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1[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tigana.jpg]]
2%%[[caption-width-right:280:some caption text]]
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4''Tigana'' is a 1990 fantasy novel by Creator/GuyGavrielKay. It takes place in the Peninsula of the Palm, a FantasyCounterpartCulture for medieval Italy. Two foreign conquerors occupy the Peninsula: Brandin, king of Ygrath, and Alberico of Barbadior. They have carved up the land between them, and hold it in an uneasy balance of power. The main focus of the story is on a group of rebels who seek to liberate the area, but must defeat both tyrants at the same time, lest one overrun the Peninsula. We also see the viewpoint of Brandin, as well as Dianora, a [[RoyalHarem concubine]] bent on assassinating him.
5
6During Brandin's conquest, his son was killed in the province of Tigana. In retaliation, he razed the area flat, and put a curse on it that no one outside Tigana would know of its [[TakeAwayTheirName name]] or [[{{Unperson}} history]]. He turns out to be a competent ruler, cultured, if arrogant, and likable... but is that enough to erase his prior sins?
7----
8!!This work contains the following examples:
9* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Nobody seems to approve of Alberico (whereas Brandin is actually quite a good ruler) but they're afraid to say so, with good reason.
10* AffablyEvil: Brandin is cultured, benevolent, an excellent ruler, and an all-around great guy. However, he'll never be dissuaded from seeking revenge against those who have wronged him, no matter who (or what) it harms (or who actually wronged whom in the first place), and so for the good of the entire Peninsula, he's got to go.
11* AirStripOne: Tigana/Lower Corte. See PleaseSelectNewCityName.
12* AlienSky: Their world has two moons, Vidomni and Ilarion. The former is white, and the later blue.
13* AndTheAdventureContinues: On the very last page, [[spoiler:while riding to Alessan and Catriana's wedding, Devin, Baerd, and Sandre see a riselka. One of them will die, one be blessed, and one face a stark choice. We never learn who gets what fate.]]
14* AndThisIsFor: ''"In the name of my sons, I curse you forever."''
15* AntiHero: Alessan. Few would argue his cause isn't noble, but he's willing to do some pretty dark things along the way, forcibly binding wizards into his service and manipulating the two Tyrants into outright war with one another being chief among them.
16* ArcSymbol: A trialla singing in the night. Astibar blue wine. The riselka.
17* BecomingTheMask: Dianora worries that she's starting to fall for the man she swore to assassinate, Brandin. [[spoiler:She's right, and ends up saving his claim to the Peninsula because of it.]]
18* BestServedCold: Dianora. [[spoiler:[[BecomingTheMask Initially]].]]
19* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: Taeri kills himself to avoid being captured and tortured before death by Alberico. [[spoiler: Catriana]] later does the same thing to avoid torture, though [[spoiler:she is saved.]]
20* BettyAndVeronica: Devin's two love interests, [[TheReliableOne Alais]] and [[FieryRedhead Catriana]].
21* BigBadEnsemble: Brandin and Alberico, who are the main antagonists of the novel but also oppose each other. The rebels end up exploiting this by manipulating them into fighting each other, knowing that just overthrowing one will leave the other sole ruler of the Palm.
22* BigDamnReunion: [[spoiler:There are times when seems like there might be a moment at the end where Dianora and Baerd would meet again. It's bitterly subverted.]]
23* BittersweetEnding: Another GGK hallmark. [[spoiler:Both tyrants are dead, the memory of Tigana is restored, and Alessan has reclaimed the title of crown prince and will be HappilyMarried to Catriana. On the other hand, Baerd will never see Dianora again or even know what happened to her, and Sandre can't get his lost family back. Also, Devin, Baerd, and Sandre see a riselka, heavily implying that one of them will die soon.]]
24* BlackAndGrayMorality[=/=]TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil: Alessan is pretty grey AntiHero, Brandin is is somewhat darker grey AntiVillain, and Alberico... is freaking TheCaligula.
25* BloodMagic: A limited case. Magicians of the Hand can't fully use their power until they cut off two of their fingers, symbolically linking themselves to the peninsula.
