text: [[quoteright:262:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Badge_6784.jpg]][[caption-width-right:263: As the Emperor protects, so must we. ]]->''"Men of Tanith, do you want to live forever?"''''Gaunt's Ghosts'' is a series of novels by Creator/DanAbnett, set in the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' universe. Sometimes described as "[[XMeetsY Sharpe meets Warhammer 40k]]", the series follows a band of soldiers in the ultimate [[CrapsackWorld Crapsack Universe]], exploring war settings ranging from airborne assault to trench fighting.[[note]]The ''Literature/{{Sharpe}}'' inspiration was [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the third book, ''Necropolis'', which refers to the troops singing the marching song "Over the Skies and Far Away", a case of Sharpe's signature "Over the Hills and Far Away" [[InSpace IN SPACE!]][[/note]]The books follow Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and the Tanith First-and-Only, a single regiment within the trillions-strong [[RedshirtArmy Imperial Guard]]. Nicknamed the "Ghosts", the series focuses on the Tanith's experiences as a tiny part of a vast decades-long crusade to liberate the Sabbat Worlds from Chaos. Written in a style reminiscent of Bernard Cornwell's massively successful ''{{Sharpe}}'' series, the series has been well received, its strong points including believable battles, capturing the "feel" of the gothic far-future ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', and a realistic portrayal of the Imperial Guard as actual humans. ''Gaunt's Ghosts'' is the longest-running and the most successful book series set in the 40k universe.[[AC:Thirteen novels and a number of short stories have been published so far:]]* ''First & Only'': The Ghosts fight to retake the forge world of Fortis Binary, but there is far more at stake than any of them realises.* ''Ghostmaker'': On Monthax, Gaunt recalls the Ghosts' founding and some of their past exploits, even as the present gets interesting with the presence of an Inquisitor and another alien faction.* ''Necropolis'': The Ghosts are sent to defend the city of Vervunhive.* ''Honour Guard'': His career in tatters after being used as a scapegoat for an ambitious General's blunder, Gaunt undertakes one final mission to recover the bones of Saint Sabbat from the Shrinehold on Hagia.* ''The Guns of Tanith'': The Ghosts perform a series of dropship raids on Mountaintop cities on Phantine, in an attempt to eliminate Chaos Warlord Saggitar Slaith.* ''Straight Silver'': The Ghosts engage in trench warfare to try and win a forty-year long land war.* ''Sabbat Martyr'': On Herodor, Saint Sabbat is reincarnated. Chaos will have none of that, and the Ghosts have to fend off both conventional forces and Nine assassins.* ''Traitor General'': Gaunt and a small team of Ghosts are sent to infiltrate the Chaos-held world of Gereon. Their mission is to eliminate a traitor, one who is all too familiar.* ''His Last Command'': Gaunt and his team return from Gereon and find themselves suspected of Chaos taint, while the rest of the Ghosts have been integrated into a new unit. There is more than meets the eye to the ongoing siege, though.* ''The Armour of Contempt'': The Ghosts return to Gereon as part of the liberating Guard warhost, but the Inquisition has its own plans.* ''Only In Death'': The Ghosts are sent to Jago to guard the eastern fortress of Hinzerhaus from Chaos, but the enemy is closer than command thinks, and the house itself is more sinister than it looks.* ''Blood Pact'': The return to Balhaut for billet has left the Ghosts restless and Gaunt wishes to get back to the war. He really, really should know better.* ''Salvation's Reach'': The Ghosts embark on a mission to raid a critical Chaos facility in hopes of turning the tide of the Crusade in the Imperium's favor. Unfortunately, it also happens to be a suicide mission.* ''The Warmaster'': The Ghosts are deployed to the forge world of Urdesh to defend against an attack by Anarch Sek. However, the battle may just be a diversion to distract from the enemy's true goal: the elimination of Imperial Warmaster Macaroth himself. Additionally, the Sabbat Worlds Crusade setting has essentially spawned a mini-continuity within the Warhammer 40,000 universe, with a number of additional works that are not limited to just Gaunt's Ghosts.There is "The Sabbat Worlds Crusade" written as an Imperial history of the early part of the central campaign of the novels.The series also has a {{spinoff}}, ''Double Eagle'', focusing on the fighter squadron introduced in ''The Guns of Tanith'' which has its own upcoming sequel, ''Interceptor City''. ''Literature/{{Titanicus}}'' is not a direct spin off but it's set during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade. There is also the anthology ''Sabbat Worlds'', a collection of short stories written by other Black Library authors including Abnett which are set during the Crusade.----!As part of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', the series involves a large number of the tropes on that page, as well as employing literary and narrative tropes of its own:* AbsurdlySharpBlade: The Power Sword of Heironymo Sondar, a blade that can cut through carapace armour, [[spoiler: The skin of a [[AnimatedArmour Wire]][[DemonicPossession Wolf]] and the PowerArmour of a Chaos Space Marine]].* ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: Frequently.* ActualPacifist: Dorden. Has been with the Ghosts from day one and has fired on someone else ''once'', and then in a MatterOfLifeAndDeath. Then he is the doctor. In ''Warhammer 40,000'' universe, this says a lot.* ADayInTheLimelight: Short stories frequently focus on individual Ghosts, such as Larkin or Bragg. The second book was a whole bunch of these highlighting how awesome each one could be.* ADeathInTheLimelight: Several main characters such as [[spoiler:Bragg, Feygor, and Corbec.]]* AffablyEvil: ''Traitor General'' has Desolane, the lifewarden whose duty is to protect [[spoiler: General Sturm]] from danger while he is undergoing the process of unlocking his memory. Although Desolane is a servant of Chaos, brutal and remorseless in combat, he proves to be remarkably gentle and polite towards the Imperial renegade, and even develops a certain feeling of sympathy to him.* AfraidOfNeedles: In ''The Guns Of Tanith'', Dorden comments that Ghosts are content with some bayonet wounds but would rather skip the needles.* AfterActionHealingDrama: "Iron Star" is all this.* AGodAmI: Saint Sabbat. Subverted in that she's not bullet or artillery proof but rather is ''incredibly'' strong, fast and inspiring. * AFormYouAreComfortableWith: In ''Ghostmaker,'' the [[spoiler: Eldar Dire Avengers do this. Rawne's squad believes that they are Tanith Guardsmen, and that the entire team is fighting to save Tanith. The oddity comes with Milo noting that they have rather odd hairstyles, and TheReveal only comes when Larkin is reduced to a quivering wreck, showing Milo that his scope really does 'see everything as it truly is' by revealing their true appearances]].** [[spoiler: Turns out, the Eldar were surprised by this, too. And didn't do too much to cover their disguises. The exarch keeps calling Rawne 'Rawne-human']].*** The only person to notice the speech errors was Milo, who is implied to have unacknowledged psyker talents. Other sections in the same book implied that what the Eldar spoke wasn't exactly what Rawne heard.* AlienGeometries: Most Chaos artifacts and symbols.* AlienSky: Especially on Gereon. * AmnesiacDissonance: [[spoiler:Sturm]] in ''Traitor General''.* AnachronicOrder: Several of the novels, but clearly seen in Ghostmaker. * AnimatedArmor: Wirewolves.* AnyoneCanDie: Starts hitting ''hard'' in the later novels.** And sadly, probably will. The Ghosts have no home to return to and the number of original Tanith dwindles within their own regiment, replaced by soldiers from other worlds. The ultimate fate probably awaiting most of the cast is death in combat- Guard regiments operate for decades at a time.** In fact, by the end of the tenth novel, less than 10 characters actually named in the first are still alive [[spoiler:Gaunt, Dorden, Mkoll, Rawne, Larkin, Varl, Domor and possibly Milo, though he was PutOnABus so we can't be sure [[note]]Dan has stated Milo will be back once he works how what to do with him, the only way characters can leave the series is to die.[[/note]]. Various command staff also count]]. Significantly more remain from the first trilogy, but even then a great deal of named characters have died.*** [[spoiler:And as of Blood Pact Dorden is dying of Leukemia]].**** [[spoiler:And as of Salvation's Reach, he is dead.]]** WordOfGod: "People seem to like them. I'll keep writing until they don't anymore or, as I've said, until I've killed everybody-whichever is soonest."** On the bright side, the Belladon seem to finally have a proper recruitment pool (unlike the Tanith and Vervunhive elements, both of which come from {{Doomed Hometown}}s), so they'll be able to replace casualties.*** Vervunhive is slowly being rebuilt, and a small contingent of new Vervunhivers join the Tanith First in ''Salvation's Reach''.* {{Arcadia}}: Lost Tanith.* AristocratsAreEvil: Played straight with the Jantine Patricians in the first book. Subverted in the second by the Volpone Bluebloods, who aren't ''all'' evil. Played straight again in ''Necropolis'', where Vervunhive's ruler is corrupted by Chaos comm chatter, and a merchant that shoots up a packed train car to get on, pays no attention to the city's destruction, and then randomly shoots his bodyguards in the back for no reason.* ArmchairMilitary: The Guard brass. Some (Van Voytz) are better than others (Lugo).* ArtificialLimbs: Augmetics, but not just on limbs - one major character has eye augmetics ('Shoggy' Domor) while another has voicebox augmetics (Murtan Feygor). Played straight with Varl, who lost his shoulder in battle, being forced to have his entire arm replaced. His new arm allows him to punch an enemy's head clean off. Larkin [[spoiler:gets a nalwood foot after having to have his cut off by Gaunt and Gaunt himself is given top-of-the-line augmetics to replace his own lost eyes at the end of ''Only In Death'']].* ATeamFiring: "Try Again" Bragg's trademark, and the source of his nickname.* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Usually inverted, as Gaunt is usually seen bossing around men with significantly higher rank and social status than him.* AWizardDidIt: It's revealed that (almost) all of the supernatural activity in Hinzerhaus is caused by [[spoiler:Soric's psyker abilities]].* AxCrazy: Lijah Cuu.* BackAlleyDoctor: Dr. Kolding, who first appears in ''Blood Pact''. The fact that he's an albino in the xenophobic Imperium, that often treats people with deformities or mutations as being impure or touched by Chaos even when they really aren't, explains why he's specifically a BackAlleyDoctor.** Arbus, a similar character appearing in ''Blood Pact'', is a ''medicae'' working for the criminal underground since he lost his licence due to medical malpractice.* BadassGrandpa: Partially subverted: While Corbec and the older members of the regiment are badass in their own right, few of them have "max levels of badass", with those mainly falling to younger men like Rawne. Played straight with Larkin, who is older than Corbec and still one of the regiment's best snipers. Ditto Mkoll, who had outlived his wife even before Tanith was taken and had grown sons, and Mkvenner, who's a grey-haired older man, noted as the best fighter among the scouts. The single oldest member of the regiment is Dorden (he actually ''delivered'' Corbec, and had become a grandfather shortly before Tanith fell), but as TheMedic, he only fired a shot in anger once in the thirteen books [[spoiler:before his death]].* BadassLongcoat: Gaunt, Hark.* BadassNormal: Pretty much the ''entire'' Imperial Guard.* BadDreams: All of the Ghosts who stay on Gereon for an extended period of time. * TheBait: * BaitAndSwitchTyrant: Commissar Hark.* BatmanGambit: In ''His Last Command'' [[spoiler: Gaunt wanted the inquisitors and senior commissars to learn about the Chaos portals, so he deliberately acted in a suspicious manner that Ludd would report.]]* BattleAura: ''Sabbat Martyr'':--> The Beati herself was lit up in a halo of green fire.