History Literature / MalazanBookOfTheFallen

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Karsa, whose tribal culture considers rape and pillage as a RiteOfPassage.
* DemonicPossession: Okay, divine possession. [[spoiler:Felisin's possession by the Whirlwind Goddess leads to her death at the hands of her own sister, who never even realised who she was fighting.]]

* DeityOfHumanOrigin: Ascendants can become gods if they have worshipers. [[spoiler: Itkovian starts as mere human, but after his HeroicSacrifice becomes A Redeemer, god of, well, redemption and forgiveness. Even Shadowthrone and Cotillon were humans once.]]

%%* DanceBattler: Some Shadow Dancers are this. You don't want to mess with them.

* DecapitationStrike: This was a favorite tactic of the Malazan Emperor. When conquering small kingdoms he would send in his Talons, a cadre of magic wielding assassins into the enemy capital. In a single night they would kill the ruling family, any prominent generals and any magic users who could be a threat to the Malazan army. The Malazans would then use the ensuing chaos to quickly take the city without a major battle or lengthy siege.

* ChivalrousPervert: Tehol Beddict.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Seems to be the natural behavior of Eleint (dragons), for both soletaken and true dragons. [[spoiler:Several die as a direct result of said betrayals.]]

* ConstructedWorld: One of the most expansive examples, as it was initially constructed during role-playing sessions and has hundreds of thousands of years of history. Since both the creators are anthropologists and archaeologists, there is [[ShownTheirWork quite a lot of verisimilitude]] to the setting.

* ButtMonkey: 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, the Lord of Death, and forced to make his best friend his enemy.]]
* CavalryOfTheDead: 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.

* BiggerIsBetterInBed: Some characters seem to take this opinion, while others disagree. Ublala Pung gets a lot of female attention due to his ample endowment, which he isn't always happy about. On the other hand, [[spoiler:Felisin Paran finds Beneth's immense size physically painful.]]

* BiggerBad: The Crippled God is the power behind [[spoiler:the Pannion Seer as well as Emperor Rhulad Sengar]], who are both the {{Big Bad}}s of their respective books, and is trying to hijack the Apocalypse Rebellion in Seven Cities.

* BigBad: The Crippled God is made out to be the series' BigBad for most of its duration, although he is not introduced as such until ''Literature/MemoriesOfIce''. In the final novel his plans are hijacked by the the BigBadDuumvirate of [[spoiler:Forkrul Assail, Tiste Liosan and K'Chain Nah'ruk]], and it turns out that [[spoiler:the endgoal of the series is to see the Crippled God set free and returned to his homerealm]].

* BigBad: [[spoiler:The Crippled God,]] although he is not introduced as such until ''Literature/MemoriesOfIce''. In the final novel [[spoiler: his plans are hijacked by the Forkrul Assail, and he becomes the BigGood.]] In the end, [[spoiler:there is no BigBad, but rather BigBadEnsemble: an alliance of K'Chain Nah'Ruk, Tiste Liosan and Forkrul Assail, with support of Errant, Kilimandros, Sechul Lath, and probably more minor gods feeding themselves on Kaminsod's power.]]
%%* BigGood: Several of them. [[spoiler:K'rul, Mael, Anomander Rake]], maybe [[spoiler:Ganoes Paran. And none other than the Crippled God becomes this in the final book]].
* BiggerBad: [[spoiler: The Crippled God is the power behind Pannion Seer and Emperor Rhulad, and is trying to hijack Goddess of Tornado in Seven Cities.]]
** [[spoiler:The Crippled God himself is eventually subjected to this, as described above in the spoiler under BigBad.]]

* BornLucky:
** Oponn, the Twin Jesters of Chance, are two gods whose portfolio has to do with luck. The female Oponn, the Lady, will sometimes give mortals what is referred to as the Lady's Pull, making them lucky.
** 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 (which is known to be full of sharks) to hunt for more liquor. Whether this is a permanent investment or not is left unclear.
** Crokus Younghand unwittingly receives the Lady's Pull in ''Literature/GardensOfTheMoon'', which saves his life multiple times. The Twins mostly use him as an unwitting SpannerInTheWorks for the local plans. The luck seemingly wears off at the end of the book, when the Twins decide his role is played out.

* BloodMagic: The eldest form of magic in the setting, it goes back way before the Warren system was established -- which, ironically, was done using blood magic.

* BadassGrandpa: Kallor. Several hundred thousand years old, looks like he's in his eighties, fights as well or better than many of the established Badasses.
* BadassNormal: Notably Kalam. Also, Crokus, Rallick Nom, and probably any (non-Bridgeburner) Malazan soldier.

* BadassBystander: Corporal Blues, a low-ranking and minor character, comes out of nowhere in ''Gardens 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.

* AscendedFanfic: The setting began as a homebrewed ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' campaign, then switched over to ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' when the system limitations became too strict. According to WordOfGod, about a fifth of ''Fallen'' was gamed beforehand.
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: Pretty much the most important aspect of setting -- to keep it short, if you do something extraordinary, 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]]. Sometimes, one can Ascend involuntarily, as when Ganoes Paran becomes Master of the Deck of Dragons or the Crippled God makes Karsa Orlong Knight of Chains. One can also ascend temporarily, as when Thordy becomes Mason of Death for a day or two in ''Toll the Hounds''.

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: Pretty much the most important aspect of setting - to keep it short, if you do something extraordinary, 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]]. Sometimes, one can Ascend involuntarily, as when Ganoes Paran becomes Master of the Deck of Dragons or the Crippled God makes Karsa Orlong Knight of Chains. One can also ascend temporarily, as when Thordy becomes Mason of Death for a day or two in ''Toll the Hounds''.

* ArtifactOfDoom: Rhulad Sengar's sword, which is a gift of the Crippled God. The person bound to the sword will be tortured and forcibly resurrected each time they die.

* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Urb professes his love for [[spoiler:Sergeant Hellian]] right before the ultimate end battle in ''Literature/TheCrippledGod''.

** It seems that all Hust Swords were like this, but most, if 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.]]

* AllAmazonsWantHercules: Played for laughs with Ublala Pung. All the amazonian women want him for his... physical assets, but poor Ublala just can't deal with being used and not getting any emotional support out of it.

* AbusivePrecursors: Pretty much everyone at some point or another. The Forkrul Assail get a special mention for their [[spoiler:deliberate slaying of their god.]]
* ActionGirl: Most of the women, in fact, as the primary focus is on armies and GenderIsNoObject.

* AcheyScars: Borne by Toc the Younger, whose eye keeps scratching.

* BornLucky: Oponn, the Twin Jesters of Chance, are two gods whose portfolio has to do with luck. The female Oponn, the Lady, will sometimes give mortals what is referred to as the Lady's Pull, making them lucky. These include:
** Corabb Bhilan Thenu'alas. He has nearly every form of cancer on the planet, yet will never sicken. Multiple Arrows fired into his back all strike the same spear shaft hanging on his back, and such. On the other hand, everything he tries results in a lucky fumble--he will drop his weapon if he swings it, but it will probably trip up his foe. This is exploited at one point when his squad needs to take down an officer but can't get close enough for a clear shot: Corabb is made to fire the crossbow, which predictably causes the shot to go wildly off-mark, but the ricochet causes it to impale the target's neck perfectly.