History Literature / Warbreaker

** Also, how he rediscovers the skills he had in life. Entirely by accident, he learns halfway through the book that he is good at interrogation and finding hidden details, [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers and is pretty good at juggling fruit]]. He has no experience like that in his life as a god, so he reasons that they must be skills from his previous life and wonders if he was a police detective or something similar. [[spoiler: Later, he gets a sword, turns out to be dangerously incompetent with it, and is informed that in his previous life he was a forensic accountant.]] We never do find out why he can juggle fruit or, for that matter, if for some reason he was actually a master of a game specific to the gods when he was alive.

* ManChild: WordOfGod is that Sanderson felt he had to walk a very fine line with [[spoiler: Susebron]], to make him childlike enough to be believable as someone who's been largely isolated his whole life, without being so much that his [[spoiler: relationship with Siri]] was [[{{Squick}} squicky]].

* TheyDo: [[spoiler:The God King and Siri late in the book.]]

* FishOutOfWater: Siri, the RebelliousPrincess who finds herself in a PrincessClassic plotline. And, for that matter, Vivi, a PrincessClassic in a RebelliousPrincess plotline.

** Idrians have some quite exaggerated conceptions about how bad sacrificing breath to the gods in Hallandra. Losing your breath ''does'' have some negative physical and mental side effects, but not ones people would be unwilling to live with.

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: [[spoiler: Discovering how gentle Susebron is lead Siri to believe this was the reason he did not force her into sex on their wedding night. He actually had no idea what sex was, but even if he had, he almost certainly would have been too considerate to take Siri by force.]]

* SoulPower: The Idrians believe Breath is a person's soul, and thus hold Awakening to be the worst sort of heresy. The people of Hallandren are less convinced of this, and don't revile Awakeners or believe losing one's Breath is so terrible, as long as they're paid well for it (or do it for a good cause, like [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly sustaining the Returned]]). They are both somewhat right and wrong—according to WordOfGod, giving away your soul is quite unpleasant, giving you worse health and depression, though it's not as bad as the Idrians say.

* TalkingWeapon: Nightblood.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Implied to be pretty much everybody. [[spoiler:Kalad and Peacegiver are the same person, Austre followers used to be Awakeners too, and so forth.]]

The only way to avert it is for the king of Idris to honor an old treaty and send his daughter to the God King's court [[ArrangedMarriage to be his bride]]. He has trained up his beloved daughter [[PrincessClassic Vivenna]] to do this, but when the time comes he pulls a switcheroo and sends his youngest daughter [[RebelliousPrincess Sisirina]] instead. When Siri arrives, she's immediately pulled into [[DecadentCourt a tangled web of plots and betrayals within the court of the Gods]]. Meanwhile,Vivenna, at loose ends now that the husband she went through a lifetime of WifeHusbandry for has married someone else, sneaks away to Hallandren to save her little sister from the ruthless God King and take her place. It doesn't quite work out that way, especially when the mysterious Vasher, a fighter with a [[ArtifactOfDoom black sword that speaks to him and enjoys killing people]], takes notice of her...

The only way to avert it is for the king of Idris to honor an old treaty and send his daughter to the God King's court [[ArrangedMarriage to be his bride]]. He has trained up his beloved daughter [[PrincessClassic Vivenna]] to do this, but when the time comes he pulls a switcheroo and sends his youngest daughter [[RebelliousPrincess Sisirina]] instead. When Siri arrives, she's immediately pulled into [[DecadentCourt a tangled web of plots and betrayals within the court of the Gods]]. Meanwhile, Vivi, at loose ends now that the husband she went through a lifetime of WifeHusbandry for has married someone else, sneaks away to Hallandren to save her little sister from the ruthless God King and take her place. It doesn't quite work out that way, especially when the mysterious Vasher, a fighter with a [[ArtifactOfDoom black sword that speaks to him and enjoys killing people]], takes notice of her...

In a world where magic is ruled by three aspects (color, voice, and Breath, [[SoulPower the essential power of one's soul]]), where those who die nobly can return to life and [[AGodAmI be worshipped as gods]], the minor kingdom of Idris wants to stay as far away from such things as possible. They wear muted colors, usually a simple gray or white, and look upon the use of Breath magic as an abomination. But in the neighboring kingdom of Hallandren, where the immortal [[GodEmperor God King]] rules over [[OurZombiesAreDifferent a court of deities returned from the dead]], sinister plots are stirring and many are calling for war against the "rebels" in Idris.

* BuxomIsBetter: All the gods, upon Returning, are transformed into their own idea of physical perfection. As a result, almost all the goddesses have enormous breasts.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The religion of Austre has some strong similarities to real world Christianity.

** [[spoiler: And in Oathbringer, Vivenna shows up during the siege of Kholin disguised as a character known as Azure, meeting and fighting alongside Kaladin. Sporting a few scars and armed with a unique shardblade, she worldhopped to Roshar to search for Vasher/Zahel and Nightblood, in the process becoming Highmarshall for the Wall Guard in Kholin.]]

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: The Lifeless are reanimated corpses. They don't rot, they don't eat brains (or anything else) and they're intelligent enough to take orders, if you know the magic password to command them.
** Arguably the Hallandren gods themselves, as they're people who've died and been Returned; supposedly the Iridescent Tones (or to the Idrians, Austre, God of Colors) Return those individuals who die exemplifying one of the "great virtues of human existence." They require at least one Breath a week to continue living, and whether or not they're actually gods is up for debate. [[spoiler:As Lightsong finds out once he remembers how he died and came back, they really ''are'' gods in a sense.]]

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Much more serious example than usual. When Vasher and Shashara were forging Nightblood, they knew that whatever Command they gave would define the sword's personality and purpose. Given the fact that Nightblood contains a ''thousand'' Breaths and is thus one of the most powerful objects in the world, choosing the right command was obviously very important. After much thought, they selected "Destroy evil." Only later would they realize the problem with this command: How is a piece of metal supposed to know what "evil" is?

** Also, how he rediscovers the skills he had in life. Entirely by accident, he learns halfway through the book that he is good at interrogation and finding hidden details, [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers and is pretty good at juggling fruit]]. He has no experience like that in his life as a god, so he reasons that they must be skills from his previous life and wonders if he was a police detective or something similar. [[spoiler: Later, he gets a sword, turns out to be dangerously incompetent with it, and is informed that in his previous life he was
a forensic accountant.]] We never do find out why he can juggle fruit or, for that matter, if for some reason he was actually a master of a game specific to the gods when he was alive.

a ''forensic accountant'']]We never do find out why he can juggle fruit or, for that matter, if for some reason he was actually a master of a game specific to the gods when he was alive[[/note]].

a ''forensic accountant''[[note]]We never do find out why he can juggle fruit or, for that matter, if for some reason he was actually a master of a game specific to the gods when he was alive[[/note]].]]

** Also, how he rediscovers the skills he had in life. Entirely by accident, he learns halfway through the book that he is good at interrogation and finding hidden details, [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers and is pretty good at juggling fruit]]. He has no experience like that in his life as a god, so he reasons that they must be skills from his previous life and wonders if he was a police detective or something similar. [[spoiler: Later, he gets a sword, turns out to be dangerously incompetent with it, and is informed that in his previous life he was an ''accountant''[[note]]We never do find out why he can juggle fruit or, for that matter, if for some reason he was actually a master of a game specific to the gods when he was alive[[/note]].]]