Fallocaust is a post-apocalyptic science fiction series by Quil Carter.
231 years after a nuclear catastrophe known as the Fallocaust, humanity has been all but wiped out, with the survivors centered in and around Skyfall, the last remaining city. Reaver Merrick is a young man and self-described sociopath who lives with his adoptive parents in Aras, a small town in the greywastes. Reaver's life changes forever when he falls in love with Killian, an innocent newcomer, and soon the two are drawn into a battle for control of what little remains of the world.
Although the main series takes place in chronological order, each book in the series is accompanied by a companion novel set during a different time period and focusing on a specific character instead of an ensemble cast. However, since these books often introduce characters and plot concepts that will later become essential to the series, they're considered essential reading within the fandom.
In order:
- Fallocaust, the first book in the series.
- Breaking Jade, The first companion novel. It focuses on Jade, a character introduced towards the end of Fallocaust.
- The Ghost and the Darkness,, The second novel in the series.
- Severing Sanguine, The second companion novel, focusing on Sanguine.
- The Suicide King, the third book in the main series.
- Garden of Spiders, the third companion novel, which follows Elish.
- A God Among Insects, the fourth novel in the main series.
- Garden of Spiders 2: House of Flies, the fourth companion novel, which follows Elish and Sanguine.
Fallocaust contains examples of:
- Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: Zigzagged with King Silas. Despite spending close to a century trying to bring Sky back, he slowly falls in love with Reno over the course of The Suicide King, and in A God Among Insects resident matchmaker Jade tells Reno that his Aura has changed. This is notable because not only do auras only change if their owner is truly in love, but Silas's aura was previously a void that put even Reaver's to shame. However, Silas still chooses to reunite with Sky.
- Accidental Murder: Convinced that Kerres is returning, Reno smothers Trig moments before rescue comes.
- The Ace: Jade quickly develops into one. in Breaking Jade he kills Ares and Siris- two chimeras so tough they're function in the family is akin to gladiators- in two on one combat. By the end of The Suicide King his mental powers rival Silas's, and A God Among Insects has him cure Jiro of his Alzheimers with no negative consequences- healing being a power so taxing that even Silas frequently dies after using it- before holding an entire room of chimeras under his control at his wedding. At this point, the only character who rivals his powers is Gage.
- Achilles' Heel: Proxy Worms can only live in heavily radiated areas. Although they can use a born immortals abilities to radiate an area, it's also possible for a born immortal to absorb enough radiation from the environment to kill them off.
- Aerith and Bob: Meet Cepherus, Sanguine, Sidonius, Tom, Jade (Albeit, while this is a unisex name, it's much more uncommon in men), and Ellis. Generally, the more unusual a character’s name is, the more likely they are to be a chimera.
- Affectionate Nickname: Silas gives these to his chimeras, with a healthy dose of Gratuitous Latin. Only chimeras who severely disappoint him for one reason or another don't get them.
- Nero also does this, but his names are far more casual.
- Reaver calls Killian Killicat, Killibee, or Killer Bee fairly frequently. Once he befriends Nero they take to calling each other Duck and Goose.
- Elish and Jade call each other Magnus and Maritus, respectively after they get married.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Elish, where Jade is involved.
- Silas, where Sky is involved.
- All There in the Manual: The author maintains a glossary of the chimeras on the official website. Although it isn't complete (since it only covers chimeras major characters such as Reno, Killian and even Silas are omitted, and some of the younger chimeras such as Jade or Adler aren't covered) it does help flesh out some of the more minor characters, and reveals information about major characters that, in some cases, has barely been hinted at in the series.
- Alternate History: Downplayed. The Second World War stretched into the fifties, and Silas, Sky, and Perish caused the Fallocaust to end a world war in the early twenty-first century.
- A God Among Insects gives us more information; during the war, America lost Alaska, and later ceded it to Russia during the peace talks, while Canada and Britain became puppet states of the German regime. This gave Russia an opportune position to wage war, and nuked themselves in a false flag operation to justify an invasion on the United States.
- All the Other Reindeer: Played with with Ellis. She's the only female chimera, and because of this she's something of an outsider in the family. However, she's also the only one that Silas allows to treat him like their father, an she's shown to be relatively well-adjusted.
- Alone with the Psycho: Done twice with Killian and Perish. In Fallocaust Perish holds Reaver and Killian captive at his lab and Killian is forced to pretend to be Perish's boyfriend to secure their freedom. In The Ghost and the Darkness Perish uses a Slave Collar to drag Killian and a Dwindling Party of slaves to a lab in the Plaguelands until it ends up as this.
- Roughly the first half of Severing Sanguine has Sanguine chained up in the basement of a pedophile.
- Killian goes through this again in A God Among Insects, when Maverick kidnaps him to take him to Ciel Tower.
- Amnesiac Hero: Jade in The Ghost and the Darkness.
- Played with with Gage. When he initially appears he has amnesia, which renders him kind and altruistic, but he's eventually driven to villainy by his dissatisfaction with the Dekkers. It's only when he regains his memories that he eventually becomes a full hero.]]
- Anachronic Order: The main series all take place chronologically. However, each main entry is accompanied by a companion novel following a different character.
- Breaking Jade follows Jade, a couple of years before the main series.
- Severing Sanguine follows Sanguine's early life, between roughly fifty and thirty years before the main series.
- Garden Of Spiders follows the first thirty-three years of Elish's life, between ninety and fifty years before the main series.
- Done in A God Among Insects: Volume One, where the Reaver and Killian's storyline takes place a year after the events of The Suicide King, compared to the Skyfall plotlines, with Silas's storyline covering the whole period. They all sync up in volume two, though.
- Anchored Ship: Sanguine and Jack are in love, but Sanguine left Jack to become Silas's sengil/bodyguard.
- Silas and Reno spend the entirety of The Suicide King falling for each other, only for Silas to end up with Sky.
- And I Must Scream: The punishment King Silas saves for immortals: They're encased alive in concrete with an air tube, continuously resurrecting and dying over and over again. Some chimeras have been in this state for years, and Kel has been in it for over a century.
- Animal Motifs: Sanguine is often compared to crows.
- Drake is often compared to a dog or fox.
- Jade, to a lesser extent, has cats as his.
- Elish grows to be associated with spiders thanks to his cunning and the way he manipulates his allies and enemies.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Reno gives one to Silas in The Suicide King.
- Arbitrarily Large Bank Account: One of the advantages of being a Dekker.
- Armor-Piercing Question: After the events of The Ghost and the Darkness leave everyone believing Reaver and Killian are dead, Reno repeatedly shoots one at Elish. It isn't until Jade is presumed dead when Olympus explodes that he gets an answer.
Reno: Was it worth it?
Elish: It wasn't worth it.
- Ascended Extra: All over the place, as each book introduces more viewpoint characters. Elish and Jade stand out in particular; Elish and Jade were mentioned in passing in Fallocaust before turning up to play major roles in the finale, with Jade even getting his own viewpoint chapter.
- Reno is a downplayed example. Although he was one of the most visible characters in Fallocaust, he was a somewhat periphery character mostly used as Reaver's sidekick. He gets his own viewpoint chapters and plots beginning in The Ghost and the Darkness, and The Suicide King elevates him to one of the most important characters of the franchise, acting as a Morality Pet and romantic interest to King Silas, of all people.
