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[[quoteright:312:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/SeaDragonHeir_3934.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:312:''Come rise, come unto me...'']]

''The Chronicles of Magravandias'' is an epic {{fantasy}} trilogy with occasional undertones of AffectionateParody by British author Creator/StormConstantine. It consists of:
# ''Sea Dragon Heir'' (1998)
# ''The Crown of Silence'' (2000)
# ''The Way of Light'' (2001)

There is also a collection of stories set in the same world ''The Thorn Boy and Other Tales of Dark Desire.''

InAWorld where the elements battle through human armies, the sea dragons and their worshipers, the [[MakingASplash Palindrakes]], have lost to [[PlayingWithFire Cassilin Malagash]], the king of fire, and his god [[CrystalDragonJesus Madragore]]. Cassilin takes the Palindrake heir, Valraven, and makes him swear fealty to him and to Madragore, banishing the sea dragons and their power from Caradore. The Palindrakes are [[EndOfAnAge forced to forget their heritage]] and Caradore becomes a state of Magravandias.

Two-hundred years later, Magravandias is [[TheEmpire a vast empire]] and still expanding with the help of Caradorean nobles leading their armies. Pharinet Palindrake, twin sister to Valraven V, begins to learn the truth of her family and her country's history and wants to revive the power of the sea dragons. This is complicated when she becomes insanely jealous of her best friend, who is destined to marry [[TheChosenOne Valraven]] and become the [[InHarmonyWithNature sea]] [[ComesGreatResponsibility wife]], a role she [[BrotherSisterIncest wants for herself]].

The personal drama of Pharinet's love for her brother meets the historical, political, and cultural drama of tensions between Caradore and Magravandias. Tragedy strikes, resulting in the deaths of the Palindrakes' friends and spouses Ellony and Khaster Leckery. Then [[DecoyProtagonist we abandon Pharinet's narration]] for Valraven's [[ArrangedMarriage second wife]], and this is just the beginning of the story.

----
!!''The Chronicles of Magravandias'' provides examples of:
* AbdicateTheThrone: [[spoiler: Gastern]] is forced to abdicate after he goes mad. His son is also quietly pushed aside.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Played straight and subverted with Valraven's wives. Ellony is madly in love with him. Varencienne instead [[LovingAShadow falls for]] [[DoggedNiceGuy Khaster]].
* AncestralName: Children are named for parents and ancestors often.
* AncientTradition: Everything to do with the sea dragons. Also everything to do with the Crown of Silence.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: The Leckerys being such a big family have a few cases of this.
** Khaster generally finds Merlan irritating as a child.
** Ellony resents having to bring Niska along on outings.
%%* TheApprentice:
%%** Shan to Taropat
%%** Nip to Thremius
%%* ArcWords: "It will happen regardless of what you think or do."
* ArrangedMarriage: As most of the characters are nobility, almost all marriages work this way. Most noteworthy being Varencienne's marriage to Valraven, who is over ten years older than her.
* AttemptedRape: Bayard tries to force himself on Tayven. Khaster intervenes.
%%* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning
%%* BadassAndChildDuo: Rav and his bodyguard Garante.
* BigBeautifulWoman: Queen Neferishu, in contrast with the willowy standards of beauty of the Mewtish people. Bayard has apparently said "she's the only weighty woman he'd ever consider taking to bed."
* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Malagashes take the cake here. The emperor has a dozen children who all dislike each other and two of them openly challenge the heir's claim to the throne. The other brothers join whichever brother they most admire or most fear. Not to mention Tatrini implies that Leonid's mother offed his older brother so Leonid could inherit.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Valraven becomes king of Magravandias and Caradore and the states of the Magravandian Empire become independent countries again, but he and Varencienne will never live in Caradore again. Also Tatrini lives, but all of her sons have been murdered.]]
* BlackAndGrayMorality: The designated heroes are not particularly heroic. Just the villains of the story are worse.
* BlackSheep: Almorante, who is the only dark-haired Malagash in generations. In adulthood he pulled away from his family, becoming interested in the mystic arts, and dressing, as his mother describes, like "a brigand lord" rather than a prince. He would probably be the best candidate to succeed his father, but he just doesn't have a talent for inspiring strong feelings in people like Bayard or the legitimacy of position that Gastern has.
* BlackWidow: Tatrini is widely believed to have killed her husband. She does not deny that she did, if mostly because no one would dare say it to her face. [[spoiler: Subverted. Not only did she not kill him, but she was with him at the end and said that was the closest she came to loving Leonid.]]
