History Literature / Imaro

* BladeOnAStick: The Ilyassai weapon is the ''arem'', a long spear with a iron blade beginning halfway down its length, used both for throwing and melee combat.

Saunders grew up reading the adventures of Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian and Franchise/{{Tarzan}}, but was troubled how such stories never had black heroes, even when Africa was involved. So he decided to write his own stories, and created Imaro and Nyumbani, his new hero and setting respectively. Nyumbani is a FantasyCounterpartCulture of AncientAfrica with people and places corresponding to real ones throughout Africa's history. Imaro, an outsider from the moment of his birth, overcomes endless challenges to his existence ranging from petty [[{{Jerkass}} Jerkasses]] who don't like him for [[DisappearedDad not having a father]] to an AncientConspiracy by [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]]. Imaro, aside from simply desiring survival, seeks to find the answers about his father and why he encounters so much misfortune. He makes good friends and hated enemies along his trek across Nyumbani.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Nyumbani is full of counterparts to tribes, kingdoms, and empires of AncientAfrica.

* BladeOnAStick: The Ilyassai WeaponOfChoice is the ''arem'', a long spear with a iron blade beginning halfway down its length, used both for throwing and melee combat.

* AlasPoorVillain: It's hard not to feel sorry for N'tu-mwaa in the end. Even Imaro acknowledges to himself that they're NotSoDifferent.

* NotSoDifferent: After killing N'tu-mwaa, Imaro reflects that they weren't so different - they were both trying to force a people who despised them for an accident of birth to recognise their worth.

* StuffedInTheFridge: [[spoiler: Keteke]] doesn't really serve any purpose other than getting killed to make Imaro feel bad.

* ProudWarriorRace: The Illyassai are so hardcore that it is said that "even their cattle are warriors." Kulu proves as much when she's captured - when Imaro sees her again, he notes that she's got blood on her horns.

* TheDragon: Rumanzila leadership of the ''haramia'' is based partly on his own fighting prowess, partly on the UndyingLoyalty of the mute giant Mbuto.

%% * DisappearedDad: Imaro's father.

* OneWordTitle: Also a {{ProtagonistTitle}}.

* {{Badass}}: '''Imaro'''. By the end of the first story arc he's proven himself a warrior ''par excellence'', going far beyond the normal test of manhood for the Ilyassai. Instead of just slaying a lion, Imaro has done that plus [[spoiler: kill the Turkhana raiders that ambushed him, their sorcerer leader N'tu-mwaa, the treacherous shaman Muburi, and Muburi's master, the shaman-turned-EldritchAbomination Chitendu, plus a number of Chitendu's monstrous mooks. All before reaching the age of majority.]]

* DisappearedDad: Imaro's father.

* HeroicBastard: Imaro.

* SixthSense: ''Kufahuma'', which is an acute awareness of one's surroundings and the ability to sense approaching danger. This is described as a skill anyone can cultivate with time and effort, but Imaro has something else as well: the ability to sense ''[[TheDarkSide mchawi]]''.

* BladeOnAStick: The Ilyassai WeaponOfChoice is the ''arem'', a long throwing spear with a iron blade beginning halfway down its length.

* RetCon: In the revised edition of the first book, "Slaves of the Giant Kings" has been replaced by "The Afua", because of the former story's [[HarsherInHindsight resemblance to the Rwandan genocide]].

Saunders grew up reading the adventures of ConanTheBarbarian and {{Tarzan}}, but was troubled how such stories never had black heroes, even when Africa was involved. So he decided to write his own stories, and created Imaro and Nyumbani, his new hero and setting respectively. Nyumbani is a FantasyCounterpartCulture of AncientAfrica with people and places corresponding to real ones throughout Africa's history. Imaro, an outsider from the moment of his birth, overcomes endless challenges to his existence ranging from petty [[{{Jerkass}} Jerkasses]] who don't like him for [[DisappearedDad not having a father]] to an AncientConspiracy by [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]]. Imaro, aside from simply desiring survival, seeks to find the answers about his father and why he encounters so much misfortune. He makes good friends and hated enemies along his trek across Nyumbani.

* HarsherInHindsight: "Slaves of the Giant Kings", written twenty years before the Rwandan genocide, bears a strong resemblance to the aformentioned event. The two tribes in the story were even based on the Hutus and the Tutsi. Saunders' solution was to [[RetCon replace]] it with a different story in the revised edition.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Nyumbani is full of counterparts to tribes, kingdoms, and empires of AncientAfrica.

* MeaningfulName: "Imaro" is derived from ''imara'', Swahili for "power".

Saunders grew up reading the adventures of ConanTheBarbarian and {{Tarzan}}, but was troubled how such stories never had black heroes, even when Africa was involved. So he decided to write his own stories, and created Imaro and Nyumbani, his new hero and setting respectively. Nyumbani is a FantasyCounterpartCulture of AncientAfrica with people and places corresponding to real ones throughout Africa's history. Imaro, an outsider from the moment of his birth, overcomes endless challenges to his existence ranging from petty [[{{Jerkass}} Jerkasses]] who don't like him for [[HeroicBastard not having a father]] to an AncientConspiracy by [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]]. Imaro, aside from simply desiring survival, seeks to find the answers about his father and why he encounters so much misfortune. He makes good friends and hated enemies along his trek across Nyumbani.

* LovecraftianSuperpower: Users of ''mchawi'' tend to develop abilities like CombatTentacles that fire [[DeathRay death rays]].

Saunders grew up reading the adventures of ConanTheBarbarian and {{Tarzan}}, but was troubled how such stories never had black heroes, even when Africa was involved. So he decided to write his own stories, and created Imaro and Nyumbani, his new hero and setting respectively. Nyumbani is a FantasyCounterpartCulture of AncientAfrica with people and places corresponding to real ones throughout Africa's history. Imaro, an outsider from the moment of his birth, overcomes endless challenges to his existence ranging from petty [[{{Jerkass Jerkasses]] who don't like him for [[HeroicBastard not having a father]] to an AncientConspiracy by [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]]. Imaro, aside from simply desiring survival, seeks to find the answers about his father and why he encounters so much misfortune. He makes good friends and hated enemies along his trek across Nyumbani.