History Literature / TheSeventhTower

* TheHecateSisters: Icecarl society has a society of [[AmazonBrigade warrior women]] called [[ActionGirl Shield Maidens]], headed by [[ActionMom Shield Mothers]] to whom they look for protection. For spiritual and political guidance they look to the society of [[BadassGrandma Crones]].

-->'''Quorr Quorr Quorr Quorr Quorr Jak-Quorr Jareskk Yazeqicka ("Yazeq")''': "Come, you must be tired. You may rest in our guest roro, or as you may wish to call it: roroqquolleckechahen."
-->'''Ebbitt''': "I'll say 'roro'..."

** Tal starts the series as a novice at using most Sunstone magic, not knowing any combat magics. By the end, he is one of if not the most proficient users of Sunstone magic. From a physical abilities stand point, he would go to bed for a week from minor burns at the story's start; by the end, getting his shoulder dislocated, burned, and other burns and bruises, combined with hours of constant Sunstone use, does not distract him from his fight. He even comes to the point of being able to [[ICannotSelfTerminate kill a suffering royal guard]] [[ShootTheDog in cold blood]] with a point blank shot (something even Crow admitted not having the balls to do) and singlehandedly escaping the nightmare chamber by defeating the warden in a mind battle before killing his shadow minions.

* CrystalPrison: In the fourth book, Tal and Crow find the Red Keystone; imprisoned inside of it is its guardian, Lokar.

* BloodBath: Jarek's origin story.

* AmazonBrigade: The Shield Maidens of the Icecarls. Although male Icecarl warriors do exist (referred to as Sword Thanes), they are quite rare and generally operate on their own, rather than in groups like the Shield Maidens. (Well, if you want to get technical [[ProudWarriorRace all]] non-Crone Icecarls are warriors. Shield Maidens and Sword Thanes are ''professional'' warriors).

* DumbMuscle: Adras is dim-witted, much to Tal's frustration, and the larger of the two siblings.

* {{Deuteragonist}}: Milla. We meet her half a book later than Tal, but from ''Castle'' onward she becomes the secondary POV character and gets about equal pagetime.

** Jarek, a berserker Sword Thane, who was once drenched in Norworm blood, giving him blue and NighInvulnerable skin. {{Subverted}}: after his companion Kirr dies, he is unable to find the will to live when fighting a giant robotic bug. The fury never came.

** Jarek, a berserker Sword Thane, who was once drenched in Norworm blood, giving him blue and NighInvulnerable skin. {{Subverted}}: after his woman dies, he is unable to find the will to live when fighting a giant robotic bug. The fury never came.

* VillainBall: If Sharrakor had just let Tal have a Sunstone he would have won because Tal would never have had to do anything that he did to save his family and in turn the world. It's never indicated ''why'' keeping Tal's mother sick (the wholes reason Tal begins his quest) is so important to Shushin (and therefore Sharrakor) in any way beyond being evil.

** This nicely sums up Milla and Tals relationship. They will work together and even risk their lives to save each other out of a strange mix of pride, necessity and basic moral decency, but Milla actively wants to kill Tal for a good part of the series, and even Tal wants to be rid of Milla as fast as he possibly can. This calms down towards something resembling a Hero-Lancer relationship towards the end, as the two finally mature and come to an understanding with one another. Even by the end, though, there is still a certain frostiness between the two protagonists.

** Tal; he's just a kid with no real knowledge of what's going on a vague quest to save his family. He is blocked every turn by powerful adults and their cronies, falls thousands of feet onto a tundra he has no idea how to survive in, is forced to make a pact with a girl who really wants to kill him, is captured multiple times, beaten within an inch of his life several times, thinks he killed what few allies he has, has his shoulder dislocated a few times, finds out there is no BigGood, is poisoned a few times, and in general never has a real chance to rest or eat for about a few months. He never gives up; he just keeps on moving and fighting.

* VillainBall: If Sharrakor had just let Tal have a Sunstone he would have won because Tal would never have had to do anything that he did to save his family and in turn the world.