- Asshole Victim: Fallocaust is a very morally ambiguous series, so it speaks volumes that nobody mourns Jasper's death.
- Aura Vision: Jade's specialty. Although it's usually reserved for matchmaking (see Mundane Utility) it does have various negative effects. He's absolutely terrified by Silas and Reaver's auras at first, and Killian's is so pure that when it becomes tainted by his relationship with Reaver and his ordeals throughout Fallocaust he suffers a Heroic BSoD and tries to murder him while in a trance.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Born immortals can channel sestic radiation which, among other uses, lets them heal others even if they're on the brink of death. However, this can easily kill them if the patients injuries are too severe, which leaves them vulnerable.
- Born immortals can also explode, either at will or due to Power Incontinence, in which case it takes months for their bodies to regenerate to the point where they can resurrect.
- Back from the Dead: Given that most of the main characters are immortal, they don't tend to stay down for long, and eventually this stops being presented as a twist. Characters have come back from all manner of violent deaths including, but not limited to, being shot, being torn in two, being melted in acid, exploding, and burning alive in a nuclear fire for years.
- Badass in Distress: Pretty much every character in the main cast has been in situations where they're held captive by their enemies. They're also all near-universally badasses who could easily kill most people in a fair fight.
- Badass Normal: Killian has shades of this. Despite being untrained in combat, and lacking any enhancements even after being made immortal, he's smart enough to manipulate and kill both Perish and Asher, and eventually uses an entire angry mob formed by The Crimstones to meet his goals.
- Reno stands out. By the end of The Suicide King he's the only mortal among the viewpoint characters. That doesn't hold him back at all.
- Bait-and-Switch: Elish spends the majority of A God Among Insects slowly losing his mind, eventually coming to the conclusion that he's been infected by the proxy worms. An MRI scan quickly proves him wrong, but after examining Jade's MRI's from his infection in The Suicide King he and Killian realize that Jade has been infected all along, and subconsciously used his empath powers to manipulate everyone to further the proxy worm's goals. Jade's infection itself is foreshadowed several times throughout volumes two and three of A God Among Insects, but most would assume he was infected by Elish to further his plans.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Silas's ultimate goal is to get Sky back, despite acknowledging that Sky was a horrendously abusive lover. Elish implants Adler with Sky's OLS and presents him to Silas both to earn his and Jade's place back in Skyfall and hoping that this will come into play.
- The Beautiful Elite: The chimeras are genetically engineered to be absolutely beautiful as well as having certain skills or qualities exaggerated. Taken a step further in that those that please King Silas can be made immortal, appearing anywhere from their late teens to early thirties.
- Skylanders- those that live in the elite Skyland district- have to apply for breeding rights, so as to ensure that their children are beautiful.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: One of Sanguine's reasons for becoming Silas's sengil is to keep Ceph in a medically induced coma when he's entombed in concrete.
- Caligula spearheads Reaver's rescue from Nero and Kiki after he tells him where the crimstones are keeping Reno and Nico captive.
- Berserk Button: For Sky, Reno is a big one. Silas so much as mentioning him causes a lot of trouble in their relationship.
- Best Served Cold: After Silas turns down his marriage proposal, Elish starts planning his revenge. Thirty years later, he finally starts to put it into action. Justified, since he has to wait until he has a born immortal.
- Betty and Veronica: Silas is the Archie to Sky's Veronica and Reno's Betty.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Nice guys don't last long in the Greywastes without developing an edge fast.
- Reno is lovable, goofy and generally has a good heart. He's also a trained killer who routinely rapes any legionaires that threaten Aras in Fallocaust. By The Suicide King he routinely joins immortal chimeras in the field and emerges without a scratch. he's later adopted into the Dekker family, and is one of only a handful to survive the book unscathed.
- Killian first attracts Reaver's attention purely because he's innocent. He also manages to take down two born immortals with his quick thinking and detonate a radscorpion, all before he took so much as a single level in badass.
- Big Damn Heroes: In A God Among Insects, a recently exiled Elish steps in to protect the others from the Worm King with a flamethrower.
- Big Eater: Drake. Being The Cutie he's offered food by just about anyone who sees him, and it's gotten so bad that feeding him is not only a punishable offense, it's one of the few times anyone can legally disobey a chimera.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: The Dekkers are always at war with each other, and eventually descend into downright violence and even murder.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Garrett is generally one of the more likeable chimeras, but can be pretty controlling. Come A God Among Insects he graduates to strangling Reno, stalking him, trying to have three greywasters he's befriended and Chally executed, and eventually killing him.
- Blessed with Suck: Technically applies to all empaths, but particularly Jade. On the plus side they get retrocognition, mind control, aura reading, and the ability to emulate the powers of chimeras they spend enough time with. On the other hand actually using these powers puts an enormous amount of strain on their brains, leading to seizures and severely limiting their lifespans- no mortal empath has ever lived past 24. In Jade's case he develops into one of, if not the most powerful empath of all time, but the amount of damage this does to his brain almost kills him more than once. Until he's made immortal, that is, and shows greater control and less drawbacks than any empath seen before.
- A God Among Insects reveals that Valen, the only previous empath chimera, gained immortality and was sealed in concrete for decades, and when he's released he quickly shown to rival Jade's power.
- Blood Lust: All chimeras, especially the Brute and Stealth, love to shed and drink blood, to the extent that Bloodwine is a favorite beverage among the Dekker’s.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: The chimeras. Sure, they're bloodthirsty and murderous, but they were genetically engineered to be so, and vary in character as much as the human characters.
- Body of Bodies: When a proxy worm infects a corpse they instinctively try to form one of these.
- Boom, Headshot!: Lycos, Doc and Finneus’ deaths were by a single shot to their skull.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: A favorite technique of the Crimstones is to capture a sengil or cicaro and turn them against their masters.
- Any immortal possessed infested by proxy worms becomes this, but special mention goes to Jade and Sasha, who's empathic abilities make them ideally suited to become worm kings.
- Elish also gets this throughout A God Among Insects, being manipulated by a proxied Jade's telepathic powers into developing new strains of proxy worms under Jade's control, among other things.
- In an attempt to get Reaver to fall in love with him, Asher brainwashes Reaver to rape Killian.
- Bread and Circuses: King Silas and his chimeras distract the populace of Skyfall with the coliseum; a stadium where convicts are executed alongside acrobatic acts and lotteries.
- Break the Cutie: It'd be easier to list the characters this doesn't apply to, but Killian, Sanguine and Reno stand out.
- As of A God Among Insects we can add Drake to that list.
- Break His Heart to Save Him: After they fall in love, Elish released Jade from his contract and sends him back to Moros to protect him from Silas while he puts his plan into action before they can be together. Too bad he didn't count on Jade going completely off the rails.
- Broken Bird: Silas. He was manipulated by his boyfriend, Sky, into helping him cause the Fallocaust, and did his best to save as many people as he could. The two of them did their best to rebuild society, with Sky becoming increasingly abusive and then killing himself, leaving Silas alone and depressed. Still, Silas tries his best to create a clone of Sky and implant him with his OLS, hoping that he can get it right if he had another chance, and when he thinks his last chance to get Sky back is gone and Reaver is trapped in the ruins of Sky's lab he verges into Death Seeker territory.
- Reno graduates to this in A God Among Insects, due to Silas's relationship with Sky and his own crumbling relationship with Garrett.
