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* ParentalFavoritism: Brandin loved his younger son Stevan more than his eldest and heir Girald, to an absurd degree. As Isolla of Ygrath puts it...
-->'''Isolla:''' You exalted a dead child above a living one, and revenge above your wife. And more highly than your own land. Have you spared a thought, a fraction of a thought, for any of them while you pursued your unnatural vengeance for Stevan?
-->'''Isolla:''' You exalted a dead child above a living one, and revenge above your wife. And more highly than your own land. Have you spared a thought, a fraction of a thought, for any of them while you pursued your unnatural vengeance for Stevan?
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** Catriana [[spoiler:was actually ''not'' faking the jump, intending it as a [[HeroicSacrifice Heroic Sacrifice]] for the good of Tigana; [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming it's Erlein's intervention that saves her]].]]
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* JerkassHasAPoint: Erlein never passes up an opportunity to needle Alessan and company, but--as Alessan himself points out--he ''is'' being held captive, and his people ''are'' in great danger from what Alessan plans to do. (And Erlein gets better, anyways.)
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* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Pretty much the invcentive for the entire plot. Brandin ''really'' loved his son Stevan. So much so that he's willing to go to [[DisproportionateRetribution utterly extreme lengths]] to avenge him.
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* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Pretty much the invcentive incentive for the entire plot. Brandin ''really'' loved his son Stevan. So much so that he's willing to go to [[DisproportionateRetribution utterly extreme lengths]] to avenge him.
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** To elaborate: [[spoiler:many chapters before, Dianora sees a riselka (a fairy-like creature, something like a banshee). She repeats to herself the old prophecy about the riselka, including the lines "one woman sees a riselka / her path comes clear to her" and "three men see a riselka / one is blessed, one forks [comes to a crossroads in his life], one shall die". At the very end of the book, Sandre, Baerd and Devin are walking to meet Marius when they spot a riselka sitting by the side of the path. It's left up to the reader who gets what part of the prophecy.]]
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** Catriana [[spoiler:was actually ''not'' faking the jump, intending it as a [[HeroicSacrifice Heroic Sacrifice]] for the good of Tigana; [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming it's Erlein's intervention that saves her]].]]
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cross-wicking
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* OffIntoTheDistanceEnding: Subverted. At the end, the protagonists ride away around a bend in the road -- and then there is one more sentence about what happened to them around the next bend to make the point that just because the story ends here doesn't mean the characters have nothing left to do with their lives.
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* DontFearTheReaper: The goddess Morian, associated with transitions and death, is thought of as a figure of peace and guidance - but not before one's time has come.
* {{Fingore}}: To become a wizard, with power bound to the Peninsula, it is necessary to cut off two of the fingers on your left hand.
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* LightFeminineDarkFeminine: The two goddesses of the Triad, Eanna and her daughter, Morian. Eanna is the creator of the stars and the heavens; she names and loves all things in creation. Morian is associated with darker, more dread forces, including transitions, crossroads, death, and the afterlife.
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* LightFeminineDarkFeminine: The two goddesses of the Triad, Eanna and her daughter, Morian. Eanna is the creator of the stars and the heavens; she names and loves all things in creation. Morian - although no more evil than Eanna is - is associated with darker, more dread forces, including transitions, crossroads, death, and the afterlife. afterlife.
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dangit
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* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: [[spoiler: No one will ever know who Dianora really was and her original mission - not even her only surviving family. No one will ever know the true identity of Brandin's Fool.]] Only one man, attendant, [[spoiler: Scelto]], realizes these truths, and he decides that revealing the truth would help no one, and he keeps them secret for the sake of peace.
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* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: [[spoiler: No one will ever know who Dianora really was and her original mission - not even her only surviving family. No one will ever know the true identity of Brandin's Fool.]] Only one man, attendant, [[spoiler: Scelto]], realizes these truths, and he decides that revealing the truth would help no one, and he keeps them secret for the sake of peace.
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* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: [[spoiler: No one will ever know who Dianora really was and her original mission - not even her only surviving family. No one will ever know the true identity of Brandin's Fool. Only Dianora's attendant, Scelto, realizes these truths, and he decides that revealing the truth would help no one, and he keeps his secret for the sake of peace.]]
