Line #23 Literature/UseOfWeapons


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/use_of_weapons_novel.png]]
2	''Use of Weapons'' is a science-fiction novel of Literature/TheCulture by [[Creator/IainBanks Iain M. Banks]]. It focuses on Special Circumstances and their extensive use of the OmniscientMoralityLicense via the character of mercenary-extraordinaire Cheradenine Zakalwe, a man from outside of the Culture, but who does their dirty work. The story is told through chapters alternating between those going in normal chronological order and those in reverse order that slowly reveal the main character's DarkAndTroubledPast.
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4	This is actually the first novel Iain Banks wrote, although it was published much later. Many consider it his masterpiece.
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6	!!''Use of Weapons'' provides examples of the following tropes:
7	* TheAllegedCar: The ChurchMilitant Cheradenine is forced to help out towards the end of the book has been gifted an Alleged Spaceship by some 'generous' alien benefactors. It's on the verge of falling to bits, and after being forced to go through re-entry in this death trap he concludes that the [[RammingAlwaysWorks only practical use for it]] is as a nuke-level ImprovisedWeapon.
8	* AllForNothing: [[spoiler: The penultimate stage of the novel showcases Zakalwe [[TheStrategist pulling out all of his badass-military-commander stops]] to help an incompetently-run ChurchMilitant win what looks to be a HopelessWar, and ''succeeding'', too... Until he's told by his superiors that he's been backing the wrong side all along, and the society who were his enemies for the past five months will thus be allowed to roll over the city he's been trying so hard to defend. [[HeroicBSOD He doesn't take this well]]]].
9	* AmbiguouslyBrown: Diziet Sma is described as having tawny or fawn-colored skin with dark blue-black hair and eyes of the same color.
10	* AnachronicOrder: It tells one story going forward with alternating chapters going in the opposite direction to provide flashbacks to Zakalwe's past. To make it even more convoluted, sometimes he has flashbacks within the chapters. This is so confusing with respect to the first and last chapters that fans disagree on whether they detail past or future events. One online reviewer jokingly referenced the novel as [[Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of Cheradenine Zakalwe]].
11	* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Ethnarch[[note]]"Leader of a race"[[/note]] Kerian, a decadent, autocratic ruler who [[FinalSolution has ethnic minorities choked to death with fumes in 'resettlement' trains]] and [[OrganTheft harvests the organs of young dissidents]] to replace his own. Zakalwe, acting this time as a free agent, [[HeroismIncentive offers him immortality in exchange for stopping being evil]]. The Ethnarch is dumb enough to think he can ignore his end of the deal, so Cheradenine breaks into his palace at night and administers DeathByIrony. [[PayEvilUntoEvil It couldn't have happened to a better person]].
12	* ArcWords: The Chair and the Chairmaker. The ship that was not a ship.
13	* ArcSymbol: The Chair. Whenever a chair appears in the flashbacks Zakalwe makes a point of noticing it and putting it out of sight.
14	* TheAtoner: Zakalwe's work for The Culture is an attempt to be one of these, but since a lot of it is dirty work in war settings, he seems to just keep getting burdened by more and more guilt. [[spoiler: Although the ending of ''Literature/SurfaceDetail'' suggests that he is still trying and has, to an extent, succeeded.]]
15	* BadassBookworm:
16	** Sma is a poet and patron-of-the-arts as well as an extremely competent Special Circumstances operative.
17	** Subverted with Cheradenine, who wanted to be a poet (which he thinks of as the opposite of being a warrior), but he found that he had no talent for it.
18	* BaitTheDog: For a lot of the book, it's easy to think of Zakalwe as a really cool and badass secret agent and to think that his handlers from the Culture are off-base when they refer to him as a dangerous psycho. Certain events in his past change that impression. Although the Culture—or at least Sma and Skaffen-Amtiskaw, due to the enigmatic nature of Minds—finds out about the events in his past in the same moment the reader finds out about it, at the end of the chronological story.
19	* BatmanGambit: Zakalwe's plans usually account for his foe's reaction, most notably at the climax of the book, where he crosses the MoralEventHorizon knowing that his opponent will respond by [[spoiler: killing himself]].
20	* BecomingTheMask: [[spoiler:Elethiomel borders on this in a twisted way; part of him really has come to believe that he ''is'' Cheradenine.]]
