History Literature / TheTroySaga

* CanonForeigner: There's quite a few characters here who have no counterpart in the the original ''Literature/TrojanCycle'' but Banokles and Kalliades are probably the most notable as they start out as minor Mykene characters from the end of the first book to becoming major characters throughout the remainder of the series' course.

* CompressedAdaptation: Aside from flashbacks and the DistantEpilogue, the main story of the series takes place over around 5-6 years. In comparison to the original Literature/TrojanCycle spanning multiple decades.

* LegendFadesToMyth: The underlining assumption of the series is that various events of the series will gradually evolve into the legends that makeup the Literature/TrojanCycle

* MagicalRealism: Various prophecies given by priests, seers, and [[TheCassandra Kassandra]] in an otherwise heavily {{Demythification}} take on the Literature/TrojanCycle

*** From what little time we spend with her we that Hekabe wasn't much better. Plotting the deaths of children Priam had before he wedded her and also speaking low of Laodike even when she's on her death bed.

* AdaptationalHeroism: In keeping with many other modern depictions of the Trojan War, Hektor here is arguably the most heroic and noble minded character in the entire series. While it wouldn't be fair to call him evil or a villain in Literature/TheIliad, some of his actions from the original material that would be more morally dubious to modern audiences are omitted here.

* AscendedExtra: Helikaon, or Aeneas, is this. While he was, obviously, the main character of Literature/TheAeneid, he was a minor character among many others in the original [[Literature/TheTrojanCycle Trojan Cycle]].

* BackToBackBadasses: Helikaon and Argurios personally hold off scores of battle-hardened Mykene soldiers during their attack on the Trojan Royal Palace. Even inspires Priam to take up his sword and ready to take one of their places should either fall.

* BadassArmy: While as a nation they're largely looked upon with disdain for the most part by the other kingdoms, no ones doubts the battlefield credentials of the Mykene Army. In ''Lord of the Silver Bow'', when the Trojan Royal Palace was under siege as part of a coup attempt, the defenders were more worried about the contingent of 200 Mykene than 1,000 Thrakians.

* DisproportionateRetribution: How many of the crew of the ''Xanathos'' feel in regards to Helikaon's decision on what to do with the captured Mykene pirate crew following a sea battle. Looking to avenge his friend, Zidantas, who was murdered by the captured Myekene's captain, Kolanos, who escaped the battle on another ship, Helikaon sets ablaze the captured Mykene vessel with the prisoners still held prisoner it on via GreekFire. Eventually becoming known as "The Burner" across the Mediterranean.

-->'''Tudhaliyas IV:''' Go, little Kings; seek out your plunder. But carry it back to your ships quickly. Any galley still in the Bay of Herakles come the dawn will be taken, and it's crews dismembered\\

* EndOfAnEra: Discussed in the first two books but in full effect by the time of the third book, fittingly titled ''Fall of Kings''. The war between the Mykene, the Trojans, and their allies, has bled them dry of both men and money. Even though the Mykene eventually emerge victorious, their conquest of Troy is extremely short-lived as the neighboring Hittite Empire forces them to abandon Troy within days of their conquest. In the subsequent decades, they're overrun by barbarians from the north, too depleted of resources to resist. Appropriately, the book overlaps with the RealLife end of an era, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Bronze_Age_collapse the Late Bronze Age Collapse]]

* LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair: The fates of both the Mykene and Trojan civilizations by the epilogue of the series. The once prosperous kingdom of Troy is destroyed by the war and the Hittite Emperor, believing the land cursed following its destruction, even orders that the remains of the city will be torn apart brick by brick.

* LoveAtFirstSight: Played completely straight with Helikaon falling in love with Andromache the moment he first sees her when he encounters her at night a sea port he's pulled up in, not even knowing who she was. He even notes to himself how odd it is as he's not one to develop close friendships and tries to keep his emotions guarded. For her part, Andromache doesn't think much of him at first, she didn't even know who he was either, but eventually does develop feelings for him as well over the course of the first book as well.

* MythologyGag: Odysseus is famed across the kingdom of the eastern Mediterranean for stories of his alleged adventures. When we're shown Odysseus recounting them, they're all references to events that make up ''Literature/TheOdyssey''.

