History Literature / GentlemanBastard

** [[Nikoros]] winds up being blackmailed by the opposition into serving as TheMole. However, Locke and Jean figure this out eventually and manage to use him.

* DoubleAgent: [[spoiler:Coldmarrow]] initially looks like he is TheMole, but [[spoiler:the ''Republic of Thieves'' ending makes it clear that he is ultimately loyal to Patience and her allies]].

* MoralMyopia: The Gentleman Bastards constantly insist that it's their right to con and steal from the nobles on the grounds that they exploit the poor and deserve it, ignoring the fact that their latest mark, Don Salvara, is actually a fairly decent guy and actually tried to help a disguised Locke when he thought he was being attacked in the street. When [[spoiler: The Grey King]] manages to steal all of Locke's money, possessions and kill some of his close companions, he throws a tantrum and it never occurs to him that this is exactly how he makes his victims feel when he robs them of everything they have.

* FauxActionGirl: Quite a few of the women in the first book fall under this despite the narrator assuring us that "women of Camorr should be underestimated at great peril to one's health", they tend to get quite easily dispatched by male opponents. [[spoiler: Nazca is Capa Barsavi's daughter but she gets easily StuffedIntoTheFridge by the Grey King and delivered to him in a barrel of ''horse piss'', no less, the girl thieves quickly retreat when Jean makes it clear he WouldHitAGirl and then the Berangias sisters who are meant to be elite soldiers, are only seen either fighting sharks or a target who wasn't expecting them to attack him (Don Barsavi) - the moment they go up against a named character, Jean manages to defeat them despite it being two-on-one.]]

* {{Flashback}}: Books one and three alternate chapters with flashbacks that cover the years prior to the first book. ''Red Seas'' uses them to explain {{How We Got Here}} instead.

* TwoLinesDifferentTimes: The plotline of each book is intercut with a second plotline of {{flashback}}s to the Bastards' upbringing that relates in some way to the present story.

* TwoLinesNoWaiting: The plotline of each book is intercut with a second plotline of {{flashback}}s to the Bastards' upbringing that relates in some way to the present story.

* BiTheWay: Jabril makes this discovery.

** ''Red Seas Under Red Skies'':[[spoiler:Locke and Jean outsmart the Archon, but Ezri is dead, the paintings that they were trying to steal were just replicas, and they only have one does of the antidote to the Archon's poison, which Locke gives to Jean.]]

* BlackAndGrayMorality: Ubiquitous. There are ''no'' out and out heroes in the world of the series so far, though the protagonists are at least conscientious enough to avoid random mayhem and try to make it right by anyone they've screwed who didn't deserve it. In other stories, figures like Requin and Capa Barsavi would be monstrous BigBad types who'd thoroughly crossed the MoralEventHorizon. Here, they're both indispensable and powerful fixtures of their respective cities' underworld and crucial to local stability, and the reader is invited to sympathize with them to some extent. The Bondsmagi themselves are presented as creepy and malevolent in the first two books but [[spoiler:the third one shows that while they are indeed [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bastards]], most of them are not the vicious, sadistic, self-righteous sociopaths the Falconer would have you thinking they are]].

* BroughtDownToBadass: [[spoiler: According to Patience, Locke used to be a renegade necromancer named Lamor Acanthus. He escaped death from old age by transferring his soul into the body of a young boy.]] Unfortunately, the move seems to have cost him his memory and his magical gifts.

* CombatPragmatist: Locke, not being a BigGuy (like Jean) or a highly-trained martial artist (like Jean) is arguably the dirtiest fighter in the books thus far. Hell, in the first book, he punches out The Spider. Why is this notable? [[spoiler: She's an octogenarian]]! This even grants him a FakeUltimateHero status after some lucky kills. Never better exemplified than when he takes out [[spoiler:the Gray King]] by tricking him into thinking Jean's come up behind him.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Jasmer Moncraine]] appears to be this during the flashback sequences of ''The Republic of Thieves'' since he manages to escape Espara [[spoiler: with all of the profits made from their performance and leaving the rest of the troupe high and dry.]] However, with [[spoiler: Baron Boulidazi's murder pinned on him by Locke and the others]] he can never return to Espara, the money will only last a few years anyway, and as Sabetha points out, he's made an enemy of Father Chains, and he'll never be able to stop running, so it's implied [[spoiler: Moncraine]] didn't get away for long.

