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** That's Sonea? I though it was just a generic 'stick something on the front cover' figure.
** Subverted in the Australian release. ''The Magician's Guild'' just has a picture of the Guild, ''The Novice'' shows Somea and Regin facing off in the arena, and ''The High Lord'' shows Somea, Akkarin and the magicians assembled in what looks like the Guildhall. Again, Aussie division publishing seems to be the best out of all of them.
** Subverted in the Australian release. ''The Magician's Guild'' just has a picture of the Guild, ''The Novice'' shows Somea and Regin facing off in the arena, and ''The High Lord'' shows Somea, Akkarin and the magicians assembled in what looks like the Guildhall. Again, Aussie division publishing seems to be the best out of all of them.
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** That's Sonea? I though it was just a generic 'stick something on the front cover' figure.
** SubvertedDownplayed in the Australian release. ''The Magician's Guild'' just has a picture of the Guild, ''The Novice'' shows Somea and Regin facing off in the arena, and ''The High Lord'' shows Somea, Akkarin and the magicians assembled in what looks like the Guildhall. Again, Aussie division publishing seems to be the best out of all of them.
** Subverted
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* GrayingMorality: ''The Traitor Spy Trilogy''. There aren't any ichani to make a mess, Sachaka's actual nobility are AffablyEvil and not antagonistic towards Kyralia, the Magician's Guild is mostly played as well-meaning but somewhat incompetent, and the Traitors fight for equality between the genders and SlaveLiberation, but are actually a LadyLand, treat their men like crap (though better than Sachaka treats their women), suffer quite a bit of HeWhoFightsMonsters when fighting Sachaka, and try to kill Lorkin for [[spoiler: the [[SinsOfOurFathers Sins of His Father]]]]. So far, the only unambiguously evil characters we've seen are [[spoiler: [[ManipulativeBitch Naki, Skellin and Lorandra]].
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* GrayingMorality: ''The Traitor Spy Trilogy''. There aren't any ichani to make a mess, Sachaka's actual nobility are AffablyEvil and not antagonistic towards Kyralia, the Magician's Guild is mostly played as well-meaning but somewhat incompetent, and the Traitors fight for equality between the genders and SlaveLiberation, but are actually a LadyLand, treat their men like crap (though better than Sachaka treats their women), suffer quite a bit of HeWhoFightsMonsters when fighting Sachaka, and try to kill Lorkin for [[spoiler: the [[SinsOfOurFathers Sins of His Father]]]]. So far, the only unambiguously evil characters we've seen are [[spoiler: [[ManipulativeBitch Naki, Naki]], Skellin and Lorandra]].
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Well, as far as we can tell, Skellin and Lorandra are mostly in it for money and power.
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* GrayingMorality: ''The Traitor Spy Trilogy''. There aren't any ichani to make a mess, Sachaka's actual nobility are AffablyEvil and not antagonistic towards Kyralia, the Magician's Guild is mostly played as well-meaning but somewhat incompetent, and the Traitors fight for equality between the genders and SlaveLiberation, but are actually a LadyLand, treat their men like crap (though better than Sachaka treats their women), suffer quite a bit of HeWhoFightsMonsters when fighting Sachaka, and try to kill Lorkin for [[spoiler: the [[SinsOfOurFathers Sins of His Father]]]]. So far, the only unambiguously evil character we've seen is [[spoiler: [[ManipulativeBitch Naki]]]], though [[spoiler: Skellin hasn't shown any redeeming qualities yet (on account of being a HiddenAgendaVillain)]].
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* [[FutureSlang Fantasy Slang]]: There's a second glossary in the back of each book with "Lord Dannyl's Guide to Slum Slang," detailing the particular cant used by dwellers in the Kyralian slums. By the time of the Traitor Spy trilogy, though, it's fallen way out of fashion and even Cery doesn't use it that much.
* GrayingMorality: ''The Traitor Spy Trilogy''. There aren't any ichani to make a mess, Sachaka's actual nobility are AffablyEvil and not antagonistic towards Kyralia, the Magician's Guild is mostly played as well-meaning but somewhat incompetent, and the Traitors fight for equality between the genders and SlaveLiberation, but are actually a LadyLand, treat their men like crap (though better than Sachaka treats their women), suffer quite a bit of HeWhoFightsMonsters when fighting Sachaka, and try to kill Lorkin for [[spoiler: the [[SinsOfOurFathers Sins of His Father]]]]. So far, the only unambiguously evilcharacter characters we've seen is are [[spoiler: [[ManipulativeBitch Naki]]]], though [[spoiler: Naki, Skellin hasn't shown any redeeming qualities yet (on account of being a HiddenAgendaVillain)]].and Lorandra]].
* GrayingMorality: ''The Traitor Spy Trilogy''. There aren't any ichani to make a mess, Sachaka's actual nobility are AffablyEvil and not antagonistic towards Kyralia, the Magician's Guild is mostly played as well-meaning but somewhat incompetent, and the Traitors fight for equality between the genders and SlaveLiberation, but are actually a LadyLand, treat their men like crap (though better than Sachaka treats their women), suffer quite a bit of HeWhoFightsMonsters when fighting Sachaka, and try to kill Lorkin for [[spoiler: the [[SinsOfOurFathers Sins of His Father]]]]. So far, the only unambiguously evil
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* ButNotTooGay: [[spoiler: Dannyl]] barely manages to scrape onto this side of HaveIMentionedIAmGay. We know from the third book that he got together with his love interest near the end of the second one, because judging by the information given, the POV of that story was cut off just before it happened, and in the rest of Novice there are only very subtle allusions made to it. And by the third book, the readers know that they are together because they are told so, repeatedly. Unlike the other two romances that run the full gamut from sex to kissing to casual cuddles, these two don't even touch each other until the last 100 pages of the series, at which point they manage to till up a grand total of two hugs and nothing more. And the books have the gall to claim that EveryoneCanSeeIt - the characters must be mind readers.
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* ButNotTooGay: ButNotTooGay:
** [[spoiler: Dannyl]] barely manages to scrape onto this side of HaveIMentionedIAmGay. We know from the third book that he got together with his love interest near the end of the second one, because judging by the information given, the POV of that story was cut off just before it happened, and in the rest of Novice there are only very subtle allusions made to it. And by the third book, the readers know that they are together because they are told so, repeatedly. Unlike the other two romances that run the full gamut from sex to kissing to casual cuddles, these two don't even touch each other until the last 100 pages of the series, at which point they manage to till up a grand total of two hugs and nothing more. And the books have the gall to claim that EveryoneCanSeeIt - the characters must be mind readers.
** In the Traitor Spy trilogy, this is averted. Dannyl's relationship with Tayend is seriously on the rocks, but he strikes up a FriendsWithBenefits relationship with a Sachakan man and it's made very clear that sex is happening. Lilia doesn't get as much sex in, but she does get to kiss her girlfriend on a regular basis.
** [[spoiler: Dannyl]] barely manages to scrape onto this side of HaveIMentionedIAmGay. We know from the third book that he got together with his love interest near the end of the second one, because judging by the information given, the POV of that story was cut off just before it happened, and in the rest of Novice there are only very subtle allusions made to it. And by the third book, the readers know that they are together because they are told so, repeatedly. Unlike the other two romances that run the full gamut from sex to kissing to casual cuddles, these two don't even touch each other until the last 100 pages of the series, at which point they manage to till up a grand total of two hugs and nothing more. And the books have the gall to claim that EveryoneCanSeeIt - the characters must be mind readers.
