The Crimson Shadow is a fantasy book series by author R.A. Salvatore. Sword of Bedwyr was published in 1994, followed by Luthien's Gamble and The Dragon King (both from 1996).
In these novels, Luthien, heir to the island of Bedwydrin, departs from home after the tragic death of his friend and soon takes up with the swashbuckling Oliver deBurrows. They form a successful team of thieves, but soon turn their attentions to fighting the injustices around them. Soon, their efforts turn into a full-scale revolt which erupts to liberate Eriador from a tyrant wizard king.
Tropes present in the series:
- Action Girl: Katerin and Siobhan are both skilled women warriors. They show their stuff frequently throughout the books. There are also minor female characters shown who also fight on the good guys' side.
- Aerith and Bob: Ethan, Oliver, Siobhan etc. versus Brind'Amour, Shuglin, Morkney and far more.
- Always Chaotic Evil: The entire cyclopian people. We see don't see a single one that's anything but a bloodthirsty brute, though one solitary officer is a bit more refined in his tastes.
- Amputative Sentencing: Duke Morkney sentences a man to lose a hand (plus all of his property) for stealing.
- The Archmage: Brind'Amour and Greensparrow are the most powerful mages left alive in the Avonsea region. Eventually the two do battle.
- Bag of Holding: Oliver is given a sack with this effect by Brind'Amour that can hold far more than is normal. Things placed inside it will come into his hand by simply thinking about them too. It works due to being extradimensional.
- Benevolent Mage Ruler: Brind'Amour (an old wizard who is a just, kind man) after he becomes king of Eriador.
- Big Bad: King Greensparrow, an evil wizard who rules Avon, Eriador and the islands nearby, is the main villain.
- Big Good: Brind'Amour, the last of the good wizards from the old days. He advises The Hero Luthien, along with being The Archmage who is the most powerful person on the good guys' side.
- Black-and-White Morality: There is basically no ambiguity in the sides during the series. On the good side are the people rebelling to be free against evil wizards with a wholly evil race as their minions. At worst, good guys Luthien and Oliver work as thieves, but even then their only victims are exploitative collaborating merchants. On the bad guys' side, there is a single female mage who's just misguided rather than purely evil.
- Boisterous Bruiser: Oliver is one, though unlike most examples, he's a little guy (a halfling, actually). He's always ready with a joke, loves to fight, and boasts often of his exploits. A lot of the last are doubtful, but he really does have genuine skill with sword-fighting, having trained at an elite school in his homeland, and gives Luthien a number of tips.
- Calling Card: The cloak of invisibility Luthien finds has the idiosyncracy that if he stays in one position for too long he leaves behind an indelible crimson silhouette. He's not aware of this at first, and inadvertently leaves a silhouette in the house of one his enemies. They believe he left it deliberately to taunt them, and after seeing their reaction he starts deploying it deliberately for that effect.
- Catchphrase: Oliver, after any of his confident pronouncements falls flat, will come out with "I could be wrong".
- Cavalry Betrayal: A rare inversion. During a naval battle between the Avonites and Eriadorans, ships come sailing over from Baraduine (an island ruled by Avon), making the former celebrate. Instead though they attack the ships from Avon, since it turns out that Baraduine would like to be free from their rule.
- Les Collaborateurs: The merchants of Montfort seem to collaborate with the Avonite occupation, as does Duke Morkney, who is apparently from there too.
- Court Mage: Greensparrow was this for Avon's king before taking power.
- Crystal Dragon Jesus: The unnamed religion which people in both Avon and Eriador follow appears to be closely based on Christianity, though most details aren't explored. God is explicitly invoked, though with no mention of a Jesus figure, numerous cathedrals exist in major cities of both countries, the good mages considered themselves priests with their powers being a gift from God, the single priest who we see resembles Catholic ones, and the evil mages make pacts with demons to get increased magical abilities (much like what was believed about witches by most Christians once).
