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* IronicName/ IronicNickname: Often used or [[PlayingWith played with]] throughout the series:
** The Northman Jolly Yon is [[LampshadeHanging naturally]] a PerpetualFrowner.
** Friendly is a [[TheComicallySerious deadpan]] psychopath (albeit one who [[TheMadHatter realizes he has a problem]], [[NonMaliciousMonster tries not to hurt people]] and is generally very polite).
** Lamb is a meek townsman who adopted that persona to suppress his true identity as Logen "[[TheBerserker The Bloody]] [[TheDreaded Nine]]" Ninefingers.
** Shy South is an abrasive {{tsundere}}.
** The Northman Jolly Yon is [[LampshadeHanging naturally]] a PerpetualFrowner.
** Friendly is a [[TheComicallySerious deadpan]] psychopath (albeit one who [[TheMadHatter realizes he has a problem]], [[NonMaliciousMonster tries not to hurt people]] and is generally very polite).
** Lamb is a meek townsman who adopted that persona to suppress his true identity as Logen "[[TheBerserker The Bloody]] [[TheDreaded Nine]]" Ninefingers.
** Shy South is an abrasive {{tsundere}}.
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The author continues writing stories set in this world: He has announced that he's signed a contract for 4 more stories, which at present he predicts will be a third stand-alone story followed by another trilogy, though he notes he might change his mind. [[http://www.joeabercrombie.com/2011/03/01/can-you-tell-what-it-is-yet/ some sort of fantasy western]] The first of these contracted books was released in November 2012, titled ''Literature/RedCountry''. (For some unknown reason, the UK edition was announced as ''A Red Country'', but the "A" doesn't seem to have materialized.) In addition, none of the following novels will feature the same cast (at least not in main character roles [[hottip:*: Though ''Red Country'' is an exception as one major character is none other than the very-much alive Logen Ninefingers.]]) and each story is set several years after the last, so the next trilogy may be more than a decade ahead of ''The First Law'' trilogy.
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The author continues writing stories set in this world: He has announced that he's signed a contract for 4 more stories, which at present he predicts will be a third stand-alone story followed by another trilogy, though he notes he might change his mind. [[http://www.joeabercrombie.com/2011/03/01/can-you-tell-what-it-is-yet/ some sort of fantasy western]] The first of these contracted books was released in November 2012, titled ''Literature/RedCountry''. (For some unknown reason, the UK edition was announced as ''A Red Country'', but the "A" doesn't seem to have materialized.) In addition, none of the following novels will feature the same cast (at least not in main character roles [[hottip:*: [[note]] Though ''Red Country'' is an exception as one major character is none other than the very-much alive Logen Ninefingers.]]) [[/note]]) and each story is set several years after the last, so the next trilogy may be more than a decade ahead of ''The First Law'' trilogy.
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* OurOrcsAreDifferent: The Shanka are essentially orcs in everything but name.
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* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil:
** Deconstructed with Glokta; he was the military's golden boy until he was captured and viciously tortured. His choice to turn to torturing as his own profession isn't motivated by evil, but by [[PragmaticVillainy pragmatism]]; he's badly crippled and unable to make use of any of his MasterSwordsman skills, but his experiences give him an excellent first-hand knowledge of how to break people. Torturing for the Inquisition is the only way he has to make a living.
** In ''BestServedCold'', [[spoiler:Shivers]] is a straight example, although more realistic than most. He tries to be a good man, but circumstances drive him to increasingly amoral action. In the end, though, his [[EyeScream mutilation]] at the hands of his torturers leads him to [[FaceHeelTurn snap]] much harder than he would have otherwise. He loses pretty much all his compassion for the rest of humanity, thanks in part to a side order of ThenLetMeBeEvil, and becomes one of the most terrifying characters in the series.
** Deconstructed with Glokta; he was the military's golden boy until he was captured and viciously tortured. His choice to turn to torturing as his own profession isn't motivated by evil, but by [[PragmaticVillainy pragmatism]]; he's badly crippled and unable to make use of any of his MasterSwordsman skills, but his experiences give him an excellent first-hand knowledge of how to break people. Torturing for the Inquisition is the only way he has to make a living.
** In ''BestServedCold'', [[spoiler:Shivers]] is a straight example, although more realistic than most. He tries to be a good man, but circumstances drive him to increasingly amoral action. In the end, though, his [[EyeScream mutilation]] at the hands of his torturers leads him to [[FaceHeelTurn snap]] much harder than he would have otherwise. He loses pretty much all his compassion for the rest of humanity, thanks in part to a side order of ThenLetMeBeEvil, and becomes one of the most terrifying characters in the series.
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* EvilSoundsRaspy: Justified with Shivers. In ''Best Served Cold'', he's captured and tortured, causing him to damage his vocal chords screaming and to make a HeelFaceTurn. So his voice and his evil both have the same cause.
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* EvilSoundsRaspy: Justified with Shivers. [[spoiler:Shivers.]] In ''Best Served Cold'', he's captured and tortured, causing him to damage his vocal chords screaming and to make a HeelFaceTurn.FaceHeelTurn. So his voice and his evil both have the same cause.
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** "Why don't you just use magic?" -Finree
** "Because it's just a lot easier to get people to kill each other." -Bayaz
** "Because it's just a lot easier to get people to kill each other." -Bayaz
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** Subverted with Caul Shivers, who [[spoiler: got his name when he fell in a river on a raid,]] and Curnden Craw, who choked on food.
** Subverted even more with a character whose Naming as a Named Man is Forley the Weakest.
** Subverted even more with a character whose Naming as a Named Man is Forley the Weakest.
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** Subverted with Caul Shivers, who [[spoiler: got his name when he fell in a river on a raid,]] and Curnden Craw, who choked on food.
** Subverted even morefood. Also subverted with a character whose Naming as a Named Man is Forley the Weakest.Weakest, so named because he was sent as a champion to a combat his clan ''wanted'' to lose.
** Subverted even more
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* ThenLetMeBeEvil: A big part of Shivers' decision to join Monza, and [[spoiler:his later FaceHeelTurn]]; upstanding morals don't go down well in Styria, especially not when the guy with the morals is a Northman.
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* HonorableMarriageProposal: [[spoiler: Glokta to Ardee]] in the last book. Once Jezal is king, it wouldn't be safe for her to have his child unless she was married to someone else. Given the nature of the world concerned, the "honorable" is only partly there, but it ''is'' the only way he can save her life.
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* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: The Maker's Tower. For starters, they reach the top without actually climbing stairs. Glokta is the first to realize this, and is ''not'' grateful that the stairs weren't there, because it was a MindScrew.
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* EvilSoundsRaspy: Justified with Shivers. In ''Best Served Cold'', he's captured and tortured, causing him to damage his vocal chords screaming and to make a HeelFaceTurn. So his voice and his evil both have the same cause.
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* FantasticDrug: Aside from alcohol, there seem to be two main vices in Abercrombie's world: husk, which appears to be an {{expy}} of opium, and chagga, a weed smoked by the Northerners and freuently chewed by Cosca's motley band of merceneries, which seems to combine elements of both marijuana and tobacco.
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* FantasticDrug: Aside from alcohol, there seem to be two main vices in Abercrombie's world: husk, which appears to be an {{expy}} of opium, and chagga, a weed smoked by the Northerners and freuently frequently chewed by Cosca's motley band of merceneries, mercenaries, which seems to combine elements of both marijuana and tobacco.
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** Bayaz could arguably be considered a more dickish version of ''LordOfTheRings'''s Gandalf. [[spoiler:Except he's not just a jerk, he's actively evil.]]
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* FantasticNuke: [[spoiler: The Seed]] in Book 3.
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* FantasticNuke: [[spoiler: The Seed]] in Book 3.3, down to [[spoiler:a mysterious illness very similar to radiation poisoning.]]
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Mismatched Eyes is now disambiguation page. Please check to see if this example fits one of the tropes under Mismatched Eyes and re-add with context explaining why it fits the new trope.
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* MismatchedEyes: Yoru Sulfur. [[spoiler: It's the only thing he keeps when he [[ShapeShifting changes form]].]]
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* RedRightHand: Yoru Sulfur has mismatched eyes, one blue, one green. It's mentioned every time he appears.
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* RedRightHand: Yoru Sulfur has mismatched eyes, one blue, one green. It's mentioned every time he appears. [[spoiler: It's the only thing he keeps when he [[ShapeShifting changes form]].]]
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** In ''The Blade Itself'', Jezal spends a long time admiring himself in the mirror, particularly his chin, which he is especially proud of. [[spoiler: One book later, he gets his jaw broken in his first real battle, and spends the rest of the series with a crooked chin and an obvious, though not disfiguring, scar.]]
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** Glotka himself is a brilliant, amoral, bitter crippled man with chronic leg pain and a team of subordinates who solves mysteries, much like ''HouseMD''.
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** At one point, Glotka removes the nipples of a man he's torturing, noting that men don't need them, a reference to a similar scene with the Unsullied.
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* FantasticDrug: Aside from alcohol, there seem to be two main vices in Abercrombie's world: husk, which appears to be an {{expy}} of opium, and chagga, a weed smoked by the Northerners which seems to be marijuana.
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* FantasticDrug: Aside from alcohol, there seem to be two main vices in Abercrombie's world: husk, which appears to be an {{expy}} of opium, and chagga, a weed smoked by the Northerners and freuently chewed by Cosca's motley band of merceneries, which seems to be marijuana.combine elements of both marijuana and tobacco.
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* BaldOfAwesome: Lamb shaves his head for his [[spoiler: brawl with Glama Golden]]
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* BaldOfAwesome: Lamb shaves his head for his [[spoiler: brawl with Glama Golden]]Golden]] and keeps it for the rest of ''Red Country''
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* BaldOfAwesome: Lamb, [[spoiler: secretly Logen Fucking Ninefingers]] shaves his head for his [[spoiler: brawl with Glama Golden]]
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* BaldOfAwesome: Lamb, [[spoiler: secretly Logen Fucking Ninefingers]] Lamb shaves his head for his [[spoiler: brawl with Glama Golden]]
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* BaldOfAwesome: Lamb, [[spoiler: secretly Logen Fucking Ninefingers]] shaves his head for his [[spoiler: brawl with Glama Golden]]
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Crosswicking
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* BarbarianLonghair: The Named Men, Northern barbarians in ''TheFirstLaw'' series typically wear their hair long and don't cut it.
