History Literature / TheHeroes

* GeneralFailure: Jalenhorm and Lord Governor Meed both have no businesses commanding divisions, but got put in charge of one due to connections and being the highest ranking official in the province, respectively. Jalenhorm at least appears to know that he is out of his league.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Played for horror, as while [[spoiler:Finree is able to be released and sent back to the Union army, Aliz is left in the hands of Stranger-Come-Knocking, who had previously voiced his intention to breed and produce "civilized" children with the women.[[NightmareFuel Her fate is never revealed, other than Dow later indicating that by that point, even her husband wouldn't want her back]]...]]

* ThoseTwoBadGuys: The [[SiblingsInCrime brothers]] Deep and Shallow, known for being two of the best or worst (depending on whether you are the one paying them) men in the North have this dynamic, and serve as Calder's bodyguards.

* WorldsBestWarrior: Stranger-Come-Knocking states that he is the world's greatest warrior as fact, though he wants to fight the Bloody Nine and Whirrun of Bligh to cement his status.

** Stranger-Come-Knocking recalls fighting a duel with twins who claimed that they should be allowed to fight him at the same time because they shared a womb and therefore count as one man.
* TheSnackIsMoreInteresting: Bayaz dines on a fancy dinnger while seated beside an open grave and threatening Calder. Calder lampshades the trope and asks if he's eating just to add intimidation to the act, but Bayaz denies it, claiming that he's just hungry.

* NoodleIncident: The fate of Callum West from the main trilogy is not elaborated on, beyond that he didn't deserve what happened to him.

* DontCallMeDurwood: Calder is warned not to use Stranger-Come-Knocking's original name Pip around him.

* WholePlotReference: The novel takes inspiration from ''Literature/TheKillerAngels'', a historical fiction account of the Battle of Gettysburg which uses a similar SwitchingPOV format. The Heroes (the geographic location) is a stand-in for Little Round Top, and although the two differ in personality, Corporal Tunny plays a similar role to Joshua Chamberlain (and is introduced in a similar scene) as a "[[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass man who doesn't like fighting but is really good at it]]", and manages to do unexpected things with a RagtagBunchOfMisfits.

* ProphecyArmo: Whirrun of Bligh thinks that ArmorIsUseless, because witch Shoglig told him "the time, and the place, and the manner" of his death, "and it is not now". [[spoiler:She "was talking shit", as he later realised. With a spear in his back.]]

* TookALevelInKindness: Prince Calder, who in his brief appearance in the original trilogy was an all around unpleasant arrogant dirty coward is a POV in this novel, and exhibits this to some degree. He's ''still'' an arrogant DirtyCoward, but he's made some efforts to be a better man as part of taking power and avenging his father. It helps that he aims to bring peace to the North (making him the OnlySaneMan), [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes loves his wife and his brother]], and is hilariously snarky. Black Dow is also a lot more sympathetic in this novel than in previous appearances, having mellowed out a bit and being scene through the eyes of NobleTopEnforcer Craw.

* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Gorst initially is sympathetic because he's the OnlySaneMan compared to most of the Union commanders, and was unjustly dismissed from his post as the King's bodyguard. Then, it turns out that he's an insane BloodKnight and was actually (literally) caught with his pants down when he failed to guard the King, and that wasn't his first screw up either.

* MundaneUtility: Whirrun of Bligh uses [[CoolSword The Father]] of [[{{BFS}} Swords]] to slice the bread, when he invents the sandwich.

* BunnyEarsLawyer: Cracknut Whirrun is so-called because his nut is cracked (not because he can crack walnuts in his fist). However, he's also one of the hardest names in the North.

* DemotedToExtra: In spite of being one of the main [POVs=] in the original trilogy and having an important role in the battle for the Heroes, the Dogman rarely appears and has no POV chapters.

* BunnyEarsLawyer: Cracknut Whirrun is so-called because his nut is cracked (not because he can crack walnuts with his fist). However, he's also one of the hardest names in the North.

* AscendedExtra: Bremer dan Gorst, a minor character in previous books, is one of the main POVs here.

* EveryScarHasAStory: ** Parodied in a scene where Stranger shows off various scars to other Northern warriors and tells how he got them in predictably badass, BarbarianHero ways. In each instance, Black Dow drily notes how Stranger could have easily avoided those injuries.