History Literature / TheEmpiriumTrilogy

* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: Corien does genuinely want to restore his brethern, the angels, to flesh and blood. However, the reason he's doing this isn't entirely selfless: he views humanity as an inferior species and yet is also jealous of their power over the elementals- something that the ancient angels cannot even claim. As such, he'll happily kill all humans to make room for the angels. It's also suggested, if not outright stated, that he's angry with God and will move heaven and earth to go against Him in any way he can.

* UnwantedRescue: After the Queen of Celdaria tumbles off a balcony and dies, Rielle manages to resurrect her. Upon being revived, Queen Genoveve weeps, wishing she had been left for dead so she could see her recently deceased husband again.

* VoidBetweenTheWorlds: The Deep is an empty pocket of nothing that exists between the world of Avitas and all other dimensions. Only the truly powerful can enter it and keep their physicality, something even the angels couldn't achieve.
* WasOnceAMan: Fidelia's crawlers were once women who have been mutated through experiments so as in to create monstrous soldiers for the Empire.

** Each element is closely associated with a particular weapon or armory: windsingers have arrows, sunspinners have swords, earthshakers use staffs, etc. Most elementals tend to create their castings in the shape of those weapons, though alternative castings can be made.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: In the Prophet's mind, the deaths of thousands of people pale in comparison to bringing an end Corien and, by extension, the Undying Empire.

--> "He had retrieved his gun and was shouting something at the angels still on the shore. Not in Venteran, nor in the common tongue, but in one of the angelic languages. [...] Lissar. He was speaking Lissar. [[spoiler:And the angels on the shore were listening to him]]."
* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: ''Lightbringer'''s epilogue [[spoiler:jumps forward five years after Corien's defeat and Rielle's death. Celdaria is still picking up the pieces from its battle with the angels. An alliance between wraiths and humans have been established. Audric adores his daughter, Eliana, and is taking pains to teach her that her powers are neither inherently evil nor inherently good. Ilmaire's stopped running away from his responsibility of being king, and now rules Borsvall alongside his husband, Leevi]].
* WildChild: Simon turns into a feral child after spending a year on the desolate mountain he was transported to. He quickly learns how to kill and skin animals in order to feed himself.
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: At twelve-years-old, Obritsa is able to perfectly act the part of the "stoic orphan turned sudden queen" while secretly being an agent for the human revolution. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] since she's been raised practically since birth for this role.
* WorstWeddingEver: Soon after his coronation, Audric marries Rielle. Everything seems to be going perfectly, and Rielle can't imagine being any happier. Then Corien takes over Ludivine's mind and reveals to the whole assembly exactly what happened to the former king, Audric's father. The wedding quickly devolves into chaos, coming to a head when Audric takes Rielle aside to question her about the lies she's told.
* WouldHurtAChild: Corien kidnaps elemental children and forces them to be his soldiers.
* WouldntHurtAChild: The main reason Corien is stealing elemental children to use them as soldiers is specifically to weaponize this ideology: he knows that many people would balk at killing a child which gives his army an advantage on the battlefield.
* WritersCannotDoMath: Remy's age and the subsequent age gap between him and Eliana changes a couple times throughout the series. The first flashback into Eliana's past we get in ''Furyborn'' says she made her first kill when she was twelve and Remy was five, meaning there should be an eight year age gap. However, another flashback in the same novel explains she was ten when her father disappeared and the text states Remy was an infant when that happened, in other words less than a year old, making their age gap about ten years.

%% StandardFantasySetting: The setting of the Second Age includes seven kingdoms, all of whom are head by one or two Kings, Queens, or some combination of thereof. Technology and culture tend to reflect

%% TheirFirstTime: After a heart-to-heart discussion about each of their powers, Rielle and Audric begin having sex, but are interupted before they get very far.

* HealingFactor: Any wounds Eliana incurs automatically heal within minutes. This trait goes away once her powers are unleashed.

* ExtraordinarilyEmpoweredGirl: The Blood and Sun Queen are human girls who can manipulate each available element, as well as a few other powers no elemental can claim.

* FaceHealTurn: Rielle wanted to become the long awaited Sun Queen, hero to country and crown. However, her overwhelming amount of power attracted Corien, who saw her as a way to return his brethren to their former glory. He dredges up her deepest fears- such as her ability to easily cause destruction, and how once everyone finds out what she is truly capable of, they'll turn against her- in order to further distance her from her loved ones. When these fears seem to be proven true, she ditches Audric, Ludivine, and everyone else and joins Corien.

