History Literature / TheAgeOfMadness

* BullyingADragon: A lot of the younger generation characters are highly dismissive of Bayaz, and make no secret of the fact that they could not care less about crossing him and don’t feel obligated to keep their parents' deals with him; despite their parents warnings that they have ''very'' good reasons to regard Bayaz as TheDreaded.

* BarefootLoon: The Judge is perpetually barefoot, which serves to indicate her unhinged personality.

* BarefootLoon: The Judge [[DoesNotLikeShoes is perpetually barefoot]], which serves to indicate her unhinged personality.

** Throughout the series Leo is consistently shown to lack interest and much experience in politics and the administration of ruling, having only consistent passion for military matters.[[spoiler: Even the development of his cunning in ''Wisdom of Crowds'' is mostly used to enhance his use of force, so it's easy for Savine to quietly write legal rulings that give her equal power as him as well as install figures loyal to her leadership on the Closed Council, basically removing most of his real authority.]]

* SequelHook: The trilogy ends on Rikke having a vision. Much like her other visions, its details are murky, but they strongly imply that Bayaz' plans to regain what he has lost will lead to tumultuous times in the near term.

** Throughout the series Leo is consistently shown to lack interest and much experience in politics and the administration of ruling, having only consistent passion for military matters.[[Spoiler: Even the development of his cunning in ''Wisdom of Crowds'' is mostly used to enhance his use of force, so it's easy for Savine to quietly write legal rulings that give her equal power as him as well as install figures loyal to her leadership on the Closed Council, basically removing most of his real authority.]]

** The vote in Westport about leaving the Union in ''The Trouble With Peace''. It's ''possible'' that a British writer, in 2020, could have a character defend being in a political union, but say that it's harder to argue for the status quo than to make extravagent (and possibly unmoored from reality) promises about the benefits leaving will bring, and ''not'' be thinking of anything that's been happening in RealLife. But it's not likely.

** The vote in Westport about leaving the Union. It's ''possible'' that a British writer, in 2020, could have a character defend being in a political union, but say that it's harder to argue for the status quo than to make extravagent (and possibly unmoored from reality) promises about the benefits leaving will bring, and ''not'' be thinking of anything that's been happening in RealLife. But it's not likely.

** Savine dan Glokta has grown up to be more like her ruthless step-father than her biological father. [[spoiler: This ruthlessness sees her spearhead a disastrous rebellion that ruins her and forces her father to step down as Archlector]].

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The Great Change, with its bloody uprising against the ruling class, kangaroo courts, mass executions by a newly invented mechanism, and warring factions, clearly draws significant inspiration from the French Revolution.

* BullyingADragon:
** A lot of the younger generation characters are highly dismissive of Bayaz, and make no secret of the fact that they could not care less about crossing him and don’t feel obligated to keep their parents' deals with him; despite their parents warnings that they have ''very'' good reasons to regard Bayaz as TheDreaded.
** Yoru Sulfur turns [[spoiler: Savinne's]] guards to a fine red paste before confronting her, still soaked in their blood and certain that she poses no danger. And he's right! But the ''three'' Eaters in her employ are another case entirely.

** Vick spares Tallow, a young Breaker, and forces him to enter her service because he reminds her of her lost brother. Their relationship is complicated. While Vick is a role model for him, she uses his sister as a hostage to ensure his loyalty.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Savine takes ruthlessness in business to a whole new level, routinely engaging in blackmail, extortion, corporate espionage and influence peddling to get ahead. It's made her one of the richest women in the Union.

* ''The Wisdom of Crowds'' (2021, originally ''The Beautiful Machine'')

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The Great Change, with its bloody uprising against the ruling class, kangaroo courts, mass executions, and warring factions, clearly draws significant inspiration from the French Revolution.

* KarmaHoudini: The only one among the conspirator rebel lords who is not captured after the Battle of Stoffenbeck is [[spoiler:Lord Isher, chief architect of the rebellion]].

* SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset: Stand at the Barrows and his BarbarianTribe have a fascination with collecting bones and adorning themselves in them. This includes their ''horses.''
* TheStarscream: [[spoiler:Stour Nightfall ends the first book assassinating his uncle Scale to become the new king of the North, ending Calder's time as TheManBehindTheMan in one fell swoop]]. In the very next book, he's betrayed the very same way by [[spoiler: Clover]].

* TheUnreveal: The Inquisition is in pursuit of an insurgent organizer known as the Weaver. They figure out someone who's taken their place, but haven't figured out who the original Weaver was before the end of the first novel. At the end of the second it turns out that it's Superior Pike. [[spoiler:Except Pike only borrows the name. The true Weaver is and always has been Sand dan Glokta]].

** He demonstrates himself to be a OneManyArmy during ''The Trouble With Peace,'' easily dispatching a dozen Burners trying to assassinate Orso.

The trilogy starts 15 years after the end of ''Literature/RedCountry''. The Union has entered an Industrial Age, with chimneys rising all over Adua, but that doesn't mean that the old powers have gone away, or that things have gotten any better. As society struggles to adapt to new technologies, and new leaders take power, an assortment of characters find themselves, for better or worse, central figures in the conflicts to come:

** [[spoiler:Savine is left in a morass of guilt and loathing, aggrieved over Orso's death and vowing to make Leo pay his bill, stripping him of his power and finding comfort with her children, but her victory implicitly renders her hollow as well]].
** [[spoiler: Orso, the kindest of all the leads, is vindictively hanged by Leo but meets his fate bravely, jesting all the while and robbing Leo of any satisfaction. This is sure to incite problems with his surviving family and his beloved page Hildi is defying his wishes to seek revenge for him]].
** [[spoiler: Broad is sent off to take down the last of the Burners, his family in better straits but his work for Savine and love of violence going nowhere]].
** [[spoiler: Vick discovers that almost all her actions and her relationship with Tallow were manipulations by Glokta, refusing his offer to become Arch Lector in the new Union in favor of setting off to the Far Country to start anew]].
** [[spoiler: Sand dan Glokta helped to shape The Great Change to burn down the structure of the old Union (leading to countless deaths) and free it from Bayaz's control, allowing glimmers of a new chance for the nation though it's largely implied that conditions for the low and poor won't change by much]].

** [[spoiler:Rikke rules a united North, but gave up Orso to do it, much to her shame. In the end, she beholds a horrific vision of Hildi and Clefton grown into nightmarish figures...and Bayaz giving rise to a figure who walks with burning steps and declares "I have returned." Dark days are ahead]].

* BarbarianTribe: Black Caulder recruits Stand At the Barrows and his tribe, barbarians from beyond the Krinner mountains, for his attack on Carleon.
* BarefootLoon: The Judge [[DoesNotLikeShoes is perpetually barefoot]], which serves to indicate her unhinged personality. Granted, [[DistaffCounterpart her character is largely inspired by]] ComicBook/TheJoker, who is also sometimes depicted barefoot.

* TheBrute: Gunnar Broad's story arc largely revolves around accepting himself to be this.
** Clover's man Downside is this, unrepentantly.

* CannotSpitItOut: In the second book, [[spoiler:Jurand]] is about to finally admit his feelings for [[spoiler:Leo dan Brock]], but their conversation gets interrupted and both are too bashful to pick it back up again.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The revolution in Valbeck, with its bloody uprising against the ruling class, kangaroo courts and mass executions, clearly draws significant inspiration from the French Revolution. The Great Change that features in ''The Wisdom of Crowds'' takes this UpToEleven.

* FullCircleRevolution: The Great Change turns out to lead to pretty much the same crappy government as before, only with different names for the same institutions. The Burners overthrowing the Breakers also keeps things much the same, only with more people getting executed on a daily basis. [[spoiler: Leo defeating the Burners and installing himself as Regent also results in more of the same furious purges of supposedly subversive elements as the Burners presided over]].

* JerkassHasAPoint: During her final confrontation with [[spoiler:the despicable Leo]] in the penultimate chapter of ''The Wisdom of Crowds'', Savine readily admits that everything he says in his TheReasonYouSuckSpeech he directs at her in entirely true, but it still doesn't make ''him'' any less of a evil bastard.

* KangarooCourt: The leader of the Burners, who calls herself "The Judge," sets up a revolutionary court with whores as jurors, herself as judge and a naked, beaten and traumatized lawyer as the defense. [[spoiler:By the time Vick and Broad arrive to take her prisoners away from her, she's already hanged almost all of them]].

** [[spoiler: Cauleth]] is one in ''The Wisdom of Crowds,'' passing information from Rikke's inner circle to Black Caulder. [[spoiler: Thing is, Rikke knows it, and feeds her everything she wants Caulder to think]].

** Zigzaged with Savine and Leo. They both find their marriage more agreeable than they thought it would be, but at the same time they are also very different in ways that make them get on each other's nerves. They also admit to themselves that they don't actually ''love'' the other. Both are still infatuated with people they cannot marry.

* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: Despite starting with very laudable and noble intentions, the uprising in Valbeck quickly dissolves into anarchy, slaughter and wanton destruction, particularly in the areas of the city controlled by the Burners.
** This becomes the central plot of ''The Wisdom of Crowds,'' particularly after [[spoiler: Judge]] comes into power. While mentally acknowledging that the things [[spoiler:she is being accused of during her trial are entirely accurate, Savine aptly states that the Burner's aren't bringing freedom, creating or building anything besides more corpses]].

* AnyoneCanDie: A great many of the [[spoiler:old generation: Jezal, Scale, The Dogman, Calder, Gorst and Sulfur have met their ends by the end of the trilogy, with only Shivers and Glokta still up and active in the story.]]

** [[spoiler:Leo has seized the throne of the Union as Lord Regent with Savine, but his failures and the constant pain he's in have left him miserable and isolated from everyone. He will likely never know happiness ever again.]]
** [[spoiler:Savine is left in a morass of guilt and loathing, aggrieved over Orso's death and vowing to make Leo pay his bill, stripping him of his power and finding comfort with her children, but her victory implicitly renders her hollow as well.]]
** [[spoiler: Orso, the kindest of all the leads, is vindictively hanged by Leo but meets his fate bravely, jesting all the while and robbing Leo of any satisfaction. This is sure to incite problems with his surviving family and his beloved page Hildi is defying his wishes to seek revenge for him.]]
** [[spoiler: Broad is sent off to take down the last of the Burners, his family in better straits but his work for Savine and love of violence going nowhere.]]
** [[spoiler: Vick discovers that almost all her actions and her relationship with Tallow were manipulations by Glokta, refusing his offer to become Arch Lector in the new Union in favor of setting off to the Far Country to start anew.]]
** [[spoiler: Sand dan Glokta helped to shape The Great Change to burn down the structure of the old Union (leading to countless deaths) and free it from Bayaz's control, allowing glimmers of a new chance for the nation though it's largely implied that conditions for the low and poor won't change by much.]]
** [[spoiler: Bayaz's power in the Union is broken, but he is patiently putting everything back together, little by little...by having Black Calder's bastard son trained by Jonas Clover to be a king while he trains Hildi to inherit Valint and Balk...]]
** [[spoiler:Rikke rules a united North, but gave up Orso to do it, much to her shame. In the end, she beholds a horrific vision of Hildi and Clefton grown into nightmarish figures...and Bayaz giving rise to a figure who walks with burning steps and declares "I have returned." Dark days are ahead.]]

* BrotherSisterIncest: Unknowingly, but [[spoiler:Orso and Savine]] are lovers, with [[spoiler:Savine being the bastard daughter of King Jezal and Ardee West. Savine is horrified when she finds out.]]

** Clover warns everyone he meets that he looks out for himself, first and foremost, ''always''. Yet they're somehow still shocked when he turns on them. [[spoiler:Just ask Wonderful. Or Stour.]]

* FullCircleRevolution: The Great Change turns out to lead to pretty much the same crappy government as before, only with different names for the same institutions. The Burners overthrowing the Breakers also keeps things much the same, only with more people getting executed on a daily basis. [[spoiler: Leo defeating the Burners and installing himself as Regent also results in more of the same furious purges of supposedly subversive elements as the Burners presided over.]]

** Prince Orso is as much of a useless {{manchild}} as Jezal was, although at least Orso is [[SelfDeprecation fully aware of his shortcomings]]. Father and son are also talented fencers, for all their other shortcomings. [[spoiler: Orso handles being king considerably better than being Crown Prince, showing initiative, judgment, and a strong grasp of diplomatic negotiation his hapless father so obviously lacked.]]
** Savine dan Glokta has grown up to be more like her ruthless step-father than her biological father. [[spoiler: This ruthlessness sees her spearhead a disastrous rebellion that ruins her and forces her father to step down as Archlector.]]
** Leo dan Brock has the reputation to match his father's for bravery, combat prowess, and derring-do. [[spoiler: He's also got a bad case of HonorBeforeReason that sees him start a rebellion against the crown ''without'' his closest advisors. While his father earned a hero's death, Leo winds up crippled for life in a fruitless act of treason.]]
*** Leo ultimately winds up looking less like his father than his father-in-law: [[spoiler: A bitter, ruthless cripple who rules the Union behind a puppet king]].
** Stour Nightfall is cast in his father's image (well, his father circa ''Literature/TheHeroes'' moreso [[AdiposeRex than now]]) as the bold Northern king who rules by his fearsome reputation. [[spoiler: It's a title he hasn't earned, naming ''himself'' in defiance of tradition and his chief victory being over Stranger Come Knocking, who would have been a RetiredBadass at best by that time. His behavior motivates the seasoned warriors under his command to stage a coup, eventually slicing tendons in his ankles so he'll never walk again.]]
* GilliganCut: Orso promises his mother he'll have nothing to do with Savine dan Glokta. [[spoiler:The scene immediately cuts to him and Savine having sex.]]

