Warbreaker: Difference between revisions

{{tropelist}}

 

** Also, how he rediscovers the skills he had in life. Entirely by accident, he learns halfway through the book that he is good at interrogation and finding hidden details. He has no experience like that in his life as a god, so he reasons that they must be skills from his previous life and wonders if he was a police detective or something similar. {{spoiler|Later, he gets a sword, turns out to be dangerously incompetent with it, and is informed that in his previous life he was an ''accountant''.}}

** {{spoiler|But an accountant hired to find and root out duplicitous dealings--hence his "detective" skills.}}

* [[Adult Child]]: [[Word of God]] is that Sanderson felt he had to walk a very fine line with {{spoiler|Susebron}}, to make him childlike enough to be believable as someone who's been largely isolated his whole life, without being so much that his {{spoiler|relationship with Siri}} was [[Squick|squicky]].

* [[Affably Evil]]: {{spoiler|Denth}} is genuinely funny, witty, and charming. He's also {{spoiler|completely amoral, obsessed with revenge, and willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish either his vengeance or his current job as a mercenary.}}

* [[The Ageless]]:

** The Returned can continue to live indefinitely if they are supplied with Breath once per week but are otherwise as vulnerable to injury as anybody else, {{spoiler|as poor Blushweaver discovered.}}

* [[A God Am I]]: The Returned. Except Lightsong, who tends towards [[A God I Am Not]].

* [[Anti-Villain]]: {{spoiler|Bluefingers}} and {{spoiler|Denth}} are arguable examples.

* [[Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?]]: Lampshaded when {{spoiler|Siri feels disappointed after nothing happens on her wedding night, then realizes how ridiculous it is to feel that way.}}

* [[The Atoner]]: {{spoiler|Vasher}}

* [[Bathe Her and Bring Her to Me]]: Siri goes through this every night before she is sent into Susebron's bedchamber. {{spoiler|Ultimately a subversion, as Susebron is not a villain and doesn't even understand sex for most of the book.}}

* [[Buxom Is Better]]: All the gods, upon Returning, are transformed into their own idea of physical perfection. As a result, almost all the goddesses have enormous breasts.

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: {{spoiler|Vasher}} reveals in the prologue that he is able to {{spoiler|instantly achieve the Fifth Heightening, the same as all of the Returned.}} It turns out in the end that {{spoiler|he is indeed a Returned, and has been living in hiding for 300 years.}}

** Also, the D'Denir statues are {{spoiler|Kalad's phantoms, the army of uber-Lifeless which ended the Manywar}}.

* [[Corrupt Church]]: The priests of the various Gods are some of the main plotters in the intrigues at court.

** Also subverted with {{spoiler|the God King's priests. While bound by tradition and rather more ruthless than is good for them, they're not actually the den of evil schemers Siri and Lightsong think they are.}}

* [[Deadly Decadent Court]]: Subverted--the Returned might be decadent, but really, nothing they do has a great deal of long-term relevance, and most of them simply can't muster enough interest to do anything important anyway. {{spoiler|Moreover, the [[Femme Fatale]] who seemed to be plotting the most ends up being manipulated by the Pahn Kahl scribes pretty thoroughly. And then murdered by them.}}

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Pretty much everyone has their moments, but Lightsong unquestionably earns the grand prize.

* [[Distaff Counterpart]]: [[Word of God]] has it that {{spoiler|Llarimar and Lightsong's}} relationship is supposed to be a parallel of {{spoiler|Vivenna and Siri's. Lightsong (or Stennimar as he used to be called) liked traveling and enjoying his bachelor lifestyle whereas Llarimar was the one who always did what he should, but Llarimar also always admired his brother for his sense of adventure, his proactiveness, and his simple kindness toward other people.}}

* [[Everything's Better with Princesses]]: Two of them!

