History FanFic / QueenOfSorrow

* CurbStompBattle: Two of them.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: A few characters meet their end this way, most notably [[spoiler: the real Sanaki and Zelgius.]] And on the villain's side [[spoiler: Lekain]], [[KickTheSonOfABitch nicely enough]].

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Duke Ludveck, [[spoiler: Valtome, Izuka, Lekain, Duke Alm and a few members of the council of nobles]] all meet well-deserved ends.

* TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask: Similarly to her ''Radiant Dawn'' counterpart, Elincia's troubles only really begin after she is crowned. What differs between them is that here, [[WellIntentionedExtremist her]] [[TheUnfettered methods]] of [[GoodIsNotNice dealing]] with her problems after donning the mask cause her to [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen fall from grace]] in the eyes of the rest of Tellius.

* SuperOCD: Count Silok, a new advisor and assistant to Elincia, who is [[{{Workaholic}} so dedicated to his job]] and perpetually nervous that Elincia jokes that if he doesn't slow down, he'll die of a stress-induced heart attack before hitting thirty.

* StupidGood: Late in the story, Ike starts to let his idealism cloud his judgement. [[spoiler:He remains convinced in spite of all evidence to the contrary that the kindhearted princess he spend the Mad King's War protecting is still somewhere inside Elincia, and she takes advantage of this to slip him Lehran's Medallion. The results are catastrophic.]]

* AnyoneCanDie: And a lot of them do.

* CombatPragmatist: Elincia, unlike certain other people in this world, is very much ''not'' a OneManArmy, so she quickly has to learn how to win fights using her wit instead. For instance, when faced with General Zelgius fighting Geoffrey, she decides to let in [[spoiler:[[BloodKnight Bertram]]]]. [[spoiler: The ultimate example of her pragmatism is making Ike touch Lehran's Medallion, causing him to go crazy and kill all his allies, thus ridding her of all the enemy commanders at once.]]
--> ''(To [[TheHero Ike]])'' "There are some things you won't do in order to win. Things that you won't consider, not matter how dire the situation is. However, I do not have that weakness...not anymore"

* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Michaiah's attitude towards Sothe. [[RelationshipUpgrade Until the battle of Carcass Gorge, that is.]]

* RefugeInAudacity: Naesala offers all of Kilvas's treasury to convince [[spoiler:Sephiran]] to kill her, in the middle of the room, with her in hearing distance.

* FingerlessGloves: Ike wears a pair. [[spoiler:They ultimately lead to his downfall, as the exposed areas let him come into skin contact with Lehran's Medallion.]]

* AristocratsAreEvil: Elincia's council of nobles does nothing but cause her trouble. They consistently oppose her reforms, clinging to their old power, and force some of the more heinous situations onto her. [[spoiler:They make her hire Volke to kill Bastian, torture Elincia's advisor Silok for information, and even try to stage a coup where they threaten to burn down the entire capital. Needless to say, Elincia eventually getting rid of them is immensely satisfying, see OutGambitted below.]] The Begnion Senators are at least as bad, with Elincia noticing that their [[TheCaligula spoiled lifestyle full of limitless power]] has made them lose all touch with reality.

** Valtome tries to use this on Elincia. It managed to damage her facade, but she only truly snaps once he mentions [[BerserkButton Lucia]].
** In the end chapters, the political situation in Crimea resembles that of the [[spoiler: Begnion Empire, before Yune's awakening]], since [[spoiler:Elincia has used Blood Pacts establish a continent wide hegemony.]]

* OutGambitted: After having been pushed around and forced to do horrible things by the nobles for so long, Elincia finally turns the tables on them. [[spoiler: When they try to stage a coup by having Melior burned. She has them all locked in the room with Bertram and orders him to kill them all one-by-one, causing one of the cowardly lot to spill the knowledge that allows her to stop the coup's accomplices from following through with their orders. Then she has all the surviving nobles exiled.]]

* NotSoDifferent:
** Valtome tries to invoke this on Elincia. It managed to damage her facade, but she only truly snaps once he mentions [[BerserkButton Lucia]].

* BlackKnight: [[spoiler: Bertram. His AxeCrazy BloodKnight tendencies remain, but Izuka's final elixir also gave him UndyingLoyalty towards Elincia, ultimately making him her finest champion.]]

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: At first, Elincia is [[WideEyedIdealist firmly on the idealistic side of things.]] However, as the story progresses and she gets hit with a [[JadeColoredGlasses hefty amount of character development]], she starts slipping further and further into cynicism, becoming an outright VillainProtagonist in the eyes of some readers.

'''Geoffrey''': Yes, but–\\

'''Geoffrey''': Yes, but–\\

While Elincia is the protagonist of the story and a great deal of importance is given to her thoughts and planning, the story features a switching point of view for characters like Ike, Soren, Micaiah, Sephiran and even Volke. Aside from that, Queen of Sorrow has been compared to ''Anime/CodeGeass'' in style, featuring a past-paced plot following FinaglesLaw, BlackAndGrayMorality, lots of clever politicking, strategy and [[MagnificentBastard magnificent bastardry]] courtesy of Elincia's newfound CharacterDevelopment, as well as a rather liberal attitude on [[AnyoneCanDie character death]].

* {{Adorkable}}: ''Volke'', [[ProfessionalKiller of all people]], slips into this briefly when Elincia offers him [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Two! Million! Gold!]] to bump off [[spoiler:Lekain]].

