History YMMV / TakeshiKovacs

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Takeshi often achieves this since his refusal to believe in anything but Quellist doctrines (that are basically angry at everything and everyone) makes him sneer at bad and good characters equally. He's also prone to actions which frequently kill morally gray characters on behalf of other ones.

* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad Reileen Kawahawa]], from ''Altered Carbon'', is a "[[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Methuselah]]", or "Meth"--a long-living human in an age when people can achieve mental immortality through the storing of their memories. Starting her career as a young gang member in Fission City who forced people to drink contaminated water or see their families tortured, Kawahara eventually rose to the top by {{torture|Technician}} and murder. Running a virtual prostitution ring, Kawahawa has people indulge their sick fantasies before allowing them to do the same to a living woman, making certain they are women who will die permanently. When one of her fellow Meths, wealthy businessman Laurens Bancroft, refuses to assist her, Kawahara has him drugged so he will murder the next prostitute he's with to put him under Kawahara's thumb. To force the hero, Takeshi Kovacs, to assist her in [[FrameUp framing a former associate of hers]] for the crime, Kawahara threatens to put Kovacs's girlfriend into virtual torture and later decides to try to do the same to Kovacs himself for all eternity.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Takeshi often achieves this since his refusal to believe in anything but Quellist doctrines (that are basically angry at everything and everyone) makes him sneer at bad and good characters equally. He's also prone to actions which frequently kill morally gray characters on behalf of other ones.

For the TV series, go to Series/AlteredCarbon.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Takeshi often achieves this since his refusal to believe in anything but Quellist doctrines (that are basically angry at everything and everyone) makes him sneer at bad and good characters equally. He's also prone to actions which frequently kill morally gray characters on behalf of other ones.
* {{Zeerust}}: An example of how ''fast'' this can happen; Morgan wrote the book in 2002 -- well before [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_bioprinting 3D bioprinting]] and TheMetaverse became buzzwords -- making his universe's demand for natural aged humans and clones for sleeves look rather quaint. The [[Series/AlteredCarbon Netflix series]] makes good attempts to justify this with bioprinters being heavily regulated to prevent "identity theft" and an {{Alternet}} full of stack-annihilating malware.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Takeshi often achieves this since his refusal to believe in anything but Quellist doctrines (that are basically angry at everything and everyone) makes him sneer at bad and good characters equally. He's also prone to actions which frequently kill morally gray characters on behalf of other ones.

* TheLostLenore: Sarah Sachilowska seems to be this for Kovacs during ''Woken Furies''. Her execution [[note]] She is also killed at the beginning of ''Altered Carbon'' but her [[BodyBackupDrive cortical stack]] is intact so she is sentenced to storage. While she is not technically KilledOffForReal when she is executed, her sleeve is destroyed and her cortical stack is thrown into the middle of the ocean, making her consciousness essentially unrecoverable and making her as good as dead.[[/note]] at the hands of religious extremists after she flouted their rules in an attempt to re-sleeve her daughter sent him on a ''year-long'' RoaringRampageOfRevenge whose ferocity astonishes even [[SociopathicSoldier Virginia Vidaura]]. After Sarah's death, Kovacs grows even more cynical than before and focuses on nothing beyond his revenge. The fact that ''Woken Furies'' (and therefore the trilogy as a whole) ends [[spoiler: on a hopeful note, with Kovacs seeming to give up on his vendetta and privately hoping that the ultra-advanced Martian technology that Sylvie Oshima can communicate with will one day be able to locate the cortical stacks belonging to Sarah and her daughter so they can be re-sleeved]] would seem to provide more evidence for this.
** It is also revealed that the fact that she became involved with another man after getting out of storage was one of the main reasons why he left Harlan's World for Sanction IV, although she was alive for at least part of his time there. This is an example of Takeshi being a {{Hypocrite}} given his own involvement with Kristan Ortega.

** It is also revealed that the fact that she became involved with another man after getting out of storage was one of the main reasons why he left Harlan's World for Sanction IV, although she was alive for at least part of his time there.