21	* BewareTheNiceOnes: This is the Culture's [[PlanetOfHats hat]] throughout the series, but there's a rather good quote about it in this book.
22	--> '''Cheradenine Zakalwe:''' You might call them soft, because they're very reluctant to kill, and they might agree with you, but they're soft the way the ocean is soft, and, well; ask any sea captain how harmless and puny the ocean can be.
23	* BoatsIntoBuildings: Elethiomel converts the battleship Staberinde into a land-based fortress.
24	* CainAndAbel: Cheradenine and Elethiomel Zakalwe are an interesting take on this, as the flashbacks present Cheradenine as something of the Cain, being a jerk to his adopted brother Elethiomel, [[spoiler: then it turns out that the Cheradenine of the novel is actually Elethiomel and he did a MoralEventHorizon crossing event that made him the Cain figure]].
25	* CitadelCity: What Elethiomel makes the city the ''Staberinde'' is docked at by turning the ''Staberinde'' itself (an extremely powerful battleship) into a nigh indestructible fortress (at least until the enemy air force it let off the leash) rooted in the ground.
26	* CoitusUninterruptus:
27	** Implied at one point when Zakalwe calls Sma up to report on his mission. She takes his call, but seems... ''preoccupied.''
28	** Also in the incident that inspires the later [[spoiler: Chairmaking.]]
29	* CombatPragmatist: Done on both a strategic and tactical level by Zakalwe and Elethiomel, especially in the flashbacks ([[spoiler:because the latter has assumed the former's identity]]). It's not called ''Use of Weapons'' just because of the guns. In particular, unconventional warfare plays a huge part in the plot, whether it's Elethiomel's psychological warfare, or the turning of a naval battleship into a fortress rooted into the ground on land. Cheradenine later displays similar strategic flexibility in war later in the book. [[spoiler: Minor foreshadowing that the Cheradenine we see throughout most of the book is not the real Cheradenine, who is a far more conventional thinker.]]
30	* ContinuityNod:
31	** Before setting out to recover Zakalwe, Sma tells Skaffen-Amtiskaw to "send a stalling letter to that Petrain guy." The novella ''State of the Art'' is introduced as a later communication from Sma to Petrain recounting her time on Earth.
32	** Later, during the literary equivalent of a LockAndLoadMontage as Cheradenine prepares for his mission to recover Beychae, one of the weapons he picks up is an [[Literature/ConsiderPhlebas Idiran]] HandCannon, which he quickly discards due to it being far too awkward and bulky for human hands. Bearing in mind his normal weapon choice is a [[{{BFG}} massive]] [[PlasmaCannon plasma rifle]], this serves as a good reminder of just how imposing the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Idirans]] were.
33	* CurbStompBattle: Skaffen-Amtiskaw, a supremely-advanced sentient AttackDrone built by a SufficientlyAdvancedAliens, against a small group of bandits armed with swords and a few primitive guns. [[HeroicComedicSociopath He has far too much fun]] tearing the attackers into bloody pieces and ''seriously'' disturbs Sma, to say the least, as he could just as easily have taken them out non-lethally.
34	* DarkAndTroubledPast: Zakalwe's past isn't exactly rosy, to say the least.
35	* DeadpanSnarker: Skaffen-Amtiskaw, more than most Drones, even.
36	* DeadPersonImpersonation: [[spoiler:The protagonist of the novel is actually Elethiomel, who took Cheradenine's identity.]]
37	* DespairEventHorizon: Cheradenine goes through two in the course of the book. [[spoiler: The first when Darckense is murdered by Elethiomel and made into a chair. The second after Elethiomel adopts Cheradenine's identity and leads the forces of an unwinnable war to victory but was supposed to lose, ultimately creating a far bloodier disaster than was at all necessary]].
38	* DeathByIrony: Ethnarch Kerian is a [[ANaziByAnyOtherName genocidal dictator]] who has ethnic minorities exterminated by forcing them from their land, and onto trains which, they are told, will "resettle" them to a new homeland -- said trains [[FinalSolution fill with exhaust gases and asphyxiate their 'passengers']]. When Zakalwe shows up at the end of his bed one night, having disabled his security systems, the mercenary tells him of [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens The Culture]] and their [[BenevolentAlienInvasion methods]], and suggests he will be "resettled" to somewhere far away where he can do no more harm to his planet. [[ComedicSociopathy Then he tells Kerian he's no longer part of the Culture, and shoots him]].