26* BookEnds: The book begins with Alessan making a wager about whether a famous poet will mourn Sandre's death in verse. It ends with another wager: [[spoiler:Sandre betting that Alessan will be crowned King of the Palm within a year.]]
27* BrotherSisterIncest: [[spoiler:Dianora and Baerd]]
28* BuryYourGays:
29** [[spoiler:Tomasso doesn't last very long.]]
30** [[spoiler:Isolla of Ygrath, the lover of Brandin's wife; the latter sent her to assassinate him.]]
31* TheCaligula: Alberico is constantly on the edge of this trope; he starts going downhill pretty much from the moment he [[spoiler:very nearly gets assassinated.]]
32* CanonWelding[=/=]ShoutOut: Finavir, or Finvair--as Brandin explicitly points out, spellings vary--is very close to to [[Literature/TheFionavarTapestry Fionavar]]. The context it's mentioned in makes it very easy to believe they're one and the same.
33-->'''Brandin''': In Ygrath the tale is sometimes told and sometimes believed that this world of ours, both here in the southern lands and north beyond the deserts and the rain forests--whatever lies there--is but one of many worlds the gods sent into Time. The others are said to be far off, scattered among the stars, invisible to us.
34* CampGay: Tomasso. [[SubvertedTrope Except not really]], he's actually [[InvokedTrope purposefully playing up the stereotype]] in order to [[ObfuscatingStupidity make people underestimate him.]]
35* CassandraTruth: Nobody believes Alberico when he claims that the heads of three rival families with rich estates, led by the most CampGay guy that ever camped, all got together in a conspiracy to kill him. Especially since everyone involved is conveniently dead (when standard practice is to wring out a confession and then horribly execute) and it gives him the perfect pretext to take their stuff.
36* ChangedMyMindKid: Alessan eventually lets Erlein go, but after being very angry at being dragged into the mission the whole book and seeming like he is going to leave he ends up staying with the main cast for the final battle anyway.
37* ChekhovsGunman: It's a Guy Gavriel Kay novel, after all.
38** Marius of Quileia is mentioned in the first chapter as the matriarchal country's longest-surviving king in some time. [[spoiler:He is later revealed to have been a guardian to the young Alessan, and is instrumental in the plot to start a war between Brandin and Alberico.]]
39** The Night Walkers of Certando seem like a bit of a BigLippedAlligatorMoment, [[spoiler:until they reappear at the climax as newly awakened wizards.]]
40** And of course, there's [[spoiler:Rhun the fool, a.k.a. Prince Valentin of Tigana.]]
41* CourtJester: the King's Fool in Brandin's court is magically linked to him, acting out his master's subconscious urges.
42* CruelAndUnusualDeath: One variety of execution is "death wheeling", where the victims have all of their limbs and their back broken and are then left on a wheel to die with their severed hand stuffed in their mouth to stop them from screaming. Alberico is particularly fond of doing this.
43* DeadpanSnarker: Approximately four-fifths of the cast.
44* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler:Alberico has spent twenty years and the entire novel scheming to become Emperor of Barbadior, cursing the current Emperor for refusing to die of old age. The Emperor finally snuffs it only two days after Alberico dies in battle.]]
45* DespotismJustifiesTheMeans: Alberico doesn't care about anything but using his power as a stepping stone to become the Emperor of Barbadior. Brandin [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech calls him out]] for not caring about anything in the world besides power for its own sake.
46* DisproportionateRetribution: His habit of doing this is what makes Brandin an AntiVillain rather than a straight-up hero. To use the most notorious example (though others exist), his reaction to his favourite son dying in a war ''that he himself started'' is to annihilate the defenders' country so hard that it [[spoiler:poisons the entire Peninsula]].
47* DivineIncest: The Palm has a three-god pantheon: Adaon and Eanna are consorts and brother and sister. They have a daughter, Morian, who is Adaon's second bride as well.
48-->''The sin of the gods, it was named, [incest]. For Adaon and Eanna were said to have been brother and sister at the beginning of time, and Morian was their child.''
49* TheDogBitesBack: [[spoiler:How Brandin dies, assassinated by his own court fool--aka, Prince Valentin of Tigana]].
50* DontFearTheReaper: The goddess Morian, associated with transitions and death, is thought of as a figure of peace and guidance--but not before one's time has come.
