Line #43 Literature/Indigo


1	Long ago, [[AfterTheEnd a great crisis]] destroyed and remade the world. Generations later, the people of the Southern Isles [[SchmuckBait know better]] than to [[ForbiddenZone go near]] the [[CallReceptionArea Tower of Regrets]].
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3	But [[PrincessProtagonist Princess Anghara]], driven by curiosity and [[RebelliousPrincess resentment]] of her [[NothingExcitingEverHappensHere sheltered life]], breaks that ancient law. [[SealedEvilInACan Seven demons]], representing the sins of humanity, break loose and destroy all that she holds dear. And Anghara—now calling herself Indigo—is granted [[WhoWantsToLiveForever immortality]] by a divine emissary, so as to have time to [[GottaCatchThemAll undo what she has wrought]].
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5	This LowFantasy series, written by the late British author Louise Cooper, has been called "an original take on the PandorasBox myth."
6
7	'''The eight books in the series are:'''
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9	* ''Nemesis''
10	* ''Inferno''
11	* ''Infanta''
12	* ''Nocturne''
13	* ''Troika''
14	* ''Avatar''
15	* ''Revenant''
16	* ''Aisling''
17	----
18	!!This series provides examples of:
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20	* ActionGirl: Indigo is something of one.
21	* TheAgeless: Indigo and Grimya, maybe. They do not age, but even they don't know whether they can be killed by injury or disease. (There's actually a point in ''Avatar'' where an illness sends Indigo into a coma and Grimya is worried that she'll be ''[[FateWorseThanDeath stuck]]'' like that if she doesn't recover...but Indigo ''does'' recover, so it's ultimately a moot point.)
22	* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Several aversions. [[spoiler:[[EnfantTerrible Jessamin]] in ''Infanta'' and [[LadyMacbeth Carlaze]] in ''Troika'' [[BeautyIsBad come to mind]].]] Conversely, Niahrin in ''Aisling'' is decidedly a good character; and, while she's attractive enough otherwise, [[GoodScarsEvilScars half of her face is horribly scarred]].
23	* BeautyIsBad: While not every attractive character is evil, most of the evil characters are attractive (and immediately described so). Indigo herself is a subversion; she's stated several times to be fairly attractive, although not much focus is put on her looks.
24	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Indigo's long-lost fiancé Fenran resurfaces. Indigo kills him. It's for the best.]] The endings of several specific books count as well. [[spoiler:(For example, in ''Infanta'', Luk Copperguild—aged ''thirteen''—becomes the king of Khimiz after losing his father, his uncle, and the girl he's loved since childhood. And in ''Troika'', Fenran's relatives are freed from a family curse, but not before it devastates them.)]]
25	* {{Blessed With Suck}}: How Indigo's immortality and Grimya's speech and telepathy are treated [[spoiler:at first]]. (Grimya's immortality, on the other hand, was a reward for being such a loyal friend, and is never treated otherwise.)
26	* BlindSeer: Karim Silkfleet, in ''Infanta''. Niahrin may partially count as well; she has the second sight in her [[EyepatchOfPower bad left eye]].
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28	* CrapsaccharineWorld: In ''Nocturne'', Indigo and friends see "a breathtakingly beautiful landscape...redolent with an aura of complete and implacable evil" through one of the demon's doorways.
29	* DarkWorld: Seen in several volumes, notably ''Nemesis'' and ''Nocturne''.
30	* DeathOfTheHypotenuse[[spoiler:: In ''Troika'', Indigo falls in love with Fenran's [[IdenticalGrandson identical grandnephew]] Veness. Veness, unsurprisingly, is dead by the end of the book.]]
31	* DoggedNiceGuy: Vinar towards Indigo. [[spoiler:He moves on and ends up with Niahrin in the end.]]
32	* {{Dystopia}}: [[StepfordSuburbia Joyful Travail]], a town devoted to efficiency at any cost. Also [[PoliceState Vesinum]], ruled by a brutal demon cult.
33	* ElementalPowers: The most obvious example is Jasker, who's a pyromancer and a priest of a fire goddess.
34	* EnfantTerrible:[[spoiler: Jessamin—a sweet and innocent orphaned princess, raised from infancy [[WifeHusbandry to be the bride of a warlord]] and legitimize his claim on her kingdom—[[TwistEnding turns out]] to be the second demon in human form.]] Bear in mind that Indigo spends over a decade [[RedHerring mistakenly thinking]] that [[spoiler:the ''warlord'' is the demon's avatar]].
35	* EyepatchOfPower: Niahrin, although her eyepatch represents less outright badassery than the fact that her [[BlindSeer ruined]] and [[RedRightHand very unnerving left eye]] [[MagicalEye is magic]].
36	* GoodScarsEvilScars: Subverted with Niahrin, half of whose face is a ''mess''.