- Brother–Sister Incest: The chimeras think of each other as brothers but that doesn't stop them from having sex, falling in love or even getting married to one another.
- Bullying a Dragon: Kessler and Nero present Jade with the head of one of his ravers as a wedding present, and they and their allies attempt to assassinate him and Elish. Jade retaliates by using his powers to Mind Control them all and force Caligua and Kessler to have sex to humiliate them.
- Call-Back: After Jade leaves his tribe of intelligent ravers they're occasionally mentioned in passing.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Elish has a bad habit of realizing how much he loves someone too late.
- Cast Full of Pretty Boys: Seriously, they are all beautiful.
- Cast from Hit Points: An empath's mental abilities. Downplayed in the case of immortals, since they'll regenerate shortly after their deaths. after Valen's return in A God Among Insects it becomes theorized that empaths can absorb immortality.
- Cast Full of Gay: The vast majority of characters- and all the viewpoint ones- are gay men. Justified with the chimeras- since Silas designed them to be so- and the born immortals themselves, since the nazis designed them with this trait so as to keep them from reproducing. Also possibly justified among non chimeras, as well, since given the Sterility Plague there aren't as many females available.
- Chainsaw Good: One scene has Sanguine cutting Tyan in half with a chainsaw, ostensibly as part of a magic trick.
- Chekhov's Gun: All over the place.
- In Breaking Jade we have Jade's MP3 player, which he wins in a raffle and has a tracking device. Twice throughout the book, Elish and the others manage to find him thanks to having it on him.
- In The Ghost and the Darkness we have The OLS's
- Sky's OLS and the spider wire are examples in The Suicide King.
- The Chess Master: Elish.
- Children Are Innocent: Averted with Chaser and Hunter. In The Ghost and the Darkness little five years old Chaser and Hunter were taken to Stadium to execute a convict by biting him to death.
- Zigzagged with Sanguine. Although some of his actions such as setting his bullies on fire would normally avert this, it’s made clear that he doesn’t understand the consequences of his actions when he does so.
- Cloning Blues: All of the born Dekkers were based on Silas's genome, with the younger generations incorporating DNA from the older generations. However, there are a few clones based almost entirely on either Silas Killian, Luca, and Malachy or Sky's Reaver and Adler genome, and their reaction to finding out varies.
- Cozy Catastrophe: Zigagged. The chimeras and elite live in luxury, Skyfall has universities and plenty of amenities, and even those in the slums or greywastes can live in relative comfort.
- Crapsack World: Crops are nearly impossible to grow, mutated monsters roam the wasteland, human meat is a delicacy and there's a good chance you could be raped, murdered, eaten, or sold as meat by the very people meant to protect you.
- Crazy Homeless Person: Jade's mother.
- Cultured Badass: Zigzagged with the Dekker's. Those raised within the family are near-universally cultured, whereas those raised in other environments can be anywhere on the scale.
- Cute Mute: Chally.
- The Cutie: Drake. He might be a chimera but he's universally adored both by his family and Skyfall at large. Part of this is because he's mentally stunted and, while he's intelligent and can talk, he has the mannerisms of a dog and a near-constant sense of childlike wonder.
- A God Among Insects introduces Dexter, a lycan with a similar mental condition.
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Empath powers put an enormous strain on the brain of those using them, eventually leading to death, and using more complex abilities such as mind control or retrocognition are enough to trigger grand mal seziures. Valen died a couple of years after his powers first developed, and Jade ends up comatose for months after using them to incapacitate Kessler.
- Valen returns in A God Among Insects, having been encased in cement by Silas since his death.
- Darkest Hour: The ending of A God Among Insects. Jade and Sasha have been fully taken over by worm kings, Reaver exploded and took Silas with him, effectively incapacitating them both for decades, and large parts of Skyfall have been completely taken over by the proxy worms. However, see Ray Of Hope ending.
- Deadly Game: Malachy runs Candyland, his own deadly game which is explicitly compared to the SAW franchise, purely for his own entertainment.
- In part 1 of House of Flies, much of the drama revolves around The Beast Island Games, which is a life-and-death take on Survivor.
- Death Faked for You: In The Suicide King Kerres's latest attempt to kidnap Jade from Olympus just happens to coincide with Gage accidentally destroying the place. Although Kerres is able to get him out, Jade is presumed dead in the explosion and Kerres uses the opportunity to hold him captive.
- Defector from Decadence: Leo and Dexter
- Didn't Think This Through: Reaver and Jade's murder of Tim. Although they could easily have blamed a defector from the legionaires they decide to go a step further and put his mutilated body on display. This lets Kessler and the legionnaires know that Reaver is in the area. Bad idea when you're on the run.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Averted with Reaver and Killian. Although Killian does die, neither know that he's been made immortal by Perish until his skin gets hot.
- Played straight with Elish and Finn.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Silas is a fan of this. After Garrett falls for his cicaro in Severing Sanguine, he decides to test his maturity by dropping him, unarmed, at the far end of the Greywastes to find his way back.
- Distant Finale: The epilogue of Garden Of Spiders has Jade completing the aforementioned book, which is Elish's autobiography, fifty years or so after the rest of the novel takes place. It's kept intentionally vague exactly when the epilogue takes place but Olympus has been rebuilt, it's a safe bet that it's at least a couple of months after the events of The Suicide King, which is when Elish started writing it. Elish hints that Jade is, physically, 27, which would place the scene at least seven years or so after the events of The Suicide King, but there's a good chance he was joking.
- The Dreaded: Gage is this to Silas, and with good reason.
- Driven to Suicide: Attempted by several characters, but so far only Sky (In the backstory) and Perish have pulled it off permanently.
- Dumb Muscle: Ares and Siris are easily some of the dumbest chimeras, but they more than make up for it in terms of sheer brawn.
- Dwindling Party: Killian's plotline during the latter half of The Ghost and the Darkness consists of this.
- Easy Amnesia: Justified. Jade loses his memory in The Ghost and the Darkness after Perish hits him in the head, but it's a result of his brain implant malfunctioning due to the impact as opposed to the impact itself.
- Eating the Enemy: One step in permanently killing an immortal involves eating their brain.
- Enemy Mine: Silas might be enemies with Reaver, Killian, Elish and Jade, but that doesn't mean they won't work together to take down a greater threat.
- Everyone Knows Morse: Subverted. When he's held captive by the Crimstones, Reno manages to figure out their location and, when they use him to make a ransom video, he blinks the location in morse code expecting this trope to come into play. But as it turns out he's there for weeks before Reaver sees the video, decodes the message, and manages to get a message to Caligula with their location.
- Evil Cripple: Downplayed with Malachy, who uses a wheelchair. While he's initially presented as a villain, he soon develops a close friendship with Reno and joins forces with the chimeras, eventually becoming a full-fledged part of the family.
- Evil All Along: Julian.
- Eye Scream: Gage has heterochromia, with one black eye and one blue. This is a symptom of advanced proxy worm infection. The black eye isn't an eye at all; it's a proxy worm.
- Face Death with Dignity: Silas, during his attempted Heroic Sacrifice.
- Failed a Spot Check: Justified. Leo doesn't recognize Silas when he's disguised as Asher. However, Asher has auburn hair, wears greywaster clothing, is absolutely filthy when they first meet, and intentionally keeps his distance from Leo to keep up the masquerade.
