Ciaphas Cain: Difference between revisions

** Both used and subverted in ''Cain's Last Stand'', where the air vents are ''exactly'' the place genestealers like to hide, but Cain takes the fact it works as a sign that the Tyranids aren't the only threat.

** He also readily uses uses maintenance hatches after learning of them in ''Death or Glory'' (he notes in the short story ''Traitor's Gambit'' that he tries to acquire their access codes in advance when possible).

* [[Always a Bigger Fish]]: The resolution of ''Cain's Last Stand'' depends on this.

* [[Anachronic Order]]: The first three books are in chronological order, the fourth is a prequel, the fifth takes place between books two and three, the sixth takes place in the WH40K universe's "present day" long after the events of the rest (although the last three all focus on his part in a single larger story), the seventh takes place between book four and book one, and the eighth (Which notably involves his second campaign on a specific world when the story of his first trip there has yet to be published) takes place after the third, but still half a century before the sixth. The short stories are in equally random order, ranging from Cain's first allegedly heroic deed as a Commissar to a story taking place a decade before the sixth book. In-story, the Cain Archive Amberley is editing the stories from is described by her as "consisting merely of a single dataslate, stuffed full of files arranged with a cavalier disregard for chronology, and to no scheme of indexing that I've been able to determine despite prolonged examination of the contents." Also, the editing and release of Cain's memoirs is done at Vail's sole discretion, such as expanding upon [[Plot Hole|Plot Holes]] in previous books (''Duty Calls'' was used to resolve a dangling plotline in ''Death or Glory'').

* [[Asymmetric Dilemma]]: While fighting a Mawloc in ''The Last Ditch,'' Cain worries at length about the prospect of being digested to death, prompting a footnote from Amberly about how he'd die of physical trauma or suffocation first. She admits that it's not as reassuring as she'd meant it to be.

** Later in the same book, Cain marvels at a pile of demo charges that could take down an Ork Gargant. Jurgen agrees if the Orks had a Gargant... and if the Tyranids hadn't eaten all the Orks.

* [[The Atoner]]: The Battle Sisters in ''Duty Calls''.

* [[Authority Equals Asskicking]]: [[Exploited]] by Cain in ''Duty Calls'' when he realizes that the Battle Sisters are about to be overrun by Tyranids, which would have the effect of causing the entire defensive line to fold. He doesn't know who's in charge, so he picks the group of Sisters that have racked up the highest body count. He chooses correctly, as it turns out.

* [[Back From the Dead]]: {{spoiler|Emili}}.

** When you think about it, this basically makes her the rank and file version of Cain, considering how often the latter manages to bumble into trouble just to bumble right out again through dumb luck. He just has better PR.

* [[Buxom Is Better]]: Evidently, the ''Warhammer 40000'' universe as told by Sandy Mitchell. Considering the main game has few women that aren't [[Evil Is Sexy|evil]], [[Squick|monstrous]] [[Horny Devils|succubi]], or generally ([[Form-Fitting Wardrobe|facially]]) unattractive [[Knight Templar|nuns]], some might gain a new appreciation for the setting after reading his novels.

* [[Captain Ersatz]]:

** Cain is basically [[Flashman]] [[Recycled in Space|IN SPACE!!!]]

* [[The Chains of Commanding]]

* [[Chekhov's Boomerang]]: Jurgen's status as a "blank" is a significant factor at the end of ''For the Emperor'', and throughout the rest of the books it often saves Cain's life in certain circumstances. In ''Duty Calls'', {{spoiler|it serves as a [[Sealed Evil in A Can|seal]] protecting Jurgen from being harmed by a Chaos [[Artifact of Doom]] when he picks it up - an artifact which ends up killing the rogue Inquisitor as he makes his getaway once he leaves Jurgen's area of effect}}. In ''Cain's Last Stand'', Cain again uses it to his advantage when {{spoiler|he confronts Warmaster Varan. Jurgen's presence nullifies the power of Varan's [[Compelling Voice]], allowing Cain to wrong-foot and defeat him}}.

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]:

** Whenever Jurgen's melta is brought along, it will probably be needed. (Of course, a melta being a melta, there are plenty of times when it ''would'' have come in very handy. It's a very "opportunistic" weapon).

** A small blink and you'll miss it one in ''Duty Calls''. When riding in a limousine, Cain notices a small cabinet made of naalwood, and comments that it was probably worth more than the aircraft he rode in on. This is because naalwood only comes from the planet [[Gaunts Ghosts|Tanith]] which was destroyed by Chaos, and so is very rare and '''very''' expensive.

** Commissar Forres hastily retracts an accusation of cowardice in ''The Last Ditch'' after she learned that the last time a Commissar insulted Colonel Kasteen, Cain challenged said Commissar to a duel. This was Tomas Beije, towards the end of ''The Traitor's Hand''.

