History Literature / TheCrimsonShadow

* AnArmAndALeg: Duke Morkney sentences a man to lose a hand (plus all of his property) for stealing.

* OurElvesAreDifferent: They seem typical, with a more slender build, much longer lifespan, pointy ears and reputedly have a strong connection to nature. Unlike in many examples they and the dwarves are fine with each other, while both seem to be city dwellers overall.

* FantasyCounterpartReligion: Eriador and Avon seem to follow a counterpart Christianity, though with no Jesus figure shown. {{God}} is explicitly the deity worshiped, while the old good wizards like Brind'Amour viewed themselves as his priests, with their powers coming from him, and helped build the numerous great Cathedrals across the entire Avonsea region. A priest is also shown who's very much similar to a Catholic one, and the bad guys make pacts with demons to get power.

* FantasyCounterpartReligion: Eriador and Avon seem to follow a counterpart Christianity, though with no Jesus figure shown. {{God}} is explicitly the deity worshiped, while the old good wizards like Brind'Amour viewed themselves as his priests, with their powers coming from him, and helped build numerous great Cathedrals across the Avonsea region. A priest is also shown who's very much similar to a Catholic one, and the bad guys make pacts with demons to get power.

''The Crimson Shadow'' is a fantasy book series by author Creator/RASalvatore. ''Sword of Bedwyr'' was published in 1994, followed by ''Luthien's Gamble'' and ''The Dragon King'' (1996).

* BigBad: King Greensparrow, an evil wizard who rules Avon, Eriador and the islands nearby.
* BigGood: Brind'Amour, the last of the good wizards from the old days.

** Eriador and Avon also seem to follow a counterpart Christianity, though with no Jesus figure.

* MeaningfulName: Brind'Amour (love in French) and Belsen'Krieg (the name of a death camp plus "war" in German). The former is the BigGood of the series, the latter the commander of an enemy army from a species that is [[AlwaysChaoticEvil all evil]]. Not subtle.

* SignificantGreenEyedRedhead: Katerin, Luthien's lover initially who he's forcibly separated from and ends up with in the end following a relationship with another wowan, has these looks. She is a main character.

In these novels, Luthien, heir to the island of Bedwydrin, departs from home after the tragic death of his friend and soon takes up with the swashbuckling Oliver deBurrows. They form a successful team of thieves, but soon turn their attentions to fighting the injustices around them. Soon, their efforts turn into a full-scale revolt which erupts to liberate the land from a tyrant wizard king.

In these novels, Luthien, heir to the island of Bedwydrin, departs from home after the tragic death of his friend and soon takes up with the swashbuckling Oliver deBurrows.

They form a successful team of thieves, but soon turn their attentions to fighting the injustices around them...

* SignificantGreenEyedRedhead: Katerin, Luthien's lover initially who he's forcibly separated from and ends up with in the end following a relationship with another wowan, has these looks. She is a major supporting character.

* ThePaladin: A paladin is sent by King Greensparrow against Luthien. He fights honorably, giving Luthien his fair chance to beat him. After learning Greensparrow is really an {{evil sorcerer}} who's in league with demons, the knight immediately switches sides and goes down fighting a demon that attacks Luthien.

* EquivalentExchange: The good wizards draw their power from the forces of the universe, Brind'Amour explains. Even a mage as powerful as him can only draw on so much magical energy per day. Some mages try to get around this by gaining power from pacts with demons, though this disorders the universe.

* EvilSorcerer: Greensparrow and all his minions, save one who's just misguided.

* MeaningfulName: Brind'Amour (love in French) and Belsen'Krieg (the name of a death camp plus "war" in German). Not subtle.

* SealedGoodInACan: Brind'Amour put himself in stasis long ago, then awoke to find Eriador has been overrun by an evil wizard's forces.

* FemalesAreMoreInnocent: The sole good person in Greensparrow's service is a woman, who's been tricked into this. After learning he killed her family, she defects to the good guys. All the rest of his minions are men, without any displayed redeeming features.

In these novels, Luthien, heir to the island of Bedwydrin, departs from home after the tragic death of his friend and soon takes up with the swashbuckling Oliver deBurrows. They form a successful team of thieves, but soon turn their attentions to fighting the injustices around them...

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Eriador is pretty clearly a parallel for Scotland, with one of its famed heroes being Bruce [=MacDonald=], who has the city Caer [=MacDonald=] named after him. Avon stands in for England, with cities such as Newcastle and Carlisle which match actual English cities' names. Gascony is a clear parallel to France, not only with the pseudo-French names and having the name of a historical French province, but also its history in regards to people from there having invaded Avon (England) in the past. All three also share the same relative locations. An island near both may be the stand in for Ireland, though we don't get much information on it. Isenland stands in for Iceland, with its people being raiders like the vikings. Eriador and Avon also seem to follow a counterpart Christianity, though with no Jesus figure.

* TheEmpire: The kingdom of Avon under King Greensparrow. He's and his dukes are all evil sorcerers in league with demons. Cyclopians (a brutish, bloodthirsty race) are their soldiers. Using magic and the cyclopians, he conquered all the lands around Avon, ruling them with cruelty (such as having very harsh punishment for minor crimes, plus making use of slavery). Eventually, a rebellion erupts in its occupied northern neighbor Eriador because of these abuses.

* HalfHumanHybrid: Siobhan, who's a half-elf.
* HumanMomNonHumanDad: Siobhan had an elven father and human mother.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Eriador is pretty clearly a parallel for Scotland, with one of its famed heroes being named Bruce [=MacDonald=], who has the city Caer [=MacDonald=] named after him. Avon stands in for England, with cities such as Newcastle and Carlisle which match actual English cities' names. Gascony is a clear parallel to France, not only with the pseudo-French names and having the name of a historical French province, but also its history in regards to people from there having invaded Avon (England) in the past. All three also share the same relative locations. An island near both may be the stand in for Ireland here, though we don't get much information on it. Isenland stands in for Iceland, with its people being raiders like the Vikings. Eriador and Avon also seem to follow a counterpart Christianity, though with no Jesus figure.

* GreenEyedRedhead: Katerin has these looks.

* TokenGoodTeammate: Duchess Deanna Wellworth of Mannington is the only mage under King Greensparrow who's a decent person, but has been tricked by him into service since her childhood. When she realizes he killed her family to seize the throne (her father has been the king, with Greensparrow his {{court mage}}) she defects to the Eriadoran side. After he's defeated, she becomes Avon's queen.

* TheStarscream: Greensparrow. He killed his master the Avonite king along with his sons and seized the throne, keeping only the king's daughter alive to serve him as she is a mage (tricking her into going along with this).

* BagOfHolding: Oliver is given a sack with this effect by Brind'Amour. Things placed inside it will come to his hand by simply thinking about them too. It works due to being [[PocketDimension extradimensional]].

* CavalryBetrayal: A rare [[InvertedTrope inversion]]. During a naval battle between the Avonese and Eriadorans, ships come sailing over from Baraduine (an island ruled by Avon), making the former celebrate. Instead though they attack the ships from Avon, since it turns out that Baraduine would like to be free.
* LesCollaborateurs: The merchants of Montfort seem to collaborate, along with Duke Morkney, who is apparently from there too.

* TheEmpire: The kingdom of Avon under King Greensparrow.
* EquivalentExchange: The good wizards draw their power from the forces of the universe, Brind Amour explains.