History Literature / Conqueror

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Iggulden notes that "Genghis" is more properly rendered as "Chinggis", but he felt the former spelling is just too iconic to discard.

* FalseRetreat: One of the Mongols' favourite tactics.

* ParentalFavouritism: Genghis Khan is unfortunately prone to this.

* AnimalMotifs: The only thing that could possibly contend Conqueror in the sheer ''quantity'' of wolf related metaphors is the SpaceWolf omnibus.

* '''Lords of the Bow''' (2008): Having crushed the Tartars and united the Mongols into a single nation, Genghis Khan turns his attention to the tribes' traditional oppressors, the Xi Xia and Chin empires in what is now northern China.

* AdaptationNameChange: Iggulden changed the name of Temujin's nemesis in the first book from Targutai to Eeluk.

The '''Conqueror series''' is a sequence of novels written by ConnIggulden which tell the story of the Mongol Empire. They are:

** Codes of honor differ and the HordesFromTheEast, even at their best, would hardly have behaved like a fairy tale KnightInShiningArmor. Being able to RapePillageAndBurn without your enemy being able to do anything about it would likely have been considered a way to show off what a {{Badass}} [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Warrior]] you were by [[TakeThat rubbing in your enemy's face]] what an incompetent PapaWolf he was. They would likely have thought it "honorable". It was evil but unfortunately often times not only are [[HumansAreWarriors humans warriors]], they are often [[HumansAreBastards bastards]].

* GreyAndGreyMorality: In the first novel Temujin comes across as a straight up hero by the standards of his time, fighting to keep his family safe and evading the wrath of the traitorous and cruel Eeluk. However, he's also the brutal leader of savage northern raiders as he attacks the Tartars, killing their men and raping their women to get back at them for killing his father. In the later chapters of Wolves of the Plains, Temujin's sheer wrathful nature and ambition also begin to surface. By the time Bones of the Hills comes out, he basically goes to Khwarezm to avenge the torture and murder of his emissaries at the hands of Inalchuk, but he also makes it a point to wipe out his entire ''city'' and people to drive the point home that he's not to be fucked with, slaughtering millions (and thus, it's implied, indirectly causing the virulent plagues that sweep Khwarezm). Meanwhile, the Shah, while mostly a good man, becomes consumed with hatred by seeing what Genghis Khan does to his people and attempts to launch a lightning raid against the undefended Mongol women and children. The closest thing Bones of the Hills have to a good guy is Jelaudin, because he's basically fighting to free his country from Mongolian occupation and avenge their atrocities. And even then, the Mongols really aren't that oppressive towards the people of Khwarezm.
** There's a deliberate contrast set by the author between Hulegu and Kublai's methods of conquest in ''Conqueror''.

Essentially the Mongolian equivalent to TheSaxonStories. Or rather a series of novels writen by ConnIggulden which tell the story of the Mongol Empire. They are:

--> I needed to laugh. I needed to stride halls filled with dead whores and have an assassin tell me I've made nothing in my life.

A series of five books by ConnIggulden which tell the story of the Mongol Empire. They are:

* AdaptedOut: A glaring omission is Temujin's boyhood friend and BloodBrother turned chief rival, Jamukha, who had similar ambitions and thus had to be defeated before Temujin could assume the name Genghis Khan, meaning Oceanic or Universal Ruler. This is in spite of Iggulden basing the series on the historical chronicle ''The Secret History of the Mongols'', which recounts their rivalry.

* HorseArcher: The Mongols

** BadassLongHair: Many, many Mongols tie their long hair into braids.

* NobodyPoops: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. Hard.

** BadassInCharge: Temujin, first of raiders in the North, then of the Wolves, then of Mongolia, and then of Chin, Koryon and Kwarezm.

** The killing-one's-enemies part is still seen as honourable nowadays...
*** The exact extent of this trope depends on who you talk to.
** Codes of honor differ and the HordesFromTheEast even at their best would hardly have behaved like a fairy tale KnightInShiningArmor. Being able to RapePillageAndBurn without your enemy being able to do anything about it would likely have been considered a way to show off what a {{Badass}} [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Warrior]] you were by [[TakeThat rubbing in your enemy's face]] what an incompetent PapaWolf he was. They would likely have thought it "honorable". It was evil but unfortunately often times not only are [[HumansAreWarriors humans warriors]], they are often [[HumansAreBastards bastards]]. And before someone mentions it, yes that is a disgusting thought.

* GreyAndGreyMorality: In the first novel Temujin comes across as a straight up hero by the standards of his time. Fighting to keep his family safe and evading the wrath of the traitorous and cruel Eeluk. However, h's also the brutal leader of savage northern raiders as he attacks the Tartars, killing their men and raping their women to get back at them for killing his father. In the later chapters of Wolves of the Plains, Temujin's sheer wrathful nature and ambition also begin to surface. By the time Bones of the Hills comes out, he basically goes to Khwarezm to avenge the torture and murder of his emissaries at the hands of Inalchuk, but he also makes it a point to wipe out his entire ''city'' and people to drive the point home that he's not to be fucked with. Slaughtering millions and it's implied thus indirectly causing the virulent plagues that sweep Khwarezm. Meanwhile, the Shah, while mostly a good man, becomes consumed with hatred by seeing what Genghis Khan does to his people and attempts to launch a lightning raid against the undefended Mongol women and children. The closest thing Bones of the Hills have to a good guy is Jelaudin, because he's basically fighting to free his country from Mongolian occupation and avenge their atrocities. And even then, the Mongols really aren't that oppressive towards the people of Khwarezm.
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: The Tartars are responsible for a fair bit more of the crap in Temujin's early life than happened in reality.
** For example, they're written as the ones who raped Borte, in truth, that was the crime of the Merkit clan.

* PathOfInspiration: The shamanism as preached by Kokchu.

* ReassignedToAntarctica: Everybody as Yinchuan fort.

A series of three books, with three more on the way, by ConnIggulden which tell the story of the Mongol Empire. So far, it includes:

* EyesOfGold: Genghis Khan, and all but one of his children. Yesugei too. They're explicitly described as 'wolf-like' too.

* [[Hypocrite Munafiqeen]]: Inalchuck. By day he fasts in Ramazan, prays diligently, gives charity and reads the Holy Qur'an. By night, he drinks heavily, engages in deprave sex acts with his slave girls, and tortures Mongolian diplomats.

* GrimUpNorth: The Tartars seem to thrive in the frozen wastes of Siberia. Possibly the Mongols themselves to the Chin.

* ShutUpHannibal: Genghis and Tsubodai do this to the Old Man of the Mountains.

* VillainProtagonist: Genghis is not a nice guy.

* {{Badass}}: Temujin, Yesugei, Bekter... Pretty much everyone who isn't Temuge.

* EyesOfGold: Genghis Khan, and all but one of his children.

* WarriorMonk: Yao Shu.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Some of the Mongols' more horrible tactics, such as catapulting severed heads and the corpses of plague victims into cities, as well as Genghis Khan's rape of hundreds of women, are left out. The author does however mention habitual use of captured civilians (terrorized beyond all sanity by inventive executions and deadly forced marches) as living shields/cannon fodder when assaulting fortified cities

* CareerKillers: The Mongols go up against the historical Assassins.

* NobodyPoops: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. [[Squick Hard]].