** It is also revealed that the fact that she became involved with another man after getting out of storage was one of the main reasons why he left Harlan's World for Sanction IV, although she was alive for at least part of his time there.
* NightmareFuel: Richard Morgan, major proponent of modern HumansAreTheRealMonsters sci-fi, can reach NightmareFuel levels through sheer cynicism.
** People's minds are backed up on in-brain memory and easily transferred to another body (or 'sleeve'). Major societal change from this? AFateWorseThanDeath is now standard procedure. They're JackBauerInterrogationTechnique {{Lotus Eater Machine}}s, pretty much.
** [[spoiler:Quellcrist Falconer]]'s fate after the attack on Millsport at the end of the Unsettlement: [[spoiler: her body vaporized, and her mind trapped in a Martian data storage system for ''three hundred years'']]. One of the downsides of having the technology to back your mind up somewhere.
** The Qualgrist Protocol from ''Woken Furies'', a [[spoiler: [[HatePlague bioweapon]] from the Unsettlement developed by the Quellists]] that uses GeneticMemory coupled with a symptomless virus to [[spoiler: create a pheromone-based biological response in anyone carrying the right genes who got infected, so that they are compelled to try and kill anyone with Harlan family genes]]. While the Unsettlement was an example of TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized, the fact that [[spoiler: Nadia Makita ultimately deploys the Protocol ''while hallucinating'' and while she's unsure whether or not she's real]] ensures that the events following the conclusion of the novel will almost certainly be bloody and horrible.
** All of Kovacs' hallucinations/memories of Innenin and the viral strike there, including but not limited to [[EyeScream Jimmy DeSoto clawing out his own eye]]. Arguably, what makes this truly nightmarish is not the event itself, but the fact that Envoys are conditioned to have [[PhotographicMemory perfect recall]] and so can't truly forget anything they experience, even if they also have the conditioning to lock away trauma so it doesn't destroy their psyches.

** It is also revealed that the fact that she became involved in another man after getting out of storage was one of the main reasons why he left Harlan's World for Sanction IV, although she was alive for at least part of his time there.

* TheLostLenore: Sarah Sachilowska seems to be this for Kovacs during ''Woken Furies''. Her execution [[note]] She is also killed at the beginning of ''Altered Carbon'' but her [[BodyBackupDrive cortical stack]] is intact so she is sentenced to storage. While she is not technically KilledOffForReal when she is executed, her sleeve is destroyed and her cortical stack is thrown into the middle of the ocean, making her consciousness essentially unrecoverable.[[/note]] at the hands of religious extremists after she flouted their rules in an attempt to re-sleeve her daughter sent him on a ''year-long'' RoaringRampageOfRevenge whose ferocity astonishes even [[SociopathicSoldier Virginia Vidaura]]. After Sarah's death, Kovacs grows even more cynical than before and focuses on nothing beyond his revenge. The fact that ''Woken Furies'' (and therefore the trilogy as a whole) ends [[spoiler: on a hopeful note, with Kovacs seeming to give up on his vendetta and privately hoping that the ultra-advanced Martian technology that Sylvie Oshima can communicate with will one day be able to locate the cortical stacks belonging to Sarah and her daughter so they can be re-sleeved]] would seem to provide more evidence for this.

** It is also revealed that the fact that she became involved in another man after getting out of storage was one of the main reasons for why he left Harlan's World for Sanction IV, although she was alive for at least part of his time there.

* TheLostLenore: Sarah Sachilowska seems to be this for Kovacs during ''Woken Furies''. Her execution [[note]] She is also killed at the beginning of ''Altered Carbon'' but her [[BodyBackupDrive cortical stack]] is intact so she is sentenced to storage. While she is not technically KilledOffForReal when she is executed, her sleeve is destroyed and her cortical stack is thrown into the middle of the ocean, making her consciousness essentially unrecoverable.[[/note]] at the hands of religious extremists after she flouted their rules in an attempt to re-sleeve her daughter sent him on a ''year-long'' RoaringRampageOfRevenge whose ferocity astonishes even [[SociopathicSoldier Virginia Vidaura]]. After Sarah's death, Kovacs grows even more cynical than before and focuses on nothing beyond his revenge. The fact that ''Woken Furies'' (and therefore the trilogy as a whole) ends [[spoiler: on a hopeful note, with Kovacs seeming to give up on his vendetta and privately hoping that the ultra-advanced Martian technology will one day be able to locate the cortical stacks belonging to Sarah and her daughter so they can be re-sleeved]] would seem to provide more evidence for this.

