History Main / Myth

[[redirect:{{Mythology}}]]

[[redirect:VideoGame/{{Myth}}]]

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->''"In a time long past, the armies of the Dark came again into the lands of men. Their leaders became known as The Fallen Lords, and their terrible sorcery was without equal in the west. For sixty years, they reduced the civilized nations to carrion and ash, until the free city of Madrigal alone defied them. An army gathered there, and a desperate battle was joined against the Fallen. Heroes were born in the fire and bloodshed of the wars which followed, and their names and deeds will never be forgotten."''
-->-[[WarWasBeginning Opening Crawl]]

->''"[[DeadpanSnarker Casualty.]]"''

''Myth: The Fallen Lords'' and ''Myth 2: Soulblighter'' are a pair of classic Real Time Tactics games for PC and Mac produced by {{Bungie}}, the studio now famous for the ''{{Halo}}'' series, which contains at least one ShoutOut to them.

Heavily inspired by the ''BlackCompany'' novels and battle scenes from ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'', the games tell the story of an epic war between the living and TheUndead, led by the eponymous Fallen Lords. They represent one of the first attempts to create a strategy game with no base building, instead giving each side a fixed number of units per level. What also sets this game apart from many others is its highly realistic and revolutionary for its time physics engine. Almost everything is potentially a projectile and everything is affected by its surroundings. This creates a certain unpredictability on the battlefield and can lead to horrible/funny outcomes.

A prequel, ''Myth III: The Wolf Age'' was produced by GOD games and developed by Mumbo Jumbo. It was rushed through development and released with no play testing, resulting in a game that was borderline unplayable until a much later fan-made patch fixed some bugs.

The series boasted of a vibrant modding community that lasted well into the next decade. This included entire, full-length fan-made campaigns with new factions. Some of these rivaled the original in quality and a few were even included in the ''Total Codex'' re-release.

Not to be confused with the [[MythAdventures book series of the same name]] by Robert Asprin.
----

!!This series provides examples of:
* ActionBomb: The wights are [[DeadWeight bloated gas filled animated corpses]] that explode paralyzing everyone within range.
* AfterTheEnd: The first game starts out like this.
* TheAlliance: The survivors of the Cath Bruig Empire, the Dwarves of Myrgard, the Free Cities of the North, and the [[OurElvesAreBetter fir'Bolg]]. Time and budget constraints prevented the inclusion of a fifth, the [[SnakePeople Skrael]].
* AllTrollsAreDifferent:
** They're called trow. They were created from stone by the goddess Nyx and actually predate all other races in the world of ''Myth''. They are immortal (the Undying type) but incapable of reproducing. They exist primarily to scare and kick the hell out of noobs.
** There are trolls in the Seventh God expansion, too. They're moss-covered creatures of living stone that can pretend to be boulders.
* AnimatedArmor: Stygian Knights.
* AncientArtifact: Plenty. The Ibis Crown, Balmung, The Tain, The Total Codex, The Rod of the Callieach, the fragments of [[{{God}} the Wyrd]], which are the source of all the Dream magic in the world.
* AnotherDimension: [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace The Tain.]] In the first game, it was shattered, and in the second, you go into one of the fragments. [[EldritchLocation There are whole areas inside that are just... not there.]]
* ArcNumber: [[http://myth.bungie.org/legends/delusions/connections.html 7.]]
* ArrowsOnFire: The archers have this as a single-use ability.
* ArtificialStupidity:
** The AI is generally good with one exception - ranged units don't check that their target is clear of nearby friendly units, resulting in lots of friendly fire. That's not a bug, it's a feature. Seriously, it was listed as one.
--->'''Dwarf:''' Incoming!\\
'''Announcer:''' Casualties.\\
'''Dwarf:''' sorry about that.
** The AI in ''The Wolf Age'' is pretty terrible with enemies often forgetting to attack, use special abilities, or just getting stuck for no reason. Worst of all are the Trow, as 90% of the time ''the only way'' to beat them is exploit their deliberately broken AI, which will always chase the closest unit. Since unlike ''Myth I'' and ''Myth II'' they are not the fastest units, you can easily lead them in circles with a single soldier while your ranged units destroy them. It just takes forever and gets old really fast.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking:
** The Avatara. [[AllThereInTheManual According to the]] {{GURPS}} book for the setting, they are required by long standing tradition to be experts with weapon combat, in addition to being magical powerhouses.
** Averted in the second game with the baron, who is a cowardly overweight old man, despite being the first necromancer you beat in the game.
* BackFromTheBrink:
** One human city remains unsacked at the start of the first game. [[spoiler: And then, toward the end of the game, [[ItGotWorse it gets sacked]]]].
** ''The Wolf Age'' also starts with mankind nearly extinct due to a thousand years of being hunted by the myrkridia. Only a single city and a few isolated tribes of barbarians are still standing.
* BackFromTheDead:
** Shiver gets killed offscreen during the first game and comes back as something resembling a female shade in the sequel.
** All the incarnations of the Leveler.
* BadassArmy:
** The Legion from the first game is this. However, it also means that the guys in charge always send them where the fighting is going to be the ugliest, as noted by the author of the journal. Just before meeting a Trow for the first time.
** Connacht's company in the Llancarfanian army, known as "The Devil Slayers" for their fearlessness in battle against the myrkridia.
* BadassBoast:
** Connacht, when asked how he beat back the myrkridia.
--->'''Connacht:''' You lose because you are fearful of them. They can smell it on you and they will kill you for it. When the devils stare into your eyes show them only your rage and your hate! Make them know that it is they who should be fearful. Of you.
** The Trow description in ''Myth III'' has one.
--->... late in the Age of Reason, Avatara made contact with the Trow to speak of peace. The Avatara told of human cities and castles built by their hand. The Trow stated, "The first buildings on land were our creation." The Avatara spoke of the powerful sorceries mastered by humans. The Trow said, "The first magics were created by the Callieach. We slew them."
* BarbarianHero: Connacht [[BadassNickname The Wolf]] - the greatest hero ([[FallenHero and later villain]]) in the history of ''Myth''.
* BigBad:
** Balor in ''The Fallen Lords''.
** Soulblighter in Myth II, even though he was just TheRemnant and not [[UltimateEvil The Leveler]].
* BiggerBad: The Leveler is always the bad guy, and is invincible, sort of. There's a monologue about it.

