History Literature / NightLords

* BadassBaritone / EvilSoundsDeep: Demonstrated in Throne Of Lies, although Xarl, the most martial, is noticeably deeper than Talos, Cyrion and Mercutian.

** The [[CoolPet Hamadrya]] does this on occasion, even ''its'' spit is acidic.

* TookALevelInJerkass: The Tenth Company in general and Talos in particular in ''Void Stalker''. Justified, as their evil was always there, ''Void Stalker'' just didn't have a foe more evil than them like the TabletopGame/BlackLegion and the Red Corsairs to contrast against, and one of the themes of ''Void Stalker'' is Talos coming to accept that the Night Lords really are just a bunch of murderers, rapists, and sadists who just kill for their own amusement. [[spoiler: In fact, the Night Lords' primary antagonists in the books, the Eldar, are often considered one of the few groups to have moral superiority over the Imperium.]]

* Fictionary: Nostraman is frequently used among the Night Lords and their slaves, though the text usually directly translates it in English for the reader's comfort. It is described as an extremely poetic and flowery tongue that has little to no similarity to Gothic, making it difficult to learn for Octavia. How this dialect sounds is only shown when there is a stranger around, in which case the reader can read the likes of:

* CityNoir: Nostramo Quintus--the city that had spawned of the Night Haunter, Talos and Xarl--[[UpTo11 took this trope practically to 11]] before Curze took control and after he left to lead his legion.

** Taken UpToEleven with the flaying pits, where they are flayed, thrown into a huge hole in the ground, and left to die. This becomes the fate of [[spoiler:many of the ''ten million'' people purged from on Tsagualsa]] in the first half of ''Void Stalker''.

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: You know the Blood Angels? The guys we've been saying are one of the nicest Chapters of Space Marines? [[spoiler: They kill the Void-born and her mother during the boarding of the ''Covenant of Blood'']]. It doesn't even appear to have been by a Death Company brother, which might be excusable.
** Everyone on the ship is a heretic serving traitors that actively contributed to the Emperor being gutted by Horus. The Blood Angels would consider themselves completely justified killing anyone aboard.

-> ''"Death is nothing compared to vindication."''

* ManipulativeBastard: All part of TheReveal.

* PowerOfTrust
* RequisiteRoyalRegalia: The Corona Nox.
* TheReveal: Just between you and us, it wouldn't be much of a reveal if we spelled it out here.
* RevengeByProxy

%% * NotSoDifferent

-->''Viris colratha dath sethicara tesh dasovallian. Solruthis veh za jass.'' (Sons of our father, stand in midnight clad. We bring the night.)

* IGaveMyWord: Why Night Lords let their primarch be assassinated.
** Subverted by [[spoiler:Talos]], hence his [[MeaningfulName nickname]].
* IOweYouMyLife: Variel to Talos

* OneHundredAndEight: When the crew of ''The Covenant of Blood'' finds Eurydice on a shard of Nostramo, she is scooped up along with one hundred and seven servitors.

* WindowsOfTheSoul: Throughout the franchise, but most notably in ''Savage Weapons'', the most obvious indicator of Konrad Curze's growing madness and eventual SuperpowerMeltdown is the continual "fever bright" state of his eyes.

* CompletelyMissingThePoint: When Octavia goes to talk to Talos while he's [[spoiler: torturing the captive astropaths]], the smell coming causes her to begin throwing up uncontrollably upon entering the room, which Talos mistakenly assumes is [[spoiler: morning sickness.]]

** A number of Night Lords want to do this to resolve who will lead the restructured claws at the start of ''Void Stalker''. The commander [[spoiler:Talos]] allows honor duels, but says that anybody who wants a DuelToTheDeath has to fight Xarl. [[{{Badass}} This makes everyone back down in a hurry.]]

* MeatMoss: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Screaming Gallery]] in the mausoleum on Tsagualsa. Made of the fused flesh of hundreds of shrieking faces which were kept alive with fleshcraft for the sole purpose of being both terrifying and {{Badass}}. Konrad Curze was not particularly fond of cheery design, and enjoyed the screams.

