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{{quote|''There's something broken inside your skull, [Tavi]. You do all your thinking sideways.''|'''Antillar "Max" Maximus''', '''''Princeps' Fury'''''}}
Magical Roman Legionnaires straight out of ''[[
Yeah, it is about as awesome as it sounds.
A high fantasy/intrigue series written by [[Jim Butcher]] (of ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' fame), the Codex Alera is set in a world that is populated by the descendants of one of the [[Lost Roman Legion|lost Roman Legions]] (according to the [[Word of God]]). They have carved out a massive empire led by the "First Lord" and they all have magic--specifically, they all bond with one or more "furies", elementals of air, water, fire, earth, wood or metal. Those who control enough furies can become Citizens, with increased privileges and obligations above the common freeman, but everyone has at least one fury. Well, everone save [[Un-Sorcerer|one]].
Young [[Badass Normal|Tavi]] is the only known Aleran who does ''not'' have access to any furies. At best, he is treated like a special needs child. At worst... well, they start at "freak" and move downhill from there. However, since he can not rely on furies, Tavi uses something that many of his countrymen fail to utilize: [[Guile Hero|his brain]].
Shortly before Tavi was born, the only son and heir of the aging First Lord of Alera was [[Succession Crisis|killed in battle]], causing the various high nobility to scramble and plot to position themselves to take power when the First Lord dies (or, in some cases, to move that event forward slightly). Chief among them are Aquitainus [[The Chessmaster|Attis]], the High Lord of Aquitaine, and [[Complete Monster|Kalarus]], the High Lord of Kalare. As Alera falls into civil strife, the various non-human enemies of Alera prepare to take advantage of these divisions while a far more dangerous threat lurks in the shadows...
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Standing with Tavi are his uncle Bernard (an Earth- and Woodcrafter), his aunt Isana (a very powerful Watercrafter), the young Cursor Amara (a Windcrafter) and the half-wit slave [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass|Fade]], along with the other friends and allies he makes (and one of Tavi's greatest skills is his ability to make allies, especially out of enemies: something lampshaded in the fifth book) as he is swept up in the battles to save Alera.
The novels in this series are:
# ''[[Furies of Calderon]]'' (October 5, 2004)
# ''[[Academ's Fury]]'' (July 5, 2005)
# ''[[Cursor's Fury]]'' (December 5, 2006)
# ''[[Captain's Fury]]'' (December 4, 2007)
# ''[[Princeps' Fury]]'' (December 2, 2008)
# ''[[First Lord's Fury]]'' (November 24, 2009)
A [[Codex Alera
----
{{franchisetropes}}
* [[Above the Influence]]: When Bernard [[Rescue Romance|saves Amara from the frozen, flooding Rillwater river]] she leans in to kiss him, but he pulls away since she is cold and hurting, and it would be taking advantage to move forward.
* [[Absurdly Sharp Blade]]: Metalcrafters have the ability to sharpen and harden the swords they are using, so they can easily slice through concrete, armor and even ''other swords''.
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* [[Annoying Arrows]]: Averted, arrows are just as much a threat to flesh as the more powerful fury attacks. The Vord generally shrug them off, [[Justified Trope|but they also shrug off fury attacks because of their armored hides]].
* [[Appease the Volcano God]]: Inverted. Kalarus {{spoiler|deliberately provokes the Great Fury Kalus into being as angry as possible in order to take as many Alerans with him as possible when he is finally killed.}}
* [[Appropriated
** The Knights Pisces. The Knights Pisces are dubbed such when Tavi notes they're the "fish" (barely competent recruits) of the Knights available. After [[Took a Level
** The Battlecrows, from the same book, sort of. Instead of taking their name from an insult, they take it from the burnt and blackened standard that Tavi carries into battle after it's struck by lightning.
* [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]]: Tavi listed off his exploits and pointed out that he {{spoiler|killed Sarl}}, held off a massive army that vastly outclassed his own, ''beat'' said massive army, and... [[Smart People Play Chess|beat Nasaug at ludus]].
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* [[Ax Crazy]]:
** Odiana.
{{quote|
** The "cutter" Navaris; she has a three-figure body count behind her, and that only counts the legal duels and "self-defense." Add in all of the suspected killings and the like and the number is in the four-figures range. Plus anyone with the slightest watercrafting ability (or eyes) can see that she's really not right in the head, especially where violence is concerned.
* [[Babies Ever After]]
* [[Back for
* [[Badass]]: [[World of Badass|Let me count the ways...]]
* [[Badass Abnormal]]: {{spoiler|Tavi and Kitai both gain furycraft at the very end of the third book}}.
* [[Badass Army]]: The First Aleran, particularly the Battlecrows. They started out as a bunch of half-trained recruits and "veterans" no one wanted in their army, eventually becoming the single most competent Legion in Alera (excepting ''maybe'' the Antillan and Phrygian Legions).
* [[Badass Boast]]:
{{quote|
Bencis let out a few small, breatless sounds. Then he said, "I'm not afraid of you."
"Of course you are," Gaius said, "and should be." }}
* [[Badass Bookworm]]: Ehren, and to a degree Tavi.
* [[Badass Family]]: Not one of the people in Tavi's family fails to impress.
* [[Badass Grandpa]]: Gaius Sextus, for all that [[Older Than They Look|he does not look it]], as well as Varg.
* [[Badass Normal]]: Tavi and Kitai. Played with in that the pair of them are ''abnormal'' by their respective societies' standards.
* [[Barbarian Tribe]]: The Marat, who are divided into tribes based on their animal totems and live in the lands east of Alera, forsaking contact [[The Horde|except when they invade the bridging valley]].
* [[Battle Couple]]: Bernard and Amara, Tavi and Kitai. In ''First Lord's Fury'' Lord and Lady Placida and {{spoiler|Isana and Araris}} get in on some action.
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* [[The Beast Master]]: The Marat are an entire ''race'' of these, split into tribes based on their individual chosen animal.
* [[Berserk Button]]: Do NOT scalp a Marat in front of their tribesmen or they will literally eat your heart.
* [[The Bet]]: The series was originally written on one. Jim Butcher was in a debate over whether [[Fiction Identity Postulate|a good story required a good idea, or a good story could be written with a bad idea]]. The other member of the argument, whose name has now been lost to time, bet that Butcher could not write a good story based on a terrible idea he came up with. Butcher responded that he would take [[Up to Eleven|two]]. The ideas were the [[Lost Roman Legion]]... and ''[[
* [[Better to Die Than Be Killed]]:
** Kestus, wounded while trying escape after seeing Tonnar ripped apart by the Vord, turns to Ivarus and says that he does not want to be killed by those creatures. Ivarus, understanding what he means, nods once, and Kestus thanks him before the chapter cuts out.
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** High Lord Placida carries a sword that is actually described in the text as a "monster," large enough to kill gargants and fell trees in a single swing.
* [[Big Bad Duumvirate]]: Attis and Invidia Aquitaine married for purely political reasons and both are well aware that they are using one another. Invidia is actually the driving force behind most of the plots that would see Attis get the throne, and is more active in the plot.