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Discussion Re Cas and Vitari and being Happily Married
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* HeelFaithTurn: [[spoiler: Temple]] from Red Country. Oh so much.
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** Red Country gives us The Ghosts/The Folk, who are sort of Native Americans that look like Celts(pale skin, reddish hair, blue warpaint). They cut off ears instead of scalps.
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**Styria is very similar to Early Modern Italy with a dash of Eastern Europe thrown in. Though they're never really expounded on, the throwaway references to Suljuk and Thond seem to evoke the Far East, although further throwaway comments seem to imply that the Thondese are white.
** Red Country gives us The Ghosts/The Folk,who who, appropriate to the Medieval Fantasy meets Wild West setting, are sort of Native Americans that look like Celts(pale Celts (pale skin, reddish hair, blue warpaint). They cut off ears instead of scalps.
** Red Country gives us The Ghosts/The Folk,
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* FieryRedhead: Shy South from Red Country.
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* FieryRedhead: Vitari in the original books. Shy South from Red Country.
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* HappilyMarried: Subverted like crazy with [[spoiler: Cas and Vitari]] in "Best Served Cold". Played straight with Calder and Seff in "The Heroes", though.
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* HeelFaithTurn: [[spoiler: Temple]] from Red Country. Oh so much.
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* DemocracyIsBad: Arch Lector Sult and [[spoiler:Bayaz]] believe that the people are too stupid and gullible to make their own decisions in any capacity.
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** ''The Heroes'', being pretty much a war novel, has a lot of them, but special attention must be paid to Bremer dan Gorst, who routinely faces exceeding odds and comes alive out of this.
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** ''The Heroes'', being pretty much a war novel, has a lot of them, but special attention must be paid to Bremer dan Gorst, who routinely faces exceeding odds and comes alive out of this.this, and Whirrun of Bligh a.k.a. "Cracknut" Whirrun, the only swordsman that Gorst acknowledges as his equal.
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-->'''Harding Grim''': "Uh"
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** Hell, his status as a turncoat is so great that he has basically been on both sides of major conflicts in almost every single region of the world.
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** Hell, his status as a turncoat is so great that he has basically been on both sides of major conflicts in almost every single region of the world. In ''Last Argument of Kings'', he has a literal turncoat for changing colors mid-venture.
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** Subverted with Caul Shivers, who [[spoiler: got his name when he fell in a river on a raid.]]
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** Subverted with Caul Shivers, who [[spoiler: got his name when he fell in a river on a raid.]]raid,]] and Curnden Craw, who choked on food.
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* HeelFaithTurn: [[spoiler: Temple]] from Red Country. Oh so much.
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** Red Country gives us The Ghosts/The Folk, who are sort of Native Americans that look like Celts(pale skin, reddish hair). They cut off ears instead of scalps.
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** Red Country gives us The Ghosts/The Folk, who are sort of Native Americans that look like Celts(pale skin, reddish hair).hair, blue warpaint). They cut off ears instead of scalps.
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*FieryRedhead: Shy South from Red Country.
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''The First Law'' is a series of LowFantasy novels and short-stories written by British writer Joe Abercrombie. The first three novels form a trilogy; the remaining stories are stand-alone. The novels are:
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''The First Law'' is a series of LowFantasy novels and short-stories written by British writer Joe Abercrombie. The first three novels form a trilogy; the remaining stories are stand-alone.stand-alone (and some have their own pages). The novels are:
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* ''Red Country''
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* ''Red Country''
''Literature/RedCountry''
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* ''''Literature/BestServedCold''
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* ''''Literature/BestServedCold''''Literature/BestServedCold''
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* ''Best Served Cold''
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* ''Best Served Cold''''''Literature/BestServedCold''
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_First_Law_84.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:There's a lot of blood.]]
''The First Law'' is a series of LowFantasy novels and short-stories written by British writer Joe Abercrombie. The first three novels form a trilogy; the remaining stories are stand-alone. The novels are:
* ''The Blade Itself''
* ''Before They are Hanged''
* ''The Last Argument of Kings''
* ''Best Served Cold''
* ''The Heroes''
* ''Red Country''
They are characterized by extreme [[DarkerAndEdgier grittiness]], [[GallowsHumor grim wit]], being on the far cynical hand of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism, and the intention to [[SubvertedTrope subvert]] and [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruct]] a certain number of {{Fantasy}} tropes. The trilogy and its successive novels feature several point of view characters, but the main heroes(?) -- er, protagonists -- of the trilogy are warrior [[TheBerserker Logen Ninefingers]], who's trying to find a new path in life; Inquisitor [[TortureTechnician Sand dan Glokta]], who's wondering why he does what he does; and soldier [[TheHedonist Jezal dan Luthar]], whose life is one of much ease and little responsibility. Until things go to hell, at least.
The series takes place in a fictional world that [[FantasyCounterpartCulture mimics several facets of ancient to classical Earth]]. The action, for the most part, takes place in or regards people from the central realm [[TheKingdom the Union]]. The Union is beset upon on all sides by savages and orc stand-ins from the North (not just a direction, but the name of the continent according to Union cartographers and Northmen both), the mighty Gurkhish Empire to the south, mercenary bands from the continent of Styria to the south-east, and the machinations of the crumbling magocratic Old Empire in the far west. The Union appears to be in a state of near-perpetual war, constantly maneuvered into seemingly useless conflicts by an uncompromisingly proud foreign policy.
This is a world filled with bad people who do the right thing, good people who do the wrong thing, stupid people who do the stupid thing and, well, pretty much any combination of those. It's a world that's not merely filled with bad people; it actively makes the good and the decent ones worse. Survival is no lean feat, and at the end of the day, dumb luck might be more of an asset than any amount of planning, skill, or noble intention.
Why would anyone '''want''' to take a jaunt through this hell-hole? Because it's damn fun, that's why.
The first three books were followed in 2009 by ''Literature/BestServedCold''. It is set in Styria and follows mercenary Monza Murcatto's plan to exact vengeance on those who have betrayed her. It features and makes numerous references to characters and events of the trilogy that came before it.
''This world is [[CrapsackWorld one seriously fucked up place]],'' and ''Best Served Cold'' [[UpToEleven takes it all up to eleven.]]
The next book, titled ''Literature/TheHeroes'', came out in January 2011. It tells the story of the war between Union and the North, or, more precisely, the decisive battle between the sides, which lasts several days. Like the one before, it also mentions and makes use of many previously established characters.
The author continues writing stories set in this world: He has announced that he's signed a contract for 4 more stories, which at present he predicts will be a third stand-alone story followed by another trilogy, though he notes he might change his mind. [[http://www.joeabercrombie.com/2011/03/01/can-you-tell-what-it-is-yet/ some sort of fantasy western]] The first of these contracted books was released in November 2012, titled ''Literature/RedCountry''. (For some unknown reason, the UK edition was announced as ''A Red Country'', but the "A" doesn't seem to have materialized.) In addition, none of the following novels will feature the same cast (at least not in main character roles [[hottip:*: Though ''Red Country'' is an exception as one major character is none other than the very-much alive Logen Ninefingers.]]) and each story is set several years after the last, so the next trilogy may be more than a decade ahead of ''The First Law'' trilogy.
----
!! This work provides examples of :
* AbortedDeclarationOfLove: Logen Ninefingers, Ardee West.
* ActionGirl: Ferro, and Vitari when she crops up.
** Monza in ''Best Served Cold.''
** Wonderful in ''The Heroes''.
** Shy in ''Red Country''.
* ActuallyThatsMyAssistant: When Logen goes to meet Bayaz for the first time, he thinks that a scholarly-looking elderly librarian (one of Bayaz's servants) is Bayaz, and takes Bayaz (dressed as/working as a butcher) for one of Bayaz's servants.
* AdiposeRex: King Guslav V is this trope taken UpToEleven. He is so fat he has to be carried everywhere, and seems nothing more than a figurehead - indeed, he is portrayed as having a hard time thinking about politics (or anything much) at all.
* AlienGeometries: The inside of the House of the Maker.
* AntiHero: All of the main characters.
* AnyoneCanDie: ''The Heroes'', mostly, but also present a bit in the trilogy.
* ArcWords: "Once you've got a task to do, it's better to do it than live with the fear of it."
** - "You have to be realistic about things."
** - "Why do I do this?"
** In ''Best Served Cold'', "Mercy and cowardice are the same."
*** "What would I do without you ?" and all variations.
** ''Those are the times.''
* ArchEnemy: Stairs to Glokta. Also, Bayaz and Khalul.
* AristocratsAreEvil: But don't worry, so is everyone else.
* ArmorIsUseless: "Armour... is part of a state of mind... in which you admit the possibility... of being hit."
** That said, most characters that see combat use at least ''some'' armor, and many use shields. Armor in this series is overcome via crossbows, maces, and the occasional BFS, as well as stabbing through joints. Not because it's made of paper-mâché.
*** In real life, these real world techniques only worked because either the one using it was also in armor, or the armored foe had already been disabled enough to level the coup de grace. Also, much was made about armor being heavy, but armor at the height of its development was light enough to do cartwheels in. It was certainly lighter than the gear today's Navy Seals would carry. Full body armor only became heavy in response to firearms, and then quickly abandoned.
* ArtifactOfDoom: The Seed, also a MacGuffin.
** [[spoiler: Only for the second book; The Seed actually gets used in the third one to rather devastating effect.]]
* AscendedExtra: Caul Shivers in ''Best Served Cold''. A few other secondary characters from the trilogy play important roles as well, like Nicomo Cosca, Vitari, Sulfur, and Duke Orso.
** Prince Calder and Bremer dan Gorst in ''The Heroes''.
* AxCrazy: Logen, when he blacks out.
* AwesomeMcCoolname: Logen Ninefingers, also known as "Logen Rip-Your-Fucking-Face-Off Ninefingers" to his friends.
** AKA The Bloody Nine. Now ''that'' is one bad ass nick name, although Logen himself hates it.
** [[spoiler: Averted by Logen in ''Red Country'', as he now goes by the name of Lamb.]]
* BadAss: Logen and the Named men with him. Ferro.
** Not ''all'' the Named Men; Just his friends -- Harding Grim, The Dogman, Tul Duru "The Thunderhead", Rudd Threetrees and of course, Black Dow.
** ''Best Served Cold'' features Shivers, Monza and Friendly.
** ''The Heroes'', being pretty much a war novel, has a lot of them, but special attention must be paid to Bremer dan Gorst, who routinely faces exceeding odds and comes alive out of this.
