History Literature / TheSwordOfGood

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: What the Lord of Dark uses [[spoiler: to make Hirou change sides: "What wrong have I ''done?''"

--> '''Selena'': Hirou! Why? You said you would be good!

* OneOfUs: InUniverse, Hirou mentions Wiki/TVTropes explicitly, and ponders how anyone could be stupid enough to allow themselves to become a DarkMessiah, KnightTemplar, WellIntentionedExtremist, or LawfulStupid.

* DesignatedEvil: InUniverse, the Lord of Dark's use of a Wormarium, which artificially extends his life by draining the LiquidAssets of a pit of worms, is seen as a sign of great evil. But as he points out when confronted with this, it's objectively no worse than slaughtering cattle to make food.

* SadisticChoice: Made even more sadistic because [[spoiler:the Dark Lord isn't even trying to force her into anything. He simply says he'll revive her lover once the ritual is complete, and doesn't want her to do anything in return or even care what she thinks about it. If she does anything to try to stop the ritual, it may result in her true love being lost forever, and it'll be her fault and she won't even have the satisfaction of at least having thwarted his scheme.]]

* WrongSideAllAlong: [[spoiler:The "Dark Lord" was the ''real'' big good all along.]]

Can be read [[http://lesswrong.com/lw/169/the_sword_of_good/ here]].

* DarkIsNotEvil: [[spoiler:Hirou realizes in the climax that the unfortunately titled "Lord of Dark", leader of the likewise poorly named "Bad Races" are actually not evil, just misunderstood"]]

* EyeScream: Selena disposes of a courier's bodyguards with a poniard through the eye directly into the brain

* AllThereIsToKnowAboutTheCryingGame: Chances are, if you've heard of this work at all, it's because of the twist ending.

* OneOfUs: InUniverse, Hirou mentions TvTropes explicitly, and ponders how anyone could be stupid enough to allow themselves to become a DarkMessiah, KnightTemplar, WellIntentionedExtremist, or LawfulStupid.

The Sword of Good is a short story by rationalist writer Eliezar Yudkowsky. The protagonist is a man named Hirou, and it begins with him thrust into the beginning of a fundamentally generic quest to save a fantasy realm he has been thrust into.

* FriendlyFireproof: [[spoiler:Averted when Hirou kills Dolf]]

* LightIsNotGood: [[spoiler: At the climax, Hirou realizes that the society he has seen in this alternate world is riddled with hypocrisy and injustice, and his friends (the so-called "Forces of Good") are actually agents of the malignant status quo.]]

* OneOfUs: Hirou mentions TvTropes explicitly, and ponders how anyone could be stupid enough to allow themselves to become a DarkMessiah, KnightTemplar, WellIntentionedExtremist, or LawfulStupid.

* {{Always Save The Girl}}: Discussed early, and averted. Selena takes offense at the fact that Hirou evidently doesn't love her enough to choose her over the world. He doesn't understand why she can't be rational about it.
* {{Dark is Not Evil}}: [[spoiler: Hirou realizes in the climax that the unfortunately titled "Lord of Dark", leader of the likewise poorly named "Bad Races" are actually not evil, just misunderstood"]]
* {{Eye Scream}}: Selena disposes of a courier's bodyguards with a poniard through the eye directly into the brain
* {{Friendly Fireproof}}: [[spoiler: Averted when Hirou kills Dolf]]
* {{Gold Digger}}: Selena expects to be rewarded handsomely for her part in saving the world, with riches and a noble title and the position of being Hirou's lover. She used to be a pirate with apparently no compunctions about other people's well-being as long as she filled her coffers, so greed comes naturally to her.
* {{Invoked Trope}}: The main character vows to himself:
--> "...he absolutely positively wasn't going to go {{Dark Messiah}}, {{Knight Templar}}, {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}, or for that matter {{Lawful Stupid}}."
* {{Light is Not Good}}: [[spoiler: At the climax, Hirou realizes that the society he has seen in this alternate world is riddled with hypocrisy and injustice, and his friends (the so-called "Forces of Good") are actually agents of the malignant status quo.]]
* {{Non Action Guy}}: Hirou starts out as this, [[spoiler:though by the end has accepted using the sword when he kills Dolf]].
* {{One of US}}: TvTropes is mentioned explicitly, and as mentioned above Hirou ponders how anyone could be stupid enough to allow themselves to become a [[{{DarkMessiah}} Dark Messiah]], [[{{KnightTemplar}} Knight Templar]], [[{{WellIntentionedExtremist}} Well Intentioned Extremist]], or [[{{LawfulStupid}} Lawful Stupid]].
* {{Sadistic Choice}}: Made even more sadistic because [[spoiler:the Dark Lord isn't even trying to force her into anything. He simply says he'll revive her lover once the ritual is complete, and doesn't want her to do anything in return or even care what she thinks about it. If she does anything to try to stop the ritual, it may result in her true love being lost forever, and it'll be her fault and she won't even have the satisfaction of at least having thwarted his scheme.]]
* {{Sword and Sorcerer}}: Dolf is the sorcerer, counteracting the power of enemy mages while Selena handles the actual melee combat. [[spoiler:Hirou later realizes that Dolf is powerful enough that he could have done all the fighting himself, and probably with lower risk to himself than Selena took on. The only reason he didn't was because she was more expendable, and therefore it was ok to use her as a meat shield.]]
* {{Torture Always Works}}: When Dolf threatens a courier with something that is left unmentioned, he spills his guts. [[spoiler:Hirou later considers the fact that this is considered torture under the Geneva Convention.]]
* WrongSideAllAlong: [[spoiler: The "Dark Lord" was the ''real'' BigGood all along.]]

