Line #30 Literature/Imaro


1	[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Imaro3a_3678.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:330:From left to right: Pomphis, Imaro, and Tanisha.]]
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4	A HeroicFantasy series by Charles Saunders, currently consisting of four books.
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6	Saunders grew up reading the adventures of Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian and Franchise/{{Tarzan}}, but was troubled how such stories never had black heroes, even when Africa was involved. So he decided to write his own stories, and created Imaro and Nyumbani, his new hero and setting respectively. Nyumbani is a FantasyCounterpartCulture of ancient Africa with people and places corresponding to real ones throughout Africa's history. Imaro, an outsider from the moment of his birth, overcomes endless challenges to his existence ranging from petty [[{{Jerkass}} Jerkasses]] who don't like him for [[DisappearedDad not having a father]] to an AncientConspiracy by [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]]. Imaro, aside from simply desiring survival, seeks to find the answers about his father and why he encounters so much misfortune. He makes good friends and hated enemies along his trek across Nyumbani.
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8	[[AC:In order, the series is as follows:]]
9	# ''Imaro''
10	# ''The Quest for Cush''
11	# ''The Trail of Bohu''
12	# ''The Naama War''
13	----
14	!!'''These books provide examples of:'''
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16	* TheAce: Imaro. While he's never an InstantExpert, once he gets a chance to practice at anything, he invariably becomes the best at it.
17	* AlasPoorVillain: It's hard not to feel sorry for N'tu-mwaa in the end. Even Imaro acknowledges to himself that they'ren't that different.
18	-->'''N'tu-mwaa:''' I... cannot die now... I still have to ''show'' them... I am better than they... I am better than they, even though ''they'' [[AllTheOtherReindeer say I'm not...]]
19	* BilingualBonus: Knowledge of Swahili will reveal many [[MeaningfulName meaningful names]].
20	** ''Nyumbani'' is Swahili for "home".
21	* BossRush: On his way to face Isikukumadevu, Imaro is confronted by the images of four enemies he has previously killed.
22	* BrokenAce: While Imaro is certainly the biggest badass in the world, he's also increasingly haunted by all the pains and humiliations he's suffered, all the desperate battles he's had to fight, and all the horrific works of dark magic he's seen.
23	* CollateralAngst: [[spoiler: Keteke]] doesn't really serve any purpose other than getting killed to make Imaro feel bad.
24	* TheDarkSide: ''Mchawi'', powerful magic that causes some serious BodyHorror to the user.
25	* DisappearedDad: Imaro never knew his father, and his mother would say nothing about him, even what people he was from.
26	* DoubleStandard: Ilyassai women are only allowed to have children with Ilyassai men, but Ilyassai men can take women from other nations as spoils of war; the narration specifically calls this out as a double standard.
27	* TheDragon: Rumanzila's leadership of the ''haramia'' is based partly on his own fighting prowess, partly on the UndyingLoyalty of the mute giant Mbuto.
28	* EldritchAbomination: The Mashataan is a race of these.
29	* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Nyumbani is full of counterparts to tribes, kingdoms, and empires of ancient Africa.
30	* FantasyWorldMap: [[http://www.nerdovore.com/2020/09/fantasy-maps-of-nyumbani-world-of-imaro.html The Nyumbani continent]]
31	* HeroicBastard: Imaro.
32	* LightningBruiser: Imaro is a huge, muscular man who's also extremely quick and light on his feet.
33	* LovecraftianSuperpower: Users of ''mchawi'' tend to develop abilities like CombatTentacles that fire [[DeathRay death rays]].
34	* TheManBehindTheMan: A whole row of them. [[spoiler: Chitendu]] is the man behind [[spoiler: Muburi,]] while [[GreaterScopeVillain the Sorcerers of Naama]] are the man behind him, while themselves being the servants of the demonic Mashataan. [[spoiler: Chitendu]] at one point contempteously (and self-contempteously) calls [[spoiler: Muburi]] a "tool of a tool."
35	* MeaningfulName: "Imaro" is derived from ''imara'', Swahili for "power".
36	* MedievalEuropeanFantasy: [[AvertedTrope Deliberately avoided]] by being set in a fantasy version of Africa, populated with African-esque characters.
37	* MirrorBoss: Isikukumadevu sends a copy of Imaro's younger self against him. Imaro wins, but only by channeling the hatred he feels towards his past self for allowing the Illyassai to betray him, and it's implied that the fight [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu did a number on his psyche.]]
38	* NationalWeapon: The Ilyassai weapon is the ''arem'', a long spear with a iron blade beginning halfway down its length, used both for throwing and melee combat.
39	* NobleFugitive: Bomunu is a nobleman from Zanj who has been forced to become an outlaw after his schemes backfired on him.
40	* NotSoDifferentRemark: After killing N'tu-mwaa, Imaro reflects that they weren't so different - they were both trying to force a people who despised them for an accident of birth to recognise their worth.
41	* NotWhatISignedOnFor: The ''haramia'' tell this to Imaro at the end of Book I. They're fine with banditry for profit, but fighting whole armies, confronting {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, and chasing after [[spoiler: the traitor who has kidnapped Imaro's love interest?]] Um, yeah, good luck with that...
42	* OneWingedAngel: N'tu-mwaa's partial ritual turns him into a grotesque creature with the head of a lion and the horns of a cow. Subverted in that he's still not meaningfully more powerful in that form, though if he'd been able to complete the ritual he'd have gained literally godlike powers.
43	* OneWordTitle: Also a {{Protagonist Title}}.
44	* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: The Illyassai are so hardcore that it is said that "even their cattle are warriors." Kulu proves as much when she's captured - when Imaro sees her again, he notes that she's got blood on her horns.
45	* RetCon: In the revised edition of the first book, "Slaves of the Giant Kings" has been replaced by "The Afua", because of the former story's [[HarsherInHindsight resemblance to the Rwandan genocide]].
46	* ShowyInvincibleHero: No matter how hopeless Imaro's situation looks, you know he's always going to get out of it just by being ''that damn awesome'' (and maybe by [[DeusExMachina a bit of luck]] on occasion). But reading about Imaro being awesome is still an awful lot of fun.
47	* SpiderSense: ''Kufahuma'', which is an acute awareness of one's surroundings and the ability to sense approaching danger. This is described as a skill anyone can cultivate with time and effort, but Imaro has something else as well: the ability to sense ''[[TheDarkSide mchawi]]''.
48	* StarterVillain: N'tu-mwaa is the first major enemy Imaro faces, and the only villain in the first book who [[NothingPersonal isn't looking to destroy Imaro in particular]] - he's just looking to perform a ritual that requires the HumanSacrifice of an Illyassai warrior, and Imaro was the Illyassai warrior his henchmen happened to kidnap.
49	* TrainingFromHell: The Ilyassai's ''mafundishu-ya-muran'' is a grueling many-year-long training regimen that all boys go through. At the end of it, they have to kill a lion in single combat.
50	* VillainTeamUp: While their status as "villains" is a little uncertain [[note]](they are less honourable than Imaro in their methods, but their actual goal is just to get him to stop plundering their towns)[[/note]], the armies of the usually feuding countries of Zanj and Azania team up to take down Imaro and the ''haramia''.

Context Literature / Imaro