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A little-known and underrated fantasy trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman, ''Rose of the Prophet'' manages to transcend its genre and create a beautiful and believable [[Crossover Cosmology|world/cosmology]], memorable and lovable characters, and an entertaining and quite moving story--all while conforming to the rules and structure of your standard [[
Most of the action takes place within the cities and deserts of an [[Arabian Nights Days|Arabian Nights-esque]] land in a [[Literal Metaphor|multi-faceted]] [[Constructed World|world]] of [[Vancian Magic|magic]] and adventure. There is crisis among the [[Fantasy Pantheon|One-And-Twenty Gods]] and their attendant Immortals; two Gods have [[Gods Need Prayer Badly|diminished into non-existence]], the gods all blame each other, and one God fears the conflict will soon spread to the human realm as ''jihad,'' holy war.
The Wandering God Akhran tries to unite two feuding tribes of his desert nomads against the threat, by commanding the marriage of Princess Zohra, of the shepherding Hrana tribe, to Prince Khardan, Caliph of the horse-herding Akar...but seeing as Chaos and Impatience are two of Akhran's attributes (and his people are faithful followers indeed), it doesn't go as well as Akhran might have wished.
Akhran convinces Promenthas (a God of a [[Medieval European Fantasy|medieval-Europe style]] land across the ocean) to ally with him, and they arrange for the young wizard Mathew (lone survivor of a slain ambassadorial party) to wind up among the feuding nomads. Khardan, Zohra and Mathew, along with their tribes' [[Our Genies Are Different|djinn]] and a [[Our Angels Are Different|guardian angel]], must somehow prevent a massive army from conquering the mortal world, a vastly overpowered efreet from banishing all other Immortals, and one god from eliminating all the others--and shattering the cosmic balance forever.
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* ''Volume 2: The Paladin of the Night''
* ''Volume 3: The Prophet of Akhran ''
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* [[Actual Pacifist]]: Mathew considers all life sacred. {{spoiler|When he's forced to kill Meryem to save Khardan's life he suffers a minor [[Heroic BSOD|BSOD]] but that's ''nothing'' compared to his shock when an out-of-control spell accidentally kills ''thousands!''}}
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'''Mathew:''' ''I'' do not fight! }}
* [[Affably Evil]]: Auda Ibn-Jad.
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* [[Arbitrary Skepticism]]: A lot of characters drift close to this sometimes, most [[Egregious|egregiously]] Mathew, who despite being a sorcerer doesn't believe in the existence of djinn- and even after he accepts their existence (having been witness to their powers multiple times) still doubts the existence of angels, who are part of his ''own'' religion! (Oddly, even though he doubts the existence of angels, he's fully prepared to believe in the existence of devils, although admittedly {{spoiler|he ''had'' just summoned one at the time}}.)
* [[Being Tortured Makes You Evil]]: "The Rebirth", the procedure the Paladins of the Night use to replenish their depleted ranks; captured [[Worthy Opponent|Worthy Opponents]] are tortured by [[Torture Technician|the Lifemaster]] until they are utterly broken and pray to {{spoiler|Zhakrin}} to accept their loyalty in exchange for release from their torment. {{spoiler|Khardan thwarts this due to the similarity in the sounds of "Zhakrin" and "Akhran".}}
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* [[Belligerent Sexual Tension]]: Zohra and Khardan. The highlight of their wedding night is Zohra stabbing Khardan. {{spoiler|And it doesn't improve by much.}}
* [[Blondes Are Evil]]: {{spoiler|Meryem.}}
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* [[Butt Monkey]]: Usti, the comically overweight, much-abused djinn assigned to Zohra by Fedj (who actually does so as an act of ''revenge'' against Usti for [[Noodle Incident|some unspecified slight]]).
* [[Cain and Abel]]: Sort of. {{spoiler|Khardan and Achmed eventually end up on opposite sides of the conflict when Achmed becomes Qannadi's adopted son and most loyal general, but neither is considered the "bad" one.}}
* [[Chess
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: Other that more powerful magic (such as that which allows the holder of their mortal dwelling place to command a djinn) [[Cold Iron]] is the only thing than can restrain an immortal. {{spoiler|Like Kaug.}}
* [[Cold Iron]]: The main weakness of all Immortals- it can't ''hurt'' them, but it can bind them and render them powerless. A common threat used against the djinn is being locked in an iron box and put somewhere nasty where they'll never be found. {{spoiler|Pukah defeats Kaug by tricking him into entering an entire ''mountain'' made of the stuff.}}
* [[Deal
** Asrial makes a deal with {{spoiler|Death}} to {{spoiler|betray Pukah}} in exchange for letting her go free to protect Mathew in his darkest hour. {{spoiler|Or at least it ''seems'' like she does- although she delivers Pukah's protective amulet to Death, instead of leaving she takes Pukah's place and sacrifices herself to let him win his bet with Death.}}
* [[Deliberate Values Dissonance]]: Prevalent throughout the story. Mathew is shocked and bewildered by the brutal and simplistic worldview of the people of Akhran, who have little regard for the sanctity of life, even though they are generally good honourable people.
