| 1 | [[quoteright:318:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gentleman_bastard.jpg]] |
| 2 | |
| 3 | This series centers around a thief who goes by Locke Lamora, set in a FantasyCounterpartCulture of Venice. A brilliant schemer, accomplished liar and master of disguise, Locke spends each book trying to con his way into a fortune or out of some terrible predicament (usually both at once). The books also use flashbacks to delve into the backstory of Locke's merry gang of tricksters, the Gentleman Bastards, who were all trained by the beggar-priest Father Chains to be devotees of the nameless god of thieves. |
| 4 | |
| 5 | Scott Lynch has released three of the seven planned books: |
| 6 | * ''The Lies of Locke Lamora'' (June 2006) |
| 7 | * ''Literature/RedSeasUnderRedSkies'' (July 2007) |
| 8 | * ''The Republic of Thieves'' (October 2013) |
| 9 | * ''The Thorn of Emberlain'' (forthcoming) |
| 10 | * ''The Ministry of Necessity'' (forthcoming) |
| 11 | * ''The Mage and the Master Spy'' (forthcoming) |
| 12 | * ''Inherit the Night'' (forthcoming) |
| 13 | |
| 14 | Lynch is also planning three novellas to be released by Subterranean Press: |
| 15 | * ''The Bastards and the Knives'' will contain the first two novellas: |
| 16 | ** "The Mad Baron's Mechanical Attic" |
| 17 | ** "The Choir of Knives" |
| 18 | * And a third with an unknown title. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | Finally, Lynch is planning a ''second'' seven-book series, taking place fifteen or twenty years after the first one. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | ---- |
| 23 | !!This series provides examples of: |
| 24 | * AccentRelapse: From the point of view of the one being found out. |
| 25 | * AccidentalMurder: What gets Locke kicked out of Shade's Hill - he plants a white iron coin in Veslin's chamber to make it look like he was on the take from the yellowjackets, thinking that he'd get a beating or some other kind of humiliation. However, taking bribes from the city watch is actually a killing offense among the Right People, and a ''white iron'' coin specifically is so valuable that it could only be for a major job - like helping kill the Thiefmaker and wiping out his entire gang. As such, when the Thiefmaker finds the coin, he promptly kills Veslin, along with his roommate, Gregor. |
| 26 | * ActionGirl: Zamira, Ezri, Merrain, Sabetha, and the Berengias sisters. And [[spoiler:Selendri, since she used to be an Eye.]] Less specifically, there are the ''contrarequialla'', the female-only gladiators who fight sharks during festivals. |
| 27 | * AffluentAscetic: The Gentleman Bastards live relatively modestly despite having stolen a fortune. This is partly because they get much more pleasure from planning and executing cons than from spending the money, and partly because if the extent of their wealth were known they would be killed for breaking the Secret Peace that prevents them from stealing from the nobility. |
| 28 | * AlchemyIsMagic: And pretty much the basis of current civilization along with ClockPunk tech to the extent that it's the only type of magic that the Bondsmagi don't dare ban because everyone would turn on them. |
| 29 | * AlliterativeName: Locke Lamora, which is commented upon when he first states his name. Also Dona Sofia Salvara and one of the Gentlemen Bastards's aliases. |
| 30 | * AlwaysSecondBest: The source of a lot of the tension in Locke and Sabetha's relationship. While they are both equally skilled grifters, Locke wins the recognition that Sabetha craves with very little effort, sometimes even by accident. It's unclear how much of this is because of sexism and how much is because Locke is incapable (to a fault) of making his cons anything other than giant, flashy, insane capers (as opposed to Sabetha's caution and forethought). |
| 31 | * AmnesiacHero: Locke has hardly any memories of whatever happened before he got out of a plague-struck district of Camorr as a small child. [[spoiler: We learn why and how in ''Republic of Thieves''...maybe.]] |
| 32 | * AmusingInjuries: In ''The Lies of Locke Lamora,'' Locke gets kicked in the balls during a raid on Don Salvara's house, which is played for laughs. The beatings he takes on the job get less and less funny as the book goes on. |
| 33 | * AnachronicOrder: ''The Lies of Locke Lamora'' jumps around quite a lot: |
| 34 | ** The chapter where Locke masquerades as a Midnighter (secret cop) who tells the Salvaras about his Spanish Prisoner gambit is told this way. The beginning of the conversation is told from Don Lorenzo's perspective, without revealing to the reader who the Midnighter really is. This is followed by a description of Locke dressing up as a Midnighter, and we see the rest of the conversation from Locke's perspective. Then we see how Calo and Locke broke into the Salvara's manor to surprise the Don in the first place. |
| 35 | ** Other chapters in the series are told in a similar manner, such as the chapter where the Gentleman Bastards initiate the [[TheCon Don Salvara Game]]. It flips back and forth between the staged mugging and the events leading up to it, the former from both the older gang members' and Bug's points of view. |
| 36 | ** The book also includes lengthy {{Flash Back}}s to the gang's upbringing as kids under the tutelage of Father Chains. |
| 37 | * AndIMustScream: Since killing a Bondsmage brings the rest of them down on your head and the heads of everyone you've ever met, this is how Locke and Jean deal with the Falconer - permanently cripple him so he can't use magic, then hand him back to his fellows as a warning. Alas, they're still fairly put out. [[spoiler:Or at least the other members of his faction are. Unfortunately, as of the end of the third book, the Falconer managed to repair himself... and he has plans...]] |
| 38 | * AndThenWhat: While the Gentlemen Bastards are top-notch con-men, they ultimately have no idea what they're supposed to do with their fortune, especially since any ConspicuousConsumption would attract the wrong kind of attention. While ''Red Seas Under Red Skies'' reveals that they're fulfilling one of the mandates of the Crooked Warden - namely, to remind the rich that they're not untouchable - they're still stuck with forty-three thousand crowns worth of money that they can't use. [[spoiler:When Locke gets roped into the Gray King's plans, the Gentlemen Bastards immediately plan to get out of Dodge and use the fortune to set themselves up elsewhere. However, said fortune is stolen in order to pay for the Falconer's services, and Locke ultimately tricks Dona Vorchenza into sinking both the Gray King's ship and said fortune as a death offering to Calo, Galdo, and Bug.]] |
| 39 | * AndThisIsFor: |
| 40 | ** Locke [[spoiler:when chopping off the Falconer's fingers with a red-hot knife. One each for Bug, Galdo, Calo, and Nazca. The rest are for him and Jean. Invoked again during Locke's final encounter with the Gray King where Locke punctuates each lethal stab with the names of his dead friends.]] |
| 41 | ** An ironic twist: [[spoiler:Locke is forced to pretend to be the Gray King and has to fake illness to get out of his part in Barsavi's 'meeting' at the Echo Hole. Anjais promises to deck the Gray King once for Locke, and later does so - to the disguised Locke]]. |
| 42 | * AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Locke makes one to Sabetha atop an inn during a flashback in ''The Republic of Thieves''. |
| 43 | * AntiHero: The Gentleman Bastards are thieves and conmen who get embroiled in deadly intrigue, usually motivated by greed, vengeance or self-preservation, but they are not without their own peculiar morality. They make a point of targeting only the ruthless aristocracy with their schemes and generally make enemies of people ''far'' worse than them. |
| 44 | * AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:By halfway through the first book, half the Gentlemen Bastards are dead along with Capa Barsavi and his entire family. And that's just the beginning.]] |
| 45 | * AppliedPhlebotinum: Dreamsteel is a quicksilver-like substance which can be shaped and controlled by magic and is used by bondsmagi in many of their works. |
| 46 | * TheArchmage: Four of them rule the Bondsmagi of Karthain. The title is actually "Archedon" for men and "Archedama" for women. |
| 47 | * AristocratsAreEvil: Of the aristocrats and oligarchs present in the books thus far, the vast majority take MoralMyopia to an art form, feel no compassion or empathy for the lives of commoners except for those in their employ, and live in decadence that would put Versailles to shame. Don and Dona Salvara appear to be among the few exceptions, and even they aren't necessarily philanthropists. |
| 48 | * ArmedLegs: Nazca's boots, with metal spikes for kicking. |
| 49 | * ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: When Locke describes his treatment of [[spoiler:the Falconer]]. Stabbed him a few times, drove him nuts, cut off all his fingers and cut out his tongue. Also called him an asshole, which apparently offended him. |
| 50 | * ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Medicine is based on the old "four humors" model of Hippocratic medicine, but physkers still manage to provide pretty effective healing. |
| 51 | * AutomatonHorses: Gentled animals. They still need food and water, but don't feel pain or fatigue or have any personal initiative. |
| 52 | * AwesomeMcCoolname: Locke Lamora's name is noted in the text as having a nice ring to it. |
| 53 | * BackAlleyDoctor: The dog-leeches, who are to physikers what black alchemists are to their legal counterparts, though the narration mentions that you take your chances on a dog-leech's skill and disposition when you visit one. During ''Lies'', Jean has to bring Locke to one named Ibelus, who is Collegium-trained and has just as much of a grudge against the Grey King as they do. |
| 54 | * BadassArmy: The Bondsmagi only had to go to war once, and it was such a CurbStompBattle that everyone got the message that it's basically impossible to stand against them. |
| 55 | * BadassBoast: Plenty. ''Ila justicca vei cala.'' (Justice is red.) |
| 56 | * BadassBookworm: Jean Tannen. |
| 57 | * BadassPreacher: All of the Gentlemen Bastards can pass themselves off as priests of various orders. Locke is a legitimately ordained priest of the Crooked Warden (the thirteenth god). Father Chains is also a priest of the Crooked Warden, and his cover identity is as a famous priest of beggars. |
| 58 | * BanOnMagic: The bondsmagi prohibit magic beyond a certain complexity outside their order. They tolerate alchemy, however, because it's simply too widespread and important to try and ban. |
| 59 | * BadGuyBar: The Last Mistake, right next to Capa Barsavi's headquarters. And the Tattered Crimson, in Port Prodigal. |
| 60 | * BandOfBrothels: After a group of women murdered a particularly loathsome pimp, they decided to take management into their own hands. After a short but brutal war with other gangs trying to regain control, two brothels established themselves as long term fixtures of Camorr's underworld. Even ''[[TheDon Capa Barsavi]]'', who murdered dozens of rivals to become the sole remaining Capa, makes a point of not interfering with their business. They ''do'' still pay him tithe as part of the Right People of Camorr, but at a significantly lower percentage than any other gang in the city. |
| 61 | * BattleButler: Conte, the Salvaras' manservant, is an old soldier and very proficient knife expert. |
| 62 | * BavarianFireDrill |