* [[Conveniently an Orphan]]: Cain is a product of the Schola Progenum, schools which raise and educate the children of people who died serving in the Imperial forces.

* [[Cool Teacher]]: Cain appears to have become one prior to the events of ''Cain's Last Stand'' (or at least he claims to be more relaxed, to the irritation of his colleagues).

* [[Egopolis]]: A town Cain saves in ''Death or Glory'' (or more accurately, blows up with an ork army inside) gets rebuilt as "Cainstead." Amberly notes that he found this hilarious.

* [[Elite Mooks]]: The PDF in ''Cain's Last Stand''.

* [[Emotion Bomb]]: A psyker in ''Duty Calls'' uses despair, Slaaneshi cultists [[Love Is in The Air|spread lust around]] wherever they are, and Necron pariahs are "shrouded in horror"... over and above the reasonable reaction to Necrons, that is.

* [[The Empire]]

** Vail's footnotes frequently serve as this.

** During a briefing in ''The Traitor's Hand'', Cain gives a concise but informative discussion of the Chaos Gods, focusing on Khorne and Slaanesh as their minions are relevant to the story.

* [[Famed in Story]]

* [[Fantastic Racism]]: Both used and subverted to a degree. Cain says he has trouble thinking of the Tau in ''For The Emperor'' as people, and the short story ''Traitor's Gambit'' makes his dislike of the Tau even more evident. Equally, he's shocked by (comparatively) friendly Tau behavior, being confused when {{spoiler|a kroot saves his life when he is set upon by dissidents who support the Tau presence}}. Despite this, and remaining suspicious of multiculturalism or alien values, he gets on well enough with two comparatively cooperative Tau soldiers (a Fire Warrior and the aforementioned kroot), doesn't seem to bear most aliens any specific animosity, and {{spoiler|almost warns the Tau when they recover two possibly-Genestealer-contaminated soldiers.}} Note that even feeling ''any'' sympathy towards aliens puts him light years ahead of everyone else in the galaxy.

* [[I Can Still Fight]]: Used by Cain after he suffers any apparent injury. Though [[Subverted Trope|subverted]], because he knows that it will trigger admiration and sympathy in others, who will encourage him to take it easy for a while, which he will grudgingly go along with while inwardly reflecting that he just manipulated them into letting him stay out of danger without losing face. [[Double Subversion|Of course]], these novels being what they are, [[Cosmic Plaything|the universe contrives to put him in even more danger anyway]].

* [[I Just Shot Marvin in The Face]]: In ''The Last Ditch'', "Jinxie" Penlan accidentally discharges her lasgun while using its buttstock to try to unjam another weapon. Fortunately it hits an ork (Who then crashes its flier into the middle of a swarm of orks), so it works out for her in her typical fashion.

* [[I Take Offense to That Last One]]: In ''For the Emperor'', Cain needs to win over the members of a tribunal in a case, and goes over how to do so.

{{quote| '''Ciaphas Cain:'''"Bribery and threats are always popular, but generally to be avoided, especially if you're likely to attract inquisitorial attention as they're better at both and tend to resent other people resorting to their methods."<br />

'''Editor's Note:'''"This is, of course, entirely untrue. As His Divine Majesty's most faithful servants, [[Blatant Lies|we're most definitely above such petty emotions as resentment.]]" }}

* [[I Meant to Do That]]:

** Most notably in ''Fight or Flight''.

** A repeated gripe about Cain's memoirs from Amberley.

** Cain is of the opinion that this is the case with Mira. Amberley [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] the [[Irony]] of that sentiment.

* [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique]]: Subverted in ''The Traitor's Hand'', where the captured Slaaneshi cultists seem to [[Too Kinky to Torture|actually be enjoying the treatment]].

* [[Kid Hero]]: In ''Cain's Last Stand'', the students at the schola provide support.

* [[Leaning On the Fourth Wall]]: One of Amberly's comments in ''The Last Ditch'' basically boils down to saying you should use the Lord Commissar rules to represent Cain on the tabletop.

* [[Leeroy Jenkins]]:

** The Nusquam 1st (and the PDF they recruited from) were a entire ''regiment'' of these. This green regiment and their equally green Commissar considered the more effective tactics used by the Valhallan 597th to be acts of cowardice, ignoring Col. Kasteen's pointing out that the Valhallans were doing twice as much damage as the Nusquams while taking only a third as many casualties. They wised up eventually.

* [[Legally Dead]]: Cain had been declared legally dead many times (most prominently in ''Death or Glory'') to the point where it was ''inverted'' - there is a specific edict that prevents bureaucrats from calling him legally dead, so now he forever remains in active service even after being buried with military honours.