** In the Traitor Spy trilogy, this is averted. Dannyl's relationship with Tayend is seriously on the rocks, but he strikes up a FriendsWithBenefits relationship with a Sachakan man and it's made very clear that sex is happening. Lilia doesn't get as much sex in, but she does get to kiss her girlfriend on a regular basis.
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* GuiltFreeExterminationWar: [[spoiler: In ''The Traitor Queen'', the Traitors institute a policy of "no quarter" against the Ashaki, and they know that the Ashaki will give no quarter back. This worries Lorkin just a bit, since he's joined the Traitors and isn't all too happy with their ruthlessness.]]
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* WrongContextMagic: The Guild doesn't know about [[spoiler: magic that can block mind-reading]], which means that [[spoiler: Naki expected to get off scot-free for her crimes, until Dannyl discovered it and told the Administrator by complete coincidence]].
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** The far off nation of Igra mentioned in the ''Traitor Spy'' trilogy. [[spoiler: Used gunpowder "ballthrowers" to conquer all surrounding nations, collectively far larger than the Allied Lands, and have almost completely eliminated the use of magic, except by the priests who hunt down and kill any other magicians. Never properly appears, but it's clear that a conflict between them and the Allied Lands is inevitable.]]
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* ColorCodedWizardry: There's colour coding for the three different disciplines of magic (Warriors wear red robes, Alchemists wear purple robes, and Healers wear green robes) as well as for rank (the heads of each discipline wears a black sash, the King's Advisors wear gold sashes, the Administrators wear blue robes, and the High Lord wears black robes.) [[spoiler: The High Lord wears white robes after the Trilogy's end, and black robes are reserved for the Black Magician.]]
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* ColorCodedWizardry: There's colour coding for the three different disciplines of magic (Warriors wear red robes, Alchemists wear purple robes, and Healers wear green robes) as well as for rank (the heads of each discipline wears a black sash, the King's Advisors wear gold sashes, the Administrators wear blue robes, and the High Lord wears black robes.) [[spoiler: The High Lord wears white robes after the Trilogy's end, and black robes are reserved for the Black Magician.]] Novices wear shorter brown robes and by the second book of the ''Traitor Spy'' trilogy [[spoiler:Lilia wears brown robes with a black armband in her role as the "black novice".]]
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** Tayend avoids letting Dannyl use Healing magic on him, fearing that his homosexuality is a sickness that will be detected. Dannyl does learn Tayend's secret by Healing him, but only because Tayend is so nervous that he's unintentionally mentally "shouting" it.
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** Also averted in that, in a series where [[spoiler: AnyoneCanDie, both named gay characters survive the Ichani invasion]]
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** Also averted in that, in a series where [[spoiler: AnyoneCanDie, both four of five named gay characters are alive by the end of the series. Tayend and Dannyl manage to survive being present for both the Ichani invasion]]Invasion and the Sachakan Civil War]].
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The original trilogy follows Sonea as she evades and then is recruited by the Magician's Guild, learns to control her powers, tries to avoid being bullied, gets caught up in a power struggle, falls in love, goes on an epic journey and saves her country from destruction. It was followed by a prequel, ''The Magician's Apprentice'' and now two parts of the continuing ''Traitor Spy'' trilogy have been published.
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The original trilogy follows Sonea as she evades and then is recruited by the Magician's Guild, learns to control her powers, tries to avoid being bullied, gets caught up in a power struggle, falls in love, goes on an epic journey and saves her country from destruction. It was followed by a prequel, ''The Magician's Apprentice'' and now two parts of the continuing sequel trilogy, ''Traitor Spy'' trilogy have been published.
Spy'', was finished in 2012.
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* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Sonea [[spoiler: comes to love Akkarin]] because, while he's not a very ''nice'' person, [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold he didn't treat her any differently over her low social status]], and always respected her as a person.
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--> '''Sonea''': Thinking back, she could not remember him ever expressing disdain or distaste about her origins. He ''had'' been threatening, manipulative and cruel, but he had never once reminded her that she had come from the poorest part of the city.
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--> '''Sonea''': Thinking back, she could not remember him ever expressing disdain or distaste about her origins. He ''had'' been threatening, manipulative and cruel, but he had never once reminded her that she had come from the poorest part of the city. city.
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Cery]] in ''The Traitor Queen''.
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Cery]] in ''The Traitor Queen''.
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* HeIsNotMyBoyfriend: Sonea's attitude towards Regin in ''The Traitor Queen'', [[spoiler:as every Traitor they meet]] makes the assumption. [[spoiler:At the end of the novel, they end up together.]]
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* StuffedIntoTheFridge: [[spoiler: Cery's]] sub plot in the traitor spy trilogy is kicked off when his wife and kids are murdered, providing angst and motivation for him.
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zero context examples and poorly written examples for Raven Hair Ivory Skin are being removed. If this example does fit this trope please re-add and elaborate by mentioning the character\'s pale skin, black hair, and explain how the work portrays them as outstandingly attractive.
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* RavenHairIvorySkin: Everyone in Kyralia has black hair and pale skin.
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* EvilCannotComprehendGood: throughout the series, the Sachakans are a threat because of their practise of black magic, but they have a major flaw in being unable to heal or strenghen each others' magic.
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* [[spoiler: SomeoneToRememberHimBy]]
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ButNotTooGay: [[spoiler: Dannyl]] barely manages to scrape onto this side of HaveIMentionedIAmGay. We know from the third book that he got together with his love interest near the end of the second one, because judging by the information given, the POV of that story was cut off just before it happened, and in the rest of Novice there are only very subtle allusions made to it. And by the third book, the readers know that they are together because they are told so, repeatedly. Unlike the other two romances that run the full gamut from sex to kissing to casual cuddles, these two don't even touch each other until the last 100 pages of the series, at which point they manage to till up a grand total of two hugs and nothing more. And the books have the gall to claim that EveryoneCanSeeIt - the characters must be mind readers.
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* ButNotTooGay: [[spoiler: Dannyl]] barely manages to scrape onto this side of HaveIMentionedIAmGay. We know from the third book that he got together with his love interest near the end of the second one, because judging by the information given, the POV of that story was cut off just before it happened, and in the rest of Novice there are only very subtle allusions made to it. And by the third book, the readers know that they are together because they are told so, repeatedly. Unlike the other two romances that run the full gamut from sex to kissing to casual cuddles, these two don't even touch each other until the last 100 pages of the series, at which point they manage to till up a grand total of two hugs and nothing more. And the books have the gall to claim that EveryoneCanSeeIt - the characters must be mind readers.
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ButNotTooGay: [[spoiler: Dannyl]] barely manages to scrape onto this side of HaveIMentionedIAmGay. We know from the third book that he got together with his love interest near the end of the second one, because judging by the information given, the POV of that story was cut off just before it happened, and in the rest of Novice there are only very subtle allusions made to it. And by the third book, the readers know that they are together because they are told so, repeatedly. Unlike the other two romances that run the full gamut from sex to kissing to casual cuddles, these two don't even touch each other until the last 100 pages of the series, at which point they manage to till up a grand total of two hugs and nothing more. And the books have the gall to claim that EveryoneCanSeeIt - the characters must be mind readers.
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We\'re talking semen here, not magic...
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** This is actually narrowly subverted via a ChekhovsGun the reader gets way back in ''The Novice'' where Dannyl is reading up about BlackMagic. Turns out that the "inner shield" that contains the inside of the human body wavers at the height of sexual pleasure or great stress (particularly magical stress) and that for magicians, for whom that shield is magically and usually consciously contained, this wavering is more severe than for normal people. Hence, theoretically, the odds of pregnancy actually increase for those using BlackMagic. However, this bit is so quickly glossed over and never really mentioned again that unless you're paying close attention or reading the books for the second time, likelihood is that you'll miss it.