39	* DrivenToSuicide: What Elethiomel tried to do with The Chair. In this case the victim knows full well that this is the intention [[spoiler: but still goes through with it.]]
40	* EccentricAI: The controlling Mind of the ''Xenophobe'', a [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens Culture]] warship which is [[EarthShatteringKaboom fully capable of destroying planets]], chooses as its physical avatar a [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter small, fluffy, adorable creature]]. It likes being cuddled, too. This ''seriously'' unnerves Sma.
41	* ExactWords: Exploited by the narration to keep the twist ending;
42	** During a flashback, [[spoiler:a piece of Darckense's hip bone gets lodged next to "his" heart, but it's never explicitly said ''whose'' heart. The rest of the book implies that it was Cheradenine's, since the fragment is often alluded to, but the ending reveals it was actually Elethiomel's]].
43	** Another neat bit of wordplay occurs describing the aftermath of the [[spoiler: Chairmaking: "The doctors were still struggling to save [Cheradenine's] life when [Elethiomel's] soldiers trapped in the battleship made a break for it. It was a good fight and they ''almost'' succeeded." This ambiguity suggests that Cheradenine survived while Elethiomel's forces were defeated, while of course the ending reveals the reverse is true]].
44	* ExpositionOfImmortality: Zakalwe, in pillow talk with Shias Engin, tells her he's 220, 110 or 30. He was born 220 years ago, he's lived for 110 of them and he's physically about 30.
45	* FightFurYourRightToParty: Sma attends a costume party/orgy dressed in a furry-suit modeled on the form taken by a ship's Avatar.
46	* FlashbackBPlot: The story is told through chapters alternating between those going in normal chronological order and those in reverse order that reveal Cheradenine Zakalwe's past, which merge in the finale.
47	* {{Futureshadowing}}:
48	** All those references to the atrocious and enigmatic Chairmaker.
49	** Each of the chapters that progress "backwards" to the beginning contains at least one sentence which focuses attention on one or more chairs.
50	* GeniusBruiser: Zakalwe doesn't look particularly burly, but he definitely fits the trope. He's an insanely competent (and competently insane) soldier, but he's also clearly a genius. Despite coming from outside the Culture, he figured out how to copy several Culture technologies, and can out-think Special Circumstances.
51	* TheHandler: Diziet Sma, to Zakalwe.
52	* HistoryRepeats: Zakalwe is painfully aware that he has a bad habit of repeatedly making the same mistake of over-entrenching in an unwinnable situation and then not withdrawing when he should. He is otherwise depicted as a brilliant military mind, capable of turning the tide in a war despite overwhelming odds. At the end of the book, [[spoiler:he accidentally wins an "unwinnable" war he joined the "wrong" side of, at ruinous cost of life and treasure, and when informed, he goes into a HeroicBSOD. Although there is a hint of character development, as Zakalwe relented on using the improvised Nuke]].
53	* HeroicComedicSociopath: Zakalwe himself as well as Sma's [[SnarkyNonHumanSidekick drone companion]] Skaffen-Amtiskaw, though both of them also qualify for the SociopathicHero. Skaffen-Amtiskaw's earlier actions during Sma's career definitely, though it seems to have grown older and calmer.
54	* TheImmodestOrgasm: PlayedForLaughs, thanks to the Culture's [[BioAugmentation pleasure-enhancing biotech]]. The first time Zakalwe sleeps with a Culture woman aboard a [[PlanetSpaceship General Systems Vehicle]], she screams so loudly he's initially frightened that he somehow ''killed'' her.
55	* ImprobableWeaponUser: Zakalwe's trademark, which gives the book its name. Some are downplayed, like using a stun gun at the maximum setting point blank to make a lethal damage threat, or using a plasma cannon that is for culture standards a relic with more archeological than tactical value, but he also uses a cosmetic surgery machine, plans to use a spaceship as a bomb, kills a man by stuffing his mouth with dried tongues until he chokes to death, gets rid of a knife-missile that was tailing him by rigging a medical imaging machine, and of course [[spoiler: kills the opposing army leader by sending him a chair made of his sister's bones and skin, knowing that it will drive him to commit suicide.]]
56	* ItWorksBetterWithBullets: A king wakes up with an assassin in his bedroom. While he's being taunted, the king pulls a gun and tries to fire. The assassin off-handedly shows him the bullets and says, "It works better with these."