- Faking the Dead: After Silas explodes in The Ghost and the Darkness, Reaver and Killian are presumed to be caught in the wreckage. Not knowing that Killian has been made immortal everyone assumes that he's dead and that Reaver will be trapped for decades, continuously dying and resurrecting, driven mad by the pain and isolation and cradling Killian's corpse. Unknown to them, Reaver managed to escape with his resurrecting boyfriend in tow and leaves to start a new life in the Plaguelands.
- Fan of the Past: Justified. People generally have more important things on their minds than creating new media, but people still need entertainment. Jack's career as a novelist is mentioned, and it's mentioned that Skyfall TV is planning on creating original programming, but for the most part media hasn't evolved since the early 21st century. Chimeras get individual TV channels based on their individual tastes.
- Fate Worse than Death: After he inadvertently releases Gage, Silas chains Sanguine up in the basement where he was held captive by a pedophile for years.
- Also applies to the concrete prisons.
- Foregone Conclusion: Since the companion novels all act as prequels it's a given that certain events will come into play.
- Foreshadowing: Jade mentions his stomach pains throughout volumes two and three of A God Among Insects, hinting at his proxy worm infection.
- Framing Device: Garden Of Spiders is presented as a memoir written by Elish. the Distant Finale reveals that it was being read by Jade.
- From a Single Cell: The only way to permanently kill an immortal is to flood their brain with a highly concentrated dose of sestic radiation, then eat it. If so much as one cell survives, the entire body regenerates, and that cell is insanely hard to kill. Immortals have been eaten, blown up, and even dissolved in acid, but they keep coming back.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Kerres goes from being Jade's supportive boyfriend to the leader of The Crimstones.
- After Elish releases him from his contract, Jade channels his pain by becoming a serial killer.
- Future Shadowing: Since the companion novels take place before the main series, they tend to be full of this.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Downplayed with Reaver. Although he's by no means an inventor he certainly knows how things work, and his basement in Aras is filled with gadgets from the old world in various stages of repair.
- Gender-Blender Name: Although they're technically unisex, the names Jade and Sky are both much more common among women than men.
- Ghost Memory: When Adler is implanted with Sky’s OLS, Sky still retains Adler’s memories to the extent that he turns Nero against Reaver over the course of a single conversation.
- It gets even more complicated in A God Among Insects. Due to the amount of time Sky's OLS was implanted in Perish in The Ghost and the Darkness, it's absorbed enough of his memories and personality that Perish occasionally emerges and sets about trying to sabotage Sky's efforts.
- Gilligan Cut: The final chapter of A God Among Insects shows the survivors of the book coming up with a plan to stop the proxy worms once and for all, saving Jade, Silas, and Reaver from their fates. The epilogue has Reaver resurrecting an indeterminate amount of time later with Silas (Given the fact that they were trapped in a sestic fire, a fair assumption would be in the region of decades, at the very least) in a ruined Skyfall, showing that, at the very least, parts of the plan were unsuccessful.
- Glass Cannon: Jade is one of, if not the, single most badass character in a world full of them. However, he's also not particularly tough, and several characters manage to incapacitate him by virtue of getting a lucky hit in.
- Going Native: Jade in The Ghost and The Darkness. After losing his memories, he finds his way to a ravers nest and promptly becomes their king.
- Gone Horribly Right: Grayson and Leo leave Reaver in charge of Aras for a few days while they go check out Perish's lab, hoping it'll instill him with a sense of responsibility. Within a couple of days he not only executes a handful of prisoners, he purposefully infects them with trideath and gets the entire town actively calling for their deaths.
- Good Thing You Can Heal: Chimeras in general often get into scrapes, but brute chimeras tend to die frequently due to their adventurous nature. Luckily their Resurrective Immortality means they're rarely out of action for more than a few weeks at a time.
- Grand Theft Me: A particularly cruel example with Adler. Although he's in love with Silas's alter ego, Asher, Elish forcibly implants him with Sky's OLS and presents him to Silas. In essence he's trapped in his own body by the love of his life's abusive boyfriend, powerless to do anything, with every chance that the abuse will continue.
- Gratuitous Latin: Silas's nicknames for the chimeras.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: Elish and Silas's conflict falls into this. Elish's reasons for hating Silas may be valid, but he's been manipulating things behind the scenes to keep him unstable for decades to try and garner allies for his cause. When push comes to shove, Silas proves time and time again that he can be a fair and effective ruler on occasion. Because of this it's pointed out that Elish is more concerned with ruling the world than he is with saving it. On the other hand Silas is dangerously unstable, prone to fits of rage, and has tortured and even killed both humans and chimera on a whim, and while few chimeras want to see him dead some of them- including Silas' bodyguard Sanguine- feel like he can't deal with the amount of pressure he's put under. However, it's gradually revealed that Silas suffers from severe mental and emotional issues, and is in dire need of help, and has enough self-awareness to recognize that he gave Elish a good reason to hate him. Even Jade acknowledges that the conflict isn't as black and white as he'd assumed.
- Groin Attack: When a crimstone attempts to rape Reno, he responds by biting his dick off.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Although they're by no means above violence and manipulation to get their way, Killian and Luca are two of the most consistently good and honest characters in the series. Since they're both clones of Silas, it's implied that he used to be this, and it's outright stated by Perish that Killian is who Silas would have ended up as had he been given the chance. Chally, though plays this dead straight, as does Finn.
- Happily Married: Elish and Jade, by the end of Breaking Jade.
- Subverted when they have a more formal, planned marriage in A God Among Insects, where Elish's machinations, control issues, and PTSD start to take over.
- Happiness in Slavery: Sengils and cicaros are generally treated well, given plenty of gifts by those trying to court favor with their masters, and have their every need taken care of. In fact, many of the cicaros we see are romantically linked with their owners, to the point of marriage in some cases, and many sengils are given the chance to get an education and career after their terms are completed.
- Happily Adopted: They may have their issues, but it's clear that this was the case with Reaver, Leo and Grayson. See Hilariously Abusive Childhood.
- Hates Being Touched: Both Reaver and Sanguine display hints of this, but get better.
- Healing Hands: One of a born immortals abilities.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: While Jade eventually grows into an absolute powerhouse, one of his most consistently used powers is aura reading. He can easily gauge the compatibility of two people just by glancing at their auras, and this power is used to gather allies to Elish's cause by offering his brothers a partner they'll feel a strong connection with at first sight, who Silas could hurt to keep them in line.]]
- Reno is just a normal guy, at least until the end of A God Among Insects, but he quickly proves to be among the most important characters in the whole franchise for a simple reason: he sees the good in everyone. This allows him to make a genuine connection with Silas and help him through his depression, eventually resulting in him changing to the point that his aura, once a black void, regains its original colour. He repeats this trick with Malachy in A God Among Insects.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Kerres. Although he never gives up his ultimate goal of getting Jade back, he works with the chimeras several times to save his life when the occasion calls for it.
- Perish has shades of this. Although his first meeting with Reaver and Killian involves keeping them captive and falling in love with Killian, the two come to genuinely like and trust him. Although this leads to a second round of Alone with the Psycho for Killian, it's more a result of having Sky's OLS implanted in him and the resulting mental instability than any maliciousness.
- Heel–Face Turn: Most of the inhabitants of Ciel Tower, including Gage, join forces with the Skyfallers to oppose Bastian and the proxy worms in A God Among Insects. Especially notable with Gage, as he was the big bad of The Suicide King.
