History Literature / HardToBeAGod

* [[spoiler: DownerEnding]]

* BigBad: Don Reba.
* BlackShirt: The Grey Stormtroopers.
* BoisterousBruiser: Baron Pampa.

* TheChessmaster: Don Reba.
* ChildrenAreInnocent: Prince, Uno.
* ChurchMilitant: The Holy Order.

* CorruptChurch

* DarkerAndEdgier: The movie.
* DeadpanSnarker: Rumata.

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The 2013 movie.

* TheDungAges: A particularly bleak example.

* EvilChancellor: Don Reba.

* FatBastard: Reba in the movie.
* FromBadToWorse: and worse and worse.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: Don Reba.

* GoodIsNotNice: Arata.

* HumansAreBastards

* TheQuisling: [[spoiler: Don Reba, to the Holy Order.]]
* RebelLeader: Arata.

* SmugSnake: Don Reba.

* ThoseTwoGuys: Don Sera and Don Tameo.

* UpperClassTwit: Don Sera, Don Tameo and the other nobles.

* WretchedHive: Arkanar.

* ImplausibleFencingPowers: Don Rumata, justified by the facts that his [[WeWillHavePerfectHealthInTheFuture physical condition is superior to any native]] and that his swordfighting techniques wouldn't be discovered in Arkanar for another couple of centuries. Still, even the best swordsman cannot hold long [[RealityEnsues against multiple attackers, all of whom are larger than himself]]. Especially when he is hampered by ThouShallNotKill rule.

* MasterSwordsman: Rumata is universally acknowledged as the best swordsman in the Estorian metropole.

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: The royal court is filled with vapid, self-obsessed aristocrats who have no interest in the affairs of the country,

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler: After Kira's death, Rumata goes on a rampage through Arkanar and kills both Don Reba and Arata, along with dozens of soldiers.]]

* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized

* TitleDrop

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: One willing to [[spoiler: slaughter its own royal family.]]

* [[spoiler: KillTheCutie. Twice. ]]

* InfantImmortality: Averted. [[spoiler: The young prince is brutally murdered by Grey soldiers while Rumata watches.]]

* LeFilmArtistique: Aleksei Gehrman's adaptation, for better or worse.

* AlienNonInterferenceClause: [[spoiler: Not exactly, the novel is in between the non-interference era and the progressors era. Rumata is saving scientists from prosecution, but isn't allowed to influence political matters.]]

* CrapsackWorld: And how. After a series of ill-advised wars that all ended in losses, common people in Arkanar are living in extreme poverty and the nobles struggle to hold on to their wealth. The king is incompetent and the kingdom's educational system is in shambles. The kingdom is surrounded by hostile powers on all sides. The only people who really thrive are the Grey Stormtroopers and the local criminal gang. You can pretty much count on everything that shows the slightest hint of goodness being twisted, corrupted, used in the service of darkness or outright destroyed.
** Considering the [[TheDungAges state of public sanitation in Arkanar]], this is almost literal.

* DualWielding: Anton/Don Rumata is famous for his AwesomeYetPractical fighting style. So Awesome Yet Practical, in fact, it was seen as evidence of his supposed DealWithTheDevil.

* DualWielding: Anton/Don Rumata is famous for his Awesome Yet Practical fighting style. So Awesome Yet Practical, in fact, it was seen as evidence of his supposed DealWithTheDevil.

* AGodIAm: Rumata. Far from the usual use of this trope, however, which usually overlaps with DrunkWithPower, Rumata is instead nigh incapacitated by the responsibility and duty that comes with being a god and that is, quite obviously, too much for an individual who is most definitely a human.

* UpperClassTwit: Don Sera, Don Tameo and the other nobles

* MindScrew: The 2014 movie is ''weird'' in its execution. Combined with the fact that the story is pretty dark to begin with, it verges on SurrealHorror.

* ChurchMilitant

* InherentInTheSystem

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler: After Kira's death, Rumata goes on a rampage through Arkanar and kills both Don Reba and Arata, along with many soldiers.]]