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* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: [[spoiler: No one will ever know who Dianora really was and her original mission - not even her only surviving family. No one will ever know the true identity of Brandin's Fool. ]] Only Dianora's one man, attendant, Scelto, [[spoiler: Scelto]], realizes these truths, and he decides that revealing the truth would help no one, and he keeps his them secret for the sake of peace.]]
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* RevengeBeforeReason: Brandin. Even his ''wife'' thinks he's taken it too far.
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* RevengeBeforeReason: Brandin. Even his ''wife'' thinks he's taken it too far. His quest for revenge for his son Stevan is unending - even though Brandin started the war in which he died, and Stevan, furthermore, was a soldier - not a helpless innocent killed in the crossfire. [[spoiler: Up to the very last, when he exhausts his magic entirely, he's most upset about the fact that his revenge will be incomplete.]]
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* StupidityInducingAttack: The Court Fool creation process, providing a Ygrathi king's least favourite enemies with a particularly nasty FateWorseThanDeath. [[spoiler:As Brandin found out, though, it only works so long as you've got enough magic to sustain it, and whoever you've been doing it to probably won't be very happy about what you did to them once they regain their wits.]]
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* StupidityInducingAttack: The Court Fool creation process, providing a Ygrathi king's least favourite enemies with a particularly nasty FateWorseThanDeath. [[spoiler:As Brandin found out, though, it only works so long as you've got enough magic to sustain it, and whoever you've been doing it to probably won't be once you're out of magic, your revenge is standing close at hand, whole in mind, and very happy about what you did to them once they regain their wits.angry.]]
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* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: [[spoiler: No one will ever know who Dianora really was and her original mission - not even her only surviving family. No one will ever know the true identity of Brandin's Fool. Only Dianora's attendant, Scelto, realizes these truths, and he decides that revealing the truth would help no one, and he keeps his secret for the sake of peace.]]
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* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Pretty much the inv#centive for the entire plot. Brandin ''really'' loved his son Stevan. So much so that he's willing to go to [[DisproportionateRetribution utterly extreme lengths]] to avenge him.
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* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Pretty much the inv#centive invcentive for the entire plot. Brandin ''really'' loved his son Stevan. So much so that he's willing to go to [[DisproportionateRetribution utterly extreme lengths]] to avenge him.
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* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Pretty much the inv#centive for the entire plot. Brandin ''really'' loved his son Stevan. So much so that he's willing to go to [[DisproportionateRetribution utterly extreme lengths]] to avenge him.
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* CampGay: Tomasso. [[SubvertedTrope Except not really,]] he's actually playing up the stereotype to [[ObfuscatingStupidity make people underestimate him.]]
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* CampGay: Tomasso. [[SubvertedTrope Except not really,]] he's actually [[InvokedTrope purposefully playing up the stereotype stereotype]] in order to [[ObfuscatingStupidity make people underestimate him.]]
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* AntiHero: Alessan. Few would argue his cause isn't noble, but he's willing to do some pretty dark things along the way, forcibly binding wizards into his service and manipulating the two Tyrants into outright war with one another being chief among them.
* BigBadEnsemble: Brandin and Alberico, who are the main antagonists of the novel but also oppose each other. The rebels end up exploiting this by manipulating them into fighting each other, knowing that just overthrowing one will leave the other sole ruler of the Palm.
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* TheDogBitesBack
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* TheDogBitesBackTheDogBitesBack: [[spoiler: How Brandin dies, assassinated by his own court fool - aka, Prince Valentin of Tigana]].
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* EvilerThanThou
* EvilOverlord: Two of them (though Alberico is more like an Evil Governor, as he's technically answerable to an off-page Emperor [[TheStarscream whose throne he'd love to usurp]]).
* EvilSorcerer: Alberico. Brandin is definitely a ''ruthless'' sorcerer, but it's up for debate if he's really evil.
* EvilOverlord: Two of them (though Alberico is more like an Evil Governor, as he's technically answerable to an off-page Emperor [[TheStarscream whose throne he'd love to usurp]]).
* EvilSorcerer: Alberico. Brandin is definitely a ''ruthless'' sorcerer, but it's up for debate if he's really evil.
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* EvilerThanThou
EvilerThanThou: Brandin is a ruthless conqueror, but he's got [[AffablyEvil redeeming]] [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes qualities]]. Alberico... doesn't.
