Chronicles of the Kencyrath: Difference between revisions

[[File:KencyrathTowerOfBats.jpg|frame|<small>P.C. Hodgell's own artwork depicting heroine Jame atop the Tower of Bats in the city of Tai-tastigon.</small> ]]

 

P.C. Hodgell's ''Chronicles of the Kencyrath'' [[High Fantasy]] series consists of six novels (''God Stalk'', ''Dark of the Moon'', ''Seeker's Mask'', ''To Ride a Rathorn'', ''Bound in Blood'', and ''Honor's Paradox'') and a short story collection (''Blood and Ivory: A Tapestry'').

 

 

At first, she takes cautious root in the [[City of Adventure|great city of Tai-tastigon]], where she joins the [[Thieves' Guild]], learns more about her people, [[Gods Need Prayer Badly|experiments with the nature of divinity]], and in general finds herself during the first book, ''God Stalk''. The second book, ''Dark of the Moon'', sees Jame setting about finding her long-separated twin brother and their people, and along the road learning much more of what she is and her place in the long tragedy of their history. The third book, ''Seeker's Mask'', finds Jame almost destroyed from trying to fit into the cage her people expect her to live in, and breaking out and, painfully, finding a new place, which the following books, ''To Ride a Rathorn'', ''Bound in Blood'', and ''Honor's Paradox'' have her taking on and learning the responsibilities and duties attached to a [[Military Academy]] and the world. There is also a short story collection, ''Blood and Ivory'', where the short stories mainly fill in the world and its background. Several of these are now regarded as non-canonical.

 

 

While the series is sometimes incredibly gloomy, it is also, at times, hilariously funny. Both the author and her characters manage to see [[Black Comedy|absurdity in even the darkest places]], and Jame, always a very physical heroine, is a rich source of [[Slapstick]] physical comedy as well as wry thoughts.

* [[Back-to-Back Badasses]]: Jame and Gran Cyd in ''Bound in Blood''. Harn and Ashe in ''Dark of the Moon''. Given that one was in a [[The Berserker|berserker rage]] and the other was [[Our Zombies Are Different|three days dead]] at the time, it brought the trope to new levels.

* [[Bad Powers, Good People]]: Jame and Brenwyr. Torisen's powers are more neutral, but he's convinced they're bad.

* [[Bar Brawl]]: In Peshtar near the beginning of ''Dark of the Moon''.

* [[Bee-Bee Gun]]: In ''To Ride a Rathorn'', Jame and Gari jointly kill someone with a swarm of bees, summoned by his Shanir power and guided into the victim's mouth and down their throat by Jame.

* [[Being Tortured Makes You Evil]]: The Dark Judge, an Arrin-ken who was badly tortured. Subverted in that it is still an enemy of the torturer, instead it went mad and nihilistic.

** The entire house of the Coman, and maybe Brandan as well.

* [[Big Screwed-Up Family]]: Arguably all of the Kencyrath, but the Randir and the Knorth more than most.

* [[Body Surf]]:

** {{spoiler|Bane}} in Seeker's Mask. Primarily because possessed bodies slowly fall apart in the riding. Partly because it amuses him.

** {{spoiler|Kindrie}} -- Argentiel, That-Which-Preserves

** Jame -- Regonereth, That-Which-Destroys

* [[Cool Gate]]: Mother Ragga's house's doors open wherever in the world she chooses, sometimes very conveniently indeed.

* [[Cool Horse]]: Both the Whinno-Hir, almost immortal intelligent horses, and the [[Hellish Horse|carnivorous]] [[Unicorn|unicornesque]] rathorns.

** The Scythe-arms manage to combine the [[Dual-Wielding]], [[Blade Below the Shoulder]], ''and'' [[Double Weapon]] tropes. Not surprisingly, training with them easily dissolves into chaos.

* [[The Corruption]]: What becoming a Changer involves.

* [[Creation Sequence]]: Averted with Kin-Slayer (it's forged anew off-screen), but Marc's glass-making effort has been going on for several books now.

* [[Cryptic Background Reference]]: Part of the charm of ''Godstalk'' is that Jame knows much of the history of the Kencyrath and occasionally makes oblique references to it, but does not elaborate on it, presumably because she already knows it. This is slowly being expanded upon in the later books.

* [[Elemental Powers]]: The four [[Elemental Embodiment|native gods of Rathillien]]: Old Man Tishooo (wind), Mother Ragga (earth), The Burnt Man (fire), and The Eaten One (water); as well as the four disciplines of the Senetha and Senethar: earth-moving, water-flowing, fire-leaping and wind-blowing. The native gods do have quite a bit of agency and sentience.