57	* KissingCousins: Elethiomel is a cousin of the other three children. At one point he has sex with Darckense.
58	* LoveTriangle: Alluded to in the past segments, while Elethiomel holds Darckense hostage during the civil war before the [[spoiler: Chairmaking]] between Darckense, Liveuta, and Elethiomel. [[spoiler: By the present segments of the story he's murdered the former and driven the latter to despise him for it.]] Ultimately though, Darckense was only having sex with Elethiomel as an act of teenage rebellion, and Elethiomel claims to prefer Liveuta.
59	* LosingYourHead: Special Circumstances operative Cheradenine Zakalwe crash-lands on a primitive planet and is sacrificed by the natives through decapitation. Fortunately his [[BigDamnHeroes colleagues zoom in just in time]] to snatch back his head, but not before he's had a horrified moment to realise exactly what just happened. Later Zakalwe is in hospital waiting for a new body to be grown (they gave him the choice of remaining unconscious but he'd rather watch television) when the artificially-intelligent drone Skaffen-Amtiskaw (who doesn't like Zakalwe much, and has a [[{{Troll}} twisted sense of humor]]) sends him a present. A hat.
60	* LotusEaterMachine: Zakalwe considers life aboard a [[PlanetSpaceship General Systems Vehicle]] to be something like this -- no need to work (instead, you're able to do whatever job you enjoy), no such thing as money, [[FreeLoveFuture no-strings-attached sex is freely available]], and you can spend your nights [[DeepImmersionGaming enjoying fully-immersive VR 'dream' games]]. He's convinced he'd go nuts if left there with nothing to do.
61	* MacGuffin: [[spoiler: The entire main story of freeing Tsoldrin Beychae and getting him to a place from which he can stop the coming war is actually a MacGuffin to set the meeting with Livueta Zakalwe for the big reveal that Cheranedine is actually Elethiomel.]]
62	* MonsterClown: Zakalwe commits an assassination dressed as a jester, and the victim sees him as such, but it is suggested that Zakalwe's strikingly colourful outfit wouldn't look at all out of place in a Culture gathering.
63	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: At the start of the book, Zakalwe is using Culture rejuvenation technology to bribe rulers of a planet into being more benign, assassinating those who don't keep their end of the deal. This is an attempt to produce peace and prosperity without the convoluted planning and subtle prodding that characterizes Special Circumstances. Skaffen-Amtiskaw informs Sma that this well meaning attempts has resulted in all states being on the verge of a coup (mostly by the rulers' own immediate subordinates) that will produce unstability and war that will pretty much destroy the planet unless The Culture intervened swiftly.
64	* OmniscientMoralityLicence: The AI minds of Special Circumstances are much better than humans at acquiring and processing enormous amounts of information and predicting outcomes, so the missions often involve, for example, backing "the bad guys" knowing it will result in an uprising that will ultimately establish better conditions with less bloodshed than would have resulted from directly removing a tyrant.
65	* OverlyLongName: Dr. Stapangarderslinaiterray, AKA [[SomeCallMeTim Dr. Stap.]]
66	* PowerPerversionPotential: Given that their every need and whim is taken care of by [[TheSingularity nigh-omniscient Minds]], why would the Culture's citizens bother using their BioAugmentation technology to make themselves stronger or smarter, when they could instead modify their physiology to extend the length of orgasms?
67	* ReallyGetsAround: Sma isn't shy about her love of sex. She participates in an orgy on her first night aboard the Xenophobe, and when she asks Skaffen-Amtiskaw if he recorded any of it, it's mainly because she wanted to watch it.
68	* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Cheradenine Zakalwe and Diziet Sma, thanks to their Culture BioAugmentation.
69	* RewatchBonus: An awful lot of brief references in the various flashbacks make a ''lot'' more sense following TheReveal.
70	* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: {{Invoked}}. The ''Xenophobe'', or 'Xeny' for short, is a Culture (Demilitarised) Rapid Offensive Unit -- a hyper-intelligent 100,000 tonne starship which can hurtle across the galaxy at extreme relativistic speeds and [[EarthShatteringKaboom blow up planets]]. Its physical avatar? An adorable small, fluffy creature with big ears and eyes. It likes being cuddled, too. This ''seriously'' unnerves Sma to begin with, while Skaffen-Amtiskaw thinks it's beyond hilarious.