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See discussion page — no need for that bad comparison.
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First of all, it's not ''HarryPotter''. Honest. It's a fair bit bloodier and a lot less child-friendly.
Second of all, ''The Black Magician Trilogy'' is the debut series of TrudiCanavan, and is centred around the country Kyralia where only the rich and powerful are allowed to learn and use magic, and the poor are more or less ignored, unless they're being trodden under foot. This age old system has something of a spanner jammed in its works when Sonea, a girl born and raised in the slums of the capital city Imardin, discovers that she has natural magical abilities. Since she learns this by throwing a stone through a magical barrier and knocking out a magician, it doesn't exactly stay a secret for long.
Second of all, ''The Black Magician Trilogy'' is the debut series of TrudiCanavan, and is centred around the country Kyralia where only the rich and powerful are allowed to learn and use magic, and the poor are more or less ignored, unless they're being trodden under foot. This age old system has something of a spanner jammed in its works when Sonea, a girl born and raised in the slums of the capital city Imardin, discovers that she has natural magical abilities. Since she learns this by throwing a stone through a magical barrier and knocking out a magician, it doesn't exactly stay a secret for long.
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Second of all,
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** In a wider sense, [[spoiler: so-called 'Black Magic'. Really, it's not inherently evil, it's just capable of running way out of control, as the Guild learned the hard way from Tagin's example.]]
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* GrayingMorality: ''The Traitor Spy Trilogy''. There aren't any ichani to make a mess, Sachaka's actual nobility are AffablyEvil and not antagonistic towards Kyralia, the Magician's Guild is mostly played as well-meaning but somewhat incompetent, and the Traitors fight for equality between the genders and SlaveLiberation, but are actually a LadyLand, treat their men like crap (though better than Sachaka treats their women), suffer quite a bit of HeWhoFightsMonsters when fighting Sachaka, and try to kill Lorkin for [[spoiler: the [[SinsOfOurFathers Sins of His Father]]]]. So far, the only unambiguously evil character we've seen is [[spoiler: Naki]], though [[spoiler: Skellin hasn't shown any redeeming qualities yet (on account of being a HiddenAgendaVillain)]].
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* GrayingMorality: ''The Traitor Spy Trilogy''. There aren't any ichani to make a mess, Sachaka's actual nobility are AffablyEvil and not antagonistic towards Kyralia, the Magician's Guild is mostly played as well-meaning but somewhat incompetent, and the Traitors fight for equality between the genders and SlaveLiberation, but are actually a LadyLand, treat their men like crap (though better than Sachaka treats their women), suffer quite a bit of HeWhoFightsMonsters when fighting Sachaka, and try to kill Lorkin for [[spoiler: the [[SinsOfOurFathers Sins of His Father]]]]. So far, the only unambiguously evil character we've seen is [[spoiler: Naki]], [[ManipulativeBitch Naki]]]], though [[spoiler: Skellin hasn't shown any redeeming qualities yet (on account of being a HiddenAgendaVillain)]].
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* ManipulativeBitch: [[spoiler: Naki.]] Oh so much. To whit: [[spoiler: she befriends the resident NaiveEverygirl, plays SchoolgirlLesbians with her despite never once returning the feelings, gets her hooked on a FantasticDrug and manipulates her into learning [[TheDarkArts Black Magic]] (the mere knowledge of which is forbidden; and which, incidentally, she herself learned, quite deliberately years before). Why? So that she can frame said everygirl when she murders her step-father and runs away to go spend her life working with criminals. And why did she want to do that? Because she couldn't live with the rules imposed on her by her father and the Guild. Oh, and when her unwitting lover desperately breaks out of imprisonment to find her, thinking her to be in mortal danger, she casually and without remorse tries to kill her. Yeah.]]
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*** Wine also retains its name, even though beer is renamed to "bol".
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Sliding Scale Of Antiheroes was redirected. Deleting wicks to it, Anti Hero Zero Context Examples and \"Type X\" junk
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* AntiHero: Sonea has [[SlidingScaleOfAntiHeroes traces of type II]], but the biggest culprit is [[spoiler: Akkarin, landing squarely in type IV territory, who took up BlackMagic [[IdidWhatIHadToDo in order to defend himself and Kyralia against the Ichani]], and, despite Sonea, Rothen and Lorlen convinced that he's the BigBad for the first two-thirds of the original trilogy, is in fact the only thing stopping the annihilation of their country at the hands of some ridiculously powerful black magicians]].
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* AntiHero: Sonea has [[SlidingScaleOfAntiHeroes traces of type II]], Sonea, but the biggest culprit is [[spoiler: Akkarin, landing squarely in type IV territory, who took up BlackMagic [[IdidWhatIHadToDo in order to defend himself and Kyralia against the Ichani]], and, despite Sonea, Rothen and Lorlen convinced that he's the BigBad for the first two-thirds of the original trilogy, is in fact the only thing stopping the annihilation of their country at the hands of some ridiculously powerful black magicians]].
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** In a variation, the Guild has forgotten this at the start of the trilogy - there hadn't been a known example of anyone manifesting magic on their own for centuries.
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** In a variation, the Guild has pretty much forgotten this at the start of the trilogy - there hadn't been a known example of anyone manifesting magic on their own for centuries.centuries, enough that it wasn't really remembered that it was possible.
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* FancyDinner: Akkarin has dinner with Sonea every FirstDay. With golden cutlery and really nice sounding food.
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* FancyDinner: Akkarin has dinner with Sonea every FirstDay.First Day. With golden cutlery and really nice sounding food.
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* PsychicStatic: Sonea tries this against Akkarian when he mind rapes her, throwing random images at him. He just gets impatent and forces her to stop
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* PsychicStatic: Sonea tries this against Akkarian [[spoiler:Akkarin]] when he mind rapes mind-rapes her, throwing random images at him. He just gets impatent His countermeasure is a PokeInTheThirdEye.
* PsychicSurgery: What healing magic actually is: Telekinetically repairing the body, normally assisted by medical equipment andforces her to stopherbal drugs. [[spoiler:The Ichani do not know of this application of magic, as such it is used against them.]]
* PsychicSurgery: What healing magic actually is: Telekinetically repairing the body, normally assisted by medical equipment and
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**Lilia also thinks Naki is unusually gorgeous and wonderful at first sight.
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First of all, it's not ''HarryPotter''. Honest. It's a fair bit bloodier and a lot less child-friendly.
Second of all, ''The Black Magician Trilogy'' is the debut series of TrudiCanavan, and is centred around the country Kyralia where only the rich and powerful are allowed to learn and use magic, and the poor are more or less ignored, unless they're being trodden under foot. This age old system has something of a spanner jammed in its works when Sonea, a girl born and raised in the slums of the capital city Imardin, discovers that she has natural magical abilities. Since she learns this by throwing a stone through a magical barrier and knocking out a magician, it doesn't exactly stay a secret for long.
The original trilogy follows Sonea as she evades and then is recruited by the Magician's Guild, learns to control her powers, tries to avoid being bullied, gets caught up in a power struggle, falls in love, goes on an epic journey and saves her country from destruction. It was followed by a prequel, ''The Magician's Apprentice'' and now two parts of the continuing ''Traitor Spy'' trilogy have been published.