- Heel Realization: Silas has one in The Suicide King
- Nero has one when he realizes the effect raping Reaver had on him.
- Hemo Erotic: The chimeras are hardwired to get turned on by the mere sight of blood.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Reaver pulls a non-lethal one in The Ghost and the Darkness, when he allows himself to be captured by the legion to keep Killian safe.
- Silas attempts this in The Suicide King, hoping that he can pull a Taking You with Me on Gage. Luckily Reaver, Jade, Killian and Elish intervene.
- Heroic BSoD: Jade has one when he sees that Killian's aura has been corrupted.
- Heroic RRoD: The consequences of an empath pushing their powers too far. See Dangerous Forbidden Technique, Blessed with Suck.
- Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Reaver might be Happily Adopted, but Leo and Greyson did once chain him up in the backyard when he was out of control. As a born immortal there's also nothing stopping them from killing him if he gets out of hand, which Greyson did at least once.
- Homeless Hero: Briefly happens to Jade in Breaking Jade.
- Honey Pot: One of Luca's roles in Elish's plan is to pull this on the sengils and cicaros of other chimeras.
- If I Can't Have You…: After Reno breaks off his engagement to Garrett, the latter stalks him and intimidates his prospective romantic partners.
- I'm a Humanitarian: The entire main cast, and most of the survivors of the Fallocaust besides. A subspecies of humans known as rats are the primary food source for most people in the Greywastes, and Arian meat (from unmutated humans) is considered a delicacy.
- Immortality: A combination of The Ageless, From a Single Cell and Resurrective Immortality.
- Immortality Begins at Twenty: Born immortals naturally stop ageing at 24, and the majority of immortal chimeras are, physically, in their early to mid-twenties. The first generation subvert this, since the method wasn’t discovered until they were 33.
- Immortality Immorality: Played with. The Dekker's- including the immortals- are highly immoral, with some distinct Axe-Crazy tendencies, but these traits are present regardless of their age.
- In Love with the Mark: Elish falls for Silas in Garden of Spiders, while actively working to manipulate him and userp control.
- In Love with Your Carnage: Played with. Asher is immediately interested in Reaver after watching him lead the execution of three people. It turns out that since he's really Silas, it was as much about recognizing him as a chimera as the violence.
- The Insomniac: Reaver rarely sleeps for more than a few hours a night. At one point in Fallocaust he stays awake for four straight days.
- In Spite of a Nail: Despite the events of the third world war, pop culture evolved in much the same way, along the same timeline: characters reference Harry Potter, Pokemon, Jeapordy, Nintendo, and even My Chemical Romance, among others.
- Interplay of Sex and Violence: Chimeras are all Hemo Erotic, so it's not uncommon at all for their sex lives to get... interesting. Jade and Elish's relationship in particular reeks of this.
- Irony: Adler hates Silas but is in love with Asher, not knowing that they're the same person.
- It's Not You, It's Me: Although he's grown increasingly close to Reno, Silas initially refuses to enter a relationship with him due to his own depression and lingering feelings for Sky. This becomes a moot point when Sky comes back, but it's clear that Silas's love for Reno rivals his love for Sky. Eventually this is subverted entirely, with Silas choosing Reno after seeing Sky's true colours.
- He pulls this again in Garden of Spiders, telling Elish that although the two would make a perfect couple, Elish deserves to be with a man who can love him with all of his heart. Instead, he asks Elish to propose to him in thirteen years. He turns him down, again.
- It Can Think: Downplayed with the proxy worms, because it's made clear soon after their first appearance that they can think, but nobody thought about how well. By the end of A God Among Insects they've managed to outsmart and outmanoeuvre the heroes, take over large parts of Skyfall, and incapacitate three of the four biggest threats to their plans.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Perish's motive for making Killian immortal.
- Klingon Promotion: Chimeras exist on a hierarchical scale, with Silas on the top, Elish taking control if he's killed, and so on and so forth. In Breaking Jade Elish kills Silas to assume temporary control of the chimeras.
- Leitmotif: A rare literature example. Crow, Sanguine's alternate personality, is associated with the song "Daisy, Daisy", albeit the lyrics change from situation to situation.
- It's not as pronounced, but Killian's is Load Me Up by Matthew Good Band, which turns up in his internal monologue when he's been pushed to breaking point.
- Literal Split Personality: A subplot in A God Among Insects revolves around Crow's efforts to secure a body of his own. By the end of the book, he's succeeded.
- Living Forever Is Awesome: The good thing about immortality in this universe is that it's easy to pass it on to those you care about- ergo an immortal can spend an eternity with their lovers and friends. The only people who ever show misgiving over their immortality are Elish, who kills himself not knowing that Perish had already made him immortal, and Jade.
- By the time A God Among Insects rolls around, Reno's fallen squarely into the camp of Who Wants to Live Forever? His depression has gotten so bad that he refuses to even consider being made immortal, having seen the pain it's caused so many people, even while in a committed relationship with Garrett. When he's forcibly made immortal against his will by Reaver and Silas, he is not happy.
- Love Makes You Crazy: As different as they all are, one thing that all chimeras have in common is that they love hard. Losing a partner is enough to send them completely off the rails in a bad way.
- Jade's reaction when he was left in Moros by Elish was to become a serial killer.
- When Elish thinks that Jade has died he ends up killing an entire caravan that he'd befriended.
- After Killian leaves him briefly, Reaver decapitates Kiki, who he'd befriended, to prove his loyalty.
- The first time Silas lost Sky, he became the mad king. When he believes he's lost his final chance, Power Incontinence kicks in and he explodes.
- Love Makes You Evil: Julian.
- Manly Tears: People make fun of Killian crying all the time, but no one think of Nero as less manly even though he may well cry more.
- May–December Romance: Jade and Elish, after the former is made immortal. Although, physically, they appear to be fifteen and thirty three when they first meet, there are around seventy years between them.
- Mayfly–December Romance: Jade and Elish, initially. The Suicide King also has a romance develop between Reno and Silas; although in this case they appear to be twenty-two and twenty-four, Silas is around three-hundred years old.
- Misplaced Retribution: Silas is fond of this.
- Mix-and-Match Critter: Plenty, developed by Skytech. These include:
- Carracats, a cougar/scorpion creature.
- Kriegers, human/komodo dragon combinations.
- Whipwolves, human/deacon hybrids which resemble werewolves.
- Meat Puppet: The victims of the proxy worms.
- Mercy Kill: Sanguine pulls one in Severing Sanguine when Jasper brings home his replacement.
- Reno gives one to Trig moments before they're rescued.
- It's common for immortals to pull this on themselves if they're badly hurt, incapacitated, captured, sick, or even just hungover.
- Miles to Go Before I Sleep: In The Ghost and the Darkness Perish refuses to kill himself until he's made Killian immortal. Played with to an extent since he needs someone with him to make his death permanent, and he can only kill himself once they reach their destination.
- Morality Chain: Killian quickly becomes this for Reaver.
- Münchausen Syndrome: Jade's mother has Munchausens by proxy, and while they were on the streets often poisoned him for attention before she lost custody. She continues to attempt it it whenever he visits her afterwards.
- Multiple Narrative Modes: In a lot of cases, a character's perspective chapters are shown from the third person, eventually graduating to the first person once we've spent enough time with them.
