History Literature / GotrekAndFelix

!The Doom of Gotrek Gurnisson

!Audio dramas

!Novels

''Grey Seer'': Thanquol is sent to Altkirk to retrieve the Wormstone, a long-lost Skaven relic. But before he arrives, the stone is found and taken by a group of small-time smugglers, resulting in a five way conflict over it between Thanquol, the smugglers, the local Skaven community, a local crime boss, and the followers of a wizard working to protect the Empire from the shadows.\\

''Thanquol Triumphant'': Thanquol single-handedly saves a clan of Skaven from destruction by Orks... that he was supposed to be destroying himself.

Felix Jaeger was the son of a wealthy merchant, a student and aspiring writer/poet until the day he accidentally killed a man in a duel. Disowned by his family, he ran away from home, where he eventually became a bit of an activist, and inadvertently started a riot over an unfair Window Tax.

* ShaggyDogStory: The second Thanquol book ''Temple of the Serpent'' introduces a whole new cast of characters who are all killed in the course of their adventure, which was all secretly an experiment by a Slaan. At the end of the book he realizes that he knows so little about humans that his data are completely useless, and the last survivor commits suicide out of spite when offered a chance to surrender and submit to further tests. Even in-universe the events, including the deaths of the cast and an entire temple city were a complete waste of time achieving nothing.

* GeniusCripple: Teclis, obviously.

** It should be noted that Felix's memoirs stated that for all his feats about being hunted down over those deaths, in retrospect he doubted that anyone bothered to hunt them over that once they were a few days out of the city. Once the timeskip was over, it appears that the authorities have forgotten about them, even with his published memoirs being an outright confession to his involvement.

''Kinslayer'': Felix Jaeger, now living with his family in Altdorf, is drawn back into his life of adventure when an old friend is captured by a monstrous foe. But where is Gotrek, and will he be able to help?

''Realmslayer'': Long after the death of the Old World, Gotrek emerges from the Realm of Chaos and into the Mortal Realms. With his fatal redemption spoiled and without Felix, his axe or any idea what is going on in the bizarre new world he finds himself in, Gotrek embarks on a new adventure followed now by the aelven warrior Maleneth -- much to his displeasure.

* CanonDiscontinuity: Nathan Long's novels set during and after the events of Storm of Chaos, however, with the retcon of “The End of Times”, the events of Storm of Chaos are effectively undone by the new timeline.
** Some of this is given a {{lampshade|Hanging}} in ''Giantslayer'', as Felix is pulled through the [[PortalNetwork Paths of the Old Ones]] and sees in it visions of events which happen in some of the short stories that were later {{retcon}}ned by newer stories. Felix thinks that these are divinations of possibilities of things that could have happened if things had been different.

** This happens so often that he concludes they are hunting him down, and for a while they thought he was following them... And then, in ''Elfslayer'', he captures them at last and learns they've never even heard of his name before now.

* DespairEventHorizon: This is what pushes just about any Dwarf to shave their head and join the Slayer Cult. Gotrek's in particular is never spelt out explicitly, but is eventually revealed over the stories to be the result of three things happening one after the other; he was the sole survivor of an expedition into the Chaos Wastes to find the lost Dwarven city of Karag Dum, he returns home to find his home village razed and everyone slaughtered (and his wife and child amongst the dead), and, finally, [[spoiler:a Dwarf thane provokes Gotrek after this until he goes berserk and winds up slaughtering the thane and his entire court, the act for which Gotrek's shame forces him to shave his head and become a Slayer.]]
** Snorri's gets revealed in ''Kinslayer'' and is intimately intertwined with Gotrek's, as he finally recalls.

* FanonDiscontinuity: To many fans, Nathan's novels are not worthy successors to the original works by William King.