--> Although the hero of every age of light is different, every dark age is ushered in by the same beast - a transient divinity that seeks only conflict - The Leveler. And so Tireces returned as Moagim, to end the Age of Reason - and Connacht, the great hero of the Wind Age, returned as Balor, to lay waste to the greatest empire the world had ever known. The Leveler was never killed. He was immobilized by sorcery, beheaded and burned at the stake in the Second Era. A thousand years later, he was drawn and quartered on the plains before Ileum, the tireless horses dragging the pieces of his lifeless body to the four corners of the world. Again in the Fourth Era, his body was destroyed by fire, his ashes mixed with salt and buried under the Mountains of Kor. Balor, Moagim and all those before them wore the Mantle of The Leveler.
* BigBadWolves: And how!
* TheBerserker: The [[ShapedLikeItself aptly named]] human berserks.
** Also the myrkridia, who go berserk when injured enough. Unfortunately, their "I'm going berserk now!" animation take long enough that they often don't get to enjoy it.
* BerserkButton: Even centuries later, Balor ''really'' doesn't like anything to to do with the myrkridia. [[spoiler:Alric uses this to his advantage]].
* BladeOnAStick: Soulblighter's glaive, which was his weapon of choice back when he was captain of the Heron Guard, even though they traditionally use two swords.
* BoringInvincibleHero: Connacht in the ''Myth III'', up to utterly exterminating a race no other human force had ever fought and lived, because he's just that {{badass}}. ''Twice''. The only battle he loses is also the only one where he doesn't fight personally.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: The [[ShapedLikeItself aptly named]] Deceiver.
* ColonelMakepeace: The eight good sorcerers who aren't Alric.
* CombatMedic: The Heron Guard.
* {{Cool Gate}}s: The World Knots are an ancient [[PortalNetwork network]] of portals, which are connected in pairs. Luckily the bad guys can't make use of them.[[hottip:*:Except for the Deceiver who does make use of one, so the Nine blow it up.]] You can always count on one of them to appear [[DeusExMachina exactly when and where it is needed]].
* TheCaptain:
** Alric.
** Connacht is a general for most of Myth III, though he's allowed to run his army anyway he sees fit.
* DeadpanSnarker: The narrator has moments of this in Myth 1, such as "Until now, Murgen said, no man except (the Tain's) creators knew where its victims were taken. I'll try to feel privileged while I starve to death." And whenever you lose a unit, a deadpan voice mocks you with "Casualty."
* DeadWeight: The wights, but only in ''Myth III''. They're quite slim in the first two games.
* DecoyProtagonist: The early levels of ''Myth II'' follow the heroics and inspired tactics of the narrator's commander in the legion. He is unceremoniously killed in Soulblighter's first appearance in the narrative.
* DemonicInvaders:
** Fetch were pulled out AnotherDimension by Ballor. They wear the skins of their enemies and when they die, their essence flies off in the sky, so nobody knows what they really look like.
** The myrkridia were similarly brought to the ''Myth'' world by Moagim.
* TheDragon: The Watcher is this by his own agenda. He could easily be the most powerful person in the world, but then he would become The Leveler, and would be Screwed By Destiny, so he makes sure he's always second-best. He was the first lich, invented the ability to reanimate the dead, and has lived since slightly after the dawn of man.
* DyeOrDie: Connacht is given command of his own army by the Cath Bruig Emperor, under the condition he shaves his BeardOfBarbarism, so he doesn't look like a wild savage. He complies by [[BaldOfAwesome shaving his head completely]].
* TheEmpire: Subverted, as the Cath Bruig Empire were the good guys - that is until Balor and his minions sacked it and reanimated it's inhabitants as walking dead.
* EleventhHourSuperpower: The sword Balmung, used by Alric in the final battle, which kills myrkridia in seconds and casts ChainLightning on everything he hits. The only real danger during that mission is getting your own troops fried by accident (the wrecked sword can be seen on the ground in the last seconds of the level, explaning its absence in the finale).
* EliteMooks: Trow, fetch, myrmidons, myrkridia, dwarven mortars, warlocks and the various priest units in ''Myth III'' all far more dangerous than the standard grunts on both sides.
* EnemyMine: The Deceiver.
* EnemyCivilWar: At one level in the first game (Seven Gates), the armies of the Deceiver and the Watcher clash, allowing the player to pick off the survivors.
* EverybodysDeadDave: The Legion get completely slaughtered in the final battle in both ''The Fallen Lords'' and ''Soulblighter''.[[hottip:*:This can be averted in the second game on the lower difficulties if you charge ahead with [[OneManArmy Alric]].]] In the first game even the narrator is implied to have been killed and Alric is pretty much the SoleSurvivor only because he wasn't present for the last level. Even this is a retcon, as you can see his severed head flying past in the ending video.
