History Characters / TheExpanseLiterature

* MindRape: [[spoiler:She gets restrained and dragged before Duarte, who overwhelms her mind with sorrow and remorse. Unfortunately for Duarte, this just pisses her off]].

* PuppteerParasite: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. They evolved an ability to "infect" other simple creatures in their home environment and influence them, doing things like bringing food back from undersea vents. [[BlueAndOrangeMorality They don't really see a distinction between themselves and the creatures they repurpose]], seeing them more like appendages they discovered, which influenced their development and use of the Protomolecule to do the same on a galactic scale.

* EnergyBeings / StarfishAliens: They evolved from intelligent sea creatures that used bioluminescence to communicate. Over time, the light patterns grew complex enough and their technology advanced enough that they no longer needed organic bodies to propagate it. The propagated light patterns behaved like the neurons in a giant brain-like organism that spanned the galaxy. This made them easy prey for the consciousness-killing weapons.

* AbusivePrecursors: All those gates? They were formed by launching big lumps of frozen protomolecule at planets with simple life forms. ''All 1,300 of them''. Earth survived because Saturn just happened to be in the right place to capture the projectile in its orbit.

* DeadpanSnarker: Not always, but [[spoiler: imminent death by burning up in the atmosphere]] at the end of ''Cibola Burn'' brings it out of him. See CasualDangerDialogue.

* NegativeSpaceWedgie: Whatever they used to wipe out the Gate Builders leaves permanent spatial anomalies when it's used. They're not particularly harmful to humans, but destroys anything protomolecule-based.

* NothingIsScarier: What ''are'' they? Where do they come from? How do they attack? Who knows? The only thing known about them is that they aren't happy that the ring system is being used again.

* InvincibleVillain: They have no physical form, or at least no physical form humans are capable of perceiving or understanding, and they are capable of changing the fundamental laws of the universe at will. The only reason they haven't completely wiped out humanity is because they [[HumansAreCthulhu don't understand how humans work]] - but they're slowly getting better. By the end of the series, they've achieved their goal - the destruction of the ring network and the Slow Zone - and the only reason humanity is still alive is because they're no longer a threat to them.

** CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:The interface attacks by sprouting wiry tendrils from Duarte's body, which burrow into her flesh and rip her apart]].

* MutualKill: [[spoiler:As she attacks Duarte, the ring station's interface goes defensive and rips her apart.]]

* InvincibleVillain: They have no physical form, or at least no physical form humans are capable of perceiving or understanding, and they are capable of shutting off the brains of their enemies at will. The only reason they haven't completely wiped out humanity is because they [[HumansAreCthulhu don't understand how human minds work]]. (And they're slowly getting better.) By the end of the series, they've achieved their goal - the destruction of the ring network and the Slow Zone - and the only reason humanity is still alive is because they're no longer a threat to them.

* InvincibleVillain: They have no physical form, or at least no physical form humans are capable of perceiving or understanding, and they are capable of shutting off the brains of their enemies at will. The only reason they haven't completely wiped out humanity is because they [[HumansAreCthulhu don't understand how human minds work]]. (And they're slowly getting better.) By the end of the series, they've achieved their goal - The destruction of the ring network and the Slow Zone - and the only reason humanity is still alive is because they're no longer a threat to them.

* OutsideContextProblem: Nobody knows anything about them. When Duarte attempts to communicate with them, his attempt backfires ''horribly''.

* InvincibleVillain: They have no physical form, or at least no physical form humans are capable of perceiving or understanding, and they are capable of shutting off the brains of their enemies at will. The only reason they haven't completely wiped out humanity is because they [[HumansAreCthulhu don't understand how our minds work]]. (And they're slowly getting better.) By the end of the series, they've achieved their goal - The destruction of the ring network and the Slow Zone - and the only reason humanity is still alive is because they're no longer a threat to them.

* MirroringFactions: As the series progresses, it becomes more and more apparent that the Gate-Builders had a lot in common with humanity, despite being StarfishAliens - most notably a tendency to try to exploit forces they don't fully understand and have it backfire spectacularly.

* CoveredInScars: After he's resurrected, wounds heal into inky black scars. [[spoiler:By the DistantFinale, his skin is ''entirely black''.

* InelegantBlubbering: [[spoiler:After she makes it to the ''Rocinante'' at the end of ''Leviathan Falls'', she completely falls apart]].

* TrackingChip: [[spoiler: She was implanted with a tracking chip in her jaw at birth. Every time she thought she had snuck out without anybody noticing, her movements were actually being tracked.]]

* RefusalOfTheCall: Especially in ''Abaddon's Gate'', when he wants to go to the other end of the solar system from the Protomolecule ring (and therefore the plot), due to his fear of the alien bio-tech organism. Events ([[spoiler: and Clarissa Mao]]) conspire against him so that he has no choice but to take a job ferrying a documentary team to the ring.