* InfinityPlusOneSword: Gotrek's Rune Axe. It has killed or had a part in killing a Greater Daemon of Khorne, arguably a Greater Daemon of Slaanesh, a dragon, a giant, a vampire, werewolves, dozens of regular daemons, daemon-powered siege equipment, Chaos champions, and a dark elf CITY. It can also cut through enemy mooks like they were made of screaming butter.
** Even more than that, it was literally forged by the Dwarf god of war and vengeance. It might be the most powerful weapon to ever exist.
** Dual-wielding it with a certain Rune Hammer combined their powers, making him so powerful he cut through an entire army singlehandedly.

* NoodleIncident: A few references to adventures during the twenty year time jump, like the time they stayed the night in a Tomb King's... tomb. ''The Serpent Queen'' is full of these and was actually written to explain the previous example (it turns out [[spoiler: they were invited guests]].)

** Gotrek lost his axe at some point between ''Slayer'' and ''Realmslayer'' and has to get a replacement.

* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Hrolf Wyrdulf, another Norscan Khornate Champion, is basically a werewolf in Chaos Plate.

* RealityIsUnrealistic: Part of the reason why people tend to dismiss Felix's journals of his travels as fiction is because Gotrek's accomplishments are so outrageous as to be unbelievable. For example, in the short story ''Kineater'', a respected novelist who had dismissed Felix's writings as penny dreadful material because of the absurd feats attributed to Gotrek recants that position after seeing him kill an Ogre Tyrant in unarmed combat - something she would never have thought possible had she not witnessed it first hand.

* TheStarscream: Thanquol is this even by Skaven standards, to the point of actively sabotaging his own plans to keep anyone else from getting any credit.
** It's even to the point that [[spoiler: He is more of a danger to his own race than any other.]]
* ThanatosGambit: In ''Thanquol's Doom'' [[spoiler: a dying grey seer turns out to have replaced a relic that can summon daemons of their god with one fashioned from his own arm that summons a Khornate daemon to destroy its summoner.]]
* TookALevelInBadass: This somewhat applies to Felix and Max as we get to see them becoming more competent and deadly as the books go on. Although you'd ''have'' to accumulate Badass points simply by surviving that long in the Warhammer world.
** Actually happened to Thanquol in Grey Seer. [[spoiler: Upon seeing that his new apprentice Kratch, who the Council forced on him, has betrayed him and sided with Lord Skrolk Thanquol unleashes such a powerful blast of magic against Kratch, annihilating him instantly, that everybody in the chamber, including an Imperial Shadow Wizard and one of the most powerful Plague Priests of Clan Pestilens Lord Skrolk himself are horrified by the magnitude of power that Thanquol commands. [[StupidEvil Unfortunately he used it all in that blast and was exhaused by it]], which Skrolk quickly leapt on.]]

* VillainousBreakdown: Grey Seer Thanquol is made of this trope. His biggest one comes in [[spoiler:Elfslayer]] when, [[spoiler:after two decades of ranting about how the titular duo are his worst enemies and plotting revenge for all of his plans Gotrek and Felix have foiled over the years, he finds out that they don't even know who he is, having ruined Thanquol's life essentially by accident!]]
** Another great one of these comes in ''Manslayer'' where TheDragon of a band of Tzeentchian cultists [[spoiler:utterly loses his shit when the pair thwart the cult's plan to [[EarthShatteringKaboom detonate a massive bomb under the city of Nuln]] by flooding the chamber where the explosives are planted with the contents of the local sewer]].

* ViolentGlaswegian: Malakai Makaisson. The author does a very good job of capturing the accent -- although seeing as Bill King is Scottish, he'd have no excuse for failing to do so.
** Something of a joke on the Scottish-light accent that most fantasy dwarfs, including the others in the books, usually speak in.

* SavageWolves: There's the ''Ulfrgandr'' (Old Norse for 'Wolf Monster'), a giant, indestructible Khornate Chaos Daemon that's in the shape of a massive daemonic wolf.