* CharacterDevelopment: Plenty for all the main characters. Tal learns humility and discipline; Milla learns how to think through her problems and make plans rather than charge around blindly; and Crow learns to channel his anger towards helping people and not just hate all Chosen indescriminately.

* {{Deuteragonist}}: Milla. We meet her half a book later than Tal, but from ''Castle'' onward she gets about equal pagetime and basically shares the role of protagonist.

* TheNotLoveInterest: Tal and Milla never develop attraction or romantic feelings for each other, even though their relationship is the emotional core of the series and they're both reasonably attractive teenagers of about the same age. Apart from once acknowledging that he thinks Milla is pretty (and admitting that he hadn't really given it much thought before) the idea is never raised by Tal, and never at all by Milla.

* FatBastard: Sushin

* MindRape: The purpose of the Hall of Nightmares. [[spoiler: A FateWorseThanDeath for Chosen and Underfolk. Doesn't really work on Icecarls or Tal when he is in it]]

* ThePowerOfTheSun: Sunstones. Spiritshadows also require light to become powerful; light from any source will do, but sunlight works best [[spoiler: which is why Sharrakor wants to bring down the Veil]].
* ProphetEyes: Mother Crones have solid white eyes. Other Crones also have weird things going on with their eyes as well; apprentice Crones have abnormally bright blue eyes, while regular Crones have faintly glowing silver ones.

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: The Spiritshadows.

** [[spoiler: Fashnek as well]], who is revealed just before he dies to be a broken and pathetic man who made a DealWithTheDevil with [[spoiler: Sharrakor]] out of desperation and [[spoiler: perhaps approptiately]], whose life has been a living nightmare ever since.
* AllPowerfulBystander: The Old Khamsoul is hinted to be the oldest and most powerful being in Aenir, but seems pretty comitted to noninterference beyond answering questions.

* BadassNormal: Most non-Crone Icecarls (not Milla, ultimately, as she learns to use sunstone magic starting in the second book), Crow.

* ChekhovsGun: The corpse Tal and Milla find in the heating tunnels turns out to be [[spoiler:the previous emperor]]. The sunstone he was carrying is [[spoiler:the Violet Keystone]].
* AChildShallLeadThem: [[spoiler:Tal takes over as Emperor of the Chosen at the end of the series. Milla is made War-Chief of the Icecarls in the fourth book and retains her position to the end.]]

** Lokar [[GoMadFromTheIsolation while imprisoned in the Red Keystone]] also has her moments; being trapped perpetually in a tiny crystal with no one to talk to but a spiritshadow can apparently make you a little... odd.

** Tal; he's just a kid with no real knowledge of what's going on a vague quest to save his family. He is blocked every turn by powerful adults and their cronies, falls thousands of feet onto a tundra he has no idea how to survive in, is forced to make a pact with a girl who really wants to kill him, is captured multiple times, beaten within an inch of his life several times, thinks he killed what few allies he has, has his shoulder dislocated a few times, finds out there is no BigGood, poisoned a few times, and in general never has a real chance to rest or eat for about a few months. He never gives up; he just keeps on moving and fighting.

* EmpoweredBadassNormal: Milla starts out a BadassNormal, but starting in the second book she gets a sunstone of her own and starts to learn magic.

* FunctionalMagic: The Chosen use sunstones for Device Magic; the Icecarl Crones seem to use a kind of Force Magic, and Aenir is just chock full of Wild Magic.

* GreenLanternRing: A sunstone can produce a tremendous array of supernatural effects, if you know how to use it properly.

** This nicely sums up Milla and Tals relationship in a oner. They will work together and even risk their lives to save each other out of a strange mix of pride, necessity and basic moral decency, but Milla actively wants to kill Tal for a good part of the series, and even Tal wants to be rid of Milla as fast as he possibly can. This calms down towards something resembling a Hero-Lancer relationship towards the end, as the two finally mature and come to an understanding with one another. Even by the end, there is still a certain frostiness between the two protagonists though.