--> Cold green fire, in the form of a great eagle with its wings unfurled, lit up the Saint.* BattleCouple: Criid and Caffran.* BattleInTheRain: The climactic battle at the end of ''Ghostmaker'' takes place during a driving rainstorm* BavarianFireDrill: In ''Salvation's Reach'' Rawne visits [[spoiler:Mabbon]] by acting as though he belongs. [[spoiler:Helps that the guard had been killed by someone else beforehand, not that Rawne knew.]]* BeamSpam: There is one point in Necropolis when, as the Guard troops and local forces are estimating the enemy's strength, Mkoll notes that the continuous, buzzing sound they've been hearing is the combined sound of the enemy army's lasguns, so numerous that there is no audible gap in their firing.** In ''Blood Pact'', when the Chaos witch bursts into the room to attack Mabbon, [[spoiler: Maggs kills her by simply unloading his lasgun at her, firing over ''two hundred'' shots at her and overwhelming her warp-shields]].* BeardOfSorrow: Gaunt on Gereon. * BearerOfBadNews: Aside from dead Ghosts, this usually happens when the Ghosts are stuck on a mission for which they're ill suited. The First and Only are stealth and infiltration experts, not heavy assault troops.* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: In ''The Guns of Tanith'', Gaunt ruefully notes that the Ghosts receiving long-overdue recognition for their scout/stealth skills means getting sent on ultra-high risk infiltration missions.** There's also Sanian. She starts as wishing for a purpose. Then finds out that purpose is war. [[spoiler:Then she gets taken over by the very saint the war is being fought for.]]** Milo spends most of the time pining for Sanian after they part. When they are reunited, Sanian [[spoiler:is effectively gone, supplanted by the personality of Saint Sabbat, and Milo can't recognize her because of this]]. He does get to go with her, though.* BecauseDestinySaysSo: The Ghosts' involvement in the reincarnation of Saint Sabbat.* BeingWatched: Said by Baen to Varl in ''Sabbat Martyr''. Baen's right - [[spoiler: Pater Sin and his psyker-runts are using psyk-cloaking to walk between them]].** In ''Traitor General'', the scouts on Gereon know they're being tracked just before the Nihtgane show themselves.** In ''The Armour of Contempt'' Mkoll and Eszrah recognise that there's someone out there watching them [[spoiler: who the latter gets to see and is strongly implied to be [=MkVenner=]]], while Vadim and Caffran have a similar sentiment at their part of Gereon.* BerserkButton: In ''Blood Pact''. [[spoiler:Maggs]] even shocks himself. See BeamSpam.** [[spoiler: In ''Salvation's Reach,'' when Gaunt finds out there's a conspiracy to make money off of dead troopers, he gets PIIIIISSSSSSED!]]** In ''Straight Silver'', a few unlucky Alliance troopers learn that stealing vital medical supplies from Gaunt's Ghosts and threatening his LoveInterest is the best way to make him behave like an actual Imperial Commissar - that is, to carry out a summary execution.* BetterToDieThanBeKilled:* BewareTheHonestOnes* {{BFG}}: Usually in Bragg's hands and almost always something that should be mounted on a stationary post or carried by a guy in powered armor.* BigDamnHeroes: There are quite a few of these.* BigGood: Warmaster Slaydo and Saint Sabbat herself are pretty much the closest this series has to this trope.* BittersweetEnding: Pretty much how ''every single book'' ends.* BlindSeer: Toyed with in ''Blood Pact'' as [[spoiler:Gaunt's traumatic blinding]] has him start to vividly see things that are actually happening out of his line-of-sight. In other words, remote viewing. [[spoiler:Gaunt the psyker?]]* BlingOfWar: Saint Sabbat's armor. * BloodFromTheMouth: Usually due to horrible gunshot wounds, or worse, the presence of raw Chaos magic. * BloodMagic: Practiced by Blood Pact psykers. * BlueBlood: Some Guard regiments are made up of nobles; the Tanith First rarely can manage anything better than TeethClenchedTeamwork with them.* BondOneLiner: ''[[TearJerker Painful]]'' one at the end of ''Sabbat Martyr.''---> '''Larkin''': "I just fething wish I'd gotten a bead on him sooner."* BottledHeroicResolve: The Ghosts have plenty on tap.* BrownNote: Glyfs (yes, not 'glyphs'), the Warp phenomena encountered by the Gaunt's team in ''Traitor General'', have a destructive influence on the minds of people watching them. Even the sound they produce while moving is perceived as unsettling.** During the space battle in ''Salvation's Reach'', the Chaos flotilla constantly broadcasts inhuman messages which manage to jam the Imperial communications, destroy some servitors, and cause panic among the crew.* BunnyEarsLawyer: Bunny Ears Sniper in the case of Larkin.* ButtMonkey: Nobody gives Trooper Cant ''any'' respect. People won't even give him a break about his name (If he says he can't do something, the reply will invariously be, "Can't, cant, or won't?"). We also have this little Gem said by Rawne to Meryn, which implies that getting shot by Cant would be so pathetic that it would be a shameful death, no matter the other circumstances.-->"So throw that shit away and start observing the chain of command, or I�ll have Leyr shoot you with his ridiculously big rifle. No, no, worse than that. I�ll have Cant mow you down with his stubber. Then there�d be shame involved."** Even Gaunt gets in on it. When he's stuck in a Mexican and Rawne's squad comes in to back him up, Gaunt asks Rawne if everybody's armed and pointing their guns at the other guy, not him. When Rawne replies with an affirmative, Gaunt asks, "Even Cant?"* BuyThemOff* CallBack: ''Salvation's Reach'' has two. The fruit of a certain dalliance Gaunt had all the way back in ''Necropolis'' turns up looking for him, and one of the characters introduced here is the brother of another one who died in an earlier book.* CannotSpitItOut: Kolea can't tell Dalin that he's his birth father.* CannotTellALie* TheCasanova: In the BackStory, Gaunt's mentor Otkar.* CatchPhrase: Beltayn's "Something's awry" and Cuu's "Sure as Sure" spring to mind.** ''Only In Death'' is named for an Imperial Guard slogan, "only in death does duty end".** "Men of Tanith! Do you want to live forever?"** "Say hello to Mr. Yellow." - Brostin (used more than once as a PreMortemOneLiner).* TheChainsOfCommanding: Gaunt is one of the few commissars who actually gives a damn about his own troops.* CharacterDevelopment: Many of the characters go through changes and revelations over the series. So far, the most notable perhaps is Rawne who starts out having every intention of murdering Gaunt, being chauvinistic about the influx of the women soldiers in the regiment but develops into one of Gaunt's most loyal officers and respecting women in the regiment.* CharacterMagneticTeam: The Ghosts attracted large numbers of soldiers from Vervunhive in ''Necropolis'' and were merged with the Belladon 81st regiment in ''His Last Command'', although the overall number of Ghosts doesn't change that much due to the high casualty rate.** In fact, as of the end of ''Only In Death'', [[spoiler: more than half of the regiment is dead. That is, half the regiment that was alive going into the book]].** Oddly, they keep gaining new commissars and had six in Salvation's Reach: Gaunt, Hark, Ludd, Blenner, Edur, and Fazakiel. [[spoiler: They end with only five as a Sirkle kills Edur.]]* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:In '' First & Only'', Trooper Drayl gets a shard from a Chaos statuette stuck in his collarbone from Corbec shooting the statutette. He gets a field dressing put on it, and the group moves on. The shard corrupts Drayl, with him later shooting at the group with [[ProphetEyes "a milky nothingness in his eyes"]]. He is shot in their self-defence, and ''then'' has a large metallic-coloured skeletal monster BodyHorror come out of him that the group also has to kill.]]* ChildrenAreInnocent: Encounters with children tends to inspire protectiveness in Ghosts.** Subverted when [[spoiler: Caffran]] tries to rescue a starved child [[spoiler: and it shoots him]].** Also subverted during the siege of Vervunhive in ''Necropolis''. The narration briefly mentions that the Chaos army is made of all people available, including elders and children.* TheChosenOne: [[spoiler: Lilith]], in ''Ghostmaker'', [[spoiler: Sanian]] in ''Honour Guard'' and ''Sabbat Martyr''.* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Lijah Cuu fits this trope so well that it's rather shocking that nobody really called him out on it earlier. This is also the possible reason behind Mabbon's multiple changes of allegiance, first from the Imperium to Guar, Gaur to Sek, and then from Sek to [[spoiler: the Imperium.]]** And then ''Salvation's Reach'' implies that Mabbon [[spoiler:might be switching from the Imperium back to Gaur!]]* CitadelCity: Vervunhive, in ''Necropolis'' is a substantial example. (How effective is it? [[MeaningfulName The title means]] [[DoomedHometown "city of the dead"]].) Cities on Phantine are also easily defensible, thanks to the way they're surrounded by poisonous clouds and can only be attacked by air. The Doctrinopolis on Hagia is a more medieval-themed example.** In contrast, the hives on Herodor are ''not'' Citadel Cities. Gaunt really wishes they were, and [[ContinuityNod muses on how Vervunhive was different]].* {{Cliffhanger}}: The end of ''Salvation's Reach'' reveals that [[spoiler: Tarmaggedon Monstrum Rex, the powerful demon ship which had fled the space battle described earlier, managed to find the spaceship carrying the Ghosts and now is again pursuing them.]]* ClownCarBase: The compartments in ''His Last Command'', which pump out more Chaos troops than they should be able to hold. [[spoiler: [[AWizardDidIt Warp portals are to blame]]]].* [[ClusterFBomb Cluster Feth Bomb]]: Feth is a tanith tree-god, but you wouldn't know it from the way the ghosts are using the word.* ColdBloodedTorture: From the forces of Chaos naturally, sometimes the Inquisition as well. * CollapsingLair: Most clearly used at the end of First and Only. * ColonelBadass: Both Gaunt and his second-in-command, Colonel Colm Corbec.* CommissarCap%%%% CompleteMonster belongs on the YMMV tab.%%* ConservationOfNinjutsu: Deconstructed in ''Ghostmaker'': A small team of Ghosts and Bluebloods wipes out a thousands-strong Chaos force... and the incident is written off as an illusionary battle by tacticians unable to account for the success.--> Years later.... Imperial tacticians.... would be utterly unable to account for the success of the action. .... There was no sense to the data. Simple statistics should have had Gaunt's expeditionary force cut down to the last man.... They slew, approximately, two-point-four thousand soldiers of the enemy. .... The tacticians would decide that the only explanation could be that there were no enemy units on the field that day. .... Only then did the computations and the statistics and the possibilities match up.** Of course, the tacticians do not take into account the fact that [[spoiler: the Guard forces weren't the only ones fighting against Chaos in that battle]].* ContinuityNod: (On several occasions, Gaunt makes reference to the book ''Spheres of Longing'', which was authored by Inquisitor Gideon Literature/{{Ravenor}}. Abnett fans would know that Ravenor stars in his own running Warhammer 40k series also authored by Abnett.** A ''preemptive'' Continuity Nod: Abnett created Ravenor and his book as scenery dressing, and didn't start thinking of him as a character with his own adventures until much later -- and that was ''after'' he'd already served as a supporting character in Abnett's chronologically-earlier ''Literature/{{Eisenhorn}}'' novels. According to interviews with Abnett, most of his "continuity nods" are the result of happy accidents like this.*** The Eisenhorn / Ravenor stories were also foreshadowed by Gaunts Ghosts. In one book, Gaunt recalls Ravenor describing the terrible fate of his master. Although Eisenhorn had become a radical by the end his series and was well established as one in Ravenor, it was hardy a terrible fate. There is also the implication in ''Salvation's Reach'' that Ravenor suffers a DownerEnding. The fact that Abnett has referred to the next series of Inquisitor books as Eisenhorn versus Ravenor would seem to support this.** Another Abnett novel, ''Literature/BrothersOfTheSnake'', received the same treatment. The Iron Snakes Space Marine Chapter originally only received a brief mention in ''Necropolis''. Later, ''Salvation's Reach'' has an Iron Snake assisting the Ghosts.