| 63 | * TheBeastmaster: The Falconer's primary talent, complete with his BondCreature, Vestris (a scorpion-hawk with poisonous talons), the use of [[AnimalEyeSpy Animal Eye Spies]], manipulating normally docile creatures into suicidal attacks, and killing people very painfully and thoroughly. Hence his assumed name. [[spoiler:His link with Vestris is the key to his defeat in the end; the remaining Bastards kill her, giving the Falconer an extremely painful PokeInTheThirdEye that leaves him half-mad with agony. They then capture and torture him the rest of the way.]] |
| 64 | * BestServedCold: |
| 65 | ** Markos killing Gervain in the interlude chapter "The Tale of the Old Handball Players" - thirty-five years after the handball game that ruined their friendship. |
| 66 | ** The Gray King/Anatolius's goal is to take revenge on Barsavi and the nobility of Camorr twenty-two years after the deaths of his parents and younger siblings. |
| 67 | * BigBad: The Gray King in ''Lies'', Archon Maxilan Stragos in ''Red Seas''. ''Republic'' doesn't have a single central antagonist, unless Sabetha counts; while [[spoiler: Archedama Foresight]] was the ultimate string-puller of the opposition, her direct role in the novel is minimal, and Sabetha is only a hired agent. [[spoiler:Though the ending implies that the newly-restored Falconer is on his way to becoming this as well.]] |
| 68 | * BigBadFriend: [[spoiler: Jean pretends to become]] one of these in the prologue of the second book. |
| 69 | * BittersweetEnding: Each book ends this way. [[spoiler:The Bastards succeed in their short-term goals, but at a price.]]. |
| 70 | ** ''Lies of Locke Lamora'':[[spoiler:Locke and Jean defeat the Gray King and his associates, and save the Camorr nobility from being Gentled, but Calo, Galdo, and Bug are dead, and they have lost the fortune that they'd worked to accumulate.]] |
| 71 | ** ''Red Seas Under Red Skies'':[[spoiler:Locke and Jean outsmart the Archon, but Ezri is dead, the paintings that they were trying to steal were just replicas, and they only have one dose of the antidote to the Archon's poison, which Locke surrepetiously gives to Jean.]] |
| 72 | ** ''The Republic of Thieves'':[[spoiler:Locke has been cured, and all three Gentleman Bastards survive the election, but Patience stabs them in the back and drives a (possibly) permanent wedge between Locke and Sabetha as revenge for the Falconer. Then it turns out that the Falconer is not so helpless as everyone thought.]] |
| 73 | * BlackAndGrayMorality: Ubiquitous. There are ''no'' out-and-out heroes in the world of this series so far, though the protagonists are at least conscientious enough to avoid random mayhem and try to make it right by anyone they've screwed who didn't deserve it. In other stories, figures like Requin and Capa Barsavi would be monstrous BigBad types who'd thoroughly crossed the MoralEventHorizon. Here, they're both indispensable and powerful fixtures of their respective cities' underworlds and crucial to local stability, and the reader is invited to sympathize with them to some extent. The Bondsmagi themselves are presented as creepy and malevolent in the first two books but [[spoiler:the third one shows that while they are indeed [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bastards]], most of them are not the vicious, sadistic, self-righteous sociopaths the Falconer would have you thinking they are]]. |
| 74 | * BondVillainStupidity: When [[spoiler:executing the Gray King (actually Locke)]], Capa Barsavi decides to toss him in a barrel of horse urine and immediately throw it out of sight into the sea, rather than drown him in full view of everyone to ensure that he dies. |
| 75 | * BoxedCrook: Locke and Jean are subjected to this by the Archon. They really, ''really'' do not like it. |
| 76 | * BrainsAndBrawn: Zig-zagged. Jean is a [[StoutStrength "muscle-and-fat"]] bruiser, who also happens to be the son of a well-off merchant, and superbly educated. Locke is a cunning but comparatively BookDumb SatisfiedStreetRat. Locke is the ideas man and always takes point, while Jean backs him up with brawn or secondary grifting as required. |
| 77 | * BroughtDownToBadass: [[spoiler: According to Patience, Locke used to be a renegade necromancer named Lamor Acanthus. He escaped death from old age by transferring his soul into the body of a young boy. Unfortunately, the move seems to have cost him his memory and his magical gifts]]. |
| 78 | * CandlelitRitual: [[spoiler:Locke Lamora]] is purged of a deadly poison by a highly traumatic magical ritual that uses SympatheticMagic to link him to three candles, which burn [[TechnicolorFire black]] as they "die" on his behalf. |
| 79 | * CardSharp: The Sanzas, to the point that nobody who knows them will gamble with them and they can perform seemingly impossible card magic. |
| 80 | * CarryingTheAntidote: [[spoiler: Though he only carried enough for one]]. Also mildly averted in the first book where [[spoiler:the Spider poisons Locke and offers him the antidote only if he helps her. He punches her out and loots the antidote from her unconscious body.]] |
| 81 | * CassandraTruth: [[spoiler: Patience- who actually does possess some measure of precognition- warned the Falconer not to go to Camorr after he accepted the job of undertaking the Grey King's black contract. He didn't listen.]] |
| 82 | * {{Cincinnatus}}: The position of Archon of Tal Verrar was ''meant'' to be this trope, but the first Archon decided not to retire and remained in control of the city, passing on the position to Stragos after he died. [[spoiler:By the end of the second book, Stragos is taken prisoner by Drakasha and the ''Priori'' have taken over.]] |
| 83 | * CityOfCanals: Camorr. Also Tal Verrar in a way, although it's more a City of Artificial Islands. |
| 84 | * ClusterFBomb: The Gentlemen Bastards' ''modus operandi''. Especially Locke when he's outsmarted himself, as so often happens. |
| 85 | * ClockPunk: The Artificer's Guild. |
| 86 | * ColdBloodedTorture: Happens a ''lot'', and it's sometimes the "good" guys doing the torturing. |
| 87 | * {{Collector of the Strange}}: One of the proudest claims of the [[BadGuyBar Last Mistake]] is that it has secured a memento of every ship that has foundered within sight of Camorr over a period of seventy years. The walls are covered in "a bewildering variety of souvenirs, each one telling a visual tale that ended with the phrase 'not quite good enough.'" such as broken bits of ships, split helmets, and a suit of armor with a square hole punched into it by a crossbow bolt. |
| 88 | * CombatPragmatist: Locke, not being a BigGuy (like Jean) or a highly-trained martial artist (like Sabetha) is arguably the dirtiest fighter in the books thus far. Hell, in the first book, he punches out The Spider. Why is this notable? [[spoiler: She's an octogenarian]]! This even grants him a FakeUltimateHero status after some lucky kills. Never better exemplified than when he takes out [[spoiler:the Gray King]] by tricking him into thinking Jean's come up behind him. |
| 89 | * ComicallyIneptHealing: While medicine is pretty advanced for a fantasy setting, one passage notes that all doctors agree that exposing wounds to light fights infection. |
| 90 | * ComplexityAddiction: |
| 91 | ** Locke could live a comfortable life off the profits of simple theft, but where's the fun in that? Instead, he goes for plans that ''start'' at "TooCleverByHalf" and get more complex from there. Even when he was a kid, he would throw half of Camorr into chaos just to make his daily theft quota. |
| 92 | ** [[spoiler: Patience in Republic of Thieves comes off this way. Her plan includes sabotaging the Falconer so he would drive himself to madness when attempting to block out pain (hoping that he would be killed in the process), saving Locke's life despite secretly hating him and getting him to participate in the 5 Year Game, telling him not to hang out with Sabetha, interrupting his hanging out with Sabetha and revealing the Lamor Acanthus story (thus ruining their relationship), having Coldmarrow fake-turncoat and let Foresight overhear the Acanthus reveal, having Coldmarrow encourage Foresight to initiate a coup, then murdering every opposing wizard on election night after Locke and Jean implode the Karthani political scene before that attempted coup could actually start, then extra-ruining Locke and Sabetha's relationship by showing Sabetha a portrait of Acanthus and his wife, then freeing Falconer's mind and revealing her part in his breakdown before leaving him alone in what she expects will be a fate worse than death in a city that will shortly be falling to ruin.]] WhyDontYouJustShootHim indeed. |
| 93 | * TheCon: The Gentleman Bastards pull variations of the Spanish prisoner scam on Don and Dona Salvarra in the first book, claiming that they need funds to bring brandy into Camorr in return for a healthy cut of the profits once imported. |
| 94 | * CorruptedContingency: The Bondsmagi have a meditative technique to escape torture by retreating into their own minds, but [[spoiler:the Falconer]] is reduced to a vegetative state when he uses it in the first book. In the third book, this is revealed to have been due to [[spoiler:his own mother magically sabotaging him, having decided he's too dangerous a SuperSupremacist to keep around.]] |
| 95 | * CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: [[spoiler:Locke berates Capa Raza for lumping the Gentleman Bastards into his plot to eliminate the aristocracy, since the Bastards are themselves against the aristocracy]]. |
| 96 | * CrapsackWorld: Crime is rampant, the law is brutal and corrupt, the aristocracy is decadent and callous, the magi are murderous. War and {{Eldritch Abomination}}s loom. Even the environment is full of deadly stuff. |
| 97 | * CreateYourOwnHero: Seven years before ''Red Seas'', a group of pirates formed a fleet and declared that they had a right to 'levy taxes' (read: plunder) all the villages and boats on the Sea of Brass. After about half a year, Tal Verrar became pissed off enough to send the navy after them, taking most of the pirates out. |
| 98 | * CreateYourOwnVillain: An intentional case: Stragos, the Archon of Tal Verrar, wants Locke and Jean to start another pirate uprising so he can defeat them and remind the people of Tal Verrar why he's in control. It doesn't end well... [[spoiler:for Stragos, that is.]] |
| 99 | * CruelAndUnusualDeath: Such deaths are plentiful in these books. Most notable are [[spoiler:Nazca]] and [[spoiler:Archedama Patience]]. |
| 100 | * CulturedBadass: All of the {{Genius Bruiser}}s of the series enjoy high culture. |
| 101 | ** Jean. Axe-fighter, highly trained martial artist and built like a bull. Spends a couple of pages debating the merits and flaws of Therin-era playwrights and reads romantic poetry in his spare time. |
| 102 | ** Capa Barsavi. Before being the ruthless ruler of the Camorr underworld, he was a ''professor'' at the world-famous Therin Collegium. He taught rhetoric. |
| 103 | ** Chains is a ''garrista'', a former soldier, and a very intellectual man. |
| 104 | * CutLexLuthorACheck: An antihero example in the first book: The Gentleman Bastards are sitting on a fortune of stolen goods in their lair, but have no idea what to do with it. They continue masquerading as simple hoodlums, pulling heists, and risking their necks because that's what they were trained to do. |
| 105 | * DeadpanSnarker: Nearly everyone. |
| 106 | * DeadPersonImpersonation: The Bastards have to use that trick to impersonate [[spoiler:Boulidazi after he gets killed trying to rape Jean's lover]]. |
| 107 | * DeathSeeker: |