* TheLostLenore: Sarah Sachilowska seems to be this for Kovacs during ''Woken Furies''. Her execution [[note]] She is also killed at the beginning of ''Altered Carbon'' but her [[BodyBackupDrive cortical stack]] is intact so she is sentenced to storage. While she is not technically KilledOffForReal when she is executed, her sleeve is destroyed and her cortical stack is thrown into the middle of the ocean, making her consciousness essentially unrecoverable.[[/note]] at the hands of religious extremists after she flouted their rules in an attempt to re-sleeve her daughter sent him on a ''year-long'' RoaringRampageOfRevenge whose ferocity astonishes even [[SociopathicSoldier Virginia Vidaura]]. After Sarah's death, Kovacs grows even more cynical than before. The fact that ''Woken Furies'' (and therefore the trilogy as a whole) ends [[spoiler: on a hopeful note, with Kovacs seeming to give up on his vendetta and privately hoping that the ultra-advanced Martian technology will one day be able to locate the cortical stacks belonging to Sarah and her daughter so they can be re-sleeved]] would seem to provide more evidence for this.

* TheLostLenore: Sarah Sachilowska seems to be this for Kovacs during ''Woken Furies''. Her execution [[note]] She also dies at the beginning of ''Altered Carbon'' but her [[BodyBackupDrive cortical stack]] is intact so she is sentenced to storage instead. While she is not technically KilledOffForReal when she is executed, her sleeve is destroyed and her cortical stack is thrown into the middle of the ocean, making her essentially unrecoverable.[[/note]] at the hands of religious extremists after she flouted their rules in an attempt to re-sleeve her daughter sent him on a ''year-long'' RoaringRampageOfRevenge whose ferocity astonishes even [[SociopathicSoldier Virginia Vidaura]]. After Sarah's death, Kovacs grows even more cynical than before. The fact that ''Woken Furies'' (and therefore the trilogy as a whole) ends [[spoiler: on a hopeful note, with Kovacs seeming to give up on his vendetta and privately hoping that the ultra-advanced Martian technology will one day be able to locate the cortical stacks belonging to Sarah and her daughter so they can be re-sleeved]] would seem to provide more evidence for this.

* TheLostLenore: Sarah Sachilowska seems to be this for Kovacs during ''Woken Furies''. Her execution at the hands of religious extremists after she flouted their rules in an attempt to re-sleeve her daughter sent him on a ''year-long'' RoaringRampageOfRevenge whose ferocity astonishes even [[SociopathicSoldier Virginia Vidaura]]. After Sarah's death, Kovacs grows even more cynical than before. The fact that ''Woken Furies'' (and therefore the trilogy as a whole) ends [[spoiler: on a hopeful note, with Kovacs seeming to give up on his vendetta and privately hoping that the ultra-advanced Martian technology will one day be able to locate the cortical stacks belonging to Sarah and her daughter so they can be re-sleeved]] would seem to provide more evidence for this.

* TheLostLenore: Sarah Sachilowska seems to be this for Kovacs during ''Woken Furies''. Her execution at the hands of religious extremists after she flouted their rules in an attempt to re-sleeve her daughter sent him on a ''year-long'' RoaringRampageOfRevenge whose ferocity astounded even [[SociopathicSoldier Virginia Vidaura]]. After Sarah's death, Kovacs grows even more cynical than before. The fact that ''Woken Furies'' (and therefore the trilogy as a whole) ends [[spoiler: on a hopeful note, with Kovacs seeming to give up on his vendetta and privately hoping that the ultra-advanced Martian technology will one day be able to locate the cortical stacks belonging to Sarah and her daughter so they can be re-sleeved]] would seem to provide more evidence for this.

