History Literature / InheritanceTrilogy

* AesceticAesthetic: One rare sign that Relad -- who spends most of his time in a hedonistic stupor, expecting to die as soon as his sister claims the throne -- has HiddenDepths is his private quarters, which are austere and functional, with a [[TheBigBoard strategic world map]] inlaid in the floor.

* DistinctionWithoutADifference: The four {{Physical God}}s trapped in enslavement to the Arameri are euphemistically called the Enefadeh -- since the Arameri outlawed slavery, clearly they can't be slaves.

* TheEmpire: The Arameri Bright through its puppet Consortium.
** [[spoiler:Brought down to VestigialEmpire]].
* MrFanservice: More than enough, in the form of the male gods and godlings.

* FantasyPantheon: There are the Three full gods who made and manage the world. They have children called "godlings" who each have a strong nature (eg Lil's nature is hunger, Madding's is obligation, etc) that attracts worshippers seeking blessings in that area, but the godlings tend to mix and mingle more freely with mortals.

* GoodIsNotNice: [[spoiler:T'Vril]] makes a much better ruler than his predecessors, but at the same time he is still very much an Arameri in some respects. This is particularly obvious when he [[spoiler:''rips out Serymn's tongue'' - not only to punish her but also to prevent her from revealing the truth about Oree to the gods - and then delivers her up to the mercy of Nahadoth. Who is not feeling very merciful. T'vril's trying to get rid of his 'too gentle' image.]]

* WorldTree: After the Enefadah are freed, Yeine creates a big ass tree to hold up Sky, which had previously been held up by the Enefadeh's powers and a very tall very thin pillar.

* ParentalIncest: The Three had sex with many of the Godlings on top of eachother. [[Enefah sexually abusing Sieh]] is a plot point later in the series.

* CompanionCube: Sieh has a collection of stars and planets that he's miniaturized; his favourite sun, En, doubles as a ball when he wants to play, and he speaks to it like a person. It's at least empathic enough to flare up into a red giant when they have an argument.* CompleteImmortality: Nahadoth and Itempas; it's implied that they ''can'' be KilledOffForReal, but doing so would end the universe. [[spoiler: Enefa on the other hand shows more of a BodyBackupDrive sort of immortality. She died, she's gone, and now Yeine has her place, but her power and place are never completely gone because it would also end the world.]]

* ParentalIncest: The Three had sex with many of the Godlings on top of eachother. Enefah and Sieh's having sex is a plot point later in the series.

* BittersweetEnding: ''Kingdom of the Gods''. [[spoiler: Sieh is dead, but he is reborn fifty-two years after his death as a god in his own universe with Deka and Shahar.]]

* CompleteImmortality: Nahadoth and Itempas; it's implied that they ''can'' be KilledOffForReal, but doing so would end the universe. [[spoiler: Enefa on the other hand shows more of a BodyBackupDrive sort of immortality. She died, she's gone, and now Yeine has her place, but her power and place are never completely gone because it would also end the world.]]
* CosmicKeystone: The Stone of Earth, which is vital to the ceremony that crowns the new Lord Arameri, is actually [[spoiler:the last remnant of Enefa's body and power. WordOfGod says it's an ovary.]]

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Sky the palace.

* DownInTheDumps: With a god named Dump.

* KidsAreCruel: Sieh. Multiple references are made throughout the series that Sieh, the god of childhood, is one of the most thoughtlessly cruel of the godlings.

-->Serymn looked, radiating disdain. “Is there something I should be seeing?”
-->The Lord Arameri rose and descended the steps. At the foot of the steps, he abruptly turned toward us in a swirl of cloak and hair and dropped to one knee, with a grace I would never have expected of a man so powerful. From this, he said in a ringing tone, “Behold Our Lord, Serymn. Hail Itempas, Master of Day, Lord of Light and Order.”

* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: All the gods and godlings.

* TheTimeOfMyths: Potentially, the whole trilogy.

** [[spoiler: Shahar and Deka's father, Remina, is their mother Remath's half-brother.]]

* KillTheGod: The villains from ''The Broken Kingdoms'' attempt to kill Nahadoth and ''does'' succeed in murdering several godlings.

** Yeine and Nahadoth. Yeine is only nineteen in mortal years in ''The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms'', while Nahadoth has already lived for millennia.
** Oree and Madding, much for the same reason as the above.