* BookEnds: In Void Stalker, the prologue is one of Talos's visions [[InMediaRes showing the climax]], though subtly different in several respects.

* TheDeadHaveNames: Invoked by ''The Exalted'' of a all people.

** Zso Sahaal can be seen in a number of Talos' flashbacks, and Acerbus is mentioned at least once

* JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind

* MauveShirt: Maruc

* MeatMoss: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Screaming Gallery]] in the mausoleum on Tsagualsa. Made of the fused flesh of hundreds of shrieking faces which were kept alive with fleshcraft for the sole purpose of being both terrifying and {{Badass}}. Konrad Curze was not particularly fond of cheery design.

* NayTheist: The Night Lords' theology in a nutshell, applying in equal measure to both the [[CrystalDragonJesus Emperor]] and the [[GodOfEvil Chaos Gods]]. The only reason some Night Lords even dignify the Chaos Gods is to gain a temporary advantage by channelling their power, and then abandoning them when their blessings are no longer needed.

** Zso Sahaal gave the Chaos Gods some worship, though he venerated Kurze above any of them. He ''did'' gain some power and was even protected from psychic spying by some attendant daemons (that he may not have been aware of). The price was that he was well aware that it was eroding his insanity, and ran the risk of becoming a maddened Chaos worshiper. At the start of the third act, he realized that his dedication to his father's vision was more important to him than the promises of the Chaos Gods, and he swears them off.

* NotMeThisTime: Uzas is held guilty for killing [[spoiler:Arkiah, the father of the Voidborn]], despite his constant lucid insistance that he did not.[[spoiler: Turns out in ''Void Stalker'' he's been telling the truth, it was ''Cyrion''.]]

* NotSoSafeHarbor: Hell's Iris. The name alone should be enough explanation.

* OneHeadTaller: Septimus to Octavia

** When confronting the father of the Voidborn about his desire for revenge, Talos tells the man he ate the heart of the Blood Angel who killed his daughter, and that that should satisfy vengeance.
* PraetorianGuard: The Atramentar, one of the results of the Terminator First Company fracturing into bodyguards around other company captains after [[TheNeidermeyer Zso Sahaal]] [[UnderNewManagement inherited Sevatar's position]].

* ProphecyTwist: Done at the worst possible moment in Void Stalker. In Soul Hunter, Talos has a vision of [[spoiler: Uzas and Cyrion trying to kill each other]]. He initially thinks that he saw it happening on Crythe, and assumes he was just wrong when it doesn't come to pass. During the final endgame, Talos realises the vision showed [[spoiler: Tsagualsa instead of Crythe and rushes to stop it from happening]]. And even then, he got it wrong.

* TheReveal: In ''Void Stalker'': [[spoiler: The Eldar of Craftworld Ulthwe]] aren't trying to kill Talos because of [[spoiler: the psychic scream that he unleashed]], they're trying to kill him [[spoiler: because the Seer Council (heavily implied to be at the direction of Eldrad Ulthran)]] believe that he is the destined "Prophet of the Eighth Legion" who will unite the Night Lords in the 13th Black Crusade to destroy [[spoiler: Craftworld Ulthwe]]. Talos himself rejects the idea, as he couldn't unite a single claw, but Variel had already foreseen this and was instead after his [[spoiler: progenoids]].
* RoomFullOfCrazy: Any place Talos sleeps or has his prophethetic seizures in turns into this.

* SalvagePirates: The 10th company/Warband of the Exalted. Depicted in ''Shadow Knight'' and mentioned elsewhere upon occasion. Having (for the most part) rejected the gifts of Chaos, they are denied the OffscreenVillainDarkMatter given to most of the traitor legions.

* TheSquad: First Claw is a very dysfunctional example.

-->'''Talos:''' {{All of them}}, Variel. All of them.

* ViceCity: The city of Nostramo Quintus.

** And they find nothing wrong in hunting and butchering their nonessential slaves for sport every so often. This gets Uzas in trouble, as he ends up rampaging through 30 of the essential crew and 2 of his brothers while hallucinating that he's hunting down on the warband's current target.

** And they find nothing wrong in hunting and butchering their nonessential slaves for sport every so often.