51* DoomedHometown: Or doomed entire home province, with regards to Tigana.
52* DyingAsYourself: [[spoiler:After twenty years as Brandin's deformed, mindless fool, Valentin regains his senses just in time to kill his master and be killed in turn.]]
53* {{Epigraph}}: Two. One from Creator/{{Dante|Alighieri}}, ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy The Paradiso]]'', and the other from George Seferis, "Stratis the Sailor Describes a Man".
54* EunuchsAreEvil: Averted with Scelto.
55* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Pretty much the incentive for the entire plot. Brandin ''really'' loved his son Stevan. So much so that he's willing to go to [[DisproportionateRetribution utterly extreme lengths]] to avenge him.
56* EvilChancellor: Damon could be considered one, but only because he opposes Dianora. From the Ygrathan perspective, he's TheGoodChancellor.
57* EvilerThanThou: Brandin is a ruthless conqueror, but he's got [[AffablyEvil redeeming]] [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes qualities]]. Alberico...doesn't.
58* EvilVersusEvil: The two sorcerer-kings occupying the Peninsula absolutely ''loathe'' each other.
59* FakingTheDead: [[spoiler:Sandre, at the very start]]. Catriana later fakes a bridge-dive for propaganda purposes. [[spoiler:It’s several layers of foreshadowing.]]
60* {{Fingore}}: To become a wizard, with power bound to the Peninsula, it is necessary to cut off two of the fingers on your left hand.
61* {{Foreshadowing}}: About halfway through the novel, Scelto claims that [[spoiler:Camena the poet]] will be [[StupidityInducingAttack "altered"]] to eventually become Rhun's successor as Brandin's jester as a form of punishment (for [[spoiler:having tried to assassinate Brandin with Isolla's help]]). This doesn't actually happen, but at the end, it's revealed that [[spoiler:Brandin has, in fact, used the Court Fool creation process as a form of punishment before--on Rhun, whose real identity is that of Valentin, Prince of Tigana]].
62* GenocideBackfire: Brandin's magical genocide of the Tiganese eventually results in [[spoiler:being killed by Valentin, the Prince of Tigana who he had [[MindRape brainwashed and tortured]] and his remaining armies scattered and broken.]]
63%%* GlamourFailure
64* GoingNative: {{Invoked}} by Brandin. [[spoiler:After abdicating as King of Ygrath and declaring himself King of the Western Palm, Brandin attempts to legitmize his new kingdom by styling himself as "Brandin di Chiara" and letting Dianora attempt the Ring Dive as a way to shore up his political goodwill.]]
65* GoodBadGirl: Alienor is a kind, helpful woman who kisses Alessan and flirts with both Catriana and Devin ''all within her first scene''.
66* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: [[spoiler:No one will ever know who Dianora really was and her original mission--not even her only surviving family. No one will ever know the true identity of Brandin's Fool.]] Only one man, [[spoiler:Scelto]], realizes these truths, and he decides that revealing the truth would help no one, and he keeps them secret for the sake of peace.
67* HandicappedBadass: Marius, who killed half a dozen would-be assassins while hamstrung.
68** Scalvaia gets an honorary mention for almost killing Alberico with a walking stick, of all things.
69* HeteronormativeCrusader: Upon finding out his son Tomasso had a male lover, Duke Sandre executed the lover and whipped his son for it, and took a while to show any affection for Tomasso again.
70* HistoricalFantasy: The Palm is pretty recognizably Fantasy Italy, though it's not as firmly a historical counterpart as some of Kay's other works.
71* HufflepuffHouse: We get action in seven of the nine provinces, but very little about Corte outside of its historical rivalry with Tigana, and almost nothing in or about Ferraut.
72* IGaveMyWord
73-->'''Rhamanus''': My name is Rhamanus. I offer it to you in pride, for no dishonor has ever attached to that name. You will have no oath from me though. I swore one to the King I love before I led his Guard here. I told him I would stop you or die. It is an oath I will keep.
74* IntroOnlyPointOfView: The prologue is from the perspective of Saver, who dies immediately after the events of the prologue years before the story proper starts.