** Also in book one, the Arameri have rankings of how close to the family you are, those with lower rankings are servants. Many of those lower rankings are gotten through being born of an unapproved union, like infidelity or relations with someone not Amn. So all of the mixed race people in Sky the Palace are servants except for Yeine.

* MoralityKitchenSink: Each book reveals more and more about characters who seemed to have been established as bad, good, or grey. In the second book, Itempas becomes much more sympathetic; in the third, we learn that the BigBad was created by a cruel decision of Enefa's (who had previously been presented as, though imperfect, the best of the Three) and that, for all his hatred of what Itempas did during the Gods' War, Sieh was actually a major cause of said war due to his thoughtlessness and dismissive stance on mortals. Also, it's accepted that as evil as the Arameri were, they are kind of necessary to keep the world from descending into an all-way war.

* {{Yandere}}: Itempas. He murdered Enefa and then started a huge war and imprisoned Nahadoth in human flesh... because Nahadoth paid more attention to Enefa then to him for a little bit. [[spoiler: In ''The Broken Kingdoms'', it's explained a little more in-depth- Itempas didn't mind Enefa and Nahadoth being together, it was that for a moment, they ''forgot him'' and thought only of one another, making him alone for the first time in his entire existence- and being alone was his personal anathema, literally wounding his soul. That, combined with his mortal lover murdering their son while he was still weakened, drove him to do what he did prior to ''The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms''- murdering Enefa because when it was just him and Nahadoth, he was never alone.]] And then there's [[spoiler: Deka in the third book, who basically invented/discovered a new kind of magic, inked it on his own body, and is quite willing to rearrange the universe just so he can have Sieh. And Deka is Arameri, and even though they're not as powerful as they were by the third book they are still very strong and scarily brutal.]]

* BestHerToBedHer: The Darre tribe is a matriarchal society where a woman must beat a male fighter in a wrestling match to come of age. Usually the family picks out kind of a wimpy guy, but heirs like Yeine have to beat a genuine warrior. If the woman wins, she kills him. If the man wins, he ''rapes her in front of the entire village''.

* BiTheWay: Nahadoth and Itempas were lovers with eachother along with Enefah.

** The Three (two brothers and one sister) are basically a polyandrous relationship; their godly children get their share of hanky-panky with each other. The mortals who witness it have to frequently remind themselves that it's different for gods to keep their lunches down.

** Lesbian [[TheHighQueen Remath]] hits the "short hair" part of this, but she's also described as more busty, hip-y, and generally feminine than her daughter Shahar. She is in a serious relationship with one of her female relatives.

* TheChurch: The Itempan Church, led by hateful priestess Shahar Arameri, used the Enefadeh to completely reshape the world after the gods' war. It collects taxes, provides extensive social services (universal primary education, food and housing for the disabled, public sanitation, etc.), and imposes a theological injunction against the chaos of war. The Church, with the guidance of the Arameri family, gave the world an unprecedented 2,000 years of stability and prosperity -- on the backs of the enslaved Enefadeh, and after crushing local religious traditions. Also supporting the Arameri's tyrranical rule, ruthlessly executing heretics, and carefully controlling the populace with propaganda. In Yeine's opinion, and that of other Darrens, the "peace" is nothing but everyone being too crushed to do anything, and benefits no one but the Arameri.

* FantasyPantheon: There are the Three full gods who made and manage the world. They have children called "godlings" who each have a strong nature (eg Lil's nature is hunger, Madding's is debt, etc) that attracts worshippers seeking blessings in that area, but the godlings tend to mix and mingle more freely with mortals.

* GreenEyes: A major plot point in book one -- Yeine, Enefa, and Sieh's remarkable "jade" eyes.

* ApocalypseHow: Class X-5 ("Multiversal/Physical Annihilation") as [[spoiler:the Maelstrom comes for Kahl]], leading to:

** TheApocalypseBringsOutTheBestInPeople (well, better than Sieh expected)
** StarKilling
** TheStarsAreGoingOut.

* BiTheWay

* TheChurch[=/=]ActivistFundamentalistAntics[=/=]SaintlyChurch: The Itempan Church, led by hateful priestess Shahar Arameri, used the Enefadeh to completely reshape the world after the gods' war. It collects taxes, provides extensive social services (universal primary education, food and housing for the disabled, public sanitation, etc.), and imposes a theological injunction against the chaos of war. The Church, with the guidance of the Arameri family, gave the world an unprecedented 2,000 years of stability and prosperity -- on the backs of the enslaved Enefadeh, and after crushing local religious traditions. Also supporting the Arameri's tyrranical rule, ruthlessly executing heretics, and carefully controlling the populace with propaganda. In Yeine's opinion, and that of other Darrens, the "peace" is nothing but everyone being too crushed to do anything, and benefits no one but the Arameri.

* DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu[=/=]PalsWithJesus[=/=]GodWasMyCopilot:
** Yeine and the Enefadeh.
** Oree and [[spoiler:Shiny]].
** Sieh and the Arameri twins.
* DisabilitySuperpower: Oree.

* DescendFromAHigherPlaneOfExistence[=/=]GodInHumanForm[=/=]EmergentHuman[=/=]Humanity Ensues: The Enefadeh, Itempas, Sieh.

* DownerEnding: ''The Broken Kingdoms''.

* EarthMother[=/=]MotherNatureFatherScience: Intentionally averted. Enefa, creator of life, is also the goddess of death, and is ruthless about offing substandard creations. Itempas and Nahadoth got most of the stereotypically emotional "motherly" aspects.

* EvenTheGuysWantHim

* [[HumanResources Godling Resources]]: The primary antagonist in the second book [[spoiler: gains power by eating the hearts of godlings]].

* HeroicSacrifice

* {{Immortality}}:
** CompleteImmortality: Nahadoth and Itempas; it's implied that they ''can'' be KilledOffForReal, but doing so would end the universe. [[spoiler: Enefa on the other hand shows more of a BodyBackupDrive sort of immortality. She died, she's gone, and now Yeine has her place, but her power and place are never completely gone because it would also end the world.]]
** TheAgeless[=/=]FromASingleCell: The Enefadeh are somewhere between these.

* KidsAreCruel: Sieh.

* TheMafia

** Glee!
* MedievalStasis

* ParentalIncest

* {{Polyamory}}

* RedemptionEqualsSex

* SexSlave: Naha and Sieh in book one.

* ShiningCity[=/=]SoiledCityOnAHill: Depending on whose point of view you're talking about, Sky, where delegates of the eponymous "hundred thousand kingdoms" meet and, more importantly, the Arameri family head lives. Later it becomes a HolyCity and pilgrimage destination.

* [[spoiler:SomeoneToRememberHimBy]]: [[spoiler:At the end of ''The Broken Kingdoms'' it turns out that Oree's been telling her story to Itempas's unborn daughter, conceived after their one night of passion.]]

A major subplot of the book deals the war of [[RuleOfThree the Three]], the tribunal of creator gods; their children; and its aftermath. One of the Three, Enefa, [[GodIsDead was slain]], one, Nahadoth, was imprisoned, and the third, Itempas, took over the world. Various lesser gods are imprisoned along with Nahadoth and take up the name of Enefadeh, or "we who remember Enefa."

* MoralityKitchenSink: Each book reveals more and more about characters who seemed to have been established as bad, good, or grey. In the second book, Itempas becomes much more sympathetic; in the third, we learn that the BigBad was created by a cruel decision of Enefa's (who had previously been presented as, though imperfect, the best of the Three) and that, for all his hatred of what Itempas did during the Gods' War, Sieh was actually a major cause of said war due to his thoughtlessness and dis-compassionate stance on mortals. Also, it's accepted that as evil as the Arameri were, they are kind of necessary to keep the world from descending into an all-way war.

* MoralityKitchenSink: Each book reveals more and more about characters who seemed to have been established as bad, good, or grey. In the second book, Itempas becomes much more sympathetic; in the third, we learn that the BigBad was created by a cruel decision of Enefa's (who had previously been presented as, though imperfect, the best of the Three). Also, it's accepted that as evil as the Arameri were, they are kind of necessary to keep the world from descending into an all-way war.

** Itempas to all the Godlings but the Enefadeh in particular.

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler: Yeine, when she takes the place of the Goddess Enefa at the end of ''The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms'']].

* BestHerToBedHer: The Darre tribe is a matriarchal society where the female leader wrestles against a male. If the female wins, he dies and doesn't marry her. If he wins, he ''rapes her in front of the entire village.''