** Similarly, the character of Inquisitor Heldane, [[spoiler:who gets killed off in ''First And Only'']], also would only get developed further in the ''{{Literature/Eisenhorn}}'' novels.** ''Double Eagle'' features Leguin as a secondary character. He was originally introduced in ''Honour Guard'' as, well, a secondary character.** There are a few mentions of Tanith in the Adeptus Mechanicus-themed book ''Titanicus'': sacra, and a cameo character is described as a Tanith emigree.** A very subtle one in Blood Pact. One of the Blood Pact infiltrators is named [[HorusHeresy Samus]].* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: Gaunt, Yoncy and Dalin. * ConverseWithTheUnconscious: Several times when Ghosts are wounded and likely to die. * CoolGate: In ''His Last Command''.* CoolSword: Gaunt's swords are not only [[ChainsawGood chainswords]] but possessed of personal and historical significiance.** The power sword of Heironymo Sondar, an AncestralWeapon and AbsurdlySharpBlade that Gaunt receives as a gift after the battle for Vervunhive.* TheCorruption: One of Chaos' main weapons. In ''His Last Command'' Gaunt and his team from the Gereon mission are briefly put on trial to prove they are not tainted by Chaos, due to being stuck on a Chaos-occupied world for more than a year. The title of the next book, ''The Armour of Contempt'', references an aphorism from another Abnett character, Gideon Ravenor, which states that one can resist Chaos's influence by girding one's soul with the armour of contempt.* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Guilder Worlin in ''Necropolis''. Despite orders to close down oil pipelines, Worlin keeps his pipeline open so he can get rich off the profits. [[spoiler:This gives the Zoicans a route they can use to infiltrate Imperial lines]].* CrapsackWorld: Some are worst than others, most specifically Gereon and Jago.* CreepyChild: Pater Sin's psykers.* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: When Sergeant Varl is playing the clown, you could be forgiven for assuming that's all he is. Then you try to make trouble, and suddenly he pins your arm to the wall with a casually thrown knife. He ''earned'' that rank.* CrypticConversation* CunningLinguist: Several Inquisition characters. Gaunt and all members of his team who took part in the Gereon mission learned how to speak the language of the great enemy. This proves to be useful later on few occasions. For example, in ''Blood Pact'' Rawne [[spoiler: uses his fluent knowledge of the enemy language to distract a Blood Trooper assassin long enough to kill him.]]* CycleOfRevenge: Dercius got Gaunt's father and many of his men killed by retreating instead of providing support. Gaunt killed Dercius for this in a duel. Then Dercius' son [[spoiler:Flense]] tries to murder Gaunt and his entire command for that (And the loss of status he suffered from going from the son of a respected General to being the son of a man executed for cowardice and desertion).* DanBrowned: In-universe, in ''Blood Pact'', the historians on Balhaut got pretty much every detail and fact of Slaydo's effort to liberate the planet wrong. This is mainly due to the fact that all of the veterans of the war aren't around to point out the errors. Humorously enough, there is an entire chapel dedicated to Gaunt because the historians mistakenly believed that he had died during the liberation of the planet.* DangerousDeserter: Happens several times with Imperial Guard soldiers. * DeadPersonConversation: Several characters often have recurring dreams where they converse with previously dead characters. This is a key plot point in Honor Guard, but most notable is poor old Larkin, who literally ''hallucinates'' [[spoiler:conversations with Bragg]] whenever he's feeling slightly more unhinged than normal.* DeathByChildbirth: Gaunt's mother.** And it would have happened to Corbec's mother if it wasn't for the efforts of a young Doctor Dorden.* DeathOrGloryAttack: The Ghosts typically fight smart, but sometimes they charge the enemy when its clear they'll be overwhelmed no matter what they do. This happens, tragically, more than once. * DeathSeeker: Several Ghosts are so traumatized by war they can't wait to be killed. * DeflectorShields: Void shields show up in ''The Guns of Tanith'' and [[spoiler:Sagittar Slaith]] has a las-proof personal shield. The status of the shield covering Vervunhive becomes an issue twice in ''Necropolis''. Obviously, they play an important role in a few space battles described throughout the series.* DiabolusExMachina: [[spoiler:Lijah Cuu]] is effectively a manifestation of "Diabolus". [[spoiler:Good riddance]].* DiagonalCut: [[spoiler: Gaunt pulls this against a Chaos Space Marine]] BadAss.* DiggingYourselfDeeper: In ''Blood Pact'' Gaunt makes [[spoiler: Ayatani Zweil]] do this against himself to get him to go for medical.* DirtyBusiness* DirtyCoward: [[spoiler: General Noches Sturm]] in ''Necropolis''. Meryn proves to be one as well.* DisabilitySuperpower: Nessa. She's permanently deaf from being too close to an artillery bombardment, but that doesn't stop her from being the one of the best snipers in the Ghosts, rivalling Larkin in skill.** Also inverted in the case of Merrt. After getting his lower jaw shot off, the former sniper loses his marksmanship skills and is demoted back to a simple trooper who can barely shoot an unmoving can.* DisturbedDoves* DividedWeFall* DontYouDarePityMe: Usually wounded Ghosts desperate to get back into the fight. * DoomedByCanon: In ''The Armour of Contempt'', the Inquisition thinks they can find protection against Chaos on Gereon. Gaunt thinks they won't -- and considering what that would do to history, is obviously right.* DramaticIrony: In ''Salvation's Reach'' Domor makes a crack about forcing his face to change. Little does he know that a certain agent of the Archenemy with such a talent is among the Ghosts' ranks.* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Often, either from Psykers, Saint Sabbat or [[spoiler:Soric]].* DrillSergeantNasty. Sergeant Kexie is both a ruthless and vicious bastard and a competent soldier who respects his troopers after they prove themselves on the hellish battlefield of Gereon. * DrivenToSuicide: ** [[spoiler: Sabbatine Cirk]] in ''The Armour of Contempt'' due to guilt over having sold out the Gereon resistance to the Inquisition.** ''Double Eagle'' has the suicide death of [[spoiler: Major Heckel]] most likely cauesd by feeling of guilt and the strain of being an officer during an overwhelming Chaos offensive.* DrivesLikeCrazy* DroppedABridgeOnHim: While AnyoneCanDie is in effect, most characters do get to go down fighting. Not [[spoiler: Caffran, shot by a child in ''The Armour of Contempt''.]]* DrowningMySorrows: With so many Ghosts KIA, this happens depressingly often. * DueToTheDead: Some of the most tearjerking parts of any of the novels. * DumbMuscle: "Try Again" Bragg is a subversion. Most people ''think'' that because he's TheBigGuy, he's lacking in mental faculties when in fact, [[spoiler: the plot point of one of the stories in the second novel revolves around Gaunt choosing him for a mission because everyone assumes that he ''must'' be dumb because he's big]].* DuringTheWar: The whole series in a nutshell. * DyingAlone: In ''Blood Pact'', Gaunt considers Ayatani Zweil's services to the regiment; his tending to the dying is a big one.* DyingAsYourself: The best a Ghost can hope for when fighting Chaos. * EarthShatteringKaboom: According to Piet Gutes, Tanith was hit so hard the inside of the planet exploded into space.* EitherWorldDominationOrSomethingAboutBananas: In ''Traitor General''.* ExactWords: Used in a truly absurd example in ''Necropolis''. A tank troop is ordered to advance down a certain road to confront the enemy and their commander is arrested for disobeying orders for ''detouring around a traffic obstacle''.* EliteMooks: The Blood Pact, compared to "normal" heretics and zealots, have been very effective soldiers. Their first appearance, ''Guns of Tanith'', [[spoiler: had them isolate groups of guardsmen with void shields set into doors, cut their communications and cut them off from their commanders]], as well as constantly harassing the occupying Guard forces. In ''Only In Death'', they [[spoiler: effectively reduced the Tanith First and Only to fifty percent of their numbers]], while in ''Blood Pact'', [[spoiler: A group of thirty effectively take out an Imperial Guard strong hold, evade detection for a couple of days, and slaughter numerous Inquisitorial and Imperial operatives.]]* ElitesAreMoreGlamorous: There is a subtle example in ''Salvation Reach''. When Rawne's team gets assigned to protect the Chaos defector, he has special badges made which distinguish his troopers from other Ghosts, even the elite scouts and snipers. Also, the team has its own name, the Suicide King, which reflects their extraordinary status.* EmbarrassingRescue* EmpathyDollShot: Larkin sees a number of dolls nailed to a wall in a building that Chaos troops had swept through. [[spoiler: They weren't dolls.]]* EnemyCivilWar: During the Savaltion's Reach mission this is the end goal. * EnemyMine: [[spoiler: at the end of ''Ghostmaker'', the owners of the mysterious ruins sighted by Mkoll turn out to be Eldar guarding a Webway Gate. The farseer protecting the gate thinks to himself that an actual alliance is out of the question, but he uses his psychic abilities to conjure illusions that make the Ghosts fighting in the battle believe they're still on Tanith and fighting to defend it from Chaos, and he makes the Eldar in the base look like Tanith troops]].* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Cuu calls all the Tanith "Tanith".* EvilCanNotComprehendGood: [[spoiler:Soric's]] [[EvilCripple handlers]] in ''Only In Death''.** Also, the Inquisition cannot seem to accept the fact that the Ghosts can withstand Chaos taint with their sheer badassery and concludes that it must have had something to do with ''the swamp that they were living in''.* EvilCripple: In ''Only In Death''.* EvilIsDeathlyCold: Daemonic activity usually results in the surrounding temperature plummeting. * EvilGloating: In ''Blood Pact'' [[spoiler: Eyl catches up with Gaunt and Mabbon for the last time and has them at his mercy, but starts gloating. This gives Gaunt time to knock him away, following by Larks blowing his head open.]] Even lampshaded by Mabbon who buys Gaunt ''another'' few seconds by telling [[spoiler: Eyl that if he has his target in his sights, he shouldn't waste time talking.]]* EvilIsNotWellLit: In ''Blood Pact'', streetlights go out because a blood wolf runs by.* TheEvilPrince: In ''Necropolis''.* EvilWeapon: During the liberation of Gereon, Merrt loses his lasgun in battle and eventually receives another one, taken from a corpse of an enemy soldier. Not only is it in very poor condition, but it is possible that his new lasgun is tainted by Chaos. Since he is too afraid to admit that he had used a corrupted weapon, Merrt keeps the rifle for the next campaign and starts to believe that it is cursed and will bring his doom. Eventually, he decides to overcome the gun's evil influence with his own strength of will and, although it jams on several occasions, manages to survive the defense of the Hinzerhaus fortress, finally deciding to leave it behind him.* EyeScream: In ''Traitor General'', the leader of the Chaos Space Marine warband is killed by the natives by way of an arrow or several through his eyes.** In ''Ghostmaker'' a trooper puts his eye up to a scope while on a frozen world. It freezes in place and the other Ghosts have to pull the gun away from his face.* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler: General Noches Sturm]] in ''Traitor General''.** Debatable, he wasn't exactly a good guy before he turned.* FacelessGoons: The Blood Pact.** The Chaos-tainted Zoicans from ''Necropolis''. You don't want to see what's under their helmets.* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Gaunt was promised the first planet he conquered. Thus far, it looks like no one will ever admit that he conquered one. Gaunt himself admits that it is incredibly unlikely because his regiment, the Tanith First-and-Only, is a Reconnaissance/Infiltration regiment, and thus doesn't have the sheer numbers required to conquer a planet.