* AloofBigBrother: Otto to Felix.
%%* AluminumChristmasTrees: Window taxes were a real thing in 18th and 19th Century Europe. They were intended as a way to tax income without actually having an income tax (as the public felt that the government had no right to ask everyone what they made in a year so they could tax it), on the theory that wealthier people would own larger houses, which would have more windows. The tax dodge of sealing up windows to lower the taxes was also fairly common, though corrupt tax collectors knocking holes in walls and taxing the hole as a window probably wasn't. And though they didn't escalate to riots IRL the way the protests Felix was part of did, such taxes were highly unpopular, as the public felt that they were taxing people's access to light and fresh air.

* AnimalMotifs: Garmr Hrodvitner (whose name is basically Old Norse for 'Hound Fame-Wolf') is a Norscan Chaos Lord of Khorne whose title is 'Gorewolf' and has a wolf-shaped helmet.

* BadassBookworm: Max Schreiber, Malakai Makaisson and Teclis of the White Tower. Also Lhoigor Goldenrod and Kelmain Blackstaff, but they're evil.
* BadassBeard: Too many to count.

* BashBrothers: Gotrek and Felix, natch. Humans and Dwarfs in general, too, thanks to an ancient oath sworn by the Dwarfs to Sigmar.
* BattleCouple: Felix and Ulrika, Felix and Kat.

** A possible case between Felix and [[ActionGirl Siobhain]] in Giantslayer, which is a SeriesContinuityError.

* DeathSeeker: All Slayers are dwarves who have taken an oath to seek heroic doom in recompense for something so disgraceful or shameful that death can be the only recompense.
** It highlights the importance of death in a Slayer's role that Gotrek is considered the worst slayer of all time.
*** Not just considered. He might be a hero, but until he gets killed in combat, whatever disgrace he committed cannot be atoned for, but at the rate he's going, he's going to die of old age. Which is the worst possible shame for any Slayer. (And this is for a group who are already so shamed that the only proper way to make up for it is by getting killed by something big and mean.)
* DefectorFromDecadence: Felix.

-->''"Oi! You! I'm not finished with you yet!"''

*** Rumors from Games Workshop have implied that "The Doom of Gotrek Gurnisson" will involve Gotrek facing off against Be'lakor. That is, ''the first Daemon Prince to ever exist in Warhammer Fantasy'', and an entity that could be considered a valid candidate for the title of the 5th Chaos God.

* HandsomeLech: Subverted. Felix certainly enjoys the company of attractive women, though not to the extent that he's a lech. It's just, well, the girls add up a bit over time. Gotrek and Max lampshade this on occasion.
** UpToEleven in 'The Serpent Queen', the Hearld of Khalida, the UNDEAD champion Zabbai, outright says she would take Felix for herself if she were still a living woman. Gotrek spends half the book trying to hook them up, although he's probably just screwing with Felix.

* IJustWantToBeNormal: Felix sometimes, it is usually happens when he finds a girl he cares for and thinks about settling down.
** Felix is starting to realize that's never going to happen, having essentially become the Franchise/{{Highlander}}. However, he's surprisingly resistant to every level of weirdness. He acts more like a middle aged man than what his twenty-something body would indicate.

* LastOfTheirKind: In ''Daemonslayer'', our main characters discover that there are still dwarfs living in hidden holds deep beneath the lost city of Karag Dum. It is explained that the surviving dwarfs of Karag Dum were split into 5 factions, each living in their own hidden holds. By the time the main characters arrive, only one remains whilst the other four were long lost to the besieging forces of chaos.

* TheLostLenore: Gotrek is implied to have been married, though his wife died, in a vision of his life before he became a Slayer. Kirsten and Ulrika serve as this to Felix.
** Gotrek's wife is confirmed to be dead in ''Kinslayer''. [[spoiler: Snorri Nosebiter killed her.]]
* MagicMissileStorm: One of Max's two primary attacks, for dealing with numerous enemies.

* MercyKill: More then a few times in the books, most recently in ''Elfslayer'' and ''Shamanslayer''.

* ObligatoryJoke: In ''Realmslayer'' they have Gotrek played by Creator/BrianBlessed. You don't pass up an opportunity like that to get a "X is ALIVE!" reference.