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge

* UnstoppableRage

* TheDungAges

The novel was adapted into two films. A 1989 German production by Peter Fleischman and a 2014 Russian production by Aleksei German. It was followed by a [[http://tbb.akella.com/eng/index2eng.html computer game]] that served as a sequel.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Arata was absent from early draft, only added because censor demanded "to show the Revolutionary Movement".

The novel was adapted into two films and was followed by a [[http://tbb.akella.com/eng/index2eng.html computer game]] that served as a sequel.

* DualWielding: Anton/Don Rumata is famous for his AwesomeYetPractical fighting style. So AwesomeYetPractical, in fact, it was seen as evidence of his supposed DealWithTheDevil.

The novel was adapted into two films and was followed by a [[http://www.hardtobeagod.com/en/ computer game]] that served as a sequel.

* CrapsackWorld: And how. After a series of ill-advised wars that all ended in loses, common people in Arkanar are living in extreme poverty and the nobles struggle to hold on to their wealth. The king is incompetent and the kingdom's educational system is in shambles. The kingdom is surrounded by hostile powers on all sides. The only people who really thrive are the Grey Stormtroopers and the local criminal gang. You can pretty much count on everything that shows the slightest hint of goodness being twisted, corrupted, used in the service of darkness or outright destroyed.

* PersecutedIntellectuals: Intellectuals of all kinds (derisively dubbed "book-readers") are persecuted by the EvilChancellor Don Reba and his stormtroopers, to better prepare the country for annexation by an Enlightenment-hating theocracy.

* TheEmpire: The entire Gulf region (which the Kingdom of Arkanar is part of) is officially ruled by one of those. The problem is that Empire has been on a slow decline for centuries, gradually losing control of all of it's outlying "provinces." By the time the novel opens, most outlying provinces are acting as independent powers in all the ways that matter. So long as they never formally break their ties from the Empire, the emperors seem content to let them do that (though the novel strongly suggests that the Empire couldn't rein in it's former subjects even if it wanted to).

* ImplausibleFencingPowers: Don Rumata, justified by the facts that his [[WeWillHavePerfectHealthInTheFuture physical condition is superior to any native]] and that his swordfighting techniques wouldn't be discovered in Arkanar for another couple of centuries. Still, even the best swordsman cannot hold long [[RealityEnsues against multiple attackers, all of whom are larger than himself]].

** And before other humans tried to interfere, with disastrous results.

* OutGambitted: [[spoiler: Tsupick, Aba, and Rumata. And ultimately Reba, who is killed by Rumata.]]

** Alternatively Don Rumata. Despite his high and mighty attitude, and utter contempt for Don Reba, he gets outwitted and discovered as an agent of some abnormal power by the latter; never questions or investigates what might have helped Reba to gain and keep power despite apparent incompetence; gets surprised by disastrous turns of events at every turn, despite advanced technology and unlimited funding; and generally completely fails at his mission of fostering growth of civilization and civilization.

* ThouShaltNotKill

* UrbanLegendLoveLife: Rumata has to keep up the reputation of the real Rumata
* VestigialEmpire

* BecomingTheMask - in Morality level. The greatest fear of all human watchers.

* ChildrenAreInnocent - Prince, Uno.

* DeathByGenreSavvy - [[spoiler: Reba, who counted too much on Rumata's ThouShallNotKill.]]

* FromBadToWorse - and worse and worse.

* GoodIsNotNice - Arata.

* MoodDissonance - the narrating style is somewhat lighthearted, with many funny moments thrown in. The overall story... isn't.

** The Monks supplanting the Grey Stormtroopers works like SS supplanting SA.

* OutGambitted - [[spoiler: Tsupick, Aba, and Rumata. And ultimately Reba, who is killed by Rumata.]]

* UrbanLegendLoveLife - Rumata has to keep up the reputation of the real Rumata

* WhatMeasureIsAMook - [[spoiler: Subverted. Rumata's slaughter of the soldiers is portrayed as total moral failure.]]
* WhatTheHellHero: in the finale, Rumata [[spoiler: goes berserk and slaughters dozens of people to get to Don Reba and kill him off.]]

* MagicalAccessory: Don Remuta's camera circlet.

* TheToblerone: Baron Pampa.