History Literature / Eisenhorn

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Alisebeth Bequin, who manages to be glamorous and alluring even while exchanging gunfire with enemy heretics.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Pontius Glaw's apocalyptic plan is foiled...but most of Eisenhorn's companions have been killed in the process, and he is considered a rogue and a heretic.]]
** [[spoiler: While he ''is'' a rogue and a heretic, Eisenhorn remains a very well-intentioned one who continues his service to the Throne in his own way.]]

* ContinuityDrift: At one point Eisenhorn mentions the "Primarch" of the White Consuls, by which he clearly means the "Chapter Master", but the distinction was less well established in canon back when ''Malleus'' was written, or possibly Eisenhorn just didn't know better in character (subsequent editions and audios just reference the White Consuls, in context).

* ContinuityNod: Inquisitors Heldane and Literature/{{Ravenor}} both appear in Abnett's earlier ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' novels. Titan Princeps Hekate (from the Graphic Novel series ''Titan'') is also mentioned in ''Malleus'', albeit as an old man near retirement, which was a pleasant surprise for fans, as his own series by that point seemed to have ended in a HeroicSacrifice.

** [[spoiler: Though strangely, even though he smiles at the end of The Magos, in Pariah (which chronologically takes place after The Magos) Beta distinctly notes and comments on the fact that Eisenhorn's face shows no emotion at all, not even micro-expressions, and he agrees with her.]]

* GreatEscape

There are also several short stories available, two of which can be found in the [[{{Doorstopper}} doorstopping]] [[{{Anthology}} omnibus]] edition. A spin-off trilogy, ''Literature/{{Ravenor}}'', has been published and Dan Abnett has begun a third "Bequin trilogy", described by him as "Literature/RavenorVsEisenhorn".

* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: While he can hardly be accused of "not doing anything," Eisenhorn is The Ordo Xenos Inquisitor Who Doesn't Deal With Aliens Very Often. The Ordos Xenos and its Inquisitors are supposed to deal exclusively with alien threats. This is mostly because he keeps getting distracted by heretics, daemonhosts, other Inquisitors, and his own past decisions come back to bite him in the ass. Is there a variant for "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything Related to Piracy"?

* AliensAreBastards: The Saruthi, from ''Xenos'' were initially a benign species, until they were exposed to a Chaos artifact that fundamentally altered their entire species on a genetic level. They have become hideous, disturbingly asymmetrical creatures who enjoy torture and enslaving sentient life forms, and who intentionally create architecture that bends space and time to drive humans insane just through proximity.

* BadassNormal : Valentin Drusher ; a Magos Biologis without any combat training, special abilities, or overt physical capabilities.

* ComeToGawk: The parade included displaying captives.

* CryonicsFailure: The opening to ''Xeno'' features this on a large scale: In an attempt to slow down Eisenhorn, Eyclone prematurely triggers the defrosting process in a vast cryogenics facility housing the nobility of Hubris (who traditionally enter cryrosleep to wait out their world's eleven-month-long winters). Without medical staff present to help them, thousands of people suffer deadly freezer burns, are trapped in caskets, or are slaughtered in the crossfire as they stumble around blinded by their improper revival.

* EldritchLocation: Saruthi tetrascapes. In the coastal regions of a tetrascape, waves break ''backwards'', and that is the least weird thing about them.

*** FridgeLogic kicks in when you realize that ''both'' of them are trying to self-justify. The series gives us several Inquisitors of long service measured in centuries who don't turn Radical, such as Rorken, Voke, Bezier, Neve and Ricci.
* HiddenVillain : Although she isn't mentioned until the Ravenor series, Lilean Chase of the Cognitae is almost an overarching one for the entire series. Eisenhorn spends a great deal of time trying to track her down, unsuccessfully.

* [[LightIsNotGood Light]]/PureIsNotGood: In ''Hereticus'', Cherubael. Eisenhorn lampshades it.

** And ''Christ,'' does the Witchfinder in Malleus fall under here. His ''first appearance'' is him [[spoiler: trying to execute Eisenhorn for heresy (though saving his life in the process) on absurdly tenuous charges.]] Eisenhorn shortly thereafter recounts a mission where twenty-odd newly discovered psykers, all under 14 years old, were abducted by raiders before the Black Ships could pick them up. Seeing that psykers are ''extremely'' rare, and even rarer to find at such young ages, Eisenhorn launches a mission to rescue them while the Witchfinder decides that kidnapping classifies them all as witches that are in dire need of execution.

* MercyKill: Invoked and subverted as Eisenhorn explains why he could not do it to the dying victims at the opening of ''Xenos''. Although the nobles of Hubris [[CryonicsFailure are in horrible pain and as good as dead anyways]], Eisenhorn knows that if he even shoots a single one of them to quell their misery, he could face months or years of bureaucratic paperwork that would give his enemies time to escape his grasp in the long run.