37	%%* GottaCatchThemAll
38	* {{Horse Of A Different Color}}: A "chimelo" is either a dromedary (as described by someone with no point of reference except horses) or a sort of [[MixAndMatchCritters impossible camel/horse hybrid]].
39	* IdenticalGrandson: Veness, a relative of Fenran's, looks eerily like him.
40	* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Phereniq Kala will do ''[[TheGoodChancellor anything]]'' for Augon Hunnamek—who's [[ObliviousToLove oblivious]] to her feelings for him—even if it [[LoveMartyr breaks her heart]] and [[YoungerThanTheyLook ages her before her time]]. [[spoiler:After he's killed by the Serpent who Devours, she sinks into apathy; it's only by challenging her to avenge him—since Augon would have approved—that Indigo gets her to help defeat the demon.]]
41	* LadyMacbeth: [[spoiler:Carlaze]]'s scheming does a number on the Bray family. [[spoiler:She and her husband]] get their just deserts in the end, but it's pyrrhic as hell.
42	* LovingAShadow: To say that [[spoiler:Indigo]] didn't really know [[spoiler:Fenran]] as well as she ''thought'' that she did would be an understatement.
43	* LoveHurts: It might be easier to count the times when love ''doesn't'' hurt. [[spoiler:Or outright kill.]]
44	* MeaningfulName: Indigo takes on that name because the color represents death and mourning in her homeland. The seeress [[TheGoodChancellor Phereniq]] is instrumental to Augon Hunnamek's successes; her name is a derivative of Veronica (although she's decidedly ''[[BettyAndVeronica not]]'' one) or Berenice, both of which mean "bringer of victory." [[spoiler:Augon himself has a surname containing the word "human," which may foreshadow the fact that he is ''not'', in fact, the demon in ''Infanta''.]] The Brabazon family in ''Nocturne'' are all named after virtues...and while some of them live up to their names, [[IronicName the rather insufferable Modesty]] is a blatant subversion.
45	* MindScrew: Lots of them.
46	* NobleWolf: Grimya, what with being {{The Heroine}}'s confidante and NonHumanSidekick. [[spoiler:Indigo in her [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent shapeshift form]] may also count.]]
47	* NonHumanSidekick: Grimya again; she usually poses as Indigo's guard dog.
48	* OurDemonsAreDifferent[[spoiler:: They embody the misdeeds and fatal flaws of humanity.]]
49	* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent[[spoiler:, although Indigo is never expressly identified as a "werewolf."]]
50	* RedHerring: ''Infanta'' is the most blatant one. [[spoiler:Indigo spends the entire book plotting to bring down Augon, thinking that he's the avatar of the Serpent who Devours. And then the ''real'' demon—Jessamin—ends up eating Augon.]]
51	* SatelliteLoveInterest: Fenran (to Indigo) and Jessamin (to both Luk Copperguild and Augon Hunnamek). [[spoiler:Or so you're [[MindScrew led to think]]; both end up subverted with a vengeance, and ''not'' in a good way.]]
52	* SealedEvilInACan: What sets the entire story in motion.
53	* StarCrossedLovers: Indigo and Fenran[[spoiler:, or so you spend most of the series thinking, anyway]]. Also, [[spoiler:Moia and Gordo in ''Troika''—until Carlaze interfered, with tragic results—and ]]Yima and Tiam in ''Avatar''[[spoiler: (probably the ''only'' example in the series that ends well)]].
54	* TalkingAnimal: Again, Grimya, who can also communicate telepathically with (at least) Indigo. She can also speak aloud, although it takes significant effort. [[spoiler:When she's first introduced, she's [[BlessedWithSuck ashamed of her abilities]]: Her mother and siblings [[OffingTheOffspring tried to kill her as a pup]]—although the wolves of the pack she befriends in the final book accept her as she is—and humans tend to [[BurnTheWitch mistake her for a demon]].]]
55	* TheUndead: The ''[[NotUsingTheZedWord hushu]]'' in ''Avatar'' [[spoiler:and the ghost in ''Troika''...but ''not'' the "vampire" in Nocturne, as that's just one of the demon's illusions.]].
56	* UnrequitedLove: ''Infanta'' practically runs on it. Also seen in ''Nocturne'', ''Troika'', and ''Aisling''.
57	* TogetherInDeath[[spoiler:: Moia and Gordo, again.]]
58	* WalkingTheEarth: Indigo and Grimya spend centuries traveling across the world, in order to destroy the demons Indigo unleashed.
59	* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Indigo's immortality is [[spoiler:initially]] presented as a curse.
60	* WifeHusbandry: Augon Hunnamek's plan for Jessamin in ''Infanta''. [[spoiler:It ended very, very badly.]]

Context Literature / Indigo