Lightbringer Trilogy

Not to be confused with Lightbringer (web comic) or The Lightbringer Trilogy.

Lightbringer Trilogy is a trilogy of epic fantasy novels by Oliver Johnson. The series is most notable for its dark setting bordering on Cosmic Horror Story and well-realized villains.

The books are:
 * The Forging of the Shadows
 * The Nations of the Night
 * The Last Star at Dawn


 * 0% Approval Rating: Faran isn't exactly popular among the humans of Thrull.
 * Exclusively Evil: Vampires.
 * Always Night: The first book takes place during one night in a city filled with vampires. Later on
 * Animate Dead: One of the powers of the Black Chalice.
 * Artifact of Doom
 * Because Destiny Says So
 * Black Magic: Demonology.
 * Blood Magic
 * Build Like an Egyptian: The religions of the world really like pyramids. There are big and visible pyramids in a city surrounded by swamps, namely Thrull.
 * The Chosen One: The Lightbringer,
 * Cool Horse: Jayal's horse, thanks to a Retcon.
 * Doppelganger: The Doppelganger.
 * Damsel in Distress: Thalassa.
 * Dark Is Evil
 * Dragged Off to Hell
 * The Empire: Ossia, the country of the undead.
 * Evil Is Not a Toy: Demonology easily results in this.
 * Evil Overlord: Faran, the ruler of Thrull. He has superiors in Ossia but in practice that has little significance to the story.
 * Evil Sorcerer: Golon.
 * Evil Twin: The Doppelganger.
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom: The eyes of vampires glow red.
 * Harmful to Touch
 * Human Sacrifice
 * Humongous Mecha: Talos.
 * Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Thalassa.
 * Jerkass Gods: Best seen in the backstory.
 * Knight in Shining Armor: Jayal.
 * Light Is Not Good: Reh looks great when the comparison point is Iss, but Reh, the God of Light, has been implied to have a very dark side, or more accurately a fiery burning Hell side.
 * Love Goddess: Sutis, the Goddess of Love, is dead but her brothels survive.
 * Magic Sword: Jayal's.
 * Malevolent Masked Men: The priests of Iss wear full masks. Urthred is masked too, but heroic.
 * Monster Sob Story: The Doppelganger gets one.
 * The Necrocracy: A malevolent one under which humans are liable to become vampire food.
 * Nothing but Skulls: Faran made a pyramid of skulls outside Thrull. The rest of the bones were used to cover a causeway.
 * Our Demons Are Different: Demons of various sorts are summoned from the stars, meaning that they are apparently space aliens.
 * Our Gods Are Greater: The gods are indescribably powerful space aliens... who can somehow affect a human's fate in the afterlife and answer prayers, among other things.
 * Our Souls Are Different: Lacking a soul makes someone completely evil. All vampires lack souls.
 * Our Vampires Are Different: The vampires in the series are essentially moving corpses that are destroyed by sunlight. The traditional vampire avoidance of water is explained by water causing vampires' bodies to rot despite embalming. Vampires also need to feed only once per month, which makes their ecology somewhat more sustainable.
 * Reptiles Are Abhorrent: You know Iss is evil because of his snake head, among other things.
 * The Plague
 * Playing with Fire: Urthred's magical powers are all fire-based.
 * Power Glows
 * Prophecies Are Always Right: This applies to all prophecies, not just the prophecies of the good guys.
 * Religion Is Magic: Urthred's magic is granted by his god Reh.
 * Seers: Alanda.
 * Shout Out: There are ones for Lankhmar, The Night Land, and The Moon Pool.
 * Sliding Scale of Undead Regeneration: The vampires are type I.
 * Tome of Prophecy: The holy books of Reh and Iss both qualify.
 * The Wise Prince: Jayal.
 * Who Wants to Live Forever? Vampires eventually decay despite any chemical means used to preserve their dead bodies. Falling into eternal sleep from being unable to feed is in fact a blessing in disguise. Faran realizes
 * The Worm That Walks: The demon lord Nekron.