History Literature / Deverry

* {{Consistency}} - To a very high degree.

* LegacyCharacter - Nevyn's common explanation for having the same name and skills as an old advisor or sorcerer mentioned in historical accounts. Either the name Nevyn is a title passed on from teacher to student, or [[BobTheNth he is a descendant of the Nevyn they're thinking of]].

The main narrative thread starts ten centuries later. Through the use of frequent and extended {{Flashback}}s, the main story is intertwined with the stories of the character's [[{{Reincarnation}} previous incarnations]], revealing how present circumstances stem from events occuring in a previous lifetime. This illustrates the concept of Wyrd, or karma. As the series progresses, the flashbacks become longer, with some of the later books being [[WholeEpisodeFlashback more than half flashback]].

* LegacyCharacter - Nevyn's common explanation for having the same name and skills as an old advisor or sorcerer mentioned in historical accounts.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters - There are four major time periods and seven minor ones, and over twenty characters who reincarnate in more than one of them. And then there are those characters who are only in one time period.

* UnexpectedSuccessor - Pertyc Maelwadd, with a bit of OfferedTheCrown mixed in.

* ChekhovsArmoury - As noted in ContinuityLockout below, here are tons of references that only make sense later. One example: Rhodry's silver dagger is modified by Otho in book 2, which makes it reappear to him in book 5 after being stolen from him at the end of book 3 (And then sold by the thief's master to a random merchant in book 4), [[spoiler:it seemingly disappears in book 11, and turns out to be the cause of his unhealing wound]] in book 15.

* CursedWithAwesome - Nevyn's [[WhoWantsToLiveForever endless life]] makes it possible for him to become a peerless master of magic, but after a few cycles of seeing others reincarnate, he begins to wonder whether he'll ever find the relief of death. Similarly, [[spoiler: Rhodry's transformation into a dragon makes him practically invulnerable, but drives him mad.]]

* IKnowYourTrueName - Dragons, and the Guardians to a lesser degree.
* MagicAIsMagicA - Consistent to the degree that there's noticable repetition in different books when the characters build Bodies of Light or create Seals. The limitations of magic are also clearly shown, affect the story and are commented upon by the dweomerworkers.

These books provide examples of:

* ChekhovsArmoury - As noted in ContinuityLockout below, here are tons of references that only make sense later. One example: Rhodry's silver dagger is modified by Otho in book 2, which makes it reappear to him in book 5, [[spoiler:it seemingly disappears in book 11, and turns out to be the cause of his unhealing wound]] in book 15.

* FictionalDocument - ''The Secret Book of Cadwallon the Druid''

* HeirClubForMen - The death of a king who had no sons and three daughters - each of whom had married a powerful noble and given him a son - resulted in the century long SuccessionCrisis referred to in the series as the Time of Troubles.

* NoManOfWomanBorn - The most obvious one is that Lord Corbyn "can never be slain in battle except by sword, but he'll never be slain by any man's hand."
* ObfuscatingStupidity - Salamander, who prattles endlessly and travels as a common gerthddyn (roaming bard) to conceal the fact that he's a sorceror.

* SuccessionCrisis - The cause of both Deverrian civil wars.

* TheWisePrince - Rhodry, Glyn the First. Rhodry enjoys most of his reign, actually, but we only see him at the beginning and the end when he's not so happy with the job.

--->'''Jill:''' Do you have to babble on about everything?
--->'''Salamander:''' Well, actually, I do, because it relieves my feelings and makes me sound like a fool, which is exactly what I want our enemies to think me.

This time, the main threat comes from the [[Main/{{TheFairFolk}} Guardians]]. Evandar, leader of the Bright Court, has been [[TheChessmaster manipulating the affairs]] of men, elves, and dwarves for millennia, in pursuit of his grand schemes. Unfortunately, his wife has plans of her own. Posing as a Goddess, she raises an army to conquer Deverry which, unknown to her, would also provide karmic retribution for the acts of the Deverrian's ancestors, when Evandar brought them out of Gaul.

* ManipulativeBastard - Nevyn when ending the civil war, Laz Moj.

** ShapeshifterBaggage - Averted; most shifters either return to where they shifted, or have a bag to carry clothes in.

* ClingyMacGuffin - Rhodry's silver dagger. The other silver daggers work the similarly for Otho, but aren't {{MacGuffin}}s.

* CultureClash - Between the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Gel'da'thae]] and the alliance besieging Zakh Gral.

* AllBeerIsAle: At least some of the beer brewed in Deverry is small beer. During the siege of Cengarn, Rhodry remarks that once the beer runs out, they'll be forced to drink vinegar-sanitized water.

The first two books were later reissued in a [[ReCut revised edition]]. Changes to ''Daggerspell'' are minimal, but ''Darkspell'' contains a number of [[RetCon significant changes]], mostly to the character of Sarcyn, who was brought more in line with how Kerr originally envisioned him before her editor overruled her. As a result, the old version is considered to be [[CanonDiscontinuity non-canon]].

* MagnumOpus - Somewhat unknown as a series, but well over the length of all Kerr's other books combined.

The novels use a richly detailed system of magic, called ''dweomer'', which is based upon real-world magical traditions, such as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaballah Kaballah]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosicrucianism Rosicrucianism]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetic_Order_of_the_Golden_Dawn the Golden Dawn]] Although dweomer is nominally a path to spiritual enlightenment, it produces quite spectacular displays, and can be powerful enough to steer the destiny of nations. Dweomer both an inherent gift as well as long study to use, and is a combination of [[FunctionalMagic Theurgy and Force Magic]].