* PraetorianGuard: The Trojan Eagles, Priam's bodyguards. While the unit is as a whole loyal, there have been instances of individuals or units of them being caught up in palace coups.
** The King's Followers for Agamemnon also act as this in addition to being his agents/spies abroad.

** In ''Lord of The Silver Bow'', Andromache is given a prophecy by a seer that she is destined to have three lovers;

-->''Beneath the Shield of Thunder waits the Eagle Child on shadow wings to soar above all city gates, till end of days, and fall of kings\\

* ProudWarriorRace: Deconstructed with the Mykene. They see themselves as this and their battle prowess certainly doesn't isn't in doubt but their constant warring, raids, and state-sponsored piracy has made them pariahs to all but their vassal states.

* TheSiege: The third and final book, ''Fall of Kings'', is almost entirely set around the famed siege of Troy finally taking place.
** Before that however was a smaller affair in the climax of the first book, ''Lord of the Silver Bow'', where a contingent of Mykene and Thrakian soldiers besieged the Trojan Royal Palace as a part of a palace coup attempt by one of Priam's sons that was covertly supported by Agamemnon.

The Troy Saga is a series of historical fantasy novels written by Creator/DavidGemmell, detailing a reimagining of the [[Literature/TrojanCycle Trojan War]]. Set in the late Bronze Age and in what is called in the time period "The Great Green" [[note]] The term used for the Mediterranean [[/note]], the series primarily follows three main characters. Helikaon, the troubled prince of Dardania and an ally of the golden city of Troy. Andromache the proud royal priestess of the isle of Thera fated to wed to Hektor, the crown prince of Troy. And Odysseus the ugly, but famed story-telling, King of Ithaka.

!!This series provides examples of:

* MadScientist: Khalkeus, a craftsman and inventor who built Helikaon's ship and is constantly trying to find and develop a better metal than bronze. For his eccentric (antisocial) ways he's called the "Madman from Miletos", a nickname he hates because he's ''not'' from Miletos. By the end of the series he discovers iron and makes a sword out of it, but is killed by Mykene soldiers after he gets snappy at them (akin to the historical Archimedes). But it's suggested by Kassandra that the Hittites who kicked the Mykene out of the former Troy will find and build upon his work.

In addition to the aformentioned, [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters the series features a cast size befitting of its epic scope]] that ranges from the famed characters of [[Creator/{{Homer}} Homer's]] ''Literature/TheIliad'' to characters of more humble stock created for this series. The trilogy chronicles the years both leading up to and during the epic conflict that comes to be called the end of "The Age of Heroes".

''Lord of the Silver Bow'' (2005)

''Shield of Thunder'' (2006)

''Fall of Kings'' (2007)[[note]] After Gemell's death in 2006 his wife, Stella Gemell, completed the third book [[/note]]

** By the end of the third book, it's implied that [[spoiler:the eruption at Thera is what sets off the Plagues of Egypt as a series of natural disasters/phenomena, starting with the great darkness.]]

* EasyLogistics: Averted hard when war betweawen Troy and the western kingdoms led by the Mykene breaks out:

* EasyLogistics: Averted hard when war between Troy and the western kingdoms led by the Mykene breaks out:

->''"Beneath the Shield of Thunder waits the Eagle Child on shadow wings to soar above all city gates, till end of days, and fall of kings."''\\

* CallThatAFormation: Averted, while the average Mykene soldier is a skilled fighter, what makes the Mykene Army so successful and feared is them staying in a strct phalanx formation in battle.

-->''"Beneath the Shield of Thunder waits the Eagle Child on shadow wings to soar above all city gates, till end of days, and fall of kings."''\\

** Achilles is even mentioned in the first book, is only a background character in the second, but is eventually promoted to main cast status by the time of the third book.

* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: When the Mykene and other western kingdoms finally launch a direct invasion of Troy, Agamemnon and the other western kings take up residence in the various royal palaces on the outside of the city that characters such as Helikaon and Paris lived in.
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: Brutally deconstructed with Helikaon's (Aeneas) mother who here is not Aphrodite but was a mortal Queen who died when she jumped off a cliff believing she was being invited to go to Olympus by Aphrodite.