* BloodSplatteredWeddingDress: When Ellony marries Valraven, an old wound reopens and bleeds all over her gown. Played with in that women wear red wedding dresses and Pharinet first thinks the color of the fabric has come off on Ellony's hand.
* BornLucky: Palindrake men are immune to assassination attempts. Also they will always triumph on the battlefield. The Malagashes love them for exactly this reason.
* BreakTheCutie: The entire Leckery family gets a taste of this, but [[NiceGuy Khaster]] and [[TheIngenue Ellony]] get it the worst.
* BreakTheHaughty: [[spoiler: Tatrini gets this hard at the end when all her sons are murdered.]]
* BrotherSisterIncest: Valraven and Pharinet. Bayard and Varencienne also talk about marrying each other, but this is more to protect Varencienne from marrying someone she doesn't love.
* ByronicHero: Valraven. He takes a step into VillainProtagonist territory for a while when he's possessed, but considering how hard he fights against it, he still comes out of it as heroic as the series allows. Played with in that the reader knows all about his DarkAndTroubledPast but his second wife doesn't.
* ChekhovsGunman: Several.
** Tayven makes a nameless appearance early on delivering a letter, long before he has a real role in the story.
** Varencienne is mentioned dismissively before Valraven's first wedding, but becomes the POV character and Valraven's second wife.
** Tatrini's first mention is also dismissive and her name isn't used. She becomes a major player later on.
%%* TheChessmaster: Darris Maycarpe.
* TheChosenOne: Lampshaded and subverted thoroughly with Shan's story. Shan was actually Taropat's backup choice since the real chosen one was killed by the Magravandians. Taropat decided to ScrewDestiny and create a [[TheUnchosenOne new hero to defeat Magravandias]]. Further taken apart by Shan ultimately not being the hero of the story anyway, even if he plays a key role; he is the Warrior, not the King.
* TheCityNarrows: The Soak is the worst part of Magrast.
* TheClan: Any of the noble families, but the Malagashes and Palindrakes in particular.
%% * ClassicalElementsEnsemble: The four dragons of the elements. Foy: Queen of the Waters. Efrit: King of Fire. Paraga: Lord of the Air. Espereth: Lady of the Earth.
%%* ClosetKey: Tayven for Khaster.
%%* CorruptChurch: The worship of Madragore.
* CourtMage: The Malagashes have mages in their employ. [[spoiler: Khaster is likely this at the end.]]
* CreepyTwins: Valraven and Pharinet, especially in their youth when they are very close. Rav and Elly also have their moments.
* CrystalDragonJesus: Madragore. The Magravandians spread this faith to free others from "pagan superstition."
* CynicismCatalyst: Ellony's death triggers a very nasty shift in Khaster. It could have been healed, except then Tayven happened and it got worse.
* DeadGuyJunior: When Varencienne gives birth to twins, the boy is named Valraven, nicknamed Rav, as is family tradition. The girl is named Ellony in honor of Ellony Leckery, Valraven's first wife. She names her third child Leonid in honor of her father.
* DeathOfAChild: [[spoiler: The emperor's youngest three sons are only children, but they die in the end all the same.]]
%%* DecadentCourt: The court in Magrast.
* DeathOfTheOldGods: The church of Madragore dissuades and sometimes outright bans local religions. Foy is the most notable example.
* DecoyProtagonist: Arguably everyone who isn't Valraven, who doesn't get POV chapters until ''The Way of Light''. Shan is this in particular as he is the POV character through the majority of ''The Crown of Silence.''
* DemonicPossession: The dragons' daughters possess several people over the course of the story.
* DemotedToExtra: Most notably Shan between ''The Crown of Silence'' and ''The Way of Light''. Merlan goes from being a fairly important side character to falling off the face of the earth. Storm tends to toss her characters aside when she no longer needs them.
* DepravedBisexual: Bayard. His lovers can't even be mentioned in polite company half the time.
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: Khaster snaps after he thinks Bayard has brutally murdered Tayven and is presumed dead for the next decade because he just vanishes in the wilderness of Cos.]]
%%* DoggedNiceGuy: Khaster Leckery.
* DoubleStandardRapeMaleOnMale: Painfully averted.
** Shan is gang-raped by soldiers, an act so traumatic that he forgets how to ''talk''.
** Tayven is nearly assaulted by Bayard before Khaster steps in, and is raped by Bayard later [[SlippingAMickey while drugged]]. [[spoiler: Actually Tayven was not that affected by the drug and reveals to Bayard that he could have killed him during that encounter. He would probably have killed Bayard if he didn't have other instructions.]]