| 108 | ** Locke encounters a cult of death seekers who act as muscle for a merchant ship. They force the ship to resist the pirate invasion rather than simply surrender their cargo. [[spoiler:All of this conveniently keeps Locke and Jean sympathetic when helping to slaughter them]]. |
| 109 | ** Locke himself can fall into the attitude between the end of his most recent giant crazy plan and the beginning of another one; Jean theorises that without the thrill of the hustle, Locke ''genuinely wants to die''. It's become more-or-less Jean's job to bully Locke out of this state when he lapses into it. |
| 110 | * DidntSeeThatComing: Twice. |
| 111 | ** [[spoiler:''Lies of Locke Lamora'' has Dona Salvara going to see Dona Vorchenza - who turns out to be the Spider - about their visit from the fake Midnighters, allowing her to set up a trap for Locke.]] |
| 112 | ** [[spoiler:At the end of ''Red Seas Under Red Skies'', the paintings that Jean and Locke steal turn out to be replicas that Requin had put out for just such an occasion.]] |
| 113 | * DidntThinkThisThrough: One of the reasons that Locke's early schemes go awry - he's smart enough to set them in motion, but doesn't consider anything beyond the immediate consequences, or that they may be bigger than he thought. |
| 114 | * DisappearedDad: |
| 115 | ** Locke mentions that he has the barest glimmer of a memory of his mother, but nothing of his father. [[spoiler:Turns out that even his memory of his mother wasn't really his mother]]. |
| 116 | ** Captain Zamira Drakasha from ''Red Seas Under Red Skies'' has two small children of her own, but no mention is ever made of their father. |
| 117 | * DisproportionateRetribution: |
| 118 | ** The Bondsmagi are a living incarnation of this trope. They burned the capital city of an empire to the ground just to make a point. [[spoiler: In the third book, we learn it was also because they thought the magi of that empire behaved in a way that could ultimately destroy the human race. Well, at least, that's what ''they'' say.]] |
| 119 | ** [[spoiler: The Gray King]] also falls under this trope. [[spoiler: Capa Barsavi murdered his parents and half of his siblings, over a disagreement about the Secret Peace that protected the city's nobles from thievery. The Gray King's idea of revenge is to not just [[RevengeByProxy kill Barsavi and his entire family]], but to give ''all'' the noble families (including their children, born years after his family was killed) who benefited from Barsavi's Secret Peace a FateWorseThanDeath]]. |
| 120 | * DoubleAgent: |
| 121 | ** [[spoiler:Coldmarrow]] initially looks like he is TheMole, but [[spoiler:the ''Republic of Thieves'' ending makes it clear that he is ultimately loyal to Patience and her allies]]. |
| 122 | ** [[spoiler: Merrain]] in the second book is working for ''someone'' other than [[spoiler: Stragos]], but we don't learn who it is. |
| 123 | ** [[spoiler:Nikoros]] winds up being blackmailed by the opposition into serving as TheMole. However, Locke and Jean figure this out eventually and manage to use him. |
| 124 | * DownerBeginning: |
| 125 | ** Before we know anything else, ''Literature/RedSeasUnderRedSkies'' shows us Locke in front of a burning ship, cornered by angry guards, and with his best friend apparently turning on him. |
| 126 | ** ''Republic of Thieves'' also starts with Locke slowly and painfully dying from poisoning (although it is quite obvious to the reader that he will find a way to get better). |
| 127 | * TheDragon: The Falconer to the Gray King, in the first book. |
| 128 | * DragonInChief: Borderline case. The plan was all the Gray King's, but the Falconer's magic was absolutely essential to making it run properly. |
| 129 | * DrowningMySorrows: Locke does it at least twice, in the second book after being debilitated by grief and battle wounds and in the second book while dying from poison. |
| 130 | * DualWielding: Jean with his hatchets, the Wicked Sisters. Zamira Drakasha also does this with her sabres. |
| 131 | * DueToTheDead: Part of the worship of the Crooked Warden involves sacrificing something of value to honor a fallen comrade. This offering must be stolen specifically for this purpose, and the greater the value of the offering, the greater the honor. [[spoiler: At the end of the first book, Locke manages to offer the money they stole through their cons to the memories of Calo, Galdo, and Bug]]. |
| 132 | * DunkingTheBomb: The [[spoiler:gas-releasing sculptures full of Wraithstone, alchemical fuses, and fire-oil planted by Capa Raza in the Duke's tower to [[EmptyShell Gentle]] everyone inside are rendered impotent this way before they can go off]]. |
| 133 | * DyeOrDie: In ''The Republic of Thieves'', we find out [[FateWorseThanDeath what the Jeremites do to redheaded girls]]. It's bad enough that even [[TheFagin the Thiefmaker]] [[EvenEvilHasStandards is appalled by it]]… and [[spoiler:makes darn sure that Sabetha always dyes and covers her red hair.]] |
| 134 | * EldritchAbomination: Most of the Bondsmagi believe that the Eldren died because they attracted the attention of one of these. They are concerned that the same thing could happen to humans if they don't keep their magic low-key. |
| 135 | * EmergencyImpersonation: Locke as hired by the Gray King. |
| 136 | * EmptyShell: What happens when a human or animal is Gentled. They no longer have independent will. |
| 137 | * EstablishingSeriesMoment: The first scheme depicted by the Gentlemen Bastards functions as one of these. Locke and his crew successfully bamboozle a Don of the city into financing them through a complex scheme rife in RefugeInAudacity. They set up a series of false identities to get close to the Don, spin a fancystory about being the servants of a famous wine brewing house, and then enlope the Don in a scheme to finance a merchant fleet while they pocket the earnings. Things seem to get intense when the Don is visited at night by members of the SecretPolice of Camorr who inform him of Locke's scheme... only for it to be revealed to be none other than Locke and his gang impersonating them to further fool the Don. This establishes that not only are Locke and his crew master strategiests, actors and manipulators, but their schemes are successful mostly through their willingness to pull some truly risky stuff. |
| 138 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Plenty of this goes on. Capa Barsavi is a murderously ruthless mob boss, but the reader is invited to sympathize with his suffering at [[spoiler: Nazca's]] murder; Requin clearly cares a great deal for Selendri and his RoaringRampageOfRevenge was suitably brutal, and [[spoiler:the Gray King's entire motivation stemmed from trauma for the unjust slaughter of his entire family by the nobility of Camorr.]] |
| 139 | ** [[spoiler: Patience]] is revealed at the end of the third book to have genuinely loved [[spoiler: Falconer and sought revenge on Locke and Jean, even though she herself knew his death would be necessary and she betrayed him herself.]] Falconer is shown to be a sadistic, self-serving monster, but he genuinely loves [[BondCreature his bird familiar]] [[LoyalAnimalCompanion Vestris]]. |
| 140 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: |
| 141 | ** The thieves of Camorr will respect agreements with their leaders, and not harm or steal from those who have paid for protection. |
| 142 | ** Priests of the Crooked Warden are obligated to perform various rituals (usually funeral dedications) and can invoke obligations from other thieves. Locke, a priest of the Warden, balks at faking the funeral rite of another god, even to defend his own hide. |
| 143 | ** The process of "Gentling," basically a sort of chemically-induced lobotomy, is considered too cruel to use for punishment, even in a city where child thieves are routinely hanged. |
| 144 | ** And [[TheFagin The Thiefmaker]] basically rules a bunch of psychologically enslaved orphans, some of whom die under his employ, until he can sell them to a gang. He'll even personally kill orphans who cross him after making the correct offerings to the gods. However, he ''won't'' sell kids into slavery, especially Sabetha, knowing that [[spoiler:Jeremites would rape her to death because of her red hair]]. |
| 145 | * EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: |
| 146 | ** The Falconer. Given the bondsmagi's IKnowYourTrueName-based magic, it's a common practice among the residents of Karthain, magi or mundane. |
| 147 | ** The Thiefmaker and Father Chains also qualify, as we never learn their real names. While the latter only pretends to be a blind priest permanently shackled to his temple to the general public, Capa Barsavi and the Thiefmaker only call him "Chains" even when he's not dressed for the part. |
| 148 | * ExactWords: The ''contrarequiella'' salute - "We dedicate this death to [...]" - with the narration mentioning that "this death" could equally refer to that of the shark or the ''contrarequiella''. [[spoiler:Or, in the case of Barsavi, that of him and his sons.]] |
| 149 | * TheFagin: Locke encounters both versions as a child. The first criminal who took him in, the Thiefmaker, was more of the evil version, but he ends up selling Locke to Father Chains, who is very clearly inspired by the positive takes on Fagin. |
| 150 | * FallGuy: |
| 151 | ** [[spoiler:The Grey King intends Locke to be this for him, but he severely underestimates Locke]]. |
| 152 | ** [[spoiler: Jasmer Moncraine for the murder of Baron Boulidazi, who was actually killed by Sabetha after he was fatally wounded by Jenora when he tried to rape her.]] Notably that this was ''not'' the plan originally [[spoiler:and Boulidazi's death was going to appear to be an accident, burning to death in a fire. They only pin it on Moncraine after he skips town on the rest of the troupe with all the stolen profits from their performance and leaves the rest of them high and dry, instead of splitting it up amongst the troupe as was originally planned.]] |
| 153 | * FakeAristocrat: The Bastards often play this role as part of their various cons. |
| 154 | * FakeUltimateHero: Locke's reputation with the crew of the ''Poison Orchid''. |
| 155 | * FakingTheDead: [[spoiler:The Gray King does this by setting up Locke to be killed in his place, thus ensuring that Barsavi will let his guard down.]] |
| 156 | * FateWorseThanDeath: Being "gentled" using wraithstone. It destroys your mind and turns you into an EmptyShell. It is only done to animals, and using it on humans is seen as a hideous crime virtually anywhere in the world (including in some places where hanging children or torturing enemies for hours are normal things). [[spoiler: The Gray King/Capa Raza intends to do that to all of Camorr's nobility, including their spouses, children and servants.]] |
| 157 | * FantasticRacism: The Bondsmagi consider humans who cannot use magic to be akin to pigs- a resource that can be very useful and should be allowed to flourish, but not ''people''. However, the Bondsmagi are divided into two groups regarding the matter- one group who want to leave the world as it is, and the other group, who believe that they should rightfully rule over the humans who can't use magic. |
| 158 | * FantasyCounterpartCulture: Camorr/Venice most obviously, but there is a rough counterpart to all of the cultures in the books. Kingdom of the Seven Marrows is based on the South German[=/=]Austrian lands of the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire. The Vadran language is obviously based on German. Tal Verrar is also based on Venice, as a multi-island realm whose power lies in the fleet. Karthain is a third Venice analogue, a multi-island republic. Jerem has a few references to pre-industrial India. The defunct Therin Empire is hinted to be a sort of UsefulNotes/RomanEmpire. Also, as of ''Republic of Thieves'', the setting's equivilent of the UsefulNotes/ThirtyYearsWar has begun. |