** A milder example in the audio dramas. Master Immus, a clerk who has been used as a pawn in a heretical scheme, goes to a young Eisenhorn and confesses. After a long night of interrogation and mild mind rape, Eisenhorn comes to the conclusion that Master Immus is completely innocent of any involvement in the scheme and is grateful that a man did his Imperial duty by coming forward. The sentiment is decidedly one sided though because it results in the man's place of work being permanently shut down, every employee without a reference or any means of social support.

* OnceMoreWithClarity - In ''Hereticus'', Eisenhorn and [[spoiler: Ravenor]] hold an auto-seance to see what [[spoiler: Pontius Glaw]] was up to on a planet. They watch a scene with him and an orgyn and a man with an auphex, but they can't tell what they are doing. Eisenhorn tells the astropaths to expand the area of the seance and they see that [[spoiler: Pontius was performing an auto-seance as well. The Farseer then helps reveal what Pontius saw which made the scene make more sense.]]

* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: While he can hardly be accused of "not doing anything," Eisenhorn is The Ordo Xenos Inquisitor Who Doesn't Deal With Aliens Very Often. Mostly because he keeps getting distracted by heretics, daemonhosts, other Inquisitors, and his own past decisions come back to bite him in the ass. Is there a variant for "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything Related to Piracy"?
** Though his allegiance to the Ordo Xenos might explain why he was so sensitive to Ravenor's remarks about the virtues of the eldar.

* ScarsAreForever: The torture in ''Xenos'' produced permanent and noticeable nerve damage. Suffice to say, Gregor cannot smile anymore.

* StarCrossedLovers: [[spoiler:Eisenhorn and Bequin.]]

* TakeUpMySword: Voke invokes this in ''Xenos'', asking Eisenhorn to take over his protege if he actually does die. [[spoiler:He doesn't, at least not then.]]

* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: Eisenhorn was poisoned this way three days before the start of ''Malleus''. The first chapter has him launch a desperate raid on the poisoner’s hideout in search of an antidote.

** In preparation for the final assault in ''Xenos'', Eisenhorn is given his pick of elite Guard regiments. He chooses to stick with the Gudrun Rifles because they've experienced what being in a Saruthi tetrascape is like before, which is something no amount of simulation can adequately convey.

* TearsOfFear When confronted with some of the more terrifying aspects of Chaos such as the Chaos Space Marines armour or [[spoiler:the tomb on Ghul.]]

** The Chaos-corrupted Battle Titan ''Cruor Vult'' has such great psychic presence that it goes right through Bequin's blankness.

* MechanicalAbomination: In ''Hereticus'', the ''Cruor Vult'' is a Chaos-corrupted Battle Titan. It’s sixty meters tall, weighs two and a half thousand tonnes, packs enough firepower to obliterate a city, and has a psychic presence so great that it overwhelms Eisenhorn’s party with mental feedback just by coming online. When Eisenhorn tries to shut it down by exposing the Titan’s mind to Bequin’s blankness, the sheer force of its personality [[CrossMeltingAura negates her blankness]] and destroys her mind.

* CrossMeltingAura: Cherubael does this to an Imperial aquila.

* MechanicalAbomination: In ''Hereticus'', the ''Cruor Vult'' is a Chaos-corrupted Battle Titan. It’s sixty meters tall, weighs two and a half thousand tonnes, packs enough firepower to obliterate a city, and has a psychic presence so great that it overwhelms Eisenhorn’s party with mental feedback just by coming online. When Eisenhorn tries to shut it down by exposing the Titan’s mind to Bequin’s blankness, the sheer force of its personality [[NoSell negates her blankness]] and destroys her mind.

* TaughtByExperience: After Cherubael defies him a few times to his great cost, Eisenhorn has the latest form triple-bound, reducing its power but making it much more docile.

* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: Osma brings allegations against Eisenhorn in ''Malleus'' that force him to go rogue, never being punished after the allegations are refuted and [[spoiler:even being elected master]]. [[spoiler:He gets himself killed at the end of ''Hereticus''.]]

%%* BadDreams
* BadassGrandpa: Technically, Cherubael qualifies, as he is thousands of years old. A more literal example is Commodus Voke - Eisenhorn describes his psychic powers as "legendary". He even stands up to a daemonhost and saves Eisenhorn's life.
** The best example is Lord Inquisitor Phlebas Alessandro Rorken - he banishes an EldritchAbomination by ''charging it with a holy flamethrower and yelling prayers.''
** Eisenhorn himself. He is in his 40's when first introduced, and by the end of the third book he is still active at over 180 years old. By the time of the Eisenhorn vs. Ravenor he is nearly 300 years old and, though physically a wreck, more dangerous than ever.

* TraintopBattle: In ''Hereticus'', though the supposedly super-fast train was thankfully immobile at the moment.

* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: In ''Hereticus'', masked mercenaries raid Eisenhorn’s estate on Gudrun, and he barely makes it out alive alongside Aemos, Medea and Eleena Koi. He later learns that the mercs hit his other bases of operations in a coordinated attack against him.

%%* TrueCompanions