* [[Does Not Like Men]]: Zohra holds all men in contempt, although she gets along well with Mathew {{spoiler|and eventually warms up to Khardan.}}
* [[Dungeons
* [[Even Evil Has Loved Ones]]: The {{spoiler|Paladins of Zhakrin}} are about as evil as they come, but they set a GREAT store by loyalty, family and brotherhood.
* [[Exact Words]]: Fedj convinces Zohra to stick out her marriage to Khardan by pointing out that while it is Akhran's will that they remain married until the Rose of the Prophet blooms, he did ''not'' specify that the marriage had to be consummated.
* [[Expy]]: While a lot of the setting has similarities to real world cultures and religions, Promenthas is in almost all respect the New Testament Judeo-Christian God, complete with a hierarchy of angels and tenets of love, peace and universal brotherhood.
** Additionally, while he's only a single god in a pantheon rather than the almighty power above all, he's notable for being one of the few gods whose followers don't even believe in the ''existence'' of other gods apart from Astafas, Promenthas' evil opposite and Sularin's version of [[Satan]] (other gods' followers at least acknowledge the existence of the pantheon, even if they only worship their own god) making the Promenthan religion fundamentally monotheistic.
* [[Female Angel, Male Demon]]: The only named angel of Promenthas is Asrial, although she does mention male angels (and a few nameless ones are seen {{spoiler|in Serinda}}; the only example of one of her evil counterparts we see (an Imp of Astafas) is male.
* [[Femme Fatale]]: {{spoiler|Meryem.}}
* [[Fish Out of Water]]: Mathew.
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** Actually the main cause of the conflict- Quar wants all the Prayer for himself.
* [[The Grim Reaper]]: Death in the series takes the form of {{spoiler|a classically beautiful woman with 2 empty voids where her eyes should be.}}
* [[Green
* [[Grey and Grey Morality]]: Despite gods and their followers in the world of Sularin being openly ''labelled'' as good, evil and neutral, almost nothing is as simple as it seems. Khardan notes {{spoiler|Zhakrin's}} Paladins of the Night initially seem to be cruel and heartless monsters, but are caring and loyal to each other; Auda Ibn-Jad is unquestionably an almost immeasurably evil man but {{spoiler|risks his life to protect Khardan when they become [[Blood Brothers]], even though Khardan tricked him and eventually sacrifices his life to avenge his earlier brother Catalus.}} Most notably, the final conflict isn't between the forces of good and evil, but the forces of chaotic neutral (Akhran) and lawful neutral (Quar).
* [[Guardian Angel]]: Every follower of Promenthas has one and they are the lowest tier of the angelic hierarchy. Asrial is Matthew's. Apparently a demon of [[Satan|Astafas]] is legally obligated to warn you if they are not present before you make any [[Deal
* [[Guile Hero]]: Pukah, although he has a tendency to [[Hilarity Ensues|stuff up hilariously.]]. Also Matthew to an extent; while a powerful sorcerer in his own land, he's bereft of most of the tools he needs to work his magic for the majority of the story and has to survive on his wits.
* [[Honor Before Reason]]: Khardan shifts around this trope a bit, ranging from simple Pride Before Reason to a steadfast Faith Before Reason.
* [[I Love You Because I Can't Control You]]: This is what keeps drawing Khardan back to Zohra despite everything she does that antagonises him- with every woman in his tribe willing to throw themselves at his feet, Zohra is the one woman who never gives him a inch. The story even mentions as such when Khardan refuses to take another wife after marrying her, noting that Zohra makes other women seem boring by comparison.
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* [[I Owe You My Life]]: Mathew decides after Khardan saves his life that even if his life isn't worth living for himself, he'll live to pledge it to Khardan's.