'''''LateArrivalSpoiler Warning:''''' NothingIsTheSameAnymore after the end of the original trilogy. Entries regarding the ''Traitor Spy'' trilogy may have unmarked spoilers.
----
!!Tropes that show up in this series:
* AntiHero: Sonea has [[SlidingScaleOfAntiHeroes traces of type II]], but the biggest culprit is [[spoiler: Akkarin, landing squarely in type IV territory, who took up BlackMagic [[IdidWhatIHadToDo in order to defend himself and Kyralia against the Ichani]], and, despite Sonea, Rothen and Lorlen convinced that he's the BigBad for the first two-thirds of the original trilogy, is in fact the only thing stopping the annihilation of their country at the hands of some ridiculously powerful black magicians]].
* AnyoneCanDie: In the third book, named characters start dropping like flies.
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: The position of High Lord of the Magician's Guild is filled by the strongest magician, pretty much irrespective of other concerns; Akkarin got the job because he was as strong as ''twenty'' other magicians. Strength is also a sort of status marker in the Guild, which leads to trouble when Sonea is of low social status but is magically nearly a match for Akkarin on her own naked strength. [[spoiler: At the end of the Black Magician Trilogy, both of these examples are subverted. Sonea is by far the strongest magician in the Guild, but as the Black Magician, she is not permitted to hold other positions in the hierarchy, and the position goes to the former Head Warrior.]]
* BadassBookworm: Sonea becomes this once she learns to read and write. This really surprises her teachers when she becomes the top of her class.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: At the end of the first trilogy Lorlen and Akkarin are dead, along with at least half of the Guild and a fair chunk of the people left in Imardin; Imardin itself is mostly destroyed. But the Guild makes efforts to start again and to actually help the common people this time by building a hospital; Dannyl and Tayend get to stay together, and Sonea [[SomeoneToRememberHimBy reveals she is pregnant with Akkarin's son.]]]]
* {{Bishonen}}: Tayend. Despite Dannyl mentally commenting on this when he first sees him, there are a lot of people who remark on how pretty he is, including a group of pirates who ask Dannyl how much he'll sell him for.
* BlackMagic: Well, duh. In this series, BlackMagic comes from taking a person's LifeEnergy. While many users of BlackMagic are portrayed as evil, as some LifeEnergy can be taken without harming the person, the morality of using it is based on whether the LifeEnergy was given willingly or not. Originally, it was called "higher magic," and practiced by all magicians, but during the Trilogy it's only practiced by [[spoiler: Akkarin, the Sachakans and Sonea]]. After that, the Guild appoints two and only two magicians to know the secrets of BlackMagic, and hedges them about with heavy restrictions; while they aren't at all comfortable with the practice, they know that the Sachakans use it, and they recognize the need to fight fire with fire.
* BuryYourGays: Surprisingly this is averted depending on where you are in the world. In Elyne they're fairly tolerant of it, in Kyralia anyone accused of it can be dishonoured but is not formally punished, and in Sachaka, they just ignore it and pretend it doesn't happen. Played straight in Lonmar, where homosexuals are executed.
** Also averted in that, in a series where [[spoiler: AnyoneCanDie, both named gay characters survive the Ichani invasion]]
* CallARabbitASmeerp:
** The author renames everything to the point of needing a glossary in the back of each book. She justifies this in an interview by saying that coming across the word 'sheep' during a fantasy novel can kinda spoil things.
** It's handled kind of well as there's a group of criminals who tend to take on the names of animals, and these names are usually appropriate. For example, Faren (spider) is very cunning and employs poisons, Ceryni and Ravi (mouse and rat) are physically small but very quick, etc. Naming them Spider, Mouse and Rat wouldn't really sound good - compare it.
** And yet they still have horses...
* CastFromHitPoints: Technically, all magic works like this; your {{Mana}} is your LifeEnergy. BlackMagic lets you cast from ''other'' people's hit points.
* ClosetKey: When Dannyl first meets Tayend, he thinks him beautiful. This is a clue (along with Dannyl almost being kicked out of school for being that way inclined). Dannyl's obliviousness to his own sexuality makes the whole situation more ambiguous. He might just be more open-minded than his peers.
* CoolOldGuy: Everyone seems to like Rothen - except for Fergun, and honestly, who gives a toss about Fergun - and he goes to a good deal of trouble to protect Sonea.
* CoversAlwaysLie: The UK versions feature the main character posing with a staff in a martial-arts esque stance, while the US versions are even worse; one of them has a ''flaming pegasus'' on the cover, for no reason whatsoever!
** That's Sonea? I though it was just a generic 'stick something on the front cover' figure.
** Subverted in the Australian release. ''The Magician's Guild'' just has a picture of the Guild, ''The Novice'' shows Somea and Regin facing off in the arena, and ''The High Lord'' shows Somea, Akkarin and the magicians assembled in what looks like the Guildhall. Again, Aussie division publishing seems to be the best out of all of them.
* CureYourGays: Dannyl has struggled against rumours about being gay which have ruined his reputation (in his home country at least - others are more open). Eventually, when he is completely out of mana it turns out that he was gay, but he blocked out the memories and has been reflexively using Healing magic to block any sexual impulse for years. Tayend, the gay man he had been travelling with had already figured it out but didn't want to say anything, and they end up becoming a couple.
** Also subverted in that Tayend's father seems to think that the only reason Tayend is gay is because he chooses to be.
* ColorCodedWizardry: There's colour coding for the three different disciplines of magic (Warriors wear red robes, Alchemists wear purple robes, and Healers wear green robes) as well as for rank (the heads of each discipline wears a black sash, the King's Advisors wear gold sashes, the Administrators wear blue robes, and the High Lord wears black robes.) [[spoiler: The High Lord wears white robes after the Trilogy's end, and black robes are reserved for the Black Magician.]]
* DeusSexMachina[=/=]IntimateHealing: The "Lover's Death" allows for a black magician to drain magic through coitus. It's originally shown solely for its use in DeathBySex, but it can also be used nonlethally, just like regular BlackMagic. In fact, it's far more pleasurable than regular sex or the regular means of transferring mana.
* DemotedToExtra: Happens to Cery in the second book, but he's brought up to main character status again in the third. Harrin and Donia, [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse on the other hand...]]
* [[DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength Does Not Know Her Own Strength]]: Somea really has no idea exactly how powerful she is until half way through the last book, and all her teachers, including Akkarin, deliberately keep her in the dark for two reasons: 1) so she doesn't get cocky and start relying on her brute strength without fine-tunning her skills, and 2) because they're all quite wary about what exactly she could be capable of if she really applied all her power (and for good reason). When she has ''Akkarin'' running to the wire on his mana reserves to try to keep her under control, you really start to get some idea of why all the High Magicians are on edge.
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: 2 examples
** The first is with Tayend and Dannyl. Anyone who has been around them for longer than five minutes can see that they're a couple, and when the situation with the rogue magic rebel group arises in Elyne, Akkarin suggested that Dannyl let them "be told a false truth regarding his and Tayend's relationship" in order to gain their trust by supposedly giving them information that they could blackmail him with afterwards. The leader, Dem Marane, calls him out on this in the Hearing and tells the magicians assembled just to ''look'' at Tayend and Dannyl together and they'll see that it's the truth. Luckily by this point Dannyl A) had the good sense to leave Tayend on the other side of the ocean to prevent speculation from arising, and B) [[GuileHero was able to bluff his way out of it.]]