** Strangely, this doesn't get brought up very often. The only real mention of that promise after the first arc is in ''Only In Death'', where Curth warns Gaunt that he'd better ''not'' conquer the planet, as the Ghosts would lynch him if they had to muster out on Jago.* FallenPrincess* FalseFlagOperation: In the raid on one of Sek's bases in ''Salvation's Reach'', the Imperial soldiers disguise themselves as Blood Pact troops in an attempt to turn Gaur and Sek against each other and start an EnemyCivilWar.* FamedInStory: After the events of "In Remembrance", the Ghosts with him make much of what Thuro did.* FanNickname: In-universe; The troops has taken a liking to calling the act of wearing commissar's cap brim-first 'Gaunt's Style'. * FastRoping: Used in ''The Guns of Tanith'' when the Ghosts participate in an air assault on a mountain city. If only they were drop troops and not [[RedShirt light infantry]].* FatalFamilyPhoto: Played with in ''Straight Silver''.* AFateWorseThanDeath: Being captured by Chaos. Or having innate psychic abilities, being discovered by the Inquisition and imprisoned inside a Black Ship, [[spoiler: which all happens to one of Gaunt's troopers.]]* AFatherToHisMen: Many characters, but Gaunt most specifically. * FearlessFool: Bragg, though he's not an idea. Varl and Kolea have a game of chicken during one firefight rushing an enemy crossfire as a sort of insane game. * FeedTheMole* FemmeFatale: Several enemy agents as well as Cirk. * FieldPromotion: When Tanith was destroyed, all the officers were on it. Gaunt does some rapid promoting.* FightingForAHomeland: Each of the three worlds that eventually make up the Ghosts. * FireForgedFriends: The Ghosts, unquestionably. * FirstNameBasis: Usually a mark of respect among the soldiers. * FiveRoundsRapid: Both played straight and subverted.* FlawExploitation: In ''Blood Pact'', [[spoiler:Rime]] exploits Gaunt's unwillingness to execute men. [[spoiler:Unfortunately for him, Gaunt wasn't there alone]].* AFriendInNeed: Ludd, in ''His Last Command''.* FriendOrFoe: In ''Only In Death''.* FunWithAcronyms: '''R'''etraining, '''I'''ndoctrination and '''P'''unishment.* GasMaskMooks: From both sides. * [[LukeYouAreMyFather Gaunt, You Are My Father]]: In ''Salvation's Reach'', Gaunt is shocked to learn that he has a son, who followed him all the way from Verghast.* GeneralFailure: Averted by Dravere, despite his despicable WeHaveReserves mentality, played straight with General Sturm.* GenuineHumanHide: During the assault on the Salvation's Reach facility, Gaunt examines a few bodies of Sons of Sek and discovers that all leather parts of their uniform and equipment are made of this material. Even the scroll tubes lying on nearby shelves are made of human skin.* GeoEffects:* GetItOverWith: Usually mortally wounded Ghosts. * GiveMeASword: Gaunt usually. * GlamorFailure:* GlamorousWartimeSinger: In Golke's flashback in ''Straight Silver''.* GloryHound: Undoubtedly General Hechtor Dravere.* GloveSlap: Used to hilarious effect when an inexperienced officer tries to have a polite duel with Ludd during a murderous battle. Ludd just punches him back. * GodzillaThreshold: When Feygor gets very sick in ''Traitor General'' and Curth has nothing left, Ezrah offers a remedy paste containing the normally lethal moth poison. It barely works.* GoodIsNotNice: The Ghosts are ruthless killers in the best of situations. * GoodIsOldFashioned: Gaunt is frequently mocked by Imperial high command as a moralistic relic with no place in the grimdark 41st millennium. * GoodScarsEvilScars: Cuu has an Evil Scar nearly bisecting his face.** Ibram Gaunt also bears a multitude of scars from various injuries sustained in the line of duty. A particularly impressive scar runs across his stomach, which he received [[spoiler:from his uncle Dercius]] in a chainsword duel to avenge his father's death.* GoodShepherd: Ayanti Zwiel is a rare devout and kind preacher of the Imperial Faith who does a great deal to minister to the spiritual needs of the Ghosts, giving pragmatic and usually humorous advice whether its wanted or not. He also looks after dying soldiers so they don't have to die alone *sniff*.** ''Necropolis'' has another example of one. When Gaunt installs a makeshift command centre in an Imperial cathedral, he clearly expects the local high priest to be enraged with the Guard disturbing the sacred place. The man of cloth calmly answers that active fight against the Chaos has more worth in the eyes of the Emperor than thousands of his prayers.* GreatOffscreenWar: There are two fronts to the Sabbat Worlds Crusade. The fact that all the action that the Ghosts see is considered to be in the secondary, less important theater should tell you that the primary front must be orders of magnitude more hellish.* GreenEyedMonster: Arguably Meryn's hat. * TheGrimReaper* HandCannon: Hark's plasma pistol, Gaunt's bolt pistols.** Hark also carries two back up pieces, a brass plated bolt pistol, and a heavy calibre revolver, which had so much kick it could kill a loxatl Mercenary in one shot. For reference, armour piercing rounds are normally needed.* HandicappedBadass: Nessa, Shoggy Domor, Varl, and [[spoiler: Gaunt]] as of the end of ''Only In Death''* HangingJudge* HauntedHeadquarters: Hinzerhaus in ''Only in Death''.* HeelRealization: [[spoiler:Sturm]] in ''Traitor General''.* HeKnowsTooMuch: The set up of ''Traitor General''.* {{Hellhound}}: Inside the Salvation's Reach fortress, the Ghosts are attacked by mutant dogs breeded by Chaos scientists. The skin of those ferocious monsters was removed and their bare flesh exposed, and dead humand heads were attached to their torsos.* HeroicAlbino: Kolding* HeroicBastard:* HeroicSacrifice: About one per book, give or take. An everyday occurence in the life of the Guard. Rarely performed by the Ghosts themselves, oddly enough. [[spoiler:Lilith, Kowle, Golke]] are all examples of non-Ghost heroic sacrifices.* HesDeadJim: [[spoiler: Soric's]] death in ''Only In Death'' is underscored with symbolic/literal confirmations.* HeterosexualLifePartners: Larkin and Bragg, Rawne and Feygor.* HeroOfAnotherStory: The books often briefly mention fighting done by other Guard units in the area, only to carry on the image that the Ghosts aren't totally on their own.** The Book ''Sabbat World's Crusade'', is essentially a compilation of these.* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Gaunt is faced with this dilemma in the later books. Especially in a conversation with Mabbon over what to do with [[spoiler: Maggs,]] who had only a short while before been temporarily possessed by a Chaos witch.--> '''Gaunt:''' Can I trust [[spoiler: Maggs]]? I could really do with an extra pair of hands.--> '''Mabbon:''' You're asking me?--> '''Gaunt:''' Yes.--> '''Mabbon:''' I'd trust him.--> '''Gaunt:''' I'm not you.--> '''Mabbon:''' Well, if I was you, I'd never trust him again. I'd probably kill him, to be sure. ** The above point is further driven home by the fact that the situation with [[spoiler: Maggs]] is reminscent of what happened to Gaunt and his team after being extracted from Gereon: they were under massive scrutiny by the Inquisition solely because they had been on a Chaos-held planet for an extended period of time. Chaos is viewed as TheCorruption, and other Dan Abnett books have shown Imperial forces hesitating very little when it came to killing people who had been mind-controlled by psykers or otherwise forced into service by agents of Chaos. * HiddenDepths: Dorden is [[spoiler: an actor]]. Mkvenner [[spoiler: [[CunningLinguist knows Old Gothic]]]].* HiredGuns: The Chaos forces start using the reptilian loxatl mercenaries in ''The Guns of Tanith'' and a Dark Eldar Mandrake is one of the Nine sent to assassinate Saint Sabbat.* HoldTheLine: Sometimes it gets held, other times against overwhelming odds... well, RealityEnsues. * HollywoodTactics: If they're used by Imperials, it's usually due to an incompetent commander. Chaos forces, on the other hand, tend to use head-on charges a lot, [[WeHaveReserves relying on the fact that they always seem to have massive edge in manpower]]. The latter, however, is actually explained in ''Necropolis'' - Chaos taint can turn the entire corrupted populations, including women, elderly and children, into fanatically fearless fighters.** Mabbon [[LampshadeHanging mentions this]] in ''Traitor General'' as one of the reasons he's changing his allegiance from Gaur to Sek.** The Ghosts' specialty is fast, precision strikes and stealth reconnaissance. Two instances where they are put into situations that don't play to those strengths are the action on Aexe-Cardinal ([[spoiler:essentially UsefulNotes/WorldWarI-style trench warfare, and Gaunt is able to pull some strings to get at least some of them assigned to a recon mission]]) and the defense of Hinzerhaus on Jago ([[spoiler:the intelligence they were given was faulty to begin with, and the mission soon became a bloody siege in which the greatly outnumbered Ghosts lost half their strength; Gaunt later has a discussion with Lord General Van Voytz where he angrily told his Lordship never to put the Ghosts into such an unbalanced conflict again]]). They're also sent into an assault on an island chain in one of the anecdotes in ''Ghostmaker'', causing a lot of casualties to them while the heavy infantry Volpone Bluebloods are sent in after the Ghosts had already been delivered onto the beach instead of the Bluebloods doing it beforehand, though it's said in the narration that Gaunt was pressured into volunteering the Ghosts to save face.* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Dravere and Heldane. * HonoraryUncle: Dercius, although he turns out not to be the best Uncle.* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: When Ban Daur visits an exclusive gambling den in ''Blood Pact'', the ''hostess'' who welcomes him feels genuinely sorry for the young, gentle man who is about to waste his life and fortune. [[spoiler: She doesn't realize yet that her establishment will be soon scammed by Rawne and his cronies.]]* HostageSituation* HufflepuffHouse: The Vitrian Dragoons from ''First and Only'' and other Guard regiments working with the Tanith First.* HumanSacrifice* HumanShield* ICanStillFight: Every wounded Ghost, ever. * ICannotSelfTerminate: In ''Only In Death''.* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Gaunt's leaving Tanith to die.* IdenticalStranger: Major Berenson from ''Only in Death'' to Caffran.* IfIWantedYouDead* IGaveMyWord: Gaunt to the Gereon resistance. * ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Chaos ranks seem to be mostly composed from its graduates. They compensate this with MoreDakka.** Justified since the majority of the enemies the Ghosts fight are barely trained cultists with inferior equipment. The Blood Pact are actually terrifyingly competent.* ImplausibleFencingPowers: In ''First & Only,'' a {{Flashback}} shows then-Commissar Gaunt kill the man who left his father to die, [[spoiler: General Dercius]], in a chainsword duel by using a thrust after parrying his opponent's weapon, a move thought impossible with a chainsword.* ImprobableAimingSkills: Larkin and the rest of the Tanith snipers. However, a brief passage in ''Honour Guard'' shows that Cuu can be even better.* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Saint Sabbat, made all the more precious by the usual grimdark of the 41st millennium. * InferredSurvival: In ''Armour of Contempt'', Mkvenner, who is literally one of the most {{Badass}} Ghosts in existence, is stated to have been killed in action, though they NeverFoundTheBody and the Resistance deliberately pretends that he's still alive. There are a number of clues in the book to suggest that he actually is.* InHarmsWay: Daur's motive at the opening of ''Blood Pact''.* InsigniaRipOffRitual: Gaunt does this to [[spoiler:General Sturm]]. It is both used and inverted in Necropolis, when [[spoiler:Gaunt removes the blowhard, glory-hungry Commissar Kowle's rank insignia, but later replaces them when Kowle sacrifices a grenade bandolier and his arms to destroy a Chaos beast]].* InspectorJavert: Inquisitor Rime from ''Blood Pact'' is too eager to see Gaunt caught as a heretic. It makes sense once it turns out that [[spoiler: Rime is a Chaos agent.]]