History Literature / TheDemonPrinces

* StormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Unusually applies to the protagonist, who over the course of the adventure misses opportunities to kill his targets at a distance through inexpert marksmanship (Attel Malagate once, Howard Treesong ''twice'').

* FiveManBand: The Demon Princes during the Mount Pleasant raid.
** TheBigBad: Howard Alan Treesong.
** TheDragon: Attel Malagate.
** TheEvilGenius: Kokor Hekkus.
** TheBrute: Lens Larque.
** TheDarkChick: Viole Falushe.

* ReunionRevenge: Howard Alan Treesong does this in ''The Book of Dreams'', with his former classmates.

* 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.]]
* TalkingToThemself: [[spoiler: Howard Alan Treesong]] just before his death.

* 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.

(Treesong then somehow manages to overturn his immovable chair, despite his useless legs, and kill himself, seemingly with the assistance of his imaginary "paladins".)

* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Alusz Iphigenia is regarded as this.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Or blue (red, gold, green, etc.) skin — cosmetic dyeing is very fashionable throughout the Oikumene.

* BizarreSexualDimorphism: The HumanSubspecies known as the Darsh have women who are larger and hairier than the men (who are usually hairless after puberty) to the point of often growing {{Badass Mustache}}s.

* CounterfeitCash: Used in an ''epic'' scam in ''The Killing Machine'' [[spoiler: The in-universe equivalent of 10,000,000,000,000 dollars]].

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

* InformedAbility: Lens Larque is ''supposedly'' quite an artist with his whip, Panak.

* 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.

* BadassGrandpa: Kirth Gersen's grandfather, who trains him and is hinted to have had criminal ties in the past.

** Specifically, it's being kept in medieval stasis by Kokor Hekkus for his personal playground.

* ImprobableAimingSkills: Averted. Marksmanship is Gersen's weakest point compared to his ninja-like hand-to-hand skills; in ''The Book of Dreams'' he has two opportunities to shoot at Howard Alan Treesong, and fails to deal a killing blow both times.

* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: Gersen, on several occasions. Somewhat mitigated by the fact that many of the people he does it to were trying to kill him at the time.

* LoveMakesYouEvil: Demon Princes Howard Alan Treesong (''The Book of Dreams'') and Viole Falushe (''The Palace of Love''). ''Especially'' Viole Falushe; losing the ''Book of Dreams'' that symbolically contained Treesong's dreams of a greater future was a just as big, if not bigger catalyst for his evil.

* WifeHusbandry: [[spoiler: Viole Falushe's motivation in ''The Palace of Love'', horribly mixed with TrulySingleParent.]] Subverted, though: 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.]]

** ''The Killing Machine'' - Overnighting with the Tadusko-Oi, Gersen realizes why Alusz Iphegenia is so despondent: [[spoiler: according to their customs, ''all'' of the men that so wish are entitled to sleep with the only available woman, meaning her.]] He promptly challenges their leader to combat, earning himself a severe beating but managing to win and so [[spoiler: officially, reserve her use to himself; in fact, keep her safe in his tent.]]

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

* ImmortalityImmorality: A "hormagaunt" (not [[TabletopGames/Warhammer40000 that kind]]) is a being who has achieved immortality from a substance extracted from children. [[spoiler:Like Kokor Hekkus.]]

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: A subtle example with Howard Alan Treesong and his [[SplitPersonality Split Personalities]]: [[spoiler:one of his captors says that it should have been impossible for him to commit suicide that way without help.]]

* LoveMakesYouEvil: Demon Princes Howard Alan Treesong (''The Book of Dreams'') and Viole Falushe (''The Palace of Love''). ''Especially'' Viole Falushe; losing the ''Book of Dreams'' that literally contained Treesong's dreams of a greater future was a just as big, if not bigger catalyst for his evil.

* LoveMakesYouEvil: Demon Princes Howard Alan Treesong (''The Book of Dreams'') and Viole Falushe (''The Palace of Love''). ''Especially'' Viole Falushe.

* ReunionRevenge: Howard Alan Treesong does this in ''The Book of Dreams''.

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

* SpiderTank: built to resemble a ''dnazd'', a monster native to Thamber (''The Killing Machine'').