* [[Ensign Newbie]]: Jame, Gorbel, and Timmon, in ''To Ride a Rathorn''. As the randon (officer) cadet with probably the least military knowledge in the whole school, Jame is appointed Master Ten of her house's cadets (approx 90 cadets) due to her status, and has absolutely no idea what to do, or even where to start. Gorbel has some command experience, but noone takes him seriously, since he's "obviously" there as a political statement from his father. Timmon is the most capable and experienced, but has an attitude problem: he doesn't listen to his subordinates at all, and evades all "un-fun" stuff.

* [[The Evil Prince]]: Greshan.

* [[The Exile]]: In the backstory: Ganth, and then Torisen from Ganth. Kendar, like Marc, without a lord to follow. Several women, including Rawneth, Jame, and Kallystine have been exiled from the Women's World.

* [[Extraordinarily Empowered Girl]]: Jame, of course.

* [[Fantasy Contraception]]: It's mentioned offhand that Highborn women can control their fertility. However, the social structure frequently puts them in social situations where they must voluntarily give up this control to fulfill a contract. Kendar women can do the same, but not with a Highborn lover, which results in a number of half-Kendar children with mixed blood.

** A depiction of this map in stained glass is important in ''Seekers Mask'' {{spoiler|(Jame shatters it)}} and ''Bound in Blood'' {{spoiler|(Marc learns glassworking to rebuild it)}}. [[Word of God|Authorial discussion]] suggests that in a later book {{spoiler|the act of repairing this map brings home to Mother Ragga and other characters just how much of Rathillien has already been lost to Perimal Darkling when Ragga discovers there are parts of Rathillien she can no longer reach}}.

*** The forging of which is [[Shown Their Work|detailed]] from the author's experience as a stained-glass artist herself.

* Fight Magnet: Jame. For some she is an easily underestimated target: a skinny, deceptively weak-looking girl; for some she is a freak: a female Highborn who goes with her face uncovered and isn't safely sequestered and controlled in the Women's World; for some more it's due to antipathy against her house and her brother.

* [[Fire-Forged Friends]]: Jame and Gorbel, although he hides it. Even though his father wants nothing more than for Jame to be killed or ruined, he refuses to kill Jame even when she begs for it.

** [[Big Bad]] -- Perimal Darkling

** [[The Dragon]] -- Gerridon

** [[Evil Genius]] and [[The Brute]] -- same as above

** [[Dark Chick]] -- Terribend, Tirandys's soul-eaten brother

* [[Fluffy the Terrible]]: Played with, when Jame tries to find a name for her blood-bound rathorn colt (a carnivorous and deadly armored unicorn, basically). She suggests "Snowball" and "Buttercup" for the element of surprise, but he prefers "Death's-head".

* [[Forgets to Eat]]: Jame never remembers to eat, and is skinny as a rail with ribs showing. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] in that the [[Alien Lunch|mutant vegetables]] she had to eat growing up would put anyone off food.

* [[Genre Shift]]: The first book, ''God Stalk'', reads as [[Low Fantasy]], and the larger [[High Fantasy]] plot only really starts to be noticeable in the second book, ''Dark of the Moon''. Some readers didn't like the change.

* [[Gentle Giant]]: Marc and later Bear.

** A plot arc for Torisen in his relation to Adric, Lord Ardeth in the same book.

* [[Half-Identical Twins]]: Jame and Torisen.

* [[Healing Factor]]: The Kencyr possess tremendous powers of regeneration, albeit requiring ''dwar'' sleep, a period of hibernation where one is insensate to the world. Broken bones, lost teeth, and terrible illnesses are all shaken off within days of ''dwar'' sleep. Without proper medical care, this will result in crooked bones and scarring from the body setting in place. This becomes a plot point in ''Seeker's Mask''.

** On top of this, the Highborn are almost completely immune to poison, and [[Immune to Drugs|consume hemlock as a sleeping-draught]].

* [[The Hecate Sisters]]: The pommel of the Ivory Knife has three faces on it, Maiden, Mother and Crone. Jame sees herself in the Maiden and her mother in the Mother, and sometimes in the Crone.