- Cyclops: The cyclopian race. Due to having only one eye, their depth perception is very bad, so they are generally poor at using ranged weapons. One that we see makes up for this by having a crossbow that was equipped with small mirrors on each side to help him aim.
- Damsel in Distress: Subverted. Luthien goes off to rescue Siobhan from slavery, only to learn she's quite capable of caring for herself, sneaking out of her master's house regularly.
- Deal with the Devil: Greensparrow and his wizard minions made deals with various demonic monsters for power.
- Devil, but No God: God is mentioned and worshiped, but never appears, only the good mage Brind'Amour (he says God is the source of his power) and a paladin. Meanwhile, evil sorcerers like the main villain Greensparrow and his minions are in bed with actual demons, who do appear. Brind'Amour's speech to Luthien on the matter may indicate this isn't necessary-if like he says good mages' power is (ultimately) from God, He doesn't really need to intervene (nor even send angels or whatever) since they will win in the end inevitably, being on His side.
- Disappeared Dad: Siobhan's elven father abandoned her mother (a human) before she was born as he couldn't bear to see them both die before him of old age.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Duke Morkney sentences a man who stole from a stall to lose all his property and one of his hands.
- Dragons Are Demonic: Both dragons portrayed in the books are malicious beings. The second is even in league with the villain-they have a pact to share bodies, portrayed like the pacts with other demons his minions have.
- Elite Mooks: The Praetorian Guard, who serve not only as Greensparrow's bodyguards, but his most elite troops.
- The Empire: The kingdom of Avon under King Greensparrow. He and his dukes are all evil sorcerers in league with demons. Cyclopians (a brutish, bloodthirsty race) are their soldiers. Using magic and the cyclopians, he conquered all the lands around Avon, ruling them with cruelty (such as having very harsh punishment for minor crimes, plus making use of slavery). Eventually, a rebellion erupts in its occupied northern neighbor Eriador because of these abuses.
- Evil Chancellor: Greensparrow. When court mage, he killed his master the Avonite king along with his sons and seized the throne, keeping only the king's daughter alive to serve him as she is a mage (tricking her into going along with this).
- Evil Sorcerer: Greensparrow and all his minions, save one who's just misguided, are mages who use their powers solely for evil.
- Familiar: All of Greensparrow's wizard minions have demonic partners.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture:
- Eriador is pretty clearly a parallel for Scotland, with one of its famed heroes being Bruce MacDonald, who has the city Caer MacDonald named after him.
- Avon stands in for England, with cities such as Newcastle and Carlisle which match actual English cities' names.
- Gascony is a clear parallel to France, not only with the pseudo-French names and having the name of a historical French province, but also its history in regards to people from there having invaded Avon (England) in the past.
- All three also share the same relative locations.
- An island near both may be the stand in for Ireland, though we don't get much information on it.
- Isenland stands in for Iceland, with its people being raiders like the vikings.
- Females Are More Innocent: The sole good person in Greensparrow's service is a woman, who's been tricked into this. After learning he killed her family, she defects to the good guys. All the rest of his minions are men, without any displaying redeeming features.
- Fiery Redhead: Though she hides it most of the time, red-haired Katerin is quick-tempered and does not take disrespect toward her well. It tends to be tranquil fury.
- Gentleman Thief: Oliver deBurrows, a charming and chivalrous "highway halfling".
- God: Unlike in most fantasy worlds, God is mentioned as the deity people believe in and focus of their religion (however, we get basically no details besides this). There's also no mention of a Jesus figure, though otherwise it seems to be a fantastic Christianity, with priests and cathedrals in major cities.
- Groin Attack: When Luthien tries to deny he's involved with Siobhan, who teasingly bit his ear in front of Katerin, the latter knees him in the groin.
- Half-Breed Discrimination: It's said many elves and humans dislike half-elves, though we never actually see anyone express this in the books.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Siobhan had an elven father and human mother.
- Interspecies Romance: Siobhan is the result of one, having an elven father and human mother. Later she is lovers with Luthien, a human man, then has a mutual attraction to Oliver, a halfling man (though it doesn't go far).