* ArrangedMarriage: Just about all the major characters of noble birth who are married are either already in one or are in the engagement stage.

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: A minor example all things considered given he largely appears in flasbacks but Ramses gets this as from what we see in Gershom's flashbacks show him being a very arrogant, hot-headed PrinceCharmless who planned to have one his servants executed for accidently bumping into him. [[spoiler: Gets taken to whole another level when it's revealed Gershom is Moses and so this makes Ramses, once again, the Pharaoh of The Exodus]]

* TheProphecy: The page quote is one that Priam and Hekabe were given one years before the events of the series that serves as the motivation for many of their actions in the series. Believing it foretells the birth of a ChosenOne who will lead the city of Troy to eternal greatness.

* {{Demythification}}: Aside from possible visions of the future via seers, near-death experiences, and [[TheCassandra Kassandra]], just about all the mythical elements of the conflict from the original stories/myths are excised in this iteration. Odysseus tells fantastical tales akin to events in the ''Odyssey'', like a run-in with a Cyclops, ''before'' they've supposed to have happened.

** The "Trojan Horse" is the name for the Trojan cavalry, and so the fabled trick with the Trojan Horse is simply the besiegers [[DressingAsTheEnemy dressing as them]] and then opening the gates once inside.

** Argurios finds himself stripped of his lands, declared an enemy of the state, and exiled for killing a Mykene soldier who attempted to kill Helikaon. Arguurios was traveling with Helikaon at the time and social custom of the time dictated that he endure the same obstacles of whoever he was travelling with (the "Law of the Road").

The Troy Saga is a series of historical fantasy novels written by Creator/DavidGemmell, detailing a reimagining of the [[Literature/TrojanCycle Trojan War]]. Set in the late Bronze Age and in what is called in the time period "The Great Green" [[note]] The term used for the Mediterranean [[/note]], the series primarily follows three main characters. Helikaon, the troubled prince of Dardania and an ally of the golden city of Troy. Andromache the proud royal priestess of the isle of Thera fated to wed to Hektor, the crown prince of Troy. And Odysseus the ugly, but famed story-telling, King of Ithika.

* AnyoneCanDie: And many do. Crosses over with DoomedByCanon for the characters who originated with the original myths but also very applies to the characters created for this series. By the end of the final book, [[spoiler: Argurious, Laodike, Banokles, Hektor, Achilles, Piria, Kassandra, Antiphones, Deiphobus, Agamemnon, Priam, Polites,and Hekabe ]] are all killed with characters like [[spoiler: Kalliades, Odysseus, Xander, Skorpius]] left to UncertainDoom.

** Banokles and Kalliades, two minor Mykene soldiers referenced to in Argurious' sections in the first book and given some POV sections just near the end, get promoted to the main character status in the following two subsequent books.

* BackToBackBadasses: Helikaon and Argurious personally hold off scores of battle-hardened Mykene soldiers during their attack on the Trojan Royal Palace. Even inspires Priam to take up his sword and ready to take one of their places should either fall.

** In ''Fall of Kings'', Odysseus, Achilles, Helikaon, Andromache, and the respective crews of the ''Bloodhawk'' and ''Xanathos'' lead a liberation of Ithika and rescue of Penelope after it had been overrun by vengeful pirates.

* TheCoup: The climax of the first novel sees Helikaon, Argurious, Andromache and much of the rest of those present at the Trojan Royal Palace fending off one led by [[spoiler: Prince Agathon, younger brother of Hektor,]] leading Thrakian mercenaries and Mykene pirates in attempt to seize the throne.

* {{Demythification}}: Aside from possible visions of the future via seers, near-death experiences, and [[TheCassandra Kassandra]], just about all the mythical elements of the conflict from the original stories/myths are excised in this iteration.
** The most notable example of this is when in the in the first book Odysseus makes reference to a story about a witch-queen who turns men into pigs, clearly referencing Circe. Early on in the second book we actually meet Circe and she's just an elderly pig farmer who Odysseus sometimes does business with.

** Andromache starts off the second book paying her respects at tomb containing the bodies of Argurious and Laodike.

** Gershorm is on the run for killing two Egyptian Royal Guardsmen who were attempting to rape a slave.
** Argurious finds himself stripped of his lands, declared an enemy of the state, and exiled for killing a Mykene soldier who attempted to kill Helikaon. Arguurious was traveling with Helikaon at the time and social custom of the time dictated that he endure the same obstacles of whoever he was travelling with.