* [[It Is Pronounced "Tro
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'''Zohra:''' Of course. I knew I was saying it right, Mat-hew. It was you who were not hearing it right. }}
* [[Jerkass]]: Meelusk the fisherman, a miserable, shrivelled, selfish old bastard who is described as being so low that even the followers of Benario the Thief God spit on him in contempt.
* [[Jerk
** Likewise, Khardan is honourable, noble and honest, but he's also capable of being a ''real ass'' sometimes. His cluelessness about Zohra's feelings gets him into NO end of trouble when he brings [[The Vamp|Meryem]] back to camp for the first time (he [[What an Idiot!|thought she'd be PLEASED that he wanted to take another wife]], assuming that he'd "tamed" her as a result of their last [[Ship Tease]] moment).
** Between the two of them they take [[Belligerent Sexual Tension]] to the level of actually ''wanting to see the other die in pain and disgrace!'' {{spoiler|It's little short of a miracle that they finally admit their love for each other once and for all.}}
* [[Last Words]]: "Many fine sons..."
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* [[Obfuscating Insanity]]: Khardan decides that the only way to spare Mathew's life (the people of Akhran consider him an abomination for dressing in women's clothing) is that he is insane (they believe insane people saw the face of Akhran just before they were born and are blessed by the god). Mathew goes along with it to save his life and ultimately finds a way to use it to his advantage.
* [[Our Ghouls Are Creepier]]: Classic Arabian ''ghuls'', man-eating shapeshifters who {{spoiler|man the ship leading to the island fortress of Zhakrin's paladins and take their payment in human flesh,}} although clearly distinct from djinn.
* [[Pre
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'''{{spoiler|Auda}}:''' [[In the Back|Here, my lord.]] }}
* [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]]: This is more or less the hat of the people of Akhran- the horse-riding Akar are the most warlike, but even the sheep herding Hrana have their pride and will fight at the drop of a hat and the camel-riding Aran are pretty much the same.
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* [[Scary Black Man]]: Raja, Sheykh Zeid's gigantic ebony-skinned djinn.
* [[She Cleans Up Nicely]]: Zohra usually doesn't make any effort with her appearance, considering her femininity more of a curse than a blessing. But the story notes that when she does go to the effort she's ''stunningly'' beautiful and she knows how to use it.
* [[Small Name, Big Ego]]: Pukah is convinced he's the cleverest and most handsome of all immortals... and causes ''no end'' of trouble as a result. He's not entirely without talent, being cunning, quick-thinking and daring, but his abilties don't even come ''close'' to his overinflated opinion of himself.
** {{spoiler|He eventually realises how badly he fell into this trope, how much trouble he caused and how even his successes were largely due to others and redeems himself with a truly ''brilliant'' [[Thanatos Gambit]] [[Heroic Sacrifice]] that ''defeats Kaug the Efreet'' and single-handedly turns the war in the heavens against Quar.}}
* [[Threat Backfire]]: Khardan walks right into this one when, during a fight between his people and Zohra's, he calls off one of his men attacking her to take her himself:
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'''Zohra:''' Oh, won't he? ''(slashes his leg with her dagger)'' }}
* [[Tomboy Princess]]: Zohra; her character introduction notes that her father indulged her and let her run wild in his grief over her mother's death and by the time he tried to reign her in it was far too late. (The one time he threatened to beat her she snatched the stick from his hand and threatened to beat ''him'' instead!)
* [[Tsundere]]: Zohra, like you would not BELIEVE.
* [[Two Lines, No Waiting]]: There are at least three plots that intertwine, affect each other, and sometimes reflect each other.
* [[Unresolved Sexual Tension]]: Good ''grief'' do Zohra and Khardan keep it up for along time -- {{spoiler|''the entire trilogy'', only being brought together by Mathew on the very last page of the third book.}}
* [[The Vamp]]: {{spoiler|Meryem.}}
* [[Wedding Day]]: The biggest fiasco this side of the ''Ranma1/2'' finale, with both parties constantly insulting each other, the bride having to be dragged to the altar bound and gagged, the groom made to attend literally falling down drunk, the bride attempting to gut the groom as soon as the knot is tied before [[Runaway Bride|fleeing]] and the entire affair breaking out into a bloody brawl until Sond brings the tent down on everyone to prevent casualties.
* [[Wham! Line]]: At the end of the first book when the man in the white palanquin catches up with Mathew again.
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* [[Wicked Cultured]]: Auda again.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Fantasy Literature]]
[[Category:Rose Of The Prophet]]▼
[[Category:Literature]]
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