History Literature / TheDemonPrinces

* AlliterativeName: such as Silas Sparkhammer, Caril Carphen, and others.

* CoupDeGrace: [[spoiler: Howard Alan Treesong--to himself.]]
** Also indirectly [[spoiler:Suthiro the poisoner, whom Gersen has infected with ''cluthe'' but who still needs a finishing shot when Gersen nearly gets too close.]]

* FiveBadBand: the Demon Princes during the Mount Pleasant raid.

* SpiderTank: The "dnzad".

** Immir (no colour), who seems to be an {{Expy}} of Treesong himself.

* FacingDeathWithDignity: Alone of all the Demon Princes, Howard Alan Treesong achieves this. He has been trapped and irreversibly paralysed (literally ''petrified'', even) from the waist down, and he puts aside all bombast and fantasising in his last minutes to ask mildly what more Gersen intends to do to him, and then politely requests to be left alone since he must certainly die soon. By contrast, Malagate dies ignominiously in a mud-hole, Kokor Hekkus only gasps in horror before being shot, Viole Falushe practically begs for mercy; only Lens Larque dies fighting and spends several minutes succumbing to a rapidly fatal strain of cluthe.

* BawdySong: In ''The Face'', about the [[BlackComedyRape unfortunate adventures]] of a Darsh man who runs afoul of a "[[TakeThat vile]] old [[Creator/DeanKoontz khoontz]]."

* WifeHusbandry: [[spoiler: Viole Falushe's motivation in ''The Palace of Love'', horribly mixed with TrulySingleParent.]]
** Horribly subverted. You almost feel pity for him, because after all the effort he's put into [[spoiler: raising clones of the girl he wanted to love him, it all falls flat: one is terrified of him, another falls for his nemesis on sight, and a third laughs in his face and regards him as something of a bad joke.]]

* NotSoDifferent: In ''The Face'', [[spoiler:Kirth Gersen decides to carry out Lens Larque's final plan — and for pretty much the exact same reason]].
** Although after [[spoiler: letting Lens Larque die without seeing it done, despite the begging of the dying man.]]

* EvenMooksHaveLovedOnes: In ''The Star King'', Gersen [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique interrogates]] and kills a man who participated in the Mount Pleasant raid. Said man now has a wife and young son, whom Gersen meets.

** Well, you can't really blame Lens Larque for having been warped by upbringing in one of the most repulsive cultures ever imagined.

* {{Badass}}

* BawdySong: Bawdy Song: In ''The Face'', about the [[BlackComedyRape unfortunate adventures]] of a Darsh man who runs afoul of a "[[TakeThat vile]] old [[Creator/DeanKoontz khoontz]]."

-->She rubbed my [[UnusualEuphemism private enterprise]] with [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness scrofuletic]] lotion.''

-->''She seized my [[FutureSlang draps and dangles]], she toyed with my emotion;

-->''"She seized my [[FutureSlang draps and dangles]], she toyed with my emotion;
-->She rubbed my [[UnusualEuphemism private enterprise]] with [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness scrofuletic]] lotion."''

-->''She seized my [[FutureSlang draps and dangles]], she toyed with my emotion;
-->She rubbed my [[UnusualEuphemism private enterprise]] with [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness scrofuletic]] lotion.''

->''She seized my [[FutureSlang draps and dangles]], she toyed with my emotion;
->She rubbed my [[UnusualEuphemism private enterprise]] with [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness scrofuletic]] lotion.''

->''"She seized my [[FutureSlang draps and dangles]], she toyed with my emotion;
She rubbed my [[UnusualEuphemism private enterprise]] with [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness scrofuletic]] lotion."''

* ShoutOut: One of the introductory chapter texts in ''The Killing Machine'' cites "The dean of modern cosmologists, [[Creator/PoulAnderson A. N. der Poulson]]."