- Mundane Utility: Jade's aura reading's main purpose is to give him an instinctive idea of a person's personality and mental state, but it also comes in handy when it comes to matching chimeras up with their ideal partners. too bad it only measures compatibility, not emotions.
- It's a very common ability among immortals to heat up, cool down or channel an electric current through their skin. Apart from the obvious combat applications, they can also use it to keep themselves warm in the cold.
- My Greatest Failure: Befitting his gradually revealed Dark and Troubled Past, Silas has a few, such as Sky's suicide and using his mental powers on Drake as a child during a fit of rage, resulting in his mental condition.
- Nepotism: Although there are high ranking humans in every area of Skyfall, leadership positions are almost solely reserved for the Dekkers.
- Not Too Dead to Save the Day: For various reasons, the majority of characters believe that Reaver, Killian and Jade are dead- or, in Reaver's case, incapacitated for the next twenty years or so. they return to Skyfall in the finale, just in time to save the day, and humanity, from Gage and the proxy worms.
- Nurture over Nature: Zigzagged. Silas intentionally places chimeras in environments that will mold them into the perfect person for whatever he has planned for them, or else he did, before Sanguine was captured by a pedophile. After that he downplays this trope- while he still places chimeras in orphanages or with adoptive parents, he makes sure that wherever they are he can keep an eye on them. On the other hand, certain traits (such as homosexuality and bloodlust) are always present in chimeras, regardless of upbringing.
- Turns out to be the case with the Sky and Silas clones. Both Reaver and Adler (the Sky clones) are raised in the Greywastes to exacerbate their more violent tendencies, whereas the Silas clones (Killian, Luca, and an unknown third) are raised, respectively, in a factory town, Autumnhome, and in the Greywastes. Elish, ever the Chessmaster, raised the Silas clones in a variety of environments until one developed to be best suited for his plans.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In The Ghost and the Darkness, Reaver accidentally breaks a piece off of his remote phone when trying to call Elish and tell him where Reno is being kept hostage. It was actually a signal blocker and, without it, the chimeras can hone in on their location.
- Leo, one of Elish's most loyal supporters, decides to abandon the cause and implant Perish with Sky's OLS, hoping that Silas would leave Reaver alone. Too bad that the resulting mental instability almost gets Killian, Reaver and Jade killed.
- Sanguine's attempts to save Nero and Ceph from the concrete prisons leads to Gage being released, and as a result all of Skyfall is almost destroyed.
- Elish and Reaver implanting Sky's OLS into Adler as opposed to Reaver himself directly results in Reaver, Killian, and Drake being kidnapped and sent to California.
- No-Sell: Sanguine has a heightened immunity to mind control.
- Non-Action Big Bad: Bastian, part of the Big Bad Duumvirate and Arc Villain of A God Among Insects, has no powers outside of genius-level intellect and immortality; he's also physically in his fifties, at least twenty years older than any other immortal.
- Odd Couple: Done with several of the main pairings, particularly Reaver and Killian. One's a sociopathic loner with mild dorky tendencies. The other is cuddly and affectionate.
- Justified with Jade and Elish. Elish is cold, calculating and manipulative. Jade is hot-tempered, impulsive and impetuous. Despite their occasional problems they're a more-or-less stable couple who would do anything for each other. Turns out this is a Justified Trope: Jade was created by Garrett and Silas specifically to annoy Elish.
- Odd Friendship: Reaver and Reno. It's made clear that the only reason they're so close is that Reno is the only person who could stand Reaver when they were growing up, and in return Reno is the only guy Reaver tolerates.
- Reaver develops this with Nero and Kiki in The Suicide King. Although Reaver initially hates them for raping him repeatedly in The Ghost and the Darkness, they slowly become close after Kiki rescues him and Killian from the proxy worms and Nero has a Heel Realization.
- Malachy and Gage show signs of this, with hints that a romance could develop down the line.
- Once More, with Clarity: In the climax of The Suicide King we see Silas's point of view of the climactic battle with Gage, until Reaver's group pulls a Big Damn Heroes moment. We then see the same events from Reaver's point of view before we see the climax.
- Orifice Invasion: When trying to extract information about Killian's whereabouts, Reaver pulls this on a legionaire with a machete.
- This is also how proxy worms infect their victims.
- Our Zombies Are Different: An immortal who gets the sestic pulse necessary to kill them without having their brain eaten spend months resurrecting, before finally awakening with no higher brain function.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Not marriage, exactly, but Jade's Aura Vision lets him instantly and instinctively match people with their ideal partners before they even meet, and giving his brothers someone they'll want to protect above everything else is vital to Elish's plans. subverted later on: although Jade's powers let him sense two people's compatibility, emotions are a different matter entirely. Reno and Garrett are initially crazy for each other, and become engaged within months, Reno's growing feelings for Silas leaves their future relationship uncertain. By the time A God Among Insects: Volume One ends, they've officially split up, seemingly for good.
- Jade and Elish's relationship plays with this trope. Although they're undoubtedly in love with each other, and Jade is elated at being able to call Elish his husband, the two are not ready for marriage and are more or less forced to go through with it. Although they consider themselves married they only refer to each other as such in private, although Jade does use their marriage to back up his point when arguing with Perish. After they reunite in The Suicide King, Elish proposes more formally.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Born immortals can channel radiation to the point of exploding. The Fallocaust was caused by Sky and Silas channelling their innate powers through a machine Sky had built, and strong enough emotional distress can cause them to blow up, too.
- Posthumous Character: Sky died decades before the series began, but his influence is still felt, and Silas is desperate to bring him back. Subverted as of The Suicide King, when he finally gets him back in the form of Adler, implanted with Sky's OLS.
- Power Incontinence: Apart from their natural immortality, born immortals can channel sestic radiation. However, particularly strong emotions can cause them to explode, in which case their recovery can take months.
- Power Limiter: Jade is implanted with one at the end of Breaking Jade. It's removed permanently after he's made immortal.
- Redemption Earns Life: Played with with Kerres. In Breaking Jade he guides Elish, Silas and Jade out of the flaming Crimstones base to save Jade's life, but he makes it clear that he's still in love with Jade and won't stop until he gets him back. Eventually leads to Redemption Equals Death.
- Puppeteer Parasite: The proxy worms, when inhabiting immortal hosts.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: A God Among Insects ends with Jade and Sasha as worm kings, Reaver and Silas caught in sestic fire for at least the next twenty years, and large parts of Skyfall completely uninhabitable. However Elish, Killian, Reno, and Kheva are leading the charge to rescue them and save the world, aided by the surviving chimeras and nightcrawlers. Even better, they have a lead on a way to kill the worms permanently. Too bad the epilogue shows Silas and Reaver waking up in a ruined Skyfall, showing that at least part of their plans were unsuccessful.
- Really 700 Years Old: Apart from Reaver and Adler, the born immortals were all created during World War Two. Physically, they're all in their twenties.
- Double subverted when Sky's OLS is implanted into Adler's body. Although he has Sky's memories, physically he appears to be his real age.
- Redemption Equals Death: Kerres's final fate in The Suicide King.
- Religion of Evil: The only known religious group, the Blood Crows, has several nightmare fuel rituals like sewing the eyes and lips of females to keep them pure during pregnancy and burying slaves alive to use as fertilizer.
- Rescue Romance: Reaver and Killian barely know each other before Reaver rescues him from the Foie Ras factory.
