History Literature / TheBonehunters

--> ''Mallick Rel's round, oiled face slowly drained of what little colour it had possessed.''

* TunnelKing: Beak, thanks to his affinity for Mockra. While ''Beak'' doesn't know anything about tunnels, the rat he's able to control and see through has all the necessary skills to guide the Bonehunters through the labyrinth of ruins beneath Y'Ghatan with no light to show them the way.

* KnifeNut: Smiles will fling her knives at anyone who makes her angry, including her fellow soldiers. She prefers fighting with a pair of long-knives.

* [[spoiler:HeelFaceTurn: Corabb Bhilan Thenu'alas, after witnessing Leoman's betrayal, is forced to cooperate with the surviving Malazans as they attempt to escape the firestorm engulfing Y'Ghatan. Witnessing how... normal the Malazan soldiers are, his opinion of them undergoes a gradual 180, and by the time they emerge aboveground, Corrab joins the Bonehunters, fully committed.]]

--> [[spoiler:'''Fiddler:''' We went hunting... through the bones of the damned city. And then, with the captain's help, we crawled outa that grave.]]
--> [[spoiler:'''Tavore:''' Bonehunters in truth, then. Welcome back, soldiers.]]

* WhamEpisode: [[spoiler:Leoman summons a firestorm during the siege of Y'Ghatan, trapping or killing nearly all Malazan forces inside the city, sacrificing his entire army, and razing the city to the ground.]]
** [[spoiler:Midway through the novel, Cutter, Scillara, Felisin, Heboric and Greyfrog are abruptly ambushed and cut to pieces by a group of T'lan Imass.]]
** [[spoiler:Over the course of one chapter, Ganoes Paran singlehandedly murders goddess Poliel (thus bringing the continent-wide plague to an end) and inherits Onearm's Host as new High Fist in the stead of the suddenly deceased Dujek Onearm.]]
** [[spoiler:In the penultimate chapter, a barely described GambitPileup has Mallick Rel and Korbolo Dom placed in positions of power at Laseen's court. The Adjunct therefore elects to take her army and leave the Malazan Empire forever.]]

--> [[spoiler:'''Queen of Dreams:''' Dunsparrow, did you know you were marked? No, I gather you did not - you were but newborn when sanctified, after all. And then stolen away, from the temple, by [Whiskeyjack]. Hood never forgave him for that, and took in the end a most satisfying vengeance, ever turning away a healer's touch when nothing else was needed, when that touch could have changed the world, could have shattered an age old curse.]]
--> [[spoiler:'''Tavore:''' We are leaving the Malazan Empire. And in all likelihood, we will never return.]]

* ShootTheShaggyDog:After chasing Leoman of the Flails halfway across the continent to Y'Ghatan in order to retaliate for the happenings at Aren, the newly stocked-up with recruits Malazan army [[spoiler:gets their asses handed to them as Leoman walks away with a goddess at the last moment before turning Y'Ghatan into a death trap by [[KillItWithFire turning it into an inferno]]]].

** Laseen's manipulation of the Whirlwind has backfired, bringing famine to the Empire and inviting open revolt to her rule. With no armies left, no nobles to throw to the peasants to distract them, no influential supplicants willing to trust her, and the Crimson Guard returning for vengeance against the Empire, she is out of options to save her rule. She now has to rely on Tavore to abandon her secretive personal mission and save her from the political traps sprung by-
** Korbolo Dom, who gambled on being the last somewhat competent commander Laseen had to restore order. His plan to use the remaining Malazan Armies to attack the Wickan tribes and pin the Whirlwind Famine on them is tentatively supported by Laseen, and she even makes him High Fist to placate his bloody pride and prevent an immediate coup by the remaining armies, but he owes his allegiance to-
** Mallick Rel, who delivered Korbolo Dom to the court of the Empress and prevented his execution for treason. The Priest seeks to bend Mael, elder god of the Sea, to his will [[spoiler: and usurp Laseen, becoming the Emperor]] but knows that he's outmatched by Laseen's politicking. Thankfully, with Korbolo in his pocket he only needs to worry about Tavore intervening or the Imperial Claw assassins-
** Which might be a problem, since Pearl has been given command of the Imperial Claw and is ruthless in his pursuit of being the best killer out there. But his loyalty to Laseen plays second fiddle to his desire to kill the only person better at his job- Kalam Mekhar. And his willingness to use poison as a weapon (something that is taboo among the Claw) leaves him without the support of his underlings.
** Finally, Tavore looks on this burning wreck of intrigue and decides to say ScrewTheRulesItsTheApocalypse She turns down Laseen's request to put down Korbolo Dom and Mallick Rel, and leaves the Malazan Courtiers to fight it out without her. Kalam and T'amber follow her to nearly certain death at the hands of Claw Assassins just on the faith that she is acting in pursuit of something bigger than Imperial politics and their own lives.

* AxCrazy: Sapper Crump is a firm believer in [[MoreDakka more is more]] when it comes to explosives, as Y'Ghatan's [[spoiler: ex-city wall]] can attest. Unfortunately, the other Malazan soldiers rather adhere to the 'don't endanger your own troops unnecessarily' philosophy, wich means that Crump is not one of the popular guys.

* TheProphecy: While the Bonehunters sail back to Malaz Island they're confronted with an armada of war catamarans belonging to the Perish Grey Helms. An army devoted to Togg and Fanderay- the Wolves of War. The armada isn't looking for a battle, but to join the Adjunct. Their holy books predicted that an Armada was to be raised and delivered to a certain foreign leader, at a certain point on the ocean, at a certain time, multiple centuries ago.