* IntergenerationalFriendship: Dalin, Criid and Merrt,* InternalHomage: In ''The Guns of Tanith'', [[spoiler:Gol Kolea saves Tona Criid but is shot in the back of the head and loses his memory and personality. Kolea saves Criid in ''Sabbat Martyr'' in the same way, prompting a Ghost who had been present at both occasions to recognise the trope in action and pull him to cover before history repeats itself]].* InterserviceRivalry: The Ghosts compete with just about every other Imperial regiment in the Crusade, some of it friendly, some of it not. ''Double Eagle'', the spin-off novel which features Imperial pilots as main protagonists, shows the natural competition between different squadrons lifted UpToEleven the elite and incredibly arrogant Apostles.* IResembleThatRemark* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler:The Jantine Patricians of ''First & Only'' are eager for glory and to make Gaunt pay for marking the regiment's record by killing General Aldo Dercius for cowardice. For attacking the Tanith First And Only at Hektor's command, who was killed with his Leviathan exploding and unable to absolve them their actions, they were all deemed traitors and all records of the regiment's honours and victories were destroyed.]]* ItsAllAboutMe* ItsAllMyFault: Raglon tries to claim this in ''Straight Silver''.* ItWorksBetterWithBullets: In ''Blood Pact''.* JamesBondage: Rescuing [[spoiler:Rawne]] in ''First & Only''.* JeanneDArchetype: Saint Sabbat is pretty much Joan of Arc in the 41st Millennium in various ways. Although unlike her real life counterpart, she ''doesn't'' die at the hands of her co-religionists and is venerated as a saint almost immediately. [[spoiler:Also, she comes back to aid the Imperial Guard in freeing the worlds named in her honor.]]* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: At first it seems that the Space Marines tasked to assist the Tanith with assaulting Salvation's Reach are complete {{Jerkass}}es. However, they start showing small acts of kindness to the soldiers who manage to earn their respect, with one of them even helping Merrt regain his shooting ability. Gaunt points out that Space Marines aren't necessarily jerks, it's just that their morals and values operate on a completely different level from ordinary humans.* JumpOffABridgeRebuttal* JustifiedTitle: The ''Necropolis'' book is the defense of a large city. Necropolis is an word for a large graveyard, coming from Greek words to mean "city of the dead". Needlessly to say, the defense was far from bloodless.* KarmaHoudini: Cuu at the end of ''Straight Silver'', survivng despite the fact [[spoiler:he brutally murdered Sehra Muril, after shes tries to save Larkin from him]].** Meryn has also gotten away with a lot of despicable things in ''Salvation's Reach'', such as [[spoiler:stealing the identities of slain Ghosts and their relatives and spouses for a pension scam, as well as leaving Costin and several other Ghosts to die to cover his tracks.]]* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:Cuu]] again, in ''Sabbat Martyr'', about damn time too.* KickTheDog: That damn bastard, Cuu, kicks the shit out of numerous dogs, rats, birds, small animals, [[spoiler:promising Vervunhiver scouts, [[TheBigGuy large heavy weapons specialists]] and much-loved colonels]] among many others.** Meryn has also started breaking in his pair of dog kicking boots.* KickThemWhileTheyAreDown: Jantine Patricians do this, attacking a wounded Ghost.* KilledOffForReal: Get out the kleenex, this series can get rough. ** Abnett will say when a character is killed. If he doesn't say, directly, that they're dead, assume they're alive. [[spoiler:General Sturm after Vervunhive for example...]]* KillMeNowOrForeverStayYourHand: Rawne and Gaunt.* KnifeNut: Almost every Ghost can use the straight silver well.* KnightInSourArmor: Ibram Gaunt.* LaResistance: The Gereon resistance.** The Nightgane partisans are a double example. They are descendants of Gereon colonists who rebelled against the Imperial rule and waged guerrilla war for centuries before the Chaos invasion. They eventually merge with the loyalist resistance in fight against the occupying forces.* LastNameBasis: Almost everyone is referred to by surname only. Given names are occasionally stated but rarely used. Exceptions do become more common as the series progresses -- but FirstNameBasis is always a significiant sign of friendship or at least informality. Except for Dalin Criid, because "Criid" denotes his adoptive mother Tona Criid.* LargeAndInCharge: Both played straight and inverted - some characters, like Chaos warlord Heritor Asphodel in ''Necropolis'', are explicitly larger than their minions. However, Gaunt is smaller than his 2IC Corbec and the largest Ghost, Bragg, is a lowly trooper.* LastStand* LaughingMad: From ''Gaunt'' shockingly enough. After a hellish year and a half mission on a Chaos held world, he has probably the closest thing ever to a full psychotic break after killing a massive mutant in the step-city of Sparshad Mons. Gaunt ''congratulates'' his enemy upon successfully making him afraid, as he had thought that he had lost the ability to fear after his previous mission. It terrifies the soldiers who are with him.* LastOfHisKind: Invoked in ''First & Only'', when Caffran knows it is possible that he was the only survivor of the regiment after a bombardment.** There's also a reason why the Tanith First-And-Only are called ''precisely that,'' especially as the actual proportion of Ghosts from Tanith dwindle with each successive book.* LeaveBehindAPistol* LeetLingo: Merrt's rifle's designation is [=O34TH=]. He misread it as death the first time he saw it.* TheLegionsOfHell: Chaos.* LighterAndSofter: It's a strange and rather grim fact that the Gaunt novels, (and for that matter most other novels set in the 'verse) present the ''better'' side of the TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} universe. While the galaxy is undeniably a brutal place, the presence of predominantly sympathetic characters, a portrayal of Imperial society as ''generally'' functioning, and a few genuine miracles and supernatural agents of good, primarily those relating to Saint Sabbat, soften the [[DarkerAndEdgier GRIMDARK]] portrayed by the tabletop game's lore. This is arguably both necessary and perhaps even an improvement.* LiteraryAgentHypothesis Most of the books are prefaced with an extract from ''A Later History Of The Imperial Crusades'' and on occasion the narrator gives information that only someone in the future - relative to the events being narrated, to be exact - would know. Of course, the novels take place two centuries before the "current" 40k time setting.* LittleHeroBigWar: The Ghosts are often fighting on secondary fronts or places that are considered minor battles compared to the rest of the Crusade. Because of this, most of their achievements are often lost in obscurity. Even so, the History of the Later Imperial Crusades, the history book whose quotes preface each story often mention the Ghost's involvement in certain theatres, even if only vaguely.* LivingOnBorrowedTime: [[spoiler:Dorden]], who by the time of ''Salvation's Reach'' should have been dead months already from his leukemia but still clings to life due to sheer force of will.* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Just try [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gaunt%27s_Ghosts_characters reading the list]].* LosingTheTeamSpirit: Rawne is keenly aware of the danger in ''Only In Death''.* LostInTranslation: The Polish translation of ''The Guns of Tanith'' was titled ''Karabiny Tanith'' (literally: ''The Rifles of Tanith''). Since the original English title is a reference to Literature/TheGunsOfNavarone, translated into Polish as ''Działa Nawarony'', the proper choice of words would be ''Działa Tanith''.* TheLostWoods: Tanith, in the BackStory.* LotusEaterMachine: In ''Ghostmaker'', [[spoiler:an Eldar warlock pulls a psychic deception in order to gain the aid of the unwitting Ghosts, making them believe that they are fighting to defend Tanith. It is not very good, however, as Milo notices some oddities, and the illusion is broken when Larkin scopes the leader of the Eldar defenders out]].* LoveAtFirstSight: Invoked in ''The Guns of Tanith''.* MacGuffinDeliveryService* MadeASlave: In ''Traitor General'', the surviving inhabitants of Gereon have been enslaved to destroy its Imperial temples. Later they were forced to work under excruciating conditions, and those who managed to live long enough to see the Imperial liberation became physical and emotional cripples.* MadOracle: Right off the bat when a young psyker predicts much of Gaunt's early time with the Ghosts. * MadScientistLaboratory: The Ghosts' main objective in ''Salvation Reach'' is to [[spoiler: raid a well-defended Chaos research facility and capture as much intelligence material as possible, which may be further used in advantage to the Crusade. The laboratory is described as grim halls filled with strange and disturbing devices. Although they cannot read them, even mere touch of scrolls and dataslates stored there fills the Imperial Guardsmen with a feeling of dread.]]* MagicalSeventhSon: Soric reveals that his great-grandmother was a witch, and that his father said it would come to him, as the seventh son of a seventh son. [[spoiler:On the other hand, what it causes him doesn't seem very lucky at all...]]* MagicMap: One of the Chaos assassins in ''Blood Pact'' has a living map on his hand's skin, created by powerful Chaos sorcery, which shows the part of the building where he currently is.* MagicMusic: The drums in ''First & Only''.* TheMagnificent* MaliciousMisnaming: Cuu insists on calling every Tanith soldier "Tanith".* ManlyTears: Hark, at the end of ''Only In Death''.** Rawne does this as well, in the same book, possibly twice.** Painfully subverted in ''Blood Pact'', because [[spoiler:Gaunt can't cry due to his augmetic eyes]].** At the end of ''The Armour of Contempt'', when the DrillSergeantNasty salutes the troopers whom he has been abusing to make Guardsmen out of them, Dalin Criid realizes that he's a lot older than he had first thought, and feels himself tearing up. The sergeant pronounces them "proper bloody Guardsman".* ManOnFire: An inevitability whenever the Tanith flamers arrive on the field.* MatterOfLifeAndDeath* MauveShirt: Characters may have names, have a bit talked about themselves and/or what they've done, but that doesn't mean you should expect them to live.* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Toyed with in Saint Sabbat's first few appearances, but it doesn't last. Also, the Larkin's mysterious encounter in ''Ghostmaker''. In a mission to sneak into a Chaos-held city and snipe its leader, Larkin loses it and abandons the mission team. He holes up in a room high up on a tower with a statue of an Imperial Angel - which he imagines talking to him, convincing him to do his duty and giving him a strip of cloth to help steady his aim. He ends up taking out the Chaos warlord, then passes out. When he comes to, other Ghosts are helping him up, and Angel is just a statue again - but his long-las is sitting in the corner with a band of silk tied to it.* MeaningfulEcho: In ''First & Only'', in the {{Flashback}} where Gaunt learns how his father died, the woman telling him starts by saying that he is his father's "first and only" son.* TheMedic: Dorden, Curth, the often forgotten Mtane, Lesp and some of Dorden's orderlies from the first books.* MenDontCry: At least among the Sleepwalkers.** Not to mention Gaunt can't cry.* TheMenFirst* MercyKill: In ''Only In Death''.** A minor one in ''Ghostmaker'' as well.* MexicanStandoff* MilitaryMashupMachine: In ''Double Eagle'', the Chaos forces use gigantic, wheeled carriers to launch their warplanes.* MilitaryMaverick: Over and over again. Arguably what makes Gaunt Gaunt.* MilitaryMoonshiner: Sacra, Bragg's is supposedly the best. * MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: Kolding from ''Blood Pact'', at least in Maggs's eyes.* MistakenforRacist:Gaunt.* MobileMaze: The forests of Tanith* TheMole: [[spoiler:Inquisitor Rime and Xomat]] in ''Blood Pact'', although not for the same organisation.* MookHorrorShow: A lot.