Line #12 Literature/FortressSeries


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fortress_series.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:All five entries.]]
3	The ''Fortress'' series by Creator/CJCherryh is HighFantasy centered on the friendship between Tristen, a reborn ancient king and Cefwyn, the current ruler of his lands.
4
5	# ''Fortress in the Eye of Time'' (1995)
6	# ''Fortress of Eagles'' (1998)
7	# ''Fortress of Owls'' (1999)
8	# ''Fortress of Dragons'' (2000)
9	# ''Fortress of Ice'' (2006)
10
11	!!This series contains examples of:
12	* AmnesiacDissonance: It's pretty clear that Tristen fell under GoodIsNotNice at ''best'' in his previous life.
13	%%* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Tristen has to watch this, because his wishes have a lot of power.
14	%%* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Tristen just doesn't think like a human.
15	* CameBackWrong: Tristen. Mauryl wanted a badass, but got someone with the mind of a child. Even after he TookALevelInBadass, he's still a FriendToAllLivingThings CloudCuckooLander trying to figure out HowDoIShotWeb instead of a ruthless MagicKnight conquerer.
16	%%* CorruptChurch: The state religion.
17	%%* CrystalDragonJesus: The state religion.
18	* EldritchAbomination: What Tristen was called back to fight. [[spoiler:And probably Tristen himself is a HumanoidAbomination, although a very nice one.]]
19	* FriendToAllLivingThings: Tristen, especially regarding horses and birds. [[spoiler:[[KickTheDog Killing his birds]] is used to get to him more than once.]]
20	* GrimUpNorth: Tristen's ultimate origin... probably. [[spoiler:Although Mauryl's thought as he prepares to shape Tristen that one man had reached the skill of shaping in the days of the Old Kingdoms,]] combined with Tristen's thought [[spoiler:in ''Dragons'' about whoever had Shaped the Sihhe originally]] implies that the five Sihhe had an origin even further back.
21	* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: "Fortress [Something]": ''Fortress in the Eye of Time'', ''Fortress of Eagles'', ''Fortress of Owls'', ''Fortress of Dragons'', ''Fortress of Ice''.
22	* IKnowYourTrueName: Invoked by the Wind against Tristen. ''Subverted'' in that Tristen himself does not remember that name, or accept it as his own. In fact, it is debatable if ''Tristen'' counts as his true name either.
23	* KingInTheMountain: There are legends of this; the rulers of the second major country are called Regents explicitly because of this.
24	* LimbSensationFascination: Tristen does this with his fingers after Mauryl's big spell brings him to Mauryl at the start of book one. Unfortunately, for Tristen this includes sticking his hands into the fire.
25	* MustBeInvited: Human dwellings are guarded by lines. Making sure that those lines aren't weakened either by carelessness or enemy action is a major concern.
26	* ObfuscatingStupidity: A lot of people accuse Tristen of this, and even his best friend gets paranoid about it on occassion. Subverted since Tristen just really has that little clue about the world he's found himself in, complicated by the fact that he perceives reality differently.
27	* OurElvesAreDifferent: Tristen is a CloudCuckooLander who spends a lot of time needing help and advice from the older and wiser humans around him, as opposed to giving them advice, and while he does give advice, it's not condemnation of human culture and so on but practical stuff like [[SeriousBusiness 'Remember to close the windows.']]
28	* PhysicalGod: Tristen, pretty much.
29	* PowerOfFriendship: Invoked, as Cefwyn is told that the only option he has for dealing with a PhysicalGod who was probably brought back in order to overthrow him is to get Tristen to like him too much to want to. It works.
30	* RealityWarper: Tristen. He has to take very great care what and how he wishes, because wishing, even without deliberate magical intent, easily becomes ''making'', especially because, as Mauryl says, a big part of magic is giving things an extra push to do what they want to do anyway.
31	* RescueRomance: Tristen and Ninevrise are sort of set up to have one of these. [[spoiler:She marries Cefwyn instead.]]
32	* RightfulKingReturns: Tristen, who doesn't want ''any'' of it.
33	* RitualMagic: Complicated by the fact that a lot of ordinary actions have ritual magic significance and modern people don't know this. A SealedEvilInACan nearly escaped because [[spoiler:the church had been remodeled and the priests started walking the wrong lines,]] messing up the GeometricMagic. It works for perfectly normal people, but better for HalfHumanHybrids [[spoiler:and it's amazing how many descendants Tristen and his fellows have running around]]. Tristen eventually becomes savvy about this, leading to some CassandraTruth and CassandraDidIt moments when people don't take the warnings seriously.
34	* RuleOfThree: SeriousBusiness for Tristen, because the RitualMagic of the setting means that repeating something three times puts magical power into making it true, and Tristen has a lot of power to throw around. Most people, on the other hand, don't get that it is that important.
35	* TooDumbToLive: The several times when Tristen tells people that they really do need to do something that seems utterly trivial or like an enormous headache and they think it can't be ''that'' important.
36	* TruthInTelevision: A lot of attention is paid to how much ''baggage'' any given army needs--supplies, tents, carts to carry all of it, extra horses so the warhorses are fresh for the actual "war" part of things, support staff, and so on and so forth .
37	* WildMagic: Tristen [[spoiler:and the real BigBad are sort of avatars of it.]]

Context Literature / FortressSeries