* EverythingFades: Averted to the extreme, as you lay permanent waste to the landscape. ''Awesomely''. Bloodstains, craters, heads, limbs, even broken arrows and bits of armor remain until the level ends. This is tactically relevant, especially in multiplayer, as you can see where battles have occurred before you got there. Furthermore, [[OurGhoulsAreCreepier ghols]] can pick up discarded weapons or even [[GrievousHarmWithABody body parts]], particularly those of the [[ActionBomb wights]], and [[ImprovisedWeaponUser hurl them at the enemy]].
* ExpandedUniverse: The comic book and the {{GURPS}} ''Myth'' roleplaying game.
* FakeDifficulty: Compared to modern RTS, the controls of the first game are extremely unwieldy and the camera isn't exactly great too. Can be very annoying, considering that the game loves attacks from different directions, fast skirmisher enemies, suicide bomber enemies that deal massive damage, and is generally micromanagement-intensive.
* FallenHero: Most of the commanders of the armies of the Dark were once the good guys. You even get to play as them in the prequel.
* FiveBadBand: The five Fallen Lords encountered in the game.
** BigBad: Balor;
** TheDragon: Soulblighter;
** TheBrute: The Watcher;
** EvilGenius: The Deceiver;
** DarkChick: Shiver.
* FiveManBand: The Fallen Lords back when they were still human, minus [[{{Necromancer}} The Watcher]].
** TheHero / TheBigGuy: Connacht;
** TheLancer: Damas;
** TheSmartGuy: Myrdred;
** TheChick: Ravanna.
* FlatWorld: Hinted at in the first game's manual.
-->Back when I joined up with the Legion there was a mad Journeyman who regaled anyone too tired to move away with his theory about the Edge of All - that line between the land and nothingness out beyond the kingdom of Gower, where Connacht arose. He claimed the world is double-sided and constantly spinning, like a coin tossed in the air, and the living and the dead are held to its surface by sorceries too powerful for humans to master. [[hottip:*: Though he may have been referring to the ViciousCycle.]]
* ForTheEvulz: The Fallen Lords have no real motivation but evil for the sake of it. They are, of course, being lead by the Leveler, described in the game as "a transient divinity that seeks only conflict".
* FriendlyFireproof: Averted. See ArtificialStupidity.
* GameMod: Countless, especially after ''Myth II'' and its bundled editing tools. While most are "simply" new multiplayer maps or sets of units (Civil War, Wild West, WWII and the like), a few easily rival the original game.
** ''Chimera'', a sequel to ''Myth II'' that was made with help from Bungie. Confirmed to be canon.
** ''The Seventh God'', a game-sized total conversion that takes place on another continent in the ''Myth'' world, and is more of a traditional fantasy land.
** ''Mazzarin's Demise'', a legendary fight in the ''Myth'' universe that took place over a full day between the last of the magical heroes of Light and the forces of Darkness lead by the Watcher. Canonically, the dark side won, but the mod allows you to ScrewDestiny. Be warned, however - it is exactly as hard as the canon battle, and most players have never beaten it.
* GeoEffects: Rain and snow means that there is a larger chance or dwarven explosives not working. High ground gives big bonuses to ranged attack units. The use of the flame arrow in the second game also depends upon the terrain.
* {{Giant Mook}}s: Trow, Forrest Giants and Myrkridia Giants.
* GodIsDead: Wyrd, the creator of the ''Myth'' world, was actually killed by the dark goddess Nix, presumably because he didn't ask her permission first (and built it on a world she had just finished and populated with the Trow). His body was ripped to pieces, which were scattered around the world and became known as the fragments of Wyrd. The Callieach first discovered them and figured how to harness his power to cast Dreams - the main type of magic in ''Myth'', some of which were later copied by the Avatara and various other races.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: The Total Codex - a biography on every person who will ever live. It gives more or less arbitrary information every time it's opened. Only the most skillful of mages can open it on a page that is actually relevant to their fate. ''Myth III'' retcons this somewhat by claiming that several important events were not written in the Codex.
* HerdHittingAttack: Quite a few. You've got the Dispersal Dream, The Watcher's Volcano Dream, Moagim's Vortex Dream, Alric's chain lightning attack with Balmung, the Trow iron warrior's basic hammer attack, the ghol priest's tornado attack, the myrkridia giant's exploding skulls, the dwarven mortars and the canon blasts, the dwarf smith's flamethrower, Ravanna's spinning attack, the warlock's fireballs and of course Mjarin's insta-kill ginormous firewalls.
* HeroUnit: Besides the various sorcerers and commanders, the first two games have a single mission where you command a handful of heavily enhanced "champion" versions of your basic units. ''Myth III'' has several missions with hero units only.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The Watcher is defeated by Alric, using [[spoiler: arrows with tips made from the bones of his own severed hand]], which he lost escaping from his stone prison centuries before.
* HopelessWar: Conveyed particularly brutally in the first game.
-->"It can't be hopeless." Two nights ago half a dozen men and I crouched around a campfire, trying to stay warm, and one of them said those words. [...] Tonight I sit by a campfire fifty miles northwest, remembering the way he screamed this morning when four thrall surrounded him, knocked the sword from his good hand, and hacked him to pieces.
* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: Timid, Simple, Normal, Heroic and Legendary.
* IKnowYourTrueName: Hinted at in one of the mission briefings.[[hottip:*:Note that all the Fallen's true names are known, so this may very well be a mistake by the the narrator.]]
-->They hope to use the [[spoiler:Watcher's arm]] against him, if we find it. Rather like knowing his true name, only better. Again, I don't pretend to understand.
* LevelEditor: Very powerful map-making programs called Fear and Loathing come with the game.
* LifeOrLimbDecision: The Watcher tore off one of his arms to escape from his prison. Since he was immortal, it was more like a Liberty Or Limb Decision.
* LightIsNotGood: While for the most part good and evil are identified with the Light and the Dark, respectively, Balor wears a suit of gleaming white platemail. Probably a leftover from his days as emperor of the Cath Bruig Empire.
* LightningBruiser: The biggest units in the game are also the fastest. The trow, forest giants, and myrkridian giants can outrun anything on the ground and can destroy armies in short order. The spider queen is the fastest thing in the game, but not nearly as strong as the above three.
* LittleHeroBigWar:
** The whole tale is told from the view of low ranking soldiers, as inspired by the ''BlackCompany'' books.
** Averted in ''The Wolf Age'', which goes for a traditional HeroicFantasy narrative, losing much of the iconic atmosphere of the series in the process.
* MagicKnight: All Avatara are archmages. However, as a condition for joining [[TheOrder that Order]], they are also required to display competence with the sword. This is meant to show their willingness to lead in battle, and to remind them not to neglect the mundane while studying the arcane. Some only payed lip service to this requirement, others took to it with relish, but regardless each Avatara is deadly in melee combat in addition to their ability to cast army-shattering spells.
* MartyrdomCulture:
** According the the {{GURPS}} source book for Myth, this is something of the case with the warriors of the Legion. They are quite GenreSavvy about their status as the RedshirtArmy, understanding that their role on the battlefield is sometimes to pave the way for the success of other units by laying down their lives.
--->The average Legionnaire takes a perverse pride in all of this. Nobody sacrifices more for Emperor, Empire, and the Light. He knows this, and he knows his superiors all the way up to [[BigGood Alric]] himself know this. He may gripe and bemoan his fate, but giving his all is why he first took up the sword, and likely why he will die with it in hand.
** Also lampshaded by Soulblighter.
--->'''Soulblighter:''' So, Alric, once again you sacrifice loyal men to increase your own glory.
** Several avatara also sacrifice themselves to save the lives of troops, like Sardonac's suicide mission. Murgen and Cu Roi are also implied to have sacrificed their lives blowing up the Tain.
* MolotovCocktail: The dwarfs employ a version with [[StuffBlowingUp a little more kick]].
* MookMaker:
** The Summoner. His only ability shown is to summon myrkridia from elsewhere.
** The myrkriadian pack-mage can summon very weak thrall by the dozens.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast:
** Balor's title in the first game is the Leveler.
** His [[TheDragon second]] calls himself Soulblighter.
** The Deceiver is initially only known as that, but in the second game, he gets a little more fleshing out. One of his titles, as it turns out, is "Source of the Five Hundred Poisons".
* {{Necromancer}}: Bahl'al the Watcher - the first human to rediscover the Dream of Unlife after recovering one of the [[{{Precursors}} Callieach's]] Runestones. Since his death the knowledge has spread.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Depending on the interpretation, it is possible that Soulblighter's attempt to finish what Balor started, and overthrow the new age of Light in its beginning, broke the ViciousCycle of the Leveler for good (unless making Balor DeaderThanDead didn't do the trick earlier).
* NightOfTheLivingMooks
* NoArcInArchery: Averted. Arrows arc and are even effected by strong winds. The archers also visibly aim higher to shoot farther, and gain increased range from high ground.
* NoodleIncident: Alric and Sinis knew each other from some unspecified past event; all we know is that Sinis apparently died when Mazzarin collapsed a shrine of Nyx on top of him, and Sinis either became a Shade as a result or already was one.
* NotDrawnToScale or WritersCannotDoMath: The village of Shoal is four miles away from Covenant ("[[http://myth.bungie.org/legends/journal/j1-05_flight_covenant.html Flight from Covenant]]"), and Silvermines is a hundred miles from Bagrada ("[[http://myth.bungie.org/legends/journal/j1-11_silvermines.html Silvermines]]"); but on [[http://www.soulblighter.net/mythworldmap.htm this map]], the distance between Silvermines and Bagrada is much less than twenty-five times the distance between Shoal and Covenant.
** The dates are also somewhat inconsistent; for example the first mission takes place on Wednesday, August 3rd, and the second mission takes place two days later, on Tuesday, August 5th.
* NothingButSkulls: The myrkridia totem platforms. Described in-universe as HighOctaneNightmareFuel.
* ObviouslyEvil: Soulblighter. If his name didn't tip you off, the fact he cut out his nose, lips and heart definitely will. Somehow there were still humans willing to fight on his side.