* MoralMyopia* {{Mordor}}* MoreDakka: While the Ghosts are light infantry, they do occasional use heavier weapons. * MoreHeroThanThou: Several times the Ghosts actually fight over who gets to go on a suicide mission. * MostAnnoyingSound: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] in ''Ghostmaker'', where this is Gaunt's initial opinion of the Tanith pipe music, probably because local tradition required that it be played continuously to any offworlders on their planet.* MusicForCourage: Before Milo becomes a full Guardsman, this is his role in combat.* MutualKill: Apparently Slaydo vs. Nadzybar in the backstory. In ''Necropolis'', [[spoiler:nearly Heritor Asphodel vs. Gaunt]].* NiceJobBreakingItHero: A large part of the plot in ''Honour Guard''.* TheNeidermeyer: There's always at least one in every book.* NeverBringAKnifeToAFistfight: In ''The Armour of Contempt'' some Hauberkans attack Hark. One has a knife, another a chain fist. Neither do any real damage.* NeverFoundTheBody: [[spoiler: [=MkVenner=]]] in ''Armor of Contempt'', [[spoiler: Gaunt]] in ''Only In Death''.* NewMeat: Dalin. * NiceToTheWaiter* NightmareFace: [[spoiler:SubvertedTrope in ''Necropolis'', Larkin screams looking upon at the face of a Chaos-corrupted soldier and sees it again whenever he closes his eyes, but despite the later mention of the horrible cybernetic enhancements on the soldiers used to control them, what ''really'' disturbs Larkin is that [[UncannyValley the face is otherwise of a normal person.]]]]* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Jantine Patricians attack several Ghosts and leave three dead and one critical this way.* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: Is both played straight and averted on some level in many of the books.* NoPartyLikeADonnerParty: In ''His Last Command'' Gaunt finds that [[spoiler: cooks for Fortis Binary's units are using meat from corpses in their cooking]].* NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow: Applies to over half the cast. [[AnyoneCanDie Sometimes]].* TheNoseKnows: Ezsrah.* NotAfraidOfYouAnymore: The survivors of Gereon essentially become so indoctrinated with terror day in and day out that they can face ''anything'' Chaos can throw at them without flinching. * NotAGame* NotDistractedByTheSexy: In ''First and Only'', Rawne and some unsavoury character discuss contraband at a seedy bar, paying no attention whatsoever to the showgirl doing a striptease on stage.* NumerologicalMotif: Nine is an important number to Saint Sabbat and her followers, being the number of wounds inflicted when she was martyred. It shows up a ''lot'' in the Saint arc, and it's almost never a good sign.* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: ''Only In Death'' has various examples, such as straitlaced Daur almost hitting Rawne, unflappable Mkoll getting spooked and chatty Maggs being quiet. In ''Blood Pact'', Daur [[spoiler: is caught helping one of Rawne's scams.]] Hark notes that discipline and morale are hitting new lows.* ObstructiveBureaucrat: In both ''Necropolis'' and ''Sabbat Martyr'', officials try to prevent people from taking shelter.* OfficerAndAGentleman The whole schtick of the Jantine Patricians and the Volpone Bluebloods. Gaunt himself, to an extent.* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: The final chapter of ''Sabbat Martyr'' makes reference to a week-long battle supposedly more intense than any other recorded in the account, but we don't get to read it.* OffWithHisHead: Several times, most awesomely by [[spoiler: Saint Sabbat beheading a massive Chaos warlord]].* OldFriend: Several of Gaunt's show up from time to time. * OldMaster: Larkin and Mkoll.* OldRetainer: Gaunt's father's cook, when Gaunt was a child.* OldSchoolDogfight: ''Double Eagle'' is essentially the Battle of Britain RecycledInSPACE.* OneManArmy: Saint Sabbat. In ''Sabbat Martyr'', it is recounted that she once slew 1800 enemy soldiers single-handedly in a single battle and it is very safe to assume her total kill-count is higher than that. In the same book, she destroys a superheavy tank with a sword and a pipe bomb.* OnionTears* OnlyAFleshWound: Even the direst of wounds can be only a flesh wound in the [=WH40k=] 'verse, thanks to augmetic replacements. ''His Last Command'' supplies a nice quote on the topic, as seen on the page.* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou In ''In Rememberance'', Rawne tells the unconscious Gaunt that he can't die, because Rawne wants to kill him.* OohMeAccentsSlipping: In ''Blood Pact'' [[spoiler: Baltasar Eyl Damogaur has difficulty maintaining his civilised veneer during the final encounter with Gaunt and Mabbon, causing his outworld accent to leak.]]* OracularUrchin* OrphansPlotTrinket: Gaunt's father's ring.* OrWasItADream: Larkin's encounter with the angel in ''Ghostmaker''.* OutscareTheEnemy: In ''His Last Command'', Gaunt tells some soldiers that he could tell them he was more frightening than the enemy.** When the Blood Pact warriors launch a frontal attack on the Hinzerhaus fortress, their appearance is so terryfying that one of the Ghosts mutters that perhaps the Imperial Guard should learn from them how to raise fear among the enemy ranks.* PaintingTheMedium: The documents between chapters in ''Only In Death''.* PastVictimShowcase: Sagittar Slaith uses this in ''The Guns of Tanith''.* PerspectiveFlip: ''Traitor General'' involves an Imperial commander defecting to Chaos, and an Imperial strike team's efforts to assassinate said general. ''Blood Pact'' involves a Chaos commander defecting to the Imperium, and a Chaos strike team's efforts to assassinate said general. Both books also give considerable page-time to the Chaos forces, as opposed to Abnett's usual complete focus on the Ghosts.* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Gaunt is The Commissar Who Doesn't Shoot His Men Very Often. Justified as his late mentor, Commissar-General Oktar, also practised such a style. Do note the ''Not Very Often''. Commissars who follow the usual style may get immediate results, but morale in their companies tends to tank up until the point that the commissar [[TheUriahGambit suddenly and tragically dies.]]*** Hark is a particularly interesting example. On one occasion he sees some soldiers running from combat. When he attempts to rally them, they ignore him. He lets him go, and is promptly asked why he didn't shoot them, to which he basically replies that it would be a waste of time. Instead, [[spoiler:he shoots their commanding officer, for failing to show leadership]].* PlaceboEffect: Blenner pops sugar pills for nerves throughout Salvation's Reach, and becomes aware they're sugar pills near the end.* ThePlan: ** Gaunt pulls off one in ''First & Only''. * PlanetLooters: This is what Chaos does on some of the worlds they take, and they usually transfer the resources from the planet to another one somewhere else on the front. One method is detailed in ''Traitor General'': using a Warp creature to inhale an ''entire ocean'' and transfer it to another planet for which the Archenemy requires water. They also import xeno-crops to build up their food supply, which depletes the soil until nothing can grow.* PlayingPossum* PocketProtector: ** In ''Necropolis'', Gaunt's life is saved by a metallic rose he is wearing. He is still badly hurt and the rose breaks to imbed pieces of it in him, rendering him unconscious for almost a month and almost dying anyway, but it was still better than getting a bolt shell completely in him.** In ''Salvation's Reach'', Cant's cap badge [[spoiler:turns Sirkle's should-have-been fatal garrotting into only a serious wound.]]* PokemonSpeak: In ''Salvation's Reach'' Chaos warships broadcast their names endlessly.* PowderKegCrowd* PrecisionFStrike: Normally, [[UnusualEuphemism unusual euphemisms]] are used in place of actual curses, so when Sturm refers to Gaunt as a "jumped-up shit" in ''Necropolis'', it really makes an impact on the reader.* PrettyLittleHeadshots: Justified due to las weapons cauterizing the wounds they cause. Occurs to minor trooper Mktag in ''In Remembrance'', the short story included with ''The Founding'' omnibus. The sight traumatises the POV character, sheltered artist Thuro.--> ... little black hole .... made in his forehead. There was no blood. .... I think if there had been more blood, more obvious physical damage, I could have coped better. But it was just such a tiny little hole.* PrimalStance: [[spoiler: Maggs under the Chaos witch's control]] in ''Blood Pact''.* PosthumousCharacter: Warmaster Slaydo.* ThePowerOfFriendship: In an oddly straight example, this saves [[spoiler: Rawne from getting subverted by Chaos in ''Sabbat Martyr'']].-->''No! Too strong. Too willful (sic). Too beloved by other souls that anchored him and dragged him back.''* PunnyName: InUniverse. Poor Trooper Cant [[IncrediblyLamePun can't]] catch a break.* PutOnABus: Brin Milo in ''Sabbat Martyr''. Subverted with [[spoiler:Agun Soric, who gets sent away on a Black Ship at the end of ''Sabbat Martyr'' apparently never to return, but eventually returns in ''Only in Death'' as a Sanctioned Psyker]].* PyroManiac: Brostin. In his civilian life before the destruction of Tanith he was a firefighter and also ''an arsonist''. After the Foundation, he was aptly assigned as a flametrooper. Whenever Brostin uses his weapon or witnesses a fire, he is shown drawing personal satisfaction from it. And he's a chainsmoker too.* QuirkyMinibossSquad: The Nine.* RansackedRoom: Quite common considering how many warzones the Ghosts observe. Sometimes attention is paid to objects left behind, like children's dolls...* RealityEnsues: How one of the scouts kills a stalker in ''His Last Command''.* RealityWarper: The influence of Chaos on a planet eventually cause this. * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Lord General Van Voytz.* ReassignedToAntarctica: [[spoiler: Lugo]] after ''Honour Guard''.* ReassignmentBackfire: Trying to send the Ghosts on suicide mission usually just results in another glorious victory for them. * RecurringDreams: Frequently, but Gaunt, Hark, Corbec and Soric have the most important ones. * RecycledInSPACE: Abnett takes familiar historical battle settings and transposes them to the 40k universe. ''The Guns of Tanith'' features an Operation Market Garden-esque mass paradrop... onto a mountaintop city sticking out of poisonous clouds. ''Straight Silver'' has UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne trench fighting... with lasers. ''Double Eagle'' is the Battle of Britain and the earlier Battle of France with vector-engined supersonic jet fighters. ''Necropolis'' seems to be somewhat based off of the Battle of Stalingrad itself, with the intense urban fighting that goes on.* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Multiple characters throughout, perhaps most notably [[spoiler:good old Noches Sturm, yet again]].** There's an interesting case of Redemption Equals Near Death in Trooper Costin, who was often getting himself into trouble through either drunkeness or disorderly conduct. After the former vice gets Raglon's first command decimated, Gaunt gives him a second chance [[spoiler:though this strains Gaunt's friendship with Dorden, as the doctor sticks up for the trooper]]. In ''Sabbat Martyr'', Dorden takes Gaunt aside to where Costin lies wounded and describes to the colonel-commissar how Costin risked his life to save of a squad regrouping from being slaughtered.*** Then horribly averted in ''Salvation's Reach'', where it's revealed that [[spoiler:Costin goes back to being a drunkard and participates in a pension fraud scam using stolen identities, ''including Dorden's dead wife''. He later dies an undignified death after being left to die by Meryn]].* RedHerring: ''First & Only'' heavily implies [[spoiler: Rawne is being controlled by Heldane psychically. It later turns out Fereyd was actually Heldane's pawn - though Heldane's torture affected Rawne to feel his psychic presence while he was commanding Fereyd, Heldane didn't do enough to completely control him.]]** In ''Sabbat Martyr'', following some exposition from [[spoiler: Pater Sin]] about the mysterious soldier they've selected to turn into [[BrainwashedAndCrazy a Chaos meat-puppet]], the book switches to [[spoiler: Milo, the Saint's chosen sidekick]], suffering from major headaches. [[spoiler: He's not the puppet, but it's suggested his latent psychic abilities are altering him to the danger the Saint is in]].