* [[Big Bad Ensemble]]: Attis Aquitaine and Invidia Aquitaine, both of whom are arguably seperate threats despite being husband and wife, are the [[Bigger Bad|Bigger Bads]] of the first book and have a presence in all the rest; Kalarus is part of three different [[Big Bad Ensemble|Big Bad Ensembles]] in books 2-4, and Sarl is mostly a seperate threat in book 3 {{spoiler|despite his treacherous and tenuous alliance with the former}}, as is arguably [[Big Bad Wannabe]] Senator Arnos; however, the Vord are the [[Big Bad]] of the overall story, both as a species and in the form of the primary Vord Queen, {{spoiler|who is involved in an [[Enemy Civil War]] with the other Queens.}}
* [[Big Bad Friend]]: Fidelias to Amara
* [[Big Man
* [[Bishonen Line|Bishojo Line]]: The Vord Queen goes through several forms as she matures; the first few are clearly monstrous and insectile, but her ultimate form {{spoiler|looks almost exactly like a cross between Isana's sister and Kitai}}. In other words, {{spoiler|like the daughter of Kitai and Tavi}}. This makes sense, as {{spoiler|the Vord Queen absorbed both Tavi and Kitai's blood when they were in the wax Forest in the first book.}}
* [[Black Eyes of Evil]]: The Vord Queen has them.
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* [[Bug Caste System]]: There are ''lots'' of different kinds of Vord. Queens, Warriors, Takers, and Wax Spiders seem to come standard, but more specialized castes such as Vordknights, Vordbulks, mantises, and Cane-forms pop up, too, depending on the needs of the situation and what enemies are available to copy.
* [[But He Sounds Handsome]]: [[Inverted Trope|Inverted]]. In ''Cursor's Fury'' Max and Tavi briefly discuss the reported assault on a slaver and the freeing of all his slaves, congratulating and praising the mysterious man who did it, and are each very surprised to learn that it ''wasn't'' the other one who did it.
* [[The Call Put Me
* [[Call a Rabbit
* [[Call Back]]: After Isana uses a river to defeat someone in book one, she says, "My river." {{spoiler|In the last book, after the Aleran forces repel a Vord thrust, Bernard says, "My Valley."}}
* [[Camp Follower|Camp Followers]]: The First Aleran Legion has the standard merchant, vagabond and prostitute followers. Eventually, Mistress Cymnea, their nominal leader, is added to the staff of the legion.
* [[Cannot Spit It Out]]: In the fourth book, Isana finally tries to explain to Tavi {{spoiler|who his parents were and why he does not have magic powers like everyone else}}. Unfortunately, he chooses just that moment for some [[Oblivious Guilt Slinging]], talking about how great it is to see family again without all the political intrigue and backstabbing of his job, which makes it even harder for her to {{spoiler|confess to a lifelong deception}}, so she puts it off. {{spoiler|Eventually, Araris does the job for her. Tavi is a bit sore about it for a while.}}
* [[Can't Kill You - Still Need You]]: [[Genre Savvy|Fidelias is aware of the trope]], [[Invoked Trope|which is why he feels safe reporting failure to Lord Aquitaine]]. He is too valuable a tool to be thrown away carelessly, so he knows that he will not be killed until his failures outnumber his sucesses.
* [[Capital City]]: Alera Imperia, a series of concentric rings with gates to the higher levels on opposite sides from the gate on the level before that. At the peak lies the First Lord's monolithic Citadel. {{spoiler|It gets destroyed by Gaius Sextus' when he [[Taking You
* [[The Captain]]: While Legions are commanded by a Captain, their role tends to be more along the line of [[Colonel Badass]]. Demos is a somewhat more usual example, since he is in command of a ship with a [[Badass Crew]].
* [[Captain Ersatz]]: High Lady Placida bears a striking resemblance, personally and physically, to one [[Vorkosigan Saga|Cordelia Vorkosigan.]] [[Word of God]] says that this (as well as High Lord Placida's similar resemblance to Aral Vorkosigan) is deliberate.
* [[Captain Obvious]]:
{{quote|
"I can't tell you how glad I am that you're here to tell me that." }}
** This gem in ''First Lord's Fury'':
{{quote|
'''Antillus Raucus:''' Well. There it is.
'''Lord Phrygius:''' Brilliant last words, that. We'll put them on your tombstone. Right next to, "He died stating the obvious." }}
* [[Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough]]: When Tavi and Maximus are sent to join the First Aleran Legion, Max knocks out two ''legionares'' who are disrespectful to Tavi, who is there undercover as an officer. When Tavi points out to Max that he could have handled them himself, Max explains that that is not the point; an officer ''wouldn't'' dispense corporal punishment, regardless of his capabilities, since that is the job of the Centurions.
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* [[Chekhov's Skill]]: See Tavi learning/demonstrating some new skill? There is a pretty good chance he is going to use it for something absurdly [[Badass]] by the end of the book.
** At the beginning of ''Cursor's Fury'', Tavi and Magnus are testing out a catapult they made based on old Roman documents. It promptly gets smashed when an irate Max almost gets hit by a rock and chucks it back at them. No more mention is made, and it seems to be a funny but irrelevant side-note. {{spoiler|Until the last book, when we learn that Tavi wrote home to his uncle about it, and Bernard set up over a hundred of the things as part of the defenses in the Calderon Valley, and loaded them, at Tavi's suggestion, with glass spheres full of fire furies that explode when they break. They do more damage than the ''High Lords'' when they are turned on the Vord army, and the ammo is easy enough to manufacture that they can outlast them, too.}}
* [[Chekhov's Volcano]]: The climax of ''Captain's Fury'' (well, one of them) has {{spoiler|the First Lord unleashing Kalus, the Great Fury within the volcanic Mount Kalare, from Kalarus, destroying the High Lord, his capital city and all of the other towns and steadholts for hundreds of square miles, killing hundreds of thousands.}}
* [[The Chessmaster]]: Both Aquitaines, Doroga and the Vord Queen. Kalarus tries, but {{spoiler|Gaius is better at it}}.
* [[Chrome Champion]]: The First Lord goes to battle. {{spoiler|''First Lord's Fury'' has Araris Valerian doing the same.}}
* [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]]: Invidia, so much so that nearly ''every'' character that has extensive dealings with her tries to take her sudden but inevitable betrayal into account. When she tries to turn on {{spoiler|the Vord Queen, the queen}} is not even upset and sees no reason to punish her for it, since that is just what Invidia ''does''.
* [[Click. "Hello."]]: The sword equivalent. Navaris and her team corner Tavi in his office, intending to kill him... and then Max, Crasus and Arraris show up behind them, drawing their swords.
* [[Colonel Badass]]: There is not a rank of "colonel" in the Legions, but some [[The Captain|captains]], especially <s>Tavi</s> Rufus Scipio, fit this trope pretty well.
* [[Combat Pragmatist]]:
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** Captain Demos, whose ''entire'' ship is a single wood fury, mentions that the last fair fight he had was when he was twelve years old.
* [[Combat Sadomasochist]]: Kalarus' Immortals have been conditioned through discipline collars to enjoy pain, to the point that one of them seems to be ''happy'' when he is forced to chop off his own leg.
* [[Commander Contrarian]]: Senators Arnos and Valerius, who mostly just want to make themselves look good at the expense of everyone else. In Valerius's case, even in the face of what is basically [[The End of the World
* [[Consummate Liar]]: Fidelias (as various watercrafters learn to their dismay and disturbance).
* [[Continuity Nod]]: After Bernard and Amara have been engaged in a sexual relationship for several years (and multiple novels) Amara asks Bernard when he first realized that he was attracted to her. His response was when he first bandaged her ankle, which occurred in the first novel, soon after they first met.
* [[Cool Versus Awesome]]: SO. MUCH.
* [[Crazy Enough to Work]]: Almost every plan of Tavi's relies on this. So much so that Kitai finds the [[Final Battle]] by going to the place only a lunatic would enter.
