History Literature / BlackJewels

* GoodIsNotSoft: Taken to {{Anvilicious}} level.

* HauntedHouse: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] in-universe as the setting of ''Tangled Webs'': the book's villain specifically created one to trap the [=SaDiablo=] family in.

* GenreSavvy: Surreal and Rainier in ''Tangled Webs''. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], since the spooky house they're trapped in was explicitely made in-universe after all the classics elements of horror stories, and the characters are well-reads.

* GenreSavvy: Surreal and Rainier in ''Tangled Webs''. {{Justified}}, since the spooky house they're trapped in was explicitely made in-universe after all the classics elements of horror stories, and the characters are well-reads.

* BerserkButton: When Saetan finds out that it was Greer who [[spoiler:raped Jaenelle]], he almost destroys/kills everything in sight (and farther).
** When they accuse Saetan of [[spoiler:sexually assaulting her]] Jaenelle rips apart a room--only a room merely because Saetan is trying his best to contain her--trying to tear apart Council Members. Jaenelle is a sweet girl, but definitively cracked; after her childhood, it takes her a long time to bury BerserkButtons easily triggered by even the hint of threat to anyone she cares about or anything that evokes memories of her [[spoiler:childhood sexual abuse]]. Given that she's [[PersonOfMassDestruction way past demigod]] on levels of power, her instability could get quite dangerous.
** A short story in ''Dreams made Flesh'' explains why Saetan never made more of an effort to get Daemon and Lucivar returned after they were taken as children. [[spoiler: It's because when he lost a child earlier in life, he let himself get so angry at the presumed killers that he wiped out an entire ''country''.]]
*** [[spoiler:Not so much "wiped out" as "completely and utterly erased" a country. And not just the country. Anything and everything that could possibly lay a claim to being a part of that culture was eradicated. The people, the artifacts, the documents, the ''island.'' The only sign that it ever existed is others' memory of it.]]
* BadassAdorable: Wee!Jaenelle. On the surface she's a shy, sweet girl with mega helpings of power. Then Briarwood "teaches her to hate" and she almost kills a stranger for ''approaching'' her handicapped Papa and develops a habit of splattering enemies all over the walls.
* BadassFamily: The [=SaDiablos=]. And they're in the habit of more or less adopting and teaching the new members to be badass.
** Like Lucivar teaching all the females to use Eyrien weapons in book three.
* BigBrotherInstinct: Lucivar can only be considered the younger brother by maybe a few months tops. But Daemon will ''end you'' if you even ''think'' about hurting him. Likewise, Lucivar considers himself to be this to Jaenelle pretty much from the moment they meet. By extension, he also serves in this role to most of the First Circle, the way Saetan is an honorary uncle.
** Rainier in ''Tangled Webs'' seems to have this for Surreal.
* BigDamnHeroes : [[HotBlooded Lucivar]] attempts this at the smallest provocation, much to the annoyance of the women he serves. Jaenelle hands out rings to her nearest and dearest whose purpose is to call in the cavalry.
* BlackAndGreyMorality: The antagonists are unmitigated evil. The protagonists rack up remarkable body counts, indulge in some interesting torture against enemies, and the heroine commits [[spoiler:partial genocide]] to save the world.

* {{Calvinball}}: The game [[CapitalLettersAreMagic Cradle]]. All we know about it is that it is played with a game board, colored stones, bone discs, a deck of cards, and sadistic ingenuity.
** We also know it has 27 variations, all but the last of which are totally incomprehensible to males. That said variation is totally incomprehensible to females and was devised (of course) by Daemon.

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Brutally faked by Daemon]] at the end of ''Queen of the Darkness''.

** Special note goes to Marian, who was trained to use one as a weapon by Lucivar, who was not happy until she could ''throw'' one accurately and break bones.

* SociopathicHero: Dear god, the entire main cast. For example, Saetan fantasizing about snapping the bones of a "slutty" teenage girl, an incredibly inappropriate response to a mild transgression. Or Daemon in general. The only reason none of the "heroes" are portrayed in a negative light is because the villains are worse. In any other series, Jaenelle and her cronies wouldn't be the heroes.

* WhatMeasureIsANonhuman:
** The Kindred.
** Invoked by Lucivar in ''Heir to the Shadows'', in regards to his wings: "What am I, High Lord? By the Council's reckoning of who is human and who is not, What am I?"

* SatanIsGood: Saetan (duh). And can be seen too with Daemon (demon) and Lucivar (Lucifer) if one wants to keep the play with words.

* PolitenessJudo: The easiest way to redirect any male, but especially an upset/angry one, is to ask them for help, as one {{Muggle landen}} girl proves.

* LaserGuidedKarma: In ''Shalador's Lady'', both Theran and Kermilla. Theran gets the powerful and dazzling Queen he wanted, but [[spoiler:she's a Green-jeweled [[TalkingAnimal Sceltie Queen]] who happens to be Vae's aunt]], while the narcissistic Kermilla [[spoiler: is allowed to survive, but is trapped for over a year trapped in the illusion of a decidedly ugly woman]].