%%* DrivenToMadness: Bayard, by the end.
* DrowningMySorrows: Khaster's response to Ellony's death.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler: Almorante throws himself [[TakingTheBullet in front of Bayard's sword]] [[HeroicSacrifice to protect Valraven]].]]
* DysfunctionJunction: All of the major characters go through major trauma so that by the end of the series they can really only function together by deliberately setting all their issues aside until later.
* EccentricMentor: Taropat is a quirky and cranky mentor at the best of times and nearly insane at the worst.
* ElementalEmbodiment: What the dragons and their underlings like the dragon daughters really are.
* TheEmpire: Magravandias. In the past it was Cos, and before them, Mewt.
* TheEmperor: Cassilin in the prologue, Leonid during most of the present-day events.
* EndOfAnAge: The fall of the Palindrakes in the prologue.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Bayard is without a doubt the worst of the emperor's sons, but probably the only one who actually respects and cares about their mother.
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Tayven Hirantel is so beautiful, he gets [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday Khaster]] to fall in love with him.
%%* EveryoneLovesBlondes: In a rare male example, Tayven. At least, he starts out this way.
* EvilMatriarch: Most people believe Tatrini to be this. She encourages them.
%%* TheEvilPrince: Bayard.
%%* TheFairFolk: The elden. [[FallenAngel It's much more complicated than that.]]
* FalseWidow: [[spoiler: Pharinet is still married because Khaster isn't dead. Not that she knows that.]]
* FallenAngel: Azcaranoth the peacock angel is likened to [[Myth/GreekMythology the myth of Prometheus]] with a touch of {{Satan}}.
* FamedInStory
** The Malagashes, being the royal family
** Valraven is widely known and very popular.
** The events of "The Thorn Boy" are referenced as an old story in ''The Crown of Silence''
* FantasyCounterpartCulture:
** Mewt is based on AncientEgypt.
** High Hamagara appears to be inspired by Tibet.
* TheFellowshipHasEnded: Rather angrily, when Taropat learns Sinaclara intends to crown Valraven.
%%* FieryRedhead: Sinaclara
* FishOutOfWater: Shan is often out of place wherever he goes, whether among the mages in Bree or the royal court in Mewt because of his uneducated peasant background.
* FisherKing: Shan meets the king who lives and dies for the land in a vision. The True King is supposed to be this.
* {{Foil}}: Most every character has a foil somewhere in the story. Often they have more than one. For example--
** Valraven has Khaster, Bayard, and Almorante
** Pharinet has Ellony Leckery and Elly Palindrake
%% * FunctionalMagic
* TheFundamentalist: Gastern, to the point that everyone but the church is terrified of him succeeding his father.
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: [[spoiler: Gastern]] faces the darkness of humanity. His mind doesn't survive.
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: The response to anyone who knows a thing or two about Empress Tatrini. Even the response of her own sons.
* TheGoodKingdom: According to legend, Caradore and Magravandias were once like this. The characters question if matters were ever that ideal.
* GoodParents: There are a few, strangely enough.
** The Leckerys, particularly Saska, whose worst flaw is being a busybody.
** Shan has nothing but fond memories of his father.
%%* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Ellony, as fitting TheIngenue.
* HalfHumanHybrid: Nip believes her grandfather was an eld. Shan is highly skeptical of this theory.
%%* HalfIdenticalTwins: Valraven and Pharinet.
* HappilyMarried: Oddly enough, this does happen in this trilogy. Montimer and Saska were very happy together, Valraven IV and his wife Lerenie were in love, and Everna was very happy with Thomist.
* HauntedCastle: Old Caradore. Or at least that's how everyone treats it. It's really just a little rundown from being abandoned for two hundred years. If it's haunted by anything, it's human imagination.
%%* HellholePrison: The Skitterings.
* HereThereWereDragons: All over the world, but most notably Caradore and the sea dragons.
* HeroicBSOD: Khaster, after Valraven won't help him save Tayven.
* HiddenDepths: Tayven appears to be nothing more than a pretty bauble. He is however [[spoiler: Almorante's personal spy, later a trained assassin,]] and deeply and genuinely in love with Khaster.
* HighClassCallGirl: Khaster visits a courtesan to forget sexual tension with Tayven. It doesn't work.
* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: What Tayven appears to be, though played with in that he's very concerned about his own survival.