{{quote|
* [[Crazy Prepared]]:
** Comes up pretty often given the number of Chessmasters in play, but the precedent is set early in the first book when Amara realizes that Gaius Sextus had designed his own son's tomb as a shelter against enemy furies, weapons stockpile, and site for healing. Hidden in plain sight!
** When Fidelias enters a seemingly empty tent he turns to the empty air and makes a verbal greeting. Lady Aquitaine, hiding under a veil, reveals herself and asks how he knew that she was there, but Fidelias is actually very surprised to see her. Apparently he greets the empty tent every time he walks in ''just in case'' there is somebody invisible hiding in there.
* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]: {{spoiler|Fade}}.
* [[Cry for
{{quote|
* [[Cue the Sun]]: Happens literally (and awesomely) in Book 3. {{spoiler|Tavi commands his windcrafters to part the clouds and reveal the sun at high noon in order to focus the sun's rays into a [[Death Ray]] which roasts the Canim.}}
* [[Curse Cut Short]]: In ''Cursor's Fury''.
{{quote|
'''Tavi:''' "Assault formation!" }}
* [[Cute Monster Girl]]: The final form of {{spoiler|the Vord Queen}}.
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** After a pair of Hunters are killed in battle with the Vord, Tavi asks their leader what their names were, and asks if anyone will sing a Blood Song (Canim funerary ritual) for them.
** One Canim ritualist, Master Marok, uses this to take the wind out of the sails of one of his less-honorable colleagues. After Tavi has to kill two Canim in self defense, the ritualist says that a blood price must be paid for them--and Marok undercuts him by asking if he even knows their names, when he clearly doesn't.
* [[Death
* [[Death
* [[Death Equals Redemption]]: Amara mourns "the man he became" after {{spoiler|Gaius Attis is skewered by his wife and spends his remaining days calmly leading the Alerans and planning for his death.}}
* [[Defiant to
* [[Deliberate Values Dissonance]]: Slavery, torture and genocide of nonhuman species are all accepted in Aleran society, remnants of their Roman Ancestry. Women are also stuck in a second-class status, but the patriarchy has weakened slightly due to their ability to gain Citizenship by proving their martial abilities.
* [[Deus Exit Machina]]: Gaius Sextus could easily handle a ''lot'' of the problems of the first four or five books, so a pretty good fraction of the plot revolves around taking him out of the picture somehow.
* [[Diagnosis From Dr. Badass]]: {{spoiler|Attis}}'s calm and exact description of exactly what {{spoiler|getting filleted by Invidia}} did to his insides.
* [[Discriminate and Switch]]: When Tavi suggests adding Mistress Cymnea to the staff of the First Aleran Legion, Max instantly objects. When Cymnea asks if his problem is with the fact that she is a woman or because she is a madam, Max says that the problem is that she is a ''civilian''.
* [[
* [[Don't Explain the Joke]]:
{{quote|
'''Phrygius''': I think we all understood what you meant at the end of your first sentence, dolt. }}
* [[The Dragon]]
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** Navaris is the Dragon to Senator Arnos.
* [[Drop the Hammer]]: Knights Terra often wield giant hammers as their weapons, using their earthcafted strength to swing them with crushing force.
* [[Duel to
** The ''juris macto''; it is mentioned in various points through the series, and we see two duels in completion:
*** {{spoiler|Tavi challenges the corrupt Senator Arnos to bring him to account for ordering the slaughter of Aleran freemen trapped behind the Canim lines. The senator sends in his second, Navaris, to fight, but Tavi kills her and "Marcus" kills Arnos when he tries to escape.}}
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*** A third duel, between Araris Valerian and Aldrick ex Gladius that lasted for ''ten hours'', took place fifteen years before the start of the series and is repeatedly mentioned by characters.
** The Marat language has no word for "lying," the closest concept they have is to say that someone is "mistaken." When one Marat accuses another of being mistaken, they fight each other to the death in order to see who is correct.
* [[Due to
** The Canim sing a "Blood Song" for fallen warriors. Warriors who become Hunters (spies, assassins and saboteurs) have their blood songs sung when they make the transition, because their old life is over.
** The ''legionares'' who die serving on the Shieldwall, the fortifications protecting Alera from the northern Icemen, are burned on a funeral pyre instead of being buried. It is symbolic of [[No One Gets Left Behind|keeping them away from the Icemen]].
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** {{spoiler|Gaius Sextus blowing up Alera Imperia, taking out most of the vord army in one strike.}}
** {{spoiler|High Lord Cereus diving into a vordbulk's mouth and blowing it up from the inside.}}
* [[El Cid Ploy]]: A significant chunk of the plot of ''Academ's Fury'' consists of hiding the fact that Gaius Sextus collapsed from overwork {{spoiler|and poison}}.
* [[Elemental Powers]]: Well, ''duh''. There are six elements, each of which can be directly manipulated or used to summon a manifest fury, and most of them have secondary applications as well:
** [[Blow You Away|Windcrafting]] (Knights Aeris): In addition to [[Blow You Away|air manipulation]] and [[Flight]], grants [[Super Speed]], [[Invisibility|Veils]], and the ability to create a telescope-like lens out of air, {{spoiler|this last of which [[Codex Alera
** [[Dishing Out Dirt|Earthcrafting]] (Knights Terra): [[Dishing Out Dirt|Earth and rock manipulation]] ([[Mundane Utility|good for making buildings!]]), [[Super Strength]], and [[Emotion Control|ability to induce calm or lust]]. Additionally, manifest earth furies can be extremely useful... and dangerous.
** [[Extra Ore Dinary|Metalcrafting]] (Knights Ferrous): [[Implausible Fencing Powers]] and the ability to sense nearby metal; additionally, it can be used to artificially repress emotion and pain to turn the user into an [[Implacable Man]]. The most powerful and skilled metalcrafters can [[Chrome Champion|incorporate metal into their skin]] to protect themselves.
** [[Green Thumb|Woodcrafting]] (Knights Flora): [[Green Thumb|Manipulation of plants]], including encouraging them to grow, or animating them directly, which also (as the name implies) applies to dead wood. It also grants the ability to create [[Invisibility|veils]] when enough plant matter is present, specifically with shadows. Most Woodcrafters are [[The Archer|archers]], since control of the arrows and bows gives them [[Improbable Aiming Skills]].
** [[Making a Splash|Watercrafting]] (Knights Aqua): [[The Empath|Empathy]], underwater breathing, [[Shapeshifting|changing appearance]], long-range water-based communication, and, most importantly, [[Healing Hands|healing]]. There are't any actual ''Knights'' Aqua because their [[The Medic|medical skills]] are so valuable elsewhere. Without some metalcrafting, though, they tend to be [[Unhappy Medium|Unhappy Mediums]], since as we all know, [[A Mind Is a Terrible Thing
** [[Playing
* [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors]]: Each element (above) is canceled by its opposite: fire with water, metal with wood, air with earth (or just a pinch of salt), and vice versa. This is mainly used to design prisons and other restraints, but is occasionally used in battle.
* [[Emotion Bomb]]:
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* [[The Empath]]
** Any sufficiently power watercrafter can feel the emotions of surrounding people. One compares a visit to any sufficiently-sized city as the following:
{{quote|
** The Icemen, who can communicate amongst themselves with no speech at all. {{spoiler|Their intense enmity for the Alerans comes largely from the mix of their water-based empathy with the minor firecrafting that Alerans use to stay warm in the cold northern regions. When fire and water are mixed it creates feelings of anxiety and anger, so just by ''being'' next to each other the two sides were feeding their hatred.}}
* [[Enemy Civil War]]: Between {{spoiler|the primary Vord Queen and her daughters}}. It is the main reason {{spoiler|why the world was not consumed by the Vord}}.