| 159 | * FauxActionGirl: Quite a few of the women in the first book fall under this despite the narrator assuring us that "women of Camorr should be underestimated at great peril to one's health", they tend to get quite easily dispatched by male opponents. [[spoiler: Nazca is Capa Barsavi's daughter but she gets easily killed by the Grey King and delivered to her father in a barrel of ''horse piss'', no less. The girl thieves of Locke and Jean's childhood quickly retreat when Jean makes it clear he WouldHitAGirl and then the Berangias sisters, who are meant to be formidable elite soldiers, are only seen either fighting sharks or a target who wasn't expecting them to attack him (Capa Barsavi) - the moment they go up against a named character, Jean manages to defeat them despite it being two-on-one.]] |
| 160 | * FeetOfClay |
| 161 | * FictionalPoliticalParty: The council of Karthain is dominated by two parties — the Deep Roots, founded by Old Money, and the Black Iris, comprising young progressives. However, the city-state's true rulers are the Bondsmagi, who secretly mind-control the {{Muggles}} into doing whatever they want and treat the elections like a spectator sport. |
| 162 | * FieryRedhead: Sabetha has naturally red hair and is quite the independent spirit. |
| 163 | * FinishingEachOthersSentences: Calo and Galdo Sanza, among a lot of other twin-related tropes. |
| 164 | * {{Flashback}}: Books one and three [[FlashbackBPlot alternate chapters]] with flashbacks that cover the years prior to the first book, with the Bastards' upbringing relating in some way to the present story. ''Red Seas'' uses them to explain HowWeGotHere instead. |
| 165 | * {{Flynning}}: Jean's sword master explains that he teaches the rich kids how to fight formalized duels rather than actual self-defense. What he teaches Jean is how to kill people with sharp objects. |
| 166 | * ForegoneConclusion: There's a flashback chapter in the third book that shows when the Gentleman Bastards and other young gang members were initiated into the order of the Crooked Warden. It's mentioned more than once that there's a chance for someone to be chosen to become a priest or priestess; Sabetha really wants it and Locke does to a lesser extent. People who've read the first two books already know that Locke does become a priest, but not that he was chosen instead of her. |
| 167 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: |
| 168 | ** In the chapter where we first learn that the Gray King is a real danger who can kill as he pleases, [[spoiler: sorcery is mentioned three separate times, twice even as an offhand explanation for his capabilities that the characters don't follow up on]]. |
| 169 | ** And way back when the Thiefmaker was first trying to sell Locke to Father Chains, he mentioned that there were problems with Locke in his care that would vanish if Chains took him in. Chains sarcastically replies with, "Oh. You have a [[spoiler:''magic'']] boy. Why didn't you say so?" [[spoiler:Rather prescient of him, considering we find out in the third book that Locke was a mage in his previous life.]] |
| 170 | ** The flashbacks we see of young Locke portray him as being cavalier about the death of his fellow orphans, even by the standards of Shades Hill. [[spoiler: Makes sense when you learn he was a necromancer who was experimenting with illegal death magic on Camorr's poor.]] |
| 171 | ** In the second book, Locke and Jean encounter Jeremite Redeemers, religious fanatics who believe that they are the only salvation for Jerem's sins. No explanation of what those sins are is given... [[spoiler: until the third book, when Sabetha explains that at least one of those sins is the Jeremite custom of circumcising and raping redheaded girls of any and all ages to death.]] |
| 172 | * FrameUp |
| 173 | ** Locke frames Veslin (and Gregor by association) by making it look like he was on the take from the yellowjackets. |
| 174 | ** [[spoiler:When Moncraine makes off with the money after the troupe's performance, Locke and co. set it up to make it look like he killed Boulidazi as retribution.]] |
| 175 | * FromNobodyToNightmare: The Grey King's background. He's first considered just some mysterious local hoodlum, but quickly becomes ''far'' more in the underworld of Camorr. Furthermore, in his backstory [[spoiler:he began as the son of a minor noble family who spent his life engineering a plan for vengeance and seizes control out from under Capa Barsavi]]. |
| 176 | * GambitPileup: Locke might have done this to ''himself'' in the second book. It's also lampshaded by a random Mook who is caught in the middle of a small pileup in the third book. |
| 177 | * GambitRoulette: Aspects of Locke's schemes occasionally fail, but he has an amazing knack for improvising furiously until the important parts of a plan fall into place. He doesn't always get out unscathed, though. And nor do the people he associates with. |
| 178 | * GaslampFantasy: The technology level is much higher than the typical medieval fantasy due to the abundance of alchemical and ClockPunk technology. The fact that so many characters wear spectacles is an early indication of the setting's flavor. |
| 179 | * GenderIsNoObject: Women are just as likely to be fighters and other physical trades as men. It's even an EnforcedTrope on the seas, where sailors outright state that it's unlucky to be without at least one woman on the crew. |
| 180 | * GeniusBruiser: |
| 181 | ** Despite being the designated fighter, Jean is intelligent, if not quite as quick on his feet as Locke, and by far the most intellectual of the Bastards. |
| 182 | ** Towering pirate captain Jaffrim Rodanov was once a Collegium student. He also has very strong opinions on the relative merits of various classical playwrights, and quotes their works (even by the ones he ''loathes'') from memory. |
| 183 | ** Capa Barsavi is a large, burly crimelord as well as a former professor of rhetoric |
| 184 | ** Chains is a large, burly gangster and former soldier who is also highly intelligent and well-read. |
| 185 | * GentlemanThief: They aren't called the ''Gentleman'' Bastards for nothing. |
| 186 | * GildedCage: Sabetha puts Locke and Jean on an [[PrisonShip involuntary luxury cruise]] to get them out of the way. |
| 187 | * GilliganCut: Literary examples: |
| 188 | ** When Locke first meets the Falconer, the book cuts to a short flashback chapter were Chains infodumps Locke (and the reader) about Bondsmagi and why they are not to be screwed with. He concludes with the following warning: |
| 189 | -->'''Chains:''' Sorcery's impressive enough, but it's their fucking attitude that makes them such a pain. And that's why, when you find yourself face to face with one, you bow and scrape and mind your 'sirs' and 'madams'.\ |
| 190 | ''(chapter break)''\ |
| 191 | '''Locke:''' Nice bird, asshole. |
| 192 | ** [[spoiler:After the Gentleman Bastards admit that they have to let Mistress Gloriano in on the scheme to frame Moncraine for Boulidazi's death, mainly because it will involve burning down the inn's stable, Jenora, her niece, admits that she won't be happy about it. Cut to the next scene, and she's definitely not happy... because this isn't the first time she's had to disappear a body, and the Bastards should have come to her in the first place.]] |
| 193 | * GiveMeASword |
| 194 | * GiveMyRegardsInTheNextWorld: Locke delivers a heroic example to [[spoiler:the Gray King's assassin who just killed Bug]]: "When you see the Crooked Warden, tell him that Locke Lamora learns slowly, but he learns well. And when you see [[spoiler:my friends]], you tell [[spoiler:them]] that there are ''more of you on the way.''" |
| 195 | * GladiatorGames: Camorr has a ceremony in which gladiatrixes face off against fantasy sharks. |
| 196 | * GoneHorriblyRight: Most of Locke's schemes as a child. His plans worked brilliantly, but there tended to be consequences concerning things he either didn't/couldn't know about or didn't factor in, so when things went wrong, they went ''very'' wrong. For example, when he first comes to Shades' Hill, he's surplus, a stray who attached himself to the kids the Thiefmaker bought. The Thiefmaker takes him aside and tells him that he'd be happy to train Locke with the others, but he'd need some kind of assurance that Locke would be worth the trouble, at which point Locke produces two purses he stole. That would be ample proof... except that he stole them from the yellowjackets, meaning he broke the Secret Peace by accident. (It gets resolved quickly.) |
| 197 | * GoodSamaritan: Don Lorenzo immediately moves to intervene when he believes that Locke, in the guise of a foreign merchant, is being robbed. In fact, Locke counted on Don Lorenzo being honorable enough to have this exact reaction. |
| 198 | * {{Gorn}}: To put it in perspective, the author has received email admonishing him for the salty language used throughout all the books, and responded that he's bemused by ''swearing'' drawing such ire rather than the stabbings, poisonings, mutilations, people being eaten by sharks, people being drowned in horse urine, chemical burnings, regular burnings, deaths by insects (there are a few variations on that one), deaths by animals, slashed arteries, lost limbs...some of them as casual entertainment for the wealthy, several committed by the heroes, and all of them pretty graphically described. |
| 199 | * GoToAlias: Locke and Jean have had a lot of aliases in their time... but when pressed for an identity on short notice, they can always fall back on Tavrin Callas. (This is sort of a prank on their part; the first time Jean used that name, he was infiltrating the cult of the death goddess and faked his own suicide. They figure if anyone traces the name far enough back, the followers of the death goddess can declare it a miracle.) |
| 200 | * GrayAndGreyMorality: The plot to rip off the Salvaras in the first book. The Bastards are out to steal almost half the Salvaras' wealth as part of their religious obligation to humble the rich, but the Salvaras are decent enough sorts. In particular, the Don has at least twice risked his life to defend the helpless. [[spoiler: Which may be why the Salvaras come out of the book pretty well]]. |
| 201 | * GroinAttack: Locke gets kicked in the balls by Comte during a struggle, which nearly blows the whole Don Salvara operation. |
| 202 | * GuileHero: Locke uses his wits to succeed, although many of his more physical problems are solved by his sidekick Jean, the toughest fighter yet seen in the series. Their respective weapons sum up their approaches. Jean uses hatchets: versatile, deadly, and intimidating, but tough to conceal. Locke prefers stilettos when he has to fight at all: near-totally useless if an opponent knows you're coming, but easy to hide and perfect for slipping through gaps in an unsuspecting foe's armor. |
| 203 | * GratuitousFrench: Many fictional Therin words are based on mangled hodgepodges of Romance language root words, such as ''contrarequialla'' (a female shark fighter), which has root words for "against" and "shark" along with what looks like a feminine suffix. |
| 204 | * GratuitousGerman: The few words we hear of Vadran are nonsense mishmashes of German root words, as opposed to the Romance language roots of Therin words. For example, ''endliktgelaben'' is supposed to mean "death desire." It looks like a combination of "endlich," which literally means "endly," and "gelaben," which means "have invited," so it very roughly suggests "invited an end." There really is a German word meaning “death-desire," coined by Sigmund Freud: “Todessehnsucht.” |