* [[Hero Worshipper]]: Lyra, of Jame. Lyra's a [[Rich Bitch|sheltered and spoiled girl]] from a rich family, and Jame is absolutely the coolest person she's ever met. She begins to regard Jame as the "sister of her choice", and as the [[Cool Big Sis]] in many respects. Lyra starts to grow a backbone and a sense of responsibility by trying to emulate Jame.

** Though she still comes across as quite lacking in wits, as when she appears in ''Bound In Blood'' {{spoiler|and ends up eating half of a letter Jame would dearly have loved to have kept, as a misplaced gesture of discretion}}.

* [[I Just Want to Be Normal]]: Jame is very ashamed and shy about her claws -- understandable since they (as incontrovertible evidence of her Shanir weirdness) were what got her thrown out by her father at age 7. Her brother Tori, meanwhile, is trying very, very hard not to have to admit to himself that he has most of the same Shanir weirdnesses and more -- just no claws. He wants to be normal so badly, but it's not going to happen.

** In ''To Ride a Rathorn'' though, she starts to accept her claws at Tentir, thanks to a combination of kendar practicality regarding weapons and her new teacher, {{spoiler|Bear}}.

* [[Immortality Immorality]]: Gerridon selling his people out to Perimal Darkling, the [[Big Bad]], for immortal life is a pretty classic version of this trope. He wipes out two-thirds of his people, mostly so their souls can be harvested to keep him alive ...

** One would think that the propensity for {{spoiler|sibling marriages}} contributes to the appearance of inherited insanity.

*** It is implied that it is more the power that does so. Powerful Shanir are closer to their God than thee and their god is not human in the least.

** However in both cases, it certainly doesn't help that there are malignant entities stirring the pot.

* [[Iron Lady]]: [[Lampshaded Trope|lampshaded]] with Brenwyr, who is known as the Iron Matriarch.

* [[Last of Her Kind]]: Jame is the last female of her house, the Knorth, since someone hired assassins to murder the rest. Since Highlords have to be pure-blooded Knorth, the only way there can be another generation is [[Twincest]]. Or maybe not; in ''Bound in Blood'' it is revealed that there's a third full-blood Knorth, {{spoiler|double first cousin Kindrie, the son of Jamethiel's brother Gerridon and Ganth's sister Tieri.}}

* [[Living Shadow]]: Willow is a dead little girl whose bones are found by Torisen, but her spirit is still around and casts a shadow. As it turns out, she's {{spoiler|Marc's younger sister}} and he proceeds to safekeep her bones from fire so that he can keep her near to him at the cost of barring her from the afterlife.

* [[Mercy Kill]] / [[I Cannot Self-Terminate]]: After a battle, it is the duty of a high-ranking Kencyr officer to follow his empathic link to any Kendar he has bound, culling the fatally wounded. A Kencyr who could commit suicide themselves in such a situation would do so, but if they are unable to, they are assisted.

* [[Mind Rape]]: Kindrie suffers this at the hands of Rawneth.

* [[Moral Myopia]]: Many of the Kencyr Highborn; the Ardeth are particularly noticeable in that regard, since they're not generally on the side of ill, yet are very blind to the things they do to others.

* [[My Master, Right or Wrong]]: Tirandys, wholly aware of the wrong his Master does, but duty-bound to follow him. However, his honor only binds him to obey Gerridon's [[Exact Words]]; he deliberately interprets his orders in whatever way will gain his Master least advantage.

*** {{spoiler|Averted in Dark of the Moon when the original Jamethiel decides to die and fall into the abyss rather than harm her daughter, Jame.}}

** This trope makes up one of the important themes running through the books and referred to as "Honor's Paradox": what do you do if you are ordered to do something dishonorable? Made explicit in the opening chapter of ''Seeker's Mask'', when Jame badly flummoxes a young instructor and her class with the tale of Jamethiel's fall from grace.

* [[Naked People Are Funny]]: The whole sequence in ''Dark of the Moon'' in which Jame escapes the bad guys stark naked and comes across Graykin and then Lyra in the empty palace of Karkinaroth. It's funny precisely because Jame is so ''blasé'' about her nudity and the others so bothered by it; even more so because what bothers Lyra the most is that Jame, who she recognizes immediately as a full-blooded Highborn woman, is not wearing a mask as custom dictates. So she gives Jame a mask and then they sit talking and eating with Jame otherwise naked.

* [[Nay Theist]]: Jame. This is largely what drives her experiments with divinity in ''God Stalk'', to satisfy her curiosity -- since she lacks ''reverence'' for the deities, she is able to study them clinically.