* [[Evil Chancellor]]: {{spoiler|Bluefingers.}}

** This appears to be a subversion at the start, however, so it's not played 100% straight.

* [[Evil Overlord]]: Subverted. {{spoiler|Susebron the God-King}} has a reputation as being this, especially in Idris, {{spoiler|but he's really a figurehead and a very nice (if naive) guy.}}

* [[Evil Weapon]]: Subverted with Nightblood. It's a black sword with magical powers that continually goads its wielder to kill people {{spoiler|but was actually created to ''destroy'' evil. Pity a sword can't tell the difference.}}

* [[Expy]]: [[Word of God]] says that Siri and Vivenna were exported from a novel he never got around to completing. While he never was really satisfied with the book and shelved it half-finished, he and his alpha readers liked subplot with the two princesses, so he wrote a book about them instead. He also mentions that Denth is more or less the same concept as [[Mistborn|Kelsier]], {{spoiler|except that he's on the villain's side.}}

* [[Fallen Princess]]: {{spoiler|Vivenna.}}

* [[Gambit Pileup]]: It becomes obvious almost as soon as Siri arrives at the court of the God King that everyone's plotting against everyone else in one way or another. But you won't believe how many people end up being involved, or how bad things get when the plots finally start to collide.

* [[Genre Savvy]]: Denth, who uses it both for practical purposes and clever [[Lampshade Hanging]]. See [[Crowning Moment of Funny]] for a memorable example that is actually both.

* [[A God Am I]]: {{spoiler|Susebron is an oddly humble version of this. He firmly believes he's a god, having been raised almost entirely by his own priests, but he doesn't make a big deal out of it. It's just part of who he is.}}

* [[God-Emperor]]: Susebron, [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|the God-King]]. Although {{spoiler|he has little actual power until the end.}}

* [[God Was My Co-Pilot]]: {{spoiler|1=Vasher is Talaxin, one of the Five Scholars who pioneered BioChromatic research. In a subversion, [[The Dragon]] Denth is VaraTreledees, another of the Five.}}

* [[Gone Horribly Right]]: Nightblood. Creating a sentient sword with the Command to destroy evil seems like a good idea. Trouble is, an Awakened sword doesn't even have a [[Incredibly Lame Pun|clear cut]] concept of life, let alone something as abstract as evil. So you end up with a weapon [[Murder Is the Best Solution|eager to kill]] anyone it considers [[Black and White Insanity|evil]]. Doesn't take all that much to make Nightblood think you're evil...

* [[Government Conspiracy]]: It's obvious from early on that one exists. It turns out to be {{spoiler|the Pahn Kahl}}.

* [[Guile Hero]]: {{spoiler|Vasher}} and Denth have elements of this:

* [[Idiot Hero]]: Played with in interesting ways with Lightsong.

* [[I Have Many Names]]: {{spoiler|Vasher. Also known as Kalad The Usurper, Peacegiver The Merciful, Talaxas The Sage, and [[Title Drop|Warbreaker]] The Peaceful}}.

* [[I Love the Dead]]: {{spoiler|In the author annotations, Sanderson states that Jewel still slept with Clod, whom she was in a relationship prior to his death and subsequent "rebirth" as a Lifeless.}}

* [[Implacable Man]]: The chief advantage of the Lifeless. Unlike zombies in other worlds they aren't any stronger or faster than living soldiers and can't spread their condition, but they make up for it by not needing food or rest and being able to shrug off any wound that doesn't directly impair functioning. {{spoiler|Kalad's Phantoms are Lifeless encased in stone, making them ultra-implacable men.}}

* [[Impossibly Cool Clothes]]: Lampshaded by Lightsong: he muses that his clothes are ''so'' impossibly cool that, were it not for the horde of servants in his employ, he ''would not be able to dress himself.''

* [[Insane Troll Logic]]: Used constantly and [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] by Lightsong.

"Of course not," [Blushweaver] agreed. "You are nothing if not exhaustive in your self- congratulatory made-up logic." }}

* [[Jerkass Gods]]: Pretty much the entire court {{spoiler|except for Lightsong, Susebron, and to an extent Blushweaver.}}

** We don't know for sure. It seem likely that {{spoiler|Blushweaver is average}} among the gods in jerkass-ness, although more competent at it, but whether that means they all aren't so bad or she is worse is hard to say.