* EvilOverlord: Two ofthem (though them, opposed to each other as well as the people they conquered [[note]]though Alberico is in some ways more like an Evil Governor, as he's technically answerable to an off-page Emperor [[TheStarscream whose throne he'd love to usurp]]).
usurp]], in direct contrast to Brandin, who was a king in his own right even before coming to the Palm[[/note]].
* EvilSorcerer: Alberico. Brandin is definitely a ''ruthless'' sorcerer, but [[AmbiguouslyEvil it's up for debateif he's really evil.how evil he actually is]].
* EvilOverlord: Two of
* EvilSorcerer: Alberico. Brandin is definitely a ''ruthless'' sorcerer, but [[AmbiguouslyEvil it's up for debate
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* GreyAndBlackMorality
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* GreyAndBlackMoralityGreyAndBlackMorality: Albeit in a three-way conflict rather than a two way. [[AntiHero Alessan]] is pretty grey, [[AntiVillain Brandin]] is somewhat darker grey, and [[TheCaligula Alberico]] is a solid black.
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* HistoricalFantasy
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* HistoricalFantasyHistoricalFantasy: The Palm is pretty recognizably Fantasy Italy, though it's not as firmly a historical counterpart as some of Kay's other works.
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* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Brandin. Sure, he's a decent guy in person... too bad this decent guy is a foreign invader, and would be plainly AffablyEvil (or even FauxAffablyEvil), had he been the sole invader of Peninsula.
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* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Brandin. Sure, he's a decent guy in person... too bad this decent guy is a foreign invader, and would be plainly AffablyEvil (or even FauxAffablyEvil), had he been the sole invader of Peninsula. Next to Alberico, though, anyone comes out looking good.
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* MoralMyopia: Brandin
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* MoralMyopia: BrandinBrandin obsessively proves vengeance for his son's death without stopping to consider that, since said son ''was'' the leader of an invading army, the Tiganese may have been right to kill him.
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* ObfuscatingStupidity: More like obfuscating [[CampGay FABULOSITY]]
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* ObfuscatingStupidity: More like obfuscating [[CampGay FABULOSITY]]FABULOSITY]]; Tomasso is known to be gay and deliberately plays himself up as a stereotypical hedonistic fop to disguise the fact that he's actually highly intelligent and a member of LaResistance.
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* RevengeBeforeReason: Brandin.
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* RevengeBeforeReason: Brandin. Even his ''wife'' thinks he's taken it too far.
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* LightFeminineDarkFeminine: The two goddesses of the Triad, Eanna and her daughter, Morian. Eanna is the creator of the stars and the heavens; she names and loves all things in creation. Morian is associated with darker, more dread forces, including transitions, crossroads, death, and the afterlife.
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* TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil: Alessan and the Tigana rebels are the Good, Brandin and the Ygrath are the Bad, and Alberico and the Barbadians are the Evil.
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* CampGay: Tomasso. [[SubvertedTrope Except not really,]] he's actually playing up the stereotype to [[ObfuscatingStupidity make people underestimate him.]]
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* RevengeBeforeReason: '''''Brandin'''''.
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* RevengeBeforeReason: '''''Brandin'''''.Brandin.
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** Don't be silly, Piers Morgan wasn't anywhere in the area.
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''Tigana'' is a 1990 fantasy novel by Creator/GuyGavrielKay. It takes place in The Peninsula Of The Palm, [[FantasyCounterpartCulture which is in no way, shape, or form, medieval Italy]]. Two foreign conquerors occupy the Peninsula: Brandin, king of Ygrath, and Alberico of Barbadior. They have carved up the land between them, and hold it in an uneasy balance of power. The main focus of the story is on a group of rebels who seek to liberate the area, but must defeat both tyrants at the same time, lest one overrun the Peninsula. We also see the viewpoint of Brandin, as well as Dianora, a [[RoyalHarem concubine]] bent on assassinating him.
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''Tigana'' is a 1990 fantasy novel by Creator/GuyGavrielKay. It takes place in The Peninsula Of The Palm, [[FantasyCounterpartCulture which is in no way, shape, or form, a FantasyCounterpartCulture for medieval Italy]].Italy. Two foreign conquerors occupy the Peninsula: Brandin, king of Ygrath, and Alberico of Barbadior. They have carved up the land between them, and hold it in an uneasy balance of power. The main focus of the story is on a group of rebels who seek to liberate the area, but must defeat both tyrants at the same time, lest one overrun the Peninsula. We also see the viewpoint of Brandin, as well as Dianora, a [[RoyalHarem concubine]] bent on assassinating him.