- Invisibility Cloak: Luthien gets one, though it leaves behind a crimson silhouette wherever he was when wearing it, the source of the name "the Crimson shadow".
- Involuntary Shapeshifter / Voluntary Shapeshifting: Greensparrow made a pact with a dragon to share his body in return for magical powers. Most of the time he can control this, but the dragon forces him to transform at times.
- Irony: When Brind'Amour is magically spying on Avon's royal palace, he notices a cyclopian standing guard before a tapestry depicting men of Avon defeating cyclopians, who now rule their land under King Greensparrow.
- Jesus Taboo: The people of Eriador and Avon seem to follow a fantastic Christianity. There is mention of God more than once, Brind'Amour relates that the old good mages considered themselves priests, cathedrals pretty much indistinguishable from medieval ones are shown, and a priest appears in the last book. However, there is never mention of a Jesus figure. In fairness, the series doesn't give any detail on the religion aside from the above.
- Kangaroo Court: Duke Morkney presides over a court like this. He doesn't even hear any evidence, and no one is ever acquitted. The punishments, naturally, are excessive.
- Karmic Thief: Oliver views himself as this, robbing rich merchants who grew wealthy from exploiting others.
- Last of His Kind: Brind'Amour is the last of the old good wizards left, with the rest having been hunted down and killed by Greensparrow's forces.
- Love Triangle: Between Luthien, his new lover Siobhan, and his old flame Katerin.
- Made a Slave: This is the fate of all Huegoth captives. Some prisoners are also sentenced to slavery by Duke Morkney.
- Magical Society: Long ago a fellowship of mages lived in the Avonsea islands, who designed the great cathedrals which still remain in the major cities. However, over time evil mages who wanted easier power by pacts with demons took it over, driving the good ones from its ranks.
- Magic Staff: Brind'Amour has one he tasks Oliver and Luthien to retrieve in exchange for a reward from inside a dragon's cavern. It helps to focus his powers-without it he's weaker.
- The Magocracy: Not only King Greensparrow but all his dukes are evil wizards.
- Meaningful Name: Brind'Amour (the latter bit being "love" in French) and Belsen'Krieg (the name of a death camp plus "war" in German). The former is the Big Good of the series, the latter the commander of an enemy army from a species that is all evil. Not subtle.
- Missing Mom: Luthien's mother died of the great plague which devastated Eriador in the past.
- Mystical Plague: Greensparrow created a plague by magic to devastate Eriador so he could conquer it more easily.
- Offered the Crown: Eriador has no native monarchy left apparently so after it gains its freedom, their king becomes Brind'Amour, the Big Good ancient wizard who aided them in their liberation.
- One-Gender Race: Cyclopians and dwarves have no female members from what's seen, nor are they even mentioned. It's left unclear just how either species reproduces.
- One-Winged Angel: Greensparrow takes on his shared dragon form for the climax of the trilogy.
- Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Like usual, they are bearded, no-nonsense people who mostly do metal work and mining. There are no female dwarves shown or mentioned. Unusually however dwarves seem to get along fine with elves. Also most seem to be urban.
- Our Elves Are Different: They seem typical, with a more slender build, much longer lifespan, pointy ears and reputedly have a strong connection to nature. Unlike in many examples they and the dwarves are fine with each other, while both seem to be city dwellers overall. They can also reproduce with humans as is common, resulting in half-elves.
- The Paladin: A paladin is sent by King Greensparrow against Luthien. He fights honorably, giving Luthien his fair chance to beat him. After learning Greensparrow is really an evil sorcerer who's in league with demons, the knight immediately switches sides and goes down fighting a demon that attacks Luthien as he sings praise to God, having sworn that he'd fight evil.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Oliver justifies his stealing from rich merchants this way, as they've grown rich by collaborating with the evil King Greensparrow who rules over their people.
- Penal Colony: The mines near Montfort, where many dwarves have been sentenced to hard labor.