** The second is with [[spoiler: Sonea and Akkarin, after they start to trust each other and become closer]]. This is more an inversion, in that anyone who knows either of them well knows something is going on way before they admit their feelings, but ''no one'' in the Magician Guild wants to even think about the ''possibility'', especially Rothen and Lorlen, the former who just has to watch [[spoiler: Sonea talking to Akkarin]] to notice something is different (and is subsequently absolutely horrified by the idea and goes into denial about it until long [[spoiler: after Sonea and Akkarin are exiled]]).
* FancyDinner: Akkarin has dinner with Sonea every FirstDay. With golden cutlery and really nice sounding food.
* GrayingMorality: ''The Traitor Spy Trilogy''. There aren't any ichani to make a mess, Sachaka's actual nobility are AffablyEvil and not antagonistic towards Kyralia, the Magician's Guild is mostly played as well-meaning but somewhat incompetent, and the Traitors fight for equality between the genders and SlaveLiberation, but are actually a LadyLand, treat their men like crap (though better than Sachaka treats their women), suffer quite a bit of HeWhoFightsMonsters when fighting Sachaka, and try to kill Lorkin for [[spoiler: the [[SinsOfOurFathers Sins of His Father]]]]. So far, the only unambiguously evil character we've seen is [[spoiler: Naki]], though [[spoiler: Skellin hasn't shown any redeeming qualities yet (on account of being a HiddenAgendaVillain)]].
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: [[spoiler: Akkarin]] narrowly manages to subvert this and comes close to crossing the lines at some points.
* IAmNotLeftHanded: Somea frequently limits her power when duelling against any other magician because she's so powerful that she can nearly ''break the Arena barrier'', and so she has to be careful that she doesn't inadvertently kill her duelling partner.
** In Sonea's duel with Regin, she spends the first four rounds (it's a three-out-of-five match) fighting more or less on par with Regin in terms of strength. This is [[JustifiedTrope justified]]; if she'd blatantly steamrolled him with raw power from the get-go, it would just look thuggish. In the fifth round, she stops playing around, [[NukeEm cuts loose]] and nearly kills him; Regin only survives because of Akkarin's timely intervention.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Akkarin, we know, but did you have to be such a jerk about it?
* ImprobableAge: an in-context version, as everyone is constantly struck by how young Akkarin is despite him being the High Lord. At the time of ''The Magician's Guild'' he's around 30 years old (possibly late twenties), and he still has men and women ''decades'' older than him being deferential to him. Despite the fact that it's more his incredibly sharp political acumen, diplomatic insight and intellect than just his great magical prowess that got him the title, it doesn't stop even Lorlen, his best friend, from wondering how he managed it at such a young age. Akkarin seems to be aware of this, because he grows his hair out long and wears it in a ponytail in the style of the old magicians to try to lessen the impact.
* JerkassFacade: Akkarin is [[spoiler: the only person standing between the Ichani and literal annihilation of Kyralia and puts his life on the line more than once to do so]], but there is a very good reason why nearly everyone is convinced that he's a cold, heartless bastard, and why Sonea is convinced that he's the BigBad for quite a while. ... Actually, however near he does come to JerkWithAHeartOfGold territory, even crossing into it, YMMV on whether the "cold, heartless bastard" bit is a facade or not. As Sonea put it:
--> '''Sonea''': Thinking back, she could not remember him ever expressing disdain or distaste about her origins. He ''had'' been threatening, manipulative and cruel, but he had never once reminded her that she had come from the poorest part of the city.
* LateArrivalSpoiler: [[spoiler: Sonea becomes the Black Magician at the end of the original trilogy, which is obviously spoiled in ''The Ambassador's Mission''.]]
* LawOfInverseFertility: Sonea falls under this trope from the virgin side of things. And manages to get pregnant while in the very stressful situation of [[spoiler: travelling into exile into a hostile land filled with ruthless stronger magicians, who are hunting them (her and the father) as a prelude to the invasion the country they've just been exiled from.]] High stress isn't usually conducive to fertility.
** This is actually narrowly subverted via a ChekhovsGun the reader gets way back in ''The Novice'' where Dannyl is reading up about BlackMagic. Turns out that the "inner shield" that contains the inside of the human body wavers at the height of sexual pleasure or great stress (particularly magical stress) and that for magicians, for whom that shield is magically and usually consciously contained, this wavering is more severe than for normal people. Hence, theoretically, the odds of pregnancy actually increase for those using BlackMagic. However, this bit is so quickly glossed over and never really mentioned again that unless you're paying close attention or reading the books for the second time, likelihood is that you'll miss it.
* LoveConfession: We get a good, if rather odd, one. [[spoiler: Akkarin confesses that he began to fall for Sonea after he watched her kill someone with BlackMagic. O...kay.]] It sounds more romantic when you read it.
** Dannyl gets his indirectly via Tayend's sister with a very clear [[IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer If You Ever Do Anything To Hurt Him]] message centred around it. Considering that she's not a magician and she still manages to scare him a little with threats of completely ruining his political standing if he hurts her little brother, this is rather impressive.
** Sonea also gets a rather clumsy one from Cery.
* [[spoiler: MayDecemberRomance]]: [[spoiler: Akkarin is thirteen years older than Sonea, and also used to be her guardian. She doesn't let that bother her, though.]]
** [[spoiler: Regin starts a rumor that this is going on between Sonea and Rothen (her first guardian who's old enough to be her father ''at least'').]]
* MagicalSociety: The Magician's Guild, naturally.
* MindRape:
** Normally, you can't enter someone else's mind without invitation. Akkarin, however, can forces his way in. It's traumatizing, to say the least.
** [[spoiler: What Akkarin went through in the Sachakan wastes was ''literal'' mind rape. [[AndIMustScream Day after day after day after day...]]]]. When Sonea finds out about it, she's fairly appalled, to say the least.
* MutantDraftBoard: Naturals ''must'' be trained by the Guild. This isn't a matter of social control, and more a recognition of the fact that an untrained natural will usually go off like a nuke when she loses control of her ability.
** In a variation, the Guild has forgotten this at the start of the trilogy - there hadn't been a known example of anyone manifesting magic on their own for centuries.
* MyMasterRightOrWrong: Takan has this view of Akkarin. However, despite his incredible loyalty whatever the circumstances, he still believes that what Akkarin is doing is fundamentally right.
* NeckSnap: A mugger stabs Tayend and Dannyl reacts by slamming him magically into a wall and breaking his neck. That said, Dannyl doesn't ever react well when Tayend is threatened or hurt.
* NotEvilJustMisunderstood: [[spoiler: Akkarin. Who knew that he was actually trying to ''save'' everyone?]]
* ObstructiveCodeOfConduct: There's a lot of rules set up regarding the Black Magicians' conduct after the Trilogy ends, since ''one'' rogue Black Magician and a loyal follower could wipe the floor with the entire Guild if unchecked.
* OutsideContextVillain: [[spoiler:So there's an army of Black Magic users coming to attack us? Too bad most of us have no idea what Black Magic even is, much less how to fight it.]]
** Inverted when these villains [[spoiler:don't know how to defend against the offensive uses of Healing magic, as they never invented Healing]].
* PersonOfMassDestruction: Magicians. This is more clear in ''The Magician's Apprentice'', where it's made clear early on that non-mages are completely useless in magical warfare, especially when BlackMagic gets involved. In all cases, however, magical power is the arm of decision in war. This is especially the case for Sonea; her teachers realize very quickly that she's stronger than half a dozen other magicians, and they work very hard to make sure she's properly trained.
