War is inescapable.
Wraith Lord is the second book of the Wraith Knight series, a Deconstruction High Fantasy series by C.T. Phipps.
Jacob Riverson, Regina Whitetremor, and Serah Brightwaters have successfully claimed the King Below's power for themselves. Declaring himself the new King Below and dividing his power among the wives, Jacob has attempted to rule the Northern Wasteland justly. Unfortunately, there is resistance to his rule and Empress Morwen continues to abuse her subjects while instituting draconian theocratic laws. Regina still wants revenge for the death of her family and for Jacob to invade the Southern Kingdoms in order to topple her from power. Jacob, by contrast, is more hesitant to start a new Great Shadow War.
Matters come to a head when Regina's long thought dead cousin, Ketra, arrives on dragonback to ask for their help in protecting the city of Winterholme city of Kerifas. Two of the Nine Heroes, Thermic Redhand and Fel Hellsword, are running the city with brutal despotism. Worse, Regina's Lost Lenore, Gewain, is among their prisoners. Can they rescue him without starting another war?
Do they want to?
It is followed by Wraith King.
Wraith Lord contains the following tropes
- All for Nothing: The quest for Gewain fails as he's been tortured beyond the ability to recover.
- Ancient Conspiracy: The Oghma are a group of wizards and witches who consider themselves an Ancient Tradition.
- Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: Jacob as the God of Evil is far more moral and decent than the Nine Heroes.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Fell Hellsword and Thermic Redhand are a Teeth-Clenched Teamwork example.
- Bullying a Dragon: Jacob has no interest in going to war with the Southern Continent despite many of his subjects (as well as Regina) pressuring him to do so. He is eventually forced to when the Nine Heroes plan a genocidal strike against his homeland.
- Cool Sword: Fell Hellsword wields one of the Dark Lords swords that he's turned into a soul-stealing weapon.
- City of Adventure: Kerifas is a city of deep social divisions, strategic importance, and a plot by the Nine Heroes.
- Complete Immortality: Thermic Redhand believes he has this. Jacob, as a god, proves him wrong.
- Cycle of Revenge: Jacob is worried about perpetuating one as well as reluctant to go to war with the Nine Heroes. This turns out due to the fact the Nine Heroes sent assassins that killed most of Regina's bathing partners, implied to be some of her and Jacob's lovers, which sent her to wipe out the entirety of House Rogers. The actual events are off camera but Regina is clearly traumatized by it and it seems the slaughter was total.
- Dating Catwoman: Serah and Fell Hellsword used to have a relationship.
- Doing In the Wizard: To a lesser extent as its discovered that The World Between is a planet colonized by ancient humans after they Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence. All the fantasy tropes and races are because the formerly physical humans found it amusing. It's essentially a giant MMO for themselves.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Ketra is a Flat-Earth Atheist who doesn't believe in the gods while talking to Jacob (who is a god).
- Expy: Fell Hellsword is based on Elric while Thermic Redhand is based on Kratos.
- Ice Demons are frozen versions of Balrogs.
- Flat-Earth Atheist: Ketra Whitetremor is Regina's cousin and loud in her belief that the deities of the World Between are social constructs designed to oppress the masses. She notably does this to Jacob Riverson, who is, in fact a Physical God and made her cousin into the Goddess of Starlight.
- Final Solution:
- Fell Hellsword plans to use ancient High Human weapons to wipe out the entirety of the Northern Wastelands people.
- Thermic Redhand is trying to incite a pogrom against the Fir-Bolg in the city.
- Genocide Backfire: Jacob is uninterested in starting a war with the entirety of the Southern Kingdoms due to the fact that he used to be a resident and knows how many thousands of people will die if he does. He also thinks its a waste of resources that could be better spent developing the Northern Wasteland into a proper society. Instead, the Nine Heroes, afraid of Jacob invading them, plot to kill everyone in the Northern Wasteland. This, of course, convinces Jacob they have to defeat them in war. Also counts as a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.
- The Heavy: Drol-Bethir is an Ice Demon (A Balrog Expy) and one of the most powerful greater demons in the World Below, which makes him close to a match for Jacob and his wives. Drol-Bethir is also quite happy to fight Jacob as he thinks he's unworthy of being the new King Below. However, their conflict is interrupted by Drol-Bethir has orders to slaughter the Fire Districts over settling their feud.
- Magic Knight: Fell Hellsword joins Jacob as one while Regina gains these abilities as well. They are all master swordsmen and warriors in addition to being powerful spellcasters.
- Physical God: Jacob, Regina, and Serah are all now this after Jacob shared his powers with his wives.
- Thermic Redhand is between this and Divine Parentage.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The Nine Heroes believe Jacob will lead an invasion of their kingdom so they should strike him first. This, of course, results in Jacob realizing that he can't leave the Nine Heroes alone and must destroy them in order to have peace.
- Soapbox Sadie: Ketra is a university-educated political radical that has numerous views that are out of touch with mainstream ones. These include the overthrow of feudalism, the nonexistence of the gods, and the need for peace among the races. At least one of these is spoken to Jacob Riverson, who is a Physical God and the King of the Shadowkind. Jacob notably finds her more amusing than offensive.
- Sixth Ranger Traitor: Multiple. Rose is actually an agent for the Nine Heroes and Kana is more loyal to the Golden Horn. Even Ketra is unwittingly part of Fell Hellsword's plan.
- Start of Darkness: It is implied that Regina as begun hers by destroying every member of House Rogers.
- Steampunk: Kerifas and the Northen Wasteland are far more modernized than the rest of the world, even having electricity as well as gas street lamps.
- Token Evil Teammate: Thermic Redhand is the only member of the Nine Heroes who isn't a Well-Intentioned Extremist.
- Vengeance Feels Empty: Regina is clearly traumatized by the destruction of House Rogers.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: Fell Hellsword can take the souls of those killed with his blade.
- Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: The Army of Free Peasants and the Fir Bolg Golden Horn straddle this line. Both of them have legitimate grievances with the former being oppressed workers held under the aristocracy for millennia while the latter have been subject to extreme fantastic racism. Both have demands that they're willing to kill indiscrinately to achieve. Jacob is having none of it.