75* JerkassHasAPoint: Erlein never passes up an opportunity to needle Alessan and company, but--as Alessan himself points out--he ''is'' being held captive, and his people ''are'' in great danger from what Alessan plans to do. (And Erlein gets better, anyway.)
76* KickTheDog: Alessan binding Erlein
77-->'''Erlein''': And what part of that little speech gives you rights over ''my'' life and death?\
78'''Alessan''': I have a duty. I must use what tools come to hand.\
79'''Erlein''': ''I am not a tool!'' I am a free and living soul with my own destiny!
80* KissOfDistraction: Exaggerated. Catriana and Devin are stuck in a tight secret passageway, and she has sex with him in an (unsuccessful) attempt to stop him from hearing a conversation in the next room.
81* LaResistance: The main characters are a small group trying to resist and overthrow both of the tyrants controlling the Peninsula of the Palm.
82* LetsYouAndHimFight: [[spoiler:The crux of Alessan's plan is to trick Alberico and Brandin into going to war over Senzio.]]
83* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Brandin. He's a decent guy once you get to know him, and manages to win the hearts of many Palm natives, which Alberico never pulls off. But he also went on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge that unpersoned an entire country, and the less said about the fool creation process, the better. Next to Alberico, though, anyone comes out looking good.
84* LightFeminineDarkFeminine: The two goddesses of the Triad, Eanna and her daughter, Morian. Eanna is the creator of the stars and the heavens; she names and loves all things in creation. Morian--although no more evil than Eanna is--is associated with darker, more dread forces, including transitions, crossroads, death, and the afterlife.
85* LiminalTime: During the ember days, the dead are said to be able to walk in the world of the living. This allows the night walkers to fight them.
86* LoveLetterLunacy: Devin gets a very fragrant, rather ''forward'' love letter from Alais's sister.
87* MakingLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: Catriana and Devin in the closet while eavesdropping on Tomasso's plan, with Catriana doing this to distract Devin from hearing what is being said.
88* MercyKill: [[spoiler:Sandre gives poison to his captured son Tomasso, to save him from being tortured and killed by Alberico.]]
89-->'''Sandre''': This is the last thing I can do for you. If I were stronger I could do more, but at least they will not hurt you in the morning now. They will not hurt you any more, [[spoiler:my son]].
90* TheMole: Herado reports on his family, the Sandreni, to Alberico.
91* MoralMyopia: Brandin obsessively seeks vengeance for his son's death without stopping to consider that, since said son ''was'' the leader of an invading army, the Tiganese may have been right (or at the very least justified) in killing him.
92** Alessan's mother, Pasithea, thinks he should have killed Brandin years ago, giving zero craps about Alberico or the rest of the Palm.
93* MurderSuicide:
94** Seconds after killing his nephew Herado, Taeri kills himself.
95** [[spoiler:After killing Anghiar, Catriana throws herself out the window so she cannot be tortured.]] [[spoiler:{{Defied|Trope}} when Erlein uses his magic to save her.]]
96** [[spoiler:D'Eymon of Ygrath kills Valentin/Rhun after the latter kills Brandin, and then impales himself on his sword]].
97* NobleFugitive: Alessan is the prince of Tigana who has had to go into hiding after his home was destroyed. He's trying to plot the death of the person who did it, which has the bonus effect of [[NoOntologicalInertia ending the curse that stops anyone not born there from even recognizing his homeland's name.]]
98* NoOntologicalInertia: A DiscussedTrope, as it is an important plot point that drives part of the story. The curse Brandin laid upon Tigana only exists so long as Brandin himself lives, because his power is required to constantly maintain it. Upon his death the curse will end and people will be able to speak of Tigana once more. That is why he is staying in the Palm and prolonging his life through unnatural means: for his vengeance to be complete he needs to outlive ''everyone'' who was born in Tigana before it fell.
99* ObfuscatingStupidity: Sandre and his son Tomasso together planned parallel cases of this for each of them, so they would both be underestimated. Sandre pretends to be a GrumpyOldMan and a drunk. Tomasso is known to be gay and deliberately plays himself up as a stereotypical hedonistic fop to disguise the fact that he's actually highly intelligent and a member of LaResistance.
100-->'''Tomasso''': There are advantages to being seen as aimlessly degenerate.