* OffModel: The briefing pictures in ''Myth III'' are almost cartoonish at times. They were probably meant to be reminiscent of actual Medieval art style, but compared to the first two games it just looks cheap. The prerendered cutscenes have no such excuse; many are markedly worse than the in-mission graphics.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Due to the story being narrated by [[LittleHeroBigWar a single low ranking soldier, who couldn't always be in the heart of the action]], quite a few epic moments are only mentioned in between missions.
** You don't get to take part of the epic battle between the 20 000 men of your legion and the horde of [[DarkChick Shiver]] which brings the good guys back from the brink of destruction and results in the first victory over a fallen lord ever! Instead you get a diversion mission. Likely due to gameplay limitations but still...
** The defeats of Shiver ([[BackFromTheDead first death that is]]) and the Watcher.
** The {{Heroic Sacrifice}}s of some of the Nine.
** The exploits of the Seventh Legion, who were not mentioned between charging in Soulblighter's army as a first strike and suddenly appearing as TheCavalry in a battle hundreds of miles away.
*** there's a mod for that
* OffscreenTeleportation: According to the warlocks, the Deceiver can move much faster when he is unobserved. Of course he was shown using actual MassTeleportation on-screen, but presumably something prevented him from doing so in this case.
** The MassTeleportation was done by controlling which Tain shard he exited by, he could only do it once.
* OntologicalMystery: Arguably. The player never learns how the ViciousCycle came to be or what force perpetuates it. Just vague allusions to gods in conflict. WordOfGod has hinted that that the game somehow connects to ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}''.[[hottip:*:See May 19, 1999's entry [[http://marathon.bungie.org/story/cortana.html here]].]]
** Expanded upon via WMG [[http://myth.bungie.org/legends/delusions/agmtheories.html here]].
* OurBansheesAreLouder: The Lyches in ''Myth III'' are the vengeful spirits of women who were drowned during [[WitchHunt The Great Cleansing]] for practicing magic. They attack with homing skulls that summon ghostly hands beneath the victim ForMassiveDamage.
* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: ''Myth III'' even adds the classical ax-wielding, armor-wearing type.
* OurGhoulsAreCreepier:
** Lovecraft style apemen called ghols who can pick up and throw battlefield debris.
** The ghasts, rotting corpses with the ability to paralyze.
* OurLichesAreDifferent: The shades. Magic-users who have "traded a lifetime of hoarding power for an unlifetime of abusing it". They move with their feet hovering a few inches above the ground, are unable to cross running water, and cast a perpetual shadow around themselves in all directions, regardless of light sources, hence their name. Each is magically quite powerful, having access to the rightly-feared Dispersal Dream. However, becoming one seems to require the assistance of another wizard to complete their transformation, and thus they tend to be loyal to a more powerful magic-user such as the Fallen Lords.
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: The myrkridia.
* PersonOfMassDestruction:
** The Shades and Alric due to having access to the Dispersal Dream - a spell that is similar to ChainLightning, except it kills nearly everything in one hit and it has ''no limit'' of how many units it can chain. Hell, you can easily take out both the enemy forces and your own at once if you're not careful.
** Balor in ''The Fallen Lords''. He's defeated in a scripted event yes, but if you fail to run away after planting the bait he'll make short work of your whole force in seconds.
** Alric again when he uses the sword Balmung. If it wasn't for a certain kind of enemy that can paralyze him, he could finish the whole climactic battle with Soulblighter's army ''by himself''.
** The Trow were bad enough in the first two games, but the iron warriors in ''The Wolf Age'' go UpToEleven. They attack with giant hammers that kill anyone they hit in one blow, including ''hero units''. And they swing it in an arc, so it's guaranteed to take out multiple units in one blow if you try to surround them. Add the fact that you don't have any giant units of your own and you soon realise that attacking Trow with ''any number'' of melee units is suicide.
* PlotlineDeath: In the first game: Shiver, six of the Nine, and most of the Legion are killed offscreen. In the second game: Cruniac.
* PowerFloats:
** The Shades.
** Shiver from the second game.
* PraetorianGuard: The Heron Guard are a collection of immortal warrior-monks who guard the Emperor of Cath Bruig with their lives. When the emperor was killed, the survivors threw down their weapons and discarded their armor, donning simple fur cloaks and pulling down several golden tiles from the imperial palace which they then wear around their neck as penance for their failure, becoming Journeymen.
* {{Precursors}}: The Callieach were the first and most powerful race to use magic. According to legend they could move mountains, incinerate cities, and make themselves immortal. The Trow hunted them to extinction before the rise of human civilization.
* PreAssKickingOneLiner: Alric, about to fight a shade one-on-one.