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* [[Everyone Is a Super]]
* [[Lava Adds Awesome]]: Twice.
* [[Everything's Even Worse
* [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good]]
** In ''Cursor's Fury'', Invidia suggests that Amara use [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique|forceful methods]] to get information out of Rook. Amara instead determines Rook's driving motivation for being loyal to Kalare (her daughter) and promises to rescue her daughter because it is the right thing to do. When Rook breaks down crying and agrees to help, Invidia is described as looking on the scene with a confused expression like someone watching a "silent play performed by lunatics."
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* [[Eye Scream]]: Turns out, a sufficiently powerful watercrafter can regrow her ''own'' eyes after they have been clawed out.
* [["Failure to Save" Murder]]: The source of many characters' resentment towards Gaius Sextus, whose son, Gaius Septimus, was killed by the Marat approximately fifteen years before the start of the series.
* [[Famed in Story]]: Aldrick ex Gladius often serves as [[The Dragon]] for whichever character is currently in control, and not as a clear antagonist on his own, but he is legendary throughout Alera for his famed skill with the sword. His duel with Araris Valerian, ''also'' legendary because of his skill, is still being talked about ''fifteen years later''. To hear Araris tell it:
{{quote|
* [[Family Relationship Switcheroo]]: {{spoiler|Tavi's "aunt" Isana is really his mother.}}
* [[Fantastic Caste System]]
** The social classes of Alera are: Slaves, freemen, Citizens and Lords/Ladies, with several different ranks of nobility somewhere at the level of Citizens and higher. There is a strong but not perfect correlation between strength in furycrafting and social rank, and strength in furycrafting is at least partially heritable, so while many characters have moved their way up in rank over their lives, the caste one is born into is still very determinative.
** The Canim castes are the Makers (farmers, workers, and artisans), Ritualists (doctors, priests and sorcerers) and Warriors ([[Exactly What It Says
* [[Fantastic Nuke]]: Many smaller versions, but {{spoiler|Gaius wiping out Kalare by unleashing a volcanic Great Fury and then slowing the Vord by destroying the remnants of Alera Imperia with another volcano}} probably take the cake.
* [[Farm Boy]]: Tavi. Even when he is {{spoiler|recognized as the Princeps of Alera}} and on a secret mission behind enemy lines, he still stops to admire the efficiency of a livestock pen.
{{quote|
'''Durias''': <''blink''
'''Max:''' "Don't tell anyone, but {{spoiler|our Princeps}} was brought up on a steadholt. Herding sheep, if you can believe that." }}
* [[Feel No Pain]]: An aspect of metalcrafting.
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** High Lady Placidus Aria is the only member of the Aleran nobility to insist that other characters address her by her first name, indicating that she is friendly and approachable.
* [[Five Races]]: Averted, though notable because there actually ''are'' five sentient races in the setting. While Alerans are High Men and Marat can be put into Fairy without ''too'' much effort, Canim, Icemen, and Vord defy categorization in the system. (When the closest thing you have to Mundane are the nine-foot-tall wolfmen, you know you are not dealing with the traditional fantasy races...)
* [[Flying Car]]: The favored and fastest way around Alera is by flying coach. Interestingly, the draft "animals" are other human beings, specifically wind-crafters who lift the coach up.
* [[Follow the Chaos]]: Provides the page quote, and is how the final battle is located.
* [[Foreshadowing]]: There is a ''ton'' of foreshadowing of later events in the series in the early books.
** At the end of ''Furies of Calderon'', Gaius speaks with Fade about the sword he gave Tavi and remarks that {{spoiler|the sword is a "princely" gift.}}
** In ''Academ's Fury'', while Bernard is preparing for the final push against the Vord Queen, he notes the ugly weather being brought down by the great furies around Garados and remarks that "Even if we don't finish them, the furystorm will finish what we started." At the end of ''First Lord's Fury'', {{spoiler|a furystorm is what hurts the Vord Queen enough to allow Tavi to finish her.}}
* [[For Want of a Nail]]: Thematically lampshaded: ''everything'' in the series is kicked off by a serving girl wanting some pretty flowers.
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** Captain Demos is a slaver and a pirate, theoretically an enemy of the Aleran government, but he frequently talks about how much he loves working with the Cursors, the spies and assassins of that same government. As he explains it, the Cursors pay on time and almost never [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|try to kill him once the job is completed]].
** The Canim term ''gadara'' pretty much means this. They even see a ''gadara'' as worth more than a friend: a friend can always disappoint you, but your gadara is always your enemy. However, Tavi and various Canim always make it a point to explain that they ''are'' still an enemy, and in a conflict will do their best to kill one another.
* [[Functional Magic]]: Several systems. The Alerans, {{spoiler|the Vord Queen, and the Icemen to a degree}} use a combination of Inherent Gift and Theurgy (the elemental furies do all the heavy lifting, but Alerans have the inborn power to summon and control them), while the Canim Ritualists use a sort of [[Blood Magic|blood-based]] Rule Magic. The Marat also have the ability to bond with various creatures, but that is more one inherent power than a complete system.
* [[Gambit Pileup]]: Just ''look'' at how many [[The Chessmaster|Chessmasters]] and wannabes there are on [[Codex Alera
* [[Gender Equals Breed]]: [[Playing
* [[Get It Over With]]: Amara refuses to listen to {{spoiler|Invidia's}} justifications or explanations for why she is helping the Vord Queen and tells her to "get on with it" when she holds Amara and Bernard at swordpoint.
* [[Glad I Thought of It]]: Used intentionally by Ehren in ''First Lord's Fury.''
* [[Glass Cannon]]: The more powerful furycrafters, including the various High Lords. Multiple characters point out that, despite their strength and skills, their flesh and bone is no harder than the average human; provided you can get to them, they can be felled by a single blow like any normal person.
* [[Go for
* [[Gondor Calls for Aid]]: In ''First Lord's Fury'' {{spoiler|the Marat join the Alerans in the battle to defend the Calderon Valley and the Canim fight beside Tavi throughout his campaign.}}
* [[Gone Horribly Right]]: Gaius Sextus hopes to push High Lord Kalarus into action by pretending to appoint High Lord Aquitaine as his successor, knowing that this will force Kalarus to accelerate his plans to seize the throne. Unfortunately, both Gaius and Amara believe that Kalarus will pursue a subtle means of displacing the First Lord, and are surprised and unprepared when he launches a full-scale insurrection.
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* [[Good Is Not Dumb]]: While none of the main cast are stupid, [[Guile Hero|Tavi]] and [[The Chessmaster|Ehren]] take the cake, being both genuinely good people and absolutely brilliant.
* [[Good Is Not Nice]]: Kitai and Hashat are two of the Marat most friendly to Alera, after Doroga, and assist them in their fights against Atsurak, the Canim and the Vord. However, they remain "barbarians," including practicing cannibalism and living with an almost sexual desire for combat and bloodshed.
* [[The Good,
* [[Gratuitous Latin]]: Used extensively, with good reason: [[Word of God]] is that the Alerans are descended from one of the Lost Roman Legions.
* [[Green-Eyed Monster]]: Her name's [[Meaningful Name|Invidia]] for a ''reason'', folks.