* RedShirt: A natural trope coming with how many, many, '''''many''''' people die in-universe. You'll lose count quickly. ''Necropolis'' in particular horribly describes the varied, unfortunate and lethal fates of the millions of civilians and workers desperately trying to avoid and survive the attack on Vervunhive periodically throughout the story.* RedShirtArmy: As Imperial Guardsmen, the Ghosts are technically this, but in comparison to most Planetary Defense Forces ("the RedShirtArmy for the RedShirtArmy" as mentioned in the ''[[TabletopGame/WarHammer40000 Warhammer 40000]]'' pages on this wiki), they are much more skilled and effective in combat.* RefugeInAudacity: Source material notwithstanding, at one point in ''The Guns Of Tanith'' Varl and Kolea literally run into heavy enemy fire to penetrate a fortified position.--> ''It was just sheer balls.... They were edging ahead simply by stint of bravado.... Devil-dare.''* RememberThatYouTrustMe* ReplacementGoldfish: A steady trickle of new Ghosts replace the ones who have been killed. * RequisiteRoyalRegalia: The higher rank you are in the Imperium, the more bling you get. It doesn't always indicate if a character is a badass however. * {{Revenge}}* ReverseGrip: The Tanith knife technique, as described in ''First And Only''.* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Eszrah is duty bound to go on one if his master, Gaunt, is killed. [[spoiler: This actually happens in ''Only in Death'' when Gaunt is thought to be dead]].* RockBeatsLaser: A Chaos Space Marine gets killed... by ''crossbows''. This is most likely a jab at the trend to model marine squad leaders without helmets to make them more badass. Which CAN get them killed when angry natives start putting the village's whole supply of poisoned arrows through their faces. These weren't normal poisoned bolts either- one of the members of the Chaos retinue died when a moth (which the poison is made from) ''landed on him.'' Also, the Marine's face was described as a "pin cushion," With 30+ bolts lodged there.* RousingSpeech: Novobazky's "Shores of Marik" in ''His Last Command''.* RuleOfThree: "A traditional Tanith toast took three parts" in ''Only In Death''.* SacrificialLion: While this is a series where AnyoneCanDie, the death of [[spoiler:Colm Corbec]] really drives this in ''hard''.* SandInMyEyes:* ScarilyCompetentTracker: The entire Tanith First-and-Only fit this mould from the point of view of the rest of the Guard. The Scout Platoon is scarily competent even to the rest of the Tanith. Sergeant Mkoll is scarily competent even to the Scouts he leads, and [[spoiler:doubly so after returning alive from Gereon in ''His Last Command'']]. Even ''more'' so for [=MkVenner=], who is such an impossibly badass scout that he [[spoiler: frees the entire Gereon resistance from the Inquisition without alerting anybody]].* ScarsAreForever: Of particularly note are Gaunt's chainsword scar across his stomach which identifies him at the end of ''Only In Death'', and Merrt's jaw.* SchizoTech: In "Straight Silver" the Aexe Cardinal PDF are armed with stubbers and have only heard of lasguns in stories, but their bird-riding cavalry control their mounts using neural implants.* ScreamDiscretionShot: Several times, both for Imperial characters and Chaos. * {{Scotireland}}:** Most planets in Warhammer 40K are derived from one Earth culture or another, and Tanith was the generalised "Celtic naturey" one. Many of the Ghosts use Scottish or Welsh elements in their names -- the Scottish Mk- prefix and Welsh w's, l's, and y's (Wheln is a good example). This may be another Sharpe influence, as Sharpe has a lot of Irish characters and dwells on the theme of their homeland being "lost", albeit in a different way.** Oan Mkoll is a ShoutOut to folksinger Ewen MacColl, who revived many traditional Scottish songs.** Also, there's their [[Film/{{Braveheart}} liberal use of blue tattoos]]...** There are also their silver knives (think dirks), their "Black Irish" appearance of pale skin and black hair, Milo's bagpipes...*** Many Scottish laments could be about Tanith if read in the right context, as they are often about leavetaking, losing one's home to the enemy, and never returning. The story of Lost Tanith is at least partially "Wild Geese" and "'45 Rebellion".* TheScottishTrope: In ''Blood Pact'' Zweil insists on referring to [[spoiler: his terminal condition]] as "The Concern". [[spoiler: Though it's not ''his'' Concern but Dorden's.]]* SecondLove* SeeThruSpecs: Larkin's scope.* SenselessSacrifice: [[spoiler:Poor Feygor's death accomplished nothing]].* SergeantRock: Major Rawne.* ShaggyDogStory: ''Necropolis'' has the Imperial Guard and PDF forces suffer horrendous losses in the defense of Vervunhive. However, in the end, [[spoiler:Vervunhive experiences so much damage and so many citizens were killed during the fighting, that Warmaster Macaroth offically declares the hive dead anyway and relocates the surviving populace]]. This is lampshaded in a conversation between Gaunt and Corbec at the end of the novel.* ShellShockedSenior: Most of the characters, particularly the original Tanith, eventually become these. It was probably inevitable.* ShootTheBullet: The difficulty of doing so is discussed in ''Salvation's Reach''.--> He had ordered counterfire to try and track and detonate some of the incoming torpedoes, but even with the detection systems on their side, it was like trying to hit an individual grain of sand with a bow and arrow during a hurricane.* ShootTheDog: Throughout ''Straight Silver'' and ''Sabbat Martyr'', Larkin struggles with the need to kill [[spoiler:Lijah Cuu before he kills any more of the Ghosts, though Cuu still manages a few more team-kills before Larkin's hand is forced.]] In ''The Guns of Tanith'', Meryn kills a few Phantine civilians in order to prevent his group blowing their cover, but the morality of this is still questioned books - and, chronologically in-universe, many months - later. In ''Blood Pact'', knowing Gaunt won't kill someone without proof, [[spoiler:Rawne]] does it for him.* ShootTheHostage* ShootYourMate: In ''Traitor General''.* ShotAtDawn: In ''The Guns Of Tanith''.* ShoutOut:** ''The Guns of Tanith'' is ''The Guns of Navarone'' [[InSpace on Phantine, with lasguns.]]** Dorden complains about his patients making light of their injuries by saying they're "[[OnlyAFleshWound just flesh wounds]]." "I've had people say that who [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail were missing a leg!"]]** In ''Straight Silver'', Dorden and Curth are working at an aid station near the front. The number designation of the station? [[Series/{{MASH}} 4077]].* ShroudedInMyth: The shootout between Corbec, Feygor and Rawne against 20 Pyritean mob enforcers mentioned in ''First And Only''.** Ditto for [=MkVenner=] in ''The Armour Of Contempt'', where the Gereon resistance deliberately credits him with every single operation to both build up morale and terrify the enemy. This continues even after [[spoiler: [=MkVenner=] was supposedly killed.]]* ShutUpKiss: [[spoiler:Daur.]]* TheSiege: The entire novels ''Necropolis'' and ''Sabbat Martyr''. ''Only in Death'' is also largely this with a big side dish of haunted house ghost story.* SlashedThroat: In ''Salvation's Reach'' Rawne does this to [[spoiler:a Sirkle]].* SlasherSmile: Lijah Cuu has one of these. In ''Straight Silver'', it is explicitly noted that "the most evil servants of Chaos would have killed to have a smile that lethal."* SmugSnake: Meryn is shaping up to be a not quite as competent Cuu.* SniperRifle: The long-las and some bolt-action rifles that Larkin had to use when ammo ran out or his favorite weapon wasn't on him (''Traitor General'' and ''First and Only'' respectively).* SoleSurvivor: In a general sense, the Ghosts are all that's left of Tanith. * SoProudOfYou: Tona to her adopted son Dalin. * SoWhatDoWeDoNow: Rawne's reaction to [[spoiler:believing Gaunt dead]] in ''Only In Death''.* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: In ''Blood Pact'' Tona identifies that she's from Gaunt with a message to [[spoiler: Blenner]] by reminding the latter that he lied about his father to Gaunt on the first day of scholam.* TheSquad: Several, each with their own specialty and experts. * TheSquadette: After ''Necropolis'', the Tanith First and Only became one of the few Guard units to integrate females into what was once an all male regiment. Naturally, this was met with mixed feelings until they proved to be just as good as, or in some cases ''better'' than, the men.* StatingTheSimpleSolution: In the above-mentioned EvilGloating scene, Mabbon points out that [[spoiler:Eyl]] should have just fired.* StealthInsult: ''Pheguth'' is already a grievous insult in [[BlackSpeech the Chaos language]], meaning DirtyTraitor... but try saying it out loud.* TheStoic: Ezsrah, [=MkVenner=].* StoutStrength: Corbec. * StrollingThroughTheChaos: Bonin.* StupidSacrifice: How Imperial infantry wave assaults are usually depicted, although sometimes they have literally no choice in the matter. * SunglassesAtNight: Ezrah.* SuperStrength: Bragg's ability to wield heavy weapons that most people need to set up on the ground is clearly superhuman. [[spoiler:In his death scene, he attempts to use the autocannon he was firing as a melee weapon]].* SuperpoweredMooks: Darkwatchers in ''Necropolis''.* SurpriseWitness* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: In ''Blood Pact'', how [[spoiler: the Chaos witch finds Gaunt's group, the curious spot on the map that wards have prevented her from looking into.]]* TheSwarm: Rats in ''Straight Silver''.* TakeOurWordForIt: In ''Necropolis'' Larkin pulls off the mask of a Chaos-corrupted soldier. The face makes him scream his lungs out and see it again whenever he closes his eyes, but it's never described. However, it is strongly implied that he is reacting to the Chaos troops being comprised of [[spoiler:the civilian population of a neighboring hive-city, including women and children - outfitted with hideous cybernetic enhancements that turn them all into a HiveMind entity]].* TalkingInYourDreams: Gaunt. * TalkingToTheDead: The whole plot of Only in Death and a major subplot in Honor Guard. * TalkToTheFist: Gaunt, usually to some Imperial idiot trying to get in his way. * TankGoodness: Tanks appear throughout the series, but are especially prominent in ''Honour Guard'', where an armored unit accompanies the Ghosts on their mission.* TarotMotifs In ''Blood Pact'' -- as playing cards.* TearsOfJoy: * TellMeAboutMyFather: Young Gaunt to many, many people. A psyker finally tells him.* TemptingFate: In ''Blood Pact'' Gaunt sees the Ghosts getting rowdy due to the peace on Balhaut and hopes to get back into the war. [[spoiler: The war comes to him in the form of a Blood Pact kill-team.]]* ThereWillBeToiletPaper: Averted in ''Ghostmaker'', where Rawne is shown shaving using his warknife without a nick.* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs* TheyHaveTheScent: Chaos hunting beasts are particularly good at this. ** The demon-possessed tank, which stalks the Gaunt's party during the liberation of Gereon, behaves like a preying animal and probably can catch their scent, although this remains ambiguous.* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodSandwich: The incident which truly demonstrates General Dravere's total lack of regard for his men isn't his WeHaveReserves mentality, but how he keeps an enormous samovar with enough recaf in it to supply a regiment for a week in his headquarters, and casually orders an aide to dump it all out and make him a fresh pot.* ThickerThanWater: Never mess with a Ghost if you're from another regiment. * ThinkNothingOfIt: Considering how often the Ghosts do the impossible to save each other, this becomes pretty much standard. * ThisIsADrill: In ''Honour Guard'', Trooper Yael is killed by Pater Sin using a drill.* ThisIsNotADrill: In ''Blood Pact''.** And again in ''Salvation's Reach'', when the captain of the ship the Ghosts are traveling on [[spoiler: realizes they're about to be ambushed by a Chaos war fleet.]]* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: In ''Salvation's Reach'' a minor Ghost is killed by a knife thrown into his heart.* ThouShaltNotKill: Dorden tries to practice this, and the one time he had to break it in ''First And Only'' still weighs on him even in the later books, when years have passed in-universe.* TitleDrop: Relatively easily in the first few books, more of a challenge with ''The Armour of Contempt''.