The Forever War: Difference between revisions

* [[Explosive Leash]]/[[Self-Destruct Mechanism]]

{{quote| We were under no circumstances to allow ourselves to be taken alive, and the decision wasn't up to us. One special pulse from the battle computer, and that speck of plutonium in your powerplant would fizz with all of 0.01 percent efficiency and you'd be nothing but a [[Deus Ex Nukina|rapidly expanding, very hot plasma]].}}

* [[A Father to His Men]]: Subverted. Mandella tries to be this but his 'deviant' sexual practises, the fact that he can't comprehend their language and culture, and the suspicious death of a soldier who tried to assassinate him, all exacerbate the normal tension the grunts feel towards their Commanding Officer. {{spoiler|Eventually most of his men end up getting killed because they ignore his order to evacuate a bunker. Mandella only succeeds in breaking down these barriers after he fights shoulder-to-shoulder with them against the Taurans and comes up with the plan that saves their lives (those that are left).}}

* [[Field Promotion]]: Mandella starts as a private, and ends the war as a major commanding his own ground force. Not because he's particularly suited for command, but because he's adaptable, and it looks odd for someone who's been in the military for 500 years not to be an officer.

* [[The Film of the Book]]: Coming in 2013, to be directed by [[Ridley Scott]]. [http://io9.com/5187373/james-camerons-avatar-influences-ridley-scotts-forever-war\] "I've got a good writer doing it" has been reported to be [[David Peoples]]. [http://www.movieweb.com/news/NEbMS0O6IswKfb\] Unfortunately [http://joe-haldeman.livejournal.com/182031.html?thread=532239#t532239 this may be a misunderstanding.]

* [[Forever War]]: Not the [[Trope Namer]], but a shining example.

* [[Frickin' Laser Beams]]: Each [[Powered Armor]] suit has a laser built into one of its fingers, which can melt through steel.

* [[Future Slang]]: Someone or something that gets killed/destroyed is said to have gotten "caulked."

* [[Gender Neutral Writing]]: When Mandella rejoins civilian life (the first time), he discovers people are now saying "tha" for he/she, "thim" for him/her, and "ther" for his/hers.

* [[Humans Are Bastards]]

* [[Inertial Dampening]]: To avoid being liquefied while aboard spacecraft that can pull accelerations of up to 25''g'', humans use the immersion in a fluid method. Since the spaceships tend to change velocity at high speeds, support for internal organs is needed as well. This is accomplished by injecting the characters with special substances and placing them in special suits, wherein they are then surrounded by extremely high pressure fluid, equal to several kilometers underwater. The results of the pressure failing are not pleasant. {{spoiler|Marygay almost dies from a badly-fitted pressure suit.}}

* [[I Will Wait for You]]: Mandella and Marygay, who have stuck with each other through firefights, injuries, and the loss of everyone and everything they've ever known, are separated by being given different military assignments. The death toll in the war is horribly high, and [[Time Dilation]] caused by near-lightspeed travel means they can never expect to see each other again. Mandella mourns for her as if she's dead, but doesn't take up with anyone else because in the future that he's been thrust into by the time dilation, everyone else is gay. {{spoiler|Marygay, on the other hand, leaves a note for him to find if he survives, assuring him that she will wait forever, tells him where she's going, and buys a ship which spends the next two hundred years going backwards and forwards at near-lightspeed, stopping every five years, during which time she has aged about a month... leaving her still in her late twenties when William, aged thirtysomething, catches up with her. Now that's an optimistic lady!}}

* [[Mars Needs Women]]: Subverted. {{spoiler|a [[Mind Probe]] produced by the Earth military and set off with a [[Trigger Phrase]] portrays Tauran soldiers raping human women with gigantic purple members, an entirely fanciful depiction as at the time the film is made nobody on Earth has the slightest idea what a Tauran looks like, in order to get the human soldiers angry enough to kill. The hero is aware that it is totally false but his subconscious makes his teeth start grinding in readiness to kill! Ultimately the Taurans turn out to be an androgynous clone species who have no interest in human women.}}

* [[Military Academy]]: Subverted. Officer Training is done via [[Upgrade Artifact]].

** They've also got "tachyon bombs", and a "tachyon drive" on their space ships that never seems to run out of fuel. In 1997.

* [[The New Rock and Roll]]: Mandella says that all art in the future - music, movies, literature - sucks.

** Or what your ship rams. "The logistics computer calculates that we have about a 62 percent chance of success, should we attempt to destroy the enemy base. Unfortunately, we would only have a 30 percent chance of survival - as some of the scenarios leading to success involve ramming the portal planet with the ''Anniversary'' at the speed of light."

* [[Sequel]]: ''Forever Free.''

* [[Shown Their Work]]: Haldeman has a degree in astronomy, first hand experience as a soldier in wartime, and does the calculations on any math he deems important to the story.

* [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]]: Very, very cynical.