Fugue master and an ordinary (albeit very powerful) warrior looks thus: "Then, bowing his head slightly, Wakim vanishes from where he stands and Madrak lies upon the ground, his staff broken before him." When two Fugue practioners fight, they both choose preferable advantageous moments to attack and fight simultaneously in many moments during the Fugue interval. Unfortunately, such duels between two practioners can seriously strain the time-space continuum, and can even lead to the destruction of a planet they fight on.
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* TheDreaded:

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* TheDreaded: Both the mutineers live in mortal dread of Typhon.



* NoIAmBehindYou: One of the earliest examples of this Trope. The Steel General, Wakim, and several other characters practice a martial art known as "Temporal Fugue", which has the practitioner project himself through space and time behind his opponent to strike. Unfortunately, duels between two practioners invariably degenerate into recursive replications of hundreds of consecutive duplications, straining the time-space continuum.
* NoodleIncident: Whatever timetravel shenanigans caused Set and Toth to be eachothers father and son.
* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: One of the most prominent characters is Madrak the Mighty, a warrior-priest "of the non-theistic, non-sectarian sort", whose personal religion was based on an agnostic's deity (another character referred to him as a "holy ambulance-chaser"). When Set the Destroyer pointed out to him that Madrak had just aided in the destruction of the Nameless, an EldritchAbomination from beyond the universe, ''which perfectly fit the definition of Madrak's agnostic God,'' the idea that his god existed - and he profited by Its death - made him suffer [[HeroicBSOD a crisis of faith]].

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* NoIAmBehindYou: One of the earliest examples of this Trope. trope. The Steel General, Wakim, and several other characters practice a martial art known as "Temporal Fugue", which has allows the practitioner to project himself backwards through space and time behind for a few seconds. A duel between a Fugue master and an ordinary (albeit very powerful) warrior looks thus: "Then, bowing his opponent head slightly, Wakim vanishes from where he stands and Madrak lies upon the ground, his staff broken before him." When two Fugue practioners fight, they both choose preferable moments to strike. attack and fight simultaneously in many moments during the Fugue interval. Unfortunately, such duels between two practioners invariably degenerate into recursive replications of hundreds of consecutive duplications, straining can seriously strain the time-space continuum.
continuum, and can even lead to the destruction of a planet they fight on.
* NoodleIncident: Whatever timetravel time-travel shenanigans caused Set and Toth to be eachothers each other's father and son.
* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: One of the most prominent characters is Madrak the Mighty, a warrior-priest "of the non-theistic, non-sectarian sort", whose personal religion was based on an agnostic's deity (another character referred to him as a "holy ambulance-chaser"). When Set the Destroyer pointed out to him that Madrak had just aided in the destruction of the Nameless, an EldritchAbomination from beyond the universe, ''which perfectly fit fitted the definition of Madrak's agnostic God,'' the idea that his god existed - and he profited by Its death - made him suffer [[HeroicBSOD a crisis of faith]].

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* DeathOfTheOldGods: Inverted. The Egyptian Gods hold sway over a futuristic StandardSciFiSetting, and a mad, powerful creature, strongly implied to be Yaweh, is held captive to protect the universe.

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* DeathOfTheOldGods: Inverted. The Egyptian Gods hold sway over a futuristic StandardSciFiSetting, and a another mad, powerful creature, strongly implied to be Yaweh, old god is held captive to protect the universe.


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* TheDreaded:


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* EldritchAbomination:
** The Thing That Cries In The Night is (probably) an old god even more powerful than the main cast. With great effort it can be contained, but it's practically impossible to kill.
** Typhon's abilities are such that he's considered an EldritchAbomination by some. It is rumored he is somehow related to the legendary Skagganauk Abyss, the ultimate empty place where even space doesn't exist.
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* XMeetsY: EgyptianMythology meets ScienceFiction.
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* HeroicSacrifice: By Typhon, before the beggining of the story [[spoiler: and once again at the end, to defeat The Thing That Cries In The Night once and for all. Though it is not certain whether both of them are dead, banished forever, or just temporarily banished.]]
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* NoodleIncident: Whatever timetravel shenanigans caused Set and Toth to be eachothers father and son.

Added: 581

Changed: 170

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* ArcWords: "Skagganauk Abyss" and variations occur several times throughout the book before its nature and ultimate purpose is revealed.

to:

* ArcWords: "Skagganauk Abyss" and variations occur several times throughout the book before its nature and ultimate purpose is revealed. Also, a series of interludes concerning a [[{{Cerberus}} dog]] playing with a glove, [[CargoCult a pair of old shoes]], and [[NorseMythology three quarreling artisans.]]
* BadassBoast: The Steel General has a multi-page one delivered on his behalf by Vramin. Wakim's is more succinct:
--> '''Madrak''': "How is it you still stand?"
--> '''Wakim''': "Because I cannot fall."


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* ForcefulKiss: to Megra.


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* HellishHorse: [[spoiler: Typhon's]] form is a horse shadow with no horse to cast it.


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* TimeyWimeyBall / MyOwnGrampa: Set is the father of Thoth. Thoth is the father of Set. Ponder that for a while.


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* WarriorPoet: The Steel General carries a collapsible banjo:
--> [[BadassBoast "When he plays it he becomes a negative Orpheus and men follow him to Hell."]]

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