** William King originally had Snorri Nosebiter die offpage in the short story ''Death and Glory'' as an incidental casualty of a larger battle - a troll he had killed fell on him and crushed him to death between scenes. His appearance in half the King novels, some of which take place after that story was written, can be explained by the fact that precisely when in the timeline that story occurred was never stated. Then Nathan Long had Snorri still be alive after the timeskip, and turned his Doom into a story arc in its own right, which ultimately came at the hands of [[spoiler:Gotrek]] rather than an already deceased troll.

** Another great one of these comes in ''Manslayer'' [[spoiler: where TheDragon of a band of Tzeentchian cultists utterly loses his shit when the pair thwart the cult's plan to [[EarthShatteringKaboom detonate a massive bomb under the city of Nuln]] by flooding the chamber where the explosives are planted with the contents of the local sewer]].
-->"[[spoiler: You ruined everything! Our glorious future, drowned in a tide of shit! I'll kill you! In Tzeentch's name, I'll kill you!]]"
* ViolentGlaswegian: Malakai Makaisson. The author does a very good job of capturing the accent - although seeing as Bill King is Scottish, he'd have no excuse for failing to do so.

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Obviously Gotrek. [[spoiler: However, Felix is starting to feel this even though he's only middle aged.]]

* WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility: Something Claudia should have remembered.

** This happens so often that he concludes they are hunting him down, and for a while they thought he was following them... And then, in Elfslayer, he captures them at last and learns they've never even heard of his name before now.

** William King originally had Snorri Nosebiter die offpage in the short story ''Death and Glory'' as an incidental casualty of a larger battle - a troll he had killed fell on him and crushed him to death between scenes. His appearance in half the King novels, some of which take place after that story was written, can be explained by the fact that precisely when in the timeline that story occurred was never stated. Then Nathan Long had Snorri still be alive after the timeskip, and turned his Doom into a story arc in its own right.

''Prophecy'': The Chaos sorcerers Khelmain Goldenrod and Lhoigor Blackstaff scry out knowledge of Gotrek and Felix.\\

''Mind-Stealer'': A story about Thanquol rather than Gotrek and Felix. After ordering an attack on a caravan because he ''thinks'' Gotrek and Felix are among the guards, Thanquol is cursed by a witch travelling with it, and finds his mind trapped in Boneripper's body.\\
''Death and Glory!'': Gotrek and Felix return to the city of Hauptmansburg after a troll-hunting expedition to find themselves conscripted into the army being raised to repel an orc invasion.

** Nobody says what exactly happened during the infamous Window Tax Riots that started Gotrek and Felix on their adventures together, other than that the army started violently attacking the protestors (thus sparking the riots), Gotrek chose to save Felix by killing some of the soldiers, and then they went and got drunk together, causing the young, ambitious poet to vow to write Gotrek's death-saga.

''Trollslayer'': The initial tales of Gotrek and Felix's travels together after fleeing Altdorf with a price on their heads for their involvement in the Window Tax Riots. Technically a short story collection rather than an actual novel, it covers various unrelated adventures they experience in their journeys, one of which does involve an enormous, Chaos-mutated troll.
''Skavenslayer'': Also technically a short story collection, though all the stories in this one form a single cohesive plot line. Thanks to most of their adventures not paying very well, Gotrek and Felix are forced to stop in the city of Nuln and get jobs in the city watch, patrolling the local sewers for goblins and the like. But there are worse things than goblins in the sewers of Nuln, as the Grey Seer Thanquol and his horde of Skaven are lurking in the depths, plotting to claim the city for its own.

''A Place of Quiet Assembly'': A failed merchant pays a visit to the monastery where he studied as a youth, accompanied by Gotrek and Felix. But the monastery holds a dark secret...
''Blood Sport'': Gotrek enrolls in a gladiatorial beast-baiting competition for travel funds.
''Kineater'': After a young maiden is kidnapped by the Ogre Tyrant Volk Kineater, her older sister enlists the aid of Gotrek and Felix to rescue her.
''Mind-Stealer'': A story about Thanquol rather than Gotrek and Felix. After ordering an attack on a caravan because he ''thinks'' Gotrek and Felix are among the guards, Thanquol is cursed by a witch travelling with it, and finds his mind trapped in Boneripper's body.