** ''Red Country'' has [[BadassGrandpa Savian]], who briefly forms a BashBrothers-like duo with RetiredBadass Lamb aka [[spoiler:Logen Ninefingers]].
* BaldOfEvil: ''[[spoiler: Logen]] should have known better than to trust a man with no hair.''
* BalkanizeMe: The Old Empire collapsed into a plethora of tinpot dictatorships, petty fiefdoms, and city-states. They've been fighting among themselves ever since.
* BarbarianHero: Logen Ninefingers, and other Northmen characters.
* BarbarianTribe: Mostly the Shanka, but quite often the Gurkish and the Northmen also, when they aren't on a LastStand. Stranger-Come-Knocking [[spoiler: Bragger-Come-Boasting]] and his boys from beyond the Crinna.
* TheBerserker: [[spoiler: Logen's alternate personality of the Bloody-Nine]], and ''how.''
** In ''The Heroes," [[spoiler: Bremer dan Gorst]].
* BigBadEnsemble: [[KnightTemplar Khalul]] and [[SmugSnake Bethod]] are set up early on, but as the story progresses we learn that [[spoiler: [[WomanScorned Tolomei]]]] is alive and now works for TheLegionsOfHell, and more shockingly that revelation means that [[spoiler: ''[[TheDumbledore Bayaz]]'' is actually a BigBad as well, and maybe even '''the''' BigBad since not only does he get [[TheBadGuyWins exactly what he was after]], Khalul and Tolomei were both only evil because they JumpedOffTheSlipperySlope trying to ''bring him down'' (and Bethod may or may not have been his UnwittingPawn, at least once upon a time), and his centuries of [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder treachery]] and [[ManipulativeBastard ruthless manipulation]] are responsible, directly or indirectly, for nearly ''every war the Union as ever took part in'', all because he's a [[ItsAllAboutMe self-centred bastard]] with [[{{Pride}} delusions of grandeur]] who pretty much thinks [[TautologicalTemplar humanity can't survive without him]]]].
* BittersweetEnding: Possibly even a DownerEnding, depending on your point of view.
** [[spoiler: ''Best Served Cold'' ends on a somewhat higher note, which is surprising, considering the even darker tone of the book.]]
** [[spoiler: "Red Country" ends with Pit and Ro safe with Shy and Temple, but Lamb/Logen leaves after realizing he can't escape his past.]] Still the happiest ending of a story, so far.
* BlackAndGrayMorality: Pushed to the point where you wonder at the end whether the protagonists were really the least evil, or if, perhaps, they weren't actually even worse than their antagonist.
** This is a world where the BigBad is [[spoiler: The immortal prophet of a [[ReligionOfEvil temple of cannibalistic sorceror-ninjas]] who truly believes he is the Right Hand of {{God}}.]] This tells you a lot about the protagonists. [[spoiler: Especially when you realize that his ArchEnemy whom they are working for [[EvilVersusEvil isn't really any better]]...]]
* BloodKnight: Ferro. Bremen dan Gorst becomes a more subdued example in ''The Heroes''.
* BolivianArmyEnding: For [[spoiler: Logen Ninefingers. It's (probably deliberately) unclear whether he survives, although it's worth noting that he survived an almost identical fall at the start of the first novel.]]
** It's worth noting that [[spoiler: Logen was originally a character the author wrote about years before he started this story; ''The First Law'' began as kind of a RetCon retelling of his misadventures. Basically, he's the main character and this world was built around him, so if you're going to bet on it, he's probably still alive.]]
*** Played with in ''The Heroes'': [[spoiler: his death is kept deliberately unconfirmed, and Dogman uses this to scare the enemy shitless before attacking. His death is still unconfirmed.]]
*** Averted in 'Red Country': [[spoiler: Logen's alive, and kicking, having married a woman in the Near Country.]]
* BookEnds: ''The Blade Itself'' begins with [[spoiler: Logen falling in a river from a great height]] and the chapter is called The End. The last chapter of ''Last Argument of Kings'' is called The Beginning and ends exactly in the same way.
** ''Best Served Cold'' begins and ends with a sentence describing "a sunrise the color of bad blood".
** Let's just say a lot of individual [=POVs=] in different books end this way. Definitely one of the favorite tropes of the author.
* BowAndSwordInAccord: Ferro.
* [[spoiler: BrotherSisterIncest: Monza and Benna in ''Best Served Cold'' (or, more precisely, before). Shivers is squicked.]]
* TheBrute: Bremer dan Gorst is built up to be this... [[spoiler: but actually loses very gracefully.]]
** As of ''The Heroes'' [[spoiler: He fits the trope nicely. Worse, he's a Hero.]]
* BulletTime: Shenkt in ''Best Served Cold'' can do this.
* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler: The East Wind (Ishri)]] is first mentioned in ''The Blade Itself'' as one of Khalul's more dangerous disciples, but [[spoiler: she]] doesn't make an appearance until ''Best Served Cold'' and is much more integral in ''The Heroes'' as some sort of [[spoiler: pyrotechnics and weather sorceress.]]
* TheChessmaster: Bayaz.
* ColdBloodedTorture: Several instances in each book, generally performed by Glokta.
** Debatable, since he was just doing his job and constantly asks himself 'Why do I do this?'. He gets one mention that qualifies for this trope at the end of the trilogy, where he answers that question.
** Played straighter in ''Best Served Cold'', with [[spoiler: Shivers']] torturers.
* CannotSpitItOut: Gorst has been in love with [[ObliviousToLove Finree]] for years, yet could never muster the courage to confess. [[spoiler: And when he does, he mentions it so off-handedly that it's not clear if she even noticed, caught in her WhatTheHellHero rhetoric.]]
* CatchPhrase:
-->'''Logen''': "You have to be realistic about these things", "Say one thing for Logen Ninefingers, say he's X", "You can never have too many knives" "I'm still alive", "Shit.".
-->'''Glokta''': ''Body found floating by the docks...'', "Why do I do this?", "Click, tap, pain", any mention of his teeth.
-->'''Ferro''': "Fucking pinks!", "Ssss!"
-->'''The Dogman''': ''By the dead, he needed to piss, like always.''
-->'''Curnden Craw''': ''It was the right thing to do.''
* CharacterDevelopment: ''Lots'' for Jezal dan Luthar, constantly steering him from one direction to another. [[spoiler: Deliberately averted for most other characters - inability to escape your old life is one of the major themes of the books. Although, later books suggest that the strain of being the ineffectual puppet of Bayez and Glokta have pushed him back to his old life.]]
** Monza during her revenge.
** Calder after he loses his father and position.
** Shivers [[spoiler: starts out trying to do the right thing and gradually gives up over the course of Best Served Cold. Losing his eye is the breaking point. By ''The Heroes'', he merits consideration as a candidate for the cruelest character in the series. That's ''no small achievement.'' But even after that, he's still not pure evil, evidenced by the finale of the ''Red Country''.]]
** Temple in ''Red Country'' manages to overcome his cowardice and avoid the fate Cosca has in mind for him, [[spoiler: finally settling down with Shy in a small town and running a shop, having left the mercenaries behind.]]
* ChekhovsGun: ''Red Country'' mentions a few times that [[spoiler: Iasiv has yet to make his finest performance]], which he finally makes by the end. Also, [[spoiler: the Mayor's contract with the Empire that Temple writes.]]
* ChurchMilitant: The Gurkish Temple, while many civilizations of the world have ''God'', only the Gurkish Temple is headed by a crazy cannibal wizard who thinks that he is God's Right Hand to purify the unbelievers through fire and steel.
* ContinuityNod: "Oh hey! It's that guy from the trilogy!" Happens numerous times. The dialogue in the stand-alone books also makes plenty of allusions to prior events.
* CoversAlwaysLie: The setting of ''Best Served Cold''--obviously modeled after Italy and Spain--as well as the style of the dueling make very clear that Monza's sword is made for fencing, not to mention it being described as thin at one point. Despite this the American hardcover shows Monza with not one but ''two'' arming swords, and the mass-market paperback has a snake curling itself around a ''greatsword'' of all things! As if that weren't bad enough the UK edition--which came out first--very clearly has a rapier on it. [[InsaneTrollLogic Why?]]
* CrapsackWorld: Not just a shitty place to live, but a place that actively makes decent people shittier.
* {{Dead Person Impersonation}}: [[spoiler: Tolomei, who, much to Bayaz' dismay was {{Not Quite Dead}}. She had been impersonating Malacus Quai since the middle of the first book]].
* DeadlyDecadentCourt: The Midderland court is portrayed like this, with some criminal levels of indifference and sometimes stupidity among its nobles.
* DeadpanSnarker: Mainly Glokta, although many other characters give as well.
* DeconstructorFleet: one of fantasy's best. Just take a look at the character sheet.
** By the time of ''Red Country'', Abercrombie is Deconstructing ''himself''.
* DidNotGetTheGirl: Pretty much everyone when it's their turn to be sympathetic.
** Subverted to HELL with [[spoiler: Glokta and Ardee]].
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Logen is left friendless, alone, and driven to jumping out a window, trading certain death for likely death. Glokta has given up on any hope that he might redeem himself and set to torturing for a malevolent master once again. Jezal lives beaten, disillusioned, and resigned to being a puppet at best, knowing that the man he hates most has married the only woman he ever loved. Ferro has abandoned all reason and gone off on her own to murder Khalul. Longfoot is maimed, and Bayaz has achieved his goal at the cost of immeasurable pain to those around him. Oh, and peace between The Union and Gurkhul is prevented because it would hamper Bayaz's desire to wage war against Khalul, dooming any chance of peace in the future as well.]] How's that for cheerful?
** Also, [[spoiler: Shivers']] fate in ''Best Served Cold'', although most other characters fare better. Or at least those left alive.
* DoYouWantToCopulate: "You want to fuck?"
* TheDragon: Fenris the Feared in the trilogy, Shenkt in ''Best Served Cold'' ([[spoiler: although he turned out to have [[DragonWithAnAgenda an agenda]]]]).
** [[spoiler: Shivers is one to Black Dow in ''The Heroes''... until he turns on him - not because he wants the power, but simply in revenge for bad treatment. Then he becomes one to Calder.]]
* DrowningMySorrows: Cosca's preferred style. Temple's as well.
* DualWielding: Jezal dan Luthar and other men of class use a form of swordplay somewhere between the style of the European parrying dagger and Musashi's katana/wakizashi combination, with one vaguely described "long steel" and one "short steel."