* [[Guys Smash, Girls Shoot]]: Inverted with Bernard and Amara, the most long-term [[Battle Couple]]. Though Bernard has an earthcrafters strength and carries a [[An Axe to Grind|battle axe]], he is primarily an archer, while Amara is a swordswoman.
* [[Half-Human Hybrid]]
** In a rather twisted way, {{spoiler|the Vord Queen}}.
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* [[I Have Your Wife]]: One of Kalarus's favorite tactics. It backfires in several instances.
* [[I Just Want to Be Special]]: Tavi, initially.
* [[Impaled
** When fighting the Vord Queen, {{spoiler|Tavi was pinned to a rock with a razor-edged, poisoned vord-chitin sword. He almost cut his fingers off trying to get himself free.}}
** The Vord Mantis-Warriors in ''First Lord's Fury'' tend to do this. {{spoiler|One almost kills Ehren such, pinning him to a fortress wall in the process.}}
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* [[Improbable Aiming Skills]]: Anyone with strong woodcrafting ability becomes an incredible archer, among them being Bernard, Fidelias, and any Knight Flora. In ''Academ's Fury'', a group of Knights Flora looses a barrage of arrows that are so precise they can fly between a ''legionaire's'' ear and his shield, or beneath a rising sword arm as the soldier in question strikes out. In ''Captain's Fury'', a woodcrafter named Iris the Hawk is so accurate that she can put arrows into men's heads or throats from four hundred yards, while on the rolling deck of a moving ship. By comparison, the classic English longbow could ''potentially'' reach those ranges in ideal conditions, but with only inaccurate, arching barrage fire.
* [[I Never Told You My Name|I Never Told You My Job]]: Beritte, who fancies herself as something of a seductress, accidentally gives away that she was eavesdropping when she refers to Fidelias as a gem merchant, which was the cover story he had just relayed to Bernard.
* [[Insult Backfire]]: The knights in the First Legion invoke this in Captain's Fury. The previously inexperienced division of Knights had gotten the nickname Knights Pisces, based on the naming convention for the knight divisions by craft ([[Gratuitous Latin|Knights Ferrous, Knights Flora, and so on]]) and the tradition of calling new recruits fish.<ref>Because their flailing around is less like a ''legionaire'' and more like a landed fish.</ref> After their exceptional performance in dire circumstances, they make themselves insignia of [[Everything's Even Worse
{{quote|
* [[Interspecies Romance]]: Tavi, a human, and Kitai, a Marat. Of course, the Marat are pretty much humans that are taller, have higher body heat and are less "civilized," so it is easy to overlook. They can also {{spoiler|interbreed with humans}}, though mutual longstanding hostility between them means no one knows this is possible.
* [[I Shall Taunt You]]:
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** Inverted--It's what ''he'' does--when Tavi and Nasaug discuss Varg and why he is imprisoned in the Aleran capital. Nasaug states that Varg is imprisoned unjustly since he did not act dishonorably, and when Tavi asks what makes Nasaug think that, he simply replies that, "He is Varg."
** The Vord seem to have some sort of genetic imperative to destroy all other living species on the planet. {{spoiler|In the end, the Queen tells Tavi that it was never personal; she was just doing what a Vord Queen is supposed to do.}}
** As of ''Princeps' Fury'', High Lord Antillus Raucus has spent huge chunks of his life locked in constant battle with the Icemen. He is obviously emotionally, mentally and physically exhausted by the constant strain, but he gamely carries on with it, because "it's what one did".
* [[I Will Only Slow You Down]]: When Ivarus and Kestus are fleeing the Vord, Ivarus' horse is killed and he tells Kestus to continue without him [[Bring News Back|to warn Alera]]. Kestus instead [[No One Gets Left Behind|turns around to carry Ivarus on his own horse]], {{spoiler|[[Deconstructed Trope|and is killed by the Vord]].}}
* [[Jackie Robinson Story]]: {{spoiler|Isana}} becomes the first female steadholder at the end of ''Furies of Calderon.'' Tavi becomes the first non-crafter to be, well, everything.
* [[Kansas City Shuffle]]: Tavi figures out that the best way of combating an enemy who can read minds is to make sure nobody but him knows all of what is going on, so he uses plans that rely on complicated sets of sealed orders issued to many different people. {{spoiler|And in return, they do not tell him about the fact that they are sending backup.}}
{{quote|
* [[Karmic Death]]: {{spoiler|Invidia}} died by being stabbed in the back.
* [[Kick the Dog]]
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** Canim pups are the most adorable things ever. They can also bite your hand off at the wrist.
** Gram, one of the more powerful firecrafters around, uses a fury that takes the shape of a [[Badass Adorable|hummingbird]] named [[Fluffy the Terrible|Phyllis]].
{{quote|
* [[Kill It
* [[Knife Nut]]: Ehren hides such an extravagant number of knives on his person that it becomes a [[Running Gag]], and at least one person deduces that he is a Cursor based solely on how many he has.
* [[Kraken and Leviathan]]: The leviathans are mammoth deep-sea creatures that regularly sink ships which attract their notice. Infants are a "mere" forty-feet long.
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* [[Locked Into Strangeness]]: Gaius Sextus's hair goes solid white after his collapse during the second book. He still looks 40-something otherwise.
* [[Luxury Prison Suite]]: The Grey Tower, which is the most escape-proof prison in Alera. The cell on the top floor is the ''entire'' floor and includes dining areas, luxury furniture and plenty of books. Max points out that anybody who ends up in ''that'' cell is there for politics, and the bars are simply for show.
{{quote|
'''Killian:''' Mmmm. Gaius Secundus had a prison suite installed when he arrested the wife of Lord Rhodes, eight hundred years ago. She was charged with treason, but never tried or convicted, despite interrogation sessions with the First Lord, three times a week for fifteen years. }}
* [[Lysistrata Gambit]]
{{quote|
* [[Magical Defibrillator]]: Veradis, the daughter of High Lord Ceres, can do this through a combination of watercrafting and windcrafting to channel electricity.
* [[Magitek]]: In daily life, most Alerans use technology roughly equivalent to medieval Europe, which is about what one would expect considering the origin of Alera. However, different aspects of furycrafting stand out as modern conveniences: furylamps, which function exactly like lightbulbs, coldstones, which provide refrigeration, watersending, which provides communication across thousands of miles, and air-coaches, which stand in for airplanes. Combined with the healing of watercrafting and the ability of woodcrafting to stimulate the growth of food crops, Alera has a life-expectancy and quality of life equal to the modern day.
* [[Make It Look Like an Accident]]: Max's mother succumbed to this, and his [[Wicked Stepmother]] has been trying to arrange a similar accident for him since he was 14. It is her preferred method of operation against all opponents, and she is damned good at it.
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* [[Manly Tears]]: In ''Academ's Fury'', when Miles witnesses his brother Araris in battle again, after believing he had been dead for fifteen years, he weeps at the sight.
* [[Mark of Shame]]: Fade's brand. {{spoiler|It is self-inflicted.}}
* [[Master Swordsman]]: Any Knight Ferrous is this by definition. Araris Valerian, Aldrick ex Gladius, and Phrigiar Navaris are the three most significant to the story, and each of them has a deserved reputation as one of the top blades in Alera. Araris is ''probably'' the best, though Aldrick once famously dueled him to a draw, and he admits himself that it could go either way between him and Navaris.
* [[Mathematician's Answer]]: When Kitai asks if Tavi is studying the Vord or the Canim, Tavi simply replies "yes."
