History Literature / TheSunSword

* AndIMustScream: The rituals that make the Kovaschaii assassins so powerful, and their link to the Lady, goddess of death, means their souls cannot escape their bodies until freed. Only other Kovaschaii know and can perform the ritual.
** Kallandras is the only Kovaschaii traitor ever, and he went into it knowing this would be his fate.

* ArcWords: The cradle song

* AscendedFanboy: Aidan

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Standard among the Kialli. Close to it among the Annagarians. A clever assassination and usurpation of power is more admired than hated.

* {{Backstory}}: Lots of it, even for the minor characters

* BloodKnight: Auralis

** [[spoiler: Anya]] also counts.
* BroughtDownToNormal: [[spoiler: Teresa]]

* CoolOldLady: Yollana

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Kiriel was raised in the Shining Court, surrounded by demons who tried to kill her. Her biological mother died giving birth to her and her adoptive mother was murdered by the demon who served as her mentor.

* DealWithTheDevil: Alesso enters into this with the Kialli of the Shining Court. He knows full well that demons have ChronicBackstabbingDisorder and that they're using him for their own ends. He just tries to use them for his ends at the same time.
** Also common within the Ten, the major Houses of Essalieyan. The actual royal court has provisions in place to limit the damage done by House wars.
* DeathByChildbirth: The fate of Diora's mother
** Also the very beginning of the first book, in which Askeyia is kidnapped and raped. Notable in that her kidnapping is explicitly because as healer-born she, unlike everyone else, can survive long enough to die ''in'' childbirth rather than ''before'' childbirth.

* DefrostingIceQueen:%%[[spoiler:Diora]] in ''Sea of Sorrows''

* EvilMentor: Isladar to Kiriel.
* FamilyOfChoice: Jewel's den
* FantasticHonorifics: Ser & Serra among the clansmen. Also Tyr & Tor.

* FantasyWorldMap: Right-justified though, not left

* HonorBeforeReason: The defining trait of clan Lamberto, as viewed by others. From the Lambertan perspective there are good reasons for their honor.
** And from the perspective of the Empire of Essalieyan, this is largely the hat of the entire Dominion.

* InhumanlyBeautifulRace: The demonic Kialli. The Arianni. Most non-humans are beautiful.
** Also subverted by the Kialli. Since they have to force the world to give them a form, they are only as beautiful as they care to be (not all care much about human aesthetics) and as they can force from the elements (not all have the skill to appear as anything but monsters)
* IronLady: The Voyani matriarchs tend to be this out of necessity since they have to lead their clans in the hostile and misogynist Dominion of Annagar
** The Kalakar also counts as this in spades.

* MissingMom:%%Diora's mother.

* [[AFatherToHisMen A Mother to Her Men]]: The Kalakar

* NervesOfSteel: Teresa who raised Diora to have them too.

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Kallandras [[spoiler: betrayed the Brotherhood, the assassins who are his only family, who he loves, to save the world. Not because he particularly loves the world, but because he loves them and they're saved in the process. His reward? They hate him, and when he dies none will come to release his soul from his body. He volunteers for AndIMustScream knowing this will happen]].
** They know exactly why he did it. They just don't care. HonorBeforeReason, a bit.

** [[spoiler: Avandar Gallais, previously Viandaran the Warlord of the Cities of Man]]

** This also plays into [[spoiler: Margret's return to the Tor Arkosa]].

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The odd system of Essalieyan accomplishes this. The kings are the sons of Cormaris, Lord of Wisdom, and Reymaris, Lord of Justice. They marry queens, and then the two gods beget sons on the queens who will be the new Wisdom-born and Justice-born kings. The result is a rather effective court ruled, well, wisely and justly.
** Also Princess Mirialyn, a rare daughter of the Wisdom-born king rather than his father. Having no divine parentage, she can't inherit, but she still effectively defends the capital and represents the Twin Kings' authority.
** And Valedan spends a long time trying to prove he can do things when royalty alone just isn't enough to win allies.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Markaso di'Leonne was widely disliked due to getting the Dominion involved in a costly war which he lost. That being said, not all of the clans are willing to support his assassination & the overthrow of Clan Leonne.

