History Literature / Narrenturm

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: For a single adventure novel, there sure are many major and minor characters around. Many of them actual {{historical domain character}}s, at that.

* WarIsHell: Exemplified by the ambush battle near the end of the novel. All previous scenes involving fighting were small brawls the protagonists had to face, but this is an actual battle scene, even though ''[[FridgeHorror it's not much more than a bigger ambush]]''. The sequence shows late-medieval warfare in all its fast, gory and chaotic glory, with the description [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped being genuinely unsettling]] [[YouBastard rather than madcap entertaining]] like in many previous fight scenes.

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Set during the 1420s in Polish Silesia, ''Narrenturm'' focuses on the increasingly convoluted and improbable personal adventures of young surgeon, apothecarist and wannabe-wizard and ladies' man, Reinmar of Bielawa, aka Reynevan. All of this with the bubbling cauldron of the ongoing Hussite Wars in the neighbouring Czech lands as a backdrop.

* CharacterDevelopment: This novel marks the beginning of Reinmar's development from an educated and smart, but somewhat naive and hotheaded young man into a more serious, self-conscious and worldweary figure. The bulk of his development occurs in the following two sequels.

* TheDungAges: 15th century Silesia is actually a developed and fairly rich area of medieval Europe, but it's also a realistically dirty and grubby place, given all the people and economic activities it houses.

* GentleGiant: Samson both plays this straight and subverts it on a few occassions. Not surprising, given his apt name...

* HistoricalInJoke: Sapkowski ''loves this''. You'd think this novel and its two sequels were written just so he could make as many of these in-jokes as possible. It gets even more loaded when you realise some of the in-jokes are deliberately referring to anachronisms, sometimes as direct [[ShoutOut shout-outs]].

* PoirotSpeak: A curious medieval example, as many characters insert the occassional Latin word or phrase into their speech, especially the more educated characters. Szarlej loves peppering many of his sentences with a rather gratuitous use of (nevertheless gramatically correct) Latin. Might be a hint towards his backstory, as he's implied to have been a monk-turned-thief.

* RapePillageAndBurn: Hussite armies, anti-Hussite crusader armies, and the occassional bandit groups and mercenary bounty hunters. In the last third of the first novel, we get a rather gruesome demonstration of why everyone fears a Hussite army on the march.

* TitleDrop: At first, the occassional namedrop is a bit of {{foreshadowing}}. [[spoiler:Then, in the last third of the novel, our trio of heroes gets imprisoned in one such medieval madhouse.]]

* VoluntaryShapeshifting: [[spoiler:One of Birkart von Grellenort's magical abilities. Why is he called "Wallcreeper" ? Because he can transform into one. [[DarkIsEvil A wholly black-coloured one.]]]]

* WarIsHell: Exemplified by the ambush battle near the end of the novel. All previous scenes involving fighting were small brawls the protagonists had to face, but this is an actual battle scene, even though ''[[FridgeHorror it's not much more than a bigger ambush]]''. The sequence shows late-medieval warfare in all its fast, gory and chaotic glory, with the description [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped being genuinely unsettling]] [[YouBastard rather than mad-cap entertaining]] like in many previous fight scenes.

* VoluntaryShapeshifting: [[spoiler:One of Birkart von Grellenort's magical abilities. Why is he called "Wallcreeper" ? Because he can transform into one. [[DarkIsEvil A wholly black-coloured one.]]

* VoluntaryShapeshifting: [[spoiler:One of Birkart von Grellenort's magical abilities. Why is he called "Wallcreeper" ? Because he can transform into one. [[DarkIsEvil A wholly black-coloured one]].]]

** A rather thought-provoking one concerns various characters coming to a crossroad in the forest "''...with a cross, a memorial to tragedies of the past and belated remorse...''".

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: ''And how...''. In addition to plenty of fictional characters, the novel includes appearances by a slew of actual noblemen, church people, scholars, famous traders and townsmen from period Silesia, Poland and the Czech lands. In the prologue of the novel and some of the character dialogues, other famous contemporary figures from elsewhere in Europe are also namedropped.

* HistoricalFantasy: Firmly in place. This novel and its two sequels are more akin to historic adventure novels, with supernatural and fantasy elements regularly interfering from behind the scenes, rather than straight-up fantasy.

''Narrenturm'' is the first novel in a trilogy of {{historical fantasy}} novels by Polish writer Creator/AndrzejSapkowski (of ''Literature/TheWitcher'' fame). It was first published in 2002 in Polish, by Sapkowski's regular publisher, [=SuperNowa=].

* GeniusDitz: Reinmar of Bielawa. Brilliant young medic, competent secret practitioner of magic, far too naive and hot-blooded for his own good in most other things.