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Dead Little Sister was renamed to Cynicism Catalyst. Misuse and Zero Context Examples are being purged.
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* DeadLittleSister: Residual grief over the death of his son is what drives Brandin to do what he does.
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* DeadLittleSister: CynicismCatalyst: Residual grief over the death of his son is what drives Brandin to do what he does.
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Fix a typo
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* AirsSripOne: See PleaseSelectNewCityName below; it's a city-state.
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* AirsSripOne: AirStripOne: See PleaseSelectNewCityName below; it's a city-state.
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Detail.
* AirsSripOne: See PleaseSelectNewCityName below; it's a city-state.
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* PleaseSelectNewCityName: Brandin renaming Tigana to Lower Corte is a major driving force in the main plot. He magically ''erases'' the name Tigana from the consciousness of anyone who didn't live there when it was Tigana, so that it seems the name, and the memory of the city, is destined to die with that generation.
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* PleaseSelectNewCityName: Brandin renaming Tigana to Lower Corte is a major driving force in the main plot. He magically ''erases'' the name Tigana from the consciousness of anyone who didn't live there when it was Tigana, so that it seems the name, and the memory of the city, city-state, is destined to die with that generation.
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adding Royal Harem
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''Tigana'' is a 1990 fantasy novel by Creator/GuyGavrielKay. It takes place in The Peninsula Of The Palm, [[FantasyCounterpartCulture which is in no way, shape, or form, medieval Italy]]. Two foreign conquerors occupy the Peninsula: Brandin, king of Ygrath, and Alberico of Barbadior. They have carved up the land between them, and hold it in an uneasy balance of power. The main focus of the story is on a group of rebels who seek to liberate the area, but must defeat both tyrants at the same time, lest one overrun the Peninsula. We also see the viewpoint of Brandin, as well as Dianora, a concubine bent on assassinating him.
to:
''Tigana'' is a 1990 fantasy novel by Creator/GuyGavrielKay. It takes place in The Peninsula Of The Palm, [[FantasyCounterpartCulture which is in no way, shape, or form, medieval Italy]]. Two foreign conquerors occupy the Peninsula: Brandin, king of Ygrath, and Alberico of Barbadior. They have carved up the land between them, and hold it in an uneasy balance of power. The main focus of the story is on a group of rebels who seek to liberate the area, but must defeat both tyrants at the same time, lest one overrun the Peninsula. We also see the viewpoint of Brandin, as well as Dianora, a concubine [[RoyalHarem concubine]] bent on assassinating him.
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* RoyalHarem: Brandin has one, called a saishan. One of the concubines, Dianora, is actually planning to kill Brandin in revenge for what he did to Tigana, [[spoiler:but changes her mind]].
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* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Brandin. Sure, he's a decent guy in person... too bad this decent guy is a foreign invader, and would be plainly AffablyEvil (or even EvillyAffable), had he been the sole invader of Peninsula.
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* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Brandin. Sure, he's a decent guy in person... too bad this decent guy is a foreign invader, and would be plainly AffablyEvil (or even EvillyAffable), FauxAffablyEvil), had he been the sole invader of Peninsula.
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namespace
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''Tigana'' is a 1990 fantasy novel by GuyGavrielKay. It takes place in The Peninsula Of The Palm, [[FantasyCounterpartCulture which is in no way, shape, or form, medieval Italy]]. Two foreign conquerors occupy the Peninsula: Brandin, king of Ygrath, and Alberico of Barbadior. They have carved up the land between them, and hold it in an uneasy balance of power. The main focus of the story is on a group of rebels who seek to liberate the area, but must defeat both tyrants at the same time, lest one overrun the Peninsula. We also see the viewpoint of Brandin, as well as Dianora, a concubine bent on assassinating him.
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''Tigana'' is a 1990 fantasy novel by GuyGavrielKay.Creator/GuyGavrielKay. It takes place in The Peninsula Of The Palm, [[FantasyCounterpartCulture which is in no way, shape, or form, medieval Italy]]. Two foreign conquerors occupy the Peninsula: Brandin, king of Ygrath, and Alberico of Barbadior. They have carved up the land between them, and hold it in an uneasy balance of power. The main focus of the story is on a group of rebels who seek to liberate the area, but must defeat both tyrants at the same time, lest one overrun the Peninsula. We also see the viewpoint of Brandin, as well as Dianora, a concubine bent on assassinating him.