* [[Near-Rape Experience]]: {{spoiler|Ganth}}, with his seven-year-old daughter. One of the things that finally pushes him over the edge to total [[Ax Crazy]]-ness.

* [[No Periods, Period]]: In four novels covering several years of Jame's life, absolutely no mention. [[Justified]] in that Highborn women are able to control conception at will, and possibly the entire menstrual and reproductive cycle; thus, there may be no periods because Jame doesn't have them. Another possibility is that she's not physically mature enough yet; she showed no interest in or sexual attraction to anyone until the fourth novel, and while she's about twenty or twenty-one, she's not considered adult until she's twenty-seven; Kencyr Highborn live long and mature slowly.

** In chapter 3, part 2 of ''Seeker's Mask'', a Caineron captain comments on a bloodied piece of cloth that Jame held as "That time of month, is it?"

** In ''Bound in Blood'', the fifth book, {{spoiler|a Kendar woman is shown with menstrual bleeding}}.

* [[Noble Fugitive]]: Randiroc (Mer-kanti).

* [[Oedipus Complex]]: Torisen, in spades.

* [[Oh My Gods]]: Lots of fantastic god-invoking exclamations from the Kencyr. Common ones in the series are "God's teeth!" (or, once, "God's teeth and toenails!"), referring to the natural armament of Regonereth, That-Which-Destroys, the third aspect of their God. "Trinity!" is one of Jame's favorites, too, referring to all aspects of their triune God.

* [[Older Sidekick]]: Marc, to Jame.

* [[One-Hit Kill]]: The Ivory Knife is the holy artifact of Destruction, and instantly kills with the merest scratch. Jame carries this for a large portion of books 2 and 3.

* [[Our Werewolves Are Different]]: The Wolvers are not humans that take wolf form, but wolves that take human form. They are born in the form of a wolf and develop the ability to take human form later in childhood. Also see [[Humanity Ensues]], kinda.

* [[Our Zombies Are Different]]: The Haunts, dead reanimated by Perimal Darkling, are pretty standard zombies: dying unburned in the Haunted Lands turns you into one, as does being bitten if the infection kills you. Singer Ashe, however, becomes a haunt through an infected bite and carries on as if nothing happened, although with insight into the world of the dead.

* [[Parental Favoritism]]: Gerraint to his older son [[The Evil Prince|Greshan]] and his younger son [[The Unfavourite|Ganth]]. Adric to [[Royal Brat|Pereden]].

** Edirr are tricksters

** Jaran are [[Absent-Minded Professor|absent-minded scholars]]

** Randir are secretive, fanatical, and manipulative

* [[Poor Communication Kills]]:

** Averted, though not for lack of trying. Because all the Knorth women were killed off before he was born, Tori has not had any advisors to guide him through the treacherous shoals of [[Women's Mysteries]]. A particular case in point has to do with the ransom of the death-banner (and also the soul) of Aerulan to the Brandan house. Tori did not want to accept the money Brandan offered, not wanting to profit by Aerulan's death. However, he did not understand (for there was no one to tell him) that refusal to do so would dishonor Aerulan (by saying she has no value) in the eyes of those who love her. (Such as Brenwyr, the curse-flinging [[Curse|maledict]].) This ends up resulting in Jame getting cursed by Brenwyr and a lot of unnecessary strife and ill will.

** In ''Bound in Blood'', {{spoiler|the crop failure caused by the volcanic eruption in ''To Ride a Rathorn'' forces Tori to relent so that his people do not starve -- though not before another misunderstanding results in Brenwyr cursing ''him''. Fortunately, it seems Tori is more or less curse-proof -- though [[Naked People Are Funny|his clothing isn't]].}}

* [[Proud Warrior Race]]: The Kencyr in general; in fact, the Kencyr nation as a whole survives on the earnings of its warriors as hired mercenaries.

* [[Psychic Link]]: The Kendar have a basic need to be bound to a Highborn. The link allows a Highborn to find and feel the health of the Kendar, but also makes the Kendar susceptible to the emotions of the Highborn. It is easily abused, and is by many Highborn.

* [[Reality-Changing Miniature]]: Featured in the short story "Bones".

** Brenwyr "the Iron Matriarch"

** Brier "Iron-thorn"

* [[Roof Hopping]]: with echos of [[Le Parkour]], this is Jame's favorite way of getting around Tai-tastigon. Incredibly physically able, with a dancer's physique and an expert level of martial arts training, Jame's quite up to the task.

