History Literature / GuardiansOfTheFlame

* WorldsExpertOnGettingKilled: [[spoiler: Jason Parker]] may be the most capable roleplayer in the group - he pumps the GM for advance information, tactically analyzes what the party's going to need, has one of the highest-level characters in the team (outside of the spellcasters), and even led the party in the previous campaign. He's even a history major, which has a lot of potential uses when caught in a low-tech world. He's killed off within a few hours of the party's arrival.

* DontThinkFeel: Karl has all of Barak's warrior skills inside him , and has to let them come out in a fight rather than overthinking the situation. While this gives Karl instant expertise, it also means that the fighting abilities he received are locked at their present level because he doesn't know how to improve them.

* ClassAndLevel: How characters are built in the group's roleplaying game, with levels given as "(letter) class" rather than "level (number)". For example, Doria, the group's highest-ranking character, is a K-class cleric.

** Karl is often at odds with Barak, with the latter's [[invoked]] ValuesDissonance regarding women and slaughter running counter to his own modern sensibilities but his own tendency to get verbose and cocky also causing him to trip himself up because he isn't letting his warrior personality go on autopilot like he should; at times it comes close to a SplitPersonalityTakeover or EnemyWithin.

*** In Ahira's case this would seem to be due to his [[SplitPersonalityMerge subsuming himself completely in his character]] thanks to his desire never to go back to a disabled body--although it is possible [[spoiler:the death of his original body]] may have had something to do with this, his thoughts when the reader is privy to them both before and after always seem to be a fairly seamless melding of both personalities, although admittedly less and less mention is made of James's life as the series progresses.
*** Other than the magic kept locked within her mind, Andrea never seems to have any issues with Lotana at all (perhaps because as a new character just rolled up for that session, plus her cynicism/lack of investment in the game, there wasn't a personality ''to'' compete with) and in fact the name is dropped quite quickly from the narrative.

* DontYouDarePityMe: James Michael doesn't like that people pity him for having to use a wheelchair because of his muscular dystrophy, and especially when people also act repelled from him (as Doria does).

* DisabilityNegatingSuperpower: Although not a superpower per se, this is why James Michael loves This Side, where he's his character, an able-bodied dwarf, whereas on Earth he has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair.

* BroughtDownToNormal: Happens to [[spoiler:Aristobulus/Lou Riccetti at the end of the first book, to save Ahira]]. Also happens in book four to Doria when she goes against the Matriarch's wishes to save Jason Cullinane, although interestingly she is still left with a certain number of unknown spells in her mind which she can use, although obviously she is extremely reluctant to do so since they cannot be replaced.

* SlaveLiberation: After [[spoiler: returning to the fantasy world to have James Michael resurrected and Doria healed from her catatonia]], Karl and his friends resolve to purge slavery from their characters' world.

* AddictiveMagic: It's stated explicitly to resemble cocaine addiction--a little bit every now and then is okay, but use too much and it's a steep, quick decline into obsession, madness, and bad hygiene. Demonstrated with [[spoiler:Andy-Andy]], who keeps to a slow, safe, gentle progression, until [[spoiler:Karl]] dies, at which point she takes a [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope flying leap off the slippery slope]]. [[spoiler:Subverted in the end - given the choice of sacrificing her sanity or ability to do magic for enough power for an epic spell, she chooses the latter. She does, however, display symptoms of catastrophic cold-turkey withdrawal afterward.]]
** This may be the entire motivation of [[spoiler:Arthur Deighton/Arta Myrdhyn]].

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Big time. In the course of their quest to return to Earth, [[spoiler: two of the students are killed, two are raped (with one becoming catatonic), and all but one are captured by a slaver that they have to fight free of. And then they have to go back to resurrect one ... yes, that's right, just one ... of the fallen heroes and wake the catatonic one, with part of the price being Lou giving up magic, Karl agreeing to fight slavery for the rest of his life and Doria passing into the care of her clerical order for the foreseeable future.]]
** [[spoiler: And even with the enormous sacrifices on behalf of the protagonists, it is still made clear that this was a one-time thing, and the Hand would never again help them in any way. And it's implied that this was because the Hand ''could not'': even with the sacrifices, it still cost the Matriarch of the Hand far too much to bring James/Ahira back, far more than she and her whole order could afford to give, and that the Hand itself would help them no further because there was no more help it could afford to give. Thankfully the Spidersect was perfectly willing to aid them afterwards, at their typical enormous price.]]

