Line #21 Literature/MagisterTrilogy


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/magister_trilogy.png]]
2	A trilogy of fantasy novels by Creator/CeliaSFriedman, known for her earlier work the ''Literature/ColdfireTrilogy''. The ''Magister Trilogy'' books' titles in order are ''Feast of Souls'', ''Wings of Wrath'' and ''Legacy of Kings''.
3
4	The series takes place on an unnamed fantasy world, where [[CastFromLifespan magic is fueled by the power of human souls]], or ''athra''. Every time a witch casts a spell, it uses up a portion of his or her allotted lifespan. The exception to this rule are the titular Magisters, a brotherhood of magic users whose powers and lifespans are unlimited. They guard the secret of their power closely, fearing that the rest of the human population would turn against them if it was revealed.
5
6	The series focuses largely on Kamala, the first woman to successfully make the Transition and become a Magister. Other major characters are Andovan Aurelius, a young prince who has contracted a mysterious and uncurable disease known as the Wasting, Colivar, an ancient and powerful Magister, and Siderea Aminestas, the Witch Queen of the free state Sankara. The events are set against a backdrop of ancient enemies returning after thousands of years to threaten human civilization.
7	----
8	!!This series provides examples of:
9	%%* ActionGirl: Kamala [[spoiler: and Gwynofar]].
10	* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Played straight in the first book with the Souleaters. Played with in the second book, which recasts them as [[PredatorsAreMean animalistic predators]].
11	* AncientTradition: The Protectors, who watch for the return of the Souleaters, mankind's ancient enemy, while maintaining the Wrath of the Gods which keeps the Souleaters at bay.
12	* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:With the Queens dead, Kamala and Colivar (who are either a couple or well on their way to it) set out to join the efforts in exterminating the rest of the Souleaters. Also Lazaroth [[NeverFoundTheBody may or may not still be out there.]]]]
13	* AntiHero: Kamala, Colivar, and any other Magister who's a protagonist. Kamala in particular is a Type IV- she's got just enough of a sense of compassion and justice to keep her sympathetic when taken together with her exceptionally crappy backstory, but her magic is still PoweredByAForsakenChild and there's a very real, very scary darkness in her.
14	* AntiVillain: [[spoiler:Siderea in the second book. Less so in the third, as she's started to get DrunkOnTheDarkSide from being bonded to her Souleater]].
15	* ApeShallNeverKillApe: The one absolute rule that all Magisters must adhere to is to never kill another Magister.
16	%%* ArchEnemy: Nyuku to Colivar.
17	%%* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: The Ikati way.
18	* BadassNormal: Rhys takes down a Souleater, solo. Also Andovan, especially since he's dying from the Wasting.
19	%%* BigBadDuumvirate: Nyuku and [[spoiler: Siderea]] by ''Legacy of Kings''.
20	* BlackCloak: Black is the official color of the Magisters (since a pure black that doesn't fade can only be produced by magic), and many of them wear cloaks in that color (though any clothing can count as a Magister "uniform" so long as it's jet black).
21	* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Though intelligent, the Souleaters are ''very'' primal and as such aren't driven by anything that particularly resembles human morality. This is lessened somewhat [[spoiler: when they start bonding with humans. In the end, though, understanding the BlueAndOrangeMorality of Souleaters lets Colivar and Kamala exploit it to defeat them]].
22	* BondCreatures: [[spoiler:Humans can link with Souleaters in a process that grants the human immortality and the ability to share in the Souleater's powers, and gives the Souleater the enhanced self-awareness to overcome its baser instincts.]]
23	%%* BrokenBird: Kamala, so much. [[spoiler: She gets somewhat better across the series]].
24	* ByronicHero: Colivar; TallDarkAndHandsome, drily sardonic, sophisticated, forever seeking [[WhoWantsToLiveForever something or someone interesting]], [[spoiler:and secretly traumatized over the loss of his Souleater and guilt-ridden over his cowardice allowing the Souleaters to survive at all, way back when.]]
25	* CastFromLifespan: An important element of the trilogy. Every spell costs someone part of their life; the Magisters only pass the expense to some unfortunate stranger.
26	* CharmPerson: All Souleaters can do this to humans, so that their prey is immobilized and loses the will to resist them. Souleater queens can affect other Souleaters as well.
