History Literature / TheElenium

* StickyFingers: Talen. It's become a RunningGag.
* StopWorshippingMe: Averted. The God of the Atans doesn't go in for grand displays (except on ''very'' important ceremonies), and his people don't bother him much unless it's important, so he's on the unusual side for a god. The flip side is he is obligated to at least see what a worshiper wants when they do call for his attention.

** He's also never committed barratry and he's never fucked an animal. [[SarcasmMode Truly, a virtuous man.]]

* HorsingAround: Sir Sparhawk's horse Faran. Faran is infamous for his bad temper and a tendency to bite strangers (such that Sparhawk always has to warn handlers about it). In one of the later books, the child-goddess Aphrael tells Sparhawk that Faran only has a bad temper because he is trying to please Sparhawk by matching his personality. Much to Sparhawk's annoyance, Faran has a habit of prancing whenever Sparhawk rides him with his formal armour on. The horse is also remarked upon to be unusually intelligent, to the point of understanding Sparhawk's speech and having memorized the ritual entry into a Pandion Chapterhouse as well as Sparhawk has.
* IdiotSavant: Adus, when it comes to small unit tactics.

** Kring is noted as having several serious scars on his face and scalp, but they're noted as evidence the rather physical path to leadership in his tribe.

** This is exemplified with Mirtai's case where instead of the normal institutionalized slavery of her people she was kidnapped and forced into a more personal slavery, and despite hating the more personal nature of her slavery (no not ''that'' way) she repeatedly refused and scoffed at any attempt to free her by Ehlana after she became her "slave", always saying that it was impossible for her people to ever be free, normally followed by a long list of people Ehlana knows that Mirtai would have killed by now for some type of insult if she had been free.

** It's worse than it sounds. A high-ranking Tamul official once authorised an Atan expedition into Arjuna- without giving them any limits. They hanged the King and drove his subjects into the southern jungles, thus starting an economic crisis. It took centuries to convince the Arjuni to emerge from their hiding place.

** The Delphae are a race that can kill with a touch thanks to a curse from their god and are hated by most other races in existance. This is all part of their god's master plan.
** The Cyrgai were cursed so that they could not travel beyond the borders of their own nation, or they would die instantly. They immediately set about using their female slaves to breed an army that would be able to cross the border, as the slaves were not Cyrgai. In they zealousness, they overlooked their own women and crossbred themselves into [[spoiler:borderline]] extinction.

** On the other hand, if one considers that their worshippers seem to be similar to their Gods, the Elene highly value ''free will'' - as shown in Sparhawk's argument with Aphrael about her insistence in manipulating everyone's lives to her liking.

* FiveManBand: Sparhawk -- TheHero, Kalten -- TheLancer, Kurik -- TheSmartGuy, Sephrenia -- TheChick, Ulath/Tynian/Bevier/Berit -- TheBigGuy. Tack on Talen and Flute as the [[TagalongKid Tagalong Kids]] and there you go. Or, if you like, you could make the {{BigGuy}}s their own band-within-a-band: Tynian -- [[TheLancer Big Lancer]], Bevier -- [[TheSmartGuy Big Smart Guy]], Ulath -- [[TheBigGuy Big Squared]] and Berit -- [[TheChick Big Chick]], with Sparhawk as the Big Hero.

** Mirtai is very good at causing these, especially in her {{Backstory}}, including ripping the guts out of a group of killers while they were still alive and leaving them to ''burn to death in a blazing house with their guts around their feet.'' The other [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Atans]] encourage this. Justified because the guys in question had her owner killed.
** Hilariously subverted when in the end of ''The Hidden City'' she kills a man by throwing him out a window. Kalten asks what she did, she tells him 'I defenestrated him' and he, believing that 'defenestrating' means something much worse, tells her that it's a terrible thing to do to a man until she clears up the meaning.

* TheBrute: Adus. Kalten describes him as putting armor on a gorilla... who doesn't bathe.... He's pretty much the archetype at its best: a mentally handicapped, rape and torture happy animalistic thug, who can't write and can barely read, but is a [[IdiotSavant savant]] when it comes to small unit tactics, serves as TheDragon's chief enforcer, and is very, ''very'' dangerous in combat. Martel refers to him as a walking battle axe, and that's not too far off.