* PowerLevels: Magical strength is an inborn trait, and in Kyralia, determines much of a mage's status. Sonea is the strongest magician in the Guild besides the High Lord; this throws a major curveball into the pecking order, since she comes from very humble origins. [[spoiler: Turns out, personal strength isn't nearly as important as the Kyralians think it is. Once BlackMagic gets involved, resources and numbers matter more than one's own individual power.]]
* PsychicStatic: Sonea tries this against Akkarian when he mind rapes her, throwing random images at him. He just gets impatent and forces her to stop
* RavenHairIvorySkin: Everyone in Kyralia has black hair and pale skin.
* TheScapegoat: In ''The Rogue'' Lilia is accused of murdering Naki's father, and she's found with blood on her hands and knowledge of BlackMagic. Sonea reads her mind and can't find any evidence of it happening, but she's ordered to be [[DePower depowered]] and imprisoned (effectively for life) for the crime of learning BlackMagic anyway. [[spoiler: Naki killed him, concealed her own involvement with a mind-blocking stone, and set Lilia up to take the fall.]]
* SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp: Averted. Adult Regin is a pretty square fellow, albeit staunchly conservative.
* SpannerInTheWorks: In ''The Rogue'', [[spoiler: Naki had a mind-blocking stone, which allowed her to resist a mind probe and fob the blame for her father's murder off on Lilia because the Guild didn't know about that kind of magic. Unfortunately, right before her second trial, Dannyl learned about that kind of magic and just happened to mention it to the Administrator, who put two and two together immediately.]]
* SquishyWizard: Sonea wins a critically important duel, that would determine whether she could continue as a commoner to learn magic, simply by the fact that her opponent had never done any exercise, and in a later scene couldn't even punch hard enough to leave a bruise on her shoulder. Sonea on the other hand was more than capable of breaking his nose and bruising his eyes badly enough to leave him blind until treated.
** Although a lot of magicians (read: most) fall into this category, this trope is played with a bit: magicians are made physically stronger and more healthy than normal people by the constant flow of magical energy through their bodies. Magicians also have a stronger "inner shield" and can survive drowning and being buried underground by using a shield to protect their bodies and supply them with a limited amount of oxygen.
* TrainingFromHell: Of a sort: Akkarin approves of Sonea constantly being accosted, attacked, and practically ''tortured'' by up to ''twenty'' bullying novices, in the hopes it will toughen her up. Although Akkarin knows Sonea is much more powerful than she thinks—eventually, undeniably more powerful than all her tormentors combined—''she doesn't realize this'' and is absolutely terrified each time it happens.
* WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler: Akkarin]] forcibly reads the thoughts of Lorlen, Rothen, and Sonea. He has good reasons for doing it, but that doesn't change the fact that he essentially ''mindrapes'' his best friend, an old man, and a scared girl barely twenty years old. Lorlen and Rothen call him on it.
* WizardDuel:
** Sonea eventually gets fed up with Regin's cruelty and challenges him to one of these. She then proceeds to wipe the floor with him by the final round. ''Then'', to not quite rub it in, she heals him. In your haughty rich face, Regin.
** Later on in the plot it's revealed that [[spoiler: Akkarin]] has been fighting and killing Sachakan magician spies on a regular basis.
* WizardingSchool: The Guild maintains one.
* YaoiGuys: Dannyl and Tayend. The relationship that develops between them is not sexually explicit and took until the end of the first trilogy, however.
----
Second of all, ''The Black Magician Trilogy'' is the debut series of TrudiCanavan, and is centred around the country Kyralia where only the rich and powerful are allowed to learn and use magic, and the poor are more or less ignored, unless they're being trodden under foot. This age old system has something of a spanner jammed in its works when Sonea, a girl born and raised in the slums of the capital city Imardin, discovers that she has natural magical abilities. Since she learns this by throwing a stone through a magical barrier and knocking out a magician, it doesn't exactly stay a secret for long.
The original trilogy follows Sonea as she evades and then is recruited by the Magician's Guild, learns to control her powers, tries to avoid being bullied, gets caught up in a power struggle, falls in love, goes on an epic journey and saves her country from destruction. It was followed by a prequel, ''The Magician's Apprentice'' and now two parts of the continuing ''Traitor Spy'' trilogy have been published.
'''''LateArrivalSpoiler Warning:''''' NothingIsTheSameAnymore after the end of the original trilogy. Entries regarding the ''Traitor Spy'' trilogy may have unmarked spoilers.
----
!!Tropes that show up in this series:
* AntiHero: Sonea has [[SlidingScaleOfAntiHeroes traces of type II]], but the biggest culprit is [[spoiler: Akkarin, landing squarely in type IV territory, who took up BlackMagic [[IdidWhatIHadToDo in order to defend himself and Kyralia against the Ichani]], and, despite Sonea, Rothen and Lorlen convinced that he's the BigBad for the first two-thirds of the original trilogy, is in fact the only thing stopping the annihilation of their country at the hands of some ridiculously powerful black magicians]].
* AnyoneCanDie: In the third book, named characters start dropping like flies.
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: The position of High Lord of the Magician's Guild is filled by the strongest magician, pretty much irrespective of other concerns; Akkarin got the job because he was as strong as ''twenty'' other magicians. Strength is also a sort of status marker in the Guild, which leads to trouble when Sonea is of low social status but is magically nearly a match for Akkarin on her own naked strength. [[spoiler: At the end of the Black Magician Trilogy, both of these examples are subverted. Sonea is by far the strongest magician in the Guild, but as the Black Magician, she is not permitted to hold other positions in the hierarchy, and the position goes to the former Head Warrior.]]
* BadassBookworm: Sonea becomes this once she learns to read and write. This really surprises her teachers when she becomes the top of her class.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: At the end of the first trilogy Lorlen and Akkarin are dead, along with at least half of the Guild and a fair chunk of the people left in Imardin; Imardin itself is mostly destroyed. But the Guild makes efforts to start again and to actually help the common people this time by building a hospital; Dannyl and Tayend get to stay together, and Sonea [[SomeoneToRememberHimBy reveals she is pregnant with Akkarin's son.]]]]
* {{Bishonen}}: Tayend. Despite Dannyl mentally commenting on this when he first sees him, there are a lot of people who remark on how pretty he is, including a group of pirates who ask Dannyl how much he'll sell him for.
* BlackMagic: Well, duh. In this series, BlackMagic comes from taking a person's LifeEnergy. While many users of BlackMagic are portrayed as evil, as some LifeEnergy can be taken without harming the person, the morality of using it is based on whether the LifeEnergy was given willingly or not. Originally, it was called "higher magic," and practiced by all magicians, but during the Trilogy it's only practiced by [[spoiler: Akkarin, the Sachakans and Sonea]]. After that, the Guild appoints two and only two magicians to know the secrets of BlackMagic, and hedges them about with heavy restrictions; while they aren't at all comfortable with the practice, they know that the Sachakans use it, and they recognize the need to fight fire with fire.
* BuryYourGays: Surprisingly this is averted depending on where you are in the world. In Elyne they're fairly tolerant of it, in Kyralia anyone accused of it can be dishonoured but is not formally punished, and in Sachaka, they just ignore it and pretend it doesn't happen. Played straight in Lonmar, where homosexuals are executed.
** Also averted in that, in a series where [[spoiler: AnyoneCanDie, both named gay characters survive the Ichani invasion]]
* CallARabbitASmeerp:
** The author renames everything to the point of needing a glossary in the back of each book. She justifies this in an interview by saying that coming across the word 'sheep' during a fantasy novel can kinda spoil things.