%%* SealedEvilInACan: Dejim Nebrahl and The Deragoth, the Hounds of Darkness.

* GambitPileup: The finale of ''The Bonehunters'' is nothing less than an eight-lane Gambit Pileup. The Fourteenth Army docks at Malaz City and Tavore Paran goes to the Imperial Palace with Kalam and her lover T'Amber to receive her congratulations from the Empress. Every major player in the Empire that still lives is in the palace, all pursuing their own goals, and all see Tavore as either their savior or a rival that needs to be destroyed ''immediately'' for their own gambits to succeed.
** Laseen's manipulation of the Whirlwind has backfired, bringing famine to the Empire and inviting open revolt to her rule. With no armies left, no nobles to throw to the peasants to distract them, and no more influential friends willing to trust her, she is out of options to save her rule. She now has to rely on Tavore to abandon her secretive personal mission to save her from the political traps sprung by-
** Korbolo Dom, who gambled on being the last somewhat competent commander Laseen had to restore order. His plan to use the remaining Malazan Armies to attack the Wickan tribes and pin the famine on them is tentatively supported by Laseen, and she even makes him High Fist to placate his bloody pride and prevent an immediate coup, but he owes his allegiance to-
** Mallick Rel, who delivered Korbolo Dom to the court of the Empress and prevented an execution for treason. The Priest seeks to bend Mael, elder god of the Sea, to his will [[spoiler: and usurp Laseen, becoming the Emperor]] but knows that he's outmatched by Laseen's politicking. Thankfully, with Korbolo in his pocket he only needs to worry about Laseen intervening or the Imperial Claw assassins...
** Which might be a problem, since Pearl has been given command of the Claw and is ruthless in his pursuit of being the best killer. But his loyalty to Laseen plays second fiddle to his desire to kill the best assassin that ever lived- Kalam Mekhar. And his willingness to use poison as a weapon (something that is taboo among the Claw) leaves him without the support of his underlings.
** Finally, Tavore looks on this burning wreck of intrigue and decides to say ScrewTheRulesItsTheApocalypse. She turns down Laseen's request to put down Korbolo Dom and Mallick Rel, and lets the Malazan Courtiers to fight it out without her.

* MadBomber: The Malazan sappers are all very fond of their Moranth munitions, but nobody is as crazy as Crump, whose three wall-breakers nearly gets every sapper killed in the attack on Y'Ghatan as it levels a vast portion of the city wall.

* MadBomber: The Malazan sappers are all very fond of their Moranth munitions, but nobody is as crazy as Crump, whose glued-together pair of cussers nearly gets every sapper killed in the attack on Y'Ghatan as it levels a vast portion of the city wall.
** It was actually three Wall-Breakers (two cussers attatched to two crackers) all lashed together.

* FearlessFool:
** Crump's incredibly high tolerance for dangerous conduct and general disregard for his own life is not only a family trait, but undoubtedly stems from his [[AxCrazy Ax Craziness]] and love of grenades.
** Corabb Bhilan Thenu'alas is blessed by the twin gods of luck and also a GlorySeeker par excellence -- which makes for an explosive combination of accidental awesomeness in delicate situations.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:Paran kills Poliel, goddess of disease, by stabbing her with a shard of otataral and letting the Deragoth tear her to pieces]].

->''"[...] None could know the mind of Adjunct Tavore. Not her closest officers, and not the common soldier under her command. But there were distant stirrings, to be sure, more easily noted in retrospect, and it would be presumptuous and indeed dismissive to claim that the Adjunct was ignorant of the growing troubles, not only in her command, but at the very heart of the Malazan Empire. [...]''
->'' This, more than at any other time beforehand, gave brutal truth to the conviction that Adjunct Tavore was cold iron, thrust into the soul of a raging forge..."''
-->-- ''None to Witness (The Lost History of the Bonehunters)'', Duiker of Darujhistan

* LetNoCrisisGoToWaste: When Paran finds that [[spoiler:Dujek Onearm and his entire command cadre are dieing of the plague]], he seizes the opportunity [[PlayedForLaughs to pretend to be Captain Kindly]], take command of the 2nd Army and dispose of [[spoiler:the Mistress of Pestilence]].

** In the last sequence of the book, [[spoiler: During T'avore's race back to the ships, T'amber suffers an ungodly amount of wounds fighting off the Claws that are after them. Kalam at one point remarks that she shouldn't be able to stand at all. She still succumbs, in the end.]]
* NotSoStoic: [[spoiler:In the final chapters of the novel, POV characters are able to briefly read Tavore's facial expression for the first time in the series as the XanatosGambit she's been trapped in gradually becomes evident. The effect of her understaded OhCrap is subdued yet effective, because readers by this point are aware of the amount of extreme fear it would take to break the Adjunct's poker face.]]

* DrillSergeantNasty:
** Captain Kindly has such a strict reputation that soldiers in ''other armies'' jump at the mention of his name.

-> [...] None could know the mind of Adjunct Tavore. Not her closest officers, and not the common soldier under her command. But there were distant stirrings, to be sure, more easily noted in retrospect, and it would be presumptuous and indeed dismissive to claim that the Adjunct was ignorant of the growing troubles, not only in her command, but at the very heart of the Malazan Empire. [...]
-> This, more than at any other time beforehand, gave brutal truth to the conviction that Adjunct Tavore was cold iron, thrust into the soul of a raging forge...

!!This novel provides examples of the following tropes: