History Literature / TheBalancedSword

* {{Catchphrase}}: "Fear me" (or, depending on the situation, "Fear ''me''") is the phrase Poplock commonly uses when revealing his presence and entering a fight.

* BiggerBad: [[spoiler:Virigar, who devoured and replaced Viedraverion centuries ago.]]

* NotSoHarmlessVillain: [[spoiler:In the Literature/JasonWood series, Virigar, while often spoken of as one of the most terrifying things in existence, who most monsters wouldn't pick a fight with if they could possibly avoid it, is still the guy who lost a fight to a nerd armed with a bucket. In this story, where he's in his home universe and able to access his full powers, he's the hidden BiggerBad, who had devoured a greater demon off-screen, came dangerously close to devouring a god, and took a truly ''incredible'' amount of punishment before he was forced to retreat, including two literal acts of divine intervention. And he was only thwarted and driven away, not killed.]]

* LockedIntoStrangeness: When Kyri makes her pact with Myrionar, she is marked with MulticoloredHair in the god's colors.

* {{Constellations}}: As an otherworld, Zarathan has its own constellations. One that is mentioned several times is the Balanced Sword, symbol of the god Myrionar.

* FiveRaces: Zarathan has many intelligent races, but five are particularly prominent and can be matched to the five common types. Odin's Children and the ''Artan'' resemble dwarves and elves, respectively, closely enough that the narration sometimes uses those terms for them (though both also diverge from the stereotypes in various ways); humans fit their usual JackOfAllTrades role; Saurans fill the role of the ancient advanced civilization; and the Golden-Eyed, Poplock's people, are the seemingly insignificant race with hidden strengths.

** [[spoiler:Indeed, it becomes very clear that Verne's statement that the entire event in Morgantown was just a game to Virigar is absolutely correct. He set carefully defined rules of what he would and would do, of how powerful he would be and what manner of being he would seem to be, and he stuck with them. Jason Wood beat him within the scope of those rules, and Virigar accepted that as him losing the game. Had he approached it as a ''real'' fight, none of the heroes would have survived.]]

* ShoutOut:
** Xavier Ross, a visitor from Earth, makes a ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' reference the first time he sees a summoning crystal in action.
** The Wanderer, a mysterious wizard reputed to be from another world, who is known to be centuries old and has been seen with many different faces, makes a dramatic entrance in ''Phoenix in Shadow'' with a rhyming BadassBoast that's actually the first verse of the ''Series/DoctorWho'' novelty single "Who Is the Doctor?".

* CleanFoodPoisonedFork: Kyri is suspicious enough of a person who offers her a drink that she only pretends to drink it; it turns out that the drink itself was fine, but the glass it was served in was enchanted to knock out the person who picked it up.