*** And he still gets an extremely Karmic Death.

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Brutally faked by Daemon at the end of ''Queen of the Darkness''.]]

* FateWorseThanDeath: Jaenelle casts a spell that causes the 'uncles' who visited Briarwood to suffer [[spoiler: all the rapes and tortures they inflicted on the little girls]] there--and makes sure it doesn't kill them; death would be too easy.

*** [[Thought in her case, it's more of a BroughtDownToBadass situation. And her power level may be "normal", but the way it can be used still very much ''isn't''.]]

* DiscardAndDraw: [[spoiler:Happens to Jaenelle at the end of the trilogy.]]

* DarkIsNotEvil: Darkness is associated positive thing like comfort, warmth, and rich loam. It is also the color of the most powerful jewels in the series.

* ApocalypseHow: In Dreams Made Flesh it is revealed that in his living days Saetan [[spoiler: snapped and executed a regional/metaphysical annihilation on an entire island city-state, leaving memories but not a single scrap of evidence that it existed.]] This scared everyone, including him, so much that it is used to justify both his insistence on following the laws and the fact that his name is used to scare children fifty thousand years later.

** Jaenelle. Titian. Surreal. Also Karla; when [[spoiler: fatally poisoned, she manages to cut her poisoner in half before collapsing.]]

** On the other hand, it's also played straight: Jaenelle seems like a nice, polite, adventurous girl...[[UnstoppableRage until you try to hurt the people she cares about.]]

* BlessedWithSuck: Jaenelle can do things no member of the Blood had ever dreamed of...and it makes her life hell. It alienates her entire family, causes her to be sent to an asylum periodically where she's [[spoiler: sexually assaulted and tortured]] her entire family as a child believes she's insane and more than halfway convince her of it, and it renders her completely incapable of a variety of basic tasks.

** Ranier in ''Tangled Webs'' seems to have this for Surreal.

A "dark" fantasy [[strike:trilogy]] series by Anne Bishop, involving high amounts of rape, torture, and other abuse. If you're sensitive to these subjects, steer clear. Largely notable for trying to invert a number of standard fantasy setting tropes - power is matriarchal, black is the most powerful color, the demons are the good(ish) guys, and so on.

* PrincessesRule: Averted in the case of females; all women of the ruling caste are called Queens. Inverted for males, who are either called Prince or Warlord Prince even if they rule a territory.

** That being said, just the existence of Lucivar Yaslana and Daemon Sadi pretty much qualifies as FanService.
*** So do the [[spoiler:Lucivar/Marian sex scenes in ''Dreams Made Flesh''.]]

* FreudianExcuse: Kartane [=SaDiablo=] is an ?-evil misogynist and rapist/pedophile because he was [[{{Squick}} raped by his mother]].

* FriendToAllLivingThings: Since Jaenelle is the incarnation of both human and animal dreams and is therefore part animal herself, she is the catalyst to the reconciliation of the humans and Kindred races.

* GenderRestrictedAbility : Women are explicitly far more powerful than men. Only two men, Saetan and Daemon, are natural Black Widows. Men cannot rule territories.
** Actually, only Daemon is a natural Black Widow. Saetan learned the Black Widow Craft from Cassandra. One does not have to be born a Black Widow to become one.

* PolitenessJudo: The easiest way to redirect any male, but especially an upset/angry one, is to ask them for help, as one Muggle (landen) girl proves.

** This is actually explained in the series, although not directly referenced in the story. Before being allowed to run free in Kaeleer, each immigrant is required to serve in a local Queen's court for a specified amount of time - in Falonar's case, as a Warlord Prince, I believe it was 5 years. The length of time is explicitly there because with the Blood, their personality is so strong that it is impossible for them to maintain a mask or facade for the entire length of time. This is merely the system working as intended - Falonar (and the others that sided with him) true personality finally breaks through, and he is dealt with.

*** Your death will be less painful and drawn out.

* ObviouslyEvil: Dorothea, Hekatah, Kartane, Greer....

* OurZombiesAreDifferent : The demon dead are a cross between this and OurVampiresAreDifferent; there's no biting involved, no healing, no super powers, they're just dead that reanimate when enough psychic power remains in the corpse, but they do drink blood, and sunlight drains them.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Falonar. In ''Queen of the Darkness'', Falonar is depicted as a proud but loyal Eryien. But two years later, in the novella ''Shades of Honor'', Falanor suddenly becomes a nasty, scheming, power-hungry class-obsessed StrawMisogynist and [[FantasticRacism hardcore Eryien bigot]] who uses treachery and drugs in his attempts to manipulate and eliminate his much more powerful rival, Lucivar. This is all explained as Falonar hiding his true nature from everyone (including Witch, somehow) when he first came to Kaeleer. [[hottip:*: The more likely explanation is that someone had to pick up the ConflictBall.]]