| 205 | * GreaterScopeVillain: The third book implies the existence of one; apparently whatever force destroyed the Eldren may still be around, and much of what the Bondsmagi do is based around keeping it from returning. |
| 206 | * HappilyMarried: |
| 207 | ** Don Lorenzo and Dona Sofia are are perfectly happy in their marriage, as Sofia outright states at one point. |
| 208 | ** Requin and Selendri enjoy UnholyMatrimony in spite of their scars and ruthlessness. |
| 209 | * HeartbrokenBadass: [[spoiler:Jean after the death of Ezri.]] |
| 210 | * HeroicSacrifice: |
| 211 | ** [[spoiler: Ezri]]. |
| 212 | ** Locke and Jean occasionally argue with each other for the honor of sacrificing themselves for the other's life. |
| 213 | * HeroicBSOD: Locke gets an extended one at the beginning of the second novel as he [[spoiler: grieves the loss of the Sanza twins and bug]]. He gets another, briefer one in the third novel when Patience [[spoiler: reveals that she knows what he ''thought'' was his real name, and that he is actually an amnesiac rogue Bondsmagi who experimented with necromancy and cast his soul into a random street kid. Locke literally collapses when he hears this]] |
| 214 | * HeterosexualLifePartners: Locke and Jean, who quickly became best friends as kids. They frequently risk their lives for each other, utterly depend on each other, and occasionally argue like an old couple. In the third book it's revealed that [[spoiler:Locke told Jean what he thought was his true name, despite never telling his true love Sabetha]]. |
| 215 | * HollywoodHealing: Averted. At one point Locke needs to be convincingly sick, but then immediately recover and be able to work. He is given a suitable poison and antidote but is warned that while the antidote will relieve his symptoms, it won't magically recover him to full health: |
| 216 | -->"The [antidote] won’t put food back in his belly, or give back the vigor he loses while he’s retching his guts out. He’s going to be weak and sore for at least an evening or two.” |
| 217 | * HonorAmongThieves: The Gentlemen Bastards have a strict code of conduct and undying loyalty to each other - even a religious obligation in their theft. Sabetha thinks that raising them with morals was a terrible thing for Chains to have done, even though she shares the same morals herself. |
| 218 | * HugeGuyTinyGirl: Jean is a big burly man, while Ezri is quite short, even for a woman. |
| 219 | * HumanChess: The game in Salon Corbeau is a fictional version of chess played with human volunteers who are abused when captured for the amusement of the crowd. |
| 220 | * HyperCompetentSidekick: Justified in ''Red Seas Under Red Skies.'' Jean and Locke are forced to pose as the commanding officers of a sailing ship. Since they know nothing about sailing, they are provided with a seasoned underling who is technically junior to them in rank but more than capable of commanding a ship. |
| 221 | * IAmTheNoun: "My name is Jean Tannen. I'm the ambush." |
| 222 | * ICallItVera: Jean's hatchets, nicknamed the Wicked Sisters. |
| 223 | * IdiotBall: In spite of being brilliant schemers and manipulators, Locke and Jean occasionally have lapses in their intellect so that certain plot points can take them by surprise or a character can [[MrExposition explain something]] to them completely for the benefit of the reader. |
| 224 | * IKnowYouKnowIKnow: The Gentlemen Bastards's KansasCityShuffle scheme with the Salvaras. Locke frequently notes when the Salvaras make comments with double-meanings, comfortable in their belief that Locke is none the wiser, which makes them even easier to manipulate. |
| 225 | * IKnowYourTrueName: |
| 226 | ** If they know your true name (even a fragment) the Bondsmagi can control you. [[spoiler:This backfires on the Falconer when Locke reveals that his entire name is assumed]]. |
| 227 | ** [[spoiler:In ''The Republic of Thieves'', Patience reveals that Bondsmagi choose "gray names" because of this, and any children by Bondsmagi aren't named by their magical parent for the same reason. However, when she had the Falconer, she semi-accidentally named him after his father's death, and he came to hate her when he learned why it was a bad thing.]] |
| 228 | * ImpliedDeathThreat: Locke and Capa Raza exchange these to maintain their cover in the presence of Dona Sofia. |
| 229 | * IndyPloy: Locke's specialty is improvising, and even his long-term schemes include a lot of improvisation, especially when they start to fall apart. |
| 230 | * InMediasRes: ''Red Seas'' starts with Locke and Jean already neck-deep in their plan to cheat their way up into Requin's office. |
| 231 | * InsultToRocks: "To say that Rude Trevor was an intemperate, murderous lunatic would wound the feelings of most intemperate, murderous lunatics." |
| 232 | * {{Irony}}: Locke drinks two alchemical potions. The one to make him violently ill tastes minty and refreshing, while its antidote "tastes like a kick to the balls feels." |
| 233 | * ItsPersonal: Nazca was shown to have had a very cordial relationship with the main characters, and was an especially good friend to Locke after he became her first ''pezon'' (or gang-member). So when she was killed in that horrible way, there was no doubt shit would hit the fan. [[spoiler: Then the Gray King and the Falconer decide to kill the Sanzas ''and'' Bug...]] |
| 234 | * JackOfAllStats: The Sanzas. Chains says that they are "silver in all trades and gold in none." They have none of the strengths or weaknesses of the other Bastards. The closest thing to a specialty we get is when Locke says that they're good with knives. |
| 235 | * JustLikeRobinHood: The Thorn of Camorr, they say. Notably subverted, though; even he points out (in another guise) that he's not donating money to the poor; he considers the act of ''stealing'' from the rich action enough against them. Actually, he and his band kept their vast stolen fortune in a private vault and have no idea what to do with it. |
| 236 | * KansasCityShuffle: The Salvara game is this. The Salvaras know damn well that Locke is trying to con them. What they don't know is that the man who told them about that, and convinced them to play along, was Locke himself in a different disguise. Locke wonders why he never thought of this concept sooner. |
| 237 | * KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Jasmer Moncraine]] appears to be this during the flashback sequences of ''The Republic of Thieves'' since he manages to escape Espara [[spoiler: with all of the profits made from their performance and leaving the rest of the troupe high and dry.]] However, with [[spoiler: Baron Boulidazi's murder pinned on him by Locke and the others]] he can never return to Espara, the money will only last a few years anyway, and as Sabetha points out, he's made an enemy of Father Chains, and he'll never be able to stop running, so it's implied [[spoiler: Moncraine]] didn't get away for long. |
| 238 | * KarmicDeath: |
| 239 | ** [[spoiler: The Gray King]] suffers this as he's spent his entire life preparing for revenge to destroy those who looked down upon him as a little nobody. Then he dies at the hands of a little nobody, who kills him in a particularly horrific way. Additionally, part of his revenge involved [[spoiler: killing Barsavi's entire family before coming for the Capa himself, so that as Barsavi lay dying he would know his entire lineage had been wiped from the world, as if completely erased. By the time the Grey King finally meets his end, his sisters Cheryn and Raiza, the only other surviving members of the Anatolius family, are already dead at Jean's hands, meaning that his family has been wiped away as well.]] |
| 240 | ** [[spoiler:Boulidazi, who spends a good chunk of his time in ''Republic of Thieves'' perving on Sabetha, and whose last act is trying to rape Jenora, is mortally wounded by the latter and finished off by the former.]] |
| 241 | * KarmicThief: The Gentleman Bastards see themselves as this, as they prey solely on the nobility who exploit the rest of the city. This is religious for them -- one of the tenets of the Crooked Warden is "the rich remember" that they're not untouchable. |
| 242 | -->'''Chains:''' It’s my divine duty to see that the blue bloods with their pretty titles get a little bit of what life hands the rest of us as a matter of routine — a nice, sharp jab in the ass every now and again. |
| 243 | * KillTheOnesYouLove[=/=]MercyKill: [[spoiler:Jean must kill Ezri because she is burned so badly by the shipsbane sphere that she is dying in agony.]] |
| 244 | * KissOfDeath: Not actually death, but [[spoiler: Sabetha]] puts a narcotic on her own skin to poison Locke when he kisses her, kidnaps him, and puts him somewhere out of the way. |
| 245 | * LamePunReaction: When a guard asks Locke, "You write?" while Locke is in character, he responds, "All the time, except when I am wrong." The guard gives him a blank stare until another guard starts to chuckle. The first guard does not look amused when he finally gets the joke. |
| 246 | * LargeAndInCharge: Capa Barsavi is large and stocky. He's commonly referred to as "the big man." |
| 247 | * LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler:Baron Boulidazi, who spends a good chunk of his time in ''Republic of Thieves'' perving on Sabetha, and whose last act is trying to rape Jenora, is mortally wounded by the latter, and killed by the former.]] |
| 248 | * LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Locke and Jean tend to choose aliases with first letters that match their names, which makes it easier for readers to remember which alias is who. In the third book, Sabetha points this habit out to Locke, who says that it makes things easier. |
| 249 | * LeeroyJenkins: The Jeremite Redeemers. Oh, so very much. |
| 250 | * LibationForTheDead: A custom of those sworn to the Nameless Thirteenth. The rite gets performed even for people Locke doesn't know well, or at all, if he perceives the death as unjust and/or the deceased has no one to speak well of them to the more respectable gods. |
| 251 | * LittleGirlsKickShins: Nazca in her youth. Her father even bought her steel-toed boots to indulge her! |
| 252 | * TheLoinsSleepTonight: [[spoiler:Locke is pining for Sabetha to the point that he's unable to get it up with anyone else.]] |
| 253 | * LookBehindYou: Locke hones this technique while fighting the Half-Crowns as a kid, with Jean to back him up. He later pulls it on [[spoiler:the Gray King]], without the benefit of backup. |
| 254 | * LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair: [[spoiler: The bondsmagi of Karthain think that]] it is probably what happened to the Eldren civilization, due to their extensive and ostentatious use of magic. [[spoiler: The bondsmagi very much do not want [[AndManGrewProud the same thing to happen to humans]], and that is why they are avoid such magic. It also explains why they are so damn picky about other magic users.]] |
| 255 | * LoopholeAbuse: Locke and Jean try to invoke this trope, but fail. The Bondsmagi do not take kindly to any of their number being killed; the world knows that whoever kills one of them will die horribly in return. [[spoiler:So Locke and Jean cut the Falconer's fingers off and his tongue out, but leave him alive. His friends and family don't take it well, even though he's still alive.]] |