** There's a gang, the Cloudies, who are reputed to live their entire lives from birth to death without setting foot on the streets. Jame's master manages to do Roof Hopping {{spoiler|''[[Leap of Faith|in places where roofs no longer exist]]''}}.

* [[Royal Blood]]: Jame is of the Kencyr "royal" house, the Knorth, and her brother is now Highlord, much to her surprise, since their father never told them of this.

* [[Series Continuity Error]]: Rawneth is Kenan, Lord Randir's grandmother in ''Seeker's Mask'' and his mother in ''To Ride a Rathorn''.

** Given that the author has stated she has a profound dislike of rereading her older works, for a story this complicated and written over so long a period it is only surprising there are not ''more'' continuity errors.

* [[The Squad]]: Jame acquires one in ''Seeker's Mask''. It's then made permanent when she enrolls at Tentir in ''To Ride a Rathorn''.

* [[The Stars Are Going Out]]: This will be the sign that the primal chaos of Perimal Darkling has broken the barriers holding it back from yet another world.

* [[Super-Powered Evil Side]]: Jame, when she [[Magic Dance|dances]].

* [[Sweet Polly Oliver]]: Kirien, the Jaran Lordan, is the heir of the Jaran in a culture where most women are deeply sequestered and controlled. Since she doesn't dress in traditional women's clothing, most people around her assume she is a man.

* [[Talking in Your Dreams]]: Jame and Torisen frequently interact and talk with each other in their dreams. This is especially the case when one of them is knocked out, or someone else interferes with their dreams.

* [[Theme Naming]]:

** [[Alphabetical Theme Naming]]: Most of the Highborn seem to have letter-themed names within each House, such as a lot of G-names in the Knorth.

* [[Tome of Eldritch Lore]] (with a bit of [[Great Big Book of Everything]]): The Book Bound in Pale Leather was given to the Kencyr by their God, but it, like the God, is not entirely nice. Reading it is likely fatal, and copying it killed a priest after only a few pages. It contains [[Words Can Break My Bones|Master Runes]] for doing all kinds of things, including transport to the next world in the chain. Jame reads entirely too much of it for her own good, and uses Master Runes to set a blizzard on fire, among other things.

* [[Truce Zone]]: The town of Peshtar, gateway to the Blue Pass, allows both brigands and the caravans they prey upon to trade there and enforces the truce by only letting one group in at a time.

* [[Twin Telepathy]]: Jame and Tori, mostly in dreams but to a lesser extent in the waking world.

* [[Unicorn]]: [[Our Monsters Are Different|But different]]; the rathorns are carnivorous, two-horned armored unicorns that are known man-eaters.

* [[The Usurper]]: {{spoiler|Kenan}} Lord {{spoiler|Randir}}.

* [[Waif Fu]]: Jame is a slight girl who bests almost everyone she comes up against. Twelve years training under an undead, 3000-year old martial arts master might have something to do with that.

** It can be argued that Jame is more of a [[Cute Bruiser]] than [[Waif Fu]]. Her fighting style is quite well-rounded, and she generally ends up very battered but still standing at least once in each book.

* [[Walking Disaster Area]]: Jame, of course. She breaks stuff. Big stuff, like buildings, sometimes. {{spoiler|Deities.}} Without meaning to. Given that {{spoiler|she is an avatar of the destruction aspect of the Three Faced God}}, this isn't that surprising.

* [[When Trees Attack]]: The willow tree in ''To Ride a Rathorn''.

* [[White Stallion]]: Death's-head is a white rathorn stallion, and Jame riding such a beast into battle is definitely this trope. In a twist on the trope, her ''other'' mount, the whinno-hir Bel-tairi, is a white ''mare'', but still fulfills the requirements of the trope.

* [[Will Not Tell a Lie]]: one of the cornerstones of the Kencyr brand of honor. Calling someone a liar is a mortal insult, and if a Kencyr lies, even for a good cause, suicide or finding a quick death in battle are the only ways to redeem oneself. Of course, the less moral characters find ways to deceive without technically lying. Singers and diplomats are awarded the privilege of the Lawful Lie, however.

* [[Wolverine Claws]]: Jame and some other Shanir ("[[Natural Weapon|natural Arrin-thari]]") have claws instead of nails on the hands and sometimes feet. Examples are Jame (who has retractable claws on her hands), and Bear (who has fixed talons on both hands and feet). Steel-clawed gauntlets allow non-clawed Kencyr warriors to fight in the Arrin-thar style as well. Kallystine also uses a razor-ring.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Fantasy Literature]]