* BrotherSisterIncest: The Three (two brothers and one sister) are basically a polyandrous relationship; their godly children get their share of hanky-panky with each other.

* ButchLesbian: Subverted. Yeine has short hair and is flatchested, and is 'often mistaken for a boy'. However, [[spoiler: she has sex both with T'vril and Nahadoth, and shows no interest in women, though lesbianism is apparently common in her homeland.]] Specifically subverts NoGuyWantsAnAmazon.

* CharacterDevelopment: The point of Nahadoth and Yeine sticking [[spoiler: Bright Itempas]] in a human body. It works very well in this regard-- majorly thanks to Oree and later her daughter Glee Shoth, Itempas learns to love truly and stops thinking of mortals as beneath him. He also learns some manners, as Oree finds out in the short story ''Not The End''.]]

* ChekhovsGun: Glee's knife.

* CreationMyth

* DarkIsNotEvil

* DidYouJustRomanceCthulhu?

* FantasyPantheon

* GoingNative: [[spoiler:Kurue, who turns against her fellow Enefadeh]] in hopes of winning Itempas' favor.

* HarmonyVersusDiscipline

* KickTheSonOfABitch: It's hard to really feel sorry for [[spoiler: Scimina when she gets handed over to Nahadoth to torture and eventually kill.]]

* KillTheGod: The villains from ''The Broken Kingdoms'' attempt to kill Nahadoth.

* MoralityKitchenSink

* SexAsRiteOfPassage: In Darre.

* SexAsARiteOfPassage: In Darre.

The ''Inheritance Trilogy'' is a series of books by Creatore/NKJemisin (website [[http://www.nkjemisin.com/ here]]) about a world where gods walk the earth alongside mortals (though, in general, not voluntarily). ''The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms'' and ''The Broken Kingdoms''; both came out in 2010, and the third and final book, ''The Kingdom of Gods,'' came out in 2011.

The ''Inheritance Trilogy'' is a series of books by N. K. Jemisin (website [[http://www.nkjemisin.com/ here]]) about a world where gods walk the earth alongside mortals (though, in general, not voluntarily). ''The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms'' and ''The Broken Kingdoms''; both came out in 2010, and the third and final book, ''The Kingdom of Gods,'' came out in 2011.

** Enefa to Kahl.

** Yeine and Nahadoth
** Oree and Madding
** [[spoiler:Oree and Tempa]]

** In book three, [[spoiler:Shahar and Deka, who are one-eighth god from great-grandpa Ahad, and Glee, Itempas and Oree's slightly-more-than-half godly daughter]].

* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld

** Nahadoth to the demons
** Shahar to Shinda
** Enefa to Kahl

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler:Yeine]].

* BittersweetEnding: ''Kingdom of the Gods''. [[spoiler: Sieh is dead, but he is reborn as a god in his own universe with Deka and Shahar.]]

** [[spoiler:Shahar and Deka's father, Remina, is their mother Remath's half-brother]].
* BroughtDownToNormal: Tempa and Sieh.

** Lesbian [[TheHighQueen Remath]] hits the "short hair" part of this, but she's also described as more busty, hip-y, and generally feminine than her daughter Shahar.
* CharacterDevelopment: The point of Nahadoth and Yeine sticking [[spoiler: Bright Itempas]] in a human body.

''The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms'' details the life of Yeine, a noblewoman from the northern continent of Darr. She is called to the [[CastleInTheSky aptly-named]] capital city of Sky where she is unexpectedly made a candidate for the title of Arameri family head, or emperor of the world. Not all is as it seems, however, as petty squabbles break out, {{Living Weapon}}s act friendly, and the time of the coronation draws ever closer...

'''For Creator/ChristopherPaolini's series with the [[SimilarlyNamedWorks same name]], see Literature/InheritanceCycle.'''

* {{Yandere}}: Itempas. He murdered Enefa and then started a huge war and imprisoned Nahadoth in human flesh... because Nahadoth paid more attention to Enefa then to him for a little bit. And then there's [[spoiler: Deka in the third book, who basically invented/discovered a new kind of magic, inked it on his own body, and is quite willing to rearrange the universe just so he can have Sieh. And Deka is Arameri, and even though they're not as powerful as they were by the third book they are still very strong and scarily brutal.]]