| 256 | * LoveableRogue: The Gentlemen Bastards may be thieves, but damn if they aren't ''loveable.'' |
| 257 | * LoveAtFirstSight: Locke becomes instantly infatuated with Sabetha the first time he meets her. |
| 258 | * LoveMakesYouEvil: Played straight in ''Republic of Thieves'' with the story of Pel Acanthus, one of the brightest mages in history, who was a good person (well, for a bondsmage) but when his wife dies, he turns to TheDarkArts to try to resurrect her. [[spoiler: He doesn't succeed, but he manages to somehow reincarnate himself in a younger body, in order to have more time to study death magic. The plan backfires: he loses his memories and much of his identity, and his new body has no gift for magic. The result is Locke Lamora.]] |
| 259 | * MafiaPrincess: Nazca Barsavi, although she was being groomed to take over the family business. |
| 260 | * MagicGenetics: Although magic is hereditary, it seems to work in a rather complicated and realistic way, likely implying many different genes with interacting expression mechanisms. The result is that "magic does not breed true," and although there used to be bloodlines of mages who bore gifted children more often than not, they have been dissolved to the point where among the ~400 bondsmagi of Karthain only five mages were born of mage parents in the last centuries. |
| 261 | * TheMagocracy: Karthain is ruled by the bondsmagi. Their rule is not official, but it's not secret either. In theory, Karthain is ruled by a democratically elected body called the Konseil. But they have no real power. The factions of the Bondsmagi manipulate the city's political elections simply for the prestige of "winning." They select which party to champion at random. |
| 262 | * MalignantPlotTumor: The Gray King in ''The Lies of Locke Lamora'' goes from background element to BigBad. |
| 263 | * ManipulativeBastard: Maxilan Stragos. Also Locke. |
| 264 | * MasterOfDisguise: |
| 265 | ** All the Gentleman Bastards are masters of disguise, though Locke being TheNondescript makes him the best. |
| 266 | ** Sabetha reveals herself to be as competent as Locke in ''The Republic of Thieves'' when [[spoiler:she disguises herself as an old crone who is shorter than her actual height, which fools both Locke and Jean]]. |
| 267 | * MeaningfulName: |
| 268 | ** The Gray King later takes the name of Capa Raza, which means [[spoiler:"revenge", which is the one and only reason why he is in town. He only uses this name after his revenge has been exacted. Locke thinks that it's a little on the nose]]. |
| 269 | ** The bondsmagi's assumed names are also self-chosen and usually provide a clue to their bearer's mindset, origins or interests. For example, Coldmarrow named himself in memory of his birthplace (the Kingdom of the Seven Marrows), the Navigator was born on a ship and is obsessed by everything related to the sea, and the Falconer (aside from having a hawk for a familiar) is ruthless as a bird of prey with a facility for manipulating animals. |
| 270 | ** Patience, formerly the Seamstress, lives up to both of her names. [[spoiler:She is patient enough to not destroy Locke's chances with Sabetha and enact her full vengeance until he is no longer of any use to him. And she is named Seamstress for her ability to ''tailor-fit'' the punishment to match the crime: In exchange for maiming and crippling her son, who can never know the feeling of magic again, she drives away Locke's love interest and reveals details of his future and past while leaving him uncertain, never giving him a full picture.]] |
| 271 | ** Requin literally means "shark" in French. He's scary, but like most dangerous predators, he's not a threat as long as you respect that he ''is'' threatening. If he senses weakness or provocation, he shows no mercy. |
| 272 | * MeaningfulRename: Patience tells of her friend and mentor, a powerful Bondsmagi who went mad with grief after the death of his wife and turned to necromancy to bring her back. His gray-name was originally Pel Acanthus: white amaranth, in reference to an unwithering flower of legend. After his turn to black magic, he was renamed Lamor Acanthus: black amaranth. |
| 273 | * TheMedic: Physikers and their lesser prestigious brethren the "dog-leeches" use the settings's SchizoTech to heal a variety of illnesses and injuries fairly effectively, often with chemical and/or semi-magical means. |
| 274 | * MoreExpendableThanYou: [[spoiler:Ezri does this to Jean when he's about to go and grab the shipsbane sphere. In fact, she shoves him ''into Locke'' - ensuring neither of them could sacrifice themselves]]. |
| 275 | * MoreHeroThanThou: Locke and Jean occasionally argue about gets to volunteer to sacrifice himself for the other. For example, [[spoiler:they argue over who's going to take the antidote at the end of the second book]]. |
| 276 | * MysteriousEmployer: Merrain's masters have not been revealed. |
| 277 | * NoEndorHolocaust: Lampshaded. [[spoiler:Karthain has enjoyed the protection of the bondsmagi for centuries, and has not maintained its walls or kept a standing army. When the mages leave the city at the end of ''Republic of Thieves'', Jean predicts things will go poorly for Karthain in short order.]] |
| 278 | * TheNondescript: Locke is frequently described as scrawnier than normal, but otherwise he's said to be very nondescript. The fact that he appears half Vadran and half Therin allows him to pass as either. His unexceptional appearance helps him be the MasterOfDisguise of the Bastards. Jean is very large, while the Sanza twins have large, hooked noses. |
| 279 | * NonIndicativeName: The goddess of death is called the Lady Most Kind, though no one outside of her priesthood feels this way about her. |
| 280 | * NumerologicalMotif: Thirteen, the total number of gods in the most popular pantheon, including the Crooked Warden, who is not recognized outside of the underworld. |
| 281 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: [[spoiler:In ''The Republic of Thieves'', before Locke and Sabetha even learn that Boulidazi tried to rape Jenora, they realize that something's gone horribly wrong when they see how utterly serious Calo is when he interrupts them.]] |
| 282 | -->[[spoiler:A serious Sanza was one hell of an ill omen.]] |
| 283 | * OhMyGods: "Twelve Gods!" for most people, while Locke and other disreputable characters usually include the god of thieves in the pantheon, making it "Thirteen Gods!" (or "Crooked Warden!" if they're referring to him in particular). Various characters refer to different deities by their preferences as well. |
| 284 | * TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: Patience's faction, especially the telepathic discussions in the interludes. |
| 285 | * OnceMoreWithClarity: [[spoiler:In the epilogue for ''Republic of Thieves'', Patience shows the tail end of her last conversation with the Falconer before he left for Camorr - this time, revealing that she used his true name to block his ability to use pain-deadening spells, making her partly responsible for his current state.]] |
| 286 | * OutGambitted: [[spoiler:During the climax of ''Red Seas'', this happens to the ''Priori'' when they try to kill Locke after he helped them get rid of Stragos]]. |
| 287 | --> '''Locke:''' You ''amateur'' double-crossers. You make us professionals cringe. [...] I saw this coming about a hundred miles away. |
| 288 | * PayEvilUntoEvil: The Bondsmagi have a simple rule: should one of them be murdered, they will kill the murderer horribly. Locke and Jean attempt some LoopholeAbuse by [[spoiler:cutting the Falconer's fingers and tongue off to prevent him from using magic, but leaving him alive to be spared from retribution]]. As you might expect, the Bondsmagi are still quite upset enough about this situation to want vengeance. |
| 289 | * PetTheDog: |
| 290 | ** In the opening chapters, Locke is noted to find the gruesome bloodsports of Camorr distasteful, establishing that he's a moral person in spite of being a thief. This becomes a recurring motif in the series, as Locke always reacts with disgust and horror at blood sports and other forms of popular debasement. |
| 291 | ** The Gentleman Bastards' communal dinner before setting off to masquerade as the Midnighter establish the Bastards as a family who care for each other, even when circumstances bring them to conflict. |
| 292 | * PhotographicMemory: Nazca keeps taxes for a hundred gangs in her head and can perfectly recall conversations from a decade ago. |
| 293 | * {{Picaresque}}: Blends this genre with {{Fantasy}} and {{Swashbuckler}}. |
| 294 | * PintsizedPowerhouse: Several female fighters are described as short or downright petite, yet are apparently no less effective for it. |
| 295 | * {{Pirate}}: Many in the second book. Locke even pretends to be a captain for a while. |
| 296 | * PirateGirl: Ezri Delmastro and Zamira Drakasha, both from ''Red Seas Under Red Skies''. |
| 297 | * PlatonicProstitution: For a scene in the first book, but only after the more conventional approach fails. |
| 298 | * PlugNPlayProsthetics: Justified. Prosthetics in this series' universe are made of Dreamsteel, a [[FantasticMetals magical substance]] that naturally reshapes itself according to the user's thoughts. [[spoiler:And because the recipient is Falconer, a powerful mage in his own right who creates his own prosthetic hands to get Revenge on the protagonists.]] |
| 299 | * PoisonAndCureGambit: Occurs twice in the series. |
| 300 | ** In ''The Lies of Locke Lamora'', the Spider poisons Locke and promises him the antidote only if he agrees to help her. [[spoiler:He immediately knocks her unconscious and loots the antidote.]] |
| 301 | ** In ''Literature/RedSeasUnderRedSkies'', Archon Stragos poisons Locke and Jean and demands their help in exchange for the antidote. [[spoiler:Stragos's alchemist only creates enough antidote for one person before he dies and Locke and Jean are forced to flee the city. Later, Jean insists Locke be the one who drinks it, only for Locke to reveal he already slipped it into Jean's finished drink.]] |
| 302 | * PosthumousCharacter: Father Chains, the mentor and original ''garrista'' of the Gentlemen Bastards, has been dead for four years by the time the main plot of ''The Lies of Locke Lamora'' kicks in, and thus only appears in flashbacks to Locke's youth when he was training him and the rest of the Bastards. [[spoiler: The Sanza twins become this in ''Republic of Thieves'' flashback sequences to the time they spent in Espara learning to be actors, since they both died during the events of ''Lies''.]] |
| 303 | * ThePowerOfFriendship: Locke is a master manipulator, Jean is a skilled fighter, but when it truly came to the edge, when facing the power of the Falconer, none of their talents was useful enough alone. What saved their lives and allowed them to win and give him a FateWorseThanDeath was the fact neither of them would give up and allow the other to be killed. |
| 304 | * PrecisionFStrike: Despite the books' [[ClusterFBomb liberal approach on swearing]], these happen on occasion. The moment where Locke overcomes the Falconer's attempt [[IKnowYourTrueName to use his name against him]] comes to mind. |
| 305 | * {{Precursors}}: The Eldren, who left entire cities worth of indestructible glass buildings and other artwork. Their civilization pre-dated humanity by several thousand years. Their fate is not entirely known, though the bondsmagi believe that they were wiped out by an EldritchAbomination of some sort. |
| 306 | * PreventTheWar: Although the Bondsmagi are very strict in maintaining their monopoly over magic, this is given as the reason they allow the use of alchemy--people are so dependent on it that if it were taken away, they would have no choice but to go to war to try to get it back. |
