Codex Alera: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''There's something broken inside your skull, [Tavi]. You do all your thinking sideways.''|'''Antillar "Max" Maximus''', '''''Princeps' Fury'''''}}

 

 

Yeah, it is about as awesome as it sounds.

The sixth and final book in the series, ''First Lord's Fury'', was released in November 2009.

 

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=== The ''[[Codex Alera]]'' series provides examples of: ===

** 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]]

* [[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}}.

* [[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.

* [[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.

* [[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

* [[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.

* [[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.

* [[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.

* [[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 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.

* [[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.

** 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}}.

{{quote| '''Isana:''' I ''do'' feel sorry for you, dear. I have good reason to hate you, yet you've served yourself a fate worse than any I would ever have imagined, much less wished upon you. Of course you're afraid.}}

* [[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.}}

** 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 By Origin Story]]: Tavi's father was a member of the Crown Legion and his mother was a member of the camp followers, both of whom were killed by the Marat at the First Battle of Calderon. As a result, Tavi was raised by his Aunt Isana and Uncle Bernard, his mothers older siblings. {{spoiler|Except it turns out that his father was not a ''legionare'' in the Crown Legion, but Princeps Gaius Septimus, and his mother is actually Isana, who claimed to be his aunt to obscure his heritage}}.

* [[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.}}

* [[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.

** 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.

** 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.}}

*** 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.

** 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]].

* [[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:

** [[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]].

* [[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]]:

* [[Everyone Is a Super]]

* [[Lava Adds Awesome]]: Twice.

* [[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."

* [[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.

* [[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.

** 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.

* [[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.

* [[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.

* [[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.

* [[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.

* [[I Have Your Wife]]: One of Kalarus's favorite tactics. It backfires in several instances.

* [[I Just Want to Be Special]]: Tavi, initially.

** 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.}}

* [[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.

{{quote| '''Crassus:''' "Apparently, they never realized how bad a bunch of fish could hurt them."}}

* [[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.

** 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| '''Gram:''' [[We Named the Monkey "Jack"|Named her after my first wife]].}}

* [[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.

* [[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}}.

** [[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.}}

* [[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]].

* [[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]]:

** 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}}.

* [[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.

* [[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]].

* [[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.}}

* [[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!

* [[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}}

* [[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.

* [[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.

* [[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}}.

* [[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]]:

* [[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.}}

** 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.

* [[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]].

* [[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.}}