-->'''Bruckel:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Few moments more, he'll be the victim.]]

* IGaveMyWord: Orso promises to spare the Breaker rebels who resist in return for laying down their arms. [[spoiler:He's horrified to discover them executed with nobody bothering to check with him while he was having sex with Savine the previous evening.]]

* TheInfiltration: [[spoiler:Vick dan Teufel]] is a member of the Inquisition, and she specializes in infiltrating dissident groups. [[spoiler:She is so good at it that she often ends up in positions of leadership.]]

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: [[spoiler:Leo goes from well meaning and dim to leading a rebellion with ostensibly noble intentions to being a ruthless, treacherous scumbag who launches a coup with zero pretense at anything noble but a desire for power.]]
* KangarooCourt: The leader of the Burners, who calls herself "The Judge," sets up a revolutionary court with whores as jurors, herself as judge and a naked, beaten and traumatized lawyer as the defense. [[spoiler:By the time Vick and Broad arrive to take her prisoners away from her, she's already hanged almost all of them.]]

** Downplayed with [[spoiler:Leo who morphed into a treacherous, warmongering scumbag by the end of the series. While he has assumed power as Regent with Savine, she had thoroughly undercut any authority he has, he is isolated from almost everyone and can currently do little more than stew in his own bitterness.]]

** [[spoiler: Cauleth]] is one in ''The Wisdom of Crowds,'' passing information from Rikke's inner circle to Black Caulder. [[spoiler: Thing is, Rikke knows it, and feeds her everything she wants Caulder to think.]]

** In taking apart [[spoiler:Bayaz's control of the Union, Glokta helped shape an intricate plan of death and destruction on par with the First of the Magi. A horrified Savine states that he took down Bayaz's control to become him, though by the end of the trilogy her Regency and his aid and power allows hope for a much more capable if exceptionally ruthless age for the country.]]

* OutsideContextProblem: The Burners’ [[spoiler:assassination attempt against King Orso]] was actually very cleverly (if ruthlessly) planned and probably would’ve succeeded. However, none of them could’ve anticipated [[spoiler:the presence of an Eater during the event, who ended up slaughtering them all.]]

** This becomes the central plot of ''The Wisdom of Crowds,'' particularly after [[spoiler: Judge]] comes into power. While mentally acknowledging that the things [[spoiler:she is being accused of during her trial are entirely accurate, Savine aptly states that the Burner's aren't bringing freedom, creating or building anything besides more corpses.]]

* SigilSpam: [[spoiler: After the Breakers and Burnes are defeated, and Leo takes over, Adua becomes positively littered with the Union's sunburst flag and Angland's crossed hammers flag.]]

** Savine dan Glokta is officially the daughter of Ardee and Sand dan Glokta, but her biological father is King Jezal.[[spoiler: Her adopted father admits that this came in to play with his plans, to use her parentage to help bring legitimacy for her becoming Regent to a new Union.]]

* SurpriseIncest: [[spoiler:Savine and Orso are secret lovers, little realizing that Savine's biological father is Jezal, making them half-siblings.]]

* TraumaCongaLine: Orso's lover is captured by the Breakers, so he rides out to save her, negotiates a peace like a true ruler. [[spoiler:then they get hanged without his knowledge or consent while he's having happy rescue sex with Savine. Then Savine learns she's his half-sister and breaks up with him, giving him no explanation and leaving him ''miserable''. Then his father dies, leaving him stuck with the crown he doesn't want.]]

* UndignifiedDeath: [[spoiler:Jezal is found dead of unknown causes, mostly naked and vacantly staring with no glory of dignity to him whatsoever.]]

* TheUnreveal: The Inquisition is in pursuit of an insurgent organizer known as the Weaver. They figure out someone who's taken their place, but haven't figured out who the original Weaver was before the end of the first novel. At the end of the second it turns out that it's Superior Pike. [[spoiler:Except Pike only borrows the name. The true Weaver is and always has been Sand dan Glokta.]]
* UndyingLoyalty: [[spoiler:Despite Orso releasing Gorst from his service, Gorst chooses to stay and die for him.]]

* YouShallNotPass: [[spoiler:Gorst goes out holding the line to the end and takes many of Leo's men with him even amidst many wounds until Jurand finally puts a bolt in his face.]]
* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: Clover's attitude toward Stour calling him "my kind of bastard." [[spoiler:Probably also has something to do with having killed his old friend Wonderful only moments before.]]