* DuelToTheDeath: A popular custom in the North. All the Named Men who follow Logen do so because they lost one to him, and he chose to spare them.
** Quite a few throughout ''Best Served Cold'', and not all with Monza.
** ''The Heroes'' has a hilariously one sided bout between Black Dow and [[spoiler: Calder]].
** ''Red Country'' has one between Glama Golden and [[spoiler: Lamb/Logen]].
* EccentricMentor: Subverted, with a vengeance -- Bayaz at first seems like your average grumpy wizard mentor. Quickly you suspect he's a much darker figure than that, [[spoiler: but the full extent of his chessmastery is only revealed at the end, when you realize the number of people he betrayed while pinning the blame on someone else. In fact, he is as much a BigBad as Khalul is, ''more so'' in fact since for all the lines he has crossed Khalul's primary motivation is simply to bring Bayaz to justice for his murderous treachery.]]
* TheEmpire: The Gurkish empire from the south.
* EvilAlbino: Played with in the case of Practical Frost, a large and passive man who just follows Glokta's orders. Played straight with [[spoiler: him again when he betrays Glokta for no real reason.]]
* EvilIsDeathlyCold: The female Eater Glokta encounters (later revealed to be [[spoiler: Tolomei]]) leaves him with this impression. Given that she has literally [[spoiler: made a DealWithTheDevil]] and implies she has actually been to {{Hell}}, this might not be just metaphorical, either.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: As explained by Abercrombie [[http://writerunboxed.com/2008/09/26/interview-joe-abercrombie-part-3/ here]]:
--> "So the Union I based around a kind of Holy Roman Empire (largely Germanic) with some banking and commerce from medieval Flanders and a political system closer to the Venetian Republic. That produced names like Sult, Marovia, Valint and Balk, Bremer dan Gorst. Gurkhul was more like an Ottoman Empire that had absorbed a whole range of Middle-Eastern and African cultures, producing names like Uthman-ul-Dosht, Khalul, Mamun, and Ferro Maljinn. With the North I went for something slightly different, a kind of Viking or Scots culture, but with a northern English tilt to the language, and in which the men were given names when they reached manhood related to some deed they’d done or the place they’d done it — things like Rudd Threetrees, Caul Shivers, Forley the Weakest, and Black Dow."
** Red Country gives us The Ghosts/The Folk, who are sort of Native Americans that look like Celts(pale skin, reddish hair). They cut off ears instead of scalps.
* FantasticDrug: Aside from alcohol, there seem to be two main vices in Abercrombie's world: husk, which appears to be an {{expy}} of opium, and chagga, a weed smoked by the Northerners which seems to be marijuana.
* FantasyGunControl: On the cusp of aversion. The Gurkish enthusiasm for gunpowder is apparently contagious, and [[spoiler: Bayaz oversees the testing of primitive cannons in ''The Heroes''. A more advanced one is successfully field-tested in ''Red Country''.]]
* FantasticNuke: [[spoiler: The Seed]] in Book 3.
* FantasyWorldMap: Averted and spoofed in a very TakeThat way (will not say how)
** Partially played straight in ''Best Served Cold'', the opening of each section of the book has a map of the locale in Styria that the characters are currently occupying. When pieced together, a coherent map of the continent emerges.
** Justified in ''Best Served Cold'', because the main characters go through about eight different cities, and ''without'' a map it would quickly become confusing to the reader.
** And in ''The Heroes'' we actually get annotated maps of the ebb and flow of battle throughout the book.
* AFatherToHisMen: Marshall Burr is this, at least to West.
** Curnden Craw to his dozen.
* FiveManBand: the most feared men in the North. [[spoiler: (Threetrees - TheHero, Black Dow - TheLancer, Tul Duru - TheBigGuy, Grim - TheSmartGuy, Dogman - TheChick.)]] It takes a couple casualties to get them there.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In ''Best Served Cold,'' [[spoiler: Shivers and another Northman reenact the battle between Logen and Fenris the Feared, a giant.]] In ''The Heroes'', [[spoiler: Shivers gets Logen's sword and kills Black Dow with it--and another giant, Stranger-Come-Knocking, has been introduced...]]
* FunctionalMagic: We get this gem from ''The Heroes''
** "Why don't you just use magic?" -Finree
** "Because it's just a lot easier to get people to kill each other." -Bayaz
* {{The Ghost}}: Khalul.
* GoodWithNumbers: Friendly, who is obsessed with counting.
* GrimUpNorth: The North, played straight.
** "Uh."
* GraveRobbing: Shanka like it as well as the Gurkish sorcerers, but really no one is ''above'' the practice.
* HandicappedBadass: Please, don't fuck with Glokta. It won't end well.
* HeroesPreferSwords: Logen begins the book with an axe, but while he claims to be equally proficient with all weapons he never lets go of the Maker's sword once he acquires it, and chooses it himself from a very wide selection of weapons. Jezal is a trained duelist and carries [[DualWielding two]], and Ferro loves her sword almost as much as her bow. The Dogman also picks one up when shooting isn't an option. Of all the trilogy's protagonists, the only one who doesn't use one is Glokta and even he was a masterful duelist and successful cavalry officer in his youth.
** Hell, even Glokta has a [[spoiler: SwordCane]]. Sure, it's only used ''once'', but...
** Continued in ''Best Served Cold'', with Monza favoring her Calvez and Shivers still favoring his axe but occasionally picking up a sword as situations demand.
** And again in ''The Heroes''. Shivers inherits [[spoiler: the Maker's sword]]. Craw, Gorst, and Beck never touch another weapon. Whirrun of Bligh is a genuine Hero and has a CoolSword to go with his name.
* HeroicSacrifice: Deliciously subverted with [[spoiler: Cosca's apparent death in Visserine. He is found by the invading soldiers, mistaken for a friendly casualty because of the uniform he stole and wore to infiltrate, and nursed back to health.]] He then [[spoiler: proceeds to reclaim leadership of the Thousand Swords, right from under Monza's nose.]]
** [[spoiler: General Jallenhorm quite intentionally, to avoid further responsibilities]] in ''The Heroes''.
*** Actually, he wanted redemption for his previous failures, not because he was afraid of responsibility.
* [[GirlfriendInCanada Husband And Kids Up North]]: [[ActionGirl Wonderful's]] family comes up several times in conversation with her crew. Some of them ask he when she'll go back to them, and she laughs them off. Towards the end of the book, she admits she had returned to her farm for a visit several years ago. The entire valley they lived in was abandoned; she has no idea what happened to them.
* TheIgor: Glokta's practicals (assistant torturers) Severard and Frost, are portrayed this way.
* ImAHumanitarian: The Second Law is about eating the flesh of people, and the Eaters have broken it. Grants superhuman abilities, including differing levels of increased speed and strength. Aside from the speed and strength, some are given unique abilities like [[VoluntaryShapeshifting taking on the form]] of the eaten or use of [[FunctionalMagic High Art]].
* ImmortalityImmorality: The Magi (one in particular), combined with WeAreAsMayflies.
* ImplacableMan: Fenris The Feared.
* ItGetsEasier: Logen and the rest of the Named Men basically ''run'' on this trope.
** '''Red''' Beck however is a subversion, after he gets his name he turns his back on the whole business.
* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Whirrun invents the sandwich. No one is impressed. The specific line, however, is said in reference to the concept of sliced bread. [[MundaneUtility And he sliced the bread]] with [[{{BFS}} The Father of Swords]], nonetheless.
* JerkAss: A ridiculously high percentage of the characters.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Arguably Black Dow. He may be a dick, but he comes through for his companions when he's needed, and he can make some very heartfelt speeches when no one else will. [[spoiler: He was also the only one brave enough to demand that the Bloody Nine answer for the slaying of Tul Duru and Crummock's child, as well as getting the North into a war it hadn't wanted.]]
** Calder. [[spoiler: He appears to be a ManipulativeBastard, but thats not all he is. Just ask his brother.]]
* KarmaHoudini: Characters that at first seem like a monster end up being quite sympathetic by the end of the novels, whereas one or two that appeared good are revealed to be acting on very sinister motives.
* KickTheDog: Our heroes, Logen and Glokta, are determined to do this at least once every chapter. West as well, when he smacks Ardee around. [[spoiler: Bayaz, at the series' end.]]
* TheKingdom: Subverted, as Midderland isn't a very nice place to live.
* KingOnHisDeathbed: King Guslav.
* KnifeNut: You can never have too many of 'em...
* LipstickLesbian: [[spoiler: Terez]]
* LittleGirlsKickShins: Crummock-i-Phail's daughter.
* LudicrousGibs: Don't make Bayaz angry.
* MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter: Tolomei.
* TheManBehindTheMan: A magus. Always a magus. Except when it's a banker. [[spoiler: I lied--still a magus, even then.]]
* ManipulativeBastard: The series is overflowing with them, but Bayaz takes first prize.
* TheMagicGoesAway: Slowly but surely. At present, though, both magi and Eaters retain quite a bit of power.
** It's not very clear that TheMagicGoesAway affects the PoweredByAForsakenChild Eaters (the contrary is implicit in Mammun's words). And the Maker's work is stated not to fade with time. So it's a subverted trope, really.
*** Not quite, since Bayaz at least seems to consider the Maker's work as [[ClarksThirdLaw sufficiently advanced science]]; magic is explicitly power drawn from The Other Side, and the Maker's work is explicitly ''not'' from The Other Side. And Mammun states that the magic ''is'' going away even if he and his fellow Eater's are not affected by it (yet). And given how AxCrazy [[ImAHumanitarian Mammun]] is, he could be an [[UnreliableNarrator unreliable source]], either outright lying or too insane to notice his slowly fading power. But even if they are the exception, the trope is still otherwise in effect.
* MagicVersusScience: A war not particularly desired by anyone whose torch is nonetheless carried valiantly by Morveer. And even then, the lines are blurry. [[spoiler: As the magic is supposedly leaking from the world, Bayaz seems to have no problem turning to science. If it can help him crush his enemies, he's all for it.]]
* MasterPoisoner: Morveer
* MismatchedEyes: Yoru Sulfur. [[spoiler: It's the only thing he keeps when he [[ShapeShifting changes form]].]]
* {{The Mole}}: [[spoiler: Both Frost '''and''' Severard.]]
** [[spoiler: Bayaz]] has a few in the Northmen's camp in ''The Heroes''.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: In the North, Named Men are people badass enough to earn one of these, like Shama Heartless, the Bloody-Nine, or Tul Duru the Thunderhead. Black Dow ''is'' this trope, to the point that he names Collem West with probably the coolest one in the series - '''Furious'''.