** [[Justified Trope|Justified]] and explained during Lightsong's philosophizing: When each god can only perform one miracle to help their people, and that at the cost of their own life, the truly good and noble ones die off quickly and those who stick around are the less compassionate.

* [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]]: The one major downside to coming back to life as a god is forgetting the entirety of your past life. Memories are lost, but not skills or talents.

* [[Lighter and Softer]]: Though the central storyline is still serious, the setting and characters are notably not as dark as in ''[[Mistborn]]'' or even ''[[Elantris]]''.

* [[Literal Genie]]: The key limitation of the magic system is that ''everything'' you try to Awaken behaves like this, though not out of a sense of malice; becoming a better Awakener means learning how to phrase commands so that they actually work and don't backfire on you.

** {{spoiler|This is also part of the explanation for why Nightblood is the way it is, according to [[Word of God]]. It's made of Awakened steel, and driven by a somewhat vague command to "destroy evil." The indiscriminate nature of Nightblood's slaughter is a product of the blade not really having a firm concept of "evil."}}

* [[Luke Nounverber]]: Many of the Returned have very [[Noun Verber]] names, although not all. Gods like Peacegiver, Warbreaker, and Blushweaver fit the trope, but there are others, like Lightsong, Mercystar, and Weatherlove, who do not. Allmother kind of looks like she works, but not quite.

* [[Marriage to a God]]: Siri. An ''arranged'' marriage, at that.

* [[May-December Romance]]: {{spoiler|Siri and Susebron}} are a... complicated example. Chronologically, he's in his fifties and she's in her late teens. ''Mentally'', she's an adult {{spoiler|while he starts out almost childlike.}} ''Physically'', they're about the same age because of how {{spoiler|a Returned's powers keeps them ageless as long as they have a steady supply of Breath.}}

** This veers into Mayfly territory when the shippers pair Vivenna with {{spoiler|Vasher.}}

* [[Meaningful Name]]: Austre, the name the people of Idris give to [[God]], evokes "austerity", which is a hallmark of their religion.

* [[Mistaken for Granite]]: The D'denir statues.

* [[Our Zombies Are Different]]: The Lifeless are reanimated corpses. They don't rot, they don't eat brains (or anything else) and they're intelligent enough to take orders, if you know the magic password to command them.

** Arguably the Hallandren gods themselves, as they're people who've died and been Returned; supposedly the Iridescent Tones (or to the Idrians, Austre, God of Colors) Return those individuals who die exemplifying one of the "great virtues of human existence." They require at least one Breath a week to continue living, and whether or not they're actually gods is up for debate. {{spoiler|As Lightsong finds out once he remembers how he died and came back, they really ''are'' gods in a sense.}}

** {{spoiler|He doesn't, his stubble is literally permanent: as a Returned, his physical body doesn't change unless he actively tries to make it do so. The fact that he constantly looks scruffy in exactly the same way is one of the first indications of his Returned status. Furthermore, it reveals something about the way he views himself in that Returned look like they think they should.}}

* [[Physical God]]: The Gods of Hallandren...for a loose definition of god.

* [[Rebellious Princess]]: Siri is a free spirit living in a very conservative culture, though she's able to get away with being somewhat rebellious because she's the youngest of four children and thus not very important in the grand scheme of things. Ironically, this independence is what helps her adjust to Hallandren, and she comments in the narrative that Vivenna, who was ''trained'' to go, would have been hindered by that very training.

** Of course, Vivenna similarly comments that she is much better suited for Hallandren than poor Siri. This book is full of characters misjudging each other, and contains several occurrences of the literary equivalent of a [[Description Cut]].

* [[Rousseau Was Right]]: Pretty much every character in the story has good (or at least sympathetic) motivations for their actions. In the end, the only truly evil person in the novel is {{spoiler|[[Axe Crazy|Tonk Fah]]}} who is ultimately just [[The Dragon]]'s hired help.