| 307 | * PrisonShip: Sabetha traps Locke & Jean on one of GildedCage variant in ''Republic of Thieves'' to remove them from the competition. |
| 308 | * ProperlyParanoid: The people of Karthain have a tradition where, unlike every other city-state, they will not reveal their first names to the public. Instead, they go by their last names and a description of their place in the family (e.g. 'Firstson', 'Seconddaughter'). Revealing one's first name to someone is a mark of incredible trust, because the Bondsmagi can control people by knowing their names, hence the tradition. Unfortunately for the Karthani, while their tradition ''would'' work in theory, the Bondsmagi already know all their names (unbeknownst to the Karthani), and have been controlling them as they like for centuries. |
| 309 | * TheProphecy: [[spoiler: The Seamstress]] gives Locke a cryptic prophecy before leaving Karthain, but she also tells him that she might just be making it up, and Locke decides to not let it shake him. |
| 310 | * PsychoForHire: The Falconer is a mercenary Bondsmage, but he really enjoys his work when "his work" means hurting people. |
| 311 | * TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Locke often has the opportunity to dress down his greatest enemies, not that it does any good. |
| 312 | * RedBaron: Locke Lamora, the Thorn of Camorr. We later learn that Calo and Galdo created the title as a joke. |
| 313 | * RedheadsAreRavishing: Heroes and villains both think so. |
| 314 | ** Locke is instantly smitten with Sabetha and soon afterwards learns that she has red hair, which he thinks is beautiful. When they're older, he tries to convince her that it's proof he loves ''the real her''. Unfortunately, he's unaware he's stepped on an internal landmine - there's a superstition in Jerem that having sex with a virgin red-head will cure all manner of illnesses. They're sometimes even raped to ''death'' by a line of the afflicted. For this reason, Sabetha usually keeps her hair dyed or covered. Locke's declaration is the very last thing she ever wants to hear from a potential lover. |
| 315 | ** Later still, Sabetha worries that her hair might be all he really loves, because [[spoiler:the bondsmagi claim that he is the reincarnation of a mage who loved a red-headed woman. However, the reader knows that this isn't true because we see from his perspective that Locke falls in love with her ''before'' seeing her hair]]. |
| 316 | * RefugeInAudacity: The Gentlemen Bastards exploit this to run their scams against Camorr's nobility, relying on the fact that most of their high-class targets would be too embarrassed to confide in anyone else that they had been swindled in order to keep the true extent of their heists secret and their true identity ShroudedInMyth. |
| 317 | * ReincarnationRomance: [[spoiler:According to Patience, this is why Locke is attracted to Sabetha. Since her explicit purpose in saying this is to hurt Locke and alienate him from Sabetha, we don't know to what extent it's true (although there is enough evidence to be sure it's not ''all'' bullshit)]]. |
| 318 | * RemovingTheRival: What Sabetha tries against Locke & Jean when competing against them in the election. |
| 319 | * RevealingCoverup |
| 320 | * RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Pretty common in the series. |
| 321 | ** There's a brief chapter that consist of a folk-tale detailing the tradition in Camorr. They take revenge very seriously. |
| 322 | ** The Gray King is out for revenge [[spoiler:for killing most of his family. He goes on to rip Capa Barsavi's empire out from under him and come close to burning out the brains of most of Camorr's ruling class]]. |
| 323 | ** Bondsmagi make it known that killing anyone in their order will get you, your family and everyone you know killed in response. |
| 324 | ** Requin did this to those who burned him and his lady. He begin killing random suspects as well their whole gangs and families, letting it be known that he would continue until the culprit was put before him. Once the culprit turned up, Requin made him beg for death a long time before it came. |
| 325 | * RuleOfCool: Gladiator matches against ''sharks.'' |
| 326 | * RunningGag: Locke and Jean keep running into females who fight with a particular style of foot boxing. Locke is always annoyed when he realizes. |
| 327 | * SamusIsAGirl: [[spoiler:The Spider. Sabetha notes that she always suspected this given that the only detail ever stated certainly about the Spider was that he was a man, so it must be false]]. |
| 328 | * SarcasmMode: When Locke complains to the Falconer that the Grey King's recent actions have made his job harder, the Falconer gives only sarcastic replies before punishing him with sorcery. |
| 329 | * SarcasticConfession: [[spoiler: In ''Republic of Thieves'', Sabetha]] asks Jean to leave her with Locke, and argues that if she had, say, twenty armed guards in the next room, she wouldn't bother asking nicely. [[spoiler:It turns out she ''does'' have twenty armed guards in the next room.]] |
| 330 | * ScaryShinyGlasses: Requin has a pair in ''Red Seas Under Red Skies'', but they've been [[FunctionalMagic alchemized]] so they don't just reflect light, they permanently glow orange. And they fit him, too. |
| 331 | * SchizoTech: The world lacks explosive weapons or combustion machinery, and printing presses are a rare and expensive invention, yet ships are at least [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfPiracy 17th century]] level of sophistication, clockwork machinery and navigational instruments rival late 18th - early 19th century in complexity, "alchemy" provides ubiquitous non-combustion lighting, complex medicines and poisons on par with 20th century chemistry, medicine is at least on par with UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar age in ability to cure horrible battle injuries. Justified in-universe as some past ages (the Therin Throne Empire) were far more advanced and current-age people try to recover the lost knowledge. |
| 332 | * ScoundrelCode: The Secret Peace, which is an agreement Capa Barsavi made with the ruling powers in Camorr. The criminals receive a measure of protection and autonomy in exchange for not directly targeting the nobility or the city watch. |
| 333 | * SecretPolice: The secret police of Camorr are known as the Midnighters. They are, in fact, so secretive that most people never have interactions with them. When the Bastards are posing as midnighters for a con, they don't even know what the badges should look like and have some custom made based on rumors they've heard, trusting that their targets also won't know any better. |
| 334 | * SecretlyWealthy: In the first book, despite possessing a massive fortune, the gang poses as an only moderately successful group of cat burglars. This is partly out of necessity (the only way they could steal as much as they have is taking from the nobility, a death sentence due to the secret peace), and partly because they don't really have any goals beyond the heists and scams themselves. They plan to use their funds to get a fresh start when trouble arises, but other than that they don't really have any practical plans for the money. |
| 335 | * SelfMadeOrphan: At the end of the third book, [[spoiler: the Falconer kills his mother, Archedama Patience, by setting a massive flock of crows on her.]] |
| 336 | * SerialEscalation: Locke's [[HesBack thieving spree in the second book]]. In four hours he steals [[spoiler:four purses, a knife, two bottles of wine, a pewter mug, a brooch, gold pins, earrings (while they were being ''worn''), a bolt of silk, a box of sweetmeats, two loaves of bread, and the necklace of the mistress of the governor. In the governor's home. In the governor's bed. ''With the governor sleeping next to her.'']] Oh, and did we mention that he did this while half ''drunk?'' |
| 337 | * SharkPool: In both original and kraken flavor. |
| 338 | * ShooOutTheClowns: [[spoiler: The Sanzas, who are series' most dedicated comic relief, die before the big climax of the first book]]. |
| 339 | * ShoutOut: |
| 340 | ** Locke's first name is taken from the treasure hunter in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''. |
| 341 | ** In the second book, Requin has ScaryShinyGlasses that are orange, and wears gloves because he injured his hands saving the life of a woman he loves, much like [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Gendo Ikari]]. |
| 342 | ** When Locke is busy being impressively sick in the first book, Jean states that Locke [[Film/{{Airplane}} had the fish rolls for lunch]]. |
| 343 | * SingleMindedTwins: The Sanza twins are effectively the same person and are always on the same page as one another. |
| 344 | * SingleTargetSexuality: Sabetha for Locke. When he hires a red-headed prostitute and is unable to perform, she points out that there's a difference between men who want a red head, and men who want a ''specific'' red head, and he's clearly the latter. It's suggested that [[spoiler:it's his previous life's love for his wife transferred onto a new red-head]]. |
| 345 | * SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: All the way through to cynical, then out the other side. |
| 346 | * SneakySpider: "The Spider" is an apt name for the Duke's spymaster. |
| 347 | * SophisticatedAsHell: Right there in the title of the series, and done brilliantly throughout. |
| 348 | * TheSpymaster: The Spider, leader of the Duke's secret police. |
| 349 | * StealthPun: A not-so-subtle one at the end of ''The Lies of Locke Lamora''. After the Spider's men fail to find the fortune that Locke claimed to be hidden in one of three sewage ferries, her assistant quips, "Let me guess: They were full of shit." |
| 350 | * StoutStrength: Jean is a big, burly man with a keg belly, and he's not only extremely strong but a deadly fighter. Hard living occasionally shrinks his belly some. In a flashback, Locke notes that the adolescent Jean's flab hides the muscles he's been building in his new fighting classes. |
| 351 | * SuperstitiousSailors: Sailors firmly believe that every ship needs women and [[TeamPet cats]] on board to ensure a safe journey. When [[spoiler:Locke and Jean]] set off on a voyage without either, the resulting poor morale and some truly awful luck combine to set off a mutiny, though [[spoiler:they get accosted and recruited by pirates anyway]]. |
| 352 | * SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The Spider tries a PoisonAndCureGambit on Locke, jabbing him with a poisioned needle then offering the antidote in exchange for his cooperation. However the two are alone in the room with the antidoe and the Spider is [[spoiler:an old woman]]. Locke punches them in the face, takes the antidote and leaves. |
| 353 | * SuperDickery: The second book opens with Jean apparently betraying Locke. [[spoiler: It's a ruse to get the other men attacking them to let their guard down.]] |
| 354 | * TagalongKid: |
| 355 | ** Locke enters the service of the Thiefmaker by literally tagging along with a group of thirty orphans he bought. |
| 356 | ** Bug, to the Bastards. |
| 357 | * TakeAThirdOption: The Spider [[PoisonAndCureGambit poisons Locke and offers him a choice]]: Either cooperate with her in exchange for the antidote, or die horribly. Locke simply [[WouldHitAGirl punches the old woman in the face]] and loots the antidote from her unconscious body. |
| 358 | * TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: |