** Subverted with Caul Shivers, who [[spoiler: got his name when he fell in a river on a raid.]]
** Subverted even more with a character whose Naming as a Named Man is Forley the Weakest.
* NoDoubtTheYearsHaveChangedMe: [[spoiler: Sergeant Pike, aka Salem Rews,]] to Glokta.
* NoImmortalInertia: Eaters usually turn to dust when they are killed.
* NostalgiaFilter: A ''lot'' of Northmen like to imagine that everything was glorious before Bethod set out to make himself king. Only a few characters point out that the "good old days" were even ''more'' pointlessly bloody than the present.
* OnlySaneMan: West, during the Angland campaign. [[spoiler: Subverted when he snaps, bites a man's nose off in a berserker rage, and then calmly murders the Crown Prince.]]
* OurGhoulsAreCreepier: The Eaters.
* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Most of the Union and parts of Styria take this stance towards deities. Euz and his sons used to be worshiped in Midderland, but are currently seen as ''mere'' ancient heroes.
* PetTheDog: Glokta, Ferro, Logen, and even Severard get some.
** Black Dow, of all people, gets a couple. [[spoiler: Usually at someone's funeral.]]
*** That last one's particularly egregious, considering what the UNBELIEVABLE BASTARD in question has done. [[spoiler: he was going to be a potter once...]]
* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: Calder and his wife Seff were promised to each other since they were babies, yet they truly love each other, even despite [[UglyGuyHotWife Ugly Wife Hot Husband]] thing.
* PerkyFemaleMinion: Day, to Morveer.
* TheQuest: The focus of most of the second volume, subverted when [[spoiler: they do not find the McGuffin at the end of their journey.]]
* QuirkyMinibossSquad: Goyle's circus of practicals.
** Monza's victims in ''Best Served Cold''.
** Possibly Khalul's small army of Eaters.
* TheRainman: Friendly in ''Best Served Cold'' and ''Red Country''. There were 24 letters in that sentence.
* RedRightHand: Yoru Sulfur has mismatched eyes, one blue, one green. It's mentioned every time he appears.
* ReliableTraitor: Cosca's been on more or less every possible side of every conflict in Styria. Simultaneously, in some cases.
** Hell, his status as a turncoat is so great that he has basically been on both sides of major conflicts in almost every single region of the world.
* ReplicantSnatching: [[spoiler: Yoru Sulfur]] most notably [[spoiler: impersonating High Justice Marovia and The Tanner]].
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: ''Best Served Cold''.
* SatisfiedStreetRat: Ferro Maljinn.
* ScarsAreForever: Abercrombie seems to like scars on his characters. It appears to be one of the running features of his main cast to have some physical peculiarity or visible injury about them. If they don't, they soon gain it in one way or another, for example [[spoiler: Jezal, who was hit in the face with a [[strike: club]] mace]] and from ''Best Served Cold'', [[spoiler: Monza, who got thrown down a mountain after being stabbed several times.]]
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: The Banking House of Valint and Balk. [[spoiler: It's the primary means through which Bayaz maintains his influence over the world and its inhabitants.]]
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler: Shivers does this regarding Black Dow's attempt to murder Logen at the end.]]
** [[spoiler: Vitari and Friendly appear to do this partway through ''Best Served Cold''.]]
** [[spoiler: Beck in the end of ''The Heroes''. Craw tries as well, but fails and returns to fighting.]]
* ShelteredAristocrat: Jezal, and to a greater extent Ladisla.
* ShootTheShaggyDog
* ShoutOut: Some of Abercrombie's characters are suspiciously similar to ones that feature in that ''other'' famous gritty LowFantasy series, ASongOfIceAndFire:
** Monza is [[spoiler: a famously skilled duelist who lost the use of her dominant hand and had to learn again with her left, who was engaged in an incestuous relationship with her twin sibling of the opposite sex, and who became a better person after being separated from that sibling.]]
** Shivers is [[spoiler: a grim mercenary who hates his brother and who suffered horrible burns down one side of his face, which only served to sour his mood and which give him an even grimmer reputation--and who, after being set up as Black Dow's man, is referred to as his "dog."]]
* SmugSnake: Castor Morveer.
* SoMuchForStealth: The Dogman, despite his fame for stealthiness, has a habit of tripping over stumbling over things when silence is vital.
* {{Son Of A Whore}}: [[spoiler: Jezal]].
* TheStoic: Harding Grim, also an Archer. Shivers after his... ''accident''.
* TheStraightWillAndGrace: Curnden Craw and Wonderful in ''The Heroes''.
* SociopathicHero: Ferro, Black Dow, The Bloody-Nine, eventually, [[spoiler: Shivers]], although the "hero" part is [[strike: debatable]]practically non-existent.
* SuperpoweredEvilSide: Logen Ninefingers, as it's gradually revealed that 'The Bloody Nine' isn't quite him. Implied that it may lead to SplitPersonalityTakeover if he lives.
* TautologicalTemplar: [[spoiler: Bayaz, who believes civilization cannot function without his guidance, even if he has to massacre a few thousand people every now and then.]]
* ThoseTwoBadGuys: Frost and Severard.
** Deep and Shallow in ''The Heroes''.
* TokenEvilTeammate: Black Dow. Sure, he looks after his companions and respects the "good" ones of the lot. At the same time, he's a ''horrible, murderous bastard'' and everyone knows it. His loyalties are about the only thing holding him in check... and even that doesn't always work. And ''then'' he goes and [[spoiler: uses his time as regent to form and consolidate a power base, [[NeverFoundTheBody (probably)]] more or less murders Logen, plunges the North into ''another'' civil war, and seems dead-set on being an even ''worse'' ruler than Bethod ever was.]]
* TortureAlwaysWorks: Even though he doesn't always necessarily ''want'' the confessions his victims give him to be truthful, Glokta always knows when he's being lied to.
** Torture is played pretty much the same way no matter who is doing the torturing. It is either used to confirm/clarify previously gathered information or to pull a false confession to advance the torturer's masters' goals.
* TooDumbToLive: Ladisla (But that's [[KickTheDog not what]] [[KarmicDeath kills him!]])
* UnreliableNarrator: In ''Best Served Cold'' Morveer often thinks about his mother death and how it has traumatized him and we sort of sympathize with him as he recalls how he was bullied in the orphanage. That is, until [[spoiler: we find out that he actually poisoned his mother, as well as literally every person he ever had more than a passing acquaintance with.]]
* VestigialEmpire: The Union AND Gurkhul.
** The Old Empire has sunk ''beyond'' "vestigial".
* WaveMotionGun: Wave Motion Vortex Spell Of Death
* WarriorPoet: Logen Ninefingers
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The last we see of Finree's friend Aliz, she's still in the clutches of Stranger-Come-Knocking. [[AFateWorseThanDeath Who wants children -]] ''[[AFateWorseThanDeath civilised]]'' [[AFateWorseThanDeath children]].
-----
[[caption-width-right:350:There's a lot of blood.]]
''The First Law'' is a series of LowFantasy novels and short-stories written by British writer Joe Abercrombie. The first three novels form a trilogy; the remaining stories are stand-alone. The novels are:
* ''The Blade Itself''
* ''Before They are Hanged''
* ''The Last Argument of Kings''
* ''Best Served Cold''
* ''The Heroes''
* ''Red Country''
They are characterized by extreme [[DarkerAndEdgier grittiness]], [[GallowsHumor grim wit]], being on the far cynical hand of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism, and the intention to [[SubvertedTrope subvert]] and [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruct]] a certain number of {{Fantasy}} tropes. The trilogy and its successive novels feature several point of view characters, but the main heroes(?) -- er, protagonists -- of the trilogy are warrior [[TheBerserker Logen Ninefingers]], who's trying to find a new path in life; Inquisitor [[TortureTechnician Sand dan Glokta]], who's wondering why he does what he does; and soldier [[TheHedonist Jezal dan Luthar]], whose life is one of much ease and little responsibility. Until things go to hell, at least.
The series takes place in a fictional world that [[FantasyCounterpartCulture mimics several facets of ancient to classical Earth]]. The action, for the most part, takes place in or regards people from the central realm [[TheKingdom the Union]]. The Union is beset upon on all sides by savages and orc stand-ins from the North (not just a direction, but the name of the continent according to Union cartographers and Northmen both), the mighty Gurkhish Empire to the south, mercenary bands from the continent of Styria to the south-east, and the machinations of the crumbling magocratic Old Empire in the far west. The Union appears to be in a state of near-perpetual war, constantly maneuvered into seemingly useless conflicts by an uncompromisingly proud foreign policy.
This is a world filled with bad people who do the right thing, good people who do the wrong thing, stupid people who do the stupid thing and, well, pretty much any combination of those. It's a world that's not merely filled with bad people; it actively makes the good and the decent ones worse. Survival is no lean feat, and at the end of the day, dumb luck might be more of an asset than any amount of planning, skill, or noble intention.
Why would anyone '''want''' to take a jaunt through this hell-hole? Because it's damn fun, that's why.
The first three books were followed in 2009 by ''Literature/BestServedCold''. It is set in Styria and follows mercenary Monza Murcatto's plan to exact vengeance on those who have betrayed her. It features and makes numerous references to characters and events of the trilogy that came before it.
''This world is [[CrapsackWorld one seriously fucked up place]],'' and ''Best Served Cold'' [[UpToEleven takes it all up to eleven.]]
The next book, titled ''Literature/TheHeroes'', came out in January 2011. It tells the story of the war between Union and the North, or, more precisely, the decisive battle between the sides, which lasts several days. Like the one before, it also mentions and makes use of many previously established characters.
The author continues writing stories set in this world: He has announced that he's signed a contract for 4 more stories, which at present he predicts will be a third stand-alone story followed by another trilogy, though he notes he might change his mind. [[http://www.joeabercrombie.com/2011/03/01/can-you-tell-what-it-is-yet/ some sort of fantasy western]] The first of these contracted books was released in November 2012, titled ''Literature/RedCountry''. (For some unknown reason, the UK edition was announced as ''A Red Country'', but the "A" doesn't seem to have materialized.) In addition, none of the following novels will feature the same cast (at least not in main character roles [[hottip:*: Though ''Red Country'' is an exception as one major character is none other than the very-much alive Logen Ninefingers.]]) and each story is set several years after the last, so the next trilogy may be more than a decade ahead of ''The First Law'' trilogy.