* HeritageFaceTurn: Gershorm isn't evil but eventually does this when he finds out [[spoiler: He was born a slave that was swapped at birth with the dead body of a royal baby that died during childbirth. Turn's out he's Moses]]

* HeroOfAnotherStory: Gershorm. [[spoiler: We know him better as Moses]]

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: A minor example all things considered given he largely appears in flasbacks but Ramses gets this as from what we see in Gershorm's flashbacks show him being a very arrogant, hot-headed PrinceCharmless who planned to have one his servants executed for accidently bumping into him. [[spoiler: Gets taken to whole another level when it's revealed Gershorm is Moses and so this makes Ramses, once again, the Pharaoh of The Exodus]]

* HonorBeforeReason: A common flaw found in many of the characters throughout the series, occasionally characters such as Andromache or Gershorm point this out when they believe it gets particularly ridiculous.
** Argurious' code of honor and deference to social customs sees him defending Helikaon from other fellow Mykene while they're traveling together on a public road to meet the King of Blue Owl Bay. Him killing a Mykene for attempting to kill Helikaon while his back was turned ends up with him getting exiled from Mykene for it. The kicker is Argurious hated Helikaon as much as any Mykene and would have killed him at the first chance he got if circumstances were right.

* LastRequest: Played with, Priam promised Argurious that if they survived the night of the attempted coup attempt he would grant whatever request that was asked of him. By the end of the night, they've won the battle but Argurious is dying and absent-mindedly says the only thing he would want to see by that point is the Mykene soldiers sent home unharmed. Later when the Mykene soldiers are surrounded and disarmed, Priam surprises everyone by saying he'll allow the Mykene attackers to be escorted back to their ships unharmed (provided they kill their commander, Kolanos, and make it he can hear his screams from the top of his tower).

* NefariousPharaoh: What we see and here of Ramses in the series doesn't paint him in the best light. His first indirect mention is him launching an invasion of the Hittite Empire that culminates in the real-life Battle of Kadesh and what we see in Gershorm's flashbacks paints him as a cruel PrinceCharmless who planned on executing palace servants for simply bumping into him. [[spoiler: Goes to a whole new level when he see that since Gershorm is Moses, that makes Ramses the Pharaoh of the Exodus.]]
* NobleFugitive: Gershorm is clearly this from what we gather from his backstory. [[spoiler: Turns how he's Moses in the period of his life where he killed two Egyptian Royal Guardsmen for attempting to rape a slave]]

** Argurious gets exiled and declared an enemy of the Mykene for coming to Helikaon's protection when he was traveling with the latter and killing a Mykene assasin when they tried to attack Helikaon with his back turned. The kicker is he only did so because he was observing a Mkyene social custom known as the "Law of the Road" that states Mykene are to share in the same hardships of those they are traveling with. He would have gladly killed Helikaon if he were giving the chance, social customs permitting.
** Gershorm is on the run from Egypt for killing two Royal Guards who attempted to rape a slave.

** Part of Argurious' story over the course of the first book is realizing how his strict code of honor puts him at odds with just about all other prominent Mykene that Agamennon favors and how hated the Mykene are outside their borders.

* TogetherInDeath: Both Laodike and Argurious die the same night of the besiegement of Priam's Palace by Agathon and the Mkyene. Priam's revealed to have built a tomb to house their remains in the second book, honoring their love for one another.

* WhatTheHellHero: Both Gershorm and Andromache give this to Helikaon at separate points in ''Fall of Kings'', castigating him for becoming no better than the Mykene pirates he hates with his brutal raids on Mykene and other allied coastal towns as part of the war effort.
* TheWomenAreSafeWithUs: What gets Hektor to agree to his fateful duel with Achilles is that Agamemnon promises, with Odysseus given him assurances that they'll follow through, that the women and children of Troy (except those of the royal family) will be allowed to leave the city before the duel and escorted to neutral kingdoms.