* [[Sarcastic Confession]]: {{spoiler|Denth and Tonk Fah}} pull this several times with regards to {{spoiler|the ruthlessness and sociopathy of mercenaries}}, but the truth doesn't get realized until it's too late.

** On his blog, Sanderson revealed that he felt it would be better to get his extremely ambitious ''Stormlight Archive'' series established before the release of what he admits will be a tonally different follow-up to the first book.

* [[Shapeshifter Baggage]]: Averted. Siri can make her hair grow from short to very long in a matter of moments, but it makes her very, very hungry.

* [[Shout-Out]]: Early in the book, Parlin acquires a green hat, described as being "like a sock, though much larger." [[The Legend of Zelda|Remind you of anyone?]]

* [[Soul Power]]: The Idrians believe Breath is a person's soul, and thus hold Awakening to be the worst sort of heresy. The people of Hallandren are less convinced of this, and don't revile Awakeners or believe losing one's Breath is so terrible, as long as they're paid well for it (or do it for a good cause, like [[Gods Need Prayer Badly|sustaining the Returned]]).

* [[Spanner in the Works]]: Almost everyone at the Court of Gods was prepared for Idris to sent Princess Vivenna to marry/be the hostage of the God King. When the King of Idris exploits a loophole in the contract to send Princess Siri instead, they're all convinced that she must be part of an elaborate plot against them and are thrown into a frenzy trying to [[Gambit Pileup|adjust their webs of schemes]]. But actually, the king just [[The Unfavorite|doesn't love Siri as much as he loves Vivenna]] and figures he'll have an easier time sending her to be raped and killed instead.

* [[Stuffed in The Fridge]]: {{spoiler|Parlin.}}

** Ahem, not to mention {{spoiler|Blushweaver.}}

* [[Terse Talker]]: Parlin.

* [[They Do]]: [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Awww]].

* [[Throwing Your Sword Always Works]]: [[Artifact of Doom|Nightblood]]'s powers make him more useful as a grenade than a sword. He possesses the power to tempt people with impure souls, and gets them all to kill each other. It doesn't ''always'' work because he can't do anything to sinless men.

* [[Title Drop]]: {{spoiler|Vasher's}} real name (well, more or less) is Warbreaker the Peaceful.

* [[Treacherous Advisor]]: {{spoiler|Denth}} and {{spoiler|Bluefingers.}}

* [[Uncanny Valley]]: Invoked with the Lifeless. The most disturbing part of them is that they ''don't'' look dead... or alive, really.

** Possibly more into [[My Girl Is a Slut]]. She's flirtatious, sure, but legitimately means well for both the country and the target of her affections.

* [[Virginity Makes You Stupid]]: {{spoiler|Susebron and Vivenna}}.

* [[Walking the Earth]]: Vasher {{spoiler|and Vivenna at the end.}}

* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]: {{spoiler|1=Susebron's priests truly do care about him. But their sacred vow to protect the God King's BioChroma gift from abuse means some terrible things are done to him. All in the name of keeping it safe.}}

** {{spoiler|Also Bluefingers and his conspiracy. All they want is independence and freedom from opression for their homeland--and they're willing to start a world war if that's what it takes to make that happen.}}

* [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]]: Several, at least at the beginning.

** Vivenna has a real tendency to view everything in terms of absolute black and white. She gets better.

** Siri also starts out quite naive and idealistic.

** Sanderson tends to expose a lot of otherwise-unshown background in this way. Another tidbit: Clod the Lifeless was made from Arsteel's corpse.

* [[You Fail History Forever]]: Implied to be pretty much everybody. {{spoiler|Kalad and Peacegiver are the same person, Austre followers used to be Awakeners too, and so forth.}}

* {{spoiler|[[You Killed My Father|You Killed My Sister]]}}: Denth hates Vasher because of it.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Literature]]

[[Category:Fantasy Literature]]