----
!! This work provides examples of :
* AbortedDeclarationOfLove: Logen Ninefingers, Ardee West.
* ActionGirl: Ferro, and Vitari when she crops up.
** Monza in ''Best Served Cold.''
** Wonderful in ''The Heroes''.
** Shy in ''Red Country''.
* ActuallyThatsMyAssistant: When Logen goes to meet Bayaz for the first time, he thinks that a scholarly-looking elderly librarian (one of Bayaz's servants) is Bayaz, and takes Bayaz (dressed as/working as a butcher) for one of Bayaz's servants.
* AdiposeRex: King Guslav V is this trope taken UpToEleven. He is so fat he has to be carried everywhere, and seems nothing more than a figurehead - indeed, he is portrayed as having a hard time thinking about politics (or anything much) at all.
* AlienGeometries: The inside of the House of the Maker.
* AntiHero: All of the main characters.
* AnyoneCanDie: ''The Heroes'', mostly, but also present a bit in the trilogy.
* ArcWords: "Once you've got a task to do, it's better to do it than live with the fear of it."
** - "You have to be realistic about things."
** - "Why do I do this?"
** In ''Best Served Cold'', "Mercy and cowardice are the same."
*** "What would I do without you ?" and all variations.
** ''Those are the times.''
* ArchEnemy: Stairs to Glokta. Also, Bayaz and Khalul.
* AristocratsAreEvil: But don't worry, so is everyone else.
* ArmorIsUseless: "Armour... is part of a state of mind... in which you admit the possibility... of being hit."
** That said, most characters that see combat use at least ''some'' armor, and many use shields. Armor in this series is overcome via crossbows, maces, and the occasional BFS, as well as stabbing through joints. Not because it's made of paper-mâché.
*** In real life, these real world techniques only worked because either the one using it was also in armor, or the armored foe had already been disabled enough to level the coup de grace. Also, much was made about armor being heavy, but armor at the height of its development was light enough to do cartwheels in. It was certainly lighter than the gear today's Navy Seals would carry. Full body armor only became heavy in response to firearms, and then quickly abandoned.
* ArtifactOfDoom: The Seed, also a MacGuffin.
** [[spoiler: Only for the second book; The Seed actually gets used in the third one to rather devastating effect.]]
* AscendedExtra: Caul Shivers in ''Best Served Cold''. A few other secondary characters from the trilogy play important roles as well, like Nicomo Cosca, Vitari, Sulfur, and Duke Orso.
** Prince Calder and Bremer dan Gorst in ''The Heroes''.
* AxCrazy: Logen, when he blacks out.
* AwesomeMcCoolname: Logen Ninefingers, also known as "Logen Rip-Your-Fucking-Face-Off Ninefingers" to his friends.
** AKA The Bloody Nine. Now ''that'' is one bad ass nick name, although Logen himself hates it.
** [[spoiler: Averted by Logen in ''Red Country'', as he now goes by the name of Lamb.]]
* BadAss: Logen and the Named men with him. Ferro.
** Not ''all'' the Named Men; Just his friends -- Harding Grim, The Dogman, Tul Duru "The Thunderhead", Rudd Threetrees and of course, Black Dow.
** ''Best Served Cold'' features Shivers, Monza and Friendly.
** ''The Heroes'', being pretty much a war novel, has a lot of them, but special attention must be paid to Bremer dan Gorst, who routinely faces exceeding odds and comes alive out of this.
** ''Red Country'' has [[BadassGrandpa Savian]], who briefly forms a BashBrothers-like duo with RetiredBadass Lamb aka [[spoiler:Logen Ninefingers]].
* BaldOfEvil: ''[[spoiler: Logen]] should have known better than to trust a man with no hair.''
* BalkanizeMe: The Old Empire collapsed into a plethora of tinpot dictatorships, petty fiefdoms, and city-states. They've been fighting among themselves ever since.
* BarbarianHero: Logen Ninefingers, and other Northmen characters.
* BarbarianTribe: Mostly the Shanka, but quite often the Gurkish and the Northmen also, when they aren't on a LastStand. Stranger-Come-Knocking [[spoiler: Bragger-Come-Boasting]] and his boys from beyond the Crinna.
* TheBerserker: [[spoiler: Logen's alternate personality of the Bloody-Nine]], and ''how.''
** In ''The Heroes," [[spoiler: Bremer dan Gorst]].
* BigBadEnsemble: [[KnightTemplar Khalul]] and [[SmugSnake Bethod]] are set up early on, but as the story progresses we learn that [[spoiler: [[WomanScorned Tolomei]]]] is alive and now works for TheLegionsOfHell, and more shockingly that revelation means that [[spoiler: ''[[TheDumbledore Bayaz]]'' is actually a BigBad as well, and maybe even '''the''' BigBad since not only does he get [[TheBadGuyWins exactly what he was after]], Khalul and Tolomei were both only evil because they JumpedOffTheSlipperySlope trying to ''bring him down'' (and Bethod may or may not have been his UnwittingPawn, at least once upon a time), and his centuries of [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder treachery]] and [[ManipulativeBastard ruthless manipulation]] are responsible, directly or indirectly, for nearly ''every war the Union as ever took part in'', all because he's a [[ItsAllAboutMe self-centred bastard]] with [[{{Pride}} delusions of grandeur]] who pretty much thinks [[TautologicalTemplar humanity can't survive without him]]]].
* BittersweetEnding: Possibly even a DownerEnding, depending on your point of view.
** [[spoiler: ''Best Served Cold'' ends on a somewhat higher note, which is surprising, considering the even darker tone of the book.]]
** [[spoiler: "Red Country" ends with Pit and Ro safe with Shy and Temple, but Lamb/Logen leaves after realizing he can't escape his past.]] Still the happiest ending of a story, so far.
* BlackAndGrayMorality: Pushed to the point where you wonder at the end whether the protagonists were really the least evil, or if, perhaps, they weren't actually even worse than their antagonist.
** This is a world where the BigBad is [[spoiler: The immortal prophet of a [[ReligionOfEvil temple of cannibalistic sorceror-ninjas]] who truly believes he is the Right Hand of {{God}}.]] This tells you a lot about the protagonists. [[spoiler: Especially when you realize that his ArchEnemy whom they are working for [[EvilVersusEvil isn't really any better]]...]]
* BloodKnight: Ferro. Bremen dan Gorst becomes a more subdued example in ''The Heroes''.
* BolivianArmyEnding: For [[spoiler: Logen Ninefingers. It's (probably deliberately) unclear whether he survives, although it's worth noting that he survived an almost identical fall at the start of the first novel.]]
** It's worth noting that [[spoiler: Logen was originally a character the author wrote about years before he started this story; ''The First Law'' began as kind of a RetCon retelling of his misadventures. Basically, he's the main character and this world was built around him, so if you're going to bet on it, he's probably still alive.]]
*** Played with in ''The Heroes'': [[spoiler: his death is kept deliberately unconfirmed, and Dogman uses this to scare the enemy shitless before attacking. His death is still unconfirmed.]]
*** Averted in 'Red Country': [[spoiler: Logen's alive, and kicking, having married a woman in the Near Country.]]
* BookEnds: ''The Blade Itself'' begins with [[spoiler: Logen falling in a river from a great height]] and the chapter is called The End. The last chapter of ''Last Argument of Kings'' is called The Beginning and ends exactly in the same way.
** ''Best Served Cold'' begins and ends with a sentence describing "a sunrise the color of bad blood".
** Let's just say a lot of individual [=POVs=] in different books end this way. Definitely one of the favorite tropes of the author.
* BowAndSwordInAccord: Ferro.
* [[spoiler: BrotherSisterIncest: Monza and Benna in ''Best Served Cold'' (or, more precisely, before). Shivers is squicked.]]
* TheBrute: Bremer dan Gorst is built up to be this... [[spoiler: but actually loses very gracefully.]]
** As of ''The Heroes'' [[spoiler: He fits the trope nicely. Worse, he's a Hero.]]
* BulletTime: Shenkt in ''Best Served Cold'' can do this.
* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler: The East Wind (Ishri)]] is first mentioned in ''The Blade Itself'' as one of Khalul's more dangerous disciples, but [[spoiler: she]] doesn't make an appearance until ''Best Served Cold'' and is much more integral in ''The Heroes'' as some sort of [[spoiler: pyrotechnics and weather sorceress.]]
* TheChessmaster: Bayaz.
* ColdBloodedTorture: Several instances in each book, generally performed by Glokta.
** Debatable, since he was just doing his job and constantly asks himself 'Why do I do this?'. He gets one mention that qualifies for this trope at the end of the trilogy, where he answers that question.
** Played straighter in ''Best Served Cold'', with [[spoiler: Shivers']] torturers.
* CannotSpitItOut: Gorst has been in love with [[ObliviousToLove Finree]] for years, yet could never muster the courage to confess. [[spoiler: And when he does, he mentions it so off-handedly that it's not clear if she even noticed, caught in her WhatTheHellHero rhetoric.]]
* CatchPhrase:
-->'''Logen''': "You have to be realistic about these things", "Say one thing for Logen Ninefingers, say he's X", "You can never have too many knives" "I'm still alive", "Shit.".
-->'''Glokta''': ''Body found floating by the docks...'', "Why do I do this?", "Click, tap, pain", any mention of his teeth.
-->'''Ferro''': "Fucking pinks!", "Ssss!"
-->'''The Dogman''': ''By the dead, he needed to piss, like always.''
-->'''Curnden Craw''': ''It was the right thing to do.''
* CharacterDevelopment: ''Lots'' for Jezal dan Luthar, constantly steering him from one direction to another. [[spoiler: Deliberately averted for most other characters - inability to escape your old life is one of the major themes of the books. Although, later books suggest that the strain of being the ineffectual puppet of Bayez and Glokta have pushed him back to his old life.]]
** Monza during her revenge.
** Calder after he loses his father and position.
** Shivers [[spoiler: starts out trying to do the right thing and gradually gives up over the course of Best Served Cold. Losing his eye is the breaking point. By ''The Heroes'', he merits consideration as a candidate for the cruelest character in the series. That's ''no small achievement.'' But even after that, he's still not pure evil, evidenced by the finale of the ''Red Country''.]]
** Temple in ''Red Country'' manages to overcome his cowardice and avoid the fate Cosca has in mind for him, [[spoiler: finally settling down with Shy in a small town and running a shop, having left the mercenaries behind.]]