* [[Mauve Shirt]]:
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** "Invidia" is Latin for "envy". Which is [[Green-Eyed Monster|rather appropriate]].
** In ''Cursor's Fury'', there is a character named Rook. {{spoiler|In one scene, she exchanges places with a member of the royalty for the sake of both protection and greater maneuverability. Or, to put it simply, Rook castles.}}
** When first introduced, the Placidas are noted for staying out of the turbulent politics.
* [[Meaningful Rename]]
** Marcus earned the name Valiar for his courage.
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* [[Minored in Asskicking]]: Magnus.
* [[Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal]]: {{spoiler|Aric turns on his father, Kord, because of the [[Abusive Parents|horrendous treatment]] he endures and the generally abhorrent attitudes and actions he was raised with}}.
* [[Mon]]: [[Word of God]] holds that the furies are in fact based on ''[[
** [[Olympus Mons]]: The Great Furies. Garados is a literal example.
* [[Monster Sob Story]]: {{spoiler|The Vord Queen is in Alera because her daughters in Canea declared her [[Humanity Is Infectious|defective]] and try to kill her on sight.}}
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* [[Muggles Do It Better]]: One of the most devastating weapons the Canim use against Alerans is an enormous crossbow. There is nothing magical about it, beyond the fact that it is scaled to a Canim warrior, making it somewhere between a ballista and a man-portable crossbow.
* [[Mundane Solution]]: A whole lot, mostly courtesy of Tavi. Earthcrafting makes someone super strong, but it does not increase weight and you have to be touching the ground to use it. Throwing an earthcrafter on a wooden deck cuts off their strength, and salt injures wind furies, disrupting fliers. Metalcrafters can sense blades or arrowheads coming at them, but not flint or obsidian weapons.
* [[Mundane Utility]]: All of the different types of furies and their crafters have some form of mundane utility; wind-crafting allows for flight, earth-crafting increases strength to the point that loads in the hundreds of kilograms are no issue, water-crafters are healers, metal-crafters are smiths and have endurance that allows them to block out pain or keep going for days, wood-crafters can manipulate any form of plant life, making them excellent farmers--and archers--and firecrafters create the equivalent of both lightbulbs and refrigeration. Heck, the entire economy is so based on fury-crafting that most forms of technological development have completely stagnated.
* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: {{spoiler|Gaius Tavarus Magnus, which literally means "Lord Wolverine the Great".}}
* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: Tavi and Kitai are inadvertently responsible for the awakening of the Vord.
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** {{spoiler|Even more so the ending. Tavi has changed the world so that Fury Crafting ability is now based on hard work more than genetics, with a further implication that the other races would develop it. He has also managed to force the Alerans, Marat, Icemen, and Canim into an alliance because if they don't work together, they will all die when the Vord from the former Canim cross the ocean in a couple of centuries.}}
* [[Not Now, Kiddo]]: Bernard to Frederic, regarding the vord parasite he has captured in a cup.
* [[No Woman's Land]]: Though Alera's women do enjoy plenty of rights as freemen, the number of female Citizens is limited; up until Gaius promoted Isana to the Citizenry at the end of ''Furies of Calderon'', no woman had ever gained Citizenship without either serving in the military <ref> Difficult, as women could not normally be ''legionares'', so this requires them to serve as either healers or Knights, both of which require strong furycrafting, or the woman had to disguise herself as a man until such a point that her deeds on the battlefield proved her worhty of being a Citizen if she revealed her gender</ref>, winning a Citizenship bout (requiring strong furycrafting) or marriage into the Citizenry (strong furycrafting being nearly required as well). In short, women without Knight-level furycrafting are generally out of luck in Alera, at least until Gaius promoted Isana. This becomes an important plot point as the series progresses, as Isana's promotion is taken as an official statement by the First Lord regarding parity of genders and a sign of his power, making Isana a target for those trying to undermine Gaius' authority. It also resulted in an increase in sale prices for female slaves and caused chaos and pressure in the slave trade in general. Since Kalarus is one of the two High Lords with eyes on the First Lord's crown, and the province of Kalare is heavily dependent on slave labor, this seriously hampers his economy and pushes him into launching the brewing civil war earlier than he planned.
* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]:
** The first thing Kitai says about her father, Doroga, is that he does not ''seem'' clever.
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* [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]]: It would not be Alera without them, and they come in all shapes, sizes, and positions of authority. Naturally, they cause innumerable headaches. However, in at least one instance, they proved useful: one such official, Pluvus Pentius, protected some children by obstructing a roving monster with his accounts ledger. Repeatedly. To the head. Because hey, [[World of Badass|in Alera even the]] ''[[World of Badass|accountants]]'' [[World of Badass|can kick your ass]].
* [[Odd Name Out]]: Isana, Amara, Fidelias, Maximus, Araris, Invidia... Tavi? {{spoiler|Which is [[Foreshadowing]], as it happens. "Gaius Oc'''tavi'''an" fits right in with the rest of those [[Awesome McCoolname|awesome]] Latin-derived names.}}
* [[Offhand Backhand]]: Walker provides the Gargant equivalent when charged by a mantis Vord in ''First Lords Fury''. The creature charges with berserk fury until Walker squashes it while paying next to no attention to it.
* [[Official Couple]]: Tavi and Kitai, Bernard and Amara, {{spoiler|Isana and Araris}}.
* [[Offing the Offspring]]: Antillar Maximus seems to have plenty of [[Make It Look Like an Accident|accidents]] whenever his step-mother, High Lady Dorotea Antillus, is around.
* [[Oh Crap]]: Everywhere and in wide variety.
** [[Mass "Oh Crap"]]: Also common, but especially notable when {{spoiler|the Vord Queen pulls a [[One Hit KO]] on a High Lord.}}
* [[Older Than They Look]]
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* [[The Only One Allowed to Defeat You]]: Tavi and Varg, especially in ''Princeps' Fury''. Earlier, in ''Academ's Fury'', Varg tells Tavi that the entire reason he is helping him protect Gaius is because Varg wants to be the one to lead the army that will destroy Alera [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|with honor]], and that he does not want Alera to fall to Sarl and the Vord Queen's trickery and deception. Applies to any sets of ''gadara'' as well, and other Canim will get out of the way in order to let them challenge each other.
* [[Orifice Invasion]]: Vord Takers crawl in through your mouth, secreting a poison to numb your flesh so you do not know they are crawling into you until it is too late.
* [[Our Elves Are Better]]: Marat are basically neolithic Wood Elves, though the term is never explicitly used for them.
* [[Out-Gambitted]]
** "I gave you even odds of seeing through the switch."
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* [[Papa Wolf]]: Sextus did not take it kindly when {{spoiler|a couple of his High Lords killed Septimus. It may have taken him twenty-five ''years'', but he got his revenge. How? He killed one ''with a volcano'' and he set the other one up for death by the hands of the oncoming Vord.}}
* [[Parental Favoritism]]: Kord favored Bittan, who was growing into just as sickening a thug as he was, over Aric, [[White Sheep|who never quite reached the same depths]].
* [[Peeling Potatoes]]: Tavi pisses off an officer and ends up measuring latrines in ''Cursor's Fury''.
* [[Person of Mass Destruction]]: All the High Lords, and ''especially'' the house of Gaius. A single High Lord is said to be equal to an entire cohort of Knights, and Gaius was able to influence weather on a ''continental'' scale.