* TheLostLenore: Sarah Sachilowska seems to be this for Kovacs during ''Woken Furies''. Her execution at the hands of religious extremists after she flouted their rules in an attempt to re-sleeve her daughter sent him on a ''year-long'' RoaringRampageOfRevenge whose ferocity astounded even [[SociopathicSoldier Virginia Vidaura]]. After Sarah's death, Kovacs grows even more cynical than before. The fact that ''Woken Furies'' (and the trilogy as a whole) ends [[spoiler: on a hopeful note, with Kovacs seeming to give up on his vendetta and privately hoping that the ultra-advanced Martian technology will one day be able to locate the cortical stacks belonging to Sarah and her daughter so they can be re-sleeved]] would seem to support this.

* TheLostLenore: Sarah Sachilowska seems to be this for Kovacs during ''Woken Furies''. Her execution at the hands of religious extremists after she flouted their rules in an attempt to re-sleeve her daughter sent him on a ''year-long'' RoaringRampageofRevenge whose ferocity astounded even [[SociopathicSoldier Virginia Vidaura]]. After Sarah's death, Kovacs grows even more cynical than before. The fact that ''Woken Furies'' (and the trilogy as a whole) ends [[spoiler: on a hopeful note, with Kovacs seeming to give up on his vendetta and privately hoping that the ultra-advanced Martian technology will one day be able to locate the cortical stacks belonging to Sarah and her daughter so they can be re-sleeved]] would seem to support this.

** The Qualgrist Protocol from ''Woken Furies'', a [[spoiler: bioweapon from the Unsettlement developed by the Quellists]] that uses GeneticMemory coupled with a symptomless virus to [[spoiler: create a pheromone-based biological response in anyone carrying the right genes who got infected, so that they are compelled to try and kill anyone with Harlan family genes]]. While the Unsettlement was an example of TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized, the fact that [[spoiler: Nadia Makita ultimately deploys the Protocol ''while hallucinating'' and while she's unsure whether or not she's real]] ensures that the events following the conclusion of the novel will almost certainly be bloody and horrible.

** All of Kovacs' hallucinations/memories of Innenin and the viral strike there, including but not limited to [[EyeScream Jimmy DeSoto clawing out his own eye]]. Arguably, what makes this truly nightmarish is not the event itself, but the fact that Envoys are conditioned to have [[PhotographicMemory perfect recall]] and so can't don't truly anything they experience, even if they also have the conditioning to lock it away so it doesn't destroy their psyches.

** All of Kovacs' hallucinations/memories of Innenin and the viral strike there, including but not limited to [[EyeScream Jimmy DeSoto clawing out his own eye]].

** The Quallgrist Protocol from ''Woken Furies'', a [[spoiler: bioweapon from the Unsettlement developed by the Quellists]] that uses GeneticMemory coupled with a symptomless virus to [[spoiler: create a pheromone-based biological response in anyone carrying the right genes who got infected, so that they are compelled to try and kill anyone with Harlan family genes]]. While the Unsettlement was an example of TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized, the fact that [[spoiler: Nadia Makita ultimately deploys the Protocol ''while hallucinating'' and while she's unsure whether or not she's real]] ensures that the events following the conclusion of the novel will also be bloody and horrible.

** The Quallgrist Protocol from ''Woken Furies'', a [[spoiler: bioweapon from the Unsettlement developed by the Quellists]] that uses GeneticMemory coupled with a symptomless virus to [[spoiler: create a pheromone-based biological response in anyone infected and with the right genes so that they are compelled to try and kill anyone with Harlan family genes]]. While the Unsettlement was an example of TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized, the fact that [[spoiler: Nadia Makita ultimately deploys the weapon ''while hallucinating'']] ensures that the events following the conclusion of the novel will also not be pleasant or bloodless.
** The way Kovacs gets revenge on the priests belonging to the fundamentalist order who executed his former lover Sarah: after killing them, he has a contact of his upload their consciousnesses into swamp panthers. The priests, sleeved in animal bodies, are then forced to engage in BeastlyBloodsports.

* NightmareFuel: Richard Morgan, major proponent of modern HumansAreTheRealMonsters sci-fi, can reach NightmareFuel levels through sheer cynicism. In this series, people's minds are backed up on in-brain memory and easily transferred to another body (or 'sleeve'). Major societal change from this? AFateWorseThanDeath is now standard procedure. They're JackBauerInterrogationTechnique {{Lotus Eater Machine}}s, pretty much.