71	* RightfulKingReturns: {{Subverted}}. One of Zakalwe's first Special Circumstances missions involved escorting the lost heir to a planet's ruling dynasty [[CrossingTheDesert across this desert world]] to his seat of power. He never understood why, given that the boy was a whiny RoyalBrat who would clearly grow up to become a terrible ruler... But of course, [[TheChessmaster Special Circumstances being what it is]], they already knew this, ''and'' that he was infertile, and planned to install him as ruler to destabilise the planet's [[AristocratsAreEvil irredeemably decadent and corrupt ruling class]]. Sure enough, some decades later, the boy's death causes a succession crisis, weakening the rulers, who are then overthrown by the nomadic tribes they'd been oppressing.
72	* RoboticPsychopath: Skaffen-Amtiskaw, who once bloodily massacred a group of bandits that tried to mess with Sma.
73	* SchizoTech: The flashbacks especially show a series of planets where the tech level is ''all'' over the place, normally due to [[TechnologyUplift alien intervention]] -- a particularly dramatic example involved mounted cavalry who fire guided missiles attached to their saddles.
74	* ScarSurvey: Done by a poet-lover of Cheradenine Zakalwe, who's CoveredInScars from all the wars he's fought. Although he could lose the scars, Zakalwe claims to keep them to impress girls. He ends up losing the scars after being decapitated, then given a new clone body, whereupon he sheds ManlyTears as EveryScarHasAStory.
75	* SiblingRivalry: On a large and ''extremely'' brutal scale between Elethiomel, Darckense and Cheradenine.
76	* SwissArmyGun: A ''ridiculously'' complicated weapon that Zakalwe examines while gearing up to rescue Beychae. Then again, knowing the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens Culture]], this may well be equivalent to a standard-issue service weapon.
77	-->'''Skaffen-Amtiskaw:''' Micro Armaments System, Rifle. It's... oh, look, Zakalwe; it has ten separate weapon systems, not including the semi-sentient guard facility, the reactive shield components, the IFF-set quick-reaction swing-packs or the AG unit, and before you ask, the controls are all on the wrong side because that's the left-hand bias version, and the balance -- like the weight and the independently variable inertia -- are fully adjustable. It also takes about half a year's training just to learn how to use it ''safely'', let alone competently, so you can't have one.
78	* TitleDrop: A passage describing Elethiomel:
79	-->But such consummate skill, such ability, such adaptability, such numbing ruthlessness, such a use of weapons when anything could become ''weapon''...
80	* TomTheDarkLord: Ethnarch Kerian is [[MyNaymeIs one letter-swap away]] from being a genocidal fascist called ''Kieran''.
81	* TriggerHappy: Zakalwe, hilariously so.
82	* TwistEnding: The two main approaches to the ending is one story working forwards towards the events and a second story working backwards to their meaning. Keeping it a surprising twist under these circumstances is an achievement. [[spoiler: The twist is that Cheradenine of the novel is actually Elethiomel from the scenes set in childhood.]] It's subtly alluded to shortly beforehand: "The doctors were still struggling to save [Cheradenine's] life when the soldiers trapped in the battleship made a break for it. It was a good fight and they ''almost'' succeeded." [[spoiler:The ''doctors'' "almost succeeded", that is. Apparently, Elethiomel's forces ''did'' break out of the siege.]]
83	* UnwittingPawn: Zakalwe is a pawn of Special Circumstances. At one point, another mercenary tells him they can request to always be told the truth and Special circumstances will comply, but it will result in fewer missions, since keeping agents in the dark is sometimes crucial for the operation. [[spoiler: At one point he ends up as a SpannerInTheWorks when he actually wins a battle he was expected to lose.]]
84	* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Special Circumstances' guiding philosophy.
85	* WarriorPoet: Subverted. Zakalwe would like to be one, but all his efforts at poetry are amateurish. In a particular irony the novel is bookended by the much better poetic efforts of his co-workers.
86	* WeaksauceWeakness: Cheradenine Zakalwe's aversion to chairs -- although it makes a lot of sense once you find out what "the Chair" was.
87	* WouldntHitAGirl: For all his ruthlessness, Livueta is convinced Elethiomel is incapable of hurting Darckense, and is only keeping her hostage to keep Cheradenine from attacking him. [[spoiler: Ultimately averted. It turns out he was terribly, horribly capable of hurting her.]]

Context Literature / UseOfWeapons