- Power at a Price: The good wizards draw their power from the forces of the universe, Brind'Amour explains. Even a mage as powerful as him can only draw on so much magical energy per day. Some mages try to get around this by gaining power from pacts with demons, though this disorders the universe.
- Punctuation Shaker: Brind'Amour and Belsen'Krieg.
- Praetorian Guard: Cyclopian soldiers named this not only guard King Greensparrow, but also serve as elite troops.
- Really 700 Years Old: Siobhan, a half-elf, looks around twenty but is nearly sixty. Brind'Amour is four hundred, but he at least appears as an old man.
- Rebel Leader: Luthien turns into the leader of a rebellion to free Eriador from Avon's tyrannical rulership.
- La Résistance: Starting from a small band of rebels led by Luthien, and then growing into a whole army which fights for Eriador's freedom.
- Religion is Magic: The good wizards considered themselves priests, Brind Amour relates, with their power also ultimately coming from God. In fact, it was they who built the great cathedrals which exist in Avon and Eriador.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Villified: The Eriadorans' rebellion is against an evil wizard king and his minions for their freedom. It's never once shown as anything except entirely justified and good.
- Rightful King Returns: After Greensparrow is killed, the true queen of Avon (whose father he usurped, making her a duchess), takes over.
- Sealed Good in a Can: Brind'Amour put himself in stasis long ago, then awoke to find Eriador has been taken over by Greensparrow, an evil sorcerer. His brethren did the same thing, though unfortunately all of the rest have been found and killed by Greensparrow's forces.
- Sex Slave: Female convicts in Montforst are implied to end up this way after they're sentenced to serve in the houses of wealthy merchants. Some might suspect this is how Siobhan served her master too, though the books don't say.
- Sharing a Body: It turns out Greensparrow has an arrangement like this with a dragon. He can mostly control when the dragon takes over and transforms, but not always.
- Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Katerin, Luthien's lover initially who he's forcibly separated from and ends up with in the end following a relationship with another woman, has these looks. She is a main character.
- Slave Galley: This is where anyone the Huegoths capture ends up on. It's considered a Fate Worse than Death.
- Slave Liberation: Subverted. Luthien, upon becoming smitten with Siobhan and learning she's a slave, sets out to free her. He arrives at her master's house, where he sees Siobhan sneaking out. It turns out that she does this regularly, and is part of a thieves gang. The title of this chapter is appropriately "Not So Much A Slave".
- Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Luthien has heard about many cruelties allowed by Greensparrow. He finds slavery especially wrong though, and can hardly fathom the idea.
- Sorcerous Overlord: King Greensparrow is a cruel wizard who rules Avon, Eriador and the islands nearby.
- Straight for the Commander: Luthien has his archers target all cyclopian officers when their army besieges Caer MacDonald, as cyclopians are fairly stupid and fall apart without leadership. The officers are the few smarter ones, and so this works very well.
- Thieves' Guild: Montfort has one, though Oliver and Luthien don't join (the latter worries they might drive them out, though it never appears). It remains unclear if other thieves they meet are members.
- Token Good Teammate: Duchess Deanna Wellworth of Mannington is the only mage under King Greensparrow who's a decent person, but has been tricked by him into service since her childhood. When she realizes he killed her family to seize the throne (her father had been the king, with Greensparrow his court mage) she defects to the Eriadoran side. After he's defeated, she becomes Avon's queen.
- Urban Segregation: Montfort has a strict divide between economic classes under Duke Morkney, with the rich living in the inner city, which is behind a wall from the poor in the lower city.
- War Is Hell: Luthien's father warns him that unlike in stories this is how it really turns out to be. Luthien later learns this is true for himself when he goes into real combat.
- Wizard Classic: Brind'Amour ticks most of the boxes, with a Wizard Beard, a long robe, Magic Staff, being described as a wizard specifically, having a solitaly life off in a cave at first, being an old wise man, and mentor to The Hero Luthien (of a typically vexing kind at times).