* FaceHeelTurn: Rielle's story details her turn from a heroic icon for her country into the ally the angels have been waiting centuries for.

* AnachronicOrder: Each book begins with a prologue that shows what happened to Simon after being separated from the newborn princess. The first book in particular starts with Queen Rielle's last moments before jumping back two years. The rest of Rielle's story shows what she was like before she became the Blood Queen and how that
* {{Anaphora}}: A couple of Eliana's chapters in ''Lightbringer'' repeat the phrase "When Eliana awoke..." to accentuate the repetitive nature of her mind-speak induced dreams-turned-nightmares at the hands of Corien.happened. There is a 1,020 year time difference between Rielle and Eliana's plotlines, with most chapters alternating between these two eras.

* AnAesop: Forcing someone to fit into some preconceived notion of what makes the right kind of savior, child, lover, etc. will never end well. Ever since the prophecy stating the rise of the Sun and Blood Queens, people have built up the Sun Queen as this flawless being who epitomizes all things good and pure. Rielle wants to live up to that, but she inherently can't because, well, she's human: she's got flaws and feelings that can be inconvenient to herself and those around her. The more she struggles to fit into the unattainable ideal of the Sun Queen, the worse her mental state becomes. Eliana doesn't even bother trying because she sees herself as a monster; she chafes at the idea that she's somehow supposed to save everyone from what seems to be an unstoppable threat just because she's the daughter of some important people and has some extraordinary powers.

* AnachronicOrder: Each book begins with a prologue that shows what happened to Simon after being separated from the newborn princess. The first book in particular starts with Queen Rielle's last moments before jumping back two years. The rest of Rielle's story shows what she was like before she became the Blood Queen and how that happened. There is a 1,020 year time difference between Rielle and Eliana's plotlines, with most chapters alternating between these two eras.
* AnAesop: Forcing someone to fit into some preconceived notion of what makes the right kind of savior, child, lover, etc. will never end well. Ever since the prophecy stating the rise of the Sun and Blood Queens, people have built up the Sun Queen as this flawless being who epitomizes all things good and pure. Rielle wants to live up to that, but she inherently can't because, well, she's human: she's got flaws and feelings that can be inconvenient to herself and those around her. The more she struggles to fit into the unattainable ideal of the Sun Queen, the worse her mental state becomes. Eliana doesn't even bother trying because she sees herself as a monster; she chafes at the idea that she's somehow supposed to save everyone from what seems to be an unstoppable threat just because she's the daughter of some important people and has some extraordinary powers.

* ArrangedMarriage: Royal House Courverie and noble House Sauvillier have planned the marriage of Audric to Ludivine since each of their childhoods. Audric and Ludivine have known each other since birth and are close friends (and cousins), but neither of them are particularly eager to get married: Audric is in love with Rielle and Ludivine doesn't want to come between them. The arrangement eventually breaks down and Audric ends up marrying Rielle. %%stopped here

* TwoPartTrilogy: While the series was always intended to be three parts, ''Furyborn'' has a more definitive ending despite the fact that there's obviously still a lot more story to tell. It's plot mainly concerns itself with Rielle participating in the Sung Queen trials and Eliana discovering her powers and heritage, giving both of them more conclusive arcs. ''Kingsbane'' ends on a cliffhanger, something that ''Lightbringer'' directly picks up.

* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: Starting with ''Kingsbane'', other characters get chapters where they're front and center. This includes Corien, Simon, Navi, Ludivine, Jessamyn, Harkan, Audric, and Taliesin. %%stopped here

* AntiHumanAlliance: Angels hate humans due to them claiming land that, they feel, was rightfully theirs. They banded together in order to kill them off, starting the Angelic Wars. During Rielle's time, their anger shifted to hating humans because their Saints tricked them into an endless void that stripped them of their physicality.

* ApocalypseHow: The Undying Emperor hopes to bring about a [[ApocalypseHow/Class3A Class 3a]] apocalypse, specifically wiping out all of humanity and restoring the angels to their former glory. It's later suggested that not even other ''worlds'' are safe from him.
* ApocalypseMaiden: The Blood Queen was able to break the Gate, bringing the angels back and effectively restarting the Angelic Wars. She was also responsible for ending the age of elementals as her last powerful act of magic stifled any connection to the empirium elementals once had.
* ArrangedMarriage: The Courverie's and Sauvillier's have planned to marry Audric to Ludivine; the two of them are already engaged at the start of the series. Audric and Ludivine have known each other since childhood and are close friends (and cousins), but neither of them are particularly eager to get married: Audric is in love with Rielle and Ludivine doesn't want to come between them. The arrangement eventually breaks down and Audric ends up marrying Rielle.