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moved to namespace
Added DiffLines:
''Tigana'' is a 1990 fantasy novel by GuyGavrielKay. It takes place in The Peninsula Of The Palm, [[FantasyCounterpartCulture which is in no way, shape, or form, medieval Italy]]. Two foreign conquerors occupy the Peninsula: Brandin, king of Ygrath, and Alberico of Barbadior. They have carved up the land between them, and hold it in an uneasy balance of power. The main focus of the story is on a group of rebels who seek to liberate the area, but must defeat both tyrants at the same time, lest one overrun the Peninsula. We also see the viewpoint of Brandin, as well as Dianora, a concubine bent on assassinating him.
During Brandin's conquest, his son was killed in the province of Tigana. In retaliation, he razed the area flat, and put a curse on it [[{{Unperson}} that no one outside Tigana would know of its name or history]]. He turns out to be a competent ruler, cultured, if arrogant, and likeable... but is that enough to erase his prior sins?
----
!!This work contains the following examples:
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Nobody seems to approve of Alberico (whereas Brandin is actually quite a good ruler) but they're afraid to say so, with good reason.
* AffablyEvil[=/=]AntiVillain: Brandin is cultured, benevolent, an excellent ruler, and an all-around great guy. However, he'll never be dissuaded from seeking revenge against those who have wronged him, no matter who (or what) it harms (or who actually wronged whom in the first place), and so for the good of the entire Peninsula, he's got to go.
* AndThisIsFor: ''"In the name of my sons, I curse you forever."''
* AuthorAppeal: Alienor and Devin's [[spoiler:bondage scene]] comes out of nowhere and is so lovingly described that somebody just ''had'' to be throwing it in there for his own enjoyment.
* BecomingTheMask: Dianora worries that she's starting to fall for the man she swore to assassinate, Brandin. [[spoiler:She's right, and ends up saving his claim to the Peninsula because of it.]]
* BestServedCold: Dianora. [[spoiler:[[BecomingTheMask Initially]].]]
* BloodMagic: A limited case. Magicians of the Hand can't fully use their power until they cut off two of their fingers, symbolically linking themselves to the peninsula.
* BrotherSisterIncest: [[spoiler: Dianora and Baerd]]
* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler: Tomasso doesn't last very long.]]
** Also, [[spoiler: Isolla of Ygrath, the lover of Brandin's wife; the latter sent her to assassinate him.]]
* TheCaligula: Alberico is constantly on the edge of this trope; he starts going downhill pretty much from the moment he [[spoiler: very nearly gets assassinated.]]
* CassandraTruth: Nobody believes Alberico when he claims that the heads of three rival families with rich estates, led by the most CampGay guy that ever camped, all got together in a conspiracy to kill him. Especially since everyone involved is conveniently dead (when standard practice is to wring out a confession and then horribly execute) and it gives him the perfect pretext to take their stuff.
* CoolOldGuy: Sandre.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Whilst the Barbadian sky-wheels are pretty nasty, it's [[spoiler:Isolla]]'s death that really stands out. Brandin's magic ''rips her apart from the inside'', giving us our first glimpse of him not as a charming, benign AntiVillain, but as the man who obliterated a country all the way down to its ''name''.
* DeadLittleSister: Residual grief over the death of his son is what drives Brandin to do what he does.
* DeadpanSnarker: Approximately fourth fifths of the cast.
* DisproportionateRetribution: His habit of doing this is what makes Brandin an AntiVillain rather than a straight-up hero. To use the most notorious example (though others exist), his reaction to his son dying in a war ''he'' started is to annihilate the defenders' country so hard that it [[spoiler:poisons the entire Peninsula]].
* TheDogBitesBack
* EunuchsAreEvil: Averted with Scelto. Vaguely hinted at with Vencel, but it never amounts to anything.
* EvilerThanThou
* EvilOverlord: Two of them (though Alberico is more like an Evil Governor, as he's technically answerable to an off-page Emperor [[TheStarscream whose throne he'd love to usurp]]).
* EvilSorcerer: Alberico. Brandin is definitely a ''ruthless'' sorcerer, but it's up for debate if he's really evil.
* EvilVersusEvil: The two sorcerer-kings occupying the Peninsula absolutely ''loathe'' each other.
