History Literature / RobotsAndEmpire

* LukeYouAreMyFather: Mandamus introduces himself as the great-great-great-grandson of Gladia. Though startled Gladia is not particularly impressed by the relationship. She had a son and daughter with Gemionis and while her children meant something to her their remote descendants - not so much.

* JerkAssWoobie: Vasilia downward emotional spiral continues. Basically she ruins her own life and manages to alienate everybody she ever cared about from her father to Giskard - but it's [[NeverMyFault never her fault]].

* JerkAssWoobie: Vasilia downward emotional spiral continues. Basically she ruins her own life and manages to alienate everybody she ever cared about from her father to Giskard - but it's [[NotMyFault never ''her'' fault]].

* LukeYouAreMyFather: Mandamus introduces himself as the great-great-great-grandson of Gladia.

* WeAreAsMayflies: As with the rest of the books, Earthmen (and Settlers, who are directly descended from them), with their 100-year lifespans, are contrasted against the Spacers, who live to near 400. Notably, [[BigBad Keldon Amadiro]] seems to view this trope rather literally, describing the Settlers as disease-ridden insects that are infesting the galaxy.

* [[spoiler:BequeathedPower: Before he dies Giskard grants Daneel his ability to telepathically influence people and read emotions, so Daneel can continue applying the Zeroth Law to help humanity without Giskard.]]
* [[spoiler:BittersweetEnding: Giskard allows Mandamus to set the Nuclear Intensifier to its 150-year setting, in the hope that doing so will propel humanity to leave Earth once and for all, to settle a vibrant Galactic Empire. However, since he is not sure if he caused harm or good by that decision, his positronic brain begins to shut down. He uses his last moments to grant his psychic powers to Daneel and to reprogram Daneel to be fully compliant with the Zeroth Law of Robotics. See FlingALightIntoTheFuture.]]

* FinalSolution: [[spoiler:Inverted. The "solution" actually turns out to have a positive effect on its target.]]

* TitleDrop: Twice. First near the beginning, then a the very end.

* PistolWhip: When D.G. is fighting with the Overseer, she grabs his hand holding the blaster. In his other hand he has a neuronic whip, a weapon that is useful for incapacitating humans, but is useless against robots, so he tries to hit her with it. It apparently doesn't work on robots either.

* TitleDrop: At the very end.

* TitleDrop

Creator/IsaacAsimov's direct sequel to ''Literature/TheRobotsOfDawn'', ''Robots and Empire'' [[CanonWelding bridges]] the Robot Trilogy with the chronologically later ''Empire'' and ''{{Foundation}}'' novels. 200 years after the death of the protagonist of the Robot Trilogy, Elijah "Lije" Baley, the balance of power has begun to shift back toward the humans of Earth, who have begun settling new worlds thanks to his efforts. The Spacers, descendants of the first wave of space colonists, are troubled by the apparent extinction of human life on Solaria, the latest- and most sparsely-settled of the Spacer worlds. Gladia "Solaria" Delmarre, Elijah's onetime lover and the only Solarian ever to emigrate, is sent along with one of Elijah's descendents, and her loyal robot servants R. Daneel Olivaw and R. Giskard Reventlov, to investigate. What they find there leads the real protagonists, Daneel and Giskard, to investigate a conspiracy with implications for human life on Earth and throughout the galaxy.

* HappilyMarried: Gladia is revealed to have enjoyed a 'very successful' century long marriage to Santirix Gemionis. Their eventual separation seems to have been more than amicable as she remembers him fondly.

* OverclockingAttack: A device doing that to nuclear reactors is important to the plot.

* RevengeBeforeReason: Amadiro is so determined [[spoiler:to see Earth destroyed, that he's unwilling to allow a 150 years time for the citizens to leave the planet safely, because he won't be alive by that time. Instead, he wants Earth to become dangerously irradiated in about two years, despite that it would cause both millions of Earthmen to die and would raise suspicion among the Settlers, probably leading to a war between them and the Spacers. Amadiro even makes preparations to kill Mandamus himself if necessary, since he rightfully suspects the latter wouldn't agree to go along with his plan.]]

* HappilyMarried: Gladia is revealed to have enjoyed a 'very successful' century long marriage to Santirix

* ReplacementGoldfish: It seems Gladia was this to Fastolfe between books, as he thought of her as a daughter after his falling out with Vasilia. Gladia and Vasilia even resemble each other physically.

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Solarian Overseers. Later, Amadiro tries to use it to argue that Earthmen aren't human... only to be told that Solaria sets a bad precedent.