%%* HotWitch: Lady Sinaclara.
* IdenticalStranger:
%% Shan looks uncannily like a younger Tayven.
** Ligrana Leckery also inexplicably resembles Pharinet.
* TheIngenue: Ellony Leckery. [[BreakTheCutie This ultimately goes very badly for her.]]
* InLoveWithLove: Khaster convinces himself he loves Pharinet, though Pharinet has clearly stated on more than one occasion that they are [[PlatonicLifePartners friends]] whose families would like them to marry.
* InnocentFanserviceGirl: Niree is swimming naked when Shan and company find her. She doesn't seem to mind.
* IronicEcho: The duel at the end of ''The Way of Light'' to Valraven and Bayard's first duel in ''Sea Dragon Heir''.
* KeepingTheEnemyClose: Valraven, the emperor's most valued general, is married to Princess Varencienne for this purpose.
* KingBobTheNth:
** Valraven Palindrake is the fifth of his name.
** Emperor Leonid II.
* KingOnHisDeathbed: Leonid spends much of the trilogy dying, and it makes everyone very nervous.
%%* LadyOfBlackMagic: Tatrini is a woman of many talents.
* LampshadeHanging: Happens frequently. The characters just, unknowingly, question normal fantasy novel actions and logic.
%%* LeftForDead: Tayven.
* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Ellony and Pharinet respectively. Highlighted by their rivalry over Valraven.
* ALighterShadeOfGray: The Leckerys are probably the only family that consistently strives for decency.
* LikeASonToMe: Taropat claims Shan as a son in ''The Way of Light''.
* LovingAShadow: Varencienne has an affair with Khaster's brother Merlan because of his resemblance to Khaster. Made even worse by the fact that she's never met Khaster but believes herself in love with him anyway.
%%* TheMagicComesBack: But not in the way the characters expect it to.
* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: A few instances.
** Almorante's dark hair leads people to believe he is not actually a Malagash.
** Invoked when Pharinet jokes that she wouldn't believe Rav was a Palindrake if he wasn't a twin.
** There are subtle hints that Valraven is not the father of Varencienne's third child.
%% * ManicPixieDreamGirl: Nip and Niree
* MandatoryMotherhood: Varencienne has no desire to have children, but she must in order for Valraven to have an heir.
* MassiveNumberedSiblings: Varencienne has eleven brothers (and there was at least one other who died young).
* MasterPoisoner: Lord Pimalder, who is both Tatrini's perfumer and poisoner.
* MindRape: [[spoiler: The Dragon Daughters drive Gastern mad.]]
* MissingMom:
** Pharinet and Valraven's mother dies giving birth to them.
** Shan's mother dies when he's very little.
* TheMourningAfter: Tatrini closes her heart to her children after her third son dies very young.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Pharinet's belated reactions to her terrible treatment of Ellony are of this nature. Particularly after Ellony dies.
* NoManOfWomanBorn: The initial spell cast on Valraven I states that so long as he bears the mark of Madragore, he cannot rise up against Magravandias or Caradore will burn. [[spoiler: so Valraven V simply removes the mark.]]
* NoPeriodsPeriod: Mostly played straight; the only time periods are mentioned is when a character notices she's stopped bleeding and might be pregnant. Subverted in ''The Way of Light'' when Varencienne tries to figure out how to handle her period in the wild.
* OfferedTheCrown: Valraven is offered the Magravandian throne and people plot to put him in power long before this offer is made.
* OldMaid: Everna seemed doomed to being a spinster until finally marrying at the late age of twenty-eight. She is widowed not long after and becomes the MaidenAunt to her brother's children.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Thremius already an old-looking man, but Nip remarks that he's older than Shan's great-great grandfather would be if he were still alive.
* OneGenderSchool: The college in Magrast is for boys only.
* TheOphelia: Ellony becomes increasingly unstable after joining the Sisterhood of the Dragon.
%%* OpposedMentors: Taropat and Sinaclara for Shan.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: There are dragons for all the elements, not just fire. The sea dragons are the most prominent example.
%%* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: The Ustredi.
* PairTheSpares: Maycarpe/Saska is teased in the final chapters of the series.
* ParentalFavoritism: Leonid prefers his oldest son Gastern. Tatrini prefers Bayard.
* ParentalNeglect: Partly because most of the characters are nobility and thus hire nurses to raise their children. Also many of the men are officers in the army and away from home most of the time.