* FakingTheDead: [[spoiler: Sandre, at the very start]]; Catriana later fakes a bridge-dive for propaganda purposes.
* FeudingFamilies: Nobles are just like that.
* FieryRedhead: Catriana
* GenocideBackfire: It wasn't genocide so much as [[IncrediblyLamePun countrycide]], but it still led to a small bitter group seeking sweet revenge.
** Don't be silly, Piers Morgan wasn't anywhere in the area.
* GlamourFailure
* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: More a case of Free People Have Good Sex: while Tigana is in the grip of two foreign tyrants, the only forms of sex depicted are prostitution, rape, [[BrotherSisterIncest incest]], [[BondageIsBad BDSM]] or [[DistractedByTheSexy sex under false pretenses]]. Not until the Tiganans prepare to rise up against their dictators is [[http://www.brightweavings.com/ggkswords/andrews.htm "healthy" sex depicted]].
* GrayEyes: Much is made of the grey eyes of Alessan, Brandin, and Rhun the fool, all of which are exactly the same colour. A character explicitly notes that Alessan's eyes look just like Brandin's, which seems to be foreshadowing some reveal or another. [[spoiler: It's a red herring. If Alessan's eyes look just like Brandin's, and Brandin's eyes look just like his Fool's, then [[FridgeBrilliance Alessan has the same eyes as Rhun - his father.]]]]
* GreyAndBlackMorality
* HandicappedBadass: Marius, who killed half a dozen would-be assassins while hamstrung.
** Scalvaia gets an honorary mention for almost killing Alberico with a walking stick, of all things.
* HeroesWantRedheads: Catriana.
* HistoricalFantasy
* ImportantHaircut: Catriana
* TheJester: the King's Fool in Brandin's court is magically linked to him, acting out his master's subconscious urges.
* KissOfDistraction: Exaggerated. Catriana and Devin are stuck in a tight secret passageway, and she has sex with him in an (unsuccessful) attempt to stop him from hearing a conversation in the next room.
* LaResistance
* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Brandin. Sure, he's a decent guy in person... too bad this decent guy is a foreign invader, and would be plainly AffablyEvil (or even EvillyAffable), had he been the sole invader of Peninsula.
* LoveHurts: Oh boy.
* LoveLetterLunacy: Devin gets a very fragrant, rather ''forward'' love letter from Alais's sister.
* MoralMyopia: Brandin
* MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning: See: ThanatosGambit
* ObfuscatingStupidity: More like obfuscating [[CampGay FABULOSITY]]
* OffingTheOffspring: A particularly [[{{Tearjerker}} upsetting]] [[MercyKill variant.]]
* OffstageVillainy: All of Brandin's evil deeds occurred years before the book even starts. We'd never know he was supposed to be evil if those actions didn't have repercussions in the present.
* PleaseSelectNewCityName: Brandin renaming Tigana to Lower Corte is a major driving force in the main plot. He magically ''erases'' the name Tigana from the consciousness of anyone who didn't live there when it was Tigana, so that it seems the name, and the memory of the city, is destined to die with that generation.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath
* RevengeBeforeReason: '''''Brandin'''''.
* RightfulKingReturns
* StupidityInducingAttack: The Court Fool creation process, providing a Ygrathi king's least favourite enemies with a particularly nasty FateWorseThanDeath. [[spoiler:As Brandin found out, though, it only works so long as you've got enough magic to sustain it, and whoever you've been doing it to probably won't be very happy about what you did to them once they regain their wits.]]
* ThanatosGambit: Sandre's death and subsequent funeral [[spoiler:at first appears to be this, with the twist that Sandre is actually FakingTheDead.]] Later [[spoiler:Catriana invokes this trope when she assassinates Anghiar and jumps to what she assumes to be her death. [[NotQuiteDead It doesn't take.]]]]
* TwistEnding: [[spoiler: Of the Snap Ending variety on the very last paragraph. Possibly, anyway, since we never discover which of the three got which fate.]]
* {{Unperson}}: Performed on the entire country of Tigana, kicking off the novel's plot. WordOfGod says that the author was inspired to write the story by the instances of this during the Soviet purges.
* WackyWaysideTribe: Possibly the Night Walkers. On the one hand, they pop up with no foreshadowing whatsoever, and receive little mention afterwards. On the other, they provide significant CharacterDevelopment for one member of the heroes' party, as well as showing that there are rather more serious, immediate reasons to restore Tigana than just addressing past grievances.
