History Literature / SecondApocalypse

* ProphecyTwist: The Celmomian Prophecy is an object of tremendous import in the Mandate. In his dying moments, Anasûrimbor Celmomas prophesied that "an Anasûrimbor will return at the end of the world." [[spoiler: In ''The Great Ordeal'', Achamian experiences the death of Celmomas from the High-King's perspective and sees Gilgaöl—the God of war and conflict—holding ''Kellhus'' in his outstretched hand, bidding Celmomas to "Behold the end of the world." An Anasûrimbor ''is'' the end of the world.]]
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: Cnaiür and basically the whole Scylvendi civilization.

* ForTheEvulz: The reason why the Inchoroi are so depraved. They take their pursuit of evil pleasure so seriously that it drives all their other actions.

* AGodAmI: [[spoiler:Kellhus becomes inhabited by Ajokli, the god of deceit, and announces that he will reign over humanity. Cnai is also inhabited by gods at different points]].

** Strategic usage of PunctuatedForEmphasis for {{Wham Line}}s.

* SufficientlyAdvancedAlien: The Inchoroi and [[spoiler:the No-God (possibly)]].

* SummonMagic: Iyokus is the foremost authority on summoning demons. It's the one thing that the Scarlet Spires does that no one else has really looked into, even the Mandate.

* CurbStompBattle:

* HenchmenRace: The Sranc and the other weapon races who were bred by the Inchoroi to serve as an army.

* {{Irony}}: Moënghus did everything Kellhus did, [[spoiler:setting himself up as the prophet to the Fanim instead of the Inrithi,]] only to discover too late that [[spoiler:the Psûkhe is powered by the passion and emotions of the sorcerer, things which the Dûnyain almost completely lack due to their conditioning. As a result, Moënghus is practically rejected from the Cishaurim, blind and able to cast only the simplest spells.]]

* MutuallyExclusiveMagic: Knowledge of sorcery is jealously guarded by the Schools, which are divided up in categories based on the type of magic they use (primarily Gnostic and Anagogic sorcery). There's also the [[{{Magitek}} Tekne]] of the Consult and the [[EmotionalPowers Psûkhe]] of the Cishaurim (who [[YouKeepUsingThatWord technically aren't a School]] according to the characters, but whatever). At the beginning of the series, there's no known example of a person capable of using more than a single type of sorcery, even though hypothetically there's nothing about the magic itself stopping them, simply because a) you have to join a School before they'll teach you anything, and b) no School would ever give away its sorcerous secrets to someone who has already joined another School. [[spoiler:Kellhus dispels the idea that you can't learn sorcery without joining a School when he convinces Achamian to teach him the Gnosis, and being the master manipulator that he is, he could certainly convince another School to give up its secrets to him--but the Gnosis is ''insanely'' powerful compared to all other forms of sorcery, so there wouldn't be much point]].

* NoIndoorVoice: [[spoiler: Wutteät, the father of dragons]], whom Achamian encounters [[spoiler: in the ruins of the library of Sauglish]], spits out his entire dialogue VERY LOUDLY. The fandom even jokingly calls him [[spoiler: ALL-CAPS DRAGON]].

* OurDemonsAreDifferent: The Ciphrang are demons from "the Outside" that can be summoned and enslaved by powerful sorcerers. AlienGeometries are implied, as being in the physical world is excruciatingly unpleasant for them and they are described as warping and wavering.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Of all the bioweapon creatures created by the Inchoroi, the Wracu are the oldest and most powerful.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Conphas is surprised that the aged Skeaös has "the endurance of a monkey" when climbing the vast staircase of the Andiamine Heights. This foreshadows [[spoiler:the revelation that Skeaös is a skin-spy]].

* UnwillingSuspension: [[spoiler: Kellhus]] is lashed to a large ring (visually, think of the Vitruvian Man, minus the extra limbs) and suspended from a tree. [[spoiler: The incident is later referred to as the Circumfixion, and is clearly meant to parallel the biblical Crucifixion as Kellhus continues to build his role as a Messianic Archetype]].

* AndIMustScream: The Nonmen, who are immortal but suffer from madness and amnesia as their memory decays with age. [[spoiler:Malowebi, who ends up disembodied, trapped inside a severed head hanging from the hip of a statue of salt.]]

* {{Precursors}}: Averted, actually. There are still Nonmen around, but [[{{HumansAreBastards}} thanks to humans]] and the Inchoroi, all but one of their Mansions are destroyed and empty. The one Mansion that's inhabited, Ishterebinth, is in the far northwest, and cut off from the human world. In the Three Seas, Nonmen are effectively thought of as extinct because they tend to avoid humans, especially after Cil-Aujas (one of only two Mansions to survive the first invasions of Men) was destroyed in the aftermath of the Apocalypse.