-->'''Alric:''' Ah, Sinis! I thought you died when Mazzarin collapsed the Shrine of Nyx upon you.\\
'''Sinis:''' Indeed Alric, then I'll wager that you thought you'd seen the last of me!\\
'''Alric:''' I have seen the last of you.
* ProudWarriorRace:
** The berserks.
** Their Dark counterparts, the Myrmidons, who Balor tricked into fighting for him with the promise of immortality, which he then provided by [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor turning them into]] [[{{Mummy}} mummies]].
* RavensAndCrows: Soulblighter's signature ability is to turn into a murder of crows, which is how he escapes destruction in the first game. The Deciever kills one of the birds, removing that ability.
* RealTimeWithPause
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Probably the shortest "The Reason You Suck" speech ever: "Casualties!"
* TheRemnant: Soulblighter in the second game.
* ReviveKillsZombie:
** Healing any undead unit will kill it. It's the only way to defeat [[spoiler:Soulblighter]] in the first game. Now actually having the healer survive long enough to finish the spell...
*** [[spoiler: Requires you to mob him with melee guys so he's too busy killing them to notice the journeyman.]]
** You can do this to Moagim as well, though you don't have to.
* RPGElements: Nearly non-existent in the original game, though units do improve a bit when they gain kills, but some mods have put more emphasis on this element. Particularly the "Mazzarins Demise" expansions, where your units will level up after a certain amount of kills and get significantly stronger.
* SchmuckBait: As pointed out in the first level of the first game, Undead don't need to breath. So going near water is a very bad idea. In any level with water it is a safe bet that Undead are waiting to pounce on you when crossing water.
* ScrewDestiny:
** The Fallen Lords are prophesied and double prophesied to win. They're the non-player side. You do the math.[[hottip:*:Technically, this is [[http://carnage.bungie.org/myth/asylum/asylum.forum.pl?noframes;read=25097 disputed]] by some fans, who argue that the nature of the cycle was misinterpreted and the true battle to break it hasn't begun.]]
** Soulblighter also tries to do this in the second game - he continues his attempts to destroy civilization even though the latest incarnation of The Leveller, Balor, has already been defeated. The epilogue even states that he was deliberately trying to force the cycle by not waiting for The Leveller's next incarnation.
* SealedEvilInACan: The myrkridia in ''Myth''. [[spoiler:Not so much in the second one.]]
* SquishyWizard:
** In the first game, played straight with the fetch, inverted with everyone else that uses magic - using magic actually makes a person more hearty and hale.
** This is played straighter as the series progresses, with every magic-user except evil bosses being complete pansies compared to non-magic-users of equivalent plot value.
* StealthBasedMission: "Silvermines" and the first part of "Sons of Myrgard" in the first game; "A Murder of Crows" in the second game.
* TheStrategist: The Deceiver in the second game.
* TakenForGranite:
** The Watcher gets petrified and then [[LiterallyShatteredLives smashed to pieces]] to make sure he isn't coming back.
** Trow turn to stone when they are close to death.
* TakingYouWithMe:
** Everyone present when Balor's head was thrown in [[BottomlessPit the Great Devoid]] died in the resulting blast, including the narrator.
** That is actually how the Great Devoid came to be. The last of the Callieach chose to blow themselves up along with the pursuing force of Trow. Now that is how you [[AWorldwidePunomenon leave a mark]] on the world.
** When [[spoiler:Shiver]] is finally cornered and killed the explosion reduces the killer to paste as well.
** Soulblighter tries to do this on a global scale after his army is defeated, by forcing a volcanic eruption that would shatter the continent. He might have been able to escape, if he could still turn into a murder of crows.
* TheWarSequence: The river battle in Twice Born, where your troops are backed by two equal columns of [=NPCs=] against waves of Myrkridia.
* ThrowDownTheBomblet: The dwarves specialize in this, with most of their units packing a bandolier full of [[MolotovCocktail dwarven cocktails]] and a set of satchel charges for demolition. They are one of the most powerful common units, but tend to be pretty aggressive with the use of their weapons, so a player is wise to keep them on a short leash, lest they create an unfortunate UnfriendlyFire incident.
* TimeAbyss:
** The Trow claim to have been present ''when the world was (re)created'' by The Wyrd. They are immortal and don't reproduce so every single one counts as this trope.
** The Watcher is called an ancient evil, since he's been around for almost as long as recorded history and outlived several Levelers.
* TinTyrant: Balor was known for wearing a full suit of plate armor, complete with a [[SpikesOfVillainy horned helmet]]. [[AllThereInTheManual Supplimental materials]] suggest that he did not really '''need''' to wear plate armor, as like most arch mages in the setting he had enough magical protection that such armor was redundant, but [[EvilIsStylish he liked]] to [[RuleOfCool present an imposing image]].
** This is implied to be the piece of artifact armor that Alric was questing for when he got captured.
* TournamentPlay: The annual MWC (Myth World Cup).