* WeirdMoon: Two of them, one white, one blue.
* WhatTheHellHero: Kay explores this motif, having his heroes take several morally dubious choices in their quest. Were they justified by necessity? It's up to the reader.
* YourHeadAsplode: [[spoiler: Isolla of Ygrath, following an attempted assassination on Brandin.]] It's ''awful.''
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During Brandin's conquest, his son was killed in the province of Tigana. In retaliation, he razed the area flat, and put a curse on it [[{{Unperson}} that no one outside Tigana would know of its name or history]]. He turns out to be a competent ruler, cultured, if arrogant, and likeable... but is that enough to erase his prior sins?
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!!This work contains the following examples:
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Nobody seems to approve of Alberico (whereas Brandin is actually quite a good ruler) but they're afraid to say so, with good reason.
* AffablyEvil[=/=]AntiVillain: Brandin is cultured, benevolent, an excellent ruler, and an all-around great guy. However, he'll never be dissuaded from seeking revenge against those who have wronged him, no matter who (or what) it harms (or who actually wronged whom in the first place), and so for the good of the entire Peninsula, he's got to go.
* AndThisIsFor: ''"In the name of my sons, I curse you forever."''
* AuthorAppeal: Alienor and Devin's [[spoiler:bondage scene]] comes out of nowhere and is so lovingly described that somebody just ''had'' to be throwing it in there for his own enjoyment.
* BecomingTheMask: Dianora worries that she's starting to fall for the man she swore to assassinate, Brandin. [[spoiler:She's right, and ends up saving his claim to the Peninsula because of it.]]
* BestServedCold: Dianora. [[spoiler:[[BecomingTheMask Initially]].]]
* BloodMagic: A limited case. Magicians of the Hand can't fully use their power until they cut off two of their fingers, symbolically linking themselves to the peninsula.
* BrotherSisterIncest: [[spoiler: Dianora and Baerd]]
* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler: Tomasso doesn't last very long.]]
** Also, [[spoiler: Isolla of Ygrath, the lover of Brandin's wife; the latter sent her to assassinate him.]]
* TheCaligula: Alberico is constantly on the edge of this trope; he starts going downhill pretty much from the moment he [[spoiler: very nearly gets assassinated.]]
* CassandraTruth: Nobody believes Alberico when he claims that the heads of three rival families with rich estates, led by the most CampGay guy that ever camped, all got together in a conspiracy to kill him. Especially since everyone involved is conveniently dead (when standard practice is to wring out a confession and then horribly execute) and it gives him the perfect pretext to take their stuff.
* CoolOldGuy: Sandre.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Whilst the Barbadian sky-wheels are pretty nasty, it's [[spoiler:Isolla]]'s death that really stands out. Brandin's magic ''rips her apart from the inside'', giving us our first glimpse of him not as a charming, benign AntiVillain, but as the man who obliterated a country all the way down to its ''name''.
* DeadLittleSister: Residual grief over the death of his son is what drives Brandin to do what he does.
* DeadpanSnarker: Approximately fourth fifths of the cast.
* DisproportionateRetribution: His habit of doing this is what makes Brandin an AntiVillain rather than a straight-up hero. To use the most notorious example (though others exist), his reaction to his son dying in a war ''he'' started is to annihilate the defenders' country so hard that it [[spoiler:poisons the entire Peninsula]].
* TheDogBitesBack
* EunuchsAreEvil: Averted with Scelto. Vaguely hinted at with Vencel, but it never amounts to anything.
* EvilerThanThou
* EvilOverlord: Two of them (though Alberico is more like an Evil Governor, as he's technically answerable to an off-page Emperor [[TheStarscream whose throne he'd love to usurp]]).
* EvilSorcerer: Alberico. Brandin is definitely a ''ruthless'' sorcerer, but it's up for debate if he's really evil.
* EvilVersusEvil: The two sorcerer-kings occupying the Peninsula absolutely ''loathe'' each other.
* FakingTheDead: [[spoiler: Sandre, at the very start]]; Catriana later fakes a bridge-dive for propaganda purposes.
* FeudingFamilies: Nobles are just like that.
* FieryRedhead: Catriana
* GenocideBackfire: It wasn't genocide so much as [[IncrediblyLamePun countrycide]], but it still led to a small bitter group seeking sweet revenge.