- Resurrective Immortality: Although they can be killed, immortals resurrect anywhere from a few hours to six months afterwards, depending on their injuries. It's common for immortal characters to kill themselves to take advantage of this if they're injured, diseased, or even just hungover. It is possible to kill an immortal permanently, and much of The Ghost and The Darkness and The Suicide King is devoted to finding out how. All we know so far is that involves A strong pulse of sestic radiation and then eating their brain.
- Revenge Myopia: The Dekker family thrives on this, particularly Kessler.
- Royally Screwed Up: The Dekkers.
- Royalty Super Power: Since they're all based on Silas's genome, the Dekker's exhibit his powers to various degrees. While some, such as increased strength or thermal touch, are relatively common, others such as Mind Control and retrocognition are much rarer, and those dealing with sestic radiation only occur in born immortals.
- Schmuck Bait: Ares and Siris have a particularly sadistic game where they'll send a staff member to Moros and sell a key to their mansion to a thief, claiming they're out of town and he's a disgruntled ex-employee. Once the key has been sold the thief will break in, only to find themselves at the mercy of two of the most brutal men in the Dekker family. Jade falls victim to their trap, and thanks to Elish's help becomes the first survivor.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Subverted with Jade. When he first becomes a Serial Killer he’s verging into Death Seeker territory, and honestly doesn’t care if he’s caught since, due to how the justice system works in Skyfall, he can earn his freedom by defeating Ares and Siris at Stadium- something he already managed once. In short either he dies in combat or he gets released to continue killing people. When he is caught, however, Ellis basically gives him free reign to kill as many people as he wants, as long as he restrains his rampage to Moros.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: One of the advantages of being a chimera, or being adopted into the family, is being above the law, at least where it applies to normal people.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Jade is completely devoted to Elish, but even he has his limits. When Mantis offers Elish a spider wire in exchange for handing Reaver over to Silas as opposed to Adler, he responds both by warning Reaver and Killian, giving them time to escape, and using his powers to incapacitate Elish long enough to buy them some time.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Reaver pulls one of these with a resurrecting Killian in The Ghost and the Darkness, having had enough of chimeras.
- They attempt it again in The Suicide King. It doesn't work nearly as well.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Gage's concrete tomb.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: Due to assisting with Perish's suicide, Killian spends most of The Suicide King as the only person who knows how to kill an immortal.
- Secret Test of Character: After reuniting with Jade after rescuing him from a drug den, Elish initially refuses to give him his collar and officially take him as his cicaro until he's proven that his time in Moros hasn't broken him and he genuinely wants to resume their relationship.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Reaver is a sociopathic Jerk with a Heart of Gold who never leaves the house without a small arsenal and loves to come up with brutal murder techniques. Killian is a gentle Guile Hero who responds to most problems with empathy and kindness. By the end of the first book, they're completely inseperable. Later revealed to be a Justified Trope, with the revelation that they're clones of Sky and Silas, respectively; Elish intentionally created Killian as someone that Reaver would fall head-over-heels in love for, and would do anything to protect, so he could better manipulate him into joining his rebellion.
- Sex for Solace: A particularly bizarre example in The Suicide King. Due to him being raped repeatedly by Nero, Reaver has trouble with sex; he can barely get it up, and the one time he does he experiences a flashback and kills Killian. After he and Nero slowly develop a friendship he convinces Nero to fuck him, consensually, so he can move past it.
- After leaving Garrett in A God Among Insects, Reno has an orgy with Knight, Chally, and three greywasters they've befriended. Until Garrett interrupts, that is.
- Show Within a Show: Garden of Spiders is a book written by Elish in universe during the course of The Suicide King. Zigzagged slightly in that the epilogue shows Jade reading the book.
- Slave Collar: Introduced in The Ghost and The Darkness. They shoot spikes into your throat if you get too far away.
- Although collars are part of a cicaro's default uniform, electro-shock collars are often used on the more rebellious ones to keep them under control.
- Split Personality: Sanguine has one, Crow, but he's kept under check with a brain implant which can be shut down at the click of a switch.
- Stalker with a Crush: Subverted with with Reaver and Killian. Reaver initially follows Killian to protect him, and even sneaks into his house at one point when he sees him having a nightmare, but doesn't realize that he's got a crush on him until shortly before Killian is abducted by the legion. Killian, on the other hand, does have a crush on Reaver, and knows that he's following him.
- Played straight with Kerres and Jade.
- Sterility Plague: A variation. It's not that humanity can't reproduce, but a side effect of the Fallocaust is that less and less women are being born in each successive generation.
- Stockholm Syndrome: Averted with Jade and Elish. Although Jade is coerced into becoming Elish's cicaro, it isn't until Elish starts to treat him with kindness that he falls in love. By the end of Breaking Jade they're forcibly married by Silas and, although Jade is overjoyed, the two enjoy their master/slave dynamic so much they only refer to each other as married in their most private moments.
- Played straight with Killian and Perish.
- Super-Empowering: Born immortals have the ability to pass their immortality on to others by transplanting their brain matter. Certain powers can also be given, too.
- Super Prototype: Played straight with Born Immortals and Chimeras, although Silas is working hard to make more Born Immortals.
- Played with with Born Immortals and Nightcrawlers: While Nightcrawlers were created afterwards and have mental powers that exceed a Born Immortal's, they also have a more debilitating weakness; they need a constant supply of blood, semen, or even spit (although it's not as effective)- either their own or another Nightcrawlers. Without this they suffer from debilitating migraine's.
- Superpower Lottery: Even among the chimera, empaths stand out as a prime example. Not only can they absorb the powers of other chimeras if they didn't have them already, such as Super-Strength and Resurrective Immortality, they also have powers unique to them such as Aura Vision, and Compelling Voice. The only power they haven't displayed the ability to reproduce is radiation manipulation, which is solely a power for Born Immortals.
- Tailor-Made Prison: Instead of encasing him in concrete as is the usual punishment for an immortal, Silas chains Sanguine in the basement where he was kept captive by a pedophile for over a decade.
- Takes One to Kill One: Zig-zagged. A born immortal can only be killed by taking a massive dose of sestic radiation and then having their brain eaten. The first step can only be done by a born immortal or, eventually, proxy worms, either by suicide or murder, the second step can be done by anyone.
- Take That!: Silas is willing to pay anyone who brings him a copy of any Disney sequel they find, purely so he can destroy them.
- When Elish gets a little too uppity in his English levels in Garden of Spiders, his teacher, Ryan, has him read the Twilight books and write essays on them after Elish derides them.
- Teacher/Student Romance: Elish wants one with Ryan and, although Ryan is interested, he also knows the consequences of their relationship and has to be coerced into it.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Whenever Reaver is forced to work with Silas. Eventually subverted as they're forced to work together more frequently, eventually coming to an understanding, with Reaver siding with him over Elish and Killian on some occasions.
- The Lost Lenore: Given his reaction when they're reunited, it's clear that Valen was this to Sanguine
- Subverted with Silas and Sky, since it's clear to everyone but Silas that Sky was horrendously abusive, and Silas slowly comes to realize this himself after they're reunited.
- The Power of Love: Even the most ruthless of character can be changed when they fall in love. Elish and Reaver are examples of this. In Reaver’s case it’s particularly glaring, since his aura is initially described as being close to a void, and Jade is terrified, but Killian’s influence on him is so strong that it starts to change before the two even get together.