** It's handled kind of well as there's a group of criminals who tend to take on the names of animals, and these names are usually appropriate. For example, Faren (spider) is very cunning and employs poisons, Ceryni and Ravi (mouse and rat) are physically small but very quick, etc. Naming them Spider, Mouse and Rat wouldn't really sound good - compare it.
** And yet they still have horses...
* CastFromHitPoints: Technically, all magic works like this; your {{Mana}} is your LifeEnergy. BlackMagic lets you cast from ''other'' people's hit points.
* ClosetKey: When Dannyl first meets Tayend, he thinks him beautiful. This is a clue (along with Dannyl almost being kicked out of school for being that way inclined). Dannyl's obliviousness to his own sexuality makes the whole situation more ambiguous. He might just be more open-minded than his peers.
* CoolOldGuy: Everyone seems to like Rothen - except for Fergun, and honestly, who gives a toss about Fergun - and he goes to a good deal of trouble to protect Sonea.
* CoversAlwaysLie: The UK versions feature the main character posing with a staff in a martial-arts esque stance, while the US versions are even worse; one of them has a ''flaming pegasus'' on the cover, for no reason whatsoever!
** That's Sonea? I though it was just a generic 'stick something on the front cover' figure.
** Subverted in the Australian release. ''The Magician's Guild'' just has a picture of the Guild, ''The Novice'' shows Somea and Regin facing off in the arena, and ''The High Lord'' shows Somea, Akkarin and the magicians assembled in what looks like the Guildhall. Again, Aussie division publishing seems to be the best out of all of them.
* CureYourGays: Dannyl has struggled against rumours about being gay which have ruined his reputation (in his home country at least - others are more open). Eventually, when he is completely out of mana it turns out that he was gay, but he blocked out the memories and has been reflexively using Healing magic to block any sexual impulse for years. Tayend, the gay man he had been travelling with had already figured it out but didn't want to say anything, and they end up becoming a couple.
** Also subverted in that Tayend's father seems to think that the only reason Tayend is gay is because he chooses to be.
* ColorCodedWizardry: There's colour coding for the three different disciplines of magic (Warriors wear red robes, Alchemists wear purple robes, and Healers wear green robes) as well as for rank (the heads of each discipline wears a black sash, the King's Advisors wear gold sashes, the Administrators wear blue robes, and the High Lord wears black robes.) [[spoiler: The High Lord wears white robes after the Trilogy's end, and black robes are reserved for the Black Magician.]]
* DeusSexMachina[=/=]IntimateHealing: The "Lover's Death" allows for a black magician to drain magic through coitus. It's originally shown solely for its use in DeathBySex, but it can also be used nonlethally, just like regular BlackMagic. In fact, it's far more pleasurable than regular sex or the regular means of transferring mana.
* DemotedToExtra: Happens to Cery in the second book, but he's brought up to main character status again in the third. Harrin and Donia, [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse on the other hand...]]
* [[DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength Does Not Know Her Own Strength]]: Somea really has no idea exactly how powerful she is until half way through the last book, and all her teachers, including Akkarin, deliberately keep her in the dark for two reasons: 1) so she doesn't get cocky and start relying on her brute strength without fine-tunning her skills, and 2) because they're all quite wary about what exactly she could be capable of if she really applied all her power (and for good reason). When she has ''Akkarin'' running to the wire on his mana reserves to try to keep her under control, you really start to get some idea of why all the High Magicians are on edge.
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: 2 examples
** The first is with Tayend and Dannyl. Anyone who has been around them for longer than five minutes can see that they're a couple, and when the situation with the rogue magic rebel group arises in Elyne, Akkarin suggested that Dannyl let them "be told a false truth regarding his and Tayend's relationship" in order to gain their trust by supposedly giving them information that they could blackmail him with afterwards. The leader, Dem Marane, calls him out on this in the Hearing and tells the magicians assembled just to ''look'' at Tayend and Dannyl together and they'll see that it's the truth. Luckily by this point Dannyl A) had the good sense to leave Tayend on the other side of the ocean to prevent speculation from arising, and B) [[GuileHero was able to bluff his way out of it.]]
** The second is with [[spoiler: Sonea and Akkarin, after they start to trust each other and become closer]]. This is more an inversion, in that anyone who knows either of them well knows something is going on way before they admit their feelings, but ''no one'' in the Magician Guild wants to even think about the ''possibility'', especially Rothen and Lorlen, the former who just has to watch [[spoiler: Sonea talking to Akkarin]] to notice something is different (and is subsequently absolutely horrified by the idea and goes into denial about it until long [[spoiler: after Sonea and Akkarin are exiled]]).
* FancyDinner: Akkarin has dinner with Sonea every FirstDay. With golden cutlery and really nice sounding food.
* GrayingMorality: ''The Traitor Spy Trilogy''. There aren't any ichani to make a mess, Sachaka's actual nobility are AffablyEvil and not antagonistic towards Kyralia, the Magician's Guild is mostly played as well-meaning but somewhat incompetent, and the Traitors fight for equality between the genders and SlaveLiberation, but are actually a LadyLand, treat their men like crap (though better than Sachaka treats their women), suffer quite a bit of HeWhoFightsMonsters when fighting Sachaka, and try to kill Lorkin for [[spoiler: the [[SinsOfOurFathers Sins of His Father]]]]. So far, the only unambiguously evil character we've seen is [[spoiler: Naki]], though [[spoiler: Skellin hasn't shown any redeeming qualities yet (on account of being a HiddenAgendaVillain)]].
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: [[spoiler: Akkarin]] narrowly manages to subvert this and comes close to crossing the lines at some points.
* IAmNotLeftHanded: Somea frequently limits her power when duelling against any other magician because she's so powerful that she can nearly ''break the Arena barrier'', and so she has to be careful that she doesn't inadvertently kill her duelling partner.
** In Sonea's duel with Regin, she spends the first four rounds (it's a three-out-of-five match) fighting more or less on par with Regin in terms of strength. This is [[JustifiedTrope justified]]; if she'd blatantly steamrolled him with raw power from the get-go, it would just look thuggish. In the fifth round, she stops playing around, [[NukeEm cuts loose]] and nearly kills him; Regin only survives because of Akkarin's timely intervention.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Akkarin, we know, but did you have to be such a jerk about it?
* ImprobableAge: an in-context version, as everyone is constantly struck by how young Akkarin is despite him being the High Lord. At the time of ''The Magician's Guild'' he's around 30 years old (possibly late twenties), and he still has men and women ''decades'' older than him being deferential to him. Despite the fact that it's more his incredibly sharp political acumen, diplomatic insight and intellect than just his great magical prowess that got him the title, it doesn't stop even Lorlen, his best friend, from wondering how he managed it at such a young age. Akkarin seems to be aware of this, because he grows his hair out long and wears it in a ponytail in the style of the old magicians to try to lessen the impact.
* JerkassFacade: Akkarin is [[spoiler: the only person standing between the Ichani and literal annihilation of Kyralia and puts his life on the line more than once to do so]], but there is a very good reason why nearly everyone is convinced that he's a cold, heartless bastard, and why Sonea is convinced that he's the BigBad for quite a while. ... Actually, however near he does come to JerkWithAHeartOfGold territory, even crossing into it, YMMV on whether the "cold, heartless bastard" bit is a facade or not. As Sonea put it:
--> '''Sonea''': Thinking back, she could not remember him ever expressing disdain or distaste about her origins. He ''had'' been threatening, manipulative and cruel, but he had never once reminded her that she had come from the poorest part of the city.