%%* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: The Shining Court of the Kialli is most definitely this, mostly minus the decadence. The Tor Leonne comes close, and the deadliness is again greater than the decadence.

* MagicalRomani: The Voyani. They have distinctive magic of their own, which includes {{Seer}} abilities.

* [[DamselOutOfDistress Damsels out of Distress]]: Teresa and Diora are gentle flowers of womanhood. They also pull this off sometimes.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Kiriel was raised in the Shining Court, surrounded by demons who tried to kill her. Her biological mother died giving birth to her & her adoptive mother was murdered by the demon who served as her mentor.

* DefrostingIceQueen: [[spoiler:Diora]] in ''Sea of Sorrows''
** Also, in a very unusual version, [[spoiler: Aidan and Valedan defrost Sir Anton di'Guivera into feeling affection again instead of just a need for retribution.]]

* TheDitz: Serra Fiona and Serra Marlena, especially when compared to the other clanswomen in the books

* GodOfEvil: Allasakar/The Lord of Night
* GodNeedsPrayerBadly: Subverted. The gods in heaven don't really seem to need much of anything.
** [[spoiler: The gods who remain on the mortal plane don't need prayer either. They need to consume souls regularly.]]

* HalfHumanHybrid: Kiriel
** Also the god-born, who have on divine parent and SupernaturalGoldEyes.

* {{Hellhound}}: Falloran

* HiddenDepths: Avandar Gallais

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters
* LongHairIsFeminine: Averted. Essalieyan men typically wear their hair long. Soldiers tie it back in a braid.

* MasterSwordsman: Anton di'Guivera
* {{Matriarchy}}: the Voyani
* MissingMom: Diora's mother

* OracularUrchin: what Jewel [=ATerafin=] used to be before she became a member of House Terafin.
** She's still oracular, and as she frequently notes, it's much easier to take the girl out of the street than the street out of the girl.
* OurDemonsAreDifferent

* ParentalSubstitute: Teresa for Diora.
** Ashaf for Kiriel.
** [[spoiler: And Sir Anton di'Guivera for Aidan, somewhat. Aidan's father isn't dead, just [[TheAlcoholic broken]]. Even when he gets better, Aidan still looks up to Anton, who in turn takes Aidan under his wing.]]

* ProudWarriorRace: The Dominion, so very much. The Lord respects strength above all.
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: The male ideal among the clans.
* PsychopathicManchild: Anya a'Cooper
** Kiriel hovers on the verge of this.

* SarcasmBlind: Kiriel.
* SatanicArchetype: The Lord of Night
* TheSavageSouth: The Dominion is seen as this by Northerners.

* {{Seers}}: Jewel [=ATerafin=] and Evayne a'Nolan

* StepfordSmiler: Diora
* TheStoic: Diora and Teresa

* TopWife: The Serras of the clans. A clansman's Serra is his principal wife & the ruler of his harem. It's her duty to select concubines for him & only her children are considered legitimate.
* TournamentArc: The primary plot of ''The Uncrowned King'' is centered around this.
** [[spoiler: It's also something of a ShaggyDogStory. Valedan disqualifies himself from the final challenge in the process of fighting a demon. Ultimately, he doesn't care about winning; his purpose was prove himself worthy, and he does so without even finishing the tournament.]]

* TheWildHunt: The court of the Arianni.
* TheWisePrince: Valedan evolves into this.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Inverted with Anya. She's the most powerful human mage to live for ages. She's utterly insane. She went mad and developed her powers at the same time, but it's unclear if they're linked or not.

* TheCavalry: Mareo di'Lamberto {[[spoiler: showing up with a huge army just as Jewel and her people are about to lose the bridge]] in ''The Riven Shield''

* TheCavalry: Mareo di'Lamberto showing up with a huge army just as Jewel and her people are about to lose the bridge in ''The Riven Shield''

* BadassGrandpa: Ser Anton di'Guivera. [[spoiler: Mostly motivated by the death of his wife and son and the fact that he can't be a grandpa.]]

* CrossingTheDesert: Much of the plot of 'Sea of Sorrows' consists of this. Margret has to cross the Sea of Sorrows to the site of the Tor Arkosa so she can be fully accepted as Matriarch.