* IdiotHero: Reinmar, in an example that is crossed with GeniusDitz. He gradually grows more mature by the end of the novel, but it's only in the following two sequels where he makes a transition away from this trope.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: For a single adventure novel, there sure are many major and minor characters around. Many of them actual HistoricalDomainCharacters, at that.

** Birkart von Grellenort is referred to by the narrator as the Wallcreeper. This is something of a subversion, as the title sounds menacing in English, but is slightly less so in Polish ("Pomurnik"). And the name refers to a cute species of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallcreeper|bird]].

* VoluntaryShapeshifting: [[spoiler:One of Birkart von Grellenort's magical abilities. Why is he called "Wallcreeper" ? Because he can transform into. [[DarkIsEvil A wholly black one]].]]
* WalkingSpoiler: "Nicoletta", due to her true identity (if you've read the following two installments).

* WhatAnIdiot: Szarlej's opinion of Reinmar's [[SarcasmMode oh-so foolproof]] plans to meet Adela and get back together with her.

* ExpospeakGag: The brief lead-in sections of each chapter [[PlayedForLaughs play this for laughs]], in what becomes something of a trademark of this trilogy. It's also intended as an {{affectionate parody}} of such [[PurpleProse overly wordy intros]] in some actual works of fiction from older historical periods.

* LookingForLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: Poor, poor, ''[[WhatAnIdiot dumb]]'' [[IdiotHero Reinmar]]...

* NonActionGuy: Reinmar starts out as this, but becomes a bit more skilled at fighting and other daring-do by the end of the novel. Though, it needs to be said, he's pretty good with escapes on horseback already in the beginning of the novel.

* CorruptChurch: Bishop Konrad of Wroclaw and his lackeys in particular, but there's plenty of other examples. Since the novel and its sequels are set at the time of the Hussite Wars, many minor and major characters discuss the topic of church corruption in-universe. Many of them have divided loyalties based on their own opinions on these matters, and this drives much of the worldly conflict in the series, both on a large-scale and personal level.

* ForeignLanguageTitle: "Narrenturm" is German for "Tower of Madmen/Fools". Also counts as a bit of {{foreshadowing}}.

* MagicKnight: Implied with the sinister Birkart von Grellenort.

* NamesToRunawayFromReallyFast: Belzebub, Urban Horn's loyal but fierce black hunting dog.

* ThemeNaming: The nicknames of Reinmar and his older brother Peter have a herbal theme - "Reynevan" ("Tansy") and "Parsley", respectively..

Set during the 1420s in Polish Silesia, ''Narrenturm'' focuses on the increasingly convoluted and improbable personal adventures of young surgeon, apothecarist and wannabe-wizard and ladies' man, Reinmar of Bielawa, aka Reynevan.

* GeniusDitz: Reinmar of Bielawa. Brilliant young medic, competent secret practioner of magic, far too naive and hot-blooded for his own good in most other things.

* LovableRogue: Szarlej is the most morally gray and sometimes outright morally ambiguous of the main trio. Nevertheless, he is quite principled, is a DeadpanSnarker with a great sense of humour, and is very loyal to his friends once they grow close.

''Narrenturm'' is the first novel in a trilogy of {{historical fantasy}} novels by Polish writer Creator/AndrzejSapkowski (of ''Literature/TheWitcher'' fame). It was first published in 2002 in Polish, by Sapkowski's regular publisher, SuperNowa.

Needs WikiMagicLove.

* AntiHero: Arguably all the main characters, but Szarlej in particular. Reinmar also has some flaws and rather unheroic traits that he's not willing to admit to at first, and the sharp-tongued and witty Szarlej likes to remind him of this with regular friendly-but-biting jabs.

* NiceGuy: Samson can handle himself in a hand-to-hand fight with professional mercenaries and even ''supernatural monsters'' with ease, but he's soft-spoken, ridiculously erudite and thoughtful {{omniglot}} as well.

* IdiotHero: Reinmar. He gradually grows mature by the end of the novel,

* BrickJoke: Several. The tongue-twister challenge between Reinmar and a river boat owner in chapter five is one such example one.

* ExpospeakGag: The brief lead-in sections of each chapter [[PlayedForLaughs play this for laughs]], in what becomes something of a trademark of this trilogy. It's also intended as an {{affectionate parody}} of such [[PurpleProse overly wordy intros]] in some actual works of fiction from previous historical periods.

''Narrenturm'' is the first novel in a trilogy of {{historical fantasy}} novels by Polish writer Creator/AndrzejSapkowski (of ''Literature/TheWitcher'' fame).