- Silas's aura is described similarly to Reaver's, but Jade reveals in A God Among Insects that Reno had such a positive effect on him that it's starting to regain its colour: green and gold.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: To be fair, Reaver was always a violent child, disliked by pretty much everyone in Aras. The fact that he was so disliked just drove him to give them a reason to hate him.
- Those Wacky Nazis: The born immortals were initially created by the nazis during world war two.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: After Valen defects from the family and rejoins the family, he's initially delegated to a position as Sanguine's sengil. As his health fails, Sanguine leaves Jack to become Valen's boyfriend, making his last few years the happiest of his life. until A God Among Insects reveals that he's been alive the whole time, finally reuniting the two.
- After Ceph is encased in concrete, Sanguine willingly becomes Silas's sengil so he can secretly keep him in a medically induced coma to make things easier on him.
- Throwing Off the Disability: Chally yells a warning at Reno when their group is under attack from proxied Skyfallers in A God Among Insects. From then on he begins to speak occasionally, but no more than a word or two, maintaining his status as The Quiet One
- Malachy is a wheelchair user, but regains the use of his legs after being made immortal.
- Tomato in the Mirror: Reaver is a born immortal clone of Sky - Silas's deceased boyfriend. In The Suicide King Adler, another clone, is introduced.
- Killian and Luca are both clones of Silas.
- Due to the fact that some chimeras, such as Jade and Sanguine, are raised outside of the family until a certain age, some of them are unaware of their true nature until they're brought into the fold. So far this only applies to companion novels, since these characters are all fully aware of their heritage by the time of the main novels.
- Downplayed in A God Among Insects. In volume three, Elish becomes convinced that he's been infected by proxy worms, leading to his own unstable frame of mind. An MRI scan shows he's clear, but a comparison MRI of Jade's head during his own infection shows three proxy worms, when four were implanted in him. It turns out that Jade has been infected throughout the book, subtly manipulated into driving Elish to further the worm's agenda.
- Too Clever by Half: Elish's biggest failing is that he knows he's the smartest person in just about any room he walks into, and he's frequently the victim of this.
- Too Dumb to Live: Despite being very intelligent, Killian falls into this by leaving Aras alone and unarmed to try and buy a guitar from a caravan. He gets better.
- Jade learns quickly why it's never a good idea to fuck with chimeras.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Poor Finn.
- Reno. Zig-zagged, as Reaver and Silas make him immortal, despite his protests, because neither of them can bear to let him go.
- Took a Level in Badass: Jade, Sanguine and Elish all take several during their companion novels, and Killian takes his own in the main series.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Killian slowly becomes more self-centred and ruthless as the series progresses, still determined to bring down Silas when even Reaver is on his side.
- Jack slowly but surely becomes more of a jerk as the books progress, although it's not as pronounced as Killian's and he does have a good reason for his actions in his eyes.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Reaver becomes kinder and more altruistic as Killian starts to have a positive effect on him. Sure, he'll still throw you under the bus with no qualms if he needs to, but he also goes out of his way to help people more and more frequently as the series progresses.
- Downplayed with Silas, since he always had a kinder side, we just rarely got to see it until Severing Sanguine. Reno's friendship and influence on him eventually makes his kinder side more pronounced.
- Too Kinky to Torture: Many chimeras- particularly stealth chimeras- play this to various levels. In Jade's case, part of the reason he loves his sex life with Elish is because it's so Head-Tiltingly Kinky.
- Town with a Dark Secret: Dextopia, for a given definition of town, given that it's sole occupant is Dexter. Although he's kind and hospitable, he warns Reaver, Killian, and Drake not to go out at night, and has a steady supply of meat. The reason they can't go outside? Finder Seekers, monsters sent out from Ciel Tower to hunt down and retrieve immortals. And the meat? Maverick, a born immortal locked up both for food and to distract the Finder Seekers. Subverted, somewhat, in that Dexter is genuinely a good guy, with good intentions, whereas Maverick is a psychopathic sadist and rapist allied with Bastian.
- Tragic Keepsake: Jade's collar is this when Elish believes him to be dead.
- Luca's cat ears belonged to Elish's first sengil, Finn.
- Silas keeps a stuffed leopard he got from Sky in the basement of Alegria.
- Traumatic Haircut: Subverted. Silas forcibly cuts Elish's hair as a punishment, but Elish doesn't care; one of the reasons he keeps it long in the first place is so Silas will think cutting it will hurt him.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Most of the chimeras had shades of this in the past but Reaver, Sanguine and Nero stand out.
- Undying Loyalty: Jade quickly develops this for Elish and, later, Reaver and Killian. That's not to say that he won't stand up to them if he needs to.
- Two-Person Love Triangle: Happens a few times. In The Suicide King Adler mentions his desire to find Asher, who he'd fallen in love with, and Silas, who had created him as a potential suitor, unaware that they're the same person.
- A particularly bizarre version with Sanguine, Crow, and Jack comes about in A God Among Insects. Crow and Sanguine are both in love with Jack, but for the majority of the book Crow is in control of Sanguine's body, and Jack initially only has eyes for Sanguine before developing feelings for Crow, as well. At the end of the book, when Crow gets a body of his own and Literal Split Personalities comes into play, he ultimately remains open to choosing him now that Sanguine's Lost Lenore Valen is back in the picture.
- Played with again in A God Among Insects with Silas, Sky, and Perish; Sky and Perish are both inhabiting Adler's body, with Sky as the abusive boyfriend working on his own agenda to destroy the chimeras and Perish working to sabotage Sky's efforts. Towards the end of the book Perish reveals that he's been in love with Silas all along, and resented Sky for his treatment of him and the resulting mess Silas became. Death of the Hypotenuse ensues as he insists Silas destroy them both, eliminating Sky from Silas's primary love triangle (Himself, Reno, and Sky)
- What the Hell, Hero?: Elish gets called out hard on occasion. The most glaring example is by Jade, of all people, in The Suicide King, when Elish tries to betray Reaver and Killian to secure a spider wire.
- Reno gives a devastating one to Reaver and Silas after they make him immortal against his wishes, eventually abandoning both of them and leaving Skyfall.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Downplayed and subverted. Elish can technically make Jade immortal at any time, but chooses not to, both to give his brain time to fully mature and out of fear that it'll leave him a victim of constant seizures and, later, stuck in a coma. Jade later shows his own misgivings about it for the same reasons.
- Reno, after seeing the pain immortality has caused Silas and sick of all the Dekker drama, decides he'd rather live a mortal life.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Ceph suffers from extreme claustrophobia. After Silas finds out that he's been made immortal using Sky's brain matter, he puts him in a concrete tomb and leaves him there for decades.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Silas. As the series progresses we learn that he was in an abusive relationship with the love of his life, Sky, and has spent the decades since Sky's suicide trying to find a way to get him back, purely because he hopes that he could fix things, and that getting Sky back would finally make him happy. Adding to that, Elish has spent decades intentionally sabotaging his efforts, and taking any successful Sky clones to help further his own plans, manipulating the situation to keep Silas unstable to garner more allies for his cause. By the time The Suicide King rolls around Silas is fully broken, to the point where he's verging into Death Seeker territory.
- World of Badass: Almost every character can kick your ass.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Zig-zagged after Aras is occupied by legion forces at the end of Fallocaust. While it's played completely straight for Reaver and Killian, Reno spends some time there in The Ghost and the Darkness.