101* OffingTheOffspring: A particularly [[{{Tearjerker}} upsetting]] [[MercyKill variant.]]
102* OffIntoTheDistanceEnding: Subverted. At the end, the protagonists ride away around a bend in the road--and then there is one more sentence about what happened to them around the next bend to make the point that just because the story ends here doesn't mean the characters have nothing left to do with their lives.
103* OffstageVillainy: All of Brandin's evil deeds occurred years before the book even starts. We'd never know he was supposed to be evil if those actions didn't have repercussions in the present.
104* TheOneThatGotAway: Dianora to Baerd.
105-->''He lay silent in the grass thinking of her, and then, after a time, perhaps predictably, of Elena. And then, always and forever, certain as dawn or dusk or the turning of the seasons, of Dianora who was dead or lost to him somewhere in the world.''
106* OutWithABang: Catriana kills Anghiar of Barbadior after having sex with him, which she does in order to get him alone so she can kill him.
107* ParentalFavoritism: Brandin loved his younger son Stevan more than his eldest and heir Girald, to an absurd degree. As Isolla of Ygrath puts it...
108-->'''Isolla:''' You exalted a dead child above a living one, and revenge above your wife. And more highly than your own land. Have you spared a thought, a fraction of a thought, for any of them while you pursued your unnatural vengeance for Stevan?
109* PleaseSelectNewCityName: Brandin renaming Tigana to Lower Corte is a major driving force in the plot. He magically ''erases'' the name Tigana from the consciousness of anyone who didn't live there when it was Tigana, so that it seems the name, and the memory of the city-state, is destined to die with that generation.
110* {{Pride}}: Pride is a big theme in the book, and the pride of the people of Tigana in particular. See [[{{Analysis/Tigana}} Analysis]] for more. This Tiganese pride is established very early on, in the prologue, when Valentin talks about it:
111-->'''Valentin''': Oh, our pride. Our terrible pride. Will they remember that most about us, do you think, after we are gone?
112** Both tyrants also suffer from dangerous pride. Brandin is too proud to forgive the Tiganese for killing his son, and Alberico is too proud to cut his losses and sail home without being certain he'll immediately be made emperor.
113* ThePlace: Tigana is the name of one of the nine Provinces of the Palm, the destruction and erasure from history of which kickstarts the narrative and the main character's quest to kill the person who did it.
114* PragmaticVillainy: Alberico is cautious and mostly refrains from being too harsh on the people he rules so he can avoid being turned against, though this starts to fall apart as he gets more paranoid following nearly being killed.
115* PreMeeting: Devin runs into Rovigo randomly in a bar in the second chapter. Rovigo later turns out to be more involved with the plot, and the Tiganan rebels, than he lets on.
116* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Brandin gives one about Alberico, though not in Alberico's presence, emphasizing how he hates Alberico for having no love or pride and caring for nothing or no one but himself, as well as only wanting power for its own sake without ever thinking of why or what he will do with it.
117%%* RedemptionEqualsDeath
118* RevengeBeforeReason: Brandin. Even his ''wife'' thinks he's taken it too far. His quest for revenge for his son Stevan is unending--even though Brandin started the war in which he died, and Stevan, furthermore, was a soldier--not a helpless innocent killed in the crossfire. [[spoiler:Up to the very last, when he exhausts his magic entirely, he's most upset about the fact that his revenge will be incomplete.]]
119** Averted by Alessan. He desperately wants revenge against Brandin for what he did to Tigana. However, he's rational enough to understand that his revenge would be meaningless if it hands the entire Palm over to [[TheCaligula Alberico]].
120* RevengeMyopia: Besides taking his revenge very far, Brandin also doesn't care that his revenge is for the death of someone who was leading an unprovoked invasion of the province of the people who killed him.
121%%* RightfulKingReturns
122* RoyalHarem: Brandin has one, called a saishan. One of the concubines, Dianora, is planning to kill Brandin in revenge for what he did to Tigana.
123* RoyaltySuperPower: The Princes of Tigana can bind wizards to their service. This comes to them via DivineParentage.