27	%%* TheChessmaster: All of the Magisters.
28	* TheCorrupter: Kostas, most evident in his effect on Danton. The High King starts out a ruthless but pragmatic conqueror, but the more time he spends around Kostas the more he starts acting like a stereotypical EvilOverlord.
29	* CourtMage:
30	** The preferred profession of many Magisters. Kings consider a Magister advisor indispensible to their reigns. In-universe, this carries the official title of "Magister Royal".
31	** It's worth noting that one of the main reasons why having a Magister Royal can be so indispensable is as a kind of insurance. Thanks to the Magister's Law, having a Magister Royal is pretty much the only defense against another Magister deciding to screw around with your kingdom.
32	* CrisisOfFaith: Gwynofar goes through one upon learning [[spoiler:her people's gods and religion are false. Her son Salvator, despite following a different religion, is sympathetic.]]
33	* CrystalDragonJesus: The god of Salvator's religion has some similarities with the Abrahamic god, being described as a stern but loving father who deals out both justice and mercy. Hence, "the Two-Faced God".
34	* CruelMercy: Colivar declines to finish off the defeated Nyuku, just so [[spoiler: he can experience the pain and madness of his Souleater connection being severed.]]
35	* {{Determinator}}: Any Magister has to be this by definition -- if you're not determined to survive at any cost, you can't latch onto someone else's soulfire to drain.
36	%%* DiscOneFinalBoss: Kostas.
37	%%* EldritchAbomination: The Souleaters
38	%%* TheEmpire: The High Kingdom
39	%%* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: What happens if the Souleaters win.
40	* EverybodyCallsHimBarkeep: Species-wide example. The race that the villains belong to are formally called "ikati", but they're normally just called "Souleaters" because, well, that's what they ''do''.
41	* EvilChancellor: Kostas. Some other court Magisters are like this; others serve their monarchs faithfully since it nets them a secure power base to plot against each other.
42	%%* EvilDetectingDog: The castle dogs don't like Kostas.
43	* EvilSorcerer: Depending on where you place the "evil" cutoff, any and all Magisters could qualify. The [[spoiler: humans who bond Souleaters are an even better example, most visibly Kostas and Nyuku]].
44	* EvilVersusEvil: The Magisters versus the Souleaters. One group is a shadow organization manipulating the kingdoms and draining the life force of others (though there ''are'' individual members, such as Kamala, Colivar, and Ramirus, who have some sense of morals or compassion), and the other group is a race of life-eating dragons heralding the apocalypse. [[spoiler:It's not surprising the Magisters can trace their origins to the Souleaters.]]
45	* EvilWearsBlack: The official uniform of the Magisters is jet-black clothing, since such a pure black can only be produced or maintained by magic, and no witch would waste precious ''athra'' on keeping her clothes black.
46	* FateWorseThanDeath :[[spoiler: How the Spears were created]]
47	* FeministFantasy: Let's see...fiercely independent heroine who shares a name with a feminist politician? Check. She's the first woman to do something it was thought only men could do? Check. The first thing she does with her power is kill a bunch of rapists? Check. She defeats a sexist villain with a GroinAttack after he attacks her with a curse that the narrative phrases like a sexual assault? Check. Inner monologues about the evils of social inequality? Check. Lines about how real men prefer strong independent women to soft feminine ones? Check. A major villain ends up getting killed by a seemingly helpless female character? Check. And that's just volume one(the next two really dial it back).
48	* TheFettered: Salvator, Gwynofar's second son, is a deeply religious man whose faith teaches that the [[CastFromLifespan nature]] of magic is meant as a check to prevent its abuse. As such, he finds Magisters' magically extending their lifespan by stealing the life from others to be abhorrent and, while he can't stop them from helping if they want, he refuses to directly accept [[PoweredByAForsakenChild their magical aid]]. As he puts it, his Witches ''volunteered'' to sacrifice themselves, while the Magisters' consorts did not. His morals cause the Magisters to gripe, but [[spoiler:they ultimately ''do'' work]].