* ChekhovsGun: ''Red Country'' mentions a few times that [[spoiler: Iasiv has yet to make his finest performance]], which he finally makes by the end. Also, [[spoiler: the Mayor's contract with the Empire that Temple writes.]]
* ChurchMilitant: The Gurkish Temple, while many civilizations of the world have ''God'', only the Gurkish Temple is headed by a crazy cannibal wizard who thinks that he is God's Right Hand to purify the unbelievers through fire and steel.
* ContinuityNod: "Oh hey! It's that guy from the trilogy!" Happens numerous times. The dialogue in the stand-alone books also makes plenty of allusions to prior events.
* CoversAlwaysLie: The setting of ''Best Served Cold''--obviously modeled after Italy and Spain--as well as the style of the dueling make very clear that Monza's sword is made for fencing, not to mention it being described as thin at one point. Despite this the American hardcover shows Monza with not one but ''two'' arming swords, and the mass-market paperback has a snake curling itself around a ''greatsword'' of all things! As if that weren't bad enough the UK edition--which came out first--very clearly has a rapier on it. [[InsaneTrollLogic Why?]]
* CrapsackWorld: Not just a shitty place to live, but a place that actively makes decent people shittier.
* {{Dead Person Impersonation}}: [[spoiler: Tolomei, who, much to Bayaz' dismay was {{Not Quite Dead}}. She had been impersonating Malacus Quai since the middle of the first book]].
* DeadlyDecadentCourt: The Midderland court is portrayed like this, with some criminal levels of indifference and sometimes stupidity among its nobles.
* DeadpanSnarker: Mainly Glokta, although many other characters give as well.
* DeconstructorFleet: one of fantasy's best. Just take a look at the character sheet.
** By the time of ''Red Country'', Abercrombie is Deconstructing ''himself''.
* DidNotGetTheGirl: Pretty much everyone when it's their turn to be sympathetic.
** Subverted to HELL with [[spoiler: Glokta and Ardee]].
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Logen is left friendless, alone, and driven to jumping out a window, trading certain death for likely death. Glokta has given up on any hope that he might redeem himself and set to torturing for a malevolent master once again. Jezal lives beaten, disillusioned, and resigned to being a puppet at best, knowing that the man he hates most has married the only woman he ever loved. Ferro has abandoned all reason and gone off on her own to murder Khalul. Longfoot is maimed, and Bayaz has achieved his goal at the cost of immeasurable pain to those around him. Oh, and peace between The Union and Gurkhul is prevented because it would hamper Bayaz's desire to wage war against Khalul, dooming any chance of peace in the future as well.]] How's that for cheerful?
** Also, [[spoiler: Shivers']] fate in ''Best Served Cold'', although most other characters fare better. Or at least those left alive.
* DoYouWantToCopulate: "You want to fuck?"
* TheDragon: Fenris the Feared in the trilogy, Shenkt in ''Best Served Cold'' ([[spoiler: although he turned out to have [[DragonWithAnAgenda an agenda]]]]).
** [[spoiler: Shivers is one to Black Dow in ''The Heroes''... until he turns on him - not because he wants the power, but simply in revenge for bad treatment. Then he becomes one to Calder.]]
* DrowningMySorrows: Cosca's preferred style. Temple's as well.
* DualWielding: Jezal dan Luthar and other men of class use a form of swordplay somewhere between the style of the European parrying dagger and Musashi's katana/wakizashi combination, with one vaguely described "long steel" and one "short steel."
* DuelToTheDeath: A popular custom in the North. All the Named Men who follow Logen do so because they lost one to him, and he chose to spare them.
** Quite a few throughout ''Best Served Cold'', and not all with Monza.
** ''The Heroes'' has a hilariously one sided bout between Black Dow and [[spoiler: Calder]].
** ''Red Country'' has one between Glama Golden and [[spoiler: Lamb/Logen]].
* EccentricMentor: Subverted, with a vengeance -- Bayaz at first seems like your average grumpy wizard mentor. Quickly you suspect he's a much darker figure than that, [[spoiler: but the full extent of his chessmastery is only revealed at the end, when you realize the number of people he betrayed while pinning the blame on someone else. In fact, he is as much a BigBad as Khalul is, ''more so'' in fact since for all the lines he has crossed Khalul's primary motivation is simply to bring Bayaz to justice for his murderous treachery.]]
* TheEmpire: The Gurkish empire from the south.
* EvilAlbino: Played with in the case of Practical Frost, a large and passive man who just follows Glokta's orders. Played straight with [[spoiler: him again when he betrays Glokta for no real reason.]]
* EvilIsDeathlyCold: The female Eater Glokta encounters (later revealed to be [[spoiler: Tolomei]]) leaves him with this impression. Given that she has literally [[spoiler: made a DealWithTheDevil]] and implies she has actually been to {{Hell}}, this might not be just metaphorical, either.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: As explained by Abercrombie [[http://writerunboxed.com/2008/09/26/interview-joe-abercrombie-part-3/ here]]:
--> "So the Union I based around a kind of Holy Roman Empire (largely Germanic) with some banking and commerce from medieval Flanders and a political system closer to the Venetian Republic. That produced names like Sult, Marovia, Valint and Balk, Bremer dan Gorst. Gurkhul was more like an Ottoman Empire that had absorbed a whole range of Middle-Eastern and African cultures, producing names like Uthman-ul-Dosht, Khalul, Mamun, and Ferro Maljinn. With the North I went for something slightly different, a kind of Viking or Scots culture, but with a northern English tilt to the language, and in which the men were given names when they reached manhood related to some deed they’d done or the place they’d done it — things like Rudd Threetrees, Caul Shivers, Forley the Weakest, and Black Dow."
** Red Country gives us The Ghosts/The Folk, who are sort of Native Americans that look like Celts(pale skin, reddish hair). They cut off ears instead of scalps.
* FantasticDrug: Aside from alcohol, there seem to be two main vices in Abercrombie's world: husk, which appears to be an {{expy}} of opium, and chagga, a weed smoked by the Northerners which seems to be marijuana.
* FantasyGunControl: On the cusp of aversion. The Gurkish enthusiasm for gunpowder is apparently contagious, and [[spoiler: Bayaz oversees the testing of primitive cannons in ''The Heroes''. A more advanced one is successfully field-tested in ''Red Country''.]]
* FantasticNuke: [[spoiler: The Seed]] in Book 3.
* FantasyWorldMap: Averted and spoofed in a very TakeThat way (will not say how)
** Partially played straight in ''Best Served Cold'', the opening of each section of the book has a map of the locale in Styria that the characters are currently occupying. When pieced together, a coherent map of the continent emerges.
** Justified in ''Best Served Cold'', because the main characters go through about eight different cities, and ''without'' a map it would quickly become confusing to the reader.
** And in ''The Heroes'' we actually get annotated maps of the ebb and flow of battle throughout the book.
* AFatherToHisMen: Marshall Burr is this, at least to West.
** Curnden Craw to his dozen.
* FiveManBand: the most feared men in the North. [[spoiler: (Threetrees - TheHero, Black Dow - TheLancer, Tul Duru - TheBigGuy, Grim - TheSmartGuy, Dogman - TheChick.)]] It takes a couple casualties to get them there.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In ''Best Served Cold,'' [[spoiler: Shivers and another Northman reenact the battle between Logen and Fenris the Feared, a giant.]] In ''The Heroes'', [[spoiler: Shivers gets Logen's sword and kills Black Dow with it--and another giant, Stranger-Come-Knocking, has been introduced...]]
* FunctionalMagic: We get this gem from ''The Heroes''
** "Why don't you just use magic?" -Finree
** "Because it's just a lot easier to get people to kill each other." -Bayaz
* {{The Ghost}}: Khalul.
* GoodWithNumbers: Friendly, who is obsessed with counting.
* GrimUpNorth: The North, played straight.
** "Uh."
* GraveRobbing: Shanka like it as well as the Gurkish sorcerers, but really no one is ''above'' the practice.
* HandicappedBadass: Please, don't fuck with Glokta. It won't end well.
* HeroesPreferSwords: Logen begins the book with an axe, but while he claims to be equally proficient with all weapons he never lets go of the Maker's sword once he acquires it, and chooses it himself from a very wide selection of weapons. Jezal is a trained duelist and carries [[DualWielding two]], and Ferro loves her sword almost as much as her bow. The Dogman also picks one up when shooting isn't an option. Of all the trilogy's protagonists, the only one who doesn't use one is Glokta and even he was a masterful duelist and successful cavalry officer in his youth.
** Hell, even Glokta has a [[spoiler: SwordCane]]. Sure, it's only used ''once'', but...
** Continued in ''Best Served Cold'', with Monza favoring her Calvez and Shivers still favoring his axe but occasionally picking up a sword as situations demand.
** And again in ''The Heroes''. Shivers inherits [[spoiler: the Maker's sword]]. Craw, Gorst, and Beck never touch another weapon. Whirrun of Bligh is a genuine Hero and has a CoolSword to go with his name.
* HeroicSacrifice: Deliciously subverted with [[spoiler: Cosca's apparent death in Visserine. He is found by the invading soldiers, mistaken for a friendly casualty because of the uniform he stole and wore to infiltrate, and nursed back to health.]] He then [[spoiler: proceeds to reclaim leadership of the Thousand Swords, right from under Monza's nose.]]
** [[spoiler: General Jallenhorm quite intentionally, to avoid further responsibilities]] in ''The Heroes''.
*** Actually, he wanted redemption for his previous failures, not because he was afraid of responsibility.
* [[GirlfriendInCanada Husband And Kids Up North]]: [[ActionGirl Wonderful's]] family comes up several times in conversation with her crew. Some of them ask he when she'll go back to them, and she laughs them off. Towards the end of the book, she admits she had returned to her farm for a visit several years ago. The entire valley they lived in was abandoned; she has no idea what happened to them.
* TheIgor: Glokta's practicals (assistant torturers) Severard and Frost, are portrayed this way.
* ImAHumanitarian: The Second Law is about eating the flesh of people, and the Eaters have broken it. Grants superhuman abilities, including differing levels of increased speed and strength. Aside from the speed and strength, some are given unique abilities like [[VoluntaryShapeshifting taking on the form]] of the eaten or use of [[FunctionalMagic High Art]].
* ImmortalityImmorality: The Magi (one in particular), combined with WeAreAsMayflies.
* ImplacableMan: Fenris The Feared.