** An odd sort in ''Blood Pact'': no fewer than five of the previous book titles are stated, the more obvious (read: not appearing as frequently as terms like 'First and Only' or 'Straight silver') ones ''His Last Command'', ''Traitor General'', and ''Only In Death''. * ToAbsentFriends: In ''Traitor General'' and ''Only In Death''.* ToKnowHimIMustBecomeHim* TranslationConvention: The older form of Gothic spoken by the Nihtgane is represented as YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe.* TreacheryCoverUp* TrialOfTheMysticalJury* Tokenminority: Jajjo is the token Vergast Scout. Ironically he is also the only Black Ghost.* TrueCompanions: This should be pretty obvious.* TurnTheOtherCheek: Gaunt to [[spoiler: Rawne]].* TyrantTakesTheHelm: Sobile from ''Armour of Contempt'' is a more traditional [=Warhammer 40K=] commissar. He executes his men and uses a whip to inspire his men. Surprisingly enough, he survives.* {{Understatement}}: Gaunt's adjutant Beltayn uses the phrase "Something's awry" to announce any problem up to and including catastrophic battlefield reversals.* UnfortunateNames: Trooper Cant.* UnfriendlyFire: Dravere and Sturm are the kings of this trope. * UnresolvedSexualTension: [[spoiler: Curth admits in ''Salvation's Reach'' that she had been pining for Gaunt for a long time - possibly since ''The Saint'' arc - but has given up after Gaunt beds yet another new love interest. Gaunt seemingly tries to tell Curth that she means more to him than any other woman, but Curth cuts him off before he could say it.]]* UnusualEuphemism: "Feth", "Gak". "Feth" was a word for the Tanith, "Gak" for the Verghasts. It was noted when soldiers started using both words to insult each other, they had properly assimilated.** ''Blood Pact'' has a rather long one, when a certain criminal gets angry.-->Xomat graphically outlined something that Daur might like to do, provided he could find a number of specialist agricultural items, some livestock, and a means of contacting an elderly female relative at short notice.* UpperClassTwit: Dev Hetra Captain Sire Kronn in ''His Last Command''. There's also pretty much every BlueBlood regiment, who pretty much all think of the Ghosts as "barbarians".* UriahGambit: In ''Salvation's Reach'' [[spoiler:Meryn leaves Costin to die against the loxatl.]]* TheUsualAdversaries: Chaos, of course, but the most encountered sub-faction is the goddamned- er, fething Blood Pact.* VillainBall: Slaith from Guns of Tanith. Shot at by [[spoiler: Mkoll]], he says the gun is useless against his shield. [[spoiler:Mkoll]] says that it was just a distraction and that the real surprise is under a table. Slaith ''goes to check while'' [[spoiler: Mkoll dives from the room and the explosives he'd planted under the table]].* VillainProtagonist: The Blood Pack philia from the novel ''Blood Pack''. While they're obviously the established villains of the book (or at least one of the villainous factions), and definitely evil, much of the story is told from their perspective and we see the individual personalities and the close relationships of its members. It makes their deaths, as told from the perspectives of the Ghost protagonists like Gaunt and Rawne, feel oddly [[DroppedABridgeOnHim abrupt, underwhelming, and sad]].* WalkingWasteland: The Chaos assassin team.* WarRefugees: Many in ''Necropolis''* WasOnceAMan: [[spoiler: The stalkers]] in ''His Last Command''.* WeatherDissonance: Battles on otherwise peaceful worlds bring this to mind. * WeHaveReserves: Chaos warlords love this trope. The fact that most Chaos troopers are BrainwashedAndCrazy certainly helps to stage bloody human wave attacks.** The Imperium uses this trope as well. In ''Armour of Contempt'', Dalin Criid is carried along as part of a wave of humanity in attacking a city wall, with troopers packed so tightly together that the dead were unable to fall where they died.* WeNeedADistraction: More times than can be repeated here. * WhamLine: [[spoiler: "Since I switched it on"]] from ''The Armour of Contempt''[[note]]The Ghosts have been sold out to the Inquisition[[/note]] and [[spoiler: "Then it is Rime"]] from ''Blood Pact''[[note]]An Inquisitor is revealed as a Chaos agent[[/note]].* WhatTheHellHero: Gaunt, as a political officer, is ''supposed'' to execute his men in order to keep morale up. He manages to avoid doing this... most of the time. Doc Dorden is quick to call him out and attempt to stop him every time.** More specifically, Meryn likes to cross this line very often. First, he kills several Phantine civilians in order to preserve the secrecy of their covert mission, which naturally unnerves his squaddies. Second, he brutally beats [[spoiler:Soric when he admits he's a psyker]]. Suffice to say, Gaunt wasn't very happy with the latter incident.*** In ''Salvation's Reach'', Meryn has a clear shot at an assassin who takes Yoncy hostage, but instead cowers in fear. A number of Ghosts witness this, including Kolea, who beats the crap out of him.* WhatYouAreInTheDark: ''Sabbat Martyr''. Nineteenth Platoon. ''*salute*''* WhenTreesAttack: Tanith, in the BackStory.* WideEyedIdealist: Dorden has aspects of this, what with his attempts to hold to ThouShaltNotKill and all.* WildHair: At least to the eyes of aristocrats and the cleaner-cut regiments. It's even Gaunt's first impression of the Tanith in ''Ghostmaker''.* WitchHunt: In ''Ghostmaker''.* WithDueRespect: Usually Gaunt, though other Ghosts certainly aren't shy about getting their points across. * WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Cuu's real competent, but he's also vengeful and AxCrazy. Larkin is a good sniper, but he suffers from fits. Averted with Mkoll and Mkvenner, who seem well-adjusted despite being super-{{Badass}}es amongst {{Badass}}es, as well as the female Verghastite snipers.* WomenPreferStrongMen: Asche, a minor character in ''Double Eagle'', is notorious for picking up fellow pilots currently having their five minutes of fame and instantly dropping them on the very moment they lose their star status. Unfortunately, only one of them is wise enough to see her real intentions and reject her advances.* WouldntHitAGirl* WreckedWeapon: Gaunt loses his chain sword in ''Necropolis''.* WretchedHive: Several locations, but averted with Vervunhive which became a burned out necropolis only ''after'' a massive Stalingrad-esque battle was fought in the heart of it. * XanatosGambit: Saint Sabbat pulls one in ''Sabbat Martyr'', reincarnating on the otherwise unremarkable planet Herodor. If Chaos forces are diverted to attack the planet and kill her, it takes pressure off the overstretched main forces of the Imperial Crusade. If they do not, the Imperials still get a large, possibly table-turning morale boost from her presence. Either way, the good guys benefit.* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: Due to centuries of isolation from the Imperial culture, the Nihtgane of Gereon speak an archaic dialect of Low Gothic, which is essentially corrupted Middle-English.* YouAreInCommandNow: Set up and then subverted in ''Sabbat Martyr''; also used straight in ''Traitor General''.* YouCantGoHomeAgain: The Ghosts' home planet, Tanith, was destroyed at their founding.* YouDoNOTWantToKnow: How Vortenhus is warned off asking about a glyf in ''His Last Command''.* YouHaveFailedMe: In ''Traitor General''.* YouKilledMyFather: In his pre-Tanith days, Gaunt gets his vengeance on [[spoiler: General Dercius]] by executing him for cowardice in his newly-bestowed capacity as an Imperial Guard Commissar. In ''First and Only'', [[spoiler: Colonel Flense, who is actually Dercius' son and lost his family name and honour after Dercius' death, goes after Gaunt in an attempt to pay Gaunt back. He fails]].* YouLookLikeYouveSeenAGhost: [[IncrediblyLamePun *ba-dum tish*]]* YouNeverAsked* YoungerThanTheyLook: Meritous Felyx Chass is actually 11 years old, but juvenat and other bio-treatments were used to age him up to 17 effective.* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: Used to semi-comedic effect in ''Blood Pact''. --> '''Gaunt:''' Not far now, magir.--> '''Mabbon:''' You're a good man, Gaunt. --> '''Gaunt:''' If they take us, please don't say that to anyone. Tell them I'm your sworn enemy.* YourFavorite* YouShallNotPass: Happens many, many times. Sometimes the Ghosts even live... ----


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Crossroads Kids Club
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Crossroads Kids Club walks with local churches to help them implement life-changing character formation clubs that serve children in public elementary schools. This is accomplished by helping the church to build a healthy and legal relationship with the school; assisting them to recruit, screen and train leaders; providing excellent program materials (curriculum); and offering ongoing coaching and training opportunities for the leaders.
The purpose of a Crossroads Kids Club program is to promote healthy relationships and spiritual growth. We desire for every child to be in a personal relationship with the God who made them and loves them. We believe that this relationship empowers students to live lives full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These virtues create a foundation for a lifetime of positive relationships with peers and adults. Each club is operated according to these six guiding principles:
1. We treat all people with dignity and respect because we believe they are made in God's image and have intrinsic worth.
2. We create a healthy and safe environment for students by selecting, screening and training well-qualified team members who are excellent role models and who work well with children. They are be positive, committed, trustworthy and enthusiastic.
3. We work for each club to be open, fair and accepting. We will not tolerate discrimination against students or parents based upon race, gender, color, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, church participation or disability.
4. We aim to shape the character of students according to biblical values, inspiring them by our example, teaching them God's ways and challenging them continuously to grow in their love for God and others. To this end, each club will follow a Crossroads-approved curriculum plan in order to ensure quality content.
5. We desire to cultivate the best possible relationships with students, parents, school leaders, members of our team and the community at large.
6. We seek to earn the trust of parents, educational leaders and the broader school community by demonstrating integrity in everything we do.

subset: commoncrawl


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The room was very clean and the bed was amazing. The staff were very friendly and professional. The breakfast was awesome.
The owners were warm, inviting, and very helpful in exploring Penticton. We felt we were part of their family the minute we walked in the door.
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The Western that launched the be-nice-to-the-Indian cycle of the '50s now looks a little on the self-consciously liberal side, making something of a meal of its plea for racial tolerance and peaceful coexistence, as Stewart's army scout and Chandler's Cochise strive to bring peace to the Apache. A little awkward, too, in its bows to convention while trying to present an authentic picture of the Indian way of life (lots of Apache extras, but the leads are played by white actors; the Apache language rendered into 'poetic' English). A fine film all the same, despite the compromised ending, quite beautifully shot by Ernest Palmer.
Broken Arrow
Release details
Duration: | 93 mins |
Cast and crew
Director: | Delmer Daves |
Screenwriter: | Albert Maltz |
Cast: | Debra Paget Jeff Chandler Will Geer Jay Silverheels Arthur Hunnicutt James Stewart |


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Ara Topouzian of Farmington Hils with a kunan, a 76-string instrument that dates back to the fifth century.
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Ara Topouzian and the fifth-century stringed instrument just clicked.
"I always listened to Armenian and Middle Eastern music. My first taste of it was about age 10," Topouzian said.
But the kanun, a 76-string harp, wasn't an instrument the Farmington Hills resident played in the school band. That was the trumpet. Armenian and other Middle Eastern music wasn't yet a part of his performance repertoire. ...