** Don't be silly, Piers Morgan wasn't anywhere in the area.
* GlamourFailure
* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: More a case of Free People Have Good Sex: while Tigana is in the grip of two foreign tyrants, the only forms of sex depicted are prostitution, rape, [[BrotherSisterIncest incest]], [[BondageIsBad BDSM]] or [[DistractedByTheSexy sex under false pretenses]]. Not until the Tiganans prepare to rise up against their dictators is [[http://www.brightweavings.com/ggkswords/andrews.htm "healthy" sex depicted]].
* GrayEyes: Much is made of the grey eyes of Alessan, Brandin, and Rhun the fool, all of which are exactly the same colour. A character explicitly notes that Alessan's eyes look just like Brandin's, which seems to be foreshadowing some reveal or another. [[spoiler: It's a red herring. If Alessan's eyes look just like Brandin's, and Brandin's eyes look just like his Fool's, then [[FridgeBrilliance Alessan has the same eyes as Rhun - his father.]]]]
* GreyAndBlackMorality
* HandicappedBadass: Marius, who killed half a dozen would-be assassins while hamstrung.
** Scalvaia gets an honorary mention for almost killing Alberico with a walking stick, of all things.
* HeroesWantRedheads: Catriana.
* HistoricalFantasy
* ImportantHaircut: Catriana
* TheJester: the King's Fool in Brandin's court is magically linked to him, acting out his master's subconscious urges.
* KissOfDistraction: Exaggerated. Catriana and Devin are stuck in a tight secret passageway, and she has sex with him in an (unsuccessful) attempt to stop him from hearing a conversation in the next room.
* LaResistance
* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Brandin. Sure, he's a decent guy in person... too bad this decent guy is a foreign invader, and would be plainly AffablyEvil (or even EvillyAffable), had he been the sole invader of Peninsula.
* LoveHurts: Oh boy.
* LoveLetterLunacy: Devin gets a very fragrant, rather ''forward'' love letter from Alais's sister.
* MoralMyopia: Brandin
* MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning: See: ThanatosGambit
* ObfuscatingStupidity: More like obfuscating [[CampGay FABULOSITY]]
* OffingTheOffspring: A particularly [[{{Tearjerker}} upsetting]] [[MercyKill variant.]]
* OffstageVillainy: All of Brandin's evil deeds occurred years before the book even starts. We'd never know he was supposed to be evil if those actions didn't have repercussions in the present.
* PleaseSelectNewCityName: Brandin renaming Tigana to Lower Corte is a major driving force in the main plot. He magically ''erases'' the name Tigana from the consciousness of anyone who didn't live there when it was Tigana, so that it seems the name, and the memory of the city, is destined to die with that generation.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath
* RevengeBeforeReason: '''''Brandin'''''.
* RightfulKingReturns
* StupidityInducingAttack: The Court Fool creation process, providing a Ygrathi king's least favourite enemies with a particularly nasty FateWorseThanDeath. [[spoiler:As Brandin found out, though, it only works so long as you've got enough magic to sustain it, and whoever you've been doing it to probably won't be very happy about what you did to them once they regain their wits.]]
* ThanatosGambit: Sandre's death and subsequent funeral [[spoiler:at first appears to be this, with the twist that Sandre is actually FakingTheDead.]] Later [[spoiler:Catriana invokes this trope when she assassinates Anghiar and jumps to what she assumes to be her death. [[NotQuiteDead It doesn't take.]]]]
* TwistEnding: [[spoiler: Of the Snap Ending variety on the very last paragraph. Possibly, anyway, since we never discover which of the three got which fate.]]
* {{Unperson}}: Performed on the entire country of Tigana, kicking off the novel's plot. WordOfGod says that the author was inspired to write the story by the instances of this during the Soviet purges.
* WackyWaysideTribe: Possibly the Night Walkers. On the one hand, they pop up with no foreshadowing whatsoever, and receive little mention afterwards. On the other, they provide significant CharacterDevelopment for one member of the heroes' party, as well as showing that there are rather more serious, immediate reasons to restore Tigana than just addressing past grievances.
* WeirdMoon: Two of them, one white, one blue.
* WhatTheHellHero: Kay explores this motif, having his heroes take several morally dubious choices in their quest. Were they justified by necessity? It's up to the reader.
* YourHeadAsplode: [[spoiler: Isolla of Ygrath, following an attempted assassination on Brandin.]] It's ''awful.''
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