124-->'''Alessan''': You will have heard the legend. It happens to be true. The line of the Princes of Tigana, all those in direct descent, can bind a wizard to them unto death. […] It is our primal story: Tigana is the chosen province of Adaon of the Waves. The first of our Princes, Rahal, being born of the god by that Micaela whom we name as mortal mother of us all. And the line of the Princes has never been broken.
125* SadisticChoice: An unusual example where the ''villain'' is forced into making one: [[spoiler:In the final battle between Brandin and Alberico, Alessan orders a team of rebel wizards and Night Walkers to lend their power to supporting Alberico, forcing Brandin to choose between saving the lives of his soldiers and preserving his curse upon Tigana when he realizes he does not have enough power to do both.]] The plan is also something of a BatmanGambit, as it relies on correctly predicting the reactions of both major antagonists.For those interested:[[spoiler:Brandin chooses revenge, subsequently loses the battle, is forced to put even more power into overcoming Alberico's boosted defenses and gets drained, forcing him to end the curse prematurely. Alberico's choices were: accept the help from unknown wizards or retreat to fight another day. His pride wouldn't let him choose the second option, so he gambled with accepting help from strangers. He relied too much on outside help and boost of power, just as planned, so when Brandin used all of his power to crush Alberico, that outside boost and help was suddenly withdrawn, causing Alberico's death. If Alberico had withdrawn, he would have easily survived.]]
126* SpannerInTheWorks: Very early in the book, an assassination attempt by a minor character on [[spoiler:Alberico]] fails by the narrowest of margins, but the victim is permanently weakened by surviving it, and this long-term weakening plays a significant part in his final defeat.
127* StupidityInducingAttack: The Court Fool creation process, providing an Ygrathen king's least favourite enemies with a particularly nasty FateWorseThanDeath. [[spoiler:As Brandin found out, though, it only works so long as you've got enough magic to sustain it, and once you're out of magic, your revenge is standing close at hand, whole in mind, and very angry.]]
128* SeasonalBaggage: There is a seasonal rite about the autumnal killing of Adaon and his spring rebirth.
129-->''...this one morning in the falling season. This morning that was shaped to become the harbinger, the promise of spring to come, of winter's end. This one single morning on the mountain when the god who was a man had to be slain. Torn and slain, to be put into his place which was the earth. To become the soil, which would be nurtured in turn by the rain of Eanna's tears and the moist sorrowings of Morian's endless underground streams twisting in their need. Slain to be reborn and so loved anew, more and more with each passing year, with each and every time of dying on these cypress-clad heights. Slain to be lamented and then to rise as a god rises, as a man does, as the wheat of summer fields.''
130* SexForSolace: Dianora and Baerd's relationship was founded mostly out of their shared grief for the loss of their province, their city, their father, and Naddo.
131-->'''Baerd''': ''What are we doing?'' What have we done?\
132'''Dianora''': Oh, Baerd. What has been done to us?
133* SexIsLiberation: The relationship between conquered peoples and an "unstable sexuality" is one of the themes of the book; how people rebel when they ''can't'' rebel. See [[{{Analysis/Tigana}} Analysis]] for more.
134* SorcerousOverlord: Two of them, opposed to each other as well as the people they conquered [[note]]though Alberico is in some ways more like an Evil Governor, as he's technically answerable to an off-page Emperor [[TheStarscream whose throne he'd love to usurp]], in direct contrast to Brandin, who was a king in his own right even before coming to the Palm[[/note]].
135* SuicideBySea: [[spoiler:Tonally, the second time Dianora does this is much more this trope than the first time.]]
136* SupportingProtagonist: It would be fair to claim this is more Alessan's story than Devin's. Or Baerd's. Or Dianora's. Or Brandin's. The point is, there are lots of strong candidates for "main character" of this story… and Devin isn't really one of them.
137* TakeAwayTheirName: This is done to a whole region rather than a person. During his conquest of the eastern Peninsula of the Palm, Brandin's son was slayed in a battle in the province of Tigana. Brandin is a sorcerer, and a father who dearly loved his son. In retaliation, he razed the province flat, and put a curse on it that no one who wasn't born in Tigana could remember its name.