%%* AluminumChristmasTrees: Window taxes were a real thing in 18th and 19th Century Europe. They were intended as a way to tax income without actually having an income tax (as the public felt that the government had no right to ask everyone what they made in a year so they could tax it), on the theory that wealthier people would own larger houses, which would have more windows. The tax dodge of sealing up windows to lower the taxes was also fairly common, though corrupt tax collectors knocking holes in walls and taxing the hole as a window probably wasn't. And though they didn't escalate to riots IRL way the protests Felix was part of did, such taxes were highly unpopular, as the public felt that they were taxing people's access to light and fresh air.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Window taxes were a real thing in 18th and 19th Century Europe. They were intended as a way to tax income without actually having an income tax (as the public felt that the government had no right to ask everyone what they made in a year so they could tax it), on the theory that wealthier people would own larger houses, which would have more windows. The tax dodge of sealing up windows to lower the taxes was also fairly common, though corrupt tax collectors knocking holes in walls and taxing the hole as a window probably wasn't. And though they didn't escalate to riots IRL way the protests Felix was part of did, such taxes were highly unpopular, as the public felt that they were taxing people's access to light and fresh air.

* AluminumChristmasTRees: Window taxes were a real thing in 18th and 19th Century Europe. They were intended as a way to tax income without actually having an income tax (as the public felt that the government had no right to ask everyone what they made in a year so they could tax it), on the theory that wealthier people would own larger houses, which would have more windows. The tax dodge of sealing up windows to lower the taxes was also fairly common, though corrupt tax collectors knocking holes in walls and taxing the hole as a window probably wasn't. And though they didn't escalate to riots IRL way the protests Felix was part of did, such taxes were highly unpopular, as the public felt that they were taxing people's access to light and fresh air.

* AngelUnaware: In ''Blood of the Old World'' [[spoiler:Grombrindal]] joins the party for a while. He does so little to conceal his identity, including introducing himself by a varient on his more famous nickname, that it's frankly astonishing Gotrek didn't figure it out.
* ArchnemesisDad: Felix's dad, Gustav, disowned him.

* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Jaeger clan. Gustav, Felix's father, is an unbearable dick who exhibits everything wrong with the NouveauRiche, and Otto, Felix's older brother, is very much like him. Still, despite their many disagreements and having nothing in common, Otto's still a pretty decent (if decadent and HolierThanThou) guy, who tries to help Felix whenever he shows up in Nuln (where Otto runs the largest branch of Jaeger & Sons). Inevitably, Otto tries to hard to get Felix to rejoin the family business, which leads to them resenting each other powerfully. The only normal and reasonable member of the family; Otto's and Felix's mother, died when Felix was a child.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Window taxes were a real thing in 18th and 19th Century Europe. They were intended as a way to tax income without actually having an income tax (as the public felt that the government had no right to ask everyone what they made in a year so they could tax it), on the theory that wealthier people would own larger houses, which would have more windows. The tax dodge of sealing up windows to lower the taxes was also fairly common, though corrupt tax collectors knocking holes in walls and taxing the hole as a window probably wasn't. And though they didn't escalate to riots IRL way the protests Felix was part of did, such taxes were highly unpopular, as the public felt that they were taxing people's access to light and fresh air.

* ShaggyDogStory: The second Thanquol book ''Temple of the Serpent'' introduces a whole new cast of characters who are all killed in the course of their adventure, which was all secretly an expirament by a Slaan. At the end of the book he realizes that he knows so little about humans that his data are completely useless, and the last survivor commits suicide out of spite when offered a chance to surrender and submit to further tests. Even in-universe the events, including the deaths of the cast and an entire temple city were a complete waste of time achieving nothing.