* HumanoidAbomination: Subverted in ''Aenir''. Hazror is introduced as a horrifically powerful and evil Aeniran monstrosity who looks like a cadaverous human- but he's actually just an ancient man who essentially wears a suit made of sunstones and is very, very good at magic (though he's heavily implied to be a SerialKiller). Fortunately for Tal, once he realizes Hazror's human he ''also'' realizes that he's a SquishyWizard.

* LeeroyJenkins: Milla's reluctance to retreat has put herself and Tal in varying degrees of pain, from getting them hauled off by violet guardsmen to almost getting them smote off a hillside. She's considerably more tactically refined by book five. Tal, for his part, also has a habit of attempting insanely dangerous things without prompting, though he tends to only do so if there's great need (like his attempt to [[spoiler: save his little brother.]]

* TheMagocracy: The Chosen rank themselves largely based on who is best with sunstones and who has the most powerful Spiritshadows. Anyone who has neither is a second-class citizen at best. The Icecarls don't really have a formalized government, but they generally look to the Crones, an order of female magic-users and sages, for leadership.

* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: Sushin appears to be the BigBad till Sharrakor is revealed to not bound to the empress and plans to destroy the Veil and begin a new war between Aenir and the Dark World.]]

* MundaneUtility: High-ranking Chosen tend to wear ''lots'' of sunstones as jewelry. Not only is this visually impressive, it also allows them to have access to lots of magic at a time.

** Icecarls in general kill first ask questions later. Crones are the exception to that rule.

* NoEyeInMagic: You have to be able to see a sunstone in order to make it do anything more complex than glow; as a result, a blind person can't learn to do light magic and someone who is blinded loses the ability if they had it. This is a major phobia for the Chosen as a result, and Tal ''freaks'' when Sushin blinds him temporarily.

* OurMonstersAreWeird: There's some damn bizarre things in Aenir. Two prominent characters are Storm Shepherds, powerful giants of cloud and lightning who--as Tal realises--make very powerful Spiritshadows. And they're among the more normal creatures. The ''really'' weird ones include Hugthings, rectangles of turf that leap up and squeeze you to death, and Cavernmouths, which are caves that eat you.
* PowerIncontinence: In ''The Violet Keystone'', Milla uses her sunstone to create a giant wave of violet energy, on the logic that it's the most powerful form of destructive magic she could perform. She's right, but unfortunately she can't control what she's unleashed [[FridgeBrilliance which is probably why no more experienced Light mage ever tries that move]], though [[spoiler: her sunstone being half of the Violet Keystone can't have helped. Ordinary Light Magic disappears when the caster isn't concentrating on it, but the Violet Keystone is pretty much in its own tier of magical power...]]

** Tal starts the series as a novice at using most sunstone magic, not knowing any combat magics. By the end, he is one of if not the most proficient users of sunstone magic. From a physical abilities stand point, he would go to bed for a week from minor burns at the story's start; by the end, getting his shoulder dislocated, burned, and other burns and bruises, combined with hours of constant sunstone use, does not distract him from his fight. He even comes to the point of being able to [[ICannotSelfTerminate kill a suffering royal guard]] [[ShootTheDog in cold blood]] with a point blank shot (something even Crow admitted not having the balls to do) and singlehandedly escaping the nightmare chamber by defeating the warden in a mind battle before killing his shadow minions.

* VillainBall: If Sharrakor had just let Tal have a sunstone he would have won because Tal would never have had to do anything that he did to save his family and in turn the world.

** Shadowguards, the lesser spiritshadows bound to children, also have this capacity, but no matter what shape they take they're still very weak.

* WarriorPoet: Milla shows shades of this in her (comparatively rare) quieter and more reflective moments, which usually amazes Tal. Since the Icecarls are essentially a FantasyCultureCounterpart of Vikings, it's not all that surprising.

* WarriorPoet: Milla shows shades of this in her (comparatively rare) quieter and more reflective moments, which usually amazes Tal.