* AbusiveParents: Rielle's father was once a [[GoodParents good parent]] before his wife's (unintentional) death at the hands of Rielle. After this event, he began to treat Rielle incredibly coldly either by not showing her any affection or ignoring her entirely. Throughout her childhood, she was constantly reminded by him that she's a "murderer" and dangerous, as well as bringing her to the lower parts of the castle and forcibly drugging her whenever a storm came through. Rielle believes that he would keep her locked in a room for the rest of her life if he could get away with it.
* AccidentalTimeTravel: Simon uses his marque magic to create a portal to Borsvall, hoping to hide the newborn princess among the Borsvall people. Rielle's final act of magic ends up changing his spell from jumping space to jumping time, which thrusts both him and the newborn 1,000 years into the future.

* AllYourPowersCombined: While the average elemental has access to only one element, the Queens of Prophecy have power over all seven. The Sun Queen is a heroic version whereas the Blood Queen is a villainous variant.

** In ''Kingsbane'', Eliana's brief trip to the Second Age altered the pasts of various characters and events of future-Ventera and not for the better.
** In ''Lightbringer'', after [[spoiler: successfully convincing Rielle to destroy Corien, Remy and future-Eliana disappear. The epilogue shows a new timeline in which Audric and his daughter are living happily in a slowly recuperating Celdaria]].

* AmbiguousSituation: [[spoiler:When Rielle defeats Corien, future-Eliana and Remy disappear since their timeline no longer came to pass. The epilogue only focuses on the aftermath of the battle with Corien, leaving it unclear what became of Navi, Harkan, and all the other Third Age characters.]]
* AmplifierArtifact: Eliana forges a casting in the hopes that it'll help her tap into the empirium more easily. It doesn't work that well at first, but as she slowly accepts her abilities, she obtains more control over them.
* AnachronicOrder: Each book begins with a prologue that shows what happened to Simon after being separated from the newborn Eliana. The first book in particular starts with Rielle's last moments before jumping back two years. The rest of Rielle's story shows what she was like before she became the Blood Queen and how that happened. There is a 1,020 year time difference between Rielle and Eliana's plotlines, with each chapter alternating between these two eras.
* AnAesop: Forcing someone to fit into your preconceived notions of what makes the right kind of savior, child, lover and so on will never end well. Ever since the prophecy stating the rise of the Sun and Blood Queens, people have built up the Sun Queen as this flawless being who epitomizes all things good and pure. Rielle wants to live up to that, but she inherently can't because, well, she's human: she's got flaws and feelings that can be inconvenient to herself and those around her. The more she struggles to fit into this unattainable ideal, the worse off she feels. Eliana doesn't even bother trying because she sees herself as a monster; she chafes at the idea that she's somehow supposed to save everyone from what seems to be an unstoppable threat just because she's the daughter of some important people and with one of their extraordinary powers.

* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: Starting with ''Kingsbane'', other characters get chapters where they're front and center. This includes Corien, Simon, Navi, Ludivine, Jessamyn, Harkan, Audric, and Taliesin.

[[caption-width-right:350:Sometimes being the Chosen One isn't all it's cracked up to be...]]

%% FeministFantasy: The series features two female leads that drive their own stories. %%Flesh out later

* SocietyOfImmortals: Angels are a race of immortals who existed long before humans did. %%flesh out later

* SpeciesLoyalty: Both humans and angels look down on those that sympathize with the other, to the point that [[HalfHumanHybrid marques]] are their only mutual enemy. %%flesh out later

* WouldHurtAChild: Corien kidnaps elemental children and forces them to be his soldiers. %%flesh out later
%% WouldntHurtAChild: The main reason Corien is stealing elemental children to use them as soldiers is specifically to weaponize this ideology: he knows that many people would balk at killing a child which gives his army an advantage on the battlefield.

%% YouMonster: Remy says this to Eliana upon finding out that she killed [[spoiler: their mother]].

* ThatPersonIsDead: Corien loathes being called by his angelic name, Kalmaroth. He views that version of himself as an embarrassing failure and would love to forget that he was ushered into the Deep like the rest of his brethren.