* [[Planet of Hats]]: A rare fantasy [[Averted Trope|aversion]]. Although there are five different races, each one is shown to have its cowards and its heroes, individuals noble and villainous. The Canim and the Marat may be [[Proud Warrior Race
* [[Posthumous Character]]: Princeps Gaius Septimus. In the first book, he is mentioned briefly and it almost seems like a bit of scene-setting: this is why there is a succession crisis and scheming noblemen, and the monsters in the storm are so dangerous the only safe place is a tomb fit for a prince, and that is all we know about him until halfway through the second book. However, Septimus gets developed as a major character later.
* [[Pragmatic Villainy]]: Lady Aquitaine gives Isana an impassioned (for her, anyway) speech about how she can be trusted to honor loyalty, oppose violence and protect the people she has sworn to protect. Not because she feels some sort of moral duty to do so, but because she knows that that is how she gains loyal servants, preserves Alera as a prosperous whole and sways others to her cause.
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* [[Puppeteer Parasite]]: The Vord's most potent weapon are the Takers, insects the size of a mouse that [[Orifice Invasion|crawl in through your mouth]] and take over your body. The Taken bodies are impervious to pain, have strength far beyond their normal capability, and are used to sow dissent and fear amongst the populace. When the Taken is an Aleran, they can even use furycrafting, provided that a non-Taken furycrafts first to "activate" the furies.
* [[Quip to Black]]: Tavi pulls a mild one in ''Captain's Fury'' after surviving an assassination attempt at the end of a chapter. The text even includes a perfect moment for a [[Glasses Pull]]:
{{quote|
''"Then someone," Tavi replied, "is going to be very disappointed."'' }}
* [[Rags to Royalty]]: {{spoiler|Tavi (Sleeping Beauty-style) and Isana (Cinderella/Goose Girl-style)}}
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* [[Required Secondary Powers]]: High Lords/Ladies and the First Lord are generally very strong in all six elements. Most other people, though, are only strong in one or two, which means they might lack these. This results in situations where speedsters pull their own muscles if they do not have the earthcrafting to augment their own strength; see [[Fragile Speedster]] above. In the same way, metalcrafters have [[The Determinator|the pain tolerance to keep fighting]] far too long for their own good because they do not have the earthcrafting to prevent injuries in the first place or watercrafting to heal them. Watercrafters have the empathic ability to sense everyone's emotions, but might lack the pain tolerance of a metalcrafter to avoid going crazy from the mental cacophony.
* [[Rescue Romance]]: After Bernad pulls Amara out of the frozen, flooding Rillwater river, the two of them warm by the fire and Amara leans in to kiss Bernard. [[Subverted Trope|He pulls away]], [[Above the Influence|pointing out that she is cold and injured and it would be taking advantage to pursue the matter]]. [[Double Subverted|They get together later on anyway]].
* [[Rewarded
* [[Rogue Drone]]: Played interestingly with the Vord, where it's one of their Hive Queens who starts developing her own personality (leading the other queens to try to kill her to prevent her from "infecting" the rest of their race). She stays a villain even while developing increasingly humanlike personality traits although {{spoiler|her death scene is [[Alas, Poor Villain|surprisingly moving.]]}}
* [[Running Gag]]:
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** Centurion Giraldi was stationed at Garrison since before the the first novel; he remains there for several years and serves as Bernards primary subordinate for numerous battles. He was offered a promotion to officer after Second Calderon, but turned it down; as he explained, he had spent so much of his life making fun of the officers of the Legion that he could not very well join them ''now.''
** Valiar Marcus, First Spear (Senior Centurion) of the First Aleran Legion. One of the few men living that was 'promoted' to the House of the Valiant (Valiar) for his service to Alera. {{spoiler|It turns out he is Fidelias in disguise}}.
* [[Shades of Conflict]]: The characters have to make some interesting ethical decisions over the course of the series. The Vord border on [[Blue and Orange Morality]]: {{spoiler|the queen in ''Academ's Fury'' cannot comprehend the idea of [[Taking You
* [[Sheep in Wolf's Clothing]]: What it takes to fool the Vord.
* [[Shock Collar]]: In this case the collar does not only hurt the slave when they misbehave but also reward them with sensations of pleasure when they do well.
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* [[Solar-Powered Magnifying Glass]]: The large, weaponized variety is used by Tavi in ''Cursor's Fury''.
* [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]]: ''Furies of Calderon'' features a relatively minor struggle against invading "barbarians". By ''First Lord's Fury'', the world is literally about to end. The Vord basically have this as a superpower- kill some, and all you have really accomplished is teaching the Queen new tricks to [[Adaptive Ability|incorporate into the next generation]].
* [[Spanner in
* [[Spirit Advisor]]: {{spoiler|Alera}}
* [[Spoiler Title]]: {{spoiler|At some point, the reader will likely realize that the titles of the books refer to Tavi's rank and position during that book.}}
* [[Spring Is Late]]: Tavi gets {{spoiler|Alera}} to bring cold air from the arctic much farther south than normal for late winter/early spring. The extra week of winter allows Tavi to craft the snow into a surface that allows ships to ''sail on land'', getting Tavi's army to the main battle earlier than expected.
* [[Spy From Weights and Measures]]: Cursors, to an extent. Lots of people think of them as just messengers, although aristocrats know better than that.
* [[Star-Crossed Lovers]]: {{spoiler|After most of ''Furies of Calderon'' had established that Heddy had been raped by Bittan, it is revealed that Heddy had actually been having ''consensual'' sex with Aric, Bittan's brother. Aric's father, Kord, was an abusive, violent, lecherous bully, and Heddy's father, Warner, knew all too well what Kord was like, so both partners had to keep their relationship secret from their families.}}
* [[Start of Darkness]]: The fifth book reveals that {{spoiler|contrary to what most people assumed, Aquitaine was ''not'' one of those who killed Princeps Septimus: quite the opposite, he was one of Septimus' closest friends and turned against the First Lord who had been unable to protect his own son, [[He Who Fights Monsters|becoming just as cruel and ruthless as those he sought revenge against.]]}}
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* [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]]: Khral is basically another Sarl, and Valerius from the sixth novel resembles Arnos in more than one way.
* [[Sword Sparks]]: Swords sparking is an artifact of powerful metal crafting. With thematic colors no less!
* [[Taking You
* [[That's No Moon]]: {{spoiler|Garados, when fully unleashed, is an ugly humanoid ''twice as tall'' as the mountain he emerged from. Tavi can not stop gawking at the fact that something that large could actually exist.}}
* [[That Man Is Dead]]: {{spoiler|Fidelias ex Cursori in favor of Valiar Marcus}}
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* [[Too Kinky to Torture]]
** A small humorous example.
{{quote|
'''Kitai:''' That could prove interesting. }}
** In ''Cursor's Fury'', Odiana actually implies that she ''wants'' to have a discipline collar put on her by Aldrick, but ''only'' Aldrick. This is played for tragedy, not humor; in the first book she reveals that she used to be a slave, used for sex, and her watercrafter abilities let her feel the emotions of her attackers, which is what broke her. Notably, [[Even Evil Has Standards|Aldrick will not do it,]] possibly because, in the final book, we learn that he was one of the men who ''saved'' her from said slaver.
* [[Took a Level
** Tavi takes one in every time skip between books, but perhaps the most noticeable is Ehren, who goes from being a wimpy kid obsessed with his studies in the second book to a [[Badass]] [[Anti-Hero]] (of sorts) in the third to all that and a brilliant [[Chessmaster]] in the fifth.