138* TemptingFate: In the prologue:
139-->'''Saevar:''' But they will remember. The one thing we know with certainty is that they will remember us. Here in the peninsula, and in Ygrath, and Quileia, even west over the sea, in Barbadior and its Empire. We will leave a name.\
140'''Valentin:''' And we leave our children, The younger ones. Sons and daughters who will remember us. Babes in arms our wives and grandfathers will teach when they grow up to know the story of the River Deisa, what happened here, and, even more--what we were in this province before the fall. Brandin of Ygrath can destroy us tomorrow, he can overrun our home, but he cannot take away our name, or the memory of what we have been.
141* ThanatosGambit: Sandre's death and subsequent funeral [[spoiler:at first appears to be this, with the twist that Sandre is actually FakingTheDead.]] Later [[spoiler: Dianora]] tries for this by [[spoiler: planning to purposefully fail the ring dive and die to destroy Brandin's legitimacy]], but backs off at the last minute. Still later, [[spoiler:Catriana invokes this trope when she assassinates Anghiar and jumps to what she assumes to be her death. [[NotQuiteDead It doesn't take.]]]]
142* TitleDrop:
143** Part One is titled "A Blade in the Soul"
144--->'''Alessan''': I only spoke a prayer of my own. I always do. I said: ''Tigana, let my memory of you be like a blade in my soul.''
145* TwistEnding: [[spoiler:Of the Snap Ending variety on the very last paragraph. Possibly, anyway, since we never discover which of the three got which fate. Many chapters before, Dianora sees a riselka (a fairy-like creature, something like a banshee). She repeats to herself the old prophecy about the riselka, including the lines "one woman sees a riselka / her path comes clear to her" and "three men see a riselka / one is blessed, one forks [comes to a crossroads in his life], one shall die". At the very end of the book, Sandre, Baerd and Devin are walking to meet Marius when they spot a riselka sitting by the side of the path. While there's clear hints at who ''should'' get which (Sandre is an old man, Devin is deciding between several paths for the rest of his life, and Baerd is finally considering a settled life pursuing his passion for architecture), it's left up to the reader what actually happens.]]
146* {{Unperson}}: Performed on the entire country of Tigana, kicking off the novel's plot. WordOfGod says that the author was inspired to write the story by the instances of this during the Soviet purges.
147* VillainousRROD: [[spoiler:How Brandin finally falls. Alessan's team lend their magic to Alberico at the final battle. To counter them, Brandin is forced to cancel the spell on Tigana, and ultimately spend all the magic in his body.]]
148* VisualPun: The book's off-brand Italian peninsula is shaped like a hand or glove (named "the Peninsula of the Palm") while real-life Italy is shaped like a boot.
149* WackyWaysideTribe: Possibly the Night Walkers. On the one hand, they pop up with no foreshadowing whatsoever. On the other, they provide significant CharacterDevelopment for one member of the heroes' party, as well as showing that there are rather more serious, immediate reasons to restore Tigana than just addressing past grievances. [[spoiler:They also [[ChekhovsGunman reappear at the climax]] after Sandre and Baerd realize that their ability to share dreams constitutes a form of wizardry.]]
150* WelcomeEpisode: The rebel group trying to take down Brandin and Alberico is introduced through Devin accidentally finding out about their actions and getting invited to join.
151* WellDoneSonGuy: Sandre deeply regrets having been this to Tomasso, even verging into IHaveNoSon out of disapproval of Tomasso's homosexuality. He does get the chance to apologize and tell Tomasso how proud he is [[spoiler:right before slipping Tomasso poison in Alberico's dungeon.]]
152* WhatTheHellHero: Kay explores this motif, having his heroes take several morally dubious choices in their quest. Were they justified by necessity? It's up to the reader.
153* WizardsLiveLonger: Sorcerers are longer lived than ordinary people, though ''how'' long isn't specified. Brandin is in his sixties but only looks around half that, and indicates he fully expects to still be alive and hale after ''another'' sixty years have passed; we don't get confirmation on how old Alberico is.
154* YourHeadAsplode: [[spoiler:Isolla of Ygrath, following an attempted assassination on Brandin.]] It's ''awful.''
155* YouRemindMeOfX: The riselka reminds Brandin of Dianora.
156-->'''Brandin''': ''[as if it had just occurred to him]'' In fact, she reminded me of you.

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