49	* FoeRomanceSubtext: It's Creator/CeliaSFriedman, what do you expect? In this case, it's between Colivar and Kamala; investigation or not, the former has no reason to carry her scarf around beyond what even he admits is a whim, and he fixates on the investigation less because of Kamala's [[CrimeOfSelfDefense "violation"]] of [[ApeShallNeverKillApe the Magister's law]] and more because he thinks she's interesting. It outright becomes sexual tension once they start working together against the Souleaters.
50	* FromNobodyToNightmare: Nyuku was a barbarian kid from a village on the very edge of human civilization. [[spoiler: Siderea was originally a pleasure slave who managed to scheme herself into a crown]]. They end up the two main human villains of the series.
51	%%* GambitPileup: Just another day in the life of a Magister.
52	* GenderBender: [[spoiler: Turns out that Kamala was actually ''not'' the first female Magister. Lazaroth was a woman who shapeshifted into a man and assumed a male identity after coming into her powers in order to be accepted into Magister society. She ''hates'' that Kamala is (fairly) open about being a female Magister, since that makes all of Lazaroth's efforts look pointless. There may be other genderbent women hiding out among the Magisters- it's left deliberately unclear]].
53	* GenderRestrictedAbility: Subverted. The Magisters are ''supposed'' to be all men, not from being gender-excusive but because women simply can't use that power... and then Kamala comes along... [[spoiler: Although it turns out she wasn't the ''first'' female Magister, and her abilities ''are'' slightly different from a male Magister's because they echo the disparity between male and female Souleaters]].
54	%%* GladToBeAliveSex: [[spoiler: Kamala and Colivar,]] after the war is won.
55	* GreyAndGreyMorality: Runs the full gamut. We have Gwynofar and her family, who are genuinely idealistic people. We have Magisters like Kamala and Colivar, who drain the lives of others to fuel their magic and manipulate everyone wide-scale--''but'' are working to stop the Souleaters. Speaking of, we finally have the Souleaters, who will cause the collapse of human civilization, perhaps permanently, if they win.
56	* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: More like speech. [[spoiler:In the climax of the third book, Colivar shapechanges into a Souleater as part of ThePlan. When his role is over, he's too caught up in the form to change ''back'', so Kamala coaxes him into remembering his humanity.]]
57	-->"Come back to me."
58	* IdiotBall: Siderea spends a ''lot'' of time and energy pondering the significance of items which bear the signature, or magical resonance of a particular person (in this case, her collection of Magister tokens). Much is made--in her own thoughts--of how vulnerable these items make a person, and how much trust it took for her Magister lovers to leave her those items. And yet, when she departs her palace after her FaceHeelTurn, she leaves literally ''piles'' of items there which bear her own signature. The good guys make free use of these items in their plans to destroy Siderea, and no one ever wonders why such an intelligent and cautious woman was so stupidly careless as to leave them there.
59	%%* ImHavingSoulPains: The Wasting (aka being a Magisters' consort).
60	* ImmortalityImmorality: The only immortality to be found in this trilogy involves stealing life from others, either by draining one person dry at a time yourself, or by [[spoiler: bonding with a Souleater, which will feed on ''lots'' of people and let you draw on the overflow]].
61	* KissOfDeath: Andovan [[spoiler:and Rhys]] die shortly after hooking up with Kamala. [[spoiler:Her third LoveInterest, Colivar, manages to live, both because he's a Magister and because the war was practically over by that point.]]
62	* LadyOfWar: Gwynofar, being a noblewoman from a ProudWarriorRace, always had the attitude; as of ''Legacy of Kings'' she develops the fighting skills to back it up.
63	* MaybeEverAfter: [[spoiler:Kamala and Colivar. Neither of them has actually said they love the other or even that they're a thing, but their last on-screen interaction is explicitly couple-y, as he's playing with her hair, she's enjoying it, and they're talking about having time for "[[UnusualEuphemism other...things]]" [[AndTheAdventureContinues once they hunt down the remaining Souleaters]].]]
64	* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The term "dragon" is never used for the Souleaters, but they are very clearly designed to bring that kind of being to mind. They're more serpentine than most dragons, and they have four wings that more resemble dragon''fly'' wings.