* [[Legendary in The Sequel]]: "Fight or Flight," the original short story, features Cain's very first adventure as a newly-minted commissar. The work which followed it, ''For the Emperor'', features Cain as an established '''HERO OF THE IMPERIUM'''. Due to the series's [[Anachronic Order]], subsequent works play up and down the scale.

* [[Phobia]]: Not a phobia, per se, but Cain is utterly terrified of Necrons, and absolutely will not confront them unless there is no other choice available (see [[Badass Decay]] in [[Ciaphas Cain (Literature)/YMMV|the YMMV tab]]). He also fears the Dark Eldar, often cringing from remembering the time he spent [[Fate Worse Than Death|as a prisoner in a Reaver]].

* [[Pillow Pistol]]: Amberley says he does this ''everywhere''.

** Cain also takes a while to figure out Mira's reason for going with him on a campaign.

* [[The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything]]: Subverted. Cain is so different from the stereotypical commissar (leading by example [so to speak] rather than fear and intimidation, not being trigger-happy, etc.) that it would seem that he's ineffective at his job, but both Amberley's comments and the actual memoirs indicate that this is anything but true.

{{quote| "Enjoy your trip."}}

* [[Psycho Lesbian]]: Magot, but in a good way as long as you don't threaten Grifen.

* [[Purple Prose]]: The excerpts from Sulla's books. Vail apologizes each time she has to add them, and makes rude comments about her writing ability. While they are somewhat florid, they aren't much worse than the writing of Cain himself, or something like [[Rafael Sabatini]]'s ''Captain Blood''. Vail's contempt presumably [[Sarcasm Mode|has absolutely nothing to do with Sulla's (professional) admiration of Cain]].

* [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]]: The penal squad in the first book. Not to mention the rest of the 597th Valhallan, at least at first. As well as Cain's Liberators from ''Death or Glory'', who start out as just a squad of PDF and a few dozen civilians and end up with a few hundred troops and everything a mobile army needs but air support. Perhaps the most impressive is Vail's retinue in ''Duty Calls''. Faced with a food vendor who had stumbled into some knowledge of the Inquisition -- and picked up a gun when cornered by a Chaos cult -- Vail hires her. Others include a former commissar/member of a penal regiment, and a former arbite who had, while undercover, imploded a criminal organization with a judicious murder and frame.

* [[Revealing Coverup]]: In ''Duty Calls''.

* [[Robo Speak]]: Lampshaded in ''Cain's Last Stand'', where he actually uses a trio of combat [[Human Resources|servitors]]' tendency to repeat their directives out loud to track their locations.

* [[Running Gag]]: Many.

** Holograms flicker and require [[Percussive Maintenance]].

** And her rise through the rise through the ranks began when he made an offhand comment that unlike all the platoon leaders of fifth company, ''she'' hadn't dropped the ball when forced to take over for her wounded company commander. Colonel Kasteen interpreted this as a recommendation and breveted her to captain.

* [[Ship Tease]]: Some of the later interactions between Kasteen and Broklaw seem to indicate that they've taken a liking to each other. Cain [[Jossed|Josses]] any such implication between himself and Kasteen... assuming that he's telling the truth and [[Literary Agent Hypothesis|Cain was the one who actually wrote that bit]].

* [[Shrug of God]]: Sandy Mitchell says he doesn't know whether Cain is the [[Dirty Coward]] he claims to be, or is selling himself short.

* [[Single Biome Planet]]: The Valhallans are ice-worlders and have a habit of setting their air-conditioning to levels that makes the breath visible. Being assigned to Simia Orichalcae, the iceworld in ''Caves of Ice'', brings them evident joy.

* [[Sword and Gun]]: Laspistol and a [[Chainsaw Good|chainsword]].

* [[Take That]]:

** Also internally: Vail can't seem to resist taking the occasional stab at the other Inquisitorial Ordos (especially the Ordo Malleus) in the footnotes.

** In ''Traitor's Hand'', an overeager young soldier cries "Come on, men! [[Gaunts Ghosts|Do you want to live forever?]]" before charging a tank. Cain, upon hearing this, groans about what a vapid and totally unrealistic cliché it is. He's also amazed when it seems to inspire his companions rather than causing them to run the frak away.

* [[Tall, Dark and Handsome]] / [[Tall, Dark and Snarky]]: Cain passes himself off as the former in public but is at heart the latter, as his memoirs amply demonstrate.

* [[Talking in Your Dreams]]

* [[Tarot Motifs]]

* [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill]]: At one point in ''The Traitor's Hand'', a World Eater Chaos Marine gets killed "with satisfying thoroughness" by two krak missiles and a lascannon blast, any individual one of which would be enough on its own.

[[Category:Ciaphas Cain]]

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