** Despite spending time with her mother every day, Varencienne barely knows Tatrini and is convinced at one point that Tatrini doesn't remember her name.
** Leonid doesn't come off much better. The first and only time Varencienne touches her father or speaks to him personally is on her wedding day.
** Valraven and Pharinet's father was too wrapped up in grief to pay much attention to his children when he did have to leave.
** Even when their mother was alive, Pharinet deduces from Everna's stories that their mother had little time for Everna.
* ParentalSubstitute: Oltefney becomes more of a mother to Varencienne than Tatrini ever was.
* PromotionToParent: Several characters are raised by their siblings.
** Everna raised Valraven and Pharinet since their mother died giving birth to them and their father was often away from home.
** Queen Neferishu and Princess Helayna are also raised by their older brothers.
%%* PlatonicLifePartners: Valraven and Varencienne's marriage.
* PleaseSpareHimMyLiege: Khaster begs Bayard to spare Tayven. It goes badly.
* PolarOppositeTwins: Valraven and Pharinet are very alike physically, but inwardly are completely different people. She is highly emotional to the point of irrationality, even when she knows her reactions make no sense. Valraven is much more logical and literal in his thinking, and is described as being bewildered by strong emotions.
** Twins Rav and Elly are opposites physically and mentally. He is golden like his Malagash relatives, bold, adventurous, and talkative. Elly is dark like the Palindrakes, gentle, quiet, and sensitive.
%%* TheQuest: The seven lakes of Recolletine.
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: Taropat, Shan, and Tayven are the king's magus, warrior, and bard respectively. And then Merlan tags along, which sparks a lot of debate.
* RapePillageAndBurn: Holme is torn apart by soldiers, even though the villagers don't, and can't, put up a fight.
%%* RedLightDistrict: The Soak.
* ReligionIsMagic: The Sisterhood of the Dragon stands out in particular, though most religions work this way.
* ReplacementSibling: Not surprising that this happens in the Leckery family. In both cases, older siblings are idealists while younger replacement siblings are realists.
** Merlan resists any and all attempts people make to say he's like Khaster, even though they look almost exactly alike. Merlan is also much less naive and more resilient than Khaster.
** Niska is widely recognized as looking like Ellony, but she is much more successful at working with the magic of the sea dragons.
* TheReveal: [[spoiler: Khaster, who seemed to be the least mystical and the least likely to become mystical of any of the cast turns out to be the wizard Taropat.]]
* RightfulKingReturns: [[spoiler: Of course Valraven takes Caradore back. That's the whole point of stories that start with fallen dynasties.]]
* RoyalBlood: The Palindrakes, Malagashes, and other royal families. The Mewtish people in particular are proud of their long history and ancient royal dynasty. Rather than royal blood being inherently magical, inherently magical people tend to end up in positions of power because of their ability to influence those around them.
%%* SacrificialLamb: Ellony Leckery.
* SecretRelationship: Played with. Valraven and Bayard's relationship is not a secret in Magrast, but it is to the characters in Caradore.
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Khaster and Valraven. By comparison, Valraven and Bayard respectively as well.
* SiblingRivalry: The Malagash princes, but particularly bad are Gastern, Almorante, and Bayard.
* SiblingYinYang: Pharinet and Everna are not [[TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry rivals]], but where Everna is plain and quiet and dependable, Pharinet is visually striking, highly emotional, and even unstable.
* SoiledCityOnAHill: Magrast. The city is pretty much the concentrated corruption of the entire Magravandian empire, the palace in particular.
* SpareToTheThrone: Gastern has far too many younger brothers to do anyone any good.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Is it Cassilin or Casillin? Is it Elly or Ellie? This often happens on the same page.
* StandardHeroReward: Played with a lot. Valraven is indeed useful to Leonid and thus is rewarded with being married to Varencienne, but the marriage is also for the purpose of "keep your friends close and your (potential) enemies closer." Not to mention Valraven isn't intended to be in line for succession. [[spoiler: He gets the throne anyway.]]
%%* StayInTheKitchen: The Magravandians have this opinion of women.
%%* StudentAndMasterTeam: Shan and Taropat.
%%* SuccessionCrisis: The entire basis of the political plot.
* SwitchingPOV: Happens frequently, especially in the last book which has several plot lines going on at once.
* ThereAreNoTherapists: And it shows.
* TheThreeFacesOfAdam: The Brotherhood of the King--Shan the warrior, Taropat the magus, and Tayven the bard.