* KnifeNut: A great many characters use knives as their primary weapons, from hoodlums to bodyguards. Locke, in particular, favors stiletto blades in his sleeves or shoes.

* ''The Thorn of Emberlain'' (forthcoming)

* InstantExpert: Thoroughly (and realistically) averted when Jean and Locke are forced to pose as naval officers. Despite weeks of intensive training, they are only able to learn the very basics. As soon as they are in a situation without their HyperCompetentSidekick to cover for them, it is immediately apparent to everyone that they have no idea what they're doing.

* LoopholeAbuse: Locke and Jean try to invoke this trope, but fail. The Bondsmagi do not take kindly to any of their number being killed; the world knows that whoever kills one of them will die horribly in return. [[spoiler:So Locke and Jean cut the Falconer's fingers off and his tongue out, but leave him alive. His friends and family don't take it well, even though they didn't kill him.]]

* PrisonShip: Sabetha traps Locke & Jean on one of GildedCage variant in Republic of Thieves to remove them from the competition.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Camorr/Venice most obviously, but there is a rough counterpart to all of the cultures in the books. Kingdom of the Seven Marrows is based on the South German[=/=]Austrian lands of the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire. The Vadran language is obviously based on German. Tal Verrar is also based on Venice, as a multi-island realm whose power lies in the fleet. Karthain is a third Venice analogue, a multi-island republic. Jerem has a few references to pre-industrial India. The defunct Therin Empire is hinted to be a sort of UsefulNotes/RomanEmpire.
** [[spoiler:Also, as of ''Republic of Thieves'', the setting's equivilent of the UsefulNotes/ThirtyYearsWar has begun.]]

* BigBad: The Gray King in ''Lies'', Archon Maxilan Stragos in ''Red Seas''. ''Republic'' doesn't have a single central antagonist, unless Sabetha counts; while [[spoiler: Archedama Foresight]] was the ultimate string-puller of the opposition, her direct role in the novel is minimal, and Sabetha is only a hired agent. [[spoiler: Though the ending implies that the newly-restored Falconer is on his way to becoming this as well.]]

** [[spoiler:The crew of the ''Satisfaction'' - the Gray King's ship - trick the Camorr city guard into believing that they're a plague ship, allowing them to sneak the Bastards' stolen fortune aboard as provisions. Near the end of the book, Locke uses this to get Vorchenza to destroy the ''Satisfaction'', claiming that the Gray King will use it to unleash the Black Whisper on Camorr.]]

** [[spoiler:In ''The Republic of Thieves'', Patience reveals that Bondsmagi choose "gray names" because of this, and any children by Bondsmagi aren't named by their magical parent for the same reason. However, when she had the Falconer, she chose to break with tradition and name him herself because his father had died, and he came to hate her when he learned why it was a bad thing.]]

* KissOfDeath: [[spoiler: Not actually death, but Sabetha puts a narcotic on her own skin to poison Locke when he kisses her, kidnap him, and put him somewhere out of the way.]]

* LookBehindYou: Locke hones this technique while fighting the Half-Crowns as a kid, with Jean to back him up. He later pulls it on [[spoiler:the Gray King, without the benefit of backup.]]
* LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair: [[spoiler: The bondsmagi of Karthain think that]] it is probably what happened to the Eldren civilization, due to their extensive and ostensible use of magic. [[spoiler: The bondsmagi very much do not want [[AndManGrewProud the same thing to happen to humans]], and that is why they are avoid any large-scale, ostensible magical work. It also explain why they are so damn pricky about other magic users.]]