* {{Always Save The Girl}}: Discussed early, and averted. Selena takes offense at the fact that Hiro evidently doesn't love her enough to choose her over the world. He doesn't understand why she can't be rational about it.

* {{Gold Digger}}: Selena expects to be rewarded handsomely for her part in saving the world, with riches and a noble title and the position of being Hiro's lover. She used to be a pirate with apparently no compunctions about other people's well-being as long as she filled her coffers, so greed comes naturally to her.

The Sword of Good is a short story by rationalist writer Eliezar Yudkowsky. The protagonist is a man named Hirou, and it begins with him thrust into the beginning of a fundamentally generic quest to save a fantasy realm he has been thrust into. [[spoiler:The climax is a deconstruction of the traditional fantasy story setting and plot.]]

* [[spoiler:{{Dark is Not Evil}}: Hirou realizes in the climax that the unfortunately titled "Lord of Dark", leader of the likewise poorly named "Bad Races" are actually not evil, just misunderstood"]]
* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the fantasy genre overwhelmed by heroes thrust into another world to do battle with a pre-ordained villain.

* [[spoiler:{{Friendly Fireproof}}: Averted when Hirou kills Dolf]]

* [[spoiler:{{Light is Not Good}}: At the climax, Hirou realizes that the society he has seen in this alternate world is riddled with hypocrisy and injustice, and his friends (the so-called "Forces of Good") are actually agents of the malignant status quo.]]
* {{Non Action Guy}}: Hirou starts out as this, [[spoiler:though by the end has accepted using the sword when he kills Dolf]]

* {{Sword and Sorcerer}}: Dolf is the sorcerer, counteracting the power of enemy mages while Selena handles the actual melee combat. [[spoiler:Hirou later realizes that Dolf is powerful enough that he could have done all the fighting himself, and probably with lower risk to himself than Selena took on herself. The only reason he didn't was because she was more expendable, and therefore it was ok to use her as a meat shield.]]

* [[spoiler:WrongSideAllAlong: The "Dark Lord" was the ''real'' BigGood all along.]]

* {{Torture Always Works}}: When Dolf threatens a courier with something that is left unmentioned, he spills his guts. [[spoiler:Hirou later considers the fact that this is considered torture under the Geneva Convention.]]

Sword of Good is a short story by rationalist writer Eliezar Yudkowsky. The protagonist is a man named Hirou, and it begins with him thrust into the beginning of a fundamentally generic quest to save a fantasy realm he has been thrust into. It begins in medias res, [[spoiler:and ends up deconstructing the traditional fantasy novel formula.]

* [[spoiler:{{Dark is Not Evil}}: As above, Hirou realizes in the climax that the unfortunately titled "Lord of Dark", leader of the likewise poorly named "Bad Races" are actually not evil, just misunderstood"]]

* {{One of US}}: TvTropes is mentioned explicitly, with Hirou pondering how anyone could be stupid enough to allow themselves to become a [[{{DarkMessiah}} Dark Messiah]], [[{{KnightTemplar}} Knight Templar]], [[{{WellIntentionedExtremist}} Well Intentioned Extremist]], or [[{{LawfulStupid}} Lawful Stupid]].
* {{Invoked Trope}}: As mentioned above, the main character vows to himself:
--> "...he absolutely positively wasn't going to go {{Dark Messiah}}, {{Knight Templar}}, {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}, or for that matter {{Lawful Stupid}}.

* [[spoiler:{{Dark is Not Evil}}: As above, Hirou realizes in the climax that the unfortunately titled "Lord of Dark", leader of the likewise poorly named "Bad Races" are actually not evil, just misunderstood"]]

* {{Torture Always Works}}: When Dolf threatens a courier with something that is left unmentioned, he spills his guts. [[spoiler:Hirou later considers the fact that this is considered torture under the Geneva Convention.]]
* [[spoiler:{{Friendly Fireproof}}: Averted when Hirou kills Dolf]]

* {{Torture Always Works}}: When Dolf threatens a courier with something that is left unmentioned, he spills his guts. [[spoiler:Hirou later considers the fact that this is considered torture under the Geneva Convention.]]

* {{Non Action Guy}}: Hirou starts out as this, [[spoiler:though by the end has accepted using the sword when he kills Dolf]]

* [[spoiler:{{Dark is Not Evil}}: As above, Hirou realizes in the climax that the unfortunately titled "Lord of Dark", leader of the likewise poorly named "Bad Races" are actually not evil, just misunderstood"]]

* {{Invoked Trope}} As mentioned above, the main character vows to himself:
-> "...he absolutely positively wasn't going to go {{Dark Messiah}}, {{Knight Templar}}, {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}, or for that matter {{Lawful Stupid}}."