History Literature / MalazanBookOfTheFallen

* BadassBystander: Corporal Blues, a low-ranking and minor character, comes out of nowhere in ''Guardians of the Moon'' to best Adjunct Lorn in a swordfight. She's utterly bewildered that some random soldier could outfight her, without magic no less. She flees after suffering serious injury. Blues doesn't go on to do all that much in the rest of the series.

* DepravedBisexual: Turudal Brizad, who even [[spoiler: slept with his own son, Tribal Gnol, who is also example of this trope]].

* HardDrinkingPartyGirl: Sergeant Helian is an oddly competent bottle fairy, managing to lead the most successful part of an invasion force across Lether, performing better drunk than the other sober commanders.

* MonsterIsAMommy: The emlava in ''Reaper's Gale''

* PrecisionFStrike: Udinaas delivers one to Clip in ''Reaper's Gale'':
--> '''Udinaas:''' Go fuck yourself.

** In ''Reaper's Gale'', [[spoiler:Trull beats Silchas Ruin and Clip in order to protect the Finnest. Neither make it past him.]]

* ChekovsGun: The dagger gifted by [[spoiler Bugg/Mael]] to Tavore Paran in ''Dust of Dreams''.

* ChekovsGun: [[spoiler: The dagger gifted by Mael to Lostara Yil in ''Dust of Dreams''.]]

* MindRape: Cotillion's possession of Sorry, Sha'ik's possession of Felisin.

* ShoutOut: The Jaghut are based on the Green Martians from ''JohnCarterOfMars''.

->''“Now these ashes gave grown cold, we open the old book. These oil-stained pages recount the tales of the Fallen, a frayed empire, words without warmth. The hearth has ebbed, its gleam and life's sparks are but memories against dimming eyes - what cast my mind, what hue my thoughts as I open the Book of the Fallen and breathe deep the scent of history? Listen, then, to these words carried on that breath. These tales are the tales of us all, again yet again. We are history relived and that is all, without end that is all.”''

* HerHeartWillGoOn: [[spoiler:Seren Pedac]], after the death of [[spoiler:Trull Sengar]] in ''Literature/ReapersGale''.

* TheDogBitesBack: The war between the Imass and the Jaghut is a species-wide example. The Imass rebelled against the Jaghut Tyrant warlocks, and drove the Jaghut to near extinction. To ensure they were thorough, almost the entire species enacted a ritual to turn them into undead, and the T'lan Imass have spent the last 320,000 years hunting the Jaghut.

%%* Jerkass: The Feather Witch, Clips.

%%* ButtMonkey: Toc the Younger and Tool.

* TheChewToy: Toc the Younger. He loses an eye, is sucked into a magic black hole, [[spoiler:is thrown out a half year later, killed, resurrected in a new body, [[NoodleIncident loses the same eye at least twice more]], is betrayed, dies again, is made to serve Hood, god of Death, and forced to make his best friend his enemy.]]

** Sergeant Hellian, the constantly drunk watchwoman-turned-soldier, is quite formidable a DrunkenMaster without any help, but at the climax of ''Literature/TheBonehunters'', she receives the Lady's Pull when she drunkenly decides to swim through the harbor of Malaz City to hunt for more liquor. Whether this is a permanent investment or not is left unclear.

* {{Animorphism}}: Soletaken and D'ivers are people with shapeshifting abilities. Soletaken can shift into another form -- typically a dragon, but some shift into bears or other shapes -- while D'ivers split into multiple copies of the same animal, such as a swarm of rats. Each shapeshifter have only one alternative form, and in the case of the D'ivers, the number of copies depends on their power.

* AbsurdlySharpBlade: It seems that all Hust Swords were like this, but most, inf not all of them were lost. [[spoiler:Yedan Derryg wielding one of them in TCG can decapitate A DRAGON in two hits, and just the fact of owning the sword changes him into an One-Man Army.]]

* BadassAbnormal: Ascendants in a nutshell, who are nearly immortal, get more power than before ascending, and can even become gods, if will get worshipers.

** The Tiste Liosan, near-mythical cousins of the Tiste Andii whose aspect is Light. As a rule, they keep to themselves, but every so often someone will stumble into their realms.

* LightIsNotGood: The Tiste Liosan, a species of Tiste (elves) whose aspect is Light, but who over the many millennia since the split of the Tiste have become more and more extreme and isolationistic.