** The entire Pandion Order invokes this trope. They have a reputation for being cruel and implacable warriors who torture prisoners graphically in their chapterhouses. They planted those rumors themselves, to make enemies believe they're even more BadAss than they already are.

** Even Martel, apostate and traitor-cranked-up-to-eleven, feels this way. When Annias shows contempt about Sephrenia, Martel tells Annias that Sparhawk is, deep down, a decent guy. Martel ''isn't''.

---> '''Kalten:''' Of course not - just on his funeral cortege. If Wargun goes up against Sparhawk he'll be drinking heavenly mead after the first pass.

** Bergstern is a BadassPreacher, given that not even Sparhawk will risk a fight with him.

* BattleCouple: Mirtai is an ActionGirl and as much a warrior as any man. She towers over Kring, who is a horseman and about as deadly as she is--which deeply impresses Mirtai when she learns. It's hinted they eventually marry.

* ShoutOut / {{Homage}}: The entire subplot involving Ghasek in ''The Ruby Knight'' (involving the ChekhovsGunman Bellina no less) could have been lifted straight out of a HammerHorror movie. The terrified people in the nearby village, the HatePlague-infected minstrel, the creepy forest setting with its chilling moonlight, the haunted castle, the discovery in the basement, the FateWorseThanDeath for Bellina in the end--it has it all. And it was incredibly effective, disturbing, and a major source of NightmareFuel to some.

* SapientSteed: Faran is not only foul-tempered and fond of showing off, he's also very intelligent. Aphrael once informed Sparhawk Faran acts the way he does because that's what Sparhawk expects in his steed.

* [[SaveThePrincess Save The Queen]]: The plot of the first two and a half books.

** While [[GeniusBruiser Ulath]] doesn't fit the mold quite, being a [[TheStoic quiet]] [[AnAxeToGrind axe-wielding]] BoisterousBruiser, he has plenty of opportunities to show his remarkable intellectual depth. Ulath explains this with that the winters in his homeland are so cold, you don't want to go outside, leaving plenty of time for study, music, storytelling, discussion and prayer.

** Berit and Bevier. Especially Bevier, whose favored weapon is an intimidating lochaber axe [[note]] [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/small_lochaber_9809.jpg] this is a lochaber. A ''small'' lochaber]][[/note]]. Characters frequently comment on just how murderous the thing looks, and he is fully capable of massive destruction with it.

** The Lamorks as well, by virtue of using crossbows, which can pierce even the armor of hte Church Knights.

* StatuesqueStunner: Mirtai, the Atan giantess who towers over all the Church Knights. She could pass for TallDarkAndBishoujo if you overlook [[KnifeNut the dozen or so knives she carries everywhere]]. That includes knives strapped to her knees [[GroinAttack specifically for kneeing men in the crotch.]]

* TallDarkAndBishoujo: Mirtai nails EVERY trait of the trope perfectly, but her status as a ProudWarriorRaceGuy KnifeNut disqualifies her from it.

** Subverted in the Tamuli when the Knights go undercover. Bevier cuts down his lochaber and plays the part of a PsychoForHire in Scarpa's army, and he [[LargeHam hams it up so much]] everyone in the army camp is completely terrified of him.

** Berit and Bevier. Especially Bevier, whose favored weapon is an intimidating lochaber axe. Characters frequently comment on just how murderous the thing looks, and he is fully capable of massive destruction with it.

This series provides examples of:

* HairOfGold: Ehlana. Sparhawk even thinks of it as "a wealth of pale blonde hair." (He's a smidge biased, though.)

* PaintingTheFourthWall: There's an amusing scene where Sparhawk has to write an elaborate series of fake letters detailing him and his friends hunting down an imaginary plot as part of a ruse. He gets ''really'' into it, adding new plots, dribbling in characters, and is still polishing it when his friends finally forcibly take the quill away from him.\\
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When Ehlana starts reading it, she can tell almost immediately that it's a ruse ''because'' it's too eloquently-written for Sparhawk and can't possibly be anything but a story.