* TreacherousQuestGiver: The Head in the first game sends Alric to retrieve a magical suit, which Balor already has in his possession. After that failed mission Alric is captured and needs to be rescued.
* ViciousCycle: Apparently a basic law of the world - every 500 or 1000 years (it's [[http://carnage.bungie.org/myth/asylum/asylum.forum.pl?noframes;read=25097 hard to be sure]]), a new Leveler appears and human civilization is in turn destroyed and rebuild - an age of Darkness, followed by an age of Light. The earliest incarnations were just another warlord until the Watcher joined in with his necromancy. The Leveler gets more powerful every time, since he usually takes over the form of the one who beat him last, gaining all his knowledge in the process. Even so the Dark has never won a complete victory, likely because that would break the circle. [[hottip:*: Whether the Leveler is defeated is not necessarily an indication of what age comes next. The first Moagim was throughly beaten and killed ''at the beginning'' of the Wind Age, but he had already unleashed the myrkridia on the world, [[PyrrhicVictory so it was still a Dark Age]] even without a Leveler to oversee the genocide. Also, there is some debate as to whether the 500/1000 years of Dark/Light mean a constant state or a gradual shift.]]
* WalkingShirtlessScene: Soulblighter (pictured on the cover of ''Myth II'' that forms the page image) is always seen stripped to the waist. This is not for fanservice. Rather, it is to show off the large, curving scar down the front of his torso where his heart was cut out as part of a magical ritual that imbued him with NighInvulnerability on the battlefield.
* WeatherOfWar: A key feature of the game. Not only is [[GeoEffects terrain]] a consideration, but so are the meterological conditions of the battlefield. Wind can adversely affect the accuracy of archers. Rain and wet ground can put out dwarven cocktails. Dry grass can be set on fire. Troop movements leave tracks in the snow and mud that can clue a player into what their opposition has been up to.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The Nine spend most of ''Myth'' being manipulated by a disembodied head, which allegedly belonged to an old enemy of Balor. After it's treachery is discovered, it's never mentioned again, its ultimate fate unknown.
* WhatTheHellHero: Connacht incites a rebellion among the enslaved Oghre against the Trow. [[spoiler: He then leaves the Oghre to fend for themselves, knowing full well they stand no chance of winning on their own. Indeed, the Trow respond by hunting their entire race to extinction over the next few years, while Connacht is free to regroup and prepare his next attack in peace]]. The Oghre were under a [[MindControl Dream of Subjugation]] while fighting for the Trow and only wanted to be free after centuries of slavery. Damas calls Connacht out on this.
* WizardsLiveLonger:
** Alric is shown as older but still very healthy, enough to fight on the battlefield in full plate armor, after sixty years had passed between ''Myth: The Fallen Lords'' and ''Myth II: Soulblighter''.
** The Watcher is ''the first human to discover necromancy'' and the [[TimeAbyss oldest living being]] we know of from the mortal races, having been alive before the time of the champion of Light Connacht, who would later become Balor.
** This applies even to the Heron Guard/journeymen, the "deathless" personal guards of the Emperor of the Cath Bruig. At the end of the second game, an older one of these guards remarked on the former splendor of the capital city before its destruction 110 years prior, told a new inductee into the order that he may see it return to glory some day soon, and joked that with a little luck, they would be around in another 940 years to see whether or not the cycle of the Leveler had been broken permanently.
* WorldHalfFull: The world of ''Myth'' is a pretty horrible place, full of bloodthirsty monsters and evil sorcerers, its known history is one huge ViciousCycle of war and slaughter, and its prehistory is, allegedly, another. But looks like this time its inhabitants managed to ScrewDestiny. Hopefully.
* YouCantFightFate: The existence of The Total Codex seems to suggest so. Connacht also takes this attitude, as he is both certain of his victory over Moagim and his eventual return as the new Leveler. ''Myth III'' does show that the prophecies are kind of BroadStrokes and things that were not written can still happen as long as the final results are the same.
** Connacht's one attempt to fight his fate is to have his lieutenant take all the magical artifacts he had acquired and scatter them across the world, telling no-one where they were hidden in an attempt to deprive his Leveller incarnation of their power. Unfortunately, the lieutenant was resurrected as Soulblighter.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Soulblighter attempts to do this to Shiver by blowing up a dam, that would wash over both the Legion and her army. Possibly justified, since she had the only major force left between him and Alric and it was completely smashed on it's own. Still, you'd think he'd show her some mercy, considering they were married and had a son back in the Wolf Age.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: Alric looks quite old and decrepit in the first game, but he is in fact younger than Mauriac (who had been his prince-regent when he was a boy).

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Heavily inspired by the ''BlackCompany'' novels and battle scenes from ''{{Braveheart}}'', the games tell the story of an epic war between the living and TheUndead, led by the eponymous Fallen Lords. They represent one of the first attempts to create a strategy game with no base building, instead giving each side a fixed number of units per level. What also sets this game apart from many others is its highly realistic and revolutionary for its time physics engine. Almost everything is potentially a projectile and everything is affected by its surroundings. This creates a certain unpredictability on the battlefield and can lead to horrible/funny outcomes.

* OffModel: The briefing pictures in ''Myth III'' are almost cartoonish at times. They were probably meant to be reminiscent of actual Medieval art style, but compared to the first two games it just looks cheap. The prerendered cutscenes have no such excuse.

** The Trow were bad enough in the first two games, but the iron warriors in ''The Wolf Age'' go BeyondTheImpossible. They attack with giant hammers that kill anyone they hit in one blow, including ''hero units''. And they swing it in an arc, so it's guaranteed to take out multiple units in one blow if you try to surround them. Add the fact that you don't have any giant units of your own and you soon realise that attacking Trow with ''any number'' of melee units is suicide.

* OntologicalMystery: Arguably. The player never learns how the ViciousCycle came to be or what force perpetuates it. Just vague allusions to gods in conflict. WordOfGod has hinted that that the game somehow connects to ''{{Marathon}}''.[[hottip:*:See May 19, 1999's entry [[http://marathon.bungie.org/story/cortana.html here]].]]

* EleventhHourSuperpower: The sword Balmung, used by Alric in the final battle, which kills myrkridia in seconds and casts ChainLightning on everything he hits. The only real danger during that mission is getting your own troops fried by accident. For some unexplained reason he drops it during his duel with Soulblighter and doesn't pick it up again for the last level.

* GodIsDead: Wyrd, the creator of the ''Myth'' world, was actually killed by the dark goddess Nix, presumably because he didn't ask her permission first. His body was ripped to pieces, which were scattered around the world and became known as the fragments of Wyrd. The Callieach first discovered them and figured how to harness his power to cast Dreams - the main type of magic in ''Myth'', some of which were later copied by the Avatara and various other races.

* EverybodysDeadDave: The Legion get completely slaughtered in the final battle in both ''The Fallen Lords'' and ''Soulblighter''.[[hottip:*:This can be averted in the second game on the lower difficulties if you charge ahead with [[OneManArmy Alric]].]] In the first game even the narrator is implied to have been killed and Alric is pretty much the SoleSurvivor only because he wasn't present for the last level.

* BoringInvincibleHero: Connacht in the ''Myth III'', up to utterly exterminating a race no other human force had ever fought and lived, because he's just that {{badass}}. The only battle he loses is also the only one where he doesn't fight personally.