* TheDragon: [[spoiler: Bertram becomes this to Elincia]].
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: A few characters meet their end this way, most notably [[spoiler: the real Sanaki and Zelgius.]] And on the villain's side [[spoiler: Lekain]], [[KickTheSonOfABitch nicely enough]].

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: At first, Elincia is [[WideEyedIdealist firmly on the idealistic side of things.]] However, as the story progresses and she gets hit with a [[JadeColoredGlasses hefty amount of character development]], she starts slipping further and further into cynicism, becoming an outright VillainProtagonist in the eyes of some readers.

* SwitchingPOV: As mentioned above.

* GoodIsNotNice: Elincia actually rather good and noble goals at heart. It's her ruthless way of pursuing them that makes her this.

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: The attitude that [[spoiler:Giffca]] takes regarding his decision to kill [[spoiler:Skrimir]], after the latter makes it clear that he's prepared to [[spoiler:sacrifice the whole of Gallia]] rather than [[spoiler:sign Elincia's Blood Pact]]. For him TheNeedsOfTheMany are much more important that the wishes of one person, no matter how dear that person is to him.
** Though she never says this trope outright, it is clear that Elincia feels this way regarding some of her more morally ambiguous leadership decisions.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: In the end, Makalov deserts, not because of his usual laziness, but because of his morals.

* ForgottenFallenFriend: Defied. Elincia posthumously has Lucia declared a Duchess of Crimea, makes sure she gets a proper burial, and is extremely protective of her honor and good name. As she continues on in hard times, she keeps reminding herself that what she does is also to honor Lucia's sacrifice and whenever Lucia is mentioned, she tends to get melancholic. [[spoiler: Bastian is a more straight example, but when Elincia last saw him, she had good reason to be mad at him and she was not even half as close to him as she was to Lucia or Geoffrey.]]

* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: By the end of the story, Elincia is viewed as the second coming of Ashnard in the eyes of the majority of Tellius. She herself takes steps to cultivate this apperance, such as [[spoiler:not correcting the assumption that she was behind Caineghis's death]] - as she acknowledges that this reputation does bring her more [[TeethClenchedTeamwork troublesome]] allies to heel.
* GuiltComplex: Though she does not show it often, the various atrocities and sacrifices Elincia goes through seriously weigh on her conscience, eventually causing her to admit that she herself has become evil.
** After his death, Elincia has [[spoiler:Geoffrey]] buried in the gardens outside her bedroom window, so that his grave is the first thing she sees every morning and night.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Bastian's reaction when he realizes that his scheming got Lucia killed.

* NotSoDifferent: Valtome tries to invoke this on Elincia. It managed to damage her facade, but she only truly snaps once he mentions [[BerserkButton Lucia]].

* OfferedTheCrown: [[spoiler:Mordecai is offered the throne of Gallia after Skrimir's death in the penultimate chapter, due to all remaining members of the Lion Clan being uneligible for the position and the fact that he's in currently [[YoungConqueror Elincia's]] good graces.]]

* OutOfGenreExperience: Chapter 22, featuring Volke's [=POV=]. It is basically ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' meets ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'', with a bit of ''{{VideoGame/Thief}}''.

* SuccessionCrisis: The [[spoiler:Begnion Senate]] has one after [[spoiler:Lekain's]] sudden assassination. Notably, three different candidates are decided upon and then prompty [[KilledOffForReal removed]] by opposing factions in the span of a ''week''.

* UnableToCry: Even after viewing all the suffering which her actions at [[spoiler:the Battle of Flaguerre]] have brought on both her side and the enemy's, Elincia is remarkably dry eyed. And she bitterly lampshades this.
--> ''This was a situation where a human being should cry, must cry.''

* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: By the end of the story, Elincia is willing to engage in ''any'' action, no matter how morally questionable, if it ends up safeguarding Crimea. [[spoiler:Unusually for this trope, this way of thinking ''actually pays off'', as by the end of the story her machinations have paved the way for a longstanding peace that the entire continent can benefit from.]]

* WhamLine: [[spoiler:Sephiran]] drops a whopper in the penultimate chapter. This is especially shocking in universe, as Elincia is LockedOutOfTheLoop regarding certain plot points, like, say, [[spoiler:his real identity.]]
--> ''"...But you, [[spoiler:young beorc female]], have restored my faith that this war-ridden continent is not beyond salvation."''
** Earlier on, one of Lekain's minions says about the apostle... "[[spoiler:Her remains have been cremated.]]"

While Elincia is the protagonist of the story and a great deal of importance is given to her thoughts and planning, the story features a switching point of view for characters like Ike, Soren, Micaiah, Sephiran and even Volke. Aside from that, Queen of Sorrow has been compared to ''Anime/CodeGeass'' in style, featuring a past-paced plot following FinaglesLaw, GreyAndBlackMorality, lots of clever politicking, strategy and [[MagnificentBastard magnificent bastardry]] courtesy of Elincia's newfound CharacterDevelopment, as well as a rather liberal attitude on [[AnyoneCanDie character death]].

* JerkassFacade: Along with trying to become TheStoic, Elincia starts to cultivate this in order to be taken more seriously as a queen, though she only shows it towards her enemies and distant allies at first.

* WomanInWhite: Ironically, despite her personality 180, Elincia keeps the all white outfit which she uses in canon.

* DespairEventHorizon: Lucia's death is this for Elincia. The [[spoiler:assassination of Sanaki]] is this for [[spoiler: Sephiran]], who promptly starts his plan to cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.