History Literature / UseOfWeapons

* ScarSurvey: Done by a poet-lover of Cheradenine Zakalwe, whose CoveredInScars from all the wars he's fought. Although he could lose the scars, Zakalwe claims to keep them to impress girls. He ends up losing the scars after being decapitated, then given a new clone body, whereupon he sheds ManlyTears as EveryScarHasAStory.

* ArcSymbol: The Chair. Whenever a chair appears in the flashbacks Zakalwe makes a point of noticing it and

-->But such consummate skill, such ability, such adaptability, such numbing ruthlessness, such a use of weapons when anything could become a ''weapon''...

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Ethnarch[[note]]"Leader of a race"[[/note]] Keiran, a decadent, autocratic ruler who [[FinalSolution has ethnic minorities choked to death with fumes in 'resettlement' trains]] and [[OrganTheft harvests the organs of young dissidents]] to replace his own. Zakalwe, acting this time as a free agent, [[HeroismIncentive offers him immortality in exchange for stopping being evil]]. The Ethnarch is dumb enough to think he can ignore his end of the deal, so Cheradenine breaks into his palace at night and administers DeathByIrony. [[PayEvilUntoEvil It couldn't have happened to a better person]].

* DeathByIrony: Ethnarch Keiran is a [[ANaziByAnyOtherName genocidal dictator]] who has ethnic minorities exterminated by forcing them from their land, and onto trains which, they are told, will "resettle" them to a new homeland -- said trains [[FinalSolution fill with exhaust gases and asphyxiate their 'passengers']]. When Zakalwe shows up at the end of his bed one night, having disabled his security systems, the mercenary tells him of [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens The Culture]] and their [[BenevolentAlienInvasion methods]], and suggests he will be "resettled" to somewhere far away where he can do no more harm to his planet. [[ComedicSociopathy Then he tells Keiran he's no longer part of the Culture, and shoots him]].

* TomTheDarkLord: Ethnarch Keiran is [[MyNaymeIs one letter-swap away]] from being a genocidal fascist called ''Kieran''.

* LotusEaterMachine: Zakalwe compares life aboard a [[PlanetSpaceship General Systems Vehicle]] like this -- no need to work (instead, you're able to do whatever job you enjoy), no such thing as money, [[FreeLoveFuture no-strings-attached sex is freely available]], and you can spend your nights [[DeepImmersionGaming enjoying fully-immersive VR 'dream' games]]. He's convinced he'd go nuts if left there with nothing to do.

* AnachronicOrder: It tells one story going forward with alternating chapters going in the opposite direction to provide flashbacks to Zakalwe's past. To make it even more convoluted, sometimes he has flashbacks within the chapters. This is so confusing with respect to the first and last chapters that fans disagree on whether they detail past or future events. One online reviewer jokingly referenced the novel as [[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of Cheradenine Zakalwe]].

* DespairEventHorizon: Cheradenine goes through two in the course of the book. [[spoiler: The first when Darckense is murdered by Elethiomel and made into a chair. The second after Elethiomel adopts Cheradenine's identity and leads the forces of an unwinnable war to victory but was supposed to lose, ultimately creating a far bloodier disaster than was at all necessary.]]

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Ethnarch[[note]]"Leader of a race"[[/note]] Keiran, a decadent, autocratic ruler who [[FinalSolution has ethnic minorities choked to death with fumes in 'resettlement' trains]] and [[OrganTheft harvests the organs of young dissidents]] to replace his own. Zakalwe, acting this time as a free agent, [[HeroismIncentive offers him immortality in exchange for stopping being evil]]. The Ethnarch is dumb enough to think he can ignore his end of the deal, and Cheradenine breaks into his palace at night and [[ComedicSociopathy murderously trolls him]]. [[PayEvilUntoEvil It couldn't have happened to a better person]].

* BobTheDarkLord: Ethnarch Keiran is [[MyNaymeIs one letter-swap away]] from being a genocidal fascist called ''Kieran''.

* SchizoTech: The flashbacks especially show a series of planets where the tech level is ''all'' over the place, normally due to [[ETGaveUsWiFi alien intervention]] -- a particularly dramatic example involved mounted cavalry who fire guided missiles attached to their saddles.

-->But such consummate skill, such ability, such adaptability, such numbing ruthlessness, such a use of weapons when anything could become ''weapon''...

* BewareTheNiceOnes: This is the Culture's [[PlanetOfHats hat]] throughout the series, but there's a rather good quote about it in this book (posted on the QuotesWiki).

** Later, during the literary equivalent of a LockAndLoadMontage as Cheradenine prepares for his mission to recover Beychae, one of the weapons he picks up is an [[Literature/ConsiderPhlebas Idrian]] HandCannon, which he quickly discards due to it being far too awkward and bulky for human hands. Bearing in mind his normal weapon choice is a [[{{BFG}} massive]] [[PlasmaCannon plasma rifle]], this serves as a good reminder of just how imposing the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Idrians]] were.

* SwissArmyGun:

* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: {{Invoked}}. The ''Xenophobe'', or 'Xeny' for short, is a Culture (Demilitarised) Rapid Offensive Unit -- a hyper-intelligent 100,000 tonne starship which can hurtle across the galaxy at extreme relativistic speeds and [[EarthShatteringKaboom blow up planets]]. Its physical avatar? An adorable small, fluffy creature with big ears and eyes. It likes being cuddled, too. This ''seriously'' unnerves Sma to begin with.

* TheImmodestOrgasm: PlayedForLaughs, than's to the Culture's [[BioAugmentation pleasure-enhancing biotech]]. The first time Zakalwe sleeps with a Culture woman aboard a [[PlanetSpaceship General Systems Vehicle]], she screams so loudly he's initially frightened that he somehow ''killed'' her.

* TheImmodestOrgasm: PlayedForLaughs, than's to the Culture's [[BioAugmentation pleasure-enhancing biotech]]. The first time Zakalwe sleeps with a Culture woman aboard a [[TheWorldship General Systems Vehicle]], she screams so loudly he's initially frightened that he somehow ''killed'' her.

* HistoryRepeats: Zakalwe is painfully aware that he has a bad habit of repeatedly making the same mistake of over-entrenching in an unwinnable situation and then not withdrawing when he should. He is otherwise depicted as a brilliant military mind, capable of turning the tide in a war despite overwhelming odds. At the end of the book, [[spoiler:he accidentally wins an "unwinnable" war he joined the "wrong" side of, at ruinous cost of life and treasure, and when informed, he goes into a HeroicBSOD. Although there is a hint of character development, as Zakalwe relented on using the improvised Nuke.]]

* ExactWords: Exploited by the narration to keep the twist ending; during a flashback, [[spoiler:a piece of Darckense's hip bone gets lodged next to "his" heart, but it's never explicitly said ''whose'' heart. The rest of the book implies that it was Cheradenine's, since the fragment is often alluded to, but the ending reveals it was actually Elethiomel's]].