* TheMasochismTango: Iskaral Pust and Mogora, Karsa Orlong and Samar Dev

* MayflyDecemberRomance: [[spoiler:Whiskeyjack (human middle age) and Korlat (millennia) in ''Memories of Ice'', Spinnock Durav (also millennia) and Salind (teenager) in ''Toll the Hounds'']]
* MessianicArchetype: [[spoiler:Anomander Rake]] in ''Toll the Hounds''. Don't forget [[spoiler:Coltaine]] in ''Deadhouse Gates'', the guy ends up being [[spoiler:''crucified on a hill top'' then is reborn, not to mention the devotion and worship that surrounds him both before and after his 'death']] the author actually seems to go out of his way to add parallels between him and good old JC

** Icarium Lifestealer is a seemingly immortal half-breed whose memory is reset each time he suffers a bad enough injury. Although seemingly harmless, as he is an extremely meek person, riling him up will cause him to enter a nearly unstoppable rage which will cause him to destroy everything around him, and makes him even nearly impervious to attack.

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Tehol Beddict and Bugg; possibly also Iskaral Pust, although he might just be genuinely mad. Then there's Kruppe, who uses all the standard ObfuscatingStupidity techniques, but never seems to actually ''fool'' anyone; the other characters all know he's smart, and his acting like an idiot all the time usually ticks them off . . . which is probably the real reason why he does it.

* SealedEvilInACan: Or buried in a barrow. Or chained to a monolith. Or captured by a House of the Azath. Grave robbing and amateur archeology are dangerous indeed in this world. Played straight, but also subverted at least once, in that the big, unstoppable evil gods rose... to be dispatched within ''minutes'' by the new [[{{Badass}} Badasses]] who have arisen to replace them

The Malazan Empire is yet in its infancy, and it has already seen its first betrayal. Surly, Master of [[SecretPolice the Claw]], has assassinated Emperor Kellanved and his closest companion, Dancer. She ascends the throne as Laseen, continuing the Empire’s policy of ruthless expansionism, though she is continually mistrusted.

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: Pretty much the most important aspect of setting - to keep it short, if you do something extraordinare, you can become an Ascendant, which grants some nice magic powers and immortal life... if no one will kill you, as Ascendants often fight beetwen themselves. Ascendants who have worshipers can then become gods, but some characters in books don't want that to happen, and are actively discouraging others from worshiping them - for example, [[spoiler: Anomander Rake]].

* ArmyOfTheDead: When [[spoiler:the Bridgeburners]] ascend, they rise as undead but are unfettered to Hood's realm--the Warren of Death and the local afterlife. In ''Literature/TollTheHounds'', [[spoiler:everyone who ever died]] is marched out of the Warren of Death, although most of them are too long dead to feel anything but apathy.

* BadassAbnormal: Ascendants in a nutshell, who are nearly immortal, get more power than before ascending, and can even become gos, if will get worshipers.
%%* BadassArmy: When the story begins, the Bridgeburners are the most famous army of Malazan Empire, but because of their infamous difficulties with authority and Laseen being afraid of them, they get sent of increasingly dangerous missions, just to get them killed. [[spoiler: in MemoriesOfIce only few soldiers are alive, and even less at the end of series.]] We see birth o another famous army in ''Literature/HouseOfChains'' -- The Bonehunters, who [[spoiler:are real heroes of the entire story, and under leadership of Adjunct Tavore survive Raraku, Y'Ghatan, the betrayal at Malaz Island, the invasion of Lether, the ambush of the K'Chain Nah'ruk, crossing the Glass Desert and finally, protect Kaminsod from Forkrul Assail army. Again, only the most badass soldiers get to see the aftermath of campaign.]]

* BadassBoast: Kallor has one of the best boasts in the history of boasts:'I walked this land when the T'lan Imass were but children. I have commanded armies a hundred thousand strong. I have spread the fire of my wrath across entire continents, and sat alone upon tall thrones. Do you grasp the meaning of this?'

%%* BlessedWithSuck: Ganoes Paran, twice over.

** Sergeant Hellian, the constantly drunk watchwoman-turned-soldier, is quite formidable a DrunkenMaster without any help, but at the climax of ''Literature/TheBonehunters'', she receives the Lady's Pull when she drunkenly decides to swim through the harbor of Malaz City to hunt for more liquor. Whether she is a permanent investment or not is left unclear.

* ChekhovsGunman: This series is in love with this trope. [[spoiler:First mentions about Icarium and Gothos are in the first novel, but they appear in story in the second.]] The most significant is [[spoiler:the crucified dragon]] found in ''House Of Chains.''

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Cotillon appears to be practically a monster while possessing Sorry, but becomes much more sympathetic after Gardens of the Moon.

* Gaia'sVengeance: Subverted - it's [[spoiler:Poliel, goddess of Disease, who thinks, that Burn would want that done in her name]].

* ''Fall of Light'' (2014)