** Shan is the warrior (hunter). He is the youngest of the trio, is sent out into the world to learn on his own, and his role in the trio is to be the physical strength.
** Taropat is the magus (lord). Maintaining stability against the ebb and flow of the world defines magic users in this story. While the oldest of the group, Taropat lacks the wisdom to be the prophet.
** Tayven is the bard (prophet). While he is not the oldest of the three, age is most often associated with him (he is an "old soul" and he is often challenged to think of what he will have left in age when his beauty is gone). The bard's role is to speak truth and wisdom.
* TheThreeFacesOfEve: The three women in Valraven's life--Ellony (child), Varencienne (wife) and Pharinet (seductress).
** Ellony, Valraven's first wife, is innocent and virginal, unable to handle the harsh realities of the world and ultimately breaks over the harsh reality of her husband's nature.
** Varencienne, Valraven's second wife, is Valraven's life partner. He trusts her and respects her, and she does well in her role as mistress of Caradore, but their marriage is ultimately a partnership and not love.
** Pharinet, Valraven's sister, is the most sexually driven of the three, even portrayed by her husband Khaster as the archetypal black-haired vixen. It is the forbidden passion between her and Valraven that sets the tragedy into motion.
* ThisIsReality: Valraven and Varencienne in particular like reminding people that they are not living in a grand, sweeping epic, no matter how much the lives they are living may resemble one.
* TitleDrop: The titles of all three books are used in dialogue at one point or another because they are important in-universe objects or concepts.
%%* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Pharinet and Ellony.
* TrainingFromHell: Thremius apparently sometimes puts Nip through this. Once he hung upside-down and forced her to speak backwards to him for a week.
* TraumaInducedAmnesia:
** Shan forgets for a period of time that he was raped by soldiers.
** Tayven forgets his history for a time after he's left for dead in Cos.
** Ellony is implied to wipe unpleasant memories from her mind.
%%* {{Twincest}}:
%%** Valraven and Pharinet.
%%** It's implied this will happen between Rav and Elly in the future (as Jia calls Elly "the future sea wife").
* UncannyFamilyResemblance: All over the place.
** Elly physically resembles her aunt Pharinet, but mentally and emotionally resembles her namesake Ellony Leckery. Similarly, Pharinet is said to greatly resemble her ancestor Ilcretia Palindrake.
** Merlan is almost identical to Khaster.
** Niska is almost identical to Ellony.
** Tayven and his younger brother look a lot alike.
** Rav looks more than a little like a young Bayard.
* UntoUsASonAndDaughterAreBorn: Rav and Elly. Varencienne hated being pregnant and giving birth so much that she was elated to realize she had a complete family in a single effort.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: Valraven is often stated to have been much kinder as a child.
* WaifProphet: Ellony receives visions after her marriage to Valraven, which get stronger as her physical and mental health deteriorate.
%%* WellDoneSonGuy: Shan to Taropat.
* WhatTheHellHero: The characters do so many questionable things and disagree with each other so often that this is almost the status quo of the series.
* WholeEpisodeFlashback: Each book devotes one or more chapters to events that happened previously that the POV character was not witness to. Interestingly, all three of these flashbacks have to do directly or tangentially with the friendship of Valraven and Khaster.
* WritersCannotDoMath: Though details of character ages are mostly left vague, there are clues. And those clues don't always line up with the explicitly stated ages.
** At one point Almorante is stated to be thirty-six. Context clues would put his younger brother Bayard at thirty-five or so and at best Bayard and Mante have one (two if you count the son that died) brother between the two of them.
** Where exactly does Bayard fall in the line of succession? Good luck trying to figure it out, the number seems to change from sixth to fourth.
** Linnard's age makes no sense. In ''Sea Dragon Heir'' Tatrini explicitly states that Gastern is not yet married. By ''The Way of Light'', four years later, he is married with a child, only Linnard isn't a toddler by any stretch of the imagination.
** The number of the emperor's sons never seems to change, even though in the beginning of ''Sea Dragon Heir'' when they were first mentioned, the youngest ones wouldn't even have been born yet.
* WideEyedIdealist: Ellony Leckery. This ends up biting her sharply.
* TheWildHunt: Shan rides with the Hunt in a vision.
%%* WizardBeard: Thremius has one.
* WizardsLiveLonger: Taropat, Thremius, and Sinaclara are all older than any living person.
%%* WouldHurtAChild: Master Dark.
* TheXOfY: ''The Crown of Silence'' and ''The Way of Light''.
%%* {{Yandere}}: Pharinet.