* PapaWolf: Navarth is a partial example. Although a neglectful and... erratic... parent to Drusilla / Jheral IV

* PapaWolf: Navarth is a partial example. Although a neglectful and... erratic... parent to Drusilla / Jheral IV, he is still willing to go to great lengths and privations to get her back.
* PlanetOfHats: Sarkovy, a Planet of Poisoners (mentioned in ''Star King'' and featured in ''The Palace of Love'') as well as Methlen (''The Face''), a Planet of Snobs. One of the planets of ''The Book of Dreams'' is clearly influenced by the DeepSouth.
* RavenHairIvorySkin: Both Jerdian Chanseth and Jheral Tinzy qualify as this: the former induces LoveAtFirstSight in Kirth Gersen; the latter was locally known as TheVamp, and had Viole Falushe obsessed with her to the point [[spoiler: of repeatedly cloning her after she died]].
* RayGun: Projacs are this.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Kokor Hekkus has been operating for two hundred and eighty-seven years.
* RescueSex: Jerdian Chanseth.
* ReunionRevenge: Howard Alan Treesong does this in ''The Book of Dreams''.
* RevengeBeforeReason: A recurring theme throughout the series. One of Gersen's girlfriends leaves him when he refuses to end his quest for revenge.
* SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining: Kirth has been trained by his grandfather [[TykeBomb since childhood]] in fighting, assassination, poisons, weapons, disguise... but his socializing abilities are primarily focused on infiltration rather than regular human interaction.
* SpiderTank: The "dnzad".
* SplitPersonality: [[spoiler: Howard Alan Treesong]] Eerily so. They are:
** [[BloodKnight Loris Hohenger the Red]]
** [[WarriorPoet Rhune Fader the Blue]]
** [[BlackKnight Eia Panice the White]]
** [[TricksterArchetype Spangleway the Jape]] (color: yellow)
** [[TheChessmaster Mewness of the Green]]
** [[EvilGenius Jeha Rais the Black]]
** Immir (no colour), who seems to be an {{Expy}} of Treesong himself.
* TheStoic: Jehan Addels. High-ranked members of the Institute are expected to be this.
* SoWhatDoWeDoNow: The final lines of ''The Book of Dreams'':
-->"I have been deserted by my enemies. Treesong is dead. The affair is over. I am done."
* SugarAndIcePersonality: Alusz Iphigenia.
* TakeAThirdOption: Lens Larque, after Gersen has arranged that he can either show up in court (where Gersen plans to kill him) or forfeit his ship. [[spoiler: He blows it up and collects on the insurance... the policy for which is held by a company owned by Gersen.]]
* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: used straight and subverted in one case, where Gersen's opponent was wearing a mail vest and he had to scramble to get his knife back. [[spoiler:The second time, he aims for the bare throat.]]
* TransplantedHumans: Through colonization of the Oikumene, and to the extent that HumanSubspecies exist. Apart from the Star Kings (a race of [[AdaptiveAbility adaptable aliens]] to which the first Demon Prince, Attel Malagate, belongs), no other sapient aliens are seen in the entire series.
** There are hints of extinct sapient races whose extinction predated human arrival on their planet.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: Howard Alan Treesong is remembered fondly by his kindergarten teacher.
* VengeanceFeelsEmpty: The protagonist trains since childhood to avenge his parents' deaths and his DoomedHomeTown, but after finally taking revenge on all of the titular princes, he realizes he no longer has any purpose in life and is devastated.
* WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture: Part of the reason the slave trade thrives.
* WifeHusbandry: [[spoiler: Viole Falushe's motivation in ''The Palace of Love'', horribly mixed with TrulySingleParent.]]
** Horribly subverted. You almost feel pity for him, because after all the effort he's put into [[spoiler: raising clones of the girl he wanted to love him, it all falls flat: one is terrified of him, another falls for his nemesis on sight, and a third laughs in his face and regards him as something of a bad joke.]]
* WhipItGood: Lens Larque (''The Face'') has a whip named Panak. A traditional art form on his planet, Dar Sai, is a dance where nude young men are whipped into performing acrobatic maneuvers by an older male.
** ''Very'' young men - the Darsh culture is essentially one of institutionalised paederasty, bordering on (if not crossing over into) paedophilia.
* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Alusz Iphigenia is regarded as this.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Or blue (red, gold, green, etc.) skin — cosmetic dyeing is very fashionable throughout the Oikumene.
* YouKilledMyFather: Part of Gersen's motivation [[spoiler: as well as Alice Wroke's]].
----

** [[TheObiWan Immir]] (no colour), who seems to be an {{Expy}} of Treesong himself.