** More specifically, dragons in this world are the typical extremely powerful western wyrms, save that they cannot afford to harrass humanity too directly because of a deathly allergy to a common herb named dragonbane which can be used to poison missile weapons.

* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: In a StealthPun of sorts, the two female members of the party have names which when put together match the ill-fated ''S.S. Andrea Doria''; in the latter's case, this should have been a clue she was going to have an unhappy fate, although the shout-out becomes less obvious after Doria leaves the series for a couple of books and everyone calls Andrea either Andy or Andy-Andy (after her repetitive last name, Andropolous). More subtly, main character Karl Cullinane has a name quite reminiscent of [[Myth/CelticMythology Cú Chulainn]] and shares some of his ValuesDissonance and even HeroicSociopath tendencies via his other self (although it's actually Ahira who is the berserker of the group).

* AddictiveMagic: Stated explicitly to resemble cocaine addiction--a little bit every now and then is okay, but use too much and it's a steep, quick decline into obsession, madness, and bad hygiene. Demonstrated with [[spoiler:Andy-Andy]], who keeps to a slow, safe, gentle progression, until [[spoiler:Karl]] dies, at which point she takes a [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope flying leap off the slippery slope]]. [[spoiler:Subverted in the end - given the choice of sacrificing her sanity or ability to do magic for enough power for an epic spell, she chooses the latter. She does, however, display symptoms of catastrophic cold-turkey withdrawal afterward.]]

* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:James/Ahira, courtesy of the Healing Hand Society and the Dragon at the Gate, respectively.]] Unlike many examples of the trope, this is not only played as something extremely taxing and draining of power, but as something with great ramifications which cost a high price. As a result, numerous sacrifices are required for it and it's the only example in the series. Something of a nod to the ''TabletopGames/DungeonsAndDragons'' spells of resurrection which it mimics, which until characters reach a high-enough level themselves requires going to clerics who will charge a great deal for the gold, components, and experience it costs and, at least under the 1st and 2nd Edition rules, costs the resurrector's years of their life, although otherwise it's still less cost-prohibitive than as presented in the series. The Matriarch implies this is at least partly due to a non-interference clause and/or blocking magic (and something unique to the Healing Hand), but since there seems to be no other clerics who have the power the point becomes somewhat moot.

* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:James/Ahira, courtesy of the Healing Hand Society and the Dragon at the Gate, respectively.]] Unlike many examples of the trope, this is not only played as something extremely taxing and draining of power, but as something with great ramifications which cost a high price. As a result, numerous sacrifices are required for it and it's the only example in the series. Something of a nod to the ''TabletopGames/DungeonsAndDragons'' spells of resurrection which it mimics, which until characters reach a high-enough level themselves requires going to clerics who will charge a great deal for the gold, components, and experience it costs and, at least under the 1st and 2nd Edition rules, costs the resurrector's years of their life, although otherwise it's poostill less cost-prohibitive than as presented in the series. The Matriarch implies this is at least partly due to a non-interference clause and/or blocking magic (and something unique to the Healing Hand), but since there seems to be no other clerics who have the power the point becomes somewhat moot.

* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:James/Ahira, courtesy of the Healing Hand Society and the Dragon at the Gate, respectively.]] Unlike many examples of the trope, this is not only played as something extremely taxing and draining of power, but as something with great ramifications which cost a high price. As a result, numerous sacrifices are required for it and it's the only example in the series. Something of a nod to the ''TabletopGames/DungeonsAndDragons'' spells of resurrection which it mimics, which until characters reach a high-enough level themselves requires going to clerics who will charge a great deal for the gold, components, and experience it costs and, at least under the 1st and 2nd Edition rules, costs the resurrector's years of their life, although otherwise it's still less cost-prohibitive than as presented in the series. The Matriarch implies this is at least partly due to a non-interference clause and/or blocking magic (and something unique to the Healing Hand), but since there seems to be no other clerics who have the power the point becomes somewhat moot.

* ShoutOut: The game in the books is pretty obviously ''TabletopGames/DungeonsAndDragons'', though the name is never used. In the story it was an invention of Professor Deighton based on the real parallel world they enter.

* DontYouDarePityMe: James Michael doesn't like that people pity him for having to use a wheelchair because of his muscular dystrophy, and especially when people also act repelled from him (as Doria does).