** Centurion Schultz, who starts as a [[New Meat|fish]] in ''Cursor's Fury'' and is a [[Sergeant Rock|Centurion]] by ''Captain's Fury'', mirroring the First Aleran's transformation into one of the most elite armies on Alera.
* [[Training Accident]]: Amara's test at the beginning of the series was not really to see whether she could get information; it was to see if she would stay loyal and be able to escape after Fidelias's betrayal, which Gaius saw coming.
* [[Trope Overdosed]]: And how!
* [[Tsundere]]: Kitai, especially early on.
* [[Tunnel King]]: Earthcrafters can phase through earth and rock, allowing them to travel underground without leaving any sign of their passing.
* [[Twin Threesome Fantasy]]: Antillar "Max" Maximus is introduced after spending the night in the company of Ladies Celine and Celest. When he obliquely mentions this to Tavi and Ehren, they are shocked and jealous, especially when they realize he means ''both'', not just one or the other.
* [[Underestimating Badassery]]: He is just a [[Badass Normal|furyless]] [[The Call Put Me
* [[The Unfair Sex]]: When Kitai learns of the complicated rituals of courtship and marriage among the Citizenry of Alera, and that the relationship she has with Tavi is (by those standards) that of a concubine or whore, she becomes infuriated with how Tavi has treated her. Tavi, however, points out that ''she'' was the one who initiated their relationship, and that by her own Marat customs he has behaved perfectly honorably. {{spoiler|Alera}} [[Lampshade Hanging|points out that that really is not relevant at all]], and when Tavi accuses her of supporting Kitai simply because she is a woman, Alera agrees.
* [[Unhappy Medium]]: Watercrafters, the strongest of whom tend to be incapacitated by sufficiently powerful emotions unless they are also good at metalcrafting.
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* [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]]: Watercrafters are healers and, if they are sufficiently skilled, they can alter their features to make themselves look younger and, if they are ''really'' skilled, look like someone else. It is really uncomfortable, though, to imitate someone larger or smaller.
* [[Warrior Therapist]]: See [[Sanity Has Advantages]]. Isana also does this against {{spoiler|Antillus Raucus, in an attempt to get him to see sense regarding the negotiations with the Icemen}}.
* [[We Are
* [[She Is Not My Girlfriend|We Are Not Mates]]: When Ambassador Varg refers to Tavi and Kitai as "mates," they each (at the same time) state that they are ''not'' mates.
* [[We Could Have Avoided All This]]:
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* [[What Is This Thing You Call Love?]]: The Vord Queen, in her efforts to [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good|understand humanity]], asks people to explain to her what "love" is.
* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: The First Lord's decision to {{spoiler|contain the threat of Kalarus unleashing Kalus by ''setting off the volcano'' and killing the majority of Kalare's population did not go over well with Amara.}}
* [[What You Are in
** When Max tells Tavi that [[You Need to Get Laid|he should buy a woman for the night]] in ''Cursor's Fury'', pointing out that nobody would know, Tavi gives the standard respnse that ''he'' would know.
** When Bernard asks Amara why she did not kill Invidia when she had the chance, since she could easily have blamed it on the enemy or even natural causes, Amara explains that she refuses to live in Invidia's world, where actions are determined by power and practicality. Her world has laws and justice, and she would rather live there and suffer than win Invidia's way.
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* [[Wicked Stepmother]]: Max's stepmother, Lady Antillus, wants the best for her son, the heir of Antillus. It just so happens that her husband's bastard child has the support of the legions and good connections, and could probably take the position of heir if he wanted it. Which he does not. {{spoiler|This has not stopped her from killing Max's mother and arranging "accidents" that have very nearly killed him several times.}} She also {{spoiler|betrays the Alerans to the Canim.}}
* [[Wild Card]]: Fidelias will sometimes be motivated to help those still loyal to the realm, even if it does not benefit his goals, {{spoiler|and he eventually becomes loyal to Tavi, albeit in a [[Secret Identity]], upon realising that Tavi would make a better ruler than Aquitaine, as well as being a better man.}}
* [[Woman Scorned]]: It turns out Invidia {{spoiler|arranged Septimus's death}} because he rejected her {{spoiler|for a peasant- Isana}}.
* [[Worf Barrage]]: The battle for Ceres in ''Princeps' Fury'' gets quite a few of these. {{spoiler|The Alerans let the Vord come all the way into the city before Gaius opens it up with an enormous eagle-shaped thunderbolt that vaporizes every living Vord inside the city, followed by complimentary and almost-as-devastating attacks by the High Lords in their respective colors and symbols.}} Unfortunately the {{spoiler|Vord Queen and her 100,000-strong army of Knights Aeris-inspired fliers turns it into a [[Negated Moment of Awesome]].}}
* [[World Half Full]]: {{spoiler|By the end of ''First Lord's Fury'', only a few thousand Canim refugees escaped the destruction of their homeland and a very small number of Aleran redoubts have survived out of an empire that once spanned a continent. But the new First Lord Gaius Octavian forms a new [[The Alliance|Alliance]] where slavery is banned, freemen are not treated like dirt, illegitimate children are embraced, humans live in peace with the Marat, Canim (Varg becomes the first nonhuman High Lord!) and Icemen, all of whom get their own states in Alera. Tavi even changed the way magic works, so furycrafting ability will be based on effort instead of blood. The Vord are still out there, but the new alliance will have over 150 years to prepare for them.}} Tavi comments that he will not go after the Canea Queen yet because she is so darn useful in getting everyone to work together.
* [[World of Badass]]: Oh, so very much. Remember that description at the top of the page?
* [[Worthy Opponent]]: The fifth novel explains that the [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Canim]] as a culture prefer having a [[Worthy Opponent]] over having a friend: a friend can disappoint you, but a [[Worthy Opponent]] can always be trusted to try and kill you. The Canim even have a specific word (gadara) that means [[Worthy Opponent]].
* [[X Meets Y]]: The political dealings of [[Dune]] meets a Greco-Roman Society powered by [[
* [[You Are in Command Now]]: Tavi is inserted into First Aleran Legion as the Third Subtribune Logistica, a non-critical post that serves as an excuse to be present and spy on the legion, {{spoiler|but he winds up in command when the Canim eliminate every other officer with their sorcery}}.
* [[You Are Not Alone]]: Tavi to Kitai, {{spoiler|when he figures out that he has been bound to her as her ''chala'', her totem. Marat tribes are based on having the same totem, so Kitai has no tribe.}}
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* [[You Need to Get Laid]]: Max to Tavi during much of ''Cursor's Fury'' and at the beginning of ''First Lord's Fury''.
* [[You Remind Me of X]]: When Phrygius Cyricus threatens to kill Varg if he harms any of the citizens of Phrygia, Varg asks Tavi in Canish if Cyricus reminds him of anybody. Tavi, understanding what Varg is referring to, comments that he was holding a knife to Varg's throat at the time.
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* [[You Shall Not Pass]]: The latter half of the ''Cursor's Fury'' and ''all'' of ''Princep's Fury'', culminating in {{spoiler|Gaius Sextus drawing almost all of the Vord army onto Alera Imperia and detonating a volcano underneath the city to wipe them out and buy the country critical months to fight the invaders.}}
* [[Zerg Rush]]: A surprisingly non-[[Hollywood Tactics]] version. What makes the Vord so scary is that they use [[Zerg Rush]] and [[We Have Reserves]] tactics intelligently, to devastating effect.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Fantasy Literature]]
[[Category:Sword and Sandal]]
▲[[Category:Codex Alera]]
[[Category:Literature]]
[[Category:Literature of the 2000s]]
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