65	* OurSoulsAreDifferent: The ''athra'', or soulfire, is an energy source that everybody has; witches can tap into it in order to produce magical effects, but every spell burns up a little of it and slightly shortens the witch's life. The process of becoming a Magister involves deliberately burning your ''athra'' out so that you latch onto someone else's instead. Whenever their "consort" burns out, they then latch onto someone else, rendering them effectively immortal and capable of performing tremendous feats of magic.
66	* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: Danton and Gwynofar. They got married for politics but over time developed, if not love, at least mutual respect and friendship. [[EvilChancellor Kostas]] had to deliberately and ''[[NotHimself magically]]'' subvert their relationship to make sure he was the only one influencing Danton.
67	%%* ThePlan: The normal ''modus operandi'' for Magisters.
68	* PoweredByAForsakenChild: The Magisters and the Souleaters. [[spoiler: There's a reason for the similarity of their abilities...]]
69	* RapeAsBackstory: Kamala was sold into child prostitution by her own mother, and it's single-handedly responsible for [[BrokenBird her worldview and mindset]].
70	* RapeAsDrama: Gwynofar is raped by a NotHimself Danton [[spoiler:as part of a plot-relevant scheme from Kostas]], and [[spoiler: Kamala is raped by Lazaroth.]]
71	* RealWomenNeverWearDresses: Kamala ''hates'' women's clothing and dresses like a man if at all possible. Justified because of her exceptionally traumatic backstory as a child prostitute: she thinks that showing femininity is the same as showing weakness, and she will ''not'' be weak. Other female characters don't have a problem with being girly.
72	* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Any Magister or [[spoiler: Souleater-bonded]] is potentially this, since they don't die from old age and can change how old they look.
73	%%* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The Aurelius family.
74	%%* ShadowArchetype: [[spoiler: Lazaroth]] for Kamala; Nyuku for Colivar.
75	%%* SilkHidingSteel: Queen Gwynofar.
76	* TheSmurfettePrinciple: While the Ikati are numerous, only two of them are female. Once this is discovered, it becomes their AchillesHeel: once the two queens are dead, the Souleaters will no longer be able to replenish their numbers.
77	* SquishyWizard:
78	** Applies to both Witches and Magisters, in that even though magic can achieve nearly anything, an unexpected attack, even something as mundane as a sword cut, can end their life before they have a chance to react.
79	** Partially subverted in that, so long as the spellcaster ''does'' see the attack coming, they can either deflect, avoid, or repair the damage with the speed of thought. In some cases, this takes MadeOfIron to a fairly insane level, as two magical combatants dish out and in turn absorb absurd amounts of punishment, and come back for more.
80	** [[spoiler: Magisters also have an AchillesHeel of sorts: Catching a Magister during Transition leaves him briefly vulnerable. In the first book, Kamala accidentally kills another Magister by pushing him off a balcony. He should have been able to catch himself with magic, but he went into Transition at just the wrong time and died of the fall.]]
81	%%* TheStarscream: Young Nyuku. [[JustifiedTrope Expected]] and almost encouraged in Ikati society.
82	* SwissArmySuperpower: Magic can be used for virtually anything... so long as you're willing to pay the price for it (or in the case of Magisters, make someone else pay the price).
83	%%* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Andovan. Poor doomed Andovan.
84	%%* TheVamp: Siderea.
85	* TraumaCongaLine: Gwynofar has a ''really'' rough time of it over the books. She's raped by her [[PerfectlyArrangedMarriage husband]] (who was NotHimself), [[spoiler:loses him and ''two of her sons'' '''on the same day''', miscarries [[SomeoneToRememberHimBy the son from said rape]], and loses her brother.]]
86	* WickedWastefulness: Magic is CastFromLifespan, so it's rarely used wastefully -- except by the Magisters, who cast from ''other people's'' lifespan, and think nothing of using magic to [[MundaneUtility dye their clothes]].
87	* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Bonding with [[spoiler:a Souleater]] will cause this, as its incredibly aggressive, territorial personality starts bleeding over into you. The Magisters are a less extreme, but still visible, example [[spoiler: because they all draw to a greater or lesser degree on Souleater power]].
88	* WorthyOpponent: All the Magisters view each other this way; they respect one another's abilities but their pride [[spoiler: and residual Souleater instincts]] keep them in constant competition with each other. This is most obvious in the relationship between Ramirus and Colivar.

Context Literature / MagisterTrilogy