History Literature / TheNumairChronicles

* AchievementsInIgnorance: Because the Master who teaches Arram about plants talks to them with the help of his Gift and so helps them grow, Arram tries this on dried herbs he's grinding to make medicine and so restores their quality of freshness. In fact this ''is'' a known technique, but his teacher is surprised that he stumbled upon it.

** Even among his friends, he's teased and mocked for his sensitivity -- he hates slavery and gladiator games, and becomes sickened by the thought of people dying for no reason. Varice understands him enough to advise him to stop caring.
* AmbiguousDisorder: Ozorne's mother, Princess Mahira, is implied to have some kind of depression, possibly brought on by her husband's death. She has good days and bad days, and often gets lost in her own thoughts or rages.

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: Ozorne's father rode out with an army to quell a Sirajit 'rebellion' which Laman says was a routine scuffle between tribes, and used this as an excuse to kill everyone in all involved tribes, down to the children. A survivor who'd been in a town he rode through afterwards gave him poisoned wine. The entire situation was then propagandized, and Ozorne's father cast as a hero who'd died in battle.]]

* BitchInSheepsClothing: While Arram thinks of Ozorne as his good friend and a good person, it's ambiguous just how far Ozorne is in this book from how he is a decade and a half later in ''Literature/TheImmortals'', and it's a ForegoneConclusion that he'll break bad in a major way at some point in the trilogy. Even aside from Siraj, Ozorne has a cruel side that even his friends catch the edge of sometimes and he rarely apologizes. He's entirely willing to humiliate Arram by relating a PowerIncontinence story to his mother or having him dress in colors that make him look sickly, he resents when Arram starts to get better grades, and he has a general LackOfEmpathy, but is personable enough, and Arram so wants to be his good friend, that these faults are mostly overlooked.

** The Graveyard Hag likes Ozorne. She told Daine in ''Emperor Mage'' that before he began his megalomaniacal behaviour he'd courted her "like a maiden" to keep her favor.

** NeverMessWithGranny: She breaks her staff over Enzi's back when she finds out that the god had foisted a sunbird baby onto Arram. Enzi doesn't even get mad about it! He grumbles and agrees that he owes her an ebony stick to replace the one "I ''graciously'' allows you to break on my poor back."

* CanonCharacterAllAlong: Musenda Ogunsanwo, a.k.a. "Sarge" of the Queen's Riders. His name was first mentioned in the DramatisPersonae of ''Trickster's Choice'', where he made a cameo, however. His Royal Intelligence Service file was also seen in ''A Spy's Guide''.

* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: Unlike the main character of any other Tortall book, Arram is a boy. While all but Aly have to work and struggle while learning to develop their skills, Arram is just plain good at magic and after an early incident is never really shown learning and growing, and he overall has a good time in ''Tempests and Slaughter'', ending it with much more magical knowledge but no CharacterDevelopment.

* HypocriticalHeartwarming: At the start of the book Arram reflects that he doesn't feel much connection to his family and their passions for cloth are not interesting to him. Some chapters later Chioké sneers at Arram, lingering on his last name being "Draper", and Arram bristles, suddenly quite proud of his family's business.

* ExtremeDoormat: Ozorne has callous moments and can be imperious, and will do things like fly into a rage if he catches Arram eyeing Sirajit pastries, or tell his mother a story that Arram begs him not to because the memory is humiliating. For Arram, preserving their otherwise good relationship is more important than setting boundaries and he does his best to smooth things over, even when he's upset or angry. Varice pushes back against some things, but in other cases she advises Arram on how to avoid Ozorne's {{Berserk Button}}s.

* PalsWithJesus: Master Sebo (and later Arram) is a very good friend of the crocodile god Enzi. The Graveyard Hag also likes Arram, winking at him and helping Musenda to win a duel versus the bloodthirsty champion of the arena for him, but it's not as personable of a connection. Just as in ''The Immortals'', animal gods are easier to get along with than Great Gods.

* RealWomenDontWearDresses: Female mages are largely exempt from the household-related expectations that apply to other women, so Varice has to deal with this trope in-universe. She loves cooking, kitchen magic and similar things, but is repeatedly told that domestic magic is unimportant. She also has to deal with her father trying to stop her from learning kitchen magic, even though it's where her skills lie.