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Helikaon's killing and body desecration of the Mykene pirate, Alektruon, is the start of him being considered a national enemy of the Mykene but by the time of third book, Helikaon barely even remembers the man when he's challenged by a family relative of his.

* AnyoneCanDie: Crosses over with DoomedByCanon for the characters who originated with the original myths but also very applies to the characters created for this series.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In first book it's referenced once the volcano that forms the basis of the isle of Thera once erupted decades ago and brought great destruction on the surrounding kingdoms. [[spoiler: Sure enough in the final book, the volcano erupts once more and begins to usher in what Kassandra calls the new age of darkness. Going by the time period setting of the book, implied to the [[historical https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Dark_Ages Greek Dark Age]]

** The biggest one from the first book, ''Lord of the Silver Bow'', when during the besiegement of the Royal Palace, Hektor arrives at the last minute with reinforcements that encircles the invading Mykene and Thrakians. Hektor personally cuts down scores of Mykene soldiers who tried to in vein fend him off. Banokles later comments seeing Hektor in battle was liking see Ares decided to come to the aide of the Trojans given how well he fought.

* RapePillageAndBurn: A common recurrence throughout the series, in particular a favorite tactic of Mykene pirates. By the time of the war, Priam's war strategy is send Helikaon to lead raids on the Mykene coastlines hoping to draw forces away from their invasion of Thrakia.

* WatchingTroyBurn: Amusingly does not happen to the city you think it would. Rather near the end of the second book, when crossing the Hellespont back into Anatolia, Trojans soldiers can see from a distance that Dardanos, the capital of Dardania and Helikaon's kingdom, has been set aflame by a Mykene raiding expedition.

* VoluntaryVassal: Troy here is a tribute kingdom of the Hittite Empire, Hektor has even served in the Hittite Army in it's wars against Egypt. The reason the conquest of Troy by the Mykene is so short is that they are forced to abandon it by the arrival of 30,000 strong army led by the Hittite Emperor, who does not take kindly to one his most loyal vassal states being destroyed by foreign plunderers.
* WarRefugees: [[spoiler: The Seven Hills settlement becomes populated with survivors of Troy and Dardania following the fall of Troy.]]
* WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou: Many Trojans, and the peoples of other kingdoms, believe that should Hektor fall Troy will not last much longer without him to lead the city to victory.
* WhamEpisode: At the end of ''Shield of Thunder'', the capital of Dardania is sacked by a Mykene raiding party [[spoiler: that sees it's Queen and Helikaon's wife, Halysia, die in the defense of it]]. Showing that Troy and it's major allies are far more vulnerable than it thinks and it's forces too spread out to properly defend it's home territories.
* TheWomenAreSafeWithUs: What gets Hektor to agree to his fateful duel with Achilles is that Agamemnon promises, with Odysseus given him assurances that they'll follow through, that the women and children of Troy (except those of the royal family) will be allowed to leave the city before the duel and escorted to neutral kingdoms.

* DawnOfAnEra: The epilogue of the series has hints of this with, the final chapter even being titled "A New Day", [[spoiler: Helikaon, Andromache, and other Trojan and Dardanian refugees from the conflict having setup a new life and kingdom [[Main/AncientRome on a series of seven hills somewhere in the far west of the Great Green]] ]].

* DespairEventHorizon: When Hektor is killed in his duel with Achilles,those left in Troy know they are on borrowed time.

The Troy Saga is a series of historical fantasy novels written by Creator/DavidGemmell, detailing a reimagining of the [[Literature/TrojanCycle Trojan War]]. Set in the late Bronze Age and in what is called in the time period "The Great Green" [[note]] The term used for the Mediterranean [[/note]], the series primarily follows three main characters. Helikaon, the troubled prince of Dardania and an ally of the golden city of Troy. Andromache the proud royal priestess of the isle of Thera fated to wed to Hektor, the crown prince of Troy. And Odysseus the ugly, but famed story-telling, King of Ithika. In addition to the aformentioned, [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters the series features a cast size befitting of its epic scope]] that ranges from the famed characters of [[Creator/{{Homer}} Homer's]] ''Literature/TheIliad'' to characters of more humble stock created for this series. The trilogy chronicles the years both leading up to and during the epic conflict that comes to be called the end of "The Age of Heroes".