| 359 | ** In ''Red Seas Under Red Skies'', Archon Stragos gets Locke and Jean under his thumb by giving them poisoned cider following an hours-long stay in an overheated room and promising the antidote in return for their services. |
| 360 | ** When playing a card game Jean and Locke coat their hands with a powder that induces drowsiness, as they know that their opponent has the habit of eating candy and sucking her fingers while playing. The powder is transferred to her hands while playing and she eventually passes out, rendering her unable to continue and making Jean and Locke the winners. |
| 361 | ** In ''The Republic of Thieves'', Sabetha drugs Bouldazi's drink on the night before the company's performance in order to finally get some time alone with Locke. |
| 362 | * TechnicianVersusPerformer: Sabetha plans modest, reliable and reasonable cons that earn money like clockwork, but Locke plans grand, daring and risky cons that he holds together by the seat of his pants. Sabetha is annoyed that Locke's more glamorous heists get all the attention when she feels she's the responsible one. |
| 363 | * TellMeAgain: Bug has to explain their scheme to get Don Salvara's trust at the beginning of ''Lies''. [[RunningGag It's good for his moral education.]] |
| 364 | * TemptingFate: Locke and Jean are about to sail into a storm, but Jean confidently asserts that experienced sailor Caldris will get them through it. [[spoiler: No sooner have the words passed his lips than Caldris staggers in and dies of a heart attack.]] |
| 365 | * ThievesGuild: The Right People of Camorr. |
| 366 | * ThirdActStupidity: The Falconer [[spoiler:deduces that "Lamora" is an obvious pseudonym, but suddenly decides to effectively bet his life on the assumption that Locke is his real first name. Locke even asks him what ever gave him that impression]]. |
| 367 | * ThisIsReality: A scene in ''Red Seas Under Red Skies'' has Locke and Jean discussing the relative merits of romantic fiction and non-fiction. |
| 368 | --> '''Locke:''' But romances aren't real, and surely never were. Doesn't that take away some of the savor?\ |
| 369 | '''Jean:''' What an interesting choice of words. 'Not real, and never were.' Could there be any more appropriate literature for men of our profession? Why are you so averse to fiction, when we've made it our meal ticket?\ |
| 370 | '''Locke:''' I live in the real world, and my methods are of the real world. They are, just as you say, a profession. A practicality, not some romantic whim. |
| 371 | * ThreateningShark: |
| 372 | ** Sharks are considered holy to the goddess of death. |
| 373 | ** Camorr, being a WretchedHive filled with canals, has a lot of its culture built around sharks. They're used in gladiatorial games, their teeth are death warrants in the underworld, and one is used [[spoiler:in the Gray King's coup against Capa Barsavi]]. |
| 374 | ** Requin, one of the big nasties in the second book, has a name that means "shark" in French. |
| 375 | * ToAbsentFriends: A tradition of followers of the Nameless Thirteenth is to pour an extra glass for absent friends. |
| 376 | * ToThePain |
| 377 | * TooCleverByHalf: Locke is straight-up called this on more than one occasion; since he's such a genius at what he does, it sometimes doesn't occur to him that there might be something he's overlooking that would bring unintended consequences: |
| 378 | ** When he's first brought to the Thiefmaker, Locke pickpockets some guardsmen to impress his new boss. Unfortunately, he was unaware of the agreement that protected guardsmen from thieves, and the Thiefmaker has to spend a lot of money to smooth things over. |
| 379 | ** Later, Locke plants money on a bully to make it seem like the he's on the take from the guards, hoping that the bully will be punished. However, Locke doesn't realize that not only is collaborating with the guards a capital offense among the thieves, the coin he planted is valuable enough that it could only be given for a major job, such as killing the Thiefmaker. The Thiefmaker promptly kills the bully as well as his friend. |
| 380 | ** The end of the second book covers [[spoiler:a massive failure; Locke has spent the entire book on a plot to rob a casino, and it goes off flawlessly -- except that the casino owner was one step ahead the whole time and the paintings he steals are fakes, put out for the express purpose of being stolen]]. |
| 381 | * TortureTechnician: Capa Barsavi, of course, has one. |
| 382 | * TraumaticHaircut: Happens to a chess piece in Salon Corbeau, just to get things warmed up. |
| 383 | * TricksterTwins: The Sanzas, identical twin thieves and conmen. |
| 384 | * TwinDesynch: In the flashback chapters of ''The Republic of Thieves'', it's revealed that the adolescent Sanzas went through a period of disharmony where they quarreled and tried to individualize themselves. It obviously didn't last. |
| 385 | * TwoFaced: Selendri. She was horribly alchemically burned over half her entire body in an assassination attempt on Requin. |
| 386 | * UglyGuyHotWife: Requin is described as looking like a puppet assembled by a particularly incompetent puppeteer, whereas Selendri was a ravishing beauty before she was the victim of a botched assassination attempt. There is never any indication that they are less than madly in love and HappilyMarried. |
| 387 | * UnholyMatrimony: The ruthless gangsters Requin and Selendri are deeply devoted to each other. Their romance has continued even after Selendri was gruesomely disfigured. |
| 388 | * UnproblematicProstitution: To an extent, anyways. After a brutal gang war, the Camorri prostitutes successfully earned their indepedence, essentially becoming two major gangs in their own right. Unsurprisingly with the ladies themselves in charge pay is better, working conditions are vastly improved, and customers are held to higher standards of behavior. It's noted that it's still not exactly a pleasant life, but being in control themselves means the situation is about as good as the ladies of Camorr could ask for. |
| 389 | * UnspokenPlanGuarantee: We never hear how Locke and Jean intend to get past Requin's vault's allegedly unsurmountable security measures. [[spoiler: And we never hear that they weren't actually going after the vault, while their actual plan works perfectly...except that the paintings they steal turn out to be reproductions.]] |
| 390 | * VictoryByEndurance: Used twice in ''Lies'' where Locke has to buy time for [[BigGuy Jean]] to help him out. As a youth, he ties himself to the leader of a rival gang until Jean arrives, then as an adult he tries the same [[spoiler:to take down the Gray King, although this time he uses it as part of a fake-out]]. |
| 391 | * WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong: Word for word in the first book. |
| 392 | * WhatTheHellHero: Actually pretty common in the series. Jean, Locke and Sabetha are prone to frequently dressing each other down for their poor behavior. |
| 393 | * WickedCultured: Capa Vencarlo Barsavi was a professor of rhetoric before becoming a crime lord. Jaffrim Rodanov, a pirate captain and former pupil of Barsavi's, will gladly discuss the merits of Therin playwrights when he meets someone else who knows about them. Requin, the owner of the Sinspire, owns a rather impressive collection of Talathri Baroque art, and is knowledgeable enough to spot fakes at first glance. Maxilan Stragos has an entire floor of his palace filled with an artificial forest, created by artificers and alchemists. Of course, depending on where you draw the line, the protagonists can easily make the cut as well. |
| 394 | * WickedWasps: The second book has giant wasps that are used as a torture/execution method. It's also a capital offense to import these wasps into some areas. |
| 395 | * WilliamFakespeare: |
| 396 | ** GeniusBruiser Jean is a big fan of and likes to quote an in-universe playwright and poet named Lucarno. While the excerpts we get aren't direct quotes from Shakespeare, the general style is very Shakespearean, as are the titles of his plays, and he's obviously used in-story in part [[AuthorAppeal because of the author, Scott Lynch's love of Shakespeare]]. |
| 397 | ** In the second novel, ''Literature/RedSeasUnderRedSkies'', Jean's romance with [[RebelliousPrincess noblewoman turned pirate]] Ezri, who is also a fan, involves a lot of quoting of Lucarno in their flirtations. Also in the book, Jean has an extended debate with a WickedCultured pirate, who is a fan of another playwright (probably an analogue of Marlowe or Jonson), who he praises for edifying and erudite political messages, and who scorns Lucarno for his frequent bawdry and lowbrow appeal. |
| 398 | ** In the third novel, ''Literature/RepublicOfThieves'', there's a flashback section where the characters acted in one of Lucarno's plays as con artist training, allowing Lynch to write extensive "excerpts" from a Shakespeare pastiche. |
| 399 | * WomenAreWiser: |
| 400 | ** Dona Sofia is one of the ''only'' people to suspect there's something off about Locke's scam without the assistance of an army of spies at her beck and call and it's her concerns that alert the Spider that the Thorne of Camorr is close to being caught. Later, Sofia is the one who figures out how to neutralise the Wraithstone statues. |
| 401 | ** Nazca is supposedly the one best suited to become the next Capa after her father, but he acknowledges there's no way her two big brothers would countenance being bossed around by their baby sister. |
| 402 | * WorldOfSnark: A "conversation" in this series is usually an elaborate exchange of insults, be it between friends or enemies. |
| 403 | * WouldHitAGirl: Pretty much everyone, given that GenderIsNotObject. However, one female Half Crown tries to tell Jean that he shouldn't hit girls in the middle of a gang brawl. He tells her that she shouldn't hit his friends, and beats her up. |
| 404 | * WouldHurtAChild: The Thiefmaker, who kills Veslin and Gregor when Locke frames them as revenge, the children from Streets who helped him get the "evidence," and would have done the same for Locke if he wasn't able to sell him off to Chains. |
| 405 | * WretchedHive: Camorr, which has an evil reputation among the other cities. It's so bad that there is a "secret peace" between the nobles and the criminals. As long as you don't target nobles, the police leave you alone. The living conditions for the lower classes are understandably atrocious, with the Cauldron being the worst spot. When Zamira hesitates at including Locke in an action in ''Red Seas'', all he has to say is that "I'm originally from Camorr" to convince her. |
| 406 | * YouDontWantToCatchThis: |
| 407 | ** Locke and Jean pretend to be what basically amounts to lepers for a little while in ''Red Seas Under Red Skies''. In ''Lies of Locke Lamora'', he pretended to have Black Whisper (a virulent disease that only kills adults) in order to empty out a pub so he and his friends could rob it. [[spoiler:It's just too bad that the resulting panic/riot burned it down.]] |
| 408 | ** [[spoiler:The crew of the ''Satisfaction'' - the Gray King's ship - trick the Camorr city guard into believing that they're a plague ship, allowing them to sneak the Bastards' stolen fortune aboard as provisions. After saving Camorr's nobility from being Gentled, Locke uses the threat of the plague to get Vorchenza to destroy the ''Satisfaction'', keeping said stolen fortune out of the Gray King's hands.]] |
| 409 | * YouNeedToGetLaid: The rest of the Gentleman Bastards to Locke, without success. He does try, but he has SingleTargetSexuality. |
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