* LateArrivalSpoiler: [[spoiler: Sonea becomes the Black Magician at the end of the original trilogy, which is obviously spoiled in ''The Ambassador's Mission''.]]
* LawOfInverseFertility: Sonea falls under this trope from the virgin side of things. And manages to get pregnant while in the very stressful situation of [[spoiler: travelling into exile into a hostile land filled with ruthless stronger magicians, who are hunting them (her and the father) as a prelude to the invasion the country they've just been exiled from.]] High stress isn't usually conducive to fertility.
** This is actually narrowly subverted via a ChekhovsGun the reader gets way back in ''The Novice'' where Dannyl is reading up about BlackMagic. Turns out that the "inner shield" that contains the inside of the human body wavers at the height of sexual pleasure or great stress (particularly magical stress) and that for magicians, for whom that shield is magically and usually consciously contained, this wavering is more severe than for normal people. Hence, theoretically, the odds of pregnancy actually increase for those using BlackMagic. However, this bit is so quickly glossed over and never really mentioned again that unless you're paying close attention or reading the books for the second time, likelihood is that you'll miss it.
* LoveConfession: We get a good, if rather odd, one. [[spoiler: Akkarin confesses that he began to fall for Sonea after he watched her kill someone with BlackMagic. O...kay.]] It sounds more romantic when you read it.
** Dannyl gets his indirectly via Tayend's sister with a very clear [[IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer If You Ever Do Anything To Hurt Him]] message centred around it. Considering that she's not a magician and she still manages to scare him a little with threats of completely ruining his political standing if he hurts her little brother, this is rather impressive.
** Sonea also gets a rather clumsy one from Cery.
* [[spoiler: MayDecemberRomance]]: [[spoiler: Akkarin is thirteen years older than Sonea, and also used to be her guardian. She doesn't let that bother her, though.]]
** [[spoiler: Regin starts a rumor that this is going on between Sonea and Rothen (her first guardian who's old enough to be her father ''at least'').]]
* MagicalSociety: The Magician's Guild, naturally.
* MindRape:
** Normally, you can't enter someone else's mind without invitation. Akkarin, however, can forces his way in. It's traumatizing, to say the least.
** [[spoiler: What Akkarin went through in the Sachakan wastes was ''literal'' mind rape. [[AndIMustScream Day after day after day after day...]]]]. When Sonea finds out about it, she's fairly appalled, to say the least.
* MutantDraftBoard: Naturals ''must'' be trained by the Guild. This isn't a matter of social control, and more a recognition of the fact that an untrained natural will usually go off like a nuke when she loses control of her ability.
** In a variation, the Guild has forgotten this at the start of the trilogy - there hadn't been a known example of anyone manifesting magic on their own for centuries.
* MyMasterRightOrWrong: Takan has this view of Akkarin. However, despite his incredible loyalty whatever the circumstances, he still believes that what Akkarin is doing is fundamentally right.
* NeckSnap: A mugger stabs Tayend and Dannyl reacts by slamming him magically into a wall and breaking his neck. That said, Dannyl doesn't ever react well when Tayend is threatened or hurt.
* NotEvilJustMisunderstood: [[spoiler: Akkarin. Who knew that he was actually trying to ''save'' everyone?]]
* ObstructiveCodeOfConduct: There's a lot of rules set up regarding the Black Magicians' conduct after the Trilogy ends, since ''one'' rogue Black Magician and a loyal follower could wipe the floor with the entire Guild if unchecked.
* OutsideContextVillain: [[spoiler:So there's an army of Black Magic users coming to attack us? Too bad most of us have no idea what Black Magic even is, much less how to fight it.]]
** Inverted when these villains [[spoiler:don't know how to defend against the offensive uses of Healing magic, as they never invented Healing]].
* PersonOfMassDestruction: Magicians. This is more clear in ''The Magician's Apprentice'', where it's made clear early on that non-mages are completely useless in magical warfare, especially when BlackMagic gets involved. In all cases, however, magical power is the arm of decision in war. This is especially the case for Sonea; her teachers realize very quickly that she's stronger than half a dozen other magicians, and they work very hard to make sure she's properly trained.
* PowerLevels: Magical strength is an inborn trait, and in Kyralia, determines much of a mage's status. Sonea is the strongest magician in the Guild besides the High Lord; this throws a major curveball into the pecking order, since she comes from very humble origins. [[spoiler: Turns out, personal strength isn't nearly as important as the Kyralians think it is. Once BlackMagic gets involved, resources and numbers matter more than one's own individual power.]]
* PsychicStatic: Sonea tries this against Akkarian when he mind rapes her, throwing random images at him. He just gets impatent and forces her to stop
* RavenHairIvorySkin: Everyone in Kyralia has black hair and pale skin.
* TheScapegoat: In ''The Rogue'' Lilia is accused of murdering Naki's father, and she's found with blood on her hands and knowledge of BlackMagic. Sonea reads her mind and can't find any evidence of it happening, but she's ordered to be [[DePower depowered]] and imprisoned (effectively for life) for the crime of learning BlackMagic anyway. [[spoiler: Naki killed him, concealed her own involvement with a mind-blocking stone, and set Lilia up to take the fall.]]
* SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp: Averted. Adult Regin is a pretty square fellow, albeit staunchly conservative.
* SpannerInTheWorks: In ''The Rogue'', [[spoiler: Naki had a mind-blocking stone, which allowed her to resist a mind probe and fob the blame for her father's murder off on Lilia because the Guild didn't know about that kind of magic. Unfortunately, right before her second trial, Dannyl learned about that kind of magic and just happened to mention it to the Administrator, who put two and two together immediately.]]
* SquishyWizard: Sonea wins a critically important duel, that would determine whether she could continue as a commoner to learn magic, simply by the fact that her opponent had never done any exercise, and in a later scene couldn't even punch hard enough to leave a bruise on her shoulder. Sonea on the other hand was more than capable of breaking his nose and bruising his eyes badly enough to leave him blind until treated.
** Although a lot of magicians (read: most) fall into this category, this trope is played with a bit: magicians are made physically stronger and more healthy than normal people by the constant flow of magical energy through their bodies. Magicians also have a stronger "inner shield" and can survive drowning and being buried underground by using a shield to protect their bodies and supply them with a limited amount of oxygen.
* TrainingFromHell: Of a sort: Akkarin approves of Sonea constantly being accosted, attacked, and practically ''tortured'' by up to ''twenty'' bullying novices, in the hopes it will toughen her up. Although Akkarin knows Sonea is much more powerful than she thinks—eventually, undeniably more powerful than all her tormentors combined—''she doesn't realize this'' and is absolutely terrified each time it happens.
* WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler: Akkarin]] forcibly reads the thoughts of Lorlen, Rothen, and Sonea. He has good reasons for doing it, but that doesn't change the fact that he essentially ''mindrapes'' his best friend, an old man, and a scared girl barely twenty years old. Lorlen and Rothen call him on it.
* WizardDuel:
** Sonea eventually gets fed up with Regin's cruelty and challenges him to one of these. She then proceeds to wipe the floor with him by the final round. ''Then'', to not quite rub it in, she heals him. In your haughty rich face, Regin.
** Later on in the plot it's revealed that [[spoiler: Akkarin]] has been fighting and killing Sachakan magician spies on a regular basis.
* WizardingSchool: The Guild maintains one.
* YaoiGuys: Dannyl and Tayend. The relationship that develops between them is not sexually explicit and took until the end of the first trilogy, however.
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