* PoweredByAForsakenChild: [[spoiler:Kelmomas becoming the No-God.]]

* AndIMustScream: The Nonmen, who are immortal but suffer from madness and amnesia as their memory decays with age.

* ''TSTSNBN'' -- Referred to as "The Series That Shall Not Be Named" by R. Scott Bakker in many interviews. This series was originally planned on being a Duology but may be a Trilogy. It is only ever referred to by this name since the true title would allegedly spoil the series.

* ''[[spoiler: The No-God]]'' -- Referred to as "The Series That Shall Not Be Named" by R. Scott Bakker in many interviews (until publication of ''The Unholy Consult''). This series was originally planned on being a Duology but may be a Trilogy. It is only ever referred to by this name since the true title would allegedly spoil the series.

* ''[[spoiler: The No-God]]'' -- Referred to as "The Series That Shall Not Be Named" by R. Scott Bakker in many interviews (until publication of The Unholy Consult). This series was originally planned on being a Duology but may be a Trilogy. It is only ever referred to by this name since the true title would allegedly spoil the series.

* ''[[spoiler]]The No-God[[/spoiler]]'' -- Referred to as "The Series That Shall Not Be Named" by R. Scott Bakker in many interviews (until publication of The Unholy Consult). This series was originally planned on being a Duology but may be a Trilogy. It is only ever referred to by this name since the true title would allegedly spoil the series.

* ''TSTSNBN'' -- Referred to as "The Series That Shall Not Be Named" by R. Scott Bakker in many interviews. This series was originally planned on being a Duology but may be a Trilogy. It is only ever referred to by this name since the true title would allegedly spoil the series.

* DarkFantasy: This is an extremely dark, brutal and cynical fantasy series.

** '''The Mysunsai'': A mercenary School that can be found throughout the Three Seas, selling their services to the highest bidder. Though not as powerful as the Scarlet Spires or as well-connected as the Imperial Saik, and often looked down upon by other sorcerers as little better than prostitutes, they are nonetheless a large and wealthy school.

** '''The Imperial Saik''': The {{Court Mage}}s and counselors to the Nansur Empire; known for their devotion to the throne and their traditions, they were once an extremely powerful School but are past their prime by the time of the novels as the Nansurium has [[VestigalEmpire decayed]].

* TortureTechnician: The Ikurei dynasty has a dungeon featuring their imperial torturers. [[spoiler:Kellhus makes use of the same dungeons and torturers as Aspect-Emperor]]. The Scarlet Spires also have theirs, though they never manage to torture the Gnosis out of Mandate Schoolman.

* OurOrcsAreDifferent: The Sranc, a race of monsters engineered to achieve sexual pleasure from violence and rape. As a homage to JRR Tolkien, they are "corruptions" of the Nonmen (the "Elves" of this setting), and genetically engineered to have Nonman faces. [[spoiler:There is even a second, larger, better armored, and more disciplined breed called "Ursranc", Eärwa's own [[EliteMooks Uruk-hai]].]]

* NoIndoorVoice: [[spoiler: Wutteät, the father of dragons]], whom Achamian encounters [[spoiler: in the ruins of the library of Sauglish]], spits out his entire dialogue VERY LOUDLY .The fandom even jokingly calls him [[spoiler: [[FanNickname ALL-CAPS DRAGON]]]].

* HiddenElfVillage: Ishuäl, the hidden Dûnyain fortress.

** Sumna is the holiest city in all of Inrithism. The Vault-of-the-Tusk is kept in Sumna as well as the vast temple-complexes of the Thousand Temples. The Shriah, the HighPriest of Inrithism, maintains his seat in Sumna.

* OurOrcsAreDifferent: The Sranc, a race of monsters engineered to achieve sexual pleasure from violence and rape. As a homage to JRR Tolkien, they are "corruptions" of the Nonmen (the "Elves" of this setting), and genetically engineered to have Nonman faces.

* EastyLogistics: Averted. The importance of armies maintaining supply lines and logistics is emphasized many times.

* BookEnds: The first trilogy, the ''Prince of Nothing'', both begins (after the prologue) and ends with a man going into exile. Because the Dûnyain tolerate no contamination from the outside world, it's made clear that Kellhus can never return; and at the end of the trilogy, Achamian renounces both his School and the Aspect-Emperor, making himself doubly-anathema to the people of the Three Seas. The events of the second trilogy make the comparison even more apt, although Achamian's journey doesn't begin until some time after the end of the first trilogy: Both men set out on a journey to cross the northern wastes on a quest to learn more about a Dûnyain. Kellhus travels from Ishuäl to the Three Seas to learn about his father, while Achamian travels from the Three Seas to Ishuäl to learn about Kellhus's origins.