* ItGetsEasier: Logen and the rest of the Named Men basically ''run'' on this trope.
** '''Red''' Beck however is a subversion, after he gets his name he turns his back on the whole business.
* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Whirrun invents the sandwich. No one is impressed. The specific line, however, is said in reference to the concept of sliced bread. [[MundaneUtility And he sliced the bread]] with [[{{BFS}} The Father of Swords]], nonetheless.
* JerkAss: A ridiculously high percentage of the characters.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Arguably Black Dow. He may be a dick, but he comes through for his companions when he's needed, and he can make some very heartfelt speeches when no one else will. [[spoiler: He was also the only one brave enough to demand that the Bloody Nine answer for the slaying of Tul Duru and Crummock's child, as well as getting the North into a war it hadn't wanted.]]
** Calder. [[spoiler: He appears to be a ManipulativeBastard, but thats not all he is. Just ask his brother.]]
* KarmaHoudini: Characters that at first seem like a monster end up being quite sympathetic by the end of the novels, whereas one or two that appeared good are revealed to be acting on very sinister motives.
* KickTheDog: Our heroes, Logen and Glokta, are determined to do this at least once every chapter. West as well, when he smacks Ardee around. [[spoiler: Bayaz, at the series' end.]]
* TheKingdom: Subverted, as Midderland isn't a very nice place to live.
* KingOnHisDeathbed: King Guslav.
* KnifeNut: You can never have too many of 'em...
* LipstickLesbian: [[spoiler: Terez]]
* LittleGirlsKickShins: Crummock-i-Phail's daughter.
* LudicrousGibs: Don't make Bayaz angry.
* MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter: Tolomei.
* TheManBehindTheMan: A magus. Always a magus. Except when it's a banker. [[spoiler: I lied--still a magus, even then.]]
* ManipulativeBastard: The series is overflowing with them, but Bayaz takes first prize.
* TheMagicGoesAway: Slowly but surely. At present, though, both magi and Eaters retain quite a bit of power.
** It's not very clear that TheMagicGoesAway affects the PoweredByAForsakenChild Eaters (the contrary is implicit in Mammun's words). And the Maker's work is stated not to fade with time. So it's a subverted trope, really.
*** Not quite, since Bayaz at least seems to consider the Maker's work as [[ClarksThirdLaw sufficiently advanced science]]; magic is explicitly power drawn from The Other Side, and the Maker's work is explicitly ''not'' from The Other Side. And Mammun states that the magic ''is'' going away even if he and his fellow Eater's are not affected by it (yet). And given how AxCrazy [[ImAHumanitarian Mammun]] is, he could be an [[UnreliableNarrator unreliable source]], either outright lying or too insane to notice his slowly fading power. But even if they are the exception, the trope is still otherwise in effect.
* MagicVersusScience: A war not particularly desired by anyone whose torch is nonetheless carried valiantly by Morveer. And even then, the lines are blurry. [[spoiler: As the magic is supposedly leaking from the world, Bayaz seems to have no problem turning to science. If it can help him crush his enemies, he's all for it.]]
* MasterPoisoner: Morveer
* MismatchedEyes: Yoru Sulfur. [[spoiler: It's the only thing he keeps when he [[ShapeShifting changes form]].]]
* {{The Mole}}: [[spoiler: Both Frost '''and''' Severard.]]
** [[spoiler: Bayaz]] has a few in the Northmen's camp in ''The Heroes''.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: In the North, Named Men are people badass enough to earn one of these, like Shama Heartless, the Bloody-Nine, or Tul Duru the Thunderhead. Black Dow ''is'' this trope, to the point that he names Collem West with probably the coolest one in the series - '''Furious'''.
** Subverted with Caul Shivers, who [[spoiler: got his name when he fell in a river on a raid.]]
** Subverted even more with a character whose Naming as a Named Man is Forley the Weakest.
* NoDoubtTheYearsHaveChangedMe: [[spoiler: Sergeant Pike, aka Salem Rews,]] to Glokta.
* NoImmortalInertia: Eaters usually turn to dust when they are killed.
* NostalgiaFilter: A ''lot'' of Northmen like to imagine that everything was glorious before Bethod set out to make himself king. Only a few characters point out that the "good old days" were even ''more'' pointlessly bloody than the present.
* OnlySaneMan: West, during the Angland campaign. [[spoiler: Subverted when he snaps, bites a man's nose off in a berserker rage, and then calmly murders the Crown Prince.]]
* OurGhoulsAreCreepier: The Eaters.
* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Most of the Union and parts of Styria take this stance towards deities. Euz and his sons used to be worshiped in Midderland, but are currently seen as ''mere'' ancient heroes.
* PetTheDog: Glokta, Ferro, Logen, and even Severard get some.
** Black Dow, of all people, gets a couple. [[spoiler: Usually at someone's funeral.]]
*** That last one's particularly egregious, considering what the UNBELIEVABLE BASTARD in question has done. [[spoiler: he was going to be a potter once...]]
* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: Calder and his wife Seff were promised to each other since they were babies, yet they truly love each other, even despite [[UglyGuyHotWife Ugly Wife Hot Husband]] thing.
* PerkyFemaleMinion: Day, to Morveer.
* TheQuest: The focus of most of the second volume, subverted when [[spoiler: they do not find the McGuffin at the end of their journey.]]
* QuirkyMinibossSquad: Goyle's circus of practicals.
** Monza's victims in ''Best Served Cold''.
** Possibly Khalul's small army of Eaters.
* TheRainman: Friendly in ''Best Served Cold'' and ''Red Country''. There were 24 letters in that sentence.
* RedRightHand: Yoru Sulfur has mismatched eyes, one blue, one green. It's mentioned every time he appears.
* ReliableTraitor: Cosca's been on more or less every possible side of every conflict in Styria. Simultaneously, in some cases.
** Hell, his status as a turncoat is so great that he has basically been on both sides of major conflicts in almost every single region of the world.
* ReplicantSnatching: [[spoiler: Yoru Sulfur]] most notably [[spoiler: impersonating High Justice Marovia and The Tanner]].
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: ''Best Served Cold''.
* SatisfiedStreetRat: Ferro Maljinn.
* ScarsAreForever: Abercrombie seems to like scars on his characters. It appears to be one of the running features of his main cast to have some physical peculiarity or visible injury about them. If they don't, they soon gain it in one way or another, for example [[spoiler: Jezal, who was hit in the face with a [[strike: club]] mace]] and from ''Best Served Cold'', [[spoiler: Monza, who got thrown down a mountain after being stabbed several times.]]
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: The Banking House of Valint and Balk. [[spoiler: It's the primary means through which Bayaz maintains his influence over the world and its inhabitants.]]
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler: Shivers does this regarding Black Dow's attempt to murder Logen at the end.]]
** [[spoiler: Vitari and Friendly appear to do this partway through ''Best Served Cold''.]]
** [[spoiler: Beck in the end of ''The Heroes''. Craw tries as well, but fails and returns to fighting.]]
* ShelteredAristocrat: Jezal, and to a greater extent Ladisla.
* ShootTheShaggyDog
* ShoutOut: Some of Abercrombie's characters are suspiciously similar to ones that feature in that ''other'' famous gritty LowFantasy series, ASongOfIceAndFire:
** Monza is [[spoiler: a famously skilled duelist who lost the use of her dominant hand and had to learn again with her left, who was engaged in an incestuous relationship with her twin sibling of the opposite sex, and who became a better person after being separated from that sibling.]]
** Shivers is [[spoiler: a grim mercenary who hates his brother and who suffered horrible burns down one side of his face, which only served to sour his mood and which give him an even grimmer reputation--and who, after being set up as Black Dow's man, is referred to as his "dog."]]
* SmugSnake: Castor Morveer.
* SoMuchForStealth: The Dogman, despite his fame for stealthiness, has a habit of tripping over stumbling over things when silence is vital.
* {{Son Of A Whore}}: [[spoiler: Jezal]].
* TheStoic: Harding Grim, also an Archer. Shivers after his... ''accident''.
* TheStraightWillAndGrace: Curnden Craw and Wonderful in ''The Heroes''.
* SociopathicHero: Ferro, Black Dow, The Bloody-Nine, eventually, [[spoiler: Shivers]], although the "hero" part is [[strike: debatable]]practically non-existent.
* SuperpoweredEvilSide: Logen Ninefingers, as it's gradually revealed that 'The Bloody Nine' isn't quite him. Implied that it may lead to SplitPersonalityTakeover if he lives.
* TautologicalTemplar: [[spoiler: Bayaz, who believes civilization cannot function without his guidance, even if he has to massacre a few thousand people every now and then.]]
* ThoseTwoBadGuys: Frost and Severard.
** Deep and Shallow in ''The Heroes''.
* TokenEvilTeammate: Black Dow. Sure, he looks after his companions and respects the "good" ones of the lot. At the same time, he's a ''horrible, murderous bastard'' and everyone knows it. His loyalties are about the only thing holding him in check... and even that doesn't always work. And ''then'' he goes and [[spoiler: uses his time as regent to form and consolidate a power base, [[NeverFoundTheBody (probably)]] more or less murders Logen, plunges the North into ''another'' civil war, and seems dead-set on being an even ''worse'' ruler than Bethod ever was.]]
* TortureAlwaysWorks: Even though he doesn't always necessarily ''want'' the confessions his victims give him to be truthful, Glokta always knows when he's being lied to.
** Torture is played pretty much the same way no matter who is doing the torturing. It is either used to confirm/clarify previously gathered information or to pull a false confession to advance the torturer's masters' goals.
* TooDumbToLive: Ladisla (But that's [[KickTheDog not what]] [[KarmicDeath kills him!]])
* UnreliableNarrator: In ''Best Served Cold'' Morveer often thinks about his mother death and how it has traumatized him and we sort of sympathize with him as he recalls how he was bullied in the orphanage. That is, until [[spoiler: we find out that he actually poisoned his mother, as well as literally every person he ever had more than a passing acquaintance with.]]
* VestigialEmpire: The Union AND Gurkhul.
** The Old Empire has sunk ''beyond'' "vestigial".
* WaveMotionGun: Wave Motion Vortex Spell Of Death
* WarriorPoet: Logen Ninefingers
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The last we see of Finree's friend Aliz, she's still in the clutches of Stranger-Come-Knocking. [[AFateWorseThanDeath Who wants